26 April 2006

Dictionary of Newfoundland English

Here's a site for those interested in dialects and words in general: the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. The Introduction says that the compilers looked "for words which appear to have entered the language in Newfoundland or to have been recorded first, or solely, in books about Newfoundland; words which are characteristically Newfoundland by having continued in use here after they died out or declined elsewhere, or by having acquired a different form or developed a different meaning, or by having a distinctly higher or more general degree of use." The dictionary includes words such as "cardeen" (accordion), "ballicatter" (a specific kind of ice), or "kenat" (a "sly, niggardly person"). It's a fun browse—but then I think that of any kind of dictionary.

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