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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1976 (SND Vol. X). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WHAAL, n. Also whaul (Ags. 1852 Tait's Mag. (Nov.) 673; Mry. 1872 W. H. L. Tester Poems 191; Abd. 1925 A. Murison Rosehearty Rhymes 7), whaule (n.Sc. 1887 N. Macleod Old Lieutenant iv.), whawl (Sc. 1891 R. Ford Thistledown (1895) 49), whall (Ork. 1904 W. T. Dennison Sketches 5); hwal (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)); arch. quhail (Sh. 1832 Old-Lore Misc. VII. iv.). Sc. forms and usages of Eng. whale (Sh. 1831 Perthshire Advert. (24 Feb.); Abd. 1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick xx.; Sh., Abd., Fif. 1974). For ne.Sc. forms see also Faal. Hence whaller, a whaler (Ork. 1907 Old-Lore Misc. I. ii. 64), whaaling, whaling (Sc. 1821 Scott Pirate v.; Sh. 1974). [ʍɑ:l]

Sc. form of Eng. whale.Fif. 1991 John Brewster in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 165:
Gin bi doukin daily day God cuid be preed
Suner wad I be a whaal in the deep

Sc. usages:

1. Sc. combs.: (1) whaal-back, = 4. (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Ork. 1929 Marw.); (2) whaal('s)-blub(s), -bubble, the jellyfish (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., hwalblub; Abd., Fif. 1911, -bubble). See Blub, Bubble; (3) whale-eater, a nickname for a native of Dumbarton (Dmb. 1973); (4) whaal-krang, the carcase of a whale, the remains of a whale when stripped of its blubber (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), 1914 Angus Gl.). Cf. Crang.(1) Ork. 1951 R. Rendall Ork. Variants 13:
Full canvas on, we drive afore, As whaalbacks sweep the deck.

2. The sailfish or basking shark, Selachus maximus, occas. known in Eng. as the whale-shark.Arg. 1845 Stat. Acc.² VII. 32:
The prolonged visit of “the whale,” as the sail fish is called.

3. “A species of cuttle-fish of enormous size” (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., whaal). Combs. whaal shall, cuttle-bone, the internal skeleton of the cuttle-fish, dried, scraped into milk and given to children as a cure for diarrhoea (Sh. 1963); whaal-skate, a very large type of cuttle-fish (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.).

4. In pl.: long, undulating, unbroken waves, seen during fine summer weather, “so called from their supposed resemblance to a whale” (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., 1908 Jak. (1928), hwals; Sh., Cai. 1974).