The ancient friendship between Scotland and France which lasted from the time of Edward III down to the fall of the Jacobites was bound to leave a mark on Scots, and consequently on the English of Ulster. I must thank the anonymous Ulsterwoman who sent1 me a present of Isabel Sinclair's lexicon of Franco-Scottish words, published at the beginning of the present century: siud ort; thank you kindly, ma'm.
A fascinating little book this Thistle and Fleur de Lys is. I have tried out many of the words it contains on northern friends of mine and they were amazed at how many of these are still in use in greater Ulster, as I heard it recently described on UTV. Many of these words have escaped the net of Macafee dictionary, which contains 15,000 entries. Here's a sampling.
Coclico.. Red. "A coclico ribbon." From coquelicot, the poppy. Still heard in n.w. Donegal. Howtowdy: A pullet. Graham's Social Life in Scotland had a description of Adam Smith dining in a tavern on hen broth, composed of two or three howtowdies and haggis. Old French huteaudeau. The Cardinal de Lorraine told Queen Mary that Darnley was un gentil huteaudeau, and to treat him with contempt.
Howtowdy is still used aboo Churchill in Donegal by ceo-boys describing young women. Jelly: Co Id, haughty. "Leave off your pride, jelly Janet; Use it not any mair." From gelee, frost. A friend has heard "the "wun" ud jell ye to the bone" at the back of Errigal.
Mange: A meal. "I saw the hurcheon and the hare in hiddlings hirple here and there to mak' their morning mange."
From manger, food. Many years ago Peter Byrne, a schoolteacher from Tacumshane, Co Wexford, God rest him now, took down this word from a fisherman from Kilkeel, Co. Down. Hurcheon, a hedgehog, is another French word in disguise: herisson, from Latin ericius. In Donegal as urchin as well.
To cooter is still in common use by knitters in parts of Co. Donegal. It means to knit carelessly. From coudre, to sew, stitch. Jupe is another word you'll hear sometimes from Antrim and Donegal women. To Sinclair it's a skirt; to a Donegal woman I know it's a slip. Freneh jupe, a skirt, petticoat, slip. Maeafee has this one.
And lastly, the Scots delicacy haggis. Origin unknown, says Oxford. Perhaps from haggen, to hack, says Collins. From French hachis, minced meat, says Sinclair. What are you having yourself?