The History of English Podcast
Host: Kevin Stroud
Episode 188: Old England and New England
Date: February 27, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode explores the early 1630s migration from England to North America and the subsequent establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Host Kevin Stroud delves into the historical, linguistic, and cultural connections between “Old England” (specifically East Anglia) and “New England,” examining how migration shaped colonial American English and left a legacy in accent, grammar, and vocabulary. The episode spans historical events, Bible printing innovations, Puritan religious conflicts, early colonial governance, and deep comparisons of dialect features.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The 1629 Cambridge Bible and the English Alphabet

[03:09 – 13:55]

• A new 1629 Cambridge edition of the King James Bible was crucial in standardizing the English alphabet, distinguishing "I/J" and "U/V" as separate letters.
• Kevin details the evolution of these letters, noting the Cambridge Bible as the “first widely read English book to distinguish the letter I from J, and also to distinguish the letter U from V.”
• These distinctions eventually led to the 26-letter English alphabet we recognize today.
• The process was slow: even through the 1700s, dictionaries sometimes grouped “J-words” under “I,” and “V-words” under “U.”
• Quote:
  "So the bottom line here is that we can trace the beginning of those two new letters to this edition of the Bible in 1629 and the decades that followed." — Kevin Stroud [11:22]

2. Religious Conflict and the Puritan Exodus

[13:56 – 24:06]

• After King Charles I dissolved Parliament in 1629, Puritan voices were silenced politically.
• William Laud, Bishop of London, enforced strict Anglican worship and initiated visitations to ensure compliance — especially in Puritan strongholds like East Anglia (Norfolk and Suffolk).
• Economic collapse in East Anglia's textile industry (exacerbated by war, changing trade policies, poor harvests, and overpopulation) left many facing hardship.
• This blend of religious persecution and economic stress led to mass migration—especially from East Anglia—to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

3. Founding and Structure of New England Colonies

[24:07 – 36:09]

• Massachusetts Bay Colony received a royal charter in 1629 with an accidental loophole: no requirement to base its headquarters in England, enabling self-governance.
• John Winthrop, an East Anglian lawyer, became governor; the migration began in earnest in 1630.
• Founding of Maine and New Hampshire:
  • “Maine” possibly derives from the French province or from “mainland.”
  • Land-grant divisions in 1629 shaped present-day borders and names.

4. Innovation in English Contractions

[36:10 – 40:34]

• First recorded use of “it’s” (contraction of “it is”) appears in the 1630 printing of Dekker’s play The Honest Whore.
  • Quote:
    "The new term wasn’t the word generous or the word fellow. Believe it or not, it was the term it’s, the contracted form of it is." — Kevin Stroud [36:48]
• Previous contractions were “’tis” and “’twas.”
• “Don’t,” “doesn’t,” “won’t” all emerge in this era due to syntactic changes (e.g., “do not” replacing “fear not”).
• First recorded use of “y’all” as contraction of “you all” in 1631 by William Lyell.
  • Quote:
    "Of course, that newly contracted term is the term y’all—a contraction of ‘you all’. This is the earliest recorded use of that contraction in the English language…" — Kevin Stroud [38:52]

5. Manuscript Collections, Magna Carta, and Political Context

[40:35 – 48:18]

• William Lyell, collector of manuscripts, owned the Peterborough Chronicle, later passed to Laud and to the Bodleian Library.
• Sir Robert Cotton’s legendary library (including the sole surviving Beowulf, Magna Carta) was locked by royal order after Parliament dissolved; Cotton blamed his subsequent illness and death on this loss.
• Magna Carta provided a symbolic legal foundation for opposition to royal absolutism.
• Parallel: as political opposition brewed in England, out-migration increased, with Puritans seeking New World autonomy.

6. Patterns and Demographics of Colonial Migration

[48:19 – 54:23]

• From 1630–1643, 20,000 English settlers (mainly from East Anglia) arrived in Massachusetts Bay via roughly 200 ships.
• Massachusetts dwarfed other colonies:
  • Jamestown’s population in 1630 was only ~3,000; New Amsterdam only ~300.
  • Massachusetts colonists enjoyed healthier conditions—fewer disease threats, lower indigenous resistance (due to epidemics).
• Societal structures:
  • In New England, comprehensive family-based settlement and trades (not just agriculture and land grabbing as in the South).
  • Towns rapidly established; first “town meeting” recorded in Salem in 1636.

7. Place Names: Evidence of East Anglian Origins

[54:24 – 58:19]

• Most Massachusetts place names trace directly to southeastern England, especially East Anglia:
  • Counties: Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex
  • Towns: Ipswich, Springfield, Cambridge, Malden, Braintree, Lynn, Hingham, Haverhill, Groton, Boston (from Boston, Lincolnshire)
• About 60% of place names in 17th-century Massachusetts were from East Anglia.
• About 60% of settlers were from East Anglia or the surrounding counties; half from the core (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex).

