Love Over Scotland; A Logophile's Delight

It's very easy... [to] increase the sum total of human happiness. By these little acts. Small things. A word of encouragement. A gesture of love. So easy. ~Alexander McCall Smith, in Love Over Scotland.

I've just finished reading this title, the third novel in the 44 Scotland Street series, and what a lovely experience it has been. But here's the thing: I've been reading novels since I was 8 years old--reading and reading and reading. The books I have read must number in the thousands by now, wouldn't you think? And I have never come across a book with so many words that are totally unfamiliar to me. Perhaps I have seen one or two of them before--palimpsest and autodidact, in fact, come to mind--but I still had no idea of the meaning of these words and phrases.

But here's a warning--I am in love with words (logophile = lover of words); with their spelling and pronunciation and their origins. I believe it started when I was a child, an insatiable early reader, and the passion only grew when I was first introduced to Middle English in a course on Chaucer. That class, taught by a nun dressed in a habit, was held in a very cold morning room with a marble fireplace, a room where the five students sat around a wicker table, and was conducted almost entirely in Middle English. Once I heard these words from the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, I was a goner (although very worried about being able to pass the course):

Whan that Aprile with his shoures soote

The droughte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne en swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour...

Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.

Just take a look at these words and phrases from Love Over Scotland. Some are obviously in the Scots language and some are what I like to think of as more obscure English words. All are lovely and ha! totally unfamiliar to SpellCheck, which gives me some relief about my ignorance.

fantoosh (flashy, showy)

making siccar (making sure or certain)

...[the eyes of the moudie] would break ilka heart, but no the moudie man's... (ilka means each or every, and I believe the moudie man is the mouse or mole catcher)

palimpsest (a manuscript, usually of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased)

orra jumper (odd pullover sweater)

bogles (supernatural beings)

anglice (in the English form. For example, in Italy, the city is called Firenze; anglice, Florence)

godowns by the river (in India or East Asia, a warehouse, especially by a river)

yonks and yonks (ages, a long time)

...run into a group of neds (a derogatory term for certain young people in Scotland, hooligans)

glens and straths of Scotland (a glen is a deep valley--I've heard the word a million times and have never had a mental picture of its meaning; a strath is a river valley, wide and shallow)

on the machair of a Hebridean island (a stretch of low lying land adjacent to the sand of the seashore)

his hodden skirts (coarse homespun, undyed woolen cloth of grayish color)

quinquennium (well, I figured that one out--happening every five years)

a study being rendered completely otiose (serving no useful purpose)

haud yer wheesht (shut your mouth, be quiet)

walked with a hirple (a limp)

smelling of school jotters (small notebooks)

ockers (used both as a noun and an adjective for Australians who talk and act in an uncultured manner)

lawyers in their stripit breeks (striped trousers)

[she was] a resourceful autodidact (a person who has taught herself)

I ken he's no a guid man (sure, you can work this one out. Doesn't it sound lovely, though? I know he's not a good man)

it wisnae meant to be funny (was not)

... reminiscent of the shades with which the Victorians liked to paint the anaglypta (thick embossed wallpapers, designed to be painted)

Lammies Bleat in Aw the Fanks: We Knew it All Along, Didn't We?

I've still been dithering around over the word "fank," although I've been sidetracked a few times. Here is the final word, the real definition, quoted from the Dictionary of the Scots Language, a project based at the University of Dundee.
FANK, n.2, v.2     I. n. 1. A sheepfold, a walled or fenced pen for sheep. Orig. Highland but now fairly Gen.Sc. 
    *Slg. 1812 P. Graham Agric. Stirling 293: 
    In the vicinity of the farmer’s dwelling there is a pen, here called a fank, erected of stone and turf. 
    *Sc. 1849 Session Cases (1848–49) 535: 
    Macfarlane had been employed at his sheep fank all day. 
    *Uls. 1907 Enquiry into the state of Rathlin Islanders II.: 
    During the summer they have to be herded on the hillocks and knowes among the cultivated plots during the day, and kept in walled-in enclosures, called, locally, fanks, at night. 
    *Abd. 1926 L. Coutts Lyrics 54: 
    Lammies bleat in aw the fanks. 
    *w.Sc. 1949 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 463: 
    Sometimes the fank is substantially built with high stone dykes around its pens and runways, and many ingeniously contrived wicket-gates for “shedding” the sheep into various pens, according to their class and age. 
    2. A sheep-shearing at a fank. Hence fank-day (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.). 
    *Sc. 1875 W. A. Smith Lewsiana 157: 
    News has come to the cottage this morning that the people are gathering for the Carloway fank. 
    3. A small cattle-fair, held at a fank. 
    *Arg. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 VII. 162: 
    Formerly there were several small fairs, called Fanks in the parish [Ardnamurchan], which the principal cattle dealers never attended. 
    II. v. To drive into a sheep-fold (Per., Slg. 1825 Jam.). Gen.Sc. 
    [Gael., Ir. fang, a sheep-pen.] 

Search for "Fank" Definition Returns Nimble Sexpots and More

Fank, you ask? I can do that...

