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Jennings, James

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

_I have
adone_, _I have a had_, are examples of the first; and
_'tword'n_, _gup_, _g'under_, _banehond_, &c.
[see Banehond in the _Glossary_] are examples of the last.
_Pitisanquint_ appears to me to be simply a contracted and
corrupted mode of expressing _Piteous_ and _quaint_,
[See Pitis in the _Glossary_.]
_Don't ye houseenee_ is _Do not stay in your houses_.
But the implied meaning is, _be active_; do your best to
provide for the bad weather which portends. In Somersetshire, most
of the colloquial and idiomatic expressions have more or less
relation to agriculture, agricultural occupations, or to the most
common concerns of life, hence such expressions have, in process
of time, become _figurative._ Thus, _don't ye housenee,_
would be readily applied to rouse a person to activity, in order
that he may prevent or obviate any approaching or portending evil.
I am still of opinion; indeed I may say, I am quite sure, that the
verbal terminations, _sewy, Tcnitty, &c.,_ have no relation
to _diminution_ in the district East of the Parret.


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