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SERIES D.

MISCELLANEOUS.

HISTOKY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS

mOM THE EARLIEST PERIOD,

INCLUDING AN

INYESTIGATION OF THE GENERAL LAWS OF SOUND
CHANGE, AND FULL WORD LISTS.

HENRY SWEET, ESQ.,

Member of Council of the Philological and Early English Text Socikties,
Editoe of the Old English Version or Gregory's Cura Pasioralis.

{From the Transactions of the Philological Society for 1873-4)

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY
BY TRUBNER & CO., 57 and 69, LUDGATE HILL.

MDCCCLXXIV.

HERTFORD :

PKINTBD BT 8TBPHEN AUSTIN AUD SONS.

\\33

CONTENTS

I. k History of English Sounds from the earliest^

period, including an investigation of the ?^enaval

laws of sound change , and full word lists, by
H. Sweet.

II. Specimens of Sn^lisii Dialects.

Devonshire- An Exn^oor Scoldin? and Oourtshio

ed. t>y

P. El7forthy.

lestiTioreland- k 5ran New licvk, ed. by t'i.A'. Skeat

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface, Addressed to Members of the English Dialect

Society. By the Rev. W. W. Skeat v

Introduction 1

General Laws of Sound Change 6

General Alphabetics • 19

Quantity and Quality in the Teutonic Languages ... 24

Old English Period 26

Middle English Period-
Orthography 37

Vowel-levelling 38

General Laws of "Vowel Change in the Modern Teu-
tonic Languages 40

Close and Open EE and 00 48

Unaccented E 52

Diphthongs 52

Consonant Influence 53

Modern Period —

Loss OF Final E ' 55

Early Modern Period 57

Quantity 61

Consonant Influence 61

Transition Period 62

Late Modern Period 66

Quantity g, . . . 67

Consonant Influence 67

Latest Modern Period 69

Diphthongization 70

Short Vowels 73

Quantity 73

Consonant Influence 74

Notes on the Consonants -75

Word Lists 82

Alphabetical Index to the Lists 139

Supplementary Lists of Irregularities 146

Notes to the Word Lists 151

On the Periods op English 157

Concluding Remarks 161

PREFACE.

Addressed to Members of the English Dialect Society.

The History of English Sounds, by Mr. Henry Sweet, was
originally written for the London Philological Society, in
further illustration of the great work on Early English Pro-
nunciation by Mr. Alexander J. Ellis. Upon application to
the Council of the Philological Society, and to the author,
permission was at once obtained for making arrangements
whereby additional copies of the work should be struck off for
the use of members of the English Dialect Society. The im-
portance of it to all who study English sounds, especially such
sounds as are frequently well preserved in some of our provin-
cial dialects, wUl soon become apparent to the careful reader.
But as there may be some amongst our members who may
not be aware of what has been lately achieved in the study
of phonetics, a few words of introduction may not be out of
place here.

I have more than once received letters from correspondents
who boldly assert that, of some of our dialectal sounds, no
representation is possible, and that it is useless to attempt it.
Against such a sweeping denunciation of the study of pho-
netics it would be vain to argue. It may be sufficient merely
to remark that precisely the same argument of " impossi-
bility " was used, not so many years ago, against the intro-
duction of the use of steam locomotives upon railways. The
opinions of such as are unable to imagine how things which

VI PREFACE.

they cannot do themselves may, nevertheless, be achieved by
others, will not be much regarded by such as desire progress
and improvement.

It may, however, be conceded that no system of symbols
existed which was of sufficient scientific accuracy until the
publication of Mr. Melville Bell's singular and wonderful
volume entitled — " Visible Speech : the Science of Universal
Alphabetics : or Self-Interpreting Physiological Letters for
the Printing and Writing of all Languages in one Alphabet ;
elucidated by Theoretical Explanations, Tables, Diagrams,
and Examples." Now in this system none of the usual
alphabetical characters appear at all, nor is the alphabet
founded upon any one language. It is a wholly new collec-
tion of symbols, adapted for all or most of the sounds which
the human voice is capable of producing, and is founded upon
the most strictly scientific principles, each symbol being so
chosen as to define the disposition of the organs used in pro-
ducing the sound which the symbol is intended to represent.
How this wonderful result has been achieved, the reader may
easily discover for himself, either by consulting that work, or
another by the same author -w^hich every one interested in
the study of phonetics is earnestly recommended to procure,
at the cost of only one shilling. The title of this latter work,
consisting of only sixteen pages in quarto, is : — English
Visible Speech for the Million, etc. ; by Alex. Melville Bell.
London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; London and New York:
Triibner & Co. A fair and candid examination of this
pamphlet will shew the reader, better than any detailed de-
scription can do, how the study of sounds has been rendered
possible. Every work on phonetics will, no doubt, always
be based upon, or have reference to, Mr. Bell's system, and
therefore it is the more important that, at the very least, the
existence of it should be widely known.

BY THE REV. W. W. SKEAT. Vll

The work of Mr. Ellis is entitled: — On Early English
Pronunciation, with especial reference to Shakspere and
Chaucer, by Alexander J. Ellis, F.E.S. The first two parts
were published in 1869 by three societies in combination,
viz. the Philological Society, the Early English Text Society,
and the Chaucer Society ; and the third part, by the same
societies, in 1870. The work is not yet completed, and the
fourth part, not yet published, will contain a full account of
our modern English provincial dialects, shewing their distri-
bution and connections. Mr. Ellis employs a system of
symbols called palceotype, but, as every one of these has its
exact equivalent in Mr. Bell's system, it admits of the same
degree of accuracy, and has the advantage of being wholly
represented by ordinary printing-types.

The next system is that invented by Mr. Ellis for the
special representation of English dialectal sounds, and deno-
minated Glossic} By the kindness of the author, a copy of
the tract upon Glossic is in the hands of every member
of our Society. The attention of readers is directed to page
11 of that tract, where the thirty-six vowels of Mr. Bell's
Visible Speech have their equivalent values in Glossic properly
tabulated.

In Mr. Sweet's volume, now in the reader's hands, the
corresponding table of vowel-sounds is given at page 5, and
one principal object of this short Preface is to shew how
Mr. Sweet's symbols and the 'Glossic' symbols agree together,
and how, again, each table agrees with that of Mr. Bell.

I shall refer, then, to the three tables as given at p. 5 of
Mr. Sweet's book, at p. 11 of the Glossic tract, and at p. 8 of
Visible Speech for the Million. See also p. 14 of Mr. Ellis's
Early English Pronunciation.

1 The system called Glossotype, illustrated at p. 16 of Mr. Ellis's Early English
Pronunciation, may be considered aa now cancelled, and superseded by Glossic.

Till PREFACE.

Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet agree with Mr. Bell in their use
of the terms Sigh, Mid, and Low; in their use of the terms
Back, Mixed, and Front ; and in their use of the terms Wide
and Wide-round. The only difference is that Mr. Sweet uses
the term Narrow instead of Primary (see page 4, note 1),
and also uses the more exact term Narrow-round in place of
what Mr. Ellis calls Round simply. As Mr. Sweet has
numbered his sounds, it is easy to tabulate the correspondence
of the systems in the following manner. I denote here Mr.
Sweet's sounds by the number only, and include the Glossic
symbol within square brackets, in the usual manner.

[uu'].

[ea].

[EE].

10.

[U'].

13.

[!•]•

16.

[I].

[UU].

[uj.

[AI].

11.

[AA].

14.

[A'].

17.

[E].

[ua].

[ua'].

[AE].

12.

[AH].

15.

[E'].

18.

[A].

19.

[00].

22.

[ui'].

25.

[Ui].

28.

[uo].

31.

[uo'].

34.

[UE].

20.

[OA].

23.

[oa-].

26.

[EO].

29.

[AO].

32.

[ao'].

35.

[OE].

21.

[AU].

24.

[au'].

27.

[eo-].

30.

[0].

33.

[0-].

36.

[oe'].

Now it should be clearly understood that these two systems
are both perfectly exact, because both refer to the same posi-
tions of the organs of voice ; but, as soon as these sounds
come to be described by illustrative examples, a few slight
apparent discrepancies arise, solely from a difference of indi-
vidual pronunciation, even in the case of common 'key-
words.' I believe I am correct in saying that even Mr.
Bell's * key- words ' do not represent to everybody the exact
sounds intended, but are better understood by a North-country
man than by a resident in London. Mr. Ellis describes this
difficulty in the following words : " At the latter end of his
treatise Mr. Melville Bell has given in to the practice of key-
words, and assigned them to his symbols. Let the reader be
careful not to take the value of his symbol from his own
pronunciation of the key-words, or from any other person's.
Let him first determine the value of the symbol from the

BY THE REV. W. W. SKEAT. IX

exact description and diagram of the speech-organs, — or if
possible also from the living voice of some one thoroughly
acquainted with the system — and then determine Mr. Bell's
own pronunciation of the key-word from the known value of
the symbol. This pronunciation in many instances differs
from that which I am accustomed to give it, especially in
foreign words."

In order to steer clear of such minor difficulties, Mr. Sweet
has adopted a very simple system of notation, which only
aims at representing the broader distinctions between vowels,
using, for example, the same symbol [a] for the mid-back- wide
and the low-back- wide sounds (nos. 11 and 12), without
further distinction, and defining it only as the sound a, as
most commonly heard in the y^ovdi father. E-oughly speaking,
then, the symbols which Mr. Sweet employs in his vowel-table
may be thus represented in Glossic.

a, as the short vowel corresponding to the first vowel in
father; compare Glossic [aa], as in [faa'dhur].

ae, as a in m«n ; Glossic [a], as in [man].

e, as e in tdl; Glossic [e or ae], as in [tel] ; provincial
[tael].
. e, as ai in haii; Glossic [ai], as in [bait].

8, as « in hut; Glossic [u], as in [but].

i, as in hit; Glossic [i], as in [bit].

6, as in not ; 66, as in na2«ght ; Glossic [o] in [not] ; [au]
in [naut].

6, as oa in boat; Glossic [oa], as in [boat],

08, as 0 in Germ, schdn ; Glossic [oe], as in Germ, [shoen],

u, as 00 in foot ; uu as oo in cool ; Glossic [uo, oo], as in
[fuot, kool].

y, as u in Germ, iibel; Glossic [ue], as in Germ, [uebu'l].

ai, a diphthong of a and i, as 2/ in my ; Glossic [ei], as in
[meij.

X PREFACE.

au, a diphthong of a and u, as ou in house ; Glossic [ou],
as in [hoiis],

ei, a diphthong of e and i, as a in tale ; Glossic [aiy], as in
[taiyl].

ou, as 0 in no, i.e. 6 with an aftersound of u;^ Glossic
[oaw], as in [noaw].

oi, as oy in bo?/ ; Glossic [oi], as in [boi].

It may be added, that ]> is used to represent the sound of
th in thin, Glossic [thin] ; and ^ to represent the th in this,
Glossic [dhis].

According, then, to Mr. Sweet's notation, the word father
is written faa^ar ; man, msen ; tell, tel ; bait, bet, or (more
commonly) belt, in Southern English, beet in Scotch ; but,
bat ; bit, bit ; not, not ; boat, hot, or (more commonly) bout,
in Southern English, boot in Scotch ; Germ, schon, shoen ;
foot, fut ; Germ, iibel, ybol ; my, mai ; house, haus ; tale, teil ;
no, nou ; boy, boi.

The long vowels are expressed by doubling the symbol
employed for the shorter vowels. The following are examples,
viz. father, faa^er (the short sound of which is found in the
Anglo-Saxon man, in modern English changed to mwn) ;
earn, worse, oon, waos ; satv, faught, s66, foot ; tvhose, huuz ;
and the like. Examples of diphthongs are seen in eight, eit ;
lord, hoarse, load, hoas ; smear, smiar ; bear, bear ; etc.

The easiest way of becoming familiar with this very simple
notation is to observe the long list of words beginning at p.
84. By comparing the third column, which gives the modern
English spelling, with the fourth, which gives the modern
English pro7iimciation according to the above system, the
sounds intended can be very easily ascertained, and the reader

1 More clearly heard when used as a negative, in response to a question, than
■when used as in the phrase 'no man.' Example: Do you like that ? Answer —
n6u.

BY THE REV. W. W. SKEAT. XI

will be prepared to understand what is meant hj the first and
second columns, which exhibit the pronunciations of the Old
and Middle period respectively. The thanks of students are
especially due to Mr. Sweet for these word-lists, with the
alphabetical register of them appended. They can only
have been compiled at the cost of much labour and diligence,
and shew an intimate acquaintance with the spellings and
pronunciations of all periods of English.

w. w. s.

EEEATA AND ADDITIONS.

Page 6, line 12, for wulf, read wolf.
„ 16 „ 2 from bottom, dele important.
*„ 52, "Diphthongs," see also p. 148.
„ 69, " Consonant Influence," see also p. 151.

74, "Consonant Influence" (Latest Mod.). Note also the
tendency to lower uu before r, as shown in the
almost universal ydd{r) for yimr (possessive of
yuu). In the vulgar pronunciation this is carried
out in all words, so that the combination uur is
entirely lost. Thus we have pood for puur, shoda
for shuur, etc.
Word Lists: dele J>ycce (No. 797).

for cleev, read cleev (1327).
quean (1741) seems to come from cwene with a
short vowel = Gothic kwino.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUIfDS.

By henry sweet, Esq.

INTEODUCTION.

In studying the phonetic development of a language two
methods are open to us, the historical and the comparative ;
that is to say, we may either trace the sounds of one and the
same language through its successive stages, or else compare
the divergent forms in a group of languages which have a
common origin.

Each method has its advantages. In the historical method
the sequence of the phenomena is self-evident ; when we
compare two forms of the same sound in several co-existing
languages, it is often doubtful which is the older. The
peculiar advantage of the comparative method is that it can
be applied to living languages, where nothing but careful
observation of facts is required, while in the case of dead
languages the phonetic material is often defective, and is
always preserved in an imperfect form by means of graphic
symbols, whose correct interpretation is an indispensable pre-
liminary to further investigation. In short, we may say
that the comparative method is based, or may be based, on
facts, the historical on theoretical deductions.

It need hardly be said that the first requisite for phonetic
investigation of any kind is a knowledge of sounds. Yet
nothing is more common in philology than to see men, who
have not taken the slightest trouble to make themselves
acquainted with the rudiments of vocal physiology, making
the boldest and most dogmatic statements about the pro-
nunciation of dead languages — asserting, for instance, that
certain sounds are unnatural, or even impossible, merely be-
cause they do not happen to occur in their own language.
Such prejudices can only be got rid of by a wide and impar-
tial training.

)i HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The second requisite is a collection of carefully recorded
facts. In this respect the present state of phonology is
somewhat anomalous. As far as living languages are con-
cerned, the amount of reliable material that exists is still
very small, although it is rapidly increasing, while if we
turn to the dead languages we find an enormous body of
careful, full, often exhaustive, observations of the varied
phenomena of letter-change in the Teutonic languages — a
dead mass, which requires the warm breath of living phono-
logy to thaw it into life. Before the word-lists in such a
book as Grimm's Deutsche Grammatik can be intelligently
utilized, the spoken sounds they represent must be deter-
mined. The first step is to determine generally the relations
between sound and symbol. The ideal of a phonetic notation
is, of course, a system in which every simple sound would
have a simple sign, bearing some definite relation to the
sound it represents. It need hardly be said that all the
modifications of the Roman alphabet in which the Teutonic
languages have been written down fall far short of this
standard. The Roman alphabet was originally, like all
naturally developed alphabets, a purely hieroglyphic system,
representing not sounds but material objects : the connection
of each symbol with its sound is therefore entirely arbitrary.
When we consider that this inadequate system was forced on
languages of the most diverse phonetic structure, we need
not be surprised at the defects of the orthography of the old
Teutonic languages, but rather admire the ingenuity with
which such scanty resources were eked out.

The maximum of difficulty is reached when a language
changes through several generations, while its written repre-
sentation remains unchanged. In such a case as that of
English during the last three centuries, we are compelled to
disregard the written language altogether, and have recourse
to other methods.

Foremost among these is the study of the contemporary
evidence afforded by treatises on pronunciation with their
descriptions of the various sounds and comparisons with
foreign utterance. It is on this kind of evidence that the

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 6

well-known investigations of Mr. Ellis are based. The great
value of Mr. Ellis's work consists in the impartial and
cautious spirit in which he has carried it out, advancing step
by step, and never allowing theories to overrule facts. Mr.
Ellis's method forms a striking contrast to that pursued by
some Early English students, who, starting from the assump-
tion that whatever pronunciation is most agreeable to their
own ears must be the right one, take for granted that Alfred,
Chaucer, and Shakespere spoke exactly like 19th-century
gentlemen, and then, instead of shaping their theories by
the existing evidence, pick out those facts which they think
confirm their views, and ignore all the rest. The resvilt of
Mr. Ellis's investigations is to establish with certainty, within
certain limits, the pronunciation of English during the last
three centuries; absolute accuracy is impossible in deductions
drawn from the vague statements of men who had but an
imperfect knowledge of the mechanism of the sounds they
uttered.

I hope, however, to show that that minute accuracy which,
is unattainable by the method adopted by Mr. Ellis, can be
reached through a combination of the comparative with the
historical method, taking the latter in its widest sense to
include both the external evidence employed by Mr. Ellis,
and the internal evidence of the graphic forms. This gives
us three independent kinds of evidence, which, as we shall
see, corroborate each other in the strongest manner.

Before going any farther it will be necessary to say a
few words on the phonetic notation I have adopted. The
only analysis of vowel-sounds that is of any real use for
general scientific purposes is that of Mr. Bell. His system
difiers from all others in two important particulars, 1) in
being based not on the acoustic effects of the sounds, but
on their organic formation, and 2) in being of universal
applicability : while most other systems give us only a
limited number of sounds arbitrarily selected from a few
languages, Mr. Bell's Visible Speech is entirely independent
of any one language — it not only tells us what sounds do

4 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

exist in a given language, but also what sounds may exist
in any language whatever. It is therefore of priceless value
in all theoretical investigations like the present.

The following remarks will help to elucidate Mr. Bell's
table of vowels with key-words, which I have given on the
opposite page.

Every vowel is, as regards position, either hack (guttural),
of which aa is the type, front (palatal), typified by ii, or
mixed, that is, formed by the back and front of the tongue
simultaneously, as in the English err. Each vowel, again,
has one of three degrees of elevation — it is either high,
mid or loic. Each of these nine positions may be round-
ed (labialized). Each of the resulting eighteen vowels
must, lastly, be either narroto^ or wide. In forming narrow
vowels the pharynx or cavity behind the mouth is com-
pressed, while in wide vowels it is relaxed. The distinction
will be clearly felt by any one who pronounces not, naught,
several times in succession, drawling them out as much as
possible : it will be found that in sounding not the pharynx
and back of the mouth is relaxed, while in naught there is
evident tension. The vowel in both words is the low-back-
round, but in not it is wide, in naught narrow.

In treating of the formation of the sounds, I have always
described them in Mr. Bell's terminology, which is admirably
simple and clear. If I could have made use of his types, I
could have avoided a great deal of circumlocution, which, as
it is, has proved unavoidable.

For the convenience of those who are not able to appre-
ciate minute phonetic distinctions, I have also adopted a rough
practical system of notation, in which only the broadest dis-
tinctions are indicated. In this system a, e, i, o, u, y, are
employed in their original Roman values, the distinction
between open and close e and o being indicated by accents.
To indicate that class of sounds of which the English
vowels in but and err are types, I have adopted the turned
e (d). The English vowel in man is written ce, and ce is used

^ I have ventured to substitute "narrow" for Mr. Bell's "primary," as being
both shorter and more expressive.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

a
43 P^-:

■4^

-s-r

-i . g

^1^

3fe)

.2^

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I-H

I-H ^

mix
^. he

iScot

-g,

'TIS S^

P 5 'a

-.3

gf^

-2fel g

■-I

I-H

f-H

gh-back.
c. Engl.
Engl, eye

id-back.
ngl. father

^ § s

■£ §

a Sq

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1—4

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6 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

to designate the German o. Long vowels are doubled, and

diphthongs indicated by combining their elements.^

a as in father Nos. 11, 12, (3) on Bell's Scale.

86 ,, man ,, 18 „

e „ tdl „ 9,(17)

e ,, Scotch tale, French 6 ,, 8 ,,

a ,, hutyhird, Germatigahe ,, 2, (3), 5, 6, (10), 14, 15.

i ,, hit, heat „ 7, 16.

6 „ not ,... „ 21, (29), 30 on Bell's Scale.

6 „ Scotch note. Germ, sohn ,, 20 ,,

ce „ Germ, schon „ (26), 27, 35, 36 „

u „ WMlf „ 19,28.

y „ Germ, uhel „ 25, (26), 34 ,,

ai ,, my. Germ. me/n.

au ,, hoKse, Germ, hatts.

ei „ tffle.

Cu ,, no.

oi „ ho^/.

I have not made any use of Mr. Ellis's "pala3otype," as, in
spite of its typographical convenience, its extreme complexity
and arbitrariness make it, as I can testify from personal ex-
perience, quite unfitted for popular exposition. The apparent
easiness of palacotype as compared with the Visible Speech
letters of Mr. Bell is purely delusive : it is certain that those
who find Visible Speech too difiicult will be quite unable
really to master palacotype. It must also be borne in mind
that no system of notation will enable the student to dis-
pense with a thorough study of the sounds themselves : there
is no royal road to phonetics.

GrENERAL LaWS OF SoUND ChANGE.

They may be investigated both deductively, that is, by
examining known changes in languages, and a priori, by
considering the relations of sounds among themselves. I
propose to combine these methods as much as possible.
Although in giving examples of the various changes I have
been careful to select cases which may be considered as per-
fectly well established, I must in many cases ask the reader
to suspend his judgment till they have been fully discussed,
which, of course, cannot be done till we come to the details.
The general laws I am about to state may, for the present,

^ Numbers within parentheses indicate the less distinctive vowels, which admit
of being brought under different heads : 26, for instance, may be regarded either
as a very open y or a close oe.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 7

be regarded simply as convenient, heads for classing the
various changes under.

All the changes may be brought under three grand divi-
sions, 1) organic, 2) imitative, and 3) inorganic. Organic
changes are those which are the direct result of certain
tendencies of the organs of speech : all the changes com-
monly regarded as weakenings fall under this head. Imita-
tive changes are the result of an unsuccessful attempt at
imitation. Inorganic changes, lastly, are caused by purely
external causes, and have nothing to do either with organic
weakening or with unsuccessful imitation.

The great defect of most attempts to explain sound-changes
is that they select some one of these causes, and attempt to
explain everything by it, ignoring the two others. It would,
for instance, be entirely misleading to explain the change of
the O.E. hcer (pret. of heran) into the N.E. hove as an organic
sound-change, the truth being that the form hore is the result
of confusion with the participle home. Such a case as this is
self-evident, but I hope to show hereafter that the very re-
markable and apparently inexplicable changes which our
language underwent during the transition from the Old to
the Middle period, can be easily explained as inorganic de-
velopments.

We may now turn to the two first classes of changes,
organic and imitative. From the fact that all sounds are
originally acquired by imitation of the mother and nurse we
are apt to assume that all sound-change is due to imitation,
but a little consideration will show that this is not the case.
How, for instance, can such a change as that of a stopped to
an open consonant, or of ii, uii, into «?', an, be explained by
imitation? The fact that the vast majority of those who
speak even the most difficult languages do make the finest
distinctions perfectly well, proves clearly that the correct
imitation of sounds is no insurmountable difficulty even to
people of very ordinary capacity. The real explanation of
such changes as those cited above is that the sounds were
acquired properly by imitation, and then modified by the
speaker himself, either from carelessness or indolence.

8 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

Further confirmation is afforded by the fact, which any-
one may observe for himself, that most people have double
pronimciations, one being that which they learned by imita-
tion, the other an unconscious modification. If asked to pro-
nounce the sound distinctly, they will give the former sound,
and will probably disown the other as a vulgarism, although
they employ it themselves invariably in rapid conversation.
When the habits are fixed, the difiiculty of correct imitation
largely increases. To the infant one sound is generally not
more difficult than another, but to the adult a strange sound
is generally an impossibility, or, at any rate, a very serious
difficulty. He therefore naturally identifies it with the
nearest equivalent in his own language, or else analyses it,
and gives the two elements successively instead of simulta-
neously. We may, therefore, expect a much wider range of
the imitative principle in words derived from other languages.
I propose, accordingly, to class all the doubtful changes under
the head of organic, treating as imitative changes only those
which do not allow of any other explanation, but admitting
that some of the changes considered as inorganic may under
special circumstances be explained as imitative.

Organic sound-changes fall naturally into two main divi-
sions, simple and complex. Simple changes are those which
affect a single sound without any reference to its surroundings,
while complex changes imply two sounds in juxtaposition,
which modify one another in various ways.

It is generally assumed by philologists that all organic
sound-changes may be explained by the principle of economy
of exertion, and there can be no doubt that many of the
changes must be explained in this way and in no other, as, for
instance, the numerous cases of assimilation, where, instead of
passing completely from one sound to another, the speaker
chooses an intermediate one. Other changes, however, not
only do not require this hypothesis of muscular economy, but
even run quite counter to it, as when an open consonant is con-
verted into a stop, a by no means uncommon phenomenon in
the Teutonic languages. It is of the greatest importance that
these exceptions to the general rule should not be suppressed.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 9

I shall, therefore, while giving precedence to those changes
which seem to be in harmony with the general principle of
economy of force, take care to state fully the exceptions. I
begin with the simple changes, arranging them in classes,
according to the different vocal organs concerned in their
formation.

A. Simple Changes.

I. Weakening.

1) Glottal : voice to whisper and breath. In the formation
of voice the glottis is momentarily closed, in that of whisper
its edges are only approximated, and in breath the glottis is
quite open. It is evident, therefore, that voice per se de-
mands the most and breath the least muscular exertion, and
that the natural tendency would be to substitute whisper and
breath for voice whenever possible. The great preservative
of consonantal vocality is the principle of assimilation, to
which we shall return presently. When a voice consonant
is flanked by vowels, as in aha, aga, etc., it is much easier to
let the voice run on uninterruptedly than to cut it off at the
consonant and then resume it. But at the end of a word this
assimilative influence is not felt, and accordingly we find that
in nearly all the Teutonic languages except English, many
of the final voice consonants become either voiceless or whis-
pered.

2) Pharyngal : narrow to wide. In the formation of
narrow vowels the pharynx is compressed, while in that of
wide vowels it is relaxed. The natural tendency would
therefore be from narrow to wide. It is, however, a curious
fact that in the Teutonic languages short and long vowels
follow diametrically opposed laws of change as regards these
pharyngal modifications, long vowels tending to narrowing,
short to widening. Full details will be given hereafter ; I
merely call attention to these Teutonic changes as a clear
instance of inapplicability of the principle of economy of
force.^

3) Changes of position. The most general feature of

' Mr. H. Nicol, however, suggests that the narrowing of long vowels maybe
caused by the effort required to sustain a uniform sound — hence long vowels are
either narrowed or diphthongized.

10 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

changes of position is the tendency to modify the back arti-
culations, whether vowels or consonants, by shifting forwards
to the front, point or lip positions. This is clearly a case of
economy of exertion, as the back formations require a move-
ment of the whole body of the tongue, the front and point
of only a portion of it. Of the two last the front, on the
same principle, evidently require more exertion than the
point sounds. The lip consonants (the labial vowels must be
reserved), lastly, involve the minimum of exertion.

I will now give a few examples of these various changes.

a) back to front : Sanskrit ch (front-stop) from /.•, as in
vach=.vak; English mmn,fee9r, from the Old 'Ei.mann,
faran.

b) back to point : E. meit from O.E. gemaca.

€) back to lip : seems doubtful, as the cases usually cited,
such as Greek pente^cankan, seem to be the result of
the assimilative influence of the ^i•-sound preserved in
the Latin quinque.

d) front to point : the development of tsh from k through
an intermediate front position, as in the E. church
from cyrice ; the change of Sanskrit f , as in grii, which
was originally the voiceless consonant corresponding
to the English consonant y, to the present sound of sh.

e) front and point to lip ? ^

f) back and front to mixed (applies only to vowels). All
unaccented vowels in most of the Teutonic languages
have been levelled under one sound — the mid-mixed-
narrow, as in the German enda, geehdn, from the older
andi, gihan.

There are many exceptions to these general tendencies.
Thus, of the two rs, the back and the point, the former
seems to require less exertion than the latter, and hence
is often substituted for it in the careless pronunciation of
advanced communities, especially in large cities. Other
cases, however, really seem to run counter to the prin-
ciple of economy of force. Such are the change of th into

1 The not unfrequent change of th into / is no doubt purely imitative (Jruu
for ^ruu).

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 11

kh ( = German ch) in the Scotch (Lothian dialect) khrii for
thrii.

The changes of height in the vowels cannot be brought
under any general laws. In the Teutonic languages, at least,
short and long vowels follow quite opposite courses, long
vowels tending to high, short to low positions.

4) Relaxation :

a) stopped consonants to unstopped : Latin lingua from
dingua; German tnakhdn=.'Ei. meik, ivasdr =■ ivootdr ;
Modern Greek dhedhoka from dedooka.

b) unstopped to diphthongal vowel : Middle English
dai, km, from older dagh, laghu; English Mid hom. hiir.

c) untrilling : a common phenomenon in most of the
Teutonic languages, especially English, in which the
trilled r is quite lost.

There are some unmistakable exceptions to these tenden-
cies. All the Teutonic languages except English seem to
find the t/i and dh difficult, and convert them into the corre-
sponding stopped t and d. In Swedish the gh of the oldest
documents has, in like manner, become g. There seem to
be cases of vowels developing into consonants, which will
be treated of hereafter. Lastly, we may notice the not
unfrequent development of trilled out of untrilled conson-
ants, as in Dutch, where g first became opened into gh, which
in many Dutch dialects has become a regular guttural r.

5) Hounding (vowel-labialization). We must distinguish
between the rounded back and the rounded front vowels, for
their tendencies are directly opposed to one another: back
vowels tend to rounding, front to unrounding. In the case
of back vowels, rounding may be regarded as an attempt to
diminish the expenditure of muscular energy, by keeping the
mouth half-closed, whence the change of aa into od, which,
as we shall see, is almost universal in the Teutonic languages.
But with the more easily-formed front vowels this economy
of exertion is superfluous : we find, accordingly, that front
vowels are seldom rounded, but that rounded front vowels
are often unrounded, 1/ and m becoming i and e — a frequent
change in the Teutonic languages.

12 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

II. Loss.

1) of vowels. The loss of unaccented final vowels is a
frequent phenomenon in all languages. The dropping of
final e is a characteristic feature of the Modern period of
English.

2) of consonants. Here we may distinguish several classes
of changes. A single consonant may fall off either before a
vowel or a consonant, and it may be initial, medial, orfinal.
The Teutonic languages are, as a general rule, remarkable for
the extreme tenacity with which they retain their consonants,
especially when final.

B. Complex Changes.

III. Influence.

1) One-sided Influence. Influence of one sound on another
may be either partial (modification) or complete (assimilation) .
We must further distinguish the influence of vowel on vowel,
vowel on consonant,, consonant on consonant,, and consonant
on vowel.

The modification of one vowel by another, commonly called
umlaut, is a very important feature of Teutonic sound-change.
The following are the most important Teutonic umlauts,
which I have formulated as equations.

a...i=:e: 0. E. erxdiQ^ Gathic oxxdii; 0. Icelandic weeri=

waari.
a...u=o: 0. Icelandic m6nnum=mannum, s66r=saaru

(pL o/saar).
i...a=e: O.U. stelan=Gofhie stilan.
u. . .a=:6 : O.E. 6ft= Gothic ufta.
u...i=y: O.E. fyllan=fullian, myys=muusi.
6...i=oe: 0^. groeoene=gr66ni.
There are also umlauts of diphthongs, such as ey in the
Old Icelandic leysa^ausian.

The chaDge of ai into ei in Old Icelandic {veit=vaif), and
the further change of ei into ei in Modern Icelandic, are
examples of what might be called diphthongic umlaut.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 13

It is clear that in all these umlauts the new vowel is
exactly intermediate between the original vowel of the root
and the modifying one of the termination : if the new vowel
became identical with its modifier, the result would be not an
umlaut but a complete assimilation. In the Old Icelandic
skbpu'Su=skapdSic the first vowel is modified, the second as-
similated by the final u.

Vowel influence on consonants is not very common, but the
difierent forms of Grerman ch, after back, front, and rounded
vowels, as in ach, ich, audi, are instances of it.

Consonant influence on consonants is very strongly develop-
ed in some languages : what is called sandhi in Sanskrit and
mutation in the Celtic languages falls partly under this head.
The Teutonic languages, on the other hand, are remarkable
for the independence of their consonants, and the freedom
with which they are combined without modifying one another.
Consonant influence on vowels, lastly, is perhaps the ob-
scurest of all phonetic problems : the explanation of its varied
phenomena seems to require a far greater knowledge of the
synthesis of speech-sounds than is at present attained by
phonologists. These influences are strongly developed both
in Old and Modern English, and will be treated of in their
place.

The converse of the processes just considered is dissimila-
tion, by which two identical sounds are made unlike, or two
similar sounds are made to diverge. The development of
the Teutonic preterite icista out of witta is an example of
consonantal, the diphthongization of ii into ei in Early
Modern English of vowel dissimilation, while the further
change of ei into di and «i is a case of divergence of similar
sounds. The whole phenomena of dissimilation is anomalous,
and it is doubtful whether many of the instances ought not
to be ascribed to purely external causes, as, for instance, the
desire of greater clearness.

2) Mutual Influence. Mutual influence, in which both the
sounds are modified by one another, may be either partial or
complete. I do not know of any sure instance of partial
convergence.

14 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The commonest type of complete convergence is such a
change as that of cm into dd, in which two distinct sounds
are simplified into one sound different from and yet similar
to both of them. This simplification of diphthongs is, as we
shall see, a very frequent phenomenon in the history of
English sounds. Of consonantal simplification we have an
example in the English wh in what, which was first khivat,
then h-ioat, and lastly ichat, the initial h being incorporated
into the w, which consequently lost its vocality.

The converse phenomenon of divergence is exemplified in
the resolution of simple long vowels into diphthongs. We
have seen that do is often the result of the simplification of
au, but in Icelandic the process has been reversed — the Old
Icelandic dd (as in ddd'^ from daar6) has become au. In the
same way the Middle English yij has in the present English
been resolved into iic. Whether short vowels are ever re-
solved is very doubtful.

IV. Transposition.

Transposition may be of consonants, as in the familiar wx
for ash, or else of vowels in difierent syllables, as in the Greek
meino for menio. This latter case must be carefully distin-
guished from umlaut. There seem also to be cases of trans-
position in different words, or in whole classes of words, such
as the confusion between 'air:=hair and hair^air, which
seems to be often made in the London dialect.

The results obtained may be conveniently summed up thus :

A. Simple Changes.
I. Weakening.

1) Glottal : voice to whisper and breath.

2) Pharyngal: narrow to wide.

3) Position : a) back to front.

b) back to point.

c) back to lip ?

d) front to point.

EY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

e) front and point to lip ?

f) back and front to mixed (vowels only).

g) vowel-lieiglit ?

4) Helaxation : a) stop to unstopped ; b) unstopped to
vowel ; c) untrilling.

5) Vowel-rounding: rounding of back ; unrounding of front.

II. Loss.

1) Of vowels : unaccented final e.

2) Consonants : before vowel, before another consonant ;
initial, medial, final.

B. Complex Changes.

III. Influence.

1) One-sided, a) convergent :

partial (modification), complete (assimilation) ; vowel on
vowel (umlaut), vowel on consonant, consonant on
consonant (sandhi), consonant on vowel.

b) divergent (dissimilation) : of vowels, of consonants.

2) Mutual, a) convergent :

partial (diphthongic umlaut), complete (diphthongic

simplification) ; consonantal,
b) divergent : resolution of long vowels, of short (?).

IV. Transposition.

1) Of consonants.

2) Of vowels (in difierent syllables).

3) In difierent words.

Imitative Sound- Changes.

The general principle on which imitative changes depend
is simply this — that the same efiect, or nearly the same, may
be produced on the ear by very difierent means. Thus,
starting from the mid-front-narrow vowel e, we can lower

16 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

its natural pitch either by slightly raising the back of the
tongue, and thus producing the corresponding mixed 9
instead of the front vowel, or else by rounding into the
mid-front-round ce, the result being that ce and 9 are so
alike in sound that they are constantly confused in many
languages. This similarity of sound between the mixed
and round vowels was first pointed out by Mr. Bell (Visible
Speech, p. 87).

There is the same similarity between the low- narrow and
the mid-wide vowels, and also between the high-wide and
the mid-narrow. Thus the English e in men is indifferently
pronounced, either as the mid-front-wide or the low-front-
narrow, and the d in hdt as the high-back-wide or the mid-
back-narrow.

Whenever, then, we find a sound changing directly into
another which, although very similar in acoustic effect, is
formed in quite a difierent manner, we may be sure that the
change is an imitative, not an organic one. Thus, when we
find ce and d constantly interchanging without any interme-
diate stages, it would be unreasonable to assume, as we
should have to do on the assumption of organic change,
three such stages as ce, e, 9, whereas the imitative hypothesis
makes the direct change of ce into 9 perfectly intelligible.

Inorganic Changes.

Inorganic sound-changes, which result from purely ex-
ternal causes, are of a very varied character, and are con-
sequently difiicult to classify. One of the most prominent of
these external influences is the striving after logical clear-
ness, which comes more and more into play as the sounds of
the language become less distinct. Clearness may again be
attained in many ways — by discarding one of two words
which have run together in form, though distinct in mean-
ing, or by taking advantage of any tendency to change
which may keep the two words distinct (scheideformen) .
The important phenomenon of levelling, by which advanced
languages get rid of superfluous distinctions, is a very im-

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 17

portant inorganic change, and is strongly developed in
Transition English. A familiar aspect of inorganic sound-
change is the alteration of foreign words so as to give them
a homely appearance, as in sparrotv-grass for asparagus.

General Law^ of Change.

The investigation of the various laws of sound-change —
important as it is — must not be allowed to divert our atten-
tion from the general principle on which they all depend,
namely that of incessant change — alternations of develop-
ment and decay. To say that language changes looks very
like a truism, but if so, it is a truism whose consequences are
very generally ignored by theorizers on pronunciation. The
most important lesson that it teaches us is to regard all cases
of stand-still, whether of phonetic or of general linguistic
development, as abnormal and exceptional. These cases of
arrested development are really much rarer than is com-
monly supposed, and many of them are quite delusive — the
result of the retention of the written representation of an
older language, from which the real living language has di-
verged widely. English and Icelandic are striking examples.
The written English language is for all practical purpose an
accurate representation of the spoken language of the six-
teenth century, which, as far as the sounds themselves are
concerned, is as different from the present English as Latin
is from Italian. The apparent stability of our language
during the last few centuries is purely delusive.

The case of English and Icelandic also shows how it is
possible for a language to retain its grammatical structure
unimpaired, and at the same time to undergo the most sweep-
ing changes in its phonetic system. How much more then
are we bound to expect a change of pronunciation where the
whole grammatical structure of a language has been sub-
verted !

It is not only in its unceasing alternations of develop-
ment and decay that language shows its analogy with the
other manifestations of organic life, but also in another very

18 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

important feature, namely in that of increasing complexity
of phonetic structure. The greater number of sounds in a
late as opposed to an early language is at once evident on
comparing two languages belonging to the same stock, but
in different stages of development, such as English with
German, French with Italian or Spanish. It can further be
shown that even in German, in its sounds one of the most
archaic of the living Teutonic languages, many of the simple
vowels are of comparatively late origin.

The sounds of early languages, besides being few in num-
ber, are more sharply marked off, more distinct than those
of their descendants. Compare the multitude of indistinct
vowel sounds in such a language as English with the clear
simplicity of the Gothic and Sanskrit triad a, i, u — the three
most distinct sounds that could possibly be produced. From
these three vowels the complex systems of the modern lan-
guages have been developed by the various changes already
treated of.

There can be little doubt that the simplicity of earlier
phonetic systems was partly due to want of acoustic discrimi-
nation, and that primitive Man contented himself with three
vowels, simply because he would have been unable to dis-
tinguish between a larger number of sounds. The really
marvellous fineness of ear displayed by those who speak
such languages as English, Danish, or French, must be
the result of the accumulated experience of innumerable
generations.

From this we can easily deduce another law, namely that
the changes in early languages are not gradual, but per
saltum. A clear appreciation of this principle is of consider-
able importance, as many philologists have assumed that in
such changes as that of a back into a front consonant (Sans-
krit k into ch) the tongue was shifted forwards by impercep-
tible gradations. Such assumptions are quite unnecessary,
besides being devoid of proof. To people accustomed pre-
viously only to the broad distinction between back and point
consonant, the further distinction of front must at first have
appeared almost indistinguishable from its two extremes.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 19

Under such circumstances it is not easy to see liow they
could have distinguished intermediate modifications of the
original sound.

General Alphabetics.

Although it would be possible to carry on the present
investigation on a purely comparative basis — confining our
attention exclusively to the living languages — such a process
would prove tedious and difficult, if pursued without any help
from the historical method, many of whose deductions are
perfectly well established : to ignore these would be perverse
pedantry. But the historical method must be based on a
study of the graphic forms in which the older languages are
preserved, and especially of their relation to the sounds they
represent. It is quite useless to attempt to draw deductions
from the spelling of a language till we know on what
principles that spelling was formed. We have only to look
at living languages to see how greatly the value of the
spelling of each language varies. In English and French
the spelling is almost worthless as a guide to the actual lan-
guage ; in German and Spanish the correspondence between
sound and symbol is infinitely closer, and in some languages,
such as Finnish and Hungarian, it is almost perfect — as far
as the radical defects of the Homan alphabet allow.

With these facts before us, it is clearly unreasonable to
assume, as many philologists have done, that the same diver-
gence between orthography and pronunciation which charac-
terizes Modern English prevailed also in the earlier periods,
and consequently that no reliable deductions can be drawn
from the graphic forms. I feel confident that every one who
has patience enough to follow me to the end of the present
discussion will be convinced of the very opposite. Putting
aside the actual evidence altogether, it is quite clear that the
wretched attempts at writing the sounds of our dialects
made by educated men of the present day cannot be taken
as standards from which to infer a similar result a thousand
years ago.

An educated man in the nineteenth century is one who

20 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

has been taught to associate groups of type-marks with
certain ideas : his conception of language is visual, not oral.
The same system is applied to other languages as well as
English, so that we have the curious phenomenon of people
studying French and German for twenty years, and yet
being unable to understand a single sentence of the spoken
languages ; also of Latin verses made and measured by eye,
like a piece of carpentry, by men who would be unable to
comprehend the metre of a single line of their own composi-
tions, if read out in the manner of the ancients. The study
of Egyptian hieroglyphics affords almost as good a phonetic
training as this.

Before the invention of printing the case was very differ-
ent. The Roman alphabet was a purely phonetic instrument,
the value of each symbol being learned by ear, and conse-
quently the sounds of the scribe being also written by ear.
The scarcity of books, the want of communication between
literary men, and the number of literary dialects — all these
causes made the adoption of a rigid, unchanging orthography
a simple impossibility. It must not, of course, be imagined
that there were no orthographical traditions, but it may be
safely said that their influence was next to none at all. The
only result of greater literary cultivation in early times was
to introduce a certain roughness and carelessness in distin-
guishing shades of sound : we shall see hereafter that sounds
which were kept distinct in the thirteenth-century spelling
were confused in the time of Chaucer, although it is quite
certain that they were still distinguished in speech. But such
defects, although inconvenient to the investigator, do not
lead him utterly astray, like the retention of a letter long
after the corresponding sound has changed or been lost, which
is so often the case in orthographies fixed on a traditional
basis.

Early scribes not only had the advantage of a rational
phonetic tradition — not a tradition of a fixed spelling for
each word, but of a small number of letters associated each
with one sound ; — but, what is equally important, the mere
practical application of this alphabet forced them to observe

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 2]

and analyse the sounds they wrote down : in short they were
trained to habits of phonetic observation. Yet another
advantage was possessed by the earliest scribes — that of a
comparatively limited number of sounds to deal with. For
the proofs of this position I must refer to the remarks I have
made in the discussion of the Laws of Sound Change, and to
the details of the investigation itself.

The Roman alphabet consisted of six simple vowel signs,
a e i o u y : on these six letters the vawel notation of all the
Teutonic languages was based. If, therefore, we can deter-
mine the sounds attached to these letters by the Romans
during the first few centuries of Christianity, we can also
determine, within certain limits, the sounds of the unlettered
tribes who adopted the Roman alphabet to write their own
languages. Nor need our determination be absolutely accu-
rate. It is certain that minute shades of difference between
a Latin and, for example, an Old English sound would not
have deterred the first writers of English from adopting the
letter answering to the Latin sound : all that was wanted
was a distinctive symbol.

Now there can be no doubt as to the general values of the
six Roman vowel-signs. The sounds of the first five are
still preserved in nearly all the Modern Latin languages,
and that of the y, although lost in Italian and the other
cognate languages, can be determined with certainty from
the descriptions of the Latin grammarians, and from its
being the regular transcription of the Greek upsilon. The
values of the Roman vowel-letters may, then, be represented
approximately thus :

a=Italian a; English father.

e „ e „ bed, bmr.

i „ i „ hit, heat.

0 „ 0 ,, odd, bore.

u „ u ,, f^dl, fool.

y=French u; Danish y.
"We see that even in English the traditional values of the
Roman letters have been very accurately preserved in many

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

cases, and it need hardly be said that the majority of the
living Teutonic languages have preserved them almost as
faithfully as Italian and Spanish. We thus find that th^
Romance and Teutonic traditions are in complete harmony
after a lapse of more than ten centuries. The greatest
number of exceptions to the general agreement occur in the
two most advanced languages of each group — English and
French ; but it can be shown that these divergences are of
very late origin, and that in the sixteenth century the
original tradition was still maintained.

We may now pass from the consideration of the single
letters to that of their combinations or digraphs. The first
use of digraphs, namely to express diphthongs, is self-evident,
but they have a distinct and equally important function in
symbolizing simple sounds which have no proper sign in the
original Roman alphabet. The plan adopted was to take
the symbols of two different sounds which both resembled
the one in question, and write them one after the other,
implying, however, that they were to be pronounced not
successively but simultaneously — that an intermediate sound
was to be formed. Thus, supposing there had been no y in
the Roman alphabet, the sound might still have been easily
represented by writing u and i (or e) together, implying an
intermediate sound, which is no other than that of y. As
we see, the framers of the Old English alphabet, living at a
time when the Roman y still had its original sound, had no
need of this expedient ; but in Germany, where the sound of
y did not develope till a comparatively late period — during
the twelfth century — the only course open was to resort to a
digraph, so that the sound which in Danish is still expressed
by the Old Roman y, is in Modern Grerman written ue.

This ue afibrds at the same time an excellent example of
the way in which diacritical modifications are developed out
of digraphs. The first step is to write one of the two letters
above or under the other : accordingly we find the German
ue in later times written u. Afterwards the e was further
abbreviated into two dots, giving the familiar «. In some
cases the diacritic becomes incorporated into the letter, and

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 23

there results what is practically an entirely new letter.
Although most diacritics can be explained in this way, as
corruptions of originally independent letters, there are still
a few cases of arbitrary modification, of which the Old
English ^ from d is an example. Oases of the arbitrary use
of consonants as digraphic modifiers also occur. Thus h has
come to be a perfectly unmeaning sign, implying any imag-
inable modification of the consonant it is associated with.
Oompare g and gh in Italian, I and Ih in Portuguese, etc.
The doubling of consonants to express new sounds is equally
arbitrary, as in the Welsh ^ as distinguished from/, and the
Middle English ss=^sh.

In all the cases hitherto considered the digraph is formed
consciously and with design, but it often happens that a
diphthong becomes simplified, and the original digraph is
still retained for the sake of distinctness. Thus, if the diph-
thong iu passes into the simple sound of y?/, it is clearly the
simplest and most practical course to retain the iu,_sis being
a perfectly legitimate representation of a sound which, al-
though simple, lies between i and u.

All diacritical letters, whatever their origin, are distin-
guished in one very important respect from the older digraphs
— they are perfectly unambiguous, while it is often difiicult
to determine whether a given digraph is meant to represent
a diphthong or a simple sound. There is, however, one in-
variable criterion, although, unfortunately, it cannot always
be applied, which is the reversibility of the elements of the di-
graph. Thus, the sound written oe in Old English, as in
hoec (later bee), might, on the evidence of this spelling alone,
be taken equally well for a diphthongic combination of o and
e, or for a sound intermediate to these two vowels ; but when
we find boec and beoc alternating, as they do, on the same
page, we see that the e was a mere modifier, whose position
before or after the vowel to be modified was quite immaterial :
the sound must therefore have been simple*— a conclusion
which is fully confirmed by other evidence.

The Koman alphabet has been further enriched by the
difierentiation of various forms of the same letter, of which

24 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

the present distinctions between u and v, i and j?', are instances.
In tliese cases varieties of form which were originally purely
ornamental and arbitrary have been ingeniously utilized to
express distinctions in sounds.

Quantity and Quality in the Teutonic Languages.

The distinguishing feature of the early Teutonic languages
is the imjDortant part played in them by quantity. This
subject has been very fully investigated by Grimm and his
school in Germany, and it may be regarded as proved beyond
a doubt that in the Teutonic languages quantity was origin-
ally quite independent of stress or quality, and that many
words were distinguished solely by their quantity.

Even so late as the thirteenth century we find the German
poetry regulated partly by quantitative laws. Not only are
short and long vowels never rhymed together, but there is
also a fine distinction made between dissyllables with short
and long penultimates ; words like hite (modern bitte) being
treated as metrically equivalent to a monosyllable, while rite
(now reite) is regarded as a true dissyllable. Many metres
which employ monosyllabic rhyme-words indifferently with
words like bite do not show a single instance of a dissyllable
like rite at the end of the line.

Similar instances may be adduced from the Icelandic rimur
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

All this is fully confirmed by the direct evidence of many
German MSS. of the eleventh century, which employ the
circumflex regularly to denote a long vowel.

It is further generally admitted that in the living Teu-
tonic languages these distinctions have mostly vanished,
short vowels before single consonants having been generally
lengthened, and that quantitative distinctions have been re-
placed by qualitative ones. The general laws, however, on
which these changes depend, have not hitherto been investi-
gated, and I propose hereafter to treat of them in some
detail : at present we must content ourselves with an exami-
nation of the more general features of the change.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. ^ 25

In the substitution of qualitative for quantitative distinc-
tions we can easily observe three stages, 1) the purely quan-
titative, 2) the transitional, in which, while the distinctions
of quantity are still preserved, short and long vowels begin to
diverge qualitatively also, and 3) the qualitative, in which long
and short vowels are confounded, so that the original quanti-
tative distinctions are represented, if at all, by quality only.

That the oldest English still retained the original quanti-
tative system is in itself highly probable from the analogy
of the other cognate languages, and also admits of decisive
proof. If we take two vowels, one originally long, the other
originally short, which are both long and yet qualitatively
distinct In the living language, and show that they were
qualitatively identical at an earlier period, we are forced to
assume a purely quantitative distinction, for the later diver-
gence of quality could not have developed out of nothing.
Let us take the words stoun and hein^ written in Old English
stan and bana. It is quite certain that the a of stan was
originally long, for it is nothing but a simplification of an
older ai, still preserved In the German shtain, while there is
equally decisive proof of the shortness of the a of bana.
Now, if there had been any difference in the quality of the
two vowels, they would certainly not have been written with
the same letter. The back vowel a can only be modified in
two directions — in that of e or of o, that is, hj fronting or
rounding, and, as we shall see hereafter, such changes were
regularly indicated by a change of spelling, even when the
departure from the original sound was very minute. We are,
therefore, led to the conclusion that the present purely quali-
tative distinction between stoun and beln was in the Old
English period purely quantitative — staan and bana. Similar
evidence is afforded by the other vowels.

As we have little direct evidence of the quantity of indi-
vidual Old English words, recourse must be had to the com-
parison of the old cognates, for the details of which I must
refer to the works of Grimm and his successors in Germany.
Much may also be learned from the qualitative distinctions of
the modern languages.

26 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD ENGLISH PEEIOD.

We may now proceed to a detailed examination of the
vowel-sounds of our language in its oldest stage. The results
of this investigation — which is an indisjDensable preliminary to
the study of the later changes— cannot be properly appreciated
till the evidence is fully set forth ; at present I only wish to
remind the reader that a rigorously mathematical method is
quite impracticable in such an investigation, which can only
. be carried out by a process of cumulative reasoning, based on
a number of independent probabilities. Nothing can be
more irrational than to ignore an obvious deduction merely
because it is a deduction, or to discard one that, although not
absolutely certain, is extremely probable, in favour of another
that is only barely possible.

The principle I have adopted in cases of uncertainty is to
adopt the oldest sound that can be ascertained. It happens
in many cases that although we can say with certainty that a
sound underwent a certain change, we cannot point out the
exact period in which the new sound arose. It must be
borne in mind that the written language, even in the most
illiterate and therefore untraditional times, is always some-
what behind the living speech, and further that a new pro-
nunciation may exist side by side with the old for a long
time. In such cases it is necessary to have some definite
criterion of selection, and that of always taking the oldest
sound seems the most reasonable.

Short Vowels.

A (^, 0).

The short a of the cognate languages is in Old English
preserved only in certain cases : 1) before a single consonant
followed by a, o, or u, which have, however, in the earliest
extant period of the language been in some cases weakened
into e : hara, liagol, cani, care ; 2) before nasals : hana, lamb,
lang. In other cases a is replaced by ce, : dceg, ceppel, crceftig.
Alternations of a and ce according to these rules often occur

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

ill various inflexions of the same word : dmg, dcEges, dagas,
dagum. a before nasals is liable to interchange with o : bona,
lomh, long. This o is so frequent in the earlier period as in
many words almost to supersede the a, but afterwards the a
gets the upper hand, the o being preserved in only a few
very frequent words, such as \onne, on, of, which last is an
exceptional case of o developing before f, also occurring in
the proper name Offa (^original Aha).

So far goes the evidence of the graphic forms, as it may be
found in any comparative grammar, and before bringing in
the living languages it will be as well to consider what de-
ductions may be drawn from them. In the first place it is
clear that the development of the ce is not due to any assimi-
lation, but is a purely negative phenomenon, that is to say,
that wherever a was not supported by a back vowel in the
next syllable, it was weakened into cb without any regard to
the following consonant. The change cannot therefore, as
Grerman philologists have already remarked, be compared to
the regular vowel-mutation or umlaut.

As to the pronunciation of this a, the spelling clearly
points to a sound intermediate between a and e, while the
joining together of the two letters and the frequent degrada-
tion of the a into a mere diacritic, which is sometimes entirely
omitted, show that it was a simple sound, not a diphthong :
further than this we cannot advance till we have determined
more accurately the sounds of a and e.

It is also clear that the o of long — lang must have been
distinct from the regular o in gold, etc., for otherwise they
would have run together and been confused. This conclusion
is further confirmed by direct graphic evidence. In the
riddles of that well-known collection of Old English poetry,
the Exeter Book, the solution is sometimes given in Runic
letters written backwards, and in bne of them occurs the
word COFOAH which, read backwards, gives haofoc—hafoG
(hawk). Here we have an a labialized before/, as in of^af,
written ao, with the evident intention of indicating a sound
intermediate between a and o, just as (b points to a sound
intermediate between a and e.

28 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

We may now turn our attention to the pronunciations of
the modern languages. Disregarding minute shades of sound,
we may distinguish three kinds of as in the living Teutonic
languages :

1) the mid-back- wide : l^nglish. father, ordinary German a.

2) the low-back- wide : Scotch short a in ma7i.

3) the low- back-narrow : I hear this sound in the South
German dialects for both long and short a, and in Dutch for
the short «, especially before I.

As to the relative antiquity of these sounds, there can be
little doubt that the first is a later modification of the second,
and it is very probable that the second is a weakened form
of the third. In fact, it may safely be said that this last
requires more exertion in its utterance than any other vowel
— a fact which easily accounts for its rarity, and also for its
preservation in the South German dialects, which, as we shall
see hereafter, have preserved their short vowels more purely
than any of the other languages.

Are we then to assume that the Old English a had this
narrow sound ? Analogy is certainly in favour of this
assumption,, but a little consideration will show that it is
untenable. If a had been narrow, its weakening w, which
is simply a moved on towards e, would also have been narrow,
giving no other sound than the low-front-narrow ; but this,
as we shall see^ wa& the sound of the open short e, from
which the (e is kept quite distinct : the ce, therefore, cannot
have been narrow, nor, consequently, its parent a. But if
we suppose the a to have had the sound of the Scotch man —
that is the low- wide — the difilculty is cleared away, and we
come to the very probable conclusion that the re had the
exact sound of the modern English man — the low-front-
wide.

The a if labialized (or rounded), would naturally give the
low-back-round-wide (English not), and as there is every
reason to believe that the normal o was the mid-back-round-
narrow, we see that the labialized a in monn, etc., was exactly
half-way between a and o — a conclusion to which we have
already been led by an examination of the graphic evidence.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 29

The only debatable point about the i is whether it had the
wide sound of the English and Icelandic or the narrow of
the German and Swedish short L All we can say is that,
although it is possible that the wide sound may have been
the real one, every analogy is in favour of the narrow.

We must distinguish two kinds of €& in the Teutonic lan-
guages, 1) the ff-mutation of i, as in /^6/^j)f7» = Gothic hiJpan,
and 2) the '^-mutation of a, as in enc/e=: Gothic and Old High
German ancli. The two sounds are now confounded in the
Teutonic languages, but there is clear evidence that they
were formerly distinct, for in the Middle High German
poetry the two es are never rhymed together, and the Ice-
lander j^oroddr, in his treatise on orthography, carefully dis-
tinguishes the two, stating that the e from a had a sound
which was a mixture of a and e, implying, of course, that the
other e was nearer to the i from which it arose.

It has been generally assumed by comparative philologists
that there was no distinction between the two es in Old
English, but, as I have pointed out elsewhere,^ there is un-
mistakable graphic evidence to prove that there was a dis-
tinction, the e from a being often written w, although this
spelling was soon abandoned because of the confusion it
caused with the regular ob of dceg, etc.

Putting all these facts together, remembering that the one
e was nearer i, the other nearer a, and yet distinct from the
m, we can hardly help assigning to the e from i the sound of
the mid-front-narrow, and to the e from a that of the low-
front-narrow. That the e from a was narrow need not make
any difficulty, when we consider that the change took place
at a much earlier period than that of the development of
the (B of dceg, etc. — in short, at a period in which the a was
probably narrow in all the Teutonic languages.

^ King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care. Introd.
p. xxiii.

30 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The unaccented e in such, words as gehideUy ende, requires
to be considered separatel3% In all the living Teutonic lan-
guages which possess this sound — that is to say, all except
Icelandic and English — it is the mid-mixed-narrow. But
in many of the South German dialects the mid-front-narrow
occurs, which is clearly a more ancient sound. That this
was the sound of the Old Icelandic unaccented e (now written
and pronounced i) is clear from ]?6roddr's expressly adducing
the second vowel of frcwier {=framir : nom. plur. masc. of
framr') as an example of the close e arising from i.

It seems most reasonable to suppose that this pronuncia-
tion, which is also preserved to the present day in South
Germany, was also the Old English one.

TJ.

What has been said of i applies equally to u, namely that
analogy is in favour of its having had the narrow German
sound rather than the wide English one.

It is quite clear that the sound now given to the regular
short 0 in all the Teutonic languages except German — the
low-back-wide-round — cannot be the old one ; for, as we have
seen, this was the sound of the modified a before nasals
{monn, etc.) which is kept quite distinct from the regular o
in such a word as oft. This latter o is nothing else than an
a-mutation of u (compare oft with Gothic ufta) : it seems,
therefore, reasonable to suppose that, as the a- mutation of i
differed from the latter vowel simply in being lowered one
degree towards the "low" position of the a, the a was simply
the u lowered from its high to the mid position, resulting
in the mid-back-narrow-round. Now this is the sound still
preserved all over South Germany, and until further evidence
is forthcoming it seems to me that we are justified in assum-
ing that the same was the Old English sound.

This letter, which was originally nothing else but a Greek
T, was adopted into the Eoman alphabet to denote the sound

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

of the Greek u, which did not exist in Latin. The pronun-
ciation of this Greek u is generally agreed to have heen that
of the French u or the German ii, and it is clear, from the
descriptions of the Eoman grammarians, that they attached
the same value to their y, with which the Greek u is invari-
ably transcribed. It is a remarkable fact that while the
original sound of the Roman y has been quite lost in the
Romance languages, it is still preserved in Danish and
Swedish. As we know that the Scandinavian nations learned
the use of the Roman alphabet from England, this Scandina-
vian tradition not only confirms the generally-received pro-
nunciation of the Roman y, but also affords independent proof
of the sound of the letter in Old English.

In its origin y is the «-mutation of u ; its sound is there-
fore, as the Icelander poroddr says, "blended together of i
and M," and poroddr actually considers ?/ to be a combina-
tion of these two letters. The sound which fulfils these
conditions is clearly that which is still preserved in South
Germany, Sweden, and, in many words, in Danish — the
high-front-narrow-round. This, then, we may safely assume
to have been the Old English sound also.

Long Vowels.

AA.

Long a in Old English corresponds to an ai of the older
cognates, Gothic and Old High German, of which it is a
simplified form. As the aa has been rounded at a later
period, and is represented in the present language by the
diphthong on, some theorists, who seem incapable of realizing
the possibility of sounds changing during the lapse of ten
centuries, have assumed that it was labial in the Old English
period as well. The answer to this is, that if the sound had
been at all labial, it would have been written, at least occa-
sionally, 0 or oa, as was actually done at a later period, and
as the Old English scribes themselves did in the case of short
a before nasals : when we find the tenth century scribes
writing invariably stan, and those of the twelfth century

32 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

writing as invariably stoon or ston, it seems simplest to infer
that the former meant to indicate a and the latter some
variety of o.

There are two long «?s in Old English. The commonest is
that which corresponds to original ai, as in s^, f/«/= Gothic
saiw, dail. The relation of this ^ to the a treated of above
is not quite clear. In some words, such as c/««e = 01d Ger-
man kleini, the m may be explained as an umlaut of a, original
claini first becoming cldni and then clceni. But such words
as S(B and d^l do not admit this explanation. It seems there-
fore simplest to assume that ^ and a are both independent
modifications of at, the former being formed by convergence,
the latter by loss of the i.

- The second ce. is that which corresponds to original a,
Gothic e, as in dced-=z(jioi\\\c ded, Old German fdi. It is,
however, quite clear (as will be shown hereafter) from the
Modern English forms that this ^ did not exist in the dialect
from which literary English has arisen, but was represented
by e, as in Gothic, which is the case even in the West-Saxon
in some words, such as iven = Old German wan, Gothic tven,
and the proper name ^(fred=^Old German Alprdt.

The only question about the sound of <^ is whether it was
narrow or wide. The analogy of short ce would rather point
to its being wide, that of the pronunciation of Modern
German, in which the ee-umlaut of a (keez9=kaasi) is
always narrow, rather to narrowness. In fact the long sound
of the ce in mcen is quite unknown in the Modern Teutonic lan-
guages. It must also be borne in mind that <§ is probably a
much older formation than the short ce, and may very well
have been developed at a time when all the vowels were still
narrow. If so, long ce must have been the low-front-narrow.

EE.

Long e corresponds first to original a, although, as already
stated, this e often becomes ce in the West-Saxon dialect. In
many words it is a simplification of the diphthongs ed and eo,

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 33

as in ned, ec=^nedd, edc (both of whicli forms are also common),
geng=gedng. The third and most common e is the /-umlaut
of 0, written oe in the oldest documents, as in greiie (groene)=.
original groni. The pronunciation of all these es was prob-
ably the same, as they are not distinguished from one another
in writing, and cannot well have been any other than the
mid-front-narrow.

II, UU,

Correspond to original ii and mi, which are still preserved
in the Scandinavian languages, the Old English win and hus
being now pronounced in Icelandic and Danish viin, huus.
There can be no doubt that the Old Eno'lish sounds were the
same as those still preserved in these lans'uao'es — the hio-h-
front-narrow and the high-back-narrow-round.

Corresponds to original o, as in god, modor. The sound was
no doubt the same as that still preserved in Danish and
Swedish, namely the mid-back-narrow-round, but without the
abnormal rounding of the 66 of these languages."^

Is the umlaut of u, as in mfjs = musi, plural of mus. In
some words, such as fi/r (Old Grerman muivar), it is a simplifi-
cation of in by diphthongal convergence. Its pronunciation
cannot well have been anything else than the high-front-
narrow-round.

Diphthongs.

EA.

Whenever original a comes before consonant-combina-
tions beginning with /, r, or h, it is not changed into
CB, but becomes ea, as in eall, ivearm, weax. There can
be no doubt that this ea was a true diphthong : its
elements are never reversed (p. 23), nor is it confounded
with ae or cb. The only question is whether the stress was

1 See my paper on Danish Pronunciation (Trans. Phil. Soc. 1873-4, p. 101).

34 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

on the first or the second element. There is evidence which
seems to point to the conclusion that the stress fell on the a.
In Middle English ea is generally lost, but in the archaic
fourteenth century Kentish of the Ayenbite, the old diph-
thong is still preserved in such words as eald, healden. But
this ea is very often represented by ya, sometimes by yea, so
that the Old English eald appears as eaM., yald and yeald.
Here we have the glide-vowel represented by the Middle
English consonant y, showing clearly that the stress was on
the a. As to the origin of the ea, the theory first propounded
by Rapp (Physiologic der Sprache, ii. 145) seems the most
probable, namely that a first became w before all consonants
(except nasals), so that aid became (eld, and that this ce was
then diphthongized into ea or rather cea.

EO.

Similarly, when ^ comes before r, I and ^-combinations, it is
diphthongized into eo, as in eor'^e, meolc, feoh. In the Kentish
and Northumbrian documents this eo is generally represented
by ea, eor'^e being written ear^e. In the word eart (from
M) eo never occurs in any of the dialects — the normal eort
being imknown even in West-Saxon. When we consider
that e in Icelandic also is changed into ia {ea in the oldest
MSS.), as in hiarta^^Oldi E. heorte, there seems to be every
probability that ea was the older sound, which in eart was
preserved in all the dialects, on account of its excessive fre-
quency. As eo is never (except in eart) confused with ea^=-a
in the standard West-Saxon, we must supjDose that the series
of changes, e, ea, eo, was already completed when ea^^a began
to develope itself. The rounding of ea into eo is a very
curious phenomenon. The frequent rounding of vowels be-
fore /, of which the Modern English solt from salt is an in-
stance, would lead us to suppose that the change first began
before /, and then extended to the other words. The analogy
of Modern Icelandic, in which the first element of the ia has
developed into a consonant, and of the Middle Kentish y in
yald, make it very probable that the stress was on the second
element.

BT HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 35

EAA.

Besides the ea from a, there is another ea, which answers
to original au, as in c?re«m= Gothic draum. As this ea is
distinct in origin and in subsequent development from the
other ea, it must have been distinct in sound. The only-
conceivable distinctions are stress and quantity, that is, the
ea^au may have been distinguished either by having the stress
on the first element, or else by its accented vowel being long.
The former supposition is made untenable by both the Middle
Kentish ija, as in dyci^, and the Norse spelling IatvarSr{ = Jdt-
varSr) for Eadweard: these examples show that ea=:au had the
stress on the same vowel as ea=a. We are driven, therefore,
to the hypothesis that ea:=au had its second element long —
dreaam. This view is confirmed by the Modern English
form of the preterite ceds (Gothic kaus) which is ehodz — an
anomaly which is quite inexplicable, except on the assump-
tion of an original long aa. The development of the word
is clearly ce-aas, ce-ods, chdos, clwoz. This seems to be what
Eask meant by his accentuating ed, which Grimm also
adopted, although Grimm does not seem to have attached
any idea of lengthening to the accent.

The development of eaa out of au is one of the most diffi-
cult questions in Teutonic philology. All the explanations
hitherto given are utterly unsatisfactory, and I will not
waste time in criticising them, but rather state what I
consider to be the only tenable theory, which, as far as I
know, has never been made public, although I was glad to
learn from Professor Kern, of Leiden, that it had suggested
itself to him also. The explanation we propose is simply
this, ail first became aa, as in Frisian. This aa followed
the short a and became (B(b. The cece was then resolved into
eaa or ceaa. We must suppose that these changes took place
before ai became aa : otherwise there would have been a
confusion between aa=^au and aa=ai. There are, of course,
certain difficulties still remaining. The development of a
diphthong with one of its elements long is anomalous, and
we would expect the diphthongization of the hypothetical

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

(B<^ to take place, like that of short cb, only before certain
consonants. It is, however, quite possible that the diph-
thongization of long cem was much earlier than that of short
CB, and that the two phenomena are therefore independent.
If so, (e(B may at first have developed into simple ea and the
lengthening of the a may have been a secondary process.

EOO

Answers to original iu, as in deop =^(joi\\{G diup. There can
bono doubt that this eo=.iu was distinct from the €0-=e, and
every analogy would lead us to suppose that the difierence
was one of quantity. Positive confirmation is afibrded by
the English chuuz, which points as clearly to an Old English
ceoosan as chooz does to a ceaas. The Icelandic ioo, as in
kioosa (Modern kjousa), shows the same anomalous lengthen-
ing of the second element.

There is some uncertainty about the first elements of these
diphthongs. Some clue is however afibrded by the inter-
change of e with i in eo and eoo, which never happens with
ea and eaa : we often find such forms as wr^e for eor^e, but
never hiard for heard. The inference clearly is that in eo
and eoo the initial vowel was closer and higher than in ea,
eaa., probably through the assimilative influence of the second
element. The diphthongs are then strictly eo, eoo, ea, eaa
(or possibly cea, ceaa).

For the sake of comparison, I append a table giving Mr.
Ellis's results (Early English Pronunciation, p. 534) together

LETTERS.

ELLIS.

SWEET.

LETTERS.

ELLIS.

SWEET.

ffi

a, a

SB
D

3386

00
uu

€

u... .

U M?

vy, 11

ea, eo

Ed {2&a ?)

y» *

eo, eo

ea, ed

Eaa

eo, eo

eoo

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 37

with my ovm, both in palaeotype. It will be observed that
Mr. Ellis (like all his predecessors) confounds the two short
^s and OS, which I have carefully distinguished. He is also
not clear as to the distinction between g«, eo, and ed, eb.
Otherwise our results approximate very closely.

MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD.
Orthography.

Some important revolutions in orthography took place
during the transition from the Old to the Middle period —
most of them the result of French influence.

There are many instances of French influence on the con-
sonant notation : in the vowels two cases require special
notice, these are the use of u for the Old English y, and of
ou for the Old English uu. The explanation of the former
change must be sought in the fact that y in the Middle
period lost its original value, and became confused with i,
while in the beginning of words it assumed its present con-
sonantal value. The result was that the old sound of y was
left without a symbol, and the want was supplied, imperfectly
enough, by adopting the French representation of the sound,
which was u. But 'U was further employed, also in imitation
of French usage, to represent the voiced sound of the Old E.
/, so that u, which still retained its original pronunciation in
many cases, stood for three distinct sounds. In course of
time the short y-sound disappeared more and more, and at
the same time a large number of long ys were introduced in
words taken from the French, which were all written with u
{nature, etc.). To remedy the consequent confusion between
u=^yy and ti = mi, {/lus, etc.), the French ou was introduced as
the representation of the latter sound, so that natyyre and
huus were distinguished in writing as nature and hous. For
the details of the changfe of u into ou I must refer to Mr.
Ellis's Early English Pronunciation, where the subject is
treated at great length.

These changes ai^e important, as showing that the Middle

38 HISTORY or ENGLISH SOUNDS.

English scribes were not at all biassed by traditions of the
earlier orthography, and therefore that their testimony can
be unhesitatingly accepted, as far as it goes.

"We may now turn to the actual sound-changes, beginning
with the most important and characteristic of them all, which
I will call

Vowel-levelling.

In the Transition period (Semi-Saxon) we are confronted
by the curious and apparently inexplicable phenomenon of a
language ignoring, as it were, the changes of an earlier
period, and returning to the original sounds. Such is at
least the case with the Old English modifications of a and e :
where Old English has ce, ea or eo, Middle English has the
unmodified a and e. Compare glced, heard, seofon, with the
Middle English glad, hard, seven.

Such a change as that of glced into glad is doubly anom-
alous, both as being a return to a pronunciation older than
that of the oldest extant documents before the Conquest, and
also as a change from a weak front to a strong back vowel.
It is, in short, inexplicable, if considered as an ordinary
organic sound-change. The explanation must be sought
among the inorganic sound- changes, due to some purely
external cause.

One of the most unmistakable of these inorganic sound-
changes is one which may be called levelling. The whole
history of English inflection is mainly one of levelling.
Thus, in Old English we find the plural formed in a great
variety of ways, sometimes in as, sometimes in an, sometimes
with difierent vowels, and sometimes without any change at
all. In Modern English we have only the first, which,
originally restricted to a limited number of masculine sub-
stantives, is now extended to all substantives without distinc-
tion. It would evidently be absurd to attempt to explain
these changes as organic, to adduce, for instance, the change
of the Old English plural heortan into the Modern Jtarts as a
case of n becoming s. They are clearly due to external
causes, and are simply the result of that tendency to get rid

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 39

of useless complexity which characterizes the more advanced
stages of language : instead of indicating plurality by a
variety of terminations, some of which were of a very vague
and indistinct character, the later language selected that
termination which seemed the most distinctive, and discarded
the rest.

We can now understand how men who were engaged every
day of their lives in this levelling process, whose language was
being broken up and reconstructed with unexampled rapidity
— we can understand how those who spoke the Transition Eng-
lish of the twelftli century came unconsciously to regard the
alternation of le and a in such words as dcvg, dagas, as an un-
necessary piece of discrimination, comparable to that involved
in the use of a large number of plural terminations. And
so the indistinct ce — so liable to be confounded with e — was
discarded, and the clear sounding a was made the sole repre-
sentative of the older a and ce.

When this process of levelling had once begun, it is easy
to see how ea and eo also came to be regarded as superfluous
modifications of a and e, and were therefore in like manner
discarded. As we shall see hereafter, eaa and eoo (=original
au and iu) were simplified into ee and ee respectively ; it is,
therefore, probable that ea and eo themselves were first sim-
plified into e and e. It is further probable that the first sound
of the e=ea was identical with that of the Old English ce.
heard would, therefore, become hcerd, whose (b would natur-
ally follow the other ces, and become a, giving the Middle
English hard. The three spellings heard, hcerd, and hard
are to be found constantly interchanging in Lajamon and
other writers of the period.

Whatever may be the explanation of the fact, there can
be no doubt that the Old English ce, ea, eo, were lost in the
Middle period, and that the mysterious connection between
the Old English ce and the Modern sound in such a word as
mcen (written man) imagined by some philologists, must be
given up : the two ces are quite independent developments,
even when they occur in the same words, as in ^cef, scef, seed,
ceppel. Mr. Ellis has shown that up to the seventeenth

40 HISTORY or ENGLISH SOUNDS.

century these words were pronounced ^af, sat, sad, apl, even
in the court dialect, and the sound (b is unknown up to the
present day in most of our dialects.

Before investigating the sound-changes of the Middle
period in detail, it will be necessary to state the general laws
which govern the remarkable qualitative divergence of long
and short vowels in the later Teutonic languages. If it can
once be shown that all the Teutonic languages follow the same
general laws, it is but reasonable to suppose that the same
laws will be found valid in the case of Middle English also.
We shall have still less hesitation in applying these laws to
the elucidation of the Middle English sound-changes, when
we consider that the English of the thirteenth century was
really as much in advance of its contemporaries as Modern
English is of its, and that Middle English is practically on a
level with Dutch and the other living Teutonic languages.
German, indeed, is in many respects much more archaic than
Middle English, and may be said to stand to it in almost the
same relation as Old English does.

I propose, therefore, to give an impartial classification of
the principal changes that have taken place in the living
Teutonic languages, beginning with the long vowels.

A. Long Vowels.

1) Back to round (p. 11). Long a, whatever its origin,
has in all the Teutonic languages except German and Dutch
been rounded. Even German and Dutch show the same
change in many of their dialects, which give long a the
sound of the low-back-narrow-round (English ./a//). This is
also the Swedish and Danish sound, the only difference being
that the Scandinavian vowel is pronounced with greater lip
narrowing, so that its sound approximates to that of the
regular close 6 (the "mid" vowel).

2) Front-round to unrounded (page 11). Exemplified in
the familiar German change of ce and p into e and i,
as in s/ieen and kiin for shcecen and kyyn. In Modern Ice-
landic cece became first unrounded, and the resulting ee ran

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

II.

TEUTONIC LONG VO"WELS.i

^ In this and the following table the actual spelling (not the theoretical pro-
nunciation) of the dead languages is given in italics ; the modern forms are
written phonetically.

* The italics indicate the peculiar Swedish m — intermediate to u and y.

42 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

together with the regular ee, and, like it, was diphthongized
into ai, so that the Old Icelandic hoecekr is now disguised
under the form of haikar. The same change took place in
Old English, only it was not carried so far : the hcecek
(written hoec or beoc, p. 23) of the oldest period appears in
the later MSS. as hec {=^beek). In Middle English we have
the unrounding of y into i, cyning becoming cing.

3) Low to mid. Modern English, as will be shown here-
after, affords two unmistakable instances of this change. It
is also certain that the German 66 from au was originally
" low," for in the Oldest High German such words as I66s
[=:laus) are frequently written laos. Similar evidence can
be adduced in the case of the corresponding Dutch 66. The
ee from ai has in like manner passed through the low to the
mid stage in German and Dutch.

4) Mid to high. Of this change, again. Modern English
affords illustrations, whose consideration must be deferred.
Original 66 has in nearly all the Teutonic languages been
raised from the mid position it still preserves in Swedish and
Danish (although even here with a slight labial modification
in the direction of u) to the high one of ti.

5) High to diphthong. With the high position the ex-
treme is reached, as far as position is concerned. "We find,
accordingly, that the two high vowels ii and mi either remain
unchanged, which is the case in the Scandinavian languages,
or else undergo various modifications in the direction of ai
and au. As there can be no question that Middle English
agreed with the Scandinavian languages in retaining long i
and u unchanged, the consideration of their diphthongization
may be deferred till we come to the Modern period, to which
belongs also the development of the diphthong iu out of j/t/.

6) Besides these regular modifications of the two high
vowels, there are isolated diphthongizations of other vowels.

a) 66 to ou. In Icelandic gou^ for the older g66^, and
Modern English stdioi for st66n.

b) ee to ei. In the Modern English tdik for teek.

c) 66 to uo. In the Old German guot for g66t, still pre-
served in South German in the shape of gudt.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

d) od to au. In Icelandic, where original aa passed
through, the stage of simple rounding (dd)^ and was
then resolved into au, laata (let) becoming first loota
and then lauta.

e) ee to ai. The ^'-umlaut of aa has in the same way
been resolved into ai in Modern Icelandic, so that
veeri (written vceri) is now vairi.

7) Back to front. Exemplified in the Dutch zyyr for zuur.

B. Short Vowels.

1) Round to unrounded. In Icelandic, English, and some
German dialects y has been unrounded into i. The same is
the case with short ce in German. In Modern English we
have, lastly, a very anomalous case of unrounding of the
back vowel u, but becoming bdt.

2) Back to front. Short u has in Icelandic and Dutch
been changed into a front vowel — the high-front- wide-round
in Icelandic, the low-front-narrow-round (or its imitation,
the mid- mixed-narrow) in Dutch. The open o in Icelandic
(the M-umlaut of a) has changed into ce (the mid -front- wide-
round), monnum becoming mcennym. Short a has, lastly,
been changed into the low-front-wide {ce) in a few English
dialects — including the literary English.

3) Mid to low. The two mid vowels e and 6 have in all
the Teutonic languages been brought down to the low posi-
tion, so that the old distinction between e and e has been
lost everywhere, except, perhaps, in some German dialects :
compare Old English ende, heljpan, with the Modern levellings
end, help.

2) High to mid. As a general rule the high vowels i and
u have retained their positions, but in Dutch the short i is
now represented by the mid- front- wide, and the short u by 6
(the mid-narrow), thus taking the place of original short o,
which, as in the other languages, has been lowered to o (the
low- wide) : compare stdk with bok { = buk). The peculiar
Modern English u in but (bdi) seems also to be a case of lower-
ing from high to mid.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

I— I

1— 1

i-H

...5.

--.i.

'S:

.—1

-o

1—1

^ II

»— t

»-H

•^^

"-^

-o

•^^

>i»

-o

■^

r-]

rSS ^

I— (

§-

^11

45
-o

, u

=: CO

5»

<>J

E-*^

g II

<«

•ji

-s

-S

S II

•^

'<D

"ID

•ka

■^j

•*w "

-k^

CO ^— '

CJO

fe a

eofon \

-^ ^ 11

Pi CD

1— (

■^-5

'«

r^ ^

•^ r^ v_^

rJd^

c«

■*<.

-t-a

■va

-M

*<s»

>■

-.i

«3

«^

•<?*

■^A

■f

'0)

■<tl

•=0
'4)

'«

-5

-I

1 II

•tS

-5

'(U

-3

^ v,,--

o p

s 1

s 8

•i-H

►i^

I-l

s
^

1 8

mann
heard
long

«s 8 s II

3-'^ bo

s s s

S i

s-l^^

a^;2

1— <

,—^

1 — 1

o
O

■73
O

»— t

«3

«)

m
Ti

■'3

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 45

The only exception to this general lowering tendency is
the frequent shifting of the a from the low to the mid posi-
tion, which is very common in all the languages. The low
sound is still preserved in South Scotch, Dutch, and many
German dialects, and may be heard in some of the London
dialects, where, however, it is probably quite a modern de-
velopment.

We have, lastly, to consider the important distinction of
narrow and wide. Here, also, short and long vowels pursue
opposite courses, the general rule being that long vowels
remain or become narrow, short vowels wide. These tenden-
cies are at once apparent on comparing any pairs of long and
short vowels in the more advanced Teutonic languages, in
fact in all of them more or less, except German.

The principle has been carried out with such strictness in
the case of the long vowels that, with the single exception of
aa, all originally long vowels are now narrow in the Teutonic
languages. The cause of this exceptional widening of aa
has already been explained (page 28) as the result of the
greater energy required in the formation of the narrow
sound.

The short vowels are less consistent. In the first place,
some of the languages show the tendency to widening either
not at all, or else only partially. In South German all the
short vowels are still narrow, including even the a (p. 28).
In Danish and Swedish short i is sometimes narrow, some-
times wide, according to the nature of the following con-
sonant.

The languages in which the principle is most strictly
carried out are Icelandic and English. The only exceptions
are the e, which is narrow in both languages, and the English
d in bdt (mid-back-narrow). The retention of the narrow e
in all the Teutonic languages is a very curious phenomenon:
it is not easy to see why it did not everywhere weaken into
the wide ce, which it actually has done in the Dutch kcerk for
kerk and several other words, and also in the South Scotch
dialect of Teviotdale, where the English distinction of nicen,
men, is represented by man, mcen.

46 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The change of the low-narrow e into the mid-wide is, on
the other hand, very common, and in many of the languages,
as, for instance, English, the two sounds seem to be used
almost indiscriminately. This change is, no doubt, a purely
imitative one : the change from the low-narrow to the
mid-wide must have been direct. To assume that the low-
narrow was first widened, and then raised to the mid posi-
tion, would be to ignore the fundamental laws of short vowel
change.

We now see how complete the divergence is between long
and short vowels. Long vowels contract both the pharyngal
and the oral passage as much as possible, the former by
" narrowing," the latter by raising the tongue and contract-
ing the lips ; short vowels pursue the very opposite course ;
high long vowels are never lowered, except partially by diph-
thongization ; high short vowels are never diphthongized,
but simply lowered.

Quantity.

The general principles on which quantitative changes in
the Teutonic languages depend are these :

1) unaccented vowels are shortened, accented vowels are
lengthened or shortened under certain conditions,
which are:

2) before a single consonant they are lengthened.

3) before double or combined consonants they are
shortened.

The result of all these changes, if carried out strictly,
would be to eliminate all short accented syllables altogether,
and this is actually the case in Modern Icelandic, at least in
polysyllables — either the vowel itself is long, or else, if it is
short, the syllable is made long by a double consonant. In
the other languages, however, the double consonants have
been simplified, so that a large number of short accented
syllables has been formed : compare Icelandic vinna with
Danish vina (written vinde) and English tcinar, wining, Ger-
man gdivindn. This simplification of double consonants has

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

taken place In Icelandic also in the case of monosyllables
such as man (written mann).

An important result of the simplification is the use of
double consonants as a purely graphic expedient to denote
the shortness of the preceding Yowel. The double m, for
instance, in summer, is simply a way of showing that the
original shortness of the u has been preserved.

In Icelandic the lengthening of short vowels has been
carried out with perfect consistency, but in the other lan-
guages there are many exceptions. Thus in Dutch all mono-
syllables preserve their shortness : compare vat, lot, with
the plurals vaatdn, lootdn. The retention of original short
quantity before single consonants is also very frequent in
Modern, and consequently also in Middle English.

The chief cases in which Modern English preserves the
Old English short quantity are these.

In the first place the high vowels ifi/), u are not length-
ened : compare ivit from witan with iit from etan, sdn from
sunu and cam from cuman with ndim from nama. Exceptions,
such as aivi from ifig, do occur, but they are very few.

English, like Dutch, shows a strong tendency to preserve
short quantity in monosyllables, although there are many
cases of lengthening. Nevertheless, it may safely be said
that the great majority of Old English monosyllables pre-
serve their short quantity in Modern English. Examples
are: sivon {from stcan), ])cech {]>cec), bcpc (bcecj, seed (seed), lot
(hlot), god (god), woz (icces). Examples of lengthening are
geiv (geqf), ceim (cam), eit feet), gelt (geat), yoiic (geoc).
The lengthened vowels in the adjectives teim and leit may
perhaps have arisen from the definite forms tama, lata.

Dissyllables ending in a vowel, or the infinitival an, are
almost always lengthened : nama, scamu, flotian, brecan, be-
come neim, sheim, jlout, breic. But there are exceptions :
dropa becomes drop, and hafan {=:habban) becomes hcev, con-
trasting with the regular beheiv (from behabban).

But besides these isolated irregularities, there is a whole
class of dissyllables which resists the lengthening tendency,
namely those which end in a liquid or nasal. Examples are

48 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

Jicemdr (from hamor), be far (beterj, scedl fsadol), dvan (of en),
hotdm (hotom). There are, however, several exceptions. In
the first place, all the past participles in o (except trodn)
lengthen their vowel : frouzon, chouzdn, clouvan, etc. There
are also others, such as ikon (efen) ,6uvdr (ofer), eicar fcecer), etc.

In applying these deductions to Middle English we are
confronted by a formidable difficulty. The Midland writer
Orm, as is well known, indicates short vowel quantity by
doubling the following consonant. If, then, we find Orm in.
the thirteenth century writing always witenn, siine, not
icittenn, sunne, how can we escape the conclusion that he said
wiiten, sunne ? If we accept the long Towels for the thir-
teenth century, we are forced to assume that the original
short vowels were first lengthened and then shortened again
before the diphthongizatioa of ii and im into ei and ou ; for,
otherwise, we should have had ivaii and saun in Modern
English. Rather than accept this very improbable hypo-
thesis, it seems safer to reserve any decided conclusion till
the difficult question of quantity in the Ormulum has been
more fully investigated.

The Modern forms of many words point clearly to their
originally long vowels having been shortened in the Middle
period. Besides the frequent shortening before two con-
sonants, which will be considered hereafter, there are some
cases before single consonants. Long ii is, as might be
expected, often shortened, as in stif dich, and in other words
where it stands for various other O.E. long vowels, such as
sj7i=0.E. ge^ceJlg and chil=^cele. Examples of other vowels
are ten^O.^. ten, ivet:=tv^t, let^=I^tan, let. In ever^^oirer
=-cefre, the shortening may be ascribed to the liquid in the
following syllable.

Close and Open EE and 00 in Middle English.

We can now enter on the important question of the dis-
tinction between close and open ee and oo in Middle English.

Mr. Ellis, relying on the fact that Chaucer rhymes all the
eeB and oos together without distinction, comes to the conclu-

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 49

sion that there was only one sound, but lie does not explain
how the modern distinctions arose, or how it is that they
correspond to distinctions in Old English. If too and taa
are distinct in Old English, and are separated in the form of
tuu and too in Modern English also, it is not easy to see how
they could have been confounded in the Middle period.
This view was vaguely indicated many years ago by E.app,
and has been recently revived by Dr. Weymouth, who is,
however, clearly wrong in assuming that the Middle English
sounds were identical with the Modern ones.

As the whole question offers considerable difficulties of
detail, I propose to examine it as impartially as possible,
utilizing all the evidence that is afforded by the/ graphic
forms, by the general laws of change just stated, by the
pronimciation of the sixteenth century, as investigated by
Mr. Ellis, and by the pronunciation of the pi'esent day. I
begin with the oob, as offering less difficulty than the ee^.

Beginning, then, with the oos, we find that Middle English
00 corresponds to three distinct sounds in Old English,

1) to 66: too, O.E. too {too),

2) to aa : too, O.E. taa (toe),

3) to 6 short: hool, O.E. hoi (hole).

Of these three oos the two first are kept quite distinct in the
present Modern English, original 66 being now pronounced
uu, while 00 from aa is now 66 or 6ii. The natural inference
that the two sounds were also kept distinct in the Middle
period is fully confirmed by the graphic evidence, for in the
earlier writings the oo from aa is often spelt oa, as in oa^e^=.
O.E. aa^e (Lajamon), noan=::naan (Procl. of H. III.), moare
=^maare (Procl. and A. Piwle), ])oa = ])aa (A. Riwle). The
clear inference is that the oo from aa was pronounced with
a sound intermediate to oo and aa, and consequently that
original oo still retained its Old English sound.

The 00 of hool, arising from original short 6, is in the
present pronunciation represented by the same vowel as the
00 from aa : it is therefore highly probable that it had in
Middle English the same sound as the oo from aa, namely
the more open one.

50 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

"We may now examine the question from the comparative
point of view, and see whether the results harmonize.

The first two oos need not detain us long. We have seen
that original do is, as a general rule, either retained without
change, or else moved up into the ?f-position. It is quite
certain that this change had not taken place in the Middle
period : 66 must, therefore, have been kept unchanged.
Again, whenever aa has changed, it has been by rounding.
It has been already proved that the Old English aa cannot
well have been any other sound than the low-wide, and this,
when rounded, naturally gives the low-back- wide-round.

The 0 of Iwl was almost certainly the mid-narrow sound
(p. 30). The tendencies of short vowels are, as we have
seen, towards lowering and widening. These modifications,
applied to our vowel, give the low-back-wide-round. This
vowel was then lengthened, and became identical with the
dd of tdd from taa, which, as we have seen, was no other than
the low-back-wide-round.

But all long vowels are liable to be narrowed (p. 30), and
we find, as a matter of fact, that the 66 from aa is narrow in
all the living Teutonic languages which possess it. It is,
therefore, not only possible, but extremely probable that the
66 soon became narrow in Middle English also : i66 and hodl
would therefore have the sound of the Modern English
words which are written tatv and haul.

"We may now turn to the ees. In the present English all
the ecs are levelled under ii, but Mr. Ellis's researches have
proved that in the sixteenth century a distinction parallel to
that of the two oos was still kept up, some of the Middle
English ees being pronounced ee, some it, those words which
are now written with ea (such as sea) having the ec-sound,
while ee (as in see) had the zY-sound. The analogy of the oos
leads us to suppose that the sixteenth century ees correspond
to Middle English ees, and the iis to ees. I will now give
an example of the difierent ees, with the original Old English
forms, together with those of the sixteenth century and the
Middle English forms indicated by them, adding the present
English spelling, which is, of course, nothing but a dead

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

tradition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries pro-
nunciation.

TENTH CENT. FOURTEENTH CENT.

SaB

daed ..
dream
grene..
deop ,.

mete ..

stelan.

seS

deed

dreem
green

deep

fm&te )
(meet j
f stelan
(steel

SIXTEENTH CENT.I NINETEENTH CENT.

see

diid

dreem

griin

diip

meet
steel..

sii (sea)
diid {deed)
di'iim (dream)
griin [green)^
diip {deep)

miit {meat)
stiil {steal)

Reserving for the present the apparently anomalous ee of
deed, the other changes, after what has been said on the oos,
call for only a few remarks.

Old English ^ and e remain unchanged in the Middle
period. Of the two diphthongs ed, when simplified, natur-
ally takes the low position of its principal element (the a),
and eo, as naturally, takes the mid position of its o. ^,
following the usual tendencies of short vowels, is lowered,
and the two short es are consequently levelled under the
common form e, which is afterwards lengthened. All the
vowels either remain or become narrow.

An important class of apparent exceptions is exemplified
in d^d, whose ce is represented in Middle English not by ee,
as would be expected, but by ee. An examination of these
anomalous ^s soon reveals the fact that they correspond not
to Gothic and general Teutonic a/, but to Gothic e, general
Teutonic a (Gothic deds, Old High German tat). This is
clearly one of the many cases in which the explanation of
later English forms must be sought not in the literary West-
Saxon, but rather in the Mercian dialect, in which the dis-
tinction between e'e= original aa and ee^ai was still kept up.
In short, the Middle English deed is descended not from d^d,
but from ded. Traces of this older ee have been preserved
in West-Saxon also, not only in such words as wen and cwen,
but also in the red of the name Alfred, which is never
written reed — the regular form of the substantive r^d, when
it stands alone.

52 histoky of english sounds.

Unaccented E.

Middle English, like the majority of the living Teutonic
languages, levels all the Old English unaccented vowels
under e : compare Old E. caru, nama, gifan, with the
Middle forms care, name, given. The sound of this e in
Modern German, Swedish, Danish, and Dutch, is the mid-
mixed-narrow, although, as we have seen (p. 30), there are
traces of an older front sound, which we have theoretically
assigned to the Old English final e. When we consider that
the Middle English e in the fourteenth century was on the
verge of extinction, we cannot well claim for it so archaic a
sound as in Old English, and the analogy of the modern
languages points clearly to some mixed vowel. Nor is
graphic evidence wanting. The confusion and uncertainty
of usage in the Middle English orthography shows clearly
that the scribes were not satisfied with the letter e as a repre-
sentative of the sound of unaccented e. In Wiclif 's Bible,
for instance, we find, besides the regular ende, synnes, such
spellings as mannis, mannys, fadir, opyn, icritun, locusfus, con-
stantly occurring. It is not improbable that the u is intended
for the French u i=y), and that this spelling is an attempt
to represent the obscure sound of the mid-mi sed, which, like
all the mixed vowels, has a distinctly labial effect on the ear
(p. 16).

Diphthongs.

Middle English, while simplifying, as we have seen, the
Old English diphthongs, developed some new ones of its
own. All the Middle English diphthongs, with the excep-
tion of those in words taken from Norse and French, arose
from weakening of the consonants g and ic, by which g
passed through gh (as in German sagen) into i or u, and lo
into u. The most important of these diphthongs are ai, au,
eu, and ou.

ai arises from O.E. ag {ceg), eg, eg, eg, ^g : dai (from dcEg),
wai (u-ecf), sai [secgan), hai ijieg), clai {dag).

au arises from O.E. aw, ag : clau {clawu), drau {dragan).

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 53

en arises from O.E. iw, ud, cew, eaw, eow : neu {mice), speu
(spiwan), lend {Ic^wed), heu {hedwan), cneu (cneoic').

ou {dote, oou) arises from O.E. dw, die : sddu (sdivan), bloou
{hloican).

The development of ai from ei {sai=^sei=-secgan) is par-
alleled by the Danish pronunciation of ei (as in vei=tieg) as
at, and is probably the result of an attempt to bring out
the diphthongic character of the combination more clearly.
There are, however, traces of original ei even in the Modern
period, in such words as eiht, ei^er=eahta, ceg^er.

It will be observed that ag sometimes becomes ai, some-
times au. The general rule is that ag final or before a con-
sonant becomes ai, while, if followed by the back vowels a
or u, the diphthong au is developed. Thus, dag (dcBg), tagl
{tmgl), magn {mcegen), become dai, tail, main, while dragan,
sagu, become drau, sau. We have, however, san from sage.

The change of ^ into eu in the combination m, and the
levelling of the quantities of iw, Iw, etc., must be noticed,
although the cause is not apparent.

That the ooM-diphthongs preserved the long quantity of
their first elements is clear from the accounts of the six-
teenth century phoneticians ; the separation of ddu and oou
is theoretical.

In the combinations ig and ug the consonant is naturally
absorbed by the vowel, the result being simply a long vowel :
Hi (Jicgan), uul (ugle).

Consonant Influence. /

Quantity. Short vowels are lengthened before liquids and
nasals followed by a voice stop — before Id, nd, mh (often also
before rd and a few other r-combinations). Thus Old English
wilde, findan, climban, become wiild, fiind, cliimh, the length
of whose vowels is shown by the modern forms ivaild, faind,
claim. Exceptions can be explained on the same principle as
the other cases of the abnormal retention of original short
quantity, namely, by the presence of a liquid in the second
syllable ; hence hinder, rounder, timber, not hiinder, etc.

54 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

Quality, a before Id is rounded into 6, and then, in ac-
cordance with the rule just stated, lengthened, so that the
Old English sealde passes through sakle into soldCy and finally
becomes sodlde, whence the Modern soold.

The rounding of short a before nasals, which almost dis-
appeared towards the end of the Old English period, at least
in "West-Saxon, crops up again in Middle English. An ex-
amination of the present forms gives the following rules for
the occurrence of o=a before nasals. Most of the cases of
rounding are before n^, the general rule being that while
verb preterites keep a, all other words have o. Thus we
have the substantive so?i^, but the preterite safi^. Excep-
tions are han^ and fang, which should regularly be hong,
fong. Rounding before n and m is exceptional: the only
examples are on, hond,from, icoomh, cdomh.

Initial id influences the following vowel in various ways.
Sometimes it assimilates i into u, which then absorbs the iv
itself, as in such=^sivich^^O.'E. sivilc. Occasionally it draws
up od to the dd-position, as in ticoo for tivdd, tcoomb for woomb,
contrasting with the regular woo, wood (O.E. wd, wad).
Hence, by the regular changes, the Modern twuu, tuu,
wuum(b) , woo, u'ood.

"We may now sum up briefly the changes of the Middle period,

a is preserved, except before Id, where it is rounded, and
CB and ea are levelled under it.

e and e, together with eo, are levelled under e.

y is confounded with i, which remains unchanged, except
that it was probably widened.

6 becomes o, and d is kept unchanged.

u remains, although probably widened.

a, e, and 6 are often lengthened, giving aa, ee and do. It will
be observed that the Old English e and d are not lengthened
into ee and 66, but pass through e and d into ee and do.

Of the long vowels t§, e, I, 6, u remain unchanged.

y becomes it.

a becomes od.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 55

Of the diphthongs ed becomes ee, eo becomes ee.

New diphthongs are developed by the weakening of g
and ID.

Unaccented vowels are levelled under d.

Short vowels are often lengthened before liquids followed
by voice stops.

MODERN PERIOD.

Loss OF FINAL E.

The loss of final e in English is one of the many instances
of how the whole grammatical structure of a language may
be subverted by purely phonetic changes, for it may safely
be said that the loss of final e in Modern English is almost
equivalent to loss of inflexion altogether. Middle English,
although much reduced, was still distinctly an inflexional
language, as much so at least as Modern Danish or Swedish :
its verbs had infinitive and plural endings, and its adjectives
still retained some of their old inflexions, including the
peculiarly Teutonic distinction of definite and indefinite.
In Modern English all this is lost : not only is the distinc-
tion of definite and indefinite lost, but our adjectives have
become absolutely indeclinable, and the whole spirit of
English is now so difierent from that of the other Teutonic
languages, that their most familiar distinctions are quite
strange to us, and can only be acquired with considerable
difficulty.

The loss of final e marks ofi" English sharply and distinct-
ly from the cognate languages, in all of which it is strictly
preserved. Those who have such difficulty in admitting,
even after the clearest evidence, that Chaucer may possibly
have pronounced the final e, should try to realize to them-
selves the fact that the loss of final e is really quite an
exceptional and anomalous phenomenon : instead of being
surprised at Chaucer still retaining it, they should rather be
surprised at its loss at so early a period as the fifteenth
century, while preserved to the present day in all the cognate
languages.

56 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

An important result of the loss of final e was to prevent
change in other directions : we shall find that the Middle
English sounds were preserved almost unchanged long after
its disappearance. Mr. Ellis's researches have shown that
the most characteristic features of Middle English, as, for
instance, ii and uu, were preserved some way into the six-
teenth century; others, such as the old ai and au, still
later.

But the tendency to change soon begins to manifest itself,
and by the beginning of the seventeenth century we find
many important changes either completed, or else in partial
operation. During the latter half of the seventeenth century
the whole phonetic structure of the language may be said to
have been revolutionized. Some slight further changes took
place during the first half of the eighteenth century, and by
the middle of the century the language finally settled down
into nearly its present state. We may, therefore, distinguish
roughly five periods of Modern English.

1) the Earliest (1450-1500 or rather later), which pre-
serves the sounds of the Middle period unchanged, except
that it throws off the final e. I propose, therefore, for the
sake of convenience, to cite the Middle English forms in this
Earliest Modern English, which is really equivalent to Latest
Middle English.

