Snow in
Girvan
during the
faoilleach
, January 2010
Faoilleach
or
Faoilteach
(
[?f?ːl(t)?x]
; in
Scots
and English rendered as
fulteachs, futtick, furtoch, furtock
, etc.)
[1]
is a
Scottish Gaelic
term which originally referred to a certain period in the
agricultural calendar
and which refers to the first month of the year, January, in the modern language.
Nowadays, the term has fallen out of
English
and
Lowland Scots
, but is still used in Gaelic for the month of January specifically. It would appear to be a very old term, as it seems to come from
faol
or
faol-chu
meaning a
wolf
, a creature which has been extinct in
Scotland
since the 17th century.
The
Gaels
of old regarded stormy weather towards the end of January as prognostic of a fruitful season to follow, or vice versa, as shown in various
proverbs
.
Variations
[
edit
]
In
Lewis
,
Faoilleach
fell on the Friday nearest to three weeks before the end of January, and ended on the Tuesday nearest the end of the third week of February. It was said to be three weeks of winter, and three weeks of spring.
A shorter
Faoilteach
consisted of the last
fortnight
of winter, and the first fortnight of spring, in the
Old Style calendar
,
proverbial
for its variable weather. Sometimes the first half was called
Am Faoilteach Geamraidh
(Winter
Faoilteach
), and the second half
Am Faoilteach Earraich
(Spring
Faoilteach
).
Na Faoiltich
is also used to mean
the
equinoxes
according to
Dwelly
, presumably the
vernal equinox
.
In
Irish
, the word means February instead of January.
[2]
Proverbs
[
edit
]
- "In
Faoilteach
, the three
furrows
side by side should be full of water, full of snow, and full of house
thatch
." (presumably referring to climate and growth)
- "For every
mavis
that sings in
Faoilleach
, she’ll lament seven times ere spring be over."
- "It comes on Friday and goes on Tuesday."
John Jamieson
records another saying:
- "they wish the
Fuilteachs
in with an
adder
's head, and to go out with a
peacock
's tail, i.e. to be stormy in the beginning, and mild towards the end."
This is very similar to the Highland sentiments.
References
[
edit
]
- This article incorporates text from
Dwelly's
[Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary
(1911)
. (
Faoilleach
,
Faoilteach
)
- Cassie’s
Lowland Scots vocabulary
- Jamieson, John
Dictionary of the (Lowland) Scots Language