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9. Winter work
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Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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9. Winter work
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Location: [Arran? see the comment under 3]
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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9. Winter work
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Origin: Assynt, Stoer
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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9. Winter work
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Origin: Ross and Cromarty, Lewis
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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9. Winter work
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Origin: Tiree
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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Beire
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Goddess of Winter. The enemy of St. Bride. See Cailleach Bheir.
Location: Skye
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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[feannadh]
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Anns an Earrach bithidh sinn a feannadh na monadh. Cuid a bhios toirt barrach feantachd air cuid eile. Ann a bitheantas da throidh air son ochd foid. Aon uair bhiodh deichnear de sgipe a buain fat latha ach se siath a bhios ann an nis. Ma bhios an tide tioram bi sinn a togail na monadh ann an da sheachuin. Bidh sinn a ris ga rudhadh agus a ris a cruachadh. Mar is trice bidhidh sinn a tathadh nan cruach mur a bidh sinn ga toirt dhachaidh. Se an taisig is smiosa le torr opair chruidh nuair nach eil a tide math. Cutting off the top turf. Some cut the turf wider than others. Usually it is 24" wide giving 8 peat per cutting. Once there used to be ten 5 irons with two to each but now it’s usually 3 irons 6. If the weather is dry we lift the peats into small stacks in two weeks then bigger stacks and then again the bigger stacks for the winter. We thatch the stacks to keep them dry, that’s unless we are ferrying it home right away as some now do. The ferrying is hard work when the weather is not favourable.
Origin: Inbhirnis [Inverness – most probably meant as the county]
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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a’ cruachadh
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building into seven foot ‘beehive structures’; this will be brought home at the woman’s leisure during good days in Autumn, Winter and Spring; few do this nowadays. Their work on the ‘sliabh’ halts at ‘tòrr’ [q.v.] at which stage the tractor is called into action.
Origin: Leódhas, An Rudha [Lewis, Rudha]
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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a’ glanadh nam poll
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taking home the peats left on the banks through the winter, ready for the new season’s cutting.
Location: Harris, Tarbert
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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a’ tughadh
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covering with turf so that small stacks can be left on the bank during winter-time.
Location: Lewis, Lochs, Leurbost
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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barra
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this was a V shaped indentation made in machair land in winter. Boots would be tied here for the winter season. [NOTES: corrected to ‘bara’.]
Location: South Uist, Bornish
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bealathach
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a place on the machair for grazing sheep and cattle in winter. Littered with little glens and shelter spots.
Location: South Uist, Garrynamonie
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bragaire
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red seaweed usually found in late winter, early spring – ‘todhar earraich’. Àthadh bragaire – burning this substance. Cocanan bragaire – small stacks.
Location: South Uist, South Boisdale
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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bàrr
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Quotation: bàrr-faglaidh. Notes: part of the harvest left over in the springtime. Could be used the following winter.
Location: Skye, Breakish
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cailleach
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Quotation: “Cuiridh mi a’ chailleach ort!” Notes: “I’ll beat you!” – said when competing to be the first finished in any work. (D.A.’s father maintained that formerly if there was, say, an old cripple of no fixed abode in the village then the last man to get the harvest in had to keep her for the winter.)
Origin: North Uist
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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ceap
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turf, cut sometimes where it is thin with some peat attached to it and cured for burning at the back of the fire to save the peats during the winter.
Origin: Lewis, Back or Lewis, Back
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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cire
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[cıɾə] Note: cireachan [cıɾɔxəṉ] in plural. Term used for lambs from the time they are taken in for winter feeding till they go back to the moor. Then called “othaisgean”.
Origin: Ness
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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clàdan (m), clàdain (pl)
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large snowflakes in spring and winter, not too cold. Would cover a penny.
Origin: Tiree
Category: Sìde / Weather
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cléigean
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[kle:ɡʹɑṉ] Note: matted lump of wool hanging from a sheep or lamb, or a matted lump on any beast, e.g. a calf which had been inside all winter.
Origin: Ness
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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connadh
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peat, fuel for the winter.
Location: South Uist, Stilligarry
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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coth
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flesh food, for winter, salted, smoked, etc.
Origin: [Strathglass]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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crannadh
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sharp, cold, dry weather in winter. Crisp and anticyclonic. NE and N’ly winds.
Origin: Tiree
Category: Sìde / Weather
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cridhe
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Quotation: cridhe mhónadh [kɾıəvɔ̃:ṉəɣ]. Notes: small stacks made on the bank for the winter. “Tughadh” put on with “sgrathan” or “plocan”.
Location: Skye, Glasnakille
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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crodhadh
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getting the cattle housed for the winter, and also getting the harvest in, hence deireadh chrodhaidh.
Location: South Uist, Bornish
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cròdhadh
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housing of cattle in winter.
Location: Killearn
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cròdhadh
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[kɾɔ:əɣ] Quotation: Chuir iad ann an cròdhadh iad. Notes: putting cattle in for the first time in winter. Also applied to the penning of sheep.
Origin: North Uist
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cuaranan
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long stockings with the soles cut off. In winter thick cloth soles were sewn on.
Origin: Lewis, Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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cìob (f)
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[kind of seaweed.] Reddish in colour and most often found in October. Grows on actual rock. Takes a long time in rotting due to cold weather (winter-time). Good for potatoes.
Origin: Tiree
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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cùil nan òisgean
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separate part for housing this year’s lambs in winter.
