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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

DORNAL, n. ? A stone forming part of a doorway, phs. the threshold.Sc. 1755 Scots Mag. (March) 135:
Q. How many jewels are there in our lodge? A. Three. Q. What are these three? A. A square pavement, a dinted ashler, and a broached dornal.

[The quotation is traceable to an English Masonic ritual of the second half of the 17th c. where the reading is thurnel, of obscure orig. In other versions of the same various corruptions are found, tarsel, mall, etc. One conjecture is Mid.Eng. ornel, a kind of soft building stone. See Ars Quatuor Coronatorum XXIX. 261.]

9494

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