The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3602   Message #3650875
Posted By: Jim Carroll
14-Aug-14 - 03:32 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Barring of the Door
Subject: RE: Origins: Barring of the Door
"Great fun it was too. Sharpe, of course, sprang from the pen of Bernard Cornwell"
Thanks for that Mehiteabel - never got round to reading Sharpe, though I have been tempted.
"My hands are in my hussifskap"
Child notes in his glossary:
"HUSSYFSKAP, (HUSSEYSKAP) - Housewifery (she was making puddings). But perhaps specifically hussyskep, a sort of basket or bin of straw, formerly used, especially in ruder districts, for holding corn or meal.
In like manner, "a plaited hive of straw" is called a bee skep". G.F.Graham's Songs of Scotland".
All the definitions seem applicable to the song, the basket appearing to be the linking factor.
Jim Carroll