No-one wants to hear the sound of a splorroch but a huam is another matter, at least if you had lived in Scotland 100 years ago or more.
The A Scots Dictionary of Nature compiles ‘long forgotten’ Scots words describing the Scottish countryside The author, Amanda Thomson, who is a visual artist and lecturer at Glasgow School of Art, said: “These words reveal so much about our history, natural history, and our changing ways of life – they are indicative of the depth, richness and variety of the Scots language and its unique relationship to nature and the Scottish landscapes of Lowlands, Highlands and islands.”
Given that the codification of the Scots language has been a studious and unheralded pursuit embarked upon by generations of scholars over the past two centuries, it would be reasonable to assume that Scotland’s lexicographical well has long run dry, and that waiting for the publication of a new Scots dictionary is a little like chasing the end of a watergaw.
