onless - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
onless conj Unless. [dost (at unless conj) late 16th century→; snd (at unless)]
Ulst.:
1860 Patterson Belfast Provincialisms 8 onless = unless.
1879 Lyttle Paddy McQuillan 56 They’ll no bother their heid attendin’ ye onless yer dressed in yer very best.
1895 MacManus Leadin’ Road 5 It saims he can’t take a hint onless ye impriss it on him with a stout stick.
U.S.:
1861 (in 1938 Taliaferro Carolina Humor 15) They … made preachers, who won’t be satisfied onless they are on the backs o’ the peepul ridin inter popularity and great wealth.
1939 Burnett Gap o’ Mts 12 I warn you that onless we gyard the ballot in whuch our manhood and freedom air wropped—we will all be slaves.
« oneasy | onpossible »
Purchase From Ulster to America
The second, revised edition of Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America is now available here:
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (Europe)
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (North America)
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A new edition of Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English recounts the lasting impact that at least 150,000 settlers from Ulster in the 18th century made on the development of the English language of the United States. This new edition published by the Ulster-Scots Language Society documents over 500 ‘shared’ vocabulary items which are authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. A searchable online version of this dictionary is now also available here.
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