Exploring the origins of words
The most natural starting point for any analysis of the origins of words (in other words, their etymology) is dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is a rich mine of information for anyone who has a few hours to spare! Search time is now significantly faster as many dictionaries are available in electronic formats, such as CD-ROM or online. You may find that your local library can offer you access to such electronic dictionaries free of charge.

It is surprising how many present-day dialect words turn out to have a long history. Take the word owlarse (meaning a ‘mean person’ and pronounced ‘ahlarse’ by Stephen in the Doyle family interview). This took a bit of tracking down in the OED, but appears to be related to the old English term owl-glass, itself a corruption of the German (Till) Eulenspeigel, a classic fairy-tale trickster, and a general term of abuse in English since the sixteenth century! Many people who use it today, however, naturally assume that it must be derived from a combination of ‘ahl’ (=old) and arse.

Scallywag (or scally) also has a long pedigree. Originally used to refer to a disruptive person or petty criminal, it travelled across the Atlantic and is recorded in in mid-19th century New York as denoting a ‘blackguard’. Meanwhile, back in the UK, its meaning softened to refer to a naughty child or, more latterly, a streetwise young person.

Like many other words favoured by Liverpudlians, kip (meaning ‘to sleep’) turns out to have nautical or military associations, being listed in Fraser and Gibbons 1925 publication Sailor and Soldier Words. It appears to be related to the Danish word for ‘brothel’, which became a ‘kip-house’ in English.

Kecks (meaning ‘trousers’) is identified by the OED as chiefly northern English and Scottish, although Partridge’s 1961 Dictionary of Slang and Shaw et al’s 1966 Lern Yerself Scouse both attribute it especially to Liverpool.

Chuffed, although described as ‘obscure’ in origin, may be connected to the word ‘chuffe’ (meaning ‘cheeks’). It has been recorded in many parts of England but with radically different meanings. In the northern half of England, it has acquired the positive meaning of ‘pleased’, whereas in the south-west of England, it has (at least in the past) had the negative meaning of ‘surly’. (Interestingly, a similar ambiguity of meaning exists to this day in the term ‘cheeky’, which may mean ‘cheerful’ or ‘impudent’.)

The word sag, meaning ‘to play truant’, also makes it into the OED, although clearly identified as localised to Merseyside. It was singled out in the late 1950s by Iona and Peter Opie in their classic book The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren as ‘definitely the prevailing term amongst delinquents in all parts of Liverpool’ (p.372)!

Other regional words never make it into a national dictionary but can be found in dialect dictionaries or on websites such as Teesspeak. Although Peter in the Doyle family interview uses Woollieback to indicate people from the Widnes area (ie ‘out of towners’), the people of the north-east also claim it as their own!

This short selection of words represents only a tiny fraction of what is available in the OED and elsewhere. But we hope to have whet your appetite for the fascinating insights that may be shed on the words you have discoved in your own community. So now have fun with your own search...!

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Content last updated: 08/07/2005

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