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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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