Scottish word of the week: Howk

A word familiar to anyone who’s ever made use of a shovel, howk is a Scots word for digging.

An archaeologist howks the earth in Ravelrig Quarry, Dalmahoy Hill. Picture: Jane Barlow

The term has a rough, throaty quality to it that gives a good indication of the effort involved in howking something from the ground; a mere scraping of the earth falls short of conveying the effort involved.

Archaelogists howk for bones and ruins; miners go howking for coal; potatoes are howked out by farmers. All three jobs involve hard graft and long days spent excavating deep beneath the soil.

Potato howking was once common in Scotland; farmers employed schoolchildren in the October holidays to pick potatoes that were unearthed by a digger.

The use of howking can also be extended beyond hard labour. You could howk a secret from someone, or howk a jumper from a pile of laundry.