CHAPTER VII

THE SOUTHERN DIALECT OF KENT

Though the Kentish dialect properly belongs to Southern English,

from its position to the south of the Thames, yet it shows certain

peculiarities which make it desirable to consider it apart from the

rest.

In Beda's _Ecclesiastical History_, Bk I, ch. 15, he says of the

Teutonic invaders: "Those who came over were of the three most

powerful nations of Germany--Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes

are descended the people of Kent, and of the Isle of Wight, and those

also in the province of the West-Saxons who are to this day called

Jutes, seated opposite to the Isle of Wight"; a remark which obviously

implies the southern part of Hampshire. This suggests that the speech

of Kent, from the very first, had peculiarities of its own. Dr Sweet,

in his _Second Anglo-Saxon Reader, Archaic and Dialectal_, gives five

very brief Kentish charters of the seventh and eighth centuries, but

the texts are in Latin, and only the names of persons and places

appear in Kentish forms. In the ninth century, however, there are

seven Kentish charters, of a fuller description, from the year 805 to

837. In one of these, dated 835, a few lines occur that may be quoted:

Ic bidde and bebeode swælc monn se thæt min lond hebbe thæt he ælce

gere agefe them higum æt Folcanstane l. ambra maltes, and vi. ambra

gruta, and iii. wega spices and ceses, and cccc. hlafa, and an

hrithr, and vi. scep.... Thæm higum et Cristes cirican of thæm londe

et Cealflocan: thæt is thonne thritig ombra alath, and threo hund

hlafa, theara bith fiftig hwitehlafa, an weg spices and ceses, an

ald hrithr, feower wedras, an suin oththe sex wedras, sex gosfuglas,

ten hennfuglas, thritig teapera, gif hit wintres deg sie, sester

fulne huniges, sester fulne butran, sester fulne saltes.

That is to say:

I ask and command, whosoever may have my land, that he every year

give to the domestics at Folkestone fifty measures of malt, and six

measures of meal, and three weys [_heavy weights_] of bacon and

cheese, and four hundred loaves, and one rother [_ox_], and six

sheep.... To the domestics at Christ's church, from the land at

Challock: that is, then, thirty vessels of ale, and three hundred

loaves, of which fifty shall be white loaves, one wey of bacon and

cheese, one old rother, four wethers, one swine or six wethers, six

goose-fowls, ten hen-fowls, thirty tapers, if it be a day in winter,

a jar full of honey, a jar full of butter, and a jar full of salt.

At pp. 152-175 of the same volume, Dr Sweet gives 1204 Kentish glosses

of a very early date. No. 268 is: "_Cardines_, hearran"; and in

several modern dialects, including Hampshire, the upright part of a

gate to which the hinges are fastened is called a _harr_.

Several years ago, M. Paul Mayer found five short sermons in a Kentish

dialect in MS. Laud 471, in the Bodleian Library, along with their

French originals. They are printed in Morris's _Old English

Miscellany_, and two of them will be found in _Specimens of Early

English_, Part I, p. 141. The former of these is for the Epiphany,

the text being taken from Matt. ii 1. The date is just before 1250.

I give an extract.

The kinges hem wenten and hi seghen the sterre thet yede bifore hem,

alwat hi kam over tho huse war ure loverd was; and alswo hi hedden

i-fonden ure loverd, swo hin an-urede, and him offrede hire

offrendes, gold, and stor, and mirre. Tho nicht efter thet aperede

an ongel of hevene in here slepe ine metinge, and hem seide and het,

thet hi ne solde ayen wende be herodes, ac be an other weye wende

into hire londes.

That is:

The kings went (them), and they saw the star that went before them

until it came over the house where our Lord was; and as-soon-as they

had found our Lord, so (they) honoured him, and offered him their

offerings, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. The night after that

(there) appeared an angel from heaven in their sleep, in a dream,

and said to-them and commanded, that they should not wend again

near Herod, but by another way wend to their lands.

In the days of Edward II (1307-27) flourished William of Shoreham,

named from Shoreham (Kent), near Otford and Sevenoaks, who was

appointed vicar of Chart-Sutton in 1320. He translated the Psalter

into English prose, and wrote some religious poems, chiefly relating

to church-services, which were edited by T. Wright for the Percy

Society in 1849. His poem "On Baptism" is printed in _Specimens of

Early English_, Part II. I give an extract:

In water ich wel the cristny her{1}

As Gode him-self hyt dightë{2};

For mide to wesschë{3} nis{4} nothynge

That man cometh to so lightë{5}

In londë{6};

Nis non that habben hit ne may{7}

That habbe hit wilë foundë{8}.

This bethe{9} the wordës of cristning

By thyse Englísschë costës{10}--

"Ich{11} cristni the{12} ine the Vader{13} name

And Sone and Holy Gostes"--

And more,

"Amen!" wane hit{14} is ised{15} thertoe,

Confermeth thet ther-to-fore{16}.

{Footnotes:

1: _I desire thee to christen here_

2: _ordaine it_

3: _to wash with_

4: _is not_

5: _easily_

6: _in (the) land_

7: _there is noe that may not have it_

8: _that will try to have it_

9: _these are_

10: _coasts, regions_

11: _I_

12: _thee_

13: _Father's_

14: _when it_

15: _said_

16: _that which precedes_ }

In the year 1340, Dan Michel of Northgate (Kent) translated into

English a French treatise on Vices and Virtues, under the title _The

Ayenbite of Inwyt_, literally, "The Again-biting of In-wit," i.e.

Remorse of Conscience. This is the best specimen of the Kentish

dialect of the fourteenth century, and is remarkable for being much

more difficult to make out than other pieces of the same period. The

whole work was edited by Dr Morris for the Early English Text Society

in 1866. A sermon of the same date and in the same dialect, and

probably by the same author, is given in _Specimens of Early English_,

Part II. The sermon is followed by the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria,

and the "Credo" or Apostles' Creed, all in the same dialect; and I

here give the last of these, as being not difficult to follow:

Ich leve ine God, Vader almighti, makere of hevene and of erthe.

And ine Iesu Crist, His zone onlepi [_only son_], oure lhord, thet

y-kend [_conceived_] is of the Holy Gost, y-bore of Marie mayde,

y-pyned [_was crucified_, lit. _made to suffer_] onder Pouns Pilate,

y-nayled a rode [_on a cross_], dyad, and be-bered; yede [_went_]

doun to helle; thane thridde day aros vram the dyade; steay [_rose,

ascended_] to hevenes; zit [_sitteth_] athe [_on the_] right half

of God the Vader almighti; thannes to comene He is, to deme the

quike and the dyade. Ich y-leve ine the Holy Gost; holy cherche

generalliche; Mennesse of halyen [_communion of holy-ones_];

Lesnesse of zennes [_remission of sins_]; of vlesse [_flesh, body_]

arizinge; and lyf evrelestinde. Zuo by hyt [_so be it_].

A few remarks may well be made here on some of the peculiarities of

Southern English that appear here. The use of _v_ for _f_ (as in

_vader_, _vram_, _vlesshe_), and of _z_ for _s_ (as in _zone_, _zit_,

_zennes_) are common to this day, especially in Somersetshire. The

spelling _lhord_ reminds us that many Anglo-Saxon words began with

_hl_, one of them being _hl{-a}fweard_, later _hl{-a}ford_, a lord;

and this _hl_ is a symbol denoting the so-called "whispered _l_,"

sounded much as if an aspirate were prefixed to the _l_, and still

common in Welsh, where it is denoted by _ll_, as in _llyn_, a lake.

In every case, modern English substitutes for it the ordinary _l_,

though _lh_ (= _hl_) was in use in 1340 in Southern. The prefix _y-_,

representing the extremely common A.S. (Anglo-Saxon) prefix _ge-_, was

kept up in Southern much longer than in the other dialects, but has

now disappeared; the form _y-clept_ being archaic. The plural suffix

_-en_, as in _haly-en_, holy ones, saints, is due to the fact that

Southern admitted the use of that suffix very freely, as in

_cherch-en_, churches, _sterr-en_, stars, etc.; whilst Northern

only admitted five such plurals, viz. _egh-en_, _ey-en_, eyes

(Shakespeare's _eyne_), _hos-en_, stockings, _ox-en_, _shoo-n_, shoes,

and _f{-a}-n_, foes; _ox-en_ being the sole survivor, since _shoon_

(as in _Hamlet_, IV iv 26) is archaic. The modern _child-r-en_,

_breth-r-en_, are really double plurals; Northern employed the more

original forms _childer_ and _brether_, both of which, and especially

the former, are still in dialectal use. _Evrelest-inde_ exhibits the

Southern _-inde_ for present participles.

But the word _zennes_, sins, exhibits a peculiarity that is almost

solely Kentish, and seldom found elsewhere, viz. the use of _e_ for

_i_. The explanation of this rests on an elementary lesson in Old

English phonology, which it will do the reader no harm to acquire.

The modern symbol _i_ (when denoting the _short_ sound, as in _pit_)

really does double duty. It sometimes represents the A.S. short _i_,

as in _it_ (A.S. _hit_), _sit_ (A.S. _sittan_), _bitten_ (A.S.

_b{)i}ten_), etc.; and sometimes the A.S. short _y_, as in _pyt_,

a pit. The sound of the A.S. short _i_ was much the same as in modern

English; but that of the short _y_ was different, as it denoted the

"mutated" form of short _u_ for which German has a special symbol,

viz. _ü_, the sound intended being that of the German _ü_ in

_schützen_, to protect. In the latter case, Kentish usually has the

vowel _e_, as in the modern Kentish _pet_, a pit, and in the surname

_Petman_ (at Margate), which means _pitman_; and as the A.S. for "sin"

was _synn_ (dat. _synne_), the Kentish form was _zenne_, since Middle

English substantives often represent the A.S. dative case. The Kentish

plural had the double form, _zennes_ and _zennen_, both of which occur

in the _Ayenbite_, as might have been expected.

The poet Gower, who completed what may be called the first edition of

his poem named the _Confessio Amantis_ (or Confession of a Lover) in

1390, was a Kentish man, and well acquainted with the Kentish dialect.

He took advantage of this to introduce, occasionally, Kentish forms

into his verse; apparently for the sake of securing a rime more

easily. See this discussed at p. ci of vol. II of Macaulay's edition

of Gower. I may illustrate this by noting that in _Conf. Amant._ i

1908, we find _pitt_ riming with _witt_, whereas in the same, v 4945,

_pet_ rimes with _let_.

We know that, in 1386, the poet Chaucer was elected a knight of

the shire for Kent, and in 1392-3 he was residing at Greenwich. He

evidently knew something of the Kentish dialect; and he took advantage

of the circumstance, precisely as Gower did, for varying his rimes.

The earliest example of this is in his _Book of the Duchess_, l. 438,

where he uses the Kentish _ken_ instead of _kin_ (A.S. _cynn_) in

order to secure a rime for _ten_. In the _Canterbury Tales_, E 1057,

he has _kesse_, to kiss (A.S. _cyssan_), to rime with _stedfastnesse_.

In the same, A 1318, he has _fulfille_, to fulfil (cf. A.S. _fyllan_,

to fill), to rime with _wille_; but in Troilus, iii 510, he changes it

to _fulfelle_, to rime with _telle_; with several other instances of a

like kind.

It is further remarkable that some Kentish forms seem to have

established themselves in standard English, as when we use _dent_ with

the sense of _dint_ (A.S. _dynt_). When we speak of _the left hand_,

the form _left_ is really Kentish, and occurs in the _Ayenbite of

Inwyt_; the Midland form is properly _lift_, which is common enough in

Middle English; see the _New English Dictionary_, s.v. _Left_, adj.

_Hemlock_ is certainly a Kentish form; cf. A.S. _hymlice_, and see the

_New English Dictionary_. So also is _kernel_ (A.S. _cyrnel_); _knell_

(A.S. _cnyllan_, verb); _merry_ (A.S. _myrge_, _myrige_); and perhaps

_stern_, adj. (A.S. _styrne_).

There are some excellent remarks upon the vocalism of the Kentish

dialect in Middle English by W. Heuser, in the German periodical

entitled _Anglia_, vol XVII pp. 73-90.

CHAPTER VIII

THE MERCIAN DIALECT

I. EAST MIDLAND

The Mercian district lies between the Northern and Southern, occupying

an irregular area which it is very difficult to define. On the east

coast it reached from the mouth of the Humber to that of the Thames.

On the western side it seems to have included a part of Lancashire,

and extended from the mouth of the Lune to the Bristol Channel,

exclusive of a great part of Wales.

There were two chief varieties of it which differed in many

particulars, viz. the East Midland and the West Midland. The East

Midland included, roughly speaking, the counties of Lincoln, Rutland,

Northampton, and Buckingham, and all the counties (between the Thames

and Humber) to the east of these, viz. Cambridge, Huntingdon, Bedford,

Hertford, Middlesex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. We must also

certainly include, if not Oxfordshire, at any rate the city of Oxford.

This is by far the most important group of counties, as it was

the East Midland that finally prevailed over the rest, and was at last

accepted as a standard, thus rising from the position of a dialect to

be the language of the Empire. The Midland prevailed over the Northern

and Southern dialects because it was intermediate between them, and so

helped to interpret between North and South; and the East Midland

prevailed over the Western because it contained within its area all

three of the chief literary centres, namely, Oxford, Cambridge, and

London. It follows from this that the Old Mercian dialect is of

greater interest than either the Northumbrian or Anglo-Saxon.

Unfortunately, the amount of extant Old Mercian, before the Conquest,

is not very large, and it is only of late years that the MSS.

containing it have been rightly understood. Practically, the study of

it dates only from 1885, when Dr Sweet published his _Oldest English

Texts_.

But there is more Mercian to be found than was at first suspected; and

it is desirable to consider this question.

An important discovery was that the language of the oldest Glossaries

seems to be Mercian. We have extant no less than four Glossaries in

MSS. of as early a date as the eighth century, named respectively, the

Epinal, Erfurt, Corpus, and Leyden Glossaries. The first is now at

Epinal, in France (in the department Vosges); the second, at Erfurt,

near Weimar, in Germany; the third, in Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge; and the fourth, at Leyden, in Holland. The Corpus MS. may

be taken as typical of the rest. It contains an enumeration of a

large number of difficult words, arranged, but imperfectly, in

alphabetical order; and after each of these is written its gloss

or interpretation. Thus the fifth folio begins as follows:

Abminiculum . adiutorium.

Abelena . haeselhnutu.

Abiecit . proiecit.

Absida . sacrarium.

Abies . etspe.

Ab ineunte ætate . infantia.

The chief interest of these Glossaries lies in the fact that a small

proportion of the hard words is explained, not in Latin, but in

Mercian English, of which there are two examples in the six glosses

here quoted. Thus Abelena, which is another spelling of Abellana or

Avellana, "a filbert," is explained as "haeselhnutu"; which is a

perfectly familiar word when reduced to its modern form of "hazel-nut."

And again, Abies, which usually means "a fir-tree," is here glossed by

"etspe." But this is certainly a false spelling, as we see by

comparing it with the following glosses in Epinal and Erfurt (Nos. 37,

1006):--"Abies. saeppae--sæpae"; and "Tremulus. aespae--espæ." This

shows that the scribe ought to have explained Abies by "saeppae,"

meaning the tree full of sap, called in French _sapin_; but he

confused it with another tree, the "trembling" tree, of which the

Old Mercian name was "espe" or "espæ," or "aespae," and he miswrote

_espe_ as _etspe_, inserting a needless _t_. This last tree is the

one which Chaucer called the _asp_ in l. 180 of his _Parliament of

Fowls_, but in modern times the adjectival suffix _-en_ (as in

_gold-en_, _wood-en_) has been tacked on to it, and it is now the

_aspen_.

