Separated by a Common Language: Orcadian Dialect Edition, Part 5

In years past, I've posted not once, but twice, the words from the entire season(s) of BBC Radio Orkney's Orcadian dialect word game, Whassigo. I'm at it again, despite a shorter season during the 2016/'17 season (owing in part to some staffing disruptions at Castle Street during the Spring of 2017, the April 2017 episode seems to have been lost to history). I'm once again late in posting them, having originally intended to do so in April or May of this year; however, as I've been rather busy this year, and I got to it earlier than I did in 2016, so I'm not apologizing!

I'm not sure if this is a constant, but I've now been following the program long enough to have caught the quiz master, Orkney Islands Councillor Harvey Johnston... REUSING WORDS FROM PRIOR SEASONS! (Cue dramatic music.) This included the word "skiggan" (Norse for clear, transparent, bright, and clean) in both February 2015 and April 2016; "skreeo" (from the Old Norse for a shriveled, dessicated person or beast) in December 2016 and in October of 2017; and "rammelgoforth" (a rash and hurried person) in April 2015 and October 2017. Scandalous! A modest proposal: the august Mr. Johnston should consult the 1866 Etymological Glossary of the Shetland & Orkney Dialect to keep things fresh. And now, without further delay... The words!

October 2016

"snoddy" - a thick cake of oatmeal (from Old Norse for a lump of dough)

"misleared" - to be misguided

"planker" - laying out land after the end of the runrig system

"streelka" - a notion

"russey imp" - a cord made from a mare's tail hair

"cowtheist" - Scots word for being friendly

November 2016

"cooter" - the end of a plough that digs into the ground

"frugsy" - untidy or messy

"fimro" - a peedie crab that runs about, related to a Norse word meaning "quick"

"tusky" - Old Norse word for stormy, foul weather

"sarro" - excrement, otherwise unpalatable food

"grunyasie" - ugly, from a Norse word meaning the snout of a pig

"December" 2016

"skreeo" - a shriveled, dessicated person or beast, from the Old Norse

"parago" - wool of a mixture of different colors; a known term among Westray and Sanday knitting circles

"rillagory" - speaking carelessly or gossiping

"oonwandin" - something no one expects, such as the Spanish Inquisition

"charve" - to be headstrong, bold, or audacious, recently commonly used in Rousay, from the Old Norse word "jarfer" (sp?)

"peese" - a line to please or pester

February 2017

"kammo" - a knock on the head

"ongelid" - a strong gale, from Norse "ang" (against)

"kulkie" - the horizon

"simmy" - to wander about aimlessly, wasting time; to "simmy about"

"camsho" - a rude, ill-tempered person

"baileyment" - a state of prosperity or vigor

March 2017

"swarf" - to overturn or capsize

"tivish" - to handle someone in a rough manner

"swarral" - a large, inanimate object ("But not a coo, unless it's dead.")

"klimse" - being so dehydrated you can hardly speak, from a Norse word meaning "to be rendered speechless"

"muller" - a pebbly beach