Scandinavian naming-systems in the Hebrides—A way of understanding how the scandinavians were in contact with Gaels and Picts?

Abstract

The Southern Hebrides can relatively safely be considered to have been inhabited by a Gaelic speaking people, as this area formed the western part of the Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riata. Whether the Northern Hebrides were also Gaelic-speaking or instead Pictish-speaking is more of a question. Archaeological evidence suggests that the material culture appears to have been largely Pictish at the time of the Viking raids, so the possibility that the Northern Hebrides were Pictish-speaking certainly exists. The place-name material of the Hebrides, more specifically the body of place-names which has been passed from Old Norse, is substantial. The study of place-names of Scandinavian origin in this area is complicated by the fact that they have been transferred into Gaelic and adapted to the Gaelic language system. Keywords: Gaelic language system; Pictish origin; Scandinavian origin; Southern Hebrides

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