Note: For a further taste of Scotland, try out the recipe for Forfar Bridies on my other blog.

If you persevered to the end of yesterday's post, you will recall that we were still searching for the meaning of the Scots word fank, as in the sentence "... in the sheep dip up at the high fank..."

Along the way, my Internet journey took me over to BBC Scotland, where I found what is apparently a public blogging site where all can post. Nestled within its electronic pages, I found many new words (shirty! arse end! Abba!) to look up (just kidding) although, I'm afraid, still no definition of fank.


But look at this list of adverts (see? I'm learning the lingo) from Scots lonely hearts columns. In keeping with our apparent theme, the list is called:

More For the Fank?

Below are allegedly real ads from lonely-hearts columns. 

Grossly overweight Buckie turf-cutter, 42 years old and 23 stone, Gemini, seeks nimble sexpot, preferably South American, for tango sessions, candlelit dinners and humid nights of screaming passion. Must have own car and be willing to travel. Box 09/08

Aberdeen man, 50, in desperate need of a ride. Anything considered. Box 06/03

Heavy drinker, 35, Glasgow area, seeks gorgeous sex addict interested in pints, fags, Celtic football club and starting scraps on Sauchiehall Street at three in the morning. Box 73/82.

Bitter, disillusioned Dundonian lately rejected by longtime fiancée seeks decent, honest, reliable woman, if such a thing still exists in this cruel world of hatchet-faced bitches. Box 53/41

Ginger-haired Partick troublemaker, gets slit-eyed and shirty after a few scoops, seeks attractive, wealthy lady for bail purposes, maybe more. Box 84/87

Artistic Edinburgh woman, 53, petite, loves rainy walks on the beach, writing poetry, unusual sea-shells and interesting brown rice dishes, seeks mystic dreamer for companionship, back rubs and more, as we bounce along like little tumbling clouds on life's beautiful crazy journey. Strong stomach essential. Box 12/32

Chartered accountant, 42, seeks female for marriage. Duties will include cooking, light cleaning and accompanying me to office social functions. References required. No timewasters. Box 23/45

Bad-tempered, foul-mouthed old bastard living in a damp cottage in the arse end of Dumfries seeks attractive 21-year old blonde lady with big chest. Box 40/27

Devil-worshiper, Stirling area, seeks like-minded lady for wining and dining, good conversation, dancing, romantic walks and slaughtering dogs in cemeteries at midnight under the flinty light of a pale moon. Box 52/07

Attractive brunette, Maryhill area, winner of Miss Wrangler competition at Framptons Nightclub, Maryhill, in September 1978, seeks nostalgic man who's not afraid to cry, for long nights spent comfort-drinking and listening to old Abba records. Please, Please! Box 30/41

Govan man, 27, medium build, brown hair, blue eyes, seeks alibi for the night of February 27 between 8pm and 11.30pm. Box 17/91

Greeting Copiously

As I have mentioned before, I have been enjoying Alexander McCall Smith's book series, 44 Scotland Street, with great gusto.

Part of what delights me so is the language. I keep running into terms I've never heard, and wish that I could hear them spoken in the Edinburgh accent used by the characters in the books. Imagine a father coming home from work to find his brilliant son, Bertie, sitting on the end of his bed and "greeting copiously" because he has been denied the pleasure of attending the 7th birthday party given for his schoolmate, Tofu (a child of vegans, thus the wonderful name).

Greeting=wailing, crying, lamenting

More terms:

Impoverished people are seen to be "skirled about in poverty"

A group of people buy tickets for a "tombola" (a raffle)

A literary figure is referred to as "one of our great makars" (poets)

A fellow gets involved in a "terrible stramash with the boys" (disturbance, fight)

A "bereft wally dug is deprived of its mirror image" (wally dugs--who knew?--are matching pairs of china dogs, often displayed on a mantel)

A wedding reception was planned to take place at the Crieff Hydro. All I could picture was a wedding party, bride and all, scampering across the top of a dam that was part of a hydroelectric project. However, I found that Crieff Hydro is a family hotel and spa, a regular leisure resort featuring swimming pools and other water activities, as well as restaurants and rooms that are available for wedding receptions.

I was curious about a statement that included the phrase: "I knew a fiscal who spent his time prosecuting cases..." I have since found that a "procurator-fiscal" in Scotland is the same as a "crown attorney" in Canada and a "district attorney" in America.

And, last but certainly not least, I came across this seemingly simple-to-translate statement: "...in the sheep dip up at the high fank..." When I threw myself at the mercy of our home Interwebs Machine, searching for an image of a fank, it returned a rather frightening photo of a lady wearing green nail polish and a pert but very bare bum. Certain that I was on the wrong page (had spell check changed "fank" to "spank?") I tried again and found that the good folks at Google were suggesting that perhaps I meant "what is a bank?"--a question that becomes harder and harder to answer in these days of fiscal chaos.

No! I insisted that I wanted someone out there in Internet Land to answer my query about fanks with no more nonsense. What I found needs to be posted tomorrow.