Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/455

 io» s. iv. NOV. 4, loos.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 377 MacDonalds, was the son of John. Lord of the Isles, by his first wife, Amy. For their marriage there is a Papal dispensation •dated 1337. Donald, eldest son of John by his second wife, Margaret Stewart, •daughter of Robert II., succeeded his father in the Lordship of the Isles by special arrangement. Ignorance of the existence of the dispensation caused earlier historians to .consider Ranald as illegitimate. FIK-EUN. NOTES ON BOOKS, ftc. The Enflish Dialect Dictionary. Edited by Joseph Wright, Ph.D., &c. Parts XXIV.-XXVIII. (Frowde.) The Enylinh Dialect Grammar. Forming Parts XXIX. and XXX. of ' The English Dialect Die tiouary.' (Same publisher.) WITH the appearance of these successive instal- ments ' The English Dialect Dictionary' and' Gram- mar' of Dr. Joseph Wright, the greatest boon that English philology or scholarship owes to the erudi- tion, energy, and munificence of an individual, is completed, and the entire work is in the hands of subscribers and the public. Close on thirty years, of which nine have been devoted to publication, have been spent on a work of unparalleled utility, in the preparation of which between three and four hundred readers have taken part. To Dr. Joseph Wright, as we have before stated, and now, pre- sumably for the last time, repeat, belong the labour of co-ordination, explanation, and general prepara- tion, and—an unheard-of thing in similar labours— the cost of production. The part of the alphabet now delivered to the world embraces T to Zwodden. No more than on previous occasions is it possible to indicate the wealth of illustration or the manifold sources of information supplied. It forms no por- tion of the scheme to furnish derivations, which not seldom are due to popular and ignorant corruptions. It is, however, immediately obvious that Latin is occasionally responsible, as when, at the outset, laberna, cellar, carries us, byway of Walter Mapes, to Cicero and Plautus. Tackle, to grapple with, assigned to the Isle of Wight, is no less common in the West Biding, where "I'll sune tackle that lot" might be preparatory to " I'll fettle it." Tag and ray are associated. We recall " tag, rag, and bob- tail" as indicative of a mixed lot of people of no consideration. Taking, substantive, a fit of petu- lance, is used by the younger Colman. In qrks " I '11 tan his hide" means beat him with a stick. The meaning of tair=& large marble, is, no doubt, correctly given. In the forties we called all marbles Yaw*. Many words in dialectal use are familiar enough in ordinary speech. Teen, sorrow, grief, is thus nsed by the Nurse in 'Romeo and Juliet': "To my teen be it spoken/' Such instances are, of course, innumerable. "Tellypie tit, your tongue shall be slit," was in our time " Tell tale tit." Caulfleard was a trade name for a rather dirty yellow colour in the Leeds Cloth Hall. Throw means in dialectal usage to give birth to as well as to miscarry. A familiar form of timber=provision, fare, is belly limber. What we have heard called a " tinker's curse" is here given as a tinkler's curse, a form with which we are not familiar. Tol lol, intoxicated, means also tolerably well. Tongue has many strange complications. "Thou'rt a poor tooil (tool) is very common in the West Riding. Is not topper a name for a top hat ? and is not the use of trail for entrails dialectal ? " Pull up your truss," as an encouragement to exertion, is perhaps slang rather than dialect. Tuck shop is a place where they sell cates or tuck. 7'Kmmy=8tomach, belly; twiff=to take cognizance of, twiggy cows' Tittle, tattle :— Hear the pretty ladies talk, Tittle tattle, tittle tattle ; Like their pattens when they walk, Pittle pattle, pittle pattle. A familiar dialectal use of tittle = mictrare, is not given. Under uncle, though pawnbroker is omitted, presumably as slang, some curious in- formation from Burne and Mrs. Gomme is supplied. Vhat is the meaning of imilercumitumble in "He undercumstumbled down three pair [flights] o" stairs"? Other meanings of the word are given. Upstt, in the West Riding, = disturbed, rather than elated. Virgin supplies much curious informa- tion. Volayt is a curious transmission from French. Water, in all its combinations, occupies much space. Weening, boastful, suggests overweening. Wharl, to make a noise through the nose in talking; nee Duchess of Newcastle's ' Life of the Duke. For ichixtler (ornithological) see Webster: "The night bird and the whistler shrill." In the West Riding the chorus " Wiggle waggle " goes after rimed verses sung in rotation, such as I saw a magpie sitting on a tree, 1 took up a big stone and hit him on the knee. Wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle, wiggle waggle way. Here we must perforce cease comment or extract. It will be seen that our own statements are drawn principally from the West Riding, where a couple of generations ago we were educated. The 'Grammar' is a work of huge labour, and adds enormously to the value and utility of the dictionary. It occupies close upon two hundred pages in four columns. So technical is it that the task of describing it would be equally difficult and futile. It requires, indeed, for its due execution a special kind of knowledge, which, up to now, is a rare possession. At the close of the volume ia a select bibliographical list. With this introduction to our readers we close our task, which is com- mendation rather than criticism. No praise and recompense are too high for Dr. Wright, who, " off his own bat," has rendered the world an incom- parable service. Gesta Ftomanornm. Translated from the Latin by the Rev. Charles Swan. With a Preface by E. A. Baker, M.A. (Routledge & Sons.) Gaita Komanorum. Translated by Rev. Charles Swan. Revised Edition by Wynnard Hooper, M.A. (Belli. Sons.) ALWAYS dear to the student of early literature, the 'Gesta Romanorum,' since the growth of interes in comparative folk-story, has attained a position of importance. Its inclusion in Routledge's attrac- tive series of early novelists is, accordingly, a matter for congratulation. It will there find itself in thoroughly congenial company. Originally issued
 * or purposes of edification, with theological moraliz-

ings, kindred in some respects to those in ..-Esop, affixed to each story, it became in time what Mr.