Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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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.
Quotation dates: 1845, 1951-1991
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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).
[The form whall from O.E. hwæl, is also found in Eng. till the 17th c. Whale derives from the open syllable of the O.E. oblique cases. O.Sc. has quhall, a.1568.]
