The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #139299   Message #3193317
Posted By: Anne Neilson
23-Jul-11 - 03:04 AM
Thread Name: Help with Scots 'The Herdman's Song'
Subject: RE: Help with Scots 'The Herdman's Song'
Hi, Monique -- does this help?

In v1, 'ligging' can also simply mean lying, and 'yon' can be that.

v2, I would think of line 1 as "Ah, Lord, that made all creature".

v3 -- my first thought was that the first line would be something like silk and satin, but the dictionary says that 'sandre' (their spelling) is a kind of striped silk (from 16th century on) and is short for the English Alexander -- which I haven't looked up yet! So I would read line1 as "The silk and sandre thee to comfort" as 'aise' can - by extension from ease - mean comfort.
And 'ar' (more usually or) also has the meaning of "sooner than/rather than".
'sweillin claes' would be swaddling clothes, and you're absolutely right that 'ring' means "reign".

v4 -- 'sprush' probably means something like "neat/tidy", or as we might still say "spruce".