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Jennings, James

"The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire"


These words, _Twordn_, _Wordn_, and _Zino_, may be
thus exemplified:


CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.

I cannot, perhaps, better close this work, than by presenting to
the reader the observations of Miss HAM, (a Somersetshire lady of
no mean talents), in a letter to me on these dialects.
The lines, of which I desired a copy, contain an exemplification
of the use of _utchy_ or _ichA"_, used contractedly [see
UTCHY in the _Glossary_] by the inhabitants of the
_South_ of Somersetshire, one of the strongholds, as I
conceive, of the Anglo-Saxon dialect.
In our polished dialect, the lines quoted by Miss HAM, may be thus
rendered--
Bread and cheese I have had,
What I had I have eaten,
More I would [have eaten if] I had [had] it.
If the contradictions be supplied they will stand thus:--
Bread and cheese _ichA"_ have a had
That _ichA"_ had _ichA"_ have a eat
More _ichA"_ would _ichA"_ had it.
CLIFTON, _Jan._ 30, 1825

Sir:
I have certainly great pleasure in complying with your request,
although I fear that any communication it is in my power to make,
will be of little use to you in your curious work on the West
Country dialect.


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