56 Transactions. 



soniewliiit uncertain — long enough, however, to leave their mark 

 in our local nomenclature, ns we are reminded of by the names 

 Thor, Wald, Wick, Fell, Dal, &c. This short sketch has been 

 given for the purpose of pointing out the firm hold those various 

 Teutonic races had upon the north-east of England, and what is 

 now called the lowlands of Scotland. The conquering I'aces 

 having utterly exterminated the former inhabitants, the Britons, 

 their language was entirely freed from any chance of inter- 

 mixture from the conquered race, and it is to the remains of this 

 old language I intend, very shortly, to direct your attention. Of 

 course, it was to have been expected that the two districts 

 deriving from the same source, although kept in a great measure 

 apart for now nearly 900 years, should have a good deal in 

 common, but I was not prepared to find that after a lapse of so 

 long a time the two dialects should in so remarkable a manner 

 resemble each other, and that so many hundreds of words should 

 be in common use in both dialects, although quite obsolete in 

 other parts of the country ; and not only words, but the idioms, 

 modes, and turns of expression, proverbial sayings and phrases, 

 and the use of a number of words found in our current literature, 

 but which have lost their original meaning in a great degree, are 

 still in use, retaining in a great measure tlieir primary significa- 

 tion. My attention was called more particularly to the subject 

 by seeing an admirable and exhaustive work lately published, 

 " A Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect," by the Rev. J. C. 

 Atkinson, LL.D. On going through the Glossary I find, on a 

 rough estimate, upwards of 1500 words obsolete in most other 

 parts of the kingdom, including words above referred to as 

 retaining their primary meanings, common to both districts. A 

 few of these words, phrases, idioms, &c., may be given as examples. 

 The changes in our language between the times of Cliaucer and 

 Spencer are very marked, and between the latter and our own 

 time nearly as great. I, of course, refer to the current literature 

 of tlie different periods. But the two districts I have in view— 

 the Lowlands of Scotland and Yorkshire — have been much more 

 conservative in this matter than any other parts of the country ; 

 many words used by Chaucer have a lively existence at tlie 

 present day in tliese districts. I need only refer to one or two 

 instances out of many that might be adduced. " Brat," now 

 signifying a child's pinafore, is used by writers about Chaucer's 



