ONlwSG

brisgean m. [ˈb̥ɾʲiʃkʲan], gen. brisgein [ˈb̥ɾʲiʃkʲɛɲ], [ˈb̥ɾʲiʃkʲæɲ], also brisgein, gen. idem, is derived by Mackay (1897, 95) from Ice. brjosk (leg. brjósk) ‘gristle, cartilage’, and by MacBain (1896; 1911 

Cited by Watson (2022, 128: ON brósk [sic]).

) and Henderson (1910, 214 

So de Vries 1962.

) from ON brjósk nt. ‘idem’; on semantic grounds, McDonald (2009, 346) considers the loan likely.

MacBain also cites [Ice.] bris, given by Cleasby (1874) as ‘(medicine/medically) schirrus, gristle’; cf. Norw. bris ‘sweetbread (Thymus gland)’ (Haugen 1984).

However, ON brjósk would formally be expected to yield SG *[b̥ɾʲɔːs̪k], with a long vowel.

MacLennan (1925) cites SG brisgein ‘cartilage (as of the nose)’ and brisgean ‘the part of tripe called the brisket or gristle; 

Cf. Dwelly 1911, s.v. brisgean: brisgean milis ‘sweetbread’.

the root of the wild tansy or silverweed, moor grass’. The variation between final -ein and -ean is likely to be dialectal, thus the above senses are all given under brisgean in Dwelly (1911).

Cf. SG slinnein/slinnean ‘shoulder-blade’ (EG slinnén): slinnein for example in Barra (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄), Benbecula (LASID IV, 246), Kintyre (Holmer 1962, 158), Arran (Holmer 1957, 90) and Glengarry (Dieckhoff 1932), but slinnean for example in (Mid-)Argyll (LASID IV, 221, Item 385; Holmer 1938, 214) and Gairloch (Wentworth 2003, s.v. shoulder-blade).

The sense ‘tansy root’ goes back to EG briscén ‘tansy’ (< EG brisc ‘brittle etc.’ + the nominally diminutive suffix -én (MacBain; eDIL^˄)); the sense ‘cartilage’ probably goes back to Scots brisk ‘gristle, cartilage’ (SND^˄, s.v. brūsk, < ON brjósk); and the sense ‘brisket’ probably to Scots brisket (SND^˄, s.v. (2.), ?< Fr. brechet, earlier brichet, bruchet); with both Scots loans adapted to SG brisgein, brisgean ‘tansy root etc.’. For Easter Ross, Watson (2022, 128) records the sense ‘breast [i.e. chest]’ in SG mo bhrisgean /mə vriʃɡ´ɑn/ ‘my breast’, noting the similar sense of Scots brisket (SND^˄).