The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) tell us that pictarnie (and its variants) is a name for the Common or Arctic tern. Another name for both species is tarrock and DSL contains many names for just the Common tern: tarney, kirmew, pirr, speikintare, starnal, willie-fisher, shear-tail, and teeock.
The earliest citation in DSL for this particular name comes from Thomas Pennant’s A Tour in Scotland (1771): “The birds that breed on the isles [in Loch Leven] are Herring Gulls, Pewit Gulls, and great Terns, called here Pictarnes”. It also appeared in Walter Scott’s Antiquary (1816): “‘What do you see extraordinary about that bird, Hector’ — it's but a sea-maw [gull].’ ‘It's a pictarnie, sir,’ said Edie”.
In 1914, the Transactions of the Banffshire Field Club recorded that Morayshire fishermen would name seasonal storms after birds. The first of the year was “the pictar storm [which] came between the 1st and 8th of April”, the time when terns returned after winter.
DSL’s current latest example comes from the Weekly Scotsman in April 1930: “These pugnacious birds, the Arctic and Sandwich terns, which visit the islands during the summer months, are named pickieternos”. Whilst Common and Arctic terns can easily be confused due to their white-grey bodies, black caps, and red bills, the Sandwich tern can be distinguished by its longer black bill.
One later example comes from the Dundee Courier in May 1970: “It is almost miraculous how these pictarnies keep so immaculately clean while in occupation of a ‘glaury’ [dirty] place like this”.
Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language and is illustrated by Bob Dewar. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.
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