Part 18

Zes Polly, 'Dang thee buttons! Thee gwo an' blaw thee's nause! Zo zhure as zhip be muttons, Th' dain be in thee's claus!'

Martal aveard wur Jesse, An' tuk an' hiked it whoam. 'Bin in my claus 'tes,' zes 'e, 'I'll make a bonvire aw'm!'

Zo off a zoon tuk aal claus, Vrom sankers up ta zmock, Vur weskit, cwoat an' smaal-claus, An' putt 'em in a cock.

Jess wur a vool, but Lawksies! Thur's zights aw'm wusser'n _he_! It minds I o' Guy Vawks's, Thuck vire o' he's to zee!

'Twur down in veyther's archet, A gashly smother 'twur, Vor when you comes to scarch it, Thur be a zim to vur!

But 'twern't no zart o' use on't, A zoon beginned to sneeze-- An' when I hires moor news on't, I'll tell 'ee how a be's!

G. E. D.

APPENDIX I

A Bibliography of Works relating to Wilts or illustrating its Dialect.

Most of the works comprised in the following list have lately been read through, and compared with our own _Glossary_, and references to many of them will be found in the foregoing pages. Some may contain a more or less comprehensive Wiltshire Glossary; others only a few words. Some belong absolutely to our own county; others merely to the same group of dialects. But all are of value as bearing on the subject. The Berks, Dorset, Gloucester, Hants, and Somerset Glossaries of course contain a large proportion of words and uses that are either absolutely identical with ours, or vary but slightly therefrom, while such works as _Amaryllis, Dark, Lettice Lisle_, and _Jonathan Merle_ on the one side, and _Old Country Words_ and _English Plant-names_ on the other, are full of examples and illustrations of the South-Western Folk-speech. Even where their scene is laid somewhat outside the borders of Wilts itself, the dialect, with but trifling alterations, would pass as ours.

_S. Editha, sive Chronicon Vilodunense_, im Wiltshire Dialekt, aus MS. Cotton. Faustina B III. Herausgegeben von C. HORSTMANN. Heilbronn: Gebr. Henninger, 1883. A handy reprint of this fifteenth century _Chronicle_.

_Parochial Antiquities_ attempted in the History of Ambroseden, Burcester, and adjacent parts in Oxford and Bucks. By Bishop KENNETT, 1695. Reprinted 1816 and 1818. Contains a few Wilts words. See _Five Reprinted Glossaries_.

_Lansdowne MSS._, 935-1042, British Museum. By Bishop KENNETT. Also contain some Wilts words.

_The Natural History of Wiltshire._ By JOHN AUBREY. (1656-91). Edited by JOHN BRITTON. London, 1847.

_Wiltshire: the Topographical Collections of John Aubrey._ (1659-70). Edited by Rev. JOHN EDWARD JACKSON. London and Devizes, 1862.

_Other works and MSS. by John Aubrey._

_Collection of a few Provincial Terms used in North Wilts._ An eighteenth century MS. Vocabulary, fully dealt with in Appendix II as _Cunnington MS._

_A Provincial Glossary._ By FRANCIS GROSE. Second edition, 1790. Out of the twenty-eight words which Britton marks as given in Grose, only the following are credited to Wilts in this edition:--_Allemang, Carriage, Contankerous, Dewsiers, Drowning-bridge, Dudge, Grom_ or _Groom, Huff, Leer, Lowle-eared, Quirking, Rudderish_, and _Wasset-man_. The remainder (_Aneust, Axen, Beet, Bochant, Daddock, More, Quamp, Quarr, Quilt, Quop, Skiel, Sleepy, Tail-ends, Tallet_, and _Tid_) are not there assigned to Wilts; but as Britton may very possibly have found them so localized in the revised 1811 edition, which we have not had an opportunity of consulting, we add (G.) to the whole of them, on his authority.

_General View of the Agriculture of the County of Wilts, with observations on the means of its improvement._ By THOMAS DAVIS of Longleat, Steward to the Marquess of Bath. London, 1794. An Agricultural Report or Survey, afterwards much enlarged. The author died in 1807.

