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.

(#Scotland is Now (2014))

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 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] 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.

(The Jagiellonian Library, Krakow. Ms 927, ff 2r-3v. Patrick Orem’s Testament, Lublin, 1609. A full transcript of the document can be read in the Appendix.)

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.

  1. the seventh day

  2. I am way beyond/ it is far behind me / it is long passed

  3. I thought it wise

  4. wherever / in what place

  5. when/ on what occasion

  6. I know from experience

  7. many examples

  8. I am absolutely convinced

  9. ask God for mercy

  10. 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

The correct answers are:
  • 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.

(Stevenson, 1895, p. 334)

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. Introductory handsel

16.2 Scots in Scandinavia