great, as in "big?"
At 02:48 PM 1/7/2009, you wrote:
>I'd be grateful if anyone on this list could tell me the meaning of
>the English dialectical word "girt". It seems to be a Somerset word:
>I've encountered it in Somerset dialect folk tales recorded by Briggs
>and Tongue, as for instance:
>
> "Mind, he didn't never vorget tew leave hearth clean 'n a pail of
>well water vor'n at night, 'n a girt dish o' scalt cream tew."
>
> or
>
> "And what do 'ee think -- arl there was was a girt twoad-stool."
>
>Though I have no expertise in English dialects, all the above words
>are clear to me except girt. Remarkably, even the OED doesn't seem to
>give a meaning which fits under its several entries s.v. It's hard to
>see how the word in this context could be the standard English word
>meaning "encircled" or "bound up". Is this a dialectical form of some
>common word which I'm just obtusely missing?
>
>--
>===============================================
>
> Jon Corelis http://jcorelis.googlepages.com/joncorelis
>
>===============================================
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