The interpretation of these ancient glosses requires very great care,

but they afford a considerable number of interesting results, and are

therefore valuable, especially as they give us spellings of the eighth

century, which are very scarce.

One of the oldest specimens of Old Mercian that affords intelligible

sentences is known as the "Lorica Prayer," because it occurs in the

same MS. (Ll. 1. 10 in the Cambridge University Library) as the

"Lorica Glosses," or the glosses which accompany a long Latin prayer,

really a charm, called "lorica" or "breast-plate," because it was

recited thrice a day to protect the person who used it from all

possible injury and accident. I give this Prayer as illustrating the

state of our language about A.D. 850.

And the georne gebide gece and miltse fore alra his haligra

gewyrhtum and ge-earningum and boenum be [hiwe]num, tha the _domino

deo_ gelicedon from fruman middan-geardes; thonne gehereth he thec

thorh hiora thingunge. Do thonne fiorthan sithe thin hleor thriga

to iorthan, fore alle Godes cirican, and sing thas fers: _domini

est salus, saluum fac populum tuum, domine, praetende misericordiam

tuam_. Sing thonne _pater noster_. Gebide thonne fore alle

geleaffulle menn _in mundo_. Thonne bistu thone deg dael-niomende

thorh Dryhtnes gefe alra theara goda the ænig monn for his noman

gedoeth, and thec alle soth-festæ fore thingiath _in caelo et in

terra_. _Amen_.{1}

{Footnote 1: I write _hiwenum_ in l. 2 in place of an illegible

word.}

That is:--

And earnestly pray for-thyself for help and mercy by-reason-of the

deeds and merits and prayers of all his saints on-behalf-of the

[households] that have pleased the Lord God from the beginning of

the world; then will He hear thee because-of their intercession.

Bow-down then, at the fourth time, thy face thrice to the earth

before all God's church, and sing these verses: The Lord is my

salvation, save Thy people, O Lord: show forth Thy mercy. Sing then

a pater-noster. Pray then for all believing men in the world. Then

shalt thou be, on that day, a partaker, by God's grace, of all the

good things that any man doth for His name, and all true-men will

intercede for thee in heaven and in earth. Amen.

Another discovery was the assignment of a correct description to the

glosses found in a document known as the _Vespasian Psalter_; so

called because it is an early Latin Psalter, or book of Psalms,

contained in a Cotton MS. in the British Museum, marked with the

class-mark "Vespasian, A. 1." This Psalter is accompanied throughout

with glosses which were at first mistakenly thought to be in a

Northumbrian dialect, and were published as such by the Surtees

Society in 1843. They were next, in 1875, wrongly supposed to be

Kentish; but since they were printed by Sweet in 1885 it has been

shown that they are really Mercian. This set of glosses is very

important for the study of Old Mercian, because they are rather

extensive; they occupy 213 pages of the _Oldest English Texts_, and

are followed by 20 more pages of similar glosses to certain Latin

canticles and hymns that occur in the same MS.

There are also a few Charters extant in the Mercian dialect, but the

earliest contain little else than old forms of the names of persons

and places. There are, however, some later Charters, from 836 to 1058

in the Mercian dialect, which contain some boundaries of lands and

afford other information. Most of these relate to Worcestershire.

But the most interesting Mercian glosses are those to be found in

the Rushworth MS., which has already been mentioned as containing

Northumbrian glosses of the Latin Gospels of St Mark, St Luke, and St

John. For the Gospel of St Matthew was glossed by the scribe Farman,

who was a priest of Harewood, situate on the river Wharfe, in the West

Riding of Yorkshire; whose language, accordingly, was Mercian. In my

_Principles of English Etymology, First Series_ (second edition,

1892), p. 44, I gave a list of words selected from these glosses, in

order to show how much nearer they stand, as a rule, to modern English

than do the corresponding Anglo-Saxon forms. I here repeat this list,

as it is very instructive. The references, such as "5. 15," are to the

chapters and verses of St Matthew's Gospel, as printed in my edition

of _The Holy Gospels, in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Old Mercian

Versions, synoptically arranged_ (Cambridge, 1871-87). The first

column below gives the Modern English form, the second the Old Mercian

form (with references), and the third the Anglo-Saxon or Wessex form:

MODERN OLD MERCIAN WESSEX (A.S.)

all all, 5. 15 eall

are arun, 19. 28 (_not used_)

betwixt betwix, 27. 56 betweox

cheek c{-e}ke, 5. 39 c{-e}ace

5 cold cald, 10. 42 ceald

eke {-e}k, 5. 39 {-e}ac

eleven enlefan, 28. 16 endlufon

eye {-e}ge, 5. 29 {-e}age

falleth falleth, 10. 29 fealleth

10 fell, _pt.t.pl._ fellun, 7. 25 f{-e}ollon

-fold -fald, 19. 29 -feald

(_in_ ten-fold)

gall, _sb._ galla, 27. 34 gealla

half, _sb._ half, 20. 23 healf

halt, _adj._ halt, 11. 5 healt

15 heard, _pt.t.s._ (ge)h{-e}rde, 2. 3 (ge)h{-i}erde

lie l{-i}gan, 5. 11 l{-e}ogan

(_tell lies_)

light, _sb._ l{-i}ht, 5. 16 l{-e}oht

light, _adj._ liht, 11. 30 leoht

narrow naru, 7. 14 nearu

20 old áld, 9. 16 eald

sheep sc{-e}p, 25. 32 sc{-e}ap

shoes sc{-o}as, 10. 10 sc{-e}os, sc{-y}

silver sylfur, 10. 9 seolfor

slept, _pt.t.pl._ sleptun, 13. 25 sl{-e}pon

25 sold, _pp._ sald, 10. 19 seald

spit, _vb._ spittan, 27. 30 sp{-æ}tan

wall wall, 21. 33 weall

yard (_rod_) ierd, 10. 10 gyrd

yare (_ready_) iara, 22. 4 gearo

30 yoke ioc, 11. 29 geoc

youth iuguth, 19. 20 geoguth

In l.5, the scribe Farman miswrote _caldas_ as _galdas_, in Matt.

x 42; but it is a mere mistake. In l. 20, the accent over the _a_ in

_áld_ is marked in the MS., though the vowel was not originally long.

Even a glance at this comparative table reveals a peculiarity of the

Wessex dialect which properly belongs neither to Mercian nor to Modern

English, viz. the use of the diphthong _ea_ (in which each vowel was

pronounced separately) instead of simple _a_, before the sounds

denoted by _l_, _r_, _h_, especially when another consonant follows.

We find accordingly such Wessex forms as _eall_, _ceald_, _fealleth_,

_-feald_, _gealla_, _healf_, _healt_, _nearu_, _eald_, _seald_,

_weall_, _gearo_, where the Old Mercian has simply _all_, _cald_,

_falleth_, _-fald_, _galla_, _half_, _halt_, _naru_, _ald_, _sald_,

_wall_, _iara_. Similarly, Wessex has the diphthongs _{-e}a_, _{-e}o_,

in which the former element is long, where the Old Mercian has simply

_{-e}_ or _{-i}_. We find accordingly the Wessex _c{-e}ace_, _{-e}ac_,

_{-e}age_, _sc{-e}ap_, as against the Mercian _c{-e}ke_, _{-e}k_,

_{-e}ge_, _sc{-e}p_; and the Wessex _l{-e}ogan_, _l{-e}oht_, as

against the Mercian _l{-i}gan_, _l{-i}ht_.

I have now mentioned nearly all the examples of Old Mercian to be

found before the Conquest. After that event it was still the Southern

dialect that prevailed, and there is scarcely any Mercian (or Midland)

to be found except in the Laud MS. of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_,

which was written at Peterborough. See the extract, describing the

miserable state of England during the reign of Stephen, in _Specimens

of Early English_, Part I.

It was about the year 1200 that the remarkable work appeared that is

known by the name of _The Ormulum_, written in the North-East Midland

of Lincolnshire, which is the first clear example of the form which

our literary language was destined to assume. It is an extremely

long and dreary poem of about 10,000 long lines, written in a sadly

monotonous unrimed metre; and it contains an introduction, paraphrases

relating to the gospels read in the church during the year, and

homilies upon the same. It was named _Ormulum_ by the author after his

own name, which was Orm; and the sole existing MS. is probably in the

handwriting of Orm himself, who employed a phonetic spelling of his

own invention which he strongly recommends. Owing to this circumstance

and to the fact that his very regular metre leaves no doubt as to

his grammatical forms, this otherwise uninviting poem has a high

philological value. In my book entitled _The Chaucer Canon_, published

at Oxford in 1900, I quote 78 long lines from the _Ormulum_, reduced

to a simpler system of spelling, at pp. 9-14; and, at pp. 15-18,

I give an analysis of the suffixes employed by Orm to mark grammatical

inflexions. At pp. 30-41, I give an analysis of similar inflexions as

employed by Chaucer, who likewise employed the East Midland dialect,

but with such slight modifications of Orm's language as were due to

his living in London instead of Lincolnshire, and to the fact that

he wrote more than 150 years later. The agreement, as to grammatical

usages, of these two authors is extremely close, allowing for lapse

of time; and the comparison between them gives most indubitable and

valuable results. There is no better way of learning Chaucer's

grammar.

As East Midland was spread over a wide area, there are, as might be

expected, some varieties of it. The dialects of Lincolnshire and of

Norfolk were not quite the same, and both differed somewhat from that

of Essex and Middlesex; but the general characteristics of all three

sub-dialects are very much alike. As time went on, the speech of the

students of Oxford and Cambridge was closely assimilated to that of

the court as held in London; and this "educated" type was naturally

that to which Caxton and the great writers of the sixteenth century

endeavoured to conform.

We have one ancient specimen of the London dialect which is

eminently authentic and valuable, and has the additional advantage of

being exactly dated. This is the document known as "The only English

Proclamation of Henry III," issued on Oct. 18, 1258. Its intention was

to confirm to the people the "Provisions of Oxford," a charter of

rights that had been wrested from the king, from which we may conclude

that the Proclamation was issued by Henry rather by compulsion than by

his own free will. There is a note at the end which tells us that a

copy was sent to every shire in England and to Ireland. If every copy

had been preserved, we should have a plentiful supply. As it is, only

two copies have survived. One is the copy which found its way to

Oxford; and the other is the original from which the copies were made,

which has been carefully preserved for six centuries and a half in the

Public Record Office in London. I here give the contents of the

original, substituting _y_ (at the beginning of a word) or _gh_

(elsewhere) for the symbol _{g}_, and _th_ for the symbol _þ_, and

_v_ for _u_ when between two vowels.

¶ Henri, thurgh Godes fultume king on Engleneloande, Lhoaverd on

Yrloande, Duk on Norm(andi), on Aquitaine, and Eorl on Aniow, send

igretinge to alle hise holde ilærde and ileawede on Huntendoneschire:

thæt witen ye wel alle, thæt we willen and unnen thæt, thæt ure

rædesmen alle, other the moare dæl of heom thæt beoth ichosen thurgh

us and thurgh thæt loandes folk on ure kuneriche, habbeth idon and

schullen don in the worthnesse of Gode and on ure treowthe, for the

freme of the loande, thurgh the besighte of than to-foren iseide

redesmen, beo stedefaest and ilestinde in alle thinge, abuten ænde.

And we hoaten alle ure treowe, in the treowthe thæt heo us ogen,

thæt heo stedefæstliche healden, and swerien to healden and to

werien, tho isetnesses thæt beon imakede and beon to makien, thurgh

than to-foren iseide rædesmen, other thurgh the moare dæl of hem,

alswo also hit is biforen iseid; And thæt æhc other helpe thæt for

to done bi than ilche othe, ayenes alle men, right for to done and

to foangen. And noan ne nime of loande ne of eghte, wherthurgh this

besighte mughe beon ilet other iwersed on onie wise.

And yif oni other onie cumen her onyenes, we willen and hoaten thæt

alle ure treowe heom healden deadliche ifoan. And for thæt we willen

thæt this beo stedefæst and lestinde, we senden yew this writ open,

iseined with ure seel, to halden a-manges yew me hord.

Witnesse us selven æt Lundene, thane eghtetenthe day on the monthe

of Octobre, in the two and fowertighthe yeare of ure cruninge.

And this wes idon ætforen ure isworene redesmen, Boneface

archebischop on Kanterburi, Walter of Cantelow, bischop on

Wirechestre, Simon of Muntfort, eorl on Leirchestre, Richard of

Clare, eorl on Glowchestre and on Hurtforde, Roger Bigod, eorl on

Northfolke and marescal on Engleneloande, Perres of Sauveye, Willelm

of Fort, eorl on Aubemarle, Iohan of Pleisseiz, eorl on Warewike,

Iohan Geffreës sune, Perres of Muntfort, Richard of Grey, Roger of

Mortemer, James of Aldithel; and ætforen othre inoghe.

¶ And al on tho ilche worden is isend in-to ævrihce othre shcire

over al thære kuneriche on Engleneloande, and ek in-tel Irelonde.

This document presents at first sight many unfamiliar forms, but

really differs from Modern English mainly in the spelling, which of

course represents the pronunciation of that period. The grammar is

perfectly intelligible, and this is the surest mark of similarity of

language; we may, however, note the use of _send_ as a contraction of

_sendeth_, and of _oni_ for "any man" in the singular, while _onie_,

being plural, represents "any men."

The other chief variations are in the vocabulary or word-list, due to

the fact that this Proclamation is older than the reigns of the first

three Edwards, which was the period when so many words of Anglo-Norman

origin entered our language, displacing many words of native origin

that thus became obsolete; though some were exchanged for other

_native_ words. We may notice, for example, _fultume_, "assistance";

_holde_, "faithful"; _ilærde and ileawede_, "learned and unlearned";

_unnen_, "grant"; _rædesmen_, "councillors"; _kuneriche_, "kingdom";

and so on. I subjoin a closely literal translation, retaining awkward

expressions.

¶ Henry, through God's assistance, king in England, Lord in Ireland,

Duke in Normandy, in Aquitaine, and Earl in Anjou, sendeth greeting

to all his faithful, learned and unlearned, in Huntingdonshire; that

wit ye well all, that we will and grant that which our councillors

all, or the more deal (_part_) of them, that be chosen through us

and through the land's folk in our kingdom, have done and shall do

in the worship of God and in our truth, for the benefit of the land,

through the provision of the beforesaid councillors, be steadfast

and lasting in all things without end. And we command all our

true-men, in the truth that they us owe, that they steadfastly hold,

and swear to hold and to defend, the statutes that be made and be to

make, through the aforesaid councillors, or through the more deal of

them, even as it is before said; and that each help other that for

to do, by the same oath, against all men, right for to do and to

receive. And (let) none take of land nor of property, wherethrough

this provision may be let or worsened in any wise. And if any-man or

any-men come here-against, we will and command that all our true-men

hold them (as) deadly foes. And for that we will that thi bes

steadfast and lasting, we send you this writ open, signed with our

seal, to hold amongst you in hoard. Witness us-selves at London, the

eighteenth day in the month of October, in the two and fortieth year

of our crowning. And this was done before our sworen councillors,

Boneface, archbishop of Canterbury, Walter of Cantelow, bishop of

Worcester, Simon of Muntfort, earl of Leicester, ... and before

others enough.

