J. Come, I’ll be blamed if I doant laay thee a quart o’ that.

W. Done! and I’ll ax Meyastur to-night when I goos whoam, bee’t how’t wool.

Accordingly, Meyastur was applied to by Will, who made his decision known to Jan the next morning.

W. I zay, Jan! I axed Meyastur about that are last night.

J. Well, what ded ur zay?

W. Why, a zed one neyam ez jest zo vittun vor’n as tother; and he lowz a ben caal’d straddlebob ever zunce the Island was vust meyad.

J. Well, if that’s the keeas, I spooas I lost the quart.

W. That thee hast, lucky; and we’ll goo down to Arreton to the Rid Lion and drink un ater we done work.

Southern (Group 7): East Sussex.

The following quotations are from the Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect, by the Rev. W.D. Parish, Vicar of Selmeston; E.D.S. 1875. The Glossary refers rather to E. than to W. Sussex, Selmeston being between Lewes and Eastbourne.

Call over, to abuse. “He come along here a-cadging, and fancy he just did call me over, because I told him as I hadn’t got naun to give him.” (Naun, nothing.)

Clocksmith, a watchmaker. “I be quite lost about time, I be; for I’ve been forced to send my watch to the clocksmith. I couldn’t make no sense of mending it myself; for I’d iled it and I’d biled it, and then I couldn’t do more with it.”

Cocker-up, to spoil; to gloss over with an air of truth. “You see this here chap of hers, he’s cockered-up some story about having to goo away somewheres up into the sheeres; and I tell her she’s no call to be so cluck over it; and for my part I dunno but what I be very glad an’t, for he was a chap as was always a-cokeing about the cupboards, and cogging her out of a Sunday.” (The sheeres, any shire of England except Kent and Sussex; call, reason; cluck, out of spirits; coke, to peep; cog, to entice.)

Joy, a jay. “Poor old Master Crockham, he’s in terrible order, surelý! The meece have taken his peas, and the joys have got at his beans, and the snags have spilt all his lettuce.” (Order, bad temper; meece, mice; snags, snails; spilt, spoilt.)

Kiddle, to tickle. “Those thunder-bugs did kiddle me so that I couldn’t keep still no hows.” (Thunder-bug, a midge.)

Lawyer, a long bramble full of thorns, so called because, “when once they gets a holt an ye, ye doänt easy get shut of ’em.”

Leetle, a diminutive of little. “I never see one of these here gurt men there’s s’much talk about in the peapers, only once, and that was up at Smiffle Show adunnamany years agoo. Prime minister, they told me he was, up at London; a leetle, lear, miserable, skinny- looking chap as ever I see. ‘Why,’ I says, ‘we doänt count our minister to be much, but he’s a deal primer-looking than what yourn be.’” (Gurt, great; Smiffle, Smithfield; adunnamany, I don’t know how many; lear, thin, hungry; see, saw.)

Sarment, a sermon. “I likes a good long sarment, I doos; so as when you wakes up it ain’t all over.”

Tempory (temporary), slight, badly finished. “Who be I? Why, I be John Carbury, that’s who I be! And who be you? Why, you ain’t a man at all, you ain’t! You be naun but a poor tempory creetur run up by contract, that’s what you be!”

Tot, a bush; a tuft of grass. “There warn’t any grass at all when we fust come here; naun but a passel o’ gurt old tots and tussicks. You see there was one of these here new-fashioned men had had the farm, and he’d properly starved the land and the labourers, and the cattle and everything, without it was hisself.” (Passel, parcel; tussicks, tufts of rank grass.)

Twort (for thwart), pert and saucy. “She’s terrible twort—she wants a good setting down, she do; and she’ll get it too. Wait till my master comes in!”

Winterpicks, blackthorn berries.

Winter-proud, cold. “When you sees so many of these here winterpicks about, you may be pretty sure ’twill be middlin’ winter- proud.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ancren Riwle; ed. Jas. Morton. Camden Soc., 1873. (About 1230.)

Anglo-Saxon and Early English Psalter. Surtees Society. London, 1843-7. 2 vols. (See p. 25.)

