Lakeland Words is a compact, hardback book. It is a detailed compilation of a unique set of dialectal words and phrases from Cumberland and Westmorland, contemporary to the book’s publication in 1898. Words are supplemented with example sentences, some with further descriptions. Its author, Brigham Kirkby, has brought together a list that, at first glance, would appear to be not of English, but something of a long, lost relative of the words of these shores. Those unfamiliar with these words may find the reading, and even more so, the pronunciation, of these supplementary phrases a little challenging at times. Brigham explains how to read some of these words and phrases in his Explanatory section below. The reader would benefit from perusing this guide as a precursor to understanding the basics before attempting to read on. Brigham, it should be mentioned, doesn’t explain how the words and phrases themselves came to be. Having done so may have turned this pocket-sized, handy guidebook into a hefty tome.
Not every word is unfamiliar. However, this does not mean that those words have the same definitions we are familiar with. For example, bark means skin, edge means self esteem, appetite, and shuffle, hug means wrestling, and rake means journey. Reading through some of these words and their dialectal phrases provides the reader with insight to a culture steeped in rich history, not only of people and places, but also of language too. There is no denying that many place names in the Lake District has roots in both Old Norse and Old English, but how many of these everyday words and phrases, used by everyday people today, is known only to those who use them.
Contents – A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
At the top of each page is the navigation bar with the letters of the alphabet. Each page lists the words beginning with each of these letters: A through to Z. The contents is a category listing of each page that has been transcribed so far. This is an ongoing project and will be completed in due course.
Note: The order of the words have been transcribed exactly as in the book. Some words do not appear to be in alphabetical order.
A COLLECTION OF
Dialect Words and Phrases
AS USED IN
CUMBERLAND AND WESTMORLAND
WITH
ILLUSTRATIVE SENTENCES IN THE NORTH WESTMORLAND DIALECT
BY B. KIRKBY
"The native phrase fresh from the fells."
To the wandering sons and daughters of the Lake Country, and who, wherever they are, still harbour a love for the sound of t' auld twang," this collection is respectfully dedicated.
Preface
It is not necessary to speak many words in praise of such an excellent book as "Lakeland Words," it speaks for itself, and must appeal to any and every Englishman who loves his country and his native mother tongue.
It has often been said that the vocabulary of the ordinary rustic is but poor and scanty, and it is just such books as Mr. Kirkby's which show how entirely false this statement is. Mr. Kirkby, besides, is not a mere collector, come down from London with his carpet bag to spend a few weeks in the north to pick up material for "copy," but he has been born and bred in the country of which he writes, and he knows and understands the dialect as no one from outside could. I have had innumerable proofs of this from the vast amount of most valuable material he has contributed to The English Dialect Dictionary. There is a freshness and naturalness in his material which is not found in books written by people imperfectly acquainted with the people and the district.
In these days when the Board Schools teach the children "Standard English," and when locomotion is so easy that people readily migrate from one part of the country to another, dialects are rapidly decaying and losing their individuality, and it will soon be impossible to compile local glossaries. It is, therefore, not too much to say that Mr. Kirkby deserves the hearty commendation and thanks of every lover of English, for thus handing down to posterity such a faithful portrait of the language of the Lakeland district, in all its native freshness and richness.
Joseph Wright.
Oxford, January, 1899.
Explanatory
The following pages claim to do no more than to set forth some of our best known dialect words, and to somewhat explain or illustrate their use by a sentence in which the word is introduced. So may not only the word be preserved, but something also of unity of expression be maintained at the same time.
Much of the matter has gone through the pages of the Penrith Observer, in the form of weekly notes. These notes were subject to some criticism. They were the means of eliciting a good deal of help towards making the collection more complete and accurate.
The method of spelling was frequently commented upon as involving an unnecessary innovation. A short explanation will, it is hoped, enable the reader to grasp it. Take such words as face, race, place, with the long a. We pronounce: them fi+as, ri+as, pli+as, with a short i sound, and the a short as in as. Words like master, plaster, become maister, plaister, with the a sounded as in pay. The long o sound is a pet aversion. Home becomes hi+am, boat as if it were boo+at, poke takes the form of poo+ak. Such words as post prove our consistency and cause many a one to get laughed at for the hasty o we assign it just as if it were copy.
