| Erse |
| Definition: An English literary term of the 18th and 19th centuries that denoted both Scots and Irish Gaelic. |
| Etymology:
The word was coined as a Scottish variant of the Old English Irisc, Irish. Note: For some reason, it became the name that Lowland Scots gave to the Gaelic speech of the Highland Scots. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The first OED citation for the word is from about 1375. Here's the OED citing Henry Wallace (1470): "Thow Scot, abyde … Ane Ersche mantill it war thi kynd to wer."
(1470 Henry Wallace i. 217) |