THE ALNWICK LANGUAGE ca. 1870
Extracts only.
The copy of John Lamb Luckley’s The Alnwick Language in Newcastle Central Library comprises cuttings pasted in from a unidentified periodical (Luckley also edited the Alnwick Journal). It does not seem to have been published as a whole, and may never have been completed by Luckley, though gaps in this compilation are filled in by an unidentified contemporary hand. Such additions are indicated below by italics.
ahint – behind
airt – the point from which the wind blows: ‘The wund’s the wrang airt’
aller – the alder tree
alley – a marble made of alabaster
April Gowl – an April fool
arrnut – earthnut: ‘H’es been howking arrnuts…’
ax – to ask: ‘Gan an’ ax the maistor’
bad – invited: ‘he’s bad to the funeral’
badly – sick, ill barley – to speak for, claim: ‘Barley haff!’ [when a coin is found] Fr. parler
beastin’ – the first milk of a cow after calving: ‘beastin’ puddin” – plus beestlings or beestings
beeldy – warm, sheltered from wind: ‘a beeldy place’
bin or bing – a space or wooden receptacle for corn in a stable
bizon – a scandal
black-bowowers – blackberries – plus bumbly kites
blaring – crying peevishly: ‘You’r blaring like a calf’
blether – bladder, empty talk
blibe – a blister
Bo-lo – a nursery ghost or hobgoblin: ‘Gan to bed therecklies or aw’ll bring the bo-lo!’
brattle – the noise of a peal of thunder: ‘what a brattle o’ thunner that was!’
breeks – breeches
brock – a fox
bubbly – snotty: ‘a bubbly nose’
bubbly jock – a turkey cock
bummler – a humble bee: ‘a bummler byke’
bummler-box – a small box for holding bees and insects
byke – the nest of a bee or wasp
ca’, caw – to turn, to drive: ‘Tom, come an’ caw the grinstone’, ‘Ca’ the mangle, hinny’
caller – cool, fresh
cam – clayslate…used for slate pencils
can-kils – icicles
canny – kind, gentle, etc… apparently derived from the Scotch
car-handed – left-handed
carlins – grey peas steeped in water for a time, then ‘bristled’ and mixed with butter and sugar; they are eaten on the Sunday before Palm Sunday
casket – the stalk of a cabbage
caud – cold
cavilled – divided into ridges, spoken of a common field held in ridges
chep – a customer
chimla – chimney
chow – a quid of tobacco; also to chew
chowk – to choke
chucks – a game among girls played with shells; also the shells themselves
clag – to stick: ‘she clagg’d a bit wax on his nose’
claggum – treacle made hard by boiling
claise – clothes
clarts – soft mud: ‘She’s fa’en i’ the gutter and myed her frock a’ clarts’
clarty – dirty: ‘gan an’ wesh yor clarty fyece’
clash – to throw violently, to strike: ‘clash the door’, ‘Aw’ll clash yor lugs’
click – to clutch: ‘click haud o’ the rope, Cuddy’
clocker – a cockroach or other large beetle; also a hen with chickens
clog – a lump of wood: ‘put a clog on the fire’ W[elsh]. cleg, clog, a lump
clogs – shoes soled with wood
cockle – a quantity of spittle: ‘Tom spat a big cockle’
coggly – unsteady: ‘a coggly tyebble’
coup – to barter: ‘Jim coup’d his vine for two roasted taties’
cowp – to overturn: ‘Bella cowp’d the hyesty-pudding on her new goon’
cowp the creels – turn somersault
cracket – a low three-legged stool
craw – a crow
crowdy – oatmeal and boiling water stirred together till thick, and then ‘supped’ with milk, treacle, dripping, or beer sweetened with sugar
cuddy – an ass
cundy – a covered drain, a conduit
cushat – a dove
cushy cow – [childish name for a cow]
[much of D to H are present only as handwritten entries]
dad – a stroke or blow
daver – to stun or stupefy
dean – a narrow rather steep valley, especially with water…[and] often wooded’
deave – to deafen
deef – barren or empty
dike – a fence, commonly applied to one covered with sods
ding or dung – to dash violently: ‘They dung doon the ppep show’
dinna – do not
div – to do: ‘what div I knaw?’
docken – a dock [plant]
dottle – the unburnt remains of tobacco or a pipe, also the dung of some animals
drucken – drunken
drumly – muddy, turbid: ‘aw cuddint drink’t, it was sae drumly’
ducket – a dovecot
datil-man – day-tale-man, a person employed by the day
efter – after
elshin – a crooked awl used by shoemakers
esh – an ash tree
ether – an adder
a fairing – a present on a fair-day
fand – found
farnytickled – freckled
fash – to trouble: ‘Aw canna be fashed wi’ that aud goose’
few – a quantity: ‘Will ye hev a few broth?’
find – to feel / fand – felt: ‘O, mither, find how caud my toes is’ [more properly = find out?]
