“They may throw light on the meaning of other words, of the relationship of languages, or even on history itself.”

James Russell Lowell.

Note 1.—ALLAY.

The contention of several competent critics that this is but a form of “Ah’lay,” or “Ah’ll lay,” was met by another from those intimately associated with the dialect, and who only recognise one word in actual use, and that with more of the sense of assurance or support, than of defiance or daring conveyed in it. The vernacular form of the sporting phrase “Ah’ll lay” is “Ah’ll lig.”

Note 2.—APODE.

Said to be only a form of uphold, uphod, uphoad, and as such should be so spelt. On the other hand it is held by dialect speakers that apode is nearer the true pronunciation. A native of North Westmorland would say of a contentious person, “he can uphod his awn,” another would reply “Aye, Ah’ll apode it.” Of a great eater it would be remarked, “he’s at a ter’ble gurt uphod,” and for answer would get “Ah’ll apode it he is.” The uphod of one may be his parish; of an institution or establishment it is said to be great or small; and one may be the uphod of many things, in this sense apode can be claimed to have a distinct use.

Note 3.—CANTLAX.

Many words in this collection are said by eminent authorities to be mere fabrications—that is, they are made up words by those using them and have no derivation, history, or standing. This may be of that class. It is included, because to the compiler it appears to be one of a numerous family that carry with them the impression they are intended to, directly and in the tone in which they are used. No information has been obtainable beyond the fact that the word was used in one or two instances by genuine Lakelanders, of whose dialect no question could be raised.

Note 4.—CART, DURT, MURT, WURT.

Cart (cannot), Durt (do-not), Murt (must-not), Wurt (will-not), like “garn,” met with strong objections from various writers qualified to speak of the dialect in their districts. On the other hand a number of persons supported their inclusion as being genuine forms in common use. It may be the safer course to give them, and say they are in the dialect in a restricted sense so far as radius and usage go.

Note 5.—CROWFOOT.

Apart from the use of Crowfoot as a botanical term for the genus Ranunculus, it is also used to signify the bloom of the purple Orchis in North Westmorland. As a term for Ranunculus or butter-cup, it is seldom, if ever, used in that district.

Note 6.—DEAL.

(i.e. Dale) in the vernacular would be pronounced in all cases, as if it were di-yal with emphasis on the last syllable. Such a form, however, would be sufficient to terrify even the most hardened reader unless prepared by a previous study of phonetics.

Note 7.—DOGBERRY.

Given originally as the mountain ash and objected to. From the correspondence it would seem to be safe to conclude that the berry of the rowan or mountain ash, is in some districts termed “dogberry,” and in the same locality the word is used for another shrub, the water elder and its berries. Perhaps the use of “dogberry” for the former may be due to carelessness in the matters pertaining to berries that have small culinary value.

Note 8.—FAMISH.

On the ground that a mere local peculiarity of pronunciation does not constitute a dialect word, forms like famish were objected to. They are included to demonstrate a feature in the dialect where adjectives of a wholly inappropriate character are regularly used, e.g. “A bonny auld shindy,” “A cruel fast trotter,” “A stinken good mind,” “A famish gurt leer,” “A glorious good spree,” “Henious good roads,”—vide Combriana, “A ter’ble romantic way o’ throwin’ oot his feet,” “Sanctimonious as a ho’perth o’ treacle in a three quart jug,” “Ah’s ter’ble fain ye’ve come,” “A tremendus habit o’ winkin at yan,” “Parlish dear,” are common enough and seem to indicate a peculiarity worthy of noting.

Note 9.—GARN, GOING.

This form met with strong objection. It appears in a Dialect Essay in the West Cumberland Times, Christmas No. 1897, and several correspondents vouched for its presence in the West Ward of Westmorland. It will be safest to regard it as an extreme form and one well illustrating the difficulty of rendering the dialect phonetically with ordinary type.

Note 10.

In many words involving technical details, and others bordering on what some readers might regard as coarseness, no attempt has been made at defining or illustrating, but in dealing with them it has been the aim to do it in the same colloquialism a native would affect. In a work of the present character this latter purpose cannot fail to be as interesting as details which would require many sciences to confirm.

PRINTED BY T. WILSON, KENDAL.