2) the Early (1550-1650), in which the Middle sounds
were distinctly modified, ii and uu being diphthongized, and
ee and 66 moved up to the high positions of ii and uu, ee and
do being moved into the vacant mid positions.

3) the Transition period (1650-1700), characterized by
very important and sweeping changes, such as the simplifica-
tion of the Middle diphthongs ai and au, the fronting of a
and aa into (e, cecB, and the development of the peculiarly
English 9 from u.

4) the Late period (1700 onwards), in which the long
vowels of the Transition period undergo a process of lingual
narrowing, cBce passing through ee into ee, while ee itself
becomes ii.

5) the Latest period, remarkable for its excessive tendency

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 57

to dipLthongization, especially in the ease of ee and 66,
whicli are in the present generation almost always ei and 6u.
It is probable that manj^ of tbe distinctive features of this
period existed already in the previous period, either as indi-
vidual peculiarities or as vulgarisms. It is certain that in
the present generation many new pronunciations, which are
really very widely distributed, are entirely ignored, or else
denounced as vulgarisms, even by the people who employ
them habitually. These unrecognized pronunciations are of
two kinds, 1) those which, though ignored by every one, are
in universal use, and 2) those which appear only sporadically
in educated speech, although many of them are firmly estab-
lished in the language of the populace. As these pronuncia-
tions are of great philological importance, as showing us the
changes of sound in active operation, and as they have been
hitherto quite ignored by phoneticians, I propose to treat of
them hereafter as fully as my imperfect observations will allow.

EAELY MODEEN PERIOD.

«, aa. Mr. Ellis's authorities seem to describe a very thin
sound of the a, although the ce of the following period does
not seem to have been recognized. I think it very probable
that the real sound was that of the present Danish a in nicmd,
mane, which is the mid-back- wide-forward, the tongue being
advanced considerably, while the tip is kept down. When
the tongue is in this position, a very slight raising of the
middle of it towards the palate converts this forward a into
(S, which it closely resembles in sound.

e, i, 0. As these vowels are retained unchanged in the
present English, any discussion of their pronunciation in the
Early Modern period is superfluous.

u. That ti still retained its original sound is clear from
the statements of the phonetic authorities. Salesbury writes
it with his Welsh u\ as in hvck = huch.

y. It is interesting to observe that there are distinct
traces of the old short y in the Early Modern period. Clear
evidence is afibrded by a passage of Salesbury, which I think

58 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

Mr. Ellis lias misunderstood. Salesbury says (E. E. P. pp.
Ill, 164) that "Welsh, u soundeth as the vulgar English
people sound it in these words of English, trust, hunj, busy,
HuherdenJ' Mr. Ellis thinks that Salesbury means nothing
but the wide as opposed to the narrow i. It seems im-
probable that so minute a distinction should have been
noticed by Salesbury — still more that, even if he had noticed
it, he should have gone out of his way to describe it. Nor
do I agree with Mr. Ellis in considering the distinction
between the Welsh u and the wide i as being very slight.
My own observations of the Welsh u^ as pronounced in
North Wales, fully confirm Mr. Bell's identification of it
with the high-mixed-wide vowel (although it seems to be
narrow when long), which Mr. Ellis also adopts, but the
sound seems to me to be as distinct from i as the unaccented
German e (the mid-mixed-narrow) is from e (the mid-front),
and to be much more like y than i (p. 16). I think Mr.
Ellis has been led astray by Mr. Bell's identification of the
unaccented e in fishes, etc., with this high-mixed vowel,
which I believe to be erroneous. Mr. Bell acutely observed
that the e in fishes was not identical with the preceding i,
and being unable to find a place for it among his front
vowels, fell back on the mixed. I find, however, that the
real distinction is that the unaccented vowel is the high-
front-wide lowered half-way to the mid position, a sound
which Dr. Murray recognizes in Scotch, and writes (e).^

That the Welsh u sounded to Salesbury himself very like
y is clear from his express statement that the French u, the
German il, and the Scotch u, closely resembled his own u
(E. E. P. p. 761). If, now, we examine the four English
words given by Salesbury, we shall find that the history of
all of them points decisively to the y-sound. Bury and busy
are in Old English bebyrgan and bysig, trust is the Norse
treysta, a diphthong which could not well contract into any
vowel but y, and the first half of Huberden is probably the
Erench Hicbert, which, of course, had the j/-sound. What

^ Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, p. 106.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 59

Salesbury's statement amounts to is, therefore, that these
three words (for we may pass over the last) were in the six-
teenth century pronounced by the vulgar tryst, hyn, hyzi.

Although Salesbury characterizes these pronunciations as
vulgar, it is quite clear, from the retention of the French
spelling u=^y in all of them up to the present day, that the
old pronunciation must have been kept up some way into
the Modern period. Whenever we find a word written
with y in Old English, and with u in the present spelling,
we may suppose it preserved the ?/-sound in the beginning,
at least, of the Modern period. Such words are :

burden (b8odn)...O.E. byr'Sen M.E. bur]?en, bir>eii, berj^en

bury (beri) bebyrgau burien, birien, berien

busy (bizi) bysig busi, bisi, besi

cburch (cb88cb)...cyrice (early O.E. cirice)...churche, cbirche, cherche

inuch (mocb) myeel (early O.E. micel)...inuche(l), michel, mechel, moche

shut (sbat) scyttan schutten, scbitten, scbetten

There are besides two interesting words in which the y~
sound is expressed by the digraph ui, which are :

build (bild) O.E. byldan M.E. build, buld, bild, beld

guilt (gilt) gylt gult, gilt, gelt

The correspondence between the Old, Modern, and Middle
forms, the latter (which are taken from Stratmann's Diction-
ary), with their constant alternation between u and i, requires
little comment. It is quite clear that the ambiguous u and
i were considered unsatisfactory representations of the y-
sound, and recourse was therefore had to the digraph uiy
which, as we see, was employed both in the Middle and
Modern periods. The forms in e point to a previous lower-
ing of the y to one of the a-positions. The o of moche
seems to show that there was a spoken, and not merely
written form muche in the Middle period, with an anomalous
change of y into u.

These words evidently caused considerable embarrassment
to the phonetic writers of the Early Modern period, for they
had no proper sign for short y, and were compelled to
identify it with the long French yy in myyz (written muse),
or else, if they wished to preserve its quantity, to confound
it with short i. I will now give the sixteenth century pro-

60 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

nunciations of these words, as deduced by Mr, Ellis. I have
not made any alteration in his spelling, except in the case of
Salesbury's u, which I have written y, as there seems to me
to be no doubt that this was the sound intended by him. I
have not thought it necessary to add the authorities, except
in the case of Salesbury.

burden : u.

bury: y (Sa.).

busy : y (Sa.).

church : y (Sa.), yy, i, u.

much : i, u ? y ?

shut: i.

build: yy, ii, i, ei (= Middle E. ii).

guilt : i.
The long yy in chyyrch is probably a mere inaccuracy of
Smith's, for Salesbury writes distinctly tsurts, not tsuivrts, as
he would have done had the vowel been long. The yy of
hyyid may, on the other hand, be correct, for y may very well
have been lengthened before Id, as i is (2m7f/=O.E. uilde).

The MS in these words (except perhaps in much) I am in-
clined to regard as mere pedantry — the attempt to conform
the pronunciation to the spelling, of which we have numerous
instances in that very pedantic age. Of this artificial u for
y the foreign word just is a striking example. This word
was certainly never pronounced with w in the Middle period,
and even at the present day the legitimate descendant of the
old jyst is still to be heard from all uneducated and many
educated speakers in the form of jist. Yet we find the arti-
ficial ^-pronunciation already insisted on in the sixteenth
century.

ii, uu. Although long ii and uu were still preserved at
the beginning of the Early Modern period, they soon began
to be diphthongized. Salesbury writes ei and oiv, as in icein
(=:tciiii), ddoio {=^uu), probably meaning ei, 6u. There
seem also to be indications of a broader pronunciation, di, du,
which, as we shall see, became general in the following
period. It is, then, clear that ii and uu were first modified
by partial lowering, i-i, u-u, becoming e-i, 6-u, and that the

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 61

resulting diphthongs were then exaggerated by divergence —
a not unfrequent phenomenon.

ee, ee, do, 66. The history of these vowels in Modern
English affords a striking example of the Teutonic tendency
to narrow long vowels, each of them being raised a step, so
that ee and 66 become ii and uu, as in (/«f/= Middle E. deed
and simn^s66n^ while ee and do become ee, 66, as in drdem=-
Middle E. dreem and h66n—h66n (O.E. Ian').

In one word, the Middle E. 66 has been preserved up to the
present day, and, we may therefore assume, in the Early
Modern period also, namely, in the adj. 5roO(^= O.E. hrad.

at, au, eu, 66u, 66ii. The Middle English diphthongs are
generally preserved, although there are traces of the simpli-
fication of ai and au, which was fully carried out in the
following period, eii was also simplified into yy in some
words, such as tryy, nyy, while in others, such as heu, sheu, it
was preserved. 66io did not, as might be expected, become
uu, but its first element was kept unchanged, so that bl66u
(=0.E. hlowan] has remained unchanged up to the present
day. 66u seems to have changed regularly into 66u, cndou
(=0.E. cndwaii) becoming cn66u : the two oous were there-
fore levelled.

Quantity.

Middle English ee seems to have been shortened very early
in the Modern period in some words which still preserve in
writing the e«= Middle E. ee. Such words are def, insted,
hed, red (partic), led (subst.), ded, bred, and several others.
Nearly all the cases, it will be observed, occur before d. We
shall find the same tendency to shorten before a stopped con-
sonant in the Late Modern period as well.

Consonant Influence.

The most important case is the development of u before I
in the combinations al and 661 (= Middle E. 66), al, talk, 66ld,
becoming aul, taulk, 66uld. The form aul is the origin of
our present 661, t66k.

62 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The only traces of r-influence, so marked in the present
period, are shown in the occasional conversion of e into a, as
in hart, smart, for the older hert, smert.

TRANSITION PERIOD.

We now come to the most important and difficult period of
Modern English, in which the vowels of the language may
be said to have broken away entirely from the Middle Eng-
lish traditions, and entered on a new life of their own. It
is therefore fortunate that the phonetic authorities of this
period are of a far higher stamp than those of the preceding
one : many of their observations are extremely acute, and
are evidently the result of careful study of the actions of the
vocal organs.

Short Yowels.

e, i, 0, remain unchanged, as in the previous period. It is
interesting to observe that we now, for the first time, find
the qualitative distinction between short and long i and u
recognized by one of Mr. Ellis's authorities. The following
is Cooper's list of exact pairs of long and short vowel-sounds
(E. E. P. p. 83).

1234 5678

can ken will folly full up meet foot
cast cane weal fall foale — need fool
which Mr. Ellis interprets thus (denoting the wide vowel by
italics) :

csen ken wzl foli fwl op mit fut
caesest keen weel fool fool — niid fuul
It is clear that, as Mr. Ellis remarks. Cooper was dissatisfied
with the usual pairing of i, ii, and ti, uu {fil, fiU), and there-
fore tried to find the true short-narrow i and u in tniit and
fuut, where the ii and uu were probably shortened before
the voiceless t, as is still the case. Again, he lengthened
the short wide i and u, and finding that the resulting long
vowel was nearly identical with the mid-narrow ee and 66,
naturally identified them as the true longs and shorts. It

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

must be observed that the ?/ of fiiut has not only been short-
ened to fut in the present English, but has also had time to
follow the usual tendencies of short vowels, and become
wide. The shortening is, therefore, in all probability, of
some antiquity. If, then, we suppose that the long uu of
fuut had been shortened to u in Cooper's time, and had not
yet been widened, we see that the pairing of fut and fuul
may very well have been perfectly accurate, both as regards
quality and quantity.

In the ^airs foil)/, fall, Mr. Ellis makes the short o oi folly
to correspond exactly with the long 66, and assumes it to be
narrow. This, I think, is unnecessary. It is clear that
Cooper's analysis is not absolutely accurate ; it is only a con-
siderable step in advance. He may very well have considered
the distinction between 66 and 66 quite minute enough, and
may therefore have disregarded the further refinement of
distinguishing narrow and wide 6.

a. The present «-sound is clearly recognized by the
seventeenth-century phoneticians, Wallis describes a (both
long and short) as a palatal, as opposed to a guttural vowel
— as being formed by compressing the air between the
middle of the tongue and the palate with a wide opening.
And the Erenchman Miege identifies the English short ce
with the Erench e ouvert, which would certainly be the
nearest equivalent.

u. The change of the old u into 9 was fully established in
the Transition period, and it is clear from the descriptions
given of the sound that it closely resembled the present one :
Wallis calls it an obscure sound, and compares it with the
Erench etc in serviteur, while Miege compares it with the
Erench o — a common error of foreigners at the present day,
and both Wallis and Wilkins identify it with one of the pro-
nunciations of Welsh y, which is generally identified with
our 9.

Before going any further, it will be necessary to consider
the present pronunciation, or rather pronunciations, of the d
more closely. There are two distinct sounds of the o — the
high-back- wide and the mid-back- narrow, which, although

64 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

formed so differently, are so similar in sound that even a
practised ear finds it often difficult to distinguish, them.
Besides these two, a third sound may be heard in many
English and Scotch dialects, which is the low-back-narrow.

Different as these three vowels are, they all agree in being
unrounded back vowels, and it is clear from the seventeenth
century statements that the main distinction between u and d
was then, as it is now, that u was rounded, d not. Now it
is quite certain that u itself was, in the seventeenth century,
the high-back-wide-round (which it still is in those words,
such as wiiJf, in which the u has been exceptionally retained) ;
unrounded, this vowel would naturally become the high-
back- wide — the very sound still in common use. The prob-
ability that this was also the seventeenth-century sound is
raised almost to a certainty by the statement of AVallis, that
the sound is formed with the greatest of the three degrees of
closeness of the lingual passage (between tongue and palate)
recognized by him. Wilkins's statement that the sound is
"framed by a free emission of the breath from the throat,"
and, again, that it is formed " without any particular motion
of the tongue or lips," may be considered as evidence that
some such sound as the present mid-back-narrow was also
given to the a, but it is quite as probable that the whole
description is inaccurate.

The general conclusion I arrive at is, that u was first un-
rounded, and that the resulting high-back- wide was in some
pronunciations imitated by the mid-back-narrow, which in
some dialects was, in accordance with the tendencies of short
vowels, brought down to the low position.

Long Yovi^ELS.

ee, 66. The close ee and do ^Middle English he and 66, are
distinctlv recognized. Wallis states that " e profertur sono
acuto claroque ut Gallorum e masculinum," and Cooper, as
we have seen (p. 522), pairs full and foal as long and short,
which he could not have done if the oa of foal still had the
broad do-sound.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 65

ei, 6u. The diphtliongization of Middle English ii and uu
is carried a step further than in the previous period ; all the
authorities agree in either identifying, or, at least, comparing
the first element of the two diphthongs with the d of bdt.
wiin and ^uu appear, therefore, in the Transition period as
wdin and ^dii — very nearly their present form.

ai, au. An important change of this period, although
partially developed, as Mr. Ellis has shown, much earlier, is
the simplification of the old diphthongs ai and au into ee-
and oo-vowels. Those writers of the Early period who
acknowledge the simple sounds do not give any clue to their
precise nature, but the seventeenth century accounts point
clearly to ee and do, which latter is the sound still preserved
in such words as Jod, /iddk=iai(, Iiauk, although ee, as in
dee=^dai, has been moved up to ee, probably because the
Early Modern ee has become ii in the present English,

The above changes were either already in operation in the
Early Modern period, or were at least prepared by previous
changes : the next two are peculiar to the Middle period.

aa. Long, like short, aa was changed to the front vowel
(e, naam becoming ncemm. The cece, being a long vowel, was
soon narrowed into ee, as is shown by Cooper's pairing ken
(=:ken) and cane (=keen) as long and short.

?/?/. Long f/i/, both in English words such as wj9/, and
French such as fi/i/n, was diphthongized into ni, nijy and
tyyn becoming niu and tiun. The older yy was, however,
still preserved by some speakers, and we have the curious
spectacle of the two contemporaries Wallis and Wilkins
ignoring each other's pronunciations, "VYilkins asserting
that the sound of yy is " of laborious and difficult pronun-
ciation," especially "to the English," while Wallis considered
this very y^-sound to be the only English pronunciation of
long u.

It was probably the influence of this new m that changed
the older eu into iu, heu, etc., becoming h'm, whence by con-
sonantization of the first element of the diphthong the
present hyuii.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

IV.

HISTOEICAL VIEW OF ENGLISH SOUND-CHANGES.

Old English.

Middle English.

Modern English.

1 mann

man ,

sat

hard

naam

maen

Sffit

haad

neim

end

help

seven

miit

stiil

sii

diid

di'iim

griin

sii

wit

hil

wain

fair

6ft

h6ul

t66

tuu

S9n

haus

dei

sei

166

sajt (=sat)

heard (=hard)

nama

5 ende (=andi)

helpan (=hilpan)

seofon

mete (=mati)

stelan (=stilan)

10 SiB (=saiw)

dted(=dad)

dream (=di-aum)

ffrene

end

help

seven

meet

steel

see

deed

dreem

green

see

seo

15 witan

hyll

win

wit

hil

wiin

fiir

6ft

fyr

6ft ( = ufta)

20 6n ( = an)

hoi

sunu

25 hus

h66l

too

t66

sun

huus

dai :

sei, sai

lau

daeg

secgan

lagu

LATE MODERN PERIOD.

The further changes of the eighteenth century are com-
paratively slight. The short vowels remain unchanged.

The only long vowels which undergo any modification are
the ees. In the first place the ees of the preceding period
are raised to ii, dreem becoming driim, the result being that
the Middle English ee and ee are both confused under ii. The
word ^re'e7=M.E. greet (O.E. great) is an example of excep-
tional retention of the older ee.

ee from aa and ai is raised to the mid-position of ee, left

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 67

vacant by the change of ee into ii, neem from naam and see
from sai becoming neem and see.

do and 66 are, on the other hand, retained unaltered. "We
see, therefore, that the fully-established pronunciation of the
eighteenth century differed but slightly from that now in use.

Quantity.

The Early Modern uu from 66 is often shortened before
stops, almost always before k, frequently before other stops,
and occasionally before other consonants. Examples are :
luk (=:Middle E. I66]i), tuk (t66k), huk {h66k), stud {st66d),
gud {g66d),fut {f66i), Imf ilwof), huzdm {b66zom).

Other cases of shortening are doubtful, as they probably
took place in the Early period : even the changes just con-
sidered may have been, at least partially, developed in the
Transition period.

The lena-thening- of vowels before certain consonants will
be considered in the. next section.

Consonant Influence.

Some important modifications are produced in this period
by consonant influence, which has, in some cases, also had a
conservative effect in preserving older sounds, which would
otherwise have undergone various modifications.

The most marked influence is that exercised by the r. So
strong is it, indeed, that in the present English hardly any
vowel has the same sound before r as before other consonants.
One important result of this is that the r itself becomes a
superfluous addition, which is not required for distinguishing
one word from another, and is therefore weakened into a
mere vocal murmur, or else dropped altogether, although
always retained before a vowel.

The following table will give a general view of these
modifications. The first column gives the Middle English
vowels, the second gives what would be their regular repre-
sentatives in Late Modern English, the third gives the forms

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

they actually assume, and the last column gives examples
with the Middle E. forms in parentheses :

ar .
ir .
er .
ur .
or .
aar.
air .
eer.
eer..
66r.
66r.
iir .
uur.

ser

ir ....

er ....

ar ....

or....

eer

iir....

iir...,

uur

66r

air

aur

aar

ear

liaaad (hard)

})aad O'ird)

swaav (swerv)

taaf (turf)

nooa)) (nor]?)

feer (faar)

feer (fair)

diiar, ^.eer (deer, 'Seer)

iiar, beer (eer, beer)

muuar, floor (moor, floor)

moor (moor)

faiar (fiir)

sauar (suur)

aar

66r

eer

iiar (eer)

uuar, oor

66r

aiar

auar

The sympathy between r and the broad (low or back)
vowels, which is also shown in the older change of ster, etc.,
into star, is evident enough here also. In such words as feer
the seventeenth-century sound of long aa has been preserved
almost unchanged, while in Jlodr the r has not only prevented
the regular change into uu, but has even lowered the vowel
from the 66- to the oo-position.

In many cases it is doubtful whether the influence of the r
has been simply conservative, or whether the change — say of
hard into hard — actually took place, and that the influence
of the r afterwards changed the w into a. The change of a
into «? certainly seems to have been fully carried out in the
Transition period before r as well as the other consonants, if
we may trust the phonetic authorities ; but it is quite possible
that the older aa may have remained throughout as vulgar-
isms, and soon have regained their lost ground.

The levelling of ir, er, and ur, which are kept quite dis-
tinct by the phoneticians of the Transition period, is a very
curious phenomenon, as it has resulted in an entirely new
vowel, which only occurs in these combinations. This vowel
is the low-mixed-narrow. It is evidently closely allied
to the regular short ^ in bat, and it seems most probable that
the first change was to level ir, er, and ar under dr (mid-
back-narrow), which would then, by the farther influence of
the r, pass into the low-back-narrow, whence to the low-

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. , 69

mixed-narrow is but a sliort step. Then the vowel was
lengthened, and the r absorbed.

The influence of I is, like that of r, in the direction of
broadening. In the combinations alf and aim original short
a is preserved, the I is dropped and the vowel lengthened, so
that half and salm (written psalm) become haaf and saam.
In the Early period some of these words developed the usual
au, but the present forms cannot have arisen from au, except,
perhaps, haam from halm, which is often pronounced hoom,
pointing clearly to an older haulm.

Besides r and /, there are other consonants which tend to
preserve the quality of short a, namely, ^, ]?, s and/, although
the a is generally lengthened : faa^dr, paa]>, praas, aask, laaf,
craqft. The refined Transition pronunciation pee]), cesk, is,
however, still to be heard.

Before leaving this subject of consonant influence, it is
necessary to observe that the rules just stated do not always
apply to dissyllables, but only to monosyllables. Thus we
find scelou, fcelou, not solou, fblou, ncprou not narou, and gce^ar
contrasting with/aa^^r and raaJ^er.

The influence of initial w is also very characteristic of
Late Modern English. It not only preserves the old u, as in
icul, wulf, but also regularly rounds short a into o, what,
8wan^ becoming whot, swdn; also in dissyllables, such as stcdlou,
wdlou. The Transition forms wal, icdlf, ivhcet, were probably
artificial refinements, which were never accepted by the mass
of the people.^

LATEST MODERN PERIOD.

"We are now, at last, able to study the sounds of our lan-
guage, not through the hazy medium of vague descriptions
and comparisons, but by direct observation ; we can throw
away theory, and trust to facts. If our analysis of speech-

1 Mr. H. Nicol has just called my attention to the fact (which I had over-
looked) that the change does not take place when the a is followed hy a back
consonant : wceg, ivcex, etc.

70 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

sounds were perfectly accurate and exhaustive, and if our
ears were trained to recognize with certainty every appreci-
able shade of pronunciation, the task would be easy enough.
As it is, its difficulties are very great, and the observations I
am about to make cannot therefore make any pretensions
either to complete fullness or perfect accuracy. They are
mere first attempts, and will require much revision.

DiPHTHONGIZATION.

The most prominent feature of our present English is its
tendency to diphthongization.

The diphthongic character of our ee and 66 has been dis-
tinctly recognized by our leading phoneticians, especially
Smart and Bell.

Mr. Bell analyses the two diphthongs as ^l, eu, but I find,
as regards my own pronunciation, that the second elements
are not fully developed ^ and u. In pronouncing du the
tongue remains throughout in the mid-position, and the
second element only difiers from the first in being formed
with greater closure of the lips, so that it is an intermediate
sound between oo and uu. In el the tongue seems to be
raised to a position half way between e and i in forming the
second element, not to the full high position of ^.

This indistinctness of the second elements of our ei and du
explains the difficulty many have in recognizing their diph-
thongic character. Mr. Ellis, in particular, insists strongly
on the monophthongic character of his own ees and oos. I
hear his ee and oo as distinct diphthongs, not only in his
English pronunciation, but also in his pronunciation of
French, Grerman, and Latin.

The observation of existing pronunciations has further
revealed a very curious and hitherto unsuspected fact, namely
that our ii and uu are no longer pure monophthongs in the
mouths of the vast majority of speakers, whether educated
or uneducated. They are consonantal diphthongs, ii termi-
nating in the consonant y, uu in w—iij^ uw. The distinction

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 71

between hit and hiit (written heat) depends not on the short
vowel being wide and the long narrow, but on the former
being a monophthong, the latter a diphthong. The narrow-
ness of u (or rather iy) is therefore unessential, and we find,
accordingly, that the first element of both iy and uiv is
generally made wide. These curious developments are
probably the result of sympathetic imitation of ei and 6u;
and the tongue being already in the highest vowel position
the only means of further contraction of the lingual passage
left was the formation of consonants.

The only long vowels left are aa and do. Are these
genuine monophthongs? I beKeve not, although their diph-
thongic character is certainly not nearly so strongly marked
as in the case of the vowels already considered. Neverthe-
less, these two vowels always seem to end in a slight vocal
murmur, which might be expressed thus — aa9, odd. I find
that aa and do, if prolonged ever so much, still have an
abrupt unfinished character if this vocal murmur is omitted.
The difierence between loo (written law) and 1663 {lore) is that
in the former word the final a is strictly diphthongic and half
evanescent, while the 9 of the second word is so clearly pro-
nounced as almost to amount to a separate syllable. The
distinction between the words written father and farther is
purely imaginary.

In popular speech these diphthongs undergo many modifi-
cations. The first elements of ei and ou often follow the
general tendencies of short vowels, and are lowered to the
low-front-narrow and low- back- wide-round positions respec-
tively, giving ei and ou. This peculiar exaggeration of the
two diphthongs, which is not uncommon even among the
educated, is popularly supposed to be a substitution of ai for
ei, and those who employ it are reproached with saying
" high " instead of " hay." I find, however, that those who
say hei for hei never confuse it with hai, which many of them
pronounce very broadly, giving the a the low-back sound of
the Scotch man.

The 6 of ou is often, especially in affected pronunciation,
moved forward to the mid-mixed- round position, and from

72 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

there, by lowering and further shifting forwards, to the low-
front-narrow-round position, so that nou, becomes noeu.

In like manner, the u of uw^uu is often weakened into
the high-mixed-round (wide), which is nearly the German u.
So that tuu becomes almost tijio or tuw.

The two diphthongs corresponding to Middle E. ii and im
show strongly divergent tendencies in the present pronuncia-
tion. The first element of our ai is, I believe, the high-
back-wide (which is also the commonest sound of the d in
hdf), that of au the low-mixed- wide. In vulgar speech the
distinction is still more marked, the a of ai being gradually
lowered to the full low position, whilst the a of au is moved
forward to the low-front- wide position, giving the familiar
muB for hau8. These exaggerations may be partly attributable
to the desire to prevent confusion with the ei and bii arising
from ee and 66.

The investigation of these peculiarities is not only of high
scientific interest, but is also of great practical importance.
We see that the imagined uniformity of " correct " pronun-
ciation is entirely delusive — an error which only requires a
little cultivation of the observing faculties to be completely
dissipated.

It is also certain that the wretched way in which English
people speak foreign languages — often in such a style as to
be quite unintelligible to the natives — is mainly due to their
persistently ignoring the phonetic peculiarities of their own
language. When we once know that our supposed long
vowels are all diphthongs, we are forced to acknowledge that
the genuine ms and nil's, of foreign languages are really
strange sounds, which require to be learnt with an efibrt, in
the same way as we acquire French u or German ch. A
case once came under my notice, in which the French word
written eU was confidently given forth as eitei, on the
strength of the grammar's assertion that the French e aigu
had the sound of the English ay in hay. The result was, of
course, to produce a word utterly unintelligible to a French-
man.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 73

Short Yowels.

The short vowels do not seem to have changed much in
the last few generations. The most noticeable fact is the
loss of ce among the vulgar. It is modified by raising the
tongue into the mid-front-wide, resulting in the familiar ceh
for cceb. This anomalous raising of a short vowel is gradually
spreading among the upper classes, and is already quite fixed
in many colloquial phrases, such as nou thenc yim, in which
thcenc is hardly ever pronounced with ce, as it should be theo-
retically. To keep the old original e distinct from this new
sound, the original e generally has the broad sound of the
low-front-narrow — a pronunciation which is very marked
among the lower orders in London. In the pronunciation of
those who retain flg, original e often has the thinner mid-front-
wide sound.

Quantity.

The laws of quantity in the Latest Modern English, which
are of a very peculiar and interesting character, were, as far
as I know, never stated till I gave a brief account of them
in the paper on Danish Pronunciation, already mentioned.

The distinction between long and short vowel is preserved
strictly only in dissyllables. In monosyllables short vowels
before single consonants are very generally lengthened,
especially among the uneducated. If the vowel is kept
short, the consonant must be lengthened. The result is, that
short accented monosyllables do not exist in English. Either
the vowel or the consonant must be long. If the vowel is
naturally long, the consonant is shortened; if the vowel is
originally short, the consonant is lengthened ; or else the
vowel is lengthened, and the consonant shortened. We thus
obtain the forms Uil, tell, or teel, of which the last two are
entirely optional. Although these quantitative distinctions
are most clearly observable in the liquids, they apply quite
as fully to the stops, as may be seen by any one who com-

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

pares the English hmld and luett with the Danish hat, in
which the t is really short, giving a peculiarly abrupt effect
to English ears.

Among the educated the form tell is more frequent, but
among the vulgar the lengthened teel is very common.
These popular pronunciations are very interesting, as afford-
ing the only true undiphthongic long vowels which English
now possesses : fiil and fill in popular speech are really^///
and fill with the same wide vowel, the only difference being
that in the latter word it is perfectly homogeneous, while in
the former it is consonantally diphthongized.

It also deserves notice that there are really three degrees
of vowel quantity in English — short, medial, and long, the
rule being that long vowels occur only before voice eon-
sonants or finally, while before breath consonants they become
medial. Compare luiiz with hius, paa^z with ^:»af7]?. This
fact has been noticed by Dr. Murraj^, in his work on the
Scotch Dialects (p. 98, note).

A similar distinction is observable in the quantity of some
of the consonants themselves. Liquids and nasals are long
before voice, short before breath consonants. Compare hilld
with hilt, sinnz with sins. This distinction of quantity has
led Mr. Bell to assume that the / in bill is voiceless, although
he admits (Visible Speech, p. 67) that "there is a trace of
vocality." That the I in the English bilt is not voiceless
becomes at once evident on comparing it with the Icelandic
If, which is really Iht, with a distinct hiss.

Consonant Influence.

Apart from the laws of quantity already discussed, there
is little to say on this subject. There are, however, words
whose present forms afford instructive examples of the in-
fluence of /. These words are childran and milk, in both
of which the i has been gutturalized and labialized into u
by the /, which in the second word has further developed
into the diphthong yu, giving chuldren and myulc. The
diphthong in myulc is somewhat puzzling. It is not im-

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 75

possible that the older forms were chyyldrdn and myylc,
which were then diphthongized into yu, which in the former
word lost its y-consonant; or chyldran may have developed
direct into chuldrdn.

Notes on the Consonants.^
H.

That initial h in Old English had the same sound as it has
now, and not that of the German ch {hh), which it is gener-
ally agreed to have had when medial and final, is clear from
its frequent omission, even in the older documents of the
language ; for if initial h had been really kh, there would be
no more reason for its omission than for that of s or any
other initial consonant.

During the Middle period the use of h to designate the
sound of hh was abandoned in favour of gh, whence the
present spellings night, laugh, for the O.E. niht, hleahhan.
The spelling ch, as in German, also occurs, and it is, at first
sight, difficult to see why it was not universally adopted
instead of gh, which ought to express, not the breath sound
Tih, but rather the corresponding voice (as in German sagen).
The simplest explanation seems to be that the eh was dis-
carded in order to prevent confusion with the ch from c in
child, much, etc.

HR, HL, HW, HN.

There can be no doubt that in the oldest pronunciation of

these combinations the h was pronounced separately, and that

at a still earlier period the h was a real ch. In Modern

Icelandic, however, which is the only Teutonic language that

still preserves all these sounds, the combinations have been

simplified into rh, Ih, wh, nh, which are nothing else but the

breath sounds corresponding to r, I, w, n, respectively.

Modern English also preserves one of them in the simplified

form of wh.

1 These do not lay claim to any fullness of detail : they are merely intended to
serve as a stop-gap till it is possible to treat the subject more at length.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The fact that hr, hi, and hn drop their h very early in the
Transition period, seems to show that the change from the
compound h-r, etc., to the simplified rh, must have already
begun in the Old English period. That they did pass
through the stage of simplification is clear from the spell-
ings rh, etc., as in rhof (Ormulum), Iho)'cl (Ayenbite), and the
wh still preserved.

The change from hi to I is not, therefore, to be explained
as the result of apocope of the initial h, but rather as a
levelling of the voiceless Ih under the voiced / — a change
which is at the present moment being carried out with the
only remaining sound of this group, the ivh.

The main difficulty here is to determine the laws which
govern the distribution of the breath > and /, and the voice
^ and V. The following table gives a general view of the
relations of the living languages.

JEnglish
Icelandic
Swedish
Danish . .
Dutch . .
German

>ing
>ing

tmg
ting
ding
dins-

^set..
])aa^
det..
d6 ..
dat ..
das ..

broker ouj)

brou^ir ei^

broodor eed

broo^or ee^

brudar eed

bruudar aid (for ait)

The German ait, which is still written eid, really stands for
aid, as final stops are always voiceless or whispered in Ger-
man. The same is the case in Dutch, but original voiced
stops preserve their vocality, if followed by a word beginning
with a vowel.

The inferences suggested by this table are clear enough.

The English final > for =6 is evidently an exceptional
change, which does not appear in any of the other languages.
So also is the Icelandic > in J>aa'S. The majority, then,
of the living Teutonic languages agree in showing ^ me-
dially and finally and > initially, except in a small group

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 77

of words in very common use, sucli as the, then, thus, than,
thou.

The question now arises, what is the relation of the Dutch,
and German d in ding to the Scandinavian and English ting,
]>ing ? If the initial breath forms are the original ones, the
voiced ^at, etc., must be later modifications ; if the ^ of 'Sat
is the older, the t and J? of ting and \>ing must be the later
developments — in short, there must have been a period in
which ]> did not exist at all.

If we go back to the Oldest English, we find no trace of
any distinction between ]> and ^. Many of the oldest MSS.
write the ^ in all cases — '^ing, ^cet, hrd^or, ccS, while others
write \> with equal exclusiveness. When we consider that ^
is simply the usual d modified by a diacritic, and that the ]>
itself is, in all probability (as, I believe, was first suggested
by Mr. Vigfusson), a D with the stem lengthened both ways,
we are led to the unavoidable conclusion that the voice sound
was the only one that existed in the Early Old English
period. The fact that some of the very oldest remains of
our language use the digraph th cannot outweigh the over-
whelming evidence the other way. It was very natural to
adopt the digraph th, which already existed in Latin as the
representative of the sound th, as an approximate symbol of
the voiced dh, but it is clear that it was considered an inaccu-
rate representation of a voiced consonant, and was therefore
abandoned in favour of ]? or ^, which were at first employed
indiscriminately.

Afterwards, when the breath sound developed itself, the
two letters were utilized to express the difference, and Ip,
whose origin was of course forgotten, came to be regarded as
the exclusive representative of the breath sound. According-
ly the later MSS. of the tenth and eleventh centuries alwaj'-s
use both ]> and ^ together, often rather loosely, but always
with the evident intention of writing ]> initially, ^ medially
and finally. None of them seem to make any distinction
between ]>ing and ^cet, etc. It is, however, clear that these
words must have had the same voice pronunciation as they
have now.

78 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

"We may therefore assume three stages in the history of the
English /'/i-sounds :

Early Old English . . . ^ing ^set bro^or a^

Late Old English . . . J?ing ^ast bro^or a^

Modern English N^g ^aBt bra^ar ouj?

The mystery of the pronunciation of (he, thou, is now
solved : these words are archaisms, preserved unchanged by
the frequency of their occurrence.

These results apply equally to the /. There can be no
doubt that the / in Early Old English was vocal like the
"Welsh f, as is shown by the Old Grerman spelling tiolc, etc.
(still preserved, though the sound has been devocalized, in
Modern German), and the Dutch pronunciation.

In the Transition period the voiced / was represented by
the French u, as in Old German, and it is clear from such
spellings as vox for fox, uader for fader, that the initial
vocality of the Old English / (and consequently of the ^
also) was still preserved, as it still is, in many of the Southern
dialects.

Even in the present literary English we find initial vocality
still preserved in the words vein (from fana), vcet and vixen.
As, however, these words are not of very frequent occurrence,
it is not improbable that they were taken directly from one
of the dialects.

There are a few cases of the retention of final vocality also,
both of / and ^, in the present English. The words are ov,
twelv, and ici^, all three evidently preserved, like '^cet, etc.,
by their excessive frequency. The pronunciations of and
wi]>, given by some of the Early Modern authorities, are
made doubtful by their recognition of ov and ui'^ as popular
or vulgar pronunciations : they may therefore be purely
artificial.

The vocal pronunciation of initial s, which is common in
our dialects, and is shown for the fourteenth century by the
Kentish zay, zal, etc, cannot be original. The sound of z is
unknown in Scandinavia, and even in Germany the " soft " s
is clearly the result of Low^ German influence, and it is un-
known in the South German dialects.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 79

It seems, therefore, that the yocalization of initial (and
also medial) s in English is merely a case of levelling^ caused
by the analogy of the vocal ^ and v.

The use of g for the y-consonant (/) of the other lan-
guages is one of the knotty points of Old English phonetics.
It is commonly assumed that the p of ger {= Gothic Jer), ge
(^z^jus), and the ge of geoc (=zjuk), ged {=jd), are merely
orthographical expedients for indicating this ^/-consonant.
But there seems no reason why the i of the other national
orthographies should not have been adopted in England also.
As a matter of fact, it is used in foreign names, as in Iu\ytte
(in the Chronicle), luKana, etc. And not only do such words
as geoc alliterate with undoubted hard ^/s in the poetry, but
we even find such pairs as Juliana, god, showing clearly that
even in foreign words y-consonant was liable to be changed
into a sound which, if not identical with the g of god, was at
least very like it.

The ge of geoc makes it very probable that the g^y-con-
sonant was a palatal sound — in short, a palatal stop formed
in the place of y ( = Sanskrit ^). The conversion of an open
into a stopped consonant is, of course, anomalous, but pre-
cisely the same change has taken place in the Romance
languages.

The spelling eg for gg, as in licgan, eeg, is curious- "We
can hardly suppose that the combination is to be understood
literally as c followed by g. Such a change would, at least,
be entirely without precedent, and it seems most probable
that the combination was meant to indicate a whispered
instead of a voiced gg. The peculiarity, whatever it was,
does not seem to have been carried into the Middle period,
whose scribes always write gg.

Final g after long vowels or consonants often becomes h in
Old English, which, to judge from the spelling hogh^^hbh^i^hbg,
was originally vocal {=^gk), although it was soon devocalized.
In the Transition period all medial and final gs became open
(gh), as in German, Danish, and Icelandic. This gh after-

80 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

wards became palatalized after front, and labialized after
back vowels {ghw), and in many cases the palatal and labial
gh became still further weakened into i and u, forming
the second elements of diphthongs. After a consonant the
labial gh was confused with iv (from which it differs only
in being slightly more guttural), folgian becoming fohcen.
"When the to came at the end of a word, it was weakened into
M, folw becoming folu, and mcdw (O.E. meahce) becoming
malu. The present 6u in folou, for which there is sixteenth
century authority, as well as for fola, is anomalous. It is
possible that the 6u pronunciation may be artificial — the
result of the spelling /o/Zoii'.

Even initial g is often weakened before front vowels, so
often, indeed, that the Old English form of the g (5) came
to be used exclusively to represent this weak sound, while
the French form (nearly our present g) was reserved for the
original stopped g. The first change was, no doubt into gh,
gifan becoming ghiven, as in the Dutch gheevdu, which soon
became palatalized, till at last it became simple y-consonant,
as is clearly proved by such spellings as ^/b/^O.E. geaf
(Peterborough Chronicle), yelt^=gytt (Ayenbite), etc.

The g or ge, which represents original y-consonant in Old
English, always undergoes this weakening, geoc, ge, becoming
ydoc, yee. Even when initial ge is merely the result of the
diphthongization of a into ea, it is often weakened into ya, as
in yard=:.geard-=gard.

The result of all these changes was, that by the beginning of
the sixteenth century gh was entirely lost, being either weaken-
ed into a vowel (i or u), or converted into the corresponding
breath sound kh, but only finally, as in doouh (O.E. dag),
enuuh (genog). In most cases final gh (when not vowelized)
was dropped entireh^, as in f don {fa(/), loou (Jdg),fu {feoh)}

In the present English hh — whether answering to O.E. g
or h — has been entirely lost. It appears from Mr. Ellis's
investigations that the full kh first became weakened to a

^ The u in doouh, fooufhj, etc., was probably a mere secondary formation,
generated by the ghw, the stages being oogh, ooghtv, ooughw, and then oouh or
simply oou.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 81

mere aspiration, which was soon dropped. In such words as
niht the i was lengthened, niJit becoming nut, whence our
present nait. Final kh preceded by a rounded vowel as in
lauh, enuuh, was itself naturally rounded into khw, like the
kh in the German audi; hence the present laaf, endf — lauhh,
lahhw, laivk, laf. For fuller details the reader must be re-
ferred to Mr. Ellis's great work.

CH, J.

The change of c into cJi before and after front vowels, as in
chiild, teech, from cikly t^can, offers considerable difficulties,
on account of the many intermediate stages there must have
been between the back stop c and the present fo/^-sound.
There can be no doubt that the first change was to move c to
the front-stop position, but, although the further change to
the point formation is simple enough, it is not easy to explain
the intrusion of the sh : we would expect ciild to change
simply into tiild, just as gemaca becomes maat. I believe
that the change from the intermediate front-stop to tsh is a
purely imitative one. If the front-stop is pronounced
forciblj^ — even with a degree of force stopping far short of
actual aspiration — the escape of breath after the contact is
removed naturally generates a slight hiss of yh (as in hue),
which is very like sh in sound — hence the substitution of the
easier tsh.

The same remarks apply also to the (/s/i-sound in wej, ej\
rij, etc., from wecg, ecg, hrycg.

It is instructive to observe the analogous changes in the
Scandinavian languages. In Icelandic h and g before front
vowels are shifted forward a little, without, however, losing
their back character, almost as in the old-fashioned London
pronunciation of kaind, skai, etc. In Swedish k before front
vowels has a sound which is generally identified with the
English ch. If, however, my limited observations are correct,
the real sound is the front stop followed by the correspond-
ing open breath {yh). The sound is certainly not the English
ch, which the Swedes consider an unfamiliar sound. In

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

Norwegian the stopped element is dropped entirely, and
nothing remains but a forward yh, so that henna is pro-
nounced yhenna. Both in Norwegian and Swedish g before
front vowels has the simple sound of the consonant y.

SH.

The change of Old English sc into sA is not exactly
parallel with that of c into ch, as it takes place after back as
well as front vowels — not only in such words as ^hip {:=scip),
but also in s/iun {dacunicm), etc. It is therefore possible that
sc may have passed through the stage of skh, as in Dutch, a
change which seems to be the result of the influence of the s,
the hh instead of k being, like s, a sibilant unstopped con-
sonant. The Old English spellings sceacan, sceoc, etc., for
scacan, scoc, however, seem to point rather to a palatalization
of the c at an early period. Whatever the development may
have been, it is certain that the sound soon became simple,
for we find it often written ss in the Early Middle period.

In Swedish the sound of sk is fully developed, but only
before front vowels. In Norwegian sk before front vowels
changes its k into yh (voiceless y-consonant), which, as we
have already seen, is the regular change, giving the combina-
tion s-y/i, which is generally confounded with simple sh by
foreigners. These facts tend strongly to confirm the view
that the change of sk into sk in English also is due to pala-
talization of the k, although we cannot determine with
certainty what the intermediate stages were.

WORD LISTS.

The following lists are intended to include the majority of
the words of Teutonic — that is to say English or Scandinavian
— origin still in common use, with the corresponding Old and
Middle forms. The first column gives the Old English forms ;
the second the Middle English (but without the final e, p. 56)
as deduced from the Old English forms and the present tra-
ditional spelling, which is given in the third column ; the

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 83

fourth, lastl)'', gives the present sounds. I have, of course,
carefully compared the valuable pronouncing vocabulary of
Early Modern English given by Mr. Ellis in his Third Part,
especially in all cases of irregular change or anomalous spell-
ing. These exceptions will be considered hereafter.

The words are arranged primarily according to their
vowels in the following order : — a (ae, ea, ei), n, i, I, y, y, e
(eo), e, e, ^ = ee, £e=ee, ea, eo, u, ii, o, o. Then according to
the consonant that follows the vowel in this order : h, r, 1, ^,
s, w, f, ng, n, ra, g, c, d, t, b, p ; and lastly according to
the initial consonant in the same order. The principle I
have followed is to begin with the vowels, as being the most
independent elements of speech, and to put the stops at the
extreme end as being most opposed to the vowels. The
semivowels or open consonants naturally come after the
vowels, and the nasals next to the stops. As regards posi-
tion, back consonants come first, then front, then point, and
then lip. Yoice consonants, of course, come before breath.
It will easily be seen that the same general principles have
been followed in the arrangement of the vowels. The order
of position is back, mixed, front ; high comes before mid, and
mid before low, and round last of all.

To facilitate reference, I have often given the same word
under as many different heads as possible, especially in cases
of irregular development.

Old English forms which do not actually occur, but are
postulated by later ones, are marked with an asterisk.

The Middle English forms in parentheses are those which,
although not deducible from the spelling, are supported by
other evidence.

Norse words are denoted by N., and the conventional
Icelandic spellings are occasionally added in parentheses.

Many of the inorganic preterites (such as bore=bfer) have
been included in the present lists : they a/r@ all marked with
a dagger.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

ae, <

ea, o.

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODEEN.

hleahhan

lauh

laugh

laaf

geseah

saw

BOO

eahta

eiht (ai)

eigld

eit

hleahtor

laubte'r

laughter

laaftar

sleaht

slaubter

slaughter

si bb tar

feaht

faubt

fought

fbbt

t^ehte

tauht

taught

tbbt

aron

are

aar

bar a

baar

hare

bear

scearu

sbaar

sbear

starian

staar

stare

stear

sparian

spaar

spare

spear

waer

waar

ware (wary J

wear

faran

faar

fare

fear

nearu (nearw-)

naru

narrow

naerou

caru

caar

care

cear

dear

daar

dare

dear

taer

ftbbr

tore

tbar

baer {adj.)

baar

hare

bear

baer {pret.) \

baar
■bbbr

hare
lore

bear
bbar

ears

ars

arse

ass

ar(e)we
spearwa
gearwa

bserfest

aru

sparu

geer

harvest

arrow
24 sparrow
gear

harvest

serou

spaerou

giar

baavest

(ge)earnian
weurnian
fearn.
gearn

eern
warn
fern
yarn

earn
28 warn
fern
yarn

83n

wban

faan

yaan

earm
bearm
wearm
Bwearm

arm
harm
warm
swarm

arm
32 harm
warm
swarm

aam
baam
wbam
swbam

earc
serce-

arc

areh-

arh aac

36 arch{hishop) aacb-

a(0e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, se, ea, eb, u, o.

BY HENRY SMTSET, ESQ.

OLD.

a, ae, ea, 4» (continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

lawerce

larc

lark

laac

stearc

stare

stark

staac

spearca

spare

spark

spaac

mearc

marc

mark

maac

bare, N. (borkr)

bare

hark

baac

pearruc

pare

park

paae

heard

hard

haad

weard

ward

tvard

woad

geard

yard

yaad

beard

beerd

beard

biad

(^u) eart

art

aat

sweart

swart

swarthy

swba]?!

erset

cart

caat

teart

tart

taat

hearpe

harp

haap

scearp

sharp

shaap

alor [under Id)

ealu

aal

ale

eil

eall

all

661

heaU

hal

hall

h661

salu (sealw-)

salu

sallow

sselou

smsel

smal

small

smool

sceal

shal

shall

shael

scealu

scaal, shaal

scale, shale

sceil, shell

steall

stal

stall

stool

weall

wal

wall

w661

hwsel

whaal

whale

wheil

falu (fealw-)

falu

fallow

faelou

feallan

fal

fall

f661

nihtegale

nihtingaal

nightingale

naitinggeil

gealle

gal

gall

g661

calu (cealw-)

calu

callow

cobIou

ceallian (N. ?)

eal

call

c661

dffil

daal

dale

deil

talu

taal

tale

teil

bealu

baal

hale

beil

swealwe

swalu

swallow

swolou

wealwian

walu

wallow

wolou

mealwe

malu

mallow

maelou

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

a, se, ea, b {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

^If

elf

healf

half

.76

half

haaf

sealfian

salv

salve

sselv

cealf

calf

caaf

selmesse

alms

aamz

healm

halm

hbbm

sealm

salm

psalm

saam

halgian

halu

hallow

haelou

gealga

galuz

gallows

gaelouz

taelg

talu

tallow

taelou

stealciau

stale

■stalli

stbbo

wealcan

wale

walk

wbbc

bealca

bale

balk

bbbc

bealcettan

belch

helch

belch

alor

alder

bbldar

eald

bold

old

^uld

eaidormann

alderman

bbldamaa

healdaa

hbbld

hold

hould

sealde

sbbld

sold

sould

fealdan

fbbld

fold

fould

ceald

cbbld

void

could

tealde

tbbld

told

tould

beald

bbbld

laid

bould

healt

halt

holt

sealt

salt

solt

mealt

malt

100

malt

molt

ha3(f)^

ha>

hath

hae]?

hra^or

ra%er

rather

raa^ar

hwae^er

whe^er

whether

whe^ar

bse^

ba>

104

hath

baaj?

banian

baa^

bathe

bei^

p£e^

pa>

path

paa];

fae^m

fa^om

fathom

fae^am

ea(l)swa

108

aez

assa

ass

aas

*h£e(f)s

haz

has

haez

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, se, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

OLD.

a, SB, ea, 6 {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

laessa

les

less

les

^y Ises ^e

lest

112

lest

waes

waz

was

woz

nges

nes

ness

nes

graes

gras

grass

graas

gloes

glas

116

glass

glaas

braes

bras

brass

braas

fesc

ash

aesh

ascian

asc

ask

aasc

ascan

ashez

120

ashes

aeshez

rase N.

rash

raesh

wascan

wash

wosh

flasce

flasc

flask

flaasc

ba^a sic N.

base

124

bash

baasc

la(to)st

last

laast

laest {superl.)

leest

least

Hist

l^stan

last

laast

faest

fast

128

fast

faast

maest

mast

maast

gsest

gest

guest

gest

casta N.

cast

caast

castel

castl

132

castle

caasl

blSst

blast

blaast

aesp

aspen

sespen

awel

aul

awl

^ ^ 1
ool

clawu

clau

136

claw

clob

hafa (imper.)

hav

have

haev

behafa

behaav

behave

beheiv

haefen

haaven

haven

heivan

bafoc

hauc

140

hawk

hooc

staef

staf

staff

staaf

stafas

staavz

staves

steivz

scafaa

shaav

shave

sheiv

nafu

naav

144

nave

neiv

geaf

gaav

gave

geiv

graef )

^ '

grafan j

graav

grave

greiv

ceaf

chaf

chaff

chaaf

ceafor

chaafer

148

{cock)chafer

cheifar

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

crafian
claefer

a, se, ea, O {continued).

MIDDLE.

craav
cloover

crave
clover

MODERN.

cr^iv
cluuvar

liaef^ {under ^)
hrsefn

raaven

raven

reivan

haefde

hl^efdige j ^"'"

i/ei uj

sefter

after

152

after

aaftar

sceaft

shaft

sbaaft

crseft

craft

craaft

angel (hook)

angl

to angle

sengl

hangan

hang

156

hang

hteng

hrang

rang

rseng

lang

long

>rang

>rong

throng

)rong

]>wang

>ong

160

thong

>ong

sang [pret.)

sang

sseng

sang {siibst.)

song

Strang

strong

sprang

164

sprang

sprseng

"wrang {pret.)

wrang

rseng

wrang {adj.)

wrong

rong

fang

167

fang

fseng

mangere

? monger

(u)

monger

mangar

on gemang

? among

(»)

among

gang

gaeng

tange

tongs

tongz

banga N.

bang

172

lang

bseng

ancleow

and

ankle

send

ranc

rank

raenc

hlanc

lane

lank

Isenc

)ancian

jianc

176

thank

}i£enc

sane

sank

ssenc

scranc

shranc

shrank

sbrsenc

stanc

stank

staenc

dranc

180

drank

drsenc

Snig

aani (a)

any

eni

hanep

hemp

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ^, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

a, SB, ea, O {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODEKN.

rann

ran

rsen

rannsaca If.

ransac

184

ransack

rsensaec

lane

laan

lane

lein

^anne |

^an
^en

than
then

^en

swan

188

swan

swon

gespann

span

spsen

wann {pret.)

f wun

won

wan

wann {adj.)

wan

won

wanian

waan

192

wane

wein

liwanne

when

fana

vaan

vane

vein

mann

man

msen

mane

maan

196

mane

mein

manig

maani (a)

many

meni

begann

began

hegan

begsen

ganot

ganet

goenet

cann

can

200

can

csen

crana

craan

crane

crein

bana

baan

bane

bein

gebann

ban

bsen

panne

pan

204

pan

paen

an(d)swarian

answer

aansar

anfilt

anvil

aenvil

and

send

hand

208

hand

hsend

land

laend

sand

ssend

standan

stand

staend

strand

212

strand

strsend

wand N. (vondr)

wand

ivand

wond

wand {pret.)

f wuund

tvound

waund

wandrian

wander

wonder

candel

candl

216

candle

csendl

band {pret.)

f buund

botmd

baund

band {subst.)

band
bond

bsend
bond

brand

220

brand

brsend

wanta, N.

want

wont

plantian

plant

plaant

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

a, 88, ea, O {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

ic earn

aem

^mette

emet

224

emmet, ant

emet, aant

hamor

hamer

hammer

htemar

ramm

ram

rsem

lama {adj.)

laam

lame

leim

same

saam

228

same

seim

swamm

swam

swsem

scamu

shaam

shame

sheim

fram

from

nama

naam

232

name

neim

gamen

gaam

game

geim

crammian

cram

craem

cwam

caam

came

ceim

damm

dam

236

dam

deem ...

tama {adj.)

taam

tame

teim

lamb

Isem

wamb

woomb

tvomh

wuum

camb

coomb

240

comb

coum

damp {siibst.) 'N.

damp

damp (adj.)

daemp

haga

hau

haw

hbo

Iseg

lai

lay

lei

lagu

lau

244

law

166

sage )

\ >

sagu j

saw

soo

slagan

slai

slay

slei

wagian

wag

wseg

fleagan

flai

248

jiay

flei

mseg

mai

may

mei

maga

mau

maw

moo

gnagan

gnau

gnaw

noo

dseg

dai

252

day

dei

*dageniaii

daun

dawn

doon

dragaa |

drag

drseg

drau

draw

di'66

f8Bg(e)r

fair

256 fair

fear

h8eg(e)l

hail

Jmil

heil

sn8eg(e)l

snail

sneil

na3g(e)l

nail

neil

taeg(e)l

tail

260 tail

teil

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, je, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

OLD.

a, 86, ea, O {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

aeg^er

ei^er

either

i ii^er
( ai^ar

sl8eg(e)a

slain

slein

faeg(e)n

fain

fein

ina3g(e)a

main

264

main

mein

ongaeg(e)n

again

og^in
agen

br8Bg(e)ii

brain

brein

ssegde

said

sed

msegd

maid

268

maid

meid

aecer

aacr

acre

eicar

secern

aacorn

acorn

eicoan

race

raac

rake

reic

]?3ec

]7ach

272

thatch

;aech

rannsaca N.

ransac

ransack

rsenssec

sacu

saac

sake

seic

snaca

snaac

snake

sneic

scacan

shaac

276

shake

sheic

stacu

staac

stake

steic

spaac

spake

speic

BpraBC

fspooc

spoke

spouc

wacan

waac

280

wake

weic

wraec

wrec

wreck

rec

nacod

naaced

naked

neiced

macian

maac

make

meic

caca N.

caac

284

cake

ceic

cwaciau

cwaac

cwake

cweic

taca JS".

taac

take

teic

baec

bac

lack

bsec

bacaa

baac

288

hake

beic

brsec

braac

Irake

breic

fbrbbc

broke

brouc

blaec

blac

black

blsec

eax

292

axe

sex

axan ) , ■,
axian 1 (^'^^^^

so)

"weax

wax

wsex

weaxan

fleax

flax

flsex

h; r, hr, 1, hlj ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

£l« se, ea, O {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

sedese

adis

addice, adze

aedz

h£e(f)de

had

296

had

haed

hladan

laad
lood

lade
load

leid
loud

hlaeder

lader

ladder

laedar

hl^(f)dige

laadi

300

lady

leidi

saed

sad

saed

sadol

sadl

saddle

saedl

sceadu

shadu

shadow, shade

shaedou, sheid

wadan

waad

304

wade

weid

faeder

fa^er

father

faa^ar

gema(c)od

maad

made

meid

gegadorian

ga^er

gather .

g8e^9r

togaedere

toge^er

308

together

tuge^ar

glaed

glad

glaed

cradol

craadl

cradle

creidl

*geclS^ed

clad

claed

traed

ftrod

312

trod

ftrod

naedre

ader

adder

sedar

blajd

blaad

Hade

bl^id

blaedre

blader

lladder

blaedar

aet f prep. J

316

set

aet fpret.J

aat

ate

eit, et

hatian

haat

hate

heit

hastt

hat

h£et

laet (lata)

laat

320

late

leit

Jjaet

^at

that

^aet

saet

sat

saet

saeterdaeg

saturdai

Saturday

ssetodi

waeter

water

324

loater

wobtar

hwaet

what

whot

spStte fpret.J

spat

spaet

fet

vat

vaet

fgett (adj.)

fat

328

fat

faet

flat N.

flat

flaet

geat fsulst.J

gaat

gate

geit

begeat fpret.J

got

gnaett

gnat

332

gnat

naet

catt

cat

caet

crabba

crab

craeb

a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

OLD.

a, 88, ea, O {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

apa

happ N.
scapan
seppel

aap
hapi
shaap
apl

ape
336 happy
sluipe
apple

ssep
hnseppian

sap
nap

sap
340 nap

geapian

gaap

gape

cnapa
papol(stan)

cnaav
pebl

knave
pebble

eip

hsepi

sheip

08 pi

saep

nsep

geip

neiv

pebl

ei (ey). {All Norse.)

>ei(r) N.
nei

^ai (ei)
nai

344

aye

they

nay

ai, ei

^ei

nei

jjeirra N.

^eir

their

^ear

heil

hail

348

hail !

heil

reisa

raiz

raise

reiz

hrein IN".
swein

rain(deer)
swain

rein{deer)
swain

rein(di9r)
swein

steic
weic

steee
weec

352

steah
iveah

steic
wiic

beita

bait

belt

deyja

dii

die

dai

TOO

356 roe

rou

loo

lo!

lou, loo

sla

sloo

sloe

slou

swa

sob

sou

woo

360 woe

w6u

hwa

hw66

who

huu

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

fraK

froo

{to and) fro

frou

nob

nou

(ic) ga
da

gob
dob

364

doe

g4u
dou

too

toe

tou

twa

tw66

two

tuu

ahte

bbuht

368

ought

bbt

(n)alit 1

(n)auht
not

{n)anght
not

(n)bbt
not

hal (

fhbol
[hwbbl

whole

houl

haal

372

hale

heil

halgian {under
mai

mbbl

mole

moul

gedal

dbbl

dole

doul

cor

oar

bar

har

hbbr

376

hoar

bbar

rarian

roor

roar

lar

Ibbr

lore

Ibar

sar

sbbr

sore

soar

mare

mbbr

380

mbar

gare

gbbr

gore

gbar

geara
bar

ybbr
boor

yore
boar

ybar
bbar

lila(f)ord

lord

384

lord

load

oop

oath

ou]?

wra^ 1

■wra}>
wrbb]?

wrath
tvroth

raaj7
rb(b)>

la^ian

Ibb^

388

loathe

lou^

na(n)]7iDg
cla^

iio]7ing
clo]7

nothing
cloth

na]?ing
clb(b)]7

cla^ian

clbb^

clothe

cl6u%

ba^ir, N.

bbb]7

392

loth

. b6u]7

has

hbbrs

hoarse

hbbas

aras

aibbz

arose

orouz

]7as

^bbz

those

^6uz

*'hwas

■whbbz

396

whose

huuz

a(0e ea ei), i, e(oo), e, e, ie, ea, e5, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

OLD.

a {continued).

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

ascian {under a)

*mast

moost

most

moust

gast

goost

ghost

goust

lawerce {under a)
Jawan

7au

400

thaw

T ^ ^

poo

j^rawan

];robu

throw

j'rou

sawan

soon

sow

sou

snaw

snoou

snoio

snou

mawan

mobu

404

mow

mou

crawan

crbbu

crow

crou

cnawaa

cnbou

hiow

nou

blawan

blbbu

llow

blou

sawl

sbbul

408

soul

aw^er (=ahw8e^

er) or

bar

gesaw(e)n
ge]7raw(e)ii

sbbun
)7rbbun

sown
throion

soun
J^roun

gecnaw(e)ii

cnbbun

412

known

noun

hlaf

Ibbf

loaf

louf

hlaford {under r)
draf

drbbv

drove

drouv

bbn, an,

one, an, a

wan, an, a

anlice

oonu

416

only

ounli

lanN.

loon

loan

loun

nan

nbbn

none

nan

scan

sbbbn

shone

shon

stan

stbbn

420

stone

stoun

? manian

mbbn

moan

moun

gegan {part. J

gbbn

gone

gon

granian
ban

grbbn
bbbn

424

groan
lone

groun
boun

ham

hbbm

home

houm

lam

Ibbm

loam

loum

hwam

who 6 m

whom

huum

fam

loom

428

foam

foum

clam

clami

clammy

else mi

h; r, hr, 1, hi; =S, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

[continued).

OlD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

agan
lag

b6u
Ibou

owe
low

6u
lou

fag
dag

fob
dbbiih

432

foe
dough

fou
dou

ag(e)n

bbun

own

6un

ooc

oaJc

6uc

(wed)lac
stracian

(wed)loc
strobe

436

[ived)loc'k
stroke

(wed)loc
strouc

spaca
tacen

spbbc
tbbcen

spoke
token

spouc
toucan

-had

-hood

440

[inan)hood

-hud

rad

rbbd

rode, road

roud

lad
wad

Ibbd(stbbn)
wbbd

load[stone)
tcoad

16ud(st6un)
woud

gad
tade

gbbd
tbbd

444

goad
toad

goud
toud

abad

abbbd

abode

oboud

brad

brbbd

broad

brbbd

?adl

ate

> > i.

oots

448

oats

outs

hat

hot

swat {under se =

= ee)

Wat

wot

wi'at

wrbbt

lorote

rout

gat
bat

gbbt
boot

452

goat
boat

gout
bout

rap

rbbp

rope

roup

sape s66p
swapan [under £e = ee)

soap

soup

grapian

groop

456

grope

group

papa

pbbp

pope

poup

riht
gellhtan

riht
liht

right
[a)light

rait
lait

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, 3e, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE,

MODERN.

gesih^

siht

460

sight

sait

wiht f

wiht

ivight

wait

whit

niht

night

nait

miht

464

might

mait

cniht

knight

nait

briht

hright

brait

pliht

plight

plait

hire

hir (e)

468

her

hear

scire

shiir

shire

shiiar, shaiar

stigrap

stirup

stirrup

stirap

cirice {under y)

mirh^

mirj?

mirth

moa]7

wirsa {under y)

hirde

herd

472

{shep)herd

(shep)8d

*]7irda(=]7ridda) jjird

third

J;39d

*bird( = bridd)

bird •

hird

bead

iUN.

ill

sciUing

shiling

476

shilling

shiling

scil N.

scil

skill

scil

stille

stil

still

stil

spillan

spil

spill

spil

willa

wil

480

will

wil

wilig

wilu

willow

wilou

gillan

yei

yell

yel

tilE". {prep.) 1
tilian )

til

till

til

biU

bil

484

nil

bil

film(en)

film

seoloc

silo

silk

silo

8wilc {under c)

hwilc {under c)

meolc

mile

milk

mile

ecild

shiild

488

shield

shiild

wilde

wiild

wild

waild

milde

miild

mild

maild

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p.

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

gild

gildan
cild

gild

yiild
chiild

guild

492 yield

child

gild

yiild
cbaild

cildru

children

hilt

RTTli^

smi)?

496 smith

smi]7

wi^

with

wi^

fi^ele
ni^er

fidl
ne^er

fiddle
nether

fidl -
ne^9r

pi^a

pi>

500 pith

pi>

his

biz

his

hiz

]7is

^is

this

^is

*J'ise

^^^z

504 these

^iiz

mis-

mis{tah)

mis-

missan

mis

miss

mis

gise
bliss

yis (e)
blis

yes
508 bliss

yes
blis

fisc
disc

fish
dish

biscop

bishop

bishap

wisdom

wizdom

512 wisdom

wizdam

list

Jjistel
mist

>istl
mist

thistle
mist

>isl
mist

gist
mistelta

yeest
mistltob

516 yeast
mistletoe

yiist
misltou

Crist

Criist

Christ

Craist

cristenian

cristen

christen

crisn

gist

gistrandceg

hwistlian

yeest

yisterdai

whistl

520 yeast
(e) yesterday
whistle

yiist

yestadi

whisl

wlisp {adj.)
hwisprian

lisp
whisper

to lisp
524 whisper

lisp
whisper

eiwian

seu

sew

sou

niwe

neu

neio

nyuu

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ee, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

•

i {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

cliwe

cleu

clew

cluu

tiwes dseg

teuzdai

528

Tuesday

tyuuzdi

ifig

iivi

ivy

aivi

lifiau

liv

live

liv

lifer

liver

sife

siv

532

sieve

siv

stif

stiff

stif

wifel

wiivil

weevil

wiival

gif

gifan

giv

536

give

giv

clif

cliff

clif

drifen

driven

eiftan

sift ,

sift

swift

540

sivift

swift

scrift

sbrift

shrift

sbrift

fiftig

fifti

fifty

fifti

gift

bring

ring-

544

ring

-ling

{darkling

-ling

>ing

>iag

thing

>ing

singan

sing

smg

swingan

swing

548

swing

stingan

sting

springan

spring

waenglS". (vEengr)

wing

finger

552

finger

cringan

crinj

cringe

crinj

clingan

cling

bringan

bring

Iring

bring

sincan

sine

556

sink

sine

slincan

slinc

slvnh

slinc

scrincan

shrine

shrink

sbrinc

stinean

stinc

stink

stinc

wincian

wine

560

wink

wine

drincan

drinc

drink

drinc

twinclian

twincl

twinkle

twincl

in(n)

inin)

rinnan

run

564

run

ran

lin

linen

h; r, br, 1, bl ; ^, s, w, bw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

100

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

MIDDLE.

{cont

inued).

MODERN.

Bcin(baii)

shin

scinn N.

scin

skin

scin

spinnan

spin

568

spin

gewinnan

win

windwian

winu

winnow

winou

finn

fin

Jin

fin

beginnan

begin

572

begin

cinne

chin

tinn

tin

getwinnaa

twinz

ttvins

twinz

binn

bin

576

bin

hinde

hiind

hind

haind

hindema

hindermbost

hindermost

hindermoust

rind

riind

rind

raind

lind

linden

580

linden

lindan

sinder

cinder

sindar

spindel

spindl

spindle

spindl

wind

windan

wiind

584

wind

waind

windauga N.

windu

window

windou

windwian {under

^).

findan

fiind

find

faind

grindan

griind

grind

graind

bindan

blind

588

hind

baind

blind

bliind

Hind

blaind

stint an

stint

winter

wintar

flint

592

flint

minte

mint

him

rima

rim

lim

limb

596

limb

lim

swimman

swim

sioim

swim

wlfman

wuman

woman

wuman

wlfmen

wumen (i)

women

wimen

grimm

grim

600

grim

dimm

dim

cliraban

cliimb

climb

claim

timber

timbar

a(sD ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

101

■

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODEEN.

icgland

iiland

604 island

ailand

higian

hii

hie

hai

licgan

lii

lie

lai

frigedgeg

friidai

Friday

fraidi

nigon

niin

608 trnie

nain

tigel

tiil

tile

tail

twig

ich, ii

-lie

-li

612 {like)ly

-li

liccian

lie

lick

lie

j^icce

J^ic

thick

jjic

stician

stic

stick

stic

gestricen

stricen

616 stricken

strican

swi(l)c

such

S9Ch

wicu

■wiic

week

wiic

wicce

wich

witch

wich

liwi(l)c

which

620 which

which

ficol

ficl

fickle

ficl

fliece

flich

flitch

flich

micel

much

m9ch

gicel

(iis)icl

624 {ic)icle

(ais)icl

cwic

quick

cwic

bicce

bich

hitch

bich

pic

pich

pitch

pich

prician

pric

628 prick

pric

six

betwix

betwixt

hider

hi^er

hither

hi^ar

ridea

riden

632 ridden

ridn

hlid

lid

Jiider

^i^er

thither

^i^ar

j^ridda {under r)

widuwe

widu

widow

widou

h. wider

whiter

636 whither

whi^ar

bideu

biden

bidden

bidn

bridd {under r)

*wld^

wid]7

toidth

width

tomiddes

midst

hit

640 it

liitta li.

hit

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p.

102

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

sittan

sit

sliten )
slltan j

slit

•slit

smiten

644

smitten

smitn

gewitt ]
witau ]

I wit

wit

writeu

written

ritu

git

begitan

edwitau

get
twit

648

yet
get
twit

bite

bit

hit

bit

biter

hitter

bitar

ribb

rib

652

rih

rib

sibb
cribb

(go)sip
crib

{gos)sip
crib

(go)sip
crib

lippa
sllpan
scip
-scipe

lip
slip
ship
-ship

656

lip

slip

ship

{wor)ship

lip
slip
ship
-ship

gripe
dippa N.

grip
clip

^60

grip
clip

bii

bai

gelihtan

{under i)

irland

iirland

Ireland

aialand

iren

iirou

tron

aiau

sclr

(shiir)

^64

sheer

shiar

wir

wiir

wire

waiar

smlla N,

smiil

smile

smail

wile

wiil

wile

wail

hwll

whiil

668

while

whail

fil

fill

file

faU

mil

luiiil

mile

mail

iree

lii=6

lithe

lai^

stri^

striif

672

strife

Btraif

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), h, e, Je, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

103

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

wri^an

wrii^

writhe

rai^

bll^e

blii^

blithe

blai^

iis

ice

ais

arisan

aniz

676 arise

araiz

wis

WllZ

wise

waiz

wisdom

wizdom

wisdom

wizdam

stiweard

steuard

steward

styuuad

spiwan

speu

680 spew

spyuu

llf

liif

life

laif

Jirlfan

Jiriiv

thrive

J»raiY

Bcrlfan

shriiv

shrive

shraiv

Btif

stif

684 stiff

stif

wif

wiif

wife

waif

fif

fiiv

Jive

faiv

enlf

cniif

knife

naif

drifan

driiv

688 drive

drair

wifman {under im)

fiftig

fifti

fifty

Btlge

stigel

Btlgrap

stii

stiil

stirup

stye
704 stile
stirrv/p

fifti

lln {under i)
jjin

^iin

thine

^ain

8wm

swiin

swine

swam

BCinan

shiin

692

shine

shain

Bcrin

shriia

shrine

shrain

win

wim

wine

warn

mln
twin

mii(n)
twiin

696

mine, my
twine

mai(n)
twain

plnan

piin

pine

pain

rim

riim

rhyme

raim

hrim

rime

raim

llm

liim

700

lime

laim

Bllm

sliim

slime

slaim

wl(f)man
tIma

{under

im)
tiim

time

taim

stai

stall

stirap

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

104

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE,

MODERN.

migan

mil

mie

mil

rice

rich

gellc

liic

708

laic

-lie {under i)
sican

siih

sigh

sai

snlcan

sneek

sneak

sniic

strlcan

striic

strike

straic

die '

diic
dich

712

dyke
ditch

daic
dich

idel

iidl

idle

aidl

rldan

riid

ride

raid

side

slid

716

side

said

slldan

sliid

slide

slaid

wld

wild

wide

waid

glldan
cldan

gliid
chiid.

720

glide
chide

glaid
chaid

tld

tiid

tide

taid

bidan

biid

bide

baid

bridels

briidl

bridle

braidl

slltan {under i)
smitan

smiit

724

smite

smait

edwltan {under i)
wrltan

wriit

write

rait

bwlt

whiit

white

whait

bitan

biit

bite

bait

ripe

riip

728

ripe

raip

rlpan
sllpan

reep
slip

reap

slip

riip
slip

grlpan

griip

gripe

graip

flyht
byht

styrian

cyrice

fliht
biht

732 flight
bight

stir stir

church (i, y) church

flait
bait

staar
chaach

a(8B ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, se, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

105

OLD.

y {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

byrig

-byri

736

( Canter)lury

-bari

wyrhta

wribt

Wright

rait

j'yrlian {under

byr^eu '

burden

baadn

wyrsa
fyrs

wurs
furz

740

toorse
furze

W9a8
f39Z

J^yrstan
fyrsta

J^irst
first

thirst
first

]739St

feast

wyrtn

wurm

worm

waam

bebyrgan

byri

744

hury

beri

wyrcan

wurc

work

waac

myrc

mirci

mirhy

maaci

■wyrd {suh.
gebyrd

^•)

wiird
bir]7

748

wierd (adj.)
hirth

wiad
baa]?

scyrta N.
wyrt

skirt
shirt
wurt

skirt
shirt
wort

skaat
sbaat
waat

?yfel(s(?eill)

byll

jjyrlian

syll

mylen

fyllan

bylgja N".

il
hil

>rn

sil
mil
fil
bUu

752
756

ill

hill

thrill

sill

mill

fill
billow

hil

>ril

sil

mil

fil

bilou

fyl^S

fil>

filth

fil>

gyldan
byldan

gild
byld(i)

760

gild
build

gild

bild

gyit

gilt

guilt

gilt

cy^^

ci]?

kith {and kin)

cij?

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

106

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

[cont

mued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

cyssan
bysig

cis
byzi

764

kiss
busy

cis
bizi

■wyscan

wish

lystan
fyst
clyster
treysta N.

list
fist

cluster
tryst (u)

768

ltst{less)
fist
cluster
trust

list
fist

clastar
trast

yfel

?e^vel

evil

iivl

lyftan

lift

772

lift

cyng

cing

king

cing

ynce
jjyncan

inch
Jjinc

inch
think

inch
J7inc

]>jnne

synn

cynn

ejmng{under

dyne

j^in
sin
cin

ng)
din

776

thin

sin

kin

din

nil
sin
cin

din

mynster

minster

780

minster

minstar

gemynd
gecynde
tynder
byndel

miind
ciind
tinder
bundl

784

mind
kind
tinder
bundle

maind
caind
tindar
bandl

mynet
dynt

mint
dint

trymman

trim

cymlic

cumli

788

comely

camli

hrycg

lyge

flycge (adj.)
mycg

flejd
mij

792

ridgs
lie

fledged
mij

lai

flejd

mij

a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

107

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

dryge

drii

dry

drai

bycgan

byy

buy

bai

brycg

brij

bridge

brij

?lycciN".

luc

796

luck

lac

]?ycce

Jiic

thick

\\c

mycel

much (i)

much

mach

cycen

chicen

chicke7i

chicen

cycene

cichen

800

kitchen

cichen

crycc

cruch

crutch

crach

fyxen

vixen

vixan

gehyded

hid

dyde

did

804

did

lytel

litl

little

litl

scytel

shutl

shuttle

shatl

Bcyttan

shut (i)

shut

shat

spyttan

spit

808

spit

flytja K

flit

cnyttan

cnit

knit

nit

pytt

pit

clyppan

clip

812

clip

dyppan

dip

8cy N.
hwy

skii
whii ■
cii

816

sky

why

kye

skai

whai
cai

ahyrian
fyr

hiir
fiir

hire
fire

haiar
faiar

gefylan

fyl^ {under y)

fiil

{de)file

fail

hy^

hii«

820 hithe

hai'S

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

108

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

y {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

cy^^ {%inder y)

lys

liis lice

lais

mys

mils mice

mais

fyst {under y)

"wyscan {under y)

hyd

hydan

bryd

hiid A«<7e
hiid 824 hide
briid ir/(?e

haid
haid
braid

pryte

priid

pride

praid

e, eo.

>e(=se)

the

^e, ^3 *

?bleoh( =

= blue)

leoht

liht

828

light

kit

feohtan

fiht

fight

fait

smerian

smeer

smear

smiar

sceran

sheer

shear

shiar

steorra

star

832

star

spere

speer

spear

spiar

feorr

far

merg {adj.)

meri

merry

meri

terau

teer

836

tear

teru

tar

beran
bera

be^r

hear

bear

•

beorht {see briht)

merh^

mirt

mirth

maa])

eor^e

eerj*

840

earth

aa];

heor^

heer]?

hearth

haa]'

weor^

wur^

worth

waa}'

feor^ling

farming

farthing

faa^ing

*der«

dek>

844

dearth

daa]?

a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ae, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

109

•

^, eo {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

eorl

^^rl

earl

9al

ceorl

churl

chaal

cerse {under s)

J^erscan

fersc {under sc)

)7rash

thrash

Jjrgesh

berstan

burst

848

burst

boast

ceorfan

carv

carve

caav

sweorfan

swerv

swerve

SW88V

steorfan

starv

starve

Btaav

eornan

run

852

run

ran

eornost

eernest

earnest

eanest

leornian

leern

learn

loan

Bpeornan

spurn

spaan

gernan
beornan

yeern
burn

856

yearn
hum

yaan
baan

beorma

barm

harm

baam

dweorg

dwarf

dwoaf

beorg 1

? (iis)berg
baru

860

{ice)herg
harroio

(ais)ba9g
bserou

weorc

wurc

work

waac

deorc

dare

dark

daac

beorce

birch

864

birch

baach

beorcan

bare

bark

baac

bercnian \

hare
heercen

hark

hearken

baac
haacen

sweord

swurd

868

sword

Booad

heort

hart

beorte

heert

heart

hart

swellan

swel

swell

swel

smella N.

smel

872

smell

srael

stelan

steM

steal

stiil

spellian
wel

spel
wel

spell
well

spel
wel

"wela

we el

876

weal

will

feU

fel

fell

fel

h; r, hr, 1, hlj «, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

110

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

€5, eo {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLI

'■•

MODERN.

felagi N.

melu

geolo

cwelan

belle

felu

m^M

yelu

cwail

bel

880

felloio

meal

yellow

quail

felon

miil

yelou

cweil

bel

Beolh

seel

seal

siil

self
seolfor
delfan
twelf

self
silver
delv
twelv

884

self
silver
delve
twelve

self
silvor
delv
twelv

elm
helm

888

elm
helm

swelgan
belgan

swain
belu

swallow
bellow

swolon
belon

seoloc
weoloc
meolc
geolca

silc
whelc
mile
yolc

892

silk
wlielh
milk
yolk

silc
whelc
mile
youc

heold (pret.)

seldon

feld

held

seldom

fiild

896

held

seldom

field

held

seldom
fiild

jsmeltan

gefeled

meltan

smelt

felt

melt

900

smelt

felt

melt

smelt

felt

melt

helpan
gelpan

help
yelp

le^er
we^er
beneo^an
brewer

lee^er
we^er
benee|>
bre^ren

904

leather
wether
beneath
brethren

le^ar
we^er
benii]?
bre^ren

cerse

bletsian

wesle

besma

cres
bles
weezal
bezom

908

cress
Hess
weasel
besom

cres
bles
wiizl
bez9m

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ae, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWKET, ESQ.

Ill

«',

eo {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

aODERN.

Jjrescan
fersc

jjresh
fresh

912

thresh
fresh

];raesh
fresh

Bweostor

nest

cest

sister

nest

chest

916

sister

nest

chest

sistar

nest

chest

efen

heofon

seofan

wefan

fefer

eeven

heeven

seven

weev

feever

920

even

heaven

seven

weave

fever

iivn
hevn

sevn
wiiv
fiivor

>ef«

>eft

theft

>eft

beng

hung

ten

924

ten

begeondan

beyond

dei/ond

beyond

eom {see earn)
bremel

brambl

hramhle

braembl

weg

be((ie)gian

plega

wai

beg
plai

928

way

heg

play

wei
beg
plei

leg(e)r

lair

le^ar

seg(e)l

sail

seil

reg(e)n

geleg(e)n

>eg(e)n

t-weg(e)n

breg(e)n

? blegen

rain

lain

]7aan

twain

brain

blain

932
936

\ rain

lain

thane

twain
\ brain

{chill)blain

rein
lein

jein
twein
brein
blein

bregdan

braid

hraid

breid

sprecan
wrecan
brecan

speec

wreec

breec

94C

spealc

) tvreak

break

spiic

rec

breic

h; r, hr, 1, hi; "6, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

112

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

becnian

etan

let {pret.)

fetor

setlian

nebb

e, eo {continued).

MIDDLE.

next next

becon

heckon

MODERN.

next
bec9n

weder

■weeper

944 weather

"we^ar

feded

fed

medu

meed

mead

miid

cnedau

cneed

hxead

niid

tredan

treed

948 tread

tred

gebed

beed

head

biid

breded

bred

I red

bred

bleded

bled

eet
let

feter

setl

952 eat
let

fetter

settle

nib

956 nih

lit
let

fetar

setl

nib

scSphirde

*dep^

pepor

slcepte

shepherd

dep]?

peper

slept

shepherd

depth

pepper

960 sle2)t

shepad

depj?

pepar

slept

erian

^^r

ear

iar

swerian

sweer

swear

we nan

weer

wear

mere {sm.)

meer

964

mere

miar

mere {sf)

maar

mare

mear

mei'rau

mar

bere

bar-

har-ley

baali

berige

beri

968

herry

beri

£er(e)st

erst

aast

mersc

marsh

maash

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, &, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

e {contitiued).

113

OLD.

MIDDLE,

MODERN.

herwe

haru

harrow

hserou

bern(=bere-

tern) barn

972

barn

baan

smercian

smirc

smirk

smaac

gerd

yard

yaad

gerdels

girdl

girdle

gaadl

begerded

girt

976

girt

gaat

e(nd)lufoa

eleven

h^ll

hel

hell

hel

sellan

sel

sell

sel

gesailig

sili

980

silly

sili

see 11

shel

shell

shel

well

wel

well

wel

fellan

fel

fell

fel

cwellau j

cwel
oil

984

quell
kill

cwel
cil

dwelja N.

dwel

dwell

dwel

telian

tel

tell

tel

elles

els

988

else

els

■w^lsc

welsh

Welsh

welsh

scelfe

shelf

^In

ell

telg

talu

992

tallow

tselou

belg 1

beluz

bellows

belouz

beli

belly

beli

eldest

geweldan

wiild

996

wield

wiild

gelda N.

geld

belt

hwelp

whelp

flsesc

flesh 1000 flesh

flesh

hj r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

114

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

e {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

behses

bebest

behest

wrSstan

wrest

rest

gest

guest

gest

be(t)st

best

1004

best

wesp

wasp

wosp

gefre

ever

ev8r

efese

eevz

eaves

iivz

(ic) hefe

beev

1008

heave

hiiv

b^fig

beevi

heavy

hevi

^ft

eft

eft(soons)

eft

bereafod

bereft

gelsefed

left

1012

left

^£em

^em

them

^em

st^mn

stem

england

England

inglend

englisc

english

1016

English

inglish

sengan

sinj

singe

sinj

*leng^

long]?

length

leng>

streng^o

streng]?

strength

streng]?

hlence

line

1020

linh

line

Jjencan {see

J'yncan)

stenc

stench

wencle

wench

frencisc

french

French

french

cwencan

cwench

1024

quench

cwench

drencan

drench

bene

bench

bfenne

hen

ISnan.

lend

1028

lend

■wenian

ween

wean

wiin

wenn

wen

fenn

fen

menn

men

1032

men

cennan

cen

Tien

cen

denn

den

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

115

e {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERX.

pening

peni

penny

peni

clSnsian

?clenz

1036

cleanse

clenz

ende

end

gehende

handi

]handy

haendi

hrendan

rend

sendan

send

1040

send

spendan

spend

wendan

wend

bendan

bend

blendan

blend

1044

blend

hrended

rent

len(c)ten

lent

sended

sent

spended

spent

1048

spent

wended

went

bended

bent

asmyrie

emberz

embers

embgaz

temese

(temz)

1052

Thames

temz

emtig

empti

empty

em(p)ti

ege

aive

ecg

edge

eggN.

1056

^99

hege

hej

hedge

hej

lecgan

lai

lay

lei

legg N".

leg

secgan

Bai

1060

say

sei

secg

sej

sedge

sej

wecg

wej

wedge

wej

eglan

ail

eil

ece

aach

1064

ache

eic

recenian

recon

reckon

reean

hlece {a^.)

l^^c

leak

liic

streccan

strech.

stretch

strech

wrecca

wrech

1068

wretch

rech

feccan

fech

fetch

fech

hnfecca

nee

neck

nee

hj r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

116

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

ahreddan

gelSded

stede

we.dd

b^dd

^ {continued').

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

rid rid

rid

led 1072 led

led

steed stead

sted

wed to wed

wed

bed hed

bed

lettan
l^tan

let

1076

let

settan
geseted

set

w^t {adj.)

wet

hwettan

whet

nfett

net

1080

net

netele

netl

nettle

netl

mete

meet

meat

miit

cetel

cetl

kettle

cetl

betera

beter

1084

letter

betar

^bbian

ell

webb

web

wel

web

nebb

nib

nil

nib

steppan

step

1088 step

step

hee

hii

^ee

thee

^ii

w^e

tve

wii

mee 1092

mii

yee

yii

heh

hiih

high

hai

neh

niih

nigh

nai

her

heer 1096

here

hiar

geheran

? heer (ee)

hear

hiar

werig

? weeri (ee)

weary

wieri

hercnian

heercen

hearken

haacan

a(3e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

117

•

e {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

geherde

h^^rd

1100 heard

liaad

hel

heel

Mil

stel

steel

still

felan

feel

fill

cele

chil

1104 chill

chil

? cnela N.

cneel

kneel

niil

sme^e {under o)

te^ tee]?

brewer {under e)

teeth

tii>

gel e fan

slefe

defan

beleev

sleev

diiv

1108

believe

sleeve

dive

beliiv

sliiv

daiv

)>ef^ {under e)

heng {pret.) {under e)

scene

sheen

shiin

wenan

ween

1112

ween

wim

greae
cene

green
ceen

green
keen

gnin
ciin

cwen
ten

jjreotene
ben {under o)

cween

ten

j^irteen

1116

queen

ten

thirteen

cwiin

ten

]789tiin

geseman

deman

teman

bremel {under e)

seem
deem
teem

1120

seem
deem
teem

siim
diim
tiim

ege (=ea)
heg

sloeg N.
tegan

ei, ii
hai
slii
til

1124

eye
hay
sly
tie

ai
hei
slai
tai

ecan

rec ( = ea)
hrec ( = ea)
reean
lee ( = ea)

eec

reec

ric

rec

leec

1128

eke

reek

rich

reck

leek

iic

riic

ric

rec

liic

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f ; ng, n, m ; g, e, d, t, b, p.

118

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

€

5 {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLI

MODERN.

secan

seec

seek

siic

cec (=ea)

cheec

cheek

ehiic

bece

beech

1132

beech

biich

brec

breech

hreech

briich

next {under e)

hecnian {under e)

hedan

heed

hiid

redan

r^ed (ee)

read

riid

steda

steed

1136

steed

stiid

sped

speed

spiid

fedan

feed

fiid

feded {under e)

ned

need

niid

med

meed

1140

meed

miid

gled

gleed

gliid

creda

creed

criid

bredan

breed

briid

bledan

bleed

1144

bleed

bUid

let {under e)

swete

sweet

swiit

scet (^ea)

sheet

shiit

fet

feet

fiit

gemetan

meet

1148

meet

miit

gretan

greet

griit

betel

beetl

beetle

biitl

hletsian {under e)

step (=ea)

steep

stiip

stepel

steepl

1152

steeple

stiipl

•wepan

weep

wiip

cepan

ceep

keep

clip

crepel

cripl

cripple

cripl

depan(s^(?dyppan)

dip

1156

dip

*dep^ {under e)

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, se, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ,

119

ae-(ee).

OLD.

MIDDLE,

MODERN-.

h£§r

?hair

hair

hear

]7i5r

^^^r

there

^ear

wSron

weer

were

wear

hwier

wheer

1160

where

whear

fSr

fefer

fear

fiar

b^r

?beer

bier

biar

Eel

eel

iil

? gesselig
mSl

sili
meel

1164

silly
meal

sili
miil

briE^
*brS^an

br^^>
bree^

breath
breathe

bre]7
brii^

cSse

cheez

1168

cheese

chiiz

aefen

eeven

even

iivn

«raette {under a)

wseg

waav

wave

weiv

w^gan

weih ■

weigh

•wei

hw£eg

wbei

1172

whey

whei

hnaegan

neih

neigh

nei

gra3g
c£ege

grai, grei
cei

gray, grey
key

grei
cii

*wSg^

weibt

1176

iveight

weit

iSce

leech

liich

spr«c

speech

spiich

jraed

j^reed

thread

)7red

wSd

weedz

1180

weeds

wiidz

s£ed

seed

siid

grSdig
dsed

greedi
deed

greedy
deed

griidi
diid

ondrSdan

dreed

1184

dread

dred

nSdl

needl

needle

niidl

Igetan {under e)

street

W£et {under e)

street

striit

h; r, hr, 1, hi; «, s, w, hw, f; ng, d, mj g, c, d, t, b, p.

120

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

blStan

sl^p
sw«pan
scSp
wsepen

slsepte {under e)

ae(=ee) {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

bleet 1188 Ueat bliit

sleep sleep

sweep sweep

sheep sheep

weepon 1192 weapon

sliip
swiip
shiip
wepan

SB( = ^^).

see

s^6

sea

811

tsehte {under a)

«r

eer

ere

eear

rajran

rear

riar

«rest {under e)

haelan
>r£el N.
dsel

heel
Jiral
deel

1196

heal

thrall

deal

hiil

J^rbol

diil

hiel^

?h^el>

health

hel>

Sic {under c)

hS^en

hee^en

1200

heathen

hii^an

wrse^
?brS^
'? brce^an

shee]?
wree]?
bree^
bree^

1204

sheath
wreath
hreath
Ireathe

shiij"
rii)>
brej?
brii^

behtes {under e)
tSsan

teez

tease

tiiz

flSsc {under e)

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

121

OLD.

ae( = ee) {continued).

MIDDLE.

Igestan {under a)
wrSstan (Mw</er e)

Itewed

leud

lewd

MODERN.

lyuud

Iclfan leev

hljefdige {under a)
^fre {under e)

gelaefed {under e)

leave

h^to

sieti N.

swSt

spsette {under a)

hw^te

wSt {under e)

fiStt {under a)

seet
sweet

heat

seat
sweat

wbeet 1224 wheat

liiv

£enig {under a)

Igenan {under e)

hl^eae

cl^ne

in£enan

gemSne

leen
cleen
meen
meen

1208

lean
clean
mean
mean

Kin
cliin
miin
miin

asmyrie {under e)
Jj^in {under e)

clseg

clai

1212

clay

cl^i

S(l)c

r^can

t^can

bl£ec(=a)

bl^ecan

^ech

reech.

teech

bleec

bl^^ch

1216

each

reach

teach

hlealc

bleach

iich

riich

tiich

bliic

bliich.

rildan
l^dan
gelSded {under e)

*br£ed^

leed
brfeed]?

1220

read
lead

breadth

riid
liid

bred]?

hiit
siit
swet

whiit

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

122

HISTOEY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

ea.

OLD.

MIDDLI

MODERN.

flea

flee

flea

flii

gea

yee

yea

yei

cea

? chuuh

chough

cbef

))eah

'S'oouh

1228

though

^6u

eare

eer

ear

iar

forsearian

seer

sear

siar

near

neer

near

niar

gear

yeer

1232

year

yiar

tear

teer

tear

tiar

dea^

d^e>

death

de>

ceas

cbooz

chose

chouz

east

eest

1236

east

iist

eastre

eester

easier

iistar

heawan

heu

hew

hyuu

hreaw

ran

raw

roo

J>eaw

j^eu

1240

theiv

Jjyuu

sleaw

slbbu

slow

slou

sceawian

shbbu (eu

show {shew)

sbou

screawa

shreu

shretv

shruu

streaw

strau

1244

straiv

strbb

streawian

streu

strew

struu

feawa

feu

few

fyuu

deaw

deu

dew

dyuu

breaw {see bru)

heafod {under d)

bereafian

bereev

1248

bereave

beriiv

leaf

l^^f

leaf

liif

sceaf

sheef

sheaf

shiif

deaf

d^^f

deaf

def

bean

been

1252

bean

biin

seam

seem

seam

siim

steam

steem

steam

stiim

stream

streem

stream

striim

gleam

gleem

1256

gleam

gliim

dream

dreem

dream

driim

a(9e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

123

OLD,

ea {continued).

MIDDLE.

team
beam

teem
beem

team
beam

heap

hleapan

steap (under e)

ceap [subs.)

ceapman

heep
bleep

heap
leap

cheep {adj.) cheap

chapman 1276 chapman

MODERN.

creap {pret.) f crept

tiim
biim

eage {under e)

fleag

fleu

1260

flew

fluu

hreac {under e)

leac {mider e)

ceac {under e)

beacen

beecon

beacon

biican

hea(fo)d

heM

head

bed

read

r^M

red

lead

l^^d

1264

lead

led

sceadan

shed

screadian

shred

nead {under e)

dead

d^M

dead

ded

bread

hv^ed

1268

bread

bred

sceat {under e)

sceat (pret.)

fshot

shot

neat

neet

neat

niit

great

greet

great

greit

beatan

be^t

1272

beat

biit

crept

hiip
liip

chiip
chaepman

crept

eo.

jjreo

1 ^ ^

pree -

three

\t\{

seoa {vb.)

see

sii

seo

shee

1280 she

shii

fe6(h)

fee

fii

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m ; g, c, d, t, b, p.

124

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

eo {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE

•

MODERN.

freo

free

frii

fleo

flee

flii

gleo

beo {vh.)

glee
bee

1284 glee
he

glii
bii

be5 {subs.)

bee

hee

bii

'e5h
ireoh

>iih
ruuh

thigh
1288 rough

]jai
raf

leoht {under e)

hleor

leer

liar

deor

deer

diar

deore

deer (ee)

dear

diar

deorling

dreorig

beor

darling

dreeri

beer

1292 darling
dreary
heer

daaling

driari

biar

feor^a

four]?

fourth

fba]>

hweol

wheel

1296 wheel

whiil

? geol
ceol

?
ceel

yule
keel

yuul
ciil

heold {under e)

seo^an

geo(g)u^

see^
yuu>

seethe
1300 youth

sii^
yuu>

forleosan

(looz)

lose

luuz

freosan

freez

freeze

friiz

fleose

flees

fleece

fliis

ceosan

chooz

1304

choose

chuuz

breost

breest

breast

brest

eow {pron.)

yuu

you

yuu

eow

yeu

yew

yuu

eowe

1308

eice

yuu

hreowan

reu

rue {rew)

ruu

seowiau

seii

sew

sou

hleow

1 -^ '

lee

lii

feower

four

1312

four

fbar

a(se ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

125

OLD.

feowertig
greow {pret.)
ceo wan
creow (pret.)
cne5w {pret.)
cneow (subs.)
treSw
treowe
breowan
bleow (pret.)

hreow'S
treSw^

eo {continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

forti

greu

cheu

creu

cneu

cnee

tree

treu

breu

bleu

tryy>

1316

1320

forty

greiv

chew

crew

hiew

knee

tree

true {trew)

hrew

blew

ruth
1324 truth

fbati

gruu

chuu

cruu

nyuu

nil

trii

truu

bruu

bluu

ruu]?
truu]?

leof
]7eof
cledfan
deofol

(leef)
(>eef)
cleev
devil

1328

lief
thief
cleave
devil

liif
>iif
cliiv
devl

geong

yung

young

yang

betweonan
*gebeon {partic

feond
freSnd

between
.) been

(feend)
(freend)

1332

between
been

fiend
friend

betwiin
biin

fiind
frend

miuc N.

meec

meeh

miic

leogan

fleoga

geogu^

flii

yuuj?

1336

lie

fly

youth

lai

flai

yuujj

hreod
weod
neod
beodan

reed

weed

need

bid

1340

reed
weed
need
bid

riid
wild
niid
bid

sceotan

fleot

beot (part. J

shoot

fleet

beet

1344

shoot
fleet
beat

shuut

fliit

biit

heop (rose)

hip

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

126

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

eo {eo%

itinued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

hleop {pret.)
sweop {pret.)
weop {pret.)

flept

fswept

fwept

1348

lept

sivept
wept

lept

swept

wept

creopan
deop

creep
deep

criip
diip

duru

(duur)

door 1

door

Jjurli

J^ruuh

1352

through

]?ruu

])oruh

thorough

j^ara

furh

furu

furrow

ferou

cruUa IS".

curl

caal

wur^

wur]?

1356

toorth

was J?

fur^or

fur^er

further

faa^ar

Jjunresdaeg

Jjursdai

Thursday

]>89zdi

curs

curse

caas

turf

1360

turf

taaf

murnian

muurn

mourn

moan

wurm

toorm

waam

burg

?boru

borough

bara

wurcan

wurc

1364

work

waac

swurd

sword

soad

wuU

? wuul (u)

toool

wul

full

ful

cnxlla {under r)

bulluca

buloc

1368

bullock

bulac

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, S, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

U (^continued).

127

OLD.

MIDDLI

MODERN.

wulf

wolf

wulf

sculdor

shuulder

shoulder

husbonda

huzband

1372

husband

hazband

tusc

tusk

tasc

bua sic N.

busc

husk

base

rust

rast

lust

1376

lust

last

gust jN".

gust

gast

dust

dast

lufu

luv

love

lav

endlufon

eleven

1380

eleven

elevan

scufau

shuv

shove

shav

dufe

duv

dove

dav

onbufan

abuv

above

abav

hungor

hunger

1384

hunger

hangar

sun gen

sung

sang

wrungen

wrung

rang

clungen

clung

clang

tunge

tung

1388

tongue

tang

munnc

munc

monk

mane

druncen

drunc

drunk

dranc

bimig .

huni

honey

hani

\VLX10V

)?under

1392

thunder

jjandar

sunu

sun

son

san

sunne

sun

san

scunian

shun

shau

spunnen

spun

1396

spun

span

gewunnen

wun

won

wan

nunne

nun

nan

munuc («m^«rnc)

cimnan

cunmg

cunning

caning

dunn

dun

1400

dun

dan

tunne

tun

tan

under

andar

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

128

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

U [continued').

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

hund

huund

'hound

baund

hundred

1404

hundred

handred

sund (suls.) 1
gesund (adj.) )

suund

sound

saund

sundor

sunder

ssndar

wund

wuund

ivound

"wuund

gewunden

"wuund

1408

wound

waund

wundor

wunder

wonder

"wandar

funden

fuund

found

faund

grund

gruund

ground

graund

grunden

gruund

1412

ground

graund

bunden

buund

hound

baund

pund

puund

jjound

paund

huntian

hunt

hant

stunt {adj.')

stunt

1416

to stunt

stant

?munt

muunt

mount

maunt

j^uma

]7umb

thumb

]>dm.

sum

some

sam

sumor

sumer

1420

summer

saraar

swummen

swum

swam

slumerian

slumber

slambar

gum a

gruum

groom

gru(u)m

cum an.

cum

1424

come

cam

crume

crumb

cruml

cram

dumb

dam

Tigglig N.

ugli

ugly

ogli

sugu

suu

1428

sow

fugol

fuul

fowl

faul

cnucian.

cnoc

knock

noc

cnucel

cuucl

knuckle

nacl

bucca

buc

1432

luck

bac

pluccian

pluc

pluck

plac

wudu

?wuud

(^)

wood

wud

hnutu

nut

nat

gutt

gut

1436

gut

g9t

a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, £e, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

129

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

buton

but

hut

bat

butere

buter

hutter

batar

?puttaN.

put

upp

1440

hup

hip

supan

sup

sap

cuppa

cup

cap

nil

bru

huu

^uu

nuu

cuu

bruu

1444 how
thou
now
cow

1448 hrow

hau

^au

nau

cau

brau

ure

uur

our

auar

sur

suur

sour

sauar

sour

shuuer

shower

shauar

bur

buuer

1452

bower

bauar

gebur

(buur)

boor

buar

(neah)gebur

(neLh)buur

{neigh)bour

(nei)bar

ule

uul

owl

aul

ful

fuul

1456

foul

faul

su^

suuj?

south

sau)»

mu^

muu]?

mouth

mauJ7

uncu^

uncuu]?

uncouth

ancuujj

cu^e

cuu(l)d

1460

could

cud

bu^N.

(buu];)

booth

buu]?

us {under u)

hus

huus

house

haus

lus

luus

louse

laus

Jjusend

Jiuuzend

1464

thousand

Jiauzand

mus

muus

mouse

maus

Bcufan {under u)
dufe {under u)

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

130

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

U {continued).

