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A Glossary of Words used in the Country of Wiltshire — A Reader’s Guide

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Authors: Dartnell, George Edward, 1852-1908, Goddard, E. H. (Edward Hungerford), 1854-1947 Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2014 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: English language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.; English language -- Dialects -- England -- Wiltshire Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 78,272

Reading time 341 min

Text sections 12

The catalog record for A Glossary of Words used in the Country of Wiltshire — A Reader’s Guide provides practical reading context through 78,272 words, 5 hr 41 min estimated reading time, and 12 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 11.2 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “English language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #45809

This glossary, compiled by George Edward Dartnell and E. H. Goddard for the English Dialect Society, records over half its entries for the first time in any Wiltshire vocabulary. The entries move between agricultural tools, plant names, and emotional states, with illustrative quotations from local speech and literature.

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the re-delivery of the tools, "cuncta instrumenta videlicet Beetyll, Ax, Matock, and Showlys."'--_Stray Notes from the Marlborough Court Books_, _Wilts Arch. Mag._ xix. 78.

(2) The small mallet with which thatchers drive home their 'spars.'--S.W.

*=Beggar-weed=. _Cuscuta Trifolii_, Bab., Dodder; from its destructiveness to clover, &c. (_English Plant Names_).

=Bellock=. (1) To cry like a beaten or frightened child (A.B.).--N.W., rarely. (2) To complain, to grumble (_Dark_, ch. x.).--N.W.

*=Belly vengeance=. Very small and bad beer.--N.W.

'Beer of the _very smallest_ description, real "belly vengeance."'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 40.

'I thought you wouldn't appreciate the widow's tap.... Regular whistle-belly vengeance, and no mistake!'--_Tom Brown at Oxford_, xl.

=Belt=. To trim away the dirty wool from a sheep's hind-quarters.--N.W.

*=Bennet=. _v._ Of wood-pigeons, to feed on bennets (A.).

'They have an old rhyme in Wiltshire--

"Pigeons never know no woe Till they a-benetting do go;"

meaning that pigeons at this time are compelled to feed on the seed of the bent, the stubbles being cleared, and the crops not ripe.'--_Akerman._

=Bennets=, =Bents=. (1) Long coarse grass or rushes (B.).--N.W. (2) Seed-stalks of various grasses (A.); used of both withered stalks of coarse grasses and growing heads of cat's-tail, &c.--N. & S.W. (3) Seed-heads of Plantain, _Plantago major_, L., and _P. lanceolata_, L.--N. & S.W.

=Bents=. See ~Bennets~.

=Bercen= (_c_ hard). See ~Barken~. 'This form of the word is given in _MS. Gough_, _Wilts_, 5, as current in Wilts' (H.K.Wr.).

=Berry=. The grain of wheat (D.); as 'There's a very good berry to-year,' or 'The wheat's well-berried,' or the reverse. See _Old Country Words_, ii. and v.--N.W.

=Berry-moucher=. (1) A truant. See ~Blackberry-moucher~ and ~Moucher~ (A.).--N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry. See ~Moochers~.--N.W. (Huish.) Originally applied to children who went mouching from school in blackberry season, and widely used in this sense, but at Huish--and occasionally elsewhere--virtually confined to the berries themselves: often corrupted into ~Penny-moucher~ or ~Perry-moucher~ by children. In _English Plant Names_ Mochars, _Glouc._, and Mushes, _Dev._, are quoted as being similarly applied to the fruit, which is also known as Mooches in the Forest of Dean. See Hal., sub. _Mich._

=Besepts=. Except.--N. & S.W.

'Here's my yeppurn they've a'bin and scarched, and I've a-got narra 'nother 'gin Zunday besepts this!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 138.

=Besom=, =Beesom=, =Bissom=, &c. A birch broom (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Betwit=. To upbraid (A.B.).

=Bide=. (1) To stay, remain (A.S.). 'Bide still, will 'ee.'--N. & S.W. (2) To dwell (A.). 'Where do 'ee bide now, Bill?' 'Most-in-general at 'Vize.'--N. & S.W.

=Bill Button=. _Geum rivale_, L., Water Avens.--S.W.

=Bird-batting=. Netting birds at night with a 'bat-folding' or clap-net (A.B., Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 15, ed. Brit.). Bird-battenen (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Bird's-eye=. (1) _Veronica Chamaedrys_, L., Germander Speedwell.--N. & S.W. (2) _Anagallis arvensis_, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.--S.W. (3) _Veronica officinalis_, L., Common Speedwell.--S.W. (Barford.)

=Bird's-nest=. The seed-head of Daucus Carota, L., Wild Carrot.--N. & S.W.

'The flower of the wild carrot gathers together as the seeds mature, and forms a framework cup at the top of the stalk, like a bird's-nest. These "bird's-nests," brown and weather-beaten, endured far into the winter.'--_Great Estate_, ch. vii. p. 137.

'The whole tuft is drawn together when the seed is ripe, resembling a bird's nest.'--_Gerarde._

=Bird-seed=. Seed-heads of Plantain.--N. & S.W.

