the 22nd letter of the modern English and the 20th of the ancient Roman alphabet, was in the latter an adoption of the early Greek vowel-symbol V, now also represented by U and Y (q.v.), but in Latin was employed also with the value of the Greek digamma (viz. w), to which it corresponds etymologically. When not purely vocalic, it still denoted this sound at the time when the earliest Latin loan-words were adopted in the Teutonic languages; consequently such words beginning with v appear in Old English with w. Under the Empire, however, the semivocalic sound gradually changed to a bilabial consonant, and finally became the labio-dental voiced spirant now denoted by the letter in English and various other languages. This development did not take place in Old English; and no v, whether bilabial or labio-dental, occurred initially in the older Teutonic languages, although the sound was common in other positions (in OE. denoted by f, in early texts by b).
In OE. dictionaries there is thus no set of words with initial V, one or two Latin words adopted at a late period usually appearing with f, as fann, fers (but also vers), from L. vannus, versus. The first appearance of V-words is found in those ME. texts that begin to show a distinct French influence, as the Ancren Riwle; even early writers like Orm and Laȝamon, while not free from the use of French words, do not employ any beginning with v. The number of such words steadily increases in later texts, and is subsequently greatly reinforced by direct adoptions from Latin, by new formations on Latin stems, and by adoptions from other Romanic languages. The other sources of initial V are of minor importance. The change of w to v, which took place in the middle period of the Scandinavian languages, is represented in a few words, as Valhalla, valkyrie, viking, but otherwise the words with this initial are chiefly derived from languages not directly related to English. A small number of words, however, as vat, vixen, exemplify the voicing of f- peculiar to southern (now only southwestern) dialects. This change is not indicated in OE. spelling, and how far it had developed in speech is uncertain, but in southern ME. texts all native words (rarely those of French or Latin origin) beginning with f may appear with v- (or its equivalent u-); the more important variant forms due to this cause are entered in their places below. Conversely words properly having v- are occasionally written with f-, and there is evidence that this is not merely graphic, but represents an actual pronunciation. (‘Euen so oure Englishmen vse to speake in Essexe, for they say fineger for vineger, feale for veale, & contrary wyse a voxe for a foxe, voure for foure, etc.’ 1546 Langley, trans. Pol. Verg. de Invent., I. vi. 14.)
When not initial, v occurs freely in native words as well as in those of Latin or other origin. In the former it represents OE. f when voiced, as in ǽfen even, drífan drive, lufu love. The use of f (or ff) in such words was partly retained in ME. (and especially in Sc. down to the 16th century); but even in late OE. u is frequently substituted, and in early ME. (as in med.L. and OF.) u and v come into general use to denote the sound in all positions. It was only in the 17th century that these two letters, both of which had been employed in a double function (see U), were finally distinguished as vowel and consonant; and down to the 19th century words beginning with either letter continued to form one series in dictionaries.
In some ME. (chiefly northern) manuscripts, and in many Scottish texts of the 15th and 16th centuries, v is more or less frequently written in place of w, while conversely w is freely written instead of v. These forms are merely graphic, and do not imply a phonetic interchange of w and v (though in mod. northeastern Sc. wr- has become vr-). In southeastern English dialects the change of v- to w- does occur, and older representations of Cockney speech exhibit a converse change of w- to v-, which recent investigators have been unable to verify as still existent. The latter change is illustrated in the following quotations.
1803. Pegge, Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1814), 77. Villiam, I vants my vig…. Vitch vig, Sir?… Vy, the vite vig in the vooden vig-box, vitch I vore last Vensday at the westry.
1824. Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825), 37. I vas valking by the Admirallity in my vay home.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxiii. Ve got Tom Vildspark off … ven all the big vigs … said as nothing couldn’t save him.
Elision of v when not initial has taken place extensively in dialects, especially those of the North and Scotland, as in deil devil, shule shovel, hairst harvest. In standard English this is represented by such words as hawk, head, lark, lord, and is specially indicated in a few archaic or poetic forms, as e’en even, e’er ever, ne’er never, o’er over.
