Cain bairns

Kain bairns or cain bairns were infants who, according to Scottish superstition, were seized by warlocks and witches, and paid as a tax or tithe to the Devil. John Jamieson is in error when he derives the term from the Scottish Gaelic "ceann" meaning a "head". "Càin" is in fact a Gaelic word for a tribute, tax or tithe, and is the origin of the Lowland Scots term. "Bairn" means a child. The word was in use in the Scottish Borders, according to Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border".

It is unconnected with Cain in the Bible.

References

* MacKay, Charles – "A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch" (1888)