v1.0
Published 01/10/24
bliong ?m. ‘lythe, pollachius pollachius’. Although AFB˄ provides the pronunciation /bliŋg/, the word is recorded in Wester Ross as [blũ̟ŋɡ], [bl[ɤ̃ũ̜]ɡ], West Sutherland as [blw̃ŋɡ], [blɤ̃ŋɡ] and North Sutherland as [blw̃ŋɡ] (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄). It is tentatively derived from ON bleikja f. in the sense ‘arctic char, salvelinus alpinus’ by Henderson (1910, 121: ‘salmo levis’), but this is considered uncertain by McDonald (2009, 343; 2015, 132). ON bleikja would be expected to yield SG *[b̥leːɡ̊ʲə], which is no doubt why Oftedal (1962, 119) views the derivation as very doubtful.
SG bliong is probably from Scots *bling, a by-form of blink ‘(sudden) gleam’
Contrast the development of Scots blink > SG blincean ‘torch, link’ with the Gaelic diminutive suffix -an (e.g. Armstrong 1825, HSS 1828), cf. SG inc(e) < Eng. ink; cf. Scots blinkie ‘pocket electric torch, flashlight’ with the Scots diminutive suffix -ie (SND˄).
and descriptive of the lythe’s silver colour. Henderson (p. 205) notes Jakobsen’s ([1908], 1928) reference to the use of blink in Unst, Yell and Fetlar in Shetland as a noa term for fish, although the use of Scots blink and/or SG bliong as a term for ‘lythe’ in Wester Ross and West and North Sutherland may have arisen independently.
There is no connection between SG bliong and Ir. blinn ‘froth (of decay)’ (Ó Dónaill 1977), OG blinn, blind ‘dead man’s spittle’ (eDIL˄).