lug n. the ear; any projecting part of an object

Lug has been recorded with the meaning 'ear' since the fifteenth century, and one of the earliest examples is found in the name or nickname of 'Michael blaklug' in the Burgh records of Aberdeen. In the medieval period, gruesome punishments were meted out on a regular basis and the lugs did not escape. According to the Records of Inverness, any arsonist would be punished "with ane nale in his luge" (1557) and the Edinburgh Burgh Records report threatening criminals with "burnyng throuch the lug" (1575). From the illustrative quotations in the Dictionary of the Scots Language www.dsl.ac.uk it is clear that such threats were not idly made. A sixteenth-century text quoted in the Scottish Historical Review, for instance, makes reference to "the mutilatioun and demembering of Maister Johne Girvane of his lug".

Various protruding parts of different objects are often known as lugs. The Edinburgh Gazette reported the following in March 1700: "Lost at the Late great Fire, a pair Silver Tumblers, a Silver Dish with two Luggs" and the Grant Court Book of 1729 relates that someone was accused of "stealing the copper lugs from a kettle belonging to the Laird of Grant".

Phrases involving the lugs often imply close proximity. If you were "at the lug o the law" you would be in close touch with authority or at the centre of activity, and if you were to "blaw in someone's lug" you might be attempting to wheedle or cajole them, as in E. H. Strain's work, Elmslie's Drag-Net (1900): "Whiles they would yok (set about) blawin' in my lug -- but that I could never thole". Although some of these phrases may be fading into history, many modern examples thrive. At the end of August, the Scotsman reported that BBC Scotland has recently commissioned a Doric comedy show, "Desperate Fishwives", and issued this entreaty to radio listeners: "Kittle up yer lugs!"

This week's Scots word was written by Dr Maggie Scott.