SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

Hiya! It’s getting pretty hard to find a Scots word in the manuscript that doesn’t contain spoilers. ? Even though this one comes from later in the story, it’s not much of a spoiler, thankfully!

Here’s the snippet… (mid-editing draft!)

White-hot pain lanced through Adam’s chest. He’d been hit more than once, and it had knocked him out. He blinked against the harsh sunlight, trying to put the events straight in his head.

A hand pressed him back down against the hard-packed ground beneath him. “Bide still, eh. Or I’ll fuck your stitches,” Ward said, with zero bedside manner before stabbing the needle through Adam’s skin again.

Running the Asset (Deniable Unit #1)

I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed that this common Scots word was easy to get, if not from hearing it before, then from the piece’s context. But, if it wasn’t, bide means to stay in English. (It has several other meanings like, “I uised tae bide in Peterheid.” — I used to live in Peterhead.)

Bide (as in stay) in Other Languages.

In Afrikaans it’s bly.

In German, it’s halt still. (Thank you, Stefanie!)

In Hindi, it’s ?????.

In Dutch, it’s afwachten.

And in French, it’s rester.

(If I’ve made a mistake, let me know, and I’ll change it. Thanks in advance!)

That’s it for this week

I hope you enjoyed this post. I’d love to hear your comments on how easy or difficult it was to get the gist of bide as it appeared in the quote.

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If you find yourself inspired by the Scots words I share, add the tag #TiS or #ThingsinScots to your writing/art/photo post and drop your link in the comments.

If you want to see more Scots posts, check out the original series, Things in Scots.

Thanks for reading. Take care, and I hope to see you next week for more Scots on Fiction Friday!