Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
HEATHEN, n. Also haethen, haithen, haythen. [′hiθən; ′heθən]
1. A name given to gneiss or similar stone in ne.Sc., a glacial boulder (ne.Sc. 1956). Comb. blue heathen, hornblende gneiss (Abd. 1956). Also used attrib.Mearns 1813 G. Robertson Agric. Kcd. 3:
There is a variety . . . known . . . under the name of Heathens or Heath-stone, and is, I think, what is otherways called Gneiss.Sc. 1825 Aberdeen Censor 125:
It was just a queer clump o' a roun'-about heathen, waghtin' maybe twa tons or thereby.Abd. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 XII. 668:
Immense boulders of blue sienite were, at one period, scattered over the soil. The farmers . . . term them heathens, probably from the incessant contest they and their forefathers have waged with them from time immemorial.Abd. 1875 W. Alexander My Ain Folk 167:
It may be my luck to big wi' roch heathens in place o' dress't sanstane or polish't marble.Bnff. 1890 J. Kerr Hist. Curling 386:
A still better stone used to lie as boulders, sprinkled over the fields in the vicinity of Portsoy. The rock is so tough that these boulders were locally termed heathens.Bnff.2 c.1928:
That's a haithen; it'll naither mak nor brak; try't wi' a shot o' poodher.
2. A single-soled shoe (Rxb. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XI. 75).
[Appar. an extended meaning of Eng. heathen but the semantic development is obscure.]
