Tapsalteerie

Scots word of the day: Tapsalteerie – meaning topsy turvy

A Fiddler in the North

by Robert Burns – 1794
Amang the trees, where humming bees,
At buds and flowers were hinging, O,
Auld Caledon drew out her drone,
And to her pipe was singing, O:
‘Twas Pibroch, Sang, Strathspeys, and Reels,
She dirl’d them aff fu’ clearly, O:
When there cam’ a yell o’ foreign squeels,
That dang her tapsalteerie, O.

Their capon craws an’ queer “ha, ha’s,”
They made our lugs grow eerie, O;
The hungry bike did scrape and fyke,
Till we were wae and weary, O:
But a royal ghaist*, wha ance was cas’d,
A prisoner, aughteen year awa’,
He fir’d a Fiddler in the North,
That dang them tapsalteerie, O.

*The royal ghost referred to here is James I of Scotland who was imprisoned by Henry IV of England for 18 years. He was released in 1424 and was crowned King of Scotland in Scone Abby, Perthshire that same year. He was not a popular king due to his firm hand in ruling. A group of Scots led by Sir Robert Graham assassinated him in 1437. He attempted escape through a sewer, forgetting that the had ordered it blocked off a few days earlier because….tennis balls kept getting lost in it. Match point, game to Graham. Tapsalteerie indeed!