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The Surrey dialect is a dialect of the English language that was once widely spoken by those living in the historic county of Surrey in southern England. The distinctive vocabulary of the Surrey dialect has now almost entirely died out and only few individuals still speak with a local Surrey accent. The Surrey dialect is a subset of the Southern English dialect group. It was recorded by Granville Leveson Gower (1838–1895) during the 1870s and first published by him in ''A Glossary of Surrey Words'' in 1893. The dialect has been described as being spoken beyond the bounds of the traditional borders of Surrey in western Kent and parts of northern Sussex.〔Davis, Graeme, ''Dictionary of Surrey English'' (2007), p.30〕 Gower was first made aware of the dialect after reading a letter in a local newspaper. Following that, and after his own enquiries, he expressed a fear that improved transport and the spread of education would cause such local dialects to disappear and be forgotten despite the fact that, in his words, "Old customs, old beliefs, old prejudices die hard in the soil of England".〔Gower, Granville, ''A Glossery of Surrey Words'', (1893), Oxford University Press〕 == Proverbs == The county was noted for its many agricultural proverbs. Some of the distinctive Surrey proverbs collected by Gower include: * ''"So far as the sun shone into the house on Candlemas Day, so far would the snow drive in before the winter was out."'' * ''"A fine Easter Day is followed by plenty of grass, but little good hay" (meaning that the summer will be wet).'' * ''"Early thunder, late hunger."'' A backward spring is thought to indicate a fruitful season ; the common people have this proverb : — * ''"When the cuckoo comes to a bare thorn. Then there's like to be plenty of corn."'' The prejudice against a new moon on a Saturday found expression in the following doggrel: — * ''"Saturday new and Sunday full, Ne'er brought good and never shall."'' * ''"So many fogs in March, so many frosts in May."'' * ''"Christen your own child first"'' (charity begins at home) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Surrey dialect」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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