From the editor: This Feegle Glossary begins with the entries compiled by Miss Perspicacia Tick. As found at the end of The Shepherd’s Crown, it was still a work in progress, but we must sadly conclude that it is now a finished work.
Following the notes of Miss Tick, which remain “adjusted for those of a delicate disposition,” are the editor’s own additions to the Glossary. Some of these entries the reader will see are merely differences in pronunciation or spelling compared to those usually used by inhabitants of the Disk*, say, for example, the peoples of Ankh-Morpork or Lancre (though probably not those of Quirm).
Even so, this editor feels they deserve a place in this Glossary as they convey to a fuller extent the flavor and meaning of the vocabulary of the Feegle. You may wish to argue against the inclusion of one or more of such entries, but you will not win said argument. So, it is best not to start one or there will be a reckoning.
From the Feegle Glossary of Miss Tick
Bigjobs: human beings
Big Man: chief of the clan (usually the husband of the kelda)
Blethers: rubbish, nonsense
Bogle: see Schemie
Boggin: to be desperate, as in “I’m boggin for a cup of tea”
Brose: porridge with a drop of strong drink added – or more that a drop. Be warned: it will put hairs on your chest
Bunty: a weak person
Carlin: old woman
Cludgie: the privy
Corbies: big, black burdies known by most people as crows
Crivens!: a general exclamation that can mean anything from “My goodness!” to “I’ve just lost my temper and there is going to be trouble”
Dree your/my/his/her weird: facing the fate that is in store for you/me/him/her
Een: eyes
Eldritch: weird, strange; sometimes means oblong too, for some reason
Fash: worry, upset
Geas: a very important obligation, backed up by tradition and magic. Not a bird
Gonnagle: the bard of the clan, skilled in music and stories
Hag: a witch, of any age
Hag o’ hags: a very important witch
Hagging/Haggling: anything a witch does
Hiddlins: secrets
Kelda: the female head of the clan, and eventually the mother of most of it. Feegle babies are very small, and a kelda will have hundreds in her lifetime
Lang syne: long ago
Last World: the Feegles believe that they are dead. This world is so filled with all they like, they argue, that they must have been really good in a past life and then died and ended up here. Appearing to die here means merely going back to the Last World, which they believe is rather dull
Mowpie: furry animals with white tufts as tails, making them easy to spot. Sometimes called rabbits. Good to eat, especially with a dab of snail relish on the side
Mudlin: useless person
Pished: I am assured that this means “tired”
Schemie: an unpleasant person
Scuggan: a really unpleasant person
Scunner: a generally unpleasant person
Ships: woolly things that eat grass and go baa. Easily confused with the other kind
Spavie: see Mudlin
Special Sheep Liniment: probably moonshine whisky, I am very sorry to say. A favourite of the Feegles. Do not try to make this at home
Spog: a small leather bag at the front of a Feegle’s kilt, which covers whatever he presumably thinks needs to be hidden, and generally holds things like something he is halfway through eating, something he’d found that now therefore belongs to him, and whatever he was using as a handkerchief, which might not necessarily be dead
Steamie: only found in the big Feegle mounds in the mountains, where there’s enough water to allow regular bathing; it’s a kind of sauna. Feegles on the Chalk tend to rely on the fact that you can only get so much dirt on you before it starts to fall off of its own accord.
Waily: a generaly cry of despair
Glossary Additions from the Editor
aboot: about
agin: against
agley: poorly, badly, wrong
ain: own
allus: always
aroound: around
Auchtahelweit: Just sound it out
aw: all
babbie: baby, also used by Nanny Ogg
bairn: child
beastie: animal
beid: bed
besom: broomstick
bloustie: unknown adjective applied to the Queen of the Elves
bogeys: boogers, snot, or whatever else is up there
bootie: boot
brawly: perhaps bravely or properly
brose: brew?
bung: shove
bunty: wimp?
burdies: birds
cailey: party?
callyack: unknown noun said of the Queen of the Elves
canna/canna’/cannae: can’t
chairies: seats, not fruit
chookie: chicken
coo: cow
dae: do
dafties: stupid people
deid: dead
didnae: didn’t
dinnae: don’t
disnae: doesn’t, not related to Mickey who is unknown on the Disk
doon: down
doot: doubt
drappit: dropped
eejits: idiots
eiggs: eggs
fra’: from
frit: frighten
gae/gang: go
gi’e/gi’n/gieing: give/given/giving, respectively
giftie: gift
gob: mouth
groond: ground
guid: good
guz: goes
haed: hold
hame: home
hasnae: hasn’t
havena: haven’t
heich-heidit: rather posh
heid: head
hinny: ninny, perhaps
hoose: house
hush yer gob: be quiet
intae: into
isnae: isn’t
ither: other
izzit?: is it?
jools: jewels
ken: understand
laird: lord
lavvy: privy
licker: liquor, see also Special Sheep Liniment (above)
ma: my
mannie: person
mebbe: maybe
mithered: muddled, mixed up
moose: mouse, no antlers involved
muckle: much
muir: more
mun: must
nae: no
naeone: no one, still two words in English
necklet: necklace
neednae: needn’t
niver: never
noo: now
offski: leaving (quickly)
oot: out
oour: our
ooutside: outside
paira: two of something
pichoors: pictures
pismire: ant
Pit o’ Heel: presumably a very hot place
polis: watchmen
problemo: problem, as in “nae problemo”
puir: poor
quin: queen
raskills: rascals
reet: right
roond: round, around
sae: so
scraffin’: catching
scugger(s): sock without heels
shouldnae: shouldn’t
sich: such
skelingtons: skeletons
skelpin’: smacking, boxing, hit (on the ear)
slammered: hit (hard)
slunkit: unknown adjective used in “wee slunkit mowpie”
sojers: soldiers
squiffy: nauseous?
stachoo: statue
stannit: stand (still)
swiddle: malarky
tae: to
tak: take
tattie-bogle: scarecrow
tishoo: tissue, or possibly issue
topher: unknown
trakkans: nose, perhaps, as in “stickit yer trakkans”
troousers: pants
unricht: not right
verra/veerae: very
washoon: derogatory name (for an enemy)
watter: water
wean: descendant
weel: well
whan: when
wheer: where
Wheest!: wait, perhaps
whut: what
willna’/willnae: won’t
wimmin: women
wouldna’: wouldn’t
wud: would
wurds: words
wuss: worse
wuz: was
wuzna: wasn’t, weren’t
yer: you
yersels: yourselves
Feegle Phrases and Numbers
Following are a few phrases, numbers and other concepts that the reader should ken when reading anything Feegle related.
Yan, tan, tethra…: One, two three… (more than this is seldom needed)
Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna’ be fooled again!: rallying cry of the Feegle, after being freed from the Queen of the Elves
Nac Mac Feegle wha hae!: pre-fight cheer. In other words, useable any time. “Wha hae!” seems to be similar to “Woo hoo!”
Trannit a wheelstone: how the Feegles get into Tiffany’s heid. The exact mechanism and translation of the phrase are both unknown.
- Pursin’ o’ the Lips
- Foldin’ o’ the Arms
- Tappin’ o’ the Feets
- That look in her bonny eye that says: This Explanation had better be really guid
The list just above is a progression accomplished most often by the kelda and sometimes by Tiffany that is one of the most feared situations for a Feegle to find himself in. It is experienced when the Feegles come back from drinkin’, stealin’, an’ fightin’, but can occur in other circumstances.
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*Readers who are inhabitants of the Roundworld may notice more than a passing similarity to the Scottish dialect as well. Reference to the kilt is almost a dead giveaway.