The Gower Glossary

Limited Edition Benjamin A Jones & Rob Penhallurick

The Gower Glossary Limited Edition Benjamin A Jones & Rob Penhallurick

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Published by the Gower Landscape Partnership Care of, City and County of Swansea, Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road, Swansea SA1 3SN. E-mail: gowerlandscapepartnership@swansea.gov.uk All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

1st edition. October 2018 Cover artwork by Viv Harries © © Copyright text: Ben Jones and Rob Penhallurick, 2018.

Ben Jones and Rob Penhallurick assert their moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as authors of this work.

‘The Painter’: © John Beynon. Published in 1997 independently

by John Beynon in Gower Poems: From Bard to Verse. Reproduced with the kind permission of the author.

‘Chain Harrows’: © The estate of Nigel Jenkins. Published in 2009

by Gomer Press in Gower by Nigel Jenkins and David Pearl.

Reproduced with the kind permission of Gomer Press.

Images credits: iStock (pages 8, 26, 32, 35) Benjamin A. Jones (pages 43, 48) This book is also available in Welsh.

DesignPrint 44028-18

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Acknowledgements This free Limited Edition of The Gower Glossary is for schools and libraries. An extended edition will be on sale in due course.

The Gower Glossary is based on Rob Penhallurick’s Gowerland and its Language (1994). For additional contributions in 2018, our thanks to: Rik Bennett, Sue Callow, Pamela Morgan, and Helen Nicholas.

For assistance, advice, and encouragement, we also thank Roger Button, the Gower Heritage Centre, Andrew Dulley of West Glamorgan Archives, and the team at the Gower Landscape Partnership, especially Jacquy Box, Helen Grey, and Mandy Jones.

Ben Jones & Rob Penhallurick, September 2018

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Contents

Page

Introduction to the Gower dialect

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How to use this glossary

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Poem: C.D. Morgan’s The Old Man to His Wife

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Gower descriptions

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Gower cuisine

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Gower flora and fauna

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Poem: John Beynon’s The Painter

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Gower objects, people, and more!

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Gower idioms, proverbs, and phrases

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Poem: Nigel Jenkins’s Chain Harrows

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Bibliography

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Introduction to the Gower dialect History of the English language in Gower The linguistic history of the Gower Peninsula plays a notable part in the history of the English language. Writing in 1882, an early investigator of English dialects, A.J. Ellis, stated that the language of Gower was ‘ancient and not acquired in modern times’. Indeed, it is now estimated that English has been spoken in Gower for about 900 years; along with southern Pembrokeshire, this is longer than anywhere else in Wales apart from the borders.

English-speaking in Gower began after the Norman invasion of Britain in the eleventh century. From the early twelfth, Gower became one of many Welsh regions controlled by the Normans (known as the Welsh Marches). The land was administratively divided into two areas: Gower Anglicana (English Gower) in the south and west, and Gower Wallicana (Welsh Gower) in the northeast. English-speaking peasants from Norman-controlled England were persuaded to settle in the fertile land of English Gower by these new Lords, and before long the culture and language of Gower had become Anglicised.

Gower became a linguistic island, home to a new dialect of English, largely cut off from other English speakers except via sea route.

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There are many words in the Gower dialect descended from this early time – from Old English, the earliest period of English speech. For example: evil (a fork) and angletouch (a worm). Though these words have fallen out of use in contemporary Standard English, they are shared with some other dialects around the British isles.

A.J. Ellis noted one area which showed most similarity with Gower: the English West Country. Later in Gower’s history, locals would trade their goods across the Bristol Channel and many more words were shared. This is also why the grammar and pronunciation of the Gower dialect prior to the twentieth century was similar to that of the counties of Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall.

Like south-west England, Gower dialectal grammar included forms such as beant and baint for ‘aren’t’, and the masculine pronoun ‘n or ‘en to form grammar like know’n (know him) derived from Old English hine (pronounced like ‘hinner’). Pronunciation shared with the English West Country included articulating say, see, side and so like zay, zee, zide and zo; and pronouncing initial f sounds as if a v in words like vind and vather (find, father).

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Dialect inquirers of the past Ellis was not the first investigator who studied the dialect. Throughout the Gower dialect’s history, many people from ‘Gowerland’ made and published notes and observations about the distinctive words used. The earliest word list was attached to a letter sent by Isaac Hamon of Bishopston in 1697. In 1849, Reverend J. Collins produced a list of Gower words, and in Reverend J.D. Davies’s A History of West Gower (1877-1894) further linguistic insights were provided. One of the first travel guidebooks on Gower was C.D. Morgan’s Wanderings in Gower (1886), which used and listed Gower words. Then in the 1950s, Horatio Tucker produced several works on Gower speech and culture. Gower got the full academic treatment in the 1970s when its speech was systematically analysed for the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects (hereafter SAWD) led by David Parry. Parry and his colleagues found that traits of the old nineteenth-century dialect were still alive in the speech of those aged over 60. More recently, Rob Penhallurick published Gowerland and Its Language (1994), a large academic glossary that collected together all previous word lists, and which discusses the dialect in depth.

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A slightly caffled onlooker experiences the view at Rhossili

Does the dialect still exist today?

So, does that mean the dialect is still alive today? Although throughout several centuries commentators like Hamon and Ellis speculated about the dialect’s imminent death, it was not until the nineteenth century that the dialect really began to face its demise. The root of this change was the end of Gower’s isolation — the end of that ‘linguistic island’. With industrialisation, the population of Wales became increasingly Anglicised; Gower’s Welsh-speaking neighbours had diminished, their speech replaced by a new ‘Welsh English’ quite different from Gower pronunciation and grammar certainly. Nearby Swansea’s population increased hugely and urban developments encroached upon the peninsula.

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Coupled with the development of public roads and transport, not only did Gower residents leave the peninsula for places further afield, but it became far easier for people to settle in the peninsula.

These developments acted as a sort of ‘bridge’ to Gower’s ‘linguistic island’ and overwhelmed the old Gower dialect.

Today that Gower dialect is no longer a living dialect, but a historical one — thankfully preserved due to the many commentators of its past. In the early twenty-first century, what remains are the memories that Gower inhabitants have of the way English was spoken in their youth, and we have included some of their reminiscences in this glossary. Modern-day Gower speech is redolent of the Welsh English of the ‘mainland’. Its pronunciation has become more ‘Welsh’-sounding, as has the grammar, and although some old words are still found, the full ‘West Country’ Gower dialect is no longer in use.

The glossary that you will find in this book derives from Rob Penhallurick’s Gowerland and Its Language. We have decided upon a new way of representing the words, by splitting them into thematic chapters. They include lists of words for Gower descriptions, cuisine, animals and plants, objects and people, and idioms and phrases! Also, to illustrate the use of dialect words by local speakers, we have reproduced some fantastic poetry from the peninsula that uses some of these historical words.

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In this book, you will find poems interspersed between chapters, from C.D. Morgan, John Beynon, and Nigel Jenkins. These stretch from the late nineteenth century to the present day.

How to use this glossary How should you use this Gower glossary? We have split it into several categories so that you can jump in at any point and look for words to do with different themes.

