Chapter CI: Part VII: The Dialects of the English Language (1)

s. 678. The consideration of the dialects of the English language is best taken in hand after the historical investigation of the elements of the English population. For this, see Part I.

It is also best taken in hand after the analysis of the grammatical structure of the language. For this, see Part IV.

This is because both the last-named subjects are necessary as preliminaries. The structure of the language supplies us with the points in which one dialect may differ from another, whilst the history of the immigrant populations may furnish an ethnological reason for such differences as are found to occur.

For a further illustration of this see pp. 4, 5.

s. 679. By putting together the history of the migrations into a country, and the grammatical structure of the language which they introduced, we find that there are two methods of classifying the dialects. These may be called the ethnological, and the structural methods.

According to the former, we place in the same class those dialects which were introduced by the same section of immigrants. Thus, a body of Germans, starting from the same part of Germany, and belonging to the same section of the Germanic population, even if, whilst at sea, they separated into two, three, or more divisions, and landed upon widely separated portions of Great Britain, would introduce dialects which were allied _ethnologically_; even though, by one of them changing rapidly, and the others not changing at all, they might, in their external characters, differ from each other, and agree with dialects of a different introduction. Hence, the ethnological principle is essentially historical, and {532} is based upon the idea of _affiliation_ or affinity in the way of descent.

The _structural_ principle is different. Two dialects introduced by different sections (perhaps it would be better to say _sub_-sections) of an immigrant population may suffer similar changes; _e. g._, they may lose the same inflexions, adopt similar euphonic processes, or incorporate the same words. In this case, their external characters become mutually alike. Hence, if we take two (or move) such dialects, and place them in the same class, we do so simply because they are alike; not because they are affiliated.

Such are the two chief principles of classification. Generally, they coincide; in other words, similarity of external characters is _prim[^a] facie_ evidence of affinity in the way of affiliation, identity of origin being the safest assumption in the way of cause; whilst identity of origin is generally a sufficient ground for calculating upon similarity of external form; such being, _a priori_, its probable effect.

Still, the evidence of one in favour of the other is only _prim[^a] facie_ evidence. Dialects of the same origin may grow unlike; dialects of different origins alike.

s. 680. The causes, then, which determine those minute differences of language, which go by the name of _dialects_ are twofold.--1. Original difference; 2. Subsequent change.

s. 681. The original difference between the two sections (or _sub_-sections) of an immigrant population are referable to either--1. Difference of locality in respect to the portion of the country from which they originated; or 2. Difference in the date of the invasion.

Two bodies of immigrants, one from the Eyder, and the other from the Scheldt, even if they left their respective localities on the same day of the same month, would most probably differ from one another; and that in the same way that a Yorkshireman differs from a Hampshire man.

On the other hand, two bodies of immigrants, each leaving the very same locality, but one in 200 A.D., and the other in 500 A.D., would also, most probably, differ; and that as a Yorkshireman of 1850 A.D. differs from one of 1550 A.D. {533}

s. 682. The subsequent changes which may affect the dialect of an immigrant population are chiefly referable to either, 1. Influences exerted by the dialects of the aborigines of the invaded country; 2. Influences of simple growth, or development. A dialect introduced from Germany to a portion of Great Britain, where the aborigines spoke Gaelic, would (if affected at all by the indigenous dialect) be differently affected from a dialect similarly circumstanced in a British, Welsh, and Cambrian district.

A language which changes rapidly, will, at the end of a certain period, wear a different aspect from one which changes slowly.

s. 683. A full and perfect apparatus for the minute philology of the dialects of a country like Great Britain, would consist in--

1. The exact details of the present provincialisms.

2. The details of the history of each dialect through all its stages.

3. The exact details of the provincialisms of the whole of that part of Germany which contributed, or is supposed to have contributed, to the Anglo-Saxon immigration.

4. The details of the original languages or dialects of the Aboriginal Britons at the time of the different invasions.

This last is both the least important and the most unattainable.

s. 684. Such are the preliminaries which are wanted for the purposes of investigation. Others are requisite for the proper understanding of the facts already ascertained, and the doctrines generally admitted; the present writer believing that these two classes are by no means coextensive.

Of such preliminaries, the most important are those connected with 1. the structure of language, and 2. the history of individual documents; in other words, certain points of philology, and certain points of bibliography.

s. 685. _Philological preliminaries._--These are points of pronunciation, points of grammatical structure, and glossarial peculiarities. It is only the first two which will be noticed. They occur in 1. the modern, 2. the ancient local forms of speech. {534}

s. 686. _Present provincial dialects._--In the way of grammar we find, in the present provincial dialects (amongst many others), the following old forms--

1. A plural in _en_--_we call-en_, _ye call-en_, they _call-en_. Respecting this, the writer in the Quarterly Review, has the following doctrine:--

"It appears to have been popularly known, if not in East Anglia proper, at all events in the district immediately to the westward, since we find it in Orm, in an Eastern-Midland copy of the Rule of Nuns, saec. XIII., and in process of time in Suffolk. Various conjectures have been advanced as to the origin of this form, of which we have no certain examples before the thirteenth century.[72] We believe the true state of the case to have been as follows. It is well known that the Saxon dialects differ from the Gothic, Old-German, &c. in the form of the present indicative plural--making all three persons to end in _-ath_ or _-ad_;_--we--[gh]e--hi--lufi-ath_ (_-ad_). Schmeller and other German philologists observe that a nasal has been here elided, the true ancient form being _-and_, _-ant_, or _-ent_. Traces of this termination are found in the Cotton MS. of the Old Saxon Evangelical Harmony, and still more abundantly in the popular dialects of the Middle-Rhenish district from Cologne to the borders of Switzerland. These not only exhibit the full termination _-ent_, but also two modifications of it, one dropping the nasal and the other the dental. _E.g._:--

Pres. Indic. Plur. 1, 2, 3 liebent;
" " lieb-et;
" " lieb-en;

--the last exactly corresponding with the Mercian. It is remarkable that none of the above forms appear in classical German compositions, while they abound in the Miracle-plays, vernacular sermons, and similar productions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, specially addressed to the uneducated classes. We may, therefore, reasonably conclude from analogy that similar forms were popularly current in our midland counties, gradually insinuating themselves into the {535} written language. We have plenty of examples of similar phenomena. It would be difficult to find written instances of the pronouns _scho_, or _she_, _their_, _you_, the auxiliaries _sal_, _suld_, &c., before the twelfth century; but their extensive prevalence in the thirteenth proves that they must have been popularly employed somewhere even in times which have left us no documentary evidence of their existence."

I prefer to consider this termination as _-en_, a mere extension of the subjunctive form to the indicative.

2. An infinitive form in _-ie_; as to _sowie_, to _reapie_,--Wiltshire. (Mr. Guest).

3. The participial form in _-and_; as _goand_, _slepand_,--Lincolnshire (?), Northumberland, Scotland.

4. The common use of the termination _-th_ in the third person present; _goeth_, _hath_, _speaketh_,--Devonshire.

5. Plural forms in _-en_; as _housen_,--Leicestershire and elsewhere.

6. Old preterite forms of certain verbs; as,

_Clom_, from _climb_, Hereford and elsewhere.
_Hove_, -- _heave_, ditto.
_Puck_, -- _pick_, ditto.
_Shuck_, -- _shook_, ditto.
_Squoze_, -- _squeeze_, ditto.
_Shew_, -- _sow_, Essex.
_Rep_, -- _reap_, ditto.
_Mew_, -- _mow_, ditto, &c.

The following changes (a few out of many) are matters not of grammar, but of pronunciation:--

Ui for _oo_--_cuil_, _bluid_, for _cool_, _blood_,--Cumberland, Scotland.

Oy for _i_--_foyne_, _twoyne_, for _fine_, _twine_,--Cheshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk.

Oy for _oo_--_foyt_ for _foot_,--Halifax.

Oy for _o_--_noite_, _foil_, _coil_, _hoil_, for _note_, _foal_, _coal_, _hole_,--Halifax.

Oy for _a_--_loyne_ for _lane_,--Halifax.

Ooy for _oo_--_nooin_, _gooise_, _fooil_, _tooil_, for _noon_, _goose_, _fool_, _tool_,--Halifax. {536}

W inserted (with or without a modification)--as _spwort_, _scworn_, _whoam_, for _sport_, _scorn_, _home_,--Cumberland, West Riding of Yorkshire.

Ew for _oo_, or _yoo_--_tewn_ for _tune_,--Suffolk, Westmoreland.

Iv for _oo_, or _yoo_ when a vowel follows--as _Samivel_ for _Samuel_; _Emmanivel_ for _Emmanuel_. In all these we have seen a tendency to _diphthongal_ sounds.

In the following instances the practice is reversed, and instead of the vowel being made a diphthong, the diphthong becomes a vowel, as,

O for _oy_--_boh_ for _boy_, Suffolk, &c.

Oo for _ow_--_broon_ for _brown_,--Bilsdale.

Ee for _i_--_neet_ for _night_,--Cheshire.

O for _ou_--_bawn'_ for _bound_,--Westmoreland.

Of these the substitution of _oo_ for _ow_, and of _ee_ for _i_, are of importance in the questions of the Appendix.

[=E][=e] for _a_--_theere_ for _there_,--Cumberland.

[=E][=e] for _[)e]_--_reed_, _seeven_, for _red_, _seven_,--Cumberland, Craven.

[=A] for _[=o]_--_sair_, _mair_, _baith_, for _sore_, _more_, _both_,--Cumberland, Scotland.

[)A] for _[)o]_--_saft_ for _soft_,--Cheshire.

O for _[)a]_--_mon_ for _man_,--Cheshire. _Lond_ for _land_,--East-Anglian Semi-Saxon.

_Y_ inserted before a vowel--_styake_, _ryape_, for _stake_, _rope_,--Borrowdale; especially after _g_ (a point to be noticed), _gyarden_, _gyown_, for _garden_, _gown_,--Warwickshire, &c.; and at the beginning of a word, as _yat_, _yan_, for _ate_, _one_ (_ane_),--Westmoreland, Bilsdale.

_H_ inserted--_hafter_, _hoppen_, for _after_, _open_,--Westmoreland, &c.

_H_ omitted--_at_, _ard_, for _hat_, _hard_,--_Passim_.

_Transition of Consonants._

_B_ for _v_--_Whitehebbon_ for _Whitehaven_,--Borrowdale.

_P_ for _b_--_poat_ for _boat_.--Welsh pronunciation of many English words. See the speeches of Sir Hugh Evans in Merry Wives of Windsor.

_V_ for _f_--_vind_ for _find_,--characteristic of Devonshire, Kent. {537}

_T_ for _d_ (final)--_deet_ for _deed_,--Borrowdale.

_T_ for _ch_ (_tsh_)--_fet_ for _fetch_,--Devonshire.

_D_ for _j_ (_dzh_)--_sled_ for _sledge_,--Hereford.

_D_ for _th_ (_th_)--_wid_=_with_; _tudder_=_the other_,--Borrowdale, Westmoreland. Initial (especially before a consonant)--_drash_, _droo_=_thrash_, _through_,--Devonshire, Wilts.

_K_ for _ch_ (_tsh_)--_thack_, _pick_, for _thatch_, _pitch_,--Westmoreland, Lincolnshire, Halifax.

_G_ for _j_ (_dzh_)--_brig_ for _bridge_--Lincolnshire, Hereford.

_G_ preserved from the Anglo-Saxon--_lig_, _lie_. Anglo-Saxon, _licgan_,--Lincolnshire, North of England.

_Z_ for _s_--_zee_ for _see_,--Devonshire.

_S_ for _sh_--_sall_ for _shall_,--Craven, Scotland.

_Y_ for _g_--_yet_ for _gate_,--Yorkshire, Scotland.

_W_ for _v_--_wiew_ for _view_,--Essex, London.

_N_ for _ng_--_bleedin_ for _bleeding_,--Cumberland, Scotland.

_Sk_ for _sh_--_busk_ for _bush_,--Halifax.

_Ejection of Letters._

_K_ before _s_, the preceding vowel being lengthened by way of compensation--_neist_ for _next_, _seist_ for _sixth_,--Halifax.

_D_ and _v_ after a consonant--_gol_ for _gold_, _siller_ for _silver_,--Suffolk. The ejection of _f_ is rarer; _mysel_ for _myself_, however, occurs in most dialects.

_L_ final, after a short vowel,--in which case the vowel is lengthened--_poo_ for _pull_,--Cheshire, Scotland.

_Al_ changed to _a_ open--_hawf_ for _half_, _saumo_n for _salmon_,--Cumberland, Scotland.

_Transposition._

Transpositions of the liquid _r_ are common in all our provincial dialects; as _gars_, _brid_, _perty_, for _grass_, _bird_, _pretty_. Here the provincial forms are the oldest, _gaers_, _brid_, &c., being the Anglo-Saxon forms. Again; _acsian_, Anglo-Saxon=_ask_, English.

s. 687. _Ancient forms of speech._--In the way of grammar--

1. The _ge-_ (see s. 409), prefixed to the past participle (_ge-boren_=_borne_) is, in certain localities,[73] omitted.

{538}

2. The present[74] plural form _-s_, encroaches upon the form in _-n_. Thus, _munuces_=_munucan_=_monks_.

3. The infinitive ends in _-a_, instead of _-an_. This is Scandinavian, but it is also Frisian.

4. The particle _at_ is used instead of _to_ before the infinitive verb.

5. The article[74] _the_ is used instead of _se_, _seo_, _thaet_=[Greek: ho, he, to], for both the numbers, and all the cases and genders.

