v1.1
Publishing history:
v1.0: 01/10/24
v1.1: 14/07/25
sgarbh m. [ˈs̪kaɾ͡av], 
Cf. (Islay) [skɑrəv] (Holmer 1938, 210); (Barra) [skɑ-rɑv] (Borgstrøm 1937, 238); (Lewis) /sgɑrɑ̀v/ (Oftedal 1956, 85), [skaràv] (Oftedal 1972, 120), [sɡɑɾɑv] (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄); (Wester Ross) [sk[ɑrɑ]v] (Wentworth 2003, s.v. shag); (North Sutherland) [sɡɑɾ[ɑu̜]], (East Sutherland) [sɡɑɾo] (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄); (Easter Ross) /sɡaru/ (Watson 2022, 284).
The shag and cormorant are distinguished by the addition of qualifying specific (genitive) nouns or adjectives, e.g. (cormorant) sgarbh-buill, with SG ball m. ‘spot’, after the white thigh and chin patches that appear during the breeding season, and (shag) sgarbh-an-sgùmain, with SG sgùman m. ‘tuft’, after the crest that appears on the forehead during the breeding season.
Oftedal (1956, 85; 1972, 120; 1980, 173); Cox (1991, 492; 1992, 138; 2002a, 311).
Craigie (1894, 163); MacBain (1896; 1911); Henderson (1910, 122); Christiansen (1938, 4: sgarv, 16: scarbh); MacLennan (1925); Borgstrøm (1937, 238); MacPherson (1945, 35); Sommerfelt (1952a, 231); Stewart (2004, 413); McDonald 2009, 399; 2015a, 129–30); Ó Muirithe (2010). Mackay (1897, 93: scarbh) cites Ice. skarv (leg. skarf acc., skarfr nom. m.).
Holmer (1942, 229: /skarv/).
Dinneen (1947).
Kelly 1991˄; Marstrander 1932, 266: skaroo, 83: [skɑˈru].
Irish: Meyer (1891, 462); Craigie (1894, 163); Marstrander (1915a, 61: scarb [leg. scarbh], 106: scarbh); Dinneen (1947); de Vries (1962); Manx: Marstrander (1932, 83: skaroo); de Vries (1962); PNIM VI, 169: skarroo.
Derivatives: sgarbhach adj. ‘full of cormorants’ (e.g. Dwelly 1911), with the suffix -ach – for the variant form sgarbhnach (: calmnach ‘full of doves’), s.v. buna-bhuachaill (fn 3); also the diminutive form sgarbhag, with the suffix -ag (Easter Ross; pers. comm. Professor Seòsamh Watson).