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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

KEN, v., n. Also kenn (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)), kain (Fif. 1863 St Andrews Gazette (19 Dec.)), kin (Ags. 1888 Barrie Auld Licht Idylls viii.), keen (Abd. 1692 A. Pitcairne Assembly (1722) 19), kjen (Sh. 1931 Shetland Times (14 March) 7). Gen.Sc. Now obs. or arch. in Eng. [Sc. kɛn, ken, I.Sc. kɪn, ki:n]

I. v. 1. (1) To know, be aware of, apprehend, learn (a fact). Gen.Sc. Pa.t., pa.p. ken(n)t, kint, ken(d), kenn(e)d, keened. Ppl.adj. kennin. The neg. is freq. formed by the suffixing of -na, Ork. -no (Ork. 1907 Old-Lore Misc. I. ii. 64, kinno).Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) II. 67:
But now I'm gawn I kenna whither.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 129:
Tho' gude joot binna kend to rumble Your weym within.Ayr. 1787 Burns Death & Dr Hornbook i.:
Ev'n ministers, they hae been kend, . . . A rousing whid at times to vend.Sc. 1816 Scott Black Dwarf ii.:
It will do the auld wife's heart gude — mair by token, when she kens it comes frae you.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie xcix.:
I kenna how it was, that at the time I didna experience such a sorrow as I should have felt.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 1:
I kenno why they wur sae mad for de Croon.Bch. 1913 W. Fraser Jeremiah Jobb 8:
Aw niver kint afore Aw wis sae gleg i' the uptak'.Sh. 1924 J. Hunter Sk. and Poems 109:
He saidna muckle, only tratened me never ta lat it be ken.Sh. 1951 Sh. Folk Bk. II. 67:
Dey spo weel at keen.Ork. 1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 79:
" ... If I kent whar wrott this I wid keek him fae here tae Dounby." wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 5:
"Aye, aye Faither, I ken." Hugh's soothing promise slid out as easily as the last smooth mouthful of broth from his coggie. wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 19:
"I dinnae ken, Bryce, but it'll no be soon enough to help this mess." replied Hugh testily. wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 34:
He kennt Ah'd wrastled an' Ah'd wrastled wi ma passion Gsw. 1985 Michael Elder Stookie 26:
" ... I dinny ken what she sees in him." wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 35:
Yir comehither lukks, yir kennin' glances an' yir smiles.
Och, normally Ah'm proof against sicc female wiles. Abd. 1987 Sheena Blackhall in Joy Hendry Chapman 49 57:
Yet ivery teenie bird may raxx its wing
Kennin the solace o a cloudless sky em.Sc.(a) 1991 Kate Armstrong in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 115:
The auld yin wis feenished, richt eneuch, we kennt.
We werena heeded. m.Sc. 1991 William Neill in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 51:
I'm tellt the auncient Celts focht in bare scud...
Man, yon's a mark o unco determination.
Ye've shairly got tae ken whit ye're fechting fur
tae tak the haill Roman Empire on in yer buff. Abd. 1991 Flora Garry in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 14:
This hoose is yours, the gear, the folk
Ootside an in, baith but an ben.
A' wir concerns ye beet to ken.
Are ye a god or deevilock? Cai. 1992 James Miller A Fine White Stoor 44:
'Aye, they kent what work was in them days,' his faither was saying. 'None o this reading books all the day. No, boy. Up wi the lark and no in your bed til dayset.' Edb. 1994 Douglas McKenzie in James Roberston A Tongue in Yer Heid 6:
The barman kenned tae expect them an ca'ed them ladies an brought ower their nips. Edb. 1995 Irvine Welsh Marabou Stork Nightmares (1996) 113:
Kent ye hud brains, son, he would continually tell me. em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 17:
'Oh, definitely. Was real, yeah, for sure. Basically he and his sister Grizel, well, they were kind of Puritans, you know, the tall black hat brigade, Bible-thumping Calvinists.'
'I ken whit Puritans are,' said Carlin. em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 118:
Now MacWard came back at him. 'Ye werena at the fecht, and ye werena gaun tae the fecht, and ye kenna whit for ye were gaun frae the fecht, only that it was a maitter o urgency. I think we hae the measure o ye, sir.' Gsw. 2000 Carl MacDougall Mozzarella shavings 78:
Willie Simpson had thick black hair and a lop-sided smile. How can you no understand? he said. How can you no see what you're doing. You're no stupid. You ken, or you would ken if you thought about it. You've to think about they things. They're important.