¶ And all in the same words is sent into every other shire over all

the kingdom in England, and eke into Ireland.

In the year 1303, Robert Manning, of Bourn in Lincolnshire, translated

a French poem entitled _Manuel des Pechiez_ (Manual of Sins) into very

fair East Midland verse, giving to his translation the title of

_Handling Synne_. Many of the verses are easy and smooth, and the poem

clearly shows us that the East Midland dialect was by this time at

least the equal of the others, and that the language was good enough

to be largely permanent. When we read such lines as:

Than seyd echone that sate and stode,

Here comth Pers, that never dyd gode--

we have merely to modernise the spelling, and we at once have:

Then said each one that sat and stood,

Here cometh Pierce, that never did good,

These are lines that could be written now.

An extract from Manning's _Handlyng Synne_ is given in _Specimens of

Early English_, Part II, most of which can be read with ease. The

obsolete words are not very numerous, and we meet now and then with

half a dozen consecutive lines that would puzzle no one. It is

needless to pursue the history of this dialect further. It had, by

this time, become almost the standard language, differing from Modern

English chiefly in date, and consequently in pronunciation. We pass

on from Manning to Chaucer, from Chaucer to Lydgate and Caxton, and

from Caxton to Lord Surrey and Sackville and Spenser, without any real

change in the actual dialect employed, but only in the form of it.

II. WEST MIDLAND

We have seen that there are two divisions of the Mercian dialect, into

East and West Midland.

The West Midland does not greatly differ from the East Midland, but it

approaches more nearly, in some respects, to the Northumbrian. The

greatest distinction seems to be in the present and past participles

of verbs. In the West Midland, the present participle frequently ends

in _-and_, as in Northumbrian, especially in the Northern part of the

Midland area. The East Midland usually employs _-ende_ or _-inge_

instead. In the West Midland, the prefix _i-_ or _y-_ is seldom used

for the past participle, whilst the East Midland admits it more

freely. In the third person singular of the present tense, the West

Midland favours the Northern suffix _-es_ or _-is_; whilst the East

Midland favours the Southern suffix _-eth_. The suffix _-us_ appears

to be altogether peculiar to West Midland, in which it occurs

occasionally; and the same is true of _-ud_ for _-ed_ in the

preterite of a weak verb.

There is a rather early West Midland _Prose Psalter_, belonging to

the former half of the fourteenth century, which was edited for the

Early English Text Society by Dr Karl Bulbring in 1891.

The curious poem called _William of Palerne_ (Palermo) or _William

and the Werwolf_, written in alliterative verse about 1350-60, and

edited by me for the E.E.T.S. in 1867, seems to be in a form of West

Midland, and has been claimed for Shropshire; nothing is known as to

its author.

The very remarkable poem called _The Pearl_, and three _Alliterative

Poems_ by the same author, were first edited by Dr Morris for the

E.E.T.S. in 1864; with a preface in which the peculiarities of

the dialect were discussed. Dr Morris showed that the grammatical

forms are uniform and consistent throughout, and may be safely

characterised as being West Midland. Moreover, they are frequently

very like Northumbrian, and must belong to the Northern area of the

West Midland dialect. "Much," says Dr Morris, "may be said in favour

of their Lancashire origin."

The MS. which contains the above poems also contains the excellent

alliterative romance-poem named _Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight_,

evidently written by the same author; so that this poem also may be

considered as a specimen of West Midland. For further particulars,

see the "Grammatical Details" given in Dr Morris's preface to _The

Pearl_, etc., pp. xxviii-xl. _Sir Gawayne_ was likewise edited by

Morris in 1864.

It would not be easy to trace the history of this dialect at a later

date, and the task is hardly necessary. It was soon superseded in

literary use by the East Midland, with which it had much in common.

CHAPTER IX

FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN THE DIALECTS

There is a widely prevalent notion that the speakers of English

Dialects employ none but native words; and it is not uncommon for

writers who have more regard for picturesque effect than for accuracy

to enlarge upon this theme, and to praise the dialects at the expense

of the literary language. Of course there is a certain amount of truth

in this, but it would be better to look into the matter a little more

closely.

A very little reflection will show that dialect-speakers have always

been in contact with some at least of those who employ words that

belong rather, or once belonged, to foreign nations. Even shopkeepers

are familiar with such words as _beef_, _mutton_, _broccoli_, _soda_,

_cork_, _sherry_, _brandy_, _tea_, _coffee_, _sugar_, _sago_, and many

more such words that are now quite familiar to every one. Yet _beef_

and _mutton_ are Norman; _broccoli_ and _soda_ are Italian; _cork_

and _sherry_ are Spanish; _brandy_ is Dutch; _tea_ is Chinese;

_coffee_ is Arabic; _sugar_ is of Sanskrit origin; and _sago_ is

Malay. It must be evident that many similar words, having reference

to very various useful things, have long ago drifted into the dialects

from the literary language. Hence the purity of the dialects from

contamination with foreign influences is merely comparative, not

absolute.

Our modern language abounds with words borrowed from many foreign

tongues; but a large number of them have come to us since 1500. Before

that date the chief languages from which it was possible for us to

borrow words were British or Gaelic, Irish, Latin, Greek (invariably

through the medium of Latin), Hebrew (in a small degree, through

the medium of Latin), Arabic (very slightly, and indirectly),

Scandinavian, and French. A few words as to most of these are

sufficient.

It is not long since a great parade was made of our borrowings from

"Celtic"; it was very easy to give a wild guess that an obscure word

was "Celtic"; and the hardihood of the guesser was often made to take

the place of evidence. The fact is that there is no such language as

"Celtic"; it is the name of a group of languages, including "British"

or Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Manx, Gaelic, and Irish; and it is now

incumbent on the etymologist to cite the exact forms in one or more of

these on which he relies, so as to adduce some semblance of proof. The

result has been an extraordinary shrinkage in the number of alleged

Celtic words. The number, in fact, is extremely small, except in

special cases. Thus we may expect to find a few Welsh words in the

dialects of Cheshire, Shropshire, or Herefordshire, on the Welsh

border; and a certain proportion of Gaelic words in Lowland Scotch;

though we have no reliable lists of these, and it is remarkable that

such words have usually been borrowed at no very early date, and

sometimes quite recently. The legacy of words bequeathed to us by the

ancient Britons is surprisingly small; indeed, it is very difficult

to point to many clear cases. The question is considered in my

_Principles of English Etymology, Series I_, pp. 443-452, to which I

may refer the reader; and a list of words of (probably) Celtic origin

is given in my larger _Etymological Dictionary_, ed. 1910, p. 765. It

is also explained, in my _Primer of English Etymology_ that, in the

fifth century, the time of Hengist's invasion, "the common language

of the more educated classes among the British was Latin, which was

in use as a literary language and as the language of the British

Christian Church. Hence, the Low German tribes [of invaders] found

no great necessity for learning ancient British; and this explains

the fact, which would otherwise be extraordinary, that modern English

contains but a very small Celtic element." Of the Celts that remained

within the English pale, it is certain that, in a very short time,

they accepted the necessity of learning Anglian or Saxon, and lost

their previous language altogether. Hence, in many dialects, as

for example, in the East Midland district, the amount of words of

"British" origin is practically _nil_. For further remarks on this

subject, see Chapter V of _Anglo-Saxon Britain_, by Grant Allen,

London, n.d.

I here give a tentative list of some Celtic words found in dialects.

Their etymologies are discussed in my _Etymological Dictionary_

(1910), as they are also found in literary use; and the words are

fully explained in the _English Dialect Dictionary_, which gives

all their senses, and enumerates the counties in which they are found.

It is doubtless imperfect, as I give only words that are mostly well

known, and can be found, indeed, in the _New English Dictionary_.

I give only one sense of each, and mark it as N., M., or S. (Northern,

Midland, or Southern), as the case may be. The symbol "gen." means

"in general use"; and "Sc." means Lowland Scotch.

_Art_, or _airt_, Sc., a direction of the wind; _banshee_, Irish,

a female spirit who warns families of a death; _beltane_, N., the

first of May; _bin_, M., a receptacle; _boggart_, _bogle_, N., M.,

a hobgoblin; _bragget_, N., M., a drink made of honey and ale; _brat_,

N., M., a cloth, clout; _brock_, gen., a badger; _bug_, N., a bogy;

_bugaboo_, N., M., a hobgoblin; _capercailyie_, Sc., a bird;

_cateran_, Sc., a Highland robber; _char_, N., a fish; _clachan_, Sc.,

a hamlet; _clan_, N., M., a class, set of people; _claymore_, Sc.,

a two-handed sword; _colleen_, Irish, a young girl; _combe_, gen.,

the head of a valley; _coracle_, M., a wicker boat; _coronach_, Sc.,

a dirge; _corrie_, Sc., a circular hollow in a hill-side; _cosher_,

Irish, a feast; _crag_, _craig_, N., a rock; _crowd_, N., S., a

fiddle; _dulse_, N., an edible sea-weed; _dun_, gen., brown, greyish;

_duniwassal_, Sc., a gentleman of secondary rank; _fillibeg_, Sc.,

a short kilt; _flummery_, Sc., M., oatmeal boiled in water;

_gallowglass_, Sc., Irish, an armed foot-soldier; _galore_, gen.,

in abundance; _gillie_, Sc., a man-servant; _gull_, a name of various

birds; _hubbub_, _hubbaboo_, Irish, a confused clamour; _inch_, Sc.,

Irish, a small island; _ingle_, N., M., fire, fire-place; _kelpie_,

Sc., a water-spirit; _kibe_, gen., a chilblain; _linn_, N., a pool;

_loch_, N., _lough_, Irish, a lake; _metheglin_, M., S., beer made

from honey; _omadhaun_, Irish, a simpleton; _pose_, gen. (but

perhaps obsolete), a catarrh; _rapparee_, Sc., Irish, a vagabond;

_shillelagh_, Irish, a cudgel; _skain_, _skean_, Sc., Irish, a knife,

dagger; _sowens_, _sowans_, Sc., a dish made from oatmeal-husks

steeped in water (from Gael, _sùghan_, the juice of sowens);

_spalpeen_, Irish, a rascal; _spleuchan_, Sc., Irish, a pouch,

a purse; _strath_, N., a valley; _strathspey_, Sc., a dance,

named from the valley of the river Spey; _tocher_, N., a dowry;

_usquebaugh_, Sc., Irish, whiskey; _wheal_, Cornish, a mine.

Latin is a language from which English has borrowed words in

every century since the year 600. In my _Principles of English

Etymology, First Series_, Chap. XXI, I give a list of Latin words

imported into English before the Norman Conquest. Several of these

must be familiar in our dialects; we can hardly suppose that country

people do not know the meaning of ark, beet, box, candle, chalk,

cheese, cook, coulter, cup, fennel, fever, font, fork, inch, kettle,

kiln, kitchen, and the like. Indeed, _ark_ is quite a favourite

word in the North for a large wooden chest, used for many purposes;

and Kersey explains it as "a country word for a large chest to put

fruit or corn in." _Candle_ is so common that it is frequently

reduced to _cannel_; and it has given its name to "cannel coal."

Every countryman is expected to be able to distinguish "between chalk

and cheese." _Coulter_ appears in ten dialect forms, and one of

the most familiar agricultural implements is a pitch-_fork_. The

influence of Latin requires no further illustration.

I also give a list of early words of Greek origin; some of which are

likewise in familiar use. I may instance alms, angel, bishop, butter,

capon, chest, church, clerk, copper, devil, dish, hemp, imp, martyr,

paper (ultimately of Egyptian origin), plaster, plum, priest, rose,

sack, school, silk, treacle, trout. Of course the poor old woman who

says she is "a martyr to tooth-ache" is quite unconscious that she

is talking Greek. Probably she is not without some smattering of

Persian, and knows the sense of lilac, myrtle, orange, peach, and

rice; of Sanskrit, whence pepper and sugar-candy; of Arabic, whence

coffee, cotton, jar, mattress, senna, and sofa; and she will know

enough Hebrew, partly from her Bible, to be quite familiar with a

large number of biblical names, such as Adam and Abraham and Isaac,

and very many more, not forgetting the very common John, Joseph,

Matthew, and Thomas, and the still more familiar Jack and Jockey;

and even with a few words of Hebrew origin, such as alleluia, balm,

bedlam, camel, cider, and sabbath. The discovery of the New World

has further familiarised us all with chocolate and tomato, which are

Mexican; and with potato, which is probably old Caribbean. These facts

have to be borne in mind when it is too rashly laid down that words in

English dialects are of English origin.

Foreign words of this kind are, however, not very numerous, and can

easily be allowed for. And, as has been said, our vocabulary admits

also of a certain amount of Celtic. It remains to consider what other

sources have helped to form our dialects. The two most prolific in

this respect are Scandinavian and French, which require careful

consideration.

It is notorious that the Northern dialect admits Scandinavian words

freely; and the same is true, to a lesser degree, of East Midland.

They are rare in Southern, and in the Southern part of West Midland.

The constant invasions of the Danes, and the subjection of England

under the rule of three Danish kings, Canute and his two successors,

have very materially increased our vocabulary; and it is remarkable

that they have perhaps done more for our dialects than for the

standard language. The ascendancy of Danish rule was in the eleventh

century; but (with a few exceptions) it was long before words which

must really have been introduced at that time began to appear in our

literature. They must certainly have been looked upon, at the first,

as being rustic or dialectal. I have nowhere seen it remarked, and I

therefore call attention to the fact, that a certain note of rustic

origin still clings to many words of this class; and I would instance

such as these: bawl, bloated, blunder, bungle, clog, clown, clumsy, to

cow, to craze, dowdy, dregs, dump, and many more of a like character.

I do not say that such words cannot be employed in serious literature;

but they require skillful handling.

For further information, see the chapter on "The Scandinavian Element

in English," in my _Principles of English Etymology, Series I_.

With regard to dialectal Scandinavian, see the List of English Words,

as compared with Icelandic, in my Appendix to Cleasby and Vigfusson's

_Icelandic Dictionary_. In this long list, filling 80 columns, the

dialectal words are marked with a dagger {+*}. But the list of these

is by no means exhaustive, and it will require a careful search

through the pages of the _English Dialect Dictionary_ to do justice

to the wealth of this Old Norse element. There is an excellent article

on this subject by Arnold Wall, entitled "A Contribution towards the

Study of the Scandinavian element in the English Dialects," printed

in the German periodical entitled _Anglia, Neue Folge_, Band VIII,

1897.

I now give a list, a mere selection, of some of the more remarkable

words of Scandinavian origin that are known to our dialects. For their

various uses and localities, see the _English Dialect Dictionary_; and

for their etymologies, see my Index to Cleasby and Vigfusson. Many of

these words are well approved and forcible, and may perhaps be

employed hereafter to reinforce our literary language.

