An etymological dictionary of the Scottish language - Electric Scotland

COL [474] COL
Tarn Rid that dwells in Currie,
Upon a time, as he may prove,
An Atchison for a remove.
Watson's Coll., i. 57.
i.e. for removing horse-ahoes.
Perhaps from Fr. coul-er, to melt, to found; and
brand, a sword ; or as allied to Su.-G. kol, earbo, and
brenna, urere, q. the coal-burner. It is a curious fact,
though only apparently connected with this word, that
Ermund Olafson, king of Sweden, was called
Kolbraenna, because he punished malefactors by
burning their houses. V. Ihre, vp. Kol, ignis.
Could the term have any relation to Caliburne, the
sword of the celebrated Arthur !
COLK, a. The Eider duck, a sea-fowl, S.
V. Pennant's Brit. Zool., ii. 581.
" In this ile (Soulskerry) there haunts ane kind of
fowle callit the kolk, little less nor a guise (goose, ) quha
comes in the ver (spring) to the laud to lay her eggis,
and to clecke hir birdis, quhill she bring them to perfytness
; and at that time her fleiche (fleece) of fedderis
falleth of her all hailly, and she sayles to the mayne
sea againe, and comes never to land, quhyle the yeir
end againe, and then she comes with her new fleiche of
fedderis. This fleiche that she leaves yeirly upon her
nest hes nae pens in the fedderis, nor nae kind of hard
thing in them that may be felt or graipit, but utter
fyne downis." Monroe s lies, p. 47, 48.
This fowl is called by Buchanan, colca, Hist. Scot. i.
e. 44. It is also described by Martin, Western Isl., p.
25. This is the Duntur Goose of Sibb. Scot., p. 21.
COLL, COIL, CUIL, s. A cock of hay, S. B.
Keil, Northumb. Fr. cueillr-ir, to gather, E.
to coil.
This she ere even had tentily laid by.
And well happ'd up aneath a coll of hay.
Ross's Helenore, p. 53.
It is also written cole, Ang.
" Hay is selling from the cole at the rate of from
6d to 7d per stone." Caled. Merc., Sept. 6, 1823.
To COLL, COLE, COIL, v. a. To put into
cocks ; as, " Has he coWd yon hay ?" S. B.
COLL,
s. A line drawn across the rink or
course, in Curling.
not pass this line, is
The stone which does
called a hog, is thrown
aside, and not counted in the game, Angus ;
Collie or Coallie, Stirlings. ; Hog-score, synon.
I can form no idea of the etymon of this term, un-
whence
less it be from Belg. kuyl, a hole, a pit, a den ;
een leeuwen Imyl, a lion's den ; Su.-G. kyla, id. This
term is of great antiquity. For A.-S. cole signifies a
hollow or pit, win-cole denoting the pit into which
the juice of the grape runs when pressed out. This
line, called the cole, might originally be meant to represent
a pit or ditch ; into which a stone might be said
to fall, when it was not driven across it. Thus the
phrase, "He's no o'er the coll," may be equivalent to,
" He has not cleared the pit or ditch." In a similar
manner, in another game, a bowl is said to be bankit,
when it passes a certain boundary. Here, indeed,
there is a real ditch or furrow ; but, in curling, there
can only be an nominal one, without destroying the
course.
To COLL, v. a. 1. To cut, to clip, S. To
coll the hair, to poll it. In this sense cow is
used, and seems indeed the same word ;
To
cow the head, to cut the hair. To coll the
candle, to snuff the candle.
2. To cut anything obliquely, or not in a
straight line, S.
There I met a handsome childe,
High-coled stockings and laigh-cofed shoon,
He bore him like a king's son.
Remains of Nithsdale Song, p. 208.
Su.-G. ktill-a, verticis capillos abradere, Ihre. As
the E, v. poll is from poll, the head, kulla is from kull,
vertex, the crown. Isl. koll-r, tousum caput. This
corresponds with Lat. calv-us, bald. I am much disposed
to think, that our word has been primarily
applied to the polling of the hair of the head. V.
:
ow, v.
COLLADY-STONE, s. A name given to
quartz, Roxb. It is also pron. Cow-ladystone.
Perhaps it is corr, from Fr. cailkteau, "a chackstone,
or little flint-stone," a dimin. from caillou, "a
flint stone ;" Cotgr.
COLLAT, COLLET,
s. A collar.
"Item, ane collat of black velvott." Inventories, A.
1579, p. 281.
"Ane collat of gray must weluot pasmentit with
siluer and gold. Ane clok of blak dabnes, w< ane
collat. Item, tua collatis sewit of holene clay'." In-
vent. Gnidis, Lady E. Koss, A. 1578.
' '
Item, ane collet of aurange [orange] hew quharin is
bandis of claith of gold twa finger braid. "
Inventories,
A. 1561, p. 148.
Collet was used in the same sense in 0. E. Fr.
collet, "the throat, or fore-part of the necke ; also the
coller of a jerkin, &c., the cape of a cloke ;" Cotgr.
To COLLATION, v. a. To compare, to collate
Fr. ; collation-ner, id.
"That the subscribed copy was collationed with the
principal by them that subscribed the same, and held
in all points." Stair, Suppl. Dec., p. 144.
COLLATYOWN, s.
Lat. collatio.
Conference, discourse.
This man in that visyown
Fell in-til collatyown
Wyth the Kyng on this manere,
As now I will reherse yhow here.
Wyntown, vii. 7. 340.
To COLLECK, v. n. To think, to recollect,
Aberd.; nearly, allied to the use of the E. v.
to collect himself.
COLLECTORY, COLLECTOKIE,
charge of collecting money.
s. 1. The
" The office of
collectory," &c. Aberd. Reg. V. KEAGE.
2. Money collected.
"Reuoikis all the saidis giftis, feis, and dispositionis
out of his said
propertie, casualitie, thriddis of
benefices, and collectorie in peusioun," &c. Acts Ja.
VI., 1579, Ed. 1814, p. 149.
L. B. collectar-ium denotes a book kept for registering
collections or contributions for ecclesiastical
purposes. But I find no term exactly corresponding
with Collectorie.