Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†UNWEIRDY, adj. Also -werdy. Unfortunate, ill-fated, ruinous; unprosperous, good-for-nothing, worthless. A nonce formation from the noun unwerd noted by Ruddiman in his Gl. to Douglas Aeneis as ‘sad fate, misfortune, ruin' but not attested in Douglas's text. The word seems to have been adapted from O.E. unwyrd, misfortune. In the second quot. the usage has been influenced by wierdless s.v. Weird, n., q.v. It is however possible that Tennant intended the form to mean ‘unworthy', based on an erroneous form werdy given in Jam. as used by Lyndsay Satire (1552) 2600. See wordy, Worth, n.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry 27:
Whare the scarlet limmer Has toss'd her head for monie a simmer, And worn th' unwerdy crown.Bnff. 1869 W. Knight Auld Yule 51:
‘Tell me,' said I, ‘how did ye spend your nights, Rantin' about wi' yon unweirdy wichts.'
