A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1475, 1530-1581
[0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
Sel(l, n. [ME and e.m.E. sell (a1370), selle (Wyclif), sel (1522); var. of Cell n.]
1. The cell of a hermit or religious. b. specif. A room of this sort in a religious house. Cf. Cell n. 1.a1400 Legends of the Saints xxxiv 329, 346.
The thryd day he come agane … to the sel, Quhare frere Pelagius can duel, & knokit that [sic] the dure … For-thi [to] the wyndow he socht … & saw the f[r]ere dede lyand thare … Thai brak the sel & had hym oute 1531 Bell. Boece II 103.
I have tane me fra cumpany of the warld to ane solitar life … My sufficience is with this pure sell and sobir herdisb. a1400 Legends of the Saints xxxv 122.
The abbot … closit hyr thare in til a sel [L. cellulam], Sa narow that with vnhese Mycht scho hyre turne 1581 Reg. Soltre 236.
That na beidman heirefter sall resaue pennymaill for thair sellis and chalmeris … bot to occupy the samyn nichtlie
2. A dependent religious house. Cf. Cell n. 1.1566–7 Reg. Privy S. V ii 264/2.
Dicto monasterio de Kelso et lie Sell de Lesmahago
3. A cell in a dungeon or prison; a place of confinement. Also transf.c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ii 219.
Compleyne for him in to that sitfull sell is Compleyne his payne in dolour thus that duellis c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace ii 247.
Thai chargyt the geyler … to … bryng him wp out of that vgly sell To jugismenttransf. c1530-40 Stewart Bann. MS 140b/53.
Syne haif ȝow harlottis vnto hell To sitt in to that suty sell With Sathan in that deip dungeoun
