List of Iona place-names beginning with 'B'
Bealach Bàn
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2777822868
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 16m
Elements: G bealach + G bàn
Translation: 'white/fair pass or roadway'
Description:
This name, which is only recorded by Ritchie/Fraser, seems to refer to the path going towards Tràigh nan Siolag, which is found at the end of the passage. It seems likely that it is named after the colour of the sand of Tràigh nan Siolag.
Bealach Bristeadh Tòin
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference:
Certainty: 4
Altitude: 0m
Elements: G bealach + G bristeadh + G tòn
Bealach Gaoithe
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2814023937
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 25m
Elements: G bealach + G gaoth
Translation: 'windy pass or roadway'
Bealach Grulainn
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2780123341
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 21m
Elements: G bealach + en Grulainn
Translation: ?'pass or roadway of Grulainn'
Bealach na Leacaich
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM 27900 230
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 13m
Elements: G bealach + G an + en (An) Leacach
Translation: 'pass of (An) Leacach'
Bealach nam Ban
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2686522924
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 44m
Elements: G bealach + G an + G bean
Translation: 'pass of the women'
Description:
The pass leads south from A’ Mhachair and the farm of Culdamh into the hilly ground of Sliabh an Siar and towards Staonaig. ‘A grange of the land of Staonaig’ (grangiam terre lie Stenage) is recorded as one of a list of lands formerly belonging to the Iona Nunnery in 1616 (RMS viii no. 1386), and it is possible that the nuns were the ‘women’ referred to in the name.
Bealach nan Luirgean
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2566422166
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 52m
Elements: G bealach + G an + G lorg
Translation: 'pass of the ridges or legs'
Bealach nan Tuilmean
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2733322946
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 55m
Elements: G bealach + G an + G tolm
Translation: 'pass of the knolls'
Bealach Phàidein
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference:
Certainty: 1
Altitude: m
Elements: G bealach + pn Pàidean
Translation: 'Pat's pass'
Description:
The location for this place-name remains uncertain. It is not recorded on the Ritchie map, and only appears in D. Munro Fraser’s appendix. A length mark has been added to the personal name Pàidean in the head-name to reflect the pronunciation in other place-names such as Buaile Phàidein (for which see entry).
Bealach Sgreige
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Other, Relief
Grid reference: NM2751423053
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 50m
Elements: G bealach + G sgreag
Translation: 'rocky pass/roadway'
Description:
This name refers to the path going south onto the moor directly from the road at Ruanaich.
Beul Builg
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Coastal
Grid reference: NM2785022797
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 3m
Elements: G beul + G balg or G bolg
Translation: ?'mouth of the bag or bubble/blister'
Beul Mòr
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Coastal
Grid reference: NM2578722580
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 10m
Elements: G beul + G mòr
Translation: ‘big mouth / opening’
Description:
Gaelic beul means mouth, but can apply to any kind of mouth-like opening, as in this case, where it refers to a scooped inlet to the north of Aoineadh nan Sruth. The same feature seems to be referred to as Port Beul Mòr (q.v.), which is also mapped by the OS. Although Munro Fraser suggests a definite article should be present, a series of surrounding names incorporate this one as an existing name, all without the article, and generally without inflection (Port Beul Mòr, Lag Beul Mòr, Cnoc Beul Mòr).
Bishop’s Walk
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NM2864825048
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 29m
Elements: SSE bishop + SSE walk
Translation: 'bishop's walk'
Bishop’s Walk
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2850324661
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 27m
Elements: SSE bishop + SSE walk
Translation: 'bishop's walk'
Blàr a’ Phùbaill
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference:
Certainty: 1
Altitude: m
Elements: G blàr + G an + G pùball
Translation: 'plain/field of the tent or butterbur'
Blàr an Fhìona
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NM2677722482
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 53m
Elements: G blàr + G an + G fìon
Translation: 'plain/field of the wine'
Blàr Buidhe
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NM2845124329
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 27m
Elements: G blàr + G buidhe
Translation: 'yellow plain/field'
Description:
‘A small rocky elevated plain on the west side of the St. Colomba Hotel. Meaning “Yellow Plain”’ (OS1/2/37/24)
Blàr nam Manach
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NM2680722771
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 50m
Elements: G blàr + G an + G manach
Translation: 'plain/field or moss of the monks'
Description:
In spite of its name, in which blàr ‘plain, field’ might lead us to expect a level flat piece of ground, Blàr nam Manach is in the midst of the rather bumpy ground of Sliabh Siar. The word blàr has a range of meanings, however, some of which might better suit the topography. Ewan MacEachen, for instance, gives for blàr ‘a moss, a marsh, a plain’. However, the ground to which the name refers may originally have been only a small pocket of level ground amidst that more rugged area.
