Project Gutenberg's The Romance of Words (4th ed.), by Ernest Weekley This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Romance of Words (4th ed.) Author: Ernest Weekley Release Date: December 21, 2007 [EBook #23958] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF WORDS (4TH ED.) *** Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: Unique page headings have been retained, marked as [Page Heading] and positioned prior to the relevant paragraph. Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Significant amendments have been listed at the end of the text. Greek text has been transliterated and is shown between {braces}. Non-ASCII characters are represented as follows: [)a] a with breve [)e] e with breve [)u] u with breve [=a] a with macron [=e] e with macron [=i] i with macron [=o] o with macron [=u] u with macron [oe] oe ligature [/s] long s BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE ROMANCE OF NAMES "Mr Weekley inspires confidence by his scholarly method of handling a subject which has been left, for the most part, to the amateur or the crank."--_Spectator._ THIRD EDITION. 6s. net. SURNAMES "Under Professor Weekley's guidance a study of the origin and significance of surnames becomes full of fascination."--_Truth._ SECOND EDITION. 6s. net. AN ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH "One knows from experience that Mr Weekley would contrive to avoid unnecessary dullness even if he was compiling a railway guide, but that he would also get the trains right."--Mr J. C. SQUIRE in _The Observer_. Crown 4to. L2. 2s. net. A CONCISE ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF MODERN ENGLISH The abridgment has not involved any diminution in the vocabulary; in fact, many new words such as _copec_, _fascist_, _insulin_, _rodeo_, etc., are here registered for the first time. Large Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. WORDS ANCIENT AND MODERN "We cordially recommend to the discriminating reader a book altogether fresh, amusing and delightful."--_Morning Post._ Second Impression. 5s. net. _All rights reserved_ THE ROMANCE OF WORDS BY ERNEST WEEKLEY, M.A. PROFESSOR OF FRENCH AND HEAD OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, NOTTINGHAM; SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AUTHOR OF "THE ROMANCE OF NAMES," "SURNAMES" "Vous savez le latin, sans doute?"-- "Oui, mais faites comme si je ne le savais pas." (MOLIERE, _Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, ii. 6.) LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. FIRST EDITION MARCH 1912 _Reprinted_ JUNE 1912 SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED NOVEMBER 1913 THIRD EDITION MAY 1917 FOURTH EDITION JANUARY 1922 _Reprinted_ FEBRUARY 1925 _Reprinted_ JANUARY 1927 PREFACE A long and somewhat varied experience in language teaching has convinced me that there are still, in spite of the march of science, many people who are capable of getting intellectual pleasure from word-history. I hope that to such people this little book, the amusement of occasional leisure, will not be unwelcome. It differs, I believe, from any other popular book on language in that it deals essentially with the origins of words, and makes no attempt to enforce a moral. My aim has been to select especially the unexpected in etymology, "things not generally known," such as the fact that _Tammany_ was an Indian chief, that _assegai_ occurs in Chaucer, that _jilt_ is identical with _Juliet_, that _brazil_ wood is not named from _Brazil_, that to _curry favour_ means to comb down a horse of a particular colour, and so forth. The treatment is made as simple as possible, a bowing acquaintance with Latin and French being all that is assumed, though words from many other languages are necessarily included. In the case of each word I have traced the history just so far back as it is likely to be of interest to the reader who is not a philological specialist. I have endeavoured to state each proposition in its simplest terms, without enumerating all the reservations and indirect factors which belong to the history of almost every word. The chapter headings only indicate in a general way the division of the subject matter, the arrangement of which has been determined rather by the natural association which exists between words. The quotations are, with few exceptions, drawn from my own reading. They come from very varied sources, but archaic words are exemplified, when possible, from authors easily accessible, generally Shakespeare or Milton, or, for revived archaisms, Scott. In illustrating obsolete meanings I have made much use of the earliest dictionaries[1] available. It seemed undesirable to load a small work of this kind with references. The writer on word-lore must of necessity build on what has already been done, happy if he can add a few bricks to the edifice. But philologists will recognise that this book is not, in the etymological sense, a mere compilation,[2] and that a considerable portion of the information it contains is here printed for the first time in a form accessible to the general reader.[3] Chapter VII., on Semantics, is, so far as I know, the first attempt at a simple treatment of a science which is now admitted to an equality with phonetics, and which to most people is much more interesting. Throughout I have used the _New English Dictionary_, in the etymological part of which I have for some years had a humble share, for purposes of verification. Without the materials furnished by the historical method of that great national work, which is now complete from A to R, this book would not have been attempted. For words in S to Z, I have referred chiefly to Professor Skeat's _Etymological Dictionary_ (4th ed., Oxford, 1910). It is not many years since what passed for etymology in this country was merely a congeries of wild guesses and manufactured anecdotes. The persistence with which these crop up in the daily paper and the class-room must be my excuse for "slaying the slain" in Chapter XIII. Some readers may regret the disappearance of these fables, but a little study will convince them that in the life of words, as in that of men, truth is stranger than fiction. ERNEST WEEKLEY. _NOTTINGHAM, January 1912._ PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION On its first publication this little book was very kindly treated by both reviewers and readers. The only criticism of any importance was directed against its conciseness. There seemed to be a consensus of expert opinion that, the book being intended for the non-specialist, the compression was a little too severe, and likely sometimes to lead to misunderstanding. I have tried to remedy this defect in the present edition, both by giving fuller explanations and by supplying further quotations in illustration of the less common words and uses. No absolutely new matter is introduced, but a number of fresh words have been added as examples of points already noticed. The general arrangement of the book remains unchanged, except that a few paragraphs have been shifted to what seemed more natural positions. Friendly correspondents in all parts of the world, to many of whom I must apologise for my failure to answer their letters, have sent me information of interest and value. In some cases I have been able to make use of such information for this edition. Many readers have called my attention to local and American survivals of words and meanings described as obsolete. This is a subject on which a great deal could be written, but it lies outside the plan of this book, which does not aspire to do more than furnish some instruction or entertainment to those who are interested in the curiosities of etymology. ERNEST WEEKLEY. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION It is just five years since this little book was first submitted to the toleration of word-lovers, a class much more numerous than the author had suspected. The second edition, revised and slightly enlarged, appeared in 1913. Since then the text has once more been subjected to a searching revision, and it is hoped that the book now contains no statement which is not in accord with common sense and the present state of philological knowledge. Only those who have experience of such work know how easy it is to stray unconsciously from the exact truth in publishing the results of etymological research. Moreover, new light is constantly being thrown on old problems, and theories long triumphant have occasionally to yield to fresh evidence. To take an example from this volume, the traditional derivation of _trousers_ from French _trousse_ is now shown by the _New English Dictionary_ to be chronologically improbable. That great and cautious work unhesitatingly describes _hatchment_ as a corruption of _achievement_, but Professor Derocquigny, of Lille, has shown (_Modern Language Review_, January 1913) that this etymology is "preposterous," _hachement_ being a good old French word which in 16th century English was ignorantly confused with _achievement_. Apart from these two etymologies,[4] the only essential alterations have been made in the chapter on Surnames (p. 170), further research in medieval records having convinced the author that most of what has been written about "corrupted" surnames is nonsense, and that no nickname is too fantastic to be genuine.[5] Two slight contemplated alterations have not been carried out. The adjective applied (p. 156) to a contemporary ruler seemed to need reconsideration, but the author was baffled by the _embarras du choix_. A word mentioned on p. 48 might gracefully have been omitted, but it is likely that the illustrious man alluded to would, if the page should ever accidentally meet his eye, only chuckle at the thought of time's revenges. In the interval since the last edition of the _Romance of Words_ the greatest _Romance of Deeds_ in our story has been written in the blood of our noblest and best. Only a sense of proportion withholds the author from dedicating this new edition to the glorious memory of his many old pupils dead on the field of honour. Nothing in the modest success of the book has given him so much pleasure as the fact, to which his correspondence bears witness, that his little contribution to word-lore has helped to amuse the convalescence of more than one stricken fighting-man. ERNEST WEEKLEY. _NOTTINGHAM, March 1917._ PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION In preparing a new edition of this little book, ten years after its first appearance, I have corrected a few slight inaccuracies which had been overlooked in earlier revisions, and modified or expanded some statements which were not quite consonant with the present state of etymological knowledge. In word-lore, as in other sciences, it is seldom safe to lay down the law without a little conscientious "hedging." The only two considerable alterations have to do with the word _snickersnee_, the history of which is now clearly traced, and the name _Bendigo_. It is rather strange that no reader or reviewer has ever put me right on the subject of this Nottingham worthy, for the facts are plainly stated in the _Dictionary of National Biography_. ERNEST WEEKLEY. _NOTTINGHAM, January 1922._ FOOTNOTES: [1] For a list of these see p. xii. [2] _Compilatio_, "pillage, polling, robbing" (Cooper). [3] Among words on which the reader will find either entirely new information or a modification of generally accepted views are _akimbo_, _anlace_, _branks_, _caulk_, _cockney_, _felon_ (a whitlow), _foil_, _kestrel_, _lugger_, _mulligrubs_, _mystery_ (a craft), _oriel_, _patch_, _petronel_, _salet_, _sentry_, _sullen_, _tret_, etc. [4] In spite of the fact that the _New English Dictionary_ now finds _shark_ applied to the fish some years before the first record of _shark_, a sharper, parasite, I adhere to my belief that the latter is the earlier sense. The new example quoted, from a Tudor "broadside," is more suggestive of a sailor's apt nickname than of zoological nomenclature--"There is no proper name for it that I knowe, but that sertayne men of Captayne Haukinses doth call it a _sharke_" (1569). [5] See the author's _Surnames_ (John Murray, 1916), especially pp. 177-83. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. OUR VOCABULARY 1 II. WANDERINGS OF WORDS 17 III. WORDS OF POPULAR MANUFACTURE 29 IV. WORDS AND PLACES 47 V. PHONETIC ACCIDENTS 54 VI. WORDS AND MEANINGS 72 VII. SEMANTICS 86 VIII. METAPHOR 105 IX. FOLK-ETYMOLOGY 113 X. DOUBLETS 139 XI. HOMONYMS 155 XII. FAMILY NAMES 169 XIII. ETYMOLOGICAL FACT AND FICTION 184 INDEX 205 The following dictionaries are quoted without further reference:-- Palsgrave, French and English (1530). Cooper, Latin and English (1573). Percyvall, Spanish and English (1591). Florio, Italian and English (1598). Cotgrave, French and English (1611). Torriano, Italian and English (1659). Hexham, Dutch and English (1660). Ludwig, German and English (1716). THE ROMANCE OF WORDS CHAPTER I OUR VOCABULARY The bulk of our literary language is Latin, and consists of words either borrowed directly or taken from "learned" French forms. The every-day vocabulary of the less educated is of Old English, commonly called Anglo-Saxon, origin; and from the same source comes what we may call the machinery of the language, _i.e._, its inflexions, numerals, pronouns, prepositions, and conjunctions. Along with Anglo-Saxon, we find a considerable number of words from the related Norse languages, this element being naturally strongest in the dialects of the north and east of England. The third great element of our working vocabulary is furnished by Old French, _i.e._, the language naturally developed from the spoken Latin of the Roman soldiers and colonists, generally called Vulgar Latin. To its composite character English owes its unequalled richness in expression. For most ideas we have three separate terms, or groups of terms, which, often starting from the same metaphor, serve to express different shades of meaning. Thus a deed done with malice _prepense_ (an Old French compound from Lat. _pensare_, to weigh), is _deliberate_ or _pondered_, both Latin words which mean literally "weighed"; but the four words convey four distinct shades of meaning. The Gk. _sympathy_ is Lat. _compassion_, rendered in English by _fellow-feeling_. Sometimes a native word has been completely supplanted by a loan word, _e.g._, Anglo-Sax. _here_, army (_cf._ Ger. _Heer_), gave way to Old Fr. _(h)ost_ (p. 158). This in its turn was replaced by _army_, Fr. _armee_, which, like its Spanish doublet _armada_, is really a feminine past participle with some word for host, band, etc., understood. _Here_ has survived in _Hereford_, _harbour_ (p. 164), _harbinger_ (p. 90), etc., and in the verb _harry_ (_cf._ Ger. _verheeren_, to harry). Or a native word may persist in some special sense, e.g., _weed_, a general term for garment in Shakespeare-- "And there the snake throws her enamel'd skin, _Weed_ wide enough to wrap a fairy in." (_Midsummer Night's Dream_, ii. 2.) survives in "widow's _weeds_." _Chare_, a turn of work-- "the maid that milks And does the meanest _chares_." (_Antony and Cleopatra_, iv. 15.) has given us _charwoman_, and persists as American _chore_-- "Sharlee was ... concluding the post-prandial _chores_." (H. S. HARRISON, _Queed_, Ch. 17.) _Sake_, cognate with Ger. _Sache_, thing, cause, and originally meaning a contention at law, has been replaced by _cause_, except in phrases beginning with the preposition _for_. See also _bead_ (p. 74). _Unkempt_, uncombed, and _uncouth_, unknown, are fossil remains of obsolete verb forms. In addition to these main constituents of our language, we have borrowed words, sometimes in considerable numbers, sometimes singly and accidentally, from almost every tongue known to mankind, and every year sees new words added to our vocabulary. The following chapters deal especially with words borrowed from Old French and from the other Romance languages, their origins and journeyings, and the various accidents that have befallen them in English. It is in such words as these that the romance of language is best exemplified, because we can usually trace their history from Latin to modern English, while the earlier history of Anglo-Saxon words is a matter for the philologist. [Page Heading: LATIN WORDS] Words borrowed directly from Latin or Greek lack this intermediate experience, though the study of their original meanings is full of surprises. This, however, is merely a question of opening a Latin or Greek dictionary, if we have not time for the moment's reflexion which would serve the same purpose. Thus, to take a dozen examples at random, to _abominate_[6] is to turn shuddering from the evil _omen_, a _generous_ man is a man of "race" (_genus_), an _innuendo_ can be conveyed "by nodding," to _insult_ is to "jump on," a _legend_ is something "to be read," a _manual_ is a "hand-book," an _obligation_ is essentially "binding," to _relent_ is to "go slow," _rivals_ are people living by the same "stream"[7] (_rivus_), a _salary_ is an allowance for "salt" (_sal_), a _supercilious_ man is fond of lifting his "eyebrows" (_supercilium_), and a _trivial_ matter is so commonplace that it can be picked up at the meeting of "three ways" (_trivium_). _Dexterity_ implies skill with the "right" hand (_dexter_), while _sinister_ preserves the superstition of the ill-omened "left." It may be remarked here that the number of Latin words used in their unaltered form in every-day English is larger than is generally realised. Besides such phrases as _bona-fide_, _post-mortem_, _viva-voce_, or such abbreviations as A.M., _ante meridiem_, D.V., _Deo volente_, and L. s. d., for _librae_, _solidi_, _denarii_, we have, without including scientific terms, many Latin nouns, e.g., _animal_, _genius_, _index_, _odium_, _omen_, _premium_, _radius_, _scintilla_, _stimulus_, _tribunal_, and adjectives, e.g., _complex_, _lucifer_, _miser_, _pauper_, _maximum_, _senior_, and the ungrammatical _bonus_. The Lat. _veto_, I forbid, has been worked hard of late. The stage has given us _exit_, he goes out, and the Universities _exeat_, let him go out, while law language contains a number of Latin verb forms, e.g., _affidavit_ (late Latin), he has testified, _caveat_, let him beware, _cognovit_, he has recognised-- "You gave them a _cognovit_ for the amount of your costs after the trial, I'm told." (_Pickwick_, Ch. 46.) due to the initial words of certain documents. Similarly _item_, also, is the first word in each paragraph of an inventory. With this we may compare the _purview_ of a statute, from the Old Fr. _pourveu_ (_pourvu_), provided, with which it used to begin. A _tenet_ is what one "holds." _Fiat_ means "let it be done." When Mr Weller lamented-- "Oh, Sammy, Sammy, vy worn't there a _alleybi_?" (_Pickwick_, Ch. 34.) it is safe to say that he was not consciously using the Latin adverb _alibi_, elsewhere, nor is the printer who puts in a _viz._ always aware that this is an old abbreviation for _videlicet_, i.e., _videre licet_, it is permissible to see. A _nostrum_ is "our" unfailing remedy, and _tandem_, at length, instead of side by side, is a university joke. [Page Heading: INFLECTED LATIN FORMS] Sometimes we have inflected forms of Latin words. A _rebus_[8] is a word or phrase represented "by things." _Requiem_, accusative of _requies_, rest, is the first word of the introit used in the mass for the dead-- "_Requiem_ aeternam dona eis, Domine," while _dirge_ is the Latin imperative _dirige_, from the antiphon in the same service-- "_Dirige_, Domine meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam." The spelling _dirige_ was once common-- "Also I byqwethe to eche of the paryshe prystys beying at my _dyryge_ and masse xiid." (Will of John Perfay, of Bury St. Edmunds, 1509.) _Query_ was formerly written _quaere_, seek, and _plaudit_ is for _plaudite_, clap your hands, the appeal of the Roman actors to the audience at the conclusion of the play-- "Nunc, spectatores, Iovis summi causa clare _plaudite_." (PLAUTUS, _Amphitruo_.) _Debenture_ is for _debentur_, there are owing. _Dominie_ is the Latin vocative _domine_, formerly used by schoolboys in addressing their master, while _pandy_, a stroke on the hand with a cane, is from _pande palmam_, hold out your hand. _Parse_ is the Lat. _pars_, occurring in the question _Quae pars orationis?