Largs ~ An Leargaidh Ghallta

First published in the Scotsman on 1 October 2016

On the 2nd of October 1263 the Battle of Largs ~ Blàr na Leargaidh took place in North Ayrshire between the forces of Norway and Scotland. Due to its proximity to the Inner Hebrides, the Gaelic name for Largs (Larghes in 1165) has been preserved as An Leargaidh Ghallta.  The Gaelic element leargaidh (which appears in the anglicised form) means a ‘sloping place’.  The second term gallta can mean ‘foreign’ or ‘strange’ but here has the sense of the ‘(Scottish) Lowlands’ thus meaning ‘the Lowland Largs’.  This element was most likely used to differentiate it from Largie in Kintyre which in Gaelic uses the same element but was referred to as An Leargaidh Chinntireach meaning ‘the Kintyre Largie’.

The -s ending in the English form of the name is no doubt a Scots plural ending, perhaps because the settlement was divided into two at some point.

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