a. and sb. Orig. Sc. (and north.). Forms: 5 sothroun, -ron, 8 suthron, 9 southron; 6 su-, sotheroun, 6–7 southeroun, 6, 9 sotheron, 8–9 southeron; 6 sudroun, suddroun, -rone, 8 soudron. [Alteration of southren SOUTHERN a.; the ending was probably modified on the analogy of Briton, Saxon.]
Freq., and now usually, with initial capital.
A. adj. 1. Belonging to or dwelling in the south, esp. of Britain; southern; esp. English as distinguished from Scottish. Chiefly Sc.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 494. Or Sothron men suld sege him in that place. Ibid., X. 664. Then ferdly fled full mony Sotheroun syr.
1785. Burns, To W. S[impson], x. Where glorious Wallace Aft bure the gree … Frae Suthron billies.
1810. Jane Porter, Scottish Chiefs, xxxvii. When the Southron lords delegate a messenger to me.
1892. Athenæum, 8 Oct., 475/1. Church politics … still possess an interest for Scotland which is perfectly amazing to the Southron observer.
2. Of or pertaining to, characteristic of, the south; situated in or on the south: a. In or after Scottish use (= English).
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 10. To se thaim sched the byrnand Sothroun blude.
1570. Henry’s Wallace, V. 930. On Sutheroun syde full greit slauchter þai maid.
1571. Satir. Poems Reform., xxv. 48. By slicht & suddrone bloud.
1807. Byron, The Adieu, iii. Why did I quit my Highland cave … To seek a Sotheron home!
1858. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. II. 183. The French monarchy was to him … what the Southron [earlier edd. southern] domination was to Wallace.
1891. Barrie, Little Minister, xxv. A southron mode of speech.
b. In other uses.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, 773. The wants and wishes of a credulous southron people.
1891. Cent. Dict., Southron, pertaining or belonging to the southern United States.
B. sb. 1. A native of the south of Great Britain; an Englishman.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 304. Bot othir a Scott wald do a Sothroun teyne, Or he till him.
1771. J. Macpherson, Introd. Hist. Grt. Brit., 129. The appellation of Southerons and Norlands are not hitherto totally extinguished among the Scots.
1810. Jane Porter, Scottish Chiefs, ii. The Southrons are at the gates and we shall be lost.
1879. Huxley, Hume, 40. These same Southrons added a passionate admiration for Lord Chatham.
b. In pl. sense, = Englishmen. Freq. with the.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 188. He saw the Sothroun multipliand mayr. Ibid., III. 270. Sothroun to sla he thinkis it na syne.
a. 1795. Outlaw Murray, xxii. in Child, Ballads, V. 192/1. Frae Soudron I this forest wan.
1820. Scott, Monast., iv. But wha is to haud back the Southron, then?
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. (ed. 5), II. 130. In Ireland Scot and Southron were strongly bound together by their common Saxon origin.
† c. Sc. The English tongue or langunge. Obs.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, I. Prol. 111. Kepand na sudroun bot our awin langage, And speikis as I lernit quhen I was page.
1563. Winȝet, Wks. (S.T.S.), I. 138. I am nocht acquyntit with ȝour Southeroun.
1581. Hamilton, in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.), 105. James the fyft … hering ane of his subiectis knap suddrone, declarit him ane trateur.
2. A native or inhabitant of the south of England, of Europe, etc.
1857. Mrs. Gaskell, C. Brontë (1860), 253. Those nearer to the spot … were sure, from the … accuracy of the writing, that the writer was no Southron.
1868. Milman, St. Paul’s, 48. The Southron [sc. an Italian legate] was to spend his winter in cold London.
1891. J. Winsor, Columbus, 658. The wisdom in their employment of the aborigines was as eminent as with the Southrons [sc. Spaniards] it was lacking.
b. U.S. = SOUTHERNER 2.
1848. in Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 410. He will prevent the nomination of Gen. Butler, or any other Southron.
1878. R. Taylor, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXVI. 84. The Southron was a better fighter than the Northerner.
Hence Southrony, the English. pseudo-arch.
a. 1795. Outlaw Murray, xxxiii. in Child, Ballads, V. 192/2. He says yon forest is his ain, He wan it from the Soudronie.
c. 1802. J. Marriott, Feast of Spurs, xiii. in Scott, Minstrelsy. Intull your saddles, scour awa’, And ranshakle the Southronie.
