University of Virginia Library

12. CHAPTER XII
A FEW SPECIMENS

There is a great wealth of modern dialect literature, as indicated by the lists in the E.D.D. Some of these dialect books are poor and inaccurate, and they are frequently spelt according to no intelligible phonetic principles. Yet it not unfrequently happens, as in the works of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens, that the dialectal scraps indicate the pronunciation with tolerable fidelity, which is more than can be said of such portions of their works as are given in the normal spelling. It is curious to notice that writers in dialect are usually, from a phonetic point of view, more careful and consistent in their modes of indicating sounds than are the rest of us. Sometimes their spelling is, accordingly, very good. Those who are interested in this subject may follow up this hint with advantage.

It is impossible to mention even a tithe of the names of our better dialect writers. In Scotland alone there is a large number, some of the more

recent bearing such well-known names as those of R.L. Stevenson, George Macdonald (Aberdeen), J.M. Barrie (Forfarshire), and S.R. Crockett (Galloway). Dean Ramsay's humorous Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character must not be passed over. For Ireland we have William Carleton's Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry, and the novels by Lever and Lover. Cumberland has its delightful stories of Joe and the Geologist, and Bobby Banks' Bodderment. Cornwall has its Tales, by J.T. Tregellas. Devon can boast of R.D. Blackmore, Dorset of Hardy and Barnes, and Lincoln of Tennyson. The literature of Lancashire is vast; it suffices to mention John Collier (otherwise Tim Bobbin), author of Tummus and Meary, Ben Brierley, John Byrom, J.P. Morris, author of T' Lebby Beck Dobby, and Edwin Waugh, prose author and poet. Giles's Trip to London, and the other sketches by the same author, are highly characteristic of Norfolk. Northamptonshire has its poet, John Clare; and Suffolk can boast of Robert Bloomfield. According to her own statement, printed in the Preface (p. viii) to the E.D.S. Bibliographical List, George Eliot, when writing Adam Bede, had in mind "the talk of N. Staffordshire and the neighbouring part of Derbyshire"; whilst, in Silas Marner, "the district imagined is in N. Warwickshire." Southey wrote T' Terrible Knitters e' Dent in the Westmoreland dialect. Yorkshire, like Lancashire, has a large literature, to which the E.D.D. Booklist can alone do justice.

SCOTTISH (Group 3): ABERDEEN.

The following extract is from Chapter XVIII of Johnny Gibb of Gushetneuk, by W. Alexander, LL.D., fifteenth edition, Edinburgh, 1908. One special peculiarity of the dialect is the use of f for wh, as in fat, what, fan, when. The extract describes how the speaker and his friends went to hear a bellman make a proclamation about the appointment of a new minister to a church.

It's a vera stiff brae, an' ere we wan up to the kirk, it was gyaun upon eleyven o'clock. "Hooever," says the mannie, "we'll be in braw time; it's twal ere the sattlement begin, an' I'se warran they sanna apen the kirk-doors till's till than." So we tak's a luik roun' for ony kent fowk. They war stannin' aboot a'gate roun' aboot the kirk, in scores an' hunners, fowk fae a' the pairis'es roun' aboot, an' some fae hyne awa' as far doon's Marnoch o' the tae han' an' Kintore o' the tither, aw believe; some war stampin' their feet an' slappin' their airms like the yauws o' a win'mill to keep them a-heat; puckles wus sittin' o' the kirk-yard dyke, smokin' an' gyaun on wi' a' kin' o' orra jaw aboot the minaisters, an' aye mair gedderin' in aboot--it was thocht there wus weel on to twa thoosan' there ere a' was deen. An' aye a bit fudder was comin' up fae the manse aboot fat the Presbytery was deein--they war chaumer't there, ye see, wi' the lawvyers an' so on. "Nyod, they maun be sattlin' 'im i' the manse," says ane, "we'll need a' gae doon an' see gin we can win in." "Na, na," says anither, "a bit mair bather aboot thair dissents an' appales bein'

ta'en; muckle need they care, wi' sic a Presbytery, fat they try. But here's Johnny Florence, the bellman, at the lang length, I'se be at the boddom o' fat they're at noo." And wi' that he pints till a carlie comin' across the green, wi' a bit paper in's han', an' a gryte squad o' them 't hed been hingin' aboot the manse-door at's tail. "Oo, it's Johnny gyaun to read the edick," cries a gey stoot chap, an' twa three o' them gya a roar o' a lauch.... "Speek oot, min!" cries ane. "I think ye mith pronunce some better nor that, Johnny," says anither; an' they interrupit 'im fan he was tryin' to read wi' a' kin' of haivers, takin' the words oot o's mou, an' makin' the uncoest styte o't 't cud be.