Each entry is laid out in a particular order. First comes the dialect word and any variants of it. Next is the word-class: is it a noun (n.), verb (v.), adjective (adj.), adverb (adv.), or an idiom or proverb (id., pvb)? Also, is it a plural form (pl.)? After this, we provide an indication of the item’s pronunciation, if accurately shown in the original source.

We use International Phonetic Script to jot down words’ pronunciations. Then we give the year in which the dialect word was first recorded in a glossary, and if available the last year it was recorded or noted. Following this, we provide the definition by the person who first made note of the dialect word. And finally, in a selection of cases we provide the known origins of the word — its etymology, that is, where do scholars think the word hailed from, and how might its form have changed? These etymologies are informed by a variety of sources, especially the Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects (SAWD), Joseph Wright’s English Dialect Dictionary (EDD), the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and the Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (GPC) online.

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The Old Man to His Wife by C.D. Morgan (1886) Knowing every inch of Gower, C.D. Morgan was one of the first authors to write a guidebook and dialect glossary about Gower. It comes as no surprise that in Wanderings in Gower, Morgan tried his hand at writing some dialect poetry. The first and fifth verses of this poem highlight his language observations very well.

O Mary, I can work no more, my poor steved limbs they ache.

I meaned to cut the Bet to day, or grub the furzy brake; My foot hath lost its lessom spring, my blood is keitched and cold, And I am hastening to the grave, weak, weary, worn, and old.

I’th lived beyond life’s usual span – I’m eighty-two or three And sixty years of ups and downs I’ve spent, my maid, wi’ thee.

And I hath earned all we hath had w’ hot and dripping brow, And taken no man’s charity, and cannot take it now.

There’s nothing much to keep us here, the children they are gone, And like two lonesome travellers, we’re trudging slowly on; Down in the village graveyard we laid our first to sleep And one was killed in battle, and there’s one beneath the deep.

And there’s one, tho’long we’th lost un, I can’t believe he’s dead, For I dream’th that when I’m dying I shall see him by my bed; And now my labour’s ended, and my day is all but done, I shall still have trust in Providence to send me back my son.

I thought to-day at ‘nummet’ time, when I’d to ‘nate’ my bread, Of what the parson said to we the morning we were wed He said that God had joined us two when we gave heart for heart.

And none, he said should ever dare to seek to make us part.

And we hath found his words come true, in sickness, care, and strife, I’th been to thee a faithful man and thou a faithful wife; So never shall the Workhouse, lass, remove thee from my side, For thou art still as dear to-day as when I called thee bride.

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Gower descriptions These are words to describe people, things, places, and actions.

Many of the descriptive words in this list are adjectives: they add additional meaning to objects and people. The Gower dialect had many ways of describing all manner of things.

Many of the words below are observations or opinions: we can observe that things are kleen (orderly), and that somebody is possibly purty (sulky). Other words describe shapes or states: a person or object may be cammil (crooked in shape), a fallen vase may now be melted to pieces (disintegrated), and a stream could be shale (shallow).

In this list, we also have nouns that specify types of natural feature, things that other English speakers might not have words for. For example, a claggar is a rock, but not any mere rock — a significantly large one; a pistle is a spring coming out of a bank; and scarras are crevices formed by limestone.

And have you ever wondered why there are so many place names in Gower with slade in their name, like Limeslade, Mewslade, and Slade Bay? In the old Gower dialect, a slade was a term to describe sloping land heading towards the sea!

We can also describe actions with the old Gower dialect.

One can clit (stick) things together, helly (cover up) potatoes, and planche (make) a boarded floor.

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B Bal-eared adj., 1697. Hard of hearing.

Behigged adj., [bɪhɪgd], 1969. Aimless.

Beroyd participial adj., 1957. Lacking sense, (literally) bereft.

Bet n., 1886-1950. The turf pared off a field, prepared for hedging. Also used in the West Country of England.

Blive adj., 1697. Fast. A blend of ‘by life’, likely from Anglo-Norman.

Brothell adj., 1697. Lazy, easy.

C Caffled adj., [kafld], 1849-1969. Tangled, especially of hair and fur. Caffle, ‘to entangle or confuse’, is also recorded in the north and west of England.

Cam(et/it/il) adj., [kamɪt], 1849-1969. Awkward, crooked. Also found in the north and west of England and in Welsh as cam, meaning ‘crooked’.

Cavey adj., 1886. Humble.

Claggar n., 1920. A rock that is large. Possibly from Welsh clegyr.

Clit v., [klɪt], 1849-1985. To stick together. From clight(e), itself from Old English clyccean.

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Common adj., 1957. Unwell.

Coochy adj., [kuːtʃiː], 1969. Left-handed.

Copped adj., 1697. Cheeky, audacious, or lofty.

Perhaps from Old English cop, meaning ‘a summit’.

Cossy n., [kɔsiː], 1985. A ford in a river, (literally) a causeway. Possibly from Old North French cauciée.

Cutty adj., 1920. Small.

D Dirty adj., 1951. A farming term for overused.

Doakth adj., 1886. Low-hearted.

Doan/dome/doom/doone adj., 1849-1957. Damp.

Doles n. pl., 1920. Strips of meadowland in medieval 14th-century Gower (or Wales generally) often near a stream and fit for hay. Likely from dialectal Welsh dôl, meaning ‘water meadow’.

Dotted adj., 1849-1951. Giddy, a farming term used of sheep.

Dran(g)/drangway n., [draŋweɪ], 1950-1992. An alleyway or narrow lane. Used also in south-western England.

F Farger & nearger adj., adv., 1849. Farther and nearer.

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Fleet adj., 1849. Bleak, exposed, and unsheltered.

Fraith adj., 1849. Talkative, or free-spoken.

Franck adj., 1697. Liberal.

Frightened adj., 1950-1957. Astonished.

G Gammy adj., 1920. Diseased, stiff, or crooked.

Possibly related to Welsh cam, meaning ‘crooked’, and French gambi, meaning ‘bent’.

Grip(e) n., [graɪp], 1886-1989. A ditch. Derived from Germanic sources, for example, compare Norse grip, German grab, Standard English grave, and Old English grype, grypa, meaning ‘burrow’.

Gritten n., [gɹɪtən], 1988. A raised area of river-bed that is safe to cross.

H Heavgar adj., 1849. Heavier.

Helled/helling adj., v. progressive form, 1886.

To cover potatoes with earth. Also hel(l)y, v., 1885-1969, to cover. Derived from Old English helian. (See also hile in Flora and fauna.)

Herring-gutted adj., 1950. Lean.

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Highty adj., 1920. To be in good spirits, or healthy.

Also used for a house built on elevated ground.

Hippish/hyppish adj., [hɪpɪʃ], 1969. Angry.

Hoarid adj., 1957. High (of meat). Hoar is used in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1597).

Hoast adj., [hoːst], 1985. Hoarse. From Old English hās.

Horvie adj., 1697. Foul or dirty.

Huvvers n. pl., 1951. The flooded ledges near rock pools.

J Jugglemire n., [dʒʌglməɪə], 1960-1969. A quagmire, or swamp. From juggle ‘to deceive’, and Old Norse mýrr.

K Kift adj., 1920. Awkward.

Kilter adj., 1886-1920. Good condition, especially of land.

Kleen adj., 1697. Orderly.

L Lathy adj., 1920. Strong, or lusty.

