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Unit 16: Scots abroad
Introduction
For centuries before the modern linguistic tension between Scots and English developed, Scots was simply the mother tongue of the vast majority of Scots who lived outside the Gaidhealtachd, the area of Scotland – mainly the Scottish Highlands and Islands – in which Scottish Gaelic was the vernacular speech.
Scots was also the langage of Scottis natioun in which their laws, literature and history were written. As such, people who spoke Scots took it wherever they went throughout their lives. This unit will give you examples from all across the world – but I am sure there are many more awaiting rediscovery in aw the airts the wind blew the Scots in the 19th century.
In this unit, I, Billy Kay give a personal account of examples of Scots language abroad, which I have come across on my travels and in my research. When studying the unit, you will be introduced to examples for how Scottish people took the Scots language abroad, the different forms in which Scots language had an influence abroad, and what impact the use of Scots by emigrants in exile had on the Scots language as a whole.
You will learn that the Scots language was key to many exile communities’ sense of identity and belonging. This unit will also provide examples of Scots language abroad in different parts of the world and highlight that the Scots language was shaped by other languages, examples of which can be seen in many contexts today.
Important details to take notes on throughout this section:
- how links with Scandinavia have influenced the Scots language
- the ties of Scots with countries across Europe
- the lasting impact of the Scots language on North America and Canada as well as the Southern Hemisphere
- how Scots abroad was shaped by other languages
- the role of song and poetry and carrying Scots around the globe.
Activity 1 
Before commencing your study of this unit, you may wish to jot down some thoughts on the important details we suggest you take notes on throughout this unit. You could write down what you already know about each of these points, as well as any assumption or question you might have.
When going through this unit, it might be particularly useful to compile a list of Scots words to ‘take away’ from this unit, as these are often still in use and show Scots’ close links with other languages, which strongly underlines the nature of Scots as a language in its own right.
16. Introductory handsel
A Scots word and example sentence to learn:
Definition: Of persons, or a group of persons: Pressed closely against each other; crammed tightly together.
Example sentence: “The city streets wir far ower thrang wi fokk.”
English translation: “The city streets were far too full of people.”
Activity 2
Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker.
You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation.
Transcript
Listen
The city streets wir far ower thrang wi fokk.
Model
The city streets wir far ower thrang wi fokk.
Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word
Related word:
Definition: 1. intr. To roam, wander idly, gad about in an aimless casual manner
Example sentence: “Byde hame an clean yer room – nane ae this gaun stravaigin aboot toon…”
English translation: “Stay at home and tidy your room – none of this moseying around in town..”
Activity 3
Click to hear the sentence above read by a Scots speaker.
You can then make your own recording and play it back to check your pronunciation.
Transcript
Listen
Byde hame an clean yer room – nane ae this gaun stravaigin aboot toon…”
Model
Byde hame an clean yer room – nane ae this gaun stravaigin aboot toon…”
Go to the Dictionary of the Scots Language for a full definition of the word
Language Links
You might have come across the well-known Glasgow restaurant Stravaigin, wondered why the restaurant advertises international food nights as its specific feature and has the motto ‘Wandering since 1994’. Well, the restaurant’s name gives us a clue as it is related to the Old Scots verb vage – to wander, or roam.
You can find other forms of stravaig in stravag(e), stravague, -vaeg-, -vayg-, -veig, -vaug-; strayvagg-, streveg; stravog – all meaning to roam or wander idly, to traverse and importantly going beyond the usual bounds. Straviag is linked to the Latin language where you can find the noun vagary, which is much more recent and may be a reduced form of vaigabone – the noun we all know ‘vagabond’. And you will come across the word in the French language where it is vaguer, to wander.
16.1 Two stories of Scots language taken abroad
There have been strong links between Poland and Scotland for a very long time, with Scots emigrating to Poland and Poles to Scotland.
From as far back as the mid-15th century there were Scots trading and settling in Poland. […] Along with the protection offered by King Stephen in the Royal Grant of 1576 a district in Krakow was assigned to Scots immigrants. Records from 1592 reveal Scots settlers being granted citizenship of Krakow giving their employment as trader or merchant. […] By the 1600s there were an estimated 30,000 Scots living in Poland. Many came from Dundee and Aberdeen and could be found in Polish towns from Krakow to Lublin. Settlers from Aberdeenshire were mainly Episcopalians or Catholics, but there were also large numbers of Calvinists. As well as Scottish traders there were also many Scottish soldiers in Poland.
Activity 4
In this activity, you will learn about Scots settling in Poland and evidence of their use of the Scots language there. One example of the use of Scots language in Poland is the will of wealthy Scots merchant Patrick Orem, who lived in Lublin, from 1609. This is a beautifully written document in Scots and preserved in the ancient Jagiellonian library of Krakow.
Part 1
Read the first section of the will and try to follow what Orem expresses in this text. As always, consult the DSL for help with vocabulary you are not familiar with and remember to focus on the DSL entries pre-1700. Also note that there are spellings with double consonants such as ‘tt’, ‘vv’ or ‘ss’, which in the DSL entries would only feature one consonant. That is why, should you not be able to locate a dictionary entry immediately, try out different spellings and spellings of the words without their endings, i.e. search for servand instead of servvandis.
