dial. Obs. Aphetic form of ich, utch, southern form of the first personal pronoun I, occurring before verbal forms beginning with a vowel, h, or w; chiefly with auxiliary verbs, but also with others; as in cham (tſαm), (earlier icham) I am, cha, chave (earlier ichabbe) I have, chad I had, chard I heard, chill I will, chold, chud I would, chote I wot, etc.
Found in remains of s. e. (Kentish) dial. in 16th and early 17th c., in s. w. dialect 16–18th c. and often introduced in specimens of dialect speech in the dramatists. Now obsolete; though utchill = I will, and utchy = I, were still heard in 1875, in remote parts of Somersetshire. (See Prince L. L. Bonaparte in Phil. Soc. Trans., 1875–6, p. 580.) Utchy corresponds to the 16th c. CHE; see further under ICH.
[c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 136. I cham þe pylgrym. Ibid. Do as ychave þe rede.]
1528. More, Heresyes, IV. Wks. 278/1. An olde sage father fole in Kente … said, ye masters, say euery man what he wil; cha marked this matter wel as som other. Ibid. By my fayth maysters quod he … by the masse cholde twere a faire fish pole. Ibid. Nay byr Ladye maisters, quod he, yche cannot tell you why, but chote well it hath.
c. 1530. Redforde, Play Wit & Sc. (1848), 29. Oh! cham a-cold. Ibid., 31. Chyll go tell my moother.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 397. Cha caute a corage of slouth.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iii. Chad not so much, i chotte not whan: Nere since chwas born.
1575. J. Still, Gamm. Gurton, I. iii. Chwere but a noddy to venter where cha no neede.
1599. Peele, Sir Clyom., Wks. III. 85. Jesu! how cham berayed.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 239. Chill not let go Zir … and ’chud ha’ bin zwaggerd out of my life.
1633. B. Jonson, Tale of Tub, I. i. ’Cham no man’s wife, But resolute Hilts.
1635. Brome, Sparagus Gard., IV. v. Wks. 1873, III. 185. Then zay cha bewrai’d the house I coame on.
c. 1645. T. Davies, Somersetsh. Man’s Compl., 2 (Elworthy Exmoor Scolding). ’Chill sell my cart. —’C ham sure that made vs slaues to be.
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 4. A Western man [would speak it] thus, Chud eat more cheese an chad it.
1746. Exmoor Courtship (E. D. S.), 104. Now chave a-zeed ye, tes zo good as chad a-eat ye.
