A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1986 (DOST Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1519-1681
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Portal(l, -aill, n. Also: -ale, -ell. [ME (once, 14th c.) portale door, doorway, etc., e.m.E. portall (Caxton), port-hall (1600), id., also in sense 1 below (1516), obs. F. portal gate, med. L. portale, orig. neut. of portalis adj., f. L. porta gate.Cf. also e.m.E. portayl (Caxton), -aile (1600), door, doorway, etc., F. portail façade of church, containing principal door, also a city-gate, in both Eng. and Fr. confused with Portal(l; L. type *portāculum, dimin. of porta.]
A portal, doorway.
1. Orig., ‘a space within the door of a room, partitioned off and containing an inner door’ (OED); chiefly, such a partition itself, sometimes made as a moveable piece of furniture. 1519 Reg. Episc. Aberd. II 175.
Inuentare of … geyr … The chawmer … Item ane portale of aik rasyt werk 1523 Treasurer's Accounts V 219.
To ane wricht ij dayis makand ane portale in my Lord Grosolez chalmer … for ane estland burde … to beit the said portale … for sawing of it in foure cliftis … for ij bandis and ij crukis to the samyn 1532 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) I 105.
For jm nailis to the perpane wall and portall in the dusty hall 1532 Ib. 109.
Portaill 1532 Ib. 111.
For certaine beting werk and making of ane new portell in the kingis luging in Perth 1587 Paterson Ayr & Wigton I 168.
Ane stand bed of carrit work joynit, with ane portell. Item twa buird portellis 1595 Edinburgh Testaments XXVII 361 b.
The haill burdeis stand beddis portellis … pressis … and all uther tymmer wark … within the said Walteris tenement 1595–6 Sc. Hist. Rev. X 302.
The hauch chalmer … ane dor wit ane portell and tua bedds standine ane privie dor wit bands and snek 1617 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) II 45.
For a pair of bandis to a portell 1634 Scottish Notes and Queries 1 Ser. IV 208.
Item ane great aiken wastall … Item ane aiken portell 1681 Alford Rec. 322.
Ane utter chamber with hewen door and windowes … with timber portall
2. A doorway, entrance-way, vestibule. 1552–3 Edinb. Old Acc. I 75.
Ane woundok above the nether portell of the counsalhous 1554–5 Ib. 136.
Ane braid daill to be ane porpenwall to the litill hous of the portell in the counsall-hous
3. Portall dure.
a. The door of a ‘portal’ as in sense 1. b. ? = sense 1. c. ? The door of an entrance-way as in sense 2.a., b. 1532 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) I 107.
Gemma bandis to the portall dure of the chalmer within the dusty hall 1542 Rec. Univ. Aberd. 575.
Ane portell dur off fyr … ane portall dur off aik 1568 Anderson Collect. Mary IV ii 166.
And sua ther wes na thing left to stope the passage into the saidis schalmiris but only the portell durris 1581–2 Edinb. B. Rec. IV 229. 1614 Edinburgh Testaments XLVIII 55.
Ane dure for ane pantrie and portell dure 1618 Trial Isobel Inch 10.
She enterit no forder in the said waist hous except onlie within the utter dur thresheld, and stuid at the bak of the portell dur 1636 Kirkcaldy Presb. 103.
For thrie dusson of deals to be ane portal durr to the hall and to cover the outsyde of the chimney of hall, 4 lbs. 1659 Glasgow B. Rec. II 430.
On the making of ane portall doore in the vter hie kirkc. 1592 Edinburgh Testaments XXIV 130 b.
Abone the portall dure xx pund wecht of gaid irne
4. Attrib. in prec. senses.
a. Portall heid. — 1532 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) I 109.
Ane pair of small bandis to the portaill heid 1605 Black Bk. Taymouth 343.
In the lairdis chalmer … ane leame can upoun the portell heid
b. With band, slot, snek, etc.Comprising the names of special types of carpentry equipment. 1537–8 Master of Works Accounts (ed.) I 218.
For twa pair gret round portell bandis with twa irne slottis rynnand upone platis … xxiiii s. 1547–8 Stirling B. Rec. I 52.
Fand the … hall of the said duelling hous weill reparit … the windokis weill glasynnit and tirlesit within and without … with portall slottis and closouris [etc.] 1595 Invent. Castle Campbell in Argyll Mun. MS 21 Feb. (Old Argyll MS Inv.).
Ane capbuird with dores portell bandis & snekis
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"Portal n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 15 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/portall>