Notes.--brae, hill; wan up, got up; gyaun upon, going close upon; braw, excellent; twal, twelve; sattlement, decision; I'se, I will (lit. I shall); sanna, will not; till's, for us; kent fowk, known people, acquaintances; a'gate, in all ways; hunners, hundreds; fae, from; hyne awa', hence away, as far off; the tae, the one; the tither, the other; yauws, sails; puckles, numbers, many; dyke, stone fence; orra jaw, various loud talk; mair gedderin', more gathering; on to, near; deen, done; bit fudder, bit of a rumour (lit. gust of wind); fae, from; fat, what; deein, doing; chaumer't, chambered, shut up; nyod, a disguised oath; we'll need, we must; gin, if; win in, get in: bather, bother; at the lang length, at last; carlie, churl; gryte squad, great crowd; gey stoot, rather stout; twa three, two or three; gya, gave; mith, might; nor that, than that; haivers, foolish talk; mou, mouth; uncoest, most uncouth, strangest; styte, nonsense.

SCOTTISH (Group 7): AYRSHIRE.

The following lines are quoted from a well-known poem by Robert Burns (1759-1796).

The Twa Dogs (Cæsar and Luath).

Cæs.

Lu.

Notes.--wae, sorrowful; maun thole, must endure, must put up with; factor's snash, agent's abuse; poind, seize upon, sequester; gear, property; hae, have; no sae, not so; wad, would; poortith, poverty; grushie, of thriving growth, well-grown; weans, children; win's, winds; nappy, foaming ale; reeks, smokes; ream, cream; luntin', smoking, emitting smoke; sneeshin-mill, snuff box; cantie, merry; crackin', conversing; crouse, with good spirits; ranting, running noisily; fain, glad; gloamin', twilight; bum-clock, beetle (that booms); kye, cows; rowtin', lowing; loan, milking-place; lugs, ears.

SCOTTISH (Group 8): EDINBURGH.

The following stanzas are from The Farmer's Ingle, a poem by Robert Fergusson (1750-1774), a native of Edinburgh.

Notes.--Ingle, chimney-corner. Gloming, twilight; keeks, peeps; ca's, drives (lit. calls); owsen, oxen; byre, cow-house; sair dung, sorely tired; steeks, shuts; dighting, winnowing; bangs fu' leal, defeats right well; gars, makes; -tappit, crested; dowie, melancholy; fley'd, frighted; poortith, poverty. Divets, turfs; theekit, thatched; weet, wet; sods, peats, and heath'ry trufs, various turf fuels; chimley, fire-place; gar, make; smeek, smoke; lift, sky; halland, partition forming a screen; een, eyes; ilka, each; cosh, cosy; lo'es, loves. Kens, knows; meltith, meal-tide, meal; synd, wash-down, draught; nappy, heady, strong; downa, cannot; bannocks, cakes; girdle, hot-plate; reeks, smokes; bowie, cask, beer-barrel; reams, foams; readied kail, (dish of) cooked greens; by, beside; hauds... het, keeps... hot; riggin, roof over the open hearth; whilk, which. Grien, yearn, long; hafflins steeks, half shuts; cruizy, oil-lamp; bleer, bedim (the sight); restit ingle, made up fire; dow, can; tackman, lease-holder, farmer; cod, pillow; drumly pow, confused head.

NORTHERN (ENGLAND); Group 2: WESTMORELAND.

