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GLOSSARY |
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corresponding English words in o; they need no explanation, and are excluded from the glossary: aff, aft, amang, ance, awe, banes, bannet, craft, crap, craw, drap, fae, gane, gat, haly, hame, lang, langer, law, nane, na, rade, raw, sab, soft, sang, saul, shaw, slae, slaw, snaw, Strang, tae, tap, thraw, thrang, twa, wae, wan, warld, warldly, wat, wha, wham, whose, wrang.
ea and e, with a short sound of e as in etch, are found in a large number of words for which it is difficult to give a rule; these for example—brechan, hether (heather), hecht, wecht, heart. Again there are others containing the diphthong and such further combinations, as ee, e'e, ei, the sound of which nearly corresponds to the English in heed, such as bread, breast, swear, head, dread, beet, wee, e'e, ne'er, deip, deil. The dialectic ea is the most uncertain of the vocal compounds, as it is in English. Hugh Miller, in giving evidence, spoke of' the beer, the wulf, and the baiver' for ' the bear, the wolf, and the beaver.'
/and y in such words as clinkin, bellys,fyfteen are nearly as i in bit. Je, longer than the long sound of ea, is exemplified in skiegh, prief, rief, pronounced nearly as the English field. The terminal ie is often a diminutive, and in this case is generally a term of endearment or of derision. The Scottish vernacular has cumulative diminutives : thus, a priest, a priestie, a wee priestie, a wee bit priestie, which latter the speaker would hold in very little esteem. lu, as in French reliure, like kiutle, has no English representative.
0, the common sound in folk, is in foci, bodle, hog, thorn ; and o and oa, as in oak, are in jo, rozet, gloamin, Oe and ow like the oil in our, as o'er, o'erlay, o'ercome, owsen, rowte, sowens, bowk, howk, stowp. The discredited o, and sometimes «, is changed into i, as in brither, mither, anither, simmer, hiney.
The diphthongs oo and eu have no equivalent sound in English; but the eu in the French fetir are represented in toom, cootie, deuk, beuk, neuk. U and ou are as oo in boot, such as through, char, stoure,fou,fu', mou',ptni,pu', sough, drouth.
There are two sounds of «, the English as in but, found in dunt, lunt,fud, cud, lug, rush, push ; and the French « interchangeable with «?', in ??«/, is found in puir, pure, guid, gude, muir, yule.
The long y with the terminal e mute sounds like the English y in style, as in flyte, gyte, belyve.
The zie or yie interchangeable is pronounced yee,
B is rarely sounded after m: thus clamb, lamb, thimble, timber, chamber are written and pronounced clam, lam, thimle, timmer, chammer or chaumer.
Initial c is like k except when followed by h, when it is as in the English chin, as chiel, chirp, chap, chuckle; otherwise ch and gh are gutturals like the German ach, and both pronounced alike, such are night, nicht, bright, bricht, light, licht, sight, sicht, &c. Nth, rch, tch are not gutturals. Of the double gutturals leuch, teuch, spleuchan, cranreach the English reader must imagine them. Other examples ole are given below.
D is generally dropped after n, as in thunner, thunder; spynnle, spindle; an', and; ban', bond ; Ian', land; grun, ground ; and before g, as in brig, bridge ; rig, ridge ; paitrick, partridge. Th is substituted for d in such words as shouther, shoulder; pouther, powder; rither, rudder; ether, adder.
Initial g is nearly always the same as in English. It is usually omitted in writing and always in speaking the terminations ing, as herrin, stockin, snorin, waukin, gangin. Fashionable society at present imitates the Scottish peasant in dropping the final g.
H is never misused in Scotland, and where it is printed it is sounded. Hits (pronounced huz) for us is perhaps, says Dr. Murray, ' the only Scotch word which aspirates an originally sImple vowel; and this is not a modern corruption but an ancient form.' Hit for it is still used sometimes. H with c and g combines to form the large collection of Scottish gutturals.
A" in a great many cases represents the English ch, thus birk, kirk, theik, kirn, kist, dyke, maikless, whilk for birch, church, thatch, chum, chest, ditch, |
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