Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Z. Note on the letter.For the history of Z see the entry in OED. In the later Middle Ages the tailed symbol for z and the symbol ȝ (yogh) became indistinguishable leading to the frequent use of z for ȝ especially in printed editions, a practice that has continued up to modern times. This use of z is normalised in DOST to ȝ. See the note on the letter Ȝ. In some modern editions, e.g. Compl. (EETS, 1872-3), Sat. P. (STS, 1890-3) and Wall. (STS, 1885-9), ȝ is occasionally used for z. This use of ȝ is normalised in DOST to z. In some editions of Bell. Boece, appar. due to this confusion and the fact that y is a variant of ȝ, z is replaced by y (see Zele n.).