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

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Sop, n.1 Also: sopp, sope, soup. Pl. sappis, sapes, saps. [ME and e.m.E. sop(p) (Manning), OE sopp, appar. f. the wk. grade of súpan to sup. Also, as saps, in the mod. Sc. dial.]

1. A piece of bread soaked in wine or other liquid. Also, sop of brede.(1) 1375 Barb. xii 409.
The Scottis men … tuk a sop, and maid thame ȝar
a1400 Leg. S. iii 375.
Thane gaf He ilkane a sope With His hand of His awne cope
1513 Doug. vi vi 75.
The prophete … A sop, stepyt intil hunny alsfast … gan cast
1629 Lowther's Jrnl. 18.
[Their cheer was big pottage, long kale, bowe or white kale,] breoh [? = bree] sopps [etc.]
(2) c1520-c1535 Nisbet John xiii 26.
He it is to quham I sal reke a sop of brede
(b) 1608 Glasg. Univ. Mun. III 520.
The said Andro sall prepair … ane soup of fyne quheit breid or ane portioun of cauld meit
1608 Glasg. Univ. Mun. III 520.
[To] the bursouris on the flesche dayis in the morning everie thrie of thame ane soup of ait breid and ane drink

b. pl. Bread soaked or boiled in ale, milk, etc.Only recorded as saps, with the common later Sc. unrounding of o to a. Cf. pat Pat(t n.1, first recorded in the mid-16th c. as a variant of Pot(t n.1 1650 Rec. Univ. Aberd. 589.
Oatt bread for saps, 13. … Aill to the saps 9 pints
1650 Cramond Sc. Drink 28.
Breakfast: Aill 8 pynts for sapes

c. Butter saps.Oatcake or wheaten bread soaked or fried in melted butter and sugar, generally provided at a child's birth or christening (SND, s.v. Butter n. II (24)). 1695 Melville Corr. 240.
God willing, I will help the cummers at the butter saps

2. fig. Applied to a person: a. As a term of endearment. b. With reference to their being imbued with or steeped in or the embodiment of the quality, etc. mentioned. c. To mak sappis of.a. c1500-c1512 Dunb. (STS) lxxv 30.
Quod he, … ‘My hwny soppis, my sweit possodie’
a1568 Wedderburn Bann. MS 239b/8.
Ane woman till ane man Is sop and seill
b. a1500 Henr. Test. Cress. 407.
O sop of sorrow, sonkin into cair!
c1550 Rolland Ct. Venus ii 104.
Thair was the sop of science I suppois
1560 Rolland Seven S. 4067.
Scho is ane sop of sorrow to dissaue
c. 1584 Burntisland B. Ct. 23 Sept.
Desyringe the fec to mak sappis of thame and goddis plaige to licht wpone thame

3. transf. A small piece (of something). 1594 Skipper's Acc. (Morton) 71a.
Ane pes of croket tember quharof ther is twa pykis ane sope of ane mast [etc.]

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"Sop n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/sop_n_1>

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