Bannocka variety of bread. Cf. Latin
panicium, Old English
bannuc.
Bard The word's earliest appearance in English is in 15th century Scotland with the meaning "vagabond minstrel". The modern literary meaning, which began in the 17th century, is heavily influenced by the presence of the word in ancient Greek (
bardos) and ancient Latin (
bardus) writings (e.g. used by the poet
Lucan, 1st century AD), which in turn took the word from the Gaulish language.
Ben From
beinn [peiɲ], mountain.
Bodach Old man.
Bog From
bog [pok], soft (related to
boglach swamp), from
Old Irish bocc. 14th century.
Bothan A hut, often an illegal drinking den. (cf
Bothy)
Caber tossAn athletic event, from the Gaelic word "cabar" which refers to a wooden pole.
Cailleach An old woman, a hag, or a particular ancient goddess.
Cairn From
càrn. The word's meaning is much broader in Gaelic, and is also used for certain types of rocky mountains.
Camana
shinty stick.
Capercaillie From
capall-coille [kʰaʰpəlˠ̪ˈkʰɤʎə], meaning "horse of the woods"
Cèilidh A 'social gathering' or, more recently, a formal evening of traditional Scottish Social Dancing.
Canntaireachdoral notation for
pipe music.
Clan From the compound form
clann pronounced [kʰlˠ̪an̪ˠ], from
clann, children or family.
Old Irish cland.
Claymore A large broadsword, from
claidheamh mór [kʰlˠ̪ajəv moːɾ], great sword.
Coireliterally a "kettle", meaning a corrie, from the same root.
Crag From
creag [kʲʰɾʲek], a cliff.
Deoch an dorus (various spellings) meaning a "drink at the door". Translated as "one for the road", i.e. "one more drink before you leave".
Fear an taighean MC (master of ceremonies), Gaelic lit. "the man of the house"
Galore From
gu leor, enough.
Gillie a type of servant, now usually somebody in charge of fishing and rivers, and also
ghillie suit used as a form of camouflage, from
gille [kʲiʎə], boy or servant.
Glen From
gleann [klaunˠ̪], a valley.
Gob From
gob, beak or bill.
Kyle or Kyles Straits from Gaelic Caol & Caolais.
Loch From
loch [lˠ̪ɔx].
Lochaber axe From
Loch Abar [lˠ̪ɔxˈapəɾ],
Lochaber + axe.
Mackintosh After
Charles Macintosh who invented it. From
Mac an Tòisich [maʰk ən̪ˠ t̪ʰɔːʃiç], son of the chieftain.
Mod A Gaelic festival, from
mòd [mɔːt̪], assembly, court.
Pet From
peata, tame animal.
Pibroch From
pìobaireachd [pʰiːpəɾʲəxk], piping.
Pillion From
pillean [pʰiʎan], pack-saddle, cushion.
Plaid From
plaide [pʰlˠ̪atʲə], blanket. Alternatively a Lowland Scots loanword [2], from the past participle of
ply, to fold, giving
plied then
plaid after the Scots pronunciation.
Ptarmigan From
tàrmachan [tʰaːɾməxan]. 16th Century.
Shindig From
sìnteag to skip, or jump around
Slogan From
sluagh-ghairm [s̪lˠ̪uəɣɤɾʲɤm], battle-cry
Smashingfrom
's math sin , 'that is good'
Sporran Via
sporan [s̪pʰɔɾan] from Old Irish
sboran and ultimately Latin
bursa, purse.
Spunk From
spong [s̪pʰɔŋɡ], tinder and also sponge. From Early Irish
sponge, from Latin
spongia, from Greek
σπογγιά, a sponge.
Strontium from Sròn an t-Sìthein
[s̪t̪ɾɔːn əɲ tʲʰiːɛɲ] meaning "the point at the fairy hill", name of a mountain, near which the element was discovered.
Tack & Tacksman (a lessee) From Scots
tak (take) cf. Old Norse
taka.
Trousers from
triubhas [t̪ʰɾu.əs̪], via "trews".
Whisky Short form of
whiskybae, from
uisge-beatha [ɯʃkʲəˈpɛhə], water of life.
The following words are of Goidelic origin but it cannot be ascertained whether the source language was Old Irish or one of the modern Goidelic languages.
Brogue An accent, Irish, or Scottish Gaelic
bròg [pɾɔːk], shoe (of a particular kind worn by Irish and Gaelic peasants), Old Irish
bróc, from Norse
brókrHubbub Irish, or Scottish Gaelic
ubub [upup], an exclamation of disapproval.
Shanty Irish or Scottish Gaelic
sean taigh [ʃɛn tʰɤj], an old house
Smidgen Irish or Scottish Gaelic
smidean [s̪mitʲan], a very small bit (connected to Irish
smidirín, smithereen), from
smid, syllable or a small bit.
Strath Irish, or Scottish Gaelic
srath [s̪t̪ɾah], a wide valley.
