Peter Gray said:
>On this topic, what might be the origin of the word "hogget" for the meat
>from a "two-tooth" (a one-year old sheep)? I've not met the term in the
>UK, but it's common in NZ. Unsurprisingly, it's not in my etymological
>dictionaries!
Peter:
"Hogget" sounded like it might be from Suffolk, but it's not in my "Suffolk
Dialect" (Claxton, A.O.D., 1954 & 1960. Adlard, Ipswich)
"Crud"
While looking "hogget" up, though, I happened to notice the word "crud", which
I'd always accepted as slang in its meaning of "filth, dirt" (Amer.Herit. Dict.
says it is, didn't check OED). However, this word was attested in Suffolk in
1823 (by Moor, "Suffolk words") in the compound "crudburra" = wheelbarrow.
Apparently it goes back to ME in the meaning of a skin disease (AHD). In
Suffolk 50 years ago it still had the meaning "infectious disease, influenza" as
in "he's got the crud", and of dirt as in "Quit bungin' that crud at me, Bor!
Do you don't Oi'l 'it yer!" It was not listed by Claxton in 1960, though, and
as boys we knew it was substandard and somewhat humorous in both senses. Does
anyone know more of its history in both senses, and is it really from the pp of
OE "crudan" = "to press" (AHD, again)?
"swidden"
Another odd word I'd like to know about is "swidden", often used by
anthropologists as a synonym for "slash and burn agriculture", and to all
appearances an English word, but not in the Compact or Concise OED, Am Herit
Dict or Amer.Coll.Dict. It's a perfectly good Norse word (Sw: "svida", to burn
(the surface of something), OSw svitha, Isl svitha (but with different "th"s).
But how did it become a technical term in anthropology, and why (or where from)
was it adopted in such an English form?
John
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