A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1438-1596, 1661-1700
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Lang-syne, adv. phr. Also: lange- and -sine. Also anglicized variant: long syne. [Lang adv. 1 a (5), and Syne adv.: cf. Lang-er(e, Lang Quhill syne.] Long since, long ago.(a) ?1438 Alex. ii. 3383.
The woundis … ar weill lang syne hale and feir 1474 Acts Lords Auditors 34/1.
To tak ane inquisicion … gife the kirk was in possession tharof & how lang sine c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxiv. 34.
I had bene deid langsyne, dowtles 1513 Doug. v. Prol. 47.
I saw langsyne the wyndis ettyll that way c1520-c1535 Nisbet III. 128.
Bot as we nocht lang syne correctit the euangelistis to the liif of treuth, sa we haue set [etc.] 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 154/8.
Thou said, nocht lang syne, that [etc.] 1568 Maxwell Mem. II. 136.
The payment … ȝe promeist … lange syne 1570 Satirical Poems xvii. 3.
Gif … vice … Had age be age … increst, In eirth lang syne thair had been nothing … Saif only vice 1590-1 Bruce Serm. 45.
Speak I of things bigane, and it were never sa lang syne 1596 Dalr. I. 19/13.
[Peebles] anes lang syne verie celebrate throuch frequent … peregrinatione 1682 Peden Lords Trumpet 20.
I get more good in one verse of the Bible now, nor I did in it all lang syne(b) ?1661-5 M. Bruce Soul-Confirm. 19.
I came to a good house long syne 1672 Id. Rattling Dry Bones 5.
I am ov'rwarred long syne
b. quasi-noun, Ald lang sine, old times, old friendship. 1666 Argyll-Lauderdale Lett. 37.
Deare lord father, farewell for old long syne 1692 Presbyterian Eloquence (1694) 68.
Now billy Jonah, wilt thou go to Nineveh for ald lang sine [gl. old kindness] [a 1700 Watson's Coll. iii. 71. title.
Old-Long-syne a 1700 Ib. 72.
Is thy kind heart now grown so cold … That thou canst never once reflect On old-long-syne? a 1700 Ib.
We should renew Kind old-long-syne a 1700 Ib.
For old-long-syne]
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"Lang-syne adv. phr.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 5 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/lang_syne>
