Northumberland Dialect and Words

 

bait = food (as in bait-box - lunch box)

bale = evil

barley = to claim

brig = bridge

clart = mud
cleugh = A ravine or valley usually with water running down the center

dykes = a mound

hae = to have

haugh = low, flat or marshy area of land by a river

heor = hear (P)

heugh = rugged steep hillside

howk = to dig out coal

hunkers = haunches

kep = to catch

kibble = wagon

knowe = hill

lonnen = lane

 inbye = Improved land near farm buildings.

 

 

 

 

    

 

P = Pronunciation

maist = most (P)

mebbies = maybe

med = made (P)

 midden = A rubbish heap

muckle = great or big

neeve = fist

 netty = A local dialect name for a toilet

nyems = names (P)

 outbye = Unimproved land; rough hill pasture outrake = A term used by shepherds to signify a free passage for sheep from enclosed pasture into open grounds or common lands
peth = A road up a steep hill

reiver = These were part farmer and part raider

scad = to scald

scrat = to scratch, cut

shieling = temporary summer settlements used in the Medieval period especially by shepherds grazing their flocks on upland pastures

skelp = hit or strike

  

 

 

steading = small farming settlement, usually in an upland area

 

 

stell = A circular stone-walled structure for sheep in the uplands. The derivation of the word is from Old Norse.

tofts = Individual building plots in a Medieval village or town

yin = one