kirn

Scots

Etymology 1

From Middle English kyrne; compare Old Norse kirna (“churn”).[1]

Alternative forms

Noun

kirn (plural kirns)

  1. a churn

Verb

kirn (third-person singular simple present kirns, present participle kirnin, simple past kirnt, past participle kirnt)

  1. to churn (as milk into butter)
    • 1855, Hew Ainslie, “Croon to a Kyle cow”, in Scottish Songs, Ballads, and Poems, page 149:
      Be it warm / Be it cauld / Be it cream’d / Be it kirn’d […] / It’s welcome aye to Jock
      Whether it’s warm or cold, creamed or churned, [milk] is indeed welcome to Jock
  2. to churn up, stir, mix
    kirn with the pistle and mortar
    mix with a mortar and pestle

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Perhaps from Old English cyrnel (“kernel, grain”), with meaning shifted or broadened from the seed to the whole crop plant. Compare curn (“a grain, a particle”).[3]

Noun

kirn (plural kirns)

  1. a celebration to mark the end of the harvest season; (by extension) an ending or farewell celebration
    Synonym: foy
  2. the last sheaf or bit of corn harvested

See also
  • clyack (“the last sheaf harvested; the end of the harvest”)
  • hare (“the last sheaf harvested”)
  • maiden (“the last sheaf harvested, plaited and decorated with ribbons”)

References
  1. “kirn, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
  2. “kirn, n.1, v.” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
  3. “kirn, n.2” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.
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