8. Linguistic Connections: Accent and Pronunciation

[58:20 – 69:59]

• Non-Rhoticity:
  • The dropping of ‘R’ after vowels (e.g., “car” → “cah”) originates in East Anglia, is found in traditional New England accents.
  • “This well known feature of the traditional New England accent can be traced back to East Anglia in England.” — Kevin Stroud [59:46]
  • Earliest written evidence comes from the Paston Letters in Norfolk; feature spread to London by 1700s.
  • Declined under Standard American English and Irish immigration, but persisted for centuries.
• Sample ([51:23–52:22]):
  • Massachusetts speaker born 1920 displays both rhotic and non-rhotic features (e.g., “yas” for years, “wag” for warm).
• O→U Pronunciation:
  • East Anglians sometimes pronounced ‘home’ as ‘hum’, ‘goat’ as ‘gut’. Also present in old New England dialects.
  • Samples from Norfolk (born 1883 and 1932) feature “bloke” as “bluke”, “both” as “buth”.
  • This feature disappeared from New England by 20th century.
• ER→AR pronunciation:
  • “Servant” pronounced as “sarvant”, “merchant” as “marchant” in both East Anglia and colonial New England.
  • Survives in American place names: Hartford, CT (from Hertford, England), “tarnation” (from “eternal damnation”).
• Short E/I Vowel Confusion:
  • Swap of short ‘e’ and ‘i’ in words (“get” → “git”, “yet” → “yit”); persists into writings of Benjamin Franklin.
  • Found in Salem Witch trial transcripts: “divil” for “devil”, “fitcht” for “fetched”.

9. Grammar and Syntax: “Do” for Otherwise

[70:00 – 71:59]

• In rural East Anglia, “do” used as “otherwise”:
  • “Don’t go near that hole, do. You might fall in.”
• Survives in American South and African American English, not New England; attributed to East Anglian migrants to Virginia.

10. Colonial/New England Vocabulary: Regional Lexicon

[72:00 – 74:29]

• From East Anglia:
  • “Orts” (scraps/trash), “cultch” (refuse), “butt’ry” (pantry), “dingle” (covered walkway), “rile”/“riled” (to anger), “housen” (houses).
• Children’s Vocabulary:
  • Seesaw: “titty matauter” (East Anglia), “teeter totter” (New England/America)
  • Tadpole: “polywiggle” (East Anglia), “polliwog/pollywog” (America)
  • [Audio examples, 73:29–74:29]

11. Other Enduring Lexical Differences

[74:30 – 77:29]

• “Brook” (for stream) persisted in New England; “creek” more common elsewhere.
• “Pail” vs. “bucket”: “pail” favored in New England.
• Borrowings from local indigenous languages: “skunk” (from Algonquian “sagankou”), “woodchuck” (from “woochak”).

12. What Early New Englanders Sounded Like

[77:30 – 82:59]

• 19th-century sources and audio examples indicate rural New Englanders sounded more like what we associate with rural Southern or Appalachian dialects today.
• Example:
  • 1930 interview with a Rockland, Massachusetts woman (born ~1837) features “ain’t”, “gal” for girl, “taters” for potatoes, and “fur” for “far.” [81:10–82:59]
• Many supposedly “Southern” terms actually have rural British origins—“grits” and “chitterlings” (“chitlins”) appear in early English dialect lists.
• Quote:
  "...the typical Yankee or country Jonathan always talked in this dialect. As schools have been multiplied, this form of speech is now seldom heard." — J. Bailey Moore, as cited by Kevin [80:10]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Cambridge Bible’s legacy:
  “From this point forward, more and more scholars will begin to recognize the letters J and V as distinct letters, thereby giving us the full 26 letters that we have today.” — Kevin Stroud [04:20]
• On religious conflict driving migration:
  “The Puritans opposed the hierarchy of the Anglican Church and wanted each congregation to choose its own leaders.… And that opposition was further fueled by his conflicts with Parliament, where the Puritans had a strong voice…” — Kevin Stroud [15:15]
• On the nature of New England towns:
  “Each community had a meeting house where local town matters could be discussed and addressed. The meeting house could be used for religious services, but a separate church was usually constructed at some point. Most communities also had a school and public roads. The residents would meet on a regular basis, and those meetings became a ritual that served to bind the community together.” — Kevin Stroud [52:45]
• On dialect legacy:
  “So from those clips, we can identify the possible origins of the American slang terms teeter totter for a seesaw and pollywog for a tadpole.” — Kevin Stroud [74:29]
• Audio Sample Highlights:
  • [51:23–52:22] Massachusetts woman born 1920, demonstrating blended accent.
  • [81:10–82:59] Rockland, MA, woman born ~1837—illustrates the strong rural dialect features of historic New England.

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:09] 1629 Cambridge Bible and the alphabet
• [13:56] Puritan dissatisfaction and William Laud’s reforms
• [24:07] Formation and naming of New England colonies
• [36:10] Use and emergence of contractions (“it’s”, “don’t”, “y’all”)
• [40:35] Manuscript collections, Cotton’s library, Magna Carta
• [48:19] Scale of migration to Massachusetts vs. Virginia and Netherlands
• [54:24] Place names in Massachusetts traced to East Anglia
• [58:20] Accent features: non-rhoticity and o→u sounds
• [70:00] Unique grammatical usages (“do” for “otherwise”)
• [72:00] Vocabulary links between East Anglia and New England
• [77:30] How older New England English sounded (audio sample)

Conclusion

Kevin Stroud crafts a rich tapestry connecting 17th-century migration to the evolution of English in America, illustrating how East Anglian settlers embedded their linguistic idiosyncrasies in New England. The regional accent, vocabulary, and early colonial governance reflect this legacy—a legacy that faded over time but still echoes in place names, dialect words, and even popular American idioms.

The episode closes by promising to move the narrative toward the eve of the English Civil War, further tracing the impacts of migration, culture, and historical events on the evolving English language.