Gaelic words mostly used in Lowland Scots
Because of the wide overlap of Scottish English and Lowland Scots, it can be difficult to ascertain if a word should be considered Lowland Scots or Scottish English. These words tend to be more closely associated with Lowland Scots but can occur in Scottish English too.
Airt Point of the compass, from
àird, Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [aːrˠtʲ], a point.
Bothy A hut, from
bothan [pɔhan], a hut, cf.Norse
būð, Eng.
booth.
Caird A tinker, from
ceaird [kʲlˠ̪ɛrˠtʲ], the plural of
ceàrd, tinkers.
Caber From
cabar [kʰapəɾ], pole.
Cailleach From
cailleach [kʰaʎəx], old woman.
Caman From
caman [kʰaman], shinty stick. Also in use in Scotland the derived camanachd, shinty.
Cateran From
ceatharn [kʲʰɛhərˠn], fighting troop.
Ceilidh From
céilidh [kʲʰeːli], a social gathering.
Clachan From
clachan [kʰlˠ̪axan], a small settlement.
Clarsach A harp, from
clàrsach [kʰlˠ̪aːrˠs̪əx], a harp.
Corrie From
coire [kʰɤɾʲə], kettle.
Doch-an-doris Stirrup cup, from
deoch an dorais [tʲɔx ən̪ˠ t̪ɔɾəʃ], drink of the door.
Fillibeg A kilt, from
féileadh beag [feːləɣ pek], small kilt.
Ingle From
aingeal [aiŋʲɡʲəlˠ̪], a now obsolete word for fire.
Kyle From
caol [kʰɯːlˠ̪], narrow.
Lochan From
lochan [lˠ̪ɔxan], a small loch.
Machair From
machair [maxəɾʲ], the fertile land behind dunes.
Quaich From
cuach [kʰuəx], a cup.
Skean From
sgian [s̪kʲian], a knife.
Slughorn Also from
sluagh-ghairm, but erroneously believed by
Thomas Chatterton and
Robert Browning to refer (apparently) to some kind of
trumpet.
Inch And island, from Irish and Scottish Gaelic
innis [ˈiɲiʃ].
Och Irish and Scottish Gaelic
och [ɔx], exclamation of regret. Cf. English
agh, Dutch and German
ach.
Oe Grandchild, Irish and Scottish Gaelic
ogha [oə], grandchild.
Samhain Irish and Scottish Gaelic
Samhain [s̪auɛɲ], November and related to
Oidhche Shamhna,
Halloween.
Shennachie Irish and Scottish Gaelic
seannachaidh [ʃɛn̪ˠəxi], storyteller.
Sassenach Irish and Scottish Gaelic
Sasannach [s̪as̪ən̪ˠəx], An Englishman, a Saxon.
Abthen (or Abthan) jurisdiction and territory of pre-Benedictine Scottish monastery, from †
abdhaine [ˈapɣəɲə], abbacy.
Airie shieling, from
àiridh [ˈaːɾʲi], shieling.
Aiten juniper, from
aiteann [ˈaʰtʲən̪ˠ], juniper.
Bourach A mess, from
bùrach [ˈpuːɾəx], a mess.
Car, ker Left-handed, from
cearr [kʲʰaːrˠ], wrong, left.
Crine To shrink, from
crìon [kʰɾʲiən], to shrink.
Crottle A type of
lichen used as a
dye, from
crìon [kʰɾɔʰt̪əlˠ̪], lichen.
Golack An insect, from
gobhlag [ˈkoːlˠ̪ak], an earwig.
Keelie A tough urban male, from
gille [ˈkʲiːʎə], a lad, a young man.
Ketach The left hand, from
ciotach [ˈkʲʰiʰt̪əx], left-handed.
Sonse From
sonas [s̪ɔnəs̪], happiness, good fortune. Also the related
sonsy.
Spleuchan A pouch, from
spliùchan [ˈs̪pljuːxan], a pouch, purse.
Toshach Head of a clan, from
toiseach [ˈt̪ʰɔʃəx], beginning, front.
There are numerous additional place-name elements in Scotland which are derived from Gaelic, but the majority of these has not entered the English or Scots language as productive nouns and often remain opaque to the average Scot. A few examples of such elements are:
a(u)ch- from Gaelic achadh, a field; hence Auchentoshan distillery, Auchinleckard- from Gaelic àird, a height or promontory; hence Ardnamurchan, etc.bal- from Gaelic baile, a town; hence Balgowan, Balgay etc.dal- from Gaelic dail, a meadow (not to be confused with "dale", from the Norse dalr meaning a valley); hence Dalrydrum- from Gaelic druim, a ridge; hence Drumchapel, Drumnadrochit etc.dun- from Gaelic dun, a fort; hence Dundee, Dumbarton, Dunedin/Edinburghinver- from Gaelic inbhir, a river mouth or confluence; hence Inverclyde, Inverleithkil- from Gaelic cill, a churchyard; hence Kilmarnock, Kilbride etc.kin- from Gaelic ceann, a head; hence Kinlochleven, Kinloss etc. 