Phrs.: (a) to ken aa about that, = (d) (Fif. 1960); (b) to ken anither o't, to see the other side of a question; to know a different version of a story; (c) to ken o' anesel, to be aware consciously or intuitively, to have instinctive knowledge (Abd. 1915 H. Beaton Benachie 213; Bnff., Abd. 1959); (d) to ken o't, to know by dire experience, to suffer for one's actions, often in threats of punishment or retribution (I.Sc., n.Sc., Ags., Fif., Lth., Ayr., Slk. 1959).(b) Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xi.:
It is ae thing to read aboot love in novells . . . but when it yokes a-gnaw, gnawin' at yer heart, like a moose at a bit toastit cheese, it lets ye ken anither o't.Abd.³¹ 1959:
Aabody said the bairnie wis his, like, bit I kent anither o't.(c) Abd. 1837 J. Leslie Willie & Meggie 20:
The honeymeen 'ill be risen or ye ken o' yirsel'.Sh. 1898 W. F. Clark North. Gleams 93:
Afore I kent o' mysel, I'd lost a' knowledge o' whaur I wis.Abd.³¹ 1959:
I ken o' masel' 'at I'm ower stoot tae win by ye on 'e stair.(d) Id.:
Ye fairly ken o't fin the dentist 's howkin intae yer teeth.

(2) Used ellipt., with omission of a word such as deil, guid, etc., in phrs. kens faar, -how, -whae, -what, -when, goodness knows where, etc. (Rxb. 1927 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick 13; Abd., Ags., Lth. 1959).Rxb. 1806 J. Hogg Poems 76:
[She] would gie kens what for ane.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 21:
A didna ken a grain o odds o'd for aa A hedna seen't threh kens-whan.Bnff.² 1945:
I'm lookin' for my glesses, bit kens faar I've pitten them.

