Word of the week

• Hoast n., v. a cough, to cough
• Droukit past participle drenched, soaked.
• Wifie n. a woman.
• SLAP n. a gap in a wall etc.
• HAP v. to cover, to wrap up.
• CREESH n., v. grease
• Kittle v. to tickle, to stimulate; adj. apt, problematic.
• Unco adjective, adverb, noun strange, unfamiliar; extremely; a marvel.
• JAW n. a wave, a rush of water; v. to pour
• Haiver, haver v. To talk fooolishly; n. nonsense, a person who talks nonsense.

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JAW n. a wave, a rush of water; v. to pour

“JAW n. a wave, a rush of water; v. to pour”

6th October 2008

JAW n. a wave, a rush of water; v. to pour

Jaw, meaning a wave or rush of water appears several times in Gavin Douglas’s translation of the Aeneid (1513), as in “Hir trimbling teiris did represent the jawis Of Neptunis raige quhilk rasit bene by raine” (Her trembling tears represented the waves of Neptune’s rage which are raised by rain.). Removed from the stormy elements and tamed for domestic use, we find it in the compound ‘jawbox’ or sink. Margaret Sinclair’s rhyme in Soor Plooms and Candy Balls (1993): “Sit up oan the jaw box, Jist take aff your semmit” will bring back memories to the over-50s of the ‘dook in a saucer’, when being scrubbed by your mother at the kitchen sink was an uncomfortable substitute for a bath. The jawbox was also a place where you could ‘jaw’ unwanted liquids away as John Smith implies in The Grievances of the Working Classes (1846): “Some years ago the jaw boxes were all removed from the stairs, so that they have to carry all their offals down stairs”. Elsewhere, the stench of shared sinks on the common stair of tenements remained an unpleasant health hazard; in 1887 J. Service writes, “The posies which cam oot from some of the jaw-boxes and reeking closes and stairs in the High Street, kittled my throat”. As an alternative to jaw boxes, jaw-stanes, or stone sinks, have made their appearance in Scots kitchens from early times as we discover from a 1532 item in the Master of Works Accounts: “To ane masoun for ane jawe stane to the dressory”.
Another usage of jaw as a verb appears sometime before 1706 in the The Poems of the Sempills of Beltrees in a quotation that could easily be used today: “Wha'll jaw ale on my drouthy tongue?”. Lexicography is thirsty work.


Scottish Word of the Week is written by Chris Robinson of Scottish Language Dictionaries

This week the word is spoken by Elaine Hallyburton of AK Bell Library, Perth.