Township: Heanish

Map Reference: Heanish 53

Name Type: sliabh

Meaning:
With just one oral source for this name, we must proceed cautiously. The single informant suggested a folk etymology from ScG tumadh 'dipping', although there seem to be no other names deriving from this in Scotland (SP).
This is more likely to be a Norse name from ON hvammr (dative hvammi) 'grassy slope ... very frequent as an appellative in every Iceland farm or as a local name' (CV, 296): 'a small valley, not so deep as dalr' (Jakobsen 1897, 91).
Vam occurs in Orphir, Orkney (SP); Whome on Rousay is derived from hvamm (Marwick 1995 (1947), 75); Homme in Norway derives from hvammr (NS); Hvam- is a common specific among settlement names in the Faroe Islands (KO); while Hvammur is extremely common as a simplex in Iceland, with thirty-five examples (SAM).

Other Forms: A' Mhòinteach Chòllach - AK

Àit' a' Chullaich - place of the boar - HMcK

Related Places:

Information:

Local Form:

Languages : Gaelic

Informants: Margaret MacKinnon, Heanish, 5/1996

Informant 2: Annie Kennedy, Post Office, Scarinish, 3/1994

Informant 3: Angus Munn, Heanish, 6/1995 and Hugh MacKinnon (The 'Dooley'), Baugh, 1/1999