Burn the water
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:28 pm
I've been reading Scottish Traditional Tales (1994) edited by A. J. Bruford and D. A. MacDonald (ISBN 0 7486 6150 6), and it's loaded with many traditional Scottish words and phrases. I ran across this one ("burn the water") and decided to look it up on the Web. Since the characters in the story were going fishing at night, I suspected it involved using torches to attract the fish--I've done the same using a Coleman gas lantern fishing off a bridge at night to attract fish and the insects that also attract the fish. (Note: make sure you have a foot or so of light chain attached to the lantern to your rope doesn't melt from the heat and drop the lantern into Davy Jones' fresh-water locker. ).
It turns out that this is exactly what it was; using torches from a boat at night to spear fish. It's an old phrase (obviously: it's used in a folk tale! The first reference I found was from Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana. Others appeared in some books that Google scanned, mostly mentioning salmon as the prey.
The last reference I found is one I've also bookmarked: Dictionary of the Scots Language. "Burn" has a link to "bleeze," or blaze:
It turns out that this is exactly what it was; using torches from a boat at night to spear fish. It's an old phrase (obviously: it's used in a folk tale! The first reference I found was from Two Years Before The Mast by Richard Henry Dana. Others appeared in some books that Google scanned, mostly mentioning salmon as the prey.
The last reference I found is one I've also bookmarked: Dictionary of the Scots Language. "Burn" has a link to "bleeze," or blaze:
... and now back to my reading ...DSL - SND1 BLEEZE, Blase, v.1 Sc. forms of Eng. blaze, v. [bli:z, ble:z Sc.; ble1:z Ags.]
*Hdg. 1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 6:
Its ancient splendour fled awa, That bleezed sae bright in ilka ha’. Special Sc. usages: 1. “To light up water with torches for the purpose of attracting and spearing salmon” (Ayr. 1934 (per Kcb.9)). vbl.n. blaseing.
*Bnff. 1705 Court Bks. Regality Grant in Bnffsh. Jnl. (1897) (5 Oct.) 2:
3rd Aug. 1705 . . . fined £50 for abusing of the Laird of Grant’s curroch fishing upon Spey by their blaseing of the water.
*Abd.(D) 1920 C. Murray In the Country Places 10:
To bleeze the burn an’ spear a fish There’s few that hae his skill.
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