Teuchter noun a disparaging term for a Highlander, particularly a Gaelic speaker
‘Whether it was his “teuchter” accent from the Isles… the occasional odd things that he said, or simply his size, they regarded him with a certain watchful distance.’ (Drums of Autumn)
The origin of this word is obscure. It could derive from Scots teuch (tough or hard) or Gaelic tuath (northern folk) and Gaelic deoch, meaning drink or dram, but we don’t know for certain and it’s probably loaded enough with disparagement without the implication that Highlanders are possibly hard drinkers.
According to the Dictionaries of the Scots Language, teuchter appears to have come into oral currency as recently as the very early twentieth century; certainly our earliest written example is from 1940.
One example of unflattering usage comes from 1940 in Robert Garioch’s 17 Poems for 6d. (a bargain if ever there was one): ‘Thir a pair o Teuchters, an as Heilant as peat.’ Likewise, Robin Jenkins writes in Fergus Lamont (1979): ‘“Well, Teuchter, what do you find so funny?” … He had used the most contemptuous name a Lowlander can call a Highlander: it implies, among other things, heathery ears and sheep-like wits.’
Teuchter can be used as an adjective too, to describe things relating to Teuchters and the Highlands. Gregor Steele applies the word to owls (hoolets) in his poem Fykie Fleein Things (2021): ‘The Hoochert-Teuchter Hoolets, Like tae wear the kilt and sporran, Fur eichtsome reels that stert at nine, And still be gaun the morn.’
The adjective is also applied to Highland music. Jeff Torrington, describing a character in Swing Hammer Swing! (1993), wrote: ‘Auld Fergie, who had the Gaelic and a paunch that piled on the counter, hummed a Teuchterish dirge from the corner of his mouth.’ However, Nick Rodger, Golf Correspondent at the Herald (April 2021), wrote: ‘For Robert MacIntyre, meanwhile, the short car journey got the foot tapping … The “teuchter music” of the Gunna Sound ceilidh band was the Oban man’s soundtrack of choice.’
Teuchter may have been a disparaging term for a long time, but more recently it has been reclaimed by world-class folk musicians and good drinking establishments specialising in great Scottish food and drink.