GLOSSARY
(A)feart
frightened
Ah
I
Ain
(one’s) own
Allhallowday
All Saints’ Day
An
and; if
Apothecar
an apothecary
Awbody
everybody
Awfy
an intensifier: very
Auld
old
Bailie
a town magistrate
Banes
bones
Baith
both
Bairn
a child
Balulalow
a lullaby
Bannock
a flat round bread or pancake of barley or oats
Baxter
a baker
Bellox
testicles
Belly-thraw
a stomach ache
Black stane
black stone, on which students sat during public examinations at the ancient universities
Board
a table
Bordal-house
a brothel
Braw
fine, excellent (= brave)
Breeks
nether hose; trousers
Bumbaise
to baffle or confuse
Burn
a stream
Bursar
a student in receipt of a bursary
Buttock-mail
a fine for fornication
Butts
targets for archery practice
Cadger
an itinerant salesman
Canny
prudent, careful; but also lucky
Cags
kegs or casks
Caquetoire
a 16th century ‘gossip chair’
Cauld
cold
Chapman
an itinerant merchant, a pedlar
Chastely
chaste
Clatterer
a gossip
Clout
a rag
Clype
to tell tales (on)
Coffin
a piecrust
Coloured
feigned (of crying)
Combater
combatant
Compass
a plan
Compear
to appear before a court
Coning
a rabbit (a ‘rabbit’ is a young coning or coney)
Converse
carnal conversation, i.e. sexual intercourse
Convicted
convinced
Coroner/Crownar
Crown officer responsible for keeping peace and serving writs. Often combined with the role of Sheriff
Crowdie mowdie
the name of a dish made from oatmeal and water, used (by Dunbar) as a playful term of endearment
Cuddoch
a young cow or ox
Cukstule
stool of repentance
Dae
do
Deid
dead
Deil
the Devil
Dennar
dinner
Dinna/e
don’t
Doleaunce
condolence
Doubt
to think
Dug
a dog
Economus
person in charge of the finances of an institution
Ee, een
eye, eyes
Egyptian
a gypsy
Epidemy
an epidemic
Et tu
(Latin) ‘you too’
Extremis malis extrema remedia
(Latin) Desperate times require desperate measures
Factor
a land agent
Faither
father
Fash (oneself)
to get worked up, annoyed
Ferie day
a holiday
Fermer
person in charge of an infirmary
Fermary
an infirmary
Fey
doomed to die
Fidge
to be restless
Flankert
armour for the thigh
Flesher
a butcher
Flit
to move (house), move away
Flyte
to wrangle with aggressively
Forethocht felony
premeditated crime
Foulsum
loathsome
Flux
diarrhoea
Frae
from
Fu’
drunk (full of drink)
Futless
useless
Fyke
to fidget
Galliard
a vigorous renaissance dance
Gang
to go
Gar
to cause something to be done
Gie
to give
Girn
to grimace
Goited
bunkered
Gossip chair
a sixteenth-century conversation chair, French caquetoire
Green
to desire, yearn for
Greet/Greetin(g)
cry, crying
Guid
good
Guidwife
a wife in her role as mistress of the house
Haar
sea mist common on the east coast of Fife
Hae
have
Half-deid
half-dead
Haly
holy
Hameward
homeward
Handfast
betrothed, informally wed
Handsel
a New Year gift
Havers
nonsense
Haud
to hold
Heugh
a hill
Hichty
high-spirited, courageous
Hing
to hang; to cling or hold fast to
How devil
How the devil
Ignosce
(Latin) forgive (imp.) (lit. do not look into)
Immissa est pila in arenum
(Latin) The ball is stuck in the sand
Impressive
impressionable
Ither
more, other
Jakes
a latrine
Jougs
a type of pillory
Juglar
a magician, a conjuror
Justiciar
a judge
Keek
to peep
Ken
to know
Kirk
a church; the Reformed Church of Scotland
Kirtle
a woman’s frock or gown
Kist
a chest
Kitchins
basic provisions
Kittil
fidgety
Lade
a millstream
Laich
low
Laich house
a cellar
Laird
a smaller baron or landowner, the landlord of a small estate, distinguished from, and inferior to, a lord
Laik
to play (amorously) with
Lammas
August 1, one of the four Scottish term days, and one of the five annual fair days in St Andrews
Lammas rain
heavy rain at Lammas time, tending to flood
Latter Lammas
never (proverbial)
Laureation
university graduation
Limmar
a villain
Loun
a member of the lower orders
Lugs
ears
Lusty
cheerful
Magistrand
>
student in the final year of study leading to the degree of Master of Arts. (Henry Balfour has taken four years to arrive at his third (bachelor) year, on account of the closure of the university during the plague and of his own deficiencies.)
