Gàidhlig / English
Sìd’ chas / Crannadh

Sìd’ chas / Crannadh

Posted by Kate on Thursday 12th December
This week we’re going to talk about sharp, dry weather. This is weather that is, as the phrase goes, as cold as poison! I would dearly love to walk on a day like this in December; with the sound of frozen grass crunching under footfall. These two phrases came from Tiree; sìd’ chas / crannadh. Crannadh also means withering, or dying, in some instances and can be used to describe bolting and barring the door. This works also for describing the weather, if we imagine the land locked under heavy frost.

Here are a few more phrases describing things you may see around you while out walking on a frozen day. Reothadh dubh is hard frost, black, dangerous frost lying invisible on roads. Liath reothadh, in Mull, or liantach, as they say in Islay, is the crystalline, beautiful frost patterns on grass and leaves. Neimh is mist that rises on the water’s surface, telling us of ice forming. Flòdradh is a thin layer of water on top of the ice, left by the ebbing tide.

Not every fringe on your walk will be found to be under the lock of the crannadh, however. The artag, the ceap artaig, or the ceap-cladaich is a margin of turf always free from frost; and always under water at high tide. This is the thinking behind the phrase, from a conversation in Breakish:
 
“Nuair a thiodhlaic sinn Màiri Uilleam, b’ eudar dhuinn ceap cladaich a chuir oirre.”
 
“When we buried Màiri Uilleam, we had to cover her with the ceap-cladaich.”
 
In this way, they would keep the hard frost from their friend.
 
You might shout: “foiteag! foiteag!” on a day like this in Lewis, which would set your teeth chattering, or would put the crìth-bheilleag on you, as they may say in Kyleakin. But perhaps you’re nothing but a tè / duine dis: prone to cold and chattering teeth!
 
Get in touch below, or on Facebook or Twitter, if you have any phrases connected with poisonously cold weather!
 
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