_General View of the Agriculture of Wiltshire._ Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. By THOMAS DAVIS. London, 1809. New editions, 1811 and 1813. An enlarged and revised reprint of the _Agricultural Report_, edited by the Author's son. Contains an interesting Glossary of Agricultural Terms, arranged under subjects, as _Soils_, _Barn Process_, _Implements_, &c., at pp. 258-268; also a few additional words in the body of the work.

_Archæological Review_, March, 1888, vol. i, No. 1, pp. 33-39. Contains a reprint of Davis's _Glossary_, with notes by Professor Skeat, rearranged alphabetically, a few words and phrases being omitted as general or legal.

_Some Specimens of the Provincial Dialect of South Wiltshire._ By 'MARK.' _Monthly Magazine_, Sept. 1814, vol. xxxviii, p. 114. Noted in the Preface to _Five Reprinted Glossaries_. See Appendix III.

_A Topographical and Historical Description of the County of Wilts._ By JOHN BRITTON. London, N.D. [1814?]. Vol. xv of '_The Beauties of England_.'

_The Beauties of Wiltshire_, displayed in Statistical, Historical, and Descriptive Sketches, &c. By JOHN BRITTON. 3 vols. London, 1801-1825. Vol. iii contains a list of _Provincial Words of Wiltshire and the adjacent Counties_, pp. 369-380. See Appendix II.

_Five Reprinted Glossaries._ Edited by Professor SKEAT. Eng. Dialect Socy., 1879. Contains (_a_) _Wiltshire Words, from 'Britton's Beauties of Wiltshire,'_ 1825; _compared with 'Akerman's Glossary,'_ 1842, a few words being added from the _Monthly Magazine_, &c. (_b_) _Dialectal Words, from 'Kennett's Parochial Antiquities_, 1695.'

_A Glossary of Provincial Words and Phrases in use in Wiltshire._ By JOHN YONGE AKERMAN. London, 1842. An unacknowledged enlargement of Britton's _Word-list_. See _Five Reprinted Glossaries_.

_Wiltshire Tales._ By J. Y. AKERMAN. London, 1853.

_Spring-tide: or the Angler and his Friends._ BY J. Y. AKERMAN. London, 1850. Contains many Wiltshire and West of England words.

_A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words._ By J. O. HALLIWELL. London, 1846, &c.

_Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English._ By THOMAS WRIGHT. London, 1857, &c.

_The Song of Solomon in the Wiltshire Dialect_, as it is spoken in the Northern Division. By EDWARD KITE. Circa 1860. Privately printed for Prince L. Lucien Bonaparte.

_Content: or the Day Labourer's Tale of his Life._ By Mrs. PENRUDDOCKE, Fyfield Manor House, Wilts. Salisbury, 1860.

_Peasant Life in the West of England._ By F. G. HEATH. 1872-80.

_Fabellae Mostellariae: or Devonshire and Wiltshire Stories in Verse._ London and Exeter, 1878.

_Rhymes of the Wiltshire Peasantry, and other Trifles._ By EDWARD SLOW. Salisbury, 1874.

_Wiltshire Rhymes: a Series of Poems in the Wiltshire Dialect._ By EDWARD SLOW. London and Salisbury, 1881. Also Third edition, 1885.

_Wiltshire Rhymes._ Fourth Series. By EDWARD SLOW. Salisbury and Wilton, 1889. Contains a _Glossary_ of about 200 words, pp. 9-14.

_Glossary of Wiltshire Words._ Compiled by EDWARD SLOW. Wilton, 1892. Contains about 900 words, of which a few are of special interest.

_Works of Richard Jefferies_:--

_A Memoir of the Goddards of North Wilts, 1873. The Gamekeeper at Home, 1878. Wild Life in a Southern County. 1879. The Amateur Poacher, 1879. Greene Ferne Farm, 1880. Hodge and his Masters, 1880. Round about a Great Estate, 1880. Wood Magic, 1881. Bevis, 1882. The Life of the Fields, 1884. The Dewy Morn, 1884. The Open Air, 1885. Amaryllis at the Fair, 1887. Field and Hedgerow, 1889. The Toilers of the Field, 1892, &c., &c._

_The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies._ By WALTER BESANT. 1888.

_Some un-noted Wiltshire Phrases._ By Rev. W. C. PLENDERLEATH. _Wilts Archæological Magazine_, vol. xxii. p. 107.

