Scots Gaelic?

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Does anyone know a bit of Scots Gaelic?

I'm having trouble with a name: Ash Geo Mor, the name of a shallow cove, or possibly a sea stack, or skerry, near the village of Lybster in Caithness.

Here it is:

http://streetmap.co.uk/place/Reisgill_Burn_in_Highland_43557...

You have to zoom in one step, and then move your view of the map to the east, to see it.

I believe, without much confidence, that the last two words are geòdha mor, a big rocky cove, but haven't a clue what the "ash" means. Possibly it's actually Norwegian, considering the location, but the rest sounds Gaelic enough.

If it were Old Norwegian, "Ash" might represent "askr" (ash), and refer either to a spear or a bowl, as both were made of ash wood. Of course, this ambiguity isn't any help at all in deciding whether it's the island (skerry) because of its narrow shape, or the cove, which can be thought of as a bowl.

But then, what do I know?

Thanks so much for reading this, even if you don't know the answer.

Liobhan

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terrynaut's picture

I've nosed around and found a website that might help.

http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/

I found a definition of geo on the site that I think fits. It says that a geo is a creek or inlet of the sea with steep rocky sides.

Good luck.

- Terry