Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1790, 1877-1990
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MIRKEN, v. To grow dark, to darken, to become overcast, as the sky at late twilight (Sh. 1963). Hence vbl.n. mirkenin, -an, mirkinnen, mirknin(g), -en, murknin, late twilight, the period just before dark (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Ork. 1922 J. Firth Reminisc. 153, 1929 Marw.; Sh. 1963); ppl.adj. mirkening, darkening, merging into darkness.Ayr. 1790 J. Fisher Poems 102:
Ae simmer e'en baith wale an' trig, About the mirkning.Sh. 1877 G. Stewart Fireside Tales 6:
I aye keep a sherp e' aboot me in da mirkinnen.Ayr. 1883 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) V. 185:
The clachan lichts begin to blink ayont the mirkning brae.Sh. 1931 Shetland Times (14 March) 7:
I' da murknin' o' da winter whin da Ness oot yundir was braakin' white.Sh. 1958 New Shetlander No. 48. 11:
Whin Simmer fled, an nichts begood ta mirken.ne.Sc. 1979 Alastair Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 63:
there in that land whaur the sun was an oven
and midgie-cloods mirkent the air. Sh. 1990 Observer 11 Mar :
A brief dialect glossary lists dozens of words for the extraordinary quality of Shetland light: 'simmer dance', the shimmer of the sea in summer time; 'mirkenin', the time when darkness is falling.
