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Norse shielings in Scotland: An interdisciplinary study of setr/sætr and ærgi-names Ryan Foster Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2018 Abstract This is a study of the Old Norse (hereafter abbreviated to ON) setr/sætr and ærgi place-names in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Scotland. The elements setr/sætr and ærgi all have a general meaning of a place for summer grazing in the hills, referred to in Scotland as a shieling. However, the related terms setr and sætr, are employed as shielings names in Norway and are indistinguishable from each other in Britain. It is only in areas of Scandinavian settlement in Britain and the Faroes that ærgi is found to signify a shieling site. The element ærgi was adopted as a loanword from either, the Scottish Gaelic àirigh or Irish áirge, both of which can also have the meaning of a shieling. What is unusual about this adoption is it is rare for a more prestigious speech community (ON in this instance) to adopt a word from, what is believed to have been, a less prestigious language at the time (Gaelic). Various scholars have looked at this question, but none have adequately explained the reason for the adoption. Much of the previous research has relied on comparisons of local farming systems that were recorded many centuries after the Viking Age. Farming techniques from the fifteenth to twentieth century are unlikely to adequately represent the agricultural situation in the Viking Age due to different social imperatives. The overall question I want to answer in this thesis, is why Scandinavian settlers in Scotland adopted ærgi, when they already had corresponding ON terms for a shieling. The distribution of ON settlement names is one of the main pieces of evidence to prove Scandinavian settlement in Scotland during this period. This is especially true of secondary settlements, such as shielings, which rarely feature in early documentation. The language shift to either Gaelic or Scots-English is likely to have led to the loss of many ON place-names, 1 but will also have fossilised some names in the landscape. The location of these settlement names can give an understanding of how Scandinavian settlers utilised the landscape and highlight differences in the use of different shieling names. This thesis is interdisciplinary in nature, but one based on cultural and historical geography. The first element of the study is to understand why shielings developed in Scandinavian society and if there are identifiable environmental factors behind their location. Studies in Norway suggest shielings developed as a response to environmental constraints to agriculture and social pressures to produce a surplus. A locational study of shielings in areas that were the likely origin of Viking settlers in Norway, highlighted seven key locations for shielings. These locational factors were then compared to setr/sætr-names in Scotland. The locations were broadly similar to Norwegian shielings, however, Scottish setr/sætr-names were more likely to be situated in slightly more fertile locations than Norwegian examples studied. A comparison of Scottish setr/sætr-names with ærgi-names also revealed the latter to be more likely found on even richer grazing land. The conclusion being, setr/sætr had a more general meaning of a place for summer grazing, whereas, ærgi was specifically linked to richer soils and richer grazing land. This link may relate to an intensive dairy economy, something which is known from contemporary documentary sources from the Gaelic world, but has not been proven in pre-Viking Age Norway. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Arne Kruse, Dr Alan Macniven and Dr Doreen Waugh for offering me the opportunity to undertake this research. Their advice, support, patience, good humour, and encouragement has been instrumental in the completion this project. This thesis would not have happened without the financial support of the Northern Scholars scholarship, I cannot express how grateful I am to the Northern Scholars for this opportunity. I wish to thank Professor Botolv Helleland and Professor Tom Schmidt, from the Seksjon for navnegransking (‘Section for Place Name Studies’) at the University of Oslo, who made me so welcome and looked after me so well while visiting the archives. I would also wish to express thanks the numerous scholars