We have often been told, or we have read in newspaper reviews and suchlike works, that the rustic vernacular is indigenous to the soil, mostly raw material in the rough, but entirely a native product. Of course this is in the main true, the real backbone of the dialects is genuine English, but when we examine the whole vocabulary in detail, we find it contains a very considerable admixture of foreign elements. French, Scandinavian, Celtic, and even Latin words permeate the dialects throughout the country, in varying proportions according to the geographical area. To take first a sample of the French loan-words: agist (Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Der. Not. Lin. Rut. Lei. Nhp. w.Cy.), to receive cattle to graze for a fixed sum, to put out cattle to pasture, O.Fr. agister, to lodge, to make to lie; aigle (midl. counties), an icicle, Fr. aiguille, a needle; avoirdupois (Wor. Hrf. Suf.), to consider, to weigh mentally, adv. undecided, in doubt, e.g. I be quite haverdepaise about sending Jane to service; arain (Dur. Yks. Lan. Der.), a spider, O.Fr. araigne, iraigne, cp. ‘Oure ?eris schulen bithenke as an yreyn,’ Wyclif, Ps. lxxxix. 10; asprous (Lei. War.), of the weather: raw, inclement, Fr. aspre, sharp, harsh, rough, + the termination -ous; bastile (Nhb. Cum. Yks. Lan. Chs. Stf. Der. Rut. War. Wor.), a popular name for the workhouse, an application of Fr. Bastille, the prison-fortress built in Paris in the fourteenth century, and destroyed in 1789; bowet (Sc. Nhb.), a hand lantern, Fr. dial. bouete, an equivalent of Fr. boite; benÈ(s (n.Cy. Yks. Lan.), in the phrase to clap benÈ(s, to clap the hands as an expression of thanks or of pleasure, used in children’s language. Children are taught to clap benÈ before partaking of food, and nurses say: Clap benÈs for daddy to cum, An’ bring lile babby a ceÀk an’ a bun. The word benÈs is a shortened form of benison, a blessing, benediction, used in M.E. in the sense of grace before meat, cp. ‘bord leyd, And the beneysun was seyd,’ Hav. l. 1723, O.Fr. beneison. Boco (Sus.), a large quantity, used principally of fish, Fr. beaucoup, a great deal, much; bran (Lin. Oxf. Nrf. Suf.), freckles, Fr. ‘bran de Judas, freckles in the face,’ Cotgrave. LittrÉ says: ‘Bran de Judas, tache de rousseur au visage. Locution vieillie, et qui vient sans doute de ce qu’on se reprÉsenta Judas roux.’ Chibbole (War. Wor. Glo. Oxf. I.W. Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), a young onion with the green stalk attached, a scallion, O.Fr. (Picard) chibole, Mod.Fr. ciboule, cp. ‘Chibolles and cheruelles and ripe chiries manye,’ Piers Plow. B, VI, l. 296; courant (Sc. Wm. Yks. Chs. Shr. I.W. Dev. Cor.), a running and violent dance, a revel, a romp, &c., Fr. ‘courante, sorte de danse,’ LittrÉ; dishabille (n. and midl. dials. also s.), disorder, a state of confusion, working-dress, Fr. en dÉshabillÉ, ‘en vÊtement aisÉ que l’on porte d’ordinaire chez soi,’ Hatzfeld; dole (Sc. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Stf. Der. Dor. Cor.), sorrow, grief, misfortune, O.Fr. dol, dul, deul, Mod.Fr. deuil, sorrow; fammel (War. Wor. Glo. Oxf.), to starve, famish, e.g. I’m half fammel’d, Norm. dial. fameiller, ‘Être affamÉ,’ Moisy, O.Fr. fameiller, avoir faim; fay (Sc. Yks. Som. Dev. Cor.), faith, used as an interjection, and in assertions and quasi-oaths, cp.:

