[English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day by Walter W. Skeat]@TWC D-Link bookEnglish Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day CHAPTER XII 14/37
_Crake_, boast; _leas( t)ways_, at least; _sarteny_, certainly; _monsus_, monstrous, very long. _No sense ov a_, poor, bad; _coad_, cold; _argufy_, prove (anything). _Sum'dy_, somebody; _from M._, between Maldon and Kelvedon; _'gin_, against, near; _four-releet_ (originally _four-e leet_, lit.
"ways of four," _four-e_ being the genitive plural, hence) meeting of four roads. _Dorn't_, don't; _aldoe_, although; _uster cud_ (for _us'd to could_), used to be able; _warsley_, vastly, much; _loike_, like; _gulch_, heavily, with a bang. _'Ood_, would; _nut_, not; _ax'd_, asked; _naa_, no; _nut quinny_, not quite, not at all. EASTERN (Group 3): NORFOLK. The following extract from "A Norfolk Dialogue" is from a work entitled _Erratics by a Sailor_, printed anonymously at London in 1800, and written by the Rev.Joshua Larwood, rector of Swanton Morley, near East Dereham.
Most of the words are quite familiar to me, as I was curate of East Dereham in 1861-2, and heard the dialect daily.
The whole dialogue was reprinted in _Nine Specimens of English Dialects_; E.D.S., 1895. The Dialogue was accompanied by "a translation," as here reprinted.
It renders a glossary needless. Original Vulgar Norfolk. _Narbor Rabbin and Narbor Tibby._ Translation. _Neighbour Robin and Neighbour Stephen._ _R._ Tibby, d'ye know how the knacker's mawther Nutty du? _R._ Stephen, do you know how the collar-maker's daughter Ursula is? _T._ Why, i' facks, Rabbin, she's nation cothy; by Goms, she is so snasty that I think she is will-led. _S._ Why, in fact, Robin, she is extremely sick; by (_obsolete_), she is so snarlish, that I think she's out of her mind. _R._ She's a fate mawther, but ollas in dibles wi' the knacker and thackster; she is ollas a-ating o' thapes and dodmans.
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