The New Forest: Its History and Its SceneryWise, John R. (John Richard)
History
The New Forest: Its History and Its Scenery
Wise, John R. (John Richard)
New Forest (England : Forest)
Lark’s Lees, or Lease, A. A piece of poor land fit only for larks, or,
as the peasantry of the Midland Counties would say, only “fit to bear
peewits.” Mr. Halliwell gives the form “lark leers,” as a Somersetshire
phrase; but the above expression may be daily heard in the New Forest.
Louster. Noise, disturbance. “What a louster you are making,” signifies,
what a confusion you are causing.
Lug-stick. _See_ Rug-stick.
Mallace, The. The common mallow (_Malvus sylvestris_). Formed like
bullace, and other similar words.
Margon. Corn chamomile (_Anthemis arvensis_). Called “mathan,”
throughout the Anglian districts.
Mark-oak, _See_ Oak.
Mokin, or more generally in the plural, Mokins. Coarse gaiters for
defending the legs from the furze. _See_ chap. xv. p. 162.
Muddle, To. To fondle, caress, to rear by the hand. Hence we obtain the
expression “a mud lamb,” that is, a lamb whose mother is dead, which has
been brought up by hand, equivalent to the “tiddlin lamb” of the
Wiltshire shepherds. _See_ Wosset.
Oak, Mark-, A. The same as a “bound-oak,” or boundary oak or ash, as the
case may be, so called from the ancient cross, or mark, cut on the rind.
As Kemble notices (_The Saxons in England_, vol. i., appendix A. p.
480), we find in Cod. Dipl. No. 393, “on ðán merkeden ók,” to the marked
oak, showing how old is the name. I have never met in the New Forest
with an instance of a “crouch oak” (from _crois_), such as occurs at
Addlestone in Surrey, and which is said to have been the “bound-oak” of
Windsor Forest (_See_ _The Saxons in England_, as before, vol. i. chap.
ii. p. 53, foot-note). The “bound-oak,” marked in the Ordnance Map near
Dibden, has fallen, but we find the name preserved in the fine old wood
of Mark Ash, near Lyndhurst. In the perambulation of the Forest in the
29th year of Edward I. we read of the Merkingstak of Scanperisgh. The
various eagle-oaks in the Forest are comparatively modern, and must not
be confounded with the eagle-oak mentioned by Kemble (as above, vol. i.
p. 480).
Omary Cheese. An inferior sort of cheese, made of skim-milk, called in
most parts of England “skim Dick.” _See_, further on, the word Rammel,
and also Vinney, chap. xvi. p. 190.
Once. Sometime. “I will pay you once this week,” does not mean in
contradistinction to twice, but I will pay you sometime during the week.
Overrunner, An. A shrew mouse, which is supposed to portend ill-luck if
it runs over a person’s foot. In Dorsetshire it is called a “shrocop,”
where the same superstition is believed. _See_ Barnes’ _Glossary of the
Dorset Dialect_, p. 382.
Panshard, or Ponshard, A. Rage, anger. “You have no need to get in a
panshard,” is a most common saying. _See_ “peel,” further on.
Patchy. Testy. Said of people who proverbially “blow hot and cold.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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