Sir Gawayne and the Green KnightAbout the middle of the fourteenth century were produced four remarkable poems,Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, a romantic story of the adventures of an Arthurian knight;Pearl, a Vision;Cleanness; andPatience, stories taken from the Bible. We know nothing of the life of the author, we do not even know his name. Perhaps the little ‘Marjory’ who ‘lyfed not two yer in our thede[country]’ was the poet’s own daughter, and thePearltheIn Memoriamoutpouring of his life’s sorrow. If so, it is the only shred of his biography which we possess, and some scholars would rob us even of that, by affirming that the lost ‘Pearl’ was purely a poetic creation. We can only guess at the man through his works. Judged by them, he appears to have been a literary country gentleman, born and bred in Lancashire, a man equally at home in his study, pen in hand, describing armed knights, and embattled castles, the tumultuoussurgings of the Deluge, and the woes of Jonah in the ‘maw’ of the ‘wylde walterande whal’; or, in the saddle, following the ‘wylde swyn’, or ‘reynarde’ ‘þe schrewe’ to the sound of horn and bugle and the ‘glauerande glam of gedered rachchez’ [yelping cry of a pack of hounds]. He possessed, on the one hand, a real vein of poetic imagination, coupled with learning and knowledge, and on the other, all the instincts of a keen sportsman. He was a lover of nature and outdoor life, with extraordinary powers of accurate observation, and an artist’s eye for picturesque detail. Thus his memory was stored with a rich and varied vocabulary which the exigencies of his alliterative verse brought into full play. Many of the words he used are not found recorded anywhere else in literature, but they have remained in the dialect of the district to which the poet belonged.Sir Gawayneespecially, by reason of its more secular subject-matter, abounds in words which are common in the North-country dialects of to-day, and it is these modern instances which have brought to light previously hidden meanings, and have confirmed contextual deductions, and thus enabled us to appreciate more fully the skilful handling of a wide range of vocabulary which characterizes this unknown poet, sportsman, and man of letters. In the description of the wondrous caparison of the Green Knight’s horse are mentioned ‘his molaynes’. The Glossary to the text gives this word as signifying: round embossed ornaments, but with a query. Stratmann’sDictionarygives ‘Molaine,sb.? some ornament of a shield’. No other instance of the use of the word occurs in literature, but it is found in the Midland and South Midland spoken dialects:Mullen, the head-gear of a horse; the bridle of a cart-horse. Similarly, ‘toppyng’, another word peculiar to this poem. The Glossary and Dictionary suggest the meanings ‘mane(?), or top, head(?)’; the correct meaning as shown by the dialects is: a horse’s forelock. When the Man in Green ‘gedereȝ vp hys grymme tole, Gawayn to smyte’, he ‘mynteȝ at hym maȝtyly’,l.2290. Obviously the verb ‘mynt’ means, as the Glossary says, toaim, or strike, but the more exact sense, and the one required by the story, is shown by the modern dialectmint(Sc.Irel.andn.Cy.dialects), to make a feigned attempt at, to make a movement as if to strike a blow but without doing it. The Green Knight had appointed his ‘grene chapelle’ as the place where Sir Gawayne was to receive this blow, and it proves to be ‘nobot an olde caue, Or a creuisse of an olde cragge’:Now i-wysse[of a truth],quod Wowayn, wysty is here.l.2189.This word ‘wysty’ is translated in the Glossary by: desert, waste, but with a query; the marginal paraphrase gives: ‘a desert is here.’ The word does not, as far as I know, occur in any other literary monument, but it has been preserved in the poet’s native dialect,cp.wisty(Lan.Chs.), spacious, empty, bare, large, often used in the sense of needlessly spacious. This meaning is exactly in accordance with the rest of the speech, and it adds a realistic touch, which was wanting in ‘desert’. Sir Gawayne was looking into the chapel, and he sees it all big, and bare, and empty—it was an uncanny place:Now I fele hit is þe fende, in my fyue wytteȝ,Þat hatȝ stoken[set]me þis steuen[tryst], to strye[destroy]me here....Hit is þe corsedest kyrk, þat euer I com inne.ll. 2193-6.CleannessIn the poem calledCleanness, beginning with the parable of the Marriage Feast, occurs the word ‘trasches’:For what vrþly haþel[man]þat hyȝ honour haldeȝWolde lyke, if a ladde com lyþerly[badly]attyred....With rent cokreȝ[gaiters]at þe kne & his clutte[clouted]trasches.ll. 35-40.The Glossary gives: ‘Trasches = trauses or trossers, ... trousers?’ and Stratmann’sDictionaryfavours the samesuggestion, but there is no longer any doubt that the word is correct as it stands, and that it is the same as the moderntrash(w.Yks.Lan.Chs.Stf.Der.), an old worn-out boot, shoe, or slipper. The combination ‘cockers and trashes’ appears in Grose’sProvincial Glossary, 1790: ‘Cockers and Trashes. Old stockings without feet, and worn-out shoes. North.’ The next line of the poem runs:& his tabarde to-torne & his toteȝ oute.l.41.Here both the Glossary and Dictionary suggest that ‘toteȝ’ is a corrupt form meaning ‘toes’, the suggestion being made to fit the word ‘oute’, regardless of the fact that the lad’s feet had already been described in the previous line. In all probability ‘his toteȝ oute’ means: his locks disordered, hanging loosely about,cp.tot(Lan.Sus.Hmp.Som.), in formstooat,tote(Lan.), a tuft, as of grass, hair,&c.The poemPatienceis the story of Jonah, enlarged, and pointed with a moral. When Jonah is told to rise up quickly and take his way to Nineveh, he fears the consequences:I com[if I came]wyth þose tyþynges, þay ta[take]me bylyue,Pyneȝ me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes,Wryþe[bind]me in a warlok, wrast out myn yȝen.ll. 78-80.PatienceBoth Glossary and Dictionary translate ‘warlok’ by prison, which, besides being a superfluous repetition of ‘prisoun’ in the preceding line, does not harmonize with the verb ‘wryþe’. A far better sense is gained by taking ‘warlok’ to mean chain, fetter,cp.warlock(Lan.Chs.Som.), to tighten the rope or chain which binds the load upon a wagon;sb.a method of tightening the rope or chain of a wagon-load, the fastening thus made,cp.‘Warloke, or fetyr lock:Sera pedicalis uel compedalis,’Prompt. Parv.circa 1440.These are only a few examples out of very many which could have been cited from these fourteenth-century poems alone, to illustrate the way in which the study of moderndialects helps us to a better understanding and appreciation of our older literature.Surnames and Place-namesBefore leaving the subject of the preservation of old words in the dialects, one other store-chamber of words no longer current in the standard speech is worth a passing notice. Many old words which have ceased to be used as common nouns, have become crystallized in surnames, and it is interesting to compare them with the existing cognates in the dialects. I am aware that any attempt to go etymologizing among surnames or place-names is treading on dangerous ground. It is so easy to rush in with a fair sounding derivation, which is in reality nothing more than a worthless guess. I shall not, therefore, venture far afield.Amongst the names here brought together, I have not included those which have now no living representative, as for example: Hordern, which is theO.E.hord-ærn, a treasury, a storeroom,lit.a hoard-house. The wordærnis, as far as I know, wholly obsolete, all except its finalnremaining inbarn, literally, a barley-house. Or again, Newbottle, Newbold, which contain the formsO.E.botl,bold, a house, a dwelling, now no longer used as a simple word, remaining only in surnames and place-names.Words denoting OccupationsTheO.E.suffix-estrewas originally used in forming femininenomina agentis, but already in laterO.E.we findbæcestreused to denote a male as well as a female baker, the name changing hands with the trade. During theM.E.period-estrebecame-sterand was felt to be only an emphatic form of the masculine-er, and could be used indifferently for men or women, so that when baking, brewing, dyeing, weaving,&c., ceased to be feminine pursuits, the termsbakester,brewester,litester,websterceased to convey any tinge of feminine gender, and in course of time they became the surnames Baxter, Brewster, Litster, Webster. To sit and spin was, however, an occupation to which the ladies held undisputed claim, and spinster continued to designatea woman as distinct and apart from a man, even when the trade was forgotten, so the term has never become a surname. As a common nounbacksterfor baker is known in a few northern dialects, but its use is dying out. In the formbakesterit is, however, used in Cornwall. In the same districtsbrewsterfor brewer holds a similar position.Litsterfor dyer is practically obsolete now, though the verblit, to dye, remains in Scotland and the North. It is a Scandinavian word, fromO.N.lita, to dye, already occurring inM.E.,cp.‘That thi fote be littid in blode,’ Hampole,c.1330,Ps.lxvii. 25.Websterbelongs also to Scotland and the North, but it is rapidly disappearing in favour of the ordinary word weaver. Where theA.V.has: ‘My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,’Jobvii. 6, Wyclif wrote: ‘My daies passiden swiftliere thanne a web is kit down of a webstere.’Words denoting Physical FeaturesThe name Brewis means broth, pottage,cp.brewis,browis(Sc.Nhb.Yks.Lan.Chs.Wal.Der.Shr.), broth, or bread soaked in hot water, gravy,&c., originally a French word,O.Fr.broez, broth, inM.E.brouis,brois,cp.:And y shal yeue þe ful fair bred,And make þe broys in þe led.Havelok,ll. 923, 924.Bentley is the grassy meadow, Broadbent, the broad field, or hill-side,cp.bent(Sc.Irel.and ingen.use inn. and midl.counties ande.An.), any coarse grass, especially that found on moorlands or near the sea, also a sandy hillock or knoll covered with coarse grass, a hill-side. The word is used by Chaucer, and by many other early writers. Brock means a badger,cp.brock(Sc.Irel.n.counties toChs., alsoLin.Lei.,&c.), a badger; but the word is obsolescent. Chapman is a word that occurs frequently inM.E.literature, meaning merchant, trader. It is closely connected withcheap, andchaffer,cp.chapman(Sc.Irel.Yks.Lan.Lei.Nhp.Shr.e.An.), a pedlar, a small dealer. Clough, Fairclough, signifies a ravine,cp.clough(n.Cy.dialects), a ravine, chasm, narrow glen. It occurs in Barbour’sBruce(1375) in the formclewch:‘In a clewch ... All his archeres enbuschit he,’xvi. 386. Garth is the Norse form of our wordyard,cp.garth(Sc.Nhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Not.Lin.Nhp.), a small piece of enclosed ground, usually beside a house,O.N.garðr, a small enclosure of land. Ginnell is probably the same word asO.Fr.chenel, orchanel, a channel,cp.ginnell(Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Chs.), a narrow passage or entry between buildings. In Scotland it denotes a small channel for water, a street gutter. Greaves is an old form ofgroves,cp.greave(Irel.Lan.), a grove, a division of a forest,O.E.grǣfa, a bush. Chaucer has the word in a well-known passage:The busy larke, messager of daye,Salueth in hire song the morwe graye;And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte,That al the orient laugheth of the lighte,And with his stremes dryeth in the grevesThe silver dropes, hongyng on the leeves.Knightes Tale,ll. 633-8.Streams, Meadows, Woods,&c.Hayward means literally hedge-warden,cp.hayward(Chs.Lin.Wor.Glo.Oxf.Bdf.Sus.Hmp.Dor.Som.), a manorial officer whose duty it is to see that fences are kept in repair, to look after the stock, and to impound stray cattle. One of the earliest instances of the use of the word inM.E.occurs in theAncren Riwle(c.1210), or Rule of Nuns, where reasons are given in support of the Rule that a nun should keep no beast but a cat only. Among the worldly cares and employments which would come upon her if she were to keep a cow, is that she would have to flatter the ‘heiward’. Holt, Hurst, Shaw are common words in the dialects for wood, copse,O.E.holt,hyrst,scaga,cp.‘Gaillard he was as goldfinch in the shaws,’Cokes Tale,l.3. Inge means a meadow,cp.ing(Nhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Not.Lin.e.An.Ken.Sur.Sus.), a meadow, pasture, especially low-lying land by the side of a stream or river,M.E.eng,O.N.eng. Kemp originally meant a fighter,cp.kemp(Sc.Nhb.Cum.Wm.), a champion, a bold impetuous person,O.E.cempa, a soldier, warrior,O.N.kempa,M.E.kempe, a soldier, a champion.In theLay of Havelok(c.1280) we read concerning ‘þe starke laddes’ who ‘putten with a mikel ston’:Hwo so mithe putten þoreBiforn a-noþer, an inch or more,Wore he yung, or wore he hold,He was for a kempe told.ll. 1033-6.TodhunterMurgatroyd, the moor-gate-royd, means the moor-way clearing. Thisgatehas nothing to do withgate, an opening, but we have it ingait, with specialized meaning. It is fromO.N.gata, a way,cp.gate(var. dial.uses inSc.Irel.andEng.), a way, path, road. It is very common inM.E.writings.-roydis related toIcel.ruð, a clearing in a wood,cp.royd(Yks.Lan.), a clearing in a wood, now generally found in place-names and field-names. Pargeter means a plasterer, and is borrowed from French,cp.parget(n.Cy.Yks.Lan.Chs.Lin.Nhp.War.Hrf.Glo.Ken.Sur.Sus.Som.), to plaster with cement or mortar, also to whitewash;pargeter, a plasterer.Fr. (Norm. dial.)porjeter, crépir, couvrir une muraille d’un enduit,O.Fr. (Norm.)pargeter,projeter, jeter et répandre en avant. Wyclif has: ‘Seie thou to hem that pargiten without temperure, that it schal falle doun,’Ezek.xiii. 11. Ruddock denotes a robin,cp.ruddock(n.Cy.Nhb.Yks.War.Wor.Suf.Ken.Wil.Dor.Som.Dev.Cor.), the robin,O.E.rudduc. Chaucer mentions ‘the tame ruddok’ in hisParliament of Foules. Rutherford means cattle-ford; the more common form of the word is found in Rotherhithe, literally cattle-harbour,cp.rother(n.Cy.Lan.War.Wor.Hrf.Sus.), a horned beast, horned cattle. John of Trevisa, writing of this country in 1387, says: ‘Þis ylond ys best to brynge forþ tren, & fruyt, & roþeron, & oþere bestes.’ Slade means a valley, a hollow, a grassy plain between hills, the side or slope of a hill, and is found in many dialects. Snell is originally an adjective, meaning quick, prompt,cp.snell(Sc.Irel.Nhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lin.), quick, sharp, acute, keen; and of the weather: cold, piercing,O.E.snell, quick, active. Souter means a shoemaker,cp.souter(Sc.n.Cy.Yks.Nhp.), a shoemaker, a cobbler,O.E.sūtere(fromLat.sutor),M.E.soutere,cp.‘A somer-game of souteres,’P. Plow.Bk. V, 413. Todhunter is the fox-hunter,cp.tod(Sc.Irel.Nhb.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Lin.), a fox. An early occurrence of the word is found in one of Ben Jonson’s poems. Wong means a field,cp.wong(Yks.Not.Lin.Lei.Nhp.), a field, a meadow, low-lying land,O.E.wang,wong, a plain, mead, field,M.E.wonge:And þe lond þat þor-til longes,Borwes, tunes, wodes and wonges.Havelok,ll. 1443, 1444.[1]‘For the mechanical part he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, who we shall hereafter see partly wrote theLives of the Poetsto which the name of Cibber is affixed; Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts.’—Boswell,Life of Johnson, sub anno 1748.Ed.G. Birkbeck Hill (1887),vol. i, p. 187.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight
About the middle of the fourteenth century were produced four remarkable poems,Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight, a romantic story of the adventures of an Arthurian knight;Pearl, a Vision;Cleanness; andPatience, stories taken from the Bible. We know nothing of the life of the author, we do not even know his name. Perhaps the little ‘Marjory’ who ‘lyfed not two yer in our thede[country]’ was the poet’s own daughter, and thePearltheIn Memoriamoutpouring of his life’s sorrow. If so, it is the only shred of his biography which we possess, and some scholars would rob us even of that, by affirming that the lost ‘Pearl’ was purely a poetic creation. We can only guess at the man through his works. Judged by them, he appears to have been a literary country gentleman, born and bred in Lancashire, a man equally at home in his study, pen in hand, describing armed knights, and embattled castles, the tumultuoussurgings of the Deluge, and the woes of Jonah in the ‘maw’ of the ‘wylde walterande whal’; or, in the saddle, following the ‘wylde swyn’, or ‘reynarde’ ‘þe schrewe’ to the sound of horn and bugle and the ‘glauerande glam of gedered rachchez’ [yelping cry of a pack of hounds]. He possessed, on the one hand, a real vein of poetic imagination, coupled with learning and knowledge, and on the other, all the instincts of a keen sportsman. He was a lover of nature and outdoor life, with extraordinary powers of accurate observation, and an artist’s eye for picturesque detail. Thus his memory was stored with a rich and varied vocabulary which the exigencies of his alliterative verse brought into full play. Many of the words he used are not found recorded anywhere else in literature, but they have remained in the dialect of the district to which the poet belonged.Sir Gawayneespecially, by reason of its more secular subject-matter, abounds in words which are common in the North-country dialects of to-day, and it is these modern instances which have brought to light previously hidden meanings, and have confirmed contextual deductions, and thus enabled us to appreciate more fully the skilful handling of a wide range of vocabulary which characterizes this unknown poet, sportsman, and man of letters. In the description of the wondrous caparison of the Green Knight’s horse are mentioned ‘his molaynes’. The Glossary to the text gives this word as signifying: round embossed ornaments, but with a query. Stratmann’sDictionarygives ‘Molaine,sb.? some ornament of a shield’. No other instance of the use of the word occurs in literature, but it is found in the Midland and South Midland spoken dialects:Mullen, the head-gear of a horse; the bridle of a cart-horse. Similarly, ‘toppyng’, another word peculiar to this poem. The Glossary and Dictionary suggest the meanings ‘mane(?), or top, head(?)’; the correct meaning as shown by the dialects is: a horse’s forelock. When the Man in Green ‘gedereȝ vp hys grymme tole, Gawayn to smyte’, he ‘mynteȝ at hym maȝtyly’,l.2290. Obviously the verb ‘mynt’ means, as the Glossary says, toaim, or strike, but the more exact sense, and the one required by the story, is shown by the modern dialectmint(Sc.Irel.andn.Cy.dialects), to make a feigned attempt at, to make a movement as if to strike a blow but without doing it. The Green Knight had appointed his ‘grene chapelle’ as the place where Sir Gawayne was to receive this blow, and it proves to be ‘nobot an olde caue, Or a creuisse of an olde cragge’:
Now i-wysse[of a truth],quod Wowayn, wysty is here.l.2189.