6. The form in _-s_ (_use_, _usse_) replaces _ure_=_our_.

In the way of sound--

1. Forms with the slenderer, or more vocalic[74] sounds, replace forms which in the West-Saxon are broad or diphthongal.[75] Beda mentions that _Coelin_ is the Northumbrian form of _Ceawlin_.

2. The simple[74] sound of _k_ replaces the combination out of which the modern sound of _ch_ has been evolved.

3. The sound of _sk_ replaces either the _sh_, or the sound out of which it has been evolved.

The meaning of these last two statements is explained by the following extract: "Another characteristic is the infusion of Scandinavian words, of which there are slight traces in monuments of the tenth century, and strong and unequivocal ones in those of the thirteenth and fourteenth. Some of the above criteria may be verified by a simple and obvious process, namely, a reference to the topographical nomenclature of our provinces. Whoever takes the trouble to consult the Gazetteer of England will find, that of our numerous 'Carltons' not one is to be met with south of the Mersey, west of the Staffordshire Tame, or south of the Thames; and that 'Fiskertons,' 'Skiptons,' 'Skelbrookes,' and a whole host of similar names are equally _introuvables_ in the same district. They are, with scarcely a single exception, northern or eastern; and we know from Aelfric's Glossary, from Domesday and the Chartularies, that this distinction of pronunciation was established as early as the eleventh century. 'Kirby' or 'Kirkby,' is a specimen of joint Anglian and {539} Scandinavian influence, furnishing a clue to the ethnology of the district wherever it occurs. The converse of this rule does not hold with equal universality, various causes having gradually introduced soft palatal sounds into districts to which they did not properly belong. Such are, however, of very partial occurrence, and form the exception rather than the rule."--_Quarterly Review_, No. CLXIV.

_Bibliographical preliminaries._--The leading facts here are the difference between 1. the locality of the authorship, and 2, the locality of the transcription of a book.

Thus: the composition of a Devonshire poet may find readers in Northumberland, and his work be transcribed by Northumbrian copyist. Now this Northumbrian copyist may do one of two things: he may transcribe the Devonian production _verbatim et literatim_; in which case his countrymen read the MS. just as a Londoner reads Burns, _i.e._, in the dialect of the writer, and not in the dialect of the reader. On the other hand, he may _accommodate_ as well as transcribe, _i.e._, he may change the _non_-Northumbrian into Northumbrian expressions, in which case his countrymen read the MS. in their own rather than the writer's dialect.

Now it is clear, that in a literature where transcription, _combined with accommodation_, is as common as _simple_ transcription, we are never sure of knowing the dialect of an author unless we also know the dialect of his transcriber. In no literature is there more of this _semi_-translation than in the Anglo-Saxon and the early English; a fact which sometimes raises difficulties, by disconnecting the evidence of authorship with the otherwise natural inferences as to the dialect employed; whilst, at others, it smoothes them away by supplying as many specimens of fresh dialects, as there are extant MSS. of an often copied composition.

Inquiring whether certain peculiarities of dialect in Layamon's Brut, really emanated from the author, a writer in the Quarterly Review, (No. clxiv.) remarks, that to decide this it "would be necessary to have access either to the priest's autograph, or to a more faithful copy of it than it was the practice to make either in his age or the succeeding {540} ones. A transcriber of an early English composition followed his own ideas of language, grammar, and orthography; and if he did not entirely obliterate the characteristic peculiarities of his original, he was pretty sure, like the Conde de Olivares, 'd'y meter beaucour du sein.' The practical proof of this is to be found in the existing copies of those works, almost every one of which exhibits some peculiarity of features. We have 'Trevisa' and 'Robert of Gloucester,' in two distinct forms--'Pier's Ploughman,' in at least three, and 'Hampole's Pricke of Conscience,' in half a dozen, without any absolute certainty which approximates most to what the authors wrote. With regard to Layamon, it might be supposed that the older copy is the more likely to represent the original; but we have internal evidence that it is not the priest's autograph; and it is impossible to know what alterations it may have undergone in the course of one or more transcriptions."

Again, in noticing the orthography of the Ormulum (alluded to in the present volume, s. 266), he writes: "It is true that in this instance we have the rare advantage of possessing the author's autograph, a circumstance which cannot with confidence be predicated of any other considerable work of the same period. The author was, moreover, as Mr. Thorpe observes, a kind of critic in his own language; and we therefore find in his work, a regularity of orthography, grammar, and metre, hardly to be paralleled in the same age. All this might, in a great measure, disappear in the very next copy; for fidelity of transcription was no virtue of the thirteenth or the fourteenth century; at least with respect to vernacular works. It becomes, therefore, in many cases a problem of no small complication, to decide with certainty respecting the original metre, or language, of a given mediaeval composition, with such data as we now possess."

From all this it follows, that the inquirer must talk of _copies_ rather than of _authors_.

s. 688. _Caution._--Differences of spelling do not always imply differences of pronunciation; perhaps they may be _prim[^a] facie_ of such. Still it is uncritical to be over-hasty in {541} separating, as specimens of _dialect_, works which, perhaps, only differ in being specimens of separate _orthographies_.

s. 689. _Caution._--The accommodation of a transcribed work is susceptible of _degrees_. It may go so far as absolutely to replace one dialect by another, or it may go no farther than the omission of the more unintelligible expressions, and the substitution of others more familiar. I again quote the Quarterly Review,--"There are very few matters more difficult than to determine _[`a] priori_, in what precise form a vernacular composition of the thirteenth century might be written, or what form it might assume in a very short period. Among the Anglo-Saxon charters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, many are modelled upon the literary Anglo-Saxon, with a few slight changes of orthography and inflection; while others abound with dialectical peculiarities of various sorts. Those peculiarities may generally be accounted for from local causes. An East-Anglian scribe does not employ broad western forms, nor a West of England man East-Anglian ones; though each might keep his provincial peculiarities out of sight, and produce something not materially different from the language of Aelfric."

s. 690. _Caution._--In the Reeve's Tale, Chaucer puts into the mouth of one of his north-country clerks, a native of the Strother, in the north-west part of the deanery of Craven, where the Northumbrian dialect rather preponderates over the Anglian, certain Yorkshire glosses. "Chaucer[76] undoubtedly copied the language of some native; and the general accuracy, with which he gives it, shows that he was an attentive observer of all that passed around him.

