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Tha mi a’ dol a choimhead air faclan-fillte à seann fhaclair Armstrong. Chì sinn cia mheud dhiubh a thuigeas sibh. Bidh mi a’ dol tron aibidil.

’S e a’ chiad fhacal ²¹¾±°ù²µ±ð²¹»å-²ú±ðò. Tha e co-ionann ri argento vivo ann an Eadaltais. ´¡¾±°ù²µ±ð²¹»å-²ú±ðò. ’S e meatailt a tha ann. Tha i a’ coimhead coltach ri airgead ach bidh i a’ gluasad mar gu bheil i beò. Sin mercury no quicksilver – ²¹¾±°ù²µ±ð²¹»å-²ú±ðò. ÌýÌýÌý An dàrna facal – bian-leasaiche. Bian-leasaiche. ’S e bian seiche aig ainmhidh. Bian an tuirc – the hide of the wild boar. ’S e leasaiche duine a bhios a’ leasachadh rudeigin. Bidh bian-leasaiche a’ leasachadh, no a’ cartadh, nam bian. Ann am Beurla – a tanner, somebody who tans hides.

A-nise, facal a’ tòiseachadh le ‘c’ – cluas-chrochag. Cluas-chrochag. Bidh fios agaibh dè tha ann an cluas. Agus dè tha ann an crochag? Uill, rudeigin beag a bhios a’ crochadh. Cluas-chrochag – an ear-pendant.

Tha sinn aig ‘d’ a-nise agus tha fear annasach agam dhuibh – deud-cheartaiche. Nise, ’s e deud seann fhacal Gàidhlig airson fiacail. Tha e againn fhathast anns a’ Ghàidhlig airson toothache – an deudadh. Tha an deudadh orm – I have toothache. ’S e deud-cheartaiche neach a bhios a’ cur nan deudan agad ceart. A dentist! Bidh sinn ag ràdh ‘fiaclair’ an-diugh.

Nise, eug-lios – sin E-U-G,Ìý tàthan, L-I-O-S. Eug-lios. A bheil sibh eòlach air an fhacal eug? Tha e a’ ciallachadh ‘bàs’. Ann an cuid de dhualchainntean, bithear ag ràdh dh’eug e airson chaochail e no bhàsaich e. Mar sin, ’s e eug-lios àite – lios, leas, gàrradh – far am bi na mairbh air an cur às dèidh dhaibh bàs fhaighinn. A cemetery or graveyard. Chanainn gu bheil eug-lios a cheart cho tarraingeach ri cladh – ‘àite far am bi daoine a’ cladhach’, nach eil?

Nise, fiadh-ghleann. Fiadh-ghleann. Gleann far am bi fèidh a’ cruinneachadh ann an treudan. Ach tha e cuideachd a’ ciallachadh wild glen, gleann anns nach eil daoine a’ fuireach. Tha am facal fiadh gu mòr co-cheangailte ri rudan ‘w¾±±ô»å’ mar a chanar ann am Beurla. Às a sin gheibh sinn am facal fiadhaich. Tha spòrs ann am faclan, nach eil? Bidh tuilleadh agam dhuibh an-ath-sheachdain.

I’m going to look at compound nouns from Armstrong’s old dictionary. We’ll see how many you understand. I’ll be going through the alphabet.

The first word is ²¹¾±°ù²µ±ð²¹»å-²ú±ðò. It’s equivalent to argento vivo in Italian. ´¡¾±°ù²µ±ð²¹»å-²ú±ðò. It’s a metal. It looks like silver but it moves as if it is alive. That’s mercury or quicksilver – ²¹¾±°ù²µ±ð²¹»å-²ú±ðò (‘living silver’).

The second word – bian-leasaiche. Bian-leasaiche. Bian is an animal hide. Bian an tuirc – the hide of the wild boar. A leasaiche is a person who develops or processes something. A bian-leasaiche processes, or tans, hides. In English – a tanner, somebody who tans hides.

Now, a word starting with ‘c’ – cluas-chrochag. Cluas-chrochag. You’ll know what a cluas is. And what’s a crochag? Well, something small that hangs. Cluas-chrochag – an ear-pendant.

We’re now at ‘d’ and I have an unusual one for you – deud-cheartaiche. Now, deud is an old Gaelic word for tooth. We still have it in the Gaelic for toothache – an deudadh. Tha an deudadh orm – I have toothache. A deud-cheartaiche is a person who corrects your teeth. A dentist! We say fiaclair today.

Ìý

Now, eug-lios – that’s E-U-G, hyphen, L-I-O-S. Eug-lios. Do you know the word eug? It means ‘death’. In some dialects, one says dh’eug e for he died. Thus, an eug-lios is a place – a garden – where the dead are put after they die. A cemetery or graveyard. I’d say that eug-lios is just as appealing as cladh – ‘a place where people dig’, wouldn’t you agree?

Ìý