- low-lying, muddy land may be described as a lair, and the word is attested with this meaning in Scots texts dating back to the seventeenth century. An entry in the Account Book of Sir John Foulis from 1693 provides a descriptive illustration, when
4 souldiers helped the coatch [coach] out of the lair beyond the Coltbridge.
The term is Scandinavian in origin, and derives from Old Norse leir 'mud', which was used to coin Lerwick in Shetland, literally (if not poetically) meaning 'mud bay'.