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Published 01/10/24
tapadh m. [ˈt̪ʰaʰpə(ɣ)],
But note (Easter Ross) tapadh leat /tɑbi L´ɛt/ and /tɑbə L´ɛt/ (Watson 2022, 305).
followed by the preposition le ‘with’, e.g. tapadh leat or tapadh leibh,
With the 2nd sg. or 2nd pl. personal form of the preposition, respectively.
is used optatively in the sense ‘thank you, (more literally) may good fortune be with you’.
In general terms in Scottish Gaelic, tapadh leat/leibh is the usual phrase for ‘thank you’ in Skye and the north, although taing (dhut/dhuibh), mòran taing etc. also occur; in the northern part of Argyllshire, taing dhu(i)t/dhuibh is usual, and in the southern part and in Arran gun robh ma(i)th agad/agaibh is usual, cf. Ir. go raibh maith agat/agaibh (Holmer 1938, 188–89, s.v. maith, 219, s.v. taing, 220, s.v. tapadh; Grannd 2000, 22, 86). The South Uist expression tapadh leis na phòs agaibh [i.e. tapadh leis an fheadhainn agaibh a phòs] would be said by guests when leaving a wedding reception (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄, s.v. tapadh); this is literally ‘fortune with those of you who’ve [just] got married’, although it is rendered in AFB˄ as ‘thank you for having come to our wedding’.
SG tapadh is derived from Ice. happ nt. ‘good luck’ by Mackay (1897, 90: tap’ leibh); from ON happ nt. ‘idem’ by Henderson (1910, 214: tapadh leat), so also McDonald (2009, 361); and from Eng. hap ‘idem’ by Calder (1972, 67); while Oftedal (1956, 104, 106) describes the word as ‘of doubtful origin’ and ‘of obscure etymology’. SG tapag ‘a start, jump, (by extension) a blunder in speech or a slip of the tongue, an exclamation or expletive said in sudden surprise’
See, for example, CG VI 135–36, McDonald 1972 and Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄ (South Uist, Harris, Scalpay).
is also derived from ON happ (Henderson, followed by McDonald; and Matheson in CG VI, 136).
SG tapag and Ir. tapóg ‘a tendency to jump, nervousness; sudden impulse’ (Ó Dónaill 1977)
Also ‘mistake, blunder’ (pers. comm. Professor Seòsamh Watson).
go back to OG tap ‘sudden, (as a substantive) a start’ + the diminutive suffix -óc. OG tap is derived from MEng. hap(p)(e) ‘good fortune, good luck; success, prosperity; fortuitous event’ by Sarauw (1900, 19; so eDIL˄), while Vendryes (1996) prefers an onomatopoeic origin, and from a root *to-abhnó-, *to-obhnó- (cf. EG opunn ‘quick, swift, prompt’ (SG obann, Ir. obann, tobann) < *obh-nó) by Stokes (1894, 50).
Mac Airt (1956, 269) suggests that Ir. tapaigean ‘a sudden start; spring, jump’, along with the variants taibeagan, taibéagan, taibeigin, taibéigineach, taibigíneach and taibíneach, is the result of contamination of tapaidh (see below) (or tap, tapóg), obann and probably biodhg (bíog) ‘a start, jump’
Cf. the Sanas Cormaic entry Y.1232 tap .i. obann no bidg ... [sic], see Early Irish Glossaries Database˄, s.v. 1tap.
and a likely but unattested diminutive form taipín (taibín). SG tapadhcion ‘blunder’ (MacLennan 1925
Cf. Campbell 1860 III, 31: ’n earalas gun tachradh tapadhcion do ghin de na nigheanan, but which is translated (p. 10) ‘for fear giddiness should come over any of the girls’.
) is likely to be the same word, and, while tapadhcion appears to be a folk-etymologically driven spelling, both it and Ir. tapaigean etc. may go back to EG *tapéicen, a closed compound of EG tap + éicen (or a normalised dative éicin) ‘necessity, compulsion’, perhaps used adjectivally in the sense ‘compulsory, necessary’ (cf. also the adjectival form éic(i)nech).
