Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/144

Robert Jamieson, Sandness, with the explanation: “head-bøl or principal house of an udaler, mansion-house”. Edmondston in his Shetl. Glossary mentions “aairvhous” with the explanation “the place of meeting appointed by the Foud general or chief governor”. This last vague explanation presupposes house wherein the probate-court or the court for the partition of an inheritance was held — see *arff, *airff, meaning 4, and the “airff-house of Norbie” mentioned thereunder. Barclay gives in his M.S.^{[errata 1]} suppl. to Edm. “arv-house”: “a house adjudged to belong to one of the heirs of the deceased”. The word appears thus to have been used in a double sense, partly in the original sense: the dwelling-house of a udaler, legally inherited by one of his sons; partly in a later and derived sense: a house in which the partition of inheritance is made or a probate-court is held. *arf-hús; O.N. arfr, m., inheritance, Shetl. *arff, *airff. The name “Arv-hus Inn” in Wd. cannot be taken notice of here, as having an etymological connection, since it is quite modern (former name Hogster).

arvi¹ [arvi], sb., chickweed (plant), Alsine media, Stellaria media. comm. No. and Da. “arve”, Sw. arv, Fær. arvi, m., Icel. arfi, m., id.

arvi² [arvi], sb., end; piece of a broken fishing hand-line or long-line, de lous a. Tabu-word, used by fishermen at sea. Wests. From Walls we have “de lous a.”, used of the piece of the line which on breaking was lost in the sea; from Ai. (W. Burr), on the contrary, of that piece of the line which was hauled into the boat when the lower portion was lost. — arvi perhaps for *armi, *arm-ie, and, in that case, the same word as arm, sb., end of a fishing hand-line; q.v.

asek [aᶊək], sb., a closely woven straw-basket, esp. for taking the ashes from the fire-place. Y^h. O.N. askr, m., small vessel; box; No. ask, m., id.

asel¹ [asəl], sb., 1) cold and keen wind, a a. o’ wind, a cauld [‘cold’] a.; 2) a laborious battling against the wind; I’m had a heavy a., I have had a hard struggle, strong contrary wind. S.Sh. No. as, asveder, n., gale of wind, rough weather, asa, vb., a) to storm; blow; b) to be tumbled about; move with difficulty; exert oneself, etc. Da. ase. Cf. asel² and asu.

asel² [asəl], sb., in the phrase “upo de a.”, in uneasy movement; eagerly on the look-out for something. N.I. Prob. from *as- (No. asa, vb., to storm; blow; riot; No. aseim and asn, sb., breathless, excited hurry) and therefore actually the same word, or of the same origin, as asel¹.

ask [ask, āsk], sb., l) haze; mist; bank of fog, a a. upo de land (Ai.), der’r [‘is’] a a. lyin’ ower de land (Uⁿ.). Comm. of mist or banks of fog in the sky betokening wind, a windy a. More rarely, cold wind, coming from such a mist or such banks of fog, a cauld [‘cold’] a. (Y^h.). 2) drizzle; fine rain; fine flakes of snow; thus Edm. (Uⁿ.); now certainly rare in this sense, which however is confirmed by the underquoted Ork. “ask” and Sw. dial. “askregn”. — ăsk and āsk: U., Y. (and Papa St.): otherwise comm.: ăsk. — Seeing that the word is sometimes found in the form “hask” with the derivative “haski (hoski)”, adj., hazy, grayish (of weather), it might be thought to be an original *hask, cognate with O.N. hǫss, adj., grayish, Eng. haze, sb., but it is most probably to be associated with O.N. aska, f., ashes, the root-meaning of which doubtless is dust;

1. Correction: M.S. should be amended to MS.: detail