auld

In drei Wochen wird der eine oder ande­re sich wie­der fra­gen, was er da – mit Gleich­ge­sinn­ten unter­ge­hakt, ange­hei­tert bis hacke­dicht schun­kelnd – als tra­di­tio­nel­les Lied­gut zum Jah­res­wech­sel zum Bes­ten lallt – aus vol­ler Keh­le und mehr oder weni­ger im Gleich‑, wenn auch sicher nicht im Wohlklang…

Nun, was es mit der kryp­ti­schen Wen­dung »auld lang syne« auf sich hat, habe ich unter ande­rem letz­tes Jahr hier erklärt. Aber kurz für alle, die’s wirk­lich nur auf die Schnel­le wis­sen wol­len, hier noch mal in Kürze: 

auld ist – obso­let / ver­al­tet bzw. schot­tisch obso­let / ver­al­tet – für old

lang­sy­ne / lang syne bedeu­tet – eben­so obso­let bzw. schot­tisch obso­let für long sin­ce (seit lan­gem, vor lan­ger Zeit, lang is’ her) bzw. hier, wo es als Sub­stan­tiv / Haupt­wort gebraucht wird: die alte Zeit. Impli­ziert ist selbst­ver­ständ­lich »die gute alte Zeit«

»For auld lang syne my jo, For auld lang syne, We’ll tak a cup o‘ kind­ness yet for auld lang syne.« Heißt also nichts ande­res als »auf die alte Zeit«, auf die man hier anstößt bzw. trinkt…

Für alle, bei denen es ein biss­chen mehr sein darf, habe ich in einem mei­ner Lieb­lings­schwar­ten geblät­tert: Joseph Wright, The Eng­lish Dialect Dic­tion­a­ry. Vol. I. A‑C. 1898. pp. 94–95. Ich habe hier mal was über die­sen bemer­kens­wer­ten Mann geschrie­ben. Heu­te nur mal sei­nen Ein­trag zu »auld«.

AULD, adj. Sc. e.Cy.

1. Eldest.
Sc. (Jam. Sup­pl.) Abd. Very rare­ly used (G. W.). Per. In the­se parts an oldest son, daugh­ter, brot­her, or sis­ter is usual­ly spo­ken of as my auld Son, daugh­ter, brot­her, or sis­ter: the ‘auld son’ may be a child (ib.). Ayr. My auld son Charlie’s a fine cal­lan, Galt Ent­ail (1823) xii. Lnk. Auld is com­mon­ly used about Glas­gow in this sen­se (ib.).

2. The first or best, a phr. used in games (Hall.).
e.An. That is the auld bowl. Nrf. Here, whe­re the game of bowls is much in favour, the term Aul’ bowl, or bowl clo­sest to the ‘jack’ is extre­me­ly com­mon (H.C.-H.).

3. In phr. Auld Chiel, see Auld Thief; aul’ day, the day after a mer­ry-making, when no work is done; Auld Han­gie, Auld Smith, Auld Thief jocu­lar names for the devil; auld wife, auld woman, a revol­ving iron chimney­pot.
Per. The auld chiel’ or the auld ane is a com­mon name for the devil (G.W.) Bnff.1 A met ’im o’ the go; he’s hau­din’ the aul’ day. Ayr. Hear me, auld Han­gie, for a wee, Burns Address to the Devil (1785). Abd. Tak’ an order o’ the auld smith, an ye like, Alex­an­der John­ny Gibb (1871) 49. Sc. Their faces were by this time flus­hed with shame, that they should be thus cuf­fed about by the auld thief, as they sty­led him, Peri­ls of Men, III. 38 (Jam.). Auld wife is so cal­led on account of its liken­ess to an old woman’s head enve­lo­ped in a flan­nel cap. During high winds old-wives and pig-taps [i. e. tops of chim­ney- cans] are apt to be thrown down, and street wal­king is dan­ge­rous. Hence the seve­ri­ty of a storm, and one’s cou­ra­ge in bra­ving it, came to be repre­sen­ted by the expres­si­on, ’rai­ning auld-wives and pig-taps,’ which beca­me cor­rupt­ed into ‘rai­ning auld-wives and pike­staffs’ (Jam. Sup­pl.). SIk. The­re goes an auld woman frae the chum­ley-tap, Chr. North Noc­tes (1834) IV. 178, ed. 1856. 

