Tarbert () is a place name in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

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

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) 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 count ...

. 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 or

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

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

" today. Both these words derive from two

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

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 sepa ...

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 Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

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 * East Tarbert Bay and West Tarbert Bay on the Isle of Gigha * Tarbert, Jura, on Jura * Loch Tarbert, Jura, on the west coast of the island of Jura *

Tarbert, Kintyre Tarbert (, ; more fully ''Tairbeart Loch Fìne'' "Tarbert fLoch Fyne" to distinguish it from Tarbert, other Tarberts) is a village in the west of Scotland, in the Argyll and Bute council areas of Scotland, council area. It is built at the h ...

the town at the northern end of the

Kintyre Kintyre (, ) 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 Loch Tarbert, Argyll, East and West Loch Tarbert, Argyll, West Loch Tarbert in t ...

peninsula,

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

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

in Argyll *

East Loch Tarbert, Argyll East Loch Tarbert, Argyll is a small sea loch on the eastern side of the Kintyre Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. It is a part of the much larger Loch Fyne. The village of Tarbert is distributed along the shores of the loch. ...

also in Argyll * Tarbert, Harris, a ferry port in the

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides ( ) or Western Isles ( , or ), sometimes known as the Long Isle or Long Island (), is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the longest archipelago in the British Isles. The islands form part ...

* West Loch Tarbert, 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 (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Harris * East Loch Tarbert also by Harris in the Western Isles of Scotland * Tarbert, on Canna * Tarbert Bay, on the island of Canna * Tarbert, on

Salen Bay Salen may refer to: Places *Salen, Ardnamurchan, a village on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the highland region of Scotland. *Salen, Mull, a village on the island of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland *Sälen, in Dalarna, Sweden Surname * Bea ...

, Highland * Glen Tarbert, between

Loch Linnhe Loch Linnhe ( ) is a sea loch in the Highland Council area, in the west of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe ...

and Loch Sunart * Tarbert Hill, above the town of

West Kilbride West Kilbride () 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 adjoining districts of Seamill and P ...

* East Tarbert Bay and West Tarbert Bay on the Mull of Galloway

Ireland

* Tarbert, County Kerry, a ferry port on the estuary of the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

. * Tarbert, County Laois, a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

Canada

* Tarbert, Ontario

References