There are a number of names in this part of the island referring to ‘monks’, and this may be to distinguish their land from that of the nuns, who held Staonaig in the Middle Ages.
Blàr Odhar
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NM2729825003
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 30m
Elements: G blàr + G odhar
Translation: 'dun-coloured plain/field'
Blathnat †
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Antiquity, Ecclesiastical, Relief
Grid reference: NM2891524903
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 13m
Elements: G bláth + G nat
Description:
This stone, mentioned in medieval texts, has been since the late 19th century identified, rightly or wrongly, with the glacial erratic called A’ Chlach Mhòr (q.v.). Since it appears in two manuscripts of the 11th century, it is one of the earliest attested place-names on Iona aside from those mentioned in Adomnán’s Life of Columba.
It appears in the anecdotal preface which precedes the Latin hymn Altus Prosator, attributed to Columba. In the earliest texts of this preface, found in the 11th-century Irish Liber Hymnorum, the stone is described as being within the reclés, which normally means ‘church’, or ‘oratory’, but plausibly here means ‘church or monastic precinct’ more generally. The text (for which see Bernard and Atkinson, Irish Liber Hymnorum vol. 1, 62-3; vol. 2, 23-4). implies that it was in the refectory, and states maraid beos ‘it remains still’. In the tale, Columba sets off in the direction of the mill (do’n muiliunn) from the refectory, taking his ere ‘load, burden’ on him (presumably of meal to be ground) di-araile chloich bói isind recles .i. Blathnat [var. Bláthnat] a hainm ‘from a certain stone that was in the church, i.e. Blathnat its name’. We are then told that is furri dognither roinn isin phroin-tig ‘upon it there is made division in the refectory’. The version of this tale found in the later manuscript, An Leabhar Breac (14th century), gives the name somewhat differently: Iar-sin tra gebid Colum Cille fair in mboilc do’n chloich fil isin proinn-tig i nHíí, ocus is e a hainm na clochi-sin Moel-blatha, ocus sonas foracbad for cach mbiud doberar furri. ‘After that Colum Cille takes on himself the sack from the stone which is in the refectory in Iona; and the name of that stone is Moel-blatha, and good fortune was left on all food that is put on it.’
Commentators from Reeves and Skene on seem to have embraced the latter name, and ignored the earlier one. (It is worth noting that Reeves, Skene et al. were writing before Bernard and Atkinson’s edition of the Irish Liber Hymnorum, and so perhaps did not have access to the earlier forms). Skene, following Hennessy, explained the name thus (1877, p. 100): ‘Mr. Hennessy suggests that the syllable Blath here stands for Blad, a portion, fragment, partition, division, which is also written Blod, Blag, Blog, and by O’Clery in his glossary Bladh, who explains it by rann no cuid do ni, a portion, or share, of a thing. That Moel, or Mael, when applied to a stone means a flat-surfaced stone, which exactly answers the description of the boulder. He thinks Moelblath may be fairly rendered “the flat stone of division.”’ Although this explanation has been generally followed, it should almost certainly be rejected. The OG word blog ‘portion, fragment’ is not attested in the form blad(h) until the later medieval / early modern period, and it would be surprising to see it in that spelling as early as the 11th century.
An important factor in this analysis is that we should give priority to the form in the actual Liber Hymnorum texts, which pre-date An Leabhar Breac by some centuries: Blathnat or Bláthnat. The root word here would most likely be bláth ‘flower, blossom’ (blad ‘fame, renown’ is just possible, but compound forms of this word are generally in blad-). The name mostly likely then means ‘the little flower’: a curious name for a stone! (The OG word bláthnait meant ‘weasel’, but it is hard to see how that would be a name for a stone.) The later name, perhaps intended as Moel Bláth is presumably some variant on this; at any rate it should be presumed to contain the same word as found in Bláthnat. One potential meaning of Moel Bláth then might be ‘the bald / bare one of flowers’.
It may be worth registering one further possibility. The anecdote seems fundamentally to be tied up with meal, or flour. In Welsh, the cognate word for bláth is blawd ‘flowers; flower, blossom’ (GPC blawd2); but in the Brittonic languages it developed a semantic extension, and thence a separate word, meaning ‘flour, meal’ (GPC blawd1: these all derive from Celtic blāto, attested in place-names: see PNF2 s.n. Blebo) Might this stone on Iona have been based on a lost meaning of OG bláth as ‘flour, meal’, similar to its Brittonic cognates (and perhaps influenced by Brittonic)?
