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: 1475, 1551, 1637-1638
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Lythe, Lithe, v. Also: lithinge vbl. n. and ? Loddin p.p. [e.m.E. and ME. lythe, lithe, liðe(n, OE. Líðan and líðian to soften, alleviate, etc.] tr. a. To soften, make mild or pliant (one's heart). b. To soothe, comfort, restore (a person). c. To thicken (broth, porridge, etc.). (This sense common in mod. Sc. and north. and north midl. Eng. dial.) —a. 1551 Hamilton Catechism 173.
The haly spreit … he his grace lythis and turnis our hart to Godb. c1475 Acts of Schir William Wallace (1570) ii. 276.
The womanis mylk confortit him full swyith Syne in ane bed thay brocht him for to lyithc. a 1638 R. James Descr. Scotl. etc. in Orkn. Misc. I. 53/2.
Another keale they haue which they call skinke … which they boile long and lithe it with bread a 1638 Ib.
They feede much on porridge … they have of divers sortes. … Then they take crums of white bread and boile with it which they call lithinge, as it weare givinge life into it
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"Lythe v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 21 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/lythe_v>