SG tapadh (tapa) in the sense ‘alertness; cleverness; feat, achievement; manliness, manhood’ and Ir. tapa (tapadh) ‘quickness, readiness, speed; activity, vigour’ go back to EG tapaḋ ‘suddenness; haste, quickness; prowess, bravery’, a further derivative of OG tap (eDIL˄). SG tapadh in the sense ‘(good) fortune, (by extension) thanks (in the phrase tapadh leat/leibh)’ is probably an extension of the sense ‘achievement’, via ‘success’, but may (doubtfully) go back (at least in part) to ON happ or to MScots hap ‘the fortune good or bad falling to one, one’s lot or luck, fate or destiny’ (DOST˄, s.v. 1hap), itself from MEng. hap(p)(e), ?itself from ON happ (cf. OED˄, s.v. 1hap).
The adjectival forms SG tapaidh (occasionally tapa
SGDS Item 830: Points 14–15 (St Kilda), 17–19 (North Uist), 28–30 (Barra), 75 (Spean Bridge), 197 (Aberfeldy) and, with apocope, 189–90 (Braemar, Blair Atholl), 195 (Pitlochry).
) ‘quick, clever, able, strong, strapping, plucky’, Ir. tapa, tapaidh, tapaídh and tapaig
A reflex of tapaidh (tapaigh), rather than from tapóg, above.
‘quick, ready, active’ (LASID I, 226) and Mx tappee ‘quick, fast’ (Jackson 1955, 67; Broderick 1984 II, 442–43) are either from EG tapaḋ or its genitive singular tapaiḋ (eDIL˄).
Derivatives (taken from HSS 1828, unless otherwise indicated): 1. (based upon tapag f.) tapagach adj. ‘accidental, casual, blundering in speech, committing errors of speech; apt to blunder in speech’; tapagail f. ‘blunder, slip’ (MacLennan 1925); 2. (based upon tapaidh adj.) tapaidheachd f. ‘quickness, activity, alterness; manliness, boldness’, and (with the negative prefix an-) an-thapaidh ‘slow, inactive, effeminate’, and (with the negative prefix mì-) mì-thapaidh, miapaidh ‘inactive, sluggish, dull; not stout, infirm’; 3. (based upon tapadh m.) tapanta adj. = tapaidh, tapantachd f., tapantas m. and tapachd f. = tapaidheachd, and (with the negative prefix an-) an-tapadh (AFB˄: /ãũNdəbəɣ/), anntapadh (Angus Matheson in CG VI, 7: Lewis), all-tapadh ‘mishap, ill luck’ (MacBain 1911; AFB˄: /auLdəbəɣ/, South Uist), alltapadh (Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: [cited with the article] an t-alltapadh ‘a [sic] mishap’, South Uist),
MacBain derives initial all- from SG thall ‘over, beyond’, but alltapadh conceivably represents a loan-blend of Scots ill luck (ull luck).
and (with intrusive r) altrapadh, ealtrapadh ‘accident, mishap, misfortune’ (CG VI, 7), alltrapadh (Benbecula), ealtradh (Matheson ibid.), and (with the negative prefix mì-
Which HSS writes mi-.
) mì-thapadh ‘inactivity, sluggishness; misfortune, mishap’, mìothapadh (Ban-Saileach 1876, 208), miapadh (also Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄: ‘hotchpotch’, South Uist, ‘unfortune accident, mishap’, Skye, [m[ĩɑ̃]pəɣ] ‘sudden start’, e.g. chaidh e air mhiapadh ‘he took a fright’, Lewis), and mì-thapachd, miapachd f. ‘inactivity, sluggishness’.
Ir. mí-thapadh ‘misfortune, mistake’ is familiar in Donegal, with medial [h] generally lost; cf. also bhain muid a mhí-thapadh as ‘we made him lose his temper’ (pers. comm. Professor Seòsamh Watson).