Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1781, 1877-1906, 1959-1961
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‡SCAFF, n.2 Also scaph, skaff-. Gen. in dim. form scaffie. A type of fishing-boat common in the Moray Firth in the mid 19th c., undecked and of a rather broad shape with a raked stem. Now chiefly hist. See also Scaith. Hence adj. skaafy, of a boat: having a great rake at bow or stern (Ork. 1929 Marw.), sc. scaff-shaped.Bnff. 1781 Aberdeen Jnl. (29 Oct.):
A large boat or scaff was put ashore two miles to the eastward of this place.ne.Sc. 1877 E. W. H. Holdsworth Fisheries 168:
The Buckie boats, known as “Scaffs” or “Scaffy boats”, are of an entirely different build from the other Scotch craft; they have a flat floor, a long hollow bow, with the greatest breadth at the water-line very far aft; the stem and sternpost rake a good deal. . . . They carried a mizen as well as fore and main lugs.n.Sc. 1906 H. W. Smyth Mast and Sail (1929) 105:
From Portsoy westwards along the Banff and Moray coasts and round the eastern seaboard of Ross-shire, until within the last forty years, the “Scaffie” or “Buckie Skaffie”, as it was often known, was universally used in the herring fishing.Bnff. 1959 Banffshire Jnl. (6 Jan.) 4:
Open sailing boats, lug-sail rigged, called herring luggers or more familiarly “Scaffies”. This type had no deck, the bulwarks were low, was about 35 feet in length and had a carvel stem.Abd. 1961 P. Buchan Mount Pleasant 35:
In the zulu boats wi' their pinted starns An' the scaphs so blunt an' roon'.
