 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Question_book-new.svg){kind=small}
A mains (Scottish Gaelic: mànas) in Scotland is a farm, or the buildings of a farm.[1] This may include the farmhouse, farm buildings such as a byre, dairy, and workers' cottages. It is pseudo-plural, actually being a Lowland Scots corruption of domains or demesne,[1][2] and so is never used in the form "main" (except occasionally in the tautological "main farm", although this usage is not traditional).
- ^ a b "Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)". Dictionary of the Scots Language.
1. The home farm of an estate [...] 2. The outbuildings of a farm, as distinct from the farmhouse... Aphaeretic form of domains, O.Fr. demeine (Eng. demesne), Med.Lat. dominicum, "the lord (of the manor)'s lands".
- ^ The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary