Pity (Sc. Cum. e.Yks.), impers. it fills one with pity, e.g. It fair pitied me to see t’poor auld galloway so sairly failed, cp. ‘It pitieth them to see her in the dust,’ Prayer Book, Ps. cii. 14; proper (Sc. Nhb. Glo. e.An. Ken. Hmp. Wil. Dor. Dev. Cor.), handsome, fine, well-grown, cp. ‘This Ludovico is a proper man,’ Othello, IV. iii. 36, ‘they saw he was a proper child,’ A.V. Heb. xi. 23; quick (n. and midl. counties), alive, e.g. I thoht thaay was dead last back-end, bud thaay’re wick eniff noo, cp. ‘I had rather be set quick i’ the earth,’ Mer. Wives, III. iv. 90. We are of course familiar with the word in this sense in the Bible and Prayer Book, and in phrases such as: a quickset hedge, the quick of the nail, quicksilver, &c. A quickset hedge is a living hedge, as distinct from a dead fence or stockade, and the young thorn-plants for forming such a hedge are known in the dialects as quick, or quicks. The following is an advertisement which appeared in the Oxford Chronicle: ‘Quick! Quick!! QUICK!!! for hedgerows. 1,000,000 for sale,’ February 1, 1901. Sad (many dials.), solid, firm, compact; of bread, pastry, &c.: heavy, close; also: grave, discreet. The original meaning of O.E. sæd was satiated, the word being cognate with German satt, e.g. wīnsæd, satiated with wine, but already in Middle English it came to mean quiet, discreet, solid, cp.:
In Surrye whylom dwelte a companye
Of chapmen riche, and therto sadde and trewe.
Man of Lawes Tale, ll. 134, 135.
Sad, Serve, Silly, Speed, Tell
Wyclif has: ‘And whanne greet flood was maad, the flood was hurtlid to that hous, and it miȝte not moue it, for it was foundid on a sad stoon,’ St. Luke vi. 48. Similarly, sadness (Yks. Lan. Chs. Lei. War.), solidity, seriousness; in good sadness means in earnest. Shakespeare plays upon the two meanings of the word in a well-known passage beginning: ‘Tell me in sadness, who is that you love,’ Rom. & Jul. I. i. 205. Connected with these words is the verb sade (n.Cy. Chs. Stf. War. Wor. Shr. Hrf. Glo. w.Cy.), to satiate, also to become weary or tired, especially used in the phrase sick and saded, O.E. sadian, to become satiated or weary. Serve (Nhb. Cum. Yks. Lan. Chs. Der. Not. Lin. War. Wor. Shr. Oxf. Hmp. Wil.), to supply an animal with food, e.g. Ah’ll gan an’ sarve t’pigs, cp. ‘See cattle well serued, without and within, and all thing at quiet ere supper begin,’ Tusser, Husb.; shed (Sc. and n. counties), to part, separate, O.E. scādan, scēadan, to divide, separate, a meaning which is retained in the standard language in the compound watershed; silly (Ess. Som.), simple, rustic, (Nhb.) pure, innocent, e.g. The bit bairn’s asleep, silly thing, cp.:
Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,
Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.
Milton, Nat. Ode, ll. 91, 92.
Another dialect form of the word is seely, O.E. gesǣlig, happy, blessed. Speed (Sc. Yks. Lan. Lin. Glo. Cor.), success, is familiar to us in certain phrases and sayings, such as: More haste worse speed. An old Lincolnshire parish clerk affirmed that in his young days it was customary for men, before they began work in the morning, to say: May God speed us well. Another of the fraternity used to call out in church: God speed ’em weel, in a high monotone immediately after the publication of banns of marriage. Godspeed (Lakel.) is the name for a wooden screen or barrier against the wind within the door, apparently so called because leave-takings or good-byes were said there. Spill (Sc. Midl. Ken. Sur. Sus.), to spoil, ruin, destroy, O.E. spillan, to destroy; stickler (Glo. Som. Dev. Cor.), an umpire, especially an umpire at a wrestling-match or bout of singlestick, cp.: