Zwird. s. Sword.
Zwod'der. s. A drowsy and stupid state of body or mind.
Derived, most probably, from sudor, Latin, a sweat.
POEMS AND OTHER PIECES EXEMPLIFYING THE DIALECT OF THE
County of Somersetshire.
Notwithstanding the Author has endeavoured, in the Observations on the Dialects of the West, and in The Glossary, to obviate the difficulties under which strangers to the dialect of Somersetshire may, very possibly, labour in the perusal of the following Poems, it may be, perhaps, useful here to remind the reader, that many mere inversions of sound, and differences in pronunciation, are not noted in the Glossary. That it did not appear necessary to explain such words as_ wine, wind; zâ, say; qut, coat; bwile, boil; hoss, horse; hirches, riches; and many others, which it is presumed the context, the Observations, or the Glossary, will sufficiently explain. The Author, therefore, trusts, that by a careful attention to these, the reader will soon become au fait at the interpretation of these West-country LIDDENS.
GOOD BWYE TA THEE COT!
Good bwye ta thee Cot! whaur tha dâs o' my childhood Glaw'd bright as tha zun in a mornin o' mâ; When tha dumbledores hummin, craup out o' tha cobwâll, An' shakin ther whings, thâ vleed vooäth an' awâ. [Footnote: The humble-bee, bombilius major, or dumbledore, makes holes very commonly in mud walls, in which it deposits a kind of farina: in this bee will be found, on dissection, a considerable portion of honey, although it never deposits any.]
Good bwye ta the Cot!—on thy drashel, a-mâ-be,
I niver naw moor sholl my voot again zet;
Tha jessamy awver thy porch zweetly bloomin,
Whauriver I goo, I sholl niver vorget.
Tha rawzes, tha lillies, that blaw in tha borders—
The gilawfers, too, that I us'd ta behawld—
Tha trees, wi' tha honeyzucks ranglin âll awver,
I âlways sholl think o' nif I shood be awld.