A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
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: 1460, 1586-1661
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0]
Sulphur, n. Also: sulphure, sulfur, (solfre). [ME and e.m.E. sulphur, sulphre (Gower), solfre (c1400), sulphure (c1420), earlier soufre (14th c.), OF solfre, sulfre, suffre, soffre, soufre. Cf. Sulphur vivum n., L. sulf-, sulphur.] Sulphur. Also attrib. and comb. 1460 Hay Alex. 5159.
Gar assembell all thing that may birin And in all haist gar cast it ȝone dykis within With sulphur ter fyre oly powder and gvn 1661 Acts VII 254/1.
Sulfur ilk hundred weight [one ounce silver bullion]attrib. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix 403.
This grotto … standeth on the side and root of a sulphure hillcomb. 1628 Mure Doomesday 128.
Hell's sulphure-smoking throat
b. Used of a discharge of gunpowder in firing a cannon. a1649 Drummond I 107/2.
When first the canon … Against the heauen her roaring sulphure shote
c. Applied to a colour.Although this example should perhaps be regarded as French, it is included because the usage is not recorded in OED before the 19th c. 1586 Treasurer's Accounts MS 121b.
Geanis taffety of Wert de mer cullour … Geanes taffetie cullerit de solfre
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Sulphur n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sulphur>
