v1.0
Published 01/10/24
bodha m. [ˈb̥o-ə], or [ˈb̥o-o] with euphony,
Occasionally spelt bogha, e.g. HSS 1828, Macaulay 1972, 317. It is given as a long monosyllable bòdh in Canna (Sommerfelt 1952a, 231), which may also be the intent of bo in the non-standard orthography in Christiansen 1938, 4, 12, for Lewis (so also de Vries). Henderson (1910) spells the word bodha (p. 137), but also bodh (p. 143) without explanation. A reduced form bodh’ [b̥o] occurs, e.g. as a weakly stressed generic followed by a specific in place-names.
gen. idem, ‘rock on the seabed that is exposed at ebb tide’
Although the sense ‘rock that is completely submerged’ was noted in Islay (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄).
is frequently derived from ON boði m. ‘idem’,
MacBain (1896); Henderson (1910, 137, 143); MacLennan (1925); Borgstrøm (1936, 295; 1937, 86, 101; 1941, 32); Christiansen (1938, 14); Sommerfelt (1952a, 231); Fraser (1978, 12, with misprints brgha and bodi, although Goodrich-Freer (1900, 68) also gives bodi, perhaps due to typesetting constraints); Stewart (2004, 408); and Ó Muirithe (2013, 20). Mackay (1897, 94) derives SG bodha from Icelandic.
although the etymon must have been boða,
Oftedal (1956, 103; 1980, 173); Cox (1991, 492; 2002a, 185; 2022, 572). McDonald (2009, 343; 2015, 141–42) cites both boði and boða.
obl. case of boði. The position of the lost medial fricative is marked by hiatus. Cf. Mx bowe [bøu] (Broderick 1984 II, 41); see also Marstrander 1932, 88–90.
Derivatives: (Scalpay and Lewis) bogha-làir m. ‘rock on the seabed that is not exposed at ebb tide’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄), an open compound with the genitive of làr m. ‘ground, floor (of the sea)’.