* * * * *
Since the above has been in type I have had the satisfaction of learning from Mr. G. P. R. Pulman, of the Hermitage, Crewkerne, that at Axminster, the river Axe, the ancient British and Saxon boundary line, divides the dialect spoken to the east of it (the Dorset, to judge from a specimen of it that he has enclosed) from the Devon. He goes on to say: “On the opposite, the west side of the river, as at Kilmington, Whitford, and Colyton, for instance, a very different dialect is spoken, the general south or rather east Devon. The difference between the two within so short a distance (for you never hear a Devonshire sound from a native Axminster man) is very striking.” That after a period of 1,200 years the exact limit of the two races should still be distinguishable in the accent of their descendants, is an interesting confirmation of the view that I have taken of the origin of these dialects, and at the same time a remarkable proof of the tenacity of old habits in a rural population; the more so that the boundary line of the dialects does not coincide with that of the two counties.
A GLOSSARY
OF
PROVINCIAL WORDS AND PHRASES
IN USE IN
SOMERSETSHIRE.
A, pron. He, ex. a did’nt zai zo did a?
A, adverbial prefix, ex. afore, anigh, athin
A, for “have”
A, participal prefix, corresponding with the Anglo-Saxon ge and y, ex. atwist, alost, afeard, avroze, avriz’d
Abeare v. bear, endure, ex. for anything that the Court of this Manor will abeare. Customs of Taunton Deane
Abbey s. great white poplar. Abbey-lug, a branch or piece of timber of the same (D. Abeel)
Abbey-lubber s. a lazy idle fellow, i.e. worthless as abbey wood