The earliest example of this word in the Dictionary of the Scots Language provides the answer to the biblical riddle loosely rendered by Wynton in his Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland (c1420) as “Off hym that ete the mete come owt, And swetnes off the stark and stoute”. The answer is the lion that Samson killed and later found that “A gret swarme off beys thare Wele hyvyd within the chaftys ware”. The dictionary seems to indicate that the jaw is particularly vulnerable to assault. In Adam King’s Ane Cathechisme or Schort Instruction of Christian Religion (1588), we find a punishment which “brak the chaftis of the vniust, and pluckit the pray out of thair teithe” and Charles Murray in the Sough o’ War (1917) writes “An’ tho’ I barely fell’t him twice wi’ wallops roon the chafts, I had to face the Shirra for’t”. More violence takes place in W. D. Latto’s Tammas Bodkin (1864): “I’ the midst o’ the hushel-mushel twa o’ my mither’s chaft-teeth were dung clean oot o’ her head”. An unlikely souvenir appears in Lyndsay’s Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis (1552): “Heir is ane relict...Of Fine Macoull the richt chaft blaid (jaw-bone), With teith and al togidder”. An amusing circumlocution for a barber comes from Henry Shanks’ Musings Under the Beeches (1881): “The ruder sex to him repair, Wha wad hae chaft and chin made bare”, but John Wilson in Noctes Ambrosianae (1855) holds that the fair sex has the advantage: “Is there...onything sae beautifu’ as the...saft chafts o’ a bit smilin maiden”.  Not all girls are so lucky. The Montrose Standard (2 March 1849) tells us “Thae puir mill lassies are sad and thin i’ the chaft blades” and all must discover the effect of age alluded to in Ramsay’s Proverbs (1737) of “O’er mickle loose Leather about your Chafts”.

Scots Word of the Week is written by Chris Robinson of Scottish Language Dictionaries.

This week's Word is spoken by Dr Dauvit Horsbroch.