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In Scotland, in my experience, a shieling generally refers to a cottage. I'd like to swap the order of the entries on the page to reflect that in common use this is the most frequent meaning. I'm gathering evidence, both primary and secondary. Here's what I have so far:


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (presumably no longer in copyright?)

Sheeling \Sheel"ing\, n. [Icel. skj?l a shelter, a cover; akin
  to Dan. & Sw. skjul.]
  A hut or small cottage in an expessed or a retired place (as
  on a mountain or at the seaside) such as is used by
  shepherds, fishermen, sportsmen, etc.; a summer cottage;
  also, a shed. [Written also sheel, shealing, sheiling,
  etc.] [Scot.]

The DSL (Dictionary of the Scots Language, an open academic resource of vague copyright status) lists "Steiling" as an erroneous spelling of "Steding".


Shieling occurs in:

  • The gathering of the clans, folk song: "[the Scots come] from cottage and shieling"
  • Mairi's wedding, folk song: "Past the sheilings through the town" (inconclusive, however ask anyone who knows the song and it's likely that they will tell you that it's a cottage)

The wiktionary itself lists cottage as the meaning of shieling. See: [1]

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