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News, Information and links of a short-term nature.-

 

Website on Dr Thomas Graham, MD, Royal Navy

Thomas Graham, was born at Ecclefechan in 1818. Graduating from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1838 he entered the Royal Navy in 1841 and was appointed Surgeon in June 1850. He saw extensive service overseas and served upon the ships H.M.S.Warspite, H.M.S. Madagascar and H.M.S. Apollo. He died at Whampoa, China, in July 1850.
Throughout his active navel service he corresponded widely and maintained a series of diaries. For further information on the man and his background follow this link.   http://www.cenart.net/thomasgraham/index.htm

Mention of Transactions in the Press.

The Sunday Times of 3rd December 2006, Ecosse section, contained, as part of an ongoing series on Scottish words, the following.-

Word of the Week

Spirtle
You would not think there could be much controversy about a kitchen implement, but the humble spirtle, spurtil(l), spartle, spirl, spurl or spruttle has several varieties and uses. My mother's spirtle, a wooden stick worn to a third of its original size with stirring of porridge and soup, was never put to such violent use as that recorded in papers submitted in cases before the Court of Session: Cramond v Allan (1756), where we read: "She saw her father strike her mother ... with the spurtle."


A spirtle is described in the Scottish National Dictionary as a wooden or metal implement with a flat blade used in baking for turning oatcakes and scones.

This is supported by the Transactions of the Dumfries[shire] and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society (1891): "'Yere cake's burnin' ...' 'Make us a spurtle tae turn it wi', then.'"

A theekin spirtle is a flat-bladed instrument sometimes forked, for pushing thatching straw into position on a roof and, in linen production, a spirtle is a flat stick or bat for beating flax.

A spirtle-grup or spirtle-shot is a sharp pain in the side for which Manuscript Notes on NE Scotland Folk-Lore (c.1890) provides a folk remedy: "A child should receive the kidneys of a hare the first kind of flesh to eat. This prevents the child taking 'the spurtle shot', the sharp pain that strikes in the side when running or walking fast."

The reference is taken from page 77 of Volume 7 of the Second Series of our Transactions - Session 1890-91 and published in 1891. It is in the second part of an article on the Folk Lore of Glencairn by our member John Corrie, F.S.A.Scot., of Burnbank, Moniaive. When treating of elves or fairies he recounts.-

'We append a narrative communicated by a Moniaive lady, in which gratitude for a favour and resentment at an insult are curiously blended:- Two men were ploughing down in Closeburn parish when they both felt a strong smell of burning cake; one of them said in an off-hand kind o' way, "Yere cake's burnin'." "Make us a spurtle tae turn it wi' then," said a voice apparently close at hand. The man good naturedly did as directed, and laid the article down on the ground. On returning to the spot he found the spurtle taken away, and bread and cheese left in its place. He partook of both, and likewise gave some to his horses, but his companion would neither taste it himself nor allow his horses to taste. An affront of this kind could not be overlooked, and he had not gone many steps until he dropped down dead in the furrow.'

For those interested in further aspects of the Scots language the Dictionary of the Scots Language is now available online at http://www.dsl.ac.uk and comprises electronic editions of the two major historical dictionaries of the Scots language: The 12-volume Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue and the 10-volume Scottish National Dictionary.

 
 
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June 28, 2008