Friday, 24 July 2009

What's a weind?

What's a weind?, originally uploaded by Lancaster Today.

You don't know what a weind is, do you? It was a unknown word to me until yesterday.

It started at a shop in Garstang - a small market town near Lancaster -when we asked for directions to a local tea house:

Her: "Take the second weind on the left, and you'll find a good one."
Me : "What's a weind?!"
Her: "erm... I don't really know. It's just what we call them."

We decided not to ask the obvious question, but to find out for ourselves. Have you guessed it yet? I haven't tracked down the etymology of 'weind' or even the subtle details behind its meaning and use, but it seems a weind is a passageway of some description. And a Google search suggests the word is confined to this general area. They are mentioned here in a document titled A Short History of Garstang.

Postscript 1: The beauty of not being 'born and bred' in Lancashire is regularly coming across new words as well as places. One thing yesterday's discovery taught me was that there were obviously a lot of alleyways in this part of the medieval world. I base this assertion on only recently having added another new word to my linguistic repertoire for them - ginnel.

Postscript 2: Before anyone asks, I have no idea who Thomas was. Regrettfully, it didn't occur to me to ask someone at the time.
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19 comments:

  1. Lois24 July 2009 at 20:34

    I guess it is true what they say. You learn something every day!

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  2. Sean24 July 2009 at 20:46

    ...and I thought the Swiss were strange :)

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  3. Julie24 July 2009 at 22:29

    I love this sort of history learning and this sort of language learning. More whenever you can, Eamon.

    And thanks for the info about Yasmin's book. She is a good little reader then. I had one of them - she was 30 this week just gone. Thirty ... my my ...

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  4. eamon@ewmphotography25 July 2009 at 09:08

    Certainly do Lois :) Sean, the Swiss have nothing on these Lancastrians ;) and thanks Julie, I'll keep my eye out for more. Btw, Yasmin has just looked at the photo carefully and told me that wasn't actually a Pullman book - it was 'Knife' by R J Anderson. She goes through so many I lose track. So your little girl is 30? Not so little any more!

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  5. EG CameraGirl25 July 2009 at 13:16

    Thanks for the lesson, Eamon! I learned a new word today.

    This photo is wonderfully crisp and rich. And I'm assuming you took it in a darkish weind. ;-)

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  6. eamon@ewmphotography25 July 2009 at 13:31

    YEGTG, not sure how useful it will be though! The weind wasn't that dark - as you may have guessed, I increased the contrast to darken the bricks a little. Hmm... is that cheating?

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  7. Anonymous25 July 2009 at 15:18

    Nice shot. I assume it is like an alleyway. I enjoyed the post.

    Pick a Peck of Pixels

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  8. Leeds in Yorkshire pictures - Paul26 July 2009 at 08:16

    Interesting local variation of a common word, new one on me. I knew the scottish wynd though.
    Leeds Photography

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  9. Andrew Gray23 March 2011 at 11:14

    Hi there,

    A "weind" is probably the same word as a "wynd", which is to be found all overe Scotland. It is pronounced to rhyme with the word, "kind" and means a lane. I don't know if "weind" is pronounced the same way or not. However, the northern dialect of English and Scots have much the same basic vocabulary (as in "d'ye ken John Peel?").

    Andrew

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous14 October 2012 at 19:32

      wEIND IS PRONOUCED TO Rhyme with fiend.

      Delete
    2. Unknown22 December 2019 at 18:37

      In yorkshire (Barnsley) a ginnel

      Delete
  10. Anonymous14 October 2012 at 19:34

    Thomas's was the pharmacy. There you are; I'm married to a beautiful Garstang gal!

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  11. Anonymous7 November 2012 at 07:19

    A weind is like a ginnel, but more weindy than ginnelly. If it wasn't so weindy, it would be a ginnel. The word does seem to be found mostly in the Preston and Garstang area.
    Tony H - Windermere - Formerly of Catterall

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  12. alphobic26 April 2016 at 21:10

    In Preston there's a Main Sprit Weind.

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  13. Unknown23 June 2018 at 12:59

    Ha, I just tried to use this word on Scrabble but it wouldn't accept it. I asked my partner if she had heard of it and explained it was like an alley way or a narrow passage of some kind. She hadn't of course, so I googled it and wound up here. I was of course born in Garstang and my family still live there!

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  14. dowland29 June 2018 at 10:36

    Re., Thomas Weind: I would think that the weind is named after this man rather than a chemist shop owner. "Thomas Stanley, the 1st Earl of Derby built nearby Greenhalgh Castle in late 1400’s, under licence from King Henry VII."

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  15. :Lleu ap Rhelwot8 December 2019 at 15:45

    There is a Weind in Wigan and also one in Skyrim. both are steep winding alleys. Broader than ginnels. Is Weind perhaps a word with some Norse derivation?

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  16. Unknown4 July 2020 at 23:55

    Wiend comes from Friesian. It means wind.

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  17. Anonymous2 November 2024 at 12:29

    Came across a 'went' in West Cumbria, around the Great Broughton area near Workington. A small alley.

    I wonder if 'wending' has owt to do with it. The Scottish/north of England link makes sense.

    Paul Swarbrick (originally of Garstang)

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Thanks for the comment in advance. All thoughts are appreciated ~ Eamon.

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