Middle English Dictionary Entry
vǒuel n.
Entry Info
| Forms | vǒuel n. Also vouelle, vowel(le, wowel; pl. vowellis, wowellis. |
| Etymology | OF vouel(e, AF vowel(e, wouelle, vars. of OF voieul. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
A sound produced by the unobstructed passage of air through the oral cavity, a vowel;—also coll.; also, a letter representing such a sound; also in jocular misuse for wel(le n. [quot. c1475]; half (a) ~, semi ~, a semivowel.
Associated quotations
- ?c1335 Heil seint Michel (Hrl 913)p.155 : Þis uers is imakid wel Of consonans and wowel.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)59b/a : Semiuocalis: half vowelle [StJ-C: half a vowel].
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)70a/a : Uocalis: a vouelle.
- (c1434) Drury Comparacio (CmbAdd 2830)80/41 : Out of þe secunde party of þis rewle is out-takyn…nownys hauyng a vowel be-fore is, as tenuis.
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)275/16 : He cuthe not als mekull as say ‘A’, þat is þe furst vowell.
- (c1450-54) Paston (EETS)1.151 : This lettre ‘s’ sondit neuer but qwan it stondit be-fore j of þis v letteris qweche ben callid v wowellys, þat is to say, ‘a, e, i, o, v’.
- (c1450-54) Paston (EETS)1.151 : Þe wowell be-fore þe ‘s’ is schort.
- (c1450-54) Paston (EETS)1.151 : Were two ar iij vowellis come to-geder, þe vowell jn þe myddis is set a-side and is neþ[er] wretyn neithere sownyd, example as ‘jayme’, þat is as muche as ‘je ayme’.
- c1475 Mankind (Folg V.a.354)497 : Remember my brokyn hede in þe worschyppe of þe v vowellys.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)143a : A vowell: vocalis.
- a1484 Treat.7 Lib.Arts (Trin-C R.14.52)1040/77 : A semy vowell hath the sowne of a vowel bifore, but a mvte afterward.