"We subjoin an extract from the poem, in order to give our readers an opportunity of comparing southern and northern English, as they co-existed in the fifteenth century. It is from a MS. that has never been collated; but which we believe to be well worthy the attention of any future editor of the Canterbury Tales. The italics denote variations from the printed text:--

{542}

"John highte that oon and Aleyn highte that other:
Of _oo_ toun were thei born that highte Strother,
Ffer in the north I can not tellen where.
This Aleyn maketh redy al his gere--
And on an hors the sak he caste anoon.
Fforth goth Aleyn the clerk and also John,
With good swerde and bokeler by his side.
John knewe the weye--hym nedes no gide;
And atte melle the sak a down he layth.
Aleyn spak first: Al heyle, Symond--in fayth--
How fares thi fayre daughter and thi wyf?
Aleyn welcome--quod Symkyn--be my lyf--
And John also--how now, what do ye here?
By God, quod John--Symond, nede has _na_ pere.
Hym bihoves _to_ serve him self that has na swayn;
Or _ellis_ he is a fool as clerkes sayn.
Oure maunciple I hope he wil be ded--
Swa _werkes hym_ ay the wanges in his heed.
And therefore is I come and eek Aleyn--
To grynde oure corn, and carye it _ham_ agayne,
I pray yow _spedes_[77] us _hethen_ that ye may.
It shal be done, quod Symkyn, by my fay!
What wol ye done while it is in hande?
By God, right by the hoper wol I stande,
Quod John, and see _how gates_ the corn gas inne;
_Yit_ saugh I never, by my fader kynne,
How that the hoper wagges til and fra!
Aleyn answerde--John wil _ye_ swa?
Than wil I be bynethe, by my crown,
And se _how gates_ the mele falles down
In til the trough--that sal be my disport.
_Quod John_--In faith, I is of youre sort--
I is as ille a meller as _are_ ye.
* * * * * *
And when the mele is sakked and ybounde,
This John goth out and fynt his hors away--
And gan to crie, harow, and wele away!--
Our hors is lost--Aleyn, for Godde's banes,
Stepe on thi feet--come of man attanes!
Allas, oure wardeyn has his palfrey lorn!
This Aleyn al forgat bothe mele and corn--
{543}
Al was out of his mynde, his housbonderie.
What--whilke way is he goon? he gan to crie.
The wyf come lepynge _in_ at a ren;
She saide--Allas, youre hors goth to the fen
With wylde mares, as faste as he may go.
Unthank come on this hand that _band_ him so--
And he that _bet_ sholde have knet the reyne.
Alas! quod John, Alayn, for Criste's peyne,
Lay down thi swerde, and I _wil_ myn alswa;
I is ful _swift_--God wat--as is a ra--
By Goddes _herte_ he sal nought scape us bathe.
Why ne hadde thou put the capel in the lathe?
Il hayl, by God, Aleyn, thou _is_ fonne."

"Excepting the obsolete forms _hethen_ (hence), _swa_, _lorn_, _whilke_, _alswa_, _capel_--all the above provincialisms are still, more or less, current in the north-west part of Yorkshire. _Na_, _ham_(e), _fra_, _banes_, _attanes_, _ra_, _bathe_, are pure Northumbrian. _Wang_ (cheek or temple) is seldom heard, except in the phrase _wang tooth_, _dens molaris_. _Ill_, adj., for _bad_--_lathe_ (barn)--and _fond_ (foolish)--are most frequently and familiarly used in the West Riding, or its immediate borders."

Now this indicates a class of writings which, in the critical history of our local dialect, must be used with great caution and address. An imitation of dialect may be so lax as to let its only merit consist in a deviation from the standard idiom.

In the Lear of Shakspeare we have speeches from a Kentish clown. Is this the dialect of the character, the dialect of the writer, or is it some conventional dialect appropriated to theatrical purposes? I think the latter.

In Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub, one (and more than one of the characters) speaks thus. His residence is the neighbourhood of London, Tottenham Court.

Is it no sand? nor buttermilk? if't be,
Ich 'am no zive, or watering-pot, to draw
Knots in your 'casions. If you trust me, zo--
If not, _pra_forme 't your zelves, '_C_ham no man's wife,
But resolute Hilts: you'll vind me in the buttry.

_Act_ I. _Scene_ 1.

{544}

I consider that this represents the dialect of the neighbourhood of London, not on the strength of its being put in the mouth of a man of Tottenham, but from other and independent circumstances.

Not so, however, with the provincialisms of another of Ben Jonson's plays, the Sad Shepherd:--

---- shew your sell
Tu all the sheepards, bauldly; gaing amang hem.
Be mickle in their eye, frequent and fugeand.
And, gif they ask ye of Eiarine,
Or of these claithes; say that I ga' hem ye,
And say no more. I ha' that wark in hand,
That web upon the luime, sall gar em thinke.

_Act_ II. _Scene_ 3.

The scene of the play is Sherwood Forest: the language, however, as far as I may venture an opinion, is not the language from which the present Nottinghamshire dialect has come down.

s. 691. _Caution._--Again, the word _old_, as applied to language, has a double meaning.

The language of the United States was imported from England into America in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The language of South Australia has been introduced within the present generation. In one sense, the American English is older than the Australian. It was earliest separated from the mother-tongue.

The language, however, of America may (I speak only in the way of illustration, and consequently hypothetically), in the course of time, become the least old of the two; the word _old_ being taken in another sense. It may change with greater rapidity. It may lose its inflections. It may depart more from the structure of the mother-tongue, and preserve fewer of its _old_ elements. In this sense the Australian (provided that it has altered least, and that it retain the greatest number of the _old_ inflections) will be the older tongue of the two.

Now what may be said of the language of two countries, may be said of the dialects of two districts. The one dialect may run its changes apace; the other alter but by degrees. {545} Hence, of two works in two such dialects, the one would appear older than the other, although in reality the two were cotemporary.

Hence, also, it is a lax expression to say that it is the old forms (the archaisms) that the provincial dialects retain. The provincial forms are archaic only when the current language changes more rapidly than the local idiom. When the local idiom changes fastest, the archaic forms belong to the standard mode of speech.

The provincial forms, _goand_, _slepand_, for _going_ and _sleeping_, are archaic. Here the archaism is with the provincial form.

The forms _almost_, _horses_, _nought but_, contrasted with the provincialisms _ommost_, _hosses_, _nobbot_, are archaic. They have not been changed so much as they will be. Here the archaism (that is, the nearer approach to the older form) is with the standard idiom. A sequestered locality is preservative of old forms. But writing and education are preservatives of them also.

s. 692. With these preliminaries a brief notice of the English dialects, in their different stages, may begin.

