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Learning in Literature

kythe v. show, reveal, become manifest; take after, resemble

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“kythe v. show, reveal, become manifest; take after, resemble”

16th October 2007

Kythe appeared to be a word on the decline when the Concise Scots Dictionary was produced in the mid-1980s, but since then it has put in an appearance in a variety of literary texts. In Simon Taylor's novel, Mortimer's Deep (1992), "a figur o a man kythit itsel on the port side" and in Sheena Blackhall's poem, Preparing to Meet the Minotaur (2004), "poems are thochts that kythe an mell an steer, Flichterin like fire-flauchts in yon Norlan bree".

The word derives from an Old English verb meaning make known, but in England kythe only survives in some northern dialects. It was frequently employed in Old Scots for several different purposes. In Sir William Mure's Dido and Aneas (c1614), it means reveal or make manifest: "Some grave in brasse; sum kyth their craft in stone". A slightly different use appears in The Catechism of John Hamilton (1551), where the idea of revealing is applied to the manifestation of wonders: "Our salviour ... kythit his first mirakil in the Cane of Galile".

In later use, the idea of something appearing or revealing itself continues, as in Sir Walter Scott's Rob Roy (1817): "Ah! Rob, had ither folk's purses been as weel guarded, I doubt if your sporran wad hae been as weel filled as it kythes to be by the weight". Kythin can also relate to some form of transformation. In Dr Duguid (1887), J. Service describes "A spirit of speering into the causes of things, that kythed belyve into a settled purpose and resolve that I would be a doctor". In other contexts, kythe indicates physical resemblance, as in George Watson's Roxburgh Word Book (1923): "The bairn kythes ti its mother's folk". This last usage is rarely found in current sources, so if this is an expression you either recognise or use, we would be delighted to hear from you.