Sir Walter Scott. (1771–1832). Guy Mannering.
The Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. 1917.
Glossary
- a secretis, lit. ‘officer of the secrets’; as one acquainted with the secrets.
- ab hora questionis, from the very beginning.
- acromion, the outer extremity of the shoulder-blade.
- aiblins, perhaps.
- ance errand, on purpose.
- aut quocunque allo nomine vocaris, or by whatever other name you are called.
- awmous, alsm.
- ballant, ballad.
- banes, bones.
- barken, harden.
- barrow-tram, shaft of a wheel-barrow.
- baulks, banks, ridges of land, and the uncultivated spaces between.
- beau garcon, gallant, man of the world.
- bedral, beadle, grave-digger.
- ben the house, into the inner room.
- berlings, vessels.
- bested, troubled, beset.
- bields, shelters.
- big, build.
- biggit, built.
- birling, drinking.
- bit, small.
- bittled, beaten with a wooden bat.
- black be his cast, evil be his fate.
- blate, diffident, bashful.
- blearing your ee, throwing dust in your eye.
- blumen-garten, flower garden.
- blunker, calico-printer.
- boddle, small copper coin.
- bogles, bogies, goblins.
- bonhomie, kindliness, simplicity.
- bountith, bounty, amount given above the stipulated wages.
- bourtree-bush, elder-bush.
- bow, boll (dry measure).
- brocks, badgers.
- brod, plate.
- brood mare, a mare kept for breeding.
- buirdly, strong, active.
- bully-huff, a boasting fellow, a bully.
- cabriole, a small one-horse carriage.
- caird, tinker.
- callant, lad.
- canny, fortunate, careful, safe.
- canty, lively, cheerful.
- capuchin, cloak with a hood.
- change-houses, small alehouses.
- cheerer, a glass of hot spirits and water.
- chield, fellow.
- circumduce, draw a circle round, limit.
- clashes, gossip, tittle-tattle, scandal.
- clavicle, the collar-bone.
- clod, to, to throw violently.
- clour, a blow, a bump on the head from a blow.
- coena, supper, late dinner.
- coft, bought.
- collie shangies, quarrels.
- congoes, bows
- conjuro, abjuro, contestor, atque viriliter impero tibi, I command, I adjure, I invoke and mightily put forth authority over thee. (Abjuro is an error for adjuro.)
- Conjuro te, scelestissima—nequissima—spurcissima—iniquissima—atque miserrima—conjuro te!—I command thee, most infamous, most wicked, most foul, most shameful, and most unhappy woman, I command thee!
- corps de logis, block of buildings.
- cottar, cottager.
- cot-house, cottage.
- coup, upset.
- coup de main, sudden action.
- coup d’æil, glance, view.
- cracks, gossip.
- craig, rock, neck.
- cranking, twisting, winding.
- crappit-heads, stuffed haddock-heads.
- cuddy, donkey.
- cusser, stallion.
- custos rotulorum, keeper of the rolls or records of a court.
- cutlugged, crop-eared.
- cutty, a short horn spoon.
- das schmecket, that tastes good.
- dead-thraw, death-agony.
- defeat, tired out.
- deil-be-lickit, devil be blowed.
- dies inceptus, a day begun.
- ding, beat, knock.
- disponing, assigning.
- donnert, stupid.
- dooket, pigeon-house.
- dooms, very.
- doos, doves or pigeons.
- dow, to be able, to like.
- dree, endure.
- drumming, to expel from a place with sound of drum.
- dust, disturbance.
- èclaircissement, explanation, declaration.
- eilding, fuel.
- empressement, eagerness.
- en croupe, behind the saddle.
- enfant trouvè, foundling.
- es spuckt do it haunts there.
- et puis, and then.
- ex cathedra, from the chair; with authority.
- exorciso te, I exorcise thee.
- fair-strae death, natural death.
- far yaud, a cry of encouragement to a sheep-dog.
- fa’s, falls, befalls.
- fash, trouble.
- faste, display.
- fauld-dike, wall of a sheep-fold.
- feck, part.
- feifteen, the judges of the supreme court of session.
- fell, skin.
- fell chield, terrible fellow.
