Yes, it (a study of the language used and where the people settled) has been
done. Albion's Seed is a fascinating book tracing 4 different areas of
England and their impact in the U.S. It is about 940 pages. The areas
include:
East Anglia to Massachusetts (1629-1641)
South of England to VA (1642-1675)
North Midlands to the Delaware (1675-1725)
Borderlands to the Backcountry (1717-1775)
All sections have the same or nearly the same subdivisions: The section
about VA talks about the elite who came here, their social origins,
religious origins, speech ways, building ways, family ways, gender ways, sex
ways, child ways, religious ways, magic ways (they actively discourages
witchcraft prosecutions but used "fortune books," collections of
astrological interpretations), food ways, dress ways, work ways, time ways,
wealth ways, rank, comity, order, power and freedom.
The south of England used English and laws from the West Saxons (not the
Danes, the Norse or the Celts). Researchers found records indicating speech
patterns which include a report in 1773 by a young Princetonian named Philip
Fithian who visited near Richmond. He says:
"The people here pronounce Shower "Sho-er." And what in NJ we call a Vendue
here they call a "sale". All Taverns they call "Ordinarys". When a horse is
frolicsome and brisk, they say at once he is "gayly."
There are about 4 pages of examples and more particulars. Travelers to that
part of England in the 19th century were startled by the resemblance of
their language to Southern language.
Cynthia McDaniel
-----Original Message-----
From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Janice
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2012 10:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-ROOTS] About bedcovers... was inventory
This brings up a topic closely related to your hollow/holler remarks. If
you have the opportunity to see many of the old records you'll come across
many given names which were changed from the original to end in -"er".
Priscilla/Prisciller, Ella/Eller, Alma/Almer, etc. The names almost always
originally end with an 'uh' sound. Of course, hollow doesn't end in an 'uh'
unless you pronounce it as hollah.
My question is, can we possibly trace this speech pattern to a particular
old-world region? Wouldn't it be great if we could use it to narrow our
search for ancestor origins to something more precise than the name of the
country?
I'm hoping someone can shed some light on this for us.
Thanks.
Janice
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