A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1684
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V1. Note on the letter.Throughout most of the Older Scots period the letters v and u were used interchangeably, with the proviso that v tended to be used initially and u internally.In DOST all examples of u or v as an initial spelling of the vowel are treated under U-.Editors of texts vary in representing v as v or u, see Orkney & Shetl. Ct. Bk. (ed.) 13 for an example of editorial policy. See also note to Lovabil(l adj. and J.1684 Symson Descr. Galloway 98.
They … pronounce w for v … and so they call the months February, March and April, the ware quarter, w for v, from ver. Hence their … proverb, speaking of the stormes in February, Winter never comes till ware comes; and this is almost to the same purpose with the English saying, When the days beginne to lengthen, the cold beginnes to strengthen.
