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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Primitive, Primative, Premitive, adj. and n. Also: primityve, -ytyv; prymatywe; prematyve, -iwe; premetive. [ME prymytiff (c 1400), e.m.E. primityue (a 1526), -ive (c 1540), prym- (1548), also primative, premative adj. and n. (1486), F. primitif (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), L. prīmitīvus first or earliest of its kind, original, f. prīmus Prime adj.] Primitive.

A. adj.

1. In grammar. Of a part of speech: Original, radical; from which others may be derived. 1531 Vaus (1531) 2.
How mony kynde of nownes is thare? twa … ane primitiue and ane deriuatiue Ib. (de pronomine).
Quhat is ane pronowne primitiue? It that is first i the self and nocht dryuin fra ane othir Ib. (de verbo).
The perfite forme quhilk is callit primitiue 16.. Rudiments fol. 3 b.
M. How manie primitiue or chieffe pronouns ar there? P. Aught

2. Applied to the early Church, as belonging to the Church's first age.Regarded as the period in the Church's history when its purity and authority were most unquestionable.(a) c1540 Lynd. Kitteis Conf. 138.
Swa to confes as I descryue Wes in the gude kirk primityue 1548 Balnaves in Knox III 27.
Honest householders … were chosen to be bishoppes in the primitive church 1562-3 Winȝet I 131/3.
Gif ȝe cal ws Papistis for caus of ony new doctrine vnknawin to the primitiue kirk Ib. 64/27, 90/3, 139/10, etc. 1598 James VI Basil. Doron 35/2. 1678 J. Brown Hist. Indulgence (1783) 152.
So repugnant unto the methods … practised in the primitive church(b) 1561 Q. Kennedy Compendious Ressonyng (ed.) 149/24.
Of thais quhilkis war disciplis … and martyris … in the prymatywe kirk Ib. 151/16, 165/27. 1567 Reg. Privy C. I 535.
According to … the ordour and practize of the primative kirk 1571 Ferg. Tracts 70.
The primatiue and first kirk vnder the gospell(c) 1581 Burne Disput. 13.
It is manifest … that in the premitiue kirk this vas ane sacrament maist necessar 1581 Hamilton Cath. Tr. in 1573-1600 Cath. Tr. (S.T.S.) 77/16.
That quhilk vas techit be the doctoris of the premetiue kirk quha var instructit be Christis apostlis Ib. 76/22, 77/1.

3. Earliest, original. 1674 Edinb. B. Rec. X 179.
The grantting of gratis burgess … ticketts is contrair to the primitive and originall priviledges … which are only competent to burgesses … who are made upon onerous causis

B. noun.

1. In grammar: A word from which others are derived, a root-word. (= A 1 above.)[e.m.E. (1565).] 16.. Rudiments fol. 3 a.
Some nounes ar primitiues, Some made … either by declineing or changeing of the hindmost syllab: as justa, justitia [etc.] Ib. fol. 10 a.
My bairne obserue or remarke the foure formes of deriued verbes, or made verbes, for some ar ended in sco; … Others end in vio, and … signifie a desire primitiue: as I desire to suppe

2. plur. The rudiments or elements of a subject. c1420 Wynt. v 1999.
On buk thai gert hym lere Hys primytyvys [C. prematiwis] … And all hys grammayre 1533 Boece 210 b.
The college of Sanct Leonard … quhare religios novice and vthir ȝong studentis … vnder preceptouris deponis thare rude primativis [L. rudimenta deponunt]

3. plur. The fathers of the early Church as predecessors of modern ecclesiastics. 1530 Lynd. Test. Pap. 771.
Ȝe bene, all, Degenerit frome ȝour holy prematyuis, As testyfeis the proces of ȝour lyuis