In numerous instances is the East Yorkshire Folk-Speech nearer to the true English than is the commonly accepted ‘English’ of to-day. The following examples might be multiplied indefinitely:— OLD ENGLISH WORDS. STANDARD ENGLISH WORDS. EAST YORKSHIRE WORDS. (IN USE A.D. 912). (IN USE A.D. 1912). AFYRHT (pron. afraid AFEEARD _afeert_) GIF if GIF GRAFAN (pron. to dig GRAAVE _grahvan_) HAGOL hail HAGGLE HRYCG (pron. _hrig_) back or ridge RIG LICGAN (pron. to lie LIG _liggan_) SETL seat SETTLE SWELAN to gutter (of a candle) SWEEL THAEC (pron. _thak_) thatch THAK WANCOL unsteady WANKLE At Beverley there are three very interesting examples of the survival of old English words, which have elsewhere dropped entirely out of use. The Beverley _Frith-Stool_ has preserved its name unchanged from the days when the word which meant peace was _frith_. The street known to-day as _Toll Gavel_ preserves memories of the time when _gafol_ meant a tax or toll, and it is clear that tolls continued to be paid in it long after the original meaning of this word had become forgotten. Similarly the _Hurn_, or freemen’s pasture which was once a corner of Beverley Westwood, has kept its name from the days when _hyrne_ meant a corner. Another example of how the original meaning of a word may be kept in one instance only occurs in the descriptive name which is so commonly applied to England’s largest shire. Yorkshire is known far and wide as the ‘Land of the Broad Acres.’ But to how many who use this expression does it convey any meaning? Are the acres in Yorkshire ‘broader’ than they are elsewhere in Britain? If they are not, what sense is there in the expression? As a matter of fact, the expression is a most suitable one. But it is so only if we know that the word _aecer_ (pronounced _akker_)[69] originally meant not a certain area of land, but merely a ploughed field. Yorkshire is still the ‘Broad-acred Shire,’ for in no other part of our country shall we find _fields_ of waving corn that measure as much as a hundred acres in extent. Footnote 69: The local pronunciation of ‘acre’ in the East Riding is _yakker_; so that the old sound of the word has been here kept, even though its meaning has universally changed. * * * * *