TLS on Scottish

on Language

French words in Scots. We sought clarification of a quirk of Scots English, namely that it is rich in French-derived words (NB, April 9). A number of readers wrote to say, "Och, it's the Auld Alliance", as if that explained everything. More helpfully, Roy Love sent us some pages from The Guid Scots Tongue by David Murison, former editor of the Scottish National Dictionary. He states that it "is a common mistake to ascribe all this [French] vocabulary to ... the Auld Alliance", which was "effective from about 1330 until the Reformation of 1560". Equally important, according to Murison, was "Norman French", brought to England by William the Conqueror, from where it percolated northwards over the next hundred years. The trade resulting from the Auld Alliance only cemented on the Scottish tongue words which had faded from its Sassenach neighbour.
We hereby list some of the Franco-Scottish words we have collected so far. Others will be welcomed, so long as they are in more or less common use.

aumrie wardrobe (cf. armoire)
ashet plate
bonny good
bouls (child's game of) marbles
cowp capsize
douce sweet
fashious angry
gigot lamb chop
pettycoat tails shortbread (cf. petites gautelles)
pooch pocket row street (cf. rue)
serviette napkin
scrivener, scribe writer (cf. écrivain)

Every Scottish schoolchild knows the Edinburgh expression "Gardyloo!", which preceded the dumping of slops into the street from high tenement windows, short for "prenez garde à l'eau". They still say it, though they no longer (mostly) do it.