PROVINCIALISM. 



PROVINCIALISM. 



BM 



and the two Utter dacse* henceforward only existed among 

 mcd alarea. 



The administration of the provinces gradually came more under the 

 power of the emperor, and particularly ai to matters which required a 

 {gal decision; under the Christian emperors, though governors and 

 other officer* of provinces were appomU-d, the fornu of the old Roman 

 provinria were almost entirely superseded. 



(8avigny, lititkirhlr dt Ramiidtr* Ktrktt im Mittrlaltrr, vol. 1. ; and 

 Walter, O'txkuJUe da Rtmitchr* XedUi, .{<., Bonn, 1840, afford abun- 

 dant referencee to original authorities. Incidental information will 

 ak be found in the following essays: 'Das Ackergesetz den 8p. 

 Thorin*,' ZniK-krifi, x. ; ' Ueber den Inhalt dcr Lex Hubris de Uallia 

 Cisalpina,' Ibid., x. ; ' Cebcr da> Jus Italicum,' Ibid., vol. v.) 



PROVINCIALISM The difTerence between the languages of a 

 family and the dialects of a language b only a difference of degree. 

 far example, the Sanscrit, Persian, Teutonic, U reck and Latin, Slavonic, 

 an-! IVltii'. ore languages of the Indo-Teutonic family [LAMQl'AOE] ; 

 and the Doric, Ionic, and JSolic are dialects of the Greek language. 

 Although the dialects of a language may present considerable differ- 

 ences both in the roots and forms of their words, the differences are 

 less considerable than those which obtain between languages of the 

 same family. Thus a historian tracing the origin of the Romance 

 languages might doubt whether ho ought to consider them as altered 

 dialects of the Latin language, or as cognate languages of the same 

 family. If the Italian, Spanish, and French languages were considered 

 as modem Latin dialects, their various dialects (such as the Sicilian, 

 Venetian, Milanese, Walloon, Valentian, Ac.) would be regarded as mere 

 varieties, analogous to the varieties of the Doric dialect as spoken by the 

 different states of the Doric race. (Muller's ' Dorians,' app. v.) 



Every language which is spoken by a large population over a wide 

 extent of country, contains several dialects. The number and variety 

 of these is in some coses very great ; and considering the importance 

 of this fact as bearing on the origin and history of languages, it has not 

 been sufficiently observed by philologists. 



The cause of a want of attention to the multiplicity of dialects in a 

 language is to be found in the ascendency which one dialect of a lan- 

 guage always acquires over the others, and the obscurity and neglect 

 to which the latter are consequently consigned. Whenever a country 

 reaches a sufficient height of civilisation to admire and produce literary 

 works, some one of the various dialects of iU language is selected by 

 the poets and other native writers, and is cultivated by them. In 

 general, this choice is determined not by any quality of the dialect 

 itself, such as its superior harmony or energy, but by some external 

 circumstance, such as its prevalence near the birth-place or home of 

 the wriUT, or near the king's court and seat of the government. When 

 a dialect, by any of the means above described, bos been distinguished 

 from and raised above the others, it is adopted for all the native literary 

 compositions, both in poetry and in prose. Hence it is still further 

 cultivated, and is moreover thereby rendered more susceptible of 

 ulterior cultivation and re6nement It becomes the general language 

 of the government, of education, of literature, and of polished society ; 

 new words are introduced into it from other languages, ancient or 

 modern ; and it is learned by foreigners. 



