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Four Gospels now on CD
This week sees the publication in CD format of recordings of the four Scots gospels. Tom Fleming’s readings from the Scots New Testament bring to life the great stories of Lorimer’s translation. Until the end of June the full set of CDs is available at special reduced price of £59.99 (usual ... more
Names in Scots - Personal
As one might expect, Scots speakers have traditionally had their own forms of first and family names, just like every language community. For example, though the name David was often written the same as in England, it was pronounced with a different sound on the ‘a’, while –d endings were c... more
Names in Scots - Places in Scotland
This section of the website is intended to provide a guide to Scots forms of personal and place names. There are few areas where the process of smothering Scots is more apparent than in its names for people and places. Around the year 1800 – though the process varied from place to place – it ... more
Sally on Sunday discuss Scots New Testament
Sally Magnusson discusses the Scots New Testament with Priscilla Lorimer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod more
Craigmillar baby books
The Craigmillar Books for Babies scheme has been going for 10 years. As well as work done in the community there are colourful illustrated rhyme cards which can be downloaded. These include several Scots rhymes: Ally Bally, Wee Willie Winkie, Rain on the green gress, Katie Beardie, Three Craws. w... more
Booktrust advice for baby books
Scottish Booktrust have a pamphlet on reading with young children, aimed at parents and carers. It is available in Scots: 'Stertin-up wi buiks'
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Names in Scots - countries abroad
As with personal and place names, the use of names in Scots for countries has been smothered in modern times because officialdom in Scotland has preferred the English forms. A particular trait of Scots country names is that many end in –ae or –y rather than the convention in English which oft... more
Names for the Scots Language
The Scots language has been known by several alternative names during its history. The variety of names reflects both changing fashions, and local dialect loyalties. For the unwary, such a variety of names can often be a cause for confusion, leading to misunderstandings about the identity and nat... more
Imprentit: 500 years of the Scottish printed word
Printing's profound impact in Scotland across five centuries is the focus of the National Library of Scotland summer exhibition with treasures on show from its historic collections.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition the Scots Language Centre is displaying two items from the NLS colle... more
The complaint of the Black Knight
John Lydgate's poem "The complaint of the black knight", commonly attributed to Chaucer, was published in Edinburgh in 1508 by Walter Chepman and Andrew Myllar. The tale is written in Middle Scots and printed in black letter. It is the earliest dated book printed in Scotland, and the National Lib... more
To a Mouse
Robert Burns’ “To a mouse” is one of the poems published in the first collection of his work, commonly known as 'the Kilmarnock edition'. John Wilson printed it in Kilmarnock in 1786. More on the NLS collection of Burns material can be found here: http://www.nls.uk/burns/index. and, as p... more
Border Ballads
The publication of Sir Walter Scott’s ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border’ in 1802 was the foundation for the belief that the ballads of the Scottish Borders constituted the greatest ballad tradition in Scotland. In fact, the North East of Scotland also ranks equally with the Borders in ball... more
Ellie an da sail needle
Written and read by Iris Sandison from the album Hansel o Stories published by Hansel Cooperative Press http://www.hanselcooperativepr
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Read the Lorimer New Testament
For more information about Lorimer's Scots New Testament visit
www.booksfromscotland.com/Book more
Oldest Diplomatic Act in Scots
The background to the Common Ridings was the lawless nature of the borderlands which persisted between the 13th and 17th centuries. There were often feuds between kindreds and frequent raiding by armed gangs known as reivers (‘thieves’). On a national scale, Scotland was often at war with Eng... more
Nort Atlantik Drift - photography and poems from Shetland
Well known Shetland writer Alan Jamieson's latest collection of poems was launched in December 2007. In Nort Altalntik Drift, from Luath Press, Jamieson mixes mythology, autobiography and history with photographs in a beautiful book not only for Shetlanders, but everyone who has visited, or dream... more
Entries invited for Doric Competition
Entries are now invited as part of the Doric Festival writing competition. Competitors must either write a poem, short story or one-act play to be submitted by the deadline of 19 September 2008. Entries should contain a title page, the category entered, name of the entrant, and home address and t... more
Conversation Now Translated into Scots
The Scottish Government’s 'National Conversation' document, published in the autumn of 2007, has now been translated into the Scots language. Ministers Linda Fabiani and Maureen Watt are to be congratulated for taking the decision to include Scots. Both of the ministers, who are currently explo... more
Two hundred years of Scots dictionaries
