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| I am rather intrigued by the dearth of knowledge regarding the etymology of "St Kilda". As noted elsewhere here, even the sages of Oxford seem unwilling to speculate, designating the place-name origins as simply "obscure". True enough, but not particularly edifying. Here in Australia, of course, the name "St Kilda" is uttered by more people on a daily basis than anywhere else in the world, it being the name of one of Melbourne's oldest and most famous suburbs. This contemporary usage is exported, as well, by those Australians travelling and living abroad, who share the widely-held passion for Australian football. The St Kilda Football Club is one of the oldest football clubs in the world - in 1896 it was one of the clubs that formed the original Victorian Football League (now the Australian Football League). Few Australians, however, seem to have ever pondered the origin of the name St Kilda, to the extent that it has vexed me! From my survey of the web, those who are willing to hazard a guess generally favour one of two theories, that either the name is based on some reference to the Culdees, or is derived in similar fashion to names like Kilmeny or Kildellig, from the Gaelic "kill", for church. Translated loosely, this gives us interpretations such as "Place of the Holy Culdees", or "Place of the Holy Church". Both theories are quite reasonable, even attractive, but this is the normal state of play in the treacherous and boggy field that is place-name etymology. And neither one of these theories has ever seemed satisfactory to me. Nothing I have managed to find on the activities of the Culdees suggests any particular association with St Kilda. Surely any link would be a fairly well-known fact, and as a result there would most probably be no doubt whatsoever about the origin of the name. As for "Holy Church, this is such a common and generic term, it obviously can't be ruled out, but without some specific supportive evidence in historical records, it has always seemed to me to be a safe fallback position, at best. An idea occured to me when I was watching a documentary on the history of the Vikings, and found myself alerted by the mention of the island of Roskilde. "Kilde" is Danish for spring, I learned, and was reminded of the the Norse term "keld" that I had seen mentioned in various ancient place-name articles I'd found on the web, in names such as Threlkeld and Dunkeld. I was surprised, though, to find no speculation at all on an etymological link for St Kilda in this word, not even in order to dismiss it. This word seems to me to give rise to not just one, but at least two possible derivations. My Suggestions =========== "kilde/keld" as a root word seems to be at least as valid as "kill", and I understand that one feature of the island is the existence of a burn leading to the original village site, a burn that is sourced by a number of springs. Such simple geographical features are a very common source of placenames, of course. It seems to be a much more likely origin than "Holy Church". Another possibility also springs to mind (if you will pardon my pun!). I have never visited this part of the world but have formed a strong impression based on the various descriptions of the island's geography - in particular the regular reference to its striking and precipitous cliffs. The spray formed by the sea beating against these must be quite a sight in even moderate weather, let alone at those times when tide and current are aligned to maximise the effect. I imagine it must regularly produce a rather spetacular display. Is it not possible, then, that for most newcomers or passers-by, the very first imression of St Kilda on the horizon would not be one of land at all, but of water, the tremendous bursts of sea spray emanating from the island's cliffs might well be visible on the horizon long before any solid rock could be discerned. The sight might well give the appearance of a set of many fountains that apparently rising up from the very sea itself. In Danish, "kilde" means not just spring, but also fountain, so it could easily be described as "God's Fountains". Imagine a hypothetical scene in "Batman and Robin" (the Danish edition). The intrepid duo have tracked down the nefarious Joker to a remote far-flung rock in the North Sea, and as they approach it in the Batplane, Robin sees the fountains of sea spray on the horizon. Excitedly, he exclaims: "Sankte kilde, Batman!!!!" Now I am of course aware that this is pure speculation, and am quite prepared to learn that it is in fact tosh, if that does turn out to be the case. On the other hand, if anybody would agree the theory had some merit, I would of course be delighted! Like the more prosaic idea of a reference to the springs that feed the burn, this idea also is based on some remarkable feature of the place, and that's always strong supporting evidence for an etymological connection. Regards Jim White Canberra, Australia Reply | with quote | Posted by Dr Memory 7th May 2006ce 04:44 |
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