Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1827-1876
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BRANDANE, prop.n. 1. A native of the island of Bute (Bte. 1933 G. A. F. Knight Archaeol. Light I. 386, Bte. 1975).Sc. 1876 W. F. Skene Celtic Scot. II. 77:
The name of Brendan is preserved in the designation given to the people of Bute of 'the Brandanes'.
2. A kindly tenant (see Kindly, adj., 3.). Liter.Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce I. xii.:
Bits o' pendicles the brandanes and cotter-bodies that ate my forebears' livery meal, wadna have planted their lang kale in.
[In sense 1. first mentioned by Fordun Gesta Annalia ci., as Brandani and gen. associated with St Brendan of Clonfert (6th c.), who had a foundation in Bute. Sense 2. derives from a passage in Bower's Scotichronicon, s.a. 1441, where the Brandanes of Bute are described as nativi of the Stewarts, i.e. villeins or tenants astricted to the soil, who later became kindly tenants of the Crown.]
