Scottish Language Dictionaries is the nation’s resource for the Scots leid. SLD research Scots texts fae aw periods in history. They record an analyse the language fowk speak an scrieve theday anaw. Baith the Muckle Dictionars o Scots, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue and the Scottish National Dictionary are available online as The Dictionary of the Scots Language at www.dsl.ac.uk. They are the outcome o nar a century o wark an they awe a nae insignificant debt tae Jamieson whase scholarly twa volume Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language wis first publisht twa hunner year ago in 1808. Jamieson hissel awed a muckle debt tae Ruddiman wha compilit a glossary tae Gavin Douglas’s Aeneid an tae Sir John Skene’s De Verborum Significatione, a glossary, in Scots, o Scots legal terms.

National Word Collection

Volunteer readers hae completit braw wark ower the years syne the muckle dictionars wur stertit an they wadna hae come intae bein athoot them. SLD sends oot buiks tae readers, tryin tae match up the readers wi buiks they micht enjoy. Readers underline the first occurrence o ilka Scots wird or phrase. We ask thaim tae leuk oot as weel for the same wird in anither form sic as plural an past tense.

Online material haes makkit a difference tae the Collection. Fae computer generatit concordances, ye can instantly see the smaaist difference in meanin in the occurrences o wirds. Yin o oor best online sources for Modren Scots is the Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS Corpus) at www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk.

Ootrax an Education.

We gie talks tae groups, rin workshops an support teachers in scuils throu oor Ootrax an Education Programme. Please get in touch if therr’s onythin ye want us tae dae tae help yer wark on Scots at mail@scuilwab.org.uk the Scuilwab is pairt o oor ootraxin tae lairners, teachers an parents.