Beveridge gives us a tentative ‘perhaps vargr-ey or ‘outlaw island’’, this being based on ON vargr = ‘wolf’, with the meaning then moving on to ‘outlaw’. This is getting towards the poetical so I remain unconvinced.
An obvious solution is a reflex of ON vágr = ‘bay’ with the plural nominative fitting best ON vágar. This would then require metathesis (swapping around) to produce várag ey = ‘bays island’, a decent topographical fit however I do not like the quantity of the initial vowel, one might expect á>oa, and I can find no other examples of metathesis of ‘r’ and ‘g’.
On the OS 2nd edition mapping, there are 25 place-names on the W coast of Scotland ending in -gay. They are all shown both on the map and in the table below. They all fall on or very close to the Uist island chain. In the modern mapping these have transformed in their Gaelicized form to -gaigh, -gaidh or -geigh.
All bar the two Pabbay names and the northern Benbecula one have Gaelicized to Lingeigh. The other three have remained as Lingay on the Modern OS mapping. The fact the northern Lingay on Benbecula is not Gaelicized is probably an omission although the island is not clearly covered in heather, a feature shared by only of the other Lingay islands. These two islands are similar in size, both have been cultivated and are both very close to the shore. See below for a possible interpretation.
The island interpretation is problematic with the two Pabbay names. The solution here however is clear. One of those names is Lingay Burn. ON lyng á = ‘heather river’ would produce Lingay and here a tautologous ‘burn’ has been added. It is an important feature, the longest stream on Pabbay and runs below the township Baile-lingay .
Langay must come from ON lang ey = ‘long island’ which works well topographically. It has Gaelicized to Langeigh.
Longay probably comes via the same route but is not so obviously long and has remained as Longay on the Modern OS mapping. Lingay has been proposed as another name for this island.
Mingulay is thought to have Norse roots meaning ‘main hill island’ or ‘narrow hill island’, although I am unsure of this derivation. The latter would be a perfect description of Mingay and the name could be formed by contraction of Mingulay..
The way the Gaelicization process works Horragay could have come from Torragay matching the two other Torogay we already have. The Gaelicized version is Horragaigh.
All the following have Gaelicized to end in -gaigh or -gaidh, two similar sounding endings. Without Vorogay, the following specifics would cover all the remaining nine place-names, two of which it is worth noting are not islands: All share a farming theme.
• ON mara = ‘of mares’
• ON tarfa = ‘of bulls’
• ON hrossa = ‘of horses’
• ON fóðra = ‘of fodders’
• ? ON lín = ‘flax’
My suggestion is that the generic in each of these cases is ON kví = ‘pen, fold or enclosure’. The word evolved into a common generic in Orkney and Shetland as ‘quey’ or ‘quoy’. A definition is given as ‘a piece of land (originally part of the common pasture) which had been enclosed and cultivated as part of a farm’. This name occurs four times on Uist as Vallaquie. One near Lochmaddy is Vallaquie Island on the OS 1st edition but has become Eilean Bhàlaig on the modern OS mapping and Vallaquie Strand has become Tràigh Bhàlaig.
An island is automatically some form of enclosure and in the case of the island names here, all are close to the shore and easily accessible for transporting of livestock or fodder.
The transition from ON k > ScG g is regular as is ON v > ScG w and ON í > ai and with these to the required -gay ending is very close to my ears but I would have to add I am not an expert here.
This leaves Vorogay, the name that started it! There is no clear farming specific unless a wolf farm was set up…. Two areas of possibility come to mind. ON varða = ‘cairn, beacon’ with a genitive reflex ON vörðu or the related ON vördr = ‘warden, guard’ with its genitive reflex of ON varðar . There seems however to be little reason for a beacon or a guard to be enclosed by a kví. ON vörr = ‘lip’ with its genitive reflex ON varrar has taken on the meaning of ‘a fenced-in landing place’ and so the addition of ON kví whilst tautologous is not unreasonable.
As some further evidence, less than two kilometres to the N of Vorogay is a standing stone on the shore, probably from a Neolithic chambered cairn, called Clach Mhòr a’ Chè. With ScG clach = ‘stone’, the second section however would sound very similar to Vorogay. There is an area here cleared of stones with landing stages constructed and was probably where boat access left to Illeray and Kirkibost. A much more Gaelicized version of the same name?
-ghay names might fall in the same group with lenition. These are Gighay, N of Barra, Stiughay near Scalpay and Saghay in the Sound of Harris. I shall however leave those for another rainy day.
These ramblings are summed up in the Table below.: