This list might have been greatly extended, but the above suffices for the purpose of proving that many of the words considered vulgar are simply venerable through age. If we inquire a little further, we shall find not only the words, but the form of speech used by our people, which so often seems ungrammatical, is actually that of the best writers of bygone ages. The fact is, as has been already stated, our vocabulary and mode of speech is not of to-day, but belongs to the time of long ago.

From Spenser’s Faerie Queen take as examples the following words and grammatical forms, which are quite common with us to-day:—

In Piers Ploughman, 1362, by R. Langton:—

The Parsone’s Tale:—

Wicliff, 1380:—

And he eat honeysoukis.

The Prodigal Sone, 1380:—

The Parsone’s Tale

Tyndale, 1534:—

Also—Geven, goven, moun, quyt (quit = to repay), stakker trone109 (throne), and scores of others are quite common with us.

The following past tenses are given by Angus as obsolete, and as having been so for long:—fand, flang, slang, stang, wan, wrang, every one of which are in frequent use.

In Wicliff’s edition of the Bible we have:—

Such words, when uttered by our country people, are not vulgar, though they may sound odd, but that is because they are old fashioned and unfamiliar; and if their utterance has no charm for you, then it is music you never heard in your youth, and which your ear can never rightly appreciate. So that you may see at a glance to what extent the language has altered, and how the folk-speech has remained almost stationary during the last three or four hundred years, let us compare a few of the commonest North Riding words of to-day with the standard English of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.

Need I add more to prove my case? I think not.

Those interested are requested to read the concluding remarks at the end of the Glossary.