The Mak Forrit style sheet
Maist scrievers will hae their ain preferences whan it comes tae spellin Scots. Houiver, the blog wad be a fash tae read gin awbody gaed their ain orthographical gate. The ettle o this stylesheet is tae win at spellins that wirk for aw dialects, and if that’s no possible, sattle on ane or twa variants.
Aften the tradítional braid Scots spellins daes the job: written guid, for example, can be read ‘gid’ if ye’re frae Embra, or ‘gweed’ if ye’re frae the north-east, shuir as ‘shair’ or ‘sheer’ etc. Or houiver ye say it.
My heidmaist ettle is tae be pragmatic, takkin tent o historical precendent, and the Scots I see written doun the day, whether it’s here on Mak Forrit or graffiti at a bus stop.
(If ye’re new tae readin Scots and wad like a short innin, hae a leuk at How to read scots: a brief introductory guide (written in English).)
| Scots (wirds and spellin variants uised on this blog) | Spellins ye micht see itherwhaur | English | Jottins | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | a | ||||
| ablo | ablow | below | |||
| aboot; oor; hoose; moose; etc. | about; our; hous; mous; etc. | about; our; house; mouse; etc. | |||
| aa; aaricht; aabody; etc. | aw; awricht; awbody; etc. | all; all right; everyone; etc. | |||
| abuin [ə’bøn, ə’byn, ə’bɪn, ə’ben, ə’bin] | abune | above | |||
| acause | cause | because | because | ||
| ain | (one’s) own | ||||
| an | an | The indefinite airticle a micht occur afore baith vouels and consonants | |||
| and | an | and | I think and is easier tae read nor an, especially if ye’r new tae readin Scots. As wi a wird like haund, ye dinnae need tae say the ‘d’. Itchy Coo uises and. | ||
| an-aw, an-aa | as weel | forby | also, too | ||
| ane [en, jɪn, in, wan], ae [eː, jeː]; ance [ens, jɪns, ins, wans] | one; once | ||||
| anely | ainly | only | |||
| are (can be contractit ’r in wirds like ye’r and the’r) | ar | are | See ‘Your Scots Pairlament’ (2016) for examples o ye’r and the’r. | ||
| as | as | ||||
| at | at | ||||
| aye | ayeweys | ay, ey | always | Burns uises ay (see DOST entry forby); Lorimer ey; MacDiarmid, McLellan and Fitt aye | |
| ay | aye | yes | Lorimer, McLellan uise ay. Stevenson uises ay and aye. R. L. C. Lorimer uises aye in Macbeth. Ay gien as first heidwird at SND, and by OSD | ||
| back | back | ||||
| be | be | ||||
| body | person | ||||
| but | but | ||||
| by | bi (optional unstressed) | by | |||
| can; coud | can; could | DSL: ‘The Sc. form without l is etymologically more correct than Eng. could (O.E. cūðe), where l was inserted in imitation of should and would, which had it in the stem.’ | |||
| canna(e); coudna(e); wadna(e); etc. | cannot, can’t; couldn’t; wouldn’t; etc. | ||||
| come; cam | come; came | ||||
| contact; dialect; direct; fact; project; etc. | contack; dialeck; direck; fack; projeck; etc. | contact; dialect; direct; fact; project; etc. | The -ck mak kythes a fair bit. A wheen ensaumples: respeck (DOST, SND), fack (DOST, SND); Scotland Makkin’s Scots Leid Policie; this SP document; NLS’s Wee Windaes project; SCOTS: contack, direck, fack, projeck. Burns uises, for ensaumple, eleckit, negleckit, respeckit, and theeckit. Lorimer uises acks, architeck, convick, effeck, eleck, expecks, fack, respeck, rejeck, refleck, subjeck. R. L. C. Lorimer uises direcklie in his translate o Macbeth | ||
| contemporar; líbrar(y); líterar; ordinar; secretar; etc. | contemporary; library; literary; ordinary; secretary; etc. | SND: ordinar, secretar; SCOTS: ordinar, secretar. Leebrar kythes on NLS’s Scots Scriever Twitter account and Wee Windaes wabsteid. OSD gies contemporar, leebrar, leeterar, ordinar, secretar. The’r no ower mony kythins o contemporar and leeterar gin ye Google, but it’s certes consístent wi ither sib wirds. Linguist John M. Kirk mentions this mak here | |||
