Editing North Uist (section)

==Etymology==
In [[Donald Monro (Dean)|Donald Munro's]] ''A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland Called Hybrides'' of 1549, North Uist, [[Benbecula]] and [[South Uist]] are described as one island of ''Ywst'' (Uist). Starting in the south of this 'island', he described the division between South Uist and Benbecula where "the end heirof the sea enters, and cuts the countrey be ebbing and flowing through it". Further north of Benbecula he described North Uist as "this countrey is called Kenehnache of Ywst, that is in Englishe, the north head of Ywst".<ref name="monro-westernislands">''A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland Called Hybrides''; Monro, Donald, 1549</ref>

Some have taken the [[etymology]] of Uist from [[Old Norse]], meaning "west",<ref name=Smith/> much like [[Westray]] in [[Orkney]].<ref name="Thomas-p475-476">{{cite journal| author=Thomas, F. W. L.| title=Did the Northmen extirpate the Celtic Inhabitants of the Hebrides in the Ninth Century?| journal=Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot.| volume=11| pages=475–476}}</ref> Another speculated derivation of Uist from Old Norse is ''{{lang|non|Ívist}}'',<ref name=MunchGoss/> derived from ''{{lang|non|vist}}'' meaning "an abode, dwelling, domicile".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cleasby |first1=Richard |last2=Vigfusson |first2=Gudbrand |name-list-style=amp |title=An Icelandic–English dictionary |year=1874 |page=711 |publisher=Germanic Lexicon Project |url=http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0711.png |access-date=6 January 2008}}</ref>

A [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] etymology is also possible, with ''{{lang|gd|I-fheirste}}'' meaning "Crossings-island" or "Fords-island", derived from ''{{lang|gd|I}}'' meaning "island" and ''{{lang|gd|fearsad}}'' meaning "estuary, sand-bank, passage across at ebb-tide".<ref name="Thomas-p475-476"/><ref name="fearsaideag">{{cite web| url=http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MB2/mb17.html#fearsaideag | title=An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language| access-date=31 October 2007}}</ref> Place-names derived from ''{{lang|gd|fearsad}}'' include [[Fersit]], and [[Belfast]].<ref name="fearsaideag"/> {{lang|gd|Mac an Tàilleir}} (2003) suggests that a Gaelic derivation of ''Uist'' may be "corn island".<ref>Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 116</ref> However, whilst noting that the ''{{lang|non|-vist}}'' ending would have been familiar to speakers of [[Old Norse]] as meaning "dwelling", Gammeltoft (2007) says the word is "of non-Gaelic origin" and that it reveals itself as one of a number of "foreign place-names having undergone adaptation in Old Norse".<ref name="G2487">Gammeltoft, Peder  "Scandinavian Naming-Systems in the Hebrides—A Way of Understanding how the Scandinavians were in Contact with Gaels and Picts?" in Ballin Smith ''et al'' (2007) p. 487</ref> In contrast, Clancy (2018) has argued that ''Ívist'' itself is an Old Norse [[calque]] on an earlier Gaelic name, ''Ibuid'' or ''Ibdaig'', which corresponds to [[Ptolemy]]’s ''Eboudai''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clancy |first1=Thomas Owen |title=Hebridean connections: in Ibdone insula, Ibdaig, Eboudai, Uist |journal=The Journal of Scottish Name Studies |date=2018 |volume=12 |pages=27–40 |url=http://www.clanntuirc.co.uk/JSNS/V12/JSNS%2012%20Clancy.pdf |access-date=16 June 2020}}</ref>

Coates (2006) linked the names ''Uist'' and ''[[Ibiza]]'', an island in the Mediterranean, arguing for an origin in Semitic ''*bšm'' ("balsam") with the island-naming prefix ''*’y'', acknowledging the possibility of a name transfer and the name being subject to the influence of Norse ''ívist''.<ref name="coates">{{cite journal |last1=Coates |first1=Richard |title=A toponomastic contribution to the linguistic prehistory of the British Isles |date=2006 |pages=63–65 |url=https://www.snsbi.org.uk/Nomina_articles/Nomina_35_Coates.pdf |access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref>