Grain and Chaff from an English Manor Part 23

CHAPTER XXV.

DIALECT--LOCAL PHRASEOLOGY IN SHAKESPEARE--NAMES--STUPID PLACES.

"Our echoes roll from soul to soul."

--_The Princess_.

Compulsory education has eliminated many of the old words and phrases formerly in general use in Worcestershire, and is still striving to subst.i.tute a more "genteel," but not always more correct, and a much less picturesque, form of speech. When I first went to Aldington I found it difficult to understand the dialect, but I soon got accustomed to it, and used it myself in speaking to the villagers.

Farrar used to tell us at school, in one of the resounding phrases of which he was rather fond, that "All phonetic corruption is due to muscular effeminacy," which accounts for some of the words in use, but does not alter the fact that many so-called corrupt words are more correct than the modern accepted form.

It is difficult to convey the peculiar intonation of the Worcestershire villager's voice, and the _ipsissima verba_ I have given in my anecdotes lose a good deal in reading by anyone unacquainted with their method. Each sentence is uttered in a rising scale with a drop on the last few words, forming, as a whole, a not unmusical rhythmical drawl. As instances of "muscular effeminacy," two fields of mine, where flax was formerly grown, went by the name of "Pax grounds"; the words "rivet" and "vine," were rendered "ribet" and "bine." "March," a boundary, became "Marsh," so that Moreton-on-the-March became, most unjustly, "Moreton-in-the-Marsh."

"Do out," was "dout"; "pound," was "pun"; "starved," starred. The Saxon plural is still in use: "housen" for houses, "flen" for fleas; and I noticed, with pleasure, that a school inspector did not correct the children for using the ancient form. Gilbert White, who died in 1793, writes in the section of his book devoted to the Antiquities of Selborne, that "Within the author's memory the Saxon plurals, _housen_ and _peason_," were in common use. So that Selborne more than a hundred years ago had, in that particular at any rate, advanced to a stage of dialect which in Worcestershire is still not fully established. Certain words beginning with "h" seem a difficulty; a "y"

is sometimes prefixed, and the "h" omitted. Thus height becomes "yacth," as nearly as I can spell it, and herring is "yerring." "N" is an ill-treated letter sometimes, when it begins a word; nettles are always "ettles," but when not wanted, and two consecutive words run easier, it is added, as in "osier nait" for osier ait.

The word "charm," from the Anglo-Saxon _cyrm_, is used both in Worcestershire and Hampshire for a continuous noise, such as the cawing of nesting rooks, or the hum of swarming bees. Similarly, a witch's incantation--probably in monotone--is a charm, and then comes to mean the object given by a witch to an applicant. "Charming" and "bewitching" thus both proclaim their origins, but have now acquired a totally different signification.

There are an immense number of curious words and phrases in everyday use, and they were collected by Mr. A. Porson, M.A., who published a very interesting list with explanatory notes in 1875, under the t.i.tle of _Notes of Quaint Words and Sayings in the Dialect of South Worcestershire_. I append a list of the local archaic words and phrases which can also be found in Shakespeare's Plays. This list was compiled by me some years ago, and appeared in the "Notes and Queries"

column of the _Evesham Journal_; I think all are still to be heard in Evesham and the villages in that corner of Worcestershire.

SHIP--sheep; cf. Shipton, Shipston, etc.; _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, Act I., Scene 1; _Comedy of Errors_, Act IV., Scene 1.

FALSING--the present participle of the verb "to false"; _Comedy of Errors_, Act II., Scene 2; _Cymbeline_, Act II., Scene 3.

FALL--verb active; _Comedy of Errors_, Act II., Scene 2; _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act V., Scene 1.

CUSTOMERS--companions; _Comedy of Errors_, Act IV., Scene 4.

KNOTS--flower beds; _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act I., Scene 1; _Richard II_., Act III., Scene 4.

TALENT--for talon; cf. "tenant" for tenon; _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act IV., Scene 2.

METHEGLIN--mead, a drink made from honey; _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act V., Scene 2; _Merry Wives_, Act V., Scene 5.

HANDKERCHER--handkerchief; _King John_, Act IV., Scene 1; _King Henry V_., Act III., Scene 2.

NOR NEVER SHALL--two negatives strengthening each other; _King John_, Act IV., Scene 1, and Act V., Scene 7.

CONTRARY--stress on the penultimate syllable; cf. "matrimony,"

"secretary," "January," etc.; _King John_, Act IV., Scene 2.

To RESOLVE--to dissolve; _King John_, Act V., Scene 4; _Hamlet_, Act I., Scene 2.

STROND--strand; cf. "hommer"--hammer, "opples"--apples, etc.; _1 King Henry IV_., Act I., Scene 1.

APPLE JOHN--John Apple (?); _1 King Henry IV_., Act III., Scene 3; _2 King Henry IV_., Act II., Scene 4.

GULL--young cuckoo; _1 King Henry IV_., Act V., Scene 1.

TO BUCKLE--to bend; _2 King Henry IV_., Act I., Scene 1.

NICE--weak; cf. "naish"--weak; _2 King Henry IV_., Act I., Scene 1.

OLD--extreme, very good; _2 King Henry IV_., Act II., Scene 4.

PEASCOD-TIME--peapicking time; _2 King Henry IV_., Act II., Scene 4.

WAS LIKE--had nearly; _King Henry V_., Act I., Scene 1.

SCAMBLING--scrambling; _King Henry V_., Act I., Scene 1.

MARCHES--boundaries; cf. Moreton-in-the-Marsh, _i.e._, March; _King Henry V_., Act I., Scene 2.

SWILLED--washed; _King Henry V_., Act III., Scene 1.

To DRESS--to decorate with evergreens, etc.; _Taming of the Shrew_, Act III., Scene 1.

YELLOWS--jaundice; _Taming of the Shrew_, Act III., Scene 2.

DRINK--ale; "Drink" is still used for ale as distinguished from cider; _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act II., Scene 1.

BARM--yeast; _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act II., Scene 1.

LOFFE--laugh; _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act II., Scene 1.

LEATHERN--(bats); cf. "leatherun bats," as distinguished from "bats"--beetles; _Midsummer Night's Dream_, Act II., Scene 3.

EANING TIME--lambing time; _Merchant of Venice_, Act I., Scene 3.

SPET--spit; cf. set--sit, sperit--spirit, etc.; _Merchant of Venice_, Act I., Scene 3.

FILL-HORSE--shaft horse; cf. "filler" and "thiller"; _Merchant of Venice_, Act II., Scene 2.

PROUD ON--proud of; _Much Ado_, Act IV., Scene 1

ODDS--difference; cf. "wide odds"; _As you Like It_, Act I., Scene 2.

COME YOUR WAYS--come on; _As You Like It_, Act I., Scene 2.

TO SAUCE--to be impertinent; _As You Like It_, Act III., Scene 5.

THE MOTION--the usual form; _Winter's Tale_, Act IV., Scene 2.

INCHMEAL--bit by bit; _Tempest_, Act II., Scene 2.