Language Notes

Element Meaning

Sources

This name was gathered as part of a local research project on the place-names of the Rough Bounds of Lochaber and was published in a booklet by SNH and AÀA. The Following quote appears in that booklet:

“On opposite sides of the loch are Rubha an Èireannaich and Camas an Èireannaich, ‘the promontory and bay of the Irishman’. In some cases in Scotland, names such as these have been reanalaysed from eibhreannach, ‘wether goat’. Though there is no tradition of the origin of this name, there is a story about a local man Hugh MacLeod when he was a young man. His father had been away at the market, and was walking back, so Hugh and his brother thought they would row the boat out to meet him and save him the trip. They saw a man in a dark coat on Rubha an Eireannaich, and presumed it was him. All of a sudden the man walked across the loch and disappeared onto the other side! They were so scared they turned the boat round and rowed back home leaving the father to walk back. They guessed it must have been the Irishman or Èireannach referred to in the name.”

Gaelic in the Landscape: The Rough Bounds of Lochaber (Scottish Natural Heritage 2013): 16

Additional Information

Alternative Forms