Uvularia

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a genus of plants, order Liliaceæ. The mealy bellwort, U. perfoliata, is a handsome, smooth plant, found in woods in the United States and Canada; stem 10-14 inches high, passing through the perfoliate leaves near their bases, and dividing into two branches at top; flowers pale-yellow. V, v, the 22d letter, and the 17th consonant of the English alphabet. It conrepresents a labial or labio-dental sonant sound, and is produced by the junction of the lower lip and upper teeth, as in ov, eve, vain. The sound of v differs from that of f, which is produced in the same way, in being voiced, while that of f is breathed. Both v and f are also continuous consonants, and also belong to the class of the spirants. V in Middle English is commonly written u in MSS., and convers conversely u sometimes metimes appears as v, most frequently at the beand especially in the ginning of words, and word vs, vse, vp, vnto, vnder, and_vn-, used as a prefix. As noted under U, u and v were formerly the same letter, and in dictionaries and alphabetical lists words beginning with U and V were, up till a comparatively recent date, combined. [U.] The Latin v, or rather consonant u, was probably pronounced as w; as in vespa = wasp. A very large proportion of the words which begin with v are of French or Latin origin origin, only vane, vat, vinewed, and vixen being English. The v did not exist Anglo-Saxon, its sound being represented in heofon heaven, of f=of of (ov). (ov by f, as in [F.] By this may be explained the change of consonant in the plurals in such words as thief, plural thieves, wolf, plural, wolves, etc. V frequently replaces f, as in vat = Middle English fat; vetches = Middle English fetches (at the present day so pronounced in the Midland counties), etc. In the dialects of the S. of England v is still commonly used where other dialects have f: foe, vinger = finger, etc. V in as vo= some Romance words represents ph, as vial = phial, Middle English visnomy = physiognomy, etc. V has been changed to (1) w in periwinkle = French pervenche, Latin perivinca; (2) tom in malmsey=Middle English malvesie, Old French, malvoisie. In vulgar speech, especially of Londoners, vis sometimes used for w, and, conversely, w for v; as 147 vell for well, wery for very. V nev pears as a final letter in English (thou a final v sound often occurs), nor is it ever doubled. V as a symbol is used: (1) As a numeral: For 5, and with a dash over it for 5,000. (2) In chemistry: For the element vanadium. (3) In heraldry: For vert, in the tricking of arms with a pen and ink. (4) In law: For versus (Latin) = against; as John Doe v. Richard Roe. (5) In physics: For velocity or volume. (6) In music: As an abbreviation of violino, violini, voce, volta, etc. (7) In finance: For $5; as I'll give a V for it (from the letter V on the bill). (8) In electrics: As a symbol for volt.