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  1. #11
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    Must admit I've changed my interpretation of it 3 times in the last 24 hours. He does leave everything to his loving Wife in the previous sentence so yet I shall die seized of makes perfect sense so will now go with that, thanks. The Sezd is awfully badly written though!

    Thanks again Arthur,

    Mitch

  2. #12
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    This has been foxing me all day so I now give up. Only word I can't fathom in the inventory and it appears five times - before the words bed, chairs & cupboard...... help.....




    "Good in the Parlor ***** bed with hangings/ 1 long table 1 chest 1 ***** chear(sic)"

    Thanks

    Mitch

  3. #13
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    it looks to me like Seald (sealed) which suggests a couple of possibilities:

    From the Dialect Dictionary (as above), a Northumberland term 'sealing link', which seems to be something like a tongue and groove join in woodwork.

    Or, from the OED, seal can mean to fix in a wall by means of mortar, cement etc - so kind of built-in rather than free-standing.

    I initially wondered about sealing wood, as in applying something to make it impervious to water etc, but the OED's earliest example of that is from 1940, so it seems unlikely.

  4. #14
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    Thanks Arthur.

    I thought it said Seald but my Collins English Dictionary doesn't give that meaning unlike the OED. I have now quoted your definition as a footnote to the transcription!

    Thanks again

    Mitch

  5. #15
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    1728 Will. Writer uses very unusual spellings - but what is a 'piak'?

    "known by ye names of: one medow called Bruckhous Cloce: too closes called Bennewals and Bennewals Dumble and four piaks Lying at ye Round Hill: and one Dole Lying in ye Well Carr: to him and his heirs for ever"

    The above Will was copied out, so I have the original and a further copy - the hand on the copy appears to be identical to that of the inventory taken a few weeks after the above Will was signed. That hand also transcribes the word as 'piaks'

    Thanks

    Mitch

  6. #16
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    I haven't checked in the dictionaries, but 'piaks' doesn't seem a very likely word to me. Would there be any chance of a screenshot, please?

    Failing that, does the 'p' have a simple straight stem, or is there a line that curves round and crosses through it? If so, then it's not a simple 'p' but a special symbol standing for something like 'par' or 'pro' - the shape of the curve determines which. (Other marks are available, standing for other contractions.)

    So what I'm wondering is whether the word you're after is 'parcel(l)s': the 'p' with the extra bit would take care of the 'par', and an old form of 'c' looks like a modern 'i'. Then if the rest of it was a bit squashed up or unclear it might be possible to read it as 'ells'.

    What do you think?

  7. #17
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    The top is the original will the lower appears to be a copy of the will. The p in the original appears identical to the p of profitts(sic) a few lines down


  8. #18
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    The handwriting is pretty good, and completely demolishes my theory about parcel(l)s. So, Plan B....

    How about a phonetic version of 'pike'? It's apparently mainly a Midlands word, referring to a piece of land that tapers to a point. It's in the OED - first entry for 'pike' (n.1), 5th definition, with a cross reference to 'pick' (n.1-6), which means the same.

    You can also find it in Joseph Wright's Dialect Dictionary:

    pike at the bottom of p.498 - https://
    archive.org/details/englishdialectdi04wrig/page/498

    pick near the bottom of p.486, where it refers to a triangular field - https://
    archive.org/details/englishdialectdi04wrig/page/486

  9. #19
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    Can't argue with that Arthur, certainly makes sense. And with the spelling of this Will writer Pike written as Paik wouldn't necessarily seem so far fetched!
    My Collins dictionary gives Northern English dialect: "a pointed or conical hill - old English 'pic' " so a pointed piece of land on Round Hill seems to make some sense possibly!

    Thanks again for your help and the good old OED!

    Mitch

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