Leaways n. pl., [liːweiz], 1985. Glades. From Old English lēah meaning ‘meadow’ + weg ‘way’.

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Leere/leery adj., 1697-1950. Empty.

Lissom adj., 1886. Active.

Loon adj., 1886-1920. Bewildered.

M Maid n., 1886-2018. In 2018, Pamela Morgan told the authors, ‘always used to refer to a young unmarried girl, affectionately, by my Gower grandmother but not heard today’, and Sue Callow suggests it was pronounced as ‘mide’.

Mawbound adj., [məubəund], 1960. Suffering from stomach ache.

May-pool n., [meɪpuːl], 1969. A communal pool by the roadside. Possibly related to mere-pool, ‘a pool of water’, recorded in Derbyshire by the EDD. Melted/melted to pieces adj., adj. phrase, 1950-1951.

Disintegrated.

Mitch v., [mɪtʃ], 1969-1989. To play truant. The OED believes it to derive from Old French mucier, meaning ‘to hide or conceal oneself’.

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N Nash adj., 1886-1957. Tender, especially of skin. Lush, of grass. A related form, nesh, meaning ‘sensitive to cold’, is recorded widely in British and American English, and has a Germanic origin.

Nice adj., 1950. Meticulous or finicky.

For example, ‘She’d be nice with her food’.

Nipparty/nipperty adj., 1849-1950. Lively, convalescent.

Nopid/noppet/-it adj., 1849-1969. Convalescent, lively, bustling.

O Oakey adj., 1886-1957. Naturally greasy. Gower weavers used this term in reference to fleeces.

Old ancient adj. phrase, 1886. Very old.

P Peert adj., 1849. Lively, or brisk.

Pilmy adj., 1886-1969. Dusty.

Pissle/pistle n., [pɪsəl, pɪsL], 1969-1988. A spring running from a bank or wall, usually channelled down a pipe.

Probably from Welsh pistyll, perhaps ultimately from Latin.

Planche/planched v., adj., 1849-1951. To make a boarded floor, or a floor that has been boarded.

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Plim/plym adj., 1849-1920. To be full. Related to plim, v., 1886-1992, used of dough, to rise.

Plud n., [pləd], 1960. A puddle. From Middle English.

Plum adj., 1886. Soft.

Plush v., [pləʃ], 1969-1988. To create a hedge by interweaving branches, a variant of plash, a late Middle English adoption of Old French plaiss(i)er.

Purty adj., 1849-1951. Sulky, displeased. Also purted, v., to turn sulky.

Q Quat/quat down v., [kwɔt], 1849-1985. To crouch down or flatten. From Old French quatir, quattir, or catir, to ‘press down’.

R Ronk(ish) adj., [ɹɔŋk], 1957-1969. Rancid, or smelly.

Rusty adj., [ɹəstiː], 1969. Rancid. From Old French resté + -y.

S Scarras n. pl., 1951. Crevices formed in limestone.

Shale adj., [ʃeil], 1969. Shallow. From late Middle English schoold, schōld.

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Shonk adj., 1920. Smart, or nimble. Used for active elderly people. From Welsh sionc, meaning ‘sprightly’.

Shoord/shoord-way n., [ʃuːrd, ʃʊrd, ʃʊd, ʃʊdweɪ], 1951-1992. A gap in a hedge, sandbank, or wall.

From Old English sceard, meaning ‘gap or notch’.

Sket, v., n., [skɛt], 1957. To fly out, used of sparks.

Also used of flecks of paint and specks of rain. In 2018, Pamela Morgan tells us ‘Love sket; it is onomatopoeic and I am not sure I can find another word which is so descriptive of the fat flying out of a frying pan or paint flicking off a brush when you drop it.’ Possibly from Old English scéotan, meaning ‘to shoot’.

Slade n., [sled], 1849-1989. Ground that slopes towards the sea. From Old English slæd, slead, sled.

Sorry adj., 1920. Weak, or sick.

Starved adj., v., 1950-1957. Perished with coldness.

Used as a progressive verb in starving. From Old English steorfan, ‘to die’.

Steer adj., 1920. Steep, of a hill. Also used in Pembrokeshire dialect to mean ‘perpendicular’.

Steeved participial adj., v., [stiːvd], 1886-1969.

Cramped, or stiff. From Middle English stef.

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Suant adj., 1849-1957. Regular, orderly or facile.

From Anglo-French sua(u)nt, itself from Old French suiant, sivant.

Sukker n., 1886. A sheltering place (from wind).

Sward/-t n., [swɔːd, swɔːt], 1951-1989. A measure of mown grass. From Old English sweard.

T Toit adj., 1886. Frisky, wanton, or lawless.

V Vitty/vitty-handed adj., [vɪti andɪd], 1886-1960.

Handy, or skilful.

W Weest/weist adj., 1697-1886. Dismal, lonely or desolate.

Wimble/wimbling v., [wɪmbl], 1849-1960. To winnow.

Formed from wim, an archaic form of obscure origin first recorded in 1455.

Z Zogged adj., 1960. Boggy, or sogged.

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Gower cuisine These are words for foods, drinks, and culinary practices.

Historically, much of the Gower cuisine comes from the ingredients locally available, whether fished, raised, grown, or foraged. Gower inhabitants were quite selfsufficient, and the local diet possessed a substantial dialectal nomenclature.

At Bidding Weddings, the main dish was tinmeat, mutton baked in tins, with one tin serving four wedding-guests.

On Mabsant (Saint Day), Gower villages would celebrate their patron saint and eat a local dish. Whitepot, a pudding, was especially popular in Llangennith.

Take a look through the following list for inspiration!

Readers with a sweet tooth may be inclined to cook up flathin, those preferring savoury snacks may go for batches of shoats. Then wash it all down with jorums of beer or eau-de-vie.

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B Botanic n., 1951. A herbal drink.

Budrum n., 1920. Oatmeal gruel.

C Cheese cakes n., 1951. Cakes made by sandwiching sheep milk curd between pastry layers in a ‘turnover’.

Culf(er)/Culver n., [kəlf, kʌlf, kəlvə], 1960-1989.

A thick portion of bread. Possibly influenced by Welsh cwlff, meaning ‘hunk, chunk, lump’, or perhaps from Middle English collop, ‘slice of meat’.

D Dowset n., [dəusɛt], 1886-1969. A curdled milk pudding baked in a brick oven. Also used for a custard tart made in a milk-tin after baking. From Middle English doucet, a loanword from Old French meaning ‘sweet’.

E Eau-de-vie n., 1951-1957. Brandy. From French, meaning ‘water of life’.

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F Filshy v., [fɪlʃiː], 1969. To select potatoes.

Possibly from filch, meaning ‘to pilfer’.

Flathin n., 1849-1957. A pudding made of egg and milk, often sweetened and spiced, and baked in a pastry-lined dish. Sue Callow told the authors in 2018, ‘What we know as flathin in our family is a deep egg custard tart. My mother’s flathin was always a favourite in our house. My grandfather said that it was a dish taken out to the fields during haymaking.’

Flummery n., 1960. Porridge.

Frawst/froist n., 1950-1957. A dainty or appetising meal.

Fry n., [fɹəi], 1969. The pluck (that is, the lungs, liver, and heart) from a slaughtered animal.

G Gerpra/gerthbra n., 1886-1951. Similar to porridge, gerpra is an oatmeal dish.

