DASG Blog

Cuidheall-Shnìomha

Given that wool crafts were once ubiquitous throughout this country it is unsurprising that there is such a wealth of vocabulary pertaining to the process of turning a fleece into a wearable garment. As a spinner, knitter and weaver myself, I find the history of wool production in Scotland fascinating. Likewise, for fellow wool and fibre crafters around the world, Scotland remains the mystical home of the spinning wheel and the tartan that it ultimately produces.

For this blog I would like to focus on the plethora of Gaelic words relating specifically to the act of spinning a yarn on a wheel or cuidheall-shnìomha. Illustrations of the spinning wheel with in-depth definitions can be found in Dwelly but, as always, many different regional dialects and terms can be found across the Gàidhealtachd and many have been collected in the DASG fieldwork.

For many people who have never seen a spinning wheel before, there is an assumption that the yarn is wound somehow around the large wheel before being transferred to the bobbin. This is not the case. In fact the large wheel roth is turned by pressing the treadle siol-coise which in turn causes the drive band bann mòr to rotate the flyer seic.

Interestingly, when accessing the DASG fieldwork website one of the first images you will meet is of the flyer of a spinning wheel – teic/seic [also sèicle recorded in Uist and Harris], arguably the most important part of a wheel. This is where the twist in the wool is created and the yarn wound onto the bobbin - iteachan/piùrna*.

Other interesting terms relating to the spinning wheel include the cuigeal or distaff, where the fibre (predominantly flax) would be stored for spinning, and the footman - the piece of wood which joins the treadle to the wheel – which has numerous translations including slibheag, maide siubhal, claidheamh and more amusingly an t-amadan.

Lastly I shall leave you with the term used for ‘the hole in the axle through which the unspun wool passes’ – sùil na chuibhle. In my opinion far nicer than the English name – ‘orifice’.
 
If you have any other interesting words relating to spinning or the spinning wheel, do not hesitate to let us know on either Facebook or Twitter! 




*The term ‘pirn’ in English generally relates to smaller bobbins which filled the shuttles when weaving rather than the larger bobbins used with the spinning wheel. It is difficult to determine whether this distinction is also made in Gaelic although it seems as though both terms can be used interchangeably.