Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1968 (SND Vol. VII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
PARAPHRASE, n. Also ¶parryfrase, pharaphrase. Sc. usage, in the Presbyterian churches: a metrical version of a scriptural passage other than the Psalms, one of a collection made between 1745 and 1781, and finally adopted and printed in 1781, under the title “Translations and Paraphrases, in verse, of several passages of Sacred Scripture: collected and prepared by a Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in order to be sung in the Churches.” The Paraphrases are now printed along with the metrical Psalms at the end of the Scottish Bible, and many have been incorporated as hymns in the Revised Church Hymnary. The metrical version of the Psalms was occasionally referred to as the Paraphrase of the Psalms (Sc. 1709 W. Steuart Collections ii. i. § 25).Sc. 1745 Acts Gen. Assembly 9:
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland had laid before them . . . some Pieces of Sacred Poesy, under the Title of Translations and Paraphrases of several Passages of Sacred Scripture, composed by private persons.Ayr. 1806 A. Edgar Old Church Life (1885) 82:
1806, Feb. 9, began to sing the Paraphrases.Sc. 1818 Scott Letters (Cent. Ed.) V. 166:
I would not have you suppose that I by any means disapprove of the late very well chosen paraphrases.Sc. 1889 D. J. Maclagan Sc. Paraphrases 56:
With all their faults . . . it is yet to be hoped that the time is far distant when the Scottish clergy and the Scottish people are ashamed of their Psalms and Paraphrases.Slk. 1898 J. Russell Reminisc. Yarrow 61:
A still stronger dislike was felt in some districts of the country to the introduction of the paraphrases in public worship.Ags. 1916 V. Jacob Songs Ags. 2:
A voice drouns the hale o' the psalms an' the paraphrases, Cryin' “Jean, Jean, Jean!”Abd. 1929 J. Alexander Mains and Hilly 35:
Gin ye hid steed i' the laiteran's I've deen, ye wid' a' kent 'at that teen shootit the fifteent Pharaphrase tull a tee.Sc. 1943 M. Patrick Sc. Paraphrases 5:
As little fitted for use in public worship as most of the Paraphrases are recognised to be today.wm.Sc. 1965 Alan Sharp A Green Tree in Gedde (1985) 41:
Peter,
at the age of seventeen, had never had a job and constantly urged his
mother to let him go looking for his uncle Robert. He had taken to
reading the Bible and the paraphrase Robert had been working on and at
night in his uncle's room he would read the sermons aloud.
