Chiefly northern. Obs. or arch. Forms: 4 firþe, fyrþe, 4–6 fyrth, 6– firth. [Metathesis of FRITH sb.2] A synonym of FRITH sb.2 in some of its senses: A deer-forest, hunting-ground; a piece of ground covered with brushwood with a few trees; a coppice, small wood. In poetry frequent in alliterative phrases, firth and fell, firth and field, firth and fold: see FRITH sb.2

1

c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, Blasius, 75.

        Þane send he ma knychtis þame with
To hwnt in [to] þat sammyne fyrth.

2

a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth., 1708.

        We have foundene in ȝone firthe …
ffifty thosandez of folke
  of ferse mene of armez.

3

c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., I. xiii. 51.

        Ðat is ane Lande of nobyl Ayre,
Of Fyrth, and Felde, and Flowrys fayre.

4

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 681.

        Blyth byrdis abufe, and bestiall full bene,
  Fyne foullis in Fyrth, and Fischis with fry.

5

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. Prol., 162.

        Has thus begoune in the chyll wyntir cauld,
Quhen frostis days ourfret bayth fyrth and fauld.

6

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 593.

        That kirk or kirkmen gat of thame no girth,
Moir nor the fox that rynnis in the firth.

7

1581.  Savile, Agric. (1622), 192. The firths and the thickets he proued the first in his owne person.

8

1794.  Burns, A Vision (1st version), 17.

        Now looking over firth and fauld,
  Her horn the pale-fac’d Cynthia rear’d;
When, lo, in form of minstrel auld,
  A stern and stalwart ghaist appear’d.

9