kirn

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Scots

Etymology 1

From Middle English kyrne; compare Old Norse kirna (“churn”).[1]

Alternative forms

Noun

kirn (plural kirns)

  1. a churn

Verb

kirn (third-person singular simple present kirns, present participle kirnin, simple past kirnt, past participle kirnt)

  1. to churn (as milk into butter)
    • 1855, Hew Ainslie, “Croon to a Kyle cow”, in Scottish Songs, Ballads, and Poems, page 149:
      Be it warm / Be it cauld / Be it cream’d / Be it kirn’d […] / It’s welcome aye to Jock
      Whether it’s warm or cold, creamed or churned, is indeed welcome to Jock
  2. to churn up, stir, mix
    kirn with the pistle and mortar
    mix with a mortar and pestle

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps from Old English cyrnel (“kernel, grain”), with meaning shifted or broadened from the seed to the whole crop plant. Compare curn (“a grain, a particle”).[3]

Noun

kirn (plural kirns)

  1. a celebration to mark the end of the harvest season; (by extension) an ending or farewell celebration
    Synonym: foy
  2. the last sheaf or bit of corn harvested

See also

  • clyack (“the last sheaf harvested; the end of the harvest”)
  • hare (“the last sheaf harvested”)
  • maiden (“the last sheaf harvested, plaited and decorated with ribbons”)

References

  1. ^ “kirn, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
  2. ^ “kirn, n.1, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
  3. ^ “kirn, n.2” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
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