112 



On some un-noted Wiltshire Phrases. 



enough. A Cumberland correspondent says, however, that "'let 

 off 3 is used intransitively, sometimes, for 'to use general abuse'— 

 what the Scotch call ' swearing at large.' " And a friend in 

 Hampshire tells me that he thinks he has heard the phrase " let 

 off" there, though "let on" is more common. 



Lodged or Ledged, part. =beaten down, flattened. Spoken of 

 corn laid by wind or rain. The former form of the word appears 

 common everywhere, and occurs in Macbeth, IV., 2. The latter 

 is, however, so far as I am aware, peculiar to Wiltshire. But vowels 

 are the sport of local dialects in every language. 



Middling, adj. I am astonished not to find the minimistic use 

 of this word noted by Akerman, as there are few phrases more com- 

 monly employed in Wiltshire when it is wished to indicate a positive 

 statement by the intonation of the voice without expressing it in so 

 many words. Thus, "very middling" (generally with a shake of 

 the head) means bad, or ill : " pretty middling " (with a nod) means 

 good or well. 



Nitums, adv.—&k night {i.e., no doubt, at night times, but always 

 pronounced exactly as I have written it). 



Odds, v. ^.,=alter, change. Halliwell speaks of this word as 

 occasionally used in the West of England in this sense. I have 

 heard it in Wiltshire not infrequently. 



Pantony, <?.=pantry. The ultimate root of both these words is, 

 of course, the Latin pain, bread. Hence paneterie is Old French 

 for the place where bread was kept, and panetier for the person in 

 charge of it, which became in thirteenth-century English pantner, 

 pantrer, ovpantler. 



Quiset, v.=to pry. I have heard a person spoken of as being 

 "always quisetting about/'' and I suspect that the word is simply a 

 corrupt formation from the adj. inquisitive. It is given in no 

 glossary that I have met with. 



Rail, v. #.=crawl, walk slowly. Halliwell gives this word with 

 the sense of to stray abroad, and adds " perhaps from the older word 

 reile, to roll.'" This latter is no doubt from the Anglo-Saxon hreol, 

 a reel. I hear the word, however, used constantly with no other 

 signification than that of a slow or feeble walk. 