_Wiltshire Archæological and Natural History Magazine._ All vols.

_History of the Manor and Ancient Barony of Castle Combe_ in the county of Wilts, &c., &c. By G. POULETT SCROPE. Privately printed, 1852.

_Records of Chippenham_, relating to the Borough from its Incorporation by Queen Mary to its Reconstruction by Act of Parliament, 1889, &c., &c. By FREDERICK H. GOLDNEY. 1889.

_Sarum Diocesan Gazette_, Annual Reports of Flower-classes, by Mr. HUSSEY and Mr. TATUM.

_The Flowering Plants of Wilts._ By Rev. T. A. PRESTON. Published by Wilts Arch. Society, 1888.

_The Birds of Wiltshire._ By Rev. ALFRED C. SMITH. London and Devizes, 1887. Reprinted from _Wilts Arch. Mag._

_Glory: a Wiltshire Story._ By Mrs. G. LINNÆUS BANKS. London, 1876(?). New edition, 1892. Scene partly laid in and round Marlborough.

_On the Upper Thames._ By Miss E. BOYER-BROWN. _Leisure Hour_, August, 1893. Contains many words belonging to the Castle Eaton and Marston Maizey district.

_A Dictionary of English Plant-names._ By JAMES BRITTEN and ROBERT HOLLAND. E. D. S. 1878-86. A very valuable work, containing a small number of Wilts names, mostly from sources already referred to. The whole of the Plant-names in our _Glossary_ have been sent to Mr. Britten from time to time, for use in the _Supplement_ which he is now preparing.

_English Dialects--their Sounds and Homes._ By A. J. ELLIS. E. D. S. 1890. Contains some remarks at pp. 24-29 on Wilts, with specimens of dialect from Christian Malford and Chippenham, accompanied by a rendering into Glossic.

_A Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases._ By Major B. LOWSLEY. E. D. S. 1888.

_Upton-on-Severn Words and Phrases._ By Rev. ROBERT LAWSON. E. D. S. 1884. A reprint of his smaller _Glossary_, which originally appeared in _The Nation in the Parish_, by Mrs. LAWSON.

_The Dialect of the West of England, particularly Somersetshire._ By JAMES JENNINGS. 1825. Second edition, revised and edited by Rev. JAMES K. JENNINGS. London, 1869.

_Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect._ By Rev. WILLIAM BARNES. _Glossary_, pp. 459-467, edition 1888.

_Glossary of the Dorset Dialect_, 1863-86. By Rev. WILLIAM BARNES. Also the additional _Word-lists_ published by him from time to time in the _Dorset County Chronicle_.

_Natural History, Folk Speech, and Superstitions of Dorsetshire._ By J. S. UDAL. A paper read before the Dorset Field Club at Dorchester, in February, 1889, containing a _Glossary_, which was given in full in the report in the local papers at the time.

_A Glossary of Dialect & Archaic Words used in the County of Gloucester._ By J. D. ROBERTSON. Edited by Lord MORETON. E. D. S. 1890.

_A Glossary of Hampshire Words and Phrase_s. By the Rev. Sir WILLIAM H. COPE. E. D. S. 1883.

_A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect._ By Rev. W. D. PARISH. Lewes. 1875.

_On the Dialects of Eleven Southern and South-Western Counties_, with a new Classification of the English Dialects. By Prince LOUIS LUCIEN BONAPARTE. E. D. S. 1877.

_On the Survival of Early English Words in our present Dialects._ By Rev. RICHARD MORRIS. E. D. S. 1876.

_Old Country and Farming Words._ By JAMES BRITTEN. E. D. S. 1880. Contains extracts from the following volumes, among which may be found a few additional Wilts words, as well as much information on our agricultural terms:--

ELLIS, WILLIAM. _The Modern Husbandman_. 1750. _Reports of the Agricultural Survey_, 1793-1813. LISLE, EDWARD. _Observations in Husbandry_. 1757. WORLIDGE, J. _Dictionarium rusticum_. 1681. _Annals of Agriculture, &c._ 1784-1815. MORTON, JOHN C. _Cyclopædia of Agriculture_, 1863.

