Scots / Northumbrian Words
Afeard: afraid
Afore: before
Aqua Vitae: whisky
Bairn: a babe
Bannock: unleavened, round, flat loaf made of oat or barley meal
Barmekin: defensive stone wall surrounding a peel tower along the Borders
Bastle house: a fortified farmhouse
Beacon: part of a network of signal fires situated on towers and hillsides that warned of approaching raiders
Benefit of clergy: blessing of the Church
Bide: stay
Bill: charge or complaint
Blethering: incessant, foolish talk
Blood feud: a lengthy conflict between families involving a cycle of retaliatory killings or injury
Bollock dagger: a kind of dagger carried by the Border Reivers
Braw: fine, beautiful, attractive, grand, admirable
Brae: a hill
Breeks: breeches
Broken man: man who was declared an outlaw and whose family would not stand surety for him
Bucking tubs: tubs used to soak clothes in lye or urine to remove stains
Burgonet: an open helmet, usually having a peak and hinged cheek pieces
Burn: stream
Cannot see the daylight till him: basically he's Betty's "blue eyed" boy and can do no wrong
Canny: pleasant, nice, good judgment
Clype: tattletale
Dale: valley
Day of Truce: when opposing wardens met to dispense justice and resolve differences
Docking the dell: having sex with a woman
Drowning hole: cheap and quick means of execution in any river
Fash: worry
Fechting: fighting
Fell: hill
Gallowsbreid: one who deserves to hang
Garderobe: bathroom
Gibbetted: left hanging on the gallows (gibbet) for public viewing
Gob: mouth
Greeting: crying
Handfast: trial marriage or betrothal binding for one year, after which each party could decide to stay together or part
Happin: mayhap, perhaps, maybe
Harebell: Scottish Bluebell
Haud: HOLD
Haud yer wheesht: be silent
Heath: an area of open, uncultivated land
Heid: head
Heidsman: head of the family
Hobbler: Border horse
Hot trod: legal raid in retribution for an offense
Ideot: idiot
Jack: a sleeveless tunic worn for protection, made of thick quilted material, sometimes with pieces of metal sown between the layers of cloth
Jedburgh axe: an axe with a distinctive cutting edge
Keek: peek
Kye: cow
Latch: a small, light crossbow
Lea: an open area of grassy or arable land
Lug: ear
March: Border district between England and Scotland; each district was divided into three Marches: the East, Middle, and West
Midden: dunghill
Neb: nose
Outlander: one from outside the Borders
peel tower: fortified tower house
pend: undercroft
plaid: a blanket
Plucking her plum tree: taking a woman's virginity
Put to the horn: declared an outlaw and could be hung on sight
Red hand: basically caught with the goods or in the act
Scumfishing: the practice of stacking straw against the entryway of a peel tower and setting it afire in order to smoke the inhabitants out into the open
Shedding her shanks: having sex with a woman
Shieling: hut
Skelp: slap
Skelp in the lugs: slap across the ears
Surety: to take responsibility for someone’s appearance or debts at the Day of Truce
Swive: to have sexual intercourse
Tawse: a leather strap divided at the end into two or more lashes
Trip step: an uneven step built into the turnpike intended to unbalance attackers storming the tower
Turnpike: a circular staircase used to access upper floors in a tower
Undercroft: basement or ground floor
Wagging a wand in the water: a waste of time
Wame: stomach
Wean: wee one or child
Widdie: gallows or gibbet
Yett: hinged iron gate
**Photograph by Muskhi Brichta