The Scandinavian origins of place names in Britain

See also Scots, Gaelic and Welsh

Introduction to Scandanvian

The Scandinavian place names across Scotland can be traced back to a number of origins and influences, and it would be wrong to collectively refer to these simply as the ‘Vikings’.

Let’s look at four areas of Scotland individually – each with its different Scandinavian story.

The Northern Isles (Shetland and Orkney) is the area with probably the biggest Scandinavian influence. Settlers from Norway arrived around AD800 and their rule lasted several centuries.

As a result, the vast majority of place names in this area are of Scandinavian origin.

In the Western Isles, what is referred to as Old Norse (ON) was spoken for several centuries, and many islands, settlements and large geographic features - such as the highest mountains and largest inlets and bays - still have Scandinavian names.

While the Norse language didn’t last so long down the west coast mainland of Scotland it left a considerable legacy in the place names.

However, the collapse of the Norwegian overlordship in 1266 led to a resurgence of Gaelic. Norse place names started being pronounced and later spelled in Gaelic. Some Norse names were replaced by Gaelic ones.

Also, many Scandinavian words were borrowed into Gaelic as loanwords and were then used to create place names by Gaelic speakers. For example the Gaelic word ‘sgarbh’ is derived from the Old Norse ‘skarfr’, meaning ‘cormorant’. Therefore the place name Geodha nan Sgarbh (NB0116) can’t be called Norse as it was coined by Gaelic speakers.

In the third area – the south-west of Scotland (Dumfries and Galloway) - the Scandanavian place names have been influenced by linguistic links to the north of England, the Isle of Man and Ireland, so aren’t always easily recognisable.

In the fourth area, the south-east of Scotland, the place name elements are clearly linked with Scandinavian names in the north of England, so may be traced back to Danish, rather than to Norwegian.

As the Scandinavian influence spread across Scotland during several unrelated settlement movements, there are various languages to consider. The Scandinavian settlers of the Northern and the Western Isles spoke West Scandinavian or West Norse, often referred to simply as Norse or Old Norse (ON), from which both Norwegian and Icelandic are derived.

The place names of the south-west indicate that the Scandinavian settlers who arrived from Ireland (who seem to have been mainly West Norse speakers) may already have been acquainted with Gaelic. Yet the names of south-east Scotland point to East Scandinavian (Danish) influence, while in Shetland and Orkney, Norn, a language that developed from ON, was spoken until the 18th century.

All examples shown in the Scandinavian glossary below come from the Northern Isles or north-east Caithness. This is because in other areas, subsequent languages have altered the place names, sometimes beyond recognition. In some parts of the country it’s very difficult to distinguish between Scots and Scandinavian place names.

The list of Scandinavian-influenced place name elements reflects the orthography (how it’s written or spelled) on modern Scottish maps. The entries are arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference. In the second column each element is linked with its original form, an example being the element brei, as in the place name Brei Geo (HU3787), which originates from the ON adjective breiðr, ‘broad’.

All ON forms given in the glossary are based on the Icelandic-English dictionary – details of which are given in the section Further information at the end of this post.

Scandinavian alphabet

The column containing the ON forms introduces us to a number of unfamiliar characters:

• ð: known as ‘eth’, occurs in words such as fjörðr, related to Scottish standard English ‘firth’, and represents a voiced [th] as in the English ‘the’.
• þ: known as ‘thorn’, represents a voiceless [th], as in English ‘thorn’. It occurs in ON words such as þing meaning ‘assembly’, ‘meeting place’ and in þveit, ‘piece of land’, ‘clearing’.
• ö: found in ON höfn, ‘harbour’, or ON strönd, ‘coast’, ‘shore’ represents a sound very like German ö (o-Umlaut) which is like the ‘e’ sound in the English word her.
• æ: found in ON words like fær, ‘sheep’ and forms part of the names Fair Isle (HZ1871) and Fara (ND3295).

As well as these characters, another difference between the Norse and the English alphabet is the Norse use of acute accents on the vowels a, o, u, i and y (depicting a sound located between [u] and [i]). An accent on a vowel means that the vowel is long.

Structure of Scandanavian place names

Like place names in most languages, Norse names are largely descriptive and usually reflect how the name-givers perceived their surroundings. So we find names referring to the shape of natural features, such as Longa Berg (HU3520), ‘long promontory’, ‘long rock’; or relative location, such as in Isbister (HU3790) from ON eystri, ‘easterly’; or ON hár, ‘high’, as in Hahouse (HY4551) or Ha Banks (HY4919).