O.Fr. fei, faith; flasket (Yks. Lan. Chs. Lei. Nhp. Hnt. Ken. Sus. Som.), a kind of basket, a shallow, oval washing-tub, Fr. (BÉarnais) flasquet, ‘flasque’; flue (Hrf. Brks. Ken. Sur. Sus. Hmp. Wil.), delicate, sickly, thin, in poor condition, O.Fr. ‘flou, dÉlicat, en parlant des choses; doux, en parlant des personnes,’ La Curne; frap (Nhb. Yks. Lan. Suf. Sus.), to strike, rap, Fr. frapper, to strike; gigot (Sc. n.Cy. Nhb. Der. Lei.), a leg of mutton, Fr. ‘gigot (de mouton), a leg (of mutton),’ Cotgrave; goo (Sc. Nhb.), taste, relish, Fr. goÛt, ‘sensation agrÉable que produisent certaines saveurs,’ Hatzfeld; hogo (Irel. Nhb. Yks. Nhp. Hrt. e.An. Ken. Hmp. I.W. Wil. Som.), used of tainted meat and strong cheese: a strong disagreeable smell or odour, Fr. haut goÛt, high flavour; hone (Sc. n.Cy. Lin. Stf. War. Wor. Shr. Dev.), to whine, complain, with after or for: to repine for want of, to long or pine for, Fr. (Norman dial.) hoigner, ‘hogner, geindre, pleurnicher, se lamenter,’ Moisy. Dr. Johnson has: ‘to Hone.... To pine; to long for any thing,’ but without any quotations. Hanch (n. counties), to bite, snap at with the teeth as a dog does, e.g. That dog o’ yours hanched at ma when ah tried ti clap [pat] him, Fr. hancher, to snatch at with the teeth; hespel, huspel (Wor. Shr. Hrf.), to worry, harass, to hurry, drive away, Fr. houspiller, ‘maltraiter (qqn.) en le secouant,’ Hatzfeld; jet (Sc. Lakel. Yks. Not. Lin. War. e.An. s. and sw. counties), to throw, Fr. ‘jetter, to throw,’ Cotgr.; jigget (Sc. Irel. Lan. War. Oxf. Brks. Wil. Som. Dev. Cor.), to ride or walk at a jog-trot, to shake, to dance up and down, Fr. gigotter, ‘remuer vivement les jambes,’ LittrÉ; jouke (Yks. Der.), to sleep or roost as partridges, O.Fr. (Picard) jouquer, ‘percher, jucher,’ joquer, ‘Être en repos, percher,’ La Curne, M.E. jouken, cp.:

Jowl (Stf. Der. War. Shr.), an earthenware pan or vessel, Fr. jalle, ‘a soe or tub,’ Cotgr.; keeve (Sc. Irel. Glo. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), a large tub, a vat used for fermenting beer, Fr. cuve, ‘an open tub, a fat or vat,’ Cotgr.; lash (Sc. n.Cy. Cum. Lin. Nhp. e.An. Som.), relaxed in consequence of weakness or fatigue; as applied to fruit and grass feed: soft and watery, Fr. lasche, ‘slack, loose, weak, faint,’ Cotgr., cp. ‘That the Israelites were forbidden to eat the fruit of their new-planted trees, before the fifth year, was very agreeable unto the natural rules of husbandry; fruits being unwholesome and lash, before the fourth or fifth year,’ Sir T. Browne, Garden of Cyrus, 1658; latten (Sc. n.Cy. Nhb. Yks. Nhp. Oxf. e.An. Sus. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), any kind of very thin sheet-metal, tin plate, Fr. laiton, ‘lattin (metal),’ Cotgr., cp. ‘He hadde a croys of latoun ful of stones,’ Prol. l. 699; lingle (Sc. Irel. n.Cy. Nhb.), shoemakers’ thread, Fr. ligneul; lyart (Sc. n.Cy. Nhb.), of hair: streaked with grey, O.Fr. liart, ‘gris,’ La Curne; maugre (Sc. Lin. Suf.), in spite of, notwithstanding, e.g. TheÄre’s a right of waay by the Milner’s Trod, and I’ll goÄ by it when I want, mauger the teÄth of all th’lords and squires