Glossary of Provincialisms. 



287 



SNAKE-FERN. The hard-fern (Blech- 

 num boreale). See " Adder 's-Fern." 



SNIGGLE, To. To snarl. See chap, xvi., 

 p. 186. SNIGGLE, A. An eel peculiar 

 to the Avon. See chap, xii., pp. 125, 

 126. 



SPELL, A. A fit, or start. Fain is 

 said to come and go by " spells," that is, 

 by shocks at recurring intervals. 



SPENE, A. In its first sense, like 

 the Old-English spana, an udder of a 

 cow. In its second, the rail of a gate 

 or stile. 



SPINE-()AK. The heart of oak. This 

 phrase points to the true derivation of 

 44 heart of oak." The common theory 

 Mr. Wedgwood has rightly classed 

 under the head of "False Etymologies.'' 

 See Transactions of the Philological 

 Society, 1855. No. 6, pp. 62, 63. 



SPIRE-BED, A. A place where the 

 " spires," that is, the reed-canary grass 

 (Phalaris arundinacea), grow ; exactly 

 equivalent to the Old-English hreod- 

 bedd. On the outskirts of the New 

 Forest at Redbridge, formerly Bedford 

 Hreodford, literally, the ford of reeds 

 the Test is to this day full of the same 

 " spires," from which our forefathers 

 gave the place its name. The river 

 Caundle, in Dorsetshire, still, too, full 

 of spire-beds, tells of a similar deriva- 

 tion, not from the Teutonic, but the 

 Keltic. The phrase " spire-bed," or 

 " spear-bed field," is very common, 

 meaning a particular field, near where 

 the " spires " grow, which are used 

 by plasterers and thatchers in their 

 work. 



SPITH. (Another form of pith, from 

 the Old-English " pitSa "). Strength, 

 force. 



SPRACK. Not only quick, lively, brisk, 

 active, as given in the glossaries, but 

 neat, tidy. Used also in this last sense 

 in Wiltshire. 



SPRATTER. The common guillemot 

 (Una troiie}. In Norfolk (see Trans- 

 actions of the Philological Society, 155, 

 p. 37) we have " sprat-mowe," for a 



herring-gull ; and in Kent, " sprat-loon," 

 for one of the grebes. 



SQUAB, A. Anything large. Thus 

 " a squab of a piece," is constantly used 

 in this sense. In a different meaning it 

 is confounded with squat. So a thick- 

 set, heavy person is called a " squab." 



SQUOYLES. Glances. See chap, xvi., 

 p. 182. 



STABBLE. Marks, footprints, always 

 used in the plural. This is another of 

 those onomatopoetic words which Mr. 

 Wedgwood might add to the forms 

 step, stamp, stipple, all derived by a 

 similar process. (See the Introduction 

 to his Dictionary of Etymology, p. x.) 

 In an old rhyme, common in the New 

 Forest, upon a hailstorm, we find the 

 word ; 



" Go round the ricks, 

 And round the ricks, 

 And make as many stabble 

 As nine score sheep." 



STARRY. Used particularly of land 

 which is stiff or unworkable, especially 

 after rain, and opposed to " stoachy," 

 which signifies muddy, as in the com- 

 mon expression, " What a dreadful 

 stoachy piece of ground." 



THRIFTY. Still used in its old deriva- 

 tive sense of thriving, and so flourishing. 

 Once or twice I have heard it applied to 

 physical health, in the sense of being 

 well, or " pure," as is the more common 

 saying. 



TINE, To. To tine a candle, does 

 not now so much mean to light, from 

 the Old-English tendan, to set on fire, 

 as to snuff it. 



TUFFET, A. A lump of earth, or hil- 

 lock. Hence we have " tuffety," in the 

 sense 01 uneven, or covered with hillocks. 



TOLY. Weak, ailing. More common 

 in the north of England. See " Kitter- 

 mg." 



TWIDDLE, To. To whistle. " The 

 robins are twiddling," is a common 

 phrase, and which fact is said to be a 

 sign of rain. 



