The Welsh-English plural noun sglods designates potato chips.
—Cf. also:
– ‘fish and chips’: meaning and origin;
– ‘freedom fries’: meaning and origin.
The plural noun sglods is an alteration of the Welsh plural noun sglodion, designating slices, splinters of any material, now also potato chips, with substitution of the English plural ending ‑s for the Welsh plural ending ‑ion.
The earliest occurrences of the noun sglods that I have found are as follows, in chronological order:
1-: From Harlech and Porthmadog: A man’s pleasure fathered by the child’s delight, by Cith ap-Henri, published in Wales on Sunday (Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales) of Sunday 14th August 1994 [page 33, column 2]:
Perhaps the essence of the appeal of Porthmadog was the fish and chip shop. Here we were served “Sglods and Cod” by Welsh speaking staff after queuing in a Welsh speaking queue. The fish and chips were wrapped in Y Cymro, the Welsh language newspaper. The Welsh meal to end all Welsh meals.
2-: From Under a Starry Sky (London: Orion Fiction, 2020), a novel by Laura Kemp [page 325]:
‘Is it time for sglods yet?’
She smiled up at his request for chips spoken like a true local.
3-: From a review of Hiks, Brynhyfryd, Swansea, by Jason Evans, in Fry Awards 2021: We try out three of the Welsh fish and chip shops named among the best in the UK, published in WalesOnline of Saturday 10th April 2021:
Chips are the bedrock of any chippy, and the generous portion of ’sglods I got were perfectly cooked, and delicious. The battered sausage was top notch, and not all greasy like you find in some lesser establishments; the mushy peas were peasy and mushy, and the Irish curry with its little kick of spice was cracking. The star of any fish and chips dish is the fishy bit, and the Hiks cod was brilliant—meaty but flaky cod in just the right amount of light, crisp batter, and cooked to absolute perfection.
The noun sglod (without the plural ending -s) occurs in names of Welsh fish-and-ship shops—these are two examples:
1-: From the following advertisement, published, during the National Chip Week, in the Welsh edition of the Daily Post (Liverpool, Merseyside, England) of Monday 16th February 1998 [Neville: Story of a Legend; page 23, column 2]—Welsh pysgod a sglodion traddodiadol translates as traditional fish and chips:
SGLOD A COD
13 CHURCH STREET, TREMADOG, PORTMADOG
Telephone (01766) 512281
Pysgod a Sglodion Traddodiadol
2-: From Your favourite fish and chip shops revealed, published in the South Wales Argus (Newport, Gwent, Wales) of Saturday 3rd June 2017 [page 18, column 3]:
The next stop on the chippie tour was Sglod’s of Risca, which prides itself on its quality and variety of food.
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