Words & Phrases West Penwith

Click to listen to some St Just / Pendeen Dialect

Introduction

Newlyn Words and Phrases   

Madron  Words and Phrases

St Just in Penwith Area Words

St Just in Penwith Area Phrases

Words & Phrases West Penwith

Introduction

By Margaret A. Courtney. January, 1880.

1. With the introduction of railways and the increased means of communication, that has brought and brings every year more strangers to West Cornwall, the peculiar dialect is fast dying out, giving place to a vile Cockney pronunciation with a redundancy of h's. The younger generation are ashamed of and laugh at the old expressive words their parents use. One seldom now hears such Shakespearian terms as giglet, a giddy girl; fadge, to suit; petze, to weigh ; nor the old form of the plural — housen, houses ; peasen, peas ; nor derivative adjectives with the prefix en, such as feasten and stonen. But in the outlying fishing villages and inland parishes the dialect still lingers.

2. A stranger meeting one of our country labourers or miners on the " Downses " (downs), and asking him a question, would probably have some difficulty in understanding the answer. Should the words in which it was given be common all over England, the sing- song drawliiig tones of the high-pitched voice, and the different sounds given to the vowels and diphthongs, would greatly puzzle him. The pronunciation differs considerably in places not more than ten or twelve miles apart, and persons who live in Penzance and make the dialect their study, can easily distinguish a St. Just from a Newlyn or Mousehole man, and both from a native of Camborne or St. Ives. The most marked difference in speech, however, is found between the dwellera on "the mainland" (Penzance, &c.) and the inhabitants of Scilly, or, as they would call themselves, " Scillonians." With them thread becomes " tread," and three " tree." I is changed into oiy as pint, " point ; " isles, " oiles ; " but a point would be a "pint," and boil " bile." Their voices, too, are pitched in a different key. Although none of the islands are more than three miles from St Mary's the largest, on which is Hugh-town, the capital, each " Off-oisland " has a pronunciation of its own, and the people on St. Mary's often laugh at the peculiarities of the " Off-oislanders." They are fond of giving their children Scriptural names — Obadiah, Methuselah, Melchizedek, Emmanuel, Tobias; which they shorten into Diah, Thus, Dick, Manny, Bias. This custom formerly prevailed in all the villages of West Cornwall. One man was baptized Mahershalalhashbaz, although known as Maal, and women still live who bear the names of Loruhameh and Kerenhappuck. Of the dialect and pronunciation of the eastern part of the county I know from personal experience next to nothing, never having spent more than a few weeks in that locality, except that the vowels are broader and the consonants harsher than in West Cornwall, and that it resembles the dialect of Devon. The following table will show the peculiarities of pronunciation in the Land's End and adjacent districts : —

A pronounced. aa : call, caal , half, haalf ; master, maaster. Have, in reading, with old parish clerks and others, is haave. {au Scilly : call, caul.)

A, pronounced. ee : square, squeer ; care, keer.

Aif pron. ae, both vowels sounded : nail, nael ; tail, tael.

Ef as e, with but few exceptions, where it becomes a, as yellow, yallow ; secret, sacret.

Ee, as I, in been, bin ; and meet, mit.

Ea diphthong, as ai : meat, mait ; clean, clain ; bream, braim.

Ea in heard, heerd. Ea in earth and ear is sometimes spoken with a faint sound of y : y earth, year.

" Ea is sometimes also separated, as e-arth, we-ar, at Zennor." J. W.

Ea in tea retains the old sound tay, and sea becomes say.

Ea in proper names is ay : Pendrea, Pendray ; Tredrea, Tredray

Ei diphthong, pronounced. ee, as skein, skeen ; seine, seen; except in receive, where it "becomes a.

I, pron. e, as river, rever ; shiver, shever.

I, pron. ee, as kite (the bird), keet ; child, cheeld ; &c.

Ie diphthong, pron. a : believe, b'lave ; relieve, relave.

O, as a ; grow, graw ; know, knaw ; &c.

O, as u ; column, culumn ; pollock, pullock.

O, as o where it is u in other counties, as front, not frunt ; among, not amung.

O in won't as a long, wan't.

In proper names the o in the prefix Pol is always long, as Poltair, Poletair ; Polsue, Polesue.

