Hesp
A scolding, sharp-tongued woman. Almost always pejorative. The female counterpart of 'hallion', applied to a woman who is known for cutting words rather than peaceful neighbouring. Heard mostly in older Ulster speech.
Etymology
From Scots 'hesper' or 'hespe' (= a sharp-tongued woman), variants documented in Older Scots and continued into the modern Ulster Scots tradition. Origin unclear; one suggestion is from 'hesp' meaning a skein or hank of yarn (with the metaphor of someone tying you up in their words).
In a sentence
"His mother-in-law's an awful hesp - she'd take the head off you before you got the door closed."
Historical notes
Hesp is now rare and slightly archaic in Ulster speech but still recognised by older speakers. It sits in the small female-character vocabulary of Ulster Scots: 'targe' (sharp-tongued), 'hesp' (a sharp-tongued woman), 'wagon' (an obnoxious woman). The female-only constraint is consistent across the family - none of these words has a male equivalent that uses the same form.
Sources
- Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL), entry HESPER n. · dictionary
- Macafee, Caroline. A Concise Ulster Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1996. · dictionary