ONlwSG

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taom as a verb in the sense ‘to pour out, empty’ and as a noun in the sense ‘jet, torrrent’, along with the noun taoim ‘bilge-water’, is derived by MacBain (1896; 1911) from the root sem ‘let go’, similarly Calder (1972, 283: taom vb, taoim sb.), cf. Pedersen 1913 II, 624. MacBain remarks that borrowing from the Old Norse adjective tómr ‘empty’ (Eng. toom) is ‘not to be thought of’, while Oftedal (1956, 80: taom vb) notes that ‘it is tempting to associate [the] word with ON tǿma “to empty”, 

ON tǿma is attested in the sense ‘to empty’ (cf. OIce. tœma ‘idem’ (Zoëga 1910)), but Norw. tøma (and equivalents in some other modern Nordic languages) can mean both ‘to empty’ and ‘to pour’ (Oftedal 1970, 98–100). (The symbols ǿ and œ both represent [øː].)

but the resemblance between the two can hardly be more than coincidental’. However, Oftedal (1970) later supports a derivation from ON tǿma, so also McDonald (2009, 424). 

Although McDonald cites ON tǫma in error.

Oftedal’s argument is that, while ON ǿ is formally expected to yield SG [eː], e.g. ON *Grǿnafjall ‘(the) green mountain’ > SG Grèineabhal NB251341 and NB305256, or [ia] before a non-palatal consonant, e.g. ON *Grǿðuós acc. ‘(the) mouth of the river *Grǿða’ > SG Grias [ɡ̊ɾʲias̪] > (a normalised genitive) Griais [ɡ̊ɾʲiaʃ] NB489426 (Cox 2022, 755–60), an early iteration of ǿ (the i-mutation of ó) would not necessarily have ‘reached its position as a front vowel in the early stages of Norse-Gaelic contact. It must, naturally, have been different from ó and moving towards the front position which it reached later in the period of contact’ (ibid., 97–98). This argument he supports by comparing Marstrander’s (1915a, 76, 145) conjectural derivation of the Early Gaelic personal name Elōir from ON *Helǿri (in the sense ‘possessed by Hel, the goddess of death’, which Marstrander supposes to have originated as an epithet for Garmr, Hel’s guardian wolf-dog), cf. Norw. (pl.) helorar ‘unconsciousness prior to death; drowsiness’ (Torp 1991, s.v. Hel; cf. also Jakobsen 1928, s.v. [Scots] helur). 

In chronological terms, a similar argument is made for an unattested, but earlier CSc. *ø̨yrr (as opposed to an attested, but later ON eyrr) yielding SG aoir, s.v. faoilinn.

Noting both MacBain’s and Oftedal’s views, Ó Maolalaigh (2022a, 88–89) suggests that SG taom ‘pour out, bale’, on the one hand, and Scots toom ‘to empty a vessel’, teem, tim ‘to pour water from one vessel to another; to pour water as into a drain; empty, barren’ and toom ‘empty’, on the other, may be an instance of those cases where ‘apparent similarities in forms and/or meaning or both may be coincidental, apparently reflecting independent developments in Scots and Gaelic.’ It is suggested below, however, that SG taom (EG táem) may ultimately go back to EScots teme ‘to empty, unload; pour in etc.’ and/or MEng. tēmen.

On account of the variation taom ~ teum (see below), the lexemes taom ‘pour etc.’, teum ‘bite etc.’ and teum ‘tame; join etc.’ are each discussed below (A–C, respectively).

A. taom ‘pour etc.’ (Table 1)
A 1.
(i) SG taom [ ] 

Cf. Oftedal 1956, 86: /tø̃ːm/, Lewis; LASID IV, 248.6: [tλːm]-, Benbecula; Wentworth 2003a, s.v. bail: [tʰɯ̃ːm], Wester Ross; M^cAlpine 1832: [tāom], Islay; Dieckhoff 1932: [tyːm], Glengarry; MacLennan 1925 [tūm].

(also taomaich 

E.g. Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; Dwelly 1911; AFB^˄.

) vb
(a) ‘(of a liquid) to pour out, shed, overflow, boil over, lave’
In Shaw 1780; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; McDonald 1972; Grant 1987 I, 274, s.v. taomadh; Wentworth 2003a, s.v. bail; AFB^˄;

‘(of a boat, dish or cart) to empty out, bail out, pump out’
In Shaw 1780; Mac Farlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; McDonald 1972; Wentworth 2003a; AFB^˄; cf. the proverbial usage in (LASID IV, 248.6: Benbecula) taomar an mhuir mhòr le cliabh ma bi fear f [ ] falamh [sic], ?leg. [gus an] taomar a’ mhuir mhòr le cliabh, cha bhi fear fial(aidh) falamh, cf. Nicolson 1881, 208: gus an tràighir a’ mhuir le cliabh, cha bhi fear fial falamh ‘till the sea is drained with a creel, the generous man won’t want’;

