Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/402

ALMONDBURT AND HUDDERSFIELD. 41 read are pronounced as usual ; also sufear^ though some say sio&ir. Speak is spake. Earth, pronounced yerth. Easter, pronounced Tester, E'e, the eye. E*eia, even, or evening, ^ot used much now alone, but occurs in the words Txvelfte'em and TwentiWem, E'en, i. e. ' eyen,* the eyes. When I first came into this neighbour- hood the following sentence was proposed to me as a puzzle, more difficult to the ear than to the eye : ' Bang her amang her e'en/ i. e. ' Hit her between her eyes. ' Now though the words be good of them- selyes, I am disposed to doubt whether they were ever so used, except as above mentioned. The above was said to be a Skeldmanthorpe ' nominy.' * Her ' is independent of gender, and means * him.' Eh, inteiy, very common (pronounced as a in mate) ; used much as oh in the south. But when pronounced as ee in meet it expresses great delight or surprise. If a crowd of Yorkshire boys of this district were lookmg on at an exhibition of fireworks, and a flight of a hundred rockets went up together, the general exclamation would be Ee-ee-ee, continued for some seconds. Either, pronounced anther or other. It has been said that the ques- tion was once put to an honest Torkshireman whether this word should be pronounced iHher or ither, who gravely decid)»d, ' Otlier '11 do.' Elder. See Helder. Element, usually spoken of as ' th' element* i. e. the sky, or atmo- sphere. [Found in Shakespere and in North's Flutarch.—W. W. S,] Ellentree (pronounced elUntree), the elder. Eller, keen. It seems, however, very little known. Elsen, or Elsin, a cobbler's awl. See Fray o* Suportf ver. 8 : ' Hoo ! hoo I gar raise the Beid Souter, and Eingan's Wat, Wi' a broad eUhin and a wicker ; I wat weil they'll mak' a ford sicker ' — t. e. with a broad awl and a switch for weapons they will make a ford sure. Cf. Dutch eU, an awL Elsen, or Elsin, has another meaning not well defined. When something has been eaten with too much peeper and salt, which therefore bites the tongue, it is frequently said, * It is as keen as e/«in.' If then the ehin were not originally an awl, it must have been something sharp and priokiag. See above.