Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1721-1954
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MINNIE, n., v. Also minni, minny, mihnny (Sh. 1898 Shetland News (12 Feb.)); mynnie; minno; ¶minnick. [′mɪni]
I. n. 1. Of human beings: an affectionate term for a mother (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Fif., Lth., Ayr. 1923–6 Wilson; Ags., Lnk., Uls. 1963).Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 387:
Your Minnie's Milk is no out of your Nose yet.Abd. 1746 W. Forbes Dominie Deposed 8:
Her minny crooks her mou', and dad.Ayr. 1790 Burns Tam Glen iv.:
My minnie does constantly deave me, And bids me beware o' young men.Per. c.1800 Lady Nairne Cradle Song i.:
Now, baloo loo, lammy, ain minnie is here.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xviii.:
Our minnie's sair mis-set, after her ordinar, sir.Slk. 1820 Hogg Bridal of Polmood vii.:
Ane honest mannis wyffe and mynnie to twa bairnis.Sc. 1858 E. B. Ramsay Reminiscences 78:
One boy, on coming late, explained that the cause had been a regular pitched battle between his parents . . . adding, however, with much complacency, "But my minnie dang, she did tho'."Kcb. 1893 Crockett Raiders xvi.:
If ye want the bit lass, afore Hector Faa's minnie ties him and her up ower the tangs.Ork. 1922 P. Ork. A.S. 29:
Baa the bairns o' Bae-tun, For minno's awa tae Sae-tun.Sh. 1954 New Shetlander No. 40. 20:
Shu's me bairns' Minnie noo.
Hence combs.: (1) minnie's bairn, a child overpetted by its mother, mother's darling (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Ags. 1963); (2) minnie's daut (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.), — dawtie, id. (Cld. 1880 Jam.); (3) minnie's-man, a henpecked husband; (4) minnies mouthes, "those who must be wheedled into any measure by kindness, coaxing, etc." (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.); (5) minnie's pet, = (1).(3) Lnk. 1806 J. Black Falls of Clyde 131:
Near him! you're just beside him: Were it Ann, You'd reach her sax mile aff — Poor minny's man.(5) Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 137:
Quite pleas'd in being dedd an' minnie's pet.
2. Of animals: a mother, a dam.Ayr. 1786 Burns To his Auld Mare v.:
When first I gaed to woo my Jenny, Ye then was trottin wi' your minnie.Slk. 1818 Hogg B. of Bodsbeck xii.:
The very gair where it was lambed and first followed its minny.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 232:
Your minnie burdies ye maun lae, Ten to my nocket I maun hae.Rxb. 1826 A. Scott Poems 107:
I at my minny's duggs then hung, An' scarg'd about a foal.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 25:
The fawn blithely skips while its minnie lies doun.Bnff. 1884 Trans. Bnffsh. Field Club 30:
There wiz three doggies, Trig, Tree, and Trimmick, An' filk wiz Trimmick's minnick.
3. A grandmother (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., Sh. 1963). Cf. luckie-minnie s.v. Luckie.Sh. 1894 Proc. Philos. Soc. Gsw. XXV. 116:
Da tüllie it da shicken-cock maed wi mam an' minnie.
II. v. Of a suckling: to recognise and run back to its mother; of a shepherd, etc.: to put each lamb to its own mother.Peb. 1772 Indictment of A. Murdison 3:
Four or six lambs broke off from the flock of eild sheep . . . and run to the ewes, and minnied or mothered themselves by sucking.Lth. 1825 Jam.:
It is given as a proof of the accuracy of a shepherd's acquaintance with his flock, that, after the lambs have been separated from the ewes, he can minnie ilka lamb.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales (1837) II. 294:
Sandy has fallen asleep and has letten away all the lambs — and they're all minnied again.
