Transactions. 53 



The suppression of v in the words dove and love, especially 

 when combined with the power of forming diminutives so 

 peculiar to Scotland, has given to the sentimental language 

 of the Scotch much of its well known character for pathos 

 and tenderness. 



Hence, also, for a dove cot they say a doocot. 



Passing on now to the suppression of v after a consonant, 

 silver is siller, and we have " the siller gun" of Dumfries. 



And harvest is hairst. 



After the fatal field of Flodden 



" In hairst at the shearia' 

 Nae younkers are jeering, 

 The bandsters are lyart, wrinkled, and grey." 



This form of the word harvest or hairst may perhaps 

 furnish an explanation of a family name respected in the 

 community, for it may be that a son of the house came into 

 the family at harvest in the evening ; and his descendants 

 may have adopted the name as their designation — harvest 

 evens or hairst eens — Haikstens. 



In a limited number of words both I and v are suppressed. 



Walker says that in the word twelvemonth the English 

 sometimes suppress the v, and say a twel month. But in this 

 word the Scots suppress both I and v, and say a towmond. 



" Surrounded wi' bent and wi' heather, 

 Where muircocks and plovers were rife, 

 For many a lang towmond thegither 

 There lived an aidd man and his wife." 



And for the word overly they say orry, o'er'y, or orra. 



So much, then, for the suppression of the single letters I 

 and V, and the suppression of them both in the same word. 



Let us now proceed to notice some combinations of letters 

 which are suppressed by the Scotch. 



Th is suppressed. This is the case with mouth, which is 

 the moo ; quoth is quo, as quo he, quo she ; froth is fro ; and 

 broth is hroe, only the Scots have the hroe of hroth. Un- 



