My Mum (who was of good Highland stock ) always called my Brothers,sister and myself and I,ll type this as she pronounced it "Motch" or Motchkins" as a term of endearment or an announcement before a discussion as in " now then Motch" any ideas on it,s meaning ? Iain

Iain, I wonder if you had a reply to this query? I've no familiarity with Gaelic endearments, having learnt the little I know rather late in life. Something spelt 'motch' would be spelt 'moit' or 'moid' with no accent in Gaelic --- I take it 'motch' had a short 'o' as in 'scotch'? If long, the 'o' would have a grave accent on it. It could be the vocative of 'mod' or 'mot' but then the 'm' would turn to a 'v' sound, spelt 'mh' ! I remember 'brog' - 'shoe' with a long 'o', vocative 'a' bhroig!' = 'O shoe!' from the grammar books! Here the 'b' has become 'bh' pronounced 'v'. Anyway, no suitable word suggested itself. Much more likely to me, but less satisfactory to you, perhaps, is that it's a Scots word. I know one's naturally tempted to think of 'munchkins', but there *is* a Scots word 'motch' to nibble daintily', so there could be a mouse endearment connection here. Let me know if you learn anything Sara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Iain Sutherland" <iain_sutherland@totalise.co.uk> To: <SCT-SUTHERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 9:10 PM Subject: Gaelic?? > My Mum (who was of good Highland stock ) always called my Brothers,sister and myself and I,ll type this as she pronounced it "Motch" or Motchkins" as a term of endearment or an announcement before a discussion as in " now then Motch" any ideas on it,s meaning ? Iain > > > ==== SCT-SUTHERLAND Mailing List ==== > You may, at times, wish to check out previous messages to this list. You can do this at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/SCT-SUTHERLAND-L/ > > ============================== > Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com > >

The wizard of Oz?? and the little people? I think you'll find that's what it is Kate At 12:32 01/07/01 +0100, Sara Thomas wrote: >Iain, >I wonder if you had a reply to this query? I've no familiarity with >Gaelic endearments, having learnt the little I know rather late in >life. >Something spelt 'motch' would be spelt 'moit' or 'moid' with no accent >in Gaelic --- I take it 'motch' had a short 'o' as in 'scotch'? If >long, the 'o' would have a grave accent on it. It could be the >vocative of 'mod' or 'mot' but then the 'm' would turn to a 'v' sound, >spelt 'mh' ! I remember 'brog' - 'shoe' with a long 'o', vocative 'a' >bhroig!' = 'O shoe!' from the grammar books! Here the 'b' has become >'bh' pronounced 'v'. Anyway, no suitable word suggested itself. >Much more likely to me, but less satisfactory to you, perhaps, is that >it's a Scots word. I know one's naturally tempted to think of >'munchkins', but there *is* a Scots word 'motch' to nibble daintily', >so there could be a mouse endearment connection here. >Let me know if you learn anything > >Sara > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Iain Sutherland" <iain_sutherland@totalise.co.uk> >To: <SCT-SUTHERLAND-L@rootsweb.com> >Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 9:10 PM >Subject: Gaelic?? > > >> My Mum (who was of good Highland stock ) always called my >Brothers,sister and myself and I,ll type this as she pronounced it >"Motch" or Motchkins" as a term of endearment or an announcement >before a discussion as in " now then Motch" any ideas on it,s meaning >? Iain >> >> >> ==== SCT-SUTHERLAND Mailing List ==== >> You may, at times, wish to check out previous messages to this list. >You can do this at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/SCT-SUTHERLAND-L/ >> >> ============================== >> Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: >> Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. >> http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com >> >> > > >==== SCT-SUTHERLAND Mailing List ==== >You may, at times, wish to check out previous messages to this list. You can do this at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/SCT-SUTHERLAND-L/ > >============================== >Search over 1 Billion names at Ancestry.com! >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/rwlist1.asp > > > Kate and David Ferris kate@globalnet.co.uk