The Sixth Labyrinth (The Child of the Erinyes Book 4) (106 page)

Dirk: a dagger

Dominie: a schoolteacher

Dowf: dull and stupid

Dowp: backside

Dreich: wet, cold, miserable weather

Dulse: a salty dark red seaweed

Fashing, or fash: to be annoyed, worried, or stressed

Fee: a job

Gawpus: a clumsy stupid lout

Glaikit: thoughtless, stupid, foolish

Glengarry: a traditional men’s cap

greet, greeting: weeping

Haar: a sea-haar is a thick sea mist

Half-mark church: a church that performs clandestine or unconventional weddings

Hippins: baby diapers

Hissy: Beatrice uses this as a way of saying “hussy,” which is a mischievous girl, a problem child

Jillet: a flirt

jo: “dear” or “sweetheart”

Keek: to peek

Kirk: a Presbyterian church

Kist: the bride’s kist: her hope chest, in which she stores linens and other things she’s made for when she marries

Kye: cattle

Lief: “rather,” “happily.” “I would as happily buy a dog.”

Mince: rubbish. Nonsense

Moolet: to whine

Mucker: while this can be used in place of “friend,” it can also be derogatory. Kit uses it on Douglas to mean a coarse man, a jerk

Mutchit: said to children when annoyed with them or when one doesn’t think much of them

Paddler: a child just beginning to walk. A toddler

Sark: shirt

scunner: there are several ways to use this word. It describes many different emotions: angry, frustrated, annoyed, dislike.

Shieling: a rude hut or stone shelter up in sheep grazing lands, usually only occupied in the summer

Skaffie: a versatile Scottish fishing boat

Sonsie: another word with many uses and meanings, like “healthy,” “good-natured,” “attractive.”

Thole: bear, tolerate, endure: (I cannot bear it any longer)

Thrawn: perverse, twisted, crooked

Thwart: a bench on a boat

Unco: strange, weird, extraordinary

Wambly: trembling, shaky

Wame: stomach

Wynd: an alleyway, a narrow lane between buildings

GAELIC (AND GREEK) TRANSLATIONS

a
bhrònag
: You poor thing

a
charaid:
my friend

a
ghaoil
: my darling

a
ghràidh
: my love

àilleag
nan nighean:
jewel of the girls

a
leannan:
sweetheart, to a baby or child

a
luaidh:
an endearment. “Beloved”

a-mach às mo shealladh:
Get out of my sight

a nighean
: My lass

an tig thu thugam a-nochd:
Will you come to me tonight

Arnamuil
,
Gunamuil
,
Lianamuil
: sea stacks at Mingulay

a rùin mo chridhe
: My greatest love

a shiùrsach:
Whore, or “you whore”

Bàgh a’ Chaisteil:
Castlebay, a village on the island of Barra

Barraigh:
Gaelic for the island of Barra

beannachd
leat a ghràidh:
Goodbye, my love

beannachd leat,
mo nighean
:
Goodbye, my daughter

bean
-nighe
: water-wraith

bean-sìth
: Female spectres

bean-uasal
: a Highland lady

cait fhiadhaich:
the Scottish wildcat

caileag:
girl

Cailleach an Dùdain
: “The Old Woman of the Mill-Dust,” or “The Old Wife,” a traditional harvest-time dance from ancient times, with specific movements and symbolism

Càrnan
: the highest hill on Mingulay

cèilidh:
a visit, a get-together, a party

chan fhaca mi a leithid:
“I never saw the like”

ciamar
a tha thu, a ghràidh
: How are you, my love

crioslachan
: a bag, sometimes used to hold the Michaelmas carrots

curran:
carrot

daoine
sìth:
A supernatural race of faery-like people from Ireland. Described in various ways, as spirits of nature, gods and goddesses, faery people

Dòmhnach Curran:
Carrot Sunday (at Michaelmas)

