Mmmm, some interesting threads tonight - another 'clouder' of the issue is that many of 'Burns' songs etc (whether actually written by him or not) have been anglicised so that people like me can understand them. You're right Nynia, I haven't studied Burns in any academic sense. It's just when I hear a song that I am told is by Burns, I always really like it, and some of them I have liked enough to get the words and learn. Simple as that.

Diva - is any of this helping? I suppose at the end of the day it all comes down to finding a definition of 'traditional' and then deciding whether what we know of Burns matches it.

Catrin