v1.0
Published 01/10/24
sgàireag f. [ˈs̪kaːɾʲaɡ̊],
Cf. /sgaːrʲag/ (AFB˄: Colonsay), [sɡɑ:ɾɑɡ] (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Sutherland). For South Uist, McDonald (1972) records both sgàireag and sgàrag; for North Uist, Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄ records sgàileag, with r ~ l alternation.
gen. sgàireig -[æɡ̊ʲ], -[ɛɡ̊ʲ], ‘a young gull’
‘A young cormorant (Fergusson 1886, 83: sgaireag [sic]; Forbes 1905, 252: idem; Garvie 1999, 58: idem), kittiwake (Fergusson ibid., 88: idem; Forbes ibid., 281: idem; Garvie ibid., 62: idem), black-backed gull or herring gull (Fergusson ibid., 88: idem; Mackenzie 1905, 77: scuirag)’; also ‘tern’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: Sutherland).
is a loan-blend from ON skári m. ‘young gull’
Goodrich-Freer (1897, 67: scàireag); Henderson (1910, 122); MacBain (1911); MacLennan (1925); Christiansen (1938, 15: sgaireag, after Dwelly (1911)); Lockwood (1961, 48); de Vries (1962, s.v. skári); Stewart (2004, 412); McDonald (2009, 400).
+ the Scottish Gaelic nominally diminutive suffix -ag; cf. Norw. skåre, Far. skuri, with a long stressed vowel, Scots scorie [′skɔre, ′skʌre] (SND˄), (Orkney) skory (Marwick 1929: [ˈskoːri], [ˈsko̧ːri]) and (Shetland) skori (Jakobsen 1928: [skōri], [skori], [skȯri]) ‘idem’.