[From Manx Dialect, 1934]

K

Kank, the cry of a goose, its loud and excited cackle ; and as verb. " Kank, kank ! says the goose," and " Goin' kankin' into the till " (Brown 401). Imitative, like the English 'honk' of the wild goose and the motor-horn.

Keckleger, a poor, worthless person (J.J.K.). V.A.D. f as " Keklagh " with this meaning.

Keek, to peer sharply or slyly. " His eyes, which keeked out like a ferret's " (Morrison, Manx Fairy Tales, page go). " And the sarvant keeked over the landin'-top " (Brown 130). " When the nets were being pulled up, no man was allowed to look over the :side of the boats but the man who was pulling up. I have got many a polt in the head, when a ' lump,' for keeking over " (Roeder, Manx Notes and Queries, page 108). ' Polt,' blow. ' Lump,' lad. Cregeen has ' keek ' as a Manx word, but it is in use in Cumberland.

Keer. See " Care."

Keg, a small cross made of wood of the mountain-ash and fastened to the wall or door to keep away witches and fairies. The two members should be tied together with cass-olley, the remains of the previous year's wool left on the sheep ; or they may be fastened by sticking a new pin through them where they intersect. Though the object is familiar enough, I have heard this name ' keg' used by one person only, a Lonan man ; but it may be better known than I am aware.

Keigh. " I'm sort of keigh, for of shearin' when tokin', Some smarties will laugh and make out that I'm tokin' " (Quarrie, " The First Reaping Machine "). ' Tokin',' talking. The Manx keoie is now understood as ' mad, angry, raging ' ; but that it once had a milder meaning is suggested by the expression " Manannan keoie " in the Rhymed Chronicle, stanza 5. Something of the sort seems also to be adumbrated by one of Cregeen's definitions of keoie : " not tame." It is possible, however, that ' keigh ' is meant for a dialect form of ' coy.'

Kep. " Kep, Harry vogh ! " (Ramsey Courtier, 12/8/93). Said there to mean ' come.' ; the usual English dialect meaning, however, is ' take, catch.'

Kessah (variously spelt), a swampy piece of ground at the junction of two farm-boundaries, used-formerly, at any rate-as a drinking-place for animals. Fairly common in toponymy. Se. Gaelic casach, an outfall, literally ' foot-place.' Cregeen has " Yn Chessey, a cast-off piece of land."

Kiartlins. " Two or three little kiartlins wantin' doing in the dairy" (Cushag, Hommy Beg). Presumably the same as ' kiarthags,' small jobs ; perhaps a corruption of its Manx plural, kiarthagyn.

Kibbin, a long peg, a stake ; such as that used to tether an animal. " Even sthuggas caught fish enough for a livin' With a yard of line just tied to a kibbin Drove down for a foot in the sand " (Quarrie, " The Dog-mill Shore "). Manx the same. ' Sthuggas,' lads.

Killed, rendered unconscious, not necessarily dead. Hence, " Wasn't he kilt dead at me after all ? " (Cushag, Mylecharaine, page 24). So in Ireland. Also, by exaggeration, much fatigued. " I'm killed with the heat." Honourable mention must be accorded to " We killed a quarter or half a beef or pig amongst ourselves, when a whole one was too much " (Roeder, Lioay Manninagh, iii, 131).

Killjeh, noise, bother (J.J.K.).

Kink, a chink, a slit admitting or emitting light. Used of the eyes by Brown, page 422.

Kione-veggey, ' Little-heads ' was a name used by dialect-speakers for the fairies. It needs elucidation, for the fairies were believed to have bigger heads than their stature warranted.

Kit, the bit of wood serving for a ball in boys' games such as trap-ball or ' long-ball,' kitcat and tip-cat. Much the same as a ' crig ' in other games. See " Cat.'

Kithag. Manx has three words for the left hand, but only ' kithag ' is heard in the dialect. Irish lamh-sciathach, ' shield-hand,' the defensive hand ; but distinctly offensive in the case of the schoolmaster working the kiddhag like the deuce " (Brown 2io), and " dowsed (boxed) the other ear with his kiddhag " (Juan Noa, Manx Yarns, page 14 ).

Kopie. " Nelly rigged up her kopie-that's her milking-stool " (Caine, Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon, page 49). " Coppy, a small wooden stool. North of England " (E.D.D.). Was this word ever used in the Manx dialect, as would appear from the passage in the novel? In any case, Manx milkers formerly dispensed with a stool, and knelt to their work-till how recently I cannot say; T. E. Brown makes Betsy Lee nearly fall off her stool when milking in the orchard, in a poem published in 1873.

Kybbon. " The Water Bailiff shall have out of every Boat, as oft as they fish, a certain Measure called a Kybbon-full of Herrings ; and whosoever refuseth to give the same, or Twelve Pence in Money in lieu thereof, shall be excluded from the Fleet " (Act of Tynwald, 161o). There is no other instance, so far as I am aware, of this word, and it is not extant. Possibly it is an error for ' kyshon ' (kishen) a peck measure. But E.D.D. has ' kibble,' a tub or basket (Northern and Western), and ' kibek,' a little round wooden vessel (Shetland) ; so ' kybbon ' may be authentic. Roeder (Manx Notes and Queries, page 114) estimates that the vessel in question held fully a hundred herring.

Kyne, to weep, lament. " He was hearing like some lost thing kyning one night " (Douglas, The Fairy Tune, page 13). Manx keayney, to weep ; Irish caoinina, I lament ; Old Norse kveiiza, to whimper.