_Addle_, to earn; _and_ (in Barbour, _aynd_) sb., breath; _arder_,

a ploughing; _arr_, a scar; _arval_, a funeral repast; _aund_, fated,

destined; _bain_, ready, convenient; _bairns' lakings_, children's

playthings; _beck_, a stream; _big_, to build; _bigg_, barley; _bing_,

a heap; _birr_, impetus; _blaeberry_, a bilberry; _blather_,

_blether_, empty noisy talk; _bouk_, the trunk of the body; _boun_,

ready; _braid_, to resemble, to take after; _brandreth_, an iron

framework over a fire; _brant_, steep; _bro_, a foot-bridge with a

single rail; _bule_, _bool_, the curved handle of a bucket; _busk_,

to prepare oneself, dress; _caller_, fresh, said of fish, etc.;

_carle_, a rustic, peasant; _carr_, moist ground; _cleck_, to hatch

(as chickens); _cleg_, a horse-fly; _coup_, to exchange, to barter;

_dag_, dew; _daggle_, to trail in the wet; _dowf_, dull, heavy,

stupid; _dump_, a deep pool.

_Elding_, _eliding_, fuel; _ettle_, to intend, aim at; _feal_, to

hide; _fell_, a hill; _fey_, doomed, fated to die; _flake_, a hurdle;

_force_, a water-fall; _gab_, idle talk; _gain_, adj., convenient,

suitable; _gait_, a hog; _gar_, to cause, to make; _garn_, yarn;

_garth_, a field, a yard; _gate_, a way, street; _ged_, a pike;

_gilder_, a snare, a fishing-line; _gilt_, a young sow; _gimmer_,

a young ewe; _gloppen_, to scare, terrify; _glare_, to stare, to glow;

_goam_, _gaum_, to stare idly, to gape, whence _gomeril_, a blockhead;

_gowk_, a cuckoo, a clown; _gowlan_, _gollan_, a marigold; _gowpen_,

a double handful; _gradely_, respectable; _graithe_, to prepare;

_grice_, a young pig; _haaf_, the open sea; _haver_, oats; _how_,

a hillock, mound; _immer-goose_, _ember-goose_, the great Northern

diver; _ing_, a lowlying meadow; _intake_, a newly enclosed or

reclaimed portion of land; _keld_, a spring of water; _kenning_,

knowledge, experience; _kilp_, _kelp_, the iron hook in a chimney on

which pots are hung; _kip_, to catch fish in a particular way;

_kittle_, to tickle; _lain_, _lane_, to conceal; _lair_, a muddy

place, a quick-sand; _lait_, to seek; _lake_, to play; _lathe_,

a barn; _lax_, a salmon; _lea_, a scythe; _leister_, a fish-spear

with prongs and barbs; _lift_, the air, sky; _lig_, to lie down;

_lispund_, a variable weight; _lit_, to dye; _loon_, the Northern

diver; _lowe_, a flame, a blaze.

_Mense_, respect, reverence, decency, sense; _mickle_, great; _mirk_,

dark; _morkin_, a dead sheep; _muck_, dirt; _mug_, fog, mist, whence

_muggy_, misty, close, dull; _neif_, _neive_, the fist; _ouse_,

_ouze_, to empty out liquid, to bale out a boat; _paddock_, a frog,

a toad; _quey_, a young heifer; _rae_, a sailyard; _rag_, hoarfrost,

rime; _raise_, a cairn, a tumulus; _ram_, _rammish_, rank, rancid;

_rip_, a basket; _risp_, to scratch; _rit_, to scratch slightly, to

score; _rawk_, _roke_, a mist; _roo_, to pluck off the wool of sheep

instead of shearing them; _roose_, to praise; _roost_, _roust_,

a strong sea-current, a race.

_Sark_, a shirt; _scarf_, a cormorant; _scopperil_, a teetotum;

_score_, a gangway down to the sea-shore; _screes_, rough stones on a

steep mountain-side, really for _screethes_ (the _th_ being omitted

as in _clothes_), from Old Norse _skriða_, a land-slip on a hill-side;

_scut_, a rabbit's tail; _seave_, a rush; _sike_, a small rill,

gutter; _sile_, a young herring; _skeel_, a wooden pail; _skep_,

a basket, a measure; _skift_, to shift, remove, flit; _skrike_, to

shriek; _slocken_, to slake, quench; _slop_, a loose outer garment;

_snag_, a projecting end, a stump of a tree; _soa_, a large round tub;

_spae_, to foretell, to prophesy; _spean_, a teat, (as a verb) to

wean; _spelk_, a splinter, thin piece of wood; _steg_, a gander;

_storken_, to congeal; _swale_, a shady place; _tang_, the prong of a

fork, a tongue of land; _tarn_, a mountain pool; _tath_, manure,

_tathe_, to manure; _ted_, to spread hay; _theak_, to thatch; _thoft_,

a cross-bench in a boat; _thrave_, twenty-four sheaves, or a certain

measure of corn; _tit_, a wren; _titling_, a sparrow; _toft_, a

homestead, an old enclosure, low hill; _udal_, a particular tenure of

land; _ug_, to loathe; _wadmel_, a species of coarse cloth; _wake_,

a portion of open water in a frozen lake or stream; _wale_, to choose;

_wase_, a wisp or small bundle of hay or straw; _whauve_, to cover

over, especially with a dish turned upside down; _wick_, a creek, bay;

_wick_, a corner, angle.

Another source of foreign supply to the vocabulary of the dialects is

French; a circumstance which seems hitherto to have been almost

entirely ignored. The opinion has, I think, been expressed more than

once, that dialects are almost, if not altogether, free from French

influence. Some, however, have called attention, perhaps too much

attention, to the French words found in Lowland Scotch; and it is

common to adduce always the same set of examples, such as _ashet_,

a dish (F. _assiette_, a trencher, plate: Cotgrave), _gigot_, a leg

of mutton, and _petticoat-tails_, certain cakes baked with butter

(ingeniously altered from _petits gastels_, old form of _petits

gâteaux_), by way of illustration. Indeed, a whole book has been

written on this subject; see _A Critical Enquiry into the Scottish

Language_, by Francisque-Michel, 4to, Edinburgh, 1882. But the

importance of the borrowings, chiefly in Scotland, from Parisian

French, has been much exaggerated, as in the work just mentioned;

and a far more important source has been ignored, viz. Anglo-French,

which I here propose to consider.

By Anglo-French is meant the highly important form of French which is

largely peculiar to England, and is of the highest value to the

philologist. The earliest forms of it were Norman, but it was

afterwards supplemented by words borrowed from other French dialects,

such as those of Anjou and Poitou, as well as from the Central French

of Paris. It was thus developed in a way of its own, and must always

be considered, in preference to Old Continental French, when English

etymologies are in question. It is true that it came to an end about

1400, when it ceased to be spoken; but at an earlier date it was alive

and vigorous, and coined its own peculiar forms. A very simple example

is our word _duty_, which certainly was not borrowed from the Old

French _devoir_, but from the Anglo-French _duetee_, a word familiar

in Old London, but absolutely unknown to every form of continental

French.

The point which I have here to insist upon is that not only does our

literary language abound with Anglo-French words, but that they are

also common enough in our dialects; a point which, as far as I know,

is almost invariably overlooked. Neither have our dialects escaped the

influence of the Central French of Paris, and it would have been

strange if they had; for the number of French words in English is

really very large. It is not always possible to discriminate between

the Old French of France and of England, and I shall here consider

both sources together, though the Old Norman words can often be easily

discerned by any one who is familiar with the Norman peculiarities.

Of such peculiarities I will instance three, by way of example. Thus

Anglo-French often employs _ei_ or _ey_ where Old French (i.e. of

the continent) has _oi_ or _oy_; and English has retained the old

pronunciations of _ch_ and _j_. Hence, whilst _convoy_ is borrowed

from French, _convey_ is Anglo-French. _Machine_ is French, because

the _ch_ is pronounced as _sh_; but _chine_, the backbone, is

Anglo-French. _Rouge_ is French, because of the peculiar pronunciation

of the final _ge_; but _rage_ is Anglo-French; and _jaundice_ is

Anglo-French, as it has the old _j_. See Chapters III-VI of my

_Principles of English Etymology, Second Series_.

A good example of a dialect word is _gantry_ or _gauntree_, a wooden

stand for barrels, known in varying forms in many dialects. It is

rightly derived, in the _E.D.D._, from _gantier_, which must have been

an A.F. (Anglo-French) form, though now only preserved in the Rouchi

dialect, spoken on the borders of France and Belgium, and nearly

allied to Norman; in fact, M. Hécart, the author of the _Dictionnaire_

_Rouchi-Français_, says he had heard the word in Normandy, and he

gives a quotation for it from Olivier Basselin, a poet who lived

in Normandy at the beginning of the fifteenth century. The Parisian

form is _chantier_, which Cotgrave explains as "a Gauntrey... for

hogs-heads to stand on." Here is a clear example of a word which is of

Norman, or A.F., origin; and there must be many more such of which the

A.F. form is lost. There is no greater literary disgrace to England

than the fact that there is no reasonable Dictionary in existence of

Anglo-French, though it contains hundreds of highly important legal

terms. It ought, in fact, to have been compiled before either the

_English Dialect Dictionary_ or the _New English Dictionary_, both

of which have suffered from the lack of it.

It would indeed be tedious to enumerate the vast number of French

words in our dialects. Many are literary words used in a peculiar

sense, often in one that has otherwise been long obsolete; such as

_able_, rich; _access_, an ague-fit; _according_, comparatively;

_to act_, to show off, be ridiculous; _afraid_, conj., for fear

that; _agreeable_, willing; _aim_, to intend; _aisle_, a central

thoroughfare in a shop, etc.; _alley_, the aisle of a church; _allow_,

to suppose; _anatomy_, a skeleton; _ancient_, an ensign, flag;

_anguish_, inflammation; _annoyance_, damage; _anointed_, notoriously

vicious; _apron_, the diaphragm of an animal; _apt_, sure;

_arbitrary_, impatient of restraint; _archangel_, dead nettle;

_argue_, to signify; _arrant_, downright; _auction_, an untidy place,

a crowd; _avise_ (for _advise_), to inform. It is needless to go

through the rest of the alphabet.

Moreover, dialect-speakers are quite capable of devising new forms

for themselves. It is sufficient to instance _abundation_, abundance;

_ablins_, possibly (made from _able_); _argle_, _argie-bargie_,

_argle-bargle_, _argufy_, all varieties of the verb _to argue_; and

so on.

The most interesting words are those that have survived from Middle

English or from Tudor English times. Examples are _aigre_, sour, tart,

which is Shakespeare's _eagre_, _Hamlet_, I, v 69; _ambry_, _aumbry_,

cupboard, spelt _almarie_ in _Piers the Plowman_, B XIV 246; _arain_,

a spider, spelt _yreyn_ in Wyclif's translation of Psalm XC 10, which,

after all, is less correct; _arles_, money paid on striking a bargain,

a highly interesting word, spelt _erles_ in the former half of the

thirteenth century; _arris_, the angular edge of a cut block of stone,

etc., from the O.F. _areste_, L. _arista_, which has been revived by

our Swiss mountain-climbers in the form _aréte_; _a-sew_, dry, said

of cows that give no milk (cf. F. _essuyer_, to dry); _assoilyie_,

to absolve, acquit, and _assith_, to compensate, both used by Sir

W. Scott; _astre_, _aistre_, a hearth, a Norman word found in 1292;

_aunsel_, a steelyard, of which the etymology is given in the

_E.D.D._; _aunter_, an adventure, from the A.F. _aventure_; _aver_,

a beast of burden, horse, used by Burns, from the A.F. _aveir_,

property, cattle; _averous_, A.F. _averous_, avaricious, in Wyclif's

translation of 1 Cor. vi 10.

Here is ample proof of the survival of Anglo-French in our dialects.

Indeed, their chief philological use consists in the great antiquity

of many of the terms, which often preserve Old English and Anglo-French

forms with much fidelity. The charge often brought against dialect

speakers of using "corrupt" forms is only occasionally and

exceptionally true. Much worse "corruptions" have been made by

antiquaries, in order to suit their false etymologies.

CHAPTER X

LATER HISTORY OF THE DIALECTS

With the ascendancy of East Midland, and its acceptance as the chief

literary language, the other dialects practically ceased to be

recorded, with the exception (noted above) of the Scottish

Northumbrian. Of English Northumbrian, the sixteenth century tells us

nothing beyond what we can glean from belated copies of Northern

ballads or such traces of a Northern (apparently a Lancashire) dialect

as appear in Spenser's _Shepherd's Calendar_. Fitzherbert's _Boke

of Husbandry_ (1534) was reprinted for the E.D.S. in 1882. It was

written, not by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, as I erroneously said in

the Preface, but by his brother, John Fitzherbert, as has been

subsequently shown. It contains a considerable number of dialectal

words. Thomas Tusser (1525-1580), born in Essex, wrote _A Hundreth

Good Pointes of Husbandrie_ (1557), and _Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good

Husbandrie_ (1573); see the edition by Payne and Herrtage, E.D.S.,

1878. He employs many country words, presumably Essex. The dialect

assumed by Edgar in Shakespeare's _King Lear_ is not to be taken as

being very accurate; he talks somewhat like a Somersetshire peasant,

but I suppose his speech to be in a conventional stage dialect, such

as we find also in _The London Prodigall_, Act II, Sc. 4, where

Olyver, "a Devonshire Clothier," uses similar expressions, viz.

_chill_ for _Ich will_, I will; and _chy vor thee_, I warn thee.

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the value of dialectal

words as helping to explain our English vocabulary began to be

recognised. Particular mention may be made of the _Etymologicon

Linguæ Anglicanæ_, by Stephen Skinner, London, 1671; and it should

be noted that this is the Dictionary upon which Dr Johnson relied for

the etymology of native English words. At the same time, we must not

forget to note two Dictionaries of a much earlier date, which are of

high value. The former of these is the _Promptorium Parvulorum_,

completed in 1440, published by the Camden Society in 1865; which

contains a rather large proportion of East Anglian words. The second

is the _Catholicon Anglicum_, dated 1483, ed. S.J. Herrtage, E.E.T.S.,

1881, which is distinctly Northern (possibly of Yorkshire origin).

We find in Skinner occasional mention of Lincolnshire words, with

which he was evidently familiar. Examples are: _boggle-boe_,

a spectre; _bratt_, an apron; _buffet-stool_, a hassock; _bulkar_,

explained by Peacock as "a wooden hutch in a workshop or a ship."

The study of modern English Dialects began with the year 1674, when

the celebrated John Ray, Fellow of the Royal Society, botanist,

zoologist, and collector of local words and proverbs, issued his

_Collection of English Words not generally used_; of which a second

edition appeared in 1691. See my reprint of these; E.D.S., 1874. This

was the first general collection, and one of the best; and after this

date (1674) many dialect words appeared in English Dictionaries, such

as those of Elisha Coles (1676, and four subsequent editions); John

Kersey (1708, etc.); Nathaniel Bailey (1721, etc.); N. Bailey's

_Dictionary_, Part II, a distinct work (1727, etc.). The celebrated

_Dictionary_ by Dr Johnson, 2 vols., folio, London, 1755, owed much

to Bailey. Later, we may notice the _Dictionary_ by John Ash, London,

1775; and Todd's edition of Johnson, London, 1818. It is needless to

mention later works; see the Complete List of Dictionaries, by H.B.

Wheatley, reprinted in the E.D.S. Bibliographical List (1877), pp.