Magistrate
a member of the council, consisting of provost and bailies, responsible for commercial and civil order in the burgh
Mair
more
Maist
most
Mak shift
make shift, cope, manage
Martinmas
November 11, the feast of St Martin; name given to the first term of the academic year at St Andrews University
Marchpane
marzipan
Master
title given to someone who has graduated Master of Arts
Maunna
must not
Maun
must
Medicinar
a doctor
Melee chaussee
‘shat melle’ – sudden affray, an unpremeditated outbreak of violence
Mercat
a market
Milk-and-wattir
milk and water, i.e. meek and mild
Mimmerkin
a small person
Minchit
minced
Mind
to remember
Minnie
a child’s name for mother
Morn
the morn = tomorrow
Mort house
a charnel house
Mow
a grimace, a pulled face
Muckle
great; much
Neb
a bird’s beak; nose
Neep
a turnip
Nicht
night
Niver
never
Ordinary
a set meal at an inn, sold at a fixed price
Pantofills
soft velvet slippers
Papingo
a painted parrot used as a target in archery
Pavane
a courtly dance, more sedate than the galliard
Peste
plague
Physic/Physick
medicine
Piddling
dallying, messing about
Piker
a petty thief
Pilliewinks
an instrument designed to crush the fingers
Pin-hippit
having narrow hips
Pintle
a penis
Plat
a dish
Ploukie-facit
having a face with blemishes; pimpled
Pocket
a smaller poke; a (detachable)
pocket worn inside clothing
Poffle
a small piece of land
Points
laces used to attach doublet and hose, and to hold up the breeches
Poke
a small sack or bag
Port
a gate
Powder court
special court with jurisdiction on fair days
Prentice
an apprentice
Press
a linen cupboard
Prier
one who pries
Quartan
fever
a fever which recurs every fourth day
Quean
a young woman of low status
Quotidian
recurring daily, every 24 hours
Reek
to smoke; to emit; to shed blood freely
Regent
a university teacher, who took a class of students through the four year course in arts and philosphy
Renegat
a renegade
Richt
right
Rig
a strip, ridge or row
Rin
to run
Rumpill
hind quarters
Sair
sore
Salve!
(Latin) Greetings!
Sark
a shirt
Scunner
a cause for disgust
Sic
such
Sin
since
Slidder
slippery, not easy to control, unreliable
Slutheroun
a slut
Snuff
indignation, a huff; to take (something)
in snuff = to take offence at
Sonsie
lucky
Sooking
sucking
Spelair
a rope dance or acrobat
Spiritus quidem promptus
the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Vulgate Mark caro vero infirma 14:38)
Stoup
a tankard or pitcher
Stomachit
offended, resentful, put out
Strake
a stroke, hit
Subjectable
susceptible
Succar
sugar
Telt
told
Tertian
a third year student
Tertian fever
a fever which recurs every other day
The day
today
The gither
together
The noo
just now
Thocht
thought
Thrang
throng
Thrawn
ill-tempered, out of sorts
Thwart
from side to side
Timmerman
a carpenter
Tippet
a long narrow strip of cloth worn as a scarf
Trauchled
worn out, exhausted
Tron
the public weighing machine in a burgh market place
Tumbler
an acrobat
Twattle
a pygmy
Twelvetide
Twelfth Night (and Day)
Unclaithed
unclothed
Uphalyday
the feast of the Epiphany
Vacances
vacation
Vennel
an alley
Visitor
person appointed by the Crown to investigate suspicious deaths
Vomitary
an emetic
Wam
stomach
Ward
prison
Wattir-kail
vegetable broth
Wean
a child
Wha
who
What devil
what the devil
Whisht
hush
Wi’
with
Wid
would
Widdershins
in the wrong direction
Wrang
wrong
Yald
jade, nag (horse)
Yisterday
yesterday
Yule Girth
immunity from prosecution at Christmas
Yule stock
a yule log
1588 A Calendar of Crime Page 31
