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.
Mesell, -al(l, -ale, a. and n.1 [ME. (1297) and e.m.E. mesel(l, mezel, -ill, e.m.E. also messell, measell, OF. mesel. Cf. also Misell.]
1. adj. Of persons: Leprous. Also absol. as collect. noun: Leprous (persons).14.. Burgh Laws c. 48 (A).
The mesall na sall nocht enter in the toune bot gif thai pas thru the toune 1490 Irland Mir. I. 86/19.
Thai that are mesell generis jnfekkit and mesell folk
b. transf., Of fish and swine: Infected, diseased, tainted.15–16th c. F. mesel is similarly applied to fish and swine [as also is Lipper a., sense 1 (3)].14.. Acts I. 335/2.
Quhen thai opyn fische thai luke nocht quheder thai be mesale [L. leprosi] fische or wane, that is the cause quhy na fischar suld mak lardnare 1531 Bell. Boece I. xliii.
Salmond … quhikis lepis nocht cleirlie ovir the lin brekis thaimself be thair fall and growis mesall 1543 Linlithgow B. Ct. 2 Apr.
The said swyne was mesall and … he was nocht lauchfull merchandrys
2. noun. A leprous person, a leper.But the sense in the first quot. is perh. less specific.14.. Edinb. Univ. MS. La.318/Div.11.
In sic tyme ar gottin messellis And sum that has no schap of man c1520-c1535 Nisbet Matth. xi. 5.
