Scots Word for November
Creesh
Noo wi the cauld winter days and the caulder nichts we need tae forget aboot the cholesterol and eat a bittie mair creesh tae bide warm
Creesh means fat in general, but it is whiles specifically applied tae the fat o fowls, as in the Aberdeen Press and Journal of 21st March 1992: 'Creesh was the lump of fat from the inside of a hen; and when rubbed liberally on leather it made a first-class water repellent'. An Aberdeen informant (1940) confirmed the efficacy o rubbin buits 'with fat in winter to keep out the sna bree'.
A different kind o creesh, but an equally usefu ane, is descrived by J. Firth in the Orkney and Shetland Miscellany (1913): 'When wool was being prepared for a web a mixture of whale-oil and tar melted together, and called creesh, was sprinkled out of an old cruizie lamp on the heap of wool laid on the floor'.
Accordin tae A. Hislop's The Proverbs of Scotland (1870), 'Butter's the king o' a' creesh' and the lubricatin pooers of butter is weel attested; the 1527 Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland shaw an entry 'For Orkney buttir to creische the quhelis (wheels)'. J. Kelly in A Complete Collection of Scottish Proverbs (1721) is less appreciative, unjustifiably claimin Orkney butter is 'neither good to eat, nor to creich wool'.
Sae creesh is no jist fur eatin and the neist time ye're mindit tae get stuck intae a fine creeshie pie, conseider – a meenit in the moo, a hale lifetime on the hurdies!
The Scots column is written by Christine Robinson. You can contact her with any questions.
