A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Lillie, Lilie, n. Also: lilly, -é, lyllie, -y, -é; lilé, lylé. Plur. lillyis, -ies, -eis, lilies etc., also lilis. (ME. lilie (a 1250), lilye, lylye, lylly (14–15th c.), lilly, OE. lilie. Cf. Lely.]
1. The lily, usu. the white lily but also applied to other colours.Common in poetic comparisons.See also water-lilie.(1) a1400 Leg. S. xliii. 179.
Fare cronis & fresch haf we … Of rose and lyle wynly mad 1490 Irland Mir. I. 58/21.
Rosis, lilleis, flouris, herbis c1500-c1512 Dunb. xlviii. 140.
Nor latt no wyld weid … Compair hir till the lilleis nobilnes 1513 Doug. vi. xi. 59.
The blomit lylleis quhite a1605 Montg. Misc. P. xli. 10.
The feildis … Quhair lilies lyk lou is Als rid as the rone a1606 Dioscoridis Annot. 177 b.
Lilium, ane lillie(1) 1501 Doug. Pal. Hon. i. 88.
A quene, as lyllie sweit of swair c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 28.
Thair faceis … Quhyt, seimlie and soft as the sweit lillies c1550 Lynd. Meldrum 947.
Lyke the quhyte lyllie wes hir lyre 15.. Christis Kirk 24. a1568 Bann. MS. 227 a/8.
Hir lyre is lilly lyk
b. Applied to persons as a metaphor of whiteness, purity or beauty. c1500-c1512 Dunb. G. Targe 65.
All the feldis wyth thai lilies quhite Depaynt war brycht Id. lxiv. 2.
Sweit rois of vertew … , Delytsum lyllie of everie lustines 1513 Doug. i. ii. 37.
That lilly quhite of swar Arundel MS. 285/221.
O Mary, the hie kinrid of the lile of chaistite, haill
2. A representation of a lily; chiefly, the heraldic ‘lily’ or fleur-de-lis. 1531 Bell. Boece II. 137.
The Florentinis … tuk the reid lille [M. lillye], na thing different fra the lille of France bot in cullour, for thair armis 1533 Boece ii. ii. 60.
Grete Charles … to the cirkill of the crowne … ekit foure lillyis of gold with foure goldin crossis a1538 Abell 14 b.
To this crowne Charlis the Mayne ekit 4 lilis and 4 crucis 1540 Inv. Wardrobe 110.
Ane basing and ane laware of gold, with thrissillis and lilleis round about the samyne 1622-6 Bisset II. 387/23.
[In the Scottish arms] ane dowbled treasant with contrarie lyllies of reid culloure or floure de luce … of blew cullour
3. Attrib. and comb. in Lillie-flour(e, -pott, -quhyte.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Lillie n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 21 Nov 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/lillie_n>