01. In dei nomine Amen ~
02. Att Lublynn the sevvint day of Julii anno domini 160 & nyne
03. ʒeiris, I thocht guid, remembering now I am passand eftir his ma-
04. iesteis court and campe, with servvandis & gier to uss merchand-
05. yce, quhar his hienes and hors sall remaine, And knawing
06. be experiens and money examplis, the suddane change and
07. alteration, of manie estaitt upone the earthe, quhen almytie
08. god pleasis to suffer man to be uesertt for his offensis; & I be-
09. ing suirlie perswaiditt that I am ane sinner, & subiect to sick
10. Infirmiteis as uthirris ar, bott god of his mercye dois spare me
11. heirfoir to god almytie father, sone, and halye gaist, be all honor
12. praiss & glorie for all his benefeittis bestowed, now & ever, Amen.
Part 2
This part of the activity will help you develop a better understanding how the dialect of Scots spoken in Lublin at the time is reflected in the spelling idiosyncrasies as seen in the extract you have read.
Match the English words/phrases below with their Scots equivalents as mentioned the text.
Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.
-
the seventh day
-
I am way beyond/ it is far behind me / it is long passed
-
I thought it wise
-
wherever / in what place
-
when/ on what occasion
-
I know from experience
-
many examples
-
I am absolutely convinced
-
ask God for mercy
-
Holy Ghost
a.bott god of his mercye
b.the sevvint day
c.I thocht guid
d.I am passand eftir
e.money examplis
f.knawing be experiens
g.quhen
h.halye gaist
i.qhuar
j.I being suirlie persuaiditt
- 1 = b
- 2 = d
- 3 = c
- 4 = i
- 5 = g
- 6 = f
- 7 = e
- 8 = j
- 9 = a
- 10 = h
Please note: the verb ‘to ask’ is the Scots bott in the text, listed in the DSL as bode, bod – to bid for, aim at.
Another area with strong links with Scotland is North America, where Scottish people and Scots language featured in everyday life as well as the arts. In later migrations to the Americas and the Antipodes, Scots remained the spoken mither tongue of Lowlanders and from those exile communities there emerged poets who continued to use Scots to express their heart and soul and sense of belonging on the other side of the world.
To whet your appetite, here is a story I came across in northern California which reveals the way in which Scots was tied into people’s sense of identity. In 1880, Robert Louis Stevenson visited Napa Valley, and wrote about the beginnings of the region’s wine industry in his book The Silverado Squatters. Here is his description of a meeting with one of the wine pioneers, Colin McEachran:
Mr. M'Eckron's is a bachelor's establishment; a little bit of a wooden house, a small cellar hard by in the hillside, and a patch of vines planted and tended single-handed by himself. He had but recently begun; his vines were young, his business young also; but I thought he had the look of a man who succeeds. He hailed from Greenock: he remembered his father putting him inside Mons Meg, and that touched me home: and we exchanged a word or two of Scots, which pleased me more than you would fancy.
Reading the extract from Stevenson’s novel, notice the clear distinction between communicating with Mr. M’Eckron in English, which both were clearly fluent at, and consciously speaking in Scots. Why do you think the exchange in Scots pleased Stevenson especially?
And have you heard of Mons Meg? If not, read this. What might be special about this memory?
16.2 Scots in Scandinavia
“Tae Noroway, tae Noroway, tae Noroway ower the faem”
These are the opening words of a letter sent to the famous sailor Sir Patrick Spens by his King. They stem from the poem Sir Patrick Spence, one of the most famous Child Ballads (Vol. 2, No. 58), whose author is unknown, and which many of us learned at school; it is part of a shared culture which linked Scotland and Scandinavia for centuries. Language played its part in these links, and from the historic Norse speaking areas of Scotland, like Shetland, Orkney and Caithness, to the early Lowland burghs – which had settlers from the former Danelaw in England – the Scots leid became thrang with Scandinavian elements.
In many cases, it is the Norse element which still marks major differences between Scots language and Standard English. For example kirk, kist, breeks, brig and rig for the English ‘church’, ‘chest’, ‘breeches’, ‘bridge’ and ‘ridge’; lowp for ‘leap’, ain for ‘own’, strae for ‘straw’, skirl for ‘shrill’, mask for ‘mash’. Many of the Scandinavian words are still in everyday use in Scotland, having died out of the English dialects, which originally absorbed them – these are words such as to flit (to move house), graith (tools or equipment), frae (from), lug (ear), nieve (fist), and hoast (cough).
This shared cultural and linguistic inheritance of course worked both ways and the Scots in turn migrated to Scandinavia, especially between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Scots dominated the Norwegian timber trade of the 16th and 17th centuries to such an extent that the trade was called the skottehandelen or Scotch trade. Stories of the friendships that developed across the North Sea have entered the folklore and become part of the oral tradition.
Reading in Scots
In this course, you will come across a wide range of examples of written Scots from different times and places. As you have learned, Scots does not have a written standard. This reflected in the many different spellings of words with the same origin and meaning, which you discover in the DSL.
To help you understand written Scots, there are a number of useful strategies:
- Read the text out loud, using your knowledge of spoken Scots and the pronunciation of words you have heard in the course. This will help you understand words with unusual spellings more easily.