The rise and progress of one dialect, according to the general de- 

 scription just given, may be observed to have taken place in every 

 civilised country. In Greece, on account of the multiplicity of inde- 

 pendent states into which the nation was divided, each dialect of the 

 language received a separate cultivation. The early historians and 

 philosophers wrote hi the Ionic dialect, and lyric poetry was composed 

 in the Doric and Malic dialects. But after the Persian war, and the 

 great predominance of the Athenians, both in political power and in 

 literature, the Attic dialect obtained the ascendant in Greece and 

 became the common literary language. (Muller's ' History of Greek 

 Literature,' c. -JO, ? 1,2.) In like manner, the Tuscan dialect, chiefly 

 on account of the pre-eminence of the Tuscan writers, became the 

 literary language of Italy, and threw into the shade the Sicilian dialect, 

 in which the first essays of Italian poetry were made. But notwith- 

 standing the predominance of the literary Tuscan in Italy, both as tho 

 literary language and as a means of communication between inhabitants 

 of different parts of Italy, yet every Italian city or territory has its 

 own dialect, which is habitually spoken, not only by the lower and 

 middle classes, but also by the upper clauses when persons from other 

 parts of Italy or strangers are not present In France, the dialect of 

 the lanyue d'uil, spoken in and about the seat of government, has not 

 only thrown into the shade the other dialects of that language, spoken 

 in the northern portion of the kingdom, and reduced them to the con- 

 dition of mere patois, but it has also superseded tho lanyue foe, the 

 language of the south, which had been raised to considerable literary 

 importance by the poems of the Troubadours. The Costilian dialect 

 has obtained a similar ascendency in Spain through the influence ol 

 the Castilian writers ; and the high German of Saxony has become the 

 literary language of Germany mainly through the influence of LuthrrV 

 translation of the Bible; although tho ttuabian dialect received a 

 literary cultivation in tho lays of the Minnesingers before any other of 

 the German dialect*. The classical English is mainly f,., 

 dialect spoken in Middlesex, and the roimtim in the neighbourhood of 

 London. It* forms differ materially from those of the dialects spoken 

 in the more distant counties, a* Devonshire, frmerseUhire, Cheshire, 



Lancashire, and Yorkshire ; and still more from those of the dial 

 the English which it spoken in the lowlands of Scotland, and in tho 

 border counties of England. The latter dialect has received consider- 

 able literary cultivation not only from early writers, such as Buchanan, 

 Harbour, and others, but also from Bums, Walter Scott, and 

 imitators, who have used it with great skill and success for ballad- 

 poetry and tales of fiction ; nor have the other dialect* been altogether 

 neglected, as several works, particularly poetry, have been produced in 

 them, among which we may mention Miss Blamlre and 1C Anderson 

 in that of the Borders ; for the south of England the very superior 

 works of Mr. Barnes, ' Poems of Rural Life, in the Dorset Dialect, 

 with a Dissertation and Glossary,' limo, 1847,an.l llwc.m.-ly Ithymes,' 

 l'2mo, 1859 ; and the poems of Edward Capern, the liidcford postman, 

 for tho west. 



hv peculiar dialect of the English which has been formed in the 

 New England States of the American Uuion is noticed under 

 AMERICANISM. 



By a provincial word is meant a word which is not received in the 

 literary language of the time, but which in current among the inhabit- 

 ants of some district; and provincial words may be divided into tho 

 following classes : 



1. Words formerly current in the literary dialect of the language, 

 but which have ceased to be so, and are current only as provincialisms. 

 For example, the word cantlt, meaning a piece or fragment, and . 

 meaning cowdung, arc used proviucially in parts of England, t! 

 obsolete in the literary language. They were however literary . 

 in the time of Shakspere, and are used by him in 1 Hen. IV., act iiL, 

 and Macbeth, act iii. 



Sometimes an ancient classical word, though current provincial!}' in 

 ordinary discourse, is used as a literary word only in poetry or as a 

 technical term. Thus the old words craroi for coward, and dank for 

 damp, which are still used familiarly in the provincial language of 

 some districts, could only be employed as literary words in poetry or 

 in poetical prose ; ani the old word toller, meaning on upper floor, 

 which is current as a provincialism in many ports of the country, is 

 only recognised by the literary language as a legal term, being thus 

 used in the general words of a conveyance (" cellars, sellers," Ac.) 



ti. Words which ore not known to have ever been received in tho 

 literary language of the country. Many words of this class will 

 to any person who consults a provincial glossary of any language. In 

 some cases the word differs widely from any word which occurs either 

 in the modern literary language or in old writers; more frequently 

 however the difference consists mainly in the form. The Scotch 

 dialect presents obvious examples of all these varieties. Sometimes a 

 provincial word is not a dialectical variety of form, but is a corruption 

 arising from ignorance, as atomy for anatomy, rusty for re.-' 



Provincial dialects are chiefly preserved among the humbler and 

 illiterate classes; educated persons generally speak the literary lan- 

 guage of the country. Moreover they are chiefly preserved in rural 

 districts ; and thus many of the provincial words relate to agricultural 

 subjects. (Preface to Boucher's 'Glossary ,' p. xliv.) In Fielding's 

 country gentlemen in England often spoke the provincial dialect of their 

 county, as may be seen by Squire Western's language in ' Torn Jones.' 

 Provincialisms, being either ancient classical words, actually obsolete 

 in the literary language, or diverging words or forms in a parallel 

 dialect, are genuine remains of the ancient language of the country. In 

 this respect they differ materially from the following classes of words : 

 1. Low, vulgar, or obscene words, which ore of universal or general 

 currency, and are not confined to any particular locality. (Grose's 

 ' Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,' and the ' Dictionnaire du BOB Lan- 

 gage.') 2. Slang or cant expressions, used by gypsies and thieves for 

 the purpose of concealing the subject of their conversation in tho 

 presence of persons who are not their accomplices (called pergo by the 

 Italians, ergot in French, and germania in Spanish). A slang or cant 

 language is often formed among classes of persons following any 

 peculiar pursuit ; thus there is a slang of the prize-ring and tin- 

 in this country, and there is said to be a slang among bull (Mi 

 .Spain. 3. Technical words, such as the peculiar language of sailors or 

 miners. 4. Neologisms, such as the words taienttd, jeopardix, in 

 English. 



Collections of provincial words are important in a philological point 

 of view, as throwing light on the formation, structure, and analogies of 

 languages ; they are also important in a historical point of view, as 

 illustrating the changes in the language of a country. 

 The glossaries of provincial words which have 1 

 foreign countries ore very numerous, though in gem-Mi th,.y have 

 been made with little philological skill or knowledge, and ore meagre 

 in the explanations and illustrations of the meanings of the words. 

 For tho English language the most recent and comprehensive ;. 

 works are those of Mr. J. 0. Hnlliwoll,' Diet, of Archaic and Provincial 

 Words,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1860 ; and Wright's 'Dictionary of IVovincial and 

 Obsolete English,' 1857 ; and there are glossaries with specim 



EanJ vcno of the dialects of Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Dc\ 

 tn. Palmer, the sister of Sir Joshua Reynolds), Somerset 

 irall, Herefordshire. Cheshire, Lancashire, Yori ulwr- 



rthumberland ; to wliieli may IK- 



Jamieson's S.-ottUh Dictionary;' and that of the Northompt< . 

 dialect, a most comprehensive work, by Miai Baker. 



