Ketty, crambazzled and rig-welted: 15 Olde Yorkshire words and what they mean

As God's Own County, it's fair to say Yorkshire is steeped in plenty of tradition and heritage.
Yorkshire wordsYorkshire words
Yorkshire words

And that heritage also includes the language itself. Below is a list of 15 old Yorkshire words - the majority taken from Norse - which have fallen out of use.

Wow your friends with this glossary of top-drawer Ye Olde Yorkshire.

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Before you know it, your mates will be rig-welted at your almost nang knowledge of old Norse. That is, until you upskittle them.

1. Rig-welted - description of a sheep which is stranded by being laid on its back. This is from the Nordic, hrygg meaning spine, plus velta. It originates from Norwegian ryggrad (spine, backbone) and velte (overthrow, overturn); as well as Swedish ryggrad (spine); and velta (tumble, fall). The Standard English ridge could be associated with rig.

2. Glocken - to start to thaw; when snow goes away. This derives from the Icelandic, gloggur - which means to make clear/clear away

3. Crambazzled - As Channel 4's Countdown wordsmith Susie Dent tweeted: "Should anyone need it, 'crambazzled' is an old Yorkshire term for looking prematurely aged or rough from drinking/partying/a dissolute life." Nice!

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4. Jannock - fair, right, justice. From the old Norse word, jamn.

Susie Dent revealed the word 'crambazzled' on TwitterSusie Dent revealed the word 'crambazzled' on Twitter
Susie Dent revealed the word 'crambazzled' on Twitter

5. Ket - No, not the drug/horse tranquiliser ketamine - it's raw meat or flesh, offal, rubbish

6. Ketty - nasty, rancid (again, not drug related!)

7. Mense - decency, neatness, tidiness

8. Mickle - much, greater, large. This is sometimes found in placenames, like Micklegate or Micklethwaite.

9. Nang - troublesome, painful, irritating

10. Skyme - to glance sideways scornfully

11. Skitters - diarrhoea. From the old Norse, 'skita'

12. Storken - to set, to stiffen, to coagulate. Often used in cooking, until it fell out of use.

Susie Dent revealed the word 'crambazzled' on TwitterSusie Dent revealed the word 'crambazzled' on Twitter
Susie Dent revealed the word 'crambazzled' on Twitter
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13. Thorpe - village or small settlement. Now found only as an element in place names (e.g., Priesthorpe, Knostrop, etc) and as a family surname.

14. Upskittle - to restore to an upright position

15. Wapentake - historic sub-division of a shire county, with a periodic assembly at which freeman could vote by a show of weapons. The wapentakes in the Danelaw equated with the hundreds of the more southerly 'Saxon' counties. In Yorkshire, the wapentakes were sub-divisions of the Ridings and, though the latter were dismantled in 1974, wapentakes survive for some administrative/legal purposes.

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