Full texts from ILH and LB:
Originals: [Bernard and Atkinson 1898, vol. 1, pp. 62-3]
MS T (Trinity College Dublin):
Uel ut alii dicunt, is co hoponn dordnad .i. araile lathe ro-bói Colum Cille i nHi, ocus ní bái nech oca acht Bóithin, ocus ni bói biad occu acht criathar corca. Asbert iarum Colum Cille fri Bóithin, “do-foilet oigid huasliu cucunn iridiu, a Baithin,” .i. muinter Griguir tancatar co n-ascedaib do-som ; ocus asbert-som fri Baithín, “ bí i foss ic frithalaim na n-óeged co ndigus-sa. do’n muiliunn.” Gaibid-som fair a ere di-araile chloich bói isind recles .i. Blathnat a hainm [MS F: Bláthnat], ocus maraid beos, ocus is furri dognither roinn isin phroin-tig. Ba trom thra leseom a ere, co «derna in n-immun-sa tria ord aipgitrech otha-sen condice in mulenn .i. “ Adiutor laborantium et reliqua.” In tan immorro dorat in cét-fota isin mulenn, is ann dochuaid i cenn in chetna caiptill, is immaille ro-scaich in bolc do blith ocus in t-immun do denam ; oc us is co hoponn doronad sic.
From Liber Hymnorum, based on MS T and F (from Bernard and Atkinson 1898, vol. 2, pp. 23-24)
Uel ut alii dicunt , it was suddenly made, viz. one day Colum Cille was in Hi, and nobody was with him but Baithin, and they had no food except a sieve of oats. Then said Colum Cille to Baithin, “Nobler guests (than usual) are coming to us to-day, O Baithin ” ; viz. folk of Gregory, who came with presents to him. And he said to Baithin, “Stay at home in attendance on the guests, that I may go to the mill.” He takes upon him his burden from a certain stone that was in the church, i.e. Blathnat its name, and it still exists, and upon it there is made division in the refectory. But his burden felt heavy to him, so he composed this hymn in alphabetical order, from there up to the mill, viz. Adiutor laborantium , &c. Now when he put the first handful into the mill, it was then he began upon the first capitulum, and the grinding of the bag (of oats) and the composition of the hymn were completed together ; and extemporaneously it was made sic
Leabar Breac (14th century) from Bernard and Atkinson 1898, vol. 1, 62-3.
Colum Cille fecit hunc ymnum Trinitati per septem annos in Cellula Nigra .i. isin dúib-recles i nDoire Choluim Cille ; no is cu hobund cena dorónad, ut alii dicunt .i. in tan ro-boi Colum Cille i nHíí a oenur acht Boethín ’n-a farrad namá. Is and tra ro-faillsiged do Colum Cille oeigid do thidecht chuci .i. mor-feisiur de muintir Grigoir tancutar chuice-sium o Róim co n-ascadaib leo do .i. in mór-gemm Coluim Cille ocus cross esside indiu, ocus immund na sechtmaine .i. immund cech n-óidche isin t[s]echtmain et alia dona. Ro iarfaig tra Colum Cille do Boethín, cid do bíud bói isin choitchend. “Ata,” ol Boethin, “criathar corci and.” “Frithail- siu na haigedu, a Boethin,” ol Colum Cille , "co ndechus-sa do’n muilend.” Iar-sin tra gebid Colum Cille fair in mboilc do’n chloich fil isin proinn-tig i nHíí, ocus is e a hainm na clochi-sin Moel-blatha, ocus sonas foracbad for cach mbiud doberar furri. Is iar-sin oc dul do Colum Cille do’n muilend, is and dorigne in imunn bec-so .i. “Adiutor laborantium” ocus is iar n-urd apgitrech ata. In tan tra dorat Colum Cille in cét-foda i mbel in mulind, is and dochuaid hi cend ind Altusa, ocus is imalle ro-scaig in t-imon do denum ocus in t-arbur do bleith, ocus ni tria thorad scrutain doronad acht per gratiam Dei.
Translations:
Leabar Breac MS: (from Bernard and Atkinson 1898, vol. 2, pp. 23-24)
Altus prosator . Colum Cille fecit hunc hymnum Trinitati per septem annos in Cellula Nigra , i.e. in Colum Cille’s Black Church in Derry ; or it was composed quite on the spur of the moment, ut alii dicunt , viz. when Colum Cille was in Hi alone, save for the presence of Baithin only. Now it was then revealed to Colum Cille that guests were coming to him, viz. seven of Gregory's people came to him from Rome having presents for him, namely, the Great Gem of Colum Cille **— and that is a cross extant to-day— and the Hymn of the Week, a hymn for every night in the week, et alia dona. So Colum Cille enquired of Baithin what there was of food in the common stock. Said Baithin, “There is a sieve of oats.” “ Attend thou on the guests, O Baithin,” said Colum Cille, “that I may go to the mill.” Thereupon Colum Cille takes on his shoulders the sack from the stone that is in the refectory in Hi ; and the name of that stone is Moel-blatha, and luck was left on all food that is put thereon. After that, as he was going to the mill. Colum Cille composed this little hymn Adiutor laborantium ; and it is in alphabetical order. So when Colum Cille put the first feed into the mouth of the mill, he then began upon the Altus> and the composition of the hymn and the grinding of the corn were completed together, nor was it as the fruit of meditation but per gratiam Dei.
