142 Transactions. 



literally a mass of snow which slides towards the vale. The word 

 was introduced from Switzerland. When in the vale of Chamouni 

 I heard the avalanche, " that thunder-bolt of snow," I thought 

 how strangely the Swiss and Scotch shepherds were connected by 

 this word, one may say, in the mouths of both. It is not in Scott, 

 Burns, Eamsay, nor Fergusson. 



Atherbell, or in Tynron_, EtherhcU, the dragon-fly. Halliwell 

 informs us that in the Isle of Wight the sting or bite of a dragon- 

 fly is supposed to be as venomous as that of a snake, and there the 

 local name is snake-stanger. So the Dumfries Etherbell also has 

 reference to the snake or adder. 



Arlc, a large chest for holding corn or meal ; E. English word. 

 In Renfrewshire we had no arks, save these mentioned in the 

 Bible. In my own kitchen I have an ark with a partition, the 

 one part holding oatmeal, the other flour. — " Waverley Novels." 



B. 



Bairye or Baird, to scold. 



Bask, hard, dry. A bask day is a day with a withering wind. 



Bat, state or condition. The two are about a bat — i.e., about 

 the same. 



Bee, a hoop or ring of metal put round the foot of a staff to 

 keep it from splitting up. 



To Beit or Beit, to help or mend by making addition. To 

 beit a fire, to mend it ; to beit a dyke, to make it higher. Burns 

 uses the word in the " Cottar's Saturday Night " — " Or noble 

 Elgin beats the heavenward flame." Chaucer uses the word in the 

 sense of mending a fire. 



Berthy, fruitful. A plant, such as a rose, full of vitality and 

 blossom is said to be berthy. 



Bensel, force, violence, applied to a wild, stormy day, such a 

 day is said to be a bensel day. In N.E. bensel means to bang or 

 beat. 



Bcnner-goioan. I have heard this name apjijlied to the fever- 

 few of our gardens. 



Berri/, to thrash corn, or man, or child. In the Galloway 

 poem of Aiken Drum, the Brownie says — 



I'll berry your crops by the light of the moon. 

 In the N. of England the thrasher is a berrier, and the flail the 

 berrying instrument. 



