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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.

Stum(m)er, -yr, Stam(m)er, v. Also: stomber. P.t. also stumryt. [ME stomere (once, 14th c.), stemer(e (once, c1400), e.m.E. stammer (1607), ON stumra to stumble (of the gait). Cf. ME and e.m.E. stamer (c1330), stammer (a1529), OE stamerian, stomrian, ON stama to stumble verbally, to stammer, with which ON stum- is related as an ablaut variant.]It is not clear from which source ME, e.m.E., and OSc. variants in -a-, but semantically = ON, derive.

1. Of a person: To stumble; to stagger; to totter as if about to fall; to hesitate in one's movements. b. Of a limb: To be about to give way.(a) 1460 Hay Alex. 3210.
Hors and man ȝeid stummerand to the ground a1500 Gol. & Gaw. 624.
Thair stedis stakkerit in the stour, and stude stummerand 1513 Doug. v vi 80.
He slaid and stumryt on the slydry grond 1513 Doug. x ix 83.
Hemonydes … fleand stummyrryt and to grond went c1520-c1535 Nisbet John xi 10.
Jesus ansuerde … Bot gif he [sc. any man] wandire in the nycht, he stummeris [P. stomblith], for licht is nocht in him a1568 Bann. MS 141b/50.
Ȝour courtly fukking garis me fling … Sen ȝe stummer nocht for my skippis Bot hald ȝour taikill by my hippis 1592–3 Cal. Sc. P. XI 12.
To have hazard ane ould gleid, which myght have stumered [Calderwood V 204, stammered] and put him in hazard(b) 1558-66 Knox II 11.
The Maister struik with his speir at La Battu and glansing upoun his harnes for feircenes stamered almost upoun his kneis a1585 Polwart Flyt. 756 (H).
Whils slauerand, whils stamerand, [T. claverand] & wavering with wyneb. 1513 Doug. xii xiv 45.
Hys kneis stummerit [L. labant], and hys lymmys slydis

2. fig. To stumble morally; to act, write, etc. in a stumbling or blundering fashion.(a) 1562-3 Winȝet I 5/26.
Hes not mony … mysknawin thair deuty … and sua in thair perfite beleif hes sairlye stummerit? 1567 G. Ball. 116.
The Lord is help to thame that slyde & stummer c1590 J. Stewart 48/4.
So I agains my vill Dois stot and stummer in my mateir low(b) a1500 Henr. Orph. 606.
To kene the self a styme it may nocht se, For stammeris on eftir effectioun, Fra ill to war(c) 1588 King Cat. 34.
Thame that hes stombered thow liftes vp agane

b. transf. Of a person in respect of his sight: To hesitate, act in a stumbling or uncertain manner. Only in fig. context. 1590-1 R. Bruce Serm. 148.
There is not a sin that we commit but it … casts a slough over the eye of our faith, quhereby we doubt and stammer in our sight