The deep sound of oo shows our perversity. For ow we give it place every time, hoo, thoo, doon, noo, coo, and just as readily depose it from its legitimate place in boot, soot, nook, book, which in turn become bi+ut, si+ut, ni+uk, bi+uk. Go, going, gone, we make into ga (when short), gah, gahn, gi+an, and in some extreme instances almost garn. Final ing is too affected for us, so we drop it and substitute en. Quiet we quietly convert into whiat, because q is a pet aversion in all places with us. To give a hint as to the cause of this does not come within our scope. But no one can come closely into contact with the dialect without being struck with this aspect of it. A word like hope we evade or turn it into hooap or whop, yet daup, cauf, mope, crope, show that we can master the sound if we wish, and stick to it. If we will not say blue except as blew, we make up for it in hoo and noo. If the r is our aversion, we can, as few others can, say faddr, muddr, cluddr.
Having banished the ow sound from most of its legitimate places in the language, we put it in by way of amends where we can by "any manner o' means" do so. Thus we have bowt for bolt and bought; browt for brought; bowster for bolster, cowt for colt; thowt for thought; dowter for daughter; and so on.
In the present work no attempt is made to explain or account for anything of a peculiar character in the dialect. If language grows out of life, we are justified in regarding ours as a type, and those who are most familiar with the life out of which it has grown, will be most likely those to regard it most leniently. They will know something of the social habits which the fair and market, the smithy hearth, the shoemaker's shop are dominating factors in forming. They will understand what it is to be concerned with cattle, and the elements, as others are with more mighty affairs. Out of the exigencies of ploughing, sowing, reaping, and gathering; of boon days and sale days ; of shiftings and settlings; of hiring and term times they know what to expect and will not be annoyed by grossness, or deterred by affectations or their absence.
In these circumstances the word collector in Lakeland will find a favourable condition for his operations if he know how to go about it. Nor need he expect because so much of life is taken up with the "struggle for existence" that the gentler and humaner phase of it will not afford him specimens, "tender and true," as in the most refined circles.
An explanation is due to Cumbrians, who will find in this collection words they did not expect, and will find omitted those they had anticipated seeing. In many matters the two counties are indeed what they are often termed — sisters. The words have largely been collected in North Westmorland, but it must be borne in mind that Penrith, to many, is to all intents as much as if it were in Westmorland, and to have given one county only in the title would have been misleading and far from accurate. This observation will apply to "Kendal side" of Westmorland too.
Doctor Milner Fothergill says, "that up to Orton in Westmorland, the speech is that of Lancashire; beyond its scar it is that of Cumberland." The genial, hearty doctor was too generous, and Cumberland as well as Lancashire would disclaim his kindness. Likeness there is no doubt towards the north, or towards the south, as the case may be, and the fells mark a cleavage more distinct than some imaginary boundary of counties, yet Westmorland men will never be prepared to be so quietly effaced until a much greater extinction of dialect speech takes place than has yet been effected, much as latter-day influences have done towards modifying its most prominent features.
In the present work, such as it is, the help of Mr. Daniel Scott, editor of the Penrith Observer, has to be acknowledged, also that of "Northerner" in the same journal. The Rev, J. S. Davidson, the Rev. M. B. Parker, Mr. R. E. Leech, M.A., Mr. John Harrison, Mr. Jas. Rennison, Mr. Jos. Graves, Mr. Wm. Kerr, Miss Hunter, Miss Rudd, Mrs. Fauldrew, Mr. A. Whitehead, and Mr. C. R. Farrer, with a number of correspondents in various parts, whose names never transpired, have given generous help to make the collection as comprehensive as possible. Also a very able and representative body of critics was soon en evidence to see that it was as correct as possible. The Rev. Canon Thornley, the Rev. John Wharton, and Professor Joseph Wright, M.A., were amongst those to whose suggestions is due the fact of a permanent form being given to what at first was only intended as a passing notice.
To Mr. Wilson, of Kendal, I am under the special obligation of the adventurer who has help just when and where it is most wanted. From him it has ever been an easy and pleasant task to obtain advice and counsel without stint of pains or sympathy. With his aid and discrimination, many otherwise insurmountable obstacles have been overcome. Without his aid nothing of the present form could have been as much as attempted.
It is earnestly hoped that the rough and ready treatment of the subject herein attempted will not in anyway interfere with any of the more thorough works dealing with the same subject now in course of preparation by those capable of treating it from all standpoints as specialists. Ours is the effort to present an inside view of the dialect, marred no doubt by the leanings of prejudice, and for its worst defects the only indulgence that is asked is that it may be judged with that consideration kept in mind. It is a lover's account, and as such must be excused.
B. Kirkby.
Batley, 1898.