A Duine Uasal or duin' uasal, anglicised as Dunnie-wassal etc by Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

 et al., was a Highland

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 gentleman or noble. This word generally misprinted in the Lowlands, and by Scott in his excellent ballad of Bonnie Dundee

Bonnie Dundee

Bonnie Dundee is a poem and a song about John Graham, 7th Laird of Claverhouse, 1st Viscount Dundee who was known by this nickname. The song has been used as a regimental march by several Scottish regiments in the British Army and was adapted by Confederate troops in the American Civil...

, is from the Scottish Gaelic duine meaning a "man", and "uasal" meaning "gentle, noble, or of good birth". Uasal (Wassal) is not cognate with the English language

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 term "vassal". It is sometimes written "duin' uasal". It is the same in the Irish language, Gaeilge.

"There are wild dunnie-wassals three thousand times three

will cry oich for the bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee."