Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/118

CX  (variant b), must be accepted as the name for “cat” rather than for “mouse.”  (variant a) is the same as,.

, the beast of prey eating the vermin (the cat eats the mouse).

in Shetlandic indicates a cat’s paw (a paw with claws). From this comes, a name (tabu-name, used by fishermen) for cat. “hrammr” denotes the paw of a beast of prey, especially that of a bear, and thereafter applied as a name for the bear itself. In a similar sense Shetlandic, from denoting a cat’s paw, may have become the name of the cat itself.

, doubtless from, , to eat. The form may be , “etandi”. If the definitions of and  are correct, must be a periphrasis for the mouse.

The supposition may be explained in two different ways; 1) from an old “skóð” in sense of vermin, with which  skot (skoot),, small animals, mice or birds, that damage by eating corn in the field, ( skóð, , harmful thing or tool,  in poetry, F. J. Lex. Poet.), 2) from skoe,, = skobeist, skodyr, , voracious, bold, thievish animal (R.), from skoa (sko),, to grab greedily; eat greedily.

But then one or more lines must have been dropped before the words “runnin undi kongalu” or “under a kongalu”, run in under a heather-bush, for these words in the definition given, are applied to the mouse.

. I have malt (mālət, mæ‘lt) mældra mɩn (mældrən), I have sūpət ūsən (pōpət pōsən), ɛndə sēvə de sədə lin (or: a‘ntə lɩgə de sødə min or lin), and dēnə(-a) komənə(-a) lūsa (ljūs).

The original form was probably:

ek hef sópat húsin; ennþá sefr (søfr) (liggr) þat sœta lín (hin sœta mínn), ok dagrinn er kominn í ljós.

The following translation has been given me by an old Foula man:

I have ground my morning-meal (breakfast-meal), I have swept the floor; still the old wife sleeps, and the daylight is in the “lum” (= “ljoren”: roof-opening for the smoke to escape).

“hwi̇̄gən swɩglən swə‘rtən trō” = hvítum seglum svörtum þræði, (with) white sails (sewn with) black thread ( to translation given me).