Wit, Character, Folklore and Customs of the North Riding

Chapter XVI A Few Simple Hints on the Grammar of the Folk-Speech

The Article.

There is no variation in the usage of the indefinite article, save that it still retains its place before participles and the adjectives few, many, and great many.

Ex.—‘He started a calling o’ ma, an’ Ah started a genning at him, an’ then wa set ti wark a lethering yan anuther,’

Educated people do not nowadays say, ‘I sat a sipping of my tea, and a smiling at the kettle a singing on the hob,’ No, it sounds quaint. And to those who know as little of their Shakespeare as they do of their Bibles, such speech is put down to ignorance, or a lack of education, when in point of fact they are listening to an echo of that old-time speech which was in full swing long before their great grandmothers were born, and used by really quite respectable people; e.g.—

‘As he was yet a coming’ (Luke ix. 42).

‘I go a fishing’ (John xxi. 3).

‘While the ark was a preparing’ (1 Pet. iii. 20).

‘His greatness is yet a ripening’ (Henry VIII).

‘There is some ill a brewing towards my rest’ (Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 5).

In such cases, however, ‘a’ cannot be parsed as an article. Many opinions have been given, but perhaps Cobbett, who holds it to be an abbreviation for ‘at,’ meaning ‘without doubt,’ has gained the most supporters. In the Spectator, No. 86, we find, ‘Socrates’ disciples burst out a laughing,’ and in No. 420, ‘The spirits which set the springs a going.’ Such are by no means archaic forms of speech in the North Riding, ‘bud ez common ez pigs a grunting at yan anuther.’

The definite article, as mentioned elsewhere, is ‘t’.’ To this rule there are very few exceptions. Before certain letters it is almost inaudible; nevertheless, it is always there. It may be said, and with truth, that a perfect mastery of the definite article, both in speaking and hearing it spoken, has advanced those desirous of knowing something of our folk-speech—rather more than half of their journey. I know many people who are fluent speakers of the dialect, but who read it, even when in printed form, with the greatest difficulty; others who can read fairly well, but so far as understanding the dialect when spoken, might as well listen to a batch of Chocktaw Indians, as two or three good old Yorkshire dames when fairly letting out.

A Frenchman once said to me, ‘I could understand you English people, if you did not speak so quickly.’ Aye, just so, and so would many another body from other counties understand a great deal of what our country folk say if each word was uttered separately, but with us, as in standard English, very frequently no pause is made between commas; so the difficulty increases tenfold, when a stranger strives to follow a fairly classical dalesman or woman. Take, for instance, a few words which the other day I heard a woman shout across a village street to her daughter. Firstly, as they sounded when uttered, then the same as they would be written, and thirdly, the translation.

As spoken. Teggattenlaadsitwinner.

As written. T’ egg at t’ ‘en laad’s i’ t’ winner99.

Standard English. The egg (that) the hen laid is in the window.

Number.

This, with only a few exceptions, follows the ordinary rule of grammar.

Case.

The possessive case is noted elsewhere.

Gender.

The same as in standard English, with this slight deviation: many things which are neuter are spoken of as being of the feminine gender. Ex.—‘Sha’s a fine stack;’ ‘Sha’s a bit rough ti-daay,’ speaking of the sea; ‘Sha’s gitten a fine bole on her,’ speaking of an oak. There can be no rule given for guidance, because in a compound sentence the same noun is sometimes both feminine and neuter. A man speaking of his watch said, ‘It’s yan ov t’ best ’at Ah ivver ’ed; sha’s a good un,’ i.e. ‘It is one of the best that I ever had; she is a good one.’

Adjectives.

Adjectives which in standard English are compared by the addition of more and most to the positive, generally form their degrees of comparison by the addition of er or r for the comparative, and ist or st for the superlative; e.g.—

Positive.	Comparative.	Superlative.
True	truer	truist
Expensive	expensiver	expensivist.
Dangerous	dangerouser	dangerousist.
Okkad (awkward)	okkader	okkadist.
Forrad (forward)	forrader	fo’derist.

Though it is quite common to hear such expressions as ‘mair okkader’ or ‘t’ maist okkadist,’ and the like, with other adjectives, it is also not uncommon for the adjective to be used as an adverb, as ‘It’s easy deean.’