Origin: Ross and Cromarty, Lewis
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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drumanach
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elder tree (already noted). When in winter the branches became sapless, children (as already noted) scrabbed [sic] [scrubbed?] the branches with a pocket knife and used the branch as fishing rods. It (the common elder) is a common tree, ‘easy to grow’ in places like the Isles of Scotland where the climate is damp and cold. It is noticeable on Harris growing without or within little distances of houses, or close to a house. If this signifies anything, I am not able to say at the moment. Seemingly it could? … In the ‘superstitious stories of the Isles’.
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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duilleagan-seargta
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withered leaves, the withered foliage of trees on the ground in late autumn or in winter. (Unless they are used for manure, mixed into compost?)
Location: Na Hearadh, Scalpaigh [Harris, Scalpay]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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dùgan
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dark, peaty soil. Also ‘dùgan a’ gheamhraidh’ – darkest time of winter.
Location: South Uist, Garrynamonie
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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eilghidh
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[elei] Quot.: “ag eilghidh na talmhainn ann an dùmhlachd na bliadhna”. Note: first ploughing in winter to break up the soil. Turned in the spring for sowing.
Origin: Crowlista
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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fotan
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Quotation: fotan (fallain). Notes: seaworthy. Fotan is used to mean ‘healthy’, too, but is the term regularly applied in Brora, Golspie, and Embo for a seaworthy boat. Source: Mrs Margaret MacKay, “Gairlochy”, Main Street, Golspie. Date: winter 1968.
Location: Sutherland [see below]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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geamhrachadh
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Notes: winter feeding.
Origin: North Uist
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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geamhrachdainn
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[ɡʹ[ɑ̃ũ̜]:ɾɑxkĩnʹ] Notes: winter grazing.
Origin: Bunloit
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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gòrdag
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[ɡɔ:rdɑɡ] Quotation: [ɡɔ:rdɑɡ fe:r] ‘an armload of hay, grass’. Notes: Common to Brora, Golspie, and Embo. (Presumably [?] ‘an armload’.) Source: Mr and Mrs Kenneth MacKay, 16 Gate St., Embo. Date: winter 1968.
Location: Sutherland [see below]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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leanaltach
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Quotation: geamhradh leanaltach. Notes: protracted winter.
Location: Skye, Breakish
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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liumpanaich
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long trailing sea-weed, string-like, which grows in thick patches in the summer. It can be dangerous to bathers. There is none in winter.
Origin: Lewis, Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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loinidh
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rheumatics – in old cattle after having been inside all winter.
Origin: Mull, Bunessan, Ardtun or Mull, Tobermory
Category: Crodh / Cattle
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mullag
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cow killed for the winter.
Location: Skye
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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oidhche
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Quot.: “oidhche nan trì suipearan”. Note: longest night (winter solstice).
Origin: Uig
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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ròghanaich na Samhna
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calm, dull, hazy weather. Usually have a period of such weather before the onset of winter.
Location: South Uist, West Kilbride
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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saoidhainn cruaidh
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after being salted the fish was dried above the fire. It was then put in sacks and eaten during the winter.
Location: South Uist, Garrynamonie
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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siabach
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Bulb-weed washed ashore by winter storms.
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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sitig
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a layer of dung manure and seaweed alternately put together during late winter and early spring; good for all crops.
Origin: Ross and Cromarty, Lewis
Category: Àiteach / Agriculture
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slògag
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[sɫɔ:ɡɑɡ] Notes: “slates” made up of small sheaves of corn. The seed was removed and the sheaf tied at the top of the stalks. The bottom part was then spread out like a fan. This was done in autumn. They were then laid in “bundles” of a dozen over the winter. By spring they were placed flat. Put on roof like slates.
Location: Skye, Staffin
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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smiùradh
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process of ‘shedding’ – parting the wool of the sheep and inserting a paste of Archangel tar and ‘eòlan’ [q.v.] (about mid-winter). [Mrs MacLeod]
Location: Harris, Ardhasaig
Category: Obair na Clòimhe / Wool-Working
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spiulg
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[spu̜ɫu̜ɡ] Quot.: (1) “a’ spiulgadh buntàta”. (2) “a’ spiulgadh ubh”. (1) breaking the shoots of potatoes which have been in for the winter. (2) shelling a boiled egg.
Origin: [Barvas]
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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sìd’ chas
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sharp, cold, dry weather in winter. Crisp and anticyclonic. NE and N’ly winds.
Origin: Tiree
Category: Sìde / Weather
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talamh
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Quot.: “talamh eilghidh”. Note: ground which has been ploughed for the first time in winter. (To be turned again later for sowing.)
Origin: Crowlista
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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trogail
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Quot.: “crodh air throgail” [hɾoɡɑl]. Note: when winter feeding was finished cattle sent out to graze on new grass.
Location: Harris, Northton
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
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tughadh
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covering the stacks with turf for the winter. The turf is the ‘cip’ (ceap, Sing.; cip, Plural) cut off the ‘carcaire’ [q.v.] and fairly dry; used grass-side in, i.e. next the peats. Tha a’ mhòine a’ tiormachadh anns a’ chruaich. Cha bhithear a tuthadh [sic] nan cruach gu bith mhoine an ìre mhath tioram. Tha i n uairsin ‘fo laidh’ [q.v.] airson a Gheamhraidh.
Location: Cinntire, An Ceann a Deas [Kintyre, Southend by Campbeltown]
Category: Mòine / Peat-Working
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tùirlingeadh
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as in the winter drawing in.
Location: South Uist, Lochcarnan
Category: Measgaichte / Miscellaneous
