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My working Auld Scot and Gael (G) Glossary
© Sandy Blair
A
Afore, before
Ain, own
Argent, silver
Arbroath smokie, haddock smoked to a sooty copper color
At Meat, to eat, dine
Auld Reekie, Edinburgh
Aye, always
Azure, blue
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BBairn, child
Bap, bread roll
Barm, yeast (still not obsolete)
Bawsins, cattle marked on the forehead
Ben (G)mountain
Bide/byde, stay
Bier, a lament, a moan
Biggin, building
Bigly, beautiful
Birdalane or burdalane, a term of sorrowful endearment, applied to an only child, especially a girl, to signify that she is without household comrades or companions.
Black-mail, a tax levied by many Highland chieftains to protect cattle traveling through their territories to southern markets. Plaque (small Scottish coin) and not black was the original term.
Blavers, blue cornflowers
Bluntie, a stupid fellow
Borde, table, as when referring to meals, food
Bodle, a small Scottish coin of less value than a bawbee, the sixth of an English penny
Brae, hill
Brash, a sickness, eruption, rash
Breacan feile, (G) literal translation “speckled cloth”, what we know as plaid
Breeks, nether garments of a man, trews, breeches
Bring home, to deliver a child
Bryttle, to cut up venison
Buckie, periwinkle
Burn, brook
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CCa’ cannie!,(G)exclamation, Beware!
Caird, tinker
Cairn, heap of stones marking a particular spot/grave/path
Cannie, canny, careful
Cantie, a charm, a spell, a mischievous trick
Canteran, a term applied by Lowlanders to a Highland marauder, thought to be lawless predators
Cauf, calf
Close, narrow passage between buildings
Coo, cow
Coof, a fool, blockhead
Coll, embrace
Cushat, a turtle dove, a wood pigeon
Cuttie stool, a short three legged stool
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DDarg, a job of work, also wark
Dautie, a darling, one who is fondled and affectionately treated.
Dawds and blawds, a phrase that denotes the greatest abundance
Deil’s-buckie or Deevil’s-buckie, an angry epithet applied to any mischievous lad. Also thrawn and twisted buckie
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EEke, to add to, an addition to a testament, a codicil to a will, that extra glass of whisky pressed onto a guest at the end of the night
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FFashious, troublesome
Feileadh beag, (G) Garb of old(auld) Gaul, modern = full kilt
Fetishly, elegantly
Fey, fated, bewitched, unlucky, one who’s fate is known or prophesized
Full fair, elegant, beautiful
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G“Garb of auld Gaul”, consists of a piece of woolen cloth, two meters in width, six meters in length, carefully gathered into pleats at the center, one end being worn about the wearer’s back, over the shoulder, and secured by a brooch at the shoulder and a stout leather belt at the waist
Gilpie, a saucy young girl
Gridle or bander, a circular iron plate used for roasting oat cakes over an open fire
Glack, a ravine
Glamour, enchantment, witchcraft, fascination
Gled, a kite, a hawk, a vulture
Gloaming, the twilight
Glunch, an angry frown
Gowk, a cuckoo, also a fool
Gowl, to bawl and howl
Gowpen, two handfuls
Grandgore, glengore, or glandgore, the venereal disease
Greet, cry, weep
Grue, a greyhound
Gurr, to snarl like an angry dog
Gutcher, grandfather
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HHavers, oats, Haver-meal, oatmeal, Can also mean nonsense.
Hawkie, pet name for a favorite cow or one who is a good milker
Hetch, to offer, to promise as in “And Willie hetch to marry me.”
Hinnie, term of endearment among Highlanders
Hizzie, a huzzy lass
Hogmanay, (G) New Year’s Day celebration
Holm, meadow
Hoodock, hooded owl
Houghmagandie, (G) child bearing, often wrongly supposed to mean illicit sex. It was more the result of sex, illicit or otherwise.
Howdie or Howdie-wife, a mid-wife
Hurdies, the hips, rounded muscle bottom
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IIngle, the fire.
Ingle-side, the fireside or hearth.
Inglin, fuel
Insidiously, seductively
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JJimp, slender at the waist
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KKain, tribute or tax
Kain-bairns, a boarder Scot superstition that infants were seized in their cradles by warlocks and witches and paid as a kain to their master the devil.
Keen, to weep loudly
Kelpie, a water-sprite
Keltie, a large glass with a round bottom that could not be set down unless drained.
Ken, know or understand
Kinnen, rabbits
Kirk, church
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LLane, alone
Laverock, the lark
Limmer, a deprecating epithet for a woman, one who leaps the bounds of propriety
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MMauks, maggots
Mawmet, an idol
Mearache, (G) an error
Meggy Monyfeet, a centipede
Merle, the blackbird
Messan, a cur, a lap-dog
Minnie, term of endearment for a mother
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NNappie, strong drink
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OOr, gold
Outlers, the cattle left out at night for want of a barn
Outside of the Loof, the back side of the hand, as in “The outside of my loof to ye” indicating a rejection of friendship
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P,QPadda or Paddock, a frog or toad, a paddock stool would be our toad stool mushroom
Parritch or Porridge, boiled oats seasoned with milk and salt often with butter or beer
Partan, crabs
Penny-fee, wages
Pickle, a small quantity, also beag
Pig, an earthen pitcher, vessel, or flower pot
Pit-dark, dark as the bottom of a pit
Pirrie-dog, a dog that follows his master’s heels
Piss-a-bed, a vulgar name for the despised dandelion or taraxacum
Plack, an ancient Scottish coin valued at one twelfth an English penny
Pockpud, an abbreviation of the contemptuous epithet pock-pudding meaning the English.
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RRispie, a bulrush, a badge worn on the bonnet by the clan Mackay
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SSark, the linen, woolen, silken or cotton garment worn next to the skin by men and women.
Seabhag, (G) hawk
Slainte mhor! (G) Good health!
Smote, to strike
Snow up, to clean
Spake, spoke
Suggit, subject, servant
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T,U
Taibhseam, (G) a ghost
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VVerra, very
Vert, green
Visage, face
Voweress, a widow who pledge herself to God without becoming a nun
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W,XWhisky, no “e”
Whistle binkie, a musician, harpist, fiddler, or piper Wully-wha-ing, insincere flattery
Withershins, to move or pass something against the course of the sun, the wrong way around a table.
Wowf, particularly deranged.
Wud, raging or stark raving mad, where as daft is only slightly deranged.
Wynd, a narrow, winding street
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Y,ZYeld, barren
Yestreen, yesterday or last night
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