i’Linkisheer, O.Fr. maugrÉ, ‘malgrÉ,’ La Curne; maund (in gen. dial. use in Sc. and Eng.), a basket, a hamper, O.Fr. mande, ‘panier d’osier À deux anses,’ La Curne; mell (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Lei. Dor. Som. Dev.), to mix, mingle, to meddle, interfere, O.Fr. mesler, mÊler, ‘unir ensemble,’ Hatzfeld; merry (Wm. Lan. Chs. Der. Shr. Oxf. Brks. Bck. Hnt. Sus. Hmp. I.W. Wil. Dor.), the wild cherry, Fr. merise, ‘a small bitter cherry,’ Cotgr. The English form without the s is parallel to cherry, from Fr. cerise, where the s has been supposed to be a plural suffix. Mort (in gen. dial. use in Irel. and Eng.), a quantity, a great deal, abundance, e.g. It did me a mort o’ good, There’s a mort o’fruit in the garden, Fr. (Norm. dial.) mort, in the phrase À mort, ‘en grande quantitÉ: Le prunier a des prunes À mort,’ Moisy; mure (Sc. Yks. Cor.), to confine, as within prison-walls, Fr. murer, ‘to inclose, or shut up between two walls,’ Cotgr.; parl(e (Sc. Yks. Lan. Chs. Lin. Glo. Brks.), to talk, converse, O.Fr. parler, cp. ‘Patriarkes and prophetes han parled her-of long,’ Piers Plow. B, XVIII. l. 268; peel (in gen. dial. use in Sc. and Eng.), a flat, long-headed shovel, generally of wood, used for taking bread and pies in and out of a brick oven, O.Fr. pele, ‘pelle,’ La Curne; pelt (in gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and Eng.), a skin, hide, Fr. (Norm. dial.) pelette, ‘morceau de peau de mouton, avec sa laine,’ Moisy; percage (Nhb.), a little sheltering cot for a man at a check gate, a shelter used by shepherds when sheep are lambing, O.Fr. parcage, ‘enceinte pour parquer les bestiaux,’ La Curne; quail, quell (Nhp. Bdf. e.An.), of milk: to curdle, to turn sour, O.Fr. coailler, to curdle; quiddy (Sus.), what do you say? Fr. que dis-tu?; race (Nhb. Dur. Chs. War. Suf.), a root, especially of ginger, O.Fr. raÏs, raÏz, a root, cp. ‘a race or two of ginger,’ Wint. T., IV. iii. 50; regrater (Dev. Cor.), one who buys butter, fruit, &c., from the farmers to sell in the market, O.Fr. regratier, a huckster, cp. ‘Rose Þe regratere was hir ri?te name,’ Piers Plow. B, V. l. 226; rigol (Shr.), a small gutter or channel, a surface-drain, Fr. rigole, ‘a trench, drain, gutter,’ Cotgr.; scute (Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), a sum of money, a present, reward, payment, O.Fr. escut (Mod. Écu), a buckler, shield, a coin; spairge (Sc. Nhb. Yks. Der.), to dash, to scatter broadcast, to sprinkle, Fr. asperger, ‘to besprinkle; to sprinkle, or strew water or dust upon,’ Cotgr.; stravaig (Sc. Irel. n.Cy. Nhb.), to wander about aimlessly, to stroll, saunter, O.Fr. estravaguer, from Low Latin extravagari, to wander out or beyond; suant (Gmg. Glo. Sus. Hmp. I.W. Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), smooth, even, regular, &c., O.Fr. suant, pres. part. of sivre, to follow; tass(e (Sc. Yks. e.An.), a cup, glass, a bowl, Fr. tasse; urchin (in gen. dial. use in Sc. and Eng.), a hedgehog, e.g. Hoo’s getten a tung sharp enough for t’shave a urchant (Lan.), O.Fr. eriÇon, heriÇon, cp. ‘I shal putte it in to the possession of an irchoun,’ Wyclif, Isaiah xiv. 23; venell (Sc. Irel. n.Cy. Nhb. Yks.), an alley, a narrow lane or passage, Fr. venelle, a little street, Hatzfeld.

