BROAD
REPRINTED FROM THE
-EASTERN DAILY PRESS."
PRICE SIXPENCE.
XT:\VS (VOMI'AXY, LTD.. MUSEUM COURT.
1893.
Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN
BROAD NORFOLK.
CONTRIBUTORS.
PAGB
PAGE
A.B.C 65
A.D 63
George 71
Giles' Trip, Author of 4
A.G.D 38, 41
A.J.G 41
Alpha 63
Andrews, Herbert ...72,86
Arch Labourer, An ... 81
Ayers, E. T 73, 84
H.B 16
HetVarke ... 30,78,87
Hewett, E 69
Holland, J 72
Hotson,W.A. ... 88
Baker, 8. E 75
Barker, W. 8. ... 36
B.B 66
J.C.S. .. 60
Bird, M. C. H., 19, 34, 48, 73,
J.H 71
83,94
J.L 92
B.O.P 18
Joskin 28
Bor 14
J.E.B 22, 32
Bussey, Chas 23
Bussey, L. A 85
Kendall, E 73
C. ... 95
C.C 16
C-H 4, 13
Clarke, S. T 40
Lawk-a-daisy-me ... 60
Literary World ... 102
Clemence, J. L. ... 26, 80
Clericus 89, 99
L.J 72
Mollie 95
Daisy Dimple 85, 88
Da vies, Christopher ... 78
Davison D 70
Norfolk East ... 67
Doweii, E. w."/. ;;; 49
Norfolk Dumpling, A. 15, 94
Norfolk Farmer, A. 23, 25
Norfolk, A Lover of 18
E 60 92
Norfolk, North ...39,92
E.E.M. '.'.'. '.'.. '.'.'. 71
E.s 99
Norfolk, Old ... 39,90
Norfolk Swimmer, A 74
E.S.B. ... '... 97
Norfolk, West ... 24
Ex-Under-Sheriff ... 65
Norfolk Woman, A... 54
N.S 15
F.G.S. ... .. 86
Forster, F. R.... 27, 34, 41
Octionary 5
F.W.B 36
One Interested ... 24
CONTRIBUTORS.
PACE
PAGE
Patterson, A. ...
P.E.D.
49, 52, 100
90
T.C.B
T.G.S
70
J4, 100
Perkins, J. P.
Pharaoh
21
62
Tew Chaps
T.Licec
97
Pitcher, J.
5J
T.P.S. ...
56
Pomeroy, E. B.
59
T.T
63
Tucker, R. G. W. ..
Tuxford, E. R.
25,61
18
Rambler
59
Rector
... 65, 88
R.L
... 67, 71
Verdant Green
31
R.W.C.
13
"Watson, "W
92
8.
37
"W.C.8.
55
8.E.A.
98
W.F
91
Shaw Leest, \V.
"W.H.C. 17, 20, 27,
57,67
S.J.-W.
'.'.'. 88
W.L
40,86
Skinner, E. ...
Southwell, T.
84
51
"W.N
\v.s
61
20
Suffling, E. R.
32,101
w.w
85
PREFACE.
The articles and letters in this pamphlet
have been re-printed almost literatim et
verbatim as they originally appeared in the
columns of the Eastern Daily Press. " Broad
Norfolk " as a subject for discussion was first
broached in that journal on the last day of
1892. Throughout January of the present
year a peculiarly animated correspondence was
maintained from day to day, and when the
topic had practically spent itself there remained
perhaps the most remarkable accumulation of
provincialisms ever collected in any county in
the kingdom. A complete index has been
compiled of every curious word and phrase
occurring in these pages. Hence it must not be
imagined that the tabulated lists represent
terms in common use in Norfolk alone, or even
in East Anglia alone. Still, it can be said of
them with safety that the words they contain
form part of the colloquial dialect quite
recently, if not at present, in use in the
Eastern Counties. To determine to what
extent these usages are peculiar to Norfolk
must be left to the philologist upon whom
the mantle of Forby may fall. For myself,
I need only express the pleasure it gives me
to have been the indirect means of preserving
in this form the scores of little ''natives"
which in all human probability the Board
Schools will have killed in a generation.
COZEXS-HAEDY.
Eastern Daily Press,
Norwich.
BROAD NORFOLK
BEIXQ A SEEIES OF
ARTICLES AND LETTERS
Reprinted from the "Eastern Daily Press.
EDITED BY C-H.
NORWICH :
NORFOLK NEWS COMPANY, LIMITED, MUSEUM COURT,
PAGE
PAGE
Napping or Knap-
Quackled
27
ping
53
Quaggled
68
Nation
9,74
Quant
. 77,82
Neesen
7
Quicks
12
Next-day-morn
60
Quick-set
84
Nicely
24,61
Nip along
40
Nipper
Noah's Ark
2
Rafe-boards ...
Rands
84
.. 15,77
Nointer
35
Ranny
.. 35
Non-plush
64
Rare
25
Nowt
60
Rattick...
.. 25,28
Numm-chance
41,99
Ratticker
28
Rear, In the ...
41
Olf
Olland
29
37,54
Refuge
Respectable . . .
Ridiculous
27
99
98
Ollust
11
Riddle
99
Other some
99
Riffle ...
Out abroad
27
Ritr
0
O ut for, who is the bell
60
Right consistent
Rightsides
o
88
.. 25,68
Pakenose
27,58
Ringe
61
Pakin'
14
Rise ...
61
Pample
5
Roaches
72
Par-yard
27
Rocked
25
Parts, To put on his ...
Pawk
18,64
26,58
Rockstaff
Rodger or Sir Roger
99
12,33,
Pax-wax
35
'7, 82, 95
Ped
90
Roky ..
.. 2,63
Pelanders
Pensey
85
99
Rely-poly
Rootling
... 19,21
... 100
Perk
61
Rouding-time ...
77
Perse wance
85
Rum
40
Pickcheesin'
14
Rumbustious ...
90
Piece
28
Bun
.. 27,84
Pightle
27,58
Runty
5
Pilcochia
94
Pinglin'
41
Pip-patches
35
Sadly ...
21
Pishmires
Pit
64
96
late, :v. :;
26, 33, 59
90
Plancher
39 82
Sally
84
Plantain
69
Sammucking ..
24
Pogram 11
Pollard
,33,61
84
Sammy, play ..
35
... 54,62
Popple
92
Sarshen
... 54,65
Popples ,
92
Sars o' mine ...
35
Posset
84
Sawney
68
Pudden-poke
Pulk-hole
7
2,58
Scald
Scalps
28
93
Pulks
77
Scamel 74,
78, 93, 94
Push
22
Schwad
55
Putty
77
Scocker
61
adv.
PAGE ,
PAGE
Scrog ..
84
Snatchet
84
Scu?
2
Sneck
... 52, 90
Scuppet..
6
8new 4.
52, 59, 61
Sea-pig
99
Snob
40
To see to
60
Solid ..
68
Sele of the day
fiofo
... 29,98
Sorzles
Soshinir
6
Bets
Settle
'.'.'. 84
Sowse ...
... 22, 66
5
Several
25
Spink
37
Shack
30
Splarr
27
Shacking
61
Spline
90
Shackled
14
Sploddin
40
Shail
59
Spoat
39
Shammock
92
Spore
25
Shanks' pony ...
84
Spoult
... 40,53
Shanny
25
Springy
62
Sharm
... 23, 59
Spuffling
30
Shepherd's flock
... 84
Squackle
90
Shiffinhisself ...
Squeezened
27
Shornt
40
Squinder
25
Shortening 22
Shrubs, herbs, &c., a
list of 101
Squit
Staithe
Stammed ... 7,
55
30
23, 70, 79
Shug or Shig . . .
Shuloe
27
22
Stand up
Stannicle
... 13, 16
35
Shy
Shvwannicking
21
74
Stingy or Stingey
Stitch
... 14,25
3
Sib'bits ...11,17,
18, 19, 26, 73
Stove
63
Sidewiper
94
Strappen
... 5, 29
Sidus ... x ...
... 22,59
Stroke, Some ...
65
Sis«erara
5, 59, 87
Stub
99
Skeins
Skeps
87
37
Stukey Blues ...
Suffin'
86
24
Skinker
... 66,90
Sumpy
37
Skive
49
Sunk
56
Skran
Skruke
55
70
Snnkets, Stmketing
Swack
40
35
Skruzzle
35
Kwacken
5
Skutes
12, 38, 59
Swad
92
Slackbaked ...
... 34
Swag
49
Slammakin ...
35
Scaling .. ..
... 59,66
Slaver
... 55,97
Swang
91
Slew
.. 56
Swap-tub
35
Slight
90
S wared...
35
Slippy
Slobber
91
35
Swidge ...
Swimmers
... e, 39
12
Slov
92
Swiping
77
Slus
... 40,59
Swish
25
Slussy hound ...
... 94
Switched
31
Smeaa
70
S wiving
37
Smoultin'
... 80, 94
Swop
26
Snaast '.'.'. ".'.
... "' 6
Take-on
... 41,74
Snasty
12,32,38 Tang
84
I'AOE
PAGE
IWy
3 Hackering
88
Foumart
99
Hake
17,20
Fourses
... 8,14
Half -rock
58
Frails
77, 81
Hallo largess ...
8.33
Frame
32
Hampered to get hold
Frenched
22
of
88
Fresher or Froschy
Fribbling
7, 30, 38
60
Hample ".'.
Hank
37
3
Fiammicating ...
Frowey ... ...
92
27
Hansell
Happened
71
63
Frummety
6
Harnser
. i3, 57
Full-flopper ...
Fungered
84
74
Harwich, Ketched
all up at
me
41
Funked...
87
Hasel ...
... 3,25
Funky
65
Hawky
... 61,77
Furrin
25
Haze
12
Fursickin'
14, 19, 41
Heater
88
Furfy
58
Heel
62
Fve 3,17,87,98
Fysty 27,58
Heign
Hen's polly ...
3, 15, 22
27
Hick-up, snick up
13
Gaddy-wentin'
94
Hidlond
22
Gatfer
24,58
Hid-se-rapf
34
Gaggles
87
Highlows
... 7,30
Gaily
24
Hike ...
65
Gain and Ungaia
Gainer
Game
61
40
12
Hild
Himpin'
Hind .
72
12, 25, 33
Gan (for given)
Gathered
Gatless
81
62
5
Hinder
Hingles
Hobby
9, 23, 70
66
40
Gavvel
40
Hobby-lantern
99
Gawky
5,29
Hod
84
Gay
27, 37, 54
Hodmandod ...
... 7.30
Gloat
Goaf
77,81
39,82
Holger-boy 33
Holl 2.17.19.22
Gobs
Golder
Goms
6
27, 35, 73
... y,74
Hoppen-toad ...
Hotch-potch ...
Hough
... 7, 29
84
53
Good
27
Housen
7,30
Good-steward
40
Hove
81
Good-tidy
Gooseberry-fool
24,64
Hovelled ' .'."
Hovers
.'.. 14
... 19,77
Gonned
Gorn sim your body
Gotch
9
25
3, 6, 15
Howsomever ...
Hub-ma-grub
Huddren
41
81
5
Go-tu-meetin clothe
s 56
Hulk
72
Grained
63
Hulkin'"' ".'
.'.. 5,29
Greened
6
HuU
5
Grubbing
60
Hulvers
... 24,58
Grup
... 28, 3li
Hutkin
... 12,53
Gruttling
IH
Huush
85
Gukher
56
Hyke
32
Gum-ticklers ...
84
Hyvers
17
xii.
PAGE
PAGH
If so being you can' t go
inconvenient
68
25
Loaders
Lock
77
40
Imitate
22,25
Loke .
... 3,53
Ingen
6
Lollup
5
I'onthet
68
Lork-a-mercy
40
Lower
90
Lucum
84
Jack up
55
Lug
72
Jammuck
53
Lummock
5
Jangle
72
Jannick
55,59
Jiffey ...
Jiffle or Jidgett
Jill
Jimpsener
55
55
84
62
Main
Main, in the ...
Mala-hacked ...
Malkin
70
41
53
68
Jot
Jowl
Jumble
84, 86
27
54,61
Malt
Mardle
Mastrous
... 74,93
11
37
Mauled
25
Kane
Keeler 22
Keeping-room
Kichell-cakes
Kiderer
Kidgy
Kindling
Kind'o
King Harry
Kinsann
26,33
35,58
31
78
66,92
32
22
16
7
64
Maund
Mawkin
Mawther
Mavish
Meetiners
Mendin
Mentle
Mew-heart
Miel-banks ...
Mifflin ...
Miltz
... 100
14, 19, 58
... 5, 16
7, 29, 57, 62
56
9
58
'.'.'. ' 70
56
Kipper ...
100
Might
61
Knacker
Knickled
Know
Krinkle
72
66
14
61,96
35
Ming
Mittens
Mocking-church
Moderate
Moise
7
7
98
25
... 76,84
Molt
35
Lamming 77
Lamper-along ... 34
Larrup 27
Lash 61,68
Layer 37,54
Lay forrard 34
Lay Over Meddlers 9, 28, 33
Lether 63
Lief 24
Morfrey 56
Mort 39
Mouse-hunter 99
Mother 53
Moultry 25
Mow, old sea 60,93
Muck-crome 3
Muck- wash 97
Mucky ...17,18,21,25,30,78
Muddle 21,92
Liggers
BI
77
Mung
17
Like-to-be
88
Lim
3
Limpsy
86
Nab
... 19,68
Lit
3
Nab-the-rust ...
65
Living upright
90
Nag
99
i nsr ID IE
Aainter
PAGE
35
Bright
PAGE
78
Abroad
88
Brumble..
83
Acabo, that would
Bufflc, hull him in a ..
86
puzzle
68
Bulls
66
Act
64
Bullverin
100
Alder
75
Bunker
92
Applejacks
12
Bunny 7,
29,85
Arms and legs . . .
72, 83
Buskin
18
Arradeen
Buttress
56
Averdupois
98
Buzzle-head
68
Babbing
77
Caddow ..
57
Back-stalk
27,87
Call
5,59
Balaams-smite
54
Call, no
64
Bannock
85
Carneyirg
34
Barksel
25
Carnser
16,17
Barleycorn, Ho John. . .
83
Carpenter's Soda
63
Barm
83
Carwoo
72
Bauley-boats
77
Carre
77
Baulks
83
Catched him a rum'un
68
Beck
28, 75
Cedar Pencil
78
Beetle
Chance
88
Baing
Being one's share
Betsv
16
29
Chapman
Chaiiev, play the
Cherubidin .
86,87
35
64
Betty Martin, That's
Chife
41
all me eye and . . .
Bever
66,71
8
Chitterlings
Cholder
6,29
55
Bighes
Bile
12
83
Christmas
Chummy
25
83
Bing
22
Chump
30
Birds, East Anglian 41 to 52
Bish-a-barneybees... 35,82
Church-hole
Clates
83
83
Bishimer
62
Click
62
Bloodulfs
37
Clink
23
Boiler
22
Clip
5
Boke
99
Closes
26
Bor 5,
38, 77
Clout
23
Botty
97
Clung 41
53,99
Brawn
7
Clutch
61
Breakin'abit
63
Cobble
83
Breck
87
Colder ... 28,73,77,79
PAUE
PAGE
Comeback
8
Do ... 25,
27, 37, 52, 63
Contain
57
Doatedtree ...
92
Comforter
27
Dodman
... 7,30
Cooshies
22
Doke
... 24,29
Cop
.. 5,22
Donkey-legs ...
36
Corder
A 73, 77
Don't ... ...
... 25,27
Corker ...
60
Don't ought
... 53,63
CoquiUes
78
Doss
.. 84,85
Cosh
83
Dotts
56
Cosset
... 8,57
Uouse-a-bit
... 40,68
Cranky
30
Dow
... 23,58
Crick
66
Down-pin
... 41
Grimalkin
58
Dowshie
28
Crinkley-crankley
Crock
55
98
Drant
Draw-latchin' ...
riO
41
Crome
29
Dreep, on the ...
fc6
Crowd
... 5,21
Driftway
i.9
Crow-keepers ...
Crumb
72
27
Drug
Drum
84
65
Crumplin'
20
Dudder
16, 18, 19, 21
Crush
98
Dudman
... 58
Cubbaw
67
Dullor
3, 15, 20, 63
Culch
6
Dump
... 84
Cum-harley ...
,. 12,22
Dumplindust ...
84
Cirm-hether ...
... 8,12
Dutna
3
Cup-bear
12,28,57
27
Cussey
85
Duzzy
... 14,29
Dwil3 !.. '.'.'.
... 22,29
Dydling
... 77
Dabster
99
D'youdut
88
Daft
84
Dag
... 2,74
Daices-headed ...
... 85,94
Ear
72
Dams
77
Ecclester
70
Dang
8,29,57
Euow
... 24,58
Danns
54
Dannies
88
Dauuock
18,60,85
Fang
... 27, 99
Dardle dum due
94
Fare
... 14,25
Darn
8,29,57
Fatagued
Da' say
67
Fawny
'.'.'. 27
Dead-a-Bird ...
... 2,90
Feeten
85
Deceit
63
Fence
61
Deen
... 6,21
Ferry-fake .
56
Deficiency
58
Few
60
Deke 2, 10,15, 17,
19,20,22,
Finnickin'
60
24, 31, 35, 36, 39,
Denesquittin' ...
67, 75, 94
14
Fishimer
Flare-up
62
94
Dibbling
Dickey
84
... 8,20
Flat
Fleet
61
... 62,77
Dickey-shud ...
Dike
88
.. 36,53
Fleeten
Fliglit-of-bees..
73
84
Ding
Dingle
32
27
Flopped
Forgive
55
25
PAGE PAGE
Tangle-leg
83
Unsensed
62
Tantrums
6,29
Tarnation
9
Vardle
86
T'do
27
Tempest
Terrify
Thape-pie
Thew
21
59
86
4
Wadges 55
Wake 33,94
Walentin' Good Mor-
Thongy
Thow
Timbered
Time
2
'87
27
rer
Wamp
Wank
Wanklin'
"Want
t>i
M
93
6t
Ting
Tissicking
Titchy
84
26
71
Wanten"" ".'
"Wap
61
M
Titty
Titty totty
Titter-ma-torter
Toad in the hole
Together
Tom and Jerry shop
20
56
56,81
84
2,9
67
39
^Varp
Water-delf
Water-eynd
Water-shutin'
Wednesday, Won't get
further than
Welt
2
77
86
•25
61
Top sawyer
Toward
Towney
Trape
Trapen
Traunce
Tremble
84
8,22
40
27
PO
92
Whasking
Wheatsel
Wheesh 12,38,57
Whopper
Wimple-trees ...
Wind-jammers
Winnock
40
3
,91
60
37
84
6
Triculate ..'.' '.'.
Troll
Tumbler
Tupe
Tupp
12
25
'2?
84
Without 27
Wittery 94
Woorree 8
Woosh 22,23,52
Wort, over 22
Tussock
3
Twilt
T winters
85
86,87
Yard of Plum Pudding
41
13
Twizzling
T'year
27
Tipper
Yows
60
23
BROAD NORFOLK.
OUR English language, in virtue of its being
a living language, is periodically importing
fresh words into its vocabulary as they become
fashionable, and is gradually getting rid of
useless and cumbersome terms. Illustrations
of the latter process will occur to everybody.
Examples of terms of recent importation now
generally adopted as good English are such as
embarrass, chagrin, grimace, repartee, all of
which, according to one of Dryden's plays,
were considered affected in the latter half of
the seventeenth century. Provincial English is
often treated with the most unmerited contempt,
and no one seems disposed to go to its rescue.
Yet after all, what are commonly sat down as
vulgarisms, are to a great extent, only terms
used in more or less remote part? of the country
by people who have not kept abreast with the
advance of the language. The man who speaks
broad Norfolk, for instance, is at once stamped
as below the mark in intelligence ; but the
genuine Norfolk countryman is justly entitled
to boast that he is never guilty of the un-
speakable vulgarism of the townsfolk, who are
seldom so happy as when they are running
amuck amongst the h's. Oar own county of
Norfolk can boast of a prolific vocabulary of
provincialisms ; types, for the most part, as
philologists tell us, not of bad but merely of
BROAD NORFOLK.
antiquated English. Several illustrations
suggest themselves to me ; scores of others no
doubt will readily occur to readers who have
seen the inside of a farmyard or come across a
typical agricultural labourer.
The words dag, smur, and scud, employed to
mean a driving drizzle of rain, are all provincial,
if they are not peculiar to Norfolk. Dag, it is
worthy of note, once signified a dew, whilst
scud, in its legitimate sense, refers solely to the
actual clouds. To speak of roky weather implies
thick, foggy weather. The word evidently is
connected with reek (to steam), but its use,
though common enough in this county, is
not confined to Norfolk. Again, thongy, a
thoroughly Norfolk term, describes the oppres-
sive heat which often occurs between two
summer showers. Noah's Ark is a singular
name given to three lines of cloud stretching
overhead from the S.W., and supposed to indi-
cate fine weather.
Pulk-hole denotes an open cess-pool. Water-
del/ is used of an ordinary drainage
hole by the roadside, the suffix obviously being
from the root delve, to dig. Hull is a popular
word, meaning a wide ditch of water. Possibly
it is a contraction of hollow, used by Addison
to indicate a channel or canal. Deke — a bank,
and has nothing to do with ditch (cf. the Dutch
dike] ; it is one of the commonest of Norfolk
terms, but its origin is obscure.
Bird, in sporting parlance is a partridge. It
is interesting to note that deer in the same way
once meant any animal ('* Rats and mice, and
such small deer "). However, I don't suggest
that bird is ever likely to have so exclusive a
meaning as- deer now possesses. What is the
force of together in " spreed yarselves out
together," a direction I have heard given to
BROAD NORFOLK.
beaters by a head gamekeeper ? And what,
too, is the history of the word duller in
" Howld yew yar duller,'1'' addressed to a noisy
" dorg?"
Wheatsel is a pretty word, meaning " Wheat
drilling." Thus, " We've finished wheatsel " —
" all our wheat is in." Here the idea is " seed-
time," but in haysel, for instance, the notion
conveyed is that of harvest.
Pn't/, stitch are both used to describe the space
between two double furrows.
Didfin — a halter. " Fetch a dutfin and show
the animal off " is a common expression.
Tussock is an excellent 'Old English term for
a tuft or a sod of grass. It is obsolete so far as
the national vocabulary is concerned, and is
obsolescent even in remote rural districts.
Heiyn (heighten) — to raise wages.
Gotch — jug.
Loke — a " blind " lane.
To hank up a gate — to sneck or fasten it.
Fosey — over-ripe.
Lim — to suck. E.g., of a bifcoh, the pups
wil Urn her to deed — cause her death by sucking.
Tumbler, for tumbrel. Since the word is
used of a cart made so as to tip up, " tumbler"
is more logical than "tumbrel." Yet " tumbler "
is hardly considered respectable.
Muck-crome is a capital word, but is entirely
local.
Lit — stain. This occurs in an old saying,
" There's not a blot but will lit" The word
or the proverb is said to be early Danish. I
don't know whether anybody has met with it
outside this county ; at any rate, it is a note-
worthy survival.
Fye — to dress corn. Thus, to go a-fyin,
might mean to run wheat through the dressing
machine.
BROAD NORFOLK.
An odd vowel change may often be observed.
As, for instance,
e for o in sneiv for snow^
i for e in /ma-bird for hen-bird.
o and even eu for au in thow or tlieiv for
thaw.
0 for a in fond for land, sond for sand, and
grovel-hole for gravel hole.
1 think it is Trench who has pointed out how
much richer, at least in rural terms, the
English language would be if it adopted freely
from its country dialects. C-H.
(BY THE AUTHOR OF "GILES'S TRIP TO
LONDON, " (fee.)
The first half of iny life was passed in
the southern parts of Suffolk, and the
latter half has been passed in Norfolk. So far
as the provincialisms made use of in the two
counties are concerned, I think there is not
much difference. There is, however, a great
contrast in the style of speech. Suffolk
speaks in a kind of sing-song ; Norfolk in a
more broad and sustained tone. There is
nothing in Suffolk to answer to the way in
which the a in certain words is pronounced in
Norfolk. Here we say pauper and baaker, the a
being drawn out at extraordinary length. This
peculiarity does not exist in the sister county.
Neither d® the people in Suffolk say rume for
room, or glumy for gloomy, as we do here.
Neither do they drop the h, as the inhabitants
of many parts of Norfolk do in some words. A
Mid-Norfolk man will say, and even
write, for instance, trow for throw, tree
for three, troat for throat, and so on.
Many of the provincialisms are, as I have said,
BROAD XORFOLK.
commoii to both counties. I will run over a
few of them, merely premising that I shall
give none which I have not myself heard in
the cottages of the peasantry and in the roads
and fields.
The terms applied by men and women to
each other are interesting. A gi~l is
called a mawther, which, in addressing her,
becomes maw. " "Where have you been,
maw ? " But she is also called a
fine strappen mawther. A lad is
addressed as " bor," and he is said
to be a great huddren fellow, or a loose hufkin*
rascal. If boys or girls are large or jolly they
are said to be $ivac\~en ; if they are awkward
they are called gawky; when out of temper
they are runty ; and when they are half-witted
and shiftless they are described as gutless.
There are many terms to express their doings.
They lollop or lummuclc aoout, or they sarnter
in the lanes. In the winter time girls and boys
pample in the mud, and at all times
clamber up walls or trees. The girls
cop balls, the boys cail stones, and both of them
hull all sorts of things about. A man will
hull on his coat, and a women will hull on her
bonnet. A man will give directions to hull a
scuppet into the barrow and crowd it up the hill.
The scuppet, of course, is a shovel, and to
"crowd" is to drive or push. I have even
heard of a man who went into a chemist's shop
in North Norfolk and asked for " a punno' o'
pills to hull a wummen into a sweat." One boy
will give another a clip o' the head or a soivse o'
the skull, and I once heard a fellow say he had
given another a sisserara.
