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

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

Than(e, Thayn(e, n.¹ Also: thain(e, thaynet-, thein-, theyn-, thyan-, (tegn-). [ME and e.m.E. þeiȝne, þein (both a1175), þeyn (c1275), thayn (c1300), thain (Cursor M.), thane (1577-87), OE þeȝn, ON þegn.]

1. An official in the pre-feudal system of administration of, chiefly, royal lands, responsible for the management of a particular area of land, estate or the like, including the collection of revenues in it and judicial authority over it.The office declined but did not entirely disappear after feudalisation, becoming, rather, increasingly incorporated into the system of hereditary land tenure. For further information see G. W. S. Barrow The Kingdom of the Scots (1973), Chapter 1 and A. Grant ‘Thanes and Thanages from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Centuries’ in Medieval Scotland: Crown, Lordship and Community. Essays presented to G. W. S. Barrow, eds. A. Grant and K. J. Stringer (EUP 1993), pp. 39-81.(1) 11… Reg. St. A. 181.
Theino 11… Reg. St. A. 229.
Cum theyno meo et cum hominibus meis 1150–53 Early Chart. 205.
Piscis quae ad thaynum pertinet 1170 Reg. Episc. Aberd. I 12.
Terrarum thaynis meis 1189–93 Regesta II 346.
Et preterea omne jus quod Thainus habere solebat in terra ecclesie de Cuneued 1206 Misc. Spald. C. V 212.
Tresdecim thanos terram illam habuisse 12… Liber Scon 41.
Alexander Dei gratia rex Scottorum theynis et aliis probis hominibus de Dul et de Forterkil fidelibus salutem 1316 Reg. Dunferm. 235.
Johannes thyanus c1420 Wynt. vi 1981.
Fra the Thayne [C. thayn] Makbeth herd speke That [etc.] 14.. Acts I 8/2.
The lord of that prisoun the theyff eschapis out sal acquit hym anent the kyng with xxvii leil men and thre thanys that he nocht wyst of the passing out of that theyff 14.. Acts I 55/2.
The assyse of the kyng made at Perth … the quhilk byschoppis abbottis erlis baronis and thanys and all the communyte of the kynryk has suorne [etc.] 14.. Acts I 68/2.
Of all utheris forsuth the quhilkis remaynit at hame and cum nocht that is to say of the landis of bischopis abbotis barounis knychtis and thaynis the quhilkis haldis of the king the kyng alane aw to haf the forfalt that is to say Of a thayn vj ky and a gillot Of ane ochtyern xv schep or vj s. bot the kyng tharof sal haf bot the tane half and the thayn or the knycht the tothir half 14.. Acts I 299/3.
Her folowis lee croo … The croo of the sone of ane erl or of a than is j^c ky … the croo of the sone of a thane is iii^xx ky and vj ky and twapert a kow 14.. Reg. Maj. c. 157.
He that is chalangit sal purgis & acquyt him be the sacrament of xxvii men & of thre thaynes c1475 Wall. xi 894.
That erll was cummyn off trew haill nobill blud, Fra the ald thane, quhilk in his tym was gud 1493 Acta Aud. 174/1.
Anent certane gudis clamit to be bocht fra the thane Caldor 1533 Boece 453.
Abthane was the principale of thanis and cheif of thame under the king. To hym all vthir thanis ansuerit of rentis and proffittis to the king ȝerely pertenyng. His office was to resaue the kingis rentis and vthir eschetis, and in maner of ane stewart or chawmerlane mak compt of the samyn 1531 Bell. Boece I lx.
About the time of king Malcolme Canmore, al thingis began to change … Than began, in Scotland, the maneris of dukis, erlis, lordis, and baronis, for afore thay dayis, the principall men of Scotland under the king war callit thanis, that is to say, gadderaris of the kingis malis 1531 Bell. Boece II 205.
Duffus, efter his coronation, went in the Ilis, and callit afore him all the thanis thairof; and maid his aith, gif thay dantit not the thevis within thair boundis to punis thaim na les than the principall misdoaris 1596 Dalr. I 112 marg.
The first nobils in Scotland war called thani; thay war of the clan cheif. … In ald tymes dukes war called thani ?1549 Monro W. Isles (1961) 102.
In this ile thair conveinit 14 of the iles best Barons … four Barons … might be callit Lords … Four Thanes of les living & estate; to wit, M^cginnihin, M^cnaie, M^cneill of Gighay & M^cneill of Barray [etc.] 1622-6 Bisset I 64/16.
King Malcolme the thrid, surnamed Canmoir … created mony erles, lordis, baronis, and knychtis, and thai that war callit thaynis, war maid erlis 1659 House Gordon II 18.
The first governours and thains of Southerland or Cattey were of the surname of Morray 16… R. Gordon in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II 392.
The thanis and abthans and governors of provinces whose offices and power is now very obscur to us but after following the forme [MS of] England we began to have earles, lords, barons [etc.](2) 1128 Early Chart. 67.
Macbeath thaynetum de Falleland 11… Reg. St. A. 128.
Macmallothem thain de Deruesin 1238–9 Cart. Levenax 31.
Malcolmo thane de Kalentyr c1420 Wynt. vi 2150.
Makduff off Fyffe the Thayne 1434 Chart. Coupar A. II 27.
Ad prosequendum quoddam breue de dissasina … contra Johannem Laurentii le thayn de Glentelt 1480 Thanes of Cawdor 437.
Wyllyam thayne off Caldor and Wyllyam of Caldor his son c1515 Asl. MS I 259/22.
Makbeth … exilit Makduf the thane of Fyffe and confiskit and tuke all his gudis a1538 Abell 74b.
Banquho the thayn of Louchquhabir quhem Makdonald wondit in the gathering of the kingis malis 16.. Hist. Kennedy 1.
Kennethe thaine of Carrik, quha was ane of King Gregories capitanis … . And of this captane the Kennedyes sayis thai had thair beginning

2. In place-names, esp. in comb. with net (Net n. 1), the fishing rights held on the river Deveron. 1333 Reg. Episc. Aberd. I 57.
De Thanyston 1511 Reg. Episc. Aberd. I 357.
Thanistoun 1559 Retours I Inq. Spec. Aberdeen (29).
Et octava parte terrarum de Thainstoun in thanagio de Kyntor 1487 Reg. Great S. 354/2.
Cum piscatione unius rethis aque de Dowarne, viz. le Thanysnet 1528 Reg. Great S. 140/1.
Rex confirmavit Johanni Comiti Buchanie … piscariam salmonum de Thanis net 1562 Antiq. Aberd. & B. IV 745.
Piscaria vocata The Kingis Fischeingis super aquam de Doverne nominata Thanis Nett 1562–3 Reg. Privy S. V i 323/1.
The fischeing in the Watter of Deverne callit Thanis net 1565 Reg. Privy S. V i 603/1.
Piscariam salmonum in aqua de Dovern, vulgo Thanis Net nuncupatam 1625 Reg. Great S. 322/1.
Lie Thaynis-nett in aqua de Doverne 1633 Acts V 65/2.
All and haill the castell of Bamff … togidder with the … salmond fishings vpon the water of Doverane callit the Thaines nett with the assys lax and salmon fishings in the sea callit the Craigshott

3. ? A small landowner on the Northumbrian pattern.See Grant op. cit. p. 45. 1107–24 Facs. Nat. MSS I 8.
Omnibus suis fidelibus tegnis et drengis de Lodeneio et de Teuegetedale