Rustic Speech and Folk-Lore

by Elizabeth Mary Wright

Scandinavian Loan-words

To take next some specimens of the Scandinavian loan-words: addle (n. counties to Chs. Stf. Der. Not. Lin., also in Rut. Lei. Nhp. War. e.An.), to earn, acquire by one’s labour, to gain, procure, e.g. It isn’t what a chap addles, but what a chap saves at makes him rich, cp. ‘Hu mann mihhte cwemenn [please] Godd & addlenn hefmess blisse,’ Ormulum, l. 17811, c. 1205, cp. O.N. øðla, reflexive øðlask, to acquire (for oneself) property; birr (Sc. Irel. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Der.), force, impetus, energy, &c., cp. ‘Lo in a greet birre, al the drove wente heedlinge in to the see,’ Wyclif, Matt. viii. 32, O.N. byrr, a favourable wind; bulder, buller (Sc. Nhb. e.An.), a loud gurgling noise, a bellowing, Norw. dial. bulder, buller, a bubbling circle or whirlpool; dag (n.Cy. Lan. Chs. War. Brks. e.An.), dew, O.N. døgg (mod. gen. daggar), dew; ettle (gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and all n. counties to Lan.), to intend, propose, have in mind, &c., O.N. ǣtla, to intend, purpose; fitty (Lin.), marsh-land lying between the sea-bank and the sea, Norw. dial. fit (pl. fitjar), a level meadow by the water; force (Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan.), a waterfall or cascade. It is not uncommon in certain parts of Yorkshire to find that where sign-posts direct the traveller to ‘Stainforth Force’, or ‘Catterick Force’, the native will say, ‘Stainforth Foss’, ‘Catterick Foss’, the reason being that the O.N. fors, a waterfall, has in the written language become associated with force, and established as the standard form, whilst the Norw. dial. foss, Dan. fos, has been preserved in the spoken dialects. Frosk (Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan.), a frog, O.N. froskr; gaggle (e.An.), a flock of geese, O.N. gagl, a young goose; grum (Yks. Lan. Glo. Oxf. Som. Dev.), surly, cross, disagreeable, angry, Norw. dial. grum, proud, haughty, Dan. grum, fierce, angry. Dr. Johnson incorporates this adjective, but marks it as ‘a low word’. Hag (n. and midl. counties), to hew, O.N. höggva; haver (Sc. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), oats, Norw. dial. havre; heppen (n.Cy. Yks. Not. Lin.), tidy, respectable, handsome, handy, deft, O.N. heppinn, lucky, also dexterous; helder (n.Cy. Yks. Lan. Der.), adv. more, rather, preferable to, O.N. heldr, the English form helder being properly a double comparative; hill (n. and midl. counties), to cover up, to wrap, cover with clothes, &c., O.N. hylja; hooly (Sc. Nhb. Cum. Wm.), adv. slowly, carefully, gently, O.N. hōgliga, gently; keld (Nhb. Cum. Yks. Lan.), a spring of water, a fountain, a marshy place, O.N. kelda, a spring of water; lait (Sc. and n. counties), to seek, O.N. leita; lake (Sc. n. counties, Der. Not. Lin. Glo.), to play, sport, amuse oneself, to idle, to be out of employment, lake-house, a theatre, and laker, an actor, O.N. leika, to play, sport; lamp (Sc. Nhb. Yks. Chs. Stf. War. Wor. Shr. Hrf.), to walk with long, heavy steps, also to beat, thrash, Norw. dial. lampa, to walk with heavy steps, to beat; lea (n.Cy. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), a scythe, O.N. lē; loof (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Yks. Nhp.), the palm of the hand, the open hand, O.N. lōfi, the hollow of the hand; mense (Sc. Irel. and n. counties), honour, respect, hospitality good manners, &c., e.g. of a person who has neither manners nor understanding it is said: He hez nowder sense nor mense, O.N. mennska, humanity; mun (Sc. and gen. dial. use in Eng. down to Oxf. Brks.), must, O.N. munu, 3rd pr. pl. will, shall; nowt (Sc. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. e.An.), cattle, O.N. naut, the cognate English word is neat, as in neat-herd; oam (Sc. Dur.), steam, a blast of warm air, a warm aroma, Norw. dial. ome, smoke, the smell of something burning; ouse (Sc. n.Cy. Yks. Lin.), to empty out liquid, to bale out a boat, Norw. dial. ausa, to bale water out of a boat, O.N. ausa, to pump, especially a ship; owmly (Yks.), lonely, dreary, used with reference to large ancient houses, with few inmates, e.g. Ah sudn’t like ti sleep wi mi-sen i’ that greeat owmly hoose, Norw. dial aumleg, poor, wretched, miserable, O.N. aumligr; quey (Sc. Irel. n. and midl. counties), a heifer, O.N. kvīga; ean (gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and Eng.), a balk in a field, a division of land, &c., O.N. rein, a strip of land; roose (Sc. n.Cy. Cum. Yks. Lan. Lin.), to praise, O.N. hrōsa; seave (Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Lin.), a generic name for the rush, O.N. sef; skep (Sc. Irel. Eng. and Wal.), a basket, O.N. skeppa, a measure; swip (Sc. Yks.), the exact image or likeness, O.N. svipr, a likeness; tine (Sc. n.Cy. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Lan.), to lose, O.N. tȳna; tite (Sc. Nhb. Dur. Lakel. Cum. Yks. Lan.), adv. soon, early, readily, &c., O.N. tītt, neut. of tīðr, frequent; wath (Sc. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), a ford, O.N. vað, a wading-place, a ford across a river or creek; will (Sc. e.An.), bewildered, lost in error, uncertain how to proceed, O.N. villr, bewildered, erring, astray, etymologically the same word as the native English wild.