‘(of vessels) to fill’
In McDonald 1972, 236, s.v. taom: (Uist) ≈‘taom an soitheach seo [“fill this dish”], perhaps [for] tum “to sink [i.e. immerse]”, i.e. to sink it in a pail or spring’ (cf. Dwelly’s (1911) cross-reference of SG tumadair [‘immerser’] to taoman, for which see (v), below); and in Mac Gill-Fhinnein 2009, 82.864: ≈dh’fhalbh e gu luath a dh’ionnsaidh an tobair, agus thaom e na ceithir botail uisge às [‘he quickly went to the well, and filled the four water bottles from it’].

Cf. Ir. taomam ‘(Lat.) antlo [‘I pump’]’ (Plunkett 1662), ‘to draw up’ (Lhuyd 1707; O’Brien 1768); taomaim ‘to draw or pump up; I empty, lave’ (O’Reilly 1817); ‘I pour or teem forth, drain, pump, bail out, overflow’ (Dinneen 1927); taom ‘to empty of water, pour off, bail’ (Ó Dónaill 1977).

(b) ‘(of soil) to turn’ and ‘(of a ditch) to clear’
In AFB^˄; these senses are probably back-formations from taomadh, see (ii)(b), below.

(ii) SG taomadh [ ] 

Cf. LASID IV, 257, Item 1105: [tλːm]-, Lewis; ibid., 238, Item 1105: [tλːm]-, Benbecula; ibid., 279, Item 1105: [töːm]-, Sutherland; ibid., 271, Item 1105: [tö̃ːm]-, Wester Ross; Wentworth 2003a, s.v. bail: [tʰɯ̃ːm]-, Wester Ross; LASID IV, 217, Item 1105: [töːm]-, Kintyre; Grant 1987 I, 274: /ˈtʰöːm/-, Islay.

(also taomachadh 

E.g. Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; Dwelly 1911; AFB^˄.

) vn
(a) ‘pouring out; emptying out; filling etc.’
In MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; Holmer 1962, 159: Kintyre; LASID IV, Item 1105, pp. 217 Kintyre, 238 Benbecula, 257 Lewis, 271 Wester Ross, 279 Sutherland; Grant 1987 I, 274; Wentworth 2003a; AFB^˄; cf. EG táemaḋ ‘emptying, bailing out’ (eDIL^˄); cf. Ir. taomadh ‘emptying, laving, affusion, evacuation, depletion’ (O’Reilly 1817); ‘act of pouring or bailing out, pumping, overflowing, raining heavily; a leak, bilge’: ag taomadh na ḃfataí ‘teeming the potatoes’ (Dinneen 1927, Connemara); ‘emptying, pouring off, bailing’ (Ó Dónaill 1977); (len.) /hiːm/- ‘teeming, pouring’ (Mhac an Fhailigh 1980, 132–33, 253, Co. Mayo); ‘teeming’ (Lúcás 1986: Rosguill, Donegal); also with /iː/ ‘bailing’ (de Búrca 2007, 8 §17, 167, Co. Mayo).

(b) ‘draining (a peat-bank)’, ‘making or turning the soil of a lazy-bed’, ‘clearing field-drains of debris’ (≈Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄), also ‘making a lazy-bed; the soil of a lazy-bed’ (McDonald 1972); cf. the open compounds feannag-t(h)aomaidh, iomair-thaomaidh (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄), màg-thaomaidh (Wentworth 2003a, s.v. rig) and talamh-taomaidh (MacDonald 1946, 27), all in the sense ‘lazy-bed or rig’.

(iii) SG taom, taoim sb.
(a) SG taom m. ‘(of a liquid) a jet, pour(ing), plash, splash; overflow, torrent’
In Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; AFB^˄; cf. EG tóem ṅglé in the sense ‘clear jet’ (Stokes 1883a, 89.6083, and p. 153; perhaps incorporating the original sense (eDIL^˄)); cf. Ir. taom, taoim ‘a drop, dash (of water), overflow, torrent’ (Dinneen 1927).

(b) SG taom m. ‘soup’ (MacFarlane 1815), probably in the sense ‘quantity of liquid’, cf. SND^˄, s.v. ¹soup.

(c) SG taom m. ‘the luff of a sail, i.e. the leading edge of a sail’
In Dwelly 1911; MacLeod 2004, 120; AFB^˄.

