Norman Tulloch wrote: > Tuck wrote: >> All >> >> If "muckle" means big, then what does "flugga" mean, as in Muckle >> Flugga, the northernmost point in the UK? > > In "The Dictionary of Scottish Place Names", Mike Darton has the following: > > "*Muckle Flugga* [Shetland] 'Large (mikill, ON) cliffs (flugga, ON)" > > ON, of course, means Old Norse. > > Norman Tulloch > A Wikipedia article contains this: The name comes from Old Norse, Mikla Flugey, meaning "large steep-sided island". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckle_Flugga Since Muckle Flugga is a small island, that seems an odd interpretation. I should think the "muckle" refers to the size of the cliffs rather than of the island itself. However, it certainly seems possible that the "a" ending of Flugga means "island". (Compare with Sanday, the sandy island, Westray, the western island, etc, where the "ay" means "island". The "y" that is now part of these spellings was often omitted in the past.) Incidentally, much further south, just off the Mull of Kintyre, there's an island called Sanda. It's often referred to as "the Isle of Sanda" or "Sanda Island". Somewhat tautological terms, these — "the Isle of Sandy Island" or "Sandy Island Island"! Norman Tulloch