- Consider the context of the text, i.e. what you have been told about the text and where it is published. For example, you have looked at a will in activity 4, and you learned that this was a will from 1609. You will then be able to hypothesise that due to the time when the will was written, there are likely to be religious references; that the author will write in the first person and might mention aspects of his/her life etc.
- You will see that a particular author will use the same spelling for the same word throughout a text, even though other authors might have spelled the same word differently. In the example in activity 5 you will see that the author often used ae when in English you would use the letter ‘o’, i.e. gaes, tae, nae. Or, in activity 4, you noticed that the author tended to use double consonants in the written Scots, where generally there would only be single consonants used. This recognition of a spelling pattern will make your reading more fluent, and you will have to look up the words less frequently.
- And, of course, you can make connections with the English language, as Scots and English are closely connected. You will come across phrases that are similar to English, for example ‘the story goes’ as you will see in activity 5.
- As we have suggested, do keep your own Scots dictionary, either on paper or digitally, where you can record the Scots words you want to learn, ideally written down on their own and as used in context. This will help you identify the words again in other texts, especially when seen used in connection with other words, i.e. in set phrases such as fair excitit used in activity 5. Learning words in context is a useful strategy for recognising words and their meaning in written Scots.
Activity 5
One story I collected myself involved a friendship between the families of a Norwegian sawmill owner and a Fife ship’s master who “tied up at the woods” in the fjords every year.
Part 1
Read the story and look up any words you need to know to follow the story in the DSL.
The story gaes that ae simmer the Skipper had nae time tae taigle, as his wife wis due tae gie birth tae their saicont bairn in the neist twa three days. Fair excitit for her frien ower the sea, the Norwegian wumman jaloused that she cuid gie some practical help; she made a muckle pot o a local speciality for him tae tak hame tae his wife – a special fortified parritch thrang wi berries an nits, ideal for restorin weemen tae guid health efter the chave o giein birth tae a bairn. Sae, while the skipper laided the muckle timmer, she gaed richt aheid an made the parritch, happit the pot in a blanket, an settin sail immediately wi a fair wind ahint him, tradeition haes it that the parritch wis still hoat when his ship landid in Kirkcaldy!
Part 2
Now check your understanding of the story by deciding whether the statements below are true or false according to the text.
a.
False
b.
True
The correct answer is a.
a.
False
b.
True
The correct answer is a.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
False
b.
True
The correct answer is a.
a.
True
b.
False
The correct answer is a.
a.
False
b.
True
The correct answer is a.
The importance of the skottehandelen to East coast skippers can be gauged by the fact that up to 7 out of every 10 ships from places like Dundee were engaged in bringin hame gret timmer. Many Scots, of course, never came hame, but stayed on – their families contributing immensely to the culture of their adopted homeland.
The most famous and popular Norwegian writer of the 17th century was Petter Dass (1647–1707) son of Peter Dundas, a merchant of Dundee who arrived in Norway in 1640. Although his father died when Petter was a boy, his aunt from Dundee was also involved in raising him, so he could have grown up hearing Scots as well as Norwegian.
Elsinore in Denmark also had a substantial and influential Scots community and they would have spoken Scots and Danish. In the diary of Robert Monro, there is a reference to King Christian IV’s master shipbuilder Daniel Sinclair, “a worthy gentlemean begotten of Scots ancestors…who speaks the Scottish tongue and is very courteous to all his countrymen which come hither” (Monro, 1999, p. 42).
16.3 Scots in Mainland Europe
Going back to Poland, where the merchants formed the Scottish Brotherhoods, associations of Freemasons, the records of one branch are preserved in The Green Book of Lublin which reveals the gradual change in the community with the language switching between Scots and Polish.
Activity 6
Below is an example from The Book of the Scottish Brotherhood at Lublin (1680). This extract is an agreement, a contract, about the sale and ownership of specific jewellery (The Jagiellonian Library, Cracow. Ms 927, ff 2r-3v. Patrick Orem’s Testament, Lublin, 1609. On envelope: Laitter Will and Testament 7 July 1609).
Read the text and try to establish one word for the key item in question in the text that is Polish rather than Scots. Use your knowledge of the older Scots you have come across so far, also that in activity 4, to complete this task.Use the highlighter pen to mark the word in the text and then check your answer.
Discussion
The word you should have found or identified as different from Scots is:
- Snoure – Polish today spelled sznur, meaning string, thread, or band
You could have found this through a process of elimination, by looking up words you were not familiar with in the DSL and then checking whether these, or variations of these were listed there.
Please note that Kalakucz refers to a place in Nigeria, Africa, where the pearls were found.
There remains a cultural echo of the period when Jewish and Scottish communities in the Lithuanian city of Kèdainiai socialised together. In 1901, the folklorists Ginzburg and Marek collected a Jewish song called ‘I came to my stall’ sung by a woman called Fraida Heisel. Puzzled by its non-Jewish theme, detailed musical detective work ensued and eventually it was realised that what had been collected was a Yiddish version of an old Scots song, ‘Hame Cam oor Gudeman at E’en’. Primary school bairns in the area are now taught to sing the original song in Scots, as part of their awareness of the strong Scottish cultural heritage of Kèdainiai.