_Folk-Etymology, a Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions, &c._ By Rev. A. SMYTHE PALMER. London, 1882.

_Lettice Lisle._ By Lady VERNEY. 1870. Contains much excellent Hants talk.

_The New Forest: its History and its Scenery._ By J. R. WISE. London, 1871. Glossary, pp. 279-288, also words in text.

_Jonathan Merle: a West Country story of the times._ By ELISABETH B. BAYLY. 1890. Affords many good illustrations of words used in Wilts, as the two following works also do.

_Tess of the D'Urbervilles._ By THOMAS HARDY. 1891.

_The Story of Dick._ By Major GAMBIER PARRY. 1892.

_Dark: a Tale of the Down Country._ By Mrs. STEPHEN BATSON. London, 1892. The scene is laid in Berks, just over the borders, but the dialect, which is excellently done, is to all intents and purposes that of North Wilts.

_A History of Marlborough College during Fifty Years._ By A. G. BRADLEY, A. C. CHAMPNEYS, and J. W. BAINES. London, 1893.

_John Darke's Sojourn in the Cotteswolds and elsewhere._ By S. S. BUCKMAN. 1890.

_The Scouring of the White Horse._ By THOMAS HUGHES. 1858.

APPENDIX II

Cunnington MS.

Among the various books and word-lists which we have consulted during the progress of this work, by no means the least interesting is the manuscript containing a _Collection of a few Provincial Terms used in North Wilts_, believed to have been compiled about the middle of last century, which was kindly lent us by its present owner, Mr. William Cunnington, and is here frequently referred to as _Cunnington MS._

This valuable relic was at one time in the possession of Mr. J. Britton, as is proved by the notes in his _early_ handwriting on the outer leaves, and was evidently the source to which he was indebted for some portions of his 1825 _Glossary_ (in the _Beauties of Wilts_, vol. iii), the very peculiar wording and spelling of some of its paragraphs having been transferred direct to his pages. It must, however, have been in his hands at a much earlier date than 1825, as one or two of the notes appear to have been made at the time he was collecting materials for the 1814 volume on Wilts.

Not only has it afforded us several hitherto un-noted words, which Mr. Britton himself had passed over, possibly because even in his own time they were already grown obsolete, but it has also enabled us to clear up several doubtful points, and especially to show how, by a very simple misreading of the MS., from the easily identified _sprawny_ (a variant of _sprunny_) was evolved that mysterious 'ghost-word' _sprawing_, which has ever since misled our glossary-makers, each one having seemingly taken it on the faith of his immediate predecessor.

The _Vocabulary_, which we here reproduce _verbatim et literatim_, consists of ten quarto pages, the first two of which are covered with notes in pencil and ink, in at least four different hands, partly archæological and topographical, and partly relating to dialect words in Wilts and elsewhere. It is written in an extremely legible old hand, with a few additions and interlineations in other hands, and contains about one hundred words and phrases, of which we owe just two-thirds to the original compiler, who is supposed to have been a North Wilts clergyman. If so, it is probable that his very characteristic handwriting could readily be identified by any one who was familiar with our last-century parish registers.

The interlineations have been made at different dates and in different hands, _acrass_, _chit_, _clout_, _gallered_, _hire_, _hitch_, _muxen_, _shirk off_, _slink away_, _skillin_, _stowl_, _stole_, _thick_ and _thuck_, _won't_, with the numerals at the end, being in pencil, two or three of them having been inked over at some time or other; while _arran_, _clavey_, _clap to_, _desperd_, _dowse_, _hit_, _nan_, _plye_, _rathe_, _sprawny_, the definition of _thick_ and _thuck_, _tun_, _tag_, _twit_, and _vuddels_, are in ink, and mostly in a much larger and somewhat peculiar hand. The pencilling is now almost entirely obliterated.

The MS. was given by Mr. Britton to Mr. Cunnington, with other books and papers, many years ago, and its existence appears to have been unknown until we called attention to it in the _Wilts Archæological Magazine_, vol. xxvi. p. 293.

Front page of Cover.