There are certain French words peculiar to Scotland, but their number is not very large, for most of the French words found in Scotland belong also to parts of England. Examples of the exclusively Scottish loan-words are: ashet, a dish, Fr. assiette; cashie, delicate, not able to endure fatigue, also soft, flabby, not of good quality, Fr. cassÉ, ‘broken, quasht in pieces; also cassed; also decaied, worn, or broken with age,’ Cotgr.; evite, to avoid, escape, Fr. Éviter, to avoid; fier, plur., the prices of grain legally fixed in each county for the current year, O.Fr. feur (foer, fuer), ‘prix, valeur,’ La Curne; graduwa, gradawa, a physician, a doctor with a medical degree, Fr. graduÉ, ‘a graduate, one that hath taken a degree in an University,’ Cotgr.; gillem, a carpenter’s or joiner’s tool, a rabbet-plane, Fr. guillaume, ‘rabot À fer Étroit, ÉchancrÉ, pour faire les rainures,’ Hatzfeld; jupe, a woman’s skirt, or short petticoat, O.Fr. jupe; pirlicue, a brief rÉsumÉ or recital given at the close of a series of addresses or sermons of the principal subjects and points treated, Fr. ‘par la queue, par le bout, par la fin,’ LittrÉ; pownie, a peacock, Fr. paon; retour, a return, Fr. retour; skellat, a small bell, a hand-bell, O.Fr. eschalette, esqualette, escalette, a little bell; souflet, a stroke, blow, Fr. soufflet, ‘a box or cuff on the ear,’ Cotgr.; stance, a standing-place, position, a site, O.Fr. estance, a condition, situation; trance, a passage within a house, an entrance-hall, &c., O.Fr. transe, ‘passage,’ Godefroy; vivers, food, provision, Fr. vivres, food; vizzy, a look, view, a scrutinizing gaze, Fr. visÉe, ‘a levelling, or ayming at with the eye, a level or aym taken,’ Cotgrave.

A loan-word which has undergone a curious development of meanings is the common dialect word mooch (in gen. dial. use in Sc. and Eng.), meech, or mitch. In O.E. there must have been an unrecorded form m?can, which gave the dialect form mitch. This O.E. m?can corresponds to the O.H.G. muhhan, to lie lurking secretly, to waylay a person with intent to do him bodily harm, a word which remains in the Modern German Meuchelmord. The German word passed into Northern French, and underwent the Norman-French change of hh [ch as in Sc. loch] to tch [as in such], becoming moucher. In this stage the Normans brought the word to this country, where it developed a curious category of meanings: 1. To idle and loaf about, generally with the idea of seeing what one can pick up on the sly; to pilfer, e.g. That owd black cat goes mouchin’ about, in an’ out uv folkses ’ousen, ’er’ll sure to get shot one uv these daays. Hence moocher, a pilferer, a loafer, one who dogs another by stealth; a beggar; a hawker. 2. To play truant, especially to play truant in order to gather blackberries; to absent oneself from business, e.g. My lad’s been mouching again. Hence moocher, a truant from school, especially one who plays truant in order to gather blackberries; hence a gatherer of blackberries, a blackberry-moocher. 3. In the Imperative, mooch means Be off! 4. The phrase on the mooch means gone off loafing. 5. Mooch sb. means a blackberry. Meanwhile a further development in form took place on the Continent; the Norman-French moucher passed into Central French, and underwent the ordinary change of tch to ss, thereby becoming musser, and later muser, to lurk in a corner, preserved in the Modern French reflexive verb se muser, to play truant. From musser was derived the substantive musse, defined in LittrÉ as a narrow passage through a wall or a hedge for hares, rabbits, and other game. This Central French word musse was brought over to England in the reign of Henry VII, as a hunting term, together with many other words of the same kind. It is common in English works of the seventeenth century in the form muse, familiar to us in the old English proverbial saying:

Though obsolete now in the standard language, it is still very common in the dialects, meaning a small hole or ‘run’ through a hedge or through grass made by a rabbit, hare, or other small animal in its track. The form mitch, from the original O.E. m?can, developed meanings on the same lines as mooch. It is found in Shakespeare: ‘Marry, this is miching mallecho; it means mischief,’ Ham. III. ii. 147, together with the substantive micher: ‘Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher and eat blackberries,’ 1 Hen. IV, II. iv. 450. Tusser writes in his ‘Good husbandlie lessons worthie to be followed of such as will thriue’:

where ‘micher’ conveys the old sense of lurking stealthily, with intent to do mischief.