- feras consumere nati, born to destroy wild beasts.
- ferme ornèe, amateur farm.
- fiar, one who has the reversion of property.
- fie man, a man seized by that madness which overcomes those predestined to death.
- fient a haet, devil a bit.
- fiking, fidgeting.
- firlot, a fourth part of a boll of corn.
- fit, foot, step.
- flisking, flitting.
- friar’s chicken, eggs boiled with chicken broth.
- fumarts, polecats.
- gaedown, a drinking bout.
- galls the kibe, treads on the chilblain.
- gangrel, vagrant.
- gar, compel.
- gate, gait, way, manner.
- gauger, exciseman.
- gey bit, a considerable way.
- giff-gaff, tit for tat.
- gliffing, gliff, an instant, a glimpse.
- glim, light.
- goose’s gazette, cock-and-bull story.
- gowans, daisies.
- greet, cry.
- grew, shudder.
- griego, a short cloak.
- guisarding, mumming.
- gumphions, funeral banners.
- gyre-carlings, witches, weird sisters.
- hafflin, half-grown.
- hallan, a partition between the door of a cottage and the fireplace.
- hansel Monanday, the Monday following New Year’s Day.
- hansels, gifts.
- hantle, great many, great deal.
- hap, cover up, tuck in.
- hauden, held.
- heckle, to hackle, to separate the coarse part of hemp from the fine.
- heesie, hoist.
- hinney, honey (a term of endearment).
- hirsel, a flock of sheep, to creep down.
- hizzie, hussy.
- hold mich der deyvil, ich bin ganz gefroren, Devil take me, I am absolutely frozen.
- homme d’affaires, man of business.
- horse-coupers, horse-dealers.
- houdie, midwife.
- howk, to dig.
- howm, flat ground, hollow.
- humdudgeon, noise, outcry.
- hunt-the-gowk, wild-goose chase.
- ich bin ganz gefroren, I am absolutely frozen.
- in praesentia, in presence.
- in rerum natura, in the world of things, alive.
- indicia, information, evidence.
- ingans, onions.
- inner-house, a Scottish court of law.
- inter nos, between ourselves.
- jaw-hole, sink.
- jo, joe, sweetheart.
- jurisconsult, lawyer.
- kibe, chilblain.
- killogie, fire-place of a lime-kiln.
- kilt, to upset, to tuck up.
- kinchin, child, baby.
- kinder, children.
- kist, chest, trunk, coffin.
- kittle, ticklish, capricious.
- knevelled, beaten, kneaded.
- lachesse, idleness, carelessness.
- lair, learning.
- land-louper, vagabond, runigate.
- lang-lugged limmer, long-eared wench.
- latch, mire.
- letter-gae, church precentor, clerk.
- lippen, trust.
- lith, a joint, a limb.
- loan, lane, pathway.
- loon, young man or young woman of doubtful character.
- loup, leap.
- low, flame.
- lugs, ears.
- l’un vaut bien l’autre, one is as good as the other.
- lunt, blaze, burn.
- lust-haus, pleasure-house.
- lykewake, watch kept over a dead body.
- major vis, greater strength.
- make not, do not interfere.
- malefica, evildoing.
- maroon war, guerilla war (Maroon =an escaped negro slave).
- maundering, talking idly, palavering.
- messan, a cur, a small dog.
- mirk Monanday, black Monday.
- moidores, a Portuguese coin, worth about 37s.
- monitoire, summons read in church for information about a crime on pain of excommunication.
- moonshie, instructor.
- mortis causa, in prospect of death.
- mortmain, settlement by a deceased person.
- multa sunt in moribus dissentanea, multa sine ratione, there are many contradictory, many unreasonable things in customs.
- mutchkin, the fourth part of the old Scots pint, or about three-quarters of an imperial pint.
- ne accesseris in consilium antequam voceris, do not come to the council till you are summoned.
- ne moveas Camerinam, do not move Camerina.
- neque semper arcum tendit Apollo, nor does Apollo always keep his bow bent.
- niffering, bargaining.
- niff-naffy, troublesome, fastidious.
- no canny, not lucky.
- noctes coenaeque, nights and suppers.
- nolens volens, unwilling or willing.