3-11; and the long List of Works which more particularly relate to

English Dialects in the same, pp. 11-17. Among the latter may be

mentioned _A Provincial Glossary_, by F. Grose, London, 1787, second

edition 1790; _Supplement to the same_, by the late S. Pegge, F.S.A.,

London, 1814; and _Glossary of Archaic and Provincial_ _Words_, by the

late Rev. J. Boucher, ed. Hunter and Stevenson, 1832-3. The last of

these was attempted on a large scale, but never got beyond the word

_Blade_; so that it was practically a failure. The time for producing

a real Dialect Dictionary had not yet come; but the valuable

_Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, by J. Jamieson,

published at Edinburgh in 4 vols., 4to, in 1808-25, made an excellent

beginning.

The nineteenth century not only accumulated for our use a rather large

number of general works on Dialects, but also a considerable quantity

of works illustrating them separately. I may instance those on the

dialect of Bedfordshire, by T. Batchelor, 1809; of Berkshire, by Job

Lousley, 1852; Cheshire, by R. Wilbraham, 1820, 1826; East Anglia, by

R. Forby, 1830, and by Nall, 1866; Teesdale, co. Durham, by F.T.

Dinsdale, 1849; Herefordshire, by G.C. Lewis, 1839; Lincolnshire, by

J.E. Brogden, 1866; Northamptonshire, by Miss A.E. Baker, 2 vols.,

1854; the North Country, by J.T. Brockett, 1825, 1846; Somersetshire,

by J. Jennings, 1825, 1869; Suffolk, by E. Moor, 1823; Sussex, by W.D.

Cooper, 1836, 1853; Wiltshire, by J.Y. Akerman, 1842; the Cleveland

dialect (Yorks.), by J.C. Atkinson, 1868; the Craven dialect, by W.

Carr, 1824; and many more of the older type that are still of value.

We have also two fairly good general dictionaries of dialect words;

that by T. Wright, 1857, 1869; and that by J.O. Halliwell, 2 vols.,

1847, 11th ed., 1889. See the exhaustive Bibliographical List of all

works connected with our dialects in the _E.D.D._, pp. 1-59, at the

end of vol. VI.

In 1869 appeared Part I of Dr A.J. Ellis's great work on _Early

English Pronunciation_, with especial reference to Shakespeare and

Chaucer; followed by Part II of the same, on the Pronunciation of the

thirteenth and previous centuries, of Anglo-Saxon, Icelandic, Old

Norse, and Gothic. In 1871 appeared Part III of the same, on the

Pronunciation of the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. Part IV was

then planned to include the Pronunciation of the seventeenth,

eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, including the Phonology of the

Dialects; and for this purpose it was necessary to gain particulars

such as could hardly be accomplished without special research. It was

partly with this in view, and partly in order to collect material for

a really comprehensive dictionary, that, in 1873, I founded the

English Dialect Society, undertaking the duties of Secretary and

Director. The Society was brought to an end in 1896, after producing

80 publications and collecting much material. Mr Nodal, of Manchester,

was Secretary from 1876 to 1893; and from 1893 to 1896 the

headquarters of the Society were in Oxford. Besides this, I raised a

fund in 1886 for collecting additional material in manuscript, and

thus obtained a considerable quantity, which the Rev. A. Smythe

Palmer, D.D., in the course of two years and a half, arranged in fair

order. But even in 1889 more was required, and the work was then

taken in hand by Dr Joseph Wright, who gives the whole account of

the means by which, in 1898, he was enabled to issue Vol. I of the

_English Dialect Dictionary_. The sixth and concluding volume of

this most valuable work was issued in 1905.

To this I refer the reader for all further information, which is

there given in a very complete form. At the beginning is a Preface

explaining the history of the book; followed by lists of voluntary

readers, of unprinted MS. collections, and of correspondents

consulted; whilst Vol. VI, besides a Supplement of 179 pages, gives a

Bibliography of Books and MSS. quoted, with a full Index; to which is

added the _English Dialect Grammar_.

This _English Dialect Grammar_ was also published, in 1905, as a

separate work, and contains a full account of the phonology of all the

chief dialects, the very variable pronunciation of a large number of

leading words being accurately indicated by the use of a special set

of symbols; the Table of Vowel-sounds is given at p. 13. The Phonology

is followed by an Accidence, which discusses the peculiarities of

dialect grammar. Next follows a rather large collection of important

words, that are differently pronounced in different counties; for

example, more than thirty variations are recorded of the pronunciation

of the word _house_. The fulness of the Vocabulary in the Dictionary,

and the minuteness of the account of the phonology and accidence in

the Grammar, leave nothing to desire. Certainly no other country can

give so good an account of its Dialects.

CHAPTER XI

THE MODERN DIALECTS

It has been shown that, in the earliest period, we can distinguish

three well-marked dialects besides the Kentish, viz. Northumbrian,

Mercian, and Anglo-Saxon; and these, in the Middle English period, are

known as Northern, Midland, and Southern. The modern dialects are very

numerous, but can be arranged under five divisions, two of which may

be called Northern and Southern, as before; whilst the other three

arise from a division of the widely spread Midland into subdivisions.

These may be called, respectively, West Midland, Mid Midland (or

simply Midland), and East Midland; and it has been shown that similar

subdivisions appear even in the Middle English period.

This arrangement of the modern dialects under five divisions is that

adopted by Prof. Wright, who further simplifies the names by using

Western in place of West Midland, and Eastern in place of East

Midland. This gives us, as a final result, five divisions of English

dialects, viz. Northern, Western, Midland, Eastern, and Southern;

to which we must add the dialects of modern Scotland (originally

Northern), and the dialects of Ireland, viz. of Ulster (a kind of

Northern), Dublin, and Wexford (a kind of Southern).

No map of dialects is here given in illustration, because it is

practically impossible to define their boundaries accurately. Such

a map was once given by Dr Ellis, but it is only arbitrary; and Prof.

Wright expressly says that, in his work also, the boundaries suggested

are inexact; they are only given for convenience, as an approximation

to the truth. He agrees with Dr Ellis in most of the particulars.

Many of the counties are divided between two, or even three, dialects;

I somewhat simplify matters by omitting to mention some of them, so as

to give merely a general idea of the chief dialectal localities. For

fuller information, see the _Dialect Grammar_.

I. The dialects of Scotland may be subdivided into nine groups:

1. Shetland and Orkney. 2. Caithness. 3. Nairn, Elgin, Banff,

Aberdeen. 4. E. Forfar, Kincardine. 5. W. Forfar, most of Perth,

parts of Fife and Stirling. 6. S. Ayr, W. Dumfries, Kirkcudbright,

Wigton. 7. S.E. Argyle, N. Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark. 8. Kinross,

Clackmannan, Linlithgow, Edinburgh, Haddington, Berwick, Peebles.

9. E. Dumfries, Selkirk, Roxburgh.

II. Ireland.--Ulster, Dublin, Wexford.

III. England and Wales, in five divisions: (_a_) Northern;

(_b_) Midland; (_c_) Eastern; (_d_) Western; (_e_) Southern.

(_a_) Three groups: 1. Northumberland, N. Durham. 2. S. Durham;

most of Cumberland, Westmoreland, N. Lancashire, hilly parts of

W. Riding of Yorkshire. 3. N. and E. Ridings of Yorkshire.

(_b_) Ten groups: 1. Lincolnshire. 2. S.E. Lancashire, N.E.

Cheshire, N.W. Derby. 3. S.W. Lancashire, S. of the Ribble.

4. Mid Lancashire, Isle of Man. 5. S. Yorkshire; to the S.W. of

the Wharfe. 6. Most of Cheshire, N. Staffordshire. 7. Most of

Derby. 8. Nottingham. 9. Flint, Denbigh. 10. E. Shropshire,

S. Stafford, most of Warwickshire, S. Derby, Leicestershire.

(_c_) Five groups: 1. Cambridge, Rutland, N.E. Northampton.

2. Most of Essex and Hertford, Huntingdon, Bedford, Mid Northampton.

3. Norfolk and Suffolk. 4. Most of Buckingham. 5. Middlesex,

S.E. Buckingham, S. Hertford, S.W. Essex.

N.B. S.W. Northampton is Southern; see (_e_), 4.

(_d_) Two groups: 1. W. and S. Shropshire (W. of Severn). 2. Hereford

(except E.), Radnor, E. Brecknock.

(_e_) Ten groups. 1. Parts of Pembroke and Glamorgan. 2. Wiltshire,

Dorset, N. and E. Somerset, most of Gloucester, S.W. Devon. 3. Most

of Hampshire, Isle of Wight, most of Berkshire, S. Surrey, W. Sussex.

4. N. Gloucester, E. Hereford, Worcester, S. Warwick, N. Oxford,

S.W. Northampton. 5. Most of Oxford. 6. N. Surrey, N.W. Kent.

7. Most of Kent, E. Sussex. 8. W. Somerset, N.E. Devon. 9. Most of

Devon, E. Cornwall. 10. W. Cornwall.

CHAPTER XII

A FEW SPECIMENS

There is a great wealth of modern dialect literature, as indicated

by the lists in the _E.D.D._ Some of these dialect books are poor

and inaccurate, and they are frequently spelt according to no

intelligible phonetic principles. Yet it not unfrequently happens,

as in the works of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, that the

dialectal scraps indicate the pronunciation with tolerable fidelity,

which is more than can be said of such portions of their works as are

given in the normal spelling. It is curious to notice that writers in

dialect are usually, from a phonetic point of view, more careful and

consistent in their modes of indicating sounds than are the rest of

us. Sometimes their spelling is, accordingly, very good. Those who are

interested in this subject may follow up this hint with advantage.

It is impossible to mention even a tithe of the names of our better

dialect writers. In Scotland alone there is a large number, some of

the more recent bearing such well-known names as those of R.L.

Stevenson, George Macdonald (Aberdeen), J.M. Barrie (Forfarshire), and

S.R. Crockett (Galloway). Dean Ramsay's humorous _Reminiscences of

Scottish Life and Character_ must not be passed over. For Ireland we

have William Carleton's _Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry_,

and the novels by Lever and Lover. Cumberland has its delightful

stories of _Joe and the Geologist_, and _Bobby Banks' Bodderment_.

Cornwall has its _Tales_, by J.T. Tregellas. Devon can boast of R.D.

Blackmore, Dorset of Hardy and Barnes, and Lincoln of Tennyson. The

literature of Lancashire is vast; it suffices to mention John Collier

(otherwise Tim Bobbin), author of _Tummus and Meary_, Ben Brierley,

John Byrom, J.P. Morris, author of _T' Lebby Beck Dobby_, and Edwin

Waugh, prose author and poet. _Giles's Trip to London_, and the other

sketches by the same author, are highly characteristic of Norfolk.

Northamptonshire has its poet, John Clare; and Suffolk can boast of

Robert Bloomfield. According to her own statement, printed in the

Preface (p. viii) to the E.D.S. _Bibliographical List_, George Eliot,

when writing _Adam Bede_, had in mind "the talk of N. Staffordshire

and the neighbouring part of Derbyshire"; whilst, in _Silas Marner_,

"the district imagined is in N. Warwickshire." Southey wrote

_T' Terrible Knitters e' Dent_ in the Westmoreland dialect.

Yorkshire, like Lancashire, has a large literature, to which

the _E.D.D._ Booklist can alone do justice.

SCOTTISH (Group 3): ABERDEEN.

The following extract is from Chapter XVIII of _Johnny Gibb of

Gushetneuk_, by W. Alexander, LL.D., fifteenth edition, Edinburgh,

1908. One special peculiarity of the dialect is the use of _f_ for

_wh_, as in _fat_, what, _fan_, when. The extract describes how the

speaker and his friends went to hear a bellman make a proclamation

about the appointment of a new minister to a church.

It's a vera stiff brae, an' ere we wan up to the kirk, it was gyaun

upon eleyven o'clock. "Hooever," says the mannie, "we'll be in braw

time; it's twal ere the sattlement begin, an' I'se warran they sanna

apen the kirk-doors till's till than." So we tak's a luik roun' for

ony kent fowk. They war stannin' aboot a'gate roun' aboot the kirk,

in scores an' hunners, fowk fae a' the pairis'es roun' aboot, an'

some fae hyne awa' as far doon's Marnoch o' the tae han' an' Kintore

o' the tither, aw believe; some war stampin' their feet an' slappin'

their airms like the yauws o' a win'mill to keep them a-heat;

puckles wus sittin' o' the kirk-yard dyke, smokin' an' gyaun on wi'

a' kin' o' orra jaw aboot the minaisters, an' aye mair gedderin' in

aboot--it was thocht there wus weel on to twa thoosan' there ere a'

was deen. An' aye a bit fudder was comin' up fae the manse aboot fat

the Presbytery was deein--they war chaumer't there, ye see, wi' the

lawvyers an' so on. "Nyod, they maun be sattlin' 'im i' the manse,"

says ane, "we'll need a' gae doon an' see gin we can win in." "Na,

na," says anither, "a bit mair bather aboot thair dissents an'

appales bein' ta'en; muckle need they care, wi' sic a Presbytery,

fat they try. But here's Johnny Florence, the bellman, at the lang

length, I'se be at the boddom o' fat they're at noo." And wi' that

he pints till a carlie comin' across the green, wi' a bit paper in's

han', an' a gryte squad o' them 't hed been hingin' aboot the

manse-door at's tail. "Oo, it's Johnny gyaun to read the edick,"

cries a gey stoot chap, an' twa three o' them gya a roar o' a

lauch.... "Speek oot, min!" cries ane. "I think ye mith pronunce

some better nor that, Johnny," says anither; an' they interrupit

'im fan he was tryin' to read wi' a' kin' of haivers, takin' the

words oot o's mou, an' makin' the uncoest styte o't 't cud be.

Notes.--_brae_, hill; _wan up_, got up; _gyaun upon_,

going close upon; _braw_, excellent; _twal_, twelve;

_sattlement_, decision; _I'se_, I will (lit. I shall);

_sanna_, will not; _till's_, for us; _kent fowk_, known

people, acquaintances; _a'gate_, in all ways; _hunners_,

hundreds; _fae_, from; _hyne awa'_, hence away, as far

off; _the tae_, the one; _the tither_, the other; _yauws_,

sails; _puckles_, numbers, many; _dyke_, stone fence;

_orra jaw_, various loud talk; _mair gedderin'_, more

gathering; _on to_, near; _deen_, done; _bit fudder_,

bit of a rumour (lit. gust of wind); _fae_, from; _fat_,

what; _deein_, doing; _chaumer't_, chambered, shut up;

_nyod_, a disguised oath; _we'll need_, we must; _gin_,

if; _win in_, get in: _bather_, bother; _at the lang

length_, at last; _carlie_, churl; _gryte squad_, great

crowd; _gey stoot_, rather stout; _twa three_, two or

three; _gya_, gave; _mith_, might; _nor that_, than that;

_haivers_, foolish talk; _mou_, mouth; _uncoest_, most

uncouth, strangest; _styte_, nonsense.

SCOTTISH (Group 7): AYRSHIRE.

The following lines are quoted from a well-known

poem by Robert Burns (1759-1796).

The Twa Dogs (Cæsar and Luath).

_Cæs_. "I've notic'd, on our Laird's court-day,

An' mony a time my heart's been wae,

Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash,

How they maun thole a factor's snash

He'll stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear,

He'll apprehend them, poind their gear;

While they maun stan', wi' aspect humble,

An' hear it a', an' fear and tremble!