flannen – flannel
flig – fledged, feathered: ‘There’ a blackie’s nest amang the whuns and two ‘o them is flig’ [?flown]
fornenst – in front, over against: ‘He leeves right fornenst us’
fozy – soft and spongey, generally applied to frosted turnips
freet – a fright
fresh – a flood; mild weather in winter; rather intoxicated; hale and healthy
full – houseleek
feal dyke – a turf fence
fog – the aftermath or second growth after cutting for hay
gavelock – an iron bar used for putting up hurdles
galloway – a small saddle horse
gimmer – a female sheep between first and second shearing
Gocks – a pitman’s expression of astonishment: ‘Maw gocks, what a cull ye ar”
graip – a three-pronged dung fork
gar – make: ‘he gar you do that’
[grozers – gooseberries; entered s.v. mebby]
hain – to save: ‘Thor grass fields are a’ hained for the cows to gan in’
haulm – the stalk of pease, beans, etc.
hemel – hovel, a shed for cattle
hind – a yearly farm servant
hog – a one year old sheep
hoven – swollen
[‘howking dandelions’ from s.v. wark]
hummel – to ‘shill’ or take the outer cuticle off barley
havers – airs, a presumption of dignity
in-by – in general applied to the innder chamber of a house: ‘Had away in-by, man, an; hev a few broth’
jap – to splash with a liquid; to agitate a fluid in a vessel
jenny howlet – a sort of owl
jenny spinner – an insect; a feathered seed of the dandelion tribe, flying about
joggle – to shake gently: ‘joggling the table’
kail, kyel – broth or soup, especially when made with potatoes or fish: ‘Will ye hev a few tatie kail…?’
keek – to peep: ‘Keek, keek, hidy-ho-seek!’
keel – ruddle or red chalk
ken – to know: ‘Aw divvent ken’
kep – to catch: ‘he cuddint kep the ball’
kern – to churn; also the churn itself
kersen – to christen
Kersenmiss – Christmas
kist – a chest; commonly applied to a large box holding clothes
kit – a small wooden vessel, generally with one handle but often without: ‘Put the weshins int’ to the kit’
kittle – to tickle violently
kitty – the house of correction
knaw – to know
kye – cows
lad – a male sweetheart: ‘Tom Cubberson’s maw lad’
lairn – to teach, to learn: ‘Aw’ll lairn ye to myek sic a wark aboot nowt’
lass – a female sweetheart
lead – to carry, harvest: ‘leadin’ cwols’
lee – a lie
leet – to light; a light
leet on – to meet, fall in with, find: ‘Aw cuddent leet on’t. though aw sowght it ever sae lang’
lick – to beat, to conquer
limmer – the shaft of a cart
loan – a place for milking cows: ‘the cow loan’
loanin’ – a lane
lopper – to coagulate
lough – a small lake
loup – to leap
lowse – to loose: ‘Lowse the horses’
lug – the ear
maister – master
Mally – Mary
mammy – mother
mair – more
marrows – fellows: ‘Nanny bowt a pair o’ stockings an; they warrent marrows’
masselgem – mixed meal
maw – my
mawk – maggot: ‘the sheep was a’ mawks’
mawky – magotty
me – often used for ‘I’: ‘Me and Meggy’
mebby – maybe
meggy-mony-feet – a centipede
mell – a mallet: ‘Bring the mell, an’ drive the post farther doon’
mennim – a minnow
midden – a dunghill, an ash heap
midge – a gnat
mind – remember: ‘Dee ye mind thon place…’
morn – tomorrow: ‘Tom’s gan t’ gether taties the morn’
moudiwort – mole
muckle – great, large: ‘a muckle pair o’ clogs’
mugger – a travelling dealer in crockery
ned kyek – a cake kneaded with butter, etc.
neeve – the fist: ‘He doubled up his neeves, an’ hat us on the nose’
nor – than… Gael. na
nouse – nothing: ‘it’s nouse to talk aboot’
oo, ool – wool
or – before: ‘or Setterday’
oswe, out – ought, anything
oxters – the armpits
paddock – a frog
paddock-styul – a toad-stool
pant – a fountain of water for public use
paste-egg – an egg boiled hard, and ornamented in various ways, used at Easter: ‘Are ye gan t’ the Pasture t’ thraw yer paste-eggs?’
pee-dee – a miniature marble; on the Tyne…a small boy
peenge – to utter low fretful cries: ‘what’s the bairn peenging aboot?’
