ONlwSG

Show / Hide all footnotes

sgeir f. [s̪kʲeɾʲ], gen. sgeire -[ə], ‘rock, skerry’ (see also below) is derived from ON sker nt. ‘reef, skerry; a rock that sticks out of the ground’ (NO), 

Craigie (1894, 162); MacBain (1895, 237; 1896; 1911); Goodrich-Freer (1897, 67–68); Mackay (1897, 94: Ice. [sic] sker); Bugge (1912, 305); Henderson (1910, 216); Marstrander (1932, 266; so also de Vries 1962); Borgstrøm (1936, 295; 1937, 82; 1940, 28, 135); MacPherson (1945, 36); MacLennan (1925, 290; so also Stewart 2004, 413); Oftedal (1956, 63; 1972, 120; 1980, 173; 1983); Fraser (1978, 11); Cox (1991, 492; 1992, 139; 2002a, 239.1392; 2022, 537–38 + fn 138); and McDonald (2009, 401).

as is Ir. sceir 

Meyer (1890, 494); Craigie (1894, 162); Bugge (1912, 305); Marstrander (1915a, 62; so also de Vries 1962, although he cites Old Irish in error); Oftedal (1976, 128); McKay (2007, 132: ON scer [sic]); McDonald (2009, 401); and Farren (2014, 44), although he cites Middle Irish in error.

and Mx sker.

Bugge (1912, 305); Marstrander (1915a, 62 (so also de Vries 1962); 1932, 49, 266); PNIM VI, 357; and McDonald (2009, 401). Y Kelly (1866) lists Mx sceair, sker ‘peaked rock in the sea’ and, separately, sker ‘rock in the sea’.

The primary sense of SG sgeir is ‘rock in the sea or sea rock’ (MacDomhnuill 1741, 6: sceir; Shaw 1780: sgeir; Mac Farlan 1795: sceir; MacFarlane: sgeir; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; Dieckhoff 1932), more specifically ‘a rock surrounded by the sea, a rock sometimes under water’ (M^cAlpine 1832; MacLennan 1925), ‘a rock in the sea nearly or quite covered by neap tides and quite covered by spring tides’ (Dwelly 1911), ‘a rock in the sea; tidal rock; reef; rock above the tide at high water’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄), ‘a semi-submerged rock, skerry’ (AFB^˄), ‘a reef, skerry, rock (in the sea, sometimes or always above water)’ (Wentworth 2003a, s.vv.).

According to Fraser (1978, 11), sgeir can refer either to ‘a rock attached to a coastline, or to a detached rock, usually visible at high tide’.

Place-names such as SG Sgeir na h-Aon Chaorach ‘the skerry of the single sheep’ (e.g. NB148415 and NB116375) indicate, if sometimes only hyperbolically, the potential for limited grazing in some instances. Occasionally, sgeir applies to non-marine environments, e.g. Cnoc Sgeir na h-Aoidhe ‘the hill (of the rock of the ford)’ by NB227328, in Lewis (Cox 2002a, 239.1392); there are several examples of sgeir and its derivatives as far from the sea as Upper Deeside, e.g. (pl.) Na Sgeirean ‘the rocks’, of the cliffs above Lochnagar NO251859 (Watson and Allan 1984, 136). The type of rock is specified as ‘sharp sea rock’ by Shaw (1780: sgeir) and ‘sharp, flinty rock’ by Armstrong (1825; so also Dwelly 1911), perhaps to force a contrast with SG leac ‘flat rock, flagstone’. Armstrong also defines sgeir as ‘rock, cliff’ (so also Dwelly), but this sense may be adopted from O’Reilly (see below).

For Ir. sceir, Ó Dónaill’s (1977) dictionary gives ‘low, rocky island or reef, skerry’, Dinneen’s (1927) ‘skerry, reef’.

Cf. the place-names Ir. Sceir na Roilleach (Co. Mayo), Sceir Mhártain (Co. Down) and Sceir Chill Mhantáin (Co. Wicklow) (Bunachar Logainmneacha na hÉireann).

