Scotch is an adjective in English, meaning "of or from Scotland". Many Scots dislike the term Scotch and some consider it offensive. The modern usage in Scotland is Scottish or Scots, and the word Scotch is now only applied to specific products, mostly food or drink, such as Scotch whisky, Scotch pie and Scotch broth.[1][2]
The verb to scotch is unrelated to the adjective. Middle Englishscocchen derives from Anglo-Frenchescocher meaning "to notch, nick or pierce", from coche, "a notch, groove".[3][2][4]
Usage
The adjective or noun Scotch is an early modern English (16th century) contraction of the English word Scottish which was later adopted into the Scots language[5] It more or less replaced Scottish as the prevailing term in England in the 17th century. The English playwright William Shakespeare used the word Scotch to describe a jig, but always employed the term Scottish when people were the subject.[6]Scots (the modern Scots language form of early ScotsScottis[7]) predominated in Scotland until the 18th century when anglicisation became fashionable and Scotch came to be used in both England and Scotland. A 1788 letter by Robert Burns says in part: "Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase Auld lang syne exceedingly expressive? There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul. You know I am an enthusiast in old Scotch songs." ("Auld Lang Syne" in The Burns Encyclopedia, at robertburns.org). Burns wrote of himself in 1787, "The appellation of a Scotch Bard, is by far my highest pride; to continue to deserve it is my most exalted ambition."[8]
From the early 19th century, however, Scots or Scottish increasingly became the preferred usages among educated Scottish people, Scotch being regarded as an anglicised affectation. By 1908, this was described by The New York Times as a "long-established… preference" (see article). In modern usage in Scotland, "Scotch" is rarely used, other than as described in the following paragraph for certain articles; it has gathered patronising and faintly offensive connotations ("frugal with one's money").[9]
In modern current British usage, in England as in Scotland, the general term for things from or pertaining to Scotland is Scottish. Scots is used for the Scots language and Scots law, although one increasingly hears it used of people and organisations, especially in newspaper articles. Scotch remains in use in only a few specific cases. 'Scotch terrier' was once one of these legacy uses, but has increasingly been replaced with Scottish terrier. Only in Ulster, especially in County Donegal (chiefly in East Donegal and Inishowen) and County Tyrone (especially in rural West Tyrone), is the term Scotch still widely used.[citation needed]
Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to introduce compulsory education for all children in 1696, administered in each parish by the Kirk. When the British government eventually chose to centralise and regulate the system in 1872, the Scottish school system was initially placed under a "Scotch Education Department" with offices in London. In 1918, as a result of objections from within Scotland, the department was moved to Edinburgh and renamed the Scottish Education Department. This reflects the linguistic preferences of modern Scotland.
In 1965, the historian A.J.P. Taylor wrote in his Preface to English History 1914–1945: "Some inhabitants of Scotland now call themselves Scots and their affairs Scottish. They are entitled to do so. The English word for both is Scotch, just as we call les français the French and Deutschland Germany. Being English, I use it."[10]
"Scots" is the modern preferred usage in all levels of society in Scotland, but occasional use of "Scotch" in varieties of the Scots language continues with terms such as Scotch and English (a game), Scotch fiddle (itchiness), Scotch mile and ell (measures) and many other examples (see the Scots Dialect Dictionary compiled by Alexander Warrack M.A. (1911) republished by Waverley Books 2000). There are other good indicators that the use of "Scotch" has been "whitewashed out" and become a shibboleth. Early versions of dictionaries produced in Burns' wake in the 19th century had titles such as "A Dictionary of the Scotch Dialect of the Lowlands" and modern place names now written as "Scots" e.g., Scotstarvit and Scotscalder existed in previous incarnations as "Scotch".[citation needed]Scotch Corner survives as a place-name in England.
In a reminiscence on his early training as an advocate in Edinburgh, Sir Walter Scott describes the law as "Scotch Law" some four times and as "Scots Law" just once. By the 1840s, other writers were using the phrase "Scots law", and this usage is now standard (although not universal) world-wide. Scots law reports in the nineteenth century show frequent judicial usage of 'Scotch' as referring to people; by the turn of that century, and since, practically no examples (other than by English judges) can be discovered.
In 1978, the song "Scotch Machine" by the pan-European group Voyage was released in the UK as "Scots Machine".
In the 1937 film Storm in a Teacup, the Scottish/Scotch debate is a running joke. In one scene, Vicky (Vivien Leigh) is mixing cocktails. She explains to Frank (Rex Harrison) that her father, Provost Gow (Cecil Parker), who is standing for Parliament as a member of the "Caledonia League", "...wants to be prime minister of the first Scotch parliament." "Scottish, Vicky, Scottish!" her father pompously corrects her. "Well then, fix yourself a scottish and soda!" she replies, and flounces out of the door. In another scene, one of Gow's Caledonia League minions says to him "I've never seen the like in thirty years of Scotch politics!", with the same stern rebuke from the provost.
In the chorus of his song "I Love a Lassie", music hall comedian and singer Sir Harry Lauder sings "I love a lassie, a bonny hieland lassie, Mary ma Scotch blue bell."
