yo - 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.
yo, yow, yowe n A ewe. [oed (at ewe n) 14th century→; dost yow n ‘a female sheep, a ewe’ 1474→; dare (at ewe n) chiefly South, Midland]
Ulst.:
1910 Russell Language of Ulster 26 A ‘ewe’ sheep is a ‘yow’.
1937 Rowley Tales of Mourne 224 There’s a couple o’ oul’ yowes, an’ twa-three lambs is gone wandered in behin’ Bernagh there, an’ I’m for climbin’ the Hare’s gap an’ goin’ after them.
1983 Pepper Ulster Knowledge 14 ‘That’s a fine yo’ connotes a first class ewe ‘worth a bit of money’.
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 281 = a ewe.
U.S.:
1961 Kurath and McDavid Pron Engl Atl Sts 157 Four types of pronouncing ewe are current in the Eastern states … /ju/ is common in the North and in parts of the North Midland, especially in urbanized areas where the word is normally acquired in school or through reading … /iu/ and /jiu/ are confined to the New England settlement area … The type of /jo/ is heard in all parts of the Eastern States. In the South and South Midland it has rather general currency, except among the cultured; in the North Midland it is common in rural areas.
1980 Smokies Heritage 233 The ewe (pronounced yo in the Smokies) grazed in the Flanagan field for a while, but dogs began bothering her, and she had to be sold.
