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.
Quotation dates: 1513-1632
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Sours(e, Source, n. Also: sowrs, surs(e, sors. [ME and e.m.E. source (1359-60), sours (Chaucer), surs (?a1400), source (1575), OF sorse, source (c1155 in Larousse).]
1. The source of a river; the spring from which a river or stream originates. Chiefly in fig. contexts.Common in Doug.(1) 1513 Doug. viii ii 12.
Ȝe haly nymphys … Quham fra this fresch ryveris and euery strand … Hes thar begynnyng furth of sowrssys seir(2) 1513 Doug. i Prol. 9.
Virgill … sweit sours and spryngand well 1513 Doug. Direct. 57.
Surs [sc. Virgil] capitall in veyn poeticall c1552 Lynd. Mon. 231.
Nor drank I neuer … Off Hylicon, the sors of Eloquence 1597 Melvill 426.
A contrair course Of all this wa, the fontean and the sourse 1606 Craig ii 76.
Heere springs the surse of my ensuing smart c1611–c1617 Mure Early Misc. P. i 6.
To coole his burning beimis In ould Neptunus' source
b. A well or fountain. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi 292.
A source or standing well 1632 Lithgow Trav. viii 373.
Their bestiall are watered with sources
2. An upward flight by a bird of prey; an act of soaring. 1513 Doug. v v 21.
[Ganymede] Quham, witht a surs, swyftly Jovys squyar … bair vp in the air 1513 Doug. xii v 69.
This egill with a surs … Hes claucht a swan
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"Sours n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Apr 2026 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sourse>
