The-day
Today. The Ulster Scots construction that places the definite article before 'day' (and equivalently before 'night' and 'morrow') to mean today, tonight, tomorrow. 'I'll see you the day' = I'll see you today.
Etymology
A Scots and Ulster Scots construction parallel to similar forms in continental Germanic languages (German 'heute' is etymologically 'this day'). The standard English 'today' is the contracted form of an older 'to-day' that did similar work; the Scots / Ulster Scots 'the day' is an alternative survival. The full family: the day (= today), the night (= tonight), the morn or the marra (= tomorrow), and yestreen (= yesterday).
In a sentence
"It's lashing out there the day - bring the coat with you."
Historical notes
The-day is one of the most distinctively Ulster Scots time-phrases. Modern Belfast speech still uses 'the day', 'the night', and 'the marra' freely - 'see you the marra' is the standard goodbye for arrangements next morning. The hyphenated written form preserves the constructional unit; in speech the words flow together. Younger speech sometimes substitutes standard English forms, but the Scots construction remains widely understood and used.
Alternate spellings
the day · the-day
Sources
- Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL), entry DAY (the day construction). · dictionary
- Fenton, James. The Hamely Tongue: A Personal Record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim. · dictionary