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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HAMELT, adj., n. Also †ham(e)ald, hamal, -eil, -el(d), -eall, -ewald, -il(t), -mal, -mel, -milt, haemilt, haimald, -all, -elt, -ilt, -mel, heimilt, hemelt, hemmald, heamil, hyimald, -t. [Sc.′heməlt, -d, s.Sc. + ′hjɛməl(d)]

I. adj. 1. Belonging to home, domestic, internal; made or grown at home or native to one's country (Sc. 1808 Jam., ha(i)mald, haimilt, hamel(t); Rxb. 1825 Jam.' hameil; Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 200; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., hameil: Peb. 1956).Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (1925) 54:
Yet I [whisky] am hameil, there's the sour mischance! I'm no frae Turkey, Italy, or France.Bwk. 1801 “Bwk. Sandie” Poems 41:
But wad ye come yoursels an' see, An' spen' a month or twa' wi me, In hamel cleedin'.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poems I. 117:
And former times, and hammel news, Steal aff the hour and mair.Slk. 1818 Hogg Wool-gatherer (1874) 80:
Ye're no to think that she's to gi'e hersel airs, an' forget the good auld haemilt blude that rins in her veins.Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs 133:
Lang lean maks hamald cattle. That is, poorly kept cattle makes homely, domestic, or common meat.Hdg. 1903 J. Lumsden Toorle 120:
And foes wad scatter, ance he rushed to weir, Faster and far'er than their hamald lair.Abd. 1923 R. L. Cassie Heid or Hert ii.:
The cronies sat doon at the lang hame-all table, an' eet rael herty o' Maggie's prize scones.

2. Of speech: vernacular, in the native (Scots) tongue. Also used adv.Sc. 1722 Ramsay Works (1877) II. 399:
Thus I ha'e sung, in hamelt rhyme, A sang that scorns the teeth of time.Sc. 1778 Weekly Mag. (28 Jan.) 112:
Young Fergusson, in our ain days, Began to sing in hameil lays.Bch. 1804 W. Tarras Poems 132:
My mither-gab ye'll scantly ken't, . . . An' sieth it is but hameil pen't.Per. 1817 A. Buchanan Rural Poetry 15:
[Wha] tells, in tunefu' heamil rhyme, How Scotsmen liv'd in bygane time.Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays 220:
Were but my haimald Muse in tift, . . . I'd compliment you in a scrift O' Scottish rhyme.Lnk. 1865 J. Hamilton Poems 136:
They say that our auld hamelt tongue, my ain mither, Is deein', and sune will be dead a' thegither.Sc. a.1888 Scots Mag. (Aug. 1945) 404:
Who . . . can forget . . . Symson the Printer's Tripatriarchicon whose diction was so “very hamelt”?

3. Homely, familiar, plain, unaffected, simple, hospitable (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., hyimald, -t; Mry.¹ 1925, hamel; Cai., Bnff., Ayr. 1956, hamel).Abd. 1809 J. Skinner Amusements 99:
Critic, or bard, o' hamil kine, Or high degree.Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Wayside Flowers 241:
There are hamel cot-houses aside the wee burn, Wi' black-thackit roofs and laigh wa's.Ags. 1880 J. E. Watt Poet. Sk. 67:
They coft a bit hoose on the bonnie brae-side — A hoose mair hamilt than braw.Cai. 1907 County of Cai. (Horne) 75:
In “Hame is hammal,” the sentiment is that there is no place like home.Ayr. 1913 J. Service Memorables xiii.:
His hamelt north country style . . . was juist a cordial to my heart.Bnff. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 20:
A mair hamel craitur ye cudna meet; still-an-on she can keep her place, and ithers in theirs.Cai. 1986:
A hamal hostess makes a guest feel instantly at home, and, reciprocally, a hamal visitor is one who accepts and adapts immediately to the hospitality....

Also used adv. in phr. to make (someane) hammel, to make one feel at home.Cai.³ 1920:
She maks ye hammel in her hoose.

4. Of an animal: made familiar with or accustomed to pasture or quarters (Lth. 1808 Jam., haimilt).Ayr. 1847 Ballads and Songs (Paterson) 101:
And she [a sow]'s lame and she's hammilt, And mair than sax years she's been farrow I trow.

II. n. 1. Pasture near a farm or adjoining an enclosure (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., heimilt, 1908 Jak. (1928), hemelt, ‡Sh. 1956).

2. A fisherman's tabu-name for a (house-) wife, the mistress of a house (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), hemelt, 1914 Angus Gl., hemmald, ‡Sh. 1956); sometimes used disparagingly.Sh. 1924 T. Manson Peat Comm. III. 180:
I'm been towld bi dem at kens, at “haimelt” means da wan at steys at hom — da wife, you know.