USED IN SOUTH-WEST LINCOLNSHIRE. (WAPENTAKE OF GRAFFOE). BY THE REV. R. E. G. COLE, M;A; Rector of Doddington, Lincoln. DIVERSITY LONDON: BY TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 1886. PREFACE. T O those who are acquainted with the three Divisions of which the County of Lincoln is composed, the district from which the following Words and Phrases have been gathered, may be sufficiently described as that Western portion of the Parts of Kesteven, which forms the Wapentake of Graffoe. Otherwise it may be described as the district lying South and West of Lincoln, extending from the South Cliff range on the East to the borders of Nottinghamshire on the West. Or its Western boundary might be extended to the line of the Trent, for our list of Words necessarily applies equally to those parishes of Notts. which lie to the East of that river, and which are distinguished by no natural boundary nor difference of dialect from the adjoining parishes of Lincolnshire, and which thrust themselves up between the Parts of Lindsey and Kesteven to a point within four miles of Lincoln itself. It is not, of course, professed that these Words are in any way exclusively used in this district. They are merely words which are in common everyday use in this neighbourhood, but which have not been taken up into, or have been dropped out from, the standard English of our books. They are words which would strike a stranger as peculiar, and in some instances might even puzzle him to understand their meaning. Some few, such as Andren (Lunch), Keal (Cold), Lire (to Plait), are nearly obsolete; others linger only on the lips of the older inhabitants. The examples in all cases are original, taken down at once just as they were spoken in the course of ordinary conversation. The pronunciation is somewhat broad, but by no means so broad as in North Lincolnshire, where it much more. nearly resembles that of Yorkshire. Amongst its more general peculiarities we may note the following: : The vowels "e" "a" coming together before a consonant are pronounced separately so as to form a dissyllable of such words as Me-an, Me-at, Cle-an, Le-an, E-at, &c. (Exceptions: Great, which is pronounced Gret, and Earn, Learn, which are Arn and Larn). In like manner when the vowels " i" come together, Drain (with a certain weakening) becomes Dre-un, Rain Re-un, Chain Che-un. Similarly with words ending in "e" mute-Blame, Lame, Shame, Came, &c., become Bla-em, La-em, Sha-em, Ca-em; Cake becomes Ca-ek, Quite Qui-et, Write Wri-et, &c. (Exceptions: Game, which is pronounced Gam, and Take, Make, Shake, which are Tak, Mak, Shak). "Dd" is pronounced as "th": so Dodder is pronounced Dother, Fodder Fother, Ladder Lether, Bladder Blather or |