v1.0
Published 01/10/24
bàta bàta m.
McAlpine 1832: fem.
,
An earlier version of this article appears in Cox 2008b, 169–71.
[ˈb̥aʰt̪(ə)],
(Arran) [bwɛːTə] (Holmer 1957, 12); (Kintyre) [baːTə] (Holmer 1962, 14); (Islay) [bá′-ta] (McAlpine 1832); (Islay) [pɑːht(ə)] (Holmer 1938, 126); (Glengarry) [baːhdə] (Dieckhoff 1932); (Bernera) [b̬ɑːʰt(ə)] (Borgstrøm 1940, 59); (Harris to Barra) [b̬ɑːʰtɔ̌] (ibid., 168); (Barra) (len.) [vaːhtə] (Mac Gill-Fhinnein 2009, 8); (Ross-shire) [b̬ɑːhtə] (Borgstrøm 1941, 108); (Leurbost) /bɑːt(ə)/ (Oftedal 1956, 56, 103, 105, 158); (Gairloch) [b̥ɑːʰt(ə)] (Wentworth 2003, s.v. boat: ‘word formerly seldom used in the dialect’); (Easter Ross) /bɑːd/ (Watson 2022, 111); (East Perthshire) /bɑːd/ (Ó Murchú 1989, 289).
gen. idem, ‘boat, pinnace, barge’ (Dwelly 1911). The editors of eDIL˄ note Stokes’s view (1892, 126) that EG bát m. derives from OEng. bāt m., but concur with Marstrander (1915a, 70, 127) that it is more probable that it derives from ON bátr m. (leg. bát acc.):
So also Meyer (1891, 460), Craigie (1894, 155), Bugge (1912, 292), Falk (1912, 86), de Vries (1962), Schulze-Thulin (1996, 104) and Ó Muirithe (2010).
Marstrander notes that the word does not appear to occur in the older literature and that, if it cannot be from Middle English on the grounds that final EG <t> = /d/, it is probably of Norse origin.
A final /t/ ‘would make it a later loan from northern Middle English’ (Thomson 1963, 67).
Vendryes (1996) cites Stokes’s derivation from Old English and Marstrander’s from Old Norse but is undecided on the matter; Greene (≈1978, 121) opines that it is ‘quite impossible to say whether bát came directly from English or through Scandinavian, [although] the balance of probability is normally on the Scandinavian side, simply because the possibilities of cultural contact were so much greater’.
So also Mac Mathúna (2001, 76).
Although Vendryes (1913, 231) derives modern Ir. bád [bɑːd̪] /bɑːd/ (as opposed to *[bɑːt̪] */bɑːt/) from Old English, the word goes back to EG bát /bɑːd/ regularly and is just what one would expect from ON bát acc.,
So Ó Muirithe (2010).
cf. EG scúta (cf. Dinneen 1947: Ir. scúd(a) m. ‘cutter (ship)’) < ON skúta f. (Marstrander 1915a, 67, 98).
Marstrander (1932, 49), de Vries (1962), Broderick (PNIM VI, 526) and Ó Muirithe (2010) take Mx baatey m. to be from Old Norse.
So also Bugge (1912, 292).
Modern Mx baatey (baadey) [bɛːðə]
Jackson 1955, 24, 83; cf. Broderick 1984 II, 19–20: [bęːđə], [bɛːdə], and PNIM VI, 526: (len.) [veːðə].
, with its dental spirant, suggests original /d/ and therefore a derivation from ON bát, although ‘<p t k> intervocally were often voiced to [b d ɡ], and might go further and fall together with original <b d ɡ>’ (Jackson 1955, 65), which would not preclude OEng. bāt. In addition, as Thomson (1963, 66–67) points out, the Manx word does not occur in the surviving 1630 copy of the 1610 Manx translation of the 1604 version of The Book of Common Prayer (Thomson 2007, 284), which predates the phonological developments outlined above, and we cannot therefore know whether the word was originally baadey or baatey.
As for Scottish Gaelic, one would formally expect ON bát acc. to yield SG *[b̥aːd̪̥] or *[b̥aːt̪] */bɑːd/ (as opposed to [b̥aːʰt̪] /bɑːt/) – comparable to the Irish position – cf. SG Leòd m. < ON Ljót, accusative of the man’s name Ljótr m., SG greòd m. ‘gravel’ < ON grjót nt. (s.v. greòd) and SG sgòd m. ‘sail corner’ < ON skaut nt. (Cox 2002a, 150, 254–55, 297). SG bàta [b̥aːʰt̪ə] /bɑːtə/,
≈Oftedal 1956, 158: ‘The addition of a final /ə/ occurs in a few Norse loans: /bɑːt(ə)/ < ON acc. bát. This /ə/ is caducous. A stable /ə/ occurs at the end of a very large number of English loans, either before or after the final consonant’ (see also Oftedal 1962b, 134–35). However, final /ə/ in English loans in some Gaelic dialects in not always stable, e.g. SG (Lewis) còta [ˈkʰɔːʰt̪(ə)] < Eng. coat.
on the other hand, with a preaspirated dental plosive, presupposes an original geminate ON -tt, cf. SG Brataigea [ˈb̥ɾaʰt̪i ̩ɡ̊ʲa] < ON *Brattugjá ‘[the] steep ravine’ and SG cleit(e) f. (also, earlier, m.) ‘hill, mountain etc.’ < ON kletti, dative of klettr m. (Cox 2002a, 190, 210; see also Sommerfelt 1962, 75–76). Perhaps as a consequence of this, SG bàta is derived from Old English by MacBain (1911, 31), Falk (1912, 86), Borgstrøm (1940: 59, 168) and Thomson (1963, 67).
However, Craigie (1894, 155), Henderson (1910, 138), Bugge (1912, 292), Falk (1912, 86), MacLennan (1925), Oftedal (1956, 56, 103, 105, 158; 1972, 118; 1980, 173), Stewart (2004, 408) and McDonald (2009, 240–41) support an Old Norse provenance. Oftedal (ibid., 100) explains that aspirated stops ([pʰ, ʰp, t̪ʰ, ʰt̪, kʰ, ʰk] /p, t, k/ and [tʲʰ, ʰtʲ, kʲʰ, ʰkʲ] /t´, k´/) in Scottish Gaelic regularly correspond to Old Norse geminates pp, tt, kk, but that aspirated stops are occasionally found representing single ON p, t, k after long vowels and diphthongs; the only example, however, is ON bát > SG bàta (ibid., 105).
Two other words that might be offered in defence of his thesis must be excluded. Firstly, ON beita f. ‘bait’ > SG baoiteag /bəitʹaɡ/ (ibid., 90): Oftedal himself suggests that baoiteag has probably passed through English, and one may compare Scots betek ‘old or poor quality bait fish will not eat’ (Jakobsen 1928, s.v.: [bētək, bēətək, bɛ̄ætək]); s.v. boiteag. Secondly, ON brúk nt. ‘heap (of seaweed)’ > SG brùchd /bðuːxɡ/ (ibid., 103): Oftedal notes the unusual development both of ON r and k in ON brúk yielding SG brùchd /bðuːxɡ/ (i.e. [b̥ɾʲuːxk]) rather than */bruːɡ/ (i.e. *[b̥ɾuːɡ̊]), although an unusual idiolect was probably the cause of the slender r in Oftedal’s transcription – contrast SG [b̥ruːʰk] (Wentworth 2003, s.v. belch n.) and [bruːkg] (Dieckhoff 1932, s.v. bruchd vb). Indeed, SG brùchd is most probably from EG brúcht, an entirely regular development (Cox 2022, 749–52); s.v. brùc.
The phenomenon, however, is generalised in later Scots/English loans in Scottish Gaelic, whatever the vowel length,
Although not in Easter Ross: SG bàta /bɑːd/, còta /koːd/ (Watson 2022, 111, 158), or in East Perthshire: SG bàta /bɑːd/, còta /kɔːd/ (Ó Murchú 1989, 289, 316).
e.g. gràp /ɡrɑːp/ ‘dungfork’ < Eng. graip (Oftedal 1956, 104), cf. SG còta < Eng. coat, SG diùc < Eng. duke, SG pòca < Eng. pocket, SG geata < Eng. gate, SG cleoc < Eng. clock, SG ceap < Eng. cap, SG cleòca < Eng. cloak, SG seacaid < Eng. jacket, SG ticeid < Eng. ticket (Thomson 1983, 152–53).
While it is possible and not improbable that ON bát acc. was once borrowed into Scottish Gaelic, in its present form SG bàta is more likely to be a loan from, or at least have been influenced by, northern MEng. bāt or EScots bate. Indeed, McDonald (2009) suggests (while favouring a Norse provenance) that the word may have been borrowed more than once and from different sources.
Derivatives: Dwelly (1911) records the diminutive form bàtachan m. ‘small boat’, with the suffix -achan, cf. teineachan m. ‘small fire’ (teine m.), perhaps derived from words ending in -ach + the diminutive suffix -an, e.g. beathachan m. ‘small creature’ (beathach m.), bodachan m. ‘little old man’ (bodach m.), tulachan ‘small hill’ (tulach m.).