The Hebrides are the largest archipelago in Scotland and the British Isles, off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrides.
These islands have a long history of occupation (dating back to the Mesolithic period), and the culture of the inhabitants has been successively influenced by the cultures of Celtic-speaking, Norse-speaking, and English-speaking peoples. This diversity is reflected in the various names given to the islands, which are derived from the different languages that have been spoken there at various points in their history.
The Hebrides are where much of Scottish Gaelic literature and Gaelic music has historically originated. Today, the economy of the islands is dependent on crofting, fishing, tourism, the oil industry, and renewable energy. The Hebrides have less biodiversity than mainland Scotland, but a significant number of seals and seabirds.
The islands have a combined area of , and, , a combined population of around 45,000.General Register Office for Scotland (28 November 2003) Occasional Paper No 10: Statistics for Inhabited Islands. (pdf) Retrieved 22 January 2011.
Geology, geography and climate
The Hebrides have a diverse geology, ranging in age from Precambrian strata that are amongst the oldest rocks in Europe, to Paleogene igneous intrusions.Rollinson, Hugh (September 1997). "Britain's oldest rocks" Geology Today. 13 no. 5 pp. 185–190.Gillen, Con (2003). Geology and landscapes of Scotland. Harpenden. Terra Publishing. Pages 44 and 142. Raised shore platforms in the Hebrides have been identified as strandflats, possibly formed during the Pliocene period and later modified by the Quaternary glaciations.
The Hebrides can be divided into two main groups, separated from one another by the Minch to the north and the Sea of the Hebrides to the south. The Inner Hebrides lie closer to mainland Scotland and include Islay, Jura, Skye, Mull, Raasay, Staffa and the Small Isles. There are 36 inhabited islands in this group. The Outer Hebrides form a chain of more than 100 islands and small skerries located about west of mainland Scotland. Among them, 15 are inhabited. The main inhabited islands include Lewis and Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, and Barra.
A complication is that there are various descriptions of the scope of the Hebrides. The Collins Encyclopedia of Scotland describes the Inner Hebrides as lying "east of the Minch". This definition would encompass all offshore islands, including those that lie in the sea lochs, such as and , which might not ordinarily be described as "Hebridean". However, no formal definition exists.Keay & Keay (1994) p. 507. Encyclopædia Britannica (1978) states: "Hebrides – group of islands of the west coast of Scotland extending in an arc between 55.35 and 58.30 N and 5.26 and 8.40 W." These coordinates include Gigha, St Kilda and everything up to Cape Wrath – although not North Rona.
In the past, the Outer Hebrides were often referred to as the Long Isle (). Today, they are also sometimes known as the Western Isles, although this phrase can also be used to refer to the Hebrides in general.
The Hebrides have a cool, temperate climate that is remarkably mild and steady for such a northerly latitude, due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. In the Outer Hebrides, the average temperature is 6 °C (44 °F) in January and 14 °C (57 °F) in the summer. The average annual rainfall in Lewis is , and there are between 1,100 and 1,200 hours of sunshine per annum (13%). The summer days are relatively long, and May through August is the driest period.Thompson (1968) pp. 24–26.
Etymology The earliest surviving written references to the islands were made circa 77 AD by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History: He states that there are 30 , and makes a separate reference to , which Watson (1926) concluded refers unequivocally to the Outer Hebrides. About 80 years after Pliny the Elder, in 140–150 AD, Ptolemy (drawing on accounts of the naval expeditions of ) writes that there are five (possibly meaning the Inner Hebrides) and .Breeze, David J. "The ancient geography of Scotland" in Smith and Banks (2002) pp. 11–13.Watson (1994) pp. 40–41Watson (1994) p. 38 Later texts in classical Latin, by writers such as , use the forms and .Louis Deroy & Marianne Mulon (1992) , Paris: Le Robert, article "Hébrides".
The name (used by Ptolemy) may be pre-Celtic. Ptolemy calls Islay "",Watson (1994) p. 37. and the use of the letter "p" suggests a Brythonic or Pictish tribal name, ,Watson (1994) p. 45. because the root is not Gaelic.Gammeltoft, Peder "Scandinavian Naming-Systems in the Hebrides – A Way of Understanding how the Scandinavians were in Contact with Gaels and Picts?" in Ballin Smith et al (2007) p. 487. Woolf (2012) has suggested that may be "an Irish attempt to reproduce the word phonetically, rather than by translating it", and that the tribe's name may come from the root , meaning "horse".Woolf, Alex (2012) Ancient Kindred? Dál Riata and the Cruthin . Academia.edu. Retrieved 21 January 2015. Watson (1926) also notes a possible relationship between and the ancient Irish Ulaid tribal name , and also the personal name of a king (recorded in the Silva Gadelica).
