VULGATE. See BIBLE.
W, or w, is the twenty-third letter of our alphabet; and is composed, as its name implies, of two v's, this letter being identical with u in the Latin and in the more early form of the English language. It was not in use among the Hebrews, Greeks, or Romans, but chiefly among the northern nations, the Teutones, Saxons, Britons, &c. It is not employed by the French, Italians, Spaniards, or Portuguese, except in proper names, and other terms borrowed from languages in which it is originally used, and even then it is sounded like the single v. This letter is of an ambiguous nature; being a consonant at the beginning of syllables, and a vowel in all other positions. It may stand before all the vowels except u, as water, wedge, winter, wonder; it may also follow the vowels a, e, o, and unites with them into a kind of double vowel, or diphthong; as in saw, few, cow. It also goes before r, and follows s and th; as in wrath, swear, thcart; it goes before h also, though in reality it is sounded after it; as in when, what. In some words it is obscure, as in shadow, widow.