| dae; did; duin, daen | div (emphatic) | dune | do; did; done | Barbour and Middle Scots makars uise do, did, done. Lorimer, MacDiarmid and McLellan aa uises dae, did, dune. Stevenson uises dae (ance), didna. Burns uises do, dae (ance), did, done. Fitt uises dae, did, done. SND gies dae and did, wi dune as the past participle heidwird. SDS gies dae, did, duin. OSD gies dae/div, daed/did, duin/daen | |
| cultur; featur; futur; líteratur; etc. | culture; feature; future; literature; etc; | DOST: futur; SND: leeteratur. Cultur kythes a fair bit gin ye Google. Featur is uised on Wee Windaes and SLA wabsteids. OSD gies cultur, featur, futur and leeteratur |
|||
| decísion, specífic, partícular, phýsics, sýstem, etc. | deceesion, speceefic, parteecular, pheesics, seestem, etc. (or deceision, speceific, parteicular, pheisics, sýstem, etc.) | decision, specific, particular, physics, system etc. | No aabody pronounces thir wirds wi a ‘ee’-like sound; and scrievit ‘ee’ micht leuk a bittie unbonnie tae new readers. We’v sattelt wi the ‘í’ and ‘ý’ chairacters (the staundart letters ‘i’ and ‘y’ wi diacritics abuin them), and leave it tae the reader tae pronounce it their ain wey | ||
| day | day | ||||
| doun; nou; toun; dout; etc. | doon; noo; toon; doot; etc. | down; now; town; doubt; etc. | Uiss o -ou- in thir wirds shouldna cause confuision ower pronunciation | ||
| efter | after | ||||
| eneuch | enough | ||||
| even (contractit e’en) | even | ||||
| frae | fae | from | |||
| find [fɪn(d)] | finn | find | |||
| first | first | ||||
| for [fɔr, for, fər, fɪr, fʌr] | fir, fur, fer | for | For kythes maist aften in my sairches o modren beuks etc. The’re ower mony potential spellin variants sae juist gaun wi for. OSD gies for | ||
| gae, gan(g); gaed; gane (pp.); gaun, gaein | go; went; gone; going | ||||
| gate | wey | gait | way | ||
| gie; gied, gae; gien, gied | give; gave; given | ||||
| gin | gif | if, whether | |||
| get | git | get | |||
| guid [gød, gyd, gjød, gɪd, ged, gwid, gid] | good | ||||
| hae [heː], hiv [hɪv, hʌv] (emphatic); haed [heːd, hɛd, hɪd, hʌd]; haedna(e) [heːdnə, hɛdnə, hɪdnə, hʌdnə, -nɛ, -nɪ, -ne] | hae; had; hadna(e) | have; had; hadn’t | Burns uises hae and had | ||
| haes [heːz, hɪz, hʌz]; haesna(e) [-nə -nɛ, -nɪ, -ne] | hes; hesna(e) | has; hasn’t | Burns uises has | ||
| hale | haill | whole | |||
| haund; grund; laund; around etc. | haun; grun; laun; aroun etc. | hand; ground; land; around; etc. | The -d is pronounced yet in mair conservative by-leids, sae mebbe we should haud wi it. | ||
| he | he | ||||
| her | hir | her | |||
| him | him | ||||
| haena | hinna | hivna | haven’t | Burns uises hae na. | |
| his | his | ||||
| why | hou | whit wey | why | ||
| hunder | hunner | hundred | Burns and Lorimer uises hunder. | ||
| I [aː, ə, ɛ, aɪ] | ah, eh | ah, Ah, A, Eh, E | I (1st pers. pron.) | I probably best gin ye’r leukin for ae spellin for aw dialects. It’s I in Aulder Scots. | |
| in | i | in | |||
| be; is; wis [waz, wɛz, wɪz, wʌz]; war; been [bin, bɪn, bein, bøn] | wes (English was) | be; is; was; were; been (pp.) | OSD gies be, is, wis, war and been. Wes and war wis kenspeckle in Aulder Scots. Burns uises were. | ||
| it | hit (stressed form) | it | Contractit ’t in e.g. for’t, o’t etc. | ||
| ither | other | ||||
| its | its | ||||
| juist [dʒøst, dʒyst, dyst, dʒust, dust, dʒɪst, dɪst, dʒist] | jist | just | |||
| ken | knaw | know | |||
| like | like | ||||
| leuk; beuk; teuk; etc. | luik; buik; tuik; etc. | look; book; took; etc. | Burns uises leuk, beuk and teuk. OSD gies aa three | ||
| my; mysel | ma; masel | my; myself | Ma and masel if aften uised the day insteid o my and mysel, or as a unstressed mak thereof. For expository scrievin, I’d mebbe juist gang wi my and mysel (that ye could pronounce ‘my’ and ‘mysel’ or ‘ma’ and ‘masel’) | ||
