Scottish words

Three language streams come together in Scotland: standard English, or a modified form thereof; Scots Gaelic, introduced to the West of Scotland by Irish settlers; and Lallans [L18th] or Scots. Lallans once referred to the dialect or language with much in common with the English spoken through most of Scotland, but more recently has come to refer to a literary form of the language or just the form spoken in the Lowlands of Scotland which give it its name. It is also a highly politicized term, with many Scots offended if it is not treated as a separate language, for it does have its own history, descending from Anglian settlers who arrived about the same time as the other Anglo-Saxons in England, and it shows its own influences from Norse and French. The first recorded use of Lallans is by Robert (or Rabbie) Burns (1759–96), who remains the most famous user of it. His popularity has given us a number of well-known terms. Burns wrote the words to Auld Lang Syne, literally ‘old long since’, so ‘for old times’ sake’. He also wrote a lively narrative poem called Tam o’Shanter in which Tam gets drunk and while staggering home comes across a group of witches dancing in a graveyard. One of them is wearing nothing but a ‘cutty sark’, cutty [18th] meaning short (based on ‘cut’) and sark [OE] being the word for the garment worn next to the skin, usually a shirt but in this case a chemise. The poem was immensely popular. In 1869 Cutty Sark was chosen as the name for what is now the world’s only surviving tea clipper, which has a carving of the underdressed woman as its figurehead. The ship’s name was later borrowed for a brand of whisky, while Tam o’Shanter gave his name to the large tam-o’-shanter beret, otherwise known as a Scotch bonnet, because he was shown wearing one in early illustrations.

Formal Scottish male dress is made up of a sporran [M18th], the Gaelic for a purse, worn over a kilt [M18th], which gets its name from the ME verb meaning ‘to gird, tuck round the body’ and a plaid [E16th] from the Gaelic word for ‘blanket’ worn diagonally over the shoulder, both made from tartan [LME], a word apparently borrowed by the Scots from Old French tertaine, which may in turn have previously been used to indicate a rich cloth from Tartary. The tartan will probably indicate the man’s clan [LME], a Scottish Gaelic word meaning ‘offspring, family’ which goes back to Latin planta ‘sprout’. Less often than formerly you might also see a skene-dhu [E19th, although skene by itself is LME] from sgian dhu, Gaelic for ‘black (i.e. hidden) knife’, worn tucked into a sock. If going over rough ground, he might wear brogues [L16th], a word found in both Scots and Irish Gaelic but ultimately going back to Old Norse. For dancing or a ceilidh [L19th] he might wear the distinctive, tongueless, laced, soft shoes. These are known as ghillies, but the name has only been in use since the 1930s. More usually a ghillie [E17th] from the Gaelic gille ‘young man, servant’, is someone helping on a fishing or shooting expedition. Despite the kilt being so typically Scottish, trousers are also Scottish; they were originally singular, from Irish triús or Gaelic triubhas, which gives us trews [M16th]. They came into English as singular but were trousers by the early 17th century, probably modelled on drawers [M17th], the things you draw on under your trousers.

Between the 13th and 17th centuries the borderlands between England and Scotland were notorious for the cattle raiders known as reivers or reavers [OE], from the same root as *rob. They might attack uttering their slogan [E16th], from Scottish Gaelic sluagh-ghairm, from sluagh ‘army’ and gairm ‘shout’. They were also known to levy *blackmail [M16th], from an obsolete English word mail ‘tribute, rent’. Chivvy [L18th] is another relic of these conflicts, as it is probably from the ballad ‘Chevy Chase’, celebrating a skirmish (probably the Battle of Otterburn, 1388) on the Scottish border. Originally a noun denoting a hunting cry, the term later meant ‘a pursuit’, hence the verb ‘to chase, worry’. Raiders might sit on a pillion [L15th], originally a light saddle which goes back via Gaelic pillean to Latin pellis ‘skin, pelt’.

Less gruesome [L16th], from Scots grue ‘to feel horror, shudder’, or dour [LME], probably from Scottish Gaelic dúr ‘dull, obstinate, stupid’, perhaps from Latin durus ‘hard’, are the Scottish forms of entertainment. High jinks [L17th] were what you got up to at drinking parties. Golf [LME] is a native Scottish game, although the word may be related to later Dutch kolg ‘club, bat’. Curling [M17th] is another Scottish game, with the rink it is played on later transferred to an ice rink. Rink [LME] is Scottish and originally meant a jousting ground, borrowed from Old French renc ‘rank’. Scotland also has its own foods, most famously haggis [ME], the pudding made from highly flavoured chopped sheep’s offal, which gets its name from hag ‘to hack’; and of course whisky [E18th], from Gaelic usquebaugh [E16th] from uisge beatha ‘water of life’.

There are still many differences between the standard forms of language in Scotland and England, although some are shared with northern English dialect. A child is a bairn [OE], bonny [E16th] is ‘good-looking’, aye is ‘yes’ [M16th] of unknown origin, and outwith [EME] is used for ‘outside’. As this is a living language, new words are constantly being added. The 20th century gave us sitooterie for somewhere you can sit outside and fantoosh for ‘flashy, fancy, pretentious’, probably borrowed in the First World War from French slang fantouche for something fantastical or eccentric, the first element being from fantasie.

See also aghast, blatant, bodkin, bog, bonus, borough, brave, burn, cad, cadge, church, crack, crockery, croon, dinky, duff, dunce, eerie, effete, engine, fang, fogey, gang, glamour, gobsmacked, inch, jump, know, lark, maiden, marmalade, mccoy, mouse, mutton, parsnip, pet, poke, pony, rampage, rob, sign, standard, swirl, tattered, test, truant, tweed, uncanny, uncouth, warlock.