Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

(Unsele,) Unsel(l, adj. Also: un-, onsall, wmsall. [ME unsele (a1200), onseale (Layamon), OE unsǽle, ON úsæll.]

1. Unholy; monstrous; vile.(a) c1500-c1512 Dunb. (STS) xiv 79.
Off Sathanis senȝie syne sic ane vnsall [BD. wmsall] menȝie Within this land was nevir hard nor sene 1540 Lynd. Sat. 2051 (Ch.).
I giue to the deuill … This vnsell [B. wofull] wickit New-Testament a1605 Montg. Flyt. 87 (T).
Arpit angrie ettercoip, and auld vnsell aip 1603 Philotus 987.
I charge thé … Thow neyther girne, gowl, glowme, nor gaip, Lyke … vnsell aip(b) 1565 Inverness Rec. I 129.
Quhy durst I be so bauld onsall beist carll that I was [etc.]

2. Unpropitious; uncanny. 1600-1610 Melvill 64.
I haiff dreamed an unsall dream, and I am sum thing solist efter it

3. Worthless; inadequate. a1599 Rollock Wks. I 398.
All thir wairsche wordis, and silly unsel speicheis of sic ane glorie, tellis quhat feilling men hes in thair hartis of the effectualnes of the Gospell

4. ? Wretched, unfortunate, or a further instance of sense 1. a1400 Leg. S. xv 40.
Gais furth, I send ȝou … As wolfis amaung lammys vnsel [? read as lammys amaung wolfis vnsel] [L. sicut agnos inter lupos]