There are a good many terms used inside the
cottage which are expressive and peculiar. If
you go in when the baby is sleeping, the
IRQ An NORFOLK.
mother will probably hold up her finger and
say, " Don't make a deen," which means
don't utter a sound. The wick of the candles
which at one time were burned in every cottage
was called a snaast, which the snuffers were used
to trim, but if they should not be at hand,
the finger and thumb of the father or of one of
the boys would do the work. The girl would
be sent with a gotch to the well, and if she
should spill any of the water on the floor, she
would be ordered to clean up the sividge. If
she was disagreeable and put herself into
tantrums, or begun to winnock (i.e., cry), she
would perhaps be cut off with only a hunch
of bread, with maybe an ingen (onion),
for her dinner. If the mother happened
to be ill she would perhaps tell you that she
was tired of sorzhs, the slops which the doctor
ordered her, and add that they were nothing
but culch. Sometimes she would tie a hand-
kerchief around the neck of one of the boys so
tightly that he would cry out that he was being
greened. I used to think about the meaning of
this term when I was being greened myself,
and thought it might mean that the tight
tying would produce a green hue on the skin
similar to the colour of a bruise. I expect,
however, I was wrong. But even the cottagers
had at times their luxuries. Occasionally they
would get fried chitterlings (the intestines of
pigs), or have a dish of frummety, which was
wheat boiled in milk, or some guseberry-fuh,
which consisted of gooseberries stewed with
milk and sugar. Sometimes they would get
puddings with gobs of fat in them. I remember
a song in which the Christmas puddings of the
" workhus" were thus celebrated —
Great gols of fat they did put in
As big as my tew thumbs.
BROAD NORFOLK.
But one of the most charming distresses of the
housewife was when she was making a batch
of bread and happened to " ming the miller's
eye out." Many a time have I heard this dole-
ful complaint when the good woman has used
more water than her flour would carry. She
would then proceed to a neighbour's cottage
with a basin for a supply sufficient for her
needs. Her wise husband would perhaps be
flammed that she should be so careless,
when she might retaliate by asking
him how he came to lose one of
his mittens (gloves with thumb hole but no
finger holes), and express the wish that he
wasn't such a 'struy for Jiighlows, the name
given to the rustic's thick lace-up shoes. There
are many other domestic terms to which I
might refer, but I must pass on.
The fields and the woods are responsible
for many provincialisms. What strange
names are applied to the living creatures.
A snail is a doclman or a hodmandod,
and the boys on capturing one would say,
" Hodmandod, hodmandod, pull out your
horns," &c. A toad is a hoppentoad ; a young
frog, such as is found in marshes, is a fresher.
A boar is a braivn, and a rabbit a bunny. As
for birds, a thrush is a mavish, a goldfinch a
Kiii;/ Harry, and a wood pigeon a rinydow,
while their nests are neesen. By the bye, I
may add in a parenthesis that in Suffolk houses
are called housen, which is doubtless the old
Saxon form. There is one little bird — the wren
or the tomtit — which was called the puddenpoke,
from the pudding-like shape of its nest. As
for that patieizt creature which in the
Scriptures is called an ass, in London a
moke or a neddy, and in polite circles a
donkey, it is universally styled in Norfolk
BROAD NORFOLK.
and Suffolk a dickey. To have a dickey and
cart is a state of affluence for a countryman.
A pet lamb is a cosset and a guinea fowl is a
comeback in consequence of the peculiarity of
its cry. In the fields the men talk strangely to
the horses. When they want them to go to the
right they say "woor-ree," and when they
want them to go to the left they say
" cumhether." I assume woor-ree means
" wear to the right," and cumhether
" come hither to the left." But I have
heard a man say ' ' Woor-ree cumhether wool
ye ? " all in a breath. Any horse or other
animal which was quiet and gentle was said to
be toivard. At four o'clock in the afternoon in
those days the men in the harvest field had
fourses or lever, which consisted of a
"beverage " (which I take to be the derivation
of the word) of ale drunk from horns, with
harvest cake. What a treat was it then to
hear the men " hallo largess." Many a
time have I heard them in the distance,
and the remembrance even now has in it a touch
of romance. The ' ' lord ' ' would ascend a tree and
cry aloud "Hallo lar — hallo lar — hallo lar,"
then all the men standing round would add in
a low base voice long drawn out gees. The
effect on a quiet autumn evening just at twi-
light was remarkable, and I shall never forget
it. The remembrance is as a dream of Arcady.
But I must draw these remarks to a close.
The expletives, or the mild swearing terms
that were adopted by countrymen in my
young time, are noteworthy. I refer
thus to what things were in the
past because, by the influence of the Board
schools, everything has been changed, or is
rapidly changing. They would dang their
jackets, or darn their buttons, or cry out,
BROAD NORFOLK.
"What the mendin' du yew mean?" Of the
origin of this last phrase I know nothing.
Every reader will recollect that Dickens
was puzzled to think of all that
might be involved in Mr. Peggotty's
great oath, " I'll be gormed," which
however, is nothing like so common as " B y
goms." One can see the origin of these terms,
as well as why it is said that a thing is nation
or tahnation big or ugly. Barnt was a
favourite phrase for giving effect to any state-
ment. I knew a woman from Peasenhall who
always desired to be barnt everlastingly if she
did not speak the truth. If you asked her a
question she might say, " Barnt if I know," or
she might end a long tale by saying, " There,
that's true, barnt if it aint."
In conclusion, it is a common thing to say
that a person lives up hinder or down yinder,
and boys and girls are told when they are
inquisitive about anything in the house-
hold of which they should be kept in
ignorance, that it is lay-over-meddlers.
This is the form given in Moor's " Suffolk
Words and Phrases," published in 1823. I am
convinced, however, that it should be "La' o'
the meddlers, you are the first." This is " Shame
on the meddlers, you are the first of them." Mr.
Moor's suggestion is ridiculous. He thinks it
refers to layovers or turnovers which might some-
times be made of medlars instead of apples.
By the bye, I was very near forgetting the
extraordinary use of the word "together" in
both counties. In Suffolk — as I have heard
scores of times, and as I have myself doubtless
personally exemplified — a friend meeting two
or three companions will say in the pleasant
sing-song of the place, " Where are yew going,
together?" " Together " is evidently used as a
10 BROAD NORFOLK.
noun applied to the persons addressed. I
think, however, what it really means is this,
4 ' "Where are you going, you who are here to-
gether?" With this suggestion I close my
remarks.
It is a mistake to imagine that dialects are everywhere
corruptions of the literary language. The real and
natural life of language is in its dialects. Even in
England the local patois have many forms which are
more primitive than the language of Shakespeare,
and the richness of their vocabulary surpasses on many
points that of the classical writers of any period. —
Max Mutter.
An interesting and useful question iu con-
nection with this discussion would tarn upon
whether it is within the range of possibilities to
rescue from the fields and villages a few of the
fine, forcible terms which the established
language of literature has long since rejected.
Until now all efforts to reinstate any of these
evicted words have nearly always been in vain.
As a matter of fact the word clever
is almost the only instance of an East
Anglian dialectic colloquialism rising into
classical English. To facilitate the revival
and preservation of the worthy localisms
that have fallen into disrepute let us hope
will be the result of this rustic symposium.
" What is a deke " is a question which, it will
be seen, has raised a good deal of disputation. I
originally suggested that the word is used in
Norfolk to mean a banked up hedgerow rather
than a ditch or water- course for draining wet
land. Opinion, however, seems equally
divided amongst the correspondents. Thus
it is tolerably clear that deke and dyke in
BROAD NORFOLK.
different localities of the county are almost
interchangeable terms. That curious word
usually spelt sibrits, but commonly pronounced
sibbits, is, I believe, generally derived from the
Anglo-Saxon cyb, meaning "a blood relation."
The ubiquitous " plain person " would venture
to ask "What have marriage banns to
do with blood relations?" Bann is not
connected with "bind," but comes from the
Saxon word bannan, to issue or display a pro-
clamation. Hence the suggestion I heard the
other day that sibbits is merely a corruption of
"exhibits" seems to be a reasonable, as well
as an ingenious, explanation. It is true that a
majority of the common country colloquialisms
can be traced from the recognised language of
earlier times, but all the same for that, Nor-
folk yokels are not to be held altogether inno-
cent of smothering or mutilating the Queen's
English. Such words as backus (backhouse),
ollnst (always), and ashup (ash-heap) are
mysteries outside East Anglia.
A characteristic peculiar to rural folk is their
habit of keeping up a conversation between
themselves, no matter how far they may be off
each other. So long as they are within ear-
shot it does not occur to them to approach one
another. Labourers (and the old women too) think
nothing of gossipping ("having a mardle")
across a ten-acre field for instance. Depend
upon it, the country folk are clinging to their
old forms and usages tenaciously enough, but
it is to be feared, as Trench has remarked,
they cannot resist the moral and material
forces which are gradually rendering obsolete
all their picturesque phraseology.
Now for one or two additional illustrations
of Norfolk speech. Everybody knows that a
pogramite or pogrimite is a contemptuous term
12 BROAD NORFOLK.
for a Dissenter. It would be interesting to
know the derivation of this word. Somebody
has traced it to Elijah Pogram, the
senator in "Martin Chuzzlewit," who was
always imagining that the English had a
grudge against his free and enlightened
country ; as if the word was not widely in use
at least a century before the time of Dickens.
A snasty fide with half a tile off interpreted,
denotes a snarlish fellow weak in the head.
If a woman burnt her finger when cooking
apple-jacks (apples baked in thin pastry) or
swimmers (light dumplings), she would put a
hutkin on it, and in case she was particularly
neat and tidy she would triculate it up like, s®
that the in j ured finger might present a respect-
able appearance. Anybody with a game leg
(sore leg) would probably be said to go himpin
about instead of " limping."
To be in one's bighes, a phrase I heard used
a day or two ago, seems to imply being in a
good mood for the time being.
The list of terms in vogue upon a farm is
well-nigh interminable. Besides the large
number already given, here are several more : —
Haze, a term used of corn when, under the
influence of sunshine or a breeze, it is drying
after a shower of rain. The directions teammen
give to their horses vary in different districts.
Cup bear, meaning come here, i.e., to the left,
is of course merely another form of cum hether
or cum harley. Weesh or woosh, a command to
bear to "the right," is actually said to be
derived from the French gauche, which signifies
"the left! "
Quicks (foul grass) comes from an Anglo-
Saxon word with exactly the same meaning.
Skutes — parts of a field of unequal lengths.
The appearance of a rodger (a whirlwind on a
BROAD NORFOLK.
small scale) is regarded as a sure sign of fine
weather.
It would be easy to give whole columns of
quaint superstitions, such as the old charm,
"Hick-up snick-up, Three Drops for aHick-up"
or in the condescending injunction of Middle
Age to Youth to "eat another yard of plum
pudding first," but if I made a serious start
in this direction, I should hardly know where
to stop. C-H.
Perhaps your versatile contributor " C-H." can
tell me something about a phrase with which I am
perfectly familiar, and which I believe to be entirely
indigenous to Norfolk. " To stand up " is frequently
used in the sense of " to shelter," thus, " Let us stand
up out of the wet." lam a yokel bred and born my-
self, and have used, and heard others use, the expression
times out of number. So many authorities, however,
have expressed themselves entirely ignorant of it that
I am tempted to seek further information through
your colamus. R.W.C.
It was with much interest that I noticed an
article in your issue of last Saturday on " Broad
Norfolk," since your journal seems the natural medium
for placing on record some of those East Anglian
terms and phrases which admirers of vigorous expres-
sion will not willingly let die. Few people could
remain for any length of time in contact with the rural
labourers of this district without remarking that they
retain the use of many a term— obsolescent, no doubt
—but yet indicating in a single word an idea
which would require a lengthy sentence to
express with equal accuracy. It is generally
adn itted that all local glossaries at present
published possess the defect of including a large
number of words which are certainly not limited in
their use to the Eastern Counties, as well as the more
serious fault of omitting many which as certainly are
14 BROAD NORFOLK.
part of our dialect. An adequate discussion of the
subject in your columns would do much to enable our
future lexicographer to steer clear of both the rocks
which I have indicated.
Among the local terms which immediately occur to
me is that singularly complete class of wo'rds which
indicate th« different conditions of corn when lodged
by wind or rain. Thus the crop may be said
to be " shackhd," " kti'ckltd," or " hovelled," accord-
ing to the state in which the storm has left it.
To "riffle," i.e., to disturb the surface with a
plough; it shares with "rifle" the indication of
shallow grooves.
One of the first popular expressions which strikes a
stranger to Norfolk villages is the frequent use of the
phrase, " It dew fare." "It dew fare wonerful stingy,"
says the rustic, when the wind is in the east.
•' Foursei " is the afternoon harvest meal, which the
labourer takes at 4 '30 in the neighbourhood of
Norwich.
A man who pottered over his work was said by a
farm steward — dead now, poor fellow — to be " pakin\
fussickin\ and detiesquittiri1 about," which at least
sounds a good day's work.
Plckcheesin11 has much the same meaning.
I have heard a slow-witted countryman told not to
" stand a garpin* theer, bor, like a duzzy maivkin."
A stranger to the dialect might wait for more explicit
directions.
Many such expressions must occur, especially to
those of your readers who reside in districts remote
from the larger towns. BOB.
Your correspondent " C-H.'s" excellent article
upon this subject should evoke an interesting cor-
respondence in your columns, particularly among
rir country readers, many of whom will doubtless
able to add to the list of" quaint words and sayings
alluded to in the article.
A foreigner visiting this county would think the
dialect highly euphonious, particularly if he overheard
such an expression as " My master say if I du as I
oughter du, I shouldn't du as I du du."
Some of the expressions alluded to by
BROAD NORFOLK. 15
"C-H." call to mind instances in which
similar words have been heard by me, parti-
cularly the word " gotch," which recalls the
f ollowiug thoroughly Norfolk sentence, ' ' Polly she
tumbled over the trostle (threshold) and broke the
gotch." The word " heign " is by no means confined
to "wages." I have often heard a bricklayer talk
about " heigaing a wall." The "o" for "a" is very
apparent in the pronunciation of the word "rand"
(a marsh bank or wall) which is universally called a
" rond " in the broad district. One of the
most amusing instances of Noifolk ignorance
as well as dialect was one I heard some time
ago, when one of the North Norfolk railways was
first opened. A Norfolk labourer had never seen a
train, but was at work in a field near a bridge over a
cutting through which the nesr line ran. A friend
passing ?aid —
" Have you seen a train yet, bor ? "
" No, bor, I ha'int."
" Well just yew run up tew the bridge and yew'l
see one."
The rustic proceeds to the bridge. Train passes
under, whistling. Rustic returns.
Fri>nd— '• Well, did you see the train? "
Rustic—" Well, I see suffiu, but as sune as that see me
that shruck, and rushed into a burra ! "
I could give many other instances, but my time and
your space will not allow. A NOEFSLK DUMPLING.
Referring to the interesting paper on " Pro-
vincial Language," I would suggest that the word
duller, like many other obsolete words, comes to us
from the French douleur (Latin dolor), and is an ex-
pression of mental or bodily pain. N. S.
I think "C.-H.," in his very interesting paper
on our Norfolk dialect is in error as to the meaning
he gi ves to the word deke or dike.
He says, "Deke a bank, has nothing to do with
ditch." 1 am inclined to think that it is more nearly
allied to ditch than bank. It is a narrow channel of
16 BROAD NORFOLK.
water on marshes, or by the side of roads when there
are no hedges. We constantly hear of the deke's
mouth, i.e., where the dike joins the river. Then
again we hear of Oulton Dike or Deke, Kewlal Beke
(at the latter in many places there are no banks at all
— only reed beds), and b-.atiug men will remember
many other dikes or dekes. In Holland a dyke or
dike is, undoubtedly, a raised bank, but a deke in
Norfolk is a water channel, and when a roadway has
a deke on both sides it is called a caruser. C. C.
For the benefit of your correspondent "K. W. C."
let me say I have travelled over the greater part of
the United Kingdom and have found the expression
" to stand up," used in the sense of " to shelter," very
general, especially in Kent and Sussex, and, on this
side of the Thames, in Essex and Cambridgeshire.
H. B.
As a native, I have read with great interest what
has been written on this subject. Allow me to suggest
that instead of " Broad " it should be " Pure "
Norfolk. In this part of the county we have many
expressions which have not yet been catalogued.
Dudder, to shake, or tremble. For example— a
drover, a Norfolk man, and two of his neighbours, who
were in Essex at the time of the earthquake which
occurred a few years ago, were once explaining to a
Cockney their experience of the phenomenon. All
proceeded pretty well, until one said, " Why, lor, bor,
we tree kinder duddered," which, to the knowing
young gentleman from the Metropolis, was not very
explicit.
Being is a genuine Norfolk word for a home. Mr.
Peggotty is anxious " to purwide a bein' for the old
mawther."
Mawthcr. Is not Norfolk pre-eminently distin-
guished in the use of this word, with its abreviation
" mor," which, if not particularly elegant, is, in my
opinion, quite as good as " wench" of north country
folk any day ?
Kinder is in universal use, meaning rather. I sup-
pose it is a corruption of " kind of."
BROAD NORFOLK.
"Norfolk Dumpling" speaks of "trostle" for
threshold. I never heard it so our way ; but " tros-
hold" is familiar.
To ask a stranger to hang the kettle on the hake
and rake up the hyvers would puzzle him. Is not hake
a pure Flemish word ?
To muny is used as meaning to knead dough.
Mucky is often used in such a phrase as " mucky
action," is one of a disreputable nature.
ew for oo. " The man in the mune came down to
sune, to ask the way to Norwich," we have known all
our lives.
fFforV, as wittles (victuals), wezatious, &c.
There is a word in use amongst us which I should
much like to have explained. I have asked several,
but cannot get a satisfactory definition. When banns
of marriage are "asked" we hear of so and so's
" sibbits " being read.
Outsiders may laugh at " our language." We are
not ashamed of it. Is it not infiuitely better than the
cockney English of our friends, the Yarmouth Beach
singers. We can laugh at the young gentleman as he
pensively warbles the
Hardent wish of 'is art.
Ho kerry me beck to my oairae ogoain,
Ho kerry me beck once mower.
Althow this du fare kinder rum to us dumplins, we
kinder laarf , bor, when we heer them theer fules, and
think our old frind Giles, when he went up to Luunon,
wsi-nt any more of a fule than them theer chaps on
Yarmouth Beach. What about 'Arry and 'Arriet, hay,
bor ? W. H. 0.
As one much interested in Norfolk vernacular,
may I say a word or two on the subject. I think your
correspondent " C. C." is wrong in assuming that
" deke " does not mean a bank. It is certainly used
for both ditch and bank. As he says a narrow water
course through a marsh is a " mashe deke," and a
road between two " dekes " is a " carnser " (cause-
way) ; but a bank is a "deke " for all that. Witness the
expression, " deke'? hpll." Deke is the tank
and " holl " is the ditch (the hollow) adjoining.
" Fyeing out a holl " is good Norfolk for cleaning
out a ditch. I hope this correspondence will continue,
18 BROAD NORFOLK.
and should occasion serve, I shall be glad on a future
occasion to give your readers several good old Norfolk
words that I have not yet seen mentioned. ' ' Dannock,"
a hedger's glove without fingers, is one. ,
A LOVEE OF NOEFOLK.
As a north countryman I have been interested
in the correspondence on this subject, and I should
like to say a word or two. First, I agree with that
correspondent who says that " stand up " in the sense
of "shelter " is not confined to Norfolk. I have often
heard it in other counties.
As to " dudder," my acquaintance with Norfolk is
not of sufficient length to permit me to express an
opinion, but the Lancashire word that has an exactly
similar meaning is "dither, "as I have heard jelly
jokingly termed by Lancashire people "that stuff that
I hardly think that "mucky" is confined to
Norfolk. It is often used elsewhere in the sense of
dirty.
The word "buskin," and the expression " to put on
his parts," strike me as somewhat peculiar to Norfolk.
Perhaps some of your correspondents will give their
opinion.
As an outsider I can assure you that I do not laugh
at your language. As a matter of fact I think it is
extremely pretty and euphonious. B. O. P.
I feel little doubt that sibrit, sibrede, or sibbe-
ridge (various forms of a provincial appellation of
the banns of matrimony) are connected with the old
English, or so-called "Anglo-Saxon " word sib,
meaning a relation or companion. We find the same
stem in the derivatives sibless (without kindred,
deserted), sibman (a relative), sibness (relationship),
with the old word sibrede, which is synonomous with
the last-mentioned. I presume, therefore, that the idea
of the banns as preparatory to thie new " relationship,"
gives rise to the name. Or were the " sibrits " for the
purpose of bringing to light any kinship or affinity
within the prohibited degrees ?
E. ROBERTS TDXFOBD.
BROAD NORFOLK. 19
For the edification of neighbour " W. H. C." :—
S-bbits— Siberet — Sybb-rit— Syb rede banna [Prompt.
rarv.] When the banns have been published for the
third time, the parties are said to have been "out
asked."
Jlyrers, or Hovers, not only means peat, or turf cut
for burning, but also a floating reed-bed, where,
perhaps, from the nature of the " soil," hovers might
f>e procured. The island in the midst of Scoulton
Mere, which might, in parts at any rate, bear
this title, is, however, termed the "hearth." Suggested
derivation tor a "hover " is because it hovers between
wind and water ! A novice might appreciate the
explanation when first experiencing the sensation of
the ground for yards around, quivering under his
hesitating footsteps.
Holl — a ditch, particularly a dry one (Forby) — and
so used at the present time, as opposed to
Dekc — a \vet-thatis a water ditch.
We have not yet had the derivation of " Roly poly."
Is it from its shape and make a rolled psle ?
M. C. H. BIED.
TIMOTHY TIKKELTOBY TU His FRIND ME. GILES.
Well, Bor, an wot d'ye think ou't now.
All mauder of stuff they'ie talkiii
Abeout "Broad Norfolk," when they know
No more'n my old mawkin
Which I shuv'd up to frite them bahds
Wot play sich mazin capers,
In f ussicken my baanes and paas,
Likewise my arly taters.
If I could nab them knowin chaps,
I'd make 'em keinder dudder,
For laarfin at ower Norfolk tongue,
Why I shud like tu smudder
Sich fules as haint the sense tu know,
They says thay're clever, rawther;
(That's how they say that word, old man)
Yow shud a heer'd my mawther,
She say, yow heer them London chaps
Wet sing on Yarmouth Beach,
Then yow will see and werry suite
Which is the rummest speech.
20 BROAD NORFOLK.
Yars, or them cockney chaps wot cum
And kick up such a duller,
In murderin that poor letter H.
Yow'l sune see they are fuller
Of cheek than sense, so let 'em laarf .
Doant it seem mazin funny
If we're fules tbey care tu cum
And glad tu take ower money.
So doant you mind a titty bit
As yow stand theer a garpin,
But let 'em know ower Norfolk tongue
Will stan theer jeers and larfin.
Tell 'em, old man, if we're slow
We arnt at sich a pass,
To brake all rules, and be sich fules
To call our Dickey— Hass.
Ower temper's smuthe, we'll stan theer grins,
An put up with theer crumplin,
We'll hang the biler on the hake
And stick tu NOEFOIK DUMPLIN.
W. H. C.
I have read the version of " C.-H." on the word
deke; he is much more to the point in its use and
meaning than "C. C." You will frequently hear the
following expression in the country in reference to the
word :— " Let's get out of the holl and sit down on the
deke." Or when one is jumping over a deke (that is
a bank) a caution will be given you—" icarr (for
beware) the holl on the other side." The Norfolk
fences separating fields are frequently called "dekes."
Having had residing experience in Holland, I must say
I never heard a dyke is the name given to a "raised
bank." There are various dykes named by " C. C."
as tributaries to the river, and there are also mill
dykes and marsh dykes, which are outlets to drainage
mills ; but a deke in Norfolk is not necessarily a water
channel. W. S.
Your correspondents have afforded much interest
and amusement with their various contributions.
The cases cited have beenmostly rural words and idioms,
many of which one never hears in the city. But there
BROAD NORFOLK.
are several words which strike the ear of a stranger as
peculiar. The first which misled me for the moment,
was " sadly " used in the_sense of ill-health, rather
than of mental condition. " Others were " tempest "
for "storm," "coarse" for " rough " weather, and
especially the word "muddle" which is a favourite
word of Norfolk house-wives, the real English mean-
ing of which is by no means their habit. To a stranger
it is very curious to hear methodical industrious people,
who seem to have everything in order at the time,
describe themselves as " in a muddle."
"B. O. P." cites the word " dudder," which is
thoroughly Norfolk. The corresponding word "dither,"
used in other places, is not a dictionary word, but it
is not provincial, for you hear it in the Midlands, as
well as in Yorkshire and Lancashire. Its meaning is
" slight trembling all over with cold."
I should say " mucky" is essentially a northern
provincialism, and one only rarely hears it in Norfolk. In
muddy weather it is ever on the people's lips in Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire.
" Here t' be " I never heard save in this county,
and perhaps Suffolk. The use of the word " shy "
I have never heard explained, but its Norfolk sense is
exactly the opposite to its ordinary meaning.
I think " M. C. H. Bird " is right as to the deriva-
tion of " roly poly." It appears to stand for " rolled
pole," and its diminutive suffixes arose from some
maternal desire to give a favourite dish for children, a
popular name among them. In this rhyming manner
words are better remembered by our juveniles.
P. PEEKEfS.
The correspondence now appearing in your columns
is very interesting. Here are a few words I have
not yet seen mentioned ; and I should like to know if
they are confined to Norfolk? They are constantly
used amongst us.
To crowd (past crud). — To thrust or push, as " Git
the mawther to cro»vd the barra'. She crud it
yisterdaay ! "
Decn (for din?) — Strangely enough, this does not
mean a loud or continued noise, but the slightest
possible sound, as
" Now, yow mussent maak a deen, bor ! "
meaning that one must be absolutely quiet.
BROAD NORFOLK
To imitate. — To attempt, as " I shawn't d'ut, nor yit
imitate t' d'ut, bor."
Cooshies. — Sweetmeats. Is this ever heard out of
Norfolk?
Kindling. — Firewood.
Shortening. — Lard or butter for pastry -making.
J. E. B.
Your correspondents have by no means exhausted
the list of Norfolk provincialisms, and have hardly
touched upon the many funny terms we use upon our
farms and in our country houses. Here are a few : —
A " holl " means a ditch, a. " deek " means a dyke, a
" keeler " means a shallow tub, " kindling " means
firewood, a " boiler " means a small tin with a lid, a
" dwile " means a house flannel, a " push " means a
boil, " over wort" means across, " soshing " means
askew, " sidus " means a sloping, " cop " means to
throw, " hain " means to rise (vide the Rev. W.
Hudson's " Norwich Chronicles.")
