Tarbert () is a place name in Scotland and Ireland. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or isthmus. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island.
Etymology + Pronunciation Language Name PronunciationScots Gaelic An TairbeartIrish An Tairbeart Foclóir Póca An Gúm 1992
All placenames that variously show up as tarbert, tarbat or tarbet in their anglicised form derive from either the Irish or Scottish Gaelic an tairbeart, commonly translated as "the isthmus" today.Dwelly, E. The Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary 1901
Both these words derive from two Old Irish elements, tar "across" and a nominalised form of the verb ber "to carry".MacBain, A. (1911) An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language Stirling. Eneas MacKay. 1982 edition by Gairm . The in tar was assimilated to as a result of being next to the historically palatal in Old Irish, causing the change in spelling from tar to tair-. So the literal translation would be an "across-carrying". The reason for this is that all tarberts are in fact located at or near old portage sites.
In English language spellings the first syllable "tar" has generally remained constant but the second syllable "bert" has variously been spelled as "bart", "bert" "bat", "bad" etc."Tarbert History: Who Named it, 'Tarbert'?" Tarbert.info. Retrieved 13 September 2008.
Examples Places named Tarbert include:
Scotland Tarbert, Gigha, on Gigha East Tarbert Bay and West Tarbert Bay on the Isle of Gigha Tarbert, Jura, on Jura Loch Tarbert, Jura, on the west coast of the island of Jura Tarbert, Kintyre the town at the northern end of the Kintyre peninsula, Argyll West Loch Tarbert, Argyll in Argyll East Loch Tarbert, Argyll also in Argyll Tarbet, Argyll also in Argyll, on the bank of Loch Lomond Tarbert, Harris, a ferry port in the Western Isles West Loch Tarbert, an inlet between North and South Harris East Loch Tarbert also by Harris in the Western Isles of Scotland Tarbert, on Canna Tarbert Bay, on the island of Canna Tarbert, on Salen Bay, Highland Glen Tarbert, between Loch Linnhe and Loch Sunart Tarbert Hill, above the town of West Kilbride East Tarbert Bay and West Tarbert Bay on the Mull of Galloway
Ireland Tarbert, County Kerry, a ferry port on the estuary of the River Shannon in County Kerry. Tarbert, County Laois, a townland in County Laois
Canada Tarbert, Ontario
See also Tarbert (disambiguation) Tarbet (disambiguation) Tarbat Loch Torridon, the root of the name having a similar meaning to "tarbert" Eday, an Orkney island which has a name derived from the Old Norse eið, which also means "isthmus".
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