_The districts north of the Humber._--There is so large an amount of specimens of the dialects of this area in the Anglo-Saxon stage of our language, the area itself so closely coincides with the political division of the kingdom of Northumberland, whilst the present arrangement (more or less provisional) of the Anglo-Saxon dialects consists of the divisions of them into the, 1, West-Saxon; 2, Mercian; and 3, Northumbrian, that it is best to give a general view of the whole tract before the minuter details of the different counties which compose them are noticed. The _data_ for the Northumbrian division of the Anglo-Saxon dialects are as follows:--

1. _Wanley's Fragment of Caedmon._--The north-east of Yorkshire was the birth-place of the Anglo-Saxon monk Caedmon. Nevertheless, the form in which his poems in full have come down to us is that of a West-Saxon composition. This indicates the probability of the original work having first been re-cast, and afterwards lost. Be this as it may, the {546} following short fragment has been printed by Wanley, from an ancient MS., and by Hickes from Bede, Hist. Eccl., 4, 24, and it is considered, in the first form, to approach or, perhaps, to represent the Northumbrian of the original poem.

1. 2.
_Wanley._ _Hickes._

Nu seylun hergan N['u] we sceolan herigean
Herfaen-ricaes uard, Heofon-r['i]ces weard,
Metudes maecti, Metodes mihte,
End his modgethanc. And his m['o]dgethanc.
Uerc uuldur fadur, Weorc wuldor-faeder,
Sue he uundra gihuaes, Sva he wundra gewaes,
Eci drictin, Ec['e] driten,
Ord stelidae. Ord onstealde.
He aerist scopa, Ne ['ae]rest sc['o]p,
Elda barnum, Eordhan bearnum,
Heben til hrofe; Heofon t['o] r['o]fe;
Haleg scepen: H['a]lig scyppend:
Tha mittungeard, D['a] middangeard,
Moncynnaes uard, Moncynnes weard,
Eci drictin, Ece drihten,
Aefter tiadhae, Aefter te['o]de,
Firum foldu, Firum foldan,
Frea allmectig. Fre['a] almihtig.

_Translation._

Now we should praise For earth's bairns,
The heaven-kingdom's preserver, Heaven to roof;
The might of the Creator, Holy shaper;
And his mood-thought. Then mid-earth,
The glory-father of works, Mankind's home,
As he, of wonders, each Eternal Lord,
Eternal Lord, After formed,
Originally established. For the homes of men,
He erst shaped, Lord Almighty.

2. _The death-bed verses of Bede._

Fore the neidfaerae, Before the necessary journey,
Naenig uuiurthit No one is
Thoc-snotturra Wiser of thought
Than him tharf sie Than he hath need
To ymbhycganne, To consider,
{547}
Aer his hionongae, Before his departure,
Huaet, his gastae, What, for his spirit,
Godaes aeththa yflaes, Of good or evil,
Aefter deothdaege, After the death-day,
Doemid uuieorthae. Shall be doomed.

From a MS. at St. Gallen; quoted by Mr. Kemble, _Archaeologia_, vol. xxviii.

3. _The Ruthwell Runes._--The inscription in Anglo-Saxon Runic letters, on the Ruthwell Cross, is thus deciphered and translated by Mr. Kemble:--

. . . . . . . mik. . . . . . . me.
Riiknae kyningk The powerful King,
Hifunaes hlafard, The Lord of Heaven,
Haelda ic ne daerstae. I dared not hold.
Bismerede ungket men, They reviled us two,
B[^a] aetgaed[r]e, Both together,
Ik (n)idhbaedi bist(e)me(d) I stained with the pledge of crime.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . geredae . . . . prepared
Hinae gamaeldae Himself spake
Estig, dha he walde Benignantly when he would
An galgu gist[^i]ga Go up upon the cross,
M[^o]dig fore Courageously before
Men, . . . . . Men . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mid stralum giwundaed, Wounded with shafts,
Alegdun hiae hinae, They laid him down,
Limw[^e]rigne. Limb-weary.
Gistodun him . . . They stood by him.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Krist waes on r[^o]di; Christ was on cross.
Hwedhrae ther f[^u]sae Lo! there with speed
Fearran cwomu From afar came
Aedhdhilae ti laenum. Nobles to him in misery.
Ic that al bih (e[^o]ld) I that all beheld
. . . . . sae (...) . . . . . . . . . .
Ic w(ae)s mi(d) ga(l)gu I was with the cross
Ae (. . . .) rod . ha . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

{548}

"The dialect of these lines is that of Northumberland in the seventh, eighth, and even ninth centuries. The first peculiarity is in the _ae_ for _e_ in the oblique cases, and which I have observed in the cotemporary MS. of Cudhberht's letter at St. Gallen. This, which is strictly organic, and represents the uncorrupted Gothic genitive in _-as_, and dative in _-a_, as well as the Old Saxon forms of the substantive, is evidence of great antiquity. But that which is, perhaps, the most characteristic of the Northumbrian dialect is the formation of the infinitive in _-a_ and _-ae_, instead of _-an_ (_haeldae_, _gistiga_). The Durham Book has, I believe, throughout but one single verb, which makes the infinitive in _-an_, and that is the anomalous word _bean_=_to be_; even _wosa_ and _wiortha_ following the common rule. The word _ungket_ is another incontrovertible proof of extreme antiquity, having, to the best of my knowledge, never been found but in this passage. It is the dual of the first personal pronoun _Ic_, and corresponds to the very rare dual of the second personal pronoun _incit_, which occurs twice in Caedmon."[78]

4. _The Cotton Psalter._--This is a Latin Psalter in the Cotton collection, accompanied by an Anglo-Saxon interlineation. Place uncertain. Time, ninth century or earlier. The following points of difference between this and the West-Saxon are indicated by Mr. Garnett, Phil. Soc. No. 27.

COTTON PSALTER. WEST-SAXON.

Boen, _prayer_ Ben.
Boec, _books_ B['e]c.
Coelan, _cool_ C['e]lan.
Doeman, _judge_ D['e]man.
Foedan, _feed_ F['e]dan.
Spoed, _fortune_ Sp['e]d.
Swoet, _sweet_ Sw['e]t.
Woenan, _think_, _ween_ W['e]nan.

5. _The Durham Gospels--Quatuor Evangelia Latine, ex translatione B. Hieronymi, cum gloss[^a] interlineat[^a] Saxonica._ Nero, D. 4.

