Dictionaries of the Scots Language

03/10/2026

JEDDART SNAILS: ‘A kind of toffee sold in Jedburgh’ (https://dsl.ac.uk/our-publications/scots-word-of-the-week/jeddart-snails/).

A more detailed description appeared in the Scotsman in April 1958: “There you will find Jeddart Snails. They tase of the sweetness of brown sugar blended with the richness of real butter and flavoured with mild peppermint. The toffees are dark brown and rounded into a curve, with one end formed into a blob for the head and the other end flattened for the tail. The shaping of these sweetie snails is a secret, as is also the recipe, and was originally given to a Jedburgh baker who took into his employment a French prisoner of war”.

Speaking of war, the Jedburgh Gazette printed a letter from a soldier in July 1916 who had taken Jethart snails to France: “[One local child] is very fond of English chocolate, but you should have seen her face when I rewarded her with a handful of Jethart Snails. At first she was rather doubtful, but after her first taste there was no question of her liking them. ‘Bon!’ she said, ‘Très bon!’ – good, very good – and held out her hand for more”.

These traditional Borders sweets are still available. In June 2023, the Dundee Courier shared the following memory that may tempt readers into tracking them down: “And there were Jethart snails from Jedburgh. They were sticky boilings – boiled sugar sweeties in the shape of snails that took ages to sook until they were all gone”.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/jethart

01/10/2026

Happy ! This year's theme is 'Wonder', and there's nae shortage o that in the rich history and variety o the leid.

In 2021, we commissioned five poems in a range o local vernaculars tae celebrate Scots scrievers.

Today we're shinin a licht on Sheena Blackhall's 'The Spikk o the Nor East Leid', a journey frae the early Scots Makars tae the lively o the day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8efqvqeuvk.

Find the ither poems frae Liz Lochhead, Alison Miller, Gregor Steele and Rab Wilson at http://dsl.ac.uk/our-publications/aitken100/.

28/09/2026

The bairns are back tae schule and the days are officially getting shorter.🌛

There's nae better time tae coorie doon wi oor Autumn video!

It's packed full o wirds and phrases fir the season ahead. 🍂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P__IEcJHWvk

26/09/2026

MOLLICATE: ‘To beat up, batter’ (https://dsl.ac.uk/our-publications/scots-word-of-the-week/mollicate/).

The word’s origin is unclear, though intriguingly a correspondent in Edinburgh told DSL the following in 1992: “I always thought this was Irish — my Irish Grannie was always going to mollicate me!”

Michael Munro suggests in The Patter (1985) that “molocate [is] used mainly by children” and offers the following example: “Ah’m gauny molocate you!” A similar example is given by Douglas Lipton in New Writing Scotland 8 (1990): “Aye, an' come yin step nearer / an' Ah'll molecate ye”.

In April 1999, we find a more foreboding use in The Edinburgh Evening News: “Should her boyfriend, ‘the Big Yin’, arrive unexpectedly and offer to mollocate, waller or stiffen the would-be Lothario … then violence is probably imminent”.

It can be hard to get a sense of just how serious these threats are. Louise Welsh captures this uncertainty in The Bullet Trick (2007): “‘Bill will molicate him if he has.’ I laughed but Bill’s nod of agreement was serious. ‘He’s treading on thin ice as it is. He knows the score’”.

Still, many examples do appear quite light-hearted. In October 2009, Scotland on Sunday noted: “He was guilty of an outrageous miss that must have made his manager want to molicate him”. Then, in Anne Donovan’s Matilda in Scots (2019) we are told whilst Bruce is eating the chocolate cake that Trunchball has, “taen a pure riddy. She’s gonnae mollocate him if he wins”.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snd00090499

24/09/2026

This fantastic film frae Scots Hoose Yaldi is out of this world! 🪐

Samuel Lee Johnston delivers a powerful monologue as a young Martian longin fir hame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZJW-SYspDg

Explore mair creative resources fir learning at https://scotshooseyaldi.com.

CRAMMASY. A young Martian leaves his colony and longs for hame. Act...

19/09/2026

LECKERSTANE: ‘A large stone on which a coffin was rested on its way to a churchyard’ (https://dsl.ac.uk/our-publications/scots-word-of-the-week/leckerstane/).

This intriguing term is defined in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) as: “A large conspicuous stone of some sort which has given its name to various localities in Kincardine, Angus, Kinross and Fife (Leckerstone, Lickerstanes, Liquorstane) and in Aberdeenshire (Liggarsteen), traditionally a stone on which a coffin was rested on its way to a churchyard”.

The purpose of these stones has long been a source of speculation. The 1795 Statistical Account from Fife offered the following theory: “At no great distance from the church … there are a few stones called the Licker-Stones: Antiquaries have conjectured licker to be a corruption and contraction of lecturer, and … have observed, that formerly, when Bibles were scarce, and the capacity of reading them was confined to a few, the people might assemble at such stones to hear the scriptures read to them”.

Other interpretations connect the stones to the dead. We are told in the 1845 Statistical Account from Aberdeen that, “the Liggar's Stane … is said to have been put up in its present situation, to mark the spot where the females who followed the soldiers, and who were slain in the battle, were buried”.

Andrew McCormick’s Galloway (1947) references, “the system of having what were known as ‘lecker-stanes’, where the coffin rested”. This is the current most popular interpretation, connecting the first element of the word to Older Scots lik, a co**se. However, whilst likarstane has been attested since the 15th century, this tradition doesn’t seem to have been recorded before 1839.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/leckerstane

12/09/2026

BUSTER: ‘A dish of potato chips and hot peas’ (https://dsl.ac.uk/our-publications/scots-word-of-the-week/buster/).

