Discussion:
Scottish translation requested
(too old to reply)
Tony Cooper
2021-02-01 18:43:28 UTC
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The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of my
Ewan MacCall CDs. The first two verses are:

Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Jock and Tam and a's comin'

Borland and his men's comin',
The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin',
A' the duniewastle's comin'!

Full lyrics at
https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=6447,6447,6447,6447&SongID=6447,6447,6447,6447
Sung at


The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.

The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write "Camerons" and
"MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the members of the Cameron
clan to be possessives of the clan, but I don't. Or, you could
consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is comin'" with "Cameron's"
being a contraction of "Cameron is".

And what's a duniewastle when it's at its croft?
--
Tony Cooper Orlando Florida
Bebercito
2021-02-01 19:02:33 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of my
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin',
The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin',
A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
"Wat" seems to mean "know", so maybe "Little do you know who's coming"?
Post by Tony Cooper
The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write "Camerons" and
"MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the members of the Cameron
clan to be possessives of the clan, but I don't. Or, you could
consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is comin'" with "Cameron's"
being a contraction of "Cameron is".
And what's a duniewastle when it's at its croft?
--
Tony Cooper Orlando Florida
Peter Moylan
2021-02-02 00:06:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bebercito
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of my
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin',
The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin',
A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
"Wat" seems to mean "know", so maybe "Little do you know who's coming"?
In English English that's usually spelt "wot". Similarly, the difference
between Scots "wha" and English "who" is just a vowel change in the
spelling, although a bigger change in the pronunciation.
--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW
Peter T. Daniels
2021-02-01 19:21:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of my
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin',
The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin',
A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
"Wat" appears to be the past of "wit," 'know' (cf. Ger. wissen, and
the English noun "wits" as in "have your wits about you").
Post by Tony Cooper
The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write "Camerons" and
"MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the members of the Cameron
clan to be possessives of the clan, but I don't. Or, you could
consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is comin'" with "Cameron's"
being a contraction of "Cameron is".
Scottish transcribers are allowed to be greengroc'ers too.
Post by Tony Cooper
And what's a duniewastle when it's at its croft?
Same as when it isn't.
Jerry Friedman
2021-02-01 20:02:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of my
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin',
The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin',
A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
"Wha" = "who", as in "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled". Wa-hey!
Post by Tony Cooper
The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write "Camerons" and
"MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the members of the Cameron
clan to be possessives of the clan, but I don't. Or, you could
consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is comin'" with "Cameron's"
being a contraction of "Cameron is".
Mr. Folk, or whoever wrote this song, seems to "overleap the mounds
and impediments of grammar". "Are" is replaced with 's, as in "Jock and
Tam an' a's comin'." So maybe instead of "the MacLeans are coming" we
get "the Macleans's comin'," shortened to "the MacLean's comin'." It
should still be "The Camerons and MacLean's comin'," but once you get
started with apostrophes...
Post by Tony Cooper
And what's a duniewastle when it's at its croft?
The first Google hit I got was

https://www.scots-online.org/dictionary/read_dictionary.php?letter=D&CurPage=52

Apparently "duniwastle's" is "duniwastles are" again.
--
Jerry Friedman
Owain Lastname
2021-02-01 20:09:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jerry Friedman
Mr. Folk, or whoever wrote this song, seems to "overleap the mounds
and impediments of grammar". "Are" is replaced with 's, as in "Jock and
Tam an' a's comin'."
That is:
Jock and Tam and all is coming

Owain
Jerry Friedman
2021-02-01 20:38:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Owain Lastname
Post by Jerry Friedman
Mr. Folk, or whoever wrote this song, seems to "overleap the mounds
and impediments of grammar". "Are" is replaced with 's, as in "Jock and
Tam an' a's comin'."
Jock and Tam and all is coming
Exactly. The song uses '"s", or "is", where (standard) English uses "are".

