The Keltic Element in the Provincialisms. 



prior to Caesar's invasion centuries before the main wave burst 

 over the country. We must, too, carefully bear in mind that in 

 Wessex, more than in any other part, the conquerors and con- 

 quered were blended together.* They mixed, however, every- 

 where far more than is commonly allowed. Our language bears 

 testimony to the general fact. The many Keltic household 

 words in daily use are the best evidence. 



Here in the New Forest I may mention that the form 

 "plock" is used instead of the common block (bloc), and that we 

 have, as, perhaps, throughout the West of England, " hob," in 

 the sense of potato-hob a place where potatoes are covered 

 over, instead of "hog" (hu-g), noticed by Mr. Davies in his 

 list of Keltic words in Lancashire. Further, we find the terms 

 "more" (maur), for a root, "mulloch," for dirt, and "bower' 

 stone," for a boundary-stone. f Here, too, as in other places, 

 the Britons have left the traces of their rule on the broader 

 natural features of the country on the rivers, as the Exe 

 (y [9] wy s 9> the current), and Avon (Afon, the river), and Avon 

 Water, near Setthorns, and Boldre (y Byldwr, the full stream), 

 and Stour ([Gf\wy8-dwr 9 the deep water), and in the district 

 itself, in the now almost forgotten name of Ytene. We find 

 their influence, too, perhaps, in such local names of villages 



* See Dr. Guest's paper on "The Early- Knglish Settlements in South 

 Britain," Proceedings of the Archaeological Institute, Salisbury volume, 

 1851, p. 30. 



f This, of course, is not the place to go into s~o difficult a subject. I 

 need not refer the reader to Mr. Davies's paper in the Philological Society's 

 Transactions, 1855, p. 210, and M. de Haan Hettema's Commentary upon 

 it, 1856, p. 196. On the great value of provincialisms, see what Muller 

 has said in The Science of Language, pp. 49-59. In Appendix L, I have 

 given a list of some of those of the New Forest, which have never before 

 been noticed in any of the published glossaiies. 



Y 2 163 



