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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

Wilroun, -rone, Wolr(o)un, Walroun, n. [? Wil(l adj.¹ lost, astray or Wild adj. wild, not tame or domesticated and -roun suffix., chiefly attached to abusive or pejorative nouns, (see note at Ladron(e n. and Studies in Prefixes and Suffixes in Middle Scottish by Elisabeth Westergaard, OUP, 1924, p. 100). Cf. also OED's suggestion (after Jam.) of ‘wild boar’ f. ON villr wild and runi wild boar (Icelandic-English Dictionary by Cleasby, et. al.) or ? Wolvering n. a wolverine. The latter two possibilities may suggest a separate derivation for the i forms from that of the o forms.] a. A despicable creature. b. A ‘contaminated’ female animal of some sort, ? perhaps influenced by Wolvering n. a wolverine, viewed specif. as gluttonous (see An edition of the poems of Alexander Scott by T. van Heijnsbergen, Ph.D. thesis, University of Groningen. c. attrib.Like ? a fox or wolf or ? a wandering creature of a despicable sort. —a. c1500-c1512 Dunb. Tua Mar. W. 90.
I have ane wallidrag, ane worme, ane auld wobat carle, A waistit wolroun na worth bot wourdis to clatter a1508 Kennedy Flyt. 432.
Thou beggit wyth a pardoun … And ondir nycht quhile stall thou … Unhonest wayis all, wolroun [B. wolrun, M. walroun], that thou wirkis —b. a1568 Scott xxxiv 106.
The bich the curtyk fannis The wolf the wilrone vsis, The mull frequentis the annis, And hir awin kynd abusis —c. a1568 Gyre-carling 29.
The hennis of Hadingtoun … wald nocht lay For this wyld wilroun wich thame widlit sa & wareit