Or Beinn Laghail to give it its proper Gaelic name, Ben Loyal being just an Anglicised spelling. Laghail is thought to come from the Norse “laga fiall” meaning law mountain. Although others have suggested a mountain of trees as an alternative derivation , law mountain is the more likely as there is a strong Norse tradition, with parallels in Iceland and Scotland of people gathering on hilltops to hear legal proclamations and complaints and to settle disputes.nThe common name of Ben Loyal though has implied a royal connection from which the mountain has been given the epithet “the Queen of Scotland’s Peaks”.
This photo is from the northernmost of its castellated tops, Sgor Chaonasaid looking north across the Kyle of Tongue. Kyle is another anglicised word; it is from the Gaelic “caol” meaning a narrow sea inlet or strait.
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