Yellowbelly (Lincolnshire) - Wikipedia

Jump to content

Contents

move to sidebar hide

• (Top)
• 1 See also
• 2 References
• 3 External links

• Article
• Talk

English

• Read
• Edit
• View history

Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions

• Read
• Edit
• View history

General

• What links here
• Related changes
• Upload file
• Permanent link
• Page information
• Cite this page
• Get shortened URL
• Download QR code

Print/export

• Download as PDF
• Printable version

In other projects

• Wikidata item

Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nickname for a person from Lincolnshire, England

A yellowbelly (or yeller belly) is a person from Lincolnshire, England. The origin of this nickname is disputed, and many explanations have been offered. These include:

• The uniforms of the old Lincolnshire Regiment were green with yellow facings. The fastenings of the uniform tunic, which were known as frogs, were also yellow.[1]
• A species of newt, frog or eel (there is disagreement on this point) found in the Lincolnshire Fens had yellow undersides.[1]
• Bacon hung up and stored for a long time turned yellow (reasty).[1]
• The backs of farm workers who stripped to the waist in hot weather turned dark brown but their bellies turned yellow.[1]
• Opium extracted from poppy heads, and taken to relieve malaria that was prevalent in the fens in earlier centuries, turned the skin a shade of yellow.[1]
• Sheep grazing in mustard fields were dusted by pollen from the blossom that turned their undersides yellow.[1]
• Women traders on street markets in past times are reputed to have worn a leather apron with two pockets, one for copper and silver and one for gold. At the end of a good day they would say they had 'a yellow belly' meaning they had taken a large number of gold sovereigns.[1]
• A folk etymology says that the term originated from Elloe, the name of the rural deanery that serves the fen area of the Lincoln Diocese. This in turn took its name from the Saxon Wapentake which was referred to as þe Elloe Bellie - Elloe meaning out of the morass while bel was the Celtic word for hole or hollow.[1]
• Yellow is the colour of cowardice. Some say that it comes from the fact that a large number of the male population of Lincolnshire stayed behind to work the farms whilst others went to war in France.

See also

[edit]

• Yellowbelly (Copthorne)

References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h John R. Ketteringham Archived 12 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine. A Lincolnshire Hotchpotch. ISBN 978-0951273814

External links

[edit]

• Lincolnshire people Archived 24 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine — BBC page; offers a number of explanations for the name.
• Nobbut A Yellerbelly Archived 14 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine — Publisher's page; gives a short description of this book on the Lincolnshire accent, with examples. By Alan Stennett. ISBN 978-1-846740-05-3
• A Lincolnshire Hotchpotch — Extracts from the series of books by John R Ketteringham with that name and similar names

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yellowbelly_(Lincolnshire)&oldid=1309516083" Categories:

• People from Lincolnshire
• British regional nicknames
• History of Lincolnshire

Hidden categories:

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use British English from July 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from July 2020

Search Search Toggle the table of contents Yellowbelly (Lincolnshire) Add languages Add topic