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Archaic Words and Terms
What follows is a list of archaic words and terms taken from the book
The Last Yankees: Folkways in Eastern Vermont and the Border Country,
Scott E. Hastings, Jr. The book offers a detailed description of the last true Yankees and
their crafts, tools, local industry, dialects, and daily life. See previous Vermont
Folklore selections for more of Scott Hastings' fascinating portraits of Vermont Women on
the Farm and Vermont Farm Families.
| angle dog or mudworm |
earthworm |
| a whoop and a holler and fourteen axe handles |
to describe the distance to a neighbor just down the
road |
| belly bunt |
sliding belly down on a sled |
| belly wash |
a soda such as ginger ale |
| bonnyclabber |
sour milk |
| ca boss |
calling the cows down from the pasture |
| clim and clum |
for climb and climbed |
| Devil's darning needle |
dragonfly |
| dooryard |
the space between the back door of the house and the
barn |
| grist |
a quantity of corn to the mill to be ground |
| groom's man |
best man |
| nawn |
none |
| rock maple |
the sugar maple |
| so bossie |
to sooth cows while milking |
| sugar orchard |
sugar bush |
| 'twan'n't much better than sugar for beans |
in reference to poor-grade maple sugar |
Source: The Last Yankees, Folkways in
Eastern Vermont and the Border Country, Scott E. Hastings, Jr., Hanover, NH:
University Press of New England, 1990.
If you are interested in ordering this
book, it is available in our Country
Bookstore: History.
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