v1.0
Published 01/10/24
brìg f. [b̥ɾʲiːɡ̊ʲ],
Cf. [brēgg] (McAlpine 1832), [breeg] (MacLennan 1925), (Skye) [bɾi:ɡʹ] (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄).
gen. brìg(e) [ˈb̥ɾʲiːɡ̊ʲ(ə)], ‘heap, pile, stack’ (AFB˄) is derived by Stewart (2004, 408) from ON brik (leg. brík) f. ‘plank; low plank wall; short bench’, after MacLennan (1925),
Stewart ibid., 397.
although the latter only compares the Old Norse word, as does MacBain (1911), although the latter cites Ice. brík ‘square tablet’ (cf. Cleasby 1874), cf. ON brík in the sense ‘altar-piece’ (NO); the phonetic development would be regular. ON brík is cognate with Eng. brick, which yields EG bríce (eDIL˄), which would yield SG brìge [ˈb̥ɾʲiːɡ̊ʲə] regularly, which in turn might yield SG brìg [ˈb̥ɾʲiːɡ̊ʲ] via apocope. However, as McDonald (2009, 346) concludes, a derivation from either ON brík or EG bríce seems unlikely from a semantic point of view.
SG brìg is used in phrases such as brìg mhòine ‘a pile of peats’ (HSS (1828); McAlpine (1832); Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Skye; AFB˄: ‘peat-stack’), brìg bhuntàta ‘a pile of potatoes’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Skye, Lewis, Strathglass; AFB˄: ‘potato-clamp’), brìg fheòir ‘a pile of grass’
‘Haystack’ (AFB˄).
and brìg arbhair ‘a pile of corn’ (ibid.: Skye). Dwelly (1911) includes the sense (Skye) ‘heap of peats or potatoes built up with boards in a corner of the house’, and the word is translated ‘hill’ in the context Là Brìghde nam brìg bàn ‘on the day of [St] Bride of the white hills’ (≈CG I, 170
But contrast Brighde (sic) na brìg ‘Brigit of the peat-heap’ (ibid. II, 156).
).
It seems more likely that SG brìg is a loan from Scots brek ‘hillock, ridge, elongated mound’ (SND˄, s.v. breck, brek(k), < ON brekka f. ‘slope’
SG brìg cannot be directly from ON brekka, which would formally yield SG *[b̥ɾʲɛʰk(ə)] or *[b̥ɾʲeʰk(ə)], cf. (Lewis) Breacair NB484419 (Cox 2022, 563).
), for which Jakobsen (1928) gives brekk [bræk], but also brek [brɛ̄ək] [brǣək], with a long vowel, that may initially have yielded SG *[b̥ɾʲeːɡ̊ʲ], later [b̥ɾʲiːɡ̊ʲ], or perhaps [b̥ɾʲiːɡ̊ʲ] directly, differentiating from SG (dat.) brèig f. [b̥ɾʲeːɡ̊ʲ] ‘lie’.
Derivatives: brìgeadh m. ‘piling, heaping up’, e.g. a’ brìgeadh na mòna ‘building the peat-stack’ (McAlpine: Mull); brìg vb. ‘to pile etc.’ (AFB˄).