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
_S._ Why, aye! the other day she appeared struck mad: she
snatched the poker from the back of the stove, and flung it
against the beam of the pigeon-house, and burnt it; and then she
throwed it at the thatcher, and hurt his throat and hip-bone.
There were no pigeons in the pigeon-house, and nothing but
jack-daws; and so, after she had burned the beam, and the
door-frame and the floor, she ran into the cowyard, through the
small field, and fainted behind several pitchers of yeast.
_R._ Ah, the shummaker told me o' that rum rig; and his nevvey sa,
that the beer-good was fystey; and that Nutty was so swelter'd, that
she ha got a pain in spade-bones. The bladethacker wou'd ha gin har
some doctor's gear in a beaker; but he sa she'll niver moize agin.
_R._ Aye, the shoemaker told me of that comical trick; and his
nephew says, that the yeast was musty; and that Ursula [was so]
smothered, that she has got a pain in her bones. The thatcher
would have given her some doctor's medicine in a tumbler; but he
says, she will never recover.
Notes.--Pronounce _du_ like E. _dew_. _Snasty_, pron. _snaisty_,
cross. _Fate, fait_ (cf. E. _feat_), suitable, clever.
_Mawther_, a young girl; Norw. _moder_. _Dibles_: the _i_ is
long. _Sa_, says; _ha_, _have_, has; note the absence of final
_s_ in the third person singular. _Cadder_, for _caddow_; from
_caa-daw_, cawing daw. _Douw_, for _dow_, a dove. _Par_: for
_parrock_, a paddock. _Fystey_: with long _y_, from _foist_,
a fusty smell. _Sweltered_, over-heated, in profuse perspiration.
_Moize_, thrive, mend.
WESTERN (Group 1): S.W. SHROPSHIRE.
The following specimen is given in Miss Jackson's _Shropshire Word-
book_, London, 1879, p. xciv. It describes how Betty Andrews, of
Pulverbatch, rescued her little son, who had fallen into the brook.
I 'e{a}rd a scrike, ma'am, an' I run, an' theer I sid Frank 'ad
pecked i' the bruck an' douked under an' wuz drowndin', an' I
jumped after 'im an' got 'out on 'im an' lugged 'im on to the bonk
all sludge, an' I got 'im wham afore our Sam comen in--a good job
it wuz for Sam as 'e wunna theer an' as Frank wunna drownded, for
if 'e 'ad bin I should 'a' tore our Sam all to winder-rags, an'
then 'e 'd a bin djed an' Frank drownded an' I should a bin
'anged. I toud Sam wen 'e t{)o}{)o}k the 'ouse as I didna like
it.--"Bless the wench," 'e sed, "what'n'ee want? Theer's a tidy
'ouse an' a good garden an' a run for the pig." "Aye," I sed, "an'
a good bruck for the childern to peck in;" so if Frank 'ad bin
drownded I should a bin the djeth uv our Sam. I wuz that frittened,
ma'am, that I didna spake for a nour after I got wham, an' Sam sed
as 'e 'adna sid me quiet so lung sence we wun married, an' that wuz
eighteen 'ear.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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