(d) SG taoim f. [ ] 

Cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [t̪ɤım], [t̪[ɤ̃ĩ]m], Lewis; LASID IV, 279, Item 1092: [təi^əm] (or [ti.m], or [tu.m]), Sutherland [The alternatives given here are potentially scotticised forms, cf. Scots teem, tume, under Etymology, below (for [u] for [ø] (Vowel 7), see Aitken 2002, 41).]; M^cAlpine 1832: [täoėm] [leg. [tāoėm]], properly [taŏem], Islay; Dieckhoff 1932: [t(ui)ːm], Glengarry.

‘bilge-water’
In Shaw 1780; Mac Farlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; LASID IV, 279: Item 1092, Sutherland; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄; AFB^˄ (occasionally written tuim (and even interpreted with the article as an t-suim) (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄), with the idiosyncratic variant tuinn (ibid.), ?by analogy with SG tuinn pl. ‘waves’); or taom m., as in Armstrong 1825; LASID IV, 279: Item 1092, Sutherland; AFB^˄; cf. the proverbial usage in tha an taoim air a dhol thairis air na tobhtaichean ‘things have gone too far [lit. the bilge-water has risen above the rower-benches, s.v. tobhta]’ (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Harris); cf. Ir. taom ‘ooze or water that leaks through a ship’ (Lhuyd 1707; O’Brien 1768; O’Reilly 1817); taom, taoim ‘a leak, bilge’ (Dinneen 1927).

(iv) SG taomach, taoimeach, taomanach adj.
(a) SG taomach ‘emptying out; overflowing’
In Shaw 1780: ‘emptying’; Mac Farlan 1795: ‘idem’; Armstrong 1825: ‘emptying, apt to overflow’; HSS 1828: ‘that empties or pours out, overflowing’; MacEachen 1842: the adjective from taom ‘a plash of water’; Dwelly 1911: ‘that empties or pours out, overflowing, apt to overflow’; AFB^˄: ‘emptying, overflowing’; cf. Ir. taomach ‘emptying, apt to overflow’ (Dinneen 1927).

(b) SG taoimeach ‘(of a boat) leaky’
In Armstrong 1825: ‘leaky, not watertight, as a ship or boat’; HSS 1828: ‘admitting or having bilge-water, leaky’; MacEachen 1842: the adjective from taoim ‘bilge-water’; Dwelly 1911: ‘having bilge-water, leaky, as a ship or boat’.

(c) SG taomanach ‘emptying out; overflowing’
In AFB^˄: ‘emptying; overflowing’.

(v) SG taoman m. [ ] 

Cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [t̪w̃:m]-, Lewis and Sutherland; M^cAlpine 1832: [tāom]-, Islay; Grant 1987 I, 274: /ˈtʰöːm/-, Islay; Dieckhoff 1932: [tyːm]-, Glengarry; MacLennan 1925: [tūm]-.

‘a vessel or dish for laving water with; bailing dish, bailer; scoop’
In Shaw 1780; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; Holmer 1962, 159: Kintyre; McDonald 1972: South Uist; Grant 1987 I, 274; AFB^˄; cf. Ir. taomán ‘a vessel to lave with, a pump’ (O’Reilly 1817); ‘a bailing vessel; pump, ladle (Dinneen 1927); ‘a bailer, scoop’ (Ó Dónaill 1977).

(vi) SG taomaire m. [ ] 

M^cAlpine 1832: [tāom]-, Islay; MacLennan 1925: [tūm].

‘a pump; someone who pumps or bails’
In Shaw 1780; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; McDonald 1972; AFB^˄; cf. Ir. taomaire ‘a drawer; pump’ (Lhuyd 1707, citing Plunkett’s (1662) Lat. antlo [Plunkett (f.27r) in fact lists antila [leg. antlĭa ‘pump’] vid. sentina, and (f.359r) sentina ‘táomaire’, although contrast Lewis and Short’s (1879) sentīna in the sense ‘bilge-water’]; O’Brien 1768; O’Reilly 1817); ‘a pumper, drawer; pump’ (Dinneen 1927); ‘a bailer, pumper’ (Ó Dónaill 1977).

(vii) SG taomaireachd f. ‘pumping’
In Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911.

A 2.
(i) SG taom, teum sb.
(a) SG taom m. [ ] 

Cf. MacLennan 1925: [tūm].

‘a fit of sickness, a sudden illness; a fit of madness, anger or passion, a frenzy’
In Shaw 1780; Mac Farlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; AFB^˄; cf. EG táem ‘a fit, paroxysm, attack (of sickness, passion, feeling etc.)’ (eDIL^˄ 

In some instances, there may be confusion between EG táem and EG teiḋm (ibid.), cf. Ir. teidhm ‘disease etc.; also = taom “fit etc.” ’ (≈Ó Dónaill 1977).

