Scots nature word of the week

These are drawn from Amanda Thomson’s book A Scots Dictionary of Nature (2018, Saraband: Glasgow).  Most of the words are still in current use since they are included in the Essential Scots-English Dictionary Online. Sometimes, however, I have identified words which appear no longer to be in current use but deserve to be revived because they are so evocative, poetic or amusing.  Some words are specific to one or more of the different dialects of Scots while others are General Scots words.  I have included an indication of usual pronunciation when this is necessary. The most recent word of the week is shown first.

Monday 28 September 2026: atween-lichts (General Scots) - twilight or the distance between houses. Like gloaming last week, atween-lichts is a term for twilight. While atween-lichts in the sense of the distance between houses is no longer in current use, the constituent words meaning between and lights are. However, this expression deserves to be revived since it is so evocative of rural Scotland where the few houses can be identified by their lights as night falls

Monday 21 September 2026: gloaming or gloamin (General Scots) – twilight.  An appropriate choice on the eve of the autumn equinox as the days shorten, gloaming derives from Old English.  While it survives in Scots, it is no longer used in Standard British English.  Its best known use is in the love song Roamin’ in the Gloamin’ by the Scottish music hall star Harry Lauder

Monday 14 September 2026: law (General Scots) - a rounded hill, specifically one which is isolated from other hills and thus stands out in the landscape. Good examples are North Berwick Law on the edge of the town in East Lothian and Dundee Law in the centre of the city although, with all the surrounding building, the latter is less obvious

Monday 7 September 2026: hairst (General Scots) - harvest (both noun and verb). The origin of hairst is the Old English word hærfest which also meant autumn. Hairst is used in this sense too, displaying a clear link with other Germanic languages. Herbst and herfst are the words for autumn in German and Dutch respectively

Monday 31 August 2026: merl or merle (General Scots) – a blackbird.  The word derives from Old French merle – still the French term for a blackbird – and ultimately from Latin merulus.  Merl is one of the many French words which appears to have entered Scots but not English

Monday 24 August 2026: aik (General Scots) - the oak tree or oak wood. Once more widespread, oak trees are still a key species in Scotland's temperate rainforest. The word aik derives from Old English. It is reflected in a number of common Scottish family names such as Aitken

Monday 17 August 2026: shieling (General Scots) - a summer grazing area for cattle in the hills; also the hut occupied by farmers and their families during the summer. The ruins of shieling dwellings can be seen across Scotland, reminders of a now disappeared traditional way of life. The word is also reflected in such place names as Pollockshields (in Glasgow) and Galashiels

Monday 10 August 2026: tammie norie or norie (Shetland Scots) or tammie cheekie (North East Scots) - the puffin.  With their distinctive orange beaks, puffin are much loved summer visitors to Scotland.  They leave Scotland about this time of year after the breeding season.  Common in the north east and Shetland, puffins are also found elsewhere, for example the Isle of May and the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth

Monday 3 August 2026: cleg – horsefly or gadfly (General Scots).  By all accounts, this blood feeding insect has been particularly active in many parts of Scotland during this long hot summer.  The word cleg derives from Norse.  Gled is also used in Border Scots

Monday 27 July 2026: airt – the direction of the wind and also a point of the compass (General Scots).   The expression a’ the airts means from all directions, as in the song by Robert Burns Of a’ the Airts the Wind Can Blaw.  Airt derives from the Gaelic word àird, another reminder of Scotland’s rich linguistic history

Monday 20 July 2026: bonxie – a great skua (Orkney and Shetland Scots).  This large seabird is a pirate, taking fish from other birds, and is also notorious for divebombing anybody who gets too close to its nest.  The name bonxie derives from Norn, a Norse language which was spoken in Orkney and Shetland where the bird is common

Monday 13 July 2026: puddock – a frog or sometimes toad (General Scots).  From this, we get puddock-stool – also puddock-stuil or puddock steel (North East Scots) – a toadstool or mushroom.  Puddock can also mean an ugly person, perhaps in an echo of the fairy tale of the princess and the frog

Monday 6 July 2026: drouth (drooth) or drucht - a drought or period of drought (General Scots), an appropriate word in this long hot summer. Drouth can also be used to describe good weather for drying washing - Monday was traditional washing day in Scotland - and to mean a thirst when applied to people

Monday 29 June 2026: birk – the birch tree (General Scots but also used in northern England).  Birch trees, with their beautiful, papery bark, are common throughout much of Scotland. From birk we get birks – a birch wood and siller birk – the silver birch tree. The best known use of birk is probably Robert Burns’ love poem The Birks of Aberfeldy