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POETRY  AND  HUMOUR  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE. 


THE  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


OF  THE 


SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE. 


BY 


CHARLES     MACKAY,     LL.D, 

Autlior  of  "  The  Gaelic  Etymology  of  the  Languages  of  Westerti  Europe, 
tuore  particularly  of  the   English    and    Lowland   Scotch;" 
"  Recreations  Gauloises,  or  Sources  Celtigues  de  la 
Langue  Fratifaise  ;  "  and  "  The  Obscure  Words 
and  Phrases  in  Shakspeare  and  his  Con- 
temporaries" is'c. 


ALEXANDER  GARDNER,  PAISLEY; 

LONDON  :    12  PATERNOSTER  ROW. 


1882. 


:•: 


J 

^  PREFACE. 

a 

I/) 

c  The  nucleus  of  this  volume  was  contributed  in  three 
papers  to  "  Blackwood's  Magazine,"  at  the  end  of  the 
year    1869   and   beginning   of   1870.      They  are   here 

r--.  reprinted,  by  the  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Blackwood, 

CO 

^  with  many  corrections  and  great  extensions,  amounting 

"^  to  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  volume.      The  original 

:>  intention  of  the  work  was  to  present  to  the  admirers  of 

o 

^  Scottish  literature,  where  it  differs  from  that  of  England, 

only  such  words  as  were  more  poetical  and  humorous  in 
the   Scottish   language   than   in   the   English,    or   were 
\  altogether  wanting  in  the  latter.      The  design  gradually 
^  extended  itself  as  the  compiler  proceeded  with  his  task, 
^^11  it  came  to  include  large  numbers  of  words  derived 
from  the  Gaelic  or  Keltic,  with  which  Dr.  Jamieson,  the 
4  author  of  the  best  and  most  copious  Scottish  Dictionary 
^  hitherto  published,  was  very  imperfectly  or  scarcely  at 
all  acquainted,  and  which  he  very  often  wofuUy  or  ludi- 
crously misunderstood. 

"  Broad  Scotch,"  says  Dr.  Adolphus  Wagner,  the  eru- 
dite and  sympathetic  editor  of  the  Poems  of  Robert  Burns, 
pubUshed  in  Leipzig,  in  1835,  "is  literally  broadened, — i.e.^ 
a  language  ot  dialect  very  worn  off,  and  blotted,  whose 


VL  PREFACE. 

original  stamp  often  is  unknowable,  because  the  idea  is 
not  always  to  be  guessed  at."  This  strange  mistake  is  not 
confined  to  the  Germans,  but  prevails  to  a  large  extent 
among  Englishmen,  and  not  a  few  Scotchmen,  who  are 
of  opinion  that  Scotch  is  a  provincial  dialect  of  the 
English, — like  that  of  Lancashire  or  Yorkshire, — and 
not  entitled  to  be  called  a  language.  The  truth  is, 
that  English  and  Lowland  Scotch  were  originally  the 
same,  but  that  the  literary  and  social  influences  of  Lon- 
don as  the  real  metropolis  of  both  countries,  especially 
after  the  transfer  of  the  royal  family  of  Stuart  from 
Edinburgh  to  London,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  have  favoured  the  infusion  of  a 
Latin  element  into  current  English,  which  the  Scotch 
have  been  slow  to  adoi)t.  Old  English  words  have 
dropped  out  of  use  in  the  South  of  the  Kingdom, 
but  have  remained  in  the  North,  with  the  result  that 
the  Northern  English  (or  Lowland  Scotch)  has  re- 
mained the  true  conservator  of  the  primary  roots  of  the 
language.  The  Lowlands  ot  Scotland,  from  their  prox- 
imity to  the  Highlands,  where  the  Gaelic  or  Keltic 
language — once  spoken  over  the  whole  of  the  country, 
as  well  as  in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy  —  continued 
to  exist  in  colloquial  if  not  in  literary  acceptance, 
naturally  borrowed  or  caught  Avords  from  their  more 
northern  neighbours,  after  the  Saxon  conquest.  From 
this  fact  it  follows  that  the  Scotch,  or  "broad  Scotch," 
as    I'rufcssor    Wagner    calls    ii,    contains   a    larger    in- 


PREFACE.  Vll. 

fusion  of  Keltic  words  than  the  fashionable  modern 
English,— words  unfamiliar  to  purely  Teutonic  scholars 
and  exponents  of  the  English  language, — and  which 
largely  contribute  to  give  the  Scottish  a  distinctive 
character,  unintelligible  to  English  readers. 

The  Author  has  to  acknowledge  his  mdebtedness  to 
the  late  Lord  Neaves,  to  whom  the  articles  in  "  Black- 
wood" were  originally  attributed,  and  to  Mr.  R. 
Drennan,  of  London,  an  Ayrshire  man,  for  many  valu- 
able hints  and  corrections,  during  the  progress  of  this 
work. 


Fern  Dell,  Mickleham,  Surrey, 
August,  1882. 


POETRY     AND     HUMOUR 

OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE. 


'T'HE  Scottish  language?  Yes,  most  decidedly  a  lan- 
guage! and  not  a  dialect,  as  many  English  people 
believe.  Scotch  is  no  more  a  corruption  of  English  than 
the  Dutch  or  Flemish  is  of  the  Danish,  or  vice  versa  ;  but  a 
true  language,  differing  not  merely  from  modern  English 
in  pronunciation,  but  in  the  possession  of  many  beautiful 
words,  which  have  ceased  to  be  English,  and  in  the  use 
of  inflexions  unknown  to  literary  and  spoken  English 
since  the  days  of  Piers  Ploughman  and  Chaucer.  In 
fact,  Scotch  is  for  the  most  part,  old  English.  The 
English  and  Scotch  languages  are  both  mainly  derived 
from  various  branches  of  the  Teutonic ;  and  five  hundred 
years  ago,  may  be  correctly  described  as  having  been 
Anglo-Teutonic  and  Scoto-Teutonic.  Time  has  replaced 
the  Anglo-Teutonic  by  the  modern  English,  but  has 
spared  the  Scoto-Teutonic,  which  still  remains  a  living 
speech.  Though  the  children  of  one  mother,  the  two 
have  lived  apart,  received  different  educations,  developed 
themselves  under  dissimilar  circumstances,  and  received 


2  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

accretions  from  independent  and  unrelated  sources.  The 
English,  as  far  as  it  remains  an  Anglo-Teutonic  tongue, 
is  derived  from  the  Low  Dutch,  with  a  large  intermixture 
of  Latin  and  French.  The  Scotch  is  indebted  more  im- 
mediately to  the  Low  Dutch  or  to  the  Flemish  spoken  in 
Belgium,  both  for  its  fundamental  and  most  characteristic 
words,  and  for  its  inflexion  and  grammar.  The  English 
bristles  with  consonants.  The  Scotch  is  as  spangled  with 
vowels  as  a  meadow  with  daisies  in  the  month  of  May. 
English,  though  perhaps  the  most  muscular  and  copious 
language  in  the  world,  is  harsh  and  sibilant  ;  while  the 
Scotch,  with  its  beautiful  terminational  diminutives,  is  al- 
most as  soft  as  the  Italian.  English  songs,  like  those  of 
Moore  and  Campbell,*  however  excellent  they  may  be  as 
poetical  compositions,  are,  for  these  reasons,  not  so 
available  for  musical  purposes  as  the  songs  of  Scotland 
An  Englishman,  if  he  sings  of  a  "  pretty  little  girl,"  uses 
words  deficient  in  euphony,  and  suggests  comedy  rather 
than  sentiment ;  l)ut  when  a  Scotsman  sings  of  a  "  bonnie 
wee  lassie,"  he  employs  words  that  are  much  softer  than 
their  English  equivalents,  express  a  tenderer  idea,  and 
arc  infinitely  better  adapted  to  the  art  of  the  composer 


•  Neither  of  these  was  an  Knglishman.  And  it  is  curii)vis  to  note 
that  no  Englishman  since  the  time  of  Charles  II.  has  over  rendered 
himself  very  famous  as  a  song-writer,  with  the  sole  exceptions  of 
Charles  Dibdin  and  Barry  Cornwall,  whose  songs  are  by  no  means 
of  the  highest  merit  ;  while  .Sct)tsmen  and  Irishmen  who  have  writ- 
ten excellent  songs  hnih  in  their  own  language  and  in  English, 
are  to  be  counted  f'y  the  score — or  the  hundred. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  3 

and  the  larynx  of  the  singer.  And  the  phrase  is  but  a 
sample  of  many  thousands  of  words  that  make  the 
Scottish  language  more  musical  than  its  English  sister. 

The  word  Teutonic  is  in  these  pages  used  advisedly 
instead  of  Saxon.  The  latter  wor4  is  never  applied  in 
Germany  to  the  German  or  High  Dutch,  or  to  any  of  the 
languages  that  sprang  out  of  it,  known  as  Low  Dutch, 
Even  in  the  little  kingdom  of  Saxony  itself,  the  language 
spoken  by  the  people  is  always  called  Deutsche  (or  Ger- 
man), and  never  Saxon.  The  compound  word  Anglo- 
Saxon,  is  purely  an  invention  of  English  writers  at  a  com- 
paratively late  period,  and  is  neither  justified  by  History 
nor  Philology. 

The  principal  components  of  the  Scottish  tongue  are 
derived  not  from  German  or  High  Dutch,  erroneously 
called  Saxon,  but  from  the  Low  Dutch  comprising 
many  words  once  possessed  by  the  •  English,  but 
which  have  become  obsolete  in  the  latter  ;  secondly, 
words  and  inflexions  derived  from  the  Dutch, 
Flemish,  and  Danish ;  thirdly,  words  derived  from 
the  French,  or  from  the  Latin  through  a  French 
medium  ;  and  fourthly,  words  derived  from  the  Gaelic 
or  Celtic  language  of  the  Highlands.  As  regards  the 
first  source,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  Glossary 
appended  to  Mr.  Thomas  ^Vright's  edition  of  those 
ancient  and  excellent  alliterative  poems,  the  '  Vision ' 
and  '  Creed '  of  Piers  Ploughman,  there  occur  about  two 
thousand  obsolete    English   or    Anglo-Teutonic  words, 


4  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

many  of  which  are  still  retained  in  the  Scottish  Low- 
lands ;  and  that  in  the  Glossary  to  Tyrrwhitt's  edition 
of  Chaucer  there  occur  upwards  of  six  thousand  words 
which  need  explanation  to  modern  English  readers, 
but  fully  one  half  of,  which  need  no  explanation  what- 
ever to  a  Scotsman.  Even  Shakespeare  is  becoming 
obsolete,  and  uses  upwards  of  two  thousand  four 
hundred  words  which  Mr.  Howard  Staunton,  his  latest 
and,  in  many  respects,  his  most  judicious  editor,  thinks 
it  necessary  to  collect  in  a  glossary  for  the  better  elucida- 
tion of  the  text.  Many  of  these  words  are  perfectly 
familiar  to  a  Scottish  ear,  and  require  no  interpreter.  It 
appears  from  these  facts  that  the  Scotch  is  a  far  more 
conservative  language  than  the  English,  and  that  although 
it  does  not  object  to  receive  new  words,  it  clings  rever- 
ently and  affectionately  to  the  old.  The  consequence  of 
this  mingled  tenacity  and  elasticity  is,  that  it  possesses  a 
vocabulary  which  includes  for  a  Scotsman's  use  every 
word  of  the  English  language,  and  several  thousand  words 
which  the  English  either  never  possessed,  or  have 
suffered  to  drop  into  desuetude. 

In  addition  to  this  conservancy  of  the  very  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  language,  the  Scoto-Teutonic  has  an 
advantage  over  the  old  Anglo-Teutonic  and  the  modern 
English,  in  having  reserved  to  itself  the  power,  while 
retaining  all  the  old  words,  of  the  language,  to  eliminate 
from  every  word  all  harsh  or  unnecessary  consonants. 
Thus   it  has  loe,  for  love  ;  fa\  for  fall ;    u<a\  for  wall ; 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  5 

awfu\  for  awful ;  sma\  for  small ;  and  many  hundreds  of 
similar  abbreviations  which  detract  nothing  from  the  force 
of  the  idea,  or  the  clearness  of  the  meaning,  while  they 
soften  the  roughness  of  the  expression.  No  such  power 
resides  in  the  English  or  the  French,  though  it  once 
resided  in  both,  and  very  little  of  it  in  the  German 
language,  though  it  remains  in  all  those  European  tongues 
which  trace  their  origin  to  the  Low  Dutch.  The 
Scottish  poet  or  versifier  may  write  fcC  or  "  fall "  as  it 
pleases  him,  but  his  English  compeer  must  write  "  fall " 
without  abbreviation.  Another  source  of  the  superior 
euphony  of  the  Scoto-Teutonic  is  the  single  diminutive 
in  /<?,  and  the  double  diminutive  in  kie^  formed  from 
och  or  ock,  or  possibly  from  the  Teutonic  chen,  as  in 
vmdchen,  a  little  maid,  which  may  be  applied  to  any 
noun  in  the  language,  as  ruife,  tvifie,  luifoch,  wifikie, 
wife,  little  wife,  very  little  wife ;  bairn,  bairnie,  bairntkie, 
child,  little  child,  very  little  child ;  bird,  birdie,  birdikie; 
and  lass,  lassie,  lassock,  lassikie,  &c.*  A  very  few 
Enghsh  nouns  remain  susceptible  of  one  of  these  two 
diminutives,   though   in  a  less  musical  form,   as  la?nb, 


*  The  following  specimen  of  the  similar  diminutives  common 
in  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  language  are  extracted  from  the  Gram- 
maire  Flamande  of  Philippe  La  Grue,  Amsterdam,  1745  : — Manne- 
ken,  little  man  ;  wyfken,  little  wife  ;  vrouwtje,  little  woman  ;  Meys- 
gie,  little  girl — Scottice,  Missie  ;  Manfje,  little  man  ;  huysje,  little 
house  ;  paerdje,  little  horse  ;  scheepje,  little  boat  (Scottice,  boatie)  ; 
vogeltje,  little  bird,  or  birdie. 


6  POETRY  AND    HUMOUR 

lambkin  :  goose,  gM///ig,  iSzc.     The  superior  beauty  of  the 

Scottish  forms  of  the  diminutive  is  obvious.      Take  the 

following  lines  from  Hector  MacNeil's  song,  "  My  Boy 
Tammie:"— 

"  I  held  her  to  my  beating  heart, 
My  younc;,  my  smiling  /a»im?'e." 

^^'ere  the  English  word  lambkin  substituted  for  lamviie  in 
this  passage  the  affectionate  and  tender  would  be  super- 
seded by  the  prosaic. 

While  these  abbreviations  and  diminutives  increase  not 
only  the  melody  but  the  naivete  and  archness  of  the 
spoken  language,  the  retention  of  the  old  and  strong  in- 
flexions of  verbs,  that  are  wrongfully  called  irregular, 
contributes  very  much  to  its  force  and  harmony,  giving 
it  at  the  same  time  a  superiority  over  the  modern 
English,  which  has  consented  to  allow  many  useful 
preterites  and  past-jiarticiples  to  perish  altogether.  In 
Hterary  and  conversational  English  there  is  no  distinctive 
preterite  for  the  \erbs  to  beaf,  to  bet,  to  bid,  io  forbid,  to 
cast,  to  ////,  to  ////;■/,  to  pi/t,  and  to  set  ,-  while  only  three 
of  tlicm,  to  beat,  to  bid,  and  to  forbid,  retain  the  past- 
participles  beaten,  bidden,  and  forbidden.  The  Scottish 
language,  on  the  contrary,  has  retained  all  the  ancient 
forms  of  these  verbs  ;  and  can  say  "  I  cast,  I  coost,  and  I 
\\VLV&casfen  a  stone,"  or  "  1  pi/t,  I  pat,  or  I  have  pntten  on 
my  coat,"  "I  linrt,  I  hiirted,  or  I  have  hurten  myself,"  and 
"  I  let,  I  loot,  or  I  have  letten,  or  looten,  fa  my  tears,"  &c. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  7 

Chaucer  made  an  effort  to  introduce  many  French 
words  into  the  courtly  and  literary  English  of  his  time, 
but  with  very  slight  success.  No  such  systematic  effort 
was  made  by  any  Scottish  writer,  yet,  nevertheless,  in 
consequence  of  the  friendly  intercourse  long  subsisting 
between  France  and  Scotland — an  intercourse  that  was 
alike  political,  commercial  and  social — a  considerable 
number  of  words  of  French  origin  crept  into  the 
Scottish  vernacular,  and  there  established  themselves 
with  a  tenacity  that  is  not  likely  to  be  relaxed  as 
long  as  the  language  continues  to  be  spoken.  Some  of 
these  are  among  the  most  racy  and  characteristic  of  the 
differences  between  the  English  and  the  Scotch.  It  will  be 
sufficient  if  we  cite,  to  fash  one's  self,  to  be  troubled  with 
or  about  anything — from  se  fdcher,  to  be  angered  ;  douce, 
gentle,  good-tempered,  courteous — from  doux,  soft ;  doui\ 
grim,  obdurate,  slow  to  forgive  or  relent — from  dur,  hard  ; 
Men,  comfortable,  well  to  do  in  worldly  affairs — from  biefi, 
well ;  ashet,  a  dish — from  assiette,  a  plate ;  a  creel,  a  fish- 
basket — from  creille,  a  basket ;  a  gigot  of  mutton — from 
gigot,  a  leg ;  aivmrie,  a  linen  press,  or  plate-cupboard — 
from  armoire,  a  movable  cupboard  or  press ;  bonnie, 
beautiful  and  good — from  bon,  good ;  airles  and  airle- 
penny,  money  paid  in  advance  to  seal  a  bargain — from 
arrhes,  a  deposit  on  account ;  hrulzie,  a  fight  or  dispute — 
from  s'embrouiller,  to  quarrel  ;  callant,  a  lad  —  from 
galatit,  a  lover  ;  brmv,  fine— from  brave,  honest  and 
courageous ;.  dool,  sorrow — from  deuil ;  grozet,  a  goose- 


8  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

berry  (which,  be  it  said  in  parenthesis,  is  a  popular  cor- 
ruption from  gorse-herry) — from  groseille ;  tanpie,  a 
thoughtless,  foolish  girl,  who  does  not  look  before  her  to 
see  what  she  is  doing — from  taj/pe,  a  mole ;  and  haggis,  the 
Scottish  national  dish  ("Fair  fa'  its  honest  sonsie  face !") — 
from  hachis,  a  \\3iS\\;  pmufi,  peacock — irom  paon;  caddie,  a 
young  man  acting  as  a  porter  or  messenger — from  cadet, 
the  younger  born,  &c. 

The  Teutonic  words  derived  immediately  from  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish,  and  following  the  rules  of  pro- 
nunciation of  those  languages,  are  exceedingly  numerous. 
Among  these  are  wanhope — from  wanhoop,  despair; 
wanchancie,  wajilust,  7vanrestfiil,  and  many  others,  where 
the  English  adopt  the  German  ////  instead  of  waji.  Ben, 
the  inner,  as  distinguished  from  but,  the  outer,  room  of  a 
cottage,  is  from  binne,  within,  as  but  is  from  beutcn,  with- 
out. Stane,  a  stone,  comes  from  stccti ;  smack,  to  taste 
— from  smack  ;  goud,  gold — from  goud ;  loupen,  to  leap 
— from  loopen  ;  fell,  cruel,  violent,  fierce — from/<?/;  kist, 
a  chest — from  kist ;  mutch,  a  woman's  cap — from  fnuts  ; 
ghaist,  a  ghost — from  geest ;  kame,  a  comb — from  kam  ; 
rocklay  {rocklaigh),  a  short  coat — from  rok,  a  petticoat 
or  jupon;  hct,  hot — from  heet ;  geek,  to  mock  or  make 
a  fool  of — from  gek,  a  fool ;  lear.  knowledge — from  leer, 
doctrine  or  learning  ;  bafie  or  bain,  a  bone — from  been  ; 
paddock,  a  toad — from  pad  ;  caff,  chaff — from  kaf,  straw  ; 
yooky,  itchy — from  yuk,  an  itch  ;  clyte,  to  fall  heavily  or 
suddenly  to   the   ground— from   kluyt,  the  sward,  and 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  9 

kluyter^    to    fall    on    the    sward ;    blyt/ie,    lively,   good- 
humoured,  from  blyde,  contented. 

The  Scottish  words  derived  from  the  Gaelic  are 
apparent  in  the  names  of  places  and  in  the  colloquial 
phraseology  of  everyday  life.  Among  these,  l>en,  glen, 
burn,  loch,  strath,  cori'ie,  and  cairji,  will  recur  to  the 
memory  of  any  one  who  has  lived  or  travelled  in  Scotland, 
or  is  conversant  with  Scottish  litera:ture.  Gillie,  a  boy 
or  servant ;  grieve,  a  land-steward  or  agent,  are  not  only 
ancient  Scottish  words,  but  have  lately  become  English. 
Loof,  the  open  palm,  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  lamh 
(pronounced  la  for  lav),  the  hand  ;  cuddle,  to  embrace 
— from  cadail,  sleep ;  whisky — from  uisge,  Avater ;  clachan, 
a  village — from  clach,  a  stone,  and  clachan,  the  stones  ; 
croon,  to  hum  a  tune — from  criiin,  to  lament  or  moan  ; 
bailie,  a  city  or  borough  magistrate — from  baile,  a  town ; 
may  serve  as  specimens  of  the  many  words  which,  in 
the  natural  intercourse  between  the  Highlanders  and  the 
Lowlanders,  have  been  derived  from  the  ancient  Gaelic 
by  the  more  modern  Scoto-Teutonic. 

Four  centuries  ago,  the  English  or  Anglo-Teutonic,  when 
Chaucer,  Gower,  and  Lydgate  were  still  intelligible,  had 
a  much  greater  resemblance  to  the  Scoto-Teutonic  tlian 
it  has  at  the  present  day.  William  Dunbar,  one  of  the 
earliest,  as  he  was  one  of  the  best  of  the  Scottish  poets, 
and  supposed  to  have  been  born  in  1465,  in  the  reign  of 
James  III.  in  Scotland,  and  of  Edward  IV.  in  England, 
wrote,  among  other  Poems,  the  "Thrissel  and  the  Rose." 


lO  POETRY    AND    HUiMOUR 

This  composition  was  alike  good  Scotch  and  good  Eng- 
lish, and  equally  intelligible  to  the  people  of  both  coun- 
tries. It  was  designed  to  commemorate  the  marriage  of 
James  IV.  with  Margaret  Tudor,  daughter  of  King  Henry 
VII.  of  England-  that  small  cause  of  many  great  events,  of 
which  the  issues  have  extended  to  our  time,  and 
which  gave  the  Stewarts  their  title  to  the  British 
tlirone.  Dunbar  wrote  in  the  Scotch  of  the  literati, 
rather  than  in  that  of  the  common  people,  as  did 
King  James  I.  at  an  earlier  period,  when  a  captive 
in  Windsor  Castle,  he  indited  his  beautiful  poem, 
"  The  King's  Quair,"  to  celebrate  the  grace  and  loveliness 
of  the  Lady  Beaufort,  whom  he  afterwards  married.  The 
"Thrissel  and  the  Rose"  is  only  archaic  in  its  orthography, 
and  contains  no  words  that  a  commonly  well-educated 
Scottish  ploughman  cannot  at  this  day  understand, 
though  it  might  puzzle  some  of  the  University  men  who 
write  for  the  London  press  to  interpret  it  without  the  aid  of 
a  Glossary.  Were  the  spelling  of  the  following  passages 
modernised,  it  would  be  found  that  there  is  nothing  in 
any  subsequent  poetry,  from  Dunbar's  day  to  our  own, 
with  which  it  need  fear  a  comparison — 

"Quhen  Mcrche  wes  with  vnriand  windis,  past, 
And  Apiyll  haddc,  with  her  silver  shouris 
Tane  leif  at  nature,  with  ane  orient  blast, 
And  lusty  May,  that  mudder  is  of  flouris, 
Had  maid  the  birdis  to  bcgyn  their  houris 
Among  the  tender  odouris  reid  and  quhyt, 
Quhois  harmony  to  heir  it  was  delyt. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  II 

In  bed  at  morrowe,  sleiping  as  I  lay, 
Methocht  Aurora,  with  her  crystal  een, 
In  at  the  window  lukit  by  the  day, 
And  halsit  me  with  visage  paile  and  grene, 
On  quhois  hand  a  lark  sang  fro  the  splene  : 
'  Awauk  liivaris  !  out  of  your  slummering  ! 
See  how  the  lusty  morrow  dois  upspring  ! '  " 

King  James  V.  did  not,  like  Dunbar,  confine  his  poetic 
efforts  to  the  speech  of  the  learned,  but  is  supposed  to 
have  written  in  the  vernacular  of  the  peasantry  and  towns- 
people his  well-known  poem  of  "  Peblis  to  the  Play.'' 
This  composition  scarcely  contains  a  word  that  Burns,  three 
hundred  years  later,  would  have  hesitated  to  employ. 
In  like  manner  King  James  V.,  in  his  more  recent  poem 
of  "  Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Green,"  written  nearly  three 
hundred  and  twenty  years  ago,*  made  use  of  the  language 
of  the  peasantry  to  describe  the  assembly  of  the  lasses 
and  their  wooers  that  carne  to  the  "dancing  and  the 
deray,"  with  their  gloves  of  the  '•'■  rajfelc  richt "  (right 
doeskin),  their  "  shoon  of  the  strains'"  (coarse  cloth),  and 
their 

"  Kirtles  of  the  Hit  cum  licht, 
Weel  pressed  wi'  mony  plaitis. " 


*  This  is  d()ul)tful.  These  obscure  questions  are  fully  discussed 
by  Dr.  Irving  in  his  History  of  Scottish  Poetry.  I  should  say  the 
probability  was  that  "  Peblis  to  the  Play  "  and  "Christ's  Kirk"  are 
by  the  same  authors  or  of  the  same  age,  and  neither  of  them  by 
James  V. — Charles  Neaves. 


12  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

His  description  of  "  Gillie  "  is  equal  to  anything  in 
Allan  Ramsay  or  Burns,  and  quite  as  intelligible  to  the 
Scottish  peasantry  of  the  present  day — 

"  Of  all  thir  maidens  mild  as  meid 

Was  nane  say  gymp  as  Gillie  ; 
As  ony  rose  her  rude  was  reid, 

Hir  lire  was  like  the  lily. 
Bot  zallow,  zallow  was  hir  heid, 

And  sche  of  luif  sae  sillie, 
Though  a'  hir  kin  suld  hae  bein  deid, 

Sche  wuld  hae  bot  sweit  Willie." 

Captain  Alexander  Montgomery,  who  was  attached  to 
the  service  of  the  Regent  Murray  in  1577,  and  who  en- 
joyed a  pension  from  King  James  VI.,  wrote  many 
poems  in  which  the  beauty,  the  strength,  and  the  arch- 
ness of  the  Scottish  language  were  very  abundantly 
displayed.  "The  Cherry  and  the  Slae"  is  particularly 
rich  in  words,  that  Ramsay,  Scott,  and  Burns,  have  since 
rendered  classical,  and  is,  besides,  a  poem  as  excellent  in 
thought  and  fancy  as  it  is  copious  in  diction.  Take  the 
description  of  the  music  of  the  birds  on  a  May  morning 
as  a  specimen — 

"  The  cushat  croods,  the  corbie  cries, 
The  coukoo  couks,  the  prattling  pies 

To  keck  hir  they  begin. 
The  jargon  o'  the  jangling  jays, 
The  craiking  craws  and  keckling  kaycs, 

They  (leaved  me  with  their  din. 
The  painted  pawn  with  Argus  e'en 

Can  on  his  mayock  call ; 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I3 

The  turtle  wails  on  withered  trees, 

And  Echo  answers  all. 
Repeting,  with  greting, 

How  fair  Narcissus  fell, 
By  lying  and  spying 

His  schadow  in  the  well." 

The  contemporaneous,  perhaps  the  more  recent,  poetry 
of  what  may  be  called  the  ballad  period,  when  the 
beautiful  legendary  and  romantic  lyrics  of  Scotland  were 
sung  in  hall  and  bower,  and  spread  from  mouth  to  mouth 
among  the  peasantry,  in  the  days  when  printing  was 
rather  for  the  hundred  than  for  the  million,  as  well  as 
the  comparatively  modern  effusions  of  Ramsay  and 
Burns,  and  the  later  productions  of  the  multitudinous 
poets  and  many  writers  who  have  adorned  the  literature 
of  Scotland  within  the  present  century,  would  afford,  had 
we  space  to  cite  all  their  beauties  of  idea  and  expression 
very  convincing  proofs,  not  only  of  the  poetic  riches  but 
of  the  abundant  wit  and  humour,  of  the  Scottish  people, 
to  which  the  Scottish  language  lends  itself  far  more 
effectually  than  the  English.  Since  the  time  when  James 
VI.  attracted  so  many  of  his  poor  countrymen  to  England, 
to  push  their  fortunes  at  the  expense  of  Englishmen,  who 
would  have  been  glad  of  their  places,  to  the  day  when 
Lord  Bute's  administration  under  George  III.  made  all 
Scotsmen  unpopular  for  his  sake,  and  when  Dr.  Samuel 
Johnson,  who  was  of  Scottish  extraction  himself,  and 
pretended  to  dislike  Scotsmen,  the  better  perhaps  to  dis- 
guise the  fact'  of  his  lineage,  and  turn  away  suspicion,  up 


14  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

to  the  time  of  Charles  Lamb  and  the  late  Rev.  Sidney 
Smith,  it  has  been  more  or  less  the  fashion  in  England  to 
indulge  in  little  harmless  jokes  at  the  expense  of  the 
Scottish  people,  and  to  portray  them  not  only  as  over- 
hard,  shrewd,  and  canny  in  money  matters,  but  as  utterly 
insensible  to  "  wit."  Sidney  Smith,  who  was  a  wit  him- 
self, and  very  probably  imbibed  his  jocosity  from  the 
conversation  of  Edinburgh  society,  in  the  days  when 
in  that  city  he  cultivated  literature  upon  a  little  oat- 
meal, is  guilty  of  the  well-known  assertion  that  "it 
takes  a  surgical  operation  to  drive  a  joke  into  a  Scots- 
man's head."  It  would  be  useless  to  enter  into  any 
discussion  on  the  differences  between  "  wit "  and 
"  humour "  which  are  many,  or  even  to  attempt  to 
define  the  divergency  between  "  wit  "  and  what  the  Scotch 
call  "  wut ;"  but,  in  contradiction  to  the  reverend  joker, 
it  is  necessary  to  assert  that  the  "  wut "  of  the  Scotch  is 
quite  equal  to  the  "wit  "  of  the  English,  and  that  Scottish 
humour  is  infinitely  superior  to  any  humour  that  was 
ever  evolved  out  of  the  inner  consciousness  or  intellect 
of  the  English  peasantry,  inhabiting  the  counties  south 
of  Yorkshire.  There  is  one  thing,  however,  which 
jjerhaps  Mr.  Sidney  Smith  intended  when  he  wrote, 
without  thinking  very  deeply,  if  at  all,  about  what  he 
said ;  the  Scotch  as  a  rule  do  not  like,  and  do  not  under- 
stand banter,  or  wliat  in  the  current  slang  of  the  day  is 
called  "chaff."  In  "chaff"  and  " banter "  there  is  but 
little  wit,  and  that  little  is  of  the  poorest,  and  contains  no 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 5 

humour  whatever.  "Chaff"  is  simply  vulgar  imper- 
tinence ;  and  the  Scotch  being  a  plain,  serious,  and 
honest  people,  though  poetical,  are  slow  to  understand 
and  unable  to  appreciate  it.  But  with  wit,—  or  "  wut," 
and  humour,  that  are  deserving  of  the  name,  they  are 
abundantly  familiar  ;  and  their  very  seriousness  enables 
them  to  enjoy  them  the  more.  The  wittiest  of  men  are 
always  the  most  serious,  if  not  the  saddest  and  most 
melancholy  (witness  Thomas  Hood,  Douglas  Jerrold,  and 
Artemus  Ward),  and  if  the  shortest  possible  refutation  of 
Sidney  Smith's  unfounded  assertion  were  required,  it  might 
be  found  in  a  reference  to  the  works  of  Burns,  Scott,  and 
Professor  Wilson.  Were  there  no  wit  and  humour  to  be 
found  in  Scotland  except  in  the  writings  of  these  three 
illustrious  Scotsmen,  there  would  be  enough  and  to  spare 
to  make  an  end  of  this  stale  "chaff;"  and  to  show  by 
comparison  that,  wit  and  humorist  as  Sidney  Smith  may 
have  been,  he  was  not,  as  such,  worthy  to  blacken 
the  boots  of  Robert  Burns,  the  author  of  "Waverley," 
or  Christopher  North.  In  what  English  poem  of  equal 
length  is  there  to  be  found  so  much  genuine  wit  and 
humour  mingled  with  such  sublimity  and  such  true 
pathos  and  knowledge  of  life  and  character  as  in  "Tam  o' 
Shanter"?  What  English  novel,  by  the  very  best  ot 
English  writers,  exceeds  for  wit  and  humour  any  one  of 
the  great  Scottish  romances  and  tales  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
the  least  of  which  would  be  sufficient  to  build  up  and 
sustain  a  high  literary  reputation.       And  what  collection 


1 6  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

of  English  jests  is  equal  to  the  "  Laird  of  Logan,"  or  Dean 
Ramsay's  "  Reminiscences  of  Scottish  Life  and  Charac- 
ter"?    Joe  Miller's  "Jest  Book,'^  and  all  the  countless 
stories  that  have  been  fathered  upon  him — "  one  of  the 
most   melancholy    of   men" — are   but    dreary   reading, 
depending  as  they  mostly  do  for  their  point  upon  mere 
puns  and  plays  upon  words,  and  to  a  great  extent  being 
utterly  deficient  in  humour.     It  requires  some  infusion 
of  Celtic  blood  in  a  nation  to  make  the  people  either 
witty  or   appreciative   of  wit ;    and   the  dullest   of  all 
European  peoples  are  without  exception  those  in  whom 
the  Celtic  least  prevails,  such  as  the  Germans.       Was 
there  ever  any  wit  or   sense  of  wit  in   the  peasantry 
of  the  South  of  England?      Not  a  particle.     Whereas 
the  Scottish  and  the   Irish  peasantry  are  brimful  both 
of    wit    and    humour.      If    any    one    would    wish    to 
have    a    compendium   of    wisdom,    wit,    humour,    and 
abundant    knowledge,   kindly   as    well   as   unkindly,   of 
human   nature,  let  him   look  to  Allan  Ramsay's  "  Col- 
lection of  Scots  Proverbs,"  where  he  will  find  a  more 
perfect    treasury    of    pawkie,    cannie,    cantie,    shrewd, 
homely,  and   familiar   philosophy    than    English   litera- 
ture   affords.       And    the    humour    and    wit    are    not 
only    in   the   ideas,    but    in    the   phraseology,   which  is 
untranslateable.      Scottish  poetry  and  pathos  find  their 
equivalents    in    English   and   German,    but   the    quaint 
Scottish  words  refuse  to  go  into  any  other  idiom.     "  A 
man's  a  man    for   a'    ihat' — strong,  characteristic,  and 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  fj 

nervous  in  the  Scottish  Doric,  fades  away  into  attenua- 
tion and  banaliie  when  the  attempt  is  made  to  render  the 
noble  phrase  into  French  or  German,  Italian  or  Spanish. 
Even  in  English  the  words  lose  their  flavour,  and  become 
weak  by  the  substitution  of  "all  that,"  for  the  more  emphatic 
"a'  that."  Translate  into  literary  English  the  couplet  in 
"  Duncan  Gray  "  in  which  the  rejected  lover  of  Maggie 

Grat  his  e'en  baith  bleer't  and  l>lin  — 
Spak  o'  lowpin  ower  a  linn — 

and  the  superior  power  of  expressing  the  humorous  which 
belongs  to  the  Scottish  language,  will  at  once  become  ap- 
parent. In  the  same  way,  when  Luath,  the  poor  man's  dog, 
explains  to  his  aristocratic  friend  and  crony  what  a  hard 
time  the  poor  have  of  it,  a  literal  translation  of  the  passage 
into  colloquial  English  would  utterly  deprive  it  of  its 
mingled  tenderness  and  humour  : — 

A  cotter  howkin  in  a  sheugh, 

^Vi'  dirty  stanes  biggin  a  dyke, 

Baring  a  quarry  and  sic  like  ; 

Himsel'  an'  wife  he  thus  sustains 

A  sinytnc  o  wee  diiddie  weans. 

And  nocht  but  his  hand  darg  to  keep 

Them  right  and  tight  in  tliack  and  rape. 

The  "  smytrie  o'  wee  duddie  weans "'  is  simply  inimitable 
and  untranslatable,  and  sets  a  fair  English  paraphrase 
at  defiance. 

B 


l8  POETRY    AND    HUMOUK 

Time  was  within  living  memory  when  the  Scotch  of  the 
upper  classes  prided  themselves  on  their  native  "  Doric ; " 
when  judges  on  the  bench  delivered  their  judgments  in 
the  broadest  Scotch,  and  would  have  thought  themselves 
guilty  of  puerile  and  unworthy  affectation  if  they  had  pre- 
ferred English  words  or  English  accents  to  the  language  of 
their  boyhood;  when  advocates  pleaded  in  the  same  homely 
and  forcible  tongue ;  when  ministers  of  religion  found  their 
best  way  to  the  hearts  and  to  the  understanding  of  their 
congregations  in  the  use  of*  the  language  most  famiHar  to 
themselves,  as  well  as  to  those  whom  they  addressed ; 
and  when  ladies  of  the  highest  rank — celebrated  alike  for 
their  wit  and  their  beauty — sang  their  tenderest,  archest, 
and  most  affecting  songs,  and  made  their  bravest  thrusts 
and  parries  in  the  sparkling  encounters  of  conversation, 
in  the  familiar  speech  of  their  own  countrj'.  All  this, 
however,  is  fast  disappearing,  and  not  only  the  wealthy 
and  titled,  who  live  much  in  London,  begin  to  grow 
ashamed  of  speaking  the  language  of  their  ancestors, 
though  the  sound  of  the  well-beloved  accents  from  the 
mouths  of  others  is  not  unwelcome  or  unmusical  to 
their  ears,  but  even  the  middle  class  Scotch  are  learning  to 
follow  their  example.  The  members  of  the  legal  and 
medical  profession  are  afraid  of  the  accusation  of  vulgarity 
that  might  be  launched  against  them  if  they  spoke 
l)ublicly  in  the  picturescjue  language  of  their  fathers  and 
grandfathers ;  and  the  clergy  are  unlearning  in  the 
pulpit  the  brave  old  speech  that  was  good  enough  for 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I9 

John  Knox,*  and  many  thousands  of  pious  preachers  who, 
since  his  time,  have  worthily  kept  alive  the  faith  of  the 
Scottish  people  by  appeals  to  their  consciences  in  the 
language  of  their  hearts.  In  ceasing  to  employ  the 
"  unadorned  eloquence "  of  the  sturdy  vernacular,  and 
using  instead  of  it  the  language  of  books,  and  of  the 
Southern  English,  it  is  to  be  feared  that  too  many  of  these 
superfine  preachers  have  lost  their  former  hold  upon  the 
mind,  and  that  they  have  sensibly  weakened  the  powers 
of  persuasion  and  conviction  which  they  possessed  when 
their  words  were  in  sympathetic  unison  with  the  current 
of  thought  and  feeling  that  flowed  through  the  broad 
Scottish  intellect  of  the  peasantry.  And  where  fashion 
leads,  snobbism  will  certainly  follow,  so  that  it  happens 
even  in  Scotland  that  young  Scotsmen  of  the  Dundreary 
class  will  sometimes  boast  of  their  inability  to  understand 
the  poetry  of  Burns  and  the  romance  of  Scott  on  account 
of  the  difificulties  presented  by  the  language  ! — as  if  their 
crass  ignorance  were  a  thing  to  be  proud  of ! 

But  the  old  language,  though  of  later  years  it  has  be- 
come unfashionable  in  its  native  land,  survives  not  alone 
on  the  tongue  but  in  the  heart  of  the  "  common  "  people 
(and  where  is  there  such  a  common  or  uncommon  people 
as  the  peasantry  of  Scotland  ? )  and  has  established  for 


*  John  Knox  was   the  greatest   Angliciser  of  his  day,    and  was 
accused  by  WinJet  of  that  fauU. — Chakles  Neaves. 


20  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

itself  a  place  in  the  affections  of  those  ardent  Scotsmen 
who  travel  to  the  New^Vorld  and  to  the  remotest  part  of  the 
Old,  with  the  ai(7-i  sacra  fames,  to  lead  them  on  to  fortune, 
but  who  never  permit  that  particular  species  of  hunger — - 
which  is  by  no  means  peculiar  to  Scotsmen — to  deaden 
their  hearts  to  their  native  land,  or  to  render  them 
indifferent  to  their  native  speech,  the  merest  word  of 
which  when  uttered  unexpectedly  under  a  foreign  sky, 
stirs  up  all  the  latent  patriotism  in  their  minds,  and  opens 
their  hearts,  and  if  need  be  their  purses,  to  the  utterer. 
Ithas  also  by  a  kind  of  poetical  justice  established  for  itself 
a  hold  and  a  footing  even  in  the  modern  English  which 
effects  to  ignore  it ;  and,  thanks  more  especially  to  Burns 
and  Scott,  and  to  the  admiration  which  their  genius  has 
excited  in  England,  America  and  Australia,  has  engrafted 
many  of  its  loveliest  shoots  upon  the  modern  tree  of  ac- 
tuallyspoken  English.  Everyyear the  number  of  wordsthat 
are  taken  like  seeds  or  grafts  from  the  Scottish  conservatory, 
and  transplanted  into  the  fruitful  English  garden,  is  on  the 
increase,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  anthology  of 
specimens,  which  might  have  been  made  ten  times  as 
abundant  if  it  had  been  possible  to  squeeze  into  one 
goblet  a  whole  tun  of  hippocrene.  Many  of  these 
words  are  recognised  English,  permissible  both  in  litera- 
ture and  conversation  ;  many  others  are  in  progress  and 
process  of  adoption  and  assimilation  ;  and  many  more 
that  are  not  English,  and  may  never  become  so,  are  fully 
worthy  of  a  place  in  the  Dictionary  of  a  language  that 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  21 

has  room  for  every  word,  let  it  come  whence  it  will,  that 
expresses  a  new  meaning  or  a  more  delicate  shade  of  an 
old  meaning,  than  any  existing  forms  of  expression  admit. 
Eerie,  and  gloamings  and  cannie,  and  cantie,  and  cozie,  and 
////,  and  lilt,  and  calk?;  and  gruesome,  and  i/n/d,  3.nd  7ciierd, 
are  all  of  an  ancient  and  a  goodly  pedigree,  and  were  the 
most  of  them  as  English  in  the  fifteenth  century  as  they  are 
fast  becoming  in  the  nineteenth.  The  specimens  are  ar- 
ranged alphabetically  for  convenience  of  reference,  and  if 
any  Scotsman  at  home  or  abroad,  should,  in  going  over  the 
list,  fail  to  discover  some  favourite  word  that  was  dear  to 
him  in  childhood,  and  that  stirs  up  the  recollections  of  his 
native  land,  and  of  the  days  when  he  "  paidled  in  the 
burn,"  or  stood  by  the  trysting-tree  "  to  meet  his  bonnie 
lassie  when  the  kye  cam  hame," — one  word  that  recalls 
old  times,  old  friends,  and  bygone  joys  and  sorrows, — let 
him  reflect  that  in  culling  a  posie  from  the  garden,  the 
posie  must  of  necessity  be  smaller  than  the  garden  itself, 
and  that  the  most  copious  of  selectors  must  omit  much 
that  he  would  have  been  glad  to  add  to  his  garland  if 
the  space  at  his  disposal  had  permitted. 


POETf^Y    AND    H  U  JVIO  U  R. 


Aiblins,  perhaps,  possibly.  From  able,  conjoined 
with  lin  or  litis,  incUning  to,  as  in  the  "  westUn  wind  " — 
wind  inclining  to  the  west ;  hence  aiblins  inclining  to  be 
possible  : — 

There's  mony  waur  been  o'  the  race, 
And  aiblins  ane  Ijeen  better. 

— Burns  :   The  Dream.      To  Geon^c  III. 

Aidle,  ditchwater : — 

Then  lug  out  your  ladle, 

Deal  brimstone  like  aidle. 

And  roar  every  note  of  the  damned. 

— Burns  :  Orthodox,  Orthodox. 


Airt,  a  point  of  the  compass  ;  also  to  direct  or  show 
the  way.  This  excellent  word  ought  to  be  adopted 
into  English.  It  comes  from  the  Gaelic  ard,  aird,  a  height. 
"  Of  a'  the  airts  from  which  the  wind  can  blaw,"  is  better 
than  "  of  all  the  quarters  from  which  the  wind  can  blow." 

O  a'  the  airts  the  wind  can  blaw 

I  dearly  lo'e  the  west, 

For  there  the  bonnie  lassie  lives, 

The  lass  that  I  lo'e  best. 

— Burns, 


24  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


But  yon  green  graff  (grave)  now  liuskie  green, 
Wad  airt  me  to  my  treasure. 

— Burns. 

Aizle,  A  live  coal  that  flies  out  of  the  fire.  It  is  a  su- 
perstition in  England  to  call  the  live  coals  violently  eject- 
ed from  the  fire  by  the  gas  generated  in  them,  by  the 
name  of  "  purses  or  cofifins,"  according  to  the  fanciful 
resemblance  which  they  bear  to  these  articles,  and  which 
are  supposed  to  be  prophetic  of  the  receipt  of  money,  or 
of  a  death  in  the  family.  Some  such  superstition  seems 
to  lie  at  the  root  of  the  Scottish  word  aizle  : — 

She  noticed  that  an  aiz/e  brunt, 
Her  l)ra\v  new  worset  apron. 

— Burns  :  Hallo'vecn. 

Jamieson  says  the  word  was  used  metaphorically  by 
the  poet  Douglas,  to  describe  the  appearance  of  a  coun- 
try that  has  been  desolated  by  fire  and  sword.  In  the 
Gaelic,  aisleiiie  signifies  a  death-shroud.  The  derivation, 
which  has  been  suggested  from  hazel,  or  hazel  nut,  from 
the  shape  of  the  coal  when  ejected,  seems  untenable. 
The  Gaelic  aiseal.,  meaning  fun,  joy,  merriment,  has  also 
been  suggested,  as  having  been  given  by  children  to  the 
flying  embers  shot  out  from  the  fire  ;  but  the  derivation 
from  aisleine  seems  preferable. 

Anent,  concerning,  relating  to. — This  word  has  only  re- 
cently been  admitted  into  the  English  dictionaries  pub- 
lished in  England.  In  Worcester's  and  Webster's  Diction- 
aries, published  in  the  United  States,  it  is  inserted  as  a 
Scotticism.  Mr.  Stormonth  in  his  Etymological  Diction- 
ary [187 1]  derives  it  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  o/igean,  and 


OF  THK  SCOTTISH   LAN(;UAOE.  25 


the  Swedish  on  gent,  opposite  ;  but  the  etymolog}'  seems 
doubtful. 

The  anxiety  anait  them  was  too  intense  to  admit  of  the  poor 
people  remaining  quietly  at  home.  —  The  Dream  Numbers,  by  T. 
A.  Trollope. 

Arl-penny,  a  deposit  paid  to  seal  a  bargain ;  earnest 
money;  French  arrhes.  From  the  Gaelic  earlas,  or  iarlas, 
earnest  money,  a  pledge  to  complete  a  bargain  : — 

Here,  tak'  this  gowd  and  never  want 
Enough  to  gar  ye  drink  and  rant, 
And  this  is  but  an  arl-pcnny 
To  what  I  afterwards  design  ye. 

—Allan  Ramsay. 

Auld  Lang  Syne. — This  phrase,  so  peculiarly  tender 
and  beautiful,  and  so  wholly  Scotch,  has  no  exact 
synonyme  in  any  language,  and  is  untranslatable  except 
by  a  weak  periphrasis.  The  most  recent  English  Dic- 
tionaries, those  of  Worcester  and  Webster,  have  adopted 
it ;  and  the  expression  is  now  almost  as  common  in  England 
as  in  Scotland.  Allan  Ramsay  included  in  "The  Tea  Table 
Miscellany  "  a  song  entitled  "Old  Long  Syne,"  a  very  poor 
production.  It  remained  for  Robert  Burns  to  make  "Auld 
Lang  Syne  "  immortal,  and  fix  it  for  ever  in  the  language 
of  Great  Britain  and  America.  Lang  sin  sytie  is  a  kindred 
and  almost  as  beautiful  a  phrase,  which  has  not  yet  been 
adopted  into  English. 

Awmj'te,  a  chest,  a  cabinet,  a  secretaire — from  the 
French  annoire : — 

Steek  (close)  the  a'cvmrie,  shut  the  kist, 
Or  else  some  gear  will  soon  be  missed. 
■   — Sir  Waller  Scott  :  Donald  Caird. 


26  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Bairntime,  a  whole  family  of  children,  or  all  the  chil- 
dren that  a  woman  bears.  This,  though  a  peculiarly 
Scottish  word,  is  a  corruption  of  a  better  phrase, — a 
bairn  teem.  From  the  Czaelic  taom  ;  the  English  teem,  to 
bear,  to  produce,  to  pour  out. 

Your  Majesty,  most  excellent  ! 

While  nobles  strive  to  please  ye, 
^^'ill  ye  accept  a  compliment 

A  simple  Bardie  gies  ye  ! 
Thae  bonny  bairn-time  Heaven  has  lent, 

Still  higher  may  they  heeze  ye  ! 

— Burns  :   a  Dream  Addressed  to  George  III. 

The  following  lines,  from  "  The  Auld  Farmer's  New 
Year's  Salutation  to  his  Auld  Mare,  Maggie,"  show  that 
Burns  understood  the  word  in  its  correct  sense,  though 
he  adopted  the  erroneous  spelling  of  time,  instead  of 
teem. 

My  pleugh  is  now  thy  bairn-time  a', 
Four  gallant  brutes  as  e'er  did  dravT  ; 
Forbye  sax  mae  I  sellt  awa', 

That  thou  has  nurst, 
They  drew  me  tiirclteen  pounds  an'  twa, 

The  \ery  warst. 

Balow !  An  old  lullaby  in  the  Highlands  sung  by 
nurses  to  young  children,  as  in  the  pathetic  Jiallad 
entitled  "  Lady  Anne  Bothwell's  Lament :  " — 

Balo'ii' !  my  babe,  lie  still  and  sleep, 
It  grieves  me  sair  to  see  thee  weep  ! 

Burns  has  "■  Hce,  baloo.'"  to  the  tune  of  "the  High- 
land bahiv." 

I  lee,  baloo,  my  sweet  wee  Donald, 
Picture  of  the  great  Clanronald. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  27 

The  phrase  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  lu),  the 
equivalent  of  bye,  in  the  common  English  phrase,  "  bye  ! 
bye  ! "  an  adjuration  to  sleep — "  go  to  bye-bye  ;"  and 
laogh,  darling,  whence  by  the  abbreviation  of  laogli  into 
lao,  I'd-lao,  or  balo7u — "sleep,  darling."  Jamieson  has 
adopted  a  ludicrous  derivation  from  the  French — ^''  3as 
Id  le  loup,^'  which  he  mis-translates,  "  be  still,  the  wolf  is 
coming." 

Ba/idsier,  one  who  makes  a  band,  or  binds  sheaves 
after  the  reapers  in  the  harvest  field. 

In  hairst  at  the  shearing,  nae  youths  now  are  jeering, 
The  handsters  are  lyart  and  wrinkled  and  grey  ; 

At  fair  or  at  preaching,  nae  wooing  or  fleeching. 
The  flowers  o'  the  forest  are  a'  weed  away. 

— Elliot  :    The  Flowers  of  the  Forest. 

In  this  pathetic  lament  for  "  the  flowers "  of  Ettrick 
Forest,  the  young  men  slain  at  the  doleful  battle 
of  Flodden  Field-  -the  maidens  mourn  in  artless  language 
for  the  loss  of  their  lovers,  and  grieve  as  in  this  touching 
stanza,  that  their  fellow-labourers  in  the  harvest  field  are 
old  men,  wrinkled  and  grey,  with  their  sparse  locks, 
instead  of  the  lusty  youths  who  have  died,  fighting  for 
their  country.  The  air  of  this  melancholy,  but  very 
beautiful  song  is  pure  Gaelic. 

Banjiock,  an  oatmeal  cake,  originally  compounded  with 
milk  instead  of  water  : 

Hale  breeks,  saxpence  and  a  bannock. 

— Burns  :   To  James  Tait,  Glencairn. 

Bannocks  o'  bear  meal,  bannocks  o'  barley. 

Jacobite  Song. 


28  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

The  word  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  (laclic 
bavine,  milk. 

Bauc/i,  insii)id,  tasteless,  without  flavour,  as  in  the  al- 
literative proverb  : — 

Pjcauty  hut  l^ounty's  but  bauch. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

(]!eauty  without  goodness  is  Init  flavourless.) 

The  etymology  of  this  peculiarly  Scottish  word  is  un- 
certain, unless  it  be  allied  to  the  English  liaiilk,  to  hin- 
der, to  impede,  to  frustrate  ;  or  from  the  Gaelic  bac,  which 
has  the  same  meaning. 

Beak  or  beek,  common  in  Ayrshire  and  Mearns — 
to  sit  by  a  fire  and  exposed  to  the  full  heat  of  it : — 

A  litju, 
To  recreate  his  limbs  and  lake  his  rest, 
Beakaini  \\i^  breast  and  bellie  at  the  sun, 
Under  a  tree  lay  in  the  lair  lorest. 

JJic  Lion  and  the  A/onse :  Robert  llcnryson, 
in  llic  Evergreen. 

Bed-fast,  confined  to  bed,  or  bed-ridden.     In  English, 
fast  as  a  sufh.x  is  scarcely  used  except  in  steadfast,  i.e., 
fast  fixed  to  the  stead  place,  or  purpose  : — 

For  these  ei{jht  or  ten  months,  I  have  been  ailing,  sometimes 
bed-fast  and  sometimes  not. — Burns  :  Letter  to  Cunningham. 

An  earth-fast,  or  yirdfast  stane,  is  a  large  stone  firmly 
fixed  in  the  earth.  Faithfast,  truthfasl,  and  hopefast 
are   beautiful   phrases,   unused   by  English  writers.     If 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  29 

faithful  and  truthful,  faithless  and  truthless  are  permis- 
sible, why  not  faith  fast,  tridhfast,  and  hopefast  1 

Beet,  to  feed  or  add  fuel  to  a  fire  or  flame ;  from  the 
Vi:\.€(\cbeatha,  life,  food;  and  beathaich,  to  feed,  to  nourish: 

May  Kennedy's  far  honoured  name 
Lang  beet  his  hymeneal  flame. 

— Burns  :   To  Gavin  Hamilton. 

It  warms  me,  it  charms  me, 

To  mention  but  her  name. 
It  heats  me,  it  beets  me, 

And  sets  me  a'  a  flame. 

—  Burns  :  Epistle  to  Davie. 

Belyvc,  by-and-by,  immediately. — This  word  occurs  in 
Chaucer  and  in  a  great  number  of  old  English  romances : 

Hie  we  belyve 
And  look  whether  Ogie  be  alive. 

— Romance  of  Sir  Otuet. 

Betyve  the  elder  bairns  come  droppin'  in. 

— Burns  :  Cottar's  Saturday  Night. 

Bicker,  a  drinking  cup,  a  beaker,  a  turn ;  also,  a  quarrel: 

Fill  high  the  fuaming  bicker! 

Body  and  soul  are  mine,  quoth  he, 

I'll  have  tihem  both  for  liquor. 

—  The  Gin  Fiend  and  his  'Three  Houses. 

Setting  my  staff  wi'  a'  my  skill 

To  keep  me  sicker. 
Though  leeward,  whyles,  against  my  will, 

I  took  a  biikcr. 

—Burns  :   Death  and  Doctor  ticrnbooti. 


30  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


Bicker  means  rapid  motion,  and  in  a  secondary  and  very  common 
sense,  quarreling,  fighting,  a  battle.  Sir  Walter  Scott  refers  t"  the 
bickers  or  battles  between  the  boys  of  Edinburgh  High  School,  and 
the  Gutterbluids  of  the  streets.  In  "Halloween"  Burns  apjilies 
bickering  to  the  motion  of  running  water  :  — 

Whiles  glistened  to  the  nightly  rays, 
Wi'  biikcriii',  dancin'  dazzle. 

— R.  \). 


Bield^  a  shelter.       Of  uncertain  etymology,  perhaps 
from  build. 

Belter  a  wee  bush  than  nae  bield. 
Every  man  bends  to  the  bush  he  gets  bield  frae. 
— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Beneath  the  random  bield  of  clod  or  stane. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Mountain  Daisy. 


Biefi,  comfortal)le,  agreeable,  snug,  pleasant ;  from  the 
French  bien,  well.  Lord  Neaves  was  of  opinion  that 
this  derivation  was  doubtful,  but  suggested  no  other.  If 
the  I'rench  etymology  be  inadmissible,  the  Gaelic  can 
supply  binti,  which  means,  harmonious,  pleasant,  in  good 
ordrr  ;  whidi  is  ])erhaps  tlic  true  root  of  this  eminently 
Scottish  word. 

While  frosty  winds  blaw  in  the  drift 

Ben  to  the  chimla  lug, 
I  grudge  a  wee  the  great  folks  gift, 

That  live  sae  bicn  and  snug. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Davie. 

Bien's  the  but  and  ben. 
— James  Ballantine  :   The  Father's  /\'iiee. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  3 1 


Billies^  fellows, — comrades— young  men  : — 

\\  hen  chapman  billies  leave  the  street 
And  drouthy  neebors,  neebors  meet. 
Eurns  :    Tam  d'  Shanter. 

"  This  word,"  says  Jamieson,  "  is  probably  allied  to 
German  billig,  the  Belgian  billiks,  equals,  as  denoting  those 
that  are  on  a  footing  as  to  age,  rank,  relation,  affection 
or  employment.'' 

This  is  an  error.  In  German  billig  means  moderate  in 
price — fair — just,  equitable,  reasonable. — The  Lowland 
Scotch  billie  is  the  same  as  the  English  fellow  ;  and  both 
are  derived  from  the  Gaelic  ba-laoc/i,  a  shepherd,  a  hus- 
bandman; from  ba.,  and  laoc/i,  a  lad,  a  young  man. 

Bird,  or  burd,  a  term  of  endearment  ai:)plied  to  a  young 
woman,  or  child. 

And  by  my  word,  the  bonnie  Innl 
In  danger  shall  not  tarry, 
And  though  the  storm  is  raging  wild 
I'll  row  ye  o'er  the  ferry. 

— Thomas  Campbell. 

B'irdalanc,  or  Burdalane.  A  term  of  sorrowful  endear- 
ment, applied  to  an  only  child,  especially  to  a  girl  to 
signify  that  she  is  without  household  comrades  or  com- 
panionship : — 

And  Newton  Gordon,  liinlalaitc, 
And  Dalgetie  both  stout  and  keen. 

Siolfs  iMi)isli-£lsy, 

Birkie,  a  young  and  conceited  person.  From  the 
Gaelic  biontch,   a  two-year-old  heifer;  bioraiche,  a  colt, 


32  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

applied  in  derision  to  a  young  man  wliu  is  lively  but  not 
over  wise  :— 

Ve  see  yon  birkie  ca'd  a  lord, 
Wha  struts  and  stares  and  a'  thai. 

— Burns  :  -  /  Man's  a  Man. 

"And  besides,  ye  donnard  carle!" — continued  Sharpillaw,  "the 
minister  did  say  that  he  thought  he  knew  something  of  the  features 
of  the  birkie  that  spoke  to  him  in  the  Park." 

—  Scott  :  Kob  Roy. 

Birl,  to  pour  out  liquor ;  ])robably  from  the  same  root 
as  the  English //(-r/,  as  in  the  phrase,  "a  purling  stream." 

There  were  three  lords  birling  at  the  wine 
On  the  dowie  dens  o'  Yarrow. 

— Motherwell's  Ancient  Mitistrehy. 

Oh,  she  has  birled  these  merry  young  men 
With  the  ale,  but  and  the  wine. 

— Border  Minstrelsy  :  Fausc  Foodragc. 

Birs,  the  thick  h.air  or  bristles  on  the  back  of  swine: — 

The  souter  gave  the  sow  a  kiss. 
Humph  !  quo  she,  it's  a'  for  my  birs  ! 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Blae,  of  a  livid  blue  colour  ;  sickly  blue. 

Blaeberries^  bilberries  : — 

The  morning  blae  and  wan. 

— Douglas  :    Translation  oj  the  yEtieid. 

How  dow  you  this  blac  castlin'  wind. 
That's  like  to  biaw  a  bo(.ly  bhiid. 

—  iJurns. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE. 


Be   in   dread,    oh    sirs  !    Some    of   you    will    stand    with    blae 
countenances  before  the  tribunal  of  God. 

— Bruce  :   The  Soul's  Confirmation. 


Blate,  shy,  modest,  bashful : — 

Says  Lord  Frank  Ker  ye  at  na'  blalc. 
To  bring  us  the  news  o'  yer  ain  defeat. 

—Jacobite  Ballad,  Johnnie  Cope. 

A  blate  cat  makes  a  proud  mouse. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 


Bland,  to  lay  anything  flat  with  violence,  as  the  wind 
or  a  storm  of  rain  does  the  corn  : — 

Curst  common  sense — that  imp  o'  hell, 

This  day  M'Kinlay  takes  the  flail, 
And  he's  the  boy  will  blaitd  her. 

— Burns  :     Tlie  Ordination. 

Ochon  !  ochon  !  cries  Haughton, 

That  ever  I  was  born, 
To  see  the  Buckie  burn  rin  bluid. 


And  blaiiding  a'  the  corn. 


-Aberdeenshire  Ballad. 


B/edoch,  skim  milk. 


She  kirned  the  kirn,  and  scummed  it  clean, 
Left  the  gudeman  but  bledoch  bare. 

The  Wife  of  Auchtenmichty  •  Allan  Ramsay 
Evergreen. 


'A' 


Blether,  to  talk  nonsense,  to  be  full  of  wind  like  a 
bladder.  Bletherskite,  or  Bladderskale,  nonsense,  or  a 
talker  of  nonsense. 


24  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

Blethers,  nonsense,  impertinence  -.—Blaidry,  foolish 
talk— from  the  Gaelic  Blaidaircachd  ;  and  blcidir,  imper- 
tinence : — 

Stringing  blethers  up  in  rh3nne 
For  fools  to  sing. 

— Burns  :   The  Vision. 

Fame 
Gathers  but  wind  to  blether  up  a  name. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

Some  are  busy  bletherin 
Right  loud  that  day. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

"She's  better  to-night,"  said  one  nurse  to  another.  "Night's 
come,  but  it's  not  gone,"  replied  her  helpmate,  in  the  full  hearing 
of  the  patient,  "  and  it's  the  small  hours  '11  try  her."  "  The  small 
hours  '11  none  try  me  as  much  as  you  do  with  your  blethering 
tongues,"  remarked  the  patient,  with  perfect  mng-froid. 

—A    Visit  to   the  London    Hospitals,    "  Pall    Mall    Gazette," 
March  23,  1S70. 

I  knew  Burns'   "Blethering  Bitch,"  who  in  his  later  years  lived 

in  Tarbolton,  and  earned  a  scanty  living  by  breaking  stones  on 

the   road.       In    taking    a    walk    round    the    hill    mentioned    in 

"Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook,"  I  came  upon  Jamie  Humphrey  (such 

was  his  name)  busy  at  work,  and   after  talking  with  him  a  short 

time,  I  ventured  to  ask  him  "is  it  true,  Jamie,  that  you  are  Burns' 

blethering  bitehV  "Aye,  deed  am  I,  and  mony  a  guid  gill  I  hae 

gotten  by  it." 

— R  D. 


Blob,  a  large  round  drop  of  water  or  other  li(iLiid. — A 
similar  word,  bleb,  now  obsolete,  was  once  used  in  England 
to  signify  an  air  bubble — and  in  its  form  of  blebsier,  is  the 
root  of  blister  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE. 


We  look  on  this  troubled  stream  of  the  generations  of  men  to 

as  little  purpose  almost  as  idle  boys  do  on  dancing  blebs  or  bubbles 

on  the  water. 

— Sir  Thomas  More  :   Consolations  of  the  Soul. 

Her  e'en  the  clearest  blob  o'  dew  outshining. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

She  kisses  the  lips  o'  her  bonnie  red  rose, 
Wet  wi'  the  blobs  o'  dew. 

— Allan  Cunningham. 

Blmitie.  In  the  Dictionary  of  the  Scottish  Language, 
by  an  anonymous  author  (Edinburgh,  iSi8),  blmitie  is 
described  as  a  stupid  fellow.  Jamieson  has  '■'■blunt,  stupid, 
bare,  naked,"  and  "  bhmiie,  a  sniveller,"  which  he  derives 
from  the  Teutonic  blufteti,  homo  stolidus  : — 

They  mool  me  sair,  and  haud  me  down, 

And  gar  me  look  like  bluntic.  Tarn  : 
But  three  short  years  will  soon  wheel  roun', 

And  then  comes  ane-and-twenty,  Tarn. 

— Burns. 

The  etymology  of  the  English  word  bln>it  is  obscure, 
but  as  it  signifies  the  opposite  of  sharp,  the  Scottish 
bluntie  may  be  accepted  as  a  designation  of  one  who  is 
not  sharp  or  clever.  No  English  dictionary  suggests  any 
etymology  that  can  reasonably  be  accepted,  the  nearest 
being  plump,  round,  or  rounded  without  a  point. 

Bob,  to  make  a  courtesy,  to  bend,  to  bow  down  : — 

Sweet  was  the  smell  of  flowers,  blue,  white,  and  red. 

The  noise  of  birds  was  maist  melodious. 
The  bobbing  boughs  bloom'd  broad  abune  my  head. 

—  The  Lion  and  the  Mouse,  by  R.  Henryson, 
in  the  Evergreen. 


36  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


When  she  came  ben  she  bobbit, 

— Burns. 

Out  came  the  auld  maidens  a'  bobbin^  discreetly. 

—James  Ballantine  :   The  Auld  Beggar  Man. 

When  she  came  ben  she  bobbit  fu'  low, 
And  what  was  his  errand  he  soon  let  her  know. 
Surprised  was  the  laird  when  the  lady  said  Na  ! 
As  wi'  a  laigh  curtsie  she  turned  her  awa. 

—  The  Laird  0'  Cockpen. 

Bonnie,  beautiful,  good-natured,  and  cheerful  ;  the 
three  qualities  in  combination,  as  applied  to  a  woman  ; 
applied  to  natural  objects,  it  simply  signifies  beautiful,  as 
in  "  Ye  banks  and  braes  o'  bonnie  Doon." — This  is  an 
old  English  word,  used  by  Shakespeare,  and  Ben  Jonson, 
and  still  current  in  the  Northern  English  counties,  as 
well  as  in  Scotland. 

Bourd,  a  jest,  a  joke  ;  also,  to  jest,  to  play  tricks  with. 
In  old  English,   *^  bord :" — 

The  wizard  could  no  longer  bear  her  bord, 
But  bursting  forth  in  laughter  to  her  said. 

— Spenser  :  Faerie  Queene. 

I'll  tell  the  bourd,  but  nae  the  body. 

A  sooth  bourd  is  nae  bourd. 

They  that  bourd  wi'  cats  may  count  upon  scarts. 

—Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Bouse,  to  drink  deeply,  to  revel ;  whence  the  collo(iuial 
English  word  "  boozy  "  : — 

Then  let  him  bouse  and  deep  carouse 

Wi'  bumpers  (lowing  o'er, 

Till  he  forgets  his  loves  and  debts, 

And  minds  his  griefs  no  more. 

— Burns. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGli:.  37 


And  though  bold  Robin  Hood 
Would  with  his  maid  Marian 
Sup  and  bouse  from  horn  and  can, 

—Keats. 


Brae,  the  brow,  or  side  of  a  hill.  From  the  Gaelic 
bruac/i,  a  hill-side,  a  steep  : — 

We  twa  hae  run  about  the  braes 

And  pu'd  the  go'vajis  fine, 

But  mony  a  weary  foot  we've  trod 

Sin  auld  lang  syne. 

— Burns. 

Breathhi — "  I'll  do't  in  a  breat/mi'"  instanter,  in  the 
time  which  it  would  take  to  draw  a  breath.  This  phrase 
is  far  superior  to  the  vulgar  English,  "  in  a  jiffy,"  or  in  the 
still  more  intolerable  slang,  "  the  twinkling  of  a  bed-post." 

Bree,  the  juice,  the  essence,  the  spirit.  Barley  bree,  the 
juice  of  the  barley,  i.e.,  whisky  or  ale.  Brew  is  to 
extract  the  spirit  or  essence  of  barley,  malt,  hops,  &c. 
Both  bree  and  bre^v  are  directly  derived  from  the  Gaelic 
brigh,  spirit,  juice,  &c.  The  Italians  have  brio,  spirit, 
energy,  life,  animation.  From  this  source  is  derived  the 
English  slang  word,  a  "  briek,"  applied  to  a  fine,  high- 
spirited,  good  fellow.  Various  absurd  attempts  have  been 
made  to  trace  the  expression  to  a  Greek  source  in  a 
spurious  Greek  anecdote  borrowed  from  Aristotle,  who 
speaks  of  a  fetragonos  aner  or  "  four  cornered  man,  sup- 
posed in  the  slang  of  the  universities  to  signify  a  brick. 

Breeks,  the  nether  garments  of  a  man  ;  trousers,  trews, 
breeches.      The  vulgar  English  word  breeches  is  derived 


38  POETRY  AND    HUMOUR 

from  the  breech,  the  part  of  the  body  which  they  cover, 
"^rhe  Scottish  word  has  a  better  origin  in  the  GaeUc, 
brcaghad,  attire,  dress,  ornament,  and  b?-eag/iatd,  adorn, 
embeihsh,  "  from  which  Celtic  word,"  says  Ainsworth  in 
his  Latin  Dictionary,  "the  Romans  derived  bracca  and 
braccatus,  wearing  breeches  or  trews,  Uke  the  Gauls  : — 

Thir  hrccks  o'  mine,  my  only  pair, 
I  wad  hae  gien  them  aff  my  hurdies 
For  ae  blink  o'  the  bonnie  burdies. 

— Burns  :   Tain  o'  Shanter. 

Brent,  or  bt-ant,  high,  steep  :  also  smooth  : — 

Her  fair  brcni  brow,  smooth 
As  the  unwrinkled  deep. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

John  Anderson,  my  jo,  John, 

When  we  were  first  acquaint, 
Your  k)cks  were  like  the  raven, 

^'our  lionnie  brow  was  brent. 

— Burns  :  John  Anderson  my  Jo. 

In  "John  Anderson  my  Jo,"  the  auld  wife  means  that  her  hus- 
band's brow  was  smooth  — I  believe  that  broit  in  this  passage  is 
the  past  participle  of  burn.  Shining  is  one  of  the  effects  of  burning. 
I  think  the  word  is  always  used  to  mean  smooth,  unwrinkled— as 
in  the  Scottish  phrase  brcut  new  ;  the  English  bran  now— shining 

with  all  the  gloss  of  newness. 

^  -R.  D. 

Brim,    fierce,    disastrous,    fatal,    furious.       From   the 
Gaelic  breamos,  mischief,  mischance  : — 

The  brim  battle  of  the  Ilarlaw. 

—  The  Evergreen. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  39 


Bubbly  Jock ^  a  Turkey  cock  : — 

Some  of  the  idiot's  friends  coming  to  visit  him  at  a  farm  house 
where  he  resided, — reminded  him  how  comfortable  he  was,  and 
how  grateful  he  ought  to  be  for  the  care  taken  of  him.  He  admitted 
the  fact — but  he  had  his  sorrows  and  troubles  like  wiser  men.  He 
stood  in  awe  of  the  great  Turkey  cock  of  the  farm,  which  used  to 
run  and  gobble  at  him.  "Aye  !  aye  !  "  he  said,  unburthening  his 
heart,  "I'm  very  weel  aff,  nae  doubt;  but,  oh!  man,  I'm  sair 
hadden  doun  by  the  Bubbly  Jock  !  " — Dean  Ramsay. 


Buckle  to,  a  coar.se  term  for  marry ;  derived  from  the 
idea  of  fastening  or  joining  together.  The  word  occurs  in 
a  vulgar  Enghsh  song  to  a  very  beautiful  Scottish  air, 
which  was  written  in  imitation  of  the  Scottish  manner,  by 
Tom  D'Arfey  in  the  reign  of  Charles  11.  It  is  well  known 
under  the  title  of  "Within  a  mile  of  Edinburgh  town." 

Buckle-beggar  signified  what  was  once  called  a  hedge- 
priest,  who  pretended  to  perform  the  ceremony  of 
marriage.  To  ^'buckle  with  a  person  "  was  to  be  engaged 
in  argument  with  another,  and  get  the  worst  of  it. 

Buh'dly,  strong  and  stalwart,  hearty,  well-built  : — 

Buirdly  chiels  [fellows] 
Are  bred  in  sic  a  way  as  this  is. 
— Burns  :   The  Tiva  Dogs. 

Busk,  to  adorn,  to  dress — from  the  Gaelic  busgadh, 
a  head  dress,  an  adornment  for  the  person ;  busgainnich, 
to  dress,  to  adorn,  to  prepare  : — 

A  bonnie  bride  is  soon  buskit. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs, 


40  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Busk  ye,  busk  ye,  my  bonnie  bride, 
Busk  yc,  busk  yc,  my  winsome  marrow. 

— Hamilton  of  Bangour. 

Ca\  to  drive,  or  drive  in,  to  smite  ;  also  to  contend  or 
fight — from  the  Gaelic  cath,  pronounced  ca! — to  smite,  to 
fight :— 

I'll  cause  a  man  put  up  the  fire, 

Anither  ca!  in  the  stake. 
And  on  the  head  o'  yon  high  hill 

I'll  burn  you  for  his  sake. 

Young  Prince  yaiiies  :  Buchan  Ballads. 

Every  naig  was  ca'd  a  shoe  on, 
The  smith  and  he  got  roaring  fu'  on. 

— Burns  :   Ta))i  o'  Shanter. 

The  chiel  was  stout,  the  chiel  was  stark 
An  wadna  l)i(le  to  chap  nor  ccC . 

— Burns  :  Holy  Girzie. 

Cadi^ie — sometimes  written  caigie — cheerful,  sportive, 
wanton,  friendly.  Possibly  from  the  old  Gaelic  cad,  a 
friend;  whence  cadie,  a  lad,  [used  in  the  sense  of  kindness 
and  familiarity] ;  cadgily,  cheerfully  :— 

A  cock  laird  fu'  cadgie 

Wi'  Jeanie  did  meet ; 
He  haused  her,  he  kissed  her, 

And  ca'd  her  his  sweet. 

— Chamliers'  Scottish  Songs, 

Von  ill-tongued  tinkler  Charlie  Fox, 
May  taunt  you  wi'  his  jeers  and  shocks, 
But  gie't  him  het,  my  hearty  cocks, 

E'en  CO  we  the  cadie! 
And  send  him  to  his  dicing  box 
And  sportin'  lady. 
— Burns  :  Author's  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  4 1 

Cair,  to  strain  through.  "This  word,"  says  Jamieson, 
"is  used  in  Clydesdale,  and  signifies  to  extract  the 
thickest  part  of  broth,  or  hotch-potch,  while  dining  or 
supping."  It  is  probably  from  the  Gaelic  cir,  a  comb; 
whence  also  the  English  word,  to  curry  a  horse,  and  curry- 
comb,  the  comb  used  for  the  purpose. 

Caird,  a  tinker  : — 

Close  the  awmry,  steek  the  kist, 
Or  else  some  gear  will  soon  be  miss'd  ; 
Tell  the  news  in  brugh  and  glen, 
Donald  CainVs  come  again. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

From  the  Gaelic  ceard,  a  smith,  a  wright,  a  workman, — 
with  the  prefix  teine^  fire,  comes  the  English  tinker,  a  fire- 
smith.  Johnson,  ignorant  of  Celtic,  traced  tinker  from  tink, 
because  tinkers  struck  a  kettle  and  produced  a  tinkling 
noise,  to  announce  their  arrival ! 

Caller,  fresh,  cool. — I'here  is  no  exact  English  sy- 
nonyme  for  this  word.  "  Caller  herrin,"  "  Caller  had- 
die,"  and  "  Caller  ow  "  are  familiar  cries  to  Edinburgh 
people,  and  to  all  strangers  who  visit  that  beautiful  city  : — 

Sae  sweet  his  voice,  sae  smooth  his  tongue, 

His  breath's  like  caller  air ; 
His  very  foot  has  music  in't 

When  he  comes  up  the  stair. 

— Mickle  :  Thcre^s  nae  Luck  about  the  House. 

Upon  a  simmer  Sunday  morn, 

When  Nature's  face  is  fair, 
I  walked  forth  to  view  the  corn 

And  snuff  the  caller  air. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 


42  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Cannte,  knowing,  but  gentle  ;  not  to  be  easily  deceived, 
yet  not  sly  or  cunning.- — A  very  expressive  word,  often 
used  by  Englishmen  to  describe  the  Scotch,  as  in  the 
phrase,  a  "  canny  Scotsman."  One  who  knows  what  he  is 
about.  The  word  also  means  dexterous,  clever  at  a  bargain 
and  also  fortunate.  It  is  possibly  derived  from  the  Gaelic 
ceannaid,  to  buy;  and  is  common  in  the  North  of  England 
as  well  as  in  Scotland  :— 

Bonny  lass,  canny  lass,  wilt  thou  be  mine. 

—  IVie  Cu/nberlatid  Courtship. 

He  mounted  his  mare,  and  he  rode  cannilie. 

—  Til e  Laird  o'  Cockpcn. 

Hae  naelhing  to  do  wi'  him,  he's  no  canny. 
They  have  need   of  a  canny  cook  who  have  but  one  egg  for 
dinner. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Cantie,  joyous,  merr}',  talkative  from  excess  of  good 
spirits.     From  the  Gaelic  cainnt.,  speech  ;  or  can,  to  sing: 

Contented  wi'  little,  and  cantic  wi'  niair. 

— Burns. 

Some  cannie  wee  bodie  may  be  my  lot, 
An'  1 11  be  cantic  in  thinking  o't. 

Ncivcastle  Song :  BrocketCs  iVorth  Country  Glossary. 

The  cantic  auld  folks. 

— Burns  :   T/ic  Twa  Dogs. 

The  clachan  yill  had  made  me  cantic. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Cantrip,  a  charm,  a  spell,  a  trick,  a  mischievous  trick. 
The  word  is  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  word  ceann, 
head,  chief,  principal ;  and  drip,  a  trick  : — 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGI 


Coffins  stood  round  like  open  presses, 
That  stowed  the  dead  in  their  last  dresses  ; 
And  Ijy  some  devilish  cantrip  slight, 
Each  in  its  cauld  hand  held  a  light. 

— Burns  :    Tani  o'  Shanter. 

Burns,  in  the  "Address  to  the  Deil,"  has  another  example  of 
this  word,  in  which  the  humour  is  great  and  the  indecency  greater. 

— Lord  jM  eaves. 

Capernoity,  peevish,  crabbed,  apt  to  take  offence,  of 
singular  and  uncertain  humour  : — 

"Me  forward!"  answered  Mrs.  Patt,  "the  capcinoity,  old, 
girning  ale-wife  may  wait  long  enough  ere  I  forward  it!" — Scott: 
St.  Ronans  Well. 

Cappernoytil.,  sHghtly  deranged: — 

D'ye  hear  what  auld  Dominie  Napier  says  about  the  mirk 
Monday  ?  He  says  its  an  eclipse — the  sun  and  the  moon  fechting 
for  the  upper  hand  !  But,  Lord  !  he's  a  poor  capernoytit  creature. 
— Laird  of  Logan. 

Carjiiffle,  agitation  of  mind,  perplexity  : — 

Troth,  niy  lord  may  be  turned  full  outright  an'  he  puts  himsell 
into  a  carftifflc  for  ony  thing  ye  could  bring  him,  Edie. — Scott; 
The  Antiquary . 

Carle.,  a  man,  a  fellow ;  from  the  Teutonic  kerl.  This 
word,  which  was  used  by  Chancer,  has  been  corrupted 
into  the  English  churl,  which  means  a  rude  fellow.  In 
Scotland  it  still  preserves  its  original  and  pleasanter  signi- 
fication : — 

The  miller  was  a  stout  carle  for  the  nones — 

Full  big  he  was  of  braune,  and  eke  of  bones. 

— Chaucer. 


44  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


The  pawky  auld  carle  cam  ower  the  lea, 
\Vi'  mony  guitl  e'ens  and  guid  days  lo  nie, 
Saying,  kind  sirs,  for  your  courtesy. 
Will  you  lodge  a  silly  poor  man  ? 

— Ritson's  Caledonian  Songs. 

Oh  !  wha's  that  at  my  chamber  door  ? 

Fair  Widow,  are  ye  waukin  ? 
Auld  carle,  your  suit  give  o'er, 

Your  love  lies  a'  in  talkin'. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

When  lairds  break,  carles  get  land. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Up  starts  a  carle,  and  gains  good, 
And  thence  comes  a'  our  gentle  blood. 

— Idem. 

My  daddie  is  a  cankered  carle. 

He'll  no  twine  wi'  his  gear ; 
But  let  them  say  or  let  them  do, 

It's  a'  ane  to  me  : 
For  he's  low  doun — he's  in  the  l)room. 

That's  waiting  for  me. 

— James  Carnegie  :  1765, 


'j-t 


Carle-Jiemp,  the  largest  stalk  of  hemp — or  that  which 
bears  the  seed  : — 

Ye  have  a  stalk  o'  carle-hemp  in  you. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  carle  stalk  of  hemp  in  man — 

Resolve.  — Burns. 


Carle-wife.,  a  husband  who  meddles  too  much  with  the 
household  duties  and  privileges  of  the  wife.  A  much  better 
word  than  its  English  equivalent — a  "  molly  coddle." 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  45 


Cariine,  or  Carlin,  an  old  woman  : — 

Cats  and  carlines  love  to  sleep  i'  the  sun. 

—  Allan  Ramsay. 

That  auld  capricious  carlin  Nature. 

—  Burns:  To  James  Smith, 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Monro  of  Westray,  preaching  on  the  flight  of  Lot 
from  Sodom,  said  :  "  The  honest  man  and  his  family  were  ordered 
out  of  the  town,  and  charged  not  to  look  back  ;  but  the  auld  carlin, 
Lot's  wife,  looked  owre  her  shouther,  for  which  she  was  smote  into 
a  lump  of  sawt."  And  he  added  with  great  unction,  "Oh,  ye 
people  of  Westray,  if  ye  had  had  her,  mony  a  day  since  ye  wad  hae 
putten  her  in  the  parritch-pot  !  " 

— Dean  Ramsay. 


Castock,  a  cabbage  stalk  : — 

There's  cauld  kail  in  Aberdeen, 
An'  castocks  in  Stra'bogie. 


-Duke  of  Gordon. 


Every  day's  no  Yule  day, — cast  the  cat  a  castock. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scot''s  Proverbs. 


Davee.  According  to  Jamieson,  this  is  an  Aberdeen- 
shire word,  signifying  a  state  of  commotion  or  perturba- 
tion of  mind.  He  suggests  its  derivation  from  the  French 
cas  vif,  a  matter  that  gives  or  acquires  activity  (of  mind). 
Is  it  not  rather  the  Gaelic  cab/iag  (ca-vag),  hurry,  haste, 
despatch,  trouble,  difficulty?  Whence  cabhagach,  hasty, 
impetuous,  hurried?  But  no  Englishman  or  Lowland 
Scotsman  studied  Gaelic  in  Jamieson's  day,  and  very  few 
have  studied  it  since. 


46  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Chap^  to  knock ;  c/iaup,  a  blow  :  — 

I  dreamed  I  was  deed,  and  carried  far,  far,  far  up  till  I  came 
to  Heaven's  yett — when  I  cliappit^  and  cliappit,  and  cliappit,  till  at 
last  an  angel  keckit  out,  and  said,  '"Wha  are  ye?  " — Dean  Ramsay. 

The  chiol  was  stout,  the  chiel  was  stark, 

And  wadna  bide  to  chap  nor  ca'. 

— Holy  Girzic. 

The  Burnewin  comes  on  like  death  at  every  cliaup. 

— Burns  :  Scolcli  Drink. 


Chiel,  a  fellow,  a  youth  ;  the  same  as  the  ancient  English 
childe,  as  used  by  Byron  in  "  Childe  Harold."  It  is  de- 
rived from  the  Gaelic  gillc,  a  )outh  : — 

The  brawny,  bainie,  ploughman  chiel. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

A  chiefs  amang  ye  takin'  notes. 

— Burns. 

Clachan,  a  village — from  the  Gaelic,  clack,  a  stone, 
and  cliic/ian,  the  stones  or  houses  : — 

The  clacluvi  yill  (ale)  had  made  me  cantie. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

\'e  ken  Jock  Hornbook  o'  the  claclian. 

— Idem. 

The  claclian  of  Aberfoyle. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott  :  Rol>  Roy. 

Many  linglish  and  American  tourists  in  Scotland,  and 
in  the  regions  celebrated  in  the  works  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
imagine  that  the  "clachan  of  Aberfoyle"  means  the  /;//// 
of  Aberfoyle.      They  derive  the  word  from  the   English 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  47 

clack,  the  noise  of  the  mill  wheel.  They  know  nothing 
of  clachan,  the  village,  and  are  disappointed  when  they 
find  neither  wind-mill  nor  water-mill  on  the  classic  spot. 

Clarf,  to  defile,  to  make  dirty. 

Clarty,  dirty ;  from  the  Gaelic  clabar,  or  clabhar,  filth, 
mud,  mire  : — 

Searching  auld  wives'  "barrels," 

Och  hon  !  the  day  ! 
That  clarty  barm  [dirty  yeast]  should  slain  my  laurels  ! 

But— what'll  ye  say  ? 
Those  movin'  things  ca'd  wives  and  weans 
Wad  move  the  very  hearts  o'  stanes. 

—  Burns  :   On  being  appointed  to  the  Excise. 

Claur  or  Glaur,  mud,  dirt,  mire;  "a  gowpen  o'  glaiir" 
a  handful  of  mud;  "ahumplock  oi  glaur"  a  heap  of  mud: 

The  wee  laddie,  greetin ,  said  his  brither  Jock  had  cooste  a 
gowpen  o'  glaicr  at  him  and  knockit  him  on  the  neb.— James 
Ballantine. 

Claut,  to  snatch,  to  lay  hold  of  eagerly,  something  that 
has  been  got  together  by  greed,  a  large  heap  : — 

Ken  ye  what  Meg  o'  the  Mill  has  gotten  ? 
She's  gotten  a  coof  wi'  a  claut  o'  siller. 

Burns  :  Meg  o'  the  Mill. 

Clant  is  undoubtedly  from  the  English  word  claw,  which  had  the 
sense  in  olden  time  of,  to  scratch,  to  gather  together,  and  is  in  that 
sense  still  in  use  in  some  parts  of  England.  Claut,  in  Scotch,  is 
most  frequently  used  as  a  noun,  and  is  the  name  given  to  a  hoe  used 
to  gather  mud,  &c.,  together ;  to  claut  the  roads,  to  gather  the  mud. 
I  don't  think  the  word  itself  contains  the  idea  of  getting  together  a 


48  POETRY    AND    HUMOUli 


large  heap  \yj  greed.  I  don't  recognise  the  other  meanings,  "to 
snatch,"  "  to  lay  hold  of  eagerly."  I  would  use  a  different  word  to 
express  these  meanings, — to  glaum,  to  play  glaum  would  fit  them 
exactly.— R.  D. 

Clavers,  idle  stories,  silly  calumnies  : — 

Hail  Poesie  !  thou  nymph  reserved, 
In  chase  o'  thee  what  crowds  hae  swerv'd 
Frae  common  sense,  or  sunk  unnerv'd 
'Mong  lieaps  o'  clavers. 

— Burns  :  On  Pastoral  Poets. 

Claw,  to  flatter,  from  the  Gaelic  cliu^  praise  : — 

Claw  me  and  I'll  daw  yow.— Scottish  Proverb. 
I  laugh  when  I  am  merry,  and  cla-w  no  man  in  his  humour. 
— Shakspeare  :  Much  ado  about  Nothing. 

Claymore,  the  Highland  broadsword ;  from  the  Gaelic 
daidheam/i,  a  sword,  and  >nor,  great. 

Clishmadaver,  idle  talk,  foolish  gossip,  incessant  gabble: 

What  further  clish-ma-daver  might  been  said. 

Burns  :   The  Brigs  d  Ayr. 

From  the  Gaelic  dis  (clish),  nimble,  rapid,  and  dab 
{da/>/i),  an  open  mouth,  dabadi,  garrulous,  dabaitr,  a 
babbler,  a  loud  disagreeable  talker,  and  dabar,  the 
clapper  of  a  mill. 

Clooi,  a  cloven  foot ;  dootie,  one  who   is  hoofed   or 

cloven  footed,  i.e.,  Satan,  the  devil  : — 

O  thou  I  whatever  title  suit  thee, 
Auld  llornie,  Satan,  Nick,  or  Clootie. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

Cloot  (pronounced  clute,  long  French  ti)  is  not  a  hoof,  but  the 
half  of  a  hoof.  We  speak  of  a  horse's  hoof,  and  of  a  cow's  cloots, 
and  apply  this  latter  word  only  to  the  feel  of  these  animals  that 
divide  the  hoof. — K.  D. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  49 


Clour,  a  lump  on  the  flesh,  caused  by  a  heavy  blow : — 

That  cane  o'  yours  would  gie  a  clour  on  a  man's  head  eneuch 
to  produce  a  phrenological  faculty. — Professor  Wilson  :  Nodes 
Ambrosianic. 

Clour  is  a  heavy  blow — the  lump  is  only  the  result  of  a  clour. — 
R.  D. 


Clyte,  a  fall,  to  stop  in  the  midst  of  a  set  speech  for 
want  of  words  or  ideas,  and  sit  down  suddenly  :  "  I 
couldna  find  words,"  said  a  Glasgow  bailie,  •'  and  so  I 
clyled''  :— 

I  fairly  clytea 

On  the  cauld  earth. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Clyte,  a  lieavy,  sudden  kind  of  fall.  I  have  generally  heard  the 
word  as  a  verb  used  in  connection  with  the  word  played — "It  played 
clyte  at  my  heels,"  "He  got  as  far  as  the  road,  and  then  played 
clyte:'— v..  D. 

Clunk,  the  gurgling,  confused  sound  of  liquor  in  a 
bottle  or  cask  when  it  is  poured  out ;  equivalent  to  the 
English  glug  in  the  song  of  "Gluggity  Glug."  It  is 
derived  by  Jamieson  from  the  Danish  glunk,  and  the 
Swedish  klunka,  which  he  says  have  the  same  meaning  ; 

Sir  Violino,  with  an  air 

That  showed  a  man  o'  sjJunk, 
Wished  unison  between  the  pair, 

And  made  the  bottle  clunk. 

Burns  :  The  Jolly  Beggars. 

An  old  English  song  has — "and  let  the  cannikin  dink" 
which  is  obviously  from  the  same  root,  though  dunk  is 
more  expressive  of  a  dull  sound  than  di/ik  is. 

D 


50  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Cockerno?iie,  a  gathering  up  of  the  hair  of  women,  after 
a  fashion  similar  to  that  of  the  modern  "chignon"  ;  and 
sometimes  called  a  "  cock-up." — Mr.  Kirkton,  of  Edin- 
burgh, preaching  against  "cock-ups" — of  which  chignons 
are  the  modern  representatives — said  : — "  I  have  been 
all  this  year  preaching  against  the  vanity  of  women,  yet 
I  see  my  own  daughter  in  the  kirk  even  now  with  as  high 
a  'cock-up'  as  any  one  of  you  all." 

Jamieson  was  of  the  opinion,  clearly  wrong,  that 
cockernonie  signified  a  snood — or  the  gathering  of  the 
hair  in  a  band  or  fillet — and  derived  the  word  from  the 
Teutonic  koker,  a  cape,  and  nofine,  a  nun ;  i.e.,  such  a 
sheath  for  fixing  the  hair  as  nuns  were  accustomed  to 
use  !  The  word  was  contemptuous  for  false  hair — a 
contrivance  to  make  a  little  hair  appear  to  be  a  good 
deal — and  is  compounded  of  the  Gaelic  coc,  to  stand 
erect,  and  neoni,  nothing. 

I  saw  my  Meg,  come  linkin'  ower  the  lea, 
I  saw  my  Meg,  but  Meggie  saw  na  me, 
Her  cockernonie  snooded  up  fu'  sleek. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

But  I  doubt  the  daughter's  a  silly  thing  :  an  unco  cockcrnony 
she  had  busked  on  her  head  at  the  kirk  last  Sunday. — Scott :  Old 
Mortality. 

My  gude  name  !  If  ony  body  touched  my  good  name  I  wad 
neither  fash  council  nor  commissary.  I  would  be  down  upon  them 
like  a  sea  falcon  amang  a  wheen  wild  geese,  and  the  best  o'  them 
that  dared  to  say  onything  o'  Meg  Dods  but  what  was  honest  and 
civil,  I  wad  soon  see  if  her  cockernonie  was  made  o'  her  ain  hair  or 
other  folks' !— Scott  :  St.  Ronan's  Well. 

Codrock,  miserable,  ugly,  detestable.  These  are  the 
meanings  assigned  to  the  word  by  Allan  Ramsay,  though 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  51 

Jamieson,  who  cites  it  as  used  in  Fifeshire  and  the 
Lothians,  explains  it  as  a  rustic,  or  one  who  is  dirty  and 
slovenly. 

A  codroch  coffe,  he  is  sure  sich, 
And  lives  like  ony  wareit  wretch. 

Pcdder  Coffe,  Evergreen. 

The  final  syllable  seems  to  be  the  Gaelic  droch,  bad, 
evil,  wicked,  mischievous.  Co  is  doubtless  the  Gaelic 
comh  (pronounced  ai),  a  prefix  equivalent  to  the  Latin 
CO  and  co7i.  Jamieson  derives  it  from  the  Irish  Gaelic 
cudar,  the  rabble,  a  word  that  does  not  appear  in 
O'Reilly's  excellent  Irish  Dictionary,  though  cudarman 
and  ciidarmanta  appear  in  it  as  synonymous  with  "vulgar 
and  rustic."  The  Scottish  Gaelic  words  which  he  cites, 
codromtha,  uncivilized,  and  codryinac/i,  a  rustic,  do  not 
appear  in  any  Gaelic  Dictionary. 

Cod-crune  or  cod-crooning,  a  curtain  lecture — from  the 
Gaelic  cod.,  a  pillow  or  cushion,  and  croon,  to  murmur,  to 
lament,  to  moan.  Jamieson  derives  the  word  from  the 
Teutonic  kreitnen,  and  says  it  is  sometimes  called  a 
bowster  (bolster)  lecture. 

Coft,  bought,  purchased — from  the  Teutonic  kaiifen., 
to  buy  : — 

Then  he  has  coft  for  that  ladye, 

A  fine  silk  riding  gown  ; 
Likewise  he  coft  for  that  ladye 
A  steed  and  set  her  on. 

— Jock.d'  Hazelgreen  (old  version),  Buchans 
Ancient  Ballads. 


52  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

Cog  and  cogie,  a  bowl  or  cup,  also  a  basin.  From  the 
Gaelic  cuach,  a  cup,  used  either  for  broth,  ale,  or  stronger 
drink  : — • 

I  canna  want  my  cogie  sir, 

I  canna  want  my  cogie  ; 
I  winna  want  my  three-girred  cog 

For  a'  the  wives  in  Bogie. 

— Duke  of  Gordon. 

It's  good  to  have  our  cog owi  when  it  rains  kail  ! 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 


Collies hangie,  a  loud  dispute,  a  quarrel,  an  uproar,  a 
turmoil  of  angry  tongues  : — 

How  the  collie-shangie  works 
lietwixt  the  Russians  and  the  Turks. 

— Burns  :   7'o  a  Gentleman  who  sent 
him  a  Newspaper. 

"  It  has  been  supposed,"  says  Jamieson,  "  that  from 
collie^  a  shepherd's  dog,  and  s/iangie,  a  chain,  comes  the 
word  collie-shangie — a  quarrel  between  two  dogs  fastened 
with  the  same  chain."  Under  the  word  "collie,"  he 
explains  it  to  mean  a  quarrel,  as  well  as  a  dog  of  that 
species ;  as  if  he  believed  that  the  gentle  and  sagacious 
shepherd's  dog  was  more  quarrelsome  than  the  rest  of 
the  canine  species.  In  Gaelic,  coileid  means  noise,  con- 
fusion, uproar ;  and  coileideach,  noisy,  confused,  angry  ; 
which  is  no  doubt  the  etymology  of  collie  \\\  the  com- 
pound word,  collie-shangie.  The  meaning  of  shangie  is 
difficult  to  trace,  unless  it  be  from  the  Gaelic  seang  (pro- 
nounced shang),  slender,  lean,  hungry. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  53 


Coof,  Ciiif,  Gowk,  a  fool,  a  simpleton,  a  cuckoo  : — 

Ye  see  yon  birkie  ca'd  a  lord, 

Wha  struts  an'  stares,  and  a'  that, 

Though  hundreds  worship  at  his  word. 
He's  but  a  cuifiox  a'  that. 

Burns  :  A  Man's  a  Man. 


Coo/zxid  Gowk,  though  apparently  unlike  each  other 
in  sound,  are  probably  corruptions  of  the  same  Gaelic 
words,  cuabhag  {a/af  ag)  and  cu  ach,  a  cuckoo  : — 

Ye  breed  of  the  goivk  (cuckoo),  ye  hae  but  ae  note  in  your 
voice,  and  ye're  aye  singing  it. — Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

In  England,  a  "fool"  and  a  "goose"  are  synonymous; 
but  in  Scotland  the  cuckoo  is  the  bird  that  symbolizes 
stupidity.  "  Coof "  is  derivable  from  cuabhag,  and 
"  gowk  "  from  cu  ach. 

Cuif,  fool,  and  blockhead,  are  not  exact  synonyms, — rather  a 
useless  fellow,  a  sort  of  male  tawpie.  A  man  may  be  a  cuif,  and 
yet  the  reverse  of  a  fool  or  blockhead. — R.  D. 

Coo-me-doo,  a  term  of  endearment  for  a  turtle-dove, 
wood  pigeon,  or  cushat  :— 

O,  coo-Die-doo,  my  love  sae  true, 

If  ye'll  come  doun  to  me, 
Ye'se  hae  a  cage  o'  guid  red  gowd 

Instead  o'  simple  tree. 
Buchan's  Ballads  :   The  Earl  6'  Alarms  Dau^litcr. 


'»i' 


Cosie,  Cozie,  comfortable,  snug,  warm  : — 

While  some  are  cozic  in  the  neuk, 
And  forming  assignations 

To  meet  some  day. 

Bums  :  The  Holy  Fair, 


54  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Jamieson  says  that  cosie,  snug,  warm,  comfortable, 
seems  to  be  of  the  same  derivation  as  cosh,  a  comfortable 
situation,  and  comfortable  as  implying  a  defence  from  the 
cold.  It  is  evidently  from  the  Gaelic  coiseag,  a  little, 
snug,  or  warm  corner,  a  derivation  of  cos,  and  cois,  a 
hollow,  a  recess,  a  corner. 

Cout/iie,  well-known,  familiar,  handsome,  and  agreeable 
— in  contradistinction  to  the  English  word  imcouth  : — 

Some  kindle,  coutJiic,  side  by  side, 
And  burn  together  trimly. 

— Burns  :  Hallcnve'en. 

My  ain  coiitJiic  dame, 
O  my  ain  couthie  dame  ; 
Wi'  my  bonny  bits  o'  bairns, 
And  my  ain  contliie  dame. 

— Archibald  M'Kay  :  Ingleside  Lilts. 

Cowp,  to  tumble  over  : — 

I  drew  my  scythe  in  sic  a  fury, 
I  near  had  cowpit  in  my  hurry. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Crack,  talk,  gossip,  conversation,  confidential  discourse, 
a  story  ;  from  the  Gaelic  crac,  to  talk ;  cracaire,  a  talker,  a 
gossip ;  and  cracairachd,  idle  talk  or  chat.  To  "  crack  a 
thing  up  in  English  "  is  to  talk  it  into  repute  by  praise. 
A  crack  article  is  a  thing  highly  praised.  Jamieson 
derives  the  word  from  the  German  kraken,  to  make  a 
noise,  though  there  is  no  such  word  in  that  language  : — 

]>ut  raise  your  arm  and  tell  your  crack 
IJefore  them  a'. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Praver. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  55 


They're  a'  in  famous  tune 
For  cracks  that  day. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

The  cantie  auld  folk  crackiii^  crouse, 
The  young  ones  rantin'  through  the  house  ; 
My  heart  has  been  sae  fain  to  see  them, 
That  I  for  joy  hae  barkit  wi'  them. 

— Burns  :   The  Tiva  Dogs. 

Crambo-clink,  or  o-ambo-jingle,  a  contemptuous  name  for 
doggerel  verse,  and  bad  or  mediocre  attempts  at  poetry, 
which  Douglas  Jerrold  with  wit  as  well  as  wisdom — and 
they  are  closely  allied — described  as  "  verse  and  worse:  " 

A'  ye  who  live  by  cravibo  dink, 
A'  ye  who  write  and  never  think, 
Come  mourn  wi'  me. 

— Burns :  C«  a  Scotch  Ban/. 

Amaist  as  soon  as  I  could  spell, 
I  to  the  crambo  jingle  fell, 

The'  rude  and  rough  ; 
But  crooning  to  a  body's  sel' 

Does  weel  enough. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Lapraik. 

Crambo  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic  crom., 
crooked,  or  perhaps  from  "cramp,"  or  cramped.  "Clink  " 
and  "jingle,"  assonance,  consonance,  or  rhyme  are  from 
the  English. 

Crofiy,  a  comrade,  a  dear  friend,  a  boon  companion, 
derived  in  a  favourable  sense  from  crofie. — This  Scottish 
word  seems  to  have  been  introduced  to  English  notice 
by  James  I.  It  was  used  by  Swift  and  other  writers  of 
his  period,  and  was  admitted  into  Johnson's  Dictionary, 
who  described  it  as  a  cant  word. 


56  POETRY    AND     HUMOUR 


To  oblige  your  crony  Swift, 
Bring  our  dame  a  New-Year's  gift. 


-Swift. 


My  name  is  Fun,  your  crony  dear, 
The  nearest  friend  ye  hae. 

— Burns  :  TIic  Holy  Fair. 

And  at  his  elbow  Souter  Johnny, 
His  ancient,  trusty,  drouthy  crony. 

Burns  :   Tarn  0'  Shanier. 


Croodle,  to  coo  like  a  dove  :  "a  wee  croodlin'  doo,"  a 
term  of  endearment  to  an  infant  :^— 

Far  ben  thy  dark  green  plantin  shade 

The  cushat  (wood-pigeon)  croodhs  amorously. 

—  Tannahill. 


Croon,  to  hum  over  a  tune,  to  prelude  on  an  instru- 
ment. The  word  seems  derivable  from  the  Gaelic  cronati, 
a  dull,  murmuring  sound  ;  a  mournful  and  monotonous 
tune  : — 

The  sisters  grey,  before  the  day, 
Did  croon  witliin  their  cloister. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Whiles  holding  fast  his  guid  liluc  bonnet, 
Whiles  croouin  o'er  some  auld  Scots  sonnet. 

— Burns  :  Tatn  0'  Shantcr, 

Crone,  an  old  woman,  a  witch.  ^V'orcester,  in  his  Dic- 
tionary, derives  this  word  from  the  Scottish  "  croon  " — 
"  ilic  hollow  muttering  sound  with  which  old  witches 
uttered  their  incantations  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  57 


Where  auld  ruined  castles  grey 

Nod  to  the  moon, 
To  fright  the  nightly  wanderer's  way, 

Wi'  eldritch  croon. 

— Burns  :  Adih-ess  to  the  Dei/. 

Plaintive  tunes, 
Such  as  corpse-watching  beldam  croons. 

— Studies  from  the  Antique. 


Crouse,  merry,  lively,  brisk,  bold  : — 

A  cock's  aye  crouse  on  his  ain  midden. — Allan  Ramsay's  Scots 
Proverbs. 

The  cantie  auld  folk  crackin'  crouse, 
The  young  anes  rantin  through  the  house. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dos^s. 


Crowdie,  oat-meal  porridge  boiled  to  a  thick  consis- 
tency ;  crowdie-tiiiie,  breakfast-time  or  meal-time. 

Jamieson  goes  to  the  Icelandic  for  the  origin  of  the 
word  crowd'ie — once  the  favourite  and  general  food  of  the 
Scottish  people,  in  the  days  before  the  less  nutritious 
potato  was  introduced  into  the  country.  But  the  name 
of  crowdie  is  not  so  likely  to  be  derived  from  the  Ice- 
landic graut-ur.,  gruel  made  of  groats,  as  from  the  Gaelic 
cruaidh,  thick,  firm,  of  hard  consistency.  Gruel  is  thin, 
but  porridge,  or  crowdy,  is  thick  and  firm,  and  in  that 
quality  its  great  merit  consists — as  distinguished  from  its 
watery  competitor — the  nourishment  of  the  sick  room, 
and  not  to  be  compared  to  the  strong,  wholesome  "  par- 
ritch,"  which  Burns  designated  "  the  chief  of  Scotland's 
food." 


58  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Oh  that  I  had  never  been  married, 

I'd  never  had  nae  care  ; 
Now,  I've  gotten  wife  and  bairns. 

An'  they  cry  croiodic  evermair  ! 
Once  crowdie,  twice  crowdie. 

Three  times  cro7vdie  in  a  day  ! 


-Burns. 


Then  I  gaed  hame  at  crowdie-time, 
And  soon  I  made  me  ready. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

My  sister  Kate  came  up  the  gate 

Wi'  crowdie  unto  me,  man  ; 
She  swore  she  saw  the  rebels  run 

Frae  Perth  unto  Dundee,  man. 

—  The  Battle  of  Slieriffmuir. 

Crowdie,  properly,  is  oatmeal  mixed  with  cold  water  :  InU  it  is 
also  used  for  food  in  general,  as  in  the  expression,  "I'll  l)e  hame 
about  croivdie-'iwx^zy — R.  D. 

Cri/mmie,  a  familiar  name  for  a  favourite  cow;  from 
the  crooked  horn.  Gaelic  rr^;//^,  crooked.  In  the  ancient 
ballad  of  "  Tak'  your  auld  cloak  about  ye,"  quoted  by 
Shakespeare  in  "  Othello,"  the  word  appears  as  Crufti- 
bock : — 

Bell,  my  wife,  who  loves  no  strife, 

She  said  unto  me  quietlie, 
"  Rise  up  and  save  cow  Crtimbock'' s  life, 

And  jnit  thine  auld  cloak  aliout  thee." 

Cntnl,  a  smart  blow  with  a  cudgel,  or  fist,  on  the  crown 
of  the  head. 

And  iiiony  a  fellow  got  his  licks 
Wi'  hearty  crunt. 

Burns  :   To  Willie  Simpson. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE,  59 

This  word  seems  to  come  either  from  the  English 
crown,  the  head  (hence,  a  blow  on  the  head),  or  from  the 
Gaelic  crii?i,  which  has  the  same  meaning.  The  crown 
of  the  head,  the  very  top  of  the  head,  is  a  common 
phrase  ;  the  croon  of  the  causeway — the  top  ridge  of  the 
road,  or  the  middle  of  the  road — is  a  well-known  Scotti- 
cism. In  slang  English,  a  criint  is  called  a  nopper,  or  one 
for  his  "  nob." 

Cupar : — 

He  that  will  to  Cupar,  maun  to  Cupar. 

This  proverb,  applied  to  an  obstinate  man  who  will 
have  his  own  way,  has  puzzled  many  commentators. 
Dean  Ramsay  asks — "Why  Cupar,  and  whether  is  it  the 
Cupar  of  Angus  or  the  Cupar  of  Fife  ?  " 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  origin  of  "Cupar"  in 
the  sense  employed  in  the  proverb,  is  the  Gaelic  comhar 
(covar),  a  mark,  a  sign,  a  proof, — and  that  the  phrase  is 
equivalent  to  "  he  who  will  be  a  marked  man  (by  his 
folly  or  perversity)  must  be  a  marked  man."  It  has  also 
been  suggested  that  "  Cupar "  is  comharra  {covarrd), 
shelter  or  protection  of  the  sanctuary,  to  which  a  man 
resorted  when  hard  pressed  by  justice  for  a  crime  which 
he  had  committed.  But  these  are  mere  probabilities, 
leaving  the  subject  as  obscure  as  they  found  it. 

Cum,  a  grain,  a  grain  of  corn  ;  whence  kernel,  the 
fruit  in  the  nut  : — 

Mind  to  splice  high  with  Latin — a  cum  or  two  of  Greek  would 
not  1)6  amiss  ;  and  if  ye  can  bring  in  anything  about  the  judgment 
of  Solomon  in  the  original  Hebrew,  and  season  with  a  merry  jest 
or  so,  the  dish  will  be  the  more  palatable. — Scott  :    Fortunes  of 
Nigel, 


6o  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Allied  words  to  "  curn  "  are  '"kern"  and  "  churn,"  a 
hand  mill  for  grinding  corn,  and  "  churn,"  a  mill  for  dis- 
turbing the  milk  so  as  to  make  butter. 


Cushat^  a  turtle  dove,  a  wood  pigeon  : — 

O'er  lofty  aiks  the  cushats  wail, 
And  echo  coos  the  dolefu'  tale. 

— Burns  :  Bess  and  her  Spinning  IVJtcel. 


Cuif,  or  coof,  a.  fool,  a  blockhead  : — 

Ve  see  yon  birkie  ca'd  a  lord, 

Wha  struts  and  stares,  and  a'  that, 

Though  hundreds  worship  at  his  word, 
lie's  but  a  ctiif  iox  a'  that. 

—  Burns  :  A  Man's  a  Man. 


Cutty,  short — from  the  (laelic  ciitach  : — 

I'm  no  sac  scant  o'  clean  pipes  as  to  blaw  wi'  a  burnt  cui/v. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Till  lirst  ae  caper,  then  anither 

Tam  tint  his  reason  a'  thegither. 

And  roared  out  "  Weel  done,  cutty  sark  !  " 

And  in  an  instant  all  was  dark. 

— Burns  :   Tam  d"  Shunter. 


Cutty,  short,  that  has  been  cut,  abridged  or  shortened ; 
whence  ^/////-pipe,  a  short  pipe  : — 

Her  cutty  sark  o'  Paisley  ham 
That  when  a  lassie  she  had  worn, 
In  longitude  though  sorely  scanty. 
It  was  her  best,  and  she  was  vaunty. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  6  I 

Daff^  to  make  merry,  to  be  sportive.  Daffin\  merri- 
ment : — 

Wi'  daffiii'  weary  grown, 

Upon  a  knowe  they  sat  them  down. 

Burns  :   Tlie  Twa  Dogs. 

Dr.  Adam,  Rector  of  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh,  rendered 
the  lioratian  expression  "desipere  in  loco,"  by  the  Scottish  phrase 
"  weel-timed  daffiii' " — a  translation  which  no  one  but  a  Scot  could 
properly  appreciate. — Dean  Ramsay. 

Dachas  long  ceased  to  be  current  English,  though  it 
was  used  by  Shakespeare,  in  the  sense  of  to  befool.  In 
the  scene  between  "  Leoneto  "  and  "  Claudio  "  in  A/z/c/i 
Ado  about  Nothing,  when  "  Claudio  "  refuses  to  fight 
with  an  old  man,  "  Leoneta  "  replies  : 

Canst  thou  so  daffmQ}     Thee  who  killed  my  child. 

The  Shakespearean  commentators  all  agree  that  this  word 
should  be  doffxne,  or  put  me  off.  They  interpret  in  the 
same  way  the  line  in  King  Lear : — 

The  madcap  Prince  of  Wales,  that  daff'd  the  world  aside  ! 

In  both  instances,  dajf  was  used  in  the  sense  which  it 
retains  in  Scotch — that  of  fool  or  befool. 

Daft,  crazy,  wild,  mad  : — 

Or  maybe  in  a  frolic  daf/ 

To  Hague  or  Calais  take  a  waft. 

— Burns  :   '/'he  Tioa  Dogs. 

Darg,  or  daiirk,  a  job  of  work  : — 

You  will  spoil  the  darg  i(  you  stop  the  plow  to  kill  a  mouse. 

— Northumbrian  Proverb. 


62  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


He  never  did  a  good  darg  that  gaed  grumbling  aljout  il. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Provci  hs. 

Monie  a  sair  daurk  we  hae  wrought. 

— Burns  :    To  his  aiild  Marc  Maggie. 

Dandy  to  pelt,  also  a  large  piece  : — • 

I'm  busy  too,  an'  skelpin'  at  it. 

But  bitter  datidin^  showers  hae  wat  it. 

— Burns  :   To  J.  Lapraik. 

He'll  clap  a  shangan  on  her  tail 
An'  set  the  bairns  to  daitd  her 
\\'\   dirt  tliis  day. 

— Burns  :   The  Ordination. 

Daud  and  bland  or  hlad  are  synonymous  in  the  sense 
of  a  large  jnece  of  anything,  and  also  of  pelting  or  driv- 
ing as  applied  to  rain  or  wind  : — 

I  got  a  great  blad  o'  Virgil  by  Heart. 

— Jamieson. 

Daiiner,  or  daiinder,  to  saunter,  to  stroll  leisurely, 
without  a  purpose  : — 

Some  idle  and  mischievous  youths  waited  for  the  minister  on  a 
dark  night,  and  one  of  them,  dressed  as  a  ghost,  came  up  to  him  in 
hopes  of  putting  him  in  a  fright.  The  minister's  cool  reply  upset 
the  plan.  "  Weel,  Maister  Ghaist,  is  this  a  general  rising?  or  are 
ye  jist  taking  a  daitncr  frae  your  grave  by  yoursel  ?  " 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 

Daic'ds  and  Blawds  is  a  phrase  that  denotes  the 
greatest  abundance. — Jamieson. 

Daut,  to  fondle. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  63 

Dautie^  a  darling,  one  who  is  fondled  and  affection- 
ately treated.  Allied  to  the  English  doat^  doat  upon,  and 
dotage : — 

Wha  e'er  shall  say  I  wanted  Jean, 
When  I  did  kiss  and  daiif  her. 

— Burns  :  Had  I  the  wyte. 

My  dautic  and  my  doo  (dove). 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

To  some  it  may  appear  that  dawtie  may  have  had  its  origin  from 
the  Gaelic  dalt,  a  foster-child. — Jamieson. 

Dear  me  !  oh  dear  me  !  deary  me  !  These  colloquial 
exclamations  are  peculiar  to  the  English  and  Scottish  lan- 
guages, and  are  indicative  either  of  surprise,  pain,  or  pity. 
If  the  word  "  dear  "  be  accepted  as  correct,  and  not  a  cor- 
ruption of  some  other  word  with  a  different  meaning,  the 
explanation,  if  literally  translated  into  any  other  language, 
would  be  nonsensical ;  in  French,  for  instance,  it  would 
be  oh  cher  moil  and  in  German,  ach  theur  mich  !  The 
original  word,  as  used  by  our  British  ancestors — and  mis- 
understood by  the  Saxons  who  succeeded  them  in  the  part 
possession  of  the  country — appears  to  have  been  the 
Gaelic  Dia  {dee-a),  God.  Oh  Dia  !  or,  oh  dear !  and 
oh  dear  me  I  would  signify  God !  oh  God  !  or,  oh  my  God  ! 
synonymous  with  the  French  tnon  Dieu  !  or,  oh  mon 
Dieu  !  and  the  German  mein  Gott !  or,  ch  mein  Gott  / 

Deuch,  a  drink,  a  draught — a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic 
deoch,  which  has  the  same  meaning.  Jamieson  has 
deuchandorach  and  deuchandoris,  both  corruptions  of  the 
Gaelic  deoch-an-dorus,  a  drink  at  the  door,  the  parting 
cup,  the  stirrup  cup.       The  ale-house  sign  once  common 


64  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

in  England  as  well  as  in  Scotland — "The  Dog  and  Duck" 
—appears  to  have  had  no  relation  to  aquatic  sports,  but 
to  have  been  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  deoch  an  diugh, 
a  drink  to-day.  In  the  same  manner,  "Mad  Dog" 
— once  set  up  as  a  sign  at  a  place  called  Odell — as 
recorded  in  Hotten's  "History  of  Signboards,'"  is  merely 
the  Gaelic  of  math  deoch  or  iiiaith  deoch,  good  drink.  In 
the  London  slang  of  the  present  day,  duke  is  a  word  used 
among  footmen  and  grooms  for  "gin.'" 

Deuk.  A  vulgar  old  song  which  Burns  altered  and 
sent  to  "Johnson's  Museum,"  without  much  improvement 
on  the  coarse  original,  commences  with  the  lines  : — 

The  bairns  gat  out  wi'  an  unco  shout, 
The  dciik's  dang  o'er  my  daddie,  oh  ! 

The  hent  may  care,  quo'  the  feirie  auld  wife, 
He  was  but  a  paidlin'  body,  oh  ! 

The  glossaries  that  accompany  the  editions  of  Burns 
issued  by  Allan  Cunningham,  Alexander  Smith,  and 
others,  all  agree  in  stating  that  deuk  signifies  the  aquatic 
fowl,  the  duck.  But,  "  the  duck  has  come  over,  or  beaten 
over,  or  flown  over  my  father,"  does  not  make  sense  ot 
the  passage,  or  convey  any  meaning  whatever.  It  is 
probable — though  no  editor  of  Burns  has  hitherto  hinted 
it — that  the  word  deuk  should  be  deiich,  from  the  Gaelic 
deoch,  drink,  a  deep  potation,  which  appears  in  Jamieson 
without  other  allusion  to  its  GaeUc  origin  than  the  well- 
known  phrase,  the  deoch-an-dorus,  the  stirrup-cup,  or  drink 
at  the  door.  Seen  in  this  light,  the  line  "  the  deuch's 
dang  o'er  my  daddie,"  would  signify  "the  drink,  or 
drunkenness,  has  beaten  or  come  over  my  daddie,"  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  is  the  true  reading. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  65 

Dambrod,  draught-board,  or  chess-board ;  from  the 
Flemish  dambord, — the  first  syllable  from  the  French 
dame,  and  jeu  aux  dames,  draughts. 

Mrs.  Chisholm  entered  the  shop  of  a  linen  draper,  and  asked  to  be 
shown  some  table-cloths  of  a  dam-hrod  pattern.  The  shopman  was 
taken  aback  at  such  apparently  strong  language  as  "damned  broad," 
used  by  a  respectable  lady.  The  lady,  on  her  part,  was  surprised  at 
the  stupidity  of  the  London  shopman,  who  did  not  understand  so 
common  a  phrase. — Dean  Ramsay. 

Dilly  Castle.  This,  according  to  Jamieson,  is  a  name 
given  by  boys  to  a  mound  of  sand  which  they  erect  on 
the  sea  shore,  and  stand  upon  until  the  advancing  tide 
surrounds  it  and  washes  it  away.  He  thinks  the  name 
comes  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  digle  or  digel,  secretus,  or 
from  the  Swedish  doelja  or  dylga,  occultare  suus,  a  hiding 
place.  The  etymology  was  not  so  far  to  seek  or  so 
difficult  to  find  as  Dr.  Jamieson  supposed,  but  is  of  purely 
home  origin  in  the  (raelic  diie  (in  two  syllables),  a  flood, 
an  inundation,  an  overflow  of  water. 


Ding,  to  beat,  or  beat  out : — 

If  ye've  the  deil  in  ye,  djug  him  out  wi'  his  brither.      Ae  deil 
dings  anither. 

It's  a  sair  dtmg  (beaten)  bairn  that  manna  greet. 

— Allan  Ramsay,  Scots  Proverbs. 


Dijisome,  noisy,  full  of  din : — 

Till  block  or  studdie  (stithy  or  anvil)  ring  and  reel 
Wi'  dinsome  clamour. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


66  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Di7-dum,  noise,  uproar ;  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of 
the  Gaelic  tormafi ;  or  tartar,  noise,  uproar,  confusion ; 
tartarack,  noisy. 

Humph  !  it's  juist  because — juist  that  the  dirdum^s  a'  about' 
yon  man's  pockmanty, 

—Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

Sic  a  dirdum  about  naething. 

Laird  of  Logan. 

What  wi'  the  dirdum  and  confusion,  and  the  lowpin  here  and 
there  of  the  skeigh  brute  of  a  horse. — Scott  :   Fortunes  of  Nigel. 

JDirl,  a  quivering  blow  on  a  hard  substance  : — 
I  threw  a  noble  throw  at  ane. 

It  jist  played  dirl  upon  the  bane, 
But  did  nae  niair. 

— Burns  :  Deatli  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Doited,  confused,  bewildered,  stupid ;  hopelessly  per- 
plexed ;  of  a  darkened  or  hazy  intellect. 

Thou  clears  the  head  o'  doited  lear, 
Thou  cheers  the  heart  o'  droopin'  care, 
Thou  even  brightens  dark  despair 
Wi'  gloomy  smile. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Ye  auld,  blind,  doited  bodie. 

And  blinder  may  ye  be — 
'Tis  but  a  bonnie  milking  cow 

My  minnie  gied  to  me. 

— Our  siideman  cain"  hanie  at  e'en. 


d>' 


This  word  seems  to  be  derivable  from  the  Gaelic  doite, 
dark-coloured,  obscure. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGIL  67 


Doited,  evidently  has  some  connexion  with  liie  modern  EngUsh 
word  dotage,  which  again  comes  from  dote,  which  anciently  had  in 
addition  to  its  modern  meaning  that  of,  to  g  'ow  dull,  senseless,  or 
stupid.— R.  D. 