Glaster n., [glastə], 1950-1969. Buttermilk that is in a churn. Also used for watered-down milk. From Welsh glas dŵr, meaning ‘blue water’.

Greedy adj., 1957. Craving food.

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Grouts n., [graʊts, gɹaʊts], 1969. Leftover tea dregs or leaves. From Old English grūt, meaning ‘dregs’.

Grues n. pl., [grɪʊz, gɹuːz], 1969-1988. Scraps left behind when hot fat is drawn off after rendering the kidney-fat of a pig. Also used for savoury Welsh cakes made from pork scratchings. Possibly from Old French gru, meaning ‘meal’.

Gulge/gutse v., [gʌldʒ, gʌts], 1969. To drink noisily (onomatopoeic) and greedily. Gulge derives from Middle English gulchen; gutse is likely from Early Modern English guts, meaning ‘to fill one’s guts’.

J Jorum n., 1950. A large quantity of tea or beer.

K Kerning v., 1886-1957. To turn cream to butter. Also used in the sense of ripening or souring. From Middle English kerne/curne.

L Lonk adj., [lɔŋk], 1969. Hungry. Possibly from Old English hlanc, meaning ‘lank’.

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Goosegogs awaiting picking and newting

M Meth/mirth n., 1886-1957. Mead, a drink made from fermented honey.

Mitty n., [mɪti], 1969. Rotten, applied to meat.

Mort n., [mɔːt], 1886-1969. Lard. Possibly from Welsh mêr, meaning ‘marrow’.

N Nate n., v., 1886. Anything, such as bread crusts, put to soak in water. To soak.

Newting/noot v., [njuːtɪn, njuːt], 1969-1988. To top and tail gooseberries or goosegogs.

Nommet/nummet/zummet n., [nʌmɪt, zʌmɪt], 1849-1969.

Luncheon of bread and cheese taken to work.

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O Orts n. pl., 1957. Scrapings, especially of food.

P Plimm(p)ing/plumming v., 1886-1992. Rising, of dough.

From Early Modern English plim, meaning ‘to swell, to inflate’.

Present n., 1886-1957. A wedding cake presented at a traditional Gower Beading Wedding. Also used for a currant loaf.

S Sewls n. pl., 1957. Small dainty cakes.

Shickan n., 1886-1951. A porridge-like dish made of oatmeal. Also used for the jelly created by soaking oat husks.

Shoat/shoot n., 1849-1951. A small wheaten loaf.

Soul/sowl n., v., [saʊl], 1849-1969. Cheese, or butter, with bread. As a verb it means ‘to spread sparingly’.

Steep v., [stiːp], 1969. To brew tea. From Middle English stepe/stipa.

Strides n. pl., [strɑidz], 1985. Pieces that are sliced from bakestone-bread.

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T Tinmeat/tin-meat/tin meat n., 1886-1957. Mutton baked in tins that are covered in pastry and eaten at traditional Gower Beading Weddings.

Trolly n., 1920. A suet dumpling. Possibly from 16thcentury troll in the sense ‘wheel’.

W Washbra n., 1886-1951. An oatmeal porridge, possibly of the consistency of gruel.

Whitepot n., 1885-1957. A mixture of flour, milk, and currants, also called milked meat.

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Gower flora and fauna These are words for and about plants and animals.

Some of these are among the earliest Gower words to be recorded. In a letter dated 1697, Isaac Hamon of Bishopston, in correspondence with another dialect inquirer, Edward Lhuyd, listed 12 flora terms. Some were defined according to their scientific Latinate name, but several were not glossed. Some, like rames or ramsey, a term for wild garlic, survived in use until the twentieth century!

There are also many Gower names for animals, both livestock and wild, such as cluck hen for a broody hen, and colley cows for a dairy herd. Beyond the farmyard, angletouches, wants and brocks have a subterranean lifestyle, chatterpies swoop on-wing, and tow-rags swim the bays.

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A Adder’s meat n., 1957. The lady smock plant or cuckoo-flower.

Ails n. pl., [eɪlz], 1951-1985. Barley beard.

From Old English egel.

Angletouch n., [aŋgltətʃ], 1849-1969. A worm.

From Old English angel-twicce.

B Bannel n., 1886. The broom plant (cytisus scoparious).

Beasting v., participial adj., [bi:stɪŋ], 1988.

A cow that is on heat. A euphemism for bulling.

Blue key-roses n. pl., 1697. Cultivated polyanthus.

Botchwort n., 1697. An unidentified plant name.

Bottle-fly n., [bɒtl flai], 1988. A bluebottle fly.

Breakestone parsley n., 1697. An unidentified plant name, likely parsley piert (aphanes arvensis).

Brims n. pl., [bɹɪmz], 1957-1969. Horseflies.

From Old Norse for ‘gadfly’.

Brit n., 1886. A flat fish with a delicate flavour.

Brock n., 1886. A badger. From Old English broc, itself from a Celtic source.

Bumbagus n., [bəmbeːgəs], 1849-2018. The bittern.

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C Cancker wort n., 1697. An unidentified plant name, possibly with medicinal properties, probably papaver rhoeas.

Cattle n. pl., 1886. Horses rather than bovines.

Chatterpies n. pl., 1957. Magpies.

Cluck hen n., [klək hɛn], 1985. A broody hen.

Cluck is onomatopoeic; compare the Welsh iâr glwc.

Clup adj., [kləp], 1969. Broody, of a hen.

See also cluck hen.

Colley cows/colly-cows n. pl., 1951-1957. Cows for milking. Colly, a diminutive, is recorded in the OED from as early as 1707, related to Old Norse kolla cow, meaning ‘without horns, a hind, a girl’.

Cooty n., 1957. A moorhen.

Cows n. pl., [kaʊz], 1989. A children’s term for woodlice.

Due to lice’s negative connotations with head lice, Gower children created this proxy word for woodlice.

D Dilly leaves n. pl., 1957. Coltsfoot plant (tussilago farfara) that was sometimes smoked by the elderly in the nineteenth century.

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A dumbledarey or oakwib

Dumbledarey n. 1950. A cockchafer beetle, also known as the oakwib. Dumbledarey is likely the older term.

E Eddish/etch grain n., n. phrase, 1849-1960. Eddish refers to wheat or corn stubble, or pasture. Noted in SAWD as ‘a second crop of grass’ in mid and northern English counties. Eddish or etch grain refers to spring corn.

Eft n., 1969. A newt. From Old English efeta.

Emmet n., [ɛmət], 1969-1985. An ant. From Old English ǣmete. Also used: emmet-bank, emmet-heap, ‘ant hill’.

F Feg n., [fɛg], 1969. Coarse mountain grass.

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Fernowl n., 1951. A nightjar, a nocturnal bird from the Caprimulgidae family.

Fitchet n., [fɪdʒət, fɪtʃət], 1969. The polecat.

From Middle English fitchet.

Fledracks n. pl., 1920. The thistledown plant.

Flook n., 1886. A flounder or plaice.

Flot n., [flɔt], 1849-1985. The grass that grows after mowing or reaping. From Old English flota, ‘that which floats’.

Foxes’ tails n., 1957. Purple orchis plant.

G Galeeny n., 1960. A guinea fowl. Adoption of the Spanish gallīna morisca (literally, ‘Moorish hen’).

Gibbons/shibbons n., [dʒɪbənz, ʃɪbənz], 1960-1989.

Spring onions.

Goosegogs n. pl., [gʊzgɔgz], 1985. Gooseberries.

Grubbing v. progressive form, [grəbɪn], 1985.

A noise a cow makes in a field in order to attract attention. Possibly from Old English grybban, ‘to dig’, the EDD records it as a word for ‘feeding, eating’.

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Guckoo-shoes n. pl., 1957. Violets.

Gŵrac/rach/wrach n., 1877-1920. Used in reference to a custom observed in cornfields at harvest time known as binding the gŵrac; also, the last sheaf of corn of the harvest. From Welsh gwrach, meaning ‘the sheaves of straw upon a rectangular hayrick prior to thatching’.

H Hile v., [həil], 1969. The action a pig makes when it digs up the ground with its snout. Possibly from hill, ‘to throw up soil’, from Old English hyll (see also helled in the Descriptions section).

Holmes n. pl., v., 1879-1957. Holly. Also a verb as in holming, referring to a Gower Christmas custom, wherein a suitor would brush the face of his beloved with holly.

I Idle ewe n. phrase, [ɑɪdl joʊ], 1969. An ewe that has lost a lamb.

J Jack Phillip n., 1951-1957. A sandpiper, a shorebird that is common in winter and summer in Gower.

Jacky-long-legs n., [tʃakɪlɔŋlɛgz], 1969. A daddy-long-legs or crane-fly.

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A Jack Phillip

Joggle n., [dʒɒgl], 1988. The flap of skin hanging under a cockerel’s beak. The OED notes joggle meaning ‘to shake loosely from side to side’, as early as 1513.

L Lady washdishes n. pl., 1957. Wagtails, a bird from the Motacillidae family.

Larks bill n., 1697. Probably the larkspur plant.

Laver n., 1697. An edible seaweed, porphyra umbilicalis, commonly used in laver bread.

Liver wort n., 1697. Probably conocophalum conicum.

Lundibird n., [ləndɪbœːd], 1951-1969. A guillemot, puffin, or razorbill bird.

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M March n., 1886-1957. Wild celery.

Mazzards n. pl., 1886-1957. Wild, large plums.

Mewse n., 1957. A rabbit run. According to the OED, a variant of meuse, ‘a gap in a fence or hedge through which hares, rabbits, etc., pass, especially as a means of escape’. From the Old French muce, musse, mouce, formed on musser, muchier ‘to hide’.

Milk weed n., [mɪlk wiːd], 1969. The sow thistle.

Mullan n., 1920. A hornless cow. SAWD records moel/ moeled/moiling for hornless cows throughout Wales.

OED notes moiled as early as 1839 from Irish maol or Welsh moel, meaning ‘bald’.

N Natives n. pl., 1957. Oysters.

Nesseltrip/nestletrip(e)/nestle trip n., [nɛsltɹɪp, nəsltrɪp, nɛsltrəp], 1849-1988. Smallest piglet of a litter. From Old English nestl-ian + Old French tripe.

O Oakwib n., 1950-1951. A cockchafer beetle. See also dumbledarey.

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P Pardo n., 1920. A great black-backed seagull.

Pelamountain n., 1697. Unidentified plant name, probably wild thyme (thymus polytrichus).

Pennyort n., 1886-1957. Mentha pulegium mint plant.

R Rames/ramsey n., 1697-1957. Allium ursinum, broad-leaved garlic plant. Also used for wild garlic loved by cows.

Reremouse(s) n., pl., 1849-1957. A bat or bats.

Ruddocks n. pl., 1957. Robins.

S Screw(-scrow) n., [skɹɪuː, skɹuːscɹoʊ], 1969.

A shrewmouse. From Old English scrēawa/scrǣwa.

Skullied n., adj., [skʌlɪd], 1969. A bald animal.

From Middle English skolle.

Sourgrobs/sour gobs n. pl., [zaʊəgɒbz], 1957-2018.

Sorrel plant, often chewed by schoolchildren.

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T Theave n., [θiːv], 1988. A young sheep that has not yet lambed. Recorded from as early as the fifteenth century by the OED. Tow-rag n., [toː rag], 1989. A Newfoundland salt cod.

The EDD noted usage in Cornwall too.

Twinks n. pl., 1957. Chaffinches.

V Vair/veer/vere n., [viːə], 1849-1969. A weasel or stoat.

From Middle English veiir(e), very(e, itself from Old French vair, veir and Latin varium/varius, meaning ‘parti-coloured’.

Verra/verra cow adj., n., [vɛrə kæʊ], 1886-1969.

Used of a cow that has not calved in twelve months, or a cow that is milked until it drops a calf. Possibly related to verra, meaning ‘to farrow’ used in west Wales (EDD). Also used for historic place names in Gower, for example, Verra’s Lodge (Fairwood Lodge), and Verra’s Moor (Fairwood Common).

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W Want n., 1849-1957. A mole.

Wash-dish n., 1849. A titmouse.

Wimbrel n., 1960. The smallest pig in a litter.

Wirg n., [hwɪrəg], 1849-1969. The willow tree.

From 18th-century werg, supposedly from an older word: willig.

Witches n. pl., 1951. Moths.

Y Yellow key-roses n., 1697. Cowslip (primula veris).

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The Painter By John Beynon (1996) In The Painter, local farmer and poet John Beynon tells us about the tradition of lime-painting of houses in 1954.

Beynon uses pine ends, a Gower term for the gable end of a building.

Way back in Nineteen Fifty Four, When I began my time, The farmhouses and cottages, Were painted all with lime.

Each Spring this yearly chore was done, At very little cost, To cover up the Winter’s grime And damage done by frost.

The cottages were mostly low But some of them were high, Like a farmhouse down in Horton That George painted in July.

He painted both the front and back And reached up to the chutes, Moved the ladders to the chimney, But the angle was acute.

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To climb the ladder as it was Was much too dangerous, So he took the ladder down again For ‘twas too hazardous.

Next day he brought his own ladder And finished off the job, The boss was pleased at George’s work And paid him thirty bob.

‘But tell me, George, how did you reach Those pine ends, oh so high?’

George answered him in his own way, With mischief in his eye.

‘If I’d have failed on your chimneys, It would have been a scandal, I’d a thirty seven rung ladder And a brush with an eighteen foot handle.’

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Gower objects, people, and more!

These are words for everyday things that are seen, felt or perceived.

Throughout the 900 years of English speech in Gower, inhabitants have used distinctive names for many objects, people and more. Minka, a type of Gower-made flannel, was used to make clothes; and some names for Gower clothing include baxen (stockings) and turn-over (a shawl).

There were also names for utensils and kitchenware. On a pentan you could boil a pan of water, which you could stir with a lootch. On the farm, bubbocks warned off crows, and evils were used to work the soil.

There were also names for your friends and maynie. Did you know that your grandmother would have been called a whidame, or that your young child was a chrismore?

Some terms for people were positive, like inklemaker, an active person, while some were less so, such as larrences (lazy people), and lellos (foolish people).

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A weaving loom where oakey wool was turned into blankets.

The style here is called minka.

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B Baston n., 1920. A baton or cudgel. From Old French baston. Also known as baitin n., [beitɪn], 1969.

