Chaucer’s English Surviving in the Black Country.
The Black Country (South Staffordshire) dialect retains a great number of old words which have now almost vanished from polite English. Thus we have the verb * egg,’ which still means, as in Chaucer, to urge or goad
on. ‘ Glede,’ which Chaucer often uses, is still the familiar name for a glowing ember. ‘ Lig ’ is still employed for ‘ lie,’ in the sense both of recumbency and of falsehood, and is quiet common to hear a schoolboy accuse his deceitful playmate of being a ‘ ligger.’ ‘ Lever ’ is a common Chaucerian derivative from the word ‘lief’ denoting preference; and the modern collier is continually saying he * would liever play than work for less money.’ * Slither,’again, is commonly used for ‘slide,’ both noun and verb. * Wench ’ is employed in its own proper sense, without any suggestion of contempt —indeed, it is a favourite term of endearment, applied alike to the baby girl and to the faithful old wife. ‘ Stent ’ is a frequent name for a set task. ‘To rate’ means, as in Chaucer, not to levy a local tax, but to upbraid. ‘ Mun,’ the local form of ‘ must,’ is another survival frequently met with in the ‘ Canterbury Tales.’ The pluras of ‘ do.’ ‘ go,’ ‘ have,’ and ‘ say,’ viz, ‘ don,’ ‘ gon,’ ‘ han,’ and ‘ sen,’ are found in the same work nearly three hundred times. ‘ Orts' is in every day use for remains of food, and ‘ leasowes ’ for fields. The expression ‘ dout \ i.e. ‘ do out’] the light’ is still common; and ‘ tind,’ for ‘ kindle,’ reminds one of the old tinder box that preceded the lucifer. ‘ Ost,’ a peculiar word meaning to offer, attempt, or pretend to do a thing, seems to defy any successful guess at its etymology ; as also does the word * moither,’ meaning to wander mentally, as in delirium. ‘ Gaffer ’ is still regularly used alike for an employer or a male superior; ‘ doggy ’ is a petty foreman down a pit; while ‘ butty ’ is used to describe a companion, a workmate, or a partner in a mining venture. —Leisure Hour.
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Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 753, 6 July 1894, Page 6
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341Chaucer’s English Surviving in the Black Country. Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 753, 6 July 1894, Page 6
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