_ What part of speech? _Omnibus_, for all, is a dative plural. _Limbo_ is the ablative of Lat. _limbus_, an edge, hem, in the phrase "in _limbo_ patrum," where _limbus_ is used for the abode of the Old Testament saints on the verge of Hades. It is already jocular in Shakespeare-- "I have some of 'em in _limbo_ patrum, and there they are like to dance these three days." (_Henry VIII._, v. 3.) _Folio_, _quarto_, etc., are ablatives, from the phrases _in folio_, _in quarto_, etc., still used in French. _Premises_, earlier _premisses_, is a slightly disguised Lat. _praemissas_, the aforesaid, lit. sent before, used in deeds to avoid repeating the full description of a property. It is thus the same word as logical _premisses_, or assumptions. _Quorum_ is from a legal formula giving a list of persons "of whom" a certain number must be present. A _teetotum_ is so called because it has, or once had, on one of its sides, a _T_ standing for _totum_, all. It was also called simply a _totum_. The other three sides also bore letters to indicate what share, if any, of the stake they represented. Cotgrave has _totum_ (_toton_), "a kind of game with a whirle-bone." In spite of the interesting anecdote about the temperance orator with an impediment in his speech, it was probably _teetotum_ that suggested _teetotaller_. We have also a few words straight from Greek, e.g., _analysis_, _aroma_, _atlas_, the world-sustaining demi-god whose picture used to decorate map-books, _colon_, _comma_, _dogma_, _epitome_, _miasma_, _nausea_, Gk. {nausia}, lit. sea-sickness, _nectar_, whence the fruit called a _nectarine_-- "_Nectarine_ fruits which the compliant boughs Yielded them, sidelong as they sat recline." (_Paradise Lost_, iv. 332.) _pathos_, _python_, _pyx_, _synopsis_, etc.; but most of our Greek words have passed through French _via_ Latin, or are newly manufactured scientific terms, often most unscientifically constructed. _Gamut_ contains the Gk. _gamma_ and the Latin conjunction _ut_. Guy d'Arezzo, who flourished in the 11th century, is said to have introduced the method of indicating the notes by the letters _a_ to _g_. For the note below _a_ he used the Gk. _gamma_. To him is attributed also the series of monosyllables by which the notes are also indicated. They are supposed to be taken from a Latin hymn to St John-- _Ut_ queant laxis _re_sonare fibris _Mi_ra gestorum _fa_muli tuorum _Sol_ve polluti _la_bii reatum _S_ancte _I_ohannes. _Do_ is sometimes substituted for _ut_ in French, and always in modern English. [Page Heading: FRENCH DIALECTS] In considering the Old French element in English, one has to bear in mind a few elementary philological facts. Nearly all French nouns and adjectives are derived from the accusative. I give, for simplicity, the nominative, adding the stem in the case of imparisyllabic words. The foundation of French is Vulgar Latin, which differs considerably from that we study at school. I only give Vulgar Latin forms where it cannot be avoided. For instance, in dealing with _culverin_ (p. 38), I connect Fr. _couleuvre_, adder, with Lat. _col[)u]ber_, a snake. Every Romance philologist knows that it must represent Vulgar Lat. _*colobra_; but this form, which, being conjectural, is marked with an asterisk, had better be forgotten by the general reader. Our modern English words often preserve a French form which no longer exists, or they are taken from dialects, especially those of Normandy and Picardy, which differ greatly from that of Paris. The word _caudle_ illustrates both these points. It is the same word as modern Fr. _chaudeau_, "a _caudle_; or, warme broth" (Cotgrave), but it preserves the Old French[9] _-el_ for _-eau_, and the Picard _c-_ for _ch-_. An uncomfortable bridle which used to be employed to silence scolds was called the _branks_. It is a Scottish word, originally applied to a bridle improvised from a halter with a wooden "cheek" each side to prevent it from slipping-- "And then its shanks, They were as thin, as sharp and sma' As cheeks o' _branks_." (BURNS, _Death and Doctor Hornbook_, vii. 4.) These cheeks correspond to the two parallel levers called the "branches" of a bridle, and _brank_ is the Norman _branque_, branch. All the meanings of _patch_ answer to those of Fr. _piece_. It comes from the Old French dialect form _peche_, as _match_ comes from _meche_, and _cratch_, a manger, from _creche_, of German origin, and ultimately the same word as _crib_. _Cratch_ is now replaced, except in dialect, by _manger_, Fr. _mangeoire_, from _manger_, to eat, but it was the regular word in Mid. English-- "Sche childide her firste born sone, and wlappide him in clothis, and puttide in a _cracche_." (WYCLIF, _Luke_, ii. 7.) _Pew_ is from Old Fr. _puy_, a stage, eminence, Lat. _podium_, which survives in _Puy de Dome_, the mountain in Auvergne on which Pascal made his experiments with the barometer. _Dupuy_ is a common family name in France, but the _Depews_ of the West Indies have kept the older pronunciation. Many Old French words which live on in England are obsolete in France. _Chime_ is Old Fr. _chimbe_ from Greco-Lat. _cymbalum_. Minsheu (1617) derived _dismal_ from Lat. _dies mali_, evil days. This, says Trench, "is exactly one of those plausible etymologies which one learns after a while to reject with contempt." But Minsheu is substantially right, if we substitute Old Fr. _dis mal_, which is found as early as 1256. Old Fr. _di_, a day, also survives in the names of the days of the week, _lundi_, etc. In _remainder_ and _remnant_ we have the infinitive and present participle of an obsolete Old French verb derived from Lat. _reman[=e]re_. _Manor_ and _power_ are also Old French infinitives, the first now only used as a noun (_manoir_), the second represented by _pouvoir_. _Misnomer_ is the Anglo-French infinitive, "to misname." [Page Heading: INFLECTED FRENCH FORMS] In some cases we have preserved meanings now obsolete in French. _Trump_, in cards, is Fr. _triomphe_, "the card game called ruffe, or _trump_; also, the ruffe, or _trump_ at it" (Cotgrave), but the modern French word for trump is _atout_, to all. _Rappee_ is for obsolete Fr. (tabac) _rape_, pulverised, rasped. Fr. _talon_, heel, from Vulgar Lat. _*talo_, _talon-_, for _talus_, was applied by falconers to the heel claw of the hawk. This meaning, obsolete in French, has persisted in English. The _mizen_ mast is the rearmost of three, but the Fr. _mat de misaine_ is the fore-mast, and both come from Ital. _mezzana_ middle, "also the poop or _mizensail_[10] in a ship" (Torriano). As in the case of Latin, we have some inflected French forms in English. _Lampoon_ is from the archaic Fr. _lampon_, "a drunken song" (Miege, _French Dict._, 1688). This is coined from the imperative _lampons_, let us drink, regularly used as a refrain in seditious and satirical songs. For the formation we may compare American _vamose_, to skedaddle, from Span. _vamos_, let us go. The military _revelly_ is the French imperative _reveillez_, wake up, but in the French army it is called the _diane_. The _gist_ of a matter is the point in which its importance really "lies." _Ci-git_, for Old Fr. _ci-gist_, Lat. _jacet_, here lies, is seen on old tombstones. _Tennis_, says Minsheu, is so called from Fr. _tenez_, hold, "which word the Frenchmen, the onely tennis-players, use to speake when they strike the ball." This etymology, for a long time regarded as a wild guess, has been shewn by recent research to be most probably correct. The game is of French origin, and it was played by French knights in Italy a century before we find it alluded to by Gower (c. 1400). Erasmus tells us that the server called out _accipe_, to which his opponent replied _mitte_, and as French, and not Latin, was certainly the language of the earliest tennis-players, we may infer that the spectators named the game from the foreign word with which each service began. In French the game is called _paume_, palm of the hand; cf. _fives_, also a slang name for the hand. The archaic _assoil_-- "And the holy man he _assoil'd_ us, and sadly we sail'd away." (TENNYSON, _Voyage of Maeldune_, xi. 12.) is the present subjunctive of the Old Fr. _asoldre_ (_absoudre_), to absolve, used in the stereotyped phrase _Dieus asoile_, may God absolve. A linguistic invasion such as that of English by Old French is almost unparalleled. We have instances of the expulsion of one tongue by another, _e.g._, of the Celtic dialects of Gaul by Latin and of those of Britain by Anglo-Saxon. But a real blending of two languages can only occur when a large section of the population is bilingual for centuries. This, as we know, was the case in England. The Norman dialect, already familiar through inevitable intercourse, was transplanted to England in 1066. It developed further on its own lines into Anglo-Norman, and then, mixed with other French dialects, for not all the invaders were Normans, and political events brought various French provinces into relation with England, it produced Anglo-French, a somewhat barbarous tongue which was the official language till 1362, and with which our legal jargon is saturated. We find in Anglo-French many words which are unrecorded in continental Old French, among them one which we like to think of as essentially English, viz., _duete_, duty, an abstract formed from the past participle of Fr. _devoir_. This verb has also given us _endeavour_, due to the phrase _se mettre en devoir_-- "Je me suis _en debvoir_ mis pour moderer sa cholere tyrannicque."[11] (_Rabelais_, i. 29.) [Page Heading: NEOLOGISMS] No dictionary can keep up with the growth of a language. The _New English Dictionary_ had done the letter _C_ before the _cinematograph_ arrived, but got it in under _K_. Words of this kind are manufactured in such numbers that the lexicographer is inclined to wait and see whether they will catch on. In such cases it is hard to prophesy. The population of this country may be divided into those people who have been operated for _appendicitis_ and those who are going to be. Yet this word was considered too rare and obscure for insertion in the first volume of the _New English Dictionary_ (1888), the greatest word-book that has ever been projected. _Sabotage_ looks, unfortunately, as if it had come to stay. It is a derivative of _saboter_, to scamp work, from _sabot_, a wooden shoe, used contemptuously of an inferior article. The great French dictionaries do not know it in its latest sense of malicious damage done by strikers, and the _New English Dictionary_, which finished _Sa-_ in the year 1912, just missed it. _Hooligan_ is not recorded by the _New English Dictionary_. The original _Hooligans_ were a spirited Irish family of that name whose proceedings enlivened the drab monotony of life in Southwark towards the end of the 19th century. The word is younger than the Australian _larrikin_, of doubtful origin (see p. 190), but older than Fr. _apache_. The adoption of the Red Indian name _Apache_ for a modern Parisian bravo is a curious parallel to the 18th-century use of _Mohock_ (Mohawk) for an aristocratic London ruffler. _Heckle_ is first recorded in its political sense for 1880. The _New English Dictionary_ quotes it from _Punch_ in connection with the Fourth Party. In Scottish, however, it is old in this sense, so that it is an example of a dialect word that has risen late in life. Its southern form _hatchell_ is common in Mid. English in its proper sense of "teasing" hemp or flax, and the metaphor is exactly the same. _Tease_, earlier _toose_, means to pluck or pull to pieces, hence the name _teasel_ for the thistle used by wool-carders. The older form is seen in the derivative _tousle_, the family name _Tozer_, and the dog's name _Towser_. _Feckless_, a common Scottish word, was hardly literary English before Carlyle. It is now quite familiar-- "Thriftless, shiftless, _feckless_." (Mr LLOYD GEORGE, 1st Nov. 1911.) There is a certain appropriateness in the fact that almost the first writer to use it was James I. It is for _effectless_. I never heard of a _week-end_ till I paid a visit to Lancashire in 1883. It has long since invaded the whole island. An old _geezer_ has a modern sound, but it is the medieval _guiser_, _guisard_, mummer, which has persisted in dialect and re-entered the language. [Page Heading: WORDS DUE TO ACCIDENT] The fortunes of a word are sometimes determined by accident. _Glamour_ (see p. 145) was popularised by Scott, who found it in old ballad literature. _Grail_, the holy dish at the Last Supper, would be much less familiar but for Tennyson. _Mascot_, from a Provencal word meaning sorcerer, dates from Audran's operetta _La Mascotte_ (1880). _Jingo_ first appears in conjurors' jargon of the 17th century. It has been conjectured to represent Basque _jinko_, God, picked up by sailors. If this is the case, it is probably the only pure Basque word in English. The Ingoldsby derivation from St Gengulphus-- "Sometimes styled 'The Living _Jingo_,' from the great tenaciousness of vitality exhibited by his severed members," is of course a joke. In 1878, when war with Russia seemed imminent, a music-hall singer, the Great Macdermott, delighted large audiences with-- "We don't want to fight, but, by _Jingo_, if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too." Hence the name _jingo_ applied to that ultra-patriotic section of the population which, in war-time, attends to the shouting.[12] Fr. _chauvin_, a jingo, is the name of a real Napoleonic veteran introduced into Scribe's play _Le Soldat Laboureur_. _Barracking_ is known to us only through the visits of English cricket teams to Australia. It is said to come from a native Australian word meaning derision. The American _caucus_ was first applied (1878) by Lord Beaconsfield to the Birmingham Six Hundred. In 18th-century American it means meeting or discussion. It is probably connected with a North American Indian (Algonkin) word meaning counsellor, an etymology supported by that of _pow-wow_, a palaver or confab, which is the Algonkin for a medicine-man. With these words may be mentioned _Tammany_, now used of a famous political body, but, in the 18th century, of a society named after the "tutelar saint" of Pennsylvania. The original Tammany was an Indian chief with whom William Penn negotiated for grants of land about the end of the 17th century. _Littoral_ first became familiar in connection with Italy's ill-starred Abyssinian adventure, and _hinterland_ marked the appearance of Germany as a colonial power-- "'Let us glance a moment,' said Mr Queed, 'at Man, as we see him first emerging from the dark _hinterlands_ of history.'" (H. S. HARRISON, _Queed_, Ch. 17.) [Page Heading: BLUNDERS] Sometimes the blunder of a great writer has enriched the language. Scott's _bartisan_-- "Its varying circle did combine Bulwark, and _bartisan_, and line And bastion, tower ..." (_Marmion_, vi. 2.) is a mistake for _bratticing_, timber-work, a word of obscure origin of which several corruptions are found in early Scottish. It is rather a favourite with writers of "sword and feather" novels. Other sham antiques are _slug-horn_, Chatterton's absurd perversion of the Gaelic _slogan_, war-cry, copied by Browning-- "Dauntless the _slug-horn_ to my lips I set, And blew 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.'" and Scott's extraordinary misuse of _warison_, security, a doublet of _garrison_, as though it meant "war sound"-- "Or straight they sound their _warison_, And storm and spoil thy garrison." (_Lay_, iv. 21.) Scott also gave currency to _niddering_, a coward-- "Faithless, mansworn,[13] and _niddering_." (_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 42.) which has been copied by Lytton and Kingsley, and elaborated into _nidderling_ by Mr Crockett. It is a misprint in an early edition of William of Malmesbury for _niding_ or _nithing_, cognate with Ger. _Neid_, envy. This word, says Camden, is mightier than _Abracadabra_,[14] since-- "It hath levied armies and subdued rebellious enemies. For when there was a dangerous rebellion against King William Rufus, and Rochester Castle, then the most important and strongest fort of this realm, was stoutly kept against him, after that he had but proclaimed that his subjects should repair thither to his camp, upon no other penalty, but that whosoever should refuse to come should be reputed a _niding_, they swarmed to him immediately from all sides in such numbers that he had in a few days an infinite army, and the rebels therewith were so terrified that they forthwith yielded." (_Remains concerning Britain._) _Derring-do_ is used several times by Spenser, who explains it as "manhood and chevalrie." It is due to his misunderstanding of a passage in Lidgate, in which it is an imitation of Chaucer, complicated by a misprint. Scott took it from Spenser-- "'Singular,' he again muttered to himself, 'if there be two who can do a deed of such _derring-do_.'" (_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 29.) and from him it passed to Bulwer Lytton and later writers. Such words as these, the illegitimate offspring of genius, are to be distinguished from the "ghost-words" which dimly haunt the dictionaries without ever having lived (see p. 201). Speaking generally, we may say that no word is ever created _de novo_. The names invented for commercial purposes are not exceptions to this law. _Bovril_ is compounded of Lat. _bos_, ox, and _vril_,[15] the mysterious power which plays so important a part in Lytton's _Coming Race_, while _Tono-Bungay_ suggests _tonic_. The only exception to this is _gas_, the arbitrary coinage of the Belgian chemist Van Helmont in the 17th century. But even this is hardly a new creation, because we have Van Helmont's own statement that the word _chaos_ was vaguely present to his mind. _Chortle_ has, however, secured a limited currency, and is admitted by the _New English Dictionary_-- "O frabjous day! Callooh! callay! He _chortled_ in his joy." (_Through the Looking-Glass._) and, though an accurate account of the _boojum_ is lacking, most people know it to be a dangerous variety of _snark_. FOOTNOTES: [6] _Abominable_ is regularly spelt _abhominable_ in late Old French and Mid. English, as though meaning "inhuman," Lat. _homo_, _homin-_, a man. [7] This etymology is doubted by some authorities. [8] But the word comes to us from French. In the 16th century such puzzles were called _rebus de Picardie_, because of their popularity in that province. [9] For simplicity the term Old French is used here to include all words not in modern use. Where a modern form exists it is given in parentheses. [10] The name was thus applied to a sail before it was given to a mast. Although the Italian word means "middle," it is perhaps, in this particular sense, a popular corruption of an Arabic word of quite different meaning. The discussion of so difficult a problem is rather out of place in a book intended for the general reader, but I cannot refrain from giving a most interesting note which I owe to Mr W. B. Whall, Master Mariner, the author of _Shakespeare's Sea Terms Explained_--"The sail was (until c. 1780) lateen, _i.e._, triangular, like the sail of a galley. The Saracens, or Moors, were the great galley sailors of the Mediterranean, and _mizen_ comes from Arab., _miezen_, balance. The _mizen_ is, even now, a sail that 'balances,' and the reef in a mizen is still called the 'balance' reef." [11] "I have _endeavoured_ to moderate his tyrannical choler" (Urquhart's Translation, 1653). [12] The credit of first using the word in the political sense is claimed both for George Jacob Holyoake and Professor Minto. [13] From Anglo-Sax. _m[=a]n_, deceit, cognate with the first syllable of Ger. _Meineid_, perjury. [14] This word, which looks like an unsuccessful palindrome, belongs to the language of medieval magic. It seems to be artificially elaborated from {abraxas}, a word of Persian origin used by a sect of Greek gnostics. Its letters make up the magic number 365, supposed to represent the number of spirits subject to the supreme being. [15] In coining _vril_ Lytton probably had in mind Lat. _vis_, _vires_, power, or the adjective _virilis_. CHAPTER II WANDERINGS OF WORDS In assigning to a word a foreign origin, it is necessary to show how contact between the two languages has taken place, or the particular reasons which have brought about the borrowing. A Chinese word cannot suddenly make its appearance in Anglo-Saxon, though it may quite well do so in modern English. No nautical terms have reached us from the coast of Bohemia (_Winter's Tale_, iii. 3), nor is the vocabulary of the wine trade enriched by Icelandic words. Although we have words from all the languages of Europe, our direct borrowings from some of them have been small. The majority of High German words in English have passed through Old French, and we have taken little from modern German. On the other hand, commerce has introduced a great many words from the old Low German dialects of the North Sea and the Baltic. The Dutch[16] element in English supplies a useful object lesson on the way in which the borrowing of words naturally takes place. As a great naval power, the Dutch have contributed to our nautical vocabulary a number of words, many of which are easily recognised as near relations; such are _boom_ (beam), _skipper_ (shipper), _orlop_ (over leap), the name given to a deck which "over-runs" the ship's hold. _Yacht_, properly a "hunting" ship, is cognate with Ger. _Jagd_, hunting, but has no English kin. Hexham has _jaght_, "zee-roovers schip, pinace, or pirats ship." The modern Dutch spelling is _jacht_. We should expect to find art terms from the country of Hobbema, Rubens, Vandyke, etc. See _easel_ (p. 39), _etch_ (p. 133), _lay-figure_ (p. 166), _sketch_ (p. 22). _Landscape_, earlier _landskip_, has the suffix which in English would be _-ship_. In the 16th century Camden speaks of "a _landskip_, as they call it." The Low Countries were for two centuries the cock-pit of Europe, and many military terms were brought back to England by Dugald Dalgetty and the armies which "swore terribly in Flanders." Such are _cashier_ (p. 157), _forlorn hope_ (p. 129), _tattoo_ (p. 162). Other interesting military words are _leaguer_ (lair), recently re-introduced from South Africa as _laager_, and _furlough_. The latter word, formerly pronounced to rime with _cough_, is from Du. _verlof_ (for leave); _cf._ archaic Ger. _Verlaub_, now replaced by _Urlaub_. _Knapsack_,[17] a food sack, comes from colloquial Du. _knap_, food, or what the Notts colliers call _snap_. We also find it called a _snapsack_. Both _knap_ and _snap_ contain the idea of "crunching"-- "I would she (Report) were as lying a gossip in that as ever _knapped_ ginger." (_Merchant of Venice_, iii. 1.) _Roster_ (roaster) is the Dutch for gridiron, the allusion being to the parallel lines of the list or plan; for a somewhat similar metaphor cf. _cancel_ (p. 88). The pleasant fiction that-- "The children of Holland take pleasure in making What the children of England take pleasure in breaking," confirms the derivation of _toy_ from Du. _tuig_, implement, thing, stuff, etc., a word, like its German cognate _Zeug_, with an infinity of meanings. We now limit _toy_ to the special sense represented by Du. _speel-tuig_, play-thing. [Page Heading: DISAPPEARANCE OF CELTIC] Our vocabulary dealing with war and fortification is chiefly French, but most of the French terms come from Italian. Addison wrote an article in No. 165 of the _Spectator_ ridiculing the Frenchified character of the military language of his time, and, in the 16th century, Henri Estienne, patriot, printer, and philologist, lamented that future historians would believe, from the vocabulary employed, that France had learnt the art of war from Italy. As a matter of fact she did. The earliest writers on the new tactics necessitated by villainous saltpetre were Italians trained in condottiere warfare. They were followed by the great French theorists and engineers of the 16th and 17th centuries, who naturally adopted a large number of Italian terms which thus passed later into English. A considerable number of Spanish and Portuguese words have reached us in a very roundabout way (see pp. 23-7). This is not surprising when we consider how in the 15th and 16th centuries the world was dotted with settlements due to the Portuguese and Spanish adventurers who had a hundred years' start of our own. There are very few Celtic words either in English or French. In each country the result of conquest was, from the point of view of language, complete. A few words from the Celtic languages have percolated into English in comparatively recent times, but many terms which we associate with the picturesque Highlanders are not Gaelic at all.[18] _Tartan_ comes through French from the _Tartars_ (see p. 47); _kilt_ is a Scandinavian verb, "to tuck up," and _dirk_,[19] of unknown origin, first appears about 1600. For _trews_ see p. 117. A very interesting part of our vocabulary, the _canting_, or rogues', language, dates mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, and includes contributions from most of the European languages, together with a large Romany element. The early dictionary makers paid great attention to this aspect of the language. Elisha Coles, who published a fairly complete English dictionary in 1676, says in his preface, "'Tis no disparagement to understand the canting terms: it may chance to save your throat from being cut, or (at least), your pocket from being pick'd." Words often go long journeys. _Boss_ is in English a comparatively modern Americanism. But, like many American words, it belongs to the language of the Dutch settlers who founded New Amsterdam (New York). It is Du. _baas_, master, which has thus crossed the Atlantic twice on its way from Holland to England. A number of Dutch words became familiar to us about the year 1900 in consequence of the South African war. One of them, _slim_, 'cute, seems to have been definitely adopted. It is cognate with Ger. _schlimm_, bad, and Eng. _slim_, slender, and the latter word has for centuries been used in the Eastern counties in the very sense in which it has now been re-introduced. _Apricot_ is a much travelled word. It comes to us from Fr. _abricot_, while the Shakespearean _apricock_-- "Feed him with _apricocks_ and dewberries." (_Midsummer Night's Dream_, iii. 1.) represents the Spanish or Portuguese form. Ger. _Aprikose_ comes, _via_ Dutch, from the French plural. The word was adopted into the Romance languages from Arab. _al-barquq_, where _al_ is the definite article (_cf._ examples on p. 115), while _barquq_ comes, through medieval Greek, from Vulgar Lat. _praecoquum_, for _praecox_, early-ripe. Thus the word first crossed the Adriatic, passed on to Asia Minor or the North coast of Africa, and then travelling along the Mediterranean re-entered Southern Europe. [Page Heading: ARABIC TRADE WORDS] Many other Arabic trade words have a similar history. _Carat_ comes to us, through French, from Italian _carato_, "a waight or degree called a _caract_" (Florio). The Italian word is from Arabic, but the Arabic form is a corruption of Gk. {keration}, fruit of the locust tree, lit. little horn, also used of a small weight. The verb to _garble_, now used only of confusing or falsifying,[20] meant originally to sort or sift, especially spices-- "_Garbler_ of spices is an officer of great antiquity in the city of London, who may enter into any shop, warehouse, etc., to view and search drugs, spices, etc., and to _garble_ the same and make them clean." (Cowel's _Interpreter_.) It represents Span. _garbellar_, from _garbello_, a sieve. This comes from Arab. _ghirb[=a]l_, a sieve, borrowed from Lat. _cribellum_, diminutive of _cribrum_. _Quintal_, an old word for hundred-weight, looks as if it had something to do with five. Fr. and Span. _quintal_ are from Arab. _qintar_, hundred-weight, which is Lat. _centenarium_ (whence directly Ger. _Zentner_, hundred-weight). The French word passed into Dutch, and gave, with a diminutive ending, _kindekijn_, now replaced by _kinnetje_, a firkin.