About

Scots Words and Place-names (SWAP) aimed to engage the Scottish public in talking about the Scots words that they use and hear around them. The project sought any examples of words, their meanings, how they were used and where they were used. We also wanted to know about the names of places which use Scots words: how they were pronounced; if people knew what they meant; whether they appeared on maps or were known through word-of-mouth; even how they looked (through uploading pictures).

The results of the SWAP project were added to the word collections of Scottish Language Dictionaries and helped to form new dictionaries of the Scots language. They also contributed to our knowledge of Scots place-names. The information we gathered on place-names was used to populate a comprehensive glossary of Scots place-name elements and to supplement the dictionary-based research which was used to create it.

Scots Words and Place-names was funded by JISC, which supports academic projects in order to encourage digital innovation. SWAP was based in the School of Critical Studies, College of Arts, at the University of Glasgow in partnership with the National e-Science Centre (NeSC).

The project was run in collaboration with Scottish Language Dictionaries and the Scottish Place-Name Society.