A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Powan, n. [Sc. form corresp. to the pollan of Ireland (1713), a fish of the same genus but different species, Gael. pollan supposed to be f. poll n. (see Poll n.1): the later dial. also has pollac(k, -ock, id., Sc. Gael. pollag, Ir. Gael. pollog, of similar formation.] A species of fresh-water fish, Coregonus clupeoides, found in Scotland only in Loch Lomond and Loch Eck, and known also as Luss Herring, also found in north-eastern England and north Wales. —1633 Monipennie Abridgem. Scots Chron. N4b 153 (Jam.).
This loch [Lomond], besides abundance of other fishes, hath a kind of fish of the owne, named powan, very pleasant to eate
