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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

LION, n. Sc. usages:

1. The royal emblem of Scotland. Comb. Lion Rampant, the device on the royal standard of Scotland (see quots.). See also Lyon. The lion was adopted by William the Lion (1165–1214) in place of the earlier dragon.Sc. 1738 J. Chamberlayne Present State 160:
A Description of the Atchievement of the Sovereigns of Scotland … Or, a Lion Rampant Gules, arm'd and langu'ed Azure, within a double Tresse flower'd and counter-flower'd with Flower-de-luces of the second.Sc. 1808 Scott Marmion iii. Intro.:
And onward still the Scottish Lion bore And still the scatter'd Southron fled before.Sc. 1907 in C. W. Thomson Lion Rampant (1912) 6:
The flag variously described as the “Scottish Standard” or the “Scottish Lion Flag”, meaning the flag displaying the red lion rampant upon a yellow ground within a double tressure.Sc. 1956 T. Innes Sc. Heraldry 215:
When the Royal Lion is flown as a flag, or in place of the Scottish National Flag, St Andrew's Cross, a statutory offence is committed against the ordinary Parliamentary Law of Scotland.Sc. 1961 Scottish Field (Feb.) 49:
The old Scottish Royal Arms, in which the Lion Rampant is supported by two Unicorns.

2. One of the two pieces in the old Sc. coinage having on one side the lion rampant as a device, (a) a gold piece, orig. current at five shillings, struck by Robert III, James II, James IV and Mary, and (b) a copper or billon coin ofthe reigns of Mary and James VI, the Hardhead, q.v. Hist.Sc. 1876 R. Cochrane-Patrick Coinage Scot. cxxxviii.:
In 1554 the Privy Council authorised a new base coinage to be called “Lions”, now commonly called “Hardheads”.Sc. 1887 E. Burns Coinage Scot. 343:
So far as the Scottish Records show, the name commonly given to these pieces when they were current coins was lions or Scottish crowns. I am not aware that the name of St Andrews, now generally applied to them, occurs in contemporary documents.Sc. 1955 I. H. Stewart Sc. Coinage 37, 85:
The obverse type of the lion [of Robert III] is imitated from the French Ecu à la Couronne, which had been issued from the time of Philip VI of Valois (1325–50) … The lion, hardhead or three-halfpenny piece, a new billon coin, was introduced in 1555 … The obverse type is a crowned M, the reverse a lion rampant crowned.