含羞草传媒

Sometimes the dialect sends me out on a quest for an answer, and I can鈥檛 be satisfied before I find out. These quests sometimes take years to solve.

One such quest that I鈥檓 on at the moment, and can鈥檛 seem to get to the bottom of, is the word 鈥減eedie鈥�. It鈥檚 the first Orkney dialect word that we incomers learn (by the way: may I call myself a 鈥渇errylouper鈥� when I鈥檓 not from the UK, or does it only apply to British people? I did arrive on the St Sunniva, but had flown in to Aberdeen ...). Once, a journalist from south phoned me up and asked: 鈥淚s it true that people on Orkney use slang words like peedie instead of little?鈥� I explained that it is not slang, it is dialect. People don鈥檛 say it for effect; it鈥檚 just the normal word. Slang is a set of informal, colloquial words and phrases that are used within particular social groups, and are regarded as a counter-language, used in opposition to mainstream language. 鈥淧eedie鈥�, in Orkney, is part of the mainstream language and part of a geographically determined dialect.

That said, we are very much aware that it distinguishes us as a group. You may not think about it when you are in Orkney, but let鈥檚 say you went on holiday to Australia and suddenly heard the word 鈥減eedie鈥� there. It would make you jump, wouldn鈥檛 it, and give you a jolt of homesickness, perhaps. And if someone asked you what the Orkney dialect is like, perhaps you would tell them that we say 鈥減eedie鈥� instead of 鈥渓ittle鈥�. It is one of those high-awareness characteristics, unlike other things that incomers may notice, but Orcadians never think about themselves, such as saying 鈥渟hoe-lacers鈥� instead of 鈥渟hoe-laces鈥�.

But back to 鈥減eedie鈥�. Where does that word come from? This is still a mystery to me, but I can share what I have discovered so far.

The first place to look is obviously Hugh Marwick鈥檚 dictionary The Orkney Norn. It says: 鈥減eedie: adj, small; this is fairly general, but not so often used as the variant peerie鈥�. Indeed I have been told by older speakers of Orkney dialect that 鈥減eerie鈥� used to be more common.  So, what does Marwick鈥檚 dictionary have to say about 鈥減eerie鈥�, then? It says: 鈥淭his is used everywhere in Orkney and always 鈥� unless one be trying to speak 鈥榩roper鈥�. Also in Shetland and some parts of Lowland Scotland.鈥� It doesn鈥檛 say which parts of Lowland Scotland he has in mind, but the Dictionary of the Scots Language () says that it is 鈥渘ow current only in Shetland and Orkney鈥�.

The etymological origins for 鈥減eerie鈥� seem to be a Scandinavian word referring to either something 鈥渟mall, thin鈥�, or 鈥渁iling鈥� or 鈥渁 small fish鈥�. Hugh Marwick writes that in Norwegian, pir 鈥渋s used of a small object, a tiny creature, and piren, adjective, is used for weakly, ailing, thin (of growth) delicate (not robust)鈥�. Personally, I have only encountered the word 鈥減ir鈥� meaning a young fish or more specifically a young mackerel.  However, the Norwegian Nynorsk dictionary has the expression 鈥減irande liten鈥� meaning 鈥渢iny-little鈥� and the verb 鈥減ire鈥�: trickle as in a thin trickle of water or a plant growing up thin and pointy. This last meaning of the word, the dictionary connects with the word 鈥渟pire鈥�, which means to germinate. Hugh Marwick also notes 鈥減idre-liten鈥� and 鈥減irande-liten鈥� (no doubt two pronunciations of the same word) in the sense of 鈥渧ery small鈥�.

Amazingly, the Oxford English Dictionary (online) also has an entry for 鈥減eerie鈥�. According to it, 鈥減eedie鈥�  is 鈥渢he unattested Norn reflex of the early Scandinavian word represented by Swedish pirig, Swedish regional pirug poor, meagre, thin (compare also Faroese p铆rin stingy, niggardly, Norwegian (Nynorsk) piren niggardly, scrawny, slight, thin)鈥�.  The Swedish dictionary Svenska Akademiens Ordbok also has the noun 鈥減yre鈥� as a small and weak person, or little child, or changeling, or a baby animal. Reading on in the Oxford English Dictionary, it goes on to talk about small fish and young mackerel, and tells us that also West Frisian, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German all have words cognate with 鈥減ir鈥� in the sense of a 鈥渨orm鈥�.