| maist | most | ||||
| mak | make | ||||
| me | me | ||||
| mind | mynd | remember | |||
| na [nə, neː] (adv., int.) | naw | no (e.g. negative repone tae a quaisten) | Na gien by OSD, SND. DOST entry. Uised by Lorimer, Burns and McLellan | ||
| nae (adj.) | no, not any; not (adv.) (Northren dialects) | Gien by OSD, SND | |||
| name | name | ||||
| neist | nixt | next | |||
| new | new | ||||
| no | not | “From the contracted form of nocht” (OSD) | |||
| nor | than | than | |||
| o [o, e, ə] | of | ||||
| on [ɔn, on] | oan | on | |||
| ony; mony | onie; monie | any; many | |||
| our; oursel; oursels | wir; wirsel; wirsels | our; ourself; ourselves | Wir, wirsel and wirsels micht be uised insteid o our, oursel and oursels; or as a unstressed mak thereof | ||
| or | or | ||||
| ower | owre | over | Burns and Lorimer baith uise owre | ||
| rin | run | ||||
| sae | so | ||||
| say | say | ||||
| see | see | ||||
| she | she | ||||
| shall; should | sall; sud | shall; should | Barbour, Dunbar, Douglas, Henryson and Stevenson aa uise sall and suld. McLellan uises shall and suld. Burns uises baith sal and shall, and sud and should; Lorimer uises sal and suid. SND and OSD baith gies sall and sud. OSD forby gies shall and shoud as mair modren spellins | ||
| some | some | ||||
| speak [spɪk, spɛk]; spak; spoken; speakin [spɪkɪn, spɛkɪn] | spik | speak; spoke; spoken; speaking | |||
| stairt; pairty | stert; perty | start; party | |||
| tae; intae | til, intil | ti; inti | to; into | I dinna think til and intil is iver uised afore a verb, and whiles only afore vouels and the letter ‘h’. Yon afore-vouel-an-letter-h prattick could be follaed in expository scrievin for tae help gie the writin a mair ‘neutral’ leuk (some fowk says til in speak and ithers daesna). The Centre for the Scots Leid wabsteid gangs this gate. | |
| tak; teuk; takken, taen; takkin, taein | take; took; taken; taking | ||||
| than | syne | then | |||
| that, at | yon, thon | that | Uissage o thon/yon is a bittie different tae that or thae, effeirin til something faurer awa in time or space, like ‘yonder’ in English | ||
| that | whit, what | whilk | which | ||
| the | thi | the | |||
| they [ðe:, ðə, e:, de:]; there [ðe:r, ðər, de:r, dɛr, e:r]; their [ðe:r, ðər, de:r, dər]; them [ðɛm, ðəm, dɛm] | thay; thare; thair; thaim | their; they; there; them | |||
| thir; thae | this; that (North-East) | yon, thon | these; those | See jottin effeirin til that, ‘at anent that and thae vs yon/thon | |
| think | think | ||||
| this [ðɪs, ɪs, dɪs] | is, ’is | this | |||
| time | time | ||||
| twa [twɑː, twɔː, tweː, twaː] | twae | two | |||
| uise [jøːz, jyːz, øːz, jeːz, iːz]; uiss [jøs, jɪs, is, jus] | yaise, yuise; yiss, yuiss | use (verb); use (noun) | |||
| university, varsity; policy | universitie, versity; policie | university; policy | DOST: universitie, policie; RPS: universitie, policie. Universitie uised by the Aiberdeen University Scots Leid Quorum in the 1990s. Policie uised in the title o Scotland Makkin’s 2015 Scots Leid Policie. ‘Glesca Universitie’ kythes in a 2007 Pairlamentar motion. The North-East Scots Language Board is uisin varsity | ||
| up | up | ||||
| us | hus (stressed form) | us | |||
| want | want | ||||
| wark [wark] (n.) | wirk [wɪrk, wʌrk] (v.) | work | |||
| we | we | ||||
| weel | well | ||||
| wuman, wemen | wumman, weemen, weimen | woman, women | |||
| wha [ʍɑː, ʍɔː, ʍeː, ʍɪə, faː, aː, ʍaː] | fa | who | I’v niver heard wha uised as a relative pronoun in natural spoken Scots. Ye see it written doun, and I’v heard it whan fowk gies speeches at Scots leid events, but it juist disna soond richt tae me. It’s the same gate wi wham and whase. Millar (2023) notes: ‘In my experience, […] Scots speakers have a general, although not total, tendency to use that in most contexts.’ Sae, ‘the wuman that’s shop I telt ye aboot’ for the woman whose shop I told you about. He writes forby that ‘it must be recognized that North-East faas appears to be an artless continuation of the Middle Scots usage.’ | ||