Then there are no end of miscalled words. For
instance, a tumbrel is called a " tumbler," a bin \*.
called a" bing," a shovel is called a " bhuloe," a head-
land is called a " hidlond." bran is called " brun,"
a marsh is called a " mash," and curiously enough we
still talk of going down to " mash," and giving a horse
a " brun marsh."
The language we address to our cart horses would
puzzle the carters of other counties. When a horse is
wanted to go to the right we say " woosh," to the left
" cum harley." When he is is stop we halloo " way."
A team of horses is called a " teaiuer," and the carter
a " teamerman."
I once cautioned an ostler to be careful how he took
out my mare, whereupon he patted her on the neck
and said '' She fare toward like tho." A London
friend I was driving was sorely puzzled at the remark,
and I had to translate it — " Notwithstanding what you
say the mare appears to be quiet and gentle." The
same gentleman was also surprised to hear a labourer
at an agricultural show remark, upon looking at a sleek
black pig, that it put it put him ' ' mazen in mind of a
moll," which we need not say meant that the pig very
much resembled a mole. I can remember, when a
child, hearing some old folk use the word " Frenched "
BROAD NORFOLK.
(violent anger), and the "ham" with which many
places ended was always " gim," as " Gimmingim,"
but they are extinct, as also "silly bold "for im-
pudence; but "dicky," " dodmaii," and other rustic
names still survive. Many of your readers may re-
member the picture of two Norfolk boys in Punch and
one exclaiming, " Hinder come a dow," which had to
be rendered into the Queen's English thus, ' ' In the
distance a wood pigeon is coming," The number of
old Xorfolk phrases and miscalled words are still
almost endless, but the Board schools will possibly
eradicate most of them in the next generation.
A NOBFOLK FABMEB.
Will one of your philological correspondents give
the origin and ideal meaning of the teamman's
(Norfolk for " teamster," never heard " teamster "
used) " hait " and " woosh " ? I don't suppose these
are exclusively Norfolk words, but I know they are
indispensable to the Norfolk ploughman, and with
" u~ae " are among the best understood by our farm
horses.
If I say " hait " my horse turns to the left," ivoosh "
and he turns to the right. Why? and whence come
these words ?
I have my theory, but wish for a scholar's opinion.
CHAS. BUSSEY.
I think your correspondent " W. H. C." will
find that the use of the vowel "z»" for "0" is
restricted to East Norfolk. One never hears of " mune,"
" spune," and"butes" in West Norfolk. I append
a few more Norfolkisms which I have not at present
seen mentioned: — The heron is very often called a
" harnser," whilst the wood pigeon is a " dow," as
illustrated in the thoroughly Norfolk . sentence of
" Hie into the holl, bor ! hinder <vuin a dow."
You may perhaps also hear a farm steward threaten
a sheep-boy with a " clink" or a " clout " of the head
if he does not properly attend to his " yows "
(ewes) .
The word " romant " takes the place of the verb
" imagine." " Shann " is to shout ; " starmed" means
amazed; and "hull1' and '-cop" both mean to
throw.
24 BROAD NORFOLK.
I think that although there is something to be said
on both sides with regard to the word " dcke" mean-
ing either "bank" or "ditch," in sound it most ap-
proaches the latter, and in this district certainly is
always used for " ditch." Fen men also would under-
stand " deke" to be a channel of water, and iu
Lincolnshire their " doike" is the same.
WEST NOEFOLK.
There are one or two phrases which have been
omitted, although doubtless they are well known to
your correspondents, viz. : — " That dew rain a sirffin.'*
"I gin her a funny mobbin." " There ain't enow "
(for enough). " He's sammucking alongcr his
mawther " (strolling aimlessly). Upon inquiring after
a person's health, one is often told that " He's nicely
thank ye." When a horse is fresh he is said to be
"gaily." TEW CHAPS.
The interesting letters appearing in your col-
umns aneut words and phrases peculiar to Norfolk
and Suffolk have not yet exhausted the list, for I do
not recollect seeing any mention of the following : —
"A good tidy lot," a great many; "all naander of
what," a very miscellaneous collection of article?,
notably such as might come out of a boy's pocket ;
htilvcrs, for holly bushes ; gaffer, an old man ; and
doke, a hole, such as might be made by pressing the
hand into a featherbed. ONE INTERESTED.
Not Norfolk born, I notice many forms of ex-
pression unfamiliar, though whether or not peculiar to
Norfolk, I cannot say. The intonation is certainly
peculiar, and the Norfolk man is undoubtedly a wit.
He nearly always takes pains both to nod his head in
the general direction of anything or place he may be
referring to, and also to express himself somewhat in
the way of parable. For example, a man said to me
of one in feeble health, " He won't carry old bones."
Doubtless many of their forms of expression are
archaisrrs, and quite as correct as her Majesty's
Inspector's pattern English, such as lief and enow.
BROAD NORFOLK.
The Norfolk man is essentially cautious, and for
him to say it is moderate means not good, aud that
there were several means a great many. Surely it is
sufficient explanation of mucky that manure is muck.
Perpetually he speaks of imitating ta do, that is attempt-
ing or professing. He always lays instead of lying ; a
horse himpx, not limps ; the soil should be tnotiltry ; a
mess is a certain quantity ; a pool is a swish of water ;
supports his wall with a spore not a shore ; if better,
he is gettiri1 on the round, he sets not sows his seeds ;
has a hasel and a barksel ; and in the littir a pitman.
If frightened he is only astonished : he riahtsides his
boy or his dog ; things may be illconvenicnt ; he may
have a rare cold, rare being superlative in any direc-
tion ; the east wind is stingey, the windows may
rattick, or the fire squinder. Though the present tense
is never favoured with its final " s, " yet it always is
with a strange perversion : — " It don't matters," and
"it don't seems to." He knows no distinction in
Furrin parts ; so to "go to Jericho " is the same as to
"go to Bungay."
"Duyu let them chickens put, and she'll troll 'em
to dead," was a piece of advice once tendered to me
in favour of keeping the old hen in a coop. One with
a "screw loose " is shanny, not quite rocked, or won't
(/et further than Wednesday. Curious and ingeniovis,
and probably grammatically defensible, is the hypo-
thetical use of the word do, which is commonly
observable, as for example in such a sentence as this
— "He don't fare to be a-comin," do that don't
matters," where 'do' supposes the fact that "He do
fare to be a-comin' " Such points I have commonly
observed when, such sentiments would be expressed
<lSo fashion." E. G. W. TUCKEB.
On coming from church yesterday (Sunday),
I heard a holly bush called a Christmas
tree ; that it was a slow thow ; that the frost fare to
forgive ; and later on, that the old yovvs mauled- their
turnips better. And this morning, as a sort of mild
swearing, " Gorn sim your body, bar ! "
A NORFOLK FABMEB.
For the "edification" of " W. H. C." and
Mr. Bird and all others whom it may concern,
BROAD NORFOLK.
probably a very numerous class, I bave looked up the
following: — Nathan Bailey's Dictionary, 1722, says:—
Sib (Saxon) kindred — Sib'd, a-kin, as no sole sib'd —
nothing a-kin, North Country ; and Sibbered and
Sibberedge from Sybbe (Saxon) kindred — The banns of
matrimony, Sttff.
Headers also of Sir Walter Scott may perhaps
remember the following passage in the Antiquary : —
" By the religion of our Holy Church they are ower
sib together. But I expect nothing but that both
will become heretics as well as disobedient reprobates,
that was her addition to that argument — and then, as
the fiend is ever ower busy with brains like mine, that
are subtle beyond their use and station, I was un-
happily permitted to add, ' But they might be brought
to think them«elve sae sib, as no Christian law will
permit their wedlock.'" — " Waverley Novels," 1854-,
vol. 6, page 157.
But Nail in his " Dialect and Provincialism of East
Anglia" perhaps gives the fullest description of the
word. He ?ays it is one of Sir Thomas Browne's words,
that it occurs in an entry of the old Assembly books of
the Yarmouth Corporation during the reign of
Charles L, where the parson is entreated
in consequence of the increase of poverty to
forbear to take aiiy banns, ask any cybredds,
or marry any poor person either with or with-
out license. Nail's work is a very excellent one, and
contains most of the words which your correspondents
have sent you, aud those who with for further infor-
mation about sibbits would do well to consult it, as
also Bailey. JOHN L. CLEMENCE.
Permit me to submit to your notice a few more
specimens of the above.
Tisxicken, irritation, irritating. I have a " tissicken "
in my throat, a tissicken cough. [Phthisicking .~\
Kane, water at low tide between the outer sand
bank and the beach. " I shall bathe in the kane."
Pawk, to search. Persons searching for anything cast
upon the beach by the waves are locally known as
" pawkers." What are you " pawking " after.
Swop, to fall heavily. " I fell down ' swop.' "
Say, to weigh down.
Closes, fields with a footpath through them.
BROAD NORFOLK.
PigJttle, a small field.
Back Stalk, the back of a low hearth.
T'jtear or To year, " Have you dug any potatoes ' to
year ' " is a very common expression.
Par Yard, cows or bullocks' yard.
Hen's Polly, a hens' roost.
Dingle, make haste and don't " dingle."
Larrup, a small quantity. " Well ! there's a larrup to
bring." W. H. C.
If there is yet space in your columns on this
subject permit me to add some words and peculiarities
at present, I believe, unnoticed by ydur various
correspondents.
Squezen'd, overcome by heat or nearly suffocated.
Quackled, having one's breath momentarily taken
away. Golder, to laugh in defiance. T/ipe, to drink
a quantity at one draught. Trape, to trail (as a dress
upon the ground). Jowl, to peck at (as birds do at
any hard substance). Spiarr, to spread or sprawl.
Tdo, a fuss. Gay, a picture of any kind.
F'lwny, a ring. Fang, to clutch. Pakenose, an inqui-
sitive person. -Z/'<7, a heavy load or burden. Fro icy
(also Fysty), spoken of food when going bad or
mouldy. Shug (also Shig) , shake. Run, to leak or
become liquid. Comforter, a scarf or muffler. Dingle,
to travel slowly. Refuge, to put in a place of shelter
(spoken in reference to cattle). Out abroad, outside
the house.
There is also a peculiar use of such words as Crumb,
Duty, Good, Do and Don't, Time, and Without, as the
following examples will show : —
"Cut me a crumb o' beef." "What's his
vni'j (occupation) ? " " Hull it out abroad ;
that's no more good (no further use)." " You
aru't old euousrh dit (or) you might a tried."
" Shet that gaate, bor, don't (if not) yar old sow'll
girrout." " Wait outside time (while or during the
time) I'm gone in." "Don't doit without (unless)
you're sure about it."
I may say I can personally vouch for all I have
written. FUED. R. FOESTEE.
The correspondence on the above subject is proving
niDst interesting, but, lor my own part, I should
28 BROAD NORFOLK.
like to see something more stated as to the
source of these words and terms. Here are a few
others that I have not yet seen mentioned : —
" Dowshie," a large hoe used for scraping roads ;
"Piece," instead of field ; "scald," the highest part
of a hilly field; "rattiker" a footbridge ; " rattick,"
to shake or knock about; " grup," for ditch
or dyke; and "beck," generally supposed to be
obsolete, is still used in Norfolk to denote a small
running stream. " Colder " is a word that has two
meanings ; in the county it is understood to mean the
husks of wheat or chaff of some kind, while in the
city bricks' ends and other rubbish from old
buildings is what is meant. The term, " lay-over-
meddlers," used in the article of this morning,
is rather different from what I have myself heard.
When too inquisitive as to certain things I have been
informed they were "lar-o'-for-meddlers, and you
are the first." " Kub ba-hoult" is used every day
by the Norfolk teamman, but I could never quite
make out its meaning.
An Irishman would be known by his "brogue" in
any part of the world, but we do not so often hear of a
Norfolk man being thus recognised, there-
fore the following may be interesting : — A
young man, a native of Norwich, was a,t
work in Canada. Whilst walking along a road
one cold morning he was accosted by a stranger with
"Sharp morning, this!" He at once replied in true
Norfolk style, ''Ah, bor, you're right." The stranger
stopped, looked sharply at him, and said, " What part
of the world do you come from ? " The young man was
somewhat surprised, butsaid he came from England. The
stranger did not seem satisfied with this, but asked for
the particular part of England, and gave, as his
reason for being so inquisitive, that he had never
heard the word bor used outside a certain district. The
young man at once gave his address, and then his
name, whereupon the stranger grasped his band, and
said, " That's the masterbit ; I used to live next door
to yer father, and I ha' nussed you many a time when
you wor a nipper." JOSKIN.
Tt is most useful to preserve the fast-vanishing
relics of old country dialects, and, therefore, all
the more necessary to guard against recording as local,
BROAD NORFOLK. 29
words which are widely current. May I give a few
instances from the interesting article on " Broad
Norfolk " by the author of " Giles's Trip to London"
in your issue of the 9th instant ?
Bunny — For rabbit, is, I believe, used throughout
England, certainly in all the Southern counties.
Chitterlings— This word is used in London and the
south generally. Clamber— Is universal. Dang and
Darn — Are of daily, nearly hourly, used in Surrey
and Sussex. Gawky— Maybe heard all over England.
Hoppen toad — Surely 'is merely hopping toad.
Hulkin and strappen— Anywhere in these isles one
may hear of hulking lads and strapping lasses.
Tantrums — Are not peculiar to East Anglia in word or
fact.
Neither the word nor the bird mnvis is peculiar to
East Anglia, as all may know who have heard the
pretty Scotch song in which occurs the couplet —
" I heard the mavis singing
Her love song to the mora."
The word is in Chaucer, and its origin is interesting.
Tn early Latin texts this poetic bird was termed
mah'itiiis, from mal/im, bad, and rids, a vine, it being
very harmful to the vines. In Germany it bears a
name of similar meaning. The transition from
mah-itius to mavis is of course easy.
Of one local word I should be very glad to know
the proper meaning and derivation — the word carder.
The Rev. G. S. Barrett asked for information as to
this in January last year, but none seems to have ap-
peared. The word may be seen on new notice boards
on land about Catton. The words olf, a bull-finch,
doke, a trench, and duzzy, strange or devilish, are
of some interest.
1 am afraid to encroach too much on your space, but
perhaps you will permit me to say that George Borrow
(whose memory Norfolk would do well to cherish more
warmly) used many localisms in his works. Did he
not say that it is " in Norfolk where the people eat the
best dumplings in the world, and speak the best
English ? " Borrow frequently gives the sole of the
day, sometimes insists on beiiiy his /share in paying for
the good ale his soul loved, and says Go you there, see
you here, and so on. He uses the following words,
hastily selected, which are, I believe, genuine
East Anglian, viz.:— Crome, driftway, dwile, freshets
30 BROAD NORFOLK.
(perhaps misprint for freshers), highlows, shack, staithe,
and tumbril. I am not sure whether spuffling is a practice
peculiar to East Anglia. The word 'dodman, or
hodmandod, is found in old plays, and occurs in
Christopher Anstey's New Bath Guide : —
So they hoisted her down just as safe and as well,
And as snug as a hodmandod rides in his shell.
The vigour of English literature owes a good deal to
dialects, and the English language is a grand mosaic.
As an old lexicographer says, " beautified and enriched
out of other tongues, partly by enfranchising and
indenizening foreign words ; partly by implanting new
ones with artful composition, our tongue is as copious,
pithy, and significative as any other in Europe."
I, for one, hold that in the wide world you may
search in vain for so noble a mother tongue as is ours,
welded and wrought in the sinewy strength ef a race
builded and compounded of the best blood the earth
has ever borne.
If this be so, Mr. Editor, you cannot regret that
your columns have been opened to discuss the history
and the vitality of one strand in the glorious web and
woof. " HET VAEKE."
I have been much interested in the letters and
articles appearing in your paper with reference to
the Norfolk dialect. Before you bring the closure to
bear, I should like to have a word or two on the
subject.
In the first place I would point out to the author of
"Giles's Trip" that the word housen is not peculiar
to Suffolk as it is in frequent use in Norfolk. The
Saxon form of denoting tiie plural number is still
extant in such words as "oxen" and "children."
The Rev. J. P. Perkins is also wrong in supposing that
the word mucky is not common in this county.
Presumably he has never heard of " muck spreeding "
or known of a man being called a "mucky slink," a
term of reproach, which is often used. This brings to
my mind other words used to denote some mental
failing in the individual, such as diizzy fule, silly chump,
shanny brain, and cranky. The latter word, no doubt,
is derived from " crank," but I fail to see why it
should be used in the sense commonly
understood. In visiting a small farmhouse
BROAD NORFOLK. 31
you enter over the troshold and are invited by the good
lady into her keepin rume, a name peculiar, I think, to
this county, given to the room most generally used by
the family, the " parlour " being only u-ed on high
days and holidays. I have also heard the expression
used even in Norwich. There is one charge that can-
not be brought against the local dialect, and that is
the wrong use of the aspirate. Norfolk people know
how to sound their " H's." VEEDANT GKEEN.
I have been greatly interested by the letters in
your paper on "Broad Norfolk." As a native
of East Norfolk, in which part the broadest of
the broad is used, I recognise nearly all the words as
being used when I was a boy in the district for many
miles round Stalham. To a Londoner the Norfolkese
was an unknown language, and I have frequently had
occasion to act as interpreter bet veen my London
friends and some of the older natives (the i very long
please) .
There appears a doubt as to the use of the word
deke, as to whether it is applied to an earth bank or a
narrow watercourse. In East Norfolk it certainly is
used in both senses thus : " My ol 1 dickey clambered
over the deke into Cubit's pightle last night, and jampt
his mansrels about arummen ;" or, " My little mawther
Sukey (pronounced Suker) hulled my velvet frock
(velveteen sleeved waistcoat) into Riches's deke last
night : lor, bor, that wor in sum mess of a pickle when
I switched it out with the muck rake I was a-usin."
Usually in my part they prefix the liquid deke with
the word " water," and speak of it as a water deke.
In my book " The Land of the Broads," on pp.
249-254, I give a list of about 130 obsolete words,
sufficient as I thought at the time, for the purpose of
calling the general readers' attention to our fast dis-
appearing Norfolkese, but I fancy with a little
thought I could bring the total up to 250. My book,
after going through three editions, is now out of
print, but doubtless a copy is to be seen in the Norwich
Free Library. (If not I shall have pleasure in presenting
y on hearing from the secretary).
hile on the subject of Norfolk peculiarities, may I
mention the curious custom (one thing leading to
another) of nearly every man and boy in East Norfolk
a copy o
While
BROAD NORFOLK.
being known by a "nickname." This custom apper-
tains so far in Yarmouth, among the fishermen, that
very few of a crew are ever known by their real
names. Some of the names are given because of
personal peculiarities, while others are perfectly
enigmatical in their reference to the individual indi-
cated. Here are half-a-dozen I think of as I write.
Two- Skull (Thompson), Lightskin (Hewett), Punks
(Wiseman), Rollabotj (Mason), Phantom (Cubitt),
Whale (Williams), iScc., all of them known to me as a
boy. If you go aboard a Yarmouth lugger to seek a
certain man, it is quite necessary that you should first
know his cognomen, or one stands a very poor chance
of finding one's quest. BEHEST B. SUFFLING.
Shortly, from the information given by your
various correspondents, it will not be difficult to collect
materials for the basis of a respectable glossary of
Norfolk words, corruptions, and queer phrases. I
think, however, that we have not yet heard if a person
out it nahther. A rare piece of tcitrrk is a disturbance
or quarrel, and a juvenile old lady is a kidgy old
wumman If we go in search of an article we hyke it
up, and in fardenter, haypcr, panncr, shillinter, the
er or ter i^ equivalent to "worth." To jamb on is to
tread upon. I heard a genuine Norf olkman eay once
to a lad who had had the misfortune to graze his nasal
organ, Warm yow done f yar nooze bor ? Blundered
down anjamped on '£ ? J. R. B.
Your correspondent "West Norfolk" points out
that the use of the vowel "u" for "o" is re-
stricted to East Norfolk and the author of " Giles's
Trip ' ' remarks upon the different style of speech and pro -
nunciation here and in South Suffolk. The same
thoughts struck me on reading the earlier contribu-
tions on the above subject. In fact, I said " this is
broad Norfolk indeed,'' most of the provincialisms
quoted being now at any rate peculiar to the " broad "
district.
BROAD NORFOLK. 33
I am sorry to say that hallowing larges (the double
"s" was never pronounced) is a thing of the past,
although the " haller holder or holger boys " at haysel
and harvest are as vociferous as ever. With respect to
the dtke and dejce controversy, I have heard a raised
bank with a ditch on each side of it spoken of as a
fosse several times within the past four years. The
only word in which the letter " h" is added wrong-
fully to my knowledge is in hilder, meaning the elder
tree (Sambucus uiger) .
Pograinite. Is this a corruption of Pilgrim and Pro-
gress, a pogramite having in early days to make a
long pilgrimage to his meeting-house ? I knew an old
lady in Essex who used to lock up her cottage and
walk seven miles every Sabbath to meeting. When
accompanying two men rabbiting some twenty years
ago, a ferret " laid up ; " one man told the other to
put a second ferret in, whilst doing so he observed
"go in Pilgrim and search out Progress." It had
been a dull morning, when at length the sun began to
break out the same man saluted him thus, "here come
little Phoebe."
Rodger's blast, alias Sir Roger, may be a corruption
of Sirocco, as rattick is of rickety.
A man who himps, and especially if he uses a cratch,
I called a hop and go one, or a dot and go one, the dot
being the mark made on the ground by his crutch. I
have never heard " kane " used as mentioned by
"W. H. C.," a small lake left by the receding tide
being usually termed a "low." Has the term " to sag "
any connection with the Greek sar/cne ! A net makes
a bag where it " sags."
Wake. — An open piece of water when the rest of the
Broad is "laid," has its Norwegian equivalent
" wak."
When I used to ask what a parcel contained, and it
was thought unnecessary for me to know, I used to be
told "Rare o^s for medlers, a box o' the ears for m-
qmren."
Why should " God bless yer " be said to a person
when sneezing ?
One need not go abroad to get to "furrin parts."
The " Sheers " were far enough removed from Broad-
land until " Puffin Billy " opened up the district.
I once, as a " draw," asked a man what he thought
of the Education Act, and so many cubic feet of air
being required for every child, &c., a new
31 BROAD NORFOLK.
schoolroom being in course of erection near by.
" Well," he said, " yow can get 100 cubic foot
o' air into a worry small space, yer know."
When told that one of a pair of soles which he offered
for sale did not match in size, he answered, "Well,
now yow cum to mention it, dale me if I dew think
they fare to corroborate." Another old salt observed
the preparations for trying the new life-saving rocket
apparatus in majestic silence ; when the rocket was
fixed he drew near, and eyeing it suspiciously for a
moment or two, took off his sou' wester, scratched
his head, and thus soliloquised, " I think I'll give that
there rume," meanwhile retreating to a respectful
distance. That man had braved an Arctic winter, but
here on his own native sands thought discretion the
better part of valour. I have modified his language
just a trifle ! M. C. H. BIED.
While thanking you for inserting my yester-
da> 's letter, I should like to supplement it by adding
a few more phrases that have since occurred to me.
Bread, when coming from the oven underdone is
described as slackbaked. If a person denies the state-
ment of another he is denounced for tellin' me to my
hid '(was a story, A foremost person in some assembly
is reckoned a " kinder hid-se-ray." If an unusual
number of people are met together there is bound to
be, on first seeing them, stiffiti1 the matter.
One who has a well -supplied table at meals is said to
" live like old Pamp." Should the fumes from burning
garden refuse assail the nasal organ there is i( a quick-
fire somcicheic." When a person has little to do and is
asked to go somewhere with a message, &c., he is in-
formed it will be all honest your time. To " rip and
slash abouV is to drive furiously. To seem insincere
and smooth tongued is to keep a carneyin'. Taking
big strides when walking is to lampcr along. Goods
being sent abroad &ie gain1 forrin' . To hasten work un-
usually in preparation for something is to lay forrard.
I do not know whether this final example is peculiar
to Norfolk, but it is very prevalent hereabouts. For
•instance, after two or more persons have been en-
gaged in a lengthy argument, one of them caps the
whole thing by ejaculating that encouraging phrase,
Jf'ell, there 'tis ! Beyond this statement in a case of
that kind it seems (to me) impossible to go !
FEED. E. FOESTEE.
BROAD NORFOLK. 35
All interested, . in the preservation and record- of
our Norfolk dialect must feel greatly obliged to you
for the very entertaining and valuable help you
are now according the subject. As I have had some
opportunity — in- various parts of Norfolk— of noticing
the many peculiarities of our phraseology and pro-
vincialisms, may I add a few to the list of words fast
becoming obsolete in our 'county ?
As to dele, might I suggest that when used for dyke
or hoH the derivation comes from the Anglo-Saxon die,
connected with the German ici-h — a pond ; and when
used as synonymous with bank, it comes from the
Dutch tKjk. or dike, the "i" having the usual "e"
sound peculiar to Norfolk.
Now for a few Norfolkisms which I have not yet
noticed in your paper. Amongst verbs we have shruck
for shrieked ; scriggle, to turn about worm -like ;
ffoldcr, to laugh noisily ; to hoice, for to hoe ; thotct,
past tense of think.
Amongst food names everyone says rows and milches
for roes and milts ; the baked skin of pork is cracktey
or skruzzle ; long suet puddings are donkey-leys ; pork
cheese is su-ared ; and the cartilege in beef i&pax-icax.
The nicknames of animals are often very pretty ;
winkles become pinpatches ; ladybirds are llnh-a-
barney bees ; and the stickleback is a stannlclc. A
little animal of the dormouse kind I used to hear
called a ranny. A common expression for a bad boy
is an aahifcr or nomter ', while one who is inured to
hardships is a hard-icoolled-iin.
A number of our provincialisms are of course
onomatopoetic in character, as instance krlnkle,
slammakin, swack, and the terms for crying, such as
slobber and blare. Norfolkers, as well as other people,
have a habit of transposing consonants, as in mips
for wasp, ax for ask, &c. One wonders why a lad
who " truants," your yokel would say— is said to
play the Charley, or play Sammy. It is easier to see
why the boy, if in hiding, is told to keep squat, or-
close and quiet ; and doubtless he'd be all o' a molt
for fear of getting summit of a hiding were he found in
hiding by his feyther.
A woman's ejaculation is often " Sakes alive," or
" sars o' mine." I see one of your correspondent's,
says a wash tub is a kccler, but is it not oftener
called a killer. What is a swap- tub ?
