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

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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Rud(e)nes(s, Ruidnes, n.¹ Also: roid- and -nes(s)e. [ME and e.m.E. rudenesse (Wyclif), rewdnesse (Lydgate), e.m.E. also rudnes (Coverdale); Rud(e adj.¹]

1. Want of learning; ignorance. a1538 Abell 56b.
Ane is for the rudnes of sempill pepill becaus thai can nocht reid halie writ 1561 Q. Kennedy Compendious Ressonyng (ed.) 179 (G).
Albeit as ȝyte my rudnes and lak off knawlege be nocht sufficientlye instructit to wnderstand the misteres thairoff 1641 Dunkeld Presb. II 89.
The woefull ignorance, rudeness, stubbernes, and incapacitie that is seen among the commune people

2. Lack of refinement; roughness of way of life; uncouthness. 1456 Hay II 151/21.
Ȝit we se dayly … that princis has barnis enclynit all to rudenes and bustousnes and evill condiciounis a1499 Contempl. Sinn. 1473 (Asl.).
Reforme in tyme thi raifand rudnes O creatur quhilk suld be ressonable c1500-c1512 Dunb. (STS) lxx 18.
We ar so beistlie, dull, and ignorant, Our rudnes may nocht lichtlie be correctit 1562-3 Winȝet I 108/5.
That this maist barber ruidnes, and maist beistlie impietie of vnfaythfulnes to man, wald be spittit at be … the starkast theif in Liddisdale

3. Absence of literary graces; roughness of style or composition.(a) 1535 St. P. Henry VIII V 15.
For the rudnese of our maner of dyting, as the inepnese of the letterese 1612 Misc. Scot. I ii iii.
The plainnesse and rudenesse of the stile(b) 1562-3 Winȝet I 33/5.
The ruidnes of my dytement, haistely wryttin … but eloquence(c) 1596 Lett. & St. P. Jas. VI 16.
Exquisse my roidnes