Now i-wysse[of a truth],quod Wowayn, wysty is here.l.2189.
Now i-wysse[of a truth],quod Wowayn, wysty is here.l.2189.
Now i-wysse[of a truth],quod Wowayn, wysty is here.
l.2189.
This word ‘wysty’ is translated in the Glossary by: desert, waste, but with a query; the marginal paraphrase gives: ‘a desert is here.’ The word does not, as far as I know, occur in any other literary monument, but it has been preserved in the poet’s native dialect,cp.wisty(Lan.Chs.), spacious, empty, bare, large, often used in the sense of needlessly spacious. This meaning is exactly in accordance with the rest of the speech, and it adds a realistic touch, which was wanting in ‘desert’. Sir Gawayne was looking into the chapel, and he sees it all big, and bare, and empty—it was an uncanny place:
Now I fele hit is þe fende, in my fyue wytteȝ,Þat hatȝ stoken[set]me þis steuen[tryst], to strye[destroy]me here....Hit is þe corsedest kyrk, þat euer I com inne.ll. 2193-6.
Now I fele hit is þe fende, in my fyue wytteȝ,Þat hatȝ stoken[set]me þis steuen[tryst], to strye[destroy]me here....Hit is þe corsedest kyrk, þat euer I com inne.ll. 2193-6.
Now I fele hit is þe fende, in my fyue wytteȝ,Þat hatȝ stoken[set]me þis steuen[tryst], to strye[destroy]me here....Hit is þe corsedest kyrk, þat euer I com inne.ll. 2193-6.
Now I fele hit is þe fende, in my fyue wytteȝ,
Þat hatȝ stoken[set]me þis steuen[tryst], to strye[destroy]me here.
...
Hit is þe corsedest kyrk, þat euer I com inne.
ll. 2193-6.
Cleanness
In the poem calledCleanness, beginning with the parable of the Marriage Feast, occurs the word ‘trasches’:
For what vrþly haþel[man]þat hyȝ honour haldeȝWolde lyke, if a ladde com lyþerly[badly]attyred....With rent cokreȝ[gaiters]at þe kne & his clutte[clouted]trasches.ll. 35-40.
For what vrþly haþel[man]þat hyȝ honour haldeȝWolde lyke, if a ladde com lyþerly[badly]attyred....With rent cokreȝ[gaiters]at þe kne & his clutte[clouted]trasches.ll. 35-40.
For what vrþly haþel[man]þat hyȝ honour haldeȝWolde lyke, if a ladde com lyþerly[badly]attyred....With rent cokreȝ[gaiters]at þe kne & his clutte[clouted]trasches.ll. 35-40.
For what vrþly haþel[man]þat hyȝ honour haldeȝ
Wolde lyke, if a ladde com lyþerly[badly]attyred.
...
With rent cokreȝ[gaiters]at þe kne & his clutte[clouted]trasches.
ll. 35-40.
The Glossary gives: ‘Trasches = trauses or trossers, ... trousers?’ and Stratmann’sDictionaryfavours the samesuggestion, but there is no longer any doubt that the word is correct as it stands, and that it is the same as the moderntrash(w.Yks.Lan.Chs.Stf.Der.), an old worn-out boot, shoe, or slipper. The combination ‘cockers and trashes’ appears in Grose’sProvincial Glossary, 1790: ‘Cockers and Trashes. Old stockings without feet, and worn-out shoes. North.’ The next line of the poem runs:
& his tabarde to-torne & his toteȝ oute.l.41.
& his tabarde to-torne & his toteȝ oute.l.41.
& his tabarde to-torne & his toteȝ oute.l.41.
& his tabarde to-torne & his toteȝ oute.
l.41.
Here both the Glossary and Dictionary suggest that ‘toteȝ’ is a corrupt form meaning ‘toes’, the suggestion being made to fit the word ‘oute’, regardless of the fact that the lad’s feet had already been described in the previous line. In all probability ‘his toteȝ oute’ means: his locks disordered, hanging loosely about,cp.tot(Lan.Sus.Hmp.Som.), in formstooat,tote(Lan.), a tuft, as of grass, hair,&c.The poemPatienceis the story of Jonah, enlarged, and pointed with a moral. When Jonah is told to rise up quickly and take his way to Nineveh, he fears the consequences:
I com[if I came]wyth þose tyþynges, þay ta[take]me bylyue,Pyneȝ me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes,Wryþe[bind]me in a warlok, wrast out myn yȝen.ll. 78-80.
I com[if I came]wyth þose tyþynges, þay ta[take]me bylyue,Pyneȝ me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes,Wryþe[bind]me in a warlok, wrast out myn yȝen.ll. 78-80.
I com[if I came]wyth þose tyþynges, þay ta[take]me bylyue,Pyneȝ me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes,Wryþe[bind]me in a warlok, wrast out myn yȝen.ll. 78-80.
I com[if I came]wyth þose tyþynges, þay ta[take]me bylyue,
Pyneȝ me in a prysoun, put me in stokkes,
Wryþe[bind]me in a warlok, wrast out myn yȝen.
ll. 78-80.
Patience
Both Glossary and Dictionary translate ‘warlok’ by prison, which, besides being a superfluous repetition of ‘prisoun’ in the preceding line, does not harmonize with the verb ‘wryþe’. A far better sense is gained by taking ‘warlok’ to mean chain, fetter,cp.warlock(Lan.Chs.Som.), to tighten the rope or chain which binds the load upon a wagon;sb.a method of tightening the rope or chain of a wagon-load, the fastening thus made,cp.‘Warloke, or fetyr lock:Sera pedicalis uel compedalis,’Prompt. Parv.circa 1440.
These are only a few examples out of very many which could have been cited from these fourteenth-century poems alone, to illustrate the way in which the study of moderndialects helps us to a better understanding and appreciation of our older literature.
Surnames and Place-names
Before leaving the subject of the preservation of old words in the dialects, one other store-chamber of words no longer current in the standard speech is worth a passing notice. Many old words which have ceased to be used as common nouns, have become crystallized in surnames, and it is interesting to compare them with the existing cognates in the dialects. I am aware that any attempt to go etymologizing among surnames or place-names is treading on dangerous ground. It is so easy to rush in with a fair sounding derivation, which is in reality nothing more than a worthless guess. I shall not, therefore, venture far afield.
Amongst the names here brought together, I have not included those which have now no living representative, as for example: Hordern, which is theO.E.hord-ærn, a treasury, a storeroom,lit.a hoard-house. The wordærnis, as far as I know, wholly obsolete, all except its finalnremaining inbarn, literally, a barley-house. Or again, Newbottle, Newbold, which contain the formsO.E.botl,bold, a house, a dwelling, now no longer used as a simple word, remaining only in surnames and place-names.
Words denoting Occupations
TheO.E.suffix-estrewas originally used in forming femininenomina agentis, but already in laterO.E.we findbæcestreused to denote a male as well as a female baker, the name changing hands with the trade. During theM.E.period-estrebecame-sterand was felt to be only an emphatic form of the masculine-er, and could be used indifferently for men or women, so that when baking, brewing, dyeing, weaving,&c., ceased to be feminine pursuits, the termsbakester,brewester,litester,websterceased to convey any tinge of feminine gender, and in course of time they became the surnames Baxter, Brewster, Litster, Webster. To sit and spin was, however, an occupation to which the ladies held undisputed claim, and spinster continued to designatea woman as distinct and apart from a man, even when the trade was forgotten, so the term has never become a surname. As a common nounbacksterfor baker is known in a few northern dialects, but its use is dying out. In the formbakesterit is, however, used in Cornwall. In the same districtsbrewsterfor brewer holds a similar position.Litsterfor dyer is practically obsolete now, though the verblit, to dye, remains in Scotland and the North. It is a Scandinavian word, fromO.N.lita, to dye, already occurring inM.E.,cp.‘That thi fote be littid in blode,’ Hampole,c.1330,Ps.lxvii. 25.Websterbelongs also to Scotland and the North, but it is rapidly disappearing in favour of the ordinary word weaver. Where theA.V.has: ‘My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,’Jobvii. 6, Wyclif wrote: ‘My daies passiden swiftliere thanne a web is kit down of a webstere.’
Words denoting Physical Features
The name Brewis means broth, pottage,cp.brewis,browis(Sc.Nhb.Yks.Lan.Chs.Wal.Der.Shr.), broth, or bread soaked in hot water, gravy,&c., originally a French word,O.Fr.broez, broth, inM.E.brouis,brois,cp.:
And y shal yeue þe ful fair bred,And make þe broys in þe led.Havelok,ll. 923, 924.
