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

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
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Tarcell, Tercell, n. Also: tarsell, -all, -aill, tersel(l, terssell, tersal, ter(r)sall, teirsell, tursel. [ME and e.m.E. tersel(l, tarsell, tercel (all c1381), tercell (1486), tercelle, tarcel (both 15th c.), tarcell (a1500), OF tercel, pop. L. tertiolus.] A tercel, a male peregrine falcon or goshawk. Also const. of (a) falcon (falconis) or goshawk. Also attrib.(1) c1500-c1512 Dunb. (OUP) 163/81.
The tarsall gaif him tug for tug, A stanchell hang in ilka lug 1576 Fam. Rose 267.
I vill burding yow effecteusly to lat me heiff ane halche or tarsaill or a falkon(b) 1525 Treas. Acc. V 258.
To the man that fund the kingis tersall xx s. 1582 Waus Corr. 242.
Thair is bot tua halkis in nest of Kyrkmaiden this yeir; quhidder thai be halkis or terssellis I can nocht tell a1605 Montg. Misc. P. xviii 71.
The tersel troude not, vhill he tryde, That natur passis nuriture 1614 Lett. & St. P. Jas. VI 239.
Gif ȝe … vill send me the auld tersell, I vill say itt is gossups cours 1683 Fraser P. 262.
The thesaurer is too have a castt of fallcons & the other tuo … onely ane falcone & teirsell 1683 Fraser P. 264.
Terrsallattrib. 1575 Edinb. Test. III 363.
Ane gros of tersell bellis price vj li. v s.(2) 1505 Treas. Acc. III 167.
For ane tersell of ane goshalk bocht in Ros, xxviij s. 1506 Treas. Acc. III 333.
For ane tersal of falcoun to be giffin to ane Inglis man, xlij s. 1577 Douglas Corr. 228.
It will pleas ȝour lordship to ressaue a cast of tarsellis of falconis, haill of fether and bane 15… Crawford Mun. Invent. II 198 (2 Dec.).
I am preissit be ane sowthland freind for ane tersall off ane falcoun 1634 Stirling's Royal Lett. II 726.
That a falcon and tersell therof be sent vnto ws 1642 Buchan Cl. VIII 183.
I darre adventure to chalendge yow of a promise, and that is for the tarcell of goshawke which your Lordship promised the last yeare to [etc.](b) 1611 Reg. Panmure I xxxv.
He past … to the haukine withe ane read tursel of gooshauk

b. Tercell-gentle, = senses (1) and (2) above. [e.m.E. tercell-gentill (1486) etc. Cf. also ME and e.m.E. gentil faucon (Gower), faukon gentyl (c1400) ‘a name applied to the female and young of the goshawk’ (OED).] 1684 Sibbald Scot. Illustr. iii 14.
Falco gentilis, Tercell-gentle. In Rossia & Orcadibus

c. transf. Applied to a person. a1605 Montg. Flyt. 84 (T).
Ȝe tersell of ane taid, Ȝour meitter mismaid hes louslie lukkit