Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1795, 1897
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SCUDDA, n. Also skodda, skoddi- and back formation ¶scud. [′skudə]
1. The undergrowth of wool on a Sh. sheep which comes up under the coarser wool of the previous season (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), skodda), gen. in combs. scudda oo, skoddin oo (Jak.) (see quot.). Now only hist.Sh. 1795 J. Sinclair Agric. N. Highl. App. 28:
There are some sheep to be found that carry coarse wool above, and soft fine wool below. These have three different successions of wool yearly; two of which resemble long hairs more than wool, and are termed, by the common people, fors and scudda. The rough hairs, termed fors, spring up, and keep root, until the proper season for pulling it arrives, when it is plucked off, along with the wool and is separated from it, at dressing the fleece, by an operation called forcing. The scudda remains upon the skin of the animal, as if it were a thick coat, a fence against the inclemency of the seasons.Sh. 1897 Shetland News (14 Aug.):
Wi' clippin' der a share o' hit aye left wi' da scud o' da new fleesh.
2. By extension, applied to ground from which the upper layer of turf has been removed. Comb. scudda muild, skoddimuld, id., the soil thus taken away and used as bedding for cattle (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), Sh. 1962). See Muild.
[For 1. Jak. suggests O.N. ′skot-úll, “shooting or springing wool” from skot-, shooting-, skjóta, to shoot.]
