Our Ancient Tongue - Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary (Part One)

Those who even have a cursory glance at John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language (published in 1808) will have no doubt that the past is an extremely foreign place.  Even those moderately well acquainted with Scottish history and culture will fail to recognise the majority of the words in this wonderful book.  Jamieson was not a native of Angus, but he spent many years hear as a religious minister, during which time he gathered much of the living language published in his groundbreaking dictionary.

   This post gathers a sample of the wonderful words gathered by Jamieson which he specifically mentions as being current in  Angus during his time there. It has to be said that these words may not all be specific to Angus only, for language is not mindful of county demarcation.  (Future posts will give more examples and  another will give the background of Jamieson's life, and particularly his time in Angus.)

   But first, a few observations... I dare you to take these next few long gone words and swill them around in your mind or, better still, say them out loud and ponder how they came to be, or how magnificently they match the concepts they are supposed to convey.  Of course there is no equivalent in the anodyne lexicon of modern standard English.  If you're ready we'll begin with...

• Jingle.  Not used in the modern sense, but a beautiful term for a minutely noticed movement in nature.  Jamieson states that the Angus meaning, delightfully, was 'the smooth water at the back of a stone in the river'.

• Karriewhitchit. More intimate, this word. It means 'a foundling term for a child'.

• Goutherfow. A specific and unpleasant type of astonishment: 'It seems to suggest the idea of one who appears nearly deranged from terror or amazement.'

 Auld Words of Angus

Here's  the things with the Scots tongue:  there's wistful, supernatural, beguiling, but a lot of it is disdainful, contrary, unforgiving and sarcastic.  What does that say about us?  I leave you to ponder fully.

It is not the high faluting things one notices, but those indefinable and contemptible conditions of physical, moral or emotional weakness... 

Things of nature, obsolete rural activities and places

Aith, Aiftland - 'That kind of land called infield, which is made to carry oats a second time after barley, and has received no dung.'

Awat - 'Ground ploughed after the first crop from lea.  The crop produced is called the Awat-crop.'

Bag Rape - 'A rope of straw or heath, double the size of the cross-ropes used in fastening the thatch of a roof.  This is kinched to the cross-ropes, then tied to what is called the pan-rape, and fastened with wooden pins to the easing or top of the wall on the other side.'

Baikie - 'The stall to which an ox or cow is bound in the stall.'

Bardie - 'a gelded cat'.

Bilbie - 'Shelter, residence...This, I apprehend, is a very ancient word.'

Blithmeat - 'The meat distributed among those that are present at the birth of a child, or among the rest of the family.'

Bourach/bowrock - 'An inclosure; applied to the little houses that children build for play, especially in the sand...'  Also: 'A confused heap of any kind...Such a quantity of body clothes as is burdensome to the wearer, is called a bourach of claise...'

Brathins - 'The cross ropes of the roof of a thatched house, or stack; also called etherins.'

Bun - 'A large cask, placed in a cart, for the purpose of bringing water from a distance.'

Bune - 'The inner part of the stalk of flax, the core, that which is of no use, afterwards called the shaws.'

Bykat - 'A male salmon; so called, when come to a certain age, because of the beak which grows in his under jaw.'

Calflea - 'Infield ground, one year under natural grass...It seems to have received this designation, from the calves being turned out on it.'

Candavaig - 'A salmon that lies in the fresh water till summer, without going to the sea; and, of consequence, is reckoned very foul.'

Daise - 'The powder, or that part of a stone, which is bruised in consequence of the strokes of the pick-axe or chizzel.'Also, doyce, meaning a dull, heavy stroke.

Doister - 'A storm from the sea, as contradistinguished from bau-gull, which denotes a breeze from the sea during summer.  The word is used by the fishermen in Angus.'

Donie, 'A hare.'

Doock, duce. 'A kind of strong, coarse cloth, manufactured in the coast towns of Angus.  one kind of it is called sail-doock, as being used for sails.'

Drizzen - The lowing sound of cattle.

Emmis, Immis - 'Variable, uncertain, what cannot be depended on...Ground which often fails to give a good crop, is called immis land.'

Fauch, faugh - 'A single furrow, out of lea; also the land thus managed.'

Faucumtulies - 'Certain perquisites which the tenant is bound to give the proprietor of the land, according to some leases; as fowls & c.'

Flaucht - 'A piece of ground, a croft.'

Flist  - 'A keen blast or shower accompanied with a squall.'  In Angus it could particularly mean a flying shower or snow or, figuratively, an outburst of anger.

Flot-whey - 'Those parts of the curd, left in whey, when it is boiled, float on the top.'

Fordel work - 'Work done before it be absolutely necessary.'

Forthgeng - 'The entertainment given at the departure of a bride from her own, or her father's, house.'

Frog - A verb meaning to snow at intervals.

Fuffars - Bellows.

Gaberts - 'A kind of gallows, or wood or stone, erected to support the wheel to which the rope of a draw-well is attached.'

Garb - 'A young bird.'

Gaw - 'A hollow with water springing in it.'

Goat - 'A narrow cavern or inlet, into which the sea enters.'

Golach - 'The generic name for a beetle.'

Gosk - 'Grass that grows through dung.'

Gurr - A knotted stick.

Haddie's Cog - 'A measure formerly used for meting out the meal appropriated for supper for the servants.'

Hagger - It's haggerin, raining gently.

