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: 1460-1659
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Lig, n.2 Also: lige. Plur. lig(gi)s. [sc. var. of Leg(e n.3]
A league, the measure of distance in various European countries.Appar. not in regular use in Scotland: as in English use, only in more or less rhetorical statements in verse, and in prose only with reference to countries on the Continent. c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 3032.
Than tuk the king avise that he wald ga And luge fra the toun ane lig or tua 1501 Doug. Pal. Hon. i. 139.
Is situat from hence liggis ten hunder, Our horsis oft, or we be thair, will founder 1528 Lynd. Dreme 642.
The quantytie of the erth circuleir Is fyftie thousand liggis 1528 Ib. 655. 1570 Leslie 151.
The King send the Dolphine to meitt him sevin liggis fra the toun 1584-9 Maxwall Commonpl. Bk. fol. 2 b.
2 myile is ane lige 1600-1610 Melvill 42.
My eam … wha haid … conquesit a prettie roum within a lig to Genev 1659 Blairs P. 162.
In al it uil be six scor of ligs out of my uay he sent me
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"Lig n.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/lig_n_2>
