Words from Scots
5 words in Curio passed through Scots on their way into English.
About Scots
Anglic language variety of the West Germanic branch, a sister language of Modern English · spoken today
Where
Scottish Lowlands, Orkney and Shetland (the Northern Isles) → northern Ulster in Ireland, where it is called Ulster Scots
When
Dates unknown
Speakers
1.5M
as of 2022
People in Scotland able to speak Scots, 2022 census
Family path
- Old English
- Middle English
- Scots
- German
- English
Where it came from
Scots is a West Germanic language variety descended from Early Middle English, which makes Modern Scots a sister language of Modern English. It is sometimes called Lowland Scots to set it apart from Scottish Gaelic, and Broad Scots to set it apart from Scottish Standard English. Scholars and others often disagree about whether it counts as a dialect of English or a separate language, since there are no universally accepted criteria for deciding.
Source: Wikipedia
Family
Scots grew out of Middle English.
The words, A to Z
- bunker
A word for underground safety once meant nothing more menacing than a seat with storage underneath.
- mug
A humble drinking vessel whose name has been sloshing around northern Europe for five centuries with no clear source.
- scone
This teatime staple's name may trace back to either fine flour or a humble mouthful.
- tartan
The crisscross pattern we now call quintessentially Scottish may trace back to a purple dye from a Phoenician port city.
- tweed
This rugged fabric's name may owe its existence to a 19th-century typo.