Some of your readers may not know that Bartlett
c2
3G BROAD NORFOLK.
in his " Dictionary of Americanisms " says, " Those
parts of Great Britain which have contributed most to
our provincialisms are the Counties of Norfolk and
Suffolk, and the Scottish Borders."^ And Elwyn, in
his " Glossary of Supposed Americanisms," thinks one
would find more true Saxon and Anglian words in the
New England States than even in England itself.
It would be a splendid thing were someone with the
time and ability to revise and supplement our local
works on East Anglian dialects, of which even the
leading works, like the Rev. Rob. Forby's "East
Anglian Glossary," Major Moor's " Suffolk Words,"
and Nail's "Dialects and Provincialisms of East
Anglia," are very imperfect. A very amusing speci-
men of Norfolk language is "The Song of Solomon,"
written by the Eev. E. Gillett (of Runham) for Prince
Louis Bonaparte's collection of English dialects. The
10th verse of chapter vi. reads " Who's she as star out
as the mornen, feer as the mune, shear as the sun, and
frightful as a army wi banders." W. S. BABKEB.
In view of the very interesting correspondence
on this subject, perhaps some of your readers may
be glad to know of a local variation of usage in two
of the words which have been much discussed, viz.,
dike and deke, or deck.
Here ia Lynn and the neighbourhood the word dyke
is invariably used for a watercourse or drain, and the
last few weeks everybody has been skating on the
dykes.
In my native village, less than twenty miles from
here (in the neighbourhood of Hunstanton) the word
"deck" was always used to signify a hedge lank, the
waterway being & ditch, or more commonly a '•ffntp."
This was the case from twenty to thirty years ago,
and for aught I know the same usage prevails now.
" Now then, come down orfethat there deck together,"
would be a very common salutation to us youngsters
if we got up to look over a hedge, &c.
This would appear to be a corruption of the Dutch
use of the word "dyke" for bank, which, notwith-
standing what one of your correspondents feems to
imply, has been immortalised in the great historic scene
of the cutting of the dykes by William of Orange to
drown out the Spanish armies. F. W. B.
BROAD NORFOLK. 37
In the unique list of Norfolk terms you are giving,
the following I think have not been mentioned :
sicicing I remember being used when a " yunker " to
mean mowing with a reap -hook. The words hample
and u'lmple trees are often used of the poles con-
necting horse traces with farm harrows or the like.
We call bullfinches bloodulfs, and chaffinches spinks
about here. If our wives make us heavy dumplings
we complain that they are mastrous sumpy. But we
don't often have to find fault with them. Bullock-
tenders always call their baskets skeps. S.
Under your heading " Broad Norfolk" you have
started a most amusing subject of discussion. I
have been waiting to see what would be said
about the common and very curious use of what
has come to be an adverb or adverbial particle, the
word do, pronounced, of course, "dew." Two of
your correspondents this morning, Messrs. Tucker and
Forster, are on the right scent, the latter treating it as
equivalent to " or," the former rightly explaining it
as short for "if you do." This is simple enough,
after negative propositions, such as prohibitions, e.g,,
" Don't you do that again, dew I'll give you a hiding."
But I have constantly heard it used after positive
sentences, with the meaning, " If I or you don't or
didn't." A good instance I remember when I was
out shooting. Some birds having lighted in a bare
clover field, and it being desirable to drive them back
to turnips, the keeper peeps incautiously over the
fence and the birds go wrong. "Peter," I say,
"why did you show yourself ? Didn't you
see the birds?" Peter replies, "Well, sir, I see
somethin' in the olland, but I thought it was muck,
dew I'd a bopped." That is, if he had not thought so
he would have ducked his head, (flopped— bobbed.)
Mr. Forster seems to think don't would be used in
such cases where "if not" is required. But do is em-
ployed in both collocations, and may be said generally
to be equivalent to " under changed conditions and
circumstances" — a brief and handy substitute.
Olland in the above dialogue is old land where the
clover has been twice mown or fed off, and so effete,
ready to be ploughed up for wheat. It is more
commonly called layer or lay, which I take to be the
same word as lea.
38 BROAD NORFOLK.
Let me make a remark or two on other words men-
tioned in your correspondence this morning;. A qay
is not only a bright picture, but a bright flower.
"Can't you mow the aftermath in the churchyard
before Sunday ?" " Not time enough, sir, but I'll cut
off they gays" meaning conspicuous hemlock heads,
dandelions, &c. , growing on the fence.
Froschy is pure Anglo-Saxon, frosch being a frog in
German.
£or again may be the German batir, which also sur-
vives in boor. But some take it to be neighbour be-
headed.
Snasty I take to be a sort of unconscious crasis, or
combination of marling or sneering and nasty. Com-
pare the phrase in Article XVII., " wretchlessness of
unclean living." where I have always thought the
compilers of that document had " wretched reckless-
ness" in their minds and slurred the two words to-
gether.
Let me add to Mr. Tucker's illustrations of a Nor-
folk man's caution when you offer him something dis-
tinctly good— he never says he will be glad to accept
it. "Will you come up to the house to supper to-
night?" "Well, sir, I drtft mind."
C-H's account of skute is hardly complete. It is
an acute-angled triangle. "Lynn Scute" is a well
known whin covert so shaped. There is a verbal form
"That there piece go skuting away "—meaning to a
point.
I hope somebody will give us the etymology of
wheesh, used to turn a horse to the right. It cannot
surely be gauche. A. G. D.
I am glad to find the " Broad " Norfolk corres-
pondence has " caught on" so well and is still
flourishing. The same idea has struck me that has
occurred to your correspondent, " M. C. H. Bird,"
viz. , that Broad Norfolk may mean the dialect of the
"Broad " districts, and this idea is strengthened by
your correspondeat from Swaffham who repudiates
the use of u for oo, as in the words " bate, " " spune,"
" sunc" " mine" i!cc., in the West Norfolk district.
It is certainly a most marked attribute of the Broad
district dialect.
Surely, sir, some of your correspondents must have
a very imperfect sense of sound. I know very well
BROAD NORFOLK. 39
the difficulty of phonetic writing, and of conveying
sound by letters, but surely it is a little too much
when we find the common teamman's words, " kep
haa" (come hither), and tcoosh, made into "cum
harley " and " worree" sounds which I venture to say
were never heard in this part of Norfolk.
Mr. Tucker gives us a " swish " of water. I think
the phrase ought to be "swidge."
I append two or three examples which I have not
yet observed.
. Tolc, to entice. The last time I heard this was in
this wise. I lent a man a young dog for snipe shoot-
ing. He got on very well till he had to cross a river.
He tried to tole the dog into the boat, but he declined
to be tolced, and came off home.
Another good old word which will probably soon
become extinct is goaf, corn stacked in a barn. " Git
on to the goaf, bor, and hull down some ' shoves.' "
Plancher or planchard, a chamber floor, is still
frequent, and till within the last forty years was
commonly used by persons of some education. In
" Webster " it is given as an obsolete word, meaning,
1st, a floor, and 2nd, a plank, from which I infer it
was used by our forbears to designate the wooden
chamber floor ia contradistinction to the brick floor of
the lower room.
Turn to, in the sense of to set about a job, is a fre-
quent expression in this part.
I fear I have already trespassed too far, so must
reserve any further remarks for a future occasion.
OLD NORFOLK.
To your very interesting list of words may I
add that many years ago I heard more than once the
word mot •(, used for illness— i.e., "I am very mart
to-day? "
Has the strange word been given of spoat, for short-
grained wood ?
I think deke certainly means a hedge bank about
here, but then there are no water ditches.
I may add that though many strange words are in
constant use about here (the Cromer district) , yet it is
easy to know any countryman from inland by his far
stronger accent. N. NORFOLK.
40 BROAD NORFOLK.
I have been much amused by the letters and
articles which have appeared in .your paper on the
above. There is one word (there may be many) which
I have not seen ; that word is sunkets or sun he tin ff.
It is applied in this way. Say a man has been on tne
fuddie or boose for a week ; he naturally feels rather
shaky, and in order to get himself back to his
normal state he takes all sorts of niceties
i.e., sunkets; or he is said to \& sitnketting himself.
It is not peculiar to Norfolk, as I have heard it in
Suffolk.
As to the Norfolk dialect being recognised in far off
climes, I can fully bear out your correspondent,
"Joskin." Some years ago I was an officer on a
barque lying in Valparaiso Bay. One day I took
the ship's gig and four hands to fetch the captain,
who had gore on a visit to another ship.
On approaching it I gave the order for the men to lay
in their oars. A man who was leaning over the rail or
bulwark immediately called out, " Come on, bor,
you're a toicney of mine ; you're Norfolk." When we
got into conversation I found he was like me — a
Yarmouth man. S. T.
I have read with considerable interest the
" Broad Norfolk " correspondence, and offer a few
more words of that language. Lock, a bunch ;
u-haskiny, a beating ; mm, funny : spoilt, brittle ;
gai'vel, a bundle of hay ready for cutting ; douse-a-
bit, how-so-be-it ; lork-a-masser, Lord have mercy ;
snob, shoemaker : nip along, run fast ; a frosty day is
called a good steward ; hobby, pony; shorn t. shall
not ; gainer , handy. W. L.
"With this, my " third time of asking " your
permission to insert some iurther provincialisms,
I close the list so far as I am concerned, at the same
time thanking you for the indulgence shown me.
To be brief the thing m't is this here :— A sploddiri*
all in the slugs and not lookin' what he was arter,
that there little brudle-r tumbled down and made his
clothes in a rare pass, for his coat wi' the daarrt dried
on to't fare as tho' t' would *ta«' al-ne o1 muck.
Wot the plague d'yow aiJ, bor? Well, mor, I don't
BROAD NORFOLK. 41
feel up to d sight. Don't ye ? I noticed yesterdaay.
thinks I, he rarely well keep a pinylin' over and
champin' his wittles ; sure/// he ain't a goin' to the
moid country ? Less 'ope 1 ain't got the dine, mor ;
I spooze I shall het-a-git a bottle o' stuff from the
doctor's, for I don't want to keep a taki-H? on a' this
manner. Wot, fussickin out agin, Maria ? Yow
look as if yow a got a takin'1 job. You're right, I
thoict I did heer the door knock. "Well you a now
ketched me all up at Harwich, so I doant like
to arst ye in, beside I ain't got nothin' for tea only a
little salary wot's right clung ; why, lawks, the fire is
nearly out for want of a chife o'coal, and I ain't had
which, but yow jest lerrim off the striug, mine is all
rip and tare' while the t'other is a drawlatchin"1 sort
of a customer ; hae ? well, thankee we're all kinder
mirldUn\_ baaby annall ; only my husband he felt like
a doicnpin when he gorrup ; hoicsomerer he managed
to eat a little saumple for his brakfest and yow know
he on't give up till he's fooss'd to 't ; well there we
fare to stan' here litfe num"1 cnaance, so we do.
R. FOESTEB.
Can any of TOUT contributors to this most
interesting corresoondence give the origin of the
term main. "Lor bor, I conn't ate my maate
so, I likes it in the main." I was dining in a
restaurant in Norwich recently and drew the waiter's
attention to the fact that some beef he brought was
nearly raw : to which he replied. "I'll change it if
you wish — it is rather in the main" A. J. G.
In the 'inain means the same as in the rear, and is
applied to underdone meat. "We believe people
ask for it in the main because in the main means " in
the middle," where the meat is likely to be least
cooked. Meat well cooked is said to be home-done.
—ED. JN'.V.
EAST ANGLIAN BIEDS.
I am anxious to collect the various local names by
which our British birds are known, and therefore, with
BROAD NORFOLK.
your kind permission, will take advantage of the
present correspondence to give those which I have
culled fron various sources. I have affixed authors'
names to those words which I have not myself heard
used, and sha.H be very glad to receive any additions to
the lish. So long as" the word is now used in East
Anglia to desciibe a certain bird it need not, for my
purpose, be restricted to the county. In fact I doubt
whether the following list contains a purely Norfolk
word at all. Even " Pudden-ppke " is used in Suffolk,
and according to Johnson's Dictionary, poke means " a
sack in the north of England, Camden ; pocca, Sax.
poke, Icel." Olf or ulph is also common in the sister
county, and "Harnsei" is only a shortened form of Hern-
shaw. Arps, Scamels, and Mows I have not met with,
nor can I find a derivation for. The term Beed Pheasant
still survives in Essex (Miller Christy), and the Norfolk
Plover is known as such elsewhere, and breeds as
frequently perhaps in other counties as it does with
us. It will be noticed that the names given to some
birds are descriptive of their peculiar make or
markings, note or nest, flight or food, habitat or time
of arrival. Those people who talk of May Birds and
Danish Crows are no believers in the lately revived
theory of the hibernation of birds (c.f. " Migration of
Birds," Charles Dixon, 1892) , although some restrict the
limits of the seasonal flight of the last mentioned,
and dub him only Kentishman. It is remarkable how
very few birds are distinctively known by our villagers
except in the neighbourhood of a Grammar School ;
birds' eggs there finding a ready sale. Some of the
marshmen, professional punt-gunners, and "paulkers"
are among the most practical of naturalists,
being able to distinguish " fowl " at any rate,
not only by their note by day, but their
wing sound at night. Numerous causes have
combined to render many avian provincialisms obso-
lete. The high price of corn some fifty years ago
caused much waste land to be drained, enclosed, and
broken up (dibtance only lends enchantment, &c., to
those "good ' old times). [A plan was formed for
turning Hickling Broad into corn fields.] Game
preserving has cut both ways; acting deleteriously
upon raptorials, but affording the sanctuary of the
coverts to smaller birds generally. The scarcity, even
as occasional visitants, of such birds as the Avocet,
e.g., which used to breed in Norfolk, has caused their
BROAD NORFOLK. 43
"proper" names to be forgotten. The ten-shilling
license has increased the number of shooters, and the
spread of education and accompanying knowledge of
natural history — popularised through the Press — has
increased the number of collectors and taxidermists.
The scientific title is duly given to every specimen, and
its price has " riz accordin'."
The impossibility of distinguishing "a hawk
from a harnser " (on the wing at any rate)
will soon be a pardonable ornithological offence from
the very dearth of individuals upon which to excercisa
our powers of observation.
Alexandra Plovers— Kentish Plover (E. T. Booth).
Arps— Tufted Ducks (D. Girdlestone, South well.)
Bird — A partridge, " Ha' you many bads te year r"
English Birds and French Birds, meaning English and
French Partridges.
Slue Hawk— Hen Harrier, male.
Bilh/ Whit — The Barn Owl— The bird of wit or
wudom ; also Willie Whit and Billy Wix.
Butcher Bird— Red-backed Shrike -From its habit
of killing and " spitting " small birds and insects.
Barley Bird— Nightingale (Forby), Siskin (Miller
Christy) arriving about barley sowing time.
Black Cap— Black Cap, and more usually the Mai sh Tit.
Bottle Tom— Lougtailed Tit, Featherpoke.
Bramble Finch — Brambling.
Bloodolf— Bullfinch.
Blue Rock, Rock Dow— The Stock Dove, Rock Dove
not occurring in Norfolk.
Baldie Coot— Coot.
Black Goose — Beruicle and Brent Goose, or Brant.
Bargoose and Bargander — Bar, Sheld, Patched, male
and female Sheldrake.
Black Duck— Scoters.
Black and White Pokers — Both Immature Golden
Eye and Tufted Duck.
Black Poker— Tufted Duck.
Bluegill— Scamp Duck, also Greybacks, c.f., "Trans,
of Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists Society," 2, 397.
Blue Darr— Black Tern (Dar-dart?)
Bitte icren — Bittern .
Black Curlew— Glossy Ibis.
.Baw/oiiK-Spoonbill (A. Patterson).
Caddie— Jackdaw (Jack '. Cade ? ! !) Caddow.
Chit-Perl— Chit, small, Lesser Tern ; Sea Swallows
and Mackerel Birds.
44 BROAD NORFOLK.
Cobs — Any of the larger Gulls.
Come-back — Guinea fowl. Female only calls
" Come back ! "
Cow Bird— Ytllow Wagtail, from frequenting cows
at marsh for the purpose of insects attracted thereby.
'Coy Ducks — A small and loquacious breed of
domesticated Ducks used for decoying purposes.
Crow— Rooks generally, I have actually heard
" whose rooks as those crows?" c.f., " crow scaring.
Draw-water King Harry, or King Harry Diaic-
water — The former from its being taugat in captivity
to draw water for itself with a thimble and chain.
Derellng or Deril Bird— The swift, from its
blackness and uncanny tout ensemble. Its note is a
weird cry, and only as night approaches does it fly
low enough to be specially noticed. It inhabits, for
roosting and nesting purposes, high and lofty places
(frequently church towers), and never alights upon
the ground.
Doddy Wren—The Wren— doddy, diminutive - all
teeney, tiny things are familiarly addressed and re-
spected inNorfolk parlance, c.f., " little old," old being
a term of endearment, pitman, the petman, &c.
Dickey Eirdo* Sea fie— Oyster Catcher. Dickey
c.f.t slang for shirt-front. The black and white on
breast being conspicuous in its uniting.
Di</fy»M><— Guillemot, Willock (E. F. G.).
Dobchick— Little Grebe or Dabchick.
Englishman — English Partridge.
Fulfer — The Missel Thrush, but indiscriminately
applied to the Redwing and Fieldfare as well.
Felt— Fieldfare. Not common (felt, to flock).
Firettnl— Redstart, synonymous.
Ittzhackcr — (Haccan, Sax., c.f., hacker, a stam-
merer)—Made to do duty for Stone and Whinchat.
French Linnet— Tvfite (A. Patterson).
Frenchman— French Partridge, also Red Leg.
Goldtn Eagle— This is the name given to the im-
mature White -tailed Eagle? that from time to time
occur in East Anglia.
Game Hawk—The Peregrine.
Guler, Goolie, and Goldfinch -Yellowhammer.
Greenelf— Greenfinch, Green Linnet, Greenie.
Goat Sticker or Xight Hawk— Xightjar. The
former name is dependent upon a popular fallacy, and
the second is derived from its hawk-like flight.
Golden— Golden Plover.
BROAD NORFOLK. 45
Grey Goose — Grey Lag, Bean and Pink-footed
Goose.
Golden Eyes— Tufted Ducks, immature.
Grey Gulls, Grey Cobs — Immature Black-backed or
Herring Gulls.
Hay Jack— Whitethroat, Nettlecreeper.
Hedge Betty — Hedge Sparrow and Hedge Spike
(spidzo to chirp). Its note is said to betoken rain.
Herring Spink— Golden Crested Wren, from its some-
times alighting upon boats engaged in herring fishing
during the period of autumnal migration.
Hoodie— Grey Crow, also, Norway Crows, Danish
Crows^ Kentishmen, and Carrion Crows.
Harnser or Frank Heron Crane — Common Heron,
Hernshaw.
" I ha seen the rooses blume,
I ha seen the wiolet blow,
I ha seen the harnser fly high,
But I ha seen northin loike yow."
(Love sick swain to his inamorata).
Hart Duck or Grey Duck - Gadwall ^Ste^enson,
Southwell, Lubbock ; Grey Duck also female of Mal-
lard.)
Half Fowl— I, Teal and Widgeon ; 2, DivingDucks.
Holland Goose — Solan Goose or Gannet, evidently a
corruption of the former.
Jacks— Jack Snipe.
Kitties — Any of the smaller Gulls.
Laughing Goose — White-fronted Goose.
Little Mealy 2)w7,--Longtailed Duck, female (E. T.
Do well, Southwell;.
Little Rattlcwing— Morillon (Bewick), immature ;
Golden Eye (Paget, Yarmouth, 1834).
Loon— Loen, Dutch, Great-Crested Grebe, also
Greeve.
Mesh Herrier— Marsh Harrier and Montagu's ditto.
Mavish — Thrush. The "h" is pronounced,
especially in plural.
Mudlark— Rock Pipit.
Mai/bird, Titterel— Whimbrel, Jack Curlew.
Molberries— Skuas (E. T. Booth).
Norway Thrush — Redwing, not common.
Nope— Bullfinch [Ray], W. Rye, Dray ton.
Norfolk Plover— Thick-knee, Stone Curlew.
46 BROAD NORFOLK.
Ostril or Orstril— Clearly a corruption of " Osprey,"
sometimes called the Fish Hawk.
Oxeye— The Great Tit.
Oxbird or Stint— Dunlin, the smaller waders are not
often excluded.
Pudddipokf', Ground Oven, Oven Tit, Ovcnbuilder—
Willow Wren and Chiffchaff from shape of nest. That
these two birds and their nests should be confounded is
excusable since externally they are so much alike.
Pickcheese— Blue Tit, sometimes "Beebird" and
Tomtit.
folly Wash Dish— Pied or " Penny " Wagtail.
Pyii-ipe— Pewit, Green Plover.
Pigmies— Curlew Sandpiper.
Pintail Smee— Pintail Duck.
Poker, Sandy Head, or Sandy Headed Pokers—
Pochard, male sometimes called Redhead drake ;
female ditto, " Dunbird."
Perl— Perl, purl (:) to turn over, c.f., he came a
purler. Common Tern.
Ringtail — Hen Harrier, female.
Reed Pheaant— Bearded Tit.
Reed Sparrow — Reed Bunting.
Red Linmt - Gammon Linnet.
Ring Dow — Wood Pigeon. "Drop down the deke,
bor, hinder come a dow ; " deke may be a wet ditch or
a dry one, but dike is always a wet one. Deke may
also mean the bank, that is the earth thrown out in
making the dike.
Red Leg- Redshank ; also the French Partridge.
Red Knots— Knots in summer plumage ; grey ditto
in antumn, or immature.
Runners — Land and Water Rails.
Rattlemng— Golden Eye, adult.
Rattle Wings— Golden Eye, from the noise it makes
in flight.
Shepherd's Bird— Wheatear (A.. Patterson).
Sedgebird— Sedge Warbler ) Sometimes not distin-
Keedbird— Reed Warbler / guished inter se.
Snow Fleck— Snow Bunting, fleck-flake, from its
mottled plumage, and coming at snowtime.
Scribbling Finch — Corn or Common Bunting and
the Yellowhammer, from the pencilling of their eggs.
Spink— Chaffinch, phonetic (wine, ancient British)
spidzo, to chirp.
Spurrer — Sparrow.
Snakebird, Cuckoo's Mate — Wryneck. Snakebird
BROAD NORFOLK.
from its hissing note when disturbed on its nes<", and
Cuckoo's Mate because it arrives about the same time
a the Cuckoo.
Stone Ittmntr—Ring Dotterel.
Summer Snipe — Common Sandpiper.
Summer Lamb — Common Snipe, from its " drum-
ming " or lambing in summer.
Sko'-el Duck— Shoveller, Shovelbill- drake.
Summer TcW— Gargauey.
Smee -Widgeon, Smeeth Duck ?
Sea Phaysant — Pintail (Sir T. Browne, Southwell) ;
Longtailed Duck (E. T. Dowell, South well).
Since or Smew— The Smew, Weasel Duck (C. A.
Johns).
Sdicbiil — Merganser and Goosander, generally the
latter, which is also called by its proper name, with
emphasis on second syllable.
Sprat Loon— Ked-throated Diver.
Scotilton Cobs or Pint— Black-headed Gull, Mow. c.f.,
Mow Creek, WeUs (Colonel Fielden).
Titlark or Ground Lark— Meadow Pipit.
Turkey Buzzard or Buzzard Hawk or " Great Old"—
The Rough-legged, Common, and Honey Buzzard,
not generally distinguished.
Turtle Duw— Turtle Dove.
Tufted Golden Eye— Tufted Ducks, mature.
Te uke— Curlew, Whimbrel, and Godwit— but usually
the Redshank — on the coast.
Windhover— The Kestrel.
Widgeon— At Blakeney, the Golden Eye (E. T.
Do well).
Weasel Duck— Smew (Mustek variegata), Sir T.
Browne.
White-Eyed Poker— Ferruginous Duck.
Woodcock Oicl— Short-eared Owl— So-called because
it arrives here about the same time as the Woodcock.
Words connected with above subject : —
Dutch Nightingale — Frog (Spur) W. Eye.
Egging — Bird's nesting, especially applied to taking
eggs of game,
Fen Nightingale — Frog {Forby).
Fat-hen — Gocse grass,- Chenopodium album. The
seed of this weed is a favourite food of game birds and
wild fowl, &c.
Gobbler or Stag— Cock Turkey over a year old.
48 BROAD NORFOLK.
Gay bird — Any bright-coloured bird — the male of
any species.
Hopping Toads— Frogs, E. T. Booth ; perhaps
Natterjack Toads ? (M.C.H.B.)
Htiddle-me- Close-— Sidebone.
Little Bads — Fried Mice, given to children for
whooping cough, and so called to deceive them.
March SirtU or Marsh Birds — Frogs.
Nest Gulp— The smallest and weakest of a brood of
nestlings (Forby).
Skipjack — The clavicle, merry thought, or wishing
bone.
Up — A bird is said to be " up," or have his " bloom
up," when in full breeding plumage.
M. C. H. BIRD.
The thanks of all local naturalists are due to
the Eev. M. C. H. Bird for putting into such a
portable compass the " Broad Norfolk " nicknames of
our Norfolk birds. As there are a few others which
might be added, it may not be thought superfluous to
mention them.
Cuckoo's mate — Wryneck, " 'cause he comes with the
t'other."
Cute— Coot. " There' ve been a body of cutes on
Breydon since the Broads ha'/nz."
JJarelin — Swift, pronounced as if an " r " had a right
to come between the " a " and " v."
Dottrel— Ring Plover, and I have heard it described
as dodlin.
French mavish— Eedwing. Indeed, many folks really
believe he left that excitable Republic to spend the
winter with us.
Gullchaser—Skuii. ' ' Tha's all he is."
Hornpie. —Lapwing. He carries a crest or horn ; and
is pied to boot.
Mussel duck—'Bleicls. Scoter. "The mussel ducks
allers lay off the North Beach in the dead of winter."
Sandlinnct and Sandlark— Sanderling.
Scotch goose. — Brentgoose. "The old Scotch geese
allers show up in hard frost, but 'aint they shy ! "
Shoe-horn and Cobbler's awl — Avocet.
Shovel-bill and Spoonbill-duck— Shoveller. "Lor',
aint they a treat, when nicely cooked ! "
BROAD NORFOLK. 49
Snotvman—Snow bunting. Birdcatcher : "I copt
a mcaff of snowmen yesterday, and some tidy white
'tins among 'em."
