Sussex dialect
Encyclopedia
The Sussex dialect is a dialect
that was once widely spoken by those living in the historic county
of Sussex
in southern England. Much of the distinctive vocabulary of Sussex dialect has now died out. A few words remain in common usage and there remain individuals who speak with the traditional Sussex accent and a much wider usage of dialect.
The Sussex dialect is a subset of the Southern English dialect group. Historically there were three main variants to the dialect, west Sussex (west of Shoreham
and the river Adur
), mid Sussex (between the Adur and Hastings
) and east Sussex (from Hastings eastwards). There were also differences between downland and Wealden
communities. In particular, the people of the Weald
were thought to have the most impenetrable accents. The Sussex dialect shows remarkable continuity: the three main dialect areas reflect the historic county's history. The west and mid dialect areas reflect the ancient division of Sussex between East and West, which until the creation of the rape of Bramber
in the 11th century lay along the river Adur. The eastern dialect area reflects the unique history of the Hastings area, which was home to the kingdom of the Haestingas
until the 8th century.
Sussex dialect words have their sources in many historic languages including Anglo-Saxon
, Old Dutch
, Old Welsh (or British), with a dash of 14th century French
, and a little Scandinavian. Many words are thought to have derived from Sussex's fishermen and their links with fishermen from the coasts of France and the Netherlands.
In the 19th century, William Durrant Cooper
found that the people in eastern parts of Sussex spoke many words with a French accent. For instance, the word day was pronounced dee, and mercy as in the French merci. In Rye
, the word bonnet was pronounced bunnet and Mermaid Street was pronounced maremaid Street.
at the time. Phrases common to Sussex such as "you hadn't ought to" or "you shouldn't ought", the use of "be you?" for "are you?" and "I see him" for "I saw him" were common in New England as well. Other phrases which may appear to be Americanisms were widely used in Sussex dialect including the use of "the fall" for autumn, "mad" for "angry" and use of "I guess" and "I reckon". Significant numbers of Sussex people moved to the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania
, William Penn
, left Sussex for New England, taking around 200 Sussex Quakers with him. For several years, Penn lived at Warminghurst Place in Sussex, worshipping near Thakeham
. There was also a major migration from Sussex to Ohio
in 1822. There are also significant links with the dialect of East Sussex and the dialect of African Americans in the southern United States. In particular the use of dem, dat and dese for them, that and these was common in the 19th century both in Sussex and in the southern United States.
http://books.google.com/books?id=WEgXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...
that was once widely spoken by those living in the historic county
Historic counties of England
The historic counties of England are subdivisions of England established for administration by the Normans and in most cases based on earlier Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and shires...
of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
in southern England. Much of the distinctive vocabulary of Sussex dialect has now died out. A few words remain in common usage and there remain individuals who speak with the traditional Sussex accent and a much wider usage of dialect.
The Sussex dialect is a subset of the Southern English dialect group. Historically there were three main variants to the dialect, west Sussex (west of Shoreham
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...
and the river Adur
River Adur
The Adur is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river was formerly navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large port, but over time the river valley became silted up and the port moved down to the deeper waters nearer...
), mid Sussex (between the Adur and Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
) and east Sussex (from Hastings eastwards). There were also differences between downland and Wealden
Wealden
For the stone, see Wealden GroupWealden is a local government district in East Sussex, England: its name comes from the Weald, the area of high land which occupies the centre of its area.-History:...
communities. In particular, the people of the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
were thought to have the most impenetrable accents. The Sussex dialect shows remarkable continuity: the three main dialect areas reflect the historic county's history. The west and mid dialect areas reflect the ancient division of Sussex between East and West, which until the creation of the rape of Bramber
Rape of Bramber
The Rape of Bramber is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. Bramber is a former barony, originally based around the castle of Bramber and its village, overlooking the river Adur.-History:...
in the 11th century lay along the river Adur. The eastern dialect area reflects the unique history of the Hastings area, which was home to the kingdom of the Haestingas
Haestingas
The Haestingas, or alternatively Heastingas or Hæstingas, were one of the tribes of Anglo-Saxon Britain. The Kingdom of Haestingas was located in modern-day Sussex, and was one of the minor sub-kingdoms of the Heptarchy.- History :...
until the 8th century.
