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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SHIRE, n.¹ Also †sheyre (Knr. 1891 H. Haliburton Ochil Idylls 48, 60), †shair (Ayr. 1776 Session Papers, Petition T. Chalmers (19 Jan.) 3). Sc. usages:

1. Specif., with def. art.: Wigtownshire, the county of Wigtown, the western of the two divisions of the ancient province of Galloway, so distinguished from the eastern division, Kirkcudbrightshire, which is called specif. The Stewartry, q.v. (Gall. 1970).Wgt. 1878 “Saxon” Gall. Gossip 60:
Every farmer's fireside in The Shire.Kcb. 1885 A. J. Armstrong Friend and Foe xxiv.:
Athort the Shire an' awa' to Dumfries.Kcb. 1894 Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet xi.:
A mere Nithsdale man has no chance with him, still less a man from the simple-minded levels of the “Shire”.Kcb. 1990s:
The Shire is the local name for Wigtownshire. Kcb. 1998:
I wonder what they make of that in the Shire. Sc. 1998 Herald 8 May :
Time was when the Royal Burgh of Wigtown was a bustling medieval town, the centre of a sheriffdom and, until the last but one local government re-organisation, the administrative capital of "the shire".

2. A district or area of varying size, much smaller than the modern county, which may have been at one time under some separate jurisdiction, e.g. baronial or ecclesiastical, or enjoyed special privileges. Also attrib. Now hist.; a district in a vague gen. sense (Sh. 1970).Edb. 1767 Caled. Mercury (2 Nov.):
The shire-mill-haugh of Musselburgh.Sc. 1776 Lord Ingram in Child Ballads No. 66 C. xxxii.:
Ye sall hae a rigland shire Your mornin's gift to be.m.Lth. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XVI. 25:
Musselburgh is a very ancient burgh of Regality, and was once called Musselburghshire. The mill, to which this regality was astricted and thirled, is called the Shire-mill, and the wood along the banks of the river . . . is called the Shire-wood.Sc. 1896 A. J. G. Mackay Hist. Fife 2:
The number of small shires within the district was remarkable, and included Coupre (Cupar), Dunfermline, Forgund (Forgan), Portmoak or the Bishopshire. Most of these shires became parishes, and some of them baronies, and the word shire may have been used for any division. . . . It deserves inquiry whether it did not represent a partition of the land which descends from Celtic times. In several shires we find traces of the Thane or Baron and the Serjeant, the feudal equivalents of the Celtic Toshach and Mair or Maor.Abd.¹⁶ 1950:
Certain areas were given the word shire until living memory. The only one I recall is Gellan (part of the lands of Aboyne) which old people knew sometimes as the “shire o' Gellan”.