Dialect and Obsolete Words
Dialect and Obsolete Words
In the Brontës’ day most of the inhabitants of Haworth were Yorkshire dialect speakers; and since Charlotte Brontë complained that there was not a single ‘educated’ family in the place, it is likely that the ‘maisters’—the mill owners, gentlemen farmers, and independent craftsmen—used at least some dialect forms as well as broad northern vowels, especially when speaking to their employees. The well-educated and well-travelled Mr Yorke in Shirley, like his prototype, the Gomersal mill owner Joshua Taylor, is portrayed as equally fluent and forcible in dialect, ‘standard’ English, and French, but he was probably unusual in keeping the two English forms distinct. Within Haworth Parsonage, the dialect of the faithful servant Tabitha Aykroyd, born and brought up in Yorkshire, was familiar to the Brontës from an early age, and it was faithfully recorded in the speech of Hannah in Jane Eyre, the servant Martha in Shirley, and perhaps also Nancy Brown in Agnes Grey. Branwell Brontë probably heard more freely spoken dialect than any of his sisters. He and Charlotte used vigorous, fluent, dialect speech to characterize the servants and cronies of their Angrian ‘great men’. The ‘strong twang’ of General Thornton is used both for comic purposes and to indicate his honesty. The Brontës would be alert to the pronunciation and nuances of the local dialect partly because their own speech, influenced by their Irish father, Cornish mother and aunt, and the various teachers in their schools, was different: Mary Taylor recorded that when Charlotte first arrived at Roe Head school she ‘spoke with a strong Irish accent’. Emily was intrigued by Tabby's Yorkshire version of ‘Peel a potato’, and sought to write it down phonetically, ‘pillapatate’. She would later represent with a high degree of phonetic accuracy the dialect speakers in Wuthering Heights. Yorkshire people would consider that the Brontë sisters spoke ‘less gruff than we talk here, and softer’, as Ellen Dean remarked of Edgar Linton in Wuthering Heights, a novel in which speech differences have a strong influence on personal relationships. The surly, ‘gruff’ servant Joseph, a broad dialect speaker, resents the refined speech of the Lintons, and affects not to understand Isabella's request to accompany her into the house: ‘Mim! mim! mim! Did iver Christian body hear owt like it? Minching un’ munching! Hah can Aw tell whet ye say?’ In Jane Eyre too, Jane and the ‘coarsely-clad little peasants’ who are her scholars at Morton at first ‘have a difficulty in understanding each other's language’.
Thus in the Brontës’ novels dialect reinforces character, helps to mark the class divide, and enhances the impression of real locality. It is never a mere ornament, a conventional device to provide local colour, or a stock source of comedy, as it often was in stage dramas. The Brontës used dialect in the way Sir Walter Scott, James Hogg, and Maria Edgeworth used it, as an integral part of their novels. For Scott, dialect speakers exemplified one aspect of the ancient traditions and ‘manners belonging to an early period of society’ hardly known to English readers. Dandy Dinmont in Guy Mannering brings to life the speech and habits of farmers in a ‘wild country, at a time when it was totally inaccessible’ except to a traveller on foot or horseback. The dialect-speaking farm-servants of Wuthering Heights, inhabiting a similar wild isolation, proved to be equally strange to English urban readers and reviewers.
The Brontës also knew and admired the writings of James Hogg. The vigorous dialect of the servants, the gaoler, and others in Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, and its function as part of a choric commentary on the tense drama of the main events, would encourage the Brontës to follow suit. They would recognize the close kinship of Scottish and Yorkshire dialect, in for example the maid's testimony at Bell Calvert's trial: ‘Na, na, I wadna swear to ony siller spoons that ever war made … lay them by, lay them by, an' gie the poor woman her spoons again.’ Charlotte Brontë also loved and often quoted Scottish ballads, and songs by Burns.
Some echoes of Irish speech may be detected. Mr Brontë had used an approximation to Irish pronunciation for some words spoken by Nanny in The Maid of Killarney, and the Brontës probably knew Maria Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent (1800) with its gossiping newsmonger and dialect-speaker Judy M'Quirk, and the narrator Thady, whose garrulous narrative is interspersed with dialect words which, as Edgeworth notes, were characteristic of ‘many of Thady's rank’. Like Charlotte Brontë, and unlike Emily, Edgeworth glosses some of the dialect words and customs, noting that ‘childer’ was used for ‘children’ (as it was in Yorkshire), ‘gossoon’ for a little boy, ‘fairy-mounts’ for barrows, and ‘Banshee’ for ‘a species of aristocratic fairy’ whose singing warned of imminent death. Charlotte was to use the ‘Banshee’ hauntingly in Villette.
