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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

ANEATH, ANETH, ANAITH, adv. and prep. Beneath; below; under. 1 and 2 are Gen.Sc. [ə′nɛθ Sc.; ə′neθ n.Sc.; ə′næθ s.Sc.; aphetic nɛθ, etc.]

1. adv. Beneath; below. The uses are rather less restricted than those of St.Eng. beneath, adv., and are only partly illustrated by the foll. examples.n.Sc. 1829 H. Miller Poems 200:
Moulders aneath the naked scull, Aneath is truth's domain; — Aboon, the tracks o' livin' men Are fausehoods kent an' vain.Abd. 1879 G. Macdonald Sir Gibbie lii.:
“Death! whaur do ye bide, auld Death?” “Abune an' aboot an' aneath.”Abd. 1981 Christina Forbes Middleton The Dance in the Village 12:
It wisna lang till a sign appeared
Suspended frae twa iron chains
It read: 'Tibbie's Scotch Kitchen'
An aneth: 'Eat doon at the Mains'.Slg. c.1860 D. Taylor Sang o' the Glaur, Stirling Arch. Soc. (1923) 23:
Jawp! jawp! jawp! Till you're clarty aneath an' abune!Rxb. a.1820 in Trans. Hawick Arch. Soc. (1912) 48/1:
Placing her right hand on her head, and her left under her feet, she gave up “a' between them to the powers aneth, renouncing a' aboon.”

2. prep. Under; below; beneath. (With a wider and more freq. use than beneath has in St.Eng., the latter having largely given place to under and below.)

(1) Of position: lower than.Sc. 1736 Ramsay Sc. Proverbs (1819) 181:
He has a hole aneath his nose that will ne'er let him be rough.

(2) Under, overhung by, covered by, but not in contact, as by the sky, sun, a roof, eaves, shelter, a tree, a shade, etc.n.Sc. 1829 H. Miller Poems 84:
Down the burnie works its way, Aneath the bending birken spray.Abd. p.1768 A. Ross Works (S.T.S.) 202:
Sae down they sat aneath a birkin shade.Abd. 1991 George Bruce in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 21:
Yestreen oor telly took's tae keek aneath
the watters o Chesapeake Bay to goggle at
a monster screen-size crab ... Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 14:
They say it'll be fully formed. I feel it flutterin an movin aneth ma breist, like a butterflee.Ags. 1889 J. M. Barrie Window in Thrums iii.:
When Leeby gies ye a kick aneath the table that'll be a sign to ye to say grace.Lnl. 1910 J. White Eppie Gray 6:
The swallows cam frae owre the seas An' made their nests aneath the eaves.Edb. 1991 J. K. Annand in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 20:
Aneath a hap o snaw it derns
Deep in a dwam for maist the year Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 152:
At last there streeks my native strath, Aneth the redening light.w.Dmf. 1925 W. A. Scott Vernac. of Mid-Nithsdale, Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 16:
Aneth — beneath. You'll fin' my auld buits aneth the bed.

(3) At the foot of (a slope, wall, etc.), beside (but at a lower level). Sometimes with the notion of shelter.Hdg. 1885 “S. Mucklebackit” Rural Rhymes 219:
Aside a spring, aneath a brae, We coor'd to gether breath.Ayr. 1821 Galt Annals of the Par. ii.:
As I was taking my twilight dawner aneath the hedge.

(4) Under and in contact with; under (a covering), covered by; under (something resting or supported or carried).Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian viii.:
Jenny, pit the cod aneath my head.Mry.(D) 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sketches (1908) xiii. 110:
That's Thowie's loon . . . wi' a penny bap anaith's oxter.Kcb. 1893 S. R. Crockett Stickit Minister (1895) 102:
Him that lies aneath the big thruch stane in the wast corner o' the kirkyaird.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1837) II. 264:
If the beast should drap dead aneth me there's nae help for it.

(5) Under the authority, control, influence of.Sc. 1897 H. Hendry in Northern Muse (1924) 233:
Oh! for the days when sinners shook Aneth the true Herd's righteous crook.Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 21:
To gain . . . An office to a needy frien' Aneath the crown.Edb. 1916 T. W. Paterson Wyse-sayin's o' Solomon xvi. 32:
Better the man wha rules weel his ainsel, Than the neibour wha taks a hale toon aneth his chairge.

(6) Lower on a hillside or in a valley than.em.Sc. (a) 1913 J. Black Gloamin' Glints 65:
Ere lang, aneth Toonheid, I saw, Through wood and fields, a track.

(7) Of lower rank, dignity, worth, than.Abd. 1887 W. Carnie Waifs of Rhyme 19:
They think I'm far aneath them, an' wid treat me wi' disdain.

(8) Undeserving of, unworthy of.Abd.⁴ 1928:
Them 'at's abeen advice is aneath notice.

3. Phrases (with the prep.): (1) Aneth the breath, in a whisper, Gen.Sc.; (2) aneth his thumb, into or in his hands; (3) my caup's nae aneath yer ladle, I am independent of you.(1) Abd.(D) 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xix.:
Speakin' aneth 'er breath.(2) Dmf. 1823 J. Kennedy Poems 19:
The outstripped anes were blest Wi' thretty pence aneath their thum'.(3) Abd.¹ 1930:
A winna rin at her biddin' that gait, ma caup is nae aneth her ladle.