Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X, list of scientific terms with Scottish connections).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
LEWISIAN, adj. Geol. Referring to the ancient gneisses which lie along the western seaboard of Sutherland and Rossshire, the oldest rocks in the world (1860 R. I. Murchison in Quarterly Jnl. Geol. Soc. XVI. 215).
[From Lewis in the Hebrides which is largely composed of this rock.]
