Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch / A contribution to the study of the linguistic relations of English and Scandinavian

by George T. Flom

Sleuth, sb. track. Bruce, VII, 1 and 44. O. N. slóð, track, trail. Cp. Norse slod, slode.

Sloke, vb. to quench. Isaiah, I, 2, 3; and 49, 26. O. N. slökva, to quench. O. Ic. slækva, Norse slökka, id. The word does not show the Scand. umlaut o > ö. Cu. sleck has further developed the umlaut ö to e. Cp. O. Ic. æ < O. Nh. æ. All such words in Norse exhibit the intermediate stage ö up to the present time. In Ic. the ö developed to æ, in the first half of the 13th century. (See Noreen P. G.² I, 529.) In later O. Nhb. also æ > e.

Sloken, slokyn, vb. to quench, to satisfy. Dunbar, T.M.W., 283; K.Q., 42; M.W., 116, 35. O. N. slokna, Norse slokna, inchoative of slökva. It may, however, be an infinitive in en from slökkva, see slock.

Slokning, sb. the act of quenching, also the power of quenching. Douglas, II, 26, heading of Chapter XII; Montg. C. and S., 1377. Pr. p., see sloken. Cp. O. N. slokning, Dan. slukning.

Slonk, sb. a ditch, a depression in the land, also a slope on the mountain side. Winyet, II, 19, 5; Wallace, III, 4. Dan. slank, a depression in the land, a hollow, O. N. slakki, Norse slakke. The non-assimilation proves E.Scand. source. Cp. Sw. dial. slakk adj. bending, e.g., "bakken jär no na slakk," the hill slopes a great deal, again a W. Scand. form in Sw. dial. The word is probably related to Eng. slack, loose, lax, Dan. slak, Norse slāk.

Slut, sb. a slattern, an untidy woman. Dunbar, 119, 71. O. N., O. Ic. slöttr. See Skeat.

Smaik, sb. a coward. Sat. P., 39, 175; Lyndsay, 425, 1320, and 434, 1562. O. N. smöykr, adj. timid, M. L. G. smeker means "a flatterer," besides the vowel, as well as the final r of the L. G. word, is against a L. G. origin of the Sco. word. The Sco. ai indicates an original diphthong. Cp. Cu. smaik applied to a small boy, or any small being.

Snape-dike, sb. an enclosure. Jamieson, Ayr. Cp. O. N. snap, a pasture for cattle, especially a winter pasture (Haldorson), snapa, vb. to nibble, M. E. snaipen. The vowel in the Sco. word proves an original open a, hence it is from the vb. snapa. O. N. snap, sb. would have given snăp. Our word is snēp.

Snib, sneb, vb. to snub, check, reprove. Sat., P., 33, 18; L.L., 3387. Dan. snibbe, M. E. snibben. Eng. snub and M. E. snubben correspond to O. N. snubba with original unumlauted vowel.

Snite, vb. to blow the nose, to snuff a candle. Jamieson. O. N. snýta, Norse snyta, used exactly the same way, Dan. snyde. Sw. snute and M. L. G. snuten have unumlauted vowel which would have given snoot, snowt, or snoit in Sco.