Digitized by Gopgle Digitized by Gopgle Digitized by Gopgle GLOSSARY OF THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY. Digitized by Gopgle : A GLOSSARY, Wiiii some 9tec» ot Vnsr, or vu OLD DIALECT OF THE ENGLISH COLONY nr TBM Butoras ov FORTH AND BARGY, Bt JACOB POOLE, And ruyw ediudt with some introduetory ObservcUtom^ AddUiom Jrom varhtu sources, and NoUtt By WILLIAM BARNES, B. D. AUTHOB OV A SKAMMAB OV XSB SOSflSTSOI&S OIALfcOX. LONDON J. RUSSELL SMITH, 36, SOHO SQUARE. 1867. A Digitized by Google Digitized by Gopgle CONTENTS. PA6B. Observations by the Editor ^ i Glossary ^ ^ ^ 21 Songs. Metrical Pieces, etc. viz. A Yola Zong .. 83 The Weddeen 0 Ballymore 93 Verses in Answer to the Weddeen 0 Ballymore 98 The Bride's Portion Casteale Cudde's Lamentation for loss 0 his Cuck that was ee-took by a Vox ... 102 About an Old Sow ^in^ to be killed 106 ^OQ^ ••• 108 Jameen Qougeely ee-pealthe 1 10 Bit of Dialo^e ... III Conj^ratulatory Address in the Dialect of Forth and ^^gYf presented to Earl Mulgrave, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, on his visit to Wexford in 1836 "3 Appendix, viz. L—Stanyhurst on Wexford 300 years af^o ... 119 II.—Vallancey's Memoir on Forth and Barf^ 121 III. —Dr. Russell on the Inhabitants and Dialect of the Barony of Forth 124 IV.—In J^cmorfam: The Mountain of Forth >37 d by Google I OBSEBVATIONS BT THE EDIIOfi. The BaionieB of Forth and Baigyi in the county of Wezfoid, Ireland, have been for some hondieda of years under the hands of men of the English race, who till lately, have spoken among themselves an old and in- tezesting English form of speech, a knowledge of which would be of service not only in the history of the English people and their tonguoj but also iu the science of speechlore itself. My knowledge of the social history and people of the Baronies has been mainly gathered from what has been written of them by General Vallancey ; the Very Beyerend Dr. Bussell, President of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth Mr. Herbert F. Horc oi W uxiord ; ; and recently from some letter's and pa]>ers which I owe to the kindness of Mr. Bichard Webb of DttbUn^ who now supplies the work under my hand with the following brief description of forth and Bargy. <^The Baronies of Forth and Bargy occupy the soiitli eastern portion of the county of Wexford, having Bannow Bay on the west^ the sea on the south I Digitized by Gopgle 2 OBSBRVATIONb and cast, and the Barony of SlinlTiialier and the extra-paiochiai district of the Forth Mountain on the north. The high road &om Wexford to Waterford passes along the north side of the mountain, and douhtless to this isolated position of the district^ as well as to the dangerous nature of the coast^ and the ahsence of harhonrs and navigable rivers, may he attributed the preservation of the Old English Dialect of the early settlers, and of many of their peculiar customs, to a comparatively recent period. ** The areas of Forth and Bargy are very nearly eqnaly being about 40,000 statute acres each, whilst the population of Forth was about 59,000, and that of Bargy little more than 12,000 in 1843. Owing to the extraordinary Irish exodus of late years, from a participation in which these baronies have not been exempt, it is unlikely that the population is more numerous now than it was at that period. Forth Mountain is a rugged elevation extending from within three miles of the town of Wexford about the same distance in a south westerly direction, with a mean width of two miles. It is conspicuoui by its rocky and splintered pinnacles, which rise into a variety of fantastic forms, and command a grand and very extensive prospect. The principal of these are named Garrick-a-Shinna, Carrick-a-Dee, and Carrick-ar Foyle, and are respectively 556, 776, and 687 feet above the level of the sea. There is an old saying in the surrounding country that When Carrick-a-Dee wears a hat, [a cloud] Let Forth and Bargy beware of that. Digitized by Google BY THB SDITOB. 