Dool^  or  Dule^  pain,  grief,  dolefulness.  From  the 
Gaelic  dolas  ;  the  French  deuil^  mourning. 

Of  a'  the  numerous  human  dools 
Thou  bear'st  the  gree. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Toothache. 

Though  dark  and  swift  the  waters  pour, 
Yet  here  I  wait  in  dool  and  sorrow. 

For  bitter  fate  must  I  endure. 
Unless  I  pass  the  stream  ere  morrow. 

— Legends  of  the  Isles, 

Oh  !  dide  on  the  order 
Sent  our  lads  to  the  border — 
The  English  for  once  by  guile  won  the  day. 

—  The  Flozvers  of  the  Forest. 

Do-nae-guid  and  Ne'er-do-weel.  These  words  are 
synonymous,  and  signify  what  the  Frencli  call  a  vaurien, 
one  who  is  good  for  nothing.  Ne'er-do-weel  has  lately 
become  much  more  common  in  English  than  "  Never-do- 
well." 


Donnart,  stupefied. 

"Has  he  learning?"  "Just  dung  donnart  wi'  learning." — 
Scott  :  St.  Ronan's  Well. 

Jamieson  traces  this  word  to  the  German  domter., 
thunder ;  but  it  comes  most  likely  from  the  Gaelic  donas, 
ill-fortune,  or  donadh,  mischief,  hurt,  evil — corrupted  by 


68  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

the  Lowland  Scotch  by  the  insertion  of  the  letter  r.     The 

English  word  dunce  appears  to  be  from  the  same  source, 

and  signifies  an  unhappy  person,  who  is  too  stupid  to 
learn. 

Donsie,  unlucky — from  the  Gaelic  donos,  misfortune ; 
the  reverse  of  sonas,  sonsie  or  lucky,  or  lucky-looking, 
pleasant,  healthful. 

Their  donsie  tricks,  their  black  mistakes, 
Their  failings  and  mischances. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Unco  Guid. 

Jamieson  admits  (reluctantly)  that  the  word  may  be 
derived  from  the  Gaelic  donas,  and  says  that  it  means 
not  only  unlucky,  but  pettish,  peevish,  ill-natured,  dull, 
dreary.  But  all  these  epithets  resolve  themselves  more 
or  less  intimately  into  the  idea  of  unluckiness. 

Dort}\  haughty,  stubborn,  austere,  supercilious — from 
dour^  hard,  q.v. 

Let  dorty  dames  say  Na  ! 

As  lang  as  e'er  they  please, 
Seem  caulder  than  the  snaw 

While  inwardly  they  bleeze. 

— Allan  Ramsay :  Pohaarth  on  the  Green. 

Then  though  a  minister  grow  dorty, 
Veil  snap  your  fingers 
Before  his  face. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Douce,  of  a  gentle  or  courteous  disposition ,  from  the 
French  doux,  sweet : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  69 


Ye  dainty  deacons  and  ye  douce  conveners. 

—Burns  :  Tlie  Brii^s  of  Ayr. 

Ye  Irish  Lords,  ye  knights  and  squires, 
Who  represent  our  burghs  and  shires. 
And  doitcely  manage  our  affairs 
In  Parhament. 
— Burns :   The  Author's  Eaj-nest  Cry  and  Prayer. 


Dour,  hard,  bitter,  disagreeable,  close-fisted,  severe, 
stern  : — 

When  biting  Boreas,  fell  and  dour, 
Sharp  shivers  through  the  leafless  bower. 

— Burns :  A  Winter  Night. 

I've  been  harsh  tempered  and  r/o?<r  enough,  I  know;  and  it's  only 
fitting  as  they  shuld  be  hard  and  dour  to  me,  where  I'm  going.— 
Vicar  of  Biillhampton.     A.  Trollope. 


Dmuf,  doof,  doofing,  doofarf.  All  these  words  are 
applied  to  a  stupid,  inactive,  dull  person,  and  appear  to  be 
the  originals  of  the  modern  English  slang,  a  "  duffer," 
which  has  a  similar  meaning. 

Her  ^OTf^ excuses  pat  me  mad. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Lapraik. 

They're  douif  Z-Xi^  doivic  at  the  best, 
Doivf  ■st.nA  doic'ie,  dow/vinA  dozoie, 

Wi'  a'  their  variorum. 
They  canna  please  a  Highland  taste 

Compared  wi'  Tullochgorum. 

— Rev.  John  Skinner. 


70  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Do7C'd,  stale,  flat ;  from  the  Gaelic  daoidh,  weak,  feeble, 
worthless  : — 

Cast  na  out  the  do'Mci  vi:\.\.ev  till  ye  get  the  fresh. — Allan  Ramsay's 
Scots  Proverbs. 


JJo7vie,  gloomy,  melancholy,  forlorn,  low-S])irited  ;  from 
the  Gaelic  duibhe,  blackness. 

It's  no  the  loss  o'  warl's  gear 
That  could  sae  bitter  draw  the  tear, 
Or  mak  our  bardie,  dowic,  wear 
The  mourning  weed. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Maine's  Elegy 

Come  listen,  cronies,  anc  and  a' 
While  on  my  do^vie  reed  I  blaw, 
And  mourn  the  sad  untimely  fa" 
O'  our  auld  town. 

— James  Ballnntine 


Doii'p,\}c\t  posteriors. ^'I'his  word  api)lies  not  only  to  the 
human  frame,  but  to  the  bottom  or  end  of  anything,  and 
is  used  in  such  phrases  as  the  "  doiop  of  a  candle,"  "  the 
do-icp  of  an  egg,"  as  well  as  in  the  tlireats  of  an  angry 
mother  to  a  young  child,  "I'll  skelp  your  doicp."  "Where's 
your  grannie,  my  wee  man  ?"  was  a  cjucstion  asked  of  a 
child.  The  child  replied,  "  Oh,  she's  ben  the  house, 
burning  her  dowp\"  i.e.,  her  candle-end. 

Dcil  a  wig  has  a  provost  o'  Fairport  worn,  sin  auld  provost 
Jervie's  time,  and  he  had  a  quean  o'  a  servant  lass  that  dressed  it 
hersel  wi'  the  doavp  o'  a  candle  and  a  dredging  box. 

— Scott  :   The  Anliijuary. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  7  I 

Do7vp-skelper.  A  humorous  word  applied  to  a  school- 
master ;  from  skelp,  to  smite  with  the  palm  of  the 
liand.  A  similar  idea  enters  into  the  composition 
of  the  English  phrase,  "a  bum  brusher,"  with  the  differ- 
ence that  brusher  refers  to  the  rod,  and  not  to  the  palm 
of  the  hand.  Burns  applies  the  epithet  to  the  Emperor 
Joseph  of  Austria,  with  what  allusion  it  is  now  difficult 
to  trace  : — 

To  ken  what  French  mischief  was  brewin', 
Or  what  the  drumlie  Dutch  were  doin' — 
That  vile  doivp-skclpcr  Emperor  Joseph — 
If  Venus  yet  had  got  his  nose  off. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Gentleman  who  had  promised 
to  send  him  a  newspaper. 

This  word  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for  ^//Z'-skelper — from 
dub,  a  pool,  a  pond,  a  puddle,  and  applied  to  one  who 
rushes  on  his  way  recklessly,  through  thick  and  thin, 
heedless  of  dirt  or  obstruction. 

Down.  The  Scottish  language  contains  many  more  com- 
pounds of  down  than  the  English,  such  as  doivn-drag,  and 
down-draw.,  that  which  drags  or  draws  a  man  down  in  his 
fortunes,  an  incumbrance ;  down-throw.,  of  which  the 
English  synonym  is  overthrow  ;  down-zvay,  a  declivity 
or  downward  path;  down-put  or  dotan-putting,  a  rebuff; 
do7vn-coming,  abandonment  of  the  sick-room  on  con- 
valescence ;  down-look,  a  dejected  look,  or  expression 
of  countenance  ;  all  of  which  are  really  English  although 
not  admitted  into  the  Dictionaries. 

Downa-do,  impotency,  powerlessness,  inability  : — 

I've  seen  the  day  ye  buttered  iny  brose, 
And  cuddled  me  late  and  early,  O  ! 


72  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


But  Doiaiia-do' s  come  o'er  me  now, 
And  oh  I  feel  it  sairly  ! 

— Burns  :  The  Deuk's  dang  o'er  my  Daddie. 


Draidgie.  A  funeral  entertainment ;  from  the  French 
dragee,  a  comfit,  a  sweet-meat.  This  word  does  not 
appear  in  Jamieson.  but  is  to  he  found  in  a  small  and 
excellent  handbook  of  tlie  Scottish  vernacular,  published 
in  Edinburgh,  1818. 


Dree,  to  endure,  to  suffer  ;  jjrobably  from  the  Teutonic 
trilben,  to  trouble,  to  sadden  ;  and  thence  to  endure 
trouble  or  suffering,  or  from  fragen,  to  bear,  to  carry,  to 
draw  : — 

Sae  that  no  danger  do  thee  dcir 

What  dule  in  dern  thou  dree. 
(What  soon  thou  mayst  suffer  in  secret.) 

— Robyn  and  Alakyn  :   The  Evergreen. 

Oh  wae,  wae  by  his  wanton  sides, 

Sae  brawlie  he  could  flatter, 
Till  for  his  sake  Tin  slighted  sair, 

And  dree  the  kintra  clatter. 

— Burns  :  Here's  his  health  in  icater. 

In  the  dialects  of  the  North  of  England,  to  dree  is  used 
in  the  sense  of  to  draw  or  journey  towards  a  place. 

In  the  summer  time  when  leaves  grow  green, 

And  birds  sing  on  the  tree, 
Robin  Hood  went  to  Nottingham 

As  fast  as  he  could  dree. 

Robin  Hood  and  the  Jolly  Tinher. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  73 

Dreigh,  difficult,  hard  to  travel,  tedious,  prolix,  dry : — 

Hech,  sirs  !  but  the  sermon  was  sair  dreigh  ! 

—Gait. 

Drook,  to  wet.  Drookit,  wet  through,  thoroughly 
saturated  with  moisture;  from  the  Gaelic  drucJid,  dew, 
moisture,  a  tear,  drop ;  drudhag  {drii-ag),  a  drop  of  water  ; 
and  drnghad/i,  penetrating,  oozing  through.  The  resem- 
blance to  the  Greek  Sa.Kpv,  a  tear,  is  noteworthy. 

There  were  twa  doos  sat  in  a  dookit, 
The  rain  cam'  doun  and  they  were  drookit. 
^  — Old  jViirscry  Song. 

The  last  Hallowe'en  I  was  waukin, 

My  drookit  sark  sleeve  as  ye  ken, 
His  likeness  cam  ben  the  house  stalkin' 

And  the  vera  grey  breeks  o'  Tam  Glen. 

—Burns  :   Ta/n  Glen. 

My  friends,  you  come  to  the  kirk  every  Sabbath,  and  I  lave 
you  a'  ower  ^i"  the  Gospel  till  ye're  fairly  drookit  wi't. — Extract 
from  a  sermon  by  a  minister  in  Arran. 

Roger  :  Illustrations  of  Scottisli  Life, 

Drouth,  thirst ;  droiithie,  thirsty  : — 

Tell  him  o'  mine  and  Scotland's  drouth. 

— Burns  :  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Folks  talk  o'  my  drink,  but  never  talk  o'  my  drouth. — Allan 
Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

.When  droitthie  neebors  neebors  meet. 

— Burns  :   'la/ii  0'  Shunter. 


74  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Drumly,  turbid  or  muddy  (applied  to  water),  confused, 
not  clear.  Applied  metaphorically  to  thoughts  or  ex- 
pression.— This  beautiful  word  would  be  a  great  acquisi- 
tion to  the  English  language  if  it  could  be  adopted, 
and  lends  a  peculiar  charm  to  many  choice  passages 
of  Scottish  poetry.  All  its  English  synonymes  are 
greatly  inferior  to  it,  both  in  logical  and  poetical 
expression.  It  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  trom, 
or  truim,  heavy  (and  applied  to  water),  turbid.  The 
word  appears  at  one  time  to  have  been  good  English. 

Draw  me  some  water  out  of  this  spring. 

IVradam,  it  is  all  foul,  dntmly,  black,  muddy ! 

French  aud  Eiti^Ush  Graiiiiiiar,  1623. 

Oh,  lioatman,  haste  !  put  off  your  boat, 

I'ut  off  your  l)oat  for  golden  monie  ; 
I'll  cross  the  drumlic  stream  to-night. 

Or  never  mair  I'll  see  my  Annie. 

— Minstrelsy  of  ilte  Scottish  Border. 

^\  hen  blue  diseases  fill  the  dnmi/ie  air 

— .Minn  Ramsay. 

l)rink  druiiily  German  water. 
To  make  liimself  look  fair  and  fatter. 

—  lUnns  :    7'he  Tiiia  Doi;y. 

They  had  na  sailed  a  league,  a  league, 

A  league  but  barely  three, 
\Vhen  dismal  grew  his  countenance, 

And  driinilic  grew  his  e'e. 

— -Laidlaw  :   The  Demon  I.ovcr. 

There's  good  fishing  in  dninilic  water?. 

—Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Froverl/s. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  75 

I  heard  once  a  lady  in  Edinburgh  objecting  to  a  preacher,  that 
she  did  not  understand  him.  Another  lady,  his  great  admirer, 
insinuated  that  probably  he  was  too  deep  for  her  to  follow.  But 
her  ready  answer  was,  "  Na,  na  ! — he's  no  just  deep,  but  he's 
drin/i !)'.'" — Dean  Ramsay. 

Drmit,  drauiif,  to  drawl,  to  whine,  to  grumble,  a  fit  of 
ill-humour,  pettishness.  Both  of  these  words  are  from  the 
Gs.eY\cdratindan,  grumbling,  growling,mourning,  complain- 
ing, drafindanach,  peevish,  morose,  though  erroneously  de- 
rived by  Jamieson  from  the  Flemish  drinten,  tumescere. 

May  nae  doot  took  the  driint. 
To  be  compared  to  Willie. 

— Burns  :  Halloween. 

Nae  weel  tocher'd  aunts  to  wait  on  their  dniiits. 
And  wish  them  in  hell  for  it  a'  man. 

— Burns  :  The  Taidwlton  Lasses. 

But  lest  he  think  I  am  uncivil, 

To  plague  you  with  this  drawiting  drivel. 

— Burns. 

Duh,  a  small  pool  of  dirty  water :  The  Goose  Dubs — 

name  of  a  street  in  Glasgow. 

O'er  dub  and  dyke 
She'll  run  the  fields  all  through. 

— Leader  IIa2t;^hs  and  Yarrow. 

Dud.,  a  rag  ;  duddies,  little  rags  : — ■ 

Then  he  took  out  his  little  knife, 

Let  a'  his  daddies  fa', 
An'  he  was  the  brawest  gentleman 

That  stood  among  them  a'. 

—  We'll  gaiio-  nae  inair  a  roviiii;. 


76  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

A  smytrie  o'  wee  dtiddie  weans. 


-Burns. 


The  duddie  wee  laddie  may  grow  a  braw  man. 

— David  Hutcheson. 


Diimtie-wassal,  a  Highland  gentleman  : — 

There  are  wild  duniiie-wassah  three  thousand  times  three 
Will  as  oicli  for  the  bonnets  o'  bonnie  Dundee. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

This  word,  generally  misprinted  in  the  Lowlands,  and  by 
Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his  excellent  ballad  of  ''  Bonnie  Dim- 
dee,"  is  the  Gaelic  duine,  a  man ;  and  uasal,  gentle,  noble, 
of  good  birth. 

Dunf,  a  blow,  a  knock ;  from  dint,  to  make  a  heavy 
blow  that  leaves  a  mark  on  a  hard  substance. 

I  am  naebody's  lord, 

I  am  slave  to  naebody, 
I  hae  a  gude  broad  sword, 

I'll  lak  ditnis  frae  naebody. 

—  P)Uins  :  Naebody. 

Dyke-louper,  an  immoral  unmarried  woman,  or  mother 
of  an  illegitimate  child.  The  dyke  in  this  phrase  means 
the  marriage  tie,  obligation,  or  sacrament,  the  wall  that 
prohibits  the  illicit  intercourse  of  the  sexes,  and  louper,  one 
who  treats  the  wall,  and  its  impediment  as  non-existant,  or 
who  despises  it  by  jum])ing  or  leaping  over  it. 

Dyvor,  a  bankrupt — from  the  Gaelic  dith  (di),  to 
destroy,  to  break ;  and  /ear,  a  man — a  broken  man,  or 
bankrupt.  Jamieson  derives  the  word  from  the  l-'rench 
devoir,  duty,  or  to  serve. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  77 


Smash  them,  crash  them,  a'  to  spails. 
And  rot  the  dyvors  in  the  jails. 

— Burns  :  Address  of  Beelzebub. 

Eerie,  gloomy,  wearisome,  full  of  fear  : — 

In  mirkest  glen  at  midnight  hour 

I'd  rove  and  ne'er  be  eerie,  O  ; 
If  thro'  that  glen  I  gaed  to  thee. 

My  ain  kind  dearie,  O. 

— Burns. 

It  was  an  eerie  walk  through  the  still  chestnut  woods  at  that 
still  hour  of  the  night. —  The  Dream  Niiiiihers,  by  T.  A.  TroUope. 

Aft  yont  the  dyke  she's  heard  you  bummin' 

Wi'  eerie  drone. 

— Burns  :  Address  lo  the  Dcil. 

Eerie  is  a  most  difficult  word  to  explain.  I  dont  know  any 
English  word  that  comes  near  it  in  meaning.  The  feeling  in- 
duced by  eerieness  is  that  sort  of  superstitious  fear  that  creeps  over 
one  in  darkness, — that  sort  of  awe  we  feel  in  the  presence  of  the  un- 
seen and  unknown.  Anything  unusual  or  incongruous  might 
produce  the  feeling.  "The  cry  of  howlets  maks  me  eerie,''''  says 
Tannahill.  The  following  anecdote  illustrates  the  feeling  when  a 
thing  unusual  or  incongruous  is  presented  : — An  Ayrshire  farmer 
who  had  visited  Ireland,  among  other  uncos  he  had  seen,  related 
that  he  went  to  the  Episcopal  Church  there,  and  this  being  the  first 
time  he  had  ever  heard  the  English  service,  he  was  startled  by  seeing 
a  falla'come  in  with  a  long  white  sark  on,  down  to  his  heels;  "Lord 
sir,  the  sicht  o'  him  made  me  quite  eerie.'" — R.  D. 

EitJi,  easy — etymology  uncertain,  but  neither  (xaelic, 
Flemish,  nor  German  : — 

It's  eith  defending  a  castle  that's  no  besieged. 
It's  eith  learning  the  cat  the  way  to  the  kirn. 
Eith  learned,  soon  forgotten. 
It's  eith  working  when  the  will's  at  hame. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs, 


78  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Eke,  to  add  to ;  an  addition  ;  ''  eik  to  a  testament," 
a  codicil  to  a  will. — This  English  word  has  acquired  a 
convivial  meaning  in  Scotland  among  toddy-drinkers. 
When  a  guest  is  about  to  depart,  after  having  had  a  fair 
allowance  of  whisky,  the  host  presses  him  to  "  take  an 
eke  " — i.e.,  another  glass,  to  eke  out  the  quantity.  "  I 
hate  intemperance,"  said  a  northern  magistrate  who  was 
reproached  by  an  ultra  temperance  advocate  for  the 
iniquity  of  his  trade  as  a  distiller,  "  But  I  like  to  see 
a  cannie,  respectable,  honest  man,  tak  his  sax  tumblers 
and  an  eke  in  the  bosom  of  his  family,  but  I  canna  thole 
intemperance  ! " 

Eldritch,  fearful,  terrible.  Jamieson  has  this  word 
elrische,  and  thinks  it  is  related  to  elves  or  evil  spirits, 
and  that  it  is  derived  from  two  Anglo-Saxon  words  signi- 
fying elf,  and  rich, — or  rich  in  elves  or  fairies  !  The  true 
derivation  is  from  the  Gaelic  oillt,  terror,  dread,  horror, 
which  combined  with  droch,  bad,  wicked, — formed  the 
word  as  Burns  and  other  Scottish  writers  use  it  : — 

On  the  eldritch  hill  there  grows  a  thorn. 

— Si/r  Carline :  Percy's  Reliqiies. 

The  witches  follow 
Wi'  mony  an  eldritch  screech  and  hollow. 

— Burns  :   Tam  o'  Shunter. 

I've  heard  my  reverend  grannie  say, 
In  lonely  glens  ye  like  to  stray  ; 
Or  where  auld  ruined  castles  gray 

Nod  lu  the  moon, 
To  fright  the  nightly  wanderer's  cry 

Wi'  eldritch  croon. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 


OF   THE    SCOITISH    LANGUAGE.  79 


Ettk,  to  try,  to  attempt,  to  endeavour : — 

For  Nannie  far  before  the  rest 
Hard  upon  noble  Maggie  prest, 
And  flew  at  Tarn  wi'  furious  ettle, 
But  little  wist  she  Maggie's  metal. 

— Burns  :   Tarn  0'  Shanter. 

I  ettled  wi'  kindness  to  soften  her  pride. 

— ^James  Ballantine  :  The  Way  to  Woo. 

They  that  ettk  to  get  to  the  top  of  the  ladder  will  at  least  get  up 
some  rounds. — They  that  tnint  at  a  gown  of  gold  will  always  get  a 
sleeve  of  it. — Scott  :  The  Monastery. 

Ettle.  The  correct  synonyms  are,  to  intend,  to  expect,  to  aim  at. 
Intention  is  the  essential  element  in  the  meaning  of  this  word, — 
R.  D. 


Ewe-bucht,  a  sheep  fold.  Buchtin\  or  bughtin'-t\me^ 
the  evening  time,  or  gloaming,  when  the  cattle  are 
driven  into  the  fold  : — 

When  o'er  the  hill  the  eastern  star 

Tells  bughtM -iinie  is  near,  my  Joe  ; 
And  owsen  frae  the  furrow'd  field, 

Returns  sae  dowf  and  wearie,  O. 

— Burns  :  My  ain  kind  dearie,  0. 

Oh,  the  broom,  the  bonnie,  bonnie  broom, 

The  broom  o'  the  Cowden  knowes  ! 
And  aye  sae  sweet  as  the  lassie  sang, 

In  the  ewe-bucht  milking  her  ewes. 

— The  Biootn  0'  the  Cowden  Knowes. 

The  word  bught  seems  to  be  an  abbreviation  of  the 
Gaelic  buaigheal,  a  cow-stall ;  and  buaichaille,  a  cowherd, 
^  shepherd  ;   buaile,  a  fold  ;  buailte,  folded,  or  driven 


8o  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

into  the  fold.     Jamieson  goes  to  Germany  for  the  root  of 
the  word,  and  does  not  find  it. 

Eydent,  diligent,  earnest,  zealous ;  from  the  Gaelic 
eud,  zeal  : — 

My  fair  child, 
Persuade  the  kirkmen  eydently  to  pray. 

— The  Lion  and  the  Mouse,  by  Henrysone. 
Allan  Ramsay  :  Evergreen. 

Their  masters'  and  their  mistress'  command 

The  youngsters  a'  were  warned  to  obey, 
An'  mind  their  labours  wi'  an  eydent  hand. 

— Burns  ;  Cottar's  Saturday  Alight. 

Eyrie,  an  eagle's  nest, — from  the  Gaelic  eirich,  to  rise ; 
and  eirtghy  a  rising  : — 

The  eagle  and  the  stork 

On  cliffs  and  cedar  tops  their  eyries  build. 

—Milton. 

'Tis  the  fire  shower  of  ruin  all  dreadfully  driven 
From  his  eyrie  that  beacons  the  darkness  of  heaven. 

■ — Campbell  :  LochieVs  Warning. 

Eytyn,  Etyn,  Etaine,  Aden,  Rcd-Aiten.  This  word  with 
its  different  but  not  unsimilar  spellings,  appears  to  be  a 
corruption  of  the  "^oxse  foiiinn,  a  giant.  It  was  formerly 
used  in  England  as  well  as  in  Scotland.  Ilynde  Etyti, 
or  the  gentle  giant,  is  the  title  of  a  Scottish  Ballad  in 
Kinloch's  Collection. 

They  say  the  king  of  Portugal  cannot  sit  at  his  meat,  but  the 
giants  and  etyns  will  come  and  snatch  it  from  him. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher  ;  Burning  Pestle. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  8 1 

FcC.  The  Scottish  abbreviation  oifall.  The  word  is 
used  by  Burns  in  the  immortal  song  of  "A  man's  a 
man  for  a'  that "  in  a  sense  which  has  given  rise  to  much 
doubt  as  to  its  meaning  : — 


A  king  can  mak'  a  belted  knight, 
A  marquis,  duke,  and  a'  that  ; 

But  an  honest  man's  aboon  his  might, 
Gude  faith,  he  mauna  fa   that. 


The  context  would  seem  to  imply  that  fa  means  to  try, 
to  attempt.  No  author  except  Burns  uses  the  word  in 
this  sense  ;  and  none  of  the  varieties  of  words  in  which 
fall  or  the  act  of  fallings  either  physically  or  metaphoric- 
ally, is  the  primary  meaning,  meets  the  necessities  of 
Burns's  stanza.  Halliwell  has  fay  as  an  archaic 
English  word,  with  five  different  meanings,  of  which  the 
fourth  is  to  succeed,  to  act,  to  work.  The  fd  of  Burns 
may  possibly  be  a  variety  of  the  English  word,  current 
in  Ayrshire  in  his  time.     It  finds  no  place  in  Jamieson. 

Burns  did  not  originate  the  idea  so  well  expressed, 
and  to  which  he  has  given  such  wide  currency.  It 
is  to  be  found  in  Pope,  and  in  an  anecdote  recorded 
of  King  James  VL  and  his  faithful  old  nurse,  who 
came  uninvited  from  Edinburgh  to  pay  him  a  visit. 
It  is  told  that  the  king  was  delighted  to  see  her,  and 
asked  her  kindly  what  he  could  do  for  her.  After  some 
hesitation,  she  replied  that  she  desired  nothing  for  her- 
self, only  that  she  wanted  his  majesty  to  make  her  son  a 
gentleman.  "Ah,  Jeanie,  Jeanie  ! "  said  the  king,  "I 
can  mak'  him  a  duke,  if  ye  like  ;  but  I  canna  mak'  him 
a  gentleman  unless  he  mak's  himsel'  ane  !  " 

F 


POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Fairdy,  clever,  tight,  handy  ;  lair  to  do  : — 

With  ane  ev'n  keel  before  the  wind, 
She  is  right yJz/;-;/)'  with  a  sail. 

The  Fleming  Bark — belonging  to  Edinburgh. 
— Allan  Ramsay  :   The  Evergreen. 


Fairin\  reward,  one's  deserts.  Fair  fa' !  may  good,  or 
fair  things,  befall  you  !  is  equivalent  to  a  benison  or  bene- 
diction : — 

Fair  fa'  your  honest,  sonsie  face, 
Great  chieftain  o'  the  puddin'  race. 

— Burns  :    To  a  Haggis. 

Ah,  Tarn  !  ah,  Tarn  !  thou'lt  get  thy/airin' — 
In  hell  they'll  roast  thee  like  a  herrin'. 

— Burns  :   Ta//!  o'  Shanter. 

Fash,  to  bother,  to  worry,  to  distress  one's  self — from 
the  French  sefacher,  to  be  angry. 
Fashions,  troublesome  : — 

Speak  out,  and  wos&x fash  your  thumb. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Fazard,  dastard,  coward  : — 

They  are  mair  fashious  nor  of  feck, 
\on  fazards  durst  not,  for  their  neck, 
Climb  up  the  crag  with  us. 

— Montgomery  :    77/^  Cherry  and  the  Slae. 

The  root  of  this  word  would  apjjear  to  be  the  Gaelic 

fas,  vacant,  hollow,  good-for-nothing — with  the  addition 

of  ard,  as  in   dasterra'    coward,  wizard,  a  suffix  which 

signifies  eminent,  in  a  high  degree.       Thus,  fazard  or 

fasard,  means  worthless  in  the  extreme. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  83 

Feck^  power,  activity,  vigour.  Feck  seems  to  be 
derivable  for  the  Gaelic  yft7(r//,  worth,  value.  Feckful^  full 
of  power.  Feckless^  without  power  or  vigour  of  body 
or  mind.  Worcester,  in  his  dictionary,  derives  this  word 
from  effectless  ! — 


Many  z.feckfid  chield  this  day  was  slain. 

— Blind  Harry's  Wallace. 


The  lazy  luxury  which  feckless  loons  indulge  in. 

—Scott. 

Feckless  folk  are  aye  fain  o'  ane  anither. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Poor  devil,  see  him  o'er  his  trash, 
As  feckless  as  a  withered  rash  ! 

— Burns  :   To  a  Haggis. 


Fend,  to  ward  off — probably  a  contraction  from  defend. 
Fend  also  means  to  provide,  to  live  comfortably — possibly 
from  the  idea  of  warding  off  want  or  poverty  : — 

Can  she  mak  nae  better  fend  for  them  than  that  ? — Scott :  The 
Monastery. 

But  gie  them  guid  coo-milk  their  fill, 
Till  they  be  fit  iofend  themsel'. 

— Burns  :  Dying  Words  of  Poor  Mailie. 

Here  stands  a  shed  to  fend  the  showers, 
And  screen  our  countra  gentry. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 


84  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Fendy,  clever  at  contrivances  in  difificulty,  good  at 
making  a  shift  : — 

Alice,  he  said,  was  both  canny  zir\il  fcndy.  —  Scott  :    IJ''az'cr/c\r. 

Ferlie^  a  wonder,  to  wonder,  wonderful : — 

Who  barkened  ever  slike  ■3,fcrlie  thing. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Reeve's  Tale. 

On  Malvern  hills 

Me  befel  a  ferly. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

Never  breathe  out  of  kin  and  make  your  friends /tv-/;'  at  you. 
The  longer  we  live  the  more  ferlies  we  see. — Allan  Ramsay's 
Scots  Proverbs. 

And  tell  what  new  taxation's  comin, 
AnA/erlic  at  the  folk  in  Lunnan. 

— Burns  :   The  7wa  Dogs. 

Ferlie  and  Wonner.  In  this  phrase  wonner  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  English  wonder ;  a  contemptuous  and 
ludicrous  term  to  designate  a  person  or  thing  that  is 
strangely,  wondrously  ugly,  ill-favoured,  or  mean  ;  almost 
synonymous  with  the  modern  English  slang — a  gi/y  or 
a  ci/}-e.      Burns  uses  both  words  in  tlic  same  poem  : — 

Ha  I  where  ye  gaun  ye  crawlin'  ferlie, 
Vc  ugly,  creejiin",  blnstit  n'oiincr. 
Detested,  shunned  by  saint  and  sinner  ? 

To  a  Certain  Insect,  oti  seeing  one  on  a 
Lad^s  Potiiict  at  Church. 

Ferrikie.  jamicson  cites  this  as  an  Upper  C-lydes- 
dale  word  for  "strong,  robust."  He  derives  it 
from  the  German  ferig,  which  he  translates  expediius, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  85 

alacer ;  but  there  is  no  such  word  as  ferig  in  the  Ger- 
man language.  It  is  more  i)robably  from  the  GaeUc/^ar, 
a  man,  feamcJias,  manhood,  and  fearail,  manly,  virile, 
strong,  lusty.  The  Welsh  has  ffer^  solid,  strong, — a 
related  Celtic  word. 

Feu,  to  let  land  for  building,  a  possession  held  on  pay- 
ment of  a  certain  rent  to  the  heritor,  or  owner  of  the  soil. 
Where  the  English  advertise  "  land  to  let  for  building 
purposes,"  the  Scotch  more  tersely  say  "land  to  feu." 

There  is,  or  was  lately,  a  space  of  unoccupied  ground  on  the 
"corran"  at  Oban,  contiguous  to  Dunolly  Castle,  in  the  midst  of 
which  on  a  pole  was  a  l^oard  inscribed  "This  land  to/irw."  An 
English  bishop  on  his  holiday  tour  having  observed  the  announce- 
ment, and  wondering  what  it  meant,  turned  to  his  wife  and  asked  her 
if  she  knew?  She  did  not,  and  the  bishop  thereupon  hazarded  the 
conjecture  that  it  meant  to  '-fire,"  from  the  French /«/.  "Very 
likely,"  replied  the  lady,  "  to  burn  the  grass."  Before  the  bishop 
left  Oban  his  ignorance  on  the  subject  was  dispelled  by  a  guest  at 
the  table  d'  hotc  of  the  hotel  to  whom  he  applied  for  information. 
"Curious  language,  the  Scotch!"  was  his  lordship's  rejoinder. — 
C.  N. 


Fey,  fated,  bewitched,  unlucky,  doomed  ;  one  whose  fate 
is  foreknown  or  prophesied  : 

Let  the  fate  fall  upon  \\\<tf€ycst. 

Take  care  of  the  man  that  Clod  has  marked,  for  he's  no  fey, 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

We'll  turn  again,  said  good  I^ord  John, 

But  no,  said  Rothiemay, 
My  stead's  trapanned,  ray  bridle's  broke, 

I  fear  this  day  I'm  fey. 

— Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border, 


86  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


They  hacked  and  hacked  while  hroad-swords  clashed, 
And  through  they  dashed,  and  hashed,  and  smashed, 
Till/n-j'  men  died  ava,  man. 

—  77/6'  Battle  of  Sheriffmuir. 


Fidgin'' 'fain,  extremely  anxious ;  ixom.  Jidgc,  the  English 
fidget,   to  be  restless,   or  anxious ;  and  faiJi,  willing,   or 
desirous. 

It  pal  x\\Q fidgiit'' -fai II  to  hear  it. 

—  T'urns  :  Epistle  to  Lapraik. 


Fiel.  The  glossaries  to  Burns  explain  this  word  to 
mean  "  smooth  and  comfortable,"  apparently  from  the 
context : — 

Oh,  leeze  me  on  my  spinnin'  wheel, 
Frae  tap  to  tae  that  deeds  me  clean, 
And  haps  iwejui  and  warm  at  e'en  ! 

— Bess  and  her  Spinnitig  IVlieel. 

Jamieson,  who  has  fcil  and  fiel,  defines  the  words  to 
mean  "  soft  and  smooth  like  velvet,  silky  to  the  touch, 
and  also  clean,  neat,  comfortable."  The  word  must  not 
be  confounded  with  feil,  fielll,  fiele,  which  signify  much, 
many,  and  very,  and  are  clearly  derivable  from  the  Teu- 
tonic viel,  which  has  the  same  meaning; — as  viel gelt,  much 
money.  Jamieson  derives  the  word  used  by  Burns  as 
from  the  Icelandic  felldr,  habitis  idorem,  but  this  is  ex- 
ceedingly doubtful.  'I1ic  Gaelic  has  fial,  generous, 
liberal,  beautiful,  good,  liospitable  ;  and  possibly  it  is  in 
this  sense  that  Bess  applies  the  word  to  the  spinnin' 
wheel  that  provides  her  with  raiment. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  87 


Fient,  none,  not  a  particle  of;  equivalent  to  "the  devil 
a  bit,"  ixoxw  fiend,  the  devil  ;  Fieiit-hait,  not  an  iota,  the 
devil  a  bit : — 

But  though  he  was  o'  high  degree, 
Theyftv?,^  o'  pride — nae  pride  had  he. 

— Burns  :  The  Tiva  Dogs. 

The  queerest  shape  that  e'er  I  saw, 
Yorfieiit  a  wame  it  had  ava  ! 

— Burns  :  Dcatli  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Fient  haet  o't  wad  hae  pierced  the  heart 

Of  a  kail  runt.  — ^\\xx\%  :  Idem. 


Fiere,  a  friend,  a  comrade.  This  word  is  supposed  by 
some  to  be  a  misprint  iox  frere,  a  brother  : — 

And  here's  a  hand  my  trusty  //Vr^, 
And  gi'es  a  hand  o'  thine. 

— Burns  :  Attld  Langsyne. 

This  word  may  either  be  a  synonym  for  the  Latin  vir, 
and  the  Gaelic y^rtr,  a  man,  or  may  be  derived  from  fior, 
true,  or  a  true  man.  The  Scottish  poet  Douglas  has  fior, 
for  sound  and  healthy.     It  is  sometimes  spelt  feer. 

Flamfoo.  According  to  Jamieson,  this  word  signifies 
a  gaudily-dressed  woman,  or  any  gaudy  ornament  of  female 
dress.  He  derives  it  from  an  alleged  old  English  word 
meaning  "  moonshine  in  the  water  !  "  It  seems,  how- 
ever, to  come  from  the  Gaelic  yZi^/z?/,  corrupted  \rsX.o  flam, 
red,  the  showy  colour  so  much  admired  by  people  of  un- 
educated taste;  conjoined  with  the  Scottish  fu\  for  full. 
The  English  word  flaunting,  and  the  phrase,  ^^ flaunts" 
fiery  red  ribbons,  are  from  the  same  root. 


88  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

Flannen,  the  Scottish  as  well  as  the  English  vernacular 
iox  fiannel.  Flajinen  seems  to  be  preferable  io  JIannel  :is 
the  correct  pronunciation  of  the  word.  Both  are  correct, 
if  the  etymology  be  correct,  which  traces  the  word  to  the 
Gaelic  JIan?i,  red,  and  ola?ni,  wool.  In  the  early  ages  of 
civilzation,  when  wool  was  first  woven  for  garments  to 
clothe  mankind,  the  favourite  colours  were  red  and  yel- 
low. In  Hakluyt's  Voyages,  it  is  said — "  By  chance  they 
met  a  canoe  of  Dominicans,  to  the  people  whereof  he 
gave  a  waistcoat  oi  yellow  flannel."  Probably  red  was 
the  first  dye  used  ;  whence  flann-olann,  red  wool.  At  an 
after  time,  when  gaudy  colours  were  not  so  much  in  request, 
the  wool  was  bleached ;  whence  blanket,  or  blanquette, 
whitened. 


I  wadna  been  surprized  to  spy 

Vou  on  an  auld  \\\[€?,  flannen  toy  (cap), 

Or  aiblins  some  bit  duddie  boy, 

On's  wylie  coat ; 
But  Miss's  fine  Lunardi,  fy  ! 
How  daur  ye  do't? 

—  Hums  :   To  a  Louse,  07t  seeing  one  on  a 
Lady^s  Bonnet  at  Church. 


Flaiicht  ox  JJaiiglit,  a  flash  of  liglitning,  a  sudden  blaze 
in  the  sky.  From  the  Flemish  Jlakkeren  and  flUzkerin, 
to  flicker,  to  shine  out  quickly  or  instantaneously  : — 

The  thunder  crack'd,  m\(S.  flauchts  did  rifl 
Frae  the  black  vizard  o'  the  lift. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :   The  Vision. 

Fierce  as  ony  fire- flaught  fell. 

— Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Grectt. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  89 

Fleech  or  fleich,  to  pet,  to  wheedle,  to  cajole ;  also,  to 
entreat  or  supjilicate  with  fair  words.  A  fleechbig  day  is 
a  day  that  promises  to  be  fine,  but  that  possibly  may  not 
turn  out  so  :— 

Dxxwcd.xs.  Jleeched  and  Duncan  prayed — 

Ha  !  ha  !  the  wooin'  o't. 

— Burns. 

Expect  na,  sir,  in  this  narration, 
h.flccchiu\  flatterin'  dedication. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Gavin  Hamilton. 

Hoot  !  toot !  man — keep  a  cahn  sough.  Better  to  Jleech  a  fool 
than  fight  wi'  him.  —Scott  :    Tlic  Monastery. 

Fleer,  a  gibe,  a  taunt — etymology  doubtful.  The 
Flemish  \\<!i%  fleers,  a  box  on  the  ear  : — 

oh,  (hnna  ye  mind  o'  this  veryyf^r^r, 
When  we  were  a'  riggit  out  to  gang  to  Sherramuir, 
Wi'  stanes  in  our  aprons  ? 

—  "Jltc  Threatened  Invasion  :  Cliaiiibcrs's  Seottish 
Ballads. 

Fley,  to  scare,  to  frighten.  Etymology  unknown,  but 
possibly  from  flee,  to  run  away  for  fear,  whence  fley,  to 
cause  to  run  away  for  fear,  to  frighten  : — 

A  wee  thing  fleys  cowards. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

It  spak  right  howe  —  My  name  is  Death, 
But  be  na'  flefd. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Flichter,  to  flutter,  to  fly  feebly.  FlicJiter,  a  great 
number  of  small  objects  flying  in  the  air;  as,  '"'- :\.  flichter 
of  birds  "  :—  ■ 


90  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


The  hird  maun  ilictitcr  thai  has  l)ut  ae  wing. 

— Allan  Ramsa}''s  Scots.  Proverbs. 

The  expectant  wee  things,  todlin',  sprachle  through, 
Tu  meet  their  dad  vi'i^  Jlichteritt'  noise  and  glee. 

— Burns  :  Cottar'' s  Sattirday  Night. 

Floaii,  to  flirt.  Janiieson  says  that  '■'■  fioaii  means  to 
show  attachment,  or  court  regard  in  an  indiscreet  way," 
and  derives  the  word  from  the  Icelandic  flcm,  stolidus. 
Is  it  not  rather  from  the  old  English  7?^;/^',  arrows  {Halli- 
wcll  and  Wright),  whence  metaphorically  to  dart  glances 
from  the  eye,  and  consequently  to  flirt,  or  cast  amorous 
looks  ?  The  Kymric  Celtic  hasj^f^//,  a  splinter,  a  thin 
wand,  an  arrow. 

And  for  yon  giglet  hussies  i'  the  glen, 
That  night  and  day  vitejloaning  at  the  men. 

— Ross's  Hckiiorc. 

Flunkey,  a  servant  in  livery;  metaphorically  applied 
to  a  person  who  abjectly  flatters  the  great.  The  word 
was  unknown  to  literature  until  the  time  of  Burns. 
Thackeray  and  Carlyle  in  our  own  day  have  made 
it  classical  English,  although  the  most  recent  lexico: 
graphers  have  not  admitted  it  or  its  derivative, 7?«;//('<y7>-'-'^ 
to  the  honours  of  the  dictionary  : — 

Our  laird  gets  in  his  racked  rents, 

He  rises  when  he  likes  himsel', 
H'Kjlunkcys  ansWer  to  his  bell. 

— Burns  :    77ie  T-wa  Dogs. 

The  word  is  supjjosed  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic 
/lann,  red,  and  cas,  a  leg  or  foot ;  red-legs,  applied  to  the 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  9 1 

red  or  crimson  plush  breeches  of  footmen.  The  word 
red-shanks  was  appUed  to  the  kilted  Highlanders  by 
the  English,  and  hence  the  Highland  retort  of  flunkey 
to  the  English. 

I  think  this  derivation  wrong,  vlonk  in  Danish  signifies  proud, 
haughty. — Lord  Neaves.  [I  cannot  find  vlonk  or  flonk  in  the 
Danish  Dictionaries. — C.  AL] 

Fogie,  a  dull,  slow  man,  unable  or  unwilling  to  re- 
concile himself  to  the  ideas  and  manners  of  the  new 
generation. — The  derivation  of  this  word,  which  Thacke- 
ray did  much  to  popularise  in  England,  is  uncertain, 
though  it  seems  most  probable  that  it  coines  from 
"foggy,"  for  a  foggy,  misty,  hazy  intellect,  unable  to  see 
the  things  that  are  obvious  to  clearer  minds ;  or  it  may 
be  from  the  Gaelic y^^W;r,  an  exile,  a  banished  man.  In 
the  United  States  the  word  is  generally  applied  to  ultra- 
Conservative  in  politics  : — 

Aye  though  we  be 

0\A.  fogies  three, 
We're  not  so  dulled  as  not  to  dine  ; 

And  not  so  old 

As  to  be  cold 
To  wit,  to  beauty,  and  to  wine. 

— All  the  Year  Round. 

Forbye,  besides,  in  addition  to,  over  and  above.  For- 
hye  good,  more  than  usually  good  : — 

Forbye  sax  mae  I  sel't  awa. 

— Burns  :  A^tld  Farmer. 

Forbye  some  new  uncommon  weapons. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 


92  POETRY     AND     HUMOUR 

Forfoughteii.,  worn  out  in  the  strife,  or  with  stniggling 
or  fatigtie  : — 


'o*- 


And  ihougli  foijoiti^hlcii  sair  eneugh, 
Vel  unco  proiul  to  leave. 

— liiirns. 


Forgather,  to  meet  :- 


Twa  d<>t;s 

/'ormt/iertd  ivnc^i  iipnii  a  time. 


lUiins  :    7'//('  T-iva  Dogs. 


Fo2c,  drunk,  is  generally  supposed  to  be  a  corruption 
oifidl  (i.e.,  of  liquor),  but  if  such  were  the  fact  the  word 
ought  to  be  contracted  into  ///',  as  wae///',  sorrow/^', 
which  cannot  be  written  wae/rw  or  •iowowfoii.  Foil, 
in  l'>ench.  .signifies  stui)id,  insane,  a  word  that  might 
be  applied  to  an  into.xicated  person  ;  but  if  the  Scot- 
tish phrase  be  not  derived  from  the  French,  it  ought 
to  be  written  ///',  and  not  fan.  Possibly  the  root  of  the 
word  is  the  (^ZlqX\c  fuath  (pronounced //a/),  which  signifies 
hatred,  abhorrence,  aversion, — whence  it  may  have  been 
applied  to  a  person  in  a  hateful  and  abhorrent  state  of 
drunkenness.  This,  however,  is  a  mere  suggestion. 
Jamieson  has_/^7C'iW//,  filthy,  impure,  obscene. 

We  are  na'  /oi/,  we're  na  that  /"(JW, 
We've  just  a  wee  drap  in  our  e"e. 

— Burns  :    JVillic  braved  a  Peel;  o'  Maut. 


Fouth  or  Rimit/i,  abundance.      Foitf/i  is  from /////,  on 
the  .same  |)rinrij)le  as  the  English  words  //////  from  ////, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  93 

Spilth  from  spill ^  youth  from  youngeth,  groivth  from  gnno, 
drouth  from  dryeih.  Roivth  has  the  same  signification, 
and  is  from  roiv  or  roll,  to  flow  on  Uke  a  stream. 

He  has  z.fowth  o'  auld  knick-knackets, 
Rusty  aim  caps  and  pinglin'  jackets — 

— Burns  :  To  Captain  Grose. 

Rowth  is  often  used  iox  fonth. 

They  that  hae  rowth  o'  butter,  may  lay  it  thick  on  their  scones. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Fremiti  Franimit,  strange,  unrelated,  unfamiliar — from 
the  Teutonic /r^w^,  foreign  : — 

Ye  hae  lien  a'  wrang,  lassie, 
In  an  unco  bed, 
Wi'  ■\fre7nit  man. 

— Burns. 

And  mony  a  friend  that  kissed  his  caup, 

Is  now  Tiframmit  wight, 
But  it's  ne'er  sae  wi'  Whisky  Jean. 

— Burns  :   TJie  Five  Carlins. 

Frist.,  to  delay,  to  give  credit — from  the  Teutonic 
fristeti,  to  spare,  to  respite-: — 

The  thing  iha.i'sfristcd  is  nae  forgi'en. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Fttrth,  out-of-doors,  to  go  forth,  to  go  out.  The 
miickle  furth.,  is  the  full  open  air.  Fiirthy,  forward, 
frank,  Iree,  affable,  open  in  behaviour.  Fiirth-setter^  one 
who  sets  forth  or  puts  forth,  a  publisher,  an  author  : — 


94  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Sir  Penny  is  of  a  noble  spreit, 

A/uri/iy  man,  and  a  far  seeand, 
Tliere  is  no  matter  ends  compleit 

Till  he  set  to  his  sell  and  hand. 

A  Panegyrick  on  Sir  Penny :  The  Everp-eeti. 


Fusionless,  pithless,  silly,  sapless,  senseless ;  corrupted 
from  "  foison,"  the  old  English  word  for  plenty  : — 

For  seven  lang  years  I  ha'e  lain  by  his  side, 
And  he's  but  a  fusionless  bodie,  O  ! 

— Burns  :    The  Deuk's  dang  o'er  my  Daddie, 

The  mouths  of  fasting  multitudes  are  crammed  viV  Jizzenless  bran, 
instead  of  the  sweet  word  in  season. — Scott  :   Old  Mortality. 

Fushionless.  In  Bailey's  Dictionary  the  word  Foison  means  ' '  the 
natural  juice  or  moisture  of  the  grass  or  other  herbs,  the  heart  and 
strength  of  it  ;"  used  in  "  Suffolk."— R.  D. 

Fy !  or  Fyc !  This  exclamation  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  English  ^^.'  or  oh,fyeI  or  the  Teutonic 
pfuif  which  are  used  as  mild  reproofs  of  any  act  of  shame 
or  impropriety  : — 

Fy  !  let  us  a*  to  the  bridal, 

For  there  will  be  lilting  there, 
For  Jock's  to  be  married  to  Jcanie, 

The  lass  wi'  the  gowden  hair. 

—  Old  Song. 

In  this  old  song,  all  the  in(  idents  and  allusions  are 
expressive  of  joy  and  hilarity.  Jamicson  suggests  that^' 
means  "make  haste!"  ^- Fye-^ae-io"  he  says,  "means 
much  ado,  a  great  hurry ,   and  /ye  haste,  a  very  great 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  95 

bustle,  a  hurry."  He  gives  no  derivation.  As  the 
Teutonic  cannot  supply  one,  it  is  possible  that  the  root 
is  the  Gaelic  faic,  look  !  behold  !  lo  !  in  which  sense 
"^'/  let  us  a'  to  the  bridal,"  might  be  translated  "Look 
ye !  let  us  all  go  to  the  bridal." 


Fyke^  to  be  ludicrously  and  fussily  busy  about  trifles, 
to  be  restless  without  adequate  reason — akin  to  fidgety 
which  is  possibly  from  the  same  root.  The  word  is  also 
used  as  a  noun. 


Some  drowsy  bummle, 
Wha  can  do  nought  \:>\x\.fykc  and  fumble. 

— Burns  :  On  a  Scotch  Bard. 


He  held  a  great  fyke  wi'  her. 

— ^Jamieson. 


Fiddle-fyke  and  Fiddle-ma-fyke,  are  intensifications  of 
the  meaning,  and  imply  contempt  for  the  petty  trifling 
of  the  person  who  fykes  : — 

Gin  he  'bout  Norie  lesser  fyke  had  made. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

Weening  that  ane  sae  bra\v  and  gentle-like 
For  nae  guid  ends  was  makin'  sic  z.fyke. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 


Gaberlunzie,  a  wallet  or  bag  carried  by  beggars  for 
collecting  in  kind  the  gifts  of  the  charitable ;  whence 
gaberlunzie-man,  a  beggar  : — 


96  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


Oh,  blithe  be  the  auld  gaberlunzic-man, 

Wi'  his  wallet  o'  wit  he  fills  the.  Ian', 

He's  a  warm  Scotch  heart,  and  a  braid  Scotch  tongue, 

And  kens  a'  the  auld  sangs  that  ever  were  sung  ! 

— James  Ballantine. 

Much  research  and  ingenuity  have  been  exercised  to 
find  the  etymological  origin  of  this  peculiarly  Scottish 
word.  Jamieson  says  that  gaberlicnzie,  or  gaberlunyie, 
means  a  beggar's  bag,  or  wallet,  and  implies  that  the  word 
has   been  transferred  from  the  bag  to  the  bearer  of  it. 

Gale^  to  sing,  whence  nightingale,  the  bird  that  sings 
by  night,  unknown  in  Scotland  : — 

In  May  the  gowk  (cuckoo)  begins  to  gale. 
In  May  deer  draw  to  down  and  dale. 

In  May  men  mell  with  feminie, 
And  ladies  meet  their  lovers  leal, 

When  Phebus  is  in  gemini. 

Allan  Ramsay  :    Tiic  Evergreen. 

Gale  is  usually  derived  from  the  Teutonic,  in  which 
language,  however,  it  only  exists  in  the  single  word  iiachti- 
gall.  Jamieson  refers  it  to  the  Swedish  gall.,  (S'^^l^)'  ^ 
sharp,  penetrating,  or  piercing  sound.  Probably,  how- 
ever, it  is  akin  to  the  Gaelic  guil,  to  lament,  and  giiileag, 
that  which  sings  or  warbles  ;  and  a  gale  of  wind  to  the 
Kymric  or  Welsh,  galar,  mourning,  lamentation  ;  galer, 
(galu),  to  rail,  to  invoke  ;  and  galaries,  mournful,  sad, 
so  called  because  of  the  whistling,  piping  sound  (jf  a 
storm. 

Gang,  gae,  gaed,  gale.  These  words,  that  are  scarcely 
retained  even  in  colloqual  English,  do  constant  duty  in 
the    Lowland   Scotch  ;    they  are   all    derived  from    the 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  97 

Flemish.  Gang  and  gae  are  the  English  go  ;  gaed  is  the 
English  tvent,  and  gate  is  the  road  or  way  by  which  one 
goes.  Gang  your  ain  gate,  means  go  your  own  road,  or 
have  your  own  way.  The  English  gate  signifying  a  door- 
way, a  barred,  or  defended  entrance,  is  a  relic  of  the  older 
and  more  extended  meaning  of  the  Scotch : — 


I  gaed  a  vvoful  gate  yestreen, 
Agate  I  lear  I'll  dearly  rue. 


-Burns. 


Gangrcl,  vagrant,  vagabond  wandering  ;  from  gang,  to 

go:— 

Ae  night  at  e'en,  a  merry  core 

Of  randie  gangrel  bodies 
At  Posie  Nansie's  held  the  splore. 

— Burns  :   Thejoily  Beggars. 

This  word  is  sometimes  employed  to  designate  a  young 
child  who  is  first  beginning  to  walk. 

Garraivery.  This  curious  word  signifies,  according  to 
Jamieson,  "folly  and  revelling,  of  a  frolicsome  kind." 
He  thinks  it  is  evidently  corrupted  from  "gilravery  "  and 
"gilravage,"  which  are  words  of  a  similar  meaning. 
Gilravage  he  defines  as,  "to  hold  a  merry  meeting 
with  noise  and  riot."  He  attempts  no  etymology.  It 
seems,  however,  that  ga7-raivery  is  akin  to  the  French 
charivari,  or  the  loud,  discordant  uproar  of  what  in 
England  is  called  "  marrow  bones  and  cleavers,"  when  a 
gang  of  rough  people  show  their  displeasure  by  seren- 
ading an  unpopular  person — -such,  for  instance,  as  a  very 
old  man  who  has  married  a  very  young  wife — by  beating 
bones  against  butchers'  axes  and  cleavers,  or  by  rittUng 
pokers  and  shovels  against  iron  pots  and  pans  under  his 

G 


98  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

windows,  so  as  to  create  a  painful  and  discordant  noise. 
The  word  and  the  custom  are  both  of  Celtic  origin,  and 
are  derived  from  the  Gaelic  garbh,  rough  ;  and  bairich  or 
bhairich^  any  obstreperous  and  disagreeable  noise ;  also, 
the  lowing,  roaring,  or  routing  of  cattle.  The  initial  ^or 
c  of  the  Gaelic  is  usually  softened  into  the  English  and 
French  ch,  as  the  k  in  y^irk  becomes  ch  in  the  English 
church,  and  the  Italian  caro  becomes  cher  in  French. 

Gash,  sagacious,  talkative.  Jamieson  defines  the  word, 
as  a  verb,  "to  talk  much  in  a  confident  way,  to  talk 
freely  and  fluently  ;  "  and  as  an  adjective  —  "  shrewd, 
sagacious."  It  seems  derivable  from  the  Gaelic  gais 
(pronounced  gash),  a  torrent,  an  overflow  ;  the  English 
gush, — i.e.,  an  overflow  or  torrent  of  words,  and  hence  by 
extension  of  meaning  applied  to  one  who  has  much  to 
say  on  every  subject ;  eloquent,  or,  in  an  inferior  sense, 
loquacious : — 

He  was  a  gash  and  faithful  tyke. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Here  farmers  gash  in  ridin'  graith. 

— Burns  :    The  Holy  Fair. 


In  comes  a  gaucie  gash  good  wife, 
And  sits  down  by  the  fire. 


Idem. 


As  I  have  heard  this  word  used,  it  has  the  meaning  of  good- 
looking,  and  showing  by  action  that  the  possessor  of  the  good  looks 
knows  it. — R.  D. 


Gaucie,  jolly,  brisk,  lively  : — 

\M\%  gaucie  tail  in  upward  curl. 

— Burns  :    The  Twa  Dogs. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  99 


In  comes  a  gaucie  gash  good  wife, 
And  sits  down  by  the  fire. 

— Burns  :    The  Holy  Fair. 

Gaucie,  big,  of  large  dimensions  ;  jolly,  perhaps.  It  has  almost 
the  same  meaning  as  gash,  with  the  additional  idea  of  size  ;  very 
like  the  English  use  of  the  word  jolly — a  jolly  lot— a  jolly  pudding, 
&c.      The  Scotch  use  gaucie  in  precisely  the  same  way. — R.  D. 

Gaud,  a  bar,  the  shaft  of  a  plough.  Gaudsman,  a 
plough-boy.  The  English  goad  is  also  a  bar  or  rod,  and 
to  goad  is  to  incite  or  drive  with  a  stick  or  prong  : — 

Young  Jockie  was  the  blithest  lad 

In  a'  our  town  or  here  awa', 
Fu'  blithe  he  whistled  at  the  gaud, 

Fu'  lightly  danced  he  in  the  ha'. 

— Burns  :    Young  Jockey. 

For  men,  I've  three  mischievous  boys, 
Rum  deils  for  rantin'  and  for  noise — 
A  gaudsman  ane,  a  thrasher  t'other. 

— Burns  :   The  Inventory. 

They'll  turn  me  in  your  arms,  Janet, 
A  red-hot  gatid  o'  airn. 

Ballad  of  the  Young  Tamlane. 

Gauf,  or  Gawf,  a  loud,  discordant  laugh ;  the 
English  slang  guffaw.  According  to  Jamieson,  it  was 
used  by  John  Knox.  Gawp,  a  kindred  word,  signi- 
fies a  large  mouth,  wide  opened  ;  whence,  possibly,  the 
origin  of  the  Flemish  gapen,  and  tlie  English  gape,  which, 
according  to  the  late  John  Kemble,  the  tragedian,  ought 
to  be  pronounced  with  the  broad  a,  as  in  ah.  Gauffiji, 
a  giggling,  light-headed  person,  seems  to  be  a  word  of 
the  same  parentage,  Gawpie  is  a  silly  person  who  laughs 
without  reason  : — 


loo  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Tehee,  quu  she,  and  gied  a  gawf. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  A  Brash  of  IVooing. 
Evergreen. 

Gaunt,  to  yawn.  Gaunt  at  the  door,  an  indolent,  use- 
less person  who  sits  at  the  door  and  yawns  ;  an  idler,  one 
without  mental  resources  : — 

This  monie  a  day  I've  groaned  and  gaunted, 
To  ken  what  French  mischief  was  brewing. 

— Burns. 

Gear,  money,  wealth,  pro[)erty,  appurtenance — from 
the  Teutonic  gehorig,  belonging  to,  appertaining  to  : — 

He'll  poind  (seize)  their  gear. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

And  gather  gear  by  every  wile 
That's  justified  by  honour. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  a  )  'oung  Friend. 

Geek,  to  bear  one's  self  haughtily,  to  toss  the  head  in 
glee  or  scorn,  to  mock — possibly  from  the  Flemish  gek, 
a  vain  fool  : — 

Adieu,  my  liego  !   may  freedom  geek 
Beneath  your  high  protection. 

— Burns  :    The  Dream.     To  George  III. 

Gell,  brisk,  keen,  sharp,  active.  From  the  Gaelic  geall, 
ardour,  desire,  love :  gealbnhor,  greatly  desirous,  and 
geallmhoracJid,  high  desire  and  aspiration. 

Gell,  intense,  as  applied  to  the  weather ;  a  gell  frost  is  a  keen 
frost.  "There's  a  gey  gell  in  the  market  to-day,"  i.e.,  a  pretty 
quick  sale  ;  "in  great  gell,"  in  great  spirits  and  activity  ;  "on  the 
gell,"  a  phrase  applied  to  one  who  is  bent  on  making  merry. — 
Jamicson. 


oy-  THE  SCOTTISH    T.ANCUIAGE.  lOI 

Gey,  a  humorous  synonym  for  very.  This  word,  in 
Jamieson's  Scottish  Dictionary,  is  rendered  "tolerable, 
considerable,  worthy  of  notice."  "  A  gey  wheen,"  he  says, 
means  "a  great  number."  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
derivation  be  from  the  English  gay,  or  the  Gaelic  git.  In 
vulgar  English  when  jolly  is  sometimes  used  for  "  gay," 
"  a  jolly  lot "  would  be  equivalent  to  the  Scottish  "  a  gey 
wheen."  In  Gaelic  gii  is  an  adverbial  prefix,  as  in  gii 
leoir,  plentiful,  or  plentifully, — whence  the  phrase,  "  whis- 
key galore,"  plenty  of  whiskey  ;  gu  Jior,  with  truth,  or 
truly : — 

A  miller  laughing  at  him  (the  fool  of  the  parish)  for  his  witless- 
ness,  the  fool  said--"  There  are  some  things  I  ken,  and  some  things 
I  dinna  ken."  On  being  asked  what  he  knew,  he  said — "I  ken  a 
miller  has  aye  a  gey  fat  sow  !"  "And  what  do  ye  no  ken?"  said 
the  miller.     "  I  dinna  ken  at  wha's  expense  she's  fed." 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 

The  word  is  sometimes  followed  by  an\  as  in  the 
phrase,  '■^ geyan  toom,"  very  empty.  The  word  gaylies— 
meaning  tolerably  well  in  health — is  probably  from  the 
same  source  as  gey,  as  in  the  common  salutation  in  Glas- 
gow and  Edinburgh,  "  How's  a'  wi'  ye  the  day?"  "  Oh, 
gailies — gailies  !" 

You  factors,  grieves,  trustees  and  bailies, 
I  canna  say  but  they  do  gailies. 

— Burns:  Address  of  Beelzebub, 

Mr,  Clark,  of  Dalreach,  whose  head  was  vastly  disproportioned 
to  his  body,  met  Mr.  Dunlop  one  day.     "  Weel,  Mr.  Clark,  that's 

great  head  of  yours."  "Indeed,  it  is,  Mr.  Duhlop  ;  it  could  con- 
tain yours  inside  of  it."  "Just  sae,"  replied  Mr.  Dunlop,  "I  was 
e'en  thinking  it  was  ,§tja«  toom  [very  empty]." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 


I02  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Gielanger,  one  who  is  slow  to  pay  his  debts  :  etymology 
unknown.  It  has  been  thougtit  that  this  word  is  an 
abbreviation  of  the  request  to  give  lo?iger  or  gie  langer 
time  to  pay  a  debt,  but  this  is  doubtful.  The  Flemish 
and  Dutch  gijzelcn  signifies  to  arrest  for  debt,  gijzeling, 
arrest  for  debt,  and  gizzel  kaiiuner,  a  debtors'  prison ;  and 
this  is  most  probably  the  origin  oi  gielanger. 

The  greedy  man  and  the  gielatiger  are  well  met. 

Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Gilpie,  or  Gtlpcy,  a  saucy  young  girl. 

I  was  a  gilpcy  then,  I'm  sure 
I  wasna  past  fifteen. 

— Burns  :  Halloween. 

1  mind  when  I  was  a  gilpie  or  a  lassock,  seeing  the  duke— him 
that  lost  his  head  in  London. 

—Scott  :  Old  Mortality. 

Gillnivage,  to  plunder,  also,  to  live  riotously,  uproar- 
iously, and  violently— from  the  Gaelic  gille,  a  young  man, 
and  rabair,  litigious,  troublesome ;  rabach,  quarrelsome  : 

Ye  had  better  stick  to  your  auld  trade  o'  black-mail  and  giU. 
ravaging.     Better  steal  nowte  than  nations. 

—Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

Giti.     G  hard,  as  in  give,  signifies  if : — 

Oh  gin  my  love  were  yon  red  rose 
That  grows  upon  the  castle  wa  ; 
And  I  myself  a  drap  o'  dew 
Into  her  bonnie  breast  to  fa'. 

—Herd's  Collection,  1776. 
Gin  a  body  meet  a  body 
Comin'  through  the  rye. 

— Old  Song  :  rearranged  by  Burns. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  103 

Home  Tooke  in  his  letter  to  Dunning,  Lord  Ash- 
burton,  on  the  EngUsh  particles,  conjunctions  and  pre- 
positions, derives  if  from  given  ;  "  if  you  are  there,"  i.e., 
given  the  fact  that  you  are  there.  The  more  poetical 
Scottish  word  gin,  is  strongly  corroborative  of  Home 
Tooke's  inference. 

Girdle,  a  circular  iron  plate  used  for  roasting  oat-cakes 
over  the  fire  : — 

Wi'  quaffing  and  daffing, 

They  ranted  and  they  sang, 
Wi'  jumping  and  thumping 

The  very  girdle  rang. 

— Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 

The  carline  brocht  her  kebbuck  ben, 
Wi'  girdle-cakes  weel-toasted  broon. 

Andro  and  his  Ctitty  Gun.     Tea' 
Table  Miscellany. 

Glaik,  Glaikit,  giddy-headed,  thoughtless,  dazed,  silly, 
foolish,  giddy,  volatile.  From  the  Gaelic  gleog,  a  silly 
look ;  gleogach,  silly,  stupid ;  gleogand,  a  stupid  fellow ; 
gleosgach,  a  vain,  silly  woman  : — 

That  frequent  pass  douce  Wisdom's  door 
For  glaikit  Folly's  portals. 

—Burns  :  Address  to  the  Unco  Guid. 

Glamour,  enchantment,  witchcraft,  fascination — from 
the  Gaelic  glac,  to  seize,  to  lay  hold  of,  to  fascinate  ; 
and  mor,  great ;  whence  great  fascination,  or  magic 
not  to  be  resisted.  Lord  Neaves  thought  the  word  was 
a  corruption  of  grammar,  m  which  magic  was  once  sup- 
posed to  reside : — 


I04  POETRY     AND    HUMOUR 


And  one  short  spell  therein  he  read, 
It  had  much  o^ glamour  might, 
Could  make  a  lady  seem  a  knight, 
The  cohwel),  on  a  dungeon  wall, 
Seem  tapestry  in  a  lordly  hall. 

— Scott  :  The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrd. 

As  soon  as  they  saw  her  weel-faur'd  face, 
They  cast  \h€\x  glaiuotir  o'er  her."  • 

— -Johnnie  Faa,  the  Gipsie  Laddie. 

Ye  gipsy-gang  that  deal  in  glamour, 
And  you,  deep  read  in  Hell's  black  grammar, 
Warlocks  and  witches. 

— Burns  :  On  Captaijj-  Grose. 

This  Scottish  word  is  gradually  making  its  way  into 
English,  and  has  been  admitted  into  some  recent 
dictionaries.  Mr.  Wedgwood  seems  to  think  that  it  is 
akin  to  glinwier,  to  shine.  The  fascination  of  the  eye  is 
exemplified  in  the  idea  expressed  in  Coleridge's  "Ancient 
Mariner:" — 

lie  holds  him  ivith  his  glittering  eye, 

The  wedding  guest  stood  still, 
And  listens  like  a  ihreeyear  child — • 

The  mariner  hath  his  will. 

Glaum,  to  grasp  at,  to  clutch,  to  endeavour  to  seize, 
without  strength  to  hold — from  the  Gaelic  glavi^  to  devour 
greedily ;  glamair,  a  glutton  : — 

Clans  frae  wuds  in  tartan  duds, 

^\v3^  glatimed  zX  kingdoms  three,  man 

— Burns  :    The  Battle  of  Shcriffmuir. 

Gled,  or  glaid,  a  kite,  a  hawk,  a  vulture — etymology 
uncertain  : — 

And  aye  as  ye  gang  furth  and  in, 
Keep  well  the  gaislings  frae  the  gled. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH   LAXGUAGE.  105 


He  ca'd  the  gaisleys  forth  to  feed, 
There  was  but  sevensone  o'  them  a', 

And  by  them  cam  the  greedy  glcd, 
And  hckit  up  five— left  him  but  twa. 

—  The  Wife  of  Atichtermuehty. 

The  name  of  Gladstone  is  derived  from  gled-stane,  the 
hawk  or  vulture-stone,  and  synonymous  with  the  Cierman 
Geir-stein,  the  title  of  one  of  the  novels  of  Sir  Walter 
Scott. 

Gleed^  or  Gleid,  a  burning  coal ;  a  temporary  blaze,  a 
sparkle,  a  splinter  that  starts  from  the  fire : — 

And  cheerily  blinks  the  ingle  gked 

Of  honest  Lucky. 

— Burns  :  Lady  Arly. 

Mend  up  the  fire  to  me,  brother. 

Mend  up  the  gked  to  me, 
For  1  see  him  coming  hard  and  fast — 

Will  mend  it  up  for  thee. 

— Ballad  of  Lady  Maisry. 

Gleg,  sharp,  acute,  quick-witted ;  ^/i?^^-tongued,  voluble  j 
^leg-\\.\gg'd,  sharp  of  hearing ;  gleg-e€d,  sharp-sighted  :— 

.Sae  for  my  part  I'm  willing  to  submit, 

To  what  your  gltgger  wisdom  shall  think  fit. 

— Ross's  Hclenore. 

Unskaithed  by  death's  j,'/f^  gullie. 

— Burns  :   Taiii  Saftisoti's  livin'. 

He'll  shape  you  aff  fu'  gleg, 

Tlie  cut  of  Adam's  philibeg. 

— Burns  :   Captain  Grose. 

Jamieson  derives  gleg  from  the  Icelandic  and  Swedish, 
unaware  of  the  Gaelic  etymology  from  glac,  to  seize,  to 
snatch,  to  lay  hold  of  quickly. 


To6  POETRY  AND    HUMOUR 


Glent,  Glint,  a  moment,  a  glance,  a  twinkling ;  also, 
to  glance,  to  shine  forth,  to  peep  out.  From  the  same 
root  as  the  English  glance,  the  Teutonic  gldnzen  and 
Flemish  glijister : — 

And  in  n  glcnt,  my  child,  ye'll  find  it  sae. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

Yet  cheerfully  thou  glinted  forth 
Amid  the  storm. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Mountain  Daisy. 

The  risin'  sun  owre  Galston  muir 
Wi'  glowing  light  was  glintin\ 

— Burns  :  HaHowe'en. 

Gley,  to  squint ;  aglee  or  agley,  crooked,  aslant,  in  the 
wrong  direction — probably  from  the  Gaelic  gli,  the  left 
hand,  awkward  : — 

There's  a  time  to  gley,  and  a  time  to  look  even. 

Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Glcyed  Sandy  he  came  here  yestreen, 
And  speired  when  I  saw  Pate. 

— James  Carnegie,  1765. 

The  best-laid  schemes  of  mice  and  men 
Ciang  aft  aglcc. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Mouse. 


Glib-gabbet,  having  "the  gift  of  the  gab,"  speaking 
glibly  with  voluble  ease ;  apparently  derived  from  the 
Gaelic  glib  or  gliob,  slippery ;  and  gab,  a  mouth  : — 

And  that  glib-gabbet  Highland  baron, 
The  laird  o'  Graham. 

— Burns  :  Cry  and  Prayer, 


(^F    THE    SCOTTISH     LANGUAGE.  107 


Glif.  a  moment,  a  short  slumber,  a  nap  : — 

I'll  win  out  a  gliff'i'he:  night  for  a'  that — to  dance  in  the  moonlight. 

— Scott  :   The  Heart  of  iMidlotliiaii. 

"Laid   down   on  her  bed   for  a  gliff,"  said  her  grandmother. 

Scott  :    The  Antiqtiary. 


Gloaming,  the  twilight;  from  the  English  gloom  or 
darkness.  This  word  has  been  adopted  by  the  best 
English  writers. 

When  ance  life's  day  draws  near  its  gloaming. 

— Burns  :   To  James  Stnith, 

Twixt  the  gloaming  and  the  mirk 
When  the  kye  come  hame. 

— The  Ettrick  Shepherd. 

Glower,  to  look  stupidly  or  intently,  to  glare,  to 
stare  : — 

Ye  glowered  at  the  moon,  and  fell  in  the  midden. 

Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

I  am  a  bard  of  no  regard, 

Wi'  gentle  folks  and  a'  that ; 
But  Homer-like,  the  glow7-in'  byke  [swarm], 

Frae  town  to  town  I  draw  that. 

— Burns :   T/ie  Jolly  Beggars. 

He  only  glowered  at  her,  taking  no  notice  whatever  of  her  hints. 
—  Vicar  of  Btillhainpton.     A.  Trollope. 

Glunch,  an  angry  frown,  a  sulky  or  forbidding  expres- 
sion of  countenance.  "  To  gliinch  and  gloom,"  to  look 
angry,  discontented,  sulky,  and  gloomy.  Glimschoch, 
one  who  has  a  frowning  or  inorose  countenance.      From 


Io8  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


the  Oaelic  gloini,  a  qualm,  a  feeling  of  nausea  ;  glonmitJi, 

one  who  has  a  disagreeable  or  stupid  expression  on  his 

face : — 

A  gluncli 
O'  sour  disdain. 

— Burns :  Scotch  Drink. 

Does  ony  great  man  glunch  and  gloom  ? 

—Burns  :  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Gluncli  and  Gloom, — glunch,  giving  audible  expression  to  discon- 
tent in  a  series  of  interjectional /«/;«///^  ;  gloom,  a  frowning,  silent 
expression  of  displeasure. — R.  D. 

Go7iia?!,  a  daisy.  Gowany,  sprinkled  with  gowans  or 
daisies.  Chaucer  was  partial  to  the  word  daisy,  which 
he  derived  from  "  day's  eye ; "  though  it  is  more  pro- 
bably to  be  traced  to  the  Gaelic  deise,  pretty,  a  pretty 
flower.  The  word  gowan,  to  a  Scottish  ear,  is  far  more 
beautiful : — 

Where  the  blue  bell  and  goiuan  lurk  lowly  unseen. 

— Burns. 

The  night  was  fair,  the  moon  was  up, 
The  wind  blew  low  among  the  gotvans, 

— Legends  of  the  Isles. 


Her  eyes  shone  bright  amid  her  tears, 
Her  lips  were  fresh  as  go'wans  growing. 

In  g07vany  glens  the  burnie  strays. 


— Idem. 
— Burns. 


I'd  not  be  buried  in  the  Atlantic  wave. 

But  in  brown  earth  with  goiuans  on  my  grave  ; 

Fresh  gowans  gathered  on  Lochaber's  braes. 

— All  the  Year  Round. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  IO9 

Gowk,  the  cuckoo,  also  a  fool,  or  a  person  who  has  but 
one  idea,  and  is  always  repeating  it.  From  the  Gaelic 
cuthacJi  or  cuach,  with  the  same  meaning  : — 

Ye  breed  o'  the  gozvk,  ye  hae  never  a  song  but  ane. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Conceited ^^isw/J,  puffed  up  wi'  windy  pride." 

— Burns:    The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

Gowl,  to  weep  loudly,  to  whine  and  blubber ;  from  the 
Gaelic  giil,  with  the  same  meaning.  The  French  has 
gueule,  a  mouth  that  is  very  wide  open.  Gowl  also  sig- 
nifies large  and  empty  ;  as,  "  a  goivi  or  goivlsome  house," 
and  "  a  gowl  (a  hollow)  between  the  hills  ; "  possibly 
allied  in  idea  to  the  French  gueule.   (See  Rogers' James  I.) 

Ne'er  may  Misfortunes  gotvling  bark 
Howl  through  the  dwelling  o'  the  clerk. 

— Burns  :   To  Gavin  Hamilton. 

Goiul  means  to  bawl,  to  howl,    but  has  the  additional  idea  of 
threatening  or  terrifying ;  to  gowl  at  a  person  is  to  speak  in  a  loud 
threatening  tone,  —  "he  gied  me  a. go7al,"  "what  maks  ye gow^ that 
way  at  the  weans."     I  have  an  idea  that  this  is  one  of  the  words 
that  have  crept  into  the  Scotch  through  the  French. — R.  D. 

Gowpen,  two  handfuls ;  from  the  Flemish  gaps,  which 
has  the  same  meaning  : — 

Those  who  carried  meal  seldom  failed  to  add  a  go'tvpcn  to  the 
alms-bag  of  the  deformed  cripple. 

—Scott  :   The  Black  Dwarf. 

Gowpeii  means  placing  the  two  palms  together,  and  the  hollow 
formed  thereby  is  a  gowpen.  The  miller  would  have  had  but  a 
scanty  "mouter"  if  his  gowpeii  had  been  only  a  handful.  An 
ordinary  beggar  would  get  a  nievefu'  o'  meal,  but  a  weel  kcnt  anc, 


no  POETRY    AND     HUMOUR 


and  a  favourite,  would  get  a  goiopen  ;  hence,  you  never  heard  the 
crucial  test  of  an  Englishman's  knowledge  of  Scotch  when  he 
was  asked  "  what's  a  ^^7£//^«  o'  glaur,"  and  his  acquaintance  with 
the  tongue  failing  him,  he  was  enlightened  by  the  explanation  that  it 
was  "  twa  neivefu  o'  clairts." — R.  D. 

Graith,  tools,  requisites,  implements,  appurtenances  of 
a  business  or  work  ;  harness  : — 

Then  he  in  wrath  put  up  his  graith — 
"The  deevil's  in  the  hizzie." 
Jacob  and  Rachel^attrihiited  to  Burns,  1825. 

And  ploughmen  gather  wi'  their  graith. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Dj-ink. 

Gramarye,  magic.  French  grimoire,  a  magic  book. 
Attempts  have  been  made,  but  unsatisfactorily,  to  derive 
this  word  from  grammar.  It  is  more  likely,  considering 
the  gloomy  ideas  attached  to  the  French  grimoire  (the 
immediate  root  of  the  word),  that  it  comes  originally 
from  the  Gaelic  gruaim,  gloom,  melancholy,  wrath,  in- 
tense sadness  or  indignation  ;  and  gruamach,  sullen,  surly, 
morose,  gloomy,  grim,  frowning  : — 

Whate'er  he  did  oi  gramarye. 
Was  always  done  maliciously. 

— Scott  :  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel. 


The  wild  yell  and  visage  strange. 
And  the  dark  woods  oi gramarye. 


— Idem. 


Grandgore  (sometimes  written  glcngore,  and  glandgore), 
the  venereal  disease.  Jamieson  suggests  its  origin  from 
the  French  grand,  great,  and  gorre,  but  does  not  explain 
the  meaning  oi  gorre — which  does  not  appear  in  French 
Dictionaries. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  1  I  I 

The  word  appears  to  be  rightly  grandgore,  and  not 
glen  or  gland  gore ;  and  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic 
grain,  horrid,  disgusting;  and  gaorr,  filth. 

Gregorian,  a  popular  name  for  a  wig  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  introduced  into  England  by  the  Scottish  fol- 
lowers of  James  VI.,  when  he  succeeded  to  the  English 
throne.  Blount,  in  his  Glossographia,  says — "  wigs  were 
so  called  from  one  Gregorie,  a  barber  in  the  Strand,  who 
was  a  famous  peruque  maker  "  : — 

He  cannot  be  a  cuckold  that  wears  a  gregorian,  for  a  periwig  will 

never  fit  such  a  head. 

■ — Nares. 

Yet,  though  one  Gregorie,  a  wig-maker,  may  have  lived 
and  flourished  in  London  in  the  early  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  word  gregorian 
was  derived  from  his  name,  any  more  than  that  of  the 
designation  of  a  tailor  by  trade  had  its  origin  in  the 
patronymic  of  taylor.  At  all  events,  it  is  worthy  of 
note  that  in  Gaelic  gneaig  signifies  a  wig  ;  gruagach, 
hairy ;  gruagag,  a  little  wig,  or  a  bunch  of  hair ;  and 
gruagair,  a  wig-maker  and  hair-dresser. 

Grieii  or  grene,  to  covet,  to  long  for,  to  desire  ardently 
and  unreasonably  ;  grening,  longing,  akin  to  the  English 
yearn,  ^^  a.  yearning  denire,"  German  ^i?r/;,  Flemish  gearne, 
willingly,  desirous  of.  From  this  comes  probably  ^'' green, 
sickness,"  a  malady  that  afflicts  growing  girls  when  they 
long  for  unwholesome  and  unnatural  food,  and  would  eat 
chalk,  charcoal,  unripe  food,  and  any  kind  of  trash.  The 
medical  name  of  this  malady  is  chlorosis,  a  Greek  trans- 
lation of  '"' green,   sickness;"   arising   from   the  fact   that 


112  POETKV     AND     HUMOUR 


English  physicians  understood  the  popular  word  green, 
the  colour,  but  not  grieti  or  grene,  to  covet,  which  is  the 
main  symptom  of  the  disease  : — 


Teuch  Johnnie,  stanch  Geordie  an'  Walie, 

loaves. 
— Burns  :   The  Election. 


That  griens  for  the  fishes  an'  loaves. 


Grip.,  tenacity,  moral  or  physical  ;  to  hold  fast : — 

Will  Shore  could  na  conceive  how  it  was  that  when  he  was  drunk 
his  feet  wadna  haud  the  grip. 

— Laird  of  Logan. 

But  where  you  feel  your  honour  grip, 
Let  that  be  aye  your  border. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  a  \  'oimg  Friend. 

I  liivc  the  Scotch  ;  they  have  more  grip  than  any  people  I  know. 

Sat)i  Slick. 


Gnie  or  gretv,  a  grey  hound. 

I  dreamed  a  weary  dream  yestreen, 

I  wish  it  may  come  to  gude, 
I  (heamed  that  ye  slew  my  liest  ;,'7V7i'  hound 

And  gied  me  his  lapper"d  blude. 

— Ballad  of  Sir  Roland. 

A  g7-eiv  is  a  female  grey  Juniiid  in  the  south  of  England, 
according  to  Mr.  Halliwell,  while  in  the  Eastern  counties 
the  word  is  a  greunn,  and  in  Shropshire  groun.  In  old 
French  grous  or  growst  signifies  any  kind  of  hunting  dog 
— a  grey  hound  among  the  rest. 

The  modern  French  do  not  call  the  animal  a  "  chien 
gris"  but  a  liinier^  which  means  a  dog  which  leaps  or 
springs,  from  the  Celtic  leum,  to  leap.  In  Anglo-Saxon, 
which  is  merely  Teutonic   with  a  large    substratum   of 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I13 

Gaelic,  it  appears  that  this  word  is  grig,  hound.  The  pure 
Teutonic  calls  it  a  windel spiel,  a  grotesque  term,  for  which 
it  is  ditificult  to  account.  The  Dutch  and  Flemish  call 
it  a  spairhond,  or  tracking-  hound.  It  is  evident  from 
all  these  examples,  that  the  dog  was  not  named 
from  grey,  which  is  not  its  invariable  colour.  Grey 
is  not  adopted  as  its  designation  by  any  other  nation  than 
the  English.  Philology  is  justified  in  seeking  elsewhere 
for  the  root  oi  grue,  groust,  and  grour,  which  the  Teutonic 
nations  do  not  afford.  The  old  grammarian  Minshew 
thought  he  had  found  it  in  graecus,  and  that  the  hound 
was  so  called  because  the  Greeks  hunted  with  it ;  but 
this  derivation  is  manifestly  inadmissible,  as  is  that  from 
grip,  the  hound  which  grips  or  snatches.  Possibly  the 
Scottish  hound  came  from  the  Highlands  and  not  from 
the  Lowlands,  or  may  be  derived  from  gaoth,  wind  or 
breath,  and  gaothar  (pronounced  gao-ar),  long-winded, 
strong-winded,  provided  with  wind  for  rapid  motion. 
Gaoihar  is  rendered  in  the  Gaelic  Dictionaries  as  a 
lurcher,  half  fox-hound,  and  half  grey-hound,  and 
anciently  as  grey-hound  only.  As  gaor  is  easy  of  cor- 
ruption, first  into  grao,  and  afterwards  into  grew  or 
griie,  it  is  extremely  probable  that  this  is  the  true  deri- 
vation of  a  word  that  has  long  been  the  despair  of  all 
lexicograjjhers  who  were  not  so  confident  as  Minshew 
and  Dr.  Johnson. 

Gruesome,  highly  ill-favoured,  disagreeable,  horrible, 
cruel.  From  the  Teutonic  gran,  horror  :  graitsani,  hor- 
rible, cruel;  and  grausa/iikeif,  cruelty.  This  word  has 
been  recently  used  by  some  of  the  best  English  writers, 
though  not  yet  admitted  to  the  honours  of  the  diction- 
aries : — 

H 


114  POETRY    AXl)     HUMOUR 


Ae  day,  as  Death,  that  i:;nicsomc  carl. 
Was  driving  tn  the  ither  warl  (world). 

— Burns  :    Verses  to  J.  Rankuie. 

And  now,  let  us  change  the  discourse.  These  stones  make  one's 
very  blood  gre'cu, 

— Scott  :  Fortunes  of  A'igel. 

"They're  the  Hieland  hills,"  said  the  Bailie,  "ye'll  see  and  hear 
eneuch  aboot  them,  before  ye  see  Glasgow  green  again.  I  downa 
look  at  them,  I  never  see  them  but  they  gar  \\\&  grew.''' 

— Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

Grutitle,  a  word  of  contempt  for  an  ugly  or  snub  nose, 
or  .snout;  erroneously  rendered  by  "countenance"  in 
some  of  the  glossaries  to  Burns  ;  griintie-thrawn,  crooked 
in  the  nose  : — 

May  gouts  torment  him,  inch  by  inch, 
Wha  trusts  \\i<,  gntiitle  wi'  a  glunch 

O'  sour  disdain. 
Out  owre  a  glass  o'  whisky  punch 

Wi'  honest  men. 

— Burns  :  Scoic/i  Drink. 

From  the  Gaelic  grai?/ei/,  ugly,  loathsome ;  graineal- 
ac/id,  ugliness. 

Grushie,  of  rapid  growth,  thickly  sown: — 

The  dearest  comfort  o'  their  lives, 
'\:\\f^\x  grusliic  weans  and  faitiiful  wives. 

Burns :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Gullie,  or  Gully  (sometimes  written  goolte),  a  large 
pocket  knife ;  gullie-gaio,  a  broil  in  which  knives  are 
likely  to  be  drawn  and   used.     Gullie-7villic,   according 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  I15 

to  Jamieson,  is  a  noisy,  blustering  fool, — possibly  from 
his  threatening  the  knife,  but  not  using  it  : — 

I  rede  ye  weel,  tak'  care  o'  skaith — 
See,  there's  a  gullie. 

— Burns. 

The  cowl  of  Kihnarnock  had  spits  and  had  spears, 
And  lang-hafted  gullies  to  kill  cavaliers. 

— Bonnie  Dundee :  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Sticking  gangs  nae  by  strength,  but  by  right  guidin'  o'  the  gully. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

"  To  guide  the  pillie  "  is  a  proverbial  phrase,  signifying 
to  have  the  management  of  an  affair.  The  derivation 
is  uncertain,  but  is  perhaps  from  the  Gaelic  guaillich.  to 
go  hand  in  hand,  to  accompany ;  applied  to  the  weapon 
from  its  ready  conveniency  to  the  hand  in  case  of  need. 

Gwnlie,  mudd\',  turbid.      Etymology  obscure  : — 

O  ye  wha  leave  the  springs  of  Calvin, 

¥ox  gitinlie  dubs  [pools]  of  your  ain  delvin'. 

— Burns  :    7'o  Gavin  Ilaiiiilton. 

Gumption,  wit,  sense,  knowledge.  This  word  is 
akin  to  the  Gaelic  cuimse  {cuinshe),  moderation,  adap- 
tation ;  and  cuimsichte,  well-aimed,  that  hits  the  mark  : — 

Nor  a'  the  quacks  with  all  their  gumption. 
Will  ever  mend  her. 

— Burns:  Letter  to  John  Goudie. 

Giirl,  to  growl.  Gurly,  boisterous,  stormy,  savage, 
growly ;    from    the   German   and    Flemish  grollen,    the 


Il6  1'OJiTK.Y    ANiJ     HUMOUR 


English  growl,  to  express  displeasure  or  anger  by  mur- 
murs, and  low,  inarticulate  sounds  : — 

The  lift  grew  dnik  and  the  wind  blew  sair, 

And  ;^urly  grew  the  '^ea. 

— Sir  Patrick  Span. 

Waesomc  wailed  the  snow-while  s])riles, 
Upon  tlie  :^>(rly  sea. 

— Laidlaw  :    The  DcDion  Lover. 

There's  a  strong  guriy  blast  blawing  sncll  frae  the  s(_)Ulh. 

— James  Ballantine  :    T/ic  Spunk  Splitters. 

Giirthie,  corpulent,  obese,  large  round  the  waist  ox  girth. 

Applied  especially  to  what  Ijurdens   the    stomach.       Roquefort 
renders  \\.  pcsant,  ponderous,  burdensome. — Jamieson. 

Giitcher,  a  grandfather.  This  tnigainly  word  seems  to 
be  a  corruption  of  gudc  sire,  glide  sir,  gudsir,  or  good  sir, 
a  title  of  reverence  for  a  grandfather  : — 

God  bless  auld  lang  syne,  when  our  i^iitc/icrs  ate  their  trenchers. 

— Allan  Raiiisay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

This  was  a  reproach  dire-ted  against  over-daim\-  pcojile 
who  objected  to  their  food. 

(Jae  'wa  wi'  your  plaidie,  Auld  l)onald,  gac  wa  ; 
I  fear  na  the  cauld  blast,  the  drift,  nor  the  sna', 
Gae  "wa  wi'  your  plaidie — I'll  no  sit  beside  \e; 
Ve  might  be  my  ^i^utclier !  auld  Donakl,  gae  'wa  ! 

—  Hector  Macneil  :  Co7ne  under  tiiy  Plaidie. 

The  derivation  from  good-sire  is  i-endered  the  more 
probable  by  the  common  use  of  the  woxilgood  in  Scotland, 
to   express   degrees   of  relationship,    as  good   mother,   a 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    I.ANGUAOK.  II7 

mother-in-law;  ^ood  brother,  a  brother-in-law  ;  ^ycr/ sister, 
a  sister-in-law ;  good  son,  a  son-in-law,  &c.,  as  also  in  the 
familiarly  affectionate  phrases  of  good  wife,  for  wife ;  and 
good  man,  for  husband.  The  P>ench  use  beau^  or  belle 
in  a  similar  sense,  as  beau  pere,  a  father-in-law,  belle  fiUe, 
a  daughter-in-law,  belle  mere,  a  mother-in-law.  Possibly 
the  English  words  ^y«'-father  and  god-vi\o\\-\tx,  applied  to 
the  sponsors  at  the  baptism  of  a  child,  were  originally 
good,  and  not  god. 

Gyre  Carlme.  This  is  in  some  parts  of  Scotland  the 
name  given  to  a  woman  suspected  of  witchcraft,  and  is 
from  gyre.,  the  Teutonic  geier.,  a  vulture,  and  carlhie,  an 
old  woman.  The  harpies  in  Grecian  mythology  are  repre- 
sented as  having  the  beaks  and  claws  of  vultures,  and  are 
fabled  to  devour  the  bodies  of  warriors  left  unburied  on  the 
battle-field.  The  name  of  "  Harpy,"  given  in  the  ancient 
mythology  to  these  supposed  malevolent  creatures,  has 
been  conclusively  shown  to  be  derived  from  the  Celtic 
Gaelic,  and  to  be  traceable  to  ar,  a  battle-field,  and  pighe 
(pronounced  pee),  a  bird,  whence  ar  pighe,  a  harpy,  the 
bird  of  the  battle-field,  the  great  carrion  hawk  or  vulture. 

I  wad  like  ill  to  see  a  secret  house  haunted  wi'  ghaists  and  gyre 
carlines, 

— Scott  :   I'hc  Monastery. 

Gyte,  deranged,  mad  ;  from  the  Flemish  guit,  mischie- 
vous, roguish  ;  guiteiistiik,  a  piece  of  mischief 

Surprised  at  once  out  of  decorum,  philosophy,  and  phlegm,  he 
skimmed  his  cocked  hat  in  the  air.  "Lord  sake, "said Edie,  "he's 
gaun  };yte" 

— Scott:    J'Jic  Antitjuary. 


Il8  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Haet^  a  whit,  an  iota  ;  deil  a  haef,  the  devil  a  bit : — 
But  gentlemen,  and  ladies  warst, 
Wi'  evendoun  want  o'  wark  are  curst. 
They  loiter,  lounging,  lank,  and  lazy  ; 
Though  deil  had  ails  them,  yet  uneasy. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

In  Bartlett's  "  Dictionary  of  Americanisms,"  the  word 
occurs  as  '■'•hate:'' — 

I  dont  care  a  hate, — I  didn't  eat  a  hiate. 

Haflins,  almost  half: — 

When  it's  cardit,  row'd  and  spun, 
Then  the  work  is  Iiajlins  done. 

—  Tarry  Woo.     Tea  Tabic  Miscellany. 

Haggis.  The  national  dish  par  excellence  of  Scotland, 
which  shares  with  cock-a-leekie  and  hotch-potch  the 
particular  favour  of  Scotsmen  all  over  the  world.  Sir 
Walter  Scott  describes  it  in  the  introduction  to  "Johnnie 
Armstrong,"  in  the  Mmstrchy  of  the  Scottish  Border,  as 
"an  olio,  composed  of  the  liver,  head,  etc.,  of  a  sheep, 
minced  down  with  oatmeal,  onions,  and  spices,  and 
boiled  in  the  stomach  of  the  animal  by  way  of  bag"  : — 

Fair  fa'  your  honest,  sonsie  face, 
Great  chieftain  o'  the  puddin'  race, 
Aboon  them  a'  you  talc  ycnir  place, 

Painch,  tripe,  or  thairn, 
Weel  are  ye  worthy  o'  a  grace 

As  lang's  my  arm. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Haggis. 

Even  a  haggis,  God  bless  her !  could  charge  down  the  hill. 

--Scott  :   A'v/i  A'or. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 19 

The  vvord,  formerly  spelled  haggass,  is  usually  derived 
from  the  French  hachis,  a  hash  of  viands  cut  into  small 
pieces,  from  hacher,  to  mince,  the  English  Jiack,  to  cut. 
The  dish  is  quite  unknown  to  the  French,  though  the 
etymology  is  possibly  correct.  The  allusion  of  Burns 
to  the  "  sonsie  face "  of  the  pudding  which  he  praised 
so  highly  renders  it  possible  that  he  knew  the  Gaelic 
words  aogas,  a  face,  and  aogasach,  seemly,  comely,  sonsie. 
Anyhow,  the  coincidence  is  curious. 

An  illustrious  American,  travelling  in  Scotland,  was  entertained 
at  a  public  dinner,  when  towards  the  end  of  the  repast  a  very  large 
haggis  was  brought  in  on  a  gigantic  dish,  carried  by  four  waiters, 
to  the  tune  of  "See  the  conquering  hero  comes"  played  by  the 
band.  He  was  very  much  amused  at  the  incident,  and  having 
heard  much  of  the  national  dish,  but  never  having  tasted  it,  was 
easily  induced  to  partake  of  it.  He  did  not  appear  to  like  its 
flavour  very  much,  and  being  asked  his  opinion  of  it,  replied  that 
"  the /'ffi';4,'7'.s- must  have  been  invented  to  give  Scotsmen  an  excuse 
for  a  dram  of  whisky  after  it,  to  take  the  taste  out  of  the  mouth," 
adding,  "but  if  I  were  a  Scotsman  I  should  make  it  a  patriotic 
duty  to  love  it,  with  or  without  the  dram — but  especially  with  it  !" 
— C.  N. 


Hain,  to  preserve,  to  economise  so  as  to  prevent  waste 
and  extravagance  ;  to  protect  with  a  hedge  or  fence  ;  to 
spare  for  future  use.  Hain  seems  to  be  derived  from  the 
German  hagen,  to  enclose  with  a  hedge  or  fence ;  the 
Danish  hegne,  with  the  same  meaning;  and  the  Dutch 
and  Flemish  heenen,  to  fence  ;  omheenen^  to  fence  around; 
and  onheiuing,  an  enclosure.  From  the  practical  idea  of 
enclosing  any  thing  to  protect  it  came  the  metaphorical 
use  of  this  word  in  Scotland,  in  the  sense  of  preservation 
of  a  thing  by  means  of  care,  economy,  and  frugality  : — 


I20  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Tlie  weel-//tr/^/(v/kebbock  (cheese). 

—  Hums  :   Cottar  s  Saturday  Night. 

Wha    waste    yi)ur    \\tt\-haincJ  gear  on  damned  new  brigs  and 

harbours. 

Burns  :    77ic  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

Kail  Itaiits  bread. 

— -Allan   Ramsay  :  Scots   Proverbs. 

We've  won  lo  crazy  years  thegither, 
We'll  toyte  about  wi'  ane  anither. 
Wi'  tentie  care  I'll  flit  thy  tether 
To  some  haiii'd  rig. 

^Burns  :    llie  Auld  Fai  mer. 

Ilain,  to  preserve,  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  a  correct  synonym, 
the  word  rather  means  to  use  economically.  "  Her  weel-Z/ajw'a^keb- 
buck,"  does  not  mean  that  the  cheese  had  been  preserved  from 
danger,  from  mites,  or  the  cheese  fly,  and  maggots,  but  that  it  had 
not  been  used  wasLefully  ;  hahiing  clothes,  a  second  goodish  suit  to 
save  your  best  one.  The  English  expression  "eke  it  out,"  comes 
very  near  the  meaning  oUiain.  In  I'"ifeshire  the  word  used  instead 
of  hai7i  is  tape,  tape  it,  make  it  last  a  good  while,  don't  gobble  up  a 
nice  thing  all  at  once,  in  fact,  kain  it. — R.  D. 

Hallaii-shaker^  a  sturdy,  imjjOrttmate  beggar.  Jamieson 
derives  the  word  from  hallaii,  a  partition  in  a  cottage 
between  the  "  btit  "  and  the  "  ben  :  "  and  shaker.,  one  who 
shakes  the  halian  by  the  noise  he  makes.  If  he  had 
souglit  in  the  Gaehc,  he  miglit  have  found  a  better 
derivation  in  aU>t,  allan,  aila/ifa,  wild,  ferot;ious,  savage  ; 
and  seachi-an  (the  Irish  sliaughraim),  a  vagrant,  a  wan- 
derer, a  beggar  : — 

Right  scornfully,  she  answered  him, 

"Begone,  you  hallan-sJiaker  '. 
Jog  on  your  gate,  you  bladdcrskate. 

My  name  is  Maggie  Lauder." 

I'rnncis  '-^emple. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH     l.AN(  iUACiC.  121 

Hc'fitle,  a  good  deal,  a  quantity — -from  the  Flemish 
/ia?id,  a  hand,  and  tel,  to  count  or  number  ;  a  ([uantity 
that  may  be  reckoned  by  the  handful. 

A  Scottish  clergyman  related  as  his  experience  after  killing  his 
first  pig,  that  "  nae  doot  there  was  a  hantU  o'  miscellaneous  eating 
about  a  swine." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Some  hae  a  Iiantle  o'  fauts — ye  are  only  a  ne'er-do-weel. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Hap,  to  cover,  to  wrap  up  : — 

I  digged  a  grave  and  laid  him  in, 

And  hapfd  him  with  the  sod  sae  green. 

— Lament  of  the  Border  Widow. 

I  lap  and  rowe,  liap  and  rowe  the  feetie  o't, 

It  is  a  wee  bit  ourie  thing, 
I  donna  Inde  the  greetie  o't 

—  Chambers  :  Scottish  Son^;. 

Hams,  brains  ;  from  the  German  hii-n,  or  ge/iirn,  the 
brain ;  hirnscha/e,  the  brain  pan ;  Dutch  and  Flemish 
hersefis. 

A  wheen  midden  cocks  pike  ilk  others  Itarits  out  (a  lot  of  dung- 
hill cocks  pick  each  others  brains  out). 

—Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

Lastly,  Bailie,  because  if  I  saw  a  sign  o'  your  betraying  me,  I 
would  plaster  that  wa'  wi'  your  lianis,  ere  the  hand  of  man  could 

rescue  ye. 

-  -Scott :  Rob  Roy. 

Hatter  (sometimes  written  hotter),  signifies,  according 
to  Jamieson,  to  bubble,  to  boil  up  ;  and  also,  a  crowd  in 
motion  or  in  confusion.      The  English  slang  expression, 


122  POETRY    AND     HI'MOUR 

"  mad  as  a  hatter  "  does  not  apply — though  commonly 
supposed  to  do  so — to  a  hat-maker  any  more  than  it  does 
to  a  tailor  or  a  shoemaker.  It  seems  to  have  been  bor- 
rowed by  the  lowland  Scotch  from  the  Gaelic  at^  to  swell 
like  boiling  water,  to  bluster ;  and  ataircachd,  the  swelling 
and  foaming  of  waters  as  in  a  cataract,  and,  by  extension 
of  the  image,  to  the  tumultuous  action  of  a  noisy  crowd. 
Uaiigh,  low  ground  or  meadows  by  the  river-side ; 
from  the  Gaelic  ac;  the  Teutonic  aiie,  a  meadow.  Holm 
has  the  same  meaning  : — 

By  Leader  haug/is  and  ^'al"row. 
Let  husky  wheat  the  /laughs  adorn, 
And  aits  set  up  their  awnie  horn. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Hause-ba7ie,  the  neck-bone ;  from  the  Dutch,  Flemish 
and  Teutonic  hah,  the  neck  : — 

Ye  shall  sit  on  his  white  liaiisc-banc, 
And  I'll  pike  out  his  bonnie  blue  een, 
Wi'  ae  lock  o'  his  yellow  hair 
We'll  theek  our  nest  when  it  grows  bare. 

—  The  Twa  Corbies. 

To  hause,  or  hah,  signifies  to  embrace, — i.e.,  to  put  the 
arms  round  the  neck. 

Have?',  or  haiver.  to  talk  desultory,  foolishly,  or  idly, 
to  drivel  :  — 

Wi'  clavers  and  haivcrs, 

Wearin'  the  day  awa'. 

— Burns. 

Haver  seems  to  be  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  abai?;  to 
talk,  to  say. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I  23 

Haveril,  a  half-witted  person ;  a  silly  talker ;  from 
haver,  to  talk  nonsense ;  the  Gaelic  abair,  to  talk  : — 

Poor  haveril  Will  fell  aff  the  drift, 
And  wandered  through  the  bow-kail, 

And  pii'd  for  want  o'  better  shift 
A  runt  was  like  a  sow  tail. 

— Burns  :  Halloween. 

Hawkie,  a  pet  name  for  a  favourite  cow,  a  good  milker  : 

Dawtit  twal-pint  Ha^okie's  gaen 
As  yell's  the  Inill. 

— Burns  :  Adtlrexs  to  the  Deil. 

*' Brown-hawkie,"  says  Jamieson,  is  "a  cant  name  for 
a  barrel  of  ale," — />.,  the  milk  of  drunkards  and  topers. 
The  word  is  traceable  to  the  Gaelic  adhach  (pronounced 
awk  or  hawk),  lucky,  fortunate. 

Hech,  an  exclamation  of  surprise,  of  joy,  or  of  pain ; 
softened  from  the  Gaelic  oich.  On  the  shore  of  Loch 
Ness,  near  the  once  lo\'ely  waterfall  of  Abriachan,  where 
the  road  is  steep  and  difficult,  the  rock  near  the  summit 
of  the  ascent  has  received  from  the  shepherds  and  drovers 
the  name  of  "  Craig  Oich,"  from  their  stopping  to  draw 
breath  and  exclaim,  "  Oich  !  oich  I"  (in  the  lowland  Scot- 
tish hech).  The  English  heigho  is  a  kindred  exclamation, 
and  is  possibly  of  the  same  etymology. 

Hecht,  to  offer,  to  promise.  This  verb  seems  to  have 
no  present  tense,  no  future,  and  no  declensions  or  in- 
flexions, and  to  be  only  used  in  the  past,  as  :-^ 

Willie's  rare,  Willie's  fair. 

And  Willie's  wondrous  l^onny, 


124  POETRY    AND     HUMOUR 


And  Willie  hccht  to  marry  mc, 
Gin  e'er  he  married  nny. 

—  Tea  Table  Miscellany. 

The  miller  he  hecht  her  a  heart  leal  and  loving, 
The  laird  did  address  her  \vi"  matter  mair  moving. 

—  Burns  :  Meg  o'  the  Mill. 

He  heelii  me  baith  rings  and  mony  braw  things  ; 
And  were  na  my  heart  light,  I  wad  die. 

— Lady  Grizzil  Baillie. 

The  word  is  of  doubtful  etymology  :  perhaps  from  the 
Teutonic  ecltt.  sincere,  true,  genuine — which  a  promise 
ought  to  be. 


Heckle^  a  sort  of  rough  comb  used  by  hemp  and  flax 
dressers.  Metaphorically,  the  word  signifies  to  worry 
a  person  by  cross  questions,  or  vex  him  by  impertinence. 
To  heckle  a  Parliamentary  candidate  at  election  time  is  a 
favourite  amusement  of  voters,  who  think  themselves 
much  wiser  than  any  candidate  can  possibly  be ;  and  of 
insolent  barristers  in  a  court  of  law,  who  cross-examine  a 
hostile  witness  with  undue  severity — an  operation  which 
is  sometimes  called  "badgering."'  There  was  a  well- 
known  butcher  in  Tiverton  who  always  made  it  a  point 
to  heckle  the  late  Lord  Palmerston,  when  he  stood  as  can- 
didate for  the  borough.  Lord  Palmerston  bore  the  inflic- 
tion with  great  good  humour,  and  always  vanquished  the 
too  impudent  butcher  in  the  wordy  warfare  : — 

Adown  my  beard  the  slavers  trickle, — 
I  throw  the  wee  stools  o'er  the  mickle, 
As  round  the  tire  the  giglets  keckle 
To  see  me  loup  ; 


OF     THE    SCOrnSlI     I.ANtiU'AGL 


AVIiile  raving  mad  I  wish  a  heckle 
Were  in  their  doup  1 

-l)urns  :  Address  lo  Ihc  Toothache. 

He  was  a  hedge  unlo  his  friends, 

A  heckle  to  his  foes,  lads. 
And  every  one  that  cHil  liim  wrang, 

He  took  him  l)y  the  nose,  lads. 

Rob  Roy  in  Chambers'  Scottish  Ballads. 

This  was  the  son  of  the  famous  Rob  Roy,  and  was 
called  Robin  Of^.  Chambers  translates  Robin  Og,  Robin 
the  Little.      Og,  in  (raelic,  signifies  not  little  hwt  yotmg. 

Heersliip,  [jlundcr  ;  from  herry  or  harry,  lo  rob,  to 
l)illage  : — 

I!ut  wi'  some  hope  he  travels  on,  while  he. 

The  way  the  hecrship  had  been  driven  on  coidd  sec. 

— Ross's  llelciiorc. 

Her  naiii  seV .  "his  own  self,"  and  "mvown  self."  This 
phrase  is  supposed  by  the  Lowland  Scotch  to  be  the 
usual  mode  of  expression  employed  by  the  Highlanders, 
on  account  of  the  paucity  of  pronouns  in  the  Gaelic 
language  : — 

( )h  fie  for  shame,  ye're  three  for  ane, 
Iter  )iain  set's  won  the  day,  man. 

— Battle  of  A'illiecraukie. 

Mr.  Robert  Chambers,  in  a  note  on  this  passage,  says  : 
"  T/ie  Highlanders  have  only  one  pronou/i,  and  as  it  hap- 
pens to  resemble  the  English  word  her,  it  has  caused  the 
Lowlanders  to  have  a  general  impression  that  they 
mistake  the  masculine  for  the  feminine  gender."'  Mr. 
Chambers,     knowing    nothing    of    (iaelic,    was    utterly 


126  i'OETRV    AM)    liUMOUK 

wrong  in  this  matter  of  the  pronouns.  The  Gaelic 
has  the  same  number  of  personal  pronouns  as  the  Eng- 
lish,— namely,  vii,  1  ;  do^  thou  \  e,  he ;  /,  she  ;  sinn, 
we  ;  sibh,  you  or  yours ;  iad,  they  or  theirs.  They  have 
also  the  possessive  pronouns — mo,  mine  ;  ar,  ours  :  hhur 
and  ur^  yours ;  and  all  the  rest  of  the  series.  It  was 
doubtless  the  tir  or  the  ar  of  the  Gaelic,  which,  by  its 
resemblance  to  her^  suggested  to  Mr.  Chambers  the 
error  into  which  he  fell. 

Herrymejit,  plague,  devastation,  ruin ;  from  herry  or 
harry,  to  plunder  and  lay  waste  : — 

The  hcrrymcnt  and  ruin  of  the  country. 

— Burns:   The  Brigs  of  Ayr, 

Jlinnic  or  Honey,  a  term  of  endearment  among  the 
Scottish  Highlanders,  and  more  particularly  among  the 
Irish  : — 

Oh  open  the  door,  my  hinnie,  my  heart. 
Oh  open  the  door,  my  ain  true  love. 
— Legend  of  the  Padda.     Chandlers'  Scottish  Songs. 

Honey,  in  the  sense  of  hinnie,  occurs  in  the  nursery 
rhymes  of  England  : — 

There  was  a  lady  lovcii  a  swine  ; 

"  Honey  !  my  dear,"  quoth  she, 
"  My  darling  pig,  wilt  ihou  !)e  mine?"' 

"  Hoogh,  hoogh  !"  grunted  he. 

The  word  hinnie  is  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of 
honey,  though  honey  in  the  English  may  be  a  corruption 
of  hinnie.  They  both  express  the  idea  of  fondness  ;  and 
those  who  believe  honey  to  be  tlie  correct  term  explain  it 


OK  THK  SCO'ITISH   LANGL'AGK.  127 

by  assuming  that  the  beloved  object  is  as  "  sweet  as 
honey.'"  But  it"  this  be  really  the  fundamental  idea,  the 
Gaelic  speaking  population  of  Ireland  and  the  Highlands 
might  be  supposed  to  have  used  the  native  word  mil, 
rather  than  the  Teutonic  honey  or  honig,  which  does  not 
exist  in  their  language.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  at  all 
events  suggestive  that  the  (jaelic  ion  signifies  fitting ;  and 
the  compound /t'^z-rt';;/////// means  like,  equal,  well-matched; 
and  ion-)nhuin,  dear,  beloved,  kind,  loving.  The  Irish 
Gaelic  has  ionadh  (pronounced  hinney),  admiration,  or  an 
object  of  admiration ;  whence  ionadh-rhuigte,  adorable. 
The  Scotch  and  old  English  marrow  is  a  term  of  endear- 
ment to  a  lover,  and  signifies  mate,  one  of  a  pair,  as  in 
the  ballad  : — 

Busk  ye,  busk  ye  !  my  bonnie  bride, 
Uusk  ye,  busk  ye !  my  winsome  inarro7v. 

— HatniUon  of  Bangotir. 

In  Scotland  hinnie  and  joe  (Jamie'son)  signify  a  lass 
and  her  lover,  who  are  very  fond  of  each  other.  This 
phrase  is  equivalent  to  the  English  "  Darby  and  Joan," 
and  signifies  a  greatly-attached  wedded  pair.  The 
opinions  of  philologists  will  doubtless  differ  between 
the  Teutonic  and  the  possible  Gaelic  derivation  of 
honey  or  hinnie ;  but  the  fact  that  the  Teutonic  nations 
do  not  draw  the  similar  expression  of  fondness,  as  applied 
to  a  woman,  from  honey,  is  worthy  of  consideration  in 
attempting  to  decide  the  doubtful  point. 

Hirple,  to  limp,  to  run  with  a  limping  motion  : — 

The  hares  were  hirplin^  doun  the  furs. 

^Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair, 


128  J'UKTRV     AMI     HU.MOUU 

Hirsel,  a  llock,  a  multitude  ;  derived  by  Jamieson  from 
the  Teutonic  heer,  an  army  ;  but  it  is  more  probable  from 
the  Gaelic  earras,  wealth  (in  flocks  and  herds) ;  and  earra- 
sai7,  wealthy.  Hirsell,  among  shepherds,  means  to  arrange 
or  dispose  the  sheep  in  separate  flocks  ;  and  hirseling,  the 
separating  into  flocks  or  herds  ;  sometimes  written  and 
pronounced  kissel : — 

Ae  scabbed  sheep  will  smile  the  hale  Itirscl. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

"Jock,  man,"  said  he,  "ye're  just  telling  a  hirscl  o' e'endovvn 
[dounright]  lies." 

— Hogg  :  Brountic   of  Bodsbcck. 

Tlic  herds  and  liissch  were  alarmed. 

—  Burns:  Epistle  to  IVilliain  Siiiipsou. 


Ilirsel,  or  Jlerscl.  The  Drimary  idea  of  this  word 
is  to  remove  the  bod},  when  in  a  sitting  position, 
to  another  or  contiguous  seat  without  absolutely  rising, 
jamieson  suggests  the  derivation  from  tlie  coarse 
word  applied  to  the  posteriors  in  all  the  Teutonic  lan- 
guages, including  English.  He  is  ])robably  correct  : 
though,  as  a  verb,  aerseleii^  which  he  cites,  is  not  to  be 
found  in  the  Swedish,  Danish,  Dutch,  Memish,  or 
German  dictionaries. 

An  English  gentleman  once  boasted  to  the  Duchess  of  Gordon  of 
his  familiarity  with  the  .ScoUish  language.  "  A^/nr/ yont,  my  braw 
birkie, "  said  she.  To  her  great  amusement  as  well  as  triumph,  he 
could  not  understand  one  svord  except  "my." 

—Dean  Ramsay. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 29 


Hizzie,  a  lass,  a  huzzy ;  a  term  of  endearment : — 

Clever  hizzies 
Are  bred  in  sic  a  way  as  this  is. 

— Burns :   The  Tiua  Dogs. 

Hodden  grey.  In  the  Glossary  to  the  first  edition  of 
Allan  Ramsay's  "Tea  Table  Miscellany,"  1724,  '"hoddeti" 
is  described  as  a  coarse  cloth.  Hodden  appears  to  be  a 
corruption  of  the  Gaelic  adhan,  warm;  so  that  hodden 
grey  would  signify  warm-grey.  It  was  usually  home-made 
by  the  Scottish  peasantry  of  the  Lowlands,  and  formed  the 
material  of  their  working-day  clothes  : — 

What  though  on  homely  fare  we  dine, 

Wear  hodden  grey,  and  a'  that ; 
Gi'e  fools  their  silks,  an'  knaves  their  wine, 
A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that. 

— Burns. 
If  a  man  did  his  best  to  murder  me,  I  should  not  rest  comfortably 
until   I  knew  that  he  was  safe  in  a  well -ventilated  cell,  with  the 
hodden  grey  garment  of  the  gaol  upon  him.      Trial  of  Prince  Pierre 
Bonaparte.     "Daily  Telegraph,"  March  26,  1870. 

Hogmanay,  or  Hogmenay.  This  is  a  peculiarly  Scottish 
name  for  a  festival  by  no  means  peculiar  to  Scotland — 
that  of  New  Year's  day,  or  the  last  hours  of  the  old 
year  and  the  first  of  the  new.  On  these  occasions,  before 
the  world  grew  as  prosaic  as  it  is,  with  regard  to  old  cus- 
toms and  observances,  the  young  men,  and  sometimes 
the  old,  paid  visits  of  congratulation  to  the  girls  and 
women  of  their  acquaintance  with  expressions  and  words 
of  good  will  or  affection,  and  very  commonly  bore  with 
them  gifts  of  more  or  less  value  according  to  their  means. 
It  was  a  time  of  good  fellowship,  conviviality,  and  kindly 

I 


130  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

offices.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  trace  the 
word.  Some  have  held  it  to  be  from  the  Greek  hagia, 
(a7ta),  holy ;  and  mve,  a  month.  But  as  the  festival  lasted 
for  a  few  hours  only,  the  etymology  is  unsatisfactory. 
Others  have  thought  to  find  its  source  in  the  French  gui^ 
the  mistletoe;  and  mencr,  to  lead;  an giu  mener,  to  lead  to 
the  mistletoe ; — and  others,  again,  to  the  Gaelic  oigc, 
youth ;  and  tiiadhuin,  the  morning, — because  the  cele- 
bration took  place  in  the  earliest  hours  of  the  daylight. 
It  cannot  be  admitted  that  any  one  of  these  derivations 
is  wholly  satisfactory.  Nobody  has  ever  thought  of  look- 
ing to  the  Flemish — which  has  supplied  so  many  words 
to  the  vocabulary  of  the  Lowland  Scotch — for  a  solution 
of  the  difficulty.  In  that  language  we  find  hoog,  high  or 
great ;  min,  love,  affection ;  and  dag^  a  day ;  hoog-min- 
dag,  the  high  or  great  day  of  affection.  The  transition 
from  hoog-min-dag  to  hog-man-ay,  with  the  corruption  of 
dag  into  ay,  is  easily  accomplished.  This  etymology  is 
offered  with  diffidence,  not  with  dogmatic  assertion,  and 
solely  with  this  plea  on  its  behalf — ^that  it  meets  the 
meaning  better  perhaps  than  any  other ;  or  if  not  better, 
at  least  as  well  as  the  Greek,  French,  or  Gaelic. 

Iloodock,  the  hooded  owl : — 

The  harpy,  fioodock,  purse-proud  race 
Wha  counl  a'  poortith  as  disgrace, 
They've  tuneless  hearts. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Major  Logan. 

The  glossaries  to  Burns  explain  this  word  as  meaning 
"  miserly,"  which  is  a  mere  conjecture  from  the  context, 
to  fit  it  into  purse-proud  ;  whereas,  it  is  but  a  continu- 
ation of  the  ornithological  idea  of  harpy,  a  vulture.     The 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  131 

origin  is  the  French  due,  an  owl,  of  which  in  that  lan- 
guage there  are  three  varieties — grand  due,  or  great  owl ; 
petit  due,  or  little  owl ;  and  haut  due,  large,  great  owl. 
Possibly,  however,  the  first  syllable  in  hoodock  is  the 
English  hood.  The  idea  in  Burns  is  that  of  a  greedy 
bird,  or  harpy  in  a  minor  degree  of  voracity.  Jamieson 
has  '■'•  hoodit  craw"  for  carrion  crow;  and  hoody,  the. 
hooded  crow. 


Hool,  the  husk  of  grain,  the  integument,  the  case  or 
covering : — 

Ilk  kind  o'  corn  has  its  ain  hool, — 
I  think  the  world  is  a'  gane  wrang 
When  ilka  wife  her  man  wad  rule. 

—  Tak  your  Auld  Cloak  about  ye. 

Poor  Leezie's  heart  maist  lap  the  hool. 
Near  laverock  height  she  loupit. 

— Burns:  Halloween. 


In  Dutch  hulle,  cover,  integument,  veil.  Swedish 
holja,  cover,  envelope,  encase ;  whence  also  the  English 
holster,  the  case  of  a  pistol  \  and  upholster,  to  make 
cases  or  coverings  for .  furniture ;  and  upholsterer,  one 
who  upholsters.  The  unnecessary  and  corrupt  prefix 
of  up  to  this  word  has  led  philologists  to  derive  it 
erroneously  from  uphold. 

The  English  hoils,  applied  to  the  beard  and  husks  of 
barley,  and  hull,  a  husk  or  shell  of  peas  and  beans,  seems 
to  be  from  the  same  source  as  the  Scottish  hool,  and  in 
like  manner  the  hull,  or  outer  case  of  a  ship  : — 


132  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Sad  was  the  chase  that  they  had  gi'en  to  me, 
My  heart's  near  out  of  hool  by  getting  free. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

HooHe  or  Hooly.  This  word  is  commonly  used  in  con- 
junction with  fairly,  as  in  the  phrase  "hooly  and  fairly." 
Jamieson  renders  it  "slowly  and  cautiously."  It  is 
derived  from  the  Gaelic  uigheil,  heedful,  cautious.  The 
glossaries  to  Burns  render  it  "stop  !"  There  is  an  old 
Scottish  song — "  Oh  that  my  wife  would  drink  hooly  and 
fairly."  In  the  glossary  where  "stop"  would  not  convey 
the  meaning  to  Mr.  Alexander  Smith's  very  careless 
edition  of  Burns,  the  explanation  that  the  word  means 
"stop!"  is  a  mere  guess,  from  the  context,  which  proves 
that  the  editor  did  not  really  understand  the  word  : — 

Still  the  mair  I'm  that  way  bent, 

Something  cries  "  JIooUcl'" 
I  rede  you,  honest  man,  tak'  tent. 

You'll  show  your  folly. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  lo  James  Siiiith. 

Sen  every  pastime  is  a  pleasure  ; 
I  council  you  to  sport  with  measure; 

And  namely  now  May,  June,  and  July 
Delight  not  long  i.i  Lorea's  leisure, 

But  weit  your  lipps  and  labour  hooly. 

— Oil  May :  Alex.  Scott,  in  the  Evergreen. 

Oh  hooly,  hooly  rose  she  up 

To  the  place  where  he  was  lyin' 
And  when  she  drew  the  curtain  by — 

"  Young  man,  I  think  ye're  dyin'." 

— Ballad  of  Barbara  Allan, 

Hooly  and  fair  gangs  far  in  a  day. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 33 


In  the  North  of  England,  Itooly  means  tenderly,  gently. — Ilalli- 
well. 


Hootie^  a  ludicrous  but  expressive  word,  applied  to  a 
man  like  Pococurante  in  Voltaire's  romance,  who  im- 
presses the  ingenious  Candide  with  an  idea  of  the 
immensity  of  his  wisdom,  because  nothing  could  please 
him,  and  because  he  objected  to  every  thing  and  every 
body.  From  hoot!  ox  hoots  !  an  interjection  expressive 
of  contempt,  or  of  more  or  less  angry  dissent.  Hoot  toot! 
is  an  intensification  of  the  same  idea.  The  English  have 
pshatv!  pish!  and  tut!  The  word  in  the  form  of  ut!  ut! 
is  very  common  among  Highlanders. 

