Cuidheall-Shnìomha | A look at the Gaelic terms for the Spinning Wheel

This blog post was written by myself originally for the DASG (Dachaigh Airson Storas na Gàidhlig/Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic) blog in May 2018 when I was working at Glasgow University. The Gaelic language version can be found below and the original blogpost can be read here.  

Given that wool crafts were once ubiquitous throughout this country it is unsurprising that there is such a wealth of vocabulary pertaining to the process of turning a fleece into a wearable garment. As a spinner, knitter and weaver myself, I find the history of wool production in Scotland fascinating. Likewise, for fellow wool and fibre crafters around the world, Scotland remains the mystical home of the spinning wheel and the tartan that it ultimately produces.

For this blog I would like to focus on the plethora of Gaelic words relating specifically to the act of spinning a yarn on a wheel or cuidheall-shnìomha. Illustrations of the spinning wheel with in-depth definitions can be found in Dwelly but, as always, many different regional dialects and terms can be found across the Gàidhealtachd and many have been collected in the DASG fieldwork.

For many people who have never seen a spinning wheel before, there is an assumption that the yarn is wound somehow around the large wheel before being transferred to the bobbin. This is not the case. In fact the large wheel roth is turned by pressing the treadle siol-coise which in turn causes the drive band bann mòr to rotate the flyer seic.

Interestingly, when accessing the DASG fieldwork website one of the first images you will meet is of the flyer of a spinning wheel – teic/seic [also sèicle recorded in Uist and Harris], arguably the most important part of a wheel. This is where the twist in the wool is created and the yarn wound onto the bobbin - iteachan/piùrna*.

Other interesting terms relating to the spinning wheel include the cuigeal or distaff, where the fibre (predominantly flax) would be stored for spinning, and the footman - the piece of wood which joins the treadle to the wheel – which has numerous translations including slibheag, maide siubhal, claidheamh and more amusingly an t-amadan (which means the Fool in Gaelic)

Lastly I shall leave you with the term used for ‘the hole in the axle through which the unspun wool passes’ – sùil na chuibhle (the eye of the wheel) In my opinion far nicer than the English name – ‘orifice’.


*The term ‘pirn’ in English generally relates to smaller bobbins which filled the shuttles when weaving rather than the larger bobbins used with the spinning wheel. It is difficult to determine whether this distinction is also made in Gaelic although it seems as though both terms can be used interchangeably.
 

Cuidheall-Shnìomha

Aig aon àm bha ceàird na clòimhe uile-làthaireach anns an dùthaich seo agus mar sin 's beag an t-iongnadh gu bheil cruinneachadh beartach againn de dh’fhaclan mu dheidhinn chaoraich, clòimhe agus snìomh ann an Gàidhlig. Mar shnìomhadair, figheadair is breabadair mi fhèin, tha mise a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil eachdraidh obrach na clòimhe ann an Alba ùidheachail gu dearbh. Airson luchd-ciùird is snìomhadairean mu thimcheall an t-saoghail, ’s e Alba fhathast dachaigh fhàidheanta na cuibhle-shnìomha agus am breacan a bhios i a’ dèanamh.

An t-seachdain seo tha mi airson coimhead air làntachd nam facal a tha a’ buntainn ri snìomh air a’ chuibhle. Tha dealbhan mionaideach den chuidheall-shnìomha le mìneachaidhean ann an Dwelly, ach, mar as àbhaist, tha tòrr dual-chainnt is faclan diofraichte anns a’ Ghàidhealtachd agus chaidh iomadach dhaibh a chruinneachadh ann am ‘Faclan bhon t-Sluagh’ le DASG.

Airson na mòrchuid de dhaoine nach fhaca cuidheall-shnìomha a-riamh, thathar a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil an snàth a’ siubhal timcheall na cuibhle mhòr, ach chan eil seo ceart. Leis an fhìrinn innse, tha an roth air a thionndadh le bhith a’ brùthadh sìos air an t-siol-coise. Tha seo a’ tionndadh an t-seic fhad ’s a’ ghluasas am bann mòr mu thimcheall rèime na cuibhle.

Gu inntinneach, ’s e teic/seic cuibhle-shnìomh aon den chiad dealbhan a chì sibh air làrach-lìn DASG. Tha seo clàraichte mar shèicle ann an Uibhist is anns na Hearadh, agus ’s dòcha gur e am pàirt as cudromaiche den chuibhle a tha ann. ’S ann air seo a tha toinneamh na clòimhe cruthaichte agus tha an snàth an uair sin iadhta air an iteachan no piùrna.*

Tha mòran faclan inntinneach eile a’ buntainn ri snìomh. Mar eisimpleir, a’ chuigeal – far a bheil a’ chlòimh no an lìon air a stòradh ron toinneamh. Cuideachd, tha beartas faclan anns a’ Ghàidhlig airson a’ phìos fiodh eadar siol-coise agus roth: slibheag, maide siubhal, claidheamh agus (ainm beagan neònach) an t-amadan.

Mar fhacal mu dheireadh, bidh mi a’ crìochnachadh le abairt airson ‘the hole in the axle through which the unspun wool passes’ – sùil na cuibhle. ’S fheàrr leam fhìn an t-ainm Gàidhlig seo ris an ainm Beurla – ‘orifice’.
 

*Tha an t-ainm ‘pirn’ air a chleachdadh anns a’ Bheurla airson nan iteachan beaga a chleachdas tu airson a bhith a’ fighe an àite snìomh. Chan eil mi a’ creidsinn gu bheil an t-eadar-dhealachadh seo air a dhèanamh anns a’ Ghàidhlig.