The following extract is from a remarkable tract entitled A Bran New Wark, by William De Worfat; Kendal, 1785. The author was the Rev. William Hutton, Rector of Beetham in Westmoreland, 1762-1811, and head of a family seated at Overthwaite (here called Worfat) in that parish. It was edited by me for the E.D.S. in 1879.

Last Saturday sennet, abaut seun in the evening (twas lownd and fraaze hard) the stars twinkled, and the setting moon cast gigantic shadows. I was stalking hameward across Blackwater-mosses, and whistling as I tramp'd for want of thought, when a noise struck my ear, like the crumpling of frosty murgeon; it made me stop short, and I thought I saw a strange form before me: it vanished behint a windraw; and again thare was nought in view but dreary dykes, and dusky ling. An awful silence reigned araund; this was sean brokken by a skirling hullet; sure nivver did hullet, herrensue, or miredrum, mak sic a noise before. Your minister [himself] was freetned, the hairs of his head stood an end, his blead storkened, and the haggard creature moving slawly nearer, the mirkiness of the neet shew'd her as big again as she was... She stoup'd and drop'd a poak, and thus began with a whining tone. "Deary me! deary me! forgive me, good Sir, but this yance, I'll steal naa maar. This seek is elding to keep us fra starving!"... [The author visits the poor woman's cottage.] She sat on a three-legg'd steal, and a dim coal smook'd within the rim of a brandreth, oor which a seety rattencreak hung dangling fra a black randletree. The walls were plaister'd with dirt, and a stee, with hardly a rung, was rear'd into a loft. Araund the woman her lile ans sprawl'd on the hearth, some whiting speals, some snottering and crying, and ya ruddy-cheek'd lad threw on a

bullen to make a loww, for its mother to find her loup. By this sweal I beheld this family's poverty.

Notes.--Sennet, seven nights, week; seun, seven; lownd, still, calm; murgeon, rubbish earth cut up and thrown aside in order to get peat; windraw, heap of dug earth; ling, kind of heather; skirling hullet, shrieking owlet; herrensue, young heron; miredrum, bittern; blead storkened, blood congealed; neet, night; poak, bag; yance, once; seck, sack, i.e. contents of this sack; elding, fuel; steal, stool; brandreth, iron frame over the fire; seaty, sooty; rattencreak, potcrook, pothook; randletree, a beam from which the pothook hangs; stee, ladder; loft, upper room; lile ans, little ones; whiting speals, whittling small sticks; snottering, sobbing; ya, one; bullen, hempstalk; loww, flame; loup, loop, stitch in knitting; sweal, blaze.

MIDLAND (Group I): LINCOLN.

I here give a few quotations from the Glossary of Words used in the Wapentakes of Manley and Corringham, Lincolnshire, by E. Peacock, F.S.A.; 2nd ed., E.D.S., 1889. The illustrative sentences are very characteristic.

• Beal, to bellow.--Th' bairn beäled oot that bad, I was clëan scar'd, but it was at noht bud a battle-twig 'at hed crohlëd up'n hisairm. (Battle-twig, earwig; airm, arm.)
• Cart, to get into, to get into a bad temper.--Na, noo, thoo neädn't get into th' cart, for I weän't draw thee.
• Cauf, a calf, silly fellow.--A gentleman was enlarging to a Winterton lad on the virtues of Spanish juice [liquorice water]. "Ah,then, ye'll ha' been to th' mines, wheäre thaay gets it," the boy exclaimed; whereupon the mother broke in with--"A greät cauf! Duz he think 'at thaay dig it oot o' th' grund, saäme as thaay do sugar?"
• Chess, a tier.--I've been tell'd that e' plaaces wheäre thaay

