LL-L: "Etymology" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 29.MAY.1999 (04)

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From: "Sandy Fleming" <sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk>
Subject: RE: LL-L: "Etymology" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 29.MAY.1999 (02)

Matt asked:

> had always assumed that the Scots (and English) word "plaid" or
> "plaide" came
> from the Gaelic word for "blanket."  It has been recently suggested to me
> that in fact the Gaelic use of "plaide" for blanket came from the
> Scots word
> for the tartan wrap, not the other way around.  A freind cited the CSD as
> listing the use of plaid meaning the tartan wrap as 17th cent.,
> while the use
> of the word to mean a blanket came much later.  Can anyone shed
> any light on
> this word's origins and history.
>
In my area this is pronounced "plyde" [plEid] in Scots. The SND (Scottish
National Dictionary) also says that this word was probably borrowed into
Gaelic from Scots, not the other way round, and suggests that the word is
from the past participle of "ply".

Sandy Fleming
http:\\www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

----------

From: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Subject: RE: LL-L: "Etymology" [E] LOWLANDS-L, 29.MAY.1999 (02)

> From: EoganOg at aol.com
> Subject: "plaid"
>
> Hello all.  I have a question that I hope some of you could help me
> with.  I had always assumed that the Scots (and English) word "plaid"
> or "plaide" came from the Gaelic word for "blanket."  It has been
> recently suggested to me that in fact the Gaelic use of "plaide" for
> blanket came from the Scots word for the tartan wrap, not the other
> way around.  A freind cited the CSD as listing the use of plaid
> meaning the tartan wrap as 17th cent., while the use of the word to
> mean a blanket came much later.  Can anyone shed any light on
> this word's origins and history.
>
> Matt Newsome

True enough, the CSD says:

1. A rectangular length of twilled wolloen cloth ... formerly worn as
an outer garment ... 16th C -  2. The wolloen cloth of which plaids are
made 16th-19th C  ... [apparently originally Scots > Gaelic "plaide",
perhaps a participle of "ply"].

However, there may be the makings of a wee tangle here. I hope I'm not
muddying the water.

Consider "plait" (also "plat"), as in hair: a pleat or zigzag fold;
a braid in which strands are passed over one another in turn.
As verb: To "pleat"; to braid or intertwine. [Etym: Old French "pleit",
"ploit"; French "pli". From Latin "plicare" (to fold); "plicatum"].
Could possibly be used to refer to a method of making cloth, and to
the cloth itself: consider "twill" (Scots "tweel"), a woven fabric
showing diagonal lines, the weft yarns having been worked over one,
and under two or more, warp yarns.

If there is a lineage O.Fr. "pleit" -> En. "plait"/Scots "plaid" it
wouldn't be the first time Scots got a word from French.

Ted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at nessie.mcc.ac.uk>
Date: 29-May-99                                       Time: 16:56:27
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