Horn. — Drinking  vessels,  before  glass  was  much  used 
for  the  purpose,  were  made  of  horn,  and  are  still  to  be 
found  both  among  the  poor  and  the  rich.  "  To  take  a 
horn  "  ultimately  came  to  signify  to  take  a  drink — just  as 
the  modern  phrase,  "  Take  a  glass "  does  not  mean  to 
take  the  glass  itself,  but  the  liquor  contained  in  it : — 

"  By  the  Gods  of  the  Ancients  !"  Glenriddel  replies, 
' '  Before  I  surrender  so  glorious  a  prize, 
I'll  conjure  the  ghost  of  the  great  Rorie  More, 
And  bumper  his  horn  with  him  twenty  times  o'er." 

— Burns  :  The  Whistle. 

Horn-mad  is  defined  in  the  Dictionary  of  Lowland 
Scotch  (1818)  as  signifying  quite  mad;  though  the  com- 
piler did  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  the  madness  was 
that  which  came  from  intoxication.  Horn-daft  is  of 
similar  meaning  and  origin  ;  though  expressive  of  the 
minor  degree  of  intoxication.  Jamieson  renders  it 
"outrageous,"    and   imagines   it    may    be    an    allusion 


134  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

to  an  animal  that  pushes  with  its  horns.  Horn-idle 
is  defined  by  Jamieson  to  mean  "having  nothing  to 
do,  completely  unemployed."  He  derives  it  from  Saxon 
and  Gaelic.  Horti  is  certainly  Teutonic  or  Flemish,  but 
idle  is  as  certainly  not  Gaelic.  The  allusion  in  this  case 
is  obviously  to  the  sloth,  or  drowsiness,  that  in  lethargic 
persons  often  results  from  intoxication. 

Hornie  is  a  word  used  in  Ayrshire,  according  to 
Jamieson,  to  signify  amorous,  lecherous,  libidinous. 
Still,  with  the  notion  in  his  head  that  horn  is  some- 
thing made  out  of  a  horn,  he  suggests  that  a  hornie 
person  is  one  who  is  apt  to  reduce  another  to  the  state 
of  cuckoldum,  of  a  corniitus ;  and  to  confer  upon  him 
the  imaginary  horns  that  are  supposed  to  grace  the  fore- 
head of  those  ill-used  and  unfortunate  persons.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  hornie  meant  nothing  more  than 
intoxicated  to  such  an  extent  as  to  excite  the  intoxicated 
person  to  take  improper  liberties  with  women.  This 
effect  is  as  usual  in  some  people  as  drowsiness,  semi- 
madness,  or  maudlin  stupidity  is  in  others. 

Horn-dry,  according  to  Jamieson,  means  "dry  as  a 
horn  ;  eager  for  drink ;  an  expression  frequently  used  by 
reapers  when  exhausted  by  the  labours  of  the  harvest." 
But  the  obvious  etymology — viewed  in  the  light  of  the 
other  words  that  have  been  cited — is  not  dry  as  a  horn, 
but  dry  for  want  of  a  horn  of  ale  or  other  liffuor. 

In  reference  to  horn  as  synonymous  with  liquor,  it 
must  be  stated  that  grog  expresses  the  same  idea  in 
Gaelic.  In  that  language  croc  signifies  a  horn,  and  by  a 
similar  extension  of  meaning,  that  which  the  croc  or  horn 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  135 

contains.  The  English  story,  that  Admiral  Vernon,  in 
the  reign  of  George  11. ,  was  the  first  to  order  an  allow- 
ance of  spirits  and  water  to  the  sailors  of  his  fleet — that 
he  wore  a  grogram  suit,  and  was  familiarly  called  "  old 
Grog,"  and  that  hence  grog  was  named  after  him — is  a 
pure  invention  of  some  imaginative  philologist.  To  take  a 
croc^  or  grog  (the  same  as  to  take  a  horn  or  a  glass)  meant 
simply  to  take  a  drink.  The  French  have  eric  and  croc 
for  a  glass  of  spirits,  as  in  the  song : — 

Cric,  croc  !  a  ta  sante ! 

Hotighmagandie,  child-bearing;  strongly  supposed  to 
mean  the  illicit  intercourse  of  the  sexes.  This  word 
is  not  to  be  found  in  any  author  before  Burns,  and  is 
considered  by  some  to  have  been  coined  by  that  poet. 
But  this  is  not  likely.  It  is  usually  translated  by  "  forni- 
cator." No  trace  of  the  word  as  a  word  has  hitherto  been 
found  in  any  European  or  other  language.  Nevertheless, 
its  component  parts  seem  to  exist  in  the  Flemish.  In 
that  language  hoog  signifies  high  or  great ;  and  tnaag,  the 
stomach  or  belly ;  maageti,  bellies ;  and  j'e,  a  diminutive 
particle  commonly  added  to  Flemish  and  Dutch  words, 
and  equivalent  to  the  Scottish  ie  in  bairnie,  wifte,  laddie, 
lassie,  &c.  These  words  would  form  hoog-maagan-je — a 
very  near  approach  to  the  houghtnagandie  of  Burns.  If 
this  be  the  derivation,  it  would  make  better  sense  of  the 
passage  in  which  it  occurs  than  that  usually  attributed  to 
it.  The  context  shows  that  it  is  not  fornication  which  is 
meant, — for  that  has  already  been  committed, — but  the 
possible  result  of  the  sin  which  may  appear  "  some  other 
day,"  in  the  enlarged  circumference  of  the  female  sinner : 


136  POETRY  AND    HUMOUR 

There's  some  are  fu'  o'  love  divine, 

And  some  are  fu'  o'  brandy  ; 
And  mony  a  job  that  day  begun 
May  end  in  lioiighmagaiuiie 
Some  other  day. 

— Burns :  The  Holy  Fair. 

Ayrshire  and  Dumfries-shire  retained  for  a  longer  time 
than  the  Eastern  Counties  of  Scotland  the  words  and 
phrases  of  the  Gaelic  language,  though  often  greatly  cor- 
rupted; and  in  the  poems  and  songs  of  Burns,  words 
from  the  Gaelic  arc  of  frequent  occurrence.  It  is  not 
likely  that  Burns  ever  took  it  upon  himself  to  invent  a 
word ;  and  if  he  did,  it  is  even  more  than  unlikely  that 
it  should  find  acceptance.  Whatever  it  may  mean, 
HoiigJwiagandie  does  not  mean  fornication,  for  the 
whole  spirit  and  contents  of  the  ''  Holy  1' air  "  show  that 
fornication  is  what  he  stigmatizes  as  the  practise  of  the 
gatherings,  which  he  satirizes ;  and  that  which  he  calls 
houg/imagandie  is,  or  is  likely  to  be,  the  future  result  of 
the  too-promiscuous  intercourse  of  the  sexes,  against 
which  he  jocosely  declaims. 

I  don't  remember  to  have  met  with  this  word  anywhere 
except  in  the  Holy  Fair.  It  may  have  been  a  word  in  use  in 
Burns's  day,  or  it  may  have  been  a  coinage  of  Burns,  that  would 
readily  convey  to  the  minds  of  his  readers  what  he  meant.  It  may 
have  conveyed  the  idea  of  a  "  dyke-louper  "  appearing  before  the 
Session,  the  "  snoovin'  awa  afore  the  Session"  for  a  fault,  the  doing 
penance  for  "jobbing."  Gangdays  were  the  three  days  in  Rogation 
week,  on  which  priest  and  parishioners  were  accustomed  to  walk  in 
procession  about  the  parish,  a  remnant  of  the  custom  is  still  to  be 
seen  in  London  in  the  pcraml)ulations  of  boys  about  the  bounds  of 
the  parish  ;  gandie  would  not  be  a  very  violent  alteration  of  ga^tdeye, 
the  more  especially  that  the  spelling  of  Scotch  words  partook  a  good 
deal  of  the  phonetic,  and  gangday  was  very  probably  pronounced 
gandie.     Now,  we  know  as  a  fact  that  in  the  lapse  of  lime  many 


Ofr   THE   SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  13^ 


of  the  ceremonies  of  the  church  became  corrupted  from  their  orig- 
inal intention,  and  processions  became  in  time  a  sort  of  penance  for 
faults,  and  in  this  way  it  is  just  possil)le  that  gandic  came  itself  to 
mean  a  penance,  and  hoiighmagandic  conveyed  the  idea  of  doing 
penance  for  some  wrong  action  that  the  hough  or  leg  had  something 
to  do  with. — R.  D. 


Howdie,  or  howdie-imfe,  a  mid-wife,  an  accoucher. 
This  word  is  preferable  to  the  gross  English  and  the 
foreign  term  borrowed  from  the  French.  Howdie-fee^  the 
payment  given  to  a  mid-wife  : — 

When  skirlin'  weanies  see  the  light, 
Thou  makes  the  gossips  clatter  bright, 
How  funkin'  cuifs  their  dearies  slight — 

Wae  worth  the  name  ! 
Nae  Howdie  gets  a  social  night 

Or  plack  frae  them. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


No  satisfactory  clue  to  the  etymology  of  this  word 
lias  been  made  known.  In  Gaelic  the  mid-wife  is 
called  the  "  knee  woman,"  bean  gloinne ;  in  French  the 
sage  feiiune,  or  wise  woman ;  in  Teutonic  the  kebamin, 
or  weh  mutte}' ;  in  Spanish  pariera,  and  in  Italian 
comare,  the  latter  word  signifying  the  French  couunere — 
the  old  English  and  Scotch  cununer — a  gossip.  Possibly 
the  true  origin  of  the  Scottish  word  is  to  be  found  in 
houd,  or  hand,  to  hold,  to  sustain ;  and  the  mid-wife  was 
the  holder,  helper,  sustainer,  and  comforter  of  the  woman 
who  suffered  the  pains  of  labour  ;  the  sage  femme  of  the 
French,  who  was  wise  and  skilful  enough  to  perform  her 
delicate  function. 


t3^  POEtRY  AND   HUMOtJR 

Howff,  a  favourite  public-house,  and  where  friends 
and  acquaintances  were  accustomed  to  resort.  From  the 
Gaelic  Jiainh  (naf),  a  cave.  Caves  of  harmony,  as  they 
were  called,  were  formerly  known  in  Paris,  and  one  long 
existed  in  London  under  the  name  of  the  Coalhole.  They 
were  small  places  of  convivial  resort,  which,  in  London, 
have  grown  into  music  halls.  Jamieson  traces  /io7off  to 
the  Teutonic  hof,  a  court-yard  ;  and  gast-hof,  an  inn  or 
yard.  It  is  possible  that  he  is  right,  though  it  is  equally 
possible  that  the  German  Iiof  is  but  a  form  of  the  Gaelic 
uavih : — 

This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  a  Mrs.  Hyslop,  landlady  of  the 
Globe  Tavern  here,  which  for  many  years  has  been  my  howff,  and 
where  our  friend  Clarke  and  I  have  had  many  a  merry  squeeze. 

— Burns  :  Letter  to  George  Thomson. 

Burns'  hoivff  2ii  Dumfries. 

—Chambers. 

Where  was't  that  Robertson  and  "you  were  used  to  hoivjf  thc- 
gither  ? 

— Scott  :  Heart  of  Midlothian. 

liowk,  furmcrly  spelled  Iwl/:.  to  dig,  to  grub  up,  to  ri.ol 
up,  to  form  a  hole  in  the  ground  : — 

hilcs  mice  and  moudicworts  (moles)  th  ey  ho'vkif. 

—  r.urns  :    The  Twa  Logs. 

And  in  kirk-yards  renew  their  leagues 
Owre  Iiowkit  dead. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

He  has  lio-a'kit  a  grave  that  was  lang  and  was  deep, 
And  he  has  buried  liis  sister  wi"  her  baby  at  her  feet. 

— J^IotherwcIl  :  The  Broom  Blooms  Bonnie. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  1 39 

Hiimmelcorn^  mean,  shabby,  of  small  account ;  a  term 
applied  to  the  lighter  grain  which  falls  from  the  rest  when 
it  is  winnowed : — 

A  lady,  returning  from  church,  expressed  her  low  opinion  of  the 
sermon  she  had  heard  by  calling  it  a  Jiunimelcorn  discourse. 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

The  derivation  is  unknown  ;  though  humhlc-corn  has 
been  suggested. 

Hummel-doddie,  dowdy,  ill-fitting,  in  bad  taste  : — 

Whatna  hummel-doddie  o'  a  mutch  [cap]  ha'  ye  gotten  ? 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Remittiscences. 

Hunkers,  the  loins ;  to  hunher  doian,  to  squat  on  the 
ground.  The  word  seems  to  be  allied  to  the  English 
hunl\  a  lump ;  whence,  to  squat  down  on  the  earth  in  a 
lumpish  fashion  : — 

Wi'  ghastly  ee,  poor  Tweedle  Dee 

Upon  his  hunkers  bended, 
And  prayed  for  grace  wi'  cuthless  face 

To  see  the  quarrel  ended. 

— Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 

Hurdles,  the  hips,  the  podex  of  the  Romans,  the  pyge 
of  the  Greeks.  From  the  Gaelic  aird,  a  rounded 
muscle  or  swelling ;  plural  airde,  also  airdhe,  a  wave,  or 
of  a  wavy  form. 

His  tail 
Hung  o'er  his  Jiurdies  wi'  a  swirl. 

— Burns :   The  Two.  Do^s, 


140  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


Ye  godly  brethren  o'  the  sacred  gown, 
Wha  meekly  gie  your  hurdies  to  the  smiters. 

— Burns  :  The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

Thir  breaks  o'  mine,  my  only  pair. 
That  ance  were  plush  o'  guid  blue  hair, 
I  wad  ha'e  gi'en  them  aff  my  hurdies. 
For  ae  blink  o'  the  bonnie  burdies  !" 

— Burns  :  Tarn  G'Shanter, 

Pendable  ?  ye  may  say  that ;  his  craig  wad  ken  the  weight  of  his 
hurdies  if  they  could  get  haud  o'  Rob. 

Scott :  Rob  Roy. 

The  old  French  poet,  Frangois  Villon,  when  con- 
demned to  be  hung,  wrote  a  stanza  in  which  the  above 
idea  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  occurs  in  language  about  as 
forcible  and  not  a  whit  more  elegant : — 

Je  suis  Frangais  (dont  ce  me  poise), 
Ne  de  Paris,  emprcs  Ponthoise, 
Or  d'une  corde  d'une  toise 
S9aura  mon  col  que  mon  cul  poise. 

Burns  also  uses  the  word  in  the  sense  of  "  rounded  or 
swelling,"  without  reference  to  any  portion  of  the  human 
frame,  as  in  the  following : — 

The  groaning  trencher  there  ye  fill 
Your  hurdies  like  a  distant  hill. 

—  To  a  Haggis. 

Hurl,  to  wheel ;  hurl-harrow,  wheel-barrow ;  a  corrup- 
tion of  whirl,  to  turn  round  ;  hurley-hackct,  a  contemp- 
tuous name  for  an  ill-hung  carriage  or  other  vehicle : — 

It's  kittle  for  the  cheeks  when  the  hurl-barrow  gangs  o'er  the  brig 
o'  the  nose. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  141 


"  I  never  thought  to  have  entered  ane  o'  these  hurley-Iiackets," 
she  said  as  she  seated  herself,  "  and  sic  a  thing  as  it  is — scarce  room 
for  twa  folk." 

— vScott :  St.  Ronan's  Well. 


Hyte,  joyous ;  excited  unduly  or  overmuch  : — 

Ochone  for  poor  Castalian  drinkers  ! 
The  witchin',  cursed,  delicious  blinkers 
Hae  put  me  kyie. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Major  Logan. 

This  word  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  aite,  joy,  gladness, 
fun,  and  appears  to  be  related  to  the  English  hoity-toity. 


ler-oe,  a  great  grandchild  ;  erroneously  spelled y>r^_y  in 
the  new  editions  of  Jamieson,  and  cited  as  a  "  Shetland 
word  "  : — 

May  health  and  peace  with  mutual  rays 
Shine  on  the  evening  o'  his  days, 
Till  his  wee  curlie  John's  ter  oe, 
When  ebbing  life  nae  mair  shall  flow, 
The  last  sad  mournful  rites  bestow. 

— Burns  :  A  Dedication  to  Gavin  Hamilton. 

The  word  is  from  tlie  Gaelic  oghe,  a  grandchild  ;  and 
iar,  after, — whence  an  after  grandchild,  or  great  grand- 
child. 


Ilka,  each,  as  "  ilka  ane,"  each  one ;  ilk,  that  same ; 
used  for  the  designation  of  a  person  whose  patronymic  is 
the  same  as  the  name  of  his  estate — such  as  Mackintosh 
of  Mackintosh — i.e.,  Mackintosh  of  that  Ilk.  This  Scot- 
tish word  has  crept  into  English,  though  with  a  strange 
perversion  of  its  meaning,  as  in  the  following : — 


142  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

We  know,  however,  that  many  barbarians  of  their  ilk,  and  even 
of  later  times,  knowingly  destroyed  many  a  gold  and  silver  vessel 
that  fell  into  their  hands.— /'«//  Mall  Gazette,  January  24,  1869. 

Matilda  lived  in  St.  John's  Villas,  Twickenham ;  Mr.  Passmore 
in  King  Street  of  the  same  ilk.— Daily  Telegraph,  Feb.  8,  1870. 

Ingme,  genius,  "  the  fire  of  genius  "  or  "  poetic  fire,"  are 
common  expressions.  Burns,  in  an  Epistle  to  John 
Lapraik,  whose  poetry  he  greatly  admired,  and  thought 
equal  to  that  of  Alexander  Pope  or  James  Beattie,  made 
enquiries  concerning  him,  and  was  told  that  he  was  "  an 
odd  kind  o'  chiel  about  Muirkirk  "  : — 

An'  sae  about  him  there  I  spier't, 
Then  a'  that  ken'd  him  round  declar't 

lie  had  ingine. 
That  nane  excelled  it — few  cam  near't, 

It  was  sae  fine. 

It  would  seem  on  first  consideration  that  this  peculiarly 
Scottish  word  was  of  the  same  I  atin  derivation  as  genius, 
ingenious,  ingenuity,  and  the  archaic  English  word  cited  in 
Halliwell,  "ingene,"  which  is  translated  "genius  or  wit." 
It  is  open  to  enquiry,  however,  whether  the  idea  oifire  does 
not  underlie  the  word,  and  whether  it  is  not  in  the  form  in 
which  i'mrns  employs  it,  traceable  to  the  Gaelic  ain,  an 
intransitive  prefix  or  particle  signifying  great,  very,  or 
intense ;  and  teine^  fire. 

The  late  Samuel  Rogers,  auchor  of  the  "Pleasures  of  Memory," 
in  a  controversy  with  me  on  the  character  of  Lord  Byron,  spoke 
very  unfavourably  of  his  poetical  genius,  which  I  praised  and  de- 
fended to  the  best  of  my  ability.  Mr.  Rogers,  however,  always 
returned  to  the  attack  with  renewed  vigour.  Driven  at  last  to 
extremity,  I  thought  to  clench  all  argument  by  saying— "At  least 
you  will  admit,  Mr.  Rogers,  that  there  via.sftre  in  Byron's  poetry?" 
"Yes,"  he  answered,  '' hell-fire !"—C.  M. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 43 

Ingle,  the  fire ;  ingle-side,  the  fireside,  the  hearth ; 
ingle-tieiik,  the  chimney  corner  ;  ingle-bred,  home-bred,  or 
bred  at  the  domestic  hearth ;  inglin,  fi.iel : — 

Better  a  wee  ingle  to  warm  you,  than  a  muckle  fire  to  burn  you. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

His  wee  bit  ingle  blinkin'  bonnilie." 

— Burns. 

It's  an  auld  story  now,  and  everybody  tells  it,  as  we  were  doing, 
in  their  ain  way  by  the  ingle-side. 

— Scott :  Guy  Mannering. 

The  derivation  oi ingle,  in  the  Scottish  sense  of  the  word, 
is  either  firom  the  GaeUc  aingeal,  the  Kymric  engyl,  heat, 
fire,  or  from  ioti,  fit,  becoming,  comfortable ;  and  cull,  a 
corner.  That  of  the  EngUsh  ingle,  meaning  a  favourite, 
a  friend,  or  lover,  is  not  so  easy  to  discover.  The  word 
occurs  in  a  passage  from  an  Elizabethan  play,  with  a 
detestable  title,  quoted  by  Nares  : — 

Call  me  your  love,  your  ingle,  your  cousin,  or  so  ;  but  sister  at  no 
hand. 

Also  in  Massinger's  "  City  Madam  "  : — 

His  quondam  patrons,  his  dear  ingils  now. 

Ingle,  from  one  signifying  a  lover  in  the  legitimate  use 
of  that  word,  was  corrupted  into  an  epithet  for  the  male 
lover  of  a  male,  in  the  most  odious  sense.  In  "  Donne's 
Elegies,"  it  is  used  as  signifying  amorous  endearment 
of  a  child  to  its  father  : — 

Thy  liule  brother,  which  like  fairy  spirits, 

Oft  skijjped  into  our  chamber  those  sweet  nights 

And  kissed  and  inglcd  on  thy  father's  knee. 


144  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

No  satisfactory  etymology  for  the  English  word  has 
ever  been  suggested,  and  that  from  the  Spanish  yngle,  the 
groin,  which  finds  favour  with  Nares  and  other  philolo- 
gists, is  manifestly  inadmissible.  It  is  possible,  however, 
that  the  English  ingle  was  originally  the  same  as  the 
Scottish,  and  that  its  first  meaning  as  "love"  was  derived 
from  the  idea  still  current,  that  calls  a  beloved  object  a 
fiame.  Hotten's  Slang  Dictionary  has  ^^flatne,  a  sweet- 
heart." Iiigle  was  sometimes  written  enghle,  which  latter 
word,  according  to  Mr.  Halliwell,  signifies,  as  used  by 
Ben  Jonson,  a  gull, — also,  to  coax  or  to  wheedle. 

/  wish  ye  were  in  Heckie-lmrnie.  "  This,"  says  Jamie- 
son,  "  is  a  strange  form  of  imprecation.  The  only  account 
given  of  this  place  is  that  it  is  three  miles  beyond  hell. 
In  Aberdeen,  if  one  says,  'go  to  the  Devil!'  the  other 
often  replies,  '  go  you  to  Heckie-biirnie!''  "  No  etymology 
is  given.  Possibly  it  originated  in  the  pulpit,  when  some 
Gaelic  preacher  had  taken  the  story  of  Dives  and  Lazarus 
for  his  text ;  and  the  rich  Dives,  amid  his  torments  in 
hell,  asked  in  vain  for  a  drop  of  water  to  cool  his  parched 
tongue.  The  intolerable  thirst  was  his  greatest  punish- 
ment ;  and  in  Gaelic  Aichcadh  is  refusal,  and  Iniirnc, 
water  from  the  burn  or  stream,  whence  the  phrase  would 
signify  the  refusal  or  denial  of  water.  This  is  offered  as 
a  suggestion  only,  to  account  for  an  expression  that  has 
been  hitherto  given  up  as  inexplicable. 

Jamph,  to  trudge,  to  plod,  to  make  way  laboriously,  to 
grow  weary  with  toil ;  also,  to  endeavour  to  take  liberties 
with  an  unwilling  or  angry  woman ;  to  pursue  her  under 
difficulty  and  obstruction : — 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE,  145 


"Oh  bonnie  lass  !"  says  he,  "ye'll  gie's  a  kiss, 
And  I  shall  set  you  right  on,  hit  or  miss." 
"A  hit  or  miss,  I  want  na  help  off  you, — 
Kiss  ye  sklate  stanes,  they  winna  wat  your  mou." 
And  off  she  goes  ; — the  fellow  loot  a  rin, 
As  gin  he  ween'd  with  speed  to  tak  her  in  ; 
But  as  luck  was,  a  knibbloch  took  his  tae, 
And  o'er  fa's  he,  and  tumbles  down  the  brae ; 
His  neebor  leugh,  and  said  it  was  well  wair'd — 
"  Let  ntvex  janiphers  yet  be  better  sair'd." 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

The  etymology  of /'«';;///;— whether  it  means  to  plod  or 
flirt,  or  both — is  obscure.  It  is  possibly,  but  not  cer- 
tainly, from  the  Gaelic  deanamh  (de  pronounced  as  je)y 
doing,  acting,  performing.  Jamieson  thinks  that,  in  the 
sense  of  flirting,  it  may  come  from  the  Teutonic  schimp- 
fen,  to  mock  ;  and  in  the  sense  of  plod  or  trudge,  from 
the  Teutonic  schajnpfen,  to  slip  aside, 

Jauner,  idle  talk;  to  wander  listlessly  about,  without 
any  particular  object : — 

Oh,  hand  your  tongue  now,  Luckie  Laing, 
Oh,  baud  your  tongue  zTLAJattner. 

— Burns  :   The  Lass  of  Ecclefechan. 

We'se  had  a  good  jauner  this  forenoon. 

— ^Jamieson. 

In  the  sense  of  wandering  idly,  this  word  seems  to  be 
but  a  variety  or  corruption  of  dauner. 


Jawp^  to  splash,  to  dash,  or  ruffle  the  water,  to  pelt 
with  water  or  mire ;  ''jatvp  the  water,"  a  proverbial  ex- 
pression signifying  to  spend  time  on  any  business  to  no 

K 


146  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

purpose ;  "  to  jmvp  waters  with  one,"  to  play  fast  and 
loose,  to  strive  to  be  off  a  bargain  once  made  : — 

Then  down  ye'll  hurl,  deil  nor  ye  never  rise, 
And  dash  the  gumlyya7y/j  up  to  the  skies. 

— Burns  :  The  Brigs  oj  Ayr. 

Jink^  to  play,  to  sport,  to  dodge  in  and  out,  from 
whence  the  phrase,  "high-jinks,"  sometimes  used  in 
England  to  describe  the  merriment  and  sport  of  servants 
in  the  kitchen,  when  their  masters  and  mistresses  are  out ; 
a  quick  or  sudden  movement;  also,  to  escape,  to  trick 
— "to  gie  \^tjink"  to  give  the  slip,  to  elude  : — 

And  now,  auld  Cloots,  I  ken  ye're  thinkin' 
A  certain  bardie,  rantin',  drinkin', 
Some  luckless  hour  will  send  him  linkin' 

To  your  black  pit ; 
But  faith  he'll  turn  a  coxntx  jinkin^ 

And  cheat  ye  yet  ! 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

Lang  may  your  t\h\ickji>tk  and  diddle. 

— Burns  :  Second  Epistle  to  Davie. 

Oh,  thou,  my  muse  !  guid  auld  Scotch  drink, 
Whether  through  wimplin'  worms  i\\Q\i  jink. 
Or,  richly  brown,  ream  o'er  the  brink 
In  glorious  faem. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Jamieson  derives  the  word  from  the  Swedish  dwink-a, 
and  the  German  sc/nvitiken,  to  move  ([uickly,  but  no 
such  word  appears  in  the  German  dictionaries,  and  the 
etymology  is  otherwise  unsatisfactory.  The  Gaelic  dian 
(pronounced  jian)  and  dianach  signifies  brisk,  nimble, 
which  is  probably  the  root  oi  jink  as  used  by  Burns. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  147 

Jirble,  Jirgle.  Both  of  these  words  signify  to  spill  any 
liquid  by  making  it  move  from  side  to  side  in  the  vessel 
that  contains  it ;  to  empty  any  liquid  from  one  vessel  to 
another  \  also,  the  small  quantity  left  in  a  glass  or  tea- 
cup : — 

The  waur  for  themselves  and  for  the  country  baith,  St.  Ronan's ;  its 
the  junketing  and  the  jirbling  in  tea  and  sic  trumpery  that  brings 
our  nobles  to  ninepence,  and  mony  a  het  ha'  house  to  a  hired 
lodging  in  the  Abbey. 

—Scott :  St.  Ronan's  Well. 


Jock  in  Scottish,  and  in  English  Jack^  are  used  as 
familiar  substitutes  for  the  Christian  name  John,  and  are 
supposed  to  be  derived  from  the  French  Jacques.  This 
word,  however,  means  James,  and  not  John.  The  use 
of  the  prefixes  y'rt'r/C'  zca^Jock  in  many  English  and  Scottish 
compounds  that  have  no  obvious  reference  to  the  Chris- 
tian names  either  of  James  or  John,  suggests  that  there 
may  possibly  be  a  different  origin  for  the  word.  Among 
others  that  may  be  cited,  are  Jack-ta.r,  Jack--pnest,  Jack- 
of-all-trades,  and  such  implements  in  common  use  as 
\iOQ\.-jacky  xo2L%\Jmg-jack,  jack-VviiiQ,  the  jacks  or  hammers 
of  a  pianoforte,  the  jack  or  clapper  of  a  bell,  yarX'-boots, 
;«r/^-chain,  the  \^m.onjack  or  flag,  jack-'sX.di^.,  jack-towel, 
jack-hlock,  and  many  others  which  are  duly  set  forth  in 
the  dictionaries,  without  any  suggestion  of  any  other 
etymology  than  that  from  John.  Shakespeare  in  his  son- 
nets uses  the  word  jack  for  the  hammers  of  the  virginal, 
and  in  Richard  II.  employs  it  to  signify  a  working-man : 

Since  t\txy  jack  became  a  gentleman, 
There's  many  a  gentle  person  made  a  jack. 


148  POETRY    AND   HUMOUR 

Besides  the  Scottish  term  of  familiarity  or  affection  for  a 
man,  the  word  Jock  occurs  in  two  singular  words  cited 
by  Jamieson.  Jock-te-leer,  which  he  says  is  a  cant  term 
for  a  pocket  almanack,  derived  from  yock  the  liar,  from 
the  loose  or  false  predictions  with  regard  to  the  weather 
which  are  contained  in  such  publications  \  and  yock-te- 
leg.  a  folding  or  clasp-knife. 

It  is  difficult  to  connect  either  the  Scottish  Jock  or 
the  English  Jack  in  these  words  with  the  name  of 
John,  unless  upon  the  supposition  that  John  and  Jack 
are  synonymous  with  man,  and  that  the  terms  are  trans- 
ferable to  any  and  every  implement  that  aids  or  serves 
the  purpose  of  a  man's  work.  Is  it  not  possible  that 
Jock  2iX\^Jack  are  mere  varieties  of  the  Gaelic  deagh  (the 
de  pronounced  asy),  which  signifies  good,  excellent,  use- 
ful, befitting?  or  the  Kymric  iach,  whole,  useful?  and 
deach,  a  movement  for  a  purpose?  This  derivation 
would  meet  the  sense  of  all  the  compound  words  and 
phrases  in  which  jock  and  jack  enter,  other  than  those 
in  which  it  indubitably  signifies  a  Christian  name. 

The  vioxA  jocktelecr — an  almanack,  in  Jamieson — tried 
by  this  test,  would  signify,  good  to  examine,  to  learn ; 
from  deagh,  good,  and  leir,  perception. 

In  like  manner,  the  English  word  and  phrases, yrt^/^- 
tar,  /^f/C'-priest,  /a^r-^-of-all-trades,  might  signify  good, 
able-bodied  sailor,  good  priest,  and  good  at  all  trades ; 
and  even  jockey,  a  good  rider,  may  be  derivable  from 
the  same  source.  Thus,  too,  in  Shakespeare's  phrase, 
Jack  may  signify,  not  a  John,  as  a  generic  name,  but 
deagh  {jeack)y  as  implied  in  the  common  phrase  "  my 
good  man,"  and  in  French  bon  homme — epithets  which, 
although  in  one  sense  respectful,  are  only  employed  by 


,  OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  149 

superiors  to  inferiors,  and  infer  somewhat  of  social  de- 
preciation. 

In  reference  to  /odeleg,  or  Jocktalag,  it  should  be 
mentioned  that  Burns  spells  the  word  in  the  first  manner, 
Allan  Ramsay  in  the  second.  Jamieson  says  that  there 
was  once  a  famous  cutler  of  Liege,  in  Belgium,  named 
Jacques,  and  that  his  cutlery  being  in  repute,  any  article 
of  his  make  was  called  a  Jacques  de  Liege.  As  no 
mention  of  this  man  or  his  business  has  been  found 
anywhere  except  in  the  pages  of  Jamieson,  it  has  been 
suspected  that  the  name  was  evolved  from  the  imagination 
of  that  philologist.  Whether  that  be  so  or  not,  it  is  curious 
that  the  Gaelic  dioghail  signifies  to  avenge,  and  dioghail 
taiche  (pronounced  jog-al  taiehe),  an  avenger.  In  early 
times  it  was  customary  to  bestow  names  of  affection  upon 
swords,  such  as  Excalibier,  the  sword  of  King  Arthur) 
Durandarte,  and  many  others,  the  swords  of  renowned 
knights  of  romance  and  chivalry;  and  if  upon  swords,  pro- 
bably upon  daggers  and  knives ;  and  nothing  in  a  barbarous 
age — when  every  man  had  to  depend  upon  his  own 
prowess  for  self-defence  or  revenge  for  injuries — could 
be  more  appropriate  for  a  strong  knife  than  the  "avenger." 

Joe,  or  Jo,  a  lover,  a  friend,  a  dear  companion ; 
derived  not  from  Joseph,  as  has  been  asserted,  nor 
from  the  French  "joie"  or  English  "joy,"  as  Jamieson 
supposes,  but  more  probably  from  the  Gaelic  deo  (the  d 
pronounced  asy)  the  soul,  the  vital  spark,  the  life ;  Greek 


John  Anderson  my  Jo,  John. 


Kind  sir,  for  your  courtesy, 
As  ye  gae  by  the  Bass,  then, 


— Burns. 


150  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


For  the  love  ye  bear  to  me, 

Buy  me  a  keeking-glass,  then. 
Keek  into  the  clear  draw-well, 

Janet,  Janet, 
There  ye'll  see  your  bonnie  sel'. 
My  jo,  Janet. 

— Old  Song  ;  remodelled  by 'Bxxms. 

Joram,  a  boat  song;  a  rowing  song,  in  which  the 
singers  keep  time  with  their  voices  to  the  motion  of  the 
oars ;  from  the  modern  GaeUc  iorram.  This  word  is 
often  erroneously  used  in  the  phrase  *'  push  about  the 
joram"  as  if  jormn  signified  a  bowl  of  liquor  which  had 
to  be  passed  round  the  table.  An  instance  of  this  mis- 
take occurs  in  Burns  : — 

And  here's  to  them  that,  like  oursel', 

Can  push  about  the  jorum  ; 
And  here's  to  them  that  wish  us  weel — 

May  a'  that's  guid  watch  o'er  'em. 

— Oh  May,  thy  Morn, 

The  ancient  and  correct  Gaelic  for  a  boat  song  is  oran- 
iomraidh  or  iomravih  ;  from  iom,  many,  and  ramh,  an  oar 
— of  which  iorram,  or  the  song  of  many  oars,  is  a  corrup- 
tion. The  connection  between  iorram,  a  boat  song,  and 
Jorum,  a  drinking  vessel,  is  solely  due  to  the  circumstance 
that  the  chorus  of  the  boat  song  was  often  sung  by  the 
guests  at  a  convivial  party,  when  the  bottle  or  bowl  was 
put  in  circulation. 

fow,  the  swing  or  boom  of  a  large  bell : — 

Now  Clinkumbell 
Began  to  jow. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 5 1 

And  every  j'ota  the  kirk  bell  gied. 

— Buchan. 

ybw  means  to  swing,  and  not  the  "clang  or  boom  of  a  large 
bell." 

Now  Clinkumbell,  wi'  rattling  tone 
Begins  iojow  and  croon. 

The  bellrope  began  to  shake, — the  bell  began  to  swing  (jow)  and 
(croon)  ring  out.— R.  D. 

Jowler.  This  word  is  used  by  Burns  in  the  "  Address 
of  Beelzebub  to  the  President  of  the  Highland  Society," 
in  which,  speaking  of  gipsies,  he  says  : — 

An'  if  the  wives  an'  dirty  brats 

E'en  thigger  at  your  doors  an'  yetts, 

Get  out  a  horsewhip  or  2^  jowler, 
»  *  *  *  « 

An'  gar  the  tattered  gipsies  pack 
Wi'  a'  their  bastards  on  their  back. 

Jamieson  does  not  include  the  word  in  his  Dictionary, 
nor  do  the  glossaries  to  Allan  Ramsay  or  Burns  contain 
it.  By  the  context,  it  would  seem  to  mean  a  cudgel. 
In  this  sense  the  word  has  support  in  the  northern 
counties  of  England.  Jolle,  according  to  Halliwell, 
signifies  to  beat ;  and  jowler  means  thick  and  clumsy — 
epithets  which  fit  a  bludgeon  and  a  cudgel : — 

' '  Did  you  give  him  a  good  drubbing  ? "     "I  gave  him  a  good  tidy 
jowling." 

Wright's  Archaic  Dictionary. 

In  the  sense  of  thick  and  clumsy,  y<7//^  and  jowl  are 
apparently  the  roots  of  Yxi'^i'^  jolter-head^  a  thick-headed 


152  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

fellow.  Jow/er,  as  the  name  of  an  instrument  of  punish- 
ment, whether  a  cudgel  or  not,  is  probably  from  the 
Gaelic  diol  {Jole,  ^pronounced  asy),  to  punish,  to  avenge, 
to  requite,  to  pay ;  diolair,  an  avenger.  In  colloquial 
English  the  threat,  "  I'll  pay  you  out,"  has  a  similar 
meaning. 

Jundie,  to  jostle,  to  struggle,  to  contend  and  push  in  a 
crowd;  to  hog-shoiither,  or  push  with  the  shoulders  in 
order  to  force  a  way : — 

If  a  man's  gaun  down  the  brae,  ilk  ane  gi'es  him  zjundie. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  warldly  race  may  drudge  and  drive, 
Hog-shouther, /«««'/>,  stretch,  and  strive. 

— liurns  :    To  William  Simpson, 


yute,  a  term  of  reproach  applied  to'  a  weak,  worthless, 
spiritless  person,  especially  to  a  woman.  It  is  also  used 
in  reference  to  sour  or  stale  liquor,  and  to  weak  broth  or 
tea.  It  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic  diiiid  {dia 
pronounced  as  Ju),  sneaking,  mean-spirited,  silly,  weak ; 
and  diu,  the  worst,  the  refuse  of  things. 

Kail-nnif,  a  cabbage  stalk  ;  kail-blade,  a  cabbage  leaf: 

When  I  lookit  to  my  dart, 

It  was  sae  blunt, 
Fient  haet  it  wad  hae  pierced  the  heart 

O'  a  kail-runt. 

—Burns  :  Death  and  J^r,  Hornbook. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I  53 


Just in  a  kail-blade  and  send  it, — 

Baith  the  disease  and  what'll  mend  it, 
At  ance  he'll  tell't. 

— Idem. 


Kain,  tribute,  tax,  tithe  ;  from  the  GaeHc  cain,  tribute 
cai?ieach,  tributary  : — 

Our  laird  gets  in  his  racked  rents. 
His  coal,  his  kahi. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dos^s, 

Ka^n  to  the  King. 

—Jacobite  Song,  (171 5). 


Kain-bah'ns,  says  a  note  in  Sir  Walter  Scott's  "  Min- 
strelsy of  the  Scottish  Border,"  were  infants,  accord- 
ing to  Scottish  superstition,  that  were  seized  in  their 
cradles  by  warlocks  and  witches,  and  paid  as  a  kam,  or 
tax,  to  their  master  the  devil.  Jamieson  is  in  error  in  de- 
riving kain  from  the  Gaelic  cean,  the  head. 


Kaur-handit.,  left-handed.  In  this  combination,  kaur 
does  not  signify  the  left  as  distinguished  from  the  right, 
but  is  from  the  Gaelic  car.,  signifying  a  twist  or  turn.  The 
hand  so  designated  implies  that  it  is  twisted  or  turned 
into  a  function  that  ought  to  be  performed  by  the  other. 

Kaury-maury  is  used  in  the  "  Vision  of  Piers  Plough- 


man "  : — 


Clothed  in  a  kaury-maury 
I  couthe  it  nought  descryve. 


154  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

In  the  Glossary  to  Mr.  Thomas  Wright's  edition  of  this 
ancient  poem,  he  suggests  that  kaury-maury  only  means 
care  and  trouble, — a  conjecture  that  is  supported  by  the 
Gaelic  car ;  and  mearachd,  an  error,  a  mistake,  a  wrong, 
an  injustice. 

Kebar,  a  rafter,  a  beam  in  the  roof  of  a  house ;  from 
the  Gaelic  caba?\  a  pole,  the  trunk  of  a  tree.  "  Putting  " 
or  throwing  the  cabar  is  a  gymnastic  feat  still  popular  at 
Highland  games  in  Scotland  : — 

He  ended,  and  the  kehars  shook 
Above  the  chorus  roar. 

— Burns  :  The  Jolly  Beggars. 

Kebbtick,  a  cheese ;  kebbuck  heel,  a  remnant  or  hunk  of 
cheese.     From  the  Gaelic  cabag,  a  cheese  : — 

The  weel-hained  kebbuck. 

— Burns  :  Cottar's  Saturday  Night. 

In  comes  a  gaucie,  gash,  gude  wife 

An'  sits  down  by  the  fire, 
Syne  draws  her  kebbtick  and  her  knife — 

The  lasses  they  are  shyer. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

Keck,  to  peep,  to  pry,  to  look  cautiously  about : — 

The  robin  came  to  the  wren's  nest 
And  keekit  in. 

— Nursery  Rhyme. 

Stars  dinna  keek  in, 
And  see  me  wi'  Mary. 

—Burns. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 55 


When  the  tod  [fox]  is  in  the  wood,  he  cares  na  how  many  folk 
keek  at  his  tail, 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs. 

A  clerg>'man  in  the  West  of  Scotland  once  concluded  a  prayer  as 
follows  : — "  O  Lord  !  Thou  art  like  a  mouse  in  a  drystane  dyke, 
aye  keekM  out  at  us  frae  holes  and  crannies,  but  we  canna  see 
Thee." 

— Rogers'  Illustrations  of  Scottish  Life. 

Keeking-glass^  a  looking-glass,  a  mirror  : — 

She.  Kind  sir,  for  your  courtesy. 

As  ye  gang  by  the  Bass,  then, 
For  the  love  ye  bear  to  me, 
Buy  me  a  keeking-glass,  then. 
He.  Keek  into  the  draw-well, 
Janet,  Janet ! 
There  ye'll  see  your  bonnie  sel', 
My  jo,  Janet. 

— Burns. 


Kelpie,  a.  water-sprite.  Etymology  unknown ;  that 
suggested  by  Jamieson  from  calf,  is  not  probable.  It 
may,  however,  be  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  cealg,  to 
beguile,  and  cealgaiche,  a  beguiler. 

What  is  it  ails  my  good  bay  mare  ? 

What  is  it  makes  her  start  and  shiver  ? 
She  sees  a  kelpie  in  the  stream, 

Or  fears  the  rushing  of  the  river. 

— Legends  of  the  Isles. 

The  kelpie  gallop'd  o'er  the  green, 
He  seems  a  knight  of  noble  mien  ; 
And  old  and  young  stood  up  to  see, 
And  wondered  who  this  knight  could  be, 

— Idem. 


156  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

The  side  was  steep,  the  bottom  deep, 
Frae  bank  to  bank  the  water  pouring. 

And  the  bonnie  lass  did  quake  for  fear, 
She  heard  the  \vater-/lv/^/V  roaring. 

— Ballad  of  Annan  Water. 

Kell,  a  woman's  cap ;  from  the  Gaelic  r(?//,  a  covering  : 

Then  up  and  gat  her  seven  sisters, 

And  served  to  her  a  kell, 
And  every  steek  that  they  put  in 

Sewed  to  a  silver  bell. 
— TJie  Gay  Goss  Haiuk.     Border  AHnstrehy. 

Keltic,  a  large  glass  or  bumper,  to  drain  which  was 
imposed  as  a  punishment  upon  those  who  were  suspected 
of  not  drinking  fairly.  "  Cleared  keltie  aff,"  according  to 
Jamieson,  was  a  phrase  that  signified  that  the  glass  was 
quite  empty.  The  word  seems  to  be  derived  from  kelter, 
to  tilt  up,  to  tip  up,  to  turn  head  over  heels,  and  to  have 
been  applied  to  the  glasses  used  in  the  hard-drinking 
days  of  our  great  grandfathers,  that  were  made  without 
stems,  and  rounded  at  the  bottom  like  the  Dutch  dolls 
that  roll  from  side  to  side,  from  inability  to  stand  upright. 
\\\\\-\  a  glass  of  this  kind  in  his  hand,  the  toper  had  to 
empty  it  before  he  could  replace  it  on  the  table.  Jamieson 
was  probably  ignorant  of  this  etymology,  though  he  refers 
to  the  German  kelter,  which  signifies  a  wMne-press ;  kel- 
tern,  in  the  same  language,  is  to  tread  the  grapes.  But 
the  words  do  not  apply  to  either  the  Scottish  keltie  or 
kelter. 

Kcmviin.  A  corruption  of  kemp,  and  kempion^  a  cham- 
pion, q.  V.  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 57 


He  works  like  a  keiinnin. 
He  fechts  like  a  kemmin. 

— ^Jamieson. 

The  Kymric  has  ceitnmyn,  a  striver  in  games ;  the 
Flemish  kampen,  and  German  kdmpfen,  to  fight,  to 
struggle,  to  contend. 

Kemp,  a  warrior,  a  hero,  a  champion ;  also,  to  fight,  to 
strive,  to  contend  for  the  superiority  or  the  mastery. 
Kemper  is  one  who  kemps  or  contends ;  used  in  the  har- 
vest field  to  signify  a  reaper  who  excels  his  comrades  in 
the  quantity  and  quality  of  his  work.  Kempio?i,  or  Kemp 
owavi,  is  the  name  of  the  champion  in  two  old  Scottish 
Ballads  who  "  borrows,"  or  ransoms,  a  fair  lady  from  the 
spells  cast  upon  her  by  demoniacal  agency,  by  which  she 
was  turned  into  the  shape  of  a  wild  beast.  Kempion,  or 
Kemp  Owain,  kisses  her  thrice,  notwithstanding  her 
hideousness  and  loathsomeness,  and  so  restores  her  to 
her  original  beauty.  Kempion  is  printed  in  Scott's  "  Bor- 
der Minstrelsy,"  and  Kemp  Owain  in  Motherwell's 
"  Minstrelsy,  Ancient  and  Modern." 

Kep,  to  catch,  to  receive  : — 

Ilka  blade  o'  grass  keps  its  ain  drap  o'  dew. 

— ^James  Ballantine. 

Ilk  cowslip  cup  shall  kep  a  tear. 

— Burns. 


Ket,  a  fleece ;   tazvted  ket,  a  matted  or  ropy  fleece. 
From  the  Gaelic  ceath,  a.  sheep  or  sheep-skin  : — 


158  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


She  was  nae  get  o'  moorland  tips, 
\Vi'  tawted  ket  an'  hairy  hips. 


-Burns. 


Kevil^  a  lot ;  to  cast  krvils,  to  draw  lots  : — 

Let  every  man  be  content  with  his  ain  kevil. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scotch  Proverbs. 

And  they  coost  kevils  them  amang 
Wha  should  to  the  greenwood  gang. 

— Cospatrlck :  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Kidney.  "  Of  the  same  kidney^'  of  a  like  sort.  The 
Slang  Dictionary  says,  "  Two  of  a  kidney,  or  two  of  a  sort 
— as  like  as  two  pears,  or  two  kidneys  in  a  bunch."  Sir 
Richard  Ayscough  says  that  Shakespeare's  phrase,  which 
he  put  into  the  mouth  of  Falstaff,  means  "  a  man  whose 
kidneys  are  as  fat  as  mine — i.e.,  a  man  as  fat  as  I  am." 
A  little  knowledge  of  the  original  language  of  the  British 
people,  would  show  the  true  root  of  the  word  to  be  the 
Gaelic  ceudna,  of  the  same  sort ;  ceudnachd,  identity, 
similarity  : — 

Think  of  that  !  a  man  of  my  kidney,  that  am  as  subject  to  heat  as 
butter. 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

Your  poets,  spendthrifts,  and  other  fools  of  that  kidney. 

— Burns  :  Letter  to  Mr.  Robert  Ainslie. 

Kill-cow,  an  expressive  colloquialism  which  signifies  a 
difificuUy  that  may  be  surmounted  by  resolution  and 
energy.  Jamieson  translates  it  "  a  matter  of  consequence, 
a  serious  affair;  as  in  the  phrase,  'Ye  needna  mind;  I'm 
sure  it's  nae  sic  great  kill-cow,'' "  and  adds,  "  in  reference, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I59 

most  probably,  to  a  blow  that  is  sufficient  to  knock  down 
or  kill  a  cotv  /"  Jamieson  forgot  the  reference  in  his 
own  Dictionary  to  cotv,  in  which  the  word  signifies  a 
ghost,  spectre,  or  goblin.  The  phrase  might  be  appro- 
priately rendered,  "  a  ghost  that  might  be  laid  without 
much  difficulty." 

Killicotip,  a  somersault,  head  over  heels  : — 

That  gang  tried  to  keep  violent  leasehold  o'  your  ain  fields,  an' 
your  ain  ha',  till  ye  gied  them  a  killicotip. 

— Hogg's  Brownie  of  Bodsbeck. 

Kilt,  a  garment  worn  by  Highlanders,  descending  from 
the  waist  to  the  middle  of  the  knee ;  to  lift  the  petticoats 
up  to  the  knee,  or  wear  them  no  lower  than  the  knee ;  to 
raise  the  clothes  in  fording  a  stream.  **High  kilted" 
is  a  metaphor  applied  to  conversation  or  writing  that 
savours  of  immodesty : — 

Her  tartan  petticoat  she'll  kilt. 

— Burns  :  Cry  and  Prayer. 

She's  kilted  her  coats  o'  green  satin, 
She's  kilted  them  up  to  her  knee. 
And  she's  off  wi'  Lord  Ronald  M 'Donald, 
His  bride  and  his  darling  to  be. 

— Old  Song  :  Lizzie  Lindsay, 

Kink,  a  knot,  an  entanglennent,  an  involution;  the  same 
in  Flemish ;  whence  kink-host,  or  kink-cough,  the  hooping- 
cough,  or  generally  a  violent  fit  of  coughing,  in  which  the 
paroxysm  seems  to  twist  knots  into  each  other.  The 
word  king  is  sometimes  applied  to  a  fit  of  irrepressible 


l6o  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


laughter.  Kink-cough  has  been  corrupted  as  English  into 
kmo-zow^.  Mr.  Robert  Chambers,  in  a  note  on  kink, 
which  occurs  in  the  "  Ballad  of  the  Laird  o'  Logie,"  ex- 
plains it  as  meaning  to  wring  the  fingers  till  the  joints 
crack,  which  he  says  is  a  very  striking  though  a  simple 
delineation  of  grief; — 

And  sae  she  tore  her  yellow  hair, 

Kinking  her  fingers  ane  by  ane, 
And  cursed  the  day  that  she  was  born. 


Kinnen,  rabbits  ;  corruption  of  the  English  coney  : — 

Make  kinnen  and  caper  ready,  then, 

And  venison  in  greit  plentie, 
We'll  welcome  here  our  royal  King. 

— Ballad  of  Johnnie  Armstrong. 


Kinsh.      According  to  Jamieson,  this  word  signifies 
kindred  : — 

The  man  may  eithly  tine  a  slot  that  canna  count  his  kimh. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

"  The  man  may  easily  lose  a  young  ox  that  cannot  count 
his  kinsh."  The  meaning  oi  kiush  in  this  passage  is  not 
clear.  It  has  been  suggested  that  it  is  a  misprint  for 
either  kine  or  kinship.  Perhaps,  however,  the  true  mean- 
ing is  to  be  sought  in  the  Gaelic  cinneas  (kinneash),  which 
means  growth  or  natural  increase.  This  interpretation  ren- 
ders the  proverb  intelligible;— a  man  may  afford  to  lose  a 
stot,  who  cannot  count  the  increase  of  his  flocks  and  herd.s. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  l6l 

Kintra  cooser,  one  who  runs  about  the  country  ;  a  term 
sometimes  applied  to  an  entire  horse,  which  is  taken  from 
place  to  place  for  the  service  of  mares  : — 

If  that  daft  buckie  Geordie  Wales 

Was  threshin'  still  at  hizzie's  tails, 

Or  if  he  was  grown  oughtlins  douser, 

And  no  a  perfect  kintra  cooser. 

— Burns  :   To  one  zuho  had  sent  him  a  newspaper. 

The  word  cooser  appears  in  Shakspeare  as  cosier  or 
cozier,  and  has  puzzled  all  the  commentators  to  explain  it. 
Coster's  catches  were  songs  sung  by  working  men  over 
their  libations  in  roadside  ale-houses.  Johnson  thought 
that  cosier  must  mean  a  tailor,  from  cotidre,  to  sew ;  and 
cousue,  that  which  is  sewed ;  while  others  equally  erudite 
were  of  opinion  that  cosier s  were  cobblers  or  tinkers.  The 
cosiers  who  sang  catches  might  have  belonged  to  all  or 
any  of  these  trades ;  but  the  word,  now  obsolete  in  Eng- 
lish, and  almost  obsolete  in  Scotch,  is  the  Gaelic  cosaire, 
a  pedestrian,  a  way-farer,  a  tramp.  Up  to  the  time  of 
Dr.  Johnson's  visit  to  the  Hebrides,  Highland  gentlemen 
of  wealth  or  importance  used  to  keep  servants  or  gillies 
to  run  before  them,  who  were  known  as  cosiers — misprinted 
by  Boswell  as  coshirs.  Jamieson,  unaware  of  the  simple 
origin  of  the  word,  as  applied  to  a  horse  made  to  per- 
ambulate the  country,  states  that  cooser  is  a  stallion,  and 
derives  it  from  the  French  coursier,  a  courser.  But 
courser  itself  is  from  the  same  root,  from  course,  a  jour- 
ney. The  coarse  allusion  of  Burns  to  the  Prince  of  Wales 
expressed  a  hope  that  he  had  ceased  to  run  about  the 
country  after  women. 

Kirk,  is  the  original  form  of  the  word,  which  has  been 
softened  and  Anglicized  into  church.     It  is  derived  from 


1 62  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


tlie  idea  of,  and  is  identical  with,  circle  or  kirkk,  the 
form  in  which,  in  the  primitive  ages  of  the  world,  and 
still  later,  in  the  Druidical  era,  all  places  of  worship— 
whether  of  the  supreme  God  or  of  the  Sun,  supposed  to 
be  His  visible  representative — were  always  constructed. 
The  great  stone  circle  of  Stonehenge  was  one  of  the 
earliest  kirks,  or  churches,  erected  in  these  islands.  The 
traces  of  many  smaller  stone  circles  are  still  to  be  found 
in  Scotland. 

Kirtite,  a  forward  boy  who  gives  himself  prematurely 
and  offensively  the  airs  and  habits  of  a  man.  Shakspeare 
speaks  of  "  kerns  and  gallowglasses,"  kerne  being  a  con- 
traction of  the  Gaelic  ceathairneach,  kearneach,  an  armed 
peasant  serving  in  the  army,  also  a  boor  or  sturdy  fellow. 
Jamieson  derives  kirnie  from  the  Kymric  coryn  or  cor,  a 
dwarf  or  pigmy;  but  as  the  Lowland  Scottish  people  were 
more  conversant  with  their  neighbours  of  the  Highlands 
than  with  the  distant  Welsh,  it  is  probable  that  the  Gaelic 
and  not  the  Kymric  derivation  of  the  word  is  the  correct 
one. 

Kittle^  difficult,  ticklish,  dangerous.  From  the  Dutch 
and  Flemish  kittelen,  to  tickle. 

It's  kittle  shooting  at  corbies  and  clergy. 

It's  kittle  for  the  cheeks  when  the  hurl-barrow  gangs  o'er  the 
brig  o'  the  nose. 

Cats  and  maidens  are  kittle  ware. 
It's  kittle  to  waken  sleeping  dogs. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

As  for  your  priesthood  I  shall  say  but  little, 
Corbies  and  clergy  arc  a  shot  right  kittle. 

— Burns  :  The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 63 

Ktvan,  Kivin.  These  words  signify  a  covey,  a  bevy,  a 
troop,  a  company,  a  flock,  a  crowd,  or  an  assemblage. 
They  are  evidently  from  the  Gaelic  coimh  {coiv),  equiva- 
lent to  the  prefix  co  or  con,  a.nd  feadhain  {d  silent),  a 
troop  or  band  of  people,  or  of  living  animals  of  any 
description. 

Kle/n,  or   Clem.      In  Lancashire  and  other  parts  of 
England,  clem  signifies  to  become  stupified  or  worn  out 
with  hunger,  to  starve.      In  Scotland,  kle>/i  sometimes 
means  perverse,  obstinate,  insensible  to  reason  and  to 
argument ;    and,   according  to   Jamieson,    "  means  low, 
paltry,  untrustworthy,  unprincipled  ]  and,  as  used  by  the 
boys  of  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh,  curious,  singular, 
odd,  queer."      He  derives  it  from  the  Icelandic  kleiJiia, 
macula,  a  blot  or  stain, — i.e.,  having  a  character  that  lies 
under  a  stain.     But  the  Icelandic  does  not  convey  either 
the  Scottish  or  the  English  meaning  of  the  word,  which 
is  in  reality  the  Flemish  kleum,  lethargic,  stupified  either 
from  cold,  hunger,  or  by  defect  of  original  vitality  and 
force  of  mind  or  body.      The  Flemish  verkleumetite  is 
translated  in  the  French   Dictionaries  as  engourdi,  be- 
numbed, stupified,  stiffened.      By  a  metaphorical  exten- 
sion of  meaning,  all  these  physical  senses  of  the  word 
apply  to  mental  conditions,  and  thus  account  for  all  the 
varieties  of  the  Scottish  meaning. 

The  English  clem  may  be  possibly  traced  to  the  Ger- 
man klenunen,  to  pinch,  to  squeeze;  from  klemme,  a 
narrow  place,  a  strait,  a  difficulty,  whence  clemmed, 
pinched  with  hunger. 

Knack,  to  taunt,  to  make  a  sharp  answer ;  the  same 
apparently  as  the  English  "nag,"  as  applied  to  the  nagging 


164  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

of  a  disagreeable  woman.     Knacky,  or  knacksy,  quick  at 
repartee. 

Knotue,  a  hillock,  a  knoll : — 

Ca'  the  yowes  [ewes]  to  the  knowes. 

—  Allan  Ramsay. 

Upon  a  kno'we  they  sat  them  down, 
And  there  began  a  long  digression, 
About  the  lords  of  the  creation. 

— Burns  :  The  Tioa  Dogs. 


Knowe-head,  the  hill  top  : — 

Yon  sunny  knowe-head  clad  wi'  bonnic  wild  flowers. 

— James  iiallantine. 


Knurl,  a  dwarf;  knurlin,  a  dwarfling,  or  very  little 
dwarf : — 

The  miller  was  strappin',  the  miller  was  ruddy — 
A  heart  like  a  lord,  and  a  hue  like  a  lady, 
The  laird  was  a  widdiefu'  fleerit  kiiiirl, — 
She's  left  the  good  fellow,  and  taken  the  churl. 

—Burns  :  Meg  0'  the  Mill. 

Wee  Pope,  the  kniirliii,  rives  Iloratian  fame. 

— Burns  :  On  Pastoral  Poetry. 

These  words  are  apparently  derived  from  the  English 
gnarl,  twisted,  knotted,  as  in  the  phrase,  "  the  gnarled 
oak,"  and  the  Teutonic  knorrcn,  a  knot,  a  wart,  a  pro- 
tuberance. They  were  probably  first  applied  in  derision 
to  hunch-backed  people,  not  so  much  for  their  littleness 
as  for  their  deformity.  Burns,  when  speaking  of  Pope 
as  a  knurlin,  seems  to   have  had  in  memory  the  ill- 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 65 

natured  comparison  of  that  poet  to  a  note  of  interroga- 
tion, because  "he  was  a  little  crooked  thing  that  asked 
questions." 

Through  an  English  misconception  of  the  meaning  of 
"  a  knurl  "  (pronounced  exactly  like  "  an  earl"),  arose  the 
vulgar  slang  of  the  London  streets,  used  to  insult  a  hunch- 
back. 

"  My  Lord  "  is  a  nickname  given  with  mock  humility  to  a  hunch- 
back. 

— Hotten's  Slajig  Dictionary. 

Koff,  or  Coff,  to  buy ;  from  the  Teutonic  kaufen, 
Flemish  koopen,  to  buy ;  whence  by  corruption  "  horse- 
kooper"  a  dealer  in  horses : — 

Kindness  comes  wi'  will ;  it  canna  be  kofft. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Kiite,  Coot,  or  Qiteete,  the  ankle.  Cutes  or  hites, 
according  to  Wright  and  Halliwell,  is  a  Northern  word 
for  the  feet.  "To  let  one  cool  his  cutes  at  the  door,  (or 
in  the  lobby)  "  is  a  proverbial  expression  for  letting  a  man 
wait  unduly  long  in  expectation  of  an  interview.  Cootie 
or  kutie  is  a  fowl  whose  legs  are  feathered.  Cootikitis, 
spatterdashes,  or  gaiters  that  go  over  the  shoe,  and  cover 
the  ankle  : — 

Your  stockings  shall  be 
Narrow,  narrow  at  the  kuts. 
And  braid,  braid  at  the  braune 

[the  brawn  or  calf]. 

— Chambers^  Scottish  Ballads. 

The  firsten  step  that  she  steppit  in  [the  water], 
She  steppit  to  the  kute. 


1 66  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


The  neisten  step  that  she  wade  in, 

She  waded  to  the  knee  ; 
Said  she,  "  I  wad  wade  further  in, 

Gin  my  true  love  I  could  see. 

—  Willie  and  May  Margaret. 

It  is  difficult  to  trace  the  origin  of  this  peculiarly 
Scottish  word.  The  French  call  the  ankle  the  "  cheville 
du  pied."  Bescherelle  defines  cheville  :;cs>  "part  of  the 
two  bones  of  the  leg,  which  rise  in  a  boss  or  hmtip  on 
each  side  of  the  foot."  The  Germans  call  the  ankle  the 
knuckle  of  the  foot.  Jamieson  derives  cute  from  the 
Teutonic  kyte,  ^'- sura ;""  but  the  Latin  sura  means  the 
calf  of  the  leg, "and  not  the  ankle ;  and  kyte  is  not  to  be 
found  in  any  German  or  Teutonic  Dictionary.  Kyte^ 
in  the  Scottish  vernacular,  has  nothing  to  do  with  kule, 
and  signifies  a  part  of  the  body,  far  removed  from  the 
ankle, — viz.  :  the  belly.  Possibly  the  Swedish  Xv//,  a 
round  boss  or  rising,  as  suggested  in  the  extract  from 
Bescherelle,  may  be  the  root  of  the  word.  The  Gaelic 
affords  no  assistance  to  the  discovery  of  the  etymology. 
The  word  does  not  appear  in  the  Glossaries  to  Ramsay 
or  Burns. 

Kylc^  a  narrow  strait  of  water  between  islands,  or 
between  an  island  and  the  mainland  ;  as  the  Kyles  of 
Bute;  Kyle  Akin,  between  Skye  and  the  continent  of 
Scotland.  The  word  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  Caol,  a 
narrow  passage,  a  strait,  whence  Calais,  the  French  town 
on  the  straits  of  Dover. 

Kyte,  the  belly.  "  Kytie"  corpulent,  big-bellied.  The 
Gaelic  cuid,  victuals,  food,  has  been  suggested  as  the 
origin  of  the  word,  on  the  principle  that  to  "  have  a  long 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  1 67 

purse''''  signifies  to  have  money,  or  much  money,  so  that 
to  have  a  "  kyte,"  is  to  have  food  to  put  into  it.  But 
this  etymology  is  not  satisfactory,  nor  is  that  given  by 
Jamieson  from  the  Icelandic  : — 

Then  horn  for  horn,  they  stretch  and  strive — 
Deil  tak'  the  hindmost — on  they  drive, 
Till  a'  their  well-filled  kytes  belyve 
Are  stretched  like  drums. 

— Burns  :  To  a  Ha^irsis. 


"■i>i>'- 


But  while  the  wifie  flate  and  gloom'd, 
The  tither  cake  wi'  butter  thoomb'd, 

She  forced  us  still  to  eat, 
Till  our  wee  kites  were  straughtil  fou. 
When  wi'  our  hearties  at  our  mou', 

We  felt  maist  like  to  greet. 

— ^James  Ballantine  :  The  Pentland  Hills. 

Kythsome,  from  kythe,  to  show  or  appear ;  of  pleasant 
and  prepossessing  appearance.  Jamieson  has  the  phrase 
'■'■  blythsofue  and  kythsoine,"  used  in  Perthshire,  and  signi- 
fying, as  he  thinks,  "  happy  in  consequence  of  having 
abundance  of  property  in  cows."  If  he  had  remembered 
his  own  correct  definition  of  kyihe,  he  would  not  in  this 
instance  have  connected  it  with  cows  or  kye,  but  would 
have  translated  the  phrase,  "blythe  and  pleasant  of 
appearance." 


Laigh,  low,  or  low-down,  short : — 

The  higher  the  hill,  the  laigher  the  grass. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Dance  aye  laigh  and  late  at  e'en. 

■ — Burns  :  My  Jo,  fanct. 


I 68  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Lajmnas,  the  first  day  of  August;  supposed  to  be 
derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  hlaf,  a  loaf,  but  more 
probably  from  lanil),  the  Lamb  of  God.  All  the  ancient 
festivals  appropriated  to  particular  days  had  an  ecclesi- 
astical origin, — such  as  Mary-mass  (now  called  Lady 
Day),  from  the  Virgin  Mary ;  Michaelmas,  Hallowmas, 
Candlemas,  Christmas,  &c. 

Landart,  rural,  in  the  country ;  from  landward  : — 

There  was  a  jolly  beggar, 

And  a  begging  he  was  boun', 
And  he  took  up  his  quarters 

Into  a  landart  town. 

— Song :   We'll  Gang  nae  niair  a  roving. 

Lojidlosh,  a  great  fall  of  rain,  accompanied  by  a  high 
wind.  Jamieson  is  of  opinion  that  this  word  is  suggested 
by  the  idea  that  such  a  storm  lashes  the  land.  It  is  more 
probably  from  the  Gaelic  Ian,  full ;  and  laisfe,  fury, — 
whence  lanlaiste  (pronounced  lanlashte,  and  abbreviated 
into  lanlas/i),  the  storm  in  full  fury.  A  lash  of  water 
signifies  a  great,  heavy,  or  furious  fall  of  rain. 

Land-Ioiiper,  a  vagabond,  a  wanderer  from  place  to 
place  without  settled  habitation ;  sometimes  called  a 
forloupin  or  forlopin,  as  in  Allan  Ramsay's  "  Evergreen." 

Lane,  the  condition  of  being  alone ;  alanerly : — 

"  Bui  oh,  my  master  dear,"  he  cried, 
'*  In  green  wood  ye're  j'owr  lane.''' 

Ballad  of  Gil  Alprrice, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 69 


I  wander  my  lane  like  a  night-troubled  ghaist. 

— Burns. 


Lanrien  (sometimes  written  landrieii).  Jamieson  de- 
fines this  word  as  meaning  "  in  a  straight  course ;  a 
direct,  as  opposed  to  a  circuitous  course,"  and  quotes  a 
phrase  used  in  Selkirkshire — "He  cam  rinnin'  landf-ien" 
or  straight  forward.  It  seems  to  be  a  corruption  of  the 
GaeHc  Ian,  full,  complete ;  and  ria^i,  order,  method, 
arrangement,  regularity. 

Laroch,  or  Lerroc/i,  the  site  of  a  building  which  has 
been  demolished,  but  of  which  there  are  remains  to  prove 
what  it  once  was.  From  the  Gaelic  lar,  the  ground  or 
earth  ;  and  larach,  the  ground  on  which  an  edifice  once 
stood. 


Lave,  the  residue,  the  remainder,  that  which  is  left,  or, 
as  the  Americans  say  in  commercial  fashion,  the  "  bal- 


ance : " 


We'll  get  a  blessing  wi'  the  lave, 
And  never  miss't. 

— Burns  :  To  a  Mouse. 


First  when  Maggie  was  my  care, 
Whistle  o'er  the  lave  o't. 


-Burns. 


Laverock,  the  lark.  This  word,  so  pleasant  to  the 
Scottish  ear,  and  so  entirely  obsolete  in  English  speech 
and  literature,  was  used  by  Gower  and  Chaucer  : — 


170  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


She  made  many  a  wondrous  soun', 
Sometimes  like  unto  the  cock, 
Sometimes  like  the  laverock. 

— Gower  :  Quoted  in  HalliwelPs  Archaic 
Dictionary. 

Why  should  I  sit  and  sigh, 

When  the  wild  woods  bloom  sae  briery, 

The  laverocks  sing,  the  flowerets  spring, 
And  a'  but  me  are  cheery. 

— Buchan's  Songs  of  the  North  of  Scotland. 

Thou  laverock  that  springs  frae  the  dews  o'  the  lawn. 

— Burns. 

Lark  and  the  Teutonic  lerche  are  doubtless  abbreviations 
of  the  primitive  word  laverock,  but  whence  laverock  ? 
Possibly  from  the  ancient  Celtic  lahhra  [lavra),  and 
labhraich,  eloquent,  loud — two  epithets  that  are  highly 
appropriate  to  the  sky-lark. 

Law.  This  word  is  often  used  in  Scotland  to  signify 
a  hill  or  rock,  especially  to  one  standing  alone,  as  Berwick 
Law,  so  familiar  by  sight  to  the  Edinburgh  people.  It  is 
derived  from  the  Gaelic  leach,  a  stone ;  and  leachach,  the 
bare  summit  of  a  hill.  It  sometimes  signifies  the  stoney 
or  shingly  ground  by  the  side  of  a  river,  as  in  the 
Broomie-law  in  Glasgow.  Possibly  in  this  case  also  the 
word  is  of  the  same  derivation  as  leach,  and  means  not 
only  a  high  stone,  but  a  flat  stone,  a  flag  stone, — whence 
leachaig,  to  pave  or  lay  with  flat  stones. 

Lawin.  This  eminently  Scottish  word  is  from  the 
Gaelic  lachan,  the  expense  of  an  entertainment ;  the 
price  of  the  drink  consumed  at  a  tavern ;  lachag,  a  very 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  I7I 

small  reckoning.  "Ye're  lawin-free'^ — i.e.,  you  are  not 
to  pay  your  share  of  the  bill.  The  root  of  the  word  seems 
to  be  high,  law,  order,  method— the  law  of  the  tavern, 
that  the  guests  should  pay  before  they  go.  It  was  for- 
merly written  lauch  : — 

Aye  as  the  gudewife  brought  in, 

Ane  scorit  upon  the  waitc/i  [wall], 
Ane  bade  pay,  anither  said  "  Nay, 

Bide  while  we  reckon  our  /azic/i." 

—Peblis  to  the  Play. 

Then,  gudewife,  count  the  lawin. 

The  lawin  I  the  lawin  ! 
Then,  gudewife,  count  the  Imvin, 

And  bring  a  logic  mair. 

— Burns  :  Old  Chorus. 

Lamin,  the  reckoning  at  an  Inn.  Is'nt  reckoning  a  Scotticism  ? 
I  doubt  very  much  if  you  would  be  understood  if  you  asked  an 
English  landlord  for  the  reckoning,  meaning  an  account  of  what 
you  have  had  at  his  inn.  I  dont  think  reckoning  is  specially 
associated  with  an  inn  bill  in  this  country.  In  Scotland  reckoning 
has  almost  entirely  superseded  the  word  lawin.  In  Sweden  the 
regular  word  for  a  hotel  bill  is  the   "  reckoning." — R.  D. 


Leal.,  loyal,  true,  true-hearted.     "  The  land  o'  the  leal" 
Heaven  :— 

A  leal  heart  never  lied. 

— Scotch  Proverb. 

I'm  wearin  awa',  Jean, 

Like  snaw  when  it's  thaw,  Jean, 

I'm  wearing  awa'. 

To  the  land  o'  the  leal. 

— Lady  Nairne. 


172  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Robin  of  Rothesay,  bend  thy  bow, 
Thy  arrows  shoot  so  leal. 

— Hardy  Knute. 


Lee-lang,  life-long  or  very  long. 


The  thresher's  weary  flingin'  tree 
The  Ice-lang  day  had  tired  me. 

Burns  :   The  Vision. 


Leeze^  or  leeze  me  on  (a  reflective  verb),  to  be  satisfied 
with,  to  be  pleased  or  delighted  with.  A  Gaelic  peri- 
phrase  for  "  I  love."  The  Highlanders  do  not  say, 
"I  love  you,"  but  "love  is  on  me  for  you."  Hence  the 
Scottish  phrase — derived  from  loe^  or  love — "/t?^  (or  lei)  is 
on  me": — 

Leeze  me  on  my  spinning  wheel. 

— Burns. 

Leeze  me  on  thee,  John  Barleycorn, 
Thou  king  o'  grain. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Leeze  me  on  drink,  it  gies  us  mair. 
Than  school  or  college. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair, 

Leesotne,  agreeable,  pleasant,  like  the  light : — 

Oh  gear  will  buy  me  rigs  o'  land, 
And  gear  will  buy  me  sheep  and  kye ; 

But  the  tender  heart  o'  leesome  luve 
The  gowd  and  siller  canna  buy. 

—  Burns:   The  Cottntrie  Lassie. 

A  fairy  ballad  in  Buchan's  Collection  is  entitled  "  Lee- 
some Brand."    Jamieson  derives  leesome  from  the  Teutonic 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  1 73 

liebe,  love,  perhaps  however,  the  root  of  the  word  is  the 
Gaelic  leus^  light ;  //,  colour  ;  and  leusach,  bright,  shining. 

Leesome,  having  the  appearance  of  untruth ;  from  lie, 
or  lee,  a  falsehood  : — 

If  it's  nae  a  lee,  it's  unco  Icesome  like. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Leglin,  or  Leglan,  a  milking-pail : — 

At  buchts  in  the  mornin',  nae  blithe  lads  are  sornin', 
The  lasses  are  lanely,  and  dowie  and  wae, 

Nae  daffin',  nae  gabbin',  but  sighin'  and  sabbin', — 
Ilk  ane  lifts  her  legliii  and  hies  her  away. 

— Elliot :  The  Flozvers  of  the  Forest. 

Donald  Caird  can  lilt  and  sing, 
Blithely  dance  the  Highland  fling, 
Hoop  a  leglan,  clout  a  pan, 
Or  crack  a  pow  wi'  ony  man. 

— Sir  Walter  Scott :  Donald  CainL 

Jamieson,  traces  leglin,  to  the  Teutonic  leghel.  This 
word,  however,  has  no  place  in  German,  Dutch 
or  Flemish  Dictionaries.  The  Gaelic  has  leig,  to 
milk  a  cow,  which,  with  lion,  a  receptacle  (also  a  net),  or 
lion,  to  fill,  becomes  leglin  in  Lowland  Scotch. 

Leister,  a  three-pronged  instrument,  or  trident,  for 
killing  fish  in  the  water ;  commonly  applied  to  illegal 
salmon  fishin'T  in  the  rivers  of  Scotland  : — 


o 


I  there  wi'  something  did  forgather 
Tliat  pat  me  in  an  eerie  swither, 
An  awfu'  scythe  out  owre  ae  shouther 
Clear  dangling  hang, 


174  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

A  three-taed  leister  on  the  ither 
Lay  large  and  lang. 

— Burns  :  Death  atid  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Jamieson  traces  the  word  to  the  Swedish  liustra.,  to 
strike  fish  with  a  trident.  But  this  may  be  doubted. 
"  To  leister,"  says  the  Gaelic  Etymology  of  the  Languages 
of  Western  Europe,  "is  a  mode  of  taking  salmon  at 
night,  by  attracting  them  towards  the  surface  by  torches 
held  near  the  water,  and  then  driving  a  spear,  trident  or 
large  fork  into  them."  The  author  suggests  that  the 
word  is  derived  from  the  light  that  is  employed  to  lure 
the  fish,  rather  than  from  the  spear  that  impales  them, 
and  traces  it  to  the  Gaelic  leasdair,  a  light,  or  a  lustre. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  word  is  of  home  origin, 
rather  than  of  Swedish.  Halliwell  and  Wright  claim  it 
as  a  common  word  in  the  North  of  England.  Burns 
evidently  uses  it  in  the  sense  of  a  trident,  without  any 
reference  to  the  illegal  practice  of  fishing. 

Let  on,  to  let  appear  : — 

"  Wcel,  Margaret,"  said  a  minister  to  an  auld  wife,  who  expressed 
her  dissatisfaction  with  him  for  leaving  the  parish,  "ye  ken  I'm 
the  Lord's  servant.  If  He  have  work  for  me  in  Stirling,  ye'll  admit 
that  it's  my  duty  to  perform  it."  "  Ilech  !"  replied  Margaret,  "I've 
heard  that  Stirling  has  a  great  muckle  stipend,  and  I'm  thinking  if 
the  Lord  had  gi'en  ye  a  ca'  to  Auchtertool  [a  very  poor  parish],  ye 
wad  ne'er  hae  hitten  on  that  ye  heard  Him." 

Rogers  : — Anecdotes  of  Scottish  Wit  and  Humour. 

Leurc,  a  ray  of  light,  a  gleam ;  from  the  French  liieur, 
a  shining  light ;  and  the  anterior  Gaelic  root  lur,  bright- 
ness, splendour,  a  treasure.  The  Gipsy  slang  has  lowre, 
money ;   and   gammy,  or    crooked  lowre,   bad   money. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  I  75 

The  ideas  of  brightness  and  beauty  go  together  in  most 
languages.  Lurach,  in  GaeUe,  is  a  term  of  endearment 
for  a  beautiful — that  is  a  bright— young  woman. 

Levin,  the  lightning.  This  word,  that  has  long  been 
obsolete  in  English  literature,  is  not  yet  obsolete  in  the 
Scottish  vernacular.  It  was  employed  with  fine  effect, 
centuries  ago,  by  Dunbar,  the  Scottish,  and  by  Chaucer, 
the  English  poet.  Attempts  have  recently  been  made  to 
revive  it,  by  Sir  AValter  Scott  and  others,  not  altogether 
ineffectually.  Chaucer's  use  of  it  is  magnificent,  when 
he  denounces  one  who  habitually  speaks  ill  of  women  : 

With  wild  thunder-bolt  and  fiery  levin 
May  his  welked  [wicked]  neck  be  broke. 

—  IVife  of  Bathes  Prologue. 

To  him  as  to  the  burning  levin, 
Short,  resistless  course  was  given. 

— Scott  :  JMarmion. 

The  clouds  grew  dark  and  the  wind  grew  loud, 

And  the  levin  filled  her  e'e, 
And  waesome  wailed  the  snow-white  sprites 

Upon  the  gurly  sea. 

— Laidlaw  :    Tlie  Demon  Lover. 

The  etymology  is  obscure.  There  is  no  trace  of  it  in 
the  Teutonic  or  Latin  sources  of  the  language.  Spencer, 
in  the  "  Faerie  Queene,"  has — 

His  burning  levin-hiand  in  hand  he  took. 

The  etymology  is  probably  to  be  found  in  the  Gaelic 
h'af/i  (pron6unced  h'a,  lee-d)  meaning  white  or  grey,  and 
sometimes  vivid  white,  which  may  perhaps  account  for 
the  first  syllable.     Biiin,   to  shoot,  to  dart ;  buinne,  or 


176  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

bhiiinne  {vui'n),  signifies  a  rapid  motion,  which  may 
account  for  the  second — a  derivation  which  is  not  in- 
sisted upon,  but  which  may  lead  philologists  to  enquire 
further. 

Lezuder,  Leiadering,  to  flounder  through  bog  and  mire, 
to  plod  wearily  and  heavily  on  : — 

Thus  lewdering  on 
Through  scrubs  and  crags  wi'  mony  a  heavy  groan. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

Jamieson  derives  the  word  from  the  Teutonic  leuteren, 
niorari,  a  word  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Teutonic 
Dictionaries.  It  is  probable  that  the  root  is  the  Gaelic 
laidir,  strong,  heavy.  The  English  slang,  "  To  give  one 
a  good  leathering"  is  to  give  him  a  strong  or  heavy 
beating. 

Lib,  to  castrate,  geld.  Libbet,  an  animal  on  whom 
that  operation  has  been  performed;  a  eunuch.  This 
word  still  remains  current  in  the  Northern  Counties. 
In  Flemish  lubbing  signifies  castration  ;  and  bibber,  he 
who  performs  the  operation.  Burns  speaks  contemp- 
tuously of  Italian  singers  as  libbet : — 

How  cut-throat  Prussian  blades  were  hinging, 
How  libbet  Italy  was  singing. 

Spac,  in  Scottish,  means  to  foretell,  to  prophecy,  and 
seems  to  have  no  connection,  with  the  English  spae, 
written  by  Johnson  spay,  to  castrate  a  female  animal  for 
the  purpose  of  producing  barrenness  : — 

Be  dumb,  you  beggars  of  the  rhyming  trade, 
Geld  your  loose  wits,  and  let  the  muse  be  spafd. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  T  7  7 

A  singular  misconception  of  the  true  meaning  of  a  spafd, 
or  one  who  is  spafd,  has  led  to  a  current  English  proverb, 
that  will  doubtless  drop  out  of  use  as  soon  as  its  true 
origin  is  understood.  In  Taylor's  works  (1630),  quoted 
by  Halliwell,  occurs  the  couplet : — 

I  think  it  good  plaine  English  without  fraude 
To  call  a  spade  a  spade,  a  bawd  a  bawd. 

The  juxtaposition  of  bawd  and  spade  in  this  passage  sug- 
gests that  the  true  reading  should  be  spafd.  In  Dr. 
Donne's  satires,  anterior  to  the  works  of  Taylor,  there 
appears  the  line  : — 

I  call  a  bawd  a  bazvd,  a  spae'd  a  spaed. 

Nares,  in  his  Glossary,  asks  very  naturally,  "why  the 
spade  (rather  than  the  poker,  or  hoe,  or  plough,  or  pitch- 
fork, or  any  other  implement)  was  especially  chosen  to 
enter  into  this  figurative  expression  is  not  clear."  If  he 
had  reflected  on  the  meaning  of  the  word  spafd  or 
spae'd,  the  obscurity  would  have  been  cleared  up, 

Ltchtly  or  lightly.      To  treat   with  neglect  or  scorn, 
or  speak  lightly  of  anybody  : — 

I  leaned  my  back  unto  an  aik, 

And  thought  it  was  a  trusty  tree, 
But  first  it  bowed,  and  syne  it  brak, 

Sae  my  true  love  did  lichtly  me. 

— Ballad  of  the  Marchioness  of  Douglas. 

Oh  is  my  helmet  a  widow's  cuid  [cap], 
Or  my  lance  a  wand  of  the  willow  tree, 

Or  my  arm  a  lady's  lily  hand 

That  an  English  Lord  should  lichtly  me. 

— Kinmont  Willie. 

U 


IjS  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Aye  vow  and  protest  that  ye  care  na  for  me, 
And  whiles  ye  may  lichtly  my  beauty  a  wee ; 
But  court  na  anither  tho'  jokin'  ye  be, 
For  fear  that  she  wyle  your  fancy  frae  me. 

— Burns  :   Whistle  and  I'll  come  to  you,  my  Lad. 

Liddisdale  Drow,  Liddisdale  dew ;  the  fine  rain  that 
is  said  not  to  wet  a  Scotsman,  but  that  drenches  an 
Englishman  to  the  skin.  Jamieson  defines  dro7u  to  mean 
a  cold  mist  approaching  to  rain,  also  a  squall  or  severe 
gust;  and  derives  the  word  from  the  Gaelic  drog,  the 
motion  of  the  sea,  which,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  in 
Gaelic  dictionaries.  Brow  is  from  the  Gaelic  driichd, 
with  the  elision  of  the  guttural,  signifying  dew, — hence 
the  Liddisdale  joke. 

Lift,  the  sky ;  from  the  Teutonic  Itift : — 

When  lightnings  f:re  the  stormy  lift. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Robert  Graham. 

Is  yon  the  moon,  I  ken  her  horn, 

She's  glintin'  in  the  lift  sae  heigh, 

She  smiles  sae  sweet  to  wile  us  hame. 

But  by  my  troth  she'll  bide  a  wee. 

— Burns. 

Lilt,  to  sing  cheerfully,  or  in  a  lively  manner.  Also, 
according  to  Jamieson,  a  large  pull  in  drinking  frequently 
repeated  : — 

Nae  mair  liltin'  at  the  ewe-milkin". 
The  flowers  of  the  forest  are  a'  wede  awa'. 

—Lament  for  the  Battle  of  Flodden. 

Mak'  haste  an'  turn  King  David  owre, 
An'  lilt  wi'  holy  clangour. 

— Burns  :   The  Ordination. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 79 

The  origin  of  this  word  seems  to  be  the  Gaelic 
luailie,  speed,  haste,  rapid  motion,  and  luailtich,  to 
accelerate,  to  move  merrily  and  rapidly  forward — a  deri- 
vation which  would  explain  the  most  common  acceptation 
of  the  word,  as  applied  to  singing,  as  well  as  the  second- 
ary meaning  attributed  to  it  by  Jamieson. 

Link^  to  trip,  to  leap,  to  skip,  to  jump ;  Linkin\  tripp- 
ing, from  the  Gaelic  hum,  to  leap,  leiwinach,  skipping, 
jumping,  whence  leumanach,  a  frog,  a  creature  that  jumps. 
The  glossaries  to  Burns  render  this  word  by  "trip." 
Jamieson  says  it  means  to  walk  smartly,  or  to  do  any- 
thing with  cleverness  and  expedition. 

And  coost  her  duddies  to  the  wark, 
And  linkit  at  it  in  her  sark. 

— Burns  :  Tarn  G'Shanter. 

And  now,  auld  Clcots,  I  ken  ye're  thinkin' 
A  certain  Bardie's  rantin',  drinkin', 
Some  luckless  hour  will  send  him  linking 

To  your  black  pit, 
But  faith  !  he'll  turn  a  corner  jinkin'  [dodging], 

And  cheat  you  yet. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

Lin  or  Lins.  This  termination  to  many  Scottish  words 
supplies  a  shade  of  meaning  not  to  be  expressed  in  Eng- 
lish but  by  a  periphrasis,  as  tuestlins,  inclining  towards 
the  west.  Aiblins  —  perhaps  for  able-lins  —  inclining 
towards  being  able,  or  about  to  become  possible.  Back- 
lins,  inclining  towards  a  retrograde  movement. 

The  westlin  winds  blaw  loud  and  shrill, 

— Burns  :  My  Nannie,  0. 


l8o  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Now  frae  the  east  neuk  o'  Fife  the  dawn 
Speel'd  'li^estlius  up  the  lift. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Chrisfs  Kirk  on  the  Green. 

And  if  awakened  fietcelins  aff  night  flee. 

— Ross's  Hclenore. 

This  termination  properly  is  lings,  and  is  a  very  common  termin- 
ation in  several  Teutonic  dialects,  such  as  the  Dutch,  and  still  more, 
the  German,  though  not  common  in  English.  See  Grimm's  Gram- 
mar, vol.  iii.,  p.  235-6. — Lord  Neaves. 

Lins  corresponds  nearly  to  the  English  affix  ly,  though  not  exactly. 
In  Pitscottie's  account  of  the  apparition  that  appeared  to  James  IV.  in 
St.  Catherine's  Aisle  of  the  Church  at  Linlithgow,  the  word  Grojflins 
occurs.  Th'ls  has  been  interpreted  to  mean  gruffly.  "  He  leaned 
downgrqfflins  on  the  desk  before  him  (the  king)  and  said,  &c."  Grufe 
ot  groffi%  a  common  Scotch  word,  meaning  the  belly,  or  rather  the 
f7-ont  of  the  body,  as  distinguished  from  the  back  ;  and  Pitscottie's 
expression  means  nothing  more  than  that  the  apparition  leaned  the 
fore  part  of  his  body,  say  his  breast,  upon  the  back  of  the  desk  at 
which  the  King  was  kneeling. — K.  D. 

Li/m,  a  waterfall; — Cora  Linn,  the  falls  of  the  Clyde; 
properly,  the  pool  at  the  bottom  of  a  cataract,  worn  deep 
by  the  falling  water.     From  the  Gaelic  linne,  a  pool : — 

Grat  his  e'en  baith  bleer't  and  blin', 
Spak  o'  lowpin'  o'er  a  linn. 

— Burns  :  Duncan  Gray. 

Ye  burnies,  wimplin'  down  your  glens. 
Or  foaming  Strang  frae  linn  to  linn. 

— iiurns  :  Elegy  on  Captain  Matthew  Henderson. 

Whiles  owre  a  linn  the  burnie  plays. 

— Burns  :  Halloween. 

Lintie,  a  linnet : — 

Dr.  Norman  Macleod  menlioned  a  conversation  he  had  with  a 
Scottish  emigrant  in  Canada,  who  in  general  terms  spoke  favourably 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  l8l 


of  his  position  in  his  adopted  country.  "But  oh  !  sir,"  he  said, 
"there  are  no  Unties  in  the  woods."  The  word  litiiie  conveys  to 
my  mind  more  of  tenderness  and  endearment  towards  the  little 
bird  than  linnet. 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Lippen,  to  incline  towards,  to  be  favourable  to  any  one, 
to  rely  upon,  to  trust.  Apparently  from  the  Flemish 
liefde,  and  the  German  Hebe,  love  : — 

Lippcn  to  me,  but  look  to  yoursell. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

An  ancient  lady,  when  told  by  the  minister  that  he  had  a  call  from 
his  Lord  and  Master  to  go  to  another  parish,  replied,  "Deed,  sir, 
the  Lord  might  ha'  ca'd  and  ca'd  to  you  lang  eneuch,  and  ye'd  ne'er 
hae  lippened  tiW  Him  if  the  steepen  [stipend]  had  na  been  better." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Lippm'  fu\  full  up  to  the  lip  or  brim  of  a  glass  or 
goblet,  brimful ;  owre-lippin\  full  to  overflow  : — 

A'  the  laughin'  valleys  round 
Are  nursed  and  fed  by  me, 
And  I'm  aye  lippM  fti,\ 

— ^James  Ballantine  :  Song  of  the  Four 

Elements — the  Water. 

See  ye,  wha  hae  aught  in  your  bicker  to  spare. 

And  gie  your  poor  neighbours  your  owre-lippin''  share. 

— ^James  Ballantine  :   Winter  Promptings, 


Lith,  a  joint,  a  hinge ;  and  metaphorically,  the  point 
of  an  argument  on  which  the  whole  question  turns.  To 
lith,  to  separate  the  joints;  from  the  Gaelic  luth,  a  joint; 
luthach,  well-jointed,  or  having  large  joints. 


1 82  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


"Fye,  thief,  for  shame  !"  cries  little  Sym, 

Wilt  thou  not  fecht  with  me  ; 
Thou  art  mair  large  of  lith  and  limb 

Nor  I  am 

— Qticstiotiing  and  Debate  betivixt  Adamson  and 
Sym :  Allan  Ramsay's  Evergreen. 

And  to  the  road  again  wi'  a'  her  pith, 
And  souple  was  she  ilka  limb  and  lith. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

Dr.  Johnson  and  Lord  Auchinleck  were  quarreling  on  the  character 
of  the  great  Protector,  and  the  sturdy  old  English  Tory  pressed  the 
no  less  sturdy  old  Scottish  Whig  to  say  what  good  Cromwell  had 
ever  done  to  his  country.  His  lordship  replied,  "Hegart  kings  ken 
that  they  had  a  lith  in  their  necks. " 

Boswell. 


Loaning,  a  meadow,  a  pasture  : — 

I've  heard  them  lilting  at  the  ewe-milking — 

Lasses  a'  lilting  before  dawn  of  day  ; 
But  now  they  are  moaning  in  ilka  green  loaning, 

The  flowers  o'  the  forest  are  a'  wede  away. 

—  The  Flowers  d'  the  Forest. 


Loe-some,  or  love-some,  pleasant  and  amiable,  is  some- 
times wrongly  written  leeso/ne,  as  in  Burns's  song  of  "The 
Countrie  Lassie  "  : — 

The  tender  heart  o'  leesome  luve 
Gowd  and  siller  canna  buy. 

Loof,  the  palm  of  the  hand  ;  from  the  Gaelic  lc7mh, 
{lav),  the  hand  : — 

Gies  your  loof,  I'll  ne'er  beguile  you. 

— Scots  Proverbs, 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  183 


We  are  reposed  on  her  chair  back 
He  sweetly  does  compose  him, 
While  by  degrees  slips  round  her  neck, 
An's  /oof  upon  her  bosom, 

Unkenned  that  day. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

Lofa  is  used  by  Ulphilas  for  the  open  hand ;  slaps  Iqfin,  a  slap 
of  the  hand.  The  Gaelic  is  lam,  though  the  m  gets  aspirate,  lamh 
— lav  or  laf. — Lord  Neaves. 

Losh,  a  ludicrous  objurgation  that  does  duty  as  a 
paltry  oath;  generally  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of 
Lord! 

Losh  me  !  hae  mercy  wi'  your  hatch, 

Your  bodkins  bauld. 

— Burns  :   Epistle  to  a  Tailor. 

The  English  corruptions  of  "Lord  !"  becomes  Oh  Lor'! 
Lawks  !  and  Oh  La'  !  The  name  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
in  like  manner,  is  vulgarized  into  Gosh^  as  "  By  Gosh  !  " 
"  Gosh  guide  us  ! "  is  a  common  expression  in  Scotland, 
with  the  object  apparently  of  avoiding  the  breach  of  the 
Third  Commandment  in  the  letter,  if- not  in  the  spirit. 

Loiip,  to  leap  ;  to  "  loup  the  dyke,"  a  proverbial  expres- 
sion, to  leap  over  the  dyke  (of  restraint);  applied  to 
unchaste  unmarried  women  : — 

Spak  o'  loupin'  o'er  a  linn, 

— Burns  :    Duncan  Gray. 

He's  loupen  on  the  bonnie  black. 

He  steer'd  him  wi'  the  spur  right  sairly ; 
But  ere  he  won  to  Galehope  slack 
I  think  the  steed  was  wae  and  weary. 

— Annan  Water,  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish 
Border. 


184  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Loup-hunting.  "  The  odd  phrase,  'Hae  ye  been  a  lotip- 
htintitigV  is  a  query,"  says  Jamieson,  "addressed  to 
one  who  has  been  very  early  abroad,  and  is  an  evident 
allusion  to  the  hunting  of  the  wolf  (the  French  loup 
in  former  days)."  The  allusion  is  not  so  evident  as 
Jamieson  imagined.  A  wolf  was  never  called  loKp 
(pronounced  loo),  either  in  the  Highlands  or  in  the 
Lowlands.  In  the  Highlands  the  animal  was  either 
called  faol,  or  wild  dog  {inadadh  alluidh) ;  and  in 
the  Lowlands  by  its  English,  Flemish,  and  German 
name,  "wolf."  It  is  far  more  likely  that  "loup" 
in  the  phrase  is  derived  from  the  Scottish  Gaelic 
lobhar,  the  Irish  Gaelic  lubhar^  work,  or  a  day's  work  \  a 
hunt  more  common  and  more  imperative  than  that  after 
an  animal  which  has  not  been  known  in  Scotland  since 
1680,  when  the  last  of  the  race,  according  to  tradition, 
was  killed  by  Sir  Ewen  Cameron  of  Lochiel.  Another 
tradition,  recorded  in  the  third  volume  of  Chambers' 
"Annals  of  Scotland,"  fixes  in  1743  the  date  of  the  last 
wolf  slain,  and  records  the  name  of  the  slayer  as  Mac- 
queen,  a  noted  deer-stalker  in  the  forest  of  Moray. 

Lub  is  an  obsolete  Gaelic  word  for  a  youth  of  either 
sex.  It  is  therefore  possible  that  loiip-Juniting  may  have 
had  a  still  more  familiar  meaning. 

Lo7ve,  a  flame ;  lowin\  burning,  to  burn,  to  blaze.  Lh 
is  the  ancient  Gaelic  word  for  day,  or  daylight ;  super- 
seded partially  by  the  modern  let,  or  lettha,  with  the  same 
meaning.  The  syllable  to  appears  in  the  compound  word 
lo-inn,  joy,  gladness,  beauty, — derived  from  the  idea  of 
light, — that  which  shines,  as  in  the  Teutonic  sehon  the 
old  English  sheen,  beautiful. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 85 


A  vast  unbottomed  boundless  pit, 
Filled  foil  o'  loiuiii'  bninstane. 

— Burns  :   Tlie  Holy  Fair. 

The  sacred  loive  o'  weel-plac'd  love 
Luxuriantly  indulge  it. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  a  Young  Friend. 

The  bonnie,  bonnie  bairn  sits  poking  in  the  ase, 
Glowerin'  in  the  fire  wi'  his  wee  round  face, 
Laughin'  at  the  fuffin'  lowe — what  sees  he  there  ? 
Ha  !  the  young  dreamer's  biggin'  castles  in  the  air. 

—James  Ballantine. 

I  think  loive  is  connected  with  glozu.      It  certainly  is  not  light. - 
Lord  N  eaves. 


Lowan  drouth.,  burning  thirst : — - 

With  the  cauld  stream  she  quench'd  her  lowan  drouth. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 


Lown^  quiet,  calm,  sheltered  from  the  wind.  The  town 
o'  the  dyke,  the  sheltered  side  of  the  wall : — 

"  Unbuckle  your  belt,  Sir  Roland,"  she  said, 

"And  sit  you  safely  down." 
"  Oh  your  bower  is  very  dark,  fair  maid, 

And  the  nicht  is  wondrous /ozf«." 

— Ballad  of  .Sir  Roland. 

Lo7un  is  used  in  relation  to  concealment,  as  when  any  ill 
report  is  to  be  hushed  up.  "Keep  it  town" — i.e.,  say  nothing 
about  it. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Elaw  the  wind  ne'er  sae  fast, 

It  will  lowii  at  the  last. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Come  wi'  the  young  bloom  o'  morn  on  thy  brow, 
Come  wi'  the  loxtni  star  o'  love  in  thine  e'e. 

— James  Ballantine  :   Wifie  Come  Hanie: 


1 86  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

Low^  to  stand  still,  to  stop,  to  rest ;  lowdeti,  to  calm  ; 
applied  to  the  cessation  of  a  gale,  a  storm,  a  wind,  also, 
to  silence,  or  cause  to  be  silent. 

Luckie,  a  term  of  familiarity  applied  to  elderly  women 
in  the  lower  and  middle  ranks  of  society  : — 

Oh,  baud  your  tongue,  now,  Luckie  Laing, 

Oh,  baud  your  tongue  and  jaumer  ; 
I  held  the  gate  till  you  I  met, 

Syne  I  began  to  wander. 

— Burns:   The  Lass  of  Ecclefechan. 

Hear  me,  ye  hills,  and  every  glen. 

And  echo  shrill,  that  a'  may  ken 

The  waefu'  thud 

O'  reckless  death  wha  came  unseen 

To  Luckie  Wood. 

— Burns. 

Mrs.  Helen  Carnegie  of  Montrose  died  in  1818,  at  the  advanced 
age  of  ninety-one.  She  was  a  Jacobite,  and  very  aristocratic,  but 
on  social  terms  with  many  of  the  burghers  of  the  city.  She  pre- 
served a  very  nice  distinction  in  her  mode  of  addressing  people  accord- 
ing to  their  rank  and  station.  She  was  fond  of  a  game  of  quadrille 
(whist),  and  sent  out  her  servant  every  morning  to  invite  the  ladies 
required  to  make  up  the  game.  "Nelly,  ye'll  gang  to  Lady 
Carnegie's,  and  mak'  my  compliments,  and  ask  the  houoiir  of  her 
ladyship's  company,  and  that  of  the  Miss  Carnegies,  to  tea  this 
evening.  If  they  canna  come,  ye'll  gang  to  the  Miss  Mudies,  and 
ask  \.\\&  pleasure  of  their  company.  If  they  canna  come,  ye  maun 
gang  to  Miss  Hunter,  and  ask  the  favour  of  her  company.  If  she 
canna  come,  ye  maun  gang  to  Luckie  Spark,  and  bid  her  come  !" 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 

It  is  probable  that  this  word,  as  a  term  of  respect  as 
well  as  of  familiarity,  to  a  middle-aged  or  elderly  matron, 
is  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  laoch,  brave.      The  French 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  187 

say,  "  une  brave  femme,"  meaning  a  good  woman ;  and 
the  lowland  Scotch  use  the  adjective  honest  in  the  same 
sense,  as  in  the  anecdote  recorded  in  Dean  Ramsay's 
"  Reminiscences  "  of  Lord  Hermand,  who,  about  to  pass 
sentence  on  a  woman,  began  remonstratively,  '•''Honest 
wo?nan,  what  garred  ye  steal  your  neighbour's  tub  ?  " 

Ltig,  the  ear ;  a  handle ;  also,  to  pull,  to  drag,  or  haul. 
Liiggie,  a  small  wooden  dish  with  handles.  Luggie,  the 
horned  owl,  so  called  trom  the  length  of  its  ears  : — 

His  hair,  his  size,  his  mouth,  his  Itigs, 
Showed  he  was  nana  o'  Scotland's  dogs. 

Burns  :   The  Tiva  Dogs. 

How  would  his  Highland  lug  been  nobler  fired, 
— His  matchless  hand  with  finer  touch  inspired. 

— Burns  :   The  Brigs  d'  Ayr. 


Up  they  got  and  shook  their  lugs. 
Rejoiced  they  were  na  men  but  dogs. 


-Idem. 


Ltig,  to  pull  by  the  ear,  or  otherwise,  to  haul  a  load, 
is  still  current  in  English  ;  but  lug.,  the  ear,  is  obsolete, 
except  in  the  Northern  Counties,  though  common  in 
English  literature  in  the  Elizabethan  era.  Two  deriva- 
tions have  been  suggested  for  the  word  in  its  two  diver- 
gencies. The  Gaelic  lag.,  genitive  liiig.,  signifies  a  cavity, 
whence  it  is  supposed  that  hcg  signifies  the  cavity  of  the 
ear.  Coles,  however,  renders  lug  by  the  Latin,  "  auris 
lobus,  auricula  infinia,"  not  the  interior  cavity,  but  the 
exterior  substance  of  the  ear.  The  derivation  of  lug.,  to 
pull,  to  drag  a  load,  seems  to  be  from  another  source 
altogether ;  from  the  Gaelic  luchd — -the  English  for  a  load, 
a  burden,  or  a  ship's  cargo.  In  this  case,  the  meaning  is 
transferred  from  the  load  itself  to  the  action  of  moving  it. 


r88  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Lion,  the  chimney.  The  vent  by  which  the  smoke 
escapes  from  the  fire-place.  The  word  is  used  in  the 
North  of  England  as  Avell  as  in  Scotland.  The  etymology 
is  uncertain.  The  Kymric  has  llu?non,  a  beacon,  a  chim- 
ney ;  the  Irish  Gaelic  has  luaimh,  swift ;  and  the  Scottish 
Gaelic  luath  {lua),  swift ;  and  ceum,  aspirated  into  cheum 
or  Ileum,  a  way,  a  passage, — whence  lua-heuvi,  the  swift 
passage  by  which  the  smoke  is  carried  off. 

The  most  probable  derivation  is  from  the  Gaelic  laoin 
{quari  luni),  a  blaze, — whence,  by  extension  of  meaning, 
the  place  of  the  blaze  or  fire. 

Lunch,  a  large  piece,  a  slice,  whence  the  modern  Eng- 
lish lunch,  a  slight  meal  in  the  middle  of  the  day  : — 

Cheese  and  bread  frae  women's  laps 
Was  dealt  about  in  lunches 

And  dawds  that  day. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

Liint,  the  smoke  of  tobacco ; — to  emit  smoke.  From 
the  Flemish  lo7it,  a  lighted  wick  : — 

The  luntin'  pipe. 

— Bums  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Lyart,  grey ;  from  the  Gaelic  Hath  {Ha),  which  has  the 
same  meaning : — 

His  lyart  haflfets  [locks  of  thin  grey  hair], 

— Bums  :  Collar's  Saturday  Alight. 

Twa  hml  manteels  o'  doleful  black, 
But  ane  in  lyart  hung. 

Bums  :   The  Holy  Fair, 


OF  THE  SCOTllSH  LANGUAGE.  1 89 

Lyke-  Wake,  the  ceremonial  of  the  watching  over  a  dead 
body.  Lyke  is  from  the  Teutonic  leiche,  the  Dutch  and 
Flemish  lijk,  a  corpse. 

She  has  cut  off  her  yellow  locks 

A  little  aboon  her  e'e, 
And  she  is  o'er  to  Willie's  lyke. 

As  fast  as  gang  could  she. 

— Buchan's  Ballads :   Willie's  Lyke-  Wake. 

Machless,  lazy,  loth,  indolent.  Jamieson  derives  this 
word  from  the  Teutonic  macht,  power,  strength,  might ; 
whence  machtios,  without  might  or  strength ;  but  the 
Scottish  word  is  without  the  t,  which  somewhat  detracts 
from  the  probability  of  the  etymolog}".  The  Gaelic  has 
madeisg,  a  lazy,  indolent  person,  literally  a  son  of  laziness, 
which  is  a  nearer  approach  to  machless  than  machtios. 
Mac/lie  is  deiined  by  Jamieson  as  signifying  to  busy  one's 
self  about  nothing,  which  would  seem  to  be  an  abbrevia- 
tion of  madeisg.  He  says  that  machiess  is  generally  used 
in  an  unfavourable  sense,  as  in  the  phrase,  ''  get  up  ye 
machiess  brute."     This  supports  the  Gaelic  etymolog)'. 

Mad  as  a  Hatter.  This  is  English  as  well  as  Scottish 
slang,  to  signify  that  a  person  is  more  or  less  deranged 
in  his  intellect.  Why  a  hatter  should  be  madder  than  a 
shoemaker,  a  tailor,  or  any  other  handicraftsman,  has 
never  been  explained.  The  phrase  arises  from  a  corrtip- 
tion  and  misconception  of  the  Gaelic  word  atadh,  a 
swelling,  aifearachd,  swelling,  blustering,  foaming  like 
a  cataract  in  motion,  or  the  assembling  of  a  noisy  crowd. 
Jamieson,  unaware  of  the  Gaelic  origin,  defined  the 
Scottish  hatter  as  a  numerous  and  irregular  assemblage 
of  any  kind,  a  hatter  of  stanes,  or  a  confused  heap  of 


1 90  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Stones ;  and  hatiering,  as  collecting  in  crowds.  So  that 
mad  as  a  hatter  merely  signifies  mad  as  a  cataract  or  a 
crowd.  In  the  old  Langue  Romane — the  precursor  of 
modern  French — hativeau  meant  un  fou,  im  etourdi. 

Maggie-Rah^  or  Maggie-Rob,  an  ancient  popular  term 
for  a  violent,  quarrelsome,  and  disagreeable  woman  : — 

He's  a  very  guid  man,  but  I  trow  he's  gotten  a  Maggie-rob  o'  a 
wife.  — Jamieson. 

This  strange  phrase,  though  now  so  apparently  inex- 
plicable, must  originally  have  had  a  meaning,  or  it  would 
never  have  acquired  the  currency  of  a  proverb.  If  the 
word  Maggie,  for  Margaret,  be  accepted  as  the  generic 
name  for  a  woman,  like  Jill,  in  the  nursery  rhyme  of 
"  Jack  and  Jill  went  up  the  hill ; "  or  like  Jenny  in  the 
old  song  of  "  Jock  and  Jenny ;  "  and  Rob  or  Rab  be  held 
to  signify  a  man,  the  phrase  may  mean  a  virago,  a  woman 
with  the  behaviour  and  masculine  manners  of  the  other 
sex. 

The  rab  or  rob  in  the  phrase  is  susceptible  of  another 
interpretation.  The  Gaelic  rab,  or  rabach,  means  quar- 
relsome, litigious,  violent,  exasperating, — while  in  the 
same  language  rob  means  dirty  and  slovenly.  Either  of 
these  epithets  would  very  aptly  describe  the  kind  of 
woman  referred  to  in  the  extract  from  Jamieson, 

But  these  are  suggestions  only  for  students  of  language, 
and  are  not  offered  as  true  derivations  for  the  guidance 
of  the  unlearned. 

Maigs  or  Mags,  a  ludicrous  term  for  the  hands — from 
the  Gaelic  mag  or  mog,  a  paw  :  — 

Haud  aff  yer  maigs,  man  !  — Jamieson. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  IQI 

Mail,  or  Black  Mail.  The  word  mail  is  derived  from  the 
Gaelic  vial,  rent,  tax,  or  tribute ;  and  mala,  a  bag,  a  sack, 
a  purse,  a  budget  to  contain  the  tribute.  Why  the 
particular  exaction,  called  Black  Mail,  levied  by  many 
Highland  chieftains  in  former  times,  to  insure  the  pro- 
tection of  the  herds  of  cattle  passing  through  their 
territories  to  southern  markets,  received  the  epithet  of 
black  has  never  been  clearly  explained.  The  word  has 
been  supposed  by  some  to  designate  the  moral  turpitude 
and  blackness  of  character  of  those  who  exacted  such  a 
tax,  and  by  others  it  has  been  conjectured  that  black 
mail  derived  its  name  from  the  black  cattle  of  the  High- 
lands, for  whose  protection  against  thieves  and  caterans 
the  tribute  was  levied ;  while  yet  another  set  of  etymolo- 
gists have  set  forth  the  opinion  that  plack  mail,  not  black 
mail,  was  the  proper  word,  derived  from  the  small  Scot- 
tish coin — the  plaque  or  plack — in  which  the  tribute  was 
supposed  to  be  collected.  But  as  mail  is  undoubtedly 
from  the  Gaelic,  and  as  black  mail  was  a  purely  Highland 
extortion,  and  so  called  at  a  time  when  few  resident 
Highland  chiefs  and  none  of  their  people  spoke  English, 
it  is  possible  that  black  is  not  to  be  taken  in  the  English 
sense,  but  that  it  had,  like  its  associated  word,  mail,  a 
Gaelic  origin.  In  that  language,  blathaich — pronounced 
(the  /  silent)  bld-aich — signifies,  to  protect,  to  cherish. 
Thus,  black  mail  meant  the  tribute  or  tax  of  protec- 
tion. If  black,  the  colour,  were  really  intended,  the 
Highlanders  would  have  used  their  own  word  and 
called  the  tribute  mal-dubh.  The  Gaelic  blathaich  has 
the  secondary  meaning  of  to  heat.  In  the  same 
sense,  the  Flemish  has  blaken,  to  warm,  to  animate,  to 
burn.  In  connection  with  the  idea  of  warming,  the 
Scottish  language  has  several  words  which  can  scarcely 


192  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

be  explained  by  black  in  the  English  sense.  The  first  is 
black-burnings  which  Jamieson  says  is  "used  in  reference 
to  shame  when  it  is  so  great  as  to  produce  deep  blush- 
ing, or  to  crimson  the  countenance."  This  phrase  is 
equivalent  to  the  English,  a  burning  shame,  when  the 
cheeks  burn  or  glow,  not  with  black,  but  with  red.  The 
second  is  black-fisJiing,  which  Jamieson  defines  as  fishing 
for  salmon  by  night  by  means  of  torches.  He  explains 
the  epithet  black  in  this  instance  by  suggesting  that  "  the 
fish"  are  black  or  foul  when  they  come  up  the  streams  to 
deposit  their  spawn,  an  explanation  which  is  wholly  in- 
admissible. The  third  and  fourth  phrases  are  black-foot 
and  black-sole,  which  both  mean  "a  confidant  in  love 
affairs,  or  one  who  goes  between  a  lover  and  his  mistress 
endeavouring  to  bring  the  cold  or  coy  fair  one  to  com- 
pliance." In  these  instances,  black  is  certainly  more 
related  to  the  idea  of  warming,  inciting,  animating,  than 
to  that  of  blackness.  Black-foot  and  black-sole  in  reality 
mean  hot-foot  and  hot-sole,  as  in  the  corresponding  phrase, 
hot-haste,  applied  to  the  constant  running  to-and-fro  of 
the  go-between.  Black-winter,  which  signifies,  according 
to  Jamieson,  "  the  last  cart-load  of  grain  brought  home 
from  the  harvest-field,"  is  as  difficult  as  either  of 
the  phrases  previously-cited  to  associate  with  the  idea  of 
blackness,  either  moral  or  physical ;  but  rather  with  that 
of  comfort,  warmth — or  provision  for  the  winter  months. 
The  winter  itself  may  be  metaphorically  black,  but  not 
by  any  extension  of  meaning  or  of  fancy  can  the  epithet 
black,  in  colour,  be  associated  with  a  cart-load  of  grain. 
There  are  two  other  equivalent  phrases  in  Scottish  use  in 
which  black  is  an  epithet,  namely,  black  victual,  meaning 
pulse,  beans  and  peas,  and  black  crop,  which  has  the  same 
signification.      Jamieson  says  these  crops  are  so  called 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  193 

because  they  are  always  green^  and  extends  the  meaning 
to  turnips,  potatoes,  etc.,  for  the  same  reason.  But  black 
cannot  be  accepted  as  equivalent  to  green. 

Of  all  the  derivations  ever  suggested  for  black  mail,  the 
word    on    which     this    disquisition    concerning    black 
started,  the  most  unfortunate  is  that  of  Jamieson,  who 
traces  it  to  "the  German  blakmal,  and  to  the  Flemish 
blakot,  to  rob."      It  is  sufficient  for  the  refutation  of 
Jamieson  to  state  that  there  is  no  such  word  as  blakmal 
in  the  German   language,  and  that  blaken,  as  already 
observed,  does  not  signify  to  rob,  but  to  burn.     In  con- 
clusion,  it  may  be  stated  that  the   English  bhck   has 
long  been  a  puzzle   to   the   compilers  of  dictionaries. 
There  is  no  trace   of  it  to  be  found  in  the  sense  of 
colour   in   any  of  the   Teutonic   languages.     Black   in 
German  is  schwarz,  in    Dutch,  Flemish,  and  Swedish, 
swart,  in  Danish  svaerte,  and  in  old  English  swarth  and 
swarthy. 

Worcester's  dictionary  derives  black  from  bleak.  Mr. 
Wedgwood,  who  is  one  of  the  latest  authorities,  says 
"the  original  meaning  of  black  seems  to  have  been 
exactly  the  reverse  of  the  present  sense,  viz.,  shining 
white!  It  is,  in  fact,"  he  adds,  "radically  identical 
with  the  French  blatic,  from  which  it  differs  only  in  the 
absence  of  the  nasal." 

Perhaps  it  may  be  possible,  ex  fumo  dare  liiccm,  to 
kindle  a  light  out  of  all  this  smoke.  May  not  the  real 
root  of  the  English  black  be  the  Gaelic  bla-aich,  or  the 
Flemish  blaken,  to  burn  ?  That  which  is  burned  is 
blackened.  A  black  man,  or  negro,  is  one  whose  skin 
has  been  tanned,  or  burned  by  the  sun ;  and  sun-burnt 
ih  this  case  means  blackened.     It  may  be  said  of  this 


N 


194  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

explanation,  whether  correct  or  not,  that  it  is  at  all 
events  entitled  to  as  much  consideration  as  those  from 
bleak  and  blanc,  and  that  it  is  far  more  probable  than 
either. 

Mailin\  a  farm-yard  and  farm-buildings ;  a  farm  for 
which  rent  is  paid — from  mail,  a  tax.  Gaelic  vial,  tax, 
tribute  : — 

A  vveel-stockit  niailin\  himself  o't  the  laird, 
And  marriage  off-hand,  were  his  proffers. 

— Burns  :  Last  May  a  Braw  Wooer. 

Quoth  she,  my  grandsire  left  me  gowd, 
A  mailin^  plenished  fairly. 

— Burns  :   The  Soldier  s  Return. 

Maks  Jia,  or  //  maks  na,  it  docs  not  signify,  it  does  not 
matter : — 

Away  his  wretched  spirit  flew. 
It  vtaks  na  where. 
— Allan  Ramsay  :  The  Last  Speech  of  a  Wretched  Miser. 

Tho'  daft  or  wise,  I'll  neer  demand. 
Or  black  or  fair,  it  maks  na  whether. 
— Allan  Ramsay  :  Gie  me  a  Lass  wV  a  Lump  o'  Land. 

Malison,  a  curse.     The  twin-word,  henison,  a  blessing, 

has  been  admitted  into  English  dictionaries,  but  inalisaii 

s  still  excluded;  although  it  was  a  correct  and  recognised 

English  word  in  the  time  of  Piers  Ploughman  and  Chaucer; 

Thus  they  serve  Sathanas, 

Marchands  of  malisons. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  1 95 


And  all  Hallowes,  have  ye,  Sir  Chanone, 
Said  this  priest,  and  I  her  malison. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Chanones  Yemannes  Tale. 

I've  won  my  mother's  malison, 

Coming  this  night  to  thee. 

— Border  Minstrelsy. 

That  is  a  cuckold's  malison, 
John  Anderson,  my  joe. 

—John  Andei'son,  old  version. 

Mansweir,  to  commit  perjury.  This  word  is  almost 
peculiar  to  Scotland,  though  Halliwell  has  mansivorn, 
perjured,  long  obsolete,  but  once  used  in  England.  The 
first  syllable  can  have  no  relation  to  man,  homo.  The 
Flemish  meitieed,  and  the  German  meineid,  signify  per- 
jury, and  one  who  perjures  himself  is  a  meineidiger.  The 
Scottish  word  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic  rtiionn^ 
an  oath,  and  suarach,  worthless,  valueless,  mean,  of  no 
account — whence  miomi  suarach,  corrupted  into  vian 
sweir,  signifying  a  valueless  or  false  oath.  Jamieson 
thinks  it  comes  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  man,  perverse, 
mischievous,  and  stverian,  to  swear — a  derivation  which, 
as  regards  the  syllable  man,  he  would  have  scarcely 
hazarded  if  he  had  been  aware  of  the  Gaelic  mionn, 
or  of  the  Teutonic  meineid. 

Mar^s  Nest.  This  originally  Scottish  phrase  is  no 
longer  peculiar  to  Scotland,  but  has  become  part  of  the 
copious  vocabulary  of  EngUsh  slang.  Hotten's  Slang 
Dictionary  defines  it  to  mean  "  a  supposed  discovery  of 
marvels,  which  turn  out  to  be  no  marvels  at  all."  The 
compiler  accounts  for  the  expression  by  an  anecdote  of 
"  three  cockneys,  who,  out  ruraUzing,  determined  to  find 


196  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

out  something  about  nests.  Ultimately,  when  they  came 
upon  a  dung-heap,  they  judged  by  the  signs  that  it  must 
be  a  mare's  nest,  especially  as  they  could  see  the  mare 
close  by."  This  ridiculous  story  has  hitherto  passed 
muster.  The  words  are  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic 
mearachd,  an  error,  and  nathaist  {t  silent),  a  fool,  whence 
a  fool's  error,  i.e.,  mare's  nest.  Some  Gaelic  scholars 
are  of  opinion  that  the  word  is  compounded  of  mearachd, 
an  error,  and  snasaichie,  or  snasta,  reduced  into  order  or 
system,  i.e.,  systematic  error. 

Mark  and  Burn.  To  say  of  a  thing  that  it  is  lost 
mark  and  burn  signifies  that  it  is  totally  lost,  beyond 
trace  and  recognition  ;  not  that  it  is  marked  or  burned 
in  the  sense  of  the  English  words,  but  in  the  sense  of  the 
Gaelic  tnarc,  a  horse — from  whence  march,  a  boundary 
traced  by  the  perambulations  at  stated  periods  of  men  on 
horseback — and  burn,  a  stream  of  running  water,  the 
natural,  and  often  the  common  boundary,  between  con- 
tiguous estates  and  territories.  Marche,  a  land  mark ; 
to  ride  the  marches,  or  boundaries.  March  balk,  the 
narrow  ridge  which  sometimes  serves  as  the  boundary 
between  lands  of  different  proprietors.  Marche  dyke,  a 
wall  separating  one  farm  or  estate  from  another : — 

When  one  loses  anything  and  finds  it  not  again,  he  is  said  never 
to  see  j/iark  nor  burn  of  it. — ^Jamieson, 

Marrow,  one  of  a  pair,  a  mate,  companion,  an  equal, 
a  sweetheart — from  the  Gaelic  mar,  like,  similar.  This 
word  is  beautifully  applied  to  a  lover  or  wedded  partner, 
as  one  whose  mind  is  the  exact  counterpart  of  that  of  the 
object    of  his   affection.     It    appears    in    early  English 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  1 97 

literature,  but  now  survives  only  in  the  poetry  and  daily 
speech  of  the  Scottish  people  : — 

One  glove  or  shoe  is  iiiarroio  to  another. ^Landsdowfte  MS., 
quoted  in  Halliwell's  Archaic  Dictionary. 

And  when  we  came  to  Clovenford, 

Then  said,  my  winsome  marrow, 
Whate'er  betide,  we'll  turn  aside, 

And  see  the  braes  o'  Yarrow. 

— Wordsworth  :    Yarrow  Unvisited. 

Thou  took  our  sister  to  be  thy  wife, 
But  ne'er  thought  her  thy  inarroiv. 

—  The  Dowie  Dens  0'  Yarrow. 

Mons  Meg  and  her  marrozu  three  volleys  let  flee, 
For  love  of  the  bonnets  of  bonnie  Dundee. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Meddle  with  your  marrow  (i.e.,  with  your  equal). 

