Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Side 299

Place-names of Fula
By John Stewart.
There have been many spellings of this Shetland island
besides the official one of FOULA, first recorded in 1711. 1
fogle (1490), Fughloe, Fugloe, Fugla, Fughley retain the ‘g’
and are early. Foulay (1602—56), Foulla (1631 —1826),
Foully (1716—1733), Fowla (1890), Fow(l)lay (1628),
Fu(l)lay (1603—1716), Ful(l)a (1711—1826), Fule (1642) are
other attempts to spell FULA, which is the only spoken word,
Uttrie (ytra-øy) was used in the 16th-17th century, but
rarely.
Fula is high like Faroe. The west side is a continuous cliff,
rising to 372 metres, and there are only two small boat landing
* indicates míds (fishing grounds). Block letters are house names.
Many names are prefixed by da (phonetically da),the definite article.
This is left out for clarity.
Between compound names a (a), a very short unstressed sound, indi-
cates “of”. The long unstressed a or áá means “of the”. When written
“a da” (o da) it means “of the” as well. Both the Iatter and the elided
form as used alternatively in Fula.
Th is t or d all over Shetland.
The changes nn>dn (kinn, kidn), ll>dl (fall, fadl, pallr, padl, pollr,
pidl) are found mainly in Fula, rarely in the neighbouring Westside of
Shetland, and nowhere else in Shetland. Brik or brig for berg is in Fula
only, and rn>dn and other instances of well-known sound changes will
be noted. The spelling used is conventional, but there are phonetic diffe-
rences in the island itself.
It only remains to be said that without the work of the Faroese
scholars, Jakobsen and Matras, not even a skeleton list like this could
be attempted by a Shetlander.