The Banshee of Castle Muirn

by Sheila Currie

  targe - small round shield

  thigger - beggar

  tocher - dowry, from Gaelic tochar, tochradh

  trews - close-fitting trousers, cut on the bias; from Gaelic triubhas

  vittle - food, provisions from Latin

  wattle - stakes interwoven with branches to make a fencing, doors or walls

  waulking - a process by which woven cloth was wetted and pounded to shrink and thicken it; to make it warmer and more durable

  withy - a rope of slender twigs usually willow, a halter

  yett - gate, gateway, entrance, iron gate

  Note: Lowlanders speak Inglishe, a Germanic language, increasingly called Scots, Lowland Scots or Broad Scots after 1600.

  Dictionary of the Scottish Language

  http://www.dsl.ac.uk

  DEDICATION

  My thanks to everyone who encouraged me to write this novel: my writing buddies, the WIP group, many teachers of craft and language, and of course, those who love reading anything about Scotland.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sheila Currie lives in her world of thousands of books, fiction and non-fiction. Visiting friends worry about an avalanche. Her love of Scotland and Ireland led her to study in Nova Scotia, Canada and then in Scotland where she obtained an M. A. (honours) in Scottish History and Celtic Studies from the University of Glasgow. She was fortunate enough to have a summer job selling Gaelic books door-to-door in the West Highlands and Islands. Going from one cup of tea to the next, she had a wonderful opportunity to talk to local people and hear their stories. Today she teaches history and Gaelic in British Columbia, and at long last she has written a historical fantasy--set in Scotland of course.

  www.sheilacurrie.com

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