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Published 01/10/24
tàbh m. (both m. and f. in Uig, Lewis (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄)) [t̪ʰaːv], gen. tàibh [t̪ʰɛːv]. The form tàbh and its variants mean essentially ‘hand-net for catching fish (often specifically saithe (coalfish, pollock) or their young (cuddies))’ and is translated variously as ‘frame-net, hand-net, hose-net, nose-net,
The term ‘nose-net’ could refer to a net for protecting a horse’s nose from midges etc., but it is assumed it refers to a type of hand-net here.
pock-net, sock-net, spoon-net’; alias tàbh chudaig(ean), poca chudaig(ean), (Lewis) tàbh-làimhe (Christiansen 1938, 3, 12: taav laimhe). The sense ‘gaff’ recorded in Harris (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄) seems to be a semantic extension or in error.
ON háf,
Commentators, e.g. Henderson 1910, 121, Sommerfelt 1952a, 231, McDonald 2009, Ó Muirithe 2010, Stewart 2004, usually cite nominative háfr.
acc. of háfr m. ‘bag-net, landing-net, scoop-net, a basket-shaped net with which to catch fish’
NO: ‘håv, nettkorg med langt skaft til å ta opp fisk med’.
yields Scottish Gaelic:
1. (With loss of the aspirate) àbh, gen. àbha, àmh,
For spontaneous nasalisation in stressed syllables in Scottish Gaelic, see Ó Maolalaigh 2003, 109–17.
gen. àimh, and àbhadh, the latter two of which MacBain (1896, s.v. àbh) sees as àbh ‘spelt less correctly’; for àmh, cf. SG abh q.v. ~ amh. On the other hand, àbhadh is perhaps based on the genitive form àbha with a closing fricative or may represent a verbal noun formation (but cf. tàbhach, below), although Marstrander (1915a, 41, 133) links it with Ir. (Kerry) ábhadh f. ‘bag- or sack-shaped fishing-net’ (cf. Dinneen 1947: ‘trepanning, ensnaring, a kind of purse net used in fishing’, O’Reilly 1864: ‘a net in the form of a sack to catch fish’), which Marstrander derives from an unattested ON *háf-váð ‘seine-net in the form of a háfr’ (with the stem form of háfr and ON váð f. ‘net’); however, an original long á in the second syllable is likely to yield a long vowel [ɑː] in Munster Irish and an open vowel [a] in Scottish Gaelic (as opposed to the assumed [ə]). The link is likely to be moot, however: de Bhaldraithe (1996, 213–16: 214–15) suggests Ir. ábhadh was probably artifically generated for the purpose of compiling a sea-related wordlist and borrowed from Scottish Gaelic.
Cf. Ir. acarsuidhe, s.v. acarsaid.
2. (With retention of the aspirate) hàbh (Gairloch) [hɑːv], more usually hàbhan [hɑːvɑn] with agentive suffix, although this becomes tàbhan following the dative article (see below): an tàbhan [ˈNd̥hɑːvɑn] (Wentworth 2003, s.v. net); and
3. (With delenition of the aspirate to a dental, via back-formation) tàbh (Lewis) /tɑːv/, gen. tàibh /tɛːv/ (Oftedal 1956, e.g. 112, 173, 183, 358; 1983, 155), (Harris to Barra; Skye) [tcɑːv] (Borgstrøm 1937, 80, 102, 107, 237; 1940, 159; 1941, 9, 16); and tàbhan, gen. tàbhain (cf. hàbhan, above). Cox (2002a, 159) records Allt an Tàbhain [ˌɑʟ̥t ə ˈɴthaːvan] ‘the stream of the bag-net’ in Lewis NB200426 (where one informant suggested the specific applied to some sort of flower, perhaps by confusion with samh m. ‘sorrel’, cf. MacIver 1934, 38: L. an Tàven, who says it denotes a slender plant (àven [sic]) with yellow bloom). MacLennan’s (1925) extended sense of tàbhan, ‘small load of peat’ (?via ‘a netful’ to ‘a creelful’), is corroborated by Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄ for Uig, Lewis: lòd beag mòna sa chliabh air an druim ‘a small load of peat in the creel on the back’. (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄ lists only this instance of tàbhan, but in the sense ‘net’ records àbh in Tiree, tàbh in Lewis (Ness: tàbh beag, tàbh mòr), Harris, Scalpay (tàbh-taomaidh), Uist (South Uist: tàbh domhainn), Barra, Skye and Coll, and hàbhan in Gairloch.)
Derivatives: In addition to the noun phrase tàbh breacaich ‘hand-net for trout’, Dwelly (1911) gives the verbal form tàbh ‘to fish with a hand-net on streams’ (vn tàbhach f.; cf. iasgach f. ‘fishing’, breacach f. ‘trout fishing’, creagach f. ‘rock fishing’).
See also: Cox 2022, 110, 210, 238, 916, 920; de Vries 1962, s.v. háfr; McDonald 1972, 196.