A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue
From the twelfth century to the end of the seventeenth, founded on the collections of Sir William Craigie.
A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST) was compiled between 1921 and 2002 and covers the language of Scotland from its earliest beginnings up to 1700. It was first published online in 2004.
DOST has over 50,000 separate entries with more than 540,000 illustrative quotations, and the 12 large printed volumes contain a total of 8,104 pages.
All of its content is now available as part of DSL Online.
Follow the links below to see:
- Abbreviations used in DOST
- Revised Register of Titles: Abbreviations
- Structure of DOST entries
- History of DOST
- Editorial Philosophy from the printed volumes.
- Reference Style Guide
As a lasting tribute to DOST and all those involved in its making, we commissioned five poems in celebration of Scots and its extensive history. We published them here on St. Andrew’s day 2021.
