ONlwSG

rùc m. [ɍuːʰk], gen. ruic [ɍɯːʰkʲ], ‘a rick of hay or corn; a stack of peats’ is derived by MacLennan (1925) from ON hraukr m. ‘heap’, so also Stewart (2004, 412); McDonald (2009, 264) considers the loan likely. The following forms, including those with the diminutive suffix -an -[an], are found.

A SG ruc ~ ruchd, rucan ~ ruchdan
A 1. SG ruc ~ ruchd
(i) ruc //ʀuk// 

Phonemic transcriptions within double slashes ‘//’ use historical values of segments in order to avoid any differences between dialects in the modern period.

([ɍuʰk]) (Shaw 1780, s.v. rick; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; MacLeod & Dewar 1831);
(ii) ruc //ʀuxk// (M^cAlpine 1832: [rŭchg], Islay; Dieckhoff 1932: [RuKg], Glengarry; LASID IV, 222 Item 599: ruc feur [Ruxḳ fè:^ər]; Grant 1987 I, 239: /ruxk/, Islay);
(iii) ruc //ʀuxkə// (Holmer 1938, 205: [ruxkə]);
(iv) ruchd //ʀuxk// (Mac Farlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815: rŭchd; Armstrong 1825).

A 2. SG rucan ~ ruchdan
(i) rucan //ʀukɑn// ([ˈɍuʰkan]) (Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; and MacLeod & Dewar 1831);
(ii) rucan //ʀuxkɑn// (Ó Murchú 2021, 307: /ruxgɑn/, West Perthshire);
(iii) ruchdan //ʀuxkɑn// (Armstrong 1825).

B SG rùc ~ rùchd, rùcan ~ rùchdan
B 1. SG rùc ~ rùchd
(i) rùc //ʀuːk// ([ɍuːʰk]) (MacEachen 1842: Arisaig; 

MacEachen was a native of Arisaig.

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. rùc(an): ‘very long sound’, the Aird (Beauly));
(ii) rùca //ʀuːkə// (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Inverness 

?= mainland Inverness-shire.

);
(iii) rùchd //ʀuːxk// (Dwelly 1911: see ruc; AFB^˄: /Ruːxg/ (see note, below)).

B 2. SG rùcan ~ rùchdan
(i) rùcan //ʀuːkɑn// ([ˈɍuːʰkan]) (MacEachen 1842: Arisaig; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. rùc(an): ‘very long sound’, the Aird; [ru̜:xkɑṉ], Glenurquhart; Henderson 1910, 118), also //ʀɯːkɑn// (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. rùc(an): ‘ “raocan” in Badenoch’;
(ii) rùchdan //ʀuːxkɑn// (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Islay; [ru:xkɑ̃ṉ], Drumguish (Kingussie)).

Note: MacBain (1896; 1911), Dwelly (1911) and MacLennan (1925, s.v. rùc) recognise both short and long varieties. AFB^˄ lists ruc /Ruxg/ ‘rick; small peat stack’, but includes the senses ‘heap, pile (esp. of seaweed cast ashore)’ under rùchd /Ruːxg/ ‘sally [a sudden rush or burst]; belch, burp’ (further, see below). The difference between forms in -c(-) and -chd(-) is dialectal: the spelling -chd(-) (understood in discussion below) merely indicates a greater degree of preaspiration.

HSS (1828, s.v. ruc) and MacLennan (1925, s.v. rùc) cite Ir. ruc. However, this is from O’Reilly’s Irish dictionary, which gives (1817; 1864) ruc ‘rick’ and ruchd ‘rick, stack’, but which are most likely adopted from Shaw’s (1780: ruc) and Mac Farlan’s (1795: ruchd) or MacFarlane’s (1815: rŭchd) Scottish Gaelic dictionaries.

ON hrauk acc. would be expected to yield SG *ròg *[ɍɔːɡ̊] or *[ɍoːɡ̊], 

Cf. SG Cleite Thòg NB138255, a Lewis place-name with a specific probably from ON *Hauka f., a river name based on ON haukr m. ‘hawk’ (Cox 2022, 627–70).

not rùc [ɍuːʰk] and certainly not ruc [ɍuʰk]. Indeed, SG ruc, rùc(a) most likely comes from Scots ruck [rʌk], (Ross) [ruk]; 

Cf. northern Eng. ruck [ruk] (EDDo^˄), Ulster-Scots ruck, rock (Macafee 1996). For the etymology of Scots ruck, SND^˄ compares Norw. ruka, CSD2 ON hraukr. ON hraukr is related to OG crúach (Ir. and SG cruach); cf. Kluge 1885, 144 (so also de Vries 1962); Pokorny 1959 II, 617 (so also Vendryes 1996, s.v. crúach); and Henderson 1910, 118.

cf. HSS (1828, s.v. rucan), MacBain (1896; 1911, s.v. ruc) and Henderson (1910, 118: rùcan 

Not rùgan as given in McDonald 2009, 364.

). SG ruc [ɍuʰk[ is evidently the earlier pronunciation; SG rùc [ɍuːʰk] may owe its long vowel to the presence of a phonetically longer, albeit phonemically short, variety of /u/ (McClure 1977) in the Scots dialect(s) concerned (cf. Scots coose, koos > SG cus ~ cùs ‘too much’, s.v.), and/or to confusion with SG rùchd in the sense ‘belch’. MacBain (1911) derives SG rùchd ‘belch’ from Lat. ructō ‘to belch’, noting Lat. ērūgere ‘to spit (belch) out’, and comparing Scots ruck ‘belch’ – cf. MScots ruk, ruck ‘to belch’ (DOST^˄: < Lat. ructāre). MacLennan (1925) also cites Lat. ructō, but his reference to EG rúcht ‘roar’ (which should probably read rucht ‘a noise of some kind, cry etc.’ (eDIL^˄), a different word) should probably be ignored. SG rùchd ‘belch’ may well be from MScots ruk, ruck, but with long ù in Gaelic on the analogy of SG brùchd (also brùc, q.v.) < EG brúcht ‘a burst, bursting, breaking out; pouring out; belching’ (eDIL^˄), described by Vendryes (1996) as probably an expressive formation (i.e. one describing a noise etc.) of the Latin type erūctō (< ēructō) ‘to belch’, under the influence of the many native words in initial br-, e.g. EG broimm ‘fart’, bris(s)iḋ ‘breaks’, brú ‘belly’.

Vendryes writes ‘broinn- [sic], bris-, brú-’.

Derivatives: in addition to the diminutives rucan ~ rùcan, there are the verbal forms ruc (M^cAlpine 1832: [rŭxg]; Dwelly 1911; AFB^˄: /Ruxg/) ~ rùc (MacLennan 1925). The verbal noun rucadh (Grant 1987 I, 239: /ruxkəɣ/, Islay) is based on the verbal form ruc; the adjectival forms rucanach and ruchdach (Armstrong 1825) on the nouns rucan and ruchd, respectively.