bination hilter tilter ledikossen (variant b), must be accepted as the name for “cat” rather than for “mouse.” luta kussa (variant a) is the same as lediko, ledikossen.
râ̅metəna skūi, the beast of prey eating the vermin (the cat eats the mouse).
rām in Shetlandic indicates a cat’s paw (a paw with claws). From this comes rāmi, a name (tabu-name, used by fishermen) for cat (S.Sh.). O.N. “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 rām, from denoting a cat’s paw, may have become the name of the cat itself.
ētəna, doubtless from et, vb., to eat. The form may be pres. part., “etandi”. If the definitions of ram and etena are correct, skui 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 cf. No. skot (skoot), n., small animals, mice or birds, that damage by eating corn in the field, (O.N. skóð, n., harmful thing or tool, esp. in poetry, F. J. Lex. Poet.), 2) from No. skoe, m., = skobeist, skodyr, n., voracious, bold, thievish animal (R.), from skoa (sko), vb., 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.
Fragments of Song, Verse and lines of Verse.
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:
ɛndə sēvə de sədə lin (or: a‘ntə lɩgə de sødə min or lin),Ek hef malit meldra mínn (or meldrann),
ek hef sópat húsin;
ennþá sefr (søfr) (liggr) þat sœta lín (hin sœta mínn),
ok dagrinn er kominn í ljós.[1]
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” (Yh.) = hvítum seglum svörtum þræði, (with) white sails (sewn with) black thread (acc. to translation given me).
- ↑ O.N. koma í ljós, to come to light, to appear.
