English / Map Form: Kilvaxter
Gaelic Form: Cille Bhacastair
Location: Skye, Inner Hebrides
Post Town: PORTREE
County: Inverness-shire
Local Authority: Highland
Nearest Main Roads: A855
English / Map Form: Kilvaxter
Gaelic Form: Cille Bhacastair
Genitive Form: Chille Bhacastair
Language Notes
Now understood as: nom. sg. cill fem. ‘church’ (with epenthetic vowel) + lenited and slenderised gen. sg. of obscure element *bacastar = ‘church of bacastar’Element Meaning
G cill ~ church; obscure element ~ bacastar
Sources
| Killibaxter | 1644 Retours (Inverness) no. 68 |
| Kilvakisa | 1654 Blaeu Map (Skye) |
| Kilvaxter | 1662 Retours (Inverness) no. 88 |
| Killibaxter | 1666 RMS xi no. 902 |
| Cille Bhacstair | Dwelly 1912 |
| (Cille Bhagstar) cellar church of the baker (uncertain) | Forbes, 228 |
| Cille Bhacastair [‘vaʰkə’stəðʲ] | Cox, local source |
Additional Information
B. Gordon 1964, 91-94 discusses the possibility that this name is not originally a cill name at all, but is a reinterpretation of a staðr name. Whatever the identity of the second element, she proves it does not represent a saint’s name.
