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

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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Sale, Saill, n.¹ Also: sail(e, sayll, cell. [ME and e.m.E. sale (Cursor M.), OE sæl (pl. salu) str. n., OF sale (1080 in Larousse), f. low L. sala, Frankish *sal (Larousse s.v. salle), It. sala.] A hall, a spacious chamber, chiefly, the, or a, great hall of a palace or royal or noble seat.Freq. in alliterative verse, chiefly in alliterative formulæ, and, in Douglas, in the phrase saill riall.(a) c1450-2 Howlat 279 (A).
To writ … To the athile Empriour, souerane in saile [: haile (= whole), temporale, dale (= valley)] Ib. 694.
All war merschalit to meit … Syne seruit semely in saile a1500 Gol. & Gaw. 72.
The renk raikit in the saill, riale and gent, That wondir wisly wes wroght with wourschip and wele Ib. 144.
Than said the syre of the saill and the souerane [etc.] Ib. 508.
For thair is segis in yone saill wil set vpone sevin, Or thay be wrangit Ib. 1150.
The seymly souerane of the sail marschel he wes Ib. 428.
Sail a1500 Rauf C. 713.
Thair was seruit in that saill seigis semelie [etc.] 1513 Doug. vii iii 45.
Thar stude a gret tempill or sail [Sm. saill, Ruddim. sait] ryall, Of Lawrent cite seyt imperiall Ib. viii iv 129.
This gret cove of Cacus sail [Sm. sayll] ryall Ib. xiii viii 40.
Be this the kyng Latyn … entryt in the saill [Ruddim. sale] ryall on hie(b) a1500 Gol. & Gaw. 1092.
How may I succour thé sound, semely in sale Ib. 1156. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix 401.
We came … to a large and vast roome … this great cell or hall is a yard deepe of blackish water and was the dining roome of Sybilla. … Hauing more than halfe way entered in this sale [etc.](c) 1632 Lithgow Trav. ix 401 (see (b) above).
Cell