A Glossary of Words used in the Country of Wiltshire. George Edward Dartnell

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СКАЧАТЬ or vag when applied to wheat.

      R is slurred over in many cases, as e'ath, earth, foc'd, forced, ma'sh, marsh, vwo'th, forth.

      It often assumes an excrescent d or t, as cavaltry, horsemen, crockerty, crockery, scholard, scholar.

      H has the sound of wh in whoam, home. This word, however, as Mr. Slow points out in the Preface to his Glossary—

      Bob. Drat if I dwon't goo wom to marrer.

      Zam. Wat's evir waant ta go wimm var.

      Bob. Why, they tell's I as ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be caal'd whoam to Jim Spritely on Zundy.—

      is variously pronounced as wom, wimm, and whoam, even in the same village.

      As stated at page 72, the cockney misuse of h is essentially foreign to our dialect. It was virtually unknown sixty or seventy years ago, and even so late as thirty years back was still unusual in our villages. Hunked for unked is almost the only instance to be found in Akerman, for instance. But the plague is already fast spreading, and we fear that the Catullus of the next generation will have to liken the Hodge of his day to the Arrius (the Roman 'Arry) of old:—

      Chommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet Dicere, et hinsidias Arrius insidias … Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset, Iam non Ionios esse, sed Hionios.

      Touching this point the Rev. G. Hill writes us from Harnham Vicarage as follows:—'I should like to bear out what you say with regard to the use of the letter h in South-West Wilts. When I lived in these parts twenty years ago, its omission was not I think frequent. The putting it where it ought not to be did not I think exist. I find now that the h is invariably dropped, and occasionally added, the latter habit being that of the better educated.'

      H becomes y in yeäd, head.

      K is often converted into t, as ast, to ask, mast, a mask, bleat, bleak.

      T is conversely often replaced by k, as masking, acorn-gathering, from 'mast,' while sleet becomes sleek, and pant, pank.

      S usually takes the sound of z, as zee, to see, zaa, a saw, zowl, soul, zaat or zate, soft, zider, cider, zound, to swoon.

      Thr usually becomes dr, as dree, three, droo, through, draish, to thrash.

      In afurst, athirst, and fust, thirst, we still retain a very ancient characteristic of Southern English.

      T is always dropped in such words as kept and slept, which become kep' and slep'.

      Liquids sometimes drop the next letter, as kill, kiln; but more usually take an excrescent t or d, as varmint, vermin, steart, a steer, gownd, gown.

      W as an initial is generally dropped in N. Wilts in such cases as 'oont, a want or mole, 'ooman, woman, 'ood, wood.

      Occasionally in S. Wilts it takes the aspirate, 'ood being then hood.

      Final g is always dropped in the present participle, as singin', livin', living; also in nouns of more than one syllable which end in ing. It is, however, retained in monosyllabic nouns and verbs, such as ring and sing.

      Pre becomes pur, as purtend, pretend, purserve, preserve.

      Sometimes a monosyllabic word will be pronounced as a dissyllable, as we have already mentioned, ne-um, ve-ut, ve-us, and ke-up being used concurrently with naayme, vit or fit, veäce, and kip or keep.

      The prefix a is always used with the present participle, as a-gwain', going, a-zettin' up, sitting up.

      The article an is never used, a doing duty on all occasions, as 'Gie I a apple, veyther.'

      Plurals will be found to be dealt with in the Glossary itself, under En and Plurals.

      Pronouns will also be found grouped together under Pronouns.

      As is used for who, which, and that.

      Active verbs govern the nominative case.

      Verbs do not agree with their nominative, either in number or person.

      The periphrastic tenses are often used in S. Wilts, as 'I do mind un,' but in N. Wilts the rule is to employ the simple tenses instead, merely altering the person, as 'I minds un.' In S. Wilts you might also say 'It be a vine night,' whereas in N. Wilts ''Tes a vine night' would be more correct.

      In conclusion we would mention that we hope in the course of the next year or two to be able to deal with the grammatical and phonological sides of our Dialect in a somewhat more adequate manner than it has been possible to do on the present occasion.

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS USED.

       Table of Contents

      [For full titles of works see Appendix.]

(A.)	Words given for Wilts in		Akerman.
(B.)	"	"	Britton.
(C.)	"	"	Cunnington MS.
(D.)	"	"	Davis.
(G.)	"	"	Grose.
(H.)	"	"	Halliwell.
(K.)	"	"	Kennett.
(M.)	"	"	Monthly Magazine.
(S.)	"	"	Slow.
(Wr.)	"	"	Wright.

      N. СКАЧАТЬ