ONlwSG

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tursa m. [ˈt̪ʰuʂə] 

Cf. /tuRsə/ (AFB^˄).

(with apocope turs [ˈt̪ʰuʂ]), gen. idem, pl. tursachan, 

(Especially West Lewis) [ˈt̪ʰuʂɔxən], (elsewhere) [ˈt̪ʰuʂəxən], [ˈt̪ʰuʂaxən]; occasionally tursaichean [ˈt̪ʰuʂiçən], e.g. Henderson 1910, 77. The variant plural endings -achan and -ichean are both found in Lewis Gaelic, although only the latter is still productive (cf. Borgstrøm 1940, 93); ‘where both forms occur with a noun, it is usually older people who use the former’ (Cox 2002a, 57–58: 57).

is derived from ON þurs m. ‘giant, troll’ (NO).

E.g. Mackenzie 1903; Henderson 1910, 77; Oftedal 1954, 367; Cox 1991, 493; 2002a, 206–07.847, 220.1061, 387–88.3795–3797; 2022, 479.

SG tursa denotes ‘a standing stone’; 

Cf. ‘(pl.) druidical stones’ (MacDonald 1946, 32); ‘menhir, monolith, (pl.) standing stones’ (MacLeod 1999); ‘menhir, standing stone, monolith, (pl.) standing stones, a stone circle’ (AFB^˄). MacLeòid (2000, 47) describes the healing well An Tobar Ruadh in Harris as ‘faisg air tursa cloich’ [near a standing stone], but note that the National Grid Reference NF020939 supplied should read NG020939 (cf. OS 1843–82 Fuaran Ruadh Chalybeate at NG019938).

hence the place-names (all in Lewis) SG Clach an Tursa NB20414295; 

‘The stone of the tursa’. There were three stones here in Martin Martin’s time (Martin 1703, 8), but only one today.

Tursachan Challanis NB2129733011; 

Cf. [tuřʃ̌əxən xɑʟɑnɪʃ] (LASID IV, 263: Lewis) (Eng. The Callanish Stones); or simply Na Tursachan ‘the standing stones’, cf. [nə ˈtuṣəxən] (Oftedal 1954, 367: Leurbost). The hill on which the Callanish Stones stand is called Cnoc an Tursa ‘the hill of the tursa’.

Tursachan Cnoc Bhileabhair Bheag NB2251732711 and Tursachan Cnoc Ceann a’ Ghàrraidh NB2221832618 – the last three examples all with place-names as specific (Cox 2002a, 387–88; 2022, 477–80).

Besides Tursaichean Challanis, Henderson (1910, 77) lists Tursachan Ceann Thulebhig (Canmore ID 4170 NB22973042; for the name Ceann Thùlabhig, see Cox 2022, 611–12) and Tursachan Airigh nam Bidearan (Canmore ID 4144 NB233297).

The phonetic development of ON þurs > SG tursa is as expected: for the delenition of the initial, cf. ON þorsk acc. > SG trosg ‘codfish’, q.v., and for the stressed vowel and final -[ə], cf. ON urð > ScG urrdh ~ urrdha ‘pile of boulders’, q.v. Henderson’s (1910, 77) alternative derivation of (pl.) tursachan from SG tuirsachan ‘place of sadness’ 

I.e. from SG tuirse ‘sadness’ (cf. Ir. tuirse, EG toirse) + suffixes, although the stressed vowel is usually lengthened to tùirse in Scottish Gaelic (for an exception, cf. SG tuirseach /turˑšəx/ ‘sad’ (Ó Murchú 1989, 95, 421: East Perthshire)).

is a folk etymology.

Note that Henderson writes ≈‘Tursaichean or Tussaichean Challanis ...; Na Tursaichean, sometimes Na Tussaichean, from ON þurs “a giant”, in Shetland tuss’. While the form þuss, besides þurs, is attested in Old Norse (cf. Far. tussi, Norw. tuss and Nn. tusse (NO; de Vries 1962)), for Henderson’s (Shetland) tuss we should probably read turs or truss, cf. the Shetland place-names De Turs (the name of a rocky promontory on Bressay) < ON þurs (Jakobsen 1936, 138), de Trussegjo (OS 1843–82: Trussi Geo HU672710) < ON *Þursa-gjá [i.e. *Þursagjá ‘(the) ravine of the giants’], and Tirsa-water (OS 1843–82: Tirsa Water HU142508), containing a specific from ON *Þursa, a river name (ibid. 139); cf. also Scots (Shetland) trussibelt ‘a kind of long-stalked seaweed’, the first part of which may be a metathesised form of *tursi, probably a derivative of ON þurs (Jakobsen 1928, s.v.). If Henderson’s variation Tursaichean ~ Tussaichean is authentic, however, it is perhaps reminiscent of MacIver’s (1934, 100) Mosgail for the Lewis place-name Morsgail, for which Cox (2022, 819–23) compares pronunciations of SG muirsgian ‘razor-fish’: (Arran) [muskʹən] (LASID IV, 210), (Gairloch) [mũʃkʹən] (Wentworth 2003a, s.v. razor-fish), although the word is recorded for Uig (Lewis) as mursaig (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh, s.v. muirsgian).

McDonald (2009, 430) accepts that ON þurs was borrowed into Early Gaelic, but considers that it unlikely it was borrowed into Scottish Gaelic, as SG tursa ‘is not attested in the standard range of lexical works, and (if a loan) there is no clear evidence that [it] is anything other than an onomastic loan.’ However, the presence in the Book of Ballymote of ON þurs (albeit in Gaelic script in the form turs) in its function as the name of the Old Norse rune ᚦ is not evidence that þurs as an appellative in the senses ‘giant, troll’ was borrowed into Early Gaelic.

For the representation of the 16 Norse runes in Gaelic script in the Book of Ballymote, see RIA MS 23 P 21, f.170v [361]; for discussion, see Marstrander 1915a, 67, 104–05, esp. 135 (who also notes the presence of a similar row of runes in British Library MS Add. 4783); for the Old Norse names of the runes and their meanings, see Vikingskibs Museet.

Whether or not ON þurs was also borrowed into Scottish Gaelic in the senses ‘giant, troll’ or was always limited to the sense ‘standing stone’ is a moot question; its transferred semantic function is similar to the use of SG Na Fir Bhrèige ‘the false men’ (with the plural of fear ‘man’) as an alias for the Callanish Stones (Mackenzie 1903; Henderson 1910, 77–78).

Cf. truiseal, q.v.