Transcriber’s Note:
In this text version of Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore:
words in italics are marked with _underscores_
words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE.
In the “SELECT LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED” the names of authors were
printed in bold.
The original page headings are transcribed as [Sidenote: Page Heading]
Other notes follow the text.
RUSTIC SPEECH
AND
FOLK-LORE
BY
ELIZABETH MARY WRIGHT
HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO
MELBOURNE BOMBAY
1913
OXFORD: HORACE HART
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
PREFACE
Under the heading of ‘The Varieties of English Speech’ an article of
mine appeared in _The Quarterly Review_ of July, 1907. The favourable
reception accorded to it at the time prompted me to embark forthwith on
a larger work dealing with the same subject.
Many books both scientific and popular have been written concerning
dialect speech and lore, but nearly all of them are special
investigations of some particular dialect. I have taken a bolder flight
than this. I have not given a detailed account of any one dialect, but I
have surveyed them all, and have gathered words, phrases, names,
superstitions, and popular customs, here and there, wherever I found
something that appealed to me, and that I felt would appeal to others as
well as myself. It was impossible to make any one category exhaustive,
for such was the mass of material open to me for selection, I might say
I was ‘fairly betwattled and baffounded’. The only thing to be done was
to make my selections fairly representative of the whole.
My aim in dealing with the linguistic side of my subject has been to
show that rules for pronunciation and syntax are not the monopoly of
educated people who have been taught to preach as well as practise them.
Dialect-speaking people obey sound-laws and grammatical rules even more
faithfully than we do, because theirs is a natural and unconscious
obedience. Some writers of literary English seem to enjoy flinging jibes
at dialect on the assumption that any deviation from the standard
speech must be due to ignorance, if not to vulgarity besides. Since I
wrote the last chapter of this book, I read in a criticism of Stanley
Houghton’s Play _Trust the People_, this sentence describing the
Lancashire ‘father an old mill-hand and the homely mother to match’:
‘They are both drawn, you feel, to the life, and talk with ease, not to
say gusto, that curious lingo which seems to an outsider mainly
distinguished by its contemptuous neglect of the definite article’, _The
Times_, Friday, Feb. 7, 1913. Now the definite article in north-west
Lancashire is _t_, in the south-west and south _t_, or _th_, and in mid
and south-east Lancashire _th_. When this _t_ stands before a consonant,
and more especially before a dental such as _t_, _d_, it is not by any
means easy for the uninitiated to detect the difference in sound between
the simple word and the same word preceded by the article, between, for
example, _table_ and _t table_, or _dog_ and _t dog_. But this is not
‘contemptuous neglect’ on the part of the Lancastrian! It would be
nearer the mark to say that the Lancashire dialect is characterized by
its retention of a form of the definite article very difficult to
pronounce in certain combinations.
Further, I have endeavoured to show by means of numerous
illustrations, how full the dialects are of words and phrases
remarkable not only for their force and clearness, but often also for
their subtle beauty, that satisfying beauty of the thing exactly fitted
to its purpose.
I have also drawn up lists showing the numbers of old words and
phrases once common in English literature, still existing in the
dialects. Occasionally writers of modern verse seek to restore some of
the words of this type to their former position in literary English,
thereby causing the reviewer to stumble dreadfully, though he thinketh
he standeth. I quote the following from a literary periodical dated
May 2, 1913: ‘He [the poet] debates if he shall make “a nest within a
reedy brake”, or, failing this delectable situation, offers himself a
quaint alternative,
Or I shall see with quiet eye,
The dappled paddock loping by.
We had always supposed in our ignorance that “paddock” was a term
applied to green fields or pastures. How Mr. ... could have seen a
paddock “lope” we do not know, and perhaps it would not be kind to ask
him to explain.’ The majority of educated people are familiar with the
word _paddock_, a toad, or a frog, from its occurrence in the opening
lines of _Macbeth_, and in Herrick’s _Child’s Grace_, but it will
probably never again take its former place in the standard speech,
though it may remain very common in the dialects.
In the chapters devoted to folk-lore I have not attempted to do more
than chronicle certain superstitions and popular beliefs, leaving to my
readers the fascinating pursuit of tracing superstitions to their
sources, and of bringing to light hidden grains of truth in apparently
silly beliefs. There is here plenty of scope both for scholarship and
imagination. I once happened to mention at a dinner-party the
superstition that it is a sure presage of a parting for an engaged
couple to stand as fellow sponsors at a baptism. My neighbour, who was a
clergyman, immediately explained the reason for this idea by telling me
that in pre-Reformation days godparents were not allowed to marry each
other. The Church recognized a sort of spiritual affinity between such
persons, which precluded lawful marriage. It is strange to think that
while joining in a Protestant service to-day, members of the Church of
England are still swayed by an old law they never heard of except as it
exists in the word ‘unlucky’.
