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 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

(Plain-,) Playn-sang, n. Also: plaine-, plan(e)-, plean- and -song, -syng. [ME. pleyn-, playn(e)-, plain(e)-song (c 1425), f. med. L. cantus planus. Cf. Plain a.¹ 8 c.] Plain-song. 1445 Peebles B. Rec. I. 11.
Thar sal na man be feit thairtil bot he that can sufficiandly syng playn sang to help Goddis service 1458 Ib. 126.
[To] syng playn syng at the leste 1508 Cart. S. Nich. Aberd. II. 347.
Sangstaris that can syng plane sang ande prik sang at the lest 1513 Crail Ch. Reg. 41.
Plane sang 1527 Guide to St. Andrews (1953) 19.
Plan sang, prickit sang, and descant c1550-c1580 Art of Music 36 b.
A/E/I/O/U. Of the quhilkis ewrie ane salbe tane for ane simpill noit of plane sang Ib. 92, 103 b. 1600-1610 Melvill 29.
I lerned of him the gam, plean-song, and monie of the treables of the psalmes

b. A simple, unharmonised melody. fig. 1584 Calderwood IV. 43.
To hold in a baise of plaine song unto his discant