Personal Pronouns.

FIRST PERSON.

			Nom.	Poss.	Obj.
sing.	I, thou, he, she, it.	sing.	I	mine	me.
	Ah, thoo, tha, or ta, he, sha, it, ’t.		Ah	mahn	ma.
plu.	We you they us.	plu.	Thou	thine	thee.
	Wa ya tha uz.		Thoo	thahn	thee.

There is no rule to guide the student in the use of thoo, tha, ta. In a general way ta follows an auxiliary verb, and thoo, used in the accusative case, is definite in its application. ‘He’s shooting o’ thoo,’ and ’he’s shooting o’ tha,’ have a well-marked distinction of meaning. ‘He’s shooting o’ thoo’ implies that the person told of the fact is the actual person being shouted of; not only does it point him out from amongst many, but the fact that thoo was used further implies that the shouting had better be attended to at once. ‘He’s shooting o’ tha,’ is merely certain information given, making known to some other person that he was being called for without regard to others.

Relative Pronouns.

Who	which	that.
Wheea or whau	which	that or ’at100.

Who and which are declined as follows. That and what as in standard English.

Singular and Plural.

STAND. ENG.	NTH. RIDING.	STAND. ENG.	NTH. RIDING.
Nom. Who	whau, wheea.	Which	which.
Poss. Whose	whaus, wheeas.	Whose	wheeas, whaus.
Obj. Whom	whaum.	Which	which.

The compound relatives are formed by the addition of ever and soever; ’at forming the compound ’ativver, i.e. whatever.

Possessive Pronouns and the compound personal and possessives are formed as under:—

stand. eng.		My	mine	thy	thine	his	her
nth. riding.		Mah	mahn	thah thi	thahn	his	her
stand. eng.		Its	our	your	their	own
nth. riding.		Its	oor or wer	yer	ther	awn
stand. eng.		Myself	thyself	himself	herself
nth. riding.		Mahsel	thisel	hissel	hersel
		Mahsen		thisen	hissen	hersen
stand. eng.		Itself	ourselves	yourselves
nth. riding.		Itsel	oorsels or -sens	yersels
		Itsen	wersels or -sens	yersens
stand. eng.		Theirselves	ownselves.
nth. riding.		Thersels Thersens	awnsels awnsens.

Demonstrative Pronouns.

This and that are used as follows:—

This refers to an object near at hand, that is rarely used, yon being almost universal, e.g. ‘Yon man ower theer ’ll tell tha.’ Q. ‘Which is Mister Thompson?’ A. ‘Yon chap’s him,’ i.e. ‘That man is Mr. Thompson.’

Indefinite Pronouns.

Any	both	some	other	another	one	none	such
Onny	beeath	sum	uther	anuther	yan	neean	sich, sike

Yan and yah are noticed elsewhere, also vide Glossary.

Adverbs.

Adverbial peculiarities are fully noticed in the Glossary.

The Prepositions and Adverbs mostly in use are:—

About, aboot.

Above, aboon.

Across, quarrelled. ‘Him an’ me’s gitten across.’

After, efter or efther101.

Against, ower agaanst, near to.

Among, amang. Amongst, amangst.

Before, afoor. ‘For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect’ (Isa. xviii. 5).

Behind, ahint.

Between, atween.

Betwixt, atwixt.

Beyond, ayont, beyont.

By, byv or by, pronounced be.

From, fra before a consonant, frev before a vowel.

In, i’.

Into, intiv, inti, intil.

Near, near-hand.

Nigh, near, ommaist, also nigh.

Of, ov and foor.

Over, ower and aboon.

Beyond, past. ‘He did entreat me past my saying nay’ (Merchant of Venice, Act iii. Sc. 2).

Too, ower.

With, wi’, wiv.

Until is never used, whahl always taking its place: no exception to this rule.

It may be noted this peculiarity extends to the south of Northamptonshire.

The Verb.

It will only be possible to note one or two of the more striking peculiarities.

TO BE.

Indicative Mood.

Has two forms of the present tense.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah is, or Ah’s. I am, &c.	Wă				Wa’re, we are.
Thoo is, or Thoo’s.	Yă		are, or		Ya’re.
He, Sha, or it is.	Thă				Thă’re.