Oo preceded by h, is oo long : hood, not huod ; hook, not huok.

U is pronounced as u in pull : dull, duol ; puzzle, puozzle.

G sometimes y, as angel, anyel ; stranger, stranyer.

In words of more than one syllable ending in ing the g is omitted, as going, goin ; singing, singin.

P as b in peat, beat.

Words ending in sp retain the old form ps, as clasp, claps ; hasp, haps ; crisp, crips.

Y in yellow is often changed into j, jallow.

Old people generally add y to the infinitive, as dig, diggy ; hack, hacky ; paint, painty ; walk, walky ; and put an a before the imperfect part, as "goin a diggin'."

Be commonly takes the place of are, and be not is corrupted into b'aint ; and when preceded by the verb the pronoun you is almost invariably changed into 'ee, as "Whur be 'ee jailin, my son"? Goin'' to Mittin, are 'ee ? " Where are you walking so fast, my son? (my son is applied to all males, and even occasionally to females.) Going to Meeting, are you? (A Mittin or a Mittin-house is a Nonconformist, generally a Wesleyan, Chapel ) " You b'aint a goin' to do et, sure-ly ] " "Ess-fye ! I be." (Yes, I am.) " Hav' 'ee most catched up your churs'? " (Have you most finished your housework ?)  "Did 'ee ever knaw sich a g'eat maazed antic in all your born days ? " (Did you ever know such a mad fool ?) &c. " I'll gi' 'ee a click under the y-ear." (I'll give you a box on the ears.)

Verbs and pronouns are often used in the second person singular instead of the second person plural, as ''Coom thee wayst in, thee g'eat chlicklehead, or I'll gi' 'ee a scat on the chacks that 'ull maake 'ee grizzle the wrong side o' th' moueth. Thee thinkst o' nawthing but gammut. (Come in, you great stupid, or I will give you a slap in the face that shall make you laugh the other side of your mouth. You think of nothing but play.) "Beest *ee goin' to painty to-day, Jan ? " (Are you going to paint to-day, John ?)

Him and it are contracted into 'w, as " I don't think much of 'n." G'eat takes the place of great, as " a g'eat biifflehead " (a great fool); bra' of brave, "a bra' fine day" (a very fine day). "And between two adjectives applies the preceding one to the latter — 'bra' and wicked,' bravely or very wicked, although brave alone would be a term of commendation." - J. W. The article a is put before plural nouns, as " a trousers," " a bellers " (bellows).

The preposition up is very commonly used after verbs, as " I must finish up my work," " I must do up my odds and ends ; " and where in other places in would be used, as " Take up (not take in) two loaves for to-morrow." Sometimes a superfluous verb is added, as " I looked to see."

The Cornish are fond of doubling their negatives, " Never no more, says Tom Collins."

" When he died, he shut his eyes.

And never saw money no more."

                               Old Nursery Rhyme. *'

I don't knaw, ant I " (I don't know, not I) ; and a favourite ans\yer to a question is, " Not as I knaw by," or " Not as I know," all pro- nounced quickly as one word, "Notsino." Couldst, wouldst, and shouldst are contracted into cu'st, wu'st, and shu'st ; as " How cu'st 'ee (thee) be such a big fool?" "Thou shu'snt tell such lies;" " Wu'st 'ee (thee) do et ? " But to multiply examples would take too much space for an introduction, and to those especially interested in this branch of the subject, I would recommend the works of the late Tregellas, Bottrell's Traditions and Hearth-side Stories of West Cornwall, first and second series; and a little work by " Uncle Jan Trenoodle" (Sandys), which contains amongst other things a collection of poems in the Cornish dialect by Davies Gilbert.

