Erse, a.
(ɜːs)
Forms: 4 Erische, Erysche, 4–7 Ersch(e, 7 Erish, 8 Earse, 8– Erse.
[An early Sc. variant of Irish; either repr. OE. {Iacu}risc, or ON. {Iacu}rskr, or possibly descending from a parallel form retaining the vowel of OIr. {Eacu}riu Ireland.]
† 1. In early Sc. use: = Irish.
| c 1375 Barbour Bruce xiv. 123 The erische [v.r. ersch] kyngis. Ibid. xvi. 309, xviii. 115. |
2. Applied by Sc. Lowlanders to the Gaelic dialect of the Highlands (which is in fact of Irish origin), to the people speaking that dialect, to their customs, etc. Hence in 18th c. Erse was used in literary Eng. as the ordinary designation of the Gaelic of Scotland, and occasionally extended to the Irish Gaelic; at present some writers apply it to the Irish alone. Now nearly Obs.
| c 1375 [Implied in Barbour's use of Ershry: see below]. c 1470 Henry Wallace i. 217 Thow Scot, abyde..Ane Ersche mantill it war thi kynd to wer. [But perh. this belongs to 1.] 1500–20 Dunbar Dance Sev. Deadly Sins 116 Thae tarmegantis, with tag and tatter, Fful lowd in Ersche begowth to clatter. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. IV. 236 Though the Inhabitants of Inverness speak English, yet there are scarce any who do not understand the Erse or Irish. 1773 Boswell Johnson 15 Oct., Miss M‘Lean produced some Erse poems by John M‘Lean, who was a famous bard in Mull. 1777 Johnson in Boswell Apr., The Erse dialect of the Celtick language has, from the earliest times, been spoken in Britain. 1782 Shaw Authentic. Ossian 14 The Earse dialect of the Gaelic was never written nor printed until Mr. Macfarlane..published, in 1754, a translation of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted. 1785 Burns Addr. to Deil xix. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 209 The language, which is called the Manks, is radically Erse, or Irish. 1823 Byron Juan viii. xxiii, He was what Erin calls, in her sublime Old Erse or Irish. 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 32. s.v. Gaelic. The language spoken by the Scottish Highlanders is familiarly known among the Lowlanders by the name of the Erse, or according to the more usual pronunciation the Ersh, that is plainly the Eirish or Irish. 1864 I. Taylor Words & Places (1873) 129 The Erse of Ireland, the Gaelic of the Scotch Highlands, and the Manx of the Isle of Man. |
Hence † ˈErseman, Obs., a man who is Erse by birth or descent. † ˈErshry, the Gaelic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland and Scotland: see Irishry.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Dance Sev. Deadly Sins 113 Ffar northwart in a nuke Be he the correnoch had done schout, Erschemen so gadderit him abowt, In Hell grit rowme thay tuke. 1375 Barbour Bruce xviii. 443 All the erischry..of Argyle and the Ilis alsua. 1425 Sc. Acts Jas. I, §61 (1814) II. 11 Ande for twa causis ande principaly sene þe kingis notourus rebellouris ar reset in Erschry [ed. 1597 Irishrie] of Yrelande. |