Nieve

by Terry Griggs

  foliot: A kind of goblin or demon.

  freets: Superstitions.

  glaik: A foolish person.

  goamless: Stupid.

  gowk: A fool. A half-witted or awkward person. (Verb) Stare foolishly.

  gowl: A howl, yell, or cry.

  gyre carline: A supernatural being, an ogress, a witch.

  latchets: Shoe laces.

  lias: Light.

  lich-way: A path along which a corpse has been carried to burial, in some districts establishing a right of way.

  lich-owl: A screech owl, its cry supposedly portending a death.

  lirk: A fold in the skin, a wrinkle.

  lux (Latin): Light.

  megrim: Migraine. Vertigo. A whim, a fancy. And, for the purposes of Nieve, someone invested with unusual powers. (Plural) Low spirits, depression.

  mizzle: Disappear suddenly, decamp, vanish, take oneself off.

  moly: A mythical plant with black roots and white flowers. In Homer’s Odyssey, Hermes gives it to Ulysses to protect him from enchantment by Circe.

  muckle: Great, large. Considerable in size and importance.

  nayword: A password, a catchword.

  nieve: A clenched hand, a fist.

  rawhead: An evil spirit, a bogey or bugbear, devourer of naughty children.

  rickle: A loose heap, a skeleton.

  rouk (also roke): Smoke, steam, mist, fog, drizzle.

  swank: Agile, active, nimble. Stylish, posh.

  taran: The ghost of an unbaptized infant.

  thrawn: Perverse, contrary, cross-grained, ill-tempered. Twisted, crooked, misshapen, distorted.

  unco: Unknown, strange, unusual. Weird, uncanny.

  waft: A Yorkshire term for a gliding spectre, a stealer of souls that appears in the guise of the person it has come to destroy.

  weazen: Shrink, shrivel, wizen.

  whisht: Become or keep silent, hush.

  wirricowe: A hobgoblin, demon, mischievous person.

  ye ken: You know.

  Acknowledgments

  I wish to extend my gratitude to: The Ontario Arts Council for their support, The University of Windsor’s English Department for a most welcome and welcoming residency, Dennis Priebe for his technical expertise, and Daniel Wells, for his publishing savvy and devotion to literary endeavour. A very special thanks to my son Sandy for his artwork, amazing and hair-raising.

  About the Author

  Terry Griggs is the author of Quickening, which was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award, The Lusty Man, and Rogues’ Wedding, short-listed for the Rogers Writer’s Trust Fiction Prize. Her children’s books Cat’s Eye Corner, The Silver Door, and Invisible Ink have been nominated for multiple children’s writing awards. In 2003, Terry Griggs was awarded the Marian Engel Award in recognition of a distinguished body of work. Here latest book, Thought You Were Dead, was published by Biblioasis in 2009. She lives in Stratford, Ontario.

  About the Illustrator

  Alexander Griggs-Burr, a student at the University of Guelph, is currently finishing a degree in philosophy and visual arts. He lives in Guelph and Stratford, Ontario.