THE NEW SCOTTISH DICTIONARY

Evening Star, Issue 20312, 22 October 1929, Page 12

THE NEW SCOTTISH DICTIONARY

INADEQUATE SUPPORT THE GENEROSITY OF ABERDEEN The reproach that Scotland does not possess a modern dictionary of her own distinctive speech is one that will bo removed before long if two important enterprises come to fruition (says the ‘Observer’)* The first is Sir William Craigie’s ‘ Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue,’ which will carry the story down to 1700; the second the 4 Scottish National Dictionary,’ which Mr William Grant is editing for the Scottish National Dictionary Association, Ltd. This work will deal with the modern period when Scots, having ceased to be a lettered language, had split up into various dialects. In the century that has elapsed since Dr John Jamieson’s famous ‘Dictionary of the Scottish Language ’ was completed, an .enormous amount of research has been done in Scotland. Mr Grant’s dictionary alone will contain thousands of words that have never appeared in a dictionary before. It will be all the more deplorable, therefore, if lack of support brings the devoted labour of many unrewarded workers to naught. Yet it must bo confessed that, so far, Scotland has responded but feebly to appeals for subscriptions issued on behalf of both projects. The fact that an unfortunate duplication has come about is itself due to the failure of Scotsmen to appreciate the importance of completing in an adequate way what ought to be an elementary national possession. WHERE ARE THE BURNS CLUBS? No one regrets more than Sir William Craigie that ho has had to seek American assistance. He has devoted a considerable portion of his leisure for many years to the work, and has spent his own money freely on it. But so far Scotland has only aided him with a paltry grant of £IOO. “The Chicago University Press has agreed to publish the dictionary as soon as the names of the first 200 subscribers hay© been received,” he said to me, when 1 saw him the other day in his Oxfordshire home, “ Some of my students there are helping me with the filing and clerking work. . It is, of course, a pity that Scottish students are not doing this work, but I am assisted by a Scotsman, Mr-Watson. I have been greatly disappointed by the results of an appeal I addressed to the Burns Clubs. When 1 left Chicago not one of them had written to subscribe.” Mr Grant’s dictionary is in slightly better case, for on the latest list of subscribers the -name of on© Burns

Club (at Hamilton) figures, along with one Scottish Society (in New Zealand). The names of seven English booksellers appear, but not a single Scottish bookseller is there. The most extraordinary fact about tho list is the generosity with which Aberdonians have subscribed; had the rest of Scotland given proportionately there would have been no question—as there unfortunately is—of the dictionary being in some danger. FISHER-FOLK HELP.

The work of the * National Dictionary ’ is being carried on in a room in tho Training Centre, Aberdeen. Mr Grant, with three assistants, performs tho whole laborious work of compilation and classification, assisted occasionally by some of the senior children of the Demonstration School, who file the word-slips as they are received from different parts of the country. The whole of Scotland, excluding tho Highland area, where Gaelic is being replaced by board-school English, has been divided into areas roughly corresponding' to the counties; each has a supervisor, under whom work ministers, teachers, cottar women, fisherfolk. and other humble but enthusiastic lexicographers. The work of collecting material was begun by the Scottish Dialects Committee about twenty years ago, but the actual editing of the dictionary started last year. already so far advanced that half the words under ‘‘A” are reaay for the press; in the case of Sir William Craigie’s dictionary “A” is completed. It is not for anyone to appeal lightly to Scottish pride, but one may ask respectfully, if national _ “ amourpropre”'is not bound up with the success or failure of tho Scottish dictionaries. It would bo a tragedy it the work, already hampered desperately by lack of funds, were carried out in an inadequate manner, or were not carried out at all. Sir William Craigie’s dictionary will be published in four volumes or twenty-five parts, costing four dollars each; the ‘Scottish National Dictionary ’ will be contained in ten volumes and will cost £ls. Subscriptions should be sent to Sir William Craigie, University of Chicago Press, and the Hon. Treasurer, Scottish National Dictionary Association, North _of Scotland Bank, Edinburgh, respectively. There will be those who feel that works on such a scale could find no place on their shelves, but who, nevertheless, think that fine and unselfish scholarship should not bo frustrated. They may send donations, small cr large, to cither of the above addresses. The estimated cost of the ‘Scottish National Dictionary ’ alone is £15,000.