Now, this is where my scepticism kicks in. There is a scientific principle which says that simple explanations are preferable to complicated explanations if they have the same explanatory power. Why choose a complicated theory when a simple one will explain the same thing? So in this case: Why go via worms and young fish and thin, stringy, pointy plants and small and ailing people? What the Orkney word 鈥減eedie鈥� or 鈥減eerie鈥� means is neither of these things, but simply 鈥渟mall鈥�. No undertones of 鈥渁iling鈥� or 鈥渨eak鈥� or 鈥渨orm鈥� or 鈥減lant鈥� or 鈥渇ish鈥�. So if there were a word cognate to 鈥減eedie鈥� or 鈥減eerie鈥� simply meaning 鈥渟mall鈥�, and nothing else, I would prefer it.

Before I could start looking for that, I had to ask myself: Is 鈥減eedie鈥� and 鈥減eerie鈥� really the same word, or are they two different words? I don鈥檛 have any proof, but my intuition tells me that they are the same word, because phonetically a 鈥渄鈥� is very close to an 鈥渞鈥� when the 鈥渞鈥� is short and pronounced as a 鈥渢ap鈥�. So I gave myself permission to look for words with a 鈥渄鈥� or 鈥渢鈥� in its root, as well as the 鈥渞鈥� words.

And my eyes fell on the French word 鈥減etit鈥�. It simply means 鈥渓ittle鈥�. I don鈥檛 mean to say that the Orkney word comes from French directly, but that there may be some common ancestor. From what I have been able to find out, the etymology of 鈥減etit鈥� is somewhat debated. There is a Medieval Latin word 鈥減itinnus鈥�, meaning 鈥渟mall鈥�, which could be the root of 鈥減etit鈥�. 鈥淧etit鈥� doesn鈥檛 seem to have any root in Classical Latin, but since Medieval Latin absorbed words from the vernacular languages around it, the word could of course have entered from one of these. This has led some to connect it with a Celtic root pett- (Proto-Celtic 鈥溾��), meaning a part, piece or bit, and can be seen in many Scottish place-names, such as Pitlochry, containing 鈥減et鈥� or 鈥減it鈥� in the sense of 鈥減ortion of land鈥�. However, the connection with 鈥減etit鈥� is debated. The word 鈥減iece鈥� is related to the Celtic word, though: The Oxford English Dictionary says that 鈥減iece鈥� is cognate with Welsh 鈥�辫别迟丑鈥� in the sense of a 鈥渢hing, affair, matter鈥� and Old Irish 鈥�cuit鈥�, meaning a portion or share, and that 鈥渢he suggestion is that the underlying [Medieval] Latin word may have been borrowed from an unattested Gaulish cognate of these [Celtic, Welsh and Old Irish ] words鈥� and entered into English via Anglo-Norman. (I have seen this Gaulish word reconstructed as 鈥減ettia鈥�). In English, we also know it in the form 鈥減etty鈥�.  However, this explanation is starting to look just as complicated as the last one, so I am not sure if I have advanced my case.

However, there is another alternative. If you still want a Scandinavian root for 鈥減eedie鈥�, these languages also offer an alternative to the fish-worm-plant-small-ailing theory. In Norwegian, when something is very, very small, you can say that it is 鈥渂itte-liten鈥� or in some dialects 鈥減itte-liten鈥�. In Swedish, the cognate word is 鈥減ytte-liten鈥�, while the noun 鈥減ytt鈥� or 鈥減ytte鈥� is a small boy or a small grown person. I have unfortunately not succeeded in finding an etymology for these yet. The Norwegian Nynorsk dictionary wants to connect 鈥渂itte-liten鈥� with the word 鈥渂ete鈥�, Old Norse 鈥渂iti鈥�, which is the same as English 鈥渂it鈥� 鈥� presumably connected with the word 鈥渂ite鈥�: a 鈥渂it鈥� is what you get after performing the act of 鈥渂iting鈥�. However, I feel that this explanation doesn鈥檛 take the 鈥減鈥� seriously, and since we also find the forms starting with a 鈥減鈥� in Swedish, the 鈥減鈥� must not be dismissed as simply a variant of 鈥渂鈥�. I think this line of enquiry may have potential, although I know that the form with 鈥渞鈥� 鈥� 鈥減eerie鈥� 鈥� is said by reliable Orcadians to be older than the form with 鈥渄鈥�. I wonder if 鈥減itte-liten鈥� could also somehow be related to the Medieval Latin 鈥減itinnus鈥� and to our own 鈥減eedie鈥�? The quest goes on.