Edinburgh Theatre Arts

Many people have heard about the Scots language but aren't sure what it is. Scots has been spoken in Scotland for many centuries and is found today throughout the Lowlands and Northern Isles. English, Scots and Gaelic are the three indigenous languages spoken in Scotland today.

Where is Scots spoken?

Scots is mainly a spoken language with a number of different varieties, each with its own distinctive character. Scots is spoken in Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh and Aberdeen as well as in the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, central Scotland, Fife, the Lothians, Tayside, Caithness, the North East and Orkney and Shetland.

Who speaks Scots?

Scots is spoken by young and old people and is used in cities and country areas. People can have a strong emotional attachment to the language and often feel most comfortable using it amongst their friends and family.
Many people who speak Scots will speak differently when talking to strangers or in formal situations. Many people in Scotland speak both Scots and English and often use a mixture of both.
Scots was the language used by Robert Burns to write much of his poetry. Today Scots is still used by poets and writers but the places you are most likely to encounter it are in people's homes, in the streets and in the everyday life of communities all over Scotland. You will also hear Scots in TV programmes like Chewin the Fat and Gary Tank Commander and you can hear it spoken on radio phone-ins and in films like Sweet Sixteen and Neds.

Some Scots words

Here are some Scots words. You will hear them used all over Scotland. Bairn, wean, dreich, brae, heid, doon, aboot, cooncil, hoose, lang, eejit, glaikit, bonnie, ken, fitba, lad, lass, stooshie, stramash, faither, mither, maw, paw. People who speak Scots use lots of these words and words like them.

Other names for Scots

There are lots of names for Scots dialects. You'll hear them used far more often than the word Scots. Some of the names you may have heard are Glaswegian, Dundonian, Doric, Borders, Fife, Buchan, Caithness, Orcadian and Shetland. These names are usually connected to a place and you may have your own local name for the way you speak. These local ways of speaking are called dialects. Together these dialects are called Scots.
The dialects described below are some of the best known and most distinctive. There are many other dialects of Scots which you can learn more about in the dialects section

Glasgow Patter / Glesga Patter

Glasgow has its own dialect. Sometimes people call it the Glasgow or Glesga Patter. The dialect spoken in Glasgow is distinctive and colourful but it is still a form of Scots.

Doric

Doric is the name many people give to the dialect spoken in Aberdeen and North East Scotland. The way of speaking in this region is very distinctive but it is still a form of Scots.

Orkney and Shetland

People from Orkney and Shetland often speak with distinct dialects and accents. These ways of speaking are usually referred to as Orcadian / Orkney and Shetland / Shetlandic. Many experts consider these ways of speaking to be forms of Scots.

Scotch, Broad Scots, Lallans

Some older people call the language Scotch and sometimes you will hear people talking about broad Scots, braid Scots, the guid Scots tongue or Lallans. These are not separate languages they are just different ways of talking about the same thing - Scots.

Slang, Scottish Slang

Sometimes people call the way they speak slang or Scottish slang. Often people actually mean Scots but may not have heard of the term or aren't sure what it means. If you're not sure if you speak Scots listen to the audio clips to hear people speaking the language.

Is Scots the same as speaking with a Scottish accent?

Most people in Scotland speak with a Scottish accent. Speaking Scots is not the same as speaking with a Scottish accent. To find out if you speak Scots you should take a moment to click on the map and listen to people speaking Scots.

Further information about Shona is on on her Myspace page.

In this new series of audio blogs, Margaret talks about her life, loves and language.  

In this wide ranging interview Sheena talks about speaking Scots growing up in Dundee as well as the life changing experience of singing at the opening of the new Scottish Parliament. You can find out more about Sheena by following links to her web site and other sources of online information.

Whit hae we in the mither tongue tae commemorate the saison o Yule?  No muckle, it maun be said.  Frae the Reformation til weel intae the lest yearhunner, the 25t o December wes jist anither day’s darg: naethin forbye tae mak sangs nor ballants about.  Gin we win back til the days o our Stewart keings, tho, we finn yin o the brichtest an graciest o mediaeval Christenmas lyrics amang the bardries o Dunbar, thon skeeliest an skyriest o makars.

Rorate, celi, desuper!
Hevins distill your balmy schouris,
For now is rissin the brycht day ster
Fro the ros Mary, flour of flouris.
The cleir sone quhome no clud devouris,
Surminting Phebus in the est
Is cumin of His hevinly touris;
Et nobis puer natus est.