Beda.—Venerabilis Bedae Historiae Ecclesiasticae Gentis Anglorum Libri iii, iv; ed. J.E.B. Mayor, M.A. and J.R. Lumby, B.D. Cambridge, 1878.

—— The Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History; also the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (both in English). Ed. J.A. Giles, D.C.L. London, 1859. (In Bohn’s Library.)

Dictionaries containing dialect words. (See p. 100.)

Durham Ritual.—Rituale Ecclesiæ Dunelmensis. Surtees Society. London, 1840.

Earle, Rev. J.; Anglo-Saxon Literature. London, S.P.C.K., 1884.

E.D.D.—English Dialect Dictionary (to which is appended the English Dialect Grammar); ed. Dr Joseph Wright. Oxford, 1898-1905.

E.D.S.—English Dialect Society, publications of the. London, 1873-96.

E.E.T.S.—Early English Text Society, publications of the. London, 1864-1910. (Contains Alliterative Poems, Ayenbite of Inwyt, Barbour’s Bruce, Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, St Juliana, Kentish Sermons, Lyndesay’s Works, etc.)

Jackson, Miss.—Shropshire Wordbook, by Georgina F. Jackson. London, 1879.

Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary. A new edition, ed. J. Longmuir and D. Donaldson. Paisley, 1879-87. 4to. 4 vols. and Supplement.

Layamon’s Brut; ed. Sir F. Madden. London, 1847. 3 vols.

Minot’s Poems; ed. J. Hall. Oxford, 1887.

Morris, Rev. R., LL.D.; The Blickling Homilies. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1880.

—— Old English Miscellany. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1872. London, 1867 and 1873.

—— Specimens of Early English. Part I. 1150-1300. Second Edition. Oxford, 1885.

Morris, Rev. R. and Skeat, Rev. W.W.; Specimens of Early English. Part II. Third edition. Oxford, 1894.

Murray, Sir James A.H. The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland. (Phil. Soc.) London, 1873.

N.E.D.—The New English Dictionary; by Sir James A.H. Murray, H. Bradley, and W.A. Craigie. Oxford, 1888-.

Ormulum; ed. R.M. White. Oxford, 1852. 2 vols.

Pricke of Conscience, by Richard Rolle de Hampole; ed. R. Morris. (Phil. Soc.) London, 1863.

Psalter, by R. Rolle de Hampole; ed. Rev. H.R. Bramley. Oxford, 1884.

Robert of Gloucester; ed. W. Aldis Wright. (Record Series.) London, 1887. 2 vols.

Skeat, Rev. Walter W.; The Chaucer Canon. Oxford, 1900.

—— Etymological English Dictionary. New edition. Oxford, 1910.

—— The Holy Gospels, in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Mercian Versions. Cambridge, 1871-87.

—— Primer of English Etymology. Fifth edition. Oxford, 1910.

—— Principles of English Etymology, Series I. Second edition. Oxford, 1892.

Sweet, H.; An Anglo-Saxon Reader. Seventh edition. Oxford, 1894.

—— A Second Anglo-Saxon Reader, Archaic and Dialectal. Oxford, 1887.

—— The Oldest English Texts. (E.E.T.S.) London, 1885.

Trevisa.—Higden’s Polychronicon; with Trevisa’s English Version; ed. C. Babington, B.D., and the Rev. J.R. Lumby, D.D. (Record Series.) 9 vols. London, 1865-86.

Wise, J.R.; Shakspere, his Birthplace and its Neighbourhood. London, 1861.