peth – a road with a steep ascent, a path
pipe-stopples – pieces of broken tobacco pipe tube
plash – fall: ‘a plash of rain’, ‘he’s plashed up tiv the neck’
plash a hedge – to prune the thorns by cutting upwards
pload – to wade in water
ploat – to pluck feathers
poke – a sack or bag: ‘ a poke o’ cwols’
poot – an unfledged bird
prog – to prick
proggly – prickly
punch – to kick about with the feet in bed in a restless manner: ‘Lie still an’ dinna punch us that way’
puzzin berries – the red berries of the mountain ash
quey, whey – a female calf, stirk or two year old
quickens, whickens – couch grass – twitch – the long creeping roots of weeds[sic]
range – to rinse: ‘range oot the skeel’
ratten – a rat
rax – to stretch: ‘rax that blether an’ we’ll myek a foot ball’
reesty – applied…to bacon when it is rancid
red – to put in order, to right: ‘ye shud red up yer place’, ‘red yor hair’
reek – smoke, vapour
rice – dead thorns fixed to form a fence
ripe – to rifle or search: ‘Aw catch’d him ripin’ maw breeches pocket’
rive – to tear
rolly – a low waggon, a truck used in coalpits
rooped – hoarse: ‘He’s roop’d wuv a sair throat’
rozzle – resin
saim – hog’s lard
scammle – to scramble
scart – to scratch
scooter – a squirt or syringe
scrab apples – fir cones
scranch – to grind a hard or crackling substance between the teeth with a noise
scrounge – to crush or squeeze toegther, as in a crowd: ‘What are ye scroungin’ us for?’
scrudge – nearly the same as ‘scrounge’
scumfish – suffocate: ‘Aw was half scumfish’d wi’ the stoor’
see’d – saw
seugh – syke – a dtich or small watercourse, generally of slow current
shaw – the haulm or leafy stalk of potatoes
shive – a large slice
shuggy shew – a swing
shull – shovel: ‘bring the shull an’ git the cwols in’, ‘shull away the snaw, Bob’
sic – such
skaling – spreading manure on grass land
skeel – a wooden vessel with a handle at one side, used for carrying milk or water
skelp – to slap with the hand
skep – a receptacle, especially for bees or oatmeal
slip – a sort of child’s apron
slippy – slippery
slush – a greedy eater or drinker
sned [no definition]
soft – damp, drizzly: ‘it’s a very soft day’
soom – to swim
soss – a clumsy, heavy fall: ‘he tumbled soss into the gutter’
spelk – a small splinter of wood
stang – sting
stirks – young cattle
stoor – dust disturbed
stot – rebound
stot – castrated oxen of two years old and upwards
sumph – a pool
sweer – averse, unwilling
tata – good-bye, a childish farewell
taty – a potato
tawry – the name of a favourite marble…called taw in the south
taws – a leather strap partly cut into long strips, tails or tags
ted – to unravel: ‘he’s teddin oot the hank’
teem – to pour out: ‘teem oot the milk’
theak – thatch: ‘he was theakin’ a hoose…’
the day – to day
thivel – a stick for stirring hasty pudding
thonder – yonder
thrang – busy, much engaged: ‘ye better come back the morn, hinny, wor very thrang the day, ye see’
thraw – twist: ‘aw’ll thraw yor neck”
thur – those: ‘Wully bowght a’ thur haddocks’
till – unto: ‘he did nowt till her’ tinkle tankle – icicle
tod – a fox
tormit – turnip [elsewhere in the text, turmit s.v. fozy]
tues – labor, fatigue: ‘he had sair tues to git it oot’
twull – a quill
twult – a quilt
twutchbell – an earwig
u’m, u’h-hum – an indifferent way of assenting
upsides – quits, even with: ‘Aw’ll be upsides wi’ ye for that’
vast – a great deal: ‘a vast o’ bonny ribbons’
vine – a cedar pencil
wag – to shake: ‘Wag hands, Wully, man’
wairsh – insipid: ‘she hezzent put ony salt i’ the breid, an’ its as wairsh as waiter’ also weak, wishy-washy: ‘wairsh port’
waiter – water
ware – expend: ‘divvent wear a’ yor money at the fair’
wark – employment
[wark – fuss, bother, see s.v. lairn]
warse – worse
waw – wall
wear – to keep off: ‘wear the sheep oot o’ the turnips’
well! – this word is very commonly used as an expletive introduction to a sentence: ‘Well, Tom, how ye come on at the hirin’?’
weshin’s – slops and kitchen leavings, used for feeding pigs
whaings – leather thongs for tying shoes
whee – who
Wheest! – hush
whickens – the long creeping roots of some weeds, especially of couch grass
whuns – furze or gorse: ‘whuns on the moor’
whussle – [a] whistle
whye – cf. quey
wise – to leave or let go: ‘open the gate, an’ wise oot the kye’
wor – our: ‘wor hoose’
wrack – seaweed thrown on the shore by a storm
wrang – wrong: ‘[the] clock’s a’ wrang agyen’
wuv – with
wull – will: ‘he says he wull’
wunna – will not: ‘aw wunna hev barley breed’
yammer – to complain in a fretful manner: ‘give ower that yammerin”
yark – to thresh or sap: ‘aw’ll yark yor hide’
yate, yet – a gate
yell – ale
yesty kyek – a cake made with yeast
yettlin – a hemispherical metal pot with three legs and a bow handle, much used for boiling porridge and potatoes’
Yule doo – a small image made of dough, with a couple of currants for eyes
yek – oakgate
yell – ale
yesty kyek – a cake made with yeast
yettlin – a hemispherical metal pot with three legs and a bow handle, much used for boiling porridge and potatoes’
Yule doo – a small image made of dough, with a couple of currants for eyes
yek – oak
The above material reproduced by kind permission of Tom Richardson.
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