- generally denoting a small, humble house or shelter, though sometimes also used in Old Scots of a sheep-fold, this word derives from Old English cot and its Old Norse cousin kot. The Statistical Account of Scotland for Roxburgh (1791-9) noted that
Eleven or twelve [farmers] in the village of Roxburgh are called cotlanders, possessing from his Grace the Duke of Roxburgh about two acres of land each, together with a house, yard, and liberty of pasturing their cows in an adjacent loaning.
Place-names incorporating the term occur frequently across the country, and include Sheepcot Hill near Dumfries, Washingcot Rocks in Morayshire and Cotmuir in West Lothian.