Also the older form is quite common—

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah be. I am, &c.	Wă be
Thoo beest or byst.	Yă		be.
He be.	Thă be

Examples:—

‘Ah be gahin’ ti morn.’

‘Thoo byst efter neea good.’

‘We be twelve brethren’ (Gen. xlii. 32).

‘If thou beest he’ (Paradise Lost, Bk. i. 84).

‘If thou beest death’ (Henry VI, Part II, Act iii. Sc. 3).

‘If thou beest rated by estimation’ (Merchant of Venice, Act ii. Sc. 7).

Imperfect.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah war, wur, or wuz. I was, &c.	Wa
Thoo war, wur, or wast	Ya		war, wur, or wuz
He war, wur, or wuz.	Tha

Perfect.

‘Ev or hev. The aspirate is rarely heard.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah ’ev been. I have been, &c.	Wa ’ev been
Thoo ’est been.	Ya ’ev been.
He’s or he ’ez been.	Tha ’ev been

Pluperfect.

Ah hed or ’ed been, &c.

First Future.

Ah s’all or will be, &c.

Second Future.

Ah s’all or will ’ev been, or Ah s’all ’a’e been.

Imperative Mood.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Let ma be.	Let uz be.
Be thoo.	Be ya.
Be he, let him, her, or it be.	Let ’em be. Be tha.

Subjunctive Mood.

SINGULAR.

Ah be, or Ah maay or can be.

Be thoo, or thoo mayest or canst be.

He be, or he may or can be.

PLURAL.

Wa
Ya		may or can be.
Tha

Imperfect.

SINGULAR.

Ah war, mud, c’u’d, wad, or s’u’d be loved.

Thoo wert, mudst, c’u’dst, wadst, or s’u’dst be loved.

He war, mud, c’u’d, wad, or s’u’d be loved.

PLURAL.

Wa war,
Ya war,		wur, mud, c’u’d, wad, or s’u’d be loved.
Tha war,

Perfect.

Ah maay or can ’ev
Tho maayst or canst ’ev		loved.
Tha may or can ’ev

Pluperfect.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah mud, &c.	Wa mud, &c.

Infinitive Mood.

PRESENT.	PERFECT.
Ti be.	Ti ’a’e or ’ev been.

Participles.

PRESENT.	PERFECT.	COMPOUND PERFECT.
Being.	Been.	‘Evin’ been.

TO HAVE.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah’ve, Ah ’a’e, or Ah ’ev. I have,	Wa’ve, ‘, or ’ev. We have.
Thoo’s or thoo ’ez.	Ya’ve, ‘, or ’ev.
He’s or he ’ez.	Tha’ve, ‘, or ’ev.

Perfect.

Ah’d, Ah ’ed. I had.	Wa’d, wa ’ed.
Thoo’d, thoo ’ed.	Ya’d, ya ’ed.
He’d, he ’ed.	Tha’d, tha ’ed.

Affirmative.

Ah’ve, or Ah ’ev tă’en. I have taken.	Wa’ve, or wa ’ev tă’en. We have taken.
Thoo’s tă’en.	Ya’ve, or ya ’ev tă’en. You have taken.
He’s tă’en.	Tha’ve, or tha ’ev tă’en. They have taken.

Negative.

Ah ’evn’t, or Ah ’a’en’t ta’en. I have not taken.	Wă ’evn’t, or wă ’a’en’t ta’en. We have not taken.
Thoo’s nut, or thoo ’ezn’t ta’en.	102 Yă’ve nut, or yă ’a’en’t ta’en. You have not taken.
He’s nut, or he ’ezn’t ta’en.	102Thă’ve nut, or thă ’a’en’t ta’en. They have not taken.

Interrogative.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
‘Ev Ah ta’en? Have I taken?	‘Ev wă, or ‘ wă ta’en? Have we taken?
‘Ez tă ta’en?	‘Ev yă, or ‘a‘e yă ta’en?
‘Ez ă103 ta’en?	‘Ev yă, or ‘a‘e thă ta’en?

Imperfect Tense.