It is now two hundred years since the Rev John Jamieson (1759-1838) published the first dictionary given over entirely to the Scots language, in 1808. Jamieson was born and brought up in Glasgow and was also a student in Glasgow and Edinburgh before being appointed pastor at Forfar in Angus in 17... more
Anniversary of oldest surviving document in Scots
The month of March marks the anniversary of the oldest entire text in Scots, strictly speaking. On 12 March 1380 (1379 old calendar) Alexander Lindsay of Glenesk put his seal to a letter (see text below) which is now the oldest original document – wholly in Scots – to survive. To this we may ... more
Oldest act of government in Scots
In the year 1397 – apparently during the month of April – a General Council of the Kingdom was held at Stirling. The significance of this Council for Scots was the statute that it passed in the name of King Robert III (ruled 1390-1406). The Statute of Stirling is now the earliest surviving a... more
New series of books from Scottish Dictionaries
The people at Scottish Language Dictionaries have created a new series of little books based on the Scots language which are called ‘Say it in Scots.’ Brand new this month, and published by ‘Black and White Publishing’, these little books have been designed to inform and entertain the rea... more
Jings, Crivens! Oor Wullie`s turning English
Anne Hoyer from Heidelberg University has been carrying our research into the language used in the Sunday Post's Oor Wullie cartoon strip. Hoyer has discovered that Wullie is using less Scots than he was when the spiky haired lad first emerged from Dudley Watkins' imagination over 60 years ago. T... more
Kidnapped Translated
It won't be the first time that Kidnapped has been translated but it surely is the first time the Stevenson novel has been rendered in Scots and as a graphic novel too. Kidnappit is the latest product from Scots language children's publisher Itchy Coo and will be on sale from 1st February. The bo... more
Plays in Scots for Schools
Roy McGregor and Liz Niven have edited a new book entitled 'Scottish Plays for Schools' through the Association for Scottish Literary Studies and published by Hodder Gibson. This work includes six short plays in Scots which may be read or performed and have been written by the following: 'Hierogl... more
New book scratches an itch
A newly published book from Itchy Coo - entitled 'Geordie's Mingin Medicine', which is a translation from English into Scots of a Roald Dahl work, has now reached number one in Waterstone's children's bestseller charts. This comes after the success of Itchy Coo's 'The Eejits' (another Dahl transl... more
Book of Scots terms
Artist Scott Simpson has illustrated a series of Scots words by assigning a character to each one. These include 'ned', 'clype', 'crabbit' and many other well known words. Wrongly reported by the Daily Record as "classic slang terms", these words drawn from the Scots language will be immediately ... more
Chorin Stanes...
Hello aw, howp ye hae aw been fine this hinmaist week. I'm nippin out in a bit, sae jist time fer a wee blog this week
I hae been feil thrang, I can tell ye that. Syne I'll be daein Scottish History at Uni in September, I decidit tae get a heid stairt a while back an read aw the Scottish his... more
Association for Scottish Literary Studies
The Associe for Lair in the Leetraturs o Scotland (Association for Scottish Literary Studies) is haudin its yearly confeerance at the Netherbow Theatre, 43-45 High Street, Embra. The day is tae be cryed ‘Dramatising Scotland’ an will veeage throu the hail reenge o dramatic veesions an taks on... more
Revisiting the Makars
The Text Society for Leids o Scotland (Scottish Text Society) is tae haud the first in a screed o twa-yearly lectures in honour o Angus McIntosh. At 5.15pm on 7 Januar Professor Felicity Riddy will gie a paper cryed ‘Revisiting the Makars’ in the David Hume Touer, George Square, Embra. Thir ... more
Convention o Modren Leids Associe
Professor John Corbett, fae the Versity o Glesca, will be giein a paper cryed ‘The Future Oors? The Scots Language in Iain M Banks’s Feersum Endjinn and Matthew Fitt’s But ‘n’ Ben a Go Go’, as a pairt o the Convention o the Modren Leids Associe (Modern Languages Association) tae be he... more
Aye write in Glesca
As pairt o Glesca's Aye Write fest the will be a day gien ower tae the Scots leid, cryed 'Writing in Scots: A series of three linked workshops', sponsored bi the Langage Comatee o the Associe for Lair in the Leetraturs o Scotland (Association of Scottish Literary Studies). This will stert at 11am... more
Annual ASLS Election
The annual meeting and election of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies will be held at 1pm in the Department of Literature, 7 University Gardens, Glasgow. This will be followed by a panel discussion to celebrate the 200th anniversary of John Jamieson's Etymological Dictionary of the Sco... more
waith n. a piece of property which is found ownerless
Waith is related to the word waif, which started out as a legal term with the same meaning, but is now more often used to conjure images of Dickensian orphans. In medieval Scotland, waith referred to lost or stranded goods or animals which became the property of the local overlord or the king, if... more
yerk v. bind tightly; beat, whip, strike; snatch, wrench, etc.
Yerk (or yark) is recorded in medieval English, and although it has generally fallen out of use south of the border, it is still known and used in Scots and in some regional dialects of English. Used in the sense "bind tightly", often in relation to garments or their production, yerk was often us... more