In dealing with popular customs I have selected those that are less
well known, and others concerning which I have myself collected
information, and have omitted many which are readily accessible in
works such as Hone’s _Year Book_ and Chambers’s _Book of Days_.
I may mention that in collecting my material from very many
miscellaneous sources, printed and oral, I have not felt justified in
normalizing the orthography of the dialect quotations, especially where
these have been taken from glossaries. This accounts for a certain
amount of inconsistency in the orthography.
At the end of the table of contents will be found a select list of
the works which I have found most useful in writing this book.
ELIZABETH MARY WRIGHT.
OXFORD,
_July, 1913_.
CONTENTS
PAGES
INTRODUCTION xix
CHAPTER I
DIALECT SPEAKERS
Decay of pure Dialect 1
Stories concerning Yorkshire people, &c. 2-5
CHAPTER II
RICH AND EXPRESSIVE VOCABULARY
Variety of terms for expressing one and the same idea; names
for a fool, the smallest pig of a litter, the woodpecker,
the foxglove, a stream of water, a girl 6-9
Forceful and descriptive dialect words difficult to translate
into standard English 10-18
Appropriate compound words 18-19
Fine shades of meaning expressed by slightly different words 19-20
CHAPTER III
SPECIMENS OF DIALECT
Specimens of dialect sentences 21-24
Misunderstandings between dialect speakers and speakers of
standard English 25
An old Dame’s School 26-27
CHAPTER IV
CORRUPTIONS AND POPULAR ETYMOLOGIES
Some apparent corruptions shown to be old forms 28
Corruptions of Latin and French phrases such as: _nolens
volens_, _Pater noster_, _rendezvous_, &c. 29-30
Standard English words used in the wrong places, e.g.
sentiment for sediment, profligate for prolific, &c. 30-31
Misplaced suffixes 32
Popular etymologies 33-35
Corruptions of standard English words 35
CHAPTER V
ARCHAIC LITERARY WORDS IN THE DIALECTS
Old words from early literature surviving in the dialects 36-37
Substantives 37-43
Adjectives 43-46
Verbs 47-53
Archaic words from the Authorized Version of the Bible 53-54
Archaic words from Shakespeare 54-61
Dialect words in Johnson’s Dictionary 61-67
Dialect words supply meanings to difficult forms in Old and
Middle English literature 67-71
Old words and forms preserved in surnames 72-76
CHAPTER VI
ARCHAIC MEANINGS AND FORMS IN THE DIALECTS
Old meanings of standard English words surviving in the
dialects 77-84
Historical forms surviving in the dialects 84-86
Old grammatical distinctions preserved in the dialects 87-89
Regular forms in the dialects compared with irregularities
in standard English 90-91
Doublets, such as: challenge beside the dialect form
_callenge_, &c. 92-94
Variants due to Scandinavian borrowings 94-95
CHAPTER VII
FOREIGN LOAN-WORDS
French loan-words 96-102
Scandinavian loan-words 103-104
Celtic loan-words 105-106
Latin, and Dutch loan-words 107-108
Poetical and learned words in the dialects 108-109
CHAPTER VIII
LITERARY WORDS WITH DIALECT MEANINGS
Quotations illustrating the meanings given in the dialects
to literary words 110-118
Dialect words alike in form to existing literary words,
but different in meaning and origin, e.g. _damsel_,
a damson, &c. 118-120
CHAPTER IX
ALLITERATIVE AND RHYMING PHRASES AND COMPOUNDS
Alliterative compounds 121-122
Phrases containing two synonymous verbs 122-123
Rhyming compounds and phrases 124-125
CHAPTER X
PHONOLOGY AND GRAMMAR
The classification of dialects 126-127
Characteristics of the various dialect groups 127-128
Phonology of the dialects compared with standard English 129
Vowels 130-132
Consonants 132-140
The Articles 140-141
Nouns 141-144
Adjectives and numerals 145-146
Pronouns 146-152
Verbs 153-156
Negation 156-157
CHAPTER XI
POPULAR PHRASES AND SAYINGS
Humorous similes 158-160
Metaphorical and figurative phrases and sayings 160-170
Proverbial sayings 171-174
Phrases referring to death 175-176
Answers to inquisitive questioners 176
Dialect forms of greeting 176-177
Contemptuous and derisive expressions 178
Local similes 178-179
Local nicknames and rhymes 180
Local sayings and jibes 181-182
Historical allusions 183-189
Ethnological evidence afforded by the dialects 190
CHAPTER XII
SUPERNATURAL BEINGS
Belief in ghosts 191-192
Boggarts 192-195
The Gabriel Ratchets 195
The Devil and his Dandy-dogs; Tregeagle 196
The Seven Whistlers 197