The following notes on Yorkshire dialect are intended as a brief guide to the list of dialect words used in the Brontës’ works. They are based in part on K. M. Petyt's article ‘The Dialect Speech in Wuthering Heights’, in Wuthering Heights (Clarendon edn.), app. 7, pp. 500–13.
Pronunciation
The standard English pronunciation of the vowel in ‘round’ is a diphthong, but in Yorkshire dialect it is a monophthong, ‘ah’. See ‘ahr’, ‘bahn’, ‘daht’, in the Table. The ‘u’ of ‘come’, ‘up’, ‘sup’ is broad, approximating to ‘coom’, ‘oop’, ‘soop’. The Brontës note some diphthongal vowels where standard English has long single sounds: ‘fooil’ for ‘fool’, ‘gooid’ for ‘good’, ‘Looard’ for ‘Lord’. Generally speaking, Yorkshire vowels tend to be fuller, more open, and made further back in the mouth than in standard English. Thus Emily writes ‘fowk’ for ‘folk’, ‘owld’ for ‘old’, ‘noa’ (approximating to ‘naw’) for ‘no’, ‘yoak’ (‘yawk’) for ‘yoke’. Initial ‘h’ is often dropped by dialect speakers, but the Brontës do not usually indicate this.
Morphology
Dialect plural forms such as ‘een’ for ‘eyes’, ‘shoon’ for ‘shoes’, ‘childer’ for ‘children’ may be used. Personal pronouns are ‘Aw’ or ‘Ee’ for ‘I’; ‘thah’, ‘tuh’, or ‘thee’ for the second-person singular (used in speaking to children, intimate friends, and by servants to their equals in rank, but not to the ‘gentry’); ‘shoo’ for ‘she’, ‘ye’ or ‘yah’ for ‘you’, ‘em’ for ‘them’. Possessive pronouns include ‘maw’, ‘thy’, ‘ahr’, or ‘wer’ (our). The reflexive ‘himself’ becomes ‘hisseln’, ‘ourselves’ becomes ‘werseln’, pronounced ‘[h]issen’, ‘wersen’, with a strong stress on the second syllable. ‘Shall’ and ‘should’ become ‘sall’, ‘sud’, or simply ‘s’ alone: ‘we's hear hah it's tuh be’ = ‘we shall hear how it is to be’. Other words may be shortened or run together: ‘the’ becomes ‘t’, ‘of the’ becomes ‘ut’ or ‘ot’; ‘with’ becomes ‘wi’ ’, ‘and’ becomes ‘an’ or ‘un’; ‘over’ may be ‘o'er’, ‘always’ ‘allus’, and ‘do not’ ‘dunnut’. ‘Nobbut’, meaning ‘only’, is probably an elided ‘nothing but’ or ‘nowt but’. ‘Have’ may be omitted from perfect tenses, as in ‘yah been’ for ‘you have been’.
Semantics
Some words which look familiar may have a different meaning in dialect from that in standard English: to starve can mean ‘to be very cold’, a hole or hoile may be a room, and gate or gait may mean either ‘way’ or ‘road’. ‘Road’ can also mean ‘way’ in the abstract sense of ‘manner’, as in ‘goa on i' that road’. ‘Nor’ or ‘nur’ may mean either ‘than’ or ‘nor’ as in standard English: ‘Aw sud uh taen tent uh t'maister better nur him’ means ‘I should have taken care of the master better than he [did]’. The word ‘like’ has its standard meanings, but is also used quasi-adverbially before or after a word, adding to it the suggestion of ‘as it were’, ‘so to speak’, or giving a vague emphasis, as in ‘St. John is like his kirstened [christened] name’ in Jane Eyre (ch. 29). Words which survive only in dialect may have to be given a conjectural or approximate meaning from their context, since there may be no exact equivalents in standard English. As K. M. Petyt points out, other words in the Brontës’ works may or may not be authentic dialect: ‘Unfortunately, Joseph Wright's great English Dialect Dictionary is not reliable here: written evidence was insisted on as necessary and sufficient for a usage to be included, so if a form occurred in Wuthering Heights it was entered without query’ (Wuthering Heights (Clarendon edn.), p. 512). One might add that the absence of holograph manuscripts for Emily's and Anne's novels and the notorious inaccuracy of Newby's printing add to the difficulty of authenticating and interpreting obscure expressions like ‘pale t' guilp off’ in Wuthering Heights (ch. 13).