I. 1. Illustrations of the use of the letter or of its name. † Double V [i.e., U], = W.
1460[?]. in Archaeol. (1842), XXIX. 331. There was an V and thre arres to-gydre.
1530. Palsgr., 440. A byfore V.
1552. Huloet, s.v., There is a diuersitie betwene the single V. and the dowble W., therfore the alphabete of them shalbe set diuersly.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., Wks. (Grosart), II. 211. He that can tickle Mar-prelate with taunts, can twitch double V. to the quicke.
1636. B. Jonson, Eng. Gram., iii. V … is, like our i, a letter of a double power.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 16. Some Letters of the same name and shape are used sometimes for Vowels, and sometimes for Consonants; as J, V, W, Y.
1676. Grew, Anat. Pl., Anat. Fl., IV. 154. An Angle, twice as big as that of a V Consonant.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. U, Besides the Vowel U, there is a Consonant of the same Denomination, wrote V, or U.
1736. Ainsworth, II. s.v., Our Saxon ancestors, who commonly substitute f in the place of v.
1808. Jamieson, V, in some of our old printed books, is invariably used for W.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 151. V is not used as a signature in the printer’s alphabet.
1901. Scotsman, 9 Oct., 11. The letter for the ensuing year was directed to be changed to V Gothic.
2. Used with reference to the shape of the letter; an object having this shape; a V-shaped, acute-angled formation.
1832. [see next].
1835. Court Mag., VI. p. xiii/1. The corsage draped in the form of a V on the bosom.
1863. Tyndall, Heat (1870), iv. § 131. The water … is first brought into one arm of the V.
1894. Outing, XXIV. 45/2. The first geese of the season will wing their way in lines and V’s from the south.
b. attrib., as V-form, shape; freq. in the sense ‘shaped like the letter V,’ as V anvil, edge, hut, slide, thread, tool (in fret-cutting), -trough, etc.; V-pug, a species of moth (see quot.).
1861. Sir W. Fairbairn, Iron, 125. The *V anvil, fig. 43, the natural offspring of the steam-hammer.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, III. 794. A rod passing … through a *V-form brace of iron.
1857. R. B. Paul, Lett. Canterbury, 57. The form is that of a *V hut, the extremities of the rafters being left bare.
1879. C. L. Innes, Canterbury Sk., 20. A ‘V’ hut … is exactly as if you took the roof off a house and stood it on the ground.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & M., 132. The *V. Pug [Eupithecia V. ata]…. Wings … marked with a black V behind the middle.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. N 2. A pair of opposite dies of a *V shape.
1844. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., VII. 88/1. A rectangular or oblong table of iron … upon two *V slides.
1869. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 479. The *V supports may now be secured in their places.
1887. D. A. Low, Machine Draw. (1892), 14. The Whitworth *V thread … is the standard form of triangular thread used in this country.
1875. Sir T. Seaton, Fret-Cutting, 8. The *V tool is the most difficult of all tools to sharpen.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 2983. *V-trough for funnel and subterranean wires.
1842. Francis, Dict. Arts, *V tube, a glass tube, in the form of the letter V…, to show the decomposition of a neutral salt by galvanism.
c. Comb. in V-shaped adj.
1835–6. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., I. 202/1. A fissure or triangular V-shaped notch.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 423/2. Tools … generally double-angular or V-shaped.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 103. A V-shaped black mark on side of head.
3. Used to denote serial order, as V Battery, MS. V, or as a symbol of some thing or person, a point in a diagram, etc.
II. 4. The Roman numeral symbol for: Five († or fifth).
13[?]. K. Alis., 1851. Anon he doþ his bemen blowe, v c. on a þrowe.
1340. Ayenb., 23. Þe v, boȝ of prede.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. v. 23. v. Chapiter. The ve. principal argument … is this.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, Alfonce, iii. [Of the x tonnes] v were ful of oylle, & the other v were but half ful.
