A rickle of words drawn mainly from the Scots language, including some names for supernatural beings taken from British folklore. Many of these words have other meanings as well, but I’ve concentrated on the ones pertinent to Nieve. The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is the source for most, while my not so short Glaswegian mother is the source for others.
auld Shock: A Suffolk name for a phantom black dog.
bawheid: Fool, idiot.
Bloody Bones: A Cornish spirit who haunts holes and crevices.
brag: A shape-shifting goblin. A headless, naked man.
cunning folk: White witches, wise women or men, who practice beneficent magic. They are often consulted for a variety of services, such as finding missing persons or lost objects, herbalism, curing illness, making amulets, casting or breaking spells, and identifying those who practice malevolent magic.
daft: Silly, stupid, reckless, wild, crazy.
daylicht: Daylight.
deil: The devil, an imp.
dinna ken: Don’t know. (Which is to say, I do know that this means ‘don’t know.’)
elf-shot or bolt: A flint arrowhead, regarded as an elf ’s weapon.
fetch: A phantom who takes on the appearance of the person who sees it. It is said to be a death portent.
flaught: A flying or flight, a flock of birds, fluttering or flapping, bustle, great hurry, shake, tremble, vibrate, a sudden gust of wind. forfare: Pass away, perish, decay. As forfared: Worn out with travel, age, etc.
foliot: A kind of goblin or demon.
freets: Superstitions.
glaik: A foolish person.
goamless: Stupid.
gowk: A fool. A half-witted or awkward person. (Verb) Stare foolishly.
gowl: A howl, yell, or cry.
gyre carline: A supernatural being, an ogress, a witch.
latchets: Shoe laces.
lias: Light.
lich-way: A path along which a corpse has been carried to burial, in some districts establishing a right of way.
lich-owl: A screech owl, its cry supposedly portending a death.
lirk: A fold in the skin, a wrinkle.
lux (Latin): Light.
megrim: Migraine. Vertigo. A whim, a fancy. And, for the purposes of Nieve, someone invested with unusual powers. (Plural) Low spirits, depression.
mizzle: Disappear suddenly, decamp, vanish, take oneself off.
moly: A mythical plant with black roots and white flowers. In Homer’s Odyssey, Hermes gives it to Ulysses to protect him from enchantment by Circe.
muckle: Great, large. Considerable in size and importance.
nayword: A password, a catchword.
nieve: A clenched hand, a fist.
rawhead: An evil spirit, a bogey or bugbear, devourer of naughty children.
rickle: A loose heap, a skeleton.
rouk (also roke): Smoke, steam, mist, fog, drizzle.
swank: Agile, active, nimble. Stylish, posh.
taran: The ghost of an unbaptized infant.
thrawn: Perverse, contrary, cross-grained, ill-tempered. Twisted, crooked, misshapen, distorted.
unco: Unknown, strange, unusual. Weird, uncanny.
waft: A Yorkshire term for a gliding spectre, a stealer of souls that appears in the guise of the person it has come to destroy.
weazen: Shrink, shrivel, wizen.
whisht: Become or keep silent, hush.
wirricowe: A hobgoblin, demon, mischievous person.
ye ken: You know.