A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2002 (DOST Vol. XI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
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 in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. II 120.
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