And y shal yeue þe ful fair bred,And make þe broys in þe led.Havelok,ll. 923, 924.
And y shal yeue þe ful fair bred,And make þe broys in þe led.Havelok,ll. 923, 924.
And y shal yeue þe ful fair bred,
And make þe broys in þe led.
Havelok,ll. 923, 924.
Bentley is the grassy meadow, Broadbent, the broad field, or hill-side,cp.bent(Sc.Irel.and ingen.use inn. and midl.counties ande.An.), any coarse grass, especially that found on moorlands or near the sea, also a sandy hillock or knoll covered with coarse grass, a hill-side. The word is used by Chaucer, and by many other early writers. Brock means a badger,cp.brock(Sc.Irel.n.counties toChs., alsoLin.Lei.,&c.), a badger; but the word is obsolescent. Chapman is a word that occurs frequently inM.E.literature, meaning merchant, trader. It is closely connected withcheap, andchaffer,cp.chapman(Sc.Irel.Yks.Lan.Lei.Nhp.Shr.e.An.), a pedlar, a small dealer. Clough, Fairclough, signifies a ravine,cp.clough(n.Cy.dialects), a ravine, chasm, narrow glen. It occurs in Barbour’sBruce(1375) in the formclewch:‘In a clewch ... All his archeres enbuschit he,’xvi. 386. Garth is the Norse form of our wordyard,cp.garth(Sc.Nhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Not.Lin.Nhp.), a small piece of enclosed ground, usually beside a house,O.N.garðr, a small enclosure of land. Ginnell is probably the same word asO.Fr.chenel, orchanel, a channel,cp.ginnell(Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Chs.), a narrow passage or entry between buildings. In Scotland it denotes a small channel for water, a street gutter. Greaves is an old form ofgroves,cp.greave(Irel.Lan.), a grove, a division of a forest,O.E.grǣfa, a bush. Chaucer has the word in a well-known passage:
The busy larke, messager of daye,Salueth in hire song the morwe graye;And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte,That al the orient laugheth of the lighte,And with his stremes dryeth in the grevesThe silver dropes, hongyng on the leeves.Knightes Tale,ll. 633-8.
The busy larke, messager of daye,Salueth in hire song the morwe graye;And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte,That al the orient laugheth of the lighte,And with his stremes dryeth in the grevesThe silver dropes, hongyng on the leeves.Knightes Tale,ll. 633-8.
The busy larke, messager of daye,Salueth in hire song the morwe graye;And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte,That al the orient laugheth of the lighte,And with his stremes dryeth in the grevesThe silver dropes, hongyng on the leeves.Knightes Tale,ll. 633-8.
The busy larke, messager of daye,
Salueth in hire song the morwe graye;
And fyry Phebus ryseth up so brighte,
That al the orient laugheth of the lighte,
And with his stremes dryeth in the greves
The silver dropes, hongyng on the leeves.
Knightes Tale,ll. 633-8.
Streams, Meadows, Woods,&c.
Hayward means literally hedge-warden,cp.hayward(Chs.Lin.Wor.Glo.Oxf.Bdf.Sus.Hmp.Dor.Som.), a manorial officer whose duty it is to see that fences are kept in repair, to look after the stock, and to impound stray cattle. One of the earliest instances of the use of the word inM.E.occurs in theAncren Riwle(c.1210), or Rule of Nuns, where reasons are given in support of the Rule that a nun should keep no beast but a cat only. Among the worldly cares and employments which would come upon her if she were to keep a cow, is that she would have to flatter the ‘heiward’. Holt, Hurst, Shaw are common words in the dialects for wood, copse,O.E.holt,hyrst,scaga,cp.‘Gaillard he was as goldfinch in the shaws,’Cokes Tale,l.3. Inge means a meadow,cp.ing(Nhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Not.Lin.e.An.Ken.Sur.Sus.), a meadow, pasture, especially low-lying land by the side of a stream or river,M.E.eng,O.N.eng. Kemp originally meant a fighter,cp.kemp(Sc.Nhb.Cum.Wm.), a champion, a bold impetuous person,O.E.cempa, a soldier, warrior,O.N.kempa,M.E.kempe, a soldier, a champion.In theLay of Havelok(c.1280) we read concerning ‘þe starke laddes’ who ‘putten with a mikel ston’:
Hwo so mithe putten þoreBiforn a-noþer, an inch or more,Wore he yung, or wore he hold,He was for a kempe told.ll. 1033-6.