Imaginary monsters referred to in threats to children 198-199
Mine-goblins 199-200
Will o’ the wisp 200-201
Hob 201-202
The Devil in dialect lore 203-206
Fairies and pixies 207-210
Witches, and white witches 211-213
CHAPTER XIII
SUPERSTITIONS
Death-portents 214-217
Superstitions concerning magpies, cats, robins, &c. 217-219
‘Unlucky’ things 220-223
Signs foretelling gifts and guests 223-224
‘Lucky’ things 224-226
Miscellaneous legends and popular beliefs 227-229
CHAPTER XIV
CHARMS AND MEDICAL LORE
Devices for warding off witches 230-235
Superstitious remedies 236
Dialect phrases describing states of health 237-238
Medicines for general debility 239
Remedies for various diseases and other afflictions 240-254
The seventh son, and the water-caster 254-255
Charms against cattle-diseases 255-256
CHAPTER XV
DIVINATION
Love-divination by means of plants, apple-pips, &c. 257-260
The hempseed charm 261
The dumb-cake charm 262
Wedding-cake under the pillow 263
St. Mark’s Eve customs, and divination by Bible and key 264
CHAPTER XVI
BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH CUSTOMS
New meanings grafted on to old practices 265
Superstitious customs at the birth of a child 266-267
The birth-feast, and the special dainties prepared for it 267-268
The christening 269
Concerning wedding customs 269-270
Banns of marriage 271
‘Lucky’ and ‘unlucky’ days for a wedding 272
‘Unlucky’ omens on the way to church 273
Ceremonies after the wedding 274
Wedding sports 275
Riding the stang 276
Customs and superstitions concerning death 277-278
Funeral customs 279-281
Telling the bees 281-282
CHAPTER XVII
CUSTOMS CONNECTED WITH CERTAIN DAYS AND SEASONS
The New Year 283-286
Twelfth Day, and Plough Monday 286-288
Candlemas Day 289
Shrovetide 290-291
Sundays in Lent 291-292
Good Friday 292-293
Easter 293-296
May-day 296-297
Rogation Days 297-298
Whitsuntide 298
Rush-bearing 298-299
Halloween 299-300
All Souls’ Day, and St. Clement’s Day 300-301
St. Thomas’ Day 301-302
Christmas 302-304
Childermas Day 304
Feasts and fairs 305-306
CHAPTER XVIII
GAMES
Historical importance of children’s games 307
Girls’ singing-games 308
The game of marbles 309
Children’s rhymes addressed to birds and insects 310-311
CHAPTER XIX
WEATHER LORE AND FARMING TERMS
The weather as a topic for conversation 312-313
Signs of rain and of fine weather 314-317
Prophecies concerning seasons and crops 317-318
Thomas Tusser and his ‘good husbandlie lessons’ 318-320
Decay of old farming customs 321
Harvest customs 322-324
Names for hay-cocks, labourers’ meals, &c. 325
Calls to animals 326
Sheep-scoring numerals 327
CHAPTER XX
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Varieties of weights and measures in the dialects 328-331
CHAPTER XXI
PLANT NAMES AND NAMES OF ANIMALS
Dialect plant names 332
Biblical names 333-335
Old English names 336
Miscellaneous names 337-339
Personal names for animals 339-341
SELECT LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED
Addy, Sidney Oldall.--A Glossary of Words used in the neighbourhood
of Sheffield, including a selection of local names, and some
notices of folk-lore, games, and customs. E.D.S. 1888.
Atkinson, J. C.--A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect: explanatory,
derivative, and critical. London, 1868.
Baker, Anne Elizabeth.--Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and
Phrases, with examples of their colloquial use. London, 1854.
Bible.--Wyclif, John.--The Holy Bible, containing the Old and
New Testaments with the Apocryphal books, in the earliest English
version made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his
followers [c. 1380]. Ed. J. Forshall and F. Madden. Oxford, 1850.
Blakeborough, Richard.--Wit, Character, Folk-lore, and Customs of
the North Riding of Yorkshire, with a glossary of over 4,000
words and idioms now in use. London, 1898.
Brockett, John Trotter.--A Glossary of North Country Words in
use. 3rd edition corrected and enlarged by W. E. Brockett.
Newcastle, 1846.
Browne, Sir Thomas.--Works [1640-80]. Ed. Simon Wilkin. 3 vols.
8vo, London, 1892-94.
Burne, Charlotte Sophia.--Shropshire Folk-Lore: a sheaf of
gleanings. Ed. by C. S. Burne, from the collections of Georgina F.
Jackson. London, 1883. See Jackson.
Chamberlain, Mrs.--A Glossary of West Worcestershire Words. With
glossic notes by Thomas Hallam. E.D.S. 1882.
