Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1768
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†ONWYNE, n., v. [′onwəin]
I. n. The left-hand side, but see note. Adv. phr. wyne and onwyne, right and left, everywhere.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 48:
Seek wyne an' onwyne, miss na height nor how, An' cry whan ever ye come upon a know.
II. v. Deriv. onwyner, the left-hand ox of the foremost pair in a ploughing team of ten or twelve (Abd. 1825 Jam., 1858 J. B. Pratt Buchan 18).
[There is some difficulty in the exact interpretation of the word. Wyne itself means to turn to the left, although the wyner ox was the leading ox yoked on the right-hand side of the draught-pole; in the phr. onwyne should mean the opposite of wyne and hence to the right (from On-, pref.2) but the onwyner ox was the ox on the left-hand side of the draught. The plough normally works in a clock-wise direction, i.e. to the right. Phs. orig. wyne meant simply to turn in any direction, in which case on- would have the sense of left-hand, as in mod. Eng.]
