Township: An Àird a Tuath,Caolas

Map Reference:

Name Type: watercourse

Meaning: This is ON á (genitive singular ár) 'stream', with ON óss 'mouth of a river; ár-óss 'the mouth of the river'' (CV, 39). The 'stream' could refer to the stream itself, or the north end of the tidal races of the Sound of Gunna between Tiree and Coll. This has been palatalised (-as to -ais) in the genitive case in the Gaelic compound form ScG Sruthan Àrais 'the little stream of Àras'.
Àros on Mull has been derived in the same way; there is an Aros Bay on Islay (Macniven 2015, 166); 'The River Barvas, Abhainn Bharbhais < ON Borga: Barvas, [Oftedal] suggests, is ON Borgu-óss 'the mouth of the river Borga'' (Pálsson 1996, 14); there is a Stack Aros on the west coast of Harris (SP), and an Allt Àrais on Raasay (MacKay 2013,81); 'farm names from ON Áróss are not uncommon in Norway' (Macniven 2006, 357; 2015, 166).

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Languages : Norse, Gaelic

Informants: William MacIntosh, Caolas, 2/1994

Informant 2: Angus MacLean, Scarinish, 11/1996