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miotagach, meatagach adj.

[miotag, meatag n. + -ach suffix]

forms

singular

nominative

in predicative use

  • 1751
    Ais-Eiridh 151 Fhir a b’ iteagach, miottagach triall.
  • 1841
    Sar-Obair 132 Fhir a b’ iteagach, miotagach triall.

senses

    • 1. Wearing or necessitating the wearing of mittens or gloves. See also làmhainneach adj.  

      • 1751
        Ais-Eiridh 49
        A mios crattanach, casadach, lom, | A bhio’s trom air an tsonnbhrochan dubh; | […] | Bhrógach, mheattagach, pheiteagach bhán.
      • 1881
        Nicolson Proverbs 93
        Cha dean cat miotagach sealg. Cat with mittens won’t catch mice.

    • 2. Of the feet of a pigeon: feathered, covered with feathers and resembling the wearing of mittens.  

      Watson’s original interpretation in the glossary of his 1918 edition of Bàrdachd Ghàidhlig (p. 337), ‘Miotagach, […] wearing mittens; miotag; Eng. Mitten’, suggests this sense of the feathers or muffs on the feet of a pigeon as ‘mitteny’ in nature. However, Watson changed this interpretation in the 1932 edition in which he gives ‘Miotagach, […] mincing (of step); Ir. miotógach, pinching, from miota, a bit, morsel’ (p. 370). This interpretation was retained by Professor Angus Matheson in his 1959 revision. This revision suggests that this may be a different word referring to the pigeon’s gait in the sense of ‘waddling, consisting of short steps’. Alternatively, the juxtaposition of iteagach and miotagach may suggest a connection with meata, miota ‘fearful, timorous’ and refer to the pigeon’s demeanour.
       
      • 1751
        Ais-Eiridh 151
        ’S tu [sc. peata coluim] ’s truaidh linn do bhás na ’n ean; | Mo chrágh nach beo, | Fhir a b’ iteagach, miottagach triall, | Go ba mheirbh do threoir.