O’Reilly’s (1817) dictionary, on the other hand, gives sceir ‘sharp sea rock’ and, separately, sgeir ‘rock in the sea, cliff, shelf’. The former seems to be an adoption of Shaw’s (1780) Scottish Gaelic dictionary’s own sceir ‘sharp sea rock’; the first part of the latter seems to be an adoption of Shaw’s sgeir ‘rock in the sea’, and the second part an adaptation of (from the English-Gaelic section of his dictionary) Shaw’s clough ‘sgeir, creug [leg. creag]’, where clough most probably means ‘crag, rock’ (cf. Scots cleugh (SND^˄, sense †2)), and shelf ‘sgeir’, where shelf most probably means ‘sandbank or submerged ledge of rock’ (cf. OED^˄, ²shelf 

Cf. Smyth 1867: shelf  ‘dangerous beach bounded by a ledge of flat rocks awash’.

). Echoing O’Reilly, Joyce (1910 I, 420) writes that ‘[s]ceir means, according to dictionaries, a sharp sea rock’, but continues that ‘[i]t is applied to rocks inland, however, as well as to those in the sea, as is proved by the fact, that there are several places far removed from the coast whose names contain the word.’ McKay (2007, 155), however, notes both the sense ‘low, rocky island’: Na Sceirí (p. 132, s.v. The Skerries), and the sense ‘rocky hill’: Sceir an Choire ‘the rocky hill of the cauldron’ (p. 77, s.v. Glenwhirry), although Joyce’s (≈ibid., 53) description (‘the cauldron is a deep pool formed under a cataract; and a rocky hill near it is called Sceir a’ Choire “the rock of the cauldron” ’) leaves open the possibility that Sceir an Choire, as it applies to the hill, is a transferred name (i.e. from rock to hill).

Contrast EG escir ‘a ridge, an elevation (separating two plains or depressed surfaces)’ (eDIL^˄), Ir. eiscir ‘esker [the English geological term being borrowed from Irish], (glacial) ridge’ (Ó Dónaill 1977), for which MacBain (1911, s.v. aisgeir) tentatively suggests a derivation from *ad-sker-, with intensive use of the prefix and the Proto-Indo-European root ‘cut’ (from which ON sker itself derives (de Vries 1962)). MacBain’s SG aisgeir ‘ridge of high mountains’, however, seems likely to be a ghost word that ultimately goes back to Shaw’s (1780) Scottish Gaelic dictionary, whose aisceir ‘ridge of high mountains’ and eisgir ‘ridge of mountains’ are probably adopted from O’Brien’s (1768) Irish dictionary’s aisgeir ‘mountain’ and eisgir, eiscir ‘ridge of high lands or mountains’. For Ir. eiscir, cf. W esgair, ysgair ‘leg, shank; limb; ridge, mountain spur’, OC (el)escher ‘shin’, and Bret. esker ‘leg’ (GPC^˄; Favereau 2020^˄). MacBain also compares W. esgair, after Meyer (1901, 443 – if the reference is correctly identified), who compares Bret. skarr ‘split’ with Ir. escair [?leg. eiscir, or EG escir] and W esgair ‘ridge’, although skarr is a variant of Bret. skar ‘gap, crevasse etc.’ (Favereau ibid.^˄), cf. W ysgar ‘separation etc.’ and Ir. scar, SG sgar ‘to separate etc.’, which are ultimately related to *sker- (cf. Matazović 2009, s.v. *skara-).

For Mx sker, Cregeen’s (1835) dictionary gives ‘rock in the sea’, while Y Kelly’s (1866) gives s.v. sceair, sker: ‘peaked rock in the sea’, and s.v. sker: ‘rock in the sea’. Kelly’s (1991^˄) dictionary, on the other hand, gives ‘crag, key, reef, ridge, rockface, sea rock, skerry, underwater rock; (in sea) ledger’, with at least some senses apparently borrowed from de Bhaldraithe’s (1959) English-Irish dictionary, e.g. key (presumably of a low-lying (coral) island) and ridge (presumably of a long narrow stretch of shingle or rocks near the surface of the sea (cf. Smyth 1867)), both of which de Bhaldraithe renders (Ir.) ‘sceir’, apparently with the consequence that Mx sker is treated in Omniglot^˄ as cognate with Ir. eiscir etc. (see ‍fn 7, above).

Derivatives: the adjective SG sgeireach, with the adjectival suffix -ach; the noun sgeireach ‘rocky place’, with the suffix of place -ach, attested in the Upper Deeside place-name An Sgeireach (Watson and Allan 1984, 136); the noun sgeireag, with the diminutive suffix -ag; which in turn yields the adjective sgeireagach, also with the adjectival suffix -ach (cf. Dwelly 1911).

SG sgeir, however, has a number of applications (A–C, below) that may not be connected with ON sker.

