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Many a Mickle makes a Muckle

A new online archive is being launched today—on St. Andrew's Day. As reported by The Scotsman, the SCOTS Project of the University of Glasgow is designed to record the Scots tongue in all its forms.
Dr Wendy Anderson, of the university's department of English language, said: "SCOTS is flexible for research into questions of word survival and regional distribution and features of grammar and pronunciation.

"For example, we're interested in the currency of distinctively Scottish words, such as gallus, canny, muckle, sonsie and braw."
Among the treasures recorded by the SCOTS Project is this commentary on language from Alexander Fenton in "Craiters: 'I cannot get enough of it'":
Faar I wis brocht up, e only seabirds we'd see wis e seamaas. In my time we caad em seagulls, bit aaler fowk wid say seamaas, makin't soon like 'simaaze'. Ere's ay change goin on in e dialect, an ye get a mixter o aal an new, bit it's e life o language tae be aye adaptin tae different generations an different times. It's naething tae greet aboot. Naething staans still, bit gin a wye o spikkin's richt hannlet, fa's tae say bit fit it michna leave its mark tee on fit ey caa e standard language? - for ere's nae doot at e standard language sair needs a bit o revitalisation noo an aan. Bit I'm on aboot seagulls, nae hobbyhorses.
According to the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, "mickle" and "muckle" are merely variants of the same dialect word meaning "a large amount." However, the alternative form of the phrase "many a little makes a mickle" that is the title of this post (originally a misquotation) has led to a misunderstanding that mickle means "a small amount."
Posted by abnu on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 @ 1:24 PM [ + ]

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