# W and V in old(er) English

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-and-v-in-old-er-english/254351>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 9, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-and-v-in-old-er-english/254351 "2004-07-09T20:50:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-and-v-in-old-er-english/254351/1 "2004-07-09T20:50:47Z")

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I’m reading Dickens’ **Great Expectations** right now and I can’t help to laugh when I see something like “I was hungry so I went to the willage to steal some wittles”. In fact, “w” is used in a lot of words that we today use “v”.

So, what’s the deal? I know this arises in German, but I have no idea how the language works. Did they pronounce “willage” how we pronounce “village”? Or with a “w” sound?

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-and-v-in-old-er-english/254351/2 "2004-07-09T20:57:35Z")

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It’s been a long time since I read Dickens, and I never did read _Great Expectations_.

But dollars to donuts when an authority shows up here, they’ll tell you that it’s reflective of dialectal speech. Dickens was a past master at deftly portraying character in this way without (quite, usually) descending to caricature.

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**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-and-v-in-old-er-english/254351/3 "2004-07-09T21:05:07Z")

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The best known character in Dickens who does this this Samuel Weller (also called “Samivel Veller” by his father) in the Pickwick Papers.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-and-v-in-old-er-english/254351/4 "2004-07-09T23:46:33Z")

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Some dialects of English pronounce “V” as “W,” and others pronounce “W” as “V.” Dickens was portraying a dialect.