A. SG sgeir, (Lewis also) sgir, sgior ‘top-coating; layer (of fat)’
(i) ‘a coating on the tongue’: McDonald [-1897] 1972: ‘rough film, coating’: tha sgeir air tighinn air an teang’ aige ‘a film has come on his tongue’ (South Uist); ^a
(ii) ‘a skin on liquids’: Dwelly 1911: ‘covering, top layer, as of cold porridge or of fat, soup etc. (Arran); ^a
(iii) sgeirean (pl.) ‘splashes of food’: Dwelly 1911: ‘drops of food, as on clothes etc. (Arran); ^a
(iv) (figuratively) ‘flesh’: MacDonald 1946, 46: sgir or sgior ‘flesh or fat’: ≈chan eil sgir air cnàmhan an eich agad [‘there’s no flesh on your horse’] (Lewis);^a Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [sɡʹeɾ]: ≈chan eil sgeir air na cnàmhan aige, said of a very skinny person (Lewis);
(v) (figuratively) ‘lard (wealth)’: Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: ≈tha thusa na do sgeir airgid ‘you are worth a mint of money’, Lewis.

Note: a. Echoed in Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. sgeir: ≈‘skin’ as on cold porridge, soup etc. (N[orth]-E[ast] [sic]); tha sgeir air a theanga; sgir (Lewis): chan eil sgir air cnàmhan an eich sen [sic]; and s.v. sgeirean [pl.]: ‘dribbling of food on clothes of infant; etc.’ – both from a notebook containing an alphabetical list of words forwarded by George Moss of Strathglass in 1967. An editorial note explains that Kenneth MacDonald replied by letter on 18/01/1967: ‘Many thanks for your alphabetical list of words with notes. I take it these have been culled both from written sources and dialect usage. They are a valuable reminder of things to be on the alert for, both in reading and in field work.’

This usage appears to derive from SG geir ‘tallow, grease; suet’, geir-mhuc ‘lard’ (Dwelly 1911) + prothetic s-, cf. SG greòd ~ sgreòd ‘crowd etc.’, q.v. 

For discussion and examples of prothetic s- in the Gaelic languages, see Robertson 1904, 347; O’Rahilly 1927, 24–29: 27–29; Risk 1970, 628; Gleasure 1973, 190–91; Clancy 1992.

B. SG sgeir ‘knife; blade’
(i) ‘the cutter on a peat-spade’: McDonald 1972, who compares SG troidhsgeir ‘peat-spade’, South Uist;
(ii) and ?by extension ‘peat-bank’: M^cAlpine 1832: Islay, so also Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925, Islay; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: sgeir-mhòine ‘peat-bank’, Islay;
(iii) ‘blade’: Dwelly (1911) gives sgeir-liamhraidh ‘yarn-winder’ (Argyll and Uist), but we should perhaps read ‘yarn-winder blade’: the (gen.) adjectival element is a varant of SG liaghra, lianradh etc. ‘wool-winder’, cf. sgianan lianraidh ‘the blades of a wool-winder’ (cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. sgian).

Usage here seems to be the result of confusion between -sgeir, as in SG tarfhsgeir ‘peat-spade, peat-knife’, and SG sgian ‘knife’, cf. the Uist/Barra variants troidhsgeir/trèisgeir and the Islay form toirpsgian, s.v. tarfhsgeir. The sense ‘peat-bank’ (ii), if not extended or transferred from the sense ‘cutter on a peat-spade’ (i), may instead be an extended use of (A) sgeir in the sense ‘layer’.

C. SG sgeir ‘pain, discomfort’
Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄ records sgeir-feithe [sic] ‘complaints of the limbs, [or] sinews’ for Harris, with genitive of SG fèith ‘muscle; sinew; vein etc.’ (AFB^˄). If not for geir + prothetic s-, cf. Dwelly 1911: geir (used with the article: a’ gheir) ‘pain experienced in the wrist of persons manipulating the pruning hook’ (Caithness), this is perhaps from SG deir (an deir), otherwise ‘shingles’, cf. Ir. deir ‘shingles, herpes’ (Ó Dónaill 1977), Early Modern Irish deir ‘the name of a skin disease, herpes’ (eDIL^˄). For the variation d- ~ g-, cf. SG (treis ~) dreis ~ greis ‘while, period of time’ (Cox 2017, 381 fn 11), dreallag ~ greallag ‘swingle-tree’, also geal ~ deal ‘leech’ (Calder 1972, 67).