Archangellis, angellis, and dompnationis,
Tronis, potestatis, and marteiris seir,
And all ye hevinly operationis,
Ster, planeit, firmament, and speir,
Fyre, erd, air, and watter cleir,
To Him gife loving, most and lest,
That come into so meik maneir;
Et nobis puer natus est.

The first line (o the whilk the saicont is an owersettin) is taen frae Isaiah XLV: viii, “Ye lifts, gin ye dreep frae abune, an’ the cluds toom righteousness doun: lat the yirth syne her bosom unfauld; an’ heal-haddin itsel come till frute, an’ righteousness braird frae the rute: it’s Jehovh, mysel, made it yald” (the owersettin o P. Hately Waddell).  An ower seiven verses, he gars us hear the sterns, the angels, the yird, the baests, the flouers an aa Creation sing tae the glore o the new-kyth’t Sauviour.    I hae hard students sayin at this michty sang is no as “Christmassy” as the Nativity Ode o John Milton; an deed, there nae snaw intil’t, nae shepherds, nae manger.  But in Dunbar we hear the rejycins o the Uiniverse aa an haill: his is the vyce o the auncient Catholic Kirk, at saw the Incarnation as the central event in the story o the warld; an his sang fair dirls wi the life an the jye o its celebration.

Forbye Dunbar’s ballant, we hae the sang o an onkent screivar whilk an onkent sangster pat tae muisic: the King’s Singers, for aa thair Sasunnach vyces, hae gien us a braw recordin o’t. 

All sons of Adam rise up with me,

Go lov the blissed Trinitie.

Sing we nowell, nowell, nowell,

Cry Kyrie with hosanna,

Sing Sabaoth, sing alleluja,

Now save us all Emanuel.

Then spak archangel Gabriel,

Said Ave Mary mild,

The Lord of Lordis is with thee,

Now sall thou go with child.

Ecce ancilla Domini.

Then said the virgin young:

As thou hes said so mot it be.

Welcom be heavin's king.

There cam a ship fair sailland then,

Sanct Michael was the stieresman,

Sanct John sat in the horn.

Our Lord harpit, our Lady sang

And all the bells of heav'n they rang

On Christsonday at morn.

Then sang the angels all and sum:

Lauda Jerusalem, Dominum,

Lauda Deum tuum, Sion.

The sons of Adam answered them:

Sing glore be to thee God and man,

The Father and the Sprit also,

With honor and perpetual jo.

Nae dout, thare naethin o Dunbar’s dentie musardrie here: wantin the tune, thare no muckle tae’t.  But whan ye hear it sung (or gin ye coud, whan ye sing it yoursel), it fair upheises ye tae the hichts!  “All merriness is worn away”, waementit Richard Maitland o Lethington no lang efter the Reformation; an gin this Yuletide sang is a fair ensample o whit Scotland tint wi the dounfaa o the auld Kirk, we can see ower weel whit he meant.

Nearer tae our ain days, a makar few o’s wull hae hard tell o, William Beattie o Aiberdeen, gied tae the Norlan Doric yin o its moniments in a lang an couthy ballant caa’d A Yule Feast.  A contemporary o Rabbie Burns (tho thare nae sign at thay war acquent), Beattie tae coud turn a braw Habbie, an coud sing the pleisurs o eatin an drinkin in blythesome company.  Here he’s winnin tae his auntie’s hous efter a strauchle throu the snaw.

“Cast aff yer sheen, an’ warm yer feet,

I’m sure they canna’ but be weet;

Hae, set them up on this bit peat

Anent the cutchack;

An’, Tibby, bring him ben some meat,

Ye senseless smutchack!

Make haste an’ gi’e ’m a glass o’ gin,

An’ that will make a’ right within;

Syne, Tib, I trow ye’ll need to rin

Forth to the stack

For peats, the roast will be ahin’;

An’ haste ye back.”

Tibby was back just in a jingle,

An’ soon set on a bleezin’ ingle,

Syne up afore’t she knit a lingle

To swing the roast;

They had nae jack, but this wou’d twingle

Wi’ little cost.

Upon’t she hung a leg o’ mutton,

As good as ever knife was put on:

Altho’ I say’t, I’m nae a glutton,

Nor yet ill fodder’d;

But, sang! thought I, I’ll slack a button

If ye were scowder’d.

