Dictionary of Newfoundland English

855 Pages·1990·75.621 MB·English

by  G.M. Story, W.J. Kirwin and J. D. A. Widdowson (eds.)

DICTIONARY OF NEWFOUNDLAND ENGLISH
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EDITED BY
G.M. STORY
W.J. KIRWIN
J.D.A. WIDDOWSON
Dictionary of
Newfoundland English
Second edition
with supplement
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
TORONTO BUFFALO LONDON
First edition
© University of Toronto Press 1982
Reprinted 1982, 1983 (twice)
www.utppublishing.com
Second edition
© University of Toronto Press 1990
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
Reprinted 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006
ISBN 0-8020-6819-7 (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Dictionary of Newfoundland English
2nd ed. with supplement.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8020-5887-6 (bound) ISBN 0-8020-6819-7 (pbk.)
1. English language - Dialects - Newfoundland -
Dictionaries. 2. English language - Provincialisms -
Newfoundland - Dictionaries. I. Story, G.M.
(George Morley), 1927- . II. Kirwin, W.J. (William
James), 1925- . HI. Widdowson, J.D.A. (John David
Allison), 1935- .
PE3245.N4D5 1990 427'.9718 C90-094709-8
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program
of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
The first edition was published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for
the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada, and a grant from the Publication Fund of University of Toronto Press.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities
of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program
(BPIDP).
Canada
Contents
FOREWORD TO THE THIRD PRINTING BY REX MURPHY vii
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xiii
INTRODUCTION xvii
Scope of the Dictionary
The Dictionary and English Language Variation in Newfoundland
Sources for the Dictionary
Pronunciation and Phonetics
Presentation of the Dictionary Articles
BIBLIOGRAPHY xli
Printed Sources
Contemporary Collections and Collectors
DICTIONARIES AND OTHER WORKS CITED lxxix
ABBREVIATIONS lxxxi
DICTIONARY OF NEWFOUNDLAND ENGLISH 1
CORRECTIONS TO THE FIRST EDITION 627
Supplement
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 631
BIBLIOGRAPHY 635
Printed Sources
Contemporary Collections and Collectors
DICTIONARIES AND OTHER WORKS CITED 647
ABBREVIATIONS 649
SUPPLEMENT TO DICTIONARY 651
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Foreword to the Third Printing
Whether by coincidence or serendipity, or He has to have known and felt, therefore,
at the beckonings of obliging fate, this new that Confederation was the beginning of a
printing of the Dictionary of Newfoundland great motion that would work eventually to
English is being issued during the mixed diminish, and possibly even obliterate, aspects
fevers attending the fiftieth anniversary of of Newfoundland life and character. That
Newfoundland's entry into Confederation. it would soften the edges and smooth the
'Next to life itself, Confederation was the angularities of what many regard, without
greatest gift of God to Newfoundland.' This excessive romance, as the quintessential New-
sentence, or some extended variation of it, was foundland way. An amalgamation with the
the mantra of Joey Smallwood, Newfound- mainland giant (for so would Joey have
land's first, most durable and exhilarant pre- framed Canada - hyperbole was the medium
mier. It was never entirely clear to me whenever of his speech, and speech was the signature of
Joey referenced the Deity, or offered testimoni- his imagination) would inevitably subsume
als on behalf of same - and he did so with quite much of the distinctiveness, blur the stringent
touching frequency, either for endorsement or melody, of Newfoundland character.
