Word-list |
drinnisg | a person scared of the cold. |
siablaich | fishing with a rod. |
maoidhir | fly-hook. |
maoidhireachd | fishing with a rod, plying a rod by swinging the line attached and dragging it with the fly-hook fastened to the line and skimming on or pulled near the surface. (Pronounced: magh thar ri theachd.) |
riathasg | boiled limpets for bait for a fishing rod. (I am not sure of the spelling – one of the two is correct, I think.) [NOTES: it is not clear if the ‘two’ refers to riathasg vs. friathasg or rather riathasg/friathasg vs. riasg/friasg.] |
friathasg | [See riathasg.] |
riasg | [See riathasg.] |
friasg | [See riathasg.] |
gàinne | barb of a hook – fishing hook. (Pronounce the ‘a’ accented.) |
calpa | a fishing hook’s unbended part. I think the flattened end to which the line is tied is or was named liath an dubhain, similar to liath an raimh (this was in one instance as regards the oar). [SLIP: The bottom, flat end of a fish-hook to which the line is tied.] [NOTES: ‘liath an dubhain’ has been slipped under ‘liath’. Definition: The end to which fishing line is tied.] |
lunn | the shaft of an oar. |
strangan | sewing thread for leather shoes. |
lion-fuilt | hairnet. |
du’-chainnt | shady speech if you can accept it this way. [SLIP: “Bad” language.] |
drabasdachd | cainnt shalach – unsavoury speech. |
dubh-fhacal | parable. |
drungan | easy. Drugan [sic] oibreach – little work, in a slow motion. [NOTES: Slipped under ‘drungan/drugan’ with a comment ‘has both – which correct?’ Definition: Easy; little work – “in a slow motion”.] |
strùpag | tea drank at tea-break. [NOTES: I could not find the slip. There is one dated 1976 with definition ‘balgam’.] |
barra-cuibleadh | [sic] wheel-barrow. (As spoken on Scalpay.) [NOTES: the slip has ‘barra-cuibhleadh’.] |
calcas | caulking wool. [NOTES: the slip has a note in pencil ‘I assume there should be a hyphen between the two words of translation’.] |
turcas | pincer. |
gocaman-gò | a dangerous – perhaps unreliable better – or an unsteady character, sentinel. [SLIP: An unreliable, unsteady character.] |
gocaman | cuckoo follower. There is a bird often in partnership flight with the cuckoo bird to which [we] refer on Scalpay as an gocaman. [SLIP: “Cuckoo follower” – a bird which often flies with the cuckoo so called.] |
cam-a-rèic | illusionment. [sic] |
sgroiteach | unsuitable female for a girlfriend with a youth. [SLIP: An unsuitable girl-friend for a youth.] |
cruidhneach | remark likewise or (do) [meaning that it has the same meaning as the previous word i.e. sgroiteach?]. [SLIP: Vid. ‘sgroiteach’.] |
smiùil | neat. |
tamhasg | stupid, a person making a mistake and another person remarking as here: tamhasg. [SLIP: What a person making a silly mistake is called – i.e. stupid.] |
taoim or taighium or teim | pull with a jerk as when fishing. |
tuim or taoim | bilge water in a boat. (Perhaps the two meanings [of taoim] could be noted to the same spelling.) [NOTES: both meanings slipped under ‘taoim’. No variant spellings given. Definition: To pull with a jerk as when fishing. Also ‘bilge-water’.] |
stràc | stroke. Also: Cha d’fhuair e air air [sic] adhart strac [sic]. (I have noted stràc in a former note. It does not matter.) [NOTES: the slip has ‘Cha d’fhuair e air adhart stràc.’] |
[note] | I’ll [sic] am trying to keep to the single, most uncommon meaning of the word, I think. |
glòramas | boasting, prattle. [SLIP: Boasting prattle.] |
sgaothag | a wee shoal (as in the case of small fish). |
lóthunn | a descriptive word for an untidy, neglected boat. [NOTES: the slip has ‘lòthunn’.] |
sgoladh | rinsing. Sgoladh dhe mo theangadh. (common) |
deargan | flea. |
innsail | telling. (Another form of innseadh.) [NOTES: slipped under ‘innis’ with ‘ìnnsail’ as the quotation. Definition: Another form of ‘innseadh’.] |
lag-a-bhràthad | (noun) hollow in the gully or gullet. |
spochadh | (noun) a shout to frighten a person. [SLIP: A shout to frighten people.] |
spiolagan | distracting [sic] [extracting?] food from whelks. A’ spiolagadh na faochag. |
[atmosphere] | Someone once asked me what was the Gaelic word for atmosphere: aer, buaidh, lathaireachd in a church? |
brùnndail | murmuring. |
sabaist | fighting (sabaid). |
stracannan | opening as in the planks of a boat being in the sun, result of drying (grèigheadh). |
guthan | phone. (I have heard this word from a person: colloquial – was it a word invented? I was wondering afterwards.) [SLIP: Phone – actually heard, though suspected it was ‘invented’.] |
tigh-na-h-adhairc | ‘fog-horn house’. The way the house on which the fog-horn is cemented is termed by the islanders of Scalpay. |
Iain-nam-bròg | (slang, common with fishermen) wasn’t there a name used for this boot extractor. I think there was another name in the term of a word. Perhaps you remember. I cannot recall it at the moment. [NOTES: slipped under Iain-nam-brog. Definition: Name for piece of wood so shaped to help fishermen out of their boots.] |
clàr-fuineadh | kneading board. Common but seldom used now, the board. |
leac-arain | for holding the bannocks to the fire for cooking in the open fireplaces of the black-houses. |
damaiste | rough time. Fhuair e damaiste. – he got a ‘hardship’. [SLIP: “Rough time”.] |
spliongag | sling (we call it). Also crann-tabhuill in other places. |
loch-bhlian | flank (the way we pronounce it). |
lùdagan | hinges. |
clas-làmh | hand-cuff. [NOTES: the slip has ‘glas-làmh’.] |
drong | trunk. |
meacharan | wee cuddies (old reference occasionally heard today: if heard at all). [SLIP: Small cuddies – old-fashioned word, seldom used now.] |
siolpa | little look, look, popped in. Chaidh mi siolpa ann. – I went there for a wee while. |
seacaidh | withering look. |
sgonnan | a small lump of a hill, rock or wood. |
lugaichean | sand-worms used as bait for line fishing. |
luidheir | a ‘chimney’ part of a black house. |
stol-smiùraidh | a smearing stool on which a ‘smearer’ (fear-smiaraidh) sat while engaged in the process of smearing ship with tar. |