Bannock
a 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 toss
An 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.
Caman
a 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.
Canntaireachd
oral 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.
Coire
literally 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 taighe
an 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
Smashing
from
'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
brókr
Hubbub
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, Auchinleck
ard- 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 Dalry
drum- from Gaelic druim, a ridge; hence Drumchapel, Drumnadrochit etc.
dun- from Gaelic dun, a fort; hence Dundee, Dumbarton, Dunedin/Edinburgh
inver- from Gaelic inbhir, a river mouth or confluence; hence Inverclyde, Inverleith
kil- from Gaelic cill, a churchyard; hence Kilmarnock, Kilbride etc.
kin- from Gaelic ceann, a head; hence Kinlochleven, Kinloss etc.
