“Aw,” for true, or to be sure, is seldom used.
“Ki,” rarely “kwi,” or “kwoy,” is an exclamation.
“Nyam,” or “nyam-nyam,” means to eat.
“Bittle,” is, of course, victuals—food.
“Blan,” pronounced with the nasal resonance of the French “blanc,” but without the broad “a” sound, or as the French would pronounce “blin,” is probably a corruption of belong, and means used to or accustomed to.
“Study” means to think, ponder, plan.
The Gullah, like the Queen of Spain, has no legs, “foot” serving for the lower limbs as well as for their extremities. “Deer hab long foot, him run fas’;” “Cootuh hab shawt foot, him trabble slow.”
“Yez” is ear or ears, and “yeddy,” sometimes “yerry,” is hear, or hearing, heard; while “haa’kee” (hark ye) is also hear, and so on, whether addressed to one or to more persons, and is used not only in admonition, as “haa’kee at me good fashi’n,” but is sometimes spoken lightly, as certain modern flappers and their bifurcated companions say “listen!” “Haa’kee” also does duty interchangeably for “yeddy,” as “haa’kee att’um,” “yeddy’um”—hearken to him! hear him! And one who holds a warning as of small account, will often say in response to an admonitory “haa’kee!” “Yaas, bubbuh, uh haa’kee, but uh yent yeddy”—literally, I hearken but I don’t hear, while actually meaning I hear but I don’t heed, going in one ear and coming out of the other.
“’Nuf” means not only enough, sufficiency, but more often abundance. Thus “you hab enny mint?” “Yaas, suh, we hab ’nuf,” carries assurance of not merely enough for a few juleps, but a patch of fragrant greenery that could cover the graves of a score of old-school Virginians!
“Specify,” one of the most characteristic Gullah words, from the English “specify,” serves for most of the varied meanings of “specifications”—“making good.” If a woman proves an unsuitable mate, she “cyan’ specify.” If trousers are frail, and “de britchiz buss’,” “’e yent specify.” If a “cunnoo” proves unseaworthy—“him cyan’ specify.” And even of a Bible text, the fulfilment of whose promise seems inadequate, the Gullah says: “Buhrabbus’ wu’d, him ent specify berry well.”