The principal dialect speakers in the Brontës’ novels are Nancy Brown in Agnes Grey, Hannah in Jane Eyre, Moses Barraclough, Joe Scott, and Mr Yorke in Shirley, and Hareton Earnshaw and Joseph in Wuthering Heights. In the juvenilia Sdeath always uses dialect; Thornton, Edward Percy, and others sometimes do so. The Table includes dialect words in the major novels, and some of those used in Emily's poems, in Charlotte's early writings and letters, and in Branwell's works. The chapter or volume and page-references are given to indicate typical usage and context, not to provide a complete list of examples.
Table: The Brontës' Use of Dialect
adj. |
adjective |
AG |
Agnes Grey |
BB Works |
The Works of Branwell Brontë, ed. Victor A. Neufeldt, 3 vols. (1997, 1998, 1999) |
EBP |
The Poems of Emily Brontë, ed. Derek Roper, with Edward Chitham (1995) |
EEW |
An Edition of the Early Writings of Charlotte Brontë, ed. Christine Alexander, vol. 1 (1987), vol. 2(1–2) (1991) |
JE |
Jane Eyre |
Letters |
The Letters of Charlotte Brontë, ed. Margaret Smith, vol. 1 (1995), vol. 2 (2000) |
P |
The Professor |
S |
Shirley |
sb. |
substantive |
Sc. |
Scottish |
T |
Tenant |
vb. |
verb |
WH |
Wuthering Heights |
References to the novels are to chapter and page of the Clarendon edition; references to other works are by volume and page. A semicolon separates references from different works; a comma separates references from the same work.
Dialect word |
Meaning |
Work |
Reference |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
ch./vol. |
pp. |
|||
aat |
out |
BB Works |
3 |
267 |
abaat |
about |
BB Works |
3 |
146, 148 |
aboon |
above |
BB Works |
3 |
441 |
agate/agait |
on hand, afoot |
JE; WH |
28; 2 |
428; 21 |
ahint |
behind |
BB Works |
2 |
121 |
ahr |
our |
WH |
10 |
128 |
allas |
= allus |
|||
allus |
always |
WH |
13 |
176 |
alow |
ablaze |
S |
19 |
382 |
an |
if |
BB Works; WH |
1; 2 |
4; 12 |
anent |
opposite, against |
AG |
11 |
97, 100 |
another guess |
a different |
AG; EEW |
11; 2(2) |
101; 102 |
as what |
whatever |
AG |
4 |
44 |
as where |
wherever |
WH |
5 |
50 |
ask (Sc.) |
lizard |
S |
7 |
118 |
atin |
eating |
BB Works |
1 |
23 |
at nothing |
for anything |
AG |
4 |
45 |
at onst |
at once |
WH |
13 |
174 |
aught |
anything |
AG |
11 |
93 |
aw |
I (1st person pronoun) |
BB Works; WH |
2; 9 |
117; 104, 107 |
awn |
own |
BB Works |
3 |
420 |
aye |
yes |
BB Works |
1 |
277, 373 |
ayont (Sc.) |
beyond, after |
S |
13 |
290 |
bahn (to do) |
bound to do, going to do |
WH |
24 |
307 |
baht |
without |
WH |
13, 33 |
174, 388 |
bamming |
playing a trick on |
BB Works |
3 |
172 |
ban |
curse |
WH |
10 |
128 |
band |
rope, string |
S |
3 |
49 |
barn |
bairn, child |
EEW; T; WH |
2(1); 43; 11 |
46; 390; 134 |
beaten |
exhausted |
WH |
4 |
44 |
beck |
small brook, stream |
JE; S; WH |
9; 2; 10, 13 |
88; 38; 116, 164 |
ben |
within, right inside |
EEW |
2(2) |
310 |
bicker |
flicker |
BB Works |
2 |
25 |
bide |
live, dwell |
WH |
32 |
370 |
biggin’ |
building |
S |
30 |
