fillibeg

[Paul Henry]

I was given a copy of a dictionary to rebind, a not very impressive tome, and hardly worth the effort, but I'm happy for the work!
It's called the Modern Standard Dictionary, by Odhams of London, undated but I suspect around the 1940's by quality of paper and the like.
I always have a browse through any book that I am working on,this one has some pictures with some of the definitions, which I always like.

Of course I looked up "kilt" but didn't find it, but by a fluke opened it at fillibeg, and there was a picture as well.

It made my day!

[BoldHighlander]

That's cool!

[OC Richard]

Strange that they didn't give the Gaelic spelling.

My Websters has:

fil.i.beg n. [Gael. feileadh beag < feileadh, a fold + beag, little] a kilt

No picture though.

Note the one "l" versus two.

Strange that these English spellings use a "g" as the final letter, because Scots Gaelic has devoiced medial and final stops, so that the final sound is "k".

The pronunciation would be more like fell-yuh-bek.

I wonder if this word was borrowed into English before this devoicing developed?

I find it interesting how early this term is used, for example the disarming act of 1746 specifically bans "the Philebeg or little Kilt".

[xman]

My Apple Dictionary is pretty curt on the topic,

filibeg |ˌfɪlɪbɛg| (also philibeg, filabeg)
noun Scottish, chiefly historical
a kilt.
ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Scottish Gaelic feileadh-beag ‘little kilt,’ from feileadh ‘plaid’ and beag ‘little.’

but the more common term is well described.

kilt |kɪlt|
noun
a knee-length skirt of pleated tartan cloth, traditionally worn by men as part of Scottish Highland dress and now also worn by women and girls.
kilt
verb [ trans. ]
gather (a garment or material) in vertical pleats : [as adj. ] ( kilted) kilted skirts.
DERIVATIVES
kilted adjective
ORIGIN Middle English (as a verb in the sense [tuck up around the body] ): of Scandinavian origin; compare with Danish kilte (op) ‘tuck (up)’ and Old Norse kilting ‘a skirt.’ The noun dates from the mid 18th cent.

There's even a pic.



My Oxford Paperback is lacking the term filibeg.

[OC Richard]

feileadh ‘plaid’

I wonder where they got that meaning from.

"Plaid" as in striped or chequered or varigated is breacan in Gaelic.

It got me to haul out my Scottish Gaelic and Irish dictionaries.

In them, feileadh is only defined as "kilt".

But in the English > Gaelic section I found:

fold, v. a. fangaich, cuir am mainnir; fill, paisg, cuir air fhilleadh.

Which sent me back to the Gaelic > English section where is found:

fill v. fold, imply, plait.

filleadh vbl. n. m. folding, implying; a fold...

filleag n. f. a small fold...

So the "folding" meaning seems to be the origin.