ONlwSG

feòirling f. [ˈfjɔːrliŋʲɡ̊ʲ], [ˈfjɔːɭiŋʲɡ̊ʲ], gen. idem, ‘farthing; farthingland’ is derived by Henderson (1910, 132–33) from ON fjórðungr m. (leg. fjórðung acc.) ‘a fourth part’. MacBain (1906, 351; 1907, 77) takes the same view, 

So also McDonald (2009, 353).

although in his 1896 Etymological Dictionary and in its 1911 second edition he suggests a derivation from OEng. feorþling (i.e. fēorþling), a by-form of fēorþing (Wright 1975, 317). In support of a derivation from ON fjórðung, Henderson and MacBain cite SG birlinn ‘galley etc.’ from ON byrðing acc. m. ‘merchant ship’, although SG rl in this instance is probably a reflex of a late dialectal rendering of ON rð as a slight retroflex r, coinciding with an allophone of l (s.v. birlinn). Even assuming a similar development for the medial cluster in ON fjórðung, one would expect a resultant *[ˈfjɔːrɫ̪əŋɡ̊], *[ˈfjɔːɭəŋɡ̊] in Scottish Gaelic. In consequence, Cox (1987 II, 131; so also 1991, 493; 2002a, 281), while noting the possibility of an Old English source, tentatively proposes a derivation from an unattested ON *fjórðling acc., with the compound suffix -iling-, but this would be expected to undergo front mutation 

Pers. comm. Arne Kruse. (ON jó for the most part yields ý via i-mutation (Iversen 1973, 19).)

and can be ruled out. Watson (1929, 284 [1st edn 1915]) and MacLennan (1925), however, support a derivation from OEng. fēorþling, and on the whole this seems likely to be correct.

OEng. fēorþling yields EG feóirling regularly, hence SG feòirling, Ir. feoirling (Dinneen 1947; Ó Dónaill 1977) and, with a ~ o alternation, Mx farling (Y Kelly 1866). However, final -ing has a number of variant reflexes. While O’Begly’s 1732 English-Irish dictionary cites feoirling, Lhuyd (1707) already lists feoirlinn, and, while Kneen (1978) gives Mx [farl.ing], Broderick (1984 II, 158) records [faːrl´ən], [faː^rlən]. SG feòirling (Shaw 1780: feoirling) yields feòirlig (cf. SG (Lewis) farsaig from farsaing ‘wide’, tarsaig from tarsaing ‘across’ (Cox 2022, 711–14)) and feòirlinn (MacDomhnuill 1741, 189: feoirlin), either via back-formation on the analogy, say, of tarsaing from tarsainn, or on the analogy of SG sgillinn ‘penny’ 

SG sgillinn ‘1 English penny; 12 Scots pence’, occasionally sgillig (Oftedal 1956, 356, s.v. sgillinn: Lewis), occasionally sgilling (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Cape Breton); cf. EG scilling, scillic ‘shilling’ < OEng. scilling (eDIL^˄). (SG tastan (formerly also tasdan) ‘shilling’ goes back to Eng. testoon, first applied in England to the shilling of Henry VII (1543–), and MScots testan(e), first applied in Scotland to a silver coin of Mary (1553–), both of which go back to French and Italian usage for coins bearing a portrait or head (It. testa ‘head’) (OED^˄; DOST^˄). SG tastan appears in a late 17th-century song by Roderick Morison (An Clàrsair Dall, c.1656–1713/14; in Matheson 1970, 68, line 956). The same song refers to the (SG) ducatùn (ibid., line 952), from MScots ducatoon (ultimately from It. ducatone (DOST^˄)), a large silver coin whose presence in Scotland reflects the increased continental element in Scottish coinage during the last quarter of the 17th century (Stevenson and Porteous 1972, 136).)

and peighinn ‘1 Scots penny; pennyland’.

Cf. also SG (Perthshire) bòrlaig ~ bòrlainn ‘a strip of arable land’ (also bòrlum (Dwelly 1911)), from MScots bordland ‘?land providing supplies for the lord’s table’ (DOST^˄) (Robertson in King 2019, 280, 302–03, 306, 317, 321; MacKenzie 1931, 203, 214–15). Further on the development of historical -ng in Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, see O’Rahilly 1976, 184, 270.

MacLennan (≈1925) lists firstly ‘feòirlig “farthingland”, also feòirligin’, secondly ‘feòirling “mite, farthing” ’. While reflecting instances of feòirlig in place-names and the use of feòirling as an appellative, the differentiation is artificial: the reverse is also found and the difference between feòirlig and feòirling is dialectal. MacLennan’s feòirligin seems likely to be a ghost word and the result of a typographical error for feòirlinn.

Y Kelly (1866, s.v. Mx farling ‘farthing’) notes Ir. fardain, but this is probably from O’Reilly’s Irish dictionary (1817: fardin; 1864: idem ‘vulg[ar/arly]’), where it may have been adopted from Shaw’s 1780 Scottish Gaelic dictionary (fardin). OEng. fēorþling yields MScots farding (DOST^˄), modern Scots farden (SND^˄), which in turn yields a number of reflexes in Scottish Gaelic: (1) fàrdan and (2) fàirdean (AFB^˄, s.vv.), which reflect dialectal realisations of medial rd (cf. SGDS Items 55 and 56); so also (3) fàrtainn, with its alternative ending based on feòirlinn, as in (4) àrdainn, with initial f- lost via back-formation; 

From use of the radical and/or dative feminine article: fàrdainn f. > an fhàrdainn (in which fh = zero) > an àrdainn.

and (5) feàrdan, with initial [fjɑː]- on the analogy of [fjɔː]- in feòirling etc. (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.vv.).