ONlwSG

glòmach adj. [ˈɡ̊ɫ̪ɔ̃ːməx], ax], ɔx] in the sense ‘whitish, especially of a whitish cast of eye’ is listed by Henderson (1910, 209–10: glōmach), who explains that ‘Norn has glōm “a white or whitish stripe”; it is the name of an Icelandic glacier, and a poetic name for the moon, from its whiteness; cf. possibly [SG] glōmach, the Falls of Glōmach, in Kintail, named from the white waterfall in that gorge – cognate with the Norse [glámr].’ McDonald (2009, 358) notes that MacBain (1911) has SG glòmadh and glòmainn ‘the gloaming’, which are derived from the English. McDonald opines that ≈‘[s]emantically and phonologically, SG glòmainn, glòmadh are better explained as from English. However, phonologically, SG ó in glómach is better suited to ON á, whereas SG ò is better suited to English long o’, adding that, while Henderson’s Gaelic usage is not attested elsewhere, ‘[i]f genuine, then the loan is likely’. There is a degree of conflation and confusion here.

Scots †glom [gloːm] (also written glome, gloam) is a tabu name for the moon and derives from ON glám, acc. of glámr m., a poetic name for the moon (lit. ‘the pale one’) (SND^˄), cf. Nn. glåm ‘someone with a pale face’ (NO, s.v. glámr). Scots gloam [gloːm] (also written glome, glom) means ‘to grow dusk or dim, to darken’ and, as a noun, ‘twilight, a faint light, a dull gleam’, and is a back-formation from Scots gloamin ‘gloaming’ (SND^˄). However, the senses of these homophones are combined (and extended) under Jakobsen’s (1928) (Shetland) glom [glōm], [glō^əm] ‘a white stripe; a faint light, a dull gleam, especially moonlight or the light from a low fire; a tabu name for the moon’.

Gláma is the name of what was formerly considered to be a glacier but now an upland area in the north-west of Iceland; the name is taken to be a feminine by-form of Ice. glámr m. (Cleasby 1874).

McDonald appears to interpret Henderson’s ō as indicating ó, and draws a distinction between the ó of glómach (which McDonald equates with á in ON glámr) and the ò of glòmainn (equated with Eng. gloaming); but the distinction is false. Although traditionally Scottish Gaelic orthography did distinguish between open ò [ɔː] and close ó [oː], 

The recommendation that ò be used for both sounds was initiated in 1981: ‘Of the two length marks at present used in Gaelic, the acute accent should be dispensed with, in view of the small number of words on which it occurs, and the grave accent alone should be used to indicate length’ (GOC 1, §3.7).

the stressed vowel in both glòmach and glòmainn appears to be [ɔː] (see below, including fnn 2–3, 5 and 9).

Scots gloamin [ˈgloːmən] ‘evening twilight, dusk; morning twilight, daybreak; half-light, dusky shade’ (< OEng. glōmung ‘twilight’) yields SG glòmainn ‘(evening or morning) twilight’, 

E.g. glomuin (Shaw 1780; Dwelly 1911: see glòmadh), †glomuin (Armstrong 1825); glomain (M^cAlpine 1832: [glôm´-mėnn]); glòmainn (MacBain 1911; AFB^˄: /gLɔːmɪNʲ/); glomainn (Dwelly 1911: see glòmadh); glómainn (MacLennan 1925: [glōmin]).

and a number of other forms: glòmadh; 

HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; MacBain 1911; Dwelly 1911; Dwelly App.; Dieckhoff 1932: [gLòːməG]; McDonald 1972: glòmadh and glaomadh (see below).

glòmaich; 

CG VI, 45.

glòmanaich 

HSS 1828; Dwelly 1911, s.v. glomanaich: see glòmadh; Wentworth 2003, s.v. gloaming: [ɡ̊ʟɔːmɑniç]; AFB^˄: /gLɔːmənɪç/.

and glòmnaich; 

Dwelly 1911, s.v. glomnaich: see glòmadh.

and glòmanachadh.

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄.

Derivative verbal forms are also found: glòmanaich 

MacEachen 1842.

and glòmnaich ‘to dawn’.

M^cAlpine 1832, s.v. glomnaich: [glôm´-nėch]; MacLennan 1925, s.v. glómnaich: [glôm´-nich].

The adjectival form glòmach occurs in the senses ‘furry (of sound), hazy, indistinct, muffled’ (Wentworth 2003: [ɡ̊ʟɔ̃ːmɔx], Gairloch; cf. AFB^˄: /gLɔːməx/) and ‘low pitched (of sound); dull or discoloured (of water)’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Ross-shire). As for Henderson’s glòmach in the sense ‘whitish, especially of a whitish cast of eye’, cf. glòmadh in the sense ‘opening the eyes sleepily: thug e glòmadh air a shùilean’ and glaomadh [gʟöːməɣ] ‘a sudden wide opening of the eyes as of a person waking suddenly’ (McDonald 1972: South Uist).

The reason for the vowel quality of glaomadh is unclear.

Armstrong (1825) indicates that the form glomuin occurs in Irish also: this is a reference to O’Reilly’s (1817) Irish dictionary’s ‘glomuin “the evening” ’, but this is no doubt an adoption of Shaw’s (1780) Scottish Gaelic dictionary’s own ‘glomuin “the evening” ’.

The name The Falls of Glōmach derives from SG Eas na Glòmaich ‘the waterfall of A’ Ghlòmach’, with genitive singular of glòmach, a different word meaning ‘place of the chasm’ (< SG glòm ‘chasm, gorge’ + the suffix of place -ach) (Watson 1904, lxxv, 181–82; Robertson, in King 2019, 125).

Cf. SG Glàm NG553431, in Raasay (Taylor 2011, s.v. Glame; Mackay 2013, 78; but Forbes 1923, 294, in the sense ‘cry, noise, brattle of a burn’) and ?near Sconser (Forbes 1923, 200, in the sense ‘chasm’); and, with suffixes, Glàmaig NG523304, in Skye (Forbes ibid.) and Glàmais NO385467, in Angus (Taylor 2011, s.v. Glamis). Cf. MacBain 1911, s.v. SG glàm ‘to devour’: < Scots glam; but SND^˄, s.v. glaum, glam ‘to devour etc.’: < SG glàm.