Yabblins!
This does not directly relate to what we’re talking about now, but it concerns British dialects and their portrayal in literature. This is a quote from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (written 1897), in which the educated protagonist Mina Murray is listening to a crotchety old man from the country:
         “‘My gog, but it’ll be a quare scowderment at the Day of Judgment when they come trumblin’ up in their death-sarks, all jouped together an’ tryin’ to drag their tombsteans with them to prove how good they was; some of them trimmlin’ and ditherin’, with their hands that dozzened an’ slippy from lyin’ in the sea that they can’t even keep their grup o’ them’…
        ‘Oh, Mr. Swales, you can’t be serious. Surely these tombstones are not all wrong?’
         ‘Yabblins! There may be a poorish few not wrong, savin’ where they make out the people too good; for there be folk that do think a balm-bowl be like the sea, if only it be their own. The whole thing be only lies. Now look you here; you come here a stranger, an’ you see this kirk-garth.’ I nodded, for I thought it better to assent, though I did not quite understand his dialect. I knew it had something to do with the church.”(70)
Two things I noticed that relate to some of the dialects we’ve studied were ‘kirk’ for ‘church’ and ’steans’ for ’stones.’ Mostly, though, I really like the phrase “quare scowderment.” That and “Yabblins!”
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~ LukeÂ
sean wrote:
“Yabblins” is a great one. I forgot – is Drac set on the Anglo-Scots border?
The closest I could find was in the Dictionary of the Scots Language (see linked under “Dictionaries”) – Yabble – to chatter.
“Scouderment” :
SCOWDER, v., n. Also -re, scouder ; scowther, skouther, skowther, scouther, scoudher (Uls.); skooder, scooder, scuuder (Sh.); scuther (Ork.); scudder. [ˈskʌudər, -ðər, Sh. ˈskudər, Ork. ˈskʌðər] I. v. 1. tr. To burn, scorch, singe, to over-roast or -toast (bread or the like) (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Dmf. 1894 Trans. Dmf. & Gall. Antiq. Soc. 154; Per. 1915 Wilson L. Strathearn 265; Bwk. 1942 Wettstein; Rxb. 1942 Zai). Gen.Sc. Vbl.n. skowtherin, a roasting, singeing; to inflame the skin by abrasion, chafing or heat (Dmf. 1920; Ork. 1969). Also in n.Eng. dial.
*****
Along with “kirk” and “stean” (which would be spelt ’stain’ in the North or Scotland – OE long a) we have either a Border dialect, or Scots. . . Very cool . . .
Posted 28 Feb 2008 at 2:17 pm ¶
Offenbarung Futhorc McGee wrote:
This dialogue takes place at Whitby Abbey, and is where Dracula’s ship is beached towards the beginning of the novel. There are two Whitbys in the UK, but according to Wikipedia the Whitby from the novel is the one in North Yorkshire, 47 miles from York, on the Northeast coast of England (but a good deal south of the Scottish border). There’s a Dracula Museum there, and the abbey mentioned in the book. But this isn’t really a Yorkshire accent, is it?
Posted 28 Feb 2008 at 4:28 pm ¶
sean wrote:
I was thinking of ME dialects, not C19. So yes, Yorkshire for sure, if that’s where it’s set. But It could be seen as displaying “Northern” features persisting from ME times. But Whitby is definitely north of the Humber, which, in OE/ME dialect terms, = “North.” The k for ch and what I took for a [e:] sound in “stean” made me think of the Scots border. But you see what happens when you guess on meagre evidence. It would be worth a listen to one of the Yorkshire accents on either the British Library or BBC websites to see if they bear any resemblance to Mr. Swales. Wikipedia has a good page on Yorkshire dialect too.
Posted 29 Feb 2008 at 10:59 am ¶