3. Like all other Celts, the Cornish are an imaginative and poetical people, given to quaint sayings, similes, and pithy proverbs. I have heard of a man being ''so drunk that he couldn't see a hole in a nine-rung ladder;" of a piece of beef "as salt as Lot's wife's elbow." A woman a few days since in describing the " Bal gals," said, " they were all as sweet as blossom ; " and another that some boy " was as hardened as Pharoah." You may be often greeted on entering a house with, " You are as welcome as flowers in May." A servant when she adds a little hot to cold water, will speak of it as " taking the edge off the cold." A labourer will tell you that " he's sweating like a fuz' bush (a furze bush) on a dewy morning." Any one who has seen such a thing will recognize the force of the simile. Once I asked an old Land's End guide what made all those earth- heaps in a field through which we were passing ? His reply was, " What you rich people never have in your house, a want " (a mole). Few proverbs express more in a few words than the following : — " Those that have marbles may play ; but those that have none must look on." " 'Tis well that wild cows have short horns." " You've no more use for it than a toad for a side pocket." " All play and no play, like Boscastle Market, which begins at twelve o'clock and ends at noon." A great many of the sayings relate to long-since-forgotten worthies, such as :- " But - says Parson Lasky." " Oh ! my blessed parliament, says Molly Franky." " All on one side, like Smoothy's wedding." " Like Nicholas Kemp, you've occasion for all." " As knowing as Kate Mullet, and she was hanged for a fool." A few may be interesting from an antiquarian point of view : — "To be presented in Halgaver Court." ''Kingston Down well wrought is worth London town dear bought." "Working like a Trojan." " As deep as Gurrick." " As bright as Dalmanazar." " As ancient as the floods of Dava." Of the two last I have never heard an explanation. Each parish has its own particular saint to which the church is dedicated. " There are more saints in Cornwall than there are in heaven." The saints' feasts are held on the nearest Sunday and Monday to dedication day, Feasten Sunday and Monday. The inhabitants of every parish have a distinguishing nickname. One curious custom is nearly obsolete, that of speaking of a married woman as "Kitty Ben Koscrow," "Mary Peter Penrose," instead of Kitty, Ben Koscrow's wife, &c.

§ 4. Cornish proper names of men and places have the accent on the second syllable, as Borla'se, Boli'tho, Trela'wney, Carne'gie, Pendre'a, Polme'nnor (Poleme'nnor). In true Cornish compound names the noun is put before the adjective, as Chegwidden (white house), che, house, gwidden, white; Vounderveor (great road), vounder, road, veor, great (through ignorance now called Vounder- veor Lane). When the word is formed of two nouns, the distinguishing one is last, as Nanceglos (church valley), nanc (c soft), valley, eglos, church ; Crowz-an-wra (a road-side cross), crowz, cross, wra road ; Peninnis (island head), pen, a head, innis an island ; Egloshayle (river church), eglos, a church, hayle a river (now Pen- innis Head, Egloshayle Church). These rules hold good even when the words are half Cornish, half English, as Street-an-Nowan (the new street, of some antiquity), Cairn Du (black cairn), Castle Vean (little castle). Castle an Dinas ¹ (a reduplication). Chapel Ury, Chapel St. Clare.

§ 5. When asked some years since by the English Dialect Society to write a West Cornwall Glossary, wishing to make it as complete as possible, I consulted all the published works on the subject which were in the Penzance Library ²,  and added to my list the words in them unknown to me. Those that I have given on the authority of Polwhele alone are, I am afraid, although common in the beginning of this century, now quite forgotten except by a very few. Had I been aware that I was to have been associated with Mr. Couch, I should have taken no examples from his works ; but I have retained them, as they were nearly all familiar to Mr. Westlake, Q.C. (J. W.), to whom I now take this opportunity of tendering my * **Some make castle a fortification of stone, dinas of earth." — Bannister. INTRODUCTION. XV sincere and hearty thanks for his very valuable services, ungrudgingly given, he having kindly gone over the entire MS. with me, I must also thank Mr. H. R Cornish (H. R C), who has done the same by the proof-sheets, and Mr. Thomas Cornish (T. C), who placed all his Cornish words at my disposal. Those signed W. N. I had from Mr. Wm. "Noje, and Davy, Zennor through Mr. Westlake. Garlands are from a list by the late Mr. Garland in the Journal of the Royal Inst. Cornwall. I have, too, incorporated in this glossary a list of words collected by the Rev. Flavell Cook (F. C.) when at Liskeard, and kindly sent me through the Rev. W. W. Skeat ; and some from those published in the Cornishman by Bernard Victor (B. V.) and Wm. Fred. Pentreath (W. F. P.), of Mousehole ; and by F. W. P. Jago, M.B., Plymouth. To all these gentlemen my thanks are due.

Margaret A. Courtney.

Alverton House,

Penzance, 1880