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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

MAM, n. Also dim. forms mammie, -y; mami(e), -y; maamie. Sc. forms of Eng. mamma.

1. A child's word for mother (Sc. 1880 Jam.). Gen.Sc. In Sh. also applied to a grandmother (Sh.¹⁰ 1962, also auld mam).Abd. 1739 Caled. Mag. (1788) 499:
Bockin red bleed the Fliep mair cawm, Ran to the house to Mammie.Bnff. 1787 W. Taylor Poems 64:
Hout, hout, said Mam, ye're sure in jest.Ayr. 1788 Burns O'er young to Marry i.:
I am my mammie's ae bairn.Fif. 1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair 55:
The daughter leaves her mam to trot alone.Rnf. 1819 Harp Rnf. (Motherwell 1872) 163:
I tauld my mam and dadie baith, Nae ither lad than you I'd hae.Sh. 1886 J. Burgess Sketches 3:
Rin dee wis oot, jewel, an' bring maamie in twartree paets.Sh. 1894 Proc. Philosoph. Soc. Gsw. XXV. 116:
Da tüllie it da shicken-cock maed wi mam an' minnimie.Per. 1898 C. Spence Poems 42:
She wons, contented with her mam, Amang the curling peat reek.Abd. 1923 Banffshire Jnl. (8 May) 10:
Is yer hannies caul? Pit them in mam's bosie than.Edb. 1959 I. and P. Opie Lore and Lang. Schoolchildren 26:
Ye cannae shove yer grannie For she's yer mammie's mammie.wm.Sc. 1965 Alan Sharp A Green Tree in Gedde (1985) 338:
'Daddy does Princess Serendipity have, does she have a, a mammy?'
'Yes.'
'Where does her mammy live?'
'In a palace with Princess Serendipity's father the King.' Gsw. 1990 John and Willy Maley From the Calton to Catalonia 18:
Look who's talking! Greetin fur his mammy! wm.Sc. 1991 Liz Lochhead Bagpipe Muzak 3:
Interviewed me aboot my hobbies -
I says: Macrame, origami,
Being nice tae ma mammy -
(Basically I tellt him a loat o jobbies). Gsw. 1993 Margaret Sinclair Soor Plooms and Candy Balls 27:
Mammy puts oan her toffy air
Come back fae there noo Chuck m.Sc. 1994 Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay Forever Yours, Marie-Lou 35:
You preferred hingin aboot wi yir Mammy so's ye could watch her an copy how tae suffer like a true saint!
You know yir no supposed tae drink! No even a swallie! em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 113:
'Whit's yer name, darling? Were ye in there? Were ye wi yer mammy?'

2. In dim. forms: (1) a wet nurse (n.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., 1908 Jak. (1928)); (2) a midwife (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.); †(3) Heriot's School slang: the matron.(1) Sc. 1704 Foulis Acct. Bk. (S.H.S.) 354:
To marie foulis to give her mamie at Corstorphin when her bairn was cristened . . . £2. 0. 0.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 100:
An' did him to the glens directly hy Where his auld mammy kept his store an' ky, Blyth was the wife her foster-son to see.(2) Ags. 1875 J. C. Guthrie Strathmore 332:
A male child, born on the same night that the Ghaist brought the "Mammy" to her house.(3) Edb. 1898 J. Baillie W. Crighton 31:
After surveying his patients, and looking down at Mammie (who always accompanied the doctor to the sick-room), remarked “One more, I see”.

3. Combs.: (1) mammy daddy, also daddy mammy. Exclamation of fear or panic (mammy daddy Gsw., Ayr.; mammy daddy (polis) Edb., Ayr. 2000s). (2) mammy-flooers, the forget-me-not, Myosotis palustris; (3) mam's fout, a spoilt, over-indulged child (Rxb. 1825 Jam.); (4) mammie's gull, see Gull, n.⁵; (5) mammiekeekie, (i) a spoilt indulged child (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.; Lnk., Dmf., s.Sc. 1962); an effeminate man (Rxb. 1962). See Keek, v.¹; (ii) a sharp blow (Rxb. 1825 Jam., mamikeekie), phs. a different word; (6) mam's loon, a boy spoilt and excessively cherished by his mother (ne.Sc. 1962); (7) mam's pet, = (2); (8) mammy wife, a midwife. Cf. 2. (2).(1)wm.Sc. 1977 William McIlvanney Laidlaw (1985) 204:
'Oh daddy-mammy,' Laidlaw said.wm.Sc. 1984 Liz Lochhead Dreaming Frankenstein 79:
Beast
he was hot
he grew horns
he had you
screaming mammy daddy screaming blue
murder.wm.Sc. 1991:
Oh mammy, daddy, Uncle Geordie!Edb. 1995 Irvine Welsh Marabou Stork Nightmares (1996) 172:
It was the same with the rat-shaggers. Back doon tae they cunts and they're fuckin swarming all over ye, stand up tae them and they're shouting mammy daddy polis ... (2) Sh. 1947 Shet. Folk Bk. (Tait) I. 84:
Mammie-flooers — Forget-me-not. e.g. Myosotis palustris and arvensis. Is there a connection with the English name, “Mammy”, being the one who, above all, will “forget me not”? Or, more prosaically, is it from mami, O.N. malmr, gravel, gravelly soil, or subsoil?(4) Rxb. 1927 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick 11:
Hei's an awfih mammie's gull thon! — hingin on be hei's mother's frock-tail.(7) Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 153:
He has fault of a Wife, that marries Mam's Pet.(8) Ags. 1912 Abd. Jnl. N. & Q. V. 160:
The brownie . . . saddled the best horse and set off for the “howdie”. . . . Some, however, say that he was never again heard of after landing the “mammy wife”.