— Scottish  Proverb, 

Your  e'en  are  no  marrows  (i.e.,  you  squint). 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Mai-f  or  Matrt,  cow-beef  salted  for  winter  provision. 
So  called,  says  Jamieson,  "  from  Martinmas,  the  term  at 
which  beeves  are  usually  killed  for  winter  store."  Per- 
haps the  future  editors  of  Jamieson  will  take  note  that 
mart,  mairt  in  Gaelic,  signifies  a  cow,  mart  bainne,  a 
milch  cow,  and  ?nart fheoil,  beef;  and  that  consequently 
the  word  has  no  relation  to  the  Martinmas  festival, 

MashlmHy  mixed  corn,  or  rye  and  oats  with  the  bran  : 

Twa  mashlum  bannocks  (cakes). 

— Burns :   Cry  and  Prayer. 


I9S  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Maughts,  power  : — 

They  had  nae  maughts  for  sic  a  toilsome  task, 
The  bare-faced  robbers  had  put  off  the  mask — 
Among  the  herds  that  played  a  inaugJity  part, 

— Ross  :  Helcnore. 

She  starts  to  foot,  but  has  nae  maughts  to  stand. 

— Ross  :  Helenore. 

The  word  is  from  the  Teutonic  macht,  power,  might, 
ability.  The  root  seems  to  be  the  Celtic  maith,  power- 
ful, able,  strong,  and  maithich  or  viathaich,  to  make  strong. 


Maukin,  a  hare — from  the  Gaelic  maigheach : — 

God  help  the  day  when  royal  heads 

Are  hunted  like  a  viaitkin. 

— Burns  :  Our  Thistles  flourished  Fresh  and  Fair. 


Matm,  must.  This  Scottish  verb,  like  its  English 
synonym,  has  no  inflections,  no  past  or  future  tense,  and 
no  infinitive.  The  peculiarity  of  the  Scottish  word  is 
that  it  sometimes  signifies  7nay,  and  sometimes  musl,  as 
in  the  line  of  D'Urfey's  clumsy  imitation  of  a  Scottish 
song,  "  ^Vithin  a  mile  of  Edinburgh  town  '' — 

I  canna,  viaunna,  winna  buckle  to  (I  cannot,  may  not  [or  iiiust 
not],  will  not,  be  married.) 

Perhaps  the  use  of  »iay  as  i/ii/sl,  and  vice  versa,  was 
introduced  into  the  Lowland  Scotch  by  the  Gaelic-speak- 
ing Highlanders.  Feud  in  Gaelic  signifies  7iiay  or  can, 
^wA  fhendar  domh,  I  must,  "obligation  or  necessity  is  to 
me,  or  upon  me,"  i.e.,  I  must. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  199 

Mavis,  the  singing  thrush.  This  word,  once  common 
in  Enghsh  poetry,  is  now  seldom  employed.  Spenser,  in 
the  following  passage  from  his  "  Epithalamium,"  seems 
to  have  considered  the  mavis  and  the  thrush  to  be  differ- 
ent birds  : — 

The  thrush  replies  ;  the  mavis  descant  plays. 

In  Scottish  poetry  the  word  is  of  constant  occurrence. 

In  vain  to  me  in  glen  or  shaw 

The  mavis  and  the  lintwhite  sing. 

— Burns. 

An  eccentric  divine  discoursing  on  a  class  of  persons 
who  were  obnoxious  to  him,  concluded  with  this  singular 
peroration,  "Ma  freens,  it  is  as  impossible  for  a  moderate 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  for  a  soo  (sow) 
to  sit  on  the  tap'  o'  a  thistle,  and  sing  like  a  mavis." — 
Rogers's  Illustratioiis  of  Scottish  Life. 

Mawmet,  an  idol.  This  word  is  usually  derived  from 
Mahomet,  but  as  Mahomet  was  not  an  idol,  but  asserted 
himself  to  be  the  prophet  of  the  true  God,  it  is  possible 
that  the  philologists  of  an  earlier  day  accepted  the 
plausible  etymology,  without  caring  to  enquire  further. 
It  is,  nevertheless,  worthy  of  consideration  whether  the 
word  does  not  come  from  the  Gaelic  maoim,  horror,  ter- 
ror, fright ;  and  maoijjteadh,  a  state  of  terror  or  awe,  such 
as  devotees  feel  before  an  idol. 

Mawsie,.7i  large,  dirty,  slovenly,  unshapely  woman;  a 
corruption  and  abbreviation  of  the  Gaelic  maosgatiacli,  a 
lump,  a  lumpish  person, 


200  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Mellder,  the  quantity  of  grain  sent  at  one  time  to  the 
miller  to  be  ground  : — 

Ae  market-day  thou  wast  na  sober, 
That  ilka  melldcr  wi'  the  miller, 
Thou  sat  as  lang  as  thou  hadst  siller, 
That  every  naig  was  ca'd  a  shoe  on 
The  smith  and  thee  gat  roaring  fou'  on. 

— Burns  :   Tarn  O'Shanter. 

Melvie,  to  soil  with  meal,  as  the  miller's  clothes  and 
hair  are  soiled,  from  the  flying  dust  of  the  mill. 
Erroneously  explained  in  the  glossaries  to  Burns  as  "to 
soil  with  /nudy     It  is  probably  a  corruption  of  mealy  : — 

Alealie  was  his  sark, 

Mealic  was  his  siller, 
Mealie  was  the  kiss, 

That  I  gat  frae  the  miller.  — Old  Song. 

To  melvie  his  braw  claithing. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

Mense,  mind,  good  manners,  dignity,  decorum  ;  niense- 
ful,  dignified;   »ie?isefully,  in  a  proper  and  respectable 
manner  : — 

Auld  Vandal,  ye  but  show  your  little  mcnse, 
Just  much  about  it  wi'  your  scanty  sense. 

— Burns:   The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

I  wat  she  was  a  sheep  of  sense, 
And  could  behave  herself  wi'  mense  ; 
I'll  say't,  she  never  brak  a  fence 

Thro'  thievish  greed. 
Our  Bardie  lanely  keeps  the  spence 

Since  Mailic's  dead. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Maine's  Elegy. 

To  mense  a  board,  is  to  do  the  honours  of  the  table. 

— Jamieson. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  20I 

Mense  is  generally  derived  by  etymologists  from  the 
Latin  metis,  the  mind.  The  word  is  sometimes  written 
mensk,  which  Jamieson  says  means  manly,  noble,  bold, 
and  traces  to  the  Icelandic  menska,  humanitas. 

Merle,  the  blackbird.  The  Scottish,  which  is  also  the 
French  name  for  this  delightful  songster,  is  far  more 
poetical  and  distinctive  than  the  prosaic  "  blackbird  "  of 
modern  English- — a  name  which  might  with  as  much 
propriety  be  applied  to  the  rook,  the  crow,  the  raven,  and 
the  jackdaw.  The  merle  is  as  much  noted  for  his  clear, 
beautiful  notes,  as  for  the  tribute  he  levies  upon  the  fruits 
of  the  summer  and  autumn — a  tribute  which  he  well  de- 
serves to  obtain,  and  amply  pays  for  by  his  music.  The 
name  of  met  le,  in  Gaelic  meirle,  signifies  theft ;  and  meir- 
leach,  a  thief  In  the  same  language  ineirneil,  the  English 
merlin,  signifies  a  hawk  or  other  predatory  bird.  As 
regards  the  merle,  it  must  be  confessed  that  he  is,  in 
the  matter  of  currants  and  strawberries,  deserving  of  his 
name.  The  depredations  of  the  merle  have  created 
several  proverbial  phrases  in  the  French  language,  such 
as — Oest  un  fin  merle,  applied  to  a  clever  and  unscrupu- 
lous man ;  un  beau  merle,  a  specious  false  pretender. 
The  French  call  the  hen-blackbird  a  merleite.  The  word 
merle  was  good  English  in  the  days  of  Chaucer,  and  con- 
siderably later : — 

Where  th'e  sweet  merle  and  warbling  mavis  be. 

— Drayton. 

Merry  Scotland.  The  epithet  "  merry  "  was  applied  to 
England  as  well  as  to  Scotland,  and  was  a  common  mode 
of  address  to  a  company  or  multitude  of  soldiers,  hunters, 
or  boon  companions  : — 


202  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

Old  King  Cole  was  a  merry  old  soul, 

And  a  merry  old  soul  was  he, 
And  he  called  for  his  pipe,  and  he  called  for  his  bowl, 

And  he  called  for  his  fiddlers  three. 

Of  all  the  girls  in  merry  Scotland, 
There's  none  to  compare  to  Marjorie. 

—Old  King  Cole. 

Few  words  have  puzzled  philologists  more  completely 
than  mirth  and  merry.  Johnson  suggested  no  etymology ; 
Skinner  derived  merry  from  the  German  mehren,  to  mag- 
nify; and  Junius  from  the  Greek  /jLvpi^riLv,  to  anoint,  because 
the  Greeks  anointed  themselves  with  oil  when  they  made 
merry  in  their  public  games  !  The  word  has  no  root  in 
any  of  the  Teutonic  languages,  German,  Dutch,  Flemish, 
Danish,  or  Swedish  ;  and  cannot  be  traced  to  French, 
Latin,  Italian,  and  Spanish.  The  Gaelic  yields  w/r, 
sport ;  mireach.,  festive,  sportive ;  mear,  cheerful,  joyous. 
It  thus  appears  on  the  evidence  of  etymology  that  the 
pleasant  epithet  for  these  islands  was  given  by  the  Celtic 
inhabitants,  and  not  by  the  Saxon  and  other  Teutonic 
invaders,  though  it  was  afterwards  adopted  by  them. 

Messan,  or  Messt/t,  a  cur,  a  lap-dog,  a  pet  dog — from 
the  Gaelic  measan,  a  little  dog  : — 

But  tho'  he  was  o'  high  degree, 
The  fient  o'  ])ride,  nae  pride  had  he, 
But  wad  hae  spent  an  hour  caressin'. 
E'en  wi'  a  tinker  gipsy's  messan. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

The  glossaries  to  Burns,  judging  from  the  context,  and 
the  gipsy,  imagine  messi/i  to  mean  a  mnngrel,  a  dog  of 
mixed  breeds.     Jamieson  says  it  is  a  small  dog,  a  country 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  203 


cur,  SO  called  from  Messina,  in  Sicily,  whence  this  species 
was  brought;  or  from  the  French  maison,  a  house,  because 
such  dogs  were  kept  in  the  house  !  The  word,  however, 
is  the  Gaelic  measan,  a  pet  dog,  a  lap-dog — from  meas^ 
fancy,  kindness,  regard  : — 

We  hounds  slew  the  hare,  quoth  the  bhnd  messan. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Midden,  or  Midden  Hole,  the  dunghill  or  dungpit,  a 
receptacle  for  the  refuse,  filth,  and  manure  of  a  farm, 
situated  in  the  centre  of  the  farmyard,  an  arrangement 
not  yet  wholly  superseded  : — 

Ye  glowered  at  the  moon,  and  fell  in  the  midden. 

—  Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  tother's  something  dour  o'  treadin', 
But  better  stuff  ne'er  claw'd  a  midden. 

—Burns  :  Elegy  on  the  Year  lySS. 

The  word  is  still  used  in  the  Northern  Counties  of  Eng- 
land, and  was  derived  by  Ray  from  mud.  The  true 
derivation  is  from  the  Gaelic  meadhon,  the  centre,  the 
middle,  or  midst  : — 

Therein  lay  three  and  thirty,  some 
Trundlin'  in  a  midden 

Of  draff. 

—Peblis  to  the  Play. 

Mini,  meek,  modest,  prudish,  prim,  reticent,  affected 
and  shy  of  speech ;  applied  only  to  young  women,  or 
contemptuously  to  effeminate  young  men.  This  word 
is  usually  but  erroneously  derived  from  the  English  mum, 
which  means  silent  or  speechless ;  whereas  mim  means 


204  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

mealy   mouthed,  only  speaking  when  spoken  to,  over- 
discreet  in  conversation,  assertion  or  reply  : — 

See  !  up  he's  got  the  Word  o'  God, 
And  meek  and  mini  he's  view'd  it. 

—  Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

Maidens  should  be  mini  till  they're  married. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Some  ;«2>«-mou'd,  pouthered  priestie, 
Fu'  lifted  up  wi'  Hebrew  lore, 
And  hands  upon  his  breastie. 

— Burns  :   To  Willie  Chalmers. 

Mini.,  as  distinguished  from  ;;///;//,  is  an  evident  render- 
ing of  the  Gaelic  min.,  soft,  delicate,  smooth,  mild,  meek; 
min  bheulach  is  from  niin  and  beul,  a  mouth,  the  same  as 
the  Scottish  mini-mouthed,  used  by  Burns;  min-bhriathar, 
a  soft  word  or  expression,  from  miii  and  briathai-,  a  word. 
Mim  is  provincial  and  colloquial  in  England  : — 

First  go  the  ladies,  mini,  mini,  mini^ 
Next  come  the  gentlemen,  prim,  prim,  prim  ; 
Then  comes  the  country,  clown, 
Gallop  a-trot,  trot,  trot. 

— Nursery  Rhymes  of  England. 

Minnie,  a  term  of  endearment  for  a  mother  : — 

My  daddie  looks  glum  and  my  minnic  looks  sour. 
They  flyte  me  wi'  Jamie  because  I  am  poor. 

— Logie  o'  Btichan. 

From  the  Flemish  min,  love,  and  the  Gaelic  min,  sweet, 
soft,  pleasant,  kind,  musical. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  2 05 

Mirk,  dark.  Of  uncertain  etymology,  but  probably 
derivable  from  the  Gaelic  murcach,  sad,  sorrowful, 
gloomy : — 

A  man's  mind  is  a  mirk  mirror. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Oh  mirk!  mirk!  is  the  midnight  hour, 
And  loud  the  tempest's  roar. 

— Burns :  Lord  Gregory. 

'Twixt  the  gloaming  and  the  mirk, 
When  the  kye  come  hame. 

— The  Ettrick  Shepherd. 

Missie,  a  fondling  term  for  a  very  young  girl.  The 
English  word  miss,  of  which,  at  first  sight,  niissie  would 
seem  to  be  an  affectionate  diminutive,  is  of  very  uncer- 
tain derivation.  It  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  the  first 
syllable  of  mistress,  the  French  maitresse  (the  feminine  of 
maitre).  Miss  and  Missie  are  peculiar  to  Scotch  and 
English,  and  are  unknown  in  any  of  the  Teutonic  and 
Romance  languages.  The  Teutonic  languages  use  the 
word  yungfrau,  and  fraillein  ;  the  French  use  demoiselle, 
or  mademoiselle ;  the  Italians  signorina  ;  and  the  Spanish 
senorita.  Perhaps,  and  most  probably,  the  graceful  miss 
and  missie  in  Scotch  and  English  are  from  the  Gaelic 
maise,  beauty,  grace,  comeliness,  or  maiseach,  pretty, 
beautiful,  elegant.  These  are  more  appropriate  as  the 
designation  of  a  young  unmarried  lady  than  mistress 
would  be,  implying,  as  that  word  does,  a  sense  of  com- 
mand and  mastery. 

Mister,  want,  need,  great  poverty;  misterful,  necessitous: 


2o6  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


Unken'd  and  mistcrfiil  in  the  deserts  of  Libya. 

— Gawin  Douglas  :   Translation  of  the  ^neid. 
MistcrftC  folk  should  nae  be  mensfu'. 
(Needy  people  should  not  be  too  particular). 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  original  phrase  of  misterfu^  beggars,  or  needy  beggars, 
was  afterwards  corrupted  into  masterful  beggars,  i.e., 
arrogant  or  sturdy  beggars,  as  they  are  called  in  an  edict 
of  James  VI.,  "  the  whole  class  of  viaisterfull  and  ydill 
beggaris,  sornaris  (sorners),  fulis  (fools),  and  bardis 
(wandering  minstrels  or  ballad-singers)."  It  is  difficult 
to  account  for  mister  and  misterful,  unless  they  be  derived 
from  the  Scottish  Gaelic  inisde,  the  Irish  Gaelic  iiiiste,  the 
comparative  of  ok,  bad  or  evil.  Misiear  and  tiiistire 
signify  a  sly,  cunning,  and  mean  person,  as  well  as  a 
needy  beggar.  The  corruption  to  masterful  in  the  sense 
of  arrogant  is  easily  accounted  for. 

Moolins,  refuse,  grains  of  corn,  husks,  or  chaff;  some- 
times crumbs  of  bread.  From  the  Gaelic  muillean,  a 
husk  or  particle  of  chaff  or  grain,  the  waste  of  the  meal 
at  the  miller's  : — 

The  pawky  wee  sparrow  will  peck  aff  your  floor, 

The  bauld  little  Robin  hops  in  at  your  door ; 

But  the  heaven-soaring  lark  'mang  the  cauld  drift  will  dee, 

Afore  he'll  come  cowerin'  your  inooliiis  to  pree. 

—James  Ballantine  :   Winter  Promptings. 

Moots.,  from  mould — earth,  the  grave : — 

And  Jeanie  died.     She  had  nut  lain  i'  the  )nools 

Three  days  ere  Donald  laid  aside  his  tools, 

And  closed  his  forge,  and  took  his  passage  home. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  ^07 


But  long  ere  forty  days  had  run  their  round, 
Donald  was  back  upon  Canadian  ground — 
Donald  the  tender  heart,  the  rough,  the  brave, 
With  earth  and  gowans  for  his  true  love's  grave. 

— All  the  Year  Round. 


Afoop,  to  feed ;  meil,  to  associate  with  ;  from  the  French 
meler,  to  mingle.  Haliiwell's  Archaic  Dictionary  contains 
monch — said  to  be  a  Lincolnshire  word — signifying  to  eat 
greedily. 

The  auld  West  Bow  sae  steep  and  crookit. 
Where  bawbee  pies  wee  callants  nioopit. 

— James  Ballantine. 

But  aye  keep  mind  to  iiioop  and  null 
Wi'  sheep  o'  credit  like  thysel. 

—Burns  :  Poor  Mailie. 

Guid  ale  bauds  me  bare  and  busy, 
Gars  me  inoop  wi'  the  servant  hizzie  ; 
Stand  i'  the  stool  when  I  hae  done  ; 
Guid  ale  keeps  my  heart  abune. 

— Burns  :  Good  Ale  Comes. 

Moop,  does  not  mean  to  keep  company  with,  (mell  does,  meddle 
with,  have  to  do  with),  moop  really  means  to  eat,  or  rather  to 
nibble,  and,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  an  old  English  word, — the  present 
form  of  the  word  is  mump. — R.  D. 


Morn.  The  Scotch  make  a  distinction  between  the 
morn.,  which  means  to-morrow,  and  morn  (without  the 
article),  which  means  morning; — thus,  "the  morn's 
morn "  is  to-morrow  morning.  The  English  word  to- 
morroiv  is  seldom  used. 


208  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Mother-fiaked,  stark-naked,  utterly  naked ;  as  naked  as 
the  new-born  babe  at  the  moment  of  birth.  This  word, 
though  a  compound  of  two  EngUsh  ones,  has  never  been 
admitted  into  English  Dictionaries,  and  does  not  even 
appear  in  Nares,  Halliwell,  or  Wright.  If  it  were  ever 
English,  there  remain  no  traces  of  it  either  in  literature 
or  in  the  common  speech  of  the  people.  It  still  remains 
current  in  the  Scottish  vernacular,  and  in  poetical  com- 
position : — 

They'll  shape  me  in  3'our  arms,  Janet, 

A  dove,  but  and  a  swan, 
At  last  they'll  shape  me  in  your  arms 

A  mother-naked  man. 
Cast  your  green  mantle  over  me, 

I'll  be  myself  again. 

— Ballad  of  the  Young  Tamlane. 

Readers  of  the  "Arabian  Nights'  Entertainments"  will 
remember  the  counterpart  of  the  story  of  Young  Tamlane, 
in  that  marvellous  compilation  of  Eastern  romance. 

Moiiier,  fee  paid  to  the  miller  for  grinding  corn ;  old 
Engli.sh  multure : — 

It's  good  to  be  merry  and  wise, 

Said  the  miller  when  he  moutcred  twice. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Moioes,  jesting,  mockery,  grimaces  ;  to  make  mowes,  to 
make  faces  : — 

Affront  your  friend  in  mowes  and  tine  him  in  earnest. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  "mowes,"  which  in  this 
sense  is  only  used  in  the  plural,  is  derived  from  mou',  a 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  209 

Scottish  abbreviation  of  mouth.  It  would  seem  so  at 
first  blush;  but  as  the  French  have  "faire  la  motie" 
"grimace  faite  par  mecontentement,  en  allongeant  les 
levres,"  and  as  moue  in  that  language  does  not  signify  a 
mouth,  it  is  probable  that  the  source  of  mowes  is  to  be 
sought  in  the  French  and  not  in  the  Teutonic.  Possibly 
both  the  Scottish  mowe  and  the  French  moue  have  a 
common  origin  in  the  Celtic  and  Gaelic  muig,  a  discon- 
tented look,  an  ill-natured  frown.  In  English  slang,  mug 
signifies  the  face;  and  " ugly  miig^^  is  a  common  expres- 
sion for  an  ugly  face. 

Mergh,  marrow — from  the  Flemish  merg : — 

And  the  mergh  o'  his  shin -bane, 

Has  run  down  on  his  spur  leather  whang. 

— Fray  of  Suport:  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Muckk,  Mickle,  Meikle,  great,  large,  big ;  mukle-mou' d., 
big -mouthed,  wide  -  mouthed,  clamorous,  vociferous; 
Muckle-mou^ d  Meg.,  a  name  given  to  a  cannon  of  large 
calibre.  This  word  is  akin  to  the  English  much.,  the 
Spanish  tnucho,  the  Greek  77iega,  and  the  Latin  magnus, 
derivations  all  implying  the  sense  of  greatness.  The 
Gaelic  has  ineud,  in  which  the  final  d  is  often  pronounced 
ch,  bulk,  great  size ;  and  meudaich,  to  magnify. 

Every  little  helps  to  mak  a  muckle, 

Scots  Proverb. 

Far  hae  I  travelled, 

And  muckle  hae  I  seen, 
But  buttons  upon  blankets 

Saw  I  never  nane. 

— Our  Gudeman  cam'  hatne  at  e'en. 


2IO  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Mtill,  a  tobacco-box  or  bag,  as  used  in  the  Highlands. 
The  Lowland  Scotch  sometimes  call  a  snuff-box  "a 
sneeshin  ?/«'//,"  mill  being  a  corruption  of  mull,  from  the 
Gaelic  mala^  a  bag,  the  French  malle^  a  trunk  or  box : — 

The  luntin'  pipe  and  sneeshin  mill 
Are  handed  round  wi'  right  guidwill, 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

Jamieson  says,  with  a  non-comprehension  of  the  origin 
of  the  word  jnill  and  its  connection  with  mull,  that  the 
snuff-box  was  formerly  used  in  the  country  as  a  mill  for 
grinding  the  dried  tobacco  leaves ;  if  so,  the  box  must 
have  contained  some  machinery  for  the  purpose.  But 
neither  Jamieson,  nor  any  body  else,  ever  saw  a  con- 
trivance of  that  kind  in  a  snuff-box. 

Muslin-kail,  an  odd  epithet  applied  by  Burns  to  a 
purely  vegetable  soup,  without  animal  ingredients  of  any 
kind,  and  compounded  of  shelled  barley,  greens,  onions, 
etc.  : — 

I'll  sit  down  o'er  my  scanty  meal, 
Be  't  water-brose  or  vnislin-kail, 

Wi'  cheerfu'  face, 
As  lang's  the  Muses  dinna  fail 

To  say  the  grace. 

— Epistle  to  James  Smith. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  word  muslin  was  applied 
to  it  on  account  of  its  thinness.  The  French  call  it 
soupe  maigrc ;  but  as  muslin  was  only  introduced  to 
Europe  from  Mosul  in  India  in  1670  and  vegetable 
broth  was  known  for  countless  ages  before  that  time  in 
every  part  of  the  world,  it  is  possible  that  muslin  is  an 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  211 

erroneous  phonetic  rendering  of  meslin,  or  mashlum.  Both 
meslin  and  mashlum  appear  in  Jamieson,  who  translates 
the  former  as  "mixed  corn/'  and  the  latter  as  "a  mix- 
ture of  edibles,"  but  gives  no  etymology  for  either. 
Mess  is  a  word  that,  with  slight  variations,  appears  in 
almost  every  language  of  Europe,  and  which,  in  its  Eng- 
lish form,  is  derived  by  most  philologists  from  tuensa,  a 
table.  But  that  this  is  an  error  will  appear  on  a  little 
examination,  for  7?iess  originally  signified,  in  nearly  every 
instance  in  which  it  was  used,  a  dish  of  vegetables.  The 
old  translation  of  the  Bible  speaks  of  a  mess  of  pottage, 
a  purely  vegetable  compound.     Milton  speaks  of 

Herbs  and  other  country  messes, 
Which  the  neat-handed  PhilUs  dresses. 

The  Dutch  and  Flemish  jnoes  signifies  a  dish  of  herbs, 
or  herbs  reduced  to  what  the  French  call  a  puree ;  the 
Americans  call  oatmeal  porridge,  or  any  compound  of 
mashed  grain,  a  mush.  The  Gaelic  t>ieas  signifies  fruit 
or  vegetables,  and  this,  combined  with  the  word  Ian, 
full,  is  doubtless  the  true  root  of  meslin  or  mash- 
lum, ludicrously  rendered  imislin  by  Burns's  printers. 
It  may  be  observed  that  mash,  to  render  into  a  pulp  or 
puree,  is  exclusively  used  for  vegetables,  as  mashed 
potatoes,  mashed  turnips,  etc.,  and  that  hash  or  mince  is 
the  word  employed  by  cooks  for  the  reduction  of  beef, 
mutton,  and  other  flesh  of  animals,  into  smaller  portions 
or  particles.     Muslin-kail  seems  to  be  peculiar  to  Burns. 

Mutch,  a  woman's  cap  or  bonnet — from  the  Flemish 
muts,  the  German  miltza,  which  have  the  same  meaning ; 


212  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Their  toys  and  mutches  were  sae  clean, 
They  <;lancit  in  our  ladies'  e'en. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 


Miitchkin^  a  pint.  From  the  Flemish  mudde^  a  hecto- 
litre^ a  large  quart ;  or  muid,  a  quart.  An  English 
traveller,  who  prided  himself  on  his  knowledge  of  the 
Scotch  language,  called  at  an  inn  in  Glasgow  for  a 
mutchkin  of  whisky — under  the  idea  that  inictchkin 
signified  a  gill — or  a  small  glass.  ^^ Mutchkin  V  inquired 
the  waiter,  "and  a'  to  yoursel'?"  "Yes,  mutchkin!'''  said 
the  Englishman.  "  I  trow  ye'll  be  geyan'  fou,"  said  the 
waiter,  "an'  ye  drink  it."  "Never  you  mind,"  said  the 
Englishman,  "bring  it."  And  it  was  brought.  Great 
thereanent  was  the  Englishman's  surprise.  He  drank  no 
more  than  a  gill  of  it ;  but  he  added  meanwhile  a  new 
Scottish  word  to  his  limited  vocabulary. 

Nae-thing.  The  English  language,  or  at  least  the 
rhymers  who  write  English,  have  lost  many  rhymes  by 
not  being  able  to  make  tiothing  do  duty  for  no-thing ; 
whence  they  might  have  claimed  it  as  a  rhyme  for  slow- 
thing,  low-thing,  and  many  others  too  obvious  to  be 
specified.  The  Scottish  language,  in  preserving  nae- 
thing,  has  emphasized  the  etymology  of  the  word.  It  is 
impossible  to  find  a  rhyme  for  the  English  nothing,  but 
for  the  Scottish  nae-thing  Burns  has  found  that  there  are 
many ;  among  others,  ae-thing,  claithing,  graithing,  gay- 
thing,  plaything,  &c. 

Nappy.  This  word  was  used  by  a  few  English  writers 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  but  was  never  so  common  in 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  213 

England  as  it  was  in  Scotland.  It  always  signified 
strong  drink,  particularly  ale  or  beer,  and  not  wine  or 
spirits : — 

Two  bottles  of  as  nappy  liquor 
As  ever  reamed  in  horn  or  bicker. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Care,  mad  to  see  a  man  sae  happy, 
E'en  drowned  himsel'  among  the  nappy. 

— Burns  :  Tain  o'  Shanter. 

With  nappy  beer,  I  to  the  barn  repaired. 

— Gay's  Fables. 

The  word  is  rendered  in  French  by  "capiteux,  qui 
monte  \  la  tete," — that  is  to  say,  heady.  It  seems 
derivable  from  the  English  slang  nob,  the  head,  as  in  the 
pugilistic  phrase,  "One  for  his  nob,^''  "One  (blow)  for  his 
head;"  whence  also  the  familiar  nopper,  the  head.  The 
original  word  was  the  Germanic  knob,  a  round  lump,  or 
ball,  in  allusion  to  the  shape ;  whence  knobby,  rounded 
or  lumpy.  Nappie,  in  the  sense  of  strong  drink  that 
mounts  to  the  head,  becomes  by  extension  of  meaning, 
strong  and  vigorous ;  "  a  nappie  callant "  is  a  strong, 
vigorous  youth,  with  a  good  head  on  his  shoulders. 

Nappy. — Bailey's  definition  of  this  word  in  his  English  Dictionary 
is  "Nappy-ale,  such  as  will  cause  persons  to  take  or  nap  pleasanr. 
and  strong  ale." — R.  D. 


Neb,  the  nose.  Flemish  sneb  (with  the  usual  elision  of 
the  s),  the  nose,  the  beak  ;  a  point,  as  the  neb  or  nib  of 
a  pen : — 


214  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


She  holds  up  the  neb  to  him, 
And  arms  her  with  the  boldness  of  a  wife. 

— Shakespeare  :   Winter's  Tale. 

Turn  your  neb  northwards,  and  settle  for  awhile  at  St.  Andrews. 

— Scott  :  Fortunes  of  Nigel. 


Neuk,  a  corner ;  English  a  nook,  a  small  corner.  Both 
words  are  derived  from  the  Gaelic  uig,  a  corner,  which, 
with  the  indefinite  article  an  before  it,  was  corrupted 
from  an  ook,  or  uig,  into  a  neuk,  or  a  nook.  The 
Flemish  Jiig  and  hoek,  and  the  German  eck,  a  corner, 
seem  traceable  to  the  same  Celtic  root. 

The  deil  sits  girnin'  in  the  neuk, 
Rivin'  sticks  to  roast  the  Deuk. 

— -Jacobite  Ballad  0)1  the  Victory  of  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland  at  Culloden. 

Nevermas,  the  time  that  never  comes.  This  word, 
equivalent  to  the  "  Greek  kalends,"  is  formed  after  the 
model  of  Martinmas,  Michaelmas,  and  Christmas.  It 
does  not  occur  in  Jamieson.  It  is  found  in  Armstrong's 
Gaelic  Dictionary  as  the  translation  of  La  buain  na  lin, 
the  "  day  of  the  cutting  of  the  flax,"  which  has  in  the 
Highlands  the  meaning  of  "  never,"  or  "  at  no  time,"  or 
"at  a  very  uncertain  time." 

Nicher,  to  neigh,  to  snort ;  French  ne7inir,  sometimes 
written  hennir,  Flemish  netmiker  or  niimiker : — 


) 


Little  may  an  auld  nag  do  that  mauna  nicker. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs, 


OF  THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  215 

Nick,  Auld  Nick,  Nickie-Ben.  All  these  names  are 
used  in  Scotland  to  signify  the  devil;  the  third  is  peculiar 
to  Scotland,   and  finds  no  place  in  English  parlance. 

But  fare-you-weel,  auld  Nickie-Ben  ! 
Oh,  wad  ye  tak  a  thought  an'  men', 
Ye  aiblins  might,  I  dinna  ken, 

Still  hae  a  stake  ! 
I'm  wae  to  think  upon  yon  den, 

Even  for  your  sake  ! 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

Why  Nick  came  to  signify  Satan  in  the  British  Isles  has 
never  been  satisfactorily  explained.  Butler  in  JIudibras 
supposes  that  he  was  so  called  after  Nicholas  Macchiavelli. 

Nick  Macchiavel  had  no  such  trick, 
Though  he  gave  name  to  our  Old  Nick. 

But  the  name  was  in  use  many  ages  before  Macchiavelli 
was  born;  and  the  passage  must,  therefore,  be  considered 
as  a  joke,  rather  than  as  a  philological  assertion.  It  is 
remarkable,  too,  that  Nick  and  Old  Nick,  whatever  be 
the  derivation,  is  a  phrase  unknown  to  any  nation  of 
Europe  except  our  own.  The  derivation  from  Nicholas 
is  clearly  untenable ;  that  from  Nikkr,  a  water-sprite  or 
goblin,  in  the  Scandinavian  mythology,  is  equally  so — 
for  the  Old  Nick  of  British  superstition  is  reputed  to 
have  more  to  do  with  fire  than  water,  and  has  no  attri- 
butes in  common  wdth  Satan — prince  of  the  powers  of 
evil.  To  derive  the  word  from  niger,  or  nigger,  black, 
because  the  devil  is  reputed  to  be  black,  is  a  ludicrous 
instance  of  perverted  ingenuity.  All  the  epithets  showered 
upon  him  by  Burns, 


2l6  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Oh  thou,  whatever  title  suit  thee, 
Auld  Satan,  Hornie,  Nick,  or  Clootie, 

are,  with  the  exception  of  Satan,  titles  of  irreverence, 
familiarity,  and  jocosity — Hornie,  from  the  horns  he  is 
supposed  to  wear  on  his  forehead,  and  Clootie,  from  his 
cloven  hoofs,  like  those  of  a  goat.       It  is  probable  that 
Nick  and   Old  Nick  are  words  of  a  similarly  derisive 
character ;  and  that  nick,  which  appears  in  the  glossaries 
to  Allan  Ramsay  and  to  Burns,  as  cheat  or  to  cheat,  is  the 
true  origin,  and  that  Old  Nick  simply  signifies  the  Old 
Cheat.     It  may  be  mentioned,  in  connection  with  the 
idea  of  cheat  or    nick,  that   old  gentleman   is   a   name 
often  given  to  Satan  by  people  who  object  to  the  word 
devil,  and  that  the  same  name  is  descriptive,  according 
to  the  Slang  Dictionary,  of  a  card  almost  imperceptibly 
longer  than  the  other  cards  of  the  pack,  used  by  card- 
sharpers  for  the  purpose  of  cheating.     To  be  out  on  the 
nick  is,  on  the  same  authority,  to  be  out  thieving.     The 
etymology  of  7iick  in  this  sense  is  doubtful.     Dr.  Adolphus 
Wagner,  the  learned  editor  of  the  German  edition  of 
Burns,  derives  it  from  the  Greek  N«to,  and  translates  it 
"to  bite  or  to  cheat."     In  Mr.  Thomas  Wright's  Dic- 
tionary of  Obsolete  and  Provincial  English,  nick  is  "  to 
deceive,  to  cheat,  to  deny;  also,  to  win  at  dice  unfairly." 


Nidder,  Nither,  to  lower,  to  depress ;  niddered,  pinched 
with  cold  or  hunger,  with  the  vital  energies  depressed ; 
also,  stunted  or  lowered  in  growth.  From  the  German 
nieder,  low,  or  down ;  the  Flemish  neder,  English  nether, 
as  in  the  biblical  phrase,  "  the  upper  and  the  nether  mill- 
stone." 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  217 


Nithered  by  the  norlan'  breeze, 

The  sweet  wee  flower  aft  dwines  and  dees. 

— ^James  Ballantine. 

Neive,  the  fist,  the  closed  hand ;  7ievel^  to  strike  with 
the  fist,  a  blow  with  the  fist.  From  the  Teutonic  knuffen, 
to  beat  with  the  fist,  to  cufi",  to  fisticuff : — 

Though  here  they  scrape,  and  squeeze,  and  growl. 
Their  worthless  nieve-fti'  o'  a  soul 
May  in  some  future  carcase  howl 
The  forest's  fright. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  John  Lapraik. 

Sir  Alexander  Ramsay  of  Fasque,  showing  a  fine  stot  to  a  butcher, 

said,    "I  was  offered  twenty  guineas  for  that  beast."     "Indeed, 

Fasque  !"  said  the  butcher,  "ye  should  hae  steekit  your  iiieve  upon 

that." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

They  partit  manly  with  a  nevel; 
God  wat  gif  hair  was  ruggit 
Betwixt  thame. 

Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Green. 

He  hasna  as  muckle  sense  as  a  cow  could  haud  in  her  7teive. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Mark  the  rustic,  haggis-fed, 

The  trembling  earth  resounds  his  tread, 

Clap  in  his  walie  neive  a  blade. 

He'll  mak'  it  whissle  ; 
And  legs  and  arms  and  heads  will  sned 

Like  taps  o'  thrissle. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Haggis. 

Niffer,  to  barter,  to  exchange.     Probably,  according 
to  Jamieson,  from  ?tieve,  the  fist  or  closed  hand — to  ex- 


2l8  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

change  an  article  that  is  in  one  hand  for  that  which  is  in 
the  other.  This  etymology  is  doubtful,  although  no 
better  has  been  suggested  : — 

Ye'll  no  be  niffered  but  for  a  waur,  and  that's  no  possible. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Ye  see  your  state  wi'  theirs  compared, 

And  shudder  at  the  niffer  ; 
But,  cast  a  moment's  fair  regard, 

What  maks  the  mighty  differ  ? 

— Burns  :  To  the  Unco  Guid, 

Nippit,  miserly,  mean,  parsimonious,  near — from  nip^ 
to  pinch.  The  EngUsh  pinch  is  often  applied  in  the 
same  sense. 

Noyt^  Noit,  or  Nowt,  to  injure,  to  hurt,  to  beat,  to 
strike — from  the  French  7iuise,  to  injure  : — 

The  miller  was  of  manly  mak, 

To  meet  him  was  na  mowis, 
They  durst  not  ten  come  him  to  tak, 

Sae  noytit  he  their  powis. 

— Chrisfs  Kirk  on  the  Green, 

Nugget,  a  word  scarcely  known  to  the  English  language 
until  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California  and  Australia,  when 
it  was  introduced  by  the  miners  to  signify  a  large  piece 
of  the  metal  as  distinguished  from  grains  of  gold  dust. 
Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  trace  its  etymology, 
only  one  of  which  has  found  a  quaUfied  acceptance — that 
which  affirms  it  to  be  a  corruption  of  ingot.  This  is  plau- 
sible, but  not  entirely  satisfactory.  In  some  parts  of 
Scotland,  the  word  for  a  limcheon,  or  a  hasty  repast  taken 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  219 

at  noon,  is  noggit — sometimes  written  knockit — which 
means  a  piece.  In  other  parts  of  Scotland  the  word  used 
is  piece,  as,  "  Gie  the  bairn  its  piece,"  and  the  word 
lunch  itself,  from  the  Gaelic  lonach,  hungry,  signifies  the 
piece  which  is  cut  off  a  loaf  or  a  cheese  to  satisfy  the 
appetite  during  the  interval  that  elapses  before  the  regular 
meal. 

When  hungry  thou  stoodest,  staring  like  an  oaf, 
I  sliced  the  luncheon  from  the  barley  loaf. 

— Gay. 

All  these  examples  tend  to  show  that  ?tugget  simply  means 
a  lump  or  piece.  In  Kent,  according  to  Mr.  Wright  in 
his  Archaic  Dictionary,  a  lump  of  food  is  called  a 
nuncheon. 

Nyse,  to  beat,  to  pommel,  a  word  in  use  among  the 
boys  of  the  High  School  of  Edinburgh — from  the  Gaelic 
naitheas  {t  silent),  a  mischief.  "  I'll  nyse  you,"  I'll  do 
you  a  mischief 

Nowte,  horned  cattle ;  corrupted  in  English  into 
"  neat "  :— 

Mischief  begins  wi'  needles  and  prins, 
And  ends  wi'  horned  nowte. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Or  by  Madrid  he  takes  the  route, 
To  thrum  guitars  and  fecht  wi'  tiowte. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Doffs, 


"f' 


Lord  Seafield,  who  was  accused  by  his  brother  of 
accepting  a  bribe  to  vote  for  the  union  betwixt  England 
and  Scotland,  endeavoured  to  retort  upon  him  by  calling 


220  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

him  a  cattle-dealer.      "Ay,  weel,"  replied  his  brother, 
"better  sell  iiowte  than  nations." 


Ock.  A  diminutive  particle  appended  to  Scottish 
words,  and  implying  littleness  combined  with  the  idea  ot 
tenderness  and  affection,  as  in  lass,  lassock,  wife,  ivifock. 
This  termination  is  sometimes  combined  with  ie,  and 
making  a  double  diminutive,  as  lassockie,  often  spelled 
lassiekie,  and  wifockie,  wifickie.  Ock  appears  to  be  de- 
rived from  the  Gaelic  og,  young. 

Olyte^  diligent,  industrious,  active.  According  to  Mr. 
Halliwell,  this  word  appears  in  the  Harleian  MS.,  and  is 
still  used  in  some  parts  of  England.  Jamieson  spells  it 
olight  and  olite,  and  derives  it  from  the  Swedish  offlaet, 
"  too  light,  fleet,"  but  no  such  word  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Swedish  dictionaries,  nor  in  those  of  the  other  Teutonic 
languages.  Possibly  the  true  origin  of  the  word  is  the 
Gaelic  oi7,  to  rear,  educate,  instruct,  and  oi'/fe,  instructed, 
oiVean,  instruction,  good-breeding;  whence  an  o/yfe  mother, 
in  the  proverb  quoted  below,  may  signify  a  woman  in- 
structed in  the  due  performance  of  all  her  household 
duties,  and  performing  them  so  zealously  as  to  leave 
nothing  for  her  daughter  to  do.  Oileanta,  more  com- 
monly written  ealafita,  signifies  quick,  nimble,  active : — 

An  olyte  mother  makes  a  sweer  daughter. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Oo  aye.  An  emphatic  assertion  of  assent  The  French 
oui. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  221 

Orra,  all  sorts  of,  odds  and  ends,  occasional : — 

Where  Donald  Caird  fand  orra  things. 

—Scott. 

She's  a  weel-educate  woman,  and  if  she  win  to  her  English  as  I 
hae  heard  her  do  at  orra  times,  she  may  come  to  fickle  us  a'. 

— Scott :  The  Antiquary. 

Orra, — now  and  then,  unusual,  not  frequently  met  with,  almost 
always  associated  with  time. — R.  D. 

Orra  man.  A  man  employed  to  do  odd  jobs  on  a 
farm,  that  are  not  in  the  regular  routine  of  the  work  of 
the  other  farm  servants. 

Ourie  or  Oorie.,  cold,  shivering.  This  word,  peculiar 
to  Scotland,  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  fuar,  cold,  which, 
with  the  aspirate,  hzcoxao.^  fhuar,  and  is  pronounced  war. 

I  thought  me  on  the  ourie  cattle. 

— Burns  :  A  Winter  Night. 

The  English  hoar-frost.,  and  the  hoary,  (white,  snowy), 
hair  of  old  age  are  traceable  to  the  same  etymological 
root.  Jamieson,  however,  derives  oorte  from  the  Icelandic 
ur,  rain,  and  the  Swedish  ur,  stormy  weather. 

Out-cast.,  a  quarrel,  to  cast-out,  to  quarrel : — 

O  dool  to  tell, 

They've  had  a  bitter  black  cast-out 

Atween  themsel. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Herds. 

I  didna  ken  they  had  casten-out. 

— Dean  Ramsay. 


22  2  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Ouilers,  cattle  left  out  at  night  in  the  fields,  for  want  of 
byres  or  folds  to  shelter  them  : — 

Amang  the  brackens  on  the  brae, 

Between  her  an'  the  moon, 
The  Deil  or  else  an  outler  qtiey 

Gat  up  and  gae  a  croon. 
Poor  Lizzie's  heart  maist  lap  the  hool — 

Near  lav'rock  height  she  jumpit. 
But  miss'd  a  foot,  and  in  the  pool 

Out  owre  the  lugs  she  plumpit. 

— Burns  :  Hallowe'en. 


Outside  of  the  Loof,  the  back  of  the  hand.  "  The 
outside  of  my  loof  to  ye  "  is  a  phrase  that  signifies  a  wish 
on  the  part  of  the  person  who  uses  it,  to  reject  the  friend- 
ship or  drop  the  acquaintance  of  the  person  to  whom  it 
is  addressed.  "  If  ye'U  no  join  the  Free  Kirk,"  said  a 
wealthy  widow  to  her  cousin  (to  whom  she  had  often 
conveyed  the  hint  that  he  might  expect  a  handsome 
legacy  at  her  death),  "  ye'U  hae  the  outside  o'  my  loof, 
and  never  see  the  inside  o't  again." 


Outspeckle,  a  laughing  stock;  and  kenspeckle,  to  be 
easily  recognised  by  ^some  outer  mark  of  singularity. 
These  words  have  a  common  origin,  and  are  derived 
either  from  speck,  or  speckle,  a  small  mark  or  spot ;  or 
from  spectacle,  corrupted  into  speckle ;  but  most  probably 
from  the  former : — 

"^\^la  drives  thir  kye,"  gan  Willie  to  say, 
"  To  mak'  an  outspeckle  o'  me  ! " 

— ^Jamie  Telfer  :  Border  Ballads. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE,  223 


Oidwittens,  unknowingly,  without  the  knowledge  of : — 

Outwittens  of  my  daddie,  [i.e.,  my  father  not  knowing  it.] 

— ^Jamieson. 


Ower  Bogie,  a  proverbial  phrase  used  in  regard  to  a 
marriage  which  has  been  celebrated  by  a  magistrate,  and 
not  by  a  clergyman.  The  origin  is  unknown,  though  it 
is  supposed  that  some  accommodating  magistrate,  at 
some  time  or  other,  resided  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river  Bogie  from  the  town  or  village  inhabited  by  the 
lovers  who  desired  to  be  joined  in  the  bonds  of  tnatri- 
mony  without  subjecting  themselves  to  the  sometimes 
inconvenient  interrogations  of  the  Kirk.  Jamieson 
erroneously  quotes  the  phrase  as  owre  boggie : — 

I  will  awa'  wi'  my  love, 

I  will  awa'  wi'  her. 
Though  a'  my  kin'  had  sorrow  and  said 

I'll  oiver  Bogie  wi'  her. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :    Tea  Table  Miscellany. 

Ower-word,  a  chorus.  A  phrase  often  repeated  in  a 
song.  The  French  bourdon.,  the  English  "  burthen  "  of  a 
song  : — 

And  aye  the  o'wer-word  of  his  song 
Was,  waes  me  for  Prince  Charlie. 

— Glen  :  A  Jacobite  Song. 

The  starling  flew  to  the  window  stane, 

It  whistled  and  it  sang, 
And  aye  the  ower-word  o'  the  tune 

Was,  Johnnie  tarries  lang. 

—Johnnie  of  Breadislee. 


2  24  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Oxter,  the  armpit,  the  space  between  the  shoulder  and 
the  bosom ;  sometimes  it  is  used  incorrectly  for  the  lap ; 
to  embrace,  to  encircle  with  the  arms  in  fondness.  From 
the  Gaelic  uchd,  the  breast  or  bosom ;  whence  also  the 
Latin  uxor,  a  wife, — i.e.,  the  wife  of  one's  bosom;  uchd 
mhac,  an  adopted  son,  the  son  of  one's  bosom.  Jamieson 
derives  oxter  from  the  Teutonic  oxtel,  but  no  such  word 
is  to  be  found  in  the  German  language.  The  Flemish 
and  Dutch  have  oksel,  a  gusset,  which  Johnson  defines 
as  "  an  angular  piece  of  cloth,  inserted  in  a  garment,  par- 
ticularly at  the  upper  end  of  the  sleeve  of  a  shirt,  or  as  a 
part  of  the  neck."  This  word  has  a  clear  but  remote 
connection  with  the  Gaelic  lichd. 


He  did  like  ony  mavis  sing, 

And  as  I  in  his  oxfcr  sat 
He  ca'd  me  aye  his  hosoine  thing. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Tea  Table  Miscellany. 

Here  the  phrase  "  sitting  in  his  oxter "  is  equivalent  to 
sitting  folded  in  his  arms,  or  clasped  to  his  bosom. 


Pack,  familiar,  intimate,  closely  allied  : — 

Nae  doubt  but  they  were  fain  o'  ither, 

And  unco  pack  and  thick  thegither, 

Wi'  social  nose  whiles  snuffd  and  howkit. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Pack  is  not  only  used  as  an  adjective,  but  is  common  as  a 
noun  in  colloquial  English,  as  in  the  phrase,  a  pack  of 
rascals,  i.e.,  a  pack  of  thieves,  and  in  this  sense  it  is  de- 
rivable from  the  Gaelic /^^  ox  pacca^  a  troop,  a  mob. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  2  2$ 

Pad,  to  travel,  to  ride.  Often  in  Scotland  when  a  lady 
is  seen  on  horseback  in  the  rural  districts,  the  children  ot 
the  villages  follow  her,  crying  out  lady  pad  !  lady  pad  ! 
Jamieson  says  that,  on  pad,  is  to  travel  on  foot,  that/^^, 
the  hoof,  is  a  cant  phrase,  signifying  to  walk,  and  that 
the  ground  is  paddit,  when  it  has  been  hardened  by  fre- 
quent passing  and  repassing.  He  derives  the  word  from 
the  Latin  pes,  pedis,  the  foot.  It  seems,  however,  to  be 
a  corruption  oipath  ;  pad,  to  go  on  the  path,  whether  on 
foot  or  on  horseback  j  from  the  German  pfad,  the  Flemish 
pad,  and  voet-pad,  the  foot-path.  The  English  Diction- 
aries erroneously  explain  pad  in  the  v^oxA  foot-pad,  a  high- 
way thief,  as  signifying  a  thief.  But  pad  by  itself,  is  never 
used  in  the  sense  of  steal.  Grose's  Classical  Dictionary 
of  the  Vulgar  I'ongue  has  pad-borrowers,  horse-stealers,  as 
if  pad  signified  a  horse.  The  phrase  really  means  path- 
borrowers,  i.e.,  borrowers  on  the  path,  or  journey. 

Padda,  Paddock,  a  frog;  paddock-stool,  a  toad-stool, 
also,  any  fungus  or  mushroom.  Flemish  pad  and  padde, 
a  frog : — 

Says  the  mother,  what  noise  is  that  at  the  door,  daughter  !    Hoot, 

says  the  lassie,  its  naething  but  a  filthy  padda.     Open  the  door  says 

the  mother,  to  the  puir  padda.     Sae  the  lassie  opened  the  door,  and 

the  padda  cam  loup,  loup,  loupin  in,  and  sat  doun  by  the  ingle  side. 

— Scottish  Songs  collected  by  Robert  Chambers,  1829. 

Gowks  and  fools, 
Frae  college  and  boarding  schools, 
May  sprout  like  summer  paddocl:-stools, 

In  glen  or  shaw. 

— Burns  :   Verses  written  at  Selkirk. 

Old  Lady  Perth,  offended  with  a  French  gentleman  for  some  dis- 
paraging remark  which  he  had  made  on  Scottish  cookery,  answered 


2  26  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


him  curtly ;  weel  !  weel !  some  folk  like  parritch,  and  some  like 

■haddocks. 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Paidle.  This  eminently  Scottish  word  has  no  synonyme 
in  the  EngHsh  language,  nor  in  a  country  where  everybody, 
even  the  poorest,  wears  shoes  or  boots,  and  where,  to  go 
bare-footed,  would  imply  the  lowest  social  degradation. 
But  in  Scotland,  a  land  of  streams,  rivulets,  and  burns, 
that  wimple  down  the  hills  and  cross  the  paths  and 
roads ;  to  go  barefooted  is  a  pleasure  and  luxury,  and  a 
convenience,  especially  to  the  children  of  both  sexes,  and 
even  to  young  men  and  women,  verging  upon  manhood 
and  womanhood.  An  Englishman  ra^cy  paddle  his  boat 
and  his  canoe,  but  a  Scotsman  paidles  in  the  mountain 
stream.  How  the  young  children  of  England  love  to  paidle, 
may  occasionally  be  seen  at  the  sea-side  resorts  of  the 
southern  counties  in  the  summer  season,  but  the  Scottish 
child  paidles  all  the  year,  and  needs  no  holiday  for  the 
purpose.     The  word  is  probably  derived  from  pad,  q.  v.  : 

We  twa  hae  paidled  in  the  burn, 

Frae  morning  sun  till  dine, 

But  seas  between  us  braid  hae  roared, 

Sin'  the  days  of  auld  lang  syne. 

— Burns. 

The  remembrance  oipaidlin^  when  stirred  by  the  singing 
of  this  immortal  song  by  Scotsmen  in  America,  in  India, 
in  Africa,  or  at  the  Antipodes,  melts  every  Scottish  heart 
to  tenderness,  or  inspires  it  to  patriotism,  as  every  Scots- 
man who  has  travelled  much  very  surely  knows. 

Paik,  a  beating,  to  beat,  to  thrash,  to  fight,  to  drub,  to 
strike.  Jamieson  derives  this  word  from  the  German 
pauken,  to  beat ;   but   there  is    no  such   word  in   that 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE,  227 

language.  Pauke  in  German,  pauk  in  Flemish,  signifies 
a  kettle-drum ;  and  pauken,  to  beat  the  kettle-drum,  but 
not  to  beat  in  any  other  sense.  The  word  is  probably 
from  the  Gaelic  paigh,  to  pay ;  and  also,  by  an  extension 
of  meaning,  to  pay  one's  deserts  by  a  beating,  as  in  the 
proverb  in  Allan  Ramsay — "He's  sairest  dung  that  is 
paid  with  his  own  wand," — i.e.,  he  is  sorest  hit  who  is 
beaten  with  his  own  cudgel. 

Faikie,  a  trull,  a  prostitute,  a.fille  dejote,  a  euphemism; 
from  the  GditYic  peacadh  {peaca),  a  sinner.     Faik,  a  sin. 

In  adulterie  he  was  ta'en — 
Made  to  be  punisht  for  his  paik, 

— ^Jamieson. 

Pang,  to  fill  full,  to  cram ;  pang-fu^  as  full  as  one  can 
hold.  Etymology  unknown ;  but  possibly  related  to  the 
French  pajise,  belly;  pansu,  large  -  beUied ;  English 
paunchy : — 

Leeze  me  on  drink  ;  it  gies  us  mair 

Than  either  school  or  college, 
It  kindles  wit,  it  waukens  lair, 

It  pangs  us  fu'  o'  knowledge. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

Parle,  a  discourse ;  from  the  French  parler,  to  speak, 
or  the  GaeUc  beurla,  language,  and  more  particularly  the 
English  language  : — 

A  tocher's  nae  word  in  a  true  lover's  park, 
But  gie  me  my  love,  and  a  fig  for  the  warl. 

— Burns  :  Meg  0'  the  Mill. 


228  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Parritch,  or  Porridge.  A  formerly  favourite,  if  not 
essential,  tood  of  the  Scottish  people  of  all  classes,  com- 
posed of  oatmeal  boiled  to  a  thick  consistency,  and 
seasoned  with  salt.  This  healthful  food  is  generally 
taken  with  milk,  but  is  equally  palatable  with  butter, 
sugar,  beer,  or  wine.  It  is  sometimes  retained  in  middle 
and  upper  class  families  ;  but  among  the  very  poor  has  un- 
fortunately been  displaced  by  the  cheaper  and  less 
nutritious  potato  : — 

The  \i&\\soraQ  parritch,  chief  o'  Scotia's  food. 

— Burns :  Cottar'' s  Saturday  Night. 

Parian,  a  crab,  from  the  Gaelic ;  partanach,  abound- 
ing in  crabs;  partan-haiidit,  epithet  applied  to  one  who 
is  hard-fisted  and  penurious,  who  grips  his  money  like  a 
crab  grips  with  its  claw. 

Pash,  the  head,  the  brow,  the  forehead.  Allan 
Ramsay,  barber  and  wig-maker,  sang  of  his  trade  : — 

I  theek  [thatch]  the  out,  and  line  the  inside, 
Of  mony  a  douce  and  witty  fash, 
And  baithways  gather  in  the  cash. 

A  bare  pash  signifies  a  bald  head,  and  rm.6.-pash  is 
equivalent  to  the  F^nglish  mad-cap.  Latham's  Todd's 
Johnson  has  pash,  to  push  or  butt  hke  a  ram  or  bull  with 
the  head.  Pash  was  current  English  in  the  time  of 
Shakspeare,  who  uses  it  in  the  JVtnier's  Tale,  in  a 
passage  which  no  commentator  has  been  able  to  explain. 
Leontes,  suspicious  of  the  fidelity  of  his  wife  Hermione, 
asks  his  child  Mamillius — 

♦  Art  thou  my  calf? 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  229 

to  which  Mamillius  replies — 

Yes  !  if  you  will,  my  Lord  ! 

Leontes,  still  brooding  on  his  imaginary  wrong,  rejoins 
moodily — 

Thou  wants  a  rough  pash  and  the  shoots  that  I  have,  to  be  full 
like  me. 

It  is  amusing  to  note  into  what  errors  the  English 
editors  of  Shakspeare  have  fallen,  in  their  ignorance  of 
this  word.  Nares  thought  that  pash  was  something 
belonging  to  a  bull — he  did  not  know  what — or  a  calf, 
and  Steevens  thought  that  it  was  the  Spanish  paz^  a  kiss. 
Mr.  Howard  Staunton,  the  latest  editor  of  Shakspeare, 
had  a  glimpse  of  the  meaning,  and  thought  that  pash 
meant  a  ^'■tufted  head."  Jamieson  acknowledged  the 
word,  but  attempted  no  etymology.  Pash  is  clearly 
derivable  from  the  Gaelic  bathais  {bash  or  pash),  and 
signifies  the  forehead.  The  allusion  of  the  unhappy 
Leontes  to  the  shoots  on  his  rough  pash  (wrinkled  brow) 
is  to  the  horns  that  vulgar  phraseology  places  on  the 
foreheads  of  deceived  and  betrayed  husbands.  Read  by 
this  gloss,  the  much-misunderstood  passage  in  the  Winter's 
Tale  becomes  abundantly  clear. 

Faughty,  proud,  haughty,  repulsive,  but  without  having 
the  qualities  of  mind  or  person  to  justify  the  assumption 
of  superiority  over  others.  Probably  derived  from  the 
Flemish  pochen,  to  vaunt,  to  brag,  and  pocher,  a  bragga- 
docio, a  fanfaron  :— 

An  askin',  an  askin',  my  father  dear, 

An  askin'  I  beg  of  thee  ; 
Ask  not  that  paughty  Scottish  lord, 

For  him  ye  ne'er  shall  see. 

— Ballad  of  the  Gay-Goss  Hawk, 


230  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Your  paughty  dog 
That  bears  the  keys  of  Peter, 

— Burns  :  A  Dream, 

Pajom'e,  Tatas.  All  Scottish  school-boys,  past  and 
present,  have  painful  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  these 
two  words.  Paiunie  is  a  stroke  over  the  open  hand,  with 
a  cane  or  the  taws :  or  a  thong  of  leather  cut  into  a  fringe 
at  the  end,  and  hardened  in  the  fire.  It  is,  and  was  the 
recognised  mode  of  punishment  for  slight  offences  or 
breaches  of  discipline  at  school,  when  the  master  was 
unwilling  to  resort  to  the  severer  and  more  degrading 
punishment,  inflicted  a  posteriori^  after  the  fashion  of  the 
late  Dr.  Busby.  Paumie  is  derived  from  the  palm  of  the 
hand  ;  the  French  peaume,  and  taws,  is  the  plural  form  of 
the  Gaelic  taod,  a  rope,  a  scourge. 

Pawky,  of  a  sly  humour,  wise,  witty,  cautious,  dis- 
creet, and  insinuating, — all  in  one. — There  is  no  synonyme 
for  this  word  in  English  : — 

The  paioky  auld  carle  cam  owre  the  lea, 
Wi'  mony  good  e'ens  and  good  days  to  me. 
Dear  Smith,  the  sleest  pawkiest  thief. 

— Burns  :   To  John  Smith, 

Peat-Reek  and  Mountain  Dew,  Peat-Reek  is  the 
smoke  of  peat  when  dried  and  burned  for  fuel,  the 
flavour  of  which  used  to  be  highly  appreciated  in  Scot- 
tish whiskey,  when  made  by  illicit  distillers  in  lonely 
glens  among  the  mountains,  out  of  the  usual  reach  of  the 
exciseman.  From  the  solitary  places  of  its  manufacture, 
whiskey  received  the  poetic  name  of  Mountain  Dew,  or 
the  dew  off  Ben  Nevis,  which  it  still  retains  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  23 1 

Mountain  Dew,  clear  as  a  Scot's  understanding, 

Pure  as  his  conscience  wherever  he  goes. 
Warm  as  his  heart  to  the  friends  he  has  chosen, 

Strong  as  his  arm  when  he  fights  with  his  foes  ! 
In  liquor  like  this  should  old  Scotland  be  toasted. 

So  fill  up  again,  and  the  pledge  we'll  renew ; 
Unsullied  in  honour,  our  blessings  upon  her — 

Scotland  for  ever  !  and  old  Mountain  Dew  ! 

— Mackay's  Songs. 

Pech,  to  pant,  to  blow,  for  want  of  breath.  Derived  by 
Jamieson  from  the  Danish  pikken,  to  palpitate  : — 

My  Pegasus  I  gat  astride, 
And  up  Parnassus /ff/z/«'. 

— Burns  :  To  Willie  Chalmers. 

There  comes  young  Monks  of  high  complexion, 
Of  mind  devout,  love  and  affection  ; 
And  in  his  court  their  hot  flesh  dart  (tame), 
Fule  father-like  with  pcch  and  pant, 

They  are  sa  humble  of  intercession. 
Their  errand  all  kind  women  grant, 

Sic  tidings  heard  I  at  the  session. 

Frae  the  Session :  Allan  Ramsay,  The  Evergreen. 

Pechan,  the  stomach  : — 

Ev'n  the  ha'  folk  fill  their  pechatt 

Wi'  sauce,  ragouts,  and  such  like  trashtrie. 

That's  little  short  o'  downright  wastrie. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

This  word  seems  to  be  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  poca, 
a  bag,  a  poke  ;  and  pocan,  a  little  bag  ;  and  to  be  ludi- 
crously applied  to  the  belly  or  stomach.  The  English 
slang  peckish,  hungry,  is  probably  derived  from  the  same 
root,  and  not  from  the  beak,  or  peck  of  a  bird. 


232  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Pedder-coffe,  a  pedlar.  In  Allan  Ramsay's  Evergreen, 
a  poem  ascribed  to  Sir  David  Lyndsay,  is  entitled  a 
"  Description  of  Fedder-coffs,  their  having  no  regard  to 
honesty  in  their  vocation."  Both  pedder  and  coffe  are  of 
Teutonic  derivation  \  ped,  sometimes  written  pad,  from 
the  German  pfad ;  Flemish  pad,  a  path  ;  and  coffe  or  koffe, 
from  kaufen,  to  buy ;  whence  a  pedlar  signified  a  walking 
merchant  who  carried  his  wares  along  with  him.  But  it 
should  be  observed  with  regard  to  the  Teutonic  derivation, 
that  in  the  Kymric,  or  ancient  language  of  Wales,  more 
ancient  than  the  German,  padd  signifies  one  that  keeps  a 
course.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  ix^.ce  pedlar,  to  ped, 
a  local  word  in  some  parts  of  England  for  a  basket  :  but 
this  derivation  would  not  account  for  pedder,  a  mounted 
highway  man  ;  for  (oot-pad,  a  highway  robber  on  foot, 
from  the  slang  expression  among  thieves  and  beggars 
to  go  on  the  pad,  i.e.,  on  the  tramp. 

Jamieson  derives  the  Scottish /^^^^;-  from  the  barbarous 
low  Latin  pedarius,  i.e.,  nudis  ambulans  pedibus,  but  as 
usual,  in  every  case  of  dubious  etymology  into  which  he 
had  occasion  to  enter,  he  was  wrong.  Sir  David  Lyndsay 
in  his  poem  was  exceedingly  indignant,  both  with  the 
Pedders  and  the  Coffes,  who  seem  to  have  been  in  their 
mode  of  transacting  business  with  the  country  people, 
whom  they  favoured  with  their  visits  on  their  peregrina- 
tions through  districts  afar  from  towns,  the  exact  counter- 
parts of  the  tallymen  of  the  present  day.  He  recommends, 
in  the  interest  of  the  people,  that  wherever  the  "  pedder 
knaves  appear  in  a  burgh  or  town  where  there  is  a  magis- 
trate, that  their  lugs  should  be  cuttit  off,"  as  a  warning  to 
all  cheats  and  regrators.  A  similar  outcry  is  sometimes 
raised  against  the  "  tallymen,"  travelling  linen-drapers 
and  haberdashers,  who  tempt  the  wives  of  working  men. 


OF  THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  233 

and  poor  people  generally,  to  buy  their  goods  at  high 
prices,  and  accept  small  weekly  payments  on  account, 
until  their  extortionate  bills  are  liquidated. 

Peel,  a  name  given  to  a  small  tower  or  fortress  on  the 
Scottish  border;  possibly  a  corruption  oi bield,  a  shelter: 

Auld  black  Joan  frae  Creighton/^^/ 

O'  gipsy  kith  an'  kin'. 

— Burns  :   The  Five  Carlins. 

Feik-tha?ik,  is,  according  to  Jamieson,  an  ungrateful 
person,  one  who  returns  little  or  no  thanks  for  benefits 
conferred.  Feik  in  this  phrase  seems  to  be  a  corruption 
and  misspelling  of  the  Gaelic  beag  (b  pronounced  as/), 
little,  though  Jamieson  derives  it  from  the  Italian /(?r^. 

The  English  pick-thank  appears  to  have  had  a  different 
origin  and  meaning,  and  signifies,  according  to  the 
examples  of  its  use  in  Nares,  a  sycophant,  a  favourite,  a 
flatterer,  who  strove  to  pick  up,  acquire,  or  gather  thanks 
from  the  great  and  powerful.  Shakspeare  has  "  smiling 
pick-thanks,  and  base  newsmongers,"  Fairfax  "  a  flatterer, 
a  pick-thank,  and  a  liar." 

Possibly,  however,  the  Scottish  and  English  interpre- 
tations of  the  word  may  be  more  akin  than  might  appear 
at  first  glance.  Sycophants,  flatterers,  and  parasites  are 
proverbially  ungrateful,  unless  it  be,  as  La  Rochefaniauld 
so  wittily  asserts,  "for  favours  to  come." 

Petinarts.  Jamieson  says  this  word  means  "  revenge," 
and  quotes  the  proverbial  saying,  "  I'se  hae  pennarts  o' 
him  yet ; "  suggesting  that  the  derivation  may  be  from 
pennyworths.     It  is  more  likely  to  be  from  the  Gaelic 


234  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

pein,  punishment;  peanas^  revenge;  2ir\^  pein-ard,  high 
or  great  revenge. 

Pemiy-fee,  wages.  Pefiny  is  commonly  used  in  Scottish 
parlance  for  money  generally,  as  in  penny-siller,  a  great 
quantity  of  money ;  penny-maister,  the  town-treasurer ; 
pe7i7iy-wedding,  a  wedding  at  which  every  guest  contributed 
towards  the  expense  of  the  marriage  festival ;  penny-friend, 
a  friend  whose  only  friendship  is  for  his  friend's  money. 
The  French  use  denier,  and  the  Italians  danari,  in  the 
same  sense : — 

Peny  is  ane  hardy  knyght, 
Peny  is  mekyl  of  myght, 
Peny  of  wrong  he  maketh  ryght 
In  every  country  where  he  go. 
— A  Song  in  praise  of  Sir  Peny  :  Ritson's  Ancient  Songs 
and  Ballads. 

My  riches  a'  my  penny  fee, 

And  I  maun  guide  it  canny,  O. 

— Burns  :  My  Nannie,  0. 

Pensy,  proud,  conceited;  above  one's  station.  Pro- 
bably a  corruption  of  pensive  or  thoughtful : — 

Helen  Walker  was  held  among  her  equals  to  be  pensy,  but  the 
facts  brought  to  prove  this  accusation  seem  only  to  evince  a  strength 
of  character  superior  to  those  around  her. 

—  Scott:  Heart  of  Midlothian. 

Pernickitic  (sometimes  written  prig-nickitie),  precise 
about  trifles ;  finicking,  from  the  French  vinquet,  a  trifler, 
a  thing  of  little  or  no  value  ;  the  Teutonic  7iichty,  nothing. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  235 

Petiter,  or  Peuther,  to  canvass,  to  solicit  votes,  to 
thrust  one's  self  forward  in  election  times  to  ask  for 
support :  from  the  Gaelic  put,  to  thrust,  and  putair,  one 
who  thrusts ;  and  the  Flemish  penteren,  to  poke  one's 
fingers  into  other  people's  business, — rendered  in  the 
French  and  Flemish  Diciionary  (iS68),  "pousses  les 
doigts,  dans  quelque  chose." 

He  has  pciithcred  Queensferry  and  Inverkiething,  and  they  say 
he  will  begin  to  peuthcr  Stirling  next  week. 

— Jamieson. 

Pickle,  a  few,  a  small  quantity  of  anything,  a  single 
grain ;  also,  to  pick  up  in  small  quantities.  Pickle 
is  sometimes  used  for  pilfer,  to  steal  small  things. 
'•''To pickle  in  one's  ain  pock,  or  peuk,"  i.e.,  to  take  grain 
out  of  one's  own  bag,  is  a  proverbial  expression  signifying 
to  depend  on  one's  own  resources  or  exertions.  A  hen 
is  said  to  ""pickle  up  "  when  she  searches  for  and  feeds 
on  grain.  The  word,  in  these  senses,  is  not  from  the 
same  source  diS  pickle,  to  preserve  in  salt  or  vinegar.  Its 
etymology  is  unknown,  but  it  is  probably  from  the  Gaelic 
beag  or  beg  (pronounced  peg),  the  Italian  piccollo,  small. 
The  English  term  oi pickle  for  a  mischievous  or  trouble- 
some small  boy,  seems  to  be  related. 

She  gies  the  herd  a  pickle  nits 
And  twa  red-cheekit  apples. 

— Burns  :  Halloween, 

A  rock  and  a  wee  pickle  tow,  [a  distaff  and  a  small  quantity  of 

tow.] 

— Buins. 

Pig,  an  earthen  pitcher  or  other  vessel,  a  flower-pot. 
■  Piggeric^  a  place  for  the  manufacture  of  crockery  and 


236  t'OETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

earthenware.  Figman,  znd.  pigioife,  hawkers  of  crockery, 
or  keepers  of  shops  where  earthenware  is  sold  :  from  the 
G^tX\c  pigeadh,  an  earthen  pot  or  jar  ;  pigcan,  a  Httle  pot ; 
pigeadair^  a  potter  or  manufacturer  of  crockery.  The 
Enghsh  pig  iron,  iron  in  a  lump,  before  its  final  manufac- 
turing by  fire  into  a  superior  quality,  seems  to  be  derived 
from  its  coarse  nature,  as  resembling  the  masses  of  clay 
from  which  crockery  and  earthenware  are  formed  by  the 
similar  agency  of  fire  : — 

My  Paisley /4™^'  cooked  with  sage 

Contains  my  drink,  but  then,  oil 
No  wines  did  e'er  my  brains  engage 

To  tempt  my  mind  to  sin,  oh. 

—  The  Country  Lass :  Chambers's  Scots  Songs. 

She  that  gangs  to  the  well  wi'  ill-will 
Either  iht  pig  breaks  or  the  water  will  spill. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Where  the  pig's  broken,  let  the  shreds  lie. 

— Idem. 

An  English  lady  who  had  never  before  been  in  Scotland, 
arranged  to  spend  the  night  at  a  respectable  inn,  in  a  small  pro- 
vincial town  in  the  south.  Desiring  to  make  her  as  comfortable  as 
possible,  Grizzy,  the  chambermaid,  on  showing  her  to  the  bedroom 
said, 

"Would  you  like  to  hae  a  pig  in  your  bed  this  cauld  nicht, 
mem  ?" 

"  A  what  ? "  said  the  lady. 

"A  pig,  mem  ;  will  I  put  a  pig  in  your  bed  to  keep  you  warm  ?" 

"Leave  the  room,  young  woman;  your  mistress  shall  hear  of 
your  insolence." 

"  Nac  offence,  I  hope,  mem.  It  was  my  mistress  bade  me  ask 
it,  an'  I'm  sure  she  meant  it  oot  o'  kindness." 

The  lady  wa<;  puzzled,  but  feeling  satisfied  that  no  insult  was 
intended,  she  looked  at  the  girl  and  then  said  pleasantly, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  237 


"Is  it  common  in  this  country  for  ladies  to  have  pigs  in  their 
beds  ?  " 

"  Gentlemen  hae  them  tae,  mem,  when  the  weather's  caukl.  I'll 
steek  the  mouth  o't  an'  tie  it  up  in  a  clout." 

A  right  understanding  was  come  to  at  last,  and  the  lady  found 
the  pig  with  hot  water  in  her  bed  not  so  disagreeable  as  she 
imagined. 

— Douglas's  Scottish  Wit  and  Humour. 

A  rich  Glasgow  manufacturer,  an  illiterate  man  who  had  risen 
from  the  ranks,  having  ordered  a  steam  yacht,  sent  for  a  London 
artist  to  decorate  the  panels  in  the  principal  cabin.  The  artist  asked 
what  kind  of  decoration  he  required  ?  The  reply  was,  Ony  thing 
simple,  just  a  pig  k'/'  a  JIokici:  Great  was  the  surprise  of  the 
Glasgow  gentleman  when  the  work  was  completed  to  see  that  the 
decoration  consisted  of  swine,  each  with  a  flower  in  its  jaws,  which 
had  been  painted  on  every  panel.  He  made  no  complaint — paid 
the  bill,  and  declared  the  effect  to  be  satisfactory, 

—  Traits  of  Scottish  Life, 


Pike,  to  pick  and  steal ; ///^/^,  one  addicted  to  pilfering 
and  petty  thefts  : — 

By  these  pickers  and  stealers. 

— Shakspeare  :  Hamlet. 

Pinkie-small,  the  smallest  candle  that  is  made,  the 
weakest  kind  of  table  beer,  any  thing  small.  The  word 
is  also  applied  to  the  eye  when  contracted  : — 

There's  a  wee  pinkie  hole  in  the  stocking. 

— Jamieson. 

Possibly  this  word  is  from  the  Latin  pundus,  a  point,  or 
from  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  pink,  the  little  finger,  and 
pink-oogen,  to  look  with  half-closed  eyes.  The  Kymric 
pine,  signifies  a  small  branch  or  twig. 


238  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Firrie-dog,  a  dog  that  follows  at  his  master's  heels; 
pirrie,  to  follow  and  fawn  upon  one,  like  a  dependant  for 
what  can  be  gained  from  or  wheedled  out  of  him. 
Jamieson  derives  this  word  from  the  Teutonic /fl'^r^^z,  or 
paaren,  to  pair  or  couple;  and  refers  to  "Parry,"  an 
Aberdeenshire  word,  with  a  quotation,  "  When  ane  says 
parry,  a'  say  parry,"  signifying  that  when  any  thing  is 
said  by  a  person  of  consequence,  it  is  echoed  by  every 
one  else.  The  true  origin  both  of  pirrie  and  the  Aber- 
donian  parry  is  the  Gaelic  peire,  a  polite  word  for  the 
breech,  the  fundament,  the  buttocks.  A  dog  that  follows 
at  the  heels  is  a  euphemism  for  a  less  mentionable  part 
of  the  person.  Jamieson  suggests  that  the  Aberdeenshire 
parry  is  derived  from  the  French  il parait ;  but  the  Gae- 
lic peire  better  suits  both  the  sense  and  the  humour  of 
the  aphorism. 

Piss-a-bed,  a  vulgar  name  for  the  dandelion  or  taraxa- 
cum— a  beautiful,  though  despised,  wild  flower  of  the 
fields.  The  word  appears  to  have  originated  in  Scotland, 
and  thence  to  have  extended  to  England.  It  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  Gaelic//*?^,  a  cup;  and  buidhe,  yellow — a 
yellow  cup,  not  however  to  be  confounded  with  butter- 
cup, another  wild  flower — the  companion  in  popular 
affection  of  the  daisy  : — 

The  daisy  has  its  poets, — all  have  striven 

Its  world-wide  reputation  to  prolong  ; 
But  here's  its  yellow  neighbour ! — who  has  given 

The  dandelion  a  song  ? 

Come,  little  sunflower,  patient  in  neglect, 
Will  ne'er  a  one  of  them  assert  thy  claim, 

But,  passing  by,  contemptuously  connect 
Thee  and  thy  Scottish  name  ? 

— Robert  Leighton  :  To  a  Dandelion. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  239 

Several  years  before  Robert  Leighton  strove  to  vindi- 
cate the  fair  fame  of  the  dandelion,  a  couplet  in  its  praise 
appeared  in  the  Ilhcstrated  London  News,  in  a  poem 
entitled  "  Under  the  Hedge  "  :— 

Dandelions  with  milky  ring, 
Gold  of  the  mintage  of  the  spring. 


Pit-dark^  dark  as  in  the  bottom  of  a  pit : — 

'Tis  yet  pit-dark,  the  yard  a'  black  about, 
And  the  night  fowl  begin  again  to  shout. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

It  is  very  probable  that  pit-dark  was  the  original  form 
of  the  English ///(T/^-dark,  as  dark  ^s pitch,  i.e.,  as  dark  as 
tar,  or  coal  tar.  The  etymology  from  pit,  a  hole,  is  pre- 
ferable. 


Pixie,  a  fairy.  This  Scottish  word  is  used  in  some 
parts  of  England,  particularly  in  the  south  and  west.  It 
has  been  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  oi puck,  or  puckkie, 
little  puck,  sometimes  called  Robin  Goodfellow.  It  is 
more  probably  from  the  Gaelic  beag,  (peg),  little,  sith, 
(shee),  a  fairy,  anglicized  into  pixie,  a  little  fairy,  a  fairy 
sprite.  Puck  is  the  name  of  one  particular  goblin,  and 
sprite  in  Shakspeare  and  in  popular  tradition  ;  but  the 
pixies  are  multitudinous,  and  the  words  puck  and  pixie 
are  from  different  sources.  The  English  puck  is  the  word 
that,  in  one  variety  or  another,  runs  through  many  Euro- 
pean languages.  The  Welsh  or  Kymric  '\\2L%pwca,  (pooca), 
a  goblin,  a  sprite,  the  Gaelic  bocan,  and  Lowland  Scottish 
bogie,  the  Russian  bug,  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  spook,  the 
German  spuk,  &c. 


240  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Pixie-rings  are  fairy-rings,  supposed  to  be  made  in  the 
grass  by  the  footsteps,  not  of  one  puck^  but  of  many  Uttle 
sprites  that  gamble  by  moonUght  on  the  green  pixie-stool, 
a  toad-stool,  a  popular  name  for  the  fungus,  sometimes 
called  toad-stool ;  pixie-led,  bewildered  and  led  astray  by 
the  igjiis  fatiius,  Jack  o'  Lantern,  or  Will  o'  the  Wisp. 

Plack.  An  ancient  Scottish  coin  of  the  value  of  one 
twelfth  of  an  English  penny. 

Plackless.     Without  coin  or  money. 

Plack-ale.     Very  inferior  beer  : — 

Nae  howdie  gets  a  social  night 
Or  plack  frae  them. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Stretch  a  joint  to  catch  s,  plack. 
Abuse  a  brother  to  his  back. 

— Burns  :   To  Gavin  Hamilton. 

Pliskie,  a  trick,  a  prank.  From  the  Gaelic  plaosgach, 
a  sudden  noise,  a  flash,  a  blaze : — 

Her  lost  militia  fired  her  blood, 
Deil,  ma  they  never  mae  do  guid, 
Played  her  that  pliskie. 
— Burns  :  Author's  Earnest  Prayer  and  Cry. 

Ghaist !  ma  certie,  I  sail  ghaist  them  !  If  they  had  their  heads 
as  muckle  on  their  warli  as  on  her  daffins,  they  wadna  play  sic 
pliskies  ! 

—Scott  :  St.  Konans  Well. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  24 1 

Flooky,  swollen,  blotchy,  pimpled.  From  the  Gaelic 
ploc,  a  tumour,  a  bunch,  a  knob,  a  swelling  : — 

Plooky,  plooky,  are  your  cheeks, 

And  plooky  is  your  chin, 
AnA  plooky  are  your  armis  twa 

My  bonnie  queen's  layne  in. 
— Sir  Hugh  Le  Blond:  Scotfs  Minstrels  of  the  Scottish  Border. 

Plotcock,  the  devil ;  the  dweller  in  the  pit  of  hell,  the 
fiend,  the  arch  enemy.  This  singular  word,  or  combina- 
tion of  words,  appears  in  Jaiiiieson  as  "  from  the  Ice- 
landic Blotgod,  Si.  name  of  the  Scandinavian  Pluto,  or 
blotkok — from  blot.,  sacrificing;  and  koka,  to  swallow, 
— i.e.,  the  swallower  of  sacrifices."  May  not  a  derivation 
be  found  nearer  home  than  in  Iceland  :  in  the  Gaelic 
blot  (pronounced  plot).,  a  pit,  a  cavern ;  and  cog.,  to  con- 
spire, to  tempt,  to  cheat  ? — 

Since  you  can  cog,  I'll  play  no  more  with  you. 

— Shakespeare  :  Love's  Labour  Lost. 

Lies,  coggeries,  and  impostures. 

— Nares. 

The  Kymric  has  coegiaw,  or  cogio,  to  cheat,  to  trick. 
To  cog  the  dice  was  to  load  the  dice  for  the  purpose  of 
cheating ;  and  cogger.,  in  old  English,  signified  a  swindler, 
a  cheat.  This  derivation  would  signify  the  cheat,  the 
tempter  who  dwells  in  the  cavern  or  bottomless  pit  of 
hell;  and  might  have  been  included  by  Burns  in  his 
"Address  to  the  Deil,"  among  the  other  names  which  he 
bestows  upon  that  personage. 

Flout,  Ploitter,  to  wade  with  difficulty  through  mire  or 
water ;  akin  to  the  English  plod,  as  in  the  line  in  Gray's 
Elegy  :— 

Q 


242  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


The  ploughman  homewards  plods  his  weary  way. 

From  the  Gaelic  plodan,  a  clod  of  mud  or  mire,  a  small 
pool  of  water ;  plodanachd,  the  act  of  paddling  in  the 
water  or  the  mud  : — 

Flouting  through  thick  and  thin. 

— Grose. 

Many  a  vf&2Lxy]plo2iier  she  cost  him 
Through  gutters  and  glaur. 

— ^Jamieson  :  Popular  Ballads. 

Ploy,  a  plot,  scheme,  contrivance  : — 

I  wish  he  mayna  hae  been  at  the  bottom  o'  the  ploy  himsel'. 

—Scott :  Rob  Roy. 

Pock-shakings,  a  humorous  but  vulgar  term  applied  to 
the  last  born  child  of  a  large  family,  expressive  of  the 
belief  that  no  more  are  to  be  expected. 

Peep,  to  utter  a  faint  cry  or  sound,  like  an  infant  or 
a  young  bird.  Peepie-weepie,  a  querulous  and  tearful 
child ;  peep-sma\  a  feeble  voice,  a  weak  person  who  has  to 
submit  to  the  domination  of  one  stronger ;  synonymous 
with  the  English  "  sing  small."  "  He  daurna  play  peep" 
he  must  not  utter  a  word  in  defence  of  himself  In 
Dutch  and  Flemish,  piepen  signifies  to  cry  like  an  infant ; 
and  piep-yong  is  a  word  for  a  very  young  or  new-born 
child.  The  etymology  is  that  of  pipe,  or  the  sound 
emitted  by  a  flute  or  pipe,  when  gently  blown  upon. 

Peesweep,  a  lajjwing,  or  plover ;  pcesweep-like,  a  con- 
tem])til)le  epithet  applied  to  a  feeble,  sharp-featured  man 
or  woman,  with  a  shrill  but  not  luud  voice,  like  the  cry 
of  a  plover. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  243 

Poind.  "A  ^vixr  poi?id,^^  i.e.,  a  weak,  silly  person; 
ixorci poind,  the  French  poindre,  to  seize,  to  lay  hold  of; 
metaphorically  applied  to  one  who  is  not  substantial 
enough  to  take  hold  of, 'intellectually  or  morally;  one  of 
no  account  or  importance. 

Point.  An  old  Scottish  word  for  state  of  body; 
almost  equivalent  to  the  modern  "form,"  which  implies 
good  condition,  generally  of  body,  mind,  and  manners  : 

Murray  said  that  he  never  saw  the  Queen  in  better  health  or  in 

better  point. 

— Robertson  :  History  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 

This  is   a  French  idiom,   nearly   allied  to   that   which   is   now 

familiar  to  English  ears,  en  ban  point.     "In  better  point"  signifies, 

more  plump,  or  in  fuller  habit  of  body. 

— ^Jamieson. 

The  vfordpointhas  so  many  meanings  all  derivable  from 
and  traceable  to  the  Latin  pundus,  such  as  the  point  of 
a  weapon  ;  puncture,  the  pinch  of  a  sharp  weapon ;  punc- 
tual, true  to  the  point  of  time,  or  the  time  appointed,  &c., 
as  to  suggest  that  the  etymology  oi  point,  in  the  sense  of 
the  French  en  bon  point,  and  of  the  old  Scotch,  as  used 
by  Robertson  in  his  reference  to  Queen  Mary,  must  be 
other  than  punctus.  En  bon  point  is  euphuistic  for  stout, 
fat,  fleshy,  inclining  to  corpulency, — all  of  which  words 
imply  the  reverse  of  pointed.  It  is  possible  that  the  true 
root  is  the  Gaelic  bun  (b  pronounced  as  p),  foundation, 
root;  applied  to  one  who  is  in  solid  and  substantial 
health  or  condition  of  body ;  well-formed,  and  established 
physically  and  morally.  This  word  is  indicative  of  sta- 
bility, rather  than  of  sharpness  or  pomtedness.  The 
now  current  slang  of  "form,"  derived  from  the  language 


244  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

of  grooms,  jockeys,  and  racing  men,  springs  from  the 
same  idea  of  healthiness  and  good  condition.  The 
Gaelic  bimanta  signifies  firm,  well-set  and  established. 
The  colloquial  and  vulgar  word  bum  is  from  the  same 
root  of  bun,  and  produces  fundament ;  the  French  fonde- 
vient,  the  bottom,  the  foundation. 

Potv,  or  Fowe,  the  head ;  from  the  old  English  poll. 
The  impost  called  the  "  Poll-tax,"  that  created  such 
great  dissatisfaction  in  the  days  of  Wat  Tyler,  was  a  per- 
sonal tax  on  the  head   ox  poll : — 

There  is  little  wit  in  his  po'io 

That  lights  the  candle  at  the  low  [or  fire]. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  miller  was  of  manly  make, 

To  meet  him  was  nae  iiiozos  [joke] ; 
There  durst  not  ten  cum  him  to  take, 

Sae  noytit  [thumped]  he  their  paws, 

— Chrisfs  Kirk  on  the  Green. 

Fat  pouches  bode  lean  pcuis. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Blessings  on  your  frosty  pozcj, 

John  Anderson,  my  Jo.  — Burns. 

Powsoudie.  Sheep's  head  broth.  This  word  occurs 
in  the  humorous  ballad  by  Francis  Semple,  "  Fy  let  us 
a'  to  the  bridal,"  which  contains  an  ample  list  of  all  the 
dainty  eatables  served  up  at  a  marriage  feast  among  the 
rural  population  of  Scotland  in  the  seventeenth  century : 

And  there  '11  be  fadges  and  brachen, 
And  fouth  o'  gude  gebbocks  o'  skate, 

Powsoudie  and  drammock  and  crowdie, 
And  caller  nowt-fcct  C)n  a  plate. 

l^at soli's  Collection,  lyob. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  245 

The  word  is  compounded  of  pow^  Scottish,  the  head  or 
poll ;  and  soiidie,  broth  or  hotch-potch,  or  other  boiled 
mixtures. 

Preen,  a  pin  ;  from  the  Gaelic  prine,  a  pin,  pn'neachan, 
a  little  pin,  prinich,  to  secure  with  pins. 

Free,  to  taste,  "  to  pree  the  mou,"  to  kiss  the  mouth. 
A  young  English  nobleman,  visiting  at  Gordon  Castle, 
had  boasted  that  during  his  six  weeks  shooting  in  the 
north  he  had  acquired  so  much  Scotch  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  puzzle  him.  The  Duchess  of  Gordon  took  up 
his  challenge,  and  defied  him  to  interpret  the  sentence, 
"  Come  pree  my  bonnie  mou',  my  canty  callant."  It  was 
with  intense  disgust  that  he  afterward  learned  what  a 
chance  he  had  lost  by  his  ignorance  : — 

Ye  tell  me  that  my  lips  are  sweet, 
Sic  tales  I  doubt  are  a'  deceit, 
At  any  rate  its  hardly  meet, 
To  pree  their  sweets  before  folk. 

Behave  Yoursel  Before  Folk :  Chambers' 
Scotch  Songs. 

Prick-nie-dainty,  prick-nia-leerie.  These  two  apparently 
ridiculous  phrases  have  the  same  meaning,  that  of  a  finical, 
conceited,  superfine  person,  in  his  manners  or  dress,  one 
who  affects  airs  of  superiority — without  the  necessary  quali- 
fications for  the  part  he  assumes.  Jamieson  suggests  that 
prick-me-dainty  is  from  the  English  prick-me-dai7itily  !  of 
prick-ma-leerie,  he  conjectures  nothing.  Both  phrases 
seem  to  be  traceable  to  the  Gaelic  breagh,  fine,  beautiful, 
braw ;  and  deanta,  complete,  finished,  perfected ;  and 
leor  or  leoir,  enough,  sufficient,  entirely ;  so  that  prick-me- 


246  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

dainty  resolves  itself  into  breagh-me-deanta^  I  am  beauti- 
fully perfect ;  and  prick-ma-leerie  into  breagh-?na-leoir,  I 
am  beautiful  entirely.  A  mocking,  comic,  and  scornful 
depreciation,  underlies  both  phrases. 

Prig,  to  cheapen,  to  beat  down  the  price ;  whence  the 
English  word  "  prig,"  a  conceited  person  who  thinks  he 
knows  better  than  other  people  : — 

Men  who  grew  wise  priggin^  ower  hops  and  raisins. 

— Burns  :  The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

Ane  o'  the  street-musician  crew 

Is  busy  priggin^  wi'  him  now  ; 

An'  twa  auld  sangs  he  swears  are  new, 

He  pawns  on  Jock  ; 
For  an  auld  hod  o'  coals  half  fou, 

A  weel  matched  troke. 

— James  Ballantine  :  Coal  Jock. 

Jamieson  defines  to  prig.,  as  to  haggle,  and  derives  it 
from  the  Flemish  prachgen,  to  beg,  French  briguer,  barter 
from  brigue,  rechercher  avec  ardeur. 

Prig.  I  dont  know  how  this  word  in  Scotch  means  to  cheapen, 
and  in  English  to  steal ;  perhaps  there  is  some  connection  which  a 
knowledge  of  the  root  from  which  it  comes  would  help  us  to  under- 
stand. Prig,  as  a  conceited  person,  is  purely  a  conventional  use  of 
the  word.  Prig  in  Scotch  has  also  the  meaning  of  earnestly  to  en- 
treat. "I  prigged  wi' him  for  mair  nor  an' hour  that  he  should- 
na  leave  me. — R.  D. 

Prog,  to  goad,  to  stab,  to  thrust,  to  prick,  to  probe ; 
metaphorically,  to  taunt,  to  gibe,  to  provoke  by  a  sarcastic 
remark ;  a  sting,  a  lance,  an  arrow.  From  the  Kymric 
proc,  a  thrust ;  and  prociaw,  to  thrust  or  stab. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE,  247 

Punchy,  thick,  short,  squat,  and  broad ;  applied  to  the 
human  frame.  From  the  Gaelic  bun,  foundation ;  and 
bunaich,  to  establish  firmly  on  a  broad  foundation. 

Purlicue,  the  unnecessary  flourish  which  people  some- 
times affix  at  the  end  of  their  signatures ;  also,  a  whim,  a 
caprice ;  and,  in  derision,  the  summing  up  of  a  judgment, 
and  the  peroration  of  a  sermon  or  a  speech.  The  French 
pour  la  queue,  for  the  tail  or  finish,  has  been  suggested  as 
the  derivation. 

Puslick  (more  properly  buslkk),  a  cow-sherd,  gathered 
in  the  fields  when  dried  by  the  weather,  and  stored 
for  winter  fuel  by  the  poor.  According  to  Jamieson, 
this  is  a  Dumfries-shire  and  Galloway  word,  and  used 
in  such  phrases  as  "dry  as  a  puslick,"  and  "as 
light  as  a  puslick"  It  is  compounded  of  the  two  Gaelic 
words  buac,  cow-dung ;  and  leag,  a  dropping,  or  to  drop 
or  let  fall :  used  in  a  similar  sense  to  the  English  "horse 
droppings,"  applied  to  the  horse-dung  gathered  in  the 
roads. 

Pyle,  a  small  quantity ;  small  as  a  hair,  or  as  a  grain. 
From  the  'LdXm  pilus,  French  poi'l : — 

The  cleanest  corn  that  e'er  was  dight 
May  hae  somepyks  o'  cafFin. 

— Burns  :  T/te  Unco  Guid. 

Quarters,  a  place  of  residence  or  abode,  a  domicile 
an  apartment  or  lodging  : — 

An'  it's  O  for  siccan  quarters 
As  I  gat  yesternight. 

— King  James  V. :  We'll  Gang  Nae  Mah 
a-Rovin, 


248  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Quarters,  in  this  sense,  is  not  derived  from  quatiior,  or  from 
the  fourth  part,  as  is  generally  asserted  in  the  dictionaries, 
and  exemplified  by  the  common  phrase,  "From  which 
quarter  does  the  wind  blow?"  i.e.,  from  which  of  the 
four  points  of  the  compass?  The  true  derivation  of 
qiiarter,  the  French  quartier,  and  of  the  military  func- 
tionary, the  Quarter-master  General,  is  the  GaeUc  cuairt, 
a  circle.  "  Paris,"  says  Bescherelle  "  was  formerly  divided 
into  four  quarters,  it  is  now  divided  into  forty-eight,  which? 
if  quarters  were  translated  into  circle,  would  not  be  an 
incongruous  expression  as  it  is,  when  quarter  represents 
a  fourth  part  only."  The  French  use  the  word  arrondisse- 
ment  in  the  same  sense,  which  supports  the  Gaelic 
etymology.  The  quarter  or  habitation  of  a  bird  is 
its  nest,  which  is  a  circle.  "  The  circle  of  one's  acquain- 
tance," and  "the  social  circle,"  are  common  expressions; 
and  the  points  of  the  compass  are  all  points  in  a  circle, 
which,  as  all  navigators  know,  are  considerably  more 
than  four. 

Quean,  Wench,  Winklot.     These  are  all  familiar  and 
disrespectful  terms  for  a  woman  : — 

I  wat  she  was  a  cantie  quean. 

And  weel  could  dance  the  Highland  walloch. 

—Roy's  Wife. 

By  that  the  dancin'  was  all  done, 

Their  leave  took  less  or  mair, 
WTien  the  zoitiklots  and  the  wooers'turn'd 

To  see  it  was  heart-sair, 

— Peebles  to  the  Play. 

Quean,  like  queen,  seems  to  originate  in  the  Greek  yvy, 
a  woman  ;  Danish  quinde,  a  woman  ;  quindelig,  feminine; 
Gaelic  gin,   to    beget,    to    generate;    gineal,    offspring. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  249 

Wench,  by  the  common  change  from  gu  into  w,  as  in 
war  for  guerre,  is  from  the  same  root ;  and  winklot,  or 
wench-let,  as  a  little  loench  or  quean  is  of  the  same 
parentage. 

Queer  Ctiffin, — English  and  Scottish  gipsy  slang, — a 
justice  of  the  peace.  This  phrase  is  of  venerable  anti- 
quity, and  is  a  relic  of  the  Druidical  times  when  the 
arch-druid,  or  chief  priest,  was  called  coibhi  {coivi),  since 
corrupted  into  cuffin.  The  arch-druid  was  the  chief 
administrator  of  justice,  and  sat  in  his  coir,  or  court 
(whence  queer),  accessible  to  all  suppliants;  like  Joshua, 
Jephtha,  Eli,  and  Samuel,  judges  of  Israel,  mentioned  in 
the  Old  Testament.  A  Druidical  proverb,  referring  to 
this  august  personage  of  the  olden  time,  is  still  current 
among  the  Gaelic-speaking  population  of  the  Highlands, 
that  "the  stone  is  not  nearer  to  the  ground  on  which  it 
rests,  than  is  the  ear  of  Corbhi  to  those  who  apply  to  him 
for  justice." 

Queet,  an  ankle ;  sometimes  written  cute : — 

The  firstan  step  that  she  stept  in, 

She  steppit  to  the  gtteei ; 
"  Ochone  !  alas  !  "  said  that  lady, 
*'  The  water's  wondrous  deep." 
— T/ie  Drowned  Lovers ;  Buchan's  Ancient  Ballads. 

I  let  him  cool  his  cutes  at  the  door. 

— Aberdeenshire  Proverb :  Jamieson. 

Quey,  a  young  cow ;  from  the  Danish  quay,  cattle ; 
the  German  vieh ;  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  vee : — 


250  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Amang  the  brachans  on  the  brae, 

Between  her  and  the  moon, 

The  Deil,  or  else  some  outler  qtiey. 

Gat  up  and  gae  a  croon. 

— Burns  C_Hallowe\n. 

J?ad,  to  fear,  to  be  afraid,  or  to  guess  : — 

I  am  right  rod  of  treasonry. 

— Song  of  (lie  Ou/law  Murray. 

O  ance  ye  danced  upo'  the  knowes, 

And  ance  ye  lightly  sang, 
But  in  berrying  o'  a  bee  byke 

I'm  rad  ye  gat  a  stang, 

— Burns  :    Ye  hae  been  a'  'wrang,  Lassie. 

Jamieson  derives  rad  from  the  Danish  raed,  afraid,  which 
meets  the  sense  of  the  passage  in  which  it  is  used  by 
Burns.  The  sense,  however,  would  be  equally  well 
rendered  by  a  derivation  from  the  Danish,  Flemish  and 
Dutch  raad,  German  rathen,  to  guess  or  conjecture. 

Ham  and  Ran.  The  Scottish  language  contains  many 
expressive  and  humorous  words  commencing  with  the 
syllables  ram  and  ran,  which  are  synonymous,  and 
imply  force,  roughness,  disorder;  and  which  appear  to 
be  primarily  derived  from  the  Gaelic  ran,  to  roar,  to 
bluster.  Among  others  are — randy,  violent  or  quarrel- 
some; ra?npage,  a  noisy  frolic,  or  an  outburst  of  ill- 
humour,  a  word  which  Charles  Dickens  introduced  into 
the  English  vernacular ;  ramgiinshock,  rough,  rugged, 
coarse ;  ramshackle,  old,  worn  out  with  rough  usage  : — 

Our  ra>ngunsIiock,  glum  gudeman 
Is  out  and  owre  the  water. 

— Burns  :  Had  I  the  wyte. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  25 1 

Ramgunshock  seems  to  be  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  ra7i, 
to  roar ;  giin^  without ;  and  seach  (pronounced  shack), 
alternation,  i.e.,  to  roar  incessantly,  without  alternation  of 
quiet. 

Rmit,  to  be  noisily  joyous ;  rants,  merry-makings, 
riotous  but  joyous  gatherings ;  ranter,  a  merry-maker. 
From  the  Gaelic  ran,  to  roar,  to  bellow,  to  sing  out 
lustily,  to  make  a  noise  ;  rante,  sung,  bellowed  : — 

My  name  is  Rob  the  ranter. 

— Maggie  Lauder. 

From  out  the  life  o'  publick  haunts, 
But  thee,  what  were  our  fairs  and  rants, 
Ev'n  godly  meetings  o'  the  saunts 

By  thee  inspired. 
When  gapin'  they  besiege,  the  tents 

Are  doubly  fired. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Rattan,  Rottan,  a  rat.  In  Flemish  the  word  is  written 
rat  or  rot,  Baudrons,  in  the  following  quotation,  is  a 
familiar  name  for  a  cat : — 

Then  that  curst  carmagrole,  old  Satan, 
Watches  like  baudrons  by  a  rattan. 
Our  sinful  souls  to  get  a  claut  on. 

— Burns  :   Colonel  De  Peysten. 

"  Wonderful  man.  Dr.  Candlish,"  said  one  clergyman  to  another. 
"  What  versatility  of  talent.     He's  fit  for  anything  ! "     "Aye,  aye! 
that's  true  ;  put  him  doon  a  hole,  he'd  make  a  capital  7-otta7i !  " 
— Anecdotes  of  Scottish  Wit  and  Humour. 

Rax,  to  reach ;  raught,  reached ;  a  corruption,  or  per- 
haps the  original  of  the  English  word  : — 


252  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


Never  rax  aboon  your  reach. 

The  auld  guidman  ratight  down  the  pock. 

— Burns  :  Halloween. 

And  ye  may  rax  Corruption's  neck, 

And  give  her  for  dissection. 

— Burns  :  A  Dream. 


Ream,  to  froth  like  beer,  or  sparkle  like  wine,  to  effer- 
vesce, to  cream  ;  from  the  Teutonic  rahinen,  to  froth ; 
rahni,  yeast ;  Flemish  room  : — 

Fast  by  an  ingle  bleezing  finely, 

Wi'  reatning  swats  that  drank  divinely. 

The  swats  sae  reamed  in  Tammy's  noddle, 
Fair  play  !  he  cared  na  deils  a  boddle. 

— Burns  :   Taiii  d'  Shunter. 

The  nappy  reeks  wi'  mantling  reaJit. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

That  merry  night  we  get  the  corn  in, 
O  sweetly  then  thou  reains  the  horn  in. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


Remning  Dish,  a  shallow  dish  for  containing  the  milk 
until  it  is  ready  for  being  creamed. 

Red-wud,  stark,  raging  mad  : — 

And  now  she's  like  to  run  red-wud 
About  her  whisker. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Red,  used  as  an  intcnsitive  prefix  to  a  word,  is  not 
uncommon  in  English  and  Scottish  literature.  Red 
vengeance   is   a  vengeance  that   demands   blood;    and 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  253 

possibly  red-wud  may  mean  a  madness  that  prompts 
blood.  In  Gaelic  the  great  deluge  is  called  the  dile- 
ruadh,  or  red-flood. 

Rede,  advice,  counsel : — 

Rede  me  noght,  quod  Reason, 

No  ruth  to  have 

Till  lords  and  ladies 

Loves  alle  truth 

And  hates  alle  harlotrie 

To  heven,  or  to  mouthen  it. 

—  Vision  of  Pier's  Ploughman. 

Short  rede  is  good  rede. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

I  rede  ye  weel — tak  care  o'  skaith — 
See,  there's  a  gullie  ! 

— Burns  :  Deatli  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Ye  gallants  wight,  I  rede  ye  right. 

Beware  o'  bonnie  Anne. 

— Burns. 

This  word  was  once  good  English,  as  appears  from  the 
extract  from  "Pier's  Ploughman,"  and  was  used  by 
Chaucer,  Gower,  and  Shakespeare.  It  is  from  the 
Flemish  and  Dutch  raed,  counsel;  and  the  German 
reden,  to  speak ;  the  Gaelic  radh,  raidh,  or  raife,  a  say- 
ing, an  aphorism. 

Renchel,  a  tall,  lean,  lanky  person;  froin  the  Gaelic 
reang,  or  reing,  thin,  lean ;  and  gillie,  a  youth,  a  young 
man,  a  fellow  : — 

He's  naething  but  a  lang  rcnchel. 

— ^Jamieson. 


2  54  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Hhaim,  Rhame.  According  to  Jamieson,  these  words 
signify  either  a  common-place  speech,  a  rhapsody;  or  "to 
run  over  anything  in  a  rapid  and  unmeaning  way,"  "  to 
repeat  by  rote,  to  reiterate."  He  thinks  it  a  corruption 
of  rhyme,  "  because  proverbs  were  anciently  expressed  in 
a  sort  of  rhyme." 

Is  not  the  true  derivation  of  the  word  the  Teutonic 
rahin,  the  Flemish  room,  froth  ?  to  ream,  to  cream,  to 
froth,  to  effervesce  like  soda  water  or  champagne.  "  A 
frothy  speaker"  is  a  common  expression  of  disparage- 
ment. 

Rickle,  a  loose  heap ;  Rickler,  a  term  of  contempt 
applied  to  a  bad  architect  or  builder  : — 

I'm  grown  so  thin ;  I'm  naething  but  a  rickle  o'  banes. 

— ^Jamieson. 

"The  proud  Percy  caused  hang  five  of  the  Laird's  henchmen  at 

Alnwick  for  burning  a  rickle  of  houses." 

— Scott  :    The  Monastery. 

Rigging.  In  English  this  word  is  seldom  used  except 
in  reference  to  ships,  and  the  arrangements  of  their 
masts,  spars,  ropes,  &c.  In  the  Scottish  language  it  is 
employed  to  signify  the  roof,  cross  beams,  ike,  of  a 
house : — 

This  is  no  my  ain  house, 

I  ken  by  the  rigging  o't ; 
Since  with  my  love  I've  changed  vows, 

I  dinna  lil^c  the  bigging  [building]  o't. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

There  by  the  ingle-cheek 

I  sat, 
And  heard  the  restless  rations  squeak 


About  the  riggin\ 


— Burns  :  T/ie  Vision. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  255 

The  word  is  derived  from  the  Teutonic  ruck,  the  Flemish 
rug,  a  ridge,  top,  or  back ;  whence  the  ridge  at  the  top 
of  the  house,  the  roof.  The  rigging  tree  is  the  roof  tree. 
The  rigging  of  a  vessel  is  in  like  manner  the  roof,  or 
ridge  of  a  ship,  as  distinguished  from  the  hull.  So  the 
colloquial  expression  to  "  rig  out,"  to  dress,  to  accoutre, 
to  adorn,  to  put  the  finishing  touch  to  one's  attire,  comes 
from  the  same  idea  of  completion,  which  is  involved  in 
the  rigging  of  a  ship  or  of  a  house. 

Rigwoodie,  old,  lean,  withered  : — 

Withered  beldams,  auld  and  droll,  Rigwoodie  hags. 

— Burns  :   Tarn  0'  Shanter. 

Rigtuoodie,  —  "  Old,  lean,  withered."  Mr.  Robert  Chambers 
says  it  means  "worthy  of  the  gallows."  Neither  of  these  meanings 
is  correct.  Rigwoodie  is  the  name  of  the  chain  or  rope  which 
passes  across  the  saddle  to  support  the  shafts  of  a  cart  or  other 
conveyance — what  an  Englishman  would  call  the  back  band.  This 
very  likely  was  anciently  made  of  twisted  woodies  or  saugh  or  wil- 
low wands,  now  it  is  generally  made  of  twisted  chain  and  of  iron. 
By  a  very  evident  metonomy  Burns  applied  the  twisted  wrinkled 
appearance  of  a  Rigwoodie  to  these  old  wrinkled  hags. — R.  D. 

Rind,  or  Rhynd,  hoar  frost ;  a  corruption  of  the  Eng- 
lish rime,  or  possibly  from  the  Kymric  rhym,  great  cold ; 
rhyme,  to  shiver.  Jamieson  derives  the  Scottish  rhynd 
and  the  English  rime  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  hrim,  and  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  rym ;  but  in  these  languages  ry7n — 
more  correctly  rijm — signifies  rhyme,  in  versification,  not 
rime  or  frost.  Rind  is  all  but  obsolete  in  lowland  Scotch, 
and  has  been  superseded  by  cranreitch,  sometimes  written 
crandruch,  a  particularly  cold  and  penetrating  mist  or 
fog.     The  etymology  is  uncertain,  but  the  word  is  most 


256  POETRY  AND    HUMOUR 

probably  a  corruption  and  mispronunciation  by  the  low- 
land Scotch  of  the  Gaelic  grainn,  horrible ;  and  driugh, 
penetrate,  ooze,  drip,  whence  the  word  drook,  to  saturate 
with  moisture;  and  drookit,  wet  through.  (See  Drook, 
ante,  page  73.)  Jamieson  derives  it  from  the  Gaelic 
cranntarach,  but  no  such  word  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Gaelic  Dictionaries  of  Armstrong,  Macleod,  and  Dewar, 
MacAlpine,  or  the  Highland  Society  of  Edinburgh  : — 

When  hailstones  drive  wi'  bitter  skyte, 
And  infant  frosts  begin  to  bite 
In  hoary  cranreuch  drest. 

— Burns  :  The  Jolly  Beggars. 

The  French  word  for  hoar-frost  or  cranreuch  is  verglas, 
which  is  also  of  Gaelic  origin  ivom/uar,  cold ;  and  g/as, 
grey. 

I?iuk,  a  space  cleared  out  and  set  in  order  for  sport  or 
jousting,  and  in  winter  for  curling  or  skating  on  the  ice  : 

Trumpets  and  shaltinos  with  a  shout 

Played  ere  the  rink  began, 
And  equal  judges  sat  about 
To  see  wha  tint  or  wan 

The  field  that  day. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :    T/te  Evergreen. 

Then  Stevan  cam  steppand  in, 
Nae  ;■/;//■  might  him  arrest. 

— Chrisfs  Kirk  on  the  Green. 

Jamieson  derives  rifik  from  the  English  ring,  a  circle ; 
but  it  is  more  probably  from  the  Gaelic  rianaich,  to 
arrange,  to  set  in  order,  to  prepare. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  257 

Ripp,  a  handful  of  unthrashed  ears  of  corn  pulled  out 
of  the  sheaf  or  stack  to  give  to  an  animal ;  from  the  Gae- 
lic reub,  to  rend,  to  pull  out : — 

A  guid  New  Year  I  wish  thee,  Maggie ; 
Hae  !  there's  a  ripp  to  thy  auld  baggie. 
— Burns  :  Atdd  Farmer  to  his  Auld  Alare  Maggie. 

An'  tent  their  duty,  e'en  and  morn, 
Wi'  teats  o'  hay  and  ripps  o'  corn. 

— Burns  :  Mailie — the  Author's  Pet  Yowe. 

Rippet,  a  slight  matrimonial  quarrel.  The  word  seems 
to  be  derived  either  from  the  Gaelic  riapaladh,  mis- 
management, bungling,  misunderstanding ;  or  from 
reiibte,  a  rent — from  reub,  to  tear,  to  rend,  to  pull 
asunder ;  the  English  rip,  or  rip  up  : — 

Mr.  Mair,  a  Scotch  minister,  was  rather  short  tempered,  and  had 
a  wife  named  Rebecca,  whom,  for  brevity's  sake,  he  called  Beckie. 
He  kept  a  diary,  and  among  other  entries  this  one  was  very  fre- 
quent. "Beckie  and  I  had  a  rippet,  for  which  I  desire  to  be 
humble."  A  gentleman  who  had  been  on  a  visit  to  the  minister 
went  to  Edinburgh  and  told  the  story  to  a  minister  and  his  wife 
there,  when  the  lady  replied,  "  Weel,  weel  !  he  must  have  been  an 
excellent  man  that  Mr.  Mair.  My  husband  and  I  sometimes  have 
rippets,  but  deil  tak'  me  if  he's  ever  humble." 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 

Rippet  means  a  noise  or  disturbance  of  any  kind,  not  specifically 
and  only  a  domestic  quarrel  between  husband  and  wife.  I  have 
often  been  told  by  my  mother  when  a  boy  to  be  "  quate  and  no 
breed  sic  a  rippet." — R.  D. 


Rispie,  a  bulrush ;   the  badge  of  the   clan   Mackay, 
worn  in  the  bonnet : — 

R 


258  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Among  the  greene  rispies  and  the  reeds. 
— Allan  Ramsay  :   The  Golden  Terge — The  Evergreen. 

Jamieson  erroneously  defines  rispie  to  mean  coarse  grass, 
and  derives  the  word  from  the  English  rasp,  to  scrape, 
with  which,  however,  it  has  not  the  slightest  connection. 
It  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic  rias,  or  riasg,  a 
moor,  a  fen,  a  marsh,  where  bulrushes  grow ;  and  thus  to 
signify  a  marsh  flower  or  bulrush. 

Ritt,  to  thrust  with  a  weapon,  to  stab.  The  etymology 
cannot  be  traced  to  the  Gaelic,  the  German,  the  Flemish, 
or  any  other  of  the  known  sources  of  the  Scottish  lan- 
guage. Jamieson  seems  to  think  it  signifies  to  scratch 
with  a  sharp  instrument.  It  is  possibly  a  corruption  of 
right;  ^' ritted  it  through"  may  mean,  drove  it  right 
through : — 

Young  Johnston  had  a  rust-brown  sword 

Hung  low  down  by  his  gair  [skirt], 
And  he  ritted  it  through  the  young  Colonel, 

That  word  he  never  spak  mair. 
— Ballad  of  Young  Johnson :  Motherwell's  Collection. 

Roddins,  the  red  berries  of  the  hawthorn,  the  rose,  the 
sweet  briar,  and  the  mountain  ash,  more  commonly 
called  rowan,  or  rodden,  in  Scotland ;  from  the  Gaelic 
ruadh,  red.  Jamieson's  Dictionary  confines  the  use  of  the 
word  to  the  berries  of  the  mountain  ash,  but  in  this  he  is 
mistaken,  as  appears  from  the  following  : — 

I've  mair  need  o'  the  rodditis,  Willie, 

That  grow  on  yonder  thorn. 

»  ♦  «  »  » 

He's  got  a  bush  o'  roddins  till  her 
That  grew  on  yonder  thorn, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  259 


Likewise  a  drink  o'  Maywell  water 
Out  o'  his  grass-green  horn. 

—  The  Earl  of  Douglas  and  Dame  Oliphant: 
Buchan's  Ancient  Ballads,  Vol.  II. 

Roop,  Roup,  to  call  out,  especially  if  the  voice  be 
harsh  and  rough ;  roopei,  or  roiipit,  rendered  hoarse  by 
cold  or  by  violent  vociferation.  This  word  seems  to  be 
the  Flemish  roop,  to  cry  out ;  the  Teutonic  rufen,  to  call : 

Alas  !   my  roupit  Muse  is  hearse. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Here  the  poet  is  guilty  of  a  pleonasm,  unusual  with  one 
so  terse  in  expression,  of  using  in  one  line  the  two 
synonymous  words  of  roupit  and  hearse  (hoarse).  But 
he  was  sorely  in  need  of  a  rhyme  for  the  coarse  but 
familiar  word  in  the  third  line  of  the  poem.  Roup  also 
signifies  a  sale  by  auction — from  the  "crying  out"  of  the 
person  who  offers  the  goods  for  sale. 

Roose,  Rouse,  to  praise  or  extol ;  and  thence,  it  has  been 
supposed,  by  extension  of  meaning,  to  drink  a  health  to 
the  person  praised ;  also,  any  drinking-bout  or  carousal. 
The  etymology  of  roose,  in  the  sense  of  to  praise,  as  used 
in  Scotland,  is  unknown.  Rouse,  in  the  sense  of  a  drink- 
ing-bout, has  been  held  by  some  to  be  a  corruption  of 
carouse,  and  by  others  of  the  German  explanation,  heraus, 
signifying  "  empty  the  cup  or  glass,"  drink  it : — 

Roose  the  ford  as  ye  find  it. 
Roose  the  fair  day  at  e'en. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

To  roose  ye  up  and  ca'  ye  guid, 
An'  sprang  o'  great  an'  noble  bluid. 

— Burns  :  To  Gavin  Hamilton. 


26o  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


He  roos'd  my  e'en  sae  bonnie  blue, 
He  roos'd  my  waist  sae  genty  sma'. 

— Burns  :   Young  Jockey. 

Some  o'  them  hae  rooscd  their  hawks, 
And  other  some  their  houndes, 
And  other  some  their  ladies  fair. 

— Motherwell's  Ancient  Minstrelsy. 

In  all  the  above  quotations  the  meaning  of  roose  is  clearly 
to  praise  or  extol.  But  the  English  rouse  has  not  that 
meaning : — 

No  jocund  health  that  Denmark  drinks  to-day. 
But  the  great  cannon  to  the  clouds  shall  tell, 
And  the  kings  rouse,  the  heavens  shall  bruit  again, 
Bespeaking  earthly  thunder. 

— Shakspeare  :  Hamlet. 

I  have  took  since  supper  a  rouse  or  two  too  much. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

It  is  thus  clear  that  the  Scottish  roose  and  the  English  rouse 
are  of  different  origin.  The  German  rausch,  and  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  roes,  signify  semi-intoxication ;  roestg, 
in  these  languages,  means  nearly  drunk,  or,  as  the 
French  phrase  it,  "  entre  deux  vins,"  or,  as  the  English 
slang  expresses  it,  "halt  seas  over."  In  .Swedish,  rus 
signifies  drunkenness  ;  taga  rus,  to  get  drunk  ;  and  rusig, 
inebriated.  In  Danish,  runs  signifies  drunkenness,  and 
ruse,  intoxicating  liquor.  Narcs  rightly  suspected  that 
the  English  rouse  was  of  Danish  origin.  The  passage  in 
Hamlet,  act  i.  scene  4 — 

The  King  doth  wake  to-night  and  takes  his  rouse, 

signifies  the  King  takes  his  drink,  and   all   the  other 
n  stances  quoted  by  Nares  are  susceptible  of  the  same 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  26l 

interpretation.  Nares  quotes  from  Harman's  "  Caveat 
for  Common  Cursitors,"  1567  : — 

I  thought  it  my  bounden  duty  to  acquaint  your  goodness  with  the 
abominable,  wicked,  and  detestable  behaviour  of  all  these  rozusey 
ragged,  rabblement  of  rakehells. 

He  defines  rowsey  in  this  passage  to  mean  dirty,  but,  in 
view  of  the  Danish,  Dutch,  and  Flemish  derivations,  it 
ought  to  be  translated  "drunken." 

Row,  to  enwrap,  to  entwine,  to  enfold,  also,  to  roll 
like  the  wavelets  on  the  river.  From  the  Gaelic  ruith 
{rui),  to  flow,  to  ripple  : — 

Hap  and  row,  hap  and  row, 

Hap  and  row,  the  feetie  o't, 
It  is  a  wee  bit  eerie  thing, 

I  downa  bide  the  greetie  o't. 

— Gall. 

Then  round  she  row'dhtr  silken  plaid. 

— Ballad  of  Fr emmet  Hall. 

Where  Cart  runs  rowan'  to  the  sea. 

— Burns. 

Rowan,  the  mountain  ash ;  a  tree  that  grows  in  great 
perfection  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  named  from 
its  beautiful  red  berries ;  ruadh,  the  Gaelic  for  red.  This 
tree,  or  a  twig  of  it,  is  supposed,  in  the  superstition  of 
Scotland,  to  be  a  charm  against  witchcraft.  Hence,  it 
has  been  supposed,  but  without  sufficient  authority,  that 
the  phrase,  "Aroint  thee,  witch,"  in  Shakspeare,  is  a 
misprint  for  "  a  rotvan-tree,  witch  !  "  The  word  occurs  in 
no  author  previous  to  Shakspeare  : — 


262  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


The  night  was  fair,  the  moon  was  up, 
The  wind  blew  low  among  the  gowans. 

Or  fitful  rose  o'er  Athole  woods. 

An'  shook  the  berries  frae  the  rowans. 

— The  Wraith  of  Garry  Water. 

Rowan  tree  and  red  thread 

Mak'  the  witches  tyne  [lose]  their  speed. 

—  Old  Scottish  Proverb. 

Rowt,  to  bellow  or  low  like  cattle ;  from  the  Gaelic 
roiceach,  bellowing.  Nares  erroneously  renders  it  "snore." 
"The  rabble  rowt"  i.e.,  the  roaring  rabble,  the  clamor- 
ous multitude : — 

The  kye  stood  rowtin  in  the  loan. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs, 

Nae  mair  thou'lt  rowte  out  o'er  the  dale. 
Because  thy  pasture's  scanty. 

— Burns  :   The  Ordination. 

And  the  King,  when  he  had  righted  himself  on  the  saddle, 
gathered  his  breath,  and  cried  to  do  me  nae  harm  ;  "for,"  said  he, 
"  he  is  ane  o'  our  Norland  stots,  I  ken  by  the  rowte  o'  him  ; "  and 
they  a'  laughed  and  rotated  loud  eneuch. 

— Scott :  Fortunes  of  Nigel. 


Rowth,  plenty,  abundance ;  a  word  formed  from  roll 
and  rolleth,  Scottish  rowe.  It  is  expressive  of  the  same 
idea  as  in  the  English  phrase,  applied  to  a  rich  man, 
*'  He  rolls  in  wealth."  A  j^eculiarly  Scottish  word  which 
never  seems  to  have  been  English.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  it  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  ruathar^  a  sudden  rush, 
onset,  or  inpouring;  whence,  metaphorically,  a  sudden 
or  violent  influx  of  wealth  or  abundance. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  263 


A  roivth  o'  auld  knick-knackets, 
Rusty  aim  caps,  and  jingling  jackets. 

— Burns  :  Captain  Grose. 

The  ingle-neuk,  with  routh  o'  bannocks  and  bairns  ! 
— A  Scottish  Toast  or  Sentiment :  Dean  Ramsay. 

A  rowt/i  aumrie  and  a  close  nieve. 

— ^Jamieson. 

It's  ye  have  wooers  mony  a  ane, 

An'  lassie,  ye're  but  young,  ye  ken, 
Then  wait  a  wee,  and  cannie  wale, 

A  rout/lie  butt,  a  routhie  ben. 

— Burns  :  Country  Lassie. 

God  grant  your  lordship  joy  and  health. 
Long  days  and  routh  of  real  wealth. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Epistle  to  Lord  Dalhousie. 