(3) Used as a question tag at the end of a phrase or sentence, to attract attention or confirmation: (i) ken; (ii) ye ken. (i) Gsw. 1985 Michael Elder Stookie 49:
"Just a bit o' wrestlin'. Like they do on the telly. Ken? No sweat."m.Sc. 1986 Colin Mackay The Song of the Forest 101:
" ... Him hunting!" the owl snorted again. "Yon creature couldna catch a cold. Between the two of us," he said confidentially, "he was daft, real gyte. I've seen it afore, ken? ... "wm.Sc. 1987 Duncan and Linda Williamson A Thorn in the King's Foot 97:
Lying back in his bed after a guid feed an his belly full, ken ... A young mort he's luikin fir, ken.m.Sc. 1991 Robert Alan Jamieson A Day at the Office 67:
'Aye oh aye, we will, it's just your mother, ken, she's no that mobile now. No that she ever was, eh?'Edb. 1992:
I went tae the pictures, ken, along wi the boyfriend ken...m.Sc. 1997 Liz Niven Past Presents 18:
Sometimes ye hae a wee keek furst.
An somethin catches yer eye, ken,
A guid fecht or a wean gettin battered,
An ye want tae hae a better gowk.Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 10:
"'Sno that I dinnae like poetry, ken," she began. "But is that no Lallans the guy's speakin'? ... ".Edb. 1998 Gordon Legge Near Neighbours (1999) 96:
Here, ken what he was telling us and all? Donnie's deid, Donnie Williamson. Well, same here, likes, I've no seen him for years either, but all the same but; deid ken.m.Sc. 2003 Scotsman 22 Mar :
The last time, I said to one unhappy oaf: "But surely, having done badly at school, when you chose your profession of removals, you must have expected at some stage to lift heavy things?"
He replied: "Aye, but books, ken, eh?"s.Sc. 2003 Edinburgh Evening News 7 Apr :
When it comes to matters of great literature and its relation to dialect, the last word should go to a friend of mine who was visiting a patient in the rural depths of the Borders and enquired, in an effort to gauge his attention span, if he read much.
"Oh aye ken, I hae a book noo, Jazz it's cahlt."
"Really," my friend replied. "Is that classical jazz, modern jazz, trad jazz?"
"Nae lad .. it's aboot sherks!"(ii) Fif. 1987 Scotsman 2 Mar :
Just lately I've been driving myself up the wall by prefacing every sentence with the word "basically." ... I tried to reason it away. Basically, I told myself, it's the equivalent of "ye ken," a phrase that I seemed to use instead of punctuation in my teens. As in "How's your Dad?" ... "Oh well ye ken, he's -- ye ken -- a lot better nor he wis, ye ken, but he's no -- ye ken -- a hunner per cent yet. Ye ken." Fifer's disease? Last year I saw a fisherman interviewed on the local news and he ye-kenned away great guns. There was one "ye-ken" to every three words. It was rare, ye ken.Sc. 1998 Aberdeen Evening Express (7 Aug) 11:
"She's pretty game, ye ken," came the observation. "She's had two new hips and only uses one stick. I've only got the one new hip but need twa sticks.Sc. 2002 Edinburgh Evening News (26 Aug) 4:
The sharp intake of breath that echoed round the Lyceum raised many a hair on the back of the neck and the lanky Yank was hastily corrected by [Kenny] Ireland who explained that he was in fact in Scotland, which is, in fact, a different country, ye ken?Sc. 2004 Scotland on Sunday (5 Sep) 1:
"Some days I go out of my bloody mind. Sometimes I can only take so much nature. Sometimes I can only take so much beauty. Ye ken?"

(4) Phr.: ye ken noo, you know now, used in expressions of contempt; see 2001 quot. wm.Sc. 1988 Scotsman (20 Aug) 4:
A shepherd tried to pull this one on me once, saying he didn't know about the eyrie. And I said: "Weel ye ken noo, and keeping the eagle off is an offence."Sc. 1996 Observer (31 Mar) 3:
We wanted cheap food, but didn't ask how it was procured. We plead that we did not know that the unnatural practice of turning herbivores into cannibals was rife. Well, as God said to the sinner in the old Presbyterian saying: 'Ye ken noo.'Sc. 2000 Herald (31 Oct) 19:
So McLeish spoke and we questioned. At length I asked McLeish about the Doomsday scenario. What should Labour do if it lost yet another General Election; if Scotland yet again backed the left and Home Rule, while England enthusiastically returned Thatcher in spades to the Commons? McLeish did not appreciate the question. He said it wasn't worth answering because Labour was going to win the next poll in spades, anyway.
Well, we ken noo. Thirteen years since have done little for his ease under interrogation.Sc. 2001 Daily Telegraph (17 Apr) 20:
I prefer the simpler Scottish Presbyterian theology of the sinner who finds himself facing eternal damnation and protests: "Oh, Lord! Oh Lord! Ah didnae ken." "Wull," says an impassive Almighty, after a short pause, "Ye ken noo."Sc. 2004 Sunday Mail (8 Feb) 17:
To Sir David's claim that he didna' ken, Lord Fraser is more than likely to respond: "Weel, ye ken noo."Sc. 2005 Scotsman (22 Feb) 37:
The annual shortfall in government dosh between need and provision amounts to GBP 1.5 million..... "If this is indeed happening," she added. "I need to know about it." Well, ye ken noo.

