faither, usually faider: father
fanted: hungry, often black fanted: absolutely starving
folk: people
gansey: a knitted jumper
geen: gone
gluff: fright
greff: the area in front of a peat bank
gret: cried
guid: good
guid kens: God knows
hae: have
hadna: hadn’t
harled: exterior plaster using small stones
heid: head
hoosie: little house, usually for bairns
howk: to search among: I howked ida box o’ auld claes.
isna: isn’t
just: just
ken, kent: know, knew
kirk: church
kirkyard: graveyard
knowe: hillock
Lerook: Lerwick
lem: china
likit: liked
lintie: skylark
lipper: a cheeky or harum-scarum child, generally affectionate
mad: annoyed
mair: more
makkin belt: a knitting belt with a padded oval, perforated for holding the ‘wires’ or knitting needles.
mam: mum
mareel: sea phosphorescence, caused by plankton, which makes every wave break in a curl of gold sparks
meids: shore features to line up against each other to pinpoint a spot on the water
mind: remember
moorit: coloured brown or black, usually used of sheep
mooritoog: earwig
muckle: big – as in Muckle Roe, the big red island. Vikings were very literal in their names, and almost all Shetland names come from the Norse.
muckle biscuit: large water biscuit, for putting cheese on
na: no, or more emphatically, naa
needna: needn’t
Norroway: the old Shetland pronunciation of Norway
o’: of
oot: out
ower: over
park: fenced field
peat: brick-like lump of dried peat earth, used as fuel
peerie: small
peerie biscuit: small sweet biscuit
Peeriebreeks: affectionate name for a small thing, person or animal
piltick: a sea fish common in Shetland waters
pinnie: apron
postie: postman
quen: when
redding up: tidying
reestit mutton: wind-dried shanks of mutton
riggit: dressed, sometimes with the sense dressed up
roadymen: men working on the roads
roog: a pile of peats
rummle: untidy scattering
Santy: Santa Claus
scaddy man’s heids: sea urchins
scattald: common grazing land
scuppered: put paid to, done for
selkie: seal, or seal person who came ashore at night, cast his/her skin and became human
Setturday: Saturday
sho: she
shoulda: should have, usually said shoulda
shouldna: shouldn’t have
SIBC: Shetland Islands Broadcasting Company, the independent radio station
skafe: squint
skerry: a rock in the sea
smoorikins: kisses
snicked: move a switch that makes a clicking noise
snyirked: made a squeaking or rattling noise
solan: gannet
somewye: somewhere
sooking up: sucking up
soothified: behaving like someone from outwith Shetland
spew: be sick
spewings: piles of sick
splatched: walked in a splashy way with wet feet, or in water
steekit mist: thick mist
swack: smart, fine
swee: to sting (of injury)
tak: take
tatties: potatoes
tay: tea, or meal eaten in the evening
tink: think
tirricks: Arctic terns
trows: trolls
tushker: L-shaped spade for cutting peat
twa: two
twartree: a small number, several
tulley: pocket knife
unken: unknown
vexed: sorry or sympathetic “I was that vexed to hear that.”
vee-lined: lined with wood planking
voehead: the landwards end of a sea inlet
waander: wander
waar: seaweed
whatna: what
wasna: wasn’t
wha’s: who is
whit: what
whitteret: weasel
wi’: with
wir: we’ve – in Shetlan grammar, we are is sometimes we have
wir: our
wife: woman, not necessarily married
wouldna: would not
yaird: enclosed area around or near the croft house
yoal: a traditional clinker-built six-oared rowing boat.
Also by Marsali Taylor
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Published by Accent Press Ltd 2015
ISBN 9781783758531
Copyright © Marsali Taylor 2015
The right of Marsali Taylor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Accent Press Ltd, Ty Cynon House, Navigation Park, Abercynon, CF45 4SN
Cover photo: Paul Bloomer