NORTHERN SCOTS
and among other results was the change of O.E. hw into f in the
pronominals who, whose, what, when, where,
which became fo, fose, faad, fan, far,
corresponding very closely to the n.Sc. faa, faa's,
fat, fan, faar. See E.E.P., V., pp. 24-31. It is, however,
rather curious that old Gaelic areas like Fif. and Gall. do not present this
phenomenon.
The earliest known examples of the use of [f] for wh in n.Sc.
occur in the Abd. Town Council Registers, 12th March 1539, wherefor is used
for quhar = where, and 18th April 1539, where phingar is
written for quhynggar = whinger. Other examples later in time are
these: Walter Cullen's Chronicle of Aberdeen, 1580
(Spald. Club Misc. II. 52), “The fyrst tyme that I,
Walter Cullen, reder of Aberdeen, sehit his graice, was the xx day of the
said monett of June, 1580 yeris, and that at the woid of Fetteresso, he beand
at the huntis with sertane of his lordis; and thair eftir I paist to
Dunnottar, fair I beheld his draice [James VI.] at his supar, quhill
he paist to his chalmer”; Elg. Rec., Kirk Session, 17th
May 1592, phippit [ = whipped]; Trials for Witchcraft,
1597 (Spald. Club Misc. I. 190), forl [ = whorl];
Pitcairn's The Assembly, 1692, fat [ = what].
§ 135. In Bch. dialect, especially towards the coast, d
replaces th when the latter is followed by the suffix er: thus
fader, midder, bridder and breeder,
redder, gedder, badder, widder, idder, stand
for the Eng. father, mother, brother, rather,
gather, bother, weather, other. In some of the words
cited above the original sound is d, as in father, mother, O.E.
fæder, mōdor. In the pronunciation of d by
the people of the coast the tongue is advanced to the teeth.
§ 136. k and g can still be heard before n, in mn.
and nn.Sc., as in knock [kn&openo;k] (a clock), and
knock (v.), knievelick (lump), knife,
knee, knowe, kneef (alert), knot,
gnaw, gnap.
§ 137. v, v. lip-teeth fric., is used before r instead of w,
but chiefly by the older people, as in vricht, vrannie,
vratch, vrath, vrocht, for wright (mill),
wren, wretch, wrath, wrought. “That peer
vratch o' a vricht is vrang, for aa ye've vruttn aboot it.”
It once replaced an older w all over mn.Sc. — e.g. blaave
or blyaave, shaave, hyaave (gray) (O.E.
hæwen, hæwi, hēawi),
gnyaave, lavyer, for blow, sow (corn),
haw (Sc.), gnaw, lawyer. For other examples see §
141.2.
§ 137.1. Initial v is often replaced in mn.Sc. by w
in much the same way as Dickens' Cockneys used it, but not w by v
— e.g. weggyban, weil, wertue, wulipend,
weeshion, weshel, for vagabond, veil,
virtue, vilipend, vision, vessel. “Yon
weggybons o' loons.” “That weeshion o' a
cratur.”
§ 138. th [þ] stands for cht [xt or &crtail;t]
in mith, dother, noth (Ross, Helenore, 2nd ed.,
1778, p. 92), for might, daughter, nought. Walter Cullen
writes douther for daughter in his Chronicle of Abd.,
1580. Mith and dother are also current in sn.Sc. and
noth survives in proverbs — e.g. in Bch. Wark for noth gets
mony maisters, and in U. Banff, It's nae for noth ‘at the
gled fustles (Abd. Press and J., 30/1/31.)
§ 139. Initial th [ð] is dropped in Bch. not only in
that (rel.), but in that (dem.), and in this,
there, than, as in Cai. This pronunciation except for the relative
is dying out, and is generally assigned to coast influence. A similar
phenomenon is found in Middle Eng. For examples and probable explanations see
M.M.Sc., p. 64.
§ 140. h, according to Dr Gregor,1 was once used in Cockney fashion
in the ne. coast villages. This is still the case amongst the older
inhabitants of Fitty (Footdee), Aberdeen, and of Cove on the Mearns coast,
and until recently was a marked feature in the schools of these places.
§ 141. y [j]. v.fr.fric., is often omitted in the spelling,
and occurs frequently in mn.Sc. when it is unknown elsewhere. The examples in
the following paragraphs are taken from the Bch. district.
§ 141.1. Words which have normally ai [e or ε] in
other dialects hav e [ja:] generally alongside the ai forms —
e.g. byaak, cyaaks, cyaarn, cyaard
(tinker), fyaak (plaid), lyaag, also yaag
(to gossip), peeriemyaks (equals in age),
nyaakit, slyaach (bedaub), ryaak, for
bake, cakes, cairn, caird, faik,
laig, naked, slaich, rake.
§ 141.2. Words having v for final w (see § 137)
often take [j] before — e.g. blyaave, gnyaave,
tyaave (taw, a hill, in place-names — e.g. the Llave Cairn),
todder-lyaave (rough, outlying field or farm),
snyaave for blow, gnaw, law, snow.
Yaave, meamng respect, power of keeping in subjection, is
of the same origin as Eng. awe. “The maister hiz nae yaave
amo’ the scholars (Gregor, Dial. of Bnff., p. 213).
Yaave meaning to own is cognate with Eng. owe —
e.g. “fa yaavesye?'” or “fa's yaave
ye?” = to whom do you belong? (Abd.14). This word is now
obsol., aucht or aicht taking its place. The others are not
much heard, but are known to most middle-aged speakers and are regarded as
curiosities of the dialect of the last generation. Note the Bch. proverb,
“A blyaavin fire is a thryaavin fire.”
§ 141.3. Go in Bch. is gae, gya(ng),
gying. Gying becomes dying where d is a sound
intermediate between g and d. Dying eventually becomes
jing [d&zh.&sci;ŋ] and gya-in becomes jain
[d&zh.a:&sci;n]. Hence the sentence “A'm ja'm to jing awa
hame” 2 (heard on the Bnffsh. coast and in the neighbourhood
of New Pitsligo).
1 See E.E.P., V., p. 777, Notes aud Phrases (2).
2 am ′d&zh.a:m t&schwa; d&zh.&sci;ŋ&schwa;′wa hem.