Tek a deek ut oor dialect in action.
We're vanna ut backend oft' eer und its fust tyam ahs nut bin chittering when ahs bin oot und aboot! Ahs gut twe grand bits ov' writing fur thu this month. Harvest und t' Reed Squirrel.
Ah'l mebbe see thu nixt tyam, und wheel tek an in deepth deek at how oor marras fra Hundett of Lonsdale spok. Thu can hev a laal deek noo ut start ov oor wordhord.
Noo fra t' meedas, t' boddams, t' trabs,
shevs of cworn hev been geddered,
whilst in t' cock-lofts codlins, crabs
an aw t' fruit is seafely laid.
Trig fra t' store to t' barn an' mewstead,
Aw t' crops hev noo been led.
Noo t' cworn-babby ovver t' kist
leuks fur nowt but Kursmas death,
when, as t' last cut, this laal twist
dees in t' best coo's bonny breath.
T' risms and t' hayfield's fog
greet t' maister as, wid t' dog,
He tak's a turn aroond his land,
turning back in teyme for t' kurn,
when his wark-fwok roond his stand
fur drinking healths, befroe t' return
til t' wark 'at t' back-end shaws,
deckt by t' leemers, hips and haws.
An' some noo in t' oald church meet -
wheer shevs of brot-oot cwron hev dropt
t' grains deun on til ivvery seat,
an' ivvery ledge wid fruit is topped -
theer to join in t' hymns and t' praise,
sealing t' span ov t' harvest days.
An explanation of the 2nd verse:
The last corn left standing would be enough to hold with one hand and the heads would be tied together; the reapers would then throw their sickles at it from designated point, the ‘luck’ going to the one who managed to cut it down. The final sheaf known as the 'luck sheaf' or 'corn babby' would be safely stored with an apple in it until Christmas Morning when the apple would be given to the youngest daughter and the sheaf to the best dairy cow. These practices have links to pagan rituals.
The gathering for all the workers, friends and neighbours would take place in a barn, and there would be a supper followed by a dance, the master first dancing with the girl who carried the ‘luck sheaf’ from the harvest field and the mistress with the head man or servant.
Hello, thoo la’al skipjack
Et lowps wid sec ease!
Whativver’s teh thrang wid
Et boddem o’ trees?
Is t’ summat thoo’s laiten
Er summat thoos fun’?
Er ista just laiken,
Enjoyen t’ bit sun?
Ah saw theh cum scamp’ren
Whor leaf-carpet gleamed –
A broon bushy tail
Wid a body thoo seemed –
An’ watch’t theh thrang howken
An’ powken aboot,
Til a twig er two crackled
Than ‘twes Johnny-git-oot!
Wid a bounce an a scufter
Thoo’d swarmlet up t’ tree,
Croodled up in a corner
Gey suspicious ev me,
Whor thoo stampt and thoo scwoldit
An’ let thih-sel rip
Wid a temper es twined like
Es t’ hworns ev a tip.
An’ a tail like a question mark
Aw gone a-glee,
Et was putten sec questions
It leuk’t like teh me –
What reet hed Ah theer?
What for was Ah cum?
Wes ther nee udder plantin’
Wid plenty o’ reum?
Than, chunt’ren aw finish’t,
Mih blackin aw deun,
A whim seems the tak theh
An’ theer, up abeun,
A ripple in t’ branches
Like a kiss o’ t’ Spring breeze,
Shows t’ rwoad et thoos takken
Es yamward thoo flees.
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
Secretary: Mr Phillip Gate, Workington
Email: pg-cumbria@gmx.com
Journal Editor: Mrs Louise Green, Overdale, Ireby, Wigton, Cumbria CA7 1EQ. Phone: 01697371710
Email: louise.green2608@gmail.com
Copyright © All Rights Reserved