Stints — Dunlin, "there's a rare mess of stints on
Breydon sometimes "
Water-hen— Moorhen, often pronounced with an " i "
instead of " e."
Wil-ducks— Guillemot and Bazorbill. " Can't they
skive under water when they want tu ! "
A. PATTERSON.
Allow me to send you a list to supplement that
which appeared in your issue of yesterday signed
" M. C. H. Bird" of local names of shore birds of
the North Norfolk coast, which he omits.
Blue dar— Black Tern (E. Norfolk.)
Clinker — Avocet.
Cam brief ye Godwi t — Greenshanks.
Cream-coloured How— Irani, of Glaucous, or Iceland
gull.
Dipeere — Tern .
Didopper — Grebe.
Grey Mallard- Gad wall.
Green Plover, Pywipe — Peewit.
Loon or Lowan— Red-throated diver.
Mud Plover — Grey plover.
Magloon— Great Northern Diver.
Mow— Gull (in general.)
Parrotbeak—fvma..
Rattlewings— Adult Goldeneye.
Stint— Dunlin.
Seap ie — Oy stercatcher.
Spoonbeak — Shoveller duck.
Steeldttck—tos imm. merganser.
Stone Runner — Einged plover.
Skeleton, Mud Snipe, Martin Snipe - Green rand -piper
Scammell, Pick — God wits. " I'll fetch three young
scammels from the rock." Caliban, in " The
Tempest."
TanqlePicker — Turnstone.
Willie- Guillemot.
I have spelt these words phonetically, knowing no
other way. It is worth noting how most of these
local names point to some peculiarity in the habits,
plumage, or voice ; but for skeleton, scammcll, stint,
and moil- 1 can assign no reason. E. W. DOWELL.
50 BROAD NORFOLK.
It would be very interesting if some person
with the necessary leisure would make as com-
plete a list as possible of the local names used by our
Norfolk gunners and beachmen, many of which, al-
though very expressive and even poetical, are fast
dying out ; the names also applied to many of the land
birds are equally interesting. I have from time to time
noted such as I have met with, but I am sorry to say
not with any degree of industry. One great difficulty
is the uncertain way in which these men pronounce the
names of birds, and if any attempt is made at getting
a more distinct utterance the result is always con-
fusion ; it thus happens that the phonetic
spelling varies considerably, and sometimes there
is quite a family of similar names, all
evidently of the same origin. Thus the
Black Guillemot is known as the tyste, taiste, toy at,
and tysty. Referring to Mr. Dowell's list, I notice
the same thing. " Dipeese " I have always interpreted
" dip-ears " a very appropriate name for the terns,
which are also called " Shrimp pickers." "Magloon "
(probably the prefix means " large ") is applied to the
Great Northern Diver, which is also known as the
Herring Loon, to distinguish it from its smaller
relative, the Red-throated Diver, or " Sprat Loon."
Scammell and pick for Godwits certainly are rather
puzzling. The term "Pick " may refer to its mode of
feeding. Thus the Turnstone is known as the " Tangle
Picker," but that Scammell has any connection with
the my stenou 8 Scamel which Caliban promised to procure
from the rocks I much doubt. Godwits do not breed
on rocks but in marshes, and if we can imagine a
printer's error (a not unfrequent occurrence even now-
a-days) by which the letter " c " was made to do duty
for "e" we have ' ' Seamels " or Sea-gulls, which
would seem to clear up the whole matter. I have heard
many very pretty and descriptive names derived from
the habits or notes of birds ; thus the Snipe is known
as the "Air Goat," "Heather Bleater," and " Summer
Lamb ; " the Little Grebe," Dive-an-dop ; " the Night--
jar, " Razor-grinder, " " Scissor- grinder, " and
Churn Owl; the Quail, "Wet-my-lip" (from its
note) ; the Mistletoe Thrush, " Storm-cock," from its
habit of singing in rough weather ; the Kestrel,
"Windhover," " Windfanner, " highly descriptive of
its graceful hovering flight ; the Green Woodpecker,
" Reunbird:" the Sheld-duck, " Burrow Duck," from
BROAD NORFOLK.
its nesting in rabbit burrows ; the Pintail Duck, "Caloo,"
or " Coal-and-Candlelight," from a fancied interpre-
tation of its singular cry ; the Lapwing, " Flapjack,"
and many others.
I do not think the following -occur in either of the
lists you have published : —
Bottley Bump, Bottle Bump, Bitour— Bittern.
Coll* Kird or Cobble Bird - Hawfinch (Sir T. Browne)
. Clod Bird, JJtuit Lark — Common Bunting.
Coney Chuck, White Rump— Wheatear.
'I)unnrjck— Hedge Sparrow.
Hobby Bird— Wryneck (Sir T. Browne).
Mealy Bird— Longtailed Duck.
.' -Me&lin Bird- Fieldfare.
Home Hau-fc, Woodcock. Owl— Short-eared Owl.
Popeler— Shoveller (Le Strange Household Book).
Sedge Mari ne— Sedge Warbler (F. Norgate).
Sea Dove— Little Auk.
Shovelard— Spoonbill (Sir T. Browned.
Spoice— Whimbrel (Le Strange Household Book).
Stag — Common Wren.
Stone Falcon— Merlin.
Summer Teal, Crick - Gargany Teal.
As specimens of broad Norfolk I remember years
ago in a village near Lynn hearing a woman tell her
daughter to " put the gotch 'er the winden." A
virago in the same old town was peculiarly inventive
in her threats to her children, and I have heard her
exclaim, " Yow maw Haryet, come yow hare ; I'll
pull yar liver-pin out for yow." Poor Harriet! on
such occasions I have not unfrequently heard the blows
inflicted with the "short brush." " Go on" is
frequently used as an expression of surprise. ' ' Why,
go on, bor !" or it may in some cases be interpreted,
"leave off," much depends upon the inflection.
T. SOUTHWELL.
I do not remember noticing in the "Broad Norfolk"
bird names any of the following : —
Com. Sandpiper — S/t richer, on account of its note.
Fieldfare— French Fxlfer.
Goldfinch — King Harry, Thistlejinch, and according
to differences in throat markings — Peathroat and
Chh-ellcr.
Grey Plover — Full-eyed Plover, from its large eyes.
BROAD NORFOLK.
Green Sandpiper— Black Sandpiper ; looks so when
flying.
Grey-leg Goose— Home-leg Goose
Missel-thrush — English Fttlfcr.
Partridge — Short, on account of its build.
Stonechat and Whifichat- -Furzechucks.
Starlisg — Chimney-pot-plover (good reason for
why ! )
Scaup (male) — Grey-lack ; correctly so.
Scaup (female) — White-noted Day-fowl, from its
white-handed forehead. A. P.
In the list of Norfolk birds given by Mr. Bird,
and supplemented by Mr. Southwell, no mention
is made of "The Spotted Fly-catcher, called " Wall
Bird," common in the neighbourhood of Norwich, and
very noticeable both from its note and its peculiar
method of darting out from a branch or rail to seize its
prey; nor of the "Nuthatch," commonly called
'• Creeper " or " Free Creeper." Mr. Bird gives the
Norfolk name for Whinchat as "Fuzhacker." I have
not heard it so called, the name I am familiar with is
" Furchuck," which I take to be a corruption of Furze
Chick.
Can any of your readers tell me whence certain
specimens of the common domestic duck obtained the
crest or " top-knot " which adorns their heads ? I
have from time to time seen various individuals so
distinguished, but have never seen or heard of any
breed to which it is peculiar, unless it be the Wild
Crested Duck. Here are one or two additional speci-
mens of Broad Norfolk. SnecJc, a door-latch ; Warik,
usually used in half contemptuous, half good
humoured way as, " What, did you do thab for, you
wank, you." I am sorry no one can explain " Woosh,"
my own opinion is that it is a " missing link," a sur-
vival of the language once common to horses, bipeds,
&c. J. PITCHEE.
May I be allowed to add a line on the much
vexed question of the meaning of the word do,
used in opposition to the former clause of a sentence ';
It is simply another form of the word " though," and
answers to the German dock. " Js there a rake on the
BROAD NORFOLK.
premises?" I asked of the daughter of the farm-
bailiff in whose house we were lodging. " Do — Father
has got the key," was 1he reply, evidently equivalent
to '• Father has got the key, though ! " implying that
it could not he had without his permission. And in all
sentences, however apparently ungrammatical, this
will apply.
_ Spoull means brittle. The nurseraaids used to put
vinegar into " tuffey" (tough enough, no doubt, with-
out it) to make it^poult. Wood too old or dry is apt
to be spoult, and unfit for working.
Clmuj is used for fruit or vegetables which have
been kept so long as to be flaccid ; a malady most in-
cident to cucumbers and gooseberries.
Mother appears on pickles and jams as a sort of
whiteness on the top when fermentation has set in —
called also a hough, and applicable to the appearance
in certain cutaneous diseases.
Rokej reek, and wrack are all forms of the same
word, indicating steam or cloud ; Shakespeare alludes
to cloud-capped palaces, dissolving into thin air, and
" leaving not a wrack behind."
Your correspondents do not seem to be aware that
the Yorkshire and Lancashire divisions of the fields
are made of dry stones and called dykes. Whin dykes,
too, are heard of. I knew a small lane, or loke,
leading from a farmyard inclosed on both sides with a
stone wall, and called " the dickey." This was near
Banbury.
Don't ought is a favourite expression ; but pur people
do not generally adsl "to." Don't ought to is used in
many counties, and it is good Anglo-Saxon never-
theless.
The reply of a friend's coachman who was remon-
strated with for certain irregularities may be
amusing. " Well, ma'am ! the truth is, I am like St.
Paul. What I ought to do I don't do, and what 1 do
do I don't oiight."
A Yorkshire friend coming to reside in Norfolk was
attracted by the sound of a continued tapping in his
garden, and, inquiring the cause, was told, " It is
northin, only the mavishes napping (or knapping) the
dodmans." " But what are mavishes and what are
dodmans ? " was his reply. He recognised "knapping "
from "kuappeth the spear " in the Psalms.
I have not observed malahackcd and jamtmick
amongst your correspondents' lists. I heard of a
B NORFOLK.
donkey purchased for little money on account of
some injury ; but it was not so malahacked as to be
jammucked for all that."
Has any one heard now-a-days of a popular remedy
for whooping cough, namely, pills made from the hair
cut off the dark brown mark on the donkey's back,
and called Balaam's smite, made up with butter or
-dripping, I believe ? Also fried mice, always pro-
nounced meece, or dragging a. child through the space
formed by a bramble grown at both ends. Four moles'
feet, tied up in a bag, and worn round the neck are
good for rheumatism, but it must be the forefeet
which are to be worn in case of rheumatism in the
arms, and hindfeet for the legs. — Hoping I have not
been too garrulous, A NOEFOLX WOMAN.
I notice that " A, G. B." in his letter to-day
refers to an olland being frequently called a layer
or lay. This is not quite correct. A layer or lay
is the term applied to grass growing for hay from the
tin-e the barley is cut till it is well grown and almost
ready to cut ; and the term olland is applied to the land
after the second crop of hay has been taken off.
Amongst the words I have not yet seen
in your paper are the following: — Sanni-
ken, silly, foolish ; jumble, porter and beer mixed ;
danks, tea leaves. A man once explained to me of
two main drains in a heavy laud field that ?one come
_sarshen, father one go yin. I have heard a wedding
favour, i.e., rosette, called a gay as well as flowers and
pictures. I have also by me many letters from work-
jng men, which, as lessons in phonetic spelling, are as
good as one can wish for, and I once received a letter
on the envelope of which was written,
OCTIONABY.
Having been much interested in reading your
correspondence on "Broad Norfolk," permit me
to contribute my quota, and to observe that our
Norfolk peasantry have been the conservators of
many words that have been handed down since .East
Auglia was peopled by Saxons, Danes, and Norman
invaders. £4., the other day! asked a person who
was long in arrears to me when it would be convenient
BROAD NORFOLK.
to pay, at which he rather tartly told me I was not
" Jarmeck^ Some friend will perhaps interpret.
Another, a tenant in trade, told me that business
was so down that he should " Jack »j»."
A Norfolk man may generally be spotted by his
brogue ; for instance, I was once at an inn-room in a
small town in Scotland, where sat a solitary
gentleman eating his dinner. He suddenly arose
and rang the bell. Waiter put in his appearance,
a dirty napkin on his arm. "Waiter, have you got
any tetters ? " I interrupted, " Bor, yew are Norfolk."
Aud the stranger replied, " So are yew, bor." After
further confab he informed me that he "did in the
beut and shue line, and hailed from Norwioh."
Eustic ignorance, too, is conspicuous. I was walking
near Sandringham on a -sketching excursion, and
trying to depict some ruins. A boy tending some pigs
was near me. On asking the youth in what parLsh
the ruins were he, pitying my ignorance, informed me,
" Don't yer see they beant in no parish ; they be in a
feld."
I know Forby's " Vocabulary of East Anglia " is an
authority, but something in the shape of an addenda
would be of value to preserve these quaint old words.
W. C. S.
The curious expressions appearing in the Press
under the heading of " Broad Norfolk " have been
numerous, yet some have escaped the notice of previous
writers. Some people may look upon this corres-
pondence as a lot of squit and slaver (nonsense), but
they need not look "as sour as u-adges" about it.
Having^;; (given) us the opportunity of " airing our
lingo," which we haa'nt (have not) had lately, "7'fe
git ire it (I will get through) mine in a.j\Jfey (a short
space of time). There seems to be such a cholder
(quantity) of these phrases, but I think we true Nor-
folk j/iaps (fellows) will gie you: all onem in time.
When I went to school the boys brought
their skran (dinner) with them. Some would
have schu-ad (pork cheese or brawn). But I won't go
on in this fashion. Flop2)ed is a word in common use,
meaning thrown down. Crinkk>/ erankky^ like is
explained by the compound word " zig-zag."
Children jtffle or jidgctt about, and you might as well
50 BROAD NORFOLK
" gape aginst a red hot oven as to stop em." If in-
sinuating, I have been asked " what are yer minten
at " — this may mean hinting. In buying herrings I have
heard Norfolk people ask for either "• miltz " or dotts,
the latter probably owing to the formation of the roe,
which appears to be made up of specks or dots. I find,
however, that the use of u for o and oo as in lutes,
soii)ie,&c., is more marked in Norwich than outside of
it. T. P. S.
Verily we shall soon have a recorded language
peculiarly our own. In order, as we say, to
keep the pot a bi'.in, I sei^d a further list of words in
daily use (in East Norfolk).
Slew, slewed, this word doos not (with us) mean a
departure from temperance principles, it is used thus :
"Let's slew the elevator round."
Ferry fake, impudent prying. What are you ferry
f aken arter ?
Gulcher, to fall heavily. " It came down a gulcher.
Morfrey, an hermaphrodite— agricultural carriage,
such as tumblers for instance.
Huttress, an implement used by blacksmiths for
paring hoofs of horses.
Meetiners, Protestant Dissenters.
Go tu meetin clothes, the Sunday or best suit.
Titty totty, extremely tiny.
Titty-ma-tortcr, a see-saw, or a see-saw action.
Sunk, ill cooked food. "Here's a sunk to sit down
to."
An old man once addressed his master, a shopkeeper,
who was busily engaged in putting the price to some
goods, with the following request — " Mar hum tru ? "
" I am," said the employer. " Yes, sur," said Jemmy,
" but mar kum tru, sir ? " After a little " argerfymg ''
it turned out that the inquiry really was ' ' May I
come through ? " — that is, pass by the counter, and not
" Mark them true." At prayer meetings I have some-
times heard expressions that would puzzle theologians.
One good old man always asked that he might be
" blowed up like a grain o' mustard seed," which we
somehow imagined was a desire that his spiritual graces
might bloom (blow) with the celerity of the seed
mentioned. It was only the other day I heard an irate
rustic, with infinite scorn, express it as his opinion that
if he " warn't much of a,rithmetickerer he knowed wot
BROAD NORFOLK- 57
tu and tu wos." Possibly lie had heard much of arith-
metic from his grandchildren attending the Board
" schule." W.H.C.
If you are not surfeited with " Broad Nor-
folk " I offer the following. Many of the so-called
"Broad Norfolk" words which have been referred to
in your correspondence are proper words, and in
general use throughout a great part of the Kingdom,
but somewhat corrupted in pronunciation.
/•, Harnser, for Heron (pron. Hern}. The
former is the scientific name of the tribe of which the
Heron is a member. Anser fat is said to be an infallible
cure for incurable diseases, probably from the fact that
the Heron is nothing but skin and bone. In this
respect it is akin to pigeon's milk, so much in request
on the 1st of April.
Mavis, a thrush, called a grey bird in Devonshire,
where the blackbird is sometimes called a black
thrush.
Cosset, Cocset, a lamb, &c., brought up by hand —
Spenser. [Bailey.]
Cub-baw. A young Frenchman many years ago
came to England, and applied himself to the study of
the language and idioms. He heard a Norfolk farmer
shout " Cub-baw ! " to his lad, who was slow in
bringing his horse. The pocket dictionary was brought
into requisition without effect. " What did he say ? "
says the Frenchman to a friend ; " I've looked through
C and K and can't find anything like it." This was
the first occasion that M. du Maurier (for he it was)
heard the Norfolk pronunciation of " Come boy."
Caddow, a Jackdaw, or chough, Norf. [Bailey],
sometimes called " Gadder.''1 I suppose you have heard
the tale of Bishop Stanley and " Jim Crow's cadders."
Cupbear, should be " Come hither," or " Come hither
tci' ye" When a teamman leads his horse he is on
the left, or near side ; therefore the expression would
mean "turn to the left." Whisk, or whosh, a
frightening sound, to drive the horse to the right.
" Come hither wi' ye " is used in the west of England,
but I have never heard " ivhish " out of Norfolk.
Contain is sometimes used for "detain," e.g., "I
won't contain you."
Dartff, darn. — The first word seems to be Norfolk,
BROAD NORFOLK.
ftie other is heard in other places. Both words may be
as near an approach to a great big D as politeness
would permit.
Dow, dove. This is in use in tlie north of England
and in Scotland.
Deficiency, for sufficiency. Heard at a village tea
meeting, "Do 'ee have another .cup of tea, Mr.
Lemon." [He had already had 18.] "Nothank'ee
marm, I've had quite a deficiency."
Enow, plural of enough [" Walker's Dictionary."]
Used elsewhere.
Fysty, foisty. Spoken of food whea going bad or
mouldy. Fust, a strong smell, as that of a mouldy
barrel. Fustiness, mouldinesa, stink. Fusty, smell-
ing mouldy. [Walker.]
Keeler, a shallow tub— query from " Cooler."
Huh-er, for holly (hulfere, holly, "Chaucer") —
"Query, wholly green, always green, wholly-vert. A
Bhmb that is green in wiuter and summer.
^ Half- rucl\ hall- w.
Un:7.l,>, Ttiiakin, <i>'t-ry
_• hoodkin, dim. of hood ; a
cevering for a cut finger. .
•Gii/e>; good father, Saxon, use* all over the
', Mentle, Mantle, a working apron.
Mawkin, a figure set up to scare birds. Malkin (of
Mall, contrac. of Mary, and 'kin, or mannikiri), a sort
of mop or shovel for sweeping an oven. [Bailey],
" Malkintrash," one in a rueful dress, enough to fright
one [Bailey]. " Crimaikiii," lie. a grey malkin ; an
old cat [gray, and malkin, a dirty drab, a corruption of
Moll or Mary. fi Chambers's Dictionary."] Dudman,
Tnfl.11rin> or scarecrow, a hobgoblin, a spright
Plantain, plantation. •
Pig h tie, alias Picle, Pictellum, a small parcel of land
.inclosed with a hedge, which the common people of
.England do, in some places, call a Pingle, and may
perhaps be derived from the Italian word Picciola, i.
jmrvus ["Dr. Co wel's Dictionary, 1708].
' Paick, poke (?)
Pakenose, an inquisitive person, pokenose (?)
'•' Pulk hole. Pulla, a pool or lake of standing water,
- whence a pulk is a small pond or hole of standin^
'water. ["BlometieldV Norfolk," vol. III., p. 271.
.Title, "Pulham."]
1 Romant, a corruption of romance, a suggestion that
BROAD NORFOLK. 59
the person who has "romanted" has drawn on his
imagination.
Skarm, Shawm (?). From its sound it would
seem to infer a noisy instrument ; but I believe
the shawm was a stringed instrument.
Swelling, a candle wasting from draught. "The
candle was swaling in the wind."
SJ;ide, a part of a field in the shape of a shield (?),
from scutum (Latin), a shield.
A Sis.wrara, does this refer to a blow such as
Jael dealt Sisera?
Sag, to hang down on one side. [Bailey.]
Sidus, sideways.
Theiv and sneiv. An old shepherd once said to me,
" First it blew, then it anew, then it thew, and thfn it
turned round and friz." E. B. POUEEOY.
Among the words not already mentioned may
be included shall, which, as well as cail, means to
throw, more especially, I think, a missile at any living
creature ; and jannick, fair or candid, as, for instance,
" I hope he will be jannick, and tell the whole truth
about the matter." Is jannick a corruption of
genuine ? — EAMBLEE. 1
Though rather late in the day, I venture to send
you a small contribution on this subject. When
a boy I constantly heard a curious expression which I
find it somewhat difficult to describe. It was a prefix
like the word " saint," only pronounced short, thus,
"Don't s'nt antickin like that, don't." The word*
" mischievous " is commonly pronounced mischecvous,
with the accent on the second syllable, and I have
heard it used in the sense of active and restless, as
"I'm a mischeevous sort of man, and must be doing
something." The word terrify is, I believe, often
used in the sense of tease, as "The flies terrify the
hoss." I was pleased to see the word slitss in one of .
your correspondent's letters, as it seems to me to be the
true Nortolk pronunciation; but the word maris, .
mentioned earlier, I have always heard called marisli,
and come-arther and whoosh seem to my recol-
lection the sounds of the guiding words of
the driver of a waggon to his horses. I
BROAD NORFOLK.
once heard the gable end of a house called the gavel
end, and this struck me, as there is a mountaiu in
Cumberland commonly called Great uable, but de-
scribed in a guide book as Great Garel, the explanation
of the name being that it is like the gable end of a
house. What is now called Boxing Day was in my
young time called Offering Day, and as their Christmas
boxes are said to have originally been religious gifts,
there may be a trace of this origin in the name of the
day. There is one other point I should like to men-
tion. I have often noticed that strangers to this
county have a tendency to pronounce names of places
enoing with " ham " as if they ended with "sham."
Thus they call Aylsham ^iyl-sham, instead of Ayls-
ham, as it should be, and as I believe it would be
called by natives of the place, unless they have been
"educated " out of it. This is of some importance,
because the new pronunciation destroys the historical
value of the name. E.
The following expressions struck me as being
peculiar to Norfolk when I first came to reside ia the
county. For instance, when the church bell is tolling
for the dead, I have been asked, " Who the bell is out
for ? " Do you know so and so ? "I know him to see
to." For next morning you often hear "next day
morn." J. C. S.
I don't remember having seen the following odd
words in your interesting correspondence. I have
heard them used in different parts of this county all
my life. A man went fhhiug and caught a corker and
a tchopper, meaning a large fish ; another shot an old
sea mow. A gardener told me one day, " I see our old
missis this mornin', and she was right yipper, meaning
in good spirits. Othei phrases are to go fribbling and
famick'm or grubbing about for noic't, to be trapen about
when it smurs of rain, and then go home and have a
feu- gruel or broth to keep the cold out ; to have a hot
dannock for tea (a piece of dough baked in the frying
pan as you would a pancake). There appears to be no
end of these odd expressions, but a country village
amongst the old folk'is the place to hear them.
LAWK-A-DAIST-ME.
BROAD NORFOLK. Gl
On consulting my note book, in which I jot down
such little matters of personal observation, I find
a few phrases which may not yet have appeared in this
correspondence. Several of the so-called words that
have been given are combinations, and ould never
rightly appear in any vocabulary.
I observe a few common words with an unusual
application, such are know used as a noun, as " to lose
one's know;" rise, in the sense of "raise;" might,
as a noun, as in "a might of corn;" welt, to
droop ; fence for hedge ; gain and imgain, convenient,
«fcc.; lash, cold, raw ; clutch, a seat of eggs ; andjfe£, as
in " flat milk." The word Jumble may be merely
slang. A little girl came running up to mo one day,
and with intonation and accent that can never be
expressed on paper, said, " Oh ! I have had such a ride
in Mr. Blackburn's dickey caat, that went so fast, that
it jumble right up agen the deke."
Also a few peculiar words ; such are ringe, meaning
a row or ridge ; scocker, a verb expressing the break-
ing or bursting of the bark of a tree ; snew, a noose ;
shacking, turning out pigs to gather stray ears in a
harvest field.
One might notice also such expressions as perk for
perch, and u-anten for wanted. "Fosse," mentioned
by one of your correspondent;, is familiar in Lincoln-
shire. E. G. W. TTJCKKE.
I don't know if my explanation will be satis-
factory to your correspondent "M. C. H. Bird," as I
am prepared with no proof. I may say, however,
that when a lad my father informed me that in his
young days the three Miss Pograms were prominent
characters in a novel much read at the time. They
were Nonconformists af a very sanctimonious type;
hence, in ridicule, it is to be feared, Dissenters came
to be spoken of as Pograms, and their chapel as a
• -shop.
Amongst the instances of Xorfolk expressions I
have not noticed in your coloumns ttaicky, a harvest
frolic. If I mistake not I have met with this term in
Bloomfield's " Farmer's Boy." "W. N.
Your various CDrrespoudents are getting to-
gether quite a copious vocabulary of the words and
62 BROAD NORFOLK.
phrases peculiar to our own and our sister county,
Suffolk. So far, however, I have not noticed any
allusion to two words in very general use — onede-'
scriptive of a fretful baby, who is said to be>
'• sannicking," and the other of a handyman in
amateur carpentering, &c., who is coinplimentarily
referred to as a good "jimpsener." I spell both words ^
phonetically, not being acquainted with any other
mode.
More than one- of the letters published under this
heading give mavis as a Norfolk word. This is cer-
tainly good Lowland Scottish as well as Norfolk.
Witness the adorer of "Bonnie Mary of Argyle,"
who used to hear
The n-.avis singing
It's love-song to the morn.
Scott also commences one of his minor lays with—
"Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood,
"When mavis and merle are singing —
and many other references to the thrush under the
name of " mavis " might be quoted.