A  boundless  hunter  and  a  gunless  gunner  see  aye  roivth  o'  game. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Fortune,  if  thou  wilt  give  me  still 
Hale  breeks,  a  scon,  a  whisky  gill. 
And  rowth  o'  rhyme  to  rave  at  will 
Take  a'  the  rest. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

Roxle,  to  grunt,  to  speak  with  a  hoarse  voice ;  Gaelic 
roc,  a  hoarse  voice ;  French  rauque,  hoarse ;  English 
rook,  a  bird  that  has  a  hoarse  voice  in  cawing ;  Gaelic 
rocair,  a  man  with  a  hoarse  voice ;  rocail,  croaking.  Mr. 
Herbert  Coleridge,  in  his  Dictionary  of  the  oldest  words 
in  the  English  language,  from  the  semi-Saxon  period  of 
A.D.  1250  to  A.D.  1800,  derives  it  from  the  Dutch  rotelen, 
but  the  word  does  not  appear  in  any  Dutch  or  Flemish 
Dictionary. 


264  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Royet,  wild,  dissipated,  riotous,  unruly.  Roit,  accord- 
ing to  Jamieson,  is  a  term  of  contempt  for  a  woman, 
often  conjoined  with  an  adjective,  denoting  bad  temper; 
as,  '•''■^iXi  ill-natured  roit."  The  resemblance  to  the  English 
riot  suggests  its  derivation  from  that  word,  but  both  royet 
and  riot  are  traceable  to  the  Gaelic  raoit,  noisy,  obstre- 
perous, or  indecent  mirth  and  revelry ;  and  ruidhiear,  a 
loud  reveller;  riatach,  indecent,  immodest.  Jamieson, 
however,  derives  it  from  the  French  roide,  stiff,  which  he 
wrongly  translates  fierce,  ungovernable  : — 

Royet  lads  may  make  sober  men. 

^Allan  Ramsay :  Scots  Proverbs. 


Rude,  the  complexion  ;  the  ruddy  face  of  a  healthy 
person.  From  the  Flemish  rood,  red,  which  has  the 
same  meaning;  Gaelic  ntath,  red,  corrupted  by  the 
Lowland  Scotch  into  Roy,  as  in  Rob  Roy,  G\\^&roy,  and 
applied  to  the  hair  as  well  as  to  the  complexion  : — 

Of  all  their  maidens  myld  as  meid 

Was  nane  sae  gymp  as  Gillie, 
As  ony  rose  her  rude  was  reid, 

Her  lyre  was  like  the  lilie. 

— Christ's  Kirk  on  the  Greene. 

She  has  put  it  to  her  roudes  lip, 

And  to  her  roudes  chin, 
She  has  put  it  to  her  fause,  fause  mouth, 

But  never  a  drap  gaed  in. 

— Prince  Robert,  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  a  note  to  this  Ballad,  glosses  roudes 
by  "  haggard."     Surely  this  is  wrong  ? 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  265 

Rtigg,  a  great  bargain,  a  thing  ridiculously  cheap ;  to 
spoil,  to  plunder,  to  seize.  From  the  Gaelic  riig^  the 
past  tense  of  beir,  to  take  hold  of : — 

When  borrowers  brak,  the  pawns  were  rugg, 
Rings,  beads  of  pearl  or  siller  jug, 
I  sold  them  off, — ne'er  fashed  my  lug 

Wi'  girns  or  curses  ; 
The  mair  they  whinged,  it  gart  me  hug 
My  swelling  purses. 
— Allan  Ramsay  :  Last  Speech  of  a  Wretched  Miser. 

Rule  the  Roast.  This  originally  Scottish  phrase  has 
obtained  currency  in  England,  and  excited  much  contro- 
versy as  to  its  origin.  It  has  been  derived  from  the 
function  of  a  chief  cook,  to  be  master  or  mistress  in  the 
kitchen,  and  as  such,  to  "  rule  the  roasting."  It  has  also 
been  derived  from  the  mastery  of  the  cock  among  the 
hens,  as  ruling  the  place  where  the  fowls  roost  or  sleep. 
In  the  Scottish  language  roost  signifies  the  inner  roof  of 
a  cottage,  composed  of  spars  or  beams  reaching  from  one 
wall  to  the  other ;  the  highest  interior  part  of  the  building. 
Hence,  to  rule  the  roast,  or  roost,  or  to  rule  the  house,  to 
be  the  master. 

Rung,  a  cudgel,  a  staff,  a  bludgeon,  the  step  of  a 
ladder;  any  thick  strong  piece  of  wood  that  may  be 
wielded  in  the  hand  as  a  weapon.  From  the  Gaelic 
rong,  which  has  the  same  meaning.  The  modern  Irish 
call  a  bludgeon  a  shillelah ;  also,  a  Gaelic  word  for 
seileach,  a  willow ;  and  slaith  {sla),  a  wand  : — 

Auld  Scotland  has  a  raucle  tongue, 
She's  just  a  deevil  wi'  a  rtmg. 

— Burns. 


266  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Runk,  to  whisper  secret  slanders,  also,  a  term  of 
opprobrium  applied  to  an  old  woman,  a  gossip,  or  a 
scandal-monger.  From  the  Gaelic  rimach,  dark,  mys- 
terious, also,  a  confidant ;  run,  a  whisper,  a  mystery ;  and 
by  extension  of  the  original  meaning,  a  scandal  repeated 
under  the  pretence  of  a  secret  confidential  disclosure. 

Runt,  a  deprecatory  or  contemptuous  name  for  an  old 
woman ;  from  the  Teutonic  ri7id,  and  Flemish  rund,  an 
ox,  or  a  cow  that  calves  no  longer ;  also,  the  hard  stalk 
of  kail  or  cabbage  left  in  the  ground,  that  has  ceased  to 
sprout. 

Ruther.  This  word,  according  to  Jamieson,  means  to 
storm,  to  bluster,  to  roar,  also,  an  uproar  or  commotion. 
It  is  probably  from  the  Gaelic  rutharach,  quarrelsome, 
contentious,  and  rutharachd,  quarrelsomeness. 

Ryg-bane,  or  Rig-bane,  the  spine  or  backbone;  from 
the  Flemish  rug,  the  German  rikken,  the  back;  and 
been,  a  bone.  The  original  meaning  of  rug  and  rikken 
is  that  of  extension  in  length ;  from  the  Gaelic  ruig,  to 
extend,  to  reach ;  and  ruigh,  or  righe,  an  arm ;  ruighe 
(the  English  ridge)  is  the  extension  of  a  mountain,  or  of 
a  series  of  hills  forming,  as  it  were,  the  spine  or  back- 
bone of  the  land. 

Sain,  to  bless,  to  preserve  in  happiness ;  from  the 
Teutonic  segnen,  to  bless;  and  segen,  a  benediction; 
Flemish  zegenen, — all  probably  from  the  Latin  sanus : — 

Sain  yoursel  frae  the  deil  and  the  laird's  bairns. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scois  Proverbs. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  267 

Sairing,  enough,  that  which  satisfies  one ;  used  both  in 
a  favourable  and  unfavourable  sense.  "  He  got  his 
sairhij"  applied  to  a  drubbing  or  beating;  in  the  ironical 
sense,  he  got  enough  of  it,  or,  as  Jamieson  phrases  it  in 
English,  "  he  got  his  belly  full  of  it."  A  corruption  of 
serve,  or  serve  the  purpose,  therefore,  a  sufficiency  : — 

You  couldna  look  your  sairin  at  her  face, 
So  meek  it  was,  so  sweet,  so  fu'  o'  grace. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

Sairy.  or  Sair,  very,  or  very  great ;  from  the  Teutonic 
sehr,  as  in  sehr  schofi,  sehr  gut,  very  fair,  very  good ; 
sometimes  used  in  English  in  the  form  oi sore ;  as,  "sore 
distressed,"  very  much  distressed  : — 

And  when  they  meet  wi'  sair  disasters, 
Like  loss  o'  health  or  want  o'  masters. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

It's  a  sair  dung  bairn  that  maunna  greet. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

It's  a  sair  field  where  a'  are  slain. 

— Idem. 

The  state  of  man  does  change  and  vary  : 
Now  sound,  now  sick,  now  blythe,  now  sary, 
Now  dansand  merry,  now  like  to  dee. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  The  Evergreen. 

Sak,  Saik,  Sake,  blame,  guilt ;  whence  sachless,  sackless, 
saikless,  guiltless,  innocent;  and  also,  by  extension  of 
meaning,  foolish,  worthless,  as  in  the  corresponding 
English  word,  "  an  innocent,"  to  signify  an  imbecile.  The 
root  of  all  these  words  appears  to  be  the  Gaelic  sag,  weight, 
whence,  also,  sag,  to  weigh  or  press  down ;  and  sack,  a 


268  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

bag  to  carry  heavy  articles.  The  idea  of  weight,  as 
appHed  to  guilt  and  blameworthiness,  is  obvious,  as  in 
the  line  quoted  by  Jamieson,  "Mary  was  sackless  o' 
breaking  her  vow,"  i.e.,  she  was  not  burthened  with  the 
guilt  of  breaking  her  vow.  A  saikless  person,  or  an  im- 
becile, in  like  manner,  is  one  who  is  not  weighted  with 
intellect.  Sag,  in  English,  is  said  of  a  rope  not  drawn 
tightly  enough,  and  weighed  down  in  the  middle.  It 
also  signifies  to  bend  or  give  way  under  pressure  of 
weight : — 

The  heart  I  bear 
Shall  never  sag  with  doubt  or  shake  with  fear. 

— Shakspeare. 

"  It  is  observable,"  says  Dr.  Johnson,  "  that  sack  (in  the 
sense  of  a  bag  for  carrying  weight)  is  to  be  found  in  all 
languages,  and  is  therefore  conceived  to  be  antediluvian." 
The  phrase  "sair  saiight"  quoted  by  Jamieson,  and 
defined  as  signifying  "much  exhausted,  and  especially 
descriptive  of  bodily  debility,"  is  traceable  to  the  same 
root,  and  might  be  rendered,  sorely  weighed  down  by 
weakness  or  infirmity. 

Satkless,  innocent,   guiltless. 

"Oh,  is  this  water  deep," he  said, 

"As  it  is  wondrous  dim  ; 
Or  is  it  sic  as  a  saik/css  maid, 

And  a  leal  true  knicht  may  swim  ? " 

— Ballad  of  Sir  Roland. 

Leave  off  your  douking  on  the  day. 

And  douk  upon  the  night. 
And  where  that  saikless  knight  lies  slain, 

The  candies  will  burn  bright. 

— Earl  Richard,  Border  Minstrelsy, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  269 

Sandie,  Safiders,  Sawney,  Santtock,  abbreviations  of 
the  favourite  Scottish  Christian  name  of  Alexander; 
from  the  last  two  syllables.  The  English  commonly 
abbreviated  the  first  two  syllables  into  Aleck.  In  the 
days  immediately  after  the  accession  of  James  VI.  to 
the  English  throne,  under  the  title  of  James  I.,  to  the 
time  of  George  III.  and  the  Bute  Administration,  when 
Scotsmen  were  exceedingly  unpopular,  and  when  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson — the  great  Scoto-phobist,  the  son  of  a 
Scotch  bookseller  at  Lichfield — thought  it  prudent  to 
disguise  his  origin,  and  overdid  his  prudence  by  malign- 
ing his  father's  countrymen,  it  was  customary  to  desig- 
nate a  Scotsman  as  a  Saivney.  The  vulgar  epithet,  how- 
ever, is  fast  dying  out,  and  is  nearly  obsolete  : — 

An',  Lord,  remember  singing  Sannock 
Wi'  hale  breeks,  saxpence,  and  a  bannock. 
,  — Burns  :  To  James  Tait. 

Sanshagh,  or  Sanshach.  Jamieson  defines  this  word 
as  meaning  wily,  crafty,  sarcastically  clever,  saucy,  dis- 
dainful, and  cites — "  '  He's  a  sanshach  callant,  or  chiel,'  is 
a  phrase  in  use  in  Aberdeenshire  and  the  Mearns."  He 
thinks  it  is  derivable  from  the  Gaelic  saobh-7iosach,  angry, 
peevish,  irascible ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  it  comes 
from  sean,  old ;  and  seach  (shach),  dry  or  caustic,  an  old 
man  of  a  cynical  temper. 

Sant,  or  Saunter.  Jamieson  defines  this  word  as 
meaning  "  to  disappear,  to  vanish  suddenly  out  of  sight," 
and  quotes  it  as  in  use  in  Ettrick  Forest.  "  It's  sauted, 
but  it  will,  may  be,  cast  up  again."  In  "  Wright's  Dic- 
tionary of  Obsolete  and  Provincial  English,"  saunt,  a 


270  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

northern  word,  is  said  to  signify  to  vanish ;  and  saum,  to 
wander  lazily  about.  The  word  is  nearly,  if  not  quite 
obsolete,  and  does  not  appear  either  in  Burns  or  Allan 
Ramsay.  Sant  was  formerly  current  in  the  same  sense 
as  satinter,  to  roam  idly  or  listlessly  about ;  to  saum,  to 
disappear  from,  or  neglect  one's  work  or  duty.  Johnson 
absurdly  derived  saunter  from  an  expression  said  to  have 
been  used  in  the  time  of  the  crusades,  in  application  to 
the  idle  vagabonds  and  impostors  who  roamed  through 
the  country  and  begged  for  money  to  help  them  on  their 
way  to  the  Holy  Land,  or  La  Sainie  Terre.  Satmfer,  as 
now  used  in  English,  is  almost  synonymous  with  the 
Scottish  dauner,  q.v.  But  no  authoritative  derivation 
has  yet  been  discovered,  either  for  sant  or  saunter,  unless 
that  given  by  Mr.  Wedgwood,  from  the  German  schlen- 
dern,  can  be  deemed  satisfactory.  In  Sheffield,  Duke 
of  Buckingham's  Essay  on  "  Satire,"  saunter  is  used  in  a 
curiously  unusual  sense,  an  investigation  of  which  may 
possibly  throw  light  on  the  original  meaning  of  the  word  : 

WTiile  sauntering  Charles  betwixt  so  mean  a  brace  [of  mistresses], 

Meets  with  dissembling  still  in  either  place, 

Affected  humour  or  a  painted  face  ; 

In  loyal  libels  we  have  often  told  him 

How  one  has  jilted  him,  the  other  sold  him. 
******** 

Was  ever  Prince  by  two  at  once  misled, 
Foolish  and  false,  ill-natured  and  ill-bred  ? 

Sir  Walter  Scott  cites  from  the  same  author,  in  reference 
to  the  sauntering  of  Charles  II. : — 

In  his  later  hours,  there  was  as  much  laziness  as  love  in  all  those 

hours  he  passed  with  his  mistresses,  who,  after  all,  only  served  to 

•afill  up  his  seraglio,   while  a  bewitching  kind  of  pleasure  called 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  2'Jl 


sauntering  and  talking  without  restraint,  was  the  true  sultana  he 
delighted  in. 

In  Gaelic  samit,  and  samitaich,  signify  to  covet,  to  desire, 
to  lust  after;  and  if  this  be  the  true  derivation  of  the 
word,  the  passage  from  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  would 
be  exceedingly  appropriate.  To  saunter  was  applied  to 
idle  men  who  followed  women  about  the  streets,  with 
libidinous  intent  of  admiration  or  conversation ;  sanntaire, 
a  lustful  man.  The  French  have  a  little  comedy  entitled, 
"  Un  monsieur  qui  suit  les  femmes,"  which  expresses  the 
idea  of  saiinferer,  as  applied  to  Charles  II. 

Sap.  a  fool,  a  simpleton,  a  ninny.  The  English  has 
milksop,  an  effeminate  fool.  Sap  and  sop  are  both 
derived  from  the  Gaelic  saobh,  silly,  foolish,  as  well  as 
the  English  slang,  soft,  apt  to  be  imposed  upon. 

Sark,  the  linen,  woollen,  silken,  or  cotton  garment  worn 
next  to  the  skin  by  men  and  women ;  a  shirt  or  shift ; 
the  French  chemise,  the  German  hemde.  'Wo.tX-sarkif,  well 
provided  with  shirts  : — 

The  last  Halloween  I  was  wauken, 
My  droifkit  Mr-('-sleeve  as  ye  ken. 

— Burns  :  Tani  Glen, 

They  reel'd,  they  sat,  they  crossed,  they  cleekit, 

Till  ilka  carlin  swat  and  reekit. 

And  coost  her  duddies  to  the  wark, 

And  linkit  at  it  in  her  sark  ! 
*•*♦**» 

Tarn  tint  his  reason  a'  thegither, 

And  roar'd.out,  "  Weel  done  !  cutty  sark  !" 

And  in  an  instant  a'  was  dark. 

^— Burns  :   Tain  o'  S/iante?;      ' 


2J2  POETRY   ANTD    HUMOUR 

Being  asked  what  was  the  difference  between  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters, who  wear  no  surplices,  and  Episcojialians,  who  do,  an  old 
lady  replied,  "  Well,  }e  see,  the  Presbyterian  minister  wears  his 
sari  under  his  coat,  the  Episcopalian  wears  /its  sari;  aboon  his  coat." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

The  phrase,  '' sark-alane,''  is  used  to  signify  nude, 
with  the  exception  of  the  shirt ;  and  "  a  sarkfii'  o'  sair 
banes,"  to  express  the  condition  of  a  person  suffering 
from  great  fatigue,  or  from  a  sound  beating.  The  ety- 
mology of  the  word,  which  is  peculiar  to  Scotland  and 
the  North  of  England,  is  uncertain.  Attempts  have  been 
made  to  trace  it  from  the  Swedish,  the  Icelandic,  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  and  the  Greek,  but  without  obvious  success. 

In  the  "Dictionaire  de  la  Langue  Romane,  ou  de 
Vieux  Langage  Frangais,"  (Paris,  1768),  the  Scottish 
word  sark  is  rendered  serecots,  and  serecot,  "  une  cami- 
sole, une  chemisette." 

Saulie^  a  hired  mourner,  a  mute,  or  undertaker's  man. 
The  word  seems  to  have  been  employed  to  express  the 
mock  or  feigned  sorrow  assumed  in  the  lugubrious  faces 
of  these  men,  and  to  be  derived  from  the  Gaelic  sail, 
mockery,  satire,  derision ;  samhladh,  an  apparition,  a 
ghost,  has  also  been  suggested  as  the  origin  of  the 
word.  The  derivatiDn  ofjaniieson  from  Ww  regimu/i, 
is  scarcely  worthy  of  consideration. 


Saiir,  to  flavour ;  saurless,  insipid,  tasteless ;  supposed 
to  be  a  corruption  of  savour.  The  French  for  a  red 
herring  is  saure ;  and  saurir^  or  saurer,  is  to  flavour  with 
salt. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  273 


Scaff-raff,  rubbish,  refuse  : — 

If  you  and  I  were  at  the  Witherspoon's  Latch,  wi'  ilka  ane  a 
gude  oak  hippie  in  his  hand,  we  wadna  turn  back — no,  not  for 
half-a-dozen  o'  your  scaff-raff'. 

— Scott :  Guy  Mannering. 

Jamieson,  unaware  of  the  indigenous  roots  of  these 
words,  derives  them  from  the  Swedish  scaef,  a  rag,  any 
thing  shaved  off;  and  rafa^  to  snatch  awaj'.  The  true 
etymology,  however,  is  from  the  GaeHc  sgavih  (pro- 
nounced scaii),  dross,  dirt,  rubbish;  and  rabJi  {raff), 
coarse,  idle,  useless. 


Scag,  to  shrivel  in  the  heat  or  by  exposure  to  the 
weather,  to  split,  to  crack  in  the  heat ;  a  term  applied  in 
the  fishing  villages  of  Scotland,  to  fish  dried  or  fresh  that 
have  been  kept  too  long.  "A  scaggit  haddie,"  a  haddock 
spoiled  by  long  exposure.  Jamieson  hesitates  between 
the  Icelandic  skacka,  inquare ;  and  the  Gaelic  sgag,  as 
the  derivation  of  this  word.  The  hesitation  was  needless. 
Sgag,  in  Gaelic,  signifies  to  shrivel  up,  to  crack,  to  split, 
or  to  spoil  and  become  putrid  by  long  keeping ;  sgagta, 
lean,  emaciated. 

Seance,  skance.  To  reflect  upon  a  person's  character 
or  conduct  by  charge  or  insinuation,  to  censure,  to  taunt 
indirectly ;  to  glance  at  a  subject  cursorily  in  conversa- 
tion ;  also,  a  transient  look  at  any  thing.  These  words 
are  not  used  in  English,  though  askance,  a  recognised 
English  word,  appears  to  be  from  the  same  root.  The 
ordinary  derivation  of  askance  is  either  from  the  Italian 
schianco,  athwart,  or  from  the  Flemish  and  Dutch  schum, 

s 


274  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

oblique,  to  squint.  The  latter  etymology,  though  it 
meets  the  English  sense  of  the  word,  does  not  correspond 
with  the  variety  of  meanings  in  which  it  is  employed  in 
Scotland.  Neither  does  it  explain  the  English  scan^  to 
examine,  to  scrutinize, — still  less  the  scanning  or  scansion 
of  the  syllables  or  feet  in  a  verse. 

Perhaps  the  Gaelic  sgath^  a  shadow,  a  reflection  in  the 
water  or  in  a  glass,  sgathan  {sga-an),  a  mirror,  and 
sgathanatch,  to  look  in  a  glass,  may  supply  the  root  of  the 
Scottish,  if  not  the  English  words.  Tried  by  these  tests, 
seance  might  signify  to  cast  a  shadow  or  a  reflexion  upon 
one,  to  take  a  rapid  glance  as  of  one's  self  in  a  glass ; 
and  to  scan,  to  examine,  to  scrutinize,  "to  hold  the 
mirror  up  to  nature,"  as  Shakspeare  has  it.  In  these 
senses,  the  word  might  more  easily  be  derivable  from  the 
Gaelic,  which  does  not  imply  obliquity,  than  from  the 
Flemish  and  Dutch,  of  which  obliquity  is  the  leading,  if 
not  the  sole  idea,  as  in  the  English  squint : — 

Then  gently  scan  your  brother  man, 

Still  gentlier  sister  woman  ; 
Though  they  may  gang  a  kennin'  wrang, 

To  stej)  aside  is  human. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Unco  Guid. 

To  sca7i  a  verse,  to  examine  or  scrutinize  whether  it  con- 
tains the  proper  number  of  feet  or  syllables,  or  is  otherwise 
correct,  may  possibly  be  an  offshoot  of  the  same  idea ; 
though  all  the  etymologists  insist  that  it  comes  from  the 
Italian  scajidio,  to  climb. 

Scarf,  a  scratch ;  scart-free,  without  a  scratch  or  injury. 
Scart  is  also  a  name  given,  in  most  parts  of  Scotland,  to 
the  rapacious  sea-bird  the  Cormorant.    Scart,  to  scratch, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  275 

is  a  softer  rendering  of  the  harsher  English  word ;  and 
scart,  a  cormorant,  is  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  sgarb/i, 
which  has  the  same  meaning  : — 

They  that  bourd  wi'  cats  may  count  upon  scarts. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

To  "  scart  the  buttons,"  or  draw  one's  hand  down  the  breast  of 
another,  so  as  to  touch  the  buttons  with  one's  nail,  is  a  mode  of 
challenging  to  battle  among  Scottish  boys. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Like  scarts  upon  the  wing  by  the  hope  of  plunder  led. 

— Legends  of  the  Isles. 

D'ye  think  ye'Il  help  them  wi'  skirlin'  that  gate,  like  an  auld  skart 
before  a  flaw  o'  weather  ? 

— Scott :  The  Antiquary. 

Scaur,  a  steep  rock,  a  cliff  on  the  shore  ;  skerrie,  a  rock 
in  the  sea.  Scarborough,  a  watering  place  in  England, 
signifies  the  town  on  the  cliff  or  rock ;  Skerrievore  is  the 
name  of  the  famous  lighthouse  on  the  West  Coast  of 
Scotland;  the  skerries  are  rocks  in  the  sea  among  the 
Scilly  islands.  Both  scaur  and  skerrie  are  traceable  to 
the  Gaelic  sgeir,  a  rock  in  the  sea;  and  sgor,  a  steep 
mountain  side ;  whence  also  the  English  scar : — 

Ye  that  sail  the  stormy  seas 

Of  the  distant  Hebrides. 
*  *  *  * 

By  lordly  Mull  and  Ulva's  shore, 
Beware  the  witch  of  Skerrievore. 

— Legends  of  the  Isles. 

Where'er  ye  come  by  creek  or  scaur, 
Ye  bring  bright  beauty. 

— ^James  Ballantine. 


276  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

Schacklock.  Jamieson  imagines  this  word  to  mean  a 
pickpocket  or  burglar  or  one  who  shakes  or  loosens  locks. 
It  is,  however,  a  term  of  contempt  for  a  lazy  ne'er-do-weel, 
like  the  similar  English  word,  shackaback,  and  is  derivable 
from  the  Gaelic  seac  {shack),  useless,  withered,  dried  up ; 
and  lej(g,  dull,  sluggish,  and  incorrigibly  lazy. 

Schore,  a  man  of  high  rank  ;  schore-chiefiaiii,  a  supreme 
chief.  Jamieson  derives  schore  from  the  German  schor  or 
schoren,  altus  eminens — a  word  which  is  not  to  be  found 
in  any  German  Dictionary,  nor  in  Dutch  or  Flemish,  or  any 
other  Teutonic  speech.  The  etymology  is  unknown  or 
difficult  to  discover,  unless  it  be  presumed  that  the  word 
was  used  metaphorically  for  high,  in  the  sense  of  an 
eminence ;  from  the  Gaelic  sgor,  a  steep  rock ;  scaur,  a 
cliff. 

Schreiv  (sometimes  written  schrow),  to  curse ;  allied  to 
the  English  shreto,  a  scolding  and  ill-tempered  woman, 
and  usually  derived  from  the  German  beschuieii,  to  curse. 
A  screw,  in  English  slang,  signifies  a  mean,  niggardly  per- 
son, who,  in  American  parlance,  would  be  called  "a  mean 
cuss,"  or  curse.  A  miserable  old  horse  is  called  a  screw, 
not  as  the  Slang  Dictionary  absurdly  says,  "  from  the 
screw-like  manner  in  which  his  ribs  generally  show  through 
the  skin,"  but  from  the  original  sense  of  shrew  or 
schrow,  to  curse, — i.e.,  a  horse  only  fit  to  swear  at, 
■  — or  possibly  from  the  Gaelic  sgruit,  old,  wrinkled, 
thin,  meagre.  Schrewit  signifies  accursed,  also  poisonous, 
which  is  doubtless  the  origin  of  the  slang  English  screwed, 
intoxicated.  The  kindred  English  word  scrub,  a  mean 
person ;  and  scrubbed,  vile,  worthless,  shabby,  as  used  by 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  277 

Shakspeare  in  the  phrase,  "  a  little  scrubbed  boy,"  is  evi- 
dently derived  from  the  Gaelic  sgrub,  to  act  in  a  mean 
manner ;  and  sgrubatr,  a  churl,  a  niggard,  or  a  despicable 
person.  The  derivation  of  the  Scottish  schreio,  or  schrow, 
remains  obscure,  as  that  from  the  German  beschreian,  to 
decry,  or  bewitch,  can  scarcely  be  considered  correct. 

Schrow, — the  English  shrew, — a  scolding  woman;  a 
word  formerly  used  in  reference  to  the  male  sex,  in  the 
sense  of  a  disagreeable  and  quarrelsome  person  ;  shrewd, 
an  epithet  applied  to  a  man  of  penetration  and  sharp 
common  sense.  Beschrew,  to  curse;  ^^ Beshrcw  me!" 
an  abjurgation — may  I  be  cursed  !  These  words,  both  in 
Scottish  and  English,  have  given  rise  to  many  discussions 
among  the  etymologists,  which  are  not  yet  ended.  Shrew, 
or  schrow,  has  been  derived  from  the  Teutonic  schreien, 
to  shriek,  to  call  out  lustily ;  and  from  the  little  harmless 
animal  called  the  shrew  mouse,  which  was  fabled  to  run 
over  the  backs  of  cattle  and  do  them  injury  by  the  sup- 
posed venom  of  its  bite.  All  these  apparently  incongru- 
ous or  contradictory  derivations  resolve  themselves  into 
simplicity  by  the  Gaelic  skriith  (sru),  to  run,  to  flow.  A 
shrew  is  a  scold,  a  woman  whose  tongue  runs  too  rapidly, 
or  a  man,  if  he  have  the  same  disagreeable  characteristic ; 
shrewd  is  an  epithet  applied  to  one  whose  ideas  run 
clearly  and  precisely.  The  shretv  mouse  is  the  running 
mouse. 

Sclauric,  to  bespatter  with  mud  ;  also  metaphorically, 
to  abuse,  revile,  to  asperse,  make  accusation  against,  on 
the  principle  of  the  English  saying,  "  Throw  mud  enough  ; 
some  of  it  will  stick,"      The  lowland  Scotch  claur,  or 


278  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

glatir,  signifies  mud,  q.  v.  This  word  is  derived  from  the 
Gaelic  daba?-  (aspirated  clabhar — claiir),  filth,  mire,  mud; 
"A  gowpen  o'  glmir"  or  clatir,  the  two  hands  conjoined, 
filled  with  mud.  When  the  initial  s  was  either  omitted 
ft-om  or  joined  to  the  root-word,  is  not  discoverable. 
(See  Claur,  or  Glaur,  ante,  page  47.) 

Scogie,  Scogie-lass,  a  kitchen  drudge,  a  maid-of-all-work, 
a  "slavey;"  one  unskilled  in  all  but  the  commonest  and 
coarsest  work.  From  the  Gaelic  sgog,  a  fool,  a  dolt,  one 
who  knows  nothing. 

Scold,  or  Skald.  Fingal  and  the  other  warriors  whose 
deeds  are  commemorated  by  Ossian,  drank  out  of  shells 
(scallop  shells),  doubtless  the  first  natural  objects  that  in 
the  earliest  ages  were  employed  for  the  purpose.  Scold 
is  an  obsolete  word,  signifying  to  drink  a  health,  evi- 
dently derived  from  shell,  or  scallop ;  the  Teutonic  schale, 
a  shell  or  a  cup  ;  the  Danish  skiall,  the  French  escaille,  or 
ecaille,  the  Flemish  and  Dutch  schelp  and  schaal,  the 
Norse  shil,  the  Greek  chalys,  the  Latin  calix,  a  shell  or 
cup.  Possibly  the  tradition  that  the  Scandinavian  war- 
riors drank  their  wine  or  mead  out  of  the  skulls  of  their 
enemies  whom  they  had  slain  in  battle,  arose  from  a 
modern  misconception  of  the  meaning  of  skill — originally 
synonymous  with  the  skull  or  cranium,  or  shell  of  the 
brain.  Skul  is  used  by  the  old  Scottish  poet,  Douglas, 
for  a  goblet  or  large  bowl : — 

To  scold  or  scoll,  to  drink  healths,  to  drink  as  a  toast ;  scolder,  a 
drinker  of  healths ;  sktd,  a  salutation  of  one  who  is  present,  or  of 
the  respect  paid  to  an  absent  person,  by  expressing  a  wish  for  his 
health  when  one  is  about  to  drink  it. 

— ^Jamieson. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  279 


Skeolach  (sgeolach),  the  name  of  one  of  Fingal's  drinking  cups. 
— Macleod  and  Dewar  :   Gaelic  Dictionary. 

The  custom  of  drinking  out  of  shells  is  of  great  antiquity,  and  was 
very  common  among  the  ancient  Gael.  Hence  the  expression  so 
often  met  with  in  the  Fingalian  poets,  "the  hall  of  shells,"  '"the 
chief  of  shells,"  "  the  shell  and  the  song."  The  scallop  shell  is  still 
used  in  drinking  strong  liquors  at  the  tables  of  those  gentlemen  who 
are  desirous  to  preserve  the  usages  of  their  ancestors. 

— Armstrong's  Gaelic  Dictionary,  1S2S. 


Scon,  or  Scone,  a  barley  cake ;  from  the  Gaelic  sgonn, 
a  lump  or  mass  : — 

Leeze  me  on  thee,  John  Barleycorn, 

Thou  King  o'  grain, 
On  thee  auld  Scotland  chaws  her  cood. 
In  souple  scones,  the  wale  o'  food. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink, 


Scoot,  a  tramp,  a  gad-about,  a  vagrant ;  a  term  of 
opprobium  given  to  a  low  woman.  From  the  Gaelic 
sguit,  to  wander.  The  English  scout,  a  person  employed 
by  an  army  to  reconnoitre,  by  travelling  or  wandering  to 
and  fro,  so  as  to  observe  the  motions  of  the  enemy,  is 
obviously  from  the  same  root. 

Scottis  Bed.  "  This  phrase,"  says  Jamieson,  "  occurs 
in  an  Aberdeen  Register,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  affix  any 
determinate  meaning  to  it."  May  it  not  mean  a  ship's 
bed,  or  a  hammock — from  scothach,  a  small  skiff? 

Scouth,  or  Skoiith,  elbow-room,  space,  scope,  room  for 
the  arm  in  wielding  a  weapon  so  as  to  cut  off  an  enemy  or 


28o  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


an  obstruction  at  one  blow  :  from  the  Gaelic  sgud,  to  lop, 
to  cut  off;  si^i/dadh,  act  of  cutting  down  by  one  sudden 
blow  : — 

And  he  got  sconth  to  wield  his  tree, 
I  fear  you'll  both  be  paid. 

—Ballad  of  Robin  llmi. 

By  break  of  day  he  seeks  the  dowie  glen, 
That  he  may  scouth  to  a'  his  morning  len. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Pastoral  on  the  Death  of 
Matthe'u  Prior, 

They  tak  religion  in  their  mouth, 
They  talk  o'  mercy,  grace,  and  truths 
For  what  ?  to  gie  their  malice  scouth 

On  some  puir  wight 
An'  hunt  him  down,  o'er  right  and  ruth. 
To  ruin  straight. 

—Burns  :  7^o  the  Rev.  John  M'Matk. 

"Scouth  and  rowth"  is  a  proverbial  phrase  for  elbow- 
room  and  abundance : — 

That's  a  good  gang  for  your  horse,  he'll  have  scouth  and  routh. 

— ^Jamieson. 


Sco7i>f,  a  blustering,  low  scoundrel.  Dutch  and 
Flemish  cho/L  Explained  in  Dutch  and  French  Dic- 
tionaries as  "maroufle,  coquin,  maraud,"— i.e.,  a  low 
scoundrel,  a  rogue,  an  impudent  blackguard  : — 

He's  naething  l)ut  a  scouf ;  Danish  sciiffer,  to  gull,  to  cheat,  to 
shufile  ;  a  cheat,  a  false  pretender. 

— ^Tamieson, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  28 1 


Scran,  or  Skran,  odds  and  ends  or  scraps  of  eatables, 
broken  victuals,  also  applied  derisively  to  food  or  daily 
bread : — 

Scranning  is  a  phrase  used  by  school  boys  when  they  spend  their 
pocket-money  at  the  j^astry  cooks. 

— ^Jamieson. 


Scran-pock,  a  beggar's  wallet  to  hold  scraps  of  food.  The 
word  scran  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  sgrath  (pronounced 
sgra),  to  peel,  to  pare,  to  take  off  the  rind  or  skin ;  and 
sgrafhan  (sgra-an),  a  little  peeling  or  paring.  In  the  sense 
of  food,  the  word  occurs  in  the  Irish  objurgation,  "  Bad 
scran  to  ye  ! " 

Screed,  a  lengthy  discourse,  a  prerogative  dissertation, 
or  written  article  : — 

A  man,  condemned  to  death  for  rape  and  murder  at  Inverness, 
requested  that  the  editor  of  the  Courier  might  be  permitted  to  see 
him  the  night  before  his  execution.  After  some  talk,  the  criminal 
said,  "Oh,  Mr.  Carruthers,  what  a  screed ^o\:^\[  be  printin'  in  your 
next  paper  about  me  !  " — M. 


Screik  (or  ScraigJi)  d  Day,  the  early  dawn,  the  first 
flush  of  the  morning  light.  Jamieson  says  the  radical 
word  is  creek ;  from  the  Teutonic  kriecke,  aurora  rutilans. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  screich,  or  shriek,  of  day  means 
the  shrill  cry  of  the  cock  at  early  morn,  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  the  phrase  is  from  the  Flemish  krieken  van 
den  dag,  which  the  French  translate  Paube  du  joiir, 
Vaurore,  the  dawn  of  day. 


282  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Scrieve,  to  roll  or  move  or  glide  easily  : — 

The  wheels  o'  life  gae  down-hill  scrievin'. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


Scrimp,  bare,  scarce ;  scrimply,  barely,  scarcely : — 

Down  flowed  her  robe,  a  tartan  sheen, 
Till  half  a  leg  was  scrimply  seen. 
And  such  a  leg  !  my  bonnie  Jean 
Alone  could  peer  it. 

— Burns  :   The  Vision. 


Scrog,  a  stunted  bush,  furze ;  scroggy,  abounding  in 
underwood,  covered  with  stunted  bushes  or  furze  like 
the  Scottish  mountains  : — 

The  way  toward  the  cite  was  stony,  thorny,  and  scroggy. 

— Gesta  Romanorum. 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  when  in  his  last  illness  in  Italy,  was 
taken  to  a  wild  scene  on  the  mountains  that  border  the 
Lago  di  Garda.  He  had  long  been  apathetic,  and  almost 
insensible  to  surrounding  objects ;  but  his  fading  eyes 
flashed  with  unwonted  fire  at  the  sight  of  the  furze  bushes 
and  scrogs,  that  reminded  him  of  home  and  Scotland, 
and  he  suddenly  exclaimed,  in  the  words  of  the  Jacobite 
ballad— 

Up  the  scroggy  mountain, 
And  down  the  scroggy  glen, 
We  dare  na  gang  a  hunting, 
For  Charlie  and  his  men. 

As  I  came  down  by  Merriemass, 
And  down  among  the  scroggs. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  283 


The  bonniest  childe  that  e'er  I  saw 
Lay  sleeping  'mang  his  dogs. 

—Johnnie  of  Bredislee. 


Scrub,  a  term  of  contempt  for  a  mean,  niggardly  per- 
son ;  a  Scottish  word  that  has  made  good  its  place  in  the 
English  vernacular.  Scroppit,  sordid,  parsimonious ; 
from  the  Gaelic  scrub,  to  hesitate,  to  delay,  especially  in 
giving  or  paying ;  sgrubail,  niggardly ;  scrubair,  a  churl, 
a  miser. 

Scrunt,  a  worn-out  broom ;  Scrunty,  a  Northern  word, 
signifying,  according  to  Halliwell,  short,  stunted.  Jamieson 
gives  a  second  interpretation — "a  person  of  slender  make, 
a  walking  skeleton.  Possibly  the  word  is  a  corruption  of 
the  English  shrink,  shrank.  There  is  no  trace  of  it  either 
in  the  Teutonic  or  the  Gaelic. 


Scug,  or  Skug,  to  hide,  to  take  shelter,  to  run  to  sanc- 
tuary, to  overshadow  : — 

That's  the  penance  he  maun  dree 
To  sa{g  his  deadly  sin. 

—  Yotmg  Benjie :  Scott's  Border  Minstrelsy. 

In  this  quotation,  skug  seems  to  mean  expiate,  rather 
than  hide  or  take  refuge  from  the  consequence  of  the 
deadly  sin.  Jamieson  derives  this  word  from  the  Gothic- 
Swedish  skugga,  a  shade.  It  does  not,  however,  appear 
in  modern  Swedish  Dictionaries.  Sciig  and  scuggery 
are  noted  both  in  Halliwell  and  Wright  as  northern 
English  words  for  secret,  hidden,  and  secrecy. 


284  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Scun?ier,  or  Scon?ier,  a  very  expressive  word,  significant 
of  a  loathing  or  aversion  to  a  thing  or  person,  for  which 
it  is  sometimes  difificult  or  impossible  to  account : — 

And  yill  and  whiskey  gie  to  cairds 
Until  they  scunner. 

— Burns :  To  James  Smith. 

From  the  Gaelic  sgorm,  bad,  also  rude,  boorish,  ill-man- 
nered. It  enters  also  into  the  composite  of  the  English 
word  scou7idrel.  Sganradh  (quasi,  sgan?iarar,  or  skunner), 
surprise,  fright,  terror. 


Sea-maw,  the  sea-gull,  or  sea-mew ;  the  beautiful  white 
bird  of  the  ocean  : — 

Keep  your  ain  fish-guts  to  feed  your  ain  sea-maws. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  white  sea-mew,  and  not  the  white  dove,  was 
considered  by  the  Druids  the  bird  that  Noah  let  fly  from 
the  ark  on  the  subsiding  of  the  Deluge.  The  name  ot 
pigeon,  sometimes  given  to  the  dove,  signifies  in  Gaelic 
the  bird  of  security ;  from  ptg/ie,  bird,  and  dion  {di  pro- 
nounced //),  security,  protection.  The  coincidence  is 
curious. 

Seile,  happiness  ;  from  the  German  selig,  happy  : — 
Seile  d'  your  face  !  is  a  phrase  in  Aberdeenshire,  expressive  of  a 
blessing  on  the  person  to  whom  it  is  addressed. 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Sok  and  seil  is  best — The  happiness  that  is  earned  is  best — i.e., 
earned  by  the  plough  ;  from  sock,  the  ploughshare  ;  and  here  used 
metaphorically  for  labour  of  any  kind. 

— Ferguson's  Scots  Proverbs. 


OF  THE  .SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  285 

Selkouth,  or  Selcoiith,  seldom  seen  or  known;  rendered 
"  wondrous  "  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  in  the  notes  to  Thomas 
the  Rhymer ;  of  the  same  origin  as  the  English  uncouth, 
strange,  or  hitherto  unknown  ;  from  kythe,  to  show,  or 
appear  :— 

By  Leader's  side 
A  selkouth  sight  they  see, 
A  hart  and  hind  pace  side  by  side 
As  white  as  snow. 

—  Thomas  the  Rhymer. 


Sell,  or  Selle,  a  seat,  a  chair,  a  stool.  Latin  sedile, 
French  selle,  a  saddle,  the  seal  of  a  rider.  This  was  once 
an  English  as  well  as  a  Scottish  word,  though  obsolescent 
in  the  Elizabethan  era.     Shakspeare  uses  it  in  Macbeth  : 

Vaulting  Ambition  that  o'erleaps  itself, 
And  falls  on  the  other  : 

which,  to  render  the  image  perfect,  as  Shakspeare  meant, 
— and  no  doubt  wrote, — ought  to  be  read — 

Vaulting  Ambition  that  o'erleaps  its  sell, 
And  falls  on  the  other  siile. 

The  London  compositors  of  Shakspeare's  time,  ignorant 
of  the  word  sell,  insisted  upon  making  self  oi  it,  and  in 
omitting  "side."  Ambition,  in  the  guise  of  a  horseman, 
vaulting  to  the  horse's  back,  could  not  fall  on  the  other 
side  of  itself;  though  it  might  well  fall  on  the  other  side 
of  the  seat  or  saddle,  and  light  upon  the  ground,  which 
is  the  true  Shaksperean  metaphor. 


286  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Shacklebatie,  the  wrist ;  a  word  apparently  first  applied 
to  a  prisoner  who  was  hand-cuffed,  or  manacled.  The 
word  is  also  used  for  the  posterior  of  a  horse. 

Shacklock,  a  worthless  rascal.  Jamieson  suggests  that 
it  may  mean  a  pick-lock,  one  who  shakes  or  loosens 
locks  !  He  quotes  from  the  Aberdeen  Register,  "  calling 
a  common  thief  and  shaklock."  It  is,  however,  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  Gaelic  seac  (s/iak),  worthless ;  and  loguid,  a 
rascal. 

Shadow-half^  the  northern  exposure  of  land.  Sir 
Walter  Scott  built  Abbotsford  on  the  wrong  side  of  the 
Tweed — in  the  shadow-half.  Land  with  a  southern  ex- 
posure is  called  the  S7inny-half,  or  the  sun?iyside. 

Shaghle  or  shade,  to  walk  clumsily,  to  shuffle  along, 
to  drag  or  shade  the  feet  as  if  they  were  painfully  con- 
strained by  the  shoes ;  to  distort  from  the  original  shape, 
to  wear  out : — 

Had  ye  sic  a  shoe  on  ilka  foot,  it  wad  gar  ye  shaghle. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

And  how  her  new  shoon  fit  her  auld  shachTt  feet. 

— Burns  :  Last  May  a  Braw  Wooer. 

Schachled  is  metaphorically  applied  to  a  young  woman  who  has 
been  deserted  by  her  lover.  She  is,  on  this  account,  compared  to 
a  pair  of  shoes  that  have  been  thrown  aside,  as  being  so  put  out  of 
shape  as  to  be  unfit  to  be  worn  any  longer. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Jamieson  derives  this  word  from  the  Icelandic  skaga, 
deflectere ;  skaggrer,  obliquus.     If  he  had  looked  at  the 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE,  287 

Gaelic   he   would   have    found   seac  {shak),   dried    up, 
withered,  sapless,  without  substance,  decayed. 

Skalk,  a  servant,  a  workman,  a  farm-servant ;  from  the 
Gaelic  sgaiag,  corrupted  in  America  into  scalawag,  and 
used  as  a  term  of  opprobrium.  The  word  enters  into 
the  components  of  the  French  marechal,  and  the  English 
Marshal ;  from  the  Gaelic  maor,  a  bailiff,  overseer,  stew- 
ard, or  superintendent ;  and  sgaiag,  a  servant  or  workman, 
whence  marechal,  one  in  charge  of  workmen  or  servants. 

Shang,  a  vulgar  term  for  a  hasty  luncheon  or  snack, 
and  for  what  Scottish  children  call  a  "piece."  Shangie, 
thin,  meagre,  lean  : — 

A  shang  o'  bread  and  cheese,  a  bite  between  meals.  In  Ice- 
landic skan,  a  crust,  a  rind. 

— ^Jamieson. 

The  root  is  evidendy  the  Gaelic  scang  (sheang),  lean, 
hungry  ;  thence,  by  extension  of  meaning,  a  piece  taken 
to  satisfy  hunger. 

Shank,  the  leg.  This  noun  is  sometimes  used  as  a 
verb  in  Scotland,  and  signifies  to  depart,  to  send  away, 
to  dismiss.  To  shajik  a  person  is  to  send  him  away ; 
equivalent  in  English,  to  give  him  the  sack ;  to  shattk 
one's  self  away  is  to  leave  without  ceremony.  The 
English  phrase,  to  go  on  shank's  mare,  i.e.,  to  walk,  is 
rendered  in  Scottish — to  go  on  shank's  naigie,  or  little 
nag.  Jamieson  absurdly  suggests  that  the  English,  to 
travel  by  the  marrow-bone  stage,  i.e.,  to  walk,  or  go  on 
shank's  mare,  may  be  derived  from  the  parish  of  Maryle- 


2  88  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

bone,  in  London !  The  etymology  of  shank  is  the 
Gaelic  seang  {shank),  lean,  slender,  like  the  tibia,  or  bone 
of  the  leg. 

S/iannach,  or  Shannagh,  a  word  explained  by  Jamieson, 
in  the  phrase,  '"It's  ill  s/ia?magh  in  you  to  do  this  or 
that,'  i.e.,  it  is  ill  on  your  part,  or  it  is  ungracious  in  you 
to  do  so."  In  Gaelic  seatiacach  signifies  wily,  cunning, 
sagacious,  which  is  clearly  the  root  of  shannagh,  so  that 
the  phrase  cited  by  Jamieson  signifies  it  is  not  wise,  or  it 
is  ill  wisdom  on  your  part  to  do  so. 

Shard  (more  properly  sharg),  a  contemptuous  epithet 
applied  to  a  little,  weazened,  undergrown,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  petulant,  and  mischievous  child.  From  the 
Gaelic  searg  {s  pronounced  as  sh),  a  withered,  insignificant 
person  or  animal,  one  shrivelled  or  dried  up  with  age, 
sickness,  or  infirmity ;  seargta,  withered,  dried  up,  blasted. 

Shargar,  Sharg,  a  lean,  scraggy,  cadaverous  person. 
Shargie,  thin,  shrivelled,  dried  up ;  from  tlie  Gaelic  searg 
(pronounced  sharg),  a  puny  man  or  beast,  one  shrivelled 
with  sickness  or  old  age ;  also,  to  wither,  to  fade  away, 
to  dwindle  or  dry  up,  from  want  of  vitality. 

Sharrow,  sharp,  sour  or  bitter  to  the  taste.  Flemish 
scherp,  French  acerbe,  Gaelic  searbh,  bitter;  searbhad, 
bitterness ;  searbhag,  a  bitter  draught. 

Shathmont,  a  measure,  of  which  the  exact  length  can 
only  be  surmised,  but  which  is  evidently  small : — 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  289 

As  I  was  walking  all  alane 

Atween  the  water  and  the  wa', 
There  I  spied  a  wee,  wee  man, 

The  wee'est  man  that  e'er  I  saw, 
His  leg  was  scarce  a  sliathmont  lang. 

— Ballad  of  the  Wee,  Wee  Man. 

This  obsolete  English,  as  well  as  Scottish,  word  is  some- 
times written  shaftmotid,  and  shaftman.  It  appears  in 
"  Morte  Arthur,"  and  other  early  English  poems.  The 
etymology  has  never  been  satisfactorily  traced.  Shacht, 
which  is  also  written  schaft,  is  Flemish  for  the  handle  of 
a  pike,  or  hilt  of  a  sword  ;  and  mand  is  a  basket  or  other 
piece  of  wicker  work ;  whence  schacht-mand,  a  basket-hilt, 
or  the  length  of  a  basket  hilt  of  a  sword,  which  may 
possibly  be  the  origin  of  the  word.  The  length  of  a 
shathinont  is  stated  to  be  the  distance  between  the  out- 
stretched thumb  and  little  finger — a  distance  which  cor- 
responds with  the  position  of  the  hand,  when  grasping 
the  sword-hilt.  Maund,  for  basket,  is  not  yet  entirely 
obsolete. 

Shaver,  a  droll  fellow,  a  wag,  a  funster ;  shavie,  a  trick  : 

Than  him  at  Agincourt  wha  shone, 

Few  better  were  or  braver. 
And  yet  wi'  funny,  queer  Sir  John 

He  was  an  unco  shaver. 

— Burns  :  A  Dream, 

But  Cupid  shot  a  shaft 

That  played  the  dame  a  shavie. 

— Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  shaver,  in  the  sense  of  a  wag 
or  funster,  is  derived  from  Figaro  the  barber,  as  the  type 

T 


290  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

of  a  class  who  were  professionally  funny  in  amusing  their 
customers,  when  under  their  hands  for  hair  cutting  or 
hair  dressing.  The  words  are  possibly  corruptions  of  the 
old  English  shaver,  described  by  Nares  as  a  low,  cunning 
fellow,  and  used  by  the  writers  of  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  Shaver,  in  American  English, 
signifies  a  bill  discounter  who  takes  exorbitant  interest, 
and  a  shave  means  a  swindle,  or  an  imposition.  Some 
have  derived  the  word  from  shave,  to  cut  the  beard, — itself 
a  word  of  very  uncertain  etymology,  and  not  necessarily 
connected  with  any  idea  of  dishonesty,  unless  a  pun  or 
"sharp  practice"  be  intended.  The  more  likely  derivation 
is  from  the  Gaelic  saobh  (or  shaov),  dissemble,  prevaricate, 
take  unfair  advantage  of,  also,  foolish. 

Shaw,  a  small  wood,  a  thicket,  a  plantation  of  trees ; 
from  the  Teutonic.  This  word  was  once  common  in 
English  literature ;  still  subsisting  in  the  patronymics  of 
many  families,  as  Shawe,  Aldershaw,  Hinshaw,  Hackshaw, 
Hawkshazu  (or  Oakshaw),  and  others,  and  is  used  by 
the  peasantry  in  most  parts  of  England,  and  every  part 
of  Scotland  : — 

Whither  ridest  thou  under  this  green  shawe  ? 
Said  this  yeman. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Frere's  Tale. 

Gaillard  he  was  as  goldfinch  in  the  s/iaw, 
Brown  as  a  berry,  a  proper  short  fellow. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Cokeys  Tale. 

Close  hid  beneath  the  greenwood  shaw. 

— Fairfax. 

In  summer  «  hen  the  shaws  be  shene, 
And  leaves  1)C  fair  and  long, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  29I 


It  is  full  evening  in  fair  forest, 
To  hear  the  fowles  song. 

— Ballad  of  Robin  Hood. 

The  braes  ascend  like  lofty  wa's, 
The  foaming  stream  deep  roaring  fa's, 
O'erhung  wi'  fragrant  spreading  shaws. 
The  birks  of  Aberfeldy. 


— Burns. 


Gloomy  winter's  now  awa, 
Soft  the  westlin'  breezes  blaw  ; 
'Mang  the  birks  o'  Stanley  shazu, 
The  mavis  sings  fu'  cheery,  oh. 


— Tannahill. 


To  all  our  haunts  I  will  repair, 

By  greenwood,  shaw,  and  fountain. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

But  oh,  that  night  amang  the  shaws, 
She  gat  a  fearful  settlin'. 

— Burns  :  Hall oiv e'en. 

There's  nae  a  bonnie  flower  that  springs 

By  fountain,  shaw,  or  green. 
There's  nae  a  bonnie  bird  that  sings, 

But  minds  me  o'  my  Jean. 

— Burns :  Of  a'  the  A  irts. 

Shear.  The  primary  meaning  of  shear  is  to  cut  or  clip. 
In  this  sense  it  is  used  by  Enghsh  agriculturists,  for  the 
operation  of  cutting  or  clipping  the  fleece  of  sheep.  In 
Scotland  it  is  used  in  the  sense  of  reaping  or  cutting  the 
corn  in  harvest.  On  the  occasion  of  the  first  visit  of 
Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort  to  the  Highlands 
of  Scotland,  it  was  duly  stated  in  the  Court  Circular  that 
Her  Majesty  visited  the  shearers,  and  took  much  interest 


292  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

in  their  labours.  In  the  following  week,  a  newly-started 
illustrated  journal,  published  a  wood  engraving,  in  which 
Her  Majesty,  the  Prince,  and  several  members  of  the 
court  in  attendance,  were  represented  as  looking  on  at 
the  sheep-shearing.  The  cockney  artist,  ignorant  alike  of 
the  seasons  of  agricultural  operations  and  of  the  differ- 
ence between  the  Scottish  and  English  idioms,  and  who 
had  no  doubt,  wished  the  public  to  believe  that  he  was 
present  on  the  occasion  on  which  he  employed  his  pencil, 
must  have  been  painfully  convinced,  when  his  fraud  was 
discovered,  of  the  truth  of  the  poetic  adage,  that  "a  little 
knowledge  is  a  dangerous  thing." 

Shiel,  or  Shielin,  a  hut,  a  shed,  or  small  cottage  on  the 
moor  or  mountain  for  the  shelter  of  cattle  or  sportsmen ; 
probably  a  corruption  of  shield,  or  shielding,  a  place 
where  one  may  be  shielded  from  the  weather.  Winter- 
shielins,  winter  quarters  : — 

No  ;  I  shall  ne'er  repent,  Duncan, 

And  shanna  e'er  be  sorry ; 
To  be  wi'  thee  in  Hieland  shiel 

Is  worth  the  lands  o'  Castlecary. 

— Ballad  of  Lizzie  Baillie. 

The  craik  among  the  clover  hay, 

The  paitrick  whirrin'  o'er  the  lea, 
The  swallow  jinkin'  round  my  shicl. 

Amuse  me  at  my  spinnin'  wheel. 

— Burns  :  Bess  and  her  SpinnitC  Wheel. 

Skill.  Appears  to  be  a  contraction  for  the  sake  of 
euphony  of  the  harsh  English  word  shrill.  The  ety- 
mology   of  shrill  is   doubtful,    though    some  derive   it 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  293 

from  the  Scottish  skirl^  which  they  call  an  onoma- 
fopeia,  in  imitation  of  the  sound.  This  also  is  doubtful, 
more  especially  if  the  Teutonic  schreien,  and  the  Dutch 
and  Flemish  schreuwen,  to  cry  out  discordantly,  are  taken 
into  consideration : — 

The  westlin'  wind  blaws  loud  and  skill. 
The  night's  baith  mirk  and  rainy,  O. 

— Burns  :  My  Nannie,  O. 

Shool,  a  shovel : — 

If  honest  nature  made  you  fools, 

What  sairs  your  grammars  ? 
Ye'd  better  ta'en  up  spades  and  shools 

An'  knappin'  hammers. 

— Burns  :  to  Lapraik. 

Short,  to  divert,  to  amuse,  to  shorten  the  time  by 
agreeable  conversation  ;  shortsome,  diverting,  as  opposed 
to  langsome,  or  longsome,  tedious,  wearisome.  In  English, 
short  is  often  applied  to  a  hasty  or  quick  temper.  In 
Scottish  parlance,  shortly,  or  shortlie,  signifies  tartly, 
peevishly,  ill-naturedly. 

Shot,  Shote,  a  puny  or  imperfect  young  animal,  espe- 
cially a  pig  or  lamb.  The  Americans,  who  have  acquired 
many  words  from  the  Scottish  and  Irish  immigrants, 
have  shote,  a  miserable  little  pig,  and  apply  the  word 
metaphorically  to  man  or  woman  as  an  epithet  of  con- 
tempt or  derision.  It  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  sect 
(pronounced  sheot,  or  shote),  a  stunted  animal,  a  short 
tail,  a  tail  that  has  been  docked ;  and,  generally,  an  incum- 


294  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

brance,  impediment,  or  imperfection ;  seotair  signifies  an 
idle,  lazy,  useless  person,  a  drone ;  a  vaurien,  a  good-for- 
nothing  : — 

Seth  Slope  was  what  we  call  down  East,  a  poor  shote,  his  princi- 
pal business  being  to  pick  up  chips  and  feed  the  pigs. 

— Bartletfs  Dictionary  of  Americanisms. 

Sib,  related,  of  kin  by  blood  or  marriage.  Hence 
the  English  gossip,  god-sib,  relations  by  baptismal  union. 
From  the  German  sippe,  which  has  the  same  meaning ; 
and  sippschafi,  relationship  : — 

He  was  sibbe  to  Arthur  of  Bretagne. 

— Chaucer. 

He  was  no  fairy  born  or  sib  to  elves. 

— Spenser. 

A  boaster  and  a  liar  are  right  sib. 
A'  Stewarts  are  no  sib  to  the  king. 
It's  good  to  be  sib  to  siller. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

We're  no  more  sib  than  sieve  and  riddle, 
Though  both  grew  in  the  woods  together. 

— Cheshire  Proverb. 


Siccan,  such ;  sic  like,  such  like,  or  such  a,  as  an  adjec- 
tive ;  sic  like  a  time,  such  a  time ;  sic  like  a  fashion,  in 
such  a  way  or  fashion ;  generally  used  in  the  sense  of 
inopportune,  improper,  unseemly  : — 

What  the  deil  brings  the  laird  here 
Al  sic  like  a  time  ? 

— J'he  Laird  o'  Cockpen. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  295 


Wi'  siccan  beauties  spread  around, 
We  feel  we  tread  on  holy  ground. 

— ^James  Ballantine :  Darnick  Tower. 


Sicker^  Siccar,  firm,  safe,  secure ;  sickerly^  safely ; 
sickerfiess,  safety,  security ;  to  sicker,  to  make  certain ; 
lock  sickar,  lock  securely,  or  safely — the  motto  of  the 
ancient  Scottish  family,  the  Earls  of  Morton.  Mak 
sickar  is  another  motto  of  historic  origin  in  Scotland  : — 

Toddlin'  down  on  Willie's  mill, 
Setting  my  staff  wi'  a'  my  skill 
To  keep  me  sicker. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Sick-saired,  nauseated  by  repletion,  served  with  food 
to  excess,  and  to  consequent  sickness  and  loathing. 

Simmer  (or  Sitmmer)  Couis,  the  gnats  or  midges 
which  live  for  one  summer  day,  born  ere  noon  and 
dying  ere  sunset,  and  which  seem  to  pass  their  brief  life 
in  whirling  and  dancing  in  the  sunshine.  The  word,  a 
swmnercout,  is  often  applied  affectionately  to  a  very  lively 
and  merry  young  child.  Jamieson  suggests  that  couts 
may  be  a  corruption  of  colts,  in  which  supposition  he  is 
possibly  correct,  though  the  comparison  of  the  tiny 
midge  with  so  large  an  animal  as  a  young  horse,  is  not 
easy  to  explain.  According  to  Wright's  Dictionary 
of  Provincial  English,  cote  signifies  a  swarm  of  bees, 
which  seems  to  approach  nearer  to  the  idea  of  the 
midges.  In  Gaelic,  cutha  signifies  frenzy,  delirium  ;  and 
cuthaich,  frantic  dancing  of  the  midges  or  other  ephe- 
meral flies,  allied  in  idea  to  the  phrase  of  Shakspeare — 


296  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


"a  midsummer  madness."  This  may  be  the  real  origin 
of  the  phrase. 

Sindle,  seldom ;  from  the  Teutonic  selien : — 

Kame  sindle,  kame  sair. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Skalrag,  of  a  shabby  appearance;  from  the  Gaelic 
sgail,  to  cover ;  and  rag,  which  is  both  Gaelic  and  Eng- 
lish. Skalrag  is  synonymous,  as  Jamieson  states,  with 
tatterdefualion,  one  covered  with  rags,  though  he  is 
incorrect  in  the  etymology  from  skail,  to  scatter,  and  the 
explanation  that  it  signifies  one  who  "  gives  his  rags  to 
the  wind." 

Skeigh,  proud,  scornful,  disdainful,  mettlesome,  inso- 
lent in  the  pride  of  youth  : — 

When  thou  and  I  were  young  and  skeigli. 

— Burns  :  Auld  Fanner  to  his  Auld  Mare,  Maggie. 
Maggie  coost  her  head  fu'  heigh, 
Looked  asklent  and  unco  skeigh. 

Burns  :  Duncan  Gi-ay. 

From  the  Gaelic  sgeig,  to  taunt,  deride,  scorn ;  sgeigeach, 
disdainful.  Jamieson  has  skeg,  which  he  says  is  not 
clear,  though  he  quotes  "  a  skeg,  a  scorner,  and  a  scolder" 
— words  which  might  have  helped  him  to  the  meaning. 

Skeely,  for  skilful,  but  implying  much  more  than  the 
English  word  sagacious,  far-seeing  : — 

Out  and  spak  Lord  John's  mother, 
And  a  skeely  woman  was  she. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  297 


' '  Where  met  ye,  my  son,  wi'  that  bonnie  boy 
That  looks  sae  sad  on  thee  ?  " 

— Ballad  of  Bur d  Helen. 

Where  will  I  get  a  skccly  skipper 
To  sail  this  ship  o'  mine  ? 

— Ballad  of  Sir  Patrick  Spens, 


Skeerie,  easily  scared  or  frightened,  timid,  shy ;  from 
the  root  of  scare. 


Skelliim  mid  Blelhun.  These  words  are  directed 
against  Tam  d  Shunter  by  his  wife,  in  Burns'  immortal 
poem : — 

She  tauld  thee  weel  thou  wast  a  skelliim, 
A  bletherin',  blusterin',  drunken  blellutn. 

They  are  explained  in  the  Glossaries  as  signifying  the 
first,  "  a  worthless  fellow ;"  the  second,  "  an  idle,  talkative 
fellow."  Skellum  was  used  by  English  writers  in  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  among  others  by  Taylor,  the 
water-poet,  and  by  Pepys  in  his  Diary.  It  is  traceable 
to  the  German,  Dutch,  and  Flemish  schelm.,  a  rogue,  a 
rascal,  a  bad  fellow;  and  also  to  the  Gaelic  sgiolam, 
a  coarse  blackguard ;  and  sgiolomach,  addicted  to  slander 
and  mischief-making.  Blellum  is  also  from  the  Gaelic, 
in  which  blialwn  signifies  incoherent,  confused  in  speech  ; 
especially  applied  to  the  utterances  of  a  drunken  man. 


Skelp^  to  smack,  to  administer  a  blow  with  the  palm  of 
the  hand ;  to  skelp  the  doup  (breech),  as  used  to  be  the 
too  common  fashion  of  Scottish  mothers  : — 


298  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


I'm  sure  sma'  pleasure  it  can  gie, 

E'en  to  a  deil, 
To  skelp  and  scaud  puir  dogs  like  me, 

And  hear  us  squeal ! 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

This  word  of  which  the  EngHsh  synonym  is  spank,  to  strike 
with  the  pahn  of  the  hand  in  a  quick  succession  of  blows, 
appears  to  be  derived  primarily  from  the  Gaelic  sgealbh,  to 
dash  into  small  pieces,  fragments,  or  splinters,  and  to 
have  been  applied  afterwards,  by  extension  of  meaning, 
to  the  blows  that  might  be  sufficient  to  break  any  brittle 
substance.  The  English  spank  is  to  strike  with  the  open 
hand,  and  the  Scottish  spmik,  a  match,  signifies  a  splinter 
of  wood,  in  which  the  same  extension  of  meaning  for  the 
blow,  to  the  possible  results  of  the  blow,  is  apparent. 
Skelp  also  means  to  walk  or  run  at  a  smart  pace,  and 
the  slang  English  phrase,  "  A  pair  of  spanking  tits  "  (a 
pair  of  fast-trotting  or  galloping  horses),  shows  the  same 
connection  between  the  idea  of  blows  and  that  of  rapid 
motion : — 


And,  barefit,  skelp 
Awa'  wi'  Willie  Chalmers. 


-Burns. 


Three  hizzies,  early  at  the  road, 
Cam  skelpin'  up  the  way. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

Tarn  skelpit  on  thro'  dull  and  mire, 
Despising  wind  and  rain  and  fire. 

— Burns  :   Ta))i  0'  Shunter. 


Skclpie-limmcr,  a  violent  woman,  ready  both  with  her 
hands  and  tongue  : — 


OF*  THE  SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  i^g 


Ye  little  skelpie-liinmcr's  face, 
I  daur  ye  try  sic  sportin'. 

— Burns :  Halloween. 


Skene-occle  (Gaelic),  a  dagger,  dirk,  skene  (sgiati),  or 
knife,  concealed  in  the  achlais,  under  the  arm,  or  in  the 
sleeve ;  achlasan,  anything  carried  under  the  arm ;  from 
whence  the  verb  achlaisich,  to  cherish,  to  fold  to  the 
bosom,  or  encircle  with  the  arm  : — 

"  Her  ain  sell,"  said  Galium,  "could  wait  for  her  a  wee  bit  frae 
the  toun,  and  kittle  her  quarters  wi'  his  scene-occle." — ^^ Skcne-occle! 
what's  that?"  Galium  unbuttoned  his  coat,  raised  his  left  arm, 
and,  with  an  emphatic  nod,  pointed  to  the  hilt  of  a  small  dirk, 
snugly  deposited  under  the  wing  of  his  jacket, 

— Scott :   Waverley. 

Skin,  a  vituperative  term  applied  to  a  person  whom  it 
is  wished  to  disparage  or  revile.  "  Ye're  naething  but  a 
nasty  skin."  Jamieson  suggests  that  this  word  is  a  figu- 
rative use  of  the  English  skin,  as  denoting  a  husk.  It  is 
more  likely  to  be  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  sgonn,  a 
blockhead,  a  dolt,  a  rude  clown,  an  uncultivated  and 
boorish  person,  a  dunce ;  from  whence  sgonn  bhalaoch,  a 
stupid  fellow ;  sgon  signifies  vile,  worthless,  bad  ;  whence 
the  English  scoundrel — from  sgoti,  and  droll,  or  droll,  an 
idle  vagabond. 

Skink,  to  pour  out.  Skifiker,  a  waiter  at  a  tavern  who 
pours  out  the  liquor  for  the  guests,  a  bar  tender.  From 
the  Flemish  and  German  schenken.  This  word  is  old 
English  as  well  as  Scotch, — and  was  used  by  Shakspeare, 
Ben  Jonson,  and  their  contemporaries  : — 


300  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Sweet  Ned,  I  give  thee  this  pennyworth  of  sugar,  clapt  even  now 
into  my  hand  by  an  under-s^'inier. 

— Shakespeare  :  Henry  IV. 

Such  wine  as  Gannymede  doth  skink  to  Jove. 

— Shirley. 

\(t  powers  who  mak  mankind  your  care, 
And  dish  them  out  their  bill  o'  fare ; 
Auld  Scotland  wants  nae  skinking  ware 

That  jaups  i"  luggies, 
But  if  ye  wish  her  grateful  prayer 

Gie  her  a  haggis. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Haggis. 

The  wine  !  there  was  hardly  half  a  mutchkin, — and  poor  fusion. 
ess  skink  it  was. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

In  many  of  the  editions  of  Burns  which  have  been 
printed  in  England,  the  compositors,  or  printer's  reader, 
ignorant  of  the  Scottish  word  skitik^  have  perverted  it  in 
the  "  Lines  to  a  Haggis,"  into  stink  : — 

Auld  Scotland  wants  nae  stinking  wares. 

Complete  luords  ^Robert  IJurns,  edited  by  Alex- 
ander Smith,  London,  Macmillan  C^  Co.,  rSOS. 

"These  editions,"  says  Mr.  James*  M'Kie  of  Kihnar- 
nock,  in  his  Bibliography  of  Robert  Burns,  "  are  known 
to  collectors  as,  the  stinking  editions." 

Skincheon  o'  Drink.,  a  drop  of  drink,  a  dram  ;  a  pour- 
ing out  of  liquor. 

Skipper^  the  cai)tain  of  a  ship,  but  i)roperly  any  sailor  ; 
jX7/-man,   a   ship  man.      This   word   is   fast  becoming 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  3OI 

English,  and  promises  to  supersede  captain  as  the  desig- 
nation of  officers  in  the  mercantile  marines.  Skipper  is 
from  the  Danish  skiffer,  the  German,  Dutch,  and  Flemish 

schiffer : — 

The  king  sat  in  Dunfermline  tower, 

Drinking  the  blude-red  wine  ; 
Oh  when  '11  I  get  a  skeely  skipper, 

To  sail  this  ship  o'  mine. 

— Sir  Patrick  Spens. 

It  is  related  of  the  late  eminent  sculptor,  Patrick  Park, 
that,  on  an  excursion  through  the  beautiful  lakes  that 
form  the  chain  of  the  Caledonian  Canal,  he  was  annoyed 
by  the  rudeness  of  the  Captain  of  the  steamer,  and 
expressed  his  sense  of  it  in  language  more  forcible  than 
polite.  The  Captain,  annoyed  in  his  turn,  enquired 
sharply  :  "  Do  you  know,  sir,  that  I'm  the  Captain  of  the 
boat?"  "Captain  be-hanged!"  said  the  irate  man  of 
genius,  "you're  only  the  skipper,  that  is  to  say,  you're 
nothing  but  the  driver  of  an  aquatic  omnibus  ! "  The 
skipper  retired  to  hide  his  wrath,  muttering  as  he  went 
that  the  sculptor  was  only  a  stone  mason  I 


Skirl,  to  shriek,  to  cry  out,  or  to  make  a  loud  noise  on 
a  wind  instrument : — 

Ye  have  given  the  sound  thump,  and  he  the  loud  skirl,   (i.e., 
you  have  punished  the  man,  and  he  shows  it  by  his  roaring. ) 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

When  skirlin'  weanies  see  the  light, 
Thou  mak's  the  gossips  clatter  bright. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


302  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


A  family  belonging  to  the  Scottish  Border,  after  spending  some 
time  at  Florence,  had  returned  home,  and,  proud  of  the  progress 
they  had  made  in  inusic,  the  young  ladies  were  anxious  to  show  off 
their  accomplishments  before  an  old  confidential  servant  of  the 
family ;  and  accordingly  sang  to  her  some  of  the  finest  songs  which 
they  had  learned  abroad.  Instead,  however,  of  paying  them  a 
compliment  on  their  performance,  she  showed  what  she  thought 
of  it,  by  asking  with  much  naivete — "  Eh,  mem  !  Do  they  ca' 
skirling  like  yon,  singing  in  foreign  parts  ?  " 

Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 


Skirl-naked,  stark  naked ;  so  naked  as  to  cause  the 
naked  person,  especially  a  girl  or  woman,  to  scream  with 
alarm.  Skirl  is  allied  to  screech,  skriek,  and  shrill ;  and 
comes  immediately  from  the  Gaelic  sgreuch,  a  shrill  cry, 
and  skreuchail,  shrieking. 


Sklent,  oblique,  slanting ;  to  prevaricate,  to  slant  off  the 
right  line  of  truth,  to  cast  obliquely ;  to  push  away,  to 
look  away,  to  squint : — 

Now,  if  ye're  ane  o'  warld's  folk, 
Who  rate  the  wearer  by  the  cloak. 
And  sklent  on  poverty  their  joke, 
Wi'  bitter  sneer. 

— Burns  :   To  Mr.  John  Kennedy. 

One  dreary,  windy,  winter  night, 
The  stars  shot  doun  wi'  sklentin''  light. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Dcil. 

The  city  gent 
Behind  a  kist  to  lie  and  sklent. 
Or  purse-proud,  big  with  cent,  per  cent. 

An'  muckle  wame. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Lapraik. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  303 


Ye  did  present  your  smootie  phiz 

'Mang  better  folk, 
And  sklented  on  the  man  of  Uz 

Your  spiteful  joke. 

^Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

Skrae,  a  thin,  skinny,  meagre  person,  a  skeleton ; 
skrae-shankit,  having  skinny  legs ;  English  scrag,  and 
scraggy ;  skraidhteach  {dh  silent),  shrivelled,  dried  up ; 
skraidht,  a  lean,  shrivelled,  ugly,  old  woman. 

Skreigh,  or  Screigh,  a  shrill  cry,  a  shriek,  a  screech  : — 

The  skreigh  o'  duty,  which  no  man  should  hear  and  be  inobedient. 

—Scott :  Rob  Roy. 

It's  time  enough  to  skreigh  when  ye're  strucken. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs, 

When  thou  and  I  were  young  and  skeigh, 
An'  stable  meals  at  fairs  were  driegh, 
How  thou  would  prance  and  snort  and  skriegh, 
An'  tak  the  road. 
— Burns  :  Auld  Farmer  to  his  Auld  Mare  Maggie. 


Skulduddery.  This  grotesque  word  has  been  held  to 
signify  indulgence  in  lust,  or  illicit  passion ;  but  it  also 
signifies  obscene  language  or  conversation,  or,  as  it  is 
sometimes  called  in  English,  "smut."  Jamieson  suggests 
the  Teutonic  schuld,  fault  or  crime,  as  the  origin  of  the 
first  syllable,  and  the  Gaelic  sgaldruth,  a  fornicator,  as  the 
origin  of  the  whole  word.  Scaldruth^  however,  has  long 
been  obsolete,  and  was  a  compound  of  sgald,  to  burn  or 
scald ;  and  druis.,  lust ;  whence  the  modern  Gaelic 
druisear,   a   fornicator.       If  the    Gaelic   etymology   be 


304  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

accepted,  the  word  would  resolve  itself  into  a  corruption 
of  sgald-druis,  burning  lust,  or  burned  by  lust.  From 
the  Gaelic  drids  came  the  old  English  druery,  for  court- 
ship, intercourse  of  the  sexes,  gallantry ;  and  drossel,  an 
unchaste  woman.  The  French,  who  have  inherited 
many  Celtic  words  from  their  ancestors,  the  Gauls,  for- 
merly used  the  word  dru  for  a  lover  {un  ami),  and  d?'ue 
for  a  sweetheart  {tme  amie).  Drti,  as  an  adjective,  signi- 
fied, according  to  the  "  Dictionaire  de  la  Langue  Romane" 
(Paris,  1768),  "un  amant  vigoureux  et  propre  au  plaisir." 
Druerie,  in  the  sense  of  courtship  and  gallantry,  occurs 
in  the  "  Roman  de  la  Rose."  Another  French  word, 
sgaldrme,  still  more  akin  to  the  Scottish  skulduddery,  is 
cited  in  the  "  Dictionaire  Comique  de  le  Roux,"  as  a 
"  terme  d'injure  pour  une  femme  de  mauvaise  vie;  femme 
publique  affligee  d'une  maladie  brulante  "  : — 

And  there  will  be  Logan  Macdonald — 
Skulduddery  and  he  will  be  there  ! 

— Burns  :   The  Election. 

That  can  find  out  naething  but  a  wee  bit  skulduddery  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Kirk  Treasury. 

—Scott  :  Rob  Rov. 

Skybald,  apparently  the  same  as  the  English  skeiubald, 
and  pie-bald,  terms  to  designate  a  horse  of  two  colours, 
marked  as  cows  and  oxen  more  usually  are.  Both 
skybald  and  piebald,  as  well  as  the  English  skewbald, 
have  their  origin  in  the  Gaelic.  Sky  and  skew  are  cor- 
ruptions of  sgiath,  a  shade,  a  dark  shade;  pie  comes 
from  pighe,  a  pie,  or  mag/>/V,  a  bird  whose  black  plumage 
is  marked  with  a  white  streak ;  bald  is  derived  from  the 
Gaelic  ball,  a  mark  or  spot;   whence  skybald  is  shade 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  305 

marked,  and  pie-bald  is  marked  like  a  bird.  Jamieson 
says  that,  in  Scotland,  skyhald  signifies  a  base,  mean 
fellow,  a  worthless  person,  and  that  it  is  also  applied  to  a 
man  in  rags  and  tatters.  Possibly  this  metaphorical  use 
of  the  word  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  rags  of  such  a 
person  are  often  of  various  colours.  Locke,  the  cele- 
brated English  metaphysician,  uses  piebald  in  a  similar 
sense,  "  A  piebald  livery  of  coarse  patches."  In  York- 
shire, according  to  Wright's  "  Provincial  Dictionary," 
skeyl'd  signifies  parti-coloured,  which  is  evidently  from 
the  same  Gaelic  root  as  sky  and  skeiv. 


Skyre.  Jamieson  renders  this  word,  pure,  mere,  utter. 
The  Flemish  and  German  schier  signifies  nearly,  almost ; 
while  the  Danish  skier  means  clear,  pure,  limpid.  Thus 
the  Danish,  and  not  the  German  or  Flemish,  seems  to  be 
the  root  of  this  Scottish  word. 


Skyte,  or  Skite,  to  eject  liquid  forcibly,  a  flux,  or 
diarrhoea.  This  vulgar  word  is  often,  both  in  a  physical 
and  moral  sense,  applied  in  contempt  to  any  mean  per- 
son. A  skyte  of  rain  is  a  sudden  and  violent  shower ; 
skyter  is  a  squirt,  a  syringe,  so  called  from  the  violent 
ejection  of  the  liquid.  Bletherian  skyte — more  pro- 
perly, blether  and  skyte  (see  Blether,  ante) — is  a  colloquial 
phrase  very  often  employed  by  people  who  are  unaware 
of  the  grossness  of  its  original  meaning,  and  who  are 
impressed  by  its  aptness  as  descriptive  of  the  windy  trash 
of  conversation  and  assertion,  which  it  but  too  powerfully 
designates. 

V 


306  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Skyte,  driving  hail,  sleet,  or  rain.  English  scud,  fast 
motion ;  Gaelic  sgiid,  to  cut ;  a  cutting  wind  : — 

When  hailstanes  drive  wi'  Intter  slytc. 

— Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 

Slack,  Slug,  a  pass,  opening,  or  gap  between  two  hills  ; 
from  the  Gaelic  sloe,  and  slochd^  a  hollow,  a  cavity. 
Slochd  Muigh,  or  the  gap  of  the  wild  swine,  is  a  wild 
pass  in  the  Grampians  between  Perth  and  Inverness  : — • 

But  ere  he  won  the  Gate-hope  slack, 
I  think  the  steed  was  wae  and  weary. 

— Annan  Water  :  Minstrelsy  of  the  Border. 

Slap,  a  breach,  or  casual  opening  in  a  hedge  or  fence  : 

At  slaps  the  billies  [fellows]  halt  a  blink  [a  little  while], 
Till  lasses  strip  their  shoon. 

—Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

Slaii'pie,  Slaipie,  indolent,  slovenly ;  derived  by  Jamie- 
son  from  the  Icelandic  slapr,  homuncio  sordidus.  It  is 
rather  from  the  Gaelic  slapach,  slovenly,  slapair  and 
slaopair,  a  slovenly  man,  a  drawler,  an  idler ;  and  slapag, 
a  slut,  a  lazy,  dirty,  slovenly  woman  or  girl ;  and  slapair- 
achd,  slovenliness. 

Sleuth-hound,  a  blood-hound,  a  hound  trained  to  follow 
by  the  scent,  the  track  of  man  or  beast.  From  the 
Gaelic  slaod,  a  trace,  a  trail  ;  and  slot,  sliogach,  subtle, 
keen  scented : — 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  307 

Wi'  his  sleuth-dog  in  his  watch  right  sure  ; 
Should  his  dog  gie  a  bark, 
He'll  be  out  in  his  sark, 
And  die  or  win. 

—Ballad  of ' '  T/i£  Fray  of  Suprt. " 

Slid,  smooth  ;  SUddery,  slippery  : — 

Ye  hae  sae  saft  a  voice,  and  a  slid  tongue, 

— Allan  Ramsay  :   The  Gentle  Shepherd. 

Sliddery,  slippery;  from  slide:  Slidder,  unstable,  change- 
able in  thought  or  purpose,  not  to  be  depended  upon  : — 

There's  a  sliddery  stane  afore  the  ha'  door. 

[It  is  sometimes  dangerous  to  visit  great  houses.] 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs. 

Though  I  to  foreign  lands  must  hie, 
Pursuin'  fortune's  sliddery  ba'. 

— Burns  :  Farewell  to  his  Native  Country, 


Slitik,  a  tall,  idle  person,  a  term  of  depreciation.  The 
word  is  usually  associated  with  lang,  as,  a  lang  slink. 
It  is  sometimes  written  and  pronounced  slunk.  It  is 
derived  apparently  from  the  Teutonic  schlang,  the  Dutch 
and  Flemish  slafig,  a  snake.  Slinken  means  to  grow  long, 
thin,  and  attenuated ;  and  Jamieson  has  the  adjective 
shmk.,  lank  and  slender;  and  the  substantive  slink,  a 
starveling. 

Slacken,  to  slake,  to  allay  thirst,  to  extinguish  : — 

Foul  waler  may  slacken  fire. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs, 


^o8  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


O 


The  Rev.  John  Heugh  of  Stirling  was  one  day  admonishing  one 
of  his  people  on  the  sin  of  intemperance  :  "  Man  !  John  !  you  should 
never  drink  except  when  you're  dry;"  "  Weel  Sir,"  said  John,  "that's 
what  I'm  aye  doin',  but  I'm  never  s/ocicn'd." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 


Slogan^  the  war-cry  of  a  nii^iiland  clan  : — 

Our  s/ogan  is  their  lyke-wake  dirge. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

When  the  streets  of  high  Dunedin, 
Saw  lances  gleam  and  falchions  redden. 
And  heard  the  slogan  s  deadly  yell. 

— Scott  :  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel. 

Jamieson  has  this  word  as  slughorn,  and  derives  it  from 
the  Irish  GaeUc  sluagh,  an  army ;  and  arm,  a  horn. 
Jainieson  might  have  found  the  true  etymology  in  the 
Scottish  Gaelic  s//tag/i,  the  people,  the  multitude,  the 
clan  ;  and  gai'r/n,  a  cry,  a  shout,  a  loud  call.  The  slogan 
was  not  made  on  a  horn ;  and  arm  does  not  signify  a 
horn  either  in  Irish  or  Scottish  Gaelic.  Slogan,  the  war- 
cry,  has  been  used  by  English  writers  as  synonymous  with 
"  pibroch,"  especially  in  a  play  that  enjoyed  considerable 
popularity  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  on  the  siege  and 
relief  of  Lucknow  during  the  Indian  Mutiny.  When 
General  Havelock  approaches  with  his  gallant  highlanders, 
Jeanie,  the  heroine  of  the  piece,  who  hears  the  music  of 
the  pibroch  from  afar,  exclaims,  "O  hear  ye  not  the 
slogan  ? "  But  the  "  pock  puddings,"  as  Sir  Walter  Scott 
called  the  ignorant  English,  knew  no  better,  and  always 
applauded  ihc  slogan. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  309 

Sloom,  a  deep  sleep,  whence  the  English  word  sliuiiber, 
a  light  sleep.  From  the  Flemish  sluiineren,  to  sleep, 
sluimerig,  sleepy. 

Sloomy,  lethargic. 

Slorp,  Slotter,  to  eat  or  drink  greedily,  and  with  a 
guttural  and  vulgar  noise.  From  the  Flemish  and  Dutch 
slorpen,  which  has  the  same  meaning  : — 

There's  gentle  John,  and  Jock  the  slorp, 
And  curly  Jock,  and  burly  Jock, 
And  lying  Jock  himsel'. 

Yiogg^ 5  Jacobite  Relics. 

The  synonymous  word  slotter  is  a  corruption  to  avoid 
the  guttural  of  the  Gaelic  slogair,  a  glutton,  one  who 
gulps  his  food. 

Slomige,  to  go  idling  about,  to  go  sorning  (q.v.,)  or 
seeking  for  a  dinner,  lounging  about  and  coming  into  the 
house  of  a  friend  or  acquaintance  at  or  near  dinner  time, 
as  if  accidentally.  Apparently  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic 
sluganach,  a  voracious  person  ;  and  slugan,  the  gullet. 

Smaik,  a  mean,  low  fellow,  a  poltroon,  a  puny  fellow, 
a  person  of  small  moral  or  physical  account : — 

"  O,  I  have  heard  of  that  smaik,"  said  the  Scotch  merchant  ; 
"it's  he  whom  your  principal,  like  an  obstinate  auld  fule,  wad  mak 
a  merchant  o' — wad  he,  or  wad  he  no  !  " 

—Scott :  Rob  Roy. 

This  false,  traitorous  smaik.  I  doubt  he  is  a  hawk  of  the  same 
nest. 

— Scott :  Fortunes  of  AHgel. 


3IO  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


"  Thay  S7i!aikes  do  sett  their  haill  intent 
To  reid  this  English  new  Testament." 

Smaike  really  is  a  low  mean  fellow,  very  closely  allied  to,  if  not 
identical  with,  sneak,  and  of  course,  as  a  verb,  would  mean  to  go 
about  in  a  sneaking  way.  By  the  bye  in  the  same  poem  occurs 
the  word  honilok,  so  spelled  by  Knox.  "  Homlok  sawares  amangst 
guid  seid. "  Sowers  of  bad  or  mutilated  seed  amongst  good  seed, 
the  same  word  as  hummel.  I  am  surprised  to  learn  that  Jamie- 
son  says  "hummelt"  means  short  horns.  In  the  Lothians  and  in 
Fifeshire  as  well  as  Ayrshire  a  hummelt  cow  is  well  known.  I 
rather  think  that  a  "  doddy  "  cow  is  Galloway,  but  of  this  I  am  not 
sure. — R.  D. 

From  the  Teutonic  schmach,  insult,  ignominy ;  sclwiiichtig, 
slender,  lank  : — 

Smeddii?!!,  dust,  powder  ;  from  the  Gaelic  sinodan,  small 
dust : — 

O  !  for  some  rank  mercurial  rozet, 

Or  pale  red  smeddiivi, 
I'd  gie  ye  sic  a  hearty  dose  o't 

Wad  dress  your  droddiim.  * 

Burns  :   To  a  Louse, 

*  Droddtim,  a  ludicrous  word  for  the  posterior  of  a  child. 

Smird,  to  gibe,  to  jeer.  This  seems  to  be  a  corruption 
of  the  Gaelic  smad^  to  intimidate,  to  brow-beat.  Jamieson 
derives  it  from  the  Icelandic  sma'  (the  Scottish  sma'  and 
the  English  small),  and  ord^  a  word,  and  supposes  it  to 
mean  small  and  contemptuous  language. 

Sjfiirl,  a  roguish  or  mischievous  trick.  Jamieson  de- 
rives this  word  from  the  German  schmiere?i,  illudere;  but 
there  is  no  such  word  in  the  German  Dictionaries.     It  is 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  311 

more  probably  from  the  Gaelic  smiorail,  strong,  active, 
lively ;  and  "  I'll  play  him  a  smirl  for  that  yet,"  as  quoted 
by  Jamieson,  simply  means,  I'll  play  him  a  lively  trick 
for  that  yet : — 

And  in  some  distant  place, 
Plays  the  same  smirl. 

— T.  Scott. 

Smirlle,  a  slight,  or  half-suppressed  laugh  or  smile : — 

And  Norie  takes  a  glack  of  bread  and  cheese, 
And  wi'  a  smirtle  unto  Lindie  goes. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

This  word  is  akin  to  the  English  smirk,  but  without  any 
depreciatory  meaning, 

Smit,  the  noise,  clash,  or  clank  of  smitten  metal ;  from 
the  English  stJiite  : — 

As  she  was  walking  maid  alane 

Down  by  yon  shady  wood, 
She  heard  a  s/m'i  o'  bridle  reins 

She  wished  might  be  for  good. 

— Lord  JVilliatn :  Border  Mittstrelsy. 

Smitch,  or  Smytch,  a  term  of  contempt  or  anger  applied 
to  an  impudent  boy ;  from  smut  or  smit,  dirt,  a  stain,  an 
impurity.  German  schmiitzig,  dirty ;  Flemish  and  Dutch 
smotsen,  to  soil,  to  dirty,  to  defile ;  the  English  smudge. 

Small,  an  epithet  applied  to  the  weather  when  fair  and 
calm,  with  a  blue  sky  : — 


312  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Merry  maidens,  think  na  lang, 
The  wcalher  is  fair  and  sniolt. 

— Christ^ s  Kirk  oil  the  Grcejic. 

This  word  is  used,  according  to  Messrs.  Halliwell  and 
Wright,  in  Sussex  and  other  parts  of  England.  It  is 
probable  the  root  is  the  Teutonic  sc/unalte,  deep  blue, 
applied  to  the  unclouded  sky  : — 

O'er  Branxhohne  Tower,  ere  the  morning  hour, 

WTiere  the  lift  is  like  lead  so  blue. 
The  smoke  shall  roll  white  on  the  weary  night, 

And  the  flame  shine  dimlv  through. 

— Lo7-d  Inlis :  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Sniook,  to  prowl  stealthily  about  a  place  with  a  view 
to  pilfer  small  articles.  From  the  Flemish  smuig,  furtive, 
secret. 

Siitookie,  addicted  to  petty  larceny  : — 

The  s7nookie  gipsy  i'  the  loan. 

— Ross's  Helenote. 

Smyte,  a  small  particle;  possibly  derived  from  the 
spark  of  an  anvil  when  smitten ;  smytrie^  a  large  collec- 
tion of  little  things,  or  little  children  :— 

A  smytrie  o'  wee  duddie  weans. 

— Burns. 

Snack,  a  slight  repast,  a  cut  from  the  loaf,  refreshment 
taken  hastily  between  meals  ;  to  go  snacks,  to  share  with 
another.  From  the  Gaelic  snaigh,  to  cut ;  s/iack,  and  to 
go  snack,  are  still  used  in  colloquial  English,  and  are 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  313 

derived  by  Worcester  and  others  from  stiatch,  i.e.,  as 
much  of  a  thing  as  can  be  snatched  hastily.  An  ety- 
mology which  may  apply  to  snack,  a  lunch,  but  scarcely 
applies  so  well  as  the  Gaelic  snaigh,  to  the  phrase  of  go 
S7iacks,  or  shares  in  any  thing. 

Snag,  to  chide,  to  taunt,  to  reprove,  to  snarl ;  snaggy, 
sarcastical,  apt  to  take  offence.  This  word  with  the 
elision  of  the  initial  s,  remains  in  England  as  tiag,  the 
form  of  scolding  or  grumbling,  which  is  peculiarly 
attributed  to  quarrelsome  women.  It  is  one  of 
the  numerous  family  of  words  commencing  with  sn, 
which,  in  the  Scottish  and  English  languages,  gener- 
ally imply  a  movement  of  the  lips  and  nose,  expres- 
sive of  anger,  reproof,  scorn,  and  in  inferior  animals, 
of  an  inclination  to  bite  ;  such  as  snarl,  snub,  sneer, 
snort,  snap,  snack,  or  snatch,  (as  an  animal  with  its 
jaws),  and  many  others,  all  of  which,  inclusive  of  snore, 
sniff,  snuff,  sneeze,  snigger,  snivel,  snout,  have  a  reference 
to  the  nose.  They  appear  to  be  derivable  primarily  from 
the  Gaelic  sron,  sometimes  pronounced  strone,  the  nose. 
The  Teutonic  languages  have  many  words  commencing 
with  schn,  which  also  relate  to  the  action  of  the  nose,  and 
are  of  the  same  Celtic  origin. 

Snaggerel.     A  contemptuous  term  for  a  puny  deformed 
child  ;  from  snag,  a  broken  bough. 

Snash,  impertinence,  rebuff,  rebuke  : — 

Poor  bodies 

,     .     .     thole  (endure)  a  factor's  snash. 

— Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 


314  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Sneck  or  Snick,  the  latch,  bolt,  or  fastening  of  a  door. 
The  etymology  is  uncertain,  and  cannot  be  traced  to  any 
branches  of  the  Teutonic,  either  High  Dutch,  Low  Dutch, 
or  Danish  and  Swedish.  The  English  has  siiacket  and 
snecket,  a  fastening,  a  hasp  ;  as  well  as  sneck  and  snick, 
with  the  same  meaning  as  the  Scotch,  but  the  words  are 
local,  not  general : — 

And  you,  ye  auld  j«^f-l'-drawing  dog, 
Ye  came  to  Paradise  incog. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Dei/. 


Snell,  keen,  bitter,  sharp,  quick.     From  the  Flemish 
snell.,  and  the  German  schnell,  swift : — 

And  bleak  December's  winds  ensuing 

Baith  snell  and  keen. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Mouse. 

Sir  Madoc  was  a  handy  man,  and  snell 
In  tournament,  and  eke  in  fight. 

— Morte  Arthur. 

Shivering  from  cold,  the  season  was  so  snell. 

— Douglas  :  Eneid. 

The  winds  blew  snell. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Snelly  the  hail  smote  the  skeleton  trees. 

— James  Ballantine. 


Snirile,  to  laugh  slily,  or  in  a  half  suppressed  manner: — 

lie  feigned  to  snirtle  in  his  sleeve, 
When  thus  the  laird  addressed  her. 

— Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  315 


Snood  or  Smcde,  a  ribbon,  a  band  worn  by  young  un- 
married women  in  or  around  the  hair  : — 

To  tyne  one's  snude  is  a  phrase  apjslied  in  Scotland  to  a  young 

woman  who  has  lost  her  virginity.     It  is  singular  that  the  ancient 

Romans  had  the  same  figure. 

— Jamieson. 

The  word  and  the  fashion  appears  to  be  peculiar  to  the 
Celtic  nations.  In  Gaelic,  snuadh  signifies  beauty  and 
adornment,  and  thence  an  ornament,  such  as  the  snood 
of  the  Celtic  maidens.  The  word  appears  in  Snowdon, 
the  ancient  name  of  Stirling,  which  signifies  the  fair  or 
beautiful  hill.  The  Kymric  and  \^^elsh  has  ysnoden,  a 
fillet,  a  lace,  a  band,  and  evidently  from  the  same  root. 

Snool,  to  flatter  abjectly,  to  cringe,  to  crawl.  This 
word  also  means  to  snub,  to  chide  ill-naturedly  and  un- 
duly, as  in  the  song  : — 

They  snool  me  sair  and  baud  me  down, 

And  gar  me  look  like  bluntie,  Tarn  ; 
But  three  short  years  will  soon  wheel  roun', 

And  then  comes  ane  and  twenty,  Tam. 

— Burns. 

Is  there  a  whim-inspired  fool, 

Ow're  blate  (shy)  to  seek,  ow're  proud  to  snool. 

— Burns  :  A  Bard's  Epitaph. 

The  etymology  of  this  word  is  uncertain.  It  seems  to 
have  some  relation  to  the  nose  and  mouth,  and  expression 
of  the  features  in  an  unfavourable  sense  ;  like  many  words 
in  the  English  language  commencing  with  sn.  (See 
sfiag.,  ante.)  The  most  probable  derivation  is  that  given 
by  Jamieson  from  the  Danish  snofle,  to  reprimand  unne- 
cessarily, continually  and  unjustly, — the  French  rabrouer. 


31 6  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Snoove,  to  glide  away  easily — like  a  worm  or  snake ; 
to  sneak  : — 

But  just  thy  step  a  wee  thing  hastit, 

Then  snoov't  away. 
—Burns  :  Auld  Farmer  to  his  Atild  Mare  Maggie. 

Snowk,  to  snuff,  to  smell,  to  scent : — 

Wi'  social  nose  they  snuffed  and  sno-vket. 

— Burns  :   The  Tiva  Dogs. 

Snuii,  to  go  about  in  a  careless  half-stupified  manner ; 
stiuitit,  having  the  appearance  of  sleepy  inebriety  : — 

He  was  gaun  s)itiifin  down  the  street  ;  he  came  smiitin  in. 

— Jamieson. 

Jamieson  traces  the  word  to  the  Dutch  and  Flemish 
smiif,  the  English  snout.  The  Gaelic  has  snot.,  to  smell, 
to  snuff  up  the  wind,  to  turn  up  the  nose  suspiciously ; 
and  sfwtach,  suspecting,  inclined  to  suspicion. 


Snurl,  to  ruffle  the  surface  of  the  waters  with  a  wind ; 
metaphorically  applied  to  the  temper  of  man  or  woman  : — 

Northern  blasts  the  ocean  snurl. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Sock  Dologer,  a  heavy,  knock-down  blow.  This  word 
was  introduced  into  America  by  the  Irish  and  Scottish 
immigrants,  and  is  usually  considered  to  be  an  Ameri- 
canism. But  it  clearly  comes  from  the  "  old  country," 
from  the  Gaelic   sogh,  easy ;    and  dolach,   destructive ; 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  317 

dolaidh,  harm,  detriment,  injur)',  destruction  j  thus  a  sock 
dologer  means  a  blow  that  destroys  easily. 

Sodger,    or   Sojer,    a   soldier ;    swaddie,    or    sioad,    a 
familiar  and  vulgar  name  for  a  soldier  : — 


My  humble  knapsack  a'  my  wealth, 
A  poor  but  honest  sodger. 


-Burns. 


The  Scottish  word  sodger  is  not  a  mere  corruption  or 
mispronunciation  of  the  English  soldier,  or  the  French 
soldat.    The  old  Teutonic  for  soldier  was  kriegsman,  war- 
man,  or  man  of  war ;  a  word  which  was  not  adopted  by 
the  early  English  of  Saxon,  Danish,  and  Flemish  descent. 
The  English  soldiers  were  called   bowmen,  spearmen, 
swordsmen,  &c.      The  ordinary  derivation  of  soldier  is 
from  solde,   pay, — i.e.,  one  who  is  paid.      But  in  early 
times,  before  the  establishment  of  standing  armies,  people 
who  took  up  arms  in  defence  of  their  country  were  not 
mercenaries,  but  patriots  and  volunteers,  or  retainers  of 
great  territorial  chieftains.     Sodger,  as  distinguished  from 
soldier,  dates  from  a  period  anterior  to  the  invention  of 
gimpowder  and  the  use  of  fire-arms,  when  bows  and  arrows 
were  the  principal  weapons  of  warfare  over  all  Europe. 
The  word  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  saighead,  an  arrow ; 
and  saighdear,  an  arrower,  an  archer,  a  bowman ;   the 
same  as  the  Latin  saggitarius.     Thus  the  Scottish  sodger 
appears  to  be  a  word  of  legitimate  origin  and  of  respec- 
table antiquity.     Soldier,  from  the  French  soldat,  is  com- 
paratively modern,  and  does  not  appear  in  the  Dictionary 
of  the  First  or  Oldest  Words  in  the  English  Language, 
from  the  Semi-Saxon  Period  from  a.d.  1250  to  1300,  by 
Herbert  Coleridge,  published  in  1862.     It  is  worthy  of 


31 S  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

mention  that  Jamieson's  Scottish  Dictionary  does  not 
contain  sodger  or  sojer,  but  has  sodgerize,  to  act  as  a 
soldier,  or  go  a  soldiering ;  and  the  strange  term  sodger- 
iheed,  which  he  explains  to  be  a  low  word  meaning 
one  that  has  little  or  no  money,  or,  having  "the 
thigh  of  a  soldier  ! "  Had  Jamieson,  before  hazarding 
this  suggestion,  looked  to  another  page  of  his  own  Dic- 
tionary, he  would  have  found  the  word  thig,  to  beg,  and 
might  have  explained  "  sodger-theed  thig'd"  in  the  sense 
of  a  disbanded  soldier,  begging  from  door  to  door,  without 
any  particular  reference  to  his  thigh. 

Sokand  seil.  An  old  Scottish  proverb  says,  "  Sokand 
seil  is  best."  Dean  Ramsay,  who  quotes  it,  defines  it  to 
mean,  "  The  plough  and  happiness  is  the  best  lot."  The 
translation  is  too  loose  to  be  accepted.  Soc  is,  indis- 
putably, a  ploughshare,  in  Gaelic,  in  French,  in  Flemish, 
in  Latin  {socais),  and  other  languages.  No  trace,  how- 
ever, has  hitherto  been  discovered  of  its  employment  as 
a  verb,  signifying  to  plough.  It  would  seem,  never- 
theless, from  the  terminal  syllable  in  sockand,  that  it  was 
in  old  time  so  used  in  Scotland.  Seil  is  from  the  Gaelic 
sealbh,  signifying  good  fortune,  good  luck,  happiness, — 
whence  the  Teutonic  selik,  happy.  Ploughing,  in  the 
proverb,  may  be  taken  to  mean  labouring  generally ;  and 
then  the  proverb  might  be  rendered,  "  Labouring  happi- 
ness, or  the  happiness  that  results  from  labour,  is  the 
best." 


Sonk^  a  stuffed  seat,  or  a  couch  of  straw ;  sofikie,  a  gross, 
course,  unwieldy  man,  of  no  more  shapely  appearance 
than  a  sack  of  straw.    The  root  of  these  two  words  seems 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  319 

to  be  the  Gaelic  sonriach,  anything  thick,  bulky,  or  strong  ; 
sonn  is  a  stout  man,  also  a  hero ;  and  sonnach,  a  fat,  ill- 
shaped  person  : — 

The  Earl  of  Argyle  is  bound  to  ride, 
And  all  his  habergeons  him  beside, 
Each  man  upon  a  sank  of  strae. 

— Introduction  to  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Sonse,  happiness,  good  luck;  from  the  Gaelic  sona, 
happy. 

Sonas,  happiness ;  sonsie,  strong,  healthy,  pleasant ; 
Gaelic  sonas,  happy  : — 

His  honest,  sonsie,  baws'nt  face 
Aye  gat  him  friends  in  ilka  place. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Sool  (sometimes  written  SoJtl),  a  sufficiency  of  food, 
also,  a  relish  taken  with  insipid  food  to  render  it  more 
palatable.  "  Sool  to  a  potatoe,"  often  applied  a  finnon 
haddie,  or  a  red  herring ;  sometimes  ludicrously  used  by 
the  Irish  as,  "potatoes  and  point"  a  potato  pointed  at 
a  red  herring  hanging  from  the  roof,  to  whet  the  imagin- 
ation with  the  unattainable  flavour  of  the  sool : — 

I  have,  sweet  wench,  a  piece  of  cheese  as  good  as  tooth  may  chaw, 
And  bread  and  wildings  souling  well. 

— Warner  :  Albion^ s  England, 

Sool,  any  thing  eaten  with  bread,  such  as  butter,  cheese,  &c. 
—  Wright'' s  Dictionary  of  Obsolete  English. 

Soul,  French  saoulcr,  to  satisfy   with  food.      Soul,   silver,  the 

wages  of  a  retainer,  originally  paid  in  food. 

— Idem. 


320  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

The  French  have  soul,  full ;  and  se  soulcr,  drunk,  or  to 
get  drunk,  i.e.,  full  either  of  meat  or  of  liquor.  The 
Gaelic  suit  seems  to  be  of  kindred  derivation,  and  signi- 
fies fat,  full,  replenished  with  good  things. 


Sootli.  Old  English  for  truth,  still  preserved  in  such 
phrases  as,  "in  sooth"  "for  sooth"  &c.  In  Scottish, 
sooth  is  used  as  an  adjective,  and  signifies  "  true"  : — 

A  sooth  boord  is  nae  boord. 

—Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Sorfi,  to  go  to  a  person's  house,  and  fasten  yourself 
upon  him  to  feast  or  lodge,  without  invitation.  The 
English  synonyme  is  "  to  sponge  upon  ; "  a  very  inferior 
form  of  expression,  partaking  of  the  character  of  slang, 
and  not  to  be  compared  for  force  and  compactness  to  the 
Scottish  word.  Mr,  John  Thompson,  private  secretary 
to  the  Marquis  of  Hastings  in  India,  in  his  "  Etymons  of 
English  Words,"  defines  "sorn"  to  be  a  corruption  of 
"sojourn."  The  true  etymon  is  the  Gaelic  saor,  free; 
and  saoranach,  one  who  makes  free  or  establishes  himself 
in  free  quarters.  It  is  related  of  a  noble  Scottish  lady  of 
the  olden  time,  who  lived  in  a  remote  part  of  the  High- 
lands, and  was  noted  for  her  profuse  and  cordial  hospi- 
tality, that  she  was  sometimes  overburdened  with  habitual 
"sorners."  When  any  one  of  them  out-stayed  his 
welcome,  she  would  take  occasion  to  say  to  him  at  the 
morning  meal,  with  an  arch  look  at  the  rest  of  the  com- 
pany—" Mak'  a  guid  breakfast,  Mr.  Blank,  while  ye're 
about  it ;  I  dinna  ken  whar'  ye'll  get  your  dinner."  The 
hint  was  usually  taken,  and  the  sorner  departed. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  32 1 

Soss,  an  incongruous,  miscellaneous  mixture  of  eat- 
ables. Soss-poke,  a  ludicrous  term  for  the  stomach ; 
usually  derived  from  sal  and  sa/smn,  because  the  ingredi- 
ents are  salted ;  but  the  word  is  more  likely  to  have 
originated  in  soss,  the  old  French  satise,  the  Flemish  sass, 
the  modern  sauce,  compounded  of  several  ingredients — 
all  blending  to  produce  a  particularly  piquant  flavour. 
Soss  is  used  in  colloquial  and  vulgar  English  in  the 
Scottish  sense  of  a  mixed  mess ;  and  sorzle,  evidently  a 
corruption  of  soss,  is,  according  to  Mr.  Wright's  Archaic 
Dictionary,  a  word  used  in  the  East  of  England  to  signify 
"any  strange  mixture." 

Souter,  a  shoemaker,  a  cobbler.  This  word  occurs  in 
early  English  literature,  though  it  is  now  obsolete : — 

Ploughmen  and  pastourers, 

And  other  common  labourers, 

Soiiters  and  shepherds. 

— Pier's  Ploughman. 

The  devil  maks  a  reeve  to  preach, 
Or  of  a  souter,  a  shipman,  or  a  bear. 

— Chaucer  :  Canterbury  Tales. 

"  Mair  whistle  than  woo," 

As  the  souter  said  when  he  sheared  the  soo. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Souters'  wives  are  aye  ill  shod. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Sowie,  diminutive  of  sow.  The  implement  of  war 
for  demolishing  walls,  which  the  English  and  French 
call  a  ram,  un  belter,  or  a  battering  ratn  ;  the  Scotch  call 
it  a  sow,  from  its  weight  and  rotundity : — 

w 


32  2  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


They  laid  their  soK'ifs  to  the  wall 

Wi'  mony  a  heavy  peal ; 
But  he  threw  ower  to  them  again 

Baith  pitch  and  tar-barrel. 

— Azt/d  Maitland:  Scott's  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Sowth^  to  try  over  a  tune  with  a  low  whistle,  to  hum  a 
tune  to  one's  self  involuntarily  : — 

On  braes  when  we  please,  then, 

We'll  sit  and  sozoth  a  tune. 
Syne  rhyme  till't ;  we'll  time  till't, 

And  sing't  when  we  hae  done. 

— Burns  :   To  Davie,  a  Brother  Poet. 

Sotuf/ier,  or  Soother.,  to  solder,  to  make  amends  for,  to 
cement,  to  heal : — 

A  towmond  o'  trouble,  should  that  be  my  fa', 
Ae  night  o'  good  fellowship  sorvthers  it  a'. 

—  Burns  :  CoJitented  zai'  Little. 

Spae,  to  tell  fortunes,  to  predict.  Etymology  uncertain; 
derived  by  Jamieson  from  the  Icelandic,  but  probably 
connected  with  spell,  a  magic  charm  or  enchantment. 

Spaewife,  a  fortune-teller. 

Spae-book,  magic  book,  a  fortune  teller's  book.  From 
spac,  to  tell  fortunes  : — 

The  black  spae-book  from  his  breast  he  took, 

Impressed  with  mony  a  warlock  spell  ; 
And  the  book  it  was  wrote  by  Michael  Scott, 

He  held  in  awe  the  fiends  o'  hell. 

— Lord  Soulis  :  Border  Minstrelsy. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  323 

Spatrge,  to  sprinkle,  to  scatter  about  as  liquids.     From 
the  French  asperger,  to  sprinkle  with  water  : — 

When  in  yon  cavern  grim  and  sootie, 

Closed  under  hatches, 
Spairges  about  the  brimstane  cootie.  * 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

*  Cootie  signifies  a   large  dish,  and  also   the  broth   or  other 
liquor  contained  in  it. 

Spartle,  to  move  the  limbs  to  and  fro,  to  dance  vio- 
lently and  ungracefully.  From  the  Flemish  sparteln. 
Spratile,  to  struggle  or  sprawl : — 

Listening  the  doors  and  windows  rattle, 
I  thought  me  on  the  ourie  cattle, 
Or  silly  sheep,  wha  bide  this  brattle 

O'  winter  war. 
And  through  the  drift  deep-lairing  sprattle. 

Beneath  a  scar. 

— Burns  :  A  Winter  Night. 

Spate,  a  flood  or  freshet,  from  the  overflow  of  a  river 
or  lake;   also  metaphorically  an  overflow  of  idle  talk. 

The  water  was  great  and  mickle  o'  spate. 

— Kinmoiit  Willie. 

Even  like  a  mighty  river  that  runs  down  in  spate  to  the  sea. 

— W.  E.  Aytoun  :  Blackwood's  Magazine. 

He  trail'd  the  foul  sheets  down  the  gait, 

Thought  to  have  washed  them  on  a  stane, 
The  burn  was  risen  great  of  spate. 

—The  Wife  of  Auchtermtichty:  Ritson's 
Caledonian  Muse. 


324  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

While  crashing  ice,  borne  on  the  roaring  spate. 
Sweeps  dams  an'  mills  an'  brigs  a'  to  the  gate. 

— Burns  :  The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

And  doun  the  water  wi'  speed  she  ran, 
^Vhile  tears  in  spates  fa'  fast  frae  her  e'e. 

—Jock  6'  the  Side :  Border  Minstrelsy. 

The  laird  of  Balnamoon  was  a  truly  eccentric  character.  He 
joined  with  his  drinking  propensities  a  great  zeal  for  the  Episcopal 
Church.  One  Sunday,  having  visitors,  he  read  the  services  and 
prayers  with  great  solemnity  and  earnestness.  After  dinner,  he, 
with  the  true  Scottish  hospitality  of  the  time,  set  to,  to  make  his 
guests  as  drunk  as  possible.  Next  day  when  they  took  their 
departure,  one  of  the  visitors  asked  another  what  he  thought  of  the 
laird.  "Why,  really,"  he  replied,  "  sic  a  spate  o'  praying,  and  sic 
a  spate  o'  drinking,  I  never  knew  in  all  the  course  of  my  life." 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 

Spate^  or  spaite,  is  from  the  Gaelic  speid,  a  mountain 
torrent,  suddenly  swollen  by  rain.  In  the  North  of 
England,  according  to  Messrs.  Halliwell  and  Wright,  a 
spait  signifies  a  more  than  usually  heavy  downpour  of 
rain ;  and  in  the  County  of  Durham,  it  signifies  a  pool 
formed  by  the  rain. 


Spaul,  a  shoulder ;  from  the  French  espaule,  or  epaule, 
often  erroneously  used  to  signify  a  leg  or  limb.  "To 
spaul,"  according  to  Jamieson,  "  is  to  push  out  the  limbs 
like  a  dying  animal  "  : — 

The  late  Duchess  of  Gordon  sat  at  dinner  next  an  Englishman, 
who  was  carving,  and  who  made  it  a  boast  that  he  was  thoroughly 
master  of  the  Scottish  language.  Her  Grace  turned  to  him  and  said, 
"  Rax  me  a  spatil  o'  that  bubbly-jock  ! "  The  unfortunate  man  was 
completely  nonplussed, 

— Dean  Ramsay. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  325 

The  Scotch  employ  the  French  word  gigot  for  a  leg  of 
mutton ;  but  they  do  not  say  a  spmd  of  mutton  for  a 
shoulder. 

Spean  (sometimes  spelled  spane  or  spay?i),  to  wean. 
The  English  zuean  is  derived  from  the  German  woh7ien, 
and  entwohnen,  and  the  Scottish  spea?i,  from  the  Flemish 
and  Low  Dutch  speeti,  which  has  the  same  meaning. 
Speaning-brash,  an  eruption  in  children,  which  sometimes 
occurs  at  weaning-time  : — 


^fe 


Withered  beldams  auld  a  droll, 
Rig  wood  ie  hags  wad  spean  a  foal, 
Louping  and  flinging  on  a  crummock, 
I  wonder  did  na  turn  thy  stomach. 

— Burns  :  Tarn  6'  Shanter. 

The  meaning  of  spean,  as  used  by  Burns,  is  not  very  clear. 
Perhaps  the  word  implies  that  the  hags  were  so  very 
hideous,  that,  had  they  been  brood  mares,  a  foal  would 
in  disgust  have  refused  to  imbibe  nourishment  from  them. 

Spell,  an  interval.  The  Scotch  and  the  Americans 
say: — "a  spell oi  work,"  "a  spell  of  idleness,"  "a  spell 
of  bad  weather,"  "  a  spell  of  good  weather,"  "  a  spell  of 
amusement,"  &c.  The  derivation  of  the  word  is  supposed 
to  be  from  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  spel,  the  German  spiele, 
to  play.  Possibly — though  not  certainly,  the  root  is  the 
Gaelic  speal,  to  clean,  to  mow,  to  cut  down ;  and  thence 
a  stroke,  i.e.,  a  stroke  of  good  or  bad  weather,  &c.  The 
word  has  recently  become  current  in  English. 

Spence,  a  dining  room  next  to  a  kitchen,  where  the  pro- 
visions are  kept ;  an  inner  apartment  in  a  small  house, 


326  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

supposed  to  be  derived  from  dispense^  to  distribute; 
whence  dispensary,  the  place  where  medicines  are  distri- 
buted : — 

Our  bardie  lanely  keeps  the  spence 
Sin'  Mailie's  dead. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Mailie's  Elegy. 

"Edward,"  said  the  sub-Prior,  "you  will  supply  the  English 

Knight  here,  in  this  spence,  with  suitable  food  and  accommodation 

for  the  night." 

— Scott  :   The  Monastery, 

The  word  is  still  used  in  the  North  of  England  for  a 
buttery,  also  for  a  cup-board,  a  pantry,  and  a  private 
room  in  a  farm  house  : — 

Yet  I  had  leven  she  and  I 
Were  both  togydir  secretly 
In  some  corner  in  the  spence. 

— Halliwell. 


Spere,  Spier,  to  inquire,  to  ask  after : — 

Mony  a  ane  spiers  the  gate  he  knows  full  well. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs. 

I  am  Spas,  quoth  he, 
And  spier  after  a  knight, 
That  took  me  a  mandement 
Upon  the  mount  of  Sinai. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

I  spiered  for  my  cousin  fu'  couthie  and  sweet. 

— Burns  :  Last  May  a  braw  Wooer, 

WTicn  lost,  folks  never  ask  the  way  they  want, 
They^j;/>zVr  the  gait. 

— Robert  Leighton  :  Scotch  Words, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  327 


A  very  expressive  derivative  of  spier  is  backspier,  meaning  to 
cross-examine. — R.  D. 

Her  niece  was  asking  a  great  many  questions,  and  coming  over 
and  over  the  same  ground,  demanding  an  explanation  how  this  and 
that  had  happened,  till  at  last  the  old  lady  lost  patience,  and  burst 
forth — "I  winna  be  back-spiered  noo,  Polly  Fullerton." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Sperthe,  a  spear,  a  javelin,  or,  more  properly,  a  battle- 
axe  ;  a  word  that  might  well  be  resumed  from  oblivion 
for  the  use  of  rhymers,  often  hardly  pushed  for  a  rhyme 
to  earth,  birth,  girth,  and  mirth — all  well,  or  too  well 
worn  : — 

His  helmet  was  laced, 
At  his  saddle  girth  was  a  good  steel  sperthe. 
Full  ten  pound  weight  and  more. 
—  The  Eve  of  St.  John:  Border  Minstrelsy. 


Spirlte.,  a  person  with  slender  legs;  spindle-shanked, 
sHm,  thin,  often  combined  with  lang ;  as,  "A  lang 
spirlte,^''  a  tall  slender  person.  From  the  Gaelic  speh\  a 
shank,  a  claw  ;  spen'each,  having  slender  limbs  : — 

Spleuchan,  a  Highland  purse  : — 

Deil  mak'  his  king's-hood  [scrotum]  in  a  spleuchan. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Splore,  a  riotously  merry  meeting  :  to  make  a  splore,  to 
create  a  sensation.  The  Americans  have  splurge — from 
splorage,  a  word  with  the  same  meaning  : — 

In  Poosie  Nancy's  held  the  splore. 
*  *  *  *  * 


328  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Wi'  quaffing  and  laughing, 
They  ranted  and  they  sang. 

—Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 

Splute,  to  exaggerate  in  narrative,  to  indulge  in  fiction. 
Jamieson  derives  this  word  from  the  French  exploit, 
but  it  is  more  probably  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic 
splcadh,  a  romance,  a  boast,  a  gasconade ;  a  vainglorious 
assertion ;  splcadhaich,  hyperbolical. 

Spoaclm%    a   poacher,    one   who   steals    game.      The 
Scottish  word  seems  to  have  been  the  original  form,  and  to 
have  become  poacher  by  the  elision  of  the  initial  s,  a  not 
uncommon  result  in  words  from  the  Celtic,  as  the  Welsh 
hen,  old,  is  the  same  as  the  Gaelic  scan ;  the  English  nag 
is  the  same  as  snag,  to  snarl  or  say  provoking  things,  as 
is  the  custom  with  spiteful  women,  if  they  wish  to  quarrel 
with  their  husbands.      The   English  poacher  is  usually 
derived  ixoxix  poke,  the  Yxoxvoki  poche,  a  pocket,  pouch,  or 
bag,  because  the  poacher,  like  the  sportsman,  hags  his 
game.     But  if  the  Scottish  spoacher  be  the  elder  word,  it 
will  be  necessary  to  account  for  the  lost  s.     This  is  sup- 
plied in  the  Gaelic  spog,  to  seize  violently,  as  birds  of  prey 
do  with  their  claws  and  talons ;  and  spogadh,  seizure. 
Jamieson  was  of  opinion  that  the  s  was  added  in  the 
Scottish  word ;    but  this  would  be  a  singular  instance, 
contradicted  by  all  previous  experience  of  similar  cases. 

Spraikle,  Sprackle,  Sprauchle,  to  clamber  up  a  hill  with 
great  exertion  and  difficulty.  From  the  Gaelic  spracail, 
strong,  active.  The  English  words  sprawl  and  sprag 
seem  to  be  of  the  same  parentage  : — 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  329 


I  rhymer  Robin,  alias  Burns, 

October  twenty  third ; 
A  ne'er-to-be-forgotten  day, 
Sae  far  I  sprackled  up  the  brae, 

I  dinner'd  wi'  a  lord. 

— Burns  :   The  Dmncr  with  Lord  Daer. 

Wad  ye  hae  naebody  spraickle  up  the  brae  but  yoursel,  Geordie  ? 

— Scott  :  Fortunes  of  Nigel. 

Sproage.  This  eccentric-looking  word  signifies,  ac- 
cording to  Jamieson,  to  go  out  courting  at  night,  to 
wander  by  the  hght  of  the  moon  or  stars.  Alexander 
Ross,  in  "  Helenore,  or  the  Fortunate  Shepherdess,"  has 
lines : — 

We  maun  marry  now  ere  lang ; 
Folk  will  speak  o's,  and  fash  us  wi'  the  kirk, 
Gin  we  be  seen  thegither  in  the  mirk. 

Neither  Burns,  Allan  Ramsay,  nor  Scott  employs  this 
word,  and  its  origin  is  wholly  unknown,  unless  the  Gaelic 
iporach,  to  incite,  excite,  or  instigate,  may  supply  a  clue. 

Spune-hale,  in  such  restored  health  as  to  be  able  to 
take  one's  ordinary  food,  one's  kail  or  parritch.  Parritch- 
hale,  and  meat-hale,  are  synonymous  terms. 

Spung,  a  purse  that  fastens  with  a  clasp ;  a  corruption 
apparently  of  sporan,  the  large  purse  worn  by  the  High- 
landers on  full-dress  occasions  : — 

But  wastefu'  was  the  want  of  a', 
Without  a  yeuk  they  gar  ane  claw, 
When  wickedly  they  bid  us  draw 
Our  siller  spungs, 


330  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


For  this  and  that  to  mak  them  braw,  ; 

And  lay  their  tongues. 

—Allan  Ramsay  :  Last  Speech  of  a  Wretched 

Miser. 


