Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/520

INTRODTJCTION. Vll The possessiye pronouns (when not preceding the substantive) have the termination in n; as, hisen^ oum, youm, iJidm, The possessive pronoun, its, is almost unknown in Hampshire. I have never heard it used by the elder people. His or hisen invariably takes its place. In verbs the preterite is very often used instead of the participle with the auxiliary verbs, as: *He had no call to have went'; *He was took bad a Sunday ' ; * They carpets be'ant shook after all' ; ' He was drove to do it, poor chap ' ; ' He ain't took any wages for a fortnight.' There is a saying that * Everything in Hampshire is called he, except a Tom-cat.' This is not strictly true. The cat indeed, whatever its sex, is always she ; but so is generally a waggon, and any sort of carriage, and invariably a saw. And I have heard a top- sawyer give to his mate in the pit the somewhat strange direction : ' Gi' she a drop o' water.' And an old sawyer, exhibiting the remains of a pit-saw which bad been destroyed in an accidental fire, said : ' This be all that 's left o' she.' fiut with few exceptions everything in Hampshire is he^ or, in the inflected cases, the provincial 't^n. I have only now to acknowledge the assistance which has been given me in compiling this Glossary, and some of the sources from which it is derived. The Glossary contained in the work of Mr. J. R. Wise on the I^ew Forest has furnished a complete list of words used in that part of the county; and his copious and valuable MS. notes on the Glossaries of Akerman and Cooper have been of great assistance in the compilation of this Glossary. The words contributed by Mr. Wise have his name, or tbe letter W, aifixed. A MS. Glossary by the late Sir Frederick Madden, which was sold with his MSS. after his death, though not so full as I should have expected from his connection with and interest in the county, ba^ supplied the words marked F. M. A very extensive MS. Glossary, drawn up by the late Colonel ^ I do not remember to have heard httHy but I have no doubt that it is used.