Cumbrian dialect

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Cumbria, in the north-west corner of England, is by no means unique in having a traditional local dialect, but the isolation of the area and its rich history mean that this is perhaps one of the most interesting rural dialects in Great Britain. As in any county, there is a gradual drift in accent towards its neighbours. Barrow-in-Furness, in the south of Cumbria, has a similar accent to much of Lancashire whilst the northern parts of Cumbria have a more Scottish sound to them.

Contents 1 Brief History of the People and Language 1.1 The Celtic Influence 1.2 The Norse Influence 2 The Accent and Pronunciation 2.1 Vowels 3 Dialect Words 3.1 General words 3.2 Adjectives 3.3 Adverbs 3.4 Nouns 3.5 Verbs 3.6 People 3.7 Places, landscapes, buildings etc 3.8 Farming Terms 3.9 The Weather 3.10 Phrases 4 Cumbrian numbers 5 Cumbrian Poetry 6 See also 6.1 External links

[edit] Brief History of the People and Language

[edit] The Celtic Influence

Despite the modern county being created only in 1974 from the counties of Cumberland, Westmorland and north Lancashire and parts of Yorkshire, Cumbria is an ancient land. Before the arrival of the Romans the area was the home of the Carvetii tribe, which was later assimilated to the larger Brigantes tribe. These people would have spoken Brythonic, which developed into Old Welsh, but around the 5th century AD, when Cumbria was the centre of the kingdom of Rheged, the language spoken in northern England and southern Scotland from Yorkshire to Strathclyde had developed into a separate language known as Cumbric. Remnants of Brythonic and Cumbric are most often seen in place names, in elements such as caer 'fort' as in Carlisle, pen 'hill' as in Penrith and craig 'crag, rock' as in High Crag.

The most well known Celtic element in Cumbrian dialect is the sheep counting numerals which are still used in various forms by shepherds throughout the area, and apparently for knitting. The word 'Yan' (meaning 'one'), for example, is prevalent throughout Cumbria and is still often used, especially by less well-spoken people and children, eg. "That yan owr there," or "Can I have yan of those?"

The Northern subject rule may be attributable to Celtic Influence.

Before the 8th century AD Cumbria was annexed to English Northumbria and Old English began to be spoken in parts, although evidence suggests Cumbric survived in central regions in some form until the 11th century.

[edit] The Norse Influence

A far stronger influence on the modern dialect was Old Norse, spoken by Norwegian settlers who probably arrived in Cumbria in the 10th century via Ireland and the Isle of Man. The majority of Cumbrian place names are of Norse origin, including Ulverston from Ulfrs tun ('Ulfr's farmstead'), Kendal from Kent dalr ('valley of the River Kent') and Elterwater from eltr vatn ('swan lake'). Many of the traditional dialect words are also remnants of Norse settlement, including beck (bekkr, 'stream'), laik (leik, 'to play'), lowp (hlaupa, 'to jump) and glisky (gliskr, 'shimmering').

Old Norse seems to have survived in Cumbria until fairly late. A 12th century inscription found at Loppergarth in Furness bears a curious mixture of Old English and Norse, showing that the language was still felt in the south of the county at this time, and would probably have hung on in the fells and dales (both Norse words) until later.

Once Cumbrians had assimilated to speaking English, there were few further influences on the dialect. In the Middle Ages, much of Cumbria frequently swapped hands between England and Scotland but this had little effect on the language used. In the nineteenth century miners from Cornwall and Wales began relocating to Cumbria to take advantage of the work offered by new iron ore, copper and wadd mines but whilst they seem to have affected some local accents (notably Barrow-in-Furness) they don't seem to have contributed much to the vocabulary.

One of the lasting characteristics of still found in the local dialect of Cumbria today is an inclination to drop vowels, especially in relation to the word "the" which is frequently abbreviated. Unlike the Yorkshire dialect where 'the' is abbreviated to 'th' (?) in Cumbrian (as in Lancashire) the sound is harder like the letter '?' or simply a 't' and in sentences sounds as if it is attached to the previous word, for example "int'" instead of "in the" "ont'" instead of "on the".

