Tushker
A tushker or tusker is an implement for cutting peat. It is similar to the cas-chrom or "peat-spade" of the north Highlands, but functionally superior.
In Fair Isle, such an implement was known as a "dellin".<ref>http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/fullrecord/79880/2;jsessionid=87F52CDCBEF414AC9993329F61E76CEC</ref>
A dance, Da Tushker is named after it.
Etymology
The word comes from the Norn torfskeri, meaning simply a peat-cutter. Torvskeri is the form used in modern Faroese.<ref>http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/getent4.php?plen=3945&startset=44722120&query=TUSKER&fhit=Tusker&dregion=form&dtext=snd</ref> In Orkney it is referred to as a "toyster", and in Caithness, it appears in the Gaelicised form "turskill" from "tairisgil".
Additional spellings include tusker, tuskar, tushkar, toysker, tuisker and twiscar.
Someone who did this work was sometimes called a "tushkerman".
External Links
Rweferences
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