Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Qupperneq 225

Norse Steinn in Hebridean Place-Names
233
the direction of ei, although there may have been earlier
tendencies towards such a development.
A corollary of these reflections is that Mod. G. words
and names with [y:] or [øi] corresponding to O. N. ei must
have entered Gaelic during the first two centuries of Norse
colonization in the Hebrides. Another inference is the
following: As Mod. G. [e:] corresponding to O. N. ei is
the rule, and [y:/øi] the exception, the vast majority of
Norse loans containing O. N. ei must have entered Gaelic
later than the period about 1000 A. D., many of them
probably much later. And as there is no reason to believe
that words with ei occupied a special position among the
Norse loans, the same statement must be valid for Norse
loans in Hebridean Gaelic generally.
There are a couple of additional names which one is
immediately temped to associate with O. N. steinn. These
are [staiN'avaL], a hill on Benbecula with a stone circle on
one of its slopes (not named on the One-Inch map but
called “Stiaraval” (sic) on the large-scale map of six inches
to the mile), and “Steisay” [s't'eis'aj], an islet near the south-
east coast of Benbecula. But as the phonetic development
of these names raises new problems, and as there are other
names with similar diphthongs with which they must be
compared, they will not be dealt with here. These, as well
as names containing steinn as a last component and those
consisting of steinn alone, will be discussed on some later
occasion.
ÚRTAK
Greinin er ein gjøgnumgongd av ný-gælisku formunum av suðuroya-
staðanøvnum av norrønum uppruna við liðinum steinn sum fyrstaliði.
Ymissu endurgevingarhættirnir av tvíljóðinum ei í hesum og øðrum
norrønum lán-liðum í gæliskum gera, at líkindi eru til
16 — Fróðskaparrit 1964