Argyll - Etymology

Etymology

The name derives from Old Gaelic airer Goídel (border region of the Gaels). The early thirteenth century author of De Situ Albanie explains that "the name Arregathel means margin (ie, border region) of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli (i.e. Gaels), from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas."

However, the word airer naturally carries the meaning of the word 'coast' when applied to maritime regions, so the placename can also be translated as "Coast of Gaels". Woolf has suggested that the name Airer Goídel replaced the name Dál Riata when the 9th-century Norse conquest split Irish Dál Riata and the islands of Alban Dál Riata off from mainland Alban Dál Riata; the mainland area, renamed Airer Goídel, would have contrasted with the offshore islands of Innse Gall, literally "islands of the foreigners", so-called because during the 9th to 12th centuries they were ruled by Norse-speaking Gall-Gaels.

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