There is an important group of place name elements that refers to actual farms or settlements, such as the frequently found -bie from ON býr, ‘farm’, as in Trenabie (HY4350), South Breckbie (HY2426) and Houbie (HU4548), ON bólstaðr, ‘farm’, which in Shetland and Orkney occurs as -bister (Kirkabister (HU5495), Westerbister (HY4602)), but takes the forms of -bost, -pol or -bol in Hebridean place names.

The generic -sta is from ON staðir ‘steading’, ‘farm’, as in Hoversta (HY4117) and Griesta (HU4144), whereas ON setr ‘residence’ and sætr ‘dwelling place’, ‘hill pastures’, ‘dairy lands’ developed into the frequently occurring element setter, as in Dalsetter (HU5099) and Winksetter (HY3415), as well as –ster, as in Swinister (HU3380).

Animals such as horses, lambs and sheep are regular components of place names such as Hestwall (HY4702) from ON hestr, ‘horse’, ‘stallion’, Lama Ness (HY6843), from ON lamb, ‘lamb’, and Sorquoy (ND4691), from ON sauðr, ‘sheep’. Coastal terminology is often inspired by fish and mammals living in the waters such as salmon, ON lax, in Lax Firth (HU4760) and, whale, ON hvalr, in Whal Geo (HU1751).

Soil type also inspired names such as Grut Ness (HU6592) from ON grjót, ‘gravel’, and Lerwick (HU4841) from ON leir, ‘mud’, ‘clay’. An important category of descriptive place names are, of course, colours with ON svartr, ‘black’, as in Swarthoull (HU2978), ON rauðr, ‘red’, in Roe Clett (HU3978) and ON grár, ‘grey’, as in Grobust (HY4249), to name but a few.

The Scandinavian place names of Scotland follow straightforward composition patterns. Most place names are made up of more than one element, with a linguistic relationship between the elements. For example a generic element (a noun) and a descriptive, qualifying or specific element.

• Definite article + generic: Place names can consist of a single generic element, usually a noun. These are often preceded by the English definite article ‘the’. Examples are, The Tongues (HU3721) from ON tangi, ‘spit of land’, ‘tongue’; The Skeo (HU4434) derived from ON skjá, ‘hut for drying fish’, and The Crook (HU2986), based on ON krókr, ‘bend’.
• Specific + generic: This is the most common composition pattern. Whereas generics are always nouns, specifics can be either nouns or adjectives. Typical examples of names consisting of an adjective and a noun are Deepdale (HU3825), ‘deep valley’, from ON djúpr, ‘deep’, and ON dalr, ‘valley’, and Brettabister (HU4857), from ON brattr, ‘steep’ and ON bólstaðr, ‘farm’. Breiwick (HU2256), from ON breiðr, ‘broad’ and vík, ‘bay’ follows the same pattern, as does Midness (HU4572), from ON miðr, ‘middle’ and ON nes, ‘headland’, ‘promontory’.
• Generic + preposition + existing place name: Place names following the above pattern are very typical of the Northern Isles. The preposition linking the generic and the specific is usually the Scottish English word ‘of’ (Scots ‘o’). The specific is always an existing place name. Examples of this pattern are Burn of Forse (HU5289), Garth of Tresta (HU6190), Burn of Swartabeck (HY3808) and Clett of Thusater (ND0671).

Scandinavian place names glossary

This is a glossary of the elements from Scandinavian most frequently found in the place names of Britain. The first column gives the name element in the form found in place names. The original Old Norse word from which the element derives follows, together with its meaning. Examples (with grid references) are given for each element.

Abbreviations:

adj = adjective
nf = noun feminine
nm = noun masculine
nn = noun neuter

​Further information and references

Top image: Lowest Watermill, Mill Burn, Loch of Fladdabister © Creating Comons, Colin Smith via Geograph via Geograph

• Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Gudbrand (1957): An Icelandic-English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press. For an online version of the first edition (1874) see archive.org
• Jakobsen, Jakob (1936): The Place-Names of Shetland, London and Copenhagen.
• Marwick, Hugh (1952): Orkney Farm Names, Kirkwall.
• Nicolaisen, W F H (2001): Scottish Place-Names – Their Study and Significance, John Donald, Edinburgh.
• Stewart, J. (1987): Shetland Place-Names.

Useful links

• Shetland Heritage
• Scottish Place-Name Society

See the collection of guides to place names in Britain:

• The Scandinavian origins of place names in Britain
• The Welsh origins of place names in Britain
• The Scots origins of place names in Britain
• The Gaelic origins of place names in Britain