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What’s with this “Wren” thing?
The oldest extant version of the fable
we
are presenting here appeared in 1913 in the first volume of a two-volume anthology
of Low
Saxon folktales (Plattdeutsche
Volksmärchen “Low German Folktales”)
collected by Wilhelm Wisser (1843–1935). Read
more ...
Robert
(Rabbie) Burns
(1759–1796), celebrated Scots
poet and lyricist, considered
Scotland’s national bard
Language information:
Scots is the Germanic language of the Scottish Lowlands. Old English being
their common ancestors, Scots is closely related to English but is now considered
a language in its own right. Specifically, Scots descended from the Old Northumbrian
dialect, is thus most closely related to the Northumbrian dialects of England.
Scots―which is also referred to as “Lowlands Scots,” “Lallans” (“Lowlands”)
and some of its dialects as “Doric”―was the language of Scotland’s administration
until
Scotland had
to submit to English
power. Auld lang syne by the famous Scottish bard Robert Burns (Rabbie
Burns) is a traditional Scots song famous around the world nowadays.
There are
three
main dialect groups of Scots: Mainland Scots (including some island dialects),
Shetlandic (strongly Scandinavian-influenced varieties of the Orkney and Shetland
Islands), and Ulster Scots (or Ullans, of Northern Ireland, which some people in Northern Ireland wish to be considered
a language in its own rights). Because of its Scandinavian links and influences,
Shetlandic might justifiably be considered a language in its own right. The
Mainland
Scots dialect
group
consists
of the following subgroups: Southern Scots
(or Borders
Scots),
Southwestern
Central
Scots, Southeastern Central Scots (including Lothian Scots), Western Central
Scots, Northeastern Central Scots, and Northern Scots (with the subdivisions
South, Mid and North).
While Scots is seen
and
presented by some people,
organizations
and publications as a subdivision of English (often as a type of “debased” or “slang” English), it must be
borne
in
mind
that
Scots
has had its own norms, traditions and literature for many centuries, that there
are, on the whole, clear distinctions between Scots and Scottish English, and
that Scots now again enjoys the status of an official language of Scotland, alongside
English and Gaelic.
Genealogy: Indo-European > Germanic > Western > Anglo-Scots > Scots
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