[21] We have adopted it as _kilderkin_, but have doubled its capacity. With these examples of words that have passed through Arabic may be mentioned _talisman_, not a very old word in Europe, from Arab. _tilsam_, magic picture, ultimately from Gk. {telein}, to initiate into mysteries, lit. to accomplish, and _effendi_, a Turkish corruption of Gk. {authentes}, a master, whence Lat. _authentic_. _Hussar_ seems to be a late Latin word which passed into Greece and then entered Central Europe _via_ the Balkans. It comes into 16th-century German from Hungar. _huszar_, freebooter. This is from a Serbian word which means also pirate. It represents medieval Gk. {koursarios}, a transliteration of Vulgar Lat. _cursarius_, from _currere_, to run, which occurs also with the sense of pirate in medieval Latin. _Hussar_ is thus a doublet of _corsair_. The immediate source of _sketch_ is Du. _schets_, "draught of any picture" (Hexham), from Ital. _schizzo_, "an ingrosement or first rough draught of anything" (Florio), whence also Fr. _esquisse_ and Ger. _Skizze_. The Italian word represents Greco-Lat. _schedium_, an extempore effort. _Assassin_ and _slave_ are of historic interest. _Assassin_, though not very old in English, dates from the Crusades. Its oldest European form is Ital. _assassino_, and it was adopted into French in the 16th century. Henri Estienne, whose fiery patriotism entered even into philological questions, reproaches his countrymen for using foreign terms. They should only adopt, he says, Italian words which express Italian qualities hitherto unknown to the French, such as _assassin_, _charlatan_, _poltron_! _Assassin_ is really a plural, from the _hachaschin_, eaters of the drug _haschish_, who executed the decrees of the Old Man of the Mountains. It was one of these who stabbed Edward Longshanks at Acre. The first _slaves_ were captive _Slavonians_. We find the word in most of the European languages. The fact that none of the Western tribes of the race called themselves _Slavs_ or _Slavonians_ shows that the word could not have entered Europe _via_ Germany, where the Slavs were called Wends. It must have come from the Byzantine empire _via_ Italy. Some Spanish words have also come to us by the indirect route. The _cocoa_ which is grateful and comforting was formerly spelt _cacao_, as in French and German. It is a Mexican word. The _cocoa_ of _cocoa-nut_ is for _coco_, a Spanish baby-word for an ugly face or bogie-man. The black marks at one end of the nut give it, especially before the removal of the fibrous husk, some resemblance to a ferocious face. Stevens (1706) explains _coco_ as "the word us'd to fright children; as we say the Bulbeggar." [Page Heading: COW-BOY WORDS] _Mustang_ seems to represent two words, _mestengo y mostrenco_, "a straier" (Percyvall). The first appears to be connected with _mesta_, "a monthly fair among herdsmen; also, the laws to be observed by all that keep or deal in cattle" (Stevens), and the second with _mostrar_, to show, the finder being expected to advertise a stray. The original _mustangs_ were of course descended from the strayed horses of the Spanish _conquistadors_. _Ranch_, Span. _rancho_, a row (of huts), is a doublet of _rank_, from Fr. _rang_, Old Fr. _reng_, Old High Ger. _hring_, a ring. Thus what is now usually straight was once circular, the ground idea of ar_range_ment surviving. Another doublet is Fr. _harangue_, due to the French inability to pronounce _hr-_ (see p. 55), a speech delivered in the ring. _Cf._ also Ital. _aringo_, "a riding or carreering place, a liste for horses, or feates of armes: a declamation, an oration, a noise, a common loud speech" (Florio), in which the "ring" idea is also prominent. Other "cow-boy" words of Spanish origin are the less familiar _cinch_, girth of a horse, Span. _cincha_, from Lat. _cingula_, also used metaphorically-- "The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature 'to get a _cinch_' on an honourable aestheticism." (Snaith, _Mrs Fitz_, Ch. 1.) and the formidable riding-whip called a _quirt_, Span. _cuerda_, cord-- "Whooping and swearing as they plied the _quirt_." (Masefield, _Rosas_.) Stories of Californian life often mention Span. _reata_, a tethering rope, from the verb _reatar_, to bind together, Lat. _re-aptare_. Combined with the definite article (_la reata_) it has given _lariat_, a familiar word in literature of the Buffalo Bill character. _Lasso_, Span. _lazo_, Lat. _laqueus_, snare, is a doublet of Eng. _lace_. When, in the _Song of Hiawatha_-- "Gitche Manito, the mighty, Smoked the _calumet_, the Peace-pipe, As a signal to the nations," he was using an implement with a French name. _Calumet_ is an Old Norman word for _chalumeau_, reed, pipe, a diminutive from Lat. _calamus_. It was naturally applied by early French voyagers to the "long reed for a pipe-stem." Eng. _shawm_ is the same word without the diminutive ending. Another Old French word, once common in English, but now found only in dialect, is _felon_, a whitlow. It is used more than once by Mr Hardy-- "I've been visiting to Bath because I had a _felon_ on my thumb." (_Far from the Madding Crowd_, Ch. 33.) This is still an every-day word in Canada and the United States. It is a metaphorical use of _felon_, a fell villain. A whitlow was called in Latin _furunculus_, "a little theefe; a sore in the bodie called a _fellon_" (Cooper), whence Fr. _furoncle_, or _froncle_, "the hot and hard bumpe, or swelling, tearmed, a _fellon_" (Cotgrave). Another Latin name for it was _tagax_, "a _felon_ on a man's finger" (Cooper), lit. thievish. One of its Spanish names is _padrastro_, lit. step-father. I am told that an "agnail" was formerly called a "step-mother" in Yorkshire. This is a good example of the semantic method in etymology (see pp. 99-104). [Page Heading: PORTUGUESE WORDS] Some of the above instances show how near to home we can often track a word which at first sight appears to belong to another continent. This is still more strikingly exemplified in the case of Portuguese words, which have an almost uncanny way of pretending to be African or Indian. Some readers will, I think, be surprised to hear that _assegai_ occurs in Chaucer, though in a form not easily recognisable. It is a Berber word which passed through Spanish and Portuguese into French and English. We find Fr. _archegaie_ in the 14th century, _azagaie_ in Rabelais, and the modern form _zagaie_ in Cotgrave, who describes it as "a fashion of slender, long, and long-headed pike, used by the Moorish horsemen." In Mid. English _l'archegaie_ was corrupted by folk-etymology (see p. 115) into _lancegay_, _launcegay_, the form used by Chaucer-- "He worth upon his stede gray, And in his hond a _launcegay_, A long swerd by his syde." (_Sir Thopas_, l. 40.) The use of this weapon was prohibited by statute in 1406, hence the early disappearance of the word. Another "Zulu" word which has travelled a long way is _kraal_. This is a contracted Dutch form from Port. _curral_, a sheepfold (_cf._ Span. _corral_, a pen, enclosure). Both _assegai_ and _kraal_ were taken to South East Africa by the Portuguese and then adopted by the Boers and Kafirs.[22] _Sjambok_ occurs in 17th-century accounts of India in the form _chawbuck_. It is a Persian word, spelt _chabouk_ by Moore, in _Lalla Rookh_. It was adopted by the Portuguese as _chabuco_, "in the Portuguese India, a whip or scourge"[23] (Vieyra, _Port. Dict._, 1794). _Fetish_, an African idol, first occurs in the records of the early navigators, collected and published by Hakluyt and Purchas. It is the Port. _feitico_, Lat. _factitius_, artificial, applied by the Portuguese explorers to the graven images of the heathen. The corresponding Old Fr. _faitis_ is rather a complimentary adjective, and everyone remembers the lady in Chaucer who spoke French fairly and _fetousli_. _Palaver_, also a travellers' word from the African coast, is Port. _palavra_, word, speech, Greco-Lat. _parabola_. It is thus a doublet of _parole_ and _parable_, and is related to _parley_. _Ayah_, an Indian nurse, is Port. _aia_, nurse, of unknown origin. _Caste_ is Port. _casta_, pure, and a doublet of _chaste_. _Tank_, an Anglo-Indian word of which the meaning has narrowed in this country, is Port. _tanque_, a pool or cistern, Lat. _stagnum_, whence Old Fr. _estang_ (_etang_) and provincial Eng. _stank_, a dam, or a pond banked round. _Cobra_ is the Portuguese for snake, cognate with Fr. _couleuvre_, Lat. _coluber_ (see p. 7). We use it as an abbreviation for _cobra de capello_, hooded snake, the second part of which is identical with Fr. _chapeau_ and cognate with _cape_, _chapel_ (p. 152), _chaplet_, a garland, and _chaperon_, a "protecting" hood. From still further afield than India comes _joss_, a Chinese god, a corruption of Port. _deos_, Lat. _deus_. Even _mandarin_ comes from Portuguese, and not Chinese, but it is an Eastern word, ultimately of Sanskrit origin. [Page Heading: GORILLA--SILK] The word _gorilla_ is perhaps African, but more than two thousand years separate its first appearance from its present use. In the 5th or 6th century, B.C., a Carthaginian navigator named Hanno sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules along the west coast of Africa. He probably followed very much the same route as Sir Richard Dalyngridge and Saxon Hugh when they voyaged with Witta the Viking. He wrote in Punic a record of his adventures, which was received with the incredulity usually accorded to travellers' tales. Among the wonders he encountered were some hairy savages called _gorillas_. His work was translated into Greek and later on into several European languages, so that the word became familiar to naturalists. In 1847 it was applied to the giant ape, which had recently been described by explorers. The origin of the word _silk_ is a curious problem. It is usually explained as from Greco-Lat. _sericum_, a name derived from an Eastern people called the _Seres_, presumably the Chinese. It appears in Anglo-Saxon as _seolc_. Now, at that early period, words of Latin origin came to us by the overland route and left traces of their passage. But all the Romance languages use for silk a name derived from Lat. _saeta_, bristle, and this name has penetrated even into German (_Seide_) and Dutch (_zijde_). The derivatives of _sericum_ stand for another material, _serge_. Nor can it be assumed that the _r_ of the Latin word would have become in English always _l_ and never _r_. There are races which cannot sound the letter _r_, but we are not one of them. As the word _silk_ is found also in Old Norse, Swedish, Danish, and Old Slavonian, the natural inference is that it must have reached us along the north of Europe, and, if derived from _sericum_, it must, in the course of its travels, have passed through a dialect which had no _r_. FOOTNOTES: [16] This includes Flemish, spoken in a large part of Belgium and in the North East of France. [17] _Haversack_, oat-sack, comes through French from German. [18] This applies also to some of the clan names, e.g., _Macpherson_, son of the parson, _Macnab_, son of the abbot. [19] My own conviction is that it is identical with Dan. _dirik_, _dirk_, a pick-lock. See _Dietrich_ (p. 42). An implement used for opening an enemy may well have been named in this way. _Cf._ Du. _opsteeker_ (up sticker), "a pick-lock, a great knife, or a dagger" (Sewel, 1727). [20] "It was a wholly _garbled_ version of what never took place" (Mr Birrell, in the House, 26th Oct. 1911). The bull appears to be a laudable concession to Irish national feeling. [21] Formerly _ferdekin_, a derivative of Du. _vierde_, fourth; cf. _farthing_, a little fourth. [22] _Kafir_ (Arab.) means infidel. [23] Eng. _chawbuck_ is used in connection with the punishment we call the _bastinado_. This is a corruption of Span. _bastonada_, "a stroke with a club or staff" (Stevens, 1706). On the other hand, we extend the meaning of _drub_, the Arabic word for _bastinado_, to a beating of any kind. CHAPTER III WORDS OF POPULAR MANUFACTURE In a sense, all nomenclature, apart from purely scientific language, is popular. But real meanings are often so rapidly obscured that words become mere labels, and cease to call up the image or the poetic idea with which they were first associated. To take a simple instance, how many people realise that the _daisy_ is the "day's eye"?-- "Wele by reson men it calle may The _dayeseye_ or ellis the 'eye of day.'" (CHAUCER, _Legend of Good Women_, Prol., l. 184.) In studying that part of our vocabulary which especially illustrates the tendencies shown in popular name-giving, one is struck by the keen observation and imaginative power shown by our far-off ancestors, and the lack of these qualities in later ages. Perhaps in no part of the language does this appear so clearly as in the names of plants and flowers. The most primitive way of naming a flower is from some observed resemblance, and it is curious to notice the parallelism of this process in various languages. Thus our _crowfoot_, _crane's bill_, _larkspur_, _monkshood_, _snapdragon_, are in German _Hahnenfuss_ (cock's foot), _Storchschnabel_ (stork's bill), _Rittersporn_ (knight's spur), _Eisenhut_ (iron hat), _Loewenmaul_ (lion's mouth). I have purposely chosen instances in which the correspondence is not absolute, because examples like _Loewenzahn_ (lion's tooth), _dandelion_ (Fr. _dent de lion_) may be suspected of being mere translations. I give the names in most general use, but the provincial variants are numerous, though usually of the same type. The French names of the flowers mentioned are still more like the English. The more learned words which sometimes replace the above are, though now felt as mere symbols, of similar origin, e.g., _geranium_ and _pelargonium_, used for the cultivated _crane's bill_, are derived from the Greek for crane and stork respectively. So also in _chelidonium_, whence our _celandine_ or _swallow-wort_, we have the Greek for swallow. In the English names of plants we observe various tendencies of the popular imagination. We have the crudeness of _cowslip_ for earlier _cowslop_, cow-dung, and many old names of unquotable coarseness, the quaintness of _Sweet William_, _lords and ladies_, _bachelors' buttons_, _dead men's fingers_, and the exquisite poetry of _forget-me-not_, _heart's ease_, _love in a mist_, _traveller's joy_. There is also a special group named from medicinal properties, such as _feverfew_, a doublet of _febrifuge_, and _tansy_, Fr. _tanaisie_, from Greco-Lat. _athanasia_, immortality. We may compare the learned _saxifrage_, stone-breaker, of which the Spanish doublet is _sassafras_. The German name is _Steinbrech_. There must have been a time when a simple instinct for poetry was possessed by all nations, as it still is by uncivilised races and children. Among European nations this instinct appears to be dead for ever. We can name neither a mountain nor a flower. Our Mount Costigan, Mount Perry, Mount William cut a sorry figure beside the peaks of the Bernese Oberland, the Monk, the Maiden, the Storm Pike, the Dark Eagle Pike.[24] Occasionally a race which is accidentally brought into closer contact with nature may have a happy inspiration, such as the _Drakensberg_ (dragon's mountain) or _Weenen_[25] (weeping) of the old _voortrekkers_. But the Cliff of the Falling Flowers, the name of a precipice over which the Korean queens cast themselves to escape dishonour, represents an imaginative realm which is closed to us.[26] The botanist who describes a new flower hastens to join the company of Messrs _Dahl_, _Fuchs_, _Lobel_, _Magnol_ and _Wistar_, while fresh varieties are used to immortalise a florist and his family. [Page Heading: NAMES OF FRUITS] The names of fruits, perhaps because they lend themselves less easily to imaginative treatment, are even duller than modern names of flowers. The only English names are the _apple_ and the _berry_. New fruits either retained their foreign names (_cherry_, _peach_, _pear_, _quince_) or were violently converted into _apples_ or _berries_, usually the former. This practice is common to the European languages, the _apple_ being regarded as the typical fruit. Thus the orange is usually called in North Germany _Apfelsine_, apple of China, with which we may compare our "China orange." In South Germany it was called _Pomeranze_ (now used especially of the Seville orange), from Ital. _pomo_, apple, _arancia_, orange. Fr. _orange_ is folk-etymology (_or_, gold) for _*arange_, from Arab. _narandj_, whence Span. _naranja_. _Melon_ is simply the Greek for "apple," and has also given us _marmalade_, which comes, through French, from Port. _marmelada_, quince jam, a derivative of Greco-Lat. _melimelum_, quince, lit. honey-apple. _Pine-apple_ meant "fir-cone" as late as the 17th century, as Fr. _pomme de pin_ still does.[27] The fruit was named from its shape, which closely resembles that of a fir-cone. _Pomegranate_ means "apple with seeds." We also find the apricot, lemon (_pomcitron_), peach, and quince all described as apples. At least one fruit, the _greengage_, is named from a person, Sir William Gage, a gentleman of Suffolk, who popularised its cultivation early in the 18th century. It happens that the French name of the fruit, _reine-claude_ (pronounced _glaude_), is also personal, from the wife of Francis I. Animal nomenclature shows some strange vagaries. The resemblance of the _hippopotamus_, lit. river-horse, to the horse, hardly extends beyond their common possession of four legs.[28] The lion would hardly recognise himself in the _ant-lion_ or the _sea-lion_, still less in the _chameleon_, lit. earth-lion, the first element of which occurs also in _camomile_, earth-apple. The _guinea-pig_ is not a pig, nor does it come from Guinea (see p. 51). _Porcupine_ means "spiny pig." It has an extraordinary number of early variants, and Shakespeare wrote it _porpentine_. One Mid. English form was _porkpoint_. The French name has hesitated between _spine_ and _spike_. The modern form is _porc-epic_, but Palsgrave has "_porkepyn_ a beest, _porc espin_." _Porpoise_ is from Old Fr. _porpeis_, for _porc peis_ (Lat. _porcus piscis_), pig-fish. The modern French name is _marsouin_, from Ger. _Meerschwein_, sea-pig; _cf._ the name _sea-hog_, formerly used in English. Old Fr. _peis_ survives also in _grampus_, Anglo-Fr. _grampais_ for _grand peis_, big fish, but the usual Old French word is _craspeis_ or _graspeis_, fat fish. The _caterpillar_ seems to have suggested in turn a cat and a dog. Our word is corrupted by folk-etymology from Old Fr. _chatepeleuse_, "a corne-devouring mite, or weevell" (Cotgrave). This probably means "woolly cat," just as a common species is popularly called _woolly bear_, but it was understood as being connected with the French verb _peler_, "to _pill_, pare, barke, unrinde, unskin" (Cotgrave). The modern French name for the caterpillar is _chenille_, a derivative of _chien_, dog. It has also been applied to a fabric of a woolly nature; _cf._ the botanical _catkin_, which is in French _chaton_, kitten. [Page Heading: NICKNAMES OF ANIMALS] Some animals bear nicknames. _Dotterel_ means "dotard," and _dodo_ is from the Port. _doudo_, mad. _Ferret_ is from Fr. _furet_, a diminutive from Lat. _fur_, thief. _Shark_ was used of a sharper or greedy parasite before it was applied to the fish. This, in the records of the Elizabethan voyagers, is more often called by its Spanish name _tiburon_, whence Cape Tiburon, in Haiti. The origin of _shark_ is unknown, but it appears to be identical with _shirk_, for which we find earlier _sherk_. We find Ital. _scrocco_ (whence Fr. _escroc_), Ger. _Schurke_, Du. _schurk_, rascal, all rendered "shark" in early dictionaries, but the relationship of these words is not clear. The _palmer_, _i.e._ pilgrim, worm is so called from his wandering habits. _Ortolan_, the name given by Tudor cooks to the garden bunting, means "gardener" (Lat. _hortus_, garden). It comes to us through French from Ital. _ortolano_, "a gardener, an orchard keeper. Also a kinde of daintie birde in Italie, some take it to be the linnet" (Florio). We may compare Fr. _bouvreuil_, bull-finch, a diminutive of _bouvier_, ox-herd. This is called in German _Dompfaffe_, a contemptuous name for a cathedral canon. Fr. _moineau_, sparrow, is a diminutive of _moine_, monk. The wagtail is called in French _lavandiere_, laundress, from the up and down motion of its tail suggesting the washerwoman's beetle, and _bergeronnette_, little shepherdess, from its habit of following the sheep. _Adjutant_, the nickname of the solemn Indian stork, is clearly due to Mr Atkins, and the _secretary_ bird is so named because some of his head feathers suggest a quill pen behind an ear. The converse process of people being nicknamed from animals is also common and the metaphor is usually pretty obvious. An interesting case is _shrew_, a libel on a very inoffensive little animal, the _shrew-mouse_, Anglo-Sax. _scr[=e]awa_. Cooper describes _mus araneus_ as "a kinde of mise called a _shrew_, which if he go over a beastes backe he shall be lame in the chyne; if he byte it swelleth to the heart and the beast dyeth." This "information" is derived from Pliny, but the superstition is found in Greek. The epithet was, up to Shakespeare's time, applied indifferently to both sexes. From _shrew_ is derived _shrewd_, earlier _shrewed_,[29] the meaning of which has become much milder than when Henry VIII. said to Cranmer-- "The common voice I see is verified Of thee which says, 'Do my lord of Canterbury A _shrewd_ turn, and he's your friend for ever.'" (_Henry VIII._, v. 2.) The title _Dauphin_, lit. dolphin, commemorates the absorption into the French monarchy, in 1349, of the lordship of Dauphine, the cognisance of which was three dolphins. The application of animals' names to diseases is a familiar phenomenon, e.g., _cancer_ (and _canker_), crab, and _lupus_, wolf. To this class belongs _mulligrubs_, for which we find in the 17th century also _mouldy grubs_. Its oldest meaning is stomach-ache, still given in Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1864). _Mully_ is still used in dialect for mouldy, earthy, and _grub_ was once the regular word for worm. The Latin name for the same discomfort was _verminatio_, from _vermis_, a worm. For the later transition of meaning we may compare _megrims_, from Fr. _migraine_, head-ache, Greco-Lat. _hemicrania_, lit. half-skull, because supposed to affect one side only of the head. A good many names of plants and animals