I see how folk live that hae riches;

But surely poor folk maun be wretches."

_Lu._ "They're no sae wretched's are wad think;

Tho' constantly on poortith's brink,

They're sae accustom'd wi' the sight,

The view o't gies them little fright....

The dearest comfort o' their lives,

Their grushie weans an' faithfu' wives:

The prattling things are just their pride,

That sweetens a' their fire-side....

That merry day the year begins,

They bar the door on frosty win's;

The nappy reeks wi' mantling ream,

An' sheds a heart-inspiring steam;

The luntin' pipe an' sneeshin-mill

Are handed round wi' right good will;

The cantie auld folks crackin' crouse,

The young anes ranting thro' the house--

My heart has been sae fain to see them

That I, for joy, hae barkit wi' them!"...

By this, the sun was out o' sight,

An' darker gloamin' brought the night:

The bum-clock humm'd wi' lazy drone,

The kye stood rowtin' i' the loan;

When up they gat, an' shook their lugs,

Rejoic'd they were na _men_ but _dogs_;

An' each took aff his several way,

Resolv'd to meet some ither day.

Notes.--_wae_, sorrowful; _maun thole_, must endure, must

put up with; _factor's snash_, agent's abuse; _poind_,

seize upon, sequester; _gear_, property; _hae_, have;

_no sae_, not so; _wad_, would; _poortith_, poverty;

_grushie_, of thriving growth, well-grown; _weans_,

children; _win's_, winds; _nappy_, foaming ale; _reeks_,

smokes; _ream_, cream; _luntin'_, smoking, emitting smoke;

_sneeshin-mill_, snuff box; _cantie_, merry; _crackin'_,

conversing; _crouse_, with good spirits; _ranting_,

running noisily; _fain_, glad; _gloamin'_, twilight;

_bum-clock_, beetle (that booms); _kye_, cows; _rowtin'_,

lowing; _loan_, milking-place; _lugs_, ears.

SCOTTISH (Group 8): EDINBURGH.

The following stanzas are from _The Farmer's Ingle_, a poem by

Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), a native of Edinburgh.

Whan gloming grey out o'er the welkin keeks,

Whan Batie ca's his owsen to the byre,

Whan Thrasher John, sair dung, his barn-door steeks,

And lusty lasses at the dighting tire:

What bangs fu' leal the e'enings coming cauld,

And gars snaw-tappit winter freeze in vain,

Gars dowie mortals look baith blythe and bauld,

Nor fley'd wi' a' the poortith o' the plain;

Begin, my Muse, and chant in hamely strain.

Frae the big stack, weel-winnow't on the hill,

Wi' divets theekit frae the weet and drift,

Sods, peats, and heath'ry trufs the chimley fill,

And gar their thick'ning smeek salute the lift;

The gudeman, new come hame, is blythe to find,

Whan he out o'er the halland flings his een,

That ilka turn is handled to his mind,

That a' his housie looks sae cosh and clean;

For cleanly house lo'es he, tho' e'er sae mean.

Weel kens the gudewife that the pleughs require

A heartsome meltith, and refreshing synd

O' nappy liquor, o'er a bleezing fire;

Sair wark and poortith downa weel be join'd.

Wi' buttered bannocks now the girdle reeks;

I' the far nook the bowie briskly reams;

The readied kail stands by the chimley-cheeks,

And hauds the riggin het wi' welcome streams;

Whilk than the daintiest kitchen nicer seems....

Then a' the house for sleep begin to grien,

Their joints to slack frae industry a while;

The leaden god fa's heavy on their een,

And hafflins steeks them frae their daily toil;

The cruizy too can only blink and bleer,

The restit ingle's done the maist it dow;

Tackman and cottar eke to bed maun steer,

Upo' the cod to clear their drumly pow,

Till waukened by the dawning's ruddy glow.

Notes.--_Ingle_, chimney-corner. _Gloming_, twilight;

_keeks_, peeps; _ca's_, drives (lit. calls); _owsen_,

oxen; _byre_, cow-house; _sair dung_, sorely tired;

_steeks_, shuts; _dighting_, winnowing; _bangs fu'

leal_, defeats right well; _gars_, makes; _-tappit_,

crested; _dowie_, melancholy; _fley'd_, frighted;

_poortith_, poverty.

_Divets_, turfs; _theekit_, thatched; _weet_, wet;

_sods, peats, and heath'ry trufs_, various turf fuels;

_chimley_, fire-place; _gar_, make; _smeek_, smoke;

_lift_, sky; _halland_, partition forming a screen;

_een_, eyes; _ilka_, each; _cosh_, cosy; _lo'es_, loves.

_Kens_, knows; _meltith_, meal-tide, meal; _synd_,

wash-down, draught; _nappy_, heady, strong; _downa_,

cannot; _bannocks_, cakes; _girdle_, hot-plate; _reeks_,

smokes; _bowie_, cask, beer-barrel; _reams_, foams;

_readied kail_, (dish of) cooked greens; _by_, beside;

_hauds... het_, keeps... hot; _riggin_, roof over the open

hearth; _whilk_, which.

_Grien_, yearn, long; _hafflins steeks_, half shuts;

_cruizy_, oil-lamp; _bleer_, bedim (the sight); _restit

ingle_, made up fire; _dow_, can; _tackman_, lease-holder,

farmer; _cod_, pillow; _drumly pow_, confused head.

NORTHERN (ENGLAND); Group 2: WESTMORELAND.

The following extract is from a remarkable tract entitled _A Bran

New Wark, by William De Worfat_; Kendal, 1785. The author was the

Rev. William Hutton, Rector of Beetham in Westmoreland, 1762-1811, and

head of a family seated at Overthwaite (here called Worfat) in that

parish. It was edited by me for the E.D.S. in 1879.

Last Saturday sennet, abaut seun in the evening (twas lownd and

fraaze hard) the stars twinkled, and the setting moon cast

gigantic shadows. I was stalking hameward across Blackwater-mosses,

and whistling as I tramp'd for want of thought, when a noise struck

my ear, like the crumpling of frosty murgeon; it made me stop short,

and I thought I saw a strange form before me: it vanished behint a

windraw; and again thare was nought in view but dreary dykes, and

dusky ling. An awful silence reigned araund; this was sean brokken

by a skirling hullet; sure nivver did hullet, herrensue, or miredrum,

mak sic a noise before. Your minister [_himself_] was freetned, the

hairs of his head stood an end, his blead storkened, and the haggard

creature moving slawly nearer, the mirkiness of the neet shew'd her

as big again as she was... She stoup'd and drop'd a poak, and thus

began with a whining tone. "Deary me! deary me! forgive me, good Sir,

but this yance, I'll steal naa maar. This seek is elding to keep us

fra starving!"... [_The author visits the poor woman's cottage_.]

She sat on a three-legg'd steal, and a dim coal smook'd within the

rim of a brandreth, oor which a seety rattencreak hung dangling fra

a black randletree. The walls were plaister'd with dirt, and a stee,

with hardly a rung, was rear'd into a loft. Araund the woman her

lile ans sprawl'd on the hearth, some whiting speals, some

snottering and crying, and ya ruddy-cheek'd lad threw on a bullen

to make a loww, for its mother to find her loup. By this sweal I

beheld this family's poverty.

Notes.--_Sennet_, seven nights, week; _seun_, seven;

_lownd_, still, calm; _murgeon_, rubbish earth cut up and

thrown aside in order to get peat; _windraw_, heap of dug

earth; _ling_, kind of heather; _skirling hullet_, shrieking

owlet; _herrensue_, young heron; _miredrum_, bittern; _blead

storkened_, blood congealed; _neet_, night; _poak_, bag;

_yance_, once; _seck_, sack, i.e. contents of this sack;

_elding_, fuel; _steal_, stool; _brandreth_, iron frame

over the fire; _seaty_, sooty; _rattencreak_, potcrook,

pothook; _randletree_, a beam from which the pothook hangs;

_stee_, ladder; _loft_, upper room; _lile ans_, little

ones; _whiting speals_, whittling small sticks; _snottering_,

sobbing; _ya_, one; _bullen_, hempstalk; _loww_, flame;

_loup_, loop, stitch in knitting; _sweal_, blaze.

MIDLAND (Group I): LINCOLN.

I here give a few quotations from the Glossary of Words used in the

Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire, by E. Peacock,

F.S.A.; 2nd ed., E.D.S., 1889. The illustrative sentences are very

characteristic.

_Beal_, to bellow.--Th' bairn beäled oot that bad, I was clëan

scar'd, but it was at noht bud a battle-twig 'at hed crohlëd up'n

hisairm. (_Battle-twig_, earwig; _airm_, arm.)

_Cart, to get into_, to get into a bad temper.--Na, noo, thoo

neädn't get into th' cart, for I weän't draw thee.

_Cauf_, a calf, silly fellow.--A gentleman was enlarging to a

Winterton lad on the virtues of Spanish juice [liquorice water].

"Ah,then, ye'll ha' been to th' mines, wheäre thaay gets it," the

boy exclaimed; whereupon the mother broke in with--"A greät cauf!

Duz he think 'at thaay dig it oot o' th' grund, saäme as thaay do

sugar?"

_Chess_, a tier.--I've been tell'd that e' plaaces wheäre thaay

graw silk-worms, thaay keäps 'em on traays, chess aboon chess,

like cheney i' a cupboard. (_E'_ in; _cheney_, china.)

_Clammer_, to climb.--Oor Uriah's clammered into th' parson's

cherry-tree, muther, an' he is swalla'in on 'em aboon a bit.

I shouldn't ha tell'd ye nobbut he weänt chuck me ony doon.

(_Nobbut_, only.)

_Cottoner_, something very striking.--Th' bairn hed been e'

mischief all daay thrif; at last, when I was sidin' awaay th'

teä-things, what duz he do but tum'le i'to th' well. So, says I,

Well, this is a cottoner; we shall hev to send for Mr Iveson

(the coroner) noo, I reckon. (_Thrif_, through; _sidin' awaay_,

putting away.)

_Ducks_.--A girl said to the author, of a woman with whom she had

been living for a short time as servant, "I'd raather be nibbled

to deäd wi' ducks then live with Miss P. She's alus a natterin'."

(_Deäd_, death; _alus_, always; _natterin'_, nagging.)

_Good mind_, strong intention.--She said she'd a good mind to hing

her-sen, soä I ax'd if I mud send for Mr Holgate (the coroner), to

be ready like. (_Hing_, hang; _mud_, might.)

_Jaup_, senseless talk.--Ho'd the jaup wi' th{(e}; dos't ta want

ivery body to knaw how soft thoo is? (_Ho'd_, hold; _soft_,

foolish.)

MIDLAND (Group 2): S.E. LANCASHIRE.

The following poem is from _Poems and Songs_ by Edwin Waugh; 3rd ed.,

London, 1870.

Owd Pinder.

Owd Pinder were a rackless foo,

An' spent his days i' spreein';

At th' end ov every drinkin-do,

He're sure to crack o' deein';

"Go, sell my rags, an' sell my shoon,

Aw's never live to trail 'em;

My ballis-pipes are eawt o' tune,

An' th' wynt begins to fail 'em!

Eawr Matty's very fresh an' yung;--

'T would any mon bewilder;--

Hoo'll wed again afore it's lung,

For th' lass is fond o' childer;

My bit o' brass'll fly--yo'n see--

When th' coffin-lid has screen'd me--

It gwos again my pluck to dee,

An' lev her wick beheend me.

Come, Matty, come, an' cool my yed;

Aw'm finish'd, to my thinkin';"

Hoo happed him nicely up, an' said,

"Thae'st brought it on wi' drinkin'."--

"Nay, nay," said he, "my fuddle's done,

We're partin' tone fro tother;

So promise me that, when aw'm gwon,

Thea'll never wed another!"

"Th' owd tale," said hoo, an' laft her stoo;

"It's rayly past believin';

Thee think o' th' world thea'rt goin' to,

An' lev this world to th' livin';

What use to me can deeod folk be?

Thae's kilt thisel' wi' spreein";

An' iv that's o' thae wants wi' me,

Get forrud wi' thi deein'!"

Notes.--_Owd_, old; _rackless foo_, reckless fool; _spreein'_,

merry-making, drinking; _-do_, bout; _He're_, he would be;

_crack o' deein'_ , hint at dying; _Aw's_, I shall; _trail_,

walk in; _ballis-pipes_, bellows-pipes, lungs; _eawt_, out;

_wynt_, wind.

_Eawr_, our, my; _Hoo_, she; _brass_, money; _yo'n_, you will;

_lev_, leave; _wick_, quick, i.e. alive.

_Yed_, head; _happed_, covered; _fuddle_, drinking-bout;

_tone fro tother_, the one from the other.

_Stoo_, stool; _Thee think_, do thou think; _deeod_, dead;

_o'_, all; _get forrud_, get on, go on.

MIDLAND (Group 5): SHEFFIELD.

The following extract is from A. Bywater's _Sheffield Dialect_,

3rd ed, 1877; as quoted in S.O. Addy's _Sheffield Glossary_,

E.D.S., 1888, p. xv.

_Jerra Flatback._ Hah, they'n better toimes on't nah, booath e

heitin and clooas; we'n had menni a mess a nettle porridge an brawls

on a Sunda mo'nin, for us brekfast... Samma, dusta remember hah

menni names we had for sahwer wotcake?

_Oud Samma Squarejoint._ O kno'n't, lad; bur o think we'd foive or

six. Let's see: Slammak wer won, an' Flat-dick wer anuther; an't

tuther wor--a dear, mo memra fails ma--Flannel an' Jonta;

an-an-an-an--bless me, wot a thing it is tubbe oud, mo memra gers

war for ware, bur o kno heah's anuther; o'st think on enah.--

A, Jerra, heah's menni a thahsand dogs nah days, at's better dun

too nor we wor then; an them were t'golden days a Hallamshoir, they

sen. An they happen wor, for't mesters. Hofe at prentis lads e them

days wor lether'd whoile ther skin wor skoi-blue, and clam'd whoile

ther booans wer bare, an work'd whoile they wor as knock-kneed as

oud Nobbletistocks. Thah nivver sees nooa knock-kneed cutlers nah:

nou, not sooa; they'n better mesters nah, an they'n better sooat a

wark anole. They dooant mezher em we a stick, as oud Natta Hall did.

But for all that, we'd none a yer wirligig polishin; nor Tom Dockin

scales, wit bousters comin off; nor yer sham stag, nor sham revvits,

an sich loik. T' noives wor better made then, Jerra.

_Jerra_: Hah, they wor better made; they made t' noives for yuse

then, but they mayn em to sell nah.

Notes.--Observe _'n_ for _han_ (plural), have; _on't nah_,

of it now; _e heitin_, in eating; _mess a_, dish of, meal of;

_brawis_, brose, porridge; _hah_, how; _sahwer wotcake_,

leavened oatcake; _bur o_, but I; _mo_, my; _ma_, me;

_tubbe oud_, to be old; _gers_, gets; _war for ware_,

worse for wear; _o'st_, I shall; _think on_, remember;

_enah_, presently; _nah days_, nowadays; _at's_, that are;

_dun too_, treated; _nor we_, than we; _Hallamshoir_,

Hallamshire, the district including Sheffield and the

neighbourhood; _sen_, say; _happen_, perhaps; _for't_,

for the; _hofe at_, half of the; _e them_, in those;

_lether'd_, beaten; _whoile_, till; _clam'd_ (for _clamm'd_),

starved; _sooat a_, sort of; _anole_, and all; _we_, with;

_wirligig_, machine; _Tom Dockin scales_, scales cut out of

thin rolled iron instead of being forged; _bousters_, bolsters

(a _bolster_ is a lump of metal between the tang and the blade

of a knife); _stag_, stag-horn handle (?); _mayn_, pl. make.