=Bird-squoilin=. See ~Squail~ (S.).

=Bird-starving=. Bird-keeping.--N.W.

'This we call bird-keeping, but the lads themselves, with an appreciation of the other side of the case, call it "bird-starving."'--_Village Miners._

=Birds'-wedding-day=. St. Valentine's Day.--S.W. (Bishopstone.)

=Bishop-wort=. _Mentha aquatica_, L., Hairy Mint.--S.W. (Hants bord.)

=Bissom=. See ~Besom~.

=Bittish=. _adj._ Somewhat. ''Twer a bittish cowld isterday.'--N. & S.W.

=Bittle=. See ~Beetle~.

=Biver=. To tremble, quiver, shiver as with a cold or fright (S.). Cp. A.S. _bifian_, to tremble.--N. & S.W.

'Bless m' zoul, if I dwon't think our maester's got the ager! How a hackers an bivers, to be zhure!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 55.

=Bivery=. _adj._ Shivery, tremulous. When a baby is just on the verge of crying, its lip quivers and is 'bivery.'--N.W.

=Blackberry-moucher=. (1) A truant from school in the blackberry season (H.). See ~Berry-moucher, Mouch~, &c.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)

'A blackberry moucher, an egregious truant.'--_Dean Milles' MS._, p. 180.

(2) Hence, the fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry. See ~Berry-moucher, Moochers~, &c.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)

*=Blackberry-token=. _Rubus caesius_, L., Dewberry (_English Plant Names_).

=Black-Bess=. See ~Black-Bob~.

=Black-Bob=. A cockroach (S.). ~Black-Bess~ on Berks border.--S.W.

=Black-boys=. (1) Flower-heads of Plantain.--N.W. (Huish.) (2) _Typha latifolia_, L., Great Reedmace.--N.W. (Lyneham.)

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The glossary entries shift between the concrete and the expressive: a pick is both a hay-making fork and the fruit of the sloe, while peart can mean impertinent, healthy, clever, stinging, or lively. This range reflects the compilers' method of gathering words from across the county, noting where each term is used (N.W., S.W., N. & S.W.) and often citing a source—a newspaper, a novel like Dark, or a previous collector such as Jefferies. The preface acknowledges that the work is not exhaustive, but the five years of collecting produced a list that the authors claim is the most complete yet assembled for Wiltshire.

From Pickaxe to Pig-muddle: The Range of Entries

The glossary covers tools (peck for pickaxe, pick for fork), plants (pig-nut, pickpocket for shepherd's purse), and everyday objects (peel for a lace-making pillow or oven peel). But it also includes abstract terms: pelt for rage, peter grievous for a dismal person. The compilers often give multiple senses for a single word, as with peart (five meanings) or picked (sharp-pointed or looking ill). This layering suggests that dialect words carried nuanced, context-dependent meanings in daily use.

Quotations and Literary Echoes

Many entries are supported by quotations from local speech or published works. For pelt, the glossary cites Herrick's Oberon's Palace and a line from the novel Dark: “You zims 'mazin afeert to zee your gran'fer in a pelt!” The entry for peter grievous similarly draws on Dark and notes a variant, pity grievous, at Clyffe Pypard. These citations anchor the words in both literary tradition and living conversation, showing how the compilers wove together written and oral evidence.

Geographical Markers and County Variation

Each entry is tagged with a region code—N.W., S.W., N. & S.W.—revealing that Wiltshire dialect was not uniform. For instance, peck (stumble) is marked N.W., while peart (lively) is N.W. but other senses are S.W. or N. & S.W. The compilers also note when a word appears in other counties: pigeon-pair is compared to a North English phrase “a dow's cleckin.” These annotations turn the glossary into a map of linguistic distribution, hinting at how words travelled or stayed local.

Stories and Appendices Beyond the Word List

The preface mentions that the volume includes “a few short stories, illustrating the dialect as actually spoken,” plus an introduction on pronunciation and appendices on various matters. This framing suggests the glossary is not a bare list but a cultural record. The compilers aimed to preserve not just words but the contexts in which they were used—hence the inclusion of folk-talk examples and the effort to trace etymologies and literary allusions. The work was originally serialized in the Wilts Archæological Magazine before being revised and expanded for book publication.

Readers approaching this glossary will find it rewards browsing as much as lookup. The entries are dense with cross-references and regional notes, and the quotations bring the words to life. Because the compilers drew on both published sources and fieldwork, the volume offers a layered view of late-nineteenth-century Wiltshire speech—its tools, its emotions, its plants, and its people.

That rainy afternoon, I kept returning to how Wiltshire farmworkers named a storm-bent elm a "shrump," as if the landscape itself possessed a vocabulary for weariness. It made me think of all the quiet, uncollected languages we lose — time passing, grass flattening. Later, almost by accident, the old Spalding's Official Baseball Guide - 1913 — Themes and Context landed on the table, and I found the same tenderness there, in how they documented the grunts and shuffles of a game nobody thought needed recording.