A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1438, 1513-1623, 1682
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Mereswyne, Merswine, n. Also: meir-, meyr-, mare- and -suyne. [ME. mersuine (c 1325), mereswyn (1419), OE. mereswin lit. ‘sea-swine’. Latterly only Sc. (and also in the mod. Sc. dial.).] A porpoise or a dolphin. 1438 Exchequer Rolls V. 33.
Pro parte cujusdam piscis vocati merswyne … missa ad dominum regem … xxvij s. 1513 Doug. iii. vi. 138.
Quharto beyn cuppillit mony meyrswyne [v.rr. mereswyne, meirswyne] taill 1513 Ib. vii. xii. 152.
A merswyne 1682 Spottiswoode Misc. I. 320.
In shape lyk to ane fish called a mareswineplur. (a) 1513 Doug. vii. Prol. 23.
Fludis monstreis sik as meirswyne [R. mereswynis] or quhalis 1531 Bell. Boece I. xxxvii.
This firth [of Forth] is richt plentuus of … selch, pellok, merswine and quhalis 1531 Ib. xlvii.
Selch, pellok and meirswine(b) 1581-1623 James VI Poems I. 12/12.
Daulphins, seahorse, selchs with oxin ee, And merswynis, pertrikis als of fishes race 1581-1623 Ib. II. 92/34.
As mersuynes [v.r. mareswines] louis of nature for to sport
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"Mereswyne n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/mereswyne>