[edit] The Accent and Pronunciation

Cumbria is a large area with several relatively isolated districts, so there is quite a large variation in accent, epecially between north and south or the coastal towns. There are some uniform features that should be taken into account when pronouncing dialect words.

[edit] Vowels

(RP English > Cumbrian) - see IPA for a guide to phonetics

/??/ as in father > /�/, as in car /�?/ /e?/ as in day > /e?/ /a?/ as in pile > /�?/ /??/ as in boat > /o?/ /?/ as in bud > /?/ /i?/ as in seen > /?/ (not in all cases) /i?/ as in year > /ij?/

Words with 'oo', such as poor and moor are pronounced /u?/ 'poowa' and 'moowa' to rhyme with 'sewer'

Other Features

r is tapped once against the roof of the mouth when pronounced dd in spellings is /�/ (th as in then) n tends to be omitted before t in mid-sentence /t/ tends to be glottalised medially and sometimes finally (eg. the phrase 'I don't want to' might be pronounced [a do?? w??u?]); this is not traditionally Cumbrian, but crept in with the migration of workers from the south west of England. /k/ tends not to be released in the final position

NB: the placename Kirkby (of which there are several in Cumbria) is always pronounced /k??bi?/, with the /k/ omitted, unlike most other parts of the country where it is pronounced /k??kbi?/.

[edit] Dialect Words

[edit] General words

• ah I
• areet alright (can be used as a greeting and return, and as per the normal use)
• ars I am
• awez Come on (mostly Carlisle)
• aye yes
• eh (generally used at the end of sentences to indicate that the phrase is a question. It can be inserted simply by habit and then has no particular meaning. The use of "eh" is more often linked to Carlisle than the Cumbrian dialect as a whole)
• like (generally used as an intensifier midway through or at the end of sentences)
• me my
• nah no
• owie, howie come on
• thew you
• thine yours
• us me
• wherst where is the
• wi, wid with
• yous you all, plural of you

[edit] Adjectives

• aald old
• bad sore, painful
• badly ill, unwell (a bad 'ed is a headache)
• barie good or nice (mainly in and around Penrith)
• cack bad, horrible or awful
• clarty muddy or messy
• cushty good, nice
• gash useless, poor (it's gash weather outside)
• kaylied intoxicated
• la'al small
• ladgeful embarrassing (mainly in and around Penrith)
• radge, radgy mad
• reet right
• slape slippery or smooth as in slape back colly, a border colly with short wirey hair
• wam warm

[edit] Adverbs

• gey very
• kystie squeamish or fussy
• owwer over ("ars garn owwer yonder fer a kip" - I'm going over there for a sleep)
• vanya almost, nearly. vanear is a coastal variant

[edit] Nouns

• bait packed meal that is carried to work
• bait bag bag in which to carry bait
• biddies fleas
• britches trousers
• crack news/gossip; can also mean a conversation in the context of "having a crack with" someone
• cur dog sheepdog - collie
• dookers swimming trunks
• gansey wool sweater (poss corruption of Guernsey)
• garn thread for knitting (Furness)
• goodies sweets
• jackal wild dog
• jerkin long leather sleeveless jacket used by outdoor workers
• keks, kegs underpants or trousers
• kets sweets
• knock-e-i-do a game played where the aim is to knock on someone's door then retreat without being caught. "Knock and Nash" in Penrith.
• lug ear
• nowt nothing
• owt anything
• scran food
• scrow a mess
• shillies small stones or gravel
• skemmy beer
• snig small eel
• watter water

[edit] Verbs

• bray beat (as in beat up someone)
• bubble cry
• chess chase
• chor steal (Romany origin, cf. Urdu chorna)
• clarten messing about
• deek look (Romany origin, cf Urdu dekhna)
• fistle to fidget
• gander look
• gar go
• garn going
• hoy throw
• jarn or jurn doing
• laik play
• lait look for
• lowp jump
• mek make
• nash run away
• ratch to search for something
• scop to throw
• scower look at
• skit make fun of
• twat hit someone ("I twatted him in the face")
• twine whinge or complain
• wuk work