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  graw silk-worms, thaay keäps 'em on traays, chess aboon chess, like cheney i' a cupboard. (E' in; cheney, china.)
• Clammer, to climb.--Oor Uriah's clammered into th' parson's cherry-tree, muther, an' he is swalla'in on 'em aboon a bit. I shouldn't ha tell'd ye nobbut he weänt chuck me ony doon. (Nobbut, only.)
• Cottoner, something very striking.--Th' bairn hed been e' mischief all daay thrif; at last, when I was sidin' awaay th' teä-things, what duz he do but tum'le i'to th' well. So, says I, Well, this is a cottoner; we shall hev to send for Mr Iveson (the coroner) noo, I reckon. (Thrif, through; sidin' awaay, putting away.)
• Ducks.--A girl said to the author, of a woman with whom she had been living for a short time as servant, "I'd raather be nibbled to deäd wi' ducks then live with Miss P. She's alus a natterin'." (Deäd, death; alus, always; natterin', nagging.)
• Good mind, strong intention.--She said she'd a good mind to hing her-sen, soä I ax'd if I mud send for Mr Holgate (the coroner), to be ready like. (Hing, hang; mud, might.)
• Jaup, senseless talk.--Ho'd the jaup wi' thĕ; dos't ta want ivery body to knaw how soft thoo is? (Ho'd, hold; soft, foolish.)

MIDLAND (Group 2): S.E. LANCASHIRE.

The following poem is from Poems and Songs by Edwin Waugh; 3rd ed., London, 1870.

Owd Pinder.

Notes.--Owd, old; rackless foo, reckless fool; spreein', merry-making, drinking; -do, bout; He're, he would be; crack o' deein' , hint at dying; Aw's, I shall; trail, walk in; ballis-pipes, bellows-pipes, lungs; eawt, out; wynt, wind. Eawr, our, my; Hoo, she; brass, money; yo'n, you will; lev, leave; wick, quick, i.e. alive. Yed, head; happed, covered; fuddle, drinking-bout; tone fro tother, the one from the other. Stoo, stool; Thee think, do thou think; deeod, dead; o', all; get forrud, get on, go on.

MIDLAND (Group 5): SHEFFIELD.

The following extract is from A. Bywater's Sheffield Dialect, 3rd ed, 1877; as quoted in S.O. Addy's Sheffield Glossary, E.D.S., 1888, p. xv.

Jerra Flatback.

Hah, they'n better toimes on't nah, booath e heitin and clooas; we'n had menni a mess a nettle porridge an brawls on a Sunda mo'nin, for us brekfast... Samma, dusta remember hah menni names we had for sahwer wotcake?

Oud Samma Squarejoint.

O kno'n't, lad; bur o think we'd foive or six. Let's see: Slammak wer won, an' Flat-dick wer anuther; an't tuther wor--a dear, mo memra fails ma--Flannel an' Jonta; an-an-an-an--bless me, wot a thing it is tubbe oud, mo memra gers war for ware, bur o kno heah's anuther; o'st think on enah.-- A, Jerra, heah's menni a thahsand dogs nah days, at's better dun too nor we wor then; an them were t'golden days a Hallamshoir, they sen. An they happen wor, for't mesters. Hofe at prentis lads e them days wor lether'd whoile ther skin wor skoi-blue, and clam'd whoile ther booans wer bare, an work'd whoile they wor as knock-kneed as oud Nobbletistocks. Thah nivver sees nooa knock-kneed cutlers nah: nou, not sooa; they'n better mesters nah, an they'n better sooat a wark anole. They dooant mezher em we a stick, as oud Natta Hall did. But for all that, we'd none a yer wirligig polishin; nor Tom Dockin scales, wit bousters comin off; nor yer sham stag, nor sham revvits, an sich loik. T' noives wor better made then, Jerra.

Jerra:

Hah, they wor better made; they made t' noives for yuse then, but they mayn em to sell nah.

Notes.--Observe 'n for han (plural), have; on't nah, of it now; e heitin, in eating; mess a, dish of, meal of; brawis, brose, porridge; hah, how; sahwer wotcake, leavened oatcake; bur o, but I; mo, my; ma, me; tubbe oud, to be old; gers, gets; war for ware, worse for

wear; o'st, I shall; think on, remember; enah, presently; nah days, nowadays; at's, that are; dun too, treated; nor we, than we; Hallamshoir, Hallamshire, the district including Sheffield and the neighbourhood; sen, say; happen, perhaps; for't, for the; hofe at, half of the; e them, in those; lether'd, beaten; whoile, till; clam'd (for clamm'd), starved; sooat a, sort of; anole, and all; we, with; wirligig, machine; Tom Dockin scales, scales cut out of thin rolled iron instead of being forged; bousters, bolsters (a bolster is a lump of metal between the tang and the blade of a knife); stag, stag-horn handle (?); mayn, pl. make.

