<Zetland, †Ȝetland, †Yetland (1506 or earlier), Scots variants of the name of Shetland (see Shetlandn.…
<Zetland, †Ȝetland, †Yetland (1506 or earlier), Scots variants of the name of Shetland (see Shetlandn.).
Notes
In early use in Scots, the initial z- of the β forms represents the initial palatal glide ( /j/ ) which is represented more transparently in the α forms (see discussion at Gn. and Zn.). This initial glide is also reflected in the post-classical Latin form of the place name Yhetlandia (see Shetlandn.). Compare also Norn (Shetland) Yealtaland (a1700, reported in an English context). The current spelling pronunciation (with initial /z/ ) arose in the 19th cent.
As a place name, the form Zetland survives in some official and formalized uses, such as the name of the former County of Zetland (until 1974), and in the title of the Marquess of Zetland.
Meaning & use
Now rare.
1577–
attributive. Designating things (esp. articles of trade and animals) imported from, associated with, or otherwise characteristic of the Shetland Islands. Cf. Shetlandn.
1577
The unlaw..that fallis to the sheriff is thre merkis Ȝetland [reading in MS; printed Zetland] payment, viz.—ane dolor.
in D. Balfour, Oppress. 16th Century Orkney & Zetland (1859) 46
1608
Tua Ȝetland ȝowis price of the pece ourheid xij li.
Edinburgh Testamentsvol. XLIV. f. 154v in Dictionary of Older Scottish Tongue at Ȝetland, Ȝeitland, Yetland
1620
Tua ald Ȝetland horsis price of the peice iiij li.
Orkney & Shetland Test.vol. I. f. 56v in Dictionary of Older Scottish Tongue at Ȝetland, Ȝeitland, Yetland
1702
To Jamie Gray for the brydle to the zetland pownie.
in A. W. C. Hallen, Account Book Sir J. Foulis (1894) 307
1747
To be sold cheap, fine Zetland hard Fish.
Caledonian Mercury 14 July
1777
The filaments of the best Zetland wool are much finer and softer than Spanish wool.
J. Anderson, Observ. Nat. Industry v. 87
1809
The native Zetland horse is very small.
A. Edmondston, View Zetland Islandsvol. I. 206
1820
The chief markets for Zetland fish are Great Britain, Ireland, and Spain.
A. Edmonston, Observ. Cod Fishery Zetland & Orkney Islands 32
1886
The finer articles, now known as Zetland shawls, veils, etc., were not manufactured till a much more recent date.
Our Corner October 222
1953
The indigenous Highland breed, the only survival of which is to be seen today in the undersized Zetland sheep.
A. K. Cairncross, Collier's Crofting Probl. iv. 44
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Variant forms
α. Scottish
pre-1700
Ȝeitland, Ȝetland, Yetland
β.
1600s–
Zetland
Frequency
Zetland typically occurs about 0.02 times per million words in modern written English.
Zetland is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of Zetland, n., 1750–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.