Sawney, a corruption of Sandie, a contracted form of Alexander. Sawney means a Scotchman, as David a Welshman, John Bull an Englishman, Cousin Michael a German, Brother Jonathan a native of the United States, Macaire a Frenchman, Colin Tampon a Swiss, and so on.
Sawyer (Bob), a dissipated, struggling young medical practitioner, who tries to establish a practice at Bristol, but without success. Sam Weller calls him “Mr. Sawbones.”—C. Dickens, The Pickwick Papers (1836)
Saxon Duke (The), mentioned by Butler in his Hudibras, was John Frederick, duke of Saxony, of whom Charles V. said, “Never saw I such a swine before.”
Sboga (Jean), the hero of a romance by C. Nodier (1818), a leader of bandits, in the spirit of Lord Byron’s Corsair and Lara.
Scadder (General), agent in the office of the “Eden Settlement.” His peculiarity consisted in the two distinct expressions of his profile, for “one side seemed to be listening to what the other side was doing.”—C. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit (1844).
Scalds, court poets and chroniclers of the ancient Scandinavians. They resided at court, were attached to the royal suite, and attended the king in all his wars. They also acted as ambassadors between hostile tribes, and their persons were held sacred. These bards celebrated in song the gods, the kings of Norway, and national heroes. Their lays or vyses were compiled in the eleventh century by Sæmund Sigfusson, a priest and scald of Iceland, and the compilation is called the Elder or Rythmical Edda.
Scallop-Shell (The). Every one knows that St. James’s pilgrims are distinguished by scallop-shells, but it is a blunder to suppose that other pilgrims are privileged to wear them. Three of the popes have, by their bulls, distinctly confirmed this right to the Compostella pilgrim alone: viz., Pope Alexander III., Pope Gregory IX. and Pope Clement V.
Now, the escallop or scallop, is a shell-fish, like an oyster or large cockle; but Gwillim tells us what ignorant zoölogists have omitted to mention, that the bivalve is “engendered solely of dew and air. It has no blood at all; yet no food that man eats turns so soon into life-blood as the scallop.”—Display of Heraldy, 171.
Scallop-shells used by Pilgrims. The reason why the scallop-shell is used by pilgrims is not generally known. The legend is this: When the marble ship which bore the headless body of St. James approached Bouzas, in Portugal, it happened to be the wedding day of the chief magnate of the village; and while the bridal party was at sport, the horse of the bridegroom became unmanageable, and plunged into the sea. The ship passed over the horse and its rider, and pursued its onward course, when, to the amazement of all, the horse and its rider emerged from the water uninjured, and the cloak of the rider was thickly covered with scallop-shells. All were dumbfounded, and knew not what to make of these marvels, but a voice from heaven exclaimed, “It is the will of God that all who henceforth make their vows to St. James, and go on pilgrimage, shall take with them scallop-shells; and all who do so shall be remembered in the day of judgment.” On hearing this, the lord of the village, with the bride and bridegroom, were duly baptized, and Bouzas became a Christian Church.—Sanctoral Portugues (copied into the Breviaries of Alcobaça and St. Cucufate).
Cunctis mare cernentibus,
Sed a profundo ducitur;
Natus Regis submergitur,
Totus plenus conchilibus.
Hymn for St. James’s day.