CHAPTER XIII 
VERNACULAR OF THE BORDER 
In the course of my investigations about Flowers and their 
names I have been much struck with the manner in which 
the Border vernacular has preserved, sometimes unchanged, 
the terms given by the people of different nationality who 
have lived in the country. The hind of the Merse, without 
being aware of it, talks a mixture apparently of Anglo- 
Saxon and of the language which still survives in Iceland, 
the tongue of the old-time Vikings, Danes, Swedes and 
Norsemen, all of whom in their day lived on the Border. 
The very word “ hyne” or “hind,” which has been applied to 
farm-servants since time immemorial, is from the Anglo- 
Saxon hine , or hineman. “ Ye’ll gang by the Dene to the 
haugh to see till the yowes,” he says. Here “gang” is “to 
go,” from Anglo-Saxon gangan , to go ; Icelandic, gang-a. 
“ Dene,” a wooded hollow, from Anglo-Saxon Den. 
“ Haugh,” a riverside flat or pasture, from Icelandic hagi. 
“ Till, til,” Anglo-Saxon, til; Icelandic, til, to. “ Yowes,” 
ewes; Anglo-Saxon, eowe ; while the old Pictish or Belgic 
words was oye and ouwe. The Piets and Belgae seem to 
have been akin to the Saxons. 
Nowadays the farm-servants have taken exception to the 
time-honoured term of “ hind,” and declare it is demeaning 
to their dignity to be so called. The word, therefore, is now 
less used. They prefer being called “agricultural labourers.” 
I have heard that the country folk in Sweden and Norway 
apparently care little for gardening, and do not cultivate 
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