Word of the week

• sourocks n. a general name for various kinds of sorrel; a sulky person
• begrutten adj. tear-stained, sorrowful
• scart v. scratch, scrape with the nails, claws; mark with a scratch etc
• jink v. turn quickly, move or dodge nimbly; evade, elude

Words by month

• Dec 2008
• Nov 2008
• Oct 2008
• Sep 2008
• Aug 2008
• Jul 2008
• Jun 2008
• May 2008
• Apr 2008
• Mar 2008
• Feb 2008
• Jan 2008
• Dec 2007
• Nov 2007
• Oct 2007
• Sep 2007
• Aug 2007
• Jul 2007
• Jun 2007
• May 2007
• Apr 2007
• Mar 2007
• Feb 2007
• Jan 2007
• Dec 2006
• Nov 2006
• Oct 2006
• Sep 2006
• Aug 2006
• Jul 2006
• Jun 2006
• May 2006
• Apr 2006
• Mar 2006
• Feb 2006
• Jan 2006

Sponsored by

Supporters of

sourocks n. a general name for various kinds of sorrel; a sulky person

“sourocks n. a general name for various kinds of sorrel; a sulky person”

23rd June 2008

Sourocks is first recorded in Scots sources dating from the fifteenth century, where it denotes the plant, sorrel. In his poem, Sum Practysis of Medecyne’, medieval makar Robert Henryson describes "Ane medecyne for the maw (mouth)... With sueit satlingis (sediment from wine) and sowrokis". Early evidence of sourocks as a cooking ingredient is found in the Inventory and Account Book of Lord Buccleuch. On November 22nd, 1631, the account book includes expenses incurred "For suwrocks to stoue (stew) a hen with".

The word appears to be a diminutive form of ‘sour’, which in Scots rhymes with ‘tour’ and is sometimes spelled ‘soor’, as in ‘soor plooms’, a variety of boiled sweets. There are similar words in other Germanic languages, including Middle Dutch zuric and Middle Low German sureke, so it is unclear whether sourocks is a Scots construction or a borrowing from abroad. A further possible influence on the etymology is the English term sour dock, which has been used for the common sorrel since the Middle Ages.

Everyday terms for plants often refer to more than one species, and sourocks is no exception. Quotations in the Dictionary of the Scots Language show that sourocks can be the common sorrel, sheep’s sorrel or wood sorrel. Like many herbs, the plant has had several uses over the centuries, and is widely known throughout Scotland. William Anderson Smith notes in his book, Lewsiana; or Life in the Outer Hebrides (1875), that "Dyes are ... easily procured. … Besides the common mordant, they use ‘sooriks’ (wood sorrel) with blue and black".

Sourocks is also used to describe someone in a sour frame of mind, as illustrated in this Blackwood’s Magazine quotation (1822): "Your mouth ony time I see’t, is either wide open ... or as fast as a vice, in a dour fit of the sourocks".