Bodha Fionnlaigh | Findlay’s Rock
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Coastal, Relief
Grid reference: NM2856426364
Certainty: 1
Altitude: m
Elements: G bodha + pn Fionnlagh
Translation: 'Findlay's rock'
Bòl Leithne
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2794424119
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 31m
Borg †
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NM2649924640
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 17m
Elements: ON borg
Brown's Rock
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Coastal
Grid reference: NM2631523644
Certainty: 1
Altitude: m
Translation: 'Brown's rock'
Description:
On 31st December 1865, the ship Guy Mannering, sailing from New York to Liverpool, was blown off course and sighted off the Machair on the western side of Iona, where it met its end. The captain, Charles Brown, was the last to be brought ashore safely after five hours in the water. The people of Iona commemorated the event, and the captain, by naming the reef where the ship was wrecked “Brown’s Rock”.
The Receiver of Wrecks reported the following in January 1866: ‘Finding the ship drifting to leeward among rocks, where it was not likely they could save themselves, the captain thought it advisable to run her into Machair bay on the west side of Iona. As soon as the ship touched the ground she immediately began to break up.’
Bruthach an Ròis
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NM2844025130
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 67m
Elements: G bruthach + G an + G ròs
Translation: 'slope/hillside of the (dog-)rose'
Description:
This name refers to the sloping hill-side which forms part of the south-eastern side of Dùn Ì. The name is only recorded by Munro Fraser/the Ritchies.
We would usually expect G ròs to have a length mark, which led us to briefly consider other potential meanings, including G ros ‘promontory, isthmus, peninsula, point’ (see Watson 1926, pp. 496-8; also cf. OG ros ‘a wood, wooded height or of a promontory on shore of a lake or river’ eDIL ID35549), also used with the meaning of ‘seed, linseed’ and ‘arable land’ (Dwelly s.v. ros; Armstrong s.v. ros). However, D. Munro Fraser/the Ritchies frequently omit accents in their forms, and this may not be a reflection of pronunciation of this name. Thus, the specific almost certainly refers to G ròs, and the headname given here has been updated to reflect this.
Several different species of rose are found on Iona (see Millar 1972, p. 27), including the burnet Rose (Rosa pimpinellifolia, G ròs beag bàn na h-Alba), which according to Millar (1972, p. 27) occasionally grows on cliffs, and the hairy dog-rose (Rosa caesia, G ròs nan con). However, in this instance, the name almost certainly refers to the dog-rose (rosa canina, G ròs nan con) which can be found on the slopes of Dùn Ì (see image).
Bruthach na Ceapaich
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NM2785623588
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 16m
Elements: G bruthach + en (A') Ceapach
Translation: 'slope/hillside of (A') Cheapach'
Buaile nan Cailleach
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2668622911
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 33m
Elements: G buaile + G an + G cailleach
Translation: 'cattlefold/enclosure of the nuns'
Description:
This feature sits on the high ground south of A’ Mhachair. It is worth bearing in mind that the area of Staonaig, a little to the south of this spot, was, in the medieval period part of the property of the Iona nunnery (see RMS viii no. 13860), so the cailleach may well refer to the nuns and their farm in this area, rather than simply to ‘women’ more generally. Note also the presence of Bealach nam Ban ‘pass of the women’ (q.v.) which is close by. Although buaile in Scottish Gaelic is usually ‘cattlefold’, it is worth wondering in the context of the position of this and other names using this element if there is reference here to the transhumance of dairy-cattle in the summer (thinking here of the Irish use of the term).
Buaile nan Caorach
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2827524969
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 46m
Elements: G buaile + G an + G caora
Translation: 'cattlefold/enclosure of the sheep'
Buaile nan Geòidh
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2706023437
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 17m
Elements: G buaile + G an + G gèadh
Translation: 'cattlefold/enclosure of the geese'
Buaile Phàidein
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2820925348
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 37m
Elements: G buaile + pn Pàidean
Translation: 'Pat's cattlefold/enclosure'
Buaile Staonaig
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NM2638922275
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 31m
Elements: G buaile + en Staonaig
Translation: 'cattlefold/enclosure of Staonaig'
Description:
The Ordnance Survey Name Books tell us that this name ‘Applies to a hollow situated a short distance north east of Dùn Larachain, and south east of Lag Beul-mhoir. Sig: “Enclosure of the Juniper”’ (OS1/2/77/139) The name reflects the pastoral context of the rough West End of the island.
Buidhneach
Kilfinichen & Kilvickeon (KKV), Iona (IOX)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NM2863025052
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 30m
Elements: G buidhe + G -ach
Translation: 'place of yellow (flowers)'