Sussex dialect words have their sources in many historic languages including Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
, Old Dutch
Old Dutch
In linguistics, Old Dutch denotes the forms of West Franconian spoken and written in the Netherlands and present-day northern Belgium during the Early Middle Ages. It is regarded as the primary stage in the development of a separate Dutch language...
, Old Welsh (or British), with a dash of 14th century French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and a little Scandinavian. Many words are thought to have derived from Sussex's fishermen and their links with fishermen from the coasts of France and the Netherlands.
Accent
Below is a set of features of pronunciation in the dialect used across Sussex: before double d becomes /ɑr/ in such words as ladder and adder before double /l/ is pronounced /ɒ/ in words as fallow and tallow. before t is expanded into ea; rate, mate, plate, gate before ct becomes /ɛ/, as in satisfaction. before ct becomes /æ/, as in affection, effect and neglect is pronounced as /ɪ/ in such words as sheep, week or field is pronounced as [iː], and thus mice, hive, dive are pronounced [miːs], [hiːs], [diːs] sometimes becomes /ɛ/ in pet for pit, spet for spit, and similar words.- to and oi change places respectively; and violet and violent become and , while boiled and spoiled are bioled and spioled.
- o before n is expanded into oa in such words as pony, don't, bone; which are pronounced poany, doant, and boan. is pronounced as /ɑr/ also becomes /ɑ/ in such words as rod, cross, and crop.
/aʊ/ is elongated into aou in words like hound, pound and mound; pronounced haound, paound and maound. - The final ow, as in many other counties, is pronounced er, as foller for fallow.
- Double 't' is traditionally pronounced as /ɾ/ or /d/; see Intervocalic alveolar flappingIntervocalic alveolar flappingIntervocalic alveolar flapping is a phonological process found in many dialects of English, especially North American English and Australian English, by which either or both prevocalic and surface as the alveolar tap after sonorants other than , , and .*after vowel: butter*after r:...
is invariably [d] in some words such as these, them and theirs in its turn is occasionally changed into /ð/; as in fodder - The final ps in such words as wasp, clasp, and hasp are reversed to wapse, clapse and hapse.
- Words ending in /st/ have the addition of a syllable in the possessive case and the plural, and instead of saying "that some little birds had built their nests near the posts of Mr. West's gate," a Sussex boy would traditionally say "the birds had built their nestes near the postes of Mr. Westes' gate." The Sussex dialect until recently made use of the reduplicated pluralReduplicated pluralA reduplicated plural is a grammatical form achieved by the superfluous use of a second plural ending.-Example:In English the plural is usually formed with the addition of 's': e.g. one cat, two cats; one chair, two chairs. In the Sussex dialect, however, until relatively recently there existed a...
for words ending in st.
In the 19th century, William Durrant Cooper
William Durrant Cooper
-Life:His father Thomas Cooper was a solicitor practising at Lewes; his mother was Lucy Elizabeth Durrant. He was born in Lewes on 10 January 1812, and was educated at the grammar school of Lewes. When 15 years old he became an articled clerk to his father. In Michaelmas term of 1832 he was...
found that the people in eastern parts of Sussex spoke many words with a French accent. For instance, the word day was pronounced dee, and mercy as in the French merci. In Rye
Rye, East Sussex
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...
, the word bonnet was pronounced bunnet and Mermaid Street was pronounced maremaid Street.
Gender
Gender is almost always feminine. There is a saying in Sussex dialect that "Everything in Sussex is a She except a Tom Cat and she's a He".Pronouns
In the western variant of the Sussex dialect, en and un (sometimes written n) were used for he and it and um for them.Places
- Ahson - AlcistonAlcistonAlciston is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. It is inland, just off the A27 road, about ten miles north-west of Eastbourne and seven miles east of Lewes. The ecclesiastical parish is linked with that of Selmeston and Berwick.Saxon in origin, its name...
- Arndel - ArundelArundelArundel is a market town and civil parish in the South Downs of West Sussex in the south of England. It lies south southwest of London, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Worthing east southeast, Littlehampton to the south and Bognor Regis to...
- Chanklebury - ChanctonburyChanctonbury RingChanctonbury Ring is a hill fort based ring of trees atop Chanctonbury Hill on the South Downs, on the border of the civil parishes of Washington and Wiston in the English county of West Sussex. A ridgeway, now part of the South Downs Way, runs along the hill...
