Hoddin

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A coarse, thick woollen cloth, traditionally made by hand in Scotland and the north of England for rough everyday clothing
2. Heavy, undyed or greyish homespun wool fabric once woven by country weavers for sturdy working garments
3. Rough, durable woollen material of mixed grey colour, historically used by farmers and shepherds for plain outerwear

Etymology: "Hoddin" is a Scots word for coarse woollen cloth, and the name of the fabric is tied to the way it was made. Hoddin-grey, a dark undyed grey made from mixed black and white fleece that was never fully dyed, was the everyday cloth of Scottish farmers and labourers, especially in the Borders and the north-east. The word is related to "hoddy", a dialect term for a hooded or cowled cloak, but the link is loose and the exact chain of descent is uncertain, so it is best understood as a regional Scots term that developed its own sense. The fabric's reputation came from its plainness. Because the wool was carded from undyed sheep of different colours, it produced a mottled grey that varied from cloth to cloth, and it was cheap, hard-wearing and warm. That made it a marker of rural working life, and in Scots the adjective "hoddin" came to describe a person of humble origins, a "hoddin-grey" man being a farmer or peasant rather than a gentleman. The word survives mainly in literature and in the phrase "hoddin grey," which Robert Burns and other Scots writers used to evoke honest country folk.