Hygge, the Danish concept of cosy and convivial atmospheres that promote wellbeing, has generated a seismic marketing boom over the past few years. And Scandinavia as a whole has reaped the economic benefits, as travellers seek out the soothing charms of hot chocolate cradled by candlelight before a snowy vista.
So why wouldn’t another northern nation familiar with the privations of long, dark winter months want to cash in, too?
Còsagach, a Scottish Gaelic word, has been identified by the tourism body VisitScotland as a rival lifestyle trend to hygge and a key driver for tourism in 2018. According to VisitScotland, còsagach means “snug, sheltered or cosy”.
The body’s Trend 2018 report, published on Tuesday, says: “It’s no secret that Scotland can have, at times, rather harsh and ferocious weather. In the winter when the storms rage and the waves crash against the rocks, there is nothing more satisfying than being curled up in front of the fire, book and hot toddy in hand, listening to the weather outside.”
So far, so hygge. But the use of the word còsagach in this context has surprised and perplexed native Gaelic speakers across Scotland. Unfortunately for VisitScotland, those more familiar with the Gaelic language say the definition of còsagach is more closely aligned with wet moss than warm blankets.
As Mark Wringe, a senior lecturer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye’s Gaelic language college, explains: “The word còsagach to me is an adjective derived from còsag, a wee nook or hole such as very small creatures might live in.
“I can see how, by extension, you might take this to mean cosy, but I wonder if someone’s thoughts have been guided by the resemblance in sound between this and the English word cosy.”
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, a poet and dramatist who publishes in Scottish Gaelic and English, is wary of the suggestion that there is any direct equivalence between hygge and còsagach. “It doesn’t directly evoke any native Gaelic concept, but I suppose it does reflect how the language continues to develop,” he tells the Guardian.
He adds that the marketing ploy has been the talk of Gaelic language web forums since it was announced by VisitScotland. “I did notice that one Lewis-born Gaelic speaker said that, in their dialect, it came across as pertaining to a damp, mossy place.”
The Gaelic language novelist Calum L MacLeòid goes further, suggesting that the word shares its meaning with còsach, meaning damp, mossy or fibrous ground.
Writing for the online magazine Bella Caledonia, MacLeòid says: “A ‘corra-chòsag’ is a wood-louse. If squidgy, damp and lousy are really the vibe VisitScotland are going for with their version of hygge, then their opinion of the Scottish tourism sector is even lower than mine.”
He also points out that, while the second definition of còsagach offered by Edward Dwelly’s once-authoritative dictionary is “snug, warm, cosy, sheltered”, the tome was first published in 1911 and is therefore not an accurate reflection of contemporary usage. The first definition offered by Dwelly is “full of holes or crevices”.
Other Gaelic speakers contacted by the Guardian are similarly bemused by the new use of còsagach, suggesting that it might be archaic usage accidentally picked up on by the tourist board.
Chris Greenwood, senior tourism insight manager at VisitScotland, says he is aware that the original meaning of còsagach is “full of holes or crevices”, but insists: “In researching our Trends 2018 paper, we weren’t looking for a direct translation of ‘cosy’, but a word that encompassed the essence of that feeling which would connect with consumers while recognising the Gaelic language, which is an integral part of Scotland’s culture.”
One of the appeals of hygge, which was beaten only by Brexit as Collins dictionary’s word of the year for 2016, is that it is indefinable.
