Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
NORSE, adj., n. Also norish; nurse.
I. adj. Norwegian.Ork. 1693 J. Wallace Descr. Ork. (1883) 40, 107:
Only some of the common People among themselves speak Norse or the old Gothish Language. . . . An explication of some Norish words used in Orkney and Zetland.Sh. 1758 Session Papers, Gray v. Stein (1 Aug.) 31:
Certificate, of Date, at Copenhagen, 7th November 1754, in the Norss Language, signed by David Mohe.I.Sc. 1774 G. Low Tour (1879) 105:
The Norse language is much worn out here, yet there are some who know a few words of it.Sc. 1821 Scott Pirate i.:
Land . . . in the possession of the Norse inhabitants.Sh. 1871 R. Cowie Shetland 24:
The early Pictish inhabitants were exterminated by their Norse successors.Sc. 1954 Viking Congress (Simpson) 230:
The Norse words that can nowadays be retrieved in Caithness are . . . sufficient to indicate a sometime complete and independent Norse idiom in the northernmost part of the Scottish mainland.
Hence (1) Norseland, Norway; (2) Norseman, a Norwegian, gen. in the hist. sense of one living during the Viking period. Now in Eng., appar. borrowed from Scott.(1) Sc. 1840 Carlyle Heroes (1858) 211:
Hynde Etin, and . . . Red Etin of Ireland, in the Scottish Ballads, these are both derived from Norseland.(2) Sc. 1817 Scott Harold i. i.:
Count Witikind came of a regal strain, And roved with his Norsemen the land and the main.Sc. 1840 Carlyle Heroes (1858) 205:
Writing by Runes has some air of being original among the Norsemen.Sh. 1871 R. Cowie Shetland 9:
When the nautical daring . . . had become so much developed in the Norsemen.
II. n. 1. The Norwegian language.Sc. 1701 J. Brand Descr. Ork. (1883) 25:
There are also some who speak Norse especially in the Mainland, as in the Parish of Hara there are a few yet living, who can speak no other thing.Sc. 1763 H. Blair Diss. Ossian 39:
Their ancient language [of Orkney], of which there are yet some remains among the natives, is called the Norse; and is a dialect . . . of the Scandinavian tongue.Sh. 1809 A. Edmonston Zetland I. 142:
Zetland has been united to Scotland above three hundred years; and pure Norse or Norwegian is now unknown in it.Sh. 1874 R. Cowie Shetland 24:
In 1774, some of the people in Foula could repeat the Lord's Prayer in Norse.
2. A Norwegian. Now only used as a pl. Specif. the Norwegian people or king.Sc. 1719 in Ramsay Ever Green II. 249–51:
The King of Norse in Summer Tyde . . . But now that Norse dois proudly boast, Fair Scotland to inthrall.Sc. 1902 in W. F. Skene Highlanders 396:
Erp, son of Meldun, . . . was captured by the Norse.
