Etymology Borrowed from Scots lum, Early Scots lumb; further etymology uncertain, but probably from Cumbric *lümon, related to Welsh llumon (“chimney”) (obsolete), from Proto-Celtic *loimono. Possibly at least influenced by Old French lum (“light”), lume (“cooking fire”) (compare French lumière (“light; cavity or channel within a tube or tubular organ, lumen; opening”)), from Latin lūmen (“light; light source; opening through which light can penetrate such as an air-hole or window; opening or orifice in a water-pipe or funnel”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”).
Now, by this time, the ſun begins to leam, / An' litt the hill-heads, wi' his morning beam, / An' birds, and beaſts, and fouk to be aſteer, / And ſtreams o' reek frae lumb heads to appear; […]1768, Alexander Ross, “Canto I”, in The Fortunate Shepherdess, a Pastoral Tale; in Three Cantos, in the Scotish Dialect. […], Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire: […] Francis Douglas, →OCLC, page 50:
He bleez'd ovvre her, an' ſhe ovvre him, / As they vvad never mair part, / Till, fuff! he ſtarted up the lum, / An' Jean had e'en a ſair heart / To ſee't that night.1785 (date written), Robert Burns, “Halloween”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, stanza VIII, page 178:
4 more examples
Sae, I wad not trust mysell with another look at poor Woodend, for the very blue reek that came out of the lum-head pat me in mind of the change of market-days with us.1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter II, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 32:
Down the broad lum / Came melting flakes that hiss'd upon the coal; / Under my eyelids blew the blinding smoke, / And for a time I sat like one bewitch'd, / Still as a stone.1865 March, [Robert Williams Buchanan], “Willie Baird: A Winter Idyll”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XI, number 63, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 361:
Two "lums" on the ridge served the double purpose of letting out the smoke and in the light. […] A new peat fire had been put on, and the day being calm, the lazy smoke seemed more inclined to remain inside than to go out the lums, as it ought to have done.1877, G. S. L. [pseudonym; George Sinclair of Leith], chapter VI, in Shetland Fireside Tales; or, The Hermit of Trosswickness, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Publishing Company; London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, page 41:
"I heard a boy there speak of soot. Where is soot to be had?" / "Up lums, said Weepie, laughing. / […] / "But why not let it stay in the lums?" / "'Cause it wad come doon and splairge the parritch and the broth, and maybe set the lum on fire."[1880], [George Jacque], “Weepie with Other Boys Fulfil Their Appointment”, in The Sweep’s Apprentice. […], Edinburgh: Religious Book and Tract Society of Scotland, […], →OCLC, page 18:
Etymology Unknown. The Dictionary of the Scots Language (in their entry on Scots lum (“downpour”)) mentions a dialectal Middle English word lum(b) (“water hole in a mire; deep pool”) and suggests it might ultimately be related to lum (“chimney”).
The Kettle Wells are two lums, situated in Bonson's Wood, near Stanmore, which are not surpassed for Elysian beauty. The fall of the water into the first well is inconsiderable; but that continually empties itself into the lum below, over a smooth precipice of thirty feet.1830 September 4, W. H. H., “The ‘Lums’ of Westmoreland”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, volume XVI, number 449, London: […] J[ohn] Limbird, […], →OCLC, page 188, column 2: