Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the Norn Language in Shetland Part I.pdf/294

by the latter word. See frisk, sb., and frisket, adj.

fismel [(fɩzməl) fezməl] and fisment [(fɩsmənt) fesmənt], sb., a small part of something, particle; dey’re [‘they have’] no [‘not’] left a fismel o’ it (Y^b.: fezməl); a fisment o’ meal, sugar, tea, etc. (U^mo.), fismel and pismel: U^c. [fɩsməl and pesməl]. Cf. No. fisma, f., of something thin, and too fine (thin material), fismen, adj., very supple, thin, fine. — fismel is formed with the derivative ending “-el”; fisment, on the other hand, is formed similarly to Eng. words ending in -ent (-ment) as “fragment”.

fisp [fisp, fɩsp], sb., a person tripping about lightly, esp. applied to elderly people. Uⁿ. See further fisp, vb.

fisp [fisp, fɩsp], vb., 1) to trip lightly and nimbly, but feebly about, esp. of elderly people not decrepit with age; a braw fispin body [‘person’] (pres. part. fispin often appears as an adjective in sense of light, nimble, but feeble), 2) to work the line backwards and forwards in order to make the water foamy, in fly-fishing; as v. a.: to f. de water. Uⁿ. — Prob. for an older *fips by metathesis of p and s; in that case, a deriv. of fip, vb., to trip (see prec.), No. fippa, vb., to grip with one’s finger-tips; for the suffix cf. No. fjapsa, vb., to grip a little ata time, etc. (R.), partly = fippa.

fispen [fispən, fɩspən], adj., light and nimble, but feeble, esp. of elderly people; a f. body (person). Prop. pres. part. fispin? see prec. fisp, vb. Might be an older *fipsinn; cf. No. fjappen, adj., light; ninɩble, with the deriv. fjaps-.

fist, sb., see frist, sb.

fister, fisterment, sb., in swearing, in the expr.: “ill f.!”; see vister, sb.

fisti [fisti]-ba’, sb., a fungus-ball,

filled with powder, (acc. to Edm.: Agaricus campestris). U. No. fisball, m., = fissopp, puff-ball (Lycoperdon Bovista), Da. fisebolle (dial.) and (after Germ.) “bofist”, id.; Icel. físisveppur, Fær. físibjölgur. For the form fisti- cf. A.S. físt and Germ. fist (bofist), m., puff-ball; t in fisti- (fisti-ba) may orig. from A.S. (A.S. and Germ. fist). “ba’” in “fisti-ba” is the L.Sc. form of Eng. ball; the Shetl. compd. thus corresponds to No. “fisball” and Da. “fisebolle”. The Norw. form fisball is found in the place-name Fiseballand (U^bu.). — fusti [fusti]-ba’ is found as a parallel form to “fistiba”’ (e.g. in N.I.).

fit [fit], vb., to potter about doing some work without strength or energy, to geng fitin aboot, to fit aboot de wark [‘work’]. Nm^w. fit is the root in No. fitla, vb., to touch lightly — see further fitl, fitel, vb.

†fitgeng [fətgæŋ], sb., cattle-track. Y. fit- is L.Sc. fit, sb., a foot. O.N. fótganga, f., walking on foot. L.Sc. fitgang (a small patch of ground; a long, narrow chest) deviates in meaning from the Shetl. word.

fitj [fɩtᶊ (fətᶊ)], vb., to plait or twist into each other, esp. straw bands; to f. a chair, to fix net-work under the seat of a chair (Uⁿ.), to f. a peg, to fix net-work round a jar (Uⁿ.), to f. a roof, a hoose, to thatch a house (really to twist straw-bands round a stack of grain (U., Fe.). In Du. the word is used in a special meaning, viz.: in the expr. “to f. fetels”, really to twist a bearing-band (fetel = carrying-band on a basket, kessi), now only in a fig. sense of two persons who, carrying peats, meet each other repeatedly, the one with an empty kessi (basket) on his back, the other with a full one, exchange their kessis and