To take next some specimens of the Scandinavian loan-words: addle (n. counties to Chs. Stf. Der. Not. Lin., also in Rut. Lei. Nhp. War. e.An.), to earn, acquire by one’s labour, to gain, procure, e.g. It isn’t what a chap addles, but what a chap saves at makes him rich, cp. ‘Hu mann mihhte cwemenn [please] Godd & addlenn hefmess blisse,’ Ormulum, l. 17811, c. 1205, cp. O.N. ØÐla, reflexive ØÐlask, to acquire (for oneself) property; birr (Sc. Irel. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Der.), force, impetus, energy, &c., cp. ‘Lo in a greet birre, al the drove wente heedlinge in to the see,’ Wyclif, Matt. viii. 32, O.N. byrr, a favourable wind; bulder, buller (Sc. Nhb. e.An.), a loud gurgling noise, a bellowing, Norw. dial. bulder, buller, a bubbling circle or whirlpool; dag (n.Cy. Lan. Chs. War. Brks. e.An.), dew, O.N. dØgg (mod. gen. daggar), dew; ettle (gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and all n. counties to Lan.), to intend, propose, have in mind, &c., O.N. ?tla, to intend, purpose; fitty (Lin.), marsh-land lying between the sea-bank and the sea, Norw. dial. fit (pl. fitjar), a level meadow by the water; force (Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan.), a waterfall or cascade. It is not uncommon in certain parts of Yorkshire to find that where sign-posts direct the traveller to ‘Stainforth Force’, or ‘Catterick Force’, the native will say, ‘Stainforth Foss’, ‘Catterick Foss’, the reason being that the O.N. fors, a waterfall, has in the written language become associated with force, and established as the standard form, whilst the Norw. dial. foss, Dan. fos, has been preserved in the spoken dialects. Frosk (Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan.), a frog, O.N. froskr; gaggle (e.An.), a flock of geese, O.N. gagl, a young goose; grum (Yks. Lan. Glo. Oxf. Som. Dev.), surly, cross, disagreeable, angry, Norw. dial. grum, proud, haughty, Dan. grum, fierce, angry. Dr. Johnson incorporates this adjective, but marks it as ‘a low word’. Hag (n. and midl. counties), to hew, O.N. hÖggva; haver (Sc. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), oats, Norw. dial. havre; heppen (n.Cy. Yks. Not. Lin.), tidy, respectable, handsome, handy, deft, O.N. heppinn, lucky, also dexterous; helder (n.Cy. Yks. Lan. Der.), adv. more, rather, preferable to, O.N. heldr, the English form helder being properly a double comparative; hill (n. and midl. counties), to cover up, to wrap, cover with clothes, &c., O.N. hylja; hooly (Sc. Nhb. Cum. Wm.), adv. slowly, carefully, gently, O.N. hogliga, gently; keld (Nhb. Cum. Yks. Lan.), a spring of water, a fountain, a marshy place, O.N. kelda, a spring of water; lait (Sc. and n. counties), to seek, O.N. leita; lake (Sc. n. counties, Der. Not. Lin. Glo.), to play, sport, amuse oneself, to idle, to be out of employment, lake-house, a theatre, and laker, an actor, O.N. leika, to play, sport; lamp (Sc. Nhb. Yks. Chs. Stf. War. Wor. Shr. Hrf.), to walk with long, heavy steps, also to beat, thrash, Norw. dial. lampa, to walk with heavy steps, to beat; lea (n.Cy. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), a scythe, O.N. le; loof (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Yks. Nhp.), the palm of the hand, the open hand, O.N. lofi, the hollow of the hand; mense (Sc. Irel. and n. counties), honour, respect, hospitality good manners, &c., e.g. of a person who has neither manners nor understanding it is said: He hez nowder sense nor mense, O.N. mennska, humanity; mun (Sc. and gen. dial. use in Eng. down to Oxf. Brks.), must, O.N. munu, 3rd pr. pl. will, shall; nowt (Sc. