The book Arran; - Cook Clan

APPENDIX D
NORSE PLACE-NAMES OF ARRAN, GROUPED UNDER THEIR
OLD NORSE, i.e. ICELANDIC DERIVATIVES.
By Robert L. Bremner, M.A., B.L.
O.-N. Stem. Modern Name. Ancient Spellings. Derivation and Meaning.
A = rivei-(pronounced
aw ; in
Mod. Icel.jOw).
36ti
lorsa. Blaeu's Map (pub.
in Amsterdam, 1654
founded on Timothy
Font's description
and representing
name-sounds circa
1600). Versa. Pennant
(1772) Jorsa.
;
HjiJrsn = sword river
(Hjorr, gen. hjarar and
hjors, sword). There is
no Hjbrsd in Iceland ;
but there is a little island
in the west, Hjiirsey,
where lived Oddny,
'Isle-candle,' the maiden
whom Bjorn the Hitdale
champion loved and lost.
Her father Thorkell was
son of Dufgus the Rich,
and therefore, like many
Iceland settlers, had
Celtic blood in his veins.
A possible alternative
is Thjorsa = bull river
{t>j6rr, a bull), the name
of a well-known river
in South Iceland. Dr.
Currie says there is a
word jor which means
a horse, and suggests
'horse-river.' This is
a mistake. There is no
such word. The word
jor is used poetically for
a stallion ; but its genitive
is notj6rs butyo*, and
could not produce lorsa.
It is not found in composition
with d in leelaud.