Mag Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 http://www.ablab.org/shetland/index.htmlIt takes a bit to get used to navigation on the site ... (broadband and flash essentially!) The quirky navigation of the site makes exploring it luck as much as management - just like really looking for old papers. Great fun and very clever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 I noted the credits at the end stating "design by ablab + dunlop" with Brian Smith (amongst others) getting a special thanks There's also a link to this article - http://www.ablab.org/shetland/text/essay.html - which is a transcription of a talk that Brian Smith gave about Laurence Williamson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandhopper Posted April 24, 2007 Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 ... just like really looking for old papers. Great fun and very clever.... absolutely agreed: dive in ... try out ... enjoy ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestJohnDoe Posted April 26, 2007 Report Share Posted April 26, 2007 Auld rasmies quote don't even live in the UK any longer so I'm in a bit of a language limbo just now,,, long story.. But,,again, Kjær Auld RasmieArbeider De hvor som helst nå. Hvor blir De nå.Er der som hyggelig bay view. Er De komme til klassegjenforeningen stille ? Prøver ikke fornærme vår brødre frå utenlands? -apologies to all Normenn for this poor translation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted April 27, 2007 Report Share Posted April 27, 2007 Kjær Auld RasmieArbeider De hvor som helst nå. Hvor blir De nå.Er der som hyggelig bay view. Er De komme til klassegjenforeningen stille ? Prøver ikke fornærme vår brødre frå utenlands? -apologies to all Normenn for this poor translation Christ !!! Whaur did yun puir translation come fae????Da last time ony een confused me as muckle wi language, wis a peerie lass fae da far east, dat gae me a slap roond da lug, fir missunderstaandin her. An, no I dunna ken yet if hit'll be possible ta mak da class PU i July, bit du kens me, ony chance fir a booze up canna be missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted May 11, 2007 Report Share Posted May 11, 2007 Onybody interested in sendin sontin tae here? http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/content/presscentre/releases/2007/04/PR03815.mspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medziotojas Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 Going back to the Shetland dialect in schools — In primary seven at Bells Brae we were given two books two study along with some classroom activities. I remember one book being “Northern Lights†which if memory serves me right was a sort of compilation, and the other was “Footprints†by James. W. Irvine. I think that Shetland culture/history should perhaps be an informal part of education, and not only limited to dialect. I don’t seem to remember these studies causing any problems with the set curriculum. It was more of a late afternoon excercise where you might otherwise have been carrying out activities outwith the curriculum. Moving on, I would like to know if anyone else knows anything about the derivation of the Scottish/Shetland word “marackâ€. I met a linguist out here in Lithuania who told me it was actually a Russian word for a type of dark or black soil. Apparently, the Shetland and Scottish boats used to sail to the Baltic to trade herring. After unloading their herring, they would load up again with “marack†for ballast for the return journey. This soil, which was apparently very fertile would then be used on the crops at home. Somewhere over time the meaning seems to have become a term for drunkeness, perhaps related to “black†as in “black-outâ€. Du shoulda seen da slester (another favourite) at I wis athin dastreen. I wis S**te maracked! Any thoughts on this one? I’d be interested to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 ^^^ Can't say I've ever come across the word "marack", the nearest I can think of is "marackeled", which a mony een haes dun whin drunk too, but has nothing to do with blackness or soil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medziotojas Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 I found this definition on the Urban Dictionary website. sh*t marack An old 1950s (or earlier) North East Scottish word meaning drunk to the point of being nearly unconscious. A more modern word would be 'steaming. Larry wis bad last night - sh*t marack. I've definitely heard this term used in Shetland, usually "maracked" as opposed to "marack". As for marackeled - I'm also familiar with this term but I think it would usually be used in the context, "I fell af o da byre roof an marackeled meesel". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 It could be that's it's more of a "toon" word than a Shetland-wide one, given that connections between the NE Scottish Mainland and Lerwick are considerably stronger than elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crofter Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 Not in Jakobsen, but he does list "mar" - a kind of fine bluish clay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 27, 2007 Report Share Posted May 27, 2007 Sh*te Marack,I mind hit weel.. been i dat state mair dan I want ta mind.. An expression that most folk just don't want to remember purely because it was referring to a state they had been in themselves.. I thought this was an expression widely used throughout Shetland, but I am sure its origins are more Scottish than Shetland. In fact I may be wrong but I think Billy Connely has been heard to use it.. Cheers,Da Auld Een Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deardron Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Moving on, I would like to know if anyone else knows anything about the derivation of the Scottish/Shetland word “marackâ€. I met a linguist out here in Lithuania who told me it was actually a Russian word for a type of dark or black soil. Apparently, the Shetland and Scottish boats used to sail to the Baltic to trade herring. After unloading their herring, they would load up again with “marack†for ballast for the return journey. This soil, which was apparently very fertile would then be used on the crops at home.Well, being a native Russian I don't know a word for any type of soil resembling to "marack". There's a word "moryak" which means "sailor". I've also found a word "mar" from south-eastern dialects of Russian which means "hill, (grave) mound" and originates from eastern Finno-Ugrian languages and that's all. Speaking of drunkeness it can be compared to the Russian word "mrak" which means "darkness" (cmp. Shet. mirker 'darkness'), probably to be understood like drunkeness in one's brain, but I find this etymology doubtful. I think this word must be of Scandinavian/Scots roots. It's not present in the Scots dictionary but there are 2 related words as Crofter has mentioned: "mar" ('clay, mud, mire') and "marais" ('low-lying waterlogged ground, marshland; a marsh or bog'), looks like it can explain the first part of the word "marack". The second part "-ack" must be the Scots suffix "-ack/-ock" which gave Shetlandic "-ek" (piltek, sillek etc.). It probably had some diminutive meaning, otherwise it was typical for words of fishermen slang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medziotojas Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 ^ ÑпаÑибо! I found this information on the Natonal cooperative soil survey (USA) website. http://www2.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/osd/dat/C/CAMPCREEK.html GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Marack, Rastus, Skullgulch, and Wahstal soils. Marack soils are on adjacent lower terraces, have a calcic horizon and border on an aridic moisture regime. It doesn't really help my cause. It seems Marack is a common place name particularly for boggy/mossy areas in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It also appears as a surname in some parts of Eastern Europe and Germany. It could be dialectal - Lithuania alone has four dialects - or it may simply be that I'm barking up the wrong tree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crofter Posted June 2, 2007 Report Share Posted June 2, 2007 In Finnish, soil is "maa" black fertile soil is "multa" - possibly related to "muld" in Shetland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.