DORIC
DORIC. In 1721, the Scottish poet Allan Ramsay compared his use of SCOTTICISMS with the Doric dialect of the Sicilian Greek pastoral poet Theocritus (3–2c BC). In the 19c, British writers began applying the term (referring to the supposedly rustic and uncultivated dialect of the Dorians of the Peloponnese) to ‘broad’ rural dialects in England and especially the Scottish Lowlands. In recent times, the people of northeastern Scotland have adopted the term for their own dialect. Elsewhere in Scotland, the term is used for any form of vernacular SCOTS. Generally it is favourable, the Doric being seen as rich, expressive, and rooted in tradition, whereas the gutter Scots of the cities is widely taken to have degenerated from ‘the genuine Doric’. See GUTTER SCOTS, SCOTTICISM.
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
DORIC