The Victorian era brought a great interest in science, in language, and in dialects. Learned societies were formed by interested people to look into the origins of language.
Details of some of the people involved are given ono other pages. Of particular relevance to Northumbrian are the following works.
Richard Oliver Heslop – Northumbrian Words. Regarded by many as the standard Dictionary of Northumbrian words, Heslop published his ‘Glossary of words used in the County of Northumberland in 1892. Heslop also contributed to the English Dialect Dictionary. As president of the Newcastle Literary & Philosophical Society he did much to bring the Northumbrian Language and Dialect to public notice.
Volume 1- A-F Glossary of Northumberland Words
Volume 2 – G-Z Glossary of Northumberland Words
Joseph Wright -The English Dialect Dictionary (in 6 parts) Produced in 28 parts intended for binding into the six volumes with publication dates of 1898, 1900, 1902, 1903, 1904 and 1905. Vol. 6 includes an invaluable list of writings in dialect arranged by counties. Due to the scale of the work, 70,000 entries, and the period in which the information was gathered, it is regarded as a standard work in the historical study of dialect.
It is available on line via these links
Volume 1 – A-C – English Dialect Dictionary
Volume 2 – D-G – English Dialect Dictionary
Volume 3 – H-L- English Dialect Dictionary
Volume 4 – M-Q – English Dialect Dictionary
Volume 5 – R-S- English Dialect Dictionary
Volume 6 – T-Z – English Dialect Dictionary (includes supplementary information
John Trotter Brockett
The Glossary referenced here was published in 1829, so predates both of the above, and follows on from an earlier work, though Brockett states that it is all new.
A Glossary of North Country Words,
Share this content