MIDDLE.

onbufan {under u )

MODERN.

sQ.nmQ.n{under u)
duu

duun

down

daun

tun

tuun

town

taun

brun

bruun

1468

brown

braun

Jjuma {under u)

rum

(ruum)

room

ruum

rug
bugan

ruuh
buu

rough
bow

raf
bau

sucan {under u)
brucan

(brune)

1472

brook

bruc

uder {under u)
hlud

luud

loud

laud

scrud

shruud

shroud

sbraud

crud

cruud

crowd

craud

clud

cluud

1476

cloud

claud

nut

out

aut

uterlice {under u)

lutan

clut

luut
cluut

hut (subst.)
clout

laut
claut

butan {under u)
prut

pruud

1480

proud

praud

supan {under u)

cobb(ett)an

sohte

wrohte

dohtor

bohte

brohte

cbuh

cough

soubt sought

wrbuht wrought

dauhter 1484 daughter
bbuht bought

brbubt brought

cof

sbbt

root

dbbtar

boot

brbbt

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, 6, se, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

131

1 {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLI

MODERN.

for

beforan

borian

for

befoor

boor

1488

for

lefore

bore

fbbr

befbbr

boor

wonild

wurld

world

waald

for^

nor^

mor^or

for>

norj?

murder

1492

forth
north
murder {th)

fba]?
nod])
maadar

hors

forst {under st)

dorste

borsten

hors

durst
burst

1496

horse

durst
hurst

hbas

daast
baast

bom

forlor(e)n

J'orn

swor(e)n

8Cor(e)n

mor(ge)ning

corn

tor(e)n

bor(e)n

horn

forlorn

Jjorn

sworn

shorn

morning

corn

torn

born

1500
1504

horn
forlorn
thorn
stvorn
shorn
morning!
corn
torn
lorn{e)

hban

foalban

fban

swban

shban

mbaning

cban

tban

bban

storm
forma

storm
former

stbam
fbamar

sorg

morgen

borgian

soru

moru

boru

1508

sorroiv

morrow

borrow

sorou

morou

borou

store

stork

stbac

bord
word
ford
bord

hobrd
word
ford
boord

1512

hoard
word
ford
board

hbad
waad
fbad
bbad

scort
port

short
port

1516

short
port

shbat
pbat

hoi
holh

hool
holu

hole
hollow

houl
holou

h; r, hr, 1, hi; 'S, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

132

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

t {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE

'•

MODERN.

holegu

holi

1520

holly

holi

>ol

J>6ol

thok{pm)

foul

swollen

swolen

swollen

swouln

scolu

sbool

shoal

shoul

stolen

stbblen

1524

stolen

stouln

fola

fool

foal

foul

col

cool

coal

coul

cnoll

cnol

knoll

noul

del

dul

1528

dull

dal

toll

tol

toll

toul

bolla

boul

howl

boul

bolster

holster

boulstar

folgian

folu

1532

folou

"wolcen

welcin

welkin

welcin

folc

folk

fouc

scolde

? sbuuld

should

shud

molde

mould

1536

mould

wolde

? wuuld

would

wud

gold

gould

bolt

of
ofen

bolt

holt

ov
of

? Of

ooven

of
1552 off
oven

boult

fro^a N.

fro>

1540

froth

frb(b)>

mo^^e

mojj

moth

mb(b)]7

bro^

broj?

hroth

brbbj?

hose

hobz

hose

houz

*gefrosen

frbbzen

1544

frozen

frouzn

nosu

nbbz

nose

nouz

*gecosen

cbbbzen

chosen

chouzn ,

cross N.

cross

cros

blosma

blosom

1548

blossom

blosam

gosling

gozling

frost

ov
of
ovn

a(8e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, je, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

133

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE,

MODERN.

offrian

ofer

offer

ofar

ofer

obver

over

ouvar

scofel

? shoovel

1556

shovel

shavl

clofen

clbbven

cloven

clouvn

oft

loft N.

loft

softe

soft

1560

soft

long

>rong

throng

>rong

j7Wong

>ong

thong

j'ong

song (subs. J

song

1564

song

strong

wrong

rong

mongere

monger (u)

monger

mangar

ongemong

among (u)

il568

among

emang

tonge

tongz

tongs

tongz

bond

loncl

bond

from

1572

from

womb

(woomb)

womb

wuum

comb

cbbmb

comb

coum

frocga

frog

trog

trouh

1576

trough

trbf

boga

bou

bow

bou

flog(e)a

floun

flown

floun

locc

loc

lock

loc

socc

soc

1580

sock

soc

smocc

smoc

smoeh

smoc

smoca

smbbc

smoke

smouc

stocc

stoc

stock

stoc

*gesprocen

spbbcen

1584

spoken

spoucan

floce

floe

flock

floe

geoc

ybbe

yoke

youc

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^S, s, w, bw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

134

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

O {continued).

OLD.

MIDDLI

'■■

MODERN.

cocc

COO

cock

coc

coccel

cocl

1588

cockle

cocl

crocc

croc

crochiery)

croc(8ri)

cnocian

cnoc

Tcnoch

noc

brocen

broocen

hroketi

broucan

oxa

1592

fox

r5d

rod

soden

sodden

sodn

gescod

shod

1596

shod

fodor

god

codd

foder

god

cod

fodder

god

cod

fodar

god

cod

troden

1600

trodden

trodn

bodian

hood

lode

boud

bodig

bodi

hody

bodi

rotian

rot

hlot

lot

1604

lot

Jrotu

(ge)scot
Scotland

\xhhi

shot

Scotland

throat

shot

Scotland

)7r6ut

shot

Scotland

flotian

floot

1608

float

flout

mot

moot

mote

mout

cot

cnotta

cnot

knot

not

botm

botom

1612

bottom

botam

loppestre

lobster

lobstar

open

boppian

hopa

bopen

hop

hoop

1616

open

hop

hope

oupan

hop

houp

sop

stoppian

(attor)coppa

sop

stop

cob(web)

sop
stop

cob{web)

sop

stop

cob(web)

cropp
dropa
topp

crop
drop
top

1620

crop
drop
top

a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, je, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

135

OLD.

MIDDLE

MODERN.

SCO

(shoo)

shoe

shuu

(doo)

1624 do

duu

1' '

too

too, to

tuu

toh

tuuh

tough

taf

? sohte, etc. {under o)

hor

(w)h66r

whore

hbor

swor

swbor

1628 swore

swbbr

flor

floor

flbbr

mor

moor

muar

stol

stool

stuul

col

cool

1632 cool

cuul

t5l

tool

tuul

o'Ser

(oo^er)

other

G^ar

60^

SOOP

smoo^

sooth

SUUJ7

*smo^e

1636 smooth

smuu^

*(he) do^

do 6)7

doth

da>

to^

toof.

tooth

tuuj?

broker

(brooder)

brother

bra^ar

gos

goos

1640 goose

guus

gosling {under

bosm

(boozam)

bosom

buzam

blosma {under

hrost

roost

must

moste

must

mast

rowan

rou

1644 row

rou

hlowan

16u

loiv

16u

flowan

flou

flow

flou

growan

grou

grow

grou

bio wan

blou

1648 blow

blou

hof (fret.)

(hoov)

hove

houv

hof (mis.)

hoof

huuf

behofian

(behoov)

behove

behuuv

(6u)

grof (suhs.)

groov

1652 groove

gruuv

glof

(gloov)

glove

glav

h; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, m; g, c, d, t, b, p.

136

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

{continued).

OLD.

MIDDLE

•

MODERN.

softe {under o)

Bona

soon

suun

spon N. ?

spoon.

spoon

spuun

non

noon

1656

noon

nuun

mona

moon

muun

mona^

(moone]?)

moneth, month

man]?

monandseg

(moondai^

Monday

mgndi

gedon

(doon)

1660

done

dan

bon ]Sr.

boon

buun

goma

gum

gam

glom

gloom

gluum

dom

doom

1664

doom

duum

brom

broom

hroom

bruum

bloma

bloom

bluum

slog_

sleu

slew

sluu

wogian

woo

1668

woo

wuu

genog

enuuh

enough

enaf

drog

dreu

drew

druu

bog

buuh

bough

ban

plog N.

pluuh

1672

plough

plan

hoc

booe

hook

hue

hroc

rooe

rook

rue

loeian

166c

looh

luc

scoc

sb66c

1676

shook

shuc

woe

(aw66c)

awoke

aw6uc

coo

cooc

cook

cue

cr5c N.

cr66c

crook

cruc

toe

t66e

1680

took

tuc

boc

b66c

book

buc

broc

br66c

brook

bruc

bod

h66d

hood

hud

•
rod

r66d

1684

rood

ruud

rod

gescod {under o)

stod

st66d

stood

stud

foda

food

fuud

fodor {under o)

•

flod

fl66d

1688

flood

flad

mod

m66d

mood

muud

a(£e ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, ge, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

137

{coni

'inued).

OLD.

MIDDLE.

MODERN.

modor
god
blod
brod

(mooter)
good
blood
brood

1692

mother
good
blood
brood

gud
bbd
bruud

•wodnesdseg

wednesdai

Wednesday

we(d)nzdi

rotN.

fot

bot

root
foot
boot

1696

root
foot
boot

ruut

fut

buut

hwopan

wboop

whoop

huup

Addenda.

mearg

maru

marrow

maerou

cealc

ehalc

1700

chalk

chobc

hsesel

haazel

hazel

beizl

sceanc

shanc

shank

shaenc

waeg(e)n |

■wagon
wain

1704

waggon
wain

wsegan
wein

dragen

draun

drawn

droon

?gagn

gain

gein

ssecc

sac

sack

ssec

sleac

slac

1708

slack

sIebc

waecce

wacb

watch

woch

gemaca

maat

mate

meit

eaxl

axl

axle

sexl

lator

later

1712

latter

laetar

gabb N.

gab

g«b

tapor

taaper

tafer

teipar

ar {metal)

oor

ore

oor

balig dseg

? hbolidaj

1716

holiday

holidi

raw

rbou

row

rou

*cnawl£ecau

cnbbulej

knowledge{%\)^i.) nolej

on an

anon

ano7i

anon

b; r, hr, 1, hi; ^, s, w, hw, f; ng, n, mj g, c, d, t, b, p.

138

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

OLD.

Addenda (^continued).

MIDDLE. MODERN.

wrist
hiw

skipta N.
wringan
slipor

wrist

heu

shift

wring

sliperi

1720
1724

wrist
hue (hew)
shift
wring
slippery

rist ■

hyuu

shift

ring

sliperi

h win an

whiin

whine

whain

cyrnel
sypan

cernel
sip

kernel
sip

caanal
sip

fe^er

becwe^an

west

weocce

rSdels

gemeted

feeder

becwee^

west

wic

ridl

met

1728
1732

feather

bequeathe

west

wick

riddle

met

fe^ar

becwii^

west

wic

ridl

met

sterne

rest

wrencan

wrsenna

tw^ntig

stern

rest

wrench

wren

twenti

1736

stern

rest

wrench

tvren

twenti

staan

rast

rench

ren

twenti

heh^o
Bteran
ewen

heiht
steer
cween

1740

height

steer

quean

hait
stiar
cwiin

?leas
Jreatian

166s
>reet

loose
threat

luus
>ret

preost
Beoc

(preest)
sic

1744

priest
sick

priist
sic

johte
colt
fostor

>C)Uht

colt

foster

1748

thought

colt

foster

Yoot

coult

fostar

hrof

roof

ruuf

lusj^ing N.
suncen
skuDi

^us

hustingz
sunc
scum

1752

thus
hustings
sunk
skum

hastingz

sane

scam

a(ae ea ei), i, e(eo), e, e, se, ea, eo, u, o.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

139

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE LISTS.^

A {artic.) 415
(a)bode 446
(a)bove 1383
ache 1064
acorn 270
acre 269
adder 313
addice 295
adze 295
after 152
(a)gain 265
ail 1063
alder 89
alderman 91
ale 53
(a)light 459
all 54
alms 79
am 223
(a)mong 169
an {artic.) 415
and 207
angle {vb.) 155
ankle 173
anon (1719)
answer 205
ant 224
anvil 206
any 181
ape 335
apple 338
arch- 36
are 8

(a)rise 676
ark 35
arm 31
(a) rose 394
arrow 23
arse 22
art i;vb!) 47
as 108

ash {free) 1 18
ashes 120
ask 119
aspen 134
ass 109
at 316
ate 317
aught 369
awe 1054
awl 135
(a)woke 1677
axe 292
axle (171 1)
aye 344

Back 287
bait 354
bake 288
bale 71
balk 87
ban 203
band 218
bane 202
bang 172
bare {adj^ 19
bare {pret.) 20
bark {subs.) 41
bark {vb.) 865
barley 967
barm 858
barn 972
barrow 861
bask 124
bath 104
bathe 105
be 1285
beacon 1261
bead 949
beam 1259
bean 1252
bear 838
beard 46
beat {inf.) 1272
beat {p7'et.) 1344
beckon 943
bed 1075
bee 1286
beech 1132
been 1331
beer 1294
beetle 11 50
(be) fore 1488
beg 928
(be)gan 198
(be)gin 572
(be) have 138
(be) best looi
(be) hove 1651
belch 88
(be)lieve 1 107
bell 882

bellow {vb.) 891
bellows 993
belly 994
belt 998
bench 1026
bend 1043
(be)neath 906
bent 1050
(be)queathe (1729)

(be) reave 1248
(be)reft loii
berry 968
besom 911
best 1004
better 1084
(be) t ween 1330
(be)twixt 630
(be)yond 925
bid 1 34 1
bidden 937
bide 722
bier 1162
bight 733
bill 484
billow 758
bin 576
bind 588
birch 864
bird 474
birth 748
bishop 511
bit 650
bitch 626
bite 727
bitter 651
black 291
bladder 315
blade 314
(chill)blain 937
blast 133
bleach 121 7
bleak 12 16
bleat 1 1 88
bled 951
bleed 1 144
blend 1044
bless 909
blew 1322
blind 589
bliss 508
blithe 674
blood 1692
bloom 1666
blossom 1548
blow {wind) 407
blow {flffwer) 1648
boar 383
board 1 5 15
boat 453
bode 1 601
body 1602
bold 97
bolster 1531
bolt 1539

bond 219
bone 424
book I 68 I
boon I 66 I
boor 1453
boot 1697
booth 146 I
bore {p7-et.) 21
bore 1489
born(e) 1505
borough 1363
borrow 1510
bosom 1 641
both 392
bottom 16 1 2
bough 1 67 1
bought 1485
bound {pret.) 217
bound (partic. ) 141 3
bow {vb.) 147 1
bow {subs.) 1577
bower 1452
bowl 1530
braid 938
brain 266, 936
brake 289
bramble 926
brand 220
brass 117
bread 1268
breadth 1220
break 941
breast 1305
breath 11 66
breathe 1167
bred {partic.) 950
breech 11 33
breed 1143
brethren 907
brew 1 32 1
bride 825
bridge 795
bridle 723
bright 466
bring 555
broad 447
broke 290
broken 1591
brood 1693
brook {vb.) 1472
brook (subs.) 1682
broom 1665
broth 1542
brother 1639
brought i486

1 Numbers in parentheses refe^ to words in the Addenda.

140

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

brow 1448
brown 1468
buck 1432
build 761
bullock 1368
bundle 784
burden 738
burn 857
burst {hifin.) 848
burst [partk.) 1496
bury 744
-bury 736
busk 1374
busy 765
but 1437
butter 1438
buy 794
by 661

Cake 284
calf 78
call 68
callow 67
came 235
can 200
candle 216
care 16
cart 49
carve 849
cast 131
castle 132
cat 333
chafer 148
chaff 147
chalk (1700)
chapman 1276
cheap 1275
cheek 1131
cheese 11 68
chest 916
chew 131 5
chicken 799
chide 720
child 493
children 494
chill 1 1 04
(chill)blain 937
chin 573
choose 1304
chose 1235
chosen 1546
chough 1227
Christ 518
christen 519
church 735
churl 846
cinder 581
clad 311
clammy 429
claw 136

clay 12 12
clean 1209
cleanse 1036
cleave 1327
clew 527

cliff 537
climb 602

cling 554
clip [ctii) 660
clip [embrace] 8 12
cloth 390
clothe 391
cloud 1476
clout 1479
cloven 1557
clover 150
clung 1387
cluster 769
coal 1526
cob(web) 1619
cock 1587
(cock)chafer 148
cockle 1588
cod 1599
cold 95
colt (1747)
comb 240
come 1424
comely 788
cook 1678
cool 1632
com 1503
cot 1610
cough 1 48 1
could 1460
cow 1447
crab 334
cradle 310
craft 154
cram 234
crane 201
crave 149
creed 1142
creep 1349
crept 1277
cress 908
crew 1316
crib 654
cringe 553
cripple 1 1 55
crock (ery) 1589
crook 1679
crop 1620
cross 1547
crow 405
crowd 1475
crumb 1425
crutch 801
cunning 1399
cup 1443

curl 1355
cixrse 1359

Dale 69
dam 236
damp 241
dare 17
dark 863
darling 1292
daughter 1484
dawn 253
day 252
dead 1267
deaf 125 1
deal 1 198
dear 1291
dearth 844
death 1234
deed 11 83
deem 11 19
deep 1350
deer 1290
(de)file 819
delve 886
den 1034
depth 958
devil 1328
dew 1247
did 804

die 355
dim 601
din 779
dint 786
dip 813, I156
dish 510
ditch 713
dive 1 109
do 1624
doe 365
dole 374
done 1660
doom 1664
door 1351
doth 1637
dough 433
dove 1382
down 1466
drag 254
drank 180
draw 255
drawn (1705)
dread 11 84
dream 1257
dreary 1293
drench 1025
drew 1670
drink 561
drive 688
driven 538
drop I 62 I

drought
drove 414
drunk 1390
dry 793
dull 1528
dumb 1426
dun 1400
durst 1495
dust 1378
dwarf 859
dwell 986
dyke 712

Each 1213
ear [vb.) 961
ear {stibs.) 1229
earl 845
earn 27
earnest 853
earth 840
east 1236
Easter 1237
eat 952
eaves 1007
ebb 1085
edge 1055
eel 1 163
eft(soons) lOiO
egg 1056
eight 3
either 261
eke 1 125
eldest 995
eleven 977, 1380
elf 75
ell 991
elm 888
else 988
embers 1 05 1
emmet 224
empty 1053
end 1037
England 1015
English 1016
enough 1669
ere 11 94
erst 969
even {adj.) 917
even(ing) 11 69
ever 1006
evil 771
ewe 1308
eye 1121

Fain 263
fair 256
fall 64
fallow 63
fang 167

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

141

far 834
fare 14
farthing 843
fast 128
fat 328
father 305
fathom 107
fear 1161
feather (1728)
fed 945
fee 1 28 1
feed 1 1 38
feel 1 103
feet 1 147
fell {vb.) 983
fell ( =skm) 877
fellow 878
felt {partic.) 900
fen 1 03 1
fern 29
fetch 1069
fetter 954
fever 921
few 1246
fickle 621
fiddle 498
field 898
fiend 1332
fifty 542
fight 829
file 669
fill 757
film 485
filth 759
fin 571
find 586
finger 552
fire 818
first 742
fish 509
fist 768
five 686
flask 123
flat 329
flax 294
flay 248
flea 1225
fledged 791
flee 1283
fleece 1303
fleet 1343
flesh 1000
flew 1260
flight 732
flint 592
flit 809
flitch 622
float 1608
flock 1585
flood I 688

floor 1629
flow 1646
flown 1578

fly 1336

foal 1525
foam 428
fodder 1597
foe 432
fold 94
folk 1534
follow 1532
food 1687
foot 1696
for 1487
ford 1 5 14
(for) lorn 1498
former 1507
forth 149 1
forty 1 31 3
foster (1748)
foul 1456
found 1410
fought 6
four 1312
fourth 1295
fowl 1429
fox 1593
free 1282
freeze 1302
French 1023
fresh 913
Friday 607
friend 1333
fro 362
frog 1575
from 231
frost 1550
froth 1540
frozen 1544
full 1367
furrow 1354
further 1357
furze 740

Gab (1713)
gain (1706)
gall 66
gallows 83
game 233
gang 170
gannet 199
gape 341
gate 330
gather 307
gave 145
gear 25
geld 997
get 648
ghost 398
gift 543

gild 760
girdle 975
girt 976
give 536
glad 309
glass 116
gleam 1256
glee 1284
gleed 1 141
glide 719
gloom 1663
glove 1653
gnat 332
gnaw 251

§0364

goad 444

goat 452

god 1598

gold 1538

gone 422

good 1691

goose 1640

gore 381

gosling 1549

(gos)sip 653

got 331

grass 115

grave 146

gray 1274

great 1271

greedy 1182

green 11 13

greet 11 49

grew 1 3 14

grey 11 74

grim 600

grind 587

grip 659

gripe 731

groan 423

groom 1423

groove 1652

grope 456

ground {si/is.) 1411

giound {parti.) 1412

grow 1647

guest 130, 1003

guild 491

guilt 762

gum 1662

gust 1377

gut 1436

Had 296

hail [subs.) 257

hail (ifiierj.) 348

hair 1157

hale 372

half 76

hall 55

hallow 82
halm 80
halt 98
hammer 225
hand 208
handy 1038
hang 156
happy 336
hard 43
hare 9
hark 862
harm 32
harp 51
harrow 97 1
hart 869
harvest 26
has no
hat 319
hate 318
hath 1 01
have 137
haven 139
haw 242
hawk 140
hay 1 122
hazel (1701)
he 1089
head 1262
heal 1 196
health 1 199
heap 1273
hear 1097
heard iioo
hearken 867, 1099
heart 870
hearth 841
heat 1 22 1
heathen 1200
heave 1008
heaven 918
heavy 1009
hedge 1057
heed 1134
heel iioi
height (1739)
held 896
hell 978
helm 889
help 902
hemp 182
hen 1027
her 468
(shep)herd 957
here 1096
hew 1238
hid 803

hide [subs.) 823
hide {vb ) 824
hie 605
high 1094

142

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

hUl 753
hilt 495
him 594
hind 577
hindermost 578
hip (rose) 1345
hip (coxa) 1 44 1
hire 817
his 502
hit 641
hithe 820
hither 631
hoar 376
hoard 15 12
hoarse 393
hold 92
hole 1518
holiday (1716)
hollow 1 5 19
holly 1520
home 425
honey 139 I
-hood 440
hood 1683
hoof 1650
hook 1673
hop 1615
hope 1616
horn 1497
horse 1494
hose 1543
hot 449
hound 1403
house 1462
hove 1649
how 1444
hue (1721)
hundred 1 404
hung 923
hunger 1384
hunt 1415
husband 1372
hustings (1751)

I 611

ice 675
(ice)berg 860
icicle 624
idle 714
if 535

ill 475, 752
in 563
inch 774

inn 563
Ireland 662
iron 663
is 501
island 604
11640
ivy 529

Keel 1298
keen 11 14
keep 1 1 54
ken 1033
kernel (1726)
kettle 1083
key 1 1 75
kill 985
kin 778
kind 782
king 773
kiss 764
kitchen 800
kith 763
knave 342
knead 947
knee 1318
kneel 1105
knew 13 1 7
knife 687
knight 465
knit 810

knock 1430, 1590
knoll 1527
knot 161 I
know 406
knowledge (1718)
known 412
knuckle 1433
kye 816

Ladder 299
lade 297
lady 300
lain 933
lair 930
lamb 238
lame 227
land 209
lane 185
lank 175
lark 37
last {adj.) 125
last (vd.) 127
late 320
latter (1712)
laugh I
laughter 4
law 244
lay ip-et.) 243
lay (iftf ) 1058
lead (v6.) 12 19
lead (suds.) 1264
leaf 1249
leak 1066
lean 1208
leap 1274
learn 854
least 126

leather 904

leave 1207

led 1072

lee 1311

leech 1 177

leek 1 129

leer 1289

left 1012

leg 1059

lend 1028

length 1018

Lent 1046

lept 1346

less III

lest 112

let (/;r/.) 953

let 1076

lewd 1206

lice {phtr.) 821

lick 613

lid 633

lie {Jacere) 606

lie {sicbs.) 790

lie (tnentiri) 1335

lief 1325

life 681

lift 772

light 828

like 708

limb 596

lime 700

linden 580

linen 565

-ling 545
link 1020

lip 655
lisp 523
list 513
list (less) 767
lithe 671
httle 805
live 530
liver 531

lo ! 357
load 298
load (stone) 442
loaf 413
loam 426
loan 417,
loathe 388
lobster 1613
lock 1579
loft 1559
long 158
look 1675
lore 378
lord 3S4
lose 1 30 1
loose (1742)
lot 1604

loud 1473
louse 1463
lout 1478
love 1379
low [adj.) 431
low [vb.) 164S
luck 796
lust 1376
-ly 612

Made 306
maid 268
main 264
make 283
mallow 74
malt 100
man 195
mane 196
many 197
mar 966
mare 965
mark 40
marrow (1699)
marsh 970
mast 129
mate (17 10)
maw 250
may 249
me 1092
mead 946
meal {corii) 879
meal {food) 1 165
mean Ivb.) 1210
mean {adj.) 1211
meat 1082
meed 1140
meek 1334
meet 1148
melt 901
men {pi.) 1032
mere 964
merry 835
met (1733)
mice (//.) 822
midge 792
midst 639
mie 706
might 464
mild 490
mile 670
milk 487, 894
mill 756
mind 781
mine 695
minster 780
mint {plant) 593
mint {nioneta) 785
mirky 746
mirth 471, 839

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

143

mis- 505
miss 506
mist 515
mistletoe 517
moan 421
mole 373
Monday 1659
monger 168
monk 1389
month 1658
mood 1689
moon 1657
moor 1630
more 380
morning 1502
morrow 1509
most 397
mote 1609
moth 1 541
mother 1690
mould 1536
mount 14 1 7
mourn 1361
mouse 1465
mouth 1458
mow 404
much 623, 798
murder 1493
must 1643
my 695

Nail 259
naked 282
name 232
nap 340
narrow 15
naught 369
nave 144
nay 346
near 1231
neat 1270
neck 1070
need 11 39, 1340
needle 1185
neigh 11 73
(neigh)bour 1454
ness 114
nest 915
net 1080
nether 499
nettle 1081
new 526
next 942
nib 956, 1087
nigh 1095
night 463
nightingale 65
nine 608
no 363

none 418
noon 1656
north 1492
nose 1545
not 370
nothing 389
now 1446
nun 1398
nut 1435

Oak 435
oar 375
oats 448
oath 385

of 1551
off 1552
offer 1554
oft 1558
old 90
on 1570
one 415
only 416
open 1614
or 409
ore (1715)
other 1634
ought 368
our 1449
out 1477
oven 1553 -
over 1555
owe 430
owl 1455
own 434
ox 1592

Pan 204
park 42
path 106
pebble 343
penny 1035
pepper 959
pine 697
pit 811
pitch 627
pith 500
plant 222
play 929
plight 467
plough 1672
pluck 1433
pope 457
port 1517
pound 1414
prick 628
pride 826
priest (1744)
proud 1480
psalm 81

put 1439

Quail 881
quake 285
quean (1741)
queen 11 15
quell 984
quench 1024
quick 625

Rain 932
raise 349
rake 271
ram 226
ran 183
rang 157
rank 174
ransack 184, 273
rash 121
rather 102
raven 15 i
raw 1239
reach 12 14
read 1135, 1218
reap 729
rear 1195
reck 1 1 28
reckon 1065
red 1263
reed 1338
reek 1126
rein(deer) 350
rend 1039
rent 1045
rest (1735)
rhyme 698
rib 652
rich 707
rick 1 127
rid 107 1
ridden 632
riddle (1732)
ride 715
ridge 789
right 458
rim 595
rime 699
rind 579
ring 544
ripe 728
rise 676
road 441
roar 377
rod 1594
rode 441
roe 356
rood 1684
roof (1749)
rook 1674

room 1469
roost 1642
root 1695
rope 454
rot 1603

rough 1288, 1470
row {vb.) 1644
row {subs.) (171 7)
iTie 1309
run 564, 852
rust 1375
ruth 1323

Sack (1707)
sad 301
saddle 302
said 267
sail 931
sake 274
sallow 56
salt 99
salve 77
same 228
sand 210
sang 161
sank 177

sap 339
sat 322
Saturday 323
saw {pret.) 2
saw [szibs.) 245
say 1060
scale 59
Scotland 1607
sea 1 193
seal 883
seam 1253
sear 1230
seat 1222
sedge 1061
see 1279
seed 1 181
seek 1 1 30
seem 11 18
seethe 1299
seldom 897
self 884
sell 979
send 1040
sent 1047
set 1077
settle 955
seven 919
sew 525, 1310
shade 303
shadow, 303
shaft 153
shake 276
shale 59
shall 58

144

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

shame 230

shank (1702)
shape 337
share lO
sharp 52
shave 143
she 1280
sheaf 1250
shear 831
sheath 1201
shed 1265
sheen mi
sheep 1 191
sheer 664
sheet 1 146
shelf 990
shell 981

shepherd 472, 957
shield 488
shift (1722)
shilling 476
shin 566
shine 692
ship 657
-ship 658
shire 469
shirt 750
shoal 1523
shod 1596
shoe 1623
shone 419
shook 1676
shoot 1342
shorn 1 501
short 1 5 16
shot {j)ret.) 1269
shot (stibs>i 1606
should 1535
shoulder 1370
shove 1 381
shovel 1556
show 1242
shower 145 1
shrank 178
shred 1266
shrew 1243
shrift 541
shrine 693
shrink 558
shrive 683
shroud 1474
shun 1395
shut 807
shuttle 806
sick (1745)
side 716
sieve 532
sift 539
sigh 709
sight 460

silk 486, 892

sill 755

silly 980, 1 164

silver 885

sin 777

sing 547

singe 1017

sink 556

sip (1727)

sister 914

sit 642

six 629

skill 477

skin 567

skirt 749

skum (1753)

sky 814

slack (1708)

slain 262

slaughter 5

slay 246

sleep 1 189

sleeve 1108

slept 960

slew 1667

slide 717

slime 701

slihk 557

slip 656

slippery (1724)

slit 643

sloe 358
slow 1 241
slumber 1422
sly 1 123
small 57
smear 830
smell 872
smelt 899
smile 666
smirk 973
smite 724
smith 496
smitten 644
smock 1581
smoke 1582
smooth 1636
snail 258
snake 275
sneak 710
snow 403
so 359
soap 455
sock 1580
sodden 1595
soft 1560
sold 93
some 1419
son 1393
song 162

soon 1654
sooth 1635
sop 1617
sore 379
sorrow 150S
sought 1482
soul 408

sound {adj.^ 1405
sour 1450
south 1457
sow {vb.) 402
sow {iubs.) 1428
sown 410
spake 278
span 189
spare 12
spark 39
sparrow 24
spat 326
speak 939
spear 833
speech 11 78
speed 1 1 37
spell 874
spend I 04 I
spent 1048
spew 680
spill 479
spin 568
spindle 582
spit 808

spoke {pret.) 279
spoke {subs.) 438
spoken 1584
spoon 1655
sprang 164

spring 550
spun 1396
spurn 855
staff 141
stake 277
stalk 85
stall 60
stand 211
stank 179
star 832
stare II
stark 38
starve 851
staves 142
stead 1073
steak 352
steal 873
steam 1254
steed II 36
steel 1 102
steep 1 151
steeple 11 52
steer (1740)
stem 1014

stench 102 1
step 1014
step 1088
stern (1734)
steward 679
stick 615

stiff 533
stile 704
still 478
sting 549
stink 559
stint 590
stir 734

stirrup 470, 705
stock 1583
stolen 1524
stone 420
stood 1686
stool 1631
stop 1618
stork 151 1
storm 1506
strand 212
straw 1244
stream 1255
street n86
strength 1019
stretch 1067
strew 1245
stricken 616
strife 672
strike 711
stroke 437
strong 163
stunt 1416
stye 703
such 617
suck 1471
summer 1420
sun 1394
sunder 1406
sung 1385
sunk (1752)
sup 1442
swain 351
swallow {subs.) 72
swallow {vb.) 890
swam 229
swan 188
swarm 34
swarthy 48
swear 962
sweat 1223
sweep 1 190
sweet 1 145
swell 871
swept 1347
swerve 850
swift 540
swim 597

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

145

swine 691
swing 548
swollen 1522
sword 868, 1365
swore 1628
sworn 1500
swum 1421

Tail 260
take 286
tale 70

tallow 84, 992
tame 237
taper (1714)
tar 837
tart 50
taught 7
teach 1215
team 1258
tear {suds.) 1233
tear (vd.) 836
tease 1205
teem 11 20
-teen 11 17
teeth 1 106
tell 987
ten 924, 1 1 16
Thames 1052
than 186
thane 934
thank 176
that 321
thatch 272
thaw 400
the 827
thee 1090
theft 922
their 347
them 1013
then 187
there 1158
these 504
thew 1240
they 345
thick 614
thief 1326
thigh 1287
thin 776
thine 690
thing 546
think 775
third 473
thirst 741
this 503
thistle 514
thither 634
tho]e(pin) 152 1
thong 160
thorn 1499
thorough 1353

those 395
thou 1445
though 1228
thought (1746)
thousand 1464
thrall 1 197
thread 11 79
threat (1743)
three 1278
thresh 912
thrill 754
thrive 682
throat 1605
throng 159
through 1352
throw 401
thrown 41 1
thumb 14 1 8
thunder 1392
Thursday 1358
thus (1750)
tide 721
tie 1 124
tile 609
till 483
timber 603
time 702

tin 574
tinder 783
to 1625
toad 445
toe 366
(to)gether 308
token 439
told 96
toll 1529
tongs 171
tongue 1388
too 1625
took 1680
tool 1633
tooth 1638
top 1622
tore 18
torn 1504
tough 1626
town 1467
tread 948
tree 1319
trim 787
trod 312
trodden 1600
trough 1576
true 1320
trust 770
truth 1324
Tuesday 528
tun I 40 I
turf 1360
tusk 1373

twain 935
twelve 887
twenty (1738)
twig 610
twine 696
twinkle 562
twins 575
twit 649
two 367

Udder 1473
ugly 1427
(un) couth 1459
under 1402
up 1440
us 1371
utter(ly) 1478

Vane 194

vat 327
vixen 802

Wade 304
wag 247
waggon (1703)
wain (1704)
wake 280
walk 86
wall 61
wallow 73
wan 191
wand 213
wander 215
wane 192
w^nt 221
ward 44
ware 13
warm 33
warn 28
was 113
wash 122
wasp 1005
watch (1709)
water 324
wave 1 1 70
wax 293
way 927
we 109 1
weak 353
weal 876
wean 1029
weapon 1 192
wear 963
weary 1098
weasel 910
weather 944
weave 920
web 1086
wed 1074
wedge 1062

(wed)lock 436
Wednesday 1694
weed 1339
weeds 1180
week 618
ween 11 12
weep 1 153
weevil 534
weigh 1171
weight 1 176
welkin 1533
well (adv.) 875
well (sill's.) 982
Welsh 989
wen 1030
wench 1 022
wend 1042
went 1049
wept 1348
were 1159
west (1730)
wet 1078
wether 905
whale 62
what 325
wheat 1224
wheel 1296
whelk 893
whelp 999
when 193
where 1160
whet 1079
whether 103
whey 1 172
which 620
while 668
whine (1725)
whisper 524
whistle 522
whit 462
white 726
whither 636
who 361
w^hole 371
whom 427
whoop 1698
whore 1627
whose 396
why 815
wick (1731)
wide 718
widow 635
width 638
wield 996
wierd 747
wife 685
wight 461
wild 4S9
wile 667
will -;So

146

HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

willow 481
win 569

wind (sitds.) 583
wind {zil/.) 584
window 585
wine 694
wing 551
wink 560
winnow 570
winter 591
wire 665
wisdom 512
wise 677
wish 766
wit 645
witch 619
with 497
woad 443
woe 360
wolf 1369
woman 598
womb 239

women 599 wreak 940

won (/;rA) 1 90 wreath 1202
won {partic.') 1397 wreck 281
wonder 1409 wren (1737)

woo 1668 wrench (1736)

wood 1434 wrest 1002

wool 1366 wretch 1068

word 1 5 13 Wright 737

work 745, 862, 1364 wring (1723)
world 1490 wrist (1720)

worm 743, 1362 write 725

worse 739
wort 751
worth 842, 1356
wot 450
would 1537

writhe 673
written 646
wrong 166
wrote 451
wroth 387

wound {pret.) 214 wrought 1483
wound(/rt;-//<r.) 1408 wrung 1386
wound {suds.) 1407
wrang 165 Yard {court) 45

wrath 386 yard {measure) 974

yarn 30
ye 1093
yea 1226
year 1232
yearn 856
yeast 516
yell 482
yellow 880
yelp 903
yes 507

yester(day) 521
yet 647
yew 1307
yield 492
yoke 1586
yolk 895
yore 382
you 1306
young 1329
youth 1300,
yule 1297

1337

SUPPLEMENTARY LISTS OF IRREGULAEITIES.

Middle Period.

In the following words ce and ea have become e instead of
the regular a: geer (gear), eern {earn), fern, heercl (beard) ; elf,
belch; whe^er, toge^er ; les, nes, lest, leest (least), gest (guest);
^en, when ; emet, hemp ; wrec, pebl.

It is clear from these exceptional forms that the Old
English ce was quite lost after the Transition period ; as we
see, it was either changed into a, or else mispronounced as e,
just as it would be in the mouth of a foreigner.

The lengthening before r in geer, eern and beercl has many
parallels, and in the case of beercl is confirmed by the Modern
biidd. The present form d9n, however, points rather to em,
with a short vowel. The lengthening in leest, although
anomalous, is supported by ijeest from y est = gist, by the re-
tention of 00 = a in moost, etc., and perhaps by criist (see note
on 518, below).

a for 0 in non-preterites (p. 54) : angl, hang, fang, gang, bang.
0 for a: on, bond, from, womb, comb.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 147

ei preserved : ei (eye), ^ei (they), whei, grei, cei (key) ;
tceih (weigh), neih, nei/i(buur) , eiht (eight), heiht; ^eir; ei'Ser ;
rein{deer).

The Modern forms point mostly to ai. ai {eye) however
comes not from ai=^ei, but from ii. cii (key) is altogether
anomalous ; so also are the two pronunciations ii^er and a'cSar
(either), while the obsolete ei^dr is regular.

i {'//) has become e, 1) regularly after ?/- consonant : 9/el;
pes, yeest, yesterdai; yet. 2) in other words : her, herd (shep-
(herd) ; ne^er ; ^eez (these); eevil; flejd (fledged).

In sneec and reep (sneak, reap) a highly anomalous change
of ii into ee seems to have taken place.

e, eo become «': I'M, filit; mir]> (hnt tneri), birch ; chil, silver,
silc, mile, fiild; sister; ric,wic; cripl, hip {:=hevr j), dip {?).

e becomes K smirc, (jird[l) ; sili, cil, mild ; line; rid; nib.

e becomes a, 1) before r : star, far, tar, darling (from
deorling), farming, carv, starv, barm, dwarf, baru, dare, hare,
hart. 2) in : swalu, brambl.

e becomes a, 1) before r : mar, maar, barlei, marsh, harii,
ham, yard. 2) in : talu (?) ; ivasp) ; handi (?), aach.

e, eo become u : churl, burst, run, spurn, burn ; hung.

e, eo become ii : ii (from edge), HI (from leogan), slii, flii,
tii ; hiih, ]>iih, niih ; diiv (?).

e becomes ee before r : heer, tceeri, heercn, heerd.

In the case of the first two words there is sixteenth
century authority for the ee- sound also.

^=.ee becomes ee, 1) before r in all words except the
doubtful beer. 2) in : meel; bree^ ; eeven (evening) ; \ireed,
dreed; bleet ; weepon.

Three of these, however, are made doubtful by the Modern
]>red, dred, wepon, which point rather to a shortening of the
long vowel at an early period.

eo becomes ee : deer, dreeri ; breesf, cleev (cleave).

There is Early Modern authority for deer as well as deer,
breesf, again, is uncertain on account of the Modern brest.

eo becomes 66: /66z, chooz; sh66t.

Compare chooz fi'om cccts (p. 35), and ^douh from f'fdk
(note to 1228, below).

148 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

CO becomes n(^^) : ymi; ruuh ; yuu]> ; yung}

0 becomes u : murSer, durst, burst (partic.) ; dul; amung,
munger.

o becomes u{ic) : yuu (you); tuuh (tougli); yui<\> ; yung.

The following remarks on tbe diphthongs are intended to
supplement those on pp. 52, 53, above.

Diphthongs are formed not only by g (gh), but also by
medial and final h {^=kh), but only with back vowels, the new
element being always u (never i), which I have already ex-
plained (note p. 80) as a mere secondary formation, due to
the labialization of the following h=Jih : the h is conse-
quently not absorbed, as is the case with g.

The following are examples of genuine /^-diphthongs, in
which h is original, not a later modification of g (p. 79) :

1) from ah : lauh, lauhter, slauhter, faulit, tauht. And
perhaps sau from seah, although the omission of the
h makes it more probable that it arises from some
confusion with the plural sdicon.

2) from ah : douht (ought).

not points to ndduht=:ndht ; naiiht, however, to a
shortened naht.

3) from oh : sov.ht, houM, houht.
For dauhter see note to 1484.

In the following words g has been anomalously preserved,
instead of being diphthongized : wag, tvagon (but also wain),
drag (but also drau), tivig.

A few general remarks on Middle (or rather Early Modern)
English orthography remain to be made.

It is, as we have seen, mainly traditional, but with certain
purely phonetic modifications. The first divergence of sound
and symbol was the retention of ee and oo to denote the new
sounds it and uu, while orig^inal it and uu themselves changed
in the direction of ai and ait. The introduction of ea and oa
to denote the true ee and oo sound was, on the other hand, a
strictly phonetic innovation.

ee and oo were partly j^honetic, partly historical signs —

' I have repeated most of these words again under o.

"BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 149

they denoted tlie sounds ii and uu, and implied at the same
time an earlier ee and 66. But in a few cases it is interesting
to observe that they were employed purely phonetically,
o gainst tradition. An example is afforded by the word
written room, the Old English rum. In the fourteenth
century this word was spelt with the French oic^uu ; but in
the Early Modern period the regular rowm, corresponding with
down, etc., was abandoned, probably because it would, like down,
have suggested the regular diphthong 6u or du, into which the
other old uiis changed, and the word was written phonetically
room, without at all implying a Middle English r66m.
Other examples are door and groom, in which oo may perhaps
represent short n, which it almost certainly does in wool and
icood. The use of single o to denote short u is a well-
known feature of Middle English. It occurs chiefly in com-
bination with 10, «.(=«;), n, and m, and has been explained
(first, I believe, by Dr. J. A. H. Murray) as a purely graphic
substitute for u in combination with letters of similar forma-
tion, to avoid confusion. But such a spelling as tvod would
have suggested an o-sound, as in god. To avoid all possibility
of this pronunciation, the o was therefore doubled. This
spelling is only inaccurate as regards the quantity ; it is,
therefore, difficult to see why it was not adopted in the words
written love, come, etc., which ought by their spelling to in-
dicate the pronunciations I66v, c66m, corresponding to Middle
English loov, coom !

Similar fluctuation between the phonetic and historical
principle is shown in many words written with the digraph
ie. ie is in itself nothing but a substitute for ii, which from
purely graphic reasons was never doubled, as being liable to
confusion with u. The sound of ii was, of course, in most
cases expressed by ee. There were, however, a few words
which preserved their Middle English n-sound throughout the
Early Modern period (and up to the present day) as well.
Such a word as fiild, for instance, if written in the fourteenth
century spelling fild, would have been read, on the analogy
of wild, child, etc., as feild, or fdild, while to have written
feeld would have been a violation of the etymological prin-

150 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

ciple. Both history and sound were saved by the adoption
of ie. The following list of /<?- words will show that, although
ie was sometimes used finally to denote the diphthongized
sound, it invariably denoted the simple ii medially : hie, lie,
die, tie; wierd ; yield, shield, icield, field ; priest; believe, sieve;
lief, thief; fiend, friend.

In sieve we have an instance of ie used to denote a short
vowel (compare wool, etc.) ; possibly the ie was employed
simply to prevent the combination sine, which would have
been graphically ambiguous.

Modern Period.

The general rule which governs the retention and modifi-
cation of a before sibilants seems to be that it is retained
before breath consonants, but changed to ce before voice con-
sonants. Thus we find fez, hcez, hcev contrasting with a{a)s,
gras, asc, last, staf, after. The change to ee takes place, how-
ever, before sh, although voiceless : cesh, rcesh. Also in cespen}
In the same way a followed by n and a voice consonant
becomes w, as in cend, hcend, cenvil; but if the consonant
which comes after the n is voiceless, there is no change, as in
ansdr, 2^1'^nt, ant. These laws do not apply to a when followed
by the other nasals, in which cases it is always changed:
scene, drmic; dcenij).

a has been preserved in the following words : mii : shiidr,
iviidd ; shiild, wiild,fiild, yiild ; wiivdl, wiic.

Of these words the first only has i in O.E. ; all the others
are Middle E. lengthenings of i, corresponding sometimes to
original ?', sometimes to e or e. It is worthy of note that all
of them are written with ie, except shiidr, uiivdl, and wiik,
which are written shire, weevil, tceek. The last two spellings
with e, which go back as far as the fourteenth century, seem
to indicate some confusion with ee, although we would rather
expect the broad ee, as in sneec for sniic. It is, however,

1 Note, however, that aspen is a dissyllable, with a liquid in the second syllable :
but we have after, not cejter.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 151

possible that these ees, may be simply Early Modern phonetic
spellings, like roo7n=ruum.

ee has become ei (instead of ii) : yii (yea) ; hreic ; greit}

u has been preserved, 1) after w : tvuman, wul, tvtilf,
mmnd, wud (not in ivatubr). 2) in other cases : ful, hul{dc) ;
grum.

uu has been preserved (sometimes with shortening) : bimr
(boor) ; dncnu} ; cud (could) ; ruum (room) ; bruc (brook).

66 has been preserved : houv ; div6uc.

66 has become d : d^er, md^er, dd}, bra^ar ; gbv ; man},
mdndi, ddn; fldd, bbd.

For dvn and shdvt see notes to 1553 and 1556.

The series of changes is clearly 66, uu, u, d ; the second
and third belonging to the Early Modern, the last to the
Transition period. The anomalous spelling othe)\ etc., in-
stead of oother, was probably meant to indicate the shortness
of the u=^66. To infer from it a Middle E. dd%er would be
as unreasonable as in the case of love, come, etc., where the u
was certainly never lengthened or lowered to do.

Under the head of consonant influence the loss of the
initial element of the diphthong iuu or yuu ought to have
been noticed in its place. It takes place after r and /, but
not after stops, nasals, and sibilants : ruu, gruu, emu ; fluu,
dim; also in chuu {lyuud is an exception), yuu; liyuu; \yuu;
fyuu ; nytnc ; dyuii ; styuu ; spyuu.

The development of the diphthong 6u out of ol in the
combination olc ought also to have been noticed ; it occurs in
two words : y6uc (yolk), f6uc (folk).

Also the change of a into 6 before If, in holt, soli, molt.

NOTES TO THE WORD LISTS.

No. 3. eiht. A solitary exception to the general change of
aht into auht. There is Early Mod. evidence for aiht as well
as eiht.

1 For tlie preservation of ee before r in heer, etc., see p. 68.

152 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

6. faiiht. Salesbury writes fauht, and the spelling fought
seems merely due to confusion with the partic. fouhten from
O.E. gefohten.

15. ndru, etc. These words are not derived direct from
the nom. nearu, but from the oblique cases, neance becoming
neanc, whence nam, by weakening of the final w. caru, on
the other hand, which has care in the oblique cases, naturally
lengthens its vowel — caar.

25. geer from geanca is only an apparent exception to the
rule just stated, the long vowel being probably due to the r.
The loss of the w is, however, anomalous.

68. slicel, for shool. An isolated exception to the develop-
ment of au before /.

68. ceallian. This word occurs in the poem of Byrhtno^ ;
it may therefore possibly be English, although Norse in-
fluence in so late a work is quite possible.

71. haal. Exceptionally taken from the nom. healu, not
from the oblique healic- (see note to 15, above).

81. psahn. The^; is, of course, purely pedantic; the word
may, however, be French.

84. twig. The vowel is doubtful, and I have given the
word again under e (992).

89, 91. alder, alderman. The exceptional retention of the
a may be due to the liquid in the second syllable : compare
the short i in wunder, etc., as contrasted with ituund (p. 47).

132. castel. This word, although of French origin, was
in familiar use in English many years before the Conquest.

140. hauc, from havoc through havec, haio{e)c. The con-
verse change has taken place in icaav (1170) ; the series was
probably wag, icaaw, loaav.

150. cloover. The only parallel is load from hladan (298).

168, 169. monger, among. The ^^sound, for which there
is Early Middle authority, as well as for o, is anomalous.

181. eni. The Early form (or one of them) was ani with
short a (as Gill expressly states) ; the present form eni may
therefore be explained as an irregular variation of the normal
(Bni.

182. hemp seems to point to an O.E. hcenep (cp. 187).

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 153

187, 193. then, ivhen. These clearly arise from the Late
O.E. ^cenne and whcenne with abnormal modification of a
before nasals (p. 26).

229. swcem for stcom. m seems to bar the retention of a
for w in the same way in the word dcemp (p. 150).

246, 248. slai, flai, instead of slau, flau. The subs, siege
may have helped the former irregularity.

253. daun. dag{e)nian ought to give dain, but the analogy
of the regular Middle E. daives from dagas helped.

270. acorn. The o is probably inorganic, the result of
association with co^^n.

298. lood. cp. clbover (150).

303. shaad for sceadro-. cp. haal, 71.

324. water. The Modern icooter, with its long vowel, is
anomalous.

331. got, inorganic, from the analogy of the partic. *begoten.

343. pebi, frova jxepol or pcebol (?).

344. ai. The modern form is a solitary case of retention
of the diphthong.

350. rein. The older spelling raindeer should have been
given.

352. The Middle sfeec and its change into the Modern
steic are both anomalous.

353. weak may possibly come from the O.E. wdc, through
w^c.

355. dii, from dey{ja) ; cp. ii for ei from edge (1121).

357. Id. If the Modern loo (written law) really corre-
sponds to the O.E. Id, we have a second instance (besides
brood) of the retention of do. treysta (770) should have been
referred to here.

372. JiaaL A solitary and dubious instance of the reten-
tion of O.E. a.

389. nothing. The Modern a is probably due to the analogy
of icdn (415) and ndn.

396. tchodz, read ivhooz. The Modern uu is better evidence
than the spelling ivhose.

400. ])au, points seemingly to an O.E. \>dwan.

415. icon. The most probable explanation is that wd is

154 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

simply tlie Early Modern 66 with its labial and guttural
elements pronounced successively instead of simultaneously
(p. 14).

418. ndn. Not a case of 66 becoming d through uu and u,
but simply due to the analogy of icdn.

429. dami. The O.E. a in this word must have been
shortened at a very early period, else we should have had clomi.

440. -h66cl. A solitary instance of 66 becoming 66 in
Middle English (except after to).

447. hr66d. Retention of Middle English 66 from a.

491. gild. Exceptional retention of short L cp. gild (from
gyldan) and hyld (760, 761).

518. cni^t. The ch is, of course, no evidence; but the
word may be French. Compare, however, leht (126) and
yeed (520), with the same lengthening before st.

528. teuzdai. The spelling ue indicates the later simplifi-
cation yy.

534. loiivil. It is uncertain whether the spelling ee indi-
cates a Middle English tceevil or is purely phonetic.

604. island. The s is purely etymological and erroneous.

707. rich. May be French.

760, 761. gild, hyld. Exceptional retention of the short
vowels. There is, however. Early Middle authority for byyld
as well.

796. luck. The word lukka in Icelandic is said to be of
late introduction, otherwise it would fit in very well. I have
formed lycci from the Danish lykke.

847. \>r(esh may be a modification of \resh, as eni seems to
be of ceni (181).

860. iceberg. Probably foreign (Dutch?).

868. sirnird', or from u (1365).

870. heert and hart are both independent modifications of
hert.

881. cwail. Compare hair (1157) from h&r. The history
of these two spellings requires investigation : it is possible
that the ai is merely a comparatively late representation of
the sound ee, introduced after the simplification of the diph-
thong ai (p. 65).

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 155

934. ])aan for ]>am. Here, again, the spelling may be
late. The Modern ]>ein would correspond to either ]>aan or

956. nebh. The vowel is more probably e (1087).

1005. ivasp points rather to iccesp than wesp ; both forms
may, however, have existed.

1017. w^ng (551) should come in here.

1036. clenz. The spelling ea certainly points to eleenz, but
the Modern form is against it, and it is possible that the ea
may be a purely etymological reminiscence.

1038. handi may be merely a late derivative of hand.

1052. temz. The spelling is evidently a pedantic adapta-
tion of the Latin T{h)a)nesis.

1054. au. This form (instead of ai) is very anomalous.
The most probable explanation is that ege was made into cege
by the same confusion between the two vowels as in wesp
(1005), and that (ege then became age, which was irregularly
diphthongized into au{e).

1057. hej points rather to hecg than hege, which would
give hai.

1058, 1060. lai, sai. These forms (instead of lej, sej)
point rather to some such inflection as the imperative lege,
sege.

1064. aacJi. Another case of confusion between e and cb —
ecc, cBce, ace, aach.

1105. cnela. The Icelandic expression is hiefalla, but
hncele is found in Danish.

1135. read. I have given the word again under ee (1218),
as it is quite uncertain whether it had e or ^ in O.E. : the
assumed derivation from rbdjan favours the former, the MSS.
usage the latter.

1157. hair. cp. cwail (881).

1171. weih, etc. Anomalous retention of gh in the form
of h.

1228. ^dduh. The stages were probably '^eaah, '^aah, ^ddh,
^douh.

1239. ran. Apparently from an intermediate /ired2t'; cp.
]>au (400).

156 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

1241, 1242. slodu, shddu. The same dropping of the first
element of O.E. eaa, as in the previous word. All these
forms are important, as showing that the second element of
the diphthong had the accent and was long.

1244. strau. cp. 1239.

1276. chapman. Points to a shortened ea, which naturally-
passed into a.

1292. darling. From shortened eo — deor-, deor-, der-,
dar-Ung.

1295. foKr]). Probably formed directly from the Middle
English /o?(r itself.

1306. yuu. Here the first element of the diphthong is
consonantized, and the final w thrown ofi", as in trM, cnee, etc.

1333. friend. The Modern frend points to a very early
shortened form, which probably co-existed with the older
friend.

1353, 1363. thorough, borough. The Modern 9 points to
])uruh and hiiruh, and it is possible that the o is a mere
graphic substitute for u.

1370. shoulder for shaulder. The most probable explana-
tion is that shiiulder became shoulder in the Early Modern
period, and the 6u became 66u before Id, and so was con-
founded with the 66u xnfldou, etc.

1380. eleven. Agrees rather with the other form endleofon.

1460. ciiuld. The / is, of course, due to the analogy of
wunld and shuuld.

1470. riiuh may possibly come from hreoh (1288).

1484. daiihter. The anomalous an may be due to Norse
influence, as Danish has datter (Icelandic dottir) : I do not
know, however, that the Danish form is of any antiquity.

1519. holu. The final h of holh seems to have been first
vocalized (and labialized), and then merged into iv, which, as
in naru, etc., was weakened into u.

1521. sicouln, etc. The development of ou in the combina-
tions ol, old, is Early Modem, and should have been mentioned
(p. 61). The phoneticians make the o long, writing tooul
[ — toll), etc. Its preservation in the present English is,
therefore, quite regular, as in flou from Middle E. floou, etc.

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 157

1530. bouL Here, again, the sixteentli century authori-
ties write hooul. The spelling hoivl is, of course, phonetic
and unhistorical.

1533. iveicin. cp. icednesdai (1694).

1540. fro\, etc. The quantity of o before ]), s, and / is
very uncertain in the present English, but the longs seem to
be getting the upper hand.

1553. oven. The Modern dvn points rather to ooven than
the regular ooven.

1556. sliovel. The Modern sJidvl, again, points to an earlier
shiivl, which may be a shortening of shuiwei=^sh66vel, as was
suggested in the case of oven. Or the form shuvel may be
due to the analogy of the verb shuv=^scufan.

1667, 1670. sleti, dreu. The most probable explanation is
that sloog first became sloou, and then this was confused with
the numerous preterites in eooio {greoiv, cneow, etc.), and
followed the same change into en.

1694. Wednesday, cp. welcin (1533).

ON THE PERIODS OF ENGLISH.

One of the most troublesome questions of English philo-
logy is that of the designation of its various stages. I have
throughout this paper adojDted the threefold division of Old,
Middle, and Modern : it will, therefore, be necessary to say a
few words in its justification.

The first question is, shall we retain the name "Anglo-
Saxon " for the earliest period of our language, or discard it
entirely? The great majority of English scholars are de-
cidedly hostile to the word. They argue that it is a barbarous
half-Latin compound, which, although justifiable as applied
to a political confederation of Angles and Saxons, is entirely
misleading when applied to the language spoken by these
tribes, implying, as it does, that the English language before
the Conquest was an actual mixture of the Anglian and
Saxon dialects. The reverse was of course the case, and we
consequently have to distinguish between the Anglian dialect

158 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

of Anglo-Saxon and the Saxon dialect of Anglo-Saxon.^
The most serious objection, however, to the word Anglo-
Saxon is that it conceals the unbroken development of our
language, and thrusts the oldest period of our language out-
side the pale of our sympathies. • Hence, to a great extent,
the slowness with which the study of our language makes its
way among the great mass of educated people in England —
if people can be called educated who are ignorant of the
history of their own language.

These arguments have lately been vigorously attacked by
a leading English philologist — Professor March. In his able
essay ^ he brings out the distinctive features of the two ex-
treme periods very forcibly, and has so far done good service.
At the same time, he has greatly exaggerated the difference
between the two periods. Thus, in phonology, he says that
Anglo-Saxon had sounds now lost in English, such as French
u, German ch, and initial ?p/, tor, and that i and ic have be-
come diphthongs. Now any one who has read this paper
with any attention will see that this part of the argument is
worth very little, for all these sounds were preserved un-
changed in the sixteenth century, which belongs unmistakably
to the Modern period.

The well-known statement that Johnson's Dictionary con-
tains 29,000 Romance words out of 43,500 is a great ex-
aggeration. A large proportion of these 29,000 are words
which are never used in ordinary speech or writing, very
many of them are quite unknown to the majority of educated
people, and not a few of them never existed in the language
at all. When we speak of the proportion of Romance
elements in English, we mean the English of every-day life,
not of dictionaries and technical works,^ and of the two ex-

^ If any period of our language is to be called " Anglo-Saxon," let it be the
present one — as far, at least, as the literary language is concerned, which is really
a mixture of Saxon and Anglian forms.

2 Is there an Anglo-Saxon Language ? Transactions of the American Philo-
logical Association, 1872.

^ On such one-sided grounds as these it would be easy to prove that Modem
German is quite as mixed as Enylish is. Observe the proportion of forciirn and
native words in the following passages, taken at random from a work published
this year:

"Wieniawski, der Paganinispieler par excellence, zeigt sich da, wo er mit

BY HEISIRY SWEET, ESQ. 159

tremes, the estimate of Turner is certainly fairer than that of
Thommerel.

The real distinction between the two stages lies, of course,
in the comparatively uninflectional character of the present
language and its analytical reconstruction. But the old inflec-
tions are not all lost ; we still have our genitive, our plurals in
s and en, and in our verbs the Teutonic strong preterite
is still common. And it must be borne in mind that even
the Oldest English inflections are beginning to break up.
There is no s or r in the nominative singular, consequently
no distinction between nominative and accusative in many
words, no distinction whatever of gender in the plural of
adjectives, or of person in the plural of verbs. The imper-
fect case terminations are already eked out by prepositions —
he civceS id me is much more like English than Latin or even
German.

And if we take the intermediate stages into consideration,
we find it simply impossible to draw a definite line. Professor
March acknowledges this, but takes refuge in a distinction
between colloquial and literary speech, which last, he says,
has much more definite periods. Professor March surely
forgets that for scientific purposes artificial literary speech is
worth nothing compared with that of every-day life, with its
unconscious, unsophisticated development. It is, besides,
very questionable whether there ever was an artificial literary
prose language in England in early times.

While difiering from Professor March on these points, I
fully agree with him in protesting against the loose way in
which "Old English" is made to designate any period from.
Alfred to Chaucer. It is quite clear that the inflectional
stage of our language must have a distinctive name, and
therefore that Old English must be reserved for it alone.

Sch-vvierigkeiten und Effecten d la Paganini spielt, in seinem eigentlichen Elemente;
seine Compositionen sind daher fiir exclusive Virtuonen nicht ohne Interesse. Die-
selben woUen mit voilkommenster technischer Freiheit, ubermiithiger Laune und
Feuer gespielt sein, Yor alien die Variationen Opus 11 — echte mtisikalische Mix-
pickles." '
" Ein e_fect\o\\es Virtuosenstiick in Paganini'scher Manier."
" Das kurze Thema ist mit poetischer Simplicitdt zu spielen."
Compare these specimens with the Lord's Prayer, or a page of Swift or Defoe.

160 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

The difficulty is with the later stages. The period I call
Middle English is now often called " Early English," while
those who retain " Anglo-Saxon " call the intermediate
periods "Semi-Saxon" or " Old English," while others make
various arbitrary distinctions between " Early," " Old," and
"Middle" English. It does not seem to be generally ac-
knowledged that each of these terms really implies a definite
correlative, that if we call one period " Early," we are bound
to have a "Late " one, and that " Middle " implies a beginn-
ing and an end — to talk therefore of one period as " Early,"
as opposed to a " Middle " one, is entirely arbitrary.

Such divisions err also in being too minute. "When we
consider how one period merges into another, and how the
language changed with much greater rapidity in the North
than in the South, we see that it is necessary to start
with a few broad divisions, not with impracticably minute
ones.

I propose, therefore, to start with the three main divisions
of Old, Middle, and Modern, based mainly on the inflectional
characteristics of each stage. Old English is the period of
full inflections {nama, gifan, cam). Middle English of levelled
inflections {naame, given, caare), and Modern English of lost
inflections (naam, giv, caar). We have besides two periods of
transition, one in which nama and name exist side by side, and
another in which final e is beginning to drop. The latter is
of very little importance, the former, commonly called Semi-
Saxon (a legitimate abbreviation of Semi-Anglo-Saxon), is
characterized by many far-reaching changes. I propose,
therefore to call the first the Transition period par excellence,
distinguishing the two, when necessary, as first and second
Transition, the more important one being generally called
simply Transition or Transition-English.

Whenever minute divisions are wanted, Early and Late
can be used — Early Old, Late Middle, Early Modern, etc.
Still minuter distinctions can be made by employing Earlier,
Earliest, etc., till we fall back on the century or decade.

These divisions could also be applied to the difierent dialect-
names. Thus Old Anglian would be equivalent to " Anglian

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ. 161

dialect of Old English," Modern Saxon would designate the
Dorsetshire dialect, etc.

As regards the Northern dialects of the Middle period, they
ought strictly to be classed as Modern, as they soon lost the
final e entirely. But as they have all the other characteris-
tics of the Middle period, it seems most convenient to take
the dominant speech of Chaucer and Gower as our criterion.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

First of all I have a few words to say on the relation of
the present essay to Mr. Ellis's great work.

As regards my obligations to Mr. Ellis, I can only say,
once for all, that without his investigations this essay would
never have been written. It is essentially based on his re-
sults, of which, in some places, it is little more than a
summary ; while I have throughout drawn largely on the
enormous mass of material stored up in the " Early English
Pronunciation."

In going over the same ground as Mr. Ellis, it is but
natural that I should occasionally arrive at conclusions
different from his, as, for instance, in the important question
of the two ees and oos in Middle English, and in that of the
preservation of short ?/ in the Early Modern period.

But I have not been satisfied with merely summarizing
and criticizing Mr. Ellis's views, but have also endeavoured
to carry his method a step further, by combining his results
with the deductions of the ^historical school inaugurated by
Rask, and perfected by Grimm and his followers in Germany.
Mr. Ellis's great achievement was to determine generally the
phonetic values of the Roman alphabet in England at the
different periods, and to establish the all-important principle
that the Middle Age scribes wrote not by eye, but by ear, and
consequently that their varying orthographic usage is a
genuine criterion of their pronunciation. It has, therefore,
been possible for me in the present essay to turn my atten-
tion more exclusively to the sounds themselves, and the wider

162 HISTORY OF ENGLISH SOUNDS.

generalizations obtainable from an examination of the various
changes, which generalizations can again be applied to the
elucidation and confirmation of the individual changes them-
selves. Many of the general principles s'tated at the be-
ginning of the essay are, I believe, new and original ; such,
for instance, as the threefold divisions of sound-changes into
organic, inorganic, and imitative, the sketch of the relations
between sound and symbol (general alphabetics) , the deter-
mination of the laws which govern the changes of short and
long vowels in the Teutonic languages, etc.

I have also added to our stock of phonetic material, both
by the observations on the pronunciation of Modern English
and the living Teutonic languages, and also by the full lists
of Old English words with their Middle and Modern equiva-
lents, which aflPord a sound basis both for testing the views I
have developed, and for carrying out further investigation.

It need hardly be said that the present essay is but a
meagre sketch of what would be a really adequate history of
English sounds. An investigation of every dialect and
period, even if only on the meagre and imperfect scale here
attempted, would fill many volumes. And yet till this is
done, we cannot say that the foundations of a scientific
English phonology are even laid. And it is only on such
investigations that a satisfactory investigation of inflection
and syntax can be based.

It was, therefore, absolutely necessary for me to limit my
programme as much as possible. Hence the omission of any
reference to our dialects, and the comparative neglect of the
Middle period. Most of my results are obtained from a
direct comparison with Old and Modern English : they are,
therefore, to a certain extent, only tentative. In one point
they are specially defective, namely as regards the deductions
drawn from our present traditional orthography. Although
this orthography is, on the whole, a very faithful representa-
tion of the pronunciation of the time when it settled into its
present fixity, yet there are many of its details which urgently
require a more minute examination. In short, we want a
thorough investigation of the orthography of the sixteenth

BY HENRY SWEET, ESQ.

163

and seventeenth centuries, based on an examination not only
of printed works, but also of manuscripts of all kinds. Such,
an investigation would not fail to yield valuable results.

Of the very considerable labour entailed in the present
work, a large portion was expended on the lists. These I
at first intended merely to consist of a certain number of
examples of each change, but it proved so difficult to draw
any definite line of exclusion that I determined to make them
as full as possible, excluding only obsolete and doubtful
words. There are a large number of words which, although
of undoubted Teutonic origin, cannot be assigned to any Old
English parent. Again, many Old English words given in
the dictionaries without any reference, merely on the authority
of Lye and Somner, are of very dubious existence. Many
of them I believes to be gueses, formed by analogy from
purely Modern words, while others are clearly taken from
Transition texts. These I have often omitted, especially
when they did not seem to ofier any new points of interest.
I am fully conscious of the inconsistencies and errors I have
fallen into in preparing these lists, but I believe they are in-
evitable in a first attempt of this kind. It would have been
easy to give my work a false appearance of fullness and
finish, by suppressing the lists altogether; but I preferred to
give them out, imperfect as they are, and rely on the indul-
gence of those who are alone competent to judge my work —
those, namely, who have been engaged in similar initiatory
investigations.

PRINTED UT STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, HERTFORD.

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

I. DEVONSHIRE.

AN EXMOOE SCOLDING AND COUETSHIP.

II. WESTMORELAND.

A BEAN NEW WAEK.

SPECIMENS

ENGLISH DIALECTS.

I. DEYONSHIRE.

EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP,

EDITED BY

F. T. ELWORTHY, ESQ.

II. WESTMORELAND.

A BRAN NEW WARK.

EDITED BY

THE REV. PROFESSOR SKEAT.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED FOR THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY,
BY TRUBNER & CO., 57 & 59, LUDGATE HILL.

1879.

jjung a u :

CLAY AND TATLOR, PRINTEBS.

CONTENTS OF PART I,

Introduction to Pabt I.

I. DEVONSHIRE.

Editor's Preface ...

The Somersetshire Man's Complaint

An Exmoob Scolding

Postscript and Various Readings ...

EXMOOR CoURTSflIP ...

Abridged Key to the Glossic System of Spelling

Various Readings ...

Glossary (with additions by the Editor)

II. WESTMORELAND.

A Bran New Wabk
Vabious Readings ...
Notes (by the Editor)
Glossary (by the Editor) ...

vii

ELLING ... 110

... 112

... 116

... 177

... 209

... 210

... 214

INTRODUCTION TO PART I.

BY PROFESSOR SKEAT.

It has always been the intention of the English Dialect Society to
reprint certain Selected Specimens of various dialects, in order to
exhibit them, as it were, in their living state. But there were several
other undertakings of more immediate importance, such as the Biblio-
graphical List in particular, which required more immediate attention.

After the completion of the Bibliographical List, the reprinting
of twenty-two Glossaries, and the issuing of various other publica-
tions which are, Ave hope, of sufficient interest and importance to be
placed before the members of the Society, it was to be expected that
a wish should be expressed for the reprinting of specimens of the
living speech. In order to meet this want in some degree, the present
Part has been undertaken. The two pieces which have first received
attention are sufficiently well-known and have a certain admitted
value of their own, such as to render them worthy of being issued to
members at some time or other, and they are accordingly issued now.

It is quite true that the ' Exmoor Scolding and Courtship ' have
been reprinted over and over again, and may, in fact, be bought in a
cheap form at a railway book-stall, but the present reprint is very
different from those that have preceded it. The editor has not only
given us a glossic version, but has added numerous notes, all of much
value and interest. We are now told whether the writer is at any
moment using the true dialect of the peasantry or whether he is
indulging in literary English, and even inventing, here and there,
forms such as do not accord with the living speech at all. Thus the
first of our Specimens is issued under very favourable circumstances,
and cannot but prove extremely useful as an authoritative book of
reference. The Scolding and Courtship were evidently written, in the
first instance, merely to amuse ; but, after the lapse of more than
a century, during which time they have been reprinted at least a
score of times, they now serve a more useful purpose as specimens

VUl SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

which, notwithstanding certain faults, possess a permanent philolo-
gical interest ; particularly in the numher of words and grammatical
forms which, though common in English of a much earlier date, are
now obsolete in literary English, hut are preserved in these dialogues,
and are still living in the spoken dialect.

Of ' The Bran IsTew AVark ' it is not necessary to say much. It is
not exactly in the spoken dialect, hut rather a piece of literary
English abounding in the use of provincial words, written by one
who was familiar with the living speech. Instead of being an
accessible book, like the preceding, it is very scarce, which was an
additional reason for reprinting it. I have pointed out that there
were really two editions of it, which differ but slightly. The
various readings are given at p. 209. The construction of the
Glossarial Index was rather tedious than difficult. I have shewn
that most of the words used by the author are such as are explained
in the very first glossary reprinted by the Society, and that there are
grounds for believing that we thus possess what are, in fact, the
author's own explanations. As to one or two words, such as
prickings and fluslicocks, I had a little difficulty ; but on submitting
the proof-sheets to Mr. "W. Jackson, of Eleatham House, Carnforth,
these words were promptly and definitely solved, and I beg leave to
express my thanks for this timely assistance. To make quite sure,
Mr. Jackson took the trouble to send me a ' fiushcock ' and a ' sieve '
by post ; and, on submitting these to the inspection of Mr. Britten,
he at once pronounced them to be Jnncus lam.procar2ms and Juncus
effiisus : a result which is highly satisfactory.

It is hardly possible to say wheu the present series of reprints
will be continued. It is easy, on the one hand, to say that ' more
ought to be done ; ' but experience shews, on the other hand, that
it is by no means easy to find editors who will give us their time
and take sufficient pains ; whilst it is at the same time undesirable
that the supervision of the reprints should be lightly taken in hand
and perfunctorily performed. If some of our members who are
anxious to see more of these reprints, and Avho have the necessary
knowledge, will offer their services as editors whilst indicating
specimens which are Avorth reprinting, they will do the Society a
great service. Otherwise suggestions as to what is wanted rather
tend to embarrassment than afford hearty and geniiine help.

DEYONSHIRE

THE EXMOOR SCOLDING

AND

COUETSHIP

(two dialogues of the beginning of the XVIII. century) ;

ALSO

THE SOMERSETSHIRE MAN'S COMPLAINT
(a poem of a full century earlier).

THE ORIGINAL TEXTS EDITED, COLLATED, AND ABRANGED, WITH A COMPLETE

TRANSCRIPT IN GLOSSIC, THE VOCABULARY ENLARGED, AND THE

WHOLE ILLUSTRATED WITH COPIOUS NOTES, BY

FREDERIC THOMAS ELWORTHY,

MEMBER OF COUNCIL OF THE PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

The great value to students of any true specimens of South-
Western English Dialects consists in the fact that they are the living
descendants of what was once the literary and courtly language of
England. From the time of Alfred or earlier, until after the
Norman Conquest, for a period of some two hundred and fifty years
before 1100 — the West-Saxon English of Alfred, or, as it is called,
the Anglo-Saxon, was the only written or literary form of speech of
the country, and it is in the main to the writings of that period that
we must look for the ground-work upon which our modern English
has been built up. Then came the l^orman Conquest with its vast
revolution ; after which, until far on in the fourteenth century, English
as a national and recognized language did not exist. French and Latin
were the written languages of the Court and of the Church — of all
officials, and of all Ecclesiastics. All this while, however, English was
still the vernacular, and consequently throughout the period are to be
found various examples of this spoken tongue, written down with more
or less accuracy of spelling in the different dialects spoken by the
respective authors. These writings, however, were but dialects, and
however valuable they may now be to us, as samples of the talk of
our forefathers, they were, at the time they were written, to the
dominant governing classes, much the same as similar writings would
be now, if written in Welsh or Gaelic. One consequence of the
utter disuse of English as the official tongue was, that the native
writer of each district began to write according to the varieties of his
native speech, and hence are found wide divergences from the original
tongue in form and pronunciation. These have been classified
according to the districts in which they prevailed, as Early Southern

English, Early Midland English, and Early Northern English.

B 2

4 SPECIMENS UK EMGLISH DIALECTS.

Until about a.d. 1300, we have specimens only of the two former,
but from that date to about 1400 the three forms of English existed
together, and in them can be traced the various changes, the constant and
inevitable assimilation of foreign words, and the consequent develop-
ments of the language down to the time of Wycliffe and Chaucer.
It may be said that during this period of nearly three hundred years,
English, as a literary language, was in a larviform stage, seemingly
inactive and despised, but yet going on Avith its life — now casting
a slough of inflexion, now changing its construction, until at last it
reasserts its claim to be the language of the people, through the two
great writers of it — Wycliffe and Chaucer, and the father of English
typography, "William Caxton. These all spoke the INIidland dialect
and wrote in it, and henceforth the Midland became the literary
form, which has developed into what is now the recognized standard
of modern English. But for this accidental and fortuitous exaltation
of the Midland dialects, our modern speech might have been based
on the Southern form, and in that case it would now have been polite
to say ' th-e yield was a zowed vath zeed — you can zee how vast it do
growy,' &C.1

That this is so, a mere cursory glance through some of the
Southern writers of the thirteenth century will abundantly show.
In the 'Ancren Eiwle,' about a.d. 1220, we find /or spelt vo/- ; ///,
vU-^e ; fourth, veor'S ; fifth, vfte, &c. ' Eobert of Gloucester,' about
1300, we find s-pelt first, verst ; fast, vaste and iiaste ; fair, voir, &c.
Later and last, 'John of Trevisa,' about 1387, has /or spelt ?;or;
fn-th, for]) : few, veaw ; fight, vy^te, &c.

Besides these peculiarities, there are many others which though
common enough in the Western Dialects, are not polite English —
yet we find them written by these old writers precisely as they are
spoken to-day. For instance, 'Eobert of Gloucester' says, as j)ft
hende he dude verst. The same word dude for did or acted, would
be so spoken now. Again, ]>o is used by him for then — so it is
commonly now — liche, the common adverbial affix then, is li/i-e now.

1 All this is very ably and fully treated by Dr. Murray in the ai-ticle,
English Language,' in the ' Encyclopedia Britauiiica,' New Ed. 1879.

editor's preface, 5

instead of the modern and polite Jij. See W. S. Gram., p. 81. Tlie
inflexion of the infinitive, in intransitive verbs, the pecaliar charac-
teristic of modern South-Western dialects, exists in precisely the
same form as in the modern dialects in ' Robert of Gloucester.' For
instance, where J3e due Willam anon uorhed alle Ms, \at non nere so
icod to robbi/ : ne no maner harm do pere. (See W. S. Gram., p. 49.)

A common form at present in South- Western dialects of the
past participle of to he is it-hee, instead of been, the polite.
' Eobert of Gloucester ' spells this ibe, and in the ' Exmoor Scold-
ing ' it is a be'.

The latest writer of note in the English of South- Western England
was John of Trevisa, and in his ■writings are many of the peculiarities
still found in the South- Western dialects — as eame]) for runneth ; a
for he, &c. After his time, which was contemporary Avith Chaucer,
we look in vain for specimens of the South- Western English — indeed,
thenceforward it existed only as a dialect, and was used, much as it now
is in ' Punch,' as an example of an uncouth, barbarous form of the
language, fit only to be the type of clowndom. It has, however,
been handed down in its spoken form with fewer departures from
its parent stock than its sister dialect, the Midland — now become the
English of literature ; so that in a living form are now to be heard in
the South- West, words and pronunciation which have remained un-
altered at least since the time of Simon de Montfort. To trace back
these forms from the present to those times is a study of great interest,
and it is moreover the best means of understanding the true history
of the language. For this purpose it is desirable to discover, and to
preserve every scrap of writing in which any South- Western dialectal
expressions occur. From the xiv. century to Shakspere, a period of
over two hundred years, excepting the ' Chronicon Vilodunense,' a
poem of Old Wiltshire dialect of about 1420, there is a blank. The
newly invented printing-press, during all this time, seems to have had
no type for any but INIidland and Northern writers ; until at last we
have, in our great dramatist, a mere fragment in ' King Lear ' (Act
IV. sc. vi.). This, however, is of great value as the first instance
of the Ich (I, ego) of earlier writers having become ch before a vowel
and ise before a consonant. No doubt these few words put into

b SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

the mouth of Edgar, were mere stage dialect, but the v's and z's, then
as now, served to mark a Southern speech, and were even then
assumed as befitting a clown's disguise. Ben Jonson, in his 'Tale
of a Tub,' makes several of his characters pronounce their /'s and ss
as V and z. Also in the first two scenes he makes Hilts use Ich and
ch for I, but this form is not continued throughout the play. Jonson
makes his characters use some very unmistakable West Country
phrases — as * Valentine's Eve was thirty year,' /. e. ' 30 years ago on
Valentine's Eve' (Act I. sc. i.). * IliiJc same ;' ^un^ ^hun'' for Mm.
This too, is but stage dialect, like his friend Shakspere's ; for he makes
To-pan say, ' 0 you mun look,' &c., in the same sentence with zin
and zure — thus mixing l^orthern with Western.

Two or three fragments of Somersetshire are all that exist of the
seventeenth century — of these the most important is ' The Somerset-
shire Man's Complaint,' said to have been written by one Thomas
Davies, between 1614 and 1648. It is preserved in the Lansdowne
MS. 674, in the British Museum. I am indebted to Mr. Herrtage's
industry for a copy of this from the original MS., and it is here
printed for the second time only. It first appeared in Brayley's
'Graphic and Historical Illustrator,' 1834. Mr. Herrtage was
unaware of this fact, stated in the Bibliographical List, Series A,
Part II., published by this Society, and is quite entitled to all the
credit of a discovery.

The * Complaint ' was evidently written about the time of the
great rebellion, but except as a link in the long chain of years from
' Trevisa ' doAvn to the ' Exmoor Scolding,' it is of little value. It is
a literary production, and its Somersetshireisms are just those to be
found in Shakspere's fragment. They prove the prevalence in the
seventeenth century of the ch for /, which, as seen in the ' Exmoor
Scolding,' was very common for more than a hundred years later, but
which is now no longer a feature of Somerset dialect, and except in
a very circumscribed district is quite obsolete.

As a specimen of the dialect the ' Complaint ' is very inferior to
the ' Scolding and Courtship,' and yet it must have been written by
a West country man, for no other would have used the word agreed
in the sense it implies in v. 5.

editor's preface. 7

THE SOMEESETSHIRE MAN'S COMPLAINT.

Gods Boddikins 'c hill worke no more
dost tliinke 'e hill labor to be poore

no no ich haue a doe.^
If this be nowe the world & trade
that I must breake & Rogues be made

Ich will a plundring too.

'Chill sell my cart & eake my Plow
and get a zwird if I know how

for I meane to be right
'Chill learne to drinke to sweare to roare
to be a Gallant, drab, & whore

no matter tho nere fight.

But first a warrant that is vitt
from Mr.2 Captaine I doe gett

twill make a sore a doo
For then 'c haue power by my place
to steale a horse without disgrace

and beate the owner too.

God blesse vs what a world is heere
can^ neuer last another yeare

yoke cannot be able to zow.
dost think I euer 'c had'* the art
to plow my ground up with my Cart

My beast* are all I goe^

1 This is still the p. part, of do, pronounced u-deo, and rhyming stiU with

too (teo"), precisely as it is found in the writers of the xiii. and xiv. century.
^ Still a usual custom to put Mr. before a title, as Mr. Parson, Mr. Turney,

Mr. Fish-jowder, Mr. Giu-lmun, especially when a sneer or shght is implied.
' A good example of the omission of the nom. case. (See W. S. G., p. 34.) '
* This must be an error ; the author in his desire to put in the ch as often

as possible has here inserted it out of place. It should probably read Dost think

that euer 'chad the art-

^ Beast, used collectively, is still a plural noun. (See W. S. Gram., p. 9.)
^ The p. part, of go. The prefix is spelt a in the first verse — a capital / is

quite a novelty. This form is still that of the dialect, while agone signifies ago.

3 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Ize had zixe oxen totlier day

and them the Eoundheads stole away

a Mischief be their speed
I had six horses left me whole
and them the Cavileers have stole

Gods zores they are both agreed. ^

Here I doe labor toile & zweat
and dure the cold, hot, dry & wett

But what dost think I gett.
Ease 2 iust my Labor for my paines
thes Garrizons haue all the gaines

And thither all is vett.^

There goes my corne my beanes & pease
I doe not dare them to displease

they doe zoe zweare & vapor.
Then to the Governor I come
And pray him to discharge the some

but nought can get so* paper.

Gods bones dost think a Paper will
Keep warme my back & belly fill

No, no, goe burne the note
If that another yeare my veeld
no better profitt doe me yeeld

I may goe cut my throate.

1 Tills word is still used in precisely the sense here implied, viz. a conspiring
together, and not simply an agreement. Tivas a 'greed thing, is a most common
expression, meaning that the matter was the result of a plot or coDspii'acy.

2 This form is obsolete— though it may survive in fags/

' p. part, of to fetch — it is now sounded rather broader — vaat or vaut.
There is an old proverb very commonly used — Vu^ir u-vau't, Dee'ur ^i-bawt,
i. e. ' Farfetched, dear bought.' Gower, the contemporary of Chaucer, has
(Tale of the Coffers)—

' And then he let the coffers fet
Upon the board, and chd them set.'

* The use of io for save or except is now quite obsolete.

editor's preface. 9

If any money 'c haue in store

then straight a warrant come therfore

or I must plundred^ be
And when 'c haue shuffled vp one pay
then comes a new without delay

was euer the like a zee.^

And as^ this were not greife enow
they have a Thing called Quarter* too
Oh ! that's a vengeance ^ waster
A pox vpon't they call it vree
'C ham sure that made vs slaues to be
And euery lioage our Master.

Verum.
[Collated by the Editor with the original MS.)

Of the history of the ' Exmoor Scolding and Courtship ' nothing
really authentic seems to be known. The ' Courtship ' in its present
form first appeared in the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for June 1746,
prefaced by a letter signed 'H. Oxon.' [Exon?], in which it is stated
to have been ' first written by a clergyman of Devonshire, near the
forest of Exmoor, but, I believe, has received some additions.' ' The
writer marks several words with an asterisk, which he requests to
knoAv the meaning of.' This was followed by the ' Scolding' in July,
1746,'^ in the same magazine.

"In the next month appears an article dated 'Exon. 12 Aug.
1746,' and signed ' Devoniensis,' in which the writer states, that he

" 1 This word would be stUl pronoimced pluun'dred or pluun' dreed— ^o also
mas'akreed for massacred.

^ The p. part, of to see is now ii-zeed.

3 The use of as for (/"in this sense is quite obsolete.

* The allusion here is to the custom of quartering soldiers upon the farmers
and householders.

^ vengeance luaster would now be rendered Devil of a waster. The word is
used in the ' Exmoor Scolding ' in the same Avay.

^ The quotations here, and on p. 10, are from a note in MS. by Sir F.
Madden, dated 1834, attached to the copy of the 7th edition, now belonging to
the E. D. S., but which previously belonged to him.

10 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

has lived a good while within the Forest of Exmoor, and subjoins
a vocabulary of all the words in the two Devonshire Dialogues, with
the addition of some others, which formed the basis of the Glossary
in the Edition of 1771. This correspondent, whoever he was, is not
the author of the Dialogues, as appears from his remarks.

"In the same vol., p. 57 (Gent. Mag.), is a vocabidary of the
Lancashire Dialect, taken from the first Edition of ' Tim Bobbin '
(which appears at length in the 'British Mag.' of that year, 1746),
and a specimen of the Dialect at the end, which is copied into the
preface of the 7th Ed. of the 'Exmoor Scolding,' 1771.

*' In the same vol., p. 567, is an interpretation of Angle-hoioing,
&c., by ' Devoniensis ' ; and p. 644 is another communication from

* Devoniensis,' dated *Exon. 8 Dec. 1746,' correcting his interpreta-
tion of Bone-shave, and sending a charm for its cure.

*' l^ow this interpretation and charm is entered in the MS. folio
at p. 31, and is there ascribed to Mr. Wm. Chappie, which identifies
the latter with ' Devoniensis,' and probably also proves him to be
the Editor of the Edition of 1771 and previous ones." See note 6,
p. 9.

In 'Blackwood's Magazine' for February, 1819, appeared a
reprint of a portion of the ' Exmoor Courtsliip,' accompanied by
what the author is pleased to call a translation,^ and in a preface
thereto he says, but without giving his authority, that it is probably
as old as the time of Henry VII. This may be so in substance, but
it is quite evident that the text of both the ' Courtship ' and of the

* Scolding,' as we now have them, were written by the same hand —
believed to be ' the Eeverend William Hole, B.D., who was appointed
Archdeacon of Barnstable in 1744,' and who died 1791. He is the

* neighbouring clergyman ' referred to in the preface, which was first
published with the 7th edition in 1771.

On the other hand. Sir John Bowring says (' Transactions of the
Devonshire Association,' 1866, Part v. p. 28) — "The authors of the

* Exmoor Scolding ' and ' Exmoor Courting ' were Andrew Brice and

' At the ead of the portion published in ' Blackwood ' is ' the conclusion in
our next.' The conclusion however never appeared.

editor's preface. 11

Benjamin Bowring. The former was a learned and laborious book-
seller ill Exeter, whose folio dictionary was a valuable contribution
to the geographical knowledge of the day. The latter (my paternal
great-grandfather) was the grandson of a John Bowring of Chumleigh,
who was largely engaged in the woollen trade, and coined money
for the payment of those he employed."

No authority is given by Sir John Bowring for the above state-
ment, and he entirely omits to notice the remark as to the ' neighbour-
ing clergyman,' which certainly was published in 1771, and during
the lifetime of the said clergyman. The balance of evidence is very
greatly on the side of Sir F. Madden, who gives ' Mr. Merrivale ' as
his authority, in asserting Archdeacon Hole to have been the author.

The two dialogues from their first appearance seem to have
commanded a good deal of attention, for no less than seven editions
were issued between 1746 and 1771, while a tenth edition was put
out in January 1788. Since then a reprint of the edition of 1771
was published in 1827. All these editions were published at Exeter,
and besides them is the issue of the ' Exmoor Coiu-tship ' with its
classical paraphrase before referred to, in ' Blackwood's Magazine ' for
February, 1819, and 'a new edition' published by John Eussell
Smith, London, in 1839.

These various issues, though called editions, have been nothing
more than reprints, — inasmuch as no variation in the text beyond a
letter here and there, is discoverable in any one of them from the
earliest to the latest.^ Hence the mistakes of the original author,
with the numerous misprints of the first edition, have all been serv-
ilely copied and handed down to us, as though the very commas were
inspired. This is somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as the editor of the
edition of 1771, whoever he may have been, evidently knew of these
errors, for, in several cases he has corrected them in the Glossary, while
he has left them without remark in the text. Cf. vramp-shalcen, 1. 120.
m«?^J9s/^.aJ)e?^, in Glossary, strait, I. 78. *^r«^. Glossary. avore,l. 123.
avroar, Glossary. pocJiee, 1. 188. jjoochee, Glossary. This unwUling-

> Sh- F. Madden says, ' lu the text of this Edition (1771) there is not the
slightest variation from the Editions of 1746 and 1788.' This will be found to
be rather too general a statement.

12 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

ness to toucli the original, seems to prove that the compiler of the
Glossary and of the notes (1771) was not the original author.

It is evident from the fact of a Glossary being required, so early
as 1771, to render the dialogues intelligible even to Devonian readers,
that a great many of the words used were at that time either
obsolete or very rarely heard, while novt^, except for its help, almost
the whole of both would be quite obscure to ordinary readers. The
compiler of it deserves our hearty recognition of the value of his
services, while at the same time we may not quite agree with all his
etymologies or his interpretations, as for instance, where he defines
zart ! as soft. Surely this is an interjection of the quasi oath kind,
still very common, meaning ' ds-heart,^ like the well-known zounds.
Only the words which were^then thought difficult were explained, and
we may take it that the others were then considered too common and
well-known to need remark. A study of these omissions which are
now inserted in italics in the Glossary, Avill be instructive as helping
to gauge the change made in the vocabulary of the language, even in
so conservative and out of the way district, as that of West Somerset
or Exmoor, during the last century.

A great many of the words which only a hundred years ago were
thought too common to be noticed, are now not only obsolete, but
so entirely forgotten that I can find no certain explanation of them,
and can only guess at their meaning.

I^ot so with the construction of the sentences or with the
pronunciation. These may be said to have scarcely changed at all,
and the entire dialogues are in that respect a striking confirmation
of what I ventured to maintain in the paper on the dialect of West
Somerset, published by this Society in 1875, viz., that dialectal
changes, as respects pronunciation and idiom, are slow, even though
whole classes of local words may change and become forgotten.

As compositions these dialogues are in many points very faithful
and admirable examples of the peculiar language of the district,
which is practically the same as that of West Somerset, and about
which I have already pretty fully treated ; but the author, perfect
as he was in his knowledge of the dialect, has not escaped the pit-
falls which seem to entrap all those who write either poem or jirose in

editor's preface. 13

the vernacular. Well as tliey may be practically acqitainted with
it, yet the same culture which prompts them to compose at all, binds
them in chains of literaryism — unconsciously colours their work
and blinds them to little errors in construction they would never
make in speaking, but which they cannot avoid, or do not notice in
Avriting.

The 'neighbouring clergyman' most probably composed these
dialogues as a vehicle for the very large number of quaint words in
the vocabulary of Peter Lock the fiddler, and in doing so was com-
pelled to exaggerate even the redundancy of epithet, which, as the
preface truly says, is used by 'noted scolds.' ,It is, however, quite
absurd to maintain that such long strings of synonymous words as
are here put into the mouths of different persons could ever have
been heard in real life. The exceeding coarseness of these dialogues,
was perhaps to some extent a necessity of the material to be worked
up, to which a clergyman even in those days did not like to put his
name ; and it is probably to that quality they owe their great
popularity, for it is most unlikely that so many editions Avould have
been called for to supply the then students of Dialects, or even
' Lawyers ' on circuit.

And here I must strongly protest against the libel contained in
the title-page of the ' Scolding.' To imply that the subject-matter so
much dwelt upon in this dialogue is a fair sample of the propriety or
decency of the young women of the district in the last century, is
simply scandalous. Coarse-mouthed scolds there may have been
amongst them, but the utter foulness of much of this dialogue, is far
more probably a reflex of the propriety of an author's own mind,
who was evidently ashamed to own his work, though not ashamed
to reap the profits of at least nine editions, by pandering to the taste
of the class which delights to feed on garbage.

By no possibility could this objectionable matter be expunged,
inasmuch as it pervades every page, and it is with much reluctance
that I assume any part in the perpetuation of it. Nothing but the
confidence that its form is not such as to attract the ordinary reader,
and that students alone will take the trouble to wade throu<:{h it,
would have induced me to touch such pitch.

14 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

It is probable that the author had no thought at all of writing
for students, or he would have taken pains to have been more con-
sistent in his spelling, and not to have given the same word in
different shapes ; for instance, in some places what is spelt as in
ordinary English, while in others, e. g. in 1. 342, it is tvhot, and in
11. 149, 247, 254, it is hot. This last is the correct and invariable
pronunciation, while what in the text is mere literaryism. So head
is sometimes yead, and sometimes aead, while zing and sing are
found on the same page. Gamhotding in one place is gamhoyling in
another, velst, 1. 134 ; valst, 1. 169. zet, 1. 340 ; set, 1. 425. There
is throughout a great confusion of s and z, which goes to show only
that the writer was not accustomed to carefully analyse the true
sound of what he meant to write. The same must be said of v and
/, which are sometimes misplaced. He spells this, theez and thes on
the same page, 11. 594, 601. So quiet is quite, 1. 375, the correct
K. Dev. form, and quiet, 1. 604, with many more. He also spells the
"West Country inflection of the intransitive verb, sometimes y and
sometimes ee.

All this is to be expected. Many of the clergy even now, when
dialects and provincialisms are supposed to be dying out ; men too
of real culture and large knowledge, are unable to throw off their
native brogue, and quite unconsciously make their s's into 2's, and
their /'s into u's. One I know well who always reads, ' A zower
went vorth to zow,' &c., &c. Yet of course he would not write
thus, and would perhaps contend that his pronunciation was
correct.

A great many literaryisms are pointed out in the notes, and
generally consist of very small matters, but they are important to
the stxident ; e. g. as soon as instead of the invariable so soon as.
we, 1. 353, instead of us, as a nominative. To have noted every one
would have unduly enlarged the book.

On the whole the two dialogues are most valuable as preserving
very clearly the general spirit of the dialect as well as many very
interesting peculiarities, which remain unaltered to this day; for
instance, the habit of using the when speaking of a person, with an
adjective preceding his name, as ' tha young Zaunder Yursdon,*

editor's preface. 15

1. 192, &c. This habit was quite congenial to the author, for he never
once omits it. Another habit is that of prefixing a title of relation-
ship or trade to names, as ' Cozen Andra,' ' Zester Taamzen,' even
when much abuse occurs in the same address.

The great peculiarity of the whole is the use throughout of cli
for / (ego) in connection with the verbs to he and have. I cannot
but think that this use is rather strained in the text, especially as in
more than one place it is manifestly wrong, as in 1. 335, vor es
chant hire. Here the es is the nominative, and chant is clearly sha'nt
in this case ; chajit without the es might be if the context allowed,
/ have not, or as it now is, / ha'nt [aay aa'nt]. This form of / is now
completely obsolete, and has been so, longer than the memory of the
oldest inhabitant. The other form of / spelt es, and in one place
ees, is, I maintain, not the singular I, but the plural us used for the
singular. This is still done, but judging from these dialogues it was
more common formerly ; tis is still the nominative most common in
North Devon, and it is pronounced ess ; Nathan Hogg always spells
it es. In the text the same word es has to represent both us and is
in 1. 362, and he is, 1. 462. The pronoun / only occurs twice in the
two dialogues.

This present edition of the ' Exmoor Scolding and Courtship ' is
a reprint of the ninth published at Exeter, 1778, and it has been
thought well to make no alteration in the text, which is identical in
all the reprints hitherto put out, but to point out in notes the
principal discrepancies, together with such observations as seemed
desirable.

The Glossary has been completed by adding thereto such words
as are not now considered to be received English, with definitions of
all those known at present.

The whole dialogues have moreover been carefully written in
Mr. Ellis's Glossic so as to show the exact pronunciation as still heard
in the district, with which I am quite familiar. The printing has been
so arranged as to read line by line with the original text. To those
critics who even now abuse any method of spelling but the old con-
ventional A B C, I would say, that to render any dialect valuable
as a study, there must be some means by whicli its pronunciation

16 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

can be compared with others, and by which we may be able to
appreciate the quality of its sounds. Who but an Englishman Avould
at first sight pronounce correctly hone, done, gone ? — yet written
boccn, dimn, gaun, the difference in their sounds is at once made
plain.

Mr. Ellis's system of phonetic Avriting needs no defence from
me — it is that adopted by this Society, and is the most easily
acquired, A complete key drawn up by Mr. Ellis himself will be
found in my paper on "West Somerset Dialect, E. D. S., 1875, which
should be well studied before any attempt is made to read the
' Exmoor Scolding ' in the vernacular. An abridged key ^ will be
found in the paper on the Grammar of West Somerset, E. D. S.,
1877, with some remarks upon the natural vowel by Dr. J. A. H.
INIurray. This natural vowel represented by ti very frequently
appears in these dialogues, and should be well mastered by any one
who desires to imitate the sounds of the dialect — a little trouble so
bestowed will not be thrown away. From the spelhng of the text
it would be impossible for any one not familiar with it to have any
notion of the pronunciation, — e, a, and o, are each in turn used to
represent the same sound, viz. short u, i. e. the sound of e in tlw booA;
spoken quickly. This short the is ahvays written dhu — and I have
noticed this word is generally a stumbling-block to those Avho are
ignorant of the glossic system.

In the following pages are many notes referring to my former
papers published by this Society (before I had seen a copy of these
dialogues), in which the passages noted will be found either to be
more fully explained, or to be vernacular illustrations of idiom or
grammar remarked upon in the treatises. These references will be
found abbreviated thus : — W. S. Dial., Dialect of West Somerset,
Eng. Dialect Society, Series D., 1875. W. S. Gram., Grammar of
West Somerset, E. D. S., Series D., 1877.

F. T. E.

Foxdown, January, 1S79.

1 See Reprint, p. 110.

A N

Exmoor SCOLDING,

I N T H E

Propriety and Decency

O F

Exmoor LANGUAGE,

BETWEEN

TWO SISTERS:

TVilmot Morcman and Thomafin Moreman ;
As they were Spinning.

A L s O, A N

Exmoor COURTSHIP.

?4»<5U?5«^t>

The NINTH EDITION:

Wherein are now added,

Such NOTES therein, and a VOCABULARY at

the End, as feem neceffary for explaining uncouth Expreffions,
and interpreting barbarous Words and Phrafes.

EXETER:

Printed and fold by W. GRIGG, Bookfeller and Stationer, in the
Fore-ftreet, nearly oppofite to Broad-gate, 1778.

( Price Six-pence. )

PREFACE.^

[TO THE EDITION OF 1778.]

THE former Editions of these Dialogues, the' well receiv'd,
and esteem'd by those who had some Acquaintance with the
Provincial Dialects in the Western Parts of England, yet for
Want of such a Glossary as is now added, were in a great Measure
unintelligible to most others, except perhaps a few Etymologists and
Collectors of old and uncommon Words : The Editor^ has therefore
endeavoured to supply that Defect ; and that this 9th Edition might
be rendered as correct as possible, the Whole has been carefully
revised, some explanatory Notes inserted, and the Spelling of the
provincial Words better accommodated to their usual Pronunciation
among the Peasants in the County of Devon : This, as well as their
Explanations in the Vocabulary or Glossary, 'tis presumed may be of
some Use,- to such Laioyers as go the Western Circuit, by whom the
Evidence of a Country-man is sometimes mistaken, for want of a
proper Interpretation of his Language. In this Glossary we have not
only shewn in what Sense the most uncommon Words are generally
understood in this Country, but also the Etymologies of most of them,
whether deriv'd from the old Anglo-Saxon, or from the British,
French, Dutch, &c. Some few, whereof the true Signification was
somewhat doubtful, are distinguished by a Q : The Meaning of these
we should be glad to see better ascertained : and if any Person of
Judgment shall observe any other Words to be ill explained in this
Glossary, he is desired to signify it to the Editor,^ to be corrected in a
future Edition.

