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starrigan
DCHP-2 (May 2016)
Spelling variants:staragan, stalligan, starigan, sterigan
1n. & adj. — Newfoundland, rare
a small coniferous tree cut for firewood.
Type: 2. Preservation — In Newfoundland, starrigan most often refers to firewood cut from an evergreen tree (see the 1902 and 1966 quotations), but can also be used to describe the evergreen tree in its entirety. DNE (s.v. "starrigan") and OED-3 (s.v. "starrigan) cite the Irish "stairricín" as the potential origin of the term. Dinneen (1927: 1120) includes 'a stump or stick' among the meanings of "stairricín", along with 'an obstacle, a junk or piece'. It is likely that the meanings pertaining to 'a stump or stick' and 'a piece' (see the 2005 quotation, for example) were retained and semantically narrowed to a piece of evergreen firewood when Irish settlers brought the term to Newfoundland in the 17th and 18th centuries.
It is unclear whether this meaning evolved from meaning 2 or vice versa, as the earliest Canadian citations for both appear within a fairly close time range. DNE lists the Déise Irish term "stearagán", 'a stumble, a delay, an obstacle', as another potential origin of starrigan, though these definitions seems more relevant to meaning 2.
See also DNE, s.v. "starrigan" (1), and OED-3, s.v. "starrigan", which is marked "Newfoundland".
It is unclear whether this meaning evolved from meaning 2 or vice versa, as the earliest Canadian citations for both appear within a fairly close time range. DNE lists the Déise Irish term "stearagán", 'a stumble, a delay, an obstacle', as another potential origin of starrigan, though these definitions seems more relevant to meaning 2.
See also DNE, s.v. "starrigan" (1), and OED-3, s.v. "starrigan", which is marked "Newfoundland".
See: crunnick
Quotations
1895
Starrigan, a young fir-tree, which is neither good for firewood nor large enough to be used for timber, hence applied with contempt to anything constructed of unsuitable materials. The word sounds as if it were from the Irish.
1946
One time when Da got me three young gulls just out of the nest in the pond and I made a pen for them out of starrigan sticks and strung a piece of herrin net over the top I thought the cat would go crazy creepin and watchin and lickin her chops.
1957
As far as the forest lands that may remain vested in the Crown are concerned they must be brought under control as either forest management areas or community forests. Newfoundlanders should begin to think in terms of every stick of timber, and every starrigan taken from Crown Lands being cut under permit and supervision.
1966
Another name applied to the local fir is starrigan. There is evidence that this word is disappearing as fewer people find it necessary to cut their own firewood. The word was known to only ten informants distributed evenly among the three groups. Further evidence of its obsolescence is seen in the fact that most were vague as to its exact meaning: four informants equated the words starrigan and fir; one stated that starrigan was the old name for fir; three stressed that the starrigan is a very sappy fir which oozes a thick turpentine [...]. Some stated that a fir is called a starrigan only after being cut down for firewood.
1987
Sterigans - Picea glauca (Moench) Voss [White Spruce] and P. mariana (Mill.) BSP. [Black Spruce]. (As suggested above for scronnicks, a preponderance of information suggests that sterigans, also, is a misunderstanding by the collector [Rouleau] of the informant's reference to a tree, here, an evergreen.)
2n. — Newfoundland, historical
a dead evergreen tree or stump; the burned remnants of an evergreen after a forest fire.
Type: 2. Preservation — According to DNE (s.v. "starrigan"), starrigan may be traced back to "stairricín", 'stump or stick, an obstacle, a junk or piece', or the Déise Irish term "stearagán", meaning 'a delay' or 'an obstacle'. County Waterford, which housed the port from which the majority of Irish and West Country English immigrants to Newfoundland departed (Clarke 2010b: 7), is known colloquially as "The Déise" (see DCM, s.v. "Déisi"). Due to the significant number of settlers from this area, the term gained salience on the island and possibly came to refer to the stump or protruding remnants of a coniferous tree after a fire (thus, 'an obstacle'). However, it is unclear whether this meaning evolved from the use of starrigan to refer to a live evergreen tree (see meaning 1) or the other way around.
See also DNE, s.v. "starrigan" (2), and OED-3, s.v. "starrigan", which is marked "Newfoundland".
See also DNE, s.v. "starrigan" (2), and OED-3, s.v. "starrigan", which is marked "Newfoundland".
Quotations
References
- Clarke (2010b)
- DCM
- DNE
- Dinneen (1927)
- OED-3 • "starrigan"