The first edition of John Kenneth Galbraith's The Scotch was published in the UK under two alternative titles: as Made to Last and The Non-potable Scotch: A Memoir of the Clansmen in Canada. It was illustrated by Samuel H. Bryant. Galbraith's account of his boyhood environment in Elgin County in southern Ontario was added in 1963. He considered it his finest piece of writing.
Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the old year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year in the Scottish manner. It is normally followed by further celebration on the morning of New Year's Day and, in some cases, 2 January—a Scottish bank holiday. In a few contexts, the word Hogmanay is used more loosely to describe the entire period consisting of the last few days of the old year and the first few days of the new year. For instance, not all events held under the banner of Edinburgh's Hogmanay take place on 31 December.
Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland.
A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft.
The letter yogh (ȝogh) was used in Middle English and Older Scots, representing y and various velar phonemes. It was derived from the Insular form of the letter g, Ᵹᵹ.
Scots is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland. Most commonly spoken in the Scottish Lowlands, Northern Isles, and northern Ulster, it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic, the Goidelic Celtic language that was historically restricted to most of the Scottish Highlands, the Hebrides, and Galloway after the sixteenth century; or Broad Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Standard English. Modern Scots is a sister language of Modern English, as the two diverged independently from the same source: Early Middle English (1100–1300).
Wyrd is a concept in Anglo-Saxon culture roughly corresponding to fate or personal destiny. The word is ancestral to Modern English weird, whose meaning has drifted towards an adjectival use with a more general sense of "supernatural" or "uncanny", or simply "unexpected".
Lallans, is a term that was traditionally used to refer to the Scots language as a whole. However, more recent interpretations assume it refers to the dialects of south and central Scotland, while Doric, a term once used to refer to Scots dialects in general, is now generally seen to refer to the Mid Northern Scots dialects spoken in the north-east of Scotland.
William Shield was an English composer, violinist and violist. His music earned the respect of Haydn and Beethoven.
Scottish English is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard English may be defined as "the characteristic speech of the professional class [in Scotland] and the accepted norm in schools". IETF language tag for "Scottish Standard English" is en-scotland.
"Auld Lang Syne" is a popular Scottish song, particularly in the English-speaking world. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve/Hogmanay. By extension, it is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a farewell or ending to other occasions; for instance, many branches of the Scouting movement use it to close jamborees and other functions.
Kirk is a Scottish and former Northern English word meaning 'church'. The term the Kirk is often used informally to refer specifically to the Church of Scotland, the Scottish national church which developed from the 16th-century Reformation. Many place names and personal names are derived from kirk.
In local usage, a burn is a kind of watercourse. The term applies to a large stream or a small river. The word is used in Scotland and England and in parts of Ulster, Kansas, Australia and New Zealand.
The terminology of the British Isles refers to the words and phrases that are used to describe the geographical and political areas of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland and the smaller islands which surround them. The terms are often a source of confusion, partly owing to the similarity between some of the actual words used but also because they are often used loosely. Many of the words carry geographical and political connotations which are affected by the history of the islands.
North Britain is a term which has been used, particularly between the 17th and 19th centuries, for either the northern part of Great Britain or Scotland, which occupies the northernmost third of the island. "North Britains" could also refer to Britons from Scotland; with North Briton later the standard spelling. Its counterparts were South Britain, generally used to refer to England and Wales and West Britain, usually referring to Ireland.
Sawney was an English nickname for a Scotsman, now obsolete, and playing much the same linguistic role that "Jock" does now. The name is a Lowland Scots diminutive of the favourite Scottish first name Alexander from the last two syllables. The English commonly abbreviate the first two syllables into "Alec".
The 'apologetic' or parochial apostrophe is the distinctive use of apostrophes in some Modern Scots spelling. Apologetic apostrophes generally occurred where a consonant exists in the Standard English cognate, as in a' (all), gi'e (give) and wi' (with).
The languages of Scotland belong predominantly to the Germanic and Celtic language families. The classification of the Pictish language was once controversial, but it is now generally considered a Celtic language. Today, the main language spoken in Scotland is English, while Scots and Scottish Gaelic are minority languages. The dialect of English spoken in Scotland is referred to as Scottish English.
Modern Scots comprises the varieties of Scots traditionally spoken in Lowland Scotland and parts of Ulster, from 1700.
The Scottish people or Scots are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and Germanic-speaking Angles of Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages, during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution, small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to the Lowlands. In the 13th century, the Norse-Gaels of the Western Isles became part of Scotland, followed by the Norse of the Northern Isles in the 15th century.
↑ "Scotch jig" (Much Ado About Nothing, Act II,I), "Scottish prisoners" (Henry IV, Part I, I,3), "Scottish power" (Henry IV, Part I, III,1), and "Scottish lord" (Merchant of Venice, I,2
↑ Inglis was the Early Scots word for English, and the modern form can be found in surnames and place names containing Ingles or Inglis, such as Ingleston or Ingliston, where it is pronounced /ˈɪŋəlz/
↑ Taylor, Alan John Percivale English History 1914–1945 (p.v) The Oxford History of England, vol.XV (ed. Sir George Clark), Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1965, reprinted (with corrections) 1966
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