v1.0
Published 01/10/24
calaban in the sense ‘wooden fastening’ is derived by Christiansen (1938, 22) from a compound of ON kaðall m. ‘cable, rope’ + band nt. ‘band, cord’, comparing Scots (Shetland) kadel ‘a string tied around the neck or through the ear of a lamb, serving as a mark’ (Jakobsen 1928); this is supported by McDonald (2009, 368), who compares EG caḋla ‘rope, cord; small intestines’, also derived from ON kaðall (Meyer 1913 IV, 951, §63; Marstrander 1915a, 61, 99).
The form calaban occurs in a text written in a non-standard orthography representing the Lochs (Lewis) dialect: (Christiansen ibid., 5, 7) ceannlaicheann uan le’n cuid calaban ‘redskap til å tjore lammene med, med surringer av tre [“an implement to tether lambs with, with wooden fastenings”]’, which in standard Scottish Gaelic orthography would read ceanglaichean
Pl. of SG ceangal m. ‘tie’.
uain
Gen. sg. of SG uan m. ‘lamb’.
len cuid chalpan ‘lamb ties along with their tethers’, with (len.) gen. pl. of SG calp(a) m. [ˈkʰɑɫ̪͡ɑʰp(ə)] (cf. Oftedal 1956, 140, 142) probably in the sense ‘tether or connecting rope between collar-tie and stake’ – it is assumed that the reference to wooden fastenings in the Norwegian rendition arose through confusion with calpa in the sense ‘(wooden) haft or shank’; see under calpa.