Ah’d, or Ah ’ed. I had.	Wa’d, or wa ’ed. We had.
Thoo’d, or thoo ’ed. Thou hadst.	Ya’d, or ya ’ed. You had.
He’d, or he ’ed. He had.	Tha’d, or tha ’ed. They had.

Imperative Mood.

‘A’e or ’ev (have).

Infinitive Mood.

Ti ’ev, or ti ’a’e. To have.

Participles.

PRESENT.	PAST.
‘Evin’, having.	‘Ed or ’ad, had.

TO DO.

Indicative Mood.

Present Tense.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah deea, diz, or duz. I do.	Wă
Thoo diz or duz.	Yă		deea or div.
He diz or duz.	Thă

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah deean’t. I do not.	Wa deean’t or divn’t104.
Thoo dizn’t or deean’t.	Ya deean’t or divn’t.
He dizn’t.	Tha deean’t or divn’t.

MAY.

Ah maay.	Wa
Thoo maayst.	Ya		maay.
He maay.	Tha

Imperfect Tense—Might.

Ah mud or might.	Wa
Thoo mud.	Ya		mud or might.
He mud.	Tha

Must.						Must not.
SINGULAR.			PLURAL.			SINGULAR.			PLURAL.
Ah			Wa			Ah		maun’t	Wa		maun’t
Thoo		mun.	Ya		mun.	Thoo		or	Ya		or
He			Tha}			He		munnot.	Tha		munnot.

TO GO.

Active Voice.

Indicative Mood.

Present Tense.

SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Ah gan, or goa.	Wa
Thoo’s gahin’ or gannin’.	Ya		gan or goa.
He gans.	Tha

Indefinite—I was going.

Ah war, wur, or wuz		gahin’	Wa war, wur, or wuz		gahin’
Thoo wast or wart		or	Ya war, wur, or wuz }		or
He war or wuz		gannin’.	Tha war, wur, or wuz		gannin’.

Indefinite Perfect—I have gone.

Ah ’ev or Ah’ve		gane	Wa ’ev or wa’ve		gane,
Thoo’s or thoo ’ez} gane or		or	Ya ’ev or ya’ve } gane or		or
He’s or he ’ez		geean.	Tha’ev or tha’ve} geean.		geean.

Infinitive Mood.

Present.	Progressive.
Ti gan.	Ti be gahin’ or gannin’.
To go.	To be going.

Perfect.	Progressive.
Ti ’ev gane or ti ’a’e geean.	Ti ’ev been gahin’.
To have gone.	To have been going.

Present.
Gahin’ or ganning. Going.

Perfect.
Geean or gane. Gone.

Compound.
Having geean or gane. Having gone.

Observe is and be generally take the place of are and am. In fact, the latter word is very rarely heard amongst the country people. ‘Are you Tom?’ in the folk-speech, would be, ‘Is ta Tom?’—the answer would not be ‘Ah am!’ but ‘Ah is!’

Q. ‘Is ta gahin’ wiv uz105?’ i.e. ‘Are you going with me?’

A. ‘Neea, Ah’s nut,’ or ‘Neea, Ah isn’t,’ i.e. ‘No, I is not’ (I am not).

Nobbut, as a sign of the conditional mood, is quite as general as if.

Q. ‘Will ta cum?’ Will you come?

A. ‘Nobbut it be owt leyke, an’ nobbut I git deean;’ i. e. ‘If it be anything like’ (as to weather), ‘and if only I finish my work.’

It is not uncommon to hear the future tense used for the present, and in many instances the country people, as it were, confuse the perfect tense and perfect participle. ‘Ah’ve chose t’ whip ’at Ah want.’ ‘I have chosen the whip I want (or like).’

‘’Ez ta broke t’ winder?’ would be asked in a whisper, but ‘Aye, he’s brokken ’t,’ would certainly be the form in which it would be shouted to the other boys. ‘Ah’ve spoke tiv him mair ’an yance,’ would be the form such a declaration would take from one confiding to another the hopelessness of making any further entreaties; but ‘Ah’ve spokken tiv him ower an’ up agaan,’ would be the language used when temper was in the ascendent. Nevertheless, those who would consider vulgar such sentences as have been given, are apt to forget that the accepted rules which govern the speech of to-day are only correct because they are of to-day. The rules which were once accepted may have been laid aside in favour of others; but the country people move slowly—their speech is that of their grandparents, and it is what they have been used to all their lives. They know nothing of the new order of things. And again, they keep very good company.

