it a correct rhyme is proved by his emendation of one of Clarinda's verses. She wrote "But Friendship's pure and lasting joys My heart was formed to prove ; The worthy object be of those, But never talk of love." Here Burns remarks "a slight inaccuracy" in the rhyme, and removes it by altering the third line to "There, welcome, win and wear the prize." Vocabulary. In wealth of vocabulary Burns is quite as Scottish as either Ramsay or Fergusson, employing at least some ten or twelve hundred words, which are either peculiar to the dialect, or have meanings very distinct from the same forms in English. The glossaries in most editions of his poetry, following the example of his own Kilmarnock and Edinburgh ones, include a large number of words which only differ from English by a single letter, e.g. barkit, barkin for barked, barking. Apart from this redundancy, Burns's own glossary is an excellent piece of work; his explanations is that of squires, shires with affairs, pray'rs, or of time with hame. A pronunciation which would account for this is indicated by the uneducated spelling of last century; on country tombstones may be seen forms like dayed, said, may = died, side, my, and the same rhyme occurs in epitaphs, as "Now in her husband's grave the wife is laid, No time nor death could her from him divide." In the words mire and fire Burns makes this diphthong count as two syllables in the following lines "Their roomy fire-side" (Ep. to Davie). "That sweetens a' their fire-side" (Twa Dogs). "And binds the mire like a rock" (Tam Samson's El.). while in the Holy Fair he rhymes fire with shyer. of the words are based on a full conception of their force, and are very clearly and concisely expressed. To the reader who wishes thoroughly to understand Burns, the glossary is a necessary addition to the poems, whether it appear in the shape of appendix, foot-notes, or side-notes. For that part of the Scottish vocabulary which is substantially one with English, some general rules may be of service. These words differ from their English equivalents either by showing a different vowel or by dropping some consonant; sometimes both features are combined. The vowels in Scottish had a different course of development from the English ones, especially in the retention of an a or ä where the southern dialects tended to o. The following list will show the general lines of equation between the two forms of speech, and may assist the non-Scottish reader of Burns to catch the more outstanding features of his language. 1. Scottish ǎ = 2. ã =ō :3. ä* = ō:— VOWELS. English ŏ:-aff (off), aft (oft), saft (soft), craft (croft); gat (got), pat (pot), wat (wot); crap (crop), drap (drop), stap (stop); sab (sob), gab (gob, mouth); lang (long), sang (song), strang (strong), wrang (wrong). na (no), twa (two), wha (who). ae (O.E. 0 = one), fae (foe), frae (fro = from), gae (go), mae (mo = more), nae (no), sae (so), slae (sloe), wae (woe); grape (grope), rape, raep (rope); aits (oats); lade (load), gaed (went); claith (cloth); claes, claise (clothes), aith (oath), * Burns identifies this sound with "the French e masculine," and it is still so pronounced in some districts, but has more commonly assumed a narrower form, identical with that used in head, lear, seat, etc. In either case the sound of Scottish sae, etc., is very different from that of English say, etc. The ä is pure in a few words like ain, braid, rade, sair (serve). baith (both), laith (loath); ane (one), bane (bone), grane (groan), lane (lone), stane (stone); hame (home), faem (foam); hale (whole), kail (colewort); mair (more), sair (sore); hearse (hoarse); maist (most), etc. 4. auō auld (old), bauld (bold), cauld (cold), fauld (fold), tauld (told), scaul' (scold), gaun (going). 5. au = ow :—awe (owe), blaw (blow), craw (crow), law (low), maw (mow), raw (a row), saw (sow), shaw (show), slaw (slow), snaw (snow). 6. au ai :- - straught (straight), saunt (saint), daur (dare). Cf. awa' (away). 7. eu 00 beuk (book), heuk (hook), leuk (look), neuk (nook), sheuk (shook), teuk (took). 