MIDLAND (Group 6): CHESHIRE.

The following extract is from "Betty Bresskittle's Pattens, or Sanshum Fair," by J.C. Clough; printed with Holland's Cheshire Glossary, E.D.S. (1886), p. 466. Sanshum or Sanjem Fair is a fair held at Altrincham on St James's Day.

Jud sprung upo' th' stage leet as a buck an' bowd as a dandycock, an' th' mon what were playingk th' drum (only it wer'nt a gradely drum) gen him a pair o' gloves. Jud began a-sparringk, an' th' foaks shaouted, "Hooray! Go it, owd Jud! Tha'rt a gradely Cheshire mon!"

Th' black felly next gen Jud a wee bit o' a bang i' th' reet ee, an Jud git as weild as weild, an hit reet aht, but some hah he couldna git a gradely bang at th' black mon. At-aftur two or three minutes th' black felly knocked Jud dahn, an t'other chap coom and picked him up, an' touch'd Jud's faace wi' th' spunge everywheer wheer he'd getten a bang, but th' spunge had getten a gurt lot o' red ruddle on it, so that it made gurt red blotches upo' Jud's faace wheer it touched it; an th' foaks shaouted and shaouted, "Hooray, Jud! Owd mon! at em agen!" An Jud let floy a good un, an th' mon wi' th' spunge had to pick th' blackeymoor

up this toime an put th' ruddle upo' his faace just at-under th'ee.

"Hooray, Jud! hooray, owd mon!" shaouted Jock Carter o' Runjer; "tha'rt game, if tha'rt owd!"

Just at that vary minit Jud's weife, bad as hoo were wi' th' rheumatic, pushed her rooäd through th' foaks, and stood i' th' frunt o' th' show.

"Go it agen, Jud! here's th' weife coom t'see hah gam tha art!" shaouted Jonas.

Jud turn'd rahnd an gurned at th' frunt o' th' show wi' his faace aw ruddle.

"Tha girt soo! I'll baste thi when aw get thi hwom, that aw will!" shaouted Betty Bresskittle; "aw wunder tha artna ashamed o' thisen, to stond theer a-feightingk th' deevil hissel!"

Notes.--Jud, for George; leet, light; bowd, bold; dandycock, Bantam cock; gradely, proper; gen, gave; owd, old; reet ee, right eye; git, got; as weild as weild, as wild as could be; aht, out; at-aftur, after; gurt, great; em, him; floy, fly; Runjer, Ringway; game (also gam), full of pluck; hoo, she; rooad, road, way; gurned, grinned; soo, sow (term of abuse); hwom, home; thisen, thyself.

EASTERN (Group 2): N. ESSEX.

The following extract is from John Noakes and Mary Styles, by Charles Clark, of Great Totham; London, 1839. Reprinted for the E.D.S., 1895. As Great Totham is to the North of Maldon, I take this specimen to belong to Prof. Wright's "Division 2" rather than to the S.W. Essex of "Division 5." The use of w for initial v occurs frequently, as in werry, very, etc.

Notes.--Sput, spot; toddlers, walkers; ollis, always; haut, halt; wiew, view.

Crake, boast; leas(t)ways, at least; sarteny, certainly; monsus, monstrous, very long. No sense ov a, poor, bad; coad, cold; argufy, prove (anything). Sum'dy, somebody; from M., between Maldon and Kelvedon; 'gin, against, near; four-releet (originally four-e leet, lit. "ways of four," four-e being the genitive plural, hence) meeting of four roads. Dorn't, don't; aldoe, although; uster cud (for us'd to could), used to be able; warsley, vastly, much; loike, like; gulch, heavily, with a bang. 'Ood, would; nut, not; ax'd, asked; naa, no; nut quinny, not quite, not at all.

EASTERN (Group 3): NORFOLK.

