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: 1446-1500, 1560-1605
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Py, Pye, n.1 [ME and e.m.E. pie (a1250), pye (Manning), e.m.E. also pee (?c1475), OF pie (13th c. in Littré).] A magpie. = Piet n. — a1447 Bower Chron. (1759) II 423.
I beer a py pykkand at ane pesa1500 Buke of the Sevyne Sagis 1980.
Bot he suld sone knawe sekerly The gret lesingis of that fals py1494 Loutfut MS 26b.
The pye is a foull rycht full of gosonyll and thairfor thai lere hir to spek as men dois1560 Rolland Seven Sages 3206.
Ane nobill man … had ane bird weill fed vp in a cage, Quhilk we a py do call in our langage1560 Ib. 3538, etc.a1605 Montg. Ch. & Slae 16 (Wr.).
The pratling pyes To geck her they begin1585 James VI Ess. 25.
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"Py n.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 8 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/py_n_1>
