v1.0
Published 01/10/24
farbhas m. [ˈfaɾ͡avəs],
Cf. /faravəs/ (AFB˄).
gen. farbhais [ˈfaɾ͡aviʃ], in the senses ‘rumour, surmise’ is derived by Mackay (1897, 92) from Ice. fyrir-visa ‘foreboding’ (leg. OIce. fyrir-vissa nt. (Cleasby 1874), cf. ON fyrir-vissumark (NO) ‘warning sign’), although McDonald (2009, 355) considers the loan unlikely. The phonetic development is certainly unlikely. At any rate, SG farbhas goes back to EG forḃais, a normalised oblique form of forḃas, OG forfess ‘encampment, ?besieging party, siege’ (eDIL˄). OG forfess is derived on the one hand from fo-ro- + mess ‘judgement’ (MacBain 1896; 1911; Pedersen 1913 I, 136; Lewis and Pedersen 1937, 47; Matheson 1938, 361; Vendryes 1996), on the other from for + feis(s), fess, verbal noun of foaiḋ ‘spends the night’ (Thurneysen 1912, 54–55; Meyer 1912–19 §214; eDIL˄), the editors of eDIL explaining that ‘[t]he strict meaning appears to be “keeping a hostile outlook or watch (on a person or place), spending the night in camp (against a foe), passing into that of beleaguering, laying siege”’. The senses of SG farbhas include ‘surmise, guess; report, rumour’ (HSS 1828), ‘fright, scare (as by a loud or strange noise); strange sound’ (Matheson 1938, 361) and ‘attack; raid’ (Dwelly 1911; AFB˄).
MacBain (1911) lists farbhas in the sense ‘surmise’ and farbhas in the sense ‘noise’ separately, but gives no etymology for the latter. Cf. also SG fararas ‘noise; gale’ (Dieckhoff 1932: [faraːras]).
EG forḃas, forḃais yields a number of other (written) forms in Scottish Gaelic: forbhas ‘snare, ambush, surprise’ (Dwelly 1911); forbhais ‘range of one’s vision’ (McDonald 1972: air an fhorbhais ‘within view’, South Uist), [fɔrɔiʃ] ‘seeking out information in an indirect way’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh, s.v. forbhais: Skye);
Professor Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh (pers. comm.) recalls hearing John MacInnes (Iain MacAonghuis 1930–2019), who grew up in Raasay, use the phrase chan eil fhor(bh)ais agam air [‘I have no information about it’].
forfhais ‘inquiry; knowledge, information’ (Dwelly 1911), [fòRòːoS] ‘an inquiry’ (Dieckhoff 1932); and foraghais ‘a subtle enquiry, not a direct question’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh, North Uist).