Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
BALMORAL, n. The name of a royal residence, Balmoral Castle, on upper Deeside in Aberdeenshire, used in (1) comb. Balmoral bonnet, freq. in reduced form Balmoral, a kind of bonnet like the Kilmarnock with a smaller brim cocked at one side and having a tassel on the crown and band usu. with a diced pattern; (2) deriv. Balmorality, a name devised by George Scott-Moncrieff in the article quoted below for what he characterised as a sham enthusiasm for the superficial aspects of Scottish life and culture and a lack of genuine concern for the real interests and problems of Scotland as a nation. The word is freq. used by writers of Nationalist sympathies.(1) Sc. 1885 G. Fraser Poems 53:
A cankered auld carle, wi' Balmoral on croon. Sc. 1929 Scots Mag. (Feb.) 322:
Dressed in the tartan trews of some Highland militia regiment, his brow surmounted by a Balmoral bonnet. Sc. 1935 Scotsman (29 June) 20:
Imperial [Scout] Headquarters have now approved the wearing of the Balmoral bonnet by Scottish Rover Scouts. Sc. 1943 Abd. Press & Jnl. (2 Aug.) 2:
The late John Brown's photos show him wearing the correct Balmoral bonnet.(2) Sc. 1932 Scot. in Quest of her Youth (Thomson) 74, 86:
Sir Walter Scott re-discovered Scotland, and all unwittingly paved the way for Victoria and the cult Balmorality . . . Balmorality, a glutinous compound of hypocrisy, false sentiment, industrialism, ugliness, and clammy pseudo-Calvinism. Sc. 1964 H. McDiarmid in S. G. Smith Carotid Cornucopius 20:
Most Scottish novelists today, as higherto, are fixated in just such atrocious Balmorality.
