Wilsum, adj. errant, wandering. Douglas, II, 65, 16; "a wilsome way," "Freires of Berwick," 410. See will, astray. Wilsum more frequently means "willful," is Eng.
Wissle, vissil, wyssil. Douglas, III, 225, 8; Bruce, XII, 580; Montg., F., 578. O. N. vixla, to cross, to put across, vixlingr, a changeling (Cl. and V.), Norse veksla, vessla, to exchange, Dan. veksle. Sco. and Norse both show the change of ks to ss. The Norse form versla shows later dissimilation of ss to rs. This is W. Norse.
Wittir, sb. a sign. Douglas, II, 231, 16. See wittering.
Wittering, vittering, sb. information, knowledge. Bruce, IV, 562; Douglas, II, 185, 27. O. N. vitring, revelation, from vb. vitra, to reveal. Norse vitring, information, M. E. witering, id.
Welter, sb. an overturning. Winyet, I, 49, 22. See the vb. welter.
[PART III.]
[1. The Dialectal Provenience of Loanwords.]
The general character of the Scand. loanwords in Sco. is Norse, not Dan. This is shown by (a) A number of words that either do not exist in Dan. or else have in Sco. a distinctively W. Scand. sense; (b) Words with a W. Scand. form.
a. The following words have in Sco. a W. Scand. meaning or are not found in Danish:
Airt, to urge. O. N. erta. Not a Dan. word.