Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
ETTRICK SHEPHERD, n.phr. A nom de plume used by the poet James Hogg by which he is often referred to by other writers.Sc. a.1800 in H. T. Stephenson Indiana Univ. Studies No. 54 (1922) 12:
During several years, even some time before 1800, Hogg had been writing at intervals for the Scots Magazine under the nom de plume of The Ettrick Shepherd.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. Introd. x.:
But the divine art of a Burns, or an Ettrick Shepherd, is not by any means the only thing which upraises . . . the “kintra-folks o' Auld Scotland”.Sc. 1825 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 80:
Wherever I [Hogg] walked [in a dream], each nation kent me; and chiels frae China . . . jogged ane anither's shouthers, and said, “That's the Ettrick Shepherd.”Sc. 1902 W. S. Crockett Scott Country 342:
So long as the Scottish tongue is spoken, so long will be sung the songs of the Ettrick Shepherd.