Dùn Mhiughalaigh:
a promontory on Mingulay

Earsaraidh
: a village on Barra

feasgar
math:
good evening

fèilidhean:
kilts

gaol mo chridhe
:
Love of my heart

gille:
boy

glaistig:
a fearsome grey creature

gu bràth
: Forever

gus am faic mi a-rithist thu:
Until I see you again

Innse Orc
: the Orkney Islands

Là Fèill Bhrìghde:
St. Brigit’s Feast Day

madainn
mhath:
good morning

m
’ eudail:
my darling

mhic an Diabhail
: Son of the Devil

mìos nam pòg:
Month of kisses

mo bhean:
my wife

Mo rùn
: my love

Morrigan/Morrígan
: I kept the acute accent when I referenced the goddess, to differentiate between my character and the deity. There is some argument about whether it would have the accent. Various sources show it both ways, so I made that literary choice.

m
’ ulaidh bhuaireanta
:
bhuaireanta
has different connotations. On the one hand, it means “tempting,” “enticing,” and maybe the most telling, “enflaming.” But it also means “annoying,” “irritating,” “argumentative.” All of which can go together in many ways. It is the perfect, most sublime word in this instance

Nam chridhe gu bràth:
In my heart forever

oda:
the Michaelmas horse race

oidhche
mhath, ciamar a tha sibh:
Good evening (or good night), how are you? (spoken formally)

pìobaireachd
:
the piping (bagpipes)

Sasannach
: an Englishman

Sasannaich, na Sasannaich:
The English

seanchaidh:
storyteller

sìthean
: a faery hill

Sgoth Niseach:
A type of fishing boat built on the isle of Lewis

Sgurr Mhic Bharraich
: Mountain (or hill, really) east of Glenelg

Slàinte, or slàinte mhath:
Good health

Sròn an Dùin:
Nose of the Dun

strùan:
the Michaelmas cake

’s tu mo bhean is mo rùn
: Thou art my wife and my love

’
s tusa gaol is rùn mo chridhe
: Thou art my love, my heart

tadger:
penis

tha gaol agam ort:
I am in love with you

tha ise bòidheach:
She is beautiful

tha
mi toilichte
: I am happy

tha thu gam chur às mo chiall:
You’re driving me daft

Taigh gun chù
, gun chat, gun leanabh beag
.
Taigh gun ghean, gun ghàire
: “A house without a dog, a cat, or a little child is a house without joy or laughter”

Taigh
na Gaoithe
: Windy House

taigh
-tughaidh
: Thatched house

Tuatha Dé Dannann
(Danaan) or
Tuath Dé
: Tribe of the gods, or of the goddess Danu. Kings, queens and heroes with supernatural powers. Worshipped as gods originally: Robert Graves thought they originated in the Mediterranean

uisge-beatha
: whisky

ùruisg:
part goat, part human with tangled hair and protruding eyes

Lebadeia
: site of an ancient sanctuary on the Greek mainland, north of Athens, where people sought prophecy from oracles

Zoi mou
… agapi mou. T’aste’ri mou
: Greek. Zoi mou: my life. Agapi mou: my love. T’aste’ri mou: my star

AUTHOR’S NOTES

(FOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN)

The Sixth Labyrinth
is a complicated weave of truth and fantasy: Yes, liberties were taken. Following are notes, both about the liberties and truths, for those who might be interested.

* * * *

The maiden voyage of the
Princess Louise
was July 1, 1872. I moved this date back to May, for the purposes of the story. (I wanted Morrigan to be married and in Glenelg by Michaelmas.)

I was thrilled to discover some maps of Stranraer as it was in the 1850s. I used those to help describe the city, as well as my own memories from staying there.

I have an extensive library of books and other media detailing the Scots language and dialects. I have studied these, off and on, for about twenty-five years. This has equated into me understanding some but still being able to authentically speak almost none. I was extremely fortunate to receive the help of two native Gaelic speakers for this book, and I will always be grateful for their assistance and patience.

