v1.0
Published 01/10/24
beirgh f. [ˈb̥eɾ͡ʲej], [ˈb̥øɾ͡ʲøj], gen. beirgh(e) (-[ə]), occasionally beirghidh f. [ˈb̥eɾ͡ʲe-ɩ], [ˈb̥øɾ͡ʲø-ɩ], ‘promontory, usually with a bare sheer face, sometimes with a narrow neck to land’, is from ON bergi, dative of berg nt. ‘mountain, hill, rock’, cf. Scots berg [bærg] ‘mountain, rock, rocky tract’ < ON berg (Jakobsen 1928); the phonetics are regular.
Oftedal (1980, 173); Cox (1989, 5; 1991, 492; 1992, 140; 1994, 31); McDonald (2009, 341; 2015, 141).
Although apparently only attested in place-names, e.g. A’ Bheirgh, Rubha na Beirghe (Cox 1998; 2022, 519–22), SG beirgh is a loan-word nonetheless.