The names of other individual islands reflect their complex linguistic history. The majority are Norse or Gaelic, but the roots of several other names for Hebrides islands may have a pre-Celtic origin. Adomnán, a 7th-century abbot of Iona, records Colonsay as Colosus and Tiree as Ethica, and both of these may be pre-Celtic names.Watson (1994) p. 85-86. The etymology of Skye is complex and may also include a pre-Celtic root. Lewis is in Old Norse. Various suggestions have been made as to possible meanings of the name in Norse (for example, "song house"), (2003) p. 80. but the name is not of Gaelic origin, and the Norse provenance is questionable.
The earliest comprehensive written list of Hebridean island names was compiled by Donald Monro in 1549. This list also provides the earliest written reference to the names of some of the islands.
The derivations of all the inhabited islands of the Hebrides and some of the larger uninhabited ones are listed below.
Outer Hebrides Lewis and Harris is the largest island in Scotland and the third largest of the British Isles, after Great Britain and Ireland.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 262. It incorporates Lewis in the north and Harris in the south, both of which are frequently referred to as individual islands, although they are joined by a land border. The island does not have a single common name in either English or Gaelic and is referred to as "Lewis and Harris", "Lewis with Harris", "Harris with Lewis" etc. For this reason it is treated as two separate islands below.Thompson (1968) p. 13. The derivation of Lewis may be pre-Celtic (see above) and the origin of Harris is no less problematic. In the Ravenna Cosmography, Erimon may refer to Harris (or possibly the Outer Hebrides as a whole). This word may derive from the ( "desert".Megaw, J.V. S. and SIMPSON, D.A. (1960) "A short cist burial on North Uist and some notes on the prehistory of the Outer Isles in the second millennium BC" (pdf) p. 72 Proc Soc Antiq Scot. archaeologydataservice.ac.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2011. The origin of Uist () is similarly unclear.
Island Derivation Language Meaning Munro (1549) Modern Gaelic name Alternative Derivations Baleshare Gaelic east townHaswell-Smith (2004) p. 236. Barra Gaelic + Norse Finbar's islandMac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 17. Barray Old Gaelic barr, a summit. Benbecula Gaelic pennyland of the fords (2003) p. 19. "little mountain of the ford" or "herdsman's mountain" Berneray Norse Bjorn's island bear island Eriskay + Gaelic + Norse goblin or water nymph island Eriskeray Erik's island (2003) p. 46. Flodaigh Norse float islandMac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 50. Great Bernera Norse Bjorn's islandHaswell-Smith (2004) p. 218. Berneray-Moir bear island Grimsay Norse Grim's island Grimsay Norse Grim's island Harris ?"The Roman Map of Britain Maiona (Erimon) 7 Lougis Erimon Isles of Harris and Lewis, Outer Hebrides " romanmap.com. Retrieved 1 February 2011. Ancient Greek? desert? Harrey Ptolemy's . In Old Norse (and in modern Icelandic), a is a type of administrative district. (2003). Alternatives are the Norse , meaning "hills" and Gaelic meaning "the heights". Lewis Pre-Celtic? marshy Lewis Ptolemy's is literally "marshy". The Norse may mean "song house" – see above. North Uist English + Pre-Celtic? Ywst "Uist" may possibly be "corn island"Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 116. or "west" Scalpay Norse scallop island Scalpay of Harray Seana Bhaile Gaelic old township South Uist English + Pre-Celtic? See North Uist Vatersay? Norse water islandMac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 117. Wattersay fathers' island, priest island, glove island, wavy island
Inner Hebrides There are various examples of earlier names for Inner Hebridean islands that were Gaelic, but these names have since been completely replaced. For example, Adomnán records Sainea, Elena, Ommon and Oideacha in the Inner Hebrides. These names presumably passed out of usage in the Norse era, and the locations of the islands they refer to are not clear.Watson (1994) p. 93. As an example of the complexity: Rona may originally have had a Celtic name, then later a similar-sounding Norse name, and then still later a name that was essentially Gaelic again, but with a Norse "øy" or "ey" ending.Gammeltoft (2010) pp. 482, 486. (See Rona, below.)