Hello All, As far as I can see, 'choyte' isn't in Heslop's work on Northumbrian Words (1892/95). Nor does there seem to be anything that might sound similar.
The word isn't in Griffiths 'Dictionary of North East Dialect' (2004), either, nor in Geeson's 'Northumberland and Durham Word Book' (1969). I also had a look in Greenwell's 'Glossary of Terms used in the Coal Trade of Northumberland and Durham' (1888) in case Clough had adopted a mining term, but it isn't there, either. The nearest I've come to anything sounding even similar is 'shoite' (also 'shoitte', 'shoyte', 'shote', etc), an archaic form of 'shoat'. Shoat is, I think, from the West Flemish and means a young pig under a year old. It was in use in Durham in 1413, and appeared as late as the middle of the C19th. (This all comes from the OED.) The word seems to be only ever used as a noun, and I find no recorded use of it as a verb. Apart from any implications about the noise a young pig might make, I don't think it helps! Richard >----Original Message---- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: 25/08/2008 20:31 >To: <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu> >Subj: [NSP] Re: Choyting - possible source of word and Plaid > >On 25 Aug 2008, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> I liked the idea that some one had that Clough thought that some >> players of the small pipes sounded like pit canaries used to test for >> firedamp. > >My recollection is that this came from Thomas Todd (1827-1903) - and >in essence was that canaries choyte but larks don't. But I can't find >the reference. > >I've checked Griffiths recent "Pitmatic" book and the word's not in >there, though most of his sources were the Durham end of the >coalfield, and there is considerable variation. > >I think what we want is one of the several C19 collections of local >words. I'll see if I can get to Central Library. > >Julia > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > How safe is your email? - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/securemail __________________________________________________________