It may be proper to advertise such of our Readers as may be
Strangers to the Devonshire Dialects, that the following is a genuine
Specimen thereof as spoken in those Parts of the County where the
Scene is laid ; (the Phraseology being also agreeable thereto, and the
Similes, &c, properly adapted to the Characters of the Speakers ;)

1 This preface appears for the first time with the 7th Edition — Exeter, A.
Brice and B. Thorn, 1771, price nine pence.
2—2 The 7th Edition has, ' Editors have.'

c 2

20 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

and rot an arbitrary Collection of ill-connected clownish Words, liko
those introduced into the Journals of some late Sentimental Travellers
as well as the Productions of some Dramatic Writers, whose Clowns
no more speak in their own proper Dialects, than a dull School-boy
makes elej^ant and classical Latin ; their suppos'd Language being
such as would be no less unintelligible to the Rusticks themselves,
than to those polite Pretenders to Criticism who thereby mean to make
them ridiculous. It must be confess'd that the following Dialogues
have not been exempt from somewhat of the like Censure \ it having
been alledg'd, that in the Exmoor Scolding particularly, the Sub-
stantives have frequently too many Adjectives annex'd to them, nearly
synonymous ; and that the objurgatory Wenches in that Part of the
Country have not such a Copia Verborum as is here represented : But
we may appeal for the Truth of the Contrary to all who have heard
the most noted Scolds among them, when engaged and well-match'd
with foul-mouth'd and nimble-tongued Antagonists ; and how apt they
are to string up together a Variety of abusive Words and devout
Names, (as they term them) tho' many of them, like Sancho's
Proverbs, have nearly the same Meaning ; not sparing others which
may be sometimes impertinent to, and beside their Purpose, provided
they are sufficiently abusive. The following Collection was origin-
ally made about the Beginning of the present Century, by a blind
itinerant Fidler, (one Peter Loci; of North-Moulton, or its Neighbour-
hood) who was a Man of some Humour ; and tho' his Skill and
Dexterity as a ]\Iusician is said to have recommended him to the
Notice of the Great, his more common Converse with the lower Class
of People, gave him frequent Opportunities of hearing and observing
their Phrases and Diction ; and, as Persons deprived of Sight have
generally a good Memory, he was thereby the better enabled to retain
and repeat them. This attracted the Notice^ of a neighbouring Clerg}^-
man, who by the Fidler's Assistance put the Exmoor Scolding into the
Form in which we now have it, and, before his Death, (which
happened soon after the Year 1725) communicated it to the Public,- and
afterwards gave Rise to the Exmoor Courtship, a Performance thought
deserving to be added thereunto ; but Copies of the Scolding were, for
some Time before and after this, handed about in Manuscript'^ above
40 Years since, and was then taken to be the original Composition
of the Clergyman aforesaid ; few being then apprehensive of its having

* In the copy of the 7th Edition belonging to this Society is a pencil note
in the handwriting of Sir F. Madden, to whom the copy belonged — ' Rev.
Will. Hole, Archdeacon of Barnstaple.'

2 7th Edition has, ' communicated it to the Editor of the first and subse-
quent Editions, who perfected the Courtship ; but copies,' &c. Sir F. Madden
has uuderliued Editor, and in another pencil note says, ' Mr. Wm. Chappie ? '

3 7th Edition has, ' Manuscript, of which the Writer hereof has seen One
near 40 Years since, which was then taken to be,' &c.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING : PREFACE TO EDITION OF 1778, 21

any other Author, or how far the Person who furnish'd its Materials
might claim Title thereto, tho' his Fame as a Fidler was not yet
extinct.

It may be also requisite to observe here, that the Forest of Exmoor
(so call'd as being the Moor wherein the River Exe rises) is, for the
most Part, in the County of Somerset ; and tho' Parracombe and
Challacombe in its Neighbourhood, which is tlie scene of our Drama,
be in Devonsliire, it must not be thence inferr'd that the same Dialect
in all Particulars extends thro' the whole County ; it being chiefly
confin'd to the Northern Parts thereof: For many Words and Phrases
therein, would not be well understood by People in the South-IIams,
(by which is meant all the Southern Parts of Devonshire, and not any
particular Town, as some Topographical Authors have supposed ;)
where the Dialect varies as much from this, as this from that of Dorset
and Wiltshire : And even near Exmoor, none but the very lowest Class
of People generally speak the Language here exemplified ; but were it
more commonly spoken by their Betters, perhaps it might not be so
much to their Discredit, as some may imagine ; most of the antiquated
Words being so expressive as not to be despised, though now grown
obsolete, and no longer used by the politer Devonians, who in general
speak as good modern English as those of any other County. 'Tis well
known, that after the Expulsion of the antient Britons from those Parts
of the Kingdom which our Saxon Ancestors had conquered, the
English Saxon Language (a Dialect of the old Teutonic, or High Dutch) ^
took Place of the British every-where, but in Wales and Cornwall ;
and so continued until the Norman Conquest, when the Conqueror,
endeavouring to introduce the French Tongue, and causing all Edicts
and judicial Proceedings to be in that Language, the Saxon soon became
intermixt with much of the old Norman French : But notwithstanding
this, and some Tincture of British and Danish, besides the AVords
borrowed from tlie learned Languages by the Professors of Arts and
Sciences, &c. the antient Anglo-Saxon Tongue, with some Variation of
its Sound and Orthography, chiefly prevails in the vulgar Part of our
present Language ; and it will appear in the Glossary subjoin'd to the
following Dialogues, tliat most of the remarkable Words therein
inserted, are of Saxon Derivation, and if they are not all retained in
other Counties, such Counties have many others derived from the same
Fountain ; not to mention the Variations of the Pronunciation in

1 It must he remembered that ' High Dutch ' is a very different thing from
hoch Deutsch as now understood. Until the division of the ' Low Countries,'
the term ' High Dutch ' was applied to the la)iguage spoken by the people of
the Northern part corresponding to Holland and Friesland, to distinguish it
from the ' Low Dutch ' of Flanders and Brabant. Even now it is common
among the better class of people to speak of Dutch as ' High Dutch '—a very
frequent expression in reference to anything unintelligible is, 'that is High
Dutch to me. '

22 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

different Places, Hence every County has its peculiar Dialect, at
least in respect to the vulgar Language of their Rusticks, insomuch
that those of different Counties cannot^ easily understand each other.
Among Persons engaged in Commerce indeed, or who have had a
liberal Education, we may better distinguish their several Countries by
their Accent, than by any Impropriety in their Language : But we are
here speaking only of the lower Class of People in each County ; and
that these have in several Parts of England a more uncouth and
barbarous Jargon than the worst among the Devonians, might be
easily shewn : Let it sufBce to give an Instance in the following
Specimen of the Lancashire Dialect, transcribed from a Dialogue
therein, which was published in 1746.

M. " Odds Fish ! boh that wur breve 1 wou'd I'd bin eh yore

" Kele."

T. " Whau whau, boh theawst hear It wur dree wey tooto ;

" heawe'er I geet there be fufe o'clock, on before eh opp'nt dur, I
" covert Nip with the cleawt, ot eh droy meh nese weh, t' let him see

"heaw I stoart her: Then I opp'nt dur; on whot te dule dust

"think, boh three little Bandyhewits coom weaughing os if th' little
" ewals wou'd o worrit me, on after that swallut me whick : Boh
" presently there coom o fine wummon ; on I took her for a hoc
"justice, hoor so meety fine : Fori heard Ruchott o' Jack's tell meh
" Measter, that hoo justices awlus did th' mooast o' th' wark : Heawe'er,
"I axt hur if Mr. Justice wur o whoam ; hoo cou'd naw opp'n hur
" meawth t' sey eigh, or now ; boh siinpurt on sed iss, (the Dickons
" iss hur on him too) — Sed I, I wudyid'n tell him I'd fene speyk to
«< him : "

The Reader must be left to judge, on a Comparison of this with
any Part of the Exmoor Language, which of the two has the most
Barbarisms. Perhaps he will want an Interpreter to inform him, that
"Kele" means "Place" or "Circumstance;" — that "Dree way"
denotes a " long and tedious Way ; " — that " Stoart " means " valued ;"
— that " Bandyhewits " are " little Dogs ; " that " Hoo " stands for
"She;" — and "Wudyid'n" is "wish you would;" — and unless
thus explained, may be apt to think it little more intelligible than the
Buckinghamshire Farmer's Speech. " I ken a Steg gobblin at our
Leer Deer ; " which few besides his Countrymen would guess to

mean. "I see a Gander feeding at our Barn-door." But to trouble

our Readers with no further Observations on this Subject here, we must
refer them for further Particulars to the Vocabulary and Notes, sub-
mitting the Whole to their candid Censure.

'ft

Exeter, January 1778.

' Can't,' in 7th Edition.

In the following pages the origmal text is printed on the left
hand; the Glossic transcript, corresponding line hy line,
on tJie right.

AN EXMOOE SCOLDING.

Tliomasin. IT OCK ! "VVilmot, vor why vor ded'st roily ^ zo
_B-J upon ma up to Challaconib Eowl? — Ees^

dedent thenk tha had'st a be'^ zioh. a Labb o' tha Tongue. Wliat a

Vengance ! wart* betwatled, or wart tha baggaged ;^ or had'st tha

5 took^ a Shord, or a paddled?^

Wilmot. I roily upon tha, ya'' gurt, thonging, banging,

niuxy Drawbreechl — Noa, 'twas thee roil'st vipon nie up to^

Daraty Vogwill's Upzitting, whan^ tha vung'st to (and be

9 hang'dtotha !) toEabbin. — 'Shou'dzem^*^ tha wart zeckarteri^Me-at and

1 The regular form of the infinitive for iatransitive verbs. (See W. S. G,
p. 49.)

- Spelt es elsewhere in the text, e. g. line 10. See note 3, p. 26. Also spelt
is, line 22.

2 Still the usual form of the past part, of 'to be ' throughout North Devon
and the Hill Country of Somerset. Compare Robert of Gloucester's ' William
the Conqueror ' (JNIorris and Skeat) : line 1, ' Moche a)> ]>e sonve ibe ; ' hue 3, ' Of
moni hataile \iat a)p ihe.'

* The form wart is becoming rare — now it would be ious{t.

5 — 5 These are elisions of one of two similar and consecutive vowels ; if
written or pronounced in full these would be dhu tt-harfeejd, dhu u-teokt. The
same thing occurs when two similar consonants come together— they are not
pronoimced separately, but are slurred into one. (See W. S. G., pp. 27, 28.)

8 At present this final d would generally disappear, and we should hear
ti-hfotwaat-l, u-pad'l, u-bag-eej—it for emphasis the d were sounded, it would
have nearly a syllable to itself, ib-bag-eej-du, u-padl-du, u-bM'waaH-du.
Compare ^jftcA'<«, 1. 32.

' This form of you is used in the dialect only as a prefix to some epithet, and
is distinctly a vocative form, which is so extremely common that I quite over-
looked it in my W. S. Gram., p. 33. It is pronounced a little broader than

U AK'SMOAR SKOA'LDEEN.

Thomasin. T AIJ-K! Will'miit, viir wiiy vauT deds rauylee^ zoa
1 -i upaun mu aup tu Chaal-ikum Eaewll — Es (ees'?)^

ded-ii dhengk dh-ads u-bee^ zicli u Laab u dhu tung.— Want ii

vai'njuns ! wurt* u-biitwaat-ld, ur wurt dhu-bag"eejd ;^ m: ads dhu-

teokt^ u slioa-urd, ur ii-padld'?*^ 5

Wilmot. Aa-y rauylee paun dhu, yu ^ guurt, dhaung-een, ban-geen,
muuk'see Draa'buurcli.] — N"oa"u, twuz dhee rauylus pun mee aup tu^
Daar'utee Vang"wee"ulz aup-zilt'een, haun^ dliu vungs tiie (un bee
ang tu dhu !) tu Uab'een. — Sh'd ziini^'' dhu wurt zek aar'tur^^ Mai't-n 9

tha {the of the text), but the sound is very similar to the Cockney you, generally
spelt yer in Punch. It will he noticed throughout these dialogues that the
form is never once used except as above — never as au objective.

8 The use of to for at is very common, indeed it is the rule. (See W. S. G.,
p. 89.) Compare Robert of Gloucester's 'William the Conqueror' (ed. Morris
and Skeat), line 399 : —

' \>re si]>e he ber croune a)er ;
to Midevnnter at Gloiccestre
To Witesonetid at Westminstre
to Ester at Wincestre.'

" Nothing approximating the whan of the text could now be heard— the w
is quite lost, particularly in this district, and although luai'n is heard for the
emphatic ivhen in the vales of W. Somerset, yet thi'oughout N. Devon and the
Exnioor coimtry it is haun or hau'n — as Hau'n wauz ut ? Haun dhu Paa'snz
mae'ur voa'lud. 'When was it? when the Parson's mare foaled.'

1" This phrase would not now be used— s^im-^ awf. ' (It) seems as though,'
would now be said.

11 This form of after is the usual one still ; while in the Vale it is more
commonly aa-dr.

26 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

10 Me-al.^ — And zo tlia merst,^ by ort es^ knoAv, wey guttering ; as
gutter tlia wutt* whan tlia com'st to good Tackling. — But zome
zed " Shoor and shoor tlia ded'st bet make wise, to zee nif tba^
young Josy Heaff-field wou'd come to zlack thy Boddize, and whare
a wou'd be 0 vore or no." Bet 'twas thy old Disyease, Chun.

15 Thomasin. Hey go ! What*^ Disyease dest me-an/ ya gurt
dugged-teal'd, swapping, rousling Blowze ? Ya gurt Eoile,
teU ma. Tell me, a zey, what Disyease dest me-an 1 — Ad ! cheU
ream^ my Heart to tha avore Ise^ let tha lipped. — CheU tack et
out^*' wi' tha to tha true Ben, fath ! TeU ma, a zey, what Disyease

20 dest me-an that tha zest^^ cham a troubled weyl

Wilmot Why ; ya purting, tatchy, stertling, jowering,
j)rinking, mincing Theng, chell teU tha what Disyease. Is^^
ded'nt me-an the Bone-shave*, ner the Heartgun, ner the

24 AUernbatch that tha had'st in thy Niddick. 'Tes better twar : '^^ Vor

1 I have never heard yne-at, me-al, as in the text, and doubt if these forms
ever existed. I believe this was an error in the original spelling, which has
been perpetuated in all subsequent echtions. There is no fracture in meat, but
there is in meal — in both, the ea has the sound of a in mate — but the I in meal
naturally produces the fracture.

^ Merst is now obsolete^t would now be muds for mightest,
3 This is us not /, and is sounded nearly ess. I believe the ees of the text
(line 3) is the same. The nora. plur. in N. Devon is always thus prouoimced,
and it is very commonly used for the nom. singular. (See W. S. G., p. 34.)

* TMs is the emphatic form, and the text conveys the exact present pro-
nunciation. The ordinary form of wilt is wfit, or simply ';;, as dhee-t zeo'n
ti-dile'd ('thou wilt soon have finished'). Note in this example the ehsion
referred to above ; written at length it would be dhee-t zeo'n u u-due'd,

* {Note to Ed. of 1778). The Bone-shave (a Word perhaps no-where used
or vmderstood in Devonshire but in the Neighbourhood of Exmoor) means
the Sciatica ; and the Exmooriaus, wlien afflicted therewith, use the following

Charm to be freed from it : The Patient must lie on his Back on tlie Bank

of a River or Brook of Water, with a straight Staff by his Side, between liim
and the Water ; and must have the following Words repeated over him, viz.

" Bone-shave right ;

" Bone-shave straight ;

" As tlie Water runs by the Stave,

" Good for Bone-shave."

They are not to be persuaded but that this ridiculous Form of Words seldom
fails to give them a perfect Cure.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 27

Mae-iil.^ — Uii zoa dhu muurs,^ bi oa-iirt es^ nau, wai guut'ureen ; uz 10
guut-ur dhu wuut* haun dhu kau-ms tu geo'd taakieen. — Bud zaum
zad " Shoo"ur-n shoo'ur dhu daeds biit niak wuyz, tu zee neef dhu^
" yuung Joa'zee Yef-ee"ul wud kaum tu zlaak dhi baud'eez, un wae'ur
u wild bi u-voaT ur noa." Bii-twuz dhu oad dees-yai"z, Chuun.

Thomasiii. Aay goo ! Haut^ dees-yai"z diis mee"un/ yu guurt 15
duug'ud-taa'yuld, zwaup'een, ruwsieen Blmvz? Yu guurt Eauyul,
tuul mu. Tuul mu, u zai", haut dees-yai"z diis mee*un] — -Ad ! ch-iil
rai'ni^ mi aaTt tu dhu uvoaT aayz^ lat dhu liip'ud. — Ch-iil taak ut
uwt'^*' wi dhu tu dhu trufe' bai'n, faath ! Tuul mu, u zai", haut dees-
yai'z diis mee'iin dhut dhu zaes"^^ ch-aam u-truub'ld wai 1 20

Wilmot. "Waa*y ; yu puur'teen, taach-ee, stee"urtdeen, jaa'wureen,
preng'keen, miin'seen dhaeng, ch-iil tuul dhu haut dees-yai"z, Es^^
ded-ii mee-iin dhu Boo-un-shee'iiv,* nur dh-aart*gunn, nur dh-aal*
urnbaach dhut dh-ads een dhee niid'ik. Tez bad'r twaar : ^^ yur 24

^ It is still nearly invariable to use the before a proper name when there is
a qualifying adjective, as Aay zeed dh-oa'l Faa'rmur Taap ; dhaat-s dMi gimrt
Jan Urd, 'that is great John Red' (Lorna Doone). It will be noticed that
this rule is not once bioken throughout these dialogues. Compare below 1. 31,
' the young Dick Vrogwill ' and ' George Vuuz.'

* What in the text is as incorrect as the tvhan noted above. In 1. 149,
Wilmot says, 'no Direct to hot tha tellst' — proving that then as now the
relative had no w sound in it.

"^ Also pronounced mavn, which at present is the common form.

8 The ea in this word has always been sounded ai as in mai7i, and I think
the author of the text must have so uitended it, as also in Disyease.

9 This form is now quite obsolete as a conditional or future tense. It is
probably the es before noted.

'•* i. e. ' Have it out with you.'

" The regular form still for all the persons of the present tense of to say.
The sound is between zess and zass. The final t in the text is mere literaryism —
the author of course wrote &tm sayest, and so of course must write zest. The
same appUes to dest in the same line. These fs are sounded only before a
vowel.

12 Is in the text is precisely the same in meaning as the words spelt ees (line
2), and es (line 10). See note above. I believe it to be the nom. plur. used
for the sing. , as is still customary.

13 Tivar is now quite obsolete. I have heard tware, but only from maid-
servants or those who try to talk ' fine.' The form throughout N. Devon and
Exmoor now is twaz when emphatic, precisely the sound of has in lit. Eng.

28 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

1 5 than Ount Amiis Mo reman ^ coul'd ha' ^ blessed vore,^ and nut ha'^
pomster'd about et, as* Moather ded,
i Thomasin. What disyease than, ya gurt Haggage !

Wihnof. Why, e'er zince tha wart Twenty, ay Zewnteen,
and avore, tha hast a be' troubled wey the Doul vetch tha,

30 Thomasin. "V\niat's me-an by that, ya long-hanjed ]\reazle ]
Dist hire^ ma? Tha call'st ma stertling Eoil now-reert. —
How dedst Thee stertlee upon the Zess last Harest wey the young
Dick Vrogwill, whan George Vuzz*^ putch'd 1 '' — He told ma the whole
rum|) o' th' Besneze.

35 Wilmot. 0 ! the very Vengance tear tha ! — Dest thee tell
me o' Dick Vrogwill? — Why thee art in a Ninniwatch
e'ery other Torn, nif zo be tha dest bet zet Zeert in Harry
Vursdon.

Thomasin. How ! ya gurt chounting, grumbling, glumping,

40 zower-zapped, yerring Trash !

Wilmot. Don't tell me o' glumping : Oil the Xeighbourhooden^
knowth^ thee to be a veaking, blazing, tiltish Hussey.

Thomasin. And thee art a crewnting, querking, yeavy,
dugged-yess,^*^ chockling Baggage.

45 Wilmot. Xet^i zo choclding, ner it'- zo crewnting, as thee art, a

1 This name is always thus pronouuced. So also the village Morebatli is
always Muur'huth.

2 — 2 Elisions of the vowel ?/, i. e. the paiticipial prefix, or wlieu in rapid speech,
the auxiliary have is shortened into u. If spoken deliberately it would be
keod uv u-hlas'ud, met uv u-paurri'sturd. This form is very common, but it is
impossible to determine wliether the v. standing for have, or the prefix, is the
one got rid of. The h in /«,«' of the text merely conventional writing.

3 This word adds no force to the verb, but is, and apparently has long been
a mere pleonasm. Scarcely ten sentences can be heai'd in the district without
voa'r occurring somewhere.

* I think as is an error of the original transcriber. No native would have
used so literary a phrase, he would have said sae'um-z Mawdhur daed, or eens
Maifdhtir daed.

5 This form is nearly obsolete, a very few old people still use it.

^ Furze is a very common name, and is always pronoimced Vuuz.

"< Here the words being all more or less emphatic, the final inflexion would
have a syllable to itself.

8 This is the old plural, quite obsolete. See W. S. Gram., p. 7.

AN EXMOOll SCOLDING.

dhan Ae\vnt An*ees Muur'muni keod u^ blas'ud voaT^ un neet u^ 25
paum-sturd ubaewd ut, uz* Mau-dhur daed.

Thomasin. Haut dees-yai"z dhan yu guurt Ag'eej 1

Wilmot. "W'aay, ae'iir ziinz dliu wurt twuun'tee, aa'y zaewn'teen,
1111 iivoaT, dh-aast u-bee truiibdd wai dhu Daewl vach dhu.

Tliomasin. Haut-s mee'un bi dhaat, yu laung-hanjud Mai'zU 30
Diist iiyiir^ mu 1 Dhu kyaals' mu stee'urtleen Eauyiil iiaew-ree*urt. —
Aew deds dhee* stee'urtlee pun dhu Zaes' laas Aar'us wai dhu yumig
Dik Vraug'weenil, haun Jaurj Vuuz*' piich-tu"? — Ee toad niudhu woad
Fuump u dhu bez'nees.

Wilmot. Au ! dhu vuur'ee Vai'njuns tae"ur dhu ! Diis dhee* tuul 35
niee u Dik Vraug'wee-ul'? — "VVaay, dhee urt een u Niin'eewauch
ae'uree uudhair Tuurn, neef zu bee dhu diis biit zdt zee'iirt een Aar'ee
Vuurz'dn (Fursdon).

Tliomasin. Aew ! yu guurt chaewn'teen, gruumdeen, gluum-peen,
zaawur-zaap"ud, yuur-een Traarsh ! 40

Wilmot. Doa-un tuul mee u gluum-peen : Aul dhu Xaaybureodn^
nau'uth^ dhee* tu bee a vai-keen, blae'iizeen, tiikteesh Uuz-ee.

Thomasin. Un dhee' urt u krue'nteen, kAvuur-keeii, yai-vee,
duug-ud-yas,io chaukdeen bag-eej.

Wilmot. E"eetii zu chaukdeen, nur eet^^ zukrue'nteen-zdheeaart,u 45

5 An example of the use of the termination th in the pkiral. Compare
' Ancren Riwle ' (Ed. Camden Society) : —

' vor J^eos rivvle<5 j^e horte —
alse sum detS, alse ^e telle <5 me.' — p. 8.
' ]iQ pine )jet prisuns l^olieS : ]>ei heo ligge<5.' — p. 32.

So also in ' Robert of Gloucester' and ' Trevisa' is found the same form,

" yess has nearly lost the y sound amongst the lowest class in the Vale of
W. Somerset, but it is still common in the Hills, and in North Devon. I have
heard the word so pronounced in a half apologetic manner, by those who felt
its coarseness.

" Not in the sense here used, is at present always neet, and is the evident
contraction of not yet or nor yet.

'2 Yet is always ee't, and the it of the text is decidedly too short to convey the
sound to modern ears ; but since throughout Devonshire it (pron. ), pi7i, kin, if,
are pronounced ee't,pee'n, kee'n, neef, the original transcriber most likely intended
to represent the soimd of the i in it as then spoken, and doubtless, then as now,
the same spoken word represented both it and yet. This is confirmed by note
to 1. 110 of the text, where eet is given as an alternative spelling of tjet.

30 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

46 colting Hobby -horse ! Nif tha dest bet go down into the Paddick,
to stroak the Kee, thee wut come oil a gerred, and oil hony zo
vurs^ tha art a vorked; ya gerred-teal'dj^ panking, hewstring
Mea-zel ! — Thee art lick a skittish Sture jest a yooked.^ Tha Avoulst

50 host any keendest Theng/ tha art zo vore-reet, nif Vauther
dedn't ha-ape tha.

Tlwmasln. Ay, ay ! Kester Moreman wou'd ha be hove^ up,
nif zo be*^ a had a had tha; a toteling, wambling/ zlottering,
zart-and-vair yheat-stool.

55 Wihnot. Ay, and zo wou'd tha young George Vuzz, mun,^ whan a^
had a had a rubbacrock, rouzeabout, platvooted, zidlemouth'd^*'
Swashbucket. — Pi tha dest thenk enny Theng will e'er vittee
or gooddee wey zich a whatnozed, haggie-tooth'd,^'* stare-bason,
timersome, rixy, wapper-ee'd Theng as thee art %

60 Thomasin. Dest hire ma]^^ Oil the Crime o' the Country
goth, that wan'^ tha liv'st up to tha Cot, tha wart the Old
Eager Hill's Under Bed-blonket. And more 'an zo,^^ that tha
wart a chittering, raving, racing, bozzom-chuck'd, riggmg,

64 lonching, haggaging Moil.

1 Far seems to have been, as now, uukuowu in either comparison — distance
is vuur-nees. A man was giving me a direction across a very lonely part of
Exmoor, and told me I should come to tue' gimrt eeps ti stoo'unz haewt dhu
vimrnees uv u kwaurtior muyuld uvoa'r yue kaumth tu dhu gee'ut. ' Two
great heaps of stones (two barrows) about the furness of a quarter mUe before
you cometh to the gate.'

2 The teal of the text is not broad enough, even M ea = ai. I have heard
very ignorant people talking 'fine,' say tee-ul for tail, dee'fd for dale,pee'ul for
pail, &c., but there was clearly no affectation about Wilmot.

3 Probably u-yuuk'ud would more correctly represent the soimd. In the
hill districts the long o is somaded more like oo than the oa of the vales. Hence
yoke is yoo'k — but yoked is more like yuuk'ud or yook'ud. In all these cases
where the part, is emphatic the inflexion is a distinct final syllable -ud. (See
W. S. G., p. 45.)

• * i. e. anything whatever, a very common pluase. Probably any kind of
thitig ; kind is still kee'ml, so oblige is always ithlee'j, toind (v.) wee'n; bliml
is constantly blee'n, right, ree't, as in the text; shine, shee'n. See text,
1. 128.

* I believe this to be the p. part, of heave with the prefix elided by rapid
speech — uttered deliberately, tliis would be, wfcd u-bee u-oa'v aup.

^ /fwhen it signifies peradventure , is still neef zu bee.

' The transcriber was certainly wrong m writing wambling — in all these words

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 31

koa'lteen Aub*ee-au"s ! Neef dhu diis biit goo daewn een'tu dhu Pad'ik, 46
tu stroa'k dhu Kae'ee, dhee wiit km aul ii-guur"ud, un aul aur"ee zu
vuur-zi dh-aart u-vau'rkud ; yu guur'ud-taa'yuld,^ pang'keen, eo'streen
Mai-zl ! — Dhee urt lik u skit'eesh StfeoT jest u-yook"iid.^ Dhu wiits
buust un'ee keen'dees dheng,* dh-aart zu voaT-reet, neef Vau"dhur 50
ded-ii aa'p dhu.

Thomasin. Aay, aa"y ! Kaes'tur Muur-mun wiid u bee oa"v^ aup,
neef zu bee*^ u ad u-ad- dhu ; u toa'titleen, wauui'leen/ zlaut'ureen,
zaart-n-vae'iir yee*ut-steol.

Wihnot. Aa"y, un zoa* wud dhu yuung Jaurj Vuuz, mun,^ haun u^ 55
adu-ad* uruub'ukrauk, raewzubaewt, plaat-veot'ud, ziiydl-muwdhud '*^
Zwaysh-buuk'ut. — Pidhu dus dhengk un*ee dheng wiil ae'ur viit'ee
ur gfeod'ee wai zich u waut-noa"zud, ag'1-teo'dhud,^** stae*ur-bae"usn,
tiim'ursum, rik'see, waap"UT-ee"d dheng-z dhee aarf?

Thomasin. Diist uyiir nid?^^ Aul dhu Kruym u dhu Kuun'tree 60
gooth, dhut haun^2 dhu lee'vst aup tu dhu Kaut, thu wurt dh-oai
Eaj 'ur Ee'iilz uun'dur bai'd-blaun'kut. Un moo'ur-n zoa,^^ dhut dhu
wurt u chiit'ureen, raeuveen, rae'useen, buuz'um-chuuk-ud, rig'een,
laun'cheen, ag'eejeen Mauyul. 64

.the h is always dropped — stuurn'leen, shaam'leen, ramwleen, gruuiii'-leen, &c.

8 Man used in this way is a very common expression ; it has a half-defiant,
quasi-abusive force ; it is nearly always used in a threat or rude contradiction,
and would be spoken to a woman, as in the text, as readily as to a man. No
one would think of using it to a superior unless a deliberate insult were
intended. Compare ' Ancren Riwle' (Ed. Camden Society), p. 12, '■ich chulle
schawe ]>e mon sei^ )>e holi Michee.'

9 The use of short a for he and for they (see W. S. G., p. 96) is no modern
corrupt pronunciation. ' John of Trevisa ' (ed. Morris and Skeat), p. 244, 1. 50,
writes, ' £ seyde \>at a moste spare ]p]/nges \>at scholde he hys oune : again, p.
245, 1. 68, "''Nay" qua)) Harold, '■'• hy he\ no jirustes, bote a he\i wel stalword
kny^tes." '

10 — 10 jjj all these nouns used adjectively, the inflexion has the full syllable,
as in the p. part. See note 3, p. 30. I think the transcriber inconsistent in having
written some ed and others 'd, while, on the contrary, he wi'ites troubled,
which is pronoimced truuh-ld. If there be any exceptions to the above rule
they would be when the noun ends in I, or a vowel, and hence I have written
waap'uree'd, when I believe ivaap'uree'rtd was spoken.

" Then, as now, threatening or abusive sentences very often began thus.
Now this phrase. Dost hear me ? is contracted into Shuur mn ?

1* Spelt wlian elsewhere, in the text.

1^ This expression is still very common ^ moreover.

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

G5 Wilmot. How ! ya confounded Trapes ! Tell me enny
more o' Eager Hill's Bed-blonket, ad ! cliell pull the Poll
o' tlia;i chell plim tlia, cheU vulch tha. Looks zee,^ — Eager
Hill es as'^ honest a Man as any* in Challacomb ; — no Dis-
preise.

70 Tliomasin. And do thee tell me o' stertling upon the Zess, whan
George Vuzz putch'd,^ chell gi' tha a Lick ; — chell lay tha over the
Years wey the Yire-tangs. Ad ! chell ting tha, Tliy buzzom
Chucks were pretty vittee avore tha mad'st thyzel therle,
and thy Ylesh oil wangery, and thy Skin oil vlagged, with*' nort

75 bet Agging, and Yeaking, and Tiltishness.

Wilmot. Bed-blonket akether* ! Ha ! zey zich a Word more
cheU cotton thy Waisteeoat. Chell thong tha, chell gi' tjia
zich a strait''' in tha Chupsf, ya Grizzledemundy.

Tliomasin. Me a Strait in the Chups % Dest hire ma ] Come

80 aneest me, chell pummel tha, chell vag tha, chell lace tha.

Wilmot. Thee lace mal Chem a laced well-a-fine^ aready*

Zey wone "Word more, and chell bresh tha, chell tan tha, cheU

make thy Boddize pilmee.

Tliomasin. How a Man a zed!^*^ make my Boddize pilmee"?

85 Ad ! if e'er tha squeakest wone Word more o' tha Bed-
blonket, chell trim tha, chell crown tha, chell vump tha.

' The poll of thee is a much more derogatory form of speech than * thy poll.'
(See W. S. Gram., p. 13.)

2 This expression is still very common =: look here ! void ! In this form,
with the second person slug, it is defiant, or quasi-abusive, and would never be
used to a superior = Look ! dost see ? The civil form implying deference is
Leokee zee = look, do you see? (See W. S. G., p. 35.)

3 This must be an error of the transcriber accustomed to the literary style.
I never heard a real native say as honest as ; it should have been so honest as.

* Another literaryism — this should have been as other one = as ever a one;
as any is impossible. (See W. S. Gram., p. 25.) 'Robert of Gloucester' (ed.
Morris and Skeat), 1 A. 1. 533, writes, ' Ac no]>er of is o]>er sons.' At present
we should say, nother one of his other sons.

5 This word being emphatic there would be a lingering on the final con-
sonant, which would produce quite a distinct syllable, iih. This will be found
to occur frequently.

* [Note to Ed. of 1778.) Akether ! means Quoth he ! or Quoth her !

* {Note to Ed. of 1778.) Chups or Chucks, the Cheeks.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDIXG. 33

Wlhnot. Aew ! yu kaun'faewn"dud trae-ups ! Tuul mee- lin'ee 65
moo'ur u Raj'ur Ee-iilz bai'd-blaun-kut, ad! cli-iil peol dim poad
udhui; ch-iil pliim dim, cli-iil vuulch dhu. Lcok-s zee-,^ — Eaj-ur
Ee'ul liz uz^ au-uees a mae'iiii uz un-ce^ een Cliaal-ikmu ; — noa dces-
praa'yz.

Thomasin. Un du dbee tuul niee a stee-urtleen pun dliu Zaes, liaun 70
Jaurj Vuuz puch-tu,5 cli-iil gi dhu u lik ; — ch-ul laay dliu oa-vur dim
yuurz wai dhu vuyur-tangz. Ad ! ch-ul ting dhu. Dhi buuzz-uni
chuuks wur puui"tee vut-ee uvoaT dhu mae-uds dhi-zuul dbuur-ul,
un dhi Vlaiysh aul wang-urce, uu dhi skeen aul vlag-ud, wai*^ noa-urt
but Ag-een, un Vai'keen, un tul'teeshnees. 75

Wilmot. Bai-d-blaun-kutukaedh"ur*! Haa! zaizich wuurdmoo-ur,
ch-ul kaut-n dhuy wae-uskoa-ut. Ch-ul dhaung dhu, chud gi dhu
zich u straat-n'' dhu chuups,t yu guur-zl-dimuun-dce.

Thomasin. Mee u straat-n dhu chuups ] Dust uyur mu 1 Kaum
unee-us mee, ch-ul paum-ul dhu, ch-iil vag dhu, ch-ul lae-iis dhu. 80

Wilmot. Dhee laenis mul ch-um u-lae'iis wuul-u-fuyn^ virad-ee.^

Zai woon wuurd moo-iir-n ch-iil biirsh dhu, ch-ul tan dhu, ch-ul

niak dhi baud'eez pul'mee.

Thomasin. Aew u mae-im zaed!^*' mak nmy baud'eez pul-mce'?
Ad ! neef ae'ur dhu skwai'kus woon wuurd moo"ur u dhu bai d- 85
blaun-kut, ch-dl trilni dim, ch-iil kraewn dhu, ch-ul vuunip dhu.

^ Error of transcribers, tvith was unknown.

'' Misprint in the text for strat or stratt. See Glossary.

8 A common expression =: very fine —

' God him seute a wel f eir gras. '

' Stacious of Rome' (E. E. T. S., Furuivall), p. 14, I. 416.
' l^oru-out al Engeloud.
he huld wel god pes.'
' Rob. of Gloucester' (ed. Morris and Skeat), 1 (A), 1. ,370.
The a in \oell-a-fine is, 1 think, euphonic ; compare wash-a-7nouth, line 138 ;
rubh-a-croch, line 56".

8 No trace of the I is ever heard in already.

1" A very common exclamation as a prelude to a remark which would lead
to the expectation that some oratio recta was to follow — nothing of the kind.
The text, in tliis, is thoroughly vernacular. Another very common form is,
Sae'um'z dhu fiad'ur zaed, ' Same as the fellow said ;' but we are never told
what the fellow did say-rthe phrase has no necessary connection with what is
to follow. D

34 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS."

87 W/'Imot. Why dedst thee, than, toll me o' the Zess, or it of
the Hay-pook, as^ tha dedst whileer? — Chell drub tha, chell
curry thy scabbed Yess var^ tha.
90 Tliomasin. And why dest thee, than, tell me 'Isterday o'
losing 3 my Rewden Hat in the Eex-bush, out a whorting?^ And
more and zo, that the young Tom Vuzz shou'd le-ave^ he's Cod
glove ! — Ad ! zey a "Word more o' the young Tom Yuzz, chell
baste tha, chell strara tha, chell drash tha ; — chell make thy Kepp
95 hoppee, wi' thy Vlanders Lace upon't.*^

Wilmot. Vlanders Lace! What's me-an by that, ha-ahl'''
Tell me enny more o' Vlanders Lace, chell make thy Yead^ addle.
Chell up wi' ma Veest, and gi' tha a Whisterpoop, and zich a Zwop
as^ shall make tha veel ma, looks zee !
100 Thomasin. Gi' me a Zwopl — Ad ! chell gi' tha a Wherret, or a
Zlat in the Chups, — or up wi' thy dugged Coats, and tack tha
gre-asy^o Yess o' tha.

Wilmot. Thee tack me, ya unlifty, ill-hearty, untidy
Mea-zel 1 — Andra wou'd ha' had a Trub in tha, nif Vauther hadent a
105 strad the Match.

Tlwmasin. How Dem ! a Trub"? Go, ye rearing, snapping,

tedious, cutted Snibblenose ! Th' art olways a vustled up in an

old Jump, or a Whittle, or an old Seggard, avore^^ zich Times as
109 K"eckle Halse^^ comath about: -Than tha wut prinkee.

' Literaryism — should be sae'um-z or eens — as is impossible.

2 Here the prep, is emphatic, and is written var in the text ; the vowel
somid is precisely the same as iu war in lit. Eug. Sentences very frequently
end in a prep, like mod. Ger. Moreover, this prep, is often redundant, and then
there is always a stress upon it. This custom is so inveterate that even people
of some education constantly practice it. In a local paper of November 14th,
1878, I read iu a signed letter, ' I have had three connections made with the
common sewer, and in each case took care to ascertain in what state the sewer
was in.'

3 -I believe this also to be a literaiyism — to lose is tu laus [t before vowel) ;
losing is lau-steen. (See W. S. G., p. 47.)

* The ID has disappeared, except among the better class — hunrts, himrteen,
only are heard among ThomasMs class. Probably the transcriber wrote whort-
inrj from literary habit.

5 The present form is Zae/— anything hke the leave iu the text is quite
obsolete. (See W. S. G., p. 47.)

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 35

Wllmot. Waay duds dhee, dhun, tuul mee u dhu Zaes, ur eet u 87
dhu haa'y p^ok, uz^ dhu daeds wuylaeair? — Ch-ul druub dliu, cli-ul
kuur'ee dhi skab'ud yaes* vaur^ dhu.

Thomasin. Un waay daeds dhee, dhun, tuul mee* us'turdai u 90
laus'teen-'' mi rue'dn aat een dhu reks beosh, aewt u huur-teenl^ Uu
moo"ur-n zoa*, dhut dhu yuung Taum Vunz shud leeaiv'^ ee"z Kaud
gluuv ! Ad ! zai u -vvuurd moo'ur u dhu yuung Taura Vuuz, ch-ul
bae'us dhu, ch-ul straani dhu, ch-iil draash dhu ; — ch-ul niak dhi kep
aup'ee, \vi dhi Vlaan'durz lae'us upaunt.^ 95

Wilmot. Vlaan-durz lae"us ! Haut-s mee'un bi dhaat, haa'u?'^
Tuul mee un"ee mooair u Vlaau'durz lae'us, ch-ul mak dhi ai d^ ad"l.
Ch-ul aup wai mu veest, un gi dhu u AVus'turpeop, un zich u Zwaup^
sh'l mak dhu vee'ul mu, leok-s zee- !

Thomasin. Gi mee* u zwaup 1 — Ad ! ch-ul gi dhu u wuurr'ut, ur u 100
zlaat-n dhu chuups, — ur aup wai dhi duug-ud Koa"uts, un taak dhu
gree'iisee^*^ yaes u dhu.

Wilmot. Dhee' taak mu, yu aunluf'tee, ee 'ul-aar'tee, auntuydee
Mai"zl ? — An'dr wud u ad u truub een dhu, neef Vaudhur ad-n u-strad
dhu maach. • 105

Thomasin. Aew Daem ! u truub'? — Goo* yu rae*ureen, snaap'een,
tai'jus, cuut*ud snub'lnoa'uz ! — Dh-urt au*laiz u-vuusdd aup een un
cad juump, ur u wut'l, ur un oad Saeg'urd, uvoa'r^^ zich tuymz uz
Naek'l Aal-s^^ kaum-uth ubaewt : — Dhan* dhu wiit* praeng-kce. — 109

® This I am sui-e ought to be upaun un. The pron. it is never used in
reference to nouns of the definite class. This is confirmed by the text through-
out. (See also W. S. Gram., p. 33.)

■^ This is the equivalent of the well-known eh ? but in the west generally
takes the broader form.

8 Head thoHgh written yead would not, I believe, have had a y sound,
except for the close vowel preceding the long a, dhi ai'd, cannot be pronounced
quickly without the y sound.

9 In rapid speech the as before shall would quite disappear.
1" Greasy would now be pronounced grai'sSe.

11 This is still the common idiom for until ; another equally common is gin
zich tuymz. A man at Plymouth (Feb. 12, 1879) said to me, ' us can wait avore
you be ready, Sir.'

12 Halse is a very common name in N. Devon ; it is always pronounced Aa-ls
by the Thomasin class. Neckle is the usual abbreviation for Nicholas.

D 2

36 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

110 Thee liast a let the Ivee go zoo vor Want^ o' strockincr.^ It
a vore oil* th' art an abomination ^ Pinchvart vor thy own

Eends. Ay, ay ! Shoort, Wilmot, shoort ! Zwer thy Torn,*

or else tha tedst net carry^ whome^ thy Pad, and meef Neckle Halse
hy tha Wey. He'll meet tha in the Vuzzy-park^ Coander^

115 by Cockleert, or avore, chell warndy.!**

Wilmot. TeU^^ ma one Word more o' Keckle Halse chell
skull tha, tha hassent a be' a skull'd zo vor wone while. ^^ Ya
gurt Fustilngs ! The Old Mag Dawkins es bet a Huckmuck to
tha. Zet tha about orfc, why, tha dest Thengs vore-and-back,!^

120 a cat-hamm'd,^'* a vore-reert, and vramp-shaken,^^ like a Totle.

Thomasin. How ! ya long-hanged TrajDes ! Ya blowmonger
Baarge ! Thee wut coal-varty a-bed f avore be voor days, Tha'rt
so deeve^'5 as a Had dick in chongy Weather. Or whan 'tes avore ^'' or

124 a scratcht the le-ast Theng out,^^ or whan snewth, or blunketh,^^

1 A literaryism — the vernacular would be lacvk; umnt is scarcely ever
heard iu this sense— a want is the only name kno^vn for a mole (Talpa).

* Like yoa-h (see note, 1. 38), so stroa'k is shortened by the added syllable
to struuh-een, struuk'ud (iutrans.) : the traiisitive iuflection not adding a syllable
would be stroo'kt.

' Still a common expression for abominable. The r is distinctly sounded
in all words ending in ation.

* This expression is still very commonly used to women. It is equivalent to
'get on with your work.' A farmer's wife would say, Zioxtiir dhi tuurn to a
maid who was idling at the wash-tub. It is clearly a relic of the time, not so
long ago, when all coimtry women were spinsters. Well within the present
century, not only did they spin for home consumption, but for hire. This
is implied in the text, ' carry home thy pad,' i. e. home to the employer,
who gave out the wool to be spim, and who paid for spinning at so much a
pad (q.v.).

5 Carry is a literaryism — the y is always di'opped.

* Home has no longer the sound of iv iu this district — but in Dorset and
other Southern shires this is still common. In North Dev. and W. Som. it is
aum — the precise sound of om in To)n.

' 3Ieet, sweet, keep, 2iee2), deep, and some others have the ee short, some-
thing like the sound of i in pit, knit, of ht. Eng. Some, as sleep, leat, are
zlee'Hp, lee' lit.

* {Note to Ed. of 1778.) It (or Eet) a vore all, means. Yet notwithstanding,
t {Note to Ed. of 177 S.) Coal-varty a-bed, to warm the Bed with a Scotch

Warming-pan ; that is, with Half a Fart-hing.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING, 37

Dhee aast u-lact dhu kae-ee goo zeo- vur wan-nti u stmuk-een.^ Eet 110
uvoaT au-1,* dli-aart un ubaum-inae-urshun^ punclivaart vur dhi oatin
ee-nz.— Aay, Aay ! Sh^o'urt, Wul-mut, sheo-urt ! Zwuur dhi Tuurn,*
ur uls dliu taeds nut kaar-^ woa-m'^ dlii pad, un mcet^ ISTaekd Aa-ls
bi dhi wai. — Ec ul meet dhu een dhu Vuuz-ee paark^ Koa-iindur^
bi Kauk-lee -urt, ur uvoaT, ch-ul wau-rnd-ee.^*' 115

Wllmot. TuuPi ma woon wuurd moo-ur u jN'aekd Aads ch-ul
skyeol dhu, dhu aas-nt u-bee u-sky^old zoa vur woon wnyuL^^ Yu
guurt fuus'tiluugz ! Dh-oad Mag Dau-keenz uz but u Uuk-muuk tu •
dhu. Zaet dhu abaewt oa-iirt, waay, dhu dus dhaengz voa-r-n baak,i^
u kyaat^^-aam-ud, u voa*r-ree-urt, un vramp-shee'upm,^^ lik u toa"tl. 120

Thomasin. Aew ! yu laung-an-jud Trae'ups ! Yu bleo-maun'jur
Baa*rj ! Dhee wut koad-vaar-tee u-baidf uvoaT bi voor dai'z. Dh-aart-
zu dee"f-s^s u ad-ik een chaun-jee wadh'ur. Ur haun taez avroa-r ''' ur
u-skraa"cht dhu lee'usdhaeng aewtj^^ur haun sneo"th,ur blaeng-kuth,i^ 124

8 Park is constantly used as a name for pasture lands. I know many such
names, as Broad-park, Combe-park, Higher-park, Park farm, &c., where
nothing but pasture is meant.

9 Corner is always so pronounced ; so tailor is taa-yuldur. (See also
W. S. G., p. 19.)

1" Fll warrant ye.

11 Tell is the equivalent of say or talk. Aay yuurd um tuul'een tugadh-ur.
'I heard them talking together.' Doo'un tuid aup zich stimf, is the usual way
of saying, ' don't talk nonsense.' Aay yuurd wn tuid aew ivee bee gwarn vur
t-ae'u aard ivee'ntur. ' I heard them tell {i. e. on dit) how that we are going
to have a hard winter. '

1- One while means a very long time.

1^ An equally common form still in use is haak-n voa'r, both signify hack-
wards, or rather back in front.

" Cat when emphasised is always kyaat or kyat.

1* Shee'upud would be said at present. I suspect the en of the text is a
literaryism. The shaken is a misprint for shafpen, in 7th Edition 1771, it is
shapen^n is always sounded m after 7;. (See W. S. Dial, p. 17.)

'^ Deaf is one of the words in which the f is soimded sharp. I have no
doubt of the v of the text being a slip of the transcriber. ' Deaf as a Haddock,'
is still the constant simile throughout W. S., used for the superlative absolute of
deaf. (See W. S. Gram., p. 22.)

I'' Misprint in the text ; avrore in Ed. 1771. See the Glossary. Compare
Germ, gefroren.

1^ Still a common idiom — the out has rather an intensitive force. ' A very
small piece' is generally dhu laistees beet aeicf.

1^ IMisprint in the text for blenketh. See Glossary.

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

125 or doveth, or in scatty Weather, or in a tingling^ Vrost,
than tha art thecklifted,^ and ba hang'd to tha.

Wilmot. And thee art a lams'd in wone o' thy Yearms,' and cassent
zee a Sheen in thy Eeart Ee.

Thomasin. Eex-bush ! — Fath ! tell me o' tha Eexbush,
130 ye teeheeing Pixy' — Es marl'^ who's more vor Eigging or
Eumping,^ Steehopping or Eagrowtering, Giggleting,*' or Gam-
bowling than thee art thyzel. — Pitha, dest'nt remember'' whan
tha com'st over tha Clam wi' tha Old Hugh Hosegood, whan
tha "Wawter was by Stave, how tha vel'st^ in, and the Old Hugh
135 drade thee out by tha vorked Eend, wi' thy dugged Clathers
up zo vur as thy Na'el,^ whan tha wart just a huddled 1

Wilmot. Lock ! dest dwallee, or tell doil ? Pitha tell

138 reaznable,!*' or hold thy Popping, ya gurt Washamouth.

So ends the first Bout.

1 Words ending in glvag or ging, never soimd two g\ as in lit. Eng. ting-
glin/j, or Lancashire sing-ging.

2 The participial pi-efix omitted in the text — it could not be so by the
speaker. See W. S. G., p. 49.

' I never heard any y sound in arms when spoken alone, but when pre-
ceded by a close vowel in rapid speech there is the sound of y. The same
appUes to other words.

* Marvel is thus pronounced— the marl of the text is not a true mono-
syllable ; doubtless the transcriber was accustomed to sound the I more
distinctly than is now common, and his orthograi)hy in that case is good ;
marl, i. e. clay is maardl.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING.

ur doa-viitli, ur een skaat-ee wadh-ur, ur een u tengieen^ vrairs, 125
dhan dh-aart u-tliaekiuf •tud,'-' un bee ang-tu dim.

Wilmot. TJu dhee urt u-laamst een woon u dhi ae-unnz,^ uu kas'ii
zee u Shee"n een dlii ree-urt ee-.

Thom.asin. Raeks-b^o-sli ! — Faa'tli ! tuul mee ii dhu raeks-Lco'sli,
yu tee-liee-een pik-see. — Es maaTul'^ ue'-z moo-iir vur rig-een nr 130
ruum-peen,^ stee"aupeen \\v rag'gruwtureen, gigdteen,^ ur gaaur-
buwleen-un dhee aart dlii ziud. — Pudh-u, dus-n rai'muinbur '^ liaun
dhu kaumst oa'vur dhu klaam- "wai dh-oad Yue- Oa'zgeod, haun
dhu waa-tur wuz bi stae-uv, aew dhu vaalst^ een, un dh-oad Yue*
drae-ud dhee aewt bi dhi vaur-kud een, Avai dhi duug'ud Klaa-dhurz 135
aup zu vur-z dhi naa-ul,*^ haun dhu Avust jist u-buuddd ]

Wilmot. Lauk ! dus dwaadee, ur tuul dauyid? — Pudlru tuul
rai'znubl,^*' ur oa'l dhi paup'een, yu guurt Waiysh-umaewf. 138

Zoa avntli dim fuus Baetvt.

^ Romping is still so spoken— so Juuh for Job, ruuh for ro5, &c.

^ Giggling — this word is still proiioiinced with ;! iu it. I heard a man
abusing his daughter, call her ' yii gig-lteen yimng bach V

' Literaryism — remember would be fine talk. Thoinasin to Wilmot would
have said muyn, 'miud' — to the parson or a 'real gentleman,' rai'mfumhur,

8 Spelt valst in 1. 169.

» Navel— so cJaa'ul for clavel, shoo nl for shovel, graa'ul for gravel.

1" This is a very common expression still = talk sensibly.

AN EXMOOE SCOLDING.

BOUT THE SECOND.

Wilmot. T~\I8T hire ma, Dem? Chell lia tether Vinny wi'
1-10 1 X tha. — Tha told'st^ ma now-reert, or a whilere,

of 2 Eiggiiig and Eumping, Steehopping and Eagrowtering, Giggleting
and Gamboyling.^ What's me-an by thate?"* But thee, thee
Aviit ruckee, and squattee, and doattee-^ in the Chiniley Coander
lick an '^ Axwaddle ; and wi' the zame tha wut rakee up, '' and
145 gookee, and tell doil, teU Dildrams and Buckingham Jen-
kins. — Ay, ay, poor ^ Andra Vursdon wud ha' had a rig-mutton
Eumpstall in tha, nif tad net ha' he' strat.^ A wud ha' had
a coad, riggelting, parbeaking, piping Body in tha ! olwey wone
Glam or nether. And more an zo, there's no Direct to hot tha
150 tell'st.io Tha wut feb et heartily.ii Na, tha Avut lee a Eope

1 There is no sound of the d or the t after the I in this word.

2 Literaryism — of =: uv is only used before a vowel.

^ Spelt gamhowlviig previously — I never heard gamboyling.

* I have written thus in deference to original note to Ed. 1778, p. 1 of the
' Courtship,' but my opinion is that thate is much too long a sound to have been
used ; if not, it is now quite obsolete. (See W. S. Gram., pp. 29 to 32, on the
use of that.)

^ Here the similar vowel sounds — doa'utea een = doattee in — of the text
would in rapid speech be slurred together, as previously noted. (See note 5, 1. 5.
AlsoW. S.Gram., p. 27.)

^ Here, on the other hand, there is no such elision— but the distinguishing
adjective u stands before a vowel as well as a consonant. (See W. S. Gram.,
p. 29.)

U AK'SMOAR SKOA'LDEEN.

BAEWT DHU SAEK'UNT.

Wihnot. I \UST uyur mu, Daeni? Ch-ul aeai taedli'ur vuii'ee \vi

■ 1 -^ dim. — Dhu toa-ls^ muiiaew-ree'iirt, ur u wuyulae'iir, 140
u- rig'een lui ruuurpeen, stee^aupeen un rag'gruAvtureen, gig'lteen
nn gaaiu'ljuwleen.^ Haut-s niee'iin bi dhae'iif?* But dhee, dhee
wut ruuk-ce, un skwaut"ee, vin doa'utee-n^ dhu chumiee koa'undur
lik u^ aks'wadi; an* \vi dim zae'um dhu wiit rae'ukce aup-m'^
gfeo'kce, un tuul dauyul, tuul Dukdrumz un Buuk'eenum Jing*- 145
keenz, — Aay, aa*y, poo'ur^ An'dru Vuuz'dn wud u-ad a rig-muutn
ruuni'psl een dhu, neef t-ad nut* u-bee straat.^ U wud u-ad
II koa'ud, rigdteen, paar'baekeen, puy "peen bau'dee-n dhu ! aul'wai woon
glaam ur naedh-ur. Un moo'ur-n zoa", dhur-z noa durack" tu haut dhu
tuuls.^*^ Dhu wiit faeb ut aar'ti layk.^^ jS'aa, dhu wut lee u roo'up 150

■^ The and in raj^id speech becomes shortened, and after ja, h,f, v, is always
sounded as m, as before noted, 1. 120.

8 The use of poor generally implies that the person spoken of is dead, and it
does so very probably here ; though there is nothing further in the text to
confirm that view.

^ The participial prefix might be dropped in very rapid speech, or become
scai'cely perceptible , particularly when following another p. part. This word
strut is the same as is elsewhere, e. g. 1. 105, spelt stirid. The former is the
commoner form. Deliberately spoken, net ha' be' a strat.

'" Tell throughout the dialogues is used for say and talk. See note 11,
1. 116 ; also 1. 137.

11 This whole sentence reads apocryphal — I never heard the word^S in the
dialect, and no one ever heard heartily. Moreover the word hearty would not
be used in this sease.

42 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

151 up-reert.* ^ Chad a most a borst my Guts \vi' laugliing, wlian's
zeed tha whilere trapsee liuin from tha Yeoanua Lock,^ thy
Shoes oil besh — ,^ thy Hozen^ muxy up zo vurs thy Gammerels
to tha very Hucksheens o' tha, thy Gore Coat oil a girred,

155 thy Aead-Clathiiig 5 oil a' foust ; thy Waistcoat oil horry, and thy
Pancrock a kiver'd ^yi' Briss and Buttons.

Tliomasin. "Why thare zo ! ^ Bet dist net thee thenk, ya
long-hanged Trapes, that tha young Josy YeafF-field'' wud ha' be'
plasad, when ha had zitch a crewdling Theng as thee art? Eart

160 lunging, eart squatting upon thy tether Eend. Zq^ ort to ^ tha,
why tha wut twitch up thy Teal, and draw ^ up thy Noaze, and take
Owl 1*^ o', or take Pip o'. Mf won ^^ zey the le-ast Theng out,^^
tha wut purtee a Zennet arter.

Wibnot. How, Hussey ! ya confounded Trash ! Dist remem-

165 ber^^ when tha Avenst out in the Vuzzey-Park, in the Desk o' tha
Yeaveling, just in tha Dimmet, wi' tha young Humphrey Hosegood, —
and how ha mullad and soulad about tha ] Ha bed ^^ tha zet down; —
and tha zedst tha woudst net,'^ nif ha dedent blow tha down. Zo ha
blow'd, and down tha valst. Who shud be hard by ^^ (vor 'twas in

170 tha Dimmet) bet tha Square's^" Bealy, — and vorewey ha' cry'd

1 If this saying was ever commou, it is now obsolete. At present this
would be expressed thua—Dhu ivfit tuul Iwyz zu vaas uz u aws kn gaal'up,
' Thee wilt tell lies as fast as a horse can gallop.'

' I have made careful enquiry at different times, and from several persons,
who know every corner of Exmoor and of the district of Pai-racombe and
Challacombe, but can hear of no such place as Yeoanna Lock. I therefore
conclude it to be a fiction.

^ Beshiit-n.

* Now quite obsolete, but it was not uncommon so lately as fifty years ago.
Stockings only are now heard of.

5 iTeat^-clathing m Ed. of 1771.

^ This is still a common exclamation— of no particular meaning — like Oh, 1
never ! Good gracious ! &c.

'' Joseph Heathfield. (SeeW. S. Dial., p. 22.) A common name in these parts.

» The r is always sounded in this word, but the t is dropped in rapid speech
when followed by another ;;.

* {Note to Ed. of 1778.) To lie a Rope upright, contains a Pun on the
Word Lie, and means the telling such a Lie as implies a Contradiction in itself ;
or what is as impossible to be true, as for a Rope which lies on the Ground to
stand upright at the same Time. ~~

A.N EXMOOR SCOLDING.

aup-ree'iirt.* 1 Ch-ud umoo'ees buns mi guilts wai laar-feen, haun-s 151
zeed dhu Avuyulae"ur traeaipsee uum vrum dhu Yoa*an*ur Lauk,2dhi
sheo'z aul besh — ,3 dhi oa'zn* muuk'see aup zu vur-z dlii gaam'urulz
tu dhu vuur'ee uuk'-slieenz u dliu, dhi goo'iir koa-iit aul u-guui"ud,
dhi ai'd klaa'theen^ aul u-fuwst; dhi wae'uskoo'iit aul aur ee, un dhi 155
pang'krauk a-kuvurd wai brus -n buut'nz.

Tliomasin. Waay dhae-iir zoa* ! ^ But dus nut dhee dhaengk, yu
laung' an'jud trae'ups, dhut dhu yuung Joa-zee Yef 'ee'iil " wud u bee
plai'zud, haun u ad zich u kreo'dleen dhaeng uz dhee aart. Ee-urt
luun'jeen, ee'iirt skwaut*een pun dhi taedh'ur een. Zai oa"ur-tu^ dhu, 160
waay dhu wut twuch aup dhi taayul, un droa* aup° dhi noa'iiz, un tak
owl ^"^ oa, ur tak pup oa. I^eef waun ^^ zai dhu lee'ils dhaeng aewt/^
dhu wut puur'tee u zaenait aar'tur.

Wilniot. Aew, uuz'ee! yu kaun'faewn'dud traarsh! Dtis rai-nium-
bur^^ haun dhu wai"ns aewt-n dhu Vuuz-ee-Paark, een dhu dusk u dhu 165
Yai'vleen, jist een dhu dum"ut, wai dhu yuung IJum-fri Oa'zgcod, —
un aew u muukad-n suwlud ubaewt dhu 1 IT bai'd^* dhu zut daewn ; —
un dhu zaeds dhu wuts nut,^^ neef u daed-n bloa dhu daewn. Zoa u
bloa-d-n daewn dhu vaals. Ue shud bee aard buy '^^ (vur twuz een
dhu dum'ut) but dhu Skwai'yurzi^ Beenilee, — un voaTwai u kruyd 170

' Draw is ahvays drae'u := trahere, but dracv ■=. designare. In Ed. of
1771 this word is drow = throw, doubtless the correct reading, i. e. 'toss up
thy nose.'

1*' This expression is quite obsolete.

1^ I believe this to be a literaryism — the indefinite pronoun is now always
anyhody. (See W. S. Gram., p. 38.) This should be Neef ii.wee hau'dee zaeth.

'- The use of out in this sense is still very common — Dint, lai'stees beet aeivt
means a very small slice. There is not the least connection with the modern
Cockney out — ' the finest thing out.' See 1. 124.

13 I think remember too ' fine talk' — it would most likely be dds muyn.

'^ This word is rare (though forbid is common) ; in the past tense it is still
pronoimced precisely like bed (cubile). The literary transcriber felt this, and
so wrote it ; but I doubt not that then, as now, it was sounded bai'd.

15 The negative being here emphatic, the not is fully pronounced ; the
ordinary form would be dhu wdts-n.

1^ This is too literary. I never heard hard by used by a native — the usual
form is dhaeur-buy. (See W. S. Gram., p. 84.) Neef twaud-n dkae'ur, twuz
dhae'ur-buy ; ' If it was not there, it was close at hand.'

1" I think Square in the text fails to convey the sound — the diphthong is very
long. Bailiff is often bee'idee, but more commonly bae'iilee.

44 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

171 out that Oil Winavalls ^ belongad to's Measter. Wi' tha
zame^ tha splettest away — down tha Pennet — hilter skilter —
as if tha Dowl had ha' be' in tha Heels o' tha.

Thomasin. Oh the Dowl splet tha ! who told theckee'^ Strammei;?

175 Wihnot. Why, twos thee thy own zel up to ^ stooling o' Terra's.
Tliomasin. Oh ! a Plague confound tha ! dest tha thenk ees
ded teirt to tha to ha' et a drode vore ^ agen % Well 'tes well
a fine.'' — Es can drow vore worse Spalls than thet to thee : — Ad !
es cud rep tha up.

180 Wibnot. What, a Dowl, and be hang'd to tha, canst tha drow vore
to me?

Thomasin. How many Times have es a hoard " tha, and a zeed
tha, pound Savin, to make Metcens,^ and Leckers, and Caucheries,
and Zlotters ] — Tes good to know vor why vore.'^

185 Wilmot Oh ! a Plague rat ^'^ tha ! — Ya mulligrub Gurgin !
ya shug Meazel ! — Th'art good vor nort bet a Gapes-nest. — A
gottering hawchamouth Theng ! — Whan tha com'st to good Tack-
ling, thee Avut poochee,^^ and hawchee, and scrumpee ; tha wut net

1 A short syllable is very frequently inserted between two nouns when com-
pounded, as in icindfalls. My liouse is called Foxdown, but this is generally
pronounced Foxydown by the labouring people. In Ed. of 1771 this word is
■windfalls — at present it would be weovvacdz, but I have heard vjeeivuvaalz
occasionally. Compare weU-a-Jiiie, 11. 81, 178.

2 The construction of this paragraph, except the literaryisms referred to,
is excellent, and conveys an admirable notion of the idiom. ' With the same '
is the nearly invariable expression, often repeated in every narration. It is a
more forcible term than instantly or immediately ; it conveys the idea of an
action so quickly following as to be almost performed at the same instant as
the cause.

2 In West Som. generally it is dhik'ee, but in North Devon and Exmoor it
is dhek'ee, as in the text.

* To when thus used implies employed at or in the act of. Haun aay wuz
tu pluween dhik'ee vee'id u graewn — means 'When I was in the act of
plougliing that field.' This gerundive form is very common, and has another
meaning. See W. S. Gram., p. 80.

^ To drow vore is to twit, to rake up old offences. In the Vale district this
is to droa- aewt. Sometime ago some poultry was stolen from my premises,
but the thieves were not caught. Subsequently a man said to me, Aay kn tuul
ee, zr, ile ad yur vaeio'idz dhik tuym. Indeed! who then? A'w ! aay uniz
een tu dhu Kaufeej (a public-house), nn dhae'iir wuz iin ; un dhai

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 45

aewt dliut Aul ween-uvaalz 1 bilaungud tiie-z Maenistiir. Wai dhu 171
zae'um^ dhu spldt'us uwai — daewn dhu Pen*ut — ul"tur skul-tur —
z-auf dhu Duwl ad u-bee -n dhu ee'ulz u dhu.

Tlwmasin. Oa dhu Duwl splut dhu ! lie, toad dhek'ee^ straamairl

Wihnot. Waay, twuz dhi oa'n zul aup tu^ steol'een u tuur"uz. 175

Tkomasin. Oa ! u plaa'yg kunfaewu dhu !' dus dhu dhaengk es

daed tuul-t tu dhu t-ae* ut u droa-d voaT^ ugee-un? Wuid taez wuul

u fuyn.'^ — Es kun droa voaT wus-ur Spaads-a dhaet tu dhee*. — Ad !

es kud rup dhu aup.

Wihnot. Haut, u Duwl, un hi ang" tu dhu, kuns dhu droa voaT 180
tu mee %

Tkomasin. Aew mun-ee tuymz uv es u-yuurd'^ dhu, un u-zeed
dhu, paewn saaveen, tu mak maet'sunz,^ un lek"urz, un kau'chureez,
un zlaut'urz? Tez geo"d tu noa* vur waay voaT.^

Wihnot. Oa ! u plaa-yg raat^'' dhu ! Yu niuuligruub guur-geen ! igS
yu shuug mai"zl ! — Dh-urt geo'd vur noa'iirt but u gyaaps-naes. — U
guut-ureen au'chumaewf dhaeng ! — Haun dhu kaums tu geo'd taak*-
leen, dhee wut* peo'chee,^^ un au'chee, un skruuni'pue ; dhu wiit nut

claed-n zee mee ; U7i dhae'urdhai wauzu-droa'een aewt tu waun ur tuudh'ur
un zoa aay yuurd He stoa'ld yoa'r vaewfdz.

« i. e. ' it is all very fine ' (obsolete phrase).

'' Nothing like the hoard of the text can now be heard. See 1. 81.

• Medicines still pronounced thus.

' See note, 1. 89. The emphatic prep, here spelt vore is precisely the
same as var in 1. 89. Occasionally tliis is pronounced very long, when final as
in the text, but when so emphasised it may be taken that the preposition is
always redundant.

^^ i. e. rot — still always pronounced thus.

" This common word is pronounced thus. A former editor has ieltjMchee to
be wrong, and hence has written pooc/iee in the Glossary. In Ed. of 1771 it is
23oochee in the text. It may be well here to remark that this infinitive inflec-
tion, so frequently used in these dialogues, was no less common in the xiii. cent.,
as the following extracts from Robert of Gloucester, all taken from a few con-
secutive pages, will shew —

' Reign of Will. Conqueror ' (ed. Morris and Skeat)—

' He let rjadery is hni\tes.'—A.. 478.

' & higan sone to grony,
& tofehly a/so.'— I 490.

' ]pat he ne mi^te o/scapie noite.' — 1. 495.

4G SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

look^ vor Lathing, chell warndy;^ ^nd nif et be^ Loblolly, tlia

190 wut slop et oil up,

Thomasin. How a Man a Zed!'* How dedst thee poochee and
hawchee, and scrumpee, whan tha young Zaunder Vursdon and thee
stey'd ^ up oil tha ^eert a roasting o' Taties % pritch tha vor me ! ^
— Why, than tha Avut be a prilled, or a muggard, a Zennet out-

195reert; and more an zo, thee wut rowcast, nif et be thy own
Vauther. ISTif tha beest" a Zend to Yield wi tha Drenking, or
ort,^ to tha Voaken,^ whare they be shoolingi^ o' Beat, handbeeating,
or angle-bowing,* nif tha com'st athert Eager Hosegood, tha
wut lackee an overwhile avore tha com'st, and ma' be ^^ net

200 trapeses '^ hum avore the Desk o' tha Yeavling, ya blow-maunger
Ba-arge. Oil ^^ vor palching about to hire ^"^ Lees ^^ to vine-dra

* Life of St. Dunstan ' {ibid)—

' Hi lete hit do to Glastnebury

to norischi and tofede.^ — 1. 26.
' Serui he wolde poure men

])e wyle he 7ni}te deore.' — I. 63.

These examples might be multiplied, but only in the last here given have I
been able to find a verb having this inflexion used transitively, or ratlier in con-
nection with its direct object — and even in this instance, the pecuHar construc-
tion seems to remove the object, and to imply that we sliould read, ' He would
servy (if those served Avere) poor men.' In Robert of Gloucester's time (1298),
we may therefore take it, that this inflection was, as it is to-day, aflixed to
verbs only when used intransitively. See W. S. Gram., p. 49.

1 Wait for or expect. Still a very common expression. A person unex-
pectedly paid for a service would say apologetically, Shoa'ur aay daed-n leok
vur noajish dhaeng ; ' Sm'e I did not expect anything of the kind.' Compare
Acts xxiii. 21, also 2 Pet. iii. 12.

2 i. e. ' I'll warrant you.'

3 This form of the conditional is most unusual. I incline to regard it as a
spm-ious literaryism— it should be un-eef tae'z. The and nif is impossi1)le—
the d is not sounded, and the two words are slurred into one, di'opping one of
the ?is as before explained.

* {Note to Ed. of 1778.) Angle-bowing, a Metliod of fencing the Grounds,
wherein Sheep are kept, by fixing Rods like Bows with both Ends in the
Ground (or m a dead Hedge), where they make Angles with each other, some-
what like the following Figure.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING.

l^ok^ vur laa-theeii, cli-ul wau-md-ee;^ un-eef ut bee^ laub-laul-ee, dhu
wut slaup ut aul aup. 190

Thomasin. Aew u mae'iin zaed ! * Aew daeds dhee peo'chce, un
au'chee, un skruni'pee, haun dliu yuung Zau'ndur Vuuz'dn un dhee
steyd ^ aup aul nee"urt u roa'iisteen u tae'udeez 1 purch dhu vaur mi !*^
— Waay, dhan dhu wut bee u-pruld, ur u-mug'urd, u Zaen'ut aewt-
ree'urt; un moo'ur-n zoa, dhee wut ruwkaas, neef ut bee dhee oa"n 195
vau'dhur. I^eef dhu beesf^ u-zai"n tu vee'ul wai dhu draeng'keen, ur
oa'iirt^ tu dhu yoa-kn,^ wae'ur dhai bee sheodeeni*' u bai"t, an'bai'teen,
ur angd-boa"een,* neef dhu kaumst u-dhuurt Eaj'ur Oa'zgeod, dhu
wut laak'ee un oa*vur-wuyul uvoaT dhu kaums, un mu bee^^ nut
trae'upsee^'^ uum uvoa'r dhu daesk u dhu Yai'vleen, yu bluw-maunjur 200
EaaTJ ! AuP^ vur paudcheen ubaew-tu uyur^** lee'z/^ tu vuyn-draa

* Hoio is constantly used for as and that (conj.) in connection with say —
Yue haa'n zai aew yue uvur zeed mee dhaeur ; 'You cannot say hoiv yon
ever saw me there.' Uur zaed aew mfis-us waud-n aum; 'She said how
mistress was not at home.' The whole phrase is very common. See note,
1.84.

5 I never heard stay in this sense, it is always bide. I am not therefore
able to write it in Glossic, and so leave it like the text. The only stay known
in the dialect is the verb and noun signifying support. This is pronoimced
siaa -y.

^ I do not understand this exclamation, nor does the Glossary throw any
light upon \t— to j^ritch or pirtch, i. e. to punch a hole with a smith's tool called
a pritchell, has no connection with the sequence.

' Thov- beest is quite obsolete, if it was ever current, which I doubt. (See
W. S. Gi;am., p. 55.) Art is used elsewhere. See 1. 186, &c.

8 Or oinjht is a very common phrase, tacked on to any clause of a sentence,
and usually means nothing. Here it adds nothing to the sense, as it does not
necessarily imply that she might be sent to the field for other errand than to
carry the allowance liquor.

5 This plural in en is now quite obsolete, nor can I find any one who
remembers to have heard it. The work-people on a farm are always called the
voaks, whether male or female.

^° i. e. shovelling the broken-up turf. Sods are called tuur'uz, i. e. turves,
only when intended for house fuel. See W. S. Dial., p. 71.

" May be — still a common expression for jjerJiaps, ]}rohably.

^^ This word used thus is pecuharly scornful, beyond the power of lit. Eng.
It implies sloth as well as dirty untidiness.

1^ This all for signifies ' entirely devoted to ' — a very common phrase. Uur-&
aul vur flaarwurz, ' She is entu-ely devoted to flowers.'

1* Obsolete.

1* Lies are still pronounced thus, but it is more common now to hear lai'z.

48 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

202 Voaks. "Whan tlia goast to tlia melking o' tlia Kee, in tha
Vuzzy-Park, thee wut come oil a dugged, and thy Shoes oil
mux, and thy Whittle oil besh — . Tha wut let tha Cream-chorn

205 he oil horry,t and let tha Melk be buckard in buldering Weather.

Wilmot. Tell me o' Eager Hosegood, cliell make thy Kep^ lioppee.
— Ay, ay, es marl hot to tha Vengance the young Zaunder
Yursdon wud ha had a do ^ wi' tha, nif ha had a had tha. Yor "\vhy1
Tha hast^ no Stroil ner Docity, no Yittiness in enny

210 keendest Theng. — Tha cortst^ tha natted Yeo now-reert, or
bet leetle rather,^ laping o'er the Yoanna Lock : (Chell tell
Yauther o't zo Zoon es ha comath hum vrom Angle-bowing, don't
quesson't). Hot ded tha Yoe do, whan tha had'st a cort en ^ by
tha heend Legs o'en ^ — (but vurst ha button'd ; — 'tes a Marl ted net

215 a vailed into tha Pan crock, as" ha uzeth to do); but thof^ ha
ded viggee, and potee, and towsee, and tervee,^ and loustree, and
spudlee, and wriggled,^" and pawed, and ■WTaxled,^'' and twined, and
rattled, and teared, vig, vig, vig, vig, yeet rather than tha wudst ha'
enny more Champ, and Holster, and Tanbast wi'en, tha tokst en,

220 and dest wetherly host tha Xeck o'en.

TJiomasin. And nif tha dest pick Prates upon me, and tell

1 Cap is pronounced kcj) throughout North Devon and the hill country of
W. Somerset, but not in the Vale district.

2 Here the transcriber tried to convey the elision of the tin to after the d iu
had by writing a for to.

3 This is too literary. I think it should have been iu the text — ' Tha hast
net agot no stroil.'

* Caughtst is a very doubtful word. At present it would be dhu kaechd.

t {Note to Ed. of 177S.) Horry— for Hoary, mouldy or finnew'd. — Vid.
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ; where Mercutio puns upon the Words Hare
and Hoar :

' Mercutio. So-ho !

Borneo. "What hast thou found ?

Mercutio. No Hare, Sir, unless a Hare, Sir, in a Lenten Pie,

That is somewhat stale and hoar e're it be spent.

An old Hare hoar, and an old Hare hoar, is very good Meat in Lent;
But a Hare that is hoar, is too much for a Score,
When it hoars e're it be spent. '

Horry also signifies foul and filthy (see the Vocahidary) ; and, perhaps
this is its true Meaning here.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 49

voaks. Ilaun dliu goa'us tu dhu muMceen u dhu kai-ee, een dhu 202
Vuuz'ee-Paark, dhee wut kau'm aul u-duug'ud, un dlii slieo'z aul
muuks, un dlii wut'l aid besh — . Dliu wut laet dhu krai'm-cluuirn
bi aul aur-ee,f un laet dim mulk bi buuk'urd een buul-dureen wadli-ur. 205

Wilmot. Tuul mee u Eaj'ur Oa-zg^o'd, cli ul mak dhi kep^ aup-ee.
— Aay, aay, es maaTul haut tu dliu varnjuns dhu yuung Zauuidur
Vuuz-dn wud u-ad-u ^ due wi dhu, neef u ad u-ad dhu, Vur waay 1
Dhee as^ noa strauyul nur daus'utue, noa vut'inees een un'ee
keen -dees dhaeng. — Dhu kauris'^ dhu naat'ud yoa- nuw-ree'urt, ur 210
but lee'dl raedh-ur,^ lai-peen oa'ur dhu Yoa'an'ur Lauk : (Ch-ul tuul
vau'dhur oa ut zu zeo'n uz u kaumth uum vrum angi-boa"een, doa"n
kwaes'n ut). Haut daed dhu yoa due, haun dhu ads u-kaurt-n*' bi
dhu eend ligz oa un ^ — (but vuust u buut'nd ; taez u maar-ul tad nut
u-vaald eentu dhu pang-krauk, uz " u yue'zuth tu due-) ; biit thauf ^ u 215
daed vig'ee, un poa'utee, un tuwzee, un tuur"vee,^ un leo'stree, un
spuud'lee, un vrigdud,^*^ un pau'ud, un vraak'slud,^*' un twuynud, un
raatdud, un tae'urud, vig, vig, vig, vig, eet raedh'ur-n^^ dhu wuts ae"u
un-ee moo-ur Chaamp, un Oal-stur, un Tan'baas wai un, dhu teoks-n,
un dus waedh'urlee buus dhu naek oa un. 220

Thomasin. Un-eef dhu dus pik prae'uts upaun mu, un tuul

^ ' Or but a little while ago ' — now-ri/jTit implies only a moment past.

^— ^ Here are two good examples of the use of the masculine pronoun for a
feminine noun. (See W. S. Gram., p. 32.) 'How is the cow ?' 'Au!aa'y-v
u-saard-n un u-tai'n un zu wuul-z uvur u kan ; bud ee ud-n noa bad'r ' — ' Oh !
I've served him and tended him as well as ever I can ; but he isn't no better.' —
March, 1S79.

' Two Uteraryisms in this clause —1, as is improbable ; 2, the verb do would
be omitted. It should be saeum-z or eens u yile'ziith tue.

' Although. (See W. S. Gram., p. 94.) There are other examples of the
gh of Ut. Eng. being/ in the dialect, e. g. ought is au'f(t. See W. S. Dial., p. 74.
Rob. of Glouc. (' Life of St. Dunstan '), ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 19, 1. 15, has —

' Ne non nuste ivannes hit com.
bote ]purfoure Louerdes grace.'

" This paragraph seems to have been composed for the purpose of bringing
in a string of words, many of which are synonyms, and it seems to me to
exceed all probable repetition of the most verbose scold.

10 — 10 Most words written wr are now pronounced very distinctly ?'r, as vruyt
(write), vraeth (wreath), vravdh (wreathe), vraung (wrong), wrimj (wring),
vraach'eed (wretched), and many others.

11 Should have been zoonder, not rafhrr.

50 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

222 Vauther o', cliell tell a zweet Eabble-rote upon thee, looks zee.
Vor when tha shudst be about tha Yeavling's Chuers,^ tha wut
spudlee out the Yemors,^ and screedle over mun : ^ And more and

225 zo, tha wut roily eart upon wone, and eart upon another,
zet Voaks to bate, lick a gurt Baarge as ^ tha art : And than Getfer
Eadger Sherwell he must qualify't agen. When tha art
zet ^ agog, tha desent caree ^ who tha scullest : 'Twos olways
thy Uze ; and chem agast '' tha wut zo vore ^ thy Een. Tha hast

230 tha very Daps o' thy old Ount Sybyl ^ IMoreman upazet.

Wilmot. Why, ya gurt Eoil, chant ^'^ zo bad's thee. Thee
wut ha' a Hy to enny Kessen Soul. Than tha wut chocklee, and
bannee, and blazee, and roundshave enny body that deth bet zey
Ay to tha. Tha wudst buy tha Cot up to Town ^^ rather than thy

235 Live, ^2 "b^jt tha hassent tha wharewey ; and tha wudst kiss tha Yess of
George Hosehood to ha' en ; but tha hasent tha Why for Ay.
Thomasin. How ! ya gurt mulligrub Gui'gin ?
Wilmot. And thee art a long-hanged blow-monger Baarge vor
telling me'^^ o' ]N"eckle Halse, and tha Square's Bealy, and tha

240 Zess.

Tliomasin. And thee art a convounded ^■^ Trash vor telling
me ^2 of an ^^ Under Bed-blonket, and o' pounding ^^ Savin,

1 This is a very common word, pronoimced choa'r, choa'reen, in West Som.,
but cheo'ur still in N. Dev. Written char, charriwj, in lit. Eng. Its use in
the dialect is strictly in accord with its ancient meaning — viz. a turn or job, a
duty or service. Vide'Ancren Riwle,' ab. 1280 a.d. (ed. Camden Society),
p. 36—

* \>Q l^iidde time riht also, and [l^e] feorthe cherre, & te
vifte cherre, & nout ne chaunge je.'

2 Spelt Yewmors m Ed. of 1771.

3 The regular objective plural them of North Devon. See W. S. Gram.,
p. 37 ; also ' Courtsliip,' 1. 416.

* As woidd not be used thus— oens or sae'umz dhee aart would be a more
vernacular reading, but the whole clause is scarcely dialect ; it is stagy.

^ The p. part, of set is always u-zaut. I think the zet of the text must be
an error of the transcriber.

^ Caree is stUl used thus, intransitively, but Tliomasin would have also said,
dhu diis 'n kee-ur lo peen, &c., when using the word to care in a quasi-transitive
sense. (See W. S. Gram., p. 49. )

■^ Af/est in Ed. of 1771, but I consider ayast the proper reading.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 51

Yau'dliur oa, ch-iil tuul u zweet Eab'l-roaait upun dliee, leoks zee. 222
Viir haua dhu sli^ods bee ubaewt dhu Yai'vleenz Ch^o'urz/ dliu wut
spuud'lee aewt dhii yaem'urz^un skree'dl oa'viir mun:^ Un moo"ur-n
zoa, dhu wut rauylee ee'iirt upuu woon, un ee'urt upun unuudli'ur, 225
ziit voaks tu bae'ut, lig u guurt Baarj uz^ dhee aart : Un dlian Gaet-fur
Eaj'ur Shuur'wuul, ee muus kwauMfuy ut ugee'un. Haun dh-uit
u-zaut ^ ugaug, dhu dus-n keo'iiree " ue* dhu skyeolais ; twuz aulwai'z
dhuy yiie'z ; un ch-um ugaa"s '^ dhu Avut zoa voaT ^ dhi ee"n. Dh-aas
dhu vuur"ee daaps u dhi oa'l Aewnt Sublee^ Muur'mun aupuzut*. 230

Wilmot. Waay, yu guurt rauyul, cli-unt^*^ zu bae"ud-z dhee. Dhee
wut ae*-u Haay tu lin'ee Kaes'n soa'l. Dhan dhu wiit chaukdee, un
ban"ee, un blae'uzee, un ruwn'sbee'uv lin'ee baud'ee dhut duth biit zai
Aa'y tu dhu. Dhu wiits baay dhu Kaut aup tu Taewn ^^ raedh-ur-n dhi
luyv,'2 but dh-as-n dhu waenirw.ai* ; un dhu wiits kees dhu Yaes" u 235
Jaurj Oa'zgeo'd t-ae*-un ; but dh-as-n dhu waay vur aay.

Thomasin. Aew ! yu guurt muul'igruub Guur'geen '?

Wihnot. Un dhee uit u laung-anjud bluw-maun'jur baaTJ vur
tuul'een mee^^ u IN'aekd Aads, un dhu Skvvai'yurz Bee'ulee, un dhu
Zaes. 240

Thomasin. Un dhee urt u kaun^fuwu-dud^"^ traarsh vur tuul'ccn
mee^^ uvl;n^-5 uun'dur bai'd blaundcut, un u puwn'deen^^ Saav.cen,

8 i. e. until thy end, as long as you live. Vocrr is constantly used iu this
sense. See note 11, p. 35.

^ Sybhj in Ed. of 1771, probably the true reading.

1° This form is quite obsolete. Now it would be aay bae'unt, or more pro-
bably es hae'iint. I think chayit is an exaggeration of the author, in his desire
to bring in the peculiar ch as often as possible.

1^ i. e. up in the village. The word town is applied to a very small cluster of
dwellings — sometimes to a single homestead.

12 ' Sooner than thy life ' is a very common expression to denote extreme
desu-e. Bather in this sense is a literaryism. Wilmot would certainly now say
zeo'ndur, and I believe that to have been the idiom 100 years ago, from the
fact that in other places, e. g. 1. 211, ratJier is used to express earlier.

13 — 13 — 13 (y ig nearly always used after the gerund— these should be tuul-een
u mee, puwn'deen u saaveen.

1^ I never yet heard convound, but haiiivfuwnd is very conunon. It is spelt
confound twice before— 11. 164, 176.

15 Oa u umvduT would be much more correct. The use of of and an are
rather " fine " talk. (Sec W. S. Gram., p. 29.)

E 2

52 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

243 and making^ Cauclaeries and Slotters wi't. Tha art a Beagle,
Chun, pritch tha ! vor another Trick. Chad et in my Meend, and

245 zo chave still. Bet chawnt ^ drow et out bevore tha bcgen'st
agen, and than chell,

Wilmot. Heigo ! Mrs. Hi-go-shit ! ' A Beagle 1 And hot
art theel Tha wut drew,* and hen,^ and slat, — slat tha Podgers,
slat tha Crock, slat tha Keeve and tha Jibh, Lost tha Cloani.

250 Tha hast a most a stinned e'erj'- earthly Thing in tha Houz. Ab-
sleutly*^ tha art bygaged. Ay, ay, Ount Magery was Death
the near vor tha.'' Her moort^ ha' vet^ it, nif zo be tha hadst
net let her totee uj) and down zo ort.^'^

Thomasin. Why there low ! Bygaged ! And hot dedst thee

255 do bet jest now-reerti Tha henst along thy Torn, tha wud'st
ha' borst en ^^ to Shivers, nif chad net a vung ^^ en, and pung'd en
back agen. Than tha wut snappy, and than tha wut canifflee,
and than tha wut bloggy.

Wilmot. And hot art theel A brocking Mungrel, a skulk-

260 ing Mea-zel ! — And eet a vore oil * good vor nort bet scollee,^^
avore ^* tha art a hoazed that tha cast ^^ scarce yeppy. Petha,^^
dest thenk enny Theng will goodee or vitte wi' enny zitch a Trub
es ^'^ thee art, — that dest net caree to zey thy Praers 1 ^^ — bet — wut ^^

^ This shoixld be mae'ukeen u kawchureez.
' i. e. I will not throw, &c.

* Very common. exclamation of coarse but extreme contempt.

* Drew is a misprint, it is spelt di'ow (= throw) elsewhere. Here it is clrow
in the Ed. of 177L

* This is now the commonest word ioxflvig or throw. Droiv ratlier implies
to throio down, and would be used in connection with heavier objects than havn.
Roberd of Bruune (a.d. 1030), in his '.Handlyng Synne'(ed. Furnivall, Rox-
burghe Chib), has, 1. 5616—

' For \>e stone he tohe a lofe,
And at )>e pore man hyt drofe.
)pe pore man hente hyt ip helyue,
And was \!erof ful ferly hly)>e.'

« This is rather ' fine,' but it is possible.

' i. e. near death through you. For often means on account of—'l could
not speak for laughing.'

8 Spelt merst, 1. 10. This form, i. e. merst, is very rare, if not obsolete.
^ i. e. come round, fetclied up, recovered. See note 3 to Preface, p. 10.

* {Note to Ed. of 177S.) See Note in Page 36.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 53

ua mae'ukceni Kau-chureez un Zlaut-urz wai ut. Dh-urt u bai-gl, 243
Chun, purch dhu ! vur unaedli'iir trik. Ch-ad ut een mi mee-n, un
zoa ch-aav stee-iil. Biit cli-oa-n^ droa- ut aewt uvoaT dhu bigee'ns 245
ugee'un, un dhan ch-ul.

Wilmot. Ilaaygoa ! Miis'us Haaygoa-sheet' ! ^ Ubai-gl'? Un haut
urt dhee? 'Dhu wiit droa/ un hai-n,^ un slaat. Slaat dhu pauj-urz,
slaat dhu krauk, slaat dhu kee'v un dhu Jiib, buus dhu kloa*ni.
Dh-ast umau'st u-stiind ae'uree ae"urth-lee dhaeng een dh-aewz. Ah*- 250
sleo'tlee^ dh-urt u-higae"ujud. Aay, aay, Aewnt Maajuree wuz dath
dhu nee'ur vaur dhu J Uur nioo'iirt^^ u viit^ eet, neef zu bee dh-ads
niit u-lat ur toaaitee aup-m daewn zu aurt.^''

Thomasin. Waay dhae'ur loa ! Bigae'iijud ! Un haut daeds dhee
diie biit naew-ree'urf? Dhu hai'nst ulaung dhi tuurn, dhu wiits 255
u-buus-n ^1 tu shuvurz, neef ch-ad niit u-vuung ^^ un, un u-puungd-n
baak ugyun. Dhan dhu wiit snaap"ee, un dhan dhu wiit kan'eeflee,
un dhan dhu wiit blaug'ee.

Wilmot. Un haut urt dhee? U brauk'een muung'grul, u skuukk-
een niai'zl ! Un eet u-voaT aul,* geod vur noa'urt but skyeokee,^^ 260
uvoaT ^* dh-aart u-oa'zud dhut dhu kas ^^ skee'iis yaep'ee. Piidh-u i*^
diis dhaengk lin'ee dhaeng-1 geod'ee ur viit'ee wi un'ee zich u truub
uz^^dhee aart — dhudiis'n kee'uree tu zai dhi prae-urz?^^ — biit — wiit^^

i" This passage is obscure. I thiuk it means, ' She might have fetched yet
[i. e. been living still], if you had not [through your laziness] let her totter up
and down so often.' Moort is not an unconnuon form of might — it is more
emphatic than the usual mfid.

" The Torn, i. e. the spinning-wheel, is spoken of here as mascuhne— ?/n, -n
= him. (See W. S. Gram., pp. 32, 36.)

1* Vunj is obsolete. The verb is quite common, but is now conjugated —
pres., vanrj or (intr.) vang'us ; past, vangd or vanrfud ; p. part., u-vmigd or
u-vang 'ud =: to hold, to seize.

'2 Spelt scull, 1. 228 ; skull, 1. 117.

1* 'Until thou art hoarse.' See note 11, p. 35.

13 Canst scarce{li/). This would generally be kas-n, i. e. canst not scarcely.

I'' Spelt pitha elsewhere— 1. 57.

" Here we have es doing duty for as ; elsewhere it stands for /, for us, for
is, and he is.

18 This should he praa'yurz. Perhaps these scolds talked a Httle ' fine' now
and then.

13 The omission of the nom. pronoun is very common, and imphes extreme
familiarity or contempt, even more than when the second person singular is used.
(See W. S. Gram., p. 35.)

SPECIJIENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

strainince, and fibbee, and blazee, and bannee : And more an zo, wiit

265 coltee and riggee \vi' enny Troluberi that coniath- atliert tha.

• And whan tha dest zey mun' ^ tis bet whilst tha art scrubbing,

hewstring, and rittling abed. And nif by giu't Hap *'tha dest zey

mun at oil, thy IMarrabones shan't^ kneelee,- — thof tha cast

ruckee well a fine.*' — 'Tes a Marl if e'er tha comst to Hewn ''

270 only to zey men;^ zence tha ne'er zest men, chell warndy, but
whan tha art half azlape, half dozy, or scrubbing o' ^ thy scabbed
Yess, whan tha art a coal-varting ^'^ abed,* ya gurt Lollipot ! —
Tha hasn't tha Sense to stile thy own Dressing. Vor why, et wel
zct^i arter tha, ether antlebeer^^ lick the Dooms of a Door, or

275 wotherway twel zet e-long or a^^ wee wow, or oil a puckering.
Tha zedst twos squelstring and whot ^■^ while' er. Ad ! tha wet
be mickled and a steeved wi' tha Cold vore 'T Andra's Tide,'^
Chun, nif tha dessent buy tha ^'^ a new Whittle.

Thomasin. Why, ya gurt Kickhammer Baggage ! thee art

280 good vor no Sauce.^'' Tha Avut net ^^ break the Cantlebone o' thy
tether Eend ^^ wi' chuering,^^ chell warndy ; tha wut net take et zo
vreache, ya sauntering Troant !

1 This epithet still common 1 Is it tlie parent of trolloper ?
- Camath in Ed. of 1771, but probably a misprint.

3 TJicm, i. e. prayers. Spelt mun, 11. 22-i, 266, 268, men twice in 1. 270, and
min in 1. 419. (See W. S. Gram., note 2, p. 37.)

* Common expression = ' by great chance.'

5 This is a peculiar though frequent use of shall not, and it is equivalent to
never will or never do.

^ i. e. ' though thou canst stoop down very well.' See note 8, p. 33.

' I have no idea what the transcriber meant to be the pronunciation of Hewn;
heaven is always aeh 'm.

^ i. €.'■ only by saying them ' — an example of the common use of the infini-
tive for the gerund.

9 Here the transcriber has inserted the usual o/ after the gerundive (see note
13, p. .51), but he omits the prefix. It should be u-skrtmb'een u.

^" I cannot explain this phrase ; it is quite obsolete and unknown, so far as I
can ascertain.

1^ In the Ed. of 1778, now reprinted, there is a clear misprint, zet wel et; in
that of 1771 it is et vjel zet. This is so evidently the true reading that it is
adopted here.

1- i. e. 'all across.' The simUe is cumbrous, but therefore the more true.

* {Note to Ed. of 177S.) See Note in Page 13.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 65

straani'ee, un fub'ee, iin blacuzee, un ban'ee ; Tin moo'iir-n zoa, wiit
koa'ltee, un ricj-ee wi lin'ee troaiuubur ' dhiit kaum'uth^ udhuixrt dhu. 2G5
Un haun dim dils zai nniii,^ taez but wuyulz db-urt skriiub-eeii,
eo'streen, un riitdeen u-bai'd. Un neef bi guurt aap^ dbu diis zai
nnin ut aul, dhuy maar'u-boo'iinz sbaa'n^ nee'ulee, — tbauf dhu kas
niuk'ee wuul u faayn.*' — Tez u maaful neef ae"ur dhu kaums t-aeb'm''
uun'ee tu zai nnin;^ zaenz dhu nae'iir zaes miin, ch-iil waur"nd-ee, but 270
haun dh-urt aa'f uzlai'p, aa'f doaaizee, ur skruub'een u^ dhi skab'ud
yaes^ haun dh-urt u-koai-vaar'teen^'^ u-bai"d,* yu guurt laid-ipaut !
Dh-as-n dhu sai^ns tu stuyiil dhi oa'un dras'een. Yur Avuy, ut ul
ziit^i aar'tur dhu, ai'dhur anilbeciir ^^ lik dhu duurnz uv u doo'iir, ur
waudh'urwai twiil zut ai'laung ur u^^ wee'wuw, ur anl u-puuk"ureen. 275
Dhu zaeds twuz skwuul'streen un aut '* wuylae'ur. Ad ! dhu wut
bee u-mikdd, un u-steevud Avai dhu koad voa'r T-An*durz Tuyd,^^
Chun, neef dhu dus-n baay dhu^*' u n^o* "\nitd.

Thomasin. Waay, yu guurt Kik'aani'ur Bag'eej ! dhee urt-n noa
geo'd vur noa saars,^'' Dhu "wut nut^^ braik dhi kan'tle-boa-un u dhuy 280
tacdh'ur een^^ wi cheo'ureen,-*^ ch-ul waurnd-ee; dhu wiit nut tak ut zu
yrai'ch, yu sau'ntureen troa'unt !

" This a ox u before an adverb is common, and is identical with the a in
askew, awry, the lit. synonyms of a weewow — a word very frequently used in
the dialect.

11 Whot in the text must be a misprint. There is no sound of w, and there
never could have been.

15 St. Andrew's Day, November 30th.

1^ This should have been baay dhi-zid.

" The text has but the ordmary literary negative. This is quite wrong —
there would certainly be two and most probably three negatives in this clause,
as written in the Glossic.

18 The negative here is emphatic, otherwise it would be dhu wHt-n.

19 A common expression signifying 'you are too lazy to hurt yourself.' That
the tether or tother is not a modern provmcialism, but veritable English, is cer-
tain. Vid. 'The Stacions of Rome' (Vernon MS., 1370 a.d.), E. E. T. Soc,
ed. Furnivall, p. 3, 1. 79—

' pat holy Mon ' Ananias.
Him crisnet ' ]>or'W godes gras.
And cleped him Foul ' petres broker.
For ]>e ton schulde ' cumforte \>e to]>er.'

20 See note to chuers, 1. 223.

56 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

283 Wilmot. Heigo ! sauntering Troant tlian ! ' vor why vorc ^
(lest tell wone,3 than, o' tha Eex-biish/ and tha Hey-pook, and tha
285 Zess 1

Thomasin. And why vore^ dest thee drowvore zitch Spalls to niel —
Go pey ^ tha Score vor tha Lecker tha hast a had zo ort in thy Teen-
ing Bottle. — There's a Euniple/ Chun !

Wilmot. Nif tha young George Hosegood had a had tha, he niurt^

290 a hozed in a little Time.^ Ha wud zoon ha' be' coudidled. — Yeet

a-vore oll,^'' a-vore Voak/^ tha wut lustree, and towzee, and chewree,

and bucklee, and tear, make wise,^^ agi3 anybody passath; but

out o' Zeert a spare ^^ Totle in enny keendest Theng.^^

Thomasin. Why, thare's Odds^^ betwe' Sh — ng and Tearing

295 Avon's Yess. "Wone mussent olweys be a boostering, must a?^" —

Lut thee, — thee wut steehoppee, and colty, and hobby, and riggy,

wi'enny Kesson^^ Zoul: OIP^ vor whistering and pistering, and hoaling

and halzening, or cuffing a Tale.-"

Wilmot. Ad ! tell me o' bobbing and rigging, chel vlee to^' tha

300 Kep 22 o' tha. [Pulls her Poll.

Thomasin. Oh ! — oh ! — Mo-ather ! — Mo-ather ! — Murder ! —

Oh ! Mo-ather ! — Her hath 23 a chucked ma wi' tha Chingstey. — Es

' Then is as common in every-day talk as doch is in German. The expres-
sions are the exact equivalents of each other.

^ This is simply the emphasised redundant preposition, = /or wAy /or, —
quite distinct from the voa-r in droa vowr just below, 11. 286, 309 ; the latter is
an adverb. See note to 1. 184.

^ The use of one as a pronoun is rare. The usual expression is iin'ee baudee.
(See W. S. Gram., pp. 38, 39.)

* Eush-bush is still so pronounced except when a v is sounded — the common
form — as vraeks-Mosh. (See W. S. Gram., p. 7-)

' This should have been Un vur waay voa'r. See note to 11. 184, 283.

* This would now be hxo&A 2Ma'y. I fancy Miss Thomasin must have been
talking ' fine ' if she said pai.

■^ This is obscure. I think it means there's your change .' — there's a Rowland
for an Oliver.

8 Might, spelt merst, 1. 10. Obsolescent, but still used.

^ Time is much too literary. She would have said ' in a little bit,' but
more probably ' a hozed in a quick stick.'

*" Nevertheless — a very common plu-ase.

" Be/ore folk, i. e. in the presence of strangers — still the regular idiom.

12 i. e. ' make believe,' ' in pretence ' — an every-day phrase.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING. 57

Wilrnot. TIaaygoa ! sau'ntureen troa'unt dhun ! ^ vur waay voa-r ^ 283
dus tuul woon,' dhan, u dhu raeks-beosh * un dhu aay-peok, ua dhu
Zaes. 285

Thomasin. Un waay voaT^ diis dhee droa voaT zich spaa'lz tu meel
Goa pai*5 dlii skoaT vur dhu lek'ur dli-ast u-ad zu aurt een dhi teen'-
een bau'tl. — Dhae'urz u ruum-pl/ Chun !

Wllmot. Neef dhu yuung Jaurj Oa'zgeod ud u-ad dhu, ee niuurt ^
u-oa"uzd een u leexU tuym.^ U wiid zeo"n u bee kuundud"ld. — Eet 290
uvoaT au'l/"^ uvoa-r voak/^ dhu wiit leos'tree, un luwzee, un cheo-ree,
un buukl-ee, un tae'iir, mak wuyz/^ uz ^" un'eebaudee paa'suth ; bud
aewt u zee'urt, u spae'iir ^^ toa-tl een lin'ee kee'ndees dhaeng.^^

Thomasin. Waay, dhur-z audz '^^ twee shuyteen un tae"ureen
woonz Yaes. Woon niuus'n aul'waiz bee u-beo'stureen, muust u] ^'' — 295
Bud dhee", — dhee wiit stee'aupce, un koa'ltee, un aub"ce, un rig-ee
wai un"ee Kaes'n^^Soad : AuP^ vur wiis "tureen un pus"tureen,unoa"leeii
un aal^zneen, ur kuuf'een u tae'ul.^*^

Wihnot. Ad ! tuul mee u iiub'een un rig"een, ch-iil vlee tu^^ dhu
kejD^^ u dhu. [Feuiz icr jJocrl. 300

Thomasin. Oa ! — oa ! — Mau"dhur ! — Mau'dhur ! — Muur'dur ! —
Oh! Mau'dhur ! — Uur-dh^^ u-chuuk mu \vi dhu chee'nstai. — Es

^^ This is an undoubted literaryisra— as in this sense is not used. Haun
(when) or eens would be the vernacular idiom. (See W. S. Gram., p. 66.)

^^ Spare is the usual word to express slow, dilatory. A ' spare workman ' is
a slow one. Gardeners talk of certain plants as ' spare growers.'

15 Common expression =: anything whatever.

1® i. e. a great difference. A very frequent comparison is dhik-s bad'r (or
wHs) hi audz ; ' that one is better (or worse) by odds,' i. e. by a great difference.

" Must one? the common form. (See W. S. Gram., p. 96.) A very good
example of the use of this, the natural vowel, for the indefinite pers. pron.

18 This is a very common phrase. Ben Jonsou has (' Tale of a Tub,' Act II.
sc. ii.) —

' Clay. No, as I am a Kyrsin soul, would I were,' &c.

