Flukkra

History athin a wird. Da snüds an wups idda vaige o a wird is fascinatin. Flukkra is a Shaetlan specific wird at means yun big saft snaaflakes at faas doon peerie wyes. Technically hit's a collective plural.

Hit isna fun in Orkney or idda mainland Scots varieties. Da wird can be fun firbye in Faroese flykra, Danish flok & Swedish flocka, aa meanin '(snaa)flake'. In aa yun languages it's a lonn fae Middle Dutch/Low German vlocke, an laekly cam in ti' da vocabularies becis o da Hansa trade. Whar it ultimately cam fae isna kent. Whit wis wint tae be seid – at it gings back ti da Latin floccus 'toosk, hentilaget (maed o oo)' – isna tocht tae be richt onymair. A newer idee is at it gings back tidda Proto-Germanic *flukk/gōn- 'tae flee, flap'. Da Aald Norse flóki 'toosk (o hair/oo)' is da ancestor o da Shaetlan flog 'wittered/feltit toosk o hair/oo'. Hit haes anidder origin an gings back tidda Proto-Germanic *flaka-/*flōka(n)- 'flat', but da twa wirds micht'll a reinforced een anidder.

P.S. Da aald Shaetlan verb tae barflog means 'tae baet da scarf, tae swap yirsel ower da breest an aboot da airms/shooders tae keep yirsel waarm'. Hit's a aald expression. Athin Nynorsk hit's still caaed at berje floke an means da sam. In regional Swedish it is att bärja flok an means da sam an aa. Hit derives fae da Aald Norse berja 'tae baet' an da previously mentioned flóki, an da ultimate origin o dat haes tae dø wi baetin (laek da Gothic flōkan 'baet yirsel apø da breest; wail', Latin plango 'baet', etc) so at da original meaneen o da Aald Norse flóki widda bøn somethin laek "somethin at's bøn baeten inti felt". So at da expression barflog/berje floke/bärja flok wid laekly ultimately a bøn braaly descriptive: "tae baet [yirsel] idda rhythmic wye at a body baets oo tae git felt" or somethin laek dat.