Sc. Obs. [ONorthumbrian stocc, a. (O)Irish stoc (Gael. stoc), a trumpet. In Sc. the word seems to have been taken up afresh from Gaelic and associated with STOCK sb.1
Initial st is very rare in native Irish words, and stoc is commonly believed to be a loan-word; but it occurs in early Middle Irish, so that adoption from English is improbable.]
a. OE. A trumpet. b. Sc. In the combs. stock-horn, stock-in-horn, stock-and-horn, a wind instrument formerly used in Scotland (see quots.).
α. c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. vi. 2. Bema vel stocc [gl. tuba].
b. 1597. Skene, De Verb. Sign., s.v. Menetum, To blaw ane stock horne, quhilk commounlie is maid of Timmer & wood, or tree, with circles & girds of the same, quhilk is zet vsed in the Hie-lands and Iles of this realme.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. i. When I begin to tune my stock and horn.
1815. Notes to Pennecuik’s Descr. Tweeddale, 96 (Jam.). The original genuine Scottish pastoral pipe, consisting of a cow’s horn, a bower-tree stock, from stoc, in Gaelic, a pipe, called the Stock-in-horn, with stops in the middle, and an oaten reed at the smaller end for the mouth piece.
1827. Hone’s Every-day Bk., II. 20. The kythels, or stock-and-horn, a musical instrument made of the thigh bone of a sheep and the horn of a bullock.
1844. Ayrsh. Wreath, 170. The first instrument he played on was a stock and horn.
