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Published 01/10/24
bleideag f. [ˈb̥led̪̥ʲaɡ̊], gen. -aig(e) -[æɡ̊ʲ(ə)], -[ɛɡ̊ʲ(ə)], ‘flake, e.g. of snow, oats etc.’ and its variants are restricted in use to the Western Isles (SGDS, Item 581):
bleideag (Lewis
Cf. MacDonald 1946, 42; Oftedal 1956, 43: /bled´aɡən/ pl. ‘sleet’.
and Harris
Cf. MacAskill 1966, 81: Harris and Barra.
), pleideag (Lewis
Cf. MacDonald 1946, 42.
), bleigeag (Lewis
Cf. [pl´eɡaɡən] with non-palatal /ɡ/ (LASID IV, Item B.854, p. 255)).
, breigeag (St Kilda), blèideag (Scarp), plèideag (Harris: [p]-).
For an analysis of the lexical reflexes of ‘snowflake’ in Scottish Gaelic, see Ó Maolalaigh 2010.
For bleideag, MacLennan (1925) compares ON blað nt ‘leaf, blade’, along with [MEng.] blad and Germ. Blatt, from which Stewart (2004, 408) extrapolates a derivation of bleideag from Old Norse, although McDonald (2009, 342) considers the loan uncertain due to the lack of correspondence between stressed vowels, but ON ð would not normally yield a plosive in Scottish Gaelic anyway.
SG bleideag probably derives from Scots blitek [blitək], dim. of blit ‘white vein; whitish spot or streak on a rock’ (Jakobsen 1928;
Jakobsen (ibid., s.v. blit, blig, also 1blega) equates blit with blig, which he derives from ON blik nt. ‘something gleaming, pale or white’.
SND˄),
Cf. also Scots blett ‘spot, blot; patch of ground etc. different from its surroundings; large flake of snow’, cf. Ice. blettr m. ‘spot, blot’ (Marwick 1929; SND˄).
with the diminutive suffix SG -ag substituted for Scots -e(c)k.
While dialectal variation in Scottish Gaelic could account for most of the above forms, e.g. bleideag ~ pleideag; bleideag ~ bleigeag; bleigeag ~ breigeag (see Ó Maolalaigh 2010, 14–15), the variation in stressed vowel length (bleideag ~ blèideag etc.) might be due to its being borrowed from Scots.
Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄ records bleid ’snowflake‘ for Strathglass, indicating that Scots blit was itself borrowed into Scottish Gaelic.