Spunk,  a  match,  a  spa^k ;  spunkie,  fiery,  high  spirited ; 
also,  an  ignis  fatuus  or  will  o'  the  wisp.  The  word  is 
derived  by  Jamieson  from  the  Gaelic  spong,  rotten  wood,  or 
tinder,  easily  inflammable;  but  it  is  questionable  whether 
the  root  is  not  the  Teutonic  funk,  a  sparkle  of  light ; 
fiinkeln,  to  sparkle ;  and  ausfunkeln,  to  sparkle  out,  to 
shine  forth.  Ausfunk  is  easily  corrupted  into  sfunk  and 
spujik : — 

Erskine,  a  spunkie  Norlandbillie, 

And  mony  ithers ; 
Whom  auld  Demosthenes  and  Tully, 

Might  own  as  brithers. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

If  mair  they  deave  us  wi'  their  din. 

Or  patronage  intrusion ; 
We'll  light  a  spunk,  and  every  skin 
We'll  rin  them  aff  in  fusion, 
Like  oil  some  day. 

— Burns  :   The  Ordmation. 

And  oft  from  moss-traversing  spnnkies, 
Decoy  the  wight  that  late  and  drunk  is. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

Spurtle  or  Parritch  Spurtle,  a  rounded  stick  or  bar  of 
hard  wood,  used  in  preference  to  a  spoon  or  ladle  for 
stirring  oatmeal  porridge  in  the  process  of  cooking. 
Jamieson — who  seldom  dives  deeper  than  the  Anglo- 
Saxon — derives  the  word  from  sprytetz,  the  Latin  assula. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  33 1 

The  Gaelic  has  sparr  or  sparran,  a  little  wooden  bar  or 
bolt ;  and  the  Flemish  has  sport,  with  the  same  meaning ; 
and  also  that  of  the  rung  of  a  ladder,  (a  bar  of  wood 
which  a  Scottish  housewife,  in  default  of  any  better 
spurtle,  might  conveniently  use  for  the  purpose.)  Good 
bairns,  in  the  olden  times  when  oatmeal  porridge 
was  the  customary  food  of  the  peasantry,  were  often  re- 
warded by  having  the  spurtle  to  lick,  in  addition  to  their 
share  of  the  breakfast. 

Our  gudeman  cam'  hame  at  e'en, 

And  hame  cam'  he  ; 
And  there  he  saw  a  braw  broad  sword, 

Where  nae  sword  should  be. 

How's  this  ?  gude  wife, 

How's  this  quo  he, 
How  caine  this  sword  here 

Without  the  leave  o'  me  ? 

A  sword  !  quo  she, 

Aye  a  sword  quo  he  ; 
Ye  auld  doited  bodie. 

And  blinder  may  ye  be, 
'Tis  but  a  parritch  spurtle, 

My  minnie  gied  to  me. 

Far  hae  I  travelled, 

And  muckle  hae  I  seen. 
But  scabbards  upon  spurtks. 

Saw  I  never  nana  ! 

— Our  Gudeman. 

Staffa,  the  name  of  the  well-known  island  of  the 
West  that  contains  the  cave  of  Fingal."  Colonel 
Robertson,  in  "The  Gaelic  Topography  of  Scotland," 
has  omitted  to  give  the  etymology  of  the  word.      Many 


332  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

people  suppose  it  to  be  English,  and  akin  to  Stafford.  It 
is,  however,  pure  Gaelic,  and  accurately  descriptive  of 
the  natural  formation  of  the  cave,  being  compounded  of 
stuadh  {dh  silent),  a  pillar  or  pillars,  column  or  columns; 
and  uamh  {uav  or  uaf)^  a  cave,  whence  stua-uaf  ox  staffa, 
the  cave  of  pillars  or  columns. 


Sfaig,  a  young,  unbroken  stallion.  In  the  North  of 
England,  this  word  stag,  or  staig,  is  applied  to  any  young 
male  quadruped,  and,  in  contempt,  to  a  strong,  vulgar, 
romping  girl,  whose  manners  are  masculine.  The  word 
is  also  applied  to  the  Turkey  cock  and  the  gander. 
From  the  Teutonic  steige?i,  to  mount,  to  raise,  to  stick 
up,  to  stand  erect.  In  the  old  Norse,  sieggr  signifies 
male : — 

It's  neither  your  stot  nor  your  staig  I  shall  crave, 
But  gie  me  your  wife,  man,  for  her  I  must  have. 

— Burns  :   llic  Carle  d'  Kellyburn  Braes. 


Stank,  a  pool,  a  ditch,  an  entrenchment  filled  with 
water  for  the  defence  of  a  fortress.  This  word,  with  the 
elision  of  the  initial  letter,  becomes  the  English  tank,  a 
receptacle  of  water.  Siankit,  entrenched.  From  the 
French  etaing,  or  estaing,  the  Gaelic  staing,  a  ditch,  a 
pool ;  staifigichte,  entrenched  : — 

I  never  drank  the  Muses'  statik, 

Castalia's  burn  and  a'  that ; 
But  there  it  streams,  and  richtly  reams, 

My  Helicon,  I  ca'  that. 

— Burns  :   The  Jolly  Beggars. 


.OF   THE    SCOTTISH     LANGUAGE.  333 

Starmirel,  Stump,  a  stupid  person ;  statwier,  to  stutter, 
to  be  incoherent  in  speech,  to  stammer ;  from  the  Ger- 
man stumiiie,  dumb ;  and  stump/,  stupid,  the  Flemish 
and  Dutch  stumper,  a  fool,  a  silly  and  idle  person  : — 

Nae  langer  thrifty  citizens,  an'  douce, 
Meet  owre  a  pint  or  in  the  Council  house, 
But  stauinrel,  corky-headed  gentry, 
The  herriment  and  ruin  of  the  country. 

— Burns  :   The  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

The  lad  was  aye  a  perfect  stump. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Stance,  situation,  standing-place  or  foundation.  This 
word  has  not  yet  been  admitted  into  the  English  dic- 
tionaries : — 

No  !  sooner  may  the  Saxon  lance, 
Unfix  Benledi  from  his  stance. 

— Scott :  Lady  of  the  Lake. 

We  would  recommend  any  Yankee  believer  in  England's  decay 
to  take  his  stance  in  Fleet  Street  or  any  of  our  great  thoroughfares, 
and  ask  himself  whether  it  would  be  wise  to  meddle  with  any 
member  of  that  busy  and  strenuous  crowd. 

— Blackwood's  Magazine,  jfiine,  i86g. 

Staves.  "  To  go  to  staves  "  is  a  proverbial  expression 
used  in  Scotland  to  signify  to  go  to  ruin,  to  fall  to  pieces 
like  a  barrel,  when  the  hoops  that  bind  the  staves 
together  are  removed. 

Staw,  to  surfeit,  to  disgust.  Etymology  uncertain ;  not 
Flemish,  as  Jamieson  supposes,  but  more  properly  from 
the  Gaelic  stad,  to  desist,  or  cause  to  desist : — 


334  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Is  there  that  o'er  his  French  ragout, 
Or  olio  that  wad  staio  a  sow. 

—Burns  :  To  a  Haggis. 


Steek,  to  close,  to  shut,  to  fasten  with  a  pin  : — 

Sages  their  solemn  e'en  may  steek, 

—Burns  :  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Steek  the  awmrie. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott:  Donald  Caird. 

Ye're  owre  bonnie  !  ye're  owre  bonnie  ! 

Sae  steek  that  witchin  e'e, 
It's  light  flees  gleamin'  through  my  brain. 

—James  Ballantine. 

Your  purse  was  steekit  when  that  was  paid  for. 

—Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

When  the  steed's  stown  steik  the  stable  door. 

— Idem. 


Steeks,  the  interstices  of  any  woven  or  knitted  fabric, 
stitches  ;  steek  is  identical  with  stitch,  as  kirk  is  with 
church : — 

He  draws  a  bonnie  silken  purse 

As  long's  my  tail,  where  through  the  steeks 

The  yellow-lettered  Geordie  [guinea]  keeks. 

—Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Stca'c  or  Steive,  fine,  erect,  stout.  From  the  English 
stiff;  and  the  Flemish  stijf: — 

Sit  ye  steeve  in  your  saddle  seat, 
For  he  rides  sicker  who  never  fa's. 

—James  Ballantine. 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  335 

Steti^  to  spring  to  one  side,  a  sudden  motion  in  the 
wrong  direction  ;  to  turn  away,  to  twist,  to  bend  ;  stennis, 
a  sprain.  From  the  Gaelic  staofi,  awry,  askew;  and 
staonaich,  to  bend,  to  twist,  to  turn,  Jamieson  errone- 
ously derives  sten  from  extend  : — 

Yestreen  at  the  valentines  dealing, 

My  heart  to  my  mou'  gied  a  steit, 
For  thrice  I  drew  ane  without  failing, 

And  thrice  it  was  written  Tarn  Glen. 

— Burns  :   Tain  Glen. 


Stevin.  Before  the  introduction  from  the  Latin  vox, 
and  the  French  voix.,  of  the  word  "voice"  into  the 
English  and  Scottish  languages,  the  word  stevin  was 
employed.  It  was  used  by  Chaucer  in  England,  and  by 
Gawain  Douglas  in  Scotland.  From  its  close  resemblance 
to  the  Teutonic  stimme,  a  voice,  and  siimmen,  voices,  the 
Flemish  stem,  it  is  probable  that  it  was  a  corruption  or 
variation  of  that  word  : — 

With  dreary  heart  and  sorrowful  steven. 

— Morte  Arthur. 

Betwixt  the  twelft  hour  and  eleven, 
I  dreamed  an  angel  cam  frae  heaven, 
With  pleasant  stevin  sayand  on  hie, 
Tailyiors  and  soutars,  blest  be  ye  ! 

Dunbar  :  Allan  Ramsay's  Evergreen. 

Lang  may  thy  steven  fill  with  glee 
The  glens  and  mountains  of  Lochlee. 

— Beattie  :   To  Mr.  Alexander  Ross. 


Quoth  Jane,  "  my  steven,  sir,  is  blunted 
And  singing  frae  me  frighted  off  wi'  care 


sair, 
wi'  care ; 


336  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

But  gin  ye'll  tak'  it  as  I  now  can  gie't, 
Ye're  welcome  til't — and  my  sweet  blessing  wi't." 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

The  rhymes  to  "heaven"  in  Scottish  and  EngUsh 
poetry  are  few,  and  stevin  would  be  an  agreeable  addi- 
tion to  the  number,  if  it  were  possible  to  revive  it. 


Steward,  a  director,  a  manager,  an  administrator. 
As  a  patronymic,  the  word  is  sometimes  spelled  stewart 
and  Stuart,  and  has  been  derived  from  the  Teutonic 
stede-ward,  one  who  occupies  the  place  delegated  to  him 
by  another ;  or  from  the  Icelandic  stia,  work,  and  weard, 
a  guard  or  guardian.  It  seems,  however,  to  have  an 
indigenous  origin  in  the  Gaelic  stiuir,  to  lead,  direct, 
guide,  steer,  superintend,  manage,  &c. ;  and  ard,  high, 
or  chief  The  ^'' Steivard  of  Scotland"  was,  in  early 
times,  the  chief  officer  of  the  crown,  and  next  in  power 
and  dignity  to  the  king.  There  was  a  similar  functionary 
in  England  : — 

The  Duke  of  Norfolk  is  the  first, 
And  claims  to  be  high  Steward. 

The  attributes  of  the  "  Steward  of  Scotland "  are  set 
forth  by  Erskine  as  quoted  in  Jamieson  ;  and  the  last 
holder  of  the  office — who  became  king  of  Scotland — gave 
the  name  of  his  function  to  his  royal  descendants.  In 
its  humbler  sense,  of  the  steward  of  a  great  household,  or 
of  a  ship,  the  name  is  still  true  to  its  GaeUc  derivation, 
and  signifies  the  chief  director  of  his  particular  depart- 
ment. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  337 

It  has  been  supposed  in  the  "Gaelic  Etymology  of  the 
Languages  of  Western  Europe,"  that  the  true  etymon  of 
stew  or  stu — (the  first  syllable  of  steward  and  stuart) — is 
the  GaeHc  stuth,  pronounced  stii,  which  signifies  any 
strong  liquor,  as  well  as  food,  sustenance,  or  nourish- 
ment for  the  body ;  and  that  consequently  steward 
means  chief  butler,  or  provider  of  the  royal  household. 
There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favour  of  this  hypothesis, 
but  the  derivation  from  stiur  seems  preferable. 

The  Irish  Gaelic  spells  ste^vard  in  the  English  sense 
stiobliard.  The  Scottish  Gaelic  has  it  stiubhard ;  but  the 
words  thus  written  have  no  native  etymology,  and  are 
merely  phonetic  renderings  of  an  obsolete  Gaelic  term, 
re-borrowed  from  the  modern  English.  The  suggested 
Teutonic  etymology  of  steward  from  stede-ward,  has  no 
foundation  in  the  Teutonic  languages.  Steward  in  Ger- 
man is  Verwalter,  administrator  or  director ;  and  Baiis- 
hofmeister,  master  of  the  household.  In  Flemish,  bestieren 
signifies  to  administer,  to  direct;  and  bestierder,  an 
administrator,  a  director,  a  steward. 

Stey,  steep,  perpendicular.  In  Cumberland  and  West- 
moreland, a  mountain  of  pecuhar  steepness  is  called  a 
sty  ;  and  in  Berkshire,  sty  signifies  a  ladder.  Stey  and 
sty  are  both  from  the  German  st'iegefi,  and  the  Flemish 
stijgen,  to  mount,  to  climb  : — 

Set  a  stout  heart  to  a  stey  brae. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  steyest  brae  thou  wouldst  hae  face't  at. 

— Burns  :   The  Auld  Farmer  to  His  Auld  Mare 

Maggie. 
X 


338  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

Stickit  Minister.  A  term  of  obloquy  in  Scotland  for  a 
candidate  for  holy  orders — who  has  failed  to  pass  ihe 
necessary  examination,  or  to  give  satisfaction  to  the  con- 
gregation, before  whom  he  preached  the  probation  iry 
sermon.  The  phrase  is  akin  to  the  vulgar  English  — 
"  old  stick  in  the  mud  "  : — 

Puir  lad  !  the  first  time  he  tried  to  preach,  he  stickit  his  serrron. 

— ^Jamieson. 

A  speech  is  stickit  when  the  speaker  hesitates  and  is  unabU  to 
proceed. 

— Idem. 

Still.  This  word  is  sometimes  employed  in  the  Scot- 
tish vernacular  in  a  sense  which  it  possesses  no  longe'  in 
English,  that  of  taciturn,  or  reticent  of  speech.  "  A  still 
dour  man,"  signifies  a  taciturn,  reserved,  and  hard  mm. 

Stoufid,  a  moment,  a  very  short  space  of  time ;  alsc ,  a 
quick  sudden  momentary  pain.  From  the  Teutonic 
stund,  an  hour  : — 

Gang  in  and  seat  you  on  the  sunks  a'  round, 
And  ye'se  be  sair'd  wi'  plenty  in  a  stound. 

— Ross  :  Helenor,'. 

And  aye  the  stound  and  deadly  wound, 
Came  frae  her  e'en  sae  bonnie  blue. 

— Burns  :  /  Gaed  a  Waeful  Gate. 

Stoup  or  Stoop,  a  flagon,  a  pitcher,  a  jug.  Fint-stoup, 
a  bottle  or  jug  containing  a  pint.  This  word  was  used 
by  Shakspeare,  Ben  Jonson,  and  other  dramatists  of  he 
Elizabethan  era  :  it  has  long  been  obsolete  in  Engla  id, 
but  survives  with  undiminished  vitality  in  Scotland. — 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  339 


Come,  Lieutenant  !  I  have  a  stoop  of  wine,  and  here  without  are 
a  brace  of  Cyprian  gallants,  that  would  fain  have  a  measure  to  the 
health  of  black  Othello. 

—Othello. 

Set  me  the  stoup  of  wine  upon  that  table. 

— Hamlet. 

And  surely  ye'll  be  your  pint-stoup. 
As  sure  as  I'll  be  mine. 

— Burns  :  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

The  etymology  of  stoup  or  stoop  has  long  been  con- 
tested ;  Johnson  derives  it  from  the  Dutch  and  Flemish 
stop^  a  cork  or  stoj^per  of  a  bottle  ;  the  German  stopsel ; 
btit  this  can  scarcely  be  the  origin  of  the  Scottish  word, 
for  a  milk  stoup,  a  water  stoup,  a  can,  a  pitcher,  a  bucket, 
a  pail,  are  not  corked  or  stopped.  In  some  Scottish 
glossaries,  a  stoup  is  said  to  be  a  tin  pot ;  and  in  others 
it  is  defined  as  a  jug  with  a  handle ;  while  in  Northum- 
berland, according  to  Wright's  Provincial  Dictionary,  a 
stoop  signifies  a  barrel.  In  Gaelic,  stop  means  a  wooden 
vessel  for  carrying  water,  a  measure  for  liquids,  or  a  flagon ; 
and  s/opati  signifies  a  small  flagon.  Between  the  Flemish 
and  Gaelic  derivations,  it  is  difficult  to  decide, — but  the 
Gadic — which  applies  the  word  to  wide  and  open  utensils, 
seems  to  be  preferable,  at  least  in  comprehensiveness. 

Stour,  dust  in  motion ;  and  metaphorically  trouble, 
vexation,  or  disturbance.  The  word  is  akin  to  the 
English  stir,  and  in  its  metaphorical  sense  is  synonymous 
with  the  Scottish  steer, — as  in  the  song  "what's  a'  the 
steer  kimmer  ?  "  what's  the  disturbance,  or  in  the  broad 
vernacular,  what's  the  row  ?  To  kick  up  a  dust  is  a  slang 
expression  that  has  a  similar  origin  : — 


340  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Yestreen  I  met  you  on  the  moor, 
Ye  spak  na,  but  gaed  by  like  stour; 
Ye  geek  at  me  because  I'm  poor. 

— Burns  :   Tibbie,  I  hae  seen  the  day. 

After  service,  the  betheral  of  the  strange  clergyman  said  to  his 
friend  the  other  betheral,  "  I  think  our  minister  did  weel.  He  aye 
gars  the  stoiir  flee  out  o'  the  cushion."  To  which  the  other  replied, 
with  a  calm  feeling  of  superiority,  "-^ Stour  out  o'  the  cushion! 
Hoot  !  our  minister,  sin'  he  cam'  wi'  us,  has  dung  [knocked  or 
beaten]  the  guts  out  o'  twa  Bibles." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

How  blithely  wad  I  bide  the  stoure, 

A  weary  slave  frae  sun  to  sun, 
Could  I  the  rich  reward  secure 

Of  lovely  Mary  Morrison. 

— Burns. 

Burns  uses  the  word  in  the  sense  of  mould,  earth,  or 
soil,  as  in  his  "  Address  to  the  Daisy  "  : — 

Wee,  modest  crimson-tippet  flower, 
Thou'st  met  me  in  an  evil  hour. 
For  I  man  crush  amang  the  stour. 
Thy  slender  stem. 

Stour,  in  the  sense  of  strife,  was  a  common  English  word 
in  the  time  of  Chaucer  and  his  predecessors. 


Stowlins,  Sfownlifts,   by  stealth,   stealthily,  or  stolen 
moments  unobserved,  or  expecting  to  be  unobserved  : — 

Rob  st02ulins  pried  her  bonnie  mou, 
Fu'  cosie  in  the  neuk  for't 
Unseen  that  night. 

— Burns :  Hallowe'en. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  341 

Stoyte,  Stoiter,  to  stagger,  stumble,  or  walk  unsteadily. 
From  the  Flemish  stoote?i,  to  push  against,  to  stumble  or 
cause  to  stumble : — 

When  staggirand  and  swaggirand, 
They  stoyter  hame  to  sleep. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  The  Vision. 

Blind  chance  let  her  snapper  and  stoyte  on  the  way. 

— Burns  :  Contented  ivV  Little. 

At  length  wi'  drink  and  courtin'  dizzy, 
He  stoitercd  up  an'  made  a  face. 

— Burns  :  The  Jolly  Beggars. 

To  stoitle  over,  in  consequence  of  infirmity,  without  being  much 
hurt.  To  tyne  or  lose  the  stoyte,  is  a  metaphor  for  being  off  the 
proper  line  of  conduct. 

— Jamieson. 

Strae  death,  straw  death,  death  in  bed,  natural  death. 
This  strong  but  appropriate  expression  comes  from  the 
middle  ages,  when  lawlessness  and  violence  were  chronic. 

Strappan,  or  Strappin\  strong,  tall,  burly,  well-grown  ; 
the  English  strapping,  "  a  strapping  youth  "  : — 

The  miller  was  strappin\  the  miller  was  ruddy. 

—Burns  :  Meg  0'  the  Mill. 

Wi'  kindly  welcome,  Jeanie  brings  him  ben, 
A  strappin'  youth — he  taks  the  mother's  eye. 

— Burns  :  Cottar's  Satttrday  Night. 

This  word  comes  from  the  Gaelic  streap,  to  climb  up, — 
i.e.,  in  stature,  to  grow  tall. 


342  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Streik,  to  stretch  ;  from  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  strek- 
ken,  German  strechen,  to  extend.  This  word  is  used  in 
a  variety  of  ways,  unknown  to  or  unfrequent  in  English ; 
as,  "  Talc'  your  ain  streik,^'  take  your  own  course  ;  streikin, 
tall  and  active;  streik,  to  go  quickly, — i.e.,  to  stretch  out 
in  walking;  tight  or  tightly  drawn, — i.e.,  excessively 
drawn,  stretched  out,  or  extended  : — 

Strone,  or  Sfroan,  a  ludicrous  word  for  the  habitual 
urination  of  dogs,  when  out  on  their  rambles.  It  is 
introduced  by  Burns  in  his  description  of  the  rich  man's 
dog,  Caesar,  the  fine  Newfoundland,  who  was  the  friend 
and  companion  of  Luath,  the  poor  man's  dog  : — 

Though  he  was  of  high  degree, 

The  fient  o'  pride,  nae  pride  had  he. 

•  *  ♦  * 

Nae  tauted  tyke,  though  e'er  sae  duddie, 

But  he  wad  stan't  as  glad  to  see  him, 

And  stromt't  on  stanes  and  hillocks  wi'  him. 

The  word  seems  to  have  been  originally  applied  to  the 
action  of  the  dog  in  first  smelling  the  place  where  another 
dog  has  been  before  for  a  similar  purpose,  and  to  be 
derived  from  the  Gaelic  srone  (pronounced  strone),  a 
nose ;  and  sronagatch,  to  trace  by  the  scent  as  dogs  do. 

Sfrjiishle,  to  struggle  pertinaciously,  and  in  vain, 
against  continually  recurring  difficulties.  From  the 
Flemish  struikelen,  to  stumble,  to  fall  down  : — 

A  tradesman  employed  to  execute  a  very  difficult  piece  of  carved 
work,  being  asked  how  he  was  getting  on,  answered — "I'm 
struishling  3.V13.'  like  a  writer  [lawyer]  tvyin"  to  he  honest  !" 

— Laird  of  Logan, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  343 

Strimf,  alcoholic  liquor  of  any  kind ;  a  fit  of  ill-humour ; 
al.jo,  an  affront,  or  a  sturdy,  arrogant  walk  : — 

Strunt  and  sturt  are  birds  of  ae  feather, 
And  aft  are  seen  on  the  wing  thegither. 

— Scots  Proverb. 

Burns  makes  the  disagreeable  insect  that  he  saw  on  a 
lady's  bonnet  at  church  "strunt  rarely  over  her  gauze 
aiid  lace  "  The  word,  in  this  sense,  seems  to  be  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  English  strut.  Stront  is  a  low  Teutonic 
word  for  stercus  humaniim ;  but  this  can  scarcely  be  the 
re  ot  of  strimt  in  any  of  the  senses  in  which  it  is  used  in 
tl'  e  Scottish  language  ;  though  strunty,  an  epithet  applied 
tc  any  one  in  a  fit  of  such  ill-humour  as  to  be  excessively 
disagreeable  to  all  around  him,  may  not  be  without  some 
remote  connection  with  the  Teutonic  idea. 


Study,  or  Brown  Study.  This  expression  first  appeared 
in  literature  in  the  "Case  Altered,"  of  Ben  Jonson,  a 
Scotsman  : — 

Faiks  !  this  brown  study  suits  not  with  your  black  ;  your  habit 
aad  your  thought  are  of  two  colours. 

^- Brown  deep"  is,  according  to  Mr.  Halliwell  and  Mr. 
^ bright,  a  local  phrase,  in  Kent,  applied  to  one  who  is 
c'eep  in  reflection.  The  word  brown  appears  to  have  no 
r2ference  to  colour,  neither  is  it  to  be  derived  from 
brow.,  the  forehead,  as  a  writer  in  "Notes  and  Queries" 
supposes.  Its  etymology  is  the  Gaelic  bron,  melancholy, 
sorrow,  grief;  bronach,  sad;  bronag,  a  sorrowful  woman; 
Iroin,  lamentation,  sorrow,  sadness. 


344  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Shig.  This  Scottish  word  is  used  in  a  variety  of 
senses — all  allied  to  the  idea  of  stiffness,  erectness, 
rigidity,  hardness,  prickliness,  &c.,  as  the  English  stiff, 
stick,  stock,  stuck  up,  and  the  corresponding  verb  derived 
from  the  noun ;  as  stiig,  to  stab,  or  stick,  with  a  sharp 
weapon ;  stug,  the  trunk  or  fragment  of  a  decayed  tree, 
projecting  above  the  ground ;  sh(g,  a  hard,  masculine 
woman ;  stug,  obstinate ;  stugger,  an  obstinate  person ; 
stug,  a  thorn ;  sf2igs,  stubble.  From  the  Dutch  and 
Flemish  stug,  inflexible,  stiff,  obstinate;  the  German 
stick,  to  stab,  to  pierce ;  sticheln,  to  prick,  to  sting. 

Stiirt,  strife,  contention,  disturbance  ;  also,  to  strive, 
to  contend  \  a  word  apparently  akin  to  stour  in  its 
poetical  sense  of  confusion.  It  is  akin  to,  and  possibly 
derived  from  the  Teutonic  stiirzen,  to  disturb,  to  over- 
throw : — 

And  aye  the  less  they  hae  to  sturt  them, 
In  like  proportion  less  will  hurt  them. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

I've  lived  a  life  of  sturt  and  strife, 
I  die  by  treachery. 

— Macpherson^ s  Fareiuell. 

Stynie,  a  particle,  an  iota ;  the  least  possible  quantity ; 
a  blink,  a  gleam,  a  glimpse  : — 

He  held,  she  drew,  fu'  steeve  that  day, 
Might  no  man  see  a  stytne. 

— Chrisfs  Kirk  on  the  Green, 

I've  seen  me  daz't  upon  a  time, 
I  scarce  could  wink  or  see  a  stytnc. 

Burns  :  Naething  like  Nappy. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  345 

The  faintest  form  of  an  object ;  a  glimpse  or  transitory  glance,  as, 
' '  There's  no  a  stynne  o'  licht  here. " 

— Jamieson. 

From  sty  me  is  formed  stymie^  one  who  sees  indistinctly  ; 
and  stymel,  which,  according  to  Jamieson,  is  a  name  of 
reproach  given  to  one  who  does  not  perceive  quickly 
what  another  wishes  him  to  see.  Jamieson  hints,  rather 
than  asserts,  that  styme  is  from  the  Welsh  ystuf?i,  form, 
or  figure ;  but  as  styme  is  the  absence  of  form  and  figure — 
something  faint,  indistinct,  and  small,  rather  than  a  sub- 
stantial entity,  the  etymology  is  unsatisfactory.  The  word 
seems  to  have  some  relationship  to  the  Gaelic  stim,  or 
sttojH,  a  slight  puff,  or  wreath  of  smoke ;  and  thence  to 
mean  any  thing  slight,  transitory,  and  indistinct. 


Sugh,  or  Sough,  a  sigh,  a  breath.  Greek  psyche,  the 
breath  of  life  ;  the  soul.  To  keep  a  calm  sugh,  is  to  be 
discreetly  silent  about  any  thing,  not  to  give  it  breath  ; 
siigh-siller,  erroneously  printed  sow-siller  by  Jamieson, 
means  hush-money. 


Stcnkets,  scraps  of  food,  scrans,  (q.  v.)  : — 

In  Scotland  there  lived  a  humble  beggar. 

He  had  neither  house  nor  hauld  nor  hame. 
But  he  was  weel  likit  by  ilka  body, 

And  they  gied  him  stmkets  to  rax  his  wame, 
A  nievefu'  o'  meal,  a  handfu'  o'  groats, 

A  daud  o'  a  bannock,  or  pudding  bree, 
Cauld  parritch,  or  the  licking  o'  plates, 

Wad  mak  him  as  blithe  as  a  body  could  be. 

— Tea  Table  Miscellany. 


346  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Sunket-thie  is  meal-time.  The  etymology  oisunket  is  uncertain  ; 
Herd  derives  it  from  sotnething. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Whene\er  an  uncertain  etymology  in  English  or  Low- 
land Scotch  is  avowed,  it  would  be  well  if  the  dubious 
philologists  would  look  into  the  Gaelic,  which  they  seldom 
do.  In  the  case  of  sunket  they  would  have  found  some- 
thing better  in  that  language  than  the  English  something. 
Sanntach  signifies  a  dainty,  or  something  that  is  desired, 
coveted,  or  longed  after;  and  sanntaichte ;  that  which  is 
desired.  This  word  would  be  easily  convertible  by  the 
Lowland  Scotch  into  sunket.  Halliwell,  in  his  Archaic 
Dictionary,  has  su7i-cote,  a  dainty,  which  he  says  is  a  Suf- 
folk word, 

Sujnph,  a  stupid  or  soft-headed  person.  Jamieson  de- 
rives the  word  from  the  Teutonic  sumpf,  and  Flemish 
somp.,  a.  bog,  a  marsh,  a  morass  ;  a  possible  but  not  a 
convincing  etymology.  Halliwell  has  sump,  a  heavy 
weight,  whence  he  adds,  a  heavy  stupid  fellow  is  so  called. 

The  soul  of  life,  the  heaven  below 

Is  raptuie-giving  woman  ; 
Ye  surly  s:imfks  whc  hate  the  hanie, 

Be  mindfu'  o'  your  mithei'. 

— Burns. 

Szc'dck,  to  deal  a  heavy  blow;  akin  to  the  vulgar 
English  w/iack,  to  beat  severely  ;  a  swashing  blow,  a 
heavy  blow ;  etymology  uncertain.  The  Teutonic 
scAwar/i,  weak,  has  an  opposite  meaning,  though  there 
may  be  some  connection  of  idea  between  a  heavy  blow, 
and  a  blow  that  iveakens  him  on  whom  it  falls  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  347 


When  Percy  wi'  the  Douglas  met, 

I  wat  he  was  fu'  fain, 
They  swakkit  their  swords  till  sair  they  swat, 

And  the  blood  ran  doun  like  rain. 

— Battle  of  Otterbourne, 

In  another  stanza  of  this  vigorous  old  ballad,  occur  the 
lines  : — 

Then  Percy  and  Montgomery  met, 

That  either  of  other  were  fain  ; 
They  sivappit  swords,  and  they  twa  swat. 

And  the  blood  run  doun  between. 

Here  srvappit  seems  employed  in  the  same  sense  as 
swakkit,  and  is  possibly  a  variation  of  swoop,  to  come 
down  with  a  heavy  blow. 


Swagers,  men  married  to  sisters.  Jamieson  goes  to  the 
Swedish  and  Icelandic  for  the  derivation  of  this  word, 
but  it  is  to  be  found  nearer  home  in  the  Flemish  ztoager, 
and  the  German  schwager,  a  brother  in  law. 

Swank,  active,  agile,  supple  ;  swankie,  an  active,  clever 
young  fellow,  fit  for  his  work,  and  not  above  it.  From 
the  Flemish  and  Teutonic.  Halliwell  says  that  swanky  h 
a  northern  English  word  for  a  strong,  strapping  fellow ; 
and  swanking  for  big,  large  : — 

Thou  ance  was  in  the  foremost  rank, 
A  filly,  buirdly,  steeve,  and  swank. 

— Burns  :   T/ie  Auld  Farmer  to  his  Auld  Mare. 

The  etymological  root  of  swankie  is  apparently  the 
Teutonic  schwank,  droll ;  used  in  a  sense  equivalent  to 


348  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

the  French  dr'ole^  which  means  a  funny  fellow,  a  droll 
fellow,  or  a  fellow  in  a  contemptuous  and  depreciatory 
sense.  I\Ir.  Thomas  Wright,  in  his  Archaic  Dictionary 
of  Local  and  Provincial  English,  says  that  swankie  is  a 
northern  word  for  a  strapping  fellow ;  and  that  swamp 
signifies  lean,  unthriving, — which  suggests  that  possibly 
swampie  is  a  corruption  of  swankie,  with  a  slight  shade 
of  difference  in  the  phrase ;  the  meaning  for  "a  strapping 
fellow,"  though  suggestive  of  strength,  may  be  also  sug- 
gestive of  tallness,  and  leanness.  The  Danish  has  svang, 
withered,  lean  ;  but  it  also  has  svanger,  which  means 
large-bellied,  and  is  applied  to  a  pregnant  woman ;  the 
Flemish  and  Dutch  have  swanger  with  the  same  mean- 


ing :- 


Swankies  young  in  braw  braid  claith, 
Are  springin'  owre  the  gutters. 

— Bui'ns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 


Swarf,  to  faint,  to  swoon,  to  stupify,  or  be  stupified  ; 
also,  a  fainting  fit,  a  swoon  : — 

And  monie  a  huntit  poor  red  coat, 
For  fear  amaist  did  swarf,  man  ! 

— Burns  :   The  Battle  of  Sheriff  Muir. 

He  held  up  an  arrow  as  he  passed  me  ;  and  I  swarf  d  zwa.  wi' 
fright. 

— Scott  :   The  Monastery. 

V'e  hae  gar'd  the  puir  wretch  speak  till  she  siuarfs,  and  now  ye 
stand  as  if  ye  never  saw  a  woman  in  a  d-u<ain  before. 

—Scott  :  St.  Rotian's  Well. 

The  etymology  of  swarf  is  uncertain  ;   the  author  of 
'Pier's  Ploughman"  has  szaowe,  to  swoon,  akin  apparently 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  349 

to  the  Gaelic  suam,  to  fall  asleep.  By  some  szvarf  has 
been  derived  from  the  Teutonic  ausiuerfen,  to  throw  out, 
or  throw  off ;  and  as  to  fall  in  a  fainting  fit,  is  to  throw 
off  temporarily  the  semblance  of  life, — it  is  probable  that 
the  derivation  is  correct.  Dwam,  in  the  same  sense  as 
used  by  Sir  Walter  Scott,  was  formerly  written  diialni,  and 
djvalm.  These  latter  words  are  evidently  allied  to  the 
old  English  dwale,  one  of  the  popular  names  of  the  plant 
bella  donna,  or  deadly  night-shade ;  a  word  employed 
by  the  early  poets  Gower  and  Chaucer,  and  still  in  use  in 
the  Lowlands  of  Scotland,  and  the  Northern  Counties  ot 
England. 

Swatch^  a  specimen,  a  sample.    Etymology  uncertain  : 

On  this  side  sits  a  chosen  sivatcJi, 
Wi'  screwed-up,  grace-proud  faces. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

That's  jist  a  swatch  o'  Hornbook's  way  ; 
Thus  goes  he  on  from  day  to  day, 
Thus  does  he  poison,  kill,  and  slay, 
An's  weel  paid  for't. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Swats,  new  ale  or  beer  : — 

Tarn  had  got  planted  unco  right 
Fast  by  an  ingle  bleezing  finely, 
Wi'  reaming  swats  that  drank  divinely. 

— Burns  :   Tarn  6'  Shanter. 

This  word  seems  to  be  a  ludicrous  derivation  from  the 
Gaelic  suath,  to  mix  liquids,  to  rub  or  press  barley  ;  and 
siiathadh^  a  mode  of  threshing  barley ;  and  thence,  by 


350  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

extension  of  meaning,  the  juice  of  the  barley.  According 
to  Jamieson,  swats,  or  swaits,  signifies  new  ale  only.  He 
derives  it  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  swate,  ale  or  beer ;  but 
the  anterior  root  seems  to  be  the  Gaelic  siialh,  to  crush 
barley ;  and  suathadh,  a  mode  of  threshing  barley ; 
whence,  by  extension  of  meaning,  the  beer  or  ale  that 
was  brewed  from  the  barley. 

Sweer,  difficult,  heavy,  slow,  wearied ;  from  the  Teu- 
tonic sc/naer,  heavy,  hard,  difficult : — 

Sweer  to  bed,  and  sweer  up  in  the  morning. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Sweer-arse  and  sweer-tfee  are,  according  to  Jamieson,  the 
names  of  a  sport  among  Scottish  children,  in  which  two 
of  them  are  seated  on  the  ground,  and,  holding  a  stick 
between  them,  endeavour  each  of  them  to  drsw  the  other 
up  from  the  sitting  posture.  The  heaviest  in  the  poste- 
rior wins  the  game. 

Sweine^  a  swoon,  a  trance;  from  the  Gaelic  suain, 
sleep : — 

Sometimes  she  lade,  sometimes  she  gaed 

As  she  had  done  before,  O, 
And  aye  between  she  fell  in  a  sweine 

Lang  ere  she  cam  to  Yarrow. 

— The  Dowie  Dens  d"  Yarrow. 

Swick,  or  Swyke,  to  deceive,  also,  a  trick,  a  fraud, 
a  deception  ;  swicky  and  S'vickful,  deceitful.  Apparently 
from  the  Danish  svige,  to  deceive,  to  cheat,  to  defraud ; 
and  svig,  fraud,  imposture  : — 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  351 

"He  played  them  a  swick;  I  had  nae  swick  o't," — I  had  no 
blameableness  in  it. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Swiff^  the  English  whiff,  a  puff  of  smoke,  a  breath,  a 
short  interval,  as  a  srviff  of  sleep,  amid  pain  ,  a  passing 
odour;  swiff,  the  sound  of  an  object  passing  rapidly  by, 
as  of  an  arrow  or  bullet  in  its  flight.  Whether  the 
English  whiff,  or  the  Scottish  swiff,  were  the  original 
form,  it  is  hopeless  to  enquire.  The  Scottish  word  seems 
to  be  a  variety  of  the  old  English  swippe,  which  ELalli- 
well's  Archaic  Dictionary  defines,  to  move  rs  pidly ;  and 
swipper,  nimble,  quick. 

Swine.  "  The  swine^s  gone  through  it,"  is  a  proverbial 
expression  which  signifies  that  a  marriage  has  been  post- 
poned or  unduly  delayed.  Why  the  swine  should  have 
anything  to  do  with  a  marriage  is  so  incomprehensible 
as  to  suggest  that  the  word  does  duty  for  some  other,  of 
which  it  is  a  corruption.  Such  a  word  exists  in  the 
Gaelic  suain,  a  sleep,  a  deep  sleep,  a  lethargy ;  whence 
the  English  swoon.  Suain  also  signifies  to  entwine,  to 
wrap  round,  to  envelope,  to  tie  up,  to  twist  a  cord  or 
rope  round  anything;  and  hence  may,  in  the  proverbial 
saying  above  cited,  signify  an  impediment.  Either  of 
the  two  meanings  of  suain  would  meet  the  sense  of  the 
phrase  better  than  swine. 

Swipes,  a  contemptuous  term  for  beer;  from  the 
Flemish  zvipen,  to  drink  to  excess ;  the  German  saufen, 
to  drink  as  animals  do,  who,  however — wiser  in  this 
respect   than   men — never   drink   to   excess.     Soiuf,  to 


352  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

drink,  to  quaff,   and  Sonffe,    a   drunkard,   are   Scottish 
words  from  the  same  root : — 

Die  Juden  sind  narren  die  fressen  kein  schwein 
Die  Turken  sind  narren  die  saufen  kein  wein. 

—  Old  German  Song. 

Swirl,  to  turn  rapidly,  to  eddy,  to  curl : — 

His  tail 
Hung  o'er  his  hurdies  wi'  a  swirl. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs, 

The  mill  wheel  spun  and  swirl'd. 
And  the  mill  stream  danced  in  the  morning  light, 
And  all  its  eddies  whirl'd. 

— The  Lump  of  Gold. 

Swither,  fear,  doubt,  perplexity,  hesitation,  dread. 
The  etymology  is  doubtful ;  but  is  possibly  from  the 
Teutonic  zwischen,  between;  i.e.,  between  two  conflicting 
opinions  ;  the  Flemish  susschen : — 

I  there  wi'  something  did  foregather, 
That  pat  me  in  an  eerie  sivithcr. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Syne,  since,  time  past,  a  time  ago.  (See  Auld  Lang- 
syne,  page  25). 

Here's  a  health  to  them  that  were  here  short  syne, 
And  canna  be  here  the  day. 

Johnsoti^s  Musical  Museum, 

Syke,  a  ditch,  a  northern  English  word,  according  to 
Halliwell,  for  a  gutter ;  probably  a  corruption  of  soak  or 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  353 

suck.      A   sike,  according   to  Jamieson,  is  a  rill,  or  a 
marshy  bottom  with  a  small  stream  in  it : — 

Through  thick  and  thin  they  scoured  about, 
Plashing  through  dubs  and  sykes. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Continuation  of  Christ's 
Kirk  on  the  Green. 

Tabean  Birhen,  a  comb ;  probably  a  side-comb  for  the 
adornment  of  a  woman's  hair.     It  occurs  in  the  ancient 
version  of  the  song  entitled  "  Lord  Gregory."     Jamieson 
is  of  opinion  that  the  phrase,  a  "  tabean  birben  kame  " 
means  a  comb  made  at  Tabia,  in  Italy.     "  Shall  we  sup- 
pose," he  adds,  "  that  birben  is  a  corruption  of  ivour,  or 
ivory-bane  (or  bone)?"     Shall  we  not  rather  suppose,  ias 
Tabia  was  not  known  as   a  place   of  manufacture  for 
combs,  that  the  word  is  of  native  Scotch  origin,  and  that, 
uncouth  as  it  looks,  it  is  resolvable  into  the  Gaelic  taobh, 
a  side ;  taobhan,  sides  ;  bior,  a  pin,  a  point,  a  prickle,  the 
tooth  of  a  comb  ;  and  bean.,  a  woman,  whence  taobhan  bior 
bean  (corrupted  into  Tabean  birben),  the  side  comb  of  a 
woman? 

Tack.,  a  lease,  a  holding ;  tacksman.,  a  lease-holder ; 
from  tack.,  to  hold,  to  fasten  : — 

Nae  man  has  a  tack  o'  his  life. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Taigle,  to  tease,  to  perplex,  to  banter.  From  the 
Gaelic  teagamh,  doubt,  perplexity  : — 

Two  irreverent  young  fellows  determined  to  taigle  the  minister. 
Coming  up  to  him  in  the  High  Street  of  Dumfries,  they  accosted 
him  with  much  solemnity,   "Maister  Dunlop,  hae  ye  heard  the 


354  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

news  ?  "  "What  news  ? "  "  Oh,  the  deil's  dead  ! "  "  Is  he  ?  " 
replied  Mr.  Dunlop.  "Then  I  maun  pray  for  tvva  faitherless 
bairns." 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 

Taiglc,  "to  tease,  perplex,  banter."  I  never  heard  these  mean- 
ings ; — teigle  is  to  delay,  to  hinder — dinna  taigle  me — I  was  sair 
taigled  the  day.  In  the  quotation  from  Dean  Ramsay,  I  suspect 
that  taigle  is  improperly  put  for  tackle,  or,  as  pronounced  in 
Scotland,  tackle,  meaning  to  seize  upon,  lay  hold  on.  In  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  meeting  of  the  U.P.  Presbytery  of  Edinburgh,  that  had 
what  is  called  the  Dalkeith  heresy  case  before  it,  it  was  stated 
that  Dr.  Peddie  proceeded  to  tackle  Mr.  Ferguson  upon  his 
heretical  views. — R.  D. 


Tairge,  or  Targe,  to  cross-question  severely  and  rigidly ; 
of  uncertain  etymology;  though  possibly  connected  with 
the  Gaelic  tagair,  to  plead,  to  argue,  to  dispute  : — 

And  aye  on  Sundays  duly  nightly, 
I  on  the  questions  tairge  them  tightly  ; 
Till,  fack,  wee  Davock's  grown  so  gleg, 
Though  scarcely  larger  than  my  leg. 
He'll  screed  you  aff  Effectual  Calling 
As  fast  as  ony  in  the  dwalling. 

— Burns  :  The  Inventory. 

I'll  gie  him  a  tairgin\ 

— ^Jamieson. 


Tait,  joyous,  gay ;  a  word  used  by  the  old  Scottish 
poet,  Douglas,  in  his  translation  of  the  "Eneid."  Jamie- 
son  derives  it  "from  the  Icelandic  feiir,  hilares,  exultans ;" 
but  its  more  obvious  source  is  the  Gaelic  taife,  which  has 
the  same  meaning.  The  English  exclamation  of  /loity- 
toity,  or  hoite  cum  toite,  the  name  of  a  favourite  dance  in 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  355 

the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  is  from  the  same  Gaelic  root — 
aite  chum  taite — in  which  aite  and  taite  are  almost  synony- 
mous, and  signify  joy,  merriment,  pleasure.  Hoyt,  in 
the  sense  of  revelry,  was  used  by  the  Elizabethan  writers, 
Donne,  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  and  others  : — 

Hoity-toity,  whisking,  frisking. 

— Bickerstaffe  :  Love  in  a  Village, 

He  sings  and  hoyts  and  revels  among  his  drunken  companions. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

The  modern  English  slang  tight,  applied  to  a  person  who 
is  joyously  intoxicated,  or  semi-intoxicated,  seems  to  be 
of  the  same  Gaelic  derivation. 


Taity,    Tattey,    matted   like   hair,    entangled.       Tail, 
(sometime  written  tate  and  tett),  a  lock  of  matted  hair  : — 

At  ilka  tait  o'  his  horse's  mane 

There  hung  a  siller  bell, 
The  wind  was  loud,  the  steed  was  proud, 

And  they  gied  a  .sindry  knell. 

Ballad  of  Young  fVaters. 

Her  skirt  was  o'  the  grass-green  silk, 

Her  mantle  o'  the  mantle  fine, 
At  ilka  tett  o'  the  horse's  mane 

Hung  fifty  siller  bells  and  nine. 

— Ballad  of  True  Thomas. 

The  etymology  of  this  word  is  uncertain,  unless  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Gaelic  taod,  a  rope,  a  string ;  from  the 
ropy,  stringy  appearance  of  hair  in  this  condition.  There 
is  an  old  Scottish  song  entitled  "  Taits  o'  Woo'." 


356  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Tak'  tellin\  take  telling ;  a  phrase  that  implies  that  a 
person  either  requires  or  is  amenable  to  advice  or 
admonition,  or  the  reverse  : — 

He  wad  na  tak  tellin,  he  would  not  be  advised.  .  .  .  She's 
a  clever  servant  in  a  house,  but  she  taks  tellin,  i.e.,  she  needs  to  be 
reminded  of  which  ought  to  be  done. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Tandle  (sometimes  written  taw?ile),  a.  bonfire;  from 
the  Gaelic  fern,  fire ;  and  deal,  friendly.  From  the  root 
of  fei'ne  comes  feind,  or  tynd,  to  kindle ;  and  liu  egin 
(sometimes  rendered  by  the  Teutonic  iieid-fire),  a  fire  of 
emergency,  produced  by  friction  of  two  pieces  of  dried 
wood.  Neid-fire  also  means  a  beacon ;  possibly  a  mis- 
print for  "need-fire."  Jamieson  translates  tin-egin,  a 
force  fire,  but  gives  no  etymology.  Egin  is  from  the 
Gaelic  eigin,  or  eiginn,  force,  violence,  compulsion. 

Beltane,  the  fire  of  Baal,  kindled  by  the  Druids  on  the 
first  morning  of  May. 

Tangle,  long,  tall,  and  feeble,  not  well  jointed  ;  from  the 
Gaelic  lean,  long,  thin,  drawn  out,  extended  ;  and  gille, 
a  lad.  The  popular  name  of  the  long  sea-weed,  "tangle," 
often  used  in  conjunction  with  dulse,  for  sea- weed 
generally.  Dean  Ramsay  quotes  the  saying  of  an  old 
Scottish  lady,  who  was  lifted  from  the  ground  after  a 
fall,  happily  not  severe,  by  a  very  tall,  young  Lieutenant, 
who  addressed  him  when  she  afterwards  met  him — "  Eh, 
but  yc're  a  lang  lad  /"  The  English  tangle  and  entangie 
are  words  of  a  different  meaning,  and  probably  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  Gaelic  seangal,  to  tie  up,  to  fasten,  to  enchain, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  357 

to  fetter.  The  American  phrase  appUed  to  whisky  or 
other  spirit,  when  indulged  in  too  freely,  of  "  tangle-foot," 
and  "  tangle-footed,"  unable  to  walk  steadily  from  intoxi- 
cation, is  both  humorous  and  appropriate. 

Tanterlick,  a  severe  beating.  Probably  this  word  is 
derivable  from  the  Gaelic  deam  {teami, — see  tajitriwt),  or 
dian^  fierce,  hot.  This,  combined  with  lick,  the  English 
slang  to  beat,  and  a  good  licking,  a  good  beating,  and  the 
Gaelic  leach.,  a  stone,  would  signify,  in  the  first  instance, 
a  stoning — one  of  the  earliest  methods  adopted  in  the 
quarrels  of  boys  for  the  conquest  or  punishment  of  an 
opponent. 

Tantrum.  This  word,  borrowed  by  the  English  from 
the  Scotch,  is  generally  used  in  the  plural;  and  the 
phrase,  "  to  be  in  the  tantiims,''  most  commonly  applied 
to  women,  signifies  that  she  is  in  a  violent  fit  of 
ill-temper.  Jamieson  explains  it  as  "high  airs,"  and 
derives  it  from  the  French  tantrans,  nick-nacks.  This 
etymology  cannot  be  accepted, — firstly,  because,  there  is 
no  such  word  in  the  French  language ;  and  secondly, 
because  if  there  were,  the  meanings  are  not  in  the 
slightest  degree  related.  The  "  English  Slang  Dictionary" 
derives  it  from  a  dance  called,  in  Italy,  the  tarantula, 
because  persons  in  the  tantrums  dance  and  caper  about  ! 
The  word  is  composed  of  the  Gaelic  deann,  haste, 
violence,  hurry ;  and  trom,  heavy, — whence  violent  and 
heavy,  applied  to  a  fit  of  sudden  passion. 

Tapetless,  heedless,  foolish ;  probably  from  the  Gaelic 
tapadh,  activity,  cleverness ;  and  tapaidh,  quick,  active. 


358  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

manly,  bold,  with  the  addition  of  the  English  less,  want 
of  cleverness  or  activity  : — 

The  iapetless,  ramfeezled  hizzie, 
She's  saft  at  best,  and  something  lazy, 

— Burns  :  To  Johji  Lapraik. 


Tappiloorie.,  top-heavy ;  tappie-tourie^  round  at  the  top  ; 
from  the  Flemish,  Dutch,  and  English  top;  and  the 
Flemish  and  Dutch  loer,  French  lourd,  heavy;  tojii'ie, 
from  the  Flemish  toere,  round  about;  the  French  iour 
and  autour. 


Tappit-hen^  a  crested  hen,  or  a  hen  with  a  top  tuft  of 
feathers ;  a  phrase  applied  to  a  large  bottle  or  jar  of 
wine  or  spirits  : — 

Blythe,  blythe  and  merry  was  she, 

Blythe  was  she  but  and  ben, 
Weel  she  loo'ed  a  Hawick  gill, 
And  leuch  to  see  a  iappit-hen. 

— Andrew  and  his  Cuttie  Gun :  Tea  Table 
Miscellany. 

Come,  bumpers  high,  express  your  joy, 

The  bowl  we  maun  renew  it, 
The  tappit-hen  gae  bring  her  ben, 

To  welcome  Willie  Stewart. 

— Burns. 

Their  hostess  appeared  with  a  huge  pewter  measuring  pot,  con- 
taining at  least  three  English  quarts,  familiarly  termed  a  iappit-hen. 

— Scott :  Waverley. 

Blithe,  blithe  and  merry  are  we, 
Pick  and  wale  o'  merry  men. 


OP'   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  359 

What  care  we  though  the  cock  may  crow, 
We're  masters  o'  the  tappit  hen. 

—  Whistle  Binkie :  Charles  Gray. 

"  This  term,"  says  Jamieson,  "  denoted  in  Aberdeen  a 
large  bottle  of  claret,  holding  three  magnums  or  Scots 
pints ; "  but  as  regards  the  quantity  opinion  differs. 
All  agree,  however,  that  a  tappit-hen  held  considerably 
more  than  an  ordinary  bottle. 


Tapsalteerie,  in  confusion,  upside  down,  topsy-turvy. 
Possibly  from  the  Gaelic  taobh,  the  side ;  and  saltair,  to 
tread,  to  trample.  Topsy-turvy  is  apparently  from  the 
same  source,  and  not  from  "  top-side  the  tother  way,"  as 
some  etymologists  have  suggested  : — 

Gie  me  a  cannie  hour  at  e'en, 

My  arms  about  my  dearie,  O, 
And  warldly  cares  and  warldly  men 

May  a'  gang  tapsalteerie,  O  ! 

— Burns. 

In  an  excellent  translation  into  German  of  Burns's 
"  Green  grow  the  rashes  o' ! "  appended  as  a  note  in 
Chambers'  "  Scottish  Songs,"  the  two  lines  in  which  tap- 
salteerie occurs  are  well  rendered  : — 

Mag  Erdenvolk  and  Erdenplag, 
Kopfuber  dann,  Kopfunter  gehen. 


Tap-oiire-tail,  (erroneously  printed  in  Jamieson  tap-w/r- 
tail),  has  the  same  meaning  as  iap-sal-ieerie,  and  the 
English  "head-over-heels." 


360  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Tapsal,  in  fapsalteerie,  may  be  a  nautical  word — or  cor- 
ruption of  topsail ;  and  teerie,  of  firr,  to  rend  in  pieces, 
to  strip. 

Tapthrawn,  perverse,  obstinate,  unreasonably  argu- 
mentative ;  from  tap,  the  head  or  brain,  metaphorically 
the  intellect ;  and  thrawn,  twisted  wrongly. 

Tartar.  To  catch  a  Tartar,  to  be  overpowered  in 
argument  or  in  fight,  by  one  whose  prowess  had  been 
denied  or  unsuspected  ;  to  get  the  worst  of  it.  Tartar, 
says  the  Slang  Dictionary,  is  "  a  savage  fellow,  an  ugly 
customer."  To  "  catch  a  Tartar,^''  is  to  discover,  some- 
what unpleasantly,  that  a  person  is  by  no  means  so  mild 
or  good  tempered  as  was  supposed : — 

This  saying  originated  from  the  story  of  an  Irish  soldier  in  the 
imperial  service,  who,  in  a  battle  against  the  Turks,  called  out  to 
his  comrade  that  he  had  caught  a  Tartar.  Bring  him  along  then, 
said  he.  He  won't  come,  said  Paddy.  Then  come  along  your- 
self, replied  his  comrade.  Bedad  !  said  he,  but  he  won't  let  me  ! 
A  Tartar  is  also  an  adept  at  any  feast  or  game. 

He  is  quite  a  tartar  at  cricket  or  billiards. 

Grose's  Classical  Dictionary  of  the  Vulgar  Tongue. 

Grose's  story  was  evidently  invented  to  suit  the  saying. 
Philology,  however,  had  no  need  to  travel  into  Tartary 
to  explain  the  source  of  a  peculiarly  British  phrase,  which 
has  no  equivalent  in  any  language  but  English  and 
Scotch:  inasmuch  as  it  is  of  native  origin,  from  the 
Gaelic  tartar,  a  great  noise,  clamour,  bustle,  confusion ; 
tartaracli,  bustling,  noisy,  uproaring,  unmanageable. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  36 1 

Tartarian  is  a  word  used  by  the  dramatists  of  the 
Elizabethan  era,  to  signify  a  strong  thief,  or  a  noisy 
blustering  villain. 

Tatterdemalion,  a  ragged  miserable  object.  A  collo- 
quial word  introduced  into  England  by  the  Scotch  ;  and 
supposed  by  English  philologists  to  be  from  the  Ice- 
landic tetur,  a  torn  garment.  The  roots,  however,  are 
derivable  from  the  Gaelic ;  tliat  of  tatter  is  from  dud^  a 
rag ;  from  whence  the  provincial  English  dud  meaning  a 
scarecrow.  Malion  comes  from  vieall  and  meallan,  a 
lump,  a  heap  of  confused  objects  ;  from  whence  the 
primary  means  of  tatterdemalion,  would  seem  to  be  a 
"  heap  of  rags,"  applied  contemptuously  to  the  wearer  of 
them.  Mr.  James  M'Kie,  of  Kilmarnock,  quotes  in  his 
bibliography  of  Burns,  "The  Jolly  Beggars,  or  Tatter- 
demalions, a  cantata  by  Robert  Burns.  Edinburgh, 
Oliver  and  Boyd,   1808." 

Akin  to  tatterdemalion  is  tatshie,  which,  according  to 
Jamieson,  signifies  dressed  in  a  slovenly  manner  ;  and 
tatirel,  a  rag. 

Tavern  Sign.  The  "Dog  and  Duck."  This  sign  is  usually 
explained  in  the  English  sense  of  a  "  Dog  "  and  a  "  Duck," 
with  a  representation  on  the  sign  board  of  a  sportsman 
shooting  wild  dacks,  followed  by  a  dog  ready  to  spring 
into  the  water.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the  sign  is 
of  greater  antiquity  than  the  conquest  of  England  by  the 
Danes  and  Saxons  ;  and  that  it  dates  from  the  Celtic 
period,  and  was  originally  Deoch  an  Diugh,  or  "  Drink 
to  day,"  an  invitation  to  all  travellers  and  passers  by  to 
step  in  and  drink  ;  and  that  it  was  not  by  any  means 


362  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

confined  to  the  shooters  of  ducks,  or  to  the  watery  dis- 
tricts in  which  such  sports  were  possible.  The  perversions 
of  the  word  deoch,  (drink),  by  the  EngUsh  and  Lowland 
Scotch  are  very  numerous.  One  of  them  in  parti- 
cular deserves  to  be  cited,  dogs  nose,  which  is,  or  used 
to  be,  a  favourite  drink  of  the  populace  in  London, 
composed  of  beer  and  gin.  Charles  Dickens,  in 
Pickwick,  describes  dog's  nose  as  a  warm  drink ;  but 
the  compiler  of  Hotten's  Slang  Dictionary  affirms  it 
to  be  a  cold  drink, — so  called,  because  it  was  "  as  cold  as 
a  dog's  nose."  The  true  derivation  is  from  the  GaeUc 
deoch  and  7ios,  custom  ;  and  nosag,  customary,  or  usual ; 
and  thus  signifies  the  "usual  drink."  Another  common 
and  equally  ludicrous  perversion  of  the  Gaelic  is  "  Old 
Tom,"  which  is  used  by  the  publicans  of  London,  illus- 
trated by  a  large  Tom  Cat  sitting  on  a  barrel  of  gin. 
The  origin  of  the  phrase  is  ol,  drink,  and  taoin,  to  pour 
out ;  whence,  to  pour  out  the  favourite  liquor. 


Tavefs  Locker,  Davy's  Locker,  Davy  Jones's  Locker. 
These  singular  phrases,  used  principally  among  sailors, 
all  signify  death  simply,  or  death  by  drowning  in  the 
sea.  Their  origin  has  never  been  very  satisfactorily 
explained  or  accounted  for ;  and  no  one  has  yet  told  the 
world  whether  Tavey  or  Davy  was  a  real  or  a  fabulous 
person,  or  who  Jones  was,  and  what  was  signified  by  his 
Locker.  The  Teutonic  roots  cf  the  English  and  Scotch 
languages  fail  to  give  the  slightest  hint  or  clue  to  the 
origin  of  the  expression,  and  thus  compel  enquirers 
to  look  to  the  Celtic  for  a  possible  solution  of  the 
mystery.  In  Gaelic  is  found  taimh  {faiv  or  taif), 
death  ;  and  Limh  [iav),  the  ocean ;  ionadh,  a  place ;  and 


s 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  363 

lochd^  sleep,  or  a  closing  of  the  eyes.  Either  taimh  or 
tamh  may  account  for  the  corruption  into  Tavey  or  Davy, 
ionadh  iox  Jones,  and  lochd  for  Locker.  This  explanation 
supplies  an  intelligible  and  appropriate  meaning  to  Davy 
Jones's  Locker,  the  grotesque  combination  of  words  in 
Scotch  and  English  which  has  become  proverbial  among 
sea-faring  people. 

According  to  Wright's  "Provincial  English  Dictionary," 
David  Jones  is  a  name  given  by  sailors  to  a  sea-devil. 
But  whether  the  "  sea-devil "  had  or  had  not  a  locker  we 
are  not  informed.  Nares,  in  his  Glossary,  says  that  one 
"  Davy  "  was  a  proficient  in  sword  and  buckler  exercise, 
celebrated  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  does 
not  appear,  however,  that  any  of  these  allusions  can  shed 
any  light  on  the  origin  of  Davjs  Locker. 


Taivdy,  a  term  of  contempt  for  a  child  ;  fmvdy-fee,  a 
fine  for  illegitimacy ;  also,  a  depreciatory  epithet  for  the 
podex.  The  etymology  is  unknown,  but  may  be  con- 
nected with  the  Gaelic  todhar,  excrement,  and,  by  exten- 
sion of  meaning,  to  the  senses  in  which  it  is  applied  to 
the  podex,  or  to  a  child.  Todhar  also  signifies  a  field 
manured  by  folding  cattle  upon  it.  Taudis,  in  French, 
signifies  a  miserable  and  dirty  hole  or  hovel.  In  Irish 
Gaelic,  tod  or  todan  signifies  a  lump,  a  clod,  a  round 
mass,  which  may  also  have  some  remote  connection  with 
the  idea  of  \kvt  podex. 


Tawie,  tame,  peaceable,  friendly,  easily  led.  Gaelic 
taobhach,  friendly,  partial,  inclined  to  kindness ;  erron- 
eously derived  from  tow,  a  rope,  or  to  be  led  by  a  rope : — 


364  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Hamely,  taime,  quiet,  cannie, 
An'  unco  sonsie. 

— Burns  :  Atihl  Farmer's  Address. 


Tarc'pie,  a  foolish  person,  especially  a  foolish  girl : — 

Gawkies,  taivpies,  gowks,  and  fools. 

— Burns  :    Verses  Written  at  Selkirk. 

This  word  is  usually  derived  from  the  French  taupe,  a 
mole — erroneously  supposed  to  be  blind ;  but  the  Gaelic 
origin  is  more  probable,  from  taip^  a  lump,  a  lumpish  or 
clumsy  person  : 

Dans  le  royaume  des  iaupes,  les  borgnes  sont  rois. 

— French  Proverb. 


Teen,  Teiie,  Teyne,  provocation,  anger,  wrath.     From 
the  Gaelic  te'ine,  fire  ;  ieintidh,  fiery,  angry  : — 

Last  day  I  grat  wi'  spite  and  teen, 

As  poet  Burns  cam'  by  : 
That  to  a  bard  1  should  be  seen, 

\Vi'  half  my  channel  dry. 
— Burns  :  Humble  Petition  of  Bruar  Water. 


Tcethie,  crabbed,  ill-natured,  snarling  ;  applied  meta- 
phorically from  the  action  of  a  dog  which  shows  its  teeth 
when  threatening  to  bite.  The  English  word  toothsome, 
no  relation  in  meaning  to  teethie,  is  often  ignorantly  used 
instead  of  dainty,  from  the  erroneous  idea  that  dainty  is 
derived  from  detis,  a  tooth.  The  real  derivation  oi  dainty 
is  from  the  Gaelic  deanta,  complete,  perfect,  well  formed, 
and  finished.     \\'hen  Shakspeare  speaks  of  his  "  dainty 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  365 

Ariel,"  or  a  man  praises  the  dainty  hand  or  lips  of  his 
beloved,  he  does  not  mean  that  the  teeth  should  be 
employed  upon  them,  but  that  they  are  well-formed, 
complete,  or  beautifully  perfect. 

Teind,  a  tax,  a  tribute,  a  tythe,  a  tenth  ;    Uind-free^ 
exempt  from  tithes  or  taxation  : — 

But  we  that  live  in  Fairy  Land, 

No  sickness  know,  nor  pain, 
I  quit  my  body  when  I  will, 

And  take  to  it  again  ; 
And  I  would  never  tire  Janet, 

In  Elfin  land  to  dwell  : 
But  aye  at  every  seven  years'  end, 

They  pay  the  teind  to  hell ; 
And  I'm  sae  fat  and  fain  of  flesh, 

I  fear  'twill  be  mysel. 

— Ballad  of  the  Yotmg  Tamlane. 

Tendal  Knife.  Jamieson  cites  from  an  inventory, 
"  two  belts,  a  tendal  knife,  a  horse  comb,  and  a  burning 
iron ;"  and  at  a  loss  for  the  word,  asks  :  "Shall  we  suppose 
that  knives  celebrated  for  their  temper  had  been  formerly 
made  somewhere  in  the  dale,  or  valley  of  Tyne,  in  Eng- 
land ?  It  might,  however,  be  the  name  of  the  maker  ?  " 
These  are,  no  doubt,  ingenious  suppositions,  but  both 
appear  to  be  wrong  if  tested  by  the  Gaelic,  in  which  tean 
signifies  long  and  thin  ;  and  fail,  or  tailc,  strong  •  whence 
tendal  knife,  a  knive  with  a  long,  thin,  strong  blade. 

Tent,  to  take  heed,  to  act  cautiously  and  warily.  From 
the  French  tenter,  to  try,  to  attempt.  Te?itie,  cautious, 
wary  ;  to  tak  tent,  to  take  care,  to  beware  ;  teniless,  care- 
less : — 


366  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


^Vhen  the  tod  preachers  tak  tent  o'  the  lambs. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

But  warily  tent  when  ye  come  to  court  me, 
And  come  na'  unless  the  back  yett  be  ajee. 
— Burns  :  Oh  Whistle  and  Til  come  to  you  my  Lad. 

The  time  flew  by  wi'  tentless  heed, 

Till  twixt  the  late  and  early, 
Wi'  sma'  persuasion  she  agreed, 

To  see  me  through  the  barley. 

— Burns  :  Corn  Rigs  and  Barley  Rigs. 

See  ye  tak  tent  to  this  ! 

— Ben  Jonson  :  Sad  Shepherdess. 


Teribus  ye  Teriodm,  the  war  cry  of  the  men  of  Hawick, 
at  the  battle  of  Flodden,  and  still  preserved  in  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  town.  The  full  chorus  is  often  sung  at  festive 
gatherings,  not  only  in  the  gallant  old  border  town  itself, 
but  in  the  remotest  districts  of  Canada,  the  United  States, 
and  Australia,  wherever  Hawick  men  and  natives  of  the 
Scottish  Border  congregate  to  keep  up  the  remembrance 
of  their  native  land,  and  the  haunts  of  their  boyhood  : — 

Teribus  ye  ieri  odin, 

Sons  of  heroes  slain  at  Flodden, 

Imitating  Border  bowmen, 

Aye  defend  your  rights  and  common. 

Attempts  have  been  frequently  made  to  connect  these 
lines  with  the  names  of  the  Scandinavian  and  Norse  demi- 
gods, Thor  and  Odin ;  but  these  heroes  were  wholly  un- 
known to  the  original  possessors  of  the  Scottish  soil,  and 
but  very  partially  known  to  the  Danish  and  Saxon  invaders, 
who  came  after  them.  The  song,  of  which  these  mysterious 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  367 

words  form  the  burden,  is  one  of  patriotic  "  defence  and 
defiance  "  against  the  invaders  of  the  soil.  Teribiis  ye 
ten  odhi  is  an  attempt  at  a  phonetic  rendering  of  the 
Gaehc  Tir  a  buaidh's,  fir  a  dioti,  which,  translated,  means 
"Land  of  victory,  and  Land  of  defence." 

Teth,  spirit,  mettle,  humour,  temper,  disposition ; 
usually  employed  in  the  sense  of  high-spirited.  The 
word  was  English  in  the  Elizabethan  era,  and  was  pro- 
nounced and  written  tiih ;  from  the  Gaelic  teth,  hot : — 

She's  good  mettle,  of  a  good  stirring  strain,  and  goes  tith. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

Take  a  widow — a  good  staunch  wench  that's  tilh. 

— Idem. 

Ill-teth^d,  ill-humoured. 

— Jamieson. 

Tench,  a  drink,  a  draught  of  liquor.  This  word  has 
been  derived  by  Jamieson  and  others  from  the  Teutonic 
tog,  and  teughe,  to  draw  or  pull.  As  no  such  words  are 
to  be  found  in  the  Teutonic  languages,  it  is  possible  that 
Jamieson  meant  the  German  zug,  the  English  hig,  to  pull 
or  draw ;  whence,  in  vulgar  language,  a  long  pull  at  the 
bottle  or  tankard,  a  deep  draught.  It  seems  more  pro- 
bable, however,  that  the  Lowland  Scotch  word  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  Gaelic  deoch,  a  drink,  as  in  the  phrase, 
"  deoch  an'  doruis,"  a  drink  at  the  door,  a  stirrup  cup. 
(See  ante,  Deuk,  page  64.) 

Tevoo.  This  nearly  obsolete  word  was  formerly  used 
by  women  in  contemptuous  depreciation  of  a  male  flirt, 
fond  of  their  society,  but  who  was  never  serious  in  his 


368  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

attentions  to  them.  It  has  been  supposed  to  be  some- 
how or  other  derived  from  the  French,  but  no  word 
similar  to  it  appears  in  that  language.  It  is  probably 
from  the  Gaelic  //,  a  person,  a  creature ;  and  /?/,  an 
abbreviation  oifuachaidh,  a  flirt,  a  jilt,  a  deceiver. 

Tew  is  a  word  of  many  meanings  in  Scotland,  but 
most  commonly  signifies  to  work  hard.  It  also  signifies 
to  struggle,  to  strive,  to  fatigue,  to  overpower,  to  make 
tough.  "Sair  tews^'  signifies  old  or  sore  difiic ultits  or 
troubles ;  taving  on,  toiling  on  ;  sair  tewd,  greatly  fatigued, 
are  common  expressions.  Jamieson  derives  the  word 
from  the  French  tuer,  to  kill ;  Nares  cites  instances  in 
which  it  is  used  in  the  sense  of  tow,  to  pull  along  by  a 
rope.  Possibly,  however,  it  is  but  a  mis-spelling  of  the 
Scottish  teuch  (with  the  omission  of  the  guttural  /,  the 
English  tough,  in  which  the  omitted  guttural  is  replaced 
by  the  sound  of  double  f,  as  tuff).  The  Gaelic,  thigh, 
thick,  stiff,  strong,  is  doubtless  an  allied  word. 

Thack  and  Raip,  from  the  thatch  of  a  house ;  and  rope, 
the  binding  or  fastening  which  keeps  the  thatch  in  its 
I)lace.  Hence,  metaphorically,  the  phrase  applied  to  the 
conduct  of  an  unreasonable  and  disorderly  person,  that 
he  acts  "  out  of  a'  thack  and  raip,"  as  if  the  roof  of  his 
house  were  uncovered,  and  let  in  the  wind  and  weather. 

Thairms,  the  strings  of  a  violin  or  harp,  or  other 
instruments  for  which  wire  is  not  used;  called  in  Eng- 
lish cat-gut.  The  word  is  derived  from  the  German, 
Dutch,  and  Flemish  darm,  gut,  intestines ;  the  German 
•plural  diirme : — 


OK   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  369 

O,  had  M'Lachlan,  ///a/rw-inspiring  sage, 
Been  there  to  hear  this  heavenly  band  engai^c 

— Burns  :   Tlic  Brigs  of  Ayr. 

Come,  screw  the  pegs  wi'  tunefu'  cheep. 
And  ower  the  tliairnis  Ije  trying. 

— Burns  :  Tlic  Ordination. 

The  word,  though  immediately  derived  from  the  Teutonic, 
may,  in  the  sense  of  gut  or  entrails,  have  some  connection 
with  the  practice  of  divination  by  the  ancient  Augurs,  who 
studied  the  intestines  of  sacrificed  birds  to  foretell  future 
events.  But  this  is  a  mere  conjecture  founded  upon  the 
fact,  that  the  Gaelic  tairm,  or  thairm,  signifies  divination. 
From  t/iatrm,  string  made  from  gut,  come  tlie  Scottish 
words  ihrian,  to  play  on  a  stringed  instrument,  and,  in  a 
contemptuous  sense,  thruminer,  an  inferior  fiddler.  Pos- 
sibly the  English  strum  is  a  corruption  and  euphemism 
of  thrum. 

T/ianr,  a  very  ancient  title  of  nobility  in  Scotland, 
equivalent  in  rank  to  an  English  earl.  Macbeth,  accord- 
ing to  Shakspeare,  was  Thane  of  Cawdor.  Jamieson 
suggests  its  derivation  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  t/iegu,  a 
servant ;  but  as  the  title  was  peculiar  to  the  Gael,  wholly 
unknown  to  the  Saxon,  and  implied  rather  mastery  and 
dominion  than  servitude,  a  Gaelic  etymology  is  most 
probable ;  that  etymology  is  found  in  Tauaistear,  a 
governor,  a  lord,  a  prince ;  one  second  in  rank  to  the 
king  or  sovereign  ;  and  tanaisteach,  governing,  acting  as 
a  thane,  or  master. 

The  noo,  or  the  Jiow,  a  common  Scotticism  for  just  now, 
immediately,  presently,  by  and  bye. 

z 


370  POh,lK\     AND    HUiMOUK 

Theak,  T/ieek,  to  tliatch  a  house.  Greek  9riK-i]  (thcke), 
a  small  house,  a  repository;  Teutonic  dach,  a  roof;  old 
English  theccan^  to  cover;  Gaelic  tigh  and  teach^  a  house: 

Bessie  Bell  and  Mary  Gray, 

They  were  twa  bonnie  lasses, 
They  biggit  a  l)ower  on  yon  burn  brae, 

And  theekit  it  e'er  wi'  rashes. 

— Ballad,  Bessie  Bell  and  Mary  Cray. 

Ye'll  sit  on  his  white  hause  bane, 
And  I'll  pike  out  his  bonnie  blue  een, 
Wi'  ae  lock  o'  his  gowden  hair 
We'll  i/icck  our  nest  when  it  grows  bare. 

—  77ie  l\va  Corbies,  Minstrelsy  of  tlie 
Scottish  Bo7'der. 

The  cozy  roof  theekit  wi'  moss-covered  strae. 

— ^James  Ballantine. 


T/iein,  I  hey,  (hose.  These  plural  pronouns  are  often 
used  in  Scotland  instead  of  the  singular  //,  especially 
when  applied  to  oatmeal  porridge,  brose,  hotch-potch, 
and  broth,  or  soup.  The  idea  of  plurality  seems  to  be 
attached  to  ])orridge,  from  the  multiplicity  of  the  grains  of 
meal,  of  which  the  dish  is  compounded,  and  to  hotch- 
potch, barley,  broth,  and  other  soups,  for  the  same  reason 
of  their  numerous  ingredients  : — 

Why  dinna  ye  sup  ye're  parritch,  Johnnie  ? 
folmnie — I  dinna  like  tlicm. 

—Gait. 

Once  at  the  annual  dinner  to  his  tenants,  given  by  the  Duke  of 
Bucclcuch,  the  I  )uchess  pressed  a  burly  old  farmer,  to  whom  she 
wished  to  show  attention,  to  partake  of  some  pea-soup.     "  Muckle 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  371 


obleeged  to  your  Grace,"  said  the  farmer,  "  Imt  I  downa  tak'///c/« 

They're  owre  wundy  ! " 

—  The  El  trick  Shepherd. 

Each  true-hearted  Scotsman,  by  nature  jocose, 
Can  cheerfully  dine  on  a  dishfu'  o'  brose. 
And  the  grace  be  a  wish  to  get  plenty  of  those  ; 
And  it's  O  for  the  kail  brose  o'  Scotland, 
And  O  for  the  Scottish  kail  brose. 

— Old  Song,  Alexander  Watson. 


Then-a-days,  in  former  time,  as  opposed  to  the  English 
and  Scottish  phrase,  "  now-a-days,"  in  the  present  time. 


T/iepes,  gooseberries,  or  more  properly  gorse,  or  thorn- 
berries  ;  in  Dutch  and  Flemish  doom.,  or  thorn-berries. 
Mr.  Hallivvell,  in  his  Archaic  Dictionary,  cites  thepes  as 
an  Eastern  Counties  word,  used  in  Sir  Thomas  Brown's 
works.  It  is  also  current  in  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland. 
'The  derivation  is  unknown. 


Thetes,  traces  or  harness  of  a  horse  drawing  a  vehicle. 
To  be  "  out  of  the  traces,"  is  to  be  out  of  rule,  governance, 
or  control  : — 

To  be  quite  out  of  the  thetes,  i.e.,  to  be  disorderly  in  one's  con- 
duct. .  .  .  To  be  out  of  thete,  is  a  phrase  applied  to  one  who 
is  rusted  as  to  any  art  or  science  from  want  of  practice. 

— ^Jamieson. 

The  word  is  derived  by  Jamieson  from  the  Icelandic 
thatt'r,  a  cord,  a  small  rope  ;  but  is  more  probably  from 
the  Gaelic  taod  ;  aspirated  thoad.  a  rope. 


372  POETRY    AND    HUMOUk 

Thief-like,  ugly,  disagreeable.  This  Scottish  phrase 
does  not  signify  dishonest-looking,  but  simply  repulsive, 
or  disagreeable  ;  possibly  because  the  Lowland  Scotch 
who  made  use  of  it,  suffered  but  too  often  from  the  in- 
cursions of  the  Highland  cattle-stealers  into  the  pastures 
and  sheep-folds,  associated  in  their  minds  with  all  that  was 
most  offensive,  morally  and  physically. 


That's  a  thief-like  mutch  ye  have  on,  i.e.,  that's  an  ugly  cap  you 

have  on. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Thief -like  occurs  in  two  common  provcrljial  jihrases  :  the  Ihicfer- 

like,  the  better  soldier  ;  the  aulder  the  ihicfer-like : — Ye're  like  the 

horse's  bains,  the  aulder  ye  grow  the  thiefer-like. 

— Jamieson. 


Thig^  to  beg,  or  borrow  ;  sometimes  written  thigger : — 

The  father  buys,  the  son  biggs  (builds),  i 

The  oye  (grandson)  sells,  and  his  son  thij^^s. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

And  if  the  wives  and  dirty  brats. 
E'en  thigger  at  your  doors  an'  yetts. 

— Burns  :  Address  of  Beelzebub. 


Tliink-lang,  to  grow  weary,  to  be  impatient  of  another's 
absence  ;  to  think  the  time  long  : — 

But  think  na'  lang  lassie  tho'  I  gang  awa. 

The  summer  is  coniin',  cauld  winter's  awa', 

And  I'll  come  back  and  see  thee  in  spite  o'  them  a'. 

— Song  :  Logie  o'  Buchaii. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  373 

Tholcable,  Thole-sum^  tolerable ;  that  may  be  endured  ; 
tholance^  sufferance,  endurance.  Tliole  is  doubtless  from 
the  same  root  as  the  Latin  tolerare  ;  and  the  Gaelic  dolas^ 
sufferance,  dolour,  pain. 

Thowless.  Perhaps  a  corruption  of  thcwless,  weak ; 
without  thews  and  sinews.  Gaelic  tingJi^  thick,  strong  ; 
whence  thowless,  without  strength,  or  thickness  : — 

For  fortune  aye  favours  the  active  and  bauld, 
But  ruins  the  wooer  that's  thowless  and  cauld. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Her  dowff  excuses  pat  me  mad, 
Conscience — says  I,  ye  thowless  jad, 
I'll  write,  and  that  a  hearty  blaud 
This  very  night. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Lapraik. 

Thraine.  According  to  Jamieson,  this  word  signifies 
to  be  constantly  harping  on  one  subject,  and  is  derived 
from  the  Teutonic  or  Swedish  traegen,  assiduus.  He  is 
of  opinion  also  that  ra7ze,  to  cry  the  same  thing  over  and 
over  again,  is  synonymous,  and  of  the  same  origin.  But 
more  probably,  in  the  sense  of  harping  continually  on 
one  subject,  of  complaint,  thraine  is  from  the  Greek 
thrcnos,  a  lamentation.  Rane  is  evidently  from  the 
Gaelic  ran,  to  roar. 

Thram,  to  thrive,  to  prosper.  Etymology  uncertain. 
Jamieson  supposes  it  to  be  from  the  Icelandic : — 

Weel  wat  your  honour,  thram  for  that,  quo'  she. 

— Ross's  Ilcknore. 


374  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Can  ye  expect  to  thram. 

That  hae  been  guilty  o'  so'great  a  wrang? 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

Thrang,  busy,  crowded  with  work  or  occupation ;  from 
the  English  throng,  to  crowd ;  and  the  Flemish  dringen, 
to  press,  to  squeeze : — 

Upon  a  bonnie  day  in  June, 
When  wearin"  through  the  afternoon, 
Twa  dogs  that  were  na  thrang  at  hame, 
Forgathered  ance  upon  a  time. 

— Burns  :   71ie  T'wa  Dogs. 

Thrapple,  the  throat : — 

As  murder  at  his  thrapple  shored  ; 
And  hell  mixed  in  the  brulzie  [broil]. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Robert  Graham, 

When  we  had  a  Scots  Parliament,— deil  rax  their  thrapples  that 
reft  us  o't. 

— Scott :  Rob  Roy. 

Thraw,  a  twist,  a  fit  of  ill-humour.  T/iraum,  twisted, 
contorted.  Thratvn-gahhit,  with  a  twisted  or  contorted 
gab,  or  mouth;  and,  metaphorically,  a  cantankerous, 
morose  person  who  is  always  grumbling.  Thrawart, 
perverse,  obstinate  ;  thraw,  to  contradict ;  tliraws,  throes, 
twists  or  contortions  of  pain  ;  also,  a  little  while,  or  a  turn 
of  time,  a  twist : — 

She  turns  the  key  wi'  cannie  thra-^<. 

— Burns  :  Ilalloxve'en. 

When  I  a  little  thra~o  had  made  my  moan, 
Bewailing  mine  misfortune  and  mischance. 

—  The  King^s  Quair. 


tlF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  375 


There  are  twa  hens  into  the  crib, 

Have  fed  this  month  and  mair ; 
Make  haste  and  thraw  their  necks  about, 

That  Colin  weel  may  fare. 

— Mickle  :  There's  nae  Luck  About  the  House. 

He's  easy  wi'  a'  body  that's  easy  wi'  him  ;  but  if  ye  thraw  him, 
ye  had  better  thrazo  the  deevil. 

— Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

The  word  seems  akin  to  the  EngHsh  throe,  a  throb,  a 
twist  of  pain,  and  is  probably  from  the  Teutonic  drhigcn, 
to  oppress. 

Threpe,  or  Threap,  to  argue,  to  contend  pertinaciously 
in  argument,  to  assert  obstinately  in  spite  of  reason ;  from 
the  Gaelic  drip,  or  trip,  to  contend,  to  fight : — 

It's  not  for  a  man  with  a  woman  to  threep. 

Unless  he  fiirst  give  owre  the  plea ; 
As  we  began  we'll  now  leave  off, — 

I'll  tak  my  auld  cloak  about  me. 

— Old  Ballad,  quoted  by  Shakspeare. 

Some  herds,  weel  learned  upon  the  beuk. 
Wad  threap  auld  folk  the  thing  mistook. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Simpson. 

Threapiri's  no  provin'. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

This  is  na  threapM  ware  [i.e.,  this  is  genuine  ware,  not  to  be 

argued  about]. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Thrimle,  Thrimmel,  to  press,  to  squeeze;  thrinip, 
thrump,  to  press  as  in  a  crowd,  to  push.  Etymology 
uncertain,  but  possibly  derived  from  the  Flemish  drem- 


376  POETRY    ANT)    HUMOUR 

pel,  an  entrance, — whence  to  force  an  entrance,  to  press 
through,  to  push  through ;  or  the  German  drdngen,  to 
throng,  to  crowd,  to  press  through. 

Through.  This  word,  the  GaeUc  troimh^  the  Kymric  trw, 
the  Teutonic  diirch,  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  dwars,  enters 
more  largely  into  its  structure  of  Scottish  compound  terms 
and  phrases,  than  was  ever  the  case  in  England.  Thus 
the  Scotch  have  through-gang^  perseverance ;  through- 
gaun,  and  tlirough-ganging,  persevering,  also  wasteful, 
prodigal,  going  through  one's  means,  through-pit,  activity, 
energy,  that  puts  a  thing  through;  through-fare,  or  through- 
gang,  a  thoroughfare  ;  through-other,  confused  ;  through- 
stone,  a  stone  as  thick  as  the  wall;  througJi-pittin,  or 
through-bearifi',  a  bare  subsistence,  enough  to  get  through 
the  world  with  ;  and  the  verb  to  through,  or  tliruch,  to 
penetrate,  to  go  through.  Sir  Walter  Scott  uses  through- 
gauti  in  Rob  Roy,  in  the  sense  of  a  severe  exposure  of 
one's  life  and  conduct,  during  a  rigid  cross-examination. 

Throivther,  higgledy-piggledy,  helter-skelter,  in  con- 
fusion ;  possibly  a  corruption  of  through-ither,  or  through- 
cach-other : — 

Till — skelp — a  shot !  they're  afTa'  throwther. 
To  save  their  skin. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Thrum,  a  musical  sound,  also  a  thread.  "Gray 
thrums,"  the  pojjular  name,  in  Scotland,  for  the  purring 
of  a  cat,  the  sound  of  a  spinning-wheel;  the  thread 
remaining  at  the  end  of  a  web ;  apparently  derived  from 
the  (iaelic  troiinh,  through  : — 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  377 


Come  out  wi'  your  moolins,  come  out  wi'  your  crumbs, 
And  keep  in  slee  baiidroiii  [the  cat]  to  sing  ye  gray  thritms. 
— ^James  Ballantine  :  A  Voice  from  the  H  'oods. 

Thud,  a  dull,  heavy  blow ;  etymology  unknown.  Lord 
Neaves  considered  it  a  cofnic  word,  though  it  is  difficult 
to  see  why,  especially  when  such  beautiful  use  of  it  was 
made  by  Gawin  Douglas  and  Allan  Ramsay : — 

The  fearful  thuds  of  the  tempestuous  tide. 

— Gavin  Douglas  :   Translation,  of  the  Eneid. 

The  air  grew  rough  with  boisterous  thttds. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  The  Vision. 

Swith  on  a  hardened  clay  he  fell, 

Right  far  was  heard  the  thtid. 

— Hardyknute. 

Tid,  Tid-hit,  Tid,  or  Tydy.  All  these  words,  like  the 
English  tide,  are  derivable  from  the  idea  of  time,  the 
German  zeit,  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  tijd.  Tid,  in  the 
Scottish  language,  signifies  season ;  the  English  tid-bit  is 
a  seasonable  bit.  From  the  Gaelic  biadh,  food,  and  not 
from  the  English  bite,  or  that  which  is  bitten;  tydy, 
seasonable;  "A  tydy  bride"  is  a  phrase  applied  to  one 
who  is  about  to  become  a  mother,  and  in  that  state  is 
married  and  taken  home  to  her  bridegroom's  house,  in 
order  that  the  coming  child  may  be  legitimized. 

Tift, — English  tiff, — a  slight  quarrel,  a  fit  of  ill-humour; 
tip,  a  slang  word  for  money  given  to  a  servant  as  a  small 
gratuity  to  procure  drink  or  otherwise ;  called  by  the 
French  a  pour  boire,  and  by  the  Germans  trink-geld.  No 
English  or  Scottish  etymologist  has  succeeded  in  tracing 


378  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

these  words  to  their  sources.  Jamieson  derives  tift  from 
the  Icelandic  tyfta,  to  chastise ;  Johnson  declares  tiff,  a 
quarrel,  to  be  a  low  word,  which  he  presumes  to  be 
without  etymology  ;  Richardson  has  tiff,  a  drink,  which 
he  thinks  a  corruption  of  tipple,  an  allied  word;  Ash 
defines  tiff\.o  be  a  corruption  of  the  Teutonic  tepel,  a  dug 
or  teat,  while  the  ancient  author  of  '•  Gazophylacium 
Anglicanum "  surpasses  all  his  predecessors  and  suc- 
cessors in  ingenuity  by  deriving  tipsy  and  tipple  from  the 
Latin  tiptila,  a  water-spider,  because  tliat  insect  is  always 
drinking  !  Mr.  Halliwell,  without  entering  on  the  etymolo- 
gical question,  says  that  in  English  provincial  dialects 
tiff  has  three  meanings — -small  beer,  a  draught  of  any 
liquor,  and  to  fall  headlong  from  drink. 

There  are  several  derivatives  in  the  Scottish  language 
from  tijt,  a  quarrel, — viz.  :  tifty,  quarrelsome,  apt  to  take 
offence ;  ti/ting,  an  angry  scolding  ;  and  "  to  be  in  a 
after,"  i.e.,  in  a  difificult  and  disagreeable  position  where 
one  is  likely  to  be  severely  reprimanded.  Possibly  the 
Scottish  ////  (a  quarrel),  the  English  tiff  (a  drink),  are  as 
closely  allied  in  meaning  as  they  are  in  sound ;  and  that 
the  origin  of  both  is  the  Gaelic  dibhe,  genitive  of  deoch, 
a  drink  ;  and  thence  the  quarrelsomeness  which  but  too 
commonly  follows  from  drinking  to  excess.  The  transi- 
tion from  tiff,  a  drink,  to  tip,  drink-money,  ox  pozir  boire, 
is  easy  and  obvious. 


Tig,  a  twitch,  a  touch,  a  sharp  stroke ;  also,  a  slight 
fit  of  ill-temper ;  possibly,  in  both  senses,  derived  from 
the  Gaelic  taoig,  anger;  and  taoigeach,  angry,  and  as 
such  disposed  to  strike  a  blow  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  379 

A  game  among  children.     He  who  in  this  game  gives  the  stroke, 
says  to  the  person  to  whom  he  has  given  it,  "  Ye  bear  my  lig.^' 

— ^Jamieson. 

Tillie-soitl.  According  to  Jamieson,  this  word  signifies 
"a  place  to  which  a  gentleman  sends  the  horses  and 
servants  of  his  guests,  when  he  does  not  choose  to  enter- 
tain them  at  his  own  expense."  He  derives  it  from  the 
French  tillet,  a  ticket;  and  solde,  pay.  There  is,  how- 
ever, no  such  word  as  tillet,  a  ticket,  in  the  French  lan- 
guage. There  is  tiller^  which  means,  "  detacher  avec  la 
main  les  filaments  du  chanvre,"  i.e.,  to  remove  with  the 
hand  the  filaments  of  hemp.  But  this  operation  has  cer- 
tainly nothing  to  do  with  the  explanation  given  to  tillie- 
soul.  The  true  derivation  appears  to  be  from  the  Gaelic 
////,  to  turn  away ;  and  suit,  feeding,  fatness,  joy,  merri- 
ment, good  bodily  entertainment ;  whence  tillie-sojil,  to 
turn  away  for  entertainment  elsewhere. 

Timiner,  timber;  from  the  Flemish  timmer.  This 
word  is  used  not  alone  as  signifying  wood,  but  in  the 
sense  of  building  or  constructing  out  of  wood ;  and,  by 
extension  of  meaning,  into  constructing  or  fashioning 
generally;  and,  by  still  wider  extension,  into  doing  or 
performing.  "  To  give  one  a  tim7nerM  "  signifies  to  beat 
one  with  a  stick  (or  piece  of  timber).  7>;;/;//^r-breeks, 
and  ti7)wier-sdirk  were  ludicrous  terms  for  a  coffin. 
Thnmerman,  in  the  Fleinish,  and  zinwierman,  in 
the  German,  signified  either  a  carpenter,  an  artificer  in 
wood,  and  also  a  woodmonger,  or  woodman. 

Timmer  up  the  flail,  i.e.,  to  wield  the  flail;  timmer  up  the  floor 
with  a  dishclout,  i.e.,    to  clean   it.     .     .     .     T<3  (immer  up  the 


380  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


lesson,  i.e.,  to  be  busily  employed  in  learning  it.     .     .     .     Oh,  as 
he  timvters  up  the  Latin  !  i.e.,  what  a  deal  of  Latin  he  employs. 

— Jamieson. 

And  who  in  singing  could  excel 
Famed  Douglas,  l>ishop  of  Dunkel' ; 
He  ti»ime7-^d  u^),  though  it  be  lang, 
In  gude  braid  Scots  a  Virgil's  sang. 

— Ingram's  Foetus. 


Tine,  to  lose ;  Tint,  lost.     This  ancient  English  word 
has  long  been  confined  to  Scottish  literature  and  parlance : 

What  was  iinl  through  tree, 

Tree  shall  it  win. 

— Piers  rioughnian. 

He  never  tint  a  cow  that  grat  for  a  needle. 
Where  there  is  nothing  the  king  tines  his  right. 
All's  not  tint  that's  in  danger. 
Better  spoil  your  joke  than  tine  your  friend. 
Tine  heart — all's  gone. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 


Next  my  heart  I'll  wear  her 
I'^or  fear  my  jewel  tine. 


-Burns. 


Tinlde-siiicetic.  According  to  Jamieson,  tinkle-sweetie 
was  a  cant  name  formerly  given  in  Edinburgh  to  a  bell 
that  was  rung  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening.  A  previous 
bell,  which  was  rung  at  two  in  the  afternoon,  was  called 
the  "  kail  bell,"  i.e.,  the  dinner  bell.  Tinkle-S7veetie  was 
superseded  as  a  i)hrase  by  the  "aucht  hour  bell." 
Jamieson,  at  a  loss  for  the  etymology,  says  "  it  was  thus 
denominated  because  the  sound  of  it  was  sweet  to  the 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  ^8l 


ears  of  apprentices  and  shopmen,  because  they  were  then 
at  liberty  to  shut  up  for  the  night."  The  conjecture  is 
no  doubt  ingenious, — but  it  may  be  asked  whether  the 
kail,  or  dinner  bell,  might  not  have  been  as  justly  en- 
titled to  be  called  sweet — as  the  bell  that  announced  the 
cessation  of  labour  ?  The  word  is  apparently  a  relic  of 
the  very  old  time,  when  the  kings  and  nobles  of  Scotland 
and  the  merchants  of  Edinburgh  all  spoke  or  understood 
Gaelic.  In  that  language  dimi  (d  pronounced  as  f)  signi- 
fied to  shut  up,  to  close ;  glaodh  (pronounced  glao)  signi- 
fied a  cry,  a  call;  and  suaiteachd,  labour,  work,  toil; 
whence  duinglao  (quasi  tinkle),  and  stiatteaehd,  corrupted 
into  siueetie.  Thus  the  cant  phrase  of  Jamieson  would 
mean  a  call  or  summons,  to  cease  from  labour,  or,  in 
modern  parlance,  "  to  shut  up  shop." 


Tinsel,  loss ;  from  tine,  to  lose  : — 

My  profit  is  not  your  tinsel. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Tippeny,  from  twopence ;  whence  tippeny,  at  the  price 
of  two  pence  ;  twopenny  ale  : — 

Wi'  tippeny  we'll  fear  na  evil, 
Wi'  usquebae  we'll  face  the  devil. 

— Burns  :    Tarn  o'  Shanter. 

Mr.  Loeve  Weimaers,  a  once  noted  French  author, 
who  translated  or  paraphrased  Burns  into  French,  ren- 
dered the  first  of  these  lines  by  "  Avec  deux  sous,  nous 
ne  craindrons  rien,"  with  twopence  we'll  fear  nothing; 
Thus  leaving  the  ale  out  of  the  question. 


382  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Tirl,  to  strive  to  turn  the  knob,  the  pin,  or  other 
fastening  of  a  door.  This  word  is  of  constant  occurrence 
in  the  ballad  poetry  of  Scotland  : — 

Oh  he's  gone  round  and  round  about, 
And  iirlcd  at  the  pin. 

—  Willie  and  May  Margaret. 

Tirl,  to  spin  round  as  in  a  whirlwind,  to  unroof  with  a 
high  wind  : — 

Whyles  on  the  strong-winged  tempest  flying, 
Tirling  the  kirks. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 

This  word  has  been  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  the 
English  twirl,  to  turn  round  ;  and,  by  extension  of  mean- 
ing, '■'- tirli7ig  the  roof  of  the  kirk,"  i.e.,  sending  the 
materials  whirling  or  twirling  in  the  storm.  To  tirl  the 
pin  or  knob  of  a  door,  is  doubtless  from  twirl,  in  the 
English  sense ;  but  to  tirl  the  roof  of  a  kirk,  as  in  the 
line  of  Burns,  is  more  probably  from  the  Gaelic  tuirl,  and 
tiiirlin,  to  descend  rapidly  with  a  great  noise. 

Tirlie-wirlie^  intricate  or  trifling  ornaments  : — 

Queer,  tirlie-'wirlie  holes  that  gang  out  to  the  open  air,  and  keep 
the  air  as  caller  as  a  kail-blade. 

— Scott :  The  Antiquary. 

It  was  in  and  through  the  window  broads 

And  a'  the  lirlie-'oirlies  o't, 
The  sweetest  kiss  that  e'er  I  got 

Was  frac  my  Dainty  Davie. 

—Dainty  Davie:   Herd's  Collection. 

l-'roni  the  English  /fc/r/and  7i'/«;7,  though  Jamieson  goes 
to  the  Swedish  in  search  of  the  etymology. 


OK    THE    SCU'ITISH    LANGUAGE.  -^S 


J"J 


7}Vr,  a  fractious  child ;  tirran,  one  of  a  perverse  and 
complaining  humour  ;  tirrie,  querulous,  peevish.  These 
words  seem  all  to  be  of  Gaelic  origin,  and  to  be  derived 
from  tuir,  to  moan,  to  lament,  to  weep ;  and  tiiireadh, 
moaning,  complaining,  lamentation.  Jamieson,  however, 
derives  tlrran  from  the  Greek  tyran?ios,  a  tyrant,  or  the 
Teutonic  terghen^  to  irritate;  though  the  latter  word  is 
not  to  be  found  in  German  or  in  any  of  its  dialects. 

Tittie-Billie.  According  to  Jamieson,  who  denounces 
it  as  vulgar,  this  phrase  signifies  an  equal,  a  match,  as  in 
the  proverbial  saying  which  he  quotes,  "  Tam's  a  great 
thief,  but  Willie's  tittie-billie  wi'  him  ;"  and  derives  it 
from  tittie^  a  sister;  and  billie,  a  brother.  The  true 
meaning  of  billie  is  a  fellow;  from  the  Gaelic  balaoch, 
and  b/ialaoch,  a  fellow,  a  mate,  or  close  companion  ;  and 
tit  fie,  in  all  probability,  is  a  corruption  of  taite,  joyous- 
ness,  joUiness.  Tittie-billie  would  thus  be  synonymous 
with  the  English  phrase,  "a  jolly  good  fellow."  (See 
Billie,  ante,  page  31.) 

TocJter,  a  dowry,  but  principally  used  as  applicable  to 
the  fortunes  of  persons  in  the  middle  and  lower  ranks  of 
life,  who  are  too  poor  to  give  their  daughters  doivries. 
A  tocher  may  be  either  a  large  or  a  small  one.  There  is 
no  other  Scotch  word  for  a  daughter's  portion. 

A  cow  and  a  calf, 

An  ox  and  a  half, 

Forty  good  shillings  and  three  ; 

Is  not  that  enough  tochei- 

For  a  shoemaker's  daughter  ? 

— J.  O.  Ilalliwell  :  Nursery  Rhymes  of 
England. 


384  POETRY  AND    HUMOUR 

The  bonnie  lass  locherless  has  mair  wooers  than  chances  of  a 

husband. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

The  greatest  lochers  make  not  ever  the  greatest  testaments. 

Marry  a  beggar  and  get  a  louse  for  your  tocher. 

Maidens'  lochers  and  ministers'  stipends  are  aye  less  than  they 

are  ca'd. 

—Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Oh  meiklc  thinks  my  love  o'  my  beauty, 

And  mcikle  thinks  my  love  o'  my  kin, 

But  little  thinks  my  love  I  ken  brawly, 

My  tocher's  the  jewel  has  charms  for  him. 

— Burns. 

Pliilologists  are  at  variance  as  to  the  origin  of  tocher, 
which  is  a  purely  Scottish  word,  and  has  no  relation  to 
any  similar  word  in  the  Teutonic,  or  in  the  Romance  lan- 
guages of  Europe.  The  French  has  dot,  the  German 
braut-schdtz  (bridal  treasure),  and  the  Dutch  and  Fle- 
mish bruid  schat.  Dr.  Adolphus  Wagner,  editor  of  a 
German  edition  of  Burns  (Leipzig,  1825),  suggests  "the 
Icelandic  tochar^'  which  he  thinks  is  either  corrupted 
from  the  Latin  douariuiii,  or  from  daug/itcr,  the  German 
tochter,  or  the  Greek  Ov/aT-qp.  The  real  root  of  the  word 
is  the  Gaelic  tacar  or  tocar,  provision  or  store,  a  marriage 
portion ;  tocharachd,  well  or  j^lentifully  dowered ;  toic, 
wealth,  fortune  ;  toiceach,  rich. 

Tod.  usually  considered  to  signify  a  bush ;  ivy-tod,  a 
bush  or  bunch  of  ivy.  The  derivation  seems  to  be  from 
the  Dutch  and  I'lemish  tod,  a  rag,  a  fringe ;  and  the 
Gaelic  dud,  a  rag;  tood,  a  string^ — from  the  string-like 
and  ragged  appearance  of  ivy  when  it  has  grown  as  high 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  385 

as  possible  on  the  supporting  tree  or  wall,  and  has  then 
fallen  downwards.  7l7^also  signifies  a  fox;  Tod-laurie  \s  2l 
jocose  word  for  the  same  animal : — 

Ye're  like  the  iod  ;  ye  grow  grey  before  you  grow  guid. 

The  tod  ne'er  sped  better  than  when  he  gaed  on  his  ain  errand. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scols  Proverbs. 

The  King  rose  up,  wiped  his  eyes,  and  calling,  "  Todlaurie, 
come  out  o'  your  den  [Fox,  come  out  of  your  hole],"  he  produced 
from  behind  the  arras  the  length  of  Richie  Moniplies,  still  laughing 
in  unrestrained  mirth. 

— Scott  :  Fortunes  of  Nigel. 

Toddy,  a  mixture  of  whisky  with  hot  water  and  sugar. 
It  has  been  generally  supposed  that  the  name  was  intro- 
duced into  Scotland  by  some  retired  East  Indian,  from 
toddy,  a  juice  extracted  from  various  species  of  palm  trees, 
especially  from  the  cocos  nocifera,  which,  when  fermented 
and  distilled,  was  known  as  arrack.  But  this  is  extremely 
doubtful.  In  Allan  Ramsay's  poem  of  "  The  Morning 
Interview,"  published  in  1721,  occurs  a  description  of  a 
sumptuous  entertainment  or  tea-party,  in  which  it  said 
"  that  all  the  rich  requisites  are  brought  from  far :  the 
table  from  Japan,  the  tea  from  China,  the  sugar  from 
"  Amazonia,"  or  the  West  Indies ;  but  that 

Scotia  does  no  such  costly  tribute  bring, 
Only  some  kettles  full  of  Todian  spring. 

To  this  passage  Allan  Ramsay  himself  appended  the 
note — "The  Todian  spring,  i.e..  Tod's  well,  which  supplies 
Edinburgh  with  water."  Tod's  well  and  St.  Anthony's 
well,  on  the  side  of  Arthur's  seat,  were  two  of  the  wells 
which  very  scantily  supplied  the  wants  of  Edinburgh; 

A  2 


386  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

and  when  it  is  borne  in  mind  that  whiskey  (see  that 
word)  derives  its  name  from  water,  it  is  highly  probable 
that  Toddy  in  Hke  manner  was  a  facetious  term  for  the 
pure  element.  The  late  Robert  Chambers,  when  this 
etymolog)'  was  first  propounded  to  him  by  the  present 
writer,  rejected  the  idea  with  scorn,  but  afterwards  adopted 
it  on  the  strength  of  Allan  Ramsay's  poem. 

Tol-lol^  a  slang  expression,  common  to  Scotland  and 
England,  as  a  reply  to  an  enquiry  after  one's  health 
"  How  are  you  ?"  "  Oh,  tol-lol!  "  i.e.,  pretty  well.  The 
word  is  usually  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  tolerable, 
or  tolerably  well ;  but  it  comes  more  probably  from  the 
Gaelic  toileil,  substantial,  solid,  sound,  in  good  condition. 

Tommack,  a  small  hill,  a  hillock,  a  mound  of  earth . 
from  the  Gaelic  torn,  a  hill.  This  primitive  monosyllable 
is  widely  spread  over  all  the  languages  of  Western 
Europe,  and  enters  into  the  composition  of  numberless 
words  that  all  imply  the  sense  of  swelling  above  the  sur- 
face; as  in  the  Latin  tumulus,  a  mound  of  earth  that 
marks  a  grave ;  the  English  tojnb,  the  French  tombeau,  the 
Kymric  torn,  a  mound,  a  heap ;  the  Latin  tuvior,  tumefac- 
tion, a  pimple,  a  swelling  of  the  flesh ;  tumescere,  to  swell 
up ;  the  English  and  French  dome,  the  Italian  duovio,  the 
German,  Dutch,  and  Flemish  dom,  the  Latin  and  Greek 
doma,  the  rounded  roof  or  cupola,  swelling  over  a  church 
or  cathedral,  and  also  the  cathedral  itself;  as  "11  duovio^^ 
at  Milan,  and  the  "  Dom  kirke  "  at  Cologne.  To7n,  in 
the  secondary  sense,  signifies  large,  from  the  primary 
idea  of  a  swelling,  or  swollen ;  a  torn  cat  is  a  large  cat ; 
torn  noddy  is  a  great  noddy  or  idiot ;  torn  fool  is  a  great 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  387 

fool;  and  tom-hoy,  when  applied  as  a  reproach  to  a 
romping  or  noisy  girl,  signifies  that  she  acts  more  like  a 
great  boy  than  like  a  girl. 

Tongue-ferdy,  glib  of  tongue,  loquacious,  over  ready  of 
speech.  From  the  Teutonic  zung^  Flemish  and  Dutch 
tong,  the  tongue;  dind feriig,  ready. 

Tongue-tackit,  tongue-tied,  either  from  natural  impedi- 
ment, or  from  nervous  timidity  and  inability  to  speak 
when  there  is  occasion  to  declare  one's  self;  also,  undue 
reticence,  when  there  is  a  necessity  for  speaking  out. 

Toom,  or  Tuvie,  empty,  poured  out ;  from  the  GaeUc 
taom,  to  pour  out,  the  English  teetn^  to  produce,  to  pour 
out  progeny.  Tootn-handit,  empty-handed  ;  /^^;;/-headit, 
brainless,  empty-headed ;  a  toojn  pock,  an  empty  purse  : 

Better  a  toom  house  than  an  ill  tenant. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Scotland  greetin'  owre  her  thrissle, 
Her  mutchkin  stoup  as  iooni^s  a  whistle. 

— Burns  :  Earnest  Cry  and  Prayer. 

Mr.  Clark  of  Dalreoch,  whose  head  was  vastly  disproportioned  to 
his  body,  met  Mr.  Dunlop  one  day.  "Weel,  Mr.  Clark,  that's  a 
great  head  o'  yours."  "  Indeed,  it  is,  Mr.  Dunlop;  I  could  contain 
yours  inside  o'  my  own."  "Just  so,"  echoed  Mr.  Dunlop,  "  I  was 
e'en  thinking  it  was  geyan  toom.'''' 

— Dean  Ramsay, 

On  being  called  upon  to  give  his  vote  in  the  choice  of  a  chaplain 
to  the  prison  of  Dunfermline,  David  Dewar  signified  his  assent  to 
the  election  of  the  candidate  recommended  by  the  Board,  by  saying, 


^88  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


"Wed,  I've  no  objection  to  the  man,  for  I  understand  that  he  has 

preached  a  kirk  toom  already  ;  and  if  he  be  as  successful  in  the  jail, 

he'll  maybe  preach  it  vacant  as  weel." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

A  too7n  pouch  maks  a  sair  heart!     But  why  should  it  ?     Surely  a 
heart's  worth  mair  timn  a  pouch,  whether  it's  toom  or  brimming 

ower?  , ,  ^      .,, 

— Donald  Cargill. 

"Set  on  them,  lads  !"  quo'  Willie,  then, 

"Fie,  lads  !  set  on  them  cruellie. 
For  ere  they  win  to  the  Ritterford 

Mony  a  toom  saddle  there  sail  be." 

—James  Telfer  :  Border  Minstrelsy. 


Toot,  or   Tout,  to  noise  a  thing  abroad,  to  spread  a 
rumour  or  a  scandal ;  also,  to  blow  a  horn  : — 

It  was  tootit  through  a'  the  country.     .     .     .     The  kintra  claiks 
were  tootit  far  and  wide. 

— ^Jamieson. 

But  now  the  Lord's  ain  trumpet  touts. 
Till  a'  the  hills  are  rairin'. 

— Burns  :  The  Holy  Fair. 

An  auld  tout  in  a  new  horn. 

Every  man  can  tout  best  on  his  ain  horn. 

It's  ill  making  a  touting  horn  of  a  tod's  tail. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scotch  Proverbs. 

In  English  slang,  a  Tout  is  one  stationed  outside  of  a 
shop  or  place  of  amusement,  to  entice  people  to  enter ; 
metaphorical  for  blowing  the  trumpet,  i.e.,  praising  the 
goods,  or  ciitcrlaiimicnt,  Lu  be  had  within.     From  the 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  389 

Gaelic  dud,  a  trumpet ;  dudair,  a  trumpeter.     The  Ger- 
mans call  the  bagpipe  d^dudehack,  i.e.,  a  "trumpet  sack." 

Tory,  a  word  of  contemptuous  anger  for  a  child, 
equivalent  to  "brat."  Jamieson  cites  it  as  an  Ayrshire 
expression — "  Get  ouc  of  my  sight,  ye  vile  little  tory." 
It  is  obvious  that  the  word  has  no  political  origin ; 
it  is  possibly  from  the  Gaelic  torrach,  pregnant ;  and 
toradh  {dh  silent),  the  fruit  or  produce  of  pregnancy,  i.e., 
a  child. 

Tosh,  neat,  trim,  cozy,  comfortable ;  toshach,  a  neat 
tidy-looking  girl ;  tossie,  warm  and  snug, — almost  synony- 
mous with  cozie.  Of  uncertain  etymology.  Jamieson 
derives  it  from  the  Flemish  dossen,  to  dress,  to  adorn ; 
but  the  Gaelic  offers  dos,  a  bush,  a  thicket,  a  bield,  a 
shelter,  which  has  become  slang  among  EngUsh  tramps 
and  vagrants,  to  signify  a  lodging.  It  is  possible  that  the 
idea  of  comfortable  shelter,  in  the  sense  of  the  proverb, 
"  Better  a  wee  bush  than  nae  bield,"  is  the  root  of  tosh 
and  tozie : — 

She  works  her  ain  stockings,  and  spins  her  ain  cleedin', 
And  keeps  herself  tosh  frae  the  tap  to  the  tae. 

— ^James  Ballantine  :  Auld Janet. 

Tot,  a  fondling  name  for  a  child  that  is  learning  to 
walk ;  from  whence  tottle,  and  toddle,  to  walk  with  slow, 
feeble,  and  uncertain  step.  From  the  Gaelic  tuit,  to  fall. 
(See  Totiim.) 

Tottie,  warm,  snug,  comtortable.  From  the  Gaelic 
fth,  warmth ;  teodh,  to  warm ;  and  teodhaichte,  warmed ; 


390  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

whence  also  tottk,  to  boil,  or  the  bubbling  noise  made  by 
boiling  liquids. 

Totiwi,  a  term  of  affection  for  a  child  just  beginning  to 
walk,  and  sometimes  falling  in  the  process;  from  the 
Gaelic  tiiif,  and  tuiteam,  to  fall.  From  the  same  root 
comes  the  name  of  the  spinning  and  falling  toy,  the 
"  teetotum ; "  and  English  tot,  a  child  : — 

Twa-three  toddlin'  weans  they  hae, 

The  pride  o'  a'  Strabogie  ; 
Whene'er  the  tohims  cry  for  meat, 

She  curses  aye  his  cogie. 

— Song :  There's  Cauld  Kail  in  Aberdeen. 

The  Scotch  have  carried  the  word  totmn  with  them  to  the 
United  States.  It  occurs  in  a  ridiculous  rhyme  concern- 
ing the  negroes : — 

De  Lord  he  lub  de  nigger  well, 
He  know  de  nigger  by  him  smell, 
And  when  de  nigger  totiims  cry, 
De  Lord  he  gib  'em  possum  pie. 

Toiiti's  Bairn,  a  name  affectionately  applied  to  the 
ative  of  a  town  or  city,  after  he  has  risen  to  distinction 
and  established  a  claim  to  the  respect  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  phrase  has  no  adequate  equivalent  in  English. 

Toustie,  quarrelsome,  irascible,  contentious,  twisty. 
From  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  twist,  a  dispute ;  twist€?i, 
to  quarrel ;  twistgierig,  quarrelsome ;  twistcuhrift,  a  libel : 

Mr.  Treddles  was  a  wee  toustie,  when  you  rubbed  him  against 
the  hair,  but  a  kind,  weel-meaning  man. 

— Scott  :  Chronicle  of  the  Canongate. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  39 1 

From  the  Gaelic  tuas^  and  tuasaid,  a  quarrel ;  tuasaideach, 
quarrelsome. 

Touttie,  Totey,  Toustie,  irritable,  irascible,  of  capricious 
and  uncertain  temper.  Etymology  unknown,  but  derived 
by  Jamieson  from  the  Flemish  togttg,  windy, — a  word 
which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  Dutch  or  Flemish  dic- 
tionaries. 

Tove,  to  associate  kindly  as  friends  or  lovers ;  to 
'*  tove  and  crack,"  to  hold  amorous  or  friendly  discourse. 

Tovie,  comfortable ;  a  tovie  fire,  a  snug,  cozy,  or  comfort- 
able fire.  From  the  Gaelic  taobh,  a  side,  a  liking,  par- 
tiality, friendship ;  taobhach,  kindly,  friendly.  Tovie  is  an 
epithet  sometimes  used  to  signify  that  a  man  is  garrul- 
ously drunk. 

Tow,  a  rope,  also  the  hemp  of  which  ropes  are  made ; 
to  pull  by  a  rope.  Toiving-path  by  a  canal,  the  path  by 
which  men  or  horses  tow  or  pull  the  vessels  through  the 
water.     Wallop  in  a  tow,  to  dangle  from  the  gallows  : — 

And  ere  I  wed  another  jade, 
I'll  wallop  in  a  tow. 

— Burns  :  The  Weary  Fund  6"  Totu. 


I  hae  another  tow  on  my  rock,  [I  have  other  business  to  attend  to]. 

— Scots  Proverb. 

Jamieson  derives  toiv  from  the  Swedish  tog,  the  substance 
of  which  ropes  are  made.  It  is  more  likely  from  the 
Gaelic  taod,  a  rope,  a  string,  a  halter. 


392  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

Towdy,  a  jocular  term  for  the  breech,  fundament, 
podex,  or  doup,  especially  when  abnormally  large.  From 
this  word  comes  the  English  dowdy,  applied  to  an  ill- 
dressed  and  unshapely  woman,  large  in  the  hips.  Ety- 
mology uncertain. 

Towzi'e,  rough,  hairy,  shaggy ;  whence  tozvzer^  the  name 
sometimes  applied  in  England  to  a  terrier: — 

His  toti'de  hack 
Weel  clad  wi'  coat  o'  glossy  black. 

— Bums  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

A  touzie  tyke,  black,  grim,  and  large, 
To  gie  them  music  was  his  charge. 

— Burns  :  Tarn  <?'  Shattier. 

(See  Tuilzie.)    The  same  idea  of  roughness  and  disorder 
attaches  to  touzie  as  to  that  word. 


Toyte,  to   dawdle,   to   take  things  easily ;    from   the 
Gaelic  taite,  ease,  pleasure: — 

We've  won  to  crazy  years  thegither, 
We'll  toyte  about  wi'  ane  anilhcr, 
Wi'  tcntie  care  I'll  flit  thy  tether 

To  some  hain'd  rig, 
Where  ye  may  doucely  rax  your  leather 

Wi'  sma'  fatigue. 
— Burns  ;  A uld  Farmer  to  his  Auld  Mare  Maggie. 


Traik,  to  lounge,  to  gad  about,  to  follow  idly  after 
women ;  from  the  Flemish  trekken,  to  walk,  to  draw  or 
pull  along  : — 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  393 

There  is  not  a  huzzy  on  this  side  of  thirty  that  ye  can  bring  within 
your  doors,  but  there  will  be  chiels,  writer  lads,  'prentice  lads,  and 
what  not  come  fraikmg  aRer  them  for  their  destruction. 

— Scott  :  Heart  of  Midlothian. 

Trattle.  The  resemblance  of  this  word  to  prattle, 
from  prate,  has  led  Jamieson  and  others  to  suppose  that 
its  meaning  is  identical.  But  it  is  by  no  means  clear 
that  the  supposition  is  well  founded,  or  that  trattle, 
prattle,  and  rattle  are  related  in  meaning,  notwithstanding 
the  similarity  of  sound.  The  word  seems  to  be  akin  to, 
or  to  be  derived  from  the  German  trotzen,  the  Flemish 
trots,  to  dare,  to  defy,  to  be  arrogant  or  presumptuous ; 
irotzig,  violent : — 

Oh  better  I'll  keep  my  green  cleiding 

Frae  gude  Earl  Richard's  bluid, 
Than  thou  canst  keep  thy  clattering  tongue 

That  trattles  in  thy  head. 

— Earl  Richard  :  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Against  the  proud  Scots  clattering 
That  never  will  leave  their  trattling. 

— Skelton  :  Laureate  against  the  Scottis,  qtioted 
by  Sir  Walter  Scott  /w  ^^ Border  Minstrelsy.'''' 

The  German  and  Flemish  trotzen  would  more  fully  meet 
the  meaning  and  spirit  of  the  epithet  than  any  derivation 
from  prattle  could  pretend  to. 

Treacherous  as  Garrick,  false  as  Garrick,  deep  as  Gar- 
7-ick.  These  phrases  are  current  in  England  as  well  as  in 
Scotland,  and  can  have  no  possible  connection  with  the 
name  of  Garrick,  or  to  the  renowned  actor  who  bore  it 
in  the  last  century.      The  true  origin  is  unknown.      It  is 


394  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

possible,  however,  that  "treacherous  as  Garrick"  may 
mean  treacherous  as  a  caoireagli  (or  caoireac/i),  Gaelic  for 
a  blazing  fire.  This  suggestion  is  offered  fauie  de  mieux. 
A  Highlander,  however,  is  of  opinion  that  Garrick  is  a 
corruption  of  coruisg,  a  deep,  gloomy,  and  treacherous 
loch  in  the  island  of  Skye.  Who  shall  decide  when 
Doctors  disagree  ? 

Trig,  neat,  clean,  attractive ;  usually  derived  from  the 
English  trick  or  tricky,  which  has  not  the  same  meaning. 
Also,  a  fop,  or  a  person  giving  too  much  attention  to  his 
personal  appearance  : — 

It  is  my  humour  :  you  are  a  pimp  and  a  trig. 
An  Amadis  de  Gaul,  or  a  Don  Quixote. 

— Ben  Jonson  :   The  Alchemist. 

And  you  among  them  a',  John, 
Sae  trig  from  top  to  toe. 

— Burns  :  John  Anderson. 

The  word  seems  to  be  derived  from  tlie  Dutch  and 
Flemish  trek,  to  attract.  Though  Jamieson  derives  it 
from  the  English  trick,  or  trick  out,  to  dress  gaudily  or 
finely,  it  is  possibly  either  from  the  Welsh  or  Kymric 
trig,  firm-set,  or  the  Gaelic  triathac  (t  silent — triac), 
splendid. 


Trinuner,  Trimmie,  disrespectful  terms  applied  to  a 
scolding  or  irascible  woman.  From  the  Gaelic  dream,  or 
tream,  to  snarl,  to  grin  angrily ;  dreamach,  morose, 
peevish,  ill-natured ;  dreamag,  or  drcineag,  a  vixen,  a 
shrew. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  395 

Troggin,  wares  exchanged  with  servant  girls  for  the 
odds  and  ends  of  a  household  by  travelling  pedlars. 
Trog,  old  clothes.  Trogger,  or  trocker,  a  pedlar,  one 
who  deals  in  old  clothes.  It  is  doubtful  whether  these 
words  are  from  the  French  troqiier,  to  barter,  the  English 
truck,  or  from  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  troggelen,  to  beg 
under  pretence  of  selling  trifles  that  nobody  requires. 
The  word  appears  as  troke  in  Halliwell's  Archaic  Dic- 
tionary. 

Buy  braw  troggin, 

Frae  the  banks  o'  Dee  ; 
Wha'  wants  troggin, 

Let  him  come  to  me. 

— Burns  ;  An  Election  Song. 


Trolollay,  a  term  which,  according  to  Jamieson,  occurs 
in  a  rhyme  sung  by  young  people  in  Scotland  at  Hog- 
manay, the  last  day  of  the  old  year,  and  the  morn- 
ing of  the  new.  "  It  has,"  he  says,  "  been  viewed 
as  a  corruption  of  the  French  trois  rois  allais,  three 
kings  are  come ! "  In  this  sentence  the  word  allais 
is  ungrammatical  and  incorrect.  The  phrase  should 
read  trois  rois  sont  vetiiis.  But  independently  of  the 
bad  French,  the  etymology  is  entirely  wrong.  The 
word,  or  words,  are  part  of  a  very  ancient  Druidical 
chorus,  sung  two  thousand  years  ago  at  the  dawn- 
ing of  the  day  in  honour  of  the  sunrise.  Tra  LI  la! 
From  the  Gaelic  trAth  {tra),  early ;  and  la,  day,  signify- 
ing not  "  the  three  kings  are  come,"  but  "  Day !  early 
day ! "  equivalent  to  the  "  Hail,  early  morn ! "  of  a 
modern  song  writer. 


