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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†GOSSOK, n. A derisive term applied by the fair-haired inhabitants of Kirkmaiden to the short, dark-haired descendants of Irish settlers in Wigtownshire.Wgt. 1877 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 18:
Tradition says they were the descendants of some savages they call the Kreenies, that came over from Ireland . . . The Fingauls assign to them all the eccentricities attributed to themselves, and derisively call them The Gossoks.

[Watson Celtic Place-Names Scot. 178 explains this as from Welsh gwasog, a servile person, a menial, i.e. a serf under the old Welsh-speaking inhabitants of Galloway, a.1000, and equates these with the Kreenies, q.v. But not merely is this historically disputable, it also rests on the rather bold assumption that the word has survived at least nine centuries through the Gaelic- and Scots-speaking eras of Galloway.]

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