Now only Sc. Forms: α. 3 (Orm.) steorrne, sterrne, 4–6 sterne, 4–6, 9 stern; β. 4–6 starne, 6–9 starn. [a. ON. stjarna: see STAR sb.1] = STAR sb.1
α. c. 1200. Ormin, 3646. & teȝȝre steorrne wass wiþþ hemm To ledenn hemm þe weȝȝe. Ibid., 7112. New sterre & all unncuþ wass wrohht.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 375. Þe firmament … wit sterns, gret and smale.
c. 1300. Havelok, 1809. Was non of hem þat his hernes Ne lay þer-ute ageyn þe sternes.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 9031. Þen ros a sterne … ‘Comete’ ys cald in astronomye.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 711. Thouch a man … Studeit swa in astrology, That on the sternis his hed he brak.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 17. Thare fell a grete stern out of the hevin.
1508. Dunbar, Golden Targe, 1. Ryght as the stern of day begonth to schyne.
1599. A. Hume, Hymns, ii. 121. Strange tailed sterns appeiris.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvii. There’s a heaven aboon us a’,… and a bonny moon, and sterns in it forby.
1819. W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827), 42. The sterns are blindet wi’ the licht.
β. c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 167. Sancte martyne,… þat as a starne clerly schane.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiv. 98. To wyt what this starne may mene.
1581. Derricke, Image Irel. (1883), 86. A passyng starne, to guide mans shipp aright.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 90/4. The Pleiades called the 7 starnis.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., III. iii. Kiss, kiss! we’ll kiss the sun and starns away.
1790. Burns, ‘O death! thou tyrant,’ iii. Ye hills, near neebors o’ the starns.
1835. Carrick, Laird of Logan (1841), 185. No a starn was to be seen i’ the lift.
b. In transferred uses (see STAR sb.1).
c. 1400. Anturs of Arth., xxxi. With his sternes of gold, stanseld on stray.
c. 1450. Reg. Vestments, etc. St. Andrews, in Maitl. Club Misc., III. 205. Item thre gret sternis of brace for the kyrk.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert, 405. Þe calf is rede I vndertake, With a white sterne in þe fronte.
1454. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), II. 176. Rede cape with starnes of gold.
1569–70. G. Conyers, Will, in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees), Gloss., A blacke stagge with a starne in his forehead.
1814. W. Nicholson, Tales in Verse, 145. The lairdy langs for titles braw, For ribbons an’ for starns.
c. attrib. as † stern-leam, † stern-shot, a shooting star (cf. STAR-SHOT); † stern-slime, nostoc (cf. STAR sb.1 22 b).
c. 1200. Ormin, 7276. Forr Crist sellf iss þatt sterrnelem Þatt all mannkinn birrþ follȝhenn.
1483. Cath. Angl., 362/2. A Sterne slyme, assub.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, V. ix. 69. As dois oft sterne schot falling fra the hevin Drawand thairefter a taile of fyrie levin.