| whan [ʍan, ʍən, ʍɪn, fan, fɪn, aːn] | fan | when | |||
| whit [ʍɪt, ʍʌt, ʍat, ʍɔt, fɪt, fʌt, fat, ət], what | fit, fat | what | Burns, Lorimer, McLellan and Stevenson aa uise what. Fitt uises whit. (Barbour and the medieval Makars uise quhat.) Christine Robinson uises whit in Modren Scots Grammar. What kythes muckle mair in the DSL. OSD gies whit. Whit kythes outthrou the SLC wabsteid. Leuks like whit micht be the mair kenspeckle modren spellin; but aiblins what wad wirk better for mair formal/conservative expository ettles | ||
| wi | with | ||||
| will [wɪl, wʌl]; wad [wad, wɪd, wʌd] | wull; wid, wud | will; would | Will and wad gien by OSD. Will and wald wis kenspeckle Aulder Scots maks. Burns uises wad. | ||
| withoot | ’ithoot | wioot | athoot | without | |
| ye | you | ||||
| year | year | ||||
| your; yoursel | yer; yersel | your; yourself | Burns and Lorimer uises yoursel, McLellan and Fitt yer and yersel(l) (and baith whiles your). SND gies your, notin that yer (and ither variants) uised “chiefly in unstressed position.” Aiblins your is a better fit for mair formal, expository scrievin. | ||
| DOST = Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, DSL = Dictionar o the Scots Leid (comprises DOST and Scottish National Dictionary[SND]), NLS = National Líbrar o Scotland, SCOTS = Scottish Corpus Of Texts & Speech, SDS = Scots Dictionary for Schools, SND = Scottish National Dictionary, SP = Scots Pairlament, SLA = Scots Leid Associe | |||||
| Mak Forrit style sheet v0.9, updatit 10 Mey 2025. IPA notations taen maistly frae Andy Eagle’s Online Scots Dictionary | |||||
References
| Item | Jottins |
|---|---|
| Dictionars | |
| Concise Scots Dictionary (2nd Edition) (2017) | Scottish Language Dictionaries and Edinburgh University Press |
| Dictionar o the Scots Leid (DSL) | |
| A Doric Dictionary (1996) | Pit thegither and editit by Douglas Kynoch |
| Essential Scots Dictionary, The (2004) | Scottish Language Dictionaries (SLD) |
| Online Scots Dictionary (OSD): English to Scots; Scots to English | Creatit by Andy Eagle |
| Scots Dictionary for Schools app (iOS; Android) (2014) | |
| Líterar warks and ither imprents | |
| The Brus by John Barbour | Written c. 1375. The first kent líterar wark in (Early) Scots. 2009 Canongate edítion by A. A. M. Duncan notes that “52% o the wirds in the poem is stryndit frae Auld Angles, 37% frae French (tho mony wad be auld borraeins).” A wheen wirds uised that will be kenspeckle tae modren een: amang; ane; ar (uised by Lorimer; kythes the day in Lallans jurnal); biggit; brocht; dout; fecht; folk (modren spellin: fowk); fra (auld spellin o frae); gan; gane; hale; hame; hous (maistly spelt hoose the day); ilka; licht; maist; mak; mony; na; nane; nocht; ony; strenth; syne; tak; thocht; throu; till (modren spellin is for common til); twa |
| The Complete Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson | Twa stories ar scrieved in Scots: Tod Lapraik and Thrawn Janet |
| The Canongate Burns: The Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns | (List o ensaumple spellins tae follae) |
| Eejits, The by Roald Dahl, owerset by Matthew Fitt | First imprentit in 2006. Ensaumple spellins: aff, afore, and, aroond, aw, awa, awbody, awricht, aye (English “always”), aye (English “yes”), because, biggit, canna, cannae, chynge, couldnae, didna, dinna, dinnae (in dialog), doon, efter, find, folk, forby, frae, furnitur, gaed, gane, gang, gaun, git, glaikit, guid, had, hadnae, hae, haill, haund, hert, hoose, I, ilka, intae, isna, jaikit, jist, jyle, ken, lauch, look, ma, mair, maist, masel, mony, nicht, nixt, noo, ony, ower, pairt, pit, staund, stert, strecht, tae, telt, thae, then, there, warld, weel, wha, when, whit, wi, wid, widnae, wis, wisna, wisnae, work, wrang, ye, yer, yin, yir, you (emphatic mak) |