Would this version of Scots also have "you's", "we's", and "they's"?
--
Jerry Friedman
musika
2021-02-01 21:34:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jerry Friedman
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of my
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Little wat ye wha's comin',
Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin',
The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin',
A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
"Wha" = "who", as in "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled". Wa-hey!
And "wat" is the Scots version of "wot" = "know
Little wat ye wha's comin
Little know you who's coming.
--
Ray
UK
CDB
2021-02-02 14:29:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of
Little wat ye wha's comin', Little wat ye wha's comin', Little wat ye
wha's comin', Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin', The Cameron's and MacLean's comin' The
Gordon's and MacGregor's comin', A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc

No need. MacColl is now singing it in my head.
Post by Tony Cooper
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write "Camerons"
and "MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the members of the
Cameron clan to be possessives of the clan, but I don't. Or, you
could consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is comin'" with
"Cameron's" being a contraction of "Cameron is".
I think the Cameron is comin' and the MacLean is comin', with all their ilk.
Post by Tony Cooper
And what's a duniewastle when it's at its croft?
A duine-uasail (my spelling, but I got it somewhere). A Scottish nobleman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duine_uasal#:~:text=A%20Duine%20Uasal%20or%20duin%27%20uasal%2C%20anglicised%20as,meaning%20a%20%22man%22%2C%20and%20%22uasal%22%20meaning%20%22gentle%2C%20noble%2C
Jerry Friedman
2021-02-02 15:10:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tony Cooper
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one of
Little wat ye wha's comin', Little wat ye wha's comin', Little wat ye
wha's comin', Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin', The Cameron's and MacLean's comin' The
Gordon's and MacGregor's comin', A' the duniewastle's comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
No need. MacColl is now singing it in my head.
Post by Tony Cooper
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I can't
quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's coming" is
the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write "Camerons"
and "MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the members of the
Cameron clan to be possessives of the clan, but I don't. Or, you
could consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is comin'" with
"Cameron's" being a contraction of "Cameron is".
I think the Cameron is comin' and the MacLean is comin', with all their ilk.
...

So it's "The Cameron is and MacLean is coming"? That seems rather odd.
The line "A' the duniewastle's comin'" makes it clear that the 's can combine
plural and copula, so the simplest interpretation is that it does the same in
other lines where that makes sense.
--
Jerry Friedman
CDB
2021-02-02 21:41:25 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jerry Friedman
Post by Tony Cooper
Post by Tony Cooper
The song "The Highland Muster Call" is one of the tracks on one
Little wat ye wha's comin', Little wat ye wha's comin', Little
wat ye wha's comin', Jock and Tam and a's comin'
Borland and his men's comin', The Cameron's and MacLean's comin'
The Gordon's and MacGregor's comin', A' the duniewastle's
comin'!
Full lyrics at
Sung at http://youtu.be/0JNvXOt4ICc
Post by Jerry Friedman
Post by Tony Cooper
No need. MacColl is now singing it in my head.
Post by Tony Cooper
The first line is repeated in all the every-other verses. I
can't quite figure out what it means. Obviously, "Here's who's
coming" is the general meaning, but "wat" and "wha's" escape me.
The apostrophes in the lyrics bother me. I would write
"Camerons" and "MacLeans". I suppose you could consider the
members of the Cameron clan to be possessives of the clan, but I
don't. Or, you could consider it to be "The Cameron (clan) is
comin'" with "Cameron's" being a contraction of "Cameron is".
I think the Cameron is comin' and the MacLean is comin', with all their ilk.
...
So it's "The Cameron is and MacLean is coming"? That seems rather
odd. The line "A' the duniewastle's comin'" makes it clear that the
's can combine plural and copula, so the simplest interpretation is
that it does the same in other lines where that makes sense.
Mudcat also has

"The Laird o' Maclntosh is comin',
MacRabie and MacDonald's comin',
The MacKenzie's and MacPherson's comin'
A' the wild MacCraw's comin'"

Which contains multitudes, including "apostrophe-s"s that are obviously
plural in line 4 and some that are aeguably singlular in line 2 and
maybe 3. And somebody put those apostrophes there.

But I won't dispute the correction; English is full of plural "is"s. Is
you is or ain't you ain't my baby?

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