THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL DICTIONARY, Vol.!, Part II Edited by Dr.
William Grant
The Scottish National Dictionary goes steadily on. This great monument of the historic individuality of the Scot, which will ultimately consist of ten volumes, is to contain all the Scottish words known to be in use from about the year 1700 to the present day, and we have now to welcome the appearance of Part II of the first volume—Aggic-Ay (Edinburgh, Scottish National Dictionary Association). An extended review of the Dictionary appeared in The Spectator in the summer of last year, and of this present instalment little needs saying.. Attention, however, should be called to its fullness of treatment—the words auld and ane, for instance, getting, seven columns each—and to the fact that the book is especially strong on the dialects of the Orkneys and Shetland, a memorial of the Norsemen who for so long possessed those islands. But a note or two -in addition may be suffered. Here you shall learn what Athole brose is and why it is so called,. as also why whisky is known as the Auld Kirk. The Scots' debt to the French is evidenced afresh in the words allevolie, a la voiee, at random ; in aumry, cupboard, from the Old French almarie ; and in ashet, a 'dish or plate, from assietie. In the quaint-sounding words appleringie (southemwood), alicreesh (liquorice) and awmous (alms) who would recognise Greek ? But Greek is the ultimate source of each of them. As a puzzle to our Scots readers we would ask them if they could construe, " Yon nssiepet has ta'en the exies," and while they ponder over the translation, with which the dictionary will supply them, let them also remember that the book needs and demands financial support. Mr. John Buchan said recently that " in language, literature and art the Scottish people were losing their idiom." That bitter reproach can be in part removed by sending a subscription to the dictionary (a5 spread over five years) or a donation to the North of Scotland Bank, Edinburgh. If nationality has any value to the Scot, here is his opportunity for preserving one of its most important elements.
Previous page
