Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

-AND, suff. Also -an (see D, letter, 2.). The suff. of the pr.p. in verbs, historically descended from North. O.E. -ande, and reg. in O.Sc. but from c.1500 gradually giving way, esp. in literary style, to the -in(g) ending of the vbl.n., as had happened earlier in Eng. The distinction was still recognised in speech, and less freq. in writing, until the late 19th c. (see e.g. Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) liv.; Ayr. 1786 Burns Poems 236; Rnf. a.1850 Crawfurd's Coll. (S.T.S.) I. xxvi. note, Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 6 and passim, who has however reversed the endings, s.Sc. 1873 D.S.C.S. 211; Ork. 1889 Ellis E.E.P. V. 791; ‡Cai. 1929 P.L.D. § 158), when it was possible to differentiate in pronunciation between the pr.p. [-ɪn, -ən], and the vbl.n. [-in]. This feature has now practically disappeared from all dialects, except s.Sc. where it is obsol. (cf. Rxb. 1914 E. C. Smith Many Howes passim, where the forms are distinguished by the spellings -in for the part. and -een for the vbl.n., 1942 Zai 125, 134-5, and see P.L.D. § 114). The ppl. form however survives in a few isolated words, sometimes as -ant, e.g. Appearandly, auld-farrand s.v. Auld-farrant, Awn(d), Bydand, willant s.v. Willin.