anathema - if he (Joey, not God) was speaking So much of that melody is in the traditional
in the first person or the third. Mr Smallwood language of the people of Newfoundland, the
himself was very likely untroubled by the rich brewis of standard, dialectical, and idiom-
ambiguity, or, given his abundant self-esteem, atic English which has long startled and
may have seen it as too trifling to acknowledge. charmed the ears of visitors, and, truth to tell,
As the pre-eminent salesman of Confedera- been a well of close pride and fascination to
tion, Joey (to very many Newfoundlanders he Newfoundlanders themselves. This book is a
will always be 'Joey') will easily be forgiven house built against its decay. I regard the Dic-
his ardour on the subject. Yet I do not think it tionary of Newfoundland English as a sovereign
idle to speculate that even Joey understood antidote to the incursions of time and moder-
that Confederation, however emphatic its eco- nity against the unique inheritance of New-
nomic and social contributions, was a mixed foundland speech. It is the cultural counter-
freight. Smallwood was the most passionate weight to the race of change and fashion that
Newfoundlander that the island, which is nota- has swept our province since 1949, our reluc-
ble for the energetic and intemperate affection tant and long-forestalled dip into the busy
it calls from its offspring, has produced. currents of the twentieth century, of which
Indeed, it was his passion for Newfoundland, Confederation is both the symbol and the
more than the fortissimo oratory or legendary instigating moment. If Joey Smallwood could
canniness at the polls, that so beguiled for so be apprised of its appearance, in a third print-
long the Newfoundland electorate. His passion ing, during the half-century anniversary year
was his career. of his Confederation - and, knowing Joey, it is
viii
not altogether certain that he cannot be - he simultaneously, in their character as New-
would weep tears of joy over the wonderful foundlanders. It is a Newfoundland take on
symmetry of the occasion. things.
To spell out the ramifications of what it is to
A dull fellow - hack fisherman - was making mean and be a Newfoundlander is a bridge too
a tedious hash of a good story to his buddies at far for a foreword, and a chasm of despair
a local bar. The mutilation complete, came the awaiting all but the mightiest of understand-
slow, soft-voiced, unemphatic drawl from a ings. Newfoundland character is somewhere
wiseman off-stage in the corner: 'Don't give between a code and a party. It is a task more
up your seasonal job.' deflected than declined; however, this, the
The words were sounded, one by devilish- Dictionary of Newfoundland English (DNE)
ly deliberate one, with almost delicate inof- itself, not only is a casebook for the argument,
fensiveness. Less than being uttered, they but comes as close as anything ever will to
emerged - as if pushed by some agency other housing, in the particulars and singularities of
than the speaker's; as if he, sitting there innoc- Newfoundland speech, the quicksilver notion
uously, seemingly inattentive, otherwise qui- of what being a Newfoundlander means, as
etly drinking his beer and smoking an inno- well as - and I am aware of the presumptions,
cent cigarette, had for the sentence's duration nativist or metaphysical, in this next phrase -
become the vessel of an imp of pentecostal what a Newfoundlander is.
sarcasm. They didn't so much reach the poor Newfoundlanders have always lived off the
dolt's ear as walk in single file to where he water and in their speech. Under the mixed
stood and proceed, with sly and fierce cour- turbulence of four to five centuries of hard
tesy, to drop in. The target word in this appar- times, rabid politics, and merciless weather,
ent monotone, 'seasonal,' took, as was meant, Newfoundlanders have talked back at life.
forever. Talk about dry. The poor bastard was They contrived for themselves a way of speak-
destroyed. ing that has marked them off from the rest of
This is a Newfoundland story, where 'New- the world (this book could not exist otherwise)
foundland' has exactly the same meaning as it but, more important, has been a signature
does in the title of this work: Dictionary of response to a precarious and much-freighted
Newfoundland English. Retell the story to any tenure in a hard and joyful place. The peculiar
Newfoundlander and he or she will automati- play of history, geography, climate, and occu-
cally register the pitch and manner of the pation upon the Newfoundland people is both
delivery, re-create the scene, in fact, play out vividly and subtly contained and made mani-
the little oral movie in the mind's ear until its fest in the wild artefact of Newfoundland
lethal and singular cadence is perfectly repro- speech. The DNE is, with some flightiness of
duced. To get the story into an outsider's metaphor, our DNA.
understanding, as Charles Lamb once re- It's a marvel that this book exists at all. I am
marked in a context mildly analogous, would not speaking of the marvel of its scholarship,
require a surgical operation. which others since its first publication in 1982
It is a Newfoundland story because it plays have had occasion to mark, and have paid
on Newfoundland occupation (fishing is a sea- worthy tribute to; nor the marvel of the idea of
sonal job); because it is aggressive and defla- a dictionary of Newfoundland English, though
tionary (Newfoundlanders do not savour cost- that conception, in retrospect so plausible and
free humour); because it lives primarily in the fine, when first conjured had to have been
performance (Newfoundlanders have had a lot shimmering with perplexities as to its utility
of time to hone their timing. The delivery is and decorum, and ominous with challenge.
