LL-L: "Diminutives" LOWLANDS-L, 01.JUL.2001 (02) [E/S]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 01.JUL.2001 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Diminutives"

> From: Thomas <t.mcrae at uq.net.au>
> Subject: LL-L: "Diminutives" LOWLANDS-L, 29.JUN.2001 (01) [E]
>
> Andrys Onsman asked....
> > And Tom,  the diminutive "Giftie", I can't see it meaning "the little
> > gift." What's going on there?
> It is a quote from Robert Burns' poem 'To A Louse' which commemorates one

> he
> saw crawling up the dress of a stuck up lady at church. It continues 'It
> wad
> frae many a blunder free us, or foolish notion.' I write from memory so
> this
> is not word perfect.
> My interpretation is that 'The Giftie' is a reference to God, wonder what

> our real experts can tell us?

I have heard this interpreted as a reference to "Providence",
which is certainly how anyone might take it if they had to
make out the meaning of the word from the context.

However, "the giftie" is in fact the diminutive of "the gift" -
meaning the gift of second sight or any sort of intuition or
remarkable ability. Using the word in the diminutive does
supply a lighter tone or mood, as well as diminutives being
a handy device to aid poetical scansion!

Here's the poem:

TO A LOUSE,

ON SEEING ONE ON A LADY'S BONNET AT CHURCH.

Ha! whare ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie!
Your impudence protects you sairly:
I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
    Owre gauze and lace;
Tho faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
    On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an sinner!
How dare ye set your fit upon her,
    Sae fine a lady?
Gae somewhere else, and seek your dinner
    On some poor body.

Swith, in some beggar's haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle
Wi ither kindred jumping cattle,
    In shoals and nations;
Where horn nor bane ne'er dare unsettle
    Your thick plantations.

Now haud ye there, ye're out o sicht,
Below the fatt'rels, snug an ticht;
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be richt
    Till ye've got on it,
The very tapmost tow'ring hicht
    O Miss's bonnet.

My sooth! richt bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump and gray as onie grozet;
O for some rank mercurial rozet,
    Or fell red smeddum!
I'd gie you sic a hearty doze o't,
    Wad dress your droddum!

I wad na been surpris'd to spy
You on an auld wife's flannen toy;
Or aiblins some bit duddie boy,
    On's wyliecoat;
But Miss's fine Lunardi! fie,
    How daur ye do't?

O Jenny, dinna toss your head,
An set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
    The blastie's makin!
Thae winks and finger-ends, I dread,
    Are notice takin!

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
    And foolish notion:
What airs in dress an gait wad lea'e us,
    And ev'n devotion!

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
A dinna dout him, for he says that he
On nae accoont wad ever tell a lee.
                          - C.W.Wade,
                    'The Adventures o McNab'

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