DCHP-2

starrigan staragan, stalligan, starigan, sterigan DCHP-2 (May 2016)

• 1 n. & 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".

  See also: crunnick  

• 2 n. — 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".