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. e.An.), cattle, O.N. naut, the cognate English word is neat, as in neat-herd; oam (Sc. Dur.), steam, a blast of warm air, a warm aroma, Norw. dial. ome, smoke, the smell of something burning; ouse (Sc. n.Cy. Yks. Lin.), to empty out liquid, to bale out a boat, Norw. dial. ausa, to bale water out of a boat, O.N. ausa, to pump, especially a ship; owmly (Yks.), lonely, dreary, used with reference to large ancient houses, with few inmates, e.g. Ah sudn’t like ti sleep wi mi-sen i’ that greeat owmly hoose, Norw. dial aumleg, poor, wretched, miserable, O.N. aumligr; quey (Sc. Irel. n. and midl. counties), a heifer, O.N. kviga; ean (gen. dial. use in Sc. Irel. and Eng.), a balk in a field, a division of land, &c., O.N. rein, a strip of land; roose (Sc. n.Cy. Cum. Yks. Lan. Lin.), to praise, O.N. hrosa; seave (Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Lin.), a generic name for the rush, O.N. sef; skep (Sc. Irel. Eng. and Wal.), a basket, O.N. skeppa, a measure; swip (Sc. Yks.), the exact image or likeness, O.N. svipr, a likeness; tine (Sc. n.Cy. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Lan.), to lose, O.N. t?na; tite (Sc. Nhb. Dur. Lakel. Cum. Yks. Lan.), adv. soon, early, readily, &c., O.N. titt, neut. of tiÐr, frequent; wath (Sc. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Lin.), a ford, O.N. vaÐ, a wading-place, a ford across a river or creek; will (Sc. e.An.), bewildered, lost in error, uncertain how to proceed, O.N. villr, bewildered, erring, astray, etymologically the same word as the native English wild.

The number of Celtic words in the English dialects is relatively small, even if under the common term Celtic we group together Gaelic, Welsh, and Old Cornish words. Some of these loan-words are very early borrowings, and can be traced back to the O.E. period. Bannock (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Chs. Stf. e.An. Hmp. Wil. Som. Dev.), a cake composed of oatmeal or barley mixed with water and baked on a girdle, is O.E. bannuc; and brat (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. I.Ma. Chs. Stf. Der. Not. Lin. Wor. Shr. Pem.), a child’s pinafore, a large coarse apron made with sleeves, worn by workers in factories, is found in the Northumbrian Gospels of the tenth century, bratt ‘pallium’, Matt. v. 40. Perhaps the most interesting of the early Celtic loan-words is the word tallet, meaning a hay-loft, especially one over a stable, also used of the space immediately under the roof in any building, but not applied to a ceiled room of any kind. It is originally a Latin word, tabulatum, a boarded floor, and must have been a relic of the Roman occupation, picked up by the ancient Britons, and preserved by them in a modified form, cp. Wel. taflod, a hay-loft, O.Ir. taibled, a story. Then later it was adopted by the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and became the English word tallet, which is found to-day in common use in the dialects of Cheshire and all the w.midl. and sw. counties, that is, in all the counties near the Welsh border. The remarkable point about the preservation of this word is that it never once occurs in the whole range of English literature down to the nineteenth century, when Blackmore introduced it in his Lorna Doone. Through all these centuries it has steadily persisted in the spoken language without any help from the world of letters, linking the modern rustic to the early Briton and the subjects of Julius Caesar.

