ilk

[mmasny]

Do you use this word?

[Barb_D]

Not often.

[mmasny]

Not often.

Thank you. And when would you use it? Is it formal or informal? Jocular or serious?

[Barb_D]

Hmm. Probably when I wanted to be dismissive or show disdain.

The glorification of Paris Hilton and people of that ilk, famous for only being famous, are a terrible influence on our children.

[Linguist__]

Also, since you showed interest in Scottish English in a previous post. 'Ilk' is used in Scots to mean a person whose surname is the same as the name of the place in which (s)he lives. 'Johnston of that ilk' - 'Johnston from Johnstone'.

Also, 'ilk' or ''ilka' mean 'each, every' in Scots. It's not particularly used, but it does come up if you read things in Scots:

From 'Between You and Me' by Sir Harry Lauder - "But the bobby kens me fine--I've bailed John oot twice, for a guinea ilka time, and they recognise steady customers there like anywheres else!"

From 'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction' - "Sae saying, I gared him climb a rape by whilk he gat abune the riggin o' the bield, then steeking to the door thro' whilk he gaed, I jimp had trailed doun the rape, when in rinned twa red coat chiels, who couping ilka ane i' their gait begun to touzle out the ben, and the de'il gaed o'er Jock Wabster."

Translation - "So saying, I made him climb a rape (?) while he got above the roof of the hut, then shutting the door through which we went, I had just trailed down the rape (?) when in ran two red coat young men, who overturning every thing in their path began to ransack the house, and everything went topsy-turvy."

From the poem 'Ae Fond Kiss' by Robert Burns:

Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure.
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!

[mmasny]

Hi Linguist, thank you. This is very kind of you to show me these things.

Couldn't a rape be a rope?

My dictionary (Merriam-Webster) says that the basic (but chiefly Scots now) meaning of this word is "same". It's said to come from the same root as "like".

The "kind" meaning is not etymologized there, but they say it comes from the "same" meaning here: ilk - definition of ilk by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

The "each" meaning is derived from the same OE word as "each". "Ilka" is said to come from "ilk"+"a", where "a" is an indefinite article.

So it seems they are different words etymologically.

[mmasny]

One more question:
how do you pronounce it - "ilk" or "iwk"?

[BobK]

Hi Linguist, thank you. This is very kind of you to show me these things.

Couldn't a rape be a rope?
A lot of words that have /əʊ/ in Recieved Pronunciation have become /eɪ/ in Scots. For example, the common literary spelling of our 'so is 'sae'.

My dictionary (Merriam-Webster) says that the basic (but chiefly Scots now) meaning of this word is "same". It's said to come from the same root as "like".

The "kind" meaning is not etymologized there, but they say it comes from the "same" meaning here: ilk - definition of ilk by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
'Of that kind.' 'Of that family.' 'Of that kin.'

The "each" meaning is derived from the same OE word as "each". "Ilka" is said to come from "ilk"+"a", where "a" is an indefinite article.

So it seems they are different words etymologically.

b