Talk:Lewis and Harris

A Thought

Is Lewis and Harris the only island in the world without a name of its own? I can think of several islands divided between only two, or a few, communities, but they all have names for the geographical island. For example:

• Haiti and Dominican Republic = Hispaniola
• Pupua New Guinea and Irian Jaya = New Guinea
• Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei = Borneo
• England, Wales and Scotland = Great Britain
• Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland = Ireland
• and so on.

But L & H has no name of its own.

If you have any thoughts or other examples, I'd love to hear from you, here or at my talk page. --King Hildebrand 11:44, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Anecdotally I have heard that Gaelic speakers have referred to the island as 'Fraoch Eilean' (heather island) or similar, but I have never seen an English language 'name'. It may well be the largest island in the world without a functional name in the English language.Ben MacDui (Talk) 11:52, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm not 100% sure (I should be as I'm an islander, but I'm just not sure), but I think it's at t-eilean fraoch.

<mischief>Perhaps, if it is nameless in English, we should name it?</mischief>MRM 13:16, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

An excellent suggestion - as a local person I think you should have that honour.Ben MacDui (Talk) 13:30, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Best not, or it'll be called Coruscant ;-) MRM 14:19, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

There are also dozens of islands split between Chile and Argentina, e.g. Tierra del Fuego. Perhaps if the Tamil Tigers get their way, Sri Lanka may have two names. And then there's Cyprus, which is horribly divided, but more or less retains the same name. --MacRusgail 16:09, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Do any of these South American islands have separate names for the Chilean and Argentinian sides, without a common name? Anyone know? Thanks for the comments, BTW. --King Hildebrand 11:15, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

It occurs to me that, taking the broad definition of an island as 'an undivided landmass surrounded on all sides by water' (tautological, but what the hell!), the largest island on earth has no commonly used name; that is the supercontinent of Eurasia and Africa. The Suez canal scarcely counts as a separator! Ben MacDui's implication that there may be smaller islands than L & H with no name of their own I find a little hard to ingest. Errrrm, yes, maybe... But I can't think of one! --King Hildebrand 16:29, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

«The North Jutlandic Island (Danish: Nørrejyske Ø), Vendsyssel-Thy, or simply Jutland north of the Limfjord (Jylland nord for Limfjorden) are lesser-used names for the northernmost part of Denmark and of Jutland. It is more common to refer to the three traditional districts Vendsyssel, Hanherred and Thy. Although the area is separated from mainland Jutland by the Limfjord, it is traditionally regarded a part of Jutland rather than an island. // Danes rarely refer to the area as a whole, but more often to the three constituent districts or to North Jutland (which also includes an area south of the Limfjord). The adjectives nordenfjords and søndenfjords are commonly used, meaning north and south of the Fjord, respectively. The names can all be considered ad hoc creations, in lack of a traditional name for the island as a geographical unity.»--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 10:59, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

It is confusing when the article initially describes Lewis and Harris as multiple islands, rather than one, prompting readers to look for different articles describing each island, while the article describes Harris as a part of island Lewis and Harris.98.127.250.233 (talk) 08:12, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

Norse name

Did the Norse ever refer to Lewis and Harris as a single entity by the same name? --MacRusgail 16:07, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

It does seem likely. Mind you, they left Tarberts all over the place, each carrying the implication that the location so designated divided what appeared to anyone else to be one island, into two. The story is that the Vikings would portage their boats across narrow necks of land, and where such paths existed, they treated the link as equivalent to a sea passage. This had political impications to them. Their name for such a portage was [related to] Tarbert . --King Hildebrand 16:47, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Speaking of names...

I notice that the article's title was changed on 20 February 2007 by An Siarach to Lewis and Harris. That's how I always knew it, and, like An Siarach, I had never come accross the "with" version before encountering this article. I think I'll go back and modify my talk contribs... --King Hildebrand 16:37, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Area

How can Lewis and Harris put together be smaller than lewis on its own?? on wikipedia it says lewis is 859sq miles. Wheras lewis and Harris is only 840sq miles :s —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.134.210 (talk) 20:59, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Well spotted. I believe the figure provided for Lewis to have been in error and this has been amended to a lower figure. Ben MacDui 17:02, 13 December 2008 (UTC)

Hilly amd mountainous

A definiion of a mountain is that which is above 600m, not 300m. Although this is trivial, I am not being silly. It would be more correct to say to Lewis and Harris is very hilly with a few mountains. Simply south...... 12:35, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Clisham

You are quite correct - per WP:MOUNTAIN. However, this is "a definition" - but if there is some standard Wikipedia one I'd appreciate it if you could direct me to it. Mountain itself seems sure there isn't one. Furthermore, as the appended image suggests, Harris is one of the wildest parts of Britain and I think genuinely mountainous by most people's standards. Ben MacDui 18:36, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

PS In Scottish English you could quite legitimately call an area like Harris mountainous, but Corbetts and Munros are almost always called "hills".

I can't give any Wikipedia definition but i can give a book definition of a mountain in which topgraphical terms, landsystems above 600m with steep and rocky slopes (Fundamentals of the Physical Environment, Smithson, Addison and Atkinson, 2002 3rd ed). However there are other definitions which it gets complicated. Simply south...... 17:37, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

A map showing the traditional division?

It would be useful if someone could add a map showing the division between the two parts of Lewis and Harris — perhaps one of the maps of Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty or Ross-shire might serve that task, given Lewis in Ross-shire and Harris was in Inverness-shire? — OwenBlacker (talk) 14:14, 15 March 2017 (UTC)

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Catholicism?

I have a strong memory, from long ago, of seeing Catholic roadside shrines in Lewis, such as I'd seen in Ireland. This suggested a strong presence of Catholicism in that part of the Island. There is no mention of this here. Rwood128 (talk) 01:27, 21 November 2020 (UTC)