613 |
bits of |
small, of little value |
S |
3 |
49 |
boddle (Sc.) |
= bodle |
|||
bodle (Sc.) |
Scottish coin of little value: see ‘plack’ |
EEW |
2(2) |
106, 231 |
bogard |
ghost |
BB Works; S |
2; 5 |
636; 68 |
bogle (Sc.) |
goblin |
EEW |
2(2) |
125 |
boit |
boot |
BB Works |
2 |
527 |
bout |
time, occasion |
S |
3 |
49 |
bow (vb.; Sc.) |
bay, bark |
S |
7 |
118 |
brae (Sc.) |
slope above a river-bank, hill-slope |
EBP |
— |
148 |
EEW; S |
2(2); 24 |
330; 485 |
||
braid (Sc.) |
broad |
EEW |
2(2) |
322 |
braw (Sc.) |
fine, brave, handsome |
BB Works; V |
2; 37 |
121; 629 |
brust (vb.) |
burst, break |
WH |
33 |
388 |
bucking-basket |
laundry-basket |
S |
36 |
714 |
bullister (Sc.) |
sloe, wild plum |
S |
7 |
118 |
call |
abuse, find fault |
AG |
11 |
93, 99 |
callant (Sc.) |
lad, youth |
V |
26 |
431 |
cannie (Sc.) |
lucky, safe to meddle with |
V |
25 |
402 |
cant |
brisk, cheerful |
S; WH |
9; 7 |
160; 69 |
cantrip (Sc.) |
witch's trick, or any mischievous conduct |
EEW |
2(1) |
257 |
canty |
brisk, cheerful |
AG; WH |
6; 22 |
54; 281 |
cheap (to be cheap of) |
to get off lightly with |
P |
25 |
266 |
childer |
children |
JE; S |
28; 8 |
426; 149 |
chitty-faced |
having a small or babyish face |
S |
33 |
657 |
clatter (vb.) |
to beat, strike |
S |
32 |
652 |
clatter (sb. & vb.) |
chatter, gossip |
Letters |
i |
194 |
clishma-claver (Sc.) |
foolish talk |
EEW |
2(2) |
231 |
clomp |
walk heavily |
AG |
2 |
17 |
crack |
brisk talk, gossip |
EEW; S; T; V |
2(1); 23; 4; 27 |
130; 463; 34; 450 |
crack |
lively lad, a wag |
EEW |
2(2) |
262 |
cranky |
shaky, crazy |
WH |
13 |
173 |
crock |
smut, smudge |
JE |
18 |
240 |
croft |
enclosed ground used for tillage or pasture |
S |
22 |
435 |
cushat |
wood-pigeon or ring-dove |
S |
24 |
487 |
custen dahn |
cast down |
S |
5 |
67 |
dahn |
down |
S |
5 |
67 |
daht |
doubt, be afraid |
WH |
13 |
172 |
dead-thraw |
death-throe |
S |
37 |
725 |
dean |
dingle, deep hollow |
BB Works |
3 |
187 |
deave aht |
knock out |
WH |
13 |
172 |
den |
dingle; deep hollow between hills |
S |
2 |
38 |
dip-tail |
pied wagtail |
EEW |
I |
197 |
doit |
small coin; bit; jot |
EEW |
2(1) |
53 |
donned, donning |
dressed, dressing |
WH |
19, 7 |
247, 69 |
down-draughts |
down-dragging or depressing influences |
S |
22 |
431 |
down of |
distrustful of |
T |
43 |
389 |
dree (adj.) |
cheerless, dreary |
WH |
14 |
188 |
dree one's weird |
suffer one's destiny |
EEW |
2(2) |
158 |
E/Ee |
I (1st-person pronoun) |
WH |
33, 32 |
384, 371 |
eea, eees |
yes |
WH; BB Works |
32; 2 |
371; 166 |
elf-bolt |
fairy arrowhead |
T |
12 |
150 |
enah |
presently, soon |
WH |
10 |
128 |
end, better |
better kind or class |
JE |
14 |
166 |
erne |
eagle |
EEW |
2(2) |
340 |
ever (seldom or) |
never (seldom or) |
Letters |
1 |
218, 408 |
ew-platter |
plate made of yew-wood |
EEW |
2(1) |
32 |
faal |
= fahl |
|||
fahl |
foul, evil, ugly |
JE; WH |
38; 9 |
575; 103, 107 |
fain of |
glad about |
WH |
30 |
356 |
fairish (sb.) |
fairy |
EEW; S; WH |
2(1); 37; 18 |
