Old Norse and Norn names in Shetland

by Allen Fraser

In time immigration from the south and the gradual change from the Norse Udal Laws to the repressive Scots Feudal system led to the replacement of the native Scandinavian idiom by Lowland Scottish, but not completely. Today Norn survives in the place-names of Shetland, although often the English spellings do not reflect the Shetland pronunciation. The place-names of Shetland given by our Scandinavian ancestors have been heavily influenced by the geomorphology and the geology of the islands, far too many in fact to be comprehensively covered by this article. Of his research into the Norn of Shetland Jackob Jakobsen wrote: ëevery small hill, point rock, dale, cleft, brook, piece of field or meadow, etc., bears its own name, and these names, with comparatively few exceptions have been handed down in Norn dialect.í The small Isle of Fetlar, scarcely four square miles in area, contains about two thousand place names, and the entire number of place-names of the isles no doubt exceeds fifty thousand.

Shetland gets its name from the relative distribution of its hundred islands having the appearance of a downward pointing sword [N. Hjaltland, pron. yaltlaand, from O.N. hjalt, the crosspiece between the blade and handgrip]. See footnote

By and large, the majority of Shetland place-names are descriptive compound names with common endings such as: -land [O.N. land], -ness [O.N. nes, a headland], -voe [O.N. vágr, a long narrow sheltered bay], -wick [O.N. vik, an open bay with little shelter] and -firth [O.N. fjördr, a wide bay]. The shape of the land is responsible for some names: examples are the Old Norse words hár, high, breidr, broad, mjór, narrow and kollr, a round hill, giving us Houlland [N. Hóland], high land, Braehoulland, broad high land, Muness [N. Mjóanes], narrow ness and Collafirth [N. Kollafjördr], a firth sheltered by round hills. Other places take their names from the Old Norse words for sediments leir, clay or mud or sandr, sand, for example Leiraness [N. Leirnes], Sandvoe and Lerwick [pron. ler-week], Shetlandís capital, which is situated by a muddy bay.

Norn also survives in the many farm and settlement names as compound names ending in -setter [O.N. setr, hill pasture], -sta [O.N. stadir, a farm] and -bister [O.N. bólstadr, an area divided into farms]. Mostly the compounded farm names indicate the name of an original owner but occasionally describe its relative position, the quality of the ground or the topography as in Scarvister [O.N. skarv, bare rocky ground] and Dalsetter [O.N. dalr, a valley]. 

The settlement of Girlsta, originally Geirhildstadir was named after Geirhildr, the daughter of Hrafna-Flóki who used Shetland as his base before setting out to colonise Iceland. Geirhildr was drowned in the nearby Geirhildarvatn [N. vatn, lake or water, pron. wat-er], now Girlsta Loch.

Lakes in Shetland generally owe their original names to the streams that flow from them. The addition of the Scots ëburní to the original Shetland stream names has evolved over time so now the original stream names are mostly preserved in the lake names e.g. Gossawater [from O.N. gás, a goose and á, a river] the head waters of Gossa, now the Burn of Gossawater. Lake names ending in -water are still common in Shetland but the Scots term loch has gradually replaced water for the larger lakes (thanks to the Ordnance Survey) often making the name nonsensical, e.g. Loch of Gossawater. Today only two lakes remain with the ending -vatn, Sandvatn and Virdavatn [from O.N. varda, a cairn on a hilltop] and just a few streams without the burn appendage e.g. Bretto [from O.N. brattr, steep]. The -o ending comes from the Norn dialect of the Old Norse á, a river, which they pronounced -o.

The underlying geology of Shetland is often reflected in its place-names. The spectacular red granophyre cliffs of north-west Mainland are reflected in the names Muckle Roe, Little Roe and North Roe [N. røe, from O.N. raudøy, in turn from raudr, red and øy, isle]. Røebrekks and Røebregg [O.N. brekka, slope] are the red hills and the red hill respectively. Neep and noop [O.N. gnípa, high ground with a steep face] is a common name for high sea cliffs, hence Roeneap. Ronas Hill, Shetlandís highest, (and its adjacent fjord, Ronas Voe) although of red granophyre, is a stony hill [from O.N. raun, stony ground, N. røni, a heap of stones]. The red granophyre cliffs meet grey schist at the Heads of Groken [from O.N. grar, grey and kinn, cheek or steep slope].

Sea level rise since the last glacial period has left numerous shingle spits, bars, beaches and offshore rocks hence many occurrences of -ayre and stack [O.N. eyrr, sand, gravel or pebbles beside water, stakkr, a high sea rock ]. Examples of these are: Vallayre [from O.N. vadill, a shallow part in water] and Groni Stack [from O.N. groenn, green]. On the island of Bressay [from O.N. breidr, broad and øy, isle] a flat sheet of rock slopes down to the sea at Muckle Hell [from O.N. milk, large and hella, a flat rock].

The soft rock talc-magnesite, also known as steatite or soapstone, is referred to in Shetland as klebber, [from O.N. kle, a loom weight and berg, a rock] and has been exploited throughout Shetlandís history.  Neolithic potters ground down the rock to be used as an ingredient in pottery along with glacial clay, but the greatest exploitation of this material occurred in Norse times. Steatite was extensively quarried by Norse settlers to produce a whole range of functional and decorative objects from loom and fishing weights to cooking utensils to personal ornaments. Objects of Shetland steatite have been found in association with Norse settlements throughout Britain and Ireland suggesting a thriving export trade. 

The force of the sea acting on joints and faults in the cliffs have collapsed these in many dozens of places, often to spectacular effect. The resultant narrow inlets known as geos [from O.N. gjá, a cleft or chasm], almost all have their own descriptive name. Klebber Geo on north Mainland displays evidence of Viking workings as does Clibberswick [N. Klebergswik] on Unst, where talc is still being quarried today. The Kirn o da Slettans [O.N. slétta, a level field] is a blow-hole in the flat cliff-tops of the volcanic province of Eshaness [O.N. esja, partly soft stone and partly a hard flaky stone]. It is interesting to note that thick band of soft and heavily weathered material lies within the lava flows on Eshaness. Is this evidence for Viking geologists?

Anglicisation of Shetlandís place names has gathered pace since the end of the eighteenth century. In many cases the Ordnance Survey have assumed that local pronunciations of place-names were in mis-pronounced English rather than in a dialect of Norn and this has led to anglicised spellings on their maps. Mis-spelling has led to some amusing and contrary place-names (I will leave out the rude ones): Soond [N. sund, a channel] became Sound, Waas [O.N. vágr, a bay] became Walls and Moose-hol [N. Móshol, from O.N. mór, heath and hola, a hollow] became Mousehole. And who would think twice about sailing into Giggleswick ? not as funny as it sounds; it comes from the Old Norse word geigr, meaning danger.

In preparation of this article I have made use of the following references: 

Jakob Jakobsen The Place-names of Shetland

Jakob Jakobsen An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland

John Stewart Shetland Place-names

In this article, Old Norse words are indicated by the initials O.N. and Norn names by the initial N.  Return to article