English / Map Form: Dalavil
Gaelic Form: Dail a' Bhil
Location: Skye, Inner Hebrides
Post Town: ISLE OF SKYE
County: Inverness-shire
Local Authority: Highland
English / Map Form: Dalavil
Gaelic Form: Dail a' Bhil
Language Notes
Now understood as: nom. sg. G dail, fem. ‘riverside meadow’ + gen. sg. masc. def. art. a’ (leniting) + lenited gen. sg. of bile, ‘lip, edge’Sources
| Talevile | 1776 Mackenzie South part |
| Daalvil | 1820 Thomson |
| Loch a’ Ghlinne = L. Dail a Mhill | 1857 Admiralty Charts |
Dal a bhile
Hill or fell, dale or meadow; dail and val, fjal; also given as voltr, a field; vellir, fields; valla etc. Locally explained as dail a bhile, copse-dale: Forbes
Additional Information
As Forbes states, this is likely originally a Norse name, reinterpreted as Gaelic. Informant FG says the old version is Dail a’ Bhile with it now being Dail a’ Bhil. This is in line with the development of genitival forms in place-names.
