Bairn

[1] It originated in Old English as "bearn", becoming restricted to Scotland and the North of England c. 1700.

[4] Compare with the Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese and Danish word for child "barn" or the West-Frisian "bern".

Cain bairns are children seized by witches and warlocks as tribute for the devil.

Examples of the term's use include the phrase "Jock Tamson's Bairns" as an idiomatic expression of egalitarian sentiment and the title of the 19th century Geordie folk song "Come Geordie ha'd the bairn."

"Baloo Baleerie", a traditional Scottish lullaby, incorporates the term repeatedly, as does "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry", a traditional folk song from Orkney.

A man with "his boat and bairns" in a calotype print from the 1840s, now in the National Galleries of Scotland .