Chapters (142)
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- NOTEBOOK 1
- Brukie’s Sandy
- April 1972
- 1
- May 1972
- 2
- 3
- June 1972
- 4
- July 1972
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- October 1972
- 9
- 10
- 11
- October 1972
- 12
- December 1972
- 13
- December 1972
- 14
- December 1972
- NOTEBOOK 2
- Brukie’s Sandy
- January 1973
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- March 1973
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- April 1973
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- June 1973
- 15
- July 1973
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- August 1973
- 20
- 21
- August 1973
- 22
- 23
- 24
- August 1973
- 25
- August 1973
- 26
- August 1973
- 27
- NOTEBOOK 3
- Brukie’s Sandy
- March 1974
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- April 1974
- 6
- 7
- June 1974
- 8
- July 1974
- 9
- August 1974
- 10
- August 1974
- 11
- October 1974
- 12
- October 1974
- 13
- October 1974
- October 1974
- 14
- October 1974
- 15
- 16
- November 1974
- 17
- November 1974
- December 1974
- CODA
- Brukie’s Sandy
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- April 1975
- Brukie’s Sandy
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- Glossary
- Note
- Acknowledgments
- Works Cited
| arling | signing on to a curer for the season, a commitment sealed with a small payment; a girl signed up was said to be ‘arled’ |
| ay ay | hello (colloquial) |
| bairnikie | bairn, young child (colloquial) |
| bannockies | bannocks (flat cakes made of oatmeal or barley) |
| blether | talk foolishly |
| bonnie clip | good-looking girl |
| bonxie | local term for skua, a kind of gull |
| braes | slopes |
| bubblyjock | turkey |
| Buchaner | a native of the Buchan area (Aberdeenshire) |
| but-and-ben | a simple two-roomed cottage consisting of a living room/kitchen area (the but) and a bedroom (the ben) |
| canna | can’t |
| ceilidh | party, celebration (pron. kay-lee) |
| chaifing snipes | cheating swindlers |
| chuckney | chicken |
| clooties | rags, bandages |
| cran | a measure of herring (four baskets; around 1,000 herring) |
| doughboys | flour dumplings |
| dreich | dull |
| droonin’ | drowning |
| dulse | edible seaweed (considered a treat) |
| dweeble-eyed | weak-eyed |
| farlins | large tubs or troughs containing herring ready for gutting |
| fulls | herring over 10¼ inches, full of milt or roe |
| fulpie | puppy |
| funcy | fancy |
| gaak, gaakie | fool, foolish |
| gansey | pullover |
| gipper | small knife used for gipping (gutting) herring |
| grapplie hook | grapple hook |
| grunnie | grandmother |
| guizer | performer in disguise who takes part in a festival or celebration |
| gullie knife | large knife |
| gweedmen | groomsmen |
| half-loaves | crude thick sanitary napkins made out of old rags |
| hash | hurry |
| hoose, hoosie | house, hut |
| howdie wifie | midwife |
| jamaica: give (someone) a jamaica; have a jamaica | shock (someone); have a seizure |
| jeely pieces | bread and jam |
| kirk | church |
| kist | chest |
| kittlin | kitten |
| laavie | toilet |
| large-fulls | herring over 11¼ inches, full of milt or roe |
| limmer | slut |
| loon | boy, young man |
| mannie | man, husband |
| mattie-fulls | herring over 9¼ inches, full of milt or roe |
| matties | herring over 9 inches, maturing |
| muckle | big |
| mumpin’ | grumbling |
| murlin | wicker basket |
| neeps | turnips |
| nummer | number |
| oilie | oilskin apron |
| peely; peely-wally | sickly |
| peenie | tummy |
| peerie | small |
| piece | piece of bread |
| quine, quinie | girl, young woman; ‘quinie’ is an affectionate form of the word |
| raickless | wreckless |
| reddin’ the lines | preparing (readying) the fishing lines by cleaning them of old bait |
| reid-heid, reid-heidit | red-head, red-headed |
| rooed wool | wool plucked by hand (rather than shorn) |
| sailing on the back of Sunday | leaving port just after midnight on Sunday (boats couldn’t sail on the Lord’s day) |
| scaur | steep, rocky area |
| selkie | mythical creature (part human, part fish, like a mermaid) |
| snood | length of cord attached to a main fishing line |
| solan goose | local term for gannet |
| spents | herring that have spawned (of lesser quality) |
| The Sooth | The South (England) |
| tammie norie | local term for puffin |
| tatties | potatoes |
| tinkies | gypsy (Roma) people; travellers |
| unty | aunty |
| weel-faurt | good-looking |
| widdershins | anti-clockwise |
| wifie | wife, woman |
| ye | you |
Note
Note
Roanhaven and Gadlehead are fictional constructs, although they have geographical and some historical links to several actual places in the north-east of Scotland. All the characters in Elemental are fictional.
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments