Scottish language has changed quite a bit from the days of Burns and Scott. While some of the words are still in use, many have been lost in the natural progression of language. This glossary should help you to get more out of the older poems and literature of Scotland.
| Ca'= call, knock, drive. Cadger= a hawker (especially of fish). Cadie= caddie, a fellow. Caff= chaff. Caird= a tinker. Calf-ward= grazing plot for calves (i.e.churchyard). Callan= callant= a stripling. Caller= cool, refreshing. Callet= a trull. Cam= came. Canie, cannie= gentle, tractable, quiet, prudent, careful. Cankrie= crabbed. Canna= can not. Canniest= quietest. Cannilie= cannily, quietly, prudently, cautiously. Cantie= cheerful, lively, jolly, merry. Cantraip= magic, witching. Cants= merry stories, canters or sprees or merry doings. Cape-stanc, copestone. Capon-castrate. Care na by= do not care. Carl, carle= a man, an old man. Carl-hemp= male-hemp. Carlie= a manikin. Carlin= carline a middle-aged or old woman; a beldam, a witch. Carmagnole= a violent Jacobin. Cartes= playing-cards. Cartie= dim. of cart. Catch-the-plack= the hunt for money. Caudron= a caldron. Cauf= calf. Cauf-leather= calf-leather. Cauk= chalk. Cauld= cold. Cauldron= caldron. Caup= a wooden drinking vessel. Causey-cleaners= causeway-cleaners. Cavie= a hen-coop. Chamer, chaumer= chamber. Change-house= tavern. Chanter= bagpipes; the pipe of the bag-pipes which produces the melody; song. Chap= a fellow, a young fellow. Chap= to strike. Chapman= a pedler. Chaup, chap= a stroke, a blow. Chear= cheer. Chearfu'= cheerful. Chearless= cheerless. Cheary= cheery. Cheek-for-chow= cheek-by-jowl (i.e. close beside). Cheep= peep, squeak. Chiel= chield (i. e.child)= a fellow, a young fellow. Chimla= chimney. Chittering= shivering. Chows= chews. Chuck= a hen= a dear. Chuckie= dim. of chuck but usually signifies mother hen, an old dear. Chuffie= fat-faced. Chuse= to choose. Cit= the civet. Cit= a citizen= a merchant. Clachan= a small village about a church. Claeding= clothing. Claes, claise= clothes. Claith= cloth. Claithing= clothing. Clankie= a severe knock. Clap= the clapper of a mill. Clark= a clerk. Clark= clerkly, scholarly. Clarkit, clerked= wrote. Clarty= dirty. Clash= an idle tale; gossip. Clash= to tattle. Clatter= noise, tattle, talk, disputation, babble. Clatter= to make a noise by striking; to babble; to prattle. Claught= clutched, seized. Claughtin= clutching, grasping. Claut= a clutch, a handful. Claut= to scrape. Claver= clover. Clavers= gossip, nonsense. Claw= a scratch, a blow. Claw= to scratch, to strike. Clay-cauld= clay-cold. Claymore= a two-handed Highland sword. Cleckin= a brood. Cleed= to clothe. Cleek= to snatch. Cleekit= linked arms. Cleg= gadfly. Clink= a sharp stroke; jingle. Clink= money, coin, to chink, to rhyme. | Clinkin= with a smart motion. Clinkum, clinkumbell= the beadle, the bellman. Clips= shears. Clish-ma-claver= gossip, taletelling; non-sense. Clockin-time= clucking- (i. e.hatching-) time. Cloot= the hoof. Clootie, cloots= hoofie, hoofs (a nickname of the Devil). Clour= a bump or swelling after a blow. Clout= a cloth, a patch. Clout= to patch. Clud= a cloud. Clunk= to make a hollow sound. Coble= a broad and flat boat. Cock= the mark (in curling). Cockie= dim. of cock (applied to an old man). Cocks= fellows, good fellows. Cod= a pillow. Coft= bought. Cog= a wooden drinking vessel, a porridge dish, a corn measure for horses. Coggie= dim. of cog, a little dish. Coil, Coila= Kyle (one of the ancient districts of Ayrshire). Collieshangie= a squabble. Cood= cud. Coof= v. cuif. Cookit= hid. Coor= cover. Cooser= a courser, a stallion. Coost (i. e. cast)= looped, threw off, tossed, chucked. Cootie= a small pail. Cootie= leg-plumed. Corbies= ravens, crows. Core= corps. Corn mou= corn heap. Corn't= fed with corn. Corse= corpse. Corss= cross. Cou'dna= couldna, couldn't. Countra= country. Coup= to capsize. Couthie, couthy= loving, affable, cosy, comfortable. Cowe= to scare, to daunt. Cowe= to lop. Crack= tale; a chat; talk. Crack= to chat= to talk. Craft= croft. Craft-rig= croft-ridge. Craig= the throat. Craig= a crag. Craigie= dim. of craig, the throat. Craigy= craggy. Craik= the corn-crake, the land-rail. Crambo-clink= rhyme. Crambo-jingle= rhyming. Cran= the support for a pot or kettle. Crankous= fretful. Cranks= creakings. Cranreuch= hoar-frost. Crap= crop, top. Craw= crow. Creel= an osier basket. Creepie-chair= stool of repentance. Creeshie= greasy. Crocks= old ewes. Cronie= intimate friend. Crooded= cooed. Croods= coos. Croon= moan= low. Croon= to toll. Crooning= humming. Croose, crouse= cocksure, set, proud, cheerful. Crouchie= hunchbacked. Crousely= confidently. Crowdie= meal and cold water, meal and milk, porridge. Crowdie-time= porridge-time (i. e.= breakfast-time). Crowlin= crawling. Crummie= a horned cow. Crummock, cummock= a cudgel, a crooked staff. Crump= crisp. Crunt= a blow. Cuddle= to fondle. Cuif, coof= a dolt, a ninny; a dastard. Cummock= v. crummock. Curch= a kerchief for the head. Curchie= a curtsy. Curler= one who plays at curling. Curmurring= commotion. Curpin= the crupper of a horse. Curple= the crupper (i. e.buttocks). Cushat= the wood pigeon. Custock= the pith of the colewort. Cutes= feet, ankles. Cutty= short. Cutty-stools= stools of repentance. |
Glossary of Scottish Words, A-B
Glossary of Scottish Words, D-E
Glossary of Scottish Words, F
Glossary of Scottish Words, G
Glossary of Scottish Words, H
Glossary of Scottish Words, I-K
Glossary of Scottish Words, L
Glossary of Scottish Words, M-P
Glossary of Scottish Words, Q-R
Glossary of Scottish Words, S
Glossary of Scottish Words, T
Glossary of Scottish Words, U-Y
