GLOSSARY OF SCOTTISH TERMS/WORDS
Although some visitors to the site may be of Scottish extraction, I am assuming that in some cases, their distance from the land of their forebears has meant that their ability to understand the language has been diluted by the miles and the years! So here are just a few of the terms and words used on the site.
bear or bier - a form of barley
bide - to stay
bidie - in - live in lover
brae - a hill or slope
bothy - see Chaumer (below)
breeks - trousers
but and ben - the characteristic two-roomed Aberdeenshire cottage, the but is the kitchen, the ben a parlour or best room.
chaumer - was a room traditionally near the stables which was provided for single male farm servants who were given their meals in the farm kitchen. A bed was provided and a chest (kist) held all their possessions. The room also contained a fireplace. The term chaumer was generally in use in the Aberdeenshire area, but more commonly known elsewhere as a 'bothy'. Before the advent of radio and television, people had to make their own entertainment. Bothy songs and ballads, accompanied on accordian or fiddle, covered a wide range of topics and provide an interesting and tuneful insight into the social history of the period.
James Keith recalled that in 1953 "the scarcity of domestic help has made the strain on the farmers' wives almost intolerable and many are no longer willing to board the workers" This, combined with the attractive wages being offered in industry, resulted in the departure of many single men from farming.
cottar - a paid labourer, usually a subtenant, who had a cottage, but little or no land and was often dependent on casual work for survival after the agricultural revolution. The word came to mean a married farm worker living in a cottage tied to his employment.
croft - a smallholding in the highlands and islands. The croft was once common in the Lowlands, occupied by tradesmen, or small tenants hoping to get a first step on the ladder of tenant farming.
crowdie - a soft spreadable cheese
fan and fit or f't - when and what, still used considerably in the north-east. In fact used by my mother all her life, even after over 70 years south of the border.
gweed - good
Mains - the chief or home farm
skirlie - a dish made of oatmeal and onions used to stuff a chicken. Eaten in place of meat when times were hard.
stovies - a traditional dish made of onions, potatoes and dripping, sometimes with the addition of meat.
Sway - the metal arm on a swing situated on the side of a fireplace to hold cooking vessels.