have a religious origin. _Hollyhock_ is for _holy hock_, from Anglo-Sax. _hoc_, mallow: for the pronunciation cf. _holiday_. _Halibut_ means _holy butt_, the latter word being an old name for flat fish; for this form of _holy_ cf. _halidom_. _Lady_ in names of flowers such as _lady's bedstraw_, _lady's garter_, _lady's slipper_, is for Our Lady. So also in _lady-bird_, called in French _bete a bon Dieu_ and in German _Marienkaefer_, Mary's beetle. Here may be mentioned _samphire_, from Old Fr. _herbe de Saint Pierre_, "sampire, crestmarin" (Cotgrave). The _filbert_, earlier _philibert_, is named from St Philibert, the nut being ripe by St Philibert's day (22nd Aug.). We may compare Ger. _Lambertsnuss_, filbert, originally "Lombard nut," but popularly associated with St Lambert's day (17th Sept.). [Page Heading: BAPTISMAL NAMES OF ANIMALS] The application of baptismal names to animals is a very general practice, though the reason for the selection of the particular name is not always clear. The most famous of such names is _Renard_ the Fox. The Old French for fox is _goupil_, a derivative of Lat. _vulpes_, fox. The hero of the great beast epic of the Middle Ages is _Renard le goupil_, and the fact that _renard_ now completely supplanted _goupil_ shows how popular the Renard legends must have been. _Renard_ is from Old High Ger. _regin-hart_, strong in counsel; _cf._ our names _Reginald_ and _Reynold_, and Scot. _Ronald_, of Norse origin. From the same source come _Chantecler_, lit. sing-clear, the cock, and _Partlet_, the hen, while _Bruin_, the bear, lit. "brown," is from the Dutch version of the epic. In the Low German version, _Reinke de Vos_, the ape's name is _Moneke_, a diminutive corresponding to Ital. _monicchio_, "a pugge, a _munkie_, an ape" (Florio), the earlier history of which is much disputed. The cat was called _Tibert_ or _Theobald_-- MERCUTIO. "_Tybalt_, you rat-catcher, will you walk?" TYBALT. "What wouldst thou have with me?" MERCUTIO. "Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives." (_Romeo and Juliet_, iii. 1.) The fact that the donkey was at one time regularly called _Cuddy_ made _Cuthbert_ for a long period unpopular as a baptismal name. He is now often called _Neddy_. The hare was called _Wat_ (_Walter_) in Tudor times. In the _Roman de Renard_ he is _Couard_, whence _coward_, a derivative of Old Fr. _coue_ (_queue_), tail, from Lat. _cauda_. The idea is that of the tail between the legs, so that the name is etymologically not very appropriate to the hare. _Parrot_, for earlier _perrot_, means "little Peter." The extension _Poll parrot_ is thus a kind of hermaphrodite. Fr. _pierrot_ is still used for the sparrow. The family name _Perrot_ is sometimes a nickname, "the chatterer," but can also mean literally "little Peter," just as _Emmot_ means "little Emma," and _Marriot_ "little Mary." _Petrel_ is of cognate origin, with an allusion to St Peter's walking upon the sea; _cf._ its German name, _Sankt Peters Vogel_. Sailors call the petrel _Mother Carey's chicken_, probably a nautical corruption of some old Spanish or Italian name. But, in spite of ingenious guesses, this lady's genealogy remains as obscure as that of Davy Jones or the Jolly Roger. [Page Heading: NAMES OF BIRDS] _Robin_ has practically replaced _red-breast_. The _martin_ is in French _martinet_, and the name may have been given in allusion to the southward flight of this swallow about Martinmas; but the king-fisher, not a migrant bird, is called _martin-pecheur_, formerly also _martinet pecheur_ or _oiseau de Saint-Martin_, so that _martin_ may be due to some other association. Sometimes the double name survives. We no longer say _Philip sparrow_, but _Jack ass_, _Jack daw_, _Jenny wren_, _Tom tit_ (see p. 123), and the inclusive _Dicky bird_, are still familiar. With these we may compare _Hob_ (_i.e._ Robert) _goblin_. _Madge owl_, or simply _Madge_, was once common. For _Mag pie_ we find also various diminutives-- "Augurs, and understood relations, have By _magot-pies_, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood." (_Macbeth_, iii. 4.) Cotgrave has _pie_, "a pye, pyannat, _meggatapie_." In Old French it was also called _jaquette_, "a proper name for a woman; also, a piannat, or _megatapie_" (Cotgrave). The connection of this word, Fr. _pie_, Lat. _pica_, with the comestible _pie_ is uncertain, but it seems likely that the magpie's habit of collecting miscellaneous trifles caused its name to be given to a dish of uncertain constituents. It is a curious coincidence that the obsolete _chuet_ or _chewet_ meant both a round pie and a jackdaw.[30] It is uncertain in which of the two senses Prince Hal applies the name to Falstaff (1 _Henry IV._, v. 1). It comes from Fr. _chouette_, screech-owl, which formerly meant also "a chough, daw, jack-daw" (Cotgrave). A _piebald_ horse is one _balled_ like a magpie. _Ball_ is a Celtic word for a white mark, especially on the forehead; hence the tavern sign of the _Baldfaced Stag_. Our adjective _bald_ is thus a past participle. Things are often named from animals. _Crane_, _kite_, _donkey-engine_, _monkey-wrench_, _pig-iron_, etc., are simple cases. The _crane_ picture is so striking that we are not surprised to find it literally reproduced in many other languages. The toy called a _kite_ is in French _cerf volant_, flying stag, a name also applied to the stag-beetle, and in Ger. _Drachen_, dragon. It is natural that terrifying names should have been given to early fire-arms. Many of these, e.g., _basilisk_, _serpent_, _falconet_, _saker_ (from Fr. _sacre_, a kind of hawk), are obsolete-- "The cannon, blunderbuss, and _saker_, He was th' inventor of and maker." (_Hudibras_, i. 2.) More familiar is _culverin_, Fr. _couleuvrine_, a derivative of _couleuvre_, adder, Lat. _coluber_-- "And thou hast talk'd Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents, Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets, Of basilisks, of cannon, _culverin_." (1 _Henry IV._, ii. 3.) One name for a hand-gun was _dragon_, whence our _dragoon_, originally applied to a kind of mounted infantry or carbineers. _Musket_, like _saker_ (v.s.), was the name of a hawk. Mistress Ford uses it playfully to her page-- "How now, my eyas[31]-_musket_, what news with you?" (_Merry Wives_, iii. 3.) But the hawk was so nicknamed from its small size. Fr. _mousquet_, now replaced in the hawk sense by _emouchet_, is from Ital. _moschetto_, a diminutive from Lat. _musca_, fly. Thus _mosquito_ (Spanish) and _musket_ are doublets. _Porcelain_ comes, through French, from Ital. _porcellana_, "a kinde of fine earth called _porcelane_, whereof they make fine china dishes, called _porcellan_ dishes" (Florio). This is, however, a transferred meaning, _porcellana_ being the name of a particularly glossy shell called the "Venus shell." It is a derivative of Lat. _porcus_, pig. _Easel_ comes, with many other painters' terms, from Holland. It is Du. _ezel_, ass, which, like Ger. _Esel_, comes from Lat. _asinus_. For its metaphorical application we may compare Fr. _chevalet_, easel, lit. "little horse," and Eng. "clothes-_horse_." [Page Heading: THINGS NAMED FROM PERSONS] Objects often bear the names of individuals. Such are _albert_ chain, _brougham_, _victoria_, _wellington_ boot. Some elderly people can remember ladies wearing a red blouse called a _garibaldi_.[32] Sometimes an inventor is immortalised, e.g., _mackintosh_ and _shrapnel_, both due to 19th-century inventors. The more recent _maxim_ is named from one who, according to the late Lord Salisbury, has saved many of his fellow-men from dying of old age. Other benefactors are commemorated in _derringer_, first recorded in Bret Harte, and _bowie_, which occurs in Dickens' _American Notes_. _Sandwich_ and _spencer_ are coupled in an old rime-- "Two noble earls, whom, if I quote, Some folks might call me sinner; The one invented half a coat, The other half a dinner." An Earl Spencer (1782-1845) made a short overcoat fashionable for some time. An Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792) invented a form of light refreshment which enabled him to take a meal without leaving the gaming table. It does not appear that _Billy Cock_ is to be classed with the above, or with _Chesterfield, Chippendale & Co._ The _New English Dictionary_ quotes (from 1721) a description of the Oxford "blood" in his "_bully-cocked_ hat," worn aggressively on one side. _Pinchbeck_ was a London watchmaker (_fl. c._ 1700), and _doily_ is from _Doyley_, a linen-draper of the same period. Etienne de _Silhouette_ was French finance minister in 1759, but the application of his name to a black profile portrait is variously explained. _Negus_ was first brewed in Queen Anne's reign by Colonel Francis Negus. The first _orrery_ was constructed by the Earl of Orrery (_c._ 1700). _Galvani_ and _Volta_ were Italian scientists of the 18th century. _Mesmer_ was a German physician of the same period. _Nicotine_ is named from Jean Nicot, French ambassador at Lisbon, who sent some tobacco plants to Catherine de Medicis in 1560. He also compiled the first Old French dictionary. The gallows-shaped contrivance called a _derrick_ perpetuates the name of a famous hangman who officiated in London about 1600. It is a Dutch name, identical with _Dietrich_, _Theodoric_, and _Dirk_ (Hatteraick). Conversely the Fr. _potence_, gallows, meant originally a bracket or support, Lat. _potentia_, power. The origin of _darbies_, handcuffs, is unknown, but the line-- "To bind such babes in father _Derbies_ bands," (GASCOIGNE, _The Steel Glass_, 1576.) suggests connection with some eminent gaoler or thief-taker. [Page Heading: TANTALISE--PAMPHLET] Occasionally a verb is formed from a proper name. On the model of _tantalise_, from the punishment of Tantalus, we have _bowdlerise_, from _Bowdler_, who published an expurgated "family Shakespeare" in 1818; cf. _macadamise_. _Burke_ and _boycott_ commemorate a scoundrel and a victim. The latter word, from the treatment of Captain Boycott of Co. Mayo in 1880, seems to have supplied a want, for Fr. _boycotter_ and Ger. _boycottieren_ have become every-day words. Burke was hanged at Edinburgh in 1829 for murdering people by suffocation in order to dispose of their bodies to medical schools. We now use the verb only of "stifling" discussion, but in the Ingoldsby Legends it still has the original sense-- "But, when beat on his knees, That confounded De Guise Came behind with the 'fogle' that caused all this breeze, Whipp'd it tight round his neck, and, when backward he'd jerk'd him, The rest of the rascals jump'd on him and _Burk'd_ him." (_The Tragedy._) _Jarvey_, the slang name for a hackney coachman, especially in Ireland, was in the 18th century _Jervis_ or _Jarvis_, but history is silent as to this modern _Jehu_. A _pasquinade_ was originally an anonymous lampoon affixed to a statue of a gladiator which still stands in Rome. The statue is said to have been nicknamed from a scandal-loving cobbler named Pasquino. Florio has _pasquino_, "a statue in Rome on whom all libels, railings, detractions, and satirical invectives are fathered." _Pamphlet_ is an extended use of Old Fr. _Pamphilet_, the name of a Latin poem by one _Pamphilus_ which was popular in the Middle Ages. The suffix _-et_ was often used in this way, _e.g._, the translation of AEsop's fables by Marie de France was called _Ysopet_, and Cato's moral maxims had the title _Catonet_, or Parvus Cato. Modern Fr. _pamphlet_, borrowed back from English, has always the sense of polemical writing. In Eng. _libel_, lit. "little book," we see a similar restriction of meaning. A three-quarter portrait of fixed dimensions is called a _kitcat_-- "It is not easy to see why he should have chosen to produce a replica, or rather a _kitcat_." (_Journal of Education_, Oct. 1911.) The name comes from the portraits of members of the _Kitcat_ Club, painted by Kneller. _Kit Kat_, Christopher Kat, was a pastrycook at whose shop the club used to dine. Implements and domestic objects sometimes bear christian names. We may mention spinning-_jenny_, and the innumerable meanings of _jack_. _Davit_, earlier _daviot_, is a diminutive of David. Fr. _davier_, formerly _daviet_, is used of several mechanical contrivances, including a pick-lock. A kind of davit is called in German _Juette_, a diminutive of Judith. The implement by which the burglar earns his daily bread is now called a _jemmy_, but in the 17th century we also find _bess_ and _betty_. The French name is _rossignol_, nightingale. The German burglar calls it _Dietrich_, _Peterchen_, or _Klaus_, and the contracted forms of the first name, _dyrk_ and _dirk_, have passed into Swedish and Danish with the same meaning. In Italian a pick-lock is called _grimaldello_, a diminutive of the name Grimaldo. [Page Heading: GRIMALKIN--JUG] A kitchen wench was once called a _malkin_-- "The kitchen _malkin_ pins Her richest lockram[33] 'bout her reechy neck, Clamb'ring the walls to eye him." (_Coriolanus_, ii. 1.) This is a diminutive of Matilda or Mary, possibly of both. _Grimalkin_, applied to a fiend in the shape of a cat, is perhaps for _gray malkin_-- "I come, _Graymalkin_." (_Macbeth_, i. 1.) The name _malkin_ was transferred from the maid to the mop. Cotgrave has _escouillon_ (_ecouvillon_), "a wispe, or dish-clowt; a _maukin_, or drag, to cleanse, or sweepe an oven." _Ecouvillon_ is a derivative of Lat. _scopa_, broom. Now another French word, which means both "kitchen servant" and "dish-clout," is _souillon_, from _souiller_, to soil. What share each of these words has in Eng. _scullion_ is hard to say. The only thing certain is that _scullion_ is not originally related to _scullery_, Old Fr. _escuelerie_, a collective from Old Fr. _escuelle_ (_ecuelle_), dish, Lat. _scutella_. A _doll_ was formerly called a _baby_ or _puppet_. It is the abbreviation of _Dorothy_, for we find it called a _doroty_ in Scottish. We may compare Fr. _marionnette_, a double diminutive of Mary, explained by Cotgrave as "little Marian or Mal; also, a puppet." _Little Mary_, in another sense, has been recently, but perhaps definitely, adopted into our language. Another old name for doll is _mammet_. Capulet uses it contemptuously to his daughter-- "And then to have a wretched puling fool, A whining _mammet_, in her fortune's tender, To answer: 'I'll not wed,'--'I cannot love.'" (_Romeo and Juliet_, iii. 5.) Its earlier form is _maumet_, meaning "idol," and it is a contraction of Mahomet. The derivation of _jug_ is not capable of proof, but a 17th-century etymologist regards it as identical with the female name _Jug_,[34] for Joan or Jane. This is supported by the fact that _jack_ was used in a similar sense-- "That there's wrath and despair in the jolly black-_jack_, And the seven deadly sins in a flagon of sack." (_Lady of the Lake_, vi. 5.) We may also compare _toby jug_ and _demi-john_. The latter word is in French _dame-jeanne_, but both forms are possibly due to folk-etymology. A coat of mail was called in English a _jack_ and in French _jaque_, "a _jack_, or coat of maile" (Cotgrave); hence the diminutive _jacket_. The German miners gave to an ore which they considered useless the name _kobalt_, from _kobold_, a goblin, gnome. This has given Eng. _cobalt_. Much later is the similarly formed _nickel_, a diminutive of Nicholas. It comes to us from Sweden, but appears earliest in the German compound _Kupfernickel_, copper nickel. Apparently _nickel_ here means something like goblin; cf. _Old Nick_ and, probably, the _dickens_-- "I cannot tell what the _dickens_ his name is my husband had him of.--What do you call your knight's name, sirrah?" (_Merry Wives_, iii. 2.) _Pantaloons_ come, _via_ France, from Venice. A great many Venetians bore the name of _Pantaleone_, one of their favourite saints. Hence the application of the name to the characteristic Venetian hose. The "lean and slippered pantaloon" was originally one of the stock characters of the old Italian comedy. Torriano has _pantalone_, "a _pantalone_, a covetous and yet amorous old dotard, properly applyed in comedies unto a Venetian." _Knickerbockers_ take their name from Diedrich _Knickerbocker_, the pseudonym under which Washington Irving wrote his History of Old New York, in which the early Dutch inhabitants are depicted in baggy knee-breeches. [Page Heading: NINNY--JACKANAPES] Certain christian names are curiously associated with stupidity. In modern English we speak of a _silly Johnny_, while the Germans say _ein dummer Peter_, or _Michel_, and French uses _Colas_ (_Nicolas_), _Nicodeme_ and _Claude_, the reason for the selection of the name not always being known. English has, or had, in the sense of "fool," the words _ninny_, _nickum_, _noddy_, _zany_. _Ninny_ is for _Innocent_, "Innocent, _Ninny_, a proper name for a man" (Cotgrave). With this we may compare French _benet_ (_i.e._ Benedict), "a simple, plaine, doltish fellow; a noddy peake, a ninny hammer, a peagoose, a coxe, a silly companion" (Cotgrave). _Nickum_ and _noddy_ are probably for Nicodemus or Nicholas, both of which are used in French for a fool-- "'But there's another chance for you,' said Mr Boffin, smiling still. 'Do you like the name of Nicodemus? Think it over. _Nick_ or _Noddy_.'" (_Our Mutual Friend_, Ch. 5.) _Noddy-peak_, _ninny-hammer_, _nickumpoop_, now _nincompoop_, seem to be arbitrary elaborations. _Zany_, formerly a conjuror's assistant, is _zanni_ (see p. 143), an Italian diminutive of _Giovanni_, John. With the degeneration of _Innocent_ and _Benedict_ we may compare Fr. _cretin_, idiot, an Alpine patois form of _chretien_, Christian, and Eng. _silly_, which once meant blessed, a sense preserved by its German cognate _selig_. _Dunce_ is a libel on the disciples of the great medieval schoolman John Duns Scotus, born at Duns in Berwickshire. _Dandy_ is Scottish for Andrew, _e.g._, Dandie Dinmont (_Guy Mannering_). _Dago_, now usually applied to Italians, was used by the Elizabethans, in its original form _Diego_, of the Spaniards. The derivation of _guy_ and _bobby_ (peeler) is well known. _Jockey_ is a diminutive of the north country _Jock_, for _Jack_. The history of _jackanapes_ is obscure. The earliest record of the name is in a satirical song on the unpopular William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, who was beheaded at sea in 1450. He is called _Jack Napes_, the allusion being apparently to his badge, an ape's clog and chain. But there also seems to be association with Naples; cf. _fustian-anapes_ for Naples fustian. A poem of the 15th century mentions among our imports from Italy-- "Apes and japes and marmusettes tayled." _Jilt_ was once a stronger epithet than at present. It is for earlier _jillet_, which is a diminutive of _Jill_, the companion of Jack. _Jill_, again, is short for _Gillian_, i.e. _Juliana_, so that _jilt_ is a doublet of Shakespeare's sweetest heroine. _Termagant_, like _shrew_ (p. 34), was formerly used of both sexes, _e.g._, by Sir John Falstaff-- "'Twas time to counterfeit, or that hot _termagant_ Scot (Douglas) had paid me scot and lot too." (1 _Henry IV._, v. 4.) In its oldest sense of a Saracen god it regularly occurs with _Mahound_ (Mahomet)-- "Marsilies fait porter un livre avant: La lei i fut Mahum e _Tervagan_."[35] (_Chanson de Roland_, l. 610.) Ariosto has _Trivigante_. Being introduced into the medieval drama, the name became synonymous with a stage fury-- "I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing _Termagant_." (_Hamlet_, iii. 2.) The origin of the word is unknown, but its sense development is strangely different from that of Mahomet (p. 43). FOOTNOTES: [24] But _Finsteraarhorn_ is perhaps from the river _Aar_, not from _Aar_, eagle. [25] A place where a number of settlers were massacred by the Zulus. [26] "Two mountains near Dublin, which we, keeping in the grocery line, have called the Great and the Little Sugarloaf, are named in Irish the Golden Spears."--(Trench, _On the Study of Words_.) [27] The French name for the fruit is _ananas_, a Brazilian word. A vegetarian friend of the writer, misled by the superficial likeness of this word to _banana_, once petrified a Belgian waiter by ordering half a dozen for his lunch. [28] A reader calls my attention to the fact that, when the hippopotamus is almost completely submerged, the pointed ears, prominent eyes, and large nostrils are grotesquely suggestive of a horse's head. This I have recently verified at the Zoo. [29] For the rather illogical formation, cf. _dogged_ from _dog_. [30] Connection has even been suggested between _haggis_ and Fr. _agasse_, "a pie, piannet, or _magatapie_" (Cotgrave). _Haggis_, now regarded as Scottish, was once a common word in English. Palsgrave has _haggas_, a podyng, "caliette (caillette) de mouton," _i.e._, sheep's stomach. [31] For _eyas_ see p. 114. [32] To the same period belongs the colour _magenta_, from the victory of the French over the Austrians at Magenta in 1859. [33] For _lockram_, see p. 48. [34] _Jehannette_, "_Jug_, or Jinny" (Cotgrave). For strange perversions of baptismal names see Chap. XII. It is possible that the rather uncommon family name _Juggins_ is of the same origin. [35] "Marsil has a book brought forward: the law of Mahomet and Termagant was in it." CHAPTER IV WORDS AND PLACES A very large number of wares are named from the places from which they come. This is especially common in the case of woven fabrics, and the origin is often obvious, e.g., _arras_, _cashmere_ (by folk-etymology, _kerseymere_), _damask_, _holland_. The following are perhaps not all so evident--_frieze_ from _Friesland_[36]; _fustian_, Old Fr. _fustaine_ (_futaine_), from _Fustat_, a suburb of Cairo; _muslin_, Fr. _mousseline_, from _Mosul_ in Kurdistan; _shalloon_ from _Chalons_-sur-Marne; _lawn_ from _Laon_; _jean_, formerly _jane_, from _Genoa_ (French _Genes_[37]); _cambric_ from _Kamerijk_, the Dutch name of Cambrai (_cf._ the obsolete _dornick_, from the Dutch name of _Tournay_); _tartan_ from the _Tartars_ (properly _Tatars_), used vaguely for Orientals; _sarcenet_ from the Saracens; _sendal_, ultimately from _India_ (_cf._ Greco-Lat. _sindon_, Indian cloth); _tabby_, Old Fr. _atabis_, from the name of a suburb of Bagdad, formerly used of a kind of silk, but now of a cat marked something like the material in question. Brittany used to be famous for hempen fabrics, and the villages of _Locrenan_ and _Daoulas_ gave their names to _lockram_ (see quotation from _Coriolanus_, p. 42) and _dowlas_-- _Hostess._ You owe me money, Sir John; and now you pick a quarrel to beguile me of it: I bought you a dozen of shirts to your back. _Falstaff._ _Dowlas_, filthy _dowlas_; I have given them away to bakers' wives, and they have made bolters of them. (1 _Henry IV._, iii. 3.) _Duffel_ is a place near Antwerp-- "And let it be of _duffil_ gray, As warm a cloak as man can sell." (WORDSWORTH, _Alice Fell_.) and _Worstead_ is in Norfolk. Of other commodities _majolica_ comes from _Majorca_, called in Spanish _Mallorca_, and in medieval Latin _Majolica_; _bronze_ from _Brundusium_ (Brindisi), _delf_ from _Delft_, the _magnet_ from _Magnesia_, the _shallot_, Fr. _echalote_, in Old French also _escalogne_, whence archaic Eng. _scallion_, from _Ascalon_; the _sardine_ from _Sardinia_. A _milliner_, formerly _milaner_, dealt in goods from _Milan_. _Cravat_ dates from the Thirty Years' War, in which the _Croats_, earlier _Cravats_, played a part. _Ermine_ is in medieval Latin _mus Armenius_, Armenian mouse, but the name perhaps comes, through Fr. _hermine_, from Old High Ger. _harmo_, weasel. _Buncombe_, more usually _bunkum_, is the name of a county in North Carolina. To make a speech "for Buncombe" means, in American politics, to show your constituents that you are doing your best for your L400 a year or its American equivalent. Cf. _Billingsgate_ and _Limehouse_. The adjective _spruce_ was formerly _pruce_ and meant Prussia. Todd quotes from Holinshed-- "Sir Edward Howard then admirall, and with him Sir Thomas Parre in doubletts of crimsin velvett, etc., were apparelled after the fashion of Prussia or _Spruce_." Of similar origin are _spruce-leather_, _spruce-beer_, and the _spruce-fir_, of which Evelyn says-- "Those from Prussia (which we call _spruce_) and Norway are the best." [Page Heading: BEZANT--MAZURKA] Among coins the _bezant_ comes from _Byzantium_, the _florin_ from _Florence_, and Shylock's _ducat_, chiefly a Venetian coin, from the _ducato_ d'Apuglia, the Duchy of Apulia, where it was first coined in the 12th century. The _dollar_ is the Low Ger. _daler_, for Ger. _Taler_, originally called a _Joachimstaler_, from the silver-mine of Joachimstal, "Joachim's dale," in Bohemia. Cotgrave registers a curious Old French perversion _jocondale_, "a _daller_, a piece of money worth about 3s. sterl." Some fruits may also be mentioned, _e.g._, the _damson_ from _Damascus_, through Old Fr. _damaisine_, "a damascene or _damsen_ plum" (Cotgrave); the _currant_ from _Corinth_, and the _peach_, Fr. _peche_, from Vulgar Lat. _pessica_, for _Persica_. A _polony_ was originally a _Bolonian_ sausage, from _Bologna_. _Parchment_, Fr. _parchemin_, is the adjective _pergamenus_, from _Pergamus_, in Asia Minor. _Spaniel_ is the Old Fr. _espagneul_ (_epagneul_), lit. Spanish. We have the adjective _Moorish_ in _morris_, or _morrice_, _pike_-- "He that sets up his rest to do more exploits with his mace than a _morris pike_." (_Comedy of Errors_, iv. 3.) In _morris dance_, Fr. _danse mauresque_, the same adjective is used with something of the vagueness to be noticed in connection with India and Turkey (p. 52). Shakespeare uses the Spanish form-- "I have seen him Caper upright, like to a wild _morisco_, Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells." (2 _Henry VI._, iii. 1.) Other "local" dances are the _polka_, which means Polish woman, _mazurka_, woman of Mazuria, and the obsolete _polonaise_, lit. Polish, _cracovienne_, from Cracow, and _varsovienne_, from Warsaw. The _tarantella_, like the _tarantula_ spider, takes its name from Taranto, in Italy. The tune of the dance is said to have been originally employed as a cure for the lethargy caused by the bite of the spider. Florio has _tarantola_, "a serpent called an eft or an evet. Some take it to be a flye whose sting is perillous and deadly, and nothing but divers sounds of musicke can cure the patient." The town of _Troyes_ has given its name to _troy_ weight. The armourers of _Bilbao_, in Spain, made swords of such perfect temper that they could be bent point to hilt. Hence Falstaff describes himself in the buck-basket as-- "Compassed, like a good _bilbo_, in the circumference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head." (_Merry Wives_, iii. 5.) The _Andrea Ferrara_, or Scottish broadsword, carried by Fergus M'Ivor, bears, according to some authorities, the name of an armourer of Ferrara, in Italy. According to others, _Andrea dei Ferrari_ was a sword-maker at Belluno. I have heard it affirmed by a Scottish drill-sergeant that the real name of this genius was _Andrew Ferrars_,[38] and that he belonged to the same nationality as other great men. [Page Heading: LATEEN--GUINEA-PIG] An _argosy_, formerly also _ragusye_, was named from the Adriatic port of _Ragusa_, and a _lateen_ sail is a _Latin_, _i.e._ Mediterranean, sail; _gamboge_ is the Fr. _Cambodge_, Cambodia, and _indigo_ is from Span. _indico_, Indian. Of wines, _malmsey_, chiefly remembered in connection with George of Clarence, and _malvoisie_ are doublets, from _Monemvasia_ in the Morea. _Port_ is named from _Oporto_, i.e. _o porto_, the harbour (cf. _le Havre_), and _sherry_ (see p. 116) from _Xeres_, Lat. _Caesaris_ (urbs); cf. _Saragossa_, from _Caesarea Augusta_. But it is possible to be mistaken in connecting countries with products. _Brazil_ wood is not named from the country, but _vice-versa_. It was known as a dye-wood as early as the 12th century, and the name is found in many of the European languages. The Portuguese navigators found large quantities of it in South America and named the country accordingly. They christened an island _Madeira_, timber, Lat. _materia_, for a similar reason. The _canary_ comes from the Canary Islands, but its name is good Latin. The largest of these islands, _Canaria_, was so called by the Romans from the dogs found there. The _guinea_-fowl and _guinea_ gold came first from the west coast of Africa, but the _guinea-pig_ is a native of Brazil. The name probably came from the _Guinea-men_, or slave-ships, which regularly followed a triangular course. They sailed outward to the west coast of Africa with English goods. These they exchanged for slaves, whom they transported to the West Indies, the horrible "middle passage," and finally they sailed homeward with New World produce, including, no doubt, _guinea-pigs_ brought home by sailors. The turkey is also called _guinea-fowl_ in the 17th century, probably to be explained in the same way. The German name for guinea-pig, _Meerschweinchen_, seems to mean little pig from over the sea. Guinea was a vague geographical expression in the 17th century, but not so vague as India or Turkey. _Indian ink_ comes from China (Fr. _encre de Chine_), and _Indian corn_ from America. The names given to the _turkey_ are extraordinary. We are not surprised that, as an American bird, it should be naturally connected with India; _cf._ West Indies, Red Indian, etc. _Turk_ was in the 16th and 17th centuries a vague term for non-Christians-- "Jews, _Turks_, infidels, and hereticks." (Collect for Good Friday.) and we find also _Turkey wheat_ for maize. The following names for the turkey, given in a _Nomenclator_ in eight languages, published in Germany in 1602, do not exhaust the list:-- German.--_Indianisch_ oder _Kalekuttisch_[39] oder _Welsch_[40] Hun. Dutch.--_Calcoensche_ oft _Turckische_ Henne. French.--Geline ou poulle d'_Inde_, ou d'_Africque_. Italian.--Gallina d'_India_. Spanish.--Pavon (peacock) de las _Indias_. English.--Cok off Inde! No doubt the turkey was confused with other birds, for we find Fr. _geline d'Inde_ before the discovery of America. _D'Inde_ has become _dinde_, whence a new masculine _dindon_ has been formed. [Page Heading: HANSOM] The early etymologists were fond of identifying foreign wares with place-names. They connected _diaper_ with Ypres, _gingham_ with Guingamp (in Brittany), _drugget_ with Drogheda, and the _sedan_ chair with Sedan. Such guesses are almost always wrong. The origin of _diaper_ is doubtful, that of _drugget_ quite unknown, and _gingham_ is Malay. As far as we know at present, the _sedan_ came from Italy in the 16th century, and it is there, among derivatives of Lat. _sedere_, to sit, that its origin must be sought, unless indeed the original _Sedan_ was some mute, inglorious _Hansom_.[41] FOOTNOTES: [36] Whence also _cheval de frise_, a contrivance used by the Frieslanders against cavalry. The German name is _die spanischen Reiter_, explained by Ludwig as "a bar with iron-spikes; _cheval de frise_, a warlick instrument, to keep off the horse." [37] The form _jeans_ appears to be usual in America--"His hands were thrust carelessly into the side pockets of a gray _jeans_ coat." (Meredith Nicholson, _War of the Carolinas_, Ch. 15.) [38] A Scotch reviewer (_Glasgow Herald_, 13th April 1912) corrects me here--"His name was certainly not Ferrars, but Ferrier. He was probably an Arbroath man." Some readers may remember that, after General _Todleben's_ brilliant defence of Sebastopol (1854-5), _Punch_ discovered a respectable ancestry for him also. In some lines commencing-- "I ken him weel, the chield was born in Fife, The bairn of Andrew Drummond and his wife," it was shown that the apparently foreign name had been conferred on the gifted child because of the agility with which he used to "_toddle ben_ the hoose." [39] Calicut, not Calcutta. [40] See _walnut_ (p. 151). [41] As the _hansom_ has now become of archaeological interest only, it may be recorded here that it took its name from that of its inventor--"The _Hansom's_ patent (cab) is especially constructed for getting quickly over the ground" (Pulleyn's _Etymological Compendium_, 1853). _Sic transit!_ CHAPTER V PHONETIC ACCIDENTS The history of a word has to be studied from the double point of view of sound and sense, or, to use more technical terms, phonetics and semantics. In the logical order of things it seems natural to deal first with the less interesting aspect, phonetics, the physical processes by which sounds are gradually transformed. Speaking generally, it may be said that phonetic changes are governed by the law of least resistance, a sound which presents difficulty being gradually and unconsciously modified by a whole community or race. With the general principles of phonetics I do not propose to deal, but a few simple examples will serve to illustrate the one great law on which this science is based. The population of this country is educationally divided by the letter _h_ into three classes, which we may describe as the confident, the anxious, and the indifferent. The same division existed in imperial Rome, where educated people sounded the aspirate, which completely disappeared from the every-day language of the lower classes, the so-called Vulgar Latin, from which the Romance languages are descended, so far as their working vocabulary is concerned. The anxious class was also represented. A Latin epigrammatist[42] remarks that since Arrius, prophetic name, has visited the Ionic islands, they will probably be henceforth known as the _Hionic_ islands. To the disappearance of the _h_ from Vulgar Latin is due the fact that the Romance languages have no aspirate. French still writes the initial _h_ in some words by etymological reaction, e.g., _homme_ for Old Fr. _ome_, and also at one time really had an aspirate in the case of words of Germanic origin, e.g., _la honte_, shame. But this _h_ is no longer sounded, although it still, by tradition, prevents elision and _liaison_, mistakes in which are regarded much in the same way as a misplaced aspirate in English. The "educated" _h_ of modern English is largely an artificial restoration; _cf._ the modern _hotel_-keeper with the older word _ostler_ (see p. 164), or the family name _Armitage_ with the restored _hermitage_. [Page Heading: PHONETIC LAZINESS] We have dropped the _k_ sound in initial _kn_, as in _knave_, still sounded in Ger. _Knabe_, boy. French gets over the difficulty by inserting a vowel between the two consonants, e.g., _canif_ is a Germanic word cognate with Eng. _knife_. This is a common device in French when a word of Germanic origin begins with two consonants. _Cf._ Fr. _derive_, drift, Eng. _drive_; Fr. _varech_, sea-weed, Eng. _wrack_. _Harangue_, formerly _harengue_, is Old High Ger. _hring_, Eng. _ring_, the allusion being to the circle formed by the audience. Fr. _chenapan_, rogue, is Ger. _Schnapphahn_, robber, lit. fowl-stealer. The _shallop_ that "flitteth silken-sail'd, skimming down to Camelot," is Fr. _chaloupe_, probably identical with Du. _sloep_, sloop. The general dislike that French has for a double consonant sound at the beginning of a word appears also in the transformation of all Latin words which began with _sc_, _sp_, _st_, e.g., _scola_ > _escole_ (_ecole_), _spongia_ > _esponge_ (_eponge_), _stabulum_ > _estable_ (_etable_). English words derived from French generally show the older form, but without the initial vowel, _school_, _sponge_, _stable_. The above are very simple examples of sound change. There are certain less regular changes, which appear to work in a more arbitrary fashion and bring about more picturesque results. Three of the most important of these are assimilation, dissimilation, and metathesis. Assimilation is the tendency of a sound to imitate its neighbour. The tree called the _lime_ was formerly the _line_, and earlier still the _lind_. We see the older form in _linden_ and in such place-names as _Lyndhurst_, lime wood. _Line_ often occurred in such compounds as _line-bark_, _line-bast_, _line-wood_, where the second component began with a lip consonant. The _n_ became also a lip consonant because it was easier to pronounce, and by the 17th century we generally find _lime_ instead of _line_. We have a similar change in _Lombard_ for Ger. _lang-bart_, long-beard, or, according to some, long-axe. For _Liverpool_ we find also _Litherpool_ in early records. If the reader attempts to pronounce both names rapidly, he will be able to form his own opinion as to whether it is more natural for _Liverpool_ to become _Litherpool_ or _vice-versa_, a vexed question with philologists. Fr. _velin_, a derivative of Old Fr. _veel_ (_veau_), calf, and _venin_, Lat. _venenum_, have given Eng. _vellum_ and _venom_, the final consonant being in each case assimilated[43] to the initial labial. So also _mushroom_, Fr. _mousseron_, from _mousse_, moss. Vulgar Lat. _circare_ (from _circa_, around) gave Old Fr. _cerchier_, Eng. _search_. In modern Fr. _chercher_ the initial consonant has been influenced by the medial _ch_. The _m_ of the curious word _ampersand_, variously spelt, is due to the neighbouring _p_. It is applied to the sign &. I thought it obsolete till I came across it on successive days in two contemporary writers-- "One of my mother's chief cares was to teach me my letters, which I learnt from big A to _Ampersand_ in the old hornbook at Lantrig." (QUILLER-COUCH, _Dead Man's Rock_, Ch. 2.) "Tommy knew all about the work. Knew every letter in it from A to _Emperzan_." (PETT RIDGE, _In the Wars_.) Children used to repeat the alphabet thus--"A per se A, B per se B," and so on to "_and per se and_." The symbol & is an abbreviation of Lat. _et_, written _&_. [Page Heading: DISSIMILATION] Dissimilation is the opposite process. The archaic word _pomander_-- "I have sold all my trumpery; not a counterfeit stone, not a riband, glass, _pomander_, brooch, ... to keep my pack from fasting." (_Winter's Tale_, iv. 3.) was formerly spelt _pomeamber_. It comes from Old Fr. _pome ambre_, apple of amber, a ball of perfume once carried by the delicate. In this case one of the two lip consonants has been dissimilated. A like change has occurred in Fr. _nappe_, cloth, from Lat. _mappa_, whence our _napkin_, _apron_ (p. 113), and the family name _Napier_. The sounds most frequently affected by dissimilation are those represented by the letters _l_, _n_, and _r_. Fr. _gonfalon_ is for older _gonfanon_. Chaucer uses the older form, Milton the newer-- "Ten thousand thousand ensigns high advanc'd, Standards and _gonfalons_, 'twixt van and rear, Stream in the air." (_Paradise Lost_, v. 589.) _Gonfanon_ is of Germanic origin. It means literally "battle-flag," and the second element is cognate with English _fane_ or _vane_ (Ger. _Fahne_). Eng. _pilgrim_ and Fr. _pelerin_, from Lat. _peregrinus_, illustrate the change from _r_ to _l_, while the word _frail_, an osier basket for figs, is due to a change from _l_ to _r_, which goes back to Roman times. A grammarian of imperial Rome named Probus compiled, about the 3rd or 4th century, A.D., a list of cautions as to mispronunciation. In this list we find "_flagellum_, non _fragellum_." In the sense of switch, twig, _fragellum_ gave Old Fr. _freel_, basket made of twigs, whence Eng. _frail_; while the correct _flagellum_ gave Old Fr. _fleel_ (_fleau_), whence Eng. _flail_. A Vulgar Lat. _*mora_, mulberry, from Lat. _morus_, mulberry tree, has given Fr. _mure_. The _r_ of _berry_ has brought about dissimilation in Eng. _mulberry_ and Ger. _Maulbeere_. _Colonel_ has the spelling of Fr. _colonel_, but its pronunciation points rather to the dissimilated Spanish form _coronel_ which is common in Elizabethan English. Cotgrave has _colonel_, "a _colonell_, or _coronell_; the commander of a regiment." The female name _Annabel_ is a dissimilation of _Amabel_, whence _Mabel_. By confusion with the popular medieval name _Orable_, Lat. _orabilis_, _Annabel_ has become _Arabel_ or _Arabella_. Our _level_ is Old Fr. _livel_, Vulgar Lat. _*libellum_, for _libella_, a plummet, diminutive of _libra_, scales. Old Fr. _livel_ became by dissimilation _nivel_, now _niveau_. Many conjectures have been made as to the etymology of _oriel_. It is from Old Fr. _oriol_, a recess, or sanctum, which first occurs in an Anglo-Norman poem of the 12th century on Becket. This is from a Late Latin diminutive _aulaeolum_, a small chapel or shrine, which was dissimilated into _auraeolum_. Sometimes dissimilation leads to the disappearance of a consonant, _e.g._, Eng. _feeble_, Fr. _faible_, represents Lat. _flebilis_, lamentable, from _flere_, to weep. _Fugleman_ was once _flugelman_, from Ger. _Fluegelmann_, wing man, _i.e._, a tall soldier on the wing who exaggerated the movements of musketry drill for the guidance of the rest. [Page Heading: METATHESIS] Metathesis is the transposition of two sounds. A simple case is our _trouble_, Fr. _troubler_, from Lat. _turbulare_. _Maggot_ is for Mid. Eng. _maddok_, a diminutive of Anglo-Sax. _maþa_; _cf._ Ger. _Made_, maggot. _Kittle_, in the phrase "kittle cattle," is identical with _tickle_; _cf._ Ger. _kitzeln_, to tickle. One theory for the origin of _tankard_ is that it stands for _*cantar_, from Lat. _cantharus_, with which it corresponds exactly in meaning; e.g., _cantharus_, "a pot, a jugge, a _tankerd_" (Cooper); _cantharo_, a "_tankard_ or jug that houldeth much" (Florio); _canthare_, "a great jugge, or _tankard_" (Cotgrave). The metathesis may be due to association with the name Tankard (Tancred). _Wattle_ and _wallet_ are used indifferently in Mid. English for a little bag. Shakespeare no doubt had in mind the _wattles_ of a cock or turkey when he made Gonzalo speak of mountaineers-- "Dew-lapp'd like bulls, whose throats had hanging at them _Wallets_ of flesh." (_Tempest_, iii. 3.) Fr. _moustique_ is for earlier _mousquite_, from Span. _mosquito_, a diminutive from Lat. _musca_, a fly. _Tinsel_ is Fr. _etincelle_, spark, earlier _estincele_, which supposes a Lat. _*stincilla_ for _scintilla_. The old word _anlace_, dagger, common in Mid. English and revived by Byron and Scott-- "His harp in silken scarf was slung, And by his side an _anlace_ hung." (_Rokeby_, v. 15.) has provoked many guesses. Its oldest form, _anelas_, is a metathesis of the common Old Fr. _alenas_, dagger. This is formed from _alene_, of Germanic origin, cognate with _awl_; cf. _cutlass_, Fr. _coutelas_ (p. 126). _Beverage_ is from Old Fr. _bevrage_, or _beuvrage_, now _breuvage_, Vulgar Lat. _*biberaticum_, from _bibere_, to drink. Here, as in the case of _level_ (p. 58), and _search_ (p. 57), English preserves the older form. In _Martello_ tower, from a fort taken by the British (1794) in _Mortella_, _i.e._, Myrtle, Bay, Corsica, we have vowel metathesis. It goes without saying that such linguistic phenomena are often observed in the case of children and uneducated people. Not long ago the writer was urged by a gardener to embellish his garden with a _ruskit_ arch. When metathesis extends beyond one word we have what is known as a _Spoonerism_, the original type of which is said to be-- "_Kinquerings congs_ their titles take." We have seen (p. 57) that the letters _l_, _n_, _r_ are particularly subject to dissimilation and metathesis. But we sometimes find them alternating without apparent reason. Thus _banister_ is a modern form for the correct _baluster_.[44] This was not at first applied to the rail, but to the bulging colonnettes on which it rests. Fr. _balustre_ comes, through Italian, from Greco-Lat. _balaustium_, a pomegranate flower, the shape of which resembles the supports of a balustrade. Cotgrave explains _balustres_ as "_ballisters_; little, round and short pillars, ranked on the outside of cloisters, terraces, galleries, etc." _Glamour_ is a doublet of _grammar_ (see p. 145), and _flounce_ was formerly _frounce_, from Fr. _froncer_, now only used of "knitting" the brows-- "Till civil-suited morn appear, Not trickt and _frounc't_ as she was wont With the Attic boy to hunt." (_Penseroso_, l. 123.) Fr. _flibustier_, whence our _filibuster_, was earlier _fribustier_, a corruption of Du. _vrijbuiter_, whence directly the Eng. _freebooter_.[45] [Page Heading: SHRINKAGE OF WORDS] All words tend in popular usage to undergo a certain amount of shrinkage. The reduction of Lat. _digitale_, from _digitus_, finger, to Fr. _de_, thimble (little thumb) is a striking example. The strong tonic accent of English, which is usually on the first, or root, syllable, brings about a kind of telescoping which makes us very unintelligible to foreigners. This is seen in the pronunciation of names such as _Cholmondeley_ and _Marjoribanks_. _Bethlehem_ hospital, for lunatics, becomes _bedlam_; Mary _Magdalene_, taken as a type of tearful repentance, gives us _maudlin_, now generally used of the lachrymose stage of intoxication. _Sacristan_ is contracted into _sexton_. Fr. _paralysie_ becomes _palsy_, and _hydropisie_ becomes _dropsy_. The fuller form of the word usually persists in the literary language, or is artificially introduced at a later period, so that we get such doublets as _proctor_ and _procurator_. In the case of French words which have a prefix, this prefix is very frequently dropped in English, e.g., _raiment_ for _arrayment_; while suffixes, or final syllables, often disappear, _e.g._, treasure _trove_, for Old Fr. _trove_ (_trouve_), or become assimilated to some familiar English ending, e.g., _parish_, Fr. _paroisse_, _skirmish_, Fr. _escarmouche_; _cartridge_, Fr. _cartouche_, _partridge_, Fr. _perdrix_. A good example of such shrinkage is the word _vamp_, part of a shoe, Old Fr. _avant-pie_ (_pied_), which became Mid. Eng. _vampey_, and then lost its final syllable. We may compare _vambrace_, armour for the forearm, Fr. _avant-bras_, _vanguard_, Fr. _avant-garde_, often reduced to _van_-- "Go, charge Agrippa Plant those that have revolted in the _van_; That Antony may seem to spend his fury Upon himself." (_Antony and Cleopatra_, iv. 6.) and the obsolete _vaunt-courier_, forerunner-- "You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, _Vaunt-couriers_ of oak-cleaving thunderbolts." (_Lear_, iii. 2.) When the initial vowel is _a-_, its loss may have been helped by confusion with the indefinite article. Thus for _anatomy_ we find _atomy_, for a skeleton or scarecrow figure, applied by Mistress Quickly to the constable (2 _Henry IV._, v. 4). _Peal_ is for _appeal_, call; _mend_ for _amend_, _lone_ for _alone_, i.e., _all one_. _Peach_, used by Falstaff-- "If I be ta'en, I'll _peach_ for this." (1 _Henry IV._, ii. 2.) is for older _appeach_, related to _impeach_. _Size_, in all its senses, is for _assize_, Fr. _assise_, with a general meaning of allowance or assessment, from Fr. _asseoir_, to put, lay. _Sizars_ at Cambridge are properly students in receipt of certain allowances called _sizings_. With painters' _size_ we may compare Ital. _assisa_, "_size_ that painters use" (Florio). We use the form _assize_ in speaking of the "sitting" of the judges, but those most familiar with this tribunal speak of being tried at the _'sizes_. The obsolete word _cate_, on which Petruchio plays-- "For dainties are all _cates_--and therefore, Kate, Take this of me, Kate of my consolation." (_Taming of the Shrew_, ii. 1.) is for earlier _acate_, an Old French dialect form corresponding to modern Fr. _achat_, purchase. The man entrusted with purchasing was called an _acatour_ or _catour_ (whence the name _Cator_), later _cater_, now extended to _caterer_, like _fruiterer_ for _fruiter_, _poulterer_ for _poulter_ and _upholsterer_ for _upholdster_ or _upholder_.