1530. Palsgr., 58. As appereth in the III chaptre and the V rule of the same.
1535. Coverdale, Job i. 3. v. C. yock of oxen, v. C. she asses.
1636. B. Jonson, Eng. Gram., ii. Our numeral letters are, I for 1, V for 5.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., xlviii. V. 6. A single chapter will include, III. The Bulgarians, IV. Hungarians, and, V. Russians.
1842. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., V. 151/2. With an Engraving, Plate V. Ibid., 197/1. Lecture V.
b. V, V-spot, V-note, a five-dollar note. U.S.
1837. Knickerbocker Mag., IX. 96. My wallet … [was] distended with V’s and X’s to its utmost capacity.
1849. Lowell, Biglow P., Ser. I. viii. 57. I vow my holl sheer o’ the spiles wouldn’t come nigh a V spot.
1864. Browning, Dram. Personæ, Wks. 1896, I. 603. Sixty Vs must do. A trifle, though, to start with! Ibid. A poor lad … hears the company Talk grand of dollars, V-notes, and so forth.
III. 5. Abbreviations.
a. Of various Latin words or phrases: v. = verso ‘the back of the leaf,’ versus ‘against,’ vide ‘see’; v.g. = verbi gratia.
1678. Phillips, V.G. an usual character or abbreviation of the words verbi gratia, i.e. namely, or to instance in a word.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxx. § 5. [Ideas] made up of such collections of simple ideas as were really never united…: v.g. [etc.].
1738. Chambers, Cycl. (1751), s.v. Angle, V. Phil. Trans. No. 420. p. 147.
1767. R. Burn, Eccl. Law (ed. 2), IV. C c. A Table of the Cases adjudged;… Acton v. Smith…. Adams v. Rush [etc.].
1827. Jarman, Powell’s Devises, II. 311. It is to be observed that Maddison v. Andrew, and Mills v. Norris, were decided at a period when the rule … was not so well settled.
1865. Reader, 28 Jan. Rime v. Rhyme.
b. Of English words and phrases: V. = various proper names, as Victoria, Vincent, Violet, etc.; the chemical symbol of Vanadium; v. = verb, verse, vision (in Med.); very (in various phrases, as v.g. very good, v.h.c. very highly commended, etc.); V.A. = Vicar-Apostolic; V.C. = Victoria Cross; v.d. = various dates; V.M. = Virgin Mary; V.P. = Vice-President; v.r. = variant or various reading; V.S. = veterinary surgeon; v.y. = various years.
1670. Covel, in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.), 111. A pretty little picture of the V.M.
1787. in Milner, Suppl. Mem. Eng. Cath. (1820), 48. The ecclesiastical government by V.V.A. is by no means essential to our religion.
1820. Milner, Ibid., 252. The Prelate who did publish the Resolutions was the Western V.A.
1863. Hotten, Hand-bk. Topogr., 195/2. Cuttings from Newspapers [etc.] … V.D.
1866. F. H. Wilson, Our Father (1869), 122. Placards with the lion and unicorn at the top, the letter V at the one side and R at the other.
1872. Lever, Ld. Kilgobbin, lxxix. It’s a case for the V.C.
1901. Essex Weekly News, 8 March, 3/4. I have been ‘good, bad, and indifferent’ and I have been ‘v.g.’
1901. Scotsman, 9 Oct., 10/2. v.h.c. in the cheese fair.
c. In music an abbrev. of various Italian words, as verte ‘turn,’ violino ‘violin,’ voce ‘voice,’ volta ‘time.’
1724. Short Explic. For. Wds. in Mus. Bks., 1. The Letter V is often used as an Abbreviation of the Word Violino. Ibid. The Letters VS at the Bottom of a Leaf are often used as an Abbreviation of the Words Volti Subito.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., V, in music, is often used to shew that a piece is designed for the violin; and VV, for two violins, or more.
Hence V-d pa. pple., cut with a V-shaped incision.
1881. Greener, Gun, 380. The sight consists of a steel spring screwed on to the top rib, with one end set at right angles and V-d to form the sight.
