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: 1500-1699
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Popil(l, Poppil(l, n.1 Also: -yll, pople. [ME and e.m.E. popil (Wyclif), -ill, pople, mod. Eng. popple (1789), late ME popul (Prompt. Parv.), obs. and dial. F. pouple (OED), F. peuple, late OE popul-, L. pōpul-us poplar.] The poplar (tree). Chiefly attrib., esp. with tre.(a) 1513 Doug. viii iv 201.
Thus sayand, the party popill grayn [L. bicolor … populus] Heldit his hed with skug Herculyane 1513 Ib. i 31. 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 57/7.
Throucht the operatione of the sternis, the oliue, the popil, & the osȝer tree changis the cullour and ther leyuis 1500-1699 Herbarius Latinus Annot. cxi (Bot.).
Populus the poppill tre; popyll tre, quakin esp(b) 1513 Doug. v iii 61.
Euery wight, In poppil [v.r. pople] tre branchis [L. populea … fronde] dyght at poynt 1513 Ib. viii v 17.
The menstralis … and danseris … With poppil [v.rr. popil; pople] tre hattis buklyt on thar hed [L. Populeis adsunt evincti tempora ramis] 1513 Ib. x iv 69.
The scroggy bus Of poppill tre branschis [L. populeas … frondes] lang and squar 1500-1699 Herbarius Latinus Annot. cxi (Bot.) (see (a)).
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"Popil n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/popill_n_1>


