glisky

== English == === Etymology === Related to Scots glisk (“to glance, glimpse; to give a transient gleam”), and Shetlandic dialect of English glisk (“gleam of sunlight through cloud; a glow of heat from a fire”). Also Northern English glissy (“shiny, glistening”). Further etymology unclear: either from Old English glisian (“to glitter”) with diminutive suffix -ky, and cognate with English glitter and glisten, or hypothetical loan word from Old Norse *gliskr (“shimmering”), cf: Norwegian Nynorsk glisa (“to gleam, flash, glisten”), but note neither Cleasby & Vigfusson nor Zoëga list any such word. Shetlandic glisk possibly inherited from Norn (hence Old Norse), or from Scots (hence Old English). === Adjective === glisky (comparative gliskier or more glisky, superlative gliskiest or most glisky) (Cumbrian dialect word) shining, shimmering; bright or flashing (of the sky after rain, particularly in summer) (Cumbrian dialect word) bright, sunny (of weather, sunny intervals between dull periods) === References === Bell, William & Betsy (2017), Cumbrian English, Abson Books Cleasby, Richard & Gudbrand Vigfusson (1874), The Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English Dictionary, online version accessible at url: https://cleasby-vigfusson-dictionary.vercel.app/, retrieved July 2023 Dictionaries of the Scots Language / Dictionars o the Scots Leid (1956), Entry for glisk, accessible online via url: https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/glisk, retrieved 14th November 2025 Fell Brewery Cumbria (2023), Glisky, url: https://fellbrewery.co.uk/glisky-beer-or-venue-first/, dated 28th July 2023 Hall, Sarah (2015), Gloaming, contribution to article: From plitter to drabbletail: the words we love, on The Guardian, url: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/29/from-plitter-to-drabbletail-words-loved-lost, dated 29th May 2015 MacFarlane, Robert (2017), Word of the day: glisk, X/Twitter post, url: https://x.com/RobGMacfarlane/status/862547948537864192/, dated 11th May 2017 Zoëga, Geir T. (2004), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Dover Publications Inc, online version accessible at url: https://old-icelandic.vercel.app/, retrieved June-November 2023