A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1450-1452, 1549-1595
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Osil(l, -ile, n. Also: oszil. [ME. osul, osel, hosel (14–15th c), late ME. owsill (c 1450), e.m.E. ousel, woosell, oozel etc., OE. sle.]The o spelling presumably, as often, represents the vowel [ȳ], which regular phonological development would yield in Sc.; our present collection contains no examples spelled u, ui, the less ambiguous spelling of this vowel.
The blackbird or merle.But in the first two quots. distinguished from the merle and so perh. applied to some other similar bird, perh. the ring-ousel.For some additional examples see Mavis n. c1450-2 Howlat 713 (A).
The mavis and the merle syngis Osillis and stirlingis 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 39/25.
The maueis maid myrtht for to mok the merle, … the lyntquhit sang cuntirpoint quhen the oszil ȝelpit 1566-70 Buch. Comm. on Virgil Georgics iv. 14.
Meropesque, the black osill 1590 Burel Pilgr. i. xxvi.
The osill and the rosignell … I couet faine to haue 1595 Duncan App. Etym.
Merula, an osill
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"Osil n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/osill>
