Northumberland & Durham Dialect

Promoting the mother tongue of Northeastern England 🦁

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

@JHCPAL Cleugh vs Clough reflects the Humber-Lune line. There’s also ‘Cleuch’ as an additional Scots form reflecting the preservation of final [x].

In the traditional dialect, it would be [klɪəf] in western Northumbrian [kljʊf] in eastern Northumbrian.

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

@StepoKedur @englishshires39

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

@englishshires39 Durham is the home of Bede; I wouldn’t say ‘Northumbria’ is strictly synonymous with just Northumberland.

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Smit = Infection, To Infect // Smittle = Infectious
-Cognate with Danish & Norwegian “smitte”
-Example: “He’ll get the smit” // “Is’t smittle?”

#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

“Se if ye, at’s evil, knaws how te gie guid things te yer bairns. How mickle mair will yer Feyther in Heeven gie the Holy Ghaist te them at axes Him” Luke 11:13

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Rigg
- Now archaic, retained in place names
-Meaning: Ridge
-Example: ‘Rigg and furrow’ = Ridge and furrow
#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Fremd
- Now archaic, from OE ‘fremde’
-Meaning: strange, far off, not related to, at enmity
-Example: “He was mair like a fremd body nor a friend”
(fremd body = stranger)

#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Muin
- Meaning: Moon
- Etymology: From OE mōna
Example: "The bairn was ower the muin."

#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

This approach seeks to present our dialect as a language variety with its own history and literary tradition, rather than an informal rendering of speech.

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

The orthography used here follows an etymological convention, drawing on the more Scots-like spellings used by 19th century Northumbrian and Durham writers like Thomas Wilson, and avoids the ‘eye dialect’ spellings often seen in modern representations.

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Burn, Beck
Meaning: A small stream or brook. “Burn” is found in Northumberland and N Durham, while “beck” is more typical of S Durham.
Examples:
“We used te paddle in the burn behint the house.”
“There’s trout in that beck if ye knaw where te luik.”

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Stane, Styen, Styan
Meaning: Stone
Example: “He was as hard as ony styen”

#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Te Gan (Present participle = Gannin, Gawn)
Meaning: To Go
Example: “Aw’s gannin hyem efter wark”

#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham

[Northumberland & Durham Dialect @NorDunLanguage]

Northumbrian-Dunelmian WOTD: Whisht
Meaning: Hush! Be quiet!
Example: “Whisht, lads, haud yer gobs!”

#dialect #linguistics #geordie #mackem #northumbrian #durham