PREFACE.✦

~The Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language~, which was published in the year 1808, has been so favourably received, that although the impression was large, a set is now rarely to be found; and at any rate cannot be purchased at less than double the price paid by Subscribers.

As many, who would wish to possess the original work, cannot now be supplied; while it has still been out of the reach of others, not less interested in our national literature; the Author has been advised to give it to the Public in an abridged form.

He has followed the same plan with that of the abridgment of Dr ~Johnson~'s English Dictionary; in giving all the terms contained in the larger work, in their various significations, the names of the writers by whom they are used, or the titles of the works in which they occur, and their derivations. In one instance only has he deviated from the plan of the great English Lexicographer, in placing the etymons after the definitions. This mode is undoubtedly the most simple; as a reader, when looking into a Dictionary for the origin of a word with which he is familiar, or for the signification of one with which he is unacquainted, must be supposed to turn his eye first to the definition, that he may know whether this is the word that he looks for, or whether, in the passage in which it has occurred, it can bear the sense there given, before he thinks of examining its origin, or can form any judgment as to the propriety of the etymon that may be offered.

While this work contains a variety of words which are not to be found in the quarto edition, the Author flatters himself that he does not claim too much in supposing, that during ten years which have elapsed since it was published, he has had it in his power, from many sources formerly unexplored, to make considerable improvements both in the explanatory and in the etymological department. This, he trusts, will be evident to any who will take the trouble to compare the one work with the other.

In most instances, where he has met with new significations of the words explained in the larger work, he has inserted them in this, with their authorities. Such, indeed, is the copiousness of our vernacular language, that he is far from pretending that he has had it in his power to give a complete view of it. From the recent publication of many of our old acts formerly imprinted, from his own researches, and from the liberal communications both of friends and strangers, who have been anxious to render what they are pleased to consider a national work as complete as possible, the Author has been supplied with a great variety of terms which were formerly unknown to him. These he hopes to have it soon in his power to give to the public in an additional volume in quarto, in order to complete the former work. This, as far as he can calculate at present, will be equal in size to any of the preceding volumes.

~Edinburgh~, } May 6. 1818. }

An Explanation of the Contractions used in this Work.

A. Bor. Anglia Borealis, North of England.

Adj. Adjective.

Adv. Adverb.

Alem. Alemannic language.

Ang. Angus, county of.

Arm. Armorican, or language of Bretagne.

A. S. Anglo-Saxon language.

Belg. Belgic language.

C. B. Cambro-Britannic, or Welsh language.

Celt. Celtic.

Clydes. Clydesdale.

Conj. Conjunction.

Contr. Contracted, or Contraction.

Corn. Cornish, or language of Cornwall.

Corr. Corrupted, or corruption.

Dan. Danish language.

Dimin. Diminutive.

Dumfr. Dumfriesshire.

E. English language.

Fr. French language.

Franc. Frankish, Theotisc, or Tudesque language.

Fris. Frisian dialect of the Belgic.

Gael. Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland.

Germ. German language.

Gl. Gloss. Glossary.

Gl. Sibb. Glossary by Mr James Sibbald.

Gr. Greek language.

Heb. Hebrew language.

Hisp. Spanish language.

Ibid. In the same place.

Id. Having the same signification; also, the same writer.

Imper. Imperative.

Ir. Irish language.

Isl. Islandic (or Icelandic) language.

Ital. Italian language.

Lat. Latin language.

L. B. Barbarous Latin.

Loth. Lothian.

Metaph. Metaphor, Metaphorical.

Moes. G. Moeso-Gothic, as preserved in Ulphilas's Version of the Gospels.

Mod. Modern.

MS. Manuscript.

N. Note.

O. Old.

Orkn. Orkney.

Part. pr. Participle present.

---- pa. ---- past.

Pers. Persian language.

Perh. Perhaps.

Pl. Plural.

Prep. Preposition.

Pret. Preterite.

Pron. Pronoun; also, Pronounce, pronunciation.

Prov. Proverb.

Q. or q. Quasi.

q. v. Quod vide.