The dialects of Scotland have adopted a certain amount of Gaelic words into current speech, for example: fuilteachs, fultachs, sb.pl. a period partly in January and partly in February, according to ‘Old Style’ reckoning, now wholly in February. If the weather is fine during the fultachs, a bad summer and a cold wet harvest may be expected; but stormy fultachs betoken a good summer, Gael. faoilteach, the last fortnight of winter, and first fortnight of spring, proverbial for variableness. Glack, a ravine, glen, Gael. glac, a hollow, a narrow valley; oye, a grandchild, Gael. ogha; skeeny, pack-thread, twine, Gael. sgÉinnidh, twine, flax or hemp thread; taisch, the voice of a person about to die, second sight, Gael. taibhs, a vision, apparition, ghost. Similarly, modern Irish has incorporated certain Old Irish words, such as: gra(h), affection, love, fondness, Ir. gradh, love; grafan, a small axe with the edge turned across like an adze, used for grubbing, Ir. grafÁn; miscaun, a lump of butter, Ir. miosgÁn, a small dish of butter; partan, the common crab, Ir. partÁn, portÁn, a crab; shanagh, shanacus, a gossip, chat, talk, Ir. seanchus, history, genealogy, every kind of knowledge. From Wales a few Welsh words have been taken over into the English dialects, for instance: cader (Yks. Lan. Chs. Stf. Dev. Cor.), a cradle, Wel. cadair, a chair, cadair fagu, a cradle; keffel (n.Cy. Yks. War. Wor. Shr. Som.), a horse, generally an old or inferior one, Wel. ceffyl, a horse. The form flannen for flannel, which is in general dialect use in Scotland, Ireland, and England, is also Welsh, and not a corruption of the standard pronunciation, cp. Wel. gwlanen, woollen material. Old Cornish as a language ceased to be spoken about the end of the eighteenth century, but here and there can be found traces of it in the modern Cornish vocabulary, for example: mabyer, a young hen, a pullet, a chicken, O.Cor. mab + iar, i.e. the son of a hen; muryan, an ant, O.Cor. murrian, ants; palch, broken down in health, palsied, &c., O.Cor. palch, weak, sickly; pilm, dust, dry dust, fluff, O.Cor. pilm, flying dust like flour; quilkin, a frog, O.Cor. cwilcen; subban, a sop, O.Cor. suben, a mass, a morsel.

The French and Scandinavian loan-words constitute by far the greater proportion of the foreign element in the dialects, and next come the Celtic words. Beside these, the borrowings from other languages are of little or no importance, beyond the fact of their adoption. It strikes one with surprise, for instance, to meet a Greek word like nous in common dialect use all over England, e.g. Th’ ’ead o’ un’s a-put on vitty, there’s some nouse about he (Som.), or: T’yent no good to ax he to do’t, vor ’e a-yent got no nowse (Brks.). Latin words have crept into English dialects from various sources. Some have drifted down from the Old English period, e.g. sicker (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum. Yks.), secure, safe, which is O.E. sicor, secure, certain, from Lat. securus; taffel (Sc.), a small table, which is the same word as O.E. tÆfl, a chess-board, from Lat. tabula. Others have come through the medium of Old Norse, e.g. almous, aumous (Sc. Irel. and n. counties), money or food bestowed in charity, a small portion, &c., from O.N. almusa, beside the standard English form alms, from O.E. Ælmysse, Ælmesse, from a pop. Lat. *alimosina; scrive (Sc. Nhb. Yks.), to write, from O.N. skrifa, from Lat. scribere. Some are legal terms, e.g. mittimus (Wm. Yks.), a legal summons, a notice to quit, a dismissal from service, e.g. Poor fella, ah pity yon man, ah du really: t’landlord’s sent him hiz mittimus to leeav; siserary (Irel. Dur. Nhp. e.An. Suf. Dev.), a violent scolding, a severe blow, which is a dialect corruption and use of the legal term certiorari, a corruption found in Smollett’s Humphrey Clinker, cp. ‘I have gi’en the dirty slut a siserary.’ Others, again, are Church words, e.g. cirage-money (Chs.), church rates, originally the equivalent of ‘wax-shot’, a duty formerly paid towards the charge of wax candles in churches, from M.Lat. ceragium, ‘quod cerae nomine praestabatur ecclesiis ad luminarium concinnationem,’ Ducange; calends (Wor. Shr. Hrf.), a name given in certain places to the footpath leading to the entrance of the church, from M.Lat. kalenda, ‘Initium cuiusvis rei, puta, Locus ubi territorium aliquod incipit,’ Ducange. A small sprinkling of Dutch words can be found, such as: dwile (e.An.), a coarse house-flannel, any coarse rubbing-rag, a mop, Du. dweyl, a clout to wash the floor, stok-dweyl, a mop; frow (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Cum-Yks. Lan.), a big, fat woman, Du. vrouw, a woman, wife.

