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Published 01/10/24
dileadh m. [ˈd̥ʲiləɣ],
Cf. /dʲiləɣ/ (AFB˄).
gen. dilidh [ˈd̥ʲili], in the sense ‘open drain’ is compared by Christiansen (1938, 4, 19) with SG dìle ‘flood, deluge’, which he compares with ON dæla f. ‘gutter’ (so McDonald 2009, 351), while his informant (from Lochs in Lewis) suggests a derivation from ON díli m. ‘smudge, patch, mark, wound’. ON dæla would formally yield SG *[ˈd̥ʲɛːɫ̪ə], at least in the first instance, while ON díli would formally yield SG *[ˈd̥ʲiːlə], neither of which would account for SG dileadh [ˈd̥ʲiləɣ] with its short stressed vowel – albeit that final -[ɣ] might be secondary in Gaelic.
SG dìle ‘flood etc.’ goes back to EG díliu, díle < Lat. dīlŭvĭum (MacBain 1911; Pedersen 1912 I, 197; MacLennan 1925), although eDIL˄ tentatively suggests the etymology *dí-lin- (cf. EG tuile ‘act of flowing; flood tide etc.’, vn. of do-lin (eDIL˄, s.v. tuile)). Note that Dieckhoff (1932, s.v. dile) gives [d´jil´ə], with a short vowel, for ‘deluge’, but this is possibly a typographical error, cf. (dat.) dilinn [d´jiːl´iN´j], with a long vowel; alternatively, (short) dile here may have been influenced by dil etc. (see below), cf. SG dileanta [d´jil´əndə] ‘rainy’ (ibid.), more commonly dìleanta (< dìle).
The form dileadh appears to be a derivative of SG eDIL˄.
SG dil [d̥ʲil] occurs primarily in the sense ‘small quantity, drop’ (Dwelly 1911: ‘very small quantity, drop of liquid’, Lochalsh; AFB˄: ‘tiny amount, drop’, Lewis and North Uist
For a dil (i.e. à dil) in mar mhil a’ sil a dil nan aird (CG IV, 122), Angus Matheson (ibid. VI, 228) reads a’ dil in the sense ‘distilling’; however, the line is translated (p. 123) ‘like honey distilling from the love on high’, with a’ sil meaning ‘distilling’ and a dil meaning ‘out of/from love’, where dil is a different word (cf. EG dile f. ‘dearness, delightfulness, value; a beloved object, treasure’ (eDIL˄)).
) but, by extension, also ‘rain’ (CG IV, 256–57: Tha neart dil agam ort, | Tha neart dèir agam ort ‘power of rain have I over thee, power of dew have I over thee’); cf. Ir. dil ‘drop’ (Dinneen 1947; Ó Dónaill 1977). The diminutive form SG dileag [ˈd̥ʲilaɡ̊] has the primary sense ‘small amount of liquid’
Armstrong 1825: ‘drop, small quantity of any fluid’; HSS 1828: ‘small drop’; MacLeod and Dewar 1839: ‘drop small quantity of any liquid’; MacEachen 1842: ‘small quantity of liquor, a drop’; Dwelly 1911: ‘drop, small quantity of liquid’; MacLennan 1925: [jilag] ‘small quantity, a few drops of any liquor’; Dieckhoff 1932: [d´jil´ag] ‘drop’, Glengarry; Wentworth 2003, s.v. droppie: [d̥’il’ak], Gairloch; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: dileag pharaffin [?’a drop of paraffin’], Harris; AFB˄: ‘small amount of liquid’.
, so (pl.) ‘strippings’
LASID IV, 264 Item 60: dileagan mu dheireadh [ˈd´ɪl´ɑḳən mɑͅ ˈjɪrəg̣] ‘strippings’, Wester Ross; AFB˄.
and, by extension, ‘urine’
Wentworth 2003, s.v. pee: [d̥’il’ak], Gairloch; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: rinn e a dhileag ‘he urinated’, Lewis; AFB˄: ‘wee-wee, pee’.
.
LASID IV also records forms in /ʟ´/: (Lewis) (p. 249 Item 60) dilleagan [ḏiL´ag̣ən] ‘strippings’, (p. 259) dilleag bheag [ḍ´iL´ag̣ veg̣] ‘a little drop (of whisky)’, (Benbecula) dèanamh a dhilleag (p. 242) [d´ʒiənu ə ˈjiL´ag̣] ‘urinating’.
While MacBain (1911) gives SG dìle ‘flood’ as the source of dileag, both dil and dileag may simply be by-forms of SG sil and sileag, respectively.
Cf. HSS 1828 and MacLennan 1925, s.v. dileag. Also, for LASID’s deanamh a dhilleag Ó Baoill (2012˄, 232) tentatively compares SG sileadh.
The verb sil goes back to EG siliḋ ‘drops, flows, drips; rains; weeps; urinates’, vn. sileḋ;
So Shaw 1780: silam (leg. sileam ‘I drop etc.’] ‘to drop, distil, sow’; Armstrong 1825: sil ‘drop, fall in drops as a liquid, drip, shed, rain’
cf. the noun sil ‘a drop’ (e.g. Armstrong 1825,
Armstrong in fact gives sil ‘drop, spittle’, conflating sil ‘drop’ and sil ‘spittle, saliva’, otherwise sile, seile (EG saile, seile).
so sil na sùl ‘a tear’) and ‘rain’ (Dieckhoff 1932), and the diminutive sileag ‘a little drop’ (e.g. Armstrong).
The reason for sil, sileag yielding dil, dileag is unclear, but the influence of SG dìle seems possible
Along, perhaps, with reanalysis of an t-sil— (with the (dat.) article) as an dil—; cf. SG dìthean ~ sìthean ‘flower etc.’
– indeed, Armstrong 1825 also lists sìl ‘a shower, a heavy shower’, which, if authentic, may also show contamination between dìle and sil – the semantic ranges involved seem similar at any rate, although for dil in the sense ‘small amount’ one might also consider a derivation from Scots dale, dail(l), deal [dɛl] ‘share or portion; measure, a quantity, amount, number’ (SND˄, s.v. 1dale).
SG dil and dileadh are both found in the extended sense ‘ground drain’ (≈Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: [dʹıl] ‘a covered drain under the floor of a blackhouse’, [dʹıləɣ] ‘a drain dug down the centre of the house floor and covered with flat stones, with the outlet at the byre end; a drain leading out from the byre’, dileadh a’ phuill ‘the drain from a peat-bank’, Lewis; cf. AFB˄: dileadh ‘act of seeping, draining slowly; peat-bank drain’, Lewis), while dil itself is also found in the further extended sense ‘(lower) ground’ (Campbell 1978, 168: Treabh an fhiadhair gu dil ‘plough the lea land to the gravel’, for which Donald Meek (ibid., 187) glosses ‘lower depth, bottom, gravel’ (the Campbell proverb is also cited in Dwelly App.); CG VI, 60: ‘ “bottom, lower depth”: cladhaich an uaigh as a dil = as a grunnd [sic]’; cf. AFB˄: ‘base, bottom; ground’).