Township: Balevullin

Map Reference: Balevullin 22

Name Type: shore

Meaning: This is likely to be a simplex Norse name in OI eyrr (dative eyri) 'gravel bank ... a small point of land running into the sea' (CV, 136): Eyri. It is likely that the initial /d/ in the source form Daor collected by the OS has been projected from the final /t/ in Port (see Cox 2002, 64). The phonetic development ey > ø?? has also been proposed for the loan word ON eið 'promontory' > ScG Aoidh in the Heanish place-name Clach na h-Aoidh (see section 17.4.2.1).
ON eyrr may also be the origin of a loan-word behind the Tiree place-name Loch an Àir, as well as Port Aoir Ard-innis on Coll and Rudha na h-Aoir on North Uist (SP); there is an Oighre (Eyre) 'a raised beach' on Raasay (MacKay 2013, 59); Øre(n) is quite a common place-name in Norway (NG); Oyri is a settlement name in the Faroe Islands (KO); while Eyri occurs twelve times as a farm name on Iceland (SAM).

Other Forms: Port Daoir - Donald Kennedy (Dòmhnall Eachainn), Balevullin, 8/1998

Port Aoidh - FAA

Port Aoigh - Sandy MacKinnon, Kilkenneth, 6/1994

Am Port Saor because of all the hard work collecting tangle there - Alasdair MacDonald, Druimasadh, 6/1994

Related Places:

Information:
There used to be three boats in this inlet. It was difficult to enter and leave and possibly this is the derivation of the name - Sandy MacKinnon, Kilkenneth, 1/1995.

Local Form:

Languages : Gaelic

Informants: Donald Kennedy (Dòmhnall Eachainn), Balevullin, 8/1998

Informant 2: Alasdair MacDonald, Druimasadh, 3/1994

Informant 3: Flora Ann Anderson, Balevullin, 3/1994