Twa pots soss’d in the chimney nook,

Forbye ane hott’rin’ in the crook;

Wi’ viands, might ha’e pleas’d the duke

Of Derby’s heir:

Altho’ I say’t, my aunt can cook

Wi’ skill an’ care.

An syne we hear about the splore: aa the fowk at cam til’t, thair cracks an clavers, an the dentie maets thay stappit thair wames wi.   It’s weel seen at Yule didna mean the same tae fowk o the eichteent yearhunner as the fifteent; but gin it gied thaim the chance at  foregetherins as canty as this yin, it canna hae been forgotten aa an haill.

Yin o the foremaist makars o the Scots Renaissance is Alexander Gray, mynit nou maistlins for Scotland, richtsomelie yin o the best-loe’d ballants in aa our letter-huird, but mairatowre a skeilie owersetter o sangs frae German an Danish.  Heinrich Heine is aiblins his maist important oreiginal: myn ye o his bonnie ballant “The auld sangs soored and cankered…”, whaur weel-kent meiths o Germanie is cheingit tae St Andrews’ auld draw-well, the auld brig pwer the Clyde, an “William Wallace that looks across the Forth”?  Gray tuik a wee Yuletide sang o Heine’s:

Die heil’gen drei Könige aus Morgenland,
Sie frugen in jedem Städtchen:
‘Wo geht der Weg nach Bethlehem,
Ihr lieben Buben und Mädchen?’ …

—    an made it intil:

There were three kings cam frae the East;

They spiered in ilka clachan;

“O, which is the wey to Bethlehem,

My bairns, sae bonnily lachin’?”

O neither young nor auld could tell;

They trailed till their feet were weary.

They followed a bonny gowden starn,

That shone in the lift sae cheery.

The starn stude ower the ale-hoose byre

Whaur the stable gear was hingin’.

The owsen mooed, the bairnie grat,

The kings begoud their singin’.

Ye see in this a curnie o the bonnie wee titches at mak Gray sic a skeelie owrsetter: “sae bonnily lachin’” is no tae finn in the German, nor “till their feet were weary”; “Whaur the stable gear was hingin’” taks the place o a line at in the German jist means “an in they gaed”.  An houbeit the maist feck o his oreiginal poesie, no like his owersettins, is in English an no Scots, Gray screivit forbye a bonnie Christenmas sang o his ain:

’Twas a cauld, cauld nicht i’ the back o’ the year;
The snaw lay deep, and the starns shone clear;
And Mary kent that her time was near,
As she cam to Bethlehem.
When Joseph saw the toon sae thrang,
Quo’ he: ‘I houp I be na wrang,
But I’m thinkin’ we’ll find a place ere lang;’
But there wasna nae room for them.

She quo’, quo’ she: ‘O Joseph loon,
Rale tired am I, and wad fain lie doon.
Is there no a bed in the hail o’ the toon?
For farrer I canna gae.’
At the ale-hoose door she keekit ben,
But there was sic a steer o’ fremmyt men,
She thocht till hirsel’: ‘I dinna ken
What me and my man can dae.’

And syne she spak: ‘We’ll hae to lie
I’ the byre this nicht amang the kye
And the cattle beas’, for a body maun try
To thole what needs maun be,’
And there amang the strae and the corn,
While the owsen mooed, her bairnie was born.
O, wasna that a maist joyous morn
For sinners like you and me?

For the bairn that was born that nicht i’ the sta’
Cam doon frae Heaven to tak awa’
Oor fecklessness, and bring us a’
Safe hame in the hender-en’.
Lord, at this Yule-tide send us licht,
Hae mercy on us and herd us richt.
For the sake o’ the bairnie born that nicht,
O, mak us better men!

Hou hyne awa is this hamely wee bit sang, garrin Mary an Joseph kythe afore us as auld-farrant fowk crackin in the mither tongue, frae the Heivenly spheres an angelic hosts o Dunbar!  But baith o thaim can muive us tae think on whit Christenmas is aa about.

Lestlins, here twa mair screivins frae the Nor-Aest.  Dauvit Ogston, a meinister o the Kirk forbye a knackie bard o the Doric, taks the auncient ploy o Nativity sangs an speils throu the yearhunners o pittin wirds in the leid o his ain days intae the mou o the fowk in the Bible speils, an gies us The Doric Angel an the Hill-men:

Reist yon deleerit dug, lads,

Or tyne yer yowes. Mair things

Are vrocht the nicht in Dauvit’s toun

Than ye jalouse yet, but I’ll wise ye.

