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11. Time
To answer the phrase Whit’s the time? (What time is it?):
| Fower (o’ clock) or fower oors juist efter fower
the back o fower ten efter fower a quarter efter fower hauf fower a quarter til/tae five ten til/tae/frae five juist afore five. |
Until a few generations ago Scots hauf fower would have meant 3.30 (as still in Flemish/Dutch). Units are saicant, meenit, oor (remember no plural forms immediately after numbers).
Some common expressions of time:
| morn morning twalours/nuin midday
midnicht midnight weeoors early morning keek o day sunrise mornin morning nuin or twal-oors noon efternuin afternoon sundoon sunset gloamin just after sunset eenin/fornicht evening |
nicht nightday day
the day today the morn tomorrow the morn’s morn tomorrow morning the nicht tonight yestreen yesterday week week fortnicht fortnight month month year year |
The modern forms of the days of the week are:
| MondayTuesday
Wadensday Thursday Friday Seturday Sunday |
Sunday is also the Sawbath, and Friday is, if you’re lucky, Peyday ! As usual you will see some spelling differences, sometimes the older forms Monanday and Tyseday.
Nixt/neist is used differently for days of the week. This Seturday is the equivalent of English ‘next Saturday;, while nixt Seturday is the next Saturday but one.
The months of the year are
| JanuarFebruar
Mairch Aprile Mey Juin |
JulieAugust
September October November December |
The last five months are of course similar in many European languages.
Laist, referring to time, is used like English ‘last’ (but ‘last year’ can be fernyear). (When ‘last’ refers to position, use hin(ner) or hinnermaist).
The Fower Saisons:
| Spring /Ware SpringSimmer Summer
Hairst Autumn Winter Winter |
A few important days in the Scottish calendar are
| Ne’erday New Year’s DayBurns’ Nicht 25 Jan
Fastern’s een Shrove Tuesday Pace Easter Gowk’s Day or Huntigowk 1 April Beltane 1 or 3 May Guy Fawkes Nicht 5 November Sanct Andra’s Day 30 November Yuil Een 24 December Yuil Day Christmas Hogmanay New Year’s Eve. |
The autumn half term school holiday is still sometimes called the tattie holiday – a time when traditionally children were needed to help with bringing in the potato harvest.
The Scots Quarter Days (still used at some Universities) are Cannlemas (2 Feb), Lammas (1 Aug), Michelmas (29 Sep) and Mairtinmas (11 November).