A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1600-1700+
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Kittiwake, -wauk, n. Also: kittie waick, kitiwia(c)k, ketiwaik, (kattie wark). [Chiefly Sc. Appar. imitative of the bird's chief cry. The mod. dial. has the forms kittiwaik, -weak, -weeik.] The kittiwake. 1661 Ray Itineraries in Lankester Mem. of John Ray (1846) 155.]
[The other birds which nestle in the Basse are … the scout … the cattiwake [gl. is a gull kittiwake, Larus trydactylus] in English, cormorant, the scart 1683 Coll. Aberd. & B. 100.
We are not in use of eating any of these fowls … except the kitiwiak, whilst young 1683 Ib. 100.
We have also the maw, and the grey maw … the sea cock, the kitiwiack and whap: these five do not dive under water 16.. Ouchterlony in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II. 24.
All kynd of salt and fresh waterfoul and one especially kittiwauks nothing inferior in tast to the solangeese of the Basse 16.. Ib. 44.
Abundance of sea foul and kittie waicks formerly spoken of 1684 Sibbald Scot. Ill. III. ii. vi. 20.
Avis kittiwake ex larorum genere, egregii saporis 1698 Warrender Marchmont (1894) 183.
A dish of tarts. Kattie warks [sic in pr.], 12. Rost piges, 3 1701 Brand Orkney & Shetl. 21.
Ketiwaiks
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"Kittiwake n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/kittiwake>
