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: 1460-1699
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Serpentine, n. Also: serpentyn(e, scharpentyn, cerpentyne, serpitant. [Late ME and e.m.E. serpentyn (a1400) serpentine (c1450), sarpentyn (1485), OF serpentine (late 12th c. in Larousse); cf. Serpentine adj.]
1. Dragonwort, the plant, a supposed antidote to snake venom.1500-1699 Herbarius Latinus Annot. xvii (Bot.).
Aaron, serpentyne or dragante
2. A kind of small cannon.For a discussion of this term see David H. Caldwell Guns in Scotland, Edinb. Univ. unpublished Ph. D. thesis, 43; and David H. Caldwell (ed.) Scottish Weapons & Fortifications 1100-1800 (Edinb., 1981), 94-6. 'What the English called ‘serpentynes’ were the ‘culverin moyanes’, and these had light oxen and one horse' Gladys Dickinson 'Some Notes on the Scottish Army in the First Half of the Sixteenth Century' in The Scottish Historical Review XXVIII (1949) 139. 'A serpentine [fired] a shot of 4 or 5 lb.' R. L. Mackie King James IV of Scotland: a brief survey of his life and times (1958) 247.(a) 1460 Hay Alex. 1310.
Ȝour serpentinis, small gunnis and ingynis 1497 Sc. Hist. Rev. XXVIII 138.
x falcons, or littal serpentyns 1513 Treasurer's Accounts IV 486. 1515–16 Acta Conc. Publ. Aff. 63.
A small serpentyne 1544 Aberd. B. Rec. I 195.(b) 1513 Treasurer's Accounts IV 484.
For iij scharpentynnys … deliverit … to the greit schip, price of the pece iij li.(c) a1578 Pitsc. I 251/28.
Pestelent serpitantis and doubill doggis witht hagbut and cullvering.
b. attrib. and comb.attrib. 1496 Treasurer's Accounts I 291.
For iij treis in Leith to the feys and schethis to the serpentyn cartis … iij s. vj d. —15… Balcarres P. V MS 73.
Serpentyne powlder on last iii gret barrelliscomb. 1497 Treasurer's Accounts I 334.
For iij serpentinis gunnis to Dunbar; with ilkane tua chameris, thair mykkis and thair slottis 1566 Inv. Wardrobe 169.
Tua lang serpentine culverinnis of irne stokkit
3. The auld serpentine, = the auld serpent Serpent n. 2.a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 455 (H).
Presumpcioun rysis off the auld serpentyne [Arund. serpent], Quhilk is but pley ane perilous pestilence a1499 Contemplacioun of Synnaris 792 (H).
To keip oure saule fra syn and temptacioun Contrare all slycht of the auld serpentyne [Arund. cerpentyne]