One of my favorite dictionaries is the
Chambers Scots Dictionary
, (compiled by Alexander Warrack, M.A.), which I purchased while in Scotland years ago. It was first published in 1911, and I’ve noticed it contains many words that apparently have been dropped from newer publications. Perhaps those words have gone out of favor, but I was happy to have access to words that were likely common in the 1800s. Here is the subtitle:

Serving as a glossary for Ramsay, Fergusson, Burns, Scott, Galt, minor poets, kailyard novelists, and a host of other writers of the Scottish tongue.

I’m sure I fit in there somewhere!

Beannachd leat, mo nighean
: I understand this isn’t the way Gaelic speakers would say this, but I chose it because I wanted Morrigan to be able to question Curran later about those words. (Goodbye, my daughter.)

Castle Kennedy, the ruin that Curran and Morrigan explore outside Stranraer, still stands. It was built by the clan of that name who controlled the area in the distant past. When I was there, it was off by itself in an empty field; we had to climb over a fence and were alone in exploring it, which no doubt added to its ghostly feel. I think now there’s a parking lot nearby, but there wasn’t then.

Lighthouses:

The description of
Dhu Heartach
was taken from
A Star for Seamen,
by Craig Mair. Work on
Dhu Heartach
was completed in November 1872.

Corsewall was built in 1817, Cape Wrath in 1828, Berneray in 1833, and Cairn Point in 1847, all by the Stevenson family of engineers.

The Glenelg Clearances: My descriptions of the Glenelg Clearances are an amalgam of evictions over the years, from various areas. In reality, Glenelg was cleared more than once, with the biggest eviction (500 people) occurring in 1849, and it did not happen exactly how I’ve portrayed it. The anguish I describe encapsulates almost every account I studied of people being cleared from their ancestral homes, but some were done in a more humane fashion than others, and in some instances, it was the crofters themselves who petitioned to be cleared. There are arguments about the Clearances, whether they were good or bad, kind or cruel, and I am not putting myself into those arguments. I had a vision of being a crofter in those days, of living on land my family had lived on for generations, of having everything fall apart, and of being relocated to a far away country, and that’s what I wrote.

Randall Benedict, the story’s landowner at the time of the Glenelg clearings, is my invention, and bears no resemblance to any true-life landowners.

In the late eighteen hundreds, the Highlands of Scotland were gradually converted from sheep farms to open parks for killing deer and birds. The pastime was popular among the wealthy British.

The Macleods did own the land around Glenelg in the 1600s, and would have been the builders of Kilgarry, (if Kilgarry existed. Which it didn’t— doesn’t. Kilgarry is my invention.)

My descriptions of Glenelg are not exactly what one would see these days, because I was trying to envision what the area might have looked like in the 1870s. I think there would have been more forest and less agriculture.

The Five Sisters of Kintail: it’s a nice label, although not used in Gaelic, and much easier than listing each one individually:

Sgùrr nan Spàinteach(The Peak of the Spaniards)

Sgùrr na Ciste Duibhe (The Peak of the Black Chest)

Sgùrr Fhuaran (The Peak of the Springs)

Sgùrr nan Saighead (The Peak of the Arrows)

Sgùrr na Càrnach(The Peak of the Stony Place)

In August of 1872 a sea serpent was indeed sighted and documented swimming through the straits of Kylerhea off Glenelg’s coast.

I’ve never actually heard that selkies have a magic “gaze” that will bewitch any they turn it upon. That was my invention.

Syncope and concussions have obviously been around for a long time (as long as we have had brains?) The word syncope has two meanings: it appears that the word as it pertains to fainting has been around since about the 1400s. There was work being done in the Victorian era on concussions, but no one knew the depth of details that we have today. So diagnosing Morrigan’s fainting would have been mostly guesswork. The aura she often sees before fainting is a symptom of concussion as well as other medical conditions, and there is speculation that concussions can sometimes cause nightmares (although I think it’s safe to say there are other powers at work with Morrigan’s nightmares!)

Origin of syncope:

The American Heritage Dictionary: “Middle English
sincopis
, from
sincopene
, from Late Latin
syncopēn
, accusative of
syncopē
, from Greek
sunkopē
, from
sunkoptein
,
to cut short
:
sun-
,
syn-
+
koptein
,
to strike
.”