ONlwSG

¹trosg m. [t̪ʰɾɔs̪k], gen. truisg [t̪ʰɾɯʃkʲ],

Cf. Holmer 1938, 228: [tʿrɔsk], Islay; Borgstrøm 1937, 84, 102, 161: [tʿrɔsk], gen. [tʿru̇ʃk], Barra; 1940, 87, 177: [tʿrɔsk], gen. [tʿrλʃk´], Lewis; 1941, 20: [tʿrɔsk], Skye, 76, 104: [tʿrɔsk], gen. [tʿrλʃk´], Ross-shire; Oftedal 1956, 183: /trɔsɡ/, gen. /truʃɡ´/, Lewis; Wentworth 2003, s.v. cod: [tʰrɔsk], gen. [tʰrɯʃk’], Gairloch.

‘codfish, the Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua’ is usually derived from the nominative ON þorskr m. ‘idem’,

Craigie 1894, 163; Goodrich-Freer 1897, 67–68, citing only the Gaelic form; Henderson 1910, 121, comparing Dan. torsk and Ger. Dorsch; MacBain 1911: comparing Dan. torsk and Ger. Dorsch; Bugge 1912, 305: after Henderson; MacLennan 1925; Christiansen 1938, 4, 14; MacPherson 1945, 35: ON porskr [sic], comparing Dan. torsk; LASID IV Item 1167: pp. 239 (Benbecula), 258 (Lewis), 271 (Wester Ross), 280 (Sutherland); de Vries 1962: after Henderson and Christiansen; Thomson 1983d, 90: citing only the Gaelic form; Ó Baoill 1994, 172–73: after Bugge; Stewart 2004, 416: after MacLennan; McDonald 2009, 429; and Ó Muirithe 2010, s.v. trosc.

although the etymon is most likely the accusative form þorsk,

Oftedal 1972, 120: [tʿrɔsk] < ON þorsk acc.; 1983.

with metathesis in Gaelic.

Henderson 1910, 357; Oftedal 1972, 120; 1979, 230.

Cf. the similarly derived Ir. trosc ‘idem’,

Bugge 1912, 305: trosg after O’Reilly 1817; Marstrander 1915a, 104; LASID II–IV, various Points, Item 1167; de Vries 1962: after Marstrander, although he also incorrectly cites Middle Irish trosg; Sommerfelt 1949, 235: (Donegal) [trɔsk]; 1962, 76; Greene 1976, 79; 1978, 121; Ó Baoill 1994, 172–73: after Bugge; Mac Mathúna 2001, 76; McDonald 2009, 429; Ó Muirithe 2010, who mistakenly cites both ‘Medieval and Modern Irish’; and Kelly 2023, 297.

also with metathesis.

Marstrander 1915a, 93: ‘en glidelyd har overtat stavelsen i trosc’.

Ó Baoill (1994, 172–73: 73) notes that the earliest Irish reference is O’Sullivan’s c. 1625 (O’Donnell 1960, liv), where ‘trosc “milvus [gurnard]”’ incorrectly replaces a deleted ‘troisc [leg. trosc] “capito [codfish]”’ (see de Bhaldraithe’s note on p. xxxviii).

Cf. Ó Cléirigh 1631: (gen. pl. with eclipsis after the article) na ttroscc, in Macalister and Mac Neill 1916, 96.4; O’Begly 1732: trosg; O’Reilly 1817: trosg; Dinneen 1947; Ó Dónaill 1977.

The earliest Scottish Gaelic references are in Lhuyd 1700, 138 X.65, where the word mistakenly translates Eng. trout: ‘trosk,

Lhuyd’s editors note (p. 288, s.v. trosg) that the word is recorded by Lhuyd for Munster Irish as meaning ‘cod’.

brěchg’ (Argyllshire), and in MacDomhnuill 1741, 71.

Cf. also Shaw 1780; MacFarlan 1795; MacFarlane 1815; Armstrong 1825, who incorrectly cites Ir. trosga; HSS 1828; M^cAlpine 1832: [trǒsk], Islay; MacLeod and Dewar 1833; MacEachen 1842; Forbes 1905, 46, 356; Dwelly 1911; MacLennan 1925; Dieckhoff 1932: [tròsg], Glengarry; Garvie 1999, 84.33; Wentworth 2003, s.v. cod: [tʰrɔsk], Gairloch; Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄: Ross-shire, Harris, Islay, [t̥rɔsk] Mull, [t̪ɾɔsk] North Argyll; AFB^˄: /trɔsg/. See also fn 1.

Derivatives: ≈Faclan bhon t-Sluagh^˄, s.v. caileach-truisg, lists the open compound SG cailleach-truisg ‘a heavy cod, with a swollen belly, of a greyish dull colour, perhaps compared to SG cailleach “an old woman” ’ (Scalpay), cf. cailleach in the sense ‘spent female codfish’ (Tiree) (ibid., s.v.); SG trosgair, with the agentive suffix -air, occurs in the sense ‘cod-fisher’ (e.g. HSS 1828); 

Note that Armstrong (1825) gives trosgair in the sense ‘cod-fishing’, but we should probably read ‘cod-fisher’, see trosgach below.

while SG trosgach occurs both as an adjective, with the adjectival suffix -ach, in the sense ‘full of cod’, and as a verbal noun in the sense ‘cod-fishing’ (Mac-Talla VIII, No. 9, p. 69), modelled on SG iasgach ‘fishing’ (cf. dorghach, s.v. dorgh).

SG trosg also appears in the senses ‘booby’ (Armstrong 1825), ‘booby, a silly or stupid fellow’ (HSS 1828), ‘stupid fellow, lubber, booby’ (Dwelly 1911) and ‘toad’ (AFB^˄, s.v. an trosg), which appear to be from a back-translation of Eng. cod in the sense ‘fool or general term of abuse’, 

Cf. the use of to cod in Hiberno-English in the sense ‘to make a fool of someone’ (cf. Dolan 2020, s.v. cod).

which is either a truncation of the phrase cod’s head ‘stupid or silly person, fool, blockhead’ or an extension of cod in the sense ‘man, person; friend, companion’ (?itself an extension of cod in the sense ‘bag, pouch; pod; scrotum etc.’) (OED^˄, s.v. cod n⁶).