MIDLAND (Group 6): CHESHIRE.

The following extract is from "Betty Bresskittle's Pattens, or Sanshum

Fair," by J.C. Clough; printed with Holland's _Cheshire Glossary_,

E.D.S. (1886), p. 466. Sanshum or Sanjem Fair is a fair held at

Altrincham on St James's Day.

Jud sprung upo' th' stage leet as a buck an' bowd as a dandycock,

an' th' mon what were playingk th' drum (only it wer'nt a gradely

drum) gen him a pair o' gloves. Jud began a-sparringk, an' th'

foaks shaouted, "Hooray! Go it, owd Jud! Tha'rt a gradely Cheshire

mon!"

Th' black felly next gen Jud a wee bit o' a bang i' th' reet ee, an

Jud git as weild as weild, an hit reet aht, but some hah he couldna

git a gradely bang at th' black mon. At-aftur two or three minutes

th' black felly knocked Jud dahn, an t'other chap coom and picked

him up, an' touch'd Jud's faace wi' th' spunge everywheer wheer he'd

getten a bang, but th' spunge had getten a gurt lot o' red ruddle on

it, so that it made gurt red blotches upo' Jud's faace wheer it

touched it; an th' foaks shaouted and shaouted, "Hooray, Jud! Owd

mon! at em agen!" An Jud let floy a good un, an th' mon wi' th'

spunge had to pick th' blackeymoor up this toime an put th' ruddle

upo' his faace just at-under th'ee.

"Hooray, Jud! hooray, owd mon!" shaouted Jock Carter o' Runjer;

"tha'rt game, if tha'rt owd!"

Just at that vary minit Jud's weife, bad as hoo were wi' th'

rheumatic, pushed her rooäd through th' foaks, and stood i' th'

frunt o' th' show.

"Go it agen, Jud! here's th' weife coom t'see hah gam tha art!"

shaouted Jonas.

Jud turn'd rahnd an gurned at th' frunt o' th' show wi' his faace

aw ruddle.

"Tha girt soo! I'll baste thi when aw get thi hwom, that aw will!"

shaouted Betty Bresskittle; "aw wunder tha artna ashamed o' thisen,

to stond theer a-feightingk th' deevil hissel!"

Notes.--_Jud_, for George; _leet_, light; _bowd_, bold;

_dandycock_, Bantam cock; _gradely_, proper; _gen_, gave; _owd_,

old; _reet ee_, right eye; _git_, got; _as weild as weild_, as

wild as could be; _aht_, out; _at-aftur_, after; _gurt_, great;

_em_, him; _floy_, fly; _Runjer_, Ringway; _game_ (also _gam_),

full of pluck; _hoo_, she; _rooad_, road, way; _gurned_,

grinned; _soo_, sow (term of abuse); _hwom_, home; _thisen_,

thyself.

EASTERN (Group 2): N. ESSEX.

The following extract is from _John Noakes and Mary Styles_, by

Charles Clark, of Great Totham; London, 1839. Reprinted for the

E.D.S., 1895. As Great Totham is to the North of Maldon, I take this

specimen to belong to Prof. Wright's "Division 2" rather than to the

S.W. Essex of "Division 5." The use of _w_ for initial _v_ occurs

frequently, as in _werry_, very, etc.

At Tottum's Cock-a-Bevis Hill,

A sput surpass'd by few,

Where toddlers ollis haut to eye

The proper pritty wiew,

Where people crake so ov the place,

Leas-ways, so I've hard say;

An' frum its top yow, sarteny,

Can see a monsus way.

But no sense ov a place, some think,

Is this here hill so high,--

'Cos there, full oft, 'tis nation coad,

But that don't argufy.

As sum'dy, 'haps, when nigh the sput,

May ha' a wish to see 't,--

From Mauldon toun to Keldon 'tis,

An' 'gin a four-releet.

At Cock-a Bevis Hill, too, the

Wiseacres show a tree

Which if you clamber up, besure,

A precious way yow see.

I dorn't think I cud clime it now,

Aldoe I uster cud;

I shudn't warsley loike to troy,

For gulch cum down I shud.

My head 'ood swim,--I 'oodn't do't

Nut even fur a guinea;

A naarbour ax'd me, t'other day;

"Naa, naa," says I, "nut quinny."

Notes.--_Sput_, spot; _toddlers_, walkers; _ollis_, always;

_haut_, halt; _wiew_, view. _Crake_, boast; _leas(t)ways_, at

least; _sarteny_, certainly; _monsus_, monstrous, very long.

_No sense ov a_, poor, bad; _coad_, cold; _argufy_, prove

(anything).

_Sum'dy_, somebody; _from M._, between Maldon and Kelvedon;

_'gin_, against, near; _four-releet_ (originally _four-e leet_,

lit. "ways of four," _four-e_ being the genitive plural, hence)

meeting of four roads.

_Dorn't_, don't; _aldoe_, although; _uster cud_ (for _us'd to

could_), used to be able; _warsley_, vastly, much; _loike_,

like; _gulch_, heavily, with a bang.

_'Ood_, would; _nut_, not; _ax'd_, asked; _naa_, no; _nut

quinny_, not quite, not at all.

EASTERN (Group 3): NORFOLK.

The following extract from "A Norfolk Dialogue" is from a work

entitled _Erratics by a Sailor_, printed anonymously at London in

1800, and written by the Rev. Joshua Larwood, rector of Swanton

Morley, near East Dereham. Most of the words are quite familiar to me,

as I was curate of East Dereham in 1861-2, and heard the dialect

daily. The whole dialogue was reprinted in _Nine Specimens of

English Dialects_; E.D.S., 1895.

The Dialogue was accompanied by "a translation," as here reprinted. It

renders a glossary needless.

Original Vulgar Norfolk.

_Narbor Rabbin and Narbor Tibby._

Translation.

_Neighbour Robin and Neighbour Stephen._

_R._ Tibby, d'ye know how the knacker's mawther Nutty du?

_R._ Stephen, do you know how the collar-maker's daughter

Ursula is?

_T._ Why, i' facks, Rabbin, she's nation cothy; by Goms, she is so

snasty that I think she is will-led.

_S._ Why, in fact, Robin, she is extremely sick; by (_obsolete_),

she is so snarlish, that I think she's out of her mind.

_R._ She's a fate mawther, but ollas in dibles wi' the knacker and

thackster; she is ollas a-ating o' thapes and dodmans. The fogger sa,

she ha the black sap; but the grosher sa, she have an ill dent.

_R._ She's a clever girl, but always in troubles with the

collar-maker and thatcher; she is always eating gooseberries

and snails. The man at the chandler's shop says she has a

consumption: but the grocer says she's out of her senses.

_T._ Why, ah! tother da she fared stounded: she pluck'd the pur

from the back-stock, and copped it agin the balk of the douw-pollar,

and barnt it; and then she hulled [it] at the thackster, and hart

his weeson, and huckle-bone. There was northing but cadders in the

douw-pollar, and no douws: and so, arter she had barnt the balk, and

the door-stall, and the plancher, she run into the par-yard, thru

the pytle, and then swounded behinn'd a sight o' gotches o' beergood.

_S._ Why, aye! the other day she appeared struck mad: she

snatched the poker from the back of the stove, and flung it

against the beam of the pigeon-house, and burnt it; and then she

throwed it at the thatcher, and hurt his throat and hip-bone.

There were no pigeons in the pigeon-house, and nothing but

jack-daws; and so, after she had burned the beam, and the

door-frame and the floor, she ran into the cowyard, through the

small field, and fainted behind several pitchers of yeast.

_R._ Ah, the shummaker told me o' that rum rig; and his nevvey sa,

that the beer-good was fystey; and that Nutty was so swelter'd, that

she ha got a pain in spade-bones. The bladethacker wou'd ha gin har

some doctor's gear in a beaker; but he sa she'll niver moize agin.

_R._ Aye, the shoemaker told me of that comical trick; and his

nephew says, that the yeast was musty; and that Ursula [was so]

smothered, that she has got a pain in her bones. The thatcher

would have given her some doctor's medicine in a tumbler; but he

says, she will never recover.

Notes.--Pronounce _du_ like E. _dew_. _Snasty_, pron. _snaisty_,

cross. _Fate, fait_ (cf. E. _feat_), suitable, clever.

_Mawther_, a young girl; Norw. _moder_. _Dibles_: the _i_ is

long. _Sa_, says; _ha_, _have_, has; note the absence of final

_s_ in the third person singular. _Cadder_, for _caddow_; from

_caa-daw_, cawing daw. _Douw_, for _dow_, a dove. _Par_: for

_parrock_, a paddock. _Fystey_: with long _y_, from _foist_,

a fusty smell. _Sweltered_, over-heated, in profuse perspiration.

_Moize_, thrive, mend.

WESTERN (Group 1): S.W. SHROPSHIRE.

The following specimen is given in Miss Jackson's _Shropshire Word-

book_, London, 1879, p. xciv. It describes how Betty Andrews, of

Pulverbatch, rescued her little son, who had fallen into the brook.

I 'eärd a scrike, ma'am, an' I run, an' theer I sid Frank 'ad

pecked i' the bruck an' douked under an' wuz drowndin', an' I

jumped after 'im an' got 'out on 'im an' lugged 'im on to the bonk

all sludge, an' I got 'im wham afore our Sam comen in--a good job

it wuz for Sam as 'e wunna theer an' as Frank wunna drownded, for

if 'e 'ad bin I should 'a' tore our Sam all to winder-rags, an'

then 'e 'd a bin djed an' Frank drownded an' I should a bin

'anged. I toud Sam wen 'e t{)o}{)o}k the 'ouse as I didna like

it.--"Bless the wench," 'e sed, "what'n'ee want? Theer's a tidy

'ouse an' a good garden an' a run for the pig." "Aye," I sed, "an'

a good bruck for the childern to peck in;" so if Frank 'ad bin

drownded I should a bin the djeth uv our Sam. I wuz that frittened,

ma'am, that I didna spake for a nour after I got wham, an' Sam sed

as 'e 'adna sid me quiet so lung sence we wun married, an' that wuz

eighteen 'ear.

Notes.--Miss Jackson adds the pronunciation, in glossic

notation. There is no sound of initial _h_. _Scrike_, shriek;

_sid_, seed, i.e. saw; _pecked_, pitched, fallen headlong;

_bruck_, brook; _douked_, ducked; _'out_, hold; _bonk_, bank;

_wham_, home; _wunna_, was not; _winder-rags_, shreds; _djed_,

dead; _toud_, told; _what'n'ee_, what do you; _a nour_, an hour;

_sid_, seen; _lung_, long; _wun_, were.

SOUTHERN (Group 2): WILTSHIRE.

The following well-known Wiltshire fable is from _Wiltshire

Tales_, by J. Yonge Akerman (1853). I give it as it stands in the

Preface to Halliwell's Dictionary; omitting the "Moral."

The Harnet and the Bittle.

A harnet zet in a hollur tree--

A proper spiteful twoad was he;

And a merrily zung while he did zet

His stinge as shearp as a bagganet;

Oh, who so vine and bowld as I?

I vears not bee, nor wapse, nor vly!

A bittle up thuck tree did clim,

And scarnvully did look at him;

Zays he, "Zur harnet, who giv thee

A right to zet in thuck there tree?

Vor ael you zengs so nation vine,

I tell 'e 'tis a house o' mine!"

The harnet's conscience velt a twinge,

But grawin' bowld wi' his long stinge,

Zays he, "Possession's the best laaw;

Zo here th' sha'sn't put a claaw!

Be off, and leave the tree to me,

The mixen's good enough for thee!"

Just then a yuckel, passin' by,

Was axed by them the cause to try;

"Ha! ha! I zee how 'tis!" zays he,

"They'll make a vamous munch vor me!"

His bill was shearp, his stomach lear,

Zo up a snapped the caddlin' pair!

Notes.--Observe _z_ and _v_ for initial _s_ and _f_; _harnet_,

hornet; _bittle_, beetle; _zet_, sat; _proper_, very; _twoad_,

toad, wretch; _a_, he; _stinge_, sting; _bagganet_, bayonet.

_Thuck_, that; _clim_, climb; _giv_, gave; _zet_, sit; _ael_, all.

_Th' sha'sn't_, thou shalt not; _mixen_, dung-heap.

_Yuckel_, woodpecker; _axed_, asked; _vamous munch_, excellent

meal; _lear_, empty; _caddlin'_, quarrelsome.

SOUTHERN (Group 3): ISLE OF WIGHT.

The following colloquy is quoted in the _Glossary of Isle of Wight

Words_, E.D.S., 1881, at p. 50.

I recollect perfectly the late Mr James Phillips of Merston relating

a dialogue that occurred between two of his labourers relative to

the word _straddle-bob_, a beetle.... At the time of luncheon, one

of them, on taking his _bren-cheese_ (bread and cheese) out of a

little bag, saw something that had found its way there; which led

to the following discourse.

_Jan._ What's got there, you?

_Will._ A straddlebob craalun about in the nammut-bag.

_J._ Straddlebob? Where ded'st leyarn to caal 'n by that neyam?

_W._ Why, what shoud e caal 'n? 'Tes the right neyam, esn ut?

_J._ Right neyam? No! Why, ye gurt zote vool, casn't zee 'tes a

dumbledore?

_W._ I know 'tes; but vur aal that, straddlebob's zo right a

neyam vor 'n as dumbledore ez.

_J._ Come, I'll be blamed if I doant laay thee a quart o' that.

_W._ Done! and I'll ax Meyastur to-night when I goos whoam, bee't

how't wool.

Accordingly, Meyastur was applied to by Will, who made his decision

known to Jan the next morning.

_W._ I zay, Jan! I axed Meyastur about that are last night.

_J._ Well, what ded ur zay?

_W._ Why, a zed one neyam ez jest zo vittun vor'n as tother; and

he lowz a ben caal'd straddlebob ever zunce the Island was vust

meyad.

_J._ Well, if that's the keeas, I spooas I lost the quart.

_W._ That thee hast, lucky; and we'll goo down to Arreton to the

Rid Lion and drink un ater we done work.

Notes.--Observe _z_ for _s_, and _v_ for _f_ initially. _What's_,

What hast thou; _nammut_ (lit. noon-meat), luncheon, usually

eaten at 9 A.M. (_n{-o}na h{-o}ra_); _leyarn_, learn; _esn_, is

not; _gurt_, great; _zote_, soft, silly; _casn't_, canst not;

_laay_, lay, wager; _how't wool_, how it will; _that are_, that

there; _lowz_ (lit. allows), opines; _zunce_, since; _vust meyad_,

first made; _keeas_, case; _lucky_, look ye!

SOUTHERN (Group 7): EAST SUSSEX.

The following quotations are from the _Dictionary of the Sussex

Dialect_, by the Rev. W.D. Parish, Vicar of Selmeston; E.D.S. 1875.

The Glossary refers rather to E. than to W. Sussex, Selmeston being

between Lewes and Eastbourne.