4. Comp. (1) Auld-aun­tie; (2) -father; (3) -hea­dit (Jam.); (4) -mou’d (ib.), saga­cious, craf­ty; (5) ‑uncle.
(1) Cld. Auld-aun­tie, the aunt of one’s father or mother (Jam.). Ayr. (G.W.) (2) w.Sc. Auld-father, grand­fa­ther (Jam.). Ayr, (GAV.) (3) Old. Auld-hea­dit, shrewd, saga­cious (Jam.). (4) Abd. She looks ill to ca’, And o’er auld mou’d, I reed, is for us a’, Ross Hti­enore (1768) 97, ed. 1812. (5) Cld, Auld-uncle, the uncle of one’s father or mother (Jam.). Ayr. (G.W.)

AULD, see Old-. 

AULD GIBBIE, sb. Sc. Mor­rhua vul­ga­ris, or com­mon Cod.
Sc. Sat­chell. (1879) 8.
(Gib­bie, a fami­li­ar form of the name Gilbert.) 

AULD LANG SYNE, phr. Sc. Nhb. Cum. Also writ­ten aud- N Cy.1 ‘Old long ago,’ a phra­se refer­ring to by­gone days ; the ’good old times.’

Sc. God be wi’ auld lang syne, when our gut­chers ate their tren­chers, Ramsay Prov. (1737); John­ny Mor­theuch might hae min­ded auld lang syne, and thought of his old kim­mers, Scott Bri­de of Lam. (1819) xxxiv. Per. Wull ye no come wi’ me for auld lang syne? Ian Macla­ren Brier Bush (1895) 289. Ayr. We’ll tak a cup o’ kind­ness yet, For auld lang syne, Burns Auld Lang Syne (1793). Bwk. Whe­re in the days o’ auld lang syne The wives were wit­ches a’, Hen­der­son Pop. Rhy­mes (1856) 52. N.Cy. 1 Aud-lang syne, a favou­ri­te phra­se by which old per­sons express their recoll­ec­tions of for­mer kind­ness and juve­ni­le enjoy­ments in times long sin­ce past. Nhb. I drea­med of auld lang syne, Keelman’s Ann. (1869) 5 Cum. Wish for times like auld lang sey­ne. Anoer­son Bal­lads (1808) 144. Wm. & Cum.1 The glad­so­me page of auld lang sey­ne, 167.

[The phr. means ‘the old long sin­ce’; see Lang syne, and Syne.]

AULD LICHT, phr. used attr­tib. Sc. Said of minis­ters and peo­p­le who are con­tent with the ‘Old Light,’ the old way of loo­king at theo­lo­gi­cal ques­ti­ons, ortho­dox, conservative.

Frf. The­re are few Auld Licht com­mu­ni­ties in Scot­land nowa­days, Bar­rie Licht (1888) ii. Ayr. Some auld-light herds [pas­tors] in nee­bor towns. Burns To Wil­liam Simpson (1785).

AULD-WIFE-HUID, sb. Cum. The Mon­k­shood, Aco­ni­tum napel­lus.

[This name of the plant is der. fr. the man­ner in which the flowers grow—‘at the top of the stal­kes, of a ble­wish colour, fashio­ned also like a hood,’ Gerar­de (ed. 1633) 971. Hence many other of its various names, such as Face-in-hood, Granny’s Night­cap, Turk’s Cap, Monk’s Cowl, Old Wives Mut­ches.]

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»old lang syne«