INDEX

Aberdeen dialect, 112, 113
Adam’s body, materials of, 21, 22
Alfred, King, 47, 48
Allen, Grant, Anglo-Saxon Britain, 85
Alliterative Poems, ed. Morris, 80
Altenglische Dichtungen, 52
Ambry, aumbry, 97
Ancren Riwle, 49
Anglian period, 14
Anglo-French words in dialects, 94-96
Anglo-Saxon, 10, 11, 12
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 12, 48; Laud MS., 73
Arain, arles, arris, asew, assith, 97
Assoilyie, astre, aunsel, aunter, aver, averous, 97, 98
Atkinson’s (Cleveland) Glossary, 44
Awfully, 4
Ayenbite of Inwyt, 59, 60
Ayrshire dialect, 113, 114

Baker, Miss, 5
Barnes, William, 55, 111
Beda, 15
 his “death-song,” 15
 his History, 14, 15, 17, 56
Beowulf, 7-9
Bewcastle column, 20
Bladud, King, 50, 51
Blood-boltered, 5
Bolter, 5, 6
Boucher, Rev. J., Dialect Dictionary, 101, 102
Boy or child, 5
Brockett’s Glossary, 44
Bruce, by Barbour, 29-34
Brut, romance of, 49, 50, 51
Burns, Robert, 45, 113

Cædmon, 15, 16
 his hymn, 17
Caxton, 40
Celtic words in dialects, 83-86
 list of, 85, 86
Charters, Kentish, 56, 57
 Mercian, 70
Chaucer, use of Kentish by, 63
 use of yon, 7
 use of asp, 68
Cheshire dialect, 122, 123
Child (girl), 5, 6
Cole, King, 51
Corpus Glossary, 67
Cursor Mundi, 27, 28, 35
Cymbeline, 50

Dialect defined, 1
Dialect glossaries, 102-103
Dialect writers, 111
Dialects, foreign elements in the, 82-98
 four old, 10,11
 groups of, 107
 modern, 106-109
 specimens of, 110, etc.
Dialectic regeneration, 3
Dictionaries
  by Coles, Kersey, Bailey, Dr Johnson, and Ash, 101
 old, Promptorium and Catholicon, 100
Douglas, Gawain, 34
Dunbar, 33, 35
 quoted, 45
Dunstan, St, Life of, 51
Durham, Liber Vitæ, 20
 Ritual, 21

Eagre, 97
Earle, Prof., 14
Edinburgh dialect, 115, 116
Eliot;
 see George
Ellis, A.J., Early English Pronunciation, 103
Erne, 6
English, the old name for Lowland Scotch, 33-35
English Dialect Dictionary, 85, 90, 104
English Dialect Grammar, 104
English Dialect Society, 103
English Metrical Homilies, 28
Essex dialect, 123, 124, 125

Fitzherbert, J., Boke of Husbandry, 99
Flittermouse, 4, 5
Flower and the Leaf, 38
French words in dialects, 93
 list of, 96-98

Galt, John, 45
Gauntree, 95
Gawayne and the Grene Knight, 81
George Eliot, use of dialect by, 111
Gloss, meaning of, 23
Glossaries of dialectal words, 102, 103
 Old English, 66, 67
Golden Targe, by Dunbar, 45
Gower, use of Kentish by, 62, 63
Greek words in dialects, 87
Grose, F., Provincial Glossary, 101

Hampole, R. Rolle of, 28, 32, 35
Handlyng Synne, quoted, 78, 79
Harleian MS. 2253, 52
Hebrew words in dialects, 88
Henry III., Proclamation of, 75-78
Henry the Minstrel, 33, 35
Higden, Ralph, 53
Hild, Abbess, 16
Hoccleve, 38
Hogg, James, 45
Homilies in Verse, 28
Horn, romance of, 50
Horstmann, Dr, 51
Hrinde (A.S.), 8, 9

Inglis, or Inglisch, 33-35
Isle of Wight dialect, 129, 130

Jamieson’s Dictionary, 43, 44
Jonson, Ben, 5
Juliana, St, 49
Jutes, 56

Keats, 4
Kentish, 10, 11, 12
 dialect, 56-64
 glosses, 57
 sermons, 58
Kentish e (A.S. y), 61-64
King Lear, 50

Lancashire dialect, 119, 120
Latin words in dialects, 87
Layamon’s Brut, 49
Leyden Riddle, 18
Liber Vitæ, 20
Lincolnshire dialect, 118, 119
 words, 100, 101
Locrine, 50
London dialect, 74-78
Lorica Prayer, 68, 69
Lydgate, 38
Lyndesay, Sir David, 34, 35