); cf. Ir. taom ‘rage, madness’ (Lhuyd 1707); ‘a fit of sickness; also rage, madness’ (O’Brien 1768); ‘the plague, a fit of sickness, a fit, paroxysm, madness, passion’ (O’Reilly 1817); taom and taoim ‘a fit, a sudden motion or attack (of illness, anger etc.), a disease, distress’ (Dinneen 1927); taom ‘fit, paroxysm’ (Ó Dónaill 1977).

(b) SG teum m. [ ] 

Grant 1987 I, 277: /tʰʃemː/, Islay.

‘a whim, caprice, notion, impulse; a mad turn’
In M^cAlpine 1832: ‘whim, caprice’; Dwelly 1911: ‘idem’; MacLennan 1925: ‘idem’; Grant 1987 I, 277: ‘a whim, impulsive and irrational behaviour, a mad turn’: ghabh i teum sin a dhèanamh ‘she took a whim to do that’, tha an cat a’ gabhail teum ‘the cat’s taking a mad turn’; also taom: McDonald 1972: ‘thought, notion’: thàinig taom fodham falbh [‘I had a notion to leave’]; AFB^˄: bhuail taom air a dhol ann ‘an impulse struck him to go there/he went there on impulse’; cf. Ir. taom ‘caprice, freak’ (O’Reilly 1817), taoma ‘whim, sudden thought’ and taom, taoim ‘a freak or whim, a humour; a particular occasion’ (Dinneen 1927).

(ii) SG taomach, taomanach, teumnach adj.
(a) SG taomach ‘in fits and starts, fitful’
In Shaw 1780: ‘subject to fits’; MacFarlane 1815: ‘idem’; Armstrong 1825: ‘idem’; HSS 1828: ‘by fits or starts, subject to fits’; MacEachen 1842: the adjective from taom ‘a fit’; Dwelly 1911: ‘by fits and starts, subject to fits’; AFB^˄: ‘in fits and starts, fitful’; cf. Ir. taomach ‘subject to fits’ (O’Reilly 1817); ‘fitful, subject to fits, capricious, freakish, skittish’ (Dinneen 1927); ‘fitful, spasmodic; moody, erratic; subject to bouts of illness; subject to fits, hysterical’ (Ó Dónaill 1977).

(b) SG taomanach ‘in fits and starts, fitful; unreliable’
In Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: ’s taomanach an t-sealg; 

From Is taomanach an t-sealg, is fàgalach an t-iasg; àitich gu math an talamh: cha do dh’fhàg e fear falamh riamh (≈ibid.) [‘hunting is unreliable, fishing is apt to fail; cultivate the land well: it never left a man hungry’], North Uist; cf. Nicolson 1881, 288: ≈is taomboileach an t-sealg, is farmadach an t-iasgach ‘hunting is distracting [i.e. maddening], fishing is envious [?i.e. a question of hope over expectation]’. (For the noun taomboil, see (vi), below)

AFB^˄: tha an obair seo taomanach ‘this work comes and goes’; cf. Ir. taomanach (O’Reilly 1817: see taomach); taomnach; taomannach ‘subject to fits, ill, diseased, recurrent (as a disease), subject to disease (as a crop), fatal or unfortunate’ (Dinneen 1927); taomnach, taomannach (Ó Dónaill 1977: see taomach).

(c) SG teumnach ‘whimsical, capricious’
In M^cAlpine 1832; MacLennan 1925; Dwelly 1911.

(iii) SG taomanaich vb ‘to be on the verge of (doing something)’
In AFB^˄.

(iv) SG taomanachadh m. ‘being on the verge of (doing something)’
In Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: bha mi a’ taomanachadh air deagh sgailc a thoirt dha [‘I was on the verge of giving him a good thump’]; AFB^˄.

(v) SG taomanach m. ‘an unreliable person’
In Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: North Uist.

(vi) SG taomb(h)oil(e) m./f. ‘madness, frenzy’
From taom + boil(e) ‘madness, frenzy’. Lenition of the second element in a closed compound would normally be expected (e.g. Camshron < cam ‘crooked’ + sròn ‘nose’) but is traditionally suppressed in homorganic contexts, e.g. where b- follows -m (e.g. Caimbeul < cam + beul ‘mouth’), hence Dwelly 1911: taom-boile, but Black 2000, 104: taom-bhoil. For the adjective taomboileach, see fn 14, above.

A 3. SG taoim f. ‘fault, flaw’
In McDonald 1972: ?flaw: [a] chuireadh taoim ann am phearsainn [sic] ‘?that would do me harm’; cf. EG táem ‘sin, sinful action’ (eDIL^˄).

A 4. SG taom, teum (teòm) sb.
(i) SG taom m. [ ] 

Cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [tw̃:m], ?Skye; Ó Murchú 1989, 412: /təːm ~ tɯːm/, East Perthshire; 2021, 335: /təːm/, West Perthshire.