{549}

_Matthew_, cap. 2.

midhdhy arod gecenned were haelend in dhaer byrig
Cum ergo natus esset Jesus in Bethleem Judaeae

in dagum Herodes cyninges heonu dha tungulcraeftga of eustdael
in diebus Herodis Regis, ecce magi ab oriente

cweodhonde
cwomun to hierusalem hiu cwoedon huer is dhe acenned
venerunt Hierosolymam, dicentes, Ubi est qui natus

tungul
is cynig Judeunu gesegon we fordhon sterru his in
est rex Judaeorum? vidimus enim stellam ejus in

eustdael and we cwomon to wordhanne hine geherde wiototlice
oriente et venimus adorare eum. Audiens autem

dha burgwaeras
herodes se cynig gedroefed waes and alle dha hierusolemisca midh
Herodes turbatus est et omnis Hierosolyma cum

mesapreusti
him and gesomnede alle dha aldormenn biscopa
illo. Et congregatis (_sic_) omnes principes sacerdotum

geascode
and dha udhuutta dhaes folces georne gefragnde fra him huer crist
et scribas populi, sciscitabatur ab iis ubi Christus

acenned were.
nasceretur.

6. _The Rituale Ecclesiae Dunhelmensis._--Edited for the Surtees Society by Mr. Stevenson. Place: neighbourhood of Durham. Time: A.D. 970. Differences between the Psalter and Ritual:--

_a._ The form for the first person is in the Psalter generally _-u_. In the Ritual it is generally _-o_. In West Saxon, _-e_.

PSALTER.--_Getreow-u_, I believe; _cleopi-u_, I call; _sell-u_, I give; _ondred-u_, I fear; _ageld-u_, I pay; _getimbr-u_, I build. Forms in _-o_; _sitt-o_, I sit; _drinc-o_, I drink.

RITUAL.--_Feht-o_, I fight; _wuldrig-o_, I glory. The ending in _-u_ is rarer.

_b._ In the West Saxon the plural present of verbs ends in _-adh_: _we lufi-adh_, _ge lufi-adh_, _hi lufi-adh_. The Psalter also exhibits this West Saxon form. But the plurals of the Ritual {550} end in _-s_: as, _bidd-as_=_we pray_; _giwoed-es_=_put on_; _wyrc-as_=_do_.

_c._ The infinitives of verbs end in the West Saxon in _-an_, as _cwed-an_=_to say_. So they do in the Psalter. But in the Ritual the _-n_ is omitted, and the infinitive ends simply in _-a_: _cuoetha_=_to say_; _inngeonga_=_to enter_.

d. The oblique cases and plurals of substantives in West Saxon end in _-an_: as _heortan_=_heart's_; _heortan_=_hearts_. So they do in the Psalter. But in the Ritual the _-n_ is omitted, and the word ends simply in _-a_ or _-e_; as _nome_=_of a name_ (West Saxon _nam-an_); _hearta_=_hearts_.

7. _The Rushworth Gospels._--Place, Harewood in Wharfdale, Yorkshire. Time, according to Wanley, the end of the ninth century.

Here observe--

1. That the Ruthwell inscription gives us a sample of the so-called Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon, and that as it is spoken in Scotland, _i.e._, in Galloway. For the bearings of this see Part II., c. 3.

2. That the Rushworth Gospels take us as far south as the West Riding of Yorkshire.

3. That there are no specimens from any Cumberland, Westmoreland, or North Lancashire localities, these being, most probably, exclusively Celtic.

s. 693. The most general statements concerning this great section of the Anglo-Saxon, is that--

1. It prefers the slenderer and more vocalic to the broader and more diphthongal forms.

2. The sounds of _k_ and _s_, to those of _ch_ and _sh_.

3. The forms without the prefix _ge-_, to those with them. Nevertheless the form _ge-cenned_ (=_natus_) occurs in the first line of the extract from the Durham Gospels.

s. 694. The Old and Middle English MSS. from this quarter are numerous; falling into two classes:

1. Transcriptions with accommodation from works composed southwards. Here the characteristics of the dialect are not absolute. {551}

2. Northern copies of northern compositions. Here the characteristics of the dialect are at the maximum. Sir Tristram is one of the most important works of this class; and in the wider sense of the term _Northumbrian_, it is a matter of indifference on which side of the Border it was composed. See s. 190.

s. 695. Taking the counties in detail, we have--

_Northumberland._--Northern frontier, East Scotland; the direction of the influence being from South to North, rather than from North to South, _i. e._, Berwickshire and the Lothians being Northumbrian and English, rather than Northumberland Scotch.

West frontier Celtic--the Cumberland and Westmoreland Britons having been encroached upon by the Northumbrians of Northumberland.

Present dialect.--Believed to be nearly uniform over the counties of Northumberland and Durham; but changing in character in North Yorkshire, and in Cumberland and Westmoreland.

The Anglo-Saxon immigration considered to have been Angle (so-called) rather than Saxon.

Danish admixture--Very great. Possibly, as far as the marks that it has left on the language, greater than in any other part of _England_.[79]--See s. 152.

_Cumberland, Westmoreland, North Lancashire._--Anglo-Saxon elements introduced from portions of Northumbria rather than directly from the Continent.

Celtic language persistent until a comparatively late though undetermined period.

Northern frontier, West-Scotland--the direction of the influence being from Scotland to England, rather than _vice vers[^a]_; Carlisle being more of a Scotch town than Berwick.

Specimens of the dialects in the older stages, few and doubtful.

Topographical nomenclature characterized by the preponderance of compounds of _-thwaite_; as _Braithwaite_, &c.

{552}

_North_ Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, "exhibit many Anglian[80] peculiarities, which may have been occasioned in some degree by the colonies in the south, planted in that district by William Rufus (Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 1092.) A comparison of Anderson's ballads with Burns's songs, will show how like Cumbrian is to Scottish, but how different. We believe that Weber is right in referring the romance of Sir Amadas to this district. The mixture of the Anglian forms _gwo_, _gwon_, _bwons_, _boyd-word_ (in pure Northumbrian), _gae_, _gane_, _banes_, _bod-worde_, with the northern terms, _tynt_, _kent_, _bathe_, _mare_, and many others of the same class, could hardly have occurred in any other part of England."[81]

_Yorkshire, North and part of West Riding._--The Anglo-Saxon specimens of this area have been noticed in s. 692.

The extract from Chaucer is also from this district.

The modern dialects best known are--

1. _The Craven._--This, in northern localities, "becomes slightly tinctured with Northumbrian."--Quart. Rev. _ut supra_.

2. _The Cleveland._--With not only Northumbrian, but even Scotch characters. Quart. Rev. _ut supra_.

Danish admixture--Considerable.

All these dialects, if rightly classified, belong to the Northumbrian division of the Angle branch of the Anglo-Saxon language; whilst, if the _prim[^a] facie_ view of their affiliation or descent, be the true one, they are the dialects of s. 692, in their modern forms.

s. 696. The classification which gives this arrangement now draws a line of distinction at the river Ribble, in Lancashire, which separates _South_ from North Lancashire; whilst in Yorkshire, the East Riding, and that part of the West which does not belong to the Wapentake of Claro, belong to the class which is supposed to exclude the previous and contain the following dialects:--

s. 697. _South Lancashire and Cheshire._--Sub-varieties of {553} the same dialects, but not sub-varieties of the previous ones.