Baxen n. pl., 1920. Stockings.

Beetle n., 1960. A mallet. From Old English bētel.

Bladder n., [bladə], 1969. A blister on your hand.

From Old English blǣdre.

Blonkers n. pl., 1950-1957. Sparks from a fire.

Boobach/bubback/bubbock n., [bʌbək, bʊbək, bəbəx], 1886-1989. A scarecrow, or dull person.

From Welsh bwbach.

Brandis n., 1849-1957. Iron stand for a pot or kettle.

From Old English brand, ‘a fire’.

Brat n., 1920. Pinafore. From Old English bratt, ‘a cloak’, but ultimately of Celtic origin.

C Casey n., 1957. Stone paving.

Charnel n., [tʃɑːnəl], 1849-1988. A place raised in the roof or over the fireplace for hanging meats. From Old French charnel/carnel, ‘mortuary chapel’.

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Cheese-table n., [tʃiːz teːbl], 1988. A large kitchen table with shelves underneath for storage of home-made cheese.

Chrismore n., 1697. A young child.

Christmas Sport n. phrase, 1879-1957. Drama of the crusades performed by young men during the Christmas period. The custom has parallels in Cornwall.

Clevey place/clevvy-place/clavvy n., 1886-1957.

A large beam over the fireplace in old Gower houses.

Cloam(ware) n., 1849-1957. Earthenware. Compare clom in Pembrokeshire, meaning ‘a mixture of hay and straw for building’. From Old English clám, ‘mud, clay’.

Cockles n. pl., [kɒklz], 1988. Kindling sticks. Possibly from cockle, meaning ‘furnace of a hop/malt kiln’, recorded 1688 (OED), or from cockle-stove, ‘a stove for heating apartments’, recorded 1774 (OED).

Cock’s eye n. phrase, [kɔks aɪ], 1969. A moon’s halo.

From Old English cocc + ēage.

Combal n., 1886. A quarrel.

Croaker n., [kɹɔːkə], 1969. A tell-tale.

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Crying stone n. phrase, 1951. The base of the old village cross from where criers made announcements on fair days.

Culm n., [kəlm], 1951-1969. Small coal used for lime-burning. Probably from Middle English culm/colm.

Cwtch n., [kʊtʃ], 1985. A shed for old things. A Welshification of couch, which was a Middle English adoption of Old French couche. The root is Latin, collocāre, meaning ‘to lay in place’.

D Dip n., 1951. A home-made candle created in iron moulds. Used in the early nineteenth century.

Dobbin n., 1950-1957. A large mug.

Drashel/dreshel n., 1849-1957. A flail for threshing.

Duchess stove n., [dətʃɪs stoːv], 1988. Square stove on four legs.

Duckstone n., 1951. A children’s game played with large pebbles.

Duff n., [dəf], 1969. Coal dust.

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E Emmal/emmals n., n. pl., [ɛmʌl, ɛməl, ɛməlz], 1886-1969. Wood ashes.

Evil n., 1849-1960. A three-pronged agricultural fork for lifting manure. From Old English geafol.

F Fiddle n., [fɪdl], 1960-1988. A seed-sowing basket shaped like a violin-case.

Flam n., [flam], 1985. A sudden gush of flames and smoke within a hearth. From Old French flame.

Flask n., [flask], 1957-1969. A clothes basket.

Possibly from Welsh fflasged, meaning ‘basket’, or Old French flache, meaning ‘a measure of capacity for peas’. Or perhaps from late Middle English flasket, ‘a long shallow basket’, itself from Old French flasquet.

Fountain n., [faʊnteɪn], 1989. A cast-iron boiler in the fireplace.

Freeth/frithing n., 1849-1920. A fence made of wattled thorns or light wood. From Old English (ge)fyrhthe, fyrhth, meaning ‘a wood’, or ‘wooded country’.

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A gambo

G Gackle n., [gakl], 2018. A pencil used in school.

Early 20th-century usage.

Gambo n., [gambou, gambo], 1951-1988. A two-wheeled or four-wheeled farm cart that is often open-ended.

The word is also found in the midlands of Wales and England referring to variety of simple farm carts.

Gamp n., [gamp], 2018. A walking stick.

Early 20th-century usage.

Giglamps n., [gÉŞglamps], 2018. Spectacles.

OED records this as slang usage from 1853.

Gleiz n., 1920. Dried cow dung used as fuel.

Possibly from Welsh gleuad.

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Gloice n., 1849-1957. A sudden stab of pain.

Goiders n. pl., [gɔɪdəz], 1985. Ghosts.

Compare Old Irish goídel, ‘a gael’.

H Hagglis stones n. pl., 1920. Hailstones. Known in Pembrokeshire as hagel-stones, this word’s source is likely from Old English hagolstán.

Hapsing post n., [apsɪn poust, hapsɪn poːst], 1969-1988.

A gatepost. Used also in Devon and Cornwall, hapsing derives from Old English hæpsian ‘to fasten’ + post.

Heapsin/ipsin/ipson n., 1886-1957.

A double handful (cupped).

Hooking n., [h)ʊkɪn], 1960. A spell of work.

Probably a variant form of yoking, recorded in this sense by the OED from the early sixteenth century.

I Inklemaker n., 1886-1957. An active person. Supposedly from inkle-weaver, an occupation where inkle, a coarse tape, was made and used in medieval households.

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K Keak/keek n., v., [ki:k] 1886-1969. The throat, also a verb for ‘to peep’. The verb is likely from the Middle English kēken. The noun could be influenced by Welsh ceg, though this is itself a borrowing of English cheek, from Old English ceke and variants; the EDD records kecker, ‘gullet, windpipe, uvula’ from the west of England.

Keeve n., [ki:v], 1951-1969. A barrel or cask.

From Old English cȳf.

Keiched/klach n., 1886. Coagulated blood.

Kittle-/kitty-bags n. pl., 1849-1886. Gaiters.

Klems n. pl., 1920. Pincers. From Old English clam(m, clǫm(m.

L Larrence n., 1886. A lazy man.

Lay n., 1697. A tone, or noise.

Leapingstock/leppanstock n., 1951-1969.

A block from which to mount a horse.

Also found in south-west England.

Lello/letto n., 1849-1886. A careless or foolish person.

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Lipe/seed-lipe n., [lɑɪp, si:dlɑɪp], 1849-1969.

An elliptical basket for sowing seeds.

From Old English lēap, meaning ‘basket’.

Locks n. pl., [lɔks], 1969. Sideburn-style beard.

From Old English loc, ‘a lock of hair’.

Looch/lootch n., 1920. A wooden spoon. Compare with Gaelic and Irish liach, meaning ‘a large spoon’, and Welsh llwy, ‘a spoon.’

M Maun/maund/mawn n., [mɔːn, mɔːnd], 1951-1988.

A basket for animal feed. From Old English mand, mond meaning ‘basket’.

Maynie n., 1697. Family.

Mew shell n., 1879. Cuttle-bone.

Minka n., 1886-1957. Gower-made striped flannel.

Mixen n., 1920. Animal dung. From Old English mixen.

N Nud(d)ac(c)k/nuddick n., [nədək, nədɪk], 1886-1969.

The nape of the neck. Found in south-west England too, the origin of nudack is unknown.

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O Oavis/oaviz/ovice n. pl., [oːvɪs, oʊvɪz], 1849-1988.

The eaves of a building or hayrick. From Middle English ovese, itself possibly from Old English *ofes.

P Pelmin n., 1886. A wet day.

Pentan(s) n., n. pl., [pɛntən, pɛntanz, pɛntənz], 1877-1969. A hob or hobs. From Welsh pentan, literally meaning ‘head of the fire’.

Pine end n. phrase, [pəin ɛnd, pain ɛnd], 1951-1989.

The gable end of a house or building. The informant from 1989 suggested the term is used because of the similarity of shape to a pine tree. However, it is more likely an alteration of pinion, meaning ‘gable’, found in south-western England, a Middle English borrowing of Old French pignon.

R Rannel n., 1886. A lanky person.

Runt n., 1886. A small man.

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S Semmat/zemmit n., 1849-1957. A sieve made of sheepskin used for winnowing.

Settle n., 1886. One’s favourite seat.

Shedling n., 1886. A weak man.

Skep n., 1920. A basket made of willow.

From Old Norse skeppa, meaning ‘basket’.

Snawl/snorl n., [snaːl, snɔːl], 1886-1969.

A prong of a pitchfork.

Speal n., [spiːl], 1969. A basket for general use.

Spleet(s) n., n. pl., [spliːts], 1886-1969. Knitting needles.

From Middle Dutch splete, spleet, or Middle Low German splete, or North Frisian splēt.

Stiel/broom-stiel n., 1951-1957. A long broom-handle.

Strop n., [stɹɔp], 1969. String. Also used in south-west England.

Summer spots n. pl., [səmə spɔts], 1969. Freckles.

Common usage in Wales.

Sump n., 1849-1951. The bulk of anything that is carried.

Susan n., 1849-1957. A large earthenware pitcher.

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T Tacker n., 1951. A youngster.

Tater hay n. phrase, 1951. A fenced garden, or allotment.

Toit n., 1849-1957. A small seat or stool made of straw.

EDD records also in Somerset and Devon.

Tourney/turney n., 1920-1957. A fight between two men, sometimes on the village green. From a Middle English borrowing of Old French tornei, turnei, tornai, tournay.

Towser n., [təuzə], 1957-1969. A rough apron made of sacking. From tousy used in the sixteenth century to mean ‘shaggy’ or ‘rough’, from Old English *tūsian.

Tundish n., [təndɪʃ, tə:ndɪʃ], 1969-1985. A funnel.

From Old English tunne, ‘a cask’, + disc. Common throughout Wales and in parts of England.

Turn-over n., 1957. A locally woven shawl, often used for ‘Sunday best’.

Tutt n., [tʊt], 1697-1989. An earth heap. Used also for the headland where the Mumbles coastguard station stands. Possibly from Middle English toute, ‘buttocks’.

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V Vitte/vitty n., adj., 1886-1960. Handy, skilful.

EDD records fitty-handed, ‘skilful’, in south-west England.

Vitty-handed is also recorded in Gower.

W Whidame n., 1697. Grandmother.

Whirret n., 1957. A clip around the ear.

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Gower idioms, proverbs, and phrases These are Gower phrases for everyday activities.

An idiom is a sequence of words that creates a distinctive meaning. One cannot explain an idiom by working out the definition of each word separately. You have to know its definition as a whole. The literal sense of break a leg does not suggest that you are wishing somebody ‘good luck’, nor does pulling someone’s leg suggest that you are joking about something! In this section, we take a look at idioms found across the Gower Peninsula. In Gower, when you’re as tight as a wheel, you’ve had a bit too much to drink, and if you’re a toad under the harrass, you’re a lively person.

Also collected in the list below are some proverbs.

Proverbs differ from idioms in that the words that are grouped together are pithy sayings expressing traditionally perceived truths about the world. Take for example one Gower proverb from the days of working in the fields: when the fern is as long as a spoon, ‘tis time to rest an hour at noon. Not only pleasantly rhythmic, this proverb tells us that when ferns are growing tall in the summer, and the midday sun bears down upon workers’ heads, it is time for a nap!

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Ale-be-leezur id., 1951. Take it easy, literally ‘all be leisure.’

As drunk as owls id., [əz dɹəŋk əz ɑulz], 1988.

To be very drunk.

As tight as a wheel id., 1886. To be intoxicated.

Blesse ye windowe id., 1697. To secure a window tightly.

Bringing on yearth ye Coarse of Jon id., 1697. Burying a body. The idiom was considered in 1697 to be archaic.

By a cock’s stride adverbial phrase, 1951-1991.

A reference to mid-winter daylight, as in ‘between shortest day and New Year’s Day, the day lengthens by a cock’s stride’.

Come aye id., 1697. Come back again.

Come t’my years id., 1950. At my age, as in ‘I’ve never been there yet, and I don’t suppose I will now, after all, come t’my years’.

David Waters’ law n. phrase, 1886. A phrase used to describe a selfish person. Supposedly dating from a time of war with France, in which one David Waters sheepishly fled when the alarm was raised that the French had landed, abandoning his own son in the process.

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Enough money to raise the latch to get a pint id., [reiz ðə latʃ tə gɛt ə paɪnt], 1989. To have enough money to visit the pub.

God and our Lady keepe us id., 1697. An old oath.

The oath was considered in 1697 to be archaic.

Hold their prates id., 1951. Literally, ‘shut their mouths’.

House down the garden n. phrase, [hɑus dɑun ðə gaːdn], 1985. Euphemism for an outside toilet.

Note its similarity to the Welsh term tŷ bach, meaning ‘small house’.

Hyst thee calks id., 1957. To make an escape.

Literally, ‘pick up your heels’, hyst deriving from ‘hoist’ and calk being a part of a horseshoe.

If Candlemas day is fair and fine, there’s forty days of winter behind pvb., 1879. A weather adage from Llanmadoc.

If thee cast make a zemmit wi’out acrinkle, thee’t git a husband wi’out a wrinkle pvb., 1957. A proverb suggesting good work pays off! A zemmit was a type of sieve.

I’ll zi’thee at Faayer id., 1951. An invitation to harvest fair (or an invitation to fight).

It went as id., [ɪt wɛnt əz], 1985. Literally, ‘it was called’.

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Knapping to bleau/bleaw id., 1951-1957. Bursting into leaf or flower. Bleau is likely from Old English blówan, ‘to blossom’.

Leechee leeke id., 1697. Literally, ‘like to like’.

Lose one’s eye looking for work id., [tə luːz wʌnz aɪ lʊkɪn fə wœːk], 1989. Notably lacking in effort.

Making in v. phrase., 1886. Getting somebody’s favour.

My holy doome id., 1697. Said at the end of an oath.

The idiom was considered in 1697 to be archaic.

Our priest did call us to Shrift apan Good Friday id., 1697. Said at the end of an oath. The idiom was considered in 1697 to be archaic. Shrift originally referred to ‘a prescribed penance’.

Quat the pilm id., 1957-1969. To lay or get rid of the dust.

Raise the grease v. phrase, 1886. To clean clothes thoroughly.

Sweetening the land v. phrase, 1951. Fertilising the soil with lime.

That’s handy by id., [ðats handi bai], 1988.

Literally, ‘that’s useful/convenient’.

