need spelling for gaelic word

[Lauranna Pridham]

One of my late father's sayings was "just a skook" when asked for instance did he want more tea? etc.
When he was annoyed with us as children, he would say "Ya skook ya" I asked him what this meant and he skook means " a little bit" in Gaelic. I want to know more about this word and how to spell it in Gaelic. My father as his fathers before him was a Gaelic singer fiddler and bard from Cape Breton NS. His mother tongue was Gaelic. Does anyone know of this word and how to spell it.
thanks very much.
Lauranna MacLellan Pridham

[Ranald]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Lauranna - shook is Scots for shake.

On the main screen for electricscotland (NOT the forum screen), at the top are a list of topics.

On the fifth column select 'Scots Language', then scroll down to the Gaelic dictionary. Remember it is NOT a Gaelic word !

electricscotland has it ALL........:wink:

It does not give full definition, but the saying is there, at the following link:

http://m.wordnik.com/words/shake

Ranald

[sandyc]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Hi Lauranna,
you could try searching through this Dictionary...

http://www.ceantar.org/Dicts/MF2/index.html

Sandy

[FriedaKateM]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Lauranna....I doubt if this would help you, but in the usage of that word your father meant something like a "tad". My own dad used to say he'd take "just a tad", & of course, I picked that up myself in my language. I've even had people remark on my saying that I'm giving them "just a tad", or whatever. I haven't looked on our topics yet.

I just looked through my own dictionaries, & eventually, I remembered something else my dad used to say: He had been in the USAF, & I got the impression that he picked it up there....maybe from Korean War, as he was there. Okay, he would use the word "scoche" in much the same way as tad, as above, such as "just give me a scoche..." Not sure of the spelling of that, but that's the way it sounded. Was your dad in the Army/AF, or whatever? The pronunciation was like "scosh". Good luck.

Joan

[Alastair]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Just out of interest you can download a Gaelic dictionary at http://www.electricscotland.com/book...icLanguage.htm

Alastair

[Ranald]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Skook would be the pronunciation by a Gaelic speaker of the word shook. They do tend to speak with a lilt.

It is not a Gaelic word, although there are some 4 Gaelic words all beginning with the letter 'C' , with English meanings of shook or shake.

Shake and shook mean almost the same thing.

Often in the old days to say 'in a shake', would mean in a short time.

In bygone days in the highlands, the moment of time might be expressed by the time the tail of a lamb or dog took to shake. Note - not the length of time it shook, but the time for each individual movement.

Ranald

[Glesgalass]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

I think she meant it sounded like "skook". I only know a few words of Gaelic and it's quite likely that the word is spelled totally differently from its' pronunciation. I'm always telling people here in Oz that they pronounce the town of Scone incorrectly. It is obviously called after Scone in Scotland which is pronounced Skoon. A few people have asked why and the only explanation I can come up with is that Scone in Scotland was probably spelled differently in the olden days or maybe it's the Gaelic pronunciation of Scone.

Elda

[Hugh]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

I think your Dad picked it up from the Japanese skoshi (sp?) meaning "a little".

Cheers,

Hugh

[Caledonian]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Gaelic and Gaelic translations – This is a subject where I may be of some help to members being, as I am, a Gaelic speaker, born and raised in a Gaelic speaking community.

Tad – I have never heard it used in Gaelic conversation, or seen it used in written Gaelic. The Oxford Dictionary says that this is a North American colloquialism.

Skook -- In Gaelic orthography the letter K does not exist. I cannot recall having heard or seen the word, or any word sounding like it, used in Gaelic speech or writing to describe a small amount or a small portion. Also, as regards another possible spelling of the word, the letter C cannot follow the letter S at the beginning of a word in Gaelic orthography.

It could very well be a “Scots” or “Broad Scots” word but I am not sufficiently familiar with that vernacular to be able to say so one way or the other with any authority. It does not appear in any of the forms given, or in any similar spelling form that gives a similar sounding word, in any of the online Scots Language dictionaries that I have been able to find.