[46] _Limbeck_ has been squeezed out by the orthodox _alembic_-- "Memory the warder of the brain, Shall be a fume, and the receipt of reason A _limbeck_ only." (_Macbeth_, i. 7.) and _prentice_ has given way to _apprentice_. _Tire_ and _attire_ both survive, and _maze_ persists by the side of _amaze_ with the special sense which I have heard a Notts collier express by _puzzle-garden_ (_cf._ Ger. _Irrgarten_). _Binnacle_ is a corruption, perhaps due to association with _bin_, of earlier _bittacle_, from Lat. _habitaculum_, a little dwelling. It may have come to us through Fr. _habitacle_ or Port. _bitacola_, "the _bittacle_, a frame of timber in the steerage, where the compass is placed on board a ship" (Vieyra, _Port. Dict._, 1794). As King of Scotland, King George has a household official known as the _limner_, or painter. For _limner_[47] we find in the 15th century _lumner_ and _luminour_, which is aphetic for _alluminour_, or _enlumineur_. Cotgrave, s.v. _enlumineur de livres_, says, "we call one that coloureth, or painteth upon, paper, or parchment, an _alluminer_." [Page Heading: APHESIS] But confusion with the article is not necessary in order to bring about aphesis. It occurs regularly in the case of words beginning with _esc_, _esp_, _est_, borrowed from Old French (see p. 56). Thus we have _squire_ from _escuyer_ (_ecuyer_), _skew_ from Old Fr. _eschuer_, to dodge, "eschew," ultimately cognate with Eng. _shy_, _spice_ from _espice_ (_epice_), _sprite_ from _esprit_, _stage_ from _estage_ (_etage_), etc. In some cases we have the fuller form also, e.g., _esquire_, _eschew_; cf. _sample_ and _example_. _Fender_, whether before a fireplace or slung outside a ship, is for _defender_; _fence_ is always for _defence_, either in the sense of a barrier or in allusion to the noble art of self-defence.[48] The _tender_ of a ship or of a locomotive is the _attender_, and _taint_ is aphetic for _attaint_, Fr. _atteinte_, touch-- "I will not poison thee with my _attaint_." (_Lucrece_, l. 1072.) _Puzzle_ was in Mid. Eng. _opposaile_, _i.e._, something put before one. We still speak of "a poser." _Spital_, for _hospital_, survives in _Spitalfields_, and _Spittlegate_ at Grantham and elsewhere. _Crew_ is for _accrewe_ (Holinshed). It meant properly a reinforcement, lit. on-growth, from Fr. _accroitre_, to accrue. In _recruit_, we have a later instance of the same idea. Fr. _recrue_, recruit, from _recroitre_, to grow again, is still feminine, like many other military terms which were originally abstract or collective. Cotgrave has _recreue_, "a supplie, or filling up of a defective company of souldiers, etc." We have _possum_ for _opossum_, and _coon_ for _racoon_, and this for _arrahacoune_, which I find in a 16th-century record of travel; _cf._ American _skeeter_ for _mosquito_. In these two cases we perhaps have also the deliberate intention to shorten (see p. 66), as also in the obsolete Australian _tench_, for the aphetic _'tentiary_, i.e., _penitentiary_. With this we may compare _'tec_ for _detective_. [Page Heading: APHESIS] _Drawing-room_ is for _withdrawing room_, and only the final _t_ of _saint_ is left in _Tooley St._, famed for its three tailors, formerly _Saint Olave Street_, and _tawdry_. This latter word is well known to be derived from _Saint Audrey's_ fair. It was not originally depreciatory-- "Come, you promised me a _tawdry_ lace, and a pair of sweet gloves." (_Winter's Tale_, iv. 3.) and the full form is recorded by Palsgrave, who has _Seynt Andries_ (read _Audrie's_) _lace_, "cordon." The verb _vie_ comes from Old Fr. _envier_, to challenge, Lat. _invitare_, whence the phrase _a l'envi l'un de l'autre_, "in emulation one of the other" (Cotgrave); cf. _gin_ (trap), Fr. _engin_, Lat. _ingenium_. The prefix _dis_ or _des_ is lost in _Spencer_ (see p. 165), _spite_, _splay_, _sport_, _stain_, etc. In _drat_, formerly _'od rot_, _zounds_ for _God's wounds_, _'sdeath_, _odsbodikins_, etc., there is probably a deliberate avoidance of profanity. The same intention appears in _Gogs_-- "'Ay, by _gogs-wouns_!' quoth he; and swore so loud, That, all amaz'd, the priest let fall the book." (_Taming of the Shrew_, iii. 2.) _Cf._ Fr. _parbleu_ for _par Dieu_, and Ger. _Potz_ for _Gottes_. This English tendency to aphesis is satirised in a French song of the 14th century, intentionally written in bad French. Thus, in the line-- "Or sont il vint le tans que Glais voura vauchier."[49] _Glais_ is for _Anglais_ and _vauchier_ is for _chevauchier_ (_chevaucher_), to ride on a foray. The literary language runs counter to this instinct, though Shakespeare wrote _haviour_ for _behaviour_ and _longing_ for _belonging_, while such forms as _billiments_ for _habiliments_ and _sparagus_ for _asparagus_ are regular up to the 18th century. Children keep up the national practice when they say _member_ for _remember_ and _zamine_ for _examine_. It is quite certain that _baccy_ and _tater_ would be recognised literary forms if America had been discovered two centuries sooner or printing invented two centuries later. Many words are shortened, not by natural and gradual shrinkage, but by deliberate laziness. The national distaste for many syllables appears in _wire_ for _telegram_, the Artful Dodger's _wipe_ for the clumsy _pocket handkerchief_, _soccer_ for _association_, and such portmanteau words as _squarson_, an individual who is at once _squire_ and _parson_, or _Bakerloo_ for _Baker St. and Waterloo_. The simplest way of reducing a word is to take the first syllable and make it a symbol for the rest. Of comparatively modern formation are _pub_ and _Zoo_, with which we may compare _Bart's_, for Saint Bartholomew's, _Cri_, _Pav_, "half a _mo'_" _bike_, and even _paj_, for _pageant_. [Page Heading: CLIPPED FORMS] This method of shortening words was very popular in the 17th century, from which period date _cit_(izen), _mob_(ile vulgus), the fickle crowd, and, _pun_(digrion). We often find the fuller _mobile_ used for _mob_. The origin of _pundigrion_ is uncertain. It may be an illiterate attempt at Ital. _puntiglio_, which, like Fr. _pointe_, was used of a verbal quibble or fine distinction. Most of these clipped forms are easily identified, e.g., _cab_(riolet), _gent_(leman), _hack_(ney), _vet_(erinary surgeon). _Cad_ is for Scot. _caddie_, errand boy, now familiar in connection with golf, and _caddie_ is from Fr. _cadet_, younger. The word had not always the very strong meaning we now associate with it. Among _Sketches by Boz_ is one entitled-- "The last Cab driver and the first Omnibus _Cad_," where _cad_ means conductor. On _tick_, for on _ticket_, is found in the 17th century. We may compare the more modern _biz_ and _spec_. _Brig_ is for _brigantine_, Ital. _brigantino_, "a kinde of pinnasse or small barke called a _brigantine_" (Florio). The original meaning is pirate ship; cf. _brigand_. _Wag_ has improved in meaning. It is for older _waghalter_. Cotgrave has _baboin_ (_babouin_), "a trifling, busie, or crafty knave; a crackrope, _waghalter_, etc." The older sense survives in the phrase "to play the _wag_," _i.e._ truant. For the "rope" figure we may compare Scot. _hempie_, a minx, and obsolete Ital. _cavestrolo_, a diminutive from Lat. _capistrum_, halter, explained by Florio as "a _wag_, a haltersacke." Modern Ital. _capestro_ is used in the same sense. _Crack-rope_ is shortened to _crack_. Justice Shallow remembered Falstaff breaking Skogan's head-- "When he was a _crack_, not thus high." (2 _Henry IV._, iii. 2.) _Chap_ is for _chapman_, once in general use for a merchant and still a common family name. It is cognate with _cheap_, _chaffer_, and Ger. _kaufen_, to buy, and probably comes from Lat. _caupo_, tavern keeper. We have the Dutch form in _horse-coper_, and also in the word _coopering_, the illicit sale of spirits by Dutch boats to North Sea fishermen.[50] _Merchant_ was used by the Elizabethans in the same way as our _chap_. Thus the Countess of Auvergne calls Talbot a "riddling _merchant_" (1 _Henry VI._, ii. 3). We may also compare Scot. _callant_, lad, from the Picard form of Fr. _chaland_, customer-- "He had seen many a braw callant, far less than Guse Gibbie, fight brawly under Montrose." (_Old Mortality_, Ch. 1.) and our own expression "a rum _customer_," reduced in America to "a rum _cuss_." _Hock_, for _Hochheimer_, wine from Hochheim, occurs as early as Beaumont and Fletcher; and _rum_, spirit, is for earlier _rumbullion_, of obscure origin. _Gin_ is for _geneva_, a corruption of Fr. _genievre_, Lat. _juniperus_, with the berries of which it is flavoured. The history of _grog_ is more complicated. The stuff called _grogram_, earlier _grograyne_, is from Fr. _gros grain_, coarse grain. Admiral Vernon (18th century) was called by the sailors "Old Grog" from his habit of wearing grogram breeches. When he issued orders that the regular allowance of rum was henceforth to be diluted with water, the sailors promptly baptized the mixture with his nickname. [Page Heading: CLIPPED FORMS] Sometimes the two first syllables survive. We have _navvy_ for _navigator_, _brandy_ for _brandywine_, from Du. _brandewyn_, lit. burnt wine, and _whisky_ for _usquebaugh_, Gaelic _uisge-beatha_, water of life (cf. _eau-de-vie_), so that the literal meaning of _whisky_ is very innocent. It has a doublet in the river-name _Usk_. Before the 18th century _usquebaugh_ is the regular form. In the following passage the Irish variety is referred to-- "The prime is _usquebaugh_, which cannot be made anywhere in that perfection; and whereas we drink it here in _aqua vitae_ measures, it goes down there by beer-glassfuls, being more natural to the nation." (HOWELL, 1634.) _Canter_ is for _Canterbury_ gallop, the pace of pilgrims riding to the shrine of St Thomas. John Dennis, known as Dennis the Critic, says of Pope-- "Boileau's Pegasus has all his paces. The Pegasus of Pope, like a Kentish post-horse, is always on the _Canterbury_." (_On the Preliminaries to the Dunciad._) In _bugle_, for _bugle-horn_, lit. wild-ox-horn, Old Fr. _bugle_, Lat. _buculus_, a diminutive of _bos_, ox, we have perhaps rather an ellipsis, like _waterproof_ (coat), than a clipped form-- "Comrades, leave me here a little, while as yet 'tis early morn: Leave me here, and when you want me, sound upon the _bugle-horn_." (_Locksley Hall._) _Patter_ is no doubt for _paternoster_-- "Fitz-Eustace, you, with Lady Clare, May bid your beads and _patter_ prayer." (_Marmion_, vi. 27.) and the use of the word _marble_ for a toy sometimes made of that stone makes it very probable that the _alley_, most precious of marbles, is short for _alabaster_. Less frequently the final syllable is selected, e.g., _bus_ for _omnibus_, _loo_ for _lanterloo_, variously spelt in the 17th and 18th centuries-- "Ev'n mighty Pam,[51] that Kings and Queens o'erthrew, And mow'd down armies in the fights of _lu_." (_Rape of the Lock_, iii. 62.) Fr. _lanturelu_ was originally the meaningless refrain or "tol de rol" of a popular song in Richelieu's time. _Van_ is for _caravan_, a Persian word, properly a company of merchants or ships travelling together, "also of late corruptly used with us for a kind of waggon to carry passengers to and from London" (Blount, _Glossographia_, 1674). _Wig_ is for _periwig_, a corruption of Fr. _perruque_, of obscure origin. With the 17th century _'varsity_, for _university_, we may compare Sam Weller's _'Tizer_, for _Morning Advertiser_. Christian names are treated in the same way. _Alexander_ gives _Alec_ and _Sandy_, _Herbert_, _'Erb_ or _Bert_. _Ib_ (see p. 172) was once common for _Isabella_, while the modern language prefers _Bella_; _Maud_ for _Matilda_ is a telescoped form of Old Fr. _Maheut_, while _'Tilda_ is perhaps due to unconscious aphesis, like _Denry_-- "She saved a certain amount of time every day by addressing her son as _Denry_, instead of _Edward Henry_." (ARNOLD BENNETT, _The Card_, Ch. 1.) Among conscious word-formations may be classed many reduplicated forms, whether riming, as _hurly-burly_, or alliterative, as _tittle-tattle_, though reduplication belongs to the natural speech of children, and, in at least one case, Fr. _tante_, from _ante-ante_, Lat. _amita_, the baby word has prevailed. In a reduplicated form only one half as a rule needs to be explained. Thus _seesaw_ is from _saw_, the motion suggesting two sawyers at work on a log. _Zigzag_, from French, and Ger. _zickzack_ are of unknown origin. _Shilly-shally_ is for _shill I, shall I?_ _Namby-pamby_ commemorates the poet Ambrose Philips, who was thus nicknamed by Pope and his friends. The weapon called a _snickersnee_-- "'First let me say my catechism, Which my poor mammy taught to me.' 'Make haste, make haste,' says guzzling Jimmy, While Jack pulled out his _snickersnee_." (THACKERAY, _Little Billee_, l. 21.) is of Dutch origin and means something like "cut and thrust." It is usually mentioned in connection with the Hollanders-- "Among other customs they have in that town, one is, that none must carry a pointed knife about him; which makes the Hollander, who is us'd to _snik_ and _snee_, to leave his horn-sheath and knife a ship-board when he comes ashore." (HOWELL, _Letter from Florence_, 1621.) Here the reduplication is only apparent, for the older form was to _stick_ or _snee_, representing the Dutch verbs _steken_, to thrust, _snijden_ or _snijen_, to cut. The initial of the first verb has been assimilated to that of the second-- "It is our countrie custome onely to _stick_ or _snee_." (GLAPTHORNE, _The Hollander_.) Reduplication is responsible for _pickaback_, earlier _pickpack_, from _pack_, bundle. The modern form is due to popular association with _back_. [Page Heading: PREFIXED CONSONANTS] Occasionally we have what is apparently the arbitrary prefixing of a consonant, e.g., _spruce_ for _pruce_ (p. 48). _Dapple gray_ corresponds so exactly to Fr. _gris pommele_, Mid. Eng. _pomeli gris_, Ger. _apfelgrau_, and Ital. _pomellato_, "spotted, bespeckled, pide, _dapple-graie_, or fleabitten, the colour of a horse" (Florio), that it is hard not to believe in an unrecorded _*apple-gray_, especially as we have _daffodil_ for earlier _affodil_, i.e., _asphodel_. Cotgrave has _asphodile_ (_asphodele_), "the _daffadill_, _affodill_, or _asphodill_, flower." The playful elaboration _daffadowndilly_ is as old as Spenser. FOOTNOTES: [42] "Nec sibi postilla metuebant talia verba, Cum subito adfertur nuntius horribilis, Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset, Iam non _Ionios_ esse, sed _Hionios_." (_Catullus_, 84.) [43] Apart from assimilation, there is a tendency in English to substitute _-m_ for _-n_, e.g. _grogram_ for _grogran_ (see p. 68). In the family name _Hansom_, for _Hanson_, we have dissimilation of _n_ (see p. 57). [44] _Cf._ the similar change in the family name _Banister_ (p. 179). [45] It may be noted here that a _buccaneer_ was not originally a pirate, but a man whose business was the smoking of beef in the West Indies. The name comes from a native word _boucan_, adopted into French, and explained by Cotgrave as a "woodden-gridiron whereon the cannibals broile pieces of men, and other flesh." [46] _Upholsterer_ has become specialised in sense; cf. _undertaker_ (of funerals), and _stationer_, properly a tradesman with a _station_ or stall. _Costermonger_ illustrates the converse process. It meant originally a dealer in _costards_, i.e. apples. The French costermonger has the more appropriate name of _marchand des quatre saisons_. [47] English _i_ sometimes occurs as an attempt at the French and Celtic _u_; cf. _brisk_ from _brusque_, _periwig_ (p. 69), and _whisky_ (p. 68). [48] Our ancestors appear to have been essentially pacific. With _fence_, for _defence_, we may compare Ger. _schirmen_, to fence, from _Schirm_, screen (cf. _Regenschirm_, umbrella), which, passing through Italian and French, has given us _skirmish_, _scrimmage_, _scaramouch_ (see p. 142), and Shakespearean _scrimer_, fencer (_Hamlet_, iv. 7). So also Ger. _Gewehr_, weapon, is cognate with Eng. _weir_, and means defence-- "Cet animal est tres mechant; Quand on l'attaque, il se defend." [49] "Now the time has come when the English will wish to ride." [50] _Cf._ also Dan. _Kjoebenhavn_ (Copenhagen), the merchants' haven, the numerous Swedish place-names ending in _-koeping_, e.g. _Joenkoeping_, and our own _Chippings_, or market-towns. [51] The knave of clubs. The name was also given to Lord Palmerston. CHAPTER VI WORDS AND MEANINGS We have all noticed the fantastic way in which ideas are linked together in our thoughts. One thing suggests another with which it is accidentally associated in memory, the second suggests a third, and, in the course even of a few seconds, we find that we have travelled from one subject to another so remote that it requires an effort to reconstruct the series of links which connects them. The same thing happens with words. A large number of words, despite great changes of sense, retain the fundamental meaning of the original, but in many cases this is quite lost. A truer image than that of the linked chain would be that of a sphere giving off in various directions a number of rays each of which may form the nucleus of a fresh sphere. Or we may say that at each link of the chain there is a possibility of another chain branching off in a direction of its own. In Cotgrave's time to _garble_ (see p. 21) and to _canvass_, _i.e._ sift through _canvas_, meant the same thing. Yet how different is their later sense development. [Page Heading: BAN--BUREAU] There is a word _ban_, found in Old High German and Anglo-Saxon, and meaning, as far back as it can be traced, a proclamation containing a threat, hence a command or prohibition. We have it in _banish_, to put under the _ban_. The proclamation idea survives in the _banns_ of marriage and in Fr. _arriere-ban_, "a proclamation, whereby those that hold authority of the king in mesne tenure, are summoned to assemble, and serve him in his warres" (Cotgrave). This is folk-etymology for Old Fr. _arban_, Old High Ger. _hari-ban_, army summons. Slanting off from the primitive idea of proclamation is that of rule or authority. The French for outskirts is _banlieue_, properly the "circuit of a league, or thereabouts" (Cotgrave) over which the local authority extended. All public institutions within such a radius were associated with _ban_, e.g., _un four_, _un moulin a ban_, "a comon oven or mill whereat all men may, and every tenant and vassall must, bake, and grind" (Cotgrave). The French adjective _banal_, used in this connection, gradually developed from the meaning of "common" that of "common-place," in which sense it is now familiar in English.[52] _Bureau_, a desk, was borrowed from French in the 17th century. In modern French it means not only the desk, but also the office itself and the authority exercised by the office. Hence our familiar _bureaucracy_, likely to become increasingly familiar. The desk was so called because covered with _bureau_, Old Fr. _burel_, "a thicke course cloath, of a brown russet, or darke mingled, colour" (Cotgrave), whence Mid. Eng. _borel_, rustic, clownish, lit. roughly clad, which occurs as late as Spenser-- "How be I am but rude and _borrel_, Yet nearer ways I know." (_Shepherd's Calendar_, July, l. 95.) With this we may compare the metaphorical use of _home-spun_-- "What hempen _home-spuns_ have we swaggering here, So near the cradle of the fairy queen?" (_Midsummer Night's Dream_, iii. 1.) The source of Old Fr. _burel_ is perhaps Lat. _burrus_, fiery, from Gk. {pyr}, fire. _Romance_ was originally an adverb. To write in the vulgar tongue, instead of in classical Latin, was called _romanice scribere_, Old Fr. _romanz escrire_. When _romanz_ became felt as a noun, it developed a "singular" _roman_ or _romant_, the latter of which gave the archaic Eng. _romaunt_. The most famous of Old French romances are the epic poems called _Chansons de geste_, songs of exploits, _geste_ coming from the Lat. _gesta_, deeds. Eng. _gest_ or _jest_ is common in the 16th and 17th centuries in the sense of act, deed, and _jest_-book meant a story-book. As the favourite story-books were merry tales, the word gradually acquired its present meaning. A part of our Anglo-Saxon church vocabulary was supplanted by Latin or French words. Thus Anglo-Sax. _ge-bed_, prayer, was gradually expelled by Old Fr. _preiere_ (_priere_), Lat. _precaria_. It has survived in _beadsman_-- "The _beadsman_, after thousand aves told, For aye unsought-for slept among his ashes cold." (KEATS, _Eve of St Agnes_.) _beadroll_, and _bead_, now applied only to the humble device employed in counting prayers. Not only the Romance languages, but also German and Dutch, adopted, with the Roman character, Lat. _scribere_, to write. English, on the contrary, preserved the native to _write_, _i.e._ to scratch (runes), giving to _scribere_ only a limited sense, to _shrive_. The curious change of meaning was perhaps due to the fact that the priestly absolution was felt as having the validity of a "written" law or enactment. [Page Heading: PUDDING--STICKLER] The meaning which we generally give to _pudding_ is comparatively modern. The older sense appears in _black pudding_, a sausage made of pig's blood. This is also the meaning of Fr. _boudin_, whence _pudding_ comes. A still older meaning of both words is intestine, a sense still common in dialect. The derivation of the word is obscure, but it is probably related to Fr. _bouder_, to pout, whence _boudoir_, lit. a sulking-room. A _hearse_, now the vehicle in which a coffin is carried, is used by Shakespeare for a coffin or tomb. Its earlier meaning is a framework to support candles, usually put round the coffin at a funeral. This framework was so named from some resemblance to a harrow,[53] Fr. _herse_, Lat. _hirpex_, _hirpic-_, a rake. _Treacle_ is a stock example of great change of meaning. It is used in Coverdale's Bible (1535) for the "_balm_ in Gilead" of the _Authorised Version_-- "There is no more _triacle_ at Galaad."[54] (Jeremiah, vii. 22.) Old Fr. _triacle_ is from Greco-Lat. _theriaca_, a remedy against poison or snake-bite ({ther}, a wild beast). In Mid. English and later it was used of a sovereign remedy. It has, like _sirup_ (p. 146), acquired its present meaning _via_ the apothecary's shop. A _stickler_ is now a man who is fussy about small points of etiquette or procedure. In Shakespeare he is one who parts combatants-- "The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth, And, _stickler_-like, the armies separates." (_Troilus and Cressida_, v. 8.) An earlier sense is that of seeing fair-play. The word has been popularly associated with the _stick_, or staff, used by the umpires in duels, and Torriano gives _stickler_ as one of the meanings of _bastoniere_, a verger or mace-bearer. But it probably comes from Mid. Eng. _stightlen_, to arrange, keep order (see p. 172, _n._ 2). _Infantry_ comes, through French, from Italian. It means a collection of "infants" or juniors, so called by contrast with the proved veterans who composed the cavalry. The _pastern_ of a horse, defined by Dr Johnson as the knee, from "ignorance, madam, pure ignorance," still means in Cotgrave and Florio "shackle." Florio even recognises a verb to _pastern_, e.g., _pastoiare_, "to fetter, to clog, to shackle, to _pastern_, to give (gyve)." It comes from Old Fr. _pasturon_ (_paturon_), a derivative of _pasture_, such shackles being used to prevent grazing horses from straying. _Pester_ (p. 167) is connected with it. The modern Fr. _paturon_ has changed its meaning in the same way. To _rummage_ means in the Elizabethan navigators to stow goods in a hold. A rummager was what we call a _stevedore_.