In celebration of my brand new publishing contract for WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER, I’m devoting April’s editions of Tuesday’s Word to words of British and Scottish origin. Today’s word:
Douce
adjective
Scottish northern England dialect; quiet, sober, sedate
“That was fine, lass. Yer no bampot, and I’m thinkin’ we may make a wee douce Highland lass out o’ ye yet.”–Moning, Karen Marie, Kiss of the Highlander (Kindle Locations 1798-1799). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
There are few writers that put me in the moment the way KMM does. Her urban fantasy Fever series is all the rage, and for good reason, but I am a huge fan of her Highlander romances as well. They are all worthy of re-reading, especially The Immortal Highlander. But I digress. We’re talking vocab here not book reviews.
Due to the authentic feel of the dialogue, which anchored me in the scene, I had to read the above line twice. Then I had to look up bampot and douce. I’m so glad I have a Kindle, because you just put your cursor on any word you want to look up and wham, there’s the definition. I’m so spoiled now, though, that when I’m reading a physical book, I find myself cursing the lack of a built-in dictionary.
Definition from <http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/douce>
Jessi Gage...A Time to Love 
Love learning new things! Thanks, Jessi!
The word reminds me of docile; though, when I checked the dictionary, it doesn’t seem related. Odd how that happens sometimes. It does mention a relation to dulcis from the Latin meaning sweet. Hm, I wonder if Scotsmen consider quiet and sweet to be synonyms. I wonder what they make of most of their heroines then. 🙂
Great observation, Laura. I wouldn’t call most of the heroines in my beloved Scottish romances sweet as a first descriptor. Knucle-headed, resilient, driven, and challenging come to mind. Sweet is there, but like hidden inside, like the gooey center of a Tootsie-roll pop:)