- Charnton - Chalvington
- Chiddester - ChichesterChichesterChichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
- Envul - HenfieldHenfieldHenfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. The parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 5,012...
- Furrel - FirleFirleFor the suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, see Firle, South Australia.Firle is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. Firle refers to an old-English/Anglo-Saxon word fierol meaning overgrown with oak...
- Gorun - Goring
- Heffel - HeathfieldHeathfield, East SussexHeathfield is a small market town, and the principal settlement in the civil parish of Heathfield and Waldron in the Wealden District of East Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, England.-Location:...
- Helsum - HailshamHailshamHailsham is a civil parish and the largest of the five main towns in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, the town of Hailsham has had a long history of industry and agriculture...
- Hors-am - HorshamHorshamHorsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
- Lunnon - LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- Medhas - MidhurstMidhurstMidhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
- Merricur - AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
- Pemsy - PevenseyPevenseyPevensey is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The main village is located 5 miles north-east of Eastbourne, one mile inland from Pevensey Bay. The settlement of Pevensey Bay forms part of the parish.-Geography:The village of Pevensey is located on...
- Pettuth - PetworthPetworthPetworth is a small town and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the junction of the A272 east-west road from Heathfield to Winchester and the A283 Milford to Shoreham-by-Sea road. Some twelve miles to the south west of Petworth along the A285 road...
- Stammer - StanmerStanmerStanmer is a small village on the eastern outskirts of Brighton, in East Sussex, England.-History:Stanmer village pond is surrounded by sarsen stones, which accounts for the place-name, Old English for 'stone pond'. The stones are not in their original situation, but have been gathered on the Downs...
- Tarrun - TarringTarring, West SussexWest Tarring is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road northwest of the town centre. It is officially called West Tarring or, less commonly, Tarring Peverell, to differentiate it from Tarring Neville near Lewes, but is usually called just...
- The Sheeres - England outside of Sussex, Kent and Surrey
- Simson - SelmestonSelmestonSelmeston is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. It is located eight miles east of Lewes, to the north of the A27 road between there and Polegate. It is a long straggling village. The church already existed at the time of its mention in the Domesday Book;...
Fishermen's names
In a seafaring county such as Sussex, fishermen were given nicknames, which by extension also sometimes applied to all residents of a town. These names include:- Chop-backs - HastingsHastingsHastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
- Jugs - BrightonBrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
- Mudlarks - RyeRyeRye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
- Pork-bolters - WorthingWorthingWorthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
- Winnicks or Willicks - EastbourneEastbourneEastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
(also the dialect name of a guillemotGuillemotGuillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...
or wild person)
Landscape words
- Bostal (or borstal) - a steep path, particularly over the Downs
- Knap, knep or kneb - a small hill (as in Knepp CastleKnepp CastleThe medieval Knepp Castle is to the west of the village of West Grinstead, West Sussex, England near the River Adur and the A24 . The name is though to come from the Old English word "cnæp", referring to the mound on which it stands....
, which is built on a small hill) - Hill - the Sussex Downs
- Laines - open tracts of land at the base of the Downs (originally as in the North LaineNorth LaineNorth Laine is a shopping and residential district of Brighton, on the English south coast immediately adjacent to the Royal Pavilion. Once a slum area, nowadays with its many pubs and cafés, theatres and museums, it is seen as Brighton's bohemian and cultural quarter.-History:Due to its...
area of BrightonBrightonBrighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
) - Rife - a small river, especially across the West Sussex coastal plain (as in the Ferring Rife)
- Totty land - high land
- Fret - a sea fog.
Flora and fauna
- Ammot - antAntAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
- Brown-bird - thrushThrush (bird)The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
- Culver - a pigeon or a doveDovePigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
- Cutty - wrenWrenThe wrens are passerine birds in the mainly New World family Troglodytidae. There are approximately 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera....
- Dumbledore - bumble bee
- Flittermouse - batBatBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
- Humbledore - hornetHornetHornets are the largest eusocial wasps; some species can reach up to in length. The true hornets make up the genus Vespa and are distinguished from other vespines by the width of the vertex , which is proportionally larger in Vespa and by the anteriorly rounded gasters .- Life cycle :In...
