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.
Quotation dates: 1549-1610, 1665
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Prudency(e, -ie, n. [e.m.E. prudencie (1539), L. prūdēntia Prudence n.] = Prudence n. — 1549 Cal. Sc. P. I 177.
[I would your] prudencie [move his grace in safeguard of his … honour to his humble servant that his promise may be kept] 1572 Reg. Privy S. VI 317/1.
Quha be thair prudencie and substance defendit … the … servandis and utheris quha dependit upoun thame a1578 Pitsc. I 66/22.
Ane man of singular wertew and prud[e]ncie 1588 Lethington Laing MSS 75.
Prudencye 1600-1610 Melvill 714.
Usit many argumentis of expedience and prudencie c1610 Melville Mem. 380.
Prudency 1665 Argyll-Lauderdale Lett. App. 112.
The principall of the Coledge, whose prudencie, modestie, and conscience of the towns right, could not but persuade him to ced thereto
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"Prudency n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/prudencye>