396  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Tron.  There  is  a  Tron  Church  in  Edinburgh  and 
another  in  Glasgow;  but  the  Scottish  Glossaries  and 
Jamieson's  "  Scottish  Dictionary  "  make  no  mention  of 
the  word.  It  would  appear  from  a  passage  in  Hone's 
"  Every-day  Book  "  that  Tron  signified  a  public  weighing- 
machine,  a  scale  in  a  market-place,  where  purchasers  of 
commodities  might,  without  fee,  satisfy  themselves  that 
the  weight  of  their  purchase  was  correct.  Hence  a 
"  Tron  Church  "  was  a  church  in  the  market-place  near 
which  the  public  weighing-machine  was  established. 
The  word  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  tro7n,  heavy,  or  a 
weight. 

Tronic,  a  tedious  story  that  has  been  often  repeated, 
and  that  causes  a  sense  of  weariness  in  the  person  con- 
demned to  listen  to  it.  From  the  Gaelic  trojn,  heavy, 
tedious.  The  same  epithet  is  applied  to  a  boy  who  is 
too  stupid  and  heavy  to  learn  his  lessons. 

Trow,  or  Drow,  the  evil  one.  From  the  Gaelic  Droch, 
evil,  bad,  wicked.  Sea  Trowes,  evil  spirits  of  the  sea ;  to 
trow,  or  drow,  to  wish  evil,  to  imprecate. 

Trullion,  a  low,  base,  dirty  fellow.  The  English  has 
irull,  the  feminine  of  this  word,  applied  to  an  immoral 
woman  of  the  lowest  class.  The  origin  is  the  Gaelic 
truaile,  to  pollute,  to  debase  ;  and  triiilleach,  a  base,  dirty 
person. 

Trysfc,  an  appointed  place  of  meeting,  a  rendezvous  ; 
of  the  same  origin  as  intsf,  or  confidence,  from  the  idea 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  397 

that  he  who  appoints  a  tryste  with  another,  trusts  that  the 
other  will  keep  or  be  faithful  to  it.  The  word  occurs  in 
Chaucer,  and  in  several  old  English  MSS.  of  that  period ; 
but  is  not  used  by  Spenser,  Shakspeare,  or  later  writers. 
"  To  bide  tryste^''  to  be  true  to  time  and  place  of  meet- 
ing :— 

"You  walk  late,  sir,"  said  I,     "I  bide  tryste,''  was  the  reply, 
"  and  so  I  think  do  you,  Mr.  Osbaldistone  ?  " 

—Sir  Walter  Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

The  tenderest-hearted  maid 

That  ever  bided  tryste  at  village  stile. 

— Tennyson. 

By  the  wine-god  he  swore  it,  and  named  the  trysting  day. 

— Lord  Macaulay. 

No  maidens  with  blue  eyes 
Dream  of  the  trysting  hour 
Or  bridal's  happier  time. 

—  Under  Green  Leaves. 

When  I  came  to  Ardgour  I  wrote  to  Lochiel  to  tryste  me  where 
to  meet  him. 

— Letter  frorn  Rob  Roy  to  General  Gordon.     Hogg's 
Jacobite  Relics. 


Tuath  de  Danaan.  This  name  has  been  given  to  a 
colony  of  northmen  who  early  settled  in  Ireland,  and 
afterwards  passed  into  Argyllshire;  from  tuath,  north; 
tuathach,  northern;  and  dan,  bold,  warlike;  and  dan/her 
{dan-er),  a  warrior,  a  bold  man;  and  also  a  Dane. 
Tuath  de  Danaan  is  a  corruption,  in  which  the  second 
word  de  ought  to  have  no  place  of  tuaihaich  and  dan  or 


398  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

dana.  The  very  Rev.  Canon  Bourke,  in  his  work  on  the 
Aryan  origin  of  the  GaeHc  language,  says  "  the  Tuath  de 
Datiaans  were  a  large,  fair-complexioned,  and  very 
remarkable  race,  warlike,  energetic,  progressive,  musical, 
poetical,  skilled  in  Druidism,  &c.  Mr.  Pym  Yeatman,  in 
"  The  Origin  of  the  Nations  of  Europe,"  who  quotes  these 
and  other  passages,  is  of  opinion  that  the  Tuath  de 
Danaans  were  Scandinavians — a  fact  which  .their  Gaelic 
designation  fully  corroborates.  Of  course  they  brought 
with  them  their  own  language,  many  of  the  words  of 
which  were  in  course  of  time  incorporated  with  the 
speech  of  the  people,  with  whom,  in  the  course  of  time, 
they  amalgamated.  This  accounts  for  the  many  Danish 
words  both  in  modern  Gaelic  and  in  lowland  Scotch, 


Tuilyie,  or  Toolzie,  a  broil,  a  struggle,  a  quarrel ;  inilie- 
some,  quarrelsome ;  tuilyeour,  a  quarrelsome  person,  a 
wrangler.  Though  Jamieson  derives  tidlzie  from  the 
French  toullier,  to  stir  or  agitate  water,  the  word  seems 
to  be  derived  from  the  same  source  as  the  quasi-synony- 
mous English  tussle,  and  akin  to  the  Gaelic  tiiisleach,  a 
tumult,  a  quarrel  among  several  persons;  deach,  quar- 
relsome, riotous;  whence,  also,  toivzle,  to  pull  about 
roughly,  to  dishevel  or  disorder  : — 

A  loolyiiig(toolzieing)  tyke  comes  limping  hame. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

The  toolzie's  teugh  'tween  Pitt  and  Fox, 
And  our  gude  wife's  wee  birdie  cocks. 

— Burns  :  Elegy  on  the  Year  lySS. 

But  though  dull  prose  folk  Latin  splatter 
In  logic  tulzic. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  399 

I  hope  we  bardies  ken  some  better 
Than  mind  sic  briihie. 

— Burns  :    To  William  Simpson, 

What  verse  can  sing,  what  prose  recite 
The  butcher  deeds  of  bloody  fate 
Amid  this]  mighty  tiihie. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Robert  Graham. 


Tulcan.  Mr.  Gladstone,  during  his  memorable  elec- 
tioneering raid  into  Midlothian,  in  November,  1879, 
explained  at  Dalkeith  the  meaning  of  tulcan  : — 

My  noble  friend,  Lord  Rosebery,  speaking  to  me  of  the  law  of 
hypothec,  said  that  the  bill  of  Mr.  Vans  Agnew  on  hypothec  is  a 
Tulcan  Bill.  A  Tulcan,  I  believe,  is  a  figure  of  a  calf  stuffed  with 
straw,  and  it  is,  you  know,  an  old  Scottish  custom  among  farmers 
to  place  the  Tulcatt  ra^ under  a  cow  to  induce  her  to  give  milk. 

Jamieson  writes  the  word  Tiilchane,  and  cites  the 
phrase  a  Tulchane  Bishop,  as  the  designation  of  one  who 
received  the  episcopate  on  condition  of  assigning  the 
temporalities  to  a  secular  person.  In  some  parts  of 
Scotland  the  people  say  a  "  Tourkin  calf,"  instead  of  a 
Tulcan  calf,  and  it  is  difficult  to  say  which  of  the  two 
words  is  the  more  correct,  or  in  what  direction  we  must 
look  for  the  etymology.  Tulcan,  in  the  Gaelic,  signifies  a 
hollow  or  empty  head, — that  of  the  mock  calf  stuffed  with 
straw, — from  toll,  hollow ;  ■  and  cean,  a  head ;  while 
tourkin  would  seem  to  be  derived  from  tur,  to  invent ; 
and  cean,  a  head;  therefore  signifying  a  head  invented 
for  the  occasion,  to  deceive  the  mother. 

A  tourkin  calf,  or  lamb,  is  one  that  wears  a  skin  not  its  own.     A 
tourkin  lamb  is  one  taken  from  its  dam,  and  given  to  another  ewe 


400  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


that  has  lost  her  own.  In  this  case,  the  shepherd  takes  the  skin  of 
the  dead  lamb,  and  puts  it  on  the  back  of  the  living  one,  and  thus 
so  deceives  the  ewe  that  she  allows  the  stranger  to  suck. 

— Jamieson. 


Tumbler^  a  drinking  glass  of  a  larger  size  than  is 
ordinarily  used  for  wine.  The  derivation  may  be  from 
iianble,  to  fall  over,  as  in  the  deep  drinking  days,  happily 
passed  away,  glasses  were  pointed  at  the  base,  without 
stems,  and  a  drinker  who  held  one  full  in  his  hand  had 
to  drink  off  the  contents,  before  he  could  set  it  down> 
without  spilling  the  liquor.  "Tak'  a  tumbler"  i.e.,  take 
a  glass  of  toddy,  is  a  common  invitation  to  convivial 
intercourse.  "  Three  tumblers  and  an  eke  "  were  once 
considered  a  fair  allowance  for  a  man  after  dinner,  or  be- 
fore retiring  to  rest.  A  Highland  writer  once  suggested 
that  the  derivation  was  from  taom^  pour  out,  or  empty ; 
and  leor^  enough.  This  was  apt,  but  it  was  not  etymo- 
logical. Jamieson  has  tumbler,  the  French  tombril^  a 
cart ;  but  this  can  have  no  relation  to  the  convivial  glass. 

Tum-deif.  Jamieson  suggests  that  perhaps  this  word 
means  swooning,  and  refers  it  to  the  Icelandic  tumba, 
the  English  tumble,  to  fall  to  the  ground.  It  is,  however, 
no  other  than  a  mis-spelling  of  dumb-deaf,  or  deaf  a?id 
dumb. 

Tumpli,  a  blockhead.  From  the  German  dumm,  stupid, 
the  Dutcli  and  Flemish  dom,  tumfic,  or  tumphie,  diminu- 
tive of  tumph  : — 

I-ang  Jamie  was  employed  in  trifling  jobs  on  market  days,  espe- 
cially in  holding  horses  lur  the  farmers.     He  was  asked  his  charge 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  4OI 

by  a  stranger  to  the  town.     "  Hoot !  I  hae  nae  charge  ;  sometimes 

a  tutnph  offers  me  twa  bawbees,  but  a  gentleman  like  you  always 

gies  me  a  saxpence  !  " 

Laird  of  Logan. 

Tunag,  a  kind  of  jacket  or  mantle  worn  by  women  in 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland  and  in  Ireland,  and  covering 
the  shoulders,  back,  and  hips  ;  a  ttinic.  "  If  not  derived 
from  the  Latin  hinica"  says  Jamieson,  ''  it  may  be  from 
the  same  root.'''  It  is  from  the  same  root  in  a  language 
much  older  than  the  Latin — the  Celtic  and  Gaelic  /<?//, 
the  posterior,  the  hips.  The  Greeks  called  that  part  of 
the  body  Truyjj,  whence,  in  the  learned  slang  of  the  English 
universities,  the  coat-tails  were  called  "pygastoles ;"  and 
by  some  irreverent  undergraduates,  "bum  curtains."  The 
word  in  Highland  Gaelic  is  tonag,  and  in  Irish  Gaelic 
tonach. 

Tiitti,  tatie,  according  to  Jamieson,  is  an  interjection 
equivalent  to  the  English /j'/;a7£/ .^  But  ffey!  tuttie  tatie 
is  the  name  of  an  old  Scottish  martial  air,  to  which 
Burns  adapted  his  noble  song  of  "  Scots  wha  hae  wi' 
Wallace  bled."  To  this  spirited  melody,  according  to 
tradition,  the  troops  of  King  Robert  Bruce  marched  to 
the  great  victory  of  Bannockburn.  The  words  are 
derived  from  the  Gaelic,  familiar  to  the  soldiers  of  Bruce, 
ait  dudach  taite  !  from  diidach,  to  sound  the  trumpet,  and 
taite,  joy,  and  may  be  freely  translated,  "  Let  the  joyous 
trumpets  sound ! "  The  battle  of  Bannockburn  was 
fought  in  an  age  when  the  bag-pipe  had  not  become 
common  in  Scotland,  and  when  the  harp  ^as  pre- 
eminently the  national  instrument  in  peace,  as  the  trum- 
pet was  in  war.     Jamieson,  not  quite  sure  of  Pshaw  as 

B  2 


402  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

an  interpretation,  adds  that  "  the  words  may  have  been 
meant  as  imitative  of  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  in  giving 
the  charge." 

It  may  be  remarked  that  possibly  there  may  be  a  re- 
mote connection  between  Jamieson's  idea  of  Pshaw,  and 
that  of  the  blast  of  trumpets.  Fanfare  in  French  signi- 
fies a  blast  on  a  trumpet,  and  z.fanfaron  is  a  braggadocio, 
a  vain  boaster,  a  braggart,  or  one  who  blows  the  trumpet 
of  his  own  praises.  For  such  a  one  in  the  full  flow  of 
his  self  laudation,  the  impatient  interjection.  Pshaw! 
would  be  equally  appropriate,  and  well  merited. 

When  you  hear  the  trumpet  sound 

Tutti  tatti  to  the  drum, 
Up  your  sword,  and  down  your  gun, 
And  to  the  loons  again  ! 

—Jacobite  Relics  :  Wheatley's  Reduplicated 
Words  in  the  English  Language. 

Tut-mute  and  Tuilzie  mulze,  described  in  Wheatley's 
Dictionary  of  reduplicated  words,  "  as  a  muttering  or 
grumbling  between  parties  that  has  not  yet  assumed  the 
form  of  a  broil."  This  odd  phrase,  signifying  a  fierce 
quarrel  that  had  but  slight  beginning  is  presented  in  the 
proverb — 

It  began  in  a  laigh  tute-mute. 
An  it  rose  to  a  wild  tuilzie  mulye. 

— Jamieson. 

Tut  is  the  Gaelic  dud,  the  sound  or  toot  upon  a  wind 
instrument,  a  horn,  a  flute,  a  whistle  or  a  trumpet, — and 
mute  is  a  corruption  of  maoth,  soft,  gentle.  Tuilzie  is  a 
brawl,  a  scuffle,  a  fight,  from  the  Gaelic  tuaileas,  riot, 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  403 

disorder,  conflict,  tumult ;  tuaileasag,  a  quarrelsome  foul- 
mouthed  woman,  a  scold,  and  mileadh,  battle.  The 
proverb  expresses  a  meaning  similar  to  that  in  Allan 
Ramsay — "It  began  wi'  needles  and  pins,  and  ended 
wi'  horned  nowte." 


Twasome,  Threesome^  Foursome.  The  numerals  two, 
three,  and  four,  with  the  addition  of  the  syllable  so7ne, 
are  used  in  a  sense  of  which  they  are  not  susceptible  in 
English.  A  twasome  walk — or  a  twasome  interview — is 
often  rendered  in  English  by  the  French  phrase  tete  d 
tete.  Threesome  and  foursome  reels,  dances  in  which 
three  or  four  persons  participate. 

There's  threesome  reels  zxA  foursome  reels, 
There's  hornpipes  and  strathpeys  man, 

But  the  best  dance  in  a'  the  toun 
Is  the  Deil's  awa  wi'  the  Exciseman, 

— Burns. 


Twime  and  thrime,  a  couplet  and  a  triplet  are 
words  that  have  not  yet  been  admitted  into  the 
Dictionaries. 


Twine,  to  rob,  to  deprive  ;  to  part  with,  to  relinquish. 
Etymology  uncertain,  supposed  to  be  from  the  English 
twain,  two,  thence  to  separate  into  two  : — 

The  fish  shall  swim  the  flood  nae  mair 
Nor  the  corn  grow  through  the  day, 

Ere  the  fiercest  fire  that  ever  was  kindled 
T'jjine  me  and  Rothiemay. 

—Ballad  of  the  Fire  of  Frendr aught. 


404  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


My  daddie  is  a  cankert  carle 

Will  no  tioine  wi'  his  gear. 

—James  Carnegie. 

Brandy     .     .     . 

Twines  many  a  poor,  doylt,  drucken  hash 

Of  half  his  days. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


Tyke,  a  mongrel,  a  rough  dog ;  originally  a  house  dog  \ 
from  the  Gaelic  tigh,  or  taigh,  a  house. 

Tyke-tyrit     Tired  as  a  dog  or  tyke  after  a  chase. 

Base  fyke,  call'st  thou  me  host  ? 

— Shakspeare  :  Henry  V. 

Nae  tawted  (uncombed)  tyke. 

—Burns  :   The  Twa  Dogs. 

He  was  a  gash  and  faithful  tyke. 

— Idem. 

I'm  as  tired  of  it  as  a  tyke  of  lang  kail. 

You  have  lost  your  own  stomach  and  found  a  tyke's. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Ug,  Ugg,  to  feel  extreme  loathing  or  disgust.     Ugsome, 
frightful,  tigsojjieness,  Rightfulness,  horror : — 

They  would  ug  a  body  at  them. 

— Jamieson. 

Ugsome  to  hear  was  her  wild  eldrich  shriek. 

The  ugsoineness  and  silence  of  the  night. 

— Douglas  :  Translation  of  the  Eneid. 

Who  dang  us  and  flang  us  into  this  ugsome  mire. 

Allan  Ramsay  :   The  Vision, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  405 

This  word  seems  to  be  akin  to  the  English  ugly,  which 
all  the  philologists  who  ignore  the  Gaelic  as  one  of  the 
sources  of  the  English  language,  derive  either  from  the 
Danish  huggeren,  to  shiver,  or  from  other  equally  impro- 
bable Teutonic  roots.  In  Gaelic  aog  (quasi  ug,)  signi- 
fies death,  a  ghost,  a  skeleton,  and  aogail,  ghastly,  death- 
like, ugly. 


Uliinius  Eekihus,  the  very  last  glass  of  whisky  toddy, 
or  eke,  one  drop  more  at  a  convivial  gathering  before 
parting  for  the  night ;  the  last  of  the  ekes,  vulgar  and 
colloquial. 


Umbersorroiv,  hardy,  rough,  rude,  uncultivated.  This 
corrupt  word,  of  which  Jamieson  cites  a  still  corrupter, 
"  a  number  sorrow,"  is  clearly  derived  from  the  Flemish 
and  Teutonic  unbesorgt,  uncared  for,  wild,  neglected, 
growing  in  the  strength  of  nature  without  human  assist- 
ance. Jamieson  cites  its  use  in  the  Lothians  in  the 
sense  of  "  rugged,  of  a  surly  disposition,"  applied  to  one 
whose  education  has  been  neglected,  and  who  is  without 
good  manners. 


Uinquhile,  or  Umwhile,  at  one  time,  formerly;  used 
also  in  the  sense  of  departed  or  late,  in  such  phrases  as, 
" my  late  husband,"  "my  departed  wife,"  my  umquhile 
husband,  my  umqtchile  wife.  From  the  Flemish  om, 
past,  and  wijl,  a  short  time,  the  same  as  the  English 
while,  a  short  time  past,  a  short  while  ago. 


4o6  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Unco,  strange,  unknown,  a  wonder,  a  strange  thing,  an 
abbreviation  of  uncouth.  Utico  guid,  extremely  good, 
very  good  : — 

The  unco  guid,  and  the  rigidly  righteous. 

— Burns. 

An  unco  cockernony. 

—Gait. 

Nae  safe  wading  in  unco  waters. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Like  a  cow  in  an  unco  Ipan. 

— Idem. 

Each  tells  the  uncos  that  he  sees  or  hears. 

— Burns  :  Cottar's  Saturday  Night. 

U?ifurthersome,  unpropitious,  applied  to  the  weather, 
if  too  cold,  or  too  rainy,  and  preventing  the  due  ripening 
of  the  crops. 

Ungainly.  Awkward,  uncouth,  insufficient,  clumsy ; 
gainly,  pleasant,  fit  proper,  pleased ;  ga7ie,  to  serve, 
to  suffice,  to  fit,  to  be  appropriate ;  toiganed,  inappro- 
priate. Gainly  and  ungainly  are  not  exactly  synony- 
mous in  Scottish  parlance  with  the  English  word.  Gainly 
is  nearly  obsolete  in  England  ;  and  ungainly  merely  sig- 
nifies awkward,  clumsy.  The  root  of  the  words  in  the 
Scottish  sense  is  the  Gaelic  gean,  good-humour,  fitness, 
comeliness ;  geanoil,  comely,  fit,  proper,  pleasant,  service- 
able. In  the  following  quotation  ga?ie  means  to  serve  or 
suffice : — 

But  there  is  neither  bread  nor  kale 
To  ganc  my  men  and  me. 

Battle  of  Otterbourne—Old  Version, 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  407 


Unkensome,  not  to  be  known  or  recognized,  not  to  be 
traced  : — 

A  smith  !  a  smith  !  Dickie,  he  cries, 

A  smith,  a  smith  right  speedilie  ! 
To  turn  back  the  caukers  o'  our  horses'  shoon 

For  its  unkensome  we  wad  be. 

Archie  0'  Ca'field— Border  Minstrelsy. 


Unmackly.     Mis-shapen,  deformed. 

Up  then  sterts  the  stranger  knight, 

Said  Ladye  be  not  thou  afraid, 
I  fight  for  thee  with  this  grim  Soldan 

Though  he's  sair  unmackly  made. 

— Ballad  of  Sir  Cauline. 


Updorrock.  Worn  out,  bankrupt.  According  to 
Jamieson,  a  Shetland  word,  which  he  derives  from 
*'  Icelandic  app  and  throka,  also  thruka,  urgere,  primere." 
It  seems  to  be  rather  from  the  Flemish  op  drogen,  dried 
up,  exhausted. 

Uppil,  to  clear  up  ;  applied  to  the  weather : — 

When  the  weather  at  any  time  has  been  wet,  and  ceases  to  be  so, 
we  say  it  is  tippled. 

— ^Jamieson. 

From    the    Teutonic    au/hellen, — auf,    up ;    helkn,    to 
become  clear,  to  clear  up. 

Upon  LucKs  Head; — by  chance.  "  I  got  it  on  luck's 
head,'^  I  got  it  by  chance. 


4o8  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Urisk,  according  to  Jamieson,  was  a  name  given  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland  to  a  satyr.  It  was  in  reality  the 
name  given  to  a  Brownie  or  Puck,  the  Robin  Goodfellow 
of  English  fairy  mythology ;  from  the  Gaelic  iiirisg,  a 
goblin.     (See  Wirry-cow.) 

Vanquish.  A  disease  among  sheep  and  lambs,  some- 
times called  "pining"  and  " daising," which  is  caused  by 
their  eating  a  certain  unwholesome  grass.  Jamieson  says 
the  disease  is  so  called  because  it  vanqiiishes  the  sheep  ! 
He  might  as  well  account  for  the  name  of  Kilmarnock, 
by  stating  that  one  Marnock  was  killed  there.  Van- 
quish is  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  jiain,  pale  green, 
and  cidseach  or  cuiseag, — a  species  of  rank  grass  with  a 
long  stalk  that  grows  on  wet  soil  and  is  deleterious  to  cat- 
tle, and  especially  to  sheep.  Cuiscag  is  possibly  the 
same  as  couch  grass,  described  in  Halliwell's  Archaic  and 
Provincial  Dictionary  as  a  kind  of  coarse  bad  grass  that 
grows  very  quickly,  and  is  sometimes  called  twitch  grass. 

Vaudy  or   Vaudie,  gay,  showy,  a   corruption    of  the 
English  gaudy. 

Vaufitie,  proud,  vain,  also  a  braggart,  from  the  French 
vanter^  to  boast  : — 

Her  cutty  sark 
In  longitude  though  sorely  scanty, 
It  was  her  best,  and  she  was  vauntie. 

Burns  :   Ta^n  <?'  Shanter, 

Vlonk  or  IVlonk,  splendidly  dressed,  richly  attired, 
from  the  so-called  "  Anglo-Saxon  "  or  old  English  vlonke, 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  409 

which  has  the  same  meaning.  Possibly  this  may  be  the 
origin  of  the  modern  word  "  flunkey,"  in  contemptuous 
allusion  to  the  garish  colours  of  the  liveries  of  male  ser- 
vants in  great  or  ostentatious  families.  (See  Flunkey, 
ante,  p.  90.) 


Wa\  abbreviation  of  wall,  "  His  back  is  at  the  wa;'," 
i.e.,  he  is  driven  into  a  corner;  his  back  is  at  the  wall, 
fighting  against  opposing  enemies  or  creditors. 


Wabster,  a  weaver  \  from  web,  to  weave  a  web  : — 

Willie  Wastle  dwalt  on  Tweed, 

The  spot  they  ca'd  it  Linkum-doddie, 
Willie  was  a  wabster  gude. 

— Burns. 

An  honest  wabster  to  his  trade, 

Whose  wife's  twa  nieves  were  scarce  weel  bred. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 


Wad,  to  wager,  to  bet.  From  the  Flemish  luedden, 
which  has  the  same  meaning.  Wads  also  signify  forfeits  ; 
a  game  at  wads,  a  game  at  forfeits  : — 

The  gray  was  a  mare  and  a  right  good  mare, 

But  when  she  saw  the  Annan  water, 
She  could  not  hae  ridden  a  furlong  mair, 

Had  a  thousand  merks  been  wadded  at  her. 

Annan  Water:  Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border. 

Wads  are  nae  arguments. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 


4IO  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Wae's  /  woe  is,  unlucky,  unhappy,  in  ill  plight : — 

IVaes  the  wife  that  wants  the  tongue,  but  weels  the 
man  that  gets  her. 

Allan  Ramsay's  Scois  Proverbs. 

And  aye  the  o'erword  o'  his  sang 
Was — wae^s  me  for  Prince  Charlie. 

—Jacobite  Song. 


Waesuck  !  Waes-heart !  Waes-me  !    Interjection  or  ex- 
pression of  surprise  or  sorrow,  like  alas  ! 

Waesuck  !  for  him  that  gets  nae  lass, 
Or  lasses  that  hae  naething. 

— Burns  :   The  Holy  Fair. 

The  derivation  of  waes-heart  and  waes-me  from  wae, 
sorrow  is  obvious  ;  that  of  waesucks  is  not  so  clear.  It 
is  probably  from  the  Flemish  wee,  sorrow  or  love,  and 
sugt  or  zucht.,  a  sigh.  Jamieson  derives  it  from  the 
Danish  usig,  woe  to  us ;  vae  nobis,  the  plural  of  woe  is  me. 
The  word,  however,  is  not  to  be  found  in  Danish 
Dictionaries. 


Waff,  Wauf,  Waft.  A  freak,  a  whiff,  a  wave  of 
sound  or  of  wind,  a  sudden  and  slight  impression  upon 
the  senses,  a  transient  glance,  a  glimpse,  a  passing  odour. 
"  A  waffo'  cauld  "  is  a  slight  attack  of  cold.  "  I  had  a 
7i<aff  o'  him  i'  the  street."  I  had  a  glimpse  of  him. 
"  There  was  a  waffo)  roses."  There  was  a  sudden  odour  of 
roses.  The  primitive  idea  at  the  root  of  the  word  is 
sudden  and  of  short  duration,  rising  and  subsiding  like  a 
wave.     A  waving  of  the  hand. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  311 

Wqf,  worthless,  or  shabby  in  appearance  and  con- 
duct ;  idle,  dissipated.  Waffie,  a  loafer,  an  idler,  a  vag- 
rant, a  vagabond.  Waff-like,  resembling  a  vagabond  in 
manners  and  appearance.  Waffinger,  a  confirmed  vag- 
rant and  idler.  These  words  are  of  uncertain  etymology, 
though  it  is  probable  that  they  are  all  from  the  same 
root  as  the  English  waif,  a  stray,  a  vagrant,  one  who, 
like  the  Italian  traviato  and  traviata,  has  gone  astray  from 
the  right  and  respectable  path,  and  formed  on  the  same 
principle  from  way  off,  or  off  the  way.  Another  possible 
root  is  the  Flemish  zwerfen,  (with  the  elision  of  the 
initial  Z) — to  go  astray,  to  vagabondize. 

Waghorn.  In  the  north  of  Scotland  it  is  a  proverbial 
phrase  to  say  of  a  great  liar  that  he  lies  like  tvagliorn,  or 
is  waur  than  waghorn,  that  "  he  is  as  false  as  waghorn, 
and  zciaghorn  was  nineteen  times  falser  than  the  devil." 
Jamieson  records  that  "  waghorn  is  a  fabulous  personage, 
who  being  a  greater  liar  than  the  devil,  was  crowned 
King  of  Liars,"  Why  the  name  of  tuaghorn  any  more 
than  that  of  wagstaffc — both  respectable  patronymics, 
should  be  selected  to  adorn  or  to  disfigure  the  proverb  is 
not  easy  to  explain,  except  on  the  supposition  that  the 
traditionary  "  waghorn  "  is  a  corruption  of  a  word  that 
has  a  more  rational  as  well  as  a  more  definite  meaning. 
And  such  it  is  found  to  be.  In  Gaelic  iiaigh,  (quasi 
wag)  signifies  the  grave,  the  pit,  and  iutharn,  {iuarn, 
quasi  horn)  signifies  hell,  whence  he  lies  like  waghorn, 
would  signify  he  "lies  like  hell"  or  like  the  "pit  of  hell," 
consequently  worse  than  the  devil,  who  is  supposed  to  be 
but  one,  while  the  other  devils  in  the  pit  are  supposed  to 
be  multitudinous. 


412  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Wa^gajig.  Departure,  ganging  awa',  going  away ; 
an  escape : — 

Winter's  wd'gang. 

— James  Ballantine. 

A  wa'gang  crop  is  the  last  crop  gathered  before  a  tenant  quits  his 
farm  ;  also  the  name  given  to  the  canal,  through  which  the  water 
escapes  from  the  mill  wheel. 

— Jamieson. 

Waith  ;  to  wander,  a  wandering  and  straying.  The 
English  waif,  waifs  and  strays,  things  or  persons  that 
have  wandered  or  gone  astray.  The  etymology  is 
doubtful ;  perhaps  from  waft,  to  be  blown  about  by  the 
wind,  or  carried  by  the  waters. 

Wale,  to  choose,  to  select,  a  choice  :  waly,  choice  : — 
From  the  Teutonic  wahlen,  to  choose. 

Scones,  the  wale  o'  food. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

There's  auld  Rob  Morris  that  wons  in  yon  glen, 
He's  the  king  o'  guid  fellows  and  wale  o'  auld  men. 

— Burns. 

The  laird  of  Balnamon  after  dinner  at  a  friend's  house,  had  cherry 
brandy  put  before  him  in  mistake  for  port.  He  liked  the  liquor, 
and  drank  freely  of  it.  His  servant  Harry  or  "Hairy"  was  to 
drive  him  home  in  a  gig.  On  crossing  the  moor,  whether 
from  greater  exposure  to  the  blast,  or  from  the  laird's  unsteadiness 
of  head,  his  hat  and  wig  fell  to  the  ground.  Harry  got  off  to  pick 
them  up  and  restore  them  to  his  master.  The  laird  was  satisfied 
with  the  hat,  but  demurred  to  the  wig.  "  It's  no  my  wig,  Harry 
lad;  it's  no  my  wig."  "  Ye'd  better  tak  it  sir,"  said  Harry; 
"for  there's  nae  'oale  o'  wigs  on  the  moor." 

— Dean  Ramsay's  Reminiscences. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  41; 


He  wales  a  portion  wi'  judicious  care, 

And  let  us  worship  God,  he  says,  wi'  solemn  air. 

— Burns  :  Cotter's  Saturday  Night. 

Wallageous.  This  obsolete  word  is  used  by  the 
ancient  Scottish  poet,  Barbour,  in  the  sense  of  sportive, 
wanton,  lustful.  It  is  evidently  a  corruption  of  the 
Gaelic  uallach,  which  has  the  same  meaning ;  uallachds, 
cheerfulness,  gaiety,  frolicsomeness,  conceitedness,  wan- 
tonness ;  uallachag,  a  coquette. 

Wallie,  a  toy  ;  a  bonnie  wallie,  a  pretty  toy  ;  from 
wale,  choice ;  derived  from  the  Teutonic  wahlen,  to 
choose. 

Walloch-goul,  an  abusive  epithet  applied  to  a  wanton  or 
arrogant  blusterer,  from  the  Gaelic  uallach,  conceit,  and 
guil,  to  say  out.      (See  Yowl.) 

Wallop,  to  dangle,  to  hang,  to  sway  about  with  quick 
motion,  to  swing  : — 

Now  let  us  lay  our  heads  thegither, 

In  love  fraternal  ; 
May  Envy  wallop  in  a  tether, 

Black  fiend,  infernal  ! 

— Burns  :  To  Lapraik. 

Waly!  Waly!  an  interjection  of  sorrow  ;  alas!  or,  woe 
is  me!  Possibly  derived  from  wail,  to  lament,  or  wail 
ye  !  lament  ye  : — 

Oh  waly!  waly  I  but  love  is  bonnie, 
A  little  time  while  it  is  new  ; 


414  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


But  when  it's  auld  it  waxes  cauld, 
And  fades  awa  like  morning  dew. 

— Ballad  of  the  Marchioness  of  Douglas. 

Waine,  the  belly ;  also  the  English  word  womb,  which 
is  from  the  same  etymological  root.  The  Scottish  de- 
rivatives of  wame  are  numerous ;  among  others,  wamie, 
having  much  wavie,  i.e.,  corpulent;  wainieness,  corpu- 
lency; wamyt,  pregnant;  wame-totv,  a  belly-band,  or 
girth — from  zvanie,  the  belly ;  and  tow  (the  Gaelic  taod)^ 
2l  rope,  a  band ;  wamefu\  a  bellyful : — 

I  never  liked  water  in  my  shoon ;  and  my  wanie's  made  o'  better 
leather. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Wae  to  the  wame  that  has  a  wilful^master. 

— Idem. 

Food  fills  the  wame,  and  keeps  us  livin', 
Though  life's  a  gift  no  worth  receivin', 
When  heavy  dragged  wi'  pine  and  grievin'. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

A  wamefti"  is  a  wamefu\  whether  it  be  of  barley-meal  or  bran. 

— Scott  :  St.  Ronan^s  Well. 


Wame  has  disappeared  from  English  literature,  but  still 
survives  in  the  current  speech  of  the  northern  counties. 
Womb,  in  English,  was  formerly  applied  to  the  male  sex^ 
in  the  sense  of  the  Scottish  luame,  or  belly,  as  appears 
from  Piers  Ploughman,  anterior  to  Chaucer  : — 

Paul,  after  his  preaching 
Panicrs  he  nyide, 
And  wan  with  his  handcs 
What  his  uombe  needed. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  415 

(Gained  with  his  hands,  what  his  belly  needed).  In 
recent  times  the  word  is  restricted  in  its  meaning  to  the 
female  sex,  though  used  metaphorically  and  poetical  in 
such  phrases  as  the  "  womb  of  Time  " : — 

The  earth  was  formed,  but  in  the  zvomb  as  yet 
Of  waters,  embryon  immature. 

— Paradise  Lost. 

Caves  and  womby  vaultages  of  France 
Shall  chide  your  trespass. 

— Shakspeare  :  Henry  V. 

Among  the  three  interpretations  of  the  word,  as  given 
by  Johnson,  the  last  is  *'a  cavity."  The  only  traces  of 
anything  like  wame,  or  womb,  that  appears  in  any  of  the 
Teutonic  languages,  or  in  high  or  low  Dutch,  is  the 
Swedish  warn,  signifying  tripe.  Though  Johnson  derives 
wojnb  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  from  Icelandic,  it  may 
be  suggested  that  the  more  ancient  Celtic  and  Gaelic 
provides  the  true  root  of  both  wame  and  wo7nb  in  uaimh 
and  uamh,  a  cavity,  a  cave,  a  hollow  place.  The  Shaks- 
pearean  adjective  womby  finds  its  synonym  in  the  Gaelic 
uamhach,  abounding  in  cavities  or  hollows. 

Wan,  pale  green,  as  applied  to  the  colour  of  a  river 
in  certain  states  of  the  water  and  the  atmosphere. 
Many  Philologists  have  been  of  opinion  that  "  wan,"  both 
in  English  and  Scotch,  always  signifies  pale.  Jamieson, 
however,  thought  differently,  and  translated  wan  as 
"  black,  gloomy,  dark-coloured,  or  rather  filthy,"  not  re- 
flecting, however,  that  these  epithets,  especially  the  last, 
were  hardly  consistent  with  the  spirit  or  dignity  of  tlie 
tender  or  tragical  ballads  in  which  "  wan "  occurred. 


41 6  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

The  etymology  of  the  English  "wan"  has  been  traced 
to  700716,  to  decrease  in  health  and  strength,  as  well 
as  in  size,  whence  "wan,"  the  pallor  of  countenance 
that  attends  failing  health.  That  of  the  Scottish  ivan, 
as  applied  to  the  colour  of  the  streams,  was  for  the 
first  time  suggested  in  "The  Gaelic  Etymology  ot 
the  Languages  of  Western  Europe."  It  is  from  the 
Gaelic  waiiic^  a  pale  blue,  inclining  to  green.  This 
is  the  usual  colour  of  the  beautiful  streams  of  the  High- 
lands, when  not  rendered  "  drumlie  "  or  muddy  by  the 
storms  that  wash  down  sand  and  earth  from  the  banks  : 

Oh  they  racle  on,  and  on  they  rade, 

And  a'  by  the  light  o'  the  moon, 
Until  they  came  to  the  wan.  water. 

And  then  they  lighted  down. 

— The  Douglas  Tragedy. 

Deep  into  the  ivan  tvater 
There  stands  a  muckle  stane. 

— Earl  Richard. 

The  ane  has  ta'en  him  by  the  head, 

The  ither  by  the  feet, 
And  thrown  him  in  the  wan  water 

That  ran  baith  wide  and  deep. 

Lord  William. 

There's  no  a  bird  in  a'  this  forest 

Will  do  as  muckle  for  me 
As  dip  its  wing  in  the  wan  water. 

And  straik  it  ower  my  e'e  bree. 

—Johnnie  o'  Bradislee. 

In  English,  wati  is  never  used  as  an  epithet  except 
when  applied  to  the  countenance,  as  in  such  phrases — 
"  His  face  was  pale  and  wan"  and  occasionally  by  poetic 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  4I7 

license,  to  the  face  of  the  moon,  as  in  the  beautiful  son- 
net of  Sir  Philip  Sidney  : — 

With  how  sad  steps,  oh  moon  !  thou  climbst  the  sky, 
How  silently,  and  with  how  wan  a  face. 

Wanchancie^  unlucky  : — 

Wae  worth  the  man  wha  first  did  shape 
That  vile  wanchancie  thing — a  rape. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Maine's  Elegy. 

Wandoiight,  weak,  deficient  in  power  \  from  do7v,  to  be 
able ;  doughty^  brave ;  and  waji^  or  un,  the  privative  par- 
ticle.     Wandocht,  a  weak,  silly  creature  : — 

By  this  time  Lindy  is  right  well  shot  out 
'Twixt  nine  and  ten,  I  think,  or  thereabout, 
Nae  bursen-bailch,  nae  wandought  or  misgrown. 
But  plump  and  swack,  and  like  an  apple  roun'. 

— Ross's  Helena  re. 

Wanhope,  despair.  Jamieson  incorrectly  renders  it 
"  delusive  hope."  This  is  an  old  English  word,  which  is 
nearly  obsolete,  but  still  survives  in  Scotland : — 

I  sterve  in  wanhope  and  distresse, — 
Farewell,  my  life,  my  lust  and  my  gladnesse. 

— Chaucer  :  The  Knighfs  Tale. 

Good  Hope  that  helpe  shulde 
To  wanhope  turneth. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

Some  philologists,  misled  by  the  prefix  wan,  have  ima- 
gined that  the  word  was  synonymous  with  wane,  and 
have    interpreted   wanJiope  as  the    "  waning   of  hope." 

c  2 


4l8  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

But  wan  is  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  negative  prefix, 
equivalent  to  the  English  and  German  un.  Among 
other  beautiful  Scottish  words  which  follow  the  Flemish 
in  the  use  of  the  negative  prefix,  are  wanearthlie,  preter- 
natural or  unearthly;  wanfortune,  ill-luck;  wangrace, 
wickedness,  ungraciousness ;  tuanrest,  inquietude ;  wan- 
tuorth,  useless,  valueless ;  wanihriff,  prodigality,  extrava- 
gance; wan-use,  abuse;  wanwtf,ox  wanwith,  ignorance  : 

An'  may  they  never  learn  the  gaets  (ways) 
Of  ilher  vile  wanrestful  pets. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Mailie, 


Wap,  in  England  written  zvad,  a  bundle  of  straw,  a 
wisp,  used  in  the  Scottish  sense  in  the  north  of  England ; 
from  the  Flemish  hoop,  a  bundle,  a  pile  of  hay  or  straw. 
To  be  in  the  "  wap  "  or  "  wad,"  to  lie  in  the  straw  : — 

Moll  i'  the  imp  and  I  fell  out, 
I'll  tell  ye  what  'twas  a'  about, — 
She  had  siller  and  I  had  nane, 
That  was  the  gait  the  steer  began. 

— Gipsy  Song. 


Ware,  to  spend,  to  guide,  to  control  or  guide  one's 
expense  discreetly  : — 

My  heart's  blood  for  her  I  would  freely  ware, 
Sae  be  I  could  relieve  her  of  her  care. 

— Ross's  Helenore, 

But  aiblins,  honest  Master  Heron 
Had  at  the  time  some  dainty  fair  one, 
To  iva7e  his  Ihcologic  care  on. 

— Burns  :   To  Dr.  Blcuklock. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  419 

This  word  is  most  probably  a  corruption  of  the  Teutonic 
fiihfen,  the  Flemish  voeren,  to  lead  or  guide. 

Ill-won  gear  is  aye  ill  soared. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs, 

[Ill-acquired  money  is  always  ill  guided  or  spent.] 

The  best  o'  chiels  are  whyles  in  want 
While  cuifs  on  countless  thousands  rant, 
And  ken  na  how  to  luare't. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Davie. 

Warklume,  a  tool,  a  working  tool.  The  second  syl- 
lable of  this  word  remains  in  the  English  loom,  part  of 
the  working  apparatus  of  the  weaver.  In  Scotland,  lume 
signifies  any  kind  of  tool  or  implement  with  which  work 
can  be  done.  Burns  uses  it  in  a  very  ludicrous  sense  in 
the  "  Address  to  the  Deil "  : — 

Thence  mystic  knots  mak  great  abuse 

On  ycung  gudemen  fond,  keen,  and  crouse, 

When  the  best  warklume  i'  the  house 

By  cantrip  wit, 
Is  instant  made  na  worth  a  louse 

Just  at  the  bit. 

This  peculiar  superstition  prevails  among  all  the  Celtic 
peoples  of  Europe,  and  is  thought  to  be  the  favourite  and 
most  malignant  diversion  of  the  Devil  and  his  instruments, 
the  wizards  and  witches,  to  prevent  the  consummation  of 
marriage  on  the  bridal  night.  A  full  account  of  the 
alleged  practices  of  several  sorcerers  who  were  burnt  at 
the  stake  in  France  in  the  middle  ages,  for  their  supposed 
complicity  in  this  crime,  appears  in  the  "  History  of 
Magic  in  France,  by  Jules  Garinet,  Paris,  1818.''     The 


420  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

name  given  in  France  to  the  "  cantrip "  mentioned  by 
Burns,  was  Jioiier  raiguillette,  or,  tie  the  knot.  One 
unhappy  Vidal  de  la  Porte,  accused  of  being  a  noueur 
d' aiguilldte  by  repute  and  wont,  was  in  the  year  1597 
sentenced  to  be  hung  and  burned  to  ashes,  for  having 
bewitched  in  this  fashion  several  young  bridegrooms. 
The  sentence  was  duly  executed  amid  the  applause  and 
execrations  of  the  whole  community. 


World's  gear,  worldly  wealth ;  a  word  used  for  any 
valuable  article  of  whatever  kind,  as  in  the  phrases — "  I 
have  nae  luarWs  gear"  I  have  no  property  whatever; 
"  There's  nae  warld's  gear  in  the  glass  but  cauld  water," 
nothing  more  costly  than  cold  water  : — 


But  warlcts  gear  ne'er  fashes  me,- 
My  thocht  is  a'  my  Nannie,  O. 


— Burns. 


Warklike,  IVarkrife,  industrious,  fond  of  work. 

Warlock,  a  wizard.  The  Scottish  word,  though  ad- 
mitted into  the  Enghsh  dictionaries,  is  not  common  either 
in  EngUsh  conversation  or  literature  : — 

She  prophesied  that  late  or  soon 

Thou  would  be  found  deep  drowned  in  Doon, 

Or  catch'd  by  luarlocks  in  the  mirk, 

By  AUoway's  auld  hunted  kirk. 

— Burns  :  Tarn  0'  Shanter, 

In  the  ancient  time  of  Druidism,  a  wizard,  an  augur, 
a  prophet,  or  fortune-teller,  was  called  a  Druid,  a  name 
that  is  still  retained  in  modern  Gaelic.     The  Lowland 


OF    THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  42 1 

Scotch  warlock  is  derived,  according  to  Jamieson,  from 
the  Icelandic  vardlok?;  a  magic  song  or  incantation  for 
calling  up  evil  spirits.  Mr.  Stormonth  in  his  Etymologi- 
cal Dictionary,  refers  the  word  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  waer, 
wary,  and  loga,  a  liar.  It  is  more  probable,  however,  that 
the  word  had  not  this  uncomplimentary  meaning  ;  and 
that  as  wizard  is  derived  from  the  German  weise  or  wise, 
warlock  has  its  root  in  a  similar  idea,  and  may  come 
from  the  Gaelic  geur,  sharp,  acute,  cunning ;  and  luchd, 
folk.  It  was  not  customary  in  the  days  when  witches  and 
fairies  were  commonly  believed  in,  to  speak  disrespect- 
fully of  them.  The  fairies  were  "  the  good  folk,"  the 
wizard  was  "  the  wise  man,"  and  the  witch,\in  Irish  par- 
lance, was  the  Banshee  (Bean-sith),  or  woman  of  peace ; 
and  warlock,  in  like  manner,  was  an  epithet  implying  the 
sagacity  rather  than  the  wickedness  of  the  folk  so  desig- 
nated. The  change  of  the  syllable  geur  into  war  is  easily 
accounted  for.  The  French  guerre  becomes  war  in 
Enghsh  by  the  change — not  uncommon — of  g  into  w,  as 
in  wasp,  from  the  French  giiespe  or  gu^pe.  Another  pos- 
sible derivation  is  suggested  in  the  "Gaelic  Etymology  of 
the  Languages  of  Western  Europe,"  from  barr,  head,  top, 
chief;  and  loguid,  a  rascal ;  but  the  first  is  preferable. 


Warple,  to  entangle,  to  intertwine  wrongly.  From  the 
English  warp,  to  twist  or  turn  aside,  as  in  the  phrase, 
*'  His  judgment  is  warped^  The  root  of  both  the  Scot- 
tish and  English  is  the  Flemish  werwele,  to  turn,  or  turn 
aside  : — 


That  yarn's  sae  warplit  that  I  canna  get  it  redd. 

— Jamieson, 


422  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Warsk,  to  tumble  violently  after  a  struggle  to  keep 
the  feet,  to  wrestle  : — 

Upon  her  cloot  (hoof)  she  coost  (cast)  a  hitch 
And  ower  she  ivarskd  in  the  ditch. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Mailie. 

Warsle,  simply  to  wrestle — to  struggle.  Poor  maillie  from  her 
wrestling  or  struggling  to  get  the  wanchancy  rape  aff  her  cloot 
rolled  into  the  dyke-sheugh  or  ditch.— R.  D. 

Wast,  west ;  often  used  in  the  North-east  of  Scotland 
for  beyond,  further  off : — 

Sir  Robert  Liston,  British  Ambassador  at  Constantinople,  found 
two  of  his  countrymen  who  had  been  especially  recommended  to 
him  in  a  barber's  shop,  waiting  to  be  shaved  in  turn.  One  of  them 
came  in  rather  late,  and  seeing  he  had  scarcely  room  at  the  end  of 
the  seat,  addressed  the  other — "Neebour,  wad  ye  sit  a  wee  bit 
wast  ?  "  What  associations  must  have  been  called  up  in  his  mind 
by  hearing,  in  a  distant  land,  such  an  expression  in  Scottish  tones  ! 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Wat,  to  know,  to  wit.  Obsolete  English  wot ;  Dutch 
and  Flemish  weten,      Watna,  wits  not,  knows  not : — 

Little  'wats  the  ill-willy  wife  what  a  dinner  may  baud  in't. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Sio/s  Proverbs. 

Dame  !  deem  warily  ;  ye  watna  wha  wytes  yoursel. 

— Idem. 

Mickle  water  runs  by  that  the  miller  xvah  na  of. 

— Idem. 

Wath,  a  ford ;  a  shallow  part  of  the  river  that  may  be 
waded  across.     Either  from  the  IHemish  waad,  or  the 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  423 


Gaelic  ath,  a  ford.  ^zoiSx^-wath  is  the  name  given  to 
the  upper  part  of  the  Solway  firth,  where,  in  certain 
states  of  the  tide,  people  from  the  English  side  can  wade 
across  to  Scotland. 


Waiter^  Water.  The  word  is  used  in  Scotland  in  the 
sense  of  a  stream,  a  brook,  a  river;  as  in  the  English 
phrase,  the  "  water  of  Leith,"  and  the  Glasgow  phrase, 
"  Down  the  water,"  signifying  down  the  Clyde.  It  is 
recorded  of  the  noted  Edinburgh  advocate,  John  Clerk, 
afterwards  Lord  Eldin,  that,  in  arguing  a  case  of  water 
privilege  before  Lord  Chancellor  Eldon,  he  annoyed  his 
lordship  by  constantly  repeating  the  word  waiter.,  with  a 
strong  Scottish  accent.  "  Mr.  Clerk,"  enquired  his  lord- 
ship, "is  it  the  custom  in  your  country  to  spell  water 
with  two  fs  ?  "  "  No,  my  lord,"  replied  Clerk  ;  "  but  it's 
the  fashion  in  7ny  country  to  spell  manners  wi'  twa  n's." 


Wattie-Wagtail.  From  Walter  Wagtail,  a  name 
given  to  the  beautiful  little  bird, — the  hoche-quetie  of  the 
French ;  the  motacilla  yarrellie  of  the  naturalists.  The 
English  have  corrupted  the  word,  not  knowing  its 
Scottish  origin,  into  "  water-wagtail."  Walter.,  or  Wattle., 
is  a  fond  alliteration  formed  on  the  same  principle  as  that 
of  Robin  Redbreast.  Water-wa.gt3.i\  is  an  appelation 
given  by  the  English  to  the  pretty  little  creature, 
founded  on  the  erroneous  notion  that  it  is  an  aquatic 
bird,  or  that  it  frequents  the  water  more  than  it  does  the 
land.  It  comes  with  the  flies  and  departs  with  the  flies, 
which  are  its  only  food,  and,  unlike  many  other  attrac- 
tive birds,  does  no  harm  to  fruit,  blossoms,  seeds,  or  any 


424  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 

kind  of  vegetation.      In  some  parts  of  Scotland  it  is 
called  "  Wullie,"  or  "  Willie  wagtail." 

Wauchle,  to  weary ;  also,  to  puzzle,  to  sway  from  side 
to  side;  English,  io  waggle;  Flemish  waggelen,  to  vacil- 
late, to  stagger : — 

The  road  wauchlit  him  sair,  (made  him  stagger  with  fatigue. ) 

— ^Jamieson. 

That  question  ivauchlit  him,  (staggered  him.) 

— Idem. 


Waught,  a  large  deep  draught  of  liquor.  The  etymo- 
logy is  uncertain.  In  most  of  the  Glossaries  to  Burns' 
Poems  the  word  is  erroneously  joined  with  "  willy,"  and 
converted  into  "  willy-waught,"  and  described  as  mean- 
ing "  a  hearty  draught."  The  line  in  "  Auld  Lang  Syne,'' 
usually  printed 

We'll  drink  a  right  gude  \i\[Yj-watight — 

should  be 

We'll  drink  a  right  gude-willie  wazight; 

— i.e.^  we'll  drink  with  right  good  will  a  deep  or  hearty 
waught  or  draught. 

Dean  Ramsay,  whose  undoubted  knowledge  and 
appreciation  of  the  Scottish  vernacular  should  have 
taught  him  better,  has  fallen  into  the  mistake  of  quoting 
7villic  waught  as  one  word  in  the  following  lines  : — 

Gude  e'en  to  you  a',  and  tak  your  nappy, 
A  "  'djillywaught"  a  gude  night  cappy. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  425 

The  word  is  introduced  with  fine  effect  in  a  transla- 
tion from  the  Gaelic,  by  the  Ettrick  Shepherd,  of  the 
Jacobite  Ballad,  "  The  Frasers  in  the  Correi "  : — 

Spier  na  at  me ! 
Gae  spier  at  the  maiden  that  sits  by  the  sea, 
The  red  coats  were  here,  and  it  was  na  for  good, 
And  the  ravens  are  hoarse  in  "  the  waughting'"  o'  blood. 

And  meantime  gie's  a  waught  o'  caller  whey, 
The  day's  been  hot,  and  we  are  wondrous  dry. 

— Ross's  Helenore, 

I'm  sure  'twill  do  us  meikle  guid,  a  zuaucht  o'  caller  air, 
A  caller  douk,  a  caller  breeze,  and  caller  fish  and  fare. 

—  Whistle  Binkie.     Doun  the  Water. 

Wauk,  to  render  the  palm  of  the  hand  hard,  callous, 
or  horny,  by  severe  toil : — 

I  held  on  high  my  watikit  loof, 
To  swear  by  a'  yon  starry  roof, 
That  henceforth  I  wad  be  rhyme  proof. 
Till  my  last  breath. 

— Burns  :  The  Vision. 


Waukrife,  watchful,  wakeful,  unable  to  sleep ;  the  suf- 
fix rife,  as  in  cauldr/J^,  very  cold,  is  used  as  an  intensitive, 
so  that  waukrife  signifies  not  only  unable  to  sleep,  but 
unable  in  an  intense  degree  : — 

What  time  the  moon  in  silent  glower. 

Sets  up  her  horn 
Wail  through  the  dreary  midnight  hour, 

Till  wauh-ife  morn. 
— Burns  :  Elegy  on  Captain  Matthew  Henderson. 


426  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


'Tis  hopeless  love  an  dark  despair, 

Cast  by  the  glamour  0'  thine  e'e, 
That  clouds  my  luaukrifc  dreams  wi'  care, 

An'  maks  the  daylight  dark  to  me. 

— ^James  Ballantine. 


Waullies  or  7vaidies.  Jamieson  defines  Wallies  as 
meaning  the  intestines.  The  word  is  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  7valy  or  7valie,  choice,  large,  ample,  as 
Burns  uses  it : — 

But  mark  the  rustic  haggis-fed, 
The  trembling  earth  resounds  his  tread  ; 
Clap  in  his  walie  nieve  a  blade, 
He'll  mak  it  whistle. 

To  a  Hassris. 


'*.ii>  ' 


In  Jacob  and  Rachel,  a  song  attributed  to  Burns,  pub- 
lished in  an  anonymous  London  edition  of  his  songs, 
dated  1825,  the  word  occurs  in  the  following  stanza  : — 

Then  Rachel,  calm  as  ony  lamb, 

She  claps  him  on  the  "waulies, 
Quo'  she,  "ne'er  fash  a  woman's  clash," 

In  troth  ye  kiss  me  brawlies. 

In  this  song,  omitted  on  account  of  its  grossness  from 
nearly  all  editions  of  his  works,  the  word  is  not  suscep- 
tible of  the  meaning  attributed  to  it  by  Jamieson,  nor  of 
that  in  the  poem  in  praise  of  "  The  Haggis."  Jamieson 
has  the  obsolete  word  wally^  a  billow,  a  wave,  which 
affords  a  clue  to  its  derivation.  The  name  of  waiilie  was 
given  to  the  hips  or  posteriors  on  account  of  their  round 
and  wavy  form,  as  appears  from  the  synonymous  words 
in  Gaelic — tonn^  a  wave,  and  ton^  the  breech.  The  idea 
is  involved  in  the  words — now  seldom  used — which  are 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  427 

cited  by  Jamieson,  walHe-drag,  and  7vallie-draggle,  signi- 
fying a  woman  who  is  corpulent  and  heavy  behind,  and 
makes  but  slow  progress  in  walking.  The  connection 
with  walltes,  intestines,  as  rendered  by  Jamieson,  is  ex- 
ceedingly remote. 

Waur,  worse.  To  7vmir,  to  conquer,  to  give  an 
enemy  the  worst  of  the  conflict ;  from  7vofst,  to  put  a 
person  in  the  wrong,  or  in  a  worse  position  : — 

Up  and  coaur  them  a',  Willie. 

—Jacobite  Ballad, 

An  advocate  was  complaining  to  his  friend,  an  eminent  legal 
functionary  of  the  last  century,  that  his  claims  to  a  judgeship  had 
been  overlooked,  added  acrimoniously,  "and  I  can  tell  you  they 
might  have  got  a  zuaiir,"  to  which  the  only  answer  was  a  grave 
"  whaur?  " 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Want  o'  wit  is  waur  that  want  o'  wealth. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Sax  thousand  years  are  near  hand  fled, 

Sin  I  was  to  the  butcherin'  bred, 

And  mony  a  scheme  in  vain's  been  laid 

To  stop  or  scaur  me. 
Till  ane  Hornbook's  ta'en  up  the  trade, 

An  faith  he'll  waur  me. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

Wax,  to  grow,  or  increase ;  the  reverse  of  ^cane,  to 
decrease.  Wax  is  almost  obsolete ;  but  wane  survives 
both  in  Scotland  and  England,  as  in  the  phrases  :  "  the 
wani?tg  moon,"  "  the  waning  year,  "  his  wa?iing  fortunes." 
Wax  remains  as  a  Biblical  word,  in  the  noble  translations 
of  the  Old  Testament  by  Wickliffe  and  the  learned  divines 


428  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

of  the  reign  of  James  I.,  which  has  preserved  to  this  age, 
so  many  emphatic  words  of  ancient  English,  which  might 
otherwise  have  perished.  It  is  derived  from  the  German 
7vachsen  ;  the  Flemish  wasscfi,  to  grow  : — 


The  man  wox  well  nigh  wud  for^ire. 


-Chaucer. 


And  changing  empires  wane  and  wax. 
Are  founded,  flourish  and  decay. 

— Sir  Walter  Scolt  :   Translation  of  Dies  L-ae. 


Wean,  a  little  child ;  a  weanie,  a  very  little  child — 
from  "wee  ane,"  little  one. — Not  yet  admitted  to  the 
Dictionaries,  though  becoming  common  in  English 
parlance. 

A  smytrie  o'  wee  duddie  laeans 
(a  lot  of  little  ragged  children). 

— Burns  :   T/ie  Twa  Dogs. 

When  skirlin'  weanies  see  the  light. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 


Wearifi-awa\     Decaying  gradually. 

I'm  -Mcaritt'  a7iia'  Jean, 

Like  siiaw  when  its  thaw  Jean, 

I'm  TiVfT;-/;/'  awa' 

To  the  Land  o'  the  Leal. 


— Lady  Nairne. 


Hope's  star  will  rise  when 

Life's  welkin  gloams  grey, 
We  feel  that  within  us  which  ne'er  can  decay, 

And  Death  brings  us  Life  as  the 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  429 


Night  brings  the  Daw'  [dawn], 
Though  we're  weariri  awa\  we're  weariii'  awa\ 

— ^James  Ballantine. 


Weatherie.  Stormy  or  showery  weather,  a  word  formed 
on  the  same  principle  as  the  Teutonic  ungeivitter,  very 
bad  weather. 


Wee,  little,  diminutive,  very  little,  generally  supposed 
to  be  derived  from  the  first  syllable  of  the  Teutonic 
wenig. — This  word  occurs  in  Shakespeare,  and  is  com- 
mon in  colloquial  and  familiar  English,  though  not  in 
literary  composition.  It  is  often  used  as  an  intensification 
of  littleness,  as  "  a  little  wee  child,"  "  a  little  laee  bit "  : — 

A  wee  house  well  filled, 
A  wee  farm  well  tilled, 
A  wee  wife  well  will'd, 
Mak'  a  happy  man. 

A  wee  mouse  can  creep  under  a  great  haystack. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 


Weed,  or  Weeds,  dress,  attire,  clothing.  The  only 
remnant  of  this  word  remaining  in  modern  English,  is 
the  phrase,  a  "widow's  weeds"  the  funeral  attire  of  a 
recently  bereaved  widow  : — 

They  saw  their  bodies  bare 
Anon  they  pass'd  with  all  their  speed, 
Of  beaver  to  mak  themselves  a  weed, 

To  cleith  (clothe)  them  was  their  care. 
—  On  the  Creation  and  Paradyce  Lost,  by  Sir  Richard 

Maitland  in  Allan  Ramsay'' s  Evergreen, 


430  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Weed  is  in  many  Etymological  Dictionaries  said  to  be 
derived  from  weave,  the  Teutonic  weben.  Possibly  it 
comes  from  the  Gaelic  euide  or  eadadh,  a  dress  or  gar- 
ment, also  the  armour  of  a  knight.  The  author  of  the 
Scottish  Poem  of  "  Paradyce  Lost,"  which  appears  in  the 
Evergreen,  was  born  in  1496,  and  died  in  1586,  at  the 
advanced  age  of  90,  and  was  consequently  long  anterior 
to  Milton,  who  afterwards  adopted  the  same  title,  and 
rendered  it  as  enduring  as  the  English  language. 

Weeder  clips.     Shears  for  clipping  weeds. 

The  rough  burr  thistle  spreading  wide 

Among  the  bearded  bear, 
I  turned  the  weeder-cHps  aside 

And  spared  the  symbol  dear. 

— Burns. 

The  patriotic  poet  turned  the  clips  aside  in  order  that 
he  might  not  cut  down  a  thistle,  the  floral  badge  of  his 
country. 

Weil  or  Wele.     An  eddy  in  the  water ;  a  whirl-pool. 

Weil-head.  The  centre  of  an  eddy.  These  words 
appear  to  be  a  corruption  of  ivheel  or  7C'hirl,  having  a 
circular  motion  and  to  have  no  connection  with  loell, 
a  spring  of  water. 

They  doukit  in  at  a  wcil-head. 

— Earl  Richard  :  Border  Minstrelsy, 

Weeks  or  Weiks  of  the  eye  or  mouth  signify,  according 
to  Jamieson,  the  corners  of  the  mouth  or  eyes.    To  hang 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  43 1 

by  the  weeks  of  his  mouth,  is  to  keep  hold  of  a  thing  or 
purpose  to  the  utmost,  to  the  last  gasp  ;  an  exaggerated 
phrase  similar  to  that  in  Holy  writ,  "  to  escape  by  the 
skin  of  the  teeth."  Week  or  lueik  is  a  corruption  of  the 
Gaelic  uig^  a  corner. 


Weh\  war;  wierman,  a  soldier,  a  man  of  war,  a 
combatant;  rczVr///'^,  warlike ;  Ti'^/r/^/Z/y,  quarrels;  ivedded 
weirigills,  or  disputes  between  husband  and  wife;  from 
the  French  guerre,  the  Italian  guerra,  with  the  change  of 
the  gii  into  w.  The  primary  root  seems  to  be  the 
Flemish  iveeren^  to  defend ;  the  English  be  ware  !  i.e.,  be 
ready  to  defend  yourself; — a  noble  origin  for  resistance 
to  oppressive  and  defensive  war;  that  does  not  apply  to 
offensive  war — the  "bella  horrida  bella,"  of  the  Latin,  and 
the  Krieg  of  the  Teutonic,  which  signify  war  generally, 
whether  offensive  or  defensive ; — the  first  a  crime,  the 
second  a  virtue. 


Weir  or  Wear.  To  guard,  to  watch  over,  to  protect,  to 
gather  in  with  caution,  as  a  shepherd  conducts  his  flock 
to  the  fold  : — 

Erlinton  had  a  fair  daughter, 

I  wat  he  'cviered  her  in  a  great  sin, 

And  he  has  built  a  high  bower 
And  a'  to  put  that  lady  in. 

— Ballad  of  Erlinton. 

Motherwell  translates  ^'■wiered  her  in  a  great  sin," 
placed  her  in  danger  of  committing  a  great  sin,  which  is 
clearly  not  the  meaning.  But  the  whole  ballad  is 
hopelessly  corrupt  in  his  version. 


432  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Weird,  or  Wierd.  Most  English  dictionaries  misdefine 
this  word,  which  has  two  different  significations  :  one  as 
a  noun,  the  other  as  an  adjective.  In  English  literature, 
from  Shakspeare's  time  downwards,  it  exists  as  an  adjec- 
tive only,  and  is  held  to  mean  unearthly,  ghastly,  or 
witch-like.  Before  Shakspeare's  time,  and  in  Scottish 
poetry  and  parlance  to  the  present  day,  the  word  is  a 
noun,  and  signifies  "fate"  or  "destiny" — derived  from 
the  Teutonic  werden,  to  become,  or  that  which  shall  be. 
Chaucer,  in  "  Troilus  and  Cressida,"  has  the  line — 

O  Fortune  !  executrice  of  wierdes  ! 

and  Gower,  in  a  manuscript  in  the  possession  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries,  says  : — 

It  were  a  wondrous  wierde 
To  see  a  king  become  a  herde. 

In  this  sense  the  word  continues  to  be  used  in  Scotland  : 

A  man   may  woo  where  he  will,  but  he  maun  wed  where  his 
wierd  is. 

She  is  a  wise  wife  that  kens  her  ain  wierd. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scotch  Proverbs. 

Betide  me  weel,  betide  me  woe, 
That  wierd  shall  never  danton  me. 

— Ballad  of  True  Thomas. 

The  wierd  her  dearest  bairn  befel 
By  the  bonnie  mill-dams  o'  Binnorie. 

— Scott's  Minstrelsy  of  the  Border. 

Shakspeare  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  employ  the 
word  as  an  adjective,  and  to  have  given  it  the  meaning 
of  unearthly,  though  pertaining  to  the  idea  of  the  Fates  : 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  433 


The  wierd  sisters,  hand  in  hand, 
Posters  of  the  sea  and  land. 

— Macbeth. 

Thane  of  Cawdor  !  by  which  title  these  wierd  sisters  saluted  me. 

— Idem. 

When  we  sat  by  her  flickering  fire  at  night  she  was  most  wierd. 
— Charles  Dickens  :  Great  Expectations. 

No  spot  more  fit  than  wierd,  lawless  Winchelsea,  for  a  plot  such 
as  he  had  conceived. 

— All  the  Year  Round,  April  2,  1870. 

It  opened  its  great  aisles  to  him,  full  of  whispering  stillness  ;  full 
of  wierd  effects  of  light. 

— BlackwoocCs  Magazine,  April,  1870. 

Jasper  surveyed  his  companion  as  though  he  were  getting  imbued 
with  a  romantic  interest  in  his  weird  life. 

— Charles  Dickens  :   The  Mystery  of  Edwin  Drood. 

She  turned  to  make  her  way  from  the  wierd  spot  as  fast  as  her 
.eeble  limbs  would  let  [permit]  her. 

—  The  Dream  Numbers,  by  T.  A.  Trollope. 


Weise.  To  direct,  to  guide,  to  draw  or  lead  on  in  the 
way  desired.  This  word  is  akin  to  the  English  tvise. 
A  way  or  manner,  as  in  the  phrase,  "  do  in  that  wise,^' 
and  in  the  word  likewise,  in  little  manner,  and  is  derived 
from  the  French  viser,  and  the  Dutch  and  Flemish 
ivijzen  or  wyzen,  to  indicate,  to  show  or  point  the  way : 

Every  miller  wad  iveise  the  water  to  his  ain  mill. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Weise  also  signifies  to  use  policy  for  attaining  any  object ;  to 
turn  to  art  rather  than  by  strength,  to  draw  or  let  out  any  thing 

D  2 


434 


POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


cautiously  so  as  to  prevent  it    rom  breaking,  as  in  making  a  rope 
of  tow  or  straw  one  is  said  to  weise  out  the  tow  or  straw. 

— ^Jamieson. 

The  wean  saw  something  like  a  white  leddy  that  weised  by  the 

gate. 

—Scott :  The  Monastery. 


IVem,  a  scar;  wemmit,  scarred;  wemless^  unscarred; 
and,  metaphorically,  blameless,  or  immaculate.  Probably 
from  the  Flemish  and  English  wen,  a  tumour  or  swelling 
on  the  skin. 

Wersh,  insipid,  tasteless ;  from  the  Gaelic  uir'ts  {uirish\ 
poor,  worthless,  trashy  : — 

A  kiss  and  a  drink  o'  water  are  but  a  wersh  disjune. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Why  do  ye  no  sup  your  parritch  ?     I  dinna  like  them  ;  they're 
unco  wersh.     Gie  me  a  wee  pickle  saut  ! 

Jamieson. 

That  auld  Duke  James  lost  his  heart  before  he  lost  his  head,  and 
the  Worcester  man  was  but  iversh  parritch,  neither  gude  to  fry,  boil, 

nor  keep  cauld. 

—Scott  :  Old  Mortality. 

The  word  was  English  in  the  seventeenth  century,  but  is 
now  obsolete,  except  in  some  of  the  Northern  Counties, 
where  it  survives,  according  to  Brocket's  Glossary,  in  the 
corrupted  form  of  welsh  : — 

llcr  pleasures  wersh,  and  her  amours  tasteless. 

— Translation  of  Montaigne,  i6fj. 

Helicon's  7versh  well. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  435 

JVef  one's  whistle.     Whistle  is  a  ludicrous  name  for  the 
throat — whence  to  "  wet  on<^s  whistle  "  signifies  to  mois 
ten  the  throat,  or  take  a  drink. 

But  till  we  meet  and  weet  our  whistle, 
Tak  this  excuse  for  nae  epistle. 

Burns  :  to  Hugh  Parker. 

Whalpii,  past  tense  of  the  obsolete  verb  to  whelpy  or 
bring  forth  whelps,  or  young  dogs.  Shakspeare  applies 
the  word  in  contempt  to  a  young  man  : — 

The  young  whelp  of  Talbot's  raging  brood. 

In  Dutch  and  Flemish,  ivelp  signifies  the  cub  of  the  lion 
or  the  bear,  but  in  Scotch  and  English  the  word,  though 
formerly  applied  to  the  progeny  of  the  wolf  and  the  fox, 
is  now  almost  exclusively  confined  to  that  of  the  dog. 
Dr.  Wagner,  in  his  glossary  to  the  German  editions  of 
Burns,  conjectures  that  the  word  is  derivable  from  the 
Latin  vulpes  : — 

His  hair,  his  size,  his  mouth,  his  lugs, 
Showed  he  was  nane  o'  Scotland's  dogs, 
But  whalpit  some  place  far  abroad, 
Where  sailors  gang  to  fish  for  cod. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Whang.  A  large  slice  ;  also  a  thong  of  leather,  and  by 
extension  of  meaning,  to  beat  with  a  strap,  or  thong,  or 
to  beat  generally : — 

Wi'  sweet  milk  cheese  i'  mony  a  whang. 
And  farlies  baked  wi'  butter. 

— Burns  :  Holy  Fair. 


436  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


Ye  cut  large  whangs  out  of  other  folk's  leather. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

WJiang,  in  the  sense  of  to  beat  with  a  strap,  is  local  in 
England,  but  in  the  sense  of  a  large  slice,  or  anything 
large,  it  is  peculiar  to  Scotland  ;  and  in  one  odd  phrase, 
that  of  slatig  whanger,  to  the  United  States  of  America. 
According  to  Bartlett's  Dictionary  of  Americanisms  it 
signifies  political  vituperation,  largely  intermingled  with 
sla?ig  words.  It  appears,  however,  in  Hood's  "  Ode  to 
Rae  Wilson,"— 

No  part  I  tak  in  party  fray 
With  tropes  from  Billingsgate's  slang  whanging  tartars. 

to  which  Mr.  Bartlett  appends  the  note,  "  If  the 
word,  as  is  supposed,  be  of  American  origin,  it  has 
been  adopted  in  the  mother  country." 

This  day  the  Kirk  kicks  up  a  stour, 

Nae  mair  the  knaves  shall  wrang  her  ; 
For  Heresy  is  in  her  power, 

And  gloriously  she'll  'ii'kang  her 
\Vi'  pith  this  day. 

— Burns  :  The  Ordination. 

The  Glossaries  translate  whangs  by  beat,  belabour; 
but  it  is  probably  derived  from  the  Teutonic  wauke,  the 
Flemish  7varvelen,  to  shake,  to  totter,  to  stagger,  or 
cause  to  shake  and  stagger. 

Whang  is  a  thong  of  leather,  and  as  a  verb,  to  beat  with  thongs. 
— R.  D. 

What  ails  ye  at  ?     This  question  signifies  what  is  the 
matter  with  a  thing  named?     What  dislike  have  you  to 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  437 

it  ?  as  to  a  child  that  does  not  eat  its  breakfast,  "  IV/iaf 
ails  ye  at  your  parritch  1 

Lord  Rutherford  having  when  on  a  ramble  on  the  Pentland, 
complained  to  a  shepherd  of  the  mist,  which  prevented  him  from 
enjoying  the  scenery,  the  shepherd  a  tall  grim  figure  turned  sharply 
round  upon  him,  "  what  ails  ye  at  the  mist  sir  ?  it  weets  the  sod, 
slockens  the  yowes — and  adding  with  more  solemnity — it  is  God's 
wull." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

An  old  servant  who  took  charge  of  every  thing  in  the  family, 
having  observed  that  his  master  thought  that  he  had  drank  wine 
with  every  lady  at  the  table,  but  had  overlooked  one,  jogged  his 
memory  with  the  question,  What  ails  ye  at  her  with  the  green 
gown  ? 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Whaup,  a  curlew  : — 

The  wild  land-fowls  are  plovers,  pigeons,  curlews,  commonly 
called  whaups. 

— Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  article  Orkney, 

Wheen,  a  lot,  a  small  quantity  : — 

What  better  could  be  expected  o'  a  zvheen  pock-pudding  English 
folk?" 

—Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

A  young  girl,  (say  at  St.  Andrews),  sat  upon  the  cutty  stool  for 
breach  of  the  seventh  commandment,  which  applies  to  adultery  as 
well  as  to  the  minor,  but  still  heinous  offence  of  illicit  love,  was 
asked  who  was  the  father  of  her  child  ?  How  can  I  tell,  she 
replied  artlessly,  among  a  7uheen  0'  Divinity  students. 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

The  derivation  which  has  been  much  disputed  seems 
fairly  traceable  to  the  Teutonic  wenig,  a  little  or  a  few. 


438  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


But  in  my  bovver  there  is  a  wake 

And  at  the  wake  there  is  a  wane ; 
But  I'll  come  to  the  green  wood  ere  morn. 

Erlinton  :  Border  Minstrelsy. 

Wane  means  a  number  of  people,  a  wheenfolk. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 


Wheep,  a  sharp,  shrill  cry  or  whistle.  Fenny  wheep,  a 
contemptuous  designation  for  sour,  weak,  small  beer, 
sold  at  a  penny  per  quart  or  pint,  and  dear  at  the 
money ;  so  called  from  its  acidity,  causing  the  person 
who  swallows  it,  thinking  it  better  than  it  is,  to  make  a 
kind  of  whistling  sound,  expressive  of  his  surprise  and 
disgust.  Formed  on  the  same  principle  as  the  modern 
word  "  penny  dreadful,"  applied  to  a  certain  description 
of  cheap  and  nasty  literature.  Wheep  seems  to  be  akin 
to  whoop,  a  shrill  cry,  and  whaup^  the  cry  of  the  curlew 
or  plover. 

Be't  whisky  gill  or  penny  wheep. 

Or  any  stronger  potion, 
It  never  fails  on  drinking  deep, 

To  kittle  up  our  notion. 

—Burns :  The  Holy  Fair, 


WJieeple,  the  cheep  or  low  cry  of  a  bird  ;  also,  meta- 
phorically, the  ineffectual  attempt  of  a  man  to  whistle 
loudly : — 

A  Scottish  gentleman,  who  visited  England  for  the  first  time, 
and  ardently  desired  to  return  home  to  his  native  hills  and  moors, 
was  asked  by  his  English  host  to  come  out  into  the  garden  at  night 
to  hear  the  song  of  the  nightingale,  a  bird  unknown  in  Scotland. 
Ilis  mind  was  full  of  home,  and  he  exclaimed,  "  Na,  na!— I  wadna 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  439 

gie  the  wheeple  o'  a  whaup  (curlew)  for  a'  the  nightingales  that  ever 
sang." 

— Statistical  Account  of  Scotland. 

Wheericken,  or  Queerikens,  a  ludicrous  term  applied  to 
children  who  are  threatened  with  punishment,  signifying 
the  two  sides  of  the  breech,  or  podex,  the  soft  place  ap- 
propriate for  skelping.  Apparently  derived  from  the 
Gaelic  ciurr,  to  hurt,  to  cause  pain. 

Whid,  or  Whud,  an  untruth,  a  falsehood  ;  a  lie  that  is 
usually  applied  to  a  departure  from  veracity,  which  is 
the  result  of  sudden  invention  or  caprice,  rather  than  of 
malicious  premeditation  : — 

Even  ministers  they  hae  been  kenn'd 

In  holy  rapture, 
A  rousin  whid  at  times  to  vend, 

An'  nail't  wi'  scripture. 

— Burns  :  Death  and  Dr.  Hornbook. 

In  the  first  edition  of  Burns,  the  word  whid  did 
not  appear,  but  instead  of  it — 

Even  ministers  they  hae  been  kenn'd, 

In  holy  rapture, 
Great  lies  and  nonsense  baith  to  vend, 

And  nail't  wi'  scripture. 

This  was  ungrammatical,  as  Burns  himself  recognized 
it  to  be,  and  amended  the  line  by  the  more  emphatic 
form  in  which  it  now  appears. 

The  word  7vhid  seems,  in  its  primary  meaning,  to  be 
applied  to  any  sudden  and  rapid  movement,  or  to  a 
deviation  from  the  straight  line.  It  is  akin  to  the 
English  scud,     According  to  Jamieson,  to  yed,  is  to  fib, 


440  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

to  magnify  in  narration.  This  word  is  probably  a 
variety  or  heterography  of  whid,  and  has  the  same 
meaning  : — ■ 

An  arrow  whidderan  ! 

—  The  Song  of  the  Outlaw  Murray. 

Paitricks  scraichin'  loud  at  e'en, 
An'  mornin'  poussie  whiddin  seen. 
[Partridges  screeching,  and  the  early  hare  scudding  along.] 

— Burns  :   To  Lapraik. 

Connected  with  the  idea  of  rapidity  of  motion,  are  the 
words,  whidder.,  a  gust  of  wind ;  ivJiiddie,  a  hare ;  whiddy, 
unsteady,  shifting,  unstable;  to  zahiddie,  to  move  rapidly 
and  lightly;  to  huidder  the  thumbs,  in  English  twiddle  the 
thumbs.  The  derivation  is  uncertain,  but  is  probably 
from  the  Teutonic  weit,  the  English  wide,  in  which 
sense  ivhid^  a  falsehood,  WDuld  signify  something  wide  of 
the  truth,  and  would  also  apply  in  the  sense  of  rapid 
motion  through  the  wideness  of  space  : — 

VVhid,  a  lie — Bailey  has  whids,  many  words — a  cant  word  he 
says.  Does  not  Burns  speak  of  amorous  whids,  meaning,  or  rather 
I  should  say,  referring  to  the  quick  rapid  jumpings  about  of  rabbits? 
Whid  certainly  has  in  Scotch  the  meaning  of  frisking  about  ;  and 
applied  to  statements,  it  is  obvious  how  whid  could  come  to  mean 
a  lie.  — R.  D. 


IVhignmleeries,  whims,  caprices,  crotchets,  idle  fancies  ; 
also,  fanciful  articles  of  jewellery  and  personal  adorn- 
ment ;  toys  and  trifles  of  any  kind  : — 

There'll  be,  if  that  day  come, 

I'll  wad  a  boddle, 
Some  fewer  ivhigniaUeries  in  your  noddle. 

— Burns  :   The  Brigs  of  Ayr, 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  44 1 

I  met  ane  very  fain,  honest,  fair  spoken,  weel-put-on  gentleman, 

or  rather  burgher,  as  I  think,  that  was  in  the  whignialeerie  man's 

back-shop. 

— Scott  :  Fortunes  of  Nigel. 

The  etymology  of  this  word,  which  is  pecuhar  to  Scot- 
land, is  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  the  current  languages 
of  Europe.  It  is  probably  from  the  Gaelic  iiige,  a  jewel, 
a  precious  stone ;  from  whence  uigheaiti,  adornment,  de- 
coration ;  nigheach,  abounding  in  precious  stones ;  and 
uigheaviaich,  to  adorn.  These  words  are  the  roots  of  the 
obsolete  English  word  owche,  a  jewel,  used  by  Shakspeare, 
Beaumont,  and  Fletcher ;  and  which  also  occurs  in  the 
authorized  version  of  the  Bible  : — 

Your  brooches,  pearls,  and  owches. 

—Henry  IV.,  Part  II. 

Pearls,  bracelets,  rings  or  owches. 
Or  what  she  can  desire. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

The  last  two  syllables  of  whigtnaleerte  are  traceable  to 
kor,  or  leoir,  sufificient,  plenty,  The  quotation  from  the 
Fortunes  of  Nigel  refers  to  the  jewels  in  George  Heriot's 
shop.  The  connection  of  idea  between  the  fanciful 
articles  in  a  jeweller's  shop,  and  the  fancies  or  conceits 
of  a  capricious  mind,  is  sufficiently  obvious. 

Jamieson  notices  a  game  .called  whigmaleeries,  "  for- 
merly played  at  drinking  clubs  in  Angus,  at  which  the 
losing  player  was  obliged  to  drink  off  a  glass.  Perhaps,"  he 
adds,  "  the  game  was  so  denominated  out  of  contempt 
for  the  severe  austerity  attributed  to  the  Whigs  ! " 

"This  etymology,"  says  Dr.  Adolphus  Wagner,  "is 
very  doubtful   and  difficult."       Confused   by  the  word 


442  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

Whig,  and  unaware  of  the  Gaelic  uige,  and  believing  in 
the  drinking  bouts  alluded  to  by  Jamieson,  he  endeavours 
to  account  for  the  final  syllable,  eerie,  by  citing  from  Ben 
Jonson,  "a  leer  horse,"  a  led  horse,  as  applicable  to  a 
drunkard  being  led  in  the  train  of  another  !"  The  Gaelic 
derivation  makes  an  end  of  the  absurdities  both  of  Jamie- 
son  and  the  erudite  foreign  critic. 

IVhilie,  a  Uttle  while ;  pronounced  fylie  in  Aberdeen- 
shire.    A  wee  whilie,  a  very  little  while  : — 

Bishop  Skinner,  when  visiting  a  farmer  and  his  wife,  was  received 
very  cordially  by  both  ;  but  the  farmer  accidentally  trod  upon  the 
rim  of  a  riddle,  which,  rebounding,  struck  him  with  great  force  on 
the  shin  .  .  The  farmer  pulled  up  suddenly,  and  rubbed  the  injured 
part  very  vigorously,  but  not  daring  in  the  presence  of  the  bishop 
to  give  vent  to  his  feelings  by  an  oath,  kept  twisting  his  face  into 
all  sorts  of  contortions.  At  last  the  good  wife  came  to  his  rescue, 
and,  addressing  the  Bishop,  said,  "just  gang  awa'  into  the  house, 
and  we'll  follow  when  he's  had  time  to  curse  a  fylie  ;  and  I'se 
warn't  he'll  then  be  wee!  eneuch." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

Whillie-lu,  a  threnody,  a  lament,  a  prolonged  strain  of 
melancholy  music  ;  but,  according  to  Jamieson,  "  a  dull 
or  flat  air."  He  derives  the  word  from  the  Icelandic 
hvella,  to  sound ;  and  In,  lassitude.  It  seems,  however, 
to  be  a  corruption  of  waly  !  an  exclamation  of  sorrow ; 
as  in  the  beautiful  ballad — 

Oh  waly  !   waly  !  up  the  bank, 
And  waly  !  waly  !  down  the  brae. 

which,  conjoined   with  the  Gaelic  liiaidh  {dh  silent),  a 
beloved  object,  makes  whillie-lu^  or  waly  lu.     The  final 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  443 

syllable  ///  enters  into  the  composition  of  the  English 
"  lullaby,"  a  cradle  song ;  from  lu-lu  !  beloved  one,  and 
baigh,  sleep,  which  thus  signifies — sleep,  beloved  one  ! 
or — sleep,  darling  ! 

Whillte-whallie,  sometimes  abbreviated  into  whillie- 
wha\  This  word  in  all  its  variations  signifies  any  thing 
or  person  connected  with  cheaters,  cajolers,  or  false 
pretenders.  Jamieson  has  ichilly,  or  whully,  to  cheat,  to 
gull ;  whillie-whallie,  to  coax,  to  wheedle  ;  zvhillie-whwa^ 
one  not  to  be  depended  upon ;  whillie-iva,  or  whillie- 
w/ial,  one  who  deals  in  ambiguous  promises.  In  a 
South  Sea  Song  which  appears  in  Allan  Ramsay's  Tea 
Table  Miscellany,  occur  the  lines — 

If  ye  gang  near  the  South  Sea  House, 
The  lohilly-whas  will  grip  your  gear  ! 

The  etymology  of  all  these  words  is  uncertain.  The 
English  wheedle  has  been  suggested,  but  does  not  meet 
the  necessities,  while  ' '  wheedle  "  itself  requires  explana- 
tion. Whillie-ivhallie,  which  appears  to  be  the  original 
form  of  the  word,  is  probably  the  Gaelic  uilleadh,  oily, 
and  metaphorically,  specious^  as  m  the  English  phrase, 
an  oily  hypocrite,  applied  to  a  man  with  a  smooth  or 
specious  tongue,  which  he  uses  to  cajole  and  deceive, 
and  balaoch,  in  the  aspirated  form,  bhalaoch,  a  fellow. 
From  thence  whillie-whallie,  a  specious,  cajoling,  hypo- 
critical person. 

Burns,  in  "The  Whistle,"  speaks  of  one  of  the 
personages  of  the  ballad,  as — 

Craigdarroch  began  with  a  tongue  smooth  as  oil, 
Desiring  Glenriddel  to  yield  up  the  spoil. 


444  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Whilper,  or  Whulper,  any  individual'or  thing  of  un- 
usual size ;  akin  to  the  English  li'hopper  and  whopping^  of 
which  it  may  possibly  be  a  corruption. 

The  late  Rev.  Rowland  Hill,  preacuing  a  charity  sermon  in 
Wapping,  appealed  to  the  congregation  to  contribute  liberally. 
His  text  was  "  Charity  covereth  a  multitude  of  sins."  "  I  preach," 
he  said,  "to  great  sinners,  to  mighty  sinners, — ay,  and  to  ivhapping 
sinners  ! " 

foe  Miller'' s  Jest  Booh. 

What  a  whilper  of  a  trout  I  hae  gotten  ! 

— Jamieson. 

Whinge,  to  whine ;  from  the  Teutonic  7vmsebi,  to 
whimper : — 

If  ony  Whiggish  whingirC  sot 
To  blame  poor  Matthew,  dare,  man. 

May  dool  and  sorrow  be  his  lot. 
For  Matthew  was  a  rare  man. 
— Burns :  Ele^y  on  Captain  Matthew  Henderson. 

Whinger,  a  knife  worn  on  the  person,  and  serviceable 
as  a  sword  or  dagger  in  a  sudden  broil  or  emergency. 
Jamieson  derives  it  from  the  Icelandic  "  hwiji,  fununcu- 
lus,  and  gird,  actio;  and  queries  whether  it  may  not 
mean  an  escape  for  secret  deeds."  The  Gaelic 
uinich  signifies  haste,  and  geur.,  sharp,  whence  uin  geur, 
a  sharp  weapon  for  haste.  The  word  is  sometimes 
written  "  whin-yard,"  and  is  so  used  in  the  English  poem 
of  Hudibras,  and  explained  by  the  commentators  as  a 
hanger.,  or  hanging  sword.  It  is,  of  course,  open  to 
doubt  whether  lohinger  is  not  the  same  as  "hanger," 
but  the  Gaelic  derivation  seems  preferable,  as  expressive 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  445 


of  a  definite  idea,  while  hanger  admits  of  a  multiplicity  of 
meanings : — 

And  whingers  now  in  friendship  bare, 
The  social  meal  to  part  and  share, 
Had  found  a  bloody  sheath. 

— Scott :  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel. 

Mony  tyne  the  half-mark  tuhinger,  for  the  halfpennie  tuhang. 
[Many  lose  the  sixpenny  knife,  for  sake  of  the  halfpenny  slice.] 

— Ferguson's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Jodeleg  was  another  name  for  a  whinger,  which, 
though  susceptible  of  a  Gaelic  interpretation,  (see  ante, 
page  149),  perhaps  only  signified  a  hunting-knife,  or 
dagger,  from  the  Flemish  jacht,  the  chase  or  hunt,  and 
dolk,  a  dagger  pronounced  in  two  syllables,  dol-ok,  a 
hunting-knife  or  dagger,  a  Jacht-dolok,  or  Jodeleg.  But, 
whether  the  Gaelic  or  the  Flemish  origin  of  the  word  be 
correct,  it  is  clear  that  Jamieson's  derivation  from  the 
imaginary  c\i\\ex  Jacques  de  Liege,  is  untenable. 

Whinner,  to  dry  up  like  vegetation  in  a  long  protracted 
drought.  The  derivation  is  uncertain ;  probably  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  English  winnow  : — 

A  zvhinneriu  drouth.  The  word  is  applied  to  any  thing  so  much 
dried  up,  in  consequence  of  extreme  drought,  as  to  rustle  to  the 
touch.     The  corn's  a  whinnerin'. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Wliipper-sjiapper.  A  contemptuous  term  for  a  little 
presumptuous  person,  wlio  gives  himself  airs  of  impor- 
tance and  talks  too  much.  Jamieson  says  it  "  might  be 
deduced  from  the  Icelandic  hivipp,  saltus,  celer  cursus, 
and  snapa,  captare  escam,  as  originally  denoting  one  who 


446  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 

manifested  the  greatest  alacrity  in  snatching  at  a  morsel !" 
The  true  derivation  seems  to  be  from  the  Flemish 
wippen^  to  move  about  rapidly  and  restlessly,  and  snapper, 
to  prate,  to  gabble,  to  be  unnecessarily  loquacious. 

Whippert.  Hasty,  irascible,  impatient ;  ivhippert-hke, 
inclining  to  be  ill  tempered  without  adequate  provocation. 
Jamieson  thinks  the  root  of  ivhippert  is  either  the 
Icelandic  whopa,  lightness,  inconstancy,  or  the  English 
whip.  He  does  not  cite  the  Flemish  wip,  to  shake  in 
the  balance,  and  wippen,  to  move  lightly  and  rapidly  as 
the  scales  do  on  the  slightest  excess  of  weight  over  the 
even  balance.  Thus  wippert-Uke  would  signify  one  easily 
provoked  to  lose  the  balance  of  his  temper. 

He  also  cites  whipper  iooties,  as  silly  scruples  about 
doing  anything,  and  derives  it  from  the  French  apres  tout, 
after  all.  This  derivation  is  worse  than  puerile.  The  first 
word  is  evidently  from  the  Flemish  root ;  the  second, 
tootles,  is  not  so  easily  to  be  accounted  for. 

Whish,  whist,  silence,  or  to  keep  silence ;  whence  the 
name  of  the  well-known  game  at  cards  formerly  called 
quadrille  : — 

Haud  your  whish  (i.e.,  keep  silence,  or  hold  your  tongue). 

—Scott  :  Rob  Roy. 

Whisky,  IVhusky.  A  well-known  alcoholic  drink,  of 
which  the  name  is  derived  from  the  Gaelic  uisge,  water. 
The  liquor  is  sometimes  called  in  the  Highlands,  uisge 
beatha,  the  water  of  life,  often  erroneously  written  uisque 
haui;h.  The  French  pay  the  same  compliment  to  brandy, 
when  they  call  it  can  de  vie. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  447 

Whisky  wackets.  Pimples  produced  on  the  face  by  the 
excessive  use  of  whisky  or  other  spirituous  Hquors,  from 
tacket,  a  small  nail  with  a  head. 

Whistle  Binkie.  A  musician,  harper,  fiddler,  or  piper 
who  played  at  penny  weddings  or  other  social  gatherings, 
and  trusted  for  his  remuneration  to  the  generosity  of 
the  company.  Whistle  is  a  somewhat  irreverent  name 
for  a  pipe,  or  for  music  generally,  and  binkie  is  a 
bench^  a  bunker^  or  seat.  The  late  David  Robertson  of 
Glasgow,  published  in  1847  and  1853,  a  collection  of 
Scottish  Songs  by  then  living  Scottish  poets,  under  this 
title,  of  which  the  contents  proved  what  was  previously 
known,  that  the  genius  of  Scotsmen,  even  among  the 
humblest  classes,  is  pre-eminently  lyrical,  and  oozes  forth, 
like  the  burnies  by  the  way-side  in  the  Highlands  and 
Lowlands,  in  refreshing  streams  to  gladden  the  hearts  of 
the  way-farers. 

Whitter.  To  move  quickly,  to  talk  quickly,  to  drink 
quickly  a  hearty  draught.  The  etymology  is  uncertain, 
but  is  possibly  allied  to  the  English  whet,  the  Dutch  and 
Flemish  wetten,  the  German  wetzen,  to  sharpen  : — 

Whitterin'  down  the  stair. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Syne  we'll  sit  down  and  tak'  our  whitter 

To  cheer  our  heart, 

An'  faith  we'll  be  acquainted  better 

Before  we  part. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Lapraik. 

Whittle,  a  clasp-knife  ;  whence  the  American  word  to 
whittle,  to  chip  or  carve  a  stick  : — 


448  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


A  Sheffield  thwittle  bare  he  in  his  hose. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Reeve's  Tale. 

Gudeman,  quoth  he,  put  up  your  whittle, 
I'm  no  designed  to  try  its  mettle. 

— Burns  :  Death  atid  Dr.  Hornbook. 

IVhommle,  to  turn  over  clumsily  and  suddenly,  and 
with  a  loud  noise  ;  transposition  of  whelm  :— 

Coming  to  the  fire  with  the  said  pan  and  water  therein,  and  cast- 
ing the  water  therefrom,  and  ivhommeling  the  pan  upon  the  fire, 
with  the  pronouncing  of  these  fearful  words,  "  Bones  to  the  fire  and 
soul  to  the  devil  ! "  which  accomplished  the  cure. 

—  Trial  of  Alison  Nisbet for  Witchcrajt.     1632. 

Whommle  means  something  diflferent  from  whelm.  Whelm  means 
to  cover  over,  to  immerse  ;  neither  does  whommle  mean  to  turn  over 
clumsily  and  suddenly  with  a  loud  noise, — not  one  of  these  ideas  is 
conveyed  by  the  word  itself ;  it  means  literally  and  really  nothing 
more  than  to  turn  upside  down. — R.  D. 

WJmlly.  To  wheedle,  to  endeavour  to  circumvent  by 
fair  words  and  flattery,  in  modern  English  slang  to 
corny.      Wully-wha-ing,  insincere  flattery  : — 

My  life  precious!  exclaimed  Meg  Dods,  naneo'  youtivitlly-uha-ing, 
Mr.  Bindloose.  Diel  ane  wad  miss  the  auld  girning  ale  wife,  Mr. 
Bindloose,  unless  it  were  here  and  there  a  poor  body,  and  may  be 
the  auld  house  tyke  that  wadna  be  sae  weel  guided,  puir  fallow. 

—Scott  :  St.  Ronan's  Well. 

Whulte,  a  blow  or  hurt  from  a  fall.  Gaelic  biiailie 
(aspirated  bhiiatlte),  preterite  of  buail,  to  strike  a  blow. 

Whurlie-hurlie.  This  Scottish  word  seems  to  be  the 
original  of  the  English  hurly-\mx\'j,  and  signifies  rapid 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE,  449 

circular  motion ;  from  7vhorl,  a  small  wheel ;  tvhirl^  to 
spin  round ;  worlds  the  earth  that  rotates  or  whirls  in 
space  around  the  sun. 

Whyles,  sometimes,  occasionally,  now  and  then  : — 

How  best  o'  chiels  are  ivhyles  in  want, 
While  coofs  in  countless  thousands  rant. 

— Burns  :  Epistle  to  Davie,  a  Brother  Poet. 

Whyles  crooning  o'er  some  auld  Scotch  sonnet. 

— Tarn  0'  Shanter. 

I  took  his  body  on  my  back, 

And  whiles  I  gaed,  and  luhiles  I  sat, 

— Lament  of  the  Border  Widow. 

A  lady,  visiting  the  poor,  in  the  West  Port,  Edinburgh,  not  far 
from  the  church  established  by  Dr.  Chalmers,  asked  a  poor  woman 
if  she  ever  attended  divine  service  there.  She  replied,  "Ou  ay  ! 
there's  a  man  ca'd  Chalmers  preaches  there,  and  I  whiles  gang  in 
to  hear  him,  just  to  encourage  him — puir  body  ! 

— Dean  Ramsay, 

Widdie,  angry  contention,  Widdiefii\  cross-grained, 
ill-tempered,  half- crazy,  cantankerous,  angry  without 
cause  : — 

The  miller  was  strappin',  the  miller  was  ruddy, 
A  heart  like  a  lord,  and  a  hue  like  a  lady ; 
The  laird  was  a  widdiefii\  bleerit  knurl, — 
She's  left  the  gude  fellow  and  taken  the  churl. 

—Burns :  Meg  0'  the  Mill. 


'•6 


Misled  by  the  meaning  of  widdie.,  the  rope  or  gallows, 
Jamieson  says  that,  properly  widdie-fu!.,  or  widdie-fow., 
signifies  one  who  deserves  to  fill  a  halter.     But  as  a  man 

E  2 


450  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

may  be  peevish,  morose,  irascible,  contentious,  and  un- 
reasonable without  deserving  the  gallows,  the  etymology 
is  not  satisfactory.  The  true  root  seems  to  be  the 
Flemish  woede^  the  German  wuth,  the  old  English  ivode, 
the  Scottish  wud — all  signifying  mad,  crazy,  unreasonable. 

Widdle,  to  turn,  to  wheel,  to  wriggle ;  and  metaphori- 
cally, to  struggle ;  akin  to  the  English  twiddle,  to  turn 
the  thumbs  round  each  other  in  idle  movement.  Widdle 
is  from  the  Gaelic  cuidhil,  a  wheel : — 

Hale  be  your  heart,  hale  be  your  fiddle, 

Lang  may  your  elbuck  jink  and  diddle, 

To  cheer  you  through  the  weary  ividdle 

O'  worldly  "cares. 

— Burns :  Epistle  to  Davie. 

Widdy  (sometimes  written  Woodie),  the  gallows  : — 

The  water  will  nae  wrang  the  iviJdy. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

[The  English  have  another  version  of  this  proverb — 

He  who's  born  to  be  hanged  will  never  be  drowned,] 

It's  nae  laughing  to  girn  in  a  ividdy. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

It's  ill  speaking  o'  the  widdy  in  the  house  o'  a  man  who  was 
hangit. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

The  French  have  a  similar  proverb — **  II  ne  faut  pas 
parler  de  corde  dans  la  maison  d'un  pendu." 

He'll  winllc  in  a  widdie  yet,  [He'll  wriggle  in  a  rope  yet,  i.e., 
hell  bo  liaiigedj, 

— Scots  Proverb :  Jamieson. 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  45 1 


Her  Joe  had  been  a  Highland  laddie, 
But  weary  fa'  the  waefu'  luoodie. 

—Burns  :  The  Jolly  Beggars. 

In  very  primitive  times  in  Scotland,  the  ropes  used  for 
hanging  those  who  had  offended  the  chief,  or  who  had 
rendered  themselves  amenable  to  the  death  penalty, 
were  formed  of  twisted  willow  withes, — whence  withy,  or 
widdy,  afterwards  came  to  signify  a  rope,  or,  by  extension 
of  meaning,  the  gallows. 

Wight,  Wicht,  Wichtly,  Wichty,  Wichtness.  Wight 
remains  an  English  word  in  mock  heroic  composition, 
and  means  a  man,  a  fellow ;  originally,  a  strong  man,  a 
sturdy  fellow.  The  Dutch  and  Flemish  wicht  means  a 
child  or  a  little  fellow.  Wight  in  the  epithet  "  Wallace 
wight,"  given  in  Scottish  poetry  and  tradition  to  the  great 
national  hero,  was  a  kind  of  title  of  nobility  bestowed 
on  him  for  his  prowess,  and  the  patriotic  use  he  made  of 
it. 

A  ivight  man  never  wanted  a  weapon. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Willie.  This  suffix  answers  in  meaning  to  the  Latin 
volens,  or  volent  in  the  English  words  benevolent  and 
malevolent.  The  Scotch  renders  the  former  word  by 
guid-willie,  or  well-willie ;  from  the  Flemish  goed  willig ; 
and  the  latter  by  ill-willie,  in  which  ill  is  substituted  for 
the  Flemish  quad,  or  bad.  On  the  same  principle  of 
formation,  ill-deedie  signifies  nefarious ;  and  ill-tricky, 
mischievous,  both  of  which  might  well  become  English 
if  they  found  favour  with  any  authors  of  acknowledged 
authority. 


452  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 

Wilshoch,  Wuhhoch,  changeable  of  opinion  or  purpose, 
a  bashful  wooer.  Jamieson  derives  the  first  syllable  from 
the  English  7i<ill,  and  the  second  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
seoc  aeger,  sick  from  the  indulgence  of  one's  own  will. 
It  seems  rather  to  be  from  the  Gaelic  uile,  all,  totally ; 
and  seog  (shog),  to  swing  from  side  to  side, — whence, 
metaphorically,  one  who  is  continually  at  variance  with 
his  former  opinion,  and  sways  from  side  to  side. 

Wilt,  to  shrivel,  or  begin  to  decay,  as  a  leaf  or  flower 
in  the  extreme  heat  or  cold, — not  exactly  withered  in  the 
English  sense  of  the  word,  inasmuch  as  a  ivilted  leaf  may 
revive,  but  a  withered  one  cannot.  This  old  Scottish  word 
has  been  revived  in  America,  where  it  is  in  common  use. 
The  late  Artemus  Ward  punned  upon  it,  when  he  said  to 
his  lady  love,  "  Wilt  thou  ?  and  she  wilted.^'' 

Miss  Amy  pinned  a  flower  to  her  breast,  and  when  she  died,  she 

held  the  wilted  fragments  in  her  hand. 

— JiidiTs  Margaret. 

Wilt,  though  not  admitted  into  the  English  dictionaries, 
is  in  local  use  in  many  northern  and  eastern  counties,  and 
is  often  pronounced  luilk,  or  ^uilken,  which  seems  to  have 
been  the  original  form ;  from  the  German,  Dutch,  and 
Flemish  ivclketi,  to  decay,  to  droop.  Spenser  used  welk, 
in  speaking  of  the  sunset,  to  describe  the  fading  light 
of  the  day  : — 

When  ruddy  Phoebus  'gins  to  welk  in  west. 

— Faerie  Queene. 

Wimple,  to  How  gently  like  a  brook,  to  meander,  to 
purl : — 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  453 


Among  the  bonnie  winding  banks, 
Where  Doon  rins  wimpliti?  clear. 

— Burns  :  Hallowe'en. 


Win.  This  word  in  English  signifies  to  gain,  to  make 
a  profit,  to  acquire ;  but  in  the  Scottish  language,  it  has 
many  other  and  more  extended  meanings,  such  as  to 
reach,  to  attain,  to  arrive,  to  get  at.  It  enters  into  the 
composition  of  a  great  number  of  compound  words  and 
phrases,  such  as — to  win  above,  to  surmount ;  to  wiyi 
about,  to  circumvent ;  to  tvin  awa,  to  escape,  and,  poeti- 
cally, to  die,  or  escape  from  life ;  to  win  forret,  to 
advance,  to  get  on ;  to  wi7i  oivre,  to  get  over,  to  cajole ; 
to  win  fast,  to  overtake,  or  get  by ;  to  win  free,  to  get 
loose ;  to  win  hame,  to  get  home  ;  to  win  aff,  to  get  off, 
or  away,  to  be  acquitted  on  a  trial ;  to  win  ben,  to  be 
admitted  to  the  house  ;  to  wi7i  up,  to  arise,  or  get  up. 


Win  and  Tine.  A  man  able  to  "win  and  tine,"  is  a 
man  of  substance  and  energy,  able  to  win  and  able  to 
lose  without  hurting  himself,  and  to  whom  winnings  and 
losings  are  alike  of  little  consequence. 


Winnock,  a  window  corner;  abridged  from  window- 
nook.  Winnock-bmiker,  a  seat,  ledge,  or  bench  at  the 
window  : — 

• 

A  winnock  bunker  in  the  east, 
There  sat  Auld  Nick  in  shape  o'  beast, 
A  towsie  tyke,  black,  grim,  and  large, 
To  gie  them  music  was  his  charge. 

— Burns  :   Tarn  0'  Shanter, 


454 


POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


Winsome.  This  pleasant  Scottish  word  is  gradually 
making  good  its  claim  to  a  place  in  recognised  English. 
The  etymology  is  undecided  whether  it  be  from  win,  to 
gain,  or  the  Teutonic  wonne,  joy,  pleasure,  or  delight. 
Either  derivation  is  satisfactory  : — 


I  gat  your  letter,  winsome  Willie. 


She  is  a  -winsome  wee  thing, 
She  is  a  bonnie  wee  thing, 
This  sweet  wee  wife  o'  mine. 


— Burns. 


— Burns. 


WtJitie,  a  corruption  of  Windle,  to  gyrate,  to  turn 
round  in  the  wind;  also,  to  reel,  to  stagger,  to  walk 
unsteadily ;  also,  to  wriggle,  to  writhe,  to  struggle  : — 

Thieves  of  every  rank  and  station, 
From  him  that  wears  the  star  and  garter 
To  him  that  ■wintlcs  in  a  halter. 

— Burns  :  To  /.  Rankine. 

He'll  tointle  in  a  widdie  yet. 

— Jamieson. 

Winze,  an  oath,  a  curse,  an  imprecation,  an  evil  wish ; 
from  the  Flemish  7vensch,  a  wish,  which,  conjoined  with 
the  prefix  ver,  became  venvenschen,  to  curse,  to  wish  evil : 

He  taks  a  swirlie  auld  moss-oak 

For  some  black  gruesome  carline, 
And  loot  a  winze,  and  drew  a  stroke. 

— Burns  :  Hallowe^cn. 

Wirry-ccnv,  a  bugbear,  a  goblin,  or  frightful  object,  a 
ghost ;  the  devil ;  also,  a  scarecrow  : — 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  455 

Draggled  sae  'mang  muck  and  stanes, 

They  looked  like  zvirry-coivs. 

—  Allan  Ramsay. 

The  word  was  used  by  Scott,  in  "  Guy  Mannering,"  and 
is  derived  by  Jamieson  from  the  English  "  worry,"  and 
"to  cow."  Wtrry, however,  seems  to  be  a  corruption  of 
the  GaeHc  wrutsg,  which,  according  to  Armstrong's  Gae- 
lic Dictionary,  signified  a  "  brownie,"  or  goblin,  who  was 
supposed  to  haunt  lonely  dells,  lakes,  and  waterfalls,  and 
who  could  only  be  seen  by  those  who  had  the  "second 
sight."  Ruddiman  thought  that  the  ur-m'sg  wsis  called  a 
"brownie,"  in  the  lowlands,  on  account  of  the  brown 
colour  of  the  long  hair  which  covered  his  body  when  he 
appeared  to  human  eyes ;  but  it  is  more  probable  that 
"  brownie  "  was  derived  from  the  Gaelic  drbn,  sorrow  or 
calamity.  The  attributes  ascribed  to  the  uruisg  are 
similar  to  those  of  the  "  lubber  fiend  "  of  Milton. 

The  final  syllable  of  wirry-r^a/  was  sometimes  written 
and  pronounced  carl,  a  fellow.  According  to  Jamieson, 
cow,  or  kow,  signified  a  hobgoblin,  and  to  " play  the  kow" 
was  to  act  the  part  of  a  goblin,  to  frighten  fools  and 
children. 

Wi'ssel,  to  exchange.  Wissler,  a  money  changer ;  from 
the  Flemish  wissel,  and  geld  wisselaar,  a  money  changer; 
the  German  wechsel.  To  ivissel  words,  is  to  exchange 
words ;  usually  employed  in  an  angry  sense,  as  in  the 
English  phrase,  to  "bandy  words  with  one,"  the  irritation 
preceding  a  quarrel. 

Wither  shins,  backwards,  against  the  course  of  the  sun. 
To  pass  the  bottle  withershins,  or  the  wrong  way,  at 


456  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

table,  is  considered  a  breach  of  social  etiquette.  The 
word  seems  to  be  derived  from  the  Teutonic  wider,  con- 
trary; and  somie,  the  sun;  or  perhaps  from  wider,  and 
sinn,  sense;  whence  it  would  signify,  in  a  "contrary 
sense."  The  word  wider,  corrupted  in  the  Scotch  into 
wither,  enters  into  the  composition  of  many  German 
words,  such  as  wider-spruch,  contradiction ;  wider-sinn, 
nonsense ;  wider-stand,  resistance. 

The  ancient  Druids  called  a  movement  contrary  to 
the  course  of  the  sun,  car-tual.  On  this  subject,  apropos 
of  the  word  withers/tins,  a  curious  note  appears  in 
Armstrong's  Gaelic  Dictionary.  "The  Druids,"  he 
says,  "  on  certain  occasions  moved  three  times  round  the 
stone  circles,  which  formed  their  temples.  In  performing 
this  ceremony,  car-deise,  they  kept  the  circle  on  the  right, 
and  consequently  moved  from  east  to  west.  This  was 
called  the  prosperous  course ;  but  the  car-tiial,  or 
moving  with  the  circle  on  the  left,  was  deemed  fatal  or 
unprosperous,  as  being  "contrary  to  the  course  of  the 
sun." 

The  said  Alison  past  thrice  withershins  about  the  bed,  muttering 
out  certain  charms  in  unknown  words. 

—  Trial  of  Alison  Nisbct  for  Witchcraft,  1632. 

To  be  whipped  round  a  circle  withershins,  or  car-tual,  would 
thus  be  considered  peculiarly  degrading,  and  probably,  as  the 
meaning  of  Gaelic  words  was  perverted  by  the  Saxon-speaking 
people,  was  the  origin  of  the  phrase,  "to  be  whipped  at  the  cart's 
tail." 

— Gaelic  Etymology  of  the  Languages  of  Western  Europe. 

Witter,  to  struggle,  to  fight,  to  strive  in  enmity ;  from 
the  Teutonic  wider,  against,  contrary  to ;  wider-sacher,  an 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  457 

antagonist ;  wider-sprechen,  to  contradict ;  Flemish  weder- 
partij,  an  adversary,  an  opposing  party  : — 

To  struggle  in  whatever  way, — often  for  a  subsistence ;  as,  "I'm 
witterin  awa'.  A  witterin  body  is  one  who  is  struggling  with 
poverty  or  difficulty. 

— Jamieson. 

Witterly,  knowingly,  wittingly ;  to  do  a  thing  witterly, 
to  act  on  good  information,  or  with  full  knowledge. 
Wittering,  knowledge,  information ;  to  witter,  to  inform, 
and  also  to  prognosticate. 

Wod,  or  Wud,  stark  mad,  raging  mad;  old  English 
ivode,  wuth,  and  wouth ;  Dutch  and  Flemish  woode ;  Ger- 
man 7C>ut/i : — 

Ye  haud  a  stick  in  the  wod  man's  e'e,  i.e. ,  you  hold  a  stick  in  the 
mad  man's  eyes,  or  you  continue  to  provoke  one  already  enraged. 

— ^Jamieson. 

When  neebors  anger  at  a  plea, 
An'  just  as  Tuud  as  7vud  can  be, 
How  easy  can  the  barley  bree 
Cement  the  quarrel. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Drink. 

The  wife  was  zvud,  and  out  o'  her  wit, 
She  couldna  gang,  nor  could  she  sit ; 
But  aye  she  cursed  and  banned. 

— T/ie  Gaberlunzie  Man. 

Won,  to  dwell,  to  reside,  to  inhabit.  Waning,  a 
dwelling-place.  From  the  German  zvohnen,  and  woh- 
nung ;  Dutch  and  Flemish  zvonen,  to  dwell ;  wonen-huis, 
a  dwelling-house,  a  lodging  : — 


45 S  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 


There's  auld  Rab  Morris  that  wons  in  the  glen, 
The  king  o'  guid  fellows,  and  wale  o'  auld  men. 

— Burns. 

Wonner,  wonder;  applied  in  contempt  to  any  odd, 
poor,  or  despicable  creature  : — 

Our  whipper-in,  wee,  blastit  wonner. 

— Burns  :  The  Twa  Dogs. 

Wooer-bab.  It  was  formerly  the  custom  among  the 
young  men  and  lads  of  the  rural  population  in  the  High- 
lands and  Lowlands  of  Scotland,  to  wear  bows  of  ribbons 
of  flaunting  colours  in  their  garters  on  high  days  and 
holidays,  when  they  expected  to  meet  the  lasses,  and  to 
dance  or  flirt  with  them  : — 

The  lasses  feet,  and  cleanly  neat, 

Mair  braw  than  when  they're  fine. 
Their  faces  blythe  fu'  sweetly  kythe, 

Heart's  leal  an'  warm  an'  kin' ; 
The  lads  sae  trig  wi'  wooer  babs 

Weel  knotted  on  their  garten. 
Some  unco  blate,  and  some  wi'  gabs 

Gar  lasses'  hearts  gang  startin'. 

— Burns  :  Halloivicn. 

"  Bab^'  says  Dr.  Adolphus  Wagner,  the  German  editor 
of  Burns,  "seems  akin  to  the  English  bob,  something 
that  hangs  so  as  to  play  loose,  and  is  a  tassel  or  knot  of 
ribbons,  or  the  loose  ends  of  such  a  knot."  The  English 
word  bob,  in  this  sense,  is  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  bab, 
a  fringe ;  and  babag,  a  little  fringe.  Perhaps  the  English 
phrase,  " tag,  rag,  and  bobtail"  is  from  the  same  source, 
and  bob\.dS\.  may  signify  the  ragged  fringe  of  a  frayed 
outer  garment,  bobbmg  or  dangling  loose  in  the  wind. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  459 

Woo/.  English ;  from  the  German  and  Flemish  wo/l ; 
in  Scottish  parlance,  00'.  A'  oo\  all  wool ;  a!  ae  oo\  all 
one  wool ;  ay,  d  ae  00%  yes  all  one  wool.  There  is  a 
popular  proverb  which  formerly  ran — 

Much  cry  and  little  00', 

to  which  some  humorist  added — 

As  the  Deil  said  when  he  shear'd  the  sow. 

The  addendum  was  at  once  adopted  by  the  people, 
though  some  strict  philologists  remained  of  the  opinion 
that  the  first  line  was  complete  in  itself,  and  that  "  cry  " 
did  not  signify  the  noise  or  uproar  of  the  animal,  but  was 
a  corruption  either  of  the  Gaelic  graidh,  or  graigh  (gry), 
a  flock,  a  herd,  or  criiidh,  which  has  the  same  meaning, 
and  signified  a  large  flock  that  yielded  but  little  wool. 
However  this  may  be,  the  idea  in  the  lengthened 
proverb  has  a  grotesque  humour  about  it,  which  insures 
its  popularity. 

Word.  *' To  get  the  wordoi"  i.e.,  to  get  the  character, 
or  the  repute,  of  being  so  and  so.  "  She  gets  the  word 
o'  being  a  licht-headed  quean,"  i.e.,  the  character  of  being 
a  light-headed  or  frivolous  woman. 


^t)' 


Worl,  Wurl,  Wroitl,  Wirr.  All  these  words  of  a  com- 
mon origin  express  the  idea  of  smallness,  or  dwarfish ness, 
combined  with  perversity,  disagreeableness,  and  ill-nature. 
Jamieson  has  wurlie,  contemptibly  small  in  size ;  a  wurlie 
bodie,  an  ill-grown  person ;  wurlin,  a  child  or  beast  that 
is  unthriven ;  ivurr,  to  snarl  like  a  dog ;  tvirr,  a  peevish 
and  crabbed  dwarf;  wurn,  to  be  habitually  complaining 


460  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 

or  snarling ;  and  a  7vurlie  rung,  a  knotted  stick.  He 
suggests  that  wirr  and  ivurr  are  corruptions  of  were- 
ivolf,  the  man-wolf  of  popular  superstition— one  afflicted 
with  the  disease  called  lycanthropy,  in  which  the  unhappy 
victim  imagines  himself  to  be  a  wolf,  and  imitates  the 
bowlings  of  that  animal.  The  true  etymology  is  uncertain. 
Perhaps  all  these  words  are  derivable  from  the  Teutonic 
quer,  oblique,  athwart,  perverse — the  origin  of  the  English 
queer,  quirk,  and  quirky.  Jamieson  has  also  wurp,  a 
fretful,  peevish  person  ;  and  wurpit,  afflicted  with  fretful- 
ness.  These  latter  seem  akin  to  the  Gaelic  iiipear,  a 
clown,  a  churl,  a  bungler;  and  uipearach,  ill-tempered, 
churlish. 

Wazii  /  an  exclamation  of  surprise  or  wonder,  without 
etymology,  as  exclamations  usually  are  : — 

A  fine  fat  fodgel  wight, 
Of  stature  short,  but  genius  bright, 

That's  he  !  mark  weel ! 
And  W07U  !  he  has  an  unco  slight 

O'  cauk  and  keel ! 

— Burns  :  On  Captain  Grose. 

And  wmo!  but  my  heart  dances  boundin  and  licht. 
And  my  bosom  beats  blythesome  and  cheery. 

—James  Ballantine  :  The  Gloaiimi'  Hour. 

Wmof,  partially  deranged. — The  Scottish  language  is 
particularly  rich  in  words  expressive  of  the  various  shades 
of  madness  and  insanity ;  such  as  wud^  raging,  or  stark 
staring  mad ;  daft,  slightly  deranged ;  gyte,  cratiky, 
subject  to  abberrations  of  intellect  on  particular  points ; 
doited,  stupidly  deranged, — all  which  words  are  in  addi- 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  46 1 

tion  to,  and  not  in  supercession  of  the  English  words 
mad,  idiotic,  lunatic,  crazy,  &c. : — 

It  is  very  odd  how  Allan,  who,  between  ourselves,  is  a  little  wowf, 
seems  at  times  to  have  more  sense  than'  all  of  us  put  together. 

— Scott  :  Tales  of  My  Landlord. 


Wraith,  an  apparition  in  his  own  likeness  that  becomes 
visible  to  a  person  about  to  die ; — a  water-spirit : — 

He  held  him  for  some  fleeting  wraith. 
And  not  a  man  of  blood  or  breath. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

By  this  the  storm  grew  loud  apace, 

The  water-wraith  was  shrieking. 
And  in  the  scowl  of  heaven  each  face 

Grew  dark  as  they  were  speaking. 

— Thomas  Campbell. 

The  etymology  of  this  word  is  uncertain.  Some  suppose 
it  to  be  derived  from  wrath,  or  a  wrathful  spirit,  summon- 
ing to  doom.  Jamieson  is  of  opinion  that  it  is  from  the 
same  root  as  un'erd,  fate  or  destiny,  or  the  Anglo-Saxon 
weard,  a  guardian,  a  keeper,  and  thence  a  fairy,  a 
guardian  angel.  The  derivation  from  ^vierd  is  the  most 
probable. 


Wrafig,  English  rvrong.  The  etymology  of  this  word 
has  been  much  disputed ;  but  it  seems  to  be  from  wring, 
to  twist ;  and  zarung,  twisted  or  distorted  from  the  right 
line.  Wrang  in  Scottish  parlance  sometimes  signifies 
deranged — out  of  the  right  line  of  reason.  ^^Jie's  a' 
wrang,"  i.e.,  he  is  demented.      Wrang-^vise  is  a  wrong 


462  POETRY  AND  HUMOUR 


manner;    the   opposite   of    the    English    right-ivise    or 
righteous. 


Writer.  An  attorney.  Writer  to  the  Signet — a 
solicitor  licensed  to  conduct  cases  in  the  Superior  Courts. 

Wroid.  An  ill-formed  or  diminutive  child,  a  name 
originally  applied  to  one  who  was  supposed  to  have  been 
changed  in  its  cradle  by  malicious  fairies,  a  changelifig. 
Jamieson  refers  to  tvar-%oolf,  a  man  supposed  to  be 
transformed  into  a  wolf,  called  by  the  French,  a  loup- 
garou,  but  this  is  evidently  not  the  true  derivation  which 
is  more  probably  from  the  Dutch  and  Flemish  mil,  to 
exchange. 

Wud-scud.  A  wild  scamper,  a  panic,  called  by  the 
Americans  a  stampede.  From  ivud.,  mad — and  scud,  to 
run  precipitately  and  in  confusion.  The  word  is  some- 
times applied  to  an  over-restive  or  over-frolicsome  boy  or 
girl,  whom  it  is  difficult  to  keep  quiet. 

Wudsptir.  A  Scottish  synonym  for  the  English 
Hotspur,  wild,  reckless,  one  who  rides  in  hot  haste,  from 
the  Flemish  woete,  Teutonic  tvuth,  old  English  wode  and 
spur.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  which  of  the  two  words 
was  the  original  epithet,  and  whether  wood-spur  in  Scot- 
tish parlance  was,  or  was  not,  anterior  in  usage  to 
the  "  Hotspur  "  of  the  great  poet; 

There  was  a  wild  gallant  among  us  a', 
His  name  was  Watty  wi'  the  ■wudspurs, 

— Ballad  of  Jamie  Telfer  :  Border  Minstrelsy. 