Examples:—

‘I have already chose my officer.’

Othello, Act i. Sc. 1.

‘Methought this staff, mine office badge in court, was broke in twain.’—Henry VI, Part II, Act i. Sc. 2.

‘By what yourself too late have spoke and done.’

King Lear, Act i. Sc. 4.

‘Why was this forbid?’—Paradise Lost, Bk. ix. 703.

‘Waiting desirous her return, had wove
Of choicest flowers a garland.’
          Paradise Lost, Bk. ix. 839.

Steele, in the Spectator (No. 344), has, ‘I have wrote to you three or four times.’ And he is generally acknowledged to have been a fairly good scholar, but then his writings go back a hundred years, and they spoke differently then. Our people speak very much like it now.

The formation of the perfect and of the participle vary considerably from that of ordinary grammar. As a rule the past participle is formed by the addition of en. There are other striking peculiarities in the vowel changes. A list of some of the leading ones is here given.

Present.	Perfect.	Participles.
Build	Belt	Belt
Beeat (beat)	Bet	Betten
Bid	Bad	Bidden, bodden
Binnd (bind)	Bun or bund	Bun, bund, or bunden
Bleead (bleed)	Bled, blaad	Bledden
Break, breek (break)	Brak	Brokken
Brust (burst)	Brast	Brussen, brossen
Cast	Kest	Kessen
Cheease (choose)	Choaze	Chozzen
Coss (curse)	Coss’d	Coss’d, cossen
Cost	Cost	Cossen
Creeap (creep)	Crep or crop	Croppen
Cum (come)	Cam, com	Cum’d
Cut (cut)	Cut	Cutten
Darr (dare)	Dast	Darrd
Drahve (drive)	Drave	Drovven or druvven
Felt (hide)	Felt	Felted
Feyght (fight)	Fowt	Fowten
Finnd (find)	Fan	Fun
Flig (fly)	Fligg’d	Fligg’d
Fling (fling)	Flang	Flung
Flit (to change one’s abode)	Flitted	Flitten
Freeze (freeze)	Fraze	Frozzen
Gi’e (give)	Gav or ga	Geen106
Git (get)	Gat	Gitten, getten, or gotten
Greeap or group (grope)	Grape	Groupen or groppen
Grund, grahnd (grind)	Grund	Grun or grunded
Ho’d (hold)	Ho’ded	Ho’dden
Ho’t (hurt)	Ho’t	Ho’tten
Kep (catch)	Kept	Kept, keppen
Lap (wrap)	Lapt, lapp’d	Lappen or lappen’d
Let (let)	Let	Letten
Lig (lay)	Lig’d, lihd	Lihn
Lig (lie)	Lig’d	Liggen or lig’d
Leet (light)	Let	Letten
Loose (loose)	Lowse	Lowsen
Loss (lose)	Lost	Lossen
Preeave (prove)	Preeav’d	Provven or pruvven
Put (put)	Put	Putten
Rahd (ride)	Rade	Ridden or rodden
Rahse (rise)	Roase	Risen or rosen
Rahve (tear)	Rave	Rovven
Set	Set	Setten
Shak (shake)	Shak’t	Shak’t or shakken
Shed (shed)	Shed	Shedden
Shoe (shoe)	Shod	Shodden
Shut (shut) or shoot	Shut	Shutten
Sit (sit)	Sat	Setten
Slet (slit)	Slet	Slitten
Smit (infect)	Smitted	Smittel’d
Snaw (snow)	Snew	Snawn or snaw’d
Speeak (speak)	Spak	Spokken
Splet (split)	Splet	Spletten
Spreead (spread)	Sprade	Sprodden
Stan (stand)	Steead	Stooden
Stick (stick)	Stack	Stucken
Straad (stride)	Stroade, straad, or strahd	Strodden
Strahve (strive)	Strahve or stroave	Struvven or strovven
Strike (strike)	Strake, strak	Strukken
Tak (take)	Teeak, teuk	Ta’en, takken, or tuckken
Tell	Tell’d, tell’t	Tell’d, tell’t
Thrahve (thrive)	Throv, thrahve	Throvven
Thrust (thrust)	Thrast, throst	Throssen or thrussen
Treead (tread)	Trade, tred	Trodden
Wet (wet)	Wet	Wetten
Win (win)	Wan	Won
Worrk (work)	Wrowt, wark’d	Wrowt or wrowten
Wreyte (write)	Wrate	Written

Conjunctions.