The beuks are comin true,

The aul wirds are faistened.

The quine’s cam tull her cryin

An her new bairn beddit in a troch.

Mark him bi lantren licht

Faar a lane star devalls

Ower a cruive hard by the ale-house.

He ’s lichtsome yet; his day’s span

Maun be a shortsome een. Gin ye wad

See him, gyang nou.

Aiblins no whit ye think o as poesie?  An siccar no whit ye wad think an angel wad say.  But the bodeword o Christenmas hes kyth’t in mony a leid mair roch an hameilt nor the Doric or nou: an hes Phyllis Goodall, screivar o the lest o our Yuletide sangs, no a ballant caa’d Archangels Speak Doric?  Siccar, Phyllis Goodall in her skyrie wee new buikie There’s been Bonnie Days, hes a fair fouth o rhymes an tales in the auld leid: whiles giein a dowie backlins scance tae the days o langsyne, whiles garrin us lauch at the gyperies o our ain days.  Here tae enn up wi is pairt o her pictur o whit a faimily Christenmas is like tae turn out tae be — as we aa ken ower weel!

            His that man o oor dother’s

Tint the bottom till’s belly?

            Dis that quine o oor loon’s

            Ever stop watchin telly? …

            Fa gid the dog turkey,

            An foonert the craitur?

            Fa beat Mither at Scrabble,

            Put her in an ill naitur? …

            Fan wis’t, did ye say,

            Ye waar aa gyan hame?

            Are you ssure that your hooses

            Are safe sittin teem?

An a blythesome Yuletide tae us aa!

Clare Adamson: To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers the benefits will be of the Year of Creative Scotland 2012. (S4O-00511)

Rob Gibson (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government how it promotes and celebrates Scotland‟s traditional arts. (S4O-00444)

The Minister for Parliamentary Business and Chief Whip (Brian Adam): Creative Scotland, our national body for the arts, culture and the creative industries, is actively and energetically taking forward the recommendations of the traditional arts working group, to ensure that the traditional arts are supported and their future secured.

Rob Gibson: I am sure that we all welcome this year‟s Hands Up for Trad awards, pioneered by Simon Thoumire, which are to be broadcast on BBC Alba. In further promoting traditional music, and in the context of the ministerial working party on traditional arts, will the minister consider Simon Thoumire‟s proposal to set up singing centres around Scotland, starting next year, to promote singing in general, including local songs, and the health benefits from singing, which have been well researched?

Brian Adam: I am sure that the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs will work on the member‟s interesting proposal; perhaps others within the Government will do that, too. Creative Scotland, as Scotland‟s national body for the arts, culture and creative industries, is engaged in taking forward the recommendations of the ministerial working group on traditional arts, including those on music. Recently, Creative Scotland supported a project with the national Gaelic boys‟ choir and, in north Skye, a traditional arts project in Gaelic across the Highland region. The latter was supported through the youth music initiative, and I hope that those examples will give Mr Gibson confidence in the future.

S4M-01744 Aileen McLeod: Crossmichael Drama Club is Stagestruck—That the Parliament congratulates Crossmichael Drama Club, which has made it through to the final of the Sky Arts programme, Stagestruck, with its Scots version of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; notes that Miriam Margolyes, Quentin Letts and Bill Kenwright were on the judging panel that selected the club, which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2011 and is a regular feature on the amateur dramatic circuit, having previously won through to 30 divisional finals, 15 Scottish finals and one British final in the Scottish Community Drama Association Festivals; further notes that the club comprises less than a dozen members from around the Castle Douglas area, including two retired farmers, a fibreglass laminator and a hitch-hiking modern languages teacher; further congratulates the club on its use of the Scots language in an interpretation of such a well-established play, and wishes the club the best of success in the final and for their future on the amateur dramatic festival circuit.

S4M-01431 Kevin Stewart: Tribute to Steve Robertson—That the Parliament mourns the loss of Steve Robertson; recognises Scotland the What? for its services to the arts, the Doric language, the culture of the north east and for makin’ a’body laugh; notes that it received the accolade of being conferred the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen; applauds Mr Robertson for what it considers the sterling role that he performed as rector of the University of Aberdeen, and expresses condolences to Mr Robertson’s family and his huge band of friends.

