Ah....so. the old scottish poem about the g cramp being a Mickle weer not a muckle. Thanks for the info...hmm On Sep 19, 2007, at 3:07 PM, Norman Tulloch wrote: > stephen davie wrote: >> Seems like expressions of old bear out the idea of a muckle being >> either a lot or a little. >> > > I don't think so. Muckle used as an adjective means big or used as a > noun means a lot. > > In Scots, there is also the word mickle, meaning a small amount, hence > the saying, "Many a mickle makes a muckle": many small things can > make a > big one. Just to confuse things further, Burns often uses "meikle" to > mean the same as "muckle". > > I don't think the word "mickle" is used in Orkney, though. > > Norman Tulloch > > _______________________________________ > Orcadia Group Photo Album > http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORCADIA- > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message

By the way, the English word "much" originates from the same word "mickle = big" much - c.1205, worn down by loss of unaccented last syllable from M.E. muchel, from O.E. micel "great in amount or extent," from P.Gmc. *mekilaz, from PIE *meg- "great." For vowel evolution, see bury. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=much&searchmode=none All the best, Andrei

This kind of etymological explanation is SOO fascinating. Spasiba, Andrei! Anne (ret. academic librarian) On 9/24/07, dear dron <[email protected]> wrote: > By the way, the English word "much" originates from the same word "mickle = > big" > > much - c.1205, worn down by loss of unaccented last syllable from M.E. > muchel, from O.E. micel "great in amount or extent," from P.Gmc. *mekilaz, > from PIE *meg- "great." For vowel evolution, see bury. > > http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=much&searchmode=none

Dang...If you are that good,,maybe you can help one of our Scottish Country Dancers down in Austin that is looking for a copy of a poem titled "Wind on Loch Fyne" by George Campbell Hay. That is also the title on the book of his poems it's in. So far all she has come up with are copies of the book in the rare book sites............very expensive to get just one poem. <g> It's also the name of a country dance which is I suspect the reason she is interested. R -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Anne Slater Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 1:35 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] a muckle confusing? This kind of etymological explanation is SOO fascinating. Spasiba, Andrei! Anne (ret. academic librarian) On 9/24/07, dear dron <[email protected]> wrote: > By the way, the English word "much" originates from the same word "mickle = > big" > > much - c.1205, worn down by loss of unaccented last syllable from M.E. > muchel, from O.E. micel "great in amount or extent," from P.Gmc. *mekilaz, > from PIE *meg- "great." For vowel evolution, see bury. > > http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=much&searchmode=none _______________________________________ Orcadia Group Photo Album http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Royce - I put out a heads-up to a folk music e-list I'm on and have had a couple of responses from John, of the Wheeze and Suck Band (truly)! Herewith; *The Dunedin Dancers (Scotland) have the dance in a book listed on their website; http://www.dunedindancers.org.uk/public/activities.php * and from an old school chat room in Canada that John's linked to; Scottish Poetry Library on line, which might be able to help - <http://www.spl.org.uk/>http://www.spl.org.uk/ And a reasonable priced copy of the book (£20) at this site - <http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/alb/65454.shtml>http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/alb/65454.shtml The dance is a very interesting one – done in a Triangular set, with three couples, i more usual four couple straight (or square) set. The dance was written for an Oakville Teacher, Bob Campbell, who died a few years ago. * and this contact; The Scottish Poetry Library 5 Crichton's Close Canongate Edinburgh EH8 8DT Telephone: 0131 557 2876 Fax: 0131 557 8393 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.spl.org.uk http://www.spl.org.uk/downloads/tapes.doc you can borrow a tape with the poem on *also; Michael Byrne, editor of the campbell hay poetry books, is lecturer in Scottish Gaelic, Department of Celtic, University of Glasgow. You could e-mail him and ask for the words, if that's what you're after. Some of those may be ground already covered or they may provide new leads. I'll feed through any more info. that may come in. Cheers, Jan (Aus.) At 04:50 AM 25/09/2007 Tuesday, you wrote: >Dang...If you are that good,,maybe you can help one of our Scottish Country >Dancers down in Austin that is looking for a copy of a poem titled "Wind on >Loch Fyne" by George Campbell Hay. That is also the title on the book of his >poems it's in. So far all she has come up with are copies of the book in the >rare book sites............very expensive to get just one poem. <g> It's >also the name of a country dance which is I suspect the reason she is >interested. >R > >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On >Behalf Of Anne Slater >Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 1:35 PM >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re: [ORCADIA] a muckle confusing? > >This kind of etymological explanation is SOO fascinating. >Spasiba, Andrei! >Anne (ret. academic librarian) > >On 9/24/07, dear dron <[email protected]> wrote: > > By the way, the English word "much" originates from the same word "mickle >= > > big" > > > > much - c.1205, worn down by loss of unaccented last syllable from M.E. > > muchel, from O.E. micel "great in amount or extent," from P.Gmc. *mekilaz, > > from PIE *meg- "great." For vowel evolution, see bury. > > > > http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=much&searchmode=none >_______________________________________ >Orcadia Group Photo Album >http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >[email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes >in the subject and the body of the message > >_______________________________________ >Orcadia Group Photo Album >http://tinyurl.com/28bx9x >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >[email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >quotes in the subject and the body of the message Jan Nary 31 Leybourne St, Chelmer Queensland 4068 Publicist & Journalist Publicist National Folk Festival Exhibition Park in Canberra 5 - 9 April 2007 <http://www.folkfestival.asn.au/>http://www.folkfestival.asn.au Acoustic Harvest 4EB 98.1 FM www.4eb.org.au & Acoustic Harvest, Planet Radio 88 FM www.planetradio.com.au. tel. +61 7 3379 4178 fax +61 7 3278 2360 mob. 0429 898 328 UK 07905 976 173