A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words

Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and Ancient Customs, from the XIV Century

James Orchard Halliwell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429870811
• Edition: 6
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

So far I may be permitted to speak without intrenching on the limits of criticism. A work containing more than 50, 000 words, many of which have never appeared even in scattered glossaries, and illustrated, with very few exceptions, by original authorities, much contain valuable material for the philogist, even if disfigured by errors. With respect to the latter contingency, I am not acquainted with any glossary, comprising merely a few hundred words which does not contain blunders, although in many instances the careful attention of the editor has been specially directed to the task. Can I then anticipate that in a field so vast that no single life would sufice for a minute examination of every object, I could have escaped proportionate liabilities? That such may be pointed out I have little doubt, notwithstanding the pains to prevent their occurrence, but it will be manifestly unfair to make them the test of merit, or thence to pronounce a judgement on the accuracy of the whole.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Contents
• Preface
• The English Provincial Dialects
• Dictionary of Archaisms and Provincialisms
• Dictionary of Archaisms and Provincialisms
• Index
• Specimens of the Early English Language, Chronologically Arranged