Rona
Rona ANR CoO NT652998 1 364 10m
Rona 1960 Eggeling 1985, 252
Rona 2001 OS Explorer 371
This name is a recent coining, transferred from one or other of the well-known islands called Rona in the Hebrides (one by Raasay, Skye, the other off the north end of Lewis, sometimes referred to as North Rona). These names derive from Old Norse hraun-ey ‘rough island, island of rough stone’ (Watson 1926, 309). ON hraun is a noun meaning ‘rough place, wilderness’. In volcanic Iceland the word came to mean ‘a lava field’ when cold (Cleasby-Vigfusson). It is, however, a common misconception that the first element in Rona is G ròn ‘seal’ (see, for example, Eggeling 1985, 243, quoted above, p. 664).
Rona is the northern part of the Isle of May, separated from the main body of the island by a low isthmus, the eponymous Tarbet in Tarbet Hole ANR (May), which completely fills with water at high tides. Eggeling code R.
/ˈrona/
This place-name appeared in printed volume 3