Show Search Results Show Browse

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

KREENIE, n. Also creenie. A name for a race of short, dark people living in the Rhinns of Galloway, used with an implication of contempt. Only in Trotter, otherwise unauthenticated.Wgt. 1877 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 18:
Tradition says they were the descendants of some savages they call the Kreenies, that came over from Ireland. . . . The Fingauls assign to them all the eccentricities attributed to themselves, and derisively call them The Gossoks.
Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 182:
There's the Kreenies or Gossoks too. They'r no unlike the first kin' o' Hill-folk, only they'r no sae big . . . Some says they'r the descendants o' the Eerish Picts; but A'm no sayin. The feck o' them inhabits the Rhinns.

[Orig. obscure, but phs. to be related to Ir. crion, Gael. crìon, little, worn-out, withered, cf. Crine. Watson in Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. (Ser. 3) XI. 132 and Celtic Place-Names Scot. 178, equates it with the Cruithnigh, whom the medieval Eng. chroniclers call Picts, but the time-lag involved makes this unlikely. See also Gossock and note. The confusion of the Q-Celtic name Cruithnigh and the P-Celtic Gossock (allegedly Welsh gwasog) adds to the uncertainty.]

You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.

"Kreenie n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 May 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/kreenie>

16852

snd

Hide Advanced Search

Browse SND:

    Loading...

Share: