Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1932
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SKRATTISKRAE, n. Also -skre; more commonly as sklat(t)i-, sklet(t)a-, sclaty-, sklater-, -skray, -scrae. [′skrɑtɪskre:, ′skletə-]
1. The dunlin, Erolia alpina (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 200, 1866 Edm. Gl., 1908 Jak. (1928)); a flock of dunlin (Jak.).
2. A term of abuse and contempt (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., sclaty-scrae); heard as meaning a loquacious but rather ignorant person, who talks a great deal about what he little understands (‡Sh. 1967).Sh. 1932 J. M. E. Saxby Trad. Lore 118:
"He's no' o' wir auld gentlefolk. He's just a sklaterscrae." When a person begins to rise in the world a bit above his class, the first sign of his rise was putting a slate roof on his thatched cottage in imitation of "Upperlees." A sklater is a repulsive insect. . . . A scray is a swarm of vermin, an ignoble crowd of snobs, overrunning everything.
3. A swarm (of insects, mice or other vermin) (Sh. 1970).
[All the meanings have been put under one common form but it is quite uncertain that they belong orig. to the same word or that they are all authentic. The form itself is obscure, the first element suggesting connection with Norw. dial. skratta, to make a rattling drumming noise, to laugh in a high-pitched tone, with later dissimilation of skr- to skl-; the second element might represent scrae, see Skreed, but the semantic development is not clear.]
