Scots words in Service of the Heir

Well, the very title is a Scots legal term, also known as a Retour, the proof established that someone can inherit land or buildings from someone else. Moveable goods go differently. But here are some of the Scots words that appear - again, some are in broader use than just Scotland, some are archaic and some still used, and some are repeated from the last two lists. Now, back to typing the next book!

Auld Clootie – the Devil, the old  cloven-hooved one.

Bairn – child

Bing – a barrel or tub, or (later) any large quantity. For example, the mining spoil heaps in the Lothians are called bings

Boke - vomit

Bumbazed – confused

Clarty - dirty

Creepie stool – small, roughly made stool suitable for kitchens

Cruive – pen for animals

Divilment - mischief

Fash – bother, fash himself – take the trouble

Frae - from

Gar my flesh grue – give me the creeps

Gey - very

Gowk  - fool

Groosie – dirty, usually greasy dirt

Haar – sea mist

Handfasted – betrothed

Hizzie - hussy

Howff – low drinking establishment

Joogling – jingling, jiggling

Kirk  - church

Kisting – placing of a  corpse in a coffin (kist – chest)

Loutch – to walk carelessly, with shoulders slumped

Luckenbooth – a lockable market stall

Muckle – much, or of a person, self-aggrandising

Neuk – corner

Pluffy – full of yourself

Pross – parade, show yourself off

Queesivity - curiosity

Risp – an alternative to a door knocker, a vertical twisted iron rod attached to a wall by the door, with a ring round it to be rattled (tried to find one on the SCRAN website but it's refusing to appear!)

Speiring – asking, looking for

Steading – farm buildings

Thole – tolerate, put up with

Tron – weighings scales, also the place where goods are weighed at a market

Wadman – employment agent

Well-kent – well-known