Tae be laek tae

The Shaetlan word laek can be used in many ways. The word itself came to Scots from Old English ġelīċ 'like, similar; alike, equal' and that in turn was influenced by Old Norse (g)líkr 'same, like, equal; probable, likely, usual; good'. Both came from Proto-Germanic *galīkaz 'like, similar, same' which ultimately came from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- 'similar; even, level'.

In Shaetlan it can express an expectation in a so-called predicative use (asserting something about the main actor in the clause):

– I pat da car til da gerridge but dey wir nivver laek tae fix her. ('I brought the car to the garage but it wasn't likely that they would get it fixed [any time soon])

– I pat ower muckle claise on da line an he wis laek to brak. ('I put too many clothes on the line and it was about to snap')

– He wis ey laek tae be laet/airly. ('You could always expect him to be late/early')

The closest translation to Standard English is 'to be likely to...' but that doesn't capture the sense of "to be on the verge of" or "habitual behaviour" in the 2nd and 3rd examples.

This use of tae be laek(in) tae is neither new, nor slang, nor sloppy speech. It is attested since the 15C, and still be found in Scots, Southern US and African-American varieties. In Shaetlan there is a longer form laekin and a shorter form laek. The longer form is more common in the Scots varieties and the shorter form is more common the American varieties.

Pic: Solution concept with hand stopping wooden blocks from falling in the line of domino by Marco Verch. Licenced under CC-BY-2.0.