A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1592-1700+
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Tusk, n.2 [Norw., Sw., Dan. torsk, ON þorskr, þoskr.] A fish of the cod family, found in northern waters. Also attrib. — 1592 Moncreiffs 241.
[Two dozen] killeng [one dozen skate, and five dozen] tuskis 16… Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. III 253.
Here [sc. Shetland] in the Summer time is caught an excellent kind of fish … called by the inhabitants brissmacks by the Hollanders lump, and by the Scots and English tusk 1633 (1711) Sibbald's Orkn. & Shetl. 46.
The severall kinds of fishes here are these, killing, ling, tusk, turbat [etc.] 1701 Brand Orkney & Shetl. 131.
The tusk, a rare … and delicious fish, no less pleasant to the taste, then they are to the eye —attrib. 1623 Orkney & Shetl. Test. I 89a.
Ane dussone skait fyve dossone tusk fisches
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"Tusk n.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/tusk_n_2>
