The Outlandish Companion - Diana Gabaldon [138]
philtres (English, obs.) [FIL-ters]—potions or formulas, often magical or alchemical in nature
poofter (English)—homosexual; derogatory.
peruke (English) [per-OOK]—small wig.
mo buidheag (Gaelic) [mo booiak]—my friend. Correct possessive form is “mo bhuidheag.”
canty (Scots) [CAN-tee]—lively, pleasant, cheerful; implying also something small and neat, or a person in good health.
broch tuarach (Gaelic) [BROCK TOO-arak]—north-facing tower.
harled (Scots)—plastered.
broch (Gaelic) [BROK]—tower. In particular, an ancient round tower, usually either B.C. or very early A.D.
Sheas (more usually spelled “seas”) (Gaelic) [shais]—stand, or stop.
mo maise (Gaelic) [mo vaishe]—roughly, “my beauty.” “Maise” means ornament, greaty beauty, elegance. IMT notes that common usage is more likely “mo nighean mhaiseach,” meaning “my beautiful girl” [mo nee-an vaisheak]. Also, correct possessive form is “mo mhaise.”
mo chride (Gaelic) [mo cree or mo kri-e]— my heart. Used as a term of affection.
braw (Scots)—literally, “brave,” but also implies “fine, splendid, excellent.”
cockernonny (Scots)—a gathering of hair into a neat bundle.
ruaidh (Gaelic) [Rooagh]—red; a ruaidh, “the red one.” IMT notes that while this does mean red(haired), it’s commonly applied to the color brown, in general use.
gille (Gaelic) [GILL-e; sometimes corrupted in English usage to “gilly”]—a lad, young man, or servant man.
dags (Scots obs.)—pistols.
snark (British and Scots dialed)—a snore or snort; also, a tangle, as in a noose or snare; also a grumbling, trouble-causing person (Scots). As used—as an epithet— “long-nosed snark”—it is probably derogatory, though may also imply something about the entrapping nature of Captain Randall, who is so addressed.
bothy (Scots) [BAH-thee]—a small shack or hut.
besom (Scots) [BEE-zum]—a woman, generally ill-tempered.
caudle (English) [CAW-dul]—a drink, usually made of warm ale or wine, mixed with bread, sugar, eggs, and spices, often administered medicinally.
ogives (French) (ogeev)—an architectural feature, in which four arches conjoin in a roof.
monstrance (Latin-English) [MON-strunce]—an ornamental receptacle (usually made of precious metal) in which the consecrated Host (the Blessed Sacrament) is placed for display during certain rituals, such as Benediction, or for exposition on an altar.
sortes Virgilianae (Latin) [SOR-tees ver-jill-ee-AHN-ee]—an ancient game of fortune-telling, based on the random selection of text from a book.
emerods (English, obs.)—hemorrhoids.
scut (British dialect)—the tail of a rabbit or deer; in vulgar usage, the female pudenda, by extension, a female servant, or any dirty, mean person.
ma niéce (French)—my niece.
ma chére (French)—my dear.
ma bonne amie (French)—my good friend, my dear friend.
posset (English)—a nutritious drink, usually warm milk, curdled with ale or wine, sometimes thickened with bread or egg.
gaberlunzie (Scots) [GAB-er-lun-zee]— small lead badge, given to beggars as a license to beg within the borders of a parish.
snuff mull (Scots)—a container for snuff, often made from a sheep’s horn.
plimsolls (English)—sneakers or tennis shoes.
cark it (English)—die; be killed, geyser (English) [GEE-zer]—hot-water heater.
Tearlach mac Seamus (or mac Sheumais) [Tearlak mac Haamuis]—“Charles, son of James”; Charles Stuart.
rootling (English)—to rifle through or dig about.
lych-gate (English)—an enclosed passage in the wall of a churchyard, where processions (such as the coffin, for a funeral) assemble or rest before entering.
stone (English)—a measure of weight. Most often, fourteen pounds, when used as a measure of human weight. Other substances, such as flax, tobacco, etc., were occasionally measured in terms of “stones” of different weights, each type of “stone” being specific to the substance weighed.
oxter (English)—armpit.
salope (French)—slut; trollop.
femme sans cervelle (French) [FAM sahn ser-VELL]—brainless female (literally “woman without a brain”).
Non, Monsieur le Comte, je regrette, mais c’est impossible (French)