- God Almighty's cow - ladybird
- Kime or kine - weaselWeaselWeasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
- Kiss me - wild heartsease
- Mousearnickle - dragonflyDragonflyA dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
- Neddie - warble flyWarble flyWarble fly is a name given to the genus Hypoderma, large flies which are parasitic on cattle and deer. Other names include "heel flies", "bomb flies", and "gad flies", while their larvae are often called "cattle grubs" or "wolves." Common species of warble fly include Hypoderma lineatum , Hypoderma...
- Old man's beard - wild clematisClematis aristataClematis aristata, known as Australian Clematis , Wild clematis, Goat's beard or Old man's beard, is a climbing shrub of the Ranunculaceae family, found in eastern Australia in dry and wet forests of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania...
- Old man's nightcap - hooded bindweedBindweedBindweed may refer to:* Convolvulaceae , a family including about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species** Calystegia , a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants...
- Pook flies - fairy flies
- Prickleback urchin - hedgehogHedgehogA hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand . There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas...
- Puck - nightjarNightjarNightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds with long wings, short legs and very short bills. They are sometimes referred to as goatsuckers from the mistaken belief that they suck milk from goats . Some New World species are named as nighthawks...
- Puck stool - toadstool
- Reynolds (or Mus Reynolds) or Reynard - foxFoxFox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
- Ship - sheep
- Snag or sneg - snailSnailSnail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
- Snottgogs - yewTaxusTaxus is a genus of yews, small coniferous trees or shrubs in the yew family Taxaceae. They are relatively slow-growing and can be very long-lived, and reach heights of 1-40 m, with trunk diameters of up to 4 m...
berries - Sprod - junction of branch with trunk of a tree
- Tottle grass - high grass
- Varm - brackenBrackenBracken are several species of large, coarse ferns of the genus Pteridium. Ferns are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells . Brackens are in the family Dennstaedtiaceae, which are noted for their large, highly...
- Winnick or Willick - a guillemotGuillemotGuillemots is the common name for several species of seabird in the auk family . In British use, the term comprises two genera: Uria and Cepphus. In North America the Uria species are called "murres" and only the Cepphus species are called "guillemots"...
- Yaffle - green woodpeckerGreen WoodpeckerThe European Green Woodpecker is a member of the woodpecker family Picidae. There are four subspecies and it occurs in most parts of Europe and in western Asia...
Other dialect words
- Boco - much (from the French word beaucoup)
- Beasted - tired out
- Bread-and-cheese-friend - a true friend (as distinguished from a cupboard-lover)
- Caterwise - diagonally
- Chipper - happy
- Chog - apple core
- Dosset - small portion
- Druv - driven
- Dursn't - must not
- Farisees - fairies
- Goistering - loud feminine laughter
- Gurt - big
- Jiggered - surprised
- Kiddy - friend or workmate
- Somewhen - sometime
- Surelye - this word is often added to the end of a sentence to round it off or add emphasis
- TwittenTwittenTwitten is an old Sussex dialect word, used in both East and West Sussex, for a path or alleyway. It is still in common use. The word is also in common use in the London residential area known as Hampstead Garden Suburb....
- a path or alleyway - Wapple way (or waffle way) - bridle path
- Woddle - the game of bat and trapBat and trapBat and trap, also known as knurl and spell is an English ball game related to cricket and played at country pubs in the county of Kent....
Links to American English
Phoebe Earl Griffiths, an American writer in the 19th century, commented that Sussex dialect has considerable similarities with the dialect of New EnglandNew England English
New England English refers to the dialects of English spoken in the New England area. These include the Eastern New England dialect , the Western New England dialect , and some Subdialects within these two regions...
at the time. Phrases common to Sussex such as "you hadn't ought to" or "you shouldn't ought", the use of "be you?" for "are you?" and "I see him" for "I saw him" were common in New England as well. Other phrases which may appear to be Americanisms were widely used in Sussex dialect including the use of "the fall" for autumn, "mad" for "angry" and use of "I guess" and "I reckon". Significant numbers of Sussex people moved to the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was founded in British America by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II...