3 ^ Throughout the Baroiiies, especially along the sea- side, 'the land is divided into small ferms of from five to twenty aciTs, the competition fur wliich pro- duces high rents, and on which is also exhibited that wondeifol exertion of industiy, which seldom fails to show itself in Ireland where the inhabitants are secured in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labour;** ''The mountain^ or the greater part of it, is a stony barren waste, and many patches have been brought into cultivation by the indefatigable industry of the neighbouring peasantry. Large rocks and stones have been collected into heaps or piled into w^ills, and the cleared spaces filled with soil and carefully tilled. These spots, being held by the right of possession, are (or were nntU lately) free of all rent, taxes, and impositions, and aitbrd a striking instance of the passion for the ownership of land which is so preva- lent among the Irish people. "The whole of Forth and Bargy is tolerably well cultivated. It is also well wooded, except in the neighbourhood of the sea, where the sea breezes prevent the growth of large timber. The number of landed gentry, and of independent fanners and land- holders, is large in proportion to that of any other equal portion of the south of Ireland. The peasantry are a quiet, .steady, plodding, well-clad race, frugal, industrious, and contented. There is probably no part of Her Majesty's dominions more &ee from crime, and * Lewis^B Topogny^kiad Mciumarj^ IrtkmA, ¥oL %, orU Wexford. 1* Digitized by Gopgle 4 OBSERVATIONS agiarian outrages, it is beUeved, aie unknown.'' The farming class rarely extend their travels beyond the county town of "Wexford, which is situated at the northern extremity of Forth, As illustrative of their stay-at-home disposition^ a story is told in Shaw ^Masou's Parochial Survey of Ireland^ respecting a Forth woman who happened, once in her life, to wander to the top of The Mountain (their only mountain), and 'svas so overwhelmed by the vasL extent of the world which lay to the north of her own, that she resolved never to venture on the appalling prospect any more. Wexford is picturesquely situated on its harbour in the north-eastern comer of the Barony of Forth, and its neighbourhood is very beautifuL It is a quaint old-fashioned town, liaving large portions of the ancient historic walls still standing, with many ivy-mantled remains of churches and abbeys, ai^d a number of modem Roman Catholic churches of considerable architectural elegance. It is conspicuous for the unusual proportion of old English names on the shop-doors and sign-boards. The long street on the south side, by which you enter from the Barony of Forth, consists princii)ally of small, neat houses, many of them slated and whitewashed, and famished with geraniums and other flowers in the windows ; thus agreeably contrasting with the rows of miser- * " But it is also true that there are many extensive districts in Ireland, where the people are of Celtic origin, in which the Abgenoe of crime and the security of life and property aie quite as great as In any part of Great Britain." Digitized by BY THB BDITOB. 5 able cabins by which the outlets of so many other Irish towns are dis£gured« This street is called The Faayth. On market days the peasantry may be seen flocking into Wexford with their country produce. They are goneraUy comfortably and neatly dressed. The women wear bonnets and blue cloaks^ and are often conveyed on small seated vehicles and cheap jaunting-cars of various kinds, drawn by donkeys or the hardy Forth poniec^ which are valued through- out Ireland for their strength and spirit. "Throughout these baronies there is a general air of comfort and independence^ and the prevalence of Boman noses, dark eyes, and oval visages indicates that the people are not generally of ucltic extrac- tion. The old Dialect has only a remote traditional existence in Bargy, and has probably not been spoken in any part of that Barony within the last hundred years; whilst no longer than forty years ago, it was stUi the mother tongue of all the poorer classes, of 70 years of age and upwards, in the soulhem part of Forth along the sea-side. And espe- cially in the parish of Carne, at the south-eastern extremity, must the very few old people be sought for, who have some slight smattering of the now nearly extinct language of their forefathers. «The only custom of the early English colonists which remains among their descendants is that of taking a siesta (called enteeie in the Glossary) in the noontide of the long working-days in summer. Kor is there now any trace of the peculiar costume Digitized 6 OBSEBYATIOKB described by Vallancey as having prevailed when he fiist knew the district^ which was lather more than a centary from the present time." A pa])er on tlic old speech of iurtk and I>arixy, written by General Vallancey, was printod, with a vocabulary and Forth song in voL 2 of the Tfvmae- Uom of the Royal TrM Academy, and some verses of the song were shown by Jennings, in some notes to his Somerset Poems^ as having a veiy strong tinge of West English, upon which he thought that the early English settlers of the Baiunius might have been Wessex men of Somerset and Devon.