Lang Syne
Preserved but no longer current.
In the olden time, in days gone by. Auld Lang Syne, usually attributed to Robert Burns, is really a new version by him of a very much older song: in Watson's Collection (1711) it is attributed to Francis Sempill (d. 1682), but it is probably even older. Burns says in a letter to Thomson, "It is the old song of the olden times, which has never been in print. ...
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Lang Syne” mean?
In the olden time, in days gone by. Auld Lang Syne, usually attributed to Robert Burns, is really a new version by him of a very much older song: in Watson's Collection (1711) it is attributed to Francis Sempill (d. 1682), but it is probably even older. Burns says in a letter to Thomson, "It is the old song of the olden times, which has never been in print. ...
Is “Lang Syne” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.