Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Lo, Lu, interj. Also: lw, low, loo, loe. [ME. (13th c.) and e.m.E., also north. ME. (Wars Alex., Towneley Plays) lo, loo, loe. The north. and Sc. occurrences of this appear, from the rhymes, to represent earlier l > lǖ, appar. a shortened form of lk(e imper. of Luke v.: cf. the similar shortened forms of the verbs make, take (see Ma v., Ta v.). North. ME. (Cursor M.) also has a form los, used in addressing a crowd, which is appar. the imper. plur.The early west-midl. ME. forms lou, low(e (Ancrene R., Katherine, Layamon) have been taken as standing for lo we ‘look we’.ME. and e.m.E. lo(e may however, also partly return to north. (Cursor M.) and early ME. (Orm, etc.) la. OE. lá, the exclam. of surprise, grief or joy, or as used with vocatives, with which however the Scottish word treated here is appar. unconnected.]Commonly rhyming with do, scho, to: see the occurrences cited below and also (with do) Doug. iv. x. 42, v. i. 25, xii. 14. xii. viii. 102, xiii. v. 96, (with scho) Doug. ii. x. 208, xi. xi. 58. Also once (in Douglas) irregularly rhyming with also (x. ii. 35).Espec. common in Douglas.

An interjection used to direct attention, as to someone or something present or visible, or imaginatively to a narrated event, a concept or the statement one has made or is about to make. = Look! See! Behold!(a) 1375 Barb. xiii. 632 (E).
Lo quhat fading [C. falding] in fortoun is! a1400 Leg. S. xxvi. 934.
[He] sad tham to: ‘Hou mykil is wrocht me, lo, & thus demaynyt’ Ib. xxvii. 1287; xxxvi. 91. 1385 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. App. 410/1.
That I haf mad this somondys … laufully, lo here my witnez Robyn Jonson [etc.] ?1438 Alex. ii. 3609.
‘My dere sister, lo our cousine Floridas the palasine’ Ib. 4677.
‘Lo gude confort!’ said Cassamus, ‘For did we vther-wayes than thus [etc.]’ a1450 Fifteen Ois 144.
‘Johnne, lo thair thi moder is’ ?a1500 Dewoit Exerc. 306.
‘Woman, lo thair thi sone’ Arundel MS. 279/28. a1500 Henr. Test. Cress. 274. c1475 Wall. v. 746.
Lo all thair hors ar schent for faut off blud Ib. xi. 283. a1500 K. Hart 712.
Lo quhair he rydis bakwart with his route a1500 Seven S. 1493.
‘Na,’ said scho, ‘and lo my skill’ 1494 Loutfut MS. 9 b.
For quhen men seis a dukis son thai say nocht ‘Lo thar a fair squyer’ bot ‘Lo thair a fair lord’ c1500-c1512 Dunb. Flyt. 222.
Our gallowis gaipis, lo quhair ane greceles gais Id. lxxiv. 25.
Behald my wod intollerabill pane … , Lo deithe is in my breist 1513 Doug. iii. iv. 21.
And in the port entrit, lo we se Flokkis and herdis of oxin and of fe Ib. iv. vi. 56.
Quhat wald thou do In wyntir sesson pres graith thi navy, lo! Ib. xii. xiv. 130.
Quhen, at the last, on Turnus schuldir lo [: do] The fey gyrdill … dyd appeir Ib. i. vii. 100, ii. i. 33, ii. 1, x. x. 16, etc. 1513 Ib. Exclam. 18.
Lo heir he failȝeis, se thar he leys, luyk 1540 Lynd. Sat. 2560.
For quhy my lordis this is my ressone lo [: ado] 15.. Christis Kirk 138. c1550 Rolland Ct. Venus iv. 385. a1568 Scott i. 53.
For lymmer lawdis and litle lassis lo [: scho, thairto, do] Will argun bayth with bischop preist and freir Ib. 213.
Sen lo thow scho this to now do hes place, … ingraif it heir 1572 Buch. Detect. (1727) 49.
Lo heir ane man of singular uprichtnes 1603 Philotus 831.
Gif thay be wyse, thair doings lo [: to, vndo] Will signifie the same(b) c1420 Wynt. viii. 3320.
Lw [v.rr. Lo] how a lytill thyng may gere Gret harmys fall a1538 Abell 117 b.
He conquest land … and wes blyth in his abundance and lu all is passit awa fra him hes ane dreym Ib. 122 a.
Lu thare is arbitratioun or wil(c) a1400 Leg. S. ii. 496.
Thir ar resonis thre [etc.] … And low the firste, … That na mane … Sal disparit be pardone to wyne(d) Ib. 1019.
Paule appostill is cumyne, loo, We pray thé that thu cum hyme to a1500 Bernardus 178.
Loo, se so gay ȝon man is of his rent 1596 Dalr. II. 426/18.
Loo cumis in the moneth of Nouember Monsour Martigious [etc.](e) a1568 Scott iv. 97.
Loe, ladies, gif this bie, Ane gud counsale I geif ȝow 15.. Clar. iii. 371. a1585 Maitl. Q. xciii. 2.
Loe heir tuo wights inburied be 1585 Calderwood IV. 475.
Loe the ground of your lordship's caus … , Loe what yee have beene, not contemplating … in schooles, but practising in the commoun wealth 1611-57 Mure Dido & Æn. To the Reader 3.
Ȝow Heliconian witts … Ȝour presence humbly loe my muse invites 16.. Rudiments 4 b.
Loe, hee or she; lo these men or these women