Thole verb to suffer, to endure
‘“No, ma’am,” he said. “I canna thole the creatures [snakes], nay more than my lassie.”’ (Drums of Autumn)
Thole commonly appears in the national media with reference to laws, taxes and political situations that are seen as being tolerated rather than welcomed. There’s an example from the Falkirk Herald in July 1944 describing beleaguered Londoners during the blitz and ‘a sensible plan … to evacuate as many women and children and elderly people as possible, while the remainder of the population have to thole the dangers in order that the essential work of the City shall not be interrupted.’
The word is recorded in Scottish sources from the fourteenth century. It is derived from Old English tholian and the related Old Norse verb thola, both meaning to endure. Early examples include this reference to the lieutenant in John Barbour’s late-fourteenth-century poem The Bruce, who: ‘tholde shame and paine’.
And then there’s the well-known fortitude of a certain mouse, vividly described by Robert Burns: ‘Now thou’s turn’d out, for a’ thy trouble, To thole the Winter’s sleety dribble.’ (To a Mouse, 1785.)
Thole is found in some northern English dialects as well as modern Scots. Hartlepool-born author Reginald Hill, creator of the detectives Dalziel and Pascoe, used the word in Dialogues of the Dead: ‘You should never wish things, lad, less’n you’re sure you can thole it if they come true’.
A specific use of thole also occurs in the Scots legal expression to ‘thole an assize’, meaning to stand trial. This usage is recorded from the fifteenth century. It is still found in more modern texts and occasionally appears in media accounts of court proceedings. Scotland on Sunday in 2005 noted that if you are a famous footballer, you can ‘display full remorse, thole your assize and pay your debt to society’ but still fall foul of public opinion.
Also in 2005, the Aberdeen Evening Express reported of the General Election that year (though it resonates today…): ‘It seems like yesterday when we had to thole the last one. A month of sex - if we’re lucky - lies and endless, baby-kissing video tape.’