His Bloody Project

Glossary

ashet a large serving dish

bannock an oatcake

the black months winter

byre a cowshed

caman a shinty stick

Càrn nan Uaighean translates as ‘heap of tombstones’

cas chrom a long-handled foot plough

ceilidh a gathering with singing and story-telling

croman a hand-tool for breaking ground, like a single-sided pickaxe or mattock

dwam a stupor

Erse Irish

fetch a double or doppelgänger

flaughter a spade with a pointed triangular blade

garron a Highland pony

ghillie a man who leads shooting and fishing expeditions

gimcrack a cheap ornament or knick-knack

hurlie a hand-cart

laird lord

quaich a traditional shallow drinking vessel

quern a stone hand-mill for grinding corn or other grains

quoin the external corner of a building

reek smoke

rig a strip of land

roof-tree a beam

sea-ware seaweed

shieling pasture land

shinty a violent form of hockey still played in the Scottish Highlands

sowens a kind of gruel, made from husks of grain

stirk a heifer

stoor dust or dirt

strupach a pot of tea, a brew

swee a chain from which a pot is suspended over a fire

unchancy supernatural

winding sheet a shroud

the yellow months summer