Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Ling, Lyng, n.² [North. (c 1357) and midl. (15th c.) ME. lyng, e.m.E. ling, ON. lyng (Norw., Da. lyng, Sw. ljung). In the mod. dial. north. and north midl. Eng. (applied to varieties of heather and grasses) and south Sc. (applied to ‘heath of the first year. when it has the form of a thin, long grass. Afterwards it is called "heather" ’, Jam.).] a. Ling, heather; also, heath land, moorland. b. ? Hare-tail cotton-grass. c. Attrib. with -gers (= grass). —a. a1500 Rauf C. 396.
Gif thow meitis ony leid lent on the ling a1500 Sir Eger 2333.
And he saw neither rich nor poor, But moss and ling and bare wild morb. 1684 Sibbald Scot. Illustr. 30.
Ea [sc. paludosa terra quæ moss dicitur] breviore gramine ling nostratibus dicto plerumque vestitur, quod armentis ovibusque maxime in escam ceditc. 1535 Selkirk B. Ct. 197 b (3 Aug.).
To vs … all fredomes of our common to his propir sustentatioun, videlicet, mos, moir and lynggers