A Doric A-Z: B revisited

An occasional A-Z of the Doric, the dialect spoken in the North-East of Scotland which is rich in words and phrases associated with the land and the sea.

BENT: Marram grass. Pronounced 'bint'.

After 2 cold, dark, damp, miserable, haary days the sea mist started to burn off this morning leaving the sand dunes and their bent looking their best.

Nearby are the remains of the medieval settlement of Forvie, where the ruins of the 12th century kirk can be still be seen among the dunes. Forvie was abandoned after being blanketed in sand during a great storm in 1413. According to local legend, this was the result of three sisters placing a curse on the village. They had, it is said, been cast adrift in a leaky boat, after the death of their father, the Laird, to deny them their inheritance, as heirs to the land. In a fit of rage, they screamed a curse:

"Let nocht bee funde in Furvye's glebes
Bot thystl, bente and sande"

(Let nothing be found in Forvie's fields
But thistles, marram grass and sand.)

When the sisters eventually reached dry land their curse whipped up a storm that continued for nine days and nights. By the time that it ended the village and its fields had disappeared under great dunes of sand and were never re-occupied.