[_Writing entirely in pencil, in Mr. Britton's hand, except the word Vocabulary._]

XXII. 107. Broad Hinton. Vic. Mr. Hume of Salisby late Vicar a manor well immense depth. abt 10 ms to draw Some of the Glanvilles buried here. Old monk [? _tomb_] of this family one of these Gs wrote on Witches--all chalk large crane wheel room for 3 men.

Vocabulary.

[_Here two lines of writing, probably the name and address of the compiler, have been scratched completely out with a penknife._]

See Ascough's Index [_Here another word now illegible._]

[_Here a rough sketch, marked_ Spring, _probably relating to the above well._]

Inside of Cover.

Main sprack--for lively--Wilts

Information in Bowels--

Obliterate Scoolmaster--

Mandy--saucy--Wilts

[_These four lines are in a more recent hand, on a slip gummed in._]

Werrutting teazing

Thick for that

direction "You must go all a skew thick vield there & then all a thirt tother & then looky one way & pointy another wool ye now"

Anticks--main--mandy

[_These are in the same large, slightly feminine-looking hand as some of the interlineations in the word-list._]

_Enked_ is avaricious, wretched, from whence we have perhaps a term in English of unked; disagreeable, melancholy, tiresome. In Oxfordshire every thing unpleasant is _unked_.

From the Persian.

Rudge a cup or patera found here Horsley p. 330.

[_These are on a slip gummed in, in Mr. Britton's own hand._]

The Vocabulary itself.

COLLECTION OF A FEW PROVINCIAL TERMS USED IN NORTH WILTS.

Page 1.

=Arran= for either

=Acrass=

'=All a hoh='--awry--not square, strait or even--

=Beet=--To beet--is to supply fire with fewel

=Brow=--the opposite of Tough--Substances that will easily break

=Burrow=--Shelter from Wind--generally applied to some Low Place in a field where some neighbouring hillock breaks the force of the gale

=Caddle= a term variously applied, but in all cases significant of Confusion or embarassmt To be in a Caddle--to be in disorder--to be embarrassd with business--Dont Caddle me--dont teaze me--don't confuse me--'a cadling fellow' a wrangler a shifting, & sometimes an unmeaning character

=Clavey=--Chimney Piece

=Cham=--to Chew--

=Clap to the Door=--shut the Door.

Page 2.

=Chism=--to germ--Seed is said to chism when it discovers the first appearance of germination

=Chit=--to spring--leaves are coming out.

=Cleet=--a Patch whereby an utensil is repaird--to cleet to mend by a patch put on, & sometimes to Strengtn by bracing etc

=Clum=--To Clum a thing--is to handle it Roughly boisterously or indecently

=Clyten= A term applied to express an unhealthy appearance, particularly in Children--a Clyten an unhealthy Child

=Clout= a blow

=Clytenish=. To look Clytenish to Look pale & sickly

=Dain=--disagreeable effluvia--generally applied to Those Scents which are Supposed to convey infections, i.e. "Dont go to near that man; he has lately had the Small Pox & the _dain_ may be in his Cloths still"

=Desperd= very as desperd fine etc

Page 3

=Dummil=--Heavy, dull--a term variously applied--but in all cases signifies the reverse of sprightly or Brilliant

=Dowse=--a Blow

=Dunch=--The Common term for Deaf

=Dunch Dumplin=--a Dumplin made of flower and water only--boild hard & eaten hot with Butter--

=Dar=, 'to be struck in a Dar,' to be astonishd or Confounded

=Flick= or =flitch=--i.e. To be flitch with one,' is to be familiar or intimate

=Gallered= to be astonished, frightened, as _he gallered me_

=Gabborn=--a term always applied to Buildings to denote Largeness without Convenience & Comfort--a gabborn Room or house signifies a place Large cold and comfortless

=Glox= a term applied to denote the motion or Sound made by Liquids when movd about in a barrel or other vessel not full as

Page 4

for instance, "Fill the Barrel full John or else it will glox in Carriage"--

=Glutch=--To Glutch, to swallow--the act of Swallowing--i.e.--He glutchd hard that is he swallowed with difficulty

=Hit= to strike

=Hazon=--To Hazon a Person is to scold or menace him--

=Harl=--=a Harl=--Something entangled--His hair is all in a harl--i.e. knotted--uncombed ravle

