Gàidhlig / English
Gaiseadh na Làimhe agus Mùthadh a' Chorrain

Gaiseadh na Làimhe agus Mùthadh a' Chorrain

Posted by Shelagh on Thursday 7 April 2016
The phrase gaiseadh na làimhe agus mùthadh a’ chorrain (a blight in the hand and a changing of the sickle), which was collected from an informant from Illeray, North Uist, is connected with farming, and refers to two things which could damage the harvest.

The verbal noun gaiseadh is derived from gais, to ‘shrivel up’ or ‘corrupt’ and would be used in agricultural terminology to refer to any kind of blight that could affect the harvest. Gaiseadh bog were crops that were too soft, gaiseadh tioram were crops that were too dry and gaiseadh dubh was a black blight of potatoes. In this phrase, gaiseadh na làimhe is literally ‘blight in the hand’, suggesting that a poor harvest will be caused by a farmer being tight-fisted and failing to plant enough seed during the spring –equivalent to the English phrase ‘you reap what you sow.’

The noun mùthadh means ‘alteration’ or ‘change’ and is derived from the Latin verb mūtāre, ‘to change’, which is also the root of the English word ‘mutate.’ The phrase mùthadh a’ chorrain, literally ‘the changing of the sickle,’ refers to the fact that if the sickle is not sharpened, there will be stubble left in the earth after the crops have been cut. Even a few inches left over would add up and result in a poorer harvest.

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