A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Sturdy, -ie, n. [e.m.E. sturdy (1570); appar. f. as Sturdy adj.] A disease, appar. affecting the brain, found in cattle and sheep (once, a horse), one of whose symptoms is vertigo. Also transf., vertigo or dizziness in people.1580 Edinb. Test. IX 4.
Ane ȝoung stirk of half ȝeir auld that deit in the sturdie price xiij s. iiij d. a1605 Montg. Flyt. 328 (T).
The stayne and the stu[r]die 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 171/537.
Euen as the sturdie that transformid & chaingid is euerie uay In falling euill the raage into lethargie sleiping ay 1581-1623 James VI Poems I 173/561.
The sheip doth feare the skabbe & als the dulling sturdie 1658 R. Moray Lett. 250.
To make you suspect the post bell had given me the sturdy 1695 Murray Kilmacolm 126.
For curing John Hunter's beast of the sturdies he taught to cut off a stirk's head and boyle it a1700 Mare of Colinton 643.
I leave my head to Sanny Purdie, … For once when that I took the sturdie, That man … used me right tenderly