46; 740; 239 |
faishion (vb.) |
= fashion |
|||
fand (vb., pret.) |
found |
JE; S |
28; 3 |
426; 48 |
fashion (vb.) |
bring oneself |
AG; WH |
11; 2 |
96; 18 |
feck (sb.) |
part, portion |
S |
3 |
52 |
felly |
fellow, admirer |
WH |
32 |
374 |
fettle off |
kill |
AG |
5 |
48 |
fettle up |
tidy up |
AG |
11 |
96 |
fey |
fated to die |
EEW |
2(2) |
105 |
flay/fley |
frighten |
S |
5, 37 |
68, 740 |
flaysome |
fearful, awful |
WH |
2 |
12 |
fley |
= flay |
|||
flighted |
?frightened |
WH |
4 |
44 |
flit, flitting |
move, removal |
WH; P |
4; 22 |
41; 19 |
fornent |
opposite |
BB Works |
2 |
637 |
fra |
from |
BB Works |
1 |
344 |
frame (vb.) |
(1) go |
WH |
5, 13 |
53, 167 |
(2) invent |
WH |
11, 24 |
142, 300 |
|
fresh |
partly intoxicated |
S |
3 |
49 |
fry |
state of worry or perplexity |
S |
1 |
10 |
gaberlunzie (Sc.) |
beggar |
EEW |
2(2) |
231 |
gait, gate |
way |
BB Works; WH |
2; 32 |
637; 379 |
gang (vb.) |
go |
WH |
13 |
167 |
gaumless |
stupid |
WH |
21 |
267 |
gawking |
staring, gaping |
BB Works |
1 |
120 |
gein/gien |
given |
BB Works |
3 |
177, 421 |
get agate |
get started, begin |
S |
18 |
366 |
get owered |
pass over, finish (intr.) |
AG |
12 |
106 |
getten (participle) to |
got to, reached |
BB Works |
2; 3 |
223; 216, 422 |
gird (sb.) |
fit, spasm of pain |
S |
3 |
51 |
girn |
grin |
S, WH |
30; 10 |
603; 128 |
girn |
grin, snarl, show the teeth |
WH |
17, 34 |
217, 411 |
girt (adj.) |
great |
WH |
9 |
102 |
gleg |
sharp, keen |
S |
18 |
364 |
gnarl |
snarl |
WH |
1 |
8 |
gooid |
good |
BB Works |
2 |
117 |
grat (Sc.) |
wept |
WH |
9 |
95 |
grave (vb., Sc.) |
bury |
S |
7 |
119 |
greasehorn |
flatterer |
P |
5 |
42 |
guess, another |
a different |
AG; EEW |
11; 2(2) |
101; 102 |
hahs/hahse |
house |
WH |
9, 13 |
108, 175 |
hahsiver |
howsoever, anyway |
WH |
32 |
372 |
happed |
stacked, heaped up |
P |
4 |
33 |
happen |
perhaps |
AG; BB Works; S; WH; JE |
1; 2; 3, 30; 11, 29, 38 |
15; 122; 51; 358; 113, 436, 575 |
hard-handed |
stingy, close-fisted |
S |
7 |
126 |
harry |
carry |
WH |
34 |
411 |
haulf, by the |
‘by the half’ = much |
WH |
32 |
372 |
hazing |
a thrashing |
BB Works |
3 |
254 |
hisseln/hissen |
himself |
WH |
30 |
354 |
hit (vb.) |
reach |
S |
3 |
48 |
hoile/hoyle |
hole/room/corner/place/opening |
BB Works; S |
2; 3; 23 |
60, 108; 153; 464 |
WH |
13, 32 |
175, 383 |
||
holly-oaks |
hollyhocks |
S |
23 |
461 |
holm |
meadow, esp. near a river |
JE |
9 |
88 |
hoody |
piebald grey & black crow |
EEW |
1 |
288 |
hor |
her (poss. adj.) |
WH |
9 |
107 |
hotch |
heave |
EEW |
2(1) |
32 |
house |
main communal room |
WH |
21 |
259 |
howe of night |
middle of the night |
S |
32 |
639 |
howsiver/howsomdever |
however |
BB Works |
1, 2 |
285, 370 |
ing |
meadow, esp. near a river |
JE |
9 |
88 |
intull |
into |
BB Works |
2 |
167 |
jocks |
?provisions |
WH |
32 |
374 |
just i' now/just e' now |
by and by, ere long |
S |
18 |
372 |
kail (Sc.) |
cabbage |
Letters |
1 |
214 |
keck, give a |
to make a sound as if about to vomit |
EEW |