[55] _Rummage_ is Old Fr. _arrumage_ (_arrimage_), from _arrumer_, to stow, the middle syllable of which is probably cognate with English _room_; cf. _arranger_, to put in "rank." The Christmas _waits_ were originally watchmen, Anglo-Fr. _waite_, Old Fr. _gaite_, from the Old High German form of modern Ger. _Wacht_, watch. Modern French still has the verb _guetter_, to lie in wait for, and _guet_, the watch. _Minstrel_ comes from an Old French derivative of Lat. _minister_, servant. Modern Fr. _menetrier_ is only used of a country fiddler who attends village weddings. The _lumber_-room is supposed to be for _Lombard_ room, _i.e._, the room in which pawnbrokers used to store pledged property. The Lombards introduced into this country the three balls, said to be taken from the arms of the Medici family. [Page Heading: LIVERY--FAIRY] _Livery_ is correctly explained by the poet Spenser-- "What _livery_ is, we by common use in England know well enough, namely, that it is allowance of horse-meat, as they commonly use the word in stabling; as, to keep horses at _livery_; the which word, I guess, is derived of _livering_ or _delivering_ forth their nightly food. So in great houses, the _livery_ is said to be served up for all night, that is, their evening allowance for drink; and _livery_ is also called the upper weed (see p. 2) which a serving-man wears; so called, as I suppose, for that it was _delivered_ and taken from him at pleasure." (_View of the State of Ireland._) This passage explains also _livery_ stable.[56] Our word comes from Fr. _livree_, the feminine past participle of _livrer_, from Lat. _liberare_, to deliver. _Pedigree_ was in Mid. English _pedegrew_, _petigrew_, etc. It represents Old Fr. _pie (pied) de grue_, crane's foot, from the shape of a sign used in showing lines of descent in genealogical charts. The older form survives in the family name _Pettigrew_. Here it is a nickname, like _Pettifer_ (pied de fer), iron-foot; cf. _Sheepshanks_. _Fairy_ is a collective, Fr. _feerie_, its modern use being perhaps due to its occurrence in such phrases as _Faerie Queen_, _i.e._, Queen of Fairyland. Cf. _paynim_, used by some poets for _pagan_, but really a doublet of _paganism_, occurring in _paynim host_, _paynim knight_, etc. The correct name for the individual _fairy_ is _fay_, Fr. _fee_, Vulgar Lat. _*fata_, connected with _fatum_, fate. This appears in Ital. _fata_, "a fairie, a witch, an enchantres, an elfe" (Florio). The _fata morgana_, the mirage sometimes seen in the Strait of Messina, is attributed to the fairy Morgana of Tasso, the Morgan le Fay of our own Arthurian legends. Many people must have wondered at some time why the _clubs_ and _spades_ on cards are so called. The latter figure, it is true, bears some resemblance to a spade, but no giant of fiction is depicted with a club with a triple head. The explanation is that we have adopted the French pattern, _carreau_ (see p. 161), diamond, _c[oe]ur_, heart, _pique_, pike, spear-head, _trefle_, trefoil, clover-leaf, but have given to the two latter the names used in the Italian and Spanish pattern, which, instead of the pike and trefoil, has the sword (Ital. _spada_) and mace (Ital. _bastone_). Etymologically both _spades_ are identical, the origin being Greco-Lat. _spatha_, the name of a number of blade-shaped objects; _cf._ the diminutive _spatula_. _Wafer_, in both its senses, is related to Ger. _Wabe_, honeycomb. We find Anglo-Fr. _wafre_ in the sense of a thin cake, perhaps stamped with a honeycomb pattern. The cognate Fr. _gaufre_ is the name of a similar cake, which not only has the honeycomb pattern, but is also largely composed of honey. Hence our verb to _goffer_, to give a cellular appearance to a frill. [Page Heading: MEANINGS OF ADJECTIVES] The meanings of adjectives are especially subject to change. _Quaint_ now conveys the idea of what is unusual, and, as early as the 17th century, we find it explained as "strange, unknown." This is the exact opposite of its original meaning, Old Fr. _cointe_, Lat. _cognitus_; cf. _acquaint_, Old Fr. _acointier_, to make known. It is possible to trace roughly the process by which this remarkable _volte-face_ has been brought about. The intermediate sense of trim or pretty is common in Shakespeare-- "For a fine, _quaint_, graceful, and excellent fashion, yours is worth ten on't." (_Much Ado_, iii. 4.) We apply _restive_ to a horse that will not stand still. It means properly a horse that will not do anything else. Fr. _retif_, Old Fr. _restif_, from _rester_, to remain, Lat. _re-stare_, has kept more of the original sense of stubbornness. Scot. _reest_, _reist_, means to stand stock-still-- "Certain it was that Shagram _reisted_, and I ken Martin thinks he saw something." (_Monastery_, Ch. 4.) Dryden even uses _restive_ in the sense of sluggish-- "So James the drowsy genius wakes Of Britain, long entranced in charms, _Restive_, and slumbering on its arms." (_Threnodia Augustalis._) _Reasty_, used of meat that has "stood" too long, is the same word (cf. _testy_, Old Fr. _testif_, heady), and _rusty_ bacon is probably folk-etymology for _reasty_ bacon-- "And then came haltyng Jone, And brought a gambone Of bakon that was _reasty_." (SKELTON, _Elynour Rummyng_.) _Sterling_ has an obscure history. It is from Old Fr. _esterlin_, a coin which etymologists of an earlier age connected with the _Easterlings_, or Hanse merchants, who formed one of the great mercantile communities of the Middle Ages; and perhaps some such association is responsible for the meaning that _sterling_ has acquired; but chronology shows this traditional etymology to be impossible. We find _unus sterlingus_ in a medieval Latin document of 1184, and the Old Fr. _esterlin_ occurs in Wace's _Roman de Rou_ (Romaunt of Rollo the Sea King), which was written before 1175. Hence it is conjectured that the original coin was named from the _star_ which appears on some Norman pennies. When Horatio says-- "It is a nipping and an _eager_ air." (_Hamlet_, i. 4.) we are reminded that _eager_ is identical with the second part of vin-_egar_, Fr. _aigre_, sour, Lat. _acer_, keen. It seems hardly possible to explain the modern sense of _nice_, which in the course of its history has traversed nearly the whole diatonic scale between "rotten" and "ripping." In Mid. English and Old French it means foolish. Cotgrave explains it by "lither, lazie, sloathful, idle; faint, slack; dull, simple," and Shakespeare uses it in a great variety of meanings. It is supposed to come from Lat. _nescius_, ignorant. The transition from _fond_, foolish, which survives in "_fond_ hopes," to _fond_, loving, is easy. French _fou_ is used in exactly the same way. _Cf._ also to _dote_ on, _i.e._, to be foolish about. _Puny_ is Fr. _puine_, from _puis ne_, later born, junior, whence the _puisne_ justices. Milton uses it of a minor-- "He must appear in print like a _puny_ with his guardian." (_Areopagitica._) _Petty_, Fr. _petit_, was similarly used for a small boy. In some cases a complimentary adjective loses its true meaning and takes on a contemptuous or ironic sense. None of us care to be called _bland_, and to describe a man as _worthy_ is to apologise for his existence. We may compare Fr. _bonhomme_, which now means generally an old fool, and _bonne femme_, good-wife, goody. _Dapper_, the Dutch for brave (_cf._ Ger. _tapfer_), and _pert_, Mid. Eng. _apert_, representing in meaning Lat. _expertus_, have changed much since Milton wrote of-- "The _pert_ fairies and the _dapper_ elves." (_Comus_, l. 118.) _Pert_ seems in fact to have acquired the meaning of its opposite _malapert_, though the older sense of brisk, sprightly, survives in dialect-- "He looks spry and _peart_ for once." (Phillpotts, _American Prisoner_, Ch. 3.) _Smug_, cognate with Ger. _schmuck_, trim, elegant, beautiful, has its original sense in Shakespeare-- "And here the _smug_ and silver Trent shall run In a new channel, fair and evenly." (1 _Henry IV._, iii. 1.) The degeneration of an adjective is sometimes due to its employment for euphemistic purposes. The favourite substitute for _fat_ is _stout_, properly strong,[57] dauntless, etc., cognate with Ger. _stolz_, proud. Precisely the same euphemism appears in French, e.g., "une dame un peu _forte_." _Ugly_ is replaced in English by _plain_, and in American by _homely_-- "She is not so handsome as these, maybe, but her _homeliness_ is not actually alarming." (MAX ADELER, _Mr Skinner's Night in the Underworld_.) In the case of this word, as in many others, the American use preserves a meaning which was once common in English. Kersey's _Dictionary_ (1720) explains _homely_ as "ugly, disagreeable, course (coarse), mean." [Page Heading: INFLUENCE OF ASSOCIATION] Change of meaning may be brought about by association. A _miniature_ is a small portrait, and we even use the word as an adjective meaning small, on a reduced scale. But the true sense of _miniature_ is something painted in _minium_, red lead. Florio explains _miniatura_ as "a limning (see p. 63), a painting with vermilion." Such paintings were usually small, hence the later meaning. The word was first applied to the ornamental red initial capitals in manuscripts. _Vignette_ still means technically in French an interlaced vine-pattern on a frontispiece.[58] Cotgrave has _vignettes_, "vignets; branches, or branch-like borders, or flourishes in painting, or ingravery." The degeneration in the meaning of a noun may be partly due to frequent association with disparaging adjectives. Thus _hussy_, _i.e._ housewife, _quean_,[59] woman, _wench_, child, have absorbed such adjectives as impudent, idle, light, saucy, etc. Shakespeare uses _quean_ only three times, and these three include "cozening _quean_" (_Merry Wives_, iv. 2) and "scolding _quean_" (_All's Well_, ii. 2). With _wench_, still used without any disparaging sense by country folk, we may compare Fr. _garce_, lass, and Ger. _Dirne_, maid-servant, both of which are now insulting epithets, but, in the older language, could be applied to Joan of Arc and the Virgin Mary respectively. _Garce_ was replaced by _fille_, which has acquired in its turn a meaning so offensive that it has now given way to _jeune fille_. _Minx_, earlier _minkes_, is probably the Low Ger. _minsk_, Ger. _Mensch_, lit. human, but used also in the sense of "wench." For the consonantal change cf. _hunks_, Dan. _hundsk_, stingy, lit. doggish. These examples show that the indignant "Who are you calling a _woman_?" is, philologically, in all likelihood a case of intelligent anticipation. [Page Heading: BUXOM--PLUCK] Adjectives are affected in their turn by being regularly coupled with certain nouns. A _buxom_ help-mate was once obedient, the word being cognate with Ger. _biegsam_, flexible, yielding-- "The place where thou and Death Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen Wing silently the _buxom_ air." (_Paradise Lost_, ii. 840.) An obedient nature is "_buxom_, blithe and debonair," qualities which affect the physique and result in heartiness of aspect and a comely plumpness. An _arch_ damsel is etymologically akin to an _arch_bishop, both descending from the Greek prefix {archi}, from {arche}, a beginning, first cause. Shakespeare uses _arch_ as a noun-- "The noble duke my master, My worthy _arch_ and patron comes to-night." (_Lear_, ii. 1.) Occurring chiefly in such phrases as _arch_ enemy, _arch_ heretic, _arch_ hypocrite, _arch_ rogue, it acquired a depreciatory sense, which has now become so weakened that _archness_ is not altogether an unpleasing attribute. We may compare the cognate German prefix _Erz_. Ludwig has, as successive entries, _Ertz-dieb_, "an arch-thief, an arrant thief," and _Ertz-engel_, "an arch-angel." The meaning of _arrant_ is almost entirely due to association with "thief." It means lit. wandering, vagabond, so that the _arrant_ thief is nearly related to the knight _errant_, and to the Justices in _eyre_, Old Fr. _eire_, Lat. _iter_, a way, journey. Fr. _errer_, to wander, stray, is compounded of Vulgar Lat. _iterare_, to journey, and Lat. _errare_, to stray, and it would be difficult to calculate how much of each enters into the composition of _le Juif errant_. As I have suggested above, association accounts to some extent for changes of meaning, but the process is in reality more complex, and usually a number of factors are working together or in opposition to each other. A low word may gradually acquire right of citizenship. "That article blackguardly called _pluck_" (Scott) is now much respected. It is the same word as _pluck_, the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal-- "During the Crimean war, _plucky_, signifying courageous, seemed likely to become a favourite term in Mayfair, even among the ladies." (HOTTEN'S _Slang Dictionary_, 1864.) Having become respectable, it is now replaced in sporting circles by the more emphatic _guts_, which reproduces the original metaphor. A word may die out in its general sense, surviving only in some special meaning. Thus the poetic _sward_, scarcely used except with "green," meant originally the skin or crust of anything. It is cognate with Ger. _Schwarte_, "the _sward_, or rind, of a thing" (Ludwig), which now means especially bacon-rind. Related words may meet with very different fates in kindred languages. Eng. _knight_ is cognate with Ger. _Knecht_, servant, which had, in Mid. High German, a wide range of meanings, including "warrior, hero." There is no more complimentary epithet than _knightly_, while Ger. _knechtisch_ means servile. The degeneration of words like _boor_,[60] _churl_, farmer, is a familiar phenomenon (cf. _villain_, p. 150). The same thing has happened to _blackguard_, the modern meaning of which bears hardly on a humble but useful class. The name _black guard_ was given collectively to the kitchen detachment of a great man's retinue. The _scavenger_ has also come down in the world, rather an unusual phenomenon in the case of official titles. The medieval _scavager_[61] was an important official who seems to have been originally a kind of inspector of customs. He was called in Anglo-French _scawageour_, from the noun _scawage_, showing. The Old French dialect verb _escauwer_ is of Germanic origin and cognate with Eng. _show_ and Ger. _schauen_, to look. The _cheater_, now usually _cheat_, probably deserved his fate. The _escheators_ looked after _escheats_, _i.e._, estates or property that lapsed and were forfeited. The origin of the word is Old Fr. _escheoir_ (_echoir_), to fall due, Vulgar Lat. _ex *cad[=e]re_ for _cad[)e]re_. Their reputation was unsavoury, and _cheat_ has already its present meaning in Shakespeare. He also plays on the double meaning-- "I will be _cheater_ to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me." (_Merry Wives_, i. 3.) [Page Heading: CHEAT--BELCHER] _Beldam_ implies "hag" as early as Shakespeare, but he also uses it in its proper sense of "grandmother," _e.g._, Hotspur refers to "old _beldam_ earth" and "our _grandam_ earth" in the same speech (1 _Henry IV._, iii. 1), and Milton speaks of "_beldam_ nature"-- "Then sing of secret things that came to pass When _Beldam_ Nature in her cradle was." (_Vacation Exercise_, l. 46.) It is of course from _belle-dame_, used in Mid. English for grandmother, as _belsire_ was for grandfather. Hence it is a doublet of _belladonna_. The masculine _belsire_ survives as a family name, _Belcher_[62]; and to Jim Belcher, most gentlemanly of prize-fighters, we owe the _belcher_ handkerchief, which had large white spots with a dark blue dot in the centre of each on a medium blue ground. It was also known to the "fancy" as a "bird's-eye wipe." FOOTNOTES: [52] Archaic Eng. _bannal_ already existed in the technical sense. [53] This is the usual explanation. But Fr. _herse_ also acquired the meaning "portcullis," the pointed bars of which were naturally likened to the blades of a harrow; and it seems possible that it is to this later sense that we owe the older English meaning of _hearse_ (see p. 154). [54] "Numquid _resina_ non est in Galaad?" (_Vulgate._) [55] A Spanish word, Lat. _stipator_, "one that stoppeth chinkes" (Cooper). It came to England in connection with the wool trade. [56] In "livery and bait" there is pleonasm. _Bait_, connected with _bite_, is the same word as in bear-_baiting_ and fishermen's _bait_. We have it also, _via_ Old French, in _abet_, whence the aphetic _bet_, originally to egg on. [57] Hence the use of _stout_ for a "strong" beer. _Porter_ was once the favourite tap of _porters_, and a mixture of stout and ale, now known as _cooper_, was especially relished by the brewery _cooper_. [58] Folk-etymology for _frontispice_, Lat. _frontispicium_, front view. [59] Related to, but not identical with, _queen_. [60] The older meaning of _boor_ survives in the compound _neighbour_, i.e., _nigh boor_, the farmer near at hand. Du. _boer_ is of course the same word. [61] English regularly inserts _n_ in words thus formed; cf. _harbinger_, _messenger_, _passenger_, _pottinger_, _etc._ [62] Other forms of the same name are _Bowser_ and _Bewsher_. The form _Belcher_ is Picard-- "On assomma la pauvre bete. Un manant lui coupa le pied droit et la tete. Le seigneur du village a sa porte les mit; Et ce dicton picard a l'entour fut ecrit: '_Biaux chires_ leups, n'ecoutez mie Mere tenchent (grondant) chen fieux (son fils) qui crie.'" (LA FONTAINE, _Fables_, iv. 16.) CHAPTER VII SEMANTICS The convenient name semantics has been applied of late to the science of meanings, as distinguished from phonetics, the science of sound. The comparative study of languages enables us to observe and codify the general laws which govern sense development, and to understand why meanings become extended or restricted. One phenomenon which seems to occur normally in language results from what we may call the simplicity of the olden times. Thus the whole vocabulary which is etymologically related to _writing_ and _books_ has developed from an old Germanic verb that means to _scratch_ and the Germanic name for the _beech_. Our earliest books were wooden tablets on which inscriptions were scratched. The word _book_ itself comes from Anglo-Sax. _b[=o]c_, beech; _cf._ Ger. _Buchstabe_, letter, lit. beech-stave. Lat. _liber_, book, whence a large family of words in the Romance languages, means the inner bark of a tree, and _bible_ is ultimately from Greek {byblos}, the inner rind of the _papyrus_, the Egyptian rush from which _paper_ was made.[63] The earliest measurements were calculated from the human body. All European languages use the _foot_, and we still measure horses by _hands_, while _span_ survives in table-books. _Cubit_ is Latin for _elbow_, the first part of which is the same as _ell_, cognate with Lat. _ulna_, also used in both senses. Fr. _brasse_, fathom, is Lat. _brachia_, the two arms, and _pouce_, thumb, means inch. A further set of measures are represented by simple devices: a _yard_[64] is a small "stick," and the _rod_, _pole_, or _perch_ (cf. _perch_ for birds, Fr. _perche_, pole) which gives charm to our arithmetic is a larger one. A _furlong_ is a _furrow-long_. For weights common objects were used, _e.g._, a _grain_, or a _scruple_, Lat. _scrupulus_, "a little sharpe stone falling sometime into a man's shooe" (Cooper), for very small things, a _stone_ for heavier goods. Gk. {drachma}, whence our _dram_, means a handful. Our decimal system is due to our possession of ten _digits_, or fingers, and _calculation_ comes from Lat. _calculus_, a pebble. [Page Heading: FINANCIAL TERMS] A modern Chancellor of the Exchequer, considering his budget, is not so near the reality of things as his medieval predecessor, who literally sat in his counting-house, counting up his money. For the _exchequer_, named from the Old Fr. _eschequier_ (_echiquier_), chess-board, was once the board marked out in squares on which the treasurer reckoned up with counters the king's taxes. This Old Fr. _eschequier_, which has also given _chequer_, is a derivative of Old Fr. _eschec_ (_echec_), check. Thus "_check_ trousers" and a "_chequered_ career" are both directly related to an eastern potentate (see _chess_, p. 120.). The _chancellor_ himself was originally a kind of door-keeper in charge of a _chancel_, a latticed barrier which we now know in church architecture only. _Chancel_ is derived, through Fr. _chancel_ or _cancel_, from Lat. _cancellus_, a cross-bar, occurring more usually in the plural in the sense of lattice, grating. We still _cancel_ a document by drawing such a pattern on it. In German _cancellus_ has given _Kanzel_, pulpit. The _budget_, now a document in which millions are mere items, was the chancellor's little bag or purse-- "If tinkers may have leave to live, And bear the sow-skin _budget_, Then my account I well may give, And in the stocks avouch it." (_Winter's Tale_, iv. 2.) Fr. _bougette_, from which it is borrowed, is a diminutive of _bouge_, a leathern bag, which comes from Lat. _bulga_, "a male or _bouget_ of leather; a purse; a bagge" (Cooper). Modern French has borrowed back our _budget_, together with several other words dealing with business and finance. Among the most important servants of the exchequer were the _controllers_. We now call them officially _comptroller_, through a mistaken association with Fr. _compte_, account. The controller had charge of the _counter-rolls_ (cf. _counterfoil_), from Old Fr. _contre-rolle_, "the copy of a role (of accounts, etc.), a paralell of the same quality and content, with the originall" (Cotgrave). In French _controle_ has preserved the sense of supervision or verification which it has lost in ordinary English. A very ancient functionary of the exchequer, the tally-cutter, was abolished in the reign of George III. _Tallies_ (Fr. _tailler_, to cut) were sticks "scored" across in such a way that the notches could be compared for purposes of verification. Jack Cade preferred those good old ways-- "Our fore-fathers had no other books but the _score_ and the _tally_; thou hast caused books to be used." (2 _Henry VI._, iv. 7.) This rudimentary method of calculation was still in use in the Kentish hop-gardens within fairly recent times; and some of us can remember very old gentlemen asking us, after a cricket match, how many "notches" we had "scored"-- "The _scorers_ were prepared to _notch_ the runs." (_Pickwick_, Ch. 7.) This use of _score_, for a reckoning in general, or for twenty, occurs in Anglo-Saxon, but the word is Scandinavian. The words _score_ and _tally_, originally of identical meaning, were soon differentiated, a common phenomenon in such cases. For the exchequer _tally_ was substituted an "indented cheque receipt." An _indenture_, chiefly familiar to us in connection with apprenticeship, was a duplicate document of which the "indented" or toothed edges had to correspond like the notches of the score or tally. _Cheque_, earlier _check_, is identical with _check_, rebuff. The metaphor is from the game of chess (see p. 120), to _check_ a man's accounts involving a sort of control, or pulling up short, if necessary. A _cheque_ is a method of payment which makes "checking" easy. The modern spelling is due to popular association with _exchequer_, which is etymologically right, though the words have reached their modern functions by very different paths. [Page Heading: OFFICIAL TITLES] The development of the meaning of _chancellor_ can be paralleled in the case of many other functionaries, once humble but now important. The titles of two great medieval officers, the _constable_ and the _marshal_, mean the same thing. _Constable_, Old Fr. _conestable_ (_connetable_), is Lat. _comes stabuli_, stable fellow. _Marshal_, the first element of which is cognate with _mare_, while the second corresponds to modern Ger. _Schalk_, rascal, expresses the same idea in German. Both _constable_ and _marshal_ are now used of very high positions, but Policeman X. and the _farrier-marshal_, or shoeing-smith, of a troop of cavalry, remind them of the base degrees by which they did ascend. The _Marshalsea_ where Little Dorrit lived is for _marshalsy_, marshals' office, etc. The _steward_, or _sty-ward_, looked after his master's pigs. He rose in importance until, by the marriage of Marjorie Bruce to Walter the _Stewart_ of Scotland, he founded the most picturesque of royal houses. The _chamberlain_, as his name suggests, attended to the royal comforts long before he became a judge of wholesome literature. All these names now stand for a great number of functions of varying importance. Other titles which are equally vague are _sergeant_ (see p. 148) and _usher_, Old Fr. _uissier_[65] (_huissier_), lit. door-keeper, Lat. _ostiarius_, a porter. Another official was the _harbinger_, who survives only in poetry. He was a forerunner, or vauntcourier, who preceded the great man to secure him "harbourage" for the night, and his name comes from Old Fr. _herberger_ (_heberger_), to shelter (see p. 164). As late as the reign of Charles II. we read that-- "On the removal of the court to pass the summer at Winchester, Bishop Ken's house, which he held in the right of his prebend, was marked by the _harbinger_ for the use of Mrs Eleanor Gwyn; but he refused to grant her admittance, and she was forced to seek for lodgings in another place." (HAWKINS, _Life of Bishop Ken_.) [Page Heading: PARALLEL METAPHORS] One of the most interesting branches of semantics, and the most useful to the etymologist, deals with the study of parallel metaphors in different languages. We have seen (p. 29) how, for instance, the names of flowers show that the same likeness has been observed by various races. The spice called _clove_ and the _clove_-pink both belong to Lat. _clavus_, a nail. The German for pink is _Nelke_, a Low German diminutive, _nail-kin_, of _Nagel_, nail. The spice, or _Gewuerznelke_, is called in South Germany _Naegele_, little nail. A _clove_ of garlic is quite a separate word; but, as it has some interesting cognates, it may be mentioned here. It is so called because the bulb _cleaves_ naturally into segments.