13 See note to 1. 201.

'" Tale is a word seldom heard. Here in the text, and whenever now
employed in the dialect, it means ^)?ece of scandal. At present the word more
commonly used is stoa'r (story) — ' There's a pretty stoar about her.'

21 Always y?y to, not at.

^^ Cap is pronounced very short, almost kp, in N. Dev.

-* Hath is quite hterary— the pronunciation is always uur-dh. Eedh = he
hath.

58 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

303 verly Lleive cs chclP ne'er vet^ et. — And nif's don't vet et, looks
zee, in a Twelvemonth and a Dey,^ Cuzzen Kester Broom chell ^ zee
305 tha a trest up a Ground.'* — He chell ^ zee tha zwinged, fatli ! ^

Enter the Old Julian Moreman.

Julian. Lahbo, labbe, Soze,'^ lahbe. — Gi' o'er, gi' o'er ; * — Tani-
zen and Thee be ohveys wother egging or vealcing,'^ jawing or
sneering, blazing or racing, kerping or speaking cutted,
chittering^ or drowing vore o' Spalls, purting or jowering,

310 yerring or chounting, taking Owl o' Avono Tlieng or Pip o'
tether, chockling or pooching, ripping up or roxmdshaving
wone tether,^ stivering or grizzling, tacking or busking,
a prilled or a nuiggard, blogging or glumping, rearing or snap-
ping, vrom Candle-douting to Candle-teening ^'^ in tha Yeavling, —

315 gurt Hap else.^^

So ends the SCOLDING.

1 — 1 — 1 This must be wrong. According to the text it would read / / shall.
Instead of chell it should be shall in the text. In Ed. of 1771 it is shell, the
true reading.

2 See note to viit, 1. 253.

3 This is in reference to the old custom of sentencing women to be hung after
a twelvemonth and a day.

^ i. e. trussed up above ground — hanged.

5 Still the commonest of all expressions of asseveration = hy my faith.
(See W. S. Dialect, p. 95.)

6 The transcriber is quite correct in spelling this word with s and not z (see
W. S. Dialect, p. 73), but it should have been soce, not so-e.

'' This word being quite obsolete, I do not know if it is vee'ukeen or vai'keen.

8 This is a common word. Vide John of Trevisa, ' Description of Bi'itaiu,
De incolarum Unguis' (ed. Morris and Skeat), p. 241—

'■ Mellyng furst wi\> Danes <& afterward wi\) Normans, in menye ]>e contray
longaxje ys apetjred, & som vse]p strange wlaffyng, chyteryn/j, harryng S gar-
ryng,grisbitty')vj.'

By this we see that the use of strings of participles is by no means peculiar to
the last century or to the ' Exmoor Scolding,' especially considering the above is
an extract from the sober Uterature of the period (1387).

* {Note to Ed. of 177 S.) Speaking to Wilmot, who had pulled Thomasin's
Cap.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING.

vuurlec blai'v es sliiil ^ niivur vut^ ut. — Un neefs doa-n viit ut, leok-s 303
zee", een u twiiul-muunth im u dai,^ Kuuz-n Kaes'tur Br^o'm sh-P zee
dim u-ti'ust aup u graewnd.* — Ee sliP zee dliu-zwingd, faa'th ! ^ 305

Ai'ntur dh-ocfl Jiied-yun Muur'mun,

Julian. Lab'ce, lab"ee, soa-us,*' lab-ee. — Gi oa"ur, gi'oa-ur :* Taani"-
zeen un dhee bee aul'waiz wiiudh'ur ag'een ur veeaikeen/ jau'een iir
snee'iireen, blae'uzeen ur rae'iiseen, kyuur'peen ur spai'keen kuut'ud,
chiit'ureen^ ur droa'een voaT u spaa'lz, puui'teen ur jaa'wureen,
yuur'een ur cbaewn'teen, tak'een Owl u wan dhaeng ur piip u 310
taedh'ur, chaukieen ur peo'cheen, riip'een aup ur raewn-shee'uveen
Avan taedh'ur,^ stiivureen ur guur'zleen^ taak-een ur buus-keen,
u-priild ur u-muug'urd, blaug'een ur gluum'peen, rae'ureen ur snaap"-
een, vrum kand-duwteen tu kand-teen-een ^'^ een dim Yai'vleen, —
guurt liaap uuls.^' 315

Zoa ai-nz dim SKOA 'LDEEN,

^ One another. The more common form is iccm ur taedh-ur.
1'' i. e. candle-lighting, the evening. To teen a light is still a common
expression. We find the word twice m the ' Life of St. Duiistan,' Rob. of
Glouc, 1298 A.D. (ed. Morris and Skeat), pp. 19, 20. Speaking of his mother's
mnaculous taper—

' ]!cr-of hi tende here liyt.
Alle in ]:e place.

What was pat oure Louerd Crist,
pe li\tfrani heuene sende.
& patfolc pat stod aboicte.
Here taper es perof tende.''

In both places the verb is in the past tense. The e may have been pronounced
long, and if so it is identical with our teen.

^' This is qiiite vernacular and very common. It is here the alternative of
the always at the beginning of this long sentence,—/, e. always, cither, &c.,
&c. — great chance if otherwise.

POSTSCKIPT.

The whole of the foregoing pages were in type and printed before
I liad an opportunity of comparing the later editions with the earlier
ones. I had two or three editions in my possession, one of which
was a copy formerly belonging to Sir F. Madden ; in this are many
notes in his handwriting, and signed by him ; from which I gave
extracts in my Preface. I believed that I might rely in the main
upon so careful a person, especially Avhen he made so positive a
statement as that quoted in my note to. p. 11; and I therefore took it
for granted, that as there were but very few and slight variations
between Sir F. Madden's copy of 1771 and mine of 1788, from which
the text is reprinted, I might accept his assertion as substantially
correct, although I ventured in my note (p. 11) to question its entire
accuracy. Relying upon Sir F. Madden I suffered the proofs which I
had read to be printed — but having now compared the reprint with
the First Edition as it appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, the Third
edition in the Bodleian, and the Fourth in the British Museum, I
find that I am obliged to subjoin the following list of variations,
which will be found to be strangely opposed to Sir F. Madden's
statement. Fortunately the Courtship Avas not so far advanced
— consequently the most important of different readings are dealt with
in the notes. It is true that the variations are generally confined to
single letters in the spelling of words, and may therefore have been
thought trifling, but in a great many cases the student will find the
change of much importance. In the very first line is a case in point —
the second vor, I knew well, must be accentuated, and therefore in
wriiing it into Glossic had so marked it. The author knew this too,
and so wrote in his First Edition, vorwliyvore. Again, in 1. 104, the

POSTSCRIPT.

first Four Editions have nifs vauther, which means if his father instead
of the nif vauther found in the later editions. If father of course
implies our father. The difference is immense ; in the first case the
taunt is conveyed that 'his father prevented the match, because you
were not good enough for his son.' In the later text all this piquancy
of abuse is diluted by making it appear that the father of Thomasin,
whom Wilmot is abusing, had prevented it.

On the other hand, some of the variations are undoubted
corrections of much value.

In the following list the readings (unless specially referred to) are
those of the First, Third, and Fourth Editions, which are dated
respectively 1746, 1746 (three editions in one year), and 1750; of
these, the two latter are almost exact reprints of the former.

The figures opposite each line denote which edition, in my opinion,
has the true reading, if the difference is of any moment.

In many cases my notes upon the text will be found to be entirely
confirmed by earlier readings.

jine

Line

read

vor why vore

76-8 read

zitch for zich

betoatled for betwatled

78-9

will'st for wutt

bet for but

zee whare for zee nif

zwopping for zwapping

is for ise

ghowering for jowering

. 92

touty for twenty

meazel for meazle

zest for zess

104

zower-zwaped

know for knowth

105

heavy for yeavy

106

hobbey for hobby

vore-reert for vore-reet

107

he-at-stool /or yheatstool 9

112

chun for mun

120

think for thenk

haggage-tooth'd for hag

gle

122

S»

tootli'd

123

thy zell for thyzel

123

zitch /or zich

wastecoat for waistecoat

strat for strait

tann for tan

add for ad

squeak'st for squeakest

dedst for dest

losting for losing

out to for out a

a word for zey a word

zitcli for zich

nif's vauther for

vauther
strat /or strad, IV. ed. only
ya for ye, I. and III. ed. ;

ye in IV. 1

olweys for always
ay, ya ! for ay, ay ! 9

vrainp-shapen for vramp-

shakeu 1

bevore for bevoor
zo for so
avoore for avore

nif
1

0-^

SPECIMENS OF

NGLIS

H DIALECTS.

Line

127

read cau'st net for cassent

218

read yet for yeet

128

reert for rea" t

220

dedst for dest

130

ya for ye

224

yewniors for yeraors

133

comest for com'st

224

men for mun

134

wos for was

229

agest for agast

138

reazauable for reaznable

229

wut vore for wut zo vore,

143

doatee for doattee

IV. ed. only

143

chimly for chimley

229

an a'en for thy een

150

herrtily for heartily

230

old muxy Ount Sybly

151

out-reert for up-reert

235

yess o' for yess of

151

borst for bust

237

ya mulligrub for ya gurt

152

trapesee for trapsee

242

pounding o' savin

155

head for aead

245

drow't for drow'et

158-

-238

loug-hanjed for long

247

Jlrs. Hi-go-shit-a-beagle

lianged

248

drow for drew

159

placad for plasad

250

e'ry for e'ery

159

crowdling for crewdliug

250

houze for houz

160

J»

lundging for hmging

251

absently for absleutly

161

twitch for twich

252

et for it

161

drow for draw

254

dest for dedst

162

tha for the least

256

chat for chad

163

ziunet for zeunet

257

cunuiflee for canifflee

166

jest for just

263

as for es

168

ded net for dedent

263

cary for caree

171

windvalls for winavalls

266-

268

men 'tes for mun' tis

178-

-179

I for es

267

ritling for rittling

184

Blotters for zlotters

273

et twul for et wel

188

tha for the

275

wotherwey twul zet along

196-

-212-

-222 veather for vauther

275

weewow/or a weewow

197

or hand-beating f

276

wut for wet

s'handbeeating

278

dest net for dessent

202

goest for goast

280

sauze for sauce

207

ees for es

280

tha for the

210

nated for uatted

283

Higo ! for Heigo ! )

211

leet for leetle

284

dedst for dest

212

conieth for comath

286

zetch for zitch

213

question't for quesson't

289

ha for he

213

yeo for yoe

290

it for yeet

213

be for by [o'en

292

and for but

214

heend legs for heend legs

293

toatle for totle

214—

215

bet for but

295

wone's for won's

214

tad for ted

295

must net for mussent'

215

as uzeth for as ha uzeth

296

steehoppy for steehoppee

217

wraxled and rattled— 'and

300

kcpp for kep

twinned' in III. ed. only

302

ees for es

POSTSCRIPT.

Line

304 read

shall see for cliell zee 1

306 „

Gi' o'er, gi' o'er, Taiu'zen.

And thee be —

307 „

agging for egging 1

307 „

gawiug for jawing 9

Line

308 read sherking for sneering

309 „ ghowering /orjowering

311 „ father for tether

312 „ grizzeling for grizzlng
314 „ yeaveling for yeavling

While collating these early texts of the " Scolding " and " Court-
ship," I came upon the letters by Devoniensis referred to in pp. 9,
10. These letters are so important, and the original Vocabulary
referred to in them never having been reprinted, it has been thought
best to reproduce them in full, even though a portion of the matter
will be found to be repeated in the !N"otes and Vocabulary issued
with the Seventh Edition (1771).

August 1746. — GentlemarCs Magazine, vol, xvi. p. 405.

''Exon,Aug. 12, 1746.
"Mr. Urban.

" On perusing those curious pieces, the Exmoor Courtship
and Scolding, in your Magazines, I find several words marked
with an asterisk, as wanting an explanation ; and having heretofore
liv'd a good while within a few miles of the forest of Exmoor*
where that dialect is spoken, and heard a good deal of it, I well
remember in what sense all those words are used ; which induc'd
me to draw up the inclos'd Vocabulary, foi" the service of your readers
in other parts, and perhaps it may afford some help to their under-
standing of old books.

" I have added several words that are not to be found in either the
Exmoor Scolding or Courtship (though not less common in that
quarter), and I believe I could recollect as many more if they would
be acceptable. You will in this vocabulary find all the words that you
have mark'd, and you may depend on the truth of my explanation of
every one except two, of Avhich being in doubt, I have mark'd them with
a Q. (Boneshave — horry). It may not be amiss to observe that tho'
it is call'd a Devonshire Dialect it is not the dialect of the whole
county, and that it would be as unintelligible to the inhabitants of
the southern parts of it as to a citizen of London. Every county,
doubtless, has its peculiar dialect, which, among the vulgar, and those
who are far removed from the more considerable towns, is generally
barbarous enough ; and therefore Devonshire is no more to be ridiculed
on that account, than any other large county : for I dare affirm that
there is as good English in general spoken in some parts of Devonshire
as in any part of England.

* This forest is in Somersetshire, and is called Exmoor from the river Ex
having there its rise.

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

" I can't help observing that the Transcriber of the Exmoor Courts?/ ip
has committed some blunders, having used the word Tlielc in many
places where an Exmoorian would have said That, and the V instead
of F, &c. For though it be very common with them to change F
into V, 8 into Z, Th into D, &c., yet there are a great many words.
in which they never make this change, as Flash, Fashion, Fine, Sea,
Soul, Sad, Sarrant (^. e. Servant), Third, and many others. It should
be observed that they use To instead oi At ; Ise, ees, and ich for I ;
I cham or ^ chain for I am ; ^CheJl for I shall, &c. ; which was once,
the general mode of proper speaking throughout the kingdom, and
may be found in many ancient English authors.

" I am, &c.

" Devonibnsis."

A Vocabulary of the Exmoor Dialect containing all sncli
words in the Exmoor Scolding and Courtship, the meaning
of which does not appear by the sense ; with the addition of
some others ; all accented on their proper syllables, to show
the Method of their Pronunciation. (With notes.)

Ag'est, or ag'ast, afraid.
* Agging, murmuring, raising quar-
rels.

* 'egging, or 'egging-on, is an ex-
,. pression frequently used in most
counties, perliaps, to spur on, from
aigu, Fr. a point of a spm-, or
needle.

'Alkitliole, a fool, a silly oaf.
'AUernbatch {probably of Allderp,

elder, and Bosse, a botch), a kind

of botch or old sore.
A-pu'rt, sidlen.
Aqu'ott, see Quott.
Art, eight.
Arteen, eighteen.
Avro'ro, frosty.
A'xen, ashes.
A'xwaddle, a dealer in ashes, aiid,

sometirnes, one that tumbles in

them.

Azoon, anon.

Bagga'ged, or Byga'ged, mad, be-
witch\i.

To Bank, to beat.

Banging, large, great.

B'arngun, a breaJcing out in small
pini2)les, or jm.stles in the skin.

Ba'rra, or Ba'rrow, a geltp)ig.

To the true Ben, or Bend {possibly of
Bendan, Sax. to stretch out, to yield
to). To the purpose, or sufficiently,
to the utmost stretch.

Bewhiver'd, lost to ones self, beicil-
de)''d.

Biird, or Berd, bread.

Blaking, crying till out of breath.

Blazing, spreadiiig ah^oad neivs.

To Blo'ggy, to be sullen.

Blo'wniaunger, a fat bloio - cheeked
person.

B'oneshave, {perhaps from bone spav-
in, a bony crust gromn/j on a horsti's

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING : POSTSCRIPT.

heels, or the scratches), a kind of
horny tumour. Q.

Bo'ostering, labouring busily, so as to
siveat.

Bourm, yeest.

Br'andires, a trivet.

Brawn, or Broan, a cleft of wood for
thefire.

* [As a seem of brauuds, is a horse-
load of billet-wood ; a rick of brands
is a stack of wood cleft for the fire :
so weaken, or elmen braunds, means
oak or elm billets.]

Briss, dust.

Broach, a spit, spindle.

Buckard, or Bucked [sjwheoi of milk)
sotc?'ed by kee2)in'j too long in the
milk-bucket, or by afoul bucket.

Buldering {weather,) sultry, hot.

Burnish, to grow fat, or increase hi
bidk, look bright, rosy.

Butt, a bee-butt, or hive.

Cat-ham'd, fumbliiig, without dex-
terity.

Ca'uchery, a mediciiial composition,
or slop.

Ciiamp, a scuffle.

Cha'nnest, to challenge.

Cha'ngeling, an idiot, one whom the
fairies have chaiivjed.

Chauuge, a shirt, or shift.

CI Yo'ckYmg^hectorin/j, scoldiivj.

Cho'unting, quarrelling.

Chu'er, a chare, orjobb of work.

Clathing, clothes.

Clavel, a chimney-piece.

Cloam, eartJien-ware.

Coad, unhealthy.

Coajerze'end (?. e. a cordicainer's end),
a shoemaker's thread.

Coander, a corner.

Co'ckleett (i. e. cock-li{jht) day-break,
or {sometimes) the dusk of the even-
ing.

Cod-glove, a thick glove loithoid fin-
gers, to handle turf.

Condiddled, dispersed.

Coukabell, an ''icicle, [in ^Ae'Somerset

dialect CHnkabell].
Copper - clouts, a kind of splatter

dashes, worn on the small of the

leg.
To Gotten, to beat one soundly.
To Creem, to squeeze, or 2^^^^^ to-
gether.
Cr'ewnting, grunting, or complain-
ing.
Crock, a pot.
Crowd, a violin.
Crowdling, sloic, dull, sickly.
Crub, or Croust, a crust of bread or

cheese.
Cu'rting, expowuiing on {apjMed to a

tale).
Culvers, pigeons.
Daps, likeness [the very daps of one,

the exact likeness in sliajie, or

manners.]
Dear'd, hurried, frighten\l, stunned.
Dem ! you slut.

Dimmet, the dusk of the evening.
Dinder, thunder.
Diuderex, a thtmider-bolt.
Dorns, doorposts.
Do'veth, it thaws.
Dowl, the devil.

Dreade, thread, \ and in general all
Dree, three, j words beginning

with Th sound D instead thereof.
To Drou, to dry.
Drumbledi'ane, a drone [or humble

bee.]
Du'bbed, blunt.

Du'gged, or Duddled, draggle-tail'd,
Eart one, eart to'ther, now one, then

the other.
E'el-thiug, o;' Ill-thing, *%. Afithonfs

fire.
El'ewn, eleven.
E'loug, slanting.
Elt, see lit.
Ewte, to pour in.

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Fitchole, a x>olecat [fitcher or fitchet

in other coioUies].
Foust, dirtij.
Full - stated, spoken of a leasehold

estate, that has three lives subsisting

on it.
Fustiluggs, a big -hon' d person.
Ga'llied, frighten' d.
Ga'llibagger, a hug-bear.
Ga'iliment, a great fright.
Ga'mmerell, the small of the leg.
G'and or G'ender, go yonder.
G'aniiy, a turkey.
G'a'owing, chiding.
Ga'pesnest, a raree slioiv, a fine sii/ht.
Geed, gave.

Gho'weriiig or Jowering, quarrelsome.
Ginged, or Jinged, hewitcKd.
Glut or Jynt, joint.
Girred, drahgle-tail'd.
Glani, a ivound or sore.
Glo'wing, staring.
Glu'mping, sidlen, or sour-looking.
Griddle, a grid-iron.
Grizzledeinimdy, a laughin/j fool, (me
■ that grins at everythi^vj.
Grizzling, laughing, smiling.
Gubb, apandar, or go-between.
Guii, great.

Gu'ttering, eating greedily [guttling].
Ila'ggage, a slattern,
lia'hemng, predicting the worst that

can ha2)pe7i.
Ilauje or Hange, the purtenance of

any creature [in Somerset, lamb's

head and pur f nance, is the head,

heart, liver and lights'].
Ila'ntick, frantick.
Hare, her, also us' d for she.
llarrest, harvest.

H'awcliamoutli, one that talks inde-
cently.
Ila'wthern, a kind of hitch, or pin,

cut out in an erect board, to hang a

coat on, or the like.
To Ilenn, to throw.

He'wstring, short-breath\l, wheezing.

Horry, mouldy. Q.

To Hoppy, to hop, or caper.

Ho'zee, to be badly off.

Hu'ckniuck, a little tiny fellow [thick

stubbed].
Hucksheens, the hocks, or hams.
Husldng, shuffling and shrinking up

one's shoidders.
Jacketawa'd, an Ignis Fatuus.
l\i, or Elt, a gelt sow.
Kee, kine, or cows.
Kep, a cap.

Kerping, carping, finding fault.
Kittepacks, a kind of buskins.
Labb, a blab.

To Lackee, to be ivanting fram home.
Lamps'd, lam'd or hurted.
Lathing, invitation.
Leech-way, the p)ath in which the dead

are carried to be bxiried.
Le'ery, empty, unloaden.
Loblolly, a)i odd mixture ofspoonmeat.
Lock ! What ! Hey day I
Loff, loiv.

Lo'ngcripple, a viper.
Looze, a hog-sty.
To Loustree, to xvork hard.
Lowing, piling XLp one thing on

another.
To Limdge, to lean on anything.
Lyraptwigg, a lajJiving.
Malls, the measles.
]\Iarl, a marvel, a wonder.
^lass, acortis [mast].
Maz'd, mad, crazy, [so a maz'd nuin

for madman].
Mews, moss.
Min, or Men, them, e.g. Put niiu up,

i.e. Fut them up.
Moyle, a mide.
To Moyley, to labour hard like a

tnule .
Muggard, sullen.
Muggotts, chitterlings, also a calf's

pluck.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING : POSTSCRIPT.

To Mull, to pull and tumble ojie

about.
Mux, chit.
Neeald, a needle.
Niddick, the nape of the yiecJc.
Ninniwatch, a lonjiivj desire or ex-

jiectation of a tiling.
Nose-gigg, a toe-2nece on a shoe.
O'avis, the eeves of a house.
Over, material, important, e.g. I have

an over errand to yoxi [p. 298 II).
To take Owl, to take amiss.
Owuty, emjity.
Pa'ddick, a toad.
To Pa'ddle, to tip2:>U.
Pa'lching, patching or oneiuling

clothes.
Pa'lching, walking slowly.
Pame, a christening blanket, a mantle.
Pa'ncrock, an earthernpan.
Pa' liking, ^^anting.
Pa'rbeakiug, fretful.
Peek, a prong, or pitchfork.
Pestle, or leg, of po) k.
Pilm, dust raised by the wind.
To Ping, to push.
Pingzwill, a boyl.

To take Pip at a thing, to take it ill.
Pisteriug, whispering.
Pixy, a fairy.

Pla'sad, in a fine condition.
To Plim, to swell, or encrease in hidk,

or to make anything swell by

beating.
Plump, a pump.

Po'dger, ap)latter or peivter dish.
To Po'mster, to act the emperick.
To Po'ochee, to make moivs at a

person.
Pock, a cock of hay.
To Po'tee, to push with ones feet.
Prill'd, sourkl.

Prinked, well dressed, fine, neat.
To Pritch, to check, or withstand.-^

t \_A term for making holes in the
leathers of cards to admit the wire.']

Pro'sets, buskins.

Pung, push'd.

Purtiug or a-pu'rt, sidlen.

Putch, to hand up {jyitch), sheaves or

the like loith a pitch-fork.
Qu'elstring, hot, sultry [sweltryl.
Querking, grunting.
Quott, or Aquott, weary of eating ;

also sat doivn.
Rabble-rote, a repetition of a long

story, a tale of a tub.
Ragr'owtering, playing at romps.
Ranish, ravenous.
Rathe [not rear, as Gay has it), early,

soon, e.g. a leet rather, i.e. a little

while ago, a little sooner ; [why do

you op so rathe ; or rise so earlyl.
To Ream, to stretch.
Rearing, mocking, by rejyeatw-ig

another's words with disdain, or the

like.
Reart, right,

Re'artiug {i.e. righting) mending.
Rexen, rushes.
To Rey ones self, to dress ones self

iaray}.
Ripping one up, telling Mm all his

faults.
Rittling, wheazing [quasi rattling^.
Roundshaving, chiding exceedingly.
Rumple, a large debt contracted by

little and little, [Somersetshire,

'Twill come to a rumple, a breaking,

at last].
To Scorse or Scoace, to exchaivge.
Sewent or Suent, even, regular, all

alike,
vSheenstrads, splatterdashes.
Sherking or sharking, an eager desire

to cheat or defraud another.
To take a Shoard, to drink a cup too

much.
Shool, a shovel.

To shoort, to shift for a living.
Siss, a great fat woman.
Skotch or Squotch, a 'notch.

SPECIMENS or ENGLISH DIALECTS.

iSlotter, nastiness.

To Sowl, to tumble ones clothes, toindl
one about, &c.

Spalls, chips, also things cast in ones
teeth.

Spare, slow.

Spe wring, a hoarded partition.

Sprey, sjyruce, ingenious.

To Sp'udlee, to stir or spread a thing
abroad.

Squelstring, sultry.

Ste'ehopping, playing the hobby-horse.

Stewardly, like a good houseivl/e.

Ste'yan or Rtean, an earthern pot, like
ajar.

To Stile or Stilee, to iron clothes.

Stirrups, a kind of buskins.

Stra'mmer, a great lye.

Stro'aking, milki-ng after a calf has
Slick' d.

Stroil, Strength and agility.

A good Stubb, a large sum of money.

Sture, a steer, also a dust raised.

Su'ffing, sobbing.

Swill, to swallow doivm ones throat.

Swillet, growing turf set on fire for
manuring the land.

Ta'llet (i.e. top-loft) a hay loft.

Ta'ubaste or Ta'nbase, scuffling,
struggling.

Taply or Tapely, early in tlie morn-
ing.

Tatcliy, peevish.

Teaster, the canopty of a bed.

Ted or Tet, to be ordered or piermitted
to do a thitvj, as I Ted go home, i.e.
I am to go home.

Terra, a turf.

To Tm-vee, to struggle and tumble, to
get free.

Tetties (from Teats), breasts.

Tliek, or Th'eckee, or The'cka this is
{generally, not always) us'd for
That when it is a pronoun demon-
strative, but never when it is a pro-
noun relative, or a conjunction, in

which cases Thet or Thate is the
word xis'd.

Therle, gaunt, lean.

To Thir, Thear, Der, Dear or Dere, to
frighten, hurt or strike dead.

Tho, then, at that time.

Thumping, great, huge.

To Ting, to chide severely.

To'tle, a slow, lazy person.

To'thng, slow, idle.

Tourn, a spinniivg wheel.

To Toze, to pull abroad loool, &c.

Troant, a foolish fellow, and some-
times a lazy loiterer, a truant.

Trolubber, a husbandman, a day-
labourer.

Trub, a slut [not a little squat woman,
as Bailey has it).

Twine, packthread.

To Vang, to take or receive.

To Vang to, to stand sponsor to a
child.

Ve'aking, fretfubiess, peevishness.

Vi'ggiug, see Potee.

Vinnied, onoiddy.

Vinny, a scolding-bout.

To Vit, to dress {meat, (&c).

Vitty, decent, handsome, well.

Umber, number.

Voor, a furrow.

'Yore, forth.

To drow Vore, to twit one with a
faxdt.

Vo're-days or Voar-days, late in tJie
day.

Vore-reert, forth-right, without cir-
cumsj:)ection.

Upaze't, in 2^61 feet ion.

Upze'tting, a gossip)ing, or christeniyig
feast.

Vung, received.

Vull-sta'tad, see Full-stated.

Viu-din, a farthing.

Vur-vore, far, forth.

Wa'ngery, flabby.

"Wa'shamouthe, a blabb.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING : POSTSCRIPT.

Wa'shbrew, flummery.

Wassa'il, a drinking song on txoelfth-
day eve, throiving toast to the cqyple
trees in order to have a fruitfid
year ; ichich seems to be a relick of
a heathen sacrijice to Pomona.
II Wassail, or Was-heil, to wish
health.
See Observat. on Macbeth, p. 41.

We'therly, ivith rage and violetwe.

Whe'rret, i a great blow;

Whi'sterpoopj ) (jjerhaps a back-ha7id
stroke).

Wliitwich, a pretended conjurer that
discovers, and sells, charms for
witchcraft.

Who'tjecomb, what d'ye call him.

Whott, hot.

Why-vore, or for why vore, xohcrefore.

Wop, a wasp.

Wraxling, wrestling.

Yallow beels or Yellow boys, guineas,

Yead, head.

Ye'aveling, evening.

Yees, eyes.

Yeevil, a dung-fork.

Ye'rring, noisy.

Ye'wmors, embers, hot ashes.

Yeo, an ewe.

Zennet, a week, a sev' night.

Zess, a pile of sheaves in a barn.

Zew, a sow.

Zewuteen, seventeen.

Zigg, urine.

Zinnyla, son-in-laie.

Zive, a scythe.

Zo'werswopped, ill-natured.

Zowl, a plough.

but

" I could muster up many more words in this barbarous dialect,

Ne quid nimis.

" Devon."

"What is between hooks [ ], and the notes, is an addition
to the Vocabulary ; and we hope will not offend the author,"

Gentleman's Magazine, November 1746, p. 5G7.

"Exon,Sept. 15, 1746.
" Sir,

" On perusing the Exmoor Scolding, I find the following
words marked with an asterisk, which are omitted from the Vocabulary.

"Yours, &c.

" Devoniensis."

Angle-bowing, a method offencitvj the grounds, wherein sheep are kept {in and
about Exmoor), hy fixhvj rods, like hoivs,with both ends in the ground, where
they make angles icith each other ; somewhat like the following figure.

70 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Antle-beer, cross wise, irregular.

Cunniffling, dissembling, flattering.

Dwalling, talking nonsense, or as if delirioiis.

Eart, or Aert {i. e. oft), hut generally used of now and then, as eart this way,

eait that way, i. e. now this way, now that way.
Hoazed ! timely off [spoken ironically'], also hoarse.
Jibb, a stiller to fix a barrel of liquor on.
Lathing or Leathiug, invitation.
Lipped, loose, free ; and sometimes the hreakiruj out of stitches in needlework,

or the like.
Ort, oufjht, anything.
Ort, Orten, often. See Eart.
Rigging, j^laying the hobby-horse.
Stertlee, to startle, or hop up and doivn, or the like.
Trub, signifies not only a sluttish ivoman, but is sometimes masculine, ayul

denotes a slovenly loohy.
Widford, a xvidoiver.

Oentleman's Magazine^ Dec. 1746, p. 644.

*'Exon, Dec. 8, 1746.
" Sir,

" Having lately been in the north parts of our county, T
enquired the meaning of the Avord honeshave Avhich I was doubtful
of, and I find 'tis the Sciatica ; so that I was niistalcen in my con-
jecture (p. 64). I send you a ridiculous charm which they use for
curing it. Had I leisure I believe I could trace the etymology of
many of our Devonshire wordp, and show that the worst part of the
dialect is not so barbarous as that of Lancashire.

" A charm for the Boneshave (as the Exmoorians, who often use
it, call the Sciatica).

' The patient must lie on his bade on the bank of a river or brook
of water, with a straight staff by his side, between him and the water ;
and must have the following words repeated over him : —

Bone-shave right ;
Bone-shave straight ;
As the water runs by the stave
Good for Bone-shave.
In the name, Sc'

" They are not to be persuaded but that this ridiculous form of
words seldom fails to give them a perfect cure.

" Devoniensis."

I have never been able to meet with a second Edition of the
Scolding and Courtship, nor of the fifth or sixth ; but although the
dialogues first appeared in a Magazine in July 1746, yet the third

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING : POSTSCRIPT. 71

edition, a square 12nio., of which a copy is in the Bodleian, bears
date 1746 — showing that the demand arose immediately after the first
publication. In this third edition the two dialogues are both printed,
but with separate titles, no mention being made of the Courtship
upon the title-page of the Scolding, which is however put first in the
pamphlet.

The same applies to the fourth edition, of which a copy is in the
British Museum, dated 1750, This fourth edition is by far the most
sumptuous I have seen ; it is small 4to., large type, and has a frontis-
piece representing two men and a woman in a disordered house.
Tables are upset and dishes broken, but there is no incident in the
dialogues which can by any stretch of imagination be supposed to be
illustrated. The printer, Andrew Brice, Exeter, is the same as tho
publisher of the tJnrd edition, who is said by Sir J. Bowring to be
one of the authors. This copy bears the name *' W. Upcott," and
appears at some time also to have belonged to Sir F. Madden, who
has written : —

"Bought of Bradbury, Xo. 2 Mortimer St., 22nd. Feby. 1850.
" I never saw another copy, and 1 have made large collections on
the subject. " F. Madden."

Besides this curious fourth edition the British Museum has three
copies of the seventh (1771) (which seems to be the commonest now
remaining of those printed in the last century), but no other. In
the Bodleian, besides the third edition (1746) there is the seventh
(1771) and a reprint of the seventh dated 1793, This last is printed
in double columns, thus explained on the title-page :

"To which is adjoined a Collateral Paraphrase in Plain English
for explaining barbarous words and Phrases."

T, Brice, Exeter, is the Printer, but he has omitted all the notes
and the vocabulary found in the editions of 1771 and onwards.

In the Bodleian is also an exact reprint of T, Price's issue, but

the title has " To which is prefixed a translation of the same into

plain English " —

" Exeter, — J. McKenzie & Son "

" Price only three pence "

1795.

/^ SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

This last was probably a piracy upon Brice, whose issue is priced
" four pence."

I hoped to have found in this paraphrase some help towards
explaining the words not found in the vocabulary, but the entire
translation into " plain English " is utterly worthless and beneath
contempt.

The Bodleian also possesses a "New Edition" "containing mar-
ginal notes, and a vocabulary at the End for explaining uncouth
Expressions, and interpreting barbarous words and phrases." Exeter.

"Eepiinted from an Edition of 1771 by Penny & Son." 1818.

The dialogues may now be bought at the Eailway Book Stalls,
apparently reprinted from the ed. of 1771, with the preface and
vocabulary, price sixpence. •

In the Montldy Magazine, Sept. 1814, p. 12G, is a letter which
may well be reproduced here, inasmuch as it throAvs light upon the
pronunciation of the ch when used for the first person singular.

Monthly Magazine, September 1814, p. 126.
"Sir,

" Seeing lately in your Magazine a list of provincial words
used in Essex, and a wish subjoined that your correspondents
resident in different places Avould transmit such lists from their re-
spective counties, I beg leave to oltor to your notice the following
scanty vocabulary of the provincial words of Somerset, together Avith
a short essay on the dialect of this county, Avhich I hope Avill not be
deemed altogether unworthy of notice.

" SOMERSETIENSIS."

" Taunton, July, 1814."

VOCABULARY.

Ar'guefy, argue.

Aus'ney, to anticipate bad news.

Brack, tiaw.

Doff, take off.

Dout, put out, extiuguish.

Diimiis, twilight.

Dumpy, short, squat.

^''^^'^' 1 simpleton.
Gairkey, '

Hell, to pour.

Hend, to throw.

Latch, fancy, wish.

Lle-a-hier, lie-dead.

Lissom, active.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING : POSTSCRIPT. 73

Not half saved, foolish,

^««"f^,huncheon.
Nu7ich, }

Ort (aiujht), anything.

Pillom, dust.

* Roiley, to rail.

* Rowl, fair, revel.
Skiver, skewer.

Swant, proper.

Thick, that.

Tattle, totter.

Trapes, slut.

* Upsetting, christening.

Wap, to beat.

"Those marked thus* peculiar to
Exmoor.

" It is a very common observation that the pronunciation of
Somerset is more vitiated than that of any other county, so much so
that a thorough-bred kSomerset-man is with difficulty understood in
various parts of England. The cause of this does not consist so much,
I think, in the use of provincial words, the inhabitants of this county
not making use of so many as those of various other counties, but
from a mispronunciation of those words which they make use of. It
has always been my opinion that this fault arises in a great measure
from a sort of indolence which prevents the people of Somerset from
making use of those consonants which require an effort to articulate
well, such as / and s, and relaxing into v and z, as father, vafher ;
Somerset, Zomerzet ; and of those combinations of consonants which
not only require an effort to pronounce them, but are offensive to a
delicate ear, in which cases they either interpose a vowel or omit one
of the consonants, as posts, posies ; desks, deskes ; needle, neel ; with
me, w'C me ; a pound of butter, a poun' o' butter.

'' Another effect of this indolence is the lengthening or dwelling on
the vowels, so as to make them sound almost like diphthongs, as, none,
no-an ; fool, vo-ol ; door, doo-er, &c.

" They also make use of the word ie nearly through the whole of
the present tense of the verb to be, as, / be — thou beest (pronounce
bist), he is, we, you, they, be. They terminate the preterite tense and
participle past of most verbs, in d — as, I saw, or have seen; I zeed, or
have zeed ; gid for gave or given, &c. They always use ^en for him
(^7i?^, German), and 'e??i for they or them, both in affirmation and
interrogations, and 'er (German er) for he in interrogations only, as,
did they see hira % did 'em zee 'en ? did he give them anything ] did'er
gV 'em ort (aught) ! give him, gi' 'en, &c.

"They change the snt in such contractions as isn't, was'nt, into
<:Z'», as, isn't he '? id'n eri was'nt he 1 wad'nerl hut they say han't er ?
for hasn't he 1 to distinguish it from had'n er, hadn't he 1

"Beside these general corruptions there are a few peculiar to different
parts of the county. At Marlock, Yeovil, and the adjacent places,
they make use of che, (pronounced almost like the French je), for /,
as ch'ill, I will ; ch'ave, I have, t^c. !Nor do they pronounce the final
r at all ; except by relaxing the sound of the vowel that precedes it
into that sound which the French designate by eut, in the word pjeut ;
and if it exists in English, in the syllable er in porter, &c., in the

71 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

same manner as the modern Parisians pronounce fille (fi-eu), door,
doo-eu; pear, pea-eu, &c.

"Of the dialect of the inhabitants of Exmoor, the most western part
of this county, I can give you little or no information ; it is so very
corrupt that no one can understand it who has not been bred among
them. If you could procure a pamphlet, published sometime since,
entitled, I think, " the Exmoor Scolding,'' you might give your
readers a specimen of it. If I meet with it you may depend on a
communication. It is from seeing that work some years since that I
have been enabled to recollect those two or three (1 words) inserted in
the vocabulary marked with an asterisk.

"I must conclude with the hope that, if any of your readers should
come into Zomerzetshire, they may find this essay of real utility, both
in understanding the inhabitants, and in making themselves understood
by them."

In the Monthly Magazine of November, 1814, p. 330, Mr. J.
Jennings writes a long letter from Iluntspill, dated September
10th, 181 4, in reply to the above, and stating many particulars
as to the dialects east and west of the Parrett, all of which,
together with a considerable list of Avords accompanying the letter,
have since been published in Jennings's ' Dialect of the West of
England,' John Eussell Smith, 18G9.

A N

Exmoor COURTSHIP;

O R, A

SUITORING DISCOURSE

I N T H E

Bevonfhire DiALECT and Mode,

NEAR

The FOREST of EXMOOR.
The Perfons.

Andrew Moreman, a young Farmer.

Margery Vagivell, his Sweetheart,

Old Grammer Nell, Grammer to Margery.

Thomajin, Sifter to Margery.

A N

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP.'

SCENE Margery's Home.2
To Margery enter Andrew.^
316 Avdreio. 'TJi'OW goeth et, Cozen Magery'?'*

Margery. Holi ! Cozen Andra, how d'ye try ?

Andreio. Come, let's shake Honds,^ thof Kissing be"^
scarce.
320 Margery. Kissing's plenty enow ;''^ bet chud zo leefe^ kiss the
Back o' ma Hond es e'er a Man in Challacomb, or yeet in
Paracomb ; no Dispreze.^

^ Courtship is a literary word — kyeo-urteen, ' courting,' alone is heard in the
dialect.

2 Another literaryism— a person's Jwme is never heard of — it would be
Maa'jurSez aewz. Home is used only in the sense of at home ; as, fiz mae-iistur
mtm ? ' is master at home ? ' In early editions of 1746 it is hxnise.

3 Again, this would be — Tu Maa'jurie kmonth An'dr — enter is altogether
too stagy a word.

* This salutation is thoroughly vernacular. See Preface, p. 15.

5 I have never heard honds — t\m pronunciation is obsolete, but only
recently so. Jennings (W. of E. Dialect) gives hon for hmid as used so lately
as 1814, in East Somerset. No doubt hond is the old West Country pronuncia-
tion— for Robt. of Gloucester (WiU. the Conq., ed. Morris and^Skeat, 1. 41),

says —

' (& uor Harold adde is o]> ibroke
\>at he suor mid is ri}t hmid.'

U AK'SMOAR KOO'URTSHUP;

SAIN" Maajiireez au'm.^
Tu Maa'juree arntur Au'dr.'
Andrew. A ew gooth ut, Kuuz'ii Maajureel^ 316

Margery. Hoa* ! Kuuz'n An*dr, aew d-ee traay 1

Andreio. Kau*m, lat-s shee'uk hauns,^ tliauf Kees'een bee''

skee'iis.

Margery. Kees*een-z plai'nteeun^o* ;'' biit ch-dd zu leev^ kees dhu 320

l)aak u mil haun uz ae"ur u mae'un een CliaaMkum, ur eet een

Paarikum ; noa deespraa-yz.^

So also William of Shoreham, a.d. 1307 (De Baptismo, 1. 121), says—

' ]pe prest take]> ]pat ilke child
In his hoiiden hy-thuixte.^

' This he is emphatic, otherwise it would be thauf kees'en-z skeeus.

' See * Somerset Man's Complaint,' p. 9.

8 This is still the usual phrase, alternating with zu zeo 'u — it implies readiness
more than preference. In the * Chronicon Viloduneuse,' a.d. 1420 (ed. Iloare,
1830), we find Stanza 274 referring to St. Editha —

* For lever here was \>e pore toffedV

This is also a good example of the use of her as a nominative. (See W. S.
Gram., p. 35.)

' Spelt dispreise, 1. 69— rfispreise in Ed. I. to IV. 1746. It must have been
pronounced as with long i — precisely like the modern Cockney praise.

78 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Andreio. Es dont believe thate* ;i yeet es* believe well too.

[Swop ! he kisses and smuggles lier.

325 Margery. Hemph — Oli ! tlia very Vengeance out o' tlia ! — ■

Tha liast a creem'd ma Yearms,^ and a most a bost ma Neck. — Wall,

bet, vor all, hoAv dost try, es * zcy, Cozen Andra 1 Es liant a zeed

ye 5 a gurt while.

Andreio. Why, fatli, Cosen Margery, nort marchantable,
330 e're since es scoast^ a Tack or two wey Eager Vrogwell tether
Day. — Bet sugs ! ^ es trem'd en & vagg'd en so, that he'll veol et vor
wone while, chell warndy.^

Margery. How, Cozen Andra ! Why es thort^ you coudent a
vort^ zo.

1 I never heard thate — the thet of the original note is more like the present
form. (See W. S. Gram., p. 32.) In First Ed. it is thek, clearly an error of the
original author. See letter of ' Devoniensis,' p. C4.

2 In Editions I. to IV. we find and eet es believe, &c. This pronunciation
of yet is the only correct one. I cannot account for the insertion of the y in the
text, except that it is found and sounded in the literary yet. See note to
1. 110, p. 36.

3 The spelling of arms with y is, I think, an error — a y sound would be
inevitable, with a diphthong after a close vowel, as mi ae'urmz, did aid —
which cannot be uttered without the y sound.

* In the first four editions, both es-s, in this line are wiitten ees, a form
which is still common in interrogative sentences. (See W. S. Gram., p. 34.)

5 I am confirmed in the conclusion expressed in Note 2, by the transcriber's
Avriting ye with a y which is never sounded — aeio b-ee' ? ' how ye be ? ' d-ee
dhaengk t-l oa'l tue u vraics ? ' do you think it will hold to a frost 1 ' (very
common idiom) ; you in 1. 333 is spelt ee in 1st ed.

6 In the early editions this word is written scorst — which still represents
the soimd more nearly than the text.

' A quasi oath, still heard occasionally, but I cannot interpret it.

8 Here the transcriber denotes the 2nd pers. pi. by simple y — pronounced
precisely the same as when spelt ye, as above in 1. 328.

fl — 9 In many words ending in urjht this r is inserted, as in iwrt, 1. 329 ; ort,
1. 167 ; brort = brought ; bort = bought ; cort, 1. 389.

* {Note to Ed. of 177 S.) Thate is the proper Word here, according to the
Exmoor Dialect ; though Thek was in the former Editions improperly inserted
iusteal thereof. 'Tis true the Word Thek, as well as Theckee or Thecka, is
(generally but not always) used for That, wlien it is a Pronoun Demonstrative :
but never when it is a Pronoun Relative, or a Conjimction, in which Cases Thet
or Thate is the Word used. The Devonians however in their Distinction

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 79

Andrew. Es doa'n bleev dliaet,*i eet es^ bleev wuul tiio*.

[Zwaup ! u keesth un smuuglth ur.

Margery. Haemf — Oa* ! dhu vuur'ue Vai'njuns aewt u dliu ! — 325
Dli-as u-kraimd mi ae'urmz,^ un umaus u-buus mu Xak. — "Wuul,
but vur au'l, aew dus traay, es* zai, Kuuz'n An-drl Es aa-n u-zeed
ee^ u guurt wuyul.

Andrew. Waay, faa'th, Kuuz'n Maajuree, noa'urt maar-cbuntubl,
ae'ur siinz es skoa'ursf u taa'k ur tue wai Eaj"ur Vraugwiil taedb'ur 330
dai. — Bilt z'uugz !" es tremd un vag'd-n zoa, dhut u-1 vee"ul ut vur
wan wuyul, cli-ul wau'rnd-ee.^

Margery. Aew, Kuuz'n An'dr ! Waay es dhaurt^ yue k^od'u u
vaurt^ zoa.

between Theck or Theckee, and That, do not altogether conform to that which
our Saxon Ancestors made between Thyilic or Thylc, (whence the Scotch Thilk)
ThylUce or Thylce, hie <& hcec talis, and their That or Thaet, by which they
commonly expressed, id, ilium, illud, istud, hoc, istoc, &c. The Devonshire
Use of these Words may be exemplified by the following Phrases :

" Hot's thet tha zest 1 What a gurt Lee es thate ! The Man thet told

tha thecka Story, thof anuut zey theeze Theng and thicky, whan a had a
Parwobble weth tha, to make hes Tale hang vittily together, coul'du't bleeve ct
'es own zell : Shore and shore, thek Man shou'd a' had the Whitstone."

This is the proper Exmoorian Language, and in plain English runs thus :

" What's that thou sayest ? What a great Lye is that ! The j\Ian who told
thee that Story, though he might say this and that Thuig when he held a
Parley (or Conference) with thee, the better to connect and embellish his Tale,
could not believe it himself : Verily and indeed that Man should have had the
AVhetstone."

And here it may be requisite to observe, that the Whetstone is deemed a
proper Present for a notorious Liar, or one who has asserted the Truth of an
incredible Story, by Way of Allusion to the following Anecdote, from whence
we learn the real Origin thereof :

" Two Journeymen Shoemakers working together in the same Shop, in or
near Exeter, had a Dispute concerning their Property in a W"hetstone, (a neces-
sary Implement of theirs) each claiming it as their own : At length it was pro-
posed that he of the two that could tell the greatest Lie, in the Judgment of a
third Person then present, to whose Decision it was referred, should have the
Whetstone to his own Use : This being agreed to, the One to make sure of it
asserted, that he once drove a Nail through the Moon ; the other readily
acknowledged this to be true, swearing that he at the same Time stood on the
other Side of the Moon and clmch'd it. Upon which this latter was immediately
adjudged to have an indisputable Title to the Whetstone. Hence the Whet-
stone came to be deemed a proper Present for a notorious Liar ; and hence
every great Lie, when intended to corroborate another, is called a Clincher."

80 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS,

335 Andretv. "Why, 'twos oil about tliee, niun; vor es clian't^

hire an^ eel Word o' tha.

Margery. How ! about me ! Why, why vore about me,

good zweet^ now? — ^— Of a Ground* ha can^ zey no Harm by*' ma.
Andrew. Well, well, no MaterJ Es couden hire tha a run^
340 down, and a roilad upon zo, and zet still like a Mumchance,
and net pritcli^ en vort.

Margery. Why, whot, and be liang'd to en, cou'd a zey o' me a
gurt Meazel 1

Andrew. Es begit tha Words now ; — bet ha roilad zo, that

345 es coudent bear et. — Bet a dedeat lost^*' lies Labour, f ath ; vor

es toz'd en,^^ es lamb'd en, es lace'd en, es thong'd en, es drash'd en, es

drubb'd en,^^ gg tann'd en to the true Ben, fath : Bet step ! ^^ cham

avore ma Story. ^* Zes I, Thee, thee art a pretty Vella !

Zes he, Gar, thee cassent make a jjretty Vella o' ma. No

350 agar, zeys I, vor th' art too ugly to^^ be made a pretty
Vella, that's true enow. Gar, a was woundy mad^'^ thoa.^"*

1 This is clearly an error— it could not have been es chant, but the common
shant for shall not.

^ This «» is a literaryism. (See W. S. Gram., p. 29.)

3 Good now is a very common plirase, but I never heai'd good sweet noiv I

* This is quite obscure.

5 Another literaryism — the double negative, u kaa'n zai rwa ; ' he can't say
no ' would be the true idiom.

^ This by is the regular idiom, and means against, as applied to conduct
01' character — the sense would have been identical if the word ha>-7n had been
omitted, and it had been written, ha cant zey nothing by ma. The word is
used here precisely in the same sense as — ' I know nothing by myself.'—*! Cor.
iv. 4.

' No wiaWe;'— impossible for a native — no odds would have been the
expression.

^ run is always imrn, the true descendant of the O.E.

5 r followed by a short u or short i always changes places, as buursh, Mirj
(bridge), {irch (rich).

i» To lose is still to lost. (See W. S. Gram., p. 49.) Here the editor of 1771
has rightly corrected the text — in the early Editions it is looze.

" All these different words, to repeat the same act, are thoroughly character-
istic of the custom still in use, though perhaps a little exaggerated. I have
often heard boasts neaily as verbose and absurd.

* {Note to Ed. of 17 7 S.) Tho or Thoa is used for Then when spoken of
Time past; but Than when referred to Time future. (See 1. 360.)

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP, 81

Andrew. Waay, twuz aul ubaewt dliee, mun; vur es-sliaa"nt^ 335

Uyur u2 ee'ul wuiird u dhu. ,

Margery. Aew ! ubaewt mee ! Waay, waay voaT ubaewt niee,

geod zweet^ naew ? — — Uv u Graewnd'* u kn^ zai noa aa-rm buy*^ mu.

Andrew. Wuul, wuul, noa maat'ur.''' Es keod-n uy-ur dhu u-uurn^
daewn, un u-rauylud upaun zoa, un ziit stee'ul lik u muum'cliaans, 340
un nut piirch-n^ vaur-t.

Margery. Waay, haut, un bi ang- tiie un, k^od u zai u mee, u
guurt Mai-zl %

Andrew. Es begit- dhu wuurdz naew ; but u- rauylud zoa, dhut
es keod-n bae-ur ut. — Biit u daed-n lau-st^*^ viz lae-ubur, faa'th; vur 345
es toa uz-n,^i es laam un, es lae"us-n, es dhaungd-n, es draa*shd-n, es
druub-ni,i2 es tan un tu dhu true Bai-n, faa-th : Biit staap I^^ ch-iini
uvoa'r mi stoaTee^'* — Zaez aay, Dhee', dhee iirt u puur'tee vael'u !

Zaez ee*, GaaT ! dhee kas-n niak u puur'tee vael'u oa" mu. K'oa

AgaaT, zaez aay, vur dh-urt tue* uug'lee tu^^ bee mae'ud a puur'tee 350
vaelai, dhaet-s tiueuneo'. Gaa'r, u wauz waewn'dee^*^ mad dhoa.^''

12 Drumm\l m early Editions.

'^ Steji in the text is an error— in the First Ed. it is stap — which is still the
only pronimciation of stop.

1* Uvore my story is the regular idiom for ' I am digressing.' A scandal is a
stoa'r.

*5 This clause is too hterary, it should be, * tue uug'lee vur tu lee u-mae'ud
icpiourtee vael'u oa',' with distinct stress on the final preposition of. The
speaker would certainly not have omitted either of the prepositions. The for
before the infinitive of purpose is nearly invariable, as in O.E. ; and the final of
is equally a part of the consti'uction. See note 16, p. 83.

.1^ Clench. ' An In-and-hi : a woundy hrag young vellow,

As the ''port went o' liun then, and in those days.^

Ben Jonson, Tale of a Tub. Act I. Sc. 2.
Medlay. ' Indeed there is a woundy luck in naines, sirs,

And a vain mystery.'' — Tale of a Tub. Act IV. Sc. 11.

'' (See W. S. Gram., p. 86.) Tho is used for then, throughout the Wilton
Chronicle, a.d. 1420, as —

* Five moner pepull here dwellyd ]po. — Stanza 12.

To wex \>e Bretones for huri'' synne ;

Pictis and Scottys and Hyrisshe also ;

And\>e Denmarkes come \>o first ynne'
' ]>o alia baysshette.' — Stanza 217.

. ' To Wylton ano \>o come he yioys.' — Stanza 351, ed. Hoare.

82 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

352 Chell try thatc, zeys he. — As^ zoons that wut, zes I.

Zo up a roze, and to't we^ went. Vurst a geed ma a Whister-

pooj) under tha Year, and vorewey a geed ma a Vulch in tha

355 Leer. Ad, thoa^*" es rakad^ up, and tuck en be tha Collar, and

zo box'd en, and zlapp'd en, that es made hes Kep hoppy, and hes Yead
addle to'* en.

Margery. Well, es thenk ye, Cozen Andra, vor taking wone's^
Peart zo. — Bet cham agest he'U go vor a Yarranf vor ye, and take

360 ye bevore tha Cunsabel ; and than ye mey''' be bound over, and
be vorst^ to g' in to Exeter to Zizes ; and than a mey''' zwear
tha Peace of es,^youknow. — Esen^'^ et better to drenk Vriends and make
et up 1

Andreio. Go vor a Varrant ! '^ Ad, let en, let en go ; chell net

3G5 hender en : Yer there's Tom Vuzz can take his cornoral Oath that
he begun^i vurst. — And if he deth, chell ha' as^^ good a Varrant^ vor
he, as he can vor me, dont quesson et : Vor the Turney into^^
Moulton knowth me, good now, and has'* had zome zweet Pounds o'
Vauther^^ bevore ha dy'd. And if he's a meended to^*' go to La, es can

370 spend Vorty^^ or Vifty ShilHngs as^^ well's he. And zo let en go,

' This is quite wrong — zv, zeo 'n-z dhu ^oiit is the correct idiom.

' We is a literaryism — it should be es or uus warnt.

^ i. e., wake up as out of sleep — rouse oneself. The same word is used, 1. 144.

* Aadle vorhi would be the true idiom — aadU to en as in the text sounds
quite foreign to the dialect.

5 This expression is impossible in the dialect. The expression in this case would
certaialy be — takeen u {in'eehau'deez pae'urt-zo. ((See W. S. Gram., 38, 39.)

6 — 6_6 Warrant is a common word, and it is quite foreign to the
dialect to pronounce w as v. In Ed. 1746 the word is spelt ^varrant — the
change to varrant is an error of the editor of 1771, who doubtless desired to
make his dialect as marked as possible.

"> — ■' May is literary ; never heard in the dialect. (See W. S. Gram., p. 71.)
The y in ye is never sounded, although so persistently written throughout these
dialogues. It is clear that ?/ is a very doubtful consonant in such words as
yearms, 1. 326 ; yeet. See note 2, 1. 323.

® The transcriber has made two errors in this word — it is one of those which
always keeps the / sharp, while it di-ops the r; as a noun the word farce is
unknown. A third error is the omission of the participial prefix.

8 Here, where it is manifestly first person plural, is the same spelUng as is
throughout supposed to represent /.

^" i. e. Is'nt it better. Here es stands for is. This is is emphatic, otherwise
it would be aed-n ut. (See W. S. Gram., p. 56 — 61.)

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 83

Ch-dl truy dhaet, zaez ee. Uz^ zeo-n-z dhu wiit, zaez aay. 352

Zoa aup u roa'zd, un tue-t wee^ wai*nt. Vuust u gid mu a wiis'tur-

peop uun'dur dhu yuur, un voaTwai u gid mu u vuulch een dhu

lee'ur. Ad, dhoa' ^" es rae'ukud^ aup, uii tuuk-n bi dhu Kaul'ur, un 355

zoa bauks-n, un zlaap-n, dhut es mae'ud liz kep aup ee, u,n uz aid
ad'l tiie* un.

Margery. Wuul, es thaengk-ee, Kuuz-n An'dr, vur tak'een waunz^
pae'urt zoa. — But ch-iim agaast-u-1 goa vur u "VVaar'unt*' vaur ee, un tak
ee bivoaT dhu kuun'subl ; un dlian ee miid''^ bee u-baewn oa'vur, un 360
bee u-foo-ns^ tu g-een t-Aek'stur tu Suyzuz ; un dhan u miid''' zwae'ur
dhu pai's oa es,^ yu noa. — Uz-n'^*' ut badT tu draengk vrai'nz un mak
ut aup ?

Andreio. Goa vur a Waar'unt!'' Ad, lat-n, lat-n goo; ch-ill ndt
een'dur-n : Vur dhur-z Taum Vuuz kn tak liz kaur-nurul oa'uth dhut 365
ee bigeend ^^ vuns. — Un-eef u diith, ch-iil ae"u zu ^^ g^od u Waar'unt ^ vur
ee, z-ee kan vur mee, doa*n kwaes'n ut : Vur dhu Tuur'nee een'tu^^
Moa"ltn noa'iith mee, g^od nuw, un-dh^* u-ad zum zweet paewnz u
vau'dhur^^ uvoaT uduyd. Uu-eef ee-z u-mee'ndud tu^^goo tu Laa,eskiin
spai'n vaur'tee^^ vix veef "tee shiil'eenz uz '^ wuul-z ee. Un zoa lat-n goo, 370

" Begun is literary, not dialect. (See W. S. Gram., p. 46.)

'* As is impossible here.

13 The market or neighbouring town is always spoken of as into—'' Send into
market '— ' lie livth into Lyntou town.' Moulton here means South Molton.

'* Has of the text is Wiex&vy—hath is the proper word contracted after and
into dh.

1^ In the Editions up to 1750, Father is in this case, and generally elsewhere,
spelt veather, pronounced vai'dhur. In a few cases only in those editions we
find vauther.

'^ Should be vur tit goo tu Laa. Law is still pronounced thus. The use of
the prep, for before the infinitive of purpose is nearly invariable. (See W. S.
Grain., p. 52.) Just as it is in the old writers —

' Sxuete lefdi seinte Marie, uor \ie muchele blisse \>et tu hefdest )>o
pii iseie ])ine brihte blissful sune pet te Gyus wenden vorto
A]prusemen, ase anoper dea^lich mon.'

(Aucren Riwle, ed. Camden Society, p. 40.)

See also Chronicon VUodunense, ed. Iloare, Stanzas 100, 101, and through-
out the poem. Of this use endless quotations might be given.

17 See p. 80, 1. 351.

18 Forty u,nd fifty are generally pronounced with the /quite sharp as in lit.
Eng., while /owr and^ye are always vaau-ur,vai-v. See remarks by Devoniensis,
p. 64. 19 Should be, so tvell as he.

G 2

84 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

371 and wliipe^ wliot a zets^ upon o' Zendeys wcy lies Varrant.^ But
hang en, let's ha nort more to zey about en ; vor chave better
Besense-"' in Hond a gurt deal.'*

[He takes hold of her & paddles in her Neck & Bosom.

375 Margery. Come, be quite, ^ — be quite, es zey,'' a grabbling o'

wone's^ Ttitties. — Es wont ha' ma Tetties a grabbled zo ; ner es

"wont be^ mullad and soulad. Stand azide,^*' come, gi' o'er.

Andrew. Lock, lock ; how skittish we be now ; you

werent^^ so skittish wey Ivester Hosegood up to Darathy

380 Yuzz's Up-setting. — No, no, you werent^^ so skittish thoa,

ner sa squeamish nether. — He murt mully and souUy tell^^ a

wos weary. ^■'^

Margery. Es believe the very Dowl's in Yoke vor leeing.
Andreiv. How ; sure and sure you wont deny et, wull ye,
385 whan oil tha Voaken^^ took Notese o' et.

Margery. Why, Cozen Andra, thes wos the whole Fump o'

the Besenese.i^ Chaw'r^'^ in wey en^'^ to daunce; and whan the

Daunce was out, tha Croud cry'd Squeak, squeak, squeak, (as a
useth to do,i^ you know) and a cort ma about the Neck, and woudent
390 be a sed,^^ but a woud kiss ma, in spite o' ma, do what es coud to
hender en. — Es could a borst tha Croud in Shivers, and tha
Crouder too, a voiiP*^ Zlave as'^^ a wos, and lies A^iddlestick into
the Bargain.

1 This word is very emphatic, and hence the strong aspirate.

2 In the Exmoor district the th inflection is quite the rule, and particularly
with such words as sit, wet, fret, eat, walk, take — which all have th only, and
not eth ; take becomes tae'ukth or takth.

' Misprint in the text. See Bcsenese, 1. 387.

* In rapid speech the t of guurt glides into the d of deal — thus it is always
u guur-dae'ul for a great deal.

* Quiet is always a monosyllable. In the early editions this was written
quiet— hwi has been very properly amended in the 7th.

« See p. 82, note 6.

' Es zey is improbable — the two sibilants destroy each other, in rapid speech.

8 This should be grah-leen 7i iin-eebau'deez tfit-eez. See W. S. Gram., pp. 38, 39.

^ In early editions this was wont be zo mullad, a much better reading than
the text.

1" This is quite literary— as ;'(^e is unknown. She would not have used such
an expression under such provocation — she would have said git meat'. The
idiom of stand aside is stan u wan zxiyd (stand on one side).

AN EXMOOR COUR.TSTIIP. 85

iin liwLiyp^ liaut u zilt-th^ upaun* u Zun-dcez wai uz Waavunt.'' But 371 "
ang iin, lat-s ae*u noa-urt moo'iiv tu zai ubaewt-n ; vur cli-uv badT
bus'unees^ een liauud u guur-dae'uL*

[U takth oadd oa ur, un pad'lth een ur nak-n buuz'um.

Margery. Kau'm, bee* kwuyt,^ — biekwuyt', u zai^ u grabdeen u 375'
waunz^ tut'eez. — Es oa-imt ae'u mi tdt-eez u-grabdd zoa; nur es
oa'unt be^ u-miml-ud un suwlud. Stan uzuyd ;^*' kaifm, gi oanir.

Andrew. Lauk, Lauk ; aew skut'eesh wee bee naew ; yue
Avae-uruntii zu skut'oesli wai Kaes'tur Oa'zgeod, anp tu Daar'utec
Vuuzuz aup-ziit'een. — IsToa, noa, yue waeairunt^^ zu skut'eesh dhoa, 380
nur zu skwai-meesh naedh-ur. — Ee muurt muul-ee un suwdee taeP^ ^^
wuz wae'uree.^^

Margery. Es bleev dhu vuur'ee Duwd-z een voak vur lee*een.

Andrew. Aew ; shoa-ur un sboa'ur yue oa'n denuy ut, wul ee,
haun aul dhu voadin^'^ took noa'utees oa ut. 385

Margery. Waay, Kuuz-n An-dr, dhus wuz dhu woad fuump u

dhu bus-unees.i^ Ch-auT^*' een wai un"" tu dau'ns ; un haun dhu

dau-ns wuz aewt, dhu kraewd kruyd skwik, skwik, skwik (uz u
yiie'zuth tu due,^^ yu noa) un u kauairt mu baewt dhunak, un wud-n
bee u-saed,^9 but u wud kees mu, een spuyt u mu, due haut es keod tu 390
ee-ndur-n. Es keod u buus dhu kraewd een shiivurz, un dhu
kraewdur tue, u vuwuPo Zlaeaiv uz^i u wauz, un ilz Euddstik een-tu
dhu baar'geen.

n _ii Ti;ie present form would be yue waud-n. The loerent of the text sounds
too bookish.

1^ I doubt if till or until would have been used — it should be qin or vore.

1' I never heard weary in the dialect— it should be vore u wuz u-tuy-urd.

" Quite obsolete. See note, 1. 197.

'5 This being rather a 'fine' word, it is lengthened out into its full three
syllables. This is doubtless intended to be conveyed in the text.

'" Quite obsolete. This form evidently stands for / war or were.

^'' This phrase ' in with him ' is peculiar, but thoroughly vernacular— it
implies in the riwj made by the company while two of the party performed a
reel or some other pas de deux. Square dances were not known, and are not
now danced by the real peasantry at the revels, gossippiugs, or club walkings
when dancing is the usual evening diversion.

18 Do here is literary — the dialect omits the verb, uz u yue'zuth tue.

13 i. e. refused, resisted. Compare gainsaid.

2° This is not a dialectal word. It may have been used, but I doulit it.

^1 As is literary. Slave that he was is the more probable expression.

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Andreio. Well, well, es b'ent angry, mun.^ — And zo let's
395 kiss and Vriends.^ [Kisses her.] Well, bet, Cozen Magery,
oil tlies while ^ es hant told tha ma Arrant ; — and chave an over
Arrant to tha, mun.^

Margery. [Simpering.] Good zweet now, whot Arrant es et]
Es marl whot Arrant ye can ha' to me.
400 Andreio. Why, vath,* chell tell tha. Whot zignivies^ et ta
mence tha Mater 1 ^ Tes thes 1 bolus nolus wut ha' ma ]

Margery. Ha ma 1 Whot's thate 1 Es cant tell whot ya me-an
by thate.

Andrew. Why, than, chell tell tha vlat and plean. Ya know es
405 kep Challacomb-Moor in Hond ;'^ tes vull stated:^ But cham
to chonge a Live^ for three Yallow-beels. And than there's tha
Lant up to Parracomb Town : And whan es be to Parracomb, es must
ha' wone^<^ that es can trest to look arter tha gerred-teal'd Meazels,
and to zar^i tha lit and tha Barra, and melk tha Kee to Challa-
410 combj and to look arter tha Thengs o' tha Houze.

Margery. 0 Varjuice ! Why, Cozen Andra, a good steddy
Zarrant^^ can do oil thes.

Andrew. Po, po, po ! chell trest no Zarrants.^'^— And more an

zo, than they'll zey by^' me, as^^ they ded by^^ Gaffer Hill tether

415 Day : They made two Beds, and ded g* in to wone. — N"o, no, es

bant zo mad nether. ^^ — Well, bet, look, dest zee,^*' Cozen

> — ' See note, 1. 55. Extreme familiarity is here implied, as also in 1. 355.

2 The omission of the verb be, as in this instance, is very common. (See
W. S. Gram., p. 57.)

^ All this while is not dialect, and has no business here. Some such
expression as aa'dr au'l (after all), or kaum tu laa's (come to last), the latter
most likely, would have been used.

* This word is pronounced faath, with the / quite sharp— it is spelt so in
many places in the text ; e. g. 11. 345, 347.

5 Not a dialectal word— such words, and indeed this whole sentence, tends
to brine; the entire 'Courtship' into discredit as a faithful record.

* What do Exmoor natives even now know about mincing the matter? —
hee'ut-baewt-dhu heosh (beat about the bush), is what they would comprehend.

■^ An owner is said to keep land in hand when he farms it himself.

8 Full-stated, a technical quasi law-term, implying that 'the three lives' are
all now surviving, but the context shows that one of the lives was not a
satisfactory one, and hence he was to substitute a better upon payment of a fine.

AN EXxMOOR COURTSHIP.

Andrew. Wuul, wuul, es bae'iint ang'gree, mun.^ — Un zo lat-s
kees-n Vrai'uz.^ [Keesth ur.] Wuul but Kuuz'n Maa-juree, 395
aul dluis wuy ul3 es aa-n u-toa-1 dhu mi Aar-unt ; — un ch-uv u oa'vur
Aar'unt tu dhu, mun,^

Margery. [Siim-pureen.] Geod zweet naew, liaut aar'unt uz ut?
Es maar'ul haut Aaraiut ee kn ae-ii tu mee.

Andrew. Waay, faatli/ ch-iil tuul dhu. Haut zig-n-eevuyz^ ut tu 400
maens dhu Maat-ur?^ Taez dhiis] boa-lus noadus wiit ae-ii mu?

Margery. Ae-u mu 1 Haut-s dhaet ] Es kaa'n tuul haut ee mai-n
bi dhaet.

Andrew. Waay, dhiin ch-dl tuul dhu vlaat-n plae-un. Yu noa es
kip Chaal-ikum-Moa-iir een aund;^ taez veol stae-iitud -.^ but ch-aam 405
tu chaunj u luyv^ vur dree yal"ur bee'iilz. Un dhan dhur-z dhu
Lant aup tu Paar-ikum-taewn : Un haun es bee tu Paar-ikum es niiis
ae-u wan I'* dhiit es kn triis tu leok aa'dr dhu guui-ud taay-uld Mai-zlz,
un tu saar^^ dhu lilt un dhu baar-u, un miilk dhu Kae-ee tu ChaaM-
kum, un tu leok aa-dr dhu dhengz u dhu aewz. 410

Margery. Oa Vaar-jees ! waay, Kuuz'n An-dr, u g^od stiid'ee
Saar-unt^2 kiin diie aul dhiis.

Andrew. Poa, poa, poa ! ch-iil triis noa Saar'unts.^- — Un moo-ur-n
zoa, dhan dhaiul zai bi'^ mee,uzi^ dhai daed bi^^ GaafurEe-ul taedh-ur
dai : Dhai mae'ud tue bai'dz, un daed g-een tu wan. — K'oa, noa, es 415
bae-imt zu mad naedh'ur.'^ — Wuul but, leok, d-ee zee,^*^ Kuuz-n

8 In North Devon, the district here named, a good deal of the laud was-
until very recently, held upon leases for lives, renewable upon payment of fines
and ([uit rents. The custom was and is to pay a smaller fine during a survival for
the right to exchange an old life for a younger one. This is still called ' chang-
ing a life.' This tenure is becoming rarer, as the Ecclesiastical Commissioners —
the great reversioners of these lauds — are refusing to continue the system.

'*' This would be somebody, not one.

•1 Serve is always saar, not zar. See ' Devoniensis,' p. 64.

12 — 12 go servant is never zarrant. See 'Devoniensis,' p. M.

i3_i3 j^y is use(j -nrhen what is said of a person is derogatory. Natives would
never think of speaking well by a person ; they always speak well of him. See
p. 80, Note 6, also W. S. Gram., p. 89.

1* As here is a literaryism — it should be sae'mn-z (same as) or ee'ns. (See
W. S. Gram., p. 66, Note 1.)

15 This would now be nuudh-ur.

'^ In a coaxing, persuasive sentence, a native would never use the 2iid pers.
sing, except to a child. lie would invariably use tlie plural. (See W. S. Gram., p. So.)

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

l\rageiy; zo vur vore es tha wut^ ha' ma, chell put thy 2 Live
pon Parracomb Down. Tes wor-^ twonty Nobles a Year and
a Puss to put min in.*

420 Margerij. 0 vile! whot marry? — JSTo chant^ ha' tha best
Man in Challacomb, nor yeet in Parracomb. 'Na, chell ne'er
marry, vor ort's know. IS'o, no ! they zey^ thare be move
a marry'd aready than can boil tha Crock 0' Zendeys. — iSTo,
no, Cozen Andra ; es coud amorst swear chudent ha' tha best

425 Square in oU Ingland. — Bet come; prey/ Cozen Andra, set down'^
a bit. Es must g' up in Chember, and speak a Word or two wey
Zester Tamzin. Hare's darning up of^ old blonkets, and
rcarting tha Peels, and snapping 0' Vleas. — Es ell come agen
presently. '^'^

430 Andrew. Well, do than ; bet make Haste, d'ye see. — Me-an time^i
chell read o'er the new Ballet cheve^^ in ma Pocket,

Margery. New Ballet ! 0 good now, let's hire ye sing
et '3 up. 14

Andreio. Zing! — No, no, tes no singing Ballet, mun ; bet

435 tes a godly one good now.

Margery. Why, whot's't about, than %

Andreio. Why, tes about a Boy that kill'd hes Vaulher ;

1 Here too he would say yue'id or ee'id. Thee wilt is most improbable ; it
is slightly hectoring and not in the least persuasive.

2 The foregoing remarks apply equally to thy. It should be yoa'ur.

3 I never heard ivor — it is always ivaeth or tvuth.

* i.e. 'twenty nobles and a pm-se to put them iu.' (See W. S. Gram.,
p. 37.) Very common phrase, in speaking of value.

5 Chant is a misprint or mistake.

6 This ' they say,'' or as is most usual, ' they do say/ is the precise equivalent
of 071 dit — and it is just as commonly used. Usually in such a sentence as tliis
it would be, ' they do say hoio,\ inc., or ' they do say eens there' &c.

" Pray iu this sense is bookish, not dialect. A native would say Pfidh'ee, i.e.
j)rithee. See 1. 261.

s Sit is spelt zet elsewhere. Here in rapid speech the t final and d initial
become one, and the whole becomes one word zfi-daewn.

s Tins o/is quite vernacidar, and conveys a fine shade of meaning beyond
the power of Ht. Eng. in so few words. It gives the idea of general occupati(Mi,
i.e. darniug blankets iu a frequentative sense, and not any particular ukl
blankets. The same applies to the snapping 0' vleas, but these pursuits are
contrasted with rearting the Peels, wliich conveys the impression, through the

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 89

Maa"juree; zu vuur voaT uz dhu wiiti aeai m\\, ch-ul puut dliuy^ luyv
pun Paar-ikum daewn. Taez waeth^ twaun'tee Noa'blz u Yuur un
u Puns tu puut miin een.*

Margery. Ou vuy -ul ! haut maar'ee 1 — jSToa, sliaant^ ae'u dhu bas 420
mae'un een Chaal'ikum, nur eet een Paar'ikum. ISTaa, cli-iil nacur
maar'ee, vur oa-urt-s noa. 'Noa, noa, dhai zai^ dhur bee raoo"ur
u-maar-eed urad"ee-n kiln bwuuyul dhu Krauk u Zmi'deez. — Noa,
noa, Kuuz'n An'dr; es keod umauTS zwae'ur ch-feod-nt ae'ii dhu bas
Skwae'ur-n aul Ingdun. But kau'm ; prai,^ Kuuz*n An'dr, zu-daewn^ 425
u beet. Es nuts g-uup-m Chum 'bur, un spaik u wuurd ur tue wai
Zus'tur Taam"zeen. Uur-z daar-neen aup uv^ oai blaundcuts, un
ree'urteen dhu Pee'ulz, un znaap"een u vlai'z. — Es ul kaum ugee'un
praz'unt luyk.^*^

Andreiv. Wuul, due dhan ; biit mak ae'us, d-ee zee.— Mai 'n tuym^i 430
ch-ul rai"d oa*ur dhu nue baabut ch-uv^- een mu pau-gut.

Margery. Niie* baabut ! Oa geod naew, lat-s uyur ee zing
uti3 aup.i4

Andreiv. Zing ! — Noa, noa, taez noa zing-een baabut, mun ; but
taez u gauddee wiin geod naew. 435

Margery. "VVaay, haut-s-t ubaewt, dhun ?
Andrew. Waay, taez ubaewt u bwuwy dhut keeiild viz Vau'dhur ;

absence of the prep, of righting {i. e. mending) the pillows actually in use by the
household, wliile the blankets would be understood to be spare ones.

^° This word sounds rather literary. Presently when used at all implies now,
and not as is politely understood, after a little tune. I think Margery would
have said — ' Es ell come agen jntrty quick. '

" Not dialect. Andi'ew would have said, ivuy'id yiie bee ii-groo— certauily
not meantime.

12 He would have said here, haut ch-uv u-gaut—have is not used alone in
this sense, and he would not have omitted the relative in this case.

13 A song or ballad is a thing used, not an abstraction — the pronoun "there-
fore would be he, nom. un, objective, it, in reference to a song, is not
vernacular. (See W. S. Gram. , p. 32 ) It should read zing un aup.

1* This u}-) is very peculiar, but perfectly true to custom. To shig a song
would imply an ordinary, sober, or sentimental one ; but to sing up a song
would convey an idea about the song that there was something outre about it-
extravagant or indecent. Familiarly to tell a tale would imply a sober, orderly
story, but to tell up a tale implies something that nobody beheves — a cock and
bull story.

90 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

and how hes Vauther went agen/ in Shape of^ a giirt voul^
Theng, wey a cloven Voot and Vlashes^ o' Vire, and troubled

440 the House so, that tha Whatjecomb, tha Whit Witch, wos vorst^
to'' lay en in the Eed-Zea;'' and how the Boy repented,^
and went distracted, and wos taken ^ up, and wos hang'd vor't
and sung 10 Saums, and sed his Praers. 'Twull do your Heart good to
hire at, and make ye cry lick enny Theng. — There's tha Picture

445 o'en too, and tha Parson, and tha Dowl, and tha Ghost, and tha
Gallows.

Margery. Bet es et true, be sure ]

Andrew. Truel 0 La ! Yes, yes :ii es olways look to thate. Look
see' tes here in Prent^'^ — * Lissened according to Order. — That's

450 olweys prented on what's true, mun. — Es took care to see
thate whan es bort en.

Margery. Well, well, read et ; — and chell g' up to Zester.

SCENE the Chamber.

To Thoniasin enter Margery.

Margery. i~\^ ! Zester Tamzen ! — Odd ! ee es a come a long.

454 \~J and vath and trath^^ i^^th a put vore^* tha Quesson

^ i. e. appeared or walked after death — went again is the common idiom to
express the reappearance of the dead. I well knew a case of an old man, of
whom it was said, after he was killed, that he tvent again. The succeeding
tenant (still living, 1879) of his cottage was a man with a wooden leg, who
could only live in the cottage a very short time, because the previous (dead)
tenant was so ' troublesome ' — for he used to come every night and drag the
wooden leg all about the planchecn (floor) by the buckle-straps. This occurred
less than 25 years ago, and all the circumstances and people are well-known to
me. Similar stories are very common, and so is the belief in both the re-
appearance of the dead, and in the power of white- witches to lay the ghosts.

2 This is quite a literaryism. It would be lig u guurt, &c., ' ILJce a great.'

3 Fold is not a West Country word— it is Lancashire in this sense. Here
it should read gurt ugly thing. (See W. S. Gram., p. 102.)

* An r is sounded in most words in ash, as aarsh = ash ; smaarsh, laarsh,
wati'rsh. Comp. vort, thort, &c., of the text, 1. 334 ; flash too is not soimded
vlash, but the /is quite sharp — vlaarsh is flesh. (See W. S. Dial., p. 71.)

• {Note to Ed. of 177 S.) So Country People us'd to read Licensed, &c.

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 91

un aew viz Vau'dliur wai'nt u.gee'un,i een shee'up^ uv n guurt vuwP
dhaeng, wai u kloa'vm vfeot un flaar'shuz* u vuyur, un truubid
dh-aewz zoa, dhut dhu Haucli "eekum, dhu Weet Wiich, wiiz foo-us^ 440
tu*' laa'y un een dhu Huurd-Sai;'^ un aew dhu bwuwy raipai'ntud,^
un wai'nt deestraak-tud, un wuz u-t^okt^ aup un wuz angd vaur't
un ziagd^*^ Saa-mz, un zaed liz praa-yurz. Twiil due yur aart gfeod tu
huyiir ut, un mak ee kruy lig lin-ee dhaeng. — Dhur-z dhu pik-tur
oa un tiie", un dhu paa'sn un dhu Daewl, un dhu goa'us, un dhu 445
gaal'ees.

Margery. But uz ut true", b-ee shoa-ur"?

Andrew. Triiel Oalaa*! ees, ees ;^i esau'veesleok tudhaet. Leok
zee tiiz yuur een purnt^^ — * Lus-nd ukoaTdeen tu auTdur. — Dhaat-s
au-vees upiirn'tud pun haut-s true, mun. — Es teok kee'ur tu zee tu 450
dhaet haun es baurt-n.

Margery, Wuul, wuul, rai-d ut; — un ch-iil g-uup tu Zaes'tur.

SAI-N dhu Chiim-ur.

Tu Taam'zeen avntur Maa'juree,

Margery. /~\a ! Zaes-tur Taam-zeen ! — Aud ! ee uz u-km u lau'ng,

V^ unfaa-th-ntraa'thj^^u-thu-puut voaTi4(ji^y j^^..^gg.j^ ^p^^

' Force is always/oo'?(s, not voo'm. There is no sound of r in the dialectal word.

* This ought to read /oo'?is viir tu laa'y un.

'' Red-Zea is impossible ; red is uurd, but emphasised it is huurd. Sea is
always sai, never zai, the latter means say. See p. 64, where ' Devoniensis '
confirms this.

® Bepented is rather a ' fine ' word, but it is used in the dialect, and is then
uttered very deliberately rai-pavntud.

" i.e. was apprehended— Wvi, regular idiom for arrested. Taken up is
impossible ; past. part, u-teokt. (See W. S. Gram., p. 48.)

1" (See W. S. Gram., p. 76.) Sung is a Uteraryism.

" Yes is never heard — it is always ee's.

1^ It is still a very common saying. Oa ! aay noa' tuz trite, kuuz aay zeed
ut eenpurnt. Print is always purnt. See note 9, p. 80.

12 This is the only way in which troth is used — by my troth is never heard.
The pronunciation is much broadened to rhyme with /aiA— the vath of the text
is a mistake, the /is pronounced sharply.

1* To put vore is the common idiom = to out with.

92 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

455 to ma a' ready. — Es verly beleive thy ^ Banes will g' in next Zindey.
— Tes oil es ho' * vor. — Bet es tell en, Marry a-ketha ! and tell eu
downreet es chant marry tha best Man in Sherwill
Hunderd. — Bet dest tha hire ma, Zester Tamzen ; dont ye
be a Labb o' tha Tongue in what cham a going to sey, and than

460 chell tell tha sometheng . — The Banes, cham amorst sure,
Avull g' in ether a^ Zindey or a- Zindey-senneert to^ vurdest.
Es* net aboo Two and Twonty ; — a spicy Vella^ and a vitty
Vella^ vor enny keendest Theng. — Thee know'st Jo Hosegood Co
reckon'd a vitty Vella^: Poo! Es* a sooterly'' Vella to Andra ;

465 there's no Compare.

Thomasin. Go, ya wicked Cunterveit ! '' why dest lee so
agenst thy Meend ; and whan ha put vore tha Quesson tell en tha
wudsent marry 1 — Besides, so vur as tha know'st, ha murt^ take P'p o',
and meach^ off, and^*^ come no more anearst tha.

470 Margery. Go, ya Alkitotlel ya gurt voolish^^ Trapes!
Dest thee thenk a beleev'd ^^ ma, whan es sed chudent marry ] Ee
es net so sart^^-a-baked nether. Vor why] es wudent be too
vurward nether ; vor than ee murt dra back. — No, no ; vor
oil whot's sed, es hope tha Banes wull go in, es sey, next Zindey. —

475 And vath, nif s do vail over the Desk, twont thir ma, ner yeet
borst ma Bones. — Bet nif they dont g' in by Zindey-senneert,
chell tell tha, in short Company,^* es chelP^ borst ma Heart. —

478 Bet es must go down to en ; vor he's by ees zell oil theez while.

1 This is evidently a misprint. Margery could not have believed thy Banns,
i. e. her sister's would go in. In the early Editions of 1746 it is tha Banes.

2 — 2 Tliis short sound — a in the text — is the contraction of on. (See W. S.
Gram., p. 96 ) It is precisely the same as the a in amiss. In the Chronicon
Vilodimense, Stanza 279, ed. Hoare, we read : chide on mys = did amiss.

3 To is used for at. (See W. S. Gram., p. 89.) Also Devoniensis, p. 64.

* — * Here es, which usually stands for ics or /, means he is.

5 — 5 — 5 Fellow is generally /?f!iZ Mr, a word in very common use — this sharp
pronunciation of the / distinguishes /e^^oio from /e;//oe or ^e%, whicli is always
pronounced vmil'ur.

^ i. e. Whipper-snapper, a nobody.

"^ This is not dialect, but the epithet is probable.

' This would certainly now be — u mfcd tak = he might take, &c.

9 Meech and meecher are still very common terms for sneak — skulk— and the
word is also old —

A.N EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 93

tu mu urad-ee. — Es vuur'lee blaiv dhu^ bae-unz lil g-een naks Zunxlee. 455
— Tiiz aul es oa'* vaur. — But es tuul-n, Maar-ee u-kaedh'u ! im tuul-n
daewn-ree-iirt es sliaaTi maar'ee dhu bas mae'iin een Shuur'weel
Uun'durd. — But dus dhu huyur mu, Zaes'tur Taam'zeen; doa'n ee
bee u Laab u dhu tuung een haut ch-um u-gwai'n tu zai, un dhan
ch-iil tuul dhu zaumfeen : — Dhu Bae-unz, ch-um umauTs shoa-ur, 460
wul- g-eeu aedh'ur u^ Zunxlee ur u^ Zun'dee zaen-ee-urt tu^ vuur'dees.
U-z'* luit ubeo" tiie un twaun"tee ; — u spuysee Vaebu^ un u vut'ee
Vael'u^ vur un'ee keen'dees dhaeng. — Dhee noa-s Joa Oa'zgeod uz
u-raek'nd u vut'ee Vaebu^ : Peo* ! u-z* u seo'tuiiee*' Vael'u t-An'dr' j
dhur-z noa' Kumpaeair. 4(55

Thomasin. Goa, yu wik'ud Kuun"turvai"t !^ waa*y dus lee* zoa
uguns dhi meend; un haun u puut voaT dhu Kwaes"n tuul-n dhu
wuts-n maar'ee'? — TJzuydz, zu vuur-z dhu noa's^ u muur-tak^ Pup oa,
un meech'^ oa'f, un^*' kaum noa moo'tir unee'iirs dhu.

Margeinj. Goa, yu Aal'keetoa'tU yu guurt f^oPeesh'i trae'iips 1 ^'j-q
Dus dhee dhaengk u blai-vud^^ mu, haunes zaed chfeod-n maar'ee ? Ee
uz nut zu zaart-u^^-bae'ukud naedhair. Vur waay ? es wxid-n bee tue.
vuur'wurd naedh'ur ; vur dhan ee murt draa baak. — Noa, noa ; vur
aul haut-s zaed, es oap dhu Bae-unz wul g-een, e-zai, naks Zun'dee. —
Un faa'th, neef-s due" vaal oa'vur dhu dus, t-oa"n dhurr mu, nur eet 475
buus mi boa'imz. — But neef dhai doa"n g-een bi Zun'dee zaen'ee'urt,
ch-ul tuul dhu, een shoa'urt Kau"mpmee,^* es ch-uli^ buus mi Aart. —
But es mus goo daewn tiie un ; vur ee-z bi eez-zuul aul dheez wuyiil. 473

' Ny in alle ]pe tyme of Ms regnyng,
Theff nor myeher forsothe per nasse.'
(Chronicon viloduneuse, A.D. 1420, ed. Hoare, Stanza 206.)

1" Here a negative should come in, U7i nftt kaum noa moo'ur.

" Fool and its compounds are pronounced with the/, sharp and distinct.

1- The inflexion would in this case be fully sounded, In the early editions
this was ee believad.

13 Spelt zart elsewhere in the text, 1. 54.

" i. e. in few words. For change of n into m. See W. S. Dialect, p. 17.

1^ This cannot be right. The pronoun is in the text used twice over := I, I
shall, it should read, es sh'l ; as the chell can be only intended for shall. In
Ed. 1746, we read shall borst, which is of course right. The change is in the
later editions, and the alteration was doubtless made to get in as many instances
as possible of the ch — which after all is the main featm'e of the chalogues.

* {Note to Ed. 0/1778.) Ho' is here an Abbreviation of Ho23e.

94 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

SCENE the Ground-Eoom ^ again.
To Andrew enter Margery.

480 ▼ T agen ; Vor thes Ballet es zo very good,

Andrew. "T'XTELL, Cozen Magery, cham glad you're ^ come
▼ T agen ; Vor thes Ballet

that et makes ^ wone's Heart troubled to read et.

Margery. Why, put et up than,* while es git a Putcher o'

Cyder. Wull ye eat a Croust^ o' Brid and Chezee,^ Cozen

Andra ?
485 Andreio. No, es thankee. Cozen Magery ; vor es eat a

Crub as *^ es come ^ along ; besides ^ es went to Dinner ^'^ jest avore.

— "Well, bet Cozen Magery, whot Onser dest ^^ gi' ma to tha

Quesson es put vore now-reert.
489 Margery. What Quesson was et 1

' Ground-room is not dialect. The ground-floor rooms are dh-aewz (the
house) and baak-aewz (back-house). If either are spoken of on the upper floor
the expression is daewn-aewz — the precise equivalent of the ordinary down-
stairs. Neither upstairs nor down-stairs are dialect. In houses of greater
pretension the family living room is dh-aal (the hall), and the room for com-
pany, seldom used, dhu paa'ldnr (the parlour).

* Literary. In the dialect it is yiie hee, or m N. Dev. very often yue'm, or
emph. yue haam. See W. S. Gram., p. 55 ; also W. S. Dial, p. 19.

3 This whole clause is too hterary — no native would thus express himself.
Makes is not used in N. Devon or Exmoor district, it is always mah'th.
The impersonal pronoun is not one but anybody. See W. S. Gram., pp. 38, 39.
Troubled so used would be u-truub'ld — pi-efix never omitted except for
euphony. The natural rendering of the clause would be, in the spelling of the
text, ' that et troubleth anybody's Heart to read it.'

* This would be nearly unintelligible to a real native. Such a phrase as
put it up is impossible. The pronoun would always, even judging from the
transcriber's own context, be en. Margery would have said puut-n uwai
dlian.

* Crust and crumb are peculiar in pronimciation — they have more of the oo
sound than is conveyed by the croust of the text.

^ Chezee is a misprint. The pronunciation of cheese is the same as in
received EngUsh. Brid is rather too fine talk. It would be said probably by
Margery if speaking to a ' real gentleman.'

' This use of as is much too literary — it has not the sense of whilst or

AN EXMOOR COTTRTSHIP. 95

SAI-JNT dhuGraewn-rcom^ ugee^un,
Tu An'dr avntur Maa'juree.

Andrew. "T^TUUL, Kuuz'n Maa'juree, ch-um glad y^o'ur^ u-kaumd

T T ugee'un : Vur dhus baal'ut liz' zu vuufee geo'd, 480
dluit lit maks^ wanz aart truubdd tu rai'd lit.

Margery. Waay, puut lit aup dhan,* wuyl es git u piich'ur u
Suydur, "VVuul ee ai't u kreost^ u buurd-n chee'z,^ Kuuz'n
An-dr]

Andreiv. Noa, es dhangk ee, Kuuz'n Maa'juree ; vur es ait u 485
kreob uz'' es km^ ulaung; zuydz^ es wai'nt tu daen'ur ^"^ jest uvoa'r.
— Wuul, biit Kuuz'n Maa'juree, baut aun'sur diis ^^ gi mu tu dhu
kwaes'n es puut voa'r naew-ree'iirt.

Marger-y. Haut kwaes'n wauz litl 489

during in the dialect. Andrew would have said ee'7is es km ulaung (see W. S.
Gram., p. 66), or still more probably ee'ns es louz u-kaiim'een ulaung.

8 In the early editions we read came, but this was quite literary, and was
correctly altered. The past tense of come is still come (or com\l before a vowel).
See W. S. Gram., p. 46. Came would seem to be a modern form. Robert of
Gloucester uses com :

' Wende a^^e^i to Normandie •
fro7n wan he com er. ' — Will. Conq. 1. 252.

* A Sein Nicolas day he com.'' — L 254.
In the Chronicon Vilodunense come is used for the past tense throughout, comen
for the plur., and y come for the p. part. :

* To Wylton ano ]>o come he y tvys.' — st. 351.

* And sekemen come \>edur mony atidffele' — st. 586.
So Trevisa always uses com for the past tense :

' Whanne he com tovore ]>e due' — Norman Invasion, I. 33.

9 This word generally loses the first syllable. It is spelt bezides in earliest
editions.

10 This idiom is still the common one, and means not went to dine, but
^ctu&Wy iMrtook of and finished dinner.

" This persuasive question should have been in the 2nd pers. plur. — ha^U
aun'sur due' ee gi mu ? In the next sentence he addi'esses to her Andrew uses
the plur.

00 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

490 Andrew. Why, sure ya bant so vorgetvul,^ Why, tha
Quesson es put ^ a little rather.'^

Margery. Es dont know whot Qaesson ye mean; es beglt whot
Quesson twos.

Andreiv. Why, to tell tha vlat and plane* agen, twos thes;^
495 Wut lia' ma, ay or no %

Margery. Whot ! marry to Earteen %^ — Es gee tha same
Onser es geed avore, Es wudent marry tha best Man in oil
Ingland.'' — Es cud amorst zwear chud never marry at oU.^ —
And more and zo, Cozen Andra, cham a told ya keep Company
500 wey Tamzen^ Hosegood, thek gurt banging, thonging, muxy
Drawbreech, daggle-teal'd ^"^ Jade, a zower-zop'd, yerring, chock-
ling Trash, a buzzom-chuck'd haggaging Moyle, a gurt Fusti-
lug.ii Hare's 12 a Trub! And nif ya keep hare Company, es'll ha^^
no more to zey to tha.
505 Andrew. Ay, thes es Jo Hosegood's Flimflam. — Oh, tha
vary Vengance out o'en !

Margery. IsTo, no ; tes none of Jo Hosegood's Flimflam ;
but zo tha Crime o' tha Country goth.

Andreio. Ah, bet twos Jo Hosegood's zetting vore in tha vurst i*

510 Place. Ha wull lee a Eope upreert. — Whan ha hath a took^^ a

Shord and a paddled, ha wull tell Doil, tell Dildrams, and roily

1 Tlie transcriber is wrong in spelling this -ful with a v. Adjectives in ful
have the/ quite sharp. (See W. S. Gram., p. 15.)

2 Es aakst oa ee u lee'dl rae-udhur is much more vernacular than the text.
To put a que.stion is bookish.

2 ' Vor he hadde ylost meny stalword men in \)e ra]>er batayl.'

Trevisa, Norman Invasion, 1. 55 (ed. Morris and Skeat).
' Thefifetende day, thai bathe
Sal he mad neive and f aire fid rathe!'

Homilies in Verse, a.d. 1330, Signs of the Doom, 1. 144.
*■ Lete not )>i luft hand ' late nor ra)pe,
Beo war what pi riht homl ' worchep or delep.'

Piers Plowman, Pass. III. 1. 56 (ed. Morris and Skeat).
^ This pronunciation is obsolete— the broader plaa-yn has become usual,
especially in the Exmoor district, but in S. Dev. and Cornwall it is not so.
^ Andrew would certainly have said dhfts yuur =^ ' this here.'
6 1 do not know the meaning of this woi'd, but from the to preceding it,
conclude it means out-right or all at once (the word is quite obsolete).

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 97

Andrew. Waay, shoo'ur yue baeimt zu vurgit'feol,^ waay, dhu 490
kwaes-n es puut^ u lee'dl rae-udhur.^

Margery. Es doa* noa haut kwaes'n ee mai*n ; es bigit haut
kwaes'n twauz.

Andrew. Waay, tu tuul dim vlaat-n plai-n* ugiin-, twuz dhus;^
Wiit ae-u mu, aa-y ur- noal 495

Margery. Haut! maar-ee tu ee'urteen 1 ^ — Es gee dhu sae-uiii
aun-sur es gid uvoaT, es wiid-n maar-ee dhu has rnae-uu een aul
IngiunJ Es kud umaurs zwae'ur ch-iid niivur maai-ee ut aud.^ —
Un moo-iir-n zoa, Kuuz'n An-dr, ch-iiiu u-toadd yue kip kau-mpmee
wai Taam'zeen^ Oa'zgeod, dhek guurt bang-een, dhaung-een muuk-see 500
draa-buurch, dagd teeiild i'' jee-ud, u zaa'wur zaap'ud, yuur'een, chauk--
leen traaTsh, u buuz'um chuuk'ud, ag'eejeen mauyul, u guurt fuus'ti-
lugz,ii Hae'ur-z^^ u truub ! Un-eef yiie kip hae'ur kau"mpmee, es-ul u^^
noa nioo'ur tu zai tu dhu.

Andrew. Aay dhiis uz Joa Oa'zgeodz flum-flaam. — Oa, dhu 505
vuur'ee vai'n juris aewt oa un*.

Margery. N'oa, Noa ; tuz noa"un u Joa Oa-zgeodz Mm-flaam ;
but zoa dhu kruym u dhu kuun"tree gooth.

Andrew. Aa, biit twuz Joa Oa'zgeodz ziit-een voa-r een dhu fuus ^*
plae-us. U wiil lee u roo-up aup-ree-urt. — Haun u aath u-teokt^^ u 510
shoa-urd ur u-paddd, u wul tuul dauyul, tuul dul'drumz, un rauylee

' England is always so pronounced, never as in received speech with two j/s
= Itvj'glund.

« In the first four editions Margery adds here, ' No more chon't— vor ort's
know.'

3 Thomasin, with its diminutive Tamsy, pronounced Taam-zeen, Taam'zee,
was a very common name, but is becoming rarer.

'" This form is rare now, but I have heard it. Tail, like plain, is sounded
much broader, taa'yid.

11 Tliis epithet is always in the plural, and it is so given elsewhere,
1. 118.

1^ This is very emphatic, hence the aspirate and the drawling out of uur, the
usual she, into hae'ur.

13 Have. (See W. S. Gram., p. 96.)

1* First is pronounced generally with / sharp, fuus. Occasionally this is
thickened into v as in the text, but the r is not sounded. Vuus is a noun— the
technical name of the ridge-piece of a roof.

15 Always u-teokt. (See W. S. Gram., p. 48.) See also ' Nathan Hogg.'

98 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

512 iipon eiiuy Kesson Zoul.^ — Ad; nif es come atliert en, chell gee en
a Lick ; — cliell ly en o'er tlia Years ;— chell pliiu en, chell tose en,
cliell cotten en, chell thong en, chell tann en;— chell gee en a

515 Strat in tha Chups ; — chell vag en, chell trem en, chell 'clrash en,
chell curry hes Coat vor en ; — chell drub en,^ chell make hes Kep
hoppy. — Ad ! chell gee en zutch a Zwop ; — chell gee en a Whappet,
and a Wherret, and a AVhisterpoop too : — Ad chell haste en to tha
time Ben,

[Speaks in a great Passion, and shews with his Hands
how he'll heat his Adversary.^

520 Margery. Lock, lock, lock. Cozen Andra? Yor why vore*
he ye in zitch a vustin Yume? — ^^^ly, es dont zey twos Jo
Hosegood zes zo, but only zo tha Crime of tha Country goth.

Andrcic. Well, well, Cozen Magery, be't how twull,* whot
caree 11^- — And zo. Good -buy, Good -buy t'ye," Cozen

525 Magery. — Xif Yoaken, be jealous avore tliey be married, zo

they m.ey arter. — Zo Good-buy, Cozen Magery. Chell net

trouble ye agen vor wone while, chell warndy. [Going.

Margery. [Calling after him.] Bet hearky, hearky a Bit, Cozen

Andra ! Es wudent ha ye go awey angry nether. Zure and

530 zure you wont deny ^ to zee me drenk ? — Why, ya hant
a tasted our Cyder yet. [Andrew returns.] Come, Cozen
Andra, here's t'ye.^

Andrew. Na, vor that Matter,^" es owe no ^^ Ill-will to enny
Ivesson, net I. — Bet es wont drenk, nether, except^- ya vurst

535 kiss and Yriends. [Kisses her.

' Sold is always pronounced mth sharp s. A zoa'l is a plough, and natives
never make mistakes in names. See Devoniensis, p. 64 ; also note, 1. 297.

' After/*, 6,/, v, the n changes to m. (See W. S. Gram., p. 65.)

3 Not a dialectal word.

*Seel. 1 ('Scolding').

* This is a very common phrase, but the it is usually omitted. Bi aew
tivid, spoken almost like one word, is the precise equivalent of the Cockney
anyhoiv.

^ Tliis is possible, but most improbable. It would now be hmit d-aay hee' ur ?
or haut audz uz ut tu mee? This is the first appearance of / in either
Scolding ' or ' Coiu-tship. '

^ In salutations and farewells it is most usual to add t-ee = to you.

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 99

pun un'ce kaes-n Soa"!.^ — Ad; neef es kaum udhuurt-ii, ch-iil gee un 512
u lik ; — ch-iil laay un oa'ur dliu yuuTz ; ch-iil plum un, cli-ul toaz-n,
ch-ul kaut-n un, ch-iil dhaung un, ch-ul tan un ; — ch-iU gee un u
straat-n dhu chuups ; ch-iil vag-n, cli-iil tnim un, ch-iil draasli-n, 515
ch-iil kuur-ee liz koa'ut vaur-n, ch-iil druub-m,^ ch-iil mak liz kep
aup'ee. — Ad ! ch-ul gee un ziich u zwaup ; — ch-iil gee un u waup'ut,
un u wuur'ut, un u wusturpeop ti\e\ — Ad ch-ul bae'us-n tu dhu
triie bai"n.

[Spai'kth een u guurt paavshn, un shoa'th wai uz anz
aew u-1 bai"t-s adversary.'

