Tek a deek ut oor dialect in action.
If thu's bin' traipsing roond lonning, thu'll hev seen blackites ur oot alriddy. Ah've roked ma hands gittin' a pund or twa riddy fur byaking ah crumble ur a Traditional Cumberland Blackite Broonie (see oor Recipe pyage if thu wants tu ken how tu myak it).
Ah gut a letter fra a lass thut was fra Wukkintun but noo lives doon in Birmingham. She telt us thut her Aunt used to tell a tyale of,
Laal Billy Brown frae Browten Moor
Ah nivver knew a lad say daft.
He ett a pound uv Walter Wilson's Best saft syap as steed uv blackite Jam.
Wid deuen blackiting und gittin the letter, ah thowt thut thu'd like tu hear aboot Billy Broons Mistak' in full.
Ah wuz fair capped wen' a marra gev us a copy ovt'Grasmere Dialect play The Mistress of Mosshead fra back in 1926. Ahv' included the traditional - A Clipping Song - fur thu un'all.
Last up, if thu wants tu ken whit wooly backs fra sooth oft'Coounty tark aboot, thun ah's put yan or twa wurds fra - the Glossary of Dialect of the Hundred of Lonsdale, North and Souths of the Sands - in wid oor Cumberland Wordhord.
Laal Billy Broon o’ Marran side
Was weel kent far an’ nar;
He likes a glass – he likes a lass
An’weel he likes a barr.
A famish appetite hed Bill,
He eat them oot et heam;
Nowt cum amiss, but - loavin days –
He could shift blackite jam.
His mudder kent his ways reet weel
An’ yance she set a trap
An’ muttert as she thowt it ower,
“Ah’ll suck that hungry yap”
She gat fower laal jars aw alike
An’ ivvery yan did cram
Wid Grocer William’s best saft seeap
Asteed o’ blackite jam.
She gat them nicely fettled up
An’ put them slyly by
On’t cubbert shelf – but reet at t’ front
Ta catch peer Billy’s eye.
He landit heeam leeat on at neet
Frae t’ Cockermuth horse fair,
He’d nobbut hed six meals, and he
Was ravenish fer mair.
He seaun drew t’ teable up ta t’ fire
An’ while he beaked his shins,
Fullt t’ biggest plate wid beef an’ ham,
Stript taties o’ their skins;
An’ then he fell te wark –
He gev his jaws full play;
There was nae need for t’ sarvant lass
Ta side Bill’s things away.
T’oald folk hed lang sen gone ta bed,
They kent ‘at Bill wad land
At supper time – he nivver missed
When meeal times war on hand –
An’ seah they snoret on peaceably
An’ dreamt aw mak o’ dreams
Tull aw at yance they beeath lowpt up
An’heeard some awful screams.
T’oald fadder’s brussly hair stood up,
He lowpt up in his sark
An’ struck a leet, while t’oald weyfe sed
“Oh, John, oh, John, wat wark”
An’ still them wild unearthly yowls
Com’ like ta split yan’s heid
Tull t’oald wumman went an’ hid hersel’
An’ wisht as she was deid.
At last, John, trimmlen like an esh
Got t’ cannel lit, and than
Went sneakin’ doonstairs hoddin’ his gun
As brave as enny man.
He luikt through t’ crack in t’ kitchen dooar
An’ saw their oan lad, Bill,
Pullen sec a feeace an’ rowling his een
As if he’d teean a pill.
T’oald chap laid doon his gun, an’ gat
A gert thick hezzel stick
An’ marchin’up tull Bill, he sez,
“Thoo’s turble white – ista sick?”
“Oh, fadder, fadder, is that thee?
Ah’s puzzent, an’ Ah’ll dee;
It’ saw that nasty blackite jam
As mudder med – whaur’s she?”
T’oald chap luikt dazed –
Just than t’oald deam
Com’ doon an’ smurked an’ laft;
“It’s nobbut saft seeap, Bill me lad;
Ah allus thowt thoo was daft
But noo Ah’s sure, thoo maizlin feul,
Ah varra nar think sham
‘At ivver a lad o’ mine should tak
Saft seeap for blackite jam.”
If you were intrigued by the picture on the front page saying,
'It is requested that Ladies remove their hats'.
This is the programme that it came from. The Mistress of Mosshead is in Westmorland Dialect, but the shearers sing this traditional song in standard English. It must have been well known as the words were in the programme to sing along to! (If anyone has the music to the song, I'd be grateful if you could take a picture and send to me)
Now our sheep-shearing's over, surround the gay board
With our hearts full of pleasure and glee,
And while we partake of this plentiful hoard
Who so blithe and so happy as we?
From that staple, the wool, all our consequence springs,
The wool-sack is next to the throne,
It a freedom secures both to peasants and kings,
Which in no other country is known.
It guards us awake, it protects us asleep,
Night and day then thank Heaven that gave us the sheep.
When bleak piercing winter comes on with a frown,
Frost and snow clogging hedge, ditch, and stile,
Annoying alike both the squire and the clown,
Wrapped in wool we look round us and smile.
Could we sing of its praises from evening till morn,
'T would our gratitude only increase;
From the dying old man to the infant new born,
We are all kept alive by its fleece.
Then how with the truth a fair pace can we keep
When in warmest expression we speak of the sheep?
No words are sufficient whate'er can be said
To speak out its uses aloud.