The plural form in _-en_ is a marked character of this dialect--at least of the Lancashire portion.

Supposed original population--Angle rather than Saxon.

Original political relations--Mercian rather than Northumbrian.

These last two statements apply to all the forthcoming areas north of Essex. The latter is a simple historical fact; the former supposes an amount of difference between the Angle and the Saxon which has been assumed rather than proved; or, at any rate, which has never been defined accurately.

The elements of uncertainty thus developed, will be noticed in ss. 704-708. At present it is sufficient to say, that if the South Lancashire dialect has been separated from the north, on the score of its having been _Mercian_ rather than _Northumbrian_, the principle of classification has been based upon _political_ rather than _philological_ grounds; and as such is exceptionable.

s. 698. _Shropshire, Staffordshire, and West Derbyshire._--Supposing the South Lancashire and Cheshire to be the Mercian (which we must remember is a _political_ term), the Shropshire, Staffordshire, and _West_ Derbyshire are Mercian also; transitional, however, in character.

Shropshire and Cheshire have a Celtic frontier.

Here, also, both the _a priori_ probabilities and the known facts make the Danish intermixture at its _minimum_.

s. 699. _East Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire._--Here the language is considered to change from the mode of speech of which the South Lancashire is the type, to the mode of speech of which the Norfolk and Suffolk dialect is the type.

Danish elements may now be expected, Derbyshire being the most inland Danish area.

Original political relations--Mercian.

Specimens of the dialects in their older stages, preeminently scanty.

_Hallamshire._--This means the parts about Sheffield {554} extended so as to include that portion of the West Riding of Yorkshire which stands over from s. 696. Probably belonging to the same group with the _South_ Lancashire.

_East Riding of Yorkshire._--It is not safe to say more of this dialect than that its affinities are with the dialects spoken to the _north_ rather than with those spoken to the south of it, _i.e._, that of--

_Lincolnshire._--Frontier--On the Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire frontier, passing into the form of speech of those counties. Pretty definitely separated from that of Norfolk. Less so from that of North Cambridgeshire. Scarcely at all from that of Huntingdonshire, and North Northamptonshire.

Danish admixture.--The number of towns and villages ending in the characteristic Danish termination _-by_, at its _maximum_; particularly in the neighbourhood of Spils_by_.

Traditions Danish, _e. g._, that of Havelok the Dane, at Grimsby.

Physiognomy, Danish.

Language not Danish in proportion to the other signs of Scandinavian intermixture.

Specimens of the dialects in its older form--Havelok[82] the Dane (?), Manning's Chronicle (supposing the MS. to have been transcribed in the county where the author was born).

Provincial peculiarities (_i.e._, deviations from the written language) nearly at the _minimum_.

_Huntingdonshire, North Northamptonshire, and Rutland._--_Anglo-Saxon period._--The latter part of the Saxon Chronicle was written at Peterboro. Probably, also, the poems of Helena and Andreas. Hence, this area is that of the _old_ Mercian in its most typical form; whilst South Lancashire is that of the _new_--a practical instance of the inconvenience of applying _political_ terms to philological subjects.

s. 700. _Norfolk, Suffolk, and the fen part of Cambridgeshire._--Here the population is pre-eminently Angle. The political character East-Anglian rather than Mercian.

{555}

Specimens of the dialects in the Anglo-Saxon stage.--The Natale St. Edmundi, in Thorpe's Analecta Anglo-Saxonica.

Early English--The Promtuarium Parvulorum.

s. 701. _Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and South Northamptonshire._--Mercian (so-called) rather than West-Saxon (so-called).

Probably, approaching the written language of England more closely than is the case with the dialects spoken to the south of them.

Certainly, approaching the written language of England less closely than is the case with the dialect of Huntingdonshire, North Northamptonshire, and South Lincolnshire.

s. 702. These remarks have the following import. They bear upon the question of the origin of the _written_ language of England.

Mr. Guest first diverted the attention of scholars from the consideration of the West Saxon of the chief Anglo-Saxon writers as the mother-dialect of the present English, to the Mercian; so turning their attention from the south to the centre of England.

The general principle that a _central_ locality has the _a priori_ likelihood in its favour, subtracts nothing from the value of his suggestion.

Neither does the fact of the nearest approach to the written language being found about the parts in question; since the doctrine to which the present writer commits himself, viz., that in the parts between Huntingdon and Stamford, the purest English is most generally spoken, is, neither universally recognised, nor yet part of Mr. Guest's argument.

Mr. Guest's arguments arose out of the evidence of the MSS. of the parts in question.

That the dialect most closely allied to the dialect (or dialects) out of which the present literary language of England is developed, is to be found either in Northamptonshire or the neighbouring counties is nearly certain. Mr. Guest looks for it on the western side of that county (Leicestershire); the present writer on the eastern (Huntingdonshire).

s. 703. It is now convenient to pass from the dialects of {556} the water-system of the Ouse, Nene, and Welland to those spoken along the lower course of the Thames.

These, to a certain extent, may be dealt with like those to the north of the Humber. Just as the latter were, in the first instance, and in the more general way, thrown into a single class (the Northumbrian), so may the dialects in question form the provisional centre of another separate class. For this we have no very convenient name. The dialects, however, which it contains agree in the following points.

1. These are considered to be derived from that variety of the Anglo-Saxon which is represented by the chief remains of the Anglo-Saxon literature, _i.e._, the so-called standard or classical language of Alfred, Aelfric, the present text of Caedmon, &c.

2. About half their _present eastern_ area consists of the _counties_ ending in _-sex_; viz., Sus_sex_, Es_sex_, and Middle_sex_.

3. Nearly the _whole_ of their _original_ area consisted in _kingdoms_ (or sub-kingdoms) ending in _-sex_; viz., the districts just enumerated, and the kingdom of Wes_sex_.

Hence they are--

_a._--_Considered with reference to their literary history._--They are dialects whereof the literary development began early, but ceased at the time of the Norman Conquest, being superseded by that of the central dialects (_Mercian_ so-called) of the island. The truth of this view depends on the truth of Mr. Guest's doctrine noticed in page 555. If true, it is by no means an isolated phaenomenon. In Holland the present Dutch is the descendant of some dialect (or dialects) which was uncultivated in the earlier periods of the language; whereas the Old Frisian, which was _then_ the written language, is _now_ represented by a provincial dialect only.

