Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Forain(e, -ayne, Forane, a. and n. Also: forrain(e, -aigne, -ayne, forrane, foirane; foran, forran, forand, -ang(e; foreyn, -eine, forrein(e, -eyn, -eyen, foren(e, forrene, foreane, forringe. [ME. forain(e, -ayn(e, forein(e, -eyne (a 1374), forene (c 1300), OF. forain.]

1. adj. Foreign, in various applications: a. Of persons or peoples.(a) 1566 Reg. Privy C. I. 493.
Diverse forayne princes 1563-1570 Buch. Wr. 22.
All forayne nationis 1571 Sat. P. xxvii. 78.
Forayne [v.r. forraine] forces 1623 Grant Chart. 433.
All vther forraine peopill(b) 1549 Compl. 5/15.
Diuers forane princes 1567 Acts II. 548/2.
Quhatsumeuir foirane persoun 1571 Sat. P. xxvii. 104.
Thir forane [v.r. forrane] fayis a1578 Pitsc. I. 124/27.
Forran natiounis 1630 Reg. Privy C. III. 644.
Forran strangers(c) 1566 Melville Chart. 112.
Quhatsumevir foreane prences 1569-73 Bann. Memor. 238.
The foreyen [v.r. forreyen] mediatouris a1570-86 Maitl. F. clxxvii. 66.
Ane foreyne [v.r. forene] mache or maister 1667 Lauder Journal 171.
Forrein embassadors(d) 1568 Buch. Indict. 38.
Foren princes embassadouris 1569-73 Bann. Memor. 24.
Some foren potentate 1602 Colville Parænese 31.
Foren enem[e]is

b. Of countries or places abroad. 1569 Reg. Privy C. II. 70.
To reteir … to forayne cuntreis a1585 Maitl. Q. lx. 8.
Of forraine landis 1585 Acts III. 380/2.
In foreyn partis 1613 Conv. Burghs II. 418.
From forain pairts 1626 Garden Worthies 144.
A forraigne soill 1626 Aberd. B. Rec. III. 9.
From forane cuntreis 1685 Bk. Old Edinb. Cl. xii. 174.
The forringe plantations

c. Of various articles or things. 1583 Edinb. B. Rec. IV. 277.
Forane or owtlandis clayth 1591 Acts III. 527/1.
Forayne gold 1614 Lett. & St. P. Jas. VI 243.
Forraine schippis 1614 Rep. Mar & Kellie MSS. 73.
Foirrane wairis 1616 Stirling B. Rec. I. 144.
Foran clayth of all soirtis c 1636 Maxwell Stuart Mun. 36.
The venting of forrayne coyne 1641 Peebles B. Rec. 105.
Merchandice alsweill forrane as homeward 1657 Conv. Burghs III. 446.
Any forrayne comoditie 1667 Ib. 590.
Forran salt

d. With abstract nouns.An isolated early example occurs a 1350 in Facs. Nat. MSS. II. 14, where ‘forayn’ glosses the Latin forinsecum (servicium). 1567 Acts (1597) 31.
Aganist quhatsumever foreine authority 1569 Calderwood II. 483.
Invasioun domesticall and forraine 1569-73 Bann. Memor. 295.
To … haue forane intelligence 1573 Sat. P. xl. 29.
Sic. exempillis foraine a1578 Pitsc. I. 103/29.
Scoittis and … forand historeis 1579 Acts III. 151/1.
The foreyn missives

2. n. An outsider, stranger. 14.. Acts I. 330/2.
All the burges of the burgh, als wel forreyns (L. forinseci) as deynseens