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Where do English accents get their names?
Where do English accents get their names?
Why is working class London speech called "Cockney"? How do you get "Cockney" out of "London"?
Liwewise, why are the working class accents of Liverpool and Newcastle respectively called "Scouse" and "Geordie"?
I can understand how and why a Birmingham accent is called a "Brummie" but the origin of the names of the other three accents cited above remains a mystery to me. Any clarification on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Geordie from King George (As above)
Scouse- after the stew from the area called scouse
http://www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/recipe2.htm#ian
Cockney goes back hundreds of years and even appears in Blount's Glossographia (dictionary) from 1656. The term only strictly applies to from a small part of East London. I don't think anyone knows why they're called that, most of the theories lack credibility in my opinion.
Cockneys are, in the loosest sense of the word, working-class inhabitants of the East End of London.
cockney- (from 'cock' and 'neigh', or from Latin incoctus, raw) the term originating from cock and egg, meaning first a misshapen egg (1362), then a person ignorant of country ways (1521),
You're only a Cockney if you were born within hearing distant of the Bow Bells.
Cockneys are, in the loosest sense of the word, working-class inhabitants of the East End of London. But according to tradition, the strict definition is limited to those born within earshot (generally taken to be three miles) of the Bow bells, in other words the bells of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. However, the bells were silent from the outbreak of World War II until 1961. Also, of course, as the general din in London has increased, the area in which the bells can be heard has contracted. Formerly it included the City, Bethnal Green, Stepney, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Finsbury, and Hackney although according to the legend of Dick Whittington the bells could be heard from as far away as Highgate.
Origins of the word
The term was in use in this sense as early as 1600, when Samuel Rowlands in his satire The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine, referred to 'a Bow-bell Cockney'. John Minsheu (or Minshew) was the first lexicographer to define the word in this sense, in his Ductor in Linguas (1617), where he referred to 'A cockney or cockny, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow bell, that is in the City of London'. However, the etymologies he gave (from 'cock' and 'neigh', or from Latin incoctus, raw) were just guesses, and the OED later authoritatively explained the term as originating from cock and egg, meaning first a misshapen egg (1362), then a person ignorant of country ways (1521), then the senses mentioned above.
A second plausible derivation of the word can be found in Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary: London was referred to by the Normans as the "Land of Sugar Cake" (Old French: pais de cocaigne), an imaginary land of idleness and luxury. A humorous appellation, the word 'Cocaigne' referred to all of London and its suburbs, and over time had a number of spellings: Cocagne, Cockayne, and in Middle English, Cocknay and Cockney. The latter two spellings could be used to refer to both pampered children, and residents of London, and to pamper or spoil a child was 'to cocker' him. (See, for example, John Locke, "...that most children's constitutions are either spoiled or at least harmed, by cockering and tenderness." from Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693)
The region that is called 'Cockney" has changed over time, and is no longer the whole of London. As mentioned in the introduction, the traditional definition is that in order to be a Cockney, one must have been born within earshot of the Bow Bells. However, the church of St Mary-le-Bow was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. After the bells were destroyed again in 1941 in the Blitz of World War II, and before they were replaced in 1961, there was a period when some said that no 'Bow-bell' Cockneys could be born. The use of such a literal definition produces problems, for traffic noise and the current lack of a hospital with a maternity ward in earshot of the church would also severely limit the number of 'true' cockneys that could be born.
Naturally, modern Cockneys scoff at that limitation, saying that, "The qualification is, that you are born within the area that the bells would be audible in, if they were ringing. They did not have to be ringing at the time (of birth), but if you would have been able to hear them if they were, then you qualify for the honour (of calling yourself a Cockney)." A study was done by the city in 2000 to see how far the Bow Bells could be heard, and it was estimated that the bells would have been heard 6 miles to the east, 5 miles to the north, 3 miles to the south, and 4 miles to the west.