- non valens agere, not able to perform my part.
- novus homo, a self-made man, a parvenu.
- odd-come-shortly, some day or other in the near future.
- on n’arrête pas dans un si beau chemin, one does not stop short in so pleasant a path.
- oportet vivere, we must live.
- orra, odd, unemployed.
- os rotundum, sonorous voice.
- paiks, blows, a beating.
- pariahs, outcasts, those belonging to the lowest class in India.
- peculium, private amount.
- peenging, whining.
- peine forte et dure, a great and lasting pain (viz. pressing to death with great weights).
- periapts, charms.
- pickle, small quantity.
- pirn, a reel.
- pit ower, last through.
- plagium, kidnapping.
- Plainte de Tournelle, a French chamber for rigorous inquiry into criminal cases.
- pocks, pouch, bag.
- post-nati, the later-born, the young people.
- pouches, pockets.
- powny, pony.
- prigged, pleaded earnestly, haggled over a bargain.
- proper, of the natural colour (heraldic).
- prout de lege, according to law.
- quean, a young woman, wench.
- quorum, the justices, from a word in the commission appointing them.
- randle-tree, a wild creature.
- randy, wild, disorderly.
- ranging and riping, scouring and searching.
- rappee, snuff.
- rectus in curia, cleared before the law.
- redding his quarrel, taking part in his quarrel.
- regis ad exemplar, after the king’s example.
- reif, robbery.
- reise, twig, branch.
- ripe his pouches, search his pockets.
- rottens, rats.
- roturier, a plebeian.
- roupit, sold by auction.
- sain, to make the sign of the cross, to bless.
- sark, shirt.
- saugh, willow.
- saulies, hired mourners.
- savoir faire, resourcefulness.
- scart, scratch.
- sceleratissima, most wicked.
- scelestissima, most infamous.
- screed, a long tirade, a piece of cloth torn off, a frolic.
- secundum artem, according to the rules of the art.
- sederunt, a sitting (in the legal sense).
- shake-rag, tatterdemalion.
- shealings, cottages.
- shears, divides.
- sib, related by blood.
- skeel, skill.
- slack, a dry hollow, an opening between two hills.
- slap, a breach.
- slings, a rope or iron band for securing the centre of a yard to the mast.
- slowhunds, sleuth-hounds.
- smack, a paltry rogue, a silly fellow.
- sort,manage, set to rights.
- spac, to foretell.
- span-counter, a game in which a piece of money is won by throwing another within a span of it.
- spavin, swelling causing lameness in a horse.
- spaw-well, a magic well.
- speer, ask.
- splores, frolics, riots.
- sprug, sparrow.
- spunk, a match, a fire.
- standish, inkstand.
- steek, a stitch, to close.
- stickit stibbler, an unqualified clerical probationer.
- stirks, young steers.
- strafe much helle, an oath, Hell take me.
- streik, stretch.
- sture, stern, strong.
- sui juris, a free man, lit. at one’s own disposal.
- sunkie, stool.
- suum cuique tribuito, give to each his due.
- tailzie, deed of entail.
- tait, a lock of wool.
- take tent, give attention.
- tass, cup, glass.
- teind, tithe.
- tempore Caroli Primi, in the time of Charles I.
- tested, witnessed.
- thrapple, throat.
- threeps, declares, threatens.
- tod, fox.
- toom, empty.
- tota re perspecta, all things considered.
- troking, bartering, do business with.
- Tros Tyriusve, Trojan or Tyrian.
- tuilzie, a brawl, scrimmage.
- tup, a ram.
- tweel, web.
- unca wark, a great ado.
- unco, strange, very.
- varium et mutabile, varying and changeful.
- verbum nolens, an unintentional exclamation.
- vis publica et privata, violence public and private.
- wale, choice.
- wame, stomach.
- wa’s, walls.
- water-kelpy, water-sprite.
- weird’s dreed, fate is fulfilled.
- weize, direct, guide.
- wheen, whin, a number.
- whigging, jogging, urging forward.
- whinger, a hanger used as a knife at meals or in brawls.
- whittrets, weasels.
- worriecows, hobgoblins, scarecrows.
- wuss, wish.
- yards, playgrounds at the colleges.