Another feature of the dialect vocabulary which is worth a passing notice, is the existence therein of words which we are wont to regard as too poetical, or too literary for everyday use. We should fear to be considered affected, and given to a habit of interlarding our conversation with quotations from books, if we called a song-thrush a mavis, or a throstle, and spoke of a merle or an ousel instead of saying blackbird, yet all these four are extremely common dialect terms. In parts of Yorkshire dialect-speakers call honeysuckle eglantine, as Milton did in L’Allegro; and in certain southern counties a stream is called a bourn, reminding us of Milton’s ‘bosky bourn’; the two words would not, however, be still heard in conjunction with one another, for bosky is confined to the northern dialects. In a number of counties from north to south mead is a common term for a field, a meadow, e.g. The beeses is i’ the mead; similarly delve is a common verb for dig, dight for prepare, hie for hasten, e.g. Hie thee, Sarah, hie thee, and bring me a sope o’ beer, aw’m welly [well-nigh] kilt wi’ droot (Chs.); lap for wrap; rive for tear; rue for regret, e.g. I’ve never rued it but once, and that’s ever sin; wax for grow, e.g. He’s waxed sair sin aa seed him last (Nhb.), Ah wax warm (Suf.). Sear, adj. withered, dry, is common in East Anglia. A Sussex rhyme runs:

There is a ring of poetry in the mere sound of such a word as dimble (Der. Not. Lei.) for dingle, an echo of Ben Jonson’s line: ‘Within a gloomy dimble she doth dwell’; and the expression a wimpling burn (n. counties) seems to carry with it the note of fresh, running water.

Beside these, are the words with a savour of academic learning such as: accord (Wor. Hrf.) for agree, e.g. ’Im an’ ’er can’t accard together no waay; element (n. and sw. counties) for sky, atmosphere. A Somersetshire man describing a thunder-storm said: Th’element was all to a flicker. The Yorkshire proverbial saying: Ah could na more do it ner ah could fly into t’element, is worth recording before the oncoming cloud of aeroplanes has made us forget that it could ever typify the impossible. The term cabal can be used to describe a group of people met together for gossip, e.g. There wor Jane, an’ Hoppy, an’ Sal, an’ the hull cabal on ’em i’ the lane (Not.), or it can signify a great noise of talking, &c., e.g. They war makkin’ a fine auld cabal at t’public-hoose last neet (Wm.). In some parts of Ireland a gladiathor is a well-known term for a fine fellow, a roysterer, a fighter, e.g. Whin I comes acrass a man who has two or three hundred pounds, an’ sees all his capers an’ antics, I says to meself, What a gladiathur ye are. But here we have to deal also with the change of meaning which the literary word has undergone, and as the majority of what we have termed learned words are used in a transferred sense in the dialects, the remainder of our examples must be carried over into the next chapter.