DEVON-L Archives

From: "Jean E. Harris" <>
Subject: [DEV] Devon Dialect & Surnames
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 21:46:36 -0400

Here are some books from my bookshelf and hopefully these are available through any interlibrary loan service:

Dictionary of Devon Dialect - John Downes
pub 1986 Tabb House, 11 Church St., Padstow, Cornwall

The Devonshire Dialect - Clement Marten
pub 1973; rev. ed. 1974 Clement Marten Publications
15 Castle St., Exeter, Devon

The Dialects of England - Peter Trudgill
pub 1990 reprint 1993 - no publsher name
but address is 238 Main St.. Cambridge, Mass., USA
ISBN 0-631-13917-6 & ISBN 0-631-18518-6 (pbk)

English Surnames, Their Sources & Significations -
Charles Wareing Bardsley, M.A.
pub 1969 David & Charles (Publishers),
South Devon House, Newton Abbot, Devon

As is my wont I always copy items I see about Devon subjects and so here are those I have on these two subjects:

Newspaper - Western Morning News & Mercury
Tuesday April 8 1930 pg 11
Article - "Origin of Devon Dialect"

Gentleman's Magazine Vol XVI pgs 297-299
& Vol XVI pgs 352-355 & 405-409
Article - "Exmoor Courtship: or a Devonshire Dialogue"

Report & Transactions of the Devonshire Association -
Vol LXX pgs277-298
article about surnames of Devon and lots of examples here of how some of these came about

Copies of the newspaper can be obtained from the Newspaper Section of the British Library OR presumably from the West Country Studies Library in Exeter. The WCSLibrary would also have the Devonshire Assn books but I expect that these are available through the LDS as they seem to have copied all sorts of things including many books.
The Gentleman's Magazine is probably available in any major reference library (as it is in our Toronto Refce Libry) and perhaps in University libraries also. Possibly the LDS too?

Jean Harris in Toronto, Ontario
DFHS#2006

This thread:

• [DEV] Devon Dialect & Surnames by "Jean E. Harris" <>