A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Solitude, n. [ME and e.m.E. solitude (Chaucer), OF solitude (c1213 in Larousse), L. sōlitūd- a being alone or solitary.] a. Remoteness, inhospitableness. b. An unfrequented and inhospitable place; ? a desert. —a. 1580 Antiq. Aberd. & B. III 174.
Seing that without the industrie and commodite of salmound na burght nor inhabitant of burght could weill be thair be desert solitude —b. 1597 James VI Dæmonol. (STS) 40/25.
Babell … shall not onelie bee wracked, but shall become so greate a solitude, as it shall be the habitackle of howlettes
