A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1691
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Subterranean, adj. and n. [17th c. Eng. subterranean adj. (1610) and n. (1625), L. subterrāneus.] a. adj. Living underground. b. noun. One who lives underground. —a. 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 212.
An essay off the nature and actions of the subterranean (and for the most part) invisible people, heretofor going under the names of elves faunes and fairies or the like 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 220.
A superterranean and a subterranean inhabitant perfectly resembling one another in all points —b. 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 358.
And in Philip. 2. 10. our verie subterraneans are expresly said to bow to the nam of Jesus 1691 Kirk Secr. Commonw. (1964) 448.
Subterraneans those people that live [under] in the [earth] cavities of the earth
