A Doric A-Z: K revisited

Doric, the dialect spoken in the North-East of Scotland is rich in words and phrases associated with the land and the sea. I so much enjoyed my recent journey through the Doric dictionary that I plan to revisit it on an irregular and random basis. As before, the examples are taken mainly from Buchan Claik, The Saut an the Glaur o't written in 1989 by Peter Buchan and David Toulmin.

KITTLINS: Kittens

"Lat's see ower the cat's dish, Kate. I left a suppie brose melk in ma bowl for the kittlin. She likes a suppie warm brose melk in a caal morning an she's fair thrivin on't.' (Pass across the cat's dish, Kate. I left a drop of brose milk in my bowl for the kitten. She likes a drop of warm brose milk on a cold morning and she is really thriving on it.) Brose is oatmeal mixed with boiling water and allowed to stand for a short time, then eaten with salt and milk.

2000 years and as many miles separate these two kittlins. The blue one on the right is from Ancient Egypt where the cat was the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet. Bastet was a nationally popular deity associated with fertility and the life-giving properties of the sun. The original cat dates from the 1st century A.D. and was made from faience, glazed with lead alkaline turquoise with added black spots. Our kittlin is, of course, a modern copy, from the original in the British Museum's Department of Egyptian Antiquities.

The sleeping kitten to the left dates from the early 1980s and was made at the Moorside Cat Pottery at West Burton in the Yorkshire Dales.

Clearly we humans have enjoyed a long love affair with cats!