Observations on Some of the Dialects in the West of England, Particularly Somersetshire:: With a Glossary of Words Now in Use There; and Poems and Other Pieces, Exemplifying the Dialect

Front Cover
Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London., 1825 - English language - 191 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 45 - But touch me, and no minister so sore. Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, And the sad burthen of some merry song.
Page 11 - I've a be To dreave our bull to bull tha parson's kee.' It is to be observed, that this whole dialogue is formed upon the passion of jealousy; and his mentioning the parson's kine naturally revives the jealousy of the shepherdess Cicily, which she expresses as follows : 'Cicily. Ah...
Page 7 - Jennings, in his Observations on the Western Dialects, says, "Another peculiarity is that of attaching to many of the common verbs in the infinitive mode, as well as to some other parts of different conjugations, the letter y. Thus it is very common to say, / can't sewy, I can't nursy, he can't reapy, he can't sawy, as well as to sewy, to nursy, to renpy, lo sainj, &c. ; but never, I think, without an auxiliary verb , or the sign of the infinitive lo.
Page 150 - I sholl not stap ta tell what zed Tha man in ooman's clawze ; Bit he, an all o'm jist behine, War what you mid suppawze, Thâ cust, thâ swaur, tha drealen'd too, An âter Mr.
Page 84 - The larva of the gadfly growing under the skin of the back of cattle. WOROWE. To choke. See Worry. WORRA. A small round moveable nut or pinion, with grooves in it, and having a hole in its centre, through which the end of a round stick or spill may be thrust. The spill and worra are attached to the common spinning-wheel, which, with those and the turnstring, form the apparatus for spinning wool, &c.
Page 180 - I'm glad o't. I'll hirn auver an zee where I can't help 'em; bit I han'ta bin athin tha drashel o' Maester Boord's door vor a longful time, bin I thawt that missis did'n use Hester well; but I dwon't bear malice, an zaw I'll goo. Farmer Bennet.
Page 64 - Hirddick; the r and i transposed.] Rode. s. To go to rode, means, late at night or early in the morning, to go out to shoot wild fowl which pass over head on the wing. To Rose. vn To drop out from the pod, or other seed vessel, when the seeds are over-ripe. To Rough. va To roughen; to make rough. Round-dock. s. The common mallow; malva sylvestris. Called round-dock from the roundness of its leaves. CHAUCER has the following expression which has a good deal puzzled the glossarists: "But canst...
Page 66 - Scud. s. A scab. Sea-Bottle. s. Many of the species of the sea-wrack, or fucus, are called sea-bottles, in consequence of the stalks having round or oval vesicles or pods in them; the pod itself. Sea-crow. s. A cormorant. Seed-lip. s. A vessel of a particular construction, in which the sower carries the seed.
Page 64 - The round-dock leaves are used at this day as a remedy, or supposed remedy or charm, for the sting of a nettle, by being rubbed on the stung part; and the rubbing is accompanied, by the more superstitious, with the following words— In dock, out nettle...
Page xxiv - This small section throws considerable light upon the mode of deposition of these tongues in the larger section, and is well worthy the attention of those who take an interest in the deposits of the valley.

Bibliographic information