Place-names of Barra in the Outer Hebrides

The aim of the thesis is to examine the nomenclature of the Barra Isles by investigating the distribution and interaction of Norse, Gaelic and English name-forming elements. Consideration is given to the historical, political and economic reasons for changes in placenames, and the language situation is assessed. In a theory-based chapter the function of names, naming strategies, name changes, and reasons for loss of names are examined. The main thrust is to compile a gazetteer of place-names gathered both from historical documents such as maps, sea-charts, registers and travel literature, and from interviews with local people. With the help of a database the corpus is analysed with regard to semantics, morphology and naming intention. Finally, a consideration of the historical development of names illustrates degrees of stability and of change in the place-names of Barra