gulch

• Format: Manuscript
• Language: English
• Subjects: English language > Dialects > Newfoundland and Labrador; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/elrcdne/id/30909

gulch e basic noun _gulch_ is to be found in Devonshire dialect, denoting a crevice rock or among rocks. Also in Devonshire, a _goulds_ is--as in Newfoundland-- valley with forested sides. Welsh has _golch_, a "wash" which, in English opography, denotes low-land covered at high tide. One U.S. standard dictionary efers to a British slang usage of _gulch_ for throat, and while I have been nable to locate the term, it appears likely. Scots has _goule_, gullet while n Scotland _goulds_ and _gulf_ both denote a hole or rut; _gowl_ is a notch or gap etween hills, _gauch_ a wide gap or opening, _goat_ a narrow cavern or tiny inlet rom the sea. In Worchester dial., _gulch_ is the act of swallowing. _Gulsh_ appears n provincial English with the meaning of mud, slush or sediment and was 19C ritish slang for a wide-open mouth. Gaelic has _glochdan_ and, in dialect, _lodhar_, a ravine, a large throat. The latter, at least, must derive from ld Norse _glj�fr_, ravine, chasm. Other influences on _gulch_ have, perhaps, een obs. Eng. _gullet_, channel, strait, estuary; _gulf_ (_golph_), an abyss or hasm; obs. _gull_ (< M.E.), a gully, chasm or channel. French has _gueule_, mouth, pening, gaping jaws, _goulet_, a narrow channel or "tickle", and _goujure_, channel, otch. [reverse] n the sense of swallow, the verb _gulch_ seems only distantly connected with the oun. It is in south-west English dialects and harks back to Middle English. arly english has _gulchen_ v., swallow greedily. _ulch_, in Nfld usage, is somewhat confused with its cognae _glutch_, n.,v., which would catergorize as: _glutch_ v. _Nfld/Lab._ 1.[ult.<L. _gluttire_ v., swallow; infl. by _gulch_ v., q.v.] Swallow. 2. [< the foregoing; infl. by _clutch_, seize _Card 3_ of 4 cards W. J. KIRWIN DEC 1972 JH DEC 1972 Used I and Sup Not used Reverse of card at G_15139. The far left edge of the text on this card has been cut off.