Letter Y - Glossary of Words in the Counties of Antrim and Down
Author: William Hugh Patterson, MRIA
Date: 1880
Source: A Glossary of Words and Phrases used in Antrim and Down (London: Trübner & Co., for the English Dialect Society)
Comments: In the introduction to his Glossary of Words and Phrases used in Antrim and Down, William Hugh Patterson provided an historical account of the Scottish settlement of east Ulster from 1607. From these origins he observed that the words and phrases of the local population ‘will be found in the main to be of Scottish origin, and many of them have already found a place in Jamieson’s dictionary’. He acknowledged difficulty in spelling many words ‘because I only had them as sounded’. William Hugh Patterson (1835-1918) was the son of a famous naturalist, Robert Patterson, whose book on Birds frequenting Belfast Lough was also published in 1880. Many of the local names for birds in the glossary were sourced from his father. As he was also a collector of phrases and proverbs, Patterson’s glossary remains a unique record of Ulster-Scots in the 19th century.
Doc. ref. no.: USLS/TB/Hist/1800-1899/006-y
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Yammerin, Yimmerin’, v. complaining; grumbling.
Yap, (1) sb. a cross, peevish fellow. (2) v. A chicken or young turkey is said to yap when it makes repeated calls for food.
Yappy, adj. thin; hungry-looking.
Yarn. ‘Take the yarn,’ said of herrings when they strike the net.
Yarwhelp, sb. a bird mentioned by Harris (Hist. Co. Down, 1744). It “is something like a woodcock.” Called also Yarwhip.
Yaup, v. to bark; to cry as a young bird for food.
Yeat, sb. a gate.
Yell, adj. dry, as a cow when not giving milk.
Yelloch, sb. a yell.
Yellow-man, sb. a kind of toffee made of treacle and flour.
Yerp, v. to yelp. ‘Whiles a whitterick yerps like a dug,’ i.e. a stoat sometimes yelps like a dog.
Yilley-yorlin, Yella-yoit, Yella-yert, sb. the yellow-hammer or yellow bunting.
Yin, adj. one.
Yin ends erran’, on particular or special purpose. ‘He went yin ends erran’ for it.’
Yirkin, sb. the side of a boot.
Yirnin’, Yermerin’, v. grumbling; complaining.
Yoke, Yok, v. to attach a horse to a cart or other vehicle.
Yirlin, sb. a yellow-hammer.
You and you else, i.e. you and others like you; in the same line as you are, or the same way of thinking.
Your day, sb. your lifetime; all your days. ‘The watch will last you your day.’
You’re no fit, you are not able.
Your uns, sb. your family.
Yous, pron. ye. ‘Yous can’t get commin’ through this way.’
You’ve only the half of it, a reply to the observation, ‘I’m glad to have seen you,’ meaning ‘I am as glad as you are.’
Yowl, v. to howl. ‘The dog yowled when I clodded a stone at him.’
Yowlin’, sb. a howling or yelping noise.
Yuky, adj. itchy.
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