ONlwSG

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slabhcar m. [ˈs̪ɫ̪ɑuʰkəɾ] in the sense ‘spiritless fellow’ is derived by Mackay (1897, 91: slaucar) from Ice. slakr ‘idle’ (cf. Cleasby’s (1874) Ice. slakr ‘slack’), but by MacBain (1896: slaucar ‘slouching fellow (Sutherland), taunter’; 1911: slabhcar ‘idem’), Henderson (1910, 212–13: slabhcar ‘slouching fellow, one given to taunting’, 346: slabhcair, 351: slabhcar) and MacLennan (1925: slabhcar ‘slouching fellow, taunter’ 

So also Stewart (2004, 414), but who translates ON slókr as ‘insult’ in error.

) from ON slókr m. ‘slouching fellow’ (cf. Cleasby’s Ice. slókr m. ‘slouching fellow’ 

Cf. ON slókr m. ‘a dull, heavy, lazy person’ (NO).

), from which MacBain (1911) also derives Eng. slouch. 

Note that Gunn’s (1900b, 120) rewording of MacBain (1911) implies something somewhat different: ‘slabhcar, awkward fellow, from Norse, slokr, and English, slouch’ [sic]. OED^˄ notes that the origin of Eng. slouch is obscure, comparing Eng. slotch and slouk in the same sense, the latter compared with Norw. slōk and Ice. slókr. One of the two citations given for slouk, however, is from Wexford (1867: ‘an idle, heedless person’), and may in fact be a reflex of Ir. sleabhac, s.v. slòc.

Gunn and Mackay (1897, 180) merely note that SG slaucar ‘awkward fellow’ may be found in Norse. McDonald (2009, 409) considers a derivation from ON slókr likely.

Mackay’s form slaucar 

Mackay’s form appears in a paper published in 1897, first presented in February 1895.

is copied in MacBain 1896 and in Gunn and Mackay 1897. It is an anglicised spelling of SG [ˈs̪ɫ̪ɑuʰkəɾ], 

Potentially also [ˈs̪ɫ̪ɔːʰkəɾ] (cf. SG slabhcan ~ slòcan, s.v. slòc).

but is corrected to slabhcar in MacBain 1911 and Dwelly 1911.

Dwelly 1911, s.v. slaucar: see slabhcar; s.v. slabhcar: ‘slouching fellow; taunter; spiritless fellow (Sutherland)’. Duncanson (1897, 10) notes the question of the unusual orthography: ‘The Norse slókr “slouching fellow” is regarded by both Mr Gunn and Mr MacBain as the original of a word that is very strangely spelt for a Gaelic word, viz slaucar “an awkward fellow”. Where is there a precedent in the Gaelic language for the combination au?’ (A Strathglass contributor to Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄ maintains (incorrectly) that slaucar ‘sloucher, dawdler’ is misspelt slabhcar, and that there was ‘never a “b” [sic] in this word’.

Duncanson (≈1897, 10) claims without evidence that the word slabhcar ‘is not peculiar to the North’, but that ‘it occurs also in the southern dialect’, although on balance it seems that all references to it go back to Mackay. Black (2008, 169, 426–27, 685), however, argues that John Gregorson Campbell’s Mull-connected phrase sùil an t-slauchdain ‘an eye of softness’ 

It occurs in an anecdote associated with a Mull-based account of the devil-summoning ceremony taghairm (Black ibid., 169).

should be read as sùil an t-slauchdar, i.e. for sùil an t-slabhcair ‘the eye of a miser’ [the sense ‘miser’ being offered as an extension of ‘slouching fellow etc.’ according to the context], and that Alexander Carmichael’s (CG VI, 127, s.v. slabhdan) sùil an t-slabhdain ‘soft eyes’ is an attempt to improve the spelling of what must have looked to Carmichael from Campbell’s MS like sùil an t-slauchdain. 

Note that AFB^˄ takes Campbell’s slauchdan as slabhcan (pers. comm. Michael Bauer, AFB’s editor), rather than slabhcar, but with a definition identical to that of SG leisgean, leisgeadair, leisgear, viz ‘lazy/idle person, sluggard, slouch(er), layabout, idler, lazybones’. (For slabhcan in the sense ‘type of algae’, s.v. slòc.)

Ice. (or ON) slak, the stem form of slakr, would formally yield SG *slag *[s̪ɫ̪ɑɡ̊], while ON slók acc. would formally yield SG *slòg *[s̪ɫ̪oːɡ̊] or [s̪ɫ̪ɔːɡ̊]; neither would be expected to yield SG slabhcar. Slabhcar (Mackay’s slaucar) may simply be for SG slabhcan, 

Duncanson’s (1897, 10) suggestions include a connection with the related SG slabhag ‘the pith of a horn’ (s.v. slabhairc) and slabhagan ‘a type of algae’ (s.v. slòc). He also suggests a connection with Scots slawk ‘a type of algae’, for which s.v. slòc.

with substitution of an alternative (agentive) suffix, 

The nature and origin of the suffix is problematic. The word slabhcar seems to be associated with Sutherland, where an original -air -[aɾʲ] could yield either -[aɾ] or -[əɾ] or both (cf. SGDS Item 393, Points 139–150); cf. *duilear (s.v. duil fhear) and ealbhar, q.v. On confusion between the agentive suffixes -air and -aire -[əɾʲə], see Ó Maolalaigh 2013, 210–13.

the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of Ir. sleabhcán ‘drooping, slouching person etc.’ (e.g. Ó Dónaill 1977), EG *sleḃac (cf. sleḃcán ‘?an edible seaweed’ (eDIL^˄), s.v. slòc), probably the same word as sliḃac ‘the pith of a horn’ (eDIL^˄, s.v. slabhairc), perhaps from the root (s)leib- ‘slimy, slippery etc.’ (Pokorny 1959 II, 663).

Cf. slabhairc and slòc.