From Starafjall to Starling Hill - Scottish Place-Name Society

254
From Starafjall to Starling Hill
Tuanabackan ON
Tuanabackan 1897 OSNB.
OSNB describes Tuanabackan as a “point of flat rocks and shingle”
north of Bay of Woodwick, E. ON bakki m in the sense ‘bank, rim
of land closest to the sea (5.5.1) is quite appropriate. The name as a
whole may be composed with a preposition þúfan á bakkinum ‘the
mound on the bank’ (see 8.3.3). The specific is more difficult to
explain if we presuppose a normal formation.
Tuffin ON?
Tuffin Ffn 1931.
A field in Binscarth. The ending -in suggests an ON formation with
the def. art. The name could possibly be a development of ON tuftin,
toftin f ‘the site of the buildings’ but the word is not otherwise assimilated
in uncompounded names; Tifter, Tufter, Tufta (cf. Aittit).
Tuna, Muckle and Peerie Sc
G. Lamb describes the localities as ledges in the cliffs on the Evie
coast, with grass growing on them. The present forms with the Sc
reciprocating specifics muckle/peerie ‘big/small’ are definitely Sc
formations (see 9.3.3). Tuna is a very curious place-name element,
however, and one suspects that this could be an adaptation of a form
of ON tó f ‘ledge or platform in a hillside’. As for the ending -na,
see the note under Queena 6.1.
Tween Burns Sc
A field in Lettaly, F. A Sc prepositional name, cf. the discussion in
8.3.3.
Vastray, /»vastrEi/ Point of Sc
Evie. HY 39 25.
A headland west of Hill of Dwarmo with a loch called Loch of Vastray
at the tip of it. The periphrastic formations are Sc. The specific
Vastray appears to be a compound (place-name) of ON origin, containing
gen. vaz, from vatn n ‘water; loch’. The second element is
uncertain.