Chope, R. Pearse.--The Dialect of Hartland, Devonshire. E.D.S. 1891.
Cole, R. E. G.--A Glossary of Words used in south-west
Lincolnshire (Wapentake of Graffoe). E.D.S. 1886.
Coles, Elisha.--A Dictionary, English-Latin, and Latin-English;
containing all things necessary for the translating of either
language into the other. 2nd ed. enlarged. London, 1679.
Cope, William. H.--A Glossary of Hampshire Words and Phrases.
E.D.S. 1883.
Cotgrave, Randle.--A French and English Dictionary. London, 1673.
[1st ed. 1611.]
Couch, Thomas Q.--The History of Polperro, a fishing town on the
south coast of Cornwall: being a description of the place, its
people, their manners, customs, modes of industry, &c. by the late
Jonathan Couch. Truro, 1871.
Courtney, M. A. and Couch, Thomas Q.--Glossary of Words in use in
Cornwall. West Cornwall by Miss M. A. Courtney. East Cornwall by
Thomas Q. Couch. E.D.S. 1880.
Cunliffe, Henry.--A Glossary of Rochdale, with Rossendale Words and
Phrases. Manchester, 1886.
Darlington, Thomas.--The Folk-Speech of South Cheshire. E.D.S. 1887.
Dartnell, George Edward, and Goddard, Edward H.--A Glossary of
Words used in the county of Wiltshire. E.D.S. 1893.
Dickinson, W.--A Glossary of the words and phrases pertaining to
the dialect of Cumberland. Re-arranged, illustrated, and augmented
by quotations by E. W. Prevost, Ph.D., F.R.S.E. London, 1899.
Ducange, C. D.--Lexicon manuale ad Scriptores Mediae et Infimae
Latinitatis, ex glossariis C. D. D. Ducangii et aliorum in
compendium accuratissime redactum. Par W.-H. Maigne D’Arnis.
Paris, 1866.
Easther, Alfred.--A Glossary of the dialect of Almondbury and
Huddersfield. Compiled by the late Rev. Alfred Easther. Ed. from
his MSS. by the Rev. Thomas Lees. E.D.S. 1883.
Ellwood, T.--Lakeland and Iceland: being a glossary of words in
the dialect of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and North Lancashire
which seem allied to or identical with the Icelandic or Norse.
E.D.S. 1895.
Elworthy, Frederic Thomas.--The West Somerset Word-book. A glossary
of dialectal and archaic words and phrases used in the West of
Somerset and East Devon. E.D.S. 1888.
English Dialect Dictionary, The. Edited by Joseph Wright. 1896-1905.
Evans, Arthur B.--Leicestershire Words, Phrases, and Proverbs,
ed. with additions and an introduction by Sebastian Evans. E.D.S.
1881.
Ferguson, Robert.--The Dialect of Cumberland, with a chapter on its
place-names. London, 1873.
Five Original Glossaries. Series C. English Dialect Society.
Edited by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat, M.A. London, 1876.
Five Original Glossaries. Series C. English Dialect Society.
London, 1881.
Fletcher, J. S.--Recollections of a Yorkshire Village. London, 1910.
Friend, Hilderic.--A Glossary of Devonshire Plant Names. E.D.S.
1882.
Gibson, Alexander Craig.--The Folk-Speech of Cumberland and some
districts adjacent. London, 1869.
Godefroy, F.--Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de
tous ses dialectes du IXᵉ au XVᵉ siècle. 1881- .
Gomme, Alice Bertha.--The traditional Games of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, collected and annotated by Alice Bertha
Gomme. London, 1894.
Gregor, Walter.--Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of
Scotland. Folk-Lore Soc. vii. 1881.
---- The Dialect of Banffshire: with a glossary of words not in
Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary. Trans. Phil. Soc. London, 1866.
Hammond, Joseph.--A Cornish Parish: being an account of St. Austell,
town, church, district, and people. London, 1897.
Harland, John.--A Glossary of Words used in Swaledale, Yorkshire.
E.D.S. 1873
Harland, John, and Wilkinson, T. T.--Lancashire Folk-Lore:
illustrative of the superstitious beliefs and practices, local
customs and usages of the people of the County Palatine. London,
1867.
Hatzfeld, A., Darmesteter, A., et Thomas, M.A.--Dictionnaire
général de la langue française du commencement du XVIIᵉ siècle
jusqu’à nos jours. Paris [n. d.].
Heslop, R. O.--Northumberland Words. A Glossary of Words used in
the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside. E.D.S. 1892-94.
Hewitt, Sarah.--Nummits and Crummits, Devonshire customs,
characteristics, and folk-lore. London, 1900.
---- The Peasant Speech of Devon. And other matters connected
therewith. 2nd ed. London, 1892.
