Scots Wha Hae*

I spent a lot of time today writing an email about the Scots language. A recent article pointed out that Scots is a Germanic language, not as people often think, corrupted English. Scots has a common root with Inglis, but diverged after the Norman invasion of 1066. Before 1606 it was the language of the Scottish Court. When I grew up many people thought that Scots was slang, and we were ‘corrected’ if we used it. I’m currently reading  A Scot Quair which is loaded with Scots words, most of which are new to me. According to the recent census, 2 million Scots understand and can write in Scots. But unlike Gaelic, there is little government or educational support. So I will try to give you a Scots term in each of my forthcoming blips.
*Scots Wha Hae – ‘Scots we have.’ A patriotic song about King Robert the Bruce with words by Robert Burns.