Tarbert (Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: An Tairbeart) is a place name in Scotland and Ireland. Places named Tarbert are characterised by a narrow strip of land, or isthmus. This can be where two lochs nearly meet, or a causeway out to an island.
| Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scots Gaelic | An Tairbeart | |
| Pronunciation: | in Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic pronounced as /ən̪ˠ ˈt̪ʰaɾʲapərˠʃt̪/ | |
| Irish | An Tairbeart | |
| Pronunciation: | in Irish pronounced as /ənˠ ˈt̪ˠaɾʲəbʲəɾˠt̪ˠ/[1] | |
All placenames that variously show up as tarbert, tarbat or tarbet in their anglicised form derive from either the Irish or Scottish Gaelic an tairbeart, commonly translated as "the isthmus" today.[2]
Both these words derive from two Old Irish elements, tar "across" and a nominalised form of the verb ber "to carry".[3] The pronounced as //ɾ// in tar was assimilated to pronounced as //ɾʲ// as a result of being next to the historically palatal pronounced as //bʲ// 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.[4]
Places named Tarbert include: