v1.0
Published 01/10/24
calpa m.[ˈkʰɑɫ̪͡ɑʰpə],
E.g. Borgstrøm 1937, 223: [kʿɑ-Lɑhpɔ̆], Barra; 1940, 213: [kʿ[ɑLɑ]hpɔ̆], Lewis; 1941: 33 [kʿ[ɑLɑ]hp], Skye, 90 [kʿ[ɑLɑ]hpə], Wester Ross; Oftedal 1956, 140, 142: /kɑLɑ̀p(ə)/, Lewis; but Dieckhoff 1932: [kaLaːbə], Glengarry; Watson 1922, 136, s.v. calp’: /kɑLəb/, Easter Ross.
gen. idem, in the sense ‘calf of the leg’ is derived by MacBain (1896; 1911) – so also Henderson (1910, 138–39: calpa na tárrne [sic] ‘the bolt rope’) and MacLennan (1925: ‘calf of the leg; shaft of an arrow; rivet nail; principal at interest; halyard’) – from ON kálfi m., leg. kalfi,
But Ice. kálfi (Cleasby 1874).
‘calf of the leg’ (NO); McDonald (2009, 370) considers the loan uncertain.
McDonald opines that Marstrander (1915a, 196 – leg. 106) confirms the likely correspondence between ON -f- and SG and Ir. -p-, whereas Marstrander in fact merely gives examples of initial ON f- yielding Ir. p- via delenition through back-formation.
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Breeze (2002, 169–71) notes that EG colpthae (hence SG calpa, see below) is from EG colḃa (s.v. SG colbh), opining that the early use of colḃa suggests that ON kalfa ‘leg’ (not ‘bone’ as given) and ON kalfi ‘calf of the leg’ (not kálfi as given) are from EG colpthae, rather than the reverse.
Oftedal (1962, 120) prefers a derivation from Eng. calf.
SG calpa goes back to EG colpthae (calpthae) ‘the thick part of the leg between knee and ankle, shank, calf of a leg, shin; the shank of an animal; ?leggings’, a substantival use of the adjective colpthae ‘stout, sturdy, stalwart’ (eDIL˄). EG colpthae derives from EG colḃ- (colḃa ‘platform; seat; outer edge of a bed; support’, s.v. SG colbh) + the adjectival suffix -ḋae, but the development from *colḃḋae to colpthae (later colptha, colpa) is not quite clear. On the one hand, O’Rahilly (1976, 202) notes that the epenthetic vowel of Ir. colpa (‘coləpa’) must have arisen not later than the 13th century, before th has ceased to be a dental fricative and developed into [h]; on the other, Borgstrøm (1940, 213) argues that EG colpthae originally contained a voiced b, which was later unvoiced to p by the following th [h]. At any rate, the fricative cluster in EG *colḃḋae *[ˈkoɫ̪əβðə] is realised as voiceless [p], the th in colptha(e) ultimately becoming redundant, hence the spelling colpa; cf. EG cairpthi pl. ‘ships’ and cairbthe adj. ‘naval’ (EG carḃ, s.v. SG carbh).
While the core semantic value of Ir. colpa and SG calpa inherited from the etymon EG colḃa appears to be ‘underpinning, support’, the senses of both are various. The primary senses of Ir. colpa and its forms are ‘the calf, shank or lower leg’,
Lhuyd 1707: colbtha; O’Brien 1768: colbhta, colpa; O’Reilly 1817: calpa, colpa, colbhtha; Dinneen 1947: colpa; Ó Dónaill 1977: colpa.
occasionally ‘thigh’
O’Reilly 1817: colp ‘thigh or haunch’.
or ‘forearm’.
Dinneen 1947: colpa.
Further extended senses include ‘the bole of a rick’,
Dinneen 1947: colpa.
‘the handle of a flail; cudgel’,
Dinneen 1947: colpa; Ó Dónaill 1977: idem.
‘a kind of needle’,
Dinneen 1947: colpa.
and perhaps ‘head’;
O’Reilly 1817: calp, colp.
also ‘cow, heifer, bullock, steer, colt’.
O’Reilly 1817: colpa; Dinneen 1947: idem.
Derivatives include colpach ‘a yearling heifer or bullock, stirk’
Lhuyd 1707: colbthach ‘cow-calf, heifer’; O’Brien 1768: colbhtach ‘idem’; O’Reilly 1817: colpach ‘cow, heifer, bullock, steer, colt’; Dinneen 1947: colpach ‘yearling heifer, stirk, cow’; Ó Dónaill 1977: idem ‘yearling heifer or bullock, stirk’.
and calbhthas ‘a buskin (a calf- or knee-length boot)’.
Plunkett 1662, s.v. cothurnus: calbthas ‘bróg go calbtha’; Lhuyd 1707, s.v. calbthas ‘(Lat.) cothurnus’, after Plunkett; O’Reilly 1817: calbhthas ‘a buskin’.
