Luskentyre, Kintyre, Other words ending in 'tyre'. TOT.

[Wiggy]

Please you Scots people . . . . . .

What is the meaning of 'tyre' which appears often enough in Scottish place names for me to think it probably means/relates to something.

I have tried googling but haven't come up with an answer - yet.

Wiggy

[Forfarian]

Interesting question.

Luskentyre in Gaelic is Losgaintir, supposedly from lios-cinn-tir, meaning 'headland fort', although there is no trace or local knowledge of a fort at the headland. Lios means an enclosure; cinn means head and tir means land, so it looks plausible if you consider a fort as a sort of enclosure.

Kintyre looks like the last two elements, in other words 'the head of the land', tir again meaning land.

Where I am struggling a bit is thinking offhand of anywhere else ending in '-tyre'

The surname MacIntyre won't do, because that is from Gaelic Mac an-t-saoir, which means 'son of the carpenter'. The 's' gets lost in the genitive case.

Tyre occurs at the start of some Aberdeenshire place names: Tyrie or Tyries, both thought to be from Gaelic tirean, meaning a small piece of land; but Tyrebagger, also in Aberdeenshire, may be from Tulach Bac Airidhe.

The island of Tiree is Tiriodh, which means 'land of corn'.

So in most, but not necessarily all, cases 'tyre' in a place name is from Gaelic tir and means 'land'.

[Rosinish]

"Where I am struggling a bit is thinking offhand of anywhere else ending in '-tyre'"

I can only think of 1 other, Altyre.

Annie

[Wiggy]

Maybe I got a bit carried away with Kintyre and  Mull of Kintyre and Luskentyre.  And one hears a lot about the Mull of Kintyre - don't know why but it springs to mind easily.

So thank you - I will go with 'land' - and look around for other names ending in 'tyre'   

I see names in other countries which have similar endings and think . . 'that has to mean/describe something'.

[ I suspect many of the Maori names are descriptive.   
Also our Aboriginal names for places - that's what set me thinking]

Wiggy

 

[Forfarian]

I should have thought of Altyre - I was there* just the other day! Perhaps because the stress is on the first syllable so it sounds like AL-ter (AL as in 'Pal') whereas in Kintyre, Luskentyre and MacIntyre it's on the last syllable.

*the Altyre in Moray, that is. There is another Altyre in Easter Ross, which may even have the stress on the last syllable. I have never heard it pronounced.

Accoring to Matheson's The Place Names of Elginshire, it's from Gaelic ail (though this word is not in my Gaelic-English dictionary), a rock or cliff or high ground, and Celtic/Pictish tref, modern Gaelic trebhair, a dwelling or residence, and he makes of this a dwelling sheltered by rising ground. This may suit the Altyre near Balblair in Easter Ross, but it isn't an apt name for the original site of Altyre in Moray, which is not really near anything significant in the way of rising ground. 

Another online source suggests that the first part is allt, meaning a burn or small river, but offers no suggestion about the second element.

[Rosinish]

one hears a lot about the Mull of Kintyre - don't know why but it springs to mind easily.

A famous Beatle bought a property there & sang a lovely song about it too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH7I-WV0LZA

"Another online source suggests that the first part is allt, meaning a burn or small river, but offers no suggestion about the second element."

Possibly a shortened combination of both i.e. land (by the) river/burn?

Annie

Add...Forfarian, I may not have thought of it either had there not been a street near me named Altyre 

[GR2]

Badentyre in the parish of Monquhitter. "The Place-names of Aberdeenshire" says it is either from bad an t-saoir, tree clump of the carpenter; or else the second part is from an todhair, a place where cattle were kept in fold.

I suppose it's a case of finding early records of the names where they may be closer to their original form. Certainly with Kintyre it is "headland", with tir = land.

[Wiggy]

(And I've remembered where I saw many places with the same part of speech - it was Malaysia where Kuala features in many names - but I looked that up and it means confluence.  Kulal Lumpur  Muddy confluence)

I like to know these things - it helps with the geography!  One day it might even help me in a quiz!    

Thanks for you help . . and if you think of any other names where 'tyre' occurs meaning land, just add them here!   

Wiggy

[Forfarian]

Auchtertyre/Ochtertyre has just sprung to mind

Auch or ach is usually from achadh, meaning 'field' so achadh a-t-saoir 'field of the carpenter' or achad an todhair 'field of the cattle fold' would be possible.

My Gaelic dictionary says todhar means cattle dung or a field manured by dung, or bleach, or a bleachfield.

James B Johnston's Place Names of Scotland (not now regarded as authoritative) says it is from uachdar tire, the 'upper part of the land'. Ochtertyre in Strathearn is on elevated ground above the flood plain, but Auchtertyre in Lochalsh is on a small patch of low-lying land only 10 metres above the sea, with

On the other hand, the Strathearn web site http://www.strathearn.com and Ainmean-Aite na h-Alba www.ainmean-aite.scot both use this version.

There are other Auchtertyres.

One near Elgin, a farm on flat low-lying land. Donald Matheson's The Place Names of Elginshire gives this too as 'upper land'.

There's one in Strath Fillan between Crianlarich and Tyndrum, part way up a hillside, and one near Newtyle in Angus, also part way up a hillside.

And there's an Ochtertyre on the flood plain of the River Teith near Stirling.

I suspect that not all of these A(u)/Ochtertyres are derived from the same original Gaelic.