Some of those generally in use will be found contained in the following request:—

‘Tommy’s cum’d, an’ Jimmy an’ all. Noo, if so be as hoo ’at wa caan’t finnd hoos-room for baith on107 ’em, could thoo, wivoot putting thisen aboot, mannish ti tak Jimmy in? Bud, hooivver, thoo knaws if in case ’at thoo caan’t mannish ti deea ’t foor all t’ tahm tha’re here, can ta whahl t’ daay efter ti morn? Tha’ve cum’d for ti see Mary. Nowther on ’em’s clapt ees on her sen sha went ti pleeace, an’ seeaner ’an tha s’u’dn’t ’a’e seen her, Ah wad ’a’e geean ti my aunt Martha; bud Ah’d better stop at yam ez gan theer, if so be ’at thoo can mannish ’t onny road. Besides, thoo knaws thi larl Lizzie could cum an’ lig wiv oor Freddy, bidoot thoo ligs her on t’ sōfy. Ah think ’at that wad be t’ better waay; noo, what diz ta saay?’

Key.

‘Tommy has come, and Jimmy as well. Now, if we cannot find room for both on them, could you, without inconveniencing yourself, manage to take Jimmy in? Still, if you cannot manage to do so for all the time they are here, can you until the day after to-morrow. They have come to see Mary, neither of them having seen her since she went to place—i.e. situation. And rather than they should have missed seeing her, I would have gone to my aunt Martha; but I had better stay at home than go there, if you can manage it anyway. Besides, your little Lizzie could come and sleep with our Freddy, unless you lay her on the sofa. I think that would be the best; now, what do you say?’

In reading the key over, it will be found, in several instances, that a single word does duty for several. This tendency towards redundancy is very common, e.g. ‘If so be as how ’at wa cannot,’ simply means ‘If we cannot’; and ‘Besides, thoo knaws,’ is ’besides.’ Instead of the last word, ‘besides,’ the usage of ‘An’ moreover ’an that’ is very common.

The rule that prepositions govern the objective case, expressed or understood, the conjunction never, holds good in the folk-speech.

The conjunctions in italics are very rarely used, those in brackets commonly taking their place.

‘Ah s’all be theer (an’ all),’ as well.

‘(Bud hooivver) thoo mun cum,’ still.

‘(Wivoot) Ah cum, deean’t start,’ unless.

‘(Ez) stop wiv him, Ah’ll cum,’ rather than.

‘Ah’ve cum (for ti) see Tom,’ in order to.

‘Deean’t leeave t’ hoss (bidoot) he gi’es tha t’ brass,’ unless.

‘Thoo wait (whahl) Ah cum,’ until.

There are many who consider the folk-speech of our country people little better than a mixture of about equal parts of bad grammar and mispronunciation. Such a notion, I feel sure, can only have arisen from either a lack of information or undue haste. From such I would humbly crave a reconsideration of the case.

I can well understand those who know little of the various sources through which the standard English of to-day has come down to us, considering such words as those contained in the following list as being vulgar—backerly, balk, belly-wark, botch, cant, chaamer, clag, cleg, drukken, flacker, flit, fra, lake, lang, leck, lig, lop, lown, luke, mirk, neeaze, owerwelt, raun, roke, rud, scraffle, shive, snite, steg, stob, stower, sump, theeak, thrave, till, &c. Though some words in the list may be new to the reader, they are in common usage amongst our people. And what is much more to their credit, every one of them were doing duty hundreds of years ago. And as in many cases the pronunciation is identical with that of their Danish relations, we have grounds for assuming that not only has the word itself been preserved, but the actual sound in which it was formerly uttered, though the spelling often differs greatly in the two countries. Take, as a single example, the North Riding word ’stower’; the Danish word is spelt ’staver,’ but the pronunciation is exactly the same in both countries. Therefore, as Angus says, if the sound rather than the spelling be taken, the similarity of the languages will be found to be much more striking. A few so-called vulgar words and their respectable relations are given in the following list.