The distinguishing characteristics of East Anglian
patois, however, are the suppression of the letter " r "
when it comes after a vowel, and, less frequently, of
the " g " final. For instance, in the " Cairn" Hall on
any Saturday one is not unlikely to be made the re-
cipient of a communication somewhat in this strain : —
" Sam ' Pouter's' coV bolted this ' maunin,' and broke
the ' hahness " and smashed the '-caht.' "
PHABAOJB.
If your space will admit I shall be glad if you wiil
insert the following instances of "Broad " language
which I have not already seen mentioned in the corres-
pondence on the subject : —
Bishimer or fshiincr, the ant.
Unsensed, rendered insensible.
Kicking up a row, talking loudly to the annoyance
of others.
Springy, a little the worse for dnnk.
FUet, of little depth, as "a. fact dish.'
Heel, remains of tobacco left in a pipe after smoking.
Click, to throw— as "I'll click .a. stone into tLe dog.
I gathered myself up, I rose up (after being thrown
down on the ground from any cause).
BROAD NORFOLK. 63
Grained. The author of "Giles's Trip to London "
calls this "greened,''1 but "grained " I hiive always
heard in this district.
My cold is breaking a bit refers to convalescence
after a cold. I heard an old lady ask fora "deceit"
the other day, meaning " a receipt."
Some pronunciations of scientific terms are peculiar.
Carbonate of soda becomes Carpenter's soda, and
Iodine, Arradeen. " ALPHA."
Has anyone noticed the Norfolk peculiarity of
using more verbs than in any other counties,
especially as regards do, did, and have ? Thus " he
didn't ought to do it ; " " he didn't ought to have done
it," &c. ff Many persons supposed to be educated make
this mistake as well as uneducated people, who pro-
bably would say " C?M, he didn't ought to have done
it." A. D.
I have not seen in your very interesting cor-
respondence reference yet to the word stove, meaning
to fumigate. As for the word dullah, I once heard it
used in the following expression : — " If you don't leave
off that ther dullah I'll cop you into the deke's holl
and leave you there to blar ! " There were the words
of a sister to her little brother. Have you had the
tword lether, meaning ladder ! I heard it once used in
• this way—" Haiir the lether." T. T.
-, I have been very much interested in the cor-
'respondence on this subject in the Daily Press. lam
_a Norfolk man, and iave livtd in West, South,
and North Norfolk, and have noticed varieties of
dialect peculiar to each division of the county. On my
return to the county, after many years' absence, I
. listen with renewed delight to the old expressions, many
of which I had almost forgotten. Thirty years ago I
. could have giveu you a formidable list of them. I have
- not noticed that any of -your correspondents have men-
tioned the use of the word happined as signifying
"met." " I Ii<ilj1j.:,iel with him at ,,/ine," or "I met
him at my house." Here we have the French " chez-
iious." " He often come to /ni/i?, olliis of a Sunday."
64 BROAD NORFOLK.
I heard a keeper say many years ago of a wounded
partridge, " There-a-go, chenibidiii1 along."
Norfolk people are fond of using long words of
which they do not know the meaning, as one of your
correspondents illustrated by the use of the word
"corroborate" instead of " correspond."
The Norfolk oath takes various forms, always sense-
less, but probably derived from the same origin. A
keeper had put a ferret into a rabbit's hole, and after
listening at the mouth of the hole for some minutes,
jumped up ejaculating as he brushed his ear, "JiinsanH
them there pishmires /" or " Confound those "Ants'."
which had got into his ear. " You don't want to do
so-and-so," or "you've no call to do this or that,"
for " you need not," &c. " Put on parts " for "give
himself airs." " Don't act," for "don't play tricks."
The voicel is nearly always put in the wrong place,
or altered. "Woilet" for "violet," "sakele" for
" seakale," " lebarneum " for " laburnum."
"laloch" for "lilac," " Christmas anthems" for
" chrysanthemums," and " midsummer anthems " for
" mesambrianthemums." V is always changed to W.
A woman speaking of her husband, who was an
invalid, said, " He've no appetite to speak on (for of),
but he can eat anything that cum of a no»plush-]ix.&"
or "unexpectedly." A Norfolk person is never u-ell,
but "middlin," or "nicely," or "good tidily."
Titles are incomprehensible, and can never by
any means be made intelligible to a Nor-
folk labourer, or even the more or less
educated middle class. A peer of the realm,
or a baronet, or a knight makes no difference ; they
cannot understand, and always speak of them as Mr. —
"Mr. Lord So-and-so." A squire's wife they will
often dub as " Lady So-and-so," because they consider
she ought to have a higher title than themselves.
The teamman often says " Gum-hare— whoo«,sht —
holt" (or stop) all in one breath, as the horse moves a
little too much to the right or left. Vowels I
have said are altered. " Herbert " is pronounced
" JJarbert." It is impossible to write the pronuncia-
tion of "now" or "dow" (for dove) phonetically;
you cannot express the contraction or mincing of the
vowel. "Tree threes" for "Three trees" is quite
unaccountable.
No other peculiarities occur to me at this moment,
but if you will allow me, I will write again. Lady
BROAD NORFOLK. 65
Augusta Noel (daughter of the late Lord Albemarle)
has some beautiful genuine Norfolk stories in her
various charming books, not only correct in expression,
but idiom ; indeed, I recognise many old friends in
her stories, picked up no doubt when visiting the poor
in the neighbourhood of Quidenham. KECTOB.
We het to trosh a wate stack to-morrow, so our
master sa he ha seen the chaps abou rit. So help ma
tater, yiuder she come some stroke down our loke.
Thirs the byler, drum, and funky (a term for the three
parts, engine, barnworks, and elevator). You must
get the chaps to come that are hulling the slus and
mud put of the holl agin the mash deek, as we must
trosh in the morning. As sune as we start the straw
must be hulled and chucked about the yards, cause
they are in a woful state, and you be sure dont lave
the gate undun, as them old hogs will hike out and
sune stale into the garden and 'stry no end of roisbery
canes and bushes and rute up the taters like hunting.
That I know ont sute the old chap (master), whose
temper is as short as picrust, and will sune nab the
rust when things go ungain. A. B. C.
Some years ago when I was acting as Under -Sheriff
of the County we had in the witness-box a marshman
whose dialect so puzzled Lord Chief Justice Cockburn,
that he requested me to stand by his side and translate
the evidence in order that he might get his notes
correct. Going home with his lordship in the
carriage, I ventured to suggest that the witness referred
to seemed to be quite unintelligible, and asked his
lordship what he thought of the Suffolk dialect. His very
characteristic reply was I always call Suffolk " Norfolk
set to music." AN EX-UNDEB-SHEBIFF.
One of your correspondents the other day said
he had heard a thorough- going Norfolk man talk
about a certain drain, which he said came sarshen,
meaning, I suppose, its course took a slanting direc -
tion. I have heard what no doubt in reality is the
BROAD NORFOLK.
same word, pronounced sosh, used, for example, when
a field of corn (probably because of its being laid) has
to be mown from one corner across to the other, in-
stead of in a direction parallel to the hedge rows.
" Soshen," I dare say, is "broader" than
"sarshen." I have heard an order given to "throw
the old deke down and use the thorn-bulls for
firing," "bulls " denoting live or dead stubs. A very
curious word which you might hear in the South
Walsham neighbourhood is si-inker, the equivalent for
which seems to be "a distributer." Thus, supposing
anybody brought a can of beer into a harvest field and
poured the ale out for the men, some " dry " labourer
would very likely chaff him with the remark, " Come,
bor, you are a slow skinker." After the usual share
has gone round any beer that remains is called
" skinker's 'lowance." Crick is another word, meaning
water-dike. A day or two ago a rustic was describing
to me the habits of the gulls or sea-kitties. He used
the phrase " swaling and twizzling about" to express
the strange pitching and tossing of these birds— terms
which at the time I thought far more vivid than
words we should naturally have employed. An odd
phrase oft used in Norfolk is ThaCs all me eye and
Betty Martin, denoting the speaker's decided dissent
from any desire or opinion expressed. B. B.
At the risk of troubling you I beg to
forward a few more specimens in daily use in East
Norfolk. I do hope the outcome of this most interest-
ing correspondence will be that you will publish our
language in its entirety in book form, so that it
may be preserved : — Singles for hinges, " The door is
blowed off the hingles." If your correspondent
" Wes-t Norfolk" wishes to hear the East Norfolk u
for oo in all its purity let him listen to an old parish
clerk our way give out the following hymn : —
As pants the hart for culin streams.
Another word is used by this official which is most
common amongst us, faut — fault. In the Confes?icn
Billy gives us the pure native, " Speer thou them
which cornfess theer fauts," and also " ere " for " are,"
" Restore thou them that ere penitent." Amongst
trades we have kiddier, a pork butcher ; knacker, a
BROAD NORFOLK. 67
harness maker. In London, as I am aware, a knacker
is a horse slaughterer. Is not a Tom and Jerry Shop
a general shop with a beer license ? W. H. C.
As a native I have been much interested in the
correspondence on the above subject ; but after all I
think a stranger could form no idea of the beauty (!) of
our dialect unless he coull hear and see a native of
each district talk it. There are words used in one
locality quite different from another. As to the word
deke, I can quite understand a man gittin' up a' th'
deke to luk over the hedge inter th' holl a' th' tother
side. I fancy some of the correspondents are not very
well up in their subject, as one says, " a conversation
is often carried on across a ten acre field." I wonder
if he knows how far that would be. I
should say across a two acre pightle would
be a fair distance to carry on any sort
of conversation. Another says, ' ' Have you dug any
early potatoes t'year? " In broad Norfolk it would be
" Ha yow tuk up na' airly taters t'year ? " " No, mi
ould wumman gmbb'd sum owt a' wun rute, an'
thay're hardly fit." I have heard Aylsham called
Els-ham, El-sham, and Ailsliam, and Foulsham
Foul-sham. In many cases the yokel knows what the
words are in dictionary English, although he speaks
them in broad Norfolk. I have been in different parts
of England, and in many places I have heard the
Queen's English murdered more than it is in good old
EAST NOBFOLK.
The expression " dare say_ " is pronounced da1
say, and, curiously enough, is made to signify the
exact reverse of its usual meaning, for. most persons
when they hear some intelligence which they quite
expected to hear, exclaim, " Ah ! I dare say ; " while,
on the other hand, if you impart some very surprising
news to a Norfolk villager, he will most likely hold
up his hands in amazement and cry, " Why ! da' say! "
I believe this is also common to Suffolk. R. L.
May I venture to point out a few localisms
which I think have not been noticed in the
68 BROAD NORFOLK.
" Broad Norfolk " correspondence. " Solid, bor,
solid!" meaning in one's usual health ; " That would
puzzle Acabo ;'' "If I ha'nt a kilt hir;" " If-so-oein'
yow carnt go ;" " I'll sune rightside ye " — (to a dis-
obedient child) ; " The grass is lash" — applied to young
pasturage in spring; teUed for told ; "Look-a-haar ;"
"I'onthet!" (I won't have it) ; "D' yow dut" (do
it). Dtise-a-bit is not from " How-so be it," as one of
your correspondents thinks, and as a line in the follow-
ing will show : —
KUSS AT THE HALT..
lake to git merried ? "Well, yessir, I a-bin a-thinkin' about
That is, if Sairey '11 ha' me, but sometimes I kinder doubt it.
Wot's that you're a-takin' yar pen out for .' Yow're arter
writin' a taale !
Will I drink yar health? Well, thank ye, I doant mind a
a glaarse o" aale.
You hamt sin Sairey 1 Well, bor, I'd like you to see har,
tha's all ;
She's a laady bred, though on'y a nuss, up yinder there, at
the hall ;
And -when we are out o" Sundays — you shud see my Sairy
an' I,
Why, I fare like a fule beside har, she cany harself so high !
Can I put my trust in Sairey 1 Well, you see, 'tis like this
haar:—
There's a coachman chap at our paaison's, he abin there only
to-year,
And he's kinder sweet upon Sairey ; but lor, sir, that aint
no use;
I"or she like a chap that can talk — an* he carn't say bo tu a
guse!
But there's suffin about his looks. I don't see what it can be ;
And Sairey du garp at him sometimes, though she know
that doant suit me.
Well, I met the sawney, and nabb'd him by the collar o' kis
An", ses I, " Yew ort to be quaggled with a halter round var
troat;
The duse-a-bit, yow are winkin' an' maakin' mouths at Sal,
Yow 'n I'll fall out i' ye du, bor, for I'm goin' to merry that
g^i;
And a fule wi a buzzle-hid like yais— now, doant yow dar me
tut,
Mv munkey is up, I tell ye, an' yow'U girra lift with my
tut.
For yar hid is tu hard for punchin';" but he kinder larfed,
and sed,
"Go oa, you're a jokin', Johnny— yow dussent punch my
Ix>r, I up and c*tch'd him a rum'un ! I reckon his hid wuz
sore,
BROAD NORFOLK. 69
Least-ways, he haint bin cotnin' his tricks wi' Sairey no
more,
And I think, if ever she fancied him, when Sairey cum
to see
How I luther'd his hide, she'll repent on't, and git harself
spliced to me.
For Sally is none o' yar dollops, she aint no dawdlin' slut,
"With bar faace all a-muck an' untidy — like a sow an" nine
pigs in a rut ;
She's a slap-up mawther, I te'l ye, and — lawk-a-daisy me !
I well might be torken about her, for, dang it — why, haar
she be ! E. HEWETT
The articles and letters in your recent issues
on " Broad Norfolk " are most interesting, and
I should like to say a word on the point raised by
<( Joskin" in list Tuesday's paper, where he says
that we do not often hear of a Norfolk man being
recognised by his brogue. This arises, I am inclined
to think, more from the circumstance that such events
are not recorded rather than that they do not occur.
I am myself a native of the " City of Gardens," but
left it thirty-eight years ago, and have only been there
once since, viz., at " Festival " time, 1863. During
the interval I have,in consequence of my connection with
one of the departments of our Army, lived at many
different places, both at home and abroad, and I think
I am right in saying that in every one of them I have
been recognised as a Norfolk man simply from my
speech. The last instance may suffice, which was that
shortly after my joining my present station, I was
introduced to the Town Clerk. Almost as soon as I
spoke he said, "Pardon me, but from what part of
Norfolk do you come? "he himself, I found, having
been born in Surrey Street, Norwich. Now,
as I may, without vanity, lay claim to be
considered a well - educated man, and thus
not given to "provincialisms," and as my experience
is some what cosmopolitan, I think that the incident
above mentioned may be worth recording (and I doubt
not there might be hundreds, or thousands, of similar
ones), as showing how one's early associations with
the East Anglian capital still cling around us, although
two-thirds of our life have been spent away from the
old city ; indeed, the problem is as interesting as those
your chess editor gives us week by week, only that I
am unable to solve it so easily as I can the latter.
W. SHAW "
72 BROAD NORFOLK.
j. v— *n.v me school Board came into operation.
Treu at the age of seven or eight years were sent
into the fields to scare birds or to gather stones at so
much per bushel, without ever having had the oppor-
tunity of learning the alphabet, that they should call a
potato a "tater" and tobacco "bacca," &c. I am
glad to think that many of your correspondents have
had the advantage of a grammar or School Board
education, and know how to avoid the errors which
the poor and uneducated Norfolk and Suffolk labourers
have fallen into. L. J.
" Car woo ! Car woo ! Here come the clappers
to knock ye down backards and halle car
woo." About fifty-five years ago I resided at
Thetford. It was the custom round about there to
have boys in the corn fields to frighten away the birds.
They did so by shouting out the above words, and at
the same time using the clappers, which consisted of
thin pieces of wood fastened to a handle, which when
shaken caused a loud rattling noise. The boys were
called " crow keepers."
Should you consider the above quoted example
sufficiently broad Norfolk, kindly insert it.
JNO. HOLLAND.
The following eccentricities will probably
interest your East Anglian readers :— Roaches —
signifies sweets (this word is far more popular than
cooshiesj ; arms and legs — home-brewed beer (this term
implies that this beer has no body in it) ; ear — handle ;
kit— milk can ; lua—esn ; hild—je&st ; jangle— to
argue ; ftulk—io clean a rabbit or hare. 1 join with
many other readers in hoping that you will produce a
pamphlet on the above subject.
HEEBEET AXDBEWS.
The articles and correspondence in your columns
on this subject have been most interesting to me
and many friends, and I hope when they are con-
cluded you will publish them in a reprint.
Another kindred subject is comprised in the names of
fields, roads, &c., containing veritable "mines" of
historical and traditional information. The names of
BROAD NORFOLK. 73
fields were well treated of in a recent number of the
Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society's publica-
tions, but by no means exhaustively, and I hope you
may see ycur way to make your columns the means of
rescuing from oblivion the wealth of history and
tradition represented in these names.
EDWABD T. AYEES.
While fishing close to Barton Broad with a
friend, I happened to let my line drag along the
bottom, when to my surprise a countryman near gave
me the advice " You shud fleeten yar fut line, bor."
This I presume meant not to fish quite so deep.
E. KENDALL.
" Het Varke" asked the other day for the
meaning of carder, but gave no context, or example
of the way in which the word was used. I have never
heard it myself, nor can I find it " registered " any-
where. We have a cord of faggots, but this does not
appear to be a purely East Anglian expression, for
Evelyn used it in Surrey for " a quantity of wood
supposed to be measured with a cord (chorda, Latin).
It is just possible that "corder" may have been
written in mistake for " golder " — loud laughter, or
Gord a'mercy— or Gord ' a'mighty— or "colder" —
rubbish. A friend suggested si vis or si velis as the
derivation of " sibbits ; " but we have the true stem
occurring in the now perverted "gossip" which
originally meant a God parent (God sibj. Perhaps
the most loquacious inhabitants of a parish used
most frequently to stand proxy. But although
Shakespeare used the word gossip in a bad sense,
my Johnson's Dictionary reminds me that Spenser
used it in a good one. The term " idiot " has passed
through a similar change of meaning. Once implying
a private gentleman, it now conveys the idea of one
deprived of his reason. Please allow me to thank
those who publicly and privately have written me
about bird names subsequently to your kindly
publishing my list. M. C. H. BIED.
74 BROAD NORFOLK.
As the correspondence now appearing in your
columns is very interesting, here are 'one or two words
I have not yet seen mentioned. Shy-tcannicking ; as
wherey yow bin shy-wannicking tew. Upon inquiring
after a person's health, we hear, " Oh, I'm tolerable,
kinder arter the ould sort."
A "NORFOLK
Kindly allow me space for a word or two anent
the patois of Norfolk. Once upon a time, as the
story books begin, I owned an Irish cob that
was a confirmed biter, and on going to see a
friend at Eeepham I told his factotum of the
cob's vicious propensity, but notwithstanding
this he attempted to clean him without
either putting on a cradle provided or tying him up
short. The result was that the old man soon came
trembling to my friend, and said, "By gom, master, he
very nearly /lingered me."
It strikes me the following is somewhat " broad " : —
" I never rid sich a boss. Well there, bor, he kin go.
When we got to the tree acres, where the owd yowsare,
he was all of a malt. There was a heavy day afore
breakfast, and strus as I'm alive I just felt a tpit o
raiu, so I must see arter them woats else our master'll
be nation riled, and them calves '11 be blaring for
their wittles as they allus du if they are kep waitin a
minit. My missus ha' scrushed har little nnger good
tidily and had to go to the chetnisters for some stuff, it
finely ache and take on. T. G. S.
In common with many of your readers, I have
been a pleased observer of the correspondence
which has taken place in your valuable paper on
" Broad Norfolk." Being especially interested in
" M. C. H. Bird's " capital contributions, I was some-
what surprised to see the " Scamel " omitted from tha
list of peculiar names applied to the birds of Norfolk.
The sweet bard of Avon makes the lick-spittle Caliban
to address the drunken Stephano thus : —
I prithee let me bring thee where crabs grow,
And I, with my long nails, will dig thee pig nuts,
Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmozet. I'll bring thee
To clustring filberts, and sometimes I'll get thee
Young scamels from the rock.
BROAD NORFOLK.
One of our mast eminent ornithologists tells us that
the gunners of Blakeney, Norfolk, still call a bird of
the Godwit type by this name, a fact which I can
confirm. An old taxidermist showed me a specimen
there some four years ago. Some of Shakespeare's
commentators have been dubious in accepting this bird
as the one referred to in the text, one of the chief
objections being that there are no rocks at Blakeney.
The beautiful pebbly beach at this seaport, how-
ever, points to there being some substance
of a very hard nature in the far off
ages, and the number of eggs still laid among stones
which are beyond the reach of the waves, and the
number of young ones reared would surprise many of
your readers.
I venture to express a hope that some handy publi-
cation on this subject may be the outcome of this cor-
respondence, in the compiling of which a distinction
should be made between words of purely Saxon-cum-
Norfolk origin and those phrases which murder the
English language. Some of your correspondents hav«
failed to make this distinction.
The following are such good specimens of how Nor-
folkers can mutilate the Queen's English that I hope you
will find room for them. A youth was once asked by his
schoolmaster to account for his absence on the pre-
ceding day. " It snewed and it blewed and of course
I couldn't corned," was the answer. Before the Educa-
tion Act, in the "good old times," when the endow-
ment of nearly every village school was used for
the purposes of secondary education an unnamed
pedagogue had, well to put it mildly, the temerity to
label his "Dotheboys Hall" as the "Commercial
Academy." An old fisherman was struck " all of a
haaps " one morning by this notice, and after looking
at it for some time to decipher it he
was heard to mutter as he jogged along : "Com-
i-cal Ak-e-denay: what the dickens is that?'
A native who has not been schooled always says
"each" for itch. Villagers call a prop a promp, the
running stream is still called the beck, while the island
on which the alder grows has itself become the alder. I
wish to confirm what has already been stated on one
side in reference to the term "deck" or "deke." In
North Norfolk it is never used to designate a holl or
ditch, but refers to the banks of the hedges.
Koughton. S. E. BAXEB.
74 BROAD NORFOLK.
As the correspondence now appearing in your
columns is very interesting, here are one or two words
I have not yet seen mentioned. Shy-wannicking ; as
wherey yow bin shy-wannicking tew. Upon inquiring
after a person's health, we hear, " Oh, I'm tolerable,
kinder arter the ould sort."
A. "NOBFOLK SWUIMEE."
Kindly allow me space for a word or two anent
the patois of Norfolk. Once upon a time, as the
story books begin, I owned an Irish cob that
was a confirmed biter, and on going to see a
friend at Reepham I told his factotum of the
cob's vicious propensity, but notwithstanding
this he attempted to clean him without
either putting on a cradle provided or tying him up
short. The result was that the old man soon came
trembling to my friend, and said, "By gom, master, he
very n&atyfimgetvd me."
It strikes me the following is somewhat " broad " : —
" I never rid sich a hoss. Well there, bor, he kin go.
When we got to the tree acres, where the owd yows are,
he was all of a malt. There was a heavy dag afore
breakfast, and strus as I'm alive I just felt a spit o
raiu, so I must see arter them woats else our master'll
be nation riled, and them calves '11 be blaring for
their wittles as they allus du if they are kep waitin a
minit. My missus ha' scrushed har little finger good
tidily and had to go to the chemisters for some stuff, it
finely ache and take on. T. G. S.
In common with many of your readers, I have
been a pleased observer of the correspondence
which has taken place in your valuable paper on
" Broad Norfolk." Being especially interested in
" M. C. H. Bird's " capital contributions, I was some-
what surprised to see the " Scamel " omitted from tha
list of peculiar names applied to the birds of Norfolk.
The sweet bard of Avon makes the lick -spittle Caliban
to address the drunken Stephano thus : —
I prithee let me bring thee where crabs grow,
And I, with my long nails, will dig thee pig nuts,
Show thee a jay's nest, and instruct thee how
To snare the nimble marmozet. I'll bring thee
To clustring filberts, and sometimes I'll get thee
Young scamels from the rock.
BROAD NORFOLK. 75
One of our most eminent ornithologists tells us that
the gunners of Blakeney, Norfolk, still call a bird of
the Godwit type by this name, a fact which I can
confirm. An old taxidermist showed me a specimen
there some four years ago. Some of Shakespeare's
commentators have been dubious in accepting this bird
as the one referred to in the text, one of the chief
objections being that there are no rocks at Blakeney.
The beautiful pebbly beach at this seaport, how-
ever, points to there being some substance
of a very hard nature in the far off
ages, and the number of eggs still laid among stones
which are beyond the reach of the waves, and the
number of young ones reared would surprise many of
your readprs.
I venture to express a hope that some handy publi-
cation on this subject may be the outcome of this cor-
respondence, in the compiling of which a distinction
should be made between words of purely Saxon- cum -
Norfolk origin and those phrases which murder the
English language. Some of your correspondents have
failed to make this distinction.
The following are such good specimens of how Nor-
f oikers can mutilate the Queen's English that I hope you
will find room for them. A youth was once asked by his
schoolmaster to account for his absence on the pre-
ceding day. " It snewed and it blewed and of course
I couldn't corned," was the answer. Before the Educa-
tion Act, in the " good old times," when the endow-
ment of nearly every village school was used for
the purposes of secondary education an unnamed
pedagogue had, well to put it mildly, the temerity to
label his "Dotheboys Hall" as the "Commercial
Academy." An old fisherman was struck " all of a
haaps " one morning by this notice, and after looking
at it for some time to decipher it he
was heard to mutter as he jogged along: "Com-
i-cal Ak-e-demy: what the dickens is that?'
A native who has not been schooled always says
"each" for itch. Villagers call a prop a promp, the
running stream is still called the beck, while the island
on which the alder grows has itself become the alder. I
wish to confirm what has already been stated on one
side in reference to the term "deck" or " deke." In
North Norfolk it is never used to designate a holl or
ditch, but refers to the banks of the hedges.
Eoughton. S. E. BAKEE.
7G BROAD NORFOLK.
Our attention has been called to the following letters
which appeared in the " Gentleman's Magazine" in
1791:-
It is a common saying amongst the common people
in this place (Norwich), when a person does not seem
to recruit after a fit of illness, or when he does not
thrive in the world, that such an one does not moise.
Now, sir, I have ransacked several of our English
dictionaries, both ancient and modern, but can find no
such word, nor indeed any word that this is likely to be
a corruption of ; and, as I never heard it used anywhere
else but here, and can find no one acquainted with its
etymology, I thought, perhaps, some of your ingenious
correspondents might be able to trace its original ; or
if not, thai it might possibly be an addition to the
long catalogue of nondescripts with which Mr. Croft's
Dictionary is to abound. M.
