v1.0
Published 01/10/24
dais f.
Masculine in MacLennan 1925.
[d̪̥aʃ], gen. daise -[ə], ‘fool, blockhead’ is derived by Mackay (1897, 91) from Ice. dasi (sic) ‘lazy fellow’;
Perhaps after Cleasby (1874: dasi), although Mackay disregards lengthmarks anyway.
so also McDonald (2009, 348–49). However, OIce. dási m. ‘sluggard’ (Zoëga 1910) and ON idem ‘stupid, clumsy, useless person; miserable wretch, poor creature’ (NO), with long stressed vowels, would formally yield SG *dàise *[ˈd̪̥aːʃə]. Henderson (1910, 206–07) leans towards a Scandinavian provenance,
So Ó Muirithe (2013). In contrast to ON dási with its long stressed vowel, Henderson opines that Norw. dase (sic) has a short stressed vowel; leg. Norw. dåse, which has a long stressed vowel.
but notes that MacBain (1911) suggests a derivation from Scots dawsie *[dɑːsi], *[dɔːsi] ‘stupid’ and/or dase [de:z, dɑz] ‘to stupify’
A derivation later made by Clachan (1917, 13) also.
(SND˄, s.v. daise and dawsie
Scots daise is derived from OScots dase, dais etc. ‘to daze, to make stupid or dull’, MEng. dasen, while dawsie is derived from Scots daw ‘jackdaw’ + the pejorative or diminutive suffix -sie (SND˄).
). However, neither word, besides belonging to different grammatical categories, seems particularly likely to yield SG dais [d̪̥aʃ].
From Sutherland, Rob Donn’s (1714–1778) use of the word dais is rendered ‘idiot, blockhead, male or female’ by his editor (Mackay 1829, 353, e.g. 95: dais, 322, 325: (pl.) daiseachan), but (contextually perhaps) ‘insipid rhymer, low-witted poet’ by Armstrong (1825, s.v. daiseachan)
Who takes daiseachan to be a masculine singular noun; so also MacLennan (1925).
and (pl.) ‘low-witted, insipid poets’ by Mackenzie (1841, Glossary);
The senses ‘insipid rhymer, low-witted poet’ are perhaps only coincidentally reminiscent of EG dos ‘poet of the third year or fifth grade’ (eDIL˄).
HSS (1828) lists dais ‘fool, blockhead’, but also notes the variant dois.
SG dais is also recorded in Skye (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: ‘idiot’) and also associated with Lewis (MacDhomhnuill 1920, 82: dais ort) and Benbecula/South Uist/Barra (NicDhòmhnaill 2008, 36: dais oirre, 54: dais air).
The invectives dais + a prenominal form of the preposition air ‘on’ have the senses (dais ort 2nd sg.) ‘you idiot!’, (dais oirre 3rd sg. f.) ‘what an idiot she is!’ and (dais air 3rd sg. m.) ‘what an idiot he is!’.
While dais in the sense ‘idiot’ is listed separately from dais in the sense ‘heap; rick’ in Scottish Gaelic dictionaries, and while ‘idiot’ is masculine and ‘heap etc.’ usually feminine,
Armstrong 1828 (s.v. daiseachan), HSS 1828, Dwelly 1911, MacLennan 1925 and AFB˄; although dais in the sense ‘idiot’ may have been treated as masculine if mainly used of males.
it may be that the former is simply a figurative extension of the latter, cf. SG ploc ‘any round mass → blockhead’ and sgonn ‘short block of wood → dolt, blockhead’ (Dwelly, s.vv.). SG dais in the sense ‘heap or (often hut- or loaf-shaped) rick’ is widely attested (cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄, s.v.) and goes back to EG dais(s) ‘heap, pile, rick, stack, especially of corn’ (eDIL˄); cf. Ir. dais ‘heap, stack’ (Ó Dónaill 1977) and Mx dash ‘heap, pile of corn’ (Y Kelly 1866).
It is claimed EG dais(s) derives from ON des f. ‘hay-stack’ – tentatively, according to Craigie (1894, 159); probably, according to McDonald (2009, 349)
De Vries (1962) derives Mx dash from Old Norse.
– yet ON des would formally be expected to yield EG *[d̪ʲes̪] or similar, which would not result in dais(s). Bezzenberger (in Stokes 1894, 143) merely compares ON des,
So also Matheson in CG VI, 58.
along with Scots and Northern Eng. dass, dess.
Scots des(s), dis(s), dass [dɛs, dæs, dʌs, dɪ̢s], from ON des (SND˄, s.v. dess: ‘[t]he form dass is irreg[ular]’).
Marstrander (1915a, 154) argues EG dais(s) is Gaelic in origin and cognate with ON des,
De Vries (1962) notes Marstrander’s conclusion that ON des is not a loan from EG dais(s), pace Bugge (1905, 257) and Fischer (1909, 18).
and MacBain (1911) compares W dâs (sic) ‘stack; heap’, [M]W. das ‘idem’ and MBret. dastum vb ‘to pile up’, with both Gaelic and Welsh/Breton forms going back to *dasti-,
As Stokes (1894, 143); so also MacLennan (1925), although Ó Muirithe (2010) appears to suggest he views SG dais as an Old Norse loan.
although GPC˄ takes W das to be an Irish loan-word.
Derivatives: The verbal nouns daiseadh ‘stacking, piling up etc.’ (CG VI, 58, s.v. dais; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄, s.v. dais; AFB˄) and daiseireachd f. ‘fooling’ (MacLennan) occur. The latter is comparable with similar verbal noun formations in -(e)ireachd, -aireachd or -(e)arachd, an ending presumably based on the agent noun suffix -a(i)r + -(e)achd (e.g. clach ‘stone’ > clachair ‘mason’ > clachaireachd ‘masonery, stone-working’), but now apparently occurring as a verbal noun suffix in its own right (e.g. straibhèigearachd (AFB˄), cf. Scots stravaig ‘to roam, wander idly’ (SND˄)).