Celtic Words in the Dialects

The number of Celtic words in the English dialects is relatively small, even if under the common term Celtic we group together Gaelic, Welsh, and Old Cornish words. Some of these loan-words are very early borrowings, and can be traced back to the O.E. period. Bannock (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Stf. e.An. Hmp. Wil. Som. Dev.), a cake composed of oatmeal or barley mixed with water and baked on a girdle, is O.E. bannuc; and brat (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. I.Ma. Chs. Stf. Der. Not. Lin. Wor. Shr. Pem.), a child’s pinafore, a large coarse apron made with sleeves, worn by workers in factories, is found in the Northumbrian Gospels of the tenth century, bratt ‘pallium’, Matt. v. 40. Perhaps the most interesting of the early Celtic loan-words is the word tallet, meaning a hay-loft, especially one over a stable, also used of the space immediately under the roof in any building, but not applied to a ceiled room of any kind. It is originally a Latin word, tabulatum, a boarded floor, and must have been a relic of the Roman occupation, picked up by the ancient Britons, and preserved by them in a modified form, cp. Wel. taflod, a hay-loft, O.Ir. taibled, a story. Then later it was adopted by the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and became the English word tallet, which is found to-day in common use in the dialects of Cheshire and all the w.midl. and sw. counties, that is, in all the counties near the Welsh border. The remarkable point about the preservation of this word is that it never once occurs in the whole range of English literature down to the nineteenth century, when Blackmore introduced it in his Lorna Doone. Through all these centuries it has steadily persisted in the spoken language without any help from the world of letters, linking the modern rustic to the early Briton and the subjects of Julius Caesar.

Celtic Words in Scottish Speech

The dialects of Scotland have adopted a certain amount of Gaelic words into current speech, for example: fuilteachs, fultachs, sb.pl. a period partly in January and partly in February, according to ‘Old Style’ reckoning, now wholly in February. If the weather is fine during the fultachs, a bad summer and a cold wet harvest may be expected; but stormy fultachs betoken a good summer, Gael. faoilteach, the last fortnight of winter, and first fortnight of spring, proverbial for variableness. Glack, a ravine, glen, Gael. glac, a hollow, a narrow valley; oye, a grandchild, Gael. ogha; skeeny, pack-thread, twine, Gael. sgéinnidh, twine, flax or hemp thread; taisch, the voice of a person about to die, second sight, Gael. taibhs, a vision, apparition, ghost. Similarly, modern Irish has incorporated certain Old Irish words, such as: gra(h), affection, love, fondness, Ir. gradh, love; grafan, a small axe with the edge turned across like an adze, used for grubbing, Ir. grafán; miscaun, a lump of butter, Ir. miosgán, a small dish of butter; partan, the common crab, Ir. partán, portán, a crab; shanagh, shanacus, a gossip, chat, talk, Ir. seanchus, history, genealogy, every kind of knowledge. From Wales a few Welsh words have been taken over into the English dialects, for instance: cader (Yks. Lan. Chs. Stf. Dev. Cor.), a cradle, Wel. cadair, a chair, cadair fagu, a cradle; keffel (n.Cy. Yks. War. Wor. Shr. Som.), a horse, generally an old or inferior one, Wel. ceffyl, a horse. The form flannen for flannel, which is in general dialect use in Scotland, Ireland, and England, is also Welsh, and not a corruption of the standard pronunciation, cp. Wel. gwlanen, woollen material. Old Cornish as a language ceased to be spoken about the end of the eighteenth century, but here and there can be found traces of it in the modern Cornish vocabulary, for example: mabyer, a young hen, a pullet, a chicken, O.Cor. mab + iar, i.e. the son of a hen; muryan, an ant, O.Cor. murrian, ants; palch, broken down in health, palsied, &c., O.Cor. palch, weak, sickly; pilm, dust, dry dust, fluff, O.Cor. pilm, flying dust like flour; quilkin, a frog, O.Cor. cwilcen; subban, a sop, O.Cor. suben, a mass, a morsel.

