Hi Harry,

yes iota is Greek, but scr isn't i.e. neither s - kappa -r nor s - gamma -
r.  If the i is accented, as in scriobhtha, which it would be in any of the
Gaelic words for writing, then the Greek connection weakens. Tempting just
to think of it as a misprint for scripta, which would save some research.
I've checked and "scriota" isn't in McBain's etymological dictionary of
Scots Gaelic, nor is it in McFarland's.
It's not a term in lichenology as far as I know, nor is it a specific nor
generic name for any of the British or North European lichens.

What was that Sherlock said about what's left after eliminating all other
possible explanations. Looks like we're only trotting after him at this
rate.

Still plugging for scr - i - accent - obhtha + iota, if only on grounds of
hallucination.

best

Randolph Healy

PS in both Irish and Scots gaelic "scriosta" means destroyed. Just to
confuse things further.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Gilonis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "British-Poets List" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2000 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: MacDiarmid


> >Not so much of all literature survives
> >As any wisp of scriota that thrives
> >On a rock--
> >
> <Where is Harry Gilonis when he's needed?
>
> London SW3; but not near a helpful library... however --
>
> "iota" is etymologically Greek - the letter 'i'; origin of the English
> term "jot", as in small insignificance
> (origin I suspect a Byzantine - and byzantine, too - theological debate
> on the nature of Christ's incarnation,
> revolving around 'similar or 'like' essence, which terms differ in
> spelling by one having an 'iota' the other lacks...
> which would to my mind make a fusionword unlikely.  MacD might have
> fused Scots and English here and
> there, but by the time he'd got to STONY LIMITS the work is by and large
> in English purely. The non-English
> components in 'On a Raised Beach' are Shetland Norn; not a Celtic but a
> Norse language. So 'scriobh' is I
> think a red herring (or Arbroath smokie, if you prefer).  From context
> I'd guess 'scriota' to be a botanical plural,
> a technical term in lichenology; but I can't find cognates in either
> Liddell & Scott Gk or Lewis & Short Latin Ds.
>
> The irritating thing is that I have known this;I did a lot of work on
> OARB years ago. MacD wrote it on Whalsay in
> Shetland, with access to a limited library; and nearly all the arcane
> vocabulary is in Chambers - and sometimes
> not in the OED, where I'd looked first until discovering MacD's
> preference for Chambers. It might be worth trying
> older editions? Words do get de-accessioned from dictionaries. Anyhow,
> my dander is now officially up, & I hope
> to be able to report further soon.
>
> NB to those intrigued by the words of Shetland Norn in OARB; not all
> appear in what few dictionarlies exist of this
> now extinct language; but a Danish professor used them all in a pamphlet
> on S. Norn.  I read it first in the Orkney
> Room special collection in the library at Kirkwall, Orkney; though the
> Scandinavian Studies collection in University
> College London has a copy.  I can't recollect the author or title from
> memory; but if anyone's interested - or, more
> specifically, if Nate needs words glossed - I can check details out.
>
>
> best
>
> Harry Gilonis When Needed
>
>



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