santon (santon)

[Earlier also san to on; saint on, santon (also sant or on, sanctoron, forms due to L. sanctorum, gen. pl. of sanctus, holy) = D. G. santon, There go in this foreward 6 San tones with red turbants vpon their heads, & these eat and ride at the cost of the Captaine of the Carouan. Hakluyt's Voyages , II. 204. Adjoyning unto them are lodgings for santons , which are fools and mad-men. Sandys, Travailes, p. 93. He was (say the Arabian historians) one of those holy men termed santons, who pa their lives in hermitages, in fasting, meditation, and prayer, until they attain to the purity of saints and the foresight of prophets. Irving , Granada, p. 23. All the foregleams of wisdom in santon and sage, In prophet and priest, are our true heritage. Whittier, Quaker Alumni.