Farther East in Russia, the courts of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great had a strong Scottish and Jacobite presence, and the Scots’ cultural influence gathered pace when the cult of Ossian and the novels and poetry of Scott and Burns were in vogue – Pushkin, for example, translated Scots ballads like ‘The Twa Corbies’. Lermontov himself was a descendant of a Scots soldier of Fortune from Fife, George Learmonth, and expressed his desire to see his ancestral homeland in his poetry. Two Scottish social institutions also took root in Russia – Freemasonry and a hellfire club called The Beggar’s Benison. Both used Scots in their rituals with the Benison celebrating the priapic motto:
May yer purse ne’er be toom
And yer horn aye in bloom
The English version being “May prick nor purse never fail you”!
In the Caucasus and Siberia there were also Scottish religious communities. The historian Paul Dukes told me a story from 19th century Siberia of a Scots traveller entering an orthodox church and being slightly scared when a huge man mountain of a priest with a long red beard bears down on him sprinkling Holy Water. Seeing his alarm, the priest says: “Dinnae fash yersel. It’s jist a puckle watter an’ll dae ye nae hairm!”
In France, Spain and Portugal most of the Scots language connections I have come across over the years have come through Scots songs relating to war and wine: songs of the Peninsular War “Twa Recruitin Sergeants” and “The Farfar Sojer”, songs of Jacobite exile “The Sun Rises Bright in France” and a version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’collected by Burns in praise of a waught or drink of Malaga wine, containing some of the most famous words in songs in the English language:
For auld lang syne my dear
For auld lang syne
Let’s hae a waught o Malaga
For Auld Lang Syne.
(Burns, 1788)
Of course, because of the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France there has been cultural interchange for many centuries. By the 16th century the auld alliance came under threat, as Scotland turned toward the Protestant Reformation and at the Chateau of Chenonceaux in the private chapel of Mary Queen of Scots, there are Scots biblical quotations ‘The reward of sin is daith’ and ‘The graice for sicht of God is peace and love in Jesu Christ our Lord’ carved on the wall by the dirks of La Garde Écossaise du Corps du Roi – the Scots Guard – a gesture showing their Protestant leanings and an early warning to Mary of what might await her in Scotland.
Activity 7
a.
Germany
b.
The Netherlands
c.
Belgium
d.
France
e.
Italy
f.
Spain
g.
Portugal
h.
Poland
i.
Bohemia
j.
Hungary
k.
Lithuania
l.
Latvia
m.
Austria
The correct answers are d, f, g, h and k.
Answer
Please note that although not all the countries were mentioned in this section, there were Scots who emigrated to these countries over the centuries. See the Further reading section of this unit where you can find resources that provide more information on this topic.
16.4 Scots in North America
You are now going to take a closer look at Scots emigrating to North America. The Scots and Ulster Scots migrations to that continent left a distinctive linguistic legacy, particularly in the Southern States where words and expressions like poke (bag), redd up (clear up), galluses (braces), and no a haet (not a thing) survive in the local speech. Add to that the popularity of Burns and Scott and a literary tradition with a Scots voice.
Activity 8
In this activity you will engage with a poetic flyting – or verbal duel – in Scots, between Ulster-born David Bruce and the other protagonist was Hugh Henry Brackenridge who left Campbeltown at the age of five, but was also brought up in the Ulster Scots colonies of western Pennsylvania. Both used naturally the language of their American community.
They also knew the shared tradition in which they were working. The poetic flyting took place on the Pennsylvania frontier at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion, a tax protest during the time of George Washington’s presidency, from 1791 to 1794.
Part 1
Listen to Bruce’s verse on the drink at the centre of local politics in 1794 and try to understand the spoken Scots. Then, record yourself reading the verse using the transcripts.
Note that the only phrase you might not find in the DSL or any other dictionary is one bee, but you will find ane body, which carries the same meaning – anyone/anybody.
Transcript
Listen
Great Pow'r, that warms the heart an liver,
And puts the bluid aw in a fever,
If dull and heartless I am ever,
A blast o thee
Maks me as blyth, and brisk, and clever
As ony bee.
Model
Great Pow'r, that warms the heart an liver,
And puts the bluid aw in a fever,
If dull and heartless I am ever,
A blast o thee
Maks me as blyth, and brisk, and clever
As ony bee.
Brackenridge, the founder of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a lawyer and a novelist, used Scots not solely for poetry. In his chief work Modern Chivalry he introduces a Scots-speaking character with strong religious conviction called Duncan Ferguson. In an article on the two poets in American Speech in 1928, Claude M. Newlin, writes: ‘Since Bruce was an ardent Federalist, he no doubt considered Scots to be the most effective medium in which he could appeal to his frontier audience’ (1928, p. 107).
Brackenridge's son, Henry Marie Brackenridge also conveyed his native dialect in his writing, having learned a rich spoken Scots from his grandmother: ‘I learned the Scottish dialect from her, and read to her The Gentle Shepherd and other poems of Ramsay and Fergusson [...] My father had a curious collection of the Scottish poets, from James author of the King's Quair, and Gavin Douglas, down to Burns’ (Newlin, 1928, pp. 107–8).
And Newlin also cites Brackenridge in order to convey why he considered it appropriate to write in Scots when he writes: ‘The dialect […] which is called braid Scots, or what is the same thing, the Scots-Irish, was my native dialect’ (1928, p. 108).
Also, in Appalachia there remained a saying for bairns that wis feart, “Wheesht ye, wheesht ye, dinnae fret ye…Claverhoose he wullnae get ye.” The bogeyman among Ulster and Ayrshire covenanters being John Graham, Earl of Claverhouse, for his depredations against the “guid an godly” during the Kullin Times.
In the Cape Fear district bordering North and South Carolina in the baking flatlands of Scotland County, I also discovered that as recently as 1907 a book entitled Lyrics from Cottonland by John Charles McNeill was published. Descended from Kintyre folk, McNeill's poetry reflects the voices of the black, Indigenous and white people of the area. He is regarded as the poet laureate of North Carolina. In the poem ‘On the Cape Fear’ he condenses the history of the Argyll colony in a Scots voice which rings true even today.
Prince Charlie an I, we war chased owre the sea
Wi naething but conscience for glory.
An here I drew sawrd, when the land wad be free,
An was whipped tae a hole as a Tory.
When the Bonny Blue Flag was flung tae the breeze,
I girded mysel tae defend it:
They warstled me doun tae my hands an my knees
An flogged my auld backbane tae bend it.
Sae the deil wan the fights, an wrang hauds the ground,
But God an mysel winna bide it.
I hae strenth in my airm yet for many a round
An purpose in plenty tae guide it.
I been banished an whipped an warstled an flogged
(I belang tae the Democrat party)
But in gaein owre quagmires I haena been bogged
An am still on my legs, hale an hearty.
To find out more about the poet and the poem and read a translation into modern English of the poem on the All Poetry website.
Activity 9
Part 1
You will listen to a story of what I heard over in the USA about a patient and a nurse and the Scots language. Pay particular attention note to sequence of events and the outcome of the story.
Transcript
Noo, gien talks on Scots ower the years, I’ve hained stories I’ve been tellt bi fowk anent the mither tongue. A guid ane cam bi wey o a wumman that haed been a nurse an wrocht in ane o the muckle hospitals in Chicawgie. There they had a lang leit o aw the leids spoken in the hospital, reflectin the braidth o the ethnic communities in siclike cities. Onywey, an auld bodie wes brocht in that wes gey waunert haein been cowpit in an accident wi a caur. Naebody cuid unnerstaun or communicate wi the wumman, although they pried pree’d wi German, Norwegian an Dutch speakers. The Scottish nurse happened tae be passin the auld bodie, when she recognised whit she wes saying….”oh it’s gey sair, it’s gey sair – I cannae thole it ony mair, can ye no gie me ocht for it, hen – this stound’s garrin me grue. Can ye no speir at thaim hen, tae gie me somethin…” “Weel” said the nurse, “gin ye can tell me whaur the stound is waur, we’ll get ye sortit oot gey suin I’m shuir.” The wumman made a full recovery and thon Chicawgie hospital is ane o the few places in the warld whaur Scots haes been eikit tae the leit o offeicial leids! We’re jist waitin for ither places tae catch up.
Part 2
Now reconstruct the sequence of events by putting the items below in the correct order.
Using the following two lists, match each numbered item with the correct letter.
-
A nurse who used to work in one of the major Chicago hospitals told this story.
-
Patients there came from diverse ethnic communities speaking many languages.
-
One day, an old woman was admitted who was hurt badly in a car crash.
-
Nobody could communicate with her despite trying different languages.
-
A Scottish nurse happened to walk past when she recognised the language.
-
The patient exclaimed: I can’t stand the pain anymore, can you give me anything for it?
-
The nurse replied: If you show me where the pain is worst, we can help you soon.
-
The old woman made a full recovery.
-
That Chicago hospital now lists Scots as one of its official languages.
a.4.
b.1.
c.5.
d.2.
e.3.
f.6.
g.8.
h.7.
i.9.
- 1 = b
- 2 = d
- 3 = e
- 4 = a
- 5 = c
- 6 = f
- 7 = h
- 8 = g
- 9 = i
Another public display of Scots seen across the United States and Canada are golf courses which have names on them that are copies of the ones at home in Scotland – lang whangs and Swilken burns abound. One pioneer golf professional told me he never compromised his good Scots tongue when teaching, so his pupils learned Scots expressions like “ca cannie” an “gie it a guid skelp”.
At the funeral oration to Fred Brand Jr, winner of the Bob Jones award for his contribution to American golf, the main toast was Fred’s own favourite, “Lang may yer lum reik”.
16.5 Scots in the Southern Hemisphere
In South America, the two most famous Scots are Admiral Cochrane who was one of the prime movers in the liberation of Chile, Peru and Brazil from colonial rule, and R. B. Cunninghame Graham, who was known simply as Don Roberto across the continent. He eventually came home and founded both the Scottish Labour Party and the National Party, the forerunner of the SNP. His writing is thrang with Scots.
In Buenos Aires, he created a character called Christie Christison, a respectable merchant who has lost none of his Buchan dialect after 30 years on the River Plate. When offered the pick of Indigenous girls and horses in exchange for his wife, he is tempted but tells the chief “Christians dinnae sell their wives”. But they buy them – later we discover that Christie had bought his wife Jean back from the Peterhead brothel she had escaped to when he had battered her earlier in their marriage! (Kay, B. (2006) The Scottish World: A Journey Into the Scottish Diaspora.)
Charles Murray, who was well known to my generation because of his much anthologised poem ‘The Whistle’, used Scots to describe his sojourns in South Africa.
Activity 10
Now work with an extract from another of Murray’s poems about Scottish emigrants in South Africa: ‘Scotland oor Mither’ (1920, p. 129).
Part 1
Listen to the poem and then record yourself reading it, comparing your recording with our model.
Transcript
Listen
Scotland our Mither ‑ this from your sons abroad,
Leavin' tracks on virgin veld that never kent a road,
Trekkin' on wi' weary feet, an' faces turned fae hame,
But lovin' aye the auld wife across the seas the same.
Scotland our Mither ‑‑ since first we left your side,
From Quilimane to Cape Town we've wandered far an' wide;
Yet aye from mining camp an' town, from koppie an' karoo,
your sons richt kindly, auld wife send hame their love to you.
Model
Scotland our Mither ‑ this from your sons abroad,
Leavin' tracks on virgin veld that never kent a road,
Trekkin' on wi' weary feet, an' faces turned fae hame,
But lovin' aye the auld wife across the seas the same.
Scotland our Mither ‑‑ since first we left your side,
From Quilimane to Cape Town we've wandered far an' wide;
Yet aye from mining camp an' town, from koppie an' karoo,
your sons richt kindly, auld wife send hame their love to you.
Part 2
As you have seen with other examples throughout this unit, the Scots language used by emigrants became infused with aspects of the languages of the countries they lived in. This was also the case in Murray’s poem.
Read ‘Scotland oor mither’ again and highlight the words that are not part of the Scots language.
Discussion
Note that ‘track’ with the meaning used here does not exist in Scots, although you will find a word with the same spelling in the DSL.
I will end my stravaigin in the Antipodes, where again the Scots communities established Burns clubs and football clubs – sometimes the two were melled thegither, and they wrote poetry in their mither tongue. One of the local poets in Dunedin was John Barr from Paisley who emigrated to New Zealand in 1852 and became a successful farmer.
Activity 11
In this activity, you will work with the opening verse of Barr’s ‘There’s Nae Place Like Otago Yet’ (1861, p. 62). His verse adorned the Caledonian Society of Otago, mostly in praise of his adopted homeland. The praise becomes apparent in the many comparisons he makes with the home he left in Scotland, underlining reasons why many people left Scotland in search for a better life.
Listen to the verse and then record yourself reading it, finally comparing your version with our model. To get as close to the model as possible, you can repeat recording yourself.
Transcript
Listen
There’s nae place like Otago yet,
There’s nae wee beggar weans,
Or auld men shivering at our doors,
To beg for scraps or banes.
We never see puir workin folk
Wi’ bauchles on their feet,
Like perfect icicles wi’ cauld,
Gaun starving through the street.
Model
There’s nae place like Otago yet,
There’s nae wee beggar weans,
Or auld men shivering at our doors,
To beg for scraps or banes.
We never see puir workin folk
Wi’ bauchles on their feet,
Like perfect icicles wi’ cauld,
Gaun starving through the street.
I began by referring to Robert Louis Stevenson being “touched home” on hearing Scots in Napa Valley. Scots has that ability for its native speakers. A few years ago, I made three programmes about the Scots regiments who fought in the Korean War and recorded two very different stories of coming across Scots in the hostile environment of the Korean winter.
The first was told by the late George Younger MP who recalled the humour and joy the squaddies experienced when the mail brought them copies of the Sunday Post with its comic strips of Oor Wullie and the Broons. The second was told by a soldier of the Black Watch, who in a deserted war-torn village in an abandoned, ruined house came across an edition of the poetry of Burns published in Japan.
He kept the book close to him throughout the war, read it and took comfort from it. His story reminded me of the moving story of the Beirut hostage Tom Sutherland, who survived mentally for six years by reciting the poems of Burns he had in his head. Burns touched Tom home as well.
I am proud tae hae a guid Scots tongue in ma heid, and giving talks as far apart as Poznań in Poland and Calabar in Nigeria, I have experienced the warmth that a Scots voice can generate. In Poznań it was old Polish soldiers who had been stationed in Scotland during and after the war, and who came to the talk as they missed hearing Scots voices.
In Calabar, it was the congregation in Duketown Parish Church who heard in me the voice of the good people who had taught them in the mission schools and told them bible stories in the Sunday schools…..the voice of the legendary Mary Slessor herself – the Mother of All the Peoples. The love for Mary there was visceral and tangible. Such experiences gied me pride in ma mither tongue an mindit me on the auld Scots saw I got fae ma mither an faither as a wean in Gawston: “Thaim wi a guid Scots tongue in their heid are fit tae gang ower the warld.”
16.6 What I have learned
Activity 12
Before finishing your work on this unit, please revisit what you worked on in Activity 1, where we asked you to take some notes on what you already knew in relation to the key learning points of the unit.
Compare your notes from before you studied this unit with what you have learned here and add to these notes as you see fit to produce a record of your learning.
Here are the key learning points again for you as a reminder:
how links with Scandinavia have influenced Scots language
the ties with countries across Europe
the lasting impact of Scots language on North America and Canada as well as the Southern Hemisphere
how Scots abroad was shaped by other languages
the role of song and poetry and carrying Scots around the globe.
Further research
Kay, B. (2006) Scots: The Mither Tongue, Mainstream, Edinburgh.
Kay, B. (2006) The Scottish World, Mainstream, Edinburgh.
Find out more about Billy Kay and Scots culture, language and history on his website.
Scots Radio posted a video of a lecture Billy Kay delivered in Aberdeen in November 2019, which is adapted from the inaugural Scots lecture at the Scottish Poetry Library earlier in the year. The lecture is a celebration of the Scots tradition in literature but also has some stories about Scots abroad which tie in with material on the course.
Horsbroch, D. (1999) ‘Nostra vulgari lingua: Scots as a European Language 1500‑1700’, Scottish Language, no. 18, pp. 1‑16.
Grosjean, A. and S. Murdoch (eds.) (2005) Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period, Leiden and Boston, Brill.
Murdoch, S. (ed.) (2006) Network North. Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603‑1746, Leiden and Boston, Brill.
Kopaczyk, J. (2017) ‘Administrative multilingualism on the page in early modern Poland: In search of a framework for written code-switching’ in Laura Wright, Päivi Pahta and Janne Skaffari (eds.) Multilingual Practices in Language History: English and Beyond, Berlin, Mouton. pp. 275-298.
Kopaczyk, J. (2013a) ‘Code-switching in the records of a Scottish brotherhood in early modern Poland-Lithuania’, Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, no. 49, vol.3, pp. 281-319.
Kopaczyk, J. (2013b) ‘Scottish papers in early modern Poland: A new resource for historical linguists’ in Aniela Korzeniowska and Izabela Szymańska (eds.) Scotland in Europe / Europe in Scotland. Links, dialogues, analogies, Warsaw, Semper, pp. 85-98.
You can find out more about emigration and immigration in Scotland on the John Gray Centre website.
The National Library of Scotland provides a wealth of information on emigration in their Scots Abroad Databases, which contain accounts of people who visited different parts of the world and their experiences there.
The Scotsman National Newspaper features an article by Alison Campsie about the Scottish Highlanders who emigrated to Northern America, how they were recruited, what employment they found and how they lived as emigrants.
Listen to the Scottish folk band the Old Blind Dogs’ rendition of the Farfar Soldier song.
Find out more about migration from Scotland pre-1700 in Morvern French’s article on the University of St Andrews’ Institute of Historical Research website.
Learn about Scots emigrants in Sweden, their lives and work, from 1500–1800 in an article by Jonas Berg and Bo Lagercrantz on the Electric Scotland website.
You can explore the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry reflecting the rich linguistic and cultural links of many places around the globe with Scotland.
To learn more about the Scots language in Canada, explore the Library and Archives Canada with interesting information on how Scots arrived and became widely used in Canada.
Now go on to Unit 17: Grammar.
References
Acknowledgements
Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. If any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources:
Photo of a crowd: subberculture - https://www.flickr.com/photos/20483509@N00/5986819057 - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Photo of a wall: James Allan - https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1440992 - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Photo of Stravaigin: Yelp Inc. - https://www.flickr.com/photos/71606984@N00/12631653454 - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-No Derivatives Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/
Painting of Peter Dass: Painting from 1684 in the church at Melhus. Foto: John Lerli Kjelde. Taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Petter_Dass#/media/File:Petter_Dass_i_Melhus.jpg
photograph of Lublin: jurek d. (Jerzy Durczak) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/57949897@N00/40839923460 - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
The Whiskey Rebellion: Attributed to Frederick Kemmelmeyer (ca. 1755–1821). Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1963. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hugh Henry Brackenridge: Archives & Special Collections at Dickinson College
Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham: © Hulton Archive/Stringer/Getty Images.
With thanks to Steve Murdoch and Joanna Kopaczyk, for providing material on Scots in Sweden and Poland.
Appendix
On envelope: Laitter Will and Testament 7 July 1609
01. In dei nomine Amen ~
02. Att Lublynn the sevvint day of Julii anno domini 160 & nyne
03. ʒeiris, I thocht guid, remembering now I am passand eftir his ma-
04. iesteis court and campe, with servvandis & gier to uss merchand-
05. yce, quhar his hienes and hors sall remaine, And knawing
06. be experiens and money examplis, the suddane change and
07. alteration, of manie estaitt upone the earthe, quhen almytie
08. god pleasis to suffer man to be uesertt for his offensis; & I be-
09. ing suirlie perswaiditt that I am ane sinner, & subiect to sick
10. Infirmiteis as uthirris ar, bott god of his mercye dois spare me
11. heirfoir to god almytie father, sone, and halye gaist, be all honor
12. praiss & glorie for all his benefeittis bestowed,now & ever, Amen.
