Sonsie

Family down for the weekend so we had a wee trip to Ayr this afternoon then went down to Alloway for coffee at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

In the atrium of the building there were loads of signs hanging from the ceiling with Scots words on them. I was taken with this one “Sonsie” which was used by Burns in the “Address to a Haggis”.

It seems the word, all be it a small word, actually has a variety of meanings depending on its context.

1 - plump, buxom, comely
2 - cheerful, good-natured
3 – lucky

I would thing that it was likely the first meaning that Robert Burns was thinking of in the Address to a Haggis as I’m not sure the Haggis was going to be cheerful, good-natured or luck.

Anyway off now for some refreshments. Sonsie fa ye!