Gàidhlig / English
Sgeigeire

Sgeigeire

Posted by Alasdair on 28 September 2017
Bleideire Baoghlach is sgeigeire Barrach: ‘A Benbecula blether and a Barra mocker’.  I should be wary of beginning this blog by insulting anyone from Barra but this phrase was recorded in Kildonan in South Uist in 1987–88.  The term sgeigeire is defined in this record in our Fieldwork Archive as ‘mocker’ and it’s clear that it is applied to Barra folk, ahem anyone, adept at mocking.  Both scige and sgige — meaning ‘laughing, jeering, mocking, derision’ — are recorded in Old Gaelic (dil.ie/36473) and it’s clear that our word of the week is a derivative.

The term sgeigeire is also recorded in our Fieldwork Archive from an informant belonging to Swainbost in Lewis, a note adding that it applies in the same sense: to someone deriding or mocking ("duine fanaideach, sgeilmeil").  Indeed, if any reader is looking for an insult to throw around, it’s worth looking at this record from Lewis.
 
Sgeigeire is found with a different application in Fieldwork Archive records from Skye, Harris (where it is spelt "sgeigire") and South Uist (also "sgeigire"): to a gander or male goose.  These contributors weren’t quite as ready to insult Barra folk as the contributor from Kildonan, it seems, but it's interesting that sgeigeire has these two applications.  You can almost hear the ‘Barra mocker’ to whom the Kildonan contributor refers.  Anyway, enough mocking from me for one week.
 
Do you have any other words which you’d use in the same context?  Are you a Barrach with an insult for someone from Kildonan or anywhere else?  Give us a shout here at DASG on Facebook or Twitter; we’d love to hear your insults.
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