The Gower dialect refers to the older vocabulary or

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

of the

Gower Peninsula The Gower Peninsula (), or simply Gower (), is a peninsula in the South West Wales, 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 th ...

on the south Wales coast. It was Normanised/Anglicised relatively early after the

Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. Relatively cut off from the Welsh hinterland, but with coastal links across south Wales and the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

, the region developed their distinct English

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

which endured to within living memory.

History

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 In an English-speaking country, Standard English (SE) is the variety of English that has undergone codification to the point of being socially perceived as the standard language, associated with formal schooling, language assessment, and off ...

. Some Gower words seem to derive from the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

(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.

Vocabulary

* 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 Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

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

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.

References

{{Description of English Dialects of English Welsh English

Dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

History

Vocabulary

Use of the dialect in art

Further reading

References