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.
Quotation dates: 1499-1699
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1]
Lin, Linn(e, Lyn(n, n. Also: lyne. [OE. (Northumb.) hlynn str. fem., a torrent (related to hlynn masc. ‘clangor’, hlynnan, hlynian vb. to resound): sense 2 is prob. partly Gael. linne a pool, pond, lake, a pool in a river, Ir. linn, EIr. lind, Welsh llyn, whence also e.m.E. linne, lhin, lin a pool (W. Harrison Descr. Scotl. in Holinshed, 1577, 1586, Drayton Poly-olb., 1612). In the mod. dial. only Sc. and north. Eng.]
1. A waterfall, a cataract.Also watir-lyn (Doug. vii. Prol. 73). —a1500 Tale of the Colkelbie Sow i. 224.
Than Rany … Forlufe of his leman Licht lap at a lyn, He felȝeit and he fell in 1513 Doug. xi. vii. 9.
The ryveris brute … Brystand on skelleis our thir demmyt lynnys 1526 Reg. Dunferm. 381.
Ex vtraque parte torrentis vocati wlgariter ly lyn 1531 Bell. Boece I. xliii.
Becaus mony of the watteris of Scotland ar full of linnis, als sone as thir salmond cumis to the lin, thay leip 1531 Ib.
The landwart peple settis oftimes cawdrounis … at the cheik of the lin 1567 Gude and Godlie Ballatis 118. a1605 Montg. Ch. & Slae 1533 (Wr.).
The streame … growes ay broader nere the sea, Sen over the lin it came 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Cataracta, a porculles, a lin 16.. Hist. Kennedy 12.
At ane pairtt callit Slownk-dub, the quhilk is ane litill steane brig owr ane linne of [ane] burne 1625 Stewart Mem. 132.
Super lie lyne de Tymell 1629 Boyd Last B. 116.
Like the rumbling of a linne, wherein waters rush with a noise 1638 Adamson Muses Thr. 53.
Unto Campsie Lin, From whence the river falling makes such din As Nilus Catadups 1649 Lanark B. Rec. 139.
Severall of these boittis … caried over Clydis Lin 1695 Ib. 251.
Over the linn1667 Stewart Mem. 136.
Lie lynne 1667 Highland P. II. 49.
[Escaping] be a loup that he gave desperatlie over a most ill-favoured lyn 16.. Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. III. 111.
[Salmon] do rarely come up above Lintoun Linn, which is a steep downfall of water from a rock
2. The pool below a waterfall.1563 Reg. Privy S. V. i. 381/2.
Unacum terris et piscaria super aqua de Inverschyne cum lie lyn ejusdem a1605 Montg. Ch. & Slae 80 (Wr.).
I saw a river rinne Out ou'r a steepie rock of stone, Syne lighted in a linne 1666-74 Fraser Polichron. 278.
They admired the orchards off Lovat and Beuly, the fishing of the river and linn was charming
