Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/145

cf. Ork. ask, sb., a) dust; speck of dust; b) drizzle; mist; c) fine flakes of snow, as also Sw. dial. askregn, n., drizzle.

ask [ask], vb., of the sky: to be covered with haze or gray clouds foreboding wind, de sky is askin (Y^h.). Hence the substantive askin, a a. for wind, slight cloudiness; haze foreboding wind (Y^h.). See above ask, sb.

aslin [aslin], adjectivally in the expr.: de coo or horse is a., the cow or the horse has two owners, each possessing one half. (Y^h.). Ork. asley, horses in asley, id. (Jam.). Uncertain origin.

asu, assu [aⁱᶊu], sb., very rough, rainy weather, heavy rain, a awfu’ a. rare. m. (Ai.? De.?). Also osa, ossa, q.v. Cf. No. as (rush; ferment) in “asveder”, very bad weather with wind and high sea; asa, vb., of the weather: to rage; also osa, vb., and osveder, sb. (R.).

at¹ [at], prep., at; to; by; with respect to, in several phrases has an application handed down from Norn and diff. from Eng. Examples: 1) prep., a) to ha’e ill (ill will, a pikk) at ane, to bear ill-will towards somebody (Uⁿ.); what has du at him? what have you against him? (Uⁿ.); b) to be weel at anesell, to be in good condition, vigorous and well nourished, he (shø) is weel at him (her); O.N. vel at sér, capable; good, etc.; c) flit (had) dee at dee! move a little aside, get a little out of the way! lay dee at dee! lie a little farther away! he bade him stand at him, he begged him to move a little aside; cf. Sw. dial.: gå åt dej! hurry up! (see Ri. under “ganga”). d) op at, up against; by; alongside, to stand op at de wa’ [‘wall’], op at de dyke. 2) adverbially in such phrases as: a) gi’e me a tak at! give me a

helping hand; help me to pull up the bow of the boat (on arriving at a landing-place); tak’ (stick) her (de boat) at! after landing: pull the boat up a little! b) nort’ at, in a northerly direction, northward, sooth at, in a southerly direction, southward, esp. of wind, direction of the wind; c) op at, α) upward, northward, de wind is gane [‘gone’] op at, the wind has gone a little more to the north. β) up against; up by, “de ballisten is a sten afore de fire for to set [‘for setting’] de ballis op at” (see balli). 3) in connection with certain verbs; as: to draw at, dreng at, drive at, fa’ at, geng at, kom (come) at, lay at, les at, pjog at, rinn at, set at, stigg at, tird (tirs) at, winn at — see under these verbs.

at² [at], conj., that, introducing a subordinate sentence, = Eng. that; I ken at du’ll dø [‘do’] it, I know that you wilt do it; often omitted. In the infinitive, on the other hand, the Eng. “to” is always used. O.N. at, conj., that; also O.Eng. and L.Sc.

atbørd, sb., see adber, adbert.

at-draw [at-drâ], sb., prop. pulling and dragging towards oneself, esp. in foll. senses: 1) (slow and tedious) hauling in, hauling up of a fishing hand-line, when in a very strong current, or when the line chances to stick fast to the sea-bottom; a heavy a.-d., a lang a.-d. 2) on the arrival of a boat at a fishing-ground: the impression formed of the fishing-ground on the first running out of the line (Burra), = at-komin, war; de first a.-d. o’ de grund. 3) vigorous stroke, e.g. during rowing; to tak’ a a.-d. 4) fig. a bit of one’s mind, a volley, a broad-side, when quarrelling; to gi’e ane a a.-d. — *at-(drag or dráttr). O.N. draga at sér, to draw or drag towards oneself; O.N. atdráttr, m.,