Hustle - A pleased sound emitted by an infant or a cat.

Descriptions of the Uncertain Human Condition

Balmullo - 'To make one lauch Balmullo, to make one change one's mind; to make one cry.  "I'll gar you lauch, sing, or dance, Balmullo...is a threatening used by parents or nurses...'  Surprisingly the term derives from the Gaelic work for eyebrow.  'Hence bo-mullach is equivalent to "the grisly ghost, the spectre with the dark eyebrows".'

Bardish -  'Rude, insolent in language.'

Bein - 'Bone...One is said to be aw frae the bein, all from the bone, when proud, elevated, or highly pleased...'

Bloisent - 'One is said to have a bloisent face , when it is red, swollen, or disfigured, whether by intemperance, or being exposed to the weather...'

Camscho - Primarily meant crooked.  In Angus the specific meaning was, 'Ill humoured, contentious, crabbed; denoting crookedness or perverseness of temper.'

Collyshangie - Commonly meant 'An uproar, a tumult, a squabble.' In Angus it particularly signified, 'a ring of plaited grass or straw, through which a lappet of a woman's gown, of fold of a man's coat is thrust, without the knowledge of the person, in order to excite ridicule.  This trick is most commonly played in harvest.'

Crok - 'A dwarf.'

Dordermeat - 'A bannock or cake given to farm-servants, after loosing the plough, between dinner and supper.'

Eastie Wastie - 'An unstable person, one on whose word there can be no dependence.  One who veers like the wind, or who fights east and then west.'

Eeghie nor Oghie - 'I can bear neither eeghie nor oghie, neither one thing nor another...'

Fadle - 'To walk in an awkward and waddling manner.'

Fairfassint - 'Having great appearance of discretion or kindness, without the reality.'  Compare with Fair-farand - 'Having a goodly or fair appearance.'  Jamieson:  'It is now used to denote one who assumes a specious appearance, who endeavours by his language or manner to cajole another.  Thus it is commonly applied to one who is very plausible.  He's owre fair farrand for me, Angus.'

Flanter - 'To waver, to be in some degree delirious; used concerning persons under affliction, when the bodily disease affects the mind.'

Flett -  General Scots term for house or residence, as in Angus saying, denoting poverty, that one has 'neither fire nor flett'.

Flinder - 'To flirt, to run about in a fluttering manner; also applied to cattle, when they break through inclosures, and scamper through the fields.'

Foryoudent - 'Tired, out of breath, overcome with weariness.'

Fraik - He maks a great fraik - 'He pretends great regard.'

Gloit - 'To work with the hands in something liquid, miry, or viscous.'

Glorg - 'To work in some dirty business.'

Grouk - 'To look over one with a watchful and apparently suspicious eye.'

Gulp - 'A term applied to a big, unwieldy child.'

Gynkie - 'A term of reproach applied to a woman; as, She's a worthless gynkie.'

Hervy - 'Mean, having the appearance of great poverty.'

Hudderin, huderon - 'Slovenly.  It is generally applied to a woman who is lusty and flabby in her person, or wears her clothes loosely and awkwardly.'

Ill fond - unprepared.

Juttie - A drinker.

Kabbelow - 'Cod-fish, which has been salted and hung for a few days, but not thoroughly dried.'

A Laidly Flup - 'An awkward booby.'

Thole the dool - to accept the punishment or evil consequences of anything.

Things of Darkness, Plus Miscellaneous Terms

Beshacht - 'Not straight, distorted. ' (This was the sense in Angus.  In Perthshire, it meant torn, tattered, conveying the idea of dirtiness.')

Besle - 'To talk much at random, to talk inconsiderately and boldly on a subject that one is ignorant of.'

Beuld - 'Bow legged.'

Braal - 'A fragment. "There's nae a braal in the fore," There's not a fragment remaining.'

Cruisken - A word relating to whisky; a specific measure of that spirit.

Cundie - this survives in modern Scots, or in Dundonian at least, as a term for a drain in the street.  More anciently, it's meaning in Angus was slightly different, for it signified, 'An apartment, a place for lodging, a concealed hole.'

Daidled - from daddle, besmirched. Daidled meat in Angus was that which was improperly cooked.

Daikit - When a thing is new , 'It has ne'er been daikit.'

Dreel - 'To move quickly, to run in haste.'

Drob - To prick with a needle.

Drow - 'A fainting fit, a sort of convulsion; also, a state of partial insensibility in dying persons.'

Eekfow - Equal.

Filchans - 'Bundles of rags patched or fastened together; the attire of a travelling mendicant.'

Finnin - 'A fiend, a devil.'

Geing - 'A term used to denote intoxication liquor of any kind.'

Glammach - In Angus, either an ineffectual effort, or a mouthful.

Glaum - Groping, reaching ineffectually, either because of blindness or the dark.

Glock - A gulp.

Grapus - 'A name for the devil, or for a hobgoblin.'

Hadderdecash - 'In a disorderly state, topsy-turvy.'

Heeliegoleerie - 'Topsy-turvy, in a state of confusion.'

Kebbie-Lebbie - 'To carry on altercation.'

Kelties - Children. 

Nae Coudy - While couthy survives as a term meaning something like comfortable, with a negative attached it had the meaning in Angus of, 'Anything accounted ominous of evil, or of approaching death, is said to be no coudy.  The term is also applied to a dreary place, which fancy might suppose to be haunted.'