Tarbert ( gd, An Tairbeart) is a place name in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island.

Etymology

All placenames that variously show up as ''tarbert'', ''tarbat'' or ''tarbet'' in their anglicised form derive from either the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...

''an tairbeart'', commonly translated as "the

" today. Both these words derive from two

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

elements, ''tar'' "across" and a nominalised form of the verb ''ber'' "to carry". The in ''tar'' was assimilated to as a result of being next to the historically

palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...

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.

Examples

Places named Tarbert include:

Scotland

* Tarbert, Gigha, on

Gigha Gigha (; gd, Giogha, italic=yes; sco, Gigha) or the Isle of Gigha (and formerly Gigha Island) is an island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of 163 people. The climate is ...

* Tarbert, Jura, on Jura *

Tarbert, Kintyre Tarbert ( gd, An Tairbeart, , or ''Tairbeart Loch Fìne'' to distinguish it from other places of the same name) is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council area. It is built around East Loch Tarbert, an inlet of Loch Fy ...

the town at the northern end of the

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately nor ...

peninsula,

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

Tarbert, Harris Tarbert () is the main community on Harris in the Western Isles of Scotland. The name means "isthmus", "crossing point" or "portage", in Gaelic. The isthmus, between the sea lochs West Loch Tarbert and East Loch Tarbert, joins south Harris to no ...

, a ferry port in the

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

* Tarbert, on Canna * Tarbert, on Salen Bay, Highland *

Loch Tarbert, Jura Loch Tarbert is a sea loch on the west coast of Jura, an island in Scotland. As the name Tarbert suggests, it comes close to cutting the island in half. References Sea lochs of Scotland Lochs of Argyll and Bute Loch ''Loch'' () is ...

, on the west coast of the island of Jura *

West Loch Tarbert West Loch Tarbert ( gd, Loch A Siar) is a sea loch that separates the northern and southern parts of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. A small isthmus joins these two areas, on which is to be found the village of Tarbert. The loch contai ...

, an inlet between

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

South Harris Harris ( gd, Na Hearadh, ) is the southern and more mountainous part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Although not an island itself, Harris is often referred to in opposition to the ''Isle of Lewis'' as t ...

* East Loch Tarbert also by Harris in the Western Isles of Scotland *

West Loch Tarbert, Argyll West Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a long and narrow sea loch on the western side of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. Geography The head of the loch lies near the village of Tarbert and it reaches the open sea at Ardpatrick Point some distant. T ...

in Argyll *

East Loch Tarbert, Argyll East Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a small sea loch on the eastern side of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland. It is a part of the much larger Loch Fyne. The village of Tarbert lies along the shores of the loch, which is separated from West Loch T ...

also in Argyll * Glen Tarbert, between Loch Linnhe and

Loch Sunart Loch Sunart (Scottish Gaelic ) is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. Loch Sunart is bounded to the north by the Sunart district of Ardnamurchan and to the south by the Morvern district. At long, it is the longest sea loch in the Highlan ...

* Tarbert Hill, above the town of

West Kilbride West Kilbride ( gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Iar) is a village and historic parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on the west coast by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the Firth of Clyde to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran. West Kilbride and adjoinin ...

* Tarbert Bay, on the island of Canna * Loch Tarbert, a sea loch on the island of Jura * East Tarbert Bay and West Tarbert Bay on the Isle of Gigha * East Tarbert Bay and West Tarbert Bay on the

Mull of Galloway The Mull of Galloway ( gd, Maol nan Gall, ; ) is the southernmost point of Scotland. It is situated in Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, at the end of the Rhins of Galloway peninsula. The Mull has one of the last remaining sections of natur ...

Ireland

Tarbert, County Kerry Tarbert (, from an Old Irish term meaning "draw-boat", i.e. portage) is a town in the north of County Kerry, with woodland to the south and the Shannon estuary to the north. It lies on the N69 coast road that runs along the estuary from Li ...

, a ferry port on the estuary of the River Shannon in County Kerry. * Tarbert, County Laois, a

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

in County Laois

Canada

* Tarbert, Ontario

References