"In speaking of the Anglo-Saxon language, scholars universally intend that particular form of speech in which all the principal monuments of our most ancient literature are composed, and which, with very slight variations, is found in Beowulf and Caedmon, in the Exeter and Vercelli Codices, in the translation of the Gospels and Homilies, and in the works {557} of Aelfred the Great. For all general purposes this nomenclature is sufficiently exact; and in this point of view, the prevalent dialect, which contains the greatest number of literary remains, may be fairly called the Anglo-Saxon language, of which all varying forms were dialects. It is, however, obvious that this is in fact an erroneous way of considering the subject; the utmost that can be asserted is, that Aelfred wrote his own language, viz., that which was current in Wessex; and that this, having partly through the devastations of heathen enemies in other parts of the island, partly through the preponderance of the West-Saxon power and extinction of the other royal families, become the language of the one supreme court, soon became that of literature and the pulpit also."--Kemble. Phil. Trans. No. 35.

_b._--_Considered in respect to their political relations._--Subject to the influence of the _Wessex_ portion of the so-called Heptarchy, rather than to the _Mercian_,

_c._--_Considered ethnologically_--_Saxon_ rather than _Angle_. The exceptions that lie against this class will be noticed hereafter.

s. 704. _Kent_--_Theoretically_, Kent, is Jute rather than Saxon, and Saxon rather than Angle.

Celtic elements, probably, at the _minimum_.

Predominance of local terms compounded of the word _-hurst_; as, Pens_hurst_, Staple_hurst_, &c.

_Frisian hypothesis._--The following facts and statements (taken along with those of ss. 15-20, and ss. 129-131), pre-eminently require criticism.

1. Hengest the supposed father of the Kentish kingdom is a Frisian hero--Kemble's _Saechsische Stamtaffel_.

2. The dialect of the Durham Gospels and Ritual contain a probably Frisian form.

3. "The country called by the Anglo-Saxons Northumberland, and which may loosely be said to have extended from the Humber to Edinburgh, and from the North Sea to the hills of Cumberland, was peopled by tribes of Angles. Such, at least, is the tradition reported by Beda, who adds that Kent was first settled by Jutes. Who these Jutes were is {558} not clearly ascertained, but from various circumstances it may be inferred that there was at least a considerable admixture of Frisians amongst them. Hengest, the supposed founder of the Kentish kingdom, is a Frisian hero, and Jutes, 'eotenas,' is a usual name for the Frisians in Be['o]wulf. Beda, it is true, does not enumerate Frisians among the Teutonic races by which England was colonized, but this omission is repaired by the far more valuable evidence of Procopius, who, living at the time of some great invasion of Britain by the Germans, expressly numbers Frisians among the invaders. Now the Anglo-Saxon traditions themselves, however obscurely they may express it, point to a close connection between Kent and Northumberland: the latter country, according to these traditions, was colonized from Kent, and for a long time received its rulers or dukes from that kingdom. Without attaching to this legend more importance than it deserves, we may conclude that it asserts an original communion between the tribes that settled in the two countries; and consequently, if any Frisic influence is found to operate in the one, it will be necessary to inquire whether a similar action can be detected in the other. This will be of some moment hereafter, when we enter upon a more detailed examination of the dialect. The most important peculiarity in which the Durham Evangeles and Ritual differ from the Psalter is the form of the infinitive mood in verbs. This in the Durham books is, with exception of one verb, be['a]n, _esse_, invariably formed in _-a_, not in _-an_, the usual form in all the other Anglo-Saxon dialects. Now this is also a peculiarity of the Frisic, and of the Old Norse, and is found in no other Germanic tongue; it is then an interesting inquiry whether the one or the other of these tongues is the origin of this peculiarity; whether, in short, it belongs to the old, the original Frisic form which prevailed in the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries, or whether it is owing to Norse influence, acting in the ninth and tenth, through the establishment of Danish invaders and a Danish dynasty in the countries north of the Humber."--Kemble. Phil. Trans. No. 35.

The details necessary for either the verification or the overthrow of the doctrine of a similarity of origin between {559} portions of the Northumbrian[83] and portions of the Kentish population have yet to be worked out.

So have the _differentiae_ between the dialects of _Kent_, and the dialects of Sus_sex_, Es_sex_, Middle_sex_, and Wes_sex_.

_Probable Anglo-Saxon of Kent._--Codex Diplomaticus, No. 191.

s. 705. _Sussex._--The characteristics are involved in those of Kent--thus, if Kent be simply Saxon the two counties have the same ethnological relation; whilst if Kent be Frisian or Jute(?) Sussex may be either like or unlike.

_Hampshire._--_Theoretically_, Saxon rather than Angle, and West Saxon (Wessex) rather than south, east, or Middle-Saxon.

Jute elements in either the Hants or Isle of Wight dialects, hitherto undiscovered. Probably, non-existent.

Present dialect certainly not the closest representative of the classical Anglo-Saxon, _i. e._, the so-called _West_ Saxon.

_Berkshire._--Present dialect, probably, the closest representative of the classical Anglo-Saxon.

_Cornwall._--Celtic elements at the _maximum_.

_Devonshire and West Somerset._--Present dialect strongly marked by the use of _z_ for _s_ (_Zomerzet_=_Somerset_).

Celtic elements probably considerable.

_Worcestershire._--The language of the Anglo-Saxon period is characterized by the exclusive, or nearly exclusive, use of _s_ in the forms _usse_ and _usses_ for _ure_ and _ures_. See Codex Diplomaticus, Nos. 95 and 97.

The affiliation of the present dialect has yet to be investigated.

_North Glostershire._--_Politically_, both North Gloster and Worcestershire are Mercian rather than West-Saxon.

Now the language of Layamon was North Gloster.

And one at least of the MSS. is supposed to represent this language.

Nevertheless its character is said to be West Saxon rather than Mercian.

What does this prove? Not that the West Saxon dialect {560} extended into Mercia, but that a political nomenclature is out of place in philology.

_The Welsh frontier._--_Herefordshire, &c._--Celtic elements. General character of the dialects, probably, that of the counties immediately to the east of them.

_Essex._--_Theoretically_, Saxon rather than Angle. No such distinction, however, is indicated by the ascertained characteristic of the Essex dialects as opposed to the East Anglian, Suffolk, and the Mercian.

_Hertfordshire._--I am not aware of any thing that distinguishes the South Hertfordshire form of speech from those of--

_Middlesex._--Here, as far as there are any characteristics at all, they are those of _Es_sex. The use of _v_ for _w_, attributed (and partially due) to Londoners, occurs--not because there is any such thing as a London dialect, but because London is a town on the Essex side of Middlesex.

_Surrey._--The name (_Sudh rige_=_southern kingdom_) indicates an original political relation with the parts _north_ rather than _south_ of the Thames.

The evidence of the dialect is, probably, the other way.