English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present DaySkeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
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English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day
Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
English language -- Dialects
I here give a tentative list of some Celtic words found in dialects.
Their etymologies are discussed in my _Etymological Dictionary_
(1910), as they are also found in literary use; and the words are
fully explained in the _English Dialect Dictionary_, which gives
all their senses, and enumerates the counties in which they are found.
It is doubtless imperfect, as I give only words that are mostly well
known, and can be found, indeed, in the _New English Dictionary_.
I give only one sense of each, and mark it as N., M., or S. (Northern,
Midland, or Southern), as the case may be. The symbol "gen." means
"in general use"; and "Sc." means Lowland Scotch.
_Art_, or _airt_, Sc., a direction of the wind; _banshee_, Irish,
a female spirit who warns families of a death; _beltane_, N., the
first of May; _bin_, M., a receptacle; _boggart_, _bogle_, N., M.,
a hobgoblin; _bragget_, N., M., a drink made of honey and ale; _brat_,
N., M., a cloth, clout; _brock_, gen., a badger; _bug_, N., a bogy;
_bugaboo_, N., M., a hobgoblin; _capercailyie_, Sc., a bird;
_cateran_, Sc., a Highland robber; _char_, N., a fish; _clachan_, Sc.,
a hamlet; _clan_, N., M., a class, set of people; _claymore_, Sc.,
a two-handed sword; _colleen_, Irish, a young girl; _combe_, gen.,
the head of a valley; _coracle_, M., a wicker boat; _coronach_, Sc.,
a dirge; _corrie_, Sc., a circular hollow in a hill-side; _cosher_,
Irish, a feast; _crag_, _craig_, N., a rock; _crowd_, N., S., a
fiddle; _dulse_, N., an edible sea-weed; _dun_, gen., brown, greyish;
_duniwassal_, Sc., a gentleman of secondary rank; _fillibeg_, Sc.,
a short kilt; _flummery_, Sc., M., oatmeal boiled in water;
_gallowglass_, Sc., Irish, an armed foot-soldier; _galore_, gen.,
in abundance; _gillie_, Sc., a man-servant; _gull_, a name of various
birds; _hubbub_, _hubbaboo_, Irish, a confused clamour; _inch_, Sc.,
Irish, a small island; _ingle_, N., M., fire, fire-place; _kelpie_,
Sc., a water-spirit; _kibe_, gen., a chilblain; _linn_, N., a pool;
_loch_, N., _lough_, Irish, a lake; _metheglin_, M., S., beer made
from honey; _omadhaun_, Irish, a simpleton; _pose_, gen. (but
perhaps obsolete), a catarrh; _rapparee_, Sc., Irish, a vagabond;
_shillelagh_, Irish, a cudgel; _skain_, _skean_, Sc., Irish, a knife,
dagger; _sowens_, _sowans_, Sc., a dish made from oatmeal-husks
steeped in water (from Gael, _s{`u}ghan_, the juice of sowens);
_spalpeen_, Irish, a rascal; _spleuchan_, Sc., Irish, a pouch,
a purse; _strath_, N., a valley; _strathspey_, Sc., a dance,
named from the valley of the river Spey; _tocher_, N., a dowry;
_usquebaugh_, Sc., Irish, whiskey; _wheal_, Cornish, a mine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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