Margery. Lauk, Lauk, Lauk, Kuuz-n An-dr I Yur waay voaT* 520
b-ee een zuch u vuus'teen vuem? — "Waay, es doaii zai twuz Joa
Oa'zg^od zaes zoa, biit uun'ee zoa dhu kruyni u dhu kuun'tree gooth.

Andreiv. "Wuul, "VVuul, Kuuz'n Maa"juree, bee"t aew twill,^ haut
kee'uree aay?^ — Un zoa, Geod bwuuy, Geod bwuuy t-ee,''' Kuuz'n
Maa'juree. I^eef voa'kn bee jiil'ees uvoaT dhai bee u-maar'eed, zoa 525
dhai miid aar'tur. — Zoa Geod bwuuy, Kuuz'n Maa'juree. Ch-iil niit
truubd ee ugee'un vur wan wuyiil, ch-iil waurn'd-ee. [G\vai*n.

Margery. [Kaudeen aa*dr-n.] Biit aar'kee, aar'kee u beet, Kuuz'n
An'dr ! Es wiid-n ae-ee goo-wai ang'gree naedh'ur. Zhoo'ur un
Zhoo'ur yue oa'n dinaa'y^ tu zee mi draengk? "VYaay, yiie aa'n 530
u-tae'ustud aa'wur Suydur eet. [An'dr rai'tuurnth.] Kaum Kuuz'n
An'dr, yuur-z t-ee.^

Andreio. Naa, vur dhaat Maat'ur,^" es oa noa^^ ee'ul wee'ul tu iin'ee
Kaes'n, niit aay, — But es oa'n dracngk, naedh'ur, saep ^^ yue fuus
kees-n vrai'nz. [Keesth ur. 535

Maur'neen t-ee (good morning), Geod nai't-ee (good night to you), &c. Buy in
good-huy is always bwuuy = he ivV ye.

8 This is the real old intransitive form of the verb— simply to refuse. It is
still used commonly in this form, but is rather rare as a transitive verb.

9 This is the most usual form of pledging. In a hay-field the first drinker
usually says before putting the cup to his lips, Kaum soa'us, yuur-z t-ee' (come
mates, here's t-ye).

10 I never heard this phrase— ma^^er is not dialect. Andrew would have
said, NoM, zu mhur-z dhaat gooth.

" This is literary. In such a sentence a double negative would be invariable
— Es dont owe no ill-will.

1- Except is unknown— .9(7^^) or .saep.s are common.

H 2

100

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

536 Margery. Ya wont be a zed.^ — [He drinks.] — Well, bet
hearky, Cozen Andra ; wont ye g' up and ^ zee Grammer avore ye
g' up to Challaconib ? Tes bet jest over tlia Paddick, and along
tha Park.^
540 Andrew. Es carent mucli^ nifs do go^ zee Old Ont Nell: —
And how do hare tare along 1 ^

Margery. Rub along, d'ye zey ? — Oh ! Grammer's wor "^
Vower Hundred Pounds,^ reckon tha Goods indoor and out a
door.
545 Andrew. Cham glad to hire et ; vor es olweys thort her
to ha be^ bare Buckle and Thongs.

Margery. Oh, no munj hare's mearty well to pass,^" and
maketh gurt Account ^^ o' me, good now.

Andreiv. Cham glad to hire o' thet too. Mey ^^ be hare ^^ may
550 gee tha a good Stub. — Come, let's g' ender ^^ than.

[Takes her Arm ^^ under liis, and lieads her.

SCEN'E Old Grammer Nell's.

To her enter Andrew and Margery.

Andrew. /^ OOD DEN, good Den, Ont NeU.— WeU, how d'ye
V^ try 1 How goth et wey ye.^*'

^ You won't be answered or contradicted, gain-said. Common phrase.

2 And in rapid speech would become m after p. See note, I. 516.

5 See note, 1. 114.

^ This expression sounds quite foreign to the district. Es down Jcee'ur
ommch would now be said.

5 This is quite characteristic to leave out the prep, to before the infinitive,
but it should have been dUe goo vur zee.

* Common phrase = how does she do ? Another equally common would be
Ho\o do her hearH up ?

'' Worth is now always waeth.

* Margery would never say hundred pounds, but would say hundreds of
pounds. (See W. S. Gram., p. 11.) Hundred is spelt hunderd in early
editions.

^ Here the part, prefix is omitted for euphony. At length it would read to
ha a he. Robert of Gloucester usually wrote ibe for the p.p. of to be.

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 101

Margery. Yue oa*n bee u-zaed.^ — [u drengktli.] — Wtiul, biit 536
aar'kee, Kuuzti An'dr; oa-n ee g-uup-m^ zee Graam'ur uvoaT ee
g-uup tu Chaal-ikum ? Tiiz but jest oa'vur dhu. pad'eek, un ulaung
dhu paark.^

Andreio. Es kee-iirnt muucli^ neef-s due goo^ zee Oad Aunt Nal : 540
Un aew du haeair tae-ur laung'?'^

Margery. Euub ulaung, d-ee zai % Oa ! Graam'ur-z wuur ^
vaa-wur . uun'durd paewn,^ raek'n dbu gfeo'dz ee'ndoo"ur-n aewt u
doo-ur.

Andreio. Chaxm glad tu huyur ut; vur es au'vees dhauxt uur 545
tiie u bee 9 bae-iir buuk'l-n dliaungs.

Margery. Oa, noa mun; hae'ur-z muur'tee wuul tu paas,^^ ^n
makth guurt ukaewnt ^^ u mee, g^o-naew.

Andrew. Ch-iim glad tu huyur u dhaet t^e. Mai^^ bee uur ^^ mud
gi dhu u gfeod stuub, — Kaum, lat-s g-yaen-dur ^^ dhan. 550

[Takth ur aarm een ^^ uun'dur eez, un lai'dth ur.

SAI-N Oa'l Gr aam'ur Nalz.

T-uur avntur An'dr un Maajuree.

Andrew. /~^ EOD-AI'I^, gt^od-ai'n. Aunt Kal. — "Wuul, aew d-ee
V^ traay 1 Aew gooth ut wai'ee % ^^

' Ar hing Willam adde ibe king
VoUiche ]>re jer.'
Reign of William Conq., I. 317 (ed. Morris and Skeat).
10 Mighty well off.
" i. e. sets great store by me. Very common expression.

12 Mayhap, mee-aay, is much more common. May he is very bookish.

13 The transcriber persists in spelling her, hare, but it cannot be right when
unemphatic. Har is more like it, but too broad. May is not so used

'1 ' Let us go yonder then.' Yonder is a very rare word — lat-s g-yaen dhan
is the usual dialect form. Yaen is very common. (See W. S. Gram., p. 84.)

1^ Although this is mere stage direction, it is as well to point out that in the
dialect under is not used alone, but with either in or doivn or doio7i in to
qualify it — ' Es voun un doivn in under the Jib.'

1" This form is the common one in the hills of W. Som. In the vale it is aew
diie ut goo war ee i

102 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

553 Old Nell. Why, vath, Cozen Andra, pritty vitty, whot's
cliur.i Chad a Glam or two about ma. — Chad a Crick in ma

555 Back and in ma JSTiddick. Thoa 2 chur a lamps'd in wone o' ma
Yearms. Tho ^ come ' to a Heartgun. Vorewey struck ^ out and
come to a Barngan. Tho come^ to an^ Allernoatch ; and
vorewey felP in upon ma Bones, and come to a Boneshave. —
Bet e'er zenz the Old JUlian Vrinkle blessed vore tes pritty vitty ;

5 60 and cham come to my Meat list agen. — AYell, bet hearky,
Cozen Andra : Es hire ya lick a lit ^ about ma Cozen Magery ;
ay, and have smelled about her a pritty while. Chawr''' a told
that^ ye simmered upon wone tether uj) to Grace Vrogwill's
Bed Ale.^ — Well, Cozen Andra, twull ^^ do vary well vor

565 both, 'So matter 11 how soon. Cham all vore,!^ and so chawr^
zo zoon's es hired o'et. — Hare's net as^^ zome Giglets, zome
prenking mencing Thengs be, oll^* vor Gamboyling,i^ Rumping,
Steeliopping,!^ and Giggleting ; bet a tyrant Maid vor Work, and tha
stewarliest ^'^ & vittiest Wanch that comath on tha' Stones o'
570 Moulton, no Dispreise.

1 Quite obsolete. I think the s a mistake in the text. It shoukl have been
^ohot chur, otherwise it would read what 1 1 were. On the other hand there is
authority for a pronoun preceduig the ch (see Glossary, chave) ; but it is strange
that in the text just below, 1. 555, the same speaker uses chur alone for / were.
Haut aay loauz is the present form, i. e. convpared to what I was.

• — - i. e. then. (See W. S. Gram., p. 87.) This was the regular Uterary
form in the olden time —

' Bot whe he had brou^t \>o/our' kindatn'^ to hepe,
And won \e cyte of Chest also,
He comaudede all men to clepe
All his lond Eiujlotid Jjo.'

Cln-on. Vil. (ed. Hoare), st. 22.
\>o is used throughout the Chronicon. See p. 81, note 17.

^ Due Willam zvas \:o old ' nyne and ]>ritti jer.' — 1. 195.
' ]po his bataile was ydo ' due Willam let brin/je.'' — 1. 197.
* (& Bicharcl )>at was po a child.' — 1. 107.

Robert of Gloucester (ed. Morris and Skeat).
^ — ' — ^ Examples here aud following of the still very common omission of
the nominative. (See W. S. Gram., p. 34.)

* The article a7i is literary ; not used in the dialect even before a vowel. See
W. S. Gram., p. 29.

* Fell is unknown.

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 103

Old Nell. Waay, faath, Kiiuz'n An'dr, pur"tee vut'ee, liaut-s 553'
cli-ur.i Cli-ad u glaam ur tue ubaewt niu. Ch-ad u krik eeii mu
baak un een mu Nud-ik. Dlioa ^ ch-ur u-laampsud een wan u mi 555
ae'urmz. Dhoa ^ kaum ^ tue u aart-guun. VoaTwai streokt ^ aewt un
kaum tue u baarn-guun. Dhoa kaum ^ tue u * Aakurnbaacli ; un
voaTwai vaald ^ een pun mu boa'unz un kaum tiie a boa'un-sheeaiv. —
But ae'tir zunz dh-oadJul'yun Vringkl blas'ud voaT tuz pur'tee vut"ee;
un ch-um u-kaum tu mi Mai't lust ugee'un. — Wuul, but aar'kee 560
Kuuz'n An'dr; es huyiir ee lik u leet^ ubaewt mu Kuuz-n Maa'-
juree ; aay, un-v u-smuld ubaewt ur u pur'tee wuyul. Ch-awr'^'u-toa'ld
dhut ^ ee sum'urd pun wan taedh'ur aup tu Grae'us Yraug'wee-ulz
bai'd ae'ul.^' — Wuul, Kuuz'n An'dr, t-1^^ due vuur'ee wuul vur
b^o'dh. Noa maat'ur^i aew zeo'n. Cli-um aul voar,^^ un zoa cli-awr''' 565
zu zeo'n-z es huyurd oa ut. Uur-z nut uz^^ zauni Gig'luts, zaum
prengkeen mun'seendhaengz bee,auP* vur gaambuw'leen,^^ruum*peen,
stee'aupeen ^'^ un gig'lteen ; but u tuy Tunt maa'yd vur wuurk, im dliu
stue'urlees''^ un viit'ee-ees wauncli dhut kaumth pun dhu stoa'unz u
Moa'ltn, noa deespraa'yz, 570

^ Pay a little attention. Not an uucommou expression, borrowed from canine
com-tsliip, and the idea is developed in the next line by the smelling about.

' — ■' / was. The form in the text quite obsolete. This is the same word as
spelt c/mr, 11. 554, 555.

8 Thai as a conjunction is far less frequently used than hoiv or eens.

9 Ben Jonson, ' Tale of a Tub'—

'A man that's bid to a bride-ale, if he have cake
And drink enough, he need not vear his stake.''

Act II. sc. i. (Turfe).
^ And by that means the bride-ale is deferred.'

Act III. sc. i. (Turfe).
1" The iv is quite dropped in it «'i7^— unless emphatic, always tfd or fl.
" No odds is nuieh more natural. No matter is quite literary.
'- / am all for it {or in favour), and so I vms, &c. Lit. / am all forward.
Common expression.

13 As is not dialect, like is the proper word.
" See note, 1. 201.

'■' Spelt gambowling elsewhere, the correct sound.

1^ In early editions we read steehoppinij , ra/jroutinrj, and gigletting. The
last word is always pronounced with t in the final syllable, precisely as written
in the text — giggle-ting. This reading is an improvement on the first ed.
1' Stewardlest, vittest (no and), in early eds. Vittiest is the better reading.

104 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

571 Margery. [Softly aside ^ to her.] Thenk ye, Grammer,
thenkee keendly. — And nif es shudent ha en shou'd borst ma Heart,
— [Aloud.] Good Grammer, dont tell me of marrying. Chave
a told Cozen Andra ma Meend already, thet ^ chell ne'er marry

575 vor ort es know.

Old Nell. Stap hether,^ Cozen Magery, a lit and tara
these Cheesen.* — [Pretendedly private to her.] Go, ya Alki-
totle,^ why dedst^ tell'' zo, tha wert^ ne'er marry? Tha wutten
ha tha leek ; ^ a comely sprey vitty Vella vor enny keendest

580 Theng. Come, nif tha wut ha en, chell gee tha ^^ good Stub.
Thare's net a spreyer Vella in Challacomb.

Margery. Bet Grammer, wull ye be zo good's ya zey, nif zo be,
vor your Zake, es vorce ma zel to let en lick a bit about ma %

Old Nell. Ay, es teU tha — [Aside] — Cham agest^^ hare'll dra

685 en into a Promish wone Dey or wother.

Andrerc. Well, Out ISTell, es hired whot ya zed, and es thank
ye too. — Bet now chave a zeed ye, tes zo good as chad a eat ye, as ^^
they uze to zey. Es must go home now as vast as ^^ es can. — Cozen
Magery, wont ^* ye go wey ma a lit Wey.

590 Margery. Mey be ^^ es mey go up and zee Out Moreman, and mey
be ^^ es mant. [Exeunt.

' U xoan zuyd =. on one side, is the vernacular for aside. This is but stage
direction, and perhaps not intended to be in the dialect.

^ Hoiv is much better.

3 This is still the usual foiTu of come here. Step is always pronounced staap.

^ This plural is quite obsolete.

* Alketole in first ed. The text is the correct reading.

^ Dest in first ed., the evidently true reading.
' ■' Tell is always used for talk—' I heard them telHng together,' ' He was
telling up all sorts of stuff.' See note to 1. 116.

^ Wert is evidently a misprint, it never can have been used for wilt. In
first ed. it is tha^rt n^er.

^ Luck. Leek is sui-ely a misprint in the text. It is the same in all editions,
but I have never heard anything like it.

1° Here the article is dropped on account of two similar vowels coming together.
Spoken slowly it would be gi tha a good stub. In first ed. read gri' for gee.

" This word is spelt agast, 1. 229— the correct reading.

' (& isfolc uor\> onid him • as hit ioere agaste.'
Robert of Gloucester, Will. Conq., 1. 142 (ed. Morris and Skeat).

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 105

Margery. [Sau-flee uzuyd i tue ur.] Dhaengk ee, Graam-ur, 571
dhaengk ee keendlee. — Iln-eef es sheod-n ae-un, sliiid buus mi aart.
• — [Ulaewd.] G^od Graam'ur, doa"n tuul mee u maar-ee-een. Ch-nv
u-toadd KuuzTi An'dr mu meend urad'ee, dkut ^ cli-ul nae"ur maar'ce
vur aurt es noa. 575

Old Nell. Staap aedh'ur,^ Kuuz'n Maa'jurce, u leet un tuurn
dhai'z clieez'n.* — [Purtai'ndeen pruyvut tu luir'] Goa, y-Aal"ki-
toa'tl,^ waay diis^ tuul *" zoa — dhu wiit ^ nacur maar'ee'? Dhu Aviit-n
ae'ii dhu luuk ;^ u kaumdee spraay viit'ee Vael'u vur un'ee keenxlees
dhaeng. Kauin, neef dhu wut ae'-uii, ch-ul gi dhu '^^ geod stuub. — 580
Dhur-z mit u spraayur Vael'u een Chaakikum.

Margery. But Graam-ur, wiil ee bee zu geod-z ee zai, neef zu bee,
vur yoo'ur zaenik, es foo'us mi zuul tu lat un lik u beet ubaewt mul

Old Nell. Aa"y es tuul dhu — [uzuyd] — Ch-iim ugaa*s ^^ uur-iil drae
un een'tiie u praum^eesh wan dai ur nuudhur. 585

Andreio. "Wuul Aunt ISTal, es huyiird haut ee zaed, un es dhaengk
ee tiie. — But naew ch-uv u-zeed ee, tiiz zu geod-z ch-ad u ai't ee, uz ^^
dhai yue'z tu zai. Es mus g-au*m naew zu^^ vaas uz es kan. — Kuuz"n
Maa'jurce, oa'n ^^ ee goo wai mu u leet wai 1

Margery. Mai bee^^ es mai g-uup-m zee Aunt Muur*mun, un mai 590
bee^^ es mant. [Exeunt.

^ Falsnesse for fere \>o 'flegh to \>efreres,
Ayid gyle dud hym to gon ' agastfor to deye.'
_ Piers Plowman, C. Pass. III., 1. 221 (ed. Skeat, E. E. T. S.).

' Of this meruaille agast was all theprees,
As mased folk they stoden euerichone.^

Chaucer, Man of lawes tale, I. 677.
' )?e Eiiglysshme ]>ey woxe a gast. '

Chronicon Vilodunense (ed. Hoare), st. 71.

12 As in this sense is not dialect. It should be sae-um-z (same as), or eens
they itze to zey.

12 This as is also hterary, and impossible to Andrew.

" The w in wont is quite dropped m the dialect.

i5_i5 Mayhap is much more common— ma;/ he is 'fine talk.' This sentence,
to be vernacular, must be thus—' Mee-aa-p es mud g-uup-m zee Auunt Muui--
mun, un mee-aa-p es mud-u.' Mant is a word m an unknown tongue. j

106 SPECIMENS or ENGLISH DIALECTS.

SCE:N"E the open Country.
Enter Andrew fulloiced hij Margery.

592 Margery. k D ! es'll zee en up to Challacomb-Moor Stile. —
S^^ — ISTow must es ^ make wise chuwr - a going

to Ont Moreman's, and only come theez ^ Wey. [Aside.

595 Andrew. [Spying her.] Cozen Magery, Cozen Magery !

stap a lit.* Whare zo vast muni — [She stays.] — Zo, now

es zee ya be as good as yer Word ; na, and better ; vor tha zedst

mey be chell, and mey be chont.

Margery. Oh, ya take tha Words tether Way. Es zed may be
600 chell, and may be chont, go up and zee Ont Moreman. Es zed no

more an zo. Es go thes Wey vor to zee hare^ that es oil.

Bet chudent go zo vur to meet*^ enny Man in Challacomb, ner

Parracomb, ner yeet in oil King George's Kingdom, bless lies

Worship ! INIeet tha Men aketha ! — Hah ! be quiet, es zey,^
605 a creeming a Body ^ zo. And more and zo, yer Beard precketh

illvavourdly.^ Es marP** what these gurt black Beards be

good vor. Ya ha made ma Chucks buzzom.^^

Andrew. Well, whot's sey, Cozen Margery? Chell put in

tha Banes a Zendey,^- bolus nolus.
610 Margery. Then es ell vorbed^^ min, vath.

^ In this form the first person "singular is still very often as in the text.
Naeiv mus ees mak ivuyz would be the common idiom at present. It is written
ees in first ed.

2 Chuwr must be a misprint. It is spelt chawr on the last page = I were,
and also spelt chawr in first ed.

3 This is usually dhee'z in North Dev., dhee'uz in West Somerset.

* I think this must liave been intended for bit, staap xi beet is so very
common a phrase, and more in harmony with the context.

'" Her is here emphatic.

^ Meet is pronounced very short, also sweet, feet, keep, &c. The fine it in
pit, knit, &c., of received Eng. exactly represents the sound.

' Spoken rapidly, the s before z is lost. See numerous instances in W. S.
Gram., also see 1. 597.

* This would be far more commonly rlnee hmrdee than u hav'dee.

9 I never heard this word in the dialect. It might be used, but if so the /in
favour would be pronoimced sharp.

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 107

SAI/N dh-oa'pm Kimn'tree.
Ai'ntur An*dr wvauVeed hi Maajuree.

Margery. A D ! es-1 zee un aup tu ChaaMkiitn Moar Stuj-'ul. 592
-ZTX. Naew mus ees^ mak wuyz ch-awr^ ii-gwai'n
t-Aunt Muur'munz, un uurfue kaum dheez ^ wai. [Uzuyd,

Andreio. [Spuyeen oa ur.] Kuuz'n Maa-juree, Kuuz'n Maajuree ! 595
Staap u leet"^ "Wae'ur zoa vaas, mun'? — [Uur staaptli.] — Zoa, nae^v
e-zee yue bee zii geod-z yur wuurd ; naa, un IbadT ; vur dhu zaeds
mai bee ch-iil, un mai bee cli-oa"nt.

Margery. Oa, yue tak dhuwuurdz taedlrur wai. Es zaed mai bee
cb-iil un mai bee ch-oant g-uup-m zee Aunt Muur-mun. Es zaed noa 600
moo'ur un zoa. Es goo dheez wai vur tu zee hae"ur^ dhaat liz aul.
Biit ch-eod-n goo zu vuur tu mit ^ iln'ee mae'un een Chaal'ikum nur
Paar-ikum, nur eet een aul Keng Jau'rjuz keng"dum, bias liz
wuush'up ! Mit dhu mai'n ukaedh-u ! — Aa ! bee kwuyt, e-zai/
u-krai-meen u bau-dee ^ zoa. Un moo'ur un zoa, yur bee'urd praekth 605
ee"ul-fae'uvurdlee.^ Es maar'uP*' haut dhai-z guurt blaak bee"urds bee
geod vaur. Yiie'v u-mae"ud mi chunks buuz'um.^i

Andreiv. Wuul, haut-s-zai, Kuuz-n Maa'juree? Ch-iil puut een
dhu bae'unz u Zun'dee,'^ boadus noadus.

Margery. Dhan esd vurbai'd ^^ miin, faa-th ! 610

^^ ' Where is your siveetheart now, I marie ? '

Ben Jonson, Tale of a Tub, Act II. sc. i. (Hilts).
1' I have not heard tliis adjective verbalised, but it is quite in keeping with
the spirit of the dialect, only in the case here given it would certainly be
buuz-u7nee. (See W. S. Gram., p. 49.)

12 071 Sunday. This a ox u has many meanings. (See W. S. Gram., p. 96.)

'^ Ac sone a^en to Engelonde • a Sein Nicolas day he com.'

Robert of Gloucester, Will. Conq., 1. 254 (ed. Morris and Skeat).
^y-pyned onder pouns pdate • y-nayled, a rode.'

Dan aMicliel (a.d. 1340), Credo (ed. Morris, E. E. T. Soc).

13 Curiously this word is always" pronounced thus, and it was so doubtless
when the 'Courtship' was written. Both bed and bid have the same sound,
baid.

108 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Gil Andrew. Oli ! chell trest tha vor thate. Es dont tlienk you'll
take zo much Stomach ^ to yer sel as to vorhed min avore zo
menny Vokes. — Well, Cozen Magery, good N'eart.

Margery. Cozen Andra, good Neart. — Es wish ye well to

615 do.

SCENE Margery's Home.

To Thomasin enter JMargery.

Margery. r^ESTEE Tamzen, whare ^ art 1 "Whare art, a pope-
M^ ling and a pidching 1 Dost hire ma 1
Thomasin. Lock, lock, lock ! Wliot's the Matter, Magery,
that tha leapest, and caperest, and sing'st so ? What art tha
620 hanteck 1

Margery. That's nort to nobody.^ Chell whistley, and

capery, and zing,* vor oil thee.^ — Bet yeet avor oll,^ nif tha

wuttent be a Labb of tha Tongue now, chell tell tha sometheng —

Zart ! '^ whistery ! — Ma Banes g' in a Zendey, vath, to Andra,

625 the spicest Yella ^ in Sherwill Hunderd.

Thomasin. 0 La ! why thare lo ! Now we ^ shall be
marry'd near together ; vor mine be in and out agen ; —
thof^'' my Man dont yeet tell ma tha Dey. Es marl ha dont
pointee whot's in tha Meend o'en.^i
630 Margery. Chell g' in to Moulton To-marra pritty taply, to
buy ^2 some Canvest vor a new Chonge.

^ i. e. 'You will not have the face,' &c.

2 The first cohere art has the accent on the verb, the second on the adverb.

^ One of the commonest sayings in the dialect.

* This ought to be si')igy iu the text, as much as capery.

* Common phrase =: in sjnte of thee or notwithstanding thee.

® This 2)hrase, very common in the district, is the equivalent of the housom-
ever of other dialects, and of nevertheless of ht. Eug.

' I think Zart ! is a common quasi-oath Uke Zourids ! and not as given in
the Glossary.

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP. 109

Andrew. Oa ! ch-iil triis dhu vur dliaet. Es doa'n dhaengk yiie-ul 611
tak zu muucli stuuniik ^ tu yi;r-ziu;l-z tu vurbai'd niiiii uvoaT zu
mun'ee Voaks. — Wuid Kuuz-n Maajurce, geod nee'urt.

Margery. Kuuz'n An'dr, g^od iiee'urt, — Es weesh ee wuul tu
due. 615

SAI"N Maa'jureez Aewz.

Tu Taam'zeen ai'ntur Maa"juree.

Margery. r#AES'TUE Taam'zeen, wur ^ aaTt 1 Wae'ur urt u-poa*p-
,^J leen un u-puul-clieenl Diist uyur mu]

Thomasin. Lauk, Lauk, Lauk ! Haut-s dhu maat'ur, Maa'juree,
dliut dhu lai'pus, uji kee'upurus un zingus zoal Haut, urt dhu
han-tik? 620

Margery. Dhaat-s noa'iirt tu noa'baudee.^ Ch-ul wus'lee, un
keeaipuree, un zing'ee,^ vur aul dhee.^ But eet uvoaT aul,'' neef dhu
"wut-n bee u Laab u dhu tuung naew, ch-iil tuul dhu zaum'feen. —
D-zaart ! "^ wus'turee ! — Mu baeunz g-een u Zun'dee, faath, tu An'dr,
dhu spuysees vael'u^ een Shuur'weel Uun'durd. 625

Thomasin. Oa Laa ! waay dhae'iir loa ! Naew wee^ shl bee
"u-maar*eed nee'ur tugadh'ur ; vur muyn bee een un aewt ugee"un ;
thauf '^^ muy mae-iin doa"n eet tuul niu dhu dai. Es maar'ul u doa'n
pwuuyntee haut-s een dhu meend oa un.^^

Margery. Ch-ul g-een tu Moa"ltn tu maar-u piir'tee taap-lee, tu 630
buy ^2 zum kan'vtist vur u nue chaunj.

8 Fellow is spelt vella throughout in the text, but this is one of the errors
like those referred to by Devoniensis, p. 64. See note, 1. 462.

9 We is not heard in the district. This is evidently a slip of the transcriber.
Should be us, or rather es, as in the text throughout, except in 1. 378.

10 Thauf h always pronounced with sharp th, the direct converse of though,
its equivalent in received Eng.

" This form of possessive is much more used than his. (See W. S. Gram,
p. 13.)

'2 Here it ought to have been vur tu buy. (See W. S. Gram., p. 52.)

110 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

632 Thomasin. Ay, ay; zo do; vor tha cassent tell what mey
happen ^ to tha in thy middles Banes.

Margery. How ! ya gurt Trapes ! — Whot dest me-an by thate 1
635 Es scorn ^ tha Words. Ded ort hap to thee in thy middle
Banes 1 Happen aketha !

Thomasin. Hah ! Ort happen to me in my middle Banes 1 Es
scorn et to tha Dert o' ma Shoes, looks zee, ya mencing, kerp-
639 ing Baggage. — Yarewell.^

1 Happen is unknown. This is a simple literaryisra.
* Scorn is a rare word in the dialect.

2 This word is pronoimced with /sharp.
The Third Edition has

' So end all the Dialogues.'

To those who are unacquainted with the Glossic System, or who
have not the key referred to in page 16, the following brief abstract
will be found convenient.

The Consonants b, d,f,j, k, I, m, n,p, t, v, w, y, z, and the digraphs ch,sh,
th, have their usual values ; g is always hard, as in gig ; h initial as in ho !
(only used for emphasis in this dialect) ; s as in so, never as in his ; r is reversed
or cerebral, not dental or alveolar, and ought properly to be written ,r, but for
convenience simple r is printed ; ng as in 'Ang, think = thingk ; ivjg as in
anr/er = ^ng'gvix; zh is used for French j, the English soimd in vise'on =^
vi^A'im ; and dh for the voiced form of th, as in ^Aat = dh&%. The Vowels,
found also in English, are a as in man ; aa' in bazaar ; aa short, the same in
quality, but quantity short ; av in aid ; ao-, like o in bore ; au' as in laud ; aic
the same short, as a in watch ; ee in see ; ee, the same short, as in French iini ;
i as in iiimj ; oa as in moan ; da, tlie same short (not foimd in English) ; oo'
in choose ; u in wp, carrot; wo, u in b«ll. Dialectal vowels are ae, opener than
e in net, French d in nette ; do, French eu in jewne, or nearly ; eo', the same
long, as in jezine ; tie, French u in due, or nearly ; tie", the same long, as in dit ;

AN EXMOOR COUETSHIP. Ill

Thomasin. Aay, aay ; zoa due; vur dliu kas-n tuul haut mud 632
aap 1 tu dliu een dhi mud'l bae'unz,

Margery. Aew ! yu guur-trae'ups !- — Haut dus mee'un bidhaet?
Es skaurn ^ dhu Avuurdz. Dud oa'urt aap tu dliee, een dhi mudd 635
bas'unz 1 Aa"p ukaedli'u !

Thomasin. Haa ! Oanirt aap tu mee'-n mi mudi bae'iinz ? Es
skaurn ut tu dhu duurt u mi shuez, l^ok-s zee, yu maen'seen, kyuur*-
peen bag'eej. — Faar'wuul.^ 639

uu, a deeper sound of u in wp than the London one, but common in England
generally ; ua, a still lower and deeper sound ; ■(i (now used for Mr. Ellis's oe
No. 28, and i, eo, uo, No. 30) is the natural vowel heard with / in kind-^e =
Y\\A'(d. It lies between m and wn, and etyniologically is a lowered and
retracted ^, as tfim'ur, zM ^= timber, sill. The diphthongs aa'w, as in Germ.
haus; aay, long aa, finishing with i, as in Ital. mai; aay, the same with
shorter quantity (a frequent form of English I) ; aeto, ae finishing in oo, some-
times heard in vulgar London pronunciation, as haew =z cow; auy, as in hoy
(nearly) ; au'y, with the first element longer or drawled ; utv=^ oiv in how; iiy,
as in \)uy =z i, y in hite, by ; uuy, the same a little wider, under influence of a
preceding 7V, as jjumuyzn =: poison. Im-perfect dijththongs, and tripthoryjs,
ov fractures formed by a- long vowel or diphthong finishing off with the sound
of M, or the natural vowel, are numerous; thus ae'u (nearly as in faiV = f ae "ii) ;
ao'ii (as in more =: mao ii) ; ee'u (as in idea, near) ; oa'il (barely^distinct from
ao-ii, say as in grower = groa"u); oo-u (as in ^oo^er = woo'ii) ; aawu (as in
our broadly); aayu; aewio; uivii (as ^ower ^^ fluwii); uyu (as in ire =
uyii). Of the imperfect diphthongs ee'u and oo'u, from the distinctness of
their initial and terminal sounds, are most distinctly diphthonal to the ear, the
stress being also pretty equal on the two elements. The turned period after a
vowel, as oo-, indicates length and position of accent ; after a consonant it indi-
cates shortness of the vowel in the accented syllable, as vadh'ur = vadh'ur.
As a caution, the mark of short quantity is written over Se, da, when short, as
these are never short in English; and it is used with u when this has the
obscure unaccented value found in a-bove, manna, nation, etc. The peculiar
South-western r must be specially attended to, as it powerfully affects the
character of the pronunciation. It is added in its full strength to numerous
words originally ending in a vowel, and ichenever written it is to he pronounced,
not used as a mere vowel symbol as in Cockney tvinder, tomerrer, etc. That
sound is here expressed by H, as win'dU, maar'u.

112

POSTSCEIPT.

List of variations in the readings in the first, third, and fourth
editions as compared with the text. (See note to p. 11, also
Postscript, p. 60.)

The figures opposite each line denote which edition, in my
opinion, has the true reading, if the difierence is of any moment.

Line

read

Tamzin sister to Margery

347

7'eaa

! stap /or step''

for Thomasin (Title)

348

thee ! thee /or thee, thee

Margerys House

for

349

Gar ! for Gar,

Margerys Home

349

Castn't for Cassent

322

dispreize for dispreze

350

zes I for zeys I

323

thek/or tliate

351

ha was for a was

323

and eet/o;' yeet

351

mad than /or mad thoa

325

vary /or very

352

thek, for thate

326

morst/or most

352

zes he for zeys he

326

burst /or bost

355

Add, then ees for Ad,

326

well for wall

thoa es

327

oil /or all

358

ees /or es

327

ees 7&yfor es zey

359

eel /or he'U

327

ees hant a zee'd for

359

Warrant /or varrant

hant a zeed

360

t' Exeter /or to Exeter

330

e'er zince /or e're since

365

Tom Vuss/or Tom Viiz;^

330

scorst /or scoast

365

hes for his

330

father /or tether

365

that /or that

331

zo /or so

366

he begim/or he begun

333

eefor you

366

do's for deth

339

Matter for ]\Iater

368

knows /or knowth

339

»5

cou'den for Couden

369

Veather /or vautlier

340

leke for Uke

369

ha, far he

342

zey o' me for zey o' me

371

wipe /or whipe

345

looze /or lost

371

zindeys wi for zendeys wey

347

drumm'd /or drubb'd

371

Bet /or But

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP :

POSTSCRIPT. liO

Line

373 ',

•eacl

bezueze for besense

427 J

•ead

Zister /or Zester

375

quiet for quite (2)

427

blankets /or blonkets 1

375

z&yfor zey

428

ees '11 /or es ell 1

375-6

es (3) for ees (3)

429

prezently /or presently

377

be zo mullad/or be mullad 1

430

zee /or see 1

380

thau for tlioa

432

you /or ye

381

squeamesh/o/" squeaniisl

437

Veather /or Vauthur 1

383

ees for es

439

we /or wey 9

384

zure (2) for sure (2)

440

zo for so 1

385

noteze for notese

440

whotjecomb for whatje-

387

»»

bezueze /o;- beseuese

comb

387, 388

donee /or daunce

441

tha Boy /or the Boy

389

uzeth /or useth

442

was ta-en /or wos taken

390

a zed for a sed

443

zung zed /or sung sed 1

390,

?91

ees /or es

443

Zaums /or Saums 9

392

)»

ha wos/or a wos

444

yow /or ye

392

j»

veddlestick for viddlestick

444

Thare's /or There's 1

393

bargen /or bargain

446

bezure/or be sure 1

399

ees /or es

447

Look's zee /or Look see

399

»)

eefor ye

448

Lissen'd/or Lissened

400

5»

zignavies /or zignivies

449

what es/or what's

400

»)

to for ta

449

zee that /or see thate 1

401

volus nolus for bolus nolus

Tamzen enter/or Thomasin

402,

403

thek (2) for thate (2)

euter 1

402

ye /or ya

453

fath ybr vath 1

404

yow for ya

454

b'leive tha Banes wull for

405

)»

statad /or stated

beleive thy Banes will 1

406

dree /or three

456

do wnreert /or downreet 1

408

girred /or gerred

457

dont eefor dont ye 1

410

of /or o'

458

zey for sey 1

414

))

father /or tether

459

zoraetheng/or sometheng 1

416

lock, dost /or look, dest

459

amost /or amorst 9

417

vur yore for vur vore

459

zure ybr sure 9

418

twanty /or twonty

460

other /or ether 9

418

purse /or puss

460

Zeudey (2) for Ziudey (2)

421

ner eet/or nor yeet

460

zenneert /or senneert 1

423

marryd for marra'd

461

E's not abo' for Es net

424

cud /or es coud

aboo

424

zwear chudn't for swear

463

Ees a zooterly for Es a

chudent

sooterly 9

425

Squaer /or Square

464

thare's /or there's

425

zei for set

4'65

Countervit/or Cimterveit 9

426

a lit for a bit

466

tha raeend/or thy meend 9

426

ees murst /or es must

467

wudstn't /or wudsent

420

chamber /or chember

467

Bezides, zo for Besides, so I
I

114

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Line
467 read

4G9

409

470
470

471
471
472
473
473
473
474

475

476

477

477
479
481

482
482
482

484
484
484

485
488
488
489
490
490
490
494

494 „
495, 496

495 „

)»
J)

as knowst /or as tha

know'st 9

Pip o' for P'p o' 1

yow Alkitole for ya Alki-

totle 9

yow gurt ATillesh for ya

gurt-voolish
ee believad/or a beleev'd 1
ees zed chudn't /cw es sed

chudeut 1

zo zait for so sart 1

ees wudn't/or es wudent
vurword /or viirward
ees (2) /or es (2)
zed . . ley for sed . , sey 1
Zundey /or Ziudey 9

ner borst ma for uer yeet

borst ma
Zendey-zenneert for Zin-

dey-senneert 1

shoort /or short 1

es shall /or es cliell 1

ees . . es zel /or es . . ees

zell 9

thes for theez 9

zo /or so I

get /or git 9

Zyiler /or Cyder 9

will &efor wull ye 1

bread and cheeze for brid

and chezee 1

came /or come 9

bezides /or besides 1

Denner /or Diuuer 1

dost /or dest 9

zure /or sure 9

yow ar'u't /or ya bant 9
vorgetvul /or vorgetful 9
ees . . . ees for es . . . es
ee mean for ye mean 1
what /or whot
Ees /or es

zanie /or same 1

ees (3) /ores (3)
wudn't/or wudent

Line

496 read
496 „

497
499

501

503

506

509

510

511

511
515

515
517
519
519

520
520

525
527

528

529

530

532, 534

535

538

541

545

547
547
548

ne'er /or never

No more chon't vor ort's

knaw after marry at oil 1
you /or ya 1

zower - zop'd for zowcr-

sop'd 1

you . . . ees'll for ya . . .

es'll
this is /or thes es 9

of tha . . goeth for o' tha

. . goth 9

Doil, and tell for Doil,

tell
Add! . . . gi' for Ad;

.... gee
lay .... the years for

ly . . . . tha years 1
toze /or tose 1

Add ! . . . gi' . . . gi' for

Ad . . . gee . . . gee
whapper /or whappet 1
Benn for Ben
&&for ye
fume ... ees for vume

. . . es
only that zo /or only zo 9
goeth /or goth 9

yow for ye 1

ees . . . away /or es . . .

awey
ma drenk, wull ye 1 for me

dreuk ? 1

yow /or ya 1

Zyder /or Cyder 9

tee /or t'ye
yow (2) /or ya (2)
hearkee for hearky
Ees caren't /or Es carent
vour /or vower 9

Ilmiderd /or Hundred 1
Oh, no no mun for Oh, no

mun 1

thek /or thet 9

mey /or may
gi for g&Q

AN EXMOOR COURTSHIP : POSTSCRIPT.

115

Line

549

read

550

553

556

557

657

559

))

5G0

561

562

5fi4

^\irt

565

«1

567

569
570

571
572
573
571
574

5)
3?

OuntNeIl/o?-OntNelI
goeth et wi' for goth et
wey 9

Tho chawr for Thoa cliur
veil /or fell

zince/or zenz 9

Jilian for Jillian
Ees . . . yow for es . . . ya
smeled . . . pritty for

snielled . . . pretty
yow . . . t'ather for ye

. . . tether
twell for twiill 9

ees hired o't/or es hired o'et 9
Steehopping, ragrouting
and gigletting for Stee-
hopping and giggleting
stewardlest, vittest for
Stewarliest and vittiest 9
Thenkee/or Thenk ye 1
nif's shudn't for uif es
shudent . 9

d' for of • 1

that, for thet

ort's/or ort es 9

hather/or hether 9

lite and tern/or lit and tarn

575

alketole/or alkitotle 9

576

dest /or dedst 1

576

tlia' rt /or tha wert

578

gi' forg&Q

579

spry er /or spreyer 1

580

wullee . . . yow /or wull ye
. • . ya 1

581

ees do vorce/or es vorce 1

585

chat eat /or chad a eat 9

587

wontee go wi' for wont ye
go wey

588

ees may g' up for es niey
go up

589

ees for es

590

))

Add ! ees'll for Ad ! es'll

591

)»

ees . . . chawr for es . . .
chuwr 1

592

thcs for theez 9

Line

595 read

596

597

597, 598
598 „

599
599

599
600
601
602
604

605
606

607
608

609

610

611
613

5>
»

51
)»
5»
3)
J5

13
3)

614 „

615 & sqq.
616
619
619

33
33
33

620
621
625

628
622
630
631
632
634

33
31
13

>y
11

yow be zo for ya be as 1

may (2) /or mey (2)

yow . . . t'ather /or ya . . .

tether
ees (2) for es (2)
chell . . . g' up for chel

... go up 1

Ees /or es
Wey to zee for Wey ror

to zee 9

that's /or that es 9

chudn't for chudent
ner eet/or ner yeet 1

ees zcy /or es zey
ees marl whot theze for es

marl what these
jo-wfor ya
zey . . . Magery for sey

. . . Margery
volus nolus /or bolus nolus
ees'll vorbed men fath for

es ell A^orlied niin vath 1
thek . . . yow'll for thate

you'll 9

yare zel . . . men for yer

sel . . . miu 1

many /or menny
Tamzin .... popling for

Tamzen .... popeling
Dest for Dost
Tamzin /or Thomasin
zing'st zo /or sing'st so 1
yow for thee 9

Eet a vor oil for yeet avor

oil 1

zometheng/or sometheng 1

fath /or vath
eet tell me . . .
yeet tell ma .
zome /or some
whot /or what
tha /or thy
thek /or thak
happen /or hap
ees /or es

Ees for
. Es 1

9
9

116

A VOCABULARY OR GLOSSARY,

EXPLAINING

THE MOST DIFFICULT WOEDS m THE FOREGOING

DIALOGUES.

The original Glossary is reprinted verbatim from the Edition of
1778.

It will, of course, be understood that the etymologies here given
are exact reproductions, and are by no means to be considered as
correct. Many of them are wrong ; as, for example, Luck! from the
A.S. word to look ; which word, moreover, is said to be locan, instead
of loeian. Many more of these etymologies are simply ridiculous.

The present editor's remarks upon each Avord are inserted at tlie
end of the respective paragraphs, and commence with the present
pronunciation of the word, unless obsolete, in Glossic between
square brackets [ ].

The reference figures have been inserted immediately after the
word, and apply to the lines of the text.

In many instances words are said to be * from Ang. Sax.' where
no A.S. word is given. In these cases the word presumed to be
intended has been inserted in italics and within brackets [ 1].

When no further definition of a word is given, it must be under-
stood that the original Glossary gives the full meaning as understood
at present.

The words of the text which are not in the original Glossary but
which seem to need explanation have been added, and are pruited in
Italics, their pronunciation in Glossic immediately following the word.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSARY. 117

I desire gratefully to acknowledge the many valuable hints I have
received from Professor Skeat, as well as the kind assistance of Mr.
Chorley, of Quarme, in the remarks following.

Ahomination, 111 [ubaiim'inae'iirshn], this word is scarcely dialect,
though it is very frequently used by the working class as an exple-
tive. ' Abomination shame,' ' abomination lie,' are very common.

Ad! 17, 72, 85, 93 [ad], an interjectional quasi oath, still very
common. Of the same meaning as Oar !

Aead-Clath!ng, 155 [ai'd-klaa'dheen], head-clothing or covering, cap
or bonnet (rare). Clatliing is very commonly used for covering, pre-
cisely as coat is used in lit. Eng. — as ' a good clathing o' thatch,' ' a
thick clathing o' dung.' In both these examples coat would be the
idiom of received Eng.

Agar, 350 [u gaur], a quasi oath.

Agest, 359, 584, aghest, or agast, 229, Afraid, terrified ; and some-
times used to express such great Terror, as if a Ghost had appeared,
[ugaa-s] (common). See note, 1. 584.

Agging, 75, murmui'ing, provoking, egging on, or raising Quarrels,
[ag'een] nagging (very common).

Agog, 228, going. At present this would be Zaut iigoo' instead of
Zet agog, as in the text. All agog is still common in the sense of ' all
up for anything.'

Al-etha, 456, 604, 636, AMher, 76. See note, p. 32 (obsolete).

Alkitotle, 470, 577, a silly Elf, or foolish Oaf. Perhaps, a foolish
Creature troubled with Fits or Epilepsies, to which the Elk, in Latin
Alee, is said to be subject. Q. [aal-kitoa"tl] (obsolete, but not for-
gotten).

AUernbatch, 24, 557, an old Sore : From the Angl. Sax. ^lan,
accendere, Botch ut Supra ; and then it may signify a Carbuncle or
burning Boil, [aal'urnbaachj (common).

A-long, as spelt in some former Editions, but should be E-long, means
slanting, [aidaung or ulau'ng]. At present this word means ^«^, not
slanting — all along = at full length. I have no knowledge of E-long.
Slanting, in the ordinary sense, cannot here be meant ; warped or
drawn awry is the meaning. Halliwell gives avelong, elliptical, oval.
In the Promptorium Parvulorum (ed. Way) aveJonge is translated
ohlongus, with a note : ' This word occurs again hereafter, warpyn,
or wex wronge or auelonge as vesselle, oblongo. In Harl. MS. 1002,
f. 119, ohlongo is rendered to make auelonge ; and in the Editor's MS.
of the Medulla, ohlongus is rendered auelonge. Moore gives the word
avellong, used in Suffolk, when the irregular shape of a field inter-
feres with the equal distribution of the work.'

Aneest, 80 [uneeais], near. Used indifferently with a-nigli, but always
with some verb implying motion. It would not be used to explain a

118

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECl'S.

situation, such as ' the house lies aneest the road ' — hero it would be
nigh or handy the road ; but it would be said, ' I wad-n aneest tho
place,' because the ivaa not imi^lies did not go.

Angle-bowings, 198, 212, a Kind of Fencing against Sheep : From
Augl. Sax. \_ungel .?] a Hook, or Bending of a Fishing Eod. [ang'1-boa"-
een]. Note that one g only is sounded, not ttvo as in lit. Eng. Angle-
bowing, as described p. 46, is still used on the turf-coped walls of the
Exmoor district ; and would also now be understood to mean a kind of
fish-poaching by naeans of an angle-bow or wire noose fixed at the end
of a rod. To set angle-bows, is to set wires for game. Any running
noose is called ang'l-boa'. See angylle. Prompt. Parv. ; also note to
Ed. of 1778, p. 46.

Antle-beer, 274, Cross-wiso, irregular : Ab Antte, the Door-Posts.
[an"tl-bee"ur] (rare, still in use). The form of two uprights and one
cross-piece, like a door-frame. I fail to see any sort of connection
between badly-ironed linen and a door-frame. ' Antle-beer, gallows
fashion,' is common.

A-prill'd, 194, 313, Soiir'd, or Beginning to turn sour; when applied
to Milk, Beer, &c. ; sometimes to be prickt or gored, so as to be made
to fret or fume. Vide Skinner, [u-purid] (rare, obsolescent). It is
common to speak of cider as ' pricked ' when turning sour, and there
is connection between pritch (q. v.)) or prick, and pritchell, a black-
smith's punch.

Apurt, Sullen ; disdainfully silent, with a glouting Look ; in a sour
dogged Disposition, [upuurt]. It is still common to say * her's a
gone off apurt.'

Arrant, 396 [aavunt], errand; always so pronounced.

Athert, 198, 512 [udhuur't], athwart, across. This word, pronounced as
above, is the only one to express across or crosswise in use in the dialect.
A cross-cut saw is always a dhuurt zaa.

Avore, 17, 29, 73, 108, 122, 199, 261 [uvoa-r], before; also very fre-
quently until, or by the time thai. U-l hip aun itvoa'r ee-v u-broaJd-n
ubroa-iid, ' He will keep on until he has broken it to pieces,' was said
in my hearing very recently of a child playing with a picture-book.
Bhik ul leok di'ff'urnt uvoa.'r ee-z u-fihveesh, 'That (article) will look
different by the time that (not before) he is finished.' See note, 1. 108.

Avore oil, 291 [uvoaT au'l], nevertheless, notwithstanding (the

regular phrase).
Avroar, 123, or Avraur, Frozen, Frosty, [uvroa-ur] (rare). See

nuto 17, p. 37.

An Axwaddle or Axwaddler, 1 44 (from tho Devonshire Word Axon
for Ashes), an Ash-padder or Pedlar; one that collects and deals in
Ashes ; sometimes one that tumbles in them. — Hence an Axon Cat ;
and sometimes one that paddles and draws lines in them with a stick
or poker, [aaks-waudd] a well-remembered but obsolete trade. Not
many years ago, coal fires were unknown in the Exmoor district, and
ashes meant only the ashes of burnt wood or peat ; even now tho two
kinds are carefully distinguished as aar'shez and koa-l aar'shiz. Before
tho cheapening of alkalies for washing, wovd-ashes used to be, and

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSARY. 119

still are, placed in a large box strainer ; water is thrown upon them,
which, when poured off, is quite clear and of the colour of ^wrier ;
this is called lie [luy], and being strongly alkaline is still used in
some places for washing, to save soap.

The axwaddles used to go about with a pack-horse and collect the
surplus dry ashes from farm-houses, paying for them in drapery or
other pedlary wares, but seldom in money. Cottagers used only to
have sufficient to make their own lie. Axen for ashes is now spoken
by some very old men, and the word is also retained in the names of
several farms, &c.

Ay, 234. See Hy.

Ba-arge, 122, 201, 226, 238, from the Saxon [hearh?\ Majalis, a
Barrow-pig, generally used in Devonshire to signify a fat heavy
Person, one that is unwieldy as a fatten' d Hog. (Obsolete.)

Baggage, 44, 279, 639 [bag-eej], a common term ajiplied to females
only. Puuvtee ocrl hag'eej, uur avz, shocfr nuuf. This word has no
connection with Baggaged. Bundle [bund] is an equally common
epithet for a woman.

Bagg^aged, 4, or By-gaged, Behagged, i. e. Hog-ridden or bewitcli'd.
[bag-eejd, bigae'ujd] (common), over-looked, hag-ridden.

Banes, 455, 460, 474, 609 [bae-iinz], banns of marriage ; also bands,
middle-bands, q. v.

* Andr. Would that were the worst.
Fox. The very best of our banes, that have provd
Wedlock. Come, I'le sing thee a catch I have
Made on this subject.^

' The Women's Conquest,' 1671.

Banging, 6, 500, large, great, [bang'een] (very common). This word
is used only in connection with gurt, and generally seems to be merely
complimentary to it, adding no particular force as to size, but implying
a coarseness of quality, precisely like the Italian acci, as in carta,
cartaccia. In the text (6) it imphcs a hoidenish bouncing as well, in
consequence of its being separated from gurt. A gurt banging lie, a
gurt banging dog, are common phrases.

Banuee, 233, 264 [bau-ee], to rudely contradict (still used, not

common).
Bare, 546 [bae'ur], simple, plain, unadorned (very common as used

in the text).

' Polish. Before her as loe say, her gentleman usher,
And her cast off pages, bare to bid her aunt
Welcome.' — Ben Jonson, 'Magnetic Lady,' Actii. sc. 4.

' Fitzdottrel. That's your projiortion ! and your coachman bald.
Because he shall be bare enough.'

Ben Jonson, ' Devil is an Ass,' Act ii. sc. 1.

Barngun, 557, some fiery Pimples breal^ing ont upon the Skin ; or,
perhaps, a burning Sore of the Erysipelas Kind, vulgarly called St.

120 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Anthony's Fire : But this is what the Devonians call Hl-thing, from
the Angl. Sax. (beornan?) to burn, [baarn'guun], an inflammatory
skin disease. I believe it to be shingles, which I have heard called
harney-gun (rare, but still used). See Heartgun.

Barra, 409, or Barrow, a gelt Pig [baar-u], this word is not now used
alone, but always with pig — barrow-pig (the only term in use).

Baste, 93, 518 [bae-us(t], to beat so thoroughly that the beaten one
shall steam. All the words for thi-ashing have various fine shades of
meaning.

Bate, 226 [bae-iit], to contend, to quarrel. A bate, a passion, a rage.

'And ]>at \>ey repentyd hem wonder sore,
)>' ev' ]pey maden ayyn hnrr^ bate or sfryf.'

Chronicon Vilodunense, ed. Hoare, stanza 739.

Beagle, 243 [bai-gl]. I cannot find that as an epithet this word has
now any particular force. Its use here seems to mean simply hitch.

Beat, 197, or Peet, Turf burnt for the Improvement of cold land,
commonly called Burn-beating, and in some Counties Denshiring,
because frequently used in some Parts of Devonshire. [bai"t, beet]
(daily use).

Bed-Ale, 564, Groaning Ale, that which is brewed for a Gossiping or
Christening Feast, [bai'd ae'ul] (very common). We do not now
talk of groaning ale but of groaning drink. I doubt if the former
term was ever used, the latter is still quite common. The term ale
applies to the festival, not to the di-ink, as in Two Gentlemen of
Verona, Act ii. sc. 5 :

' Launce Not so much charity as go to the ale in a Christian.'

So also Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, Prol. 42 :

' Feyneden hem for heorefoode ' foi^ten atte ale.'
' Bride-Ales, church-ales, clerk-ales, give ales, lamh-ales, leet-ales. Mid-
summer Ales, Scot-Ales, Whitsun- Ales, and several more.' — Brand's ' Pop.
Antiq.' (4to. ed.), vol. i. p. 229.

See note 9, p. 103.

Beest, 196. This I believe to be a mere piece of literary dialect. _ I
have often heard heeth [bee'dh] construed with a plural nominative,
but never with a singular. See Eobert of Gloucester, William of
Shoreham, Chaucer, &c., who aU use he}p with plural construction.

Berjit, 493 [bigit*], forget (very common still).

To the true Ben, 19, 519, or Bend, soundly and to the Purpose, [tu
dhu true bai'n] (common).

Bd leetle rather, 210 [biit lee-dl rae-udhur]. Rather medJi^ earlier in
point of time in the dialect, and is never used to imply a preference,
for that the word is zeo'ndur, sooner. See note 3, p. 96.

Betwattled, 4, seised with a Fit of Tattling, or betotled and turn'd
Fool, [bitwaut-ld] (obsolescent).

Be roar days, 122. See Vore days. I quite dissent from the defini-
tion here given, which appears to be contrived to render the text

A.N EXMOOK SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 121

intelligible. The present term is uvorrr dm, meaning before daybreak.
In tbe ' Aucren Eiwle ' (ed. Camden Society), p. 20, we read :

* cfc leste^i vort efter prime i]>e winter erliche ; ipe sumer biuor deies.^
To this is a note referring to tbe Cleopatra MS., giving auotber
reading, ' I sumer hifori mare^en.'' Here we have the identical phrase
as old as the XIII. cent, clearly meaning he/ore daybreak. I think
the true meaning of 1. 122, however small the connection may be
with the text, is "Thou wilt coal varty a-bed until (just) before day-
light." One of the very commonest similes for a person who fusses
about without doing anything is " jist like an old hen avore day."

DInzee, 233, 264 [blae-uzue], fly into a rage and scold loudly and
abusively (very common still).

Blazing, 42, 308, spreading abroad ISTews, or blazoning and proclaim-
ing the Faults of others, [blae-iizeen] (very common). Belg. oor-
hlaesen ? to blow in one's Ear, meaning to whisper. One often hears,
' So-and-so will hlaze it all over the place.'

To Bleiiky or blenk, 124, to snow but sparingly, resembling the
Blinks or Ashes that sometimes tly out of a Chimney, and fall around
the Place, [blaenkee]. Possibly to whiten. This word is rarely used
respecting snow, but is very commonly applied to the falling of sparks
or flakes of fire. See Snewth.

£Jof/r/i/, 258. See Blogging.

To Bless vore, 25, 559 (i. e. to bless for it, with a View to cure it), to
use Charms or Spells to cure Disorders. — ' She should have needed no
more Spell.'— Vid. Spenser's Calender, ^gl. 3d. & Theocriti Idyll. B.
Ver. 90. [bias voa-r] to charm, very commonly spoken about tuarts.
The word probably is used in the sense of to wave or brandish, as in
passing the hand backwards and forwards over the affected part while
reciting the Jwcits pocus : this meaning may be derived from the
common action used in the benediction :

* And burning blades about their heads doe blesse.'

Spenser, ' Faerie Queene,' Bk. i. c. 6.

Blogging, 313, looking sullen. (Obsolete.)]

Blowze, IG [bluwz], rough red-faced wench, hoiden. As a substantive
this word is now very rare, but blouzy, rough, romping, hoidenish, is
not an uncommon word applied to females.

' Whiles Gillett, his blouse, is a milking the coiv.
Sir Heiv is a rigging thy gate or the ploiu.'

Tusser, ed. E. D. S., p. 43.

Blowmaunger, 121, 200, 238 (perhaps from the French Blanc-
manger, "White Meat, a Kind of Flummery), used by the Exmoor-
ians, &c., to denote a fat blown cheek'd Person, as if blown up with
Fat by fiill feeding and juncketing ; or perhaps it may be applied to
one who puffs and blows while he is eating. (Obsolete.)

Boddize, 13, 83, 84 [baud-eez], the stiff leather stays worn by coun-
try women. I have often seen them worn with no garment covering
them, and in that case the state of deshabille favours the description
in p. 84 {Courtship), where ' He takes hold and paddles,' &c.

122 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Bolus nolus, 401, 609 [boaius noa'lus], nolens voleiis. This is still a
coinuion expression, picked up no doubt originally at the Sayzez
(Assizes).

Bone-sliave, 23, 258, The Sciatica. See N'ote to Page 26, also p.
70. [boa'iin shee-uv] (common).

Boostering, 295, Labouring busily, so as to sweat, [b^o'stureen]
impetuous, bustHng, working in a fussy, blusteiing manner (common).

Borst, 256, 39], 572. See Bost.

Bost, 50, 249 [buust], burst. This word is constantly used in the
sense of hreah — in 1. 50 this is the meaning ; she is like a frosh-yokcd
steer, so headlong that she would hurst, i. e. break, the plough tackle,
however strong. So in 1. 220, host dha neck o' en, i. e. ' break the ewe's
neck ; ' 1. 249, host tha doam, i. e. ' break the crockery.'

Bozzom, 63, 72, 607, or, Buzzom-chuck'd, 502, The having a deep
dark Eeduess in the Cheeks, [buuz-um chuuk'ud] (still used, rare).
See note, 1. G07.

Bresli, 82 [brish, buursb], beat, thrash ; indefinite as to implement.

Briss, 156, Dust. — Briss and Buttons, Dust and Sheep's Buttons or
Sheep's Dung, [brus] (very common). This word does not mean
simply dust — for that pi7?n [pul'um] is the word — but the fluffy kind
of dust found behind furniture, or in old barns. So in the text, hriss
and huttons means the fiutt'y, cob-web sort of dust to be got from an old
shed, or from pulling about fusty hay, and the clinging hurs of
thistles or di/. In this place and connection, I do not think huttons
mean sheep's dung.

A Brooking Mungrel, 259, a Mungrel Jade that is apt to throw her
Eider. — From the Saxon [Broc ?] Caballus, [and ?] a Monger, [brauk*-
een muung'grul]. I wholly dissent from the above explanation.
Brooking (quite obsolete) meant hadgering, hence hothering, aggra-
vating. Mongrel was not applied to horses but to dogs, and hence the
epithet in the text is perhaps simply equivalent to aggravating hitdi.
Prof. Skeat says : ' The place in A.S. where hroc is applied to a horse
is contemptuous; the true sense being badger onlj''. The epithet means
literally a mongrel dog used for badgering or brooking, without regard
to the fact that a mongrel would be of slight use for such sport.' The
word mongrel is very commonly api^lied in a contemptuous sense to
any creature, man or beast, and conveys the idea of low or bad
breeding. ' A mongrel-bred bullock,' ' a lot of mongrels' (sheep), ' a
gurt mongrel ' (a coarse, ill-bred man), are every-day expressions.

Euckard, or, Bucked, 205, when spoken of Milk, soured by keeping
too long in the Milk-Bucket, or by being kept in a foul Bucket. —
When spoken of other things, — hircum olens, having a rankish Taste
and Smell, [buuk'ud] (very common). The word is not now used in
the senses here given, but is appHed to cheese only, when instead of
being sobd it has a spongy look and is full of cavities.

To Buckle, 291, or, Buckle to, to gird up the Loins, — to be diligent
and active, [buuki tuc] (very common).

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY, 123

BmUe and Thongs, 546 [buuk-l-n dliaungs], an expression (still used)
to imply emptiness, as of the straps and buckles to bind a burden, but
■without the materials to be bound. See Bare.

Buddled, 136, Drown'd, Suffocated, as if in the Buddie Poll, and
serv'd as Tin Oar, when washed, [buuddd] (rare, but in use). A
luddle-hole is a hole made in a hedge for a drain.

Buisy (Ab. A.S.) (1), Busky my Boys ! [This word does not occur
in the text. — Ed.]

Buldering Weather, 205, hot and sultry, tending to Thunder.
(Obsolete.)

Busking, 312, running up against one-anothers Busk (sic) by "Way of
Provocation. Q ? [buus'keen] (very common), raising the busk— or
Americano, ' rizin the dander.' The bttsk is the hair or bush, growing
along a dog's back, which when angered by another dog ho raises on
end, or stivers. A cat raises her fur also, but I never heard of a cat's
busk. So busking means doing or saying something to excite another's
choler.

Buttons, 156, besides the commonly known meaning of the word, is
sometimes us'd to express Sheops Dung, and other Buttons of that
Kind ; as also the Burs on the Ilerb Burdock, but those in Devon-
shire are call'd Cuckold- Buttons, in some other Places Beggars-
Buttons. See Briss.

Button'd, 214. See Buttons.

Buzzom cold Buzzom-chuck'd. See Bozzom.

Bijgaged, 251, 254. See Baggaged.

Candle-teening, 314, Candle-lighting. — To teen and dout the Candle
means to put in and put out the Candle, [kand-tccn'een] (common).
Teen the candle = light the candle, is a common expression. See note,
1. 314.

To Caniffle, 257, or, Canifflee, to dissemble and flatter. (Obsolete.)

Cantlchone, 280 [kan-tl-boa"iin] (common), usually the collar-bone.
In the text the expression is equivalent to ' break the back.'

Caree, 228, 263, care. See note 6, p. 50.

Cassent, 127 [kas-n], canst not. See W. S. G., p. 64.

Cat-ham'd, 120, ungainly, fumbling, without any Dexterity, [kyat-
aamd or aam'ud] (very common). Generally apidicd to horses, and
especially to moor- bred ponies; but I have heard it used respecting
persons, and then it implies splay-footed. The more usual form is
cat-hocked [kyat-uuk'ud].

Caucheries, 183, 243, perhaps for potential Cauteries, Caustics or
burning Medicines ; but in Devonshire means any Slops or Medicinal
Compositions without any Distinction ; the same with Couch or Cauch,
perhaps from the Gr. {sic) miscere, to mix or mingle, [kau'churcez].
Cauch is still used in the sense here given, but I never heard of
caucheries. The word implies rather a plaister or salve than a potion.

124

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS,

Chad, 244, 256, 554, 555, I had.

Cham., 405, I am.

Champe, 219, a Skuffle. (Obsolete.) I doubt this definition. It
is quite common to say, ' I ont ha no more chim-cham,' i. e. no more
nonsense, objection, hesitation.

A Change or Chonge, 631, a Shirt or Shift ;— because it shoikl be
often changed, [chanj]. This pronunciation is not like Eng. change,
but the same as in flange. StiU the regular name for a shift.

Chant, 231, I am not.

'Chave, 206, 211, 372, 396, i. e. Ich have, I have.— And so 'ch for Ich
is prefixed to many other Words, viz. ' Mey be chell and mey be
chon't;' i. e. It may be I shall, and it may" be I won't or will not.
[This form of / is entirely obsolete and forgotten in the district. I
cannot but think that its use in the text is much exaggerated, and
the more so as it is in one or two instances used in evident error.
Before Shakspere's time all these words were written y chare, i chain,
icholle, y chtill, &c. See ' Essay' by ' Somersetiensis,' p. 73,

Chawnt, 245, I will not ; Chont, 11. 598, 600.

Chaivr, 563, 565. See Chur.

Chell, 246, 404, 413, 421, I sbaU.

Chlngstey, 302 [cheen'stai], chin-stay, tbe cap-strings tied under the
chin. The leather strap which fastens a bridle by passing round the
jaw is called a chin-stay, but I never heard the term appHed as in the
text,

Chittering, 63, 309 [chiit'ureen]. This word (stiU very common)
imphes something between chattering and tittering. The noise made
by a number of sparrows is called chittering. AppHed to a person, it
signifies something lower than chatter— something as meaningless as
the twittering of sparrows. See note, L 309.

' The feathered sjxirrovje cakl am I;
In swete and pleasaunt si^ryng
1 greatly doe delight, for then,
J chitter, chirpe and syng.'

Kendall, 'Flowers and Epigrammes,' A.D. 1576.
ChocHee, 232, to cackle. See Chockling.

Chockling, 44, 45, 311, 502, the Cackling of a HenAvhen disturbed;
and when spoken of a Man or Woman, means hectoring and scolding,
[chaak'leen]. A hen always chackles, never cackles.

To chonge a life. See note 9, p. 87.

Chongy, 123 [chaun-jee], changeable, unsettled, stormy— applied to
weather (very common).

Cliounting-, 39, 310, taunting, scornfully reviling, or jeering. This
is not derived from chanting, nor has" any relation thereto, unless
meant in a harsh disagreeable Tone. Vide Chun, [chuwn-teen] (still
used). The word implies mumbling or mouthing, but more in the
way of complaint than abuse.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 125

Chucked, 302 [cliuukt], choked. This word is still always pro-
nounced thus.

Chuer, 223, in other Counties a Chare, a Johb of "Work ; generally
applied to the Work of a Person who assists on all Occasions, and in
different Kinds of Work: Hence a Chare-women or Chewrer, who
helps the Servants in a Family, [cheo'ur in N. Dev., choa'iir in W.
Som.] (very common). See note 1, p. 50.

To Chuery or Chewree, 281, 291, to assist the Servants, and supply
their Places occasionally, in the most servile Work of the House,
[cheo'uree, choa'iireo]. Uur da cJwa'uree, means that she goes out
for hire as a charwoman. See note, 1. 223.

Chun, 14, 244, 278, 287, Quean, or Woman, Q]— But a Quean
formerly meant a Whore, and generally now a bad sort of a Woman.
\_Chim is obsolete, but quean [kwee'iin] is very common. 'Her's a
nice old quean' may be often heard.]

Chups, 101 [chuups], chops, i. e. cheeks.

CJiur, 554, 555, I was. See note 1, p. 102.

Chuwr, 593. See Gliur.

Clathing, Cloathing — Clathers, 135, Clothes. [klaa-dheen,klaa-Jhurz]
(very common). See Aead-Clathing.

Clam, 133, a Stick laid over a Brook or Stream of Water to clamber
over, supplying the Want of a Biidge, a Clap or Clapper, [klaam]
called also more frequently a clammer, is still a common name for a
board or pole laid across a brook for a foot-bridge.

Glome, 249, (perhaps from Loam), Earthen-ware, [kloa'm] (the
common name for crockeiy). Spelt doam in the text.

Coad, or Caud, 148, unhealthy, consurnptive, or cored like a rotten
Sheep, [kao'd] common disease of sheep, through feeding on wet
land. Cf. A.S. co«.

Coal-varty, 122, 272. See note, p. 36.

Coander, 143 [koa'ndur], corner. The insertion of a tZ in this and
other words, as taa-yuldur, tailor, is still a peculiarity of this dialect.
See W. S. G., p. 19.

Cockleert, 110 (i. e. Cock-light), Diluculum, the Dawn, when the
Cock crows : In the Evening, Crepusculum, [kauk-lai*t] (very
common).

Cod-Glove, 92, a Furze-Glove without Fingers, [kaud gluuv] (obso-
lescent), now generally called ' hedging glove.'

To Coltee, 265, 296, to act the Hobby-horse, to be as playful as a
young Colt. [koaPtee] (very common).

Colting, 46 [koadteen], romping in a very opprobrious sense, when
applied to a woman (common). Chaucer has coltish (HaUiwell). See
also Cymbehne, Act ii. sc. 4.

Compare, 465 [kmpae'iir], comparison (very common).

126 SPECIMEXS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

* TM& offspring of my Iraine, which dare not scarcely make compare
with the foulest.' — ' Optic Glasse of Humours,' A.D. 1639.

To Condiddle, to waste, disperse, or convey away secretly or imper-
ceptibly, [kundud'l] (still in use). ' I'd a got ever so many old
spade guineas wan time, but tbey be all a condiddled.'

Condiddled, 290, insensibly wasted away. — Spoken of Goods or Sub-
stance, clandestinely and gradually sj)ent and consumed.

Cornoral Oaih, 365 [kaur'nurul oaaith], an oath as solemn as that
sworn before a coroner (common).

Cort, 210, 213, 389, intended for the past tense of catch. No such
form of tense now exists in the dialect, but if it ever did the r would bo
sounded as in thort =: thought. See W. S. Gram., p. 46.

Cotton, 77, 514 [kaut-n], to beat, to whack. The use of this word
implies an instrument, and not a drubbing with fists or bare hands.
See Lace. (Still very common.)

To Creem, 326, 605, to squeeze, and as it were to cramp, [krai-m]
(still in use).

Crewdling, 159, a cold, dull, unactive and sickly Person, whose Blood
seems to be as it v/ere curdled, [kreo'dleen] (still used). ^

Crewnting, 43, 45, or Cruning, Groaning like a grunting Horse,
[kreo'nteen] grunting, complaining, lackadaisical (common).

The Crime of the Country, 508, 522, the whole Cry, or common
Report of the Neighbourhood, [kruym u dhu kuun'tree] (still in use).

Crock, 248, always means a Pottage-Pot, when not distinguished by
an Adjunct ; but besides this Porridge -Crock (as 'tis sometimes call'd)
there is the Butter-Crock, by which the Devonians mean an Earthen
Vessel or Jar to pot Butter in ; and the Pan- Crock, which see in its
place, [krauk]. The crock is an iron pot of peculiar and well-
known shape. It is nearly a globe, having a swinging handle, by
which it is hung up to the chim,ney crook, and has three short projec-
tions by way of legs. Moreover, it has always three horizontal rings
upon its circumference. Other vessels and utensils change their
fashions, crocks never do.

A Croud, 388, 391, a Piddle, [kraewd] (obsolescent).

' This fiddle is your proper purchase,
Won in the service of the churches;
And hy your doom must be allow' d
To he, or he no more, a crowd.'

Butler, ' Hudibras,' Pt. I. c. ii. 1. 1002.

' A lacquey that can . . . wait mannerly at a table . . .
Warble upon a crowd a little.'

Ben Jonson, ' Cynthia's Revels,' Act i. sc. 1.

Crouder, 392 [kraewdur], fiddler (common).

Crown, 86 [kraewn], to strike on the head (rare, but not obsolete).
The use of some instrument is imphed in this word.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSARY. 127

A Crub, 486, a Crumb of dry Bread, with or without Cheese, [kreob]
(obsolescent).

To Cuff a Tale, 298, to exchange Stories, as if contending for the
Mastery ; — or to canvas a Story between one and another. (Obsolete.)

Curry, 89, 516 [kuur-ee], to thrash, to whack. ' I'll curry your hide
for you,' is a very common threat. Some weapon is here also impHed.

Ciitfcd, 107, 308 [kuut-ud], a word of rather general meaning,
implying crabbed, ill-conditioned, snappish (rare, obsolescent).

Daggle-teaVd, 501. See Dugged.

The Very Daps of a Person, 230, — The Aptes, Aptitudes or Atti-
tudes : The exact Likeness of another, in all his Gestures and Motions,
[dhu vuur'ee daaps] (very common).

Deeve, 123 [deef], deaf. See note 16, p. 35.

Dem! 106, 139, You Slut! [dae'um] (very common). This word
does not now mean you shit ! but its use in speaking to any woman
would be insulting, without conveying any definite implication.

Good Den, 551, Good E'en, Good Even. — An Afternoon Salutation.
— Vide Shakespear's Eomeo and Juliet :

' Mercutio. God ye Good e'en, fair Gentlewoman !
Nurse. Is it Good e'en P
Mercutio. 'Tis no less I tell you,' &c.

[geod ai'n] (common). The good den of the text is impossible.

Deny, 530 [dinaa'j'], to refuse. This word is still commonly used as
in the text, p. 98 — ' You wont deny to see mo drenk.' A quite
authentic story is told of a man standing up in a church, not very
far from Parracombe, nor very long ago, to forbid banns thus : ' /
deny it and defy it, tJi' ummun's mine ! '

' And noio he left that pilgrims might denay
To see Chrisfs tomh, and promised vows to pay.'

Fairfax, 'Tasso,' i. 23.

To Dere, to hurry, frighten, or astonish a Child. — See Thir. (Obso-
lete.)

Dest, 35, 37, 46, 57, 60, 79, 129. See Dist

Deth, 366 [deth, d6th], doth. This pronunciation is still that most
heard in N. Dev., and has certainly been so for above 500 years.

' ]pe King Phelip of France ' \>e lasse \>o of him tolde,
& drof him to busemare ' as me ofte dep \}an olde'
Eobert of Gloucester, Will. Conq., 1. 463 (ed. Morris and Skeat).

* Ac yyf \>ou nart, ich cristni ]>e ;
Ana de|3 ]3at his to donne.'
WiUiam of Shoreham, a.d. 1307, ' De Baptismo,' 1. 125.

To tell Dildrams, 511, and Buckingham-Jenkins, 145, to talk
strangely and out of the Way. — The latter seems to bo an Allusion to

128 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

some old incredible Story or Ballad concerniug one Jenkins of Buck-
ingham : Q. Whetlier that Jenkins, who is said to have liv'd to the
Age of 167 Years was a Buckinghamshire Man ? or what other Person
of that Name may be alluded to ? (Obsolete.)

The Dimniet, 163, 170, the Dusk of the Evening, [diitn-ut] (very
common), the evening twilight.

No Direct, 149, no plain downright Truth, and consequently no Trust
to be given, [noa durak'] (very common), no reUance.

Dispreise, 68, 570 [deespraa'yz], a very expressive phrase, still very
common, for which no precise equivalent exists in lit. Eng. In 1. 68
its use imijlies that in proclaiming Eoger Hill's character to be equal
to any other, she by no means wished to put a slight upon the rest.

'Pandarus. I will not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit.^

Shakspere, 'Troilus and Cressida,' Act i. sc. 1.

D'lst, 31 [dus(t], dost. See W. S. G., p. 35, on the use of the 2nd
pers. sing.

Distracted, 442 [deestraak'tud], mad. This is a word of very common
use. 'I be amost distracted wi the tooth-ache.' 'Poor blid, her's
most distracted, ever zince he died; ' i. e. her husband died.

' Better I ivere distract,
So should my thoughts he several from my griefs'

Shakspere, 'K. Lear,' Act iv. sc. 6.

To Doattee, 143, to nod the Head when Sleep comes on whilst One
is sitting up. [doa-iitee] (very common). The action is occasionally
to be noticed in church.

Docity, 209 [daus'utee], gumption, knack, handiness (very common
stiU).

To tell Doil, 137, 145, 511, to tell like a sick Man when delirious.
(Obsolete.) Compare To Dwallee.

The Dorns, 274, the Door-Posts. [duurnz] (tlie usual name). This
word is quite technical, and is ajjplied to the frame to which a door
is ' hung,' when this frame is made of solid, square timber, such as is
usually the case in buildings qf the cottage, stable, or barn class. The
framework of doors in better-class buildings is usually flat, and is
then called door-Jams or door-linings. See Antlebeer.

It Doveth, 125, it thaws, [doa'vuth] (obsolescent).

The Dowl, 173, 174, 383, 445, or Dseul, the Devil, [daewul] (rare,
but not unknown).

Dowl vetch tha, 29 [dhu Daewl vaech dhu], the devil fetch thee, a dis-
ease of which the context sufficiently explains the meaning. It would
be quite well understood nowadays what was meant by such an
expression, but it is rare. It implies the almost severest reproach
that can be uttered to an unmarried woman.

Drade, 135 [drae'ud], drew. See note 9, p. 43. This is a good
example of a strong verb in lit. Eng. remaining weak in the dialect.
See W. S. G., p. 46.

A.N EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 129

Drash, 94, 346, 515 [draash, draarsh], to tlirasb. When used for
druh it implies some weapon, as stick or cudgel. The word would not
be used to signify a mere drubbing with hands or fists. See Lace.

A muxy Draw-breech, 7, 501, a lazy filthy Jade, that hangs an A-se
as if overloaden by the Dirt at her Tail. [draa*-burch] (common).

Drenh'ng, 196 [draeng'keen]. In Devonshire this is the food, i. e.
meat and bread and cheese, given in the afternoon to laboui'ers
during hay-making and harvest. Called in Somerset vower d'docks or
arternoons. It has nothing to do -with, the cider allowance, which is
quite understood to be going on all day, often ad lib. The word drink
is applied to malt liquor onlj'. ' A drap o' drink ' means ' a drop of
ale.' 'A dinner and di-inkings ' is the usual term for a landlord's
feast, meaning the dinner with pijjes and grog to follow.

Dressing, 273 [dras"een], clothes, linen.

Drow, 245 [droa], throw.

Droio vore, 175, 176, 180, 309 [droa voaT], to twit (very common
still). See note 5, p. 44.

To drub, 347, 516 [druub], to beat, with or without weapon (seldom
used — more Cockney than provincial). See Lace.

DnggeA, 101, 135, 203, Dugged-teal'd, 16, Dugged-yess, 44, and
Daggle-teal'd, "Wet, and with the Tail of the Garment dragg'd along
in the Dirt, [duug'ud] (common). Sheep when in a well-known
dirty state are said to be dugged-tailed.

To Dwallee, 137, or Dwaule, to talk incoherently, or like a Person
in a Delirium, [dwau dee] (still used). A man in his cups, who talks .
in a rambling hiccoughing style, is said to divallee.

Earteen, 496. See note 6, p. 96.

Eart one, eart t'other, 159, 160, 225, — Now one, then the other.
(Obsolete.)

Ee, 128 [ai'j rarely ee*], eye.

Een, 229 [ee*n], end (common).

Egging', 307, spurring on, or provoking, [ag'een] (See Agging.)

E-long, 275, slanting. (See A-long.)

Elt, See lit.

E)i,, 364 [un, 'n], him; 214, her. See note 6, p. 49.

' But what was that Zin Valentine ?
Did you ever know 'un, goodman Clench ?

* * * *

As the 'port went o' hun then, and in those days.'

Ben Jonson, ' Tale of a Tub,' Act i. sc. 2.

Es, 2, 10, that is Ise (the Scotch of the Pronoun Ego) wliich, as well a^
Ich, is sometimes used in Devon for I. — (See Chavc.)— Es or Ez is also

130 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

sometimes used for is. [I entirely dissent from this. The nse of es in
the text is exaggerated but not impossibly frequent. It is the regular
us of Devonshire used as a nominative. It is to be heard daily
throughout N. D. pronounced ess, and is nothing more than the very
common substitution of the plur. for the sing., as in the Cockney lets
lool' for Jet me look. This word is spelt ees, 11. 2, 176, but when so pro-
nounced it is used interrogatively only. See W. S. Gram., p. 34.]

Fafh ! 19, 345, 347 [faa'tli], By my faith ! still atout the most frequent
exclamation of asseveration to be heard in N. Dev. and the Exmoor
district of Som. It occui-s many times in the text, but is generally
spelt vath. This, however, is wrong. In some instances, e. g. 1. 19, it
is fath ! the true pronunciation. See Fy.

Fihhee, 264 [fub*ee], to lie (rare).

Flimflam, 505, 507 [fliim-flaam], idle talk (very common still) : quite
different from cMm-cliam. See Champe.

' This is a pretty flim-flam.'

Beaumont and Fletcher, 'Little Fr. L.,' Act ii.

' These are iio flim-flam stories'
Ozell, 'Eabelais' (Trans.), Prol. Bk. ii. vol, ii. p. 4.

Foust nr a-foust, 155, Dirty and soil'd; but this Word is not used
in Devonshire to express mouldiness, as in some other Counties,
[fuwst] (very common). This word implies dusty from the winnowing
of com, or from hay, rather than dirty ; or if soiled by mud or other
filth it must have become dry or ' dried on ' before it would be called
foust. The word fousty is applied to hay or straw when in a bad
condition.

Fulch or Vulcli, 67, a pushing Stroke with the Fist, directed upward ;
— fi-om fulcio, fulcire, to prop up or support, [vuulchj (used but
rarely).

Full-stated, 405, Spoken of a Leasehold Estate that has Three Lives
subsisting thereon ; that is, when it is held for a Term, which will not
determine till the Death of the Sur-vivor of Three Persons still living,
[veol stae'utud] (very common). See notes to 11. 405, 406.

The whole Fump of the Business, 34, for Frump, (Sanna) (?) — The
whole of the Jest; or all the Circumstances of a Story, and the
Means by which it came to such an Issue. (Eare.)

Fusty-lugs, 118, 502 — spoken of a big-boned Person, — a Great foul
Creature, [fuus'tiluugz] (common). Used only in the plural. The
foulness implies bad smelling,

Fy / [faa'y] = par foi, as common an expression in Devonshire as
its analogue is in France — ' Are you quite sure ? Ees fy ! ' Oh fie ! is
a common exclamation of disapproval.

In Prompt. Parv., p. 159, ed. Way, Camden Soc. , 1865, is a note:

'In the Wicliffite version occur the following passages : " /Te that
seith to his brother Fy {al. fugh) schal he rjiUy to the counsell.'" — Matt.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 131

V. 22. " And as thei passiden forth, thei blasfemeden him, movynge her
heddis, and seiynge, Vath, thou that distriest the temple," tfcc. — Mark
V. 29.'

Compare also Ps. xxxv. 21, and Ps. xl. 18, Prayer Book version.

Gambowling, 131 [gaambuwleen], gamlDolling, frisking. This very
common word is always pronounced thus — accent on penult. 0am-
hoyling, 141, 568.

The Gammerels, 153, the lower Hams, or the Small of the Leg.
[gaam'ui'ulz] (common), of a quadruped, the projecting joint or elbow
of the hind legs ; of a human being, the under sides of the thighs just
above the bend of the knee.

A Gapesnest or Gapesness, 186, a Wonderment, a strange Sight. —
' Fit only for a Gapesness,' i. e. Fit only to be stared at, as some
strange uncommon Creature, [gaaps-naes] (very com.), a gazing-
stock.

Gar, 349 [gau*r], a quasi oath, stiU one of the commonest.

Geowering', 309, or Jowering, Brawling or Quarrelling, [jaawureen]
(very common), growling, grumbling in a quarrelsome manner. In
the Prompt. Parv. this word is loroivre and lurouire, susurro, and in a
note (p. 268, ed. Way) is said to be onomatopeic, in the same sense that
the sound of some birds is termed jurring or jarring. In the ' Liber
Vocatus Femina' (MS. Trin. Coll. Cam.) it is said ' coluere jurrut, and
cok syngep.' Cotgrave gives ' Bocquer, to butte or jurre;' also 'Heurter,
to knock, jur, or hit violently.' Surely the dialect word to jower is
more expressive than any of these for a murmuring, grumbling growl.

Gerred, 47, 48, 154, or Girred, for Gorred; Dirty or bedaub'd.
[guur-ud] (heard occasionally).

Gerred-teal'd Meazles, 408, Filthy Swine ; — Because frequently
scrophulous, or, in many Places, spotted. (Obsolete, unknown.)

Getfer, 226 [gaet'fer] {Gefter in some editions), gaffer, neighbour.

Gigleting, 131, 141, 568 [gig-lteen], giggling, silly, laughing at
nothing. See note 6, p. 39.

Giglet, 566 [gig'lut], a giddy, siUy romp, one who grins or giggles at
nothing, when appHed to a woman ; a wastrel, a good-for-nought,
when applied to a man (very common). The Prompt. Parv. has
(pp. 193-4, ed. Way) ' Oyhelot, gyglot, gygeJot, ridax, agagula. Ben
jonson also uses giglot, a wanton girl (Glossary to ed. Gifford, Moxon,
1838). See also Halliwell ; ' Measure for Measure,' Act v. sc. 1 ;
' 1 Henry IV.' Act v. sc. 1.

' If this be
The recommence of striving to preserve
A ivanton giglet honest, very shortly
'Tiuill make cdl mankind pandars.'

Massinger, 'Fatal Dowry,' Act iii. sc. 1.

132

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Glam, 1 49, a Wound or Sore, a Cut or Bruise, Botch or Swelling, &c.
an accidental Hurt. Vide Lampsed. [glaam] (obsolescent).

' A pottage for a gleymede stomak,
\>at may no-^t kepe mete.' — See Prompt. Parv. p. 198.

Glumping, 39, 41, 313, Looking sullen ; Dark and lowering, gloomy
or glum, [gluum'peen] (very common).

Gooddee, 58, 262 [geod-ee], to improve, to get on. Used very com-
monly in speaking of cattle. Dhai sheep-l shoa'r tii geod'ee, ' Those
sheep will (be) sure to thrive.'

To Gookee, 145, To have an awkward nodding of the Head, or
Bending of the Body backward and forward, [geok'ge] (common),
to bend backward and forwards, like a cuckoo's well-known swing.
To act the cuckoo [geok'eo].

A Gore-Coat, 154, A Gown or Petticoat gored, or so cut as to be broad
at the Bottom, and narrower at the upper Part ; such as may be seen
in some antient Pictures, particularly of Q. Elizabeth ; from Gore a
Pleit or Slip.— Vide Ball's Edit, of Spenser's Calander, ^gl. 3.
[goa'iir koo'ut] (common).

' Betere is \joUen tohyle sore
\>en mournen euermore.
Gey nest vnder gore,
Herkne to my roun.'
Alysoune, 1. 41, 'Specimens of Lyric Poetry,' A.D. 1300

(ed. Percy Soc).

' An elf-quene sJiall my leman he
And slepe under my gore.'

Chaucer, « Cant. T.,' 1. 13,719.

* Goore of a smocke, poynte de chemise,' — Palsgrave,

' Oheroni, the gores of a xvoman's smocke.' — Thomas, ' Ital. Gram.'

Gottering, 187. See Guttering,

To Grabble, 376 — for Grapple, [grabd] (very common), to seize
tightly, to hold firmly.

Grammer^ 537, 542 [graam-ur], grandmother; applied to any old
woman.

To Grizzle, 312, to grin, or smile with a sort of Sneer, [giir'zl] (very
common), to laugh in a mocking manner.

A Grizzle -de-mundy, 78, a foolish Creature that grins or laughs at
any trifling Incident. [gur'zl-di-muun"dee] (very common).

Gurt, 6, 15, 39, 118, Great, [guurt] (always thus).

Guttering, 10, 11, 187, Guttling and devouring, eating greedily,
[guut'ureen] (very common).

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 133

Ha, 167, 214 [u], he, she. See note, 1. 214. See also W. S. G., p. 96.

' Nixt ]>an : ha zette streng]pe ' \>et \>e vyendes
\)et sle->]pe zent to zygge to keste oiit.^
Ayenbite of Inwyt (a.d. 1340), E. E. T. S., ed. Morris, p. 263.

The ' Chronicon Yilodunense,' which is a life of St. Editha, speaks of
her throughout as he. She is not once to be found.

' And Kyng Egbert sustre also he tuas
And \>ere inne also hee was ybore.' — Stanza 35.

' Erie Wolsto7is unjff forsothe hee was-
Or he tohe ye mantell and ]pe ryng
And to make a relygiose house of hur owne place
"H-O pray ede hur brother Egbert fje kyng.'' — Stanza 36.

' His oivne spencer's dou:^f he ivas.' — Stanza 44..

I much doubt if this is from A.S. heo. See En.

Ha-ape, 51, Stop, or keep back, — (To Ha-ape,) is generally applied
by Plowmen, to the forcing the Oxen backward, to recover the proper
Direction of the Furrow, which is termed Haaping them back ; and
the Word of Command to the Bullocks in this Case is Haape ! Haape
back I — 1. 51. — ' nif Vauther dedn't haape tha,' i. e. If Father did not
stop, restrain, and force thee to a contrary Course. [hau"p] (very
common). The use of this word would convey an extra insiilt, as
implying that the father would treat his daughter, and use the same
language to her, as he would to a bullock. The word is thus very
forcible in connection with stiire, 1. 49, just above.

Haddick, 123 [ad'ik], haddock. See note 16, p. 37.

Haggage, 27, an awkward slovenly Hag, or Slattern, [ag'eej] (very
common), baggage.

Haggaging, 64, 502 [ag'eejeen], slovenly, awkward, beggarly, or
dressed like a hag (still in use, but rare).

Haggle-tooth'd, 58, Snaggle-tooth'd. [ag-l-t^o"dhud] (common).
Having teeth growing across or projecting.

Halzening, 298, predicting the Worst that can happen, [aal'zneen]
(common). Predicting or divining with the halse or hazel rod, hence
predicting evil to an enemy, and hence, as now used, speaking or
wishing evil generally.

Handbeating, 197 [an-bee*uteen], digging up the turf to burn it in
the process of burn-beating. There is a process of cutting the turf by
a sort of large flat knife pushed forward by the chest — ^his is called
spading the beat ; but in stony ground, or where there are many roots,
the turf must be dug with a mattock — this latter is handbeatiiig. See
Beat.

Hange or Hanje, 30, 158, The Purtenance of any Creature, join'd
by the GruUett to the Head, and hanging all together, viz. the Lights,
Heart, and Liver, [anj, hanj] (the only term in use). The word does

13 i SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

not include the head of tlie animal, as here stated : when sold to-
.gether, the whole is called ai'd-n anj, ' head and hange.'

Hanteck, 620, Antic or frantic, [an'tik, emph. han'tik] (very common
as a noun, but rare as an adjective), cracked, mad.

Hap, 267, 315 [aap], chance, gurt-hap = unusual chance (in daily-
use). Happen, in any sense, is never heard.

* ]pe couherdes hound }pat time ' as happe hy-tidde,
feldfoute ofpe child • and fast pider fuhves.^

William of Palerne, 1. 32, ed. Koxburgh Club.

See also Prompt. Parv. p. 226.

' is ivip tresor so full begon.
That if Y happe \ervpon,
^e schull be riche men for eure.'

Gower, ' Tale of the Coffers,' 1. 62.

Hare, — Her ; by the Exmoorians also used for She. — By the Cornish
(on the contrary) and also by some few Devonians, She is often used
instead of Her, viz. in the Accusative as well as Nominative Case,
[uur, emph. huur]. The hare of the text is too drawn out, even if
very emphatic. It is in the Exmoor district a broad sound, almost
har. See W. S. Gram., p. 35.

Harest, 32 [aar'us], harvest. Always so pronounced.

To Hawchee, 188, 192, to feed foully, [au-ches] (still used, rare),
to make a loud noise in feeding.

Hawchemouth.'d, 187, One that talks indecently, or rather makes no
Distinction between decent and indecent Language, but mouthes out
what comes upjiermost ; and whose Discourse therefore is a mere
Hotch-potch. [au'ch-maewdhud, au'chee-maewdhud] (common),
loud, obtrusive, gross in talk. Hauchmouth is a common epithet.

Haypook, 88, 284 [aa*y-peok], hay-cock — the usual word. Peolc u
a<ry is equally common, but cock is unknown. See Pook.

Heart-Gun, 23, 556 (Cardialgia — Tabum quoddam Cordis :) Some
great Sickness in the Stomach, or Pain about the Heart, rather worse
than the common Heart-burn, [aa'rt guun] (still in use). Gun as a
suffix, probably A.S. gund, seems to mean ailment of an inflammatory
kind. See Barn-gun.

To Henn, 248, 255, to take and throw. [A^ide Spenser's Calend. ^gl.
3. 'The Pumie Stones I hastily hent and threw.'] But this Word is
seldom used in Devon, tho' frequently in Cornwall. [ai"n], the most
commonly-used word for to fling or throu), as to Jienn a stone. It does
not mean to take and throiv. It is in daily use in N. Dev. and W.
Som., where to throw [droa*] means either to cast down in wrestling
or to fell. Trees are always u-drocrd. See note 5, p. 52. This word
in no case means to seize or take hold.

Hewstring', 48, 267, Houstring, coughing, wheezing, [eo'streen] (very
common).

Heg (jo! 15, 247, 283 [aa-y go], Heigho ! The y is always sounded
inthis interj. ' --'

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 135

Hire, 31, 139, 444, 566, 617— used for Hear. (Still used by a
few old men, obsolescent.)

Hoazed, 261, Hoarse. — see Hozed below, [oa-uzd] (very common).

Hoazed [u-oa*uzd, emphatic u-lioa'iizd], become hoarse ; used as a
verb omy in the past participle (still very common). Hoarse [oa'uz]
is a noun in the dialect. Uur-dh u-guut u tuurubl oa-ftz, ' She has a
terrible hoarse.' Prof. Skeat says, 'Why not "cough?" Surely it
is here = M.E. host, a cough ; not the adj. Jioos, hoarse. The r in
Mod. E. hoarse is an absurd intrusion, never sounded, and wrong.'
Mr. Chorley says, ' I once heard a clergyman say that on going on a
Saturday night to do duty for a brother clergyman, he found the
sexton walking up and down the river (the Barle) to get a hoaze, he
said, as he was to sing bass in church next day.'

To Hobby, 296, 299, to play the Hobby-horse, to be at Eomps with
the Men. [aub'ee] (very common), to jump on a man's back, to act
the romping, wanton hoyden.

Hohhij-lwrse, 46 [aub'ee au's], a sham horse moved by a person inside,
a stage horse. In olden times, and even in living memory, the
hobby-horse formed part of the sports of the village revel. Applied
to a woman the epithet is coarse and offensive. See Ben Jonson,
' Entertainment to the Queen,' vol. v. p. 211, ed. Walley ; also

' Shall th' hobby-horse he forgot then,
The hojyeful hobby-horse shall he lie foimder'd ?'

Beaiunont and Fletcher, ' Woman Please 1,' Act i.

In the same act we are told how the horse was carried :

' TaJie up your horse again, and girth him to you,
And girth him Iiandsoniely.''

Holing, 297, Calumniating; ab. A. S. Hoi, Calumnia. [oadeen],
picking holes. Prof. Skeat suggests that probably the phrase ' picking
holes ' arose from a misunderstanding of A.S. Jiol, deti'action.

Horry, 47, 155, 205, foul and filthy. (Obsolete.)

' Of vche best \iat bere^ lyf • husJe ]>e a cupple.
Of vche dene comly kynde • enclose seuen makei,
Of vche horwed, in ark ' halde hot a payre.'
Alliterative Poems (a.d. 1360), E. E. T. S., ed. Morris, 1. 333.

' pat \>is synfull world pat so horry ys.'

' Chronicon Vilodunense,' ed. Hoare, st. 167,

In the above quotation the meaning is ' adulterous,^ ' leclierous ' — hence
it may have readily come to mean filthy as appHed to clothes.

To Holster, 219, to hustle and bustle, to make a confounded Noise.
(Obsolete.)

Hoppee, 95, 206 [aup-ee], to hop, to jump. A good example of the
inflection ee to the intransitive infinitive, which often lends a frequenta-
tive force, as in the text. See W. S. Gram., pp. 45, 49.

Hot, 149, 207, 213, 254, 259 [haut], what. This is the true pro-
nunciation, although generally the literary what appears in the text.

136 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

To be Hove up, 52, means the same as Hozed. [oa*v], lifted np,
exalted ; past tense of heave.

Hozed or Hawzed, 290, finely off! — Ironically spoken. — Perhaps
finely housed, or in a fine Hovel ; for the Word Hohhle (prohably
from Hovel) is used by the Devonians ironically in much the same
Sense; as, such a-one is in a fine Hobble ! meaning in some great Difii-
culty. [oa"zd]. I doubt the explanation here given. This word is
evidently a cant phrase for died, i. e. have become so short of breath
as to stop breathing. I have heard the word so used.

A Huckmuck, 118, a short thick-shouldered Person ; or rather meant
for a Person with short Legs, one whose Hocks are immers'd in, or
bespattered by the Muck or Dirt ;— or perhaps an unshapelj' Creature
like a Brewer's Huckmuck, i. e. a sort of "Wicker Strainer us'd to pre-
vent the Grains and Muck from running out with the Wort, [uuk-
muuk], very common as an epithet for a paltry, mean, shuffling
person. As a common implement in brewing, it consists of a mere
bundle of twigs placed at the bottom of the mashing ' kieve ' for the
jjurpose given above. Hence as an epithet it is closely allied to bundle
or faggot. Cf. heck, E. D. S. Gloss. B. 14, p. 86.

The Hucksheens, 154, the Legs up to the Hams, or Hocks, [uulc-
sheenz] (common), hock-shins, under side of thighs. See Oamerels.

Hum, 152, 200, 212 [uum, auni], home. Spelt whome, 1. 113. See
note 6, p. 36.

To have a Hy to every-body, 232 — to call after, — to have some-what

to say to : — Heus ! Heigh Sir ! You Sir ! [haay !] (very common),
applied to gossips and forward women, ' ready to talk to any man
that comes along.'

Jaioing, 307 [jau'een], mouthing, growling.

The Jibb, 249, a Stiller to fix a Barrel of Liquor upon, [jiib], the
only name in use for a cask-stand.

Ill hearty, 103 [ee'iil aar'tee], unhealthy, ailing, delicate (very
common).

The lit, 409, the spayed female Pigs. (Obsolete, both word and
custom.) This word was formerly gilt or yilt. The Prompt. Parv.,
p. 194, has Qylte. idem quod Gdlte (nefrendus) ; and adds in a note :
'Bishop Kennett in his glossarial coll. gives "gaits and gilts, boar-
pigs and sow-pigs, from old Dan. gallte, porcus." .... Any female
swine is called a gilt in Stafiordshire.'

Jowering, 21, 309, Geowring. See Geoioering.

Ise, 17. See Es. I believe this form of ego does not and never
did exist. I'ze means I has = I have, but it is not Western. I
have been told by educated people that ise is still used for ' I will,'
or rather ' I shall,' = I s', but I can find no sign of it, and I think it
is the literary dialect of Shakspere and Ben Jonson, which has been

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 137

taken to be infallible — and hence if the form is not used, it ought to
be. Professor Skeat agi'ees with me that it is no more than ' con-
ventional play-writers' slang,' and says that it occurs also in a song
in ' Two Noble Kinsmen.'

Jump, 107 [juump], a loose jacket or slop, a man's garment, and hence
the piquancy of the abuse ; called now a jumper.

The Kee, 110, 202, 409, the Kine, or Cows, [kae'ee]. This is
a common pronunciation. In the singular it is a coiu [kae'ee] — coivs
are [kae'eez].

Any Keendest Things, 210, 293, any Kind of Thing,— all Sorts of
Things, ever so much, [kee'ndees] (very common).

Keeve or Kieve, 249, a Mashing Tub. [kee-v]. This Avord generally
means the mash, i. e. the malt in process of infusion. The malt as
soon as wetted is left to stand a certain time before the mashing or
stirring takes place, and this operation is called setting the kieve. The
word kieve used alone in reference to a vessel would be understood to
mean a cider-vat, but the same utensil is constantly used for brewing,
and then it becomes the mashing-kieve [maer'sheen kee'v].

A Kep, 94, 206, 300, 516, a Cap. [kep, kp]. This is still the usual
pronunciation in N. D. and Exmoor district. Spelt kepp, 1. 94.

Kerping, 308, 638, Carping, [kyuur'peen] (very common), discon-
tented, grumbling.

Kesson, 232, 297, 512, 534, Christian, (Obsolescent; now Mrsteen.)
See note 18, p. 57.

A Kickhammer, 279, a Stammerer, [kik-aani'ur] (very common), no
longer a stammerer, but an insignificant, bumptious little upstart.

Kiver^d, 156 [kuvurd], covered.

A Labb, 3, 459, 623, a Blab, [lab] (common).

' Labbe, or he that can not kepyn non counsel.'

Prompt. Parv., p. 282.

' Quod tho this sely man, I am no labbe,
Ne, though I say it, Li'am not lefe to gabbe.'

Chaucer, ' Miller's Tale,' 1. 3506.

To Lahbe, 306. I am quite uncertain as to this word. I assume it to
be pronounced lab'ee, and if so it might mean let be (obsolete).

' Hee'l purchase induction by simony,
And offers her money her incumbent to bee,
But still she replied, good sir, la-bee.
If ever I have a 'man, square cap for me.'

Cleaveland's Poems, a.d. 1561 (Nares).

138 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

To Lace, &c., 80, 81, 346. — See below in the Note subjoined to this
Page, [lae-iis] (very common). Implies the use of some pliant instru-
ment; the word would not he used to express a di'ubhing with the
hands or fists. The words referred to below are not all synonymous,
and are therefore inserted separately, if in the text. Some imply a
particular kind of beating, others the use of some weapon or instru-
ment, others that no other weapon than hands or fists is used.

