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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Quotation dates: 1877-1901

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†KREENIE, n. Also creenie. A name for a race of short, dark people living in the Rhinns of Galloway, used with an implication of contempt. Only in Trotter, otherwise unauthenticated.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.Kcb. 1901 R. Trotter Gall. Gossip 182:
There's the Kreenies or Gossoks too. They'r no unlike the first kin' o' Hill-folk, only they'r no sae big . . . Some says they'r the descendants o' the Eerish Picts; but A'm no sayin. The feck o' them inhabits the Rhinns.

[Orig. obscure, but phs. to be related to Ir. crion, Gael. crìon, little, worn-out, withered, cf. Crine. Watson in Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. (Ser. 3) XI. 132 and Celtic Place-Names Scot. 178, equates it with the Cruithnigh, whom the medieval Eng. chroniclers call Picts, but the time-lag involved makes this unlikely. See also Gossock and note. The confusion of the Q-Celtic name Cruithnigh and the P-Celtic Gossock (allegedly Welsh gwasog) adds to the uncertainty.]

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