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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TWEED, n. A strong twilled woollen cloth usu. woven from yarn of two or more colours in various patterns and of a roughish texture, gen. used for coats and suitings, and in Scot. manufactured chiefly in the Borders and in Harris in the Hebrides. For the history of the word which seems to have originated in England see etym. note.Sc. 1841 T. Craig-Brown Hist. Slk. (1886) I. 574:
No premiums came to Selkirkshire from 1835 to 1841, when J. & H. Brown and Co., Selkirk, was awarded £20 for “Tweeds” — the first and only official mention of the fabric under its new name.Abd. 1845 Stat. Acc.² XII. 171:
The article alluded to is plaid, or what is now more usually denominated “tweed.”Lth. 1860 J. Locke Tweed & Don 37:
Brown-and-drab Tweels, often written in the invoices to the Londoners, Tweed, which was meant to be Tweelds; the word Tweed came to be the common name of all this class of goods.Rxb. 1949 Scotsman (9 Sept.):
My father's uncle, Bailie John Paterson, as the clerk who wrote the famous “tweel” letter. The merchant misread the word for “tweeds” and ordered a bale of tweeds.Sc. 1951 Scottish Field (March) 45:
Many people imagine that the name of the cloth comes from the Borderland river, but its original name was tweel, the local pronunciation of twill, i.e., the cloth woven in a twill rather than a plain pattern. . . . The modern name was adopted almost by chance. Soon after the first loom had been installed in the district, about the year 1830, a London merchant received a letter from a Hawick firm relating to some “tweels”. Alas, the clerk's handwriting was bad. The London merchant advertised the goods as Tweed, and the name has remained ever since.