Page:Glossary of words in use in Cornwall.djvu/395

 34 THE DIALECT OF Cum (pronounced eoos, sharp ; gl, kuos), a kiss. Cnsten. (pronounced ciLaeen^f cast. ^ Ousaen iron ' is cast iron ; earth, thrown into a hole or pit is ' cusaen earth ' ; also the sky when clouded is ' OTvercuMen.' In the form of casten it is found in the Ballad of Young Beichan, yer. 4 : ' They've casten him in dungeon deep. Where he could neither hear nor see.' Cat, a canal. The.Huddersfield and Manchester canal was so called when it was first made, in or about 1814, and is so still by some. Cut. When a warp is long enough to form two or three pieces, each one as ctd out and taken to the i^op is called a cut. Cuts. * To draw cuts ' is to draw lots. See Chaucer's Canterbury TaleB, * The Pardoner's Tale ' : ' Wherefore I rede that cut among us alle We draw, and let see wher the cut wol falle ; And he that hath the cut with hertd blithe. Shall runnen to the toun and that ^ swithe.' Cuttle {gl, kuotl), vh, to fold cloth in the following manner. First a sm^ portion is doubled, then another upon it (not round it), and so on until it is all doubled up ; finally wrap the end, left first or last, round all. The reasons lor adopting this mode are, that the doth is supposed to keep best ; it is easier to unfold for show purposes ; it piles best. When the letter d is doubled the second is softened in a peculiar way into th. Thus Hudderefield is by some called Huthersfidd (as I have seen it spelt), or Hudtherefield, Also when the d is fi^al the same change takes place, as. Bradforih for Bradford^ and Bt^orih for Bedford. There appears to have been always this tendency in the languase, and in some words the change remains to this time ; thus in Boinn Hood we find ffders^ gadred, togedevy thuder^ Ac, which have become /ea<Aer«, gathered, together ^ and thither; tleo fader for father in Chaucer, The Knighfs Tale, On tiie other hand, hondreth is found for hundred in Bohin Hood, and elsewhere. So murder was formerly murther^ &o, D is also sometimes used for <, as had^ hud^ mudy &c., for hat, hut, might, &C. Sa&k daSn, to duck down. Saasted, i. e. dowsted, or what is elsewhere called ' dows'd.* * Hell get weel dacuted ' (with rain) < before he gets back.' Daft, adj, foolish ; stupid, &c. : connected with daff, to daunt, and daffe, a fooL Dc^fi is for daffed.