13. Being now in health of bodie and perfytt memoire, that meitt
14. to wreatt with my awin hand and leaf In memory this my
15. laitter will and testament, Incais as god forbid any suddaine
16. accident happin me in bodie or guiddis, quharbie my brother
17. Thomas Orem, or the merchandise to quhome he & I is equa-
18. ly contract and bound togidder be our obligations for
19. sick soumes as ar conteinit In our registeris and compt
20. buikis, sud be hurt or haif loiss or skaithe throuof, I wad
21. not safar as our guidds, gear, or moyane may extend till,
22. The gear brocht fra Crakaw the third day of Juni anno 1609,
23. and quhatistaine one wey deitt […] In Lublynn, ar writ-
24. tin In the compt buiks, siclyk the dettis that werest awand
25. ar wrettin, Now Incais as god forbid athir be death siknes
26. or any vthir accident, I be preventitt and may not be off
27. myt and powar to satisfie our creditorris my self, heir I
28. appoyntt and assignais my brother Thomas, and Androw Hum-
29. far burgess In Crakaw to entromett and dispone all, quhat
30. We haif In possessioun athir with me In Litton or at hame
31. In Crakaw, In maner & forme as eftir followis, first
32.the merchand gear (& dettis that ar guid) & awand us, to be
33. raknitt & calculatt with that we ar awand, and as thay ext-
34. ende, the merchandis to be satisfeitt thankfullie safar
35. as thay will extende or may agrie till, the servvands
feis & wagis
36. ~ In te domino speraW non confundar in eternuus ~
37. feis and wageis being first payit, And the guidwyfe Niena,
38. seing thair will nocht be aneuch quharwhith to satisffie and
39. pay the creditouris all, let hir be content with twa hundred
40. florance polnis ~ thair is our pleadge of siluer &
41. gold forsett with Isack Reych Ien according as the registers
42. ar wrettin, & will bear recorde, the soum that is takin thairon
43. extendis to thrie hundredth & fyftie florance polniss, this
44. being payitt lett Thomas tak quhat is his thairof according
45. to the wrettin register ~ And gif the bairne Barbara
46. leiffis untill scho cum to perfyt age & be mareit let my
47. pairt be for hir dowrye bot lett Thomas be keipar thairof
48. untill that tyme, uthirwayis scho died before that tym, than
49. Lett itt be dwyditt, and pairtitt as followis to witt ~ ~
50. the siluer beltis, scheathis, baggis & that quhilk apperteinis
51. to wemens attyr, lett that be for my wyf, ~ togidder with the
52. peecis of cunʒeit siluer giffin at godbairne giftis, Inclositt
53. in ane payntit round buist let thais be hirs also ~ ~
54. Mair Thomas sall haif that is within that buist I portagall
55. Isyr, I roisnobill and another pece of gold ~ Mair to him
56. of the ringis (I gif of ringis) I spitz dyamont, I taffell
57. dymont , I rubyin, I patcheir and 3 worp ring with stain-
58. nis thais fyue rings I leif Thomass to be his awin fardir
59. Cundgame Robert I left 1 4 worp ring with 6 dymonts in it in pleadge
60. of 12 ducattis that is 28 R polniss, quhen he giffis the gold or sa
61. mekle money againe, Lett Thomas delyver him his ring,
62. Mair thair is ane lytill gold chein with ane hart let Thom-
63. as haif, also thair is sum fortie of cunʒeitt money ungaris
64. schillings & brokin siluer in ane purss besyd the pleadge ~
65. Also of siluer cuppis 3 owirgilt with dookis lett all this lett
66. Thomas haif, the rest of the ringis and cuppis that ar not
67. namit heir lett my wyff haif, onlye lett remain and
68. not dewyditt & gif the bairne leif lett altogidder be hirs
69. at the tyme about wrettin, the buickis and plattis salbe
for Thomas
70. ~ In dues nobis tuns quis contranob ~
71. for Thomas, in all pairtts upone the merkattis, and also att
72. court becauss he most do with the creditors and satisfie thame
73. as he best may, as I dout bott he will as ane man of guid con-
74. sience prowyde to saif our guid name, safar as his powar
75. may extend till, In tym cuming as he hes being willing in tyme
76. past, bot I taking upone me for my cuntrienis hicher mat-
77. ter is as my strenthe culd sustains, and thair caldnes In assis-
78. ting my adois and neid, hes being and is occationis of our de-
79. cay, bot I hoip god almychtie will be mercifull & not forsaik
80. bot rather bless thais that be of upricht heart & mynde, willing
81. to deall uprichtlie with all men ~ That guid man Andreass
82. Janocskie gaif us In keeping thrie hundredth florence polniss
83. quharupone he hes our recognitions, this I desyr In spetiall
84. that he […] with thanks payit at the tym apoyntitt in our
85. lettir giffen with our subscriptionis and […] thair att ~
86. Concerning my awin cleathing that belangis to my persone, lett
87. Thomas haiff thame ~ ~ Houss bedding, and uthir plenis-
88. sing alsweill […] and brass as buirdis beddis and uther needful
89. houshald affairis lett all be equalie distribuittitt & equalie
90. partitt betwixt my wyff and Thomas; providing alwayis
91. that gif the bairne Barbara remains alyue and cums to perfec-
92. tionis all thais houshald aiffairis be her awing without any
93. Impediment ~ ~ Now for awoiding of debaitt or contriver-
94. sie I haif wretting as testament to haif strenthe and place-
95. and sall godwilling as I may sie appearance heireftir; gif
96. god grant tyme, and place, convenient, confirme the same
97. as law provydis ~ ~ For the present taking the father, sone
98. and halye gaist to be witness to my upricht meaning
99. I haiff wrettin subscrywitt and put my signet together
100. with my merchand mark to this my last will, day ʒeir
101. and place forsiad ~ ~ I Patricius Orem civeus Craco
102. Lett Thomas chois ane //wiensis manie propria//
103. twa or thrie of our
104. awin serwandis to assist
105. and helpe him as he thinkis meitt