The Guid Book
Author: W L Lorimer et al
Date: 1993
Source: Ullans: The Magazine for Ulster-Scots: Nummer 1 Spring 1993
Some Ulster writers have paraphrased small parts of the Bible in their local dialects — Pat McCarty’s couple of Psalms spring to mind for example — but for major translations we have to turn to mainstream Scots. W L Lorimer’s translation of the New Testament from Greek into Scots is widely regarded as a masterpiece of modern Scots writing. The Scots of Waddell’s Psalms in Scots and Paterson’s The Wyse-sayins o Solomon are of great interest too. The following verses from all these books make some mention of plants.
W L Lorimer: The New Testament in Scots
Matthew 6.28
Luik til the wild lilies an the wey they grow: they trauvena nor spin-na; and yit I tell ye at Solomon himsel in aa his braivitie wisna buskit hauf sae braw. But gin God sae cleads the girss i the fields at is growin the day, an the morn in cuissen intil the uin, will he no be faur liker tae clead ye?
Luke 12.27
Or again, think on the lilies: they naither spin nor weave; and yit, I tell ye, no een Solomon in aa his braivitie wis buskit hauf sae braw. But, gif God sae cleads the gress at is growin there i the fields the day, an the morn in cuissen until the uin, is he no faur liker tae clead ye?
T Whyte Paterson: The Wyse-Sayins o Solomon
Proverbs 15, 18/19
A crabbit body is aye stearin up a wheen mair bickerins;
But the man wi’ the lown temper saves mony a rippet.
The wey o’ the lazy loon is border’t wi’ brammles;
But the gate o’ the guid’ll be set on the croon o’ the causey.
P Hately Waddell: The Psalms in Scots
Psalm 103, 15
Man, as he stan’s, his days are like gerss; lik a flowir o’ the field, he growes:
For the win’ it wins owre him, an gane is he: the bit neuk whar he stude, sal ken nought o him mair.
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Contents: Ullans: The Magazine for Ulster-Scots: Nummer 1 Spring 1993
