Musing on Mull

[JumbleDuck]

It occurred to me recently that the use of the word "Mull" for a headland is very limited, geographically. Only three significant examples, the Mulls of Oa, Kintyre and Galloway, and they are are all fairly near each other in an area which formerly had a strong Norse influence. The official view is that the term derives from the Gaelic maol, which is a bare, rounded summit. However, all three Mulls also have fierce tidal races round them, and in view of the Norse heritage I wonder if in fact the names originally applied to the races themselves and derive from maalen (to whirl) in the same way as Maelstrom.

Time to get back to work.

 

[macd]

I'm not sure your source (or perhaps any source) is "official", JD.

Another version offers two possibilities:
Mull
"promontory" (in Scottish place names), late 14c., perhaps from Old Norse muli "a jutting crag, projecting ridge (between two valleys)," which probably is identical with muli "snout, muzzle." The Norse word is related to Old Frisian mula, Middle Dutch mule, muul, Old High German mula, German Maul "muzzle, mouth." Alternative etymology traces it to Gaelic maol "brow of a hill or rock," also "bald," from Old Celtic *mailo-s (source also of Irish maol, Old Irish máel, máil, Welsh moel).
https://www.etymonline.com/word/mull

Moel seems quite common in Welsh place names.

Wiki offers a few other Scottish mulls, as well as an Irish (mhaoil).

Then there's the most famous of them all (before McCartney came along, at least): Mull Igatawny.

Although maybe this is all better mulled over in The Other Place.

Sorry to hear you have to work.

P.S. Great-great grandpapy McD died on Mull (the island) so I have a slight interest. He's buried next to kings on Iona, which is the nearest I'll ever get to nobility.

P.P.S. Jumble: in the last 24 hours or so you've started threads on thrusters and promontories. Should we read anything into this?

 

[burgundyben]

Great thread, love a bit of etymology.

How about Mullered...perhaps the old Norse yachties had to be half cut in order to attempt rounding the headland?

 

[JumbleDuck]

P.P.S. Jumble: in the last 24 hours or so you've started threads on thrusters and promontories. Should we read anything into this?

I scrapped my MX-5 a couple of months ago and my mid-life crisis is seething ...

 

[BabaYaga]

However, all three Mulls also have fierce tidal races round them, and in view of the Norse heritage I wonder if in fact the names originally applied to the races themselves and derive from maalen (to whirl) in the same way as Maelstrom.

Interesting, but I am not quite convinced. At least in Swedish, when ever 'mal' is part of a place name it seems to be referring to the presence of sand, gravel, pebbles etc. That is, rock that has been ground or milled. Plenty of such names here: Malmö, Marstrand (once Malstrand), Malö...
So if Scottish 'mull' is related to nordic 'mal' I would expect to find that kind of features in those places...

 

[Romeo]

Should the Isle of Mull actually be the Isle of Mulls?