deoch-bhleith

sf see friochd. Based upon information from the Rev. Dr. Campbell of Broadford, Skye, this is as follows: “A guest in a house in the Highlands might certainly have an appetite for breakfast. To a guest whom he is delighted to honour, the man of the house (fear an taighe) went with the slapag and wakened him; gave him the gloc-nide (nest gulp) and after he gave the deoch air uilinn (Drink on elbow), that is to say the guest would rise up in bed. After he got up and before he put on his clothes, he got the deoch chas-ruisgte (Barefoot drink). Before breakfast it was the duty of all to take another dram, the clach-bhleith (Sharpening or whetstone). No wonder an increased tax on whisky is resented! One presumes that an sgaile-nide, am friochd-uilinn and an deoch-bhleith correspond, respectively, with an gloc nide, deoch air uilinn and a' chlach-bhleith. The statement that “the man of the house (fear an taighe) went with a slapag and wakened him”, is rather curious as Dwelly gives slapag, sf as meaning slut, drab, slattern. Was this the Gaelic equivalent of the English word ‘skivvy'?

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