Page:The dialect of the southern counties of Scotland - Murray - 1873.djvu/41

ticular, this peculiarity should be claimed as Norwegian (although it extends to words never so contracted in Norse), we have a conclusive example in the interesting dialect of Barony Forth, in County Wexford, Ireland. The baronies of Forth and Bargy were occupied by an isolated colony of Strongbow's followers in 1169, who have preserved almost to the present day a remarkable form of speech, being a very archaic stage of English (with verbal -eth singular and plural, as in Chaucer, the ye- prefix to past participles, etc.), modified in pronunciation and glossary by the native Irish, by which it was surrounded, especially in this matter of the aphæresis of initial th, as may be seen in the following passages:

Yn ercha an ol o' whilke yt beeth wi' gleezom o' core'th our eene dwytbeth apan ee Vigère o' dicke zouvereine, Wilyame ee Vourthe, unnere fose fatherlie zwae ure dai-ez be ye-spant; az avàre ye trad dicke lone yer name waz ye-kent var ee Vriene o' Livertie an he fo braak ee neckàr-ez o' zlaves. Mang ourzels—var wee dwytheth an Eerloane, as ure general haime—y'ast be ractzom o' hoane ye-delt t'ouz ee laas ye-mate var ercha vassàle, ne'er dwythen na dicke waie nar dicka. Wee dwitheth ye ane fose daiez bee gien var ee gudevare, o' ee lone ye zwae, t' avance pace an livertie an wi' oute vlynch, ee garde o' generàl reights an poplàre vartùe.

In ever-each and all of which it beeth with joy of heart that our eyen looketh npon the Viceroy of thilk sovereign William, the fourth, under whose fatherly sway our days are y-spent; as before you trode thilk land your name was y-known for the friend of liberty and he who broke the halters of slaves. Among ourselves—for we look on Ireland as our common home—you have by righteousness of hand, y-dealt to us the laws y-made for ever-each subject, never looking to thilk side nor to thilk (i.e. this nor that), We look on you as one whose days be given for the well-fare, of the land you sway to advance peace and liberty, and without flinching, the guard of common rights and public virtue. (From Address to the Viceroy, 1836.)

Mot w' all aar boust, hi soon was ee-teight
At aar errone was var aam ing aar angish ee-height
Zitch vezzeen, tarvizzeen, tell than w' ne'er zey
Nor zitchel n'e'er well, nowe, nore ne'er mey.

Ha-ho! be mee coshès, th'ast ee-pait it, co Joane;
Y'oure w' thee crokeèn, an yie mee thee hoane.
He at nouth fad t'zey, llean vetch ee man
Twish thee an Tommeèn, an ee emothee knaghane.

(From a "Yola Zong.")

But with all their boasting, they were soon y-taught
That their errand was for them in their anguish y-heightened,
Such driving and struggling, till then we ne'er saw,
Nor such never will, no, nor never may.

Hey-ho! by my conscience thou hast y-paid it quoth John;
Give over with thy croaking, and give me thy hand.
He that knows what to say, mischief fetch the man
Twixt thee and Tommie and the emmet-hill (knockan)

(From an "Old Song.")

Aar was a weddeen ee Ballymore
An aar was a hundereth lauckeen vowre score.

There was a wedding in Bally-more
And there was a hundred lacking four score.^[1]

1. A Glossary (with some Pieces of Verse) of the Old Dialect of the English Colony of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland. Collected by Jacob Poole. Edited by W. Barnes, B.D. London: J. B. Smith, 1867.