Gàidhlig / English
Màirteanan

Màirteanan

Posted by Tòmas on 1 June 2017

We have a strange, painful word for you this week, Màirteanan.

In Grosebay, Harris, it was said to mean ‘the cracking of the skin of the feet and legs when going about barefoot in spring’. In Uig, Lewis, the meaning given was ‘hacks on the legs, brought on by the east wind in March’.

In fact, the word can be found often enough in different places. In Strathglass màrtan was recorded meaning ‘chafed skins, as on legs’ and in Ó Dónaill’s Irish-English dictionary you can find the term máirtín gágach, ‘wind-gall, cracked skin on feet’.

Perhaps màirteanan isn’t a familiar word today because it’s no longer common for people to go about barefoot. Until the early 20th century, people in the Highlands and especially children would often walk without shoes. For example, Hector Kennedy from Tiree, who was born in 1897, said that when he was a boy they would take off their shoes around the end of April and wouldn’t put them on again until later in the year. In Gaelic Words and Phrases from Wester Ross, there is reference to ‘Clach nam Bròg’, in Gairloch, where women would put their shoes on before reaching the church.

The most interesting information related to this word can be found in Gaelic Words and Expressions from South Uist and Eriskay, collected by Father Allan McDonald.

The word ‘màrtain’ or ‘màrtainean’ is said to describe ‘hacks or chaps on feet from cold.’ It is similar to terms such as ‘gàgan’ and ‘driùcan’ — the latter specifically means cuts under the toes or joints. It seems likely that ‘Màrtain nan Corc’ is related to our word:

a dreadful character whose duty it was to chastise children who had dirty feet. [...] [a bogle] who hacked with his knife the feet of children who went to bed with unwashed feet. He put salt into the wounds after. Such hacks as children’s feet get with exposure to cold are called màrtainean. Possibly the two Martins are connected.


Hacks would be treated by people with damp oatmeal, and the ‘cadalan-tràghad’ or heart urchin was used to clean the legs after going barefoot.

So go and take off your shoes. But watch you don’t get màirteanan!


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