The primary sense of SG calpa and its forms is ‘calf of the leg’,
Shaw 1780: calpa, for colpa see calpa; MacFarlan 1795: calpa; MacFarlane 1815: idem; HSS 1828: idem; McAlpine 1832: calp; MacLeod and Dewar 1833: calpa, †colpa; MacEachen 1842: calpa; Dwelly 1911: idem; MacBain 1911: idem; MacLennan 1925: idem; Dieckhoff 1932: idem; AFB˄: idem; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: calp, Sutherland.
although ‘brawn of the leg’
Armstrong 1825: calpa.
and ‘leg’
MacDomhnuill 1741: 16 calpa, 37 colpa; Armstrong 1825: calpa.
are also found. Further extended senses include ‘the bottom half of a cornstack; the wall of a stackyard’,
Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Lewis and Benbecula, respectively.
‘pillar’,
HSS 1818: calpa ‘pillar’; MacLeod and Dewar 1833: idem; Dwelly 1911: idem.
‘rope, cable or thread’,
HSS 1818: calpa ‘tier or ply of a rope, cable or thread’, ‘the shrouds or standing rigging of a ship’; MacLeod and Dewar 1833: idem ‘tier or ply of a rope, cable’; Dwelly 1911: idem ‘tier or ply of a rope or cable’; McDonald 1972: idem ‘rope’; AFB˄: idem ‘connecting rope/line’; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: calp ‘the short length of còrd mìn from the main line to the hook gut’, Lewis, calp an acaire ‘the hemp rope between the boat and anchor’ and ‘that part of a tether between the stake and the swivel’, North Uist.
specifically ‘halyard’,
HSS 1818: calpa ‘haulyard’; McAlpine 1832: calp ‘hawlyard’; MacLennan 1925: calpa ‘halyard’. Henderson (1910, 138–39: calpa na tàrrne [sic]) defines Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair’s calpa na tàirne in ‘Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill’ as ‘bolt-rope [strengthening the edge of a sail]’, but MacLeod (1933, 90–91) states that the sense of calpa here is ‘the lower section (“down-haul”) of the halyard’: the term downhaul applies to ‘a rope used to haul down or secure a sail or spar’ (OED˄).
‘a stretch, a length of time’,
Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: a’ cheud [sic] chalpa den mhinistrealachd ‘the first term of his ministry’, South Uist.
‘a rivet, nail’,
MacLennan 1925: calpa ‘rivet, nail’; McDonald 1972: idem ‘nail for fixing timbers’; AFB˄: idem ‘rivet’. Dwelly (1911, s.v. calpa) also lists ‘nails’, with a reference to (s.v. bàta) calpannan, which is elliptical for tàirngean calpa ‘nails for joining the skin to the stem, keel and cross timbers; they are not clinched’.
‘a shank, shaft’
Dwelly 1911: calpa ‘shank of an anchor’; MacLennan 1925: idem ‘the shaft of an arrow; McDonald 1972: calp ‘half of an implement’; AFB˄: calpa ‘shank, shaft; extension’; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: idem ‘a fishing hook’s unbended part’, Scalpay, ‘the wooden handle of a peat-iron’, South Uist, ‘the shaft of a dibble’.
and ‘the principal or capital upon which interest is paid; principal, capital; assets (money, land)’,
HSS 1818: calpa ‘principal of money put to interest’; McAlpine 1832: calp ‘the principal at interest’; MacEachen 1842: calba [leg. calpa] is riadh ‘principle and interest’; Dwelly 1911: calpa ‘capital (of money)’; MacLennan 1925: idem ‘principal at interest’; Dieckhoff 1932: idem ‘capital lying on interest'; McDonald 1972: idem ‘piece of land; capital’; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: idem ‘capital’, Killearn.
although calpa in these senses is occasionally given a separate entry.
MacBain 1911: calpa ‘principle set to interest’; AFB˄: idem ‘capital; land’.
SG colpa in the sense ‘cow or horse’ is also found
Shaw 1780: colpa ‘single cow, horse’; Armstrong 1825: idem; MacLeod and Dewar 1833: †colpa ‘cow or horse’; Robertson 1906b, 112: colpa ‘horse, colt’.
(but see colpach, following). Derivatives include colpach (occasionally calpach) ‘a (young) cow or horse’ (see below),
Shaw 1780: colpach ‘heifer, bullock, steer, colt’; Mac Farlan 1795: idem ‘heifer, cow’, calpach ‘young cow’; MacFarlane 1815: colpach ‘heifer’; Armstrong 1825: idem ‘heifer, cow, steer, colt’; HSS 1828: for cailpeach see calpach, for calpach see colpach, colpach ‘heifer, steer, bullock, colt’; MacLeod and Dewar 1833: idem; Robertson 1906b: 85 colpach ‘heifer, steer’, 112 colpach, calpach ‘colt’; MacBain 1911, s.v. calpa: colpach ‘heifer, steer’; Dwelly 1911: for cailpeach see calpach, for calpach and coilpeach see colpach, colpach ‘heifer; steer; bullock; colt; cow calf; cow that has never calved’; MacLennan 1925: colpach ‘heifer’; Dieckhoff 1932: for colpach see calpach, calpach ‘heifer, colt’; AFB˄: colpach ‘heifer; unit of land’; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: colpach ‘stirk; heifer’, Strathglass.
colpachd ‘the rearing of a young animal’,
CG VI, 46: ‘young animal’s rearing’.
coilpean ‘rope’,
Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Strathglass.
the adjectives calpach
MacEachen 1842: ‘stout-legged’; MacLennan 1925: ‘idem’.
and calpannach,
MacLeod and Dewar 1933: ‘stout-legged, strong-like’; MacEachen 1842: ‘stout-legged’; MacLennan 1925: ‘idem’.
and the verbal noun colpachadh ‘stock equalising’.