from various institutions and societies who kindly gave up their time to answer my queries and offer advice. I am grateful for the award of a Mobility Grant from the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), which gave me the opportunity to spend a month in Norway completing research. Likewise, the Thomas Marcus Huser Fieldwork Fund kindly awarded me a grant to conduct research in Caithness. The University of Edinburgh’s Principal’s Go Abroad Fund and the Historical Geography Research Group also awarded me grants that allowed me the opportunity to present papers at conferences. I would finally wish to thank my family for the love and support during my studies. I would especially like to thank my parents John and Lola, who went beyond the call of parental duty, to allow me to finish this thesis, and my aunt Jean and Uncle Ramsay who offered support at a crucial moment. Lastly, I wish to thank and beg forgiveness from my children, Nia, Eve and Faye, for putting up with their father’s obsession and “holidays” and “day trips” that just happened to be Viking sites, with good humour and ready smiles. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 7 ABBREVIATIONS 15 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 General Introduction 16 1.2 Definitions 20 1.3 The source language of ærgi 21 1.4 Language borrowing and language contact theories 24 1.5 Literature review 31 1.6 Geographical extent of the study 44 1.7 Linguistic designation 48 1.8 Ethnic designations 49 1.9 Temporal considerations 52 1.10 Place-name chronology 53 1.11 Aims of the thesis and thesis structure 54 CHAPTER 2. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 2. Sources 57 2.2 Archaeology 64 2.3 Place-names 73 2.4 Migration 79 2.5 Statistical method 81 2.6 Settlement location 84 2.7 Vegetation selection by livestock 97 2.8 Problems of macro and micro-scale studies 103 2.9 Settlement zones used in this study 105 2.10 Data collection method 112 CHAPTER 3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHIELINGS IN NORWAY 3.1 Introduction 127 3.2 Aims of the Chapter 128 3.3.1 Geography 130 3.3.2 Landscape 132 3.3.3 Climate 132 3.4 Historical Background 137 3.5.1 Shielings in Norway 138 4 3.6 Definition 146 3.7 Literature Review 152 3.7.1 Ethnographic studies 152 3.7.2 Archaeology 156 3.7.3 Paleo-environmental reconstruction 164 3.8 Methodology 166 3.9 Physical Drivers of Transhumance and Shieling Use 174 3.9.1 Glaciation 174 3.9.2 Soils 179 3.9.3 Biogeography 181 3.10 Cultural Drivers of Transhumance and Shieling Use 185 3.10.1 The development of the cultural landscape 185 3.10.2 Introduction of farming 186 3.10.3 Cereal cultivation 188 3.10.4 Development of an infield-outfield system 189 3.10.5 Longhouses and cattle stalling 192 3.10.6 Winter fodder 195 3.10.7 Livestock selection 197 3.10.8 Scandinavian society 199 3.11 Topographical survey 206 3.12 Discussion of results 223 3.13 Shieling locations 228 3.14 Conclusion 233 3.15 Distribution maps 240 CHAPTER 4. CASE STUDIES OF SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENT: ENVIRONMENTAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 4.1 Case Study 1: The Western Isles and Skye 248 4.1.1 Location 249 4.1.2 Geology and topography 250 4.1.3 Climate 253 4.1.4 Vegetation 254 4.1.5 Linguistic situation 256 4.1.6 Place-names 256 4.1.7 Archaeology 259 4.1.8 Norse shielings in Zone 1 280 4.1.9 Summary and conclusions 287 4.2 Case Study 2: Shetland and the Faroes 289 4.2.1 Introduction 289 4.2.2 Location 292 5 4.2.3 Pre-landnám history 295 4.2.4 The physical environment 298 4.2.5 The Scandinavian landnám in the Viking Age 312 4.2.6 Farming economy 318 4.2.7 Shielings 322 4.2.8 Summary and conclusions 329 CHAPTER 5. SETR-NAMES AND THE SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENT IN SCOTLAND 5.1 Introduction 331 5.2 Literature review 332 5.3 Historical background to the Scandinavian settlement 346 5.4 Identification of setr-names in Scotland 354 5.5 Distribution of setr-names 364 5.6 Topographical survey 381 5.7 Discussion 397 5.8 Conclusions 414 CHAPTER 6: ÆRGI-NAMES IN SCOTLAND AND THE FAROES 6.1 Introduction 417 6.2 Definition of ON ærgi 419 6.3 General distribution Pattern of ærgi-names 422 6.4 Identification of ærgi-names 423 6.5 Distribution of ærgi-names in Scotland 429 6.6 The language contact situation in Scotland 439 6.7 Topographical survey 465 6.8 Discussion 489 6.9 Conclusion 495 CHAPTER 7.