Latin Words in the Dialects

The French and Scandinavian loan-words constitute by far the greater proportion of the foreign element in the dialects, and next come the Celtic words. Beside these, the borrowings from other languages are of little or no importance, beyond the fact of their adoption. It strikes one with surprise, for instance, to meet a Greek word like nous in common dialect use all over England, e.g. Th’ ’ead o’ un’s a-put on vitty, there’s some nouse about he (Som.), or: T’yent no good to ax he to do’t, vor ’e a-yent got no nowse (Brks.). Latin words have crept into English dialects from various sources. Some have drifted down from the Old English period, e.g. sicker (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Yks.), secure, safe, which is O.E. sicor, secure, certain, from Lat. securus; taffel (Sc.), a small table, which is the same word as O.E. tæfl, a chess-board, from Lat. tabula. Others have come through the medium of Old Norse, e.g. almous, aumous (Sc. Irel. and n. counties), money or food bestowed in charity, a small portion, &c., from O.N. almusa, beside the standard English form alms, from O.E. ælmysse, ælmesse, from a pop. Lat. *alimosina; scrive (Sc. Nhb. Yks.), to write, from O.N. skrifa, from Lat. scribere. Some are legal terms, e.g. mittimus (Wm. Yks.), a legal summons, a notice to quit, a dismissal from service, e.g. Poor fella, ah pity yon man, ah du really: t’landlord’s sent him hiz mittimus to leeav; siserary (Irel. Dur. Nhp. e.An. Suf. Dev.), a violent scolding, a severe blow, which is a dialect corruption and use of the legal term certiorari, a corruption found in Smollett’s Humphrey Clinker, cp. ‘I have gi’en the dirty slut a siserary.’ Others, again, are Church words, e.g. cirage-money (Chs.), church rates, originally the equivalent of ‘wax-shot’, a duty formerly paid towards the charge of wax candles in churches, from M.Lat. ceragium, ‘quod cerae nomine praestabatur ecclesiis ad luminarium concinnationem,’ Ducange; calends (Wor. Shr. Hrf.), a name given in certain places to the footpath leading to the entrance of the church, from M.Lat. kalenda, ‘Initium cuiusvis rei, puta, Locus ubi territorium aliquod incipit,’ Ducange. A small sprinkling of Dutch words can be found, such as: dwile (e.An.), a coarse house-flannel, any coarse rubbing-rag, a mop, Du. dweyl, a clout to wash the floor, stok-dweyl, a mop; frow (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum-Yks. Lan.), a big, fat woman, Du. vrouw, a woman, wife.

Poetic Words in Dialect Use

Another feature of the dialect vocabulary which is worth a passing notice, is the existence therein of words which we are wont to regard as too poetical, or too literary for everyday use. We should fear to be considered affected, and given to a habit of interlarding our conversation with quotations from books, if we called a song-thrush a mavis, or a throstle, and spoke of a merle or an ousel instead of saying blackbird, yet all these four are extremely common dialect terms. In parts of Yorkshire dialect-speakers call honeysuckle eglantine, as Milton did in L’Allegro; and in certain southern counties a stream is called a bourn, reminding us of Milton’s ‘bosky bourn’; the two words would not, however, be still heard in conjunction with one another, for bosky is confined to the northern dialects. In a number of counties from north to south mead is a common term for a field, a meadow, e.g. The beeses is i’ the mead; similarly delve is a common verb for dig, dight for prepare, hie for hasten, e.g. Hie thee, Sarah, hie thee, and bring me a sope o’ beer, aw’m welly [well-nigh] kilt wi’ droot (Chs.); lap for wrap; rive for tear; rue for regret, e.g. I’ve never rued it but once, and that’s ever sin; wax for grow, e.g. He’s waxed sair sin aa seed him last (Nhb.), Ah wax warm (Suf.). Sear, adj. withered, dry, is common in East Anglia. A Sussex rhyme runs: