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Wikipedia

Gower dialect

Gower dialect
Native toUnited Kingdom
RegionGower Peninsula
Latin (English alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
GlottologNone
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Gower dialect refers to the older vocabulary or slang of the Gower Peninsula on the south Wales coast. It was Normanised/Anglicised relatively early after the Norman conquest of England. Relatively cut off from the Welsh hinterland, but with coastal links across south Wales and the West Country, the region developed their distinct English dialect which endured to within living memory.

History

[edit]

The Gower Peninsula was geographically insulated from 'mainland' modern language influences until well into the twentieth century. A number of words and pronunciations were recorded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as distinct usages in Gower — many of which might once have been widespread but which had fallen out of use in the developing standard English.

Some Gower words seem to derive from the Welsh language (e.g. pentan), but many more of the words and usages are cognate with English country dialects including those of South Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire.[1]

Vocabulary

[edit]
  • Angletouch - a worm
  • Back - iron plate, part of a dredge
  • Beader/bidder - person appointed to summon guests to a Gower wedding
  • Bellamine - unglazed brown earthenware pitcher (cf Bellarmine)
  • Bett - prepared turf used for hedging
  • Blonkers - sparks
  • Bossey - a calf still running with its mother
  • Bubback - scarecrow; dull person
  • Bumbagus - the bittern (cf Welsh aderyn y bwn)
  • Butt - a small cart
  • Caffle - tangle
  • Carthen - winnowing sheet
  • Casn't - cannot
  • Cassaddle - harness piece for a draught horse
  • Cavey - humble
  • Charnel - box-like space above the fireplace, often used for hanging bacon
  • Clavvy/ Clevvy - large oak beam supporting the inner wall of a chimney
  • Clever - fine (adj)
  • Cliffage - tithe on quarried limestone, payable to the Lord of the Manor
  • Cloam - earthenware
  • Cratch - haystack
  • Culm - small coal used in lime-burning
  • Cust - could
  • Cuzzening - coaxing
  • Dab - a large stone used in playing duckstone
  • Deal - a litter (of pigs)
  • Dobbin - large mug
  • Dowset - Gower dish, similar to 'whitepot' (below)
  • Drangway - narrow lane or alleyway
  • Drashel - a flail
  • Dree - three
  • Dreppance - three pence
  • Drow - throw
  • Dryth - dryness
  • Dumbledarry - cockchafer
  • Evil - a three pronged dung-fork
  • Frawst / froist - a dainty meal (n); frightened/astonished (adj)
  • Gake - yawn
  • Galeeny - guinea-fowl
  • Gambo - a cart; wagon
  • Glaster - buttermilk in the churn
  • Gloice - a sharp pang of pain
  • Gurgins - coarse flour
  • Gwain - going
  • Hambrack/hamrach - a straw horse-collar (cf 'rach')
  • Herring-gutted - lean, skinny
  • Holmes - holly
  • Inklemaker - busy person
  • Ipson - the quantity that can be held in a pair of cupped hands
  • Ite - yet
  • Jalap - liniment; laxative tonic
  • Jorum - large helping of tea or beer
  • Keek - to peep
  • Keelage - foreshore berthing fee due to the Lord of the Manor
  • Keeve - large barrel or vat
  • Kerning - ripening; turning sour
  • Kersey - cloth woven from fine wool
  • Kittlebegs / kittybags - gaiters
  • Kyling - sea fishing
  • Lake - small stream or brook
  • Lancher / Lansher - greensward between holdings in a common field or 'viel'
  • Leery - empty
  • Lello - a fool; a carefree lad
  • Makth - makes
  • Mapsant - local saint's feast day celebrations (from Welsh mab - son; sant (holy)
  • Mawn - large wicker basket for animal feed
  • Melted - broken up, disintegrated
  • Mort - pigfat; lard
  • Mucka - a rickyard
  • Neargar, fargar - nearer, farther
  • Nestletrip / nesseltrip - smallest pig in a litter
  • Nice - fastidious
  • Nipparty / Noppit - perky
  • Nummit / Nommit - a simple lunch, e.g. of bread and 'soul', as might be sent to harvesters in the field (? 'noon meat'?)
  • Oakey - greased
  • Oakwib - cockchafer
  • Owlers - wool smugglers
  • Pentan - hob (from Welsh pen - head or top, tan - fire)
  • Pill - stream
  • Pilmy - dusty
  • Planche - to make a board floor (cf French plancher - a wooden floor)
  • Purty - to turn sulky
  • Quapp - to throb
  • Quat - to press or flatten
  • Raal - real
  • Rach - the last sheaf of corn to be harvested (see also 'hamrach')
  • Reremouse - the bat (animal)
  • Resiant - resident, particularly a person resident in the area but not having a feudal tenancy
  • Riff - short wooden stick for sharpening a scythe
  • Rining - mooching; scrounging
  • Rying - fishing
  • Scrabble - to gather up objects hastily
  • Shoat - a small wheaten loaf
  • Shrid - to trim a hedge
  • Slade - land sloping towards the sea
  • Soul - cheese or butter, as eaten with bread
  • Spleet - (1) a knitting needle (2) a quarryman's bar
  • Starved - perished with cold
  • Stiping - hobbling a sheep by tying its head to its foreleg with a band of straw
  • Tacker - a youngster
  • Tite - to overturn
  • Towser - a rough apron
  • Uddent - wouldn't
  • Umman - woman
  • Vair - a stoat or weasel
  • Vather - father
  • Vella - fellow
  • Viel/Vile - a field. The name is still used to describe a commonly managed field at Rhossili on Gower, which is farmed in a mediaeval strip field arrangement
  • Vitte - clever or smart
  • Vorrit - forehead
  • V'rall - for all
  • Vurriner - foreigner
  • Want - a mole (animal)
  • Weest - dismal
  • Whirret - a slap
  • Whitepot - a Gower delicacy of flour, milk & currants baked (cf. Devon dialect whitepot, a sort of bread-and-butter pudding)
  • Wimbling - winnowing
  • Witches - moths
  • Yau - ewe
  • Zig - urine
  • Zive - scythe
  • Zongals/songals - corn gleanings
  • Zul/sul - a plough
  • Zz'thee knaw - do you know