The subjoined appeared in reply:— "M," in p.
1022, wishes to know the meaning of " He does not
moise," a Norfolk phrase when a person does not
seem to recruit after a tit of illness, or does not thrive
in the world. It appears to be the verb belonging to
moison, which, with some of its family, is still found
in French. Jloison has been in our language. Chaucer
uses it, and Tyrwhitt's " Glossary " explains it,
"harvest," " growth,"— Urry's, from Skinner, " ripe-
ness." Moise— moison— had the same relation, perhaps,
as grow- growth, succeed — success, $c.
The dictionary of the gentleman whom " M "
mentions is likely to tnoise, 1 hope ; and will, perhaps,
go to press this winter with more than 20,000 words
which are not in Johnson, supported by authorities.
" M " will oblige Mr. C. very much by communicating
to your magazine or your printer any other provincial
phrases, all of which will turn out, perhaps, not to
be corruptions (as "M" supposes moise}, but the
language of our ancestors, and the seeds of our own
language. H. C.
N.B. — The dictionary referred to above, which was
to have been entitled, "The New Dictionary of the
English Language," by the Hev. Herbert Croft,
LL.B., London, 1788, was for some reason never
published.
BROAD NORFOLK. 77
I hasten to reply to the Rev. M. C. H. Bird as
regards the word carder. In my first communication I
stated that it appears on notice-boards at Catton. It
is in the shape of a warning—" Corder must not be
thrown here"— and no doubt is the same as the word
colder, instanced by Mr. Bird. Dr. Murray, who is
editing that magnificent work, the "New English
Dictionary," asked me long ago about "corder," and
remarked that someone had said it should be colder.
Professor Furnivall, in 1864-, noted the word " corder"
on a Norwich notice-board. What is the origin of
these words ?
Allow me to join with others in the hope that the
correspondence on " Broad Norfolk" maybe re-pub-
lished in pamphlet form.
The spelling of the East Anglian dialect words is
evidently very unsettled. One of your correspondents
writes of a, hawkey, bloomfield and others who used
the word wrote horkey, and I believe Dr. Jessopp
writes baw instead of the more familiar "bor."
Among Sorrow's localisms quoted in my former
letter I should have included lash. He writes of the
grass being " lash and sour."
Rodger1 s blast, or rodges-blast, is a puzzle. I think
the suggested derivation from sirocco is too far-
fetched. As a fact, does anyone call this windy visita-
tion Sir Roger } A possible etymology is from, the
Anglo-Saxon rogge, to shake, used by Chaucer.
With your permission I will add a few more local
words -.—BaWmy, a local mode of fishing ; bauley-
loats, Harwich fishing smacks ; boulders, clumps of
fldgs ; carrs, low copses in marshes ; dams, drained
marshes ; dydling, cleaning river bottoms with a
scoop ; fleet, a shallow; frails, straw baskets ; gloat,
a species of eel ; hover, a floating island ;
lamming, bleating of snipe ; llggers, bundles
of reeds to which fishing lines are attached ;
loaders, herring of specially beautiful tints ; miel-banks,
banks of sand blown up by the wind and consolidated
by the marum grass— also called " meal-banks" ; pulks,
miniature broads which open off rivers ; putty, mud on
river bottoms, &e. ; quant, a boating pole — perhaps
derived from Latin contits, a pole; rands or ronds, reed-
covered banks ; rounding time, spawning time ; swiping,
raising old anchors for an Admiralty reward ; water-
cynd, sea smoke, a dense vapour from the sea.
BROAD NORFOLK.
These examples are all from Mr. Christopher Davies'
work on the "Norfolk Broads" (Blackwood, 1884.)
[Other illustrations Mr. Christopher Davies has men-
tioned to me:— When a marsh is covered with water
it is said to be bright ; a lead pencil is usually called a
cedar pencil. — C-H.]
I have asked in vain for an explanation of the word
coquilles, which Mr. Rye, in his " History of Norfolk,"
calls " our Norwich coquail." I do not know his
authority for this strange spelling. It may be con-
nected with cockell bread, or kichell cakes. The
latter were given by godfathers and godmothers when-
ever their godchildren sought a blessing from them.
Perhaps when godchildren ceased to ask for these
blessings, kichell cakes also became obsolete.
The word scamel has a special interest from
Shakspeare's use of it. Not long since there was a
leaderette on the subject in the Daily News, which I
cut out, but cannot now find.
I fear the interest of the subject is leading me to an
inordinate trespass on your hospitable columns, but I
should just like to state that the Greek word from
which we derive idiot was not specially applied to
gentlefolks, but rather t© the " dim common popula-
tions," for, no doubt as Mr. Bird is aware, our earliest
versions of the Bible have " the idiotes heard him
gladly" — i.e., the common people, a Greek idiot being
any private, ordinary person, having no official status.
Just as the common people became idiots, so did the
holy people become silly — selig, holy, and as the dire
Gehenna, the ever-burning rubbish heap outside
Jerusalem, has dwindled amongst infidel Frenchmen
into gene, a bore !
I don't know why muck should be claimed as a
native word of these parts. Lord Verulam, sometimes
wrongly called Lord Bacon, said " Money is like muck,
not good except it be spread." HET YAEEE.
Before closing the interesting correspondence on
this subject I should like, with your permission,
to make one or two suggestions. The Rev. M. C.
H. Bird and Mr. A. Patterson having given us
the local nicknames by which the feathered tribes of
East Anglia are known, would it not be equally
interesting if some one would do the like for the
BROAD NORFOLK 79
weeds and wild flowers, trees, and shrubs of the same
district ? In the building trade amongst labourers and
artisans a great number of local terms are used which
are not found in any architectural dictionary such as
Jimmies or Jimmers for hinges, Pamments for pave-
ment tiles, colder for brick rubbish, &c. A list of all
which provincialisms would be very valuable.
The suggestion to reprint these contributions in book
form is good ; but to be of use they should all be re-
cast in alphabetical order, and at the same time it
would be as well to annotate the present collection
with Halliday, Moor, Faby . Nail, Isaac Taylor, and
the "East Anglian Notes 'and Queries," which last
contains a great number of provincialisms not be
found elsewhere.
Every district and county in England has its peculiar
dialect, though making use of many word« which are
common to several, or even all ; but with the School
Board in full operation everywhere they will probably
in the course of a generation or so entirely disappear
and be lost. This would be a great pity, and therefore
before such a catastrophe takes place, would it not be
well for the leading daily paper iu each county to open
its columns for correspondence on the subject, and so
make collections similar to the one you are now making,
which will be priceless hereafter.
How this is to be brought about I do not know.
Possibly the " Philological," " Folk Lore," or other
societies might see their way to undertake it ; but it
appears to me it should be done through the
newspapers, and not by the different archaeo-
logical journals. Their circulation is not
sufficient, and they do not reach the class which would
be likely to forward the matter. Every one takes the
newspaper, and the response which has been made since
" C-H." first threw down the gauntlet on the last
day of last year has been simply astonishing, one feels
wholly stammed to find such a large body of informa-
tion forthcoming in so short a time. No less thau 91
letters from 75 different writers have appeared from
December 31st, 1892, to January 18th, 1893, iiiclu-
a period of nineteen days only ! It is worth while
contrasting this with the twenty years gatherings
of a local archaeological journal upon the same
subject simply to show — without any disparage-
ment whatever to the journal — the superior
collective power of the daily Press, its extensive
80 BROAD NORFOLK.
publicity and far-reaching ramifications. The "East
Anglian Notes and Queries," commenced in 1858 by
by the late Mr. Samuel Tymms, F.S.A., and continued
to the time of his lamented decease in 1870, re-
commenced in 1885 by the Rev. Evelyn White, and
continuing to the present time, has only published
fifty-nine communications from forty-five writers upon
this subject, and very many of these letters have been
discussions upon single words only. It will, therefore,
be seen at once the superior agency of the daily Press in
forwarding this work all over the kingdom, and to be
of use it should be done at once.
I was sorry to see the letter of your correspondent
" L. J." in this morning's issue. It is the only jarring
note that has been heard, and is calculated to damp
others. " L. J.," if not bilious, is unreasonable. He
should remember that a newspaper is like a fishing net
— it gathers everything. The fisherman does not
reject the whole of his " haul " because it contains
some "rubbidge" he very wisely separates the one
from the other — as the farmer does " the
wheat from the tares " and the " sheep from
the goats." Let him listen to the Eev. Isaac
Taylor, " Nineteen-twentieths of the vocabulary of
any people lives only in the literature and the speech
of the cultured classes. But the remainder — the
twentieth part— has a robust life in the daily usage of
the sons of toil, and this limited portion of the national
speech never fails to include the names of those objects
which are the most familiar and the most beloved.
JOHN L. CLEXIEHCE.
I have been much interested in the articles
and correspondence in your paper concerning
provincial words more or less peculiar to the Norfolk
dialect, and if not too late I should like to mention an
incident from my own experience. A fisherman on
Cromer Beach once remarked in the course of a con-
versation " The sea is a smoultin now." and further
explained this by saying that " it gits kinder smoother
when the tide is goin' out." It is a well known fact
that in stormy weather the sea becomes calmer during
the ebb tide, and " smoultin " appears to be the
colloquial expression on the Norfolk coast which
describes this phenomenon. AETHTTE W. WISEHAN.
BROAD NORFOLK. 81
Now we ha got our 'lotments we can grow
greens, grains, and taters, and roisberries and guse-
berries tu, which is suffin new ; and a good help 'tis to
find wittles for our housen. Besides, now larning is
gan in, and since wages is hained to what they warr a
few year back— when Joe Arch axt us all to jine the
Union and pull straight— we ought, afore long, to be a
heap better to do than the old uns wore, who had to
live on dry brade. They wore nowhere then— no wage,
no 'lotments, no edication. Just you come and pake
round my 'lotment and see my nuvering (manoeu-
vring), and I will show you what the lond will
grow. I ha got a rum funny lot of taters ;
they are some bigness, and rare good
ating into the bargin ; besides parsnips and
carrots and the like, which help to stop a gap where
you have a lot of kids to find wittels for. I keep a
pig in the sty now, John bor, and he ate up all the
cayed taters and other refuge that we het to grow that
would be 'stried. Lately my missus have been
tending him on male and fine brun, and being a good
grubber is right fit for the knife ; which (hold your
whip) will come in for rent, which hev allus been a
puzzler for us iver since we heb been spliced. What
do make me so fidgety when the gals and chaps fall
out is that they soon get from words to blows about
nothing. There is such a duller made with them
mawthers. You can hear them blubbering, blaring,
and mobben, when I het to go arter them and square
em all, they du fare such duzzy f ules. I say, together,
you ha got what a good many hant, a place to antic
in. You can all muse yarselfs and play tit a ma torter,
and hub ma grub, and the likes. Therefore sattle
down and let us hear no more of your squalling and
squaking. AN AECH LABOUEEE.
"Het Varke" and other correspondents have
pointed out how difficult is the orthography of
dialectic pronunciation. This accounts for " corder,"
"colder," &c. A few such instances occur in the words
quoted by " Het Varke " from Mr. Da vies' "Norfolk
Broads." Frails I have always heard of as "Flail
baskets ; " the former gives the meaning but the latter
is the provincial term. Gloat becomes " glotts " or
"glutts." Hove should be "hover" or "huvver."
82 BROAD NORFOLK.
Miel banks is never used in E. Norfolk, but always
" hills " or " sandhills." Quant approaches its Latin
equivalent more nearly when pronounced, as it some-
times is, " quont." Although the rudd are here called
roud, yet all Broadland fishes are said to be on the
roud (not round) when spawning. I did not intend to
use "gentleman" in its present restricted sense,
in my last communication, as the latter part
of the sentence in which it occurred shows,
for both a gentleman and a scavenger are equally liable
to lose their reason. Even this "gentleman" has a
better provincial meaning than is usually conveyed by
the term. Here it means " generous," not necessarily
" one as lives right up," but "you're a gentleman"
means you're a real one. Whenever I have heard the
Broadland sirocco spoken of it has always been as
" Sir Epdger." Perhaps it happened thus :— A boat-
man might have heard a yachting gent say, "Why,
that was a regular sirocco." There is no doubt that
many modern Norfolk words are corruptions from
some such repetitions and hurried readings. The pre-
sent correspondence is very useful, because it shows
what words are now in use, and several almost obsolete,
" plaucher" and " goaf," e.g., have been brought to
light and life. Mr. Clemence made a good
suggestion when he said that individuals
should become specialists, and make separate
collections of terms used in special branches of — what
shall I say — " work and play." A builder's list would
have given us colder, and a coleopterist's collection
should contain a " Bishop -Barnabee " (Bishop pro-
nounced Bisher). With the same idea in my head I
wrote to Mr. Patterson to give us a catalogue of
piscatorial nick-names. These he sent to me instead
of to you, as I suggested, thinking in his native
modesty that they would not be sufficiently interesting
for publication. Marshall's " Rural Economy " (1795)
contains some 300 provincialisms connected with agri-
culture, collected by himself in two years. It was
more easy for him to " spot " such things then,
for he was a stranger amongst us, whereas we
who have been accustomed to hear these words
and phrases from our youth up fail to
notice some of them. Moreover, there was
not so much "slang" in those days, nor had books,
papers, and railways reduced the mother tongue to
such a dead level as now. " Herbert Andrews " calls
BROAD NORFOLK. 83
homebrew " arms and legs." I once heard something
like it applied to the much maligned, but muchly
imbibed, brewer's " stuff." TTpon asking at a village
pub. for some of their " best and mildest " to take on
to the broad, a man in the bar said ' ' Tangle leg, you
mean." " What do you mean by tangle leg ?" said I.
"Oh, what get inter yer legs, and make yer legs fly
about afore it get inter yer heead," says he. We have
a curious custom surviving in this little village, that of
the children going r und and hollering (singing)
" Good Morrer, Walentin," in expectation of
some trifling recognition of their good wishes,
which in order to perpetuate the harmless
amusement I make a point of reciprocating. What
is the origin of the children of Horning hollerin, " Ho
John Barleycorn " to river passengers ? Does any
such custom prevail elsewhere ? I wonder no reference
has been made to superstitions, charms, and witchery,
but I must desist or I shall have some bodies,
"Sprites" perhaps, " over -looking " me to-morrow.
~ M. C. H. BIBD.
P.S. — I was glad to see this morning in the
Eastern Daily Press that a suggestion of mine was
likely to be acted upon, viz. , that the local Mutual
Improvement Society might with pleasure and profit
discuss Broad Norfolk. Will "An Arch Labourer"
tell us how he plays "hub ma grub ?"
I venture to trouble you with a few words
which I have been accustomed to hear in common
use. I think they are fresh to your interesting
collection. I should like also to see a collection of
Norfolk sayings and superstitions.
Beetle, a wooden mallettused with wedges to "rive"
up timber ; baulks, ridges for sowing mangold ; bile,
the bale or handle of a pail ; betsy, a teakettle ; barm,
yeast or leaven, beer tasting of " yist " is " barmy ; "
barmy, a, soft person, a "Susan;" brumble, bramble
or blackberry bush.
Cosh, the chaff or husk of wheat, also a stick;
chummy, a sparrow and a soft felt hat ; clates,hee\ irons
on boots ; cobble, the stone of fruit, lime, and paving-
stones ; church-hole, a grave, a term used to frighten
children.
'84 BROAD NORFOLK.
lioss or Dossett, a hassock for kneeling upon ; dump,
a term in brickmaking, a short, fat person is called
"a little dump; " daft, demented; dibbling, using
dibbles for " corn droppers," mostly done by women
walking backward ; dumplin dust, flour.
Faut for fault ; full flopper, a full-fledged nestling ;
flight of bees, a swarm, not being the first one from the
hive.
Hod, as coal hod, brick hod, mangold hod, etc.;
hotch-potch, Irish stew (also a legal term); hind, a term
of reproach, a scoundrel.
Jill, a two-wheeled carriage for timber, one with
four wheels is a drug; jot, part of the inside anatomy
of a pig.
Litonn, a garret window.
Pollard, a tree that has been " topped and lopped ; "
posset, a mixture of treacle and milk for a cough
Quick-set, ycung white thorn-plants.
Rafe -boards, on v
wagons ; also applied to high shirt
collars ; run, a brook of water.
Scrog, to cut field beans with a sickle or
hook ; shanks' a pony, one's own legs ; shepherd's
fock, white fleecy clouds, indicative of fine weather ;
Sally, a hare ; settle, a high-backed seat used in
inns.
Ting, to beat a shovel with a key when bees swarm ;
tttpp, a rani ; tang, the tongue of a buckle or " Jew's
harp;" top-saicyer, " the boss ;" toad-in-the-hole, a
batter pudding baked with a piece of meat in it.
Wap, flog or "trounce."
E. SKINNER.
" Moise " I have frequently heard used by
nonscoring partners at whist or bowls. One will
remark, "We don't seem to 'moise,' partner."
Snatchet is a word I have heard frequently when
somebody has done what he thought a clever thing,
but got defeated in his object. " You thought you
had done a snachet." It seems to refer to some kind
of sharp practice. I hear occasionally dentists referred
to as gum ticklers, and organists as wind jammers, but
are these terms confined to Norfolk ?
T. ATEES.
BROAD NORFOLK. 85
It is with no small interest that I have read the
numerous letters on "Broad Norfolk." Although
so large a number of words and sayings have
been inserted in your columus, I believe the following
have up till now been omitted. The word doss (mean-
ing a hassock) , and bunny (a swelling caused by a blow
on the head), as well as cussy for a rap on the hand,
are all pure Norfolk words. Then there are expressions
such as ; "There mor doan't stand ther' star garping
at me, but go inter shud aud git the biler, and doau't
forgit to bring the leed, and look here, bor, if yow
twilt him I'll twilt yow, so mini yer that." The latter
expression I heard (no later than last month) used by
an old lady to a boy who had been " t wilting" (fight-
ing) her grandson. DAISY DIMPLE.
I should like to tell you I have seen the feeten
of an old hin amun the pelanders (polyanthus),
and to drive her out of the garden hive said Hush,
Httush, many times. Is not " Huush " another form
of " Woosh"— go from me ? L. A. BUSSEY.
I have read most of the correspondence in your
paper respecting "Broad Norfolk." The majority
of the words dealt with I have heard spoken in.
that part of Norfolk which lies between Wroxham and
North Walsham. A bannock is a word in common use,
meaning a cake baked in a French oven. When a
labourer has had one of these for his morning meal he
tiridges off to work on the farm. If the man is a
stupid fellow he is called by his comrades a. " duke's
headed fule ; " if he is occasionally the worse for
drink, and not to be depended upon, they say he has
no persayvance over hisself. I have heard this word
used hundreds of times in the parish of Tunstead,
Norfolk. W. W.
I am glad to hear that the highly entertaining
correspondence on this subject is to be gathered
together in a pamphlet. Such a volume will form a
really valuable Norfolk dictionary, and must prove
curious and interesting to many in city and county.
BROAD NORFOLK.
May I be allowed to add one or two strange localisms
•which have escaped notice hitherto?
In many parts of the county the phrase, "That'll
hull him in a buffle," is often heard, which, being in-
terpreted is, " That'll put him in a difficulty, or a
bother."
When the crescent moon is in a certain position it is
said" the mune lays water-shutin'." As soon as it
has passed "full " it is said to be on the dreep.
Some in the country districts will perhaps remember
that ripe gooseberry pie is known as thape pie.
F. G. S.
In perusing an edition of the Staffordshire Advertiser
of March, 1815, I found several words differently
spelt, as— " Smoak " for smoke, "compleat"
for complete, "chuse" for chose, "tythe" for
tithe, " chissel " for chisel. A gun was advertised as
a " fowling piece." Another paragraph contained
" And tools of every 'denomination.'" A man was
advertised as a draper, mercer, dealer, and chapman ;
also another, including, " three cows, three ticinters,
and two calves." Can anyone please inform me what
is meant by " chapman " and " twinter." The plural
of shoe was shoeses, as in : — " My wife and myself and
the muses, with forty -five pair of new shoeses." Can
anyone please inform me where "Cockey Lane," in
which Brown & Barker were hatmakers, was in
Norwich, as published in an old publication of the
Norfolk Chronicle, November, 1809. TV. L.
The following words and expressions occur to
me at the present moment as being peculiar to
Norfolk : — Jot, a heavy article of any description ;
tremble, pork cheese ; limpsy. loose, flabby ; vardlt,
bottom hinge of a gate. The 'famous Stiffkey cockles
are always called "Stukey Blues."
ANDREWS.
If your correspondent " W. L." had been in the
habit of reading old books he would know that
compleat, smoak, and tythe were quite correct
spellings not long ago. It is a great pity that more
people do not read Chaucer and Spenser, in whose
BROAD NORFOLK. 87
writings they would find plentiful examples of common
words in their infancy. Chapman, a merchant or
trader, is of very common use in Chaucer, and by no
means uncommon to this day. Borrow uses the word
in " The Gypsies of Spain," 1872, page 137.
" T winters " is an abbreviation of two -winters, and
means cattle two winters old.
Ei'eck districts are, I think, only so described in the
Eastern Counties. There is a full account of them in
Stevenson's "Birds of Norfolk, Vol. I.," Introduction
p. 6.
Gaggles and skeins of geese are referred to in vol. iii.
of that work ; no doubt Mr. Southwell can say if they
are local terms. From the same work I learn that
when swans have nested the marshmen say that they
have timbered.
"Whether Cob and Pen, for the cock and hen swan
are local words or not I cannot say.
The word susserara, or sisserara, I believe occurs in
the " Vicar of Wakefield," and has proved a hard nut.
It ;,iay be connected with poor Sisei/a's experience, but
the derivation is unlikely. The sound reminds one of
the Latin sussurrtis, a whispering.
To answer Mr. Bird's inquiry as to saying " God
bless you " to a person who sneezes would take
me far afield. The custom is general all the
world over. Years ago in the wilds of Brazil
I hardly ever heard a person sneeze without the ready
exclamation from the bystanders, " Dios guarda vossa
mcreed /" — God preserve you! A legend on the
subject was that one of the Popes was choked and
died through sneezing, hence the prayer. But the
custom dates back far beyond Popes. There is an
instructive article on the subject in " The Comet" for
the 14th inst. HET VABKE.
Since my letter of the 20th I have thought
of a few more words (contained in the follow-
ing) which are peculiar to the people of Norfolk : —
"Hallo, narbor, yow look kinder riled this mornin'.
"Wo's up wi' yer ? " "Bor, I'm nearly off my nut.
That old sweep ha' been here to fye my chimbly out,
and I'm blow'd if hehaiut/«w/cerf the sut all over the
place. The backstork (back stove) is chock f ull, and
my backus is smuddered wi't, and if that ain't enough
to make a parson swear I don't know what is, du
BROAD NORFOLK.
yow ? " The word stuttering is called hackering, and
hands are termed dowries in such sentences as " Tha's
right, me little darlin', clap your dannies ; " and I
may add in closing that by very " broad Norfolkers"
an umbrella is a dickey-shud. DAISY DOEPLE.
I have been trying to remember Norfolk phrases
not hitherto mentioned by your correspondents,
but, alas ! my memory fails me. However, I do not
think the following peculiarities have yet been
noticed : —
' Without a chance," for " without a doubt."
1 Like to be," for " likely to be."
' I'm hampered to get hold of my breath," for " I
find it difficult to breathe."
' Fatagued," for "annoyed."
' Eight consistent" to do something, for "quite
determined."
' Can't-a-bide," for "dislike."
'Pick-cheese," for "tomtit."
Many of the Norfolk gentry talk " Norfolk " quite
unwittingly, and can easily be recognised by other
Norfolk persons in all parts of the world. EECTOB.
Perhaps I am late in the field to give one or
two expressions which have occurred to me while
travelling in various parts of Norfolk on the iron
steed. I have been asked, " Isn't it rough travelling
abroad, master?" Frequently "abroad" is spoken
only to mean outside. We have been directed to keep
straight on till you come to a heater, and take th^ road
to right or left, according to where we were bound
for, a heater meaning where two roads meet, forming
the apex of a triangle. Many other phrases crop up
to the observant cyclist, and words which to many are
quite foreign in meaning. W. A. HOTSOX.
Look yow here, bor, don't yow mailer writ ; if
yow get a pint of allers inter yow, yow don't know
now to fare. If yow want a thackin or a smack o'
the chaps dew yow dnt. S. J. W.
BROAD NORFOLK.
In the "vulgar tongue," to change one's
linen is to " shiffen oneself." Many years ago a
curate-in-charge was appointed to a parish where I
myself had been formerly curate. He was the first
clergyman of that parish who had ever preached in
his surplice. One day, when driving through the
parish, I called upon a singular old couple, who
used to be constant attendants at the church in my
day. Quoth the old man, " Du you know our new
pareson, sir ?" On my answering in the affirmative,
he replied, " Wall, for a dark man, he is the prettiest
little man I ever see in my life." My friend was evi-
dently not an admirer of dark men.
The old lady now chimed in, and said in a confidential
tone, " Du yow know, he never shiffen hisself all
thro the sarvice," by which she meant me to under-
stand that he preached in his surplice, and did not sub-
stitute a black gown for a white one. CLEEICTJS.
At the risk of being called bilious or un-
reasonable by your correspondent "John L.
Clemence," I must say that to a large extent I agree
with " L. J." that a lot of nonsense has crept into this
Broad Norfolk correspondence. I take it, sir, that your
original intention in starting the correspondence was to
rescue from oblivion certain archaic words and phrases
that are fast disappearing from the vocabulary of the
county, and also if possible to ascertain their derivation.
Many of the letters you have published centain little
else than mispronounced or misused words : —
" Harbert " for Herbert, " labarueum " for
laburnum, the use of " contain " for detain,
" deficient " for sufficient, «tc. What these and such
as these can have to do with " Broad Norfolk " I
cannot see, and I trust when you bring out your
glossary you will eliminate all such words, and,
as I before suggested, submit the list to a
competent tribunal of old Norfolkeis before publica-
tion. I am quite suie when it does come out it will be
a most interesting compilation, and wiil be eagerly
sought after by many.
Tree is the common pronunciation of " three," but
surely no one ever heard of '' tree threes " for three
trees.
90 BROAD NORFOLK.
Skinker is a capital old word still used in this
district. I should very much like to know its root.