To Lackee, 199, to loyter, or be long lacking or wanting from Home.
£laak-ee] (very common). The word ivant is scarcely ever heard in
the sense in which it is used in ht. Eng. — I ivant is always / lack or
do lackee. Doa-iin laak Mt tarn mun-eets tu dree u kkcuk, ' It wants but
ten minutes to three o'clock;' lit. {It) dont lack hut.

To Lamb, 346 [laam], to beat, with or without instrument. See Lace.

Lamps'd, 127, Lamed, or disabled by a Wound or otherwise : vel ab
A. S. Lama claudus, debihs, enervatus ; vel a Lat Barb. Lanceatus.
Vide Or. J. Vossium de vitiis Sermonia, Lib. 4. Cap. 12. (Very rare.)
This word is spelt lams'd in the text, but there can be little doubt of
its being the old lampass, a disease common to horses, here verbahsed,
like rheumatised, spavined, &c.

'BiondeUo. His horse .... besides, possessed ivith the glanders, and
like to mose in the chine, troubled ivith the lampass, infected tvith the
/as/wo?is.'— Shakspere, ' Taming the Shrew,' Act iii. sc. 1.

Lant, 407 [Ian], land, i. e. freehold property as distinguished from
any other tenure. It is still very usual in speaking of a farm or any
piece of ground, 'he'v a bought in the Uves and made land of it,' i. e.

' he has paid for the enfranchisement. A very common saying of a
man who has an unattractive daughter is ' her's land to un,' meanmg
that there is no more chance of her being removed from her home
than a piece of freehold, or that in her he has an abiding tenure.

Laping or Leeaping, Leaping. (Not dialect.)

Lathing, 189, Invitation. [laa-theen]. Kennett says this is a
Staffordshire word, and Halliwell says it is still in use. I beheve it
is to be heard in N. Dev., though rarely.

LecJcer, 287 [laek'ur], drink. Quito another thing from Lechers.

Lechers, 183 [laek'urz], mixtures, or compounds of fluids for medicinal
purposes. To express ordinary drink the word is singular — laek'tcr,
Uquor. I have heard a sick person ask for mi laek-urz, meaning my
physic.

' Hilt mo-d he do ine kende ivater,
And non o^per Hcour.'

WiUiam of Shoreham, 'De Baptismo,' 1. 13.

Ne mede, ne for\ie, no o]>er Hcour

\>at chaunge]p wateres kende.' — Ibid, 1. 22.

Nute,— To Lace, to Lam, to Lick, to Linse, to Liquor ; as hkewise to baste, to
cottou, to curry, to di-ub, to diaim, to fag, to tan, to thong, to thresh, totoze,
to trim, cuiu niultis aUis,— are metaphoricaUy used to signify,— To give a
sound Beating, and want httle or no Exphcation : It was therefore thought
needless to insert them under their several Initials, but only to hint thus
much conceruiug them.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 139

' Ac ^yf per luer y-mengd licour
0]per wid kende watere
Jch wo-^t tvel ]>rinne to cristnye
Hit nere ne/ur j^e betere.' — Ibid, 1. 42.

* And bathed every vein in such licour
Of tvhich virtue engendred is the flotver.^

Chaucer, ' Prologue,' 1. 3.

Lee, 150, 201, 510 [lee, oftener lai-], to lie. See note 1, 1. 151.

The Leer, 355, the Leer-Ei"bs, — * He gave him a Fulch under the
Leer,' i. e. in the Hollow under the Eihs. See Fulch. jlee-ur], the
raost usual name for the flank between the ribs and the ' pin ' or hip.
In speaking of animals that part is always called the leer (very-
common).

Licic, 71, 513, 561 [lik], a blow with the band ; no implement under-
stood.

Lick, 22G [lig], like.

Lipped, 1 8, to be let pass ; to be loose and free ; and sometimes the
breaking out of the Stiches in Needle-work, or the like. [I think
this should be ' lat dhu lap ut,' i. e. slip it = get off] (obsolete as used
in the text, but common as in the last definition).

List [liist]. See Meat-list.

Lit, 561, 576, 589 [leet], little (still used, but rare). See note 6,
p. 103.

Live, 235 [luyv], life."

Lock ! 1, 137, 520, G18, What ! Heyday ! Alack ! Lo ! ab A. S. Locan
(sic), to look, [lau-k !] (very common). This is a quasi oath — a variety
of Lor !

Loblolly, 189 (so call'd, perhaps, quasi Lubber-lolly, as being the
Broth of the Country Lubbers ; or rather Laplolly, because it may be
lapp'd up and eaten without a Spoon) an odd Mixture of the worst
Kind of Spoon-meat : The Word is also sometimes used for thick Beer,
[laub-laukee] (common). This word is applied to any of the milk
compounds or puddings, such as junket, blanc mange, syllabub, &c.

Lolhjpof, 273, a common epithet, meaning booby, softy.

Lonching, 64, quasi Launching, or making long Strides, [lau-ncheen]
(rare, still heard).

' Who lakes to the lefte syde, ivhenne his horse launches,
With the lyghte of the sonne men myghte see his lyvere.'

' Morte Arthure,' 1. 2560.

' That long-legged felloio comes launching along. ^

Forby, Gloss. E. AngHa.

Long-hanged, 30, 121, 158, 238 [lauug-an-jud]. See Hange. This
epithet means long-bodied ; it is still very common.

Lounging or Lundging, 160, leaning on any Thing, such as a Gate or
Stile, like a lazy Creature that hath nothing else to do. [luun'jeen]
(very common). Spelt hinging in the text.

140 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Loustree, 216 (obsolete). See L/ustree.

To Lustree or Lewstery, 291, to bustle and stir about like a lusty-
Wench, [leo'stree] (common).

Ly, 513 [laa-y], to strike, to beat ; a weapon is rather implied in the
use of this word.

To Make-Wise, 12, 292, 593, to pretend,— to make as tho' Things
are so and so, when they are not. [mak wuyz], to feign, to pretend,
to make beUeve, to counterfeit (still very common). Used also for
pretendinxi, as Ee paast ulau'ng mak ivayz u ded-n zee mu, ' He passed
along pretending he did not see me.'

' Besides to make their admonitions and reproofs seeme graver and of
-more efficacie, they made wise as if the gods of the luoods .... should
appeur and recite those verses of rebuke.' — Puttenham, 1. i. eh. 13, p. 24
(Nares).

Maid, 568 [maayd], girl ; the only word ever heard in common talk.
Oirl [guurid], if used, is fine, for gentlefolks' ears.

The Malls, the Meazels. (Obsolete.)

Marchantahle, 329 [maar"chuntubl], perfect, fit for sale; thence applied,
by the bucolic mind, to state of health. Nort marchantahle means
' nothing to boast of (stdl very common).

Marl, 130, 207, 214, 269, 628, a Marvel or Wonder, [maar-ul] (com-
mon). See notes, 11. 130, 606.

Marrahones, 268 [maar*uboa"unz], knees (very common).

Meacli off, 469 [mee"ch oa'f], to slink off, to play the truant. Meaclier
[mee'chxir], a truant (very common). See note 9, p. 92.

' Some meaching rascal in her house.'
Beaumont and Fletcher, ' Scornful Lady,' Act v. sc. I.

' Ophelia. What means this, my lord?

Hamlet. Marry this is miching malecho ; it means mischief

Shakspere, ' Hamlet,' Act iii. sc. 2.

Talstaff. Shall the blessed sim of heaven prove a micher and eat
blackberries.' — Ibid, ' 1 Henry IV.,' Act ii. sc. 4.

The Prompt. Parv. has ' Mycliyn, or pryuely stelyn smale thyngys.^

Mearty, 547, mighty (common).

Meat-list, come to my, 560, i. e. Stomach, Appetite, [mai't, always]
(common phrase).

Meazels, 30, 49, 104, 186, Sows or Swine. [Obsolete. Spelt
meazle, 30. I doubt if it meant sivine, as here stated. In ' The
Stacions of Eome,' Vernon MS., ab. a.d. 1370, ed. Eurnivull, E. E.
T. S., 1. 247, of the Emperor Constantine we read —

^ A . Mesel /orsojje, we fynde he was.
Til crist sende him ' of his gras.^
Pope Siluestre ....

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 141

1. 255. pat \>e water ivesch ' a-wey Ms sinne

And al ]>€■ fiil}pe ' pat he luas Inne.'

Here the word clearly means leper. See also ' Piers the Plowman,' ab.
A.D. 1370, ed. Skeat, Pass. X. 179. Chances nses both mesel, a leper,
and meselrie, leprosy — ' The Persones Tale' (De Ira). From the con-
nection in the text with long-hanjed the glossarist probably concluded
the word to mean sow, but he might just as well have put cow. Prof.
Skeat reminds me that the dictionaries confound ineazel, leprosy, and
measles (see Webster), which are totally distinct.

Me7i, 270. See Min.

Mencing, 22, 568, 638 [miin'seen], raincing, affected (very common).
Spelt also mincing, 1. 22 in the text. See Isaiah iii. 16, ' ivalkiny and
mincing as they go.'

Merst (obsolete) = mightest. I. 10, the he is here, as it still is very
commonly, omitted. See W. S. Gram., p. 57.

Mickled with the Cold, 277 (a Lat. micare, tremere,) (?) shrunk'd
up and benumb' d, the same with Steev'd, which means also stiffen'd
and benumb' d. (Obsolete.) The glossarist has here given a good
example, quite unconsciously, in the word shrunk'd, of the addition ot
the redundant weak inflection to the past participle of a strong verb.
See W. S. Gram., p. 48.

Mlddle-hanes, 632, 636 [miidi bae'unz], middle-bands, the waist (rare,
but not obsolete).

Min or Mun, 224, 268, for Them; as 1. 266, 'When tha dost zey
mun,' i. e. when thou dost say them. — and 1, 419, 'A Puss to put min
in,' i. e. a Purse to put them in. — Mun is also used vocatively for Man,
and sometimes even in speaking to a Woman, 1. 335, but then it seems
rather to mean mannus, for the which the Saxon Word was also man ;
thus 1. 397, ' chave an over Arrant to tha, mun.' — i. e. I have an im-
portant Errand to thee, my little Hobby. — See the Word Over,
explained in p. 143. [mun] (common in both senses here given). See
W. S. Gram., p. 37.

Moil or Moyle, 64, 502, a Mule. (Obsolete.)

' Pyrgus. Sir, Agrippa desires you to forhear him till the next iveek ;
his moils a7-e not yet come up.'- — Ben Jonson, ' Poetastes,' Act i. sc. 1.

See also Beaumont and Fletcher, ' Scornful Lady,' Act ii. sc. 1.

To Moily, to labour like a Mule, to be an incessant Drudge. — ' I
have toiled and moiled all Day,' i. e. I have had a very hard and
toilsome Day' s Work, [many 'lee] (common). Prof. Skeat doubts if
there is any connection between a mule and to moil. Nares says,
' Probably from moile, a mule, being an animal very useful for labour.'

More an^ zo, 63, 140, 195, 499 [moo'u.r-n zoa], moreover (very com-
mon).

MuUad or Mulled, 167, 377, closely rubb'd and tightly squeezed,
[muwlud], pulled about, mauled, tumbled about.

Muggard, 194, 313, and Muggaty, sullen and displeas'd, at a real
or suppos'd Affront, [muug-urd] (obsolescent). Way, in the Prompt.

142 SPECIMENS or ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Parv., refers to" this word as in the Exmoor dialect, and seems to con-
nect it with muglurd, a mjcjgarde. It is easy to conceive of a niggard
as sullen and morose.
Mulhj, 381 [muw-lee], to pull about, to handle overmuch (common).

A Mulligrub Gurgin, 185, 237, a Meal Gruh that feeds only upon
Gurgins or Gurgians, the coarsest Kind of Meal, and the common
Food for Hounds, [muul-igruub guur'geen] (epithet still used).

A Mum-Chance, a Fool dropt as it were by Chance, or by the
Fairies ; or One who is for the most Part stupid and silent, and never
speaks, at least not to the Purpose, but by mere Chance, [muum*-
chaans] (common).

' TFJiat would yoii, Imve a body stand like mum-chance, as if 1 did'nt
;t„^,{; 2 '_« Unnatural Mother,' 1698 (Nares).

Earlier in the seventeenth century the word meant a kind of game
played with dice or cards, in which silence was an essential part ;
hence it came to mean a person stupidly dumb.

Mun, vide supra Min.

A brocking Mungrel. — See Brockiiig.

Murt, 468, 473, might (obsolete).

Mux, 204, Muck or Dirt, [muuks] (very common), mud, the ordi-
nary soft ordure covering of a farm-yard. See Pilm.

Muxy, 7, 153, 500, Dirty, Filthy. [muuk-see] (very common),
muddy, deep in mire ; also, as in the text, plastered with the contents
of a farm-yard.

The Natted Yeo, 210 (for ISTotted, or ISTot-headed, because without
Antlers,) the Ewe without Horns, [naut'ud yoa]. This term is
applied to both sheep and cattle. A sheep without horns is a ' nott; '
a cow without horns (a distinct breed) is a ' nott bullock.' In the dis-
trict of Exmoor the sheep are still, as they were then, nearly all
horned, and an ewe without horns would be an exception, hence we
find Wilmot in the text speaking of the natted yeo as one in particular,
and therefore to be specially described as natted.

'.Sweet Sirope I haue a lamb,
Newly iveaned from the dam,
Of the right kind, it is notted.'

Drayton, ' Muses Elysium,' NjTuph 2.

The word in Chaucer's 'Prologue' (1. 109), which in modern
popular editions is 'translated' nut-head, and so is senseless, should
be nott-head, i. e. close cropped.

Nether, 149 [naedh'ur], another.

The Niddick, 24, 555, the Nape or hinder Part of the Neck.

[nudik] (common).
Nif 12, 162, 195, 196, 198, 208, 221 [neef], if. This is still the

AN EXMOOK SCOLDING AND COITRTSHIP : GLOSSARY, 143

common, indeed the nearly invariable, form ; i. e. mi if, so common
in old writers.

A Ninniwatcli, 36 (q. d. the Watch of a Mnny or Fool,) a foolish
Expectation, — vain Hopes or Fears, [nun'ewauch] a state of great
excitement (very common).

Norf, 621 [noaurt], nought, nothing. Still the invariable pronuncia-
tion— the r very distinct.

Now-reert, 31, 140, 210, 255, 488 (i. e. now-right,) just now. [naew
ree'urt] (obsolescent).

Odds, 294 [audz], ditference. See note, 1. 294.

Ort, 10, 119, 160, 197, 253, 575, 635, sometimes us'd for Ought, or
Aught, any Thing ; at other Times for Oft, often, as in 1. 253. [oa'urt],
always thus pronounced when meaning ought or anything, but it is not
now used for often. This is quite a different word from oris, leavings.

Ount, 25 (pronunciation obsolete). The use of this word does not at all
imply relationship. It is the ' aunt ' of Shakspere, and is equivalent
to the Cockney Mother — ' Mother Shipton,' ' Mother Eedcap,' &c. ; and
simply denotes an old person.

Over, is frequently us'd to express over great, material, or important ;
as ' he hath an over Mind to such a Thing,' that is, a great Inclination
to it : — An over Errand, an important Message. — See Min or Mun, as
explain'd in P. 141. [oa'vur] (obsolescent in this sense).

Ovore, 14 [uvoa'r]. This is the same word as is elsewhere spelt
avore, but the meaning in 1. 14 is slightly different — here it means to the
front. The passage means ' whether he would come forward or no.'

' Pan. My ancestor To-pan, heat the first kettle drum
Avore hun, here vrom Dover on the march.'

Ben Jonson, ' Tale of a Tub,' Act i. sc. 2,

To take Owl o', 162, 310 (i. e. to take unwell of it) to take it ill,
or amiss. (Obsolete.) Perhaps the phrase survives in the very
common saying, ' / do live too near a 'ood, vor to be a frightened by a
Oivi:

Pad, 113 [pad], a bundle of yarn consisting of twenty-four small
sHpes or hanks, each consisting of four skeins, each skein measuring
360 yards ; consequently a pad of yarn always contained the same
number of yards, whatever its size or weight. Before the days of
machinery, but far into the nineteenth century, the country manufac-
turers gave out wool to the peasants to be spun at home, and the size
of the thread required was noted by ordering the pad to be spun to a
certain weight, or in other words — 24 X 4 X 360 = 34,560 yards, to
be got out of so many lbs. of wool. In some factories even now this
mode is still retained, and instead of sijinning 20s. or 30s. they spin at

144 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

SO many lbs. per pad. This word is not to be confounded with |5cr/, a
basket, used by Tusser, Eay, and otters, as also in the Norwich. Fed-
market.

To Paddle, 5, 374, 511, signifies not only to dabble in the Water, &c.
but also to make too free with Liquor, or to drink freely. [See the old
Song of the swajjijing Mallard,

' And as the Mallard in his Pools,
So we will paddle in our Bowls.']

(Obsolete in this sense.) The act described in 1. 374 et seq. seems to
have been quite in keeping with the manners of the period, as shown
by the following :

' It is not becoming a person of quality, when in company luitli ladies,
to handle them roughly, to put his hand into their necks or hosoins, to kiss
them by surjjrize, &c. ; you must be very familiar to use them at that
rate, and unless you be so, nothing can be more indecent, or render you
more odious.' — 'Eules of Civility,' a.d. 1678, p. 44 (Nares).

To Palch along, 201— To Stalk, or Walk on softly,— To Palch, also
signifies to patch or mend Clothes, that is to put a Palch or Palliage
on them ; from the Word PalUate, which signifies either to disguise
or to patch up a Matter. (Obsolete.)

A Pan-crock, 156, 215, a little Earthen Pan. [pang-krauk] (very
common). This word is also still used occasionally for a skirt or j^etti-
coat. This must be its meaning in 1. 15(5, as an earthen pan covered
with briss and buttons would be scarcely probable. The word must be
pank-rock. I cannot account for the k sound, but submit that ptui-
rock would be quite intelligible. The Prompt. Parv. has ' Fane of a
furrure.' ' Fanne, a skinne, fell, or hide.' — Cotgrave. Again pame
is the ordinary name of the flannel wrapper with which babies are
covered, not especially, as Halliwell says, when they are ' going to be
christened.' Nares gives pane, an opening or division in parts of a
dress. ' A pane of cloth, panniculus.' — Coles.

' He ivare jerkins and round hose.
With laced panes of russet cloath.'

Eynes ' Moryson,' Part ii. p. 46.

* Fastidious. Strikes off a skirt of a thick-laced satin doublet I had,
lined luith four taffatas, cuts of tiuo panes embroidered ivith pearV —
Ben Jonson, ' Every Man out of his Humour,' Act iv. sc. 5.

Beaumont and Fletcher, Minsheu, Massinger, Warton, all speak of
'pajied hose,'' which seems to have meant striped; hence a pan-k-rock
may have been a striped petticoat. Germ, rock.

Prof. Skeat says, ' Perhaps ^an^'-rocZ; = pant- rock = pan'd-rock,' ■

To Pank, 48, to pant, [pangk] (always thus). A man who saw a
locomotive for the first time exclaimed, ' Lor ! how a panketh ! '

Parbeaking, 1 48, Belching ; — perhaps a Corruption of Parbreaking,
vomiting, — stomachosus, facile in Iram prorumpens. [paarbai'keen]
(very rare).

' Her filthy parbreake all the place defiled has.'

Spenser, 'Faerie Queene,' B. i. c. i. st. 20.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 145

Pawed, 217 [pau'd], dug or beat with the fore-feet.

Peels, 428, for Pillows, [pee-ulz] (generally so pronounced still).
See note 9, p. 88. ' Feel is the older word.' — Skeat.

Pennet, 172, a little Pen, a Sheep or Cow-Pen. (Obsolete), a cow-jjen
is always now a jjiwe [puyn].

Pefha, 261. See Pitha.

Pick prates, 221, to tell tales (still used),

Pilm, 83, 84, Flying Dust : hence in P. 16, 'I'll make thy Boddice
pilmee,' means, I'll thresh thee so as to make the Dust fly out of thy
Boddice. [pul'um] (very common). See Briss. I have seen in some
local Society' s Transactions, I think, but cannot find it, a story of a
witness who was asked by a Judge what he meant by pillum. ' Pillum,
my lord, ivhy thafs mux a droiv'd.' Judge, in despair : ' But what is
that ?' ' What mux a drow\l, my lord ? Oh ! that's pillum a ivet.'

Pinchvart, 111, or Pinchfart, a miserly N'iggard, who pinches and
saves that which is not worth Half a Fart-hing. [punchfaart] (very
common). Cf. Prompt. Parv. ' Pynchar, nyggarde.'

To Pink, 2.56, to push. — In the Pra^ter Tense pung, as 'he pung me,'
i. e. he push'd me. [paeng], ping is the word now used (rare). The
idea is rather to prod or to push with some instrument, as pitchfork
or broom, and the glossarist seems to consider it the same as to pink,
which means to pierce or stab, as ' To pinh a man,' i. e. to run him
through. Shakspere speaks of ' her pink'd porringer ' (' Henry VIII.'
Act V. sc. 3), and of- ' pumps . . . all unpink'd i' the heel' ('Tam.
Shrew,' Act iv. sc. 1), which evidently means jnerced with holes. The
pung'd of the text is another good example of the super-addition of
the weak inflection to the strong verb. See Mickled, alsoW. S. Gram.,
p. 48.

To take Pip, 162, 310, 468, and meaeh off,— See P. 92— to take
amiss, or be out of humour, and so steal away. (Obsolete.)

Piping, in 1. 148, means wheezing. — 'A parbeaking and piping
Body' — a Person subject to belching and wheezing, [puypeen] (very
common). Of a person with a short hecking cough it is often said,
' Her'v a got the pip.' The well-known gaping disease of chickens is
always called the pip>. ' Pyppe, sekenesse.' — Prompt. Parv. ' Pyppe,
a sickenesse, pepye.' — Palsgrave. ' C/iervel, y-dronkyn ivith muls, oftyn
for-do]) ]pe pippe.' — Arundel MS. 42, fo. 66.

Pistering, 297, a Word which whenever used, is always joined with
Whisturing, i. e. Whisj^ering, (as in P. 56) perhaps from the French
pester, to rail at, or tell Tales ; and so Whistering and Pistering must
be understood to mean telling Stories to the Disadvantage of others
in Whispers, or with an Air of Secrecy, [pus'tureen] (common), a
m.ere pleonasm, still used only in connection with whistering, adding
nothing to the sense, but only a further onomatopoeia, to represent
the sound of whispering.

Pitha, 57, 132, 137 [pidh-u, piidh-u; now pronounced piidh-ee],
prythee ; very commonly used, but no r is ever heard in the word.
See W. S. Diah, p. 20.

146 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Pixy, 130, pigsnye, a Fairy. — (ab Islandic. Puke, Daemon.) — Tee-
heeing Pixy, P, 38. Laughing Fairy or Goblin, [pik'see]. The
well-known ' little folks ' or faii-ies are still firmly believed in. Tbey
are known in the West only as Pixies. A very common expression is
' Plaze Grod and the Pigs,' the latter word being no doubt a corruption
of Pixies. Hence we have pixy-stools, fungi; jnxy-rings, in the
pastures ; pixy-ivording, or hoarding, in the orchards ; pixy-rided, to
guard against which a horseshoe is nailed against the stable-door.

' Thee pixie-led in Popish piety.''

Clobery, ' Divine Glimpses' (1659), p. 73.

Plat-vooted, 56, broad and flat-footed, [plaat-veot'ud] (very com-
mon). The word is now used to imply splay-footed, also shambling in
gait.

To Plim, 67, 513, to swell up, as new Bacon, &c. in dressing. — 'Chell
plim tha,' 1. 67 — i. e. I shall or will beat thee, so as to make thee swell
like a young Fowl put to the Fire : — So to make the Cheeks plim, is
to beat them so as to make swell and look plump, [plum]. This
word is still constantly used to express the thickening or swelling
process caused by boiling rice, flour, or pease ; hence any person or
animal becoming fatter is said to plim. Compare plump.

Podger, 248, a Platter, Avhetber made of Pewter or Earthen Ware ; but
the foi-mer is generally term'd a Podger-dish, and the latter a cloamen
Podger, or frequently a Podger without any Distinction, [pauj-ur]
(obsolescent).

Pointee, 629 [pwauyntee], to appoint, to make known (common).

To Pomstery, 26, to use Slops or Salves, and play the Empiric and
Quack, [paum'sturee] (obsolescent). Compare pomander.

To Poochee, 188, 192, 311, to make Mowes or Mouthes, or screw up
the Mouth like a Pouch, [peo'chee] (very common), to pout, to pro-
trude the lips.

Pook, 88, a Haycock, quasi Peake or Cone ; — Cornu-Brit. Pooc, or
Punk, a Heap. See Dr. Borlase's Cornish Vocabulary, [peek], the
only name in use for hay-cock, to be heard every day.

Popelirm, 616 [poa'pleen], poking, loitering (obsolete). The word now
is ' poking,' i. e. very slow in movement, dilatory.

To Popple about, to hobble about. (Not in the text.)

Popping, 138, Blabbing, like a Popinjay or Parrot. (Common.)

' For a suretie this felowe waxeth all folyshe, doth utterly or all togy-
ther dote, or is a very popy ng /ooZe.' — ' Acolastus,' 1540 (Halliwell).

To Potee, 216, to push with the Feet. [poa"utee] (very common).
This word means to struggle and kick with the feet while lying down
— it would not be applied to the kicking of a standing animal or
person. A sheep while being shorn is said to poa'utee ; a bed-fellow
who kicks is said to poa'utee.

' Com. poot, to kick like a horse.' — Williams's * Corn. Diet.'

• Welsh, pivtio, to prick.' — Eichard's ' Welsh Diet.'

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 147

' Pivtio, to butt, to thrust.' — Williams's * Corn. Diet.'

This very common word seems to be a veritable Celtic relic.

To Powt, to thrust out the Lips and swell the Cheeks in Token of
Anger, [puwt] (very common). (Not in the text.)

To Prink, 22, 109, 567, or prinkee, to dress fine, or set one's self off
to the best Advantage, [pringk, praengk] (common),

* To he prinkt up, to he drest up fine or finical like children or vain
luomen.' — Lansdowne MS. No. 1033 (HaUiwell).

PriU'd, 194. See A-priU'd.

To Pritch, 193, 244, to prick Holes in ; — to make Holes for the Wires

in the Leathers of Wool-Cards, [purch] (in daily use). At present the
word is chiefly used to express the punching of the nail-holes in horse-
shoes. The instrument used is called a pur'cheel or priich'eel, written
pritchel.

Puckering", 277, in Eolls and Wrinkles, — all zig-zag and awry,
[puuk'ureen] (very common). This word is chiefly apphed to sewing.
If two edges of cloth are sewn together unevenly, so that one is
wrinkled while the other is smooth, the work is said to be puckered.
To pucker is to sew as described.

Pulchtng, 616. See PalcJi. Stalking about very deliberately.

To Pummel a Person, 80 — to beat him soundly, — to box him.
[puum'ul] (very common). This word implies the use of fists only —
no weapon.

Pung, 256. See Ping (? Pink).

To Purt, 21, 163, 309, purtee, or be apurt, — to sit silent or sullen,
[puurt] (common). See Ajmrt.

Puss, 419 [puus], purse. Still always thus pronounced — precisely the
same sou.nd as in fuss.

To Putch, 33, 71, to pick up Corn or Hay to the Mow or zess with a
Pitch-fork. See Zess. [puch]. This word still means not merely
to take up hay or corn on or with a pitchfork, but to load it on the
wagon in the field, or from the wagon on to the rick or the zess. This
is accounted the hardest work in the hay or harvest field, and is the
post of honour for the ablest man. Hence we infer a kind of compli-
ment to George Furze, 1. 32.

To put vote, 467, to put forward, a phrase used in a variety of ways.
To put vore work, is to set it on, to start it ; to put vore any animal or
thing, is to exhibit it, or to place it in front of something else. In the
text the use is quite vernacular.

Qualify, 227 [kwaul'ifuy], to bear witness, to testify.

Quelstring, hot and sultry, or sweltry. (Common.) Not in the
text. See Squelstring.

L 2

148 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

duerkin^, 43, the deep slow breathing of a Person in Pain ; a Ten-
dency to groaning, [kwuur'keen] (very common), complaining gener-
ally of ill-health, croaking, grunting.

Rabble-rote, 222, a Eepetition of a long Story ; — a Tale of a Tub.

(Obsolete.)
Racing, 63, 308, raking up old Stories, or rubbing up old Sores.

(Obsolete in this sense.)

Ragrowtering, 131, 141 (from ragery and rout, tumultus) playing at
Romps, and thereby rumpling, roughening, and tearing the Clothes to
Eags; or playing the Rogue, viz. in a wanton Frolic. [ragTuW-
tureen] (common), going on the rampage.

Rtikee up, 144, 355 [rae-ukee aup], to rouse oneself as from sleep, to
gather oneself together, fig. to gird up the loins ; to move like young
cattle do after a rest, stretching, yawning (very common still). I have
very often heard, 'Why! thee didsn't rakee up avore just eight
o'clock.' See roily for remarks upon the past tense inflection, rahad.

' Benedicite he by-gan with a hoike * and hus brest knocJcede

Rascled and remed • a7id routte at ]>e laste.
" What a-wake, renk,^^ qua]> repentaunce ' "rape \ie to shryfte / " '
Piers Plowman, 0 viii. 6, ed. Skeat, E. E. T. S.

Rathe, (not rear, as Gay has it,) early, soon ; e. g. ' a leet-rather,' or
as in 1. 211, 'bet leetle rather,' i. e. but a little while ago, — a little
sooner. I would rather, i. e. I would sooner do so and so. — In
Somerset, ' Why do you op so rathe,' i. e. get up or rise so early ?
[rae'udh] (common). See Rather.

' Bring the rathe primrose, that forsaken dies,

■ • • • ■

To strew the laureat herse where Lycid lies.'

Milton, ' Lycidas.'

Rather, 211, 491 [rae-udhur], earlier ; the comparative of rathe, early.
A well-known early apple is called the Bathe-ripe. This word is never
used in the dialect to express preference, but for that zeo'ndur, sooner,
is the word ; occasionally it is lee-vtir, liefer. The use of rather in 1.
218 is a literaryism — zoonder it should be. See note, 1. 491.

' The rather lambs he starved tvith cold.
All for their master is lustless and old.'

Spenser, 'Shepherd's Gal., Feb.,' 1. 83.

Rathe-ripe Fruit, early Fruit.

A rathe-ripe Wench, a Girl of early Puberty.

' So it is no lesse ordinary that these rathe-ripe wits prevent their oion
perfection.'—RaM'a ' Quo Vadis,' p. 10 (Nares).

To Ream, 18, to stretch or strain. — Bread is said to ream, when made
of heated or melted Corn, and grown a little stale ; so that if a Piece
of it be broken into two Parts, the one draws out from the other a
kind of String like the Thread of a Cobweb, stretching from one Piece

AN EXMOOR SCOLUING AND COUKTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 149

to tlie other. — Note, Corn is said to be melted when put together
before thoroughly dried, and so heated and fermented in the Zess or
Mow. [raim], the only word in use for stretch or enlarge. The
implement for enlarging holes in iron is called a reamer [rai'mur].
Cider is said to be u-rai'md when it becomes adhesive and capable of
being stretched, i. e. when it runs Uke oil or treacle, a condition by no
means uncommon ; called also ropy.

' His full growen stature, high his head, loohes higher rise.
His pearching homes are ream'd a yard heyond assise.'

' A Herring's Tayle,' 1598 (Nares).
See Rakee.

Rearing, 106, 313, Mocking, by repeating another's "Words with Scoru
and Disdain, [rae'ureen] (obsolescent in this sense).

Keart, 128, right. — So Light is pronounced Leart; Might, Meart; and
the like Pronunciation prevails in almost all Words ending in ight,
among the Eusticks in Devon. [This pronunciation is obsolete, it is
now rai't.]

Hearting, 428, righting or mending.

Eewden Hat, 91, a Straw Hat; — a "Woman's Hat made of Rood or
Eeed, that is of Combed Straw, [ree'dn] (rewden is obsolete).

Rex or rather Rix, a Eush ; Rixen, Eushes. — The Rex-bush, 129,
284, a Bush or Tuft of Eushes. [raeks, vi'aeks, pi. vraek-sn]. In the
particulars of a sale of land (1879) one of the fields is described as
' Wrexens Plot ' (always thus).

A Rigg, an impudent wanton Girl. Minshew. [rig]. This word
now generally means a horse imperfectly castrated.

Riggee, 265, 296 [rig-ee], to act the wanton.

Rigging, 63, 130, 141, 299, acting the Wanton ; ready to bestride any
inactive Stallion, and give him a quickening Spur, [rig-een] (very
common).

* Wantonis is a drab !
For the notice she is an old rig *.
But as for me, my fingers are as good as a live twig.'

'Marriage of Witt and Wisdome,' 1579.

' Nay fy on thee, thou rampe, thou ryg, toith al that take thy 'part.' —
'Gammer Gurton' (Nares).

Riggleting, 148, Wriggling, Twisting and turning, or playing the
Eomps, and riding upon Men's Backs, [rig'leteen] (very common),
wanton, riggish.

' Enobarbus. For vilest things

Become themselves in her ; that the holy priests
Bless her when she is riggish.'

Shakspere, ' Antony and Cleopatra,' Act ii. sc. 2.

A Rigmutton-Rumpstall, 146, may sometimes mean a rammish
Eidgel ; but is generally used to denote a wanton Wench that is ready
to ride ujoon the Men's Backs : or else passively to be their Eomp-
stall. (Common epithet.) The word mutton, when applied to a

150 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

woman, whether alone or as part of a compound epithet, seems
always to have been opprobrious.

'Speed. Ay sir; I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced
mutton; and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for
my labour.' — Shakspere, ' Two Gent, of Verona,' Act i. sc. 1.

The same expression is used by Ben Jonson and others. We also
find mutton -monger used by Bellafront (' Honest Wh.') in several
places, by Webster (' Appius and Virg.'), Chapman (' May Day'), and
in ' Sir J. Oldcastle.'

Ripping, 311, taking off the Eind and exposing our E'akedness ; — or
ripping up our Character and laying open all our Faults, [rup'een]
Very commonly used in this sense, but in that case it is always to
rip up,

' They ripped up all that had been done from the beginning of the
rebellion. ' — Clarendon.

This word, when used alone, commonly means the pealing off the
bark from oak for tanning. Eipping-time is the season of spring, when
the sap is rising in the oaks, and when the bark will rim, i. e. come off
easily.

Rittling a-bed, 267, Wheezing, rattling, routing, and snoring.
(Obsolete.)

E,ixen. See above.

Rixy, 59, Quarrelsome, scolding, a Lat. Eixa (?). [rik'see], carping
(rather rare).

A Roil, 16, 31, 231, or Royle, a big, ungainly Slammakin ; a great
awkard Blowze or Hoyden, [rauyiil] (common), a scold, a loud-
tongued railer.

To Roily upon One, 1, 6, 7, 225, 340, 344, 511, to rail on him, or
traduce his Character, [rauy'lee] (very common), to abuse, to villify.
The past tense and p. part. (11. 340, 344) have the full inflection
(roilad) in the text. Compare this with all the transitive verbs in
11. 346, 347, for a striking confirmation of the rule given in W. S.
Gram., pp. 45, 76, 80, as to this inflection marking the intransitive
and frequentative form of verbs.

Roundshaving', 233, 311, Spoke-shaving, reprimanding severely,
[raewn-shee'uveen] (common), abusively scolding.

Roustling, 16, Rustling and Eattling. [ruwsleen] (sometimes heard).

A Rouzabout, 56, a restless Creature never easy at Home, but roaming
from Place to Place. Also, a Sort of large Pease, which fi'om their
regular Globosity will hop or roll about more than others, [ruwz-
ubaewt], spelt rouzeabout, 1. 55. I disagree with this definition. The
word implies a rough, slap-dash, bustling hoiden — much the same as
ronsfling, with the idea of gad-about added.

To Rowcast, 195 (i. e. to rough-cast), to throw Dirt that will stick,
[ruwkaas] (very common), properly the technical name for a parti-
cular kind of rough plastering, in which the mortar is thro-mi and
made to stick against the wall ; hence to ' throw mud ' means to abuse
with strong epithets.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 151

Rowl or Real, 2, a Revel or "Wake ; the Anniversary of the Dedica-
tion of a Church. [Ohsolete ; the word is now raevid.] Nearly eyery
village in the district still has its revel, when a kind of rustic fair ia
held, with wresthng, hell-ringing, and much drunkenness.

Rubbacrock, 56, a filthy Slattern that is as hlack as if she were con-
tinually ruhbing herself against a Boiler or Kettle, [ruub'ukrauk]
(common epithet). See Crock.

To Ruckee, 143, 269, to quat or crouch down, whether on a necessary
Occasion or otherwise, [ruuk'ee] (very common).

' But noiu they rucken in hire neste,
And resten as hem liken ieste.'

Gower, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 114.

' Thai sal for thryste the hefed soivke,
Of the neddyr that on thaime sal rowke.'

Hampole MS., Bowes, p. 198 (Halliwell).

' Have lazie wings, he ever leans, in sullen corners rucke.'

Warner, 'Alb. Eng.' p. 185, ed. 1610.

* The furies made the hride-groomes led, and on the house did rucke.'

Golding's Ovid, p. 73, ed. 1603 (Nares).

Chaucer also uses roiuhe.

Bumping, 131, 141, 568 [ruum'peen], romping. Several words spelt
with 0 are still pronounced u, as ruich = rob, j'uub = job, ruump =
romp.

A Rumple, 288, a large Debt contracted by little and little. [Somerset,
' 'Twill come to a Eumple, or breaking, at last : But Eumple in
Devon means not the same as Eupture, but a Thing ruffled and
drawn up together, as a Garment rumbled up to a Wad, with many
Plaits and Wrinkles.] (Obsolete ; the word is now riatm-^ws. ) Pro-
fessor Skeat suggests that this word means runhle, i. e. tvrinkle or
hint. See note, 1. 288.

Sar, 409 [saar], to serve, to feed. To give their food to pigs or cattle
is always to sar them. It also means to earn, i. e. to serve for— ' I
shant sar zixpence to-day, to this work.' This word is never zar. See
' Devoniensis,' p. 64.

Bart a hahed, 472 [saart u-bae'ukvid], soft or dough-baked — a very
common description of a softy.

Sauntering, 282, 283, idling, dilatory.

Savin, 183, 242 [saaveen], the well-known shrub Jmiiperics SaUna,

A Scatt or Skatt, a Shower of Rain. [There is a Proverb at Kenton,
in Devon, mentioned by Eisdon, ' When Hall-down has a Hat, let
Kenton beware of a Skatt.' See Brice's Topographical Dictionary,
Art. Kenton.] [skad] (very common). Scatt is not Exmoor but Exeter
dialect ; in N. D. and W. S. it is always scad. Here is one of the

152 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALEOTS.

eTidences that these dialogues, as well as the glossary, were written
or transcribed by a South Devoner. The proverb relating to Ealdon
(a hill near Exeter) still further confirms this.

Scatty Weather, 125, Showery, with little Skuds of Eain. [skad'ee
wadh'urj (common). The shud here is literary or else ' Shropshire '
(Skeat).

Scoarce or Scoace, 330, to exchange. ' Es Scoast a Tack or two,' P. 78,
i. e. I exchanged a Blow or two, — I swopp'd with him a Fisty-Cuff or
two. [skoaTs].

' Pan Would not miss you, for a score on us,

When he do 'scourse of the great charty to us.

Pup. What's that, a horse? can 'scourse nought hut a horse.
And that in Smithveld. Charty ! I ne'er read o' hun.'

Ben Jonson, ' Tale of a Tub,' Act i. sc, 2.

The pun in this passage would not be intelligible except in the literary
or conventional dialect of Ben Jonson, because discourse is, and I think
was, pronounced skeo's, while scoarce, to swap, is pronounced skoa'rs
or skoa-urs. The word is still used, though not commonly.

ScoUee, 260. See Skull.

Scratcli'd or a-scratch'd, 124, just frozen; the Surface of the Earth
appearing as it were scratch'd or scabby, [u-skraacht] (common).
When water shows the slightest film of ice, when the appearance is
only of lines or scratches, it is said to be scratched. ' 'Twad-n very
sharp z'mornin', I zeed the water was only jist a scratched.'

To Screedle, 224, or serune over the Embers, to hover over them,
covering them with one's Coats as with a Screen, [skree'dl] (rare, not
obsolete).

Scruhhing, 266, 271 [skruub'een], scraping, scratching, rubbing the
skin.

To Scrumpee, 188, 192, to scranch like a Glutton, or as a Dog eating
Bones and all. [ski^uum'pee] (rare), to craunch.

Sed [u-zaed], refused, prevented, hindered (still common as in the
text). See Zed.

Seggard, 108, Safeguard, a kind of outer Garment so call'd. (Obso-
lete, but not quite forgotten), a skirt for riding, to be put on over all.

' Make you, ready straight ;
And in that gown, which first you came to town in.
Your safeguard, cloke, and your hood suitable.'

Beaumont and Fletcher, ' Noble Gentleman,' Act ii. sc, 1.

' On ivith your cloak and saveguard, you arrant drab.'

' Eam Alley ' (Nares).

' The men booted, the gentleivomen in cloaks and safeguards.' — Stage
direction in ' The Merry Devils ' (Nares).

Sheen, 128 [shee'n], shine, a glimmer. Many words in long i in lit.
Eng. are still pronounced long ee.

Bhivers, 256 [shuvurz], pieces, atoms.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSARY. 153

Shoard, a Piece of broken Earthen "Ware, a Potsherd, [shoa-urd]
(very common).

To take a Shoard, 5, 511, to take a Cup too much, [shoa-urd] (very
common). Spelt shord in the text. The Prompt. Parv.has ' Scherde or
schoord, of a broke vesselle.' Potsherd was jpotsheard in early editions
of the Bible. Shakspere spells it shard.

' 1st Priest, For charitable prayers,

Shards, flints, and pebbles, should be throivn on her.'

' Hamlet,' Act v. sc. 1.

The word also means a notch or to notch — ' Thee's a shorded my
knife ; ' ' There was a gurt shord in the hedge, eens covdd drave a
wheelbarrow drue un.' As a piece of broken crockery, shord is often
used for the entire vessel ; cf. in 'taking a shord.' A ' shord o' tea ' is a
very common phrase for ' a cup of tea. '

A Shool, a Shovel, [sheoi in IST. D., shuwul in AV.S.]

ShooJing, 197 [sheodeen], shovelling. This is still pronounced sheo-leen
in N. Dev. and the Exmoor district, but shuivleen in the rest of W.
Som. Prompt. Parv. has ' Schovelyn wythe a schowelle.' This last
exactly represents the present pronunciation in W. Som. In the old
ditty, ' The Death of Cock Eobin,' the word shovel is made to rhyme
with owl :

' Who'll dig his grave ?
1, said the Owl, with my spade and showl,
And I'll dig his grave.'

Shoor and sJioor, 12, surely.

To Shoort, 112, to shift for a Living. [I never heard the word, but
this explanation does not agree with the text.]

Slmg-meazel, 186. I cannot find any certain explanation of this
epithet. Throughout W. S. the call for a pig is cheog ! clieog ! and
possibly the shug of the text may be this word. See Meazel. If I am
correct the phrase means ' measly pig.'

To Simmer, 563, to simper, like Water in a Kettle, or Broth in a
Pot, when beginning to boil, [sum'ui-] (common).

Skulking, 259 [skuul"keen], sneaking.

To Skull, 117, 228, to School; to rate or scold at. [skeol] (very com-
mon). The idl of this word is identical with the sound of bull, pull,
&c., treated at length in W, S. Dial. School is pronounced precisely
the same, and hence to scold and to school are synonymous. Spelt
scollee, 1. 260 ; scullest, 1. 228.

To Slat, 101, 248, to slit a Stick or Board lengthwise, to crack, to
throw a Thing against the Ground so as to break it ; — also to give a
Slap or Blow, [slaat]. See W. S. Gram., p. 65.

' How did you kill him ?
Slatted his brains out.'

' Marston ' (Webster).

This is precisely the expression now to be heard daily in the dialects
of N. Dev. and W. Som., except that it would be slat instead of slatted.

154 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Slop it all uj), 190 [zlaiip ut aul aup], to slobber, to eat greedily and
noisily, like a pig (very common).

Slotters, 243. See Zlotters.

Slottery Weather, Foul Weatber. [slaat'uree wadb-ur] (very
common), rainy weather.

Smuggle, 324 [zmuug-1], to bug violently, smotberingly. See Mullad
(common).

Snajipy, 257, 313 [znaap'ee], to speak very snappishly, to snub, to snap
at one (very common still). These words are spelt in the text some with
y and some with ee. In all cases the termination is the same, and
marks the intransitive inflection of the infinitive. See W. S. Gram.,
p. 49.

'King. Biron is like an envious sneaping /ros^,
That bites the first-born infants in the spring.^

Shakspere, ' Love's Labour Lost,' Act i. sc. 1.

' Bo you sneap me too, my lord ? '

Brome, ' Antipodes ' (Nares).

"Falstaff. My lord, I ivill not undergo this sneap tvithout reply.'

2 Henry IV., Act ii. sc. 1.

Sneiotli, 124 [zneo'tb], snowetb. This and hlenketh are good instances
of the idiomatic omission of the nom. case. See W. S. Gr., pp. 34, 51.

Snibble-nose, 107, or rather Snivel-nose, One wbo snuffs up tbe Snot.
— Gutted Snibble-nose, a cutting niggardly Person ; One that would
save the very Droppings of his Nose : — A common Description of a
Miser, in this County, [snub'l noa'uz] (common epithet).

Sooterhj, 463 [seo'turlee], paltry, mean.

To Sowle, 167, 377, 381, to tumble one's Cloatbs, to pull one about,
&c. See Mullad. (Obsolete.) Spelt soulad in the text. ' To pull by
the ears' (Nares).

' 3rd Servant. He^ll go, he says, and sowle the porter of Rome gates
hy the ears.'' — Shakspere, ' Coriolanus,' Act iv. sc. o.

' Venus will sowle me by the ears for this.'

' Love's Mistress ' (Nares).

The Prompt. Parv. has ' Soivlynge, or sohvynge, makynge folwe, soliuyn
or fowlyn.' It is probable that the meaning in the text is to imply
rough usage, as well as soiling.

Soze, 306, or Soace, properly for Sirs ; but sometimes spoken to a
Company of Women as well as Men. [soa"us] companions, mates ;
very commonly used, but only in the vocative case. It is probably a
vestige of the old monkish preachers, whose socii would be analagous
to the brethren of their modern successors. The word is still preserved
in the Winchester ' notion ' socius, the school term for the compulsory
companion of a boy outside the college precincts.

Spalls, Chips.

To drow vore Spalls, 178, 286, 309, to throw one's Errors and little
Flaws in one's Teeth, quasi Spalls or Chips, which fly off from the Car-

AN EXMOQR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 155

penter's Ax or Woodman's Bill :— Or to throw out spiteful Hints, or
spit one's Venom against another, quasi Spawls. [droa voaT spaalz]
(common). The spaUs here do not mean chips, as stated above — that
word is spraUs, or spraivls. I do not know the meaning of spalls, and
never heard it in any other connection than the above. See note 5,
p. 44. Professor Skeat suggests that it may mean splinter. Cf. spelk,
spellican. In Cambs. spalt means sp)lit.

Spare, 293, slow. — It also sometimes means a Tiling not constantly

used, but kept in reserve for a Friend occasionally, as a Spare-bed, &c.

[spae"ur] (very common). Spare-groiving is a constant description of

slow-growing plants.
JSpJel, 172, 174 [splut]. lliis word is used with very different

meanings in these two instances — the first meaning to run and the

second to split.
Sprey, 579, 581, sprack, spruce, and clever, [spruy] (very common).

This word impHes more litheness and activity of body than of mind.

Clever is quite inappropriate to sp7'ei/ as a Devon word, except in the

sense that a horse is clever, i. e. a good fencer ; but in Norfolk clever

would mean spry. See Ray (ed. Skeat), E. D. S.

Sproil, a Capacity of Motion, Ability to sprawl about, and be active.
See Stroil. [sprauyul ; more commonly spraui], activity, quickness
of limb. Precisely the substantive of sprey.

A good Spud, a good Gift or Legacy, such as may answer your Hopes
and Expectations. (Obsolete.) Not in the text.

To Spudlee, 217, or Spuddle out the Yewmors, 223 — to stir or
spread abroad the Embers, with a little Spud or Poker, [spuud'lee]
(very common), also to struggle. Halliwell is qiiite wrong in con-
necting this word with embers. It is very commonly used, and is
applied to several meanings. A man, just recovering from an illness,
to whom I offered a job of pulling down a bank of earth, said, ' I
s'pose I can spuddle down thick.' It is usual for farmers to say,
' Come, look sharp, and spudlee along.' In the latter it has the force
of ' bestir yourself.' In the text, 1. 217, it is used in its most usual
sense, to struggle.

To Squat down, to quat down.

Squattee, 160 [skwaut-ee], to crouch down, to sit on the heels (very
common). See Puckee.

Squelstering Weather, 276, sweltry or sultry, [skwuul-streen] (com-
mon), sweltering.

' The slaughtered Trojans, squeltring in their blood,
Infect the air with their carcasses.'

' Tragedy of Locrine,' p. 26.

A Stare-bason, 58, One that is saucer-eyed, and impudently stares one
in the Face, [stae'iir bae'iisn] (common epithet).

Stave, 134, a Staff; — also a Tree or Plank laid across the Water for a
Foot-bridge, with something of a Eail. — ' When the Water was by
Stave' (1. 134) or up by Stave, i. e. When it was so high as to cover
the Bridge, and render it dangerous to pass over. [The definition
here given is quite imaginary. The bridge was never called a stave.

156 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECI'S.

See Clam. The expression in the text is hy stave; to show the condi-
tion of the river, i. e. that it was in flood, and as deep as an ordinary-
walking- staff. At present it is quite common in the district to speak
of a river when in flood as ' stave high.'

Steehopping^, 131, 296, 568, Gadding abroad idly to hear or carry-
News : Possibly from the British Ystiferion Eve-droppings, and so may
denote the Conduct of Eve droppers who hearken for News under Win-
dows ; and so is expressive of the Talebearer's chief Employment,
viz. to carry Stories from House to House. Also, jumping and caper-
ing, [stee-aupeen]. The derivation here given is simply absurd.
Prof. Skeat suggests that stee is a way, path — hence ' going by the
way.' Cf. sty-head {i. e. pass-head) and stee, a ladder, Cumberland,
See Glossary of Cumberland (Dickson), E. D. S., p. 94. Compare also
Germ. steg. The word is very common, and is applied to any person
fond of gadding about. Not long ago I heard a woman thus described,
' Her's always steehopping about ; better fit her'd bide home and mind
her houze.'

' To climb aloft, and others to excel : ~'

That was amhition, a rash desire to sty,
And every link thereof a step of dignity.'

Spenser, ' Faerie Queene,' Bk. ii. c. "vii. st. 46.

Steev'd with the Cold, 277, (See Mickled,) quite stiff and frozen.
[u-stoe"vd] (very common).

To Stertlee, to startle, [stuur-tlee] (very common). Not used iu
this sense in the text. See Stertling Eoil,

Stertling Roil, 21, 31, a wag-tail Blowze, or one whose Motion is
directed like a Ship by the Eudder in her Stern.—' Stertlee upon the
Zess,' (as in 1. 32, 70) i. e. to act the Wag-tail there; (one that will
fall down upon her Back with the least Pufi" of Wind, [styum-tleen
rauy-ul] (still used, rare). This is quite another word from to startle,
and is differently pronounced..

Btewarliest, 569 [stiie-urlees], most careful, best managing, most
stewardly (common).

Stinned, 250 [stiind], stunned. Used sometimes for craclied — this is
probably the meaning in the text.

Stivering, 312, or Stubvering up against, Standing stiff, [stiivur-
eeu] (very common). Generally api)lied to the hair, which is said to
be all stivered vp when it is standing up on end, or of a neat-haired
person when his or her hair is ruflfied and untidy. The word is also
used intransitively in the sense of getting angry — ' Did'n her stiver
up tho', hon her yeard o' it ! ' See Busking.

To Stile Linen, 273, &c. to smooth it with a Steel, or ironing Box,
—To iron the Clothes, [stuyul]. The instrimient is still known as
the stiling iron, but I believe to stile is now obsolete.

Stomach [stuumik]. To take stomach, is to face, to dare, to brave
out (common).

' Katherine. He [Wolsey] was a man

Of an unboimdcd stomach, ever ranking
Uimself with princes'

Shakspere, ' Henry VIII.,' Act iv. sc. 2.

A.N EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 157

* Stern was his look, and full o/stomacli vain.''

Spenser.

To Stool Terras, 175, to set up wet Turfs two and two, one against
another, touching each other at the upper Part, and astrout at the
Bottom, that the Wind may blow between them, and help to dry them
for Fuel, [steoi tuur-uz] (very common). See W. S. Dial., p. 71.

To Stram, 94, 264 [straam], to beat with the fists.

A Stram, 174, any sudden, loud, and quick Sound : So (as a Verb) to
Stram the Doors, means to shut them with Noise and Violence. —
Hence a bold and unexpected Lie that greatly shocks and surprizes
the Hearer, is called a Strammer ; and hence also to Strammee,
means to tell great and notorious Lies, [straam] (very common).

To Strat, 105, 147, to dasli in Pieces ; to throw any Thing against the
Ground, &c. so as to break it off : Hence to strat the Match that is to
break it off, or prevent the intended Marriage, [straat] (common).
Spelt strad in the text, 1. 105.

A Strat in the Chops, 78, 80, 515 — A Blow in the Face or Mouth.
[straat] (very common). A blow with hand or fist only.

To Strat a Person up, — To dash the foul Water or Mud of the
Streets against him, and bespatter him therewith. (Obsolete in this
sense.) The word would now be to slat, i. e. to splash, to bespatter.

Stroil, 209 (from Struggle) Strength and Agility. — 'Thou hast no
Stroil or Docity,' i. e. no Activity nor Docility ; — No more Agility
or Motion than a Person disabled from striving or struggling,
[strauyul] (very cominon), pluck, quickness of eye and limb.

Stroil is also a Denomination of the long Roots of Weeds and
Grass, in Grounds not properly cultivated. [strauyul] (very
common), couch, twitch, triticum repens. Not used in the text.

Streaking, 47, 110, or Strocking the Kee, (i. e. the cows.) Milking
after a Calf has suck'd. [struuk'een, stroa'keen] (in constant use).
Drawing off a little milk from ewes after the weaning of the lambs ;
also partially milking a cow when it is intended to dry up the milk.
The term is applied to any female, whether man or beast, when it is
desired to take no more milk than is necessary to relieve the organs.

A good Stab, 550, 580, a large Sum of Money, whether given or
expended ; as, ' it cost a good Stub,' i. e. it was bought at a great
Price. — ' He did not give his Vote without having a good Stub,' that
is, a large Bribe. This word is still in common use in the Exmoor
district in W. Som. It is more usually sub.

A Sture, 49, a Steer ; also a Dust raised, ['stue'iir, rarely so pro-
nounced]. For a dust it is a different word, stoa'r, i. e. stir — to stir is
always to stoa'r. A very old and common saying against undue
dwelling upon the disagreeable is — 'Dhu moo'ur yue stoaT-t, dhu
wus t-1 staengk.'

Bugs ! 331 [suugz]. See note 7, p. 78. This is a variation of Zooks!

Swapping, 16, or Swopping, big, large, unwieldy ; — as the Swopping
Mallard of All Souls College in the Song, means a very large

158 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Mallard, [zwaiip'een] (very common), generally used with, and as a
comi^lement of, great or big. See Banging.

* A filcli-man in his handle, a swapping ale dagger at his hack, con-
taining hy estimation some two or three pounds of yron in the hyltes and
chape.'' — 'A CountercufTe given to Martin Junior,' 1589 (Nares).

A Swash-bucket, 57, a Wench who carelessly swashes and splashes the
Pig's Wash out of the Bucket, when she carries it to feed the Hogs :
— That this, or some such slatternly Conduct, whether of the Pig's
Bucket, or Milk-Pail, &c. is meant by this Word in the foregoing
Dialogues, seems evident ; at least that it can have no Reference or
Allusion to a Swash-buckler or hectoring Soldier, but to some mean
Office of a Woman Servant in the Country, [zwaursh-buuk'ut],
common term for a farm-house slattern. Prof. Skeat suggests that
this word ' may, after a sort, allude to swash in swash-buckler.' The
swash here used certainly denotes rough force as well as slovenliness.
Those who are acquainted with the style of genuine hedge draggle-
tails will at once perceive the full force of the epithet.

' Sam. Draw if you he men. Gregory, remeynher thy swashing hloiv.''
— Shakspere, ' Eomeo and Juliet,' Act i. sc. 1.

To Tack, 18, 101, 103, 312 (from Attaquer, Fr. to attack) means in
Devon, to give a Stroke with the Palm of the Hand, not with a
clench'd Fist, [taak] (very common), always to strike with the open
band, to smack. Infants are threatened with having their hands or
bottoms tacked. Probably tack is the same as tap.

A Tack, a Stroke so given, (very common). Not in the text.

To Tack Hands, to clap Hands, either by Way of Triumph or
Provocation ; as also in a Dance, &c. [Not in the text.]

Tackle, good Tackle, a Table well furnished. — Good Things, good
Provisions, [taakd] (very common). Applied to food in general, but
more frequently to drinkables. I have very often heard the remark
upon weak grog, or upon some experimental beverage, ' This is poor
tackle.'' Tackle not in the text.

Taclding, 11, 187 [taak'leen], food, provisions. Anything very nice
is frequently called rae'iir taahleen. Tackle is, however, the com-
moner word. Taak'lfut vur dhu keng is often heard. Tackling is the
usual name for harness.

Tacklon, in Cornish signifies a Creature (1 creatures), a Thing (1 things)
— Good Things, fit Instruments for the Purpose. [Unknown in Devon
or W. Somerset.] (Not in the text.) Prof. Skeat says — ' Cornish, tacel,
a thing, a tool ; plur. tocfow;, things. W elsh, tacyl ; -plur. taclau. Pure
Celtic, not Eng. dialect. Hence Eng. tackle, Cornish tacel, i. e. a thing,
instrument, tool, and thence the sense of tackle in English.'

Tm^, 82, 347, 514 [tan], to beat with some weapon. See Lace.

Tanbaste, 219, or Tanbase, Scuffling or Struggling. (Obsolete.)
Halliwell is wrong in giving this word as a verb.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 159

Taply. 630 (a Corruption of Timely (?), Sax. Timlice tempestive) —
Early ; betimes in tlie Morning. (Obsolete, unknown).

To Tare. See Tear.

Tachy, 21, peevish, captious, displeased on every trifling Occasion,
[taecb'ee] (very common), touchy. Here is a good example of not
dialectal but literary corruption.

' Touchy is the absurd corruption of it (tachy). It has nothing to
do with touch.'' — Skeat.

Prompt. Parv. has * Tetch'e, or maner of condycyone. Mos condicio.*

' A chyldis tatches in playe sheive ])laynlye what they meane ' (mores
pueri inter ludendum).- — Horman.

' Offritise, crafty and deceytful taches.' — Elyot.

* Of the maners, taches, and condyciouns of honndes.^

' Master of Game,' Sloane MS. 3501, c. xi.

* Sith all children he tached with euill manners'

' Piers Plowman,' B 9, 146, ed. Skeat, E. E. T. Soo.

' Alle \>yse ar teches & tokenes • to troiv vpo7i :^et,
& wittnesse of \)at luykked tverk.'
Alliterative Poems, 1360, ' Destruction of Sodom,' 1. 1049.

' And to his fadris maneris enclyne,
And wikkid tacchis and vices eschetve.^

' Occleve,' MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 279.

' It is a tacche of a devouryng hounde
To resseyve superflm/te and do excesse.'

MS. Cantab. Ef. 16, f. 157 (HalUwell). '
Bailey's Dictionary has tech for touch, marked as old. Coles has
' Titchy, morosus, difficilis. To be titchy, asperibus moribus esse.'

* Duchess. A grievous hurden was thy hirth to me ;
Tetchy and wayiuard ivas thy infancy.^

Shakspere, ' Eichard III.,' Act iv. so. 4.

' Troilus. I cannot come to Cressid but by Pandar ;
And he's as tetchy to he tvoo'd to woo,
As she is stuhhorn-cliaste against all suit.'

Shakspere, ' Troilus and Cressida,' Act i. sc. 1.

It is easy to see how from simple ' frame of mind ' the word
developed an evil significance. "Webster completely slurs over the
word as colloquial, and calls it 'vulgarly techy or tetchy;' while
Johnson says it comes from touch !

Taties, 193, Potatoes, [tae'iideez] (always so).

To Tear or Tare, 218, 292, 294, signifies (in Devon) not only to
rend, crack, or break, but also to make a great Stir, [tae'ur] (very
common). Windows or crockery are torn, while clothes are broken
[u-broa"kt]. It is very usual to hear of a person in a passion, ' Wad-n
ur in a purty tare, hon a yeard o' it ? ' or ' You never zeed nobody in
no such tare in all your U-ve.'

To Tear or tare along, 541 — to bustle through business, to be stirring
and active.— ' How do hare tare along' (p. 100) i. e. How doth she go

160 SPECIMENS OV ENGLISH DIALECTS.

on, or make lier "Way in the World ? How doth her Diligence and
Assiduity succeed ? [tae"ur laung] (common). See note 6, p. 100.

Ted, 113, or Tet, to be ordered or permitted to do a Thing ; as 'I ted
go home at such a Time,' i. e. I am to go home, &c. ' We tet not i^ufc
on our Shoes till we have them,' i. e. We are not to put them on till,
&c. [taed] (rare), bound, or under obligation. There is no idea of
being ordered in this word — it is that of being tied. Cf. ' tied to time.'
Prof. Skeat thinks ted in this phrase a p. part, of tie. The word also
means to turn or shake hay, in which sense it is a different word alto-
gether. Mr. Chorley says that a farmer would say to his man, ' Thee
tak the machine, and go and ted thick mead o' hay.'

' Then Dick and Boll, luithfork and rake,
Trudge after him, the hay to make ;
With bouncing Bess and piping John,
3Jerry as crickets every one;
Tedding, turning, cocking, raking.
And such bus'ness in hay making.
The lads and lasses siueat and fry.
As they the grass do toss and dry.'

' Poor Eobin,' A.D. 1746.

Tedious, 107 [tai'jus], aggravating (very common).

Teeheeing, 130 [tee-hee"en], giggling, tittering, silly laughing (still very
common). ' Very old.' — Skeat.

' Te he ! quoth she, and clapt the zvindoiv to.'

Chaucer, ' Cant. Tales,' 1. 3738.

' For all the tee-hees that have been broke by men of droll, or dirt that
has been thrown from daring spight.' — Fairfax, ' Bulk and Selvedge of
the World,' a.d. 1674 (Halliweil).

' But ivhen the hobby-horse did tuihy,
Then all the ivenches gave a tihy.'

Cobbe, 'Brit. Popular Antiquities, '^vol. 1, p. 207.

Teeniug, 314. See Candle-teening.

' Wash your hands, or else the fire
Will not teend to your desire.'

' Part must be kept ivhereiuith to teend
The Christmas log next years'

* Come while the log is teending.'
Herrick (author of 'Cherry Ripe'), ' Hesperides,' a.d. 1620.

' Ne luas there salve, ne tvas there medicine,
That might recur e their wounds; so inly they did tine.'

Spenser, 'Faerie Queene,' Bk. ii. c. xi. 21.

Compare tinder, tinder-box. See note 10, p. 59.

Teeninq-boftle, 287 [tee'neenbau'tl], tin-bottle. Tini&dX'^a.jstee'neen.
SeeW. S. Gram., p. 19.

Tell, 150 [tuul], to say, to speak, to talk. See notes to 11. 116, 138.

Terra or Terve, 175, a Turf, [tuur-u] (always thus). See W. S.
Dial., p. 71.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 161

Tervee, 216, to struggle and labour to get free, [tuur'vee] (common).

Tether, 139, 160, 311 [taedlrur, tuudlrur], other. See note, 1. 281.
It should be noted that although totlier may now be almost accepted
in colloquial English, as in tother day, it only occura in Early English
•when preceded by \>e, because \>e to\>er = \>et o\>er.

' Bot ]pe tu shall for pe top' dye.'

Chronicon Vilodunense, ed. Hoare, st. 236.

i. e. that one, that other. This distinction is still very much more
retained by real dialect speakers than by mere users of colloquial
phrases. The former still retain the before tother in most casea.

Tether-eend, 281 [taedh'ur ee"n], seat, Podex (very common).

Tetties, 375 (Teats,) Breasts, [tiifeez] (the usual name). Corn, tidi,
the breast, pap ; Welsh, did. Prompt. Parv. ' Tete, uber.'

Thick-lifted, 126, short winded or breathing with Difficulty, (as very
fat Persons do) — Asthmatical. [thik luf 'tud] (common), given to pant
and puff, wheezy. This word is given as thick-listed in some editions,
and so is copied by Halliwell. ( Thecklifted in the text. )

To TMr, 475 — This signifies much the same as to Dere, a Word com
monly used by Nurses in Devonshire, siguifpng to frighten or hurry
a Child out of his Senses. (Eare, obsolescent.)

Thirl or Therl, 73, gaunt and lank, thin and lean. (Obsolete.) Spelt
therle in the text.

Thoa, 355, 556 [dhoa-], then. See note, 1. 351. So used by most
old writers.

Thqf, 215, 268, 348, 628 [thau-f], though or although. This word is
always pronounced with the th sharp as iu thinJc and the ough as off ;
on the other hand trough (trawf in lit. Eng.) is invariably pronounced
troa\ See W. S. Gram., p. 94. See note, 1. 215.

* jpoii Bethleem Tuda,
fjof pou be noght ]>e mast cite,
]>ou es noght lest of dignite.'
Cursor Mundi (a.d. 1320), Visit of the Magi, 1. 97, ed. Morris.

' And dampnyd men he savedefele
l^aw \>ey weron dampnyd in }pt stounde.'
Chronicon Vilodunense (a.d. 1420), ed. Hoare, st. 277.

' And thofe the bryde blythe be
That Percy velle hase wone the gree.'

'Tho^fe Percevelle has slayne the rede knyght,
ytt may another be als wyghte.'

' Perceval,' a.d. 1453 (Halliwell).

Thong, 77, 364, 514 [dhaung], to thrash with some limp thong or
lash-like instrument (very common). See Lace.

Thonging, 6, 501 [dhaung'een], flinging or swinging the skirts or tail
by bouncing about, so as to make them resemble a great whip. The
word is most expressive, and means much more than bouncing
(common).

162 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Thort, 333 [dhairrt], thought. Still always pronounced thus— r quite
distinct as in fought. See Vort ; also note 9, p. 78.

TiUlsli, 42 [tul-teesh], uppish, touchy, ready to take offence (com-
mon). Of a horse, apt to kick.

Tiltishness, 75 [tul-teeshnees], fretfulness, touchiness, ill temper
(common).

Timersome, 59, Passionate, [tumairsum] (common), sensitive, easily
roused in temper ; also shy, timid.

Ting, a long Girt or Surcingle, that girds the Panniers tight to the
Pack-Saddle. [ting] (common), a tying, usually a long strap of raw
hide.

To Ting a Person, 72, to give him or her a tight Scolding ; or to
upbraid one with such Particulars as touch the quick, and pinch aa
feelingly as the Ting does the Belly of the Horse when tightly
buckled, [ting, more commonly ding]. The connection here assumed
with ting = a girth, is very far-fetched ; it seems to me much more
alUed to° the diiuj, dong of a persistently sounding bell. To ding a
person is to scold loudly and long.

Tirant, special, extraordinary. [See Tyrant. The explanation here
is incorrect, but, as usual, copied by Halliwell.]

Torn or Tourn, 255, a Spinning Wheel ; so call'd from its turning
round, [tuurn] (very common). The whole machine is called a turn,
quill-turn, or spinning turn. The wheel is only that part which drives
the spindle. See Pad. A very favourite description of any article
much patched or renewed by 'instalments is ' Dhik-sjis lig dh-oa-l
duunfunz speeween tuurn.'' The turn in question is said to have first
had a new wheel, then new legs, then new spindle, then new frame,
but always to have been the same turn.

Torn, 37 [tuurn], moment, instant. ' Every other turn ' is still a
constant expression for ' now and again,' or for any quickly repeating
incident. It may be taken from the spinning-wheel or from ploughing,
when at every alternate turn the plough passes by the same spot.

Toteling, 53 [toa'tleen], slow moving, inactive, dead-alive (common).

Applied also to the slow, laboured movement of aged and infirm

people.
A Totle, 120, 293, a slow lazy Person ; an idle Pool, that does his

Work awkardly and slowly.— (so call'd perhaps, q. d. Taught ill, but

Q. as to this ?) (Obsolete.)
To Totle and totee about, 253 — to totter up and down, [toa-tl]

(common). Tottle is rather a common surname.
To Towzee, 216, 291, to toss and tumble, [tuwzee] (rare). Spelt

towsee in the text, 1. 216.
To Toze, 346, 513 [toa-fiz], used in the text for to thrash, hut it

convevs the idea of twisting, or rather untivisting, as if a struggle or

scuffle had been the beginning of the fray. The common meaning is

to untangle, to loosen by pulhng. To toze out matted locks with^ a

comb is the usual expression. A knot difficult to untie must be a toz\L

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSARY. 1G3

' Autolycus. ThinJc'st than, for that I insinuate, or toze /rom thee thy
business, I am therefore no courtier?' — Shakspere, ' Winter's Tale,' Act
iv. sc. 3.

Prompt. Parv. lias ' Tosare, of wulle or other lyhe. Carptrix.*

Johnson lias ' Tose, to comb wool.''

Trapes, 65, 158, 470, 634 [trae-ups], a woman all bedraggled by-
walking through deep mud, hence a slattern (common).

Trcvpsee, 200 [trae'upsee], to walk through a wet or muddy path, and
to get all bedraggled. A man may trae'upsee drue dhu muuhs, but
he would never be called a trapes. A man said to me, ' I was a forced
to trapesee all the way to Withypool avore I voun un.'

Trem, 515 [trum], to trim, i. e. thrash or beat (still very common),
with or without instrument. See Cotton.

' An she woidd be coold, sir, let the soldiers trim her.'

Beaumont and Fletcher, 'False One,' Act ii. sc. 3.

Trest up a ground, 305 [u-triist aup u graewn], trussed up above
ground, i. e. hung (a rare but not obsolete phrase).

Trim, 86 [triim], to beat. Generally spoken in connection with
children — in that case it implies slapping with the open hand. Seo
Trem.

A Troant, 282, 283 (not a Truant or Micher, but in Dev.) a foolish
witless Fellow, and sometimes a lazy loitering Lubber. (Obsolete.)

A Trolubber, 265, or Trough -lubber, a common Labourer, Avhose
ordinary Business is hedging and ditching. [troaduub'ur] (very
common), one whose work is mostly with trowz, i. e. troughs or ditches;
hence a clownish, heavy, slouching fellow. A ditch is nearly always
a ditch-trough [deech-troa*]. ? is this the origin of troUoper and
trollop ?

Troubled, 20, 29, 439 [truubdd], afflicted. This word is still used in
connection with all kind& of disease or ailments. Uur-z u-truub'ld
wai dhu riie'maatik ; he is tvonhled with, the ary-siqj'ulees, &c. The
word has in the above sentences a frequentative meaning, eqmvalent
to ' subject to rheumatism,' eiysipelas, &c. It is also the usual word for
haunted. See note, 1. 439. A very common sajdng respecting any one
who is believed to appear after death is, ' he's main troublesome.'

Trub, 104, 106, 262, 503 [treob], a drab, a slut, a good-for-nothing,
useless wench. This is an opprobrious epithet for a woman. See Chun.
(Very rare now.)

How do you Try? 317, 327, 551— How do you find yourself]
How do you do ? — Sometimes the Salutation is, ' How d'ye hold it ? '
to which some Punsters will answer, ' In both hands when I can catch
it ; ' but the Meaning is, how do you hold or retain your Health ?
— A Nautical Term, [aew d-ee traay] (rare, but not obsolete
salutation).

Tivined, 217 [twuynud], twisted, wriggled (very common still). ]!^ote
that intransitive verbs have their past inflexion fully sounded ud. See
W. S. G., pp. 45, 77. See also Eoily.

M 2

164 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Tyrant, 5G8 [tuyrmit], a pushing, driving, bustling person. No
implication of oppression or cruelty is conveyed by this expression,
any more than in cruel good. ' Her's a tyrant for butter and cheese,'
is an every-day expression, and means that she is an excellent hand
at makiugthem. The word is only applied to women.

TJnlifty, 103, Umvieldy. [aun-liiftee] (common), clumsy, awkward.

TTpazet, 230, or ITppa-zit, opposite; set before you in full view,
[aupuzaut"]. This word has no connection with opposite. Halliwell's
definition, ' Upazet. In perfection' (copied from old Gloss., see p. 68),
is an absurd invention to complete the sense of the passage. The
phrase means up-a-set, set up in view, or exhibited as plainly as if
' Ount Sybyl Moreman ' were before you. The use of the word in the
text, though somewhat redundant, is quite in keeping with the spirit
of the dialect, and is not at all uncommon. I heard a man say of
another, whom he had recognised, ' I be so safe- 'twas he, as auf
(though) I'd a got-'n now avore me, up-a-zot,' i. e. set up for inspection.
Of. UiDzetting.

Up-reert, 151, 510 [aup-ree-urt, ofiener aup-rai't], upright. lu early
editions it is lee a rope out-reert. See notes, 1. 151.

"Cpzetting, 8, 380, i. e. Up-sitting; — a Gossipping or Christening
Feast. [aup-zut"een] (common). At present the being dressed and
ready to receive visitors after a wedding, funeral, &c., is called
' sitting up,' and the days when such visitors are expected are called
' sitting up days,'

Uze, 229 [ytie'z], use, custom, habit (still very common).

To Vag, 80, 515, to thwack, or beat one with a Eod, &c. to fag.
(Obsolete.)

To vail over the Desk, 475, a Cant Term for having had the Banns
of Marriage published in the Church, [vaal oa'vur dhu dus] (still a
common saying).

To Vang, 8, to take : — And likewise to undertake at the Font of
Baptism, as a Sponsor for a Child. — In the Prseter Vung (?). — Thus
1. 8, 'When tha vungst (and be hang'd to thai) to Eobbin' — i. e.
When thou wert Godmother (and may hanging await thee !) to Eobin.
[vang] (very common), to hold, to seize. Cf. fang. I have never heard
of viirig for the past tense, and believe it never existed ; if it did, it is
now quite forgotten. It no longer signifies to become sponsor. The
present term for that duty is to stand for [tu stan vaur]. The verb is
conjugated vang, vang{d before a vowel), u-vang{d before a vowel).
Compare Germ, fangen. See note, 1. 256. See E. D. S. Gloss. B. 14.

Varjuice, 411 [vaar'jees], verjuice; a common exclamation.

Vath, 400, 475, 553, 610, 624. See Fath.

Vath and frath ! 454 [faatli-n traath !], a rather stronger interjectional
phrase than faath ! only, = ' by my faith and troth.' The expression

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSARY. 165

is still mucli used, and in it alone is tlie word troth extant. Whether
traath is the original pronunciation, or whether it has been adapted
to match faath, is a question for students. See Fy.

Vauthe [fau"th], fault. This pronunciation is still not uncommon,
hwifau't ov fawiit are more usual. (Not in the text.)

Veaking, 42, 75, 308 (quasi Feiging, Carping ;) fretful and peevish.
(Obsolete.) The explanatory word Feiging, in all the editions, is
obsolete also.

Veest, 93 [vees, often, vuys ; jjZ^^r. vee*stez, vuystez], fist.

Vengeance, 4, 35, 207, 506 [vai'njuns], still a very common name for
the Devil. See also ' Somerset Man's Complaint,' p. 9.

' Left to conflict nakedly tvitlt hell and vengeance.'

Sogers (1642), ' Hist, of Naaman,' p. 39.

Verly bleive, 303 [vuur-lee blai* v], verily believe ; still a very common
form of asseveration. Verily is always sounded as two syllables.

Vet et, 252, 303 [viit ut], fetch it, i. e. come round, recover. This
word is altogether different from to vit meat. It is, I think (\. 252),
the p. part, of fetch. We see the word spelt vett in the ' Somerset
Man's Complaint,' p. 8, and/e^ by Chaucer. In the ' Chronicon Vilo-
dimense' the word is used frequently in different forms, in all of which
it has a form more like the modern dialectal. Fetch is now pronounced
faach or vaach. In stanza 732 of the Chron. Vilo. we read fache for
the inlin. of fetch.

' hurre soitJe ivas fate to hevene t& angels ffreJ* — st. 482.
^ Bot Seynt Ede ivas dedeforsothe hyfore
And hurre soule fatte to hevene blysse.' — st. 649.
'For hleynde men hadden \>ere hurr' sey^t
And crokette and inaymotte fatton }pere hurre hele :
Miracules weron do ]per' }pus day and ny^t
And sekemen come ];>edur mony and ffele.^ — st. 586.
'A hasyn w' wat^ )po forthe was fatte.' — st. 704.
'tweyp'stes . . . fetten l^e sAr^/Jie.' — st. 1174.

In Piers Plowman, about the same date as the above, we read :
' And of-sente hire a-swi}pe ' Seriauns hire to fette.' — Pass. III. 96.
' Freres tuith feir speches " fetten him ^ennes.' — Pass. II. 205.

Gower has :

' And ]>anne he let ]pe cofres fette
Vpon )>e lord and dede hem sette.''

Tale of the Coffers, 1. 45.
Chaucer has :

' A Briton hook, writen with Euangiles,
Was fet, and on this book he siuor anoon.'

Man of Lawes tale, 668.
See note 3, p. 8.
Vir/.;/ee, 216 [vig'ee]. See Vigging.

Vigging, 218 (See Potee.) vig, vig, vig ; used to express the Action of
iJogs digging with their Feet, in order to scratch out Fleas, [vig^een]
(this would be still understood, rare).

' The old word is fike, of which fidget is the diminutive.' — Skeat.

166 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

The Prompt. Parv. lias ' Fykin a-bowte, infra in Fyskiii.' ' FiskiS
a-bowte yn ydilnesse.'

' I praye you se lioiue she fysketh ahoute.' — Palsgrave.

'Trotiere, a raumpe, fisgig, fiskiug husivife, rauncjing damsell.'^

Cotgrave.

' Make^/eir semblaunt, & fikeS mid te heaued.'

' Ancren Eiwle,' p. 206.

' )jef flickered so mit ]pe, & fikeS mid dogge uaioenunge. '

Ibid, p. 290, ed. Camden Soc.

• And since T trotted from my trotter stall,
And figd about from neates feete neatly drest.'

'A Quest of Enquirie,' A.D. 1598 (Nares).

Vinnied or Vinnad, Finnewed, Mouldy, [viinaid] (the usual term
in every-day use), mildewed, spotted with mould, or with any defiling
matter. Cheese with green mould is always called vi'm-ud. Webster
gives this word as ' vinnewed, obsolete.'

' Many of Chaucer's imrds are become as it ivere vinew'd and hoarie
with over long lying.'— T. Beaumont to Speght, in his Chaucer (Nares).
' A souldier's hands must oft he died with goare,
Lest, Starke ivith rest, they finew'd ivaxe and hoare.'

' Mirror for Mag,' p. 417.

' A panary of ivholesome food, against fenowed traditions.' — Bible
Translator's Preface to Eeaders.

' The old moth-eaten leaden legend, and the foisty and fenowned
festival:— T)v. Favour, cited by Todd (Nares).

In Shakspere the word is ivhinid in early editions, but in later ones,
e. g. Stebbing, it is quite deflavoured and spoilt by the readmg
unsalted.

* Ajax. Speak then, thou whinid'st leaven, speak : I ivill beat thee into
handsomeness: — ' Troilus and Cressida,' Act ii. sc. 1.

'Fenne has occasionally the abstract signification of mire: In
Yegecius, Eoy. MS. 18, A. xii., Scipio speaks ' with this reprouable
scorne; ye ben worthy, to be blottede and spottede, foulede and defoidede
with fenne and with drit of water (luto inquinari) and of Mode, \>at in
tyme of iverre ne were not, ne tvolde nat be bespreynt ne be wette ivith
ennemyes blode:—Bk. iii. c. 10, Prompt. Parv. p. 155, ed. Way.

Vinny, 139, a Battle or Skirmish; and in the foregoing Dialogues
(see p. 40) a scolding Bout.— Possibly from Whinniard (?), a Hanger or
crooked Sword, used as a Defence from Assaults ; and this perhaps
derived from the Latin Vindicta (?), Eevenge: For the Word Vinny
here, cannot mean to whinny or neigh like a Horse, this being a
signal of kind Invitation, rather than garrulous Opposition. [Obso-
lete.] This derivation is far too speculative. Why may not this word
also be derived from fenn = mire; hence bespattering or befouhng
as the usual result of 'a tussle ? Cf. ' throwing dirt.' See Vinnied.

To Vine-dra Voaks, 201, i. e. to finedraAv Folks; to flatter or
deceive People by fair Speeches ;— to cut their Throats with a Feather.
[I believe it would have been pronounced faini draa vouks.] To ' fine-

AN EXMOOK SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP: GLOSSAKY. 167

dra a stoar ' (a tale) would mean to grossly exaggerate. ' Thick there
etoar's too fine a dra'd,'' is not an uncommon saying. I cannot find
any trace of the word being now used as in the text.

Vire-tangs, 72 [vuyur-tangz]. The common tongs are still called
most usually the fire-tongs. Tongs alon^ are smith's pincers.

To Vit Meat, to dress it, or make it fit to he eaten. (Obsolete.)
Not in the text. Halliwell is again absurdly wrong in copying this,
and so giving ' Vit. To dress meat.' To vit is clearly to make fit, and
is simply the transitive form of the verb, of which to vittee is the
intransitive and frequentative. A native never could have got his
mouth into shape to utter ' to vittee meat,' but he would of course have
said ' the mait will vittee.' It is evident the last century glossarist was
a native and practically knew the true meanings of the words, though
he was unconscious of the grammatical connection. See W. S. Gram.,
p. 49, et seq.

To Vittee, 57, 2G2, to go well, fitly, and successfully, [viit-ee] (com-
mon), to thrive, to get on.

Vitty, 73, 462, 464, 553, 559, 569 (quasi fifty,) apt, decent, handsome
and well, [vut-ee] (very common) ; also as an adverb — properly, in
the right manner. Spelt vittee, 1. 73.

Vittiness, 209 [viit'inees], dexterity, neat-handedness (very common).

Vlagged, 74 [vlag-ud], loose, flaccid, flabby (very common).

Vlee, 299 [vlee], to fly; so always vlee Ug u buurd, ' fly like a bird.'
Always, as in the text, fly to, not fly at.

Voar, Voor, or Vore, 286 — Forth; — Also a Furrow, [voa-r] (very
common still in all the senses found in the text).

To drow voar, 286, 309, i. e. to throw forth ; to twit a Person with
a Fault, [tu droa voa'r] (very common). See note 5, p. 44.

Voar-and-Back, 119, revers'd ; the Eight-hand Side being placed on
the Left, or what should be forward put backward : So up and-down
(in the Devonsh. Dialect) means up side-down, or inverted, [voa-r-n
baak] (very common) ; baak-n-vocfr is more usual. Spelt vore-and-
hack, 1. 119. I do not think this expression means fore or right hand
hack, or back-hand forward, as here implied — (a) because no stress is
laid on the and, which is clipped down to a mere sound of n in both
the forms I have given; and {h) because the same idiomatic form is
used to express the other positions of reversal, e. g. in-and-oid [een-
un-aewt] is invariable for inside-out, and up-and-doivn [aup-m-daewn]
for upside-down. If hand were intended it would have stress — the
right side is always called right-hand side [rai't-an'-zuyd], or left-
hand side [laft-an--zuyd] for left side.

Prof. Skeat suggests that the and in up-and-dovm, &c. , is on ; i. e.
up-on-down = up- (side) on-doivn (side). This is very probable.

Voices, 202 [voaks], folks, people. Also spelt voaken, U. 197, 385, 525,
but this latter form is quite obsolete. According to context, the word
may mean people in general or the work-people. Usually voak,^ as in 11.
291, 383, would mean people in general, while the plural, as in 1. 297,

168 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

means work-people. It is most common to distinguish men and
women, as mavn voaks, wuom'een voaks. See note 9, p. 47. Spelt
voaks, 1. 202.

Vore, 286 [voaT], for (emphatic).

Vore, 229 [voa-r], until. See notes, 11. 108, 229.

Vore-Days or Voar-Days, 122, late, or forward in the Day; the Day
being far advanced. [voaT daiz]. Be voor days in the text. The ex-
pi'ession vore-days is rare, while vore-day, or avore-day is very common.
The latter undoubtedly means ' before daylight.' Halliwell, as usual,
throws no light, but simply copies this glossary. Bosworth certainly
gives A.S. ybrS dceges, at the close of day; but I can find no passage
in later Eng. to confirm the definition of vore days given above. See
Be voor days.

Vore-reert, 50, 120, forth-right, or right forward. — headlong, without
Circumspection, [voa-r ree'urt] (rare, obsolescent); [voa'r ruyt], the
present form (very common). Spelt vore-reet, 1. 50. This word has at
present a stronger force in the dialect than it seems to have possessed
formerly, if we are to accept the definitions of dictionary makers.
Bosworth gives ' for^ riht, right forward, direct, plain;' and much
the same sense is given to the word by Beaumont and Fletcher and
by Massinger, according to Webster. The vernacular meaning is
truly given in the glossary, the idea being headstrong, unreasoning,
hence rudely blustering. The following quotations seem to imply
something approaching the force of the dialect :

' Though he foreright
Both hy their houses and their persons passed.''

Chapman, ' Odyssey,' xvii.

' Fil. Hey hoy ! how sits the wind f
Gios. Fore-right, and a brisk gale.'

' The Slighted Maid,' p. 3 (Nares).

Vurewey, 170, 354,556,558 [voaTwai, voarwai'], immediately, straight
away. This word (still very common) does not imply quite so instant-
aneous an action as lui' tha zarne. See note 2, p. 44. In some cases
this word would have just the meaning of literary fore-right.

Vorked, forked. 48, ' so vur's tha art a vorked ' i. e. so far as thou
art forked : and 1. 135, ' drade tha out by the vorked Eend ' i. e. drew
thee oiit by the forked End ; which Phrases want no other Explana-
tion, the Fork therein meant being well known : And perhaps it may
not be deem'd beside our Purpose to add, that the same Word is us'd
for the Twist or Twisael of Maiden Trees, [vaur'kud]. See W. S.
Gram., p. 81. (Common.)

Vort or Voart, 334, fought. — ' Es thort you coudent a vort zo '
i. e. I thought you could not have fought so. [vau'rt] (common).
Most words in ought have an r in them. See Thort, Nort.

Vor why ? 208 [vur waa"y], on which account, because, wherefore
(common phrase as here used).

' Al fj' vuel of Dina jj' ich spec of er, ne com nout
forSui ]>' te tvummen lokede cangliche o weopmen.'

' Ancren Eiwle,' ed. Camden Soc, p. 50.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 169

' And Siva tvald God at it siild be ;

For-wlii he sayd ];ius till Noe.'

Non peiinanebit, &c.
Eicliard of Hampole, ' Pricke of Conscience,' 1. 732.

' For sythen mans lyf hycom shorter e,
!For-whi pe complection of ilk man
Was sythen febler ]>an it tvas )pan.' — Ibid, 1. 744.

Vramp-shapen, 120, distorted, [vraamp shee-upm] (obsolete). In
tlie text this word is shaken — this is clearly an error or misprint.
Possibly the same as fra7npold,

Vreach, 282, Readily, carefully, diligently and earnestly, [vrai'ch],
actively, with, spirit (common). The idea is the same in ' the free
horse,' i. e. energetic, with all the might. I believe this is the old
word ivreche, which would be nattu'ally pronounced vr cache, like vrite,
vresile, &o.

' That may he heled with no leche,
So violent thei are and full o/wreche.'

MS. Addit. 11,305, f. 97.

* And couere me atte thai dredful day,
Til that thy wreche he y-passed aivay.'

Ibid, f. 75 (HalUweU),

' Ne do \>u nout him scheome, so jjct tu uorhowie
Wreche of his dome T; nime to pin owune dome.''

Ancren Eiwle, p. 286, ed. Cam. Soc.

Vulch, 67, 354. SeeFulch.

Vull-stated. See Full-stated.

A Vump, 86, a Thump, [vuump] (rare).

To Vump, to thump, or give one Blows with the Fist ; — also to vamp
or botch up old Clothes. (Obsolete.)

Vting, 8, 250. See Vang. Halliwell gives ' Vung, received. Devon,^
but no such word is known, or ever has been, in the dialect.]

Vustin Fume, 521, a mighty Fume, a swelling boisterous Rage.
[Vustin obsolete, fume not dialect.)

Vustled up, 107, wrapped xip ; a Lat. Fascia (V). [vuus-ld aup] (very
common). This means more than ivrapped up — it is bustled up or
hundled up, like a very loose, untidy package. B and v are constantly
interchanged, as in ruvvle (rubble), curbe (curve).

Vuzzy-park, 114 [vuuz'ee paark], the name of a field still "very
common on many hill farms. It implies a pasture field liable to be
overrun with furze or gorse. See note 8, p. 37.

Waistcoat, 155 [wae-us-koa'ut]. This was not always a man's 'gar-
ment. The short jackets still worn by peasant women, just reaching
below the waist, are still called waistcoats. Beaumont and Fletcher
speak of a fine lady wanting

170 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

A ten pound waistcoat, or a nag to hunt on.'

' Woman's Prize,' Act i. sc. 4.

The word is used for the name of a woman's garment by tliem in
several plays, also by Massinger (' City Madam ') and in ' Poor Eobin.'

Wambling, 53, a Rumbling or Commotion in the Guts ; — also waving
tumbhng or lolling a Thing backward and forward, or from Side to
Side. [waum-leen] (very common), unsteady, going from side to
side. A wheel running much ' out of truth ' is said to waum-l. A
stock for centre-bits is a waunvl stauk.

The Prompt. Parv. has 'Wamelynge, of >e stomake, idem quod
walmynge. Nausia,'

' AUecter, to wamble as a queasie stomacke dothe.' — Cotgrave.

In Trevisa's version of ' Earth, de Propriet.' it is said of mint : ' It
ah((teth tvith vynegree ixirhrakinge (q. v.), and casting, that comethe of
fcbebiesse of the vertue retentyf ; it taketh away ahhonnnacion of wam-
blyng and ahatethe the yexeing.'

To wamble in this sense is still very common, but in the text, 1. 53,
the meaning is ramhJing, like a drunken man.

Wangary or Wangery, 74, soft and flabby, [wang-uree] (very
common). This is the regular word used by butchers to express the
condition of meat which will not get solid — a very common fault in
warm weather, or if the animal was out of condition when slaugh-
tered. I heard a very respectable cook say (1879) of some meat,
' 'Twon't never take salt when 'tis so wangery.' This word is the same
as to ivang, to shake about, to be unsteady, to wag.

Wapper-eyed, 59, Goggle-eyed, having full rolling Eyes ; or looking
like one scared;— or squinting like a Person overtaken with Liquor.
— Possibly fi'om wapian. Sax. fluctuare, stupere. [waap'ur uyd]
(very common).

'Chell Warndy, 270, 281, 332, 527, I'll warrant you. [wau;rnt-ee]
(very common). It is to be carefully noted that, as explained in
note, 1. 332, the y in warndy represents ye, and the word is correctly
defined by the glossarist. Halliwell is utterly wrong in giving
' warndy, to warrant.' The word should be read as warrant-ye or
warnt-ee. To warrant (v. tr.) is warn, as ' I'll ivarn thick 'orse sound.'
Before a vowel or vowel sound the t is heard, as in ' I'll ivarnt-y,' tho
usual form of asseveration ; *. e. warrant you.

Washamouth, 138, One that blabs out every Thing at random, or
whatever happens to be uppermost, [waursh-umaewf] (common).

Wee "WOW or a-wee-wow, 275 (see note) — Waving this Way and that
Way ; prave, perverse, [wee wuw] (very common), unsteady, out of
truth, as of a wheel very loose on its axles, and so running in zig-zags.

Well a fine, 81, 269, very well. See note, 1. 81.

Well to pass, In a thriving Way, possess'd of a good Estate, or
having a competent Fortune, [wuul tu paas] (rare).

Went agen. See note 1, p. 90. Appeared after death.

Wetherly, 220. Sec p. 69 (obsolete).

AN EXiMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 171

We)/, 10, 32, 58, 72 [wai], ivith.

A Whappet, 517, a Blow with the Hollow of the Hand, [waup-ut]
(very common). The word is now whaj) [waup*].

Whare, 13 [hwae'ur, emplmtic ; wuur, unem23h.\ whether (stUl the
common form).

' Why here's all fire, luit, where he ivill or no.''

' Match at Midnight,' vii. 386.

' Lady Frampul. / hnow not wher / am or no ; or speak,
Or Lvhether thou dost hear me.'

Ben Jonson, ' New Inn,' Act v. sc. 1.

* Oood sir, say wher' you'll answer me or not'

' Comedy of Errors,' Act iv. sc. 1.

' No matter noiv, wher thou he false or no,
Goswiti ; ivhether thou love another better,
Or me alone ; or wher thou Jceep thy vow.'

Beaumont and Fletcher, ' Beggar's Bush,' Act v. sc. 1.

Wharewey, 235, Wherewith, or Wherewithal. [wae"ur-wai'] (very
common).

Whatjecomb, 440, or "Whatchecam, what d'ye call himi [hauch-
ikumj (very common).

Whatnozed, for hot nosed, (formerly spelt hoate-nosed,) red-nosed,
as if heated by drinking too freely, [waut-noa'iizud] (common).

A Wherret or Whirret, 100, 518, a Clap or Cuff given on the Face,
according to Minshew ; but in Dev. it rather means a Box o' the Ear.
[wur'ut] (very common).

' Troth, noiv I'm invisible, I'll hit him a sound wherret on the ear,
when he comes out of the garden.' — ' Puritan,' Act iv. sc. 2,

' Ho IV meeldy
This other fellow here received his whirrit.'

Beaumont and Eletcher, ' Nice Valour,' Act iv. sc. 3.

Whileer, 88, 140, 152, 276, i. e. a while e're or a while before; a
little while since, [wuylae'ur] (obsolescent). Spelt whilere, 1. 152 ;
ere-while.

' Caliban. Let us be jocund ; will you troll the catch
Tou taught me but whilei-e.'

Shakspere, ' Tempest,' Act iii. sc. 2.

* That cursed ivight, from whom I scapt whyleare,
A man of hill, that calls himself despaire.'

Spenser, ' Faerie Queene,' Bk. 1, ix. 28.

* Doe you not know this seely timorous deere,
As usual to his kinde, hunted whileare.'

Browne, ' British Pastimes,' i. 3, p. 69.

Whitstone, a Whetstone ; a Liar's Property. See Notes on P. 78 &
79. ';^[The term tvhetstone for a liar, or for the prize for lying, seems to
be very old, and, according to Nares, was a standing jest among our
ancestors as a satirical premium to him who told the greatest he.

172 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Eay ijTits first ' He deserves a whetstone,' among proverbial pkrases
denoting liars.

' And u'hat shall he gain that gets the victorie in lying ?
He shall have a silver whetstone /or his labour.'

Lupton, ' Too Good to be True,' p. 80, A.D. 1580.

Otber instances are given in ' Popular Antiquities,' i. p. 429. Men-
dax, the liar, in an old Morality (BuUeyn's), cited in Waldron's ' Sad
Shepherd,' pp. 162, 220, says his arms are

' Three whetstones in gules, with no difference.'

' Well might Martano beare away the bell,
Or else a whetstone challenge as his deiv.
That on the sodaine such a tale coidd tell,
And not a word of all his tale was true.'

Harrington, ' Trans, of Ariosto,' xviii. 36.

' Crites. Cos ! how happily hath fortune furnished him
With a whetstone.'

Ben Jonson, ' Cynthia's Revels,' Act i. sc. 1.

Hence the force of Bacon's sarcasm to Digby, who was unable to
describe the philosopher's stone which he professed to have seen,
' Perhaps it luas a whetstone.'

'It is a custom in the North when a man tells the greatest lie in
the company to reward him with a whetstone ; which is called lying
for the 'whetstone' — Budworth, ' Fortnight's Eamble to the Lakes.'
eh. 6, A.D. 1792.

^ Diurnal s ivrit for regidation
Of lying, to infovm the nation,
And by their public use to bring down
The rate o/" whetstones in the kingdom.'

Butler, ' Hudibras,' pt. ii. 1. 57.

To wMster, 297, 624, to whisper.— ' Zart ! Whistery ' P. 108, i. e.
Soft! let us whisper. [wus"tur] (common).

A Whisterpoop, 93, 353, 518, a Sort of whistling, or rather whispering
Poj), — a Blow on the Ear ; ironically meant to express a sudden and
unwelcome Whisper, [wus-tur peop] (very common), an unexpected
blow, a sudden blow.

WliittJe, 108, 204, 278 [wiiti], a flannel petticoat. It is now the
name in common use for the long flannel petticoat, made to open
down the front, which is worn by babies until they are ' shortened,'
or, as is said in W. S., ' tucked up.'

A Whitwitch, 440, a white Witch, a Conjuror ; — A good Witch,
that does no Mischief unless it be in picking the Pockets of those who
are no Conjurors, by pretending to discover the Rogueries of others,
[wectwuch] (very common). There are many still thriving, and in
large practice.

Whorting, — ' out a W^horting,' 1. 91 — i. e. out in the Woods, &c. to
search for and gather Whorts or Whortle-berries. [huur"teen]. The
w in this word is quite gone — I doubt if it ever was sounded. Prof.
Skeat says the v^ is not sounded in Sui'rey. Cf. Hurtmoor, near
Godalmiug.

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 173

Whot, 275, hot. Halliwell says ^vhot is still in use. Cf. Whatnozed.

The Why for Ay, 2 36, a sufficient Compensation, or valuable Exchange
of One-tiling for another. — As in P. 50, ' Thou wouldst kiss the A —
of G. H. to ha'en ' (i. e. to have him) ; but thou hast not the Why for
Ay, i. e. not a sufficient Fortune to answer his. [waay vur aa'y]
(very common).

Wimbing, Winnowing Corn, [wiim'een]. To winnow is always to
ivi'/m or tuuom; there is no h sound. Hence wim-sheet, the large sheet
used in winnowing.

Wi' the same. See note 2, p. 44.

Witherly, 220, Wilful, contrary,— a Witherly Chat : Item, wilfully ;
with main Force and Violence. (Obsolete.) Spelt wetherly in the text.

Wone tether, 312 [wan taedh'ur], one another (always so).

Wother, 307, either (still used in Devon).

Wofhering, otherwise, else (rare in Devon).

Wotherway, 275, otherwise (rare in Devon).

Woundy, 351 [wuwndee], wildly, excessively (obsolete). This is one
of those expletive adverbs, without much meaning, which have their
day and are forgotten. Atvful or awfully would just now be the
colloquial equivalent. Woundy, however, seems to have lasted at
least 200 years, from Jonson's time. See note 16, p. 81.

Wmxled,lYl [vraak'slud], wi-estled. It should be noted that to icrestU
being an intransitive verb, the past inflection is pronounced fully ud,
(see W. S. Gram., p. 50); also that words spelt wr are most com-
monly pronounced vr, as vrite, vrong, vright. Nathan Hogg spells
these words with v.

Wraxling, Wrestling. [vraksdeen, vraa'sleen, vrau'sleen]. See
Wraxled.

Widt, 11 [wuut], wilt (emphatic).

Yellow Beels, 406, or Yellow Boys, Guineas. (Obsolete.) Probably
Yellow Bills, as we might now say Yelloiv Vies for sovereigns. At the
date at which these dialogues were first written the coinage would
mostly bear the image of Wilham III. Beels meant also bilh or notes.
In those days there were guinea notes. A five-pound note is to-day
a five-pound hill. BiU is still pronounced hee-iil.

To Yappee, when spoken of a Dog, signifies to yelp. — See Yeppy.
[yap'ee] (very common). A spaniel or terrier is said to yap'ee when
he utters his sharp bark on disturbing his game.

The Prompt. Parv. has ' Wappyn, or baffyn as howndys (or snokyn)
— wappon, or berkyii.'

' Wappynge, of howndys, lohan \>ey folow here pray, or that they wolde
harme to.'

Forby gives ' Wappet, a yelping cur ;' and yap.'

174 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECl'S.

Dr. Caius gives ' wappe ' in the same sense.

To wappee is just as common as to yappee in tke dialect. Botli
words imply the shrill bark of a small dog. A hound is never now
said to yappee or wappee, but to speak or give tongue.

Yeaveling, 166, 200, 223, 314, the Evening, [yai-vleen] (ohsoles-
cent). For change of n into I, compare chimley for chimney.

Yeavy, 43, Wet and Moist. — a Sax. Ea, aqua (i). [yai'vee] (very com-
mon). This word describes the condition of condensed damp on walls
or stone floors just after a thaw. At such times the walls are said to
ai'vee. The y in yai-vee is obsolescent.

Temors, 224 [yaem'urz], embers. When a wood fire has burnt clown
there are always plenty of hot embers underneath, even though to aU
appearance the fire is quite out. By stirring these a considerable
heat is readily obtained — hence the allusion in the text, ' spudlee out
the yemors.' Nothing was known of coal fires in Thomasin's days
around Exmoor.