The following extract from "A Norfolk Dialogue" is from a work entitled Erratics by a Sailor, printed anonymously at London in 1800, and written by the Rev. Joshua Larwood, rector of Swanton Morley, near East Dereham. Most of the words are quite familiar to me, as I was curate of East Dereham in 1861-2, and heard the dialect daily. The whole dialogue was reprinted in Nine Specimens of English Dialects; E.D.S., 1895.

The Dialogue was accompanied by "a translation," as here reprinted. It renders a glossary needless.

Original Vulgar Norfolk.
Narbor Rabbin and Narbor Tibby.

Translation.
Neighbour Robin and Neighbour Stephen.

R.

Tibby, d'ye know how the knacker's mawther Nutty du?

R.

Stephen, do you know how the collar-maker's daughter Ursula is?

T.

Why, i' facks, Rabbin, she's nation cothy; by Goms, she is so snasty that I think she is will-led.

S.

Why, in fact, Robin,

she is extremely sick; by (obsolete), she is so snarlish, that I think she's out of her mind.

R.

She's a fate mawther, but ollas in dibles wi' the knacker and thackster; she is ollas a-ating o' thapes and dodmans. The fogger sa, she ha the black sap; but the grosher sa, she have an ill dent.

R.

She's a clever girl, but always in troubles with the collar-maker and thatcher; she is always eating gooseberries and snails. The man at the chandler's shop says she has a consumption: but the grocer says she's out of her senses.

T.

Why, ah! tother da she fared stounded: she pluck'd the pur from the back-stock, and copped it agin the balk of the douw-pollar, and barnt it; and then she hulled [it] at the thackster, and hart his weeson, and huckle-bone. There was northing but cadders in the douw-pollar, and no douws: and so, arter she had barnt the balk, and the door-stall, and the plancher, she run into the par-yard, thru the pytle, and then swounded behinn'd a sight o' gotches o' beergood.

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 blade-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 'eärd 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 tŏŏk 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.

Notes.--Miss Jackson adds the pronunciation, in glossic notation. There is no sound of initial h. Scrike, shriek; sid, seed, i.e. saw; pecked, pitched, fallen headlong; bruck, brook; douked, ducked; 'out, hold; bonk, bank; wham, home; wunna, was not; winder-rags, shreds; djed, dead; toud, told; what'n'ee, what do you; a nour, an hour; sid, seen; lung, long; wun, were.

SOUTHERN (Group 2): WILTSHIRE.

The following well-known Wiltshire fable is from Wiltshire Tales, by J. Yonge Akerman (1853). I give it as it stands in the Preface to Halliwell's Dictionary; omitting the "Moral."

The Harnet and the Bittle.

Notes.--Observe z and v for initial s and f; harnet, hornet; bittle, beetle; zet, sat; proper, very; twoad, toad, wretch; a, he; stinge, sting; bagganet, bayonet. Thuck, that; clim, climb; giv, gave; zet, sit; ael, all. Th' sha'sn't, thou shalt not; mixen, dung-heap. Yuckel, woodpecker; axed, asked; vamous munch, excellent meal; lear, empty; caddlin', quarrelsome.

SOUTHERN (Group 3): ISLE OF WIGHT.

The following colloquy is quoted in the Glossary of Isle of Wight Words, E.D.S., 1881, at p. 50.

I recollect perfectly the late Mr James Phillips of Merston relating a dialogue that occurred between two of his labourers relative to the word straddle-bob, a beetle.... At the time of luncheon, one of them, on taking his bren-cheese (bread and cheese) out of a little bag, saw something that had found its way there; which led to the following discourse.

Jan.

What's got there, you?

Will.

A straddlebob craalun about in the nammut-bag.

J.

Straddlebob? Where ded'st leyarn to caal 'n by that neyam?

W.

Why, what shoud e caal 'n? 'Tes the right neyam, esn ut?

J.

Right neyam? No! Why, ye gurt zote vool, casn't zee 'tes a dumbledore?

W.

I know 'tes; but vur aal that, straddlebob's zo right a neyam vor 'n as dumbledore ez.

J.

Come, I'll be blamed if I doant laay thee a quart o' that.

W.

Done! and I'll ax Meyastur to-night when I goos whoam, bee't how't wool.