It never forsakes us, nay, after we're dead
It furnishes even our shroud:
Nay, more! for the sheep while it ranges our fields
Our wants and our comfort supplies;
Faithful still to the last, to the butcher it yields,
And for our daily nourishment dies.
Thus living or dead We its benefits reap,
Then ye sheep-shearers sing your true friend the poor sheep.
I was grateful for a friend of the society sending a scan of this glossary of dialect North and South of the Sands (so including some of modern Lancashire as well as the South Lakes).
For the next month or two I'll call out some words here before including in the Cumberland Wordhord below. As we come into the back end I think we could bring back Rossel into wider use!
Rossel,
(1) v.t. to heat, to roast. "To rossel one's shins."
(2) vi. To bask over a fire.
Thible,Tibel
n - a stick to stir porridge
(this is an interesting variation to me. In Billy Brannan, a tyale fra t'Abbey Holme Billy used Thivel).
Yalla Pumps
n - very young calve; so called from their hoofs being yellow when calved.
Yallow-yowring
n. the yellow-hammer
Barfin - A horse collar. A grand thing is a barfin ta gurn throo. (see Braffam - Braugham below)
Brim - Top
Brossen-full - Hed mair to eat than’s easy er good.
Dowin - Lunch, ten o’clock.
Aye! aye! thoo allus manishes ta land up aboot dowin time.
Gallases - Braces ta hod yan’s britches up.
Gurn - Gurn, an’ bide ’t. It’s good philosophy when ye ca’t run away frae ’t. Ah yance saw a fella gurnen throo a barfun fer a pun o’ bacca, an’ he gat it.
Haver - Oats.
That field o’ haver liuks weel.
Howk - To scoop out;
howk a whol; howk t’ inside oot.
Kisened - To dry out (and I've heard kissend being used for burnt too).
As kisened as a kill stick. Noo Ah nivver saw a kill stick, but it’s summat varra dry wi’ neea natur left in’t, acos owt ’at’s kisened’s mortal near withoot any sap er owt worth niamen.
Lick-pot, Lang-Man - The first and second fingers.
Roke - Scratch.
That barn’ll roke ivvry mortal thing i’ t’hoose wi’ that nail if tho’ll let it, ’at will ’t.
Shive - Slice
A slice of bread. To cut a neat swathe.
Braffam, Braugham - A collar for a horse.
Clev. bargam. Referred by Wedgwood with much probability to the same origin as the word hamberwe, or hanahorough, a coarse horse-collar, made of reed or straw, from beiwe or borough, protection from the hames, the two words of the compound being in this case reversed. (See Barfin above).
Hag - To chop
Dutch:hakken, Old Norse: hiacka, Swedish: hagga, German hacken, to chop, hack.
Kizzent - adj. Parched or shrivelled.
Crav. kizzened. I think the author of the Crav. Gloss, is right in taking the word to be the same as guizened, which Ray gives as applied to tubs or barrels that leak through drought. The origin, then, is evidently to be found in Old Norse gisinn, leaky (of tubs and vessels.) (see Kisened above).
Lick - To beat.
Welsh llachio, to beat, cudgel, Suio-Goth, laegga, to strike.
Lonnin' - A country lane
Frisian Lona, Laan a lane or narrow passage. Perhaps from Old Norse leyna, to hide.
Mislikken - To neglect or forget.
Dut. misselick, ambiguus, dubius, in quo errare, aut de quo dubitare potest.
Poddish - Porridge of oatmeal.
In common use throughout the agricultural districts, especially for breakfast, and though irreverently compared by Dickens to "diluted pin-cushions without the covers," a very wholesome article of diet. Welsh potes, Manx poddash.
Smeeth - Smooth
Ang.-Sax. smzthe, smooth.
Teanel - A Basket (West and Cumberland Dialect)
Ang.-Sax. teanel, a basket, from tan, a twig.
Similarly swill, (contraction of swigel,) from Old Norse svigi, a twig.
Waits - Nightly musicians who used to play in the streets at Christmastide.
"Wayte, waker, vigil" Old Norse vakta; Old High German wahten; German wachten - to watch or keep awake.
Brek - Fun; a practical joke. A good story, generally of the sporting type; an amusing incident.
Curly kue - G. a flourish in writing, &c.
Fash - G. trouble ; inconvenience.
Fasten eve - Shrove Tuesday evening or the eve of the feast before Lent.
'At Fasten eve neet
Ceuks find cannel leet.'
After this night the cooking is to be done by daylight for the season, or the cooks must provide candles.
Frosk - The Frog (back in 1878 the author noted that the word was nearly obsolete!)
Gowpin - A handful; or the two hands full
Lang-end - The final end.
Pissibeds - The flowers of the dandelion plant.
Beckie - (Workington) A water bailiff who makes sure that the fisherfolk have permission to tickle the trout and salmon!
Brossenful - (sometime Brussenful) To be pleasantly full after after your meal.
Blackite - A bramble, A blackberry.
(Efter picking this yer' crop, ah telt the t'Cumberland Blackite Broonie Recipe)
Button Sticks - (Whitehaven) At the start of the Industrial Revolution poor country folk coming to work in the mines may have used sticks rather than buttons to hold their clothes together.
Chittering - Cold. Linked to shivering or trembling.
Kaylieghed - Supped ower much. Inebriated
Kersmas - Christmas
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