History
The Gower Peninsula was geographically insulated from 'mainland' modern language influences until well into the twentieth century. A number of words and pronunciations were recorded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as distinct usages in Gower — many of which might once have been widespread but which had fallen out of use in the developing standard English. Some Gower words seem to derive from theVocabulary
* Angletouch - a worm * Back - iron plate, part of a dredge * Beader/bidder - person appointed to summon guests to a Gower wedding * Bellamine - unglazed brown earthenware pitcher (cf Bellarmine) * Bett - prepared turf used for hedging * Blonkers - sparks * Bossey - a calf still running with its mother * Bubback - scarecrow; dull person * Bumbagus - the bittern (cf Welsh ''aderyn y bwn'') * Butt - a small cart * Caffle - tangle * Carthen - winnowing sheet * Casn't - cannot * Cassaddle - harness piece for a draught horse * Cavey - humble * Charnel - box-like space above the fireplace, often used for hanging bacon * Clavvy/ Clevvy - large oak beam supporting the inner wall of a chimney * Clever - fine (adj) * Cliffage - tithe on quarried limestone, payable to the Lord of the Manor * Cloam - earthenware * Cratch - haystack * Culm - small coal used in lime-burning * Cust - could * Cuzzening - coaxing * Dab - a large stone used in playing duckstone * Deal - a litter (of pigs) * Dobbin - large mug * Dowset - Gower dish, similar to 'whitepot' (below) * Drangway - narrow lane or alleyway * Drashel - a flail * Dree - three * Dreppance - three pence * Drow - throw * Dryth - dryness * Dumbledarry - cockchafer * Evil - a three pronged dung-fork * Frawst / froist - a dainty meal (n); frightened/astonished (adj) * Gake - yawn * Galeeny - guinea-fowl * Gambo - a cart; wagon * Glaster - buttermilk in the churn * Gloice - a sharp pang of pain * Gurgins - coarse flour * Gwain - going * Hambrack/hamrach - a straw horse-collar (cf 'rach') * Herring-gutted - lean, skinny * Holmes - holly * Inklemaker - busy person * Ipson - the quantity that can be held in a pair of cupped hands * Ite - yet * Jalap - liniment; laxative tonic * Jorum - large helping of tea or beer * Keek - to peep * Keelage - foreshore berthing fee due to the Lord of the Manor * Keeve - large barrel or vat * Kerning - ripening; turning sour * Kersey - cloth woven from fine wool * Kittlebegs / kittybags - gaiters * Kyling - sea fishing * Lake - small stream or brook * Lancher / Lansher - greensward between holdings in a common field or 'viel' * Leery - empty * Lello - a fool; a carefree lad * Makth - makes * Mapsant - local saint's feast day celebrations (from Welsh ''mab'' - son; ''sant'' (holy) * Mawn - large wicker basket for animal feed * Melted - broken up, disintegrated * Mort - pigfat; lard * Mucka - a rickyard * Neargar, fargar - nearer, farther * Nestletrip / nesseltrip - smallest pig in a litter * Nice - fastidious * Nipparty / Noppit - perky * Nummit / Nommit - a simple lunch, e.g. of bread and 'soul', as might be sent to harvesters in the field (? 'noon meat'?) * Oakey - greased * Oakwib - cockchafer * Owlers - wool smugglers * Pentan - hob (from Welsh ''pen'' - head or top, ''tan'' - fire) * Pill - stream * Pilmy - dusty * Planche - to make a board floor (cf French ''plancher ''- a wooden floor) * Purty - to turn sulky * Quapp - to throb * Quat - to press or flatten * Raal - real * Rach - the last sheaf of corn to be harvested (see also 'hamrach') * Reremouse - the bat (animal) * Resiant - resident, particularly a person resident in the area but not having a feudal tenancy * Riff - short wooden stick for sharpening a scythe * Rining - mooching; scrounging * Rying - fishing * Scrabble - to gather up objects hastily * Shoat - a small wheaten loaf * Shrid - to trim a hedge * Slade - land sloping towards the sea * Soul - cheese or butter, as eaten with bread * Spleet - (1) a knitting needle (2) a quarryman's bar * Starved - perished with cold * Stiping - hobbling a sheep by tying its head to its foreleg with a band of straw * Tacker - a youngster * Tite - to overturn * Towser - a rough apron * Uddent - wouldn't * Umman - woman * Vair - a stoat or weasel * Vather - father * Vella - fellow * Viel/Vile - a field. The name is still used to describe a commonly managed field at Rhossili on Gower, which is farmed in a mediaeval strip field arrangement * Vitte - clever or smart * Vorrit - forehead * V'rall - for all * Vurriner - foreigner * Want - a mole (animal) * Weest - dismal * Whirret - a slap * Whitepot - a Gower delicacy of flour, milk & currants baked (cf Devon ''whitepot'', a sort of bread-and-butter pudding) * Wimbling - winnowing * Witches - moths * Yau - ewe * Zig - urine * Zive - scythe * Zongals/songals - corn gleanings * Zul/sul - a plough * Zz'thee knaw - do you knowUse of the dialect in art
Further reading
* * Tucker, Horatio. Gower Gleanings (Gower Society 1951) and miscellaneous articles in ''References