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: 1494, 1572-1586, 1681
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Purpill, -ple, adj. (n.). Also: purpal, -pule. Also ? metathesised variant: prepele. [ME purpel, -yl, late ME and e.m.E. also -ul, -yll(e, -le, ONorthumb. purple, altered f. purpre, -er, with l for r after preceding r, as in Marbil(l n. beside Marbre n.] Purple. = Purpur(e. a. adj. b. noun. — 1494 Loutfut MS 145b.
He beris siluer & goulis purpal a psalter a1586 Maitland Ho. Seytoun 39.
Ane compleit stand of purpule veluat a1586 Lindsay MS 46b.
Iaspis … is purpill in blasoning 1572 Buch. Detect. (1727) 45.
Bothwell, as an ape in purple, was triumphantly schawin to the ambassadouris 1681 Thanes of Cawdor 353.
For stayes to a blak prepele goun
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"Purpill adj., n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/purpill>
