As I was reading the book Alex Stewart Portrait of a Pioneer a word kept jumping out at me ever so often. Well lots of words jumped out at me, one of the things I like best about the book is the language Alex uses.
But there was one certain word that I was sort of familiar with that kept appearing throughout the book as Alex told stories and described this or that. The word is ferninst.
It’s one of those words that seem so familiar to my ears, yet my brain can’t actually think of someone who says it. Maybe I’ve heard it come from someone’s lips or maybe its just that I’ve read it in another book.
Once I got the word running around in my mind I checked my Appalachian language reference books to see if it was listed.
I found it in From Ulster to America The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English which was written by Michael Montgomery.
I also found it in the Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English which Montgomery also had a hand in creating. Here’s part of the entry.
fornent prepostion
A variant forms fernenst, fernent, fernenth, ferninst, fernint, forninst, fornint, furninst.
B Alongside, close to; in front of, up against, beneath opposite (to).
1835 Crockett Account 123 I walked with them to a room nearly fornent the old state-house. 1904-20 Kephart Notebooks 4:749 Just afore it got quite fernent me, I shot. 1911 Shearin E Ky Word-list 538 forninst = near to, adjoining. 1937 Hall Coll (Hartford TN) I crawled down through the alders by the river till I got fernint [a bear], and I laid off my linen and swum across the river. 1939 Hall Coll (Cosby TN) He lived over fernint the store. Ibid. The bear went up a tree ferninst us. 1964 Williams Prep Mt Speech 54 A few rare prepositions may be heard occasionally…Fernenst means in front of and close by at the same tme but not as close as against.
Have you heard the word usage before? If so please leave a comment and tell me about it.
Last night’s video: Haystacks – The EASIEST Candy to Make!
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My Dad was a bus driver here in Raffrey, Saintfield, N.Ireland. Fernenst was a common saying for him, I find it fascinating that our Ulster Scots dialect is still alive and kicking not only in my own part of the world but thousands of miles away in America. And also in its original locations of lowland Scotland,Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Northumberland. Every time you introduce a word or phrase Tipper that I thought was only spoken here amazes me as to how far in time and space it has travelled.
Wallace-Thank you for sharing that! I love thinking about the old words too 🙂
Laid off my linen and swum across the river. Priceless! Blessings
Being as my DNA result shows nary a drop of Irish blood in me, I can understand my lack of knowledge or understanding of the word “ferninst”. However Alex, with the surname Stewart, is as surely of Scottish and English derivation as I, yet he uses the word freely. It gives one pause, doth it not? Why he and not me?
Very interesting!
I didn’t see any marks that would give a clue to pronunciation. But, lo and behold, a search on duckduckgo turned up for nĕnt’. I suspected that the emphasis might be on the last syllable.
Can’t say I remember ever hearing it or seeing it before today, but it would probably be one of those words you understand from context.
Great job, Tipper!
Like so many others, I’ve never heard of that word, but I find it interesting. Tipper, last night my husband and I sat and listened to the podcast. It was just wonderful! I also watched your video on Haystacks. My mama always made them at Christmas, but she called them reindeer antlers and some folks called them reindeer horns, LOL. It was a while before I knew that most folks called them haystacks. I think this year I will make some because they are so good and simple to fix and like you, we always put peanuts in them.
I agree with Ed that it sounds like something far away. I love seeing new Appalachian words, and many of them I heard in early childhood or read from a book. This one I really have never heard, although I heard some ole timers say things such as,” It was the furtherest away.” Many also gave directions as “cut right” instead of turn right. I say that with deep affection for all the hard-working men I grew up around. Sometimes they could put a new twist on an already unfamiliar word. One that comes to mind is the Sumac was sometimes called a Shoemacker tree. Gotta love those men who worked hard to provide for their families, but never concerned themselves with how their English teacher tried to change their way of talking.
Mom’s family was all Scotch-Irish and from the NC mountains – but I’ve never heard that word. It does sound like the opposite of furtherest. I love how you share the love of words!
