ONlwSG

cnòdan m. [ˈkʰɾɔ̃ːd̪̥an], gen. cnòdain -[æɲ], -[ɛɲ], is a name for ‘the gurnard, Eutrigla gurnurdus’, a fish with a particular muscle it drums against its swim bladder to make a croaking or grunting noise, which it frequently does when caught (British Sea Fishing). The term cnòdan and related forms in Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Manx, along with similar terms from a number of other languages are detailed below.

SG cnòdan etc.
There are three principal forms: cnòdan, 

HSS 1828; MacBain 1911; Dwelly 1911; Forbes 1905, 41, 366: cnodan; MacLennan 1925; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; Garvie 1999, 85.

cnùdan 

Forbes 1905, 360 366: cnudan; Dwelly 1911: cnùdan see cnòdan; MacLennan 1925: cnùdan see cnòdan.

and crùdan.

Forbes 1905, 41, 366: crudan; Dwelly 1911: crùdan see cnòdan; MacLennan 1925: crùdan see cnòdan.

^,

Forbes (1905, 41, 366) also lists crodan, for cròdan, but this has not been traced elsewhere.

From the evidence available, cnòdan appears to occur throughout the Western Isles 

Lewis (Christiansen 1938, 4, 15: cnodan; MacLeod 2004, 54; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: cnódan, cf. under cnòdan [krõ̜:d̪ɑṉ] ‘a large whelk’, Harris, but in Lewis it means ‘gurnard’; LASID IV, p. 258, Item 1167: [krõːdɑ̣nʰ]; AFB^˄: /krɔ̃ːdan/); Harris (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; AFB^˄: /krɔ̃ːdan/); Taransay (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. cnodan); South Uist (McDonald 1972).

and over much of the mainland and Inner Hebrides area.

West Sutherland (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄); Wester Ross: Diabaig (Wentworth 2003: [kʰrɔ̃ːd̥ɑn]; AFB^˄: /krɔ̃ːdan/); Arisaig area (MacEachen 1842, 1st edn); Tiree (AFB^˄: /krɔ̃ːdan/); Mull (AFB^˄: /krɔ̃ːdan/); North Argyll (AFB^˄: /krɔ̃ːdan/); Islay (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [kɾɔ̃:d̪ɑ̃ṉ]).

Cnùdan is less common: it is found mainly in the south-west: Colonsay, 

AFB^˄: /krũːdan/.

Islay, 

AFB^˄: /krũːdan/.

Kintyre 

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄.

and Arran, but also in the far north: North Sutherland 

Mackay 1897, 93: cnudan; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. crùdan: [kɾũ̜:d̪ɑn]; AFB^˄: /krũːdan/.

and Wester Ross (Gairloch).

Wentworth 2003: [kʰrũːd̥ɑn].

^,

For the Arisaig area, MacEachen’s (1842) dictionary gives cnòdan, with no listing for cnùdan, but in the (1902) second, revised and enlarged edition, his editors Alexander MacBain and John Whyte cross-reference cnòdan to cnùdan, without explanation.

The distribution of crùdan is similar to that of cnùdan: 

For the development SG cn- > cr-, cf. SGDS Items 213–214: cnoc.

in the south-west: Colonsay, 

McNeill 1910, 41; AFB^˄: /krũːdan/.

Islay 

Grant 1987 I, 120: cnòdan /ˈkʰruːtɑn/.

and Arran; 

Kennedy 1897, 129: crudan.

and in North Sutherland.

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [kɾu̟:d̪ɑṉ]; AFB^˄: /krũːdan/.

Ir. cnúdán etc.
Ir. cnúdán is listed in An Roinn Oideachais (1978, 72.1150) and Ó Dónaill (1977). Dinneen (1904) gives cnúdán and cnuadán: for the diphthong, compare under Mayo in the Table, below. He also lists crughdán and crugdán [sic], which are otherwise written crúdán etc. 

For the development of Ir. cn- > cr-, cf. LASID I, 245: cnuc, cruc, croc ‘hill’.

Dinneen’s (1927) second edition lists only cnúdán and cnuadán. Forms in initial cn- are found in most areas, including Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Waterford, Meath, but excluding East Ulster and Rathlin. However, the non-nasal variant in initial cr- is recorded in East Ulster and Rathlin, Donegal, Mayo and Galway. The vowel of the first syllable is predominantly ú or u, according to dialectal stress patterns, although some variation occurs: Mayo has /uː/ ~ /uɑ/; Waterford has /ɑː/ ~ /ɑu/; the vowel of the second syllable is long or short, according to dialectal unstressed-syllable vowel length rules. Ó Baoill (1994, 170) suggests that the (Meath) plural form cnudaidh (leg. cnúdaí) points to a singular *cnúd.

