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St Kilda ((スコットランド・ゲール語:Hiort)) is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.〔Excluding the isolated pinnacle Rockall, the status of which is a matter of international dispute. See, for example, MacDonald, Fraser (2006) "(The last outpost of Empire: Rockall and the Cold War )" ''Journal of Historical Geography''. 32 pages 627–647. Retrieved 1 August 2007〕 The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom; three other islands (Dùn, Soay and Boreray) were also used for grazing and seabird hunting. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area.〔Steel (1988) page 254.〕 The origin of the name ''St Kilda'' is a matter of conjecture. The islands' human heritage includes numerous unique architectural features from the historic and prehistoric periods, although the earliest written records of island life date from the Late Middle Ages. The medieval village on Hirta was rebuilt in the 19th century, but illnesses brought by increased external contacts through tourism, and the upheaval of the First World War contributed to the island's evacuation in 1930.〔See especially Maclean (1977), Steel (1988), Fleming (2005).〕 The story of St Kilda has attracted artistic interpretations, including Michael Powell's film ''The Edge of the World'' and an opera.〔McMillan, Joyce (3 March 2007) ("St Kilda the Opera brings out the bully-boys" ). Edinburgh. ''The Scotsman''. Retrieved 3 March 2007.〕 St Kilda may have been permanently inhabited for at least two millennia, the population probably never exceeding 180 (and certainly no more than 100 after 1851). The entire remaining population was evacuated from Hirta (the only inhabited island) in 1930. Currently, the only year-round residents are military personnel; a variety of conservation workers, volunteers and scientists spend time there in the summer months.〔〔("The new residents of St Kilda archipelago" ). (29 August 2010). BBC News. Retrieved 29 August 2010.〕 The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland.〔National Trust for Scotland. Guide. http://www.kilda.org.uk/weekildaguide/guide17.htm〕 It became one of Scotland's six World Heritage Sites in 1986 and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for its natural and cultural qualities.〔("World Heritage: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" ). UNESCO. Retrieved 3 January 2007.〕 Parties of volunteers work on the islands in the summer to restore the many ruined buildings that the native St Kildans left behind. They share the island with a small military base established in 1957.〔Steel (1988) page 273.〕 Two different early sheep types have survived on these remote islands, the Soay, a Neolithic type, and the Boreray, an Iron Age type. The islands are a breeding ground for many important seabird species including northern gannets, Atlantic puffins, and northern fulmars. The St Kilda wren and St Kilda field mouse are endemic subspecies.〔 == Origin of names == Various theories have been proposed for the word Kilda's origin, which dates from the late 16th century. No saint is known by the name.〔Buchanan (1983) Pages 2–6.〕 Haswell-Smith (2004) notes that the full name ''St Kilda'' first appears on a Dutch map dated 1666, and that it may have been derived from Norse ''sunt kelda'' ("sweet wellwater") or from a mistaken Dutch assumption that the spring ''Tobar Childa'' was dedicated to a saint. (''Tobar Childa'' is a tautological placename, consisting of the Gaelic and Norse words for ''well'', i.e., "well well").〔Haswell-Smith, Hamish. (2004) ''The Scottish Islands''. Edinburgh. Canongate. Pages 314–25.〕 Martin Martin, who visited in 1697, believed that the name "is taken from one Kilder, who lived here; and from him the large well Toubir-Kilda has also its name".〔Martin, Martin (1703).〕〔''Tobar Childa'' and ''Toubir-Kilda'' are one and the same.