2. To know (a person or locality), to be acquainted or familiar with; to recognise, identify. Gen.Sc.Sc. a.1719 Pills to Purge Melancholy (Durfey) V. 89:
And there he kenn'd a well fair Lass, When it was almost dark, Sir.Ayr. 1773 Weekly Mag. (7 Jan.) 237:
I ha'e hard tell (said I) o' something they ca' maskerades, where fock did na ken ither.Ayr. 1786 Burns Death & Dr Hornbook xiv.:
Ye ken Jock Hornbook i' the Clachan.Sc. 1806 Sir Patrick Spens in Child Ballads No. 58 G. 12:
Whare will I get a bonny boy That will gang up to the tap-mast, See an he ken dry land.ne.Sc. 1848 Chambers's Jnl. (24 June) 414:
She kens maistly naebody, puir thing . . . and she's whiles no sensible forby.Slk. 1875 Border Treasury (19 June) 529:
That wad ha' gien 'im a merk to ken 'im as lang as he leeved, if it had only hutten 'im.Sc. 1896 Stevenson W. of Hermiston viii.:
Excuse a daft wife that loves ye, and that kenned your mither.Ags. 1916 V. Jacob Songs of Angus 7:
They turned their faces southward frae the glens they aye had kent.Lnk. 1932 Border Mag. (Feb.) 22:
I was at the scule wi' the feck o' them, an', looking back ower seeventy years keened them a'.wm.Sc. 1954 Robin Jenkins The Thistle and the Grail (1994) 126:
"It's made me do a lot of thinking. It's a good thing whiles to get a jolt. I've not been thinking much about Lizzie Anderson, though. Everybody kens her for a depraved, evil-minded, lying besom."Abd. 1959:
He was that changet, I harly kent him.

Phr.: kent his faither, disparaging, dismissive term for a successful person, whose history etc. is known. Also attrib. wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 56:
There wis naebody Ah'd raither
Dae business wi than your auld dad. Aye! Ah kennt
yir faither.Gsw. 1990 Alan Spence The Magic Flute (1991) 158:
Part of him always stood back, dismissive of any pretension, a wee crabbit Scottish gremlin that narked in his head. Ach away ye go! Don't kid yourself. I know fine what you really are.
He supposed it was a variant on the old put-down. Him? A writer? He couldnae be. I kent his faither! Sc. 1991 T. S. Law in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 36:
But was he a makar? Man, I'd swither,
for aabodie kens we kent his faither.Sc. 1993 Herald (17 Sep) 13:
Regrettably, these attitudes are all too prevalent, especially in the macho west of Scotland culture. They breed low self-esteem and go along with the "I kent his faither" mentality.Sc. 1994 Courier 12 Mar :
"There's always the thing in Scotland about 'I kent his faither', which is hard to get over, but although audiences, especially in Dundee, as I remember it, can be very hard and tough, they are also extremely generous. ..."Sc. 1995 Books in Scotland 55 :
Is it because deep inside many Scots there is a combination both of 'Let us praise famous men', and 'Him! I kent his faither' that so often they make good biographers?Ork. 1995 Orcadian (2 Nov) 12:
When I started in this dirty old trade you could ring up office bosses and they'd tell you stuff. They'd done the same job for years and they kent your faither.Sc. 1999 Herald (11 Sep) 15:
When we see success in a person, or achievement in a community, brought about by human efforts of perhaps unseen courage or tenacity, do we slip into the culture of "I kent his faither: he or she can't be that good"?Sc. 2001 Herald (28 Apr) 13:
That kent-his-faither, prophet-without-honour thing is, of course, not exclusive to dear old Caledonia. Catalyst Theatre Company of Edmonton, Alberta, had to be lauded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (including, as we may have mentioned, a Herald Angel award) before they were invited to Quebec City's prestigious Carrefour International du Theatre last year, as the sole English language company.