Sneck, a door latch is in common use here, but I
question whether it is distinctively Norfolk ; an old
dictionary gives it as Scotch.
Dead-a-bird, with an indescribable pronunciation of
the last word — something between "bird" and
"bud" — was in common use when I was a boy,
meaning nearly dead or dying.
Daisy Dimple's, " twilt," is a good specimen of
Broad Norfolk. OLD NOEFOLK.
Allow me to add a few words to the list
of Norfolkisms which have already appeared in your
columns.
A spline, i.e., a thin strip of wood.
A lower, used for a lever.
Rumbustious, used of plants when growing rank.
Living upright, i.e., living on one's means, not
having to earn one's living.
Sales, for hames, part of the harness of a horse.
Fed, a hamper.
To have a great slight for clothes, i.e., to wear them
out very quickly.
To buy a thing off a person is also a very common
expression.
It is also exceedingly interesting to notice how much
more nearly our Norfolk pronounciation of many
words approaches the German rather than the English
pronounciation when the words are similar in the two
languages ; instances are — fire, butter, post, pain ; to
give a person a "dressing" or " troshing," cf. Ger-
man, dreschen, gedroschen. We have also a few
instances of a plural in-n, so common in German, as
nezen for nests, housen for houses, meezen for mice.
These instances are interesting as showing that the old
Saxon language, the language of the Teutons, has not
quite died out in Englaud. P. E. D.
As "Broad Norfolk" is to be republished in a
more permanent form, with your permission cxplebo
rtumcrum of your correspondents and letters on the
subject, reddesque teiicbris. The following words
and quaint local expressions I have not yet
seen recorded. SquacWe, an old parishioner once
BROAD NORFOLK.
said to me, on being asked how she was
— Well sir, no matters, only pretty middlin,
a tissicking cough has troubled ine a good deal, and
last night I was nearly squackled ! (Compare this
with " quaggled " under E. Hewett, Eastern Daily
Press, January 16th.)
Gruttling—" I heard a gruttling (queer noise) up the
chimbly."
Swang — " Swangon to him," i.e., give him a good
smack.
Slippy— " Look slippy," i.e., be quick. (Is this
Norfolk ?)
In Eastern Daily Press, January 16th, "Rector "says
" Norfolk people are fond of using long words, of
which they do not know the meaning." Now had he
said fine words I should have been at one with him,
but Norfolkians as well as John Bull in general hate
long words, and cut them short as they can, as in
'bacca, 'cayed, 'taters, &c. Sometimes they will
divide them into two, as chrysanthemums into Christmas
anthems ; and sometimes in a waggish spirit
they will call China asters Chinese oysters.
We shorten words much as a Norfolk bucolic tops and
tails a turnip, cnly with this difference: — We are
thrifty, and save our tops and tails for use. Thus maw
for rnawther (as cab for cabriolet), bor (not baw) for
neighbour ; and so mums for chrysanthemums and 'bus
for omnibus.
It certainly seems odd that no explanation or
derivation has been found for wheesh (or woosK)
except that which Forbey gives, and he says it certainly
comes from gauche (left), whereas it means " go to the
right." If so the word, like the rule of the road
itself, is a paradox.
The rule of the road is a paradox quite,
For as you are driving along,
If you go to the left you're sure to go right,
If you go the riyht you go wrong.
We have in our language another word ivhist —
parallel to wheesh and very like it, especially if it is
pronounced icheest ; and for neither of them has any
explanation or derivation yet been found. In all
probability these words were originally spelt hicecsh and
Jiwist, and this possibly may suggest some solution.
W. F.
BROAD NORFOLK.
The following broad Norfolk words are con-
stantly used in the parish of Tunstead and neigh-
bourhood:— Traimce, a great deal of walking to no
purpose ; icanklin, a delicate child ; and bunker, one
who fails to face danger. W. WATSON.
I fear your very interesting list of Norfolk
words will be coming to an end, and am therefore
much pleased with the proposal that they are to he
printed in a pamphlet. Before the list is concluded I
venture to add some words which I believe have not
been included.
Slov (from slovenly) — "She did fare to slov."
[Yarmouth.]
Poppks — For willow trees (from poplar?).
Eider-er— Pork butcher (.local).
Doatcd tree — A dying tree (local).
Has the following expression been given: — "That
tree da fare to have a muddle head \ "
NORTH NOBFOLK.
As it seems likely that there may be some
permanent outcome of the present correspondence I
venture once more to trouble you for the purpose of
mentioning one expressive word I do not remember to
have been noticed. The word is popple. " There,
there don't popple "—means don't talk nonsense. To
me the word is very suggestive of sound without sense.
E.
As a west countryman, and therefore in
Norfolk parlance a "furriner," may I be allowed to
mention one or two words that I have not noticed in
the correspondence on this subject, viz., sicad, pork-
cheese ; frimmlcating or frimmocky, one who is
particular as to dress ; and tMMMOCfc, • sloven ? On the
road to Cossey I once asked a labourer what the time
of day was, and he informed me, " A little arter tree,
and a good deal." J. L.
BROAD NORFOLK. 93
In the list of local bird names I said that
I could .not find a derivation for "mow." I don't
know how it was that I did not think of it at the
time, but the word is evidently a corruption of " mew,"
a term of general application to all the smaller gulls,
probably from their " cry." TheEev. E. W. Dowell has
kindly written me as follows : — " Mag loon " or " lo wan ' '
is, I take it, given to the northern diver because of its
greater size compared with the red throat, as the large
plaice trawled in the North Sea are called mag plaice,
when caught among the smaller ones of the harbours
and estuaries (query, magnus). There is no surer find
for scammells and picks in autumn than the " rocks "
(as they are called at Cromer, and " scalps " at Hun-
stanton), i.e., large stones with sandy water courses
between, where small molluscs and crustaceans abound.
Andrew .Lang asked what Shakespeare meant by
" Scammells from the rock " in the Illustrated London
Neics a few months ago, and seemed satisfied when I
told him of the Norfolk meaniug of the word. The
gunners used to distinguish the " scammells," that is,
the large female go i wits from the "picks," the smaller
males and young birds." From the above quotation, in
which the prefix " mag " is applied to both fish and
fowl, there can be little doubt as to the meaning or
derivation of the term. The only locality in which I
have met with godwits frequently, or in any quantity,
was at the mouth of the Thames. There the deep black
mud is stoneless, and so the explanation of scammells,
as sc«r-mells had not hitherto occurred to me. Moreover,
I thought that Caliban's words referred to seme birds
bred, upon the rocks, and therefore thought, as Mr.
Southwell suggested and many footnotes to the passage
have explained, that " sea" was a misprint for " sea."
There yet remains the"mell" to be derived. Porby
gives " mell " to swing or wheel round, to turn any-
thing slowly about, from resemblance to the motion "of
a mill. Such " tumbling" or headlong flight
g" or headlong flight would
e more appcae o the dipping and shailing of
gulls than the far steadier flight of godwits.
When helping a man to " shove" a punt along the
ice into a " wake" one day last week he exclaimed,
whilst resting a moment to get wind, " This here is fit
to malt yar blood," malt or molt being the provincial
for perspiration, a mere corruption of melt ; in
fact, we speak correctly when we talk of
molten lead. On January 19th Mr. Wiseman wrote,
94 BROAD NORFOLK
" The sea is smoultin' now," that is, melting away,
only " smouldering " after passing through the process
of "smelting" during the storm. "Wake" as used
above is an open piece of water in the midst of a
broad, the remaining surface of which is " laid " or
frozen over. " Wak" is the Norwegian term for the
same. (Lloyd's " Game Birds and Wildfowl ").—
M. C. H. BffiD.
P. S.— Harting in his Ornithology of Shakespeare
quotes the passage from Tempest, Act II., Scene 2, as
" Sometimes I'll get thee
Young sea-mells from the rock."
He remarks : i( It is evident that the eea-meli, sea-
mew, or sea-gull is intended, the young birds being
taken before they could fly." Harting does not so
much as suggest that scameh was the reading of the
Old copy. Johnson suffered scamels to stand because,
as he tells us, somebody had observed that limpets
are in some places called scam*.
Here are still a few more words : —
Dardledumdue—A. person without energy or knack.
" She's a poor dardledumdue."
Sidetciper—A. blow on the side of anything with a
stick. "I gave her such a side -wiper."
Pilcochta-A. thrashing. "I gave him pilcochia."
Dakes-headed—6' You great dakes-headed thing,"
Slttssy -hound— One fond of drink.
Gaddy-wentin1— Gossiping.
Flareup—K row.
The compiler of the coming pamphlet cannot do
better than consult three or four agricultural labourers,
and I hope he will ask them particularly whether they
know a deke from a holl, as one writer maintained that
a deke was a holl ! I quite agree with all " Old
Norfolk " says in your Monday's paper.
NORFOLK DUUPLTNG.
Before you close the interesting correspon-
dence on Norfolk words will you allow me to give
one, which I do not think has already appeared, i.e.,
" witter y" meaning weak, frail. A feeble puny child
BROAD NORFOLK.
I have heard described thus, and also as a " witterer."
I have never seen the word written, so can only spell
it phonetically. C.
Kindly allow me to add a few words to
your very interesting correspondence on " Broad
Norfolk," which, after all, is not more broad than
Lincolnshire, where they speak of girls as " wenches."
The other day I overheard the following : — " Chuck a
snowball inter owd Biller ;" to which Billy replied,
" Bor, yow batter nut dut, du I'll woller yer.
MOLLIE.
I see that your correspondent " C. H. Bird "
suggests that the term Sir Roger, as applied to
the squalls which are encountered in Broadland, may
have had for its origin possibly some remark addressed
by a yachting gentleman to his subordinate describing
one of the squalls as a " sirocco," and which the afore-
said subordinate perhaps laid hold of as Sir Roger.
But long before the yachting gentleman ever aired his
resplendent rig out or his siroccos in the presence of a
gaping and prehensile waterman, these heavy gusts of
wind were called Sir Roger's blasts. The sudden
and mysterious manner in which (on an otherwise per-
fectly still and calm day in summer) they come sweeping
and whistling over the reed and sedge clad country,
bending the rushes to the surface of the water as if
compelling their proud and feathery heads by one
rough blow to make obeisance, filled the heart of the
lonely countryman in days gone by with superstitious
fear. Not because some wiseacre had alluded to them
as "siroccos," which in itself would be calculated to
cause sensations of alarm in the mind of the average
marshman : but because tradition had handed down to
him that the icy breath of the restless spirit of Sir
Eoger Ascham fanned his cheek, causing him to
tremble like one who (according to his superstitious
notions) shudders only as he steps across his own
grave. Details of the legend I am unable to give,
having forgotten them ; and the work on Folk Lore of
Norfolk, which I take as my authority for the origin
of the appellation of "Roger's blast," has unfortu-
nately been mislaid.
96 BROAD NORFOLK.
I have not noticed amongst the words already given
as peculiar to Norfolk, the word pit for pond. A
youth invariably requests the pleasure of the company
of a friend at a select sliding party by couching his
invitation in the following graceful language: — " C'e on
booy les we goo on't pit."
I am not aware whether the omission of the final " s "
in the third person singular, present tense, is confined to
Norfolk and Suffolk, but it certainly is more marked
in these two counties. As examples, perhaps the
following will be sufficient to explain " He hev," "he
do," " she say." The last is the most common of all,
and the odds are very heavy indeed against anyone
passing or overtaking a bevy of factory girls without
overhearing them (chiefly by the reiteration of the
three words " soo she say") pulling to pieces, after
the manner of all womankind, some lady of their
acquaintance, who has apparently, from the fragments
of invective that you catch, been guilty of piracy in
her conquests.
There is no doubt that the Norfelk labourer has his
full share of original wit, as anyone will discover who
discourses with him. Moreover, there is also some
mysterious fountain head of standard wit from which
each one in the county draws his supply of repartee,
and with which each is fully equipped. The efficiency
and universality of this was distinctly proven by a
cleric who ventured to indulge in a political discussion
with certain knights of the most ancient arid honour-
able order of the ploughshare. The first one was
polite enough until he suspected that some expressions
beyond " his know " were introduced with the object
of enticing him out of his depth ; then he spee<lily
payed out his cable and let go his sheet
anchor, retiring from the contest by remark-
ing, in measured tones, " Howsomdever my
politics is, and yerl excoose me, but I allus say les hev
more pigs and less parsons." This had such a chilling
effect on the ecclesiastical politician that he did not
feel sufficiently recovered to resume his interviews
arriving in the t>ext parish, and even then he
deemed it expedient to approach "number two " with
caution, liberally served up with melted butter.
" Well, my good man" — (every man below a certain
status in society a parson considers to be strictly his
own property) — "Well, my good man; it's very fine
weather for your work." "Thas jest wer yere wrong,
BROAD NORFOLK.
bor ; cum, and yew try it, and see if that a<'nt a goin to
hull ver in a muck wash ! " Such familiarity por-
tended evil, and the ecclesiastic wished himself out of
it. A fleeting smile of a sickly nature o'erspread his
features, and he resolved to make one more attempt.
" Well, my good man," the reverend gentleman
essayed again, with a very third-rate attempt to
combine conciliation, pleasantry, and banter in one,
" I'm sure a fine, healthy, strong fellow like you has
no distorted views on politics. You'll go and vote
for the right candidate to-night, won't you ? " Never
try to draw an agricultural labourer by flattery or
banter. Before you can wink the other eye he
twigs what you're up to. Straightway came
the answer back No, 'twas not Excelsior, but
" Gorstreuth, hold ye yer slaver dew, my politics is, and
yerl excoose me" — butthatwasall — his audience having
vanished, his politics were not revealed, although they
may perhaps be guessed at.
This preference which the toiler on the land shows
for the porcine race over the clergy accounts in a great
measure for the "lapsed masses," so far as rural
districts are concerned.
Slaver is applied to any mode of speech which may
be of a soapy nature, or any continued nagging which
may be considered to require a copious flow of saliva to
support its protracted deliver/. TLICEC.
In the interesting correspondence in your
columns, I believe reference has not been made to a
peculiar characteristic of the Norfolk peasant, which
at once strikes a stranger to the county, namely, the
apparent inability to give a decided "Yea, yea," or
" Nay, nay." The true Norfolkiau commits himself to
nothing. There are three answers I received to the
question, " Do you think it will rain to-day ? " "I
don't know as it won't." "It nia'ay and it
mayn't." " I don't know but it will." I
am a native of Somerset, and have been
much amused to hear that county (with others)
habitually alluded to as " The Shires, "and the dwellers
therein as foreigners. Why are all Norfolk verbs in
the singular number only? The phrases, "I like
myself," and " I made a purposed journey," strike on
the foreigner's ear as being quaint, but they explaia
themselves. Has botti/, meaning impertinent, been
given? E. S. B.
98 BROAD NORFOLK.
Although not Norfolk or Suffolk born, I have
spent the greater portion of my life in East Anglia — first
in Suffolk, and later in South Norfolk, where I heard
words unfamiliar to me while living in Suffolk. Some
of these have been referred to in the " Broad Norfolk "
correspondence, viz., mardle, hutkin, draimt.
A servant astonished me one day by the following : —
" I saa, 'm, 1'a had a rare fye out on that
back staircase (now unused) and there was a load
o' spiders." A Suffolk servant once scared her
mistress with " O, ma'm, you're got a great crock on
yer face." Her mistress— a Norfolk woman— had
never hpard the word, and in a fright, thinking it was
some noxious creature, begged the girl to take it off.
It was a " smut " from the kitchen stove.
In a Methodist chapel some years since a good old
local preacher of the labouring class said in the course
of his sermoii, " Dare frinds, ef ye arn't learned in the
skule o' Christ ye might as well be fules.'' I heard
this myself, and it made a lasting impression upon me.
I have'been much interested in "Broad Norfolk," and
trust it may be published in permanent form.
S. E. A.
Seal of the day I have always thought a rather
poetical expression ; it is applied to the greeting of a
casual acquaintance " Do you know so-and-so, John ?
Is he a friend of yours? " " Wall, sir, he ain't much
of a frind ; but I give him the ' seal of the day ' when
I meet him."
The word ridiculous is used in the sense of shameful.
" I never heerd of such conduct. I call it right down
ridiculous."
The coroner is, of course, called the "crowner." A
man named King died rather suddenly.The villagers were
perplexed as to whether the coroner ought to be sent
for, or not. One of them went to a Guardian with the
remark, " Old King be dade, and we are all on the
averdupois (uncertain in our minds) as to whether
he ought to be ' crowned ' or no."
J Crush is Norfolk for gristle.
Mocking the Church is a curious expression. The
villagers have an idea that if after the banns of mar-
riage have been duly published the couple refuse to be
married they must pay a fine for ' ' mocking the
church."
BROAD NORFOLK. 99
Pensey, fretful ; applied to children. Ah ! the child
ain't well ; she is a poor " pensey little thing."
Clung is an almost untranslatable word. A shrivelled
apple is not tough ; it is clung. To my mind no other
word conveys the exact meaning of " clung."
The word respectable is used not si much in the
sense of worthy of respect as to convey the idea that
the person to whom the epithet is applied is a little
superior in position or circumstances to the speaker.
A man who had recently been released from Norwich
Castle, once said to me that I should be surprised if I
could see how many respectable people there were
among the criminals.
"Some du say so ; other some don't." In Acts
xvii, 18, we read, "And some said, what will this
babbler say ? other some, he seemeth to be a setter
forth of strange gods."
I wouH say, in conclusion, that, although a stranger,
after a few years' residence in the county, would
have no difficulty in understanding the Norfolk dialect,
he would never speak it like a native. As a Norfolk
man, bred and born, I think that I have accomplished
that art, or perhaps it comes to me naturally. Doubt-
less, when I am often least conscious of the fact, my
speech betrays me. ULEBICUS.
Here are a few more Norfolkisms : —
Sake, the body of a wagon or cart.
Dabster, an adept, good hand.
Hobby-lantern, a " Will-o'-the-Wisp."
Fan, a large basket for holding corn, used on a
threshing floor.
Mew or muir heart, faint hearted.
Nag, to " jaw."
Numm chance, a speechless stupid.
Riddle, a sieve.
Rockstaff, a tale, " an old woman's rockstaff."
Stub, to grub up tree roots.
Wamp, to splice, as on a boot. E. S.
I send you a few sundry and fishy items used
hereabouts. The weasel is called a mouse-hunter ; the
stoat is a foumart ; porpoise, a sea-pig. In fishing lore a
teller is a counter ; a shot net is one when put over-
board ; waist, side of a vessel ; warp, a rope ; warp of
100 BROAD NORFOLK.
hem'Dg, four in number ; stuff, herring, e.g., "salt
stuff,'' &c.; s-will, a herring basket holding 500 herring;
maund, a basket into which the herring are counted :
holds 100 : a long-tale hundred is really 132 ; a last of
herring, 13,200 ; Jish-/ioi<se, curing-house ; spit, a stick
containing 25 herring; cob, a pile of herring ; cob, a roe
herring ; horse, rack on which spits of herring hang to
drain; struck, the passing down of cured herring;
kipper, a split smoked herring.
The above terms are but a few of those used in
connection with the herring fishery. A. P.
I have not seen in your correspondence upon above
the word bullverin (cumbersome) nor rootling (burrow-
ing), as for example, " A rat has been rootling in the
garden." T. G. S.
It has been said that, prior to the advent
of the School Board, among the poorer folk of East
Norfolk a vocabulary of irom 800 to 1000 words
formed their entire range of speech. Possibly this
may be a correct estimate, and, if so, it is easy to
understand why their speech was difficult to be under-
stood by persons not acquainted with the dialect, as
probably one - third of their words were either pro-
vincial words or the ordinary dictionary words dis-
guised with such a brogue as to be unrecognisable in
the singular accent of the natives. Persons who happen
to live for a year or two in almost any part
of England can acquire the emphasis, accent, and
inflection of the dialect of the district, but there is
something so extremely puzzling with our Norfolk
brogue that but few can imitate it with any degree of
accuracy. Actors whose faculty for mimicry is
frequently their strong point can imitate the burr of
the north-countryman, the brogue of the Irishman,
thepafois of the Scotchman, and the phrasing of the
Cornish-man, but I have never yet heard one who
c«uld successfully carry on a conversation in the East
Norfolk dialect. Their attempts were usually very
feeble and transparent, they may use Norfolk word*
but there is something in the mode of delivery that is
the birthright and heir-loom of the native-born man
alone.
BROAD NORFOLK. 101
Another notable point to be observed is the per-
sistency with which their accent and way of speaking
clings to them through life. I have often spoken to
men who have been in London twenty, thirty, and
even forty years, but a very few sentences will serve to
proclaim the county of their birth. Some men will
forget the local words of their childhood (so far as
never using them in their coversation) , but the Nor-
folk way of pronouncing attaches itself to the ordinary
words of speech they use, and so betrays them.
I notice that several of your correspondents have
been very busy in compiling a list of birds with their
Norfolk names ; may I add as an addenda a few-
Norfolk names of various herbs, shrubs, &c.
Buddie — Corn marigold.
Cankerweed — Common ragwort.
Clote— Coltsfoot.
Cocksheads— Plantain ribwort or ribgrass.
Dindles — Corn or sow thistles.
Gargut Root— Bear's-foot.
Gladdon—L&rge and small catstail.
Goose Tansey— Silverweed.
Hogiceed — Knotgrass.
Muck Weed or Fat-hen — Common goosefoot.
Needleweed— Shepherd's needle.
Otvl's Crown — Wood cudweed.
Pickvurse or Sandwecd — Common spurry.
Quicks— Couch grass.
Eedwecd— Bound smooth -headed poppy.
Smartweed— Biting and pale -flowered persicarias.
Suckling — White clover.
Winterweed — Ivy-leaved speedwell.
Wret (or Wart) tveed—'&wa. spurge.
EEITEST R. SUFFLING.
A writer in the Literary World, under the signature
of *'T. Le M.D.," refers in learned and appreciative
style to the " Broad Norfolk " correspondence recently
published in the columns of the Eastern Daily Press.
He remarks : —
_ "The popularity of the Norfolk Broads as a de-
lightful holiday resort has recently, by some mental
association, turned the attention of the people of the
county to their own ' Broad-Norfolk ' variety of
English ; and the Norfolk News has wisely opened its
102 BROAD NORFOLK.
pages to any and all who are able to contribute to the
knowledge of the dialect. In the number of that
journal now before us nearly six columns are
occupied by contributions, comprising towards
thirty letters, a poem, and two set articles,
one of the two being by the author of ' Giles's
Trip to London.' It is impossible not to be struck
with the interest in their subject shown by the con-
tributors, and with their zealous eagerness to add to
the general stock of knowledge. As outsiders it would
ill become us to go poaching upon their preserves, or
to appropriate their collected spoil, although they can
scarcely value it more highly than ourselves. In case,
however, pur public spirited contemporary should con-
template issuing a ' Norfolk News Glossary,' or any
other collection of East Anglicisms, we will offer one
or two brief critical remarks upon points that struck us
as we read along.
" And, firstly, the local contributors in most in-
stances seem to us almost too local ; i.e., however well
they know ' Broad Norfolk,' they are not fully aware
of modes of speech outside the county, and hence
many of the words cited are not specially East Anglian.
Thus, in Mr. Giles's ' article alone we find clamber,
tantrums, ingen (=otiiori), pig's chitterlings, gobs (of
fat, cf. Spencer's gobblets raw), mittens, highloics,
bunny, mavis (== thrush), and that word of queer
history, sisserary, spelt also sasserara, and in other
ways : One boy will give another ' a clip
o' the head,' or ' a souse 6' the skull ; ' and
I once heard a fellow say he had given
another a sisserary— evidently a rather astonishing
blow. The word was, in fact, in use, though rarely,
among our eighteenth-century writers, and we our-
selves heard it used not infrequently in London, now,
alas ! about forty years ago ; it then meant a thunder-
ing rat -tat-tat at one's front door. In the letters before
as we iind game leg, shortening (for pie-crust), gaffer,
(contracted from grandfather, just as gammer from
grandmother, a t do, keep squat, pax-wax, play the
Charley, flack-baked, feyther (as in Lancashire), a tidy
lot, and others, which will be familiar to our readers.
"Secondly, some of the contributors' conjectural
explanations do not quite suit. Thus, Mr. ' Giles's
remaks that 'in Suffolk houses are called ftousett,
which is perhaps the old Saxon form ' ; but it isn't
the old Teutonic plur. of hus was hiisa, and the final
BROAD NORFOLK. 103
a dropt off in Anglo-Saxon, making sing, and plur.
alike. The abnormal en-plur. sprang up much
later, and was formed by assimilation to other
en -plurals, like eyen, oxen, &c. So again he
speaks of troat, tree, trow, &c., for throat,
three, &c., as caused by dropping an h ; but
the h in th is only a part of a clumsy contrivance for
representing a simple sound ; what really happens is
that the ' South Folk ' substitute the tenuis or hard
closed mute for the related open spirant: there is no
separate /* in speaking. As a similar substitution has
taken place in modtrn Scandinavian dialects, it is a
very interesting question whether Scandinavian in-
fluence may not have aft'ected the Suffolk pronuncia -
tion.
" From the many genuinely local *vords cited we
will refer to two or three only : — Hutkin (a ' finger-
stall ' or ' cot ' put over a sore or cut may mean ' a
little hat or cap ' ; it has an oddly German look (as
\i=Hnt plus sufnx-chen). Snaasty may perhaps throw
light upon our unexpliined nasty ; it means ' nasty-
tempered.' Lastly, fare and toward (saw toiv'-ard,
'well-disposed,' &c., the opposite oifro-ward) are
cited by several correspondents. Says one : ' I once
cautioned an ostler to be careful how he took out my
mare ; whereupon he patted her on the neck,
and said : " She fare toward like tho," which
the writer translates as ' She appears to be quiet
and gentle.' Fare, therefore, as it seems to us,
may be for/rt'er, from/av'r = favour fcf. our e'er, for
ei-er\ poor, Chaucer's pore for porre, French pauvre,
Latin pauper-em) ; and fare for favour, would mean
to be like, look like ; as in Lancashire, ' He favours his
feyther,' &c. ; the ostler's answer would thus strictly
mean, ' She looks like a toward ani-ral.' One should
trace the history of the word, however, if possible,
before pronouncing a decision.
"'We can at present say no more, except that the
Norfolk Xews and its contributors are earning the
thanks of all dialect investigators."
THE END.
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