Note.—Scandinavian in this list must be taken in its widest sense, as including Old Norse, Frisian, Swedish, and Danish.

North Riding.	Scandinavian.	Anglo-Saxon.	English.
Backerly	Bagerlig	...	Late
Backstan	Bage-sten	...	A stone for baking cakes on
Balk	Balk	Balca	Beam
Band	Baand (O. N.)	...	String
Belly-wark	Bælg-værk	Bælig-wærc	Stomach-ache
Bid	Byde	Beōdan	To invite
Bor	Borre	...	Seed of the burdock
Blendcorn	Blandkorn	...	Mixed corn
Botch	Bota	Botian	To mend clumsily
Brave	Brav	...	Goodly
Brede	Bredde	Bræd	Breadth
Cant	Kante, Kanta	...	To tilt on end
Calf	Kalve, v. to calve	...	Calf
Chaamer	Kammer	...	Chamber
Clag	Klæg	Clæg	To stick
Clap	Klap	...	To pat
Cleg	Klæge	...	Horse-fly
Clovver	Klaver	Klaver (Dutch)	Clover
Clip	Klippe	...	To clip
Drukken	Drukken	...	Drunken
Eaves	Ovs	Efesse	The eaves
Fau’k, Folk, Fooak	Folk	...	People
Felt	Fela, fiæle	Feolan	To hide
Flacker	Flagre	...	To flutter
Flittermouse	Flaggermus	...	The bat
Flit	Flytte	...	To remove to another house
Fore-elders	Forældre	...	Forefathers
Fra	Fra	Fra	From
Gimmer	Gimmer	...	Ewe lamb
Glooar	Gloe	...	To stare
Gob	Gab	...	Mouth
Havermeal	Havre mel	...	Oatmeal
Handsel	Handsel	Handselen	First money received
Holm	Holm	...	Low-lying land
Hoos	Hus	...	House
Humble-bee	Humlebi	...	Humble-bee
Kist	Kiste	Cist	A chest
Laat, lait	Lait	...	To seek
Lake, laak	Leka	Lacan	To play
Lake, laak	Leg, lec	Lac	A game
Lang	Læng	...	Long
Leck	Lække	Leccan	To leak
Lig	Ligge	Liggan	To lie down
Lop	Loppe	...	A flea
Lown	Luun	...	Calm, still
Luke	Luge	...	To weed
Middin	Modding	Midding	A dunghill
Mirk	Mork	Mirc	Dark
Neeaze	Nyse	Niesan	To sneeze
Owerwelt	Awvælt	...	To lie on the back as a sheep
Raun	Rawn	...	Fish-spawn
Riggintree	Rygtræ	...	The topmost spar in the roof
Roke	Rok	...	A misty rain
Rud	Rod108	...	Red ochre
Scraffle	Scravle	...	To walk in a feeble way
Shive	Skive	...	A slice
Suite	Snyde	...	To blow the nose
Steg	Steggi	...	A gander
Stob	Stub	...	The stump of a tree
Stower	Staver	...	A stake, a rung
Sump	Sump	...	Boggy place
Theeak	Tække	...	Thatch
Thrave	Trave	...	A number of sheaves of corn
Till	Til	...	To
Yule keeak	Yule kage	...	Yule cake

This list might have been greatly extended, but the above suffices for the purpose of proving that many of the words considered vulgar are simply venerable through age. If we inquire a little further, we shall find not only the words, but the form of speech used by our people, which so often seems ungrammatical, is actually that of the best writers of bygone ages. The fact is, as has been already stated, our vocabulary and mode of speech is not of to-day, but belongs to the time of long ago.

From Spenser’s Faerie Queen take as examples the following words and grammatical forms, which are quite common with us to-day:—

That seemed both shield and plate it would have rived.
For to avenge that foul, reproachful shame.
To lose long gotten honour with one evil hond.
Much greater grief and shamefuller regret.
In hope her to attain by hook or crook.
To tossen spear and shield.
Me leifer were with point of foeman’s spear be dead.
... how stout Deborah strake.
Inglorious now lies in senseless swownd.
But lapped up her silken leaves most chare.
Fast bounden hand and foot with cords of wire.
But, glancing on the tempered metal, brast.
And ever and anon, when none was ware.
And from her head oft rent her snarled hair.

