Auld Scots Language/Blenty

[Rodeo]

My husband's 4x great grandfather, James Paterson (b. 1783), was known by the sobriquet 'Blenty', as was his great grandfather, also called James Paterson.

Can anyone familiar with the Scots idiom tell me what 'blenty' actually means? Does it describe someone short-sighted and clumsy or is it a variation of blustery (as in long-winded)?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Cheers,

Rodeo

[Falkyrn]

I've not heard the term myself but a quick look through the Scots Language Dictionary Online at http://www.dsl.ac.uk/dsl/index.html doesn't show Blenty but does give a noun Blent meaning Flash or bright

[paddyscar]

Snap, Falkryn! I tried the Scots Dictionary as well. Went on to check the gazetteer http://www.scottish-places.info/ in case it was a case where there were so many James in one family that they resorted to adding identifiers.

One family was so 'Sam-riddled' that the rhyme starts " sma' Sam, ta' Sam, wee Sam, rid Sam, guid Sam, oor Sam, yer Sam, Sam fae Forfar " otherwise 'small Sam, tall Sam, little Sam, red (haired) Sam, good Sam (the minister), our Sam, your Sam, Sam from Forfar'.

Another definition of 'blinter/blenter' from the Scots Dictionary is “A boisterous intermitting wind”, so maybe James was considered a windbag?

Frances

[Rodeo]

Many thanks for your replies, Falkryn and Frances. Yes, that's the closest I could get to a meaning as well.

So, the term blenty (or a derivation of it) is no longer in usage, then?

Cheers,

Rodeo

[WilmaM]

So, the term blenty (or a derivation of it) is no longer in usage, then?

It would depend on where in Scotland you asked, It's not a term I've heard of, but it could be still in use in Dorric or Lallans or in Ross-shire. I know older folk who've lived in a wee fishing village on the Moray coast who use terms even natives a couple of miles away wouldn't.

Where did your James hail from?

[Rodeo]

Hi there

These James Patersons hailed from Douglas (Carmacoup).

Captain John Paterson, son of James Paterson born in 1783, wrote a poem about curling, The Douglas Bonspiel, in which he refers to his father as Honest Blenty.

My husband's great grandfather, James Paterson, who emigrated to Australia in 1858, was likewise known as Blenty and is referred to as such by A.B. Banjo Paterson in his writings and by Rose Barton Paterson (Banjo's mother) in her Illalong Letters 1873-1888.

We're trying to determine the origin of that Blenty nickname.

Cheers,

Rodeo

[WilmaM]

That's not an area I'm very familiar with, right in farming, mining country.
It's still a fairly isolated area so maybe the term still lingers on among the locals.

[Rodeo]

Thanks, Wilma. Perhaps someone from that area may know about it.

Cheers,

Rodeo

[AndrewP]

Hi Rodeo,

Here's a different approach to consider. How about if Blenty was named after a place rather than a word of its time? Have a look at the following map.

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400129

Carmacoup can be found close to the westmost point on that map. Then if you go east to Glespin, and take the road southwards, you come to a remote farm(?) called Blentegart. Could that branch of the family have originated there?

Food for thought,

AndrewP

[Rodeo]

Brilliant, Andrew! I believe you've cracked it.

I see that Blentegert is near Glentaggart, where James Paterson Sr was a farmer.

In Captain John Paterson's The Douglas Bonspiel, there is a reference I just found to Blentgert:

He ended, -- and they all agree
To drink his health in three times three,
With twa-three mystic hnours mair,
Taking directions from the chair
And next Blentegart, -- “Let me see,
I kenna weel what I can gie.”

And then:

Thinks he, "I'll speak to honest Blenty,
Who, in his pockets, aye has plenty."

There's also a note to the poem:

Note: ‘Honest Blenty drives his famed grey mare’ – James Paterson, Glentaggart, the author’s father who, he believes, died without an enemy. His curling stone called ‘the grey mare’ was known far and wide.

From this, it would seem probable that James Paterson's farm was called Blentegert or that his ancestors farmed there, as you say.

The family always believed that blenty was a Scottish term to describe short-sightedness or clumsiness because the younger Blenty was known to drive his rig off the road on several occasions in Young, New South Wales.

Thanks so much for that, Andrew. You're a star!