I.] 



Glossary of Provincialisms. 



281 



Dorsetshire Dialect, appended to his 

 Poems of Rural Life. 



BUNCH, A. A blow, or the effects of 

 a blow ; and then a blotch, burn, scald, 

 pimple, in which latter senses " bladder " 

 is also often used. The verb " to bunch," 

 to strikers sometimes heard. See Wedg- 

 wood (vol. i. p. 269, and vol. ii. p. 263) 

 on its allied forms. Used by Pope, Iliad, 

 bk. ii. 328. 



CAMMOCK, The. (From the Old- 

 English cammec, cammoc, camrnuc.} The 

 various species of St. John's-wort, so 

 plentiful in the neighbourhood of the 

 New Forest ; then, any yellow flower, 

 as the fleabane (Puhca dysentericd) 

 and ragwort (Senecio Jacobcea). In 

 Dorsetshire, according to Mr. Barnes, 

 it only means the rest-harrow (Ononis 

 arvensifi). 



CASS, A. A spar used in thatching, 

 called in the Midland and North- Western 

 Counties a " buckler." Before it is made 

 into a cass, it is called a " spargad." 



CATTAN, A. A sort of noose or 

 hinge, which unites the " hand-stick " 

 to the flail. It is made in two parts. 

 The joint which joins the " hand-stick " 

 is formed of ash or elm, whilst that 

 which fits the flail is made of leather, 

 as it is required to be more flexible 

 near the part which strikes the floor. 

 Mr. Wright and Mr. Halliwell give as 

 a North-country word the verb " catton." 

 to beat, with which there is evidently 

 some connection. 



CHILDAG, A. A chilblain. Often 

 called simply a " dag," and " chil- 

 bladder." 



GLEET, A. More generally used in 

 the plural, as "cleets." Iron tips on a 

 shoe. Hence we have the expression, 

 " to elect oxen," that is, to shoe them 

 when they work. 



CLOSE. Hard, sharp. " It hits close," 

 means it hits hard. 



COTHE. (From the Old -English 

 " cofca, coSe.") A " cothe sheep," means 

 a sheep diseased in its liver. The 

 springs in the New Forest are said " to 



O 



cothe" the sheep that is, to disease 

 their livers. Hence we have such 

 places as " Cothy Mead," and " Cothy 

 Copse." Mr. Barnes (as before) gives 

 the form " acothed," as used in Dorset- 

 shire. 



CRINK-CRANK. "Crink-crank words" 

 are long words verba sesquipedalia 

 not properly understood. (See Proceed- 

 ings of Philological Society, vol. v. 

 pp. 143-148.) 



CROW-PECK, The. The Shepherd's 

 needle (Scandix-pecten Veneris) ; called 

 also " old woman's needle." There is a 

 common saying in the New Forest, that 

 " Two crow-pecks are as good as an oat 

 for a horse ; " to which the reply is, 

 " That a crow-peck and a barley-corn 

 may be." 



CRUTCH, A. (From the Friesic kroek, 

 connected with the Old-English crocca, 

 our crock). A dish, or earthenware 

 pipkin. We daily in the New Forest 

 and the neighbourhood hear of lard 

 and butter crutches. The word 

 "shard," too, by the way, is still 

 used in the Forest for a cup, and 

 housewives still speak of a " shard of 

 tea." 



CUTTRAN, A. A wren; more com- 

 monly called a " cutty ; " which last 

 word Mr. Barnes gives in his Glossary 

 of the Dorsetshire Dialect, p. 331, but 

 which is common throughout the West 

 of England. As Mr. Barnes, p. 354, 

 observes, the word is nothing more than 

 cutty wren the little wren. (See 

 " Kittywitch," Transactions of Philo- 

 logical Society, 1855, p. 33.) 



DECKER, or DICKER, To. One of 

 the old forms of to deck ; literally, to 

 cover; from the Old-English "J^eccan ;" 

 in German, decken. It now, however, 

 only signifies to ornament or spangle. 

 A lady's fingers are said to be deckered 

 with rings, or the sky with stars. 



DEER'S-MILK. Wood-spurge (Eu- 

 phorbia amygdaloides). So called from 

 the white viscous juice which exudes 

 from its stalks when gathered. 







