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blains - Hamely Tongue

Source: The Hamely Tongue: A Personal Record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim

Author: James Fenton

Comments: ‘The Hamely Tongue’ has been widely acclaimed as the authoritative record of contemporary (surviving) Ulster-Scots in its heartland of County Antrim where James Fenton faithfully recorded his dictionary items among a network of other native speakers over a 30-year period. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from ‘Part One’ of the fourth edition of 2014 and includes over 3000 word entries. The book preliminaries, supplementary word lists and end matter have been excluded.

blains ~ a bovine disorder. (Note: Once described by a farmer in the Ballyclare area as ‘a hardenin o the elder wae heid-staggers, cahsed bae heftin’ — an early case of BSE? Blains are swellings of the skin and tissues of the head and udder, usually with running of the nose and eyes; they are caused by allergy or sometimes by photosensitivity.) [OE blegen (COD)]

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