Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LOANIN, n. Also lo(a)n(n)in(g), loanen, lonan, lawnin' (Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 53); loaneen (s.Sc.). [′lo:nɪn]

1. = Loan, n.¹, 1. (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.; Rxb. 1902 Trans. Hawick Arch. Soc. 1; Ayr. 1923 Wilson D. Burns 174; Rs. 1930; Uls. 1953 Traynor; ne. and m.Sc. 1961; (Ayr., Bnff., Uls. 2000s). Freq. in place-names. Also attrib.Bte. 1701 Rothesay T.C. Rec. (1935) II. 542:
Robert M'Kirdy for the lonin … 8s.Ayr. 1754 Coll. Ayr. Arch. & Nat. Hist. Soc. V. 197:
The coalroad or loning to the end of the old Hedges.Per. 1769 Survey Lochtayside (S.H.S.) 10:
The distance from the high muir which would require a loanning through the farm above.Abd. 1794 Sc. N. & Q. (Ser. 2) VI. 183:
An' feather'd fiends ower lonans linket Wi' their hapshackles.Sc. 1816 Scott B. Dwarf i.:
He liked … to look at the kye as they cam down the loaning.Edb. 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 199:
At turn o' the loanin', deep shaded in green.Gall. c.1870 Bards Gall. (Harper 1889) 184:
The corby's eerie croak in the wuds Doun in the Kirkdale loanin,.Ayr. 1885 R. Lawson Maybole 75:
Lovers' Loaning gives its own etymology, and forms one of an interesting family to be found in all towns!m.Sc. 1896 J. Buchan Scholar Gipsies 183:
Sometimes in these parts the [drove-] road suddenly approaches a village, and little cottages spring up beside its track. Then it becomes in the language of the folk a “loan” or “loaning,” and the chosen playground of children.Arran 1914 Bk. of Arran II. 198:
Round them [farm buildings] stretched a piece of pasture land, on which the cattle might be collected and by which they could be led beyond the corn land. This was the “loaning”.Ags. 1923 V. Jacob Songs 36:
We'll lauch an' crack i' the loanin' green.Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 1:
The lang road that rins doon throwe Newtoon an bye the Dryburgh loaneen.Bwk. 1947 W. L. Ferguson Makar's Medley 23:
Oot through the black fir taps i' the cleuch, And doon the loanin'.Uls. 1957 J. J. Abraham Surgeon's Journey 18:
Half a dozen cottar houses in a row or “toonen”; and these were situated on either side of a loanin through the middle of the farm. Abd. 1992 David Toulmin Collected Short Stories 28:
She missed a certain tree from the farm avenue. She pointed to the gap in the loanin.

Hence (1) loaning-dyke, the wall dividing the arable land from the common pasture; (2) loanin-end, -heid, see Loan, n.¹, 1.; (3) the reid loanin, a jocular name for the throat or gullet (Kcb. 1961).(1) Cai. 1721 J. E. Donaldson Cai. in 18th Cent. (1938) 90:
All that he is or may be able to brake out and rive off the ground and green from Gilbert Banks, cottar, his loaning dick in the Eastside of Mey and St John's head.Cai. 1772 Session Papers, Henderson v. Sinclair (4 Dec.) 11:
These improvements were made by erecting of houses, and taking in outfield ground; turning the same into corn-land, and extending the loaning dykes.(2) Kcb. 1895 Crockett Moss Hags xxxv.:
Every day the old man passed this loaning-end.Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 96:
A feckless chiel wi' a rovin' e'e Whiles played the pipes at the loanin' heid.

2. = Loan, n.¹, 3.Lnk. 1960 Stat. Acc.³ 240:
The “Fairs”, for the sale of horses and cattle, which were held in the Main Street, on the “Loanings ”, then unpaved, … were finally abolished in 1900.