Beckett (1967, 164–65) glosses Aodh Mac Domhnaill’s (1802–1867) ‘cnudaidh [i.e. cnúdaí (p. 265)] “gornets” ’ as cnúdáin ‘gurnard[s]’.

The distribution of Ir. cnúdán etc.

Notes: (a) Patterson translates ‘crab’; Macafee (1996) follows Patterson; however, Ó Baoill (1994, 169–70) suggests cruden might be a misprint for *cruben (cf. Ir. crúbán (ibid., 188–89 §6.1), which is EDDo^˄’s position; (b) Cited by Ó Baoill (ibid., 169); (c) Cited by Ó Baoill (ibid., 170), who notes that cnudaidh (leg. cnúdaí) ‘gornets [“gurnards”]’ points to a singular *cnúd.

Mx crodane
This word is listed by Cregeen (1835), Farran (1946, 4) and Broderick (1984, 106: [krə ˈdɛːn]).

Hiberno-English knowd, Anglo-Manx noud and Scots knoud etc.
Farren (1946, 4) remarks that the ‘grey gurnard or knowd [is found] throughout Ireland’, although the term knowd itself seems more or less restricted to the north-east, cf. (of Belfast Lough) ‘Gurnard, and Knowds, which are the Gray-Gurnard’ (Harris 1744, 241, cited in Ó Baoill 1994, 170).

Cf. Ulster-Scots nowd (Macafee 1996).

In the Isle of Man, cf. Anglo-Manx (Southside) noud [noud],

Where [ou] = [ɔu].

(Peel) noudie [noudie] (Moore 1924) and (with no locality specified) niawdy (Broderick 1984, s.v. crodane). In Scotland, cf. (western) Scots knoud, knowd, noud, nowd [nʌud] and (from incorrect division with use of the indefinite article) owdan, owden, which are taken to be reduced forms of SG cnòdan (SND^˄, s.v. knoud).

Scots crooner etc.
Other Scots terms for the gurnard include crooner [′krunər] (< croon ‘to utter a deep, long-drawn-out sound, as the bellow of a bull, the lowing of a cow or the boom of a bell’, 

Borrowed into Easter Ross Gaelic as crùnair, pl. crùnairean /kru:nɑrn/ (Watson 2022, 162), although Watson (pers. comm.) suggests crùnair might develop from cnùdan itself: cnùdan > *crùdair (with nasalised [ũː]) > crùnair, via folk etymology. However, Forbes (1905, 41, 366), who ignores lengthmarks, lists SG crunan, while Farran (1946, 4) gives SG croonach, both of which may show alternative adaptations of the Scots suffix -er.

†crointer, probably a variant of crooner (?with t under the influence of Eng. grunter), kroolter [′krultər], ?a corruption of †crointer, and creenie, a reduced diminutive form of crooner (SND^˄, s.vv.).

See also Macleod 1990, §3.1.2, s.v. croon.

Eng. gurnard
OED^˄ considers the English term gurnard, var. gurnet,

Scots variants include gornick, †girnot etc. (SND^˄, s.vv.) and (Ulster) gornet (Macafee 1996).

to be probably from some variant of Fr. grognard ‘grumbler’ (< grogner ‘to grunt’); for the sense, it compares Fr. grondin ‘gurnard’ (< gronder ‘to grunt’).

Fr. grogner goes back to Lat. grunnire ‘to grunt’, and Fr. gronder to Lat. grundire, a variant of grunnire (DEAF^˄).

Eng. gurnard (gurnet) was itself borrowed into Scottish Gaelic: Shaw (1780) lists goirnead and guirnead, so also Armstrong (1825) and Dwelly (1911); 

Although Dwelly’s guirnead is given as gùirnead in AFB^˄.

Forbes (1905, 43, 366) gives goirn and goirnead, so also Farran (1946, 44); AFB^˄ lists only gùirnead. In Irish, Lhuyd (1707) has guirnead, so also O’Brien (1768), while O’Reilly (1817) lists goirn, goirnéad and guirnéad, and Dinneen (1904; 1927) goirn and goirnéad. Forbes may have adopted goirn from Irish, where, if it is not a ghost word, it is perhaps from Eng. *gurn, a truncation of gurnard possibly via a folk etymology with Eng. girn (also gurn) ‘to snarl etc.’. However, the Scottish Gaelic and Irish forms were perhaps limited mainly to literary use; at any rate, they seem to be quickly superseded by SG cnòdan, Ir. cnúdán etc.

Ulster-Scots grunt and Eng. grunter
Ulster-Scots grunt also applies to a fish, but in this case to ‘the perch, Perca fluviatilis’ (Macafee 1966), which emits a range of clicks, barks, grunts and escape sounds (Fish Base). Eng. grunter is itself used of various fishes that make a grunting noise (OED^˄).

