Mak Forrit Style Sheet
Maist scrievers haes their ain thochts an preferences whan it comes til orthography. As editor I’m mintin tae get the nummer o spellins doun til a couple o variants sae tae mak the blog mair consístent an easy tae read.
I’v uised a fair wheen sources (listit efter the table ablo), takkin partícular tent o Andy Eagle’s respectit modren orthography, the CSD2, the muckle Dictionar o the Scots Leid, an — no least — the fouthie Scots líterar canon that gaes back til Barbour’s The Brus in the 14t century. Atour aa that, I’v peyed guid heed tae the braw wark o the writers here at Mak Forrit.
My heidmaist ettle is tae be pragmatic, an win at a consístent an lairgely multi-dialectal — an accessible! — scrievit Scots that can be read by fowk frae aa airts an in their ain dialect.
If ye’r new tae readin Scots an wad like a short innin, hae a leuk at How to read scots: a brief introductory guide (written in English). The airticle haes intil’t wittins anent the history o Scots prose, an hou tae read staundart written Scots in your ain dialect, as weel as gaein intil what for a multi-dialectal, consístent orthography is important in terms o readin, writin in, an learnin the language.
| 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 | |||
| because | acause | because | |||
| ain | (one’s) own | ||||
| an | an | The indefinite airticle a micht occur afore baith vouels and consonants | |||
| an | and | ||||
| an aw, an aa | as weel | forby | also | ||
| ane [en, jɪn, in, wan], ae [eː, jeː]; ance [ens, jɪns, ins, wans] | one; once | ||||
| anely | ainly | only | |||
| ar (contractit ’r) | are | ||||
| as | as | ||||
| at | at | ||||
| aye | ayeweys | ay, ey | always | Burns uises ay (see DOST entry forby); Lorimer ey; MacDiarmid, McLellan an Fitt aye | |
| ay | aye | yes | Lorimer, McLellan uise ay. Stevenson uises ay an aye. R. L. C. Lorimer uises aye in Macbeth. Ay gien as first heidwird at SND, an by OSD | ||
| back | back | ||||
| be | be | ||||
| body | person | ||||
| but | but | ||||
| by | bi (optional unstressed) | by | |||
| can; could | can; could | ||||
| canna(e); couldna(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, an 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 an Wee Windaes wabsteid. OSD gies contemporar, leebrar, leeterar, ordinar, secretar. The’r no ower mony kythins o contemporar an 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 an Middle Scots makars uise do, did, done. Lorimer, MacDiarmid an McLellan aa uise dae, did, dune. Stevenson uises dae (ance), didna. Burns uises do, dae (ance), did, done. Fitt uises dae, did, done. SND gies dae an 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; an scrievit ‘ee’ micht leuk a bittie unbonnie tae new readers. We’v sattelt wi the ‘í’ an ‘ý’ chairacters (the staundart letters ‘i’ an ‘y’ wi diacritics abuin them), an 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 an 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 uises hunder | ||
| I [aː, ə, ɛ, aɪ] | ah | ah | I (1st pers. pron.) | ||
| 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 an been. Wes an 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 an teuk. OSD gies aa three | ||
| my; mysel | ma; masel | my; myself | Ma an masel if aften uised the day insteid o my an mysel, or as a unstressed mak thereof. For expository scrievin, I’d mebbe juist gang wi my an mysel (that ye could pronounce ‘my’ an ‘mysel’ or ‘ma’ an ‘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 an wirsels micht be uised insteid o our, oursel an oursels; or as a unstressed mak thereof | ||
| or | or | ||||
| ower | owre | over | Burns an Lorimer baith uise owre | ||
| rin | run | ||||
| sae | so | ||||
| say | say | ||||
| see | see | ||||
| she | she | ||||
| shall; should | sall; sud | shall; should | Barbour, Dunbar, Douglas, Henryson an Stevenson aa uise sall an suld. McLellan uises shall an suld. Burns uises baith sal an shall, an sud an should; Lorimer uises sal an suid. SND an OSD baith gie sall an sud. OSD forby gies shall an 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 an intil is iver uised afore a verb, an whiles only afore vouels an the letter ‘h’. Yon afore-vouel-an-letter-h prattick could be follaed in expository scrievin for tae help gie the writin a ‘neutral’, equal-aqual kythin (some fowk says ‘til’ in speak an ithers daesna). The Centre for the Scots Leid wabsteid gangs this gate. Lorimer’s uiss is mair líberal, but we maun mind that he wis scrievin in different dialects, delíberate-like, outower The New Testament | |
| 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 an 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 | ||||
| wha [ʍɑː, ʍɔː, ʍeː, ʍɪə, faː, aː, ʍaː] | fa | who | |||
| 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 an Stevenson aa uise what. Fitt uises whit. (Barbour an 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 an wad gien by OSD. Will an wald wis kenspeckle Aulder Scots maks. Burns uises wad | ||
| withoot | ithoot | wioot | athoot | without | |
| ye | you | ||||
| year | year | ||||
| yer; yersel | your; yoursel | your; yourself | Burns an Lorimer uise yoursel, McLellan an Fitt yer an yersel(l) (an baith whiles your). SND gies your, notin that yer (an 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 an 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 v0.2.5.2, updatit 10 Januar 2019. [IPA notations] taen maistly frae Andy Eagle’s Online Scots Dictionary | |||||
References
| Item | Jottins |
|---|---|
| Dictionars | |
| Concise Scots Dictionary (2nd Edition) (2017) | Scottish Language Dictionaries an Edinburgh University Press |
| Dictionar o the Scots Leid (DSL) | |
| A Doric Dictionary (1996) | Pit thegither an 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 an 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 an 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 an 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 an 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 an 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 | |