TABLE OF CONTENTS
| chap | ||
| [Preface] | v | |
| I | [Dialects and their Value.] The meaning of dialect. Phonetic decay and dialectic regeneration. The words twenty, madam, alms. Keats; use of awfully. Tennyson and Ben Jonson; use of flittermouse. Shakespeare; use of bolter and child. Sir W. Scott; use of eme. The English yon. Hrinde in Beowulf. | 1 |
| II | [Dialects in Early Times.] The four old dialects. Meaning of “Anglo-Saxon.” Documents in the Wessex dialect. | 10 |
| III | [The Dialects of Northumbria; till A.D. 1300.] The Anglian period. Beda’s History and “Death-song.” The poet Cædmon. Cædmon’s hymn. The Leyden Riddle. The Ruth well Cross. Liber Vitæ. The Durham Ritual. The Lindisfarne and Rushworth MSS. Meaning of a “gloss.” Specimen. | 14 |
| IV | [The Dialects of Northumbria; A.D. 1300-1400.] The Metrical Psalter; with an extract. Cursor Mundi. Homilies in Verse. Prick of Conscience. Minot’s Poems. Barbour’s Bruce; with an extract. Great extent of the Old Northern dialect; from Aberdeen to the Humber. Lowland Scotch identical with the Yorkshire dialect of Hampole. Lowland Scotch called “Inglis” by Barbour, Henry the Minstrel, Dunbar, and Lyndesay; first called “Scottis” by G. Douglas. Dr Murray’s account of the Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland. | 25 |
| V. | [Northumbrian in the Fifteenth Century.] Northumbrian of Scotland and of England in different circumstances. Literature of the fifteenth century; poems, romances, plays, and ballads. List of Romances. Caxton. Rise of the Midland dialect. “Scottish” and “English.” Jamieson’s Dictionary. “Middle Scots.” Quotation from Dunbar. | 36 |
| VI | [The Southern Dialect.] Alfred the Great. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Old English Homilies. The Brut. St Juliana. The Ancren Riwle. The Proverbs of Alfred. The Owl and the Nightingale. A Moral Ode. Robert of Gloucester. Early history of Britain. The South-English Legendary. The Harleian MS. 2253. The Vernon MS. John Trevisa. The Testament of Love. | 47 |
| VII | [The Southern Dialect of Kent.] Quotation from Beda. Extract from an Old Kentish Charter. Kentish Glosses. Kentish Sermons. William of Shoreham; with an extract. The Ayenbite of Inwyt. The Apostles’ Creed in Old Kentish. The use of e for A.S. y in Kentish. Use of Kentish by Gower and Chaucer. Kentish forms in modern English. | 56 |
| VIII | [The Mercian Dialect.] [East Midland.] Old Mercian Glossaries of the eighth century. The Lorica Prayer. The Vespasian Psalter. The Rushworth MS. Old Mercian and Wessex compared. Laud MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Ormulum. The English Proclamation of Henry III. (see the facsimile). Robert Mannyng of Brunne (Bourn). [West Midland.] The Prose Psalter. William of Palerne. The Pearl and Alliterative Poems. Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight. | 65 |
| IX. | [Foreign Elements in the Dialects.] Words from Norman, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, etc. Celtic. List of Celtic words. Examples of Latin words. Greek words. Hebrew words. List of Scandinavian words. French words. Anglo-French words; gauntree. Literary French words, as used in dialects. | 82 |
| X | [Later History of the Dialects.] Spenser. John Fitzherbert. Thomas Tusser. Skinner’s Etymologicon (Lincolnshire words). John Ray. Dialect glossaries. Dr Ellis on Early English Pronunciation. The English Dialect Society. The English Dialect Dictionary. The English Dialect Grammar. | 99 |
| XI | [The Modern Dialects.] Prof. Wright’s account of the modern English Dialects. | 106 |
| XII | [A Few Specimens.] Some writers in dialect. Specimens: Scottish ([Aberdeen], [Ayrshire], [Edinburgh]). Northern England ([Westmorland]). Midland ([Lincoln], [S.E. Lancashire], [Sheffield], [Cheshire]). Eastern ([N. Essex], [Norfolk]). Western ([S.W. Shropshire]). Southern ([Wiltshire], [Isle of Wight], [Sussex]). | 110 |
| [Bibliography] | 133 | |
| [Index] | 136 | |
| Facsimile. The only English Proclamation of
Henry III. Oct. 18, 1258. ⁂ For a transcription of the Facsimile see pp. 75-6. | at end |
{Transcriber’s Note:
In addition to the chapters and some subheadings, all pages have anchors in the form "pageiv" or "page68".
The Facsimile is not included in this e-text. In its place is appended a [transcription] which undoes the orthographic changes described by the author on p. 75.}