No…! Scalloway isn’t an island – it’s a village in the Shetland Islands.
John Bradley:
August 13th, 2015 at 7:28 am
Yes, I lived in Scalloway for two years. The name comes from the Old Norse skalavagr. I reckon it’s from the days of sailing ships when cabin boys would be taken on board there. Shetland ponies and collies are smaller than the mainland varieties, hence a scallywag became any small, impish creature.
More controversially, I wonder if in the slave trade, scallywag became ‘galley wag’ which then became gollywog, a small amusing fellow on the slave ship?
Bob:
October 23rd, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Could it be related to the Greek word, ???????, “sko-LEE-as’, which means “morally bent or twisted; crooked, unscrupulous, dishonest”? You’ll find that word in the Bible – 1 Peter 2:18 and elsewhere, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust [???????].” What do you think?
Shelly:
November 8th, 2015 at 8:50 am
In reply to original post: It was said that the term “was applied as a term of contempt to Southern whites who cooperated with, and profited from, the harsh measures of Reconstruction.” This is incorrect from an objective sense of civil rights. The laws that were being passed during Reconstruction were not harsh, at all. While it does depend on the geographic conditioning of the people, the passing of citizenship and voting rights for “colored” peoples is quite fair and not “harsh” by any means. Again, this does depend on one’s perspective, as giving rights to someone who was raised to think a person of color was meant to be a slave, would be wrong. Furthermore, as slavery goes, it was a major form of capitalism for the South. Having a set of slaves means you can pocket your profits.
To reply to Bob: I don’t recall the word, scalawag, in the bible, but please remember the bible wasn’t originally written in English.
Great to see us having a meaningful discussion on a term that many people think was a pirate term!
Jim:
November 27th, 2015 at 12:25 am
“Harsh measures of Reconstruction” do not in any way refer to voting rights, nor to “civil rights” in the modern definition of that term. Abraham Lincoln pronounced the Nation “Reconstructed” after the Southern armies surrendered, and State Legislatures ratified the Constitutional Amendments passed in their absence. But after his assassination, forces prevailed in Congress to treat the Southern states as Conquered Provinces, to punish the aristocracy for prosecuting the War, and to exact “spoils of war” for their own profit. Ex-slavery was a very minor consideration. Agents from the North “Carpet-baggers” were sent in to collect taxes, multiplied many times, and to confiscate land and anything else of value, in order to destroy what was left of the economy, and to punish anyone who had anything left after the War. Scalawags were Southerners who cooperated, usually whites who had nothing before the war, and were hoping to profit from the situation, at their neighbors’ expense.
lynn:
March 24th, 2016 at 8:58 am
another meaning of scallywag is used to denote a support under the bow of an old Pirate ship in dry dock.
Anonymous:
June 9th, 2016 at 12:26 pm
I agree with jim.
Jack:
February 24th, 2017 at 2:46 am
I’m certain the word scallywag comes from the old Persian skalywagg meaning a lowlife street market tout and moneylender dressed in flash clothes and coming from Liverpool.
“Wag” is a Gaelic word meaning “a little cave” and the term “wag” is applied to Pict stone long-houses built in far-north Scotland from the Iron Age through the so-called Dark Ages (Early Medieval). This area was also frequented by Norsemen who built settlements. “Skal” is Norse for wilf. So a “scallawag” (scallywag) might by a cave wolf – an outlier, an outlaw, a person on the fringes.
Thank you. I love understanding language in depth.
Andrew C:
October 9th, 2020 at 6:04 am
I’ve not found the term in relation to Old Persian – but if that’s the case – seems plausible :
1/ Persian terms much adopted in UK slang in the 19th C – vis things like Blighty, Baksheesh, Cushy, Julep. These adopted from the British empire and brought back with the troops.
2/ The term “Scally” is almost exclusively use in Liverpudlian dialect to refer to the local variety of lovable rogue.
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Mike Grant:
August 14th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
No…! Scalloway isn’t an island – it’s a village in the Shetland Islands.