1 |
141 |
kedge |
brisk, lively |
EEW |
1 |
84 |
ken (Sc.) |
know |
BB Works |
1 |
326 |
kittle |
fickle, unstable |
S |
18 |
370 |
lace (vb.) |
beat, thrash |
WH |
3 |
26 |
lady-clock |
ladybird |
EEW; JE |
1; 23 |
197; 314 |
laik |
play a game |
WH |
3 |
26 |
laith |
barn |
WH |
2 |
12 |
lake-lasses |
playmates, companions |
S |
37 |
740 |
Lallans(Sc.) |
Lowland Scottish dialect |
EEW |
2(2) |
322 |
lameter |
cripple |
JE; S |
37; 26 |
556; 523 |
larum |
uproar, hubbub |
EEW |
2(2) |
167 |
lift |
rear up |
EEW |
2(2) |
117 |
lig dahn |
lie down |
S; WH |
3; 13 |
48; 175 |
lig hold of |
lay hold of |
S |
5 |
68 |
light of (vb.) |
chance upon |
S |
4 |
65 |
like, loike (adv.) |
so to speak, as it were |
BB Works; JE; WH |
1; 29; 13 |
345; 436; 172 |
likely |
desirable, fitting |
JE; T |
9, 28; 24 |
93, 427; 215 |
likker |
more likely |
WH |
9 |
104 |
linn (Sc.) |
waterfall |
EEW |
1 |
283 |
loike |
= like |
|||
loundering |
severe, resounding |
S |
30 |
606 |
low (sb.) |
flame |
S |
4 |
65 |
luddend |
? |
BB Works |
1 |
400 |
lugs |
ears |
WH |
3 |
26 |
madling |
fool, flighty creature |
WH |
13 |
175 |
mak' (sb.) |
make, sort, species |
S |
3 |
52 |
marred |
spoilt |
WH |
8, 13 |
89, 175 |
mask |
face, head, manifestation |
JE |
12 |
136 |
maun (Sc., vb.) |
must (cf. mun) |
S |
7 |
119 |
mavis |
song-thrush |
EEW |
2(2) |
61 |
maw |
my |
WH |
9 |
104 |
measter |
master |
BB Works |
2 |
108 |
meeterly |
tolerably |
WH |
13 |
173 |
mell |
meddle, interfere |
BB Works; WH |
3; 13 |
421; 174 |
mensful |
decent |
WH |
32 |
370, 383 |
messter |
Mister |
BB Works |
2 |
109 |
mich |
much |
BB Works |
1 |
345 |
middle-night(Sc.) |
midnight |
EBP |
— |
73 |
mim |
prim, affected |
S; T; WH |
8; 32; 13 |
144; 290; 168 |
minching |
mincing (speech) |
WH |
13 |
168 |
mools (Sc.) |
mould, earth |
WH |
9 |
95 |
much made of |
made much of, treated as a favourite |
V |
1 |
6 |
mud (vb., pret.) |
might, must |
BB Works; WH |
2; 13 |
636; 172 |
muh (vb.) |
may |
WH |
33 |
387 |
mun (vb.) |
must |
BB Works; WH |
2; 33 |
117, 157; 387 |
nab |
prominent hill |
WH |
21 |
262 |
nabbut/nobbut |
only |
BB Works; WH |
2; 2 |
121, 167; 12 |
nave |
fist |
WH |
13 |
172 |
nicher |
snicker, cackle, neigh |
EEW; JE |
2(2); 19 |
123; 246 |
noan |
(1)not |
BB Works; JE; WH |
2; 11; 9 |
121; 114; 106 |
(2)none |
BB Works; WH |
2; 10 |
570; 128 |
|
nor |
than |
BB Works; JE |
1; 38 |
443; 575 |
norther/nother |
neither |
BB Works; WH |
2; 19 |
108, 109; 249 |
nothing, at |
for anything |
AG |
4 |
45 |
nowt |
nothing, worthless thing |
WH |
2, 32 |
18, 370 |
o'ered/owered |
over, finished |
AG; WH |
12; 3 |
106; 26 |
offald/offalld |
worthless, wicked |
WH |
9; 18 |
104, 241 |
oftens |
often |
AG |
11 |
95 |
on |
of |
BB Works; WH |
1; 10, 34 |
345; 128, 412 |
onding on |
heavy with (snow) |
JE |
4 |
41 |
'only |
lonely |
JE |
37 |
553 |
onst |
once |
WH |
13 |
174 |
orderations |
arrangements, management |
S |
8 |
154 |
owered |
= o'ered |
|||
owt |
anything |
AG |
11 |
101 |
pabble (vb.) |