Madam, ’m, 3
Malory, Sir Thomas, 40
Manning, Robert, 78, 79
Mercian dialect, 10, 11, 36, 37, 65-81
 glosses, 70-72
 spellings, 71-72
Michel, Dan, 59, 60
Midland dialect, 65-81
 rise of, 37, 42
 Psalter, 80
 East, 65-79
 West, 79-81
Minot’s Poems, 29
Moral Ode, 49
Morris, Dr, Blickling Homilies, 8
 Old English Miscellany, 49, 58
 Old English Homilies, 49
 Specimens of Early English, 58
Morris, Dr, on dialects, 81
Morris and Skeat, Specimens, etc., 27-29, 59, 60
Murray, Dr, on the Dialect of Scotland, 28, 32-5
Müller, Prof. Max, Lectures, 3

New English Dictionary, 85
Norfolk dialect, 125-127
Northern dialect, great extent of, 32-35
Northumbrian, 10, 11, 12, 14-46
 glosses, 22-24
 riddle, 18
Nut-brown Maid, 38

Old English Homilies, 49
Ormulum, The, 73, 74
Owl and Nightingale, 49

Peacock’s (Lincolnshire) Glossary, 44
Pearl, The, 80
Phonetic decay, 3
Plays, early, 41
Plurals, Southern, 61
Prick of Conscience, 28
Proverbs of Alfred, 49
Psalter, by Hampole, 32
 Prose Treatises, by the same, 32
Psalter, Northumbrian, 25-27
 West Midland, 80

Ramsay, Allan, 45
Ray, John, collection of dialectal words, 101
Rimy, 8, 9
 rind, 9
Robert of Gloucester, 50
Rolle, of Hampole, 28, 32, 35
Romances, dialect of, 44
 list of, 38-40
Ross, Alexander, 45
Rushworth MS., 22, 23, 70-72
Ruthwell Cross, 18, 19, 20

Scandinavian words in dialects, 88-93
 list of, 90-93
Scots, Middle, 44, 45
Scott, Sir Walter, 6, 45
Scottish and English, 43, 44
Scottish Laws, early, 32
Shakespeare, 5, 6, 50
 use of dialect, 100
Sheffield dialect, 121, 122
Shoreham, Wm. of, 58
 quoted, 59
Shropshire dialect, 127-128
Skeat, Chaucer Canon, 73
 Etymological Dictionary, 84-85
 Gospels in Anglo-Saxon, 71
 Index to Icelandic Dictionary, 89
 Primer of English Etymology, 84
 Principles of English Etymology, 70, 87, 89
Skinner, S., Etymologicon, 100
Smith, G. Gregory, Specimens of Middle Scots, 44, 45
South English Legendary, 51
Southern dialect, 47-55
Southey, R., his use of dialect, 111
Specimens of Early English  Part I., 49, 50
 Part II., 51, 79
 See Morris
Spenser’s Shepherd’s Calendar, 99
Stephens, Prof., 18
Sussex dialect, 130-132
Sweet, Dr, 15
 Anglo-Saxon Primer, 48
 Anglo-Saxon Reader, 18
 Anglo-Saxon Reader, Dialectal, 56-57
 Oldest English Texts, 10, 15, 19, 66
 Gregory’s Pastoral Care, 7

Tannahill, Robert, 45
Tennyson, 4, 111
Testament of Love, 53, 54
Trevisa, John, 53, 55
Tusser, T., Pointes of Husbandrie, 99
Twenty, 3

Usk, Thomas, 53, 54

Vernon MS., 52
Vespasian Psalter, 69, 70

Wessex
 see Anglo-Saxon
Westmoreland dialect, 117, 118
William of Palerne, 80
Wiltshire dialect, 128-129
Wise, J.R., 5
Wright, Dr J., English Dialect Dictionary, 9, 85, 90, 104
Wright, T., Political Songs, 29
Wyntoun, 29, 33

Yon, 6, 7