This page needs to be proofread.
- 'I believe there is not a word in the following list I have not myself heard within the limits of Hallamshire between 1790 and 1810.
- 'Mr. Wilson of Broomhead made a catalogue of words used in his neighbourhood, much less numerous than this.
- 'I have also made use of three catalogues of Northern words to assist in recalling what I have heard, viz.:—
- 'The list of Halifax words in Watson's History of that town.
- 'The list of words used in the mountainous parts of Yorkshire, near Westmorland, communicated by Dr. Willson to the Society of Antiquaries, and published by them in the 17th volume of the Archæologia.
- 'The Glossary to Collier's View of the Dialect of Lancashire.
- 'I have reason to think that there are few words or phrases omitted that demanded insertion in such a catalogue.[1] I have noted the time when these words were in use.
- 'The Madras and Lancasterian schools will make mighty havock among the relics of our primitive tongue.
- 'It is to be observed that few, if any, are peculiar to this district; and many are not even peculiar to the North of England. There are a few which are mere vulgarisms. Ray's List of North Country words I have not seen while compiling this catalogue, but I have Thoresby's Supplement to this list. (Ray's Philosophical Letters, p. 321.) If this list be compared with Thoresby's, it will show what a change in Dialect a century has produced.
- 'In considering such a list as this, attention should be paid to the classes of words of which it consists, that we may see to what objects or actions or qualities the old words have adhered.
- 'In preparing such a list care must be taken to distinguish the true archaism from what is a mere vulgarism, but care must also be taken not to dismiss as a vulgarism what in truth is an archaism. See the word Coyle.
- 'The difference between an archaism and a vulgarism may be illustrated from the word overplush, which is clearly a corruption made by Ignorance and Vulgarity.
- '
- ↑ A glance at the pages of the present work, or a comparison of it with Hunter's glossary, will show how erroneous this opinion was.