Yeoanna Lock, 152, 211. See note 2, p. 42.

To Yeppy, 261, to make a chirping IS'oise like Chicken or Birds ; —
also used negatively to denote the Voice of a Person that can't be dis-
tinctly heard : As in P. 52, ' thou art so hoarse that thou canst scarce
yeppy.' [yep'ee]. This word is precisely the same as yappee {q. v.),
but in N. Dev. it is often pronounced closer, yep-ee.

Yerring, 41, 310, 501, Yelling, JSToisy. [yuur-een] (very common).

Yess, 44, 89, 102, 295, Podex, in plain English mine A — • [yes]
(the y is obsolescent). See note, 1. 44.

Prompt. Parv. gives ' Ars, or arce, aars. Anus, cuius, podex.'

' If sheepe or thy lamhe fall a wrigling with taile,
Go by and by search it, ivhiles helpe may preuaile:
That barberlie handled I dare thee assure,
Cast dust in his arse, thou hast finisht thy cure.'

Tusser, 'Males husbandrie,' 51, st. 4, ed. E. D. S.

In the dialect this word is of course in daily use as above, but it is
also used to express the back part of anything, as ' Put thick up 'pon
the arse o' the wagon.'

Yewmors, Embers, hot Ashes : The same Word is also used for
Humours, [yiie'murz, sometimes']. See Yemors.

Yeo, 210, an Ewe Sheep, [yoa'] (always so pronounced).

Yheat-stool, 54 [yee'ut-steol]. In every large old chimney-corner is to
be found on either side a short stool or bench, which is of course the
waiTQCst seat — this is probably the heat stool. This exi^lanation is borne
out in 1. 160. In the first edition this word was spelt he-at-stool. It is
possible that the word may express what is now known as the brandis,
an iron tripod for supporting a pot or pan over a wood fire.

In the Prompt. Parv. this word is ' Brandelede, branlet, branlede,
or treuet = Tripes.'

AN EXMOOR SCOLDING AND COURTSHIP : GLOSSARY. 175

Halliwell gives the word as hrcmdreth, but gives no authority.
' TaJc qrene \erdis of esclie, and lay thame over a brandethe.'

MS. Lincoln Med. f. 283.

Yoe, 213. See Yeo.

Zar. See Sar.

Z(irt ! 624 [zaart !], a quasi oath, — (Vs limrt ! (very common). JSTot
to be confounded with soft, also spelt zart in the text.

Zart-and-vair, 54 [zaart or saart-ii-vae-iir] soft and fair (more com-
monly saart-n-vae'ur), i. e. soft-witted, idiotic. The whole epithet ia
quite incongruous and unmeaning as used in the text, but quite in
keeping with the spirit of the dialect— to apply anj^ kind of adjective
to any object in sight, and to make the whole into an epithet. This
is not peculiar to any district, for recently I heard a cad in the Loudon
streets call out in an abusive tone to another — ' You're a nice old cup
o' tea.'

Zoewl or Zowl, a Plough to cast up Furrows, [zoo-ul]. This word,
though in daily use, and indeed the only common name for a plough
throughout Devon and W. Somerset, and although it has certainly
come down to us from Saxon times, is scarcely found in mediasval
authors. In the dialect plough (arare) is used as a verb only. As a
noun, plough means team of horses. I heard a farmer (Oct. 1879) say
of two strayed horses in a field, ' Who's plough's this here, then ? '
The word sull appears constantly in local advertisements, and we have
many kinds, as the old nanny-zool, hvo-vore-zool, comhing-zool, douhle-
zool, tatie-zool, and others, all of them various kinds of ploughs.

' \^if eax ne kiirue, ne \>e spade ne dulue, ne \)e suluh ne erede, hivo
kepte ham uorte holden ? ' — ' Ancren Eiwle,' p. 384, ed. Cam. Soc.

Zeck, 2, sick.

Zfid, 536 [u-zaed], a said, withstood, gain-said, take ?io I for an

answer.
Zeert, 37 [zee'urt], sight. This pronunciation is now rare— generally

zai't only is heard. The same applies to cock-leert, vore-reert, &c.

Zenneert or Zinneert, 163, 194, Sev'night. [zaen-ait] (obsolescent).
Spelt zennet, 1. 163.

Zet, 37, 119, 226, 228 [ziit], set. The same sound as sit, 167. Both
verbs are conjugated alike — p. tense, zau't ; pp. u-zawt. See W. S.
G., p. 48. See note, 1. 228.

Zewnteen or Zcewnteen, Seventeen. (Obsolete; present form,
zab'mteen.)

'Should Zem, 9, for ' I should seem,' it seems, or so the Report goes :
— As in P. 24, ' 'Should zem thou wert sick,' &c. i. e. it was so reported.
— I Sam, an old word, for I see, I perceive, [zum]. This is the
common word for consider, think, reckon. Aay zum t-l kairm tiie u
skad, ' I think it will come to a scad,' i. e. there will be a shower.

The Zess, 32, 70, 87, 240, 284, the Sheaves regularly piled and
stowed in a Barn in like Manner as a Corn rick or Mow is without

176 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

doors; but the Devonsliire Word Zesa, always means the Pile of
Sheaves within the Barn, [zaes, zes]. The regvilar term, still used as
here defined. The part of the barn where the zess is placed is called
the pool [peoi]. HalliweU is wrong in defining it as a compartment
of a barn.

Zidle mouth, 51, the Mouth awry, or more extended on One Side
than the other, [zuydl muwdh or maewf] (very common epithet).

Zlat, 101 [slaat], a blow. See Slat. This word is one of those cor-
rected in the Glossary. It is in very common use. See W. S. Gram.,
p. 65.

ZIotter, 184 [zlau'tur], a mixture for medicinal purposes, implying
rather a semi-fluid, such as a soft poultice, or a mixture of the brim-
stone and treacle kind (still in use). This word and the next are not
to be confounded with skitter. See Caucheries.

2^ottering, 53 [zlaut'ureen], physicking, given to taking medicine, or
doctoring. This quite agrees with the character ascribed by Thomasin
to Wilmot throughout the dialogues (rather rare, but still in use).

Zoo, 110, as 'To let the Kee go Zoo,' i. e. let the Cows go dry.
[zeo, zoa*] (very common). Prof. Skeat says this is a real Celtic word.
Cornish, sych ; Welsh, sych ; Irish, sine; Latin, siccus. HalliweU
gives this as assue, but without authority.

Zowerswopped, 40, 501 (quasi Sowre sapped,) ill natured, crabbed,
[zaaw'ur zaap'ud] (very common). This word imjilies a nature so
thoroughly crabbed that the very sap or marrow is soiu*. Spelt zower-
zapped and zower-zop^d in the text.

Zwir thy Torn, 112, Quhir, or whirl round thy Spinning Wheel
with speed ; let thy DiUgence be proclaimed by its Zwirring, or
quhii'ring Noise, [zwuui' dhi tuurn] (very common). See note, 1. 112.

Zwop, 324 (a Sax. Swapa, ruina,) the noise made by the siidden Fall
of any Thing ; as ' He fell down, zwop ! ' — In the Exmoor Courtship,
P. 78, it expresses the sudden snatching of a smacking Kiss. [Spelt
swop in the text.]

Zivoj), 98, 100, 517 [zwaup], a whack, a whop, blow with or without
a stick or other instrument.

The Prompt. Parv. has ' Swap, or stroke, Ictus.' ' Sweype, or
swappe, or strok, Alapa.''

FINIS.

* * * *

* * *

* *

177

II.

WESTMORELAND

A BRAN NEW WAEK.

EDITED BY THE

REV. PROFESSOR SKEAT, M.A.

179

INTEODUCTION.

The following piece is carefully reprinted from the original
edition, printed at Kendal in 1785. This edition is described
in the Bibliographical List, published by the E. D. S., at p. 104;
which see. I may add that I have discovered another copy of the
work amongst the books given by Dr. Whewell to the library of
Trinity College, Cambridge ; this is not quite the same edition, being
a reprint of the former one, as appears from internal evidence. The
date has been cut off in the binding, but it was printed in London.
For the purpose of the present reprint, I applied to the authorities at
King's College, London, and was much gratified by their kindness in
lending me their copy. Whilst carefully following this copy through-
out, I have also collated the proof-sheets with the copy in the Trinity
library, and have noted all the variations of any interest.

The author of the present curious tract was the Eev. Wm.
Hutton, Eector of Beetham in Westmoreland from Sept. 1762 ^ till
his death in August, 1811, and the head of a very ancient family
seated at Overthwaite in that parish ; see Burn and I^icolson's Hist,
of Westmoreland and Cumberland, i. 219. The present vicar is our
author's namesake and grandson. The word Worfat, as we learn
from the Prologue, is a corruption of Overthwaite.

Unlike many specimens of (so-called) provincial talk, this piece
does not appear to have been written to Sell ; so that the author was
not endeavouring, as is often the case, to put together a quantity of
trash (often very incorrect as specimens of dialect) in order to raise
a laugh and catch a penny. The difference in tone from the ordinary

' The author himself, writing at ' Yuletide, 1784,' says he has ' tented his
flock ' for ' aboon twenty-four years' ; see 1. 20. The explanation is, that lie
was ah'eady curate of Beetham in 1760.

N 2

180 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

run of such productions is most striking. It breathes the language
of genuine Christian love, and shews that the author was a man of
kindly feeling and excellent sense. It is rightly styled ' A Plain
Address,' ^ and is well calculated to promote that kindly feeling
amongst neighbours which the author had so much at heart. It
will commend itself, to the reader who possesses a kindred spirit, as
* a gem of purest ray serene.'

Strictly speaking, the language is not dialectal, but literary
English ; yet it contains so large a number of dialectal words as to
make it well worthy of being reprinted for the Society.

The peculiarities of the original have been preserved. One of
these, for example, is the use of a note of interrogation in place of
one of admiration.

The notes at the bottom of the text (except that to 1, 60) are the
author's own. The short glossary which immediately follows the text
is also the author's. The Appendix, containing various readings, a
few notes, and a rather fuller glossary, is added by myself.

Walter W. Skeat.

1 On a fly-leaf at the beginning is printed a second title, containing only the
words —

A PLAIN ADDRESS,

WRITTEN IN THE
PROVINCIAL DIALECT,

OF THE
BARONY OF KENDAL.

Beneath this is written, in the King's College copy, " fifty only printed," in the
author's own handwriting. On the back of this leaf he lias also written —
"Master Henry Wilson— For the sake of your Father, Wm. de Worfat sends
you this small Present. When you are grown a Man, judge of Me with
Candour, & smile upon my Wark ? It has its faults, but I say with Montes-
quieu ; 'the ill grounded objections of many spring from their own heads, not
from what I have written.' Wm. de Worfat, Sept. 12th, 1785."

BRAN NEW WARK.

By WILLIAM DE WORFAT,

CONTAINING

A true Calendar of his Thoughts

CONCERNING GOOD NEBBERHOOD.

Naw firft printed fra his M.S. for the ufe of the hamlet of

WOODLAND.

Diligens appetitus aliquando negligit verba cultiora nee curat quid bene sonet, sed
quid indicet atque intimet quod ostendere intendit. Si. Aust.

KENDAL:

Printed by W. Pennington. ^y^S-

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PROLOGUE. 183

THE

PROLOGUE

BY WILLIAM DE WORFAT,* CLERK ;

Shewing Ms awn estate, and then addressed to sic north-country
folks, as may be flown into the autlands, or sped thro' these realms in
divei's occupatio7is, and wha in length of time, and loith good leaving,
may hev amaast forgitten their mother tongue.\

GOD be with ye ! I regard with the tenderest affection every
mother's barn o' ye, fra the heeghest to the lawest ; I equally
respect the gentleman that treads in black snod jDumps, and the clown
that rattles oor the paavement in cakered cloggs ; because each hes a
race to run, a saaul to save, and may he prosper ! The person that 5
addresses himself to ye, is placed by providence amang woods and
scarrs, oorun with brocks and foumarts, otters and weezels. Ye
waat it is the height of aur fun to beat the bushes and hunt thro' the
scrogs; what can excel the chaace of a wild cat? or naaked in
summer to splash in the Ea, and dive like a porpoise? different 10
spots J have their different pleasures, eigh and difficulties tea. We
laugh at a wedding, and cry at a herring ; a christning brings a feast ;

* Alias Orfat, alias Overthivaite.

t Several words which occur in these pages mark the different sources from
which the English language is derived, at the same time they shew the muta-
bihty to which it is subject, confirming the observation of Horace.

Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere ; cadentque
Quae nunc stmt in honore vocabula ; si volet usus
Quem 23enes arhitrium est, & jus, S norma loquendi.

X Spot, upon the spot, in the plural also places.

184 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DI ALECK.

on the sabbath we say aur prayers, and the rest of the week ya day
marrows another. What I mean to give ye, gentlemen, mun be

15 delivered in hamely manner, in clauted terms, net that my reading,
sic as it is, was gitten in a summer's heat, as said aidd Ascham, nor
I trust will be weshed away with a christmas snaw, for my books
hev been conn'd early and late ; but inkhorn words, to be honest, we
knaw lile abaut ; in this hamlet, they wad net edify. 'Tis the pride

20 of my heart to teU ye, that for aboon twenty four years I hev duly
tented the flock of my allotment, naa prawling wolf, naa cunning
fox iver escap'd my eye, naa sad dog iver glanc'd on the virgin of
the dale without my giving an alarm. Pleased with rural simplicity,
aaiming to hev a good conscience, I am meeterly content. My

25 humble situation indeed may check ivery sprauting thought, but
then my duty to my parishioners is mare strangly enforced, " and
my attention kept in by necessity, is mare sharpened towards con-
cerns which end net with my life."* Every place hes its advantage
and its disadvantage ; heigh leeving and extravagance heve net fund

30 their way yet into Arnside, and Worfat is a deserted village ; what
then, naa hard fac'd bumbalif comes within my fald-yeat, fidling and
revelry disturb net my hause, except when the waits gang their
raund : Then to be sure the Yale clog blazes on the hearth, then the
lads of my family thump the flure to the tune of Aid Roger. The

35 barns of the nebber-raw merrily carrol the story of the Cherry Treef
with other godly Ballads ; J and lasses fidge their parts ; naw Jump-
ing Joan} naw Queen of Hearts. Fine times but seldom seen ; o

38 the rest of the year, they mend and darn, knit and spin, bank and

* This is the sentiment of a minister of one of the islands of the Hebrides.

t One of our carrels has a story of Josej^h and Marys going into a garden,
when the virgin desired Joseph to pluck her a cherry, telling him she was with
child. This is very ridiculous, yet in all ages people have entertained themselves
with rude conceits on this subject. In a chamber of Shelbrea priory, Sussev,
there is now remaining some paintings of animals bearing testimony to the birth
of Christ. From the beak of a cock in the act of cromng, is a label with these
words, Christus natus est, next a duck from whose beak issues another, quando
quando, from a raven in hac node, a cow has ubi ubi, and a lamb seems to
bleat out Bethlam. Such is the production of monkish leisure.

X In an old translation the song of Solomon is called the ballad of ballads.

^ Names of old country dances.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PROLOGUE. 185

bleech ; they hev mucking and threshing, ploughing, peating, maw-
ing, haying, shearing. Haw lile knaws ya part of the ward haw 40
tother leeves.^

Ye good christians, that like swallows and cuckoos, love to
change to mare sunny hawghs, and naw feed on richer pickings,
turn yer thoughts for a minute to the shaws, the crofts and intacks
of the north, to the strea theck'd cottages which gave ye birth? 45
think of them, then strike your breasts, and thank your God, thank
him twice, nay thrice, for weel I wat ye ken the poverty of aur
dales ; sic saunds as these ye sauked in upon yer mother's laps, ye
lisp'd and prattled on yer father's knee : But hah ! wha is this that
fancy marks, shooting dawn the brawof Sfavely, and laaking on the 50
banks of Windermere ? the water nymphs popple up thro' the surface
of the deep, and hail his future fortune.

Most learned and venerable prelate,

Excuse my provincial dialect 1 I only annex such words to my
ideas as we and our fathers have used for ages past. When I reflect 55
on the number of men ^ which the north country produced, some of
whom^ even assisted in translating the bible and in composing our
liturgy, I am not ashamed of it ; I know them by their lingua, I 58

' About fifty years ago, my worthy predecessor, not indeed a saint, but
worth a hundred saints of the middle ages, with twenty marks per year, brought
up a large family decently, and gave to two of his sons .a college education.
About that time a hviug in Cumberland was no better ; the vicar had 51. per
year, a goose grass, a whitle gate, and a harden sark.

These revenues however are greater than that of Micah' Levite, see Judges
xvii, who had ten shekels of silver a suit of apparel, and his victuals.

^ Amongst these the northern apostle Barnard Gilpin, stands first in the
list, then follow a mtmher of emuient persons. Airy, Smith, Crakentlirop,
Chambers, Bar wick, the bishops Carleton, Pearson, Fleming, Barlow, Gibson,
next Mills, Seed, Shaiv, Fothergill, Lancelot Addison, Peter Colliraon, die.

Roger Askam, speaking of Dr. Medcalf, master of St. John's college,
Cambridge, about 1533, says he found that college spending two hundred
marks per year income, he left it spending a thousand marks and more. Speak-
ing of the donors, he says all these givers were almost northern men. Some
men thought that Dr. Medcalf vf&,s. partial to northern men, but sui-e I am that
northern men were partial in doing good, and giving more lantls to the further-
ance of learning than any other country men in those days did.

3 Rydleij the martyr, born in Northu/niberland, Aglionby and Grindal of
Cumberland, Samls of Hawkshead.

186 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

trace them to have gone out from us. They did not conceal their

60 aras, they cou'd not their foces.^ But see ! another form peers
forward, he holds the gospel in his right hand, a crucible in his left.
Once the play-fellow of my childhood, excuse my language? thro'
Woodland we communicate all our ideas in cast off terms, yet terms
which monarchs formerly deign'd to use, and which were yours and

65 mine, when we rambled together o'er the head of Heversliam, or
angled in the brook of Beetha. Reverend champions of our holy
faith, defend it from every public, every insidious enemy 1 Do ye
inform the great and affluent? proselyte them from the vanities of
the world to the knowledge and love of the saviour 1 but permit me,

70 whilst I grovel amongst these knots and barrows, to instruct my
people by every honest mean, which may enlighten vulgar com-
prehension. 'Tis my wish by slow degrees to reduce the savage
tempers of the Saxon lineage, to calm their passions, and humanise

74 their hearts.

Yule Tide, 1784.

W. DE "WORFAT.

» Sic; ioTfocos.—W.W. S.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 187

THE

PLAIN ADDRESS.

HAW strangely the mind of man flackers and flounces ? It skims 75
cor earth, air, fire and -water ; is nivver at rest, ner niwer will
be whilst the ward standeth. I Cor. viii. 13. Sometimes it is butter-
flee mad ; sometimes teers itsel with measuring the tail of a fiery-
comet. There's naa sort of parlish feats it will net attempt. Two
hundred years sen somebody thought of harnessing a flock of wild 80
geese for a trip to the moon. They nivver coii'd du it. A good
bishop was cock-sure that in fifty summers, it wad be as common to
CO for my wings, as it is naw for my boots : We quite beat these aid
dons at invention ; aur fathers knew some at, we knaw mickle maar.
'Tother day I was inform'd, that an unshot codfish hes maar raans in 85
its belly than thare be people on the face of the earth, and that a
mite er a maggot will run as fast as a race-horse. These discoveries,
my good brethren, er ta fine for my addle j)aate ; I will neither
venture my neck, ner strain my wits. What is it to us, shoud thare
really be four millions of taad-poles in a single drop of vinegar ? god 90
hes wisely hidden them fra aur seet. I grant it, that ya drop o
alligar may be an ocean to sic tiny inhabitan[t]s, but when yan comes
a shoar, 'twill be time enough to study his shap. We believe in god,
let us magnifie his works, which men er sure they behold. His works,
varily, er net stinted ; see them in the lile tomtit ? the chitterwren 1 95
leak at them in the great eagle, the ostrich, the condor 'Ji ye heve

1 A large American bird iu the woods of Potomack, fierce and formidable,
-with a body as large as a sheep, and its wings measure 12 feet from tip to tip.

188 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

97 heard of elephants, and whales ; what huge lumps of bane and girsle,
of fat and blubber ! deary me ! let net these creatures surprise ye 1
should a kraken^ welter up the sands, and fill the gap between

100 Arnside-point, and Meetliop-cragg, ye mud weel be astonished. But,
what am I talking abaut % such marvelous things indeed shew the
vastness of creation, and they tickle the ear of curiosity ; they
dunnet edify mitch. It is a blessed truth that the mind cannot
continue lang in a bree,^ when teered with ballooning, it therefore

105 descends to maar useful subjects. Star-gazing is a pleasure, but to
leak to yans feet is maar necessary. Tully, a sensible fellow, said
that we come into the ward to stare abaut us, to admire this and
that and tother ; a seet of folks think soa still, yet God seems to
design us for better business. We er called by faith in Christ Jesus

110 to good works, and a promise of ETERNAL LIFE is made to us, if we
du aur best humble endeavours. Aur God is good, is merciful thro'
o generations, and ta assist us, hes laid dawn two great commands.
Ye knaw 'em bath, my dear brethren, and he that loves God loith all
his heart with all his soul, ivith all his mind, will sartenly love his

115 brother also. If we gang wrang here, we er lost for ivver.

THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUE AS THYSELF.
Math, xix, 19.

I write this in capital letters, and wish it to be engraven on aur

hearts. It is a teata conny verse indeed, yet things mun widely

120 alter before it be duly obsarved. At present there er in ivvery neak

ta manny mischief-makers, busy-bodies. . "What ! love my neighbour^

' The kraken is an enormous sea animal of a crablike form, found near the
coast of Norway. Its back only has appeared to be of a mile, or a mile and a
half surface, with several points or horns growing out of it, as high as the masts
of a middle sized vessel. Mr Guthrie says, he would not mention this animal
could there be the least doubt of its existence. There is no fixing the limit of
bulk eucreasiug by longevity : perhaps no man has yet seen the greatest whale
in being. Serpents encrease their size the longer they hve. The one which
stopped the Roman army in Africa, was 120 feet long. 'Tis very credible, for
there are now serpents in that countiy as large ; some have been seen to swallow
an ox or buffalo whole, others Avill take the water and roll o'er the deck of a ship
lying at anchor.

2 Strong agitation.

^ The wretch I am speaking of, never thinks he has grist enough at his mUI,

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 189

as mysell ! will a griping covetous hunx believe this to be gospel 1 122
nay, nay, says he, rubbing his elbow, emess its enough naw a days
to pay ivvery man [h]is awn. Charity begins at haame. True my
friend, but let me raund it in thy ears, charity shoud reach to the 125
Hottentots ; thy guts heve niwer yearned with compassion, nor lies
tau followed on, as Hosea says, to love thy fellow creatures. A
covetous man trapes to th' kirk-garth on a sunday morning, he meets
them that he wants to see, and it saves another journey ; then he
mappen enters the Lord's hause, doflfs his hat, claps it before his 130
face, and squats dawn in a form. I wish that mammon is net next
his heart, I wish that christians wad, during the sarvice, be serious
and devout, net come to kirk with a moon belief/ with unsettled
thoughts, but to pray and praise God as they ouglit. The jews hed a
rule to run to the synagogue, but to walk slowly back ; I wish that 135
when folks git haame, they wad turn oor their bibles. ^ Bibles and testa-
ments were formerly seen on the sconce or lang-settle end ; they may
naw be oftener met with on a seaty shelf cover'd with dust, or mause-
itten ; wad there was a leaf turn'd dawn, whare a feal ex'd Wha is
my neiglihotir ! But- again, I heve net done with kirk business, I 140
mean the spiritual business which shoud thare employ weel disposed
christians. Hes naane of ye seen a young thing, giggling and laugh-
ing at a firley farley ] she quite forgat what the dark was saying.
Lord have mercy ujpon us ! dizend fra head to foot, she coud think
of nought but her bran new bonnet. Her sawcy een were ticing 145
fools, whilst the parson was converting sinners. Can ye think that
her virginity was "donn'd with the helmet of faith. "^ It is bad
nebbourhood,* when a body is not suffered to say his prayers 148

' Archbishop LaiuVs expression.

^ Let me beg of parents to make their children and servants read the
scriptm-es at home. " The scriptures are the two paps of the church from which
we suck the sincere milk of the word, and one pap is not more like another than
these two for substance." Leigh's Crit. Sacra.

' A line in Fairfax's Tasso.

* " He that dwelleth in a city where there is a synagogue and prayeth not
there with the congregation, this is he that is called a bad neighbour," Rahbi
Maim. On which words Mr. Thomdike observes, " well may he be called a bad
neighbour, who will not lend his neighbour's prayers the strength of his own."

190 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

quietly.^ Yan ell be winking and prating, another glopping and

150 makking remarks, a third nodding his head in an easy slome.
Waa betide thee ! and yet let me net wish ought ats bad !
haw fast hes aid nick^ sic folk in his clutches? Good friends,
these er sad duings, efeclings. My saal is vexed within me.
^Hoa fellow thare ! sweetly sleepest ta naw, when the devil

155 rocks thy cradle. Pardon my zeal, mappen it may rise heegh
in a good cause. In some churches the sidesmen gang abaut
with staaves, and give ivvery sleeper'* a good nope. Is this reet
or wrang? our Lord, when he fand his disciples fast and saund
asleep, only just chided them, What ! cannot ye tvatcJi one Jiour ?

160 Let us bear with yan another's infirmities, let us persuade net
drive men into Christ's faald ] Oh ! may that heat[h]en monster,
persecution, that curst dodt cow^ never maar plague this country!
they say she yance hed horns and j)ut furiously, God be praised
her bulls heal and bellow naa langer. Good father of mercies ! that

165 folks can co themsells christians efter frying and roasting, and bray-
ing to mummy ought of their awn likeness ; and apreia for what ?
for difference of opinion, or for net allowing that a thing can be in

^ I love to hear myself say, The Lord be with you, and my neighbours
answer, And with thy spirit.

2 From Nikur au idol worshipp'd by the northern nations.

' Mr. Farmer, vicar of Heversham, spoke thus from the pulpit, to a sleeper,
I am told with success. Another time observing, as he took his text, some
company talking in Lord Berkshire's pew, he stopp'd, they star'd, Gentlefolks,
says he, when you have done, I'll begia. Another time the people being in a
hurry to get then- hats ready for going out. Stay, cry'd he, and take the peace
of God with ye. One Sunday, observing some ladies laughing and talking in
Lord Berkshire's pew in the lesson which was taken out of proverbs, when he
came to the following verse he looked passionately at the laches and thus
delivered himself as if to them solely, as a jewel in a swine's snout so is a fair
woman without discretioyi, ladies ! flyer and laugh at that if you please. At
Kemlal chm-ch, hearing some officers talking aloud, he stopped. When you have
done I'll go on.

* Bishop Bahhhvjton says, " if the fervent spirit of the preacher should break
and tear liis inwards in pieces, all is one, men snort and sleep, and go on in a
damnable dulness of mind." Really, my Lord, if this would not waken them,
I do not know what would.

* ChillingiBorth speaks of this curst cow ; he was her great enemy, and
baited her purely.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 191

two places at yance,^ that black is white. God gave us our senses
to feel with, to handle with, and when St. John was faithless, aur
Saviour appealed to them. Zleads ! he nivver played hocus pocus,^ ^ ' ^
or offered to drag men Uke dogs with a raap.^ "What can be said of
juggling, and gulling, and knocking on the head? Cruel bad
nebbourhood ! Coud Beelzebub and his comrades put on flesh and
dwell amang us, they wad play just sic tricks.

Turn we to maar pleasing views, to meditate on the prince of 175
peace, the meek, the mild, the loving Jesus. Hear him ! hear him !
love one another as I have loved yoio ; again and again he repeats it,
which made St. Paul observe to the Thessalonians, as touching
brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves
are taught of God to love one another. I infer from hence that 180
Christ will love good nebbours, his father will love them, and the
Holy Ghost will dwell in their hearts. The jews expected that
Christ wad heve appeared a helter-skelter* Heroe, treading on the
necks of kings and emperors. Mad thoughts ! he meant naa harm
to the persons or property of men : net to craw oor the poor creatures 1^5

* This made Averroes resolve, quando quidem christiani odor ant quod
commedicnt, [sic], sit anima mea cum philosojohis ? When Mrs Ann Asketu the
martyr was examined, they asked her whether a mouse eating the host received
God or not ? she smiled but returned no answer. Gardiner in one place says
" a mouse cannot devour God ; but soon after the wily prelate thinks that
Christ's body may as well dwell in a mouse as it did in Judas." To what
difficulties learned men are driven in support of falsehood ! Old Bale after
quoting a page of such nonsense, concludes, "mark this gear for your lern-
yng, oyled divynes ! " Archbishop Tillotson declared of transubstantiation
" that it was a millstone hung about the neck of popery, which would sink it at
the last. It will, says he, make the very pillars of St. Peter's crack."

* Supposed to mean, hoc est corpzis.

» I shall here briefly remark, that our Lord's legacy to us was this, my peace
I give unto you, my peace I leave with you. " He therefore who fosters within
his breast, malice, envy, or an unforgiving temper, is in a very dangerous state
with respect to salvation. Heaven can have no relish without love. To meet
there, if possible, a person we have not lov'd, and from the bottom of our hearts
forgiven, would distract and make us miserable. Let then love work by faith,
that is, be the fruit of our faith, and not mingle mangle righteousness." This
is the language of a martyr for the truth.

* Hileriter [sic] and celeriter, merrily and quickly. I might have used a
better epithet, harem skarem^ rash, mad, who turns all into confusion.

192

SPECIMENS OP ENGLISH DIALECTS.

186 of his hand, net to destroy them, but their vices : ner did he design
to govern any kingdom on earth. He com to break in pieces the
aid kingdom of darkness. This he did, my beloved, withaut wrath
or aager, withaut the murderhig instruments of war, for he conquer'd

190 by suffering. His patience and his mercy were as infinite as his
love, or else he hed hlawn moay his enemies with the blast of the
breath of his displeasure.^ God drawned the praud children of
Adam; the rainbow is a witness; Raven-scouf^ and Beethamfell to
this day shew us the marks of the flead. Folks, it seems were grown

195 cock-a-hoop; (but the heegh leaks of the meety were sean brought
laa) they were swept away like the peatstacks in Faulshaiv, which
yesterday tawer'd aloft with their black heads, but to day er scal'd^
oor the marsh of Milnthrop. Good Lord ! when I consider thy
kindness shewn to the jews by neet and by day ; thy sending them

200 Moses and Joshua, and prophet efter prophet, I am lost in devout
amazement ; astonished at their conduct. Thou didst bring them up
as thy awn family, thou declarest it in Esaiah i. 2. and yet they
rebelled against thee. They judged net the fatherless, nor did the
cause of the widow come before 'em. Their great men were pelsy

205 and praud ; their women were haughty, with stretched aut necks
and wanton een, mincing as they walked and tinkling with their
feet. Their nation were continually provoking God to anger; and
yet his lang suffering and his mercy endured for many ages. At

209 length he even sent his son amang them, yet they refused salvation

1 Who would imagine that christians in aftertime should be able to copy
this fine figure so literally. In 1655 the Portuguese governor of Solvaterra
tied a Castilian officer to a great gun and blew him away. In 1683, the
Algerines blew away a French consul from a mortarpiece. In the East Indies
this is the common punishment of desertion. In 1760 there were twenty four
persons blown away. 2. Sam. xxii. 16. "a< the blast of the breath of his
nostrils." The blast of a furnace, the blasting of rocks give fine ideas.

' I dont know the derivation of this word, which is a common name for a
great precipice. Ovu* waterfall in the river is called, sometimes i\\e force, some-
times the scout. The steep ridges of rocks on Beetham-fell, are called scouts,
the fell beneath them Underlaade, that is Underload. Eaven-scout is the
highest point of a ridge of rocks in Holme-park, adjoining to Farleton-knot,
frequented by ravens, and sometimes visited by eagles on their passage.

' Scaled, scattered, levelled, so to scale muck, or moleliills, to scale hay, and
yet this word puzzled most of the editors of Shakespeare.

A BKAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 193

fra his son, and compleated their awn destruction. Methinks I hear 210
ye, my beloved, cry aut, fie upon ! fie upon this worthless people !
God sent his son to save us tea, wha at that time were daws'd^ in
sin and concupiscence. "What mun we du 1 I'll tell ye, CraAV net
oor the obstinate jew ; but in your day repent, believe, and love ;
yea love yan another withaut dissimulation. 215

I haasten hawever to ask a mast imjDortant question. Suppose
this efternean you were to see Jeremiah, Obadiah, or Jona, standing
on Windscar, with a voice that wad carry a league. Ye hear him
CO, rejjent! repent! or the earth will swallow ye up : The saund is
redoubled fra crag to crag ; Wliitharroio and Brigsteer echoe back 220
repent I My brethren, if ye believed the sarmon of the prophet,
haw wad ye tremble in your skins % Soa when the Israelites saw
the leetnings and the burning Maunt, they were saare freetned, but
fear is net repentance, and the danger gaane, the testrels leev'd and
lusted as usual, were bad nebbours, and in their good days hated o 225
the ward but their sells. Ye think mayhap, that ye wad surely listen
to a prophet; naa sic thing; net to an angel fra heaven, if ye will
net mind the still small voice of the gospel. Your minister begs of
ye to consider the four last things, death and judgment, heaven and
hell ; as the tree falls, soa mun it lig. Life is short, and he wad 230
rouse ye fra the lethargy of inconsideration. He wad heve ye pre-
pared to meet your God.

Suppose then again, and we have a reet to suppose it, that this
varra neet the trumpet shoud wakken ye % in the twinkling of an
eye ye jump aut o bed ; th' hause totters, th' earth trembles, th' 235
element opens, th' dead er rising, angels fleeing in the air, devils
roaring, bad nebbours screaming, shrieking, swooning. Your families
cling abaut ye, help ! help ! Ye leak up, heaven shines breet as
chrystal; ye leak dawn, heU flames blue, a tarn of melted brim-
stone.2 On the reet hand ye behold your judge, terrible in majesty, 240

1 " Dause thyself in Jordan seven times, the leprosy of sin wiU not off."

Archdeacon Nicholson of Brecon.

^ " Oh ! said a divine of our church, that a body might take a peep into
hell ! " Tliis scene is introduced with a Uke design to urge faith, love and
charity, as preservatives against falhng into that horrid chasm.

194

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

241 in justice: The register of your faats lies before liim.^ 0 Jesu, ye
wad say, let us alaan yaw wee bit ! we er net ready with aur
accaunts ; we hev net lov'd nor fear'd thee as we ought ; we hev net
lov'd aur nebbours. Hah ! he wad answer, the prayer of your dis-

245 traction is vain ; the hour of mercy is past, long have I been your
mediator and intercessor with my father. The universe now requires
the rigour of my justice. My dearly beloved ! haw feel ye abaut
your breasts 1 This is serious talk ; it maks me whither ; may it
bring forth in you quiet and peaceable leeving ! Ye hev nought to

250 lig white^ on, but your awn frowardness.^ Think naa warse of me
for giving you Godly advise ! Eternal life,* who can help repeating

' That elegant writer bishop Rail thus describes the giving of the law.
" Here was nothing but a majestical terror in the eyes, m the ears of the
Israelites ; the hghtning darted in their eyes, the thunders roaring in their
ears, the trumpet of God drowning the thmaderclaps, the voice of God out-
speaking the trumpet of the angel : The cloud enwrapping, the smoke ascend-
ing, the foe flaming, the mount trembling. If such were the proclamation of
God's statutes, what shall the sessions be 1 "

' White. Tliis local word signifying the mark at wliich an arrow is shot,
may not the sense here, nought to blame, be borrowed from thence.

' Frequent thoughts on the shortness of temporal life and the day of judg-
ment are excellent means to call our vxiys to rememberance to set the Lord still
in our sight. Bishop Bahbimjton makes the following comparison, but it is the
fancy of an elder writer. " Life is like a tree, at the root whereof two lile mice
lig gnawing and nibbling without mercy; a black an and a wliite an. The
wliite mouse nibbles o the lang day, the black an o the neet ; who can tell how
far these two mice have eaten tlu'ough liim ? " His lordsliip I must confess,
does not edify me very much.

* I am better pleased with the speech of one of the courtiers of Ina King of
Northumberland, concerning Paulinus who was then preaching the gospel in
that little kingdom. " We may, says he, addressing huuself to the king, aptly
compare man's state imto this Uttle robinredbreast that is now in this cold
weather, here in the warm room, chirping and singing merrily, and as long as
she shall remain here, we shall see and understand how she doth ; but anon,
when she shall be flo^vn hence, abroad into the wide world ; and shall be forced
to feel the bitter storms of hard winter, we shall not know what will become of
her ; so likewise we see how men fare, as long as they hve among us, but after
they be dead neither we nor our religion have any knowledge what becomes of
them ; wherefore I do thinli it wisdom to give ear unto this man, who seemeth
to shew us not only what shall become of us but also how we may obtain ever-
lasting hfe."

This is a translation by the great Camden in his remains, from venerable
Beda.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 195

it, is the prize, and remember ! that you receive it by Christ Jesus 252
your Lord ; wrestle then for it with an active faith ; leeve fouzanably
and kindheartedly for a year and a day ; and then if your conscience
rue, CO me a lear, and divide my tithes amang ye ! The truths which 255
my divine mester gave to the ward, I dehver unto you, a truth with
which St. John when near a hundred years aid, spreading aut his
arms, thus accosted those abaut him. Little children, love yan another.

Withaut this binding quality o aur righteousness is as filthy
rags ;^ dea I say filthy % yea the Holy Spirit in abhorrence of sic sort 2G0
of conduct, seems to mak use of words jDurposely braade.

My fellow christians, I heve oready noticed pride and earnestness,
as unfriendly to social life ; 'tis lang^ o these that good nebbour-
hood fails in part, but thare er other enemies which I munnet pass
over sleightly. 265

1 See Esaiah 6. 5. Qti. Might not the translator have conveyed to us the
sense of the sacred writer by a more dehcate expression \ I have often asked
myself this, on reading other parts of scripture ; I know with Chaucer that

" Braade words er good, whilst good folks use them
They er only bad, when bad folks abuse them,"
And again

" Christ spake himself full braade in holy writ,
And weel I wat, no villainy is it."

This is no way satisfactory but at length I find myself extremely obliged to
the leai'ned bishop Lowth, for his excellent comment on this subject, which I
beg leave in this place to lie before my readers. "The Hebrew religion
regulated the common conduct of social life. Many of those'images which the
Hebrew poets made use of with the greatest eftect on their cotemporaries, are
lost on us, and even appear low and sordid. The Jewish laws have for one of
their chief objects the discrimination of things pure from those that are impure.
Amongst the various subjects of purification, we find certain diseases and bodily
infirmities, and indeed habits of body, which cannot by any human means be
conquered or removed, wherefore it is not to be wondered at, that the sacred
poets call in the use of those images in their descriptions of the most important
objects, when they either lay open the corruption and depravity of human
nature, or arraign the wickedness of the times in wiiich they liv'd, or when of
the virgin daughter of Sion, stripped and naked they lament the forlorn and
abject condition. Figures these, which if considered only in themselves, seem
odious and disgusting, but which, when they are traced to their sacred somxe,
will appear to be full of energy and dignity."

* The great Bacon has this expression in his life of Henry 7th, " It was not
long of himself," (through his own fault. ) Who could have thought of finding
his iu Bacon 'i

o 2

196

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS,

PART THE SECOl^D.

266 A Plain address needs naa apology; it begins with simplicity,
jr\. and ends with common sense ; it is delivered in the language
of aur hills and dales, a language which sarves o the purposes of life.
IvYery trumpet is good which gives a fixed steady saund, there er

270 manny hinds of voices in the world, and none icithaut signification.
There er manny huge big books also, but a great book is a great
evil, wearing aut the eyes and tearing the patience. We er somat
maar merciful hawivver to aur fellow creatures than formerly, and
yet net tender enough. Times hev thar vices as weel as diseases.

275 Inhumanity lessens, and before the end I expect parfect good
nebbourhood ; my reason is, folks dunnet burn their barns to please
that cruel devil Molock ; ner drag their prisoners at chariot wheels ;
iier throw them to be worried by lions and tigers ; ner feed their
eels with em. Eeligion or wrang conceptions abaut it dunnet make

2 SO folks leeve in caves and holes of the rocks by their sells, to shun
mankind ; ner git upon pillars and posts twenty feet heegh, and
thare spend their days -^ they forgat that love is the fidfilling of the
law. God be thank'd that christians naw knaw better, practise
better. Barbarous customs are banish'd the land. Formerly great

285 people kept monkeys to grin, and mock at human actions, kings hed
fools tu, to shew the weakness of aur nature ; these fools durst speak

Christians dunnet naw wrangle fra morning to neet in porches and piazzas
abaut and abaut the truth, striving wha can speak maast against it, that is wha
can be the cleverest blockhead. They dunnet form a meety contest abaut what
nivver can be determined, haw many milhons of angels may sit upon a pin point.
They dimnet twist and twine probabUities and intentions in a manner either to
hill their consciences, or quibble with their God. See the provincial letters.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 197

truth when noblemen wad net. Drolls and buffoons were kept to 287
mak mirth at feasts, they leev'd by their wits and laugh'd at their
mesters. These merriments and greater fun still was reserved for
Christmas holidays.^ Envy net, my parishioners, the pleasures of 290
your forefathers, ner say the present times er warse ; it is a mistak,
and I am only sorry that with their coarser diversions, English
hospitality hes taan its flight. To rougher manners were joined
great virtues, great vices : May we copy efter the first, and banish
the latter from aur gentler bosoms ; May we think fra morning to 295
neet of this conny pithy sentence, this motto which I wish was
written aloft at ivvery loanin end of the parish,

Love thy neighbour as thyself!

What yet hinders ! I will tell ye freely. The enemies to aur
peace spring fra aur passions, and corrupt inclinations. Knavery 300
flees directly in the face of this great command ; adultery robs us,
eigh, within aur varra bedstocks ; fornication is a lawless liberty
takken in a dark corner, and drunkeness commonly ends in frandish
riot, or in madness. Wee'l handle 'em singly. Wha is a knave 1
He that gaas creeping in the dark, nimming and nifting whativver he 305
can lig his fists on. Bold villainy I meddle net with, it tells its
awn story; but shifting of mere-stanes and bending young trees
wrang side oth hedge, to make Jammy's twig become Eoger's tree
this is a sad and an evil coveting of aur nebbour's property, and
desarves hanging. If seven aut of ten in a lile tawnship were to be 310
dishonest, what mud become of totlier three 1 why ! they wad be
cheated aut of hause and harbour : There wad be an end of nebbour-
hood truly. "VVeel may I say, good father in heaven forgive a
manny poor wretches, wha hardly knaw what they du. Knavery is
the sin of poverty, it deals in dirty wark, and nivver ends in ought 315
thats good. Whativver is gitten is like a swallow's nest made up
of a little dirt and a few streaws, which in a frosty Avinter drop dawn

1 Baldwin le Petteure had his name and held his land in Suffolk per saltuni
sufflum and pettum, for dancmg pout-puffing, and domg that before tlie Kmg
of Enrjland in Christmas holidays, whicli the word pet signifyeth in French.
Cambden^s remains.

198 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

of themselves. 1 To rob a roost, to break an orchard, to filch pows,
withys, spelks, to cut dawn saplings, and carry off rotten ring-fences

320 er reckoned leeny tricks, but fitter for heathen Sparta,^ than the
barony of Kendal. And yet methinks, my brethren, he that sell'd
me 'totlier day a barren cow and a calf, for a calver, outbang'd 'em o
for wardly cunning. But what said the good bishop Latimer, " Thou
that doest this ; do it if thou lust, shalt go to the devil, and be

325 hang'd on a fiery gallows world Avithout end." The holy martyr
shall tell the story at the bottom of the page,^ whilst I gang on Avith
another of my awn.

THE PARSON^'S TALE.

Last Saturday sennet,'* abaut seun in the evening, (twas lownd

330 and fraaze hard) the stars twinkled and the setting moon cast

gigantic shadows. I was stalking hameward across Blackimter-

mosses, and Avhistling as I tramp'd for want of thought, when a

noise struck my ear, like the crumpling of frosty murgoon ; it made

me stop short, and I thought I saw a strange form before me : It

335 vanished behint a windraw ; and again thare Avas nought in view but

dreary dykes, and dusky ling. An awful silence reigned araund ;

this Avas sean brokken by a skirling hullet ; sure nivver did hullet,

herrensue, or miredrum, mak sic a noise before. Your minister Avas

freetned, the hairs of his head stood an end, his blead storkened, and

340 the haggard creature moving slawly nearer, the mirkness of the neet

' This simile I have from Archdeacon Nicholson of B^-econ. I believe he
had it from St. Chrysostom.

* At Sparta robbuig made a part of the education of their youth.

3 " They go (says liis lordship in one of his sermons) and take a calf of
another co^y and put it to a barren coav, and so come to the market and sell the
barren cow six or eight shillings dearer than they should have done else. The
man which bought the cow, cometh home, hath many cliildren, and no more
cattle than this cow, and thiuketh he shall have some milk for 'em, but he findeth
it a barren cow, and the poor man is deceived. The other is a jolly fellow, and
called one that can shift ; sic folks can speak soa finely that a man would think
butter would scant melt in theu mouths." Excellent old man! I love thy
simplicity, thy boldness in the worst of times, thy apostolic zeal. May I be
found like thee at the last, a good, if not a great man !

* A week or seven nights, so fortnight, fourteen nights.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 199

shew'd her as big again as slie was. Scarcely did a rag cover her 3^\
naakeduess. She stoup'd and drop'd a poak and thus began with a
whining tone. Deary me ! deary me ! forgive me good Sir, but
this yance, I'll steal naa maar. This seek is elding to keep us fra
starving. My mother, my brothers and sisters, and my aid neam, 345
0 deary me ! Whilst she spaake 'these words, her knocking knees,
and diddering teeth melted my heart. Ah ! said I to mysell, did
net king David, when hungred, eat the holy bread 1 Did net Jesus
and his disciples crop the ears of their nebbour's corn ! Hunger will
break through stane-walls. JS'ecessity will disturb the laws of moral 350
obligation ; get thee haame my lass, and sin naa maar. I judge thee
net, oready thy conscience condemns thee. The Almeety bless ye.
Sir, said she, aur Avooning is net aboon a dozen stanethraws fra this
spot, preia gang with me, and see with your awn een, aur pitiful
plight. 355

We nivver feel greater pleasure than when we relieve distress,
than when we du good ; It is more blessed to give than to receive :
Nivver the] ess, sometimes thare is danger and temptation even in the
godly deed. Thares a thin partition 'tween good and evil; this
minute I feel mysell a saint, the next a dannet. Whence spring 360
aur thoughts'? what first mover starts them fra their secret lodge-
ment ? mickle talk hes thare been abaut it ; I confess I cannot
fathom this ; somat like a flint with gunpowder, strikes Are and
springs a mine, when we the least expect it. We passed by the
rocking stane oor a bed of scars, they were slippy, and she sfcottered, 365
she fell : I had liked to have tumbled a top of her snocksnarles. I
believe it was pity maade me lift her or help to lift her up. Be it
what it wad, up as she raaise, a star fell directly athwart, and shining
full in her face, discovered to me the finest flesh and blead that ivver
was cumpassed by mortal man. My pulse bet quick, my quicker 370
thoughts ran oor aur father's prayer, and I fund mysel safe. Luckily
we were come near the hovel ; the girl unsneck'd the raddle heck.
Wretched scene ! the hovel or hut belang'd to a widow in a peck of
troubles. Tis just aleun weeks sen I buried her husband. Poor
Geordie! he was a graadly bain fellow, and wrought his sell to 375
death ; What coud a body dea maar for his family 1 She followed

200 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

377 his coffin with neen barns crying effcer her, and a tenth sawking at
her breast. When she saw me she wept ; I wept ano.^ She sat on
a three legg'd steal, and a dim coal smook'd within the rim of a

380 brandreth, oor which a seaty rattencreak hung dangling fra a black
randletree. The walls were plaister'd with dirt, and a stee, with
hardly a rung, was rear'd into a loft. Araimd the woman her lile
ans sprawl'd on the hearth, some, whiting speals, some, snottering
and crying, and ya ruddy cheek'd lad threw on a bullen to make a

385 loww, for its mother to find her loup. By this sweal I beheld this
family's poverty. She was confaunded ; I was motionless ; at length,
Maggy, ^ said I, Maggy, I am thy teacher, thy friend, tak comfort !
God's aboon still, tho' the ward awns the net ; he will net forsake
thee. Afflictions and troubles dunnet spring fra the dust ; they er

390 sent for wise purposes, and it is aur part to bow dawn like the
bulrush, to be humble and resigned, tho' mebby, with saar troubled
hearts. It is said. The trust of the evil-doer shall he an attercoh-
web^ hut a perfect man God ivill net cast away. Trust than then,
Maggy, in the great Father of mercies, and wait for better days !

395 the poor will net oivays he forgitten. But let me ask thee ; Haw
durst ta wink at thy children, whilst they laad theirsells with
burthens of iniquity 1 Thinks ta, God sees these bad tricks and will

398 net punish ] Whether they were peats or flushcocks, or prickms

^ Ano means and all, that is also.

' After writing tlais haterview, I was much pleased with reading a letter from
Mr Bradford, the martyr, in Queen Marfs reign, to a person mider affliction.
" Ah my joy ! if you were a market sheep, you shoud go in more fat and grassy
pasture. If you were for the fan, you shoud be stall-fed and want no weal ;
but because you are of God's own occupying, therefore you must pasture on the
bare common.^ Happy and twice happy are you, my dear sister, that God now
haleth you whither you would not, that you may come where you would. Suffer
a httle and be still ! "

3 Which says the excellent old Sanderson, the light touch of a besom striketh
away in a moment. Esaiah xiv, in the finest ode extant, is made to say by the
translator, coucernmg Babylon, I will sweep it with the beesoni of destruction,
saith the Lord of Hosts.

1 A professor of Aberdeen about 1660, gives a caution, lest teachers in
driving their flocks to green meadows, shoidd overdrive them. Not a bad liint
to some at this day.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 201

that tliy daughter hes stown, whether of lile or greater value, she is
guilty of filching ; she fand 'em before they were lost. My brethren ! 400
ye knaw the woman and her circumstances ; I speak to ye overseers,
relieve the poor, and tempt them net to be dishonest, by scanty
relief. A piece of a mouldy jannock, a dubbler of haver-meal, and
a pan-full of cockle-broth were o that these poor -wretches bed to keep
life and soul togither. Let us dea what niense^ we can, and prevent 405
■what evil. This is true charity, and they that think otherwise,
seaner or later, a hagworm will bite fra the cliut, a slaaworm will
wrap raund the ancles.

I come, secondly, to that warst 'sort of theft, that cruel unneb-
bourly action adultery : Next to murther this is the blackest faat; 410
yet they tell us, 'tis common amang great folks, stars and garters
gentlemen ! or rether gentle-smners ! ye that er careful for nought
but progging for belly-timber,^ I beg you to love your awn wives,
otherwise as sure as a gun, dawn yee'l gang to the bottomless pit :
Thare ye may ring, knock, and hallow, thro' eternity for a drop of 415
cald water, but naa servant waits to give it. Ahram will be deaf,
and your hell-fire thirst mun be bidden. Instead of goulden cups,
ye wad then be fain to lap it aut of your neaves. The rich man in
the gospel " laid it on thick only in purple and fine linen, in vanity
and pomp. "3 "VYe read net that he was an adulterer. Yan of this 420
stamp, soa far fra loving the man of his next dure, studies ivvery
nick of time to rob him, to give him a feastering waund. He
destroys the peace of a family, confaunds kinship, and when he hes
bed his will of a silly woman, leaves her to blush at her guilt, and to
bear the resentment of an injured bedfellow. Thus is adultery the 425
greatest sin against good nebbourhood, under the cope of heaven ;
yan excepted, and indeed a body mud nearly as weel lose his life, as
his peace of mind.

I come next to simple whoredom, God hes said, this he will
likewise judge. Young tykes oft buy pleasure dearly. Solomon 430

^ Mense from mensa, a table, alluding to the tables in the old monasteries
spread for the poor.

^ Sii" Thomas More uses this expression.
' Dr. Stanhope.

202 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

431 gives 'em good advice, but they turn the deaf ear.i Oh ! that folks
wad hut lust when and whare they mud lust lawfully. 2 Oh ! that
they wad leak forward to what in the end foUows unhallowed
liberties. Unchastity in man or woman teems with misfortunes,

435 with wretchedness ; he suffers often in his health, maastly in his
pocket, oways in his mind ; restless and unsettled, he is lead (sic) like
the ox to the slaughter. Nor is her case mickle better ; with the
loss of her maidenhead, she loses all that is valuable, her honour,
her dignity, her purity, her innocence, nay that awful respect which

440 even bad men pay to virtue and chastity. The good aid word head
means oft a place of command, naw dea fond silly girls give up their
only place of command for a minute's gratification ; maar the pity.
"We hev another word of special import, maiden-liood. Hood is hod
or possession, a hod-fast ; and may o the virgins in the nation defend

445 it lustily [!] They that yield to the perfidious enemy, sean find their
ruin, er shun {sic) by the modest, despised by the villainous. Efter ya
slip 'tis difficult to fetch back lost reputation, and her barn tea,
bears the reproach of the cruel : But if she fo a second time, her
ways then lead dawn to misery, to rotteness, to death, to everlasting

450 destruction. Haw lile is this thought on 1 when youth giving up
the reins to appetite, rush headlong into unlawful j)leasure.^

* A king of France more averse to fornication than Solomon, once travelled
into the Holy-Land, and was long absent ; but a good bishop shall tell the story.
" Upon this he sickened, and the physicians did agree it was for the want of a
woman, and did consult wAh. the bishops of the country, who did conclude, that
because of the distance of his wife, he should take a wench. This good king
hearing their conclusion, would not assent theremito, but said, he had rather be
sick even unto death, than break his espousals." In 1303, the rector of Orton,
Cumherlaml, gave a bond of ten marks to bishop Halton, to be forfeited
whenever it should appear he was guilty of incoutineucy.

' See Deuteronomy xii, 20, 21.

* Mispent youth leaves a spent body to old age. This was the true saying
of Dr Boyce, a translator of our bible. It is said of liim that he coidd read
Hebrew at five years of age.

Old William Perkins says, St. Paul offers six reasons for fleeing fornication ;
one of them thus, " The body is the temj)le of the Holy Gost, these swine make
it the devil's stye." How strangely do old divines paint the devil. The trans-
lator of Luther to the Gallatians thinks the white devil that forceth men to
spiritual sins, is far more dangerous than the black devil which maketh them to
commit fleshly ones.

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 203

Tis time here to bring forward the boon companion of the dis- 452
honest and the wanton, the drunkard. He, poor fellow is never
quiet till ligging in a hedge-bottom. He gaas net to kirk or market
withaut stopping at the ale-house. 'Tis a burning sham to see him 455
like a mafflin bezzling dawn Strang liquors. His blead whirls fast
thro' his veins, he becomes a rattlehorn, leaks wild, loses his limbs,
his senses : A drunken man shoud be teed like a wild beast, till his
reason returns. He can be naa nebbour at dow, that tipples and
swattles, and idles fra morning to neet. E^aa maar can the idleman 460
be ; he leeves on the industry of other folks ; maunders abaut fra
hause to hause, baking and slinging, with a tongue as ghb as a bell-
clapper : What has been said at Roherfs flees to Josefs next minute ;
the story spreads but naa body knaws whare it began. Tittle tattle
begits scandal; scandal, like a cur-dog, bites into' th heels; besides 465
it is weel knawn, " Thrd idleness of the hands the house droppeth."
Eccles. X, 18. Weel indeed may it du soa when the awner will net
fend for his sell. Honesty and industry maks a poor man thrive.
Its a pleasing seet when fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters
Avork the day lang, withaut quarrelling.' When sarvents er bund 470
by love and duty, as mitch as by wage, when naa brawling or threap-
ing is heard, naa noise but the goodnatur'd laugh, the thoughtless
whistle, and the sang of hearts at ease. Lang may my parishoners
leeve merry and wise, share and share alike, helping each other at
ivvery lift. We cannot du withaut this ; he is the praudest of men 475
that thinks otherwise. If aur nebbour's stot or stirk break into' th
fog, let us net pinfald it, rather settle the matter with soft words.

1 Bishop Latimer in one of his sermons, gives the following Httle history of
his own family. " My father had no laucls of his own, only he had a farm of
three or four poimds a year at the uttermost, and hereupon he tilled so much as
kept half a dozen men. He had walks for one hundred sheep, and my mother
milked thirty kiue. He was able and did find the king a harness, with himself
and his horse. I can remember that I buckled his harness when he went to
Blackheatli- field, (1497) He kept me to school, or else I had not been able to
preach before the king's majesty now. He married my sisters with twenty
nobles a piece, so that he brought them up with godliness. He kept hospitality
for his poor neighbours, and some alms he gave to the poor, and all this he did
of the same farm."

204 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Let US give and tak. If a man rails, bid God bless him, and soa
heap coals on Ms head. My brethren, ye mappen dea net imderstand

480 this verse of St. PauVs, which he repeats from King Solomon, in the
Proverbs. He does not mean by heaping coals to consume a nebbour,
but either that by thy doing thy duty tO' him, thou exposest the
man to the will of God, who will be thy avenger, as ]\Ir. Locke
explains the passage ; or as Dr. Doddridge and others think, thou

485 wilt mak him ashamed of his awn conduct, and he will in future
seek thy friendship. Hawivver, to be reet in case of quarrelling,^
oways obey the laws of God ; as for human laws, keep aut of the
brears, to save "your breeches. WTiareivver ye woon, whativver is
your station, be eminent in goodness. Good peaceable believers er

490 scarce, they er, in the words of bishop Hall, " like stakes in a hedge,
pull them up, aU the rest are but loose and rotten sticks easily
removed."

And naw I hev nearly done, I commit my parishoners to God's
providence, to his mercy. Eemember, the all just, the all seeing

495 judge of human actions is not like a whamp, which when yance it
hes stung, cannot sting again ;2 nor will Christ clock like a hen, he
hes shewed mercy, judgment will come. Ye are the flock allotted to

498 me in my humble walk of life ; I will love ye whilst the breath is in

^ Wliarting begits quarrels, in families, in nations ; quarrels often end in
war, in rebellion ; either is ch-eadful, the last particularly. Once an archbishop
of St. Andrevjs was taken by his enemies, and dii-ectly hung upon a Uve thorn,
upon which a wit wrote the following verse,

Vive diufelix arbor, seinperqiie : vireto
Frondihus, ut nobis talia poma feras?

The cruel wit wishes that the tree may long flourish to bear such glorious
fruit. Such indeed [is] the fruit of rebellion !

This puts me in mind of an enigma in Pope's Pastorals, which is blamed by
a critic as a puerile conceit.

Say, Daphnis, say in what glad soil appears
A wondrous tree, that sacred monarchs bears ?

This is far fetched, because Charles 2d. only stood within the shade of the
boughs. Qu. Had not Pope thought of the above latin verse ?

^ These allusions, odd as they appear, are taken out of the sermons of
eminent divines, who wrote in the sixteenth century.

A BIIA.N NEW WARK : THE PLAIN ADDRESS. 205

me,"^ and may I, oh may I be able at the last day thus to address my
Lord and Master ! These are they that thou gavest me, they are 500
washed, they are sanctified, they have believed, have trusted in thee,
and hope for thy salvation. Amen, Amen.

^ Job xxvii, 3. Dr. Cheney bishop of Gloucester writing against the reformers,
has this curious piece of advice. " In reading the scriptures, be you Uke a snail ;
for when he feels a hard thing against his horns, he pulls them in : So in points
of controversy, do ye pull in your horns." The advice may be good but not as
the doctor meant it.

206 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

THE

EriLOGUE

BY William de Worfat.

My pen is net yet worn to the stump ; my candle is net burnt to
tlie socket ; but hasten, William, hasten, if thou hes ought to add.

505 To love my nebbour was and is my subject. I hev oready shew'd
manny lets and bars in the way ; manny hev escaped my memory.
Mistakken zeal hes murdered its thausands of christians ; ignorance
its ten thausands : IS'ay, sometimes we destroy aur friends unwittingly,
several good folks hev been buried alive, besides Duns Scotus, poor

610 fellow, he dash'd aut his brains against his coffin-lid. I beg of ye,
nivver carry aut a nebbour to tbe grave before he be stark dead, a
body may be in bad fettle in a fit, a trance and yet whick at heart.
There was another great faat formerly in this country, aid women
were in constant fear of net leeving aut their time. A bow'd back,

515 a blear eye, or a comical leak, was sure to mak an aid woman pass
for a witch, and then she was as sure to be condemn'd and burnt.
Sham to the times ! to the men of the times, that coud judge so
poorly! In 1697, twenty miserable creatures Avere condemn'd in
Scotland on this supposition, and five really suffered death. Dea I

520 mention Scotland I for hundred.s of years what debateable wark,
what rhaading, and watching, and warding ! what dakering and
cruel nebbourhood alang the Border Service, l^eed I mention the
red and white roses of England. Was net the religion of Christ
oways forgitten, as weel as his legacy ? My peace I give unto you,

525 ^i/ pecLce I leave with you. But on, WiUiam, on ! These fewds
and evils hev lang ceas'd fra troubling us. I start them up in
memory, to shew aur happier condition. My beloved, we were a
happy people indeed till lately, till grown cobby : aur family fell to
wrangling, to blaws, till the west gable-end shrinking dawn, bed like

530 to hev laid aur hause in ruins. Ye brethren that er gaan aut fra us,

A BRAN NEW WARK : THE EPILOGUE. 207

God speed ye weel ; ye will net scan git sic anotlier buUt up ; before 531
that can be, father will be set against the son, and the son against
the father ; eigh and millions of your barns, yet unborn, will only
break forth from the womb, to welter in their blead. Heigh ho !
heigh ho ! struggle we must with a bad ward, before we can enter 535
the joy of aur Lord. Wha ! wha ! wha is my nebbour 1 he of the
next dure 1 it may, er may net be. My relation 1 seldom. Is it the
rich and pawerful 1 they hev the means, if they hev the inclination.
Is it the parsons 1 they hev leet and knowledge, may they hev feeling
hearts. The story of the good Samaritan sets the priest in a bad 540
view : He was blind to distress ; he passed by on the other side.
We er come then at last to the single body, that may be esteemed
aur nebbour, he that is merciful. The compassionate, the loving, the
humane, the charitable, these answer the end of the commandment.
And we knaw that concerning these qualities, enquiry will be maad 545
at the last day. Beloved, I hev nearly done, my address to you is
an address to my awn conscience ; I am a sarvent of Jesus Christ,
tho' net in soa gaudy a livery as some of my school-fellows, wha hev
jump'd into better places.^ I envy 'em net ; my sarvice is amaast
oor, and I think I cannot du maar good elsewhare. I love" ye, my 550
parishioners, and nought can maak a miff amang us, but ya thing.
When the devil wants mischief, he rolls a tithe-egg before us, we
stoup to tak it up, and tea often it bursts in aur hands. Tithe
maintenance is a tryal to bath ye and me ; it trys my patience, and
your honesty. Ye consider net that the dues ye grudge me, er part 555
of your estates ; that for seven hundred years togither, your estates
hev been bought and heired with them. Let us then shak fist and
neaf in love and friendship ; if I hev the white, ye hev the yolk.
And naw, fare ye well, ivvery saal of ye ! when my flesh is consum'd,
and my banes dry as kiln-sticks, may Woodland continue to flourish 560
in 0 virtue and godliness of leeving. This is the prayer of your
vicar for Arnside and Storth, for Hale and Whasset, for Beetliam
and Haverhrack, for Farlton, for OahhanTc, and Worfat.

1 Since writing the above, my school-follow, formerly of Jlincaster, is made
an Irish bishop. I therefore should have named him in the prologue.

208 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

THe author begs, that those gentlemen who have forgot their
mother tongue, will remember that

Ahaut means about, aniang among, amaast almost, ano also, awn
ovm.

Bane bone, hraio brow, hath both.

Co call, craio crow.
570 Dawn down, dunnet do not, du or dea do.

Eigh yes, efter after, er are.

Fra from.

Gitten gotten, git get, ga or gang go, gaan gone.

Haw how, /jes has, ^eu have.
575 Ivver ever.

Za??^ long.

Mare more, mehhy may be, mwd might.

iVaa no, naio now, nivver never, we^ not, ner nor.

0 of, 0 alL

580 ^^'^^^'^ P^ay you.

Raund round, rest right, raio row.

Saund sound, saaZ soul, sic such.

Ta to, ta thou, fea too.

Waund wound, wark work, M^arse worse, ivad would.
585 Varra very^

Ya or yaw one, yance once.

The derivation of the old words from the Saxon roots, is left to
the knowledge and ingenuity of the reader.

FINIS.

A BRAN NEW WARK : VARIOUS READINGS. 209

VARIOUS READINGS.

The following is a list of the variations in what I think is
plainly the later edition, viz. the one printed in London.

In the heading, for estate the Loudon edition has esteate; for with, it has
wi' ; and for amaast, ameast.

2. mutlier's. 4. peavement ; cakert. 7. foemerts. 9. neaked. 13. o'th
week. 15. heamely. IS. leate. 21. tended ; nea [thrice']. 26, 27. mear.
28. pleace. 31. nea. 33. harth. 40. o'th ward haw. 43. mear sunuey.
48. deales; muther's. 60. areas (sic). 63, GQ. aur. 76. it is nivver. 78. tears.
79. nea. 84, 85. mear. 86. feace. 87. reace-horse. 88. peate. 90. tead-
poles. 92. inhabitants ; the t being dropped in the earlier edition. 97- beaue ;
grisle. 103. mich. 105, 106. mear. 113. beath; bretheren. 120. thear.
121. meakers. P. 12, note 1 ; and omitted before roll. 124. his awn [for is
awn] ; heame. 136. heame. 142. neane. 148. nebberhood. 158. aur. 161. For
heathen, both edd. have heaten. 162. mear. 163. the, misprinted for she.
164. nea. P. 14, note 3. stop'd for stopp'd ; of omitted in out of proverbs.
170. appeal'd. 171. reap. 175. mear. 183. Hero. 184. nea. P. 16, note 2.
I do not know. 216. heasten ; meast. 223. sear. 224. gane ; testrUs.
227. nea ; heven. 231. lithargy. 236. the dead. 243. heve \\st time}.
248. makes. 250. nea. 260. yea, misprinted for dea. 261. breade. P. 19,
notel. Bread words ; full bread ; villany ; contemporaries. 270. many. P. 20,
note 1 ; meast. 292. an I. 293. tean. 305. geas ; whatever. P. 21, note 1. Both
edd. vjrong ; the first has pont-pufRng, the second point-puffing {see note) ;
signifleth ; Camden's. 324. shall. 330. freaze. 339. hears. 340. slowly. 342.
neakedness. 344. nea. 346. speake. 318. hungered. 351. heame ; nea.
354. apreia. 361. lodgment. 367. meade. 368. rease; shined. 370. com-
passed. 371. mysell. 372. Here the later ed. correctly has unsneck'd, wA^'cA
in the earlier one is misjjrinted unsnec'k. 375. greadly 376. mear. 391.
sear. 396. lead. P. 24, note 2, 1. 4. should go. 403. piece of mouldy. 416.
sarvant. 449. rottoness. P. 26, note 1, 1. 7. espousal ; 1. 9. prove that [for
appear]. 459. nea. 470. laud (« misp)rint) ; sarvants. 486. quarreling.
488. seave. P. 28, note 1, 1. 5. virto {a misjjrint) ; 1. 8. both edd. omit is ; 1.
12. wonderous; note 2. allutions. P. 29, note 1, 1. 5. means it. 513. the [for
this]. 524. forgotten. 537. er it may net be ; relations. 545. mead. 547.
sarvant.

The most noticeable point about these variations is the systematic substitution
of ea for aa; as in peavement, neaked, nea, mear, peate, tead-poles, heame, &c.,
for paaven\ent, naaked, naa, maar, paate, taad-poles, haam. So also, instead
of late, place, dales, face, race-horse, &c. , we have leate, pleace, deales, feace,
reace-horse ; evidently with the idea of giving a more exact notion of the sounds.
It is strange that grisle is put in place of girsle; not impossibly this is a mis-
print, as some fresh misprints have crept in, whilst others have been coi'rected.

210 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

NOTES.

10. Ea simply means water or river, A.S. ed, and is the E. representative of
tlie Lat. aqua. Hence Ea, Ea-mont, Roth-ay, Brath-ay, and other river-
names. In Gloss. B. 1, we find — " Ea, a river along the sands on the sea-shore."

41 (footnote). His ' predecessor ' was the Rev. Daniel Wilson. Hence, pro-
bably, the I'eason for his presenting a copy of his book to 'Master Henry
Wilson.'

53. The ' venerable prelate ' is perhaps the schoolfellow who is alluded to in
the footnote to 1. 549 ; see also 1. 62, and the note to 1. 549.

56 (footnote). " Doctor Nico. Medcalfe, that honorable father, was IMaster
of S. lohnes CoUedge, when I came, thether . . He found that Colledge
spending scarse t>vo hundi-ed markes by the yeare ; he left it spending a
thousand markes and more . . . And tliat which is worthy of meraorie, all
thies giuers [donors to the College] were almost Northenmen ; who being
liberallie rewarded in the seniice of their Prince, bestowed it as liberallie for the
good of their Contrie. Some men thought therefore, that D. Medcalfe was
parciall to Northrenmen, but sure I am of this, that Northrenmen were parciall,
in doing more good, and geuing more landes to ye forderauce of learning, than
any other contrie men, in those dayes, did." — R. Ascham, The Scholemaster,
b. ii ; ed. Arber, p. 133.

61. By a crucible we must sui'ely understand a crosier.

81. "The philosophers of king Charles his reign were busy in findmg out
the art of flying. The famous bishop Wilkuis was so confident of success in it,
that he says he does not question but in the next age it will be as usual to hear
a man call for his wings when he is going a journey, as it is now to call for his
boots. The humoiu- so prevailed among the virtuosos of tliis reign, that they
were actually making parties to go up to the moon together, and were more put
to it in their thoughts how to meet with accommodations by the way, than how
to get thither .... The duchess of Newcastle objected to bishop Wilkins the
want of baiting-places in the Avay to his new world ; the bishop expressed his
surprise that this objection should be made by a lady who had been all her life
employed in building castles in the air." — The Guardian, no. 112; Monday,
July 20, 1713.

127. Hosea, vi. 3. So foUoiv after in Prov. xv. 9.

133. "A moon belief ;" i. e. fickle, changeable, unsettled.

147 (footnote). I do not find this line. "Her helm the virgin donn'd''
occurs in b. i. st. 48. However, the idea is merely taken from Eph. vi. 14—17.

168 (footnote). In the Select Works of Bp. Bale, printed by the Parker
Society, p. 154, will be found the story of Anne Askew and the mouse.
Following it are Bp. Bale's remarks; he says — "]\Iark this geer fof your
learning;" and, a Uttle further on, at p. 155, he says— "let these oiled divines
dispute among old gossips." William de Worfat puts the two expressions
together into one sentence.

A BRAN NEW WARK : NOTES. 211

169. Surely St. Thomas must be meant.

193 (footnote). Scout is a mere variant of shoot; either applied to a pro-
jecting or jutting rock (one that shoots out), or to a waterfall, or shoot of water.
" Scout, a high rock or large projecting ridge. Sax. sceotan, to shoot out ; "
Brockett's Glossary. But the form of the word is rather Scandinavian than
Anglo-Saxon ; of. Icel. skuta, to jut out. Force is the Icel. fors, foss, a
water-fall.

197. Scal'd; allied to Icel. sMja, to part, separate, divide, disperse. The
remark that " this word puzzled most of the editors of Shakespeare " is one of
those which men acquainted with provincial dialects are rather too fond of
making, quite forgetting that, but for the editors, they would themselves be
greatly puzzled by words which are utterly unknown to speakers of dialects, and
yet are very familiar to scholars. In the present instance, for example, the
remark is quite uncalled for. There is no passage in Shakespeare where the
explanation suggested is of any value whatever. It is, indeed, difficult to
imagine what can be meant ; but perhaps the allusion is to Cor. i. 1. 95, where
the right reading is probably stale, i. e. render it stale, tell it over again. See
note to 1. 250.

240 (footnote). " Oh that a man myghte haue the contemplation of hell ! "
— Latimer, Seven Sermons before Edward VI., ed. Arber, p. 113.

241 (footnote). Tlie quotation is somewhat abridged from Hall's Contem-
plations, b. V. con temp. v.

250. Here the author is utterly wrong in every way, both in the word he
uses and in his explanation of it. The word is not white, but u-ite, and con-
sequently has nothing to do mth " the mark at which an arrow is shot." Wite
is 'blame' simply, from A.S. wite, punishment, fine, later used in the sense of
blame, as in Chaucer— "And but I do, sii-s, lat me han the wyte;" Cant.
Tales, Group G, 1. 953. But a ' white ' is the white centre of an archery-butt,
as in the Taming of the Shew, v. 2. 186. It is only one of the thousand
instances in which men who have no philological knoAvledge first gue^s wrongly
at an etymology, and then misspell, misapply, or pervert the word they use in
order to support the guess. One great difficidty m the study of English dialects
has always been this, viz. the eager desire, too often displayed, of corrupting
the evidence itself.

250 (footnote 3). The fable here alluded to is a very old one. It occurs in
the Legend of Barlam and Josaphat, ed. Horstmann (in his Altenglische
Legenden), 11. 459 — 462, &c.

" Vppon }je rote of \>e tre twey mees he seyj
\>ai hadde al f^e rote frete wel nyj ;
{^at 0 mous was whit, \>ai o\>&v blak was ;
Me )3inke)3 \>\^ mon was in a wondir cas."
This again is borrowed from the Latin version of the Gesta Romanorum,
c. 168, and has been traced to an Eastern source. See the English version
of the Gesta, ed. Herrtage, Introd., p. ix.

251 (footnote). The story belongs to the reign, not of hut, but of Edwin,
kmg of Northumbria. See Beda, Eccles. Hist. b. ii. c. 13 ; and the version of
it in one of Wordsworth's sonnets. Our author copies it, as he says, from
Camden's Remains, ed. 1657, p. 235; but Camden says Echnv, correctly.

P 2

010

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

283 (footnote). Of the two quotations here said to be from Chaucer, the
latter is from his Prologue to the Cant. Tales, 11. 741, 742, and runs, correctly,
thus : —

" Crist spak himself ful brode in holy writ,
And wel, ye wite, no vilanye is it."

But the former quotation is plainly nothing but a poor paraphrase of the same
two lines, and can hardly (I thiuk) be found in Chaucer liiraself. In 1. 11 of this
footnote, the phrase "to lie before my readers" is a remarkably awkward
instance of bad grammar, as it is capable of a wrong interpretation.

263 (footnote). " To conclude, if this king did no greater matters, it was
long of himself; for what he minded, he compassed."— Bacon, Life of' Hen.
VII., ed. Lumby, p. 220, 1. 13. The author's remark is a queer one; it is
precisely the sort of expression to be found in an early author. Long of,
followed by a personal pronoun, occurs six times in Shakespeare.

281. Alluding to St. Simeon Stylites, and others wlio similarly so strangely
afflicted themselves. The reference in the footnote is to the Provincial Letters
of Pascal, in which he so wittily and skilfully attacked the morality of the
Jesuits.

290. The footnote is from Camden's Remains, ed. 1657, p. 135. "So
Balwin le Pettour, who had his name, and held his land m Suffolk, ^;er saltum,
sufflmn, et pettum sive bumhulum, for dancing, pout-puffing, and doing that
before the king of England in Christmas holy-days, which the ^ovAjyet signifieth
in French." Here ' pout-puffing ' means pouting and putting out the cheeks, so
common an action of the old buffoons. The Latin sufflum expresses the same
thing. The word is misprinted 'pont-puffing' in the Kendal edition, and
' point-puffing ' in the London one ; but I have corrected it. Pettum is a made
up word from French ; the Lat. verb is 2^edere. There is no doubt as to the
truth of this strange statement ; see my note to P. Plowman, C. xvi. 206 ;
A\'arton, Hist. Enghsh Poetry, ed. 1871, in. 162, note 3.

332. " And whistled as he went, for want of thought." — Dryden, Cymon,85.

404, Compare P. Plowman, C. x. 92—

' ' Ther is payn and peny-ale as for a pytaunce ytake,
Colde flessh and cold fyssh, for veueson ybake ;
Frydayes and fastyng-daies, a ferthyng- worth of nuiscles
Were a feste for suche folke, ot^er so fele cockes."

That is, " there [among the poor] bread and penny-a-gallon ale is considered
as a good pittance, and cold meat and cold fish is in place of roast venison, and,
on Fridays and fasting-days, a farthing's w^ortli of muscle-fish or as many
cockles would be a feast for such people." Cockles are plentiful in the head of
Morecambe bay, at no great distance from Overthwaite.

405 (footnote). This comical etymology of mense is, of course, quite wrong.
It is a well-known Lowland Scotch word, of which the older form is mensk, as
in Jamieson. It is derived from O.Icel. mannr (usually ma^r), a man ; hence
(with the usual vowel-change) Icel. mennskr, adj. manlike, mennsh; humanity,
kindness ; and Scotch mensk; mense (1) dignity (2) good manners, kindness.

431 (footnote). The 'good bishop ' alluded to in the note is Latimer. The
quotation is from the first of his Seven Sermons before king Edward VI., ed.

A BRAN NEW WARK : NOTES. 213

Arber, p. 35. Latimer probably obtained the story from Fabyau's Chronicles,
or some such book. The king was Louis VIL (mis-called by Fabyan Louis VIIL).
" Howe be it, that to some persones suche fablys ben full pleasaunt to here,
•wherefore all suche I remytte [refer] vnto the sayd Frenshe Cronycle, & som-
w'hat I shall folowe the auctour Gyraldus, the whiche with otliei', testyfyeu, that
Lewys, in his returne towarde Frau^ce, waxed syke for the longe forberynge of
his wyfe ; wherefore by thaduyce of physycions, and also of-bisshoppys [!], he
was couuceyled to take a wenche, because his wyfe was so farre from hym ; but
the kynge withstode that counceyll, & sa^yd that. hym. had ben leuer to be syke
& dye of Goddys honde, than to lyue iii spouse-brekyug, & otleHde his lawes.
And so the kyng put hymselfe to the mercy of God & receyued helth shortly
after."— Fabyan's Chronicle, ed. Ellis, p. 270.

440. This explanation of head is wrong. Maidenhead is only another
spelling of maidenhood ; compare Godhead with manhood. The words are not
different, as said in the text, but the same. The explanation of hood is also
quite wrong. The suffix -hood is A.S. -had, meaning office, station, condition,
state, &c. In 1. 445, I have inserted a> note of admiration at the end of the
sentence, to shew that may o (i. e. may all) expresses a wish ; without this hint,
the sentence is obscure.

470. The quotation in the footnote is almost verbatim from Latimer's " First
Sei'mou" before king Edw. VI. See Latimer's Seven Sermons before Edward
VL, ed. Arber, pp.. 40, 41.

4Sr. " There can be little doubt tliat the metaphor is taken from the nieltiiig
of metals. It is obvious that thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head could
never have meant thou shalt destroy him; because to feed an enemy could in
no sense destroy him."— Conybeare and Ilowson, Life and Epistles of St. Paul ;
note on the passage.

486 (footnote). The reference is, I suppose, to the murder of James Sharp,
archbishop of St. Andrews, on Satm-day, May .3, 1679, at a spot about three
miles from St. Andrews. The quotation below is from Pope's First Pastoral,
or Damon. The critic who blamed the conceit as ' puerile ' was not very far
wrong; for this poem was written by Pope at the age of sixteen.

510. "Paulus Jovius relates that Duns Scotus was buried before he was
dead, and that it was afterwards found, upon inspection of the grave, that
in his misery he had knocked out his brains against Ins coffin. Another version
of the story is, that he was found to have gnawed off the flesh from his arms ;"
English Cyclopaedia, art. Duns Scotus.

549. " Wm. Preston was educated at Heversham School by Thomas Watson,
the bishop of Llaudaff's father; he was born at Endmoor in the parish of
Preston Patrick, near Betham. He was consecrated Bishop of Killala in 1784,
and m June, 1788, was translated to Ferns and Leighlin. I possess a copy of
the engraved portrait of him, and a very amiable-looking man he is. There is
a notice of him in Atkinson's Worthies of Westmoreland." The above note
was communicated to me by William Jackson, Esq., of Fleatham House, Saint
Bees; who has kindly helped me in several points, and to whom I wish to
express my thanks.

214 SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

GLOSSARIAL INDEX.

I VENTURE to call attention to tlie remarkable facts (1) tliat our
author only explains very easy words in his very brief glossary ; and
(2) that, of the harder words, a large number are given in the
glossary printed as ' Gloss. B. 1 ' by the E. D. S., which was written
by the Eev. John Hutton, and printed for W. Pennington, of
Kendal, in 1781. When we consider that the 'Bran ISTew Wark'
was also written by one of the Hutton family in 1784, and printed
for the same W. Pennington, I think we may conclude that our
author must have been well acquainted with the glossary above-
mentioned. My theory is that he probably himself contributed to
til at glossary, and thought it unnecessary to explain over again words
which had already been explained there. The remarkable coincidences
in spelling and vocabulary between the ' Bran New Wark ' and this
glossary are very striking, as will he apparent to any one who will be
at the pains to compare the two. Such an odd spelling as dodt can
hardly have been independently adopted by two authors ; nor is it
likely that they would independently write lay the tohite on instead
of Icaj the wite on. Compare also the words bain, hang, harrow^
leesom, coch-a-hoop (given under h other ousm the Glossary), hrandreth,
hnuL-new, hroclx, hiinnel, cakerd, dints, clogs, cohhij, conny, dalier,
daiiiiat, didder, duhler, ea, elden, fidge, frandish, hagicorm, haiking,
havermeal, hullet, jannacks, knott, leeny, lound, marroius, maunder,
mense, merestone, meterly, nifle, nope, x^rog, imt, rannle-haJk and
racken-crook, rungs, scarrs, sconce, scout, scroggs, skate, skirl, stench
or slinch, sloum or slome, snocksnartes, snod, snotter, speals, spelks,
stee, sfirk, starken, stoter or stotter, swail, swattle, teata, tent, threap),

A BRAN NEW WAKK : GLOSSARY

215

tUie, loard, lohamp, wJiife (to whittle sticks), &c. Some of these
words are, of course, common enough ; but I think I have at any
rate shewn cause why, in interpreting any particular word in the
' Bran New Wark,' the Glossary to the ' Tour to the Caves ' should
be particularly consulted. The references are to the lines, as
numbered.

Aaiming, endeavouring, striving,

24.
Abaut, about, 19.
Aboon, above, 20.

Addle, weak (used of intellect),

88.

Aleun, eleven, 374.

AUigar, alegar (= ale eager), ale
which has fermented, and is used
for vinegar, 92.

Amaast, almost, 549.'

Amang, among, 209.

Ano, and all, i. e. also, 378.

Apreia, I pray thee, 166. See
Praia.

At, to (sign of the infinitive),

459.
Athwart, across, 368.
Ats, that is, 151.
Aur, our, 13.

Autlands, i. e. outlands, foreign
parts, heading, line 2.

Awn, own, 202.

Bain, willing, ready, 375.

Bane, bone, 97.

Bang. See Outbanged.

Barn, child, 2.

Barrows, hillocks, tumuli, 70.

" Barroiu, the side of a rocky
hill ; or a large heap of stones ; "
Glos. B. 1.

Bath, both, 113.

Bank, wash, 38. Applied to
buck - washing ; see Buck in
HalliweU.

Beal, bellow, roar, 164.
Bedstocks, bedsteads, 302.
Belly-timber, food, 413.
Berring, burial, 12.
Besom, a broom, 393 (footnote).
Bet, beat, 370.
Bezzling, swilling, 456.
Bidden, endured, 417.
Blead, blood, 339.

Brandreth, an iron frame over tiie
fire, 380. See Gloss. B. 1.

Bran-new, quite new, 145.

Braw, brow of a hill, 50.

Braying, pounding, 165.

Brears, briars, 488.

Bree, strong agitation, 104. (So
explained by our author him-
self.)

Breet, bright, 238.

Brocks, badgers, 7.

BuUen, a stalk of hemp, 384.
The same as hunnel in Glos.
B. 1.

216

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Butter-flee, butterfly, 77. Butter-
llee-mad, mad after butterflies.

Cakered, "bound with iron as
are clog-slioes," 4. Brockett
p:ives — " Caivker, an iron plate
put upon a clog."

Calver, a cow tbat is not barren,
322.

Chitterwren, wren (that chitters,
i. e. chirps), 95. M.E. cliiteren,
to chirp as a bird.

Clauted, patched (lit. clouted) ;
hence, homelj', plain, 15.

Clint, a crevice in a rock, 407.
" Clints, crevices amongst bare
limestone rocks; " Glos. B. 1.

Clock, cluck, 496.

Clogs, shoes with wooden soles
plated with iron, 4. See Glos.
B. 1.

Co, call, 83, 165.

Cobby, proiid, 528. Also "in
good spirits; " Glos. B. 1.

Cock-a-hoop, pretentious, vain-
glorious, 195. " Bobber oils, all
a cock-a-hoop; " Glos. B. 1.

Cockle-broth, broth made of
cockles, 404.

Cocksure, exceeding sure, 82.

Condor, condor, 96.

Conn'd, studied, 18.

Conny, pretty, good, excellent,
119, 296. See Glos. B. 1; cf.
Sc. canny.

Craw, crow, 185.

Croft, a field next the dwelling-
house, 44.

Crumpling, crumbling with a low
crackling noise, 333.

Cumpassed, embraced, 370,

Curst, shrewish, ill-tempered, 162.

Dakering, disputing, 521.
" DaJcer, a dispute ; " Glos. B. 1.

Dannet, a worthless fellow, 360.
One who dows not, i. e. is of no
value; like G. taugenichts. See
Dow.

Dawn, down, 50.

Daws'd, dowsed, sunk, 212.

Dea, do, 376. See Du.

Deary me ! an interjection, 343.

Diddering, shaking, shivering ;
hence, chattering (said of teeth),
347.

Dizend, bedizened, decked out,
144. [Hence E. be-dizen.']

Dodt, docked, i. e. without horns,
1G2. This remarkable spelling
occurs also in Glos. B. 1. See
Bodded in Atkinson's Cleveland
Glossary.

Doffs, puts off, 130.

Dons, masters, clever fellows, 84.
Used in Cambridge.

Dow, to avail, profit ; at do^v =
to be useful to others, 459.
Cognate with G. taitgen.

Du, do, 213, 357. See Dea.

Dubbler, a large plate, a plateful,
403.

Dunnet, do not, 103.

Dykes, ditches, 336.

Ea, river, 10. See the note.

Een, eyes, 145.

Efeclings, by my faith, 153. A
dimin. of i'fegs.

Efter, after, 377.

Efternean, afternoon, 217.

Eigh, aye, yes, 11, 302.

A BRAN NEW WARK : GLOSSARY.

217

Elding, fuel, 344. 77;/*^ seek is
eJdiiKj = the contents of this
sack is fuel.

Element, sky, 236. So in Essex ;
and so in Shakespeare.

Emess, by the mass, 123. See
Amess in Dickinson's Cumb. Glos.

Er, are, 94, 95, 320.

Faat, fault, misdeed, 410, 513;
2ih Faats, 241.

Fald-yeat, foldgate, 31,

Feal, fool, 139.

Fend, provide (for), 468.

Fettle, condition, state of health,
512. Common as far S. as Shrop-
shire ; and perhaps farther.

Fidge, perform busily, 36. To
fidge is to be restless, to be busy
about trifles ; also ' ' to kick with
the feet," as in Glos. B. 1.

Filch, pilfer, 318.

Firley-farley, wonderful thing,
bit of nonsense (used in con-
tempt), 143. A reduplication of
M.'E. ferly, a wonder; P. Plow-
man ; B. prol. 6.

Flackers, flits about, beats about,
75.

Flounces, jumps about, 75,

Flushcocks, 398. " Fhcsh cocks
are ' sieves ' growing in damj)
places on the fells, shorter and
flatter than the ordinary ' sieve ; '
they are cut, dried, stacked, and
often used as bedding for horses."
— W. Jackson. " Seeve, a rush ; "
Dickinson. The flushcock is Jun-
cus lamprocarpus ; the sieue is
Juncus effusus ; Britten.

Fog, aftermath, 477.

Followed on, followed, continued,
127. See Hosea, vi. 3; and
Eastwood and Wright's Bible
Wordbook.

Fond, silly, 441.

Foumarts, polecats, 7.

Era, from, 91.

Fraaze, froze, 330.

F r a n d i s h , mad^ passionate,
frenzied, 303.

Freetned, frightened, 223.

Gaan, gone, 530 ; Gaane, 224.

Gaas, goes, 305, 454.

Gang, go, 115.

Giggling, laughing sillily, 142.

Girsle, gristle, 97.

Git, get, 531.

Gitten, gotten, got, 16.

Glopping, staring about, 149,

Graadly, well-meaning, 375, Spelt
(jn'idly in Glos. B. 1.

Gun ; as sure as a gun = certainly,

414.

Hagworm, lit, hedge -snake, a
viper, 407.

Haking, loitering, 462.

Hallow, haUoo, shout, 415.

Hamely, homely, 15.

Harbour, shelter, 312.

Havermeal, oatmeal, 403.

Haw, how, 75.

Haughs, river-side pastures, 43.
See Huuyh in Ferguson's Cumb.
Glossary,

Heck, half -door. See Raddle-
heck.

Helter-skelter, wild, 183. (The
suggestion hilariter-celeriter, in
the note, is a specimen of learned
rubbish).

218

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Herreiisue, lieron, 338.

Hes, has, 85.

Hev, have, 18, 20.

Hocus-pocus, trickery, 170. Un-
meaning words used by jugglers;
the suggestion (Jioc est corpus) is
ridiculous.

Hod-fast, holdfast, a sure posses-
sion, ■±44.

Hullet, owlet, owl, 337.

Hiinx, a miser, 122. ^^ Haspin,
anhunx;" Glos.B.l. "Hunrael,
an hunx, or covetous person ; " id.

Inkhorn words, literary words,
18.

Intacks, enclosures taken in from
a oommon (lit. in-takes), 44.

Iver, ever, 22.

Ivery, every, 25.

Jannoek, a coarse loaf of oaten
bread, 403.

Kirk, church, 133.
Kirk-garth, churchyard, 128.
Knots, i^ocky-peaked hills, 70.
Kraken, a sea-snake, 99.

Laa, loAv, 196.

Laad, load, 396.

Laaking, playing, amusing him-
self, i)0.

Lang 0, along of, owing to, 263.

Lang-settle, long seat, 137. A
wooden form with a high back ;
"a bench like a settle;" Glos.
B. 1.

Leak, look, appearance, 515.

Leak, look, 96.

Lear, liar, 255.

Leeny, clever, smart, 320.
" Leeny, alert, active;" Glos.
B. 1.

Leetnings, lightnings, 223.

Leeves, lives, 41,

Leeviag, s. living, 29.

Lets, hindrances, 506.

Lig, lie, .^30.

Lig, lay, 306 ; Lig wite on, lay
blame upon, 250. (Misspelt
luhite ; see the note.)

Ligging, lying, 454.

Lile, little, 19; Lile aans, little
ones, 383.

Ling, a kind of heather, 336.

Lingua, lingo, 58.

Loanin, lane, 297. (Also lonnin.)

Loup, a stitch in knitting (lit. a
loop), 385. See Glos. B. 2..

Lownd, still, quiet, calm, 329.

Loww, blaze, light, 385.

Iff

Mafiiin, a stupid fellow, 456.

Mappen (may happen), possibly,
130, 155.

Mare, more, 26, 27.

Marrows, matches, is like, 14.

Maunders, lounges, wanders idly,
461.

Mause-itten, mouse-eaten, 138

Mebby, may be, perhaps, 391.

Meeterly, moderately, tolerably,
24. (From the verb to mete.)

Meety, mighty, 195,

Mense, kindness, 405. See the
note.

A BRAN NEW WARK : GLOSSARY.

219

Mere-stanes, "boundary - stones,
307. "Cursed, saith tlie law,
is liee that removetli the land-
marke. The mislaier of a meere-
stone is to blame; " Bacon, Essay
56.

Mickle, much, 84.

Miff, quarrel, 551.

Miredrum, bittern, 338.

Mirkness, darkness, 340.

Moon belief, fickle belief, fickle
faith, 133.

Mucking', cleaning muck out of
a ' byre ' or cowhouse, 39.

Mud, might, 100; would, 311.

Mummy, a soft pounded mass,
166.

Mun, must, 119 ; must, will, 14;
must, shall, 212.

Munnet, must not, 264.

Murgeon, " rubbish-eartli cut up
and thrown aside in order to get
tui'f," 333; see Glos. B. 1.

Naa, no, 21, 22.

Naw, now, 36, 37.

Neaf, fist, 558 ; p?. I^eaves, 418.

Neak, nook, corner, 120.

Nebber-raw, neighbouring row of
houses, 35.

Neen, nine, 377.

Neet, night, 199.

Ner, nor, 76.

Net, not, 15, 19.

Nifting, pilfering, 305. [Perhaps
a misprint for niflincj, which is
the spelling in Glos. B. 1.] Of.
" Ni2) ^tp, to pilfer, pick up
quickly;" Dickinson, Cumb.
Glossary.

Nimming, purloining, 305.

Nivver, never, 76, 81.

Nope, a rap, 157. " Nope, a
small blow or stroke," Glos.
B. 1.

0, of, 91.

0, all, 112. And see Ano.

Oor, over, 4, 76.

Oorun, over-run, 7.

0th, of the, 308.

Outbanged, surpassed, 322.
"Bang, to beat or overcome;"
Glos. B. 1.

Oways, always, 436.

Paate, pate, head, 88.

Parlisb, wonderful (lit. perilous),
79.

Peats, pieces of peat, 398. '• Feat,
turf for the fire ; " Glos. B. 1.

Peck of troubles, i. e. a quantity
of them, 373.

Pelsy, perverse, 204. " Pelsej/,
obstinate, cross, mischievous,
bad, wicked, evil ; " Halliwell.

Pinfald, v. impound, 477.

Poak, bag, 342.

Popple up, pop up (tlirough
water), 51.

Pows, poles, stout sticks, 318.

Preia, I pray thee, 354. See
Apreia.

Prickins, 398. "When the
thorn-hedge, cut down so that
it may grow afresh, forms an
insecure barrier, the stronger
stems are cut into short pieces
{prickings) and thrust in close
rows along the top of the hedge
on each side, thus making the
separation between the fields
safe, and protecting the young
shoots till they grow up again ; "
W. Jackson.

220

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

Progging, getting food, 413.
"Frog, food, provisions; " Glos.
B. 1.

Pumps, thin shoes, 3.

Put, pushed (with the liorns),
butted, 163.

Raans, roes (of a fish), 85.

Raap, rope, 171.

Raddle-heck, wattled half-door,
372. " Radling, watling; " Glos.
B. I.

Randletree, a ' randle-bauk,' a
piece of wood in a chimney from
which is hung the pot- crook or
racken-crook, or ratten-crook, 381.
8te Bannle-bauk in Glos. B. 1.

Rattencreak, pot-crook, pot-hook,
3b>U. .See above. [Corruption
of rakken-creak.']

Rattlehorn, a giddy, thoughtless
person, 457. So also Rattle-pate,
in Ilalliwell.

Raund, round, 33,

Raund, rown, i.e. whisper, 125.

Raw, row. See Nebber-raw.

Reet, right, 157.

Rhaading, raiding, foraying, 521.

Rue, repent, be sorry, 255.

Rung, round or stave, i. e. step of
a kulder, 382.

Saal, soul, 559.

Sauked, sucked, 48.

Saunds, sounds, 48.

Scaled, scattered, 198. Spelt
ski lie in Glos. B. 1.

Scarrs, bare rocks, especially on a
mountain side, 7 ; Scars, 365.

Sconce, " a fixed seat by the side

of afire-place" (Glos. B. 1), 137.
Brockett gives : " Sconce, a fixed
seat at one side of the fire-place
in the old large ojDen chimney;
a short juirtition near the fire,
upon which all the bright utensils
in a cottage are suspended."

Scout. See note to 1. 193.

ScrogS, stunted bushes, brush-
wood, 9.

Sean, soon, 531.

Seaty, sooty, 138, 380.

Seek, sack, 344.

Seet, sight, 91.

Sell'd, sold, 321.

Sells, selves, 22^.

Sennet, week (seven nights), 329.

Seun, seven o'clock, 329.

Shaws, copses, woods, 44.

Sic, such, 15.

Sidesmen, assistants to church-
wardens, 156.

Skirling, shrieking, screaming,
337.

Slaaworm, slow-worm, 407.

Slinging, slinking, sneaking, 462.
See Stench in Glos. B. 1.

Slome, slumber, 150.

Snaw, snow, 17.

Snocksnarles, all of a lieap, 3G6.
Generally used of entangled
thread ; see Glos. B. 1 and B. 2.

Snod, smooth, 3.

Snottering, sobbing, 383.

Soniat, somewhat, 363.

Speals, small sticks, 383.

Spelks, " small sticks to fix on
thatch with," pegs, 319. Also
used to mean "slips of hazel
used to form the bottoms of flat
baskets such as clothes-baskets

A BRA.N NEW WARK : GLOSSARY.

221

or sn-iJIs, as such baskets are
called when used in farm -yards
to carry cut turnijis in," &c. ;
W. Jackson. In fact, spelks and
speals are general terms for any
thin slijas or splinters of wood ;
the diminutive form is s2)eJica)is.

Sprauting, reljelliou^, 25.
" Sprant, to kick and struggle ; "
Halliwell.

Squats, sits, 131. See Sivat in
Glos. B. 1.

Stanethraws, stone-throAvs, 353.

Steal, stool, 379.

Stee, ladder, 381.

Stirk, heifer, 476. " SfirA; a
steer;" Glos. B. 1.

Stark-dead, quite dead and stiff,
511.

Stars and garters, an exclamation,
411.

Storkened, lit. stiffened, hence,
congealed, 339. See Glos. B. 1.

Stot, young ox, 476.

Stottered, stumbled, 365.

Swattles, swills, 460. " Sioatth,
to guzzle; " Glos. B. 1.

Sweal, flame, blaze, 385. Spelt
siuaile in Glos. B. 1,

Ta, to, 112.

Ta, thou, 396, 397.

Taad-poles, tad|ioles, 90.

Taan, taken, 293.

Tarn, pool, 239.

Tan ; Jies tan = hastou = hast
thou, 126, 127. See Ta.

Tea, too, 11, 212.

Tearing, tiring, 272. See Teered.

Teata, very, 119. ( Teata = too-
too, as in Shakespeare ; see Tootn
in Glos. B. 17.)

Teed, tied, 458.

Teered, tired, 104. See Tearing.

Teers, tires, 78.

Tented (later ed. tended), guarded,
tended, 21. " Tent, to watch or
guard from doing a thing ; "
Glos. B. 1.

Testrels (later ed. testrlls), worth-
less fellows, 224. See Taistrel,
Taystrnil, and Testril, in Glos.
B. 1, B. 2, and B. 7.

Threaping, chiding, arguing, 471.

Ticing, enticing, alluring, 145.

Tramp'd, trudged along, 332.

Trapes, saunters, 128.

Tykes, headstrong striplings, 430.
Spelt tike in Glos. B. 1.

Unsneck'd, undid, imfastened,
372. '' S)ieck, a door-latch;"
Glos. B. 1.

Varra, very, 234.

Waat, (ye) know, 8.

Wad, would, 19, 132.

Ward, world, 388, 535.

Warding, guarding, 521.

Wardly, worldly, 323.

Wark, work, 520.

Warse, worse, 291.

Waund, wound, 422.

Weezels, weasels, 7.

Welter, roll, tuml)le about, 99.

Weshed, washed, 17.

Whamp, wasp, 495.

Wharting, teasing, lit. thwart-

222

SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DIALECTS.

ing, note to 1. 486. Cf. tvliart-
luhartle, to cross, tease; Forby.

Whick, quick, i. e. alive, 512.

White. See Wite.

Whither, to shiver, shudder, 248.
Originally to whirr, quiver, whiz ;
see Barbour's Bruce, xvii. 684.

Whiting", whittling, shaving with
a knile, 383.

Windraw, heap of dug earth,
335. See Glos. B. 16.

Wite, blame, 250. Misspelt
white both here and in Glos.
B. 1, where it is entered under
Wite.

Withys, bent osiers, 319. " Witlnj,
around hoop of osier;" Glos.
B. 1.

Woon, (ye) dwell, 488.
Wooning, dwelling, abode, 353.

Ya, one, 13, 91 ; Yan, one (of
them), 92; Yans, one's, 106;
Yaw, one, 242.

Yanee, once, 163, 495.

Yaw, one, 242. See Ya.

Yearned, felt grief, or pity, 126.
Cf. ermen, to grieve ; Chaucer.

Yule-clog, yuledog, Christmas
log, 33.

Zleads, no doubt the same as
's lids = by God's lids or eyeHds,
fou d in old plays, 170.

S n n 9 a » :

CLAY AND TAYLOR, PEINTEllS.

PE Sweet, Henry
1133 A history of English

SS4. sounds from the earliest

1874. period

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

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