‘a number or quantity (of)’
In Ó Murchú 1989, 412: taom sluagh ‘a number of people’, East Perthshire; 2021, 335: idem, and 102–03: 8.7 mari taom eile ‘along with some others’, West Perthshire; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: tha taom uisge anns a’ bhàta [‘there’s some water in the boat’], ?Skye; also AFB^˄: ‘crowd’; cf. EG táem ‘(with de) part of, portion of, degree of; (with gan) a scrap, particle, jot’ (eDIL^˄); cf. Ir. táom ‘a bit, scrap; the least jot’ (Lhuyd 1707; O’Brien 1768); ‘a bit, scrap’ (O’Reilly 1817); taom, taoim ‘a jot or particle’ (Dinneen 1927).

(ii) SG teum, teòm m. ‘a handful, puckle’
Alexander Carmichael (CG VI, 137) lists teum, teóm: ≈‘a handful, puckle [a number of, a few, some], a small thing, a small gift’: teum bheag mhine ‘a small puckle of meal’; also (CG II, 341–42) teōm: ≈‘a dole, gift, bribe, alms’: teòm èisg ‘dole of fish’, teòm deòra ‘alms of poor’, teòm an t-sionnaich ‘bribe of the fox’, cho toinnte ri teòm an t-sionnaich ‘as twisted as the gift of the fox’, teòm Aegir ‘dole of Aigir, a miserly dole’, but in the case of teòm an t-sionnaich and cho toinnte ri teòm an t-sionnaich Carmichael may be confusing teòm as variant of teum in the sense ‘quantity etc. (→ a small amount → a small donation)’ with teòm in the sense ‘skill; artfulness, cunning etc.’ (cf. his following entry: teōm ‘cunning, skilful, expert’), and we should probably take the phrases to be alluding to the cunning of the fox. For teòm Aegir, read teòm eigir (?or èigir) ‘a small amount’ (CG VI, 232, s.v. Eigir)). Carmichael’s editor Angus Matheson (CG VI, 137) notes that teum èisg has the sense ‘one fish’ (cf. Robertson 1904, 369: Wester Ross), suggesting that here teum is probably the same word as teum ‘a bite etc.’, see B(iii). For the variation teum ~ teòm, see Endnote.

Table 1: SG taom ‘pour etc.’

Etymology: SG taom, its variants and derivative forms (A1–A4) go back to EG táem. Developed from OG /ai/ /oi/ /ui/ diphthongs, the Early Gaelic digraphs áe, óe (before non-palatals; ái, ói before palatals) are taken to represent /əː/ in Middle Gaelic (Lewin 2018). The corresponding Scottish Gaelic digraph ao(i) has a range of reflexes (see for example SGDS Items 828–829 taobh, and 249–250 craoibh), and the pronunciations recorded for SG taom tend to reflect this range (Oftedal 1970, 94).

ON ǿ [øː] yields MEng /eː/, hence ON tǿma ‘to empty’ > MEng. tēmen ‘to drain (a body of water); pour (something), pour (something) out, spill (something); empty (something)’ > Eng. teem /iː/, while MEng. /eː/ yields EScots /eː/ > MScots /iː/ > Scots /i/ (SVLR-short 

I.e. in SVLR-short environments. For the Scottish Vowel-Length Rule (SVLR), see Aitken 2002, 123–30: 125).

) (Aitken 2002, 74 §14.2(3), 152 Vowel 2), hence Scots teem [tim] ‘(as a verb) to discharge or empty a vessel etc.; to empty out, pour out; (of water) to flow or gush, (of rain) to pour; (as a noun) an outpouring; a very heavy, continued downpour of rain’ (SND^˄). On the other hand, ON ó in tóm- ‘empty’ yields EScots /yː/ > MScots /øː/ > Scots /ø/ (SVLR-short), while in Northern Scots EScots /yː/ merges with Vowel 2, yielding /eː/ > MScots /iː/ > Scots /i/, as above (Aitken 2002, 80 §14.7(2), 153 Vowel 7), hence Scots tume [tøm] etc. ‘(as an adjective) empty etc.; (as a verb) to empty (a vessel etc.); to pour (the contents) out of a vessel, to empty out etc.; (as a noun) a heavy downpour of rain etc.’ (SND^˄). DOST^˄ lists EScots/MScots teme, tume vb ‘to empty (a vessel etc.), unload (a cart); to empty (the contents) from a vessel, unload; to pour in (liquid etc.) in a vessel etc.’ and EScots/MScots tum(e) adj. ‘empty, vacant, void of contents etc.’.