Thus, while all East Enders are Cockney, not all Cockneys are East Enders. The traditional core neighborhoods of the East End are Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Stepney, Hackney, and Mile End. It gradually expanded with the postal areas added for urban renewal.
wikipedia.org
The Brummie, or Brum, accent of Birmingham.
Brummie (sometimes Brummy) is a colloquial term for the inhabitants, accent and dialect of Birmingham, UK, as well as being a general adjective used to denote a connection with the city, locally called Brum. The terms are all derived from Brummagem or Bromwichham, historical variants or alternatives to 'Birmingham'. (Brummies still call their city "Brummagem" in their dialect).
Dialect
According to the PhD thesis of Dr Steve Thorne at the University of Birmingham Department of English, Birmingham English is "a dialectal hybrid of northern, southern, Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire speech", also with elements from the languages and dialects of its Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities.
Traditional expressions include:
"A bit black over Bill's mother's" ... Likely to rain soon (now widespread).
"Bab" ... Used by older generation to refer to a spouse or female.
"Bostin" ... Excellent, brilliant.
"Face as long as Livery Street" ... Looking miserable.
"Go and play up your own end" ... Said to children from a different street making a nuisance. It has been used as the title of the autobiographical book and musical play about the Birmingham childhood of radio presenter and entertainer Malcolm Stent.
"Keep away from the 'oss road" / "mind the 'orse road" ... An admonition to travel safely, originally a warning to children in the days of horse-drawn traffic.
"Rock" ... a children's hard sweet (as in "give us a rock").
"Up the cut" ... Up the canal (not uniquely Birmingham).
"Yampy" (often "dead yampy") Scatty and lively, to the point of madness.
wikipedia.org.
Mackem (of the North East city of Sunderland)
'Mackem' is a term describing someone native to the City of Sunderland, North East England. Alternatives include 'Makem', 'Maccam' or 'Mak'em'.
The origins of the term are obscure. A common belief is that it was coined by shipyard workers in the 19th century in Newcastle (see Geordie), to describe their Wearside counterparts. The Geordies would 'Take' the ship to be fitted out that the Mackems 'Made', hence 'Mackem and Tackem' ("make them" and "take them").
The actuality is that a 'mackem' was the man who would 'mack' (make) the ship's rivets, and the other person - mentioned here - the 'tackem'- was the feller who took the rivets to the riveter - in fact this was a skilful operation because, as the ship grew upwards, he would have to 'hoy' (throw) the red hot rivets throught the air for them to be equally skilfully caught. Riveting was common from the late 1870s to about 1940 when welding superceded this method of construction. Incidentally, 'Geordie' was not a name confined to Newcastle folk, on the contrary, it was a term derived from "Georges" who were the men who sailed the coal barges, and these, as mentioned elsewhere, sailed from both the Tyne and the Wear.
However, this is probably a folk etymology. The Oxford English Dictionary has been unable to locate the term in print before 1991; along with the BBC it is conducting a search to find an earlier reference (See BBC Wordhunt). At around that time, the term came into common use, partly due to the labelling of Sunderland people as 'Mackems' by Geordies and partly by Sunderland people themselves who did not want to be identified as Geordies. The main course of this dislike between the two cities in modern times stems from the rivalry between the football clubs of the two cities (Sunderland A.F.C. and Newcastle United F.C.)
The two cities have a history of rivalry beyond the football pitch. In 1642, King Charles I awarded the East of England coal trade rights to the coal merchants in Newcastle upon Tyne, although this was simply a confirmation of rights granted and claimed since King John's grant of 1213. In effect Newcastle had effective control of the movement of coal in and out of the North East of England. This put their counterparts in Sunderland out of business.
Two years later, during the early stages of the English Civil War, Newcastle was attacked by the Scottish army siding with Cromwell against King Charles. Newcastle, the surrounding areas and the rest of the North of England had sided with King Charles, with the exception of Sunderland, which acted as a supply base for the Scottish army. There followed the Battle of Boldon Hill, in which an army gathered from Newcastle and County Durham was defeated by the Scottish army. Newcastle was subsequently captured by the Scottish.
wikipedia.org
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