English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present DaySkeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
History
English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day
Skeat, Walter W. (Walter William)
English language -- Dialects
Latin is a language from which English has borrowed words in
every century since the year 600. In my _Principles of English
Etymology, First Series_, Chap. XXI, I give a list of Latin words
imported into English before the Norman Conquest. Several of these
must be familiar in our dialects; we can hardly suppose that country
people do not know the meaning of ark, beet, box, candle, chalk,
cheese, cook, coulter, cup, fennel, fever, font, fork, inch, kettle,
kiln, kitchen, and the like. Indeed, _ark_ is quite a favourite
word in the North for a large wooden chest, used for many purposes;
and Kersey explains it as "a country word for a large chest to put
fruit or corn in." _Candle_ is so common that it is frequently
reduced to _cannel_; and it has given its name to "cannel coal."
Every countryman is expected to be able to distinguish "between chalk
and cheese." _Coulter_ appears in ten dialect forms, and one of
the most familiar agricultural implements is a pitch-_fork_. The
influence of Latin requires no further illustration.
I also give a list of early words of Greek origin; some of which are
likewise in familiar use. I may instance alms, angel, bishop, butter,
capon, chest, church, clerk, copper, devil, dish, hemp, imp, martyr,
paper (ultimately of Egyptian origin), plaster, plum, priest, rose,
sack, school, silk, treacle, trout. Of course the poor old woman who
says she is "a martyr to tooth-ache" is quite unconscious that she
is talking Greek. Probably she is not without some smattering of
Persian, and knows the sense of lilac, myrtle, orange, peach, and
rice; of Sanskrit, whence pepper and sugar-candy; of Arabic, whence
coffee, cotton, jar, mattress, senna, and sofa; and she will know
enough Hebrew, partly from her Bible, to be quite familiar with a
large number of biblical names, such as Adam and Abraham and Isaac,
and very many more, not forgetting the very common John, Joseph,
Matthew, and Thomas, and the still more familiar Jack and Jockey;
and even with a few words of Hebrew origin, such as alleluia, balm,
bedlam, camel, cider, and sabbath. The discovery of the New World
has further familiarised us all with chocolate and tomato, which are
Mexican; and with potato, which is probably old Caribbean. These facts
have to be borne in mind when it is too rashly laid down that words in
English dialects are of English origin.
Foreign words of this kind are, however, not very numerous, and can
easily be allowed for. And, as has been said, our vocabulary admits
also of a certain amount of Celtic. It remains to consider what other
sources have helped to form our dialects. The two most prolific in
this respect are Scandinavian and French, which require careful
consideration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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