sitir

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sitir f. [ˈʃ iʰt̪ʲiɾʲ], gen. sitire -[ə], ‘neigh’ is derived by MacLennan (1925) from ON þytr m. ‘a whistling sound as of wind’ (cf. NO: ‘a whining, honking, humming, buzzing etc.’), so also Stewart (2004, 414); McDonald (2009, 430) considers the loan uncertain. ON þytr (acc. þyt) seems formally unlikely to yield SG sitir, despite Scots thoosand probably yielding SG sùs(t)an, q.v.

SG sitir goes back to EG sitrech, seitrech (also sitir) ‘a neighing; act of neighing, braying; a sneezing’ (eDIL^˄, s.v. sitreach). EG sitir is probably onomatopoeic in origin (Vendryes 1996, s.v. sitrech), which, with suffix and syncope, yields sitrech, seitrech. The feminine suffix -ach/-ech is frequent in expressive verbal nouns, e.g. Ir. búireach ‘bellowing’, sraothartach ‘sneezing’, seitreach ‘neighing; neigh, whinny; snort’ (Ó Dónaill 1977).

Also seitríl and seit(i)reacht, with alternative suffixes (ibid., s.v.).

In Scottish Gaelic, however, a normalised dative reflex is predominantly used instead: bùirich, sreothartaich, sitrich; hence Kirk [-1692] 1702 (in Campbell 1938, 91): sitreach, Shaw 1780: seilreach [leg. seitreach], and Mac Farlan 1795: seitreach (the last two of which, if not all three, may be adaptations or adoptions from Irish, cf. Lhuyd 1707: Ir. seitreach), but Lhuyd 1700, 127 VIII.59 shiterych for Inverness-shire and sheiteri for Argyllshire,

For final -i, cf. O’Rahilly (1976, 57), who notes that ‘[in] the extreme south of the Scottish Gaelic area (e.g. Arran, Kintyre, Rathlin) -ich is usually pronounced -i’, cf. SGDS Items 71–72 balaich, Points (Arran) 31–35, (Kintyre) 37, 39, 41–42, and (Islay) 54–56.

Shaw 1780: sitrich, and MacFarlane 1815: sitrich; so also Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828: sit(i)rich; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; McDonald [-1897] 1972, s.v. sidir, South Uist; Dwelly 1911: sit(i)rich; Dieckhoff 1932: sitirich [Sicdˈjirˈic], Glengarry; Borgstrøm 1937, 234: seitrich [ʃ ĭhtriç], Barra; 1940, 59: sitrich [ʃ iʰtriç], Lewis, 168: [ʃ ihtriç], Harris to Barra; Oftedal 1956, 51, 240: /ʃ itˊðiç/, 129: [ʃ i^çtrˊiç], Lewis; AFB^˄: sitrich /ʃ ihdʲrʲɪç/ and seitrich /ʃ eçdʲrʲɪç/; and with a non-palatal medial cluster: Wentworth 2003, s.vv. neigh, snigger, whisper: sitrich (siotraich) [ˈʃ ihtriç], Gairloch. Further, Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄ lists a number of spelling forms, although they do not always reflect the given or likely pronunciation: they should probably be grouped as (1) <sitrich>: sitrich, Lochabar; sitearraich [ʃ itʹɾiç], North Uist; (2) <sitrich> ~ <seitrich>: sitrich and seitrich, Harris; (3) <sitearaich>, with non-palatal -r-: sitrich [ʃ içtʹəriç], Cape Breton; sitearaich [ʃ itʹəɾiç], Sutherland; sitear eich [sic, by folk etymology: with genitive of each ‘horse’] and (s.v. sitear [ʃ itʹəɾ]) sitearraich [ʃ itʹəɾiç], Tiree; sitearraich, Coll; and (4) <siotaraich>, with non-palatal -t-: sitrich [ʃ it̪əɾiç], Glenurquhart. The interpolated s of (Islay) sitearsaich /ʃ içtʃ ərsi/ (Grant 1987 I, 256) may be by analogy with, for example, of SG cagarsaich /ˈkʰɑ^ʔkərsi/ ‘whispering’ (ibid., 102).

For final /i/, see fn 2, above.

SG sitir itself is listed in HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932: [Sicdˈjirˈ], Glengarry; AFB^˄: /ʃ ihdʲɪrʲ/; and Wentworth 2003, s.v. neigh: sitir, but no pronunciation given, Gairloch; while Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄ lists sitir for North Uist, but sitear [ʃ itʹəɾ] for Tiree and siotar for South Uist, cf. McDonald 1972, s.v. sidir (editor: sitir): also siotar, and Mac Gill-Fhinnein 2009, 130: siotar [ʃ ihtər], both South Uist.

SG sitrich is given the senses ‘neighing, braying; sneezing’, but also ‘tittering’ (Dwelly 1911), ‘sniggering; whispering’ (Wentworth 2003, s.vv.: Gairloch) and ‘snorting’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh%%, s.v. seitrich: Harris), while SG sitir is given the senses ‘neigh, bray; neighing, braying’, but also ‘an obstreperous laugh’ (HSS 1828).

Derivatives: SG sitrich vb (Dwelly 1911; AFB^˄), and the agent noun sitriche (Dwelly 1911). The adjective sitreach is listed in HSS 1828: sit(i)reach; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911: sit(i)reach; and MacLennan 1925, but is apparently otherwise unattested: it may be the result of a rationalisation of sitreach/seitreach as found in Kirk 1702, Shaw 1780 and Mac Farlan 1795, but may really be a ghost word in Scottish Gaelic.

Instances of [i] ~ [e] alternation in the stressed vowel of some of the above forms may be due to confusion with EG séitiḋ ‘blows etc.’, Ir. séid, SG sèid

With which MacBain (1911) compares SG sitir, sitrich and Ir. sitreach.

‘to blow’ (vn sèideadh). Certainly, the Scottish Gaelic forms <sèidrich>

Cf. séidrich ‘blowing; panting; anhelation; blustering, as of wind’ (Armstrong 1825); seidrich [shājjˊ-rėch] (i.e. with [eː]) ‘hissing of serpents’ (M^cAlpine 1832); séidrich ‘hissing of serpents’ (Dwelly 1911, after M^cAlpine); sèidrich ‘hissing of serpents etc.’ (MacLennan 1925); séidrich /ʃ eːdʲrʲɪç/ ‘hissing’ (AFB^˄).

and <sèitrich>

Cf. sèitrich ‘blowing, puffing’ (MacEachen 1842); séitrich (Dwelly 1911: see séidrich).

‘blowing; hissing etc.’, and Dwelly’s (1911) seidrich ‘snorting of a horse; blowing, breathing hard, panting, anhelation; blustering, as of wind’ suggest a degree of conflation. (Dwelly also lists eitrich ‘see séidrich [“hissing of serpents”]’. This is after M^cAlpine (1832), who lists eitrich

Where the penultimate letter ?c has been overprinted with ?d, or vice versa.

‘[ājt’ˊ-rė] for sèitrich. Ossian’ (cf. M^cAlpine’s own entry s[è]idrich ‘hissing of serpents’). The reference to Ossian is probably from ‘Cathula’ in John Smith’s Sean Dana 1787, 79–97: 85 b 7: Tha osna shèimh is eitrich cuain | Gan coi-measg air uairibh le cheile [sic], which corresponds with Smith’s own (Galic Antiquities 1780, 229–50: 237) ‘Mixed with the noise of waves, rise, at times, the sighs of the fair’, and where eitrich is probably a typesetting error for, rather than a variant of, sèitrich.)