Iona (name) explained
Iona is a given name that is taken from the Scottish island of Iona,[1] [2] which has a particular significance in the history of Christianity. The derivation of this island name itself is uncertain. The earliest forms of the name enabled place-name scholar William J. Watson to state that it originally meant something like "yew-place".[3]
The modern English name of the island comes from the Irish Ioua,[4] which was either Adomnán's attempt to make the Gaelic name fit Latin grammar or a genuine derivative from Ivova ("yew place").[5] Ioua eventually became Iona, first attested from c.1274,[6] and results from a transcription mistake resulting from the similarity of "n" and "u" in Insular Minuscule.[7]
Other speculative suggestions have been made for the derivation such as an Old Norse origin from Hiōe meaning "island of the den of the brown bear".[8]
Iona is also the Russian form of the male name Jonah.
References
- Book: Fraser, James E. . James E. Fraser (historian) . From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 . The New Edinburgh History of Scotland . 1 . 2009 . Edinburgh University Press . Edinburgh . 978-0-7486-1232-1.
- Web site: Mac an Tàilleir . Iain . 2003 . Placenames . 67 . PDF . Edinburgh . Scottish Parliament . 20 June 2012.
- Watson, W.J. (1926) The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland. Reprinted with an introduction by Simon Taylor. Birlinn: Edinburgh, 2004.
Notes and References
- Web site: "Iona" . Baby Name Wizard. 29 January 2012.
- Web site: "Iona". Baby Names World. 29 January 2012.
- Watson (1926) pp. 87 - 90
- Mac an Tàilleir (2003) p. 67.
- Watson, Celtic Place-Names, p. 88
- Broderick. George. 2013. Some island names in the former 'Kingdom of the Isles': a reappraisal. Journal of Scottish Name Studies. 7. 1–28: 13, fn.30. 2018-01-21. 2015-04-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20150408212824/http://www.clanntuirc.co.uk/JSNS/V7/JSNS7%20Broderick.pdf. dead.
- Fraser (2009) p. 71.
- Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 80