8. ee = y :- flee, flie (fly), hie (high), die (die), lie (to tell lies), slee (sly). Burns always writes die and lie, but the sound is dee, lee. 9. i = ŏ (ŭ) :—ither (other), anither (another), tither (t'other), mither (mother), dizzen (dozen), sin (son, with which shin rhymes in one passage). 10. i = ŭ, u:—rin (run), sinn (sun), simmer (summer), kirn (churn), jimp (jump), tip (tup; ram), nit (nut), bill (bull), pit (put), fit (foot). 11. ui= 00:- guid, gude (good), bluid (blood). Other words showing the same orthography are bure (bore), buirdly, brulyie, tulyie, luve (love). Burns, however, prefers to write the sound as oo, in which form it occurs in a large number of wordscloot (a hoof), Clootie (Satan), sootie, cootie (a pail), loot (allowed); coost (threw), boost (behoved); cood (cud), rood; loof (palm), coof (blockhead); fool, dool (grief), school, snool (cringe), stool, hoolie (quietly); foor (went), moor, poor, swoor (swore); boord (board), foord (ford), hoord (hoard); croon (moan), noon, soon, roon (a shred); toom (empty); roose (to praise); loove (love); lo'e has the same vowel.* 12. ū = ou :- The English diphthong in now, house is in Scottish represented by the vowel u, but Burns follows * The rhyme dails: stools in the Holy Fair shows that Burns inclined to the pronunciation now current in the southern counties, by which puir, for instance, becomes more like pair. the old practice of the language in writing ou or ow. This is the case with all words like mouse, hour, loun, roun', down, show'r, cow, now, etc., as well as the purely Scottish words crouse, douce, dour, stour and others. CONSONANTS. 1. The dropping of 7, especially final -, is a feature of the Scottish dialect which produces the following common forms : -al becomes -au, as in-saut (salt), maut, scaud, caudron, -all becomes -a', as in-a', ba', ca', fa', befa', ha', sma'. 2. Final d is dropped after / and n, as in—fiel, chiel' (= child), scaul' (scold), warl' (world), war'ly (worldly); han' (hand), stan' (stand); en', len', men', sen'; kin', min', behin', frien' ; roun'. Burns sometimes writes the d where the rhyme shows that it is not pronounced. 3. Several words drop a v in the middle or at the end, e. g. gïe (give), ga'e (gave), ha'e (have), lea'e (leave), prie (prieve, prove), lo'e (love); e'en (even), de'il (devil), lee-lang (live-long), leeze me (leif is me); shool (shovel), aboon (above-n); hair'st (harvest), siller (silver); twaľ (twelve), sair (serve); seľ (self) belongs to the same class of words. There are other isolated peculiarities which need not be catalogued, but one point of syntax deserves a few lines of explanation. Burns repeatedly expresses the future tense by the form 's or 'se, as in the lines "I'se no insist." "Thou's be as braw and bienly clad." "In my last plack thy part's be in't." This 's or 'se is the survival of the old Scottish sal (shall), otherwise dropped in favour of will. In older Scottish writings are to be found the transitional forms I s'l (I sal), etc. In the modern dialect it is only retained in a few phrases like "I'se warrant," "I'se uphaud." BIBLIOGRAPHY. 1786. POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT, by Robert Burns. Kilmarnock: Printed by John Wilson. The first edition, reviewed in The Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany (Sibbald's), The Lounger, a Periodical Paper. No. 97, December. The Monthly Review, or Literary Journal. Vol. 75, December. 1787. POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT, by Robert Burns. Edinburgh: Printed for the Author. And sold by William Creech. POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT, by Robert The Scots Musical Museum, by James Johnson, vol. i. 1788. POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT, by Robert Burns. 12mo. Philadelphia: Peter Stewart & George Hyde. (Apparently the first American edition.) POEMS, CHIEFLY IN THE SCOTTISH DIALECT, by Robert The Scots Musical Museum, by James Johnson, vol. ii. |