THE Treasure House in Beverley collects and preserves records of local dialect as part of its ongoing mission to safeguard the heritage of the East Riding.
One such record is the ‘Holderness Glossary’, a rare book from 1877, which provides a dictionary of words and their pronunciations, that have traditionally been used by Holderness communities. The book was published for the English Dialect Society and acts as a record of the Holderness dialect in the late 19th century.
Collections Officer, Sam Bartle, said: “A lot of the words in the glossary are recognisable to us, but have a special ‘Holderness’ pronunciation. Many other words, however, seem to be unique to Holderness and form part of the area’s own ‘language’.”
The glossary covers the dialect used in areas east of the River Hull, from Bridlington in the north, to Spurn Head in the south, and incredibly there are even variations of this dialect within the Holderness area itself, as the glossary provides different pronunciations for words used in the north, west, and eastern parts of the region.
So if people want to know who a ‘bummle-kite’, or a ‘slither-poak’ is, or why someone might be ‘granking’ about having too many ‘fanticles’, then they can read the ‘Holderness Glossary’ at the East Riding Archives & Local Studies Service, in the Treasure House, Champney Road, Beverley.
For more information, please call (01482) 392794, or visit the Treasure House.