The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) tell us that this dish is a Dundonian delicacy. They were sold at buster stalls.

Many late examples of the term take the form of reminiscences, as in the following from the Scotland on Sunday in April 1996: “Generations of Dundonians have enjoyed the delights of a buster - chips and hot peas - a combination said to have been invented by the descendants of Belgian immigrant Edward de Gernier”.

Busters seem to have been highly prized. The Dundee Evening Post covered an incident in March 1903 where one seaman, “was quietly enjoying a ‘buster’ in a fried fish shop in Ladybridge Street, Arbroath, with a few friends … [when] another seaman, came into the shop and took a taste of his … potatoes”. One being the worse for drink, a fight ensued.

Another altercation appeared in the Dundee Evening Telegraph in January 1937, where one man assaulted another, “by throwing hot peas and potatoes in his face. [The] Accused said he was carrying a bowl with peas and potatoes in it. ‘That is a buster’ he explained [to the Bailie]”.

A far more light-hearted story featured in the Dundee Courier in February 1972, covering twelve-year-old popstar Neil Reid’s visit to the city. Neil told the paper’s reporter, “he thought the folk of Dundee were very nice, and also that he was feeling hungry! Between mouthfuls of a 'buster' he said his hand wasn't too sore signing hundreds of autographs”.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/buster

05/09/2026

BROO MONEY: ‘Unemployment benefit.’ (https://dsl.ac.uk/scots-word-of-the-week/broo-money/).

Broo money is the money the state pays you when you’re unemployed and in need of financial support. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) explain that forms of English bureau are used in Scotland for both the Jobcentre and unemployment benefit.

The term appears to have developed shortly after unemployment benefit was expanded in 1920. In February 1922, the Falkirk Herald mentioned an individual who only, “had a few shillings left from his buroo money”. That November, a Port Glasgow Express piece on gambling noted, “that quite a big slice of the ‘buroo money’ is staked in the hope of backing a winner”.

The importance of this money is evident in Fred Urquhart’s novel Jezebel’s Dust (1951), where a character rages that someone was, “Tryin to do me out of my Broo money that I've paid into for years and years”. Agnes Owens’ Gentlemen of the West (1984) portrays the reverse situation, with a character pleading, “If ye pay me aff the auld wife will get broo money. Dae us that favour”.

James Kelman reflected in a 1983 short story published in The Streets of Stone that: “They were good days and one or two of us could have afforded to let our broo money lie over a week if we had wanted though none of us ever did”. Times have changed considerably. In June 2019, the Paisley Daily Express quoted one defender in court: “I have had my buroo money taken off me - it's just desperation".

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/buroo

29/08/2026

PICTARNIE: ‘The Common or Arctic tern’ (https://dsl.ac.uk/our-publications/scots-word-of-the-week/pictarnie/).

The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) tell us that pictarnie (and its variants) is a name for the Common or Arctic tern. Another name for both species is tarrock and DSL contains many names for just the Common tern: tarney, kirmew, pirr, speikintare, starnal, willie-fisher, shear-tail, and teeock.

The earliest citation in DSL for this particular name comes from Thomas Pennant’s A Tour in Scotland (1771): “The birds that breed on the isles [in Loch Leven] are Herring Gulls, Pewit Gulls, and great Terns, called here Pictarnes”. It also appeared in Walter Scott’s Antiquary (1816): “‘What do you see extraordinary about that bird, Hector’ — it's but a sea-maw [gull].’ ‘It's a pictarnie, sir,’ said Edie”.

In 1914, the Transactions of the Banffshire Field Club recorded that Morayshire fishermen would name seasonal storms after birds. The first of the year was, “the pictar storm [which] came between the 1st and 8th of April”, the time when terns returned after winter.

DSL’s current latest example comes from the Weekly Scotsman in April 1930: “These pugnacious birds, the Arctic and Sandwich terns, which visit the islands during the summer months, are named pickieternos”. Whilst Common and Arctic terns can easily be confused due to their white-grey bodies, black caps, and red bills, the Sandwich tern can be distinguished by its longer black bill.

One later example comes from the Dundee Courier in May 1970: “It is almost miraculous how these pictarnies keep so immaculately clean while in occupation of a ‘glaury’ [dirty] place like this”.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/pictarnie

22/08/2026

BARFIT: ‘Barefooted’. (https://dsl.ac.uk/scots-word-of-the-week/barfit/).

The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) have a rather interesting entry for this word, which means, “barefooted”.

An August 1940 example from the Aberdeen Weekly Journal reminds us that it was once common for children to go barefoot: “And speaking of barfit why do our children nowadays all go shod in summer? We never see a barfit loon now except at the seaside”. An even earlier recollection was noted in the Aberdeen Evening Express in June 1990: “By the late 20s the sending of a bairn to the skeel barfit was dying out even though no welfare office would arrive to investigate what today would be regarded as a gross piece of child neglect”.

DSL tells us that the word was also used figuratively to mean ‘meatless’ in terms like, barfit broth and barefoot-kail. These both mean, “broth made with a little butter, without any meat having been boiled in it”. A related example appeared in the Sunday Herald in January 2005: “And last year the G1 Group - the corporate chain of Glasgow style bars and restaurants - opened their new venture The Bothy, with a menu full of basic, classic native dishes such as Scotch broth and barefit stovies”.

One editor at DSL also learned an additional, yet-to-be-documented meaning from a Traveller friend. When asked if she would like a cup of tea, the friend replied, “Oh aye, but nane o yer barfit tea”. This meant that she wanted a biscuit or cake to eat with it.

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.

https://dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/barefit