Word List Alnwick 1870

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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