Etymology
The Hebrides have been occupied by the speakers of several languages since the Iron Age, and as a result many of the names of these islands have more than one possible meaning. Nonetheless few, if any, can have accumulated so many different names over the centuries as the island now known in English as "Iona".
The earliest forms of the name enabled place-name scholar William J. Watson to show that the name originally meant something like "yew-place". The element Ivo-, denoting "yew", occurs in Ogham inscriptions (Iva-cattos, Iva-geni ) and in Gaulish names (Ivo-rix, Ivo-magus) and may form the basis of early Gaelic names like Eogan (ogham: Ivo-genos). It is possible that the name is related to the mythological figure, Fer hÍ mac Eogabail, foster-son of Manannan, the forename meaning "man of the yew".
Mac an Tàilleir (2003) lists the more recent Gaelic names of Ì, Ì Chaluim Chille and Eilean Idhe noting that the first named is "generally lengthened to avoid confusion" to the second, which means "Calum's (i.e. in latinised form "Columba's") Iona" or "island of Calum's monastery". The possible confusion results from "ì", despite its original etymology, becoming a Gaelic noun (now obsolete) meaning simply "island". Eilean Idhe means "the isle of Iona", also known as Ì nam ban bòidheach ("the isle of beautiful women"). The modern English name comes from an 18th century misreading of yet another variant, Ioua, which was either just Adomnán's attempt to make the Gaelic name fit Latin grammar or else a genuine derivative from Ivova ("yew place"). Ioua's change to Iona results from a transcription mistake resulting from the similarity of "n" and "u" in Insular Minuscule.
Despite the continuity of forms in Gaelic between the pre-Norse and post-Norse eras, Haswell-Smith (2004) speculates that the name may have a Norse connection, Hiōe meaning "island of the den of the brown bear", "island of the den of the fox", or just "island of the cave". The medieval English language version was "Icolmkill" (and variants thereof).
| Table of earliest forms (incomplete) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form | Source | Language | Notes | |
| Ioua insula | Adomnán's Vita Columbae (c. 700) | Latin | Adomnán calls Eigg Egea insula and Skye Scia insula | |
| Hii, Hy | Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum | Latin | ||
| Eoa, Iae, Ie, I Cholaim Chille |
Annals of Ulster | Irish, Latin | U563 Nauigatio Coluim Chille ad Insolam Iae "The journey of St Columba to Í" U716 Pascha comotatur in Eoa ciuitate "The date of Easter is changed in the monastery of Í") U717 Expulsio familie Ie "The expulsion of the community of Í" U778 Niall...a nn-I Cholaim Chille "Niall... in Í Cholaim Chille" |
|
| Hi, Eu | Lebor na hUidre | Irish | Hi con ilur a mmartra "Hi with the multitude of its relics" in tan conucaib a chill hi tosuċ .i. Eu "the time he raised his church first i.e. Eu" |
|
| Eo | Walafrid Strabo (c. 831) | Latin | Insula Pictorum quaedam monstratur in oris fluctivago suspensa salo, cognominis Eo "On the coasts of the Picts is pointed out an isle poised in the rolling sea, whose name is Eo" |
|
| Euea insula | Life of St Cathróe of Metz | Latin | ||
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