John Bradley:
August 13th, 2015 at 7:28 am
Yes, I lived in Scalloway for two years. The name comes from the Old Norse skalavagr. I reckon it’s from the days of sailing ships when cabin boys would be taken on board there. Shetland ponies and collies are smaller than the mainland varieties, hence a scallywag became any small, impish creature.
More controversially, I wonder if in the slave trade, scallywag became ‘galley wag’ which then became gollywog, a small amusing fellow on the slave ship?
Bob:
October 23rd, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Could it be related to the Greek word, ???????, “sko-LEE-as’, which means “morally bent or twisted; crooked, unscrupulous, dishonest”? You’ll find that word in the Bible – 1 Peter 2:18 and elsewhere, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust [???????].” What do you think?
Shelly:
November 8th, 2015 at 8:50 am
In reply to original post: It was said that the term “was applied as a term of contempt to Southern whites who cooperated with, and profited from, the harsh measures of Reconstruction.” This is incorrect from an objective sense of civil rights. The laws that were being passed during Reconstruction were not harsh, at all. While it does depend on the geographic conditioning of the people, the passing of citizenship and voting rights for “colored” peoples is quite fair and not “harsh” by any means. Again, this does depend on one’s perspective, as giving rights to someone who was raised to think a person of color was meant to be a slave, would be wrong. Furthermore, as slavery goes, it was a major form of capitalism for the South. Having a set of slaves means you can pocket your profits.
To reply to Bob: I don’t recall the word, scalawag, in the bible, but please remember the bible wasn’t originally written in English.
Great to see us having a meaningful discussion on a term that many people think was a pirate term!
Jim:
November 27th, 2015 at 12:25 am
“Harsh measures of Reconstruction” do not in any way refer to voting rights, nor to “civil rights” in the modern definition of that term. Abraham Lincoln pronounced the Nation “Reconstructed” after the Southern armies surrendered, and State Legislatures ratified the Constitutional Amendments passed in their absence. But after his assassination, forces prevailed in Congress to treat the Southern states as Conquered Provinces, to punish the aristocracy for prosecuting the War, and to exact “spoils of war” for their own profit. Ex-slavery was a very minor consideration. Agents from the North “Carpet-baggers” were sent in to collect taxes, multiplied many times, and to confiscate land and anything else of value, in order to destroy what was left of the economy, and to punish anyone who had anything left after the War. Scalawags were Southerners who cooperated, usually whites who had nothing before the war, and were hoping to profit from the situation, at their neighbors’ expense.
lynn:
March 24th, 2016 at 8:58 am
another meaning of scallywag is used to denote a support under the bow of an old Pirate ship in dry dock.
Anonymous:
June 9th, 2016 at 12:26 pm
I agree with jim.
Jack:
February 24th, 2017 at 2:46 am
I’m certain the word scallywag comes from the old Persian skalywagg meaning a lowlife street market tout and moneylender dressed in flash clothes and coming from Liverpool.
Iain Macdonald:
March 30th, 2018 at 1:44 pm
http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/scallag
follow the link; almost certainly from Scots Gaelic.
Elly McDonald:
December 9th, 2019 at 8:39 pm
“Wag” is a Gaelic word meaning “a little cave” and the term “wag” is applied to Pict stone long-houses built in far-north Scotland from the Iron Age through the so-called Dark Ages (Early Medieval). This area was also frequented by Norsemen who built settlements. “Skal” is Norse for wilf. So a “scallawag” (scallywag) might by a cave wolf – an outlier, an outlaw, a person on the fringes.
Daphne Lynn:
December 16th, 2019 at 5:36 am
Thank you. I love understanding language in depth.
Andrew C:
October 9th, 2020 at 6:04 am
I’ve not found the term in relation to Old Persian – but if that’s the case – seems plausible :
1/ Persian terms much adopted in UK slang in the 19th C – vis things like Blighty, Baksheesh, Cushy, Julep. These adopted from the British empire and brought back with the troops.
2/ The term “Scally” is almost exclusively use in Liverpudlian dialect to refer to the local variety of lovable rogue.