Sc. Obs. Also 6 cieteyan. [If genuine, a. OF. citeyain, citeyen.
Doubt attaches to this word, from the fact that in later ME., ȝ, meaning y consonant, and z were written alike, and in 16th c. Sc. both printed z. It is therefore possible that, in the Scotch examples, was really meant, and not ȝ = y as some modern editors have assumed.
Several examples of citeȝen, citiȝen appear in recent edd. of ME. works, but there is reason to believe that in every case the ȝ ought to have been printed z, as the letter really intended by the scribe.]
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxix. 41. Cytezane he Was of Saynct Andrewys þe Cytè.
1533. Bellenden, Livy (1822), 26. He gaif occasioun to the cieteyanis [MS. letter ȝ, as in prec. and following] thairof to ische out of the toun. Ibid. (1536), Cron. Scot., 30 b. The citezanis of Teruana in Flanders.
b. Citeȝen, printed for citezen.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 3850. Citeȝens [l. 3627 citesens].
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. iv. 14. Citiȝenis [v.r. citesenes]. Ibid. (c. 1384), H. Fame, 930 (Bodley MS.). Cytiȝeyn [Fairf. citezeyn, Caxton cytezeyn, Thynne cytezeyne].
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 425. Citiȝeyn.
1389. St. Christopher, Norwich, in Eng. Gilds (1870), 23. Citeȝenis.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2199 (Ashm. MS.). Citiȝens [Dublin MS. citesyns].
