Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1721-1726, 1787, 1857-1928, 1991
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GIF, conj. If, whether (Slg.3, m.Lth., Wgt.4 1950). Also (rarely) giff, give; geif (Cai. 1869 M. Maclennan Peasant Life 246). Common in n.Eng. dial. Once Gen.Sc. but now almost obs., except liter.Abd. 1721 in Process Powis v. Fraserfield (1805) 327:
To give him ane croft by the sight of barley-men, give he require the same.Sc. 1726 Ramsay T.T. Misc. (1876) I. 142:
And he sall be mine, Gif sae he incline.Ayr. 1787 Burns Letters (Ferguson) No. 112:
I'll be in Dumfries the morn gif the beast be to the fore.Ags. 1857 A. Douglas Ferryden 85:
Josey, look se', gif I war you I wad just ging an' fling my line . . . into Mr Bell's pond.Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.:
I certainly will fight gif your honour bids me.Ork. 1884 R. M. Fergusson Rambles 35:
Giff Bessie say it is weill it is weill.Gall. 1901 Trotter Gall. Gossip 274:
And give we improve at the rate we have done, Step by step gettin on to perfection.Abd. 1923 H. Beaton Back o' Benachie 99:
Gif he hid teen her sister they wid hae been mair settin' like.Edb. 1928 A. D. Mackie Poems 24:
Hap step and lowp she was haudin' North As gif Hell was the ither side o' the Forth.Edb. 1991 J. K. Annand in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 20:
Gif I had ae short simmer o sang
Wi hauf the beauty o thon flouer
In the snaw o eild I'd hap my tongue
And haud my wheest for evermair. Sc. 1991 T. S. Law in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 34:
This was a sairlik jobe tae tak,
an gif the chiel was no sae swack
o mynd as caw gy caunnilie,
but gabbit gyan coorselik, say,
he'd finnd the waefou news as ill em.Sc.(a) 1991 Kate Armstrong in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 110:
Tae whitna maitter scarts atween these banks
on loan a whilie, we sall gie particlar name. But gif
the medium be the message, raither mind hoo thocht
or scoukin haar kenna the immigration laws.
