Franco-Scottish Domestic Terms

‘Mrs. Diggity-Dalgetty’s forebears must have been exposed to foreign influences, for she interlards her culinary conversation with French terms, and we have discovered that this is quite common. A “jigget” of mutton is, of course, a “gigot”, and we have identified an ashet as an “assiette”. The petticoat tails she requested me to buy at the confectioner’s were somewhat more puzzling, but when they were finally purchased by Susanna Crum they appeared to be ordinary little cakes; perhaps, therefore, petits gastels, since gastels is an old form of gâteau, as bel was for beau. Susanna, for her part, speaks of the wardrobe in my room as an “awmry”. It certainly contains no weapons, and we conjecture that her word must be a corruption of armoire.’—Kate Douglas Wiggan: Penelope’s Experiences in Scotland (1890).