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Thee woult if thee coult, but thee cassn’t id., [ðɪ wʊt ɪf ðɪ kʊt bət dɪ kasnt], 1988. Literally, ‘you would if you could but you cannot’, one version of an oft-quoted Gower idiom. ‘tis, as ‘tis id., 1950. Things are as they are, literally, ‘it is as it is’.

Toad under the harass id., [toud ʌndə ðə haɹəs], 1969. A lively person. Harass is a Gower word for ‘harrow’, a farming tool.

Turned William Davey off v. phrase, 1886.

To defeat a fellow suitor in the Beading Wedding ball.

What ‘ull kip th’cold out, ‘ull kip th’heat out pvb., 1951. This proverb refers to the use of the heavy striped flannel minka that is woven in Gower.

When the fern is as long as a spoon, ‘tis time to rest an hour at noon pvb., 1951. A proverb illustrating working in the fields during summer. Variations of this proverb are found in John Ray’s A Collection of English Proverbs (1670).

Will Griffs’s/Griffy’s Music n. phrase, 1886-1951.

A tune played at Beading Weddings and barn dances.

Wixin of ye moone n. phrase, 1697. An increase in the phasing of the moon. A decreasing was known as a wathall.

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Zouly at/in the mouth of the bag id., 1951-1957.

To eke out or use sparingly.

Zupper up (the things) v. phrase, 1951. To give animals/ pets evening feed. Things here means ‘cattle’.

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Chain Harrows By Nigel Jenkins (2009) Nigel Jenkins was born and raised in Gower. In his unnerving poem Chain Harrows, Jenkins uses sketting, a dialectal word meaning ‘to fly up or out’.

Diesel taints the sweet stench of grass and scabbed manure.

Steel’s rush, permitting but the tink of stone, drags hanks of couch from the stale pasture: they loll in the crosswind, a whispered hay.

Third gear work, this; enigma to Gower’s newer eyes, peering from the roads at little more than some kind of lawn effect.

The bed reversed for cleaner ground, I speed in top, dung shrapnel sketting the air. Glancing back to keep aligned, I catch within the harrows’ dance a frenzy of bone – the skeleton burst of rabbit or lamb. Shards litter a region of bruised grass like the spray of feathers where a fox has killed.

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Bibliography The present work is adapted and distilled from Penhallurick (1994). Both works list Gower words collected from many sources. We are greatly indebted to the linguistic preservation efforts of these inquirers into the dialect’s history. Their works, from the earliest to the latest, are listed below.

Hamon, Isaac (1697). ‘The Old English of West Gower, which is now out of use’. MS Carte 108 (Collections for Wales) at the Bodleian Library, folios 21-30. Reproduced in ‘Edward Lhuyd and Some of His Glamorgan Correspondents: A View of Gower in the 1690s’, by F. V. Emery, The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, Session 1965, Part I, 59-114.

Rogers, Leyshon (1784). Unpublished manuscript. Quoted extensively in J.D. Davies (1885), pp. 116-24.

Collins, J. (1849). ‘A List of Words from the Gower Dialect of Glamorganshire’. Philological Society Proceedings, Vol. IV, Number 87 (June 22 1849), 222-3.

Davies, J.D. (1877-1894). A History of West Gower, Glamorganshire. Parts I-IV. Swansea: The Cambrian.

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Morgan, C.D. (1886). Wanderings in Gower: A Perfect Guide to the Tourist, with all the Lays, Legends, and Customs, and Glossary of the Dialect. 2nd edition. Swansea: The Cambrian.

Seyler, Clarence A. (1920) ‘‘‘Stedworlango’’: A Study of the Fee of Penmaen in Gower’. Archaeologia Cambrensis, Vol. XX, Sixth Series (1920), 134-58.

Davies, T. Witton (1920). Gowerland: Its People, Speech, and Some of its Ways. Archaeologia Cambrensis, Vol. XX, Sixth Series (1920), 179-88.

Tucker, Horatio (1950). ‘The Dialect Speech of Gower’.

Gower: Journal of the Gower Society, Vol. 3 (1950), 26-9.

Tucker, Horatio (1951). Gower Gleanings. Swansea: The Gower Society.

Tucker, Horatio (1957). My Gower. Neath: Rowlands & Company.

Upton, Clive (1969) ‘Dialects of Gower’. Gower Pageant and Fair: Souvenir Programme (Penrice Castle August 30 1969), pp. 14-16.

Upton, Clive (1970). Studies in the Linguistic Geography of Pembrokeshire and the Gower Peninsula. Unpublished MA dissertation, Swansea University.

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Parry, David (ed.) (1977). The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects: Vol. 1 The South-east. Swansea: published by author.

Behenna, Catherine (1985). The Dialect of Bishopston, South Gower. Unpublished BA dissertation, Swansea University.

Price, Cheryl J.A. (1988). A Survey of the Dialect of Reynoldston, Gower. Unpublished BA dissertation, Swansea University.

Twitchett, M. Anne (1989). The Dialect of Mumbles, West Glamorgan. Unpublished BA dissertation, Swansea University.

Penhallurick, Rob (1994). Gowerland and its Language.

Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

In the text, the dates 1991 and 1992 refer to private correspondence to Rob Penhallurick by T.K. Brunsdon and R. Carl Smith, respectively.

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Other sources consulted Ellis, A.J. (1882) ‘On the Delimitation of the English and Welsh Languages’, Transactions of the Philological Society, Vol. 19 (1882–4, 1885), 5–40. Read before the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 24th May 1882, and in abstract before the Philological Society, 2nd June 1882.

Ellis, A.J. (1889) On Early English Pronunciation, with especial reference to Shakespeare and Chaucer, Part V: Existing Dialectal As Compared With West Saxon Pronunciation. London: Trübner & Co. Jones, D. (2003). Welsh Wildlife. Talybont, Ceredigion: Y Lolfa Cyf. Parry, D. (1999). A Grammar and Glossary of the Conservative Anglo-Welsh Dialects of Rural Wales.

Sheffield: The National Centre for English Cultural Tradition.

Penhallurick, R. (1982) ‘Two Gower Accents: A Phonological Comparison of Penclawdd and Reynoldston’, Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society, Part LXXXII, Vol. XV (1982), 29-41.

Wright, J. (ed.) (1898-1905). The English Dialect Dictionary.

Six vols. (London: Henry Frowde).

Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (2014). University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, 2014. http://www.geiriadur.ac.uk 66

Oxford English Dictionary Online: http://www.oed. com/. Chief Editor: Michael Proffitt; Editorial Director of Dictionaries: Judy Pearsall; Deputy Chief Editors: Philip Durkin, Edmund Weiner; Editorial Project Director: Sarah Williams; Editorial Content Director: Graeme Diamond (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

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What is the Gower dialect? Where did it come from, and is it still used today?

In this book you will not only find discussion about the history of the dialect – one of the oldest English dialects outside England – but also a range of historical Gower words split into several thematic chapters. From describing words to words for food and drink to animal and plant terms to names for objects, people and events, and a list of local idioms and phrases.

We hope this book will suit many readers. Whether you’re a local resident interested in local language history, a writer interested in adding old Gower dialect to their stories, a chef looking for recipe ideas, or even a botanist interested in old names for plants: look no further than The Gower Glossary!