A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1420, 1531-1676
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Scal(l, Sca(w, n. Also: skall, skau, skaw. [ME and e.m.E. scall (Cursor M.), scalle (c1374), prob. f. ON skalle a (naturally) bald head.] A scaly or scabby disease of the skin, esp. of the scalp, the scaly or scabby surface of the skin so caused.Some examples may belong in Scal(e n.2 4 with which there may be some confusion.a1400 Legends of the Saints xxxvi 1067.
Thar-to sic a sca had he That of his body nocht wes fre & thar-with had he hard torment c1420 Ratis Raving 182.
The lypir and the faland ill, Wild-fyre and scaw thai rakin till 1531 Bell. Boece I xxxviii.
This oulie hes ane singulare virtew aganis all maner of cankir and skawis 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 164/973.
The skall [v.r. skau] vpon their head doth of Their saltest fleumes proceed a1628 Carmichael Prov. No. 1431.
The combe is not commed to the hard sca yet 1633 (1711) Sibbald's Orkn. & Shetl. 53.
Their [sc. the inhabitants'] baldness proceeds from scals [Descr. Zetland scalls], for all of them being full of scals [Descr. Zetland scalls] while they are young, doeth necessarly occasion their loss of hair: Now their scalyness may be judged to proceed either from their nestiness, or … from the dropping of the fishes, which hang above their heads [etc.] 1676 Cramond Kirk S. II 16 July.
William Boig … haveing his head overgrowen with a scall came and entreated that the session would cause cure him
