The following extracts from "Ulster-Scots: A Grammar of the Traditional Written and Spoken Language" by Philip Robinson (Published for The Ulster-Scots Language Society by The Ullans Press, 1997), are provided by permission of Philip Robinson and The Ulster-Scots Language Society.
Copyright: Philip Robinson, 1997.
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2.3 Diminutives
Nouns are sometimes modified in Scots by the addition of the suffix –ie to provide what are known as the ‘diminutive’ forms: lammie (‘little lamb’), birdie, laddie, lassie etc. Some of these are well known, and Burns’s poem ‘To a Mouse’ about the wee ‘mousey’ and its ‘wee bit housie’ has provided these forms with almost universal understanding.
“Wee, sleekit, cowrin’, tim‘rous beastie,
Oh, what a panic’s in thy breastie!”
These forms were also common in Ulster-Scots poetry, e.g. "but whan the birdie gied a scream” (McWilliams): “was bred at Bangor, near the Strannie” (Boyle): “I taen a switch ‘wee thicker than a roddie, … right fast alang the roadie” (Huddleston): “Then Eppie a drappie o’ something was strang” (Beggs): “Weds some canker’t clownie” (Orr): “The snug wee hoosie whaur she lees” (Savage – Armstrong).
In everyday Ulster-Scots speech, many other nouns can also be modified in this way. As far as people are concerned, besides lads/ladies and lasses/lassies we can have girlie (not with the same connotation as in the modern English adjective), wifie, sinn/sonnie, ma/mammie, da/daddie, ba/babbie, mon/mannie, and of course, grannie and auntie (the short forms ‘gran’ and ‘aunt’ are rarely used at all).
In fact, these -ie forms are not really ‘diminutives’ meaning ‘small’ in Ulster-Scots. More properly they are ‘familiar’ or affectionate terms, often used (as in English) with children, although the concepts of ‘small’ and ‘nice’ are interwoven. For example, we can talk of a lovely wee hoose someone has just bought where wee does not mean ‘small’, but instead reinforces the meaning of ‘beautiful’. A bag of sweeties, a dollie a marlie, or a drìnkie – even if it is a ‘wee drinkie’ – are not necessarily smaller items than would be otherwise expected if the words sweets, doll, marble or drink had been used.
Other ‘diminutive’ nouns with obvious ‘base’ forms include:
duggie - dog pooshie, pushie* (rhymes with ‘hushy’) - cat drappie - a wee ‘drop’ of tea, etc loanie - lane (base form loanen) burnie - stream paddie - path deuckie - duck luggies - ears nebbie - (however, also means ‘nosey’ as
in nebbie neebours).
These diminutives are nearly always used along with wee, e.g. tha wee burnie a-bak o oor hoose ‘the (dear little) stream at the back of our house’, or ‘tha babbie’s gat a wee nebbie jist like his da’.
Note: Although a scaldie is a young, freshly-hatched nestling, this is not a ‘diminutive’ form as the word skalled originally meant ‘bald’, and so a scaldie is simply ‘something bald’. We would not think of a grumpie (someone who ‘grumps’ about) as a diminutive. Similarly, the poastie (‘postman’), or the buikie (‘the book-maker’) are really equivalent to the ‘nick-name’ forms of personal names also found in English, but particularly common in Scots: Wullie, Rabbie, Fergie, Boydsie, etc.
Many Ulster-Scots nouns with an -ie suffix, like English ‘goody’ or ‘baddy’, clearly have a meaning modified along the lines of ‘in the nature of…’, or, 'having the characteristics of…’. Obviously, however, the –ie suffixes common in ‘familiar’ names are perceived to be affectionate forms, rather than ‘diminutives’. Regardless of the physical size of the person the sense of familiarity is increased by referring to someone as ‘wee Thompie’ etc. A ‘small orchard’ is an orkie*, and a small flat rock covered at high tide is a pladdie. However, pladdies and skerries are words of Scandinavian origin, and although like scaldies are popularly believed to be ‘diminutive’ forms (of plat ‘flat’ and sker ‘rock’), more probably were formed by the addition of the Old Norse word –ey ‘isle’ (e.g. sker ey giving ‘rock isle’, rather than the ‘diminutive’ of sker giving ‘little rock’). Suffice it to say that not all nouns in Ulster-Scots ending in –ie can be described as ‘diminutive’ forms.