''Bairn'' is a Northern English,

Scottish English Scottish English ( gd, Beurla Albannach) is the set of varieties of the English language spoken in Scotland. The transregional, standardised variety is called Scottish Standard English or Standard Scottish English (SSE). Scottish Standard ...

and Scots term for a child. It originated in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

as "bearn", becoming restricted to Scotland and the North of England c. 1700. Sandy (or James) Linton, his boat and bairns

The word was included in the

English Dialect Dictionary English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

with variant spellings ''barn, bayn, bayne'' that reflect varying pronunciations. Compare with the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

, Icelandic, Faroese and

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

word for child "barn" or the West-Frisian "bern". Also the Latvian "bērns". Cain bairns are children seized by witches and warlocks as tribute for the devil.

Examples of use

Examples of the term's use include the phrase "

Jock Tamson's Bairns "Jock Tamson's bairns" is a Lowland Scots (and Northumbrian English) dialect version of "Jack (John) Thomson's children" but both ''Jock'' and ''Tamson'' in this context take on the connotation of Everyman. The Dictionary of the Scots Language ...

" as an idiomatic expression of egalitarian sentiment and the title of the 19th century Geordie folk song " Come Geordie ha'd the bairn." "

Baloo Baleerie "Baloo Baleerie" is a Scottish lullaby. The title is alliterative nonsense based around the Scots word for lullaby, "baloo". As it is based on a recording in the BBC Glasgow Archives made on 22 January 1949 on the Shetland island of Bressay, it is ...

", a traditional Scottish

lullaby A lullaby (), or cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies they are used to pass down cultural knowledg ...

, incorporates the term repeatedly, as does "

The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" or "The Grey Selkie of Sule Skerry" is a traditional folk song from Shetland and Orkney. A woman has her child taken away by its father, the great selkie of Sule Skerry which can transform from a seal into a h ...

", a traditional folk song from Orkney.

References

Childhood English dialect words Scottish words and phrases {{Vocab-stub