saunt

See also: Säunt

Scots

FWOTD – 22 February 2018

Etymology

From Middle English seint, partly from Old English sanct (“saint”) and partly from and confluence with Anglo-Norman seint, from Old French saint, seinte; both ultimately from Latin sanctus (“holy, consecrated, saint”). Close cognate with English saint and French saint.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sɑːnt], [sɔːnt]
• (Northern, Insular) IPA^(key): [saːn(ʔ)t]

Saunt Columbkille (Columba), Apostle to the Picts, proselytizing at King Bridei's fortress. Illustrated by J. R. Skelton.

Noun

saunt (plural saunts)

1. (Christianity) A canonized saint.
   • 1784, Robert Burns, Epistle to J. Rankine ii.:

     Ye mak a devil o' the Saunts, An' fill them fou.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1865, Poems, page 167:

     First an' foremost, Saunt Jeems, the poetical vreeter. Saunt Tusker, Saunt Conrick, an' a' sirs ; An' ower at the Palace lives jolly Saunt Peter, An' yer welcome, ye ken, to Saunt La, sirs. We've lately been blest wi' anither same loon — Did ye ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (colloquial) An exceptionally holy, pious, and/or kind person.
3. (Calvinism) One of the elect.
4. (derogatory) A wastrel, a sanctimonious hypocrite; a reprobate.

   A saunt o Sannie Lyons, for they were deevils wi gweedness — said of one who never pleaded guilty to a fault.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Verb

saunt (third-person singular simple present saunts, present participle sauntin, simple past saunt, past participle santet or sauntit or saunten)

1. (intransitive) To disappear, vanish; especially in a sudden and/or mysterious way.
   • 1736, Allan Ramsay, (Proverbs) 1776:

     Neither sae sinfu' as to sink, nor so haly as to saunt.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (intransitive) To be silently swallowed up.
3. (transitive) To cause to vanish in a sudden or inexplicable manner; to spirit away.
   • 1914, James S. Angus, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     Na, I'll never fin 'm; he's been santet.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Alternative forms

• saant, saint, seint, sanct

References

• Dictionary of the Scots Language - saunt