It seems likely that EG táem goes back to EScots teme and/or MEng. tēmen. In either case, however, one would formally expect a resultant [eː] preceded by a palatal consonant, and the development appears to have been influenced by the vocalism in EG táesc ‘a jet, spurt, flow (of blood etc.)’, táescaiḋ ‘pours out, bails’, táescaire ‘one who pumps, bails’ and táescán ‘a scoop for bailing, bailer; spill of water, flush’ (eDIL^˄), cf. SG taosg ‘to overflow; pump out, pour out; drain, empty’ (cf. AFB^˄) and Ir. taosc ‘to bail, pump (out); drain’ etc. (Ó Dónaill 1977). For the variation taom(-) ~ teum(-), see Endnote.

The senses of EScots/MScots teme and MEng. tēmen are reflected in the primary senses of SG taom, viz. ‘(of a liquid) to pour out, shed, overflow, boil over, lave; (of a boat, dish or cart) to empty out, bail out, pump out; and (of vessels) to fill’, senses eventually extended via the notion of draining to ‘clear a field-ditch’ and ‘turn the soil of or construct a lazy-bed’ (A1(i–ii)). Derivative forms extend the principle sense of hurried motion to ‘jet (of liquid) → soup (quantity of liquid); bilge-water; leaky; bailer, scoop; pump, pumper’, with the sense ‘luff of a sail’ arising possibly via the notion of turning or spilling the wind (A1(iii–vii)), to ‘fit of sickness, madness, anger or passion → on the verge of something; inconsistent, unreliable’ (A2), to ‘fault’ (A3) and to ‘a quantity (of something)’ (A4).

The Scottish Gaelic verbal form taom (A1(i)) (later, with the addition of the common verbal suffix -(a)ich, also taomaich) yields the verbal noun form taomadh (A1(ii)) (later, also taomachadh), as well as the substantive noun forms taom m. and (a normalised dative form) taoim f., the latter also spelt tuim 

Where taoim has [ə̃ĩ], falling together for example with SG druim ‘back’, with [ə̃ĩ].

and idiosyncratically altered to tuinn, perhaps via confusion with SG tuinn pl. ‘waves’ (A1(iii), A2(i), A3, A4). The nouns taom and taoim are the basis for the adjectival forms taomach and taoimeach, respectively (A1(iv), A2(ii)(a)). The adjectival form taomanach (A1(iv)(c), A2(ii)(b)), however, is problematic. On the one hand, it is perhaps from an earlier *taomnach and comparable with SG teumnach (A2(ii)(c), B(iv)(c)), with interpolated n (cf. Ir. taomnach, taoman(n)ach) on the analogy for example of SG beumnach (EG béimnech ‘smiting’) and leumnach (EG léimnach ‘leaping’), adjectival formations based on n-stem nouns. If so, however, we might expect a pronunciation with medial [ən], rather than [an] (cf. AFB^˄: /tɯːmanəx/). On the other hand, a pronunciation with [an], along with similar pronunciation of the verbal form taomanaich and of the verbal noun form taomanachadh (ibid.), suggests a remodelling of taomaich vb, taomachadh vn and taomach adj. on the basis of SG taoman (A1(v)), an agentive noun with the nominally diminutive suffix -an [an]. The agentive noun taomanach (A2(v)) is likely to be similarly formed. The noun form taomaire (A1(vi)), with the agentive suffix -aire, is the basis for the verbal noun form taomaireachd (A1(vii)), with the abstract noun suffix -(e)achd.

B. SG teum ‘bite etc.’ (Table 2)
(i) SG teum, taoim (tuim) vb
(a) SG teum [ ] 

M^cAlpine 1832: [tyām], Islay; Wentworth 2033: [t’eːm], Wester Ross; MacLennan 1925: [tēm].

‘to bite; snatch; strike, jerk; nip, wound, sting; taunt, draw aside, tempt, beguile’
In Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828 (for the form teòm, see Endnote); M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; AFB^˄; for the sense ‘to strike (a fishing line)’, see Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. teumadh: cha do theum mi ceart e [‘I didn’t strike it (the line) properly’], Wester Ross.

(b) SG taoim (tuim) ‘to strike, jerk’
In Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. tuim or taoim and s.v. taoim or taighium or teim [sic] ‘to pull with a jerk as when fishing’, Scalpay.

(ii) SG teumadh m. [ ] 

M^cAlpine 1832: [tyām]-, Islay; Wentworth 2003a: [t’eːm]-, Wester Ross; MacLennan 1925: [tēm]-.

‘biting etc. (incorporating the senses under (i), above); a strike, jerk’
In Shaw 1780: ‘to bite’; Mac Farlan 1795: teàmadh ‘to bite’; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828 (for the form teòmadh, see Endnote); M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; AFB^˄; for the sense ‘strike, jerk (on a fishing line)’, see Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: ≈spadadh a bheir thu air an dorgh nuair a dh’fhairicheas tu sgobadh [‘a strike you give the line when you feel a nibble’]; Wentworth 2003a, s.v. strike (when fishing): Wester Ross.

