Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/112

88 lessons," would have passed muster with even elegant English writers of the eighteenth century. It has left its mark in the proverb, "Learn the cat to the kirn (churn) and she'll aye be lickin'." On the other hand, "to hearken one his lessons," in the sense of hear him say, has been developed on independent lines. Similarly idiomatic are such uses of tell, as, "It'll no be tellin you"—not to your advantage or credit, and "Tell him to come"—bid him come. Scots retains much of the Elizabethan freedom in making verbs. Thus, to even has the peculiar senses of "think equal to," and "mention" in connection with an eligible. Along with this there is a characteristic quaintness, as in Robertson of Ochtertyre's remark about an old Scottish lady: "She was an excellent woman as long as she was herself." The reviewer's statement, on the other hand, to the effect that "though Mr. Barr's wit is American, he is not himself," is mere journalistic slipshod. A Scot, however, will in all good faith say "I had lost myself, and asked the way." Peculiarly odd is the idiom in "The children took their bare feet, and went to the sands," "He knew what I wanted, but never let on" (said a word of explanation). "I don't like to crave (dun) a man for debt," "The book is sitting on the table." Characteristic of Glasgow and neighbourhood is the frequent use of get as an auxiliary—e.g. "Can I get going to the post?"

Scots has always had a strong preference for the adjectival use of the past participle in -ed, hardened where possible into it or et. This comes out in many forms such as pointet for tidy, the twa-neukit (cornered) moon, champet (mashed) tatties, roopit (hoarse from cold), boolie-backet (round-shouldered). In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these were pronounced literary forms. A stout old Jacobite lady thought Prince Charlie "an ill-usit lad." Preterites of verbs ending in a dental generally drop the suffix -ed, a feature of Shakspere's English also. To this we owe such pasts as put, cut, hit. The Scot said cuttit for cut, and puttit as well as pat for the past of put, and even preferred hotten to hit. The Orcadian says hitten in the past participle, past hat (Sc. hote or hutt). This rule is observed even in modern words. A cyclist was warned not to ride on the footpath with the remark "That's proheebit, sir." This