bubble |
EEW |
2(1) |
32 |
pale t'guilp off |
?knock the pan off |
WH |
13 |
172 |
pared |
changed for the worse |
S |
9 |
160 |
pawky |
shrewd, knowing |
S |
8 |
143 |
pawsed |
?kicked or pushed |
WH |
3 |
26 |
penny-fee |
wages, money |
P |
18 |
146 |
piecen |
join broken threads in spinning |
JE (MS) |
13 |
145 n. |
pike |
turnpike gate |
WH |
10 |
128 |
pine |
starve |
S; WH |
8; 13 |
153; 175 |
plack |
small copper coin |
EEW |
2(2) |
106 |
plack and bodle |
to the last farthing |
EEW |
2(2) |
231 |
play up |
scold |
S |
23 |
464 |
plisky |
rage, tantrum |
WH |
13 |
175 |
plisky (Sc.) |
trick |
BB Works |
1 |
267 |
plotter (vb.) |
blunder, flounder |
WH |
9 |
104 |
poortith |
poverty |
EEW |
1 |
321 |
pooty |
small, young |
S |
15 |
314 |
praise/prease |
object of praise |
EEW |
2(1) |
282 |
put about |
vex, harass |
S |
24 |
496 |
quaigh (Sc.) |
drinking-cup, sometimes made of wood |
Letters |
1 |
227 |
quean |
saucy girl |
WH |
33 |
388 |
raised |
highly excited |
V |
23 |
368 |
ranny |
sharp, shrewish |
EBP |
— |
35 |
raton/rotten/ratton |
rat |
EEW |
1; 2(2) |
25; 233, 263 |
ratton |
rat |
BB Works; S |
2; 4 |
526; 58 |
re-piecen |
rejoin threads |
EEW |
2(2) |
249 |
reaming |
foaming, brimful |
Villette; WH |
25; 32 |
402; 374 |
redd up |
tidied up |
JE |
37 |
561 |
red-wud (Sc.) |
completely mad |
EEW |
2(2) |
233 |
reek (Sc.) |
thick smoke |
Letters |
1 |
214 |
reeve (vb.) |
to twist (?) |
EEW |
2(2) |
117 |
rig (sb.) |
?ridge |
WH |
9 |
104 |
rive (vb.) |
pull with force, tear off |
EEW |
2(2) |
132 |
road, that |
in that way |
WH |
30 |
358 |
roup (vb.) |
cry, shout, roar |
EEW |
2(2) |
106 |
rum (adj.) |
fine, good, valuable |
EEW |
2(1) |
148 |
rusty |
(of meat) rancid |
JE |
5 |
57 |
sackless |
?dispirited |
WH |
22 |
280 |
sair (Sc.) |
sore, sad |
Letters |
i |
441 |
scorney |
scornful, contemptuous |
EEW |
2(1) |
271 |
scrawk (sb.) |
scratch or mark with a pen |
EEW |
2(2) |
95 |
scroop |
back, spine |
WH |
3 |
26 |
scrunty (Sc.) |
stunted |
S |
7 |
119 |
sheepshanks, na (Sc.) |
a person of no small importance |
EEW |
I |
287 |
shoo |
she |
WH |
33 |
388 |
shoon |
shoes |
EEW |
2(1) |
281 |
side (vb.) |
move aside, tidy away |
AG; WH |
11; 32 |
96; 379, 383 |
sin |
since |
BB Works; JE |
3; 28 |
267; 426 |
skelp (vb., Sc.) |
bound along, move briskly |
BB Works |
1 |
93 |
skift (vb.) |
shift, skip |
WH |
24 |
305 |
smoor |
smother |
S |
7 |
119 |
snook |
poke one's nose in |
T |
7 |
56 |
snoozled |
nuzzled |
WH |
3 |
37 |
snow, wreath of |
snowdrift |
EBP |
— |
49 |
snow-wreath |
snowdrift |
AG; S; T |
11; 24; 42 |
91; 476; 384 |
somut |
something |
BB Works |
1 |
344 |
sort |
deal effectively with |
Letters |
2 |
566 |
sough |
ditch, boggy stream |
WH |
10 |
116 |
sough/sugh |
soft murmur (of water) |
JE |
12 |
135 |
spang (vb.) |
spring, leap |
EEW |
2(1) |
24 |
stalled of |
bored with, weary of |
S; WH |
18; 30, 31 |
364; 359, 363 |
stark |
rigid, stiff in death |
WH |
34 |
411 |
starved |
very cold, frozen |
JE; WH |
7, 34; 30 |