(iii) SG teum m. [ ] 

Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [tʹɤ:m] ‘jerk’, Skye; M^cAlpine 1832: [tyām], Islay; Dieckhoff 1932: [tcéːm], Glengarry; MacLennan 1925: [tēm].

‘a bite, mouthful, morsel, bit; snatch; catch (of fish); nip, cut, wound, sting; taunt, sarcasm; temptation’
In Mac Farlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832; MacEachen 1842; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932; AFB^˄; for the sense ‘catch (of fish)’, cf. Robertson 1904, 369: ≈tha teum èisg aige ‘he has one fish’, tha dà theum aige ‘he has two fish’ (not used of greater numbers), Wester Ross (see also A4(ii)).

(iv) SG teumach, teumnach adj.
(a) SG teumach [ ] 

Cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [tʹʃe:m]-, Strontian.

‘biting, snatching; quick-tempered’
In Armstrong 1825: ‘prone to bite’; MacEachen 1842: the adjective from teum ‘a snatch, bite’; Dwelly 1911: ‘snatching, biting, prone to bite’; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: ‘quick-tempered’, Strontian; AFB^˄: ‘snatching, biting’.

(b) SG teumach ‘attentive, careful, diligent’
In Robertson 1904, 365: also ‘anxious to do well’, Wester Ross; so also Dwelly 1911; Wentworth 2003a: also ‘enterprising; persevering’, Wester Ross.

(c) SG teumnach ‘enticing, inviting, tempting; tart’
In M^cAlpine 1832; MacLennan 1925; Dwelly 1911: also ‘tart’.

Table 2: SG teum ‘bite etc.’

Etymology: SG teum ‘to bite etc.’ (B1(i)) may derive from MScots tame, attested in the senses ‘to pierce; cut into’, but which goes back to MEng. tāmen ‘to cut into, carve, pierce; tempt somebody to wrath, induce’, with OEng. ā yielding EScots /aː/ yielding MScots /eː/ (Aitken 2002, 77 §14.4 (1), 152 Vowel 4), yielding SG [eː] preceded by a palatal consonant. However, the currency of MScots tame is questionable, 

There is only one quotation and it is from a poem (Gilbert Haye’s ?1438 or earlier ‘Buik of Alexander’), moreover one that is labouring under the constraint of following a French original, and we may be dealing here with a nonce borrowing from an English poet; the OED^˄, s.v. tame v² quotes John Lydgate (?ante-1412). (Pers. comm. Caroline Macafee)

and SG teum may instead go back to 16th-century (with [ɛː]) or 17th-century (with [eː]) Eng. tame (Brook 1975, 25 §4.221). For the variation teum(-) ~ taom(-), see Endnote.

The verbal form teum (B1(i)) yields the verbal noun form teumadh (B1(ii)) and the substantive noun form teum (B(iii)). Both teumach (B(iv)(a)) and teumnach (B(iv)(c)) are formed with the adjectival suffix -ach, with the interpolated n of the latter by analogy (see under A: Etymology).

While teumach in the senses ‘biting, snatching; quick-tempered’ (B(iv)(a)) evidently goes back to teum (B(i)), Robertson (1904, 365) suggests that teumach in the senses ‘attentive, careful, diligent; anxious to do well’ (B(iv)(b)) may be for SG teòma ‘skilful, adept, active, dexterous etc.’ (Dwelly 1911). However, they may both go back to teum; a conceivable scenario for the development of the latter might be a noun ‘bite; strike etc.’ yielding adjectival senses such as ‘able or ready to give, or in anticipation of a bite or strike’, in turn yielding ‘attentive, careful, diligent; anxious to do well → enterprising; persevering’.

Matheson (1938, 373) compares SG teòma ‘skilful’ with Ir. téamadh ‘reliance, manageability’. For the latter, ?cf. C1–C2, below. SG teòma may ultimately go back to EScots *them(e) /eː/ (cf. MScots them(e) (/iː/) ‘subject, a particular type of subject-matter; a proposition or topic for composition, discussion or elucidation; a topic for a written exercise, essay or the like, esp. translation into or out of Latin or Greek’ (SND^˄)), from MEng. tēme, thēme ‘the subject of written or spoken discourse, the topic; esp. the theme of a sermon; a written composition; (pl.) orders, instructions’ (< OFr. teme, theme and Lat. thē̆ma (MED^˄)). EScots them(e) yields SG *teum regularly (cf. MacDomhnuill 1741: team [leg. tèam], arguin [< MScots argun (DOST^˄)] ‘theme’), with delenition of the original dental fricative via back-formation in Gaelic; cf. Ir. téama ‘(in music) theme; (usually pl.) topics of conversation; humorous talk, pleasantries, fun’ (Ó Dónaill 1977) (SG tèama ‘theme’ in Wentworth 2003b^˄ (so also AFB^˄) is probably an adoption from Irish (pers. comm. AFB’s editor Michael Bauer)). SG *teum + the Early Gaelic adjectival suffix -ḋ(a)e yields *teuma, cf. SG gruaim ‘gloom’ > gruama ‘gloomy’ (EG grúaim > grúamḋa (eDIL^˄)); SG teòmach, gruamach, with the further addition of the adjectival suffix -ach, are later developments. For the variation *teuma ~ teòma, see Endnote.

