Are there any words which originated in Scotland/Wales/Ireland and are now used regularly in England?

Question

I'm thinking of words like 'bonny' or 'blather', but these aren't very good examples because although they are words that are instantly recognizable in England, they aren't regularly used in England because they are still associated with Scottish dialects. Words like 'heckle' or 'blackmail' are what I'm after. Can you think of any more?

Thank you, RoyF! I searched Wikipedia but couldn't find what I was looking for. I need these words to form part of an argument in an English essay. Many thanks once again! If anyone has any more I'd be very grateful.

Answer 1

I found a few! They're probably not what you're looking for but here we are:

Smashing: In English it means 'great, fun, brilliant', derived from "Is math sin" meaning, "that's good"

Twig: In England we say "to twig onto something", meaning " to begin to understand" from Gaelic "tig" meaning to understand

I tell you what, I just found a big old list:

Bard
From bàrd, poet or reciter.
Banshee
From bean-sìth, a wailing (female) spirit.
Beltane
Bealtainn or in Irish gaelic 'Bealtaine' (May, the month of)
Ben
From beinn, mountain
Bog
From bog, meaning soft or wet, a bog, swamp or marsh.
Brat
A disagreeable or spoiled child.
Brogue
bròg(shoe)
Brisk
brisg (Welsh Brysg, French Brusque)
Bunny
Caber
From cabar, pole
Cairn
càrn
Cèilidh
A traditional Scottish social gathering involving dance
Clan
From clann, children or family.
Clàrsach
A harp
Claymore
From claidheamh mòr, great sword
Corrie
From coire, kettle
Cross
Crois (Anglo-Saxon Cros, Old Norse Kross, originally from Latin crux)
Drambuie
A scotch whisky liqueur, from dram buidheach, drink that satisfies
Dulse
duileasg
Gab, gob
From gob, mouth.
Galore
From gu leòr, enough, plenty.
Ghillie
gille
Glayva
A type of liqueur, from glè mhath, very good
Glen
From gleann, a valley.
Hubbub
ubub
Keen (wail)
From caoin
Loch
an enclosed body of water, fresh or salt.
Pet
peata, originally meaning a spoilt child. (English from to pet)
Pibroch
piobaireachd (piping)
Plaid
(Probably borrowed from Scots, a development of ply, to fold, giving plied then plaid after the Scots pronunciation)
Ptarmigan
tarmachan
Quaich
cuach, a cup.
Samhain
The Gaelic word for November; refers to a pagan holiday
Shennachie
Seannachaidh
Slapper
slaopaire, slapar (loose woman) (probably an extension of meaning of English slap cf. slap and tickle)
Slew
a great number (a slew of problems) from sluagh, an army, people.
Slob
Slogan
From the sluagh-ghairm, battle-cry
Slughorn
Also from sluagh-ghairm, battle-cry but erronously believed by Thomas Chatterton and Robert Browning to refer (apparently) to some kind of trumpet.
Smashing
From 's math sin - that is good, or simply an extension of the meaning of common or garden English smash.
Smidgen
"smid" a "syllable", a small bit, smidean a very small bit (connected to Irish "smidirin", smithereen)
Snazzy
from "snas", fashion, perhaps a U.S. colloquial blend of snappy and jazzy
Sporran
sporan, purse
Spunk
Spong, originally meaning tinder or spark. ultimately from Latin spongia, Greek σπογγια, a sponge
Strath
From srath,' meaning a wide valley
Strontium
from Strontian.
Trousers
from triubhas via "trews"
Twig (know, catch on)
tuigim

Answer 2

The first answer isn't daft at all, as "whisky" comes from the Gaelic uisgebeatha. My contribution is "Wee" in the sense of "small". I can't think of anything else on the spur of the moment. It would be odd, though, if other words from the "Celtic" languages aren't used in England, in view of the huge number of other foreign words that are used in England, like "bungalow" from India, "compound" (as in "the diplomatic compound") from Malaysia via Dutch, "tea" from China via all sorts of other places, and so on.

Answer 3

Eisteddfod? Its a welsh word that is associated with cultural events. I know they use the word in Australia when they have talent competitions. Not sure if this helps...

Answer 4

Long list here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Celtic_origin

Answer 5

Wee - as in little.

Answer 6

whisky
daft

Answer 7

Sheep !

You know where i'm coming from !

Answer 8

haggis

Answer 9

freedom?