Bairn

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Bairn is a Northern England English, Scottish English and Scots term for a child.[1] It originated in Old English as "bearn", becoming restricted to Scotland and the North of England c. 1700.[2] In Hull the r is dropped and the word Bain is used.[3]

A man with "his boat and bairns" in a calotype print from the 1840s, now in the National Galleries of Scotland.

The word was included in the English Dialect Dictionary with variant spellings barn, bayn, bayne that reflect varying pronunciations.[4]

Compare with the Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese and Danish 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.

  1. ^ "Bairn". Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913 + 1828). The University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (ed.). "Bairn (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  3. ^ "35 Words & Phrases That Only People from Hull Will Understand". 17 October 2022.
  4. ^ Wright, Joseph. English Dialect Dictionary. p. 134.