_Call over_, to abuse. "He come along here a-cadging, and fancy he

just did call me over, because I told him as I hadn't got naun to

give him." (_Naun_, nothing.)

_Clocksmith_, a watchmaker. "I be quite lost about time, I be; for

I've been forced to send my watch to the clocksmith. I couldn't make

no sense of mending it myself; for I'd iled it and I'd biled it, and

then I couldn't do more with it."

_Cocker-up_, to spoil; to gloss over with an air of truth. "You see

this here chap of hers, he's cockered-up some story about having to

goo away somewheres up into the sheeres; and I tell her she's no

call to be so cluck over it; and for my part I dunno but what I be

very glad an't, for he was a chap as was always a-cokeing about the

cupboards, and cogging her out of a Sunday." (_The sheeres_, any

shire of England except Kent and Sussex; _call_, reason; _cluck_,

out of spirits; _coke_, to peep; _cog_, to entice.)

_Joy_, a jay. "Poor old Master Crockham, he's in terrible order,

surelý! The meece have taken his peas, and the joys have got at

his beans, and the snags have spilt all his lettuce." (_Order_, bad

temper; _meece_, mice; _snags_, snails; _spilt_, spoilt.)

_Kiddle_, to tickle. "Those thunder-bugs did kiddle me so that I

couldn't keep still no hows." (_Thunder-bug_, a midge.)

_Lawyer_, a long bramble full of thorns, so called because, "when

once they gets a holt an ye, ye doänt easy get shut of 'em."

_Leetle_, a diminutive of little. "I never see one of these here

gurt men there's s'much talk about in the peapers, only once, and

that was up at Smiffle Show adunnamany years agoo. Prime minister,

they told me he was, up at London; a leetle, lear, miserable,

skinny-looking chap as ever I see. 'Why,' I says, 'we doänt count

our minister to be much, but he's a deal primer-looking than what

yourn be.'" (_Gurt_, great; _Smiffle_, Smithfield; _adunnamany_, I

don't know how many; _lear_, thin, hungry; _see_, saw.)

_Sarment_, a sermon. "I likes a good long sarment, I doos; so as

when you wakes up it ain't all over."

_Tempory_ (temporary), slight, badly finished. "Who be I? Why, I be

John Carbury, that's who I be! And who be you? Why, you ain't a man

at all, you ain't! You be naun but a poor tempory creetur run up by

contract, that's what you be!"

_Tot_, a bush; a tuft of grass. "There warn't any grass at all when

we fust come here; naun but a passel o' gurt old tots and tussicks.

You see there was one of these here new-fashioned men had had the

farm, and he'd properly starved the land and the labourers, and the

cattle and everything, without it was hisself." (_Passel_, parcel;

_tussicks_, tufts of rank grass.)

_Twort_ (for _thwart_), pert and saucy. "She's terrible twort--she

wants a good setting down, she do; and she'll get it too. Wait till

my master comes in!"

_Winterpicks_, blackthorn berries.

_Winter-proud_, cold. "When you sees so many of these here

winterpicks about, you may be pretty sure 'twill be middlin'

winter-proud."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ancren Riwle; ed. Jas. Morton. Camden Soc., 1873. (About 1230.)

Anglo-Saxon and Early English Psalter. Surtees Society. London, 1843-7.

2 vols. (See p. 25.)

Beda.--Venerabilis Bedae Historiae Ecclesiasticae Gentis Anglorum Libri

III, IV; ed. J.E.B. Mayor, M.A. and J.R. Lumby, B.D. Cambridge, 1878.

---- The Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History; also the Anglo-Saxon

Chronicle (both in English). Ed. J.A. Giles, D.C.L. London, 1859. (In

Bohn's Library.)

Dictionaries containing dialect words. (See p. 100.)

Durham Ritual.--Rituale Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis. Surtees Society. London,

1840.

Earle, Rev. J.; Anglo-Saxon Literature. London, S.P.C.K., 1884.

E.D.D.--English Dialect Dictionary (to which is appended the English

Dialect Grammar); ed. Dr Joseph Wright. Oxford, 1898-1905.

E.D.S.--English Dialect Society, publications of the. London, 1873-96.

E.E.T.S.--Early English Text Society, publications of the. London,

1864-1910. (Contains Alliterative Poems, Ayenbite of Inwyt, Barbour's

Bruce, Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, St Juliana, Kentish Sermons,

Lyndesay's Works, etc.)

Jackson, Miss.--Shropshire Wordbook, by Georgina F. Jackson. London, 1879.

Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary. A new edition, ed. J. Longmuir and

D. Donaldson. Paisley, 1879-87. 4to. 4 vols. and Supplement.

Layamon's Brut; ed. Sir F. Madden. London, 1847. 3 vols.

Minot's Poems; ed. J. Hall. Oxford, 1887.

Morris, Rev. R., LL.D.; The Blickling Homilies. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1880.

---- Old English Miscellany. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1872.

---- Old English Homilies, Series I and II. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1867 and

1873.

---- Specimens of Early English. Part I. 1150-1300. Second Edition.

Oxford, 1885.

Morris, Rev. R. and Skeat, Rev. W.W.; Specimens of Early English. Part II.

Third edition. Oxford, 1894.

Murray, Sir James A.H. The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland.

(Phil. Soc.) London, 1873.

N.E.D.--The New English Dictionary; by Sir James A.H. Murray, H. Bradley,

and W.A. Craigie. Oxford, 1888-.

Ormulum; ed. R.M. White. Oxford, 1852. 2 vols.

Pricke of Conscience, by Richard Rolle de Hampole; ed. R. Morris. (Phil.

Soc.) London, 1863.

Psalter, by R. Rolle de Hampole; ed. Rev. H.R. Bramley. Oxford, 1884.

Robert of Gloucester; ed. W. Aldis Wright. (Record Series.) London, 1887.

2 vols.

Skeat, Rev. Walter W.; The Chaucer Canon. Oxford, 1900.

---- Etymological English Dictionary. New edition. Oxford, 1910.

---- The Holy Gospels, in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Mercian Versions.

Cambridge, 1871-87.

---- Primer of English Etymology. Fifth edition. Oxford, 1910.

---- Principles of English Etymology, Series I. Second edition. Oxford,

1892.

Sweet, H.; An Anglo-Saxon Reader. Seventh edition. Oxford, 1894.

---- A Second Anglo-Saxon Reader, Archaic and Dialectal. Oxford, 1887.

---- The Oldest English Texts. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1885.

Trevisa.--Higden's Polychronicon; with Trevisa's English Version; ed.

C. Babington, B.D., and the Rev. J.R. Lumby, D.D. (Record Series.)

9 vols. London, 1865-86.

Wise, J.R.; Shakspere, his Birthplace and its Neighbourhood. London, 1861.

INDEX

Aberdeen dialect, 112, 113

Adam's body, materials of, 21, 22

Alfred, King, 47, 48

Allen, Grant, _Anglo-Saxon Britain_, 85

_Alliterative Poems_, ed. Morris, 80

_Altenglische Dichtungen_, 52

Ambry, aumbry, 97

_Ancren Riwle_, 49

Anglian period, 14

Anglo-French words in dialects, 94-96

Anglo-Saxon, 10, 11, 12

_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 12, 48

Laud MS., 73

Arain, arles, arris, asew, assith, 97

Assoilyie, astre, aunsel, aunter, aver, averous, 97, 98

Atkinson's (Cleveland) Glossary, 44

Awfully, 4

_Ayenbite of Inwyt_, 59, 60

Ayrshire dialect, 113, 114

Baker, Miss, 5

Barnes, William, 55, 111

Beda, 15

his "death-song," 15

his _History_, 14, 15, 17, 56

Beowulf, 7-9

Bewcastle column, 20

Bladud, King, 50, 51

Blood-boltered, 5

Bolter, 5, 6

Boucher, Rev. J., Dialect Dictionary, 101, 102

Boy or child, 5

Brockett's Glossary, 44

_Bruce_, by Barbour, 29-34

Brut, romance of, 49, 50, 51

Burns, Robert, 45, 113

Cædmon, 15, 16

his hymn, 17

Caxton, 40

Celtic words in dialects, 83-86

list of, 85, 86

Charters, Kentish, 56, 57

Mercian, 70

Chaucer, use of Kentish by, 63

use of _yon_, 7

use of _asp_, 68

Cheshire dialect, 122, 123

Child (girl), 5, 6

Cole, King, 51

Corpus Glossary, 67

_Cursor Mundi_, 27, 28, 35

_Cymbeline_, 50

Dialect defined, 1

Dialect glossaries, 102-103

Dialect writers, 111

Dialects, foreign elements in the, 82-98

four old, 10,11

groups of, 107

modern, 106-109

specimens of, 110, etc.

Dialectic regeneration, 3

Dictionaries

by Coles, Kersey, Bailey, Dr Johnson, and Ash, 101

old, Promptorium and Catholicon, 100

Douglas, Gawain, 34

Dunbar, 33, 35

quoted, 45

Dunstan, St, Life of, 51

Durham, _Liber Vitæ_, 20

Ritual, 21

Eagre, 97

Earle, Prof., 14

Edinburgh dialect, 115, 116

Eliot

_see_ George

Ellis, A.J., _Early English Pronunciation_, 103

Erne, 6

English, the old name for Lowland Scotch, 33-35

_English Dialect Dictionary_, 85, 90, 104

_English Dialect Grammar_, 104

English Dialect Society, 103

_English Metrical Homilies_, 28

Essex dialect, 123, 124, 125

Fitzherbert, J., _Boke of Husbandry_, 99

Flittermouse, 4, 5

_Flower and the Leaf_, 38

French words in dialects, 93

list of, 96-98

Galt, John, 45

Gauntree, 95

_Gawayne and the Grene Knight_, 81

George Eliot, use of dialect by, 111

Gloss, meaning of, 23

Glossaries of dialectal words, 102, 103

Old English, 66, 67

_Golden Targe_, by Dunbar, 45

Gower, use of Kentish by, 62, 63

Greek words in dialects, 87

Grose, F., _Provincial Glossary_, 101

Hampole, R. Rolle of, 28, 32, 35

_Handlyng Synne_, quoted, 78, 79

Harleian MS. 2253, 52

Hebrew words in dialects, 88

Henry III., Proclamation of, 75-78

Henry the Minstrel, 33, 35

Higden, Ralph, 53

Hild, Abbess, 16

Hoccleve, 38

Hogg, James, 45

_Homilies in Verse_, 28

_Horn, romance of_, 50

Horstmann, Dr, 51

Hrinde (A.S.), 8, 9

Inglis, or Inglisch, 33-35

Isle of Wight dialect, 129, 130

Jamieson's Dictionary, 43, 44

Jonson, Ben, 5

Juliana, St, 49

Jutes, 56

Keats, 4

Kentish, 10, 11, 12

dialect, 56-64

glosses, 57

sermons, 58

Kentish _e_ (A.S. _y_), 61-64

_King Lear_, 50

Lancashire dialect, 119, 120

Latin words in dialects, 87

Layamon's _Brut_, 49

Leyden Riddle, 18

_Liber Vitæ_, 20

Lincolnshire dialect, 118, 119

words, 100, 101

_Locrine_, 50

London dialect, 74-78

Lorica Prayer, 68, 69

Lydgate, 38

Lyndesay, Sir David, 34, 35

Madam, 'm, 3

Malory, Sir Thomas, 40

Manning, Robert, 78, 79

Mercian dialect, 10, 11, 36, 37, 65-81

glosses, 70-72

spellings, 71-72

Michel, Dan, 59, 60

Midland dialect, 65-81

rise of, 37, 42

_Psalter_, 80

East, 65-79

West, 79-81

Minot's Poems, 29

_Moral Ode_, 49

Morris, Dr, _Blickling Homilies_, 8

_Old English Miscellany_, 49, 58

_Old English Homilies_, 49

_Specimens of Early English_, 58

Morris, Dr, on dialects, 81

Morris and Skeat, _Specimens_, etc., 27-29, 59, 60

Murray, Dr, on the Dialect of Scotland, 28, 32-5

Müller, Prof. Max, _Lectures_, 3

_New English Dictionary_, 85

Norfolk dialect, 125-127

Northern dialect, great extent of, 32-35

Northumbrian, 10, 11, 12, 14-46

glosses, 22-24

riddle, 18

_Nut-brown Maid_, 38

_Old English Homilies_, 49

_Ormulum, The_, 73, 74

_Owl and Nightingale_, 49

Peacock's (Lincolnshire) Glossary, 44

_Pearl, The_, 80

Phonetic decay, 3

Plays, early, 41

Plurals, Southern, 61

_Prick of Conscience_, 28

_Proverbs of Alfred_, 49

Psalter, by Hampole, 32

Prose Treatises, by the same, 32

Psalter, Northumbrian, 25-27

West Midland, 80

Ramsay, Allan, 45

Ray, John, collection of dialectal words, 101

Rimy, 8, 9

rind, 9

Robert of Gloucester, 50

Rolle, of Hampole, 28, 32, 35

Romances, dialect of, 44

list of, 38-40

Ross, Alexander, 45

Rushworth MS., 22, 23, 70-72

Ruthwell Cross, 18, 19, 20

Scandinavian words in dialects, 88-93

list of, 90-93

Scots, Middle, 44, 45

Scott, Sir Walter, 6, 45

Scottish and English, 43, 44

Scottish Laws, early, 32

Shakespeare, 5, 6, 50

use of dialect, 100

Sheffield dialect, 121, 122

Shoreham, Wm. of, 58

quoted, 59

Shropshire dialect, 127-128

Skeat, _Chaucer Canon_, 73

_Etymological Dictionary_, 84-85

_Gospels in Anglo-Saxon_, 71

Index to _Icelandic Dictionary_, 89

_Primer of English Etymology_, 84

_Principles of English Etymology_, 70, 87, 89

Skinner, S., _Etymologicon_, 100

Smith, G. Gregory, _Specimens of Middle Scots_, 44, 45

_South English Legendary_, 51

Southern dialect, 47-55

Southey, R., his use of dialect, 111

_Specimens of Early English_

Part I., 49, 50

Part II., 51, 79.

_See_ Morris

Spenser's _Shepherd's Calendar_, 99

Stephens, Prof., 18

Sussex dialect, 130-132

Sweet, Dr, 15

_Anglo-Saxon Primer_, 48

_Anglo-Saxon Reader_, 18

_Anglo-Saxon Reader, Dialectal_, 56-57

_Oldest English Texts_, 10, 15, 19, 66

Gregory's _Pastoral Care_, 7

Tannahill, Robert, 45

Tennyson, 4, 111

_Testament of Love_, 53, 54

Trevisa, John, 53, 55

Tusser, T., _Pointes of Husbandrie_, 99

Twenty, 3

Usk, Thomas, 53, 54

Vernon MS., 52

_Vespasian Psalter_, 69, 70

Wessex

_see_ Anglo-Saxon

Westmoreland dialect, 117, 118

William of Palerne, 80

Wiltshire dialect, 128-129

Wise, J.R., 5

Wright, Dr J., _English Dialect Dictionary_, 9, 85, 90, 104

Wright, T., _Political Songs_, 29

Wyntoun, 29, 33

Yon, 6, 7

* * * * *

* * * *

* * * * *

{Transcriber's Correction:

Chapter III:

courageous before all men; I (the cross) durst not bow down

_text reads_ ... bow dow }