| Linmill Stories by Robert McLellan | Imprentit in 2010. (List o ensaumple spellins tae follae) |
| The Makars: The Poems of Henryson, Dunbar and Douglas | The editor, J. A. Tasioulas, notes that “the spellin o the texts haes been modrenised a wee bit” but disna gang intae ony mair detail. Onygates, here’s a wheen o weel-kent wirds and phrases, in uiss the day, taen frae thir Middle Scots poems: ane; ay (modren spellin: aye, meanin “always” in English); buik; coud; douchter; doun; dout; dreid; fra; guid; haill; hairt; hame; hous; ken; kirk; kist; langage; lat; leid; licht; luik; mair; mak; mirk; nocht; ony; pairt; richt; sall; sangs; soucht; strang; symmer (modren spellin: simmer); tak; tak na tent; than; thir; toucht; tuik; twa; warld |
| New Testament In Scots, The by William L. Lorimer | First imprentit in 1983. (List o ensaumple spellins tae follae) |
| Croniklis of Scotland, owerset by John Bellenden | An owersettin intil Scots (1531 — r. 1537) by John Bellenden o Hector Boece’s Scotorum Historia (1527). The first full-scale prentit national history in Scots. List o some weel-kent wirds, wi modren maks and exemples frae the text in parentheses: abone (abuin), afoir (afore), aganis (agin), amang, ane, athir (aither), auld, baith, barnis (bairns), big (“[…] quhair he suld big his townis”), biggit (“Sone eftir he biggit ane town […]”), braid, brak, brig, brocht, contrair, croun, discrive (descrive), dochter, doun, dyke, eftir (efter), eikitt (eikit: “How Gregowr eikitt Northumberland to the empire of Scottis”), erd (yird, earth), fecht, folkis (fowk), fornent, fra (frae, fae), furth, gait (gate), gatt (gat), glaid (gled), haif, haill (hale, haill), haly, hame, hie, hou, ilk, ilkane, ingyne (ingine), kirk, knaw, landwart, lang, lenth, loch, firth (“Thir oratouris wrait in thair bukis the situacioun of hillis, firthis, ilis, townis, lochtis, castellis & municionis […]”), maist, mak, maner (mainer), marijt (mairit), mater (maiter), mekill (muckle), mony, mycht (micht), na, necessair (necessar), nixt, nocht, nycht (nicht), ony, oure (ower: “Eftir this he biggit ane brig oure Forth and brocht all his army our the samyn”), propone, quha (wha), quhais (whase), quhilk (whilk), richt, sa (sae), sair, sall, schaw (shaw), sic, sikker (siccar), siklyke (siclike), sindry, skaith, socht, soidiouris (sodgers), strang, straucht, strenth, suld (sud, should), syne, tak, thame (thaim), thir, thocht, thraw, throw (throu), toun, twa, wald (wad), war, war (waur), warld, watter, wes (wis), wiffis (wifes), wrait (wrate), wrang |
| Papers, grammars etc. | |
| A Scots Grammar: Scots Grammar & Usage by David Purves | |
| Introduction to Modern Scots by Andy Eagle | |
| Modren Scots Grammar: Wirkin wi Wirds by Christine Robinson | |
| Recommendations for Writers in Scots | Scots Leid Associe, 1985 |
| Luath Scots Language Learner by L. Colin Wilson | Lauth, 2002 and 2012 |
| Scots Style Sheet | Makar’s Club, 1947 |
| Scots Spellin Comatee 1996-1998 Report recommends: Mensfu Scots Spellin | |
| Corpora | |
| Oxford English Corpus o 100 maist common wirds, via EnglishClub | |
| Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 | St Andras University |
| Scottish Corpus Of Texts & Speech | Glesca University |
| Ither wabsteids | |
| Bella Caledonia | |
| Centre for the Scots Leid | |
| sco.wikipedia.org | |
| Scots Threip by John M. Tait, includin airticles anent writin expository Scots | |
| Wee Windaes: A Continuum o the Scots Leid | National Líbrar o Scotland |
| Wikipedia: Doric | |
| Wikipedia: Modern Scots | |