S4M-01323 Dennis Robertson: Congratulations on Citty Finlayson Nomination for Shona Donaldson—That the Parliament congratulates Shona Donaldson from Tarland on having been nominated for the Citty Finlayson Scots Singer of the Year award in the 2011 Scots Traditional Music Awards; pays tribute to one of Scotland’s leading young tradition bearers, who grew up in Huntly surrounded by music and speaking Doric in the agricultural heartland of Aberdeenshire and who became a musician-in-residence with the Deveron Arts project in the heart of Scotland’s bothy ballad country; recognises Shona’s talents, and praises her efforts to push the cause of Scots song.

Spellings, sounds and signs

The perennial question of place name spelling and names on road signs is currently provoking much discussion.  The most recent catalyst is the process of putting Gaelic place names on road signs.  This important initiative increases the status of the language and validates the names used by the Gaelic speaking population, but it can provoke disgruntlement from Scots speakers asking why the signs are in English and Gaelic, but not Scots.  The new signs can be particularly galling in areas where there never has been a Gaelic version of the name, yet new Gaelic names are being created, rather than using a perfectly good Scots name.

An age-old debate rumbles on in Shetland too.  In 2002 a move to put Old Norse versions of place names on road signs was rightly thrown out by the Scottish Executive.  Unlike Welsh and Gaelic, Old Norse is a defunct language and not spoken in modern Shetland; Shetland dialect is another matter altogether.  The function of road signs is to give directions and therefore it is not the appropriate place to try and explore the history and evolvement of a name.  What has now appeared in Shetland are gateway signs, giving the Old Norse root word and meaning of the place name.  Whilst a good method of demonstrating the origins and recognising the value of place names, the signs can be problematic - the origins of some names are unclear and some need a more lengthy explanation than easily fits on a sign.  More effective options for educating locals and visitors alike are through interpretive panels, leaflets and by talking.  The gateway signs also fail to convey the local pronunciation, thus causing further concern - only an English and Old Norse version of the name are rendered.

Throughout the world when faced with a new word it is important to get beyond the spelling and learn how to pronounce it.  We all have a responsibility to pass on the right information and correct people where necessary.  Whilst living in Cheshire I quickly was put right on local names by colleagues so didn’t make a fool of myself by talking about Cholmondeley rather than Chumley and Peover rather than Peever.  For most Shetlanders it grates like mad to hear Saaness, Bressa and Waas (Sandness, Bressay and Walls) mis-pronounced, yet how many of us think to help the incomer learn the correct form?  

Depending on where we live we tackle some names differently.  Most folk apply their own local pronunciation to similar looking names elsewhere, but as a rule I try to use the local form be it Tanook, Shandrik or Ottersweek (Tangwick, Channerwick and Otterswick), yet to change all the spellings would be misleading.  How could we identify the common place name element and hence the meaning of the word?  As well as helping us find our way in the world, place names provide vital clues about the environment, history, geography, and the people who lived here in the past: where they came from, what language they spoke and how they used the land.  Many names have been modified through time and spelling changes often mask the true origins.  In these cases listening to the local pronunciation becomes crucial in identifying the root word and therefore unravelling the meaning.  

It is important to correct signs and map names that are clearly mispositioned or misnamed,  such as the Ordnance Survey record of High Knowe which is actually Hay Knowe (mis-recorded as High because of the local pronunciation), and the signage to Bannaminn Beach - the name of another beach entirely.  Once a name appears on a map and sign the error is perpetuated and mis-used by all, be it someone from another area, a tourist or anyone writing about the place.  I heard one tale of a canoeist about to paddle towards the wrong beach because they were directed to Bannaminn!  There is clearly much to do correcting maps, brochures and signs.

Yet there is so much more to place names than the name which appears on a map or road sign.  The Shetland Place Names Project is recording as much information as possible about place names – the exact geographic location, local pronunciation, root elements, changes through time and differences in names between villages, between land and sea . or official and unofficial names, and stories about the names.  The oral evidence is highly important and value is placed on local knowledge for locating the name, pronouncing it and understanding the meaning.  The sounds of names are more important than the spelling, but in terms of presenting data on maps and signs the spelling always becomes an issue which will continued to be discussed at length by generations.

Eileen Brooke-Freeman

Shetland Place Names Project

http://swap.nesc.gla.ac.uk/