Preface.

The

THE Glossary before the Reader is the result of those hours of literary amusement, when it was thought necessary to unbend the mind from professional labour. Author has felt much satisfaction at the favourable reception which his former attempt to collect and preserve the relics of our good old Northern dialect has received from some of the first literary characters of the age. He has, in particular, been gratified by the approbation of several gentlemen of great philological learning, in both kingdoms; among whom he is proud to rank the Rev. H. I. Todd, the profound editor of two editions of Dr. Johnson's national work, with the most valuable additions; and the Rev. Dr. John Jamieson, whose Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language contains a labour of lexicography, as elaborate and comprehensive as any that has yet appeared.

The Author may be permitted to denominate this an entire new work, rather than a second edition of his former publication. Independent of the numerous additions,

b

which further research and communication, both with the living and the dead, have enabled him to give, all the old articles have undergone a complete revision, and most of them are re-written. A wider range has been taken, and a variety of circumstances relative to the usages of the olden time, as well as to the local customs and popular superstitions of the present day, have been introduced. The ancient traditions of the country are entitled to more regard than is generally given to them by the fastidious. However hyperbolically exaggerated, or concealed from the perception of this enlightened age, few of them are wholly false.

The Glossary has been made much more copious in the etymological department-alike interesting to the antiquary and the philologist. Every scholar is aware of the extraordinary analogy of various languages. In many of the articles will be frequently found noticed the words of similar origin, appearance, and meaning, in the cognate dialects, ancient and modern, of the North of Europe, which may be truly said to form the warp and the woof of English, and on which the flowers of Greece and Rome have been embroidered. Notices are also given of striking affinities, in sound and meaning, with different other languages; though these are not always sufficient to constitute an etymon.

It is unnecessary to adduce reasons for preserving our old words. They are generally simple and expressive, and often more emphatic than their modern synonymes.

By the revival of a more general relish for early English writers, the Reader will imperceptibly acquire a habit of regarding them in the light of their pristine dignity. He will no longer hastily pronounce to be vulgarisms what are in reality archaisms-the hard, but deep and manly, tones and sentiments of our ancestors. The book will prove how much is retained of the ancient Saxon speechin its pure unadulterated state-in the dialect of the North of England, which also exhibits more of the language of our Danish progenitors than is to be met with in any other part of the kingdom.

Our Northern words and terms, though often disguised in different spelling and structure, bear strong affinity to the Scottish language. Indeed, the greater part of them will be found to be in current use in each country. Even laying out of view the opinion expressed by some writers, that the Scottish language is merely a dialect of the Anglo-Saxon, the similarity of words and phrases used both in the North of England and the South of Scotland, may be accounted for by the county of Northumberland, and other parts of the English territory, having anciently formed a portion of the sister kingdom. But it is to be observed, that a number of the words in this Glossary, which are unknown to the South, are in common use in the North of Scotland. It is true that the greater part of these may be traced to the French; but hence the words used in Scotland may often be explained and elucidated by reference to those of the North of England, and vice versa.

By a communication from George R. Kinloch, Esq., of Edinburgh, the Author has been furnished with an extensive list of our North Country words which are in use in Scotland, some of which have escaped the vigilance of Dr. Jamieson, though Mr. Kinloch says they are well known as Scottish words. In some instances where they differ in spelling, or have a wider signification, in Scotland, the Author has either given the Scots orthoepy, or the additional meaning.

To James Losh, Esq., Major Thain, George Taylor, Esq., Anthony Easterby, Esq., Rev. William Turner, Rev. James Raine, Rev. George Newby, Mr. Edward Hemsley, Mr. Robert Thompson, and those other friends who have contributed so much to the interest of the work, by allowing the Author the unrestrained use of their interleaved copies of the former edition, he returns his grateful thanks.

For the invaluable and kind assistance afforded him by his antiquarian friends, Robert Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth, and Sir Cuthbert Sharp; and by the Rev. W. N. Darnell, B. D., Prebendary of Durham, Matthew Culley, Esq., of Fowberry Tower, I. I. Wilkinson, Esq., Rev. H. Cotes, R. R. Greenwell, Esq., and Thomas Fenwick, Esq., in the unreserved communication of various manuscript vocabularies of provincial terms, collected in different parts of the Northern Counties, his warmest acknowledgments are due, and he feels sincere pleasure in thus publicly recording his sense of the obligation.

With these aids, and with the assistance and encourage