Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1706-1733, 1880-1908
[1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
CUNYIE, Cunyo, Coonyie, Cunzie, n. Also cunie (misread cunne below). [′kʌnji Sc., but Ork. + ′kʌnjo, Cai. + ′kunji]
†1. A keystone, quoin.Sth. 1733 in C. D. Bentinck Dornoch Cath. and Par. (1926) 273:
Two vaults in the steple above the second floor, with doors, windows, and cunzies.Abd. 1706 Abd. Burgh Records (1872) 333:
Building the first font at the spring of Cardanus well for ten pund sterleing, the thesaurer only furnishing lyme cunnes and casting the found.
‡2. A corner (Cai. 1905 E.D.D. Suppl., coonyie; Bwk., Rxb. 1825 Jam.2, cunyie; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., obs.).Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Sketch Bk. 49:
Mansie geed ower a muckle rock 'at lay atween him an' that geo; an' there, i' a cunyo o' the geo, he saw a mither selkie.Ork. 1908 J. A. Pottinger in Old-Lore Misc. I. v. 173:
He . . . scravelled roond intae a cunyie, whaur he could sit and see a' that was gaan on.
Comb.: cunyie-nuik, “a very snug situation; literally the corner of a corner” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.2). Known to Slg.3 1941.
[O.Sc. cunȝ(i)e, etc., a corner of a wall or building, from 1375, from O.Fr. cuigne, a wedge or die (D.O.S.T.), Lat. cuneus. Same word as Cunzie,n. and v.]You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Cunyie n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/cunyie>