Holland, Robert.--A Glossary of Words used in the County of Chester.
E.D.S. 1886.
Inwards, Richard.--Weather Lore; a collection of proverbs,
sayings, and rules concerning the weather. London, 1893.
Jackson, Georgina F.--Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte
Sophia Burne from the Collections of Georgina F. Jackson. London,
1883. See Burne.
---- Shropshire Word-book, a glossary of archaic and provincial
words, &c., used in the county. London, 1879.
Jago, Fred. W. P.--The ancient language, and the dialect of
Cornwall with an enlarged glossary of Cornish provincial words.
Truro, 1882.
Johnson, Samuel.--A Dictionary of the English Language. London,
1755.
Kirkby, B.--Lakeland Words. A collection of dialect words and
phrases, as used in Cumberland and Westmoreland, with illustrative
sentences in the North Westmoreland dialect. Kendal, 1898.
La Curne de Sainte-Palaye.--Dictionnaire historique de l’ancien
langage françois ou glossaire de la langue françoise depuis son
origine jusqu’au siècle de Louis XIV. Niort, 1882.
Leigh, Egerton.--A Glossary of Words used in the Dialect of
Cheshire. London, 1877.
Levins, Peter.--Manipulus Vocabulorum. A dictionary of English
and Latin words arranged in the alphabetical order of the last
syllables [1570]. Ed. H. B. Wheatley. Camden Society, 1867.
Littré, É.--Dictionnaire de la langue française. Paris, 1878.
Long, W. H.--A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight dialect, and of
provincialisms used in the island. London, 1886.
Lowsley, B.--A Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases. E.D.S. 1888.
Lucas, Joseph.--Studies in Nidderdale: upon notes and observations
other than geological, made during the progress of the Government
geological survey of the district, 1867-72. London, c. 1882.
Moisy, Henri.--Glossaire comparatif anglo-normand donnant plus de
5,000 mots aujourd’hui communs au dialecte normand et à l’anglais.
Caen, 1889.
Morris, M. C. F.--Yorkshire Folk-talk, with characteristics of
those who speak it in the North and East Ridings. London, 1892.
Nevinson, Rev. Thomas K. B.--Local Provincialisms, being a MS.
collection made by the Rev. Thomas K. B. Nevinson, Medbourne
Rectory, Market Harborough.
New English Dictionary, A, on historical principles. Ed. J. A.
H. Murray, H. Bradley, W. A. Craigie. Oxford, 1884-.
Nicholson, John.--The Folk Speech of East Yorkshire. London,
1889.
Nodal, John H., and Milner, George.--A Glossary of the
Lancashire Dialect. E.D.S. 1875.
Northall, G. F.--A Warwickshire Word-book, comprising obsolescent
and dialect words, colloquialisms, &c., gathered from oral
relation, and collated with accordant works. E.D.S. 1896.
---- English Folk-Rhymes. A collection of traditional verses
relating to places and persons, customs, superstitions, &c.
London, 1892.
Ormerod, Frank.--Lancashire Life and Character. Rochdale, 1910.
Palsgrave, Jehan.--Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse. 1530.
Parish, W. D.--A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect and collection
of provincialisms in use in the County of Sussex. Lewes, 1875.
Patterson, William Hugh.--A Glossary of Words in use in the
Counties of Antrim and Down. E.D.S. 1880.
Peacock, Edward.--A Glossary of Words used in the Wapentakes of
Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire. 2nd ed., revised and
considerably enlarged. E.D.S. 1889.
Promptorium Parvulorum sive Clericorum, Lexicon Anglo-Latinum
princeps, auctore fratre Galfrido Grammatico dicto, e
predicatoribus Lenne episcopi, Northfolciensi, A.D. circa 1440.
Camden Society, 1843-65.
Robertson, J. Drummond.--A Glossary of Dialect and Archaic Words
used in the County of Gloucester. Ed. by Lord Moreton. E.D.S.
1890.
Robinson, C. Clough.--A Glossary of Words pertaining to the
dialect of Mid-Yorkshire; with others peculiar to Lower
Nidderdale. E.D.S. 1876.
---- The Dialect of Leeds and its neighbourhood. London, 1862.
Robinson, F. K.--A Glossary of Words used in the neighbourhood
of Whitby. E.D.S. 1876.
Rye, Walter.--A Glossary of Words used in East Anglia. Founded on
that of Forby. With numerous corrections and additions.
E.D.S. 1895.
Taylor, Francis Edward.--The Folk-Speech of South Lancashire: a
glossary of words which are, or have been during the last hundred
years, in common use in that portion of the County Palatine
situate between Bolton and Manchester. Manchester, 1901.
Tusser, Thomas.--Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. The
ed. of 1580 collated with those of 1573 and 1577. Together with A
Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, 1557. Ed. W. Payne and S. J.
