ONlwSG

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).

gen. sgairbh [ˈs̪køɾ͡ʲøv], ‘cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo’, also ‘shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis’, 

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.

is derived from ON skarf, accusative of skarfr m. ‘cormorant’, regularly, 

Oftedal (1956, 85; 1972, 120; 1980, 173); Cox (1991, 492; 1992, 138; 2002a, 311).

although the nominative is frequently cited in error; 

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.).

cf. Ir. (Rathlin, 

Holmer (1942, 229: /skarv/).

Antrim 

Dinneen (1947).

) scarbh and Mx scarroo 

Kelly 1991^˄; Marstrander 1932, 266: skaroo, 83: [skɑˈru].

‘idem’, from the same source.

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).