=To harl=--to entangle

=Hire= for hear--Dont hire do not _hear_

=Hatch= a small door or gate--generally applied to the half doors frequent in Shops

=Heft=--weight--i e what heft is that Parcel i e what weight is it--(perhaps a contraction of heavy-weight)

=Hike= To hike off--to sneak away dishonorably

=Hitch=--monthly Agents

=Howe=--Pronounced Broad and Long Ho-ow or Hau-ow--To be in a hauow--to be anxious

=Howed for=--provided for--taken care of--a figurative expression undoubtedly derived from the term

Page 5

made use of by Shepherds in driving collecting & managing their flocks, i.e. Ho hó--ho-hó

=Hop a bouts= a term applied to small apple Dumplings made of one apple enclosd in a Paste of flour & boild

=Hudgy=--thick Clumsey

=Kitch=--to Kitch or Ketch--to congeal--oils animal fat &c. are said to catch or kitch when they grow cold enough to congeal

=Kerfs= Laminæ--Layers or cleavings of Earth Turf Hay &c.

=Lear=--empty--a Lear Stomach, a Stomach wanting food

=Lew=--To get in the Lew--is to get in a place Sheltered from the wind--(perhaps derivd from the Sea Phrase--Lee--)

=Lewth= warmth--"this Coat has no Lewth in it," i.e. it has no warmth

=Limp= a thing is said to be Limp when it has Lost its accustomed Stiffness

=Limber=--Slender--or Rather a thing Long & bending

Page 6

=Māndy= pronouncd Long--frolicksome--Impudent--Showy

=Miff=--offence--to take a miff--to be offended

=Mothery= or =Muthery= Beer, vinegar &c. are said to be mothery when white Particles of fust float in it--Perhaps a Corruption of muddy or muddery--

=Most-in-deal=--in general--mostly--(example) "where do you Live now?'--why at Devizes, most in deal, but sometimes at Warminster--"

=Muxen= Dung heap.

=Newst=--Newst or anewst Signifies nearly--what is it a Clock?--a newst One. which of the two is oldest?--They are newst of an age. which of those things are best? they are a newst alike--In the Latter example however the more usual reply would be "they are anewst of a newstness"

=Nitch=--a Burthen, as a Nitch of wood a nitch of Straw a Nitch of hay &c.--"He has got a nitch," i.e. he is Drunk, he has got as much Liquor as he can carry--

=Plye= to bend as the Poker is plied--

=Nan?=--What do you say

=Quilt= To Quilt a term used almost exclusive of any other to denote the act of Swallowing when performd

Page 7.

in the usual & natural way--the term Glutch being rather descriptive of a difficulty in doing it or the doing it with labour

=Rowney=--thin, uneven--generally applied to Cloth

=Rumple=--to Rumple is to press a thing, particularily

=Rathe=--early in the morning a garment, so as to make it appear promiscuously wrinkled--or tumbled

=Rubble=--universally us'd for Rubbish--

=Shewent= a Piece of Cloth is said to be--shewent--when it is evenly wove & not Rowey--it is also applied in other Cases but always to denote a thing Level & even--to Look Shewent, is to Look demure

=Shim= This word is rather of Glocestershire but it is nevertheless in use on the North Border of wilts, & is a Corruption or Contraction perhaps of Seeming--Ex. gra--He is a fine fellow Shim--or he is, Shim, a fine fellow means that the person spoken of is apparently a fine fellow

=Skillin=--a shed

=Shog=--Shog & jog--words nearly of the same import & Signify to move off degradedly--to slink or shirk away

=Shirk= off

=Sleazey=--thin--Slight--generally applied to Cloth Silks &c.

=Slink away=

=Slox= to waste a thing, or pilfer it--"Sloxd away" wasted or pilferd

Page 8.

=Stowl=--a root--great stowl

=Sprack=--Lively--bright quick a main sprack child

=Stole=--when trees, are buddg--trees

=Sultedge= a term applied to describe a Coarse apron much worn by the poor Women & which they always describe by the term a Sultedge apron

=Swingeing=--violent--great--forcible

=Sprawny= a Sweetheart [Misread as Sprawing by Britton.]

=Tack= a shelf--put it on the tack--i e put it on the Shelf--How many tacks are there in the Pantry, i.e. how many Shelves