H. Herrtage. E.D.S. 1878.
Wright, Joseph.--The English Dialect Grammar. 1905.
ABBREVIATIONS
Bck. = Bucks.
Bdf. = Bedford.
Bnff. = Banff.
Brks. = Berks.
Chs. = Cheshire.
Cmb. = Cambridge.
Cor. = Cornwall.
Cth. = Carmarthen.
Cum. = Cumberland.
Cy. = country.
Der. = Derby.
Dev. = Devon.
Dnb. = Denbigh.
Dor. = Dorset.
Dur. = Durham.
e.An. = East Anglia.
Ess. = Essex.
Glo. = Gloucester.
Hmp. = Hampshire.
Hnt. = Huntingdon.
Hrf. = Hereford.
Hrt. = Hertford.
I.Ma. = Isle of Man.
Irel. = Ireland.
I.W. = Isle of Wight.
Ken. = Kent.
Lakel. = Lakeland.
Lan. = Lancashire.
Lei. = Leicester.
Lin. = Lincoln.
lit. = literary.
M.E. = Middle English.
Mid. = Middlesex.
Midl. = Midlands.
Nhb. = Northumberland.
Nhp. = Northampton.
Not. = Nottingham.
Nrf. = Norfolk.
O.E. = Old English.
O.N. = Old Norse.
Or.I. = Orkney Isles.
Oxf. = Oxford.
Pem. = Pembroke.
Rut. = Rutland.
Sc. = Scotland.
Sh.I. = Shetland Isles.
Shr. = Shropshire.
Som. = Somerset.
Stf. = Stafford.
Suf. = Suffolk.
Sur. = Surrey.
Sus. = Sussex.
Wal. = Wales.
War. = Warwick.
Wil. = Wiltshire.
Wm. = Westmorland.
Wor. = Worcester.
Yks. = Yorks.
The asterisk * prefixed to a word denotes a theoretical form.
INTRODUCTION
Among common errors still persisting in the minds of educated people,
one error which dies very hard is the theory that a dialect is an
arbitrary distortion of the mother tongue, a wilful mispronunciation of
the sounds, and disregard of the syntax of a standard language. Only
quite recently--May 5, 1910--in reviewing a book called _The Anglo-Irish
Language_, a writer in the _Times Literary Supplement_ says: ‘The
Anglo-Irish dialect is a passably good name for it ..., but it is
something more than a dialect, more than an affair of Pidgin English,
bad spelling, provincialisms, and preposterous grammar.’ Here we have a
very good modern instance of the old error. A dialect, we are to
understand, consists of ‘Pidgin English, bad spelling, provincialisms,
and preposterous grammar’. This comes of reading dialect stories by
authors who have no personal knowledge of any dialect whatever, and who
have never studied any language scientifically. All they have done,
perhaps, is to have purchased the Dialect Glossary of some district, or
maybe they have asked a friend to supply a little local colouring. A
lady once wrote to the Secretary of the English Dialect Society as
follows: ‘Dear Sir, a friend of mine intends writing a novel, the scene
of which is to be laid in Essex in the sixteenth century. Will you
kindly give her a few hints as to the local dialect of that period?’
Authors of this type put into the mouths of their dialect-speaking
characters a kind of doggerel which the above definition aptly
describes, their readers then run away with the idea that this
hotch-potch is the ‘spit and image’ of a real, living, English dialect.
As a matter of fact, our English dialects exemplify so well the
sound-laws of living speech, and the historical development of an
originally inflected language, that the Neuphilologen in Germany are
calling for Dialect Reading Books for German students studying English.
A Professor in the University of Giessen has just bought fifty copies of
Wright’s _Grammar of the English Dialects_ for his Seminar. Now and then
a solitary German student is sent over to England to encamp in a remote
country village and write a learned Dissertation on the characteristic
vowel-sounds of the district; an arduous task for a young foreigner
whose knowledge of literary English as she is spoke is an uncertain
quantity. But the field of English dialects offers other allurements
besides those which attract the philologist and the grammarian. The
language-specialist merely digs and quarries, as it were, in the bare
soil and rock, where he finds rich ores amply sufficient to repay his
pains and toil, but there remains plenty of room for the rest of us who
are less laboriously inclined, and at every turn are enticing paths. The
real charm lies in the fact that it is a ‘faire felde ful of folke’,
natural, homely, witty folk. If this book succeeds in pointing out a few
of the many ways in which the study of our English dialects may not only
contribute to the advancement of knowledge, but also give us a clearer
insight into the life and character of the British peasant and artisan,
it will have achieved the aim and object of its existence.
‘_Countryman._ We old men are old chronicles, and when our tongues
go they are not clocks to tell only the time present, but large
books unclasped; and our speeches, like leaves turned over and
over, discover wonders that are long since past.’
The Great Frost of January, 1608. _Social England Illustrated,
A Collection of XVIIth Century Tracts_, p. 166.
CHAPTER I
DIALECT SPEAKERS
[Sidenote: _Insignificance of London_]
With the spread of education, and the ever-increasing means of rapid
locomotion throughout the length and breadth of the land, the area
where pure dialects are spoken is lessening year by year. It used to
be Mam and Dad and Porridge, and then ’twas Father and Mother and
Broth, but now ’tis Pa and Ma and Soup, is a saying concerning farmers’
children in the Midlands. In the words of an old North-country woman:
T’young ’uns dizn’t talk noo leyke what they did when ah wer a lass;
there’s ower mich o’ this knackin’ [affected talk] noo; bud, as ah
tells ’em, fooaks spoils thersens sadly wi’ knackin’. An’ then there’s
another thing, when deean, they can mak nowt bud mashelshon [mixed
corn] on’t. There is a very old proverb in Cheshire, applied to any
one who goes out of the country for improvement, and returns without
having gained much; such a one is said to have ‘been at London to learn
to call a streea a straw’. It is not often now that one could hear it
said: Ah deean’t gan bauboskin’ [straying away] aboot leyke sum on
’em, ah sticks ti t’heeaf. The place where a mountain or fell sheep is
born, and where it continues to live and pasture, is called its _heaf_,
and the word is often in the Northern counties thus picturesquely used
in a figurative sense. When one looks at the placards announcing in
large letters the extraordinarily cheap day trips offered by the Great
Western or the Midland Railway, or sees hoardings decorated with garish
posters portraying the arid sands and cloudless skies of Blackpool
or Morecambe, how dim and distant seem those past days when in their
stead he who runs might read an advertisement such as this: ‘The York
four-days Stage Coach begins on Friday the 12th of April. All that are
desirous to pass from London to York, or from York to London, or any
other place on that road, let them repair to the Black Swan in Holborn,
or to the Black Swan in Conney Street in York, at both which places
they may be received in a Stage Coach every Monday, Wednesday, and
Friday, which performs the whole journey in four days (if God permits),
and sets forth at five in the morning.’ Small wonder if people then
stuck to their heaf, and dialects remained pure and unadulterated. But
even to-day one can still find country places where our great cities
are known only by name. The inhabitants may ask us casually: Hoo’s
traade doon London waay?--but you feel, in so doing, they merely wish
to make polite conversation. Two or three years ago we lunched at a
small village inn not far from Skipton in Yorkshire, and before leaving
the landlord asked us to write our names in his visitors’ book. When
we had finished, he read over the entry, and said, ‘Ah, you come from
Oxford, perhaps you know London?’ ‘Oh, yes,’ we said, ‘we go to London
sometimes.’ ‘Then you’ll happen know my brother,’ was the confident
rejoinder. This last summer we stayed at a most primitive inn--with a
courtesy title of Hotel--on the moors under the shadow of Penyghent.
The landlord fetched us and our luggage from the station, and as he
was uncording a box of books he observed, ‘You come from Oxford then.’
‘Yes,’ said I, feeling proud of my connexion with that ancient Seat
of Learning. ‘Oh!’ said mine host of the Golden Lion, ‘How’s hay down
there?’
[Sidenote: _The Yorkshire Bite_
_A Yorkshire Inn_]
To gain the full benefit and enjoyment of a sojourn in a country
village, it is an immense advantage to be able to speak the dialect
yourself, or at any rate to be able to understand and respect it.
That is why we prefer the West Riding of Yorkshire to any other
part of England, for there we are at home with the native, and are
not looked upon as ‘foreigners’. The name Yorkshire has become a
synonym for acuteness not unmixed with a touch of unscrupulousness.