all); because, and this is the cardinal consider- The marvel of this book goes much, much
ation, it goes to the character of all the parties - deeper. I take the first and primary miracle of
the dullard, the audience, and the speaker - this dictionary to be that there was a corpus of
ix
idiom and expression, singularly flavoured range of its variations and inventions. The talk
and textured, remarkable for its ingenuities, of this place has startled and charmed outsid-
pungency, and flavour, emphatically belong- ers for generations. Let one serve for what
ing to the place and history of Newfoundland, many have testified. A visitor early in this cen-
available for collection, citation, and register tury, the author George Allen England, in his
in the first place. I take its second to be that it celebrated prose documentary The Greatest
was seen by Story, Kirwin, and Widdowson, Hunt in the World, still the most vivid account
the editors and projectors of this pioneer work, of the economic and cultural ritual - so central
as eminently and unabridgeably worth their to Newfoundland imagination and reality - of
time, intelligence, and dedication to undertake the traditional seal hunt, felt the need to alert
the cull and gathering. his readers not only that he was taking them to
It is one thing to resolve to gather the living unfamiliar and forbidding waters, but that they
and historical speech of a people. But before had need for patience and strength before he
that idea would suggest itself, we must pre- led them into another domain as well: 'And
suppose that there is something in or about here just a word of explanation and - if neces-
that speech which underwrites the interest or sary - of apology to the reader. In the course
value of collecting it. Hell will have its second of this narrative it will be necessary to dip
sleet storm before a brash lexicographer col- heavily into dialect. The sealing gear, cloth-
lects and assays a dull argot. ing, food, the weather, all of life in fact, as
Viewed superficially, that Newfoundland's named by the sealers, will involve strange,
experience, almost proverbial for its economic unfamiliar words. The Newfoundland lan-
precariousness, austerity, and 'hard times,' guage is one unique and apart from any other'
materially so unyielding, should be counter- (my italics).
weighted, as it were, by intangible resources Newfoundland speech is the speech of peo-
of expressiveness, verbal play, and distinctive- ple over time as they lived, worked, and
ness, a richness and copiousness in the lexical played; it is a living, active creation. Its art
larder, is almost shocking in its reverse sym- was not deliberative in the sense that we think
metry. But of course those who know New- of literary speech as being deliberative - that
foundland and Newfoundlanders, who have is, formal, conscious of a written tradition,
acquaintance or intimacy with the place and searching for 'high' effect, individuated,
its people, know that, even more than its structured, and crafted. The speech of authors.
emphatic scenery, sadistic climate, and unut- The art of an oral tradition has its crafts, and
terable politics, the most salient and irresist- implies formidable intelligence and resource.
ible characteristic of Newfoundland life is the But it seeks less for stature and more for use
speech (in all its superb flavours) of its people. and play, and play even when it is for use. The
There simply has been and is nothing like it abundance of terms which are to be found in
anywhere else. Newfoundland speech had the dictionary that detail the technicalities of
melody and pulse, terseness and exuberance, occupation - nets, ice, traps, and lines - are
tone and variety, combinations of devious and almost all of them sweetened by elements that
subtle rhetoric, artfulness of designation, pun- go beyond the simply necessary. Newfound-
gency of narrative and compression, proverb land speech is the anti-matter of bureau-
and story - it is like nothing so much as a self- cratese - the light on the galactic other side of
generating festival of unselfconscious lexical that primal and devouring and mingy, blood-
testing, celebration, and play. less dark.
Every region of every country, it is a safe It is the nature of the Dictionary of New-
presumption, has its twists of idiom and locu- foundland English that it necessarily travelled
tion. Language inevitably takes a signature outside the frontiers of print in search of its
from location, history, and habit. Newfound- items and citations. Newfoundlanders are, and
land is different in the precocious stock and have always been, a verbally conscious peo-