OF  THE   SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  463 

Wy^  to  tm\  "A  thing,"  says  Jamieson,  "is  said  to 
gang  frae  wyg  to  %va\  when  it  is  moved  backwards  and 
forwards  from  the  one  wall  of  a  house  to  the  other."  He 
suggests  that  wyg  is  but  another  name  for  wall,  and  that  the 
phrase  signifies  really  "  from  wall  to  wall."  It  is  more 
probable  that  ^vyg  is  but  a  mis-spelling  of  the  Gaelic  uig., 
a  corner. 

Wyte^  to  blame,  to  reproach.  The  etymology  is  derived 
by  Jamieson  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  tvitan,  to  know,  and 
the  Gothic  7tnt  a,  to  impute.  But  the  root  of  the  word 
is  the  Flemish  wyten^  to  blame  to  reproach  : — 

Ane  does  the  skaith  and 
Another  gets  the  ivyte. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Many  ivyte  their  wives 
For  their  ain  thriftless  lives. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Alas  !  that  every  man  has  reason 
To  zvyte  his  countrymen  wi'  treason. 

— Burns  :  Scotch  Driuk. 

This  was  an  English  word  in  the  time  of  Chaucer, 
but  has  long  been  obsolete  except  in  Scotland. 

Wyteworthy,  blameable,  blameworthy. 
Wyter,  one  who  blames  ;  an  accuser, 

Yald,  sprightly,  active,  nimble,  alert ;  yald-ciited  (errone- 
ously s]3elled  yaul-ciited  in  Jamieson),  nimble  footed ; 
from  yald.,  nimble ;  and  cute,  an  ankle  : — 


464  POETRY   AND    HUMOUR 


Being  yaid  and  stout,  he  wheel'd  about, 
And  clove  his  head  in  twain. 

— Hogg's  Alouittain  Bard, 

Ya?tiiner,  Yaianer,  to  lament,  to  complain ;  from  the 
Teutonic  and  Flemish  jammer,  lamentation  ;  JamiJiern, 
to  complain  or  lament ;  jammervoll,  lamentable  : — 

We  winna,  shauna,  yaumerin^  )nrn 
Though  Fortune's  freaks  we  dree. 

—  Whistle  Binkie. 

In  Lancashire  and  the  North  of  England  yammer  is  used 
in  another  sense,  that  of  yearning  or  desiring  ardently  : — 

I  yaf}itner'd  to  hear  now  how  things  turned  out. 

Tim  Bobbin :  Lancashire  Dialect. 

And  the  woira  yammers  for  us  in  the  ground. 

— Waugh's  Lancashire  Songs, 

Yankee,  an  inhabitant  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
Vermont,  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  and  Maine,  the 
six  New  England  States  of  the  American  Union.  This 
epithet  is  often  erroneously  applied  in  England  to  all 
Americans,  though  it  is  repudiated  by  the  people  of 
the  Middle,  Southern,  and  Western  States.  It  is 
supposed  to  be  a  mispronunciation  of  English  by  the 
aboriginal  Indian  tribes,  on  the  first  colonization  of  the 
Continent.  Much  controversy  has  arisen  on  the  sub- 
ject, which  still  remains  undecided.  No  one,  how- 
ever, has  hitherto  remarked  that  the  Scottish  vernacular 
supplies  the  words  yank,  yanking,  which  signify  a  smart 
stroke ;  yauker,  an  incessant  speaker,  and  also  a  great 
falsehood ;    yanking,  active,  pushing,  speculative,  enter- 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  465 

f  -ising.  It  is  not  insisted  that  this  is  the  correct  etymo- 
logy, but  if  it  be  only  a  coincidence  it  merits  consideration. 
No  true  New  Englander  would  dissent  from  it  for  any 
other  than  philological  reasons,  in  which  it  is  certainly 
vulnerable,  though  on  moral  grounds  it  is  all  but 
unassailable. 

The  etymology  of  the  Scottish  words  has  not  been 
ascertained.  Jank  (pronounced  yank)  in  Dutch  and 
Flemish,  signifies  to  cry  out  lustily,  and  junger,  in  Ger- 
man, is  a  young  man,  the  English  yoimker :  but  neither 
of  these  words  can  account  for  yankie,  either  in  the 
Scottish  or  American  sense.  Danish  and  Swedish  afford 
no  clue.  In  Provincial  English,  yanks  are  a  species 
of  leather  gaiters  worn  by  agricultural  labourers,  which, 
according  to  Halliwell,  were  once  called  "  Bow  Yankies." 
But  this  cannot  be  accepted  as  the  origin,  unless  on  the 
supposition  that  at  the  time  of  the  emigration  of  the  first 
colonists  to  America,  the  term  signified  not  only  leather 
gaiters,  but  those  who  wore  them. 

Yap,  Yappish,  hungry,  eager,  brisk,  covetous  : — 

Right  yap  she  yoked  to  the  ready  feast, 
And  lay  and  ate  a  full  half-hour  at  least. 

—  Ross's  Helcnore. 

This  word  is  probably  derived  from  the  Gaelic  ^<z^,  or  gob, 
the  mouth, — whence  by  extension  of  meaning,  an  open 
mouth,  craving  to  be  filled.  The  English  word  gape, 
to  yawn,  or  open  the  mouth  wide,  is  from  the  same 
root.  The  eminent  tragedian,  Philip  Kemble,  always 
pronounced  gape  as  gakp,  not  gaipe,  and  the  late  W. 
C.  Macready  followed  his  example.      Jamieson  travels 

F  2 


466  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

very  far  north  to  find  the  derivation  in  the  Icelandic  gypa^ 
vorax  : — 

Although  her  wame  was  toom  and  she  grown  yap. 

— Ross's  Helen  ore. 

Though  bairns  may  pu'  when  yap  or  drouthy 
A  neep  or  bean,  to  taste  their  mouthy. 

But  a'  the  neeps  and  a'  the  beans, 

The  hips,  the  haws,  the  slaes,  the  geens 

That  e'er  were  pu'd  by  hungry  weans 

Could  ne'er  be  missed. 
By  lairds  like  you,  wi'  ample  means 

In  bank  and  kist. 
— ^James  Ballantine  :    To  the  Laird  of  Blackford  Hill. 

Yare,  a  word  still  used  by  Scottish  sailors,  but  obsolete 
in  literature,  signifying  ready,  alert,  heedful,  or  in  a  state 
of  readiness ;  used  by  Shakspeare  and  the  writers  of  his 
time : — 

Our  ship  is  tight  and  yare. 

—  Tempest,  act  v.,  scene  I. 

If  you  have  occasion  to  use  me  for  your  own  turn,  you  shall  find 
me  yare. 

— Measure  for  Measure,  act  iv.,  scene  2. 

Be  yare  in  thy  preparations,  for  thy  assailant  is  quick,  skilful,  and 
deadly. 

— Shakspeare  :  Twelfth  Night. 

Nares  derives  it  from  the  Saxon  gearwe,  paratus ;  but  the 
real  root  seems  to  be  the  Celtic  aire,  heed,  attention, 
alertness,  readiness  for  action  or  duty ;  as  in  the  modern 
Gaelic  phrase,  "  Thoir  an  aire,^'  pay  attention,  be  on  the 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH   LANGUAGE.  467 


alert ;  be  yare/  allied  to  the  French  gare/  or  the  English 
beware  ! 

Yatter  (a  corruption  of  the  English  chatter),  to  talk 
idly  and  incessantly ;  also,  to  complain  querulously,  and 
without  reason.  "She's  a  weary  yatter"  i.e.,  she's  a 
tedious  and  wearisome  gossip. —  Yatter  also  signifies  a 
confused  mass  or  heap,  and  is  synonymous  with  Hatter. 
(See  ante,  page  121.) 

Yaiid,  or  ^^faryaud  I"  an  interjection  or  call  by  a  shep- 
herd to  his  dog,  to  direct  his  attention  to  sheep  that  have 
strayed,  and  that  are  far  in  the  distance,  Yaud,  in  this 
sense,  as  cited  by  Jamieson,  seems  to  be  a  mispronuncia- 
tion or  misprint  oiyont !  or  yonder. 

Yeld,  or  Yell,  barren,  unfruitful.  In  Galloway,  accord- 
mg  to  Jamieson,  yald  signifies  niggardly.  The  etymology 
is  uncertain,  though  supposed  to  be  a  corruption  of  geld, 
to  castrate,  to  render  unproductive  : — 

A  yeld  soil,  flinty  or  barren  soil.  A  cow,  although  with  calf,  is 
said  to  gang  yeld  when  the  milk  dries  up.  A  yeld  nurse  is  a  dry 
nurse.  Applied  metaphorically  to  broth  without  flesh  meat  in  it 
(soupe  maigre). 

— Jamieson. 

A  yeld  sow  was  never  good  to  grices,  [i.e.,  a  barren  sow  was 
never  good  to  little  pigs,  or,  a  barren  step-mother  to  the  children  of 
her  husband  by  a  previous  wife.] 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Thence  country  wives,  in  toil  and  pain, 
May  plunge  and  plunge  the  kirn  in  vain, 
For  oh,  your  yellow  treasure's  ta'en 
By  witching  skill, 


468  POETRY    AND    HUMOUR 


And  dawtit,  twal-pint  Hawkie's  gaen 
Asyeirs  the  bull. 

— Burns  :  Address  to  the  Deil. 


Yestreen^  last  night,  or  yesterday  evening.  Yesier,  both 
in  Enghsh  and  Scotch,  was  used  as  a  prefix  to  signify 
time  past ;  as,  yester-year,  yester-month,  yester-week ;  but 
in  EngUsh,  its  use  has  in  modern  times  been  restricted  to 
day  and  night ;  and,  by  a  strange  surplusage  of  words,  to 
yesterday  night  instead  of  yester  night;  and  yesterday 
morning  instead  of  yester  morn.  In  Scotland,  its  use  is 
more  extended,  and  yestereen,  or  yestreen,  yesternoon, 
yesternight  are  employed  alike  in  poetic  style  and  in 
every-day  conversation.  The  word  is  from  the  German 
gestern  (g  pronounced  as  y)  and  the  Flemish  gisteni : — 

I  saw  the  new  moon,  late  yestreen, 

Wi'  the  auld  moon  in  her  arm, 
And  if  we  gang  to  sea,  master, 

I  fear  we'll  come  to  harm. 

— Sir  Patrick  Spens  :  Border  Minstrelsy. 

The  derivation  of  the  Teutonic  gestern  and  gistern  is  pro- 
bably from  the  Celtic  or  Gaelic  aosda,  aged  or  old ;  so 
that  yesterday,  in  contradiction  to  this  day,  or  the  new 
day,  would  signify  the  old  day,  the  day  that  is  past. 
Latin  hesternus. 

Yethar,  a  willow-wythe ;  also,  a  blow  with  a  switch ; 
probably  a  corruption  of  wytter,  a  stroke  with  a  wythe. 

Yevey,  greedy,  voracious,  clamorous  for  food.  Of 
doubtful  etymology,  though  possibly  from  the  Gaelic  eibh 
{ev)i  to  clamour. 


OF   THE   SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  469 

Ytrd-fast,  or  Earth-fast,  a  stone  well  sunken  in  the 
earth,  or  a  tree  fast  rooted  in  the  ground  : — 

The  axe  he  bears  it  hacks  and  tears, 
'Tis  formed  of  an  earth-fast  flint ; 
No  armour  of  knight  though  ever  so  wight 
Can  bear  its  deadly  dint. 

— Ley  den  :  The  Count  of  Keeldar — Minstrelsy 
of  the  Scottish  Border. 

A  yird-fast  or  insulated  stone,  enclosed  in  a  bed  of  earth,  is  sup- 
posed to  possess  peculiar  properties.  Its  blow  is  reckoned  uncom- 
monly severe. 

—Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Yirr,  the  growl  of  a  dog,  English  gurr.  Gurl, 
growl ;  gern,  to  grin  or  snarl  with  ill-nature  or  anger. 

Yoak,  to  look,  to  look  at ;  possibly  from  the  German 
aug,  the  Flemish  oog,  the  Latin  oatlus,  the  eye;  the 
English  ogle,  to  look  at : — 

Yoak  your  orlitch  [horloge],  look  at  your  watch  [or  clock]. 

— ^Jamieson. 

Yon.  The  use  of  yon  and  thon  in  the  sense  of  that,  is 
much  more  common  in  Scotland  than  in  England ;  as  in 
the  phrase,  "  Do  you  ken  yon  man  ?  "  do  you  know  that 
man  ?  It  is  also  used  for  yonder ;  as,  yon  hill,  for  yonder 
hill.  It  is  sometimes  pronounced  and  written  thon  ;  as 
in  the  following  anecdote  of  a  wilful  child,  narrated  by 
Dean  Ramsay  : — 

When  he  found  every  one  getting  soup  and  himself  omitted,  he 
demanded  soup,  and  said,  "If  I  dinna  get  it,  I'll  tell  thon."  Soup 
was  given  him.      At  last,  when  it  came  to  wine,  his  mother  stood 


470  POETRY   AND   HUMOUR 


firm  and  positively  refused.  He  then  became  more  vociferous  than 
ever  about  telling  tho7i ;  and  as  he  was  again  refused,  he  again 
declared,  "Now,  I'll  tell  thon"  and  roared  out,  "Ma  new  breaks 
were  made  out  o'  the  auld  curtains  ! " 


Yorne^  preterite  and  past  participle  oi  yare : — 

Ye'll  eat  and  drink,  my  merry  men, 

And  see  ye  be  weel  yorne. 
For  blaw  it  wind  or  blaw  it  weet, 

Our  gude  ship  sails  the  morn. 

— Ballad  of  Sir  Patrick  Spens. 

In  the  "Collection  of  Scottish  Ballads"  by  Robert 
Chambers,  the  word  yorne  is  printed  t/ior?ie,  an  evident 
misprint  or  error  of  the  copyist. 


Youk,  or    Yeuk,  to   itch ;  yoivky^  itchy.      From   the 
Teutonic /W^^«,  pronounced  yucken  : — 

Your  neck's  j/oukin'  for  a  St.  Johnstone  ribbon. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scois  Proverbs. 

(A  taunt  implying  that  a  man's  career  and  character  is 
such  as  to  merit  hanging,  and  that  he  is  nearly  ready  for 
it.  St.  Johnstone,  now  Perth,  was  the  assize  city — a 
ribbon  signifying  the  rope.) 

How  daddie  Burke  the  plea  was  cookin', 
If  Warren  Hastings'  neck  wds  yeukiti. 

— Burns  :  To  a  Gentleman  who  promised  him 
a  newspaper. 

Thy  auld  darned  fXt)0^  yeuks  with  joy. 

— Burns  :  To  Colonel  de  Peyster. 


OF   THE    SCOTTISH    LANGUAGE.  47 1 


A  parishioner  in  an  Ayrshire  village,  meeting  the  minister,  who 
had  just  returned  after  long  absence  on  account  of  ill  health,  congratu- 
lated him  on  his  convalesence,  and  added,  anticipatory  of  the  plea- 
sure he  would  have  in  hearing  him  preach  again — "Eh,  sir  !  I'm 

nnco  j'uckie  to  hear  a  blaud  o'  your  gab." 

— Dean  Ramsay. 

You/h'e,  a  name  formerly  given  to  the  police  in  Edin- 
burgh by  idle  boys  or  bad  characters.  "  A  low  term," 
says  Jamieson,  "  probably  formed  from  the  yowlmg,  or 
calling  out."  Was  it  not  rather  formed  from  the  Gaelic 
uallach,  proud,  haughty,  arrogant,  and  given  to  the  police 
derisively  by  the  blackguards  of  the  streets  when,  as  they 
thought,  they  were  interfered  with  unnecessarily,  or 
ordered  to  move  on  ?  Or  it  may  be  from  yoly^  the  French 
joli,  pretty  or  handsome,  used  contemptuously ;  as  in  the 
phrase,  "my  fine  fellow." 

Yotve,  a  ewe,  a  female  sheep,  a  lamb ;  ymvie,  a  ewe 
lamb  : — 

Ca'  the  yowes  to  the  knowes  [hills], 

Ca'  them  where  the  heather  grows, 

Ca'  them  where  the  burnie  rowes. 

My  bonnie  dearie. 

— Burns. 

An'  neist  my  yowie,  silly  thing, 
Gude  keep  her  frae  a  tether  string. 

— Burns  :  Poor  Mailie. 

Yowff,  to  bark  in  a  suppressed  or  a  feeble  manner ;  said 
of  a  dog  who  is  not  very  earnest  in  his  displeasure  : — 

Ye  puir  creature  you  !   what  needs  ye  yotvff  when  the  big  dog 

barks  ? 

— Laird  of  Logan, 


472  POETRY  AND   HUMOUR 

Yoza/,  to  howl  or  whine  as  a  dog ;  sometimes  written 
gow/ ;  from  the  Gaelic  ,§7«7,  or  gu/,  to  lament : — 

And  darkness  covered  a'  the  ha', 

Where  they  sat  at  their  meat, 
The  gray  dogs  yowling  left  their  food, 

And  crept  to  Henrie's  feet. 

— King  Henry  :   Border  Minstrelsy. 

Yule,  and  Beltain.  Yule  was  a  Druidical  festival  in 
honour  of  the  sun,  celebrated  at  the  winter  solstice,  in 
ages  long  anterior  to  the  Christian  era.  Beltain  was  a 
similar  festival,  held  on  the  first  of  May,  when  the  sacred 
fire  was  rekindled  from  the  sun's  rays  in  the  presence  of 
vast  multitudes,  and  with  all  the  imposing  ceremonial  of 
the  Druidical  worship. 

Both  of  these  rites  received  their  names  from  the 
Gaelic.  Yule,  about  the  etymology  of  which  there  has 
been  much  controversy,  was  named  in  honour  of  the  sun 
— the  source  of  all  lieat  and  life  upon  this  globe  ;  from 
uile,  all,  the  whole,  whence,  by  extension  of  meaning, 
the  whole  year,  ending  at  what  we  now  call  Christmas, 
and  which  in  early  times  signified  completion,  the  full 
turn  of  the  wheel  of  the  year.  The  Gaelic  cuidhil,  a 
wheel,  has  also  been  suggested  as  the  true  root  of  the 
word;  while  iul,  guidance,  knowledge,  has  found  favour 
with  other  etymologists,  because  on  that  day  the  assembled 
Druids,  in  their  groves  or  in  their  stone  circles,  laid  down 
rules  for  theguidance  of  the  people  during  the  coming  year. 
lul  oidche,  or  the  guide  of  night,  was  a  name  applied  by 
Ossian  to  the  Polar  star.  The  French  7ioel,  and  old  Eng- 
lish nawell,  names  for  Christmas  or  Yule,  are  also  from 
the  Gaelic  naomh,  holy,  and  /i,  a  day.    Jamieson,  in  citing 


OF  THE  SCOTTISH  LANGUAGE.  473 

the  northern  appellation  for  Odin,  as  ml-fader,  is  in  error 
in  translating  it  as  the  father  of  Yule,  or  Christmas,  instead 
of  All-Father,  or  father  of  all,  which  was  an  epithet  applied 
to  the  sun  as  the  Father  of  Light  and  Life.  Beltain  is 
derived  from  the  Druidical  Bel^  the  Biblical  Baal,  the 
Assyrian  Belus,  the  sun ;  and  tein,  the  fire.  On  the  eve 
of  May  Day,  the  Druids,  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony, 
mounted  to  the  tops  of  hills  to  kindle  fire  from  the  rays 
of  the  sun.  Ben  Ledi,  or  the  Hill  of  God,  in  Perthshire, 
was  one  of  the  principal  scenes  of  this  magnificent  cere- 
mony. Beltain  Een  is  still  a  festival  among  the  rural 
Scottish  population,  though  the  observances  (or  supersti- 
tions) of  the  time  are  fast  disappearing  under  the  chariot 
wheels  of  the  very  prosaic  incredulity  of  modern  times. 
Both  yule  and  beltain  survive  in  poetry  and  tradition  : — 

Langer  lasts  year  than  y^ile. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs. 

Duncan  Gray  cam'  here  to  woo 

On  Wy'Ca.Q  yule  night  when  we  were  fu'. 

— Burns  :  Duncan  Gray. 

The  morrow  was  May,  and  on  the  green 
They'd  lit  the  fires  of  Beltain  E'en, 
And  danced  around,  and  piled  it  high 
With  peat  and  heather  and  pine  logs  dry. 

—  The  Kelpie  of  Corrievreckan. 

Yum,  coagulate,  churn,  curdle  : — 

And  syne  he  set  the  milk  ower  het, 
And  sorrow  a  spark  of  it  wad  yurne. 

— The  Wife  of  Auchtermuchty. 


LOST  PRETERITES. 

Repri7tted  from  ^^Blackwood's  Magazine." 


A  LIVING  language  is  like  a  living  man.  It  has  its 
tender  infancy;  its  passionate  youth  ;  its  careful  maturity; 
its  gradual,  though  it  may  be  imperceptible,  decay ;  and, 
finally,  its  death.  After  death  comes  apotheosis,  if  it  has 
been  worthy  of  such  honour — or  burial  in  the  books, 
which,  like  the  remains  or  memorials  of  ancient  heroes, 
become  the  sacred  treasures  of  newer  ages.  All 
languages  pass  through  these  epochs  in  their  career. 
Sanscrit,  Greek,  and  Latin  are  familiar  examples  of  the 
death  and  sanctity  of  great  and  mighty  tongues  that 
were  once  living  powers  to  sway  the  passions  and  guide 
the  reason  of  men.  In  their  ashes  even  yet  live  the 
wonted  fires  that  scholars  love  to  rekindle.  The 
languages  of  modern  Europe  that  have  sprung  directly 
from  the  Latin  may  all  be  said  to  have  passed  their  in- 
fancy and  youth,  and  to  have  reached  maturity,  if  not  old 
age.  The  Celtic  languages — all  sprung  from  an  ancient 
Oriental  root,  and  which  include  Gaelic,  or  Erse,  Manx, 
Welsh,  and  Breton — are  in  the  last  stage  of  vitality, 
destined  to  disappear,  at  no  very  remote  period,  into  the 
books,  which  will  alone  preserve  their  memory.  Were 
it  not  for  Victor  Hugo,  and  some  recent  borrowings 
from  the  English,  it  might  be  said  that  French  had 
ceased  to  expand,  and  had  become  stereotyped  into  a 
form  no  longer  to  be  modified.  Spanish,  Portuguese, 
and  Italian  hold  their  own  ;  and  that  is  all  that  can  be 
said  of  them.  German,  and  the  languages  sprung  from 
the  same  root  and  stem,  contain  within  themselves  such 
immense  resources,  and  are  so  continually  evolving  out  of 


476  LOST   PRETERITES. 


their  rich  internal  resources  such  new  compounds,  if  not 
such  new  words,  as  to  free  them  from  that  reproach  of  stag- 
nation which  may  not  unjustly  be  applied  to  the  other 
great  tongues  which  we  have  enumerated.  But  English 
— which,  taken  all  in  all,  may  be  considered  by  far  the 
richest,  though  not  the  most  beautiful  or  the  most 
sonorous,  of  all  the  languages  spoken  in  our  day — is  yet 
in  its  vigorous  prime,  and  cannot  be  accused  of  exhibit- 
ing any  symptoms  of  decay.  It  is  doubtful  whether  it 
have  yet  reached  the  full  maturity  of  its  growth,  or 
whether  the  mighty  nations  now  existent  in  America,  or 
the  as  mighty  nations  which  are  destined  yet  to  arise  in 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  will  not,  as  time  rolls  on, 
and  new  wants  are  created,  new  circumstances  encoun- 
tered, and  new  ideas  evolved  out  of  the  progress  of 
science  and  civilisation,  add  many  thousands  of  new 
words  to  our  already  copious  vocabulary.  Other 
languages  are  dainty  in  the  materials  of  their  increment ; 
but  the  English  is,  like  man  himself,  omnivorous.  No- 
thing comes  much  amiss  to  its  hungry  palate.  All  the 
languages  of  the  earth  administer  to  its  wants.  It 
borrows,  it  steals,  it  assimilates  what  words  it  pleases 
from  all  the  points  of  the  compass,  and  asks  no  questions 
of  them,  but  that  they  shall  express  thoughts  and  describe 
circumstances  more  tersely  and  more  accurately  than  any 
of  the  old  words  beside  which  they  are  invited  to  take 
their  places.  The  beautiful  dialect  of  its  Scottish  brother 
has  given  it  strong  and  wholesome  food,  in  the  shape  of 
many  poetical  words,  which  it  is  not  likely  to  part  with. 
But  if  the  English  is  thus  perpetually  growing  and  gain- 
ing, it  is  at  the  same  time  perpetually  losing.  Were  it 
not  for  the  noble  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  for  Chaucer, 
Gower,  and  the  poets  of  the  Elizabethan  age,  it  would 
have  lost  still  more  than  it  has  of  its  early  treasures,  and 
would  have  been  Latinised  to  an  extent  that  would  have 
impaired  and  emasculated  it,  by  depriving  it  of  that 
sturdy  vernacular  which  is  the  richest  element  in  its 
blood,  and  best  serves  to  build  up  its  bone  and  muscle. 
If  few  languages  now  spoken  in  the  world  have  gained 


LOST   PRETERITES.  477 


SO  much  as  the  English  from  the  progress  of  civilisation, 
it  must  be  admitted,  at  the  same  time,  that  few  have  lost 
so  much,  and  lost  it  without  necessity.  It  has  been  said 
that  a  good  carpenter  is  known  as  much  by  the  shape  as 
by  the  quantity  of  his  chips ;  and  the  chips  that  the 
English  tongue  has  thrown  off  since  the  days  of  Piers 
Plotighman  to  our  own,  betoken,  both  by  quality  and 
by  quantity,  what  a  plethora  of  wealth  it  possesses,  and 
what  a  very  cunning  carpenter  Time  has  proved  in  work- 
ing with  such  abundant  materials. 

It  is  one  of  the  current  assertions  which,  once  started 
on  high  authority,  are  very  rarely  questioned,  that  the 
writings  of  Chaucer  are  a  "well  of  pure  English  un- 
defiled."  Chaucer,  though  so  ancient  in  our  eyes,  was  a 
neologist  in  his  own  day,  and  strove  rather  to  increase 
the  wealth  of  the  written  Enghsh,  of  which  he  was  so 
great  a  master,  by  the  introduction  of  words  from  the 
Norman-French,  little  understood  by  the  bulk  of  the 
people,  though  familiar  enough  to  the  aristocracy,  for 
whom  he  mainly  wrote,  than  to  fix  in  his  pages  for  ever 
the  strong  simple  words  of  his  native  Saxon.  The 
stream  of  English  in  his  writings  runs  pure  and  cool ; 
the  stream  of  Norman- French  runs  pure  and  bright  also  ; 
but  the  two  currents  that  he  introduced  into  his  song 
never  thoroughly  intermingled  in  the  language,  and  at 
least  nine-tenths  of  the  elegant  Gallicisms  which  he  em- 
ployed found  no  favour  with  successive  writers  ;  and  few 
of  them  have  remained,  except  in  the  earlier  poems  of 
Milton.  If  we  really  wish  to  discover  the  true  well  of 
English  undefiled,  where  the  stream  runs  clear  and  un- 
mixed, we  must  look  to  the  author  of  Piers  Ploughman 
rather  than  to  Chaucer.  We  shall  there  find  a  large 
vocabulary  of  strong  words,  such  as  are  plain  to  all  men's 
comprehension  at  the  present  day,  in  the  Bible  as  well  as 
in  the  common  speech  of  the  peasantry ;  and,  above  all, 
in  that  ancient  form  of  the  English  language  which  is 
known  as  the  Scottish  dialect,  and  which,  in  reality,  is 
the  oldest  English  now  spoken. 

Since  the  days  of  Piers  Plougluiian^  a  work  invaluable 


478  LOST   PRETERITES. 


to  every  English  and  Scottish  philologist,  the  spoken 
language  of  the  peasantry  has  undergone  but  few  changes 
as  regards  words,  but  very  many  changes  as  regards 
terminations  and  inflections.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
language  of  literature  and  polite  society  has  undergone 
changes  so  vast  that  uneducated  people  are  scarcely  able 
to  understand  the  phraseology  that  occurs  in  the  master- 
pieces of  our  great  authors,  or  the  Sunday  sermons  of 
their  pastors,  delivered,  as  the  saying  is,  "above  their 
heads,"  in  words  that  are  rarely  or  never  employed  in 
their  everyday  hearing.  Among  this  class  survive  large 
numbers  of  verbs  as  well  as  of  inflections  that  ought 
never  to  have  been  allowed  to  drop  out  of  literature,  and 
which  it  only  needs  the  efforts  of  a  few  great  writers  and 
orators  to  restore  to  their  original  favour. 

Among  the  losses  which  the  modern  English  language 
has  undergone  are,  first,  the  loss  of  the  plurals  in  7i  and 
in  e7i,  and  the  substitution  of  the  plural  in  s  ;  secondly, 
the  present  particle  in  and,  for  which  we  have  substituted 
the  nasal  and  disagreeable  itig ;  thirdly,  the  loss  of  the 
French  negative  tie,  as  in  7iill,  for  '  I  will  not ;'  noiild,  for 
'  I  would  not ;'  «'«?;/,  for  '  I  am  not ;'  and  of  which  the 
sole  trace  now  remaining  is  '  willy-nilly ;'  and,  fourthly, 
the  substituting  of  the  preterite  in  d,  as  in  loved  and 
admir^^,  for  the  older  and  much  stronger  preterite 
formed  by  a  change  in  the  vowel  sound  of  the  infinitive 
and  the  present,  as  in  run,  ran  ;  bite,  bit ;  speak,  spoke  ; 
take,  took  ;  and  many  others  that  stiU  survive.  And  not 
only  has  the  language  lost  the  strong  preterite  in  a  great 
variety  of  instances  where  it  would  have  been  infinitely 
better  to  have  retained  it,  but  it  has  lost  many  hundred 
preterites  altogether,  as  well  as  many  whole  verbs,  which 
the  illiterate  sometimes  use,  but  which  literature  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  has  either  ignored  or  despised. 
Of  all  the  nouns  that  formerly  formed  their  plural  in  «, 
as  the  German  or  Saxon  nouns  still  for  the  most  part  do, 
very  few  survive — some  in  the  Bible,  some  in  poetical 
composition,  some  in  the  common  conversation  of  the 
peasantry,  and  some,  but  very  few,  in  polite  literature. 


LOST    PRETERITES.  479 


Among  them  maybe  mentioned  'oxen,'  for  oxes;  'kine,' 
for  cows  ;  '  shoon,'  for  shoes  ;  '  hosen,'  for  stockings  ; 
'  een,'  for  eyes  ;  '  housen,'  for  houses ;  and  the  words,  as 
common  to  the  vernacular  as  to  Hterature,  'men,' 
'women,'  'brethren,'  and  'children.'  In  America,  the 
word  '  sistern  '  as  a  companion  to  brethren,  survives  in 
the  conventicle  and  the  meeting-house.  '  Lamben  '  and 
'thumben,'  for  'lambs'  and  'thumbs,'  were  comparatively 
euphemistic  words  ;  but  thumbs  and  lambs,  and  every 
noun  which  ends  with  a  consonant  in  the  singular,  are 
syllables  which  set  music,  and  sometimes  pronunciation, 
at  defiance.  What  renders  the  matter  worse  is,  that  the 
s  in  the  French  plural,  from  which  this  perversion  of  the 
English  language  was  adopted,  is  not  sounded,  and  that 
the  plural  is  really  marked  by  the  change  of  the  definite 
article,  as  k  champ,  les  champs.  Thus  in  borrowing  an 
unpronounced  consonant  from  the  French,  in  order  to 
pronounce  it  the  English  have  adulterated  their  language 
with  a  multitude  of  sibilations  alien  to  its  spirit  and 
original  structure.  The  substitution  of  j'  for  eth  as  the 
terminal  of  the  present  person  singular  of  every  verb  in 
the  language  is  an  aggravation  of  the  evil.  If  this 
change  had  been  repudiated  by  our  forefathers,  a  grace 
much  needed  would  have  been  retained  in  the  language. 
Gradually,  too,  the  English  language  has  lost  the  large 
number  of  diminutives  which  it  formerly  possessed,  and 
which  are  still  common  in  the  English  dialect.  The 
English  diminutives  in  ordinary  use  in  the  nursery  are 
many,  but  are  chiefly  employed  in  the  pet  names  of 
children,  as  '  Willie,'  for  little  William  ;  '  Annie,'  for  little 
Ann  ]  and  so  forth.  The  diminutives  belonging  to 
literature  are  few ;  and  if  we  write  '  darling,'  for  little 
dear  ;  '  lordling,'  for  a  small  lord  ;  'mannikin,'  for  a  very 
small  man;  and  such  words  as  'gosling,'  'duckling,' 
'  kitten,'  we  have  pretty  nearly  exhausted  the  list.  But 
formerly  almost  every  monosyllabic  noun  had  its  lawful 
diminutive,  as  it  has  to  this  day  in  the  Scottish  dialect, 
where  such  words  as  '  housie,'  '  wifie,'  '  birdie,'  doggie,' 
'  bairnie,'    '  mannie,'    'bookie,'    'lassie,'    'lammie,'    and 


480  LOST   PRETERITES. 


hundreds  of  others,  are  constantly  employed.  Every 
Scotsman  understands  the  phrase  "a  bonnie  weelassiekie" 
in  which  there  are  no  less  than  three  diminutives  piled 
one  upon  the  other,  to  increase  the  tenderness  of  an  ex- 
pression which  ceased  to  be  English  four  hundred  years 
ago. 

Among  other  losses  of  the  English  from  which  the 
Scottish  language  has  not  suffered  to  the  same  extent  are 
the  plural  in  en  of  the  present  tenses  of  all  the  verbs. 
We  \oven  and  we  smik//  would  serve  many  rhythmical 
needs,  and  administer  to  many  poetic  elegancies  that  the 
modern  forms  in  English  do  not  supply. 

"  The  persons  plural,"  observes  Ben  Jonson,  a  Scots- 
man, in  his  English  Grammar — a  work  by  no  means  so 
well  known  as  his  poetry — "keep  the  termination  of  the 
first  person  singular.  In  former  times,  till  about  the 
reign  of  King  Henry  VIIL,  they  were  wont  to  be  formed 
by  adding  en  ;  thus,  '  loven,'  '  sayen,'  *  complainen.' 
But  now  (whatsoever  is  the  cause)  it  hath  quite  grown 
out  of  use.  Albeit  (to  tell  you  my  opinion)  I  am 
persuaded  that  the  lack  thereof,  well  considered,  will  be 
found  a  great  blemish  to  our  tongue." 

But  of  all  the  losses  which  the  language  has  sustained, 
not  alone  for  poetry,  but  for  oratory,  that  of  many  useful 
verbs,  some  of  which  are  still  existing  in  Scottish  par- 
lance, and  of  the  ancient  preterites  and  past  participles  of 
many  old  verbs  of  which  the  infinitives  and  present 
tenses  still  hold  their  places,  is  the  most  to  be  deplored. 
This  loss  began  early;  and  that  the  process  is  still  in 
operation  in  the  present  day,  is  manifest  from  the  fact 
that  many  preterites  written  in  the  best  books  a.nd 
spoken  in  the  best  society  forty  years  ago,  are  dropping 
out  of  use  before  our  eyes.  We  constantly  find  bid  for 
bade — 'he  bids  me  now;'  'he  bid  me  yesterday;'  dare 
for  durst — '  I  told  him  I  dare  not  do  it  ;'  need  for  needed 
— '  it  was  clear  to  me  a  year  ago  that  he  need  not  perform 
his  promise ;'  eat  for  ate  or  etl — '  he  eat  his  dinner ;'  bet 
for  betted — '  he  bet  me  a  thousand  to  one.'  The  verbs  /^ 
let,  to  cast,  and  to  put,  sccni  to  have  enjoyed  no  preterite 


LOST   PRETERITES.  48 1 


during  the  last  two  hundred  years  in  England,  though  in 
Scottish  literature,  both  of  the  past  and  the  present,  their 
preterites  are  as  common  as  their  infinitives  and  present 
tenses.  Must,  in  English,  is  equally  devoid  of  the 
infinitive,  the  preterite,  and  the  future  ;  while  can  has  a 
preterite,  but  neither  infinitive  nor  future.  For  what 
reasons  these  and  similar  losses  have  occurred  in  English, 
it  might  be  interesting  to  inquire,  though  it  might  possibly 
lead  us  into  metaphysical  mazes  were  we  to  ask 
why  an  Englishman  who  may  say  '  I  can '  and  '  I 
could,'  must  not  say  '  I  will  can,'  but  must  resort 
to  the  periphrase  of  '  I  will  be  able,'  to  express 
power  in  futurity ;  or  why  the  sense  of  present  duty 
and  obligation  implied  in  the  words  '  I  must,'  cannot  be 
expressed  by  the  same  verb  if  the  duty  be  bygone  or 
future,  as  '  I  inusted,'  or  '  I  will  vmsf,'  but  have  to  be 
translated,  as  it  were,  into  *  I  was  obliged,'  or  '  I  will  be 
obliged,'  to  do  such  and  such  a  thing  hereafter.  These, 
however,  are  losses,  whatever  may  be  their  occult  causes, 
which  can  never  again  be  supplied,  and  which  at  our  time 
of  day  it  is  useless  to  lament. 

The  loss  which  most  immediately  affects  the  poetical 
power  of  modern  English  is  that  of  the  many  preterities 
and  past  participles  of  ancient  verbs  that  are  still  in  use, 
and  of  many  good  verbs  in  all  their  tenses  which  without 
reason  have  been  left  for  vernacular  use  to  Scotland,  and 
have  not  been  admitted  to  the  honours  of  literature, 
except  in  the  poems  of  Robert  Burns  and  the  novels  of 
Sir  Walter  Scott.  These  preterites  ought  not  to  be  lost 
— they  are  not  dead  but  sleeping — and  only  need  the 
fostering  care  of  two  or  three  writers  and  speakers  of 
genius  and  influence  to  be  revived.  They  formed  the 
bone  and  pith  of  the  language  of  our  forefathers,  and  the 
beauty  and  strength  of  the  Bible  in  many  of  its  noblest 
passages,  and  particularly  commend  themselves  to  us  in 
Shakespeare,  and  other  Scottish  writers. 

Axe,  to  inquire.  This  was  the  original  and  is  the 
legitimate  form  of  the  verb  now  written  and  pronounced 
ask,  and  it, is  not  only  to  be  heard  in  colloquial  use  all 

G  2 


482  LOST    PRETERITES. 


over  England,  but  to  be  found  in  our  earliest  writers,  with 
the  inflexions  axed  and  axen  : — 

Envy  with  heavy  harte 
Axeci  after  Thrifte. 

—  Vision  of  Piers  Ploughman. 

If  he  axe  a  fish. 

— Wickliffe's  Bible. 

Axe  not  why. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Miller'' s  Tale. 

For  the  purposes  of  lyrical  poetry  and  musical  com- 
position, the  past  participle  of  this  verb,  if  reintroduced 
into  literature,  would  be  a  vast  improvement  upon  the 
harsh  sound  asked,  which  no  vocalist  can  pronounce 
without  a  painful  gasp. 


Bid,  and  its  derivative  forbid.  The  ancient  preterite 
and  past  [jarticiple  of  this  verb  were  bade  and  bidden,  for- 
bade TiXL^  forbidden.  Both  of  these  inflections  are  threat- 
ened with  extinction ; — for  what  offence  it  is  impossible 
to  surmise.     Shakespeare  says, — 

The  very  moment  that  he  bade  me  do  it. 

That  our  modern  writers  do  not  follow  the  example  of 
Shakespeare,  and  conform  to  the  rules  of  good  English, 
may  appear  from  the  following  examples  : — 

The  competition  is  so  sharp  and  general  that  the  leader  of  to- 
day can  never  be  sure  that  he  will  not  be  outbid  to-morrow. — 
Quarterly  Review,  April  1S68. 

Mr.  Charles  1  )ickens  has  finally  bid  farewell  to  I'hiladelphia. — 
Times,  March  4,  1868. 

Uncertain  even  at  that  epoch  (1864)  of  Austria's  fidelity,  Prussia 
/'/(/high  for  (Jerman  leadership.— 7 iwfj-,  April  9,  1S68. 

He  called  his  servants  and  bid  them  procure  firearms.  —  Times, 
letter  from  Dublin,  .March  2,  1868. 

James  the  l''irst,  besides  writing  a  book  against  tobacco,  forbid 
its  use  by  severe  penalties.— Zb^^arrt?,  by  D.  King,  M.D. 


LOST   PRETERITES.  48;; 


Beat,  beaten.  "  The  preterite  of  this  verb,"  says  Walker, 
in  his  Pronouncing  Dictionary,  "is  uniformly  pronounced 
by  the  English  like  the  present  tense."  "  I  think,"  says 
Dr.  Johnson  to  Home  Tooke,  in  one  of  the  imaginary 
conversations  of  Savage  Landor,  "  that  I  have  somewhere 
seen  the  preterite  bate^  "  I  am  afraid,"  replied  Tooke, 
"  of  reminding  you  where  you  probably  met  with  the  word. 
The  Irishman  in  Fielding's  Tom  Jones  says  'he  bate  me.'" 
Johnson  repUed,  "  that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  employ 
the  word  in  grave  composition  ;  "  and  Tooke  acquiesced 
in  the  decision,  justifying  it  by  a  statement  of  the  fact, 
which,  however,  he  did  not  prove,  "that  authors  much 
richer  both  in  thought  and  expression  than  any  now  living 
or  recently  deceased  have  done  so."  Children,  who  often 
make  preterites  of  their  own,  in  this  respect  acting  un- 
consciously upon  the  analogies  of  the  language,  often  say 
beti  for  did  beat.  And  the  children,  it  would  appear,  are 
correct,  if  the  following  from  Piers  Ploughman  be  con- 
sidered good  English  : — 

He  laid  on  me  with  rage 

And  hitte  me  under  the  ear  ; 

He  buffeted  me  so  about  the  mouthe 

That  out  my  teeth  he  bette. 

In  Ross's  Helenore — a  perfect  storehouse  of  Anglo-Saxon 
words  current  in  Aberdeenshire,  Kincardineshire,  the 
Mearns,  and  the  north-east  of  Scotland — we  find, — 

Baith  their  hearts  bett  vvi'  the  common  stound, 
And  had  nae  paiii,  but  pleasure  in  the  wound. 

This  preterite  might  well  be  revived ;  it  is  sadly  wanted, 
as  witness  the  following  passage  from  Mr.  Disraeli's 
Vivian  Grey  :  "  Never  was  she  so  animated  ;  never  had 
she  boasted  that  her  pulse  beat  more  melodious  music,  or 
her  lively  blood  danced  a  more  healthful  measure."  If 
'  danced '  (a  preterite),  why  not  bett,  as  Piers  Ploughman 
has  it  ?  The  following  recent  example  of  the  present  for 
the  past  participle  beaten,  is  wholly  unjustifiable  : — 


484  LOST    PRETERITES. 


They  were  stoned,  and  the  horse  in  their  vehicle  beat  severely. — 
Temple  Bar  Magazine,  March  1869. 

Bake,  boke,  buzk,  beuk,  boken,  to  bake.  Both  the  pre- 
terite and  the  past  participle  of  this  verb  are  lost  to  litera- 
ture, though  they  survive  in  the  rural  dialects  of  Scotland 
and  the  north  of  England.  The  language  possesses  but 
few  trochaic  rhymes,  and  in  this  respect  boken  might  do 
good  service  to  many  a  poet  at  his  wits'  end  for  a  rhyme 
to  '  broken  '  and  '  token  ': — 

They  never  beuk  a  good  cake,  but 
May  bake  a  bad  one. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scots  Proverbs. 

Betide,  betid,  from  tide,  to  happen. — The  preterite  is 
lost.     It  occurs  both  in  J^iers  Ploughman  and  in  Chaucer  : 

Thee  should  never  have  iidde  so  fair  a  grace. 

— Canterbury  Tales. 

Blend,  blent,  to  mingle.  The  preterite  of  this  verb 
properly  preserved  by  the  i^octs,  but  seems  to  have  entirely 
given  way  in  prose  and  in  ordinary  speecli  to  'blended.' 
Any  reason  for  the  change  it  is  impossible  to  discover ; 
for  if  it  be  correct  to  say  '  blended,'  it  would  be  equally 
correct  to  say  'spended,'  'lended,'  or  'rended.'  This 
form  of  the  preterite  in  the  verb  '  to  mend  '  has  properly 
been  superseded  by  '  mended,'  in  order  to  avoid  the  con- 
fusion that  would  be  caused  in  the  use  of  the  verb  '  to 
mean,'  which  has  its  proper  preterite  in  '  meant.'  Bryon 
uses  blent  with  fine  effect  in  his  noble  lines  on  The  Battle 
of  Waterloo: — 

Rider  and  horse,  friend,  foe,  in  one  red  burial  blent. 


Bren  or  brend,  brent  or  brand,  to  burn.  This  verb  is 
lost,  though  it  might  well  have  been  retained  in  the  lan- 
guage. "  A  brand  plucked  from  the  burning  "  is  almost 
its  sole  remnant : — 


LOST   PRETERITES.  485 


Bring  in  better  wood, 
And  blow  it  till  it  brend. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

JBhn,  Man,  to  cease,  to  stop  : — 

And  so  he  did  or  that  thej'  went  atwin, 
Till  he  had  turned  him  he  could  not  hiin. 

— Chaucer  :  The  CJianones'  Yemaii's  Tale. 

Her  tears  did  never  blin. 

— Nares  :  Rovicits  and  Jtdictta. 

One  while  then  the  page  he  went, 

Another  while  he  ranne, 
Till  he'd  o'ertaken  King  Estmere, 

I  wis  he  never  blanne. 

— Percy's  Rcliqiies :  King  Estntei-e. 


Brest.,  brast,  to  burst : — 

Have  thou  my  truth,  till  that  mine  herte  bresi. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Franklein's  Tale. 

The  mayor  smote  Cloudeslee  with  his  bill. 
His  buckler  he  bj-asi  in  two. 

— Percy's  Reliques:  Adam  Bell, 
Clyin  of  the  ClottgJi,  and 
William  of  Cloudeslee. 


B?isk,  busked,  to  adorn,  to  dress,  to  make  ready  ;  from 
the  Gaelic  busg^  to  dress,  busgadh,  a  head-dress,  an  orna- 
ment : — 

Btisk  ye,  my  merry  men  all, 
And  John  shall  go  with  me. 

— Percy's  Reliques  :  Robin  Hood  and 
Guy  of  Gisborne. 

The  king's  bowmen  busked  them  blythe. 

— Percy's  Reliques  .  Adam  Bell, 
Clym  of  the  Clougli,  and 
William  of  Cloiideslee, 


486  LOST    PRETERITES. 


The  noble  baron  whet  his  courage  hot, 
And  busked  him  boldly  to  the  dreadful  fight. 

— Fairfax  :   Translation  of  Tasso. 

Brisk  ye,  busk  ye,  my  bonnie,  bonnie  bride. 

— Hamilton  :  Braes  0'  Yarrow. 

A  bonnie  bride  is  soon  buskit. 

Allan  Ramsay's  Scotch  Proverbs. 

Cast,  to  throw.  This  verb  in  English  has  lost  its  pre- 
terite coosi,  and  its  past  participle  casten.  Both  survive 
in  Scotland  and  the  north  of  England  : — 

They  coost  kevils  them  amang 

Wha  should  to  the  green  wood  gang. 

Mhistrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border. 

Burns  employs  the  preterite  in  The  Death  and  Dying 
Words  of  Poor  Mailie  : — 

As  Mailie  and  her  lamb  thegither, 
Were  ae  day  nibbling  on  the  tether, 
Upon  her  cloot  she  coost  a  hitch. 

And  again  in  his  immortal  song  of  Duncan  Gray : — 

Maggie  coosi  her  head  fu'  high, 
Looked  asklent  and  unco  skcigh, 
Gart  poor  Duncan  stand  abeigh. 

In  the  Scottish  dialect  "  to  castoyxt  "  means  "to  fall  out," 
"  to  disagree  ;  "  and  the  phrase  "  they  have  casten  out  " 
is  of  constant  occurrence. 


Conne  or  can,  to  be  able.  Neither  the  infinitive  nor  the 
past  participle  of  this  verb  seems  to  have  been  used 
since  the  days  of  Chaucer,  who  says,  "  I  shall  not  cojine 
answer;"  and  in  the  liotnance  of  the  Rose  has  "Thou 
shalt  never  co7me  knowen." 

Cut.  This  verb  never  ajipears  to  have  had  a  preterite, 
though  a  past  participle  ykitt  or  ykiitt  is  cited  in  Herbert 


LOST    PRETERITES.  487 


Coleridge's  vocabulary  of  the  Older  Words  in  the  English 
Language.  Whence  or  when  the  word  was  introduced 
into  English  no  lexicographer  has  ever  yet  been  able  to 
determine.  It  is  neither  derived  from  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
the  French,  the  Greek,  nor  the  Latin,  and  is  therefore, 
by  the  exhaustive  process,  supposed  by  the  most  recent 
compilers  of  dictionaries  to  have  been  borrowed  from  the 
Gaelic.  A  near  approach  to  it  occurs  in  the  French 
coiiteau,  a  knife  or  instrument  to  cut  with  ;  in  the  Italian 
coltello ;  and  in  the  English  and  Scottish  coulter,  the 
ploughshare,  or  knife  of  the  plough.  It  may  be  that  the 
original  word  was  kit,  whence  ykitt,  cited  by  Mr.  Cole- 
ridge, and  that  it  formed  its  preterite  by  cat  and  cut. 
Some  little  support  for  this  idea  may  be  found  in  the 
word  cat  as  applied  in  "  (r(7/-o'-nine-tails,"  a  weapon  that 
cuts  pretty  severely ;  and  in  kit-cat,  as  applied  to 
portraits  that  are  not  exactly  full-length,  but  cut  to 
three-quarters  length,  as  those  painted  for  the  celebrated 
"  Kit-Kat  Club." 

Clead  or  clede,  clad,  to  clothe.  The  preterite  and  past 
participle  remain  in  poetical  use  as  well  as  in  dignified 
prose,  while  the  infinitive  and  the  present  and  future  tenses 
have  been  superseded  by  the  much  harsher  word 
'  clothe.' 

Clepe,  clept,  yclept,  to  call,  to  name.  The  past  participle 
of  this  verb  remains  for  the  use  of  bad  writers,  and 
sometimes  of  good  writers  who  compose  mock  heroics  : — 

The  compaignie  of  comfort, 
Men  cleped  it  some  tyme. 

— Piers  Plottghman. 

Peraventure  in  thilk  large  book 

Which  that  men  cle/^e  the  heaven  ywritten  was 

With  stars. 

— Chaucer  :  The  Man  of  Lawes"  Tale. 

They  clepe  us  drunkards. 

— Shakespeare  :  Hamlet. 


488  LOST    PRETERITES. 


As  hounds  and  greyhounds,  mongrels,  spaniels,  curs, 
Shoughs,  water-rugs,  and  demi- wolves  are  deped 
All  by  the  name  of  dogs. 

— Shakespeare  :  Macbeth. 

Mr.  Halliwell,  in  his  Archaic  Dictmiary,  says  that  the 
word  is  still  used  by  boys  at  play  in  the  eastern  counties, 
who  clepe  or  call  the  sides  at  a  game.  Many  newspaper 
writers  in  the  present  day,  at  a  loss  for  a  word  for  calling 
or  naming  diVi  inanimate  object,  talk  of  the  "■  christe?iing' 
of  a  church,  a  street,  a  battle,  or  any  inanimate  object. 
An  example  occurs  in  an  editorial  article  of  the  Times, 
July  12,  1869,  on  the  removing  of  the  grating  from  the 
ladies'  gallery  in  the  House  of  Commons — "  '  the  grate 
question,'  as  Mr.  Lowe  c/iristencd  it."  In  this  and  other 
instances  the  old  word  clepe,  in  default  of  call  or  name, 
would  be  an  improvement,  if  it  were  possible  to  revive  it. 

ClejH,  clam,  clammed,  to  perish  of  hunger,  to  starve. 
'  To  starve '  originally  meant  '  to  die,'  as  we  still  say 
of  a  person  that  he  is  'starving  with  cold.'  The  word 
has  lately  come  to  signify  "  to  die  for  want  of  food,"  and 
has  produced  a  very  ugly  and  incorrect  hybrid  in  the 
word  '  starvation,'  said  to  have  been  first  used  by  Mr. 
Dundas,  the  first  Lord  Melville,  who,  as  Horace  Wal- 
pole  informs  us,  received  afterwards  the  nick-name  of 
"  .Starvation  Dundas."  The  word  at  the  time  was  sup- 
posed to  be  an  Americanism.  It  has  unfortunately 
fixed  itself  into  our  literature  ;  but  the  original  and  much 
better  word  clem  and  its  derivatives  still  hold  their  ground 
in  Lancashire  and  the  north  of  England.  The  word 
clcvi  does  not  occur  in  Shakespeare,  but  both  Ben  Jpnson 
and  Massingcr  use  it : — 

Hard  is  the  choice  when  the  valiant  must  eat  their  arms  or  clem. 

— Ben  Jonson  :  Every  Man  out 
of  his  Humour. 

I  canna  eat  stones  and  turfs.      What !  will  he  clem  me  and  my 
followers  ?     Ask  him,  will  ho  clevi  me  ? 

— IJen  Jonson  :   The  Poetaster. 


LOST   PRETERITES.  489 


My  entrails  were  clammed  with  a  perpetual  fast. 

— Massinger  :  The  Roman  Actor. 

"  Let  US  all  clem"  said  a  speaker  at  a  public  meeting 
at  Manchester,  during  the  American  civil  war,  "rather 
than  help  the  cause  of  slavery."  "I  would  rather  clem 
than  go  to  the  workhouse,"  is  still  a  common  and  honour- 
able expression  in  Lancashire. 

Clip,  clap,  clippe,  to  embrace,  to  fondle.  Before  the 
English  language  borrowed  from  the  French  the  word 
'  embrace,'  from  emhrasser,  to  clasp  in  the  arms,  this 
verb  was  in  constant  use.  It  occurs  in  Piers  Plough?nan, 
and  in  Chaucer,  and  had  not  fallen  out  of  fashion  or 
favour  in  the  days  of  Shakespeare  : — 

Clippe  we  in  covenant,  and  each  of  us  clippe  other. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

He  kisseth  her  and  clippeth  her  full  oft. 

— Chaucer  :  The  Merchant's  Tale. 

Worse  than  Tantalus  is  her  annoy, 
To  clip  Elysium  and  yet  lack  her  joy. 

—Shakespeare  :   Venus  and  Adonis. 

Then  embraces  his  son,  and  then  again  he  worries  his  daughter 
with  clipping  her. 

— Shakespeare  :  Wintei-''s  Tale. 

Oh  let  me  clip  ye  in  arms  as  round  as  when  I  woo'd  ! 

— Shakespeare  :  Coriolanus. 

The  lusty  vine,  not  jealous  of  the  ivy, 
Because  she  clips  the  elm. 

— Beaumont  and  Fletcher. 

The  preterite,  once  common,  survives  to  this  day  in 
the  form  of  an  infinitive  and  of  a  noun,  but  in  both  too 
offensive  to  modesty  to  be  further  mentioned. 

Crine,  crojie,  cnmketi,  to  shrivel  from  heat,  frost,  or 
sickness.      This    verb,    with    all    its    declensions,    has 


490  LOST    PRETERITES. 


perished,  and  only  survives  in  its  diminutive,  to  crinkle. 
In  this  last  form  it  is  rather  of  the  middle  ages  than  of 
our  own.  See  the  ballad  of  the  "  Boy  and  the  Mantle  " 
in  Percy's  Reliques. 

Chirm,  charm,  chirm,  to  sound  like  the  murmur 
or  sound  of  a  multiplicity  of  birds.  Mr.  Haliwell,  in  his 
Archaic  Dictiojiary,  defines  the  word  to  mean  the 
melancholy  undertone  of  a  bird  previous  to  a  storm. 
Nares,  in  his  Glossary,  has  char  re,  to  make  a  confused 
noise,  a  word  current  in  some  parts  of  England.  The 
word  is  common  in  Scotland,  though  almost  obsolete  in 
the  south  : — 

Small  birds  with  ckirming  and   with  cheeping  changed  their 
song. 

— Gawin  Douglas's  translation  of  the  ^neid. 

At  last  the  kindly  sky  began  to  clear, 

The  birds  to  chirm,  and  daylight  to  appear. 

— Ross's  Hdenore. 

Milton  makes  Eve  speak  of  the  '■'charm  of  earliest  birds," 
a  phrase  which  has  been  misinterpreted  to  mean  the 
charming  (in  the  modern  sense)  song  of  the  birds,  while 
it  really  means  chirm  (in  the  old  English  sense),  the 
confused  and  intermingled  song  of  all  the  morning  birds. 

Clo7it,  clouted,  to  msnd,  to  put  a  patch  upon,  from  the 
Gaelic  dud.  The  verb  survives  in  Scotland,  but  has 
perished  out  of  modern  English  literature,  although 
Shakespeare  used  it : — 

I  thought  he  slept,  and  put 

My  clouted  brogues  from  off  my  feet,  whose  rudeness 

Answered  my  steps  too  loud. 

— Cymbeline. 

Many  sentences  of  one  meaning  clouted  up  together. — Roger 
Ascham. 

Clout  the  auld,  the  new  are  dear,  My  joe  Janet. 

— Burns. 


LOST   PRETERITES.  49 1 

Daff^  daft,  to  make  a  fool  of,  to  play  the  fool.  Daffe 
in  Chaucer  signifies  a  fool ;  and  in  the  Scottish  and 
North  English  dialect  a  daft  man  signifies  a  lunatic,  or 
one  who  has  been  befooled.  Daffing  signifies  foolish 
fun  or  merriment.  In  the  scene  between  Leonato  and 
Claudio  in  Much  Ado  about  Nothing,  when  Claudio  de- 
clines to  fight  the  old  man,  and  says, — 

Away  !  away  !  I  will  not  have  to  do  with  you. 

Leonato  replies, — 

Canst  thou  so  daffxae.  ?     Thou  hast  killed  my  child. 

Both  Mr.  Charles  Knight  and  Mr.  Howard  Staunton, 
following  in  the  track  of  other  Shakespearean  editors, 
explain  daff  in  this  passage  to  mean  doff,  ox  put  off.  The 
true  meaning  is  to  befoot,  as  the  word  is  used  in  Chaucer. 
When,  elsewhere,  Shakespeare  says  of  Prince  Henry, — 

Thou  madcap  Prince  of  Wales,  that  daffed  the  world  aside, 

the  meaning  of  the  word  is  the  same.  The  "madcap" 
did  not  dofft\\Q  world  aside,  for  in  this  sense  the  expres- 
sion_^would  be  pleonastic,  but  daffed  ox  fooled  or  jested  it 
aside,  as  a  madcap  would. 

Dare,  or  durst,  dared.  The  tendency  of  our  mo- 
dern and  colloquial  English,  as  well  as  of  our  current 
literature,  is  to  ignore  the  two  preterites  and  the  past 
participle  of  this  word,  and  to  write  and  say  dare  where 
durst  or  dared  would  be  more  correct.  There  is  also  a 
tendency  to  omit  the  s  in  the  third  person  singular  of  the 
present  tense.  The  following  are  examples  of  each 
inaccuracy  : — 

Neither  her  maidens  nor  the  priest  dare  speak  to  her  for  half  an 
hour  {durst  speak  to  her,  ik.z.)—Hereward  the  Wake,  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Kingsley. 

The  Government  dare  [durst]  not  consent  to  the  meeting  being 

held No   one   can   leel   anything   but   contempt   for   a 

Government  which  meanly  attempts  to  gain  a  cheap  reputation  for 


492  LOST   PRETERITES. 


firmness  by  fulminations  which  it  dare  [dares]  not  carry  out ;  and 
by  prohibiting  meetings  which  it  dare  [dares]  not  prevent. — Morn- 
ing Star  on  the  Hyde  Park  riots,  1866. 

There  is  no  reason  why  this  verb  should  be  deprived 
of  its  declensions,  and  no  careful  writer  ought  to  fall  into 
the  errors  just  cited. 

Deem,  to  judge.  This  word,  which  now  signifies  *  to 
think '  rather  than  '  to  judge,'  and  which  has  lost  its  old 
preterite  doom,  formerly  implied  the  delivery  of  a  doom, 
sentence,  or  judgment.  Chaucer  calls  a  judge  a  dooms- 
man  ;  and  in  the  Isle  of  Man  the  judge  is  still  called  the 
dempster  or  deemster.  The  day  of  Doom  is  the  day  of 
Judgment.  Chaucer  does  not  use  the  old  preterite  doom, 
which  seems  to  have  perished  before  his  time ;  but  in  the 
Franklein^s  Prolo^^ue  uses  the  substantive  doom  in  the 
sense  of  an  opinion  or  a  private  judgment : — 

As  to  my  doom,  there  is  more  that  is  here 
Of  eloquence  that  shall  be  thy  peer, 
If  that  thou  live. 

Out  of  the  lost  preterite  the  English  writers  of  three 
centuries  ago  formed  a  new  verb,  to  doojn,  with  a  regular 
preterite,  doomed—z.  word  which  does  not  merely  signify 
to  pass  judgment  upon,  but  to  pass  a  severe  sentence. 

Delve,  delve,  dolven,  to  dig,  to  make  a  trench  or  ditch, 
to  bury  in  the  earth.  This  verb  is  still  retained  in 
poetical  composition,  and  in  the  everyday  speech  of  the 
people  in  Scotland  and  some  of  the  northern  counties ; 
but  the  old  preterite  and  past  participle  are  lost.  They 
have  found  a  substitute  in  the  regular  declension  delved. 
The  old  preterite  seems  to  have  become  obsolete  at  an 
early  period,  as  appears  from  the  distich  of  John  Ball  the 
priest,  the  friend  and  coadjutor  of  Wat  Tyler  in  the 
rebellion  of  1381  : — 

When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ? 


LOST    PRETERITES.  493 


Chaucer  used  the  participle,  "  I  would  be  dolven  [buried] 
deep ;"  and  in  the  Romance  of  Merlin,  a  man  who  was 
to  be  buried  alive  is  described  as  to  "  be  dolven  quick." 
Piers  Plozighman  has,  "  They  dolven  with  spades  and 
shovels  to  drive  away  hunger."  Keats,  in  more  modern 
times,  employs  delved : — 

Oh  for  a  draught  of  vintage  that  hath  been 
Cooled  a  long  age  in  the  deep  delved  earth  ! 

If  he  had  said  deep  dolven  instead  of  deep  delved,  he 
would  have  had  high  authority,  and  would  have  greatly 
improved  the  stately  march  and  music  of  his  verse. 

Dight,  Dighted,  to  prepare,  to  put  in  order,  to  deck,  to 
attire,  to  wipe  away.  This  useful  word  of  many  mean- 
ings is  all  but  obsolete  in  English  literature,  but  survives 
in  Scottish.  The  preterite  has  long  been  lost,  and  is  not 
employed  in  Piers  Ploughman  or  in  Chaucer.  An  off- 
shoot of  this  word  in  the  form  of  misdight  (misprepared) 
occurs  in  Jack  Miller's  song,  quoted  by  Stowe  in  his 
account  of  Wat  Tyler's  rebellion  : — 

If  might 
Go  before  right, 
And  will 
Before  skill, 
Then  is  our  mill  misdight. 

Spenser  and  Milton  both  attempted  to  revive  dight,  but 
with  only  partial  success  : — 

Soon  after  them,  all  dancing  in  a  row, 

The  comely  virgins  came  with  garlands  dight. 

— The  Faerie  Queene. 

The  clouds  in  thousand  liveries  dight. 

— L  Allegro. 

Storied  windows  richly  di^ht. 

— //  Penseroso. 

In  Scottish  parlance  dight  does  constant  service.  The 
lassie  dighls  her  mou'  before  accepting  a  kiss,  and  dights  her 


494  LOtiT   PRETERITES. 


een  after  she  has  been  weeping.  She  dtghfs  herself  in 
her  best  attire  before  going  to  kirk  ;  and  the  wife  dig/its 
the  dinner  for  her  husband  : — 

Dight  your  cheeks,  and  banish  care. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

Let  me  rax  up  lo  dight  that  tear, 
And  go  with  me  and  be  my  dear. 

— Burns  :  The  Jolly  Beggars. 


Ding,  dang,  dong  or  dung,X.o  strike  hard,  to  beat  down. 
The  infinitive  and  present  tense  of  this  verb  are  still 
colloquially  current,  but  the  preterite  and  past  participle 
are  obsolete,  or  only  survive  in  the  nursery  phrase, 
''Ding,  dong,  beU."  In  Scotland  the  verb  and  all  is  in- 
flections survive.  Burns,  in  his  immortal  and  often- 
quoted  line,  says  "  Facts  are  chiels  that  winna  ding^ 
Sir  Alexander  Boswell  has  a  song  entitled  "  Jenny  dang 
the  Weaver,"  which  expression  was  translated  by  an  Eng- 
lish critic  into  the  very  prosaic  form  of  "Jenny  vanquished 
the  cotton  manufacturer."  The  past  participle  occurs  in 
the  familiar  proverbs  quoted  by  Allan  Ramsay,  "  It's  a 
sair  dung  bairn  that  munna  greet,"  and  "  He's  sairest 
paid  that's  dujig  wi'  his  ain  wand."  The  modern  English 
preterite  dinged  h  still  occasionally  heard  in  conversation, 
though  lost  to  literature,  as  in  such  phrases  :  "  Horace  ? 
Yes  ;  he  was  dinged  into  me  at  school ;"  and  colloquially, 
"  Why  do  you  keep  ditiging  \.\\:ii  old  story  into  my  ears  ?" 
The  word  constantly  occurs  in  serious  poetry  up  to  the 
time  of  Shakespeare  and  Ben  Jonson  : — 

Do-well  shall  dyngen  him  down, 
And  destroyen  his  mightc. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

The  hellish  prince,  grim  Pluto  with  his  mace,  ding  d^own  my  soul 
to  hell  !  —  The  Battle  of  Alcazar. 

She  ditigs  you  in  her  hamely  goun  o'  gray, 
As  far's  a  .summer  ding-,  a  winter  day. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 


LOST    PRETERITES.  .  495 


My  chains  then,  and  pains  then, 

Infernal  be  their  hire, 
Who  dang  us  und  Jiang  us, 
Into  this  ugsome  mire. 
— Allan  Ramsay  :  The  Vision :  The  Evergreen. 

The  beautiful  poem  of  "  The  Vision,"  written  in  older 
Scotch  than  of  the  time  of  Allan  Ramsay,  is  signed 
A.  R.  Scotus,  meaning,  "  Allan  Ramsay,  a  Scot."  It 
expresses  in  covert  allusion,  the  indignation  of  the  Scots 
of  Allan  Ramsay's  day,  at  the  Union  of  Scotland  with 
England,  and  the  means  by  which  it  was  accomplished. 
Allan  Ramsay's  Jacobite  friends  were  all  well  aware  that 
the  poem  was  from  his  pen,  but  the  government  of  the  day, 
though  suspecting  the  fact,  and  willing  to  prosecute  him, 
wisely  refrained  from  doing  so. 


Dozci,  to  be  able,  to  thrive ;  doiight,  was  able.  This 
verb  is  utterly  lost  from  English  literature,  but,  like  many 
others  of  its  sturdy  class,  exists  in  the  speech  of  the  Eng- 
lish peasantry,  and  in  the  speech  as  well  as  the  literature 
of  Scotland.  By  a  strange  neglect,  or  a  stranger  ignorance, 
the  makers  of  dictionaries — from  Blount  and  Philips  up 
to  Richardson,  Worcester,  and  Webster — have  either 
omitted  all  mention  of  it,  or  erroneously  considered  it  to 
be  synonymous  with,  or  an  orthographical  error  for,  the 
similar  word  '  do,'  with  which  it  has  no  connection.  "  I 
do  as  well  as  I  dow  ?" — t'.e.,  "  I  do  as  well  as  I  can  " — 
is  a  common  phrase  in  the  north  :  and  the  supereminently 
English  but  pleonastic  inquiry,  "  How  do  you  do  ?  " — 
which  means  "How  do  you  dowV — i.e.,  thrive,  prosper, 
or  get  on — has  come  to  be  accepted  as  accurate  English, 
though  wholly  a  mistake  of  the  learned.  Even  Nares,  in 
his  Glossary,  has  no  suspicion  of  this  word,  though  Halli- 
well,  more  acute,  gives  one  of  its  meanings,  '  to  thrive,' 
'to  mend  in  health;'  and  Mr.  Thomas  Wright,  in  his 
Provincial  Dictionary,  follows  in  the  same  track  as  regards 
its  use  in  English  literature,  though  he  does  not  seem  to 
be  aware  of  its  commonness  in  the  literature  of  Scotland. 


496  LOST   PRETERITES. 

William  Hamilton,  the  Scottish  poet,  writes  to  his  friend 
Allan  Ranrsay, — 

Lang  may'st  thou  live  and  thrive  and  dozv  ! 
And  Burns  says  to  Gavin  Hamilton, — 

When  I  do7vna  yoke  a  naig, 
The  Lord  be  thankit,  I  can  beg  ! 

In  his  Epistle  to  King  George  III.,  in  his  eulogy  of  facts, 
Burns  speaks  of  them  as  "  chiels  that  winna  ding,"  and 
adds,  "  they  downa  be  disputed."  Ross,  in  his  Helenore, 
has  "  When  he  doiv  do  nae  mair," — a  phrase  that  shows 
the  essential  difference  between  the  two  words. 

From  this  obsolete  verb  springs  the  adjective  doughty, 
strong,  able — a  derivation  which  up  to  the  present  time 
seems  to  have  long  escaped  all  the  English  lexicographers. 


Dread,  drad,  dradden,  to  fear  greatly.  The  modern 
preterite  and  past  participle  dreaded  have  entirely  super- 
seded the  ancient  forms  : 

But  what  I  drad,  did  me,  poor  wretch,  betide. 

— Robert  Greene  :  1593. 


Divine,  dwined,  to  pine  away,  to  fall  of.  This  verb 
has  been  superseded  by  its  diminutive,  to  dxvindle,  which 
has  the  same  meaning  : 

Thus  divineth  he  till  he  be  dead. 

— Gower. 

It  dxuined  for  eild, 

— Chaucer. 

Bacchus  hates  repining  ; 
Venus  loves  no  dzvining. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 


Fang,  fong,  fling,  to  seize,  to  lay  hold  of.     Most  people 
remember  the  old  law  phrase,  "  in  fang  thief  and  outfang 


LOST   PRETERITES.  497 


thief,"  the  one  signifying  a  thief  taken  within  the  juris- 
diction of  a  feudal  lord,  and  the  other  a  thief  taken  with- 
out his  jurisdiction.  This  is  the  only  remnant  of  this 
verb  that  has  come  down  to  our  time  except  the  sub- 
stantive fang,  the  large  tooth  of  a  beast  of  prey  or  of  a 
serpent ;  the  diminutive  /angle,  to  take  hold  of  a  new 
fancy  or  fashion ;  and  the.  common  phrase  new-fangled. 
In  Scotland  it  is  sometimes  said  when  the  well  does  not 
readily  yield  the  water  after  repeated  strokes  of  the  pump, 
that  the  pump  has  lost  \\.%  fang  o'  the  water  : 

I  nold/a«_o  a  farthing  (I  would  not  take  a  farthing). 

—  Vision  of  Piers  Ploughman. 

Hefono- his  foeman  by  the  flank, 
And  flang  him  on  the  floor. 

— Buchan's  N'orthern  Ballads. 


Fare,  foor,  fore,  fure, fared,  to  travel.  This  verb  is  not 
wholly  obsolete,  though  its  preterite  is  lost.  It  has  come 
to  signify  to  eat  and  drink  as  well  as  to  travel,  and  also 
that  which  is  eaten  or  drunk.  It  is  doubtful  whether  our 
beautiful  word  "  farewell  "  means  "  may  you  travel  well 
through  life,"  or  "  may  you  be  well  treated  by  the  world." 
A  way^/fer/;?^  man  is  still  a  common  expression.  "  Auld- 
farrajid^''  travelling  on  the  old  ways,  old-fashioned,  is  in- 
telligible to  the  people  on  the  north  of  the  Tweed.  The 
preterite  occurs  several  times  in  the  Vision  of  Piers 
Ploughman. 

Alexander  fell  into  a  fever  therewith,  so  that  he  fure  wondrous 
ille. — MS.  Lincoln,  quoted  in  Halli well's  Archaic  Dictionary. 

Her  errand  led  her  through  the  glen  to  fare. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

As  o'er  the  moor  they  \\^^\y  foor, 
A  burn  was  clear,  a  glen  was  green — 
Up  the  banks  they  eased  their  shanks. 

—  Burns. 

H  2 


498  LOST   PRETERITES. 


Fret,  freet,  freten,  to  devour  or  eat  up  : — 

Like  as  it  were  a  mo\h  fretting  2i  garment. — Psalm  xxxix.,  Com- 
mon Prayer. 

Aizmfreet  of  that  fruit, 

And  forsook  the  love  of  our  Lord. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

He  (the  dragon)  hz.s  fretten  of  folk  more  than  five  hundred. — 
Aforte  d'  Arthur. 


Fri(sh,frusht,  /rushed,  to  bruise,  disturb,  rumple,  dis- 
arrange. From  the  Gaelic  frois  a  driving  gust  of  rain,  and 
froiseach  to  scatter,  to  shake  off,  and  French//7;m(?r,  to  rub 
against.  This  good  Shakespearean  word  is  fairly  admis- 
sible into  modern  dictionaries,  in  few  of  which,  however, 
does  it  find  a  place  : — 

Stand  !  stand,  thou  Greek  !  thou  art  a  goodly  mark  ! 
No  !  wilt  thou  not  ?     I  like  thy  armour  well, 
VMfrtish  it  and  unlock  the  rivets  all  ! 

— Shakespeare  :   Troilus  and  Cressida. 

Hector  assailed  Achilles  and  gave  him  so  many  strokes  that  he 
all  io  frusht  and  brake  his  helm. — Caxton's  Destruction  of  Troy. 

High  cedars  ^xefrushed  with  tempests. — Hinde  :  1606. 

Southcy  uses  the  substantive  : — 

Horrible  uproar  and  frush  of  rocks  that  meet  in  battle. 
The  word  well  deserves  favour  and  restoration. 


Forewent.,  preterite  of  to  forego,  to  renounce  : — 

Writers  and  speakers  still  say,  "I  forego  the  pleasure,"  but  use  a 
round-about  form  of  expression  rather  than  say,  '■'■1  forewent  the 
pleasure."  And  why?  Forewent  is  as  legitimate  a  word  as  forego, 
and  should  not  be  allowed  to  become  obsolete. 

— Lost  Beauties  of  the  English  Language. 


LOST    PRETERITES.  499 


Forswink,  Forswunk,  to  be  worn  out  with  over  much 
toil  :— 

She  is  my  goddess  plain, 
And  I  her  shepherd  swain, 
Alhcii forsunink  and  forswat  I  am. 

— Specker:  Shephenfs  Calendar. 


Gar.,  gart,  gard,  to  compel,  to  force,  to  make,  to  cause 
a  thing  to  be  done.  This  verb  in  all  its  declensions  has 
become  obsolete  in  English  literature,  where  its  place  has 
been  but  feebly  supplied  by  "make"  and  "made." 
"  I'll  make  him  do  it "  is  neither  so  strong  nor  so  elegant 
as  the  ancient  English  and  modern  Scotch,  "  I'll  gar 
him  do  it  "  : — 

Gar  us  have  meat  and  drink,  and  make  us  chere. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Reeve's  Tale. 

Gar  saddle  me  my  bonnie  black, 
Car  saddle  soon,  and  make  her  ready. 

Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border. 


And  like  the  mavis  on  the  bush, 

— Percy's  Reliques. 


He  gart  the  vallies  ring. 


Auld  Girzie  Graham,  having  twice  refused  a  glass  of  toddy,  when 
pressed  a  third  time,  replied,  "Weel!  weel !  since  ye  winna  hear 
o'  a  refusal,  just  mak  it  hot,  an'  strong,  an'  sweet,  an'  gar  me  tak  it! ' ' 

■ — Laird  of  Logan. 


Get.,  got,  gotten,  to  attain,  to  procure,  to  come  into 
possession  of  The  past  participle  of  this  verb  has  lately 
become  obsolete,  except  in  the  talk  of  the  uneducated 
and  in  Scottish  literature.  It  was  common  in  the  last 
century  : — 

We  knew  we  were  gotten  far  enough  out  of  their  reach. 

— Defoe  :  Robinson  Crusoe. 


SOO  LOST    PRETERITES. 


Ken  ye  what  Meg  o'  the  mill  has  gotten  ? 
She's  gotten  a  lout  \vi'  a  lump  o'  siller, 
And  broken  the  heart  o'  the  barley  miller. 

— Robert  Burns. 

There  is  also  a  marked  tendency  to  the  disuse  of  this  in- 
flection in  the  verb  "  to  forget,"  and  people  too  commonly 
say  and  write  "  I  have  '  forgot,'  "  instead  of  "  forgotten." 


Glide,  glode,  glidden,  to  move  away  easily  and  smoothly. 
The  ancient  preterite  and  past  participle  have  become 
obsolete,  and  have  been  superseded  by  glided,  much  to 
the  loss  of  versifiers  in  search-  of  good  rhymes  :— 


His  good  stede  he  all  bestrode, 
And  forth  upon  his  way  he  glode. 


He  glode  forth  as  an  adder  doth. 


-Chaucer. 
— Idem. 


Through  Guy's  shield  it  glode. 

—  Guy  of  Warwick. 

The  reason  of  the  substitution  of  the  regular  for  the  ir- 
regular preterite  may  be  found  in  the  desire  to  prevent 
confusion  with  the  regular  preterite  of  the  verb  to  glow. 

Glint,  glent,  glinted,  to  sliine,  to  flash,  to  appear 
suddenly.  In  Sternberg's  Nort/iatnptonshire  Glossary 
the  infinitive  of  this  verb  as  used  amongst  the  peasantry 
of  that  part  of  England,  is  cited  as  gline.  Glint  would 
be  the  legitimate  preterite  if  this  were  correct.  In  Scot- 
tish poetry  glint  is  the  infinitive,  and  glinted  the  preterite 
and  past  participle.  In  Old  English  poetry  glent  is  the 
preterite  : — 

The  sunbeams  are  glinting  far  over  the  sea. 

N'eivcastle  Garland. 

Cauld  blew  the  bitter  biting  north 
Upon  thy  early  humble  birth, 


LOST    PRETERITES.  50I 


Yet  cheerfully  thou  glinted  forth 
Amid  the  storm. 

— Burns  :   To  a  Moimtain  Daisy. 

There  came  a  hand  withouten  rest 

Out  of  the  water, 

And  brandished  it. 
Anon  as  a  gleam  away  it  glcnt. 

— Morte  if  Arthur. 


Go.,  gaed,  gone.,  to  depart.  The  ancient  and  legitimate 
preterite  of  this  verb  has  been  superseded  by  the  pre- 
terite ("  went  ")  of  the  verb  to  "wend,"  to  turn  away. 
It  maintains  its  ground,  however,  in  Scotland  and  the 
northern  English  counties.  Chaucer  has  "  gadling  "  for 
a  vagabond,  a  wanderer  who  goes  much  about ;  and  the 
language  still  retains  the  word  to  "  gad,"  to  wander  or 
stray  about,  making  short  visits  : — 

I  gaed  a  waefu'  gate  yestreen. 

— Burns. 


Gnaw,  gnew,  gnaived,  to  bite  at  a  hard  substance. 
The  old  preterite  is  lost,  doubtless  on  account  of  its 
identity  in  pronunciation  with  the  more  familiar  word 
"knew,"  the  preterite  of  "know,"  a  word  of  different 
meaning  : — 

Till  with  the  grips  he  was  baith  black  and  blue, 
At  last  in  twa  the  dowie  ropes  he  gnnv. 

— Ross's  Helaiore. 

No  sustenance  got, 
But  only  at  the  cauld  hill's  berries  gneiv. 

— Id e  711. 


Greet.,  grat,  grutten,  to  weep.  This  verb,  with  all  its 
declensions,  has  lost  its  place  in  English  literature, 
though  the  word  greet  remains  with  a  different  meaning, 
"  to  salute."  Like  other  strong  Saxon  words  which 
modern  English  has  unnecessarily  discarded,  it  is  retained 
in   Scotland.      It   seems    to    have   been    lost    even   in 


502  LOST    PRETERITES. 

Chaucer's  time,  who  uses  greet  entirely  in  the  modern 
sense  of  "to  salute."  Piers  Ploughtnan  has  it  in  the 
sense  of  "  to  lament "  or  "  weep  " — 

And  then  'gan  Gloton  to  greet. 
And  great  dool  to  make. 

"  It's  a  sad  time,"  says  an  old  Scottish  proverb,  "when 
hens  crow  and  bearded  men  greet.'"  Another  proverb 
says,  "  Better  bairns  should  greet  than  bearded  men  "  : — 

Then  ilk  ane  to  the  other  made  his  wain, 

And  sighed  and  grat,  and  grat  and  sighed  again. 

—Ross's  Helenore. 

Duncan  sighed  baith  out  and  in, 
Grat  his  een  baith  bleer't  and  blin'. 

—  Burns  :  Duncan  Gray. 

The  Edinbro'  wells  are  gnitten  dry. 

— IJurns  :  Elegy  on  the  Year  1788. 

Grab,  grub,  grabbed,  to  dig  up,  to  seize.  This  verb, 
in  all  its  inflections,  has  been  wholly  relegated  to  the 
speech  of  the  vulgar,  but,  like  many  other  vulgar  words, 
has  a  highly  respectable  origin.  Grab,  in  its  first  sense, 
means  to  dig  a  grave  or  hole ;  and  grub  means  that 
which  is  dug  up,  such  as  roots  for  human  subsistence, 
whence  its  modern  and  slang  signification,  "  food." 

Graith,  graithed,  to  prepare,  make  ready.  A  critic  in 
the  Literary  Gazette  of  March  30,  i860,  called  a  poet  to 
account  for  using  such  an  unpcrmissible  word  as  graith, 
of  which  he  declared  his  utter  ignorance.  He  might, 
however,  have  found  it  in  Chaucer,  in  Worcester's 
Dictionary,  and  in  Robert  Burns  : — 

Her  son  Galathin 

She  graithed  in  attire  fine. 

— Arthour  and  Merlin. 

Unto  the  Jewes  such  a  hate  had  he, 
That  he  bade  graith  his  chair  full  hastilie. 

— Chaucer  :  The  Reeve's  Tale. 


LOST   PRETERITES.  503 


Go  warn  me  Perthshire  and  Angus  baith, 
AnA  graith  my  horse. 

Song  of  the  Outlaw  Murray. 

Heat,  to  make  hot ;  het,  made  hot : — 

Let  him  cool  in  the  skin  he  het  in. 

— Allan  Ramsay  :  Scots  Proverbs, 

Hend,  /lent,  to  take,  to  hold,  to  seize,  to  apprehend  : — 

Jog  on,  jog  on,  the  footpath  way, 

And  merrily  heut  the  stile-a  : 
A  merry  heart  goes  all  the  day. 

Your  sad  tires  in  a  mile-a. 

It  is  probable  that  in  this  well-known  passage  from  the 
song  of  Autolycus  in  the  Winter's  Tale,  the  preterite 
hent  is  a  misprint  for  the  infinitive  /lend,  though  it  must 
be  admitted  that  Chaucer  uses  he/it  both  in  the  present 
and  the  past  tenses.  This  is  a  very  unusual  defect  in  an 
English  verb  of  that  early  period  : — 

All  be  it  that  it  was  not  our  intente, 

He  should  be  sauf,  but  that  we  sholde  him  hent, 

— Chaucer  :    The  Friar's  Tale, 

Shakespeare  uses  hent  as  a  substantive,  to  signify  a  pur- 
pose, an  intention  to  hold  by,  in  Hamlet's  exclamation, 
when  he  determines  not  to  kill  the  king  at  his  prayers  : — 

No! 
Up,  sword  !  and  know  thou  a  moi'e  horrid  hent  I 
When  he  is  drunk,  asleep,  or  in  his  rage. 


Help,  holp,  holpen,  to  aid.  The  preterite  and  past 
participle  are  fast  becoming  obsolete.  They  are  still 
retained  in  the  Flemish  language  : — 

For  thou  hast  liolpcn  me  now. 

—MS,  Cantab.  :  Halliwell. 


504  LOST   PRETERITES. 

And  blind  men  liolpen. 


— Piers  PloiiQhman. 


Building  upon  the  foundation  that  went  before  us,  and  being 
holpen  by  their  labours. 

—  The  translators  of  the  Bible  to  the  reader: 
temp.  James  I. 

Hit,  het,  hitteti,  to  strike,  to  touch  violently  with  a  blow. 
Both  preterite  and  past  participle  are  obsolete.  Bitten 
survives  in  the  colloquial  language  of  the  peasantry  : — 

Your  honor's  Iiitten  the  nail  upon  the  head. 

— Ross's  Helenoi-e. 

The  Americans,  in  default  of  the  old  preterite  het, 
occasionally  say  hot — as,  "  he  hot  me  a  heavy  blow ;  he 
hot  out  right  and  left." 


Hold,  held,  holden,  to  have,  grasp,  or  retain  in  posses- 
sion. The  past  participle  is  obsolete,  but  might  be 
advantageously  revived  for  the  sake  of  the  rhyme  which 
it  affords  to  'golden,'  '  embolden,'  &c. 

Keek,  keeked,  to  peep,  to  look  in  slily  : — 

The  robin  came  to  the  wren's  nest, 
And  keeked  in  and  keeked  in. 

— Nursery  Rhymes  of  England. 

This  Nicholas  sat  even  gape  upright, 
As  he  had  keeked  on  the  newe  moone. 

— C-haucer :  2 he  Miller'' s  Tales. 

Stars,  dinna  keek  in 
And  see  me  wi'  Mary. 

— Burns. 


Kythe,  koutJi  or  couth,  to  show,  appear,  know,  make 
known.  This  word  has  become  wholly  obsolete  in  Eng- 
land, but  survives  in  Scotland.     The  sole  remnant  of  it 


LOST    PRETERITES.  505 


in  English  is  uncouth,  originally  meaning  something  un- 
known, unheard  of,  strange,  and  now  meaning  rough  or 
ungainly.     Milton  has, — 

Bound  on  a  voyage  tmcouth, 

meaning  unknown.  The  Scotch  have  the  word  couihte, 
familiar,  or  well  known. 

And  to  the  people's  eres  all  and  some 

Was  couth  that  a  new  markissesse 

He  with  him  brought  in  such  pompe  and  richenes 

That  never  was  there  seen  with  manne's  eye. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Gierke'' s  Tale. 


Take  your  sport,  and  kythe  your  knights. 

— Sir  Ferumbras. 


Kythe  in  your  ain  colours,  that  folk  may  ken  you. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs. 


Their  faces  blythe,  they  sweetly  kythe. 

— Burns. 


List  or  lest,  lust,  to  please.  This  word  has  gradually 
been  dropping  out  of  use,  but  having  been  preserved  in 
the  Bible,  is  still  occasionally  heard.  The  preterite  is 
lost,  though  the  word  itself  survives  as  a  substantive,  and 
as  the  infinitive  of  another  verb,  to  lust,  signifying  to 
desire  pleasure  vehemently  : — 

The  wind  bloweth  where  li  Jisteth. 

The  colloquial  expression  "  to  list  for  a  soldier  "  seems 
to  come  from  this  root,  and  means,  to  please  to  become, 
or  voluntarily  to  become,  a  soldier.  Chaucer  uses  lust 
in  the  sense  of  joy ; — 

Farewell,  my  life,  my  lust,  and  my  gladnesse. 

—  The  Knighfs  Tale. 


5o6  LOST    PRETERITES. 


^^'SS^j  ^hs^'^^  to  lie  down.  This  ancient  word  is  still  in 
common  use  in  Cumberland  and  Northumberland,  and 
also  in  the  Border  counties  of  Scotland  : — 

So  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
Gloweth  but  as  a  glade, 
Till  that  lele  love 


Ligge  on  him. 


— Piers  Ploughman. 


What  hawkes  sitten  on  the  perche  above  ! 
What  houndes  liggeti  on  the  floor  adown  ! 

Chaucer  :   The  Knight's  Tale. 

I  have  ligged  for  a  fortnight  in  London,  weak  almost  to  death,  and 
neglected  by  every  one. 

— G.  P.  R.  James  :  Gozvrie,  or  the  King's  Plot. 


Let,  loot,  letten.  looten,  to  let,  to  permit.  This  verb  has 
lost  ail  its  inflections  in  literary  and  colloquial  English, 
but  p  reserves  them  in  the  Scottish  dialect : — 

But  letten  him  lede  forth  whom  hym  liked. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

And  aye  she  loot  the  tears  down  fa' 
For  Jock  o'  Hazeldean. 

— Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Ye've  loot  the  ponie  o'er  the  dyke. 

— Burns. 

But  dool  had  not  yet  letten  her  feel  her  want. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

He  boore  upon  him  and  ne'er  loot  her  ken. 

Ross's  Helenore. 


Leap,  lope,  lopen,  to  leap.  At  what  time  this  verb  fol- 
lowed the  analogy  of  weep,  creep,  and  sleep,  and  formed 
its  preterite  in  leapt  or  lept,  does  not  very  clearly  appear  : — 

And  they  laughing  lope  to  her. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 


LOST    PRETERITES.  507 

Have  lopen  the  better, 

— Idem. 

Up  he  lope  and  the  window  broke, 
And  he  had  thirty  foot  to  fall. 
-Percy's  Rcliqitcs  :   The  JMiirJcr  of  the  Kitig  of  Scots. 

Tom  Rindle  lope  fra  the  chimley  nook. 

^Waugh's  Lancashire  Songs. 


Laugh,  lough,  leuch.  The  ancient  preterite  and  past 
participle  of  this  verb  have  been  superseded  by  the  mo- 
dern preterite  in  ed : — 

Then  lough  there  a  lord, 
And  "By  this  lighte  "  saide, 
"  I  hold  it  right  and  reson." 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

He  cleped  it  Valerie  and  Theophrast, 
And  lough  always  full  fast. 

—Chaucer  :  The  Wife  of  Bath's  Prologue. 

When  she  had  read  \Vise  William's  letter, 
She  smiled  and  she  leuch. 

— Motherwell's  Collection. 

"  I  think  not  so,"  she  halflins  said,  and  leuch. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

How  graceless  Tam  leuch  at  his  dad, 
Which  made  Canaan  a  nigger. 

—Burns :   The  Ordination. 

An'  ilka  ane  leuch  him  to  scorn, 

— Percy's  Reliqucs :  The  Auld  Guidvian. 


Lout,  loufed,  to  make  an  obeisance  or  a  curtsy : — 

And  then  louted  adown. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

"  Sir,"  quoth  the  dwarf,  and  louted  low, 

— Percy's  Reliques:  Sir  Cauline. 


5o8  LOST    PRETERITES. 


They  louted  to  that  ladye. 

Percy's  Rcliqiies:  On  Alliterative  Metre. 

To  which  image  both  young  and  old 
Commanded  he  to  lout. 

— Chaucer  :   The  Monkeys  Tale. 

And  I  am  touted  by  a  traitor  villain. 

— Shakespeare  :  Henry  VI.  Part  i. 


Melt,  molt,  molteji,  to  liquefy  by  means  of  heat.  The 
preterite  is  lost,  but  the  past  participle  is  still  preserved  in 
poetry  and  the  Bible. 


Mi7it,  minted,  to  essay,  to  try,  to  aim,  to  attempt,  to^ 
prove  the  genuineness  of  metals  before  coinage  : — 

Minting's  not  making  (attempting's  not  doing). 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs. 

A  minted  [attempted]  excuse. 

—  'The  Two  Lancashire  Lovers  :  1660. 


JVake,  naked,  to  denude   of  covering.     The  preterite 
survives  as  an  adjective  ;  the  infinitive  is  lost : — 

Come,  be  ready  !  nake  your  swords. 
Think  of  your  wrongs  ! 

— Nares  :  Revengers  Tragedy. 


Fight,  a  word  that  occurs  in  Chaucer,  is  defined  by 
Tyrwhitt  as  meaning  "  pitched,"  rather  than  the  preterite 
of  "put":— 

Hepight  him  on  the  pomcl  of  his  head, 
That  in  the  place  he  lay  as  he  were  dead. 

—Chaucer  :   The  A'night's  Tale. 

Stowe,  however,  at  a  later  period,  uses  />ig/it  for  '  did 
put ' : — 


LOST    PRETERITES.  509 


He  was  lirought  to  the  Standard  in  Cheape,  where  they  strake  off 
liis  head  and  pight  it  on  a  pole,  and  bare  it  before  them. 

— Stowe's  yi««a/^."  Henry  VI. 

Fid,  pat  or  pight,  piitten    or  pitten,  to  place.      The 
modern  verb  has  lost  the  preterite  and  past  participle  : — 

I  there  wi'  something  did  forgether, 
That/a^  me  in  an  eerie  swither. 

— Burns  :   Death  and  Doctor  Hornbook. 

Ye  see  how  Rob  and  Jenny's  gone  sin'  they 
Ha'e  pitten  o'er  their  heads  the  merry  day. 

— Ross's  Helenore. 

lie's  ptit ten  it  to  a  good  purpose,  has  Brighouse. 

—  The  Master  of  Marston  :  London,  1864. 


Frank,  prankt  ox  pranked,  to  adorn,  to  embellish,  to 
•dress  fashionably  : — 

Some  prank  their  ruffs,  and  others  trimly  dight 
Their  gay  attire. 

— Spenser  :   The  Faerie  Qtieene. 

False  tales  pratikt  in  reason's  garb. 

— Milton  :   Comus. 

Most  goddess-like  pranked  up. 

— Shakespeare  :   Winter's  Tale. 


Quethe  or  qiieath,  quoth,  to  say.  The  infinitive  of  this 
verb  is  lost,  but  the  preterite  quoth  remains  in  colloquial . 
use,  and  in  writings  that  do  not  aspire  to  eloquence  or 
dignity,  as,  "  qiioth  he,"  "  quoth  I."  Bequeath,  to  say  in 
your  will  what  part  of  your  property  your  heirs  or  lega- 
tees shall  possess,  is  a  remnant  of  this  ancient  verb. 

Quake,  quoke^  to  tremble  with  fear  : — 

An  ugly  pit,  as  deep  as  any  hell. 
That  to  behold  therein  I  qiioke  for  fear. 

—  The  King's  Qiiair. 


5IO  LOST    PRETERITES. 


The  whole  land  of  Italy  trembled  and  qitoke. 

— Douglas  :   Translaiiojt  of  the  ^neid^ 

Rax,  raughi,  to  reach,  to  stretch  : — 

He  raiiglit  to  the  steere  (he  reached  to  the  helm). 

Piers  Ploughman. 

He  start  up  and  would  have  him  rattght. 

-Merlin:  Early  EiigUsh  Metrical  Romances. 

The  villain  is  o'cr-raught  of  all  my  money. 

— vShakespeare  :  Comedy  of  Errors. 

Their  three-mile  prayers  and  half-mile  graces, 
Their  raxing  conscience. 

—Burns  :  Epistle  to  M'Math. 

Is  this  a  time  to  talk  o'  wark, 

When  Colin's  at  the  door? 
Rax  down  my  cloak,  Til  to  the  quay. 

And  see  him  come  ashore. 

— Mickle  :  There's  nae  Luck  about  the  House. 


Reave,  reft,  take  off,  take  away,  whence  the  old 
English  and  Scottish  word  reaver  or  reiver,  a  thief. 
This  word  survives  in  "  bereave  "  and  "  bereft,"  but  is 
fast  becoming  obsolete  : — 

If  he  reaveth  me  by  might, 
He  robbeth  me  by  maistrye. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

Therefore,  though  no  part  of  his  work  to  reave  him, 
We  now  for  matters  more  allied  must  leave  him. 

— I  ley  wood's  Troia  Britan7iia:  1609. 

To  go  robbe  that  ragman. 
And  reave  the  fruit  from  him. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

Means  to  live  by  reaf  of  other  men's  goods. 

— Holinshcd's  Chronicles. 


Reap,  rept,  rope,  ropen,  to  cut,   or  help  to    cut    the 
harvest : — 


LOST    PRETERITES.  51I 


Ropen  and  laide  away  the  corne. 

— Chaucer  :  Legende  of  Good  Women. 


After  the  corn  is  7rJ>f. 


-Nares. 


J?eeJ^,  roke,  to  emit  smoke  or  vapour.  The  present 
tense  of  this  verb  survives  in  solemn  and  poetical  com- 
position in  England,  but  both  the  present  and  preterite 
are  in  common  and  colloquial  use  in  Scotland.  "Auld 
Reekie "  is  a  popular  name  for  Edinburgh. 


Ro7vn,  rowned,  to  whisper,  to  talk  privately,  to  whisper 
in  the  ear.  This  word  is  wholly  lost,  but  might  have 
been  preserved,  if  Shakespeare,  like  modern  authors,  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  correcting  his  proof-sheets.  The 
word,  misprinted  round,  occurs  several  times  in  Shakes- 
peare, and  has  puzzled  all  the  commentators.  Mr. 
Staunton,  in  a  note  on  the  passage  where  Polonius  says  to 
the  king  in  Hamlet, — 

Let  his  queen-mother  all  alone  entreat  him 
To  show  his  grief — let  her  be  round  with  him, 

says,  "  Let  her  be  blunt  and  plain-spoken  with  him." 
In   another   note  to  the  word  in  Khig  John,   Act  II. 
Scene  ii. — 

Whom  zeal  and  charity  brought  to  the  field 
As  God's  own  soldier,  roundt'd  in  the  ear 
With  that  same  purpose — charge — 

he  explains  the  true  meaning  of  rounded  (which  should 
be  ?\mmed,  just  as  vulgar  people  sometimes  say  "  drownd- 
ed "  for  drowned)  as  "  insinuated,"  "  whispered  in  the 
ear."  He  quotes  from  the  Spanish  tragedy  the  line 
where  the  same  orthographical  error  occurs, — • 

Forthwith,  revenge,  she  rounded  them  in  the  ear. 


512  LOST    PRETERITES, 


The  word  appears  correctly  in  all   authors  previous  to 
Shakespeare  : — 

They  rose  up  in  rape, 
And  rotvned  together, 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

The  steward  on  his  Icnees  sat  down 
With  the  emperor  for  to  rown. 

— Romance  of  Caiir  de  Lion. 

But  if  it  like  you  that  I  might  roiune  in  your  ear. 

— Skelton, 


Sag,  sog,  to  bend  or  give  way  under  pressure,  to  fail : — 

The  mind  I  sway  by,  and  the  heart,  I  fear, 
Shall  never  sag  with  doubt  or  shake  with  fear, 

— Shakespeare  :  Macbeth. 

That  it  may  not  sag  from  the  intention  of  the  founders. 

— Fuller's  Worthies. 

From  the  lost  preterite  sog  comes  the  adjective  soggy, 
often  used  by  the  Americans  to  signify  wet  boggy  soil 
that  yields  to  the  foot. 


Scathe  or  skaith,  to  do  an  injury  or  damage.      Shake- 
speare and  Milton  use  the  verb  :— 

This  trick  may  chance  to  scathe  you. 

— Romeo  and  Juliet. 

Scathed  the  forest  oaks. 

— Milton. 

The  substantive  scathe  or  skaith,  signifying  hurt,  damage, 
and  injury,  survives  in  Scottish  speech  and  literature, 
and  is  not  wholly  obsolete  in  English  poetry,  though 
rarely  used  by  modern  writers  : — 

Oh  !  if  on  my  bosom  lying, 

I  could  work  him  deadly  scathe, 


LOST    PRETERITES.  513 


In  one  burst  of  burning  passion, 
I  would  kiss  him  into  death  ! 

Love  in  Hate. 


Seethe,  sod,  sodden,  to  boil.  The  translators  of  the 
Bible  have  preserved  this  old  English  word,  which  was 
in  common  use  before  its  modern  synonym  was  borrowed 
with  other  culinary  phrases  from  the  Norman  French  : — 

And  he  said  unto  his  servant,  Set   on  the  great  pot,  and  seethe 
pottage  for  the  sons  of  the  prophet. 

— 2  Kings,  iv.  38. 

Go  suck  the  subtle  blood  o'  th'  grape 

Till  the  high  fever  seethe  your  blood  to  froth. 

— Shakespeare  :   Tinion  of  Athens. 

Seethe  stanes  in  butter,  the  brew  will  be  good. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scotch  Proverbs. 

It  is  unsavorye 

Y -sodden  or  y-baken. 

— Piers  Plous:hiitan. 


Shape,  shope,  shopen,  to  make,  to  create,  to  put  into 
form.  This  verb  lias  wholly  lost  its  original  meaning  in 
the  infinitive  and  present,  in  which  form  it  subsists  as  a 
regular  verb,  with  its  preterite  in  d.  Its  preterite  and 
past  participle  have  long  been  obsolete_,  and  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  used  in  English  literature  after  the  time  of 
Chaucer  : — 

God  sJiope  the  world. 

— Wickliffe's  Bible. 

The  king  and  the  commune 
Shopen  laws. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

To  which  this  sempnour  shape  him  for  to  wende. 

—  Chaucer  :    The  Frcre's  Tale. 


Shend,  shent,  shent,  to  rebuke,  to  blame,  to  shame,  or 
bring  to  shame  : — 

1  2 


5 '4 


LOS'l'    PRETERITES. 


What  say  you,  sir? 

I  am  shciit  for  speaking  lo  you. 

—Shakespeare  :   Jweljth  Night. 

He  that  shames  let  him  l)e  shent. 

— Allan  Ramsay. 

All  woe-begone  was  John  o'  the  Scales, 
Soc  shcnt  he  could  say  never  a  word. 

—  I'ercy's  Rcliqiies  :   The  Heir  of  Lynne. 

Spenser  in  llie  Faerie  Queene^  and  Thomson  in  the  Castle 
of  Indolence,  use  this  word.  According  to  Dr.  Johnson, 
the  last  author  of  note  who  employed  it  was  Dryden.  It 
survives  in  Scotland. 

Shear,  sheer,  shore  or  shiire,  shorn,  to  cut  closely  off. 
The  ancient  preterite  is  obsolete,  and  has  been  superseded 
by  the  regular  form  in  ed.  The  sea-shore— /.f.,  the  strip 
of  land  sheared,  shore,  or  shorn  by  the  action  of  the  waves 
— is  the  sole  relic  of  this  word  in  modern  parlance. 

Robin  shtire  in  hairst  [harvest], 
I  shui'c  wi'  him. 

— Burns. 

Boston  was  the  Delilah  that  allured  him  [Daniel  Webster].  Oft 
he  broke  the  wilhes  of  gold,  till  at  last  she  shore  off  his  locks,  and 
his  strength  went  from  him. 

— Theodore  Parker  :  Discourse  on  the 
Death  of  Daniel  IVebiter. 

Shrcad,  shred,  to  cut  off  the  ends,  to  lop.  The  old 
preterite  has  long  been  obsolete,  but  survives  as  a  noun, 
shred,  a  thing  lopped  off  or  cut  off,  a  remnant  :— 

The  superfluous  and  waste  sprigs  of  vines  being  shreaJed  off. 

— Withall's  Dictionarie  :  i6oS. 

A  shredded  of  trees. — jVares. 

Shrew,  shrow,  shrown.  This  obsolete  word,  of  which 
the  only  current  representative  is  shreivd,  a  perversion  of 
the  original  meaning,  signifies  "  to  curse,"  and  finds   a 


LOST    PRETERITES.  515 


singular  synonym  in  America.  In  England  a  scolding 
wife  is  a  shretv ;  in  America  the  same  disagreeable  person 
is  a  '■'•  aiss^  Shakespeare  applies  the  word  shreiv  to  both 
sexes,  just  as  the  Americans  do  the  word  cuss.  "  Beshrew 
me  ! "  the  old  ejaculation,  meant  "  curse  me  ! "  At  the 
present  day  inferior  writers  and  careless  speakers  will  say, 
"  I  have  a  shreivd  suspicion,"  meaning  "  a  sharp,  cunning 
suspicion."  The  time  at  which  the  word  assumed  this 
new  meaning  in  speech  or  literature  is  uncertain. 

Shrive,  shrove,  shrive?i,  to  confess  to  the  priest.  This 
verb,  in  all  its  inflections,  went  out  when  the  Reformation 
came  in,  and  only  survives  in  poetry  and  romance,  and 
in  the  word  "  Shrove-Tuesday." 

Slake,  sloke,  sloken,  to  assuage  thirst,  to  quench  a  fire. 
The  preterite  and  past  participle  are  obsolete. 

Sneap,  sneb,  snub,  to  check,  chide,  rebuke  angrily,  to 
be  sharp  to  a  person,  like  a  cutting  wind  : — 

An  envious  sneaping  frost 

That  bites  the  first-born  infants  of  the  spring. 

— Shakespeare  :  Lovers  Labour  Lost. 

Do  you  siicap  me  too,  my  lord  ? 

— Browne's  Antipodes. 


This  word  only  survives  in  its  past  participle  snub,  which 

has  beco 

meaning. 


has  become  the  infinitive  of  a   verb  with  the  original 


Snow,  snao,  snotim,  to  drop  partially  congealed  rain. 
The  preterite  and  past  participle  survive  in  America,  but 
are  considered  vulgarisms  : — 

Withouten  bake  meat  never  was  his  house, 
Of  fish  and  flesh,  and  that  so  plenteous, 
,  It  snewc  in  his  house  of  meat  and  drink. 

— Chaucer  ;  Prologue  to  the  Canterbury  Tales. 


5l6  LOST    PRETERITES. 


First  it  blew,  and  then  it  snew,  and  then  it  friz  horrid. 

— Major  Downing's  Letters. 

Ben  Jonson,  in  his  English  Grammar^  cites  the  following 
verbs  that  make  their  jireterite  in  ew — viz.,  blow,  grow, 
throw,  crow,  know,  draw,  slay,  and  s7iow.  The  last  is 
the  only  one  of  the  number  that  now  forms  its  preterite 
in  ed.,  though  uneducated  people  both  in  Great  Britain 
and  America  sometimes  form  the  preterites  of  grow, 
blow,  and  know  in  ed — as  when  Topsy,  in  Uncle  Topi's 
Cabin,  says  "  she  growed."  "  I  knowed  it,"  instead  of 
"  I  knew  it,"  is  also  a  common  vulgarism. 

Stent,  stint,  stunt,  to  desist,  to  cease,  to  limit,  to  con- 
fine within  a  certain  bound.  This  verb  is  a  curious  in- 
stance of  the  liberties  which  Time  takes  with  the  old 
words  of  a  language.  The  three  inflections  have  each 
been  made  to  do  duty  for  an  infinitive,  so  that  one  verb 
has  been  virtually  converted  into  three.  Chaucer  has 
stent,  the  correct  and  original  form  : — 

And  of  this  cry  we  would  they  never  stent. 

—  The  Kniglifs  Tale. 

The  noun  ste7it,  an  allotted  portion  of  work,  though 
obsolete  in  England,  is  common  in  America  : — 

Little  boys  in  the  country,  working  against  time,  with  ste^its  to  do. 

— Tlieodore  Parker  :  Discourse  on 
I  lie  Death  of  Daniel  Webster. 

Stint,  the  ancient  preterite,  is  the  modern  infinitive,  and 
forms  its  preterite  and  past  participle  regularly  in  ed. 
Stimt,  to  stint,  or  stop,  or  cease  in  growth,  goes  through 
the  same  inflections.  The  late  Daniel  O'Connell  called 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  a  "  stunted  corporal." 


Stand,  stood,  studdcn. 

Weel  I  thought  there  was  nacthing  but  what  your  honour  could 
hae  studden  in  the  way  o'  agreeable  conversatic.n. 

Scott :   The  Antiquary. 


LOST    PRETERITES.  517 


Swell,  swale,  or  stvoll,  swollen.  The  preterite  in  sivale 
is  almost  obsolete  ;  that  in  siooll\\d&  been  newly  revived, 
but  scarcely  holds  its  own  against  swelled : — 

An'  thought  it  swale  so  sore  about  hir  harte. 

— Chaucer:    The  JVife  of  Bathe's  Tale. 


Sweat,  S7vat,  to  perspire.  This  ancient  word  survives 
in  colloquial,  but  has  been  of  late  years  banished  from 
literary  English,  and  from  polite  society.  The  curse  pro- 
nounced upon  Adam,  "  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  [or  earn]  thy  bread,"  would  have  lost  much  of 
its  energy  in  English  ears,  if  the  ancient  translators  had 
been  as  mealy-mouthed  as  the  men  of  the  present  day, 
and  rendered  "  sweat  "  by  perspiration. 

His  fair  steed 
So  szvat  that  men  might  him  ring. 

— Chaucer  :   Tlie  Rhyme  of  Sir  Topaz, 

His  hackenye  which  that  was  al  pomelee  gris, 
So  swatte  that  it  wonder  was  to  see. 

—  The  Chanones  Yemanne's  Tale. 

Some,  lucky,  find  a  flowery  spot, 
For  which  they  never  toiled  nor  swat. 

—  Burns  :  Epistle  to  James  Smith. 

An  anecdote  is  related  by  Dean  Ramsay,  of  a  sturdy  old 
lady  who  so  greatly  loved  hearty  vehemence  in  preaching, 
that  she  delighted  in  one  particular  minister,  because 
when  he  preached  he  was  in  such  grim  earnest  with  his 
discourse  that  "  he  grat  and  spat  and  swat"  over  it ! 

Swink,  swank,  szvonken,  to  labour  over-hard.  This 
word  appears  to  have  been  almost  obsolete  in  Shake- 
speare's time.  Some  of  his  contemporaries  use  it,  and 
Milton  tried  to  revive  it  : — 


In  setting  and  sowing 
swinken  full  hard. 


— Piers  rioitghman. 


5l8  LOST    PRETERITES. 


Great  boobies  and  long 
That  loth  were  to  sivink. 

^ Piers  Ploughman. 

For  which  men  swink  and  sweat  incessantly. 

—Spenser  :  Faei-ie  Qneene. 

We'll  labour  and  S7vinke, 
We'll  kiss  and  we'll  drinkc. 
— Beaumont  and  Fletcher  :   Tlie  Spanish  Cureto. 

For  he  had  s-ivonkcn  all  the  nighte  long. 

— Chaucer  :  The  Reeve's  Tale. 


Thole,  tholed,  to  suffer,  to  endure.  This  word  is  in 
common  use  throughout  Scotland  and  on  the  Enghsh 
border,  but  has  long  been  lost  to  literature  : — 


Which  died  and  death  tholcd 
About  mid-day. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

What  mischief  and  malease  Christ  for  man  tholed. 

— Chaucer :    Visions. 

What  mickle  wo  as  I  with  you  have  tholed. 

— Chaucer. 

She  shall  the  death  thole. 

— Gower  :  Confessio  Atnantis. 

He  who  tholes  conquers. 

— Allan  Ramsay's  Scottish  Proverbs. 

Tenant  bodies,  scant  o'  cash, 
How  they  maun  thole  the  factor's  snash  ! 

— Burns. 


Threap,  to  argue,  to  complain,  to  lament : — 

'Tis  not  for  man  with  a  woman  to  threap. 

— Percy's  Reliqnes :   Tak'  thy  aiild 
cloak  abont  thee. 

Some  cry  upon  God,  others  threap  that  He  hath  forgotten  them. 

—  Bishop  b'isher. 


L(JST    PKKIKRITES.  519 


Some  heads  well  learneil  upon  the  book, 
Would  tJircap  auld  folks  the  thing  mistook. 


-Burns. 


In  Grose's  Provincial  Glossary  a  shopkeeper's  phrase  is 
quoted,  "This  is  not  threaping  ware" — />.,  these  goods 
are  so  superior  that  they  are  not  to  be  argued  about  or 
cheapened. 


T/iring,  throng,  thrung,  to  press,  to  jostle,  to  crowd, 
whence  the  modern  word  to  '  throng '  : — 

A  thousand  of  men, 
Thrnnt;en  together. 
Cried  upwards  to  Christ. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

The  Scottish  word  thrang — i.e.,  busy  with  a  crowd  of 
customers — is  a  remnant  of  this  word,  in  which,  as  in  many 
others  that  we  have  noticed,  the  original  preterite  has 
been  made  to  do  duty  for  the  infinitive  and  the  present 
tense. 


Wax.,  -luox,  coaxed,  7Voxen,  woxed,  to  grow,  to  increase. 
This  word,  chiefly  preserved  in  the  EngHsh  language 
by  its  frequent  use  in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  lost 
its  original  preterite  and  participle,  70ox  and  woxen,  before 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  at 
which  time  the  word  wax,  with  the  regular  inflections, 
was  in  comm.on  use  : — 

And  when  he  woxen  was  more 
In  his  mother's  absence. 

— Piers  Ploughman. 

This  man  wox  wellnigh  wood  [mad]  for  ire. 

— Chaucer  :   Tlie  Sompnoure's  Tale. 

Before  my  breath,  like  blazing  flax, 

Man  and  his  marvels  pass  away  ; 

And  changing  empires  wane  and  li'ax. 

Are  founded,  flourish,  and  decay. 

—Walter  Scott. 


520  LOST    PRETERITES. 

l'Vi)ik,   Wank  : — 


Our  king  on  the  shepherd  %vank 
Privily  willi  his  eye. 

— MS.  Cantab. — Halliwell. 


Wreak,  zvreaked,  or  wroke,  wroken,  to  avenge.  This 
word  is  still  current  in  connection  with  the  nouns  wrath, 
vengeance,  displeasure,  spite,  and  others  : — 

So  wreake  us,  God,  of  all  our  foes. 

— Sir  Bevis  of  Hampton. 

'Tis  not  my  fault,  the  boar  provoked  my  tongue. 
Be  wreaked  on  him. 

— Shakespeare  :   Venus  and  Adonis. 

And  soon  in  the  Gordon's  foul  heart's  blood, 
He's  -wroken  his  faire  ladye. 

— Minstrelsy  of  the  Scottish  Border. 

To  have  7e/ro>&£«  himself  of  such  wrongs  as  were  due  him  by  the 
French  king. 

— liolinshed's  Chronicles. 

The  verbs  here  quoted  are  merely  samples  of  the  liter- 
ary treasures  that  lie  concealed  in  the  si)eech  of  the 
common  people  of  the  northern  counties,  in  the  old  Eng- 
lish authors  anterior  to  Shakespeare,  and  in  the  Scottish 
literature  of  the  present  day.  What  should  we  say  if  an 
English  nobleman  of  ancient  and  illustrious  linenge  and 
great  wealth  had  in  the  cellars  and  vaults  of  his  castle 
hundreds  of  coffers  and  oaken  chests  filled  to  the  lid  with 
coins  of  the  ])urest  gold  stamped  with  the  image  and 
superscription  of  bygone  kings,  if  he  would  never  use  nor 
look  at  any  portion  of  his  wealth  ?  What,  also,  should 
we  say  of  him  if,  in  want  of  gold  for  his  daily  need,  he 
persisted  in  borrowing  it  from  strangers  at  usurious  inter- 
est, rather  than  touch  his  antique  treasures  ?  We  should 
say  he  was  unwise,  or  at  the  least  eccentric,  and  that  it 
was  questionable  whether  he  deserved  to  possess  the  great 
wealth  which  he   had  inherited.     Every  master  of  the 


LOST   PRETERITES.  52  I 


English  tongue,  whether  he  be  poet,  orator,  or  great  prose 
writer,  is  in  the  position  of  this  supposed  nobleman  if  he 
will  not  study  the  ancient  words  of  the  language,  and 
revive  to  the  extent  of  his  ability  such  among  them  as  he 
finds  to  be  better  adapted  to  express  strong  as  well  as 
delicate    shafies   of  meaning,   than   the   modern   words 
which   have  usurped  their  places.     To  the  poets  more 
especially,  and,  if  there  be  none  such  left  in  our  day 
(which  we  should  be  very  sorry  to  assert,  when  certain 
great  names  flash  upon  our  memory),   to  the  versifiers 
who  are  not  likely  ever  to  fail  us  as  long  as  there  are 
hopes  and  fancies  in  the  hearts  of  young  men  and  women, 
this  is  a  matter  of  especial  concern.      The  permissible 
rhymes  of  the  modern  English  tongue  are  not  copious  in 
number ;  and  such  as  exist,  if  not  as  well  worn  as  love 
and  dove,  breeze  and  trees,  heart  and  dart,  are  far  too 
familiar  to  come  upon  the  ear  with  any  great  charm  of 
novelty.     The  dactylic  rhymes  are  still  fewer,  as  every 
one  who  has  tried  his  hand  at  versification  is  painfully 
aware.     It  is  the  poet,  more  than  the  prose  writer,  who 
strengthens  as  well  as  beautifies  the  language  which  he 
employs.     It  is  true  that  language  first  makes  literature ; 
and  that  literature,  when  once  established  among  a  people, 
reacts  upon  language,  and  fixes  its  form — decides  what 
words  shall  and  what  words  shall  not  be  used  in   the 
higher  forms  of  prose  and  poetical  composition.     Old 
English — such  as  it  is  found  in  Piers  Floughman,  Chaucer, 
Spenser,  and  the  poets  and  dramatists  of  the  Elizabethan 
era,  and  as  late  as  Milton  and  Dryden — is  a  passionate 
rather  than  an  argumentative  language ;  and  poets,  who 
ought  to  be  passionate  above  all  else,  otherwise  they  are 
but   mere   versifiers,    should  go  back  to   those  ancient 
sources,  if  they  would  be  strong  without  ceasing  to  be 
correct  and  elegant.     The  words  that  were  good  enough 
for  Shakespeare  and  his  contemporaries  ought  to  be  good 
enough  for  the  greatest  writers  of  our  day.     But  Shakes- 
peare himself  is  becoming  obsolete,  and  needs  the  aid  of 
a  glossary  to  explain  to  educated  people  many  excellent 
words  that  are  quite  intelligible  to  an  uneducated  plough- 

K  2 


522 


LOST    PRETERITES. 


man.  Is  it  the  fault  of  Shakespeare  or  of  modern  writers 
that  this  should  be  the  case  ?  Doubtless  the  fault  is  not 
in  Shakespeare,  but  in  ourselves. 


»•* 


ERRATA 


For  Davce,  page  45,  read  Cavee. 

In  page  60,  omit  cuif,  inserted  by  inadvertency.      See  page  53. 

In  page  73,  for  '■'■Roger:  Illustrations  of  Scottish  Life,"  read 
Rogers's. 

Page  83,  for  '■'■Feck  seems  to  be  derivable  for  the  Gaelic y^ac//," 
iQB.d,fro>?i  the  Gaelic. 

Page  85,  for  "  my  .f/^a^/.v- trapannd,"  read,  "my  jtoa"x  trapannd." 

Page  96,  for  galer,  read  gaho  :  and  for  "a  gale  of  wind  to  the 
Kymric,"  read,  "a  gale  of  wind  is  referable  to  the  Kymric". 

Page  103,  for  glcogand,  read  gleogair. 

Page  105,  for  gaisleys,  read  gaislings. 

Page  118,  for  "  Painch,  tripe,  or  thaim"  read,  painch,  tripe,  or 
thairm. 

Page  135  ( Hoiighmagandie ),  for  '■''strongly  supposed  to  mean,  ' 
&c.,  read,  wrongly  supposed  to  mean,  &c. ;  and  iox fornicator,  read 
fornication. 

Page  205,  for  yiingfrau,  read  jtingfrati. 

Page  234,  for  iiichty,  read  nichts. 

Page  276,  for  beschinen,  read  beschreien. 

Vagez'JT ,iQX beschreiitn,  xt^idbeschreicn;  and  ioxskriitli,  xea.dsgrut/t. 

Shacklock,  page  276,  insetted  a  second  time  in  page  286. 

Page  300,  for  skrcnchail,  read  sgrenchail. 

Page  318,  for  "whence  the  Teutonic  selik,  happy,"  read,  whence 
the  Teutonic  selig,  &c. 

Page  319,  for  "often  applied  a  finnon  haddie,"  iSic,  read,  often 
applied  to  a  finnon  haddie. 

Page  325,  for  "Withered  beldams  auld  a  droll,"  read,  "Withered 
beldams  auld  and  AxoW." 

Page  346,  for  "  Ye  surly  sumphs  who  hate  the  haine,"  read,  who 
hate  the  itavie. 

Page  352,  for  "  All  its  eddies  whirled,"  read,  all  its  eddies  curl'd. 

Page  357,  for  "the  Gaelic  deam,"  read  deann ;  and  for  "to  be 
in  the  tan  turns"  read  tantriims. 

Page  361,  for  "from  whence  the  primary  means,"  &c.,  »ead 
"from  whence  the  primary  ineaniiig,"  &c. 

Page  365,  for  "And  I'm  so  fat  and  fain  of  flesh,"  read,  fair. 

Page  366,  for  "  When  \W^\.oA  preachers,'"  Sec,  xea.d  preaches. 

Page  394,  for  triathac  read  triathacli. 

Page  408,  for  cuiscag,  read  cttiseach. 

Page  410,  for—"  IVaes  the  man  that  wants  the  tongue, 
But  weels  the  man  that  gets  her," 
read  wae's,  and  weeFs. 

Page  416,  for  "from  the  Gaelic  waine,  read,  the  Gaelic  tiaine. 

Page  436,  for    "derived   from  the   Teutonic   waiike,"  read,    the 
Teutonic  wanke ;  and  for  "the  Flemish  ivaroelen,'"  read,  the  Fie 
mish  TrankeUn. 

Page  447,  for  whiskey-wackets,  read  whiskey-tackcts. 

Page  455,  for  the  Gaelic  wruisg,  read  uruisg. 


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