ONlwSG

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spaistearachd f. [ˈs̪paʃtʲəɾəxk], -[axk], -[ɔxk], gen. idem, ‘walking, sauntering, strolling, promenading etc.’. McDonald (2009, 412) derives SG and Ir. spaisdeóireachd [sic] [leg. SG spaistearachd and Ir. spaisteóireacht] from ON spázéra (in which z = [ts]) ‘to promenade, stroll, walk’ (NO). MacBain (1896; 1911), MacLennan (1925), Watson (1929, 276) and Calder (1972, 18), however, derive them, along with related forms, from Lat. spătĭōr ‘I walk, walk about, take a walk’ and/or spătĭārī ‘to walk etc.’, while eDIL^˄ compares Early Modern Irish spaisteóirecht with Eng. spatiate, itself from the same Latin source (OED^˄), as is ON spázéra, via Middle Low Germ. spatzēren (de Vries 1962).

?Cf. Scots spat ‘a walk, stroll’, but whose origin is described as obscure in SND^˄, s.v. ²spat.

The Scottish Gaelic and Irish forms are more likely to be loan-blends based on Late Lat. spătĭōr etc., in which the original dental stop had developed into an affricate.

Lat. t in front of i or e (followed by another vowel) develops (via /tj/) into /ts/ in Late Latin over almost all the Romance area (Herman 2000, 42–43), which undergoes palatalisation in Early Gaelic, with metathesis (perhaps by analogy, cf. ‍fn 7) in Irish (hence spaisteóireacht) and, to a lesser extent, in Scottish Gaelic (hence spaistearachd besides spaidsearachd).

(Note that there is no phonetic distinction between medial sd and st in either Irish or Scottish Gaelic: Irish orthographic practice is principally st; 

Plunkett 1662, f.366r s.v. [Lat.] spatior: spaistraim, spaistriġim, spaisteóraim vb; Lhuyd 1707: spaisdeorachd vn, spaistraim, spaistrighim vb; O’Brien 1768: spaisteórachd vn; spaistim [sic], spaistrighim vb; O’Reilly 1817: spaisdeoireachd vn, spaistim [sic], spaistrighim vb.

Scottish Gaelic practice is principally sd, 

Shaw 1780: spaisdeoirachd vn, spaistram, spaistrigham vb; Mac Farlan 1795: spaisdeireachd vn; Armstrong 1825: spaisdearachd vn, spaisdeirich vb; HSS 1828: spaisdear sb., spaisdearach adj., spaisdearachd, spaisdireachd vn, spaisdirich vb; M^cAlpine 1832: spaisdreach sb., spaisdreachd, spaisdireachd vn, spaisdir, spaisdrich vb; MacEachen 1842: spaisdear sb., spaisdearachd vn, spaisdearaich vb; Dwelly 1911: spaisdear, spaisdearach, spaisdreach sb., spaisdearach adj., spaisdearachd, spaisdireachd, spaisdreachd vn, spaisdir, spaisdrich, spaisdirich vb; MacLennan 1915: spaisdear, spaisdreach sb., spaisdreachd vn, spaisdir, spaisd: see spaisdrich vb; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: spaisdreach sb.

until standardisation to st from 1982.

Gaelic Orthographic Conventions (GOC).

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Scottish Gaelic also has forms in medial ds, e.g. spaidsearachd.

Cf. MacDomhnuill 1741, 85: [à]ite spaidsoirachd ‘alley’, 93: steafag spaidsoireachd ‘walking-staff’, 145: dul ar spaidseorachd ‘to walk’; MacFarlane 1815: spaidsearachd vn; spaidsirich vb; Armstrong 1825: spaidsear sb., spaidsearachd vn, spaidseirich vb; HSS 1828: spaidsireachd vn, spaidsirich vb; Dwelly 1911: spaidsear sb., spaidsireachd vn, spaidsirich vb; MacLennan 1925: spaidsireachd vn; Dieckhoff 1932: spaidsearachd vn; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: spaidsearachd, spaidseireachd vn. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄ also lists the open compounds ceum spaidearaiche ‘an airing’ and [à]ite spaidearaiche ‘promenade’, both recorded by Dr Atholl Robertson of Oban (pre-1938), although spaidearaiche here is either in error for spaidsearaiche or may have arisen out of confusion with SG spaideil etc., s.v. spadrach.

HSS (1828), Dwelly (1911) and Calder (1972, 18) see SG spaistearachd etc. yielding to spaidsearachd etc. via metathesis, perhaps by reason of Irish usage. Armstrong (1825), however, sees the development the other way round, 

Cf. SG buitseach (a loan-blend from Eng. witch) yielding buisteach. Cf. also EG bait(h)siḋ ‘baptises’ (< EG baithis ‘baptism’ < Lat. baptisma (eDIL^˄)), later baistiḋ, yielding SG baistidh ‘will baptise’; EG étsecht ‘listening etc.’, later éstecht, yielding SG èisteachd; EG fáitsine ‘prophecy’, later fáistine, yielding SG fàistine.

perhaps because the first attestations in Scottish Gaelic are ds-forms (‍fn 6), and, given the origin of the ds ~ st cluster in the medial affricate of Late Lat. spătĭōr etc. (‍fn 2), this is likely to be correct. Certainly, Shaw’s (1780) sd/st-forms (spaisdeoirachd, spaistram, spaistrigham) are from Irish tradition.

The primary sense ‘walk, saunter etc.’ is extended in SG spaisdirich ‘to strut along, walk proudly’ (HSS 1828), and in spaisdireachd ‘a slow pipe tune, a march tune played on the bagpipe’ (ibid.) and spaidsearachd ‘ceòl-mòr, the classical music of the great Highland bagpipe’ (≈Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Uist).

For a contrary development, cf. SG caismeachd ‘alarm, signal’ (from EG caismert ‘signal, usually by sound’ (eDIL^˄)) → ‘march tune’ → ‘marching’ (cf. Dwelly 1911 and AFB^˄), perhaps under the influence of SG imeachd ‘journey; walking, departing etc.’ (EG imthecht ‘journeying, proceeding, going etc.’ (eDIL^˄)).