Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†TRANTIE, adj., n. Also tranty. Of children: intelligent and forward for their age, precocious (Rxb. 1814 J. Wilson Hawick (1858) 40). Also used subst. and in comb. tranty-foot, as a nickname for an unusually clever or sagacious person, suspected of witchcraft.Rxb. 1814 J. Wilson Hawick (1858) 40, 143:
About this period died at Hawick two lone sisters, . . . designated the Tranties, rather more intelligent than their neighbours in a similar humble condition of life. . . . The wonder-working witches Tranty-foot and Speed-o'-foot, the occupants of Goldielands Peel.