Use of the dialect in art

[edit]

Cyril Gwynn was a Gower poet who used the Gower dialect in his poetry.

Phil Tanner was a Gower singer who used the Gower dialect in his songs, including the Gower Wassail.

Further reading

[edit]
  • COLLINS, J. (March 1850). "A List of Words from the Gower Dialect of Glamorganshire". Proceedings of the Philological Society. 4 (93): 222–223. doi:10.1111/j.1467-968X.1850.tb00127.x.
  • Tucker, Horatio. Gower Gleanings (Gower Society 1951) and miscellaneous articles in Gower, the journal of the Gower Society[2]
  • Robert Penhallurick - Gowerland and its language (Peter Lang,1994)
  • Benjamin A. Jones & Robert Penhallurick - The Gower Glossary (Swansea council, 2018)[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Gower Dialect". Gower Magazine. July 2011. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012.
  2. ^ "Welsh Journals - Browse". journals.library.wales. Retrieved 27 August 2026.
  3. ^ "The Gower Glossary". Issuu. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2026.

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

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Wikipedia

Gower dialect

The Gower dialect refers to the older vocabulary or slang of the Gower Peninsula on the south Wales coast. It was Normanised/Anglicised relatively early after the Norman conquest of England. Relatively cut off from the Welsh hinterland, but with coastal links across south Wales and the West Country, the region developed their distinct English dialect which endured to within living memory.

MORE →
Wikipedia

Cuisine of Gower

The cuisine of Gower, a peninsula in south Wales, is based on ingredients grown, raised or collected on or around the peninsula. The cuisine is based on fresh ingredients with recipes based around a fish or meat dish. Until the twentieth century, the peninsula was virtually cut off from other markets due to poor roads, and no rail connection. The result was that Gower became self-sufficient in food. Gower people also developed their own dialect of English, known as the Gower dialect, and their own traditions, which have since died out. The population of the peninsula was employed in agriculture, fishing, labour on the farms and larger country estates, weaving and, in the north, coal mining and cockling. With the expansion of motorized transport and road improvements, Gower became a popular tourist destination. Many residents now travel from Gower to work in the nearby city of Swansea. Much of the agricultural produce is now sold at Swansea Market, local farmers' markets, and further afield.

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Wikipedia

Cyril Gwynn

Cyril Gwynn (1897–1988) was a British poet, from Gower, in the City and County of Swansea. He was known as the Bard of Gower, and became a household name in Gower before leaving for Australia. His poetry was spoken rather than written, and was in the English language, using the Gower dialect.

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Wikipedia

Gower Peninsula

The Gower Peninsula (Welsh: Penrhyn Gŵyr), or simply Gower (Gŵyr), is a peninsula in the south-west of Wales. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, and is now within the City and County of Swansea. It projects towards the Bristol Channel. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Until 1974, Gower was administered as a rural district. It was then merged with the county borough of Swansea. From 1974 to 1996, it formed the Swansea district. Since 1996, Gower has been administered as part of the unitary authority of the City and County of Swansea. Since its establishment in 1999, the Gower Senedd constituency has only elected Labour members. The Gower constituency in Westminster had previously also elected only Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) since 1908; the longest run (with Normanton and Makerfield) of any UK constituency. This ended in 2015 when the Conservatives took the seat. In 2017, it returned to Labour. The area of both constituencies covers the peninsula and the outer Gower areas of Clydach, Gowerton, Gorseinon, Felindre, Garnswllt and encompasses the area of the historic Lordship of Gower apart from the city of Swansea.

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Which Supreme Court case ruled state-sponsored public-school segregation unconstitutional?

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