Forbes 1905, 86–87; Dwelly 1911, s.v. colpachadh; Carmichael 1916, 362–64: coilpeachadh; and Radio nan Gàidheal, Facal Oirbh: 27 Dàmhair 2009˄. SG calpaich ‘to capitalise’, the verbal-noun calpachadh m. ‘capitalising, capitalisation’, and the abstract nouns calpachd f. and calpachas m. ‘capitalism’ (AFB˄) are more recent additions to the lexicon.
Henderson (1910, 133), MacBain (1911) and McDonald (2009, 370) derive SG calpa in the sense ‘principal etc.’ from Scots calpa [sic] ‘death duty payable to the landlord’, and the latter from ON kaup nt. ‘bargin, deal, transaction; payment, pay’ (NO). DOST˄, however, derives MScots calp, caup from SG and Ir. colpa (calpa) ‘a full grown animal, whether cow or horse; taken as the unit for grazing animals’, and compares SG colpach ‘duty payable by tenants to landlords’, ostensibly (but see below) an extended sense of colpach ‘a (young) cow or horse’ (as above), which (along with Ir. colpach) goes back to EG colpthach ‘a yearling heifer’ (< EG colpthae + the agentive suffix -ach). EG colpthach itself was evidently borrowed into Scots, although the exact development to colpindach ‘a young cow, a heifer; a young ox’ is unclear (DOST˄).
[In his De verborum significatione ([1597], 1599), Skene defines colpindach as ‘ane ʒoung beast, or kow, of the age of an or twa ʒeires, quhilk now is called an cowdach, or quoyach ...’, adding ‘[i]t is an Irish word, and properly signifies ane fuit follower’. For the term fuit follower (i.e. ‘foot follower’), Forte (2007, 32) compares EG colpthae as an adjective in the sense ‘stalwart’ and as a noun in the sense ‘calf of the leg’ (NB the 1681 edition gives fut follower, which has been incorrectly transcribed as sut follower at http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A35507.0001.001˄.
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Scots kelpie ‘a water demon haunting rivers and fords, generally in the form of a black (or white) horse, which lured unwary human beings to death by drowning’ is thought to be a probable adaptation of SG cailpeach, colpach ‘bullock, colt’ (SND˄).
In Scots law, calp (< EG colpthae) applied to ‘a tenant’s best animal, usually cow or horse, claimed by his superior on the tenant’s death’ (the Highland equivalent of the Lowland heriot), also ‘a gift made by a tenant to his superior for protection’ (cf. DOST˄, s.v. calp, SND˄, idem, Skene 1599, s.v. caupes), but it was abolished in 1617 (Black 1976, 215, (217, 239 fn 20)). Dwelly (1911) ascribes colpach in the sense ‘duty payable by tenants to landlords’ to Martin Martin, but Martin (1703, 114–15) actually writes that ‘[i]t is common in these islands, when a tenant dies, for the master to have his choice of all the horses which belonged to the deceas’d, and this was called the eachfuin horizeilda, i.e. a lord’s gift, for the first use of it was from a gift of a horse granted by all the subjects in Scotland for relieving King [sic
Presumably either David II (r. 1329–1371) or James I (r. 1406–1437).
] from his imprisonment in England. There was another duty payable by all the tenants, to their chief, tho’ they did not live upon his lands and this is called calpich, there was a standing law for it also, called calpich law, and I am informed that this is exacted by some in the main land to this day.’ Martin’s eachfuin is for SG each-fuinn (Dwelly 1911), probably in the sense ‘supporting horse’;
With gen. sg. of SG fonn (EG fonn ‘sole; base, bottom, foundation; (often of a person) foundation, prop, support; soil, ground, land, territory’ (eDIL˄)).
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For Scottish Gaelic terms with similar senses, see Dwelly 1911, s.vv. bò-ursainn, damh-ursainn, each-ursainn; also Black 2001, (312, line 46: each-toiseach), 506.
Martin’s explicatory horizeilda is presumably for MScots hereȝeld ‘heriot’ (Scots herial).
For similar practice in Ireland, see Nicholls 1972, 31–32, 186.
While the obligation of calp evidently survived in the Highlands for some time after its formal abolition,
See also Sgiathanach 1876 and Mackay 1922, 338–42.
neither SG calp(a) nor calpach (colpach) appear to be attested specifically in the sense ‘death duty’ (despite Dwelly, and so DOST), although one or other, or both, may once have been so used.