[Alastair]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Just a thought but we could create a Gaelic forum if you'd be prepared to monitor it and help out with any questions. Or even contribute the odd post to teach us something.

I have tried to get a Gaelic audio/video tutorial but they always want too much money for it.

Alastair

[miolchu]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Just a thought but we could create a Gaelic forum if you'd be prepared to monitor it and help out with any questions. Or even contribute the odd post to teach us something.

I have tried to get a Gaelic audio/video tutorial but they always want too much money for it.

Alastair

Now that would be great especially if we could get verbal pronunciations as attachments. I started learning the the Cois Fhairrge dialect (the most common dialect of Galway and the Aran Islands) of Irish 25 years ago, but experienced problems listening to speakers of the Munster dialects (and most likely speakers of the Northern dialects had I met any). Another problem was, in spite of a standard Irish orthography, regional variations on the standard could be found and confused me to no end.

Mícheál Ó Siadhail, professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies wrote "Two hundred years ago a good speaker of Irish, traveling slowly from Kerry to Antrim (and on to the north of Scotland), could have spoken the language all the way and noticed only minute dialectal changes as he passed from place to place. One dialect shaded into another in the most gradual fashion." Ó Siadhail, M., (1988). Learning Irish. New Haven, Yale University Press.

I have managed to locate a few online grammars for Gàidhlig but have not been able to get pronunciations. The orthography is also very different from the Irish which can be confusing to someone who has been exposed to Irish orthography. However, when I hear Gàidhlig spoken or sung, it is not so exotic as its orthography would suggest.

I would very much like to see a Gaelic forum on this site.

I read somewhere that some elements of Gàidhlig were relatively more linguistically conservative than Irish in that they were more close to Old Irish than was modern Irish. I thought that this was interesting but lack the resources to explore the notion on my own.

[Caledonian]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Alastair – I feel certain that a Scottish Gaelic Language Forum would be an added feather in Electric Scotland’s cap. I may not be able to commit to monitoring it on a daily basis but I would certainly try to help monitoring it on a regular basis, and help out with questions and contribute as best I can.

Miolchὺ -- Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic are two different languages. Although it would be possible for a proficient speaker of one to understand someone speaking the other it would be disastrous for a learner to get involved with the intricacies both at the same time and would only lead to confusion.

If both are called for, or if there is a demand for both, then it might be more practical to have separate forums, one for each.

Here are a couple of Scottish Gaelic sites that may be helpful to members in the meantime:

http://www.faclair.com/index.aspx?Language=en This site lets one enter a word in either Gaelic or English, translates it, and in some cases an audio pronunciation is also given.

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/goc/ This site has all sorts of aids to Gaelic education. Browsing through it you will find news, interesting articles, poems, song lyrics, dictionaries, grammar and pronunciation guides etc.

[Alastair]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

OK... I'll start a forum for you later today within the Lifestyle Group. As we're transferring over the entire electricscotland site right now everything is as slow as treacle right now so I'll wait until that is finished.

I might add that members can "subscribe" to any of our forums and so you'll get an email alert any time a new message is posted in the forum(s) you subscribe to.

Alastair

[Alastair]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Have now started the "Gaelic Language: forum under our Lifestyle Group.

Alastair

[FriedaKateM]

Re: need spelling for gaelic word

Hey, to all...This is in answer to the word I mentioned, which my USAF officer father used to use, after he returned from the Korean War. I emailed my oldest grandson, in Japan, who teaches English to Japanese kids now. Asked him about just a little "scoche".

And he found our travails over the Skook, etc. quite interesting. Sooooo...Yes. The word in Japanese is "scoshi" pronounced in the "natural" way, or I guess the common usage. & it does mean just a tad. So, I thought I'd let everybody know about one little Japanese word!!

Keep up the curiosity! Joan