I heard the word when you read the book and assumed it was ferderest which to me means the farthest away. You know like fer, ferder and ferderest. Mind you, we didn’t use words like that growing up but the neighbors did. They were “dam people”. Also known as downriver people. They were people who lived along the Little Tennessee and Tuckasegee that were forced to move out when Fontana Dam was built. They had different words and expressions even though they lived only a few miles away. I guess we had words that were alien to them too.
I love learning these new words. Being that my grandfather was from Ireland, I am especially fascinated with the heritage of the Appalachian vocabulary because of the prominence of Irish and Scottish immigrants that settled here. This is one of those words I enjoy imagining hearing those settlers say fresh from the old country. I wonder if the older people in the small farming communities tucked away in Ireland or Scotland still say it. When I first read the word in your post, my mind guessed “fernist” meant away from or farthest away. The “f” at the front of the word is what tricked me. Kind of like “fernist” equals “further”. I looked in my thesaurus for a word that starts with an “f” that means “close by” so I can start associating “fernist” with that word instead. There was only two out of the 92 listed – flanking and fringing. I did see another phrase listed that I fell in love with – “get at-able”. I like the word fernist! I will practice using it now. I love your vocabulary lessons!
Donna. : )
Few weeks back, I picked up a set of 3 Mini Composition Books and figured I could find a use for them. Well, I thot one could be used for words and I wrote in this one cause it’s new to me!
You’ve taught me something new with that word. Just finished reading the book you sent my “It’s Not My Mountain Anymore”. The end brought tears to my eyes as I can only imagine the mountains going by the wayside to the corporations and big investors. I’ve always said change isn’t always good. Some things just need to remain the same. God Bless you Tipper and thank you for bringing wisdom to us each day.
Our family used a similar word with the same meaning: “fernigh” or “fanigh”.
I’ve heard up agin and up aginst and even might nigh to it but I don’t think I ever heard ferninst.
This is a new word for me!
Nope, never heard that before. Like some others thought, it seems to have so many possible meanings it would be confusing to use. Puts me in mind of “fer instance” which of course is totally different. That having been said, wonder what linguist has ever back-related ‘old country’ language to Appalachia?
That’s a new one to me.
That’s a new one on me. Ferninest is too hard to say, or maybe too hard to learn at my age, so I doubt I will be saying it very often.
Never heard it before but ferninest or close by seems like a dang good one to add to conversation to blow the average mind…
Thanks! I learned a new word today. Now I will have to use it sometime during my day!
I thought I’d heard them all, but that one sure stumped me! It just seems to mean “up (almost) aginst!”
I don’t remember hearing this before, but will try to use it in conversation just to see the reaction to the word.
I’ve never heard the word, until now. It was even hard gettin the pronounceation of the word, much less it’s meaning. Always interesting to learn some thing new, but I doubt I’ll remember or use this one. Thanks for always teaching us something new about Appalachia!
No, but this post made me recall reading Reader’s Digest Word Power. We used to enjoy reading through that with the kids when they were young. We haven’t had a subscription in quite a while. Good thing I found the Blind Pig. Interesting word! I’m going to try to use it in conversation today and puzzle people. Should be fun!
You got me that time, I’ve never heard that before !
I’m from WV, my mother was scotch/Irish I have never heard this word. I find it interesting but don’t think I would ever have a use for it
I learned a new word! I don’t recall hearing it in usage before.If I heard you read it from Alex Stewart, I probably thought it was “furthest “. I’ll take notice if I hear it again.
Well I ‘ll join the rest of you who say they’ve never heard that one before . If I had been guessing what it meant by the sound I would think it meant the opposite of close to or near. I would think it meant fairest away.
MERRY CHRISTMAS ♡
Well, I say, you are never to old to learn something, and in this case, ferninest. Gotta find a way to use it for sure. Thanks
I don’t recall ever hearing any of those variants used. Ferninst is an interesting word though, and I always enjoy learning something new. Who knows, I may start using it in conversation occasionally.
I don’t ever recall hearing this word before and to tell the truth even after reading it I’m doubtful I could use it in a conversation. I just don’t seem to get the definition of it.
That’s a new word for me. I would like to hear it pronounced.
Happy full Cold Moon tonight folks
Funny, I cannot figure out where and when I have heard ferninest, but I knew the meaning immediately, despite being living n the Midwest.
I don’t recollect hearing that one before. Interesting!