Opening material

ENGLISH DIALECTS

From the Eighth Century to the Present Day

by the

REV. WALTER W. SKEAT, Litt. D., D. C. L., LL. D., Ph. D., F. B. A. Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fel- low of Christ's College. Founder and formerly Director of the English Dialect Society

"English in the native garb;" _K. Henry V._ V. 1. 80

Cambridge at the University Press 1912

Kraus Reprint Co. New York

* * * * *

With the exception of the coat of arms at the foot, the design on the title page is a reproduction of one used by the earliest known Cambridge printer, John Siberch, 1521

_First Edition_ 1911. _Reprinted_ 1912.

* * * * *

PREFACE

The following brief sketch is an attempt to present, in a popular form, the history of our English dialects, from the eighth century to the present day. The evidence, which is necessarily somewhat imperfect, goes to show that the older dialects appear to have been few in number, each being tolerably uniform over a wide area; and that the rather numerous dialects of the present day were gradually developed by the breaking up of the older groups into subdialects. This is especially true of the old Northumbrian dialect, in which the speech of Aberdeen was hardly distinguishable from that of Yorkshire, down to the end of the fourteenth century; soon after which date, the use of it for literary purposes survived in Scotland only. The chief literary dialect, in the earliest period, was Northumbrian or "Anglian," down to the middle of the ninth century. After that time our literature was mostly in the Southern or Wessex dialect, commonly called "Anglo-Saxon," the dominion of which lasted down to the early years of the thirteenth century, when the East Midland dialect surely but gradually rose to pre-eminence, and has now become the speech of the empire. Towards this result the two great universities contributed not a little. I proceed to discuss the foreign elements found in our dialects, the chief being Scandinavian and French. The influence of the former has long been acknowledged; a due recognition of the importance of the latter has yet to come. In conclusion, I give some selected specimens of the use of the modern dialects.

I beg leave to thank my friend Mr P. Giles, M. A., Hon. LL. D. of Aberdeen, and University Reader in Comparative Philology, for a few hints and for kindly advice.

W. W. S.

Cambridge

3 March 1911

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE

I. DIALECTS AND THEIR VALUE. The meaning of _dialect_. Phonetic decay and dialectic regeneration. The words _twenty_, _madam_, _alms_. Keats; use of _awfully_. Tennyson and Ben Jonson; use of _flittermouse_. Shakespeare; use of _bolter_ and _child_. Sir W. Scott; use of _eme_. The English _yon_. _Hrinde_ in Beowulf.

II. DIALECTS IN EARLY TIMES. The four old dialects. Meaning of "Anglo-Saxon." Documents in the Wessex dialect.

III. THE DIALECTS OF NORTHUMBRIA; TILL A. D. 1300. The Anglian period. Beda's History and "Death-song." The poet C{ae}dmon. C{ae}dmon's hymn. The Leyden Riddle. The Ruth well Cross. Liber Vit{ae}. The Durham Ritual. The Lindisfarne and Rushworth MSS. Meaning of a "gloss." Specimen.

IV. THE DIALECTS OF NORTHUMBRIA; A. D. 1300-1400. The Metrical Psalter; with an extract. Cursor Mundi. Homilies in Verse. Prick of Conscience. Minot's Poems. Barbour's Bruce; with an extract. Great extent of the Old Northern dialect; from Aberdeen to the Humber. Lowland Scotch identical with the Yorkshire dialect of Hampole. Lowland Scotch called "Inglis" by Barbour, Henry the Minstrel, Dunbar, and Lyndesay; first called "Scottis" by G. Douglas. Dr Murray's account of the Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland.

V. NORTHUMBRIAN IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Northumbrian of Scotland and of England in different circumstances. Literature of the fifteenth century; poems, romances, plays, and ballads. List of Romances. Caxton. Rise of the Midland dialect. "Scottish" and "English." Jamieson's Dictionary. "Middle Scots." Quotation from Dunbar.

VI. THE SOUTHERN DIALECT. Alfred the Great. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Old English Homilies. The Brut. St Juliana. The Ancren Riwle. The Proverbs of Alfred. The Owl and the Nightingale. A Moral Ode. Robert of Gloucester. Early history of Britain. The South-English Legendary. The Harleian MS. 2253. The Vernon MS. John Trevisa. The Testament of Love.

VII. THE SOUTHERN DIALECT OF KENT. Quotation from Beda. Extract from an Old Kentish Charter. Kentish Glosses. Kentish Sermons. William of Shoreham; with an extract. The Ayenbite of Inwyt. The Apostles' Creed in Old Kentish. The use of _e_ for A. S. _y_ in Kentish. Use of Kentish by Gower and Chaucer. Kentish forms in modern English.

VIII. THE MERCIAN DIALECT. East Midland. Old Mercian Glossaries of the eighth century. The Lorica Prayer. The Vespasian Psalter. The Rushworth MS. Old Mercian and Wessex compared. Laud MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Ormulum. The English Proclamation of Henry III. (_see the facsimile_). Robert Mannyng of Brunne (Bourn). West Midland. The Prose Psalter. William of Palerne. The Pearl and Alliterative Poems. Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight.

IX. FOREIGN ELEMENTS IN THE DIALECTS. Words from Norman, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, etc. Celtic. List of Celtic words. Examples of Latin words. Greek words. Hebrew words. List of Scandinavian words. French words. Anglo-French words; _gauntree_. Literary French words, as used in dialects.

X. LATER HISTORY OF THE DIALECTS. Spenser. John Fitzherbert. Thomas Tusser. Skinner's Etymologicon (Lincolnshire words). John Ray. Dialect glossaries. Dr Ellis on Early English Pronunciation. The English Dialect Society. The English Dialect Dictionary. The English Dialect Grammar.

XI. THE MODERN DIALECTS. Prof. Wright's account of the modern English Dialects.

XII. A FEW SPECIMENS. Some writers in dialect. Specimens: Scottish (Aberdeen, Ayrshire, Edinburgh). Northern England (Westmorland). Midland (Lincoln, S. E. Lancashire, Sheffield, Cheshire). Eastern (N. Essex, Norfolk). Western (S. W. Shropshire). Southern (Wiltshire, Isle of Wight, Sussex).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

FACSIMILE. The only English Proclamation of Henry III. Oct. 18, 1258

*** _For a transcription of the Facsimile see_ pp. 75-6.

{Transcriber's Note: The Facsimile is not included in this e-text.}