LL-L "Etymology" 2003.04.03 (04) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Etymology"

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
>
> Thanks a lot for all your input, folks!
>
> I just remembered that in some British English dialects you say
> _aught_ for
> 'something' or 'anything' and _naught_ for 'nothing'.  Is this correct,
> including the spelling?  And isn't it pronounced with an [aU]
> sound ([?aUt],
> [naUt])?  Scots has _nocht_ [nOxt] for 'nothing'.  Do some dialects also
> have *_ocht_ *[?Oxt] for 'something', 'anything'?

I think the spellings _aught_and _naught_ are correct,
_aught_ to distinguish from _ought_ and the spelling
_nought_ more common to mean zero. In Scottish English
these would be pronounced /Q:t/ and /nQ:t/, though I
doubt if a Scottish speaker would actually use them.

These words are used more copiously in the North of
England (eg Yorkshire, Lancashire) and are written
_owt_ and _nowt_ to follow the Northern pronunciations
/aut/ and /naut/ (that's how they sound to me anyway).
Lisa Riley, who presents the home video pratfall
programme "You've Been Framed" on British terrestial
TV even uses such words as part of her normal patter
as a TV presenter.

In Scots there's "ocht" and "nocht", which I see often
enough in written Scots though they're not commonly used
in my dialect. Probably the last example of "ocht" seen
on this list was me quoting Robert Burns's bawdy version
of "Green Growes the Rashes" which starts, "O, wat ye
ocht o Fisher Meg?" (O, know you anything of Fisher Meg?)

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

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