GUERNSEY DIALECT AND PLANT NAMES. 35 



In the meantime our Society slionld strive to collect every 



possible scrap of fresh material illustrating, or relating to, or 



bearing upon the Norman-French dialects of our islands. 



Those of our members who are, as unfortunately I am not, 



able to converse freely in the patois^ have large opportunities 



of adding to what is already on record. For example, 



comparatively little is known about the popular chansons and 



dittons of Alderney and Sark ; and yet it is almost certain 



that they offer many interesting peculiarities when compared 



with those of Guernsey. Half-an-hour's chat with some 



talkative old farmer, or fisherman, would often yield rich 



results to a judicious enquirer. But above all things, beware 



of letting him suspect that 



" A chiel's amang ye, takin' notes, 

 And, faith, he'll prent it." 



For several years past I have been collecting the local 

 patois names of the wild plants of (xuernsey, together with 

 whatever fragments of plant-lore I could discover. But on 

 every side I have heard the same tale of wonderful old 

 herbalists and cattle-doctors, not many years dead, who could 

 have supplied me with invaluable stores of information — but 

 they have all passed away. People no longer practise the art 

 of making simple remedies and medicines for their families 

 and their cattle, and as a consequence, even the very names of 

 many herbs are forgotten. 



This year, however, I have succeeded in adding largely 

 to my notes, owing to the hearty assistance I have received 

 (and for which T am deeply grateful), from two members of 

 the Society — Mr. J. S. Hocart, of Les Mielles, Vale, and the 

 Rev. R. H. Tourtel, Rector of Torteval. Numbers of other 

 people, some of them unknown to me, have added, here a little, 

 there a little, to my list, so that it has grown much longer 

 than I had originally anticipated. 



The net result is that I have now compiled a catalogue 

 of about 230 dialect names of Guernsey plants, every one of 

 which, I have been assured, is still used at the present time in 

 this island. This is a point which I wish to emphasise, 

 because in many cases these names are quite unlike any which 

 occur in Normandy, so far as I can ascertain. Another point 

 which I wish to make very clear is that I have taken great 

 pains to w^rite the names phonetically — taking them from the 

 speaker's lips, and spelling them in my own way. In every 

 case therefore, the etymology must be traced by the ear, and 

 not by the eye ; that is, by the sound and not by the spelling : 

 which is rather an important distinction. 