S. Scottish, Scotland.

S. Denotes that a word is still used in Scotland.

S. A. Scotia Australis, south of Scotland.

S. B. Scotia Borealis, North of Scotland; also Northern Scots.

Shetl. Shetland.

Shirr. Shirrefs.

S. O. Scotia Occidentalis, West of Scotland.

s. Substantive.

Su. G. Suio-Gothic, or ancient language of Sweden.

Sw. Swedish language, (modern.)

Term. Termination.

Teut. Teutonic.

Tweedd. Tweeddale.

V. Vide, see.

v. Verb.

vo. Voce.

Rules for rendering the use of this Dictionary more easy.

Y vowel, used by our ancient writers promiscuously with i, being in fact only double i, and printed ij in other northern languages, is to be sought for, not as it stands in the English alphabet, but in the same place with the letter i, throughout the work.

Words not found in SH, to be sought for under SCH.

Those, in like manner, not found in WH, to be sought for under QUH, expressing the sound of the old Gothic guttural.

Words, improperly printed in our old books with Z, to be looked for under Y consonant.

* * * * *

In One Volume 8vo, price 12s.

HERMES SCYTHICUS,

OR

THE RADICAL AFFINITIES

OF THE

GREEK AND LATIN LANGUAGES

TO

THE GOTHIC.

Illustrated from the Moeso-Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, Francic, Alemannic, Suio-Gothic, Islandic, &c.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,

A DISSERTATION ON THE HISTORICAL PROOFS OF THE SCYTHIAN ORIGIN OF THE GREEKS.

⁂ A few copies have been printed in royal 8vo, price 24s.

"Dr Jamieson, being amply provided with an accurate knowledge of the various dialects of the Gothic Languages to be compared with the Greek, has proved the existence of a connection between them, more extensive and more intimate than could easily have been imagined, without so laborious an investigation, in which he appears to have gone considerably further than his learned and ingenious predecessors Ihre and Rudbeck."

~Quarterly Review~, ~NO.~ ~XXVII~, Oct. 1815.

AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF THE SCOTTISH LANGUAGE.

A

The letter A has, in the Scottish language, four different sounds:

1. A broad, as in E. all, wall. U is often added, as in cald, cold, written also cauld; and sometimes w; both as marks of the prolongation of the sound.

2. A short, in lak, mak, tak, S. as in last, past, E.

3. A open, in dad, daddie, a father, and some other words, S. as in E. read pret., ready adj.

4. A slender or close, in lane, alane, alone, mane, moan, S. like face, place, E. The monosyllables have generally, although not always, a final e quiescent.

A is used in many words instead of o in E.; as ane, bane, lang, sang, stane, for one, bone, long, song, stone. For the Scots preserve nearly the same orthography with the Anglo-Saxons, which the English have abandoned. Thus the words last mentioned were written in A. S. an, ban, lang, sang, stan. In some of the northern counties, as in Angus and Mearns, the sound of ee or ei prevails, instead of ai, in various words of this formation. Ane, bane, stane, &c. are pronounced ein, bein, stein, after the manner of the Germans, who use each of these terms in the same sense.

When this letter is written with an apostrophe, as a', it is meant to intimate that the double l is cut off, according to the pronunciation of Scotland. But this is merely of modern use.

A is sometimes prefixed to words, both in S. and old E., where it makes no alteration of the sense; as abade, delay, which has precisely the same meaning with bade. This seems to have been borrowed from the A. S., in which language abidan and bidan are perfectly synonymous, both simply signifying, to remain, to tarry.

A, in composition, sometimes signifies on; as agrufe, on the grufe or belly, S.; Isl. a grufu, cernuè, pronè. Johnson thinks that a, in the composition of such E. words as aside, afoot, asleep, is sometimes contracted from at. But these terms are unquestionably equivalent to on side, on foot, on sleep; on being used, in the room of a, by ancient writers.

A is used, by our oldest writers, in the sense of one. The signification is more forcible than that of the indefinite article in English; for it denotes, not merely an individual, where there may be many, or one in particular, but one exclusively of others, in the same sense in which ae is vulgarly used.