A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1399-1400, 1499-1578
[0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0]
Confluence, -fluens, n. Also: -flewence, -flowence. [ME. (c 1440) and OF. confluence, L. confluentia.]
1. Concourse (of people). Common in 16th c.a1400 Legends of the Saints xxvii. 155 (confluens of ȝung and ald). a1400 Ib. xl. 197 (gret confluence of folk). a1500 Buke of the Sevyne Sagis 2607 (quhen gadderit was all the confluens). 1503 Edinb. B. Rec. I. 97 (greitt confluence of sempill peipill). 1513 Doug. iv. xii. 56 (heirand sa feirful confluens thyddir speid). 1539 Edinb. B. Rec. II. 97 (the confluence of the natioun of Scotland and merchantis thairof). 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 8100 (of pepill thair was sic confluence). 1570 Leslie 143 (great confluence of pepill at the mercat). a1578 Pitsc. II. 54/5 (because of the great conflowence of pepill).
2. Flowing together, accumulation. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 5462.
Thay schew him thay had sic science … Of gold to get sic confluence a1578 Pitsc. I. 271/16.
The stremeis of blude ran … so aboundantlie that all the feildis and wateres was maid reid witht the conflewence thairof
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Confluence n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 12 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/confluence>