Accordingly, Meyastur was applied to by Will, who made his decision known to Jan the next morning.

W.

I zay, Jan! I axed Meyastur about that are last night.

J.

Well, what ded ur zay?

W.

Why, a zed one neyam ez jest zo vittun vor'n as tother; and he lowz a ben caal'd straddlebob ever zunce the Island was vust meyad.

J.

Well, if that's the keeas, I spooas I lost the quart.

W.

That thee hast, lucky; and we'll goo down to Arreton to the Rid Lion and drink un ater we done work.

Notes.--Observe z for s, and v for f initially. What's, What hast thou; nammut (lit. noon-meat), luncheon, usually eaten at 9 A.M. (nōna hōra); leyarn, learn; esn, is not; gurt, great; zote, soft, silly; casn't, canst not; laay, lay, wager; how't wool, how it will; that are, that there; lowz (lit. allows), opines; zunce, since; vust meyad, first made; keeas, case; lucky, look ye!

SOUTHERN (Group 7): EAST SUSSEX.

The following quotations are from the Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect, by the Rev. W.D. Parish, Vicar of Selmeston; E.D.S. 1875. The Glossary refers rather to E. than to W. Sussex, Selmeston being between Lewes and Eastbourne.

• Call over, to abuse. "He come along here a-cadging, and fancy he just did call me over, because I told him as I hadn't got naun to give him." (Naun, nothing.)
• Clocksmith, a watchmaker. "I be quite lost about time, I be; for I've been forced to send my watch to the clocksmith. I

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  couldn't make no sense of mending it myself; for I'd iled it and I'd biled it, and then I couldn't do more with it."
• Cocker-up, to spoil; to gloss over with an air of truth. "You see this here chap of hers, he's cockered-up some story about having to goo away somewheres up into the sheeres; and I tell her she's no call to be so cluck over it; and for my part I dunno but what I be very glad an't, for he was a chap as was always a-cokeing about the cupboards, and cogging her out of a Sunday." (The sheeres, any shire of England except Kent and Sussex; call, reason; cluck, out of spirits; coke, to peep; cog, to entice.)
• Joy, a jay. "Poor old Master Crockham, he's in terrible order, surelý! The meece have taken his peas, and the joys have got at his beans, and the snags have spilt all his lettuce." (Order, bad temper; meece, mice; snags, snails; spilt, spoilt.)
• Kiddle, to tickle. "Those thunder-bugs did kiddle me so that I couldn't keep still no hows." (Thunder-bug, a midge.)
• Lawyer, a long bramble full of thorns, so called because, "when once they gets a holt an ye, ye doänt easy get shut of 'em."
• Leetle, a diminutive of little. "I never see one of these here gurt men there's s'much talk about in the peapers, only once, and that was up at Smiffle Show adunnamany years agoo. Prime minister, they told me he was, up at London; a leetle, lear, miserable, skinny-looking chap as ever I see. 'Why,' I says, 'we doänt count our minister to be much, but he's a deal primer-looking than what yourn be.'" (Gurt, great; Smiffle, Smithfield; adunnamany, I don't know how many; lear, thin, hungry; see, saw.)
• Sarment, a sermon. "I likes a good long sarment, I doos; so as when you wakes up it ain't all over."
• Tempory (temporary), slight, badly finished. "Who be I? Why, I be John Carbury, that's who I be! And who be you? Why, you ain't a man at all, you ain't! You be naun but a poor tempory creetur run up by contract, that's what you be!"

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• Tot, a bush; a tuft of grass. "There warn't any grass at all when we fust come here; naun but a passel o' gurt old tots and tussicks. You see there was one of these here new-fashioned men had had the farm, and he'd properly starved the land and the labourers, and the cattle and everything, without it was hisself." (Passel, parcel; tussicks, tufts of rank grass.)
• Twort (for thwart), pert and saucy. "She's terrible twort--she wants a good setting down, she do; and she'll get it too. Wait till my master comes in!"
• Winterpicks, blackthorn berries.
• Winter-proud, cold. "When you sees so many of these here winterpicks about, you may be pretty sure 'twill be middlin' winter-proud."