The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire | Page 2

writers, in affording occasional help to the etymology of the
Anglo-Saxon portion of our language, and in exhibiting a view of the
present state of an important dialect of the western provinces of
England.
A late excursion through the West has, however, induced the Author to
believe that some valuable information may yet remain to be gathered
from our Anglo-Saxon dialect--more especially from that part of it still
used by the common people and the yeomanry. He therefore
respectfully solicits communications from those who feel an interest in
this department of our literature; by which a second edition may be
materially improved.
To a native of the west of England this volume will be found a
vade-mecum of reference, and assist the reminiscence of well-known,
and too often unnoted peculiarities and words, which are fast receding
from, the polish of elegance, and the refinement of literature.
In regard to the Poetical Pieces, it may be mentioned that most of them
are founded on West Country Stories, the incidents in which actually
occurred. If some of the subjects should be thought trifling, it must not
be forgotten that the primary object has been, to exemplify the Dialect,
and that common subjects offered the best means of effectuating such
an object. Of such Poems as _Good Bwye ta thee Cot_; _the Rookery_;
and _Mary Ramsey's Crutch_, it may be observed, that had the Author
felt less he might, perhaps, have written better.
_Metropolitan Literary Institution, London, March 25, 1825._

CONTENTS
- Dedication
- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- OBSERVATIONS on some of the Dialects of the West of England,
particularly Somersetshire
- A GLOSSARY of Words commonly used in Somersetshire

- POEMS and OTHER PIECES, exemplifying the Dialect of the
County of Somerset
- Good Bwye ta Thee Cot
- Fanny Fear
- Jerry Nutty
- Legend of Glastonbury
- Mr. Guy
- The Rookery
- Tom Gool
- Teddy Band--a Zong--Hunting for Sport
- The Churchwarden
- The Fisherman and the Players
- Mary Ramsey's Crutch
- Hannah Verrior
- Remembrance
- Doctor Cox
- The Farewell
- Farmer Bennet an Jan Lide, a Dialogue
- Thomas Came an Young Maester Jimmy, a Dialogue
- Mary Ramsay, a Monologue
- Soliloquy of Ben Bond
- Two Dissertations on Anglo-Saxon Pronouns
- Miss Ham on the Somerset Dialect
- Concluding Observations

OBSERVATIONS, &c.
The following Glossary includes the whole of Somerset, East of the
River Parret, as well as adjoining parts of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
West of the Parret many of the words are pronounced very differently
indeed, so as to mark strongly the people who use them. [This may be
seen more fully developed in two papers, by T. Spencer Baynes, read
before the Somersetshire Archaeological Society, entitled the
Somersetshire Dialect, printed 1861, 18mo, to whom I here
acknowledge my obligations for several hints and suggestions, of
which I avail myself in this edition of my late relative's work].
The chief peculiarity West of the Parret, is the ending of the third
person singular, present tense of verbs, in th or _eth_: as, he _lov'th_,

_zee'th_, &c., for he loves, sees, &c.
In the pronouns, they have Ise for I, and er for he. In fact the
peculiarities and contractions of the Western District are puzzling to a
stranger. Thus, her is frequently used for she. "_Har'th a doo'd it_," is,
"she has done it," (I shall occasionally in the Glossary note such words
as distinguishingly characterise that district).
Two of the most remarkable peculiarities of the dialect of the West of
England, and particularly of Somersetshire, are the sounds given to the
vowels A and E. A, is almost always sounded open, as in _fäther_,
_räther_, or somewhat like the usual sound of a in balloon, calico,
lengthened; it is so pronounced in bäll, cäll. I shall use for this
sound the circumflex over the a, thus â_ or ä_. E, has commonly the
same sound as the French gave it, which is, in fact, the slender of A, as
heard in pane fane, cane, &c. The hard sound given in our polished
dialect to the letters th, in the majority of words containing those letters
[as in through, three, thing, think_], expressed by the Anglo-Saxon
_ð_, is frequently changed in the Western districts into the sound
given in England to the letter _d_:
as for three, we have dree for thread, dread, or dird,
through, droo, throng, drong, or rather _drang_;
thrush, dirsh, &c. The consonant and vowel following d, changing
places. The slender or soft sound given to th in our polished dialect, is
in the West, most commonly converted into the thick or obtuse sound
of the same letters as heard in the words this, these &c., and this too,