South Pembrokeshire, Dialect and Place-Names

By P. Valentine Harris

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Sep 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473356375

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Yorkshire

THE DIALECT

In many ways the dialect of South Pembrokeshire is the most fascinating in Britain and, owing to the county’s remoteness, perhaps the least adulterated in recent years. Many of the words are pre-Chaucerian which have fallen into disuse elsewhere and some of the more familiar words still have the earlier pronunciation.

If the history of the district were wrapped in obscurity the philologist would still be able to distinguish the various elements which go to make the people. In fact a truer history might be derived from language than from some other unaided methods.

But though some of the history is obscure we know that after the coming of the Goidels and the Brythons, Pembrokeshire was invaded by the Deisi from Ireland and in the tenth century was settled by the Danes, as all Vikings were once called. They were followed by the Normans and their English henchmen. Several settlements of Flemings were planted and later there were Irish invasions. There was also a close contact through coastal trade with the West Country of England. All these elements have made their mark as, of course, have the neighbouring Welsh.

The vast majority of Pembrokeshire words can also be found in the Danelagh, that area of England settled by the Danes which comprised East Anglia, much of Mercia and most of Northumbria; but as Joseph Wright noted in his English Dialect Grammar, there are several resemblances between the dialect of Pembrokeshire and those of Gloucester, Hereford and Hertfordshire, e.g. ‘f’ and ‘s’ became ‘v’ and ‘z’ as they still do in the West Country of England.

Several Pembrokeshire words are found elsewhere only in Wexford, the county where some of the invaders from ‘Little England’ settled. Dr. William Barnes, who edited Jacob Poole’s Glossary of the Old Dialect of . . . Forth and Bargy in 1867, affected to believe that it showed more traces of the West Country than of Pembrokeshire; but he appeared to be unacquainted with the families of Pembrokeshire. He says: ‘Carew is a very old Cornish name, Carw, a stag,’ which may be correct, but completely ignores the Fitzgerald family which adopted the name of the place. Of Stacpole he says it ‘rings very clearly of some Pol in Cornwall’! He does not comment on the names of Barry or Roche.

The pronunciation of many words of the old Wexford dialect have affinities with that of Pembrokeshire: again (agyne), amain (amyne), brain (bryne), grain (gryne), pail (pyle), etc. And the Flemish element may be discerned in words like poor (boor), plenty (blenty), ten (dhen), thunder (dhunder), thirteen (dhurteen), thread (dread), neighbour (nipore) and so on.

Some other Pembrokeshire words are found elsewhere, strangely enough, only in Caithness, the most northerly county of Scotland, an almost certain sign of their Norse origin.

I have not seen it remarked on before, but I have found a distinct feeling for alliteration in everyday phrases as ‘He’ll fall flat on his face.’ (He’ll be very much surprised or put out), ‘She’ll have forty-five fits’ and others not so polite.

Comparatively few words of Welsh origin have infiltrated. The chief influence from that source appears to be in the intonation and the construction of the sentences—‘There’s mad she was,’ and in making ‘trousers,’ ‘scissors’ and so on singular instead of plural.

‘A’ is often pronounced almost as in Cockney dialect—‘h’y’ for ‘hay,’ but in ‘grass,’ ‘pass,’ ‘flame,’ ‘stranger’ and ‘dangerous’ it is short, and ‘was’ is pronounced ‘waz’ instead of the Standard English ‘woz.’

‘Ee’ is pronounced as ‘i’ in ‘sheep,’ etc.

‘O’ in some words is ‘oo’—‘stoon’ for ‘stone.’

‘Oo’ in ‘goose’ is pronounced as in ‘look.’

‘Ow’ in ‘bow’ (a stitch in knitting) is pronounced almost as in ‘cow,’ which has led one correspondent to spell it ‘bough,’ but in ‘glow’ it resembles ‘oo,’ which has led another one astray. He spells it ‘glue’ (short for ‘glowworm’).

‘U’ in words like ‘butter’ is pronounced as in ‘bull.’

I have omitted many words previously collected by others in the field for various reasons: they are mispronunciations (e.g. ‘cavaltry’ for ‘cavalry’); purely Welsh and therefore not dialect; or words which have become standard, such as ‘creel.’

Many of the words are, alas, obsolete or obsolescent owing to the disappearance of the horse or for other reasons, but there is still a rich store of dialect which ought not to be allowed to vanish. Who, with any feeling for words would say ‘icicles’ rather than ‘frost candles,’ ‘fell headlong’ instead of ‘went ploughing,’ or prefer ‘in an uproar’ to ‘in an echo’?

I must pay tribute to the English Dialect Dictionary, (1898-1905), its editor and contributors and to all those who have lovingly collected dialect words. Without their groundwork this dictionary could not have been compiled in its present form.

The compiler would welcome correspondence on errors or omissions.

An asterisk denotes that the word has not previously been recorded. A word in square brackets after the entry-word shows the phonetic spelling where necessary. Initials in round brackets denote the collector or correspondent. Then follows the abbreviated names of countries, counties or districts where the word is also used, if any. Finally the derivation and use in literature when relevant.

A. He. ‘A’s coming tereckly, a’s shoor to kum.’ (E.D.D.) w.Yks., Nhp., Wor., Shr., Brks., I.W., Wil., Hmp., Som., Dev. [A fair knygt a was to see, Sir Ferumbras (1380) 250. Now might I doe it, but now a is praying. Hamlet, III. iii. 74.]

ABROAD. Boiled, cooked, or squeezed to pieces, to a mash, or liquid condition. w.Cy.

ACLUSH. All to pieces, to a mess, a mix-up; gen. in phr. all aclush or all to clush.

ADAM AND EVE. The early purple orchis (orchis mascula).

ADDLEY PULK. A putrid or stagnant pool. Scot. Addle, addle-dub. Nhb. Eddie. Dev. Addle-gutter. s. and w.Cy. Addle-pool.

AFEARED. Afraid, frightened, struck with