, William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, left Sussex for New England, taking around 200 Sussex Quakers with him. For several years, Penn lived at Warminghurst Place in Sussex, worshipping near Thakeham
Thakeham
Thakeham is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England located to the north east of Storrington.The name Thakeham means "thatched homestead" and the original village had just one main street which is home to the village's only pub, The White Lion, and church. The...
. There was also a major migration from Sussex to Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
in 1822. There are also significant links with the dialect of East Sussex and the dialect of African Americans in the southern United States. In particular the use of dem, dat and dese for them, that and these was common in the 19th century both in Sussex and in the southern United States.
Future prospects
Sussex's proximity to London and the lack of local employment and expensive housing, which is driving an increase in commuting, threatens the Sussex dialect and accent with extinction.Works in dialect
- "Tom Cladpole's Jurney to Lunnon, told by himself, and written in pure Sussex doggerel by his Uncle Tim" – Richard LowerRichard Lower (poet)-Life:Lower, born at Alfriston, Sussex, 19 September 1782, was a son of John Lower, who owned the barge The Good Intent, and was the first person to navigate the little river Cuckmere from the sea to Longbridge....
, 1830
- "A glossary of the provincialisms in use in the county of Sussex" – William Durrant CooperWilliam Durrant Cooper-Life:His father Thomas Cooper was a solicitor practising at Lewes; his mother was Lucy Elizabeth Durrant. He was born in Lewes on 10 January 1812, and was educated at the grammar school of Lewes. When 15 years old he became an articled clerk to his father. In Michaelmas term of 1832 he was...
, 1834, 1853 http://books.google.co.uk/books?pg=PP5&id=6BYUAAAAQAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false
- "Jan Cladpole's Trip to Merricur, written all in rhyme by his Father, Tim Cladpole" – Richard Lower, 1844
- "The Song of Solomon in the dialect of Sussex; from the authorised English version" – Mark Antony LowerMark Antony LowerMark Antony Lower F.S.A. M.A. was a Sussex historian who founded the Sussex Archaeological Society and is credited with starting the "cult of the Sussex Martyrs", however he was against the excesses of the "Bonfire Boys".-Life:...
, 1860
http://books.google.com/books?id=WEgXAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
- "A Dictionary Of The Sussex Dialect – A Collection Of Provincialisms In Use In The County Of Sussex" By Rev. W. D. Parish, Vicar Of Selmeston, Sussex, 1875
- "Highways and Byways in Sussex" - EV Lucas, 1904
- "Puck of Pook's HillPuck of Pook's HillPuck of Pook's Hill is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling, published in 1906, containing a series of short stories set in different periods of English history. The stories are all narrated to two children living near Burwash, in the area of Kipling's own house Bateman's, by people...
" - Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, 1906
- "Rewards and FairiesRewards and FairiesRewards and Fairies is a historical fantasy book by Rudyard Kipling published in 1910. The title comes from the poem Farewell, Rewards and Fairies by Richard Corbet. The poem is referred to by the children in the first story of the preceding book Puck of Pook's Hill...
" – Rudyard Kipling, 1910
- "Sussex Gorse - the Story of a Fight" – Sheila Kaye-SmithSheila Kaye-SmithSheila Kaye-Smith was an English writer, known for her many novels set in the borderlands of Sussex and Kent in the English regional tradition...
, 1916
- "Joanna Godden" – Sheila Kaye-Smith, 1921
- "Summat 'bout Sussex an sum Sussexers, by Jim Cladpole" – James Richards, 1930
- "Cold Comfort FarmCold Comfort FarmCold Comfort Farm is a comic novel by Stella Gibbons, published in 1932. It parodies the romanticised, sometimes doom-laden accounts of rural life popular at the time, by writers such as Mary Webb...
" parody by Stella GibbonsStella GibbonsStella Dorothea Gibbons was an English novelist, journalist, poet, and short-story writer.Her first novel, Cold Comfort Farm, won the Femina Vie Heureuse Prize for 1933...
, 1932
External links
- A Dictionary Of The Sussex Dialect by Rev. W.D. Parish, Vicar of Selmeston, Sussex free online version at Sussex History website
- Sussex Dialect on the British Library website
- "Learning the Sussex Dialect with Tim Cladpole - Jan Cladpole's Trip to Merricur" a humorous work written in Sussex dialect by Richard Lower, first published in the 19th century. Free version on Funnell's Wood website.