Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
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.

SOUTHRON, adj., n. Also southeron, southran, suthron, sudron, †soudron. Sc. variant of Eng. southern (see note). [′sʌðrən]

I. adj. 1. Of persons: belonging to or living in England, English (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Now chiefly liter.Sc. 1722 W. Hamilton Wallace viii. iii.:
Our kingdom's poor, wasted by South'ron knaves.Edb. 1772 in Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II. 69:
You write sic easy stile and plain . . . Nae suth'ron lown dare you disdain.Ayr. 1785 Burns To W. Simpson x.:
Whare glorious Wallace Aft bure the gree, as story tells, Frae Suthron billies.Slk. 1822 Hogg Tales (1874) 619:
Light down, light down, southron lord, ye are a privileged man.Wgt. 1885 G. Fraser Poems 109:
Full feared was I that Southron scouts Wad seize my bridle-rein.sm.Sc. 1979 Alan Temperley Tales of Galloway (1986) 78:
In a raid by Southron and English marauders, the tower was destroyed, the estate laid waste, and the owner was murdered.

2. Of things: pertaining to, characteristic of or peculiar to England or the English, situated in England.Edb. 1788 J. Macaulay Poems 192:
But southran lingo, now, I trow, Maun tak the lead.Ayr. 1803 A. Boswell Poet. Wks. (1871) 115:
Border wights . . . Who troop'd about, in winter nights, To gather nolt and soudron geer.s.Sc. 1887 R. Allan Poems 8:
Spring, frae blooming southran bow'rs.Ags. 1891 Barrie Little Minister xxv.:
A southron mode of speech.m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 23:
An nou in sudron twangs ye'll hear them rettlin ...
the heirs o Jamie Bos'll's social line,
wha says: I'm Scottish but I cannot help it.

3. Sc. form of Eng. southern.sm.Sc. 1979 Alan Temperley Tales of Galloway (1986) 78:
In a raid by Southron and English marauders, the tower was destroyed, the estate laid waste, and the owner was murdered.

II. n. 1. An Englishman; as a coll.n., Englishmen, the English. Nonce deriv. ¶Soudronie, the English.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 161:
The Southerns will with Pith your Project bauk.Sc. 1771 J. Macpherson Hist. Gt. Britain 129:
The appellation of Southerons and Norlands are not hitherto totally extinguished among the Scots.Ayr. 1784 Burns When Guildford good ix.:
But, word an' blow, North, Fox, and Co. Gowff'd Willie like a ba', man; Till Suthron raise, an' coost their claise Behind him in a raw, man.Sc. 1795 Outlaw Murray in Child Ballads No. 305. A. xxii., xxxiii.:
Frae Soudron I this forest wan. . . . He says yon forest is his ain, He wan it from the Soudronie.Inv. 1814 E. Grant Mem. Highl. Lady (Strachey 1928) 275:
The Lady Belleville was a Southron.Sc. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvi.:
Where's the use o' vilifying ane's country, and bringing a discredit on ane's kin, before southrons and strangers.Sc. 1844 G. Outram Lyrics (1874) 14:
It will be taen into cannie consideration how we may now best free oursels o' that unnatural band, either by a backspang, if we can sae far begunk the Southron, or by an evendown cassin o' the bargain.

2. The English language, as opposed to Scots. The first quot. is an adaptation from the saying ascribed to James V by John Hamilton in his Catholik Traictise (1581) (see Catholic Tractats (S.T.S.) 105).Sc. 1817 Scott Rob Roy xxvi.:
To try which would there best knap Southron.Sc. 1844 Cockburn Journal (1874) II. 98:
Railways and steamers, carrying the southern into every recess, will leave no asylum for our native classical tongue.