Wirtiglugs

by Henry Farrell on December 7, 2003

David Langford’s indispensable “Ansible”:http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/Ansible/a197.html tells us about wirtiglugs, hwinis, and (my favourite) breekbridders.

bq. As a Christmas treat, Greer Gilman offers seasonal words of Shetland dialect. [EG] wirtiglugs, brose made with wirt. sukkaleg, a stocking without a foot, or with a very ragged foot. warbak, an insect that breeds under the skin in cattle. hwini, a hermaphrodite sheep. hwirkabus, water in the throat; a disease of sheep. hwamp, a quirk; the hollow of the inside of the human foot. hustak, a big fat woman. brimfuster, sea-froth. brimskud, the vapoury, smoke-like haze which rises from the shore-bretsh. barfljug, to separate ears of corn from their stalks without crushing the corn. kilpik, a little basket made of dokkens. kist, a word used to scare a cat. pirl, a single particle of sheep’s dung. pirr, a light breath of wind, such as will make a cat’s paw on the water. sae, a tub with two lugs. sig, a hardened part of the skin of the hand caused by pressure of a tool in working. sangster, a bruni made of sillik livers and bere bursten [if you stuff that in a cod’s liver, it’s hakkamuggi, the local form of haggis]. sanveelter, a disease of horses caused by their eating sand along with their food. krug, to crook or crouch in taking shelter fromn the weather under some high or overhanging thing. krugset, to beset in a corner. manket, worn out with work. norraleg, a needle with a broken eye. feevi, snow falling in large flakes. snud, the twisting movement of the head of a refractory cow. limmer, a bad woman. limmerik, the bog asphodel. pilli, the penis. tairm, a string made of sheep’s gut, used for fiddle-strings. tamtier, to cause delay by frivolous pretenses. breekbridder, when two men court the same woman, each is breekbridder to the other. brennik, a parhelion, a mock sun. essi, defiled with ess. faan upon, beginning to show signs of decay, as fish or flesh. jap, a short, choppy sea. kirkasukken, the buried dead as distinguished from those who have a watery grave. ogarhunsh, any frightful or loathsome creature.