Welsh, Cornish and Breton
The Welsh term for ‘gurnard’ is pengernyn, from pen ‘head’ + carn, probably in the sense ‘horn, trumpet’ rather than ‘horn, antenna’ + the diminutive ending -yn (GPC^˄); cf. C pengarn (Enevales an mor) and Bret. kourn (Hemon 1973).

German and Nordic languages
The sense ‘growl’ is found in the first element of Germ. Knurrhahn, Dan. knurhane, Sw. knorrhane, Norw. knurr(fisk) and Far. knurrhani. Sw. knorrhane has the synonyms knot (or knort) and gnoding (or knoding, under the influence of knorrhane and/or knot): knot and knort derive from the verbs knota and knorta ‘to grunt’, while gnoding ‘the grunter’ is related to ON gnadd nt. ‘grumbling, muttering’ (Svenska Akademiens ordbok^˄, s.vv.).

SG cnòdan, Ir. cnúdán, Mx crodane etc.
Mackay (1897, 93: cnudan) derives the Scottish Gaelic term from Ice. cnudr (leg. knútr m.) ‘a knot; bump, protuberance’. An accusative ON knút would indeed be expected to yield SG *cnùd, but such a derivation seems semantically implausible. Christiansen (1938, 4, 15: cnodan) suggests a derivation from ON gnadd nt. ‘grumbling, muttering’.

McDonald (2009, 358) considers a loan from ON gnadd uncertain. NB McDonald defines ON gnadd as ‘a type of fish: possibly a species of gurnard’, but this may be based on a misreading of Christiansen, who writes (p. 15) ‘cnodan, Dwelly: knurr, gn gnadd’ (i.e. SG cnòdan is listed in Dwelly’s dictionary in the sense “gurnard”, and derives from ON gnadd). ON gnadd itself is not attested in the sense ‘gurnard’.

However, ON gnadd would formally yield SG *[ɡ̊ɾãd̪̥], and the development is phonetically unlikely. MacBain’s (1911: cnùdan) suggests a mix of Scots crooner ‘gurnard’ and crout (croot) ‘croak’, but it is difficult to see how such a development might take place in practice. Marstrander (1910, 404–05) connects Ir. cnúdán etc. (via cruadán) with the adjective cruaidh ‘hard’ + -adán (as in Ir. caoladán ‘a long thin person’ < caol, and dubhadán ‘a black object’ < dubh), but the explanation seems improbable.

The manifold terms that refer to the gurnard’s grunting or grumbling vocalisations noted above suggest that SG cnòdan, Ir. cnúdán and Mx crodane may be similarly formed (whether borrowed or native in origin). Farren (1946, 4) notes their onomatopoeic nature 

‘The names gurnard, knowd, crudán and cnudán, like the French grognard, appear to be onomatopoeic words referring to the grunting sound made by the fish when taken out of the water’ (Farren ibid.), although Fr. grognard ‘the grumbler’ does not appear to be attested referring specifically to the fish: grognard ‘qui a la manie de grogner’ (Hatzfeld and Darmesteter 1895) ‘which has the habit of growling’.

and compares Ir. cnádán ‘groaning, complaining, grumbling, croaking; making a disagreeable noise; a complaint; purring’ (Dinneen 1947), a word attested in Scottish Gaelic in the (Lewis) phrase cnòdan an aghaidh nan gath (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh, s.v. gath), which seems to have the sense ‘grumbling or remonstrating against the pricks’, and appears to have the same meaning as the biblical breabadh an aghaidh nan dealg (Gnìomh. 9: 5, 26: 14) ‘kicking against the pricks’ (Acts 9: 5, 26: 14); for the formation, cf. SG gearan, Ir. gearán, EG gerán ‘complaint etc.’.

SG cnòdan, Ir. cnúdán and Mx crodane etc. seem likely to be formed with the nominally diminutive suffix (EG -án) upon an onomatopoeic base (SG *cnòd, *cnùd etc.) that reflects and may even have been influenced locally by Scots crooner, †crointer, Ulster-Scots grunt, Eng. grunt(er) or similar. Accordingly, Scots knoud, Hiberno-English knowd and Anglo-Manx noud etc. may go back to SG cnòdan, Ir. cnúdán and Mx crodane, or to their onomatopoeic base at least.

SND^˄ derives Scots knoud from SG cnòdan; Ó Baoill (1994, 170–71) suggests SG cnòdan, Ir. cnúdán, Mx crodane etc. in fact derive from Eng./Scots knoud, while the initial of kn- was still sounded. (DSL^˄: Phonetic description §65: ‘k was once universally pronounced before n, as in knock, knee, knife, kneel, knowe, but the pronunciation is now confined to the North and Insular dialects, and even there it is disappearing’.)