The first definition of pirn in the Dictionary of the Scots Language www.dsl.ac.uk is “A weaver’s spool for holding his weft yarn in the shuttle, originally one made from a quill or hollow reed, in later times one turned from wood or metal with an axial bore for mounting on a spindle for winding, a bobbin”.

The current meaning of the word - a small bobbin, spool or reel for thread - does not appear until the the early 19th century and the first example is from Mrs Oliphant’s Lilliesleaf (1856) :“Throwing down the seam upon my little table, after a fashion that scattered my pirns of thread down upon the carpet.” 

Although the etymology is obscure it became the parent to many figurative usages; pirn-taed (meaning hen-toed in English) is still used in the 21st century as shown by this example from the Herald of 20 January 2003: “As an ancestor worshipper, the Farmer has a terrible vision of a handsome man with strong black hair, a long, strong body and short, slightly pirn-taed legs, peering over a cloud and shaking his head in disapproval.” And another from Aberdeen Evening Express of 5 February 2010: “I have barely a joint that isn’t bunioned, corned or calloused - permanent, throbbing memories of youth. I'm even a trifle pirn-taed.” 

If you are ‘in a pirn’ you are in a quandary or a state of agitation: “He’s gotten himself into a right pirn” from Shetland in 1966 or Stevenson in Catriona having a ravelled (tangled) pirn: “I shall have a fine ravelled pirn to unwind.” (1893). Finally, from the Aberdeen Press and Journal of December 12 2012 talking of good times past: “the bonnie days for which we ees’t [used] to yearn gang by as fest as threed rins aff a pirn…”

Scots Word of the Week is written by Pauline Cairns Speitel of Scottish Language Dictionaries.