Hwo so mithe putten þoreBiforn a-noþer, an inch or more,Wore he yung, or wore he hold,He was for a kempe told.ll. 1033-6.
Hwo so mithe putten þoreBiforn a-noþer, an inch or more,Wore he yung, or wore he hold,He was for a kempe told.ll. 1033-6.
Hwo so mithe putten þore
Biforn a-noþer, an inch or more,
Wore he yung, or wore he hold,
He was for a kempe told.
ll. 1033-6.
Todhunter
Murgatroyd, the moor-gate-royd, means the moor-way clearing. Thisgatehas nothing to do withgate, an opening, but we have it ingait, with specialized meaning. It is fromO.N.gata, a way,cp.gate(var. dial.uses inSc.Irel.andEng.), a way, path, road. It is very common inM.E.writings.-roydis related toIcel.ruð, a clearing in a wood,cp.royd(Yks.Lan.), a clearing in a wood, now generally found in place-names and field-names. Pargeter means a plasterer, and is borrowed from French,cp.parget(n.Cy.Yks.Lan.Chs.Lin.Nhp.War.Hrf.Glo.Ken.Sur.Sus.Som.), to plaster with cement or mortar, also to whitewash;pargeter, a plasterer.Fr. (Norm. dial.)porjeter, crépir, couvrir une muraille d’un enduit,O.Fr. (Norm.)pargeter,projeter, jeter et répandre en avant. Wyclif has: ‘Seie thou to hem that pargiten without temperure, that it schal falle doun,’Ezek.xiii. 11. Ruddock denotes a robin,cp.ruddock(n.Cy.Nhb.Yks.War.Wor.Suf.Ken.Wil.Dor.Som.Dev.Cor.), the robin,O.E.rudduc. Chaucer mentions ‘the tame ruddok’ in hisParliament of Foules. Rutherford means cattle-ford; the more common form of the word is found in Rotherhithe, literally cattle-harbour,cp.rother(n.Cy.Lan.War.Wor.Hrf.Sus.), a horned beast, horned cattle. John of Trevisa, writing of this country in 1387, says: ‘Þis ylond ys best to brynge forþ tren, & fruyt, & roþeron, & oþere bestes.’ Slade means a valley, a hollow, a grassy plain between hills, the side or slope of a hill, and is found in many dialects. Snell is originally an adjective, meaning quick, prompt,cp.snell(Sc.Irel.Nhb.Dur.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lin.), quick, sharp, acute, keen; and of the weather: cold, piercing,O.E.snell, quick, active. Souter means a shoemaker,cp.souter(Sc.n.Cy.Yks.Nhp.), a shoemaker, a cobbler,O.E.sūtere(fromLat.sutor),M.E.soutere,cp.‘A somer-game of souteres,’P. Plow.Bk. V, 413. Todhunter is the fox-hunter,cp.tod(Sc.Irel.Nhb.Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.Lin.), a fox. An early occurrence of the word is found in one of Ben Jonson’s poems. Wong means a field,cp.wong(Yks.Not.Lin.Lei.Nhp.), a field, a meadow, low-lying land,O.E.wang,wong, a plain, mead, field,M.E.wonge:
And þe lond þat þor-til longes,Borwes, tunes, wodes and wonges.Havelok,ll. 1443, 1444.
And þe lond þat þor-til longes,Borwes, tunes, wodes and wonges.Havelok,ll. 1443, 1444.
And þe lond þat þor-til longes,Borwes, tunes, wodes and wonges.Havelok,ll. 1443, 1444.
And þe lond þat þor-til longes,
Borwes, tunes, wodes and wonges.
Havelok,ll. 1443, 1444.
[1]‘For the mechanical part he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, who we shall hereafter see partly wrote theLives of the Poetsto which the name of Cibber is affixed; Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts.’—Boswell,Life of Johnson, sub anno 1748.Ed.G. Birkbeck Hill (1887),vol. i, p. 187.
[1]‘For the mechanical part he employed, as he told me, six amanuenses; and let it be remembered by the natives of North Britain, to whom he is supposed to have been so hostile, that five of them were of that country. There were two Messieurs Macbean; Mr. Shiels, who we shall hereafter see partly wrote theLives of the Poetsto which the name of Cibber is affixed; Mr. Stewart, son of Mr. George Stewart, bookseller at Edinburgh; and a Mr. Maitland. The sixth of these humble assistants was Mr. Peyton, who, I believe, taught French, and published some elementary tracts.’—Boswell,Life of Johnson, sub anno 1748.Ed.G. Birkbeck Hill (1887),vol. i, p. 187.