Last speaker of 'fisherfolk' dialect dies

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INVERNESS, Scotland, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The last native speaker of the Cromarty dialect, spoken by fisherfolk in the far north of Scotland, has died, the BBC reported.

Retired engineer Bobby Hogg, 92, was the last person still fluent in the dialect, believed to have arrived in the area with fishing families coming north from the Firth of Forth in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The families who brought the dialect with them were thought to be the descendants of Norse and Dutch fishermen.

The dialect was used in parts of the Black Isle near Inverness.

Researchers compiled a booklet of Cromarty dialect words and phrases in 2009 by recording conversations between Bobby Hogg and his younger brother Gordon, who died in 2011 at age 86.

It was part of an effort by the Highland Council to recognize and protest the region's languages and dialects.

In the Cromarty dialect "tumblers" was a word for dolphins and harbor porpoises and phrases such as "At now kucka" were used as a friendly greeting.

Other examples included bauchles for old, ill-fitting shoes, droog-droogle for heavy work in wet weather and Jenny Muck to denote a female farm worker.