Elizabeth Ham.
I have only one or two remarks to add to those of Miss Ham in the
preceding letter.
It will be seen, by reference to the exemplifications of the
dialect, that occasional _pleonasm_ will be found in it, as
well as, very often, extraordinary _contraction_. _I have
adone_, _I have a had_, are examples of the first; and
_'tword'n_, _gup_, _g'under_, _banehond_, &c.
[see Banehond in the _Glossary_] are examples of the last.
_Pitisanquint_ appears to me to be simply a contracted and
corrupted mode of expressing _Piteous_ and _quaint_,
[See Pitis in the _Glossary_.]
_Don't ye houseenee_ is _Do not stay in your houses_.
But the implied meaning is, _be active_; do your best to
provide for the bad weather which portends. In Somersetshire, most
of the colloquial and idiomatic expressions have more or less
relation to agriculture, agricultural occupations, or to the most
common concerns of life, hence such expressions have, in process
of time, become _figurative._ Thus, _don't ye housenee,_
would be readily applied to rouse a person to activity, in order
that he may prevent or obviate any approaching or portending evil.
I am still of opinion; indeed I may say, I am quite sure, that the
verbal terminations, _sewy, Tcnitty, &c.,_ have no relation
to _diminution_ in the district East of the Parret.
Upon the whole, it is evident that considerable care and
circumspection are necessary in committing to paper the signs of
the sounds of a language, of which we have no accredited examples,
nor established criterion. In making collections of this work, I
have not failed to bear this constantly in mind.