Scots Dictionary of Nature, A

Scotland is a nation of dramatic weather and breathtaking landscapes. Its mountains, glens, rivers, lochs and seas are world-renowned for their beauty and their bounty. And over centuries the people who have lived, explored and thrived in this land developed language to describe their surroundings, a lexicon of Scottish words that have been shaped by the landscape and wildlife. In "A Scots Dictionary of Nature", artist Amanda Thomson shares with us this language of Scotland, from the word describing an owl's call on a warm summer evening (huam) to the onomatopoeic splorroch - walking in wet mud. Combining sections on land, wood, weather, birds, water and walking, this is a rich vocabulary gathered from traditional texts, dictionaries and in conversation, an evolving catalogue of centuries lived between the mountains and and the sky.