Ppl.adj. ken(n)t, ken(ne)d, well-known, familiar, having a certain fame or reputation (Gen.Sc.), as for good workmanship (Uls. 1953 Traynor), hence skilful (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928); Sh., Lth. 1959). For kenned mark, kent —, see Kenmark.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 83:
What cast has fashen you sae far frae towns? I'm sure to you thir canna be kent bounds.Sc. 1796 Edb. Mag. (March) 239:
The old woman asked who they were? They answered kent folk.Dmf. 1810 R. H. Cromek Remains 54:
I hear but kent voices: — kent faces I see.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xxxix.:
I had troubles in gaun up, whilk makes me blither of travelling wi' kend folk.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 293:
We may wander even on kend grun; so I may run myself wrong in Gallowa, a land I weel ken.Lnk. 1863 J. Nicholson Kilwuddie (1876) 115:
Listen aye for some kent fit when nae ane's on the street.Ayr. 1901 G. Douglas Green Shutters xvii.:
Bauldy has been a kenned phrase-maker for the last forty year.sm.Sc. 1922 R. W. Mackenna Flower o' the Heather xxviii.:
“Wha may ye be?” she said. “Ye ha'ena' a kent face.”Abd., Fif. 1959:
He's a kent hand at the job. It's fine tae see a kent face.

Phr.: kent face, a person (well) known to the speaker. wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 79:
That night David cast an eye round the kent faces of the lassies as he danced, but when the fiddler's bow screeched to a final chord, he found a girl on his arm whom he did not know at all.Sc. 1992 Press and Journal (10 Oct) 4:
There were one or two kent faces, and Walter and Sandy nodded in recognition here and there.Sc. 1999 Herald (25 Aug) 19:
When I first went to Westminster in 1962, the Scottish MPs were kent figures, men of stature in many cases. Come a general election some of the kent faces disappeared, unkent ones arrived. But there was always a continuity in the overall cast of political players.Ork. 2000 Orcadian (4 May) 17:
There was great excitement and pleasure at meeting so many 'kent faces' of old and of having the opportunity of mixing with the young and stimulating folks who have elected to make their homes in Burray.

†3. To make known. Only in phr. be it kend, as in proclamations, etc. (Sc. 1722 Munim. Gsw. Univ. (M.C.) 478), corresp. to Lat. scito, etc., in charters and the like.Rxb. 1710 Trans. Hawick Arch. Soc. (1902) 53:
Be it kend till all men be thir presents.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 127:
To a' men living be it kend The Session now is at an end.

‡4. Sc. Law: to recognise (a person) as legal successor to an inheritance, esp. to ken a widow to her terce, to assign to a widow in intestacy the life-rent of the third part of her husband's heritable property, till 1924 adjudicated by a Sheriff and jury and now by an action of declarator.Sc. 1754 Erskine Principles ii. ix. § 29:
She [the widow] can only possess with the heir pro indiviso, and so cannot remove tenants, till the Sheriff kens her to her terce, or divides the land between her and the heir.Sc. 1896 W. K. Morton Manual 156:
Should parties stand on their legal rights, the widow, having no title of possession, resorts to the procedure of “kenning to a terce” before the Sheriff. Under this she is first served to the terce by the verdict of a jury, finding as matter of fact, that she was the wife of the deceased proprietor, and that he died infeft in certain lands, which verdict gives her a title to possess jointly with the heir. The Sheriff thereafter “kens to the terce,” or divides the land between her and the heir, by setting aside two-third parts to the heir and one-third part to her.

