Doric

Doric is the dialect spoken in north-east Scotland.

In the past, Doric, was used to refer to all dialects of Lowland Scots, although now it is used exclusively for the north- eastern area, like Angus and Forres. Technically, Doric belongs in the Indo-European, West Germanic, Scots family of languages. As Doric is a dialect and not an individual language, it is hard to judge the exact number of speakers that it has, equally, there is no regulating body for Doric, although in recent years interest in it has been resurging.
The term Doric comes about as a reference to Dorians and their dialect. The original Doric dialect was regarded by Athenians to be the lowest and most rustic of Ancient Greek dialects. This was transposed further in time, with the more rustic groups of historic Scotland receiving the same name. The root of this comes from a point at which Edinburgh was called by some “the Athens of the North”, as such, those subscribing to this idea referred to those from Edinburgh as Attic and those from rural areas as Doric.

Doric language received a significant amount of wide spread publicity in 2006. One proponent of this was the Aberdeen Hotel, who at one point instigated that their elevators would be voiced in Doric. Also, Maureen Watt decided that when she took her Scottish Parliamentary oath, she would do it in Doric. In the past, Doric has received times of increased interest. “Kailyard” literature was heavily influenced and often written in Doric. George Macdonald, considered to be the first fantasy author, also wrote in Doric.