69, 504; 358 |
starving |
freezing |
WH |
9 |
107 |
stoup |
drinking vessel |
BB Works; EEW |
1; 2(2) |
281; 106 |
sugh |
= sough |
|||
sumph |
simpleton, blockhead |
EEW |
2(2) |
372 |
sumphishness |
stupidity |
Letters |
1 |
509 |
sup, a good |
a fair amount |
AG |
1 |
15 |
syne (Sc.) |
later |
V |
24 |
382 |
tached |
taught |
S |
9 |
160 |
taed (Sc.) |
toad |
S |
7 |
118 |
tak' tent/take tent |
take care, beware |
S; WH |
23; 17 |
464; 230 |
taking (sb.) |
(1) plight |
WH |
14 |
188 |
(2) state of anger |
WH |
30 |
359 |
|
teed |
tied |
S |
3 |
49 |
tent, take |
see tak' tent |
|||
tha/thaw |
thou, you |
BB Works |
1, 2 |
401, 117 |
thereanent |
about that matter |
V |
20 |
307 |
thible |
wooden stirring stick or spoon |
EEW; WH |
2(2); 13 |
113; 172 |
thrang/throng |
(1) busy |
WH |
30 |
353 |
(2) dense, close, thick |
EEW |
2(2) |
107 |
|
thrapple/trapple (Sc.) |
windpipe, throat |
EEW |
2(2) |
233 |
threap (vb.) |
(1) quarrel |
AG; JE |
11; 29 |
100; 438 |
(2) rebuke, assert vehemently |
BB Works |
2 |
167 |
|
tinkler |
tinker, gipsy, outlaw |
JE |
18 |
241 |
tint (participle) |
lost. Cf. ‘tyne’. |
BB Works |
2 |
643 |
tit |
small horse, nag |
BB Works |
3 |
189 |
to-night |
last night (perhaps only said in the morning) |
S |
20 |
400 |
toppin |
head |
EEW |
2(1) |
28 |
trade |
course of action, conduct |
S |
8 |
150 |
trapple |
= thrapple |
|||
tuh |
you (2nd person singular) |
WH |
13 |
167 |
tull |
to |
BB Works |
2 |
504 |
twal' (Sc.) |
twelve |
S |
13 |
290 |
tyne (Sc.) |
lose |
JE |
24 |
341 |
unlikely |
unsuitable, inconvenient |
JE; Letters; WH |
34; 1; 19 |
503; 432; 247 |
up uh |
set on, determined on |
WH |
10 |
128 |
used coming |
used to come |
AG |
11 |
94 |
uses burning |
is in the habit of burning |
S |
19 |
379 |
usquebaugh (Sc.) |
whisky |
Letters |
1 |
227 |
varmint/vermin |
rascal (applied playfully to an animal or child) |
Letters |
1; 2 |
361, 598 |
war |
worse |
S; WH |
20; 2, 9 |
399; 18, 104 |
wark (sb.) |
work, trouble |
WH |
13 |
174 |
waur (Sc.) |
worse |
S |
7 |
118 |
wearifu' (Sc.) |
causing trouble or weariness |
S |
6 |
92 |
weird |
destiny |
EEW |
2(2) |
158 |
wer |
our |
S; WH |
5; 32 |
68; 373 |
whamled |
rolled |
BB Works |
2 |
170 |
while + time |
until |
AG |
12 |
107 |
whudder (Sc.) |
blow wildly, stormily (cf. wuther) |
S |
7 |
119 |
wick (adj.) |
alive, lively |
BB Works; WH |
3; 5 |
421; 51 |
wick (sb.) |
week, weeks |
WH |
32 |
369 |
wisht/whisht |
hush |
BB Works; WH |
1; 9, 18 |
362; 92, 240 |
wollsome |
wholesome |
WH |
13 |
173 |
wor, war |
were, was |
BB Works |
2; 3 |
108; 148 |
work (sb.) |
fuss, disturbance |
S |
1 |
15 |
worky-day |
workaday |
AG; P |
22; 12 |
189; 101 |
wuther (vb. & sb.) |
blow wildly, storm |
S; V; WH |
33; 16; 1 |
661; 240; 4 |
wynd |
lane, alley |
EEW |
2(2) |
265 |
yamp (Sc.) |
hungry, peckish |
BB Works |
3 |
142 |
yate |
gate |
WH |
9 |
104 |
yaw |
you |
BB Works |
2 |
108, 109, 157 |
yellow-wymed (Sc.) |
yellow-bellied |
S |
7 |
118 |
yourn |
yours |
Letters |
1 |
317, 327 |
