A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Wis(e)wif(e, Wyse wyff, Wyise wyffe, n. [Wis(e adj. and Wif(e n.] = Wise woman n. b. —a1400 Leg. S. xxx 24.
For sic as thai, quhen tha thare lifis [H]as lyvit lang, callit wis wifis a1597-1617 Hist. Jas. VI (1825) 241.
Dyvers war executit to the death: as naymlie … Johne Cunynghayme … Agnes Sampson, grace wyff, alias callit, the wyse wyff of Keyth, and dyvers uthers 1597 Crim. Trials II 26.
Scho was send for be the said Cristian Saidler to hir hous, and … the said Cristian desyrit hir to gif her selff furth for a wyise wyffe and a woman of skill a1639 Spotsw. Hist. (1655) 383.
Agnes Samson (commonly called the wise wife of Keith) was … a woman not of the base and ignorant sort of witches