〕 Maclean (1972) similarly suggests it may come from a corruption of the Old Norse name for the spring on Hirta, ''Childa'', and states that a 1588 map identifies the archipelago as ''Kilda''. He also speculates that it may refer to the ''Culdees'', anchorites who may have brought Christianity to the island, or be a corruption of the Gaelic name for the main island of the group, since the islanders tended to pronounce ''r'' as ''l'', and thus habitually referred to the island as ''Hilta.''〔Maclean (1977) page 33.〕 Steel (1988) adds weight to the idea, noting that the islanders pronounced the ''H'' with a "somewhat guttural quality", making the sound they used for ''Hirta'' "almost" ''Kilta''.〔Steel (1988) page 27.〕 Similarly, St Kilda speakers interviewed by the School of Scottish Studies in the 1960s show individual speakers using t-initial forms, leniting to /h/, e.g. ''ann an t-Hirte'' ((:ˈan̪ˠən̪ˠ ˈtʰʲirˠʃt̪ʲə)) and ''gu Hirte'' ((:kə ˈhirˠʃt̪ʲə)).〔Bruford, A. (ed.) ''Tocher'' Vol 36–37 (1982) School of Scottish Studies〕 Maclean (1972) further suggests that the Dutch may have simply made a cartographical error, and confused Hirta with ''Skildar'', the old name for Haskeir island much nearer the main Outer Hebrides archipelago.〔〔Fleming (2005) page 27. Maclean does not state which island caused the confusion, but Fleming equates 'Skildir' with Haskeir.〕 Quine (2000) hypothesises that the name is derived from a series of cartographical errors, starting with the use of the Old Icelandic ''Skildir'' ("shields") and appearing as ''Skildar'' on a map by Nicholas de Nicolay (1583). This, so the hypothesis goes, was transcribed in error by Lucas J. Waghenaer in his 1592 charts without the trailing ''r'' and with a period after the ''S'', creating ''S.Kilda''. This was in turn assumed to stand for a saint by others, creating the form that has been used for several centuries, ''St Kilda''.〔Quine (2000) page 21.〕〔de Nicolay, Nicholas (1583) (''Vraye & exacte description Hydrographique des costes maritimes d'Escosse & des Isles Orchades Hebrides avec partie d'Angleterre & d'Irlande servant a la navigation''. ) Edinburgh. National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 22 December 2007.〕〔However, Martin (1703) states: "all seamen call it St. Kilda; and in sea maps St. Kilder, particularly in a Dutch sea map from Ireland to Zeland, published at Amsterdam by Peter Goas in the year, 1663". This is nearly a century after the publication of Waghenaer's charts, but it is unclear whether his misspelling led to a common spoken usage or the spoken version has a quite different origin. In a later passage concerning the traditions relating to the Flannan Isles, Martin adds "It is absolutely unlawful to call the island of St Kilda (which lies thirty leagues southward) by its proper Irish name Hirt, but only the high country". This refers to the St Kildan's habit of referring to Hirta as 'the high country' and Boreray as 'the north country'. See Fleming (2005).〕 The origin of ''Hirta'', which long pre-dates ''St Kilda'', is similarly open to interpretation. Martin (1703) avers that "Hirta is taken from the Irish ''Ier'', which in that language signifies west".〔 Maclean offers several options, including an (unspecified)〔Haswell-Smith (2004) suggests this may be ''Ei hirt'' – dangerous or deathlike.〕 Celtic word meaning "gloom" or "death", or the Scots Gaelic ''h-Iar-Tìr'' ("westland"). Drawing on an Icelandic saga describing an early 13th-century voyage to Ireland that mentions a visit to the islands of "Hirtir", he speculates that the shape of Hirta resembles a stag, (''Hirtir'' meaning "stags" in Norse).〔 Steel (1998) quotes the view of Reverend Neil Mackenzie, who lived there from 1829 to 1844, that the name is derived from the Gaelic ''Ì Àrd'' ("high island"), and a further possibility that it is from the Norse ''Hirt'' ("shepherd").〔Steel (1988) pages 26–27.〕 In a similar vein, Murray (1966) speculates that the Norse ''Hirðö'', pronounced 'Hirtha' ("herd island"), may be the origin.〔Murray, W.H. (1966) ''The Hebrides''. London. Heinemann, pages 196, 236.〕 All the names of and on the islands are fully discussed by Coates (1990).〔Coates, Richard (1990).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St Kilda, Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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