SG *teuma is represented by Shaw’s (1780) form teum ‘expert’, otherwise lexicographers give forms in teòma(dh), e.g. Mac Farlane 1795: teomadh ‘instructed, expert’; MacFarlane 1815: teoma ‘expert, active’; Armstrong 1825: teoma ‘expert, active, clever; shrewd’; HSS 1828: teòma ‘skilful, expert, active, dexterous; apt, ready, quick; correct, performing anything correctly’.

C. SG teum ‘tame; join etc.’ (Table 3)

C 1. SG teum vb ‘to tame, break’
In Shaw 1780: teumam ‘teach, break to anything’ [lit. ‘I teach etc.’].

C 2. SG teum vb, teumadh vn
(i) SG teum vb ‘to join (up), mend, splice’
In Robertson 1904, 365: ‘to join, unite [or] repair by bights or loops as in wire fencing, to splice’, Wester Ross; Wentworth 2003a, s.vv. join (up), mend: Wester Ross.

(ii) SG teumadh m. [ ] 

Cf. Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: [tʹɤ:m]-, Skye.

‘joining (up), mending, splicing; a join; a binding’
In Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: ≈ag ceangal is a’ suaineadh slat ri chèile (ma bha dà phìos no trì innte) [‘joining and binding a (fishing) rod together (if it came in two or three pieces)’], Wester Ross; ‘the binding on a cas-chrom [“foot-plough”]’, Skye; Wentworth 2003a, s.vv. join, mend: Wester Ross.

Table 3: SG teum ‘tame; join etc.’

Etymology: Here, forms may derive from MScots tame, team ‘to subdue, subjugate; lessen the effect of, curb’ (DOST^˄), which goes back to MEng. tāmen ‘to tame, subjugate etc.’ (from the adjective tāme ‘domesticated’), which replaced MEng. tēmien ‘idem’ during the 14th century (MED^˄; OED^˄), with OEng. ā yielding EScots /aː/ yielding MScots /eː/ (Aitken 2002, 77 §14.4 (1), 152 Vowel 4, hence Scots tame [tem] ‘to tame’ (The Online Scots Dictionary^˄), SVLR-short), yielding SG [eː] preceded by a palatal consonant. The sense of ‘subjugating’ appears to extend to ‘controlling → binding → uniting’.

?Cf. Ir. téamadh ‘reliance, responsibility’ (Dinneen 1927), and taomadh ‘control, manageability’ (Uí Bheirn 1989: Teelin, Donegal), ?in the latter case falling together with Ir. taomadh (A1(ii)).

Endnote
For the variation taom ~ teum/teum ~ taom, cf. EG tét ‘rope, cord; string (of musical instrument)’ > Ir. téad, but SG teud ~ taod (cf. O’Rahilly 1976, 32); for taoim as opposed to taom, cf. the normalised dative form taoim (A1(iii)(d)). In each of the following instances, variation seems to be driven by analogy: (1) generally SG taom ‘fit etc.’ (taomach, taomanach), but Islay and environs teum ‘whim etc.’ (teumnach) (A2(i)–(ii)); (2) Skye and Perthshire SG taom ‘quantity etc.’, but (location unknown) teum ‘handful etc.’ (A4(i)); and (3) generally SG teum ‘to bite etc.’, but Scalpay taoim ‘to strike etc.’ (B(i)).

For the variation teum ~ teòm ‘a handful’ (A4(ii)), cf. SG leubag/lèabag (Holmer 1938, 184: Islay; Grant 1987 I, 201: idem) ~ leòbag (Wentworth 2003a: Wester Ross) ‘flounder’ (see also the discussion in Ó Baoill 1994, 177–79); cf. also EScots them(e) > SG *teuma > teòma ‘skilful etc.’ (see ‍fn 22). Further, HSS (1828) lists teòm vb and teòmadh vn, cross-referenced to teum ‘to bite etc.’ (B(i)(a)) and teumadh ‘biting etc.’ (B(ii)), respectively (so also Dwelly 1911), but examples seem wanting.