[1] As a result of her father's death, she returned to Edinburgh with her mother in 1952.,[4] where she attended Liberton Primary School, and then the George Watson's Ladies' College.

Subsequently, she was the language consultant for the significant complete edition of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels, in 30 volumes, published by the Edinburgh University Press.

It goes back to this time the gratifying photograph of her in front of the windows of the James Thin bookshop, a well known landmark of the Old city of Edinburgh, displaying all her recently published works.

[1] This project, together with her commitment to the diffusion of the Scots language, made her a well-known public figure in the community that also put her under the spotlight, appearing on television on Russel Harty's chat show.

[4] When completed her projects as a lexicographer, she did not hesitate to pursue further with enthusiasm[4] another interest of her, the adult education in communities, with special attention to deprived areas and disadvantaged learners.

Her wide involvement in the community includes posts in Stirling, Craigmillar, Home-Start-Leith, North-east Edinburgh, and she was manager of the Ace Cornton education centre.

Mairi Robinson's team addressed all these needs compiling a much useful introduction and notes, making easy to cross-reference words to their sources, providing etymology, chronology and their geographical range.

Aitken, accompanied by a resourceful table that allowed to recreate the sound of a word in Early, Middle and Modern Scots, all in one handy volume.

The clarity of thought and usage associated with Scotland shines from every page, the typography and layout is as clear and as elegant as the definitions",[7] and "The importance of this single volume with its wealth of etymological, regional and grammatical information should never be underestimated and the Scots community would be much poorer without it".