In Piers Ploughman, 1362, by R. Langton:—

Under a brood bank—By a burn’s side.
⁂
Some putten hem to the plough.

The Parsone’s Tale:—

And axeth of the old ways.
... ought to plain.

Wicliff, 1380:—

And he eat honeysoukis.

The Prodigal Sone, 1380:—

Tweie sonnes. And the younger of hem.
A ryng on his hond, and schoon on his feet.
And when he cam.

The Parsone’s Tale

Tyndale, 1534:—

And not long after the younger sonne gaddered all that he had togedder.

And when he cam.

And axed what these things meant.

From the Epistle to the Romans.

Also—Geven, goven, moun, quyt (quit = to repay), stakker trone109 (throne), and scores of others are quite common with us.

The following past tenses are given by Angus as obsolete, and as having been so for long:—fand, flang, slang, stang, wan, wrang, every one of which are in frequent use.

In Wicliff’s edition of the Bible we have:—

‘The keperis weren afeered.’ ‘And brak.’ ‘The wisdom of this world fonned.’ ‘Clensed with besyms.’ ‘Mayster Moses seide if ony man.’ ‘Twey men.’ ‘Ridile as whete,’ ‘Joseph lappide it’ (St. Matthew). ‘Moun comprehende with alle seyntis which is breed’ (Eph.). ‘He concitide’ (St. Luke). ’And telde him’ (Acts). ‘It schal not rewe Him’ (Hebrews).

Such words, when uttered by our country people, are not vulgar, though they may sound odd, but that is because they are old fashioned and unfamiliar; and if their utterance has no charm for you, then it is music you never heard in your youth, and which your ear can never rightly appreciate. So that you may see at a glance to what extent the language has altered, and how the folk-speech has remained almost stationary during the last three or four hundred years, let us compare a few of the commonest North Riding words of to-day with the standard English of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.

Words of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, taken from the best authors.	Common North Riding words, 1898.	Standard English as pronounced in 1898, or giving the word which has supplanted the older one.
Afeered	Afeeard	Afraid
Axed	Axed	Asked
Besyms	Bizzums, buzzums	Broom
Bounden	Bounden	Bound
Brak	Brak	Broke
Brast	Brast	Burst
Breede	Breed	Breadth
Burn	Burn	Stream
Cam	Cam	Came
Chare	Chare	Carefully
Concitide	Consated	Imagined, opinionated
Fain	Fain	Gladly
Fand	Fand	Found
Flang	Flang	Flung
Flig	Flig	To fly
Fonned	Fond	Foolish
Gaddered	Gaddered	Gathered
Geven	Geven(1)		Given
Goven	Govven(1)
Gotten	Gotten	Got
Lapped	Lapped		Wrapped
Lappide	Lapp’t
Laverock	Lairock or laverock	The lark
Leifer	Leif or leifer	Soon, willingly
Moniment	Moniment	Monument
Mown	Mun	Must
Ony	Onny	Any
Partinge	Parting	Division
Plain	Pleean	Complain
Putten	Putten	Put
Quyt	Quit	To repay
Rewe	Rewe	Repent
Ridile	Ruddle or riddle	To sift
Shamefuller	Shamefuller	Very disgraceful
Snarled	Snarled	Knotted
Stakker	Stakker	Stagger
Strake	Strake	Struck
Swownd	Swound or soond	To faint
Telde	Tell’d or tell’t	Told
Threpe	Threeap	Argue, contend
Togedder	Togedder	Together
Tossen	Tossen	To throw
Twey	Tweea	Two
Ware	Ware	Beware
Wrack	Wrack	Destruction
By hook or crook	By hook or crook	By any means
1: ‘Gi’en’ is by far the most general. Still, amongst the older people, one often hears ‘geven’ and ‘govven.’

Need I add more to prove my case? I think not.

Those interested are requested to read the concluding remarks at the end of the Glossary.