[edit] People

• bairn child (general northern English, not just Cumbrian)
• buwer unattractive girl
• charva boy (origin of the modern word "chav". Romany origin)
• gadge person (usually a stranger, or someone whose name is not known)
• gammerstang awkward person
• lad young man
• lass young woman
• marra friend, companion, mate (mainly used in West Cumbria) mining slang
• mot woman/girl
• offcomer a non-native in Cumbria
• potter gypsy
• yakker a farmer

[edit] Places, landscapes, buildings etc

• beck stream
• crag stone or rock or cliff
• fell a large hill or small mountain
• garth field
• ginnel a narrow passage, a back alley
• hingins, hangins hinges
• lonnin a lane
• sneck door latch
• tarn small lake
• yam home
• yat gate

[edit] Farming Terms

• beast cow
• boos a division in a shuppon
• bowins ragwort (also boonies - west cumbian)
• byre a cow shed originally used for milking
• coo cow
• cop the bank of earth on which a hedge grows
• cuddy Donkey
• dyke a hedge, often on an earth-and-stone wall > dyking means to build a dyke
• fodder gang passage for feeding cattle (usually in a shuppon)
• gimmer female which has not had a lamb
• haver or havers oats
• hogg yearling sheep
• hoss horse
• liggin' kessin when an animal is lying on its back and can't get up
• mowdy mole
• mowdiing catching moles
• stoop a gate post
• syke a gutter or ditch between a cop and the road for drainage
• tup a ram sheep
• yowe ewe sheep (rhymes with cow)

[edit] The Weather

• hossing raining heavily (it's hossing it duwn)
• glisky when the sky is really bright so you can't see properly
• mizzlin misty drizzly rain
• syling pouring rain

[edit] Phrases

• ars garn yam I'm going home
• fine fettal Good health
• garn yam Going home
• gee over (Get over) I don't believe you- said in disbelief
• hasta Have you?
• it'll be reet It will be alright
• oust fettal How are you
• werst thew of te where are you going
• wh'ista Who are you? (especially used in Appleby)
• werst t' frae Where are you from?

[edit] Cumbrian numbers

Main article: Yan Tan Tethera

The Cumbrian numbers, often called 'sheep counting numerals' because of their (declining) use by shepherds to this very day, show clear signs that they may well have their origins in Cumbric. The table below shows the variation of the numbers throughout Cumbria, as well as the relevant cognate in Welsh and Cornish, which are the two closest British languages to Cumbric, for comparison.

*	Keswick	Westmorland	Eskdale	Millom	High Furness	Welsh	Cornish
1	yan	yan	yaena	aina	yan	un	onen/unn
2	tyan	tyan	taena	peina	taen	dau/dwy	dew/diw
3	tethera	tetherie	teddera	para	tedderte	tri/tair	tri/teyr
4	methera	peddera	meddera	pedera	medderte	pedwar/pedair	peswar/peder
5	pimp	gip	pimp	pimp	pimp	pump	pymp
6	sethera	teezie	hofa	ithy	haata	chwe(ch)	whegh
7	lethera	mithy	lofa	mithy	slaata	saith	seyth
8	hovera	katra	seckera	owera	lowera	wyth	eth
9	dovera	hornie	leckera	lowera	dowera	naw	naw
10	dick	dick	dec	dig	dick	deg	dek
15	bumfit	bumfit	bumfit	bumfit	mimph	pymtheg	pymthek
20	giggot	-	-	-	-	ugain	ugens

NB: when these numerals were used for counting sheep, reputedly, the shepherd would count to fifteen or twenty and then move a small stone from one of his pockets to the other before beginning again, thus keeping score. Numbers eleven, twelve etc. would have been 'yandick, taendick', while sixteen and seventeen would have been 'yan-bumfit, tyan-bumfit' etc.

[edit] Cumbrian Poetry

• Derwent Pickering was a local writer who wrote in Cumbrian
• Norman Nicholson lived in Millom and wrote many poems about his native county

[edit] See also

Cumbria

Cumbric

Dialect

Etymology of Cumbrian Place Names

[edit] External links

• Sounds Familiar? — Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects from across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website
• Listen to Pronunciation
• Lakeland Dialect Society