90 Professor Joseph Wright [March 31, 



" a hayloft." Although this word has been in daily use for hundreds 

 of years in eighteen EngUsh counties, it is not found in English 

 literature until it was used by such \mters as Hardy, Blackmore, and 

 Baring Gould. 



In the South Midland and Southern counties, there is a large 

 number of old French words preserved in the dialects, which are not 

 found in any period of English literature. And many of these 

 words are now obsolete in French literature, and are only to be found 

 in modern French dialects. On the other hand, in Northumberland, 

 Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and 

 East Anglia, there are thousands of Scandinavian words which have 

 been in common use for the last 800 years in these counties, but 

 comparatively few of them have ever been used in English literature. 

 In this connection some of the tests were indicated which enable 

 philologists to ascertain whether a word is of Scandinavian or Anglo- 

 Saxon origin. The dialect words themselves often indicate whether 

 the area over which they are used is Scandinavian or genuine English. 

 Thus, in those dialects where the Scandinavian element is strong, we 

 find lijig, heck, lop, addle, etc., used, but in the other parts of England 

 the corresponding synonyms are used just as in the literary language, 

 as heather, burn, flea, earn. 



Ethnology. — If the British Association or any other learned body 

 ever undertakes an ethnological survey of the United Kingdom, it 

 will be found that the dialects will yield most valuable material for 

 the purpose. Even if we possessed no traditions or historical records 

 of the past, we should be able to show from the dialects alone that in 

 Kent, the Isle of Wight, and Hampshire, there was once a large 

 number of Frisians ; that Wexford had many settlers from the 

 English South- Western counties ; that there had been a large influx 

 of the Scotch into Ulster ; that many Huguenots had settled in 

 Norfolk ; that there was once a Flemish colony in Monmouthshire 

 and Glamorganshire ; that far more Normans settled in the South 

 Midland and Southern counties than in the rest of England ; that the 

 Scandinavian settlers in Lincolnshire and East Anglia were to a great 

 extent Danes ; and that the Scandinavian settlers in Northumberland, 

 Durham, Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Lancashire were 

 chiefly Norwegians. 



Furthermore, if we exclude those districts of the United Kingdom 

 bordering on the parts where a Celtic language or dialect is still 

 spoken, or was spoken until comparatively recent times, as in Corn- 

 wall, it is a remarkable fact that, apart from proper names, there is 

 not a score of Celtic words to be found in the modern English 

 dialects. 



Again, the dialects show conclusively that the political and 

 linguistic boundaries of counties seldom coincide mth each other ; 

 e.g., parts of Berkshire and Gloucestershire belong linguistically to 

 Wessex ; North Northumberland and North Cumberland to Scotland : 



