buckie n. the shell of a mollusc, an edible whelk
One of the earliest examples of buckie in the Dictionary of the Scots Language (
www.dsl.ac.uk) comes from The Historie of Scotland written first in Latin by Johne Leslie and translated in Scottish by Father James Dalrymple (1596): “In fresh water buckies … na lesse than in salt water buckies growis the margarite [an archiac term for a pearl]”.
It possibly derives from the Latin ‘buccinum, a whelk’ which was used in dyeing to obtain the colour purple.
The edible little crustacean is remembered fondly by this Edinburgh native in the Edinburgh Evening News of 23rd February 2008: “We would spend it [pocket money] on mussels and buckies which looked like snails. The Newhaven fishwives would sell them on plates outside the pubs.” The Newhaven fishwives selling the buckies were also known as buckie wives as in this extract from Close Encounters in the Royal Mile by Alastair M R Hardie: “Several other characters seen in the city streets … and a Newhaven fishwife – ‘The Buckie Wife’ - who sat in the Lawnmarket in traditional dress beside a heavy wicker basket selling ‘portions of boiled whulks & buckies’.”
However, it is also used figuratively to indicate shyness or lack of confidence so to encourage someone to be a bit more assertive one can urge then to ‘come oot o their buckie’ that is to come out of their shell. This following is from a 1936 Aberdeen source: “He’s a quate auld stock, bit he’s fairly come oot o’s buckie the nicht.”
On an even more up-to-date note people can be encouraged to go into their shells but possibly not in the following example from the Aberdeen Evening Express of 19th September 2014: “What happens now to those so desperate for independence? Do they simply disappear into their buckies and keep their heidies doon for another 50 years? I think not.”
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