The Tale of Holly How (28 page)

Glossary

I have not included as much dialect as I would like in these novels, because dialect forms are difficult to read. One Cumbrian dialect speaker remarks: “It takes a bit of getting used to on paper; it looks very awkward, as if it had forgot to take off its walking boots and clomped onto the nice clean page too rudely.” It’s difficult to get it “right,” too, and there’s always disagreement among native speakers as to whether the nonnative writer has represented the sound of this or that word accurately.

The speech of Cumbria (which includes the former counties of Cumberland and Westmorland and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire) reveals many Celtic, Anglian, and Norse-Irish influences, some of which are demonstrated in this glossary. In the
Cottage Tales,
I have tried to represent just enough of the sounds of Cumbrian speech and include enough of its vocabulary to give an idea of this important and distinctive regional dialect. Some of the words in this list are not dialect forms, strictly speaking, but are uncommon enough that a definition may be helpful. My main source is William Rollinson’s
The Cumbrian Dictionary of Dialect, Tradition, and Folklore.

auld
old

beck
a small stream (Old Norse
bekkr
)

bell-wether
the leading sheep of a flock, who wears a bell around the neck

dustha
fo you?
What dustha think?

fell
a mountain or a high hill (Icelandic, Danish, Swedish
fjell
)

flaysome din
fearsome noise (
flairt,
to frighten)

happen
perhaps (see
mappen
)
Happen she’s missed the ferry.

heafed
herdwick sheep instinctively recognize their native pastures, or heafs; that is, they are heafed to their home meadows.

hobthrush
a hobgoblin or spirit that can do useful work but is just as likely to make mischief

hod on!
stop (Old English,
healdan,
wait, hold)

joiner
carpenter

loose box
a separate stall for a horse, where the animal is free to move about

lug mark
the word is derived from the old Norwegian word
lög,
which means “law.” When a farmer cuts a lug mark in his sheep’s ear, he is making his lawful owner’s mark on the animal.

maffle
confused.
Reet maffled me.
It confused me greatly.

mappen
perhaps (see
happen) Mappen he’s lost his dog.

nae
no (said emphatically)

Nobbut a reet ’ginner
nothing but a proper beginner.

Pater familias
latin for “father of the family,” and used by the Romans to designate the eldest or ranking male in the household

pickle
a mischievous child or animal. Beatrix Potter dedicated her book
The Tale of Tom Kitten
to “All Pickles—Especially to Those That Get Upon My Garden Wall”

reet
right, properly

Sett
the system of underground burrows and chambers where a badger colony lives

Tatie Pot
A favorite Lake District dish made of mutton, potatoes, carrots, onions, and black pudding (a traditional sausage made of pig’s blood, beef suet, oatmeal, and onions). For a recipe, see
The Tale of Hill Top Farm.

twa
two

verra
very

wellies
waterproof boots, named after the Duke of Wellington

yark
to hit with a heavy cudgel