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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

MOTE, n.1, v.2 Also mot(t)(e). A variant of Eng. moat, obs. exc. hist. Sc. usages:

I. n. 1. A mound of earth (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.; Ayr., Kcb., Uls. 1963), esp. an artificial mound forming the site of an early Norman fort or castle, though the word has been partly confused with moot, the Anglo-Saxon assembly, and applied sometimes to pre-Norman fortifications (see P.S.A.S. XXV. 208 sqq. and XXXIV. 2 sqq.). Comb. motehill, id., freq. in place-names, esp. in sm.Sc.Sc. 1724 W. Macfarlane Geog. Coll. (S.H.S.) I. 8, II. 25:
Hard by this Church . . . stands a remarkable artificial Mote or little hill rising up like a Piramide. . . . At litle distance is ane other litle mott where the Queens logings were.
Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 129:
Wi' daring meen, frae aff a rising mot, He cry'd to stop.
Dmf. 1795 Stat. Acc.1 II. 341:
There is a mount, commonly called a Moat . . . very steep and of a considerable height, occupying about an acre of ground and evidently a work of art.
Sc. 1805 Scott Last Minstrel i. xxv.:
Dimly he view'd the Moat-hill's mound, Where Druid shades still flitted round.
Dmf. 1831 R. Shennan Tales 29:
Behold the moat on Sillerhill, And the deep ditch around it still.
Kcb. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 IV. 128:
An ancient moat-hill which appears to have been used as a place of justice.
Sc. 1934 P.S.A.S. LXVIII. 66:
In the excellent description of the “mottes” which Mrs E. S. Armitage gave to the Society more than thirty years ago, it is pointed out that they were the work of the Norman invaders.

2. A kind of packing of stones, etc., used with clay to make a wall. Cf. IIRs. 1970 Studies to E. E. Evans 29: 
In the parish of Cromarty and in the parish of Nigg there are houses with internal partitions made of what is locally called 'clay and mott', consisting of a mixture of clay, stones, chopped bent grass, hair, etc., or 'cabers and mott,' where saplings were placed upright to form a wall, each side covered with 'mott', and boarded on the outside.

II. v. Sc. Mining; to reinforce the stonework of a mining shaft with a mixture of tempered clay and water, rendering it watertight, to puddle (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 45); to seal the mouth of a pit or shaft to exclude air in fighting an underground fire (Ib.). Vbl.n. moating, the puddling used for waterproofing.Sc. 1830 Brewster's Edb. Encycl. XIV. 338:
The ashler and moating are progressively carried up . . . The water . . . is kept back by the clay moating.

[O.Sc. mot(e), an eminence, mound, 1457, a barrow, 1513, Mid.Eng. mote, O.Fr. mote, motte, a mound, hillock, castle, hill.]

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"Mote n.1, v.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 29 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/mote_n1_v2>

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