ȝow

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

ȝow

1. (Early Scots) alternative form of ewe

Etymology 2

Noun

ȝow

1. (Herefordshire) alternative form of yough

Etymology 3

Pronoun

ȝow

1. alternative form of yow

Middle Scots

Alternative forms

• ȝoue, ȝowe, yow
• ȝew, yew, yoaw, yeowe (late)
• ȝown, ȝeown (a reinterpretation of Middle English ewen (“ewes”) as a singular)

Etymology

Inherited from Early Scots ȝow, from Old English eowu, from Proto-West Germanic *awi, from Proto-Germanic *awiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ówis.

Forms such as ȝew, yew are probably influenced by Early Modern English ewe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɔʊ̯/

Noun

ȝow (plural ȝowis)

1. ewe (female sheep)

Descendants

• Scots: yowe

References

• “Ȝow, Yow, Ȝew, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.