In Lincolnshire, for example, when anything is done which is very
clever, sharp, or unscrupulous, they say: That’s real Yerksheer. To put
Yorkshire on a person means in Lancashire to cheat, trick, or overreach
him; in Lancashire and Lincolnshire a sharp overreaching person is
called a Yorkshire bite. Even in his own country the Yorkshireman has
this reputation. It was a native who told us the following story. Two
Yorkshiremen, whom we will call A. and B., were accustomed to send
their horses to the same Show. A.’s horse always won prizes, and B.’s
never did. One day B. complained to A. ‘I can’t think why Mr. So-and-so
(the judge) never gives me a First Prize; my horse is every bit as
good as yours.’ ‘Well,’ said A., ‘I tell you what you had better do
before the next Show; you send Mr. So-and-so a good big ham.’ The day
came, and this time it was B.’s horse that won the First Prize. A. was
both angry and astonished. He went to B. and asked: ‘Did you send that
ham?’ ‘Yes,’ said B., ‘but I sent it in your name, not mine.’ Another
Yorkshireman on his death-bed found satisfaction in the thought that
he had outwitted an Insurance Company. ‘Ah’ve dun ’em, Joe, ah’ve dun
’em. T’doctor says ah’m bahn [I am going] to dee, an’ ah wor nobbud
insiured six munths sin,’ he boasted to a sympathizing friend. It
would, however, be grossly unfair to judge the Yorkshireman on the
strength of this proverbial characteristic. He has very many other
qualities equally characteristic and much more desirable, but which
become famed in phrase and story only when found in an exaggerated
form, as for instance the tenacity of purpose shown by that celebrated
_Yorkshire Oddity_ William Sharp, popularly known as Old Three Laps,
who died in the year 1856. When a young man of thirty he became engaged
to be married. The wedding-day was fixed, but when the appointed hour
came, only the bridegroom appeared in church. At the last moment the
bride’s father, dissatisfied about the marriage settlements, refused
to allow his daughter to marry the man of her choice. The disappointed
bridegroom returned to his home, went to bed, and vowed he would stay
there, and never speak again to any one. He kept his word up to the
time of his death, forty-nine years later, when he is said to have
exclaimed shortly before his end, ‘Poor Bill! poor Bill! poor Bill
Sharp!’ A Yorkshireman has a very strong sense of his own dignity, and
some ‘South-country’ people mistake his attitude of independence for
impertinence, and because he will not brook a condescending manner or
a dictatorial speech, and because he says exactly what he means, they
style him rude. Many stories are told of a certain grocer in Settle
noted for his treatment of impertinent customers. A lady one day walked
into his shop and inquired very abruptly: ‘What are eggs to-day?’
‘Eggs,’ was the prompt reply. At Kettlewell once a man and his wife,
evidently on a cycling tour from ‘down South’, came into the inn, and
demanded tea in such peremptory tones, that the landlady turned her
back on them, and we heard them muttering: ‘She’s bound to give us
something.’ If you want to be well served at a Yorkshire inn, the first
thing to do is to take note of the name over the door before you cross
the threshold; then you can address the landlady as ‘Mrs. Atkinson’
(pronounced _Atkisson_), for you will need her name constantly, if you
wish your conversation to be agreeable to her. ‘Down South’ we are very
chary in our use of proper names in conversation; we can talk to an
acquaintance or a friend by the hour addressing him only as ‘you’. In
the North, we should intersperse our remarks freely with ‘Mr. Brown’ if
he is an acquaintance, or ‘John’ if he is a friend. It is a noticeable
fact that in the North men call each other by their Christian names,
where in the South they would use the surname without the formal Mr.
But to return to inns. Having duly passed the time of day with the
landlady, you will next have to converse with her serving-maid, whose
name has yet to be discovered. We have adopted a plan of addressing
her always as ‘Mary’, till she gives us better information. The last
damsel we thus met told us her name was Dinah, and further, that she
was ‘a Lancashire lass’. In Yorkshire if you ask a person his or her
name you must say: ‘What do they call you?’ You might not be understood
if you said: ‘What is your name?’ The first question in the Catechism
has often met with no response other than a vacant stare from children
in Sunday Schools. A story is told of a clergyman near Whitby who went
one day into the village school, and seeing a new face among the boys,
said: ‘Well, my lad, and who are you?’ Boy: ‘Aw, ah’s middlin’; hoo’s
yoursen?’
[Sidenote: _Tea in the Parlour_]
The Kettlewell landlady was so charmed by our greeting, and our use
of her name and her dialect, that on our very first visit she treated
us to her old family silver tea-spoons, and on the next occasion we not
only had the tea-spoons, but we had a real old Queen Anne silver teapot
as well, and a perfect feast of cakes, laid out in the private parlour
where the foot of the tripper never trod. We came upon an inn full of
trippers once, and though we were shown to a seat at a table, we could
get no further attention, for nobody seemed to have time to fetch us
any lunch. At last we secured the ear of the daughter of the house,
and we pleaded our cause in her native tongue, whereupon she quickly
fetched her parents, and the table was laid, and spread with ample fare
in the twinkling of an eye.
In a seventeenth-century Tract--_Of Recreations_--in which are put
forth the delights of ‘riding with a good horse and a good companion,
in the spring or summer season, into the country’, the author goes on
to tell us: ‘And if you happen, as often it falleth out, to converse
with countrymen of the place; you shall find them, for the most part,
understanding enough to give you satisfaction: and sometimes country
maids and market wenches will give as unhappy answers as they be asked
knavish and uncivil questions. Others there be, who, out of their
rustical simplicity, will afford you matter of mirth, if you stay to
talk with them.’