Township: (Rubha) Craignis,Hough

Map Reference: Craignish 22

Name Type: shore

Meaning: Craignish, Hough | Part of a rough, pebbled shoreline next to Urbhaig below

This is likely to have originally been a simplex Norse name *Urð, derived from ON urð fem. 'a heap of stones on the sea beach' (CV, 657; Jakobsen 1936, 111). This is very topographically appropriate. This has become a Gaelic loan-name; the form Urdha Chràignis is a Gaelic construction. It may also have become a loan word. Interestingly, on Tiree *urrdha has been assigned the masculine gender, An t-Urrdha, while on Lewis it is feminine (see An Urdhag and Na h-Urrdhannan, Cox 2002, 390).
There is an Urra Taing in Lunasting, and an Urra Geo in Unst, Shetland (SP); Urd occurs twice, and Urdin/Urdene fifteen times in Norway (NG); Urð is a settlement name in the Faroe Islands (KO); and Urðir was an early farm name in Iceland (Landnámabók 1900, 317). See Urbhaig above.

Other Forms: Urra Chràignis - DEK

Related Places:

Information:Nancy of Dublin, a sailing ship, hit the Hough skerries. The captain clung to the deck and was washed onto Urra Chràignis and survived. The graveyard at the boundary of Balevullin and Hough – An Tung [enclosed family graveyard in Argyll – Dwelly] – is at Sloc a’ Ghuail. There are 3-4 graves inside the wall and the same number outside. Donald Eachainn Kennedy, Balevullin, 9/2004

Local Form:

Languages : Gaelic

Informants: OS

Informant 2: Donald Eachainn Kennedy, Balevullin, 9/2004