5. Vbl.n. ken(n)in(g), -en, -an, (1) (a) recognition, acquaintance, knowledge (n.Sc. 1959). Also in pl.; (b) understanding, power of apprehension, senses (Sh., Cai., Abd., Lnk. 1959); (2) a very little of anything (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Sh., Cai., Ags., Fif., Lth., w. and sm.Sc. 1959), a trifle, a slight degree, a trice. Also adv. Found also in n.Yks. dial.(1) (a) Abd. 1826 D. Anderson Poems 51:
An' mony a bailie, I aver, Within my kennin's ne sae clever.ne.Sc. 1836 J. Grant Tales 195:
I tint a' kennin's o' him.Dmb. 1846 W. Cross Disruption xxxiii.:
The deed has been dune oot o' your kennin'.Fif. 1859 P. Landreth Joseph Spindle (1911) 30:
Ye'll be naething the waur through life . . . for hae'n some kennins o' gude leather.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin viii.:
We werna juist far eneugh into ilk ither's confidence an' kennins for gaen to that extremity as yet.Ork. 1880 Dennison Sketch-Bk. 43:
An' never a flail strak' on ane o' them tae me kennin'.Dmf. 1912 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo 121:
I cam' in contact at this time wi' yin or twae ither masons I had had but slicht kennen o' before.Bnff. 1949 Banffshire Jnl. (29 Nov.):
To such extent was he dressed almost “oot o' kennin',” that he failed to recognise himself when passing a full length mirror in the hall.Sh. 1958 Shetland News (30 Dec.) 4:
He'd a great kennin aboot the ruins of the Pictish brochs or “castles.”Slk. 1985 Walter Elliot Clash-ma-clavers 16:
He keek't an saw Jock Johnstone,
Dinger Bell and Black Wull Rae
An in a kennin recognised
Maist o the ithers tae.(b) Dmf. 1874 R. Reid Moorland Rhymes 69:
A dwawm cam' owre my kennin', and I saw a boat gaun doon.Ags. 1897 G. A. Mackay Where the Heather Grows 177:
There is a kenning between lovers.(2) Ayr. 1787 Burns Unco Guid vii.:
Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang, To step aside is human.Dmf. 1831 Edb. Ev. Courant (22 Sept.):
Two excellent lots were sold — the one at £3. 16s., and the other within a kennin' of £4 per head.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Raiders i.:
It's virtuous to do a sheep a good turn, but a kennin' uninterestin'.Hdg. 1903 J. Lumsden Toorle 199:
Whup! in a kennin', neck and heels, Aneth thon roarin' traffic's wheels The feck o' them is swirl'd!Sh. 1919 T. Manson Peat Comm. II. 188:
Juist a kennin, mind, dat's da genteel wye.m.Sc. 1947 Scots Mag. (April) 13:
No a soond forbye a bit grunt here an' there frae a beast that was a kennin' ower fu'.Arg. 1992:
If ye wir waantin tae go tae the left, "A wee kennin more tae the left, or a kennin tae the right - a wee bit".

II. n. Knowledge, acquaintance, comprehension, insight (ne.Sc., Ags., Fif., Slk. 1959); the scope or bounds of one's understanding, knowledge, or experience; a piece of knowledge. Freq. in phrs. (not) to ken a ken, to ken one's ain ken(s) (Uls. 1953 Traynor; ne.Sc., Per., Lth., Bwk., wm.Sc., Kcb. 1959).Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 214:
Bumbaz'd he loups frae sicht, and jooks his ken.Wgt. 1804 R. Couper Poetry I. 60:
Strong giant life, ayont thy ken, Is stalking at thy side.Sc. 1820 Blackwood's Mag. (Nov.) 203:
May nane o' you ever ken my ken, that fearfu' hour.Rxb. 1821 A. Scott Poems 116:
And ladies fair . . . On scenes sae wild their winsome looks do len, They seem sae unco to their lawlan's ken.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller 95:
For, ah! there's a friend that the warld wots nae o', Wha brightens her ken, and wha lightens her wo.Gsw. 1863 W. Miller Nursery Songs 54:
Ilk ane kens their ain ken, Tho' sair to thole an' hide it.ne.Sc. 1884 D. Grant Lays 139:
His common sense, his tender heart, His piercing ken, an' a' that.Lnk. 1888 R. Young Love at Plough 128:
Love reigns throughout in but an' ben, Although we're twa we've but ae ken.Dmf. 1912 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo iv.:
Dootless she kenned her ain ken best.Abd. 1930 Abd. Univ. Review (March) 106:
Nae a ken kent I aboot it.Sc. 2000 Herald (2 Nov) 19:
Children using that creativity naturally in the classroom will never grow up to think that "culture" is some rarefied commodity outwith their ken and beyond their appreciation.

Hence ¶kenless, adj., unknown.Abd. 1845 P. Still Cottar's Sunday 178:
The glen maun be nameless an' kenless to a'.