[66] The German name is _Knoblauch_, for Mid. High Ger. _klobe-louch_, clove-leek, by dissimilation of one _l_. The Dutch doublet is _kloof_, a chasm, gully, familiar in South Africa. Fr. _poison_, Lat. _potio_, _potion-_, a drink, and Ger. _Gift_, poison, lit. gift, seem to date from treacherous times. On the other hand, Ger. _Geschenk_, a present, means something poured out (see _nuncheon_, p. 124), while a tip is in French _pourboire_ and in German _Trinkgeld_, even when accepted by a lifelong abstainer. In English we "ride a _hobby_," _i.e._, a hobby-horse, or wooden horse. German has the same metaphor, "ein _Steckenpferd_ reiten," and French says "enfourcher un _dada_," _i.e._, to bestride a gee-gee. _Hobby_, for Mid. Eng. _hobin_, a nag, was a proper name for a horse. Like _Dobbin_ and _Robin_, it belongs to the numerous progeny of Robert. In some cases the reason for a metaphor is not quite clear to the modern mind. The bloodthirsty weasel is called in French _belette_,[67] little beauty, in Italian _donnola_, in Portuguese _doninha_, little lady, in Spanish _comadreja_, gossip (Fr. _commere_, Scot. _cummer_, p. 94), in Bavarian _Schoentierlein_, beautiful little animal, in Danish _kjoenne_, beautiful, and in older English _fairy_.[68] From Lat. _medius_ we get _mediastinus_, "a drugge (drudge) or lubber to doe all vile service in the house; a kitching slave" (Cooper). Why this drudge should have a name implying a middle position I cannot say; but to-day in the North of England a maid-of-all-work is called a _tweeny_ (between maid). A stock semantic parallel occurs in the relation between age and respectability. All of us, as soon as we get to reasonable maturity, lay great stress on the importance of deference to "elders." It follows naturally that many titles of more or less dignity should be evolved from this idea of seniority. The Eng. _alderman_ is obvious. _Priest_, Old Fr. _prestre_[69] (_pretre_), from Gk. {presbyteros}, comparative of {presbys}, old, is not so obvious. In the Romance languages we have a whole group of words, _e.g._, Fr. _sire_, _sieur_, _seigneur_, Ital. _signor_, Span. _senor_, with their compounds _monsieur_, _messer_, etc., all representing either _senior_ or _seniorem_. Ger. _Eltern_, parents, is the plural comparative of _alt_, old, and the first element of _seneschal_ (see _marshal_, p. 90) is cognate with Lat. _senex_. From Fr. _sire_ comes Eng. _sir_, and from this was formed the adjective _sirly_,[70] now spelt _surly_, which in Shakespeare still means haughty, arrogant-- "See how the _surly_ Warwick mans the wall." (3 _Henry VI._, v. 1.) [Page Heading: LIST--MATELOT] A _list_, in the sense of enumeration, is a "strip." The cognate German word is _Leiste_, border. We have the original meaning in "_list_ slippers." Fr. _bordereau_, a list, which became very familiar in connection with the Dreyfus case, is a diminutive of _bord_, edge. _Label_ is the same word as Old Fr. _lambel_ (_lambeau_), rag. _Scroll_ is an alteration, perhaps due to _roll_, of Mid. Eng. _scrow_ or _escrow_, from Old Fr. _escroue_,[71] rag, shred. _Docket_, earlier _dogget_, is from an old Italian diminutive of _doga_, cask-stave, which meant a bendlet in heraldry. _Schedule_ is a diminutive of Lat. _scheda_, "a scrowe" (Cooper), properly a strip of papyrus. Ger. _Zettel_, bill, ticket, is the same word. Thus all these words, more or less kindred in meaning, can be reduced to the primitive notion of strip or scrap. _Farce_, from French, means stuffing. The verb to _farce_, which represents Lat. _farcire_, survives in the perverted _force_-meat. A parallel is _satire_, from Lat. _satura_ (_lanx_), a full dish, hence a medley. Somewhat similar is the modern meaning of _magazine_, a "store-house" of amusement or information. The closest form of intimacy is represented by community of board and lodging, or, in older phraseology, "bed and board." _Companion_, with its related words, belongs to Vulgar Lat. _*companio_, _companion-_, bread-sharer. The same idea is represented by the pleonastic Eng. _messmate_, the second part of which, _mate_, is related to _meat_. _Mess_, food, Old Fr. _mes_ (_mets_), Lat. _missum_, is in modern English only military or naval, but was once the usual name for a dish of food-- "Herbs and other country _messes_ Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses." (_Allegro_, l. 85.) With _mate_ we may compare Fr. _matelot_, earlier _matenot_, representing Du. _maat_, meat, and _genoot_, a companion. The latter word is cognate with Ger. _Genosse_, a companion, from _geniessen_, to enjoy or use together. In early Dutch we find also _mattegenoet_, through popular association with _matte_, hammock, one hammock serving, by a Box and Cox arrangement, for two sailors. _Comrade_ is from Fr. _camarade_, and this from Span. _camarada_, originally a "room-full," called in the French army _une chambree_. This corresponds to Ger. _Geselle_, comrade, from _Saal_, room. The reduction of the collective to the individual is paralleled by Ger. _Bursche_, fellow, from Mid. High Ger. _burse_, college hostel; cf. _Frauenzimmer_, wench, lit. women's room. It can hardly be doubted that _chum_ is a corrupted clip from _chamber-fellow_.[72] It is thus explained in a _Dictionary of the Canting Crew_ (1690), within a few years of its earliest recorded occurrence, and the reader will remember Mr Pickwick's introduction to the _chummage_ system in the Fleet (Ch. 42). [Page Heading: CUMMER--GREENHORN] English _gossip_, earlier _god-sib_, related in God, a sponsor, soon developed the subsidiary meanings of boon companion, crony, tippler, babbler, etc., all of which are represented in Shakespeare. The case of Fr. _compere_ and _commere_, godfather and godmother, is similar. Cotgrave explains _commerage_ as "gossiping; the acquaintance, affinity, or league that growes betweene women by christning a child together, or one for another." Ger. _Gevatter_, godfather, has also acquired the sense of Fr. _bonhomme_ (p. 80), Eng. _daddy_. From _commere_ comes Scot. _cummer_ or _kimmer_-- "A canty quean was Kate, and a special _cummer_ of my ain." (_Monastery_, Ch. 8.) While christenings led to cheerful garrulity, the wilder fun of weddings has given the Fr. _faire la noce_, to go on the spree. In Ger. _Hochzeit_, wedding, lit. high time, we have a converse development of meaning. Parallel sense development in different languages sometimes gives us a glimpse of the life of our ancestors. Our verb to _curry_ (leather) comes from Old Fr. _correer_[73] (_courroyer_), to make ready, put in order, which represents a theoretical _*con-red-are_, the root syllable of which is Germanic and cognate with our _ready_. Ger. _gerben_, to tan, Old High Ger. _garawen_, to make ready, is a derivative of _gar_, ready, complete, now used only as an adverb meaning "quite," but cognate with our _yare_-- "Our ship-- Which, but three glasses since, we gave out split-- Is tight, and _yare_, and bravely rigg'd." (_Tempest_, v. 1.) Both _curry_ and _gerben_ must have acquired their restricted meaning at a time when there was literally nothing like leather. Even in slang we find the same parallelism exemplified. We call an old-fashioned watch a _turnip_. In German it is called _Zwiebel_, onion, and in French _oignon_. Eng. _greenhorn_ likens an inexperienced person to an animal whose horns have just begun to sprout. In Ger. _Gelbschnabel_, yellow-bill, and Fr. _bec-jaune_, we have the metaphor of the fledgling. Ludwig explains _Gelbschnabel_ by "chitty-face," _chit_, cognate with _kit_-ten, being a general term in Mid. English for a young animal. From _bec-jaune_ we have archaic Scot. _beejam_, university freshman. Cotgrave spells the French word _bejaune_, and gives, as he usually does for such words,[74] a very full gloss, which happens, by exception, to be quotable-- "A novice; a late prentice to, or young beginner in, a trade, or art; also, a simple, ignorant, unexperienced, asse; a rude, unfashioned, home-bred hoydon; a sot, ninny, doult, noddy; one that's blankt, and hath nought to say, when he hath most need to speake." The Englishman intimates that a thing has ceased to please by saying that he is "fed up" with it. The Frenchman says, "J'en ai soupe." Both these metaphors are quite modern, but they express in flippant form the same figure of physical satiety which is as old as language. _Padding_ is a comparatively new word in connection with literary composition, but it reproduces, with a slightly different meaning, the figure expressed by _bombast_, lit. wadding, a derivative of Greco-Lat. _bombyx_, originally "silk-worm," whence also _bombasine_. We may compare also "_fustian_ eloquence"-- "And he, whose _fustian_'s so sublimely bad, It is not poetry, but prose run mad." (POPE, _Prologue to the Satires_, l. 187.) And a very similar image is found in the Latin poet Ausonius-- "At nos illepidum, rudem libellum, _Burras_, quisquilias ineptiasque Credemus gremio cui fovendum?" (_Drepanio Filio._) Even to "take the cake" is paralleled by the Gk. {labein ton pyramounta}, to be awarded the cake of roasted wheat and honey which was originally the prize of him who best kept awake during a night-watch. In the proverbial expressions which contain the concentrated wisdom of the ages we sometimes find exact correspondences. Thus "to look a gift-horse in the mouth" is literally reproduced in French and German. Sometimes the symbols vary, _e.g._, the risk one is exposed to in acquiring goods without examination is called by us "buying a pig in a poke."[75] French and German substitute the cat. We say that "a cat may look at a king." The French _dramatis personae_ are a dog and a bishop. The "bird in hand" which we regard as the equivalent of two in the bush is in German compared advantageously with ten on the roof. [Page Heading: NAUTICAL METAPHOR] Every language has an immense number of metaphors to describe the various stages of intoxication. We, as a seafaring nation, have naturally a set of such metaphors taken from nautical English. In French and German the state of being "half-seas over" or "three sheets in the wind," and the practice of "splicing the main-brace" are expressed by various land metaphors. But the more obvious nautical figures are common property. We speak of being _stranded_; French says "_echouer_ (to run ashore) dans une entreprise," and German uses _scheitern_, to strand, split on a rock, in the same way. Finally, we observe the same principle in euphemism, or that form of speech which avoids calling things by their names. Euphemism is the result of various human instincts which range from religious reverence down to common decency. There is, however, a special type of euphemism which may be described as the delicacy of the partially educated. It is a matter of common observation that for educated people a spade is a spade, while the more outspoken class prefers to call it a decorated shovel. Between these two classes come those delicate beings whose work in life is-- "le retranchement de ces syllabes sales Qui dans les plus beaux mots produisent des scandales; Ces jouets eternels des sots de tous les temps; Ces fades lieux-communs de nos mechants plaisants; Ces sources d'un amas d'equivoques infames, Dont on vient faire insulte a la pudeur des femmes." (MOLIERE, _Les Femmes savantes_, iii. 2.) In the United States refined society has succeeded in banning as improper the word _leg_, which must now be replaced by _limb_, even when the possessor is a boiled fowl, and this refinement is not unknown in England. The coloured ladies of Barbados appear to have been equally sensitive-- "Fate had placed me opposite to a fine turkey. I asked my partner if I should have the pleasure of helping her to a piece of the breast. She looked at me indignantly, and said, 'Curse your impudence, sar; I wonder where you larn manners. Sar, I take a lilly turkey _bosom_, if you please.'" (_Peter Simple_, Ch. 31.) This tendency shows itself especially in connection with the more intimate garments and articles intended for personal use. We have the absurd name _pocket handkerchief_, _i.e._, pocket hand-cover-head, for a comparatively modern convenience, the earlier names of which have more of the directness of the Artful Dodger's "wipe." Ben Jonson calls it a _muckinder_. In 1829 the use of the word _mouchoir_ in a French adaptation of _Othello_ caused a riot at the Comedie Francaise. History repeats itself, for, in 1907, a play by J. M. Synge was produced in Dublin, but-- "The audience broke up in disorder at the word _shift_." (_Academy_, 14th Oct. 1911.) This is all the more ludicrous when we reflect that _shift_, _i.e._ change of raiment, is itself an early euphemism for _smock_; _cf._ Ital. _mutande_, "thinne under-breeches" (Florio), from a country and century not usually regarded as prudish. The fact is that, just as the low word, when once accepted, loses its primitive vigour (see _pluck_, p. 83), the euphemism is, by inevitable association, doomed from its very birth. [Page Heading: SEMANTIC ETYMOLOGY] I will now give a few examples of the way in which the study of semantics helps the etymologist. The _antlers_ of a deer are properly the lowest branches of the horns, what we now call brow-antlers. The word comes from Old Fr. _antoilliers_, which answers phonetically to a conjectured Lat. _*ante-oculares_, from _oculus_, eye. This conjecture is confirmed by the Ger. _Augensprosse_, brow-antler, lit. eye-sprout. Eng. _plover_, from Fr. _pluvier_, could come from a Vulgar Lat. _*pluviarius_, belonging to rain. The German name _Regenpfeifer_, lit. rain-piper, shows this to be correct. It does not matter, etymologically, whether the bird really has any connection with rain, for rustic observation, interesting as it is, is essentially unscientific. The _honey_suckle is useless to the bee. The _slow-worm_, which appears to be for _slay-worm_, strike-serpent,[76] is perfectly harmless, and the toad, though ugly, is not venomous, nor does he bear a jewel in his head. _Kestrel_, a kind of hawk, represents Old Fr. _quercerelle_ (_crecerelle_), "a kastrell" (Cotgrave). _Crecerelle_ is a diminutive of _crecelle_, a rattle, used in Old French especially of the leper's rattle or clapper, with which he warned people away from his neighbourhood. It is connected with Lat. _crepare_, to resound. The Latin name for the kestrel is _tinnunculus_, lit. a little ringer, derived from the verb _tinnire_, to clink, jingle, "tintinnabulate." Cooper tells us that "they use to set them (kestrels) in pigeon houses, to make doves to love the place, bicause they feare away other haukes with their ringing voyce." This information is obtained from the Latin agriculturist Columella. This parallel makes it clear that Fr. _crecerelle_, kestrel, is a metaphorical application of the same word, meaning a leper's "clicket." The curious word _akimbo_ occurs first in Mid. English in the form _in kenebowe_. In half a dozen languages we find this attitude expressed by the figure of a jug-handle, or, as it used to be called, a pot-ear. The oldest equivalent is Lat. _ansatus_, used by Plautus, from _ansa_, a jug-handle. _Ansatus homo_ is explained by Cooper as "a man with his arms _on kenbow_." Archaic French for to stand with arms akimbo is "faire le pot a deux _anses_," and the same striking image occurs in German, Dutch, and Spanish. Hence it seems a plausible conjecture that _kenebowe_ means "jug-handle." This is confirmed by the fact that Dryden translates _ansa_, "the eare or handle of a cuppe or pot" (Cooper), by "_kimbo_ handle" (Vergil, _Ecl._ iii. 44). Eng. _bow_, meaning anything bent, is used in many connections for handle. The first element may be _can_, applied to every description of vessel in earlier English, as it still is in Scottish, or it may be some Scandinavian word. In fact the whole compound may be Scandinavian. Thomas' _Latin Dictionary_ (1644) explains _ansatus homo_ as "one that in bragging manner strowteth up and down with his armes _a-canne-bow_." [Page Heading: DEMURE--LUGGER] _Demure_ has been explained as from Mid. Eng. _mure_, ripe, mature, with prefixed _de_. But _demure_ is the older word of the two, and while the loss of the atonic first syllable is normal in English (p. 61), it would be hard to find a case in which a meaningless prefix has been added. Nor does the meaning of _demure_ approximate very closely to that of ripe. It now has a suggestion of slyness, but in Milton's time meant sedate-- "Come, pensive nun, devout and pure, Sober, stedfast, and _demure_." (_Penseroso_, l. 31.) and its oldest meaning is calm, settled, used of the sea. When we consider that it is nearly equivalent to _staid_, earlier _stayed_, and compare the equivalent terms in other languages, _e.g._, Lat. _sedatus_, Fr. _rassis_, Ger. _gesetzt_, etc., it seems likely that it is formed from the Old Norman _demurer_ (_demeurer_), to "stay," just as _stale_ is formed from Old Fr. _estaler_ (_etaler_), to display on a _stall_, or _trove_, in "treasure _trove_," from Old Fr. _trover_ (_trouver_). The origin of _lugger_ is unknown, but the word is recorded a century later than _lugsail_, whence it is probably derived. The explanation of _lugsail_ as a _sail_ that is _lugged_ seems to be a piece of folk-etymology. The French for _lugsail_ is _voile de fortune_, and a still earlier name, which occurs also in Tudor English, is _bonaventure_, _i.e._, good luck. Hence it is not unreasonable to conjecture that _lugsail_ stands for _*luck-sail_, just as the name _Higson_ stands for _Hickson_ (see p. 172). The _pips_ on cards or dice have nothing to do with apple pips. The oldest spelling is _peeps_. In the Germanic languages they are called "eyes," and in the Romance languages "points"; and the Romance derivatives of Lat. _punctus_, point, also mean "_peep_ of day." Hence the _peeps_ are connected with the verb to _peep_. The game called _dominoes_ is French, and the name is taken from the phrase _faire domino_, to win the game. _Domino_, a hooded cloak worn by priests in winter, is an Italian word, apparently connected with Lat. _dominus_. French also has, in various games, the phrase _faire capot_, with a meaning like that of _faire domino_. _Capot_, related to Eng. _cap_ and Fr. _chapeau_, means properly a hooded cloak. The two metaphors are quite parallel, but it is impossible to say what was the original idea. Perhaps it was that of extinguishing the opponent by putting, as it were, his head in a bag. The card game called _gleek_ is often mentioned in Tudor literature. It is derived from Old Fr. _glic_, used by Rabelais, and the word is very common in the works of the more disreputable French poets of the 15th century. According to French archaeologists the game was also called _bonheur_, _chance_, _fortune_, and _hasard_. Hence _glic_ represents in all probability Ger. _Glueck_, luck.[77] The Old French form _ghelicque_ would correspond to Mid. High Ger. _geluecke_. The history of _tennis_ (p. 10) and _trump_ (p. 9) shows that it is not necessary to find the German word recorded in the same sense. [Page Heading: SENTRY] The word _sentry_, which occurs in English only, has no connection at all with _sentinel_, the earliest form of which is Ital. _sentinella_, of unknown origin. The older lexicographers obscured the etymology of _sentry_, which is really quite simple, by always attempting to treat it along with _sentinel_. It is a common phenomenon in military language that the abstract name of an action is applied to the building or station in which the action is performed, then to the group of men thus employed, and finally to the individual soldier. Thus Lat. _custodia_ means (1) guardianship, (2) a ward-room, watch-tower, (3) the watch collectively, (4) a watchman. Fr. _vigie_, the look-out man on board ship, can be traced back in a similar series of meanings to Lat. _vigilia_, watching.[78] A _sentry_, now a single soldier, was formerly a band of soldiers-- "What strength, what art can then Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe Through the strict _senteries_ and stations thick Of angels watching round?" (_Paradise Lost_, ii. 410.) and earlier still a watch-tower, _e.g._, Cotgrave explains Old Fr. _eschauguette_ (_echauguette_) as "a _sentrie_, watch-tower, beacon." The purely abstract sense survives in the phrase "to keep _sentry_" _i.e._ guard-- "Here toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep, Forms terrible to view their _centry_[79] keep." (DRYDEN, _AEneid_, vi. 277.) It is a contracted form of _sanctuary_. In the 17th century it is a pretty familiar word in this sense.[79] The earliest example I have come across is in Nashe-- "He hath no way now to slyppe out of my hands, but to take _sentrie_ in the Hospital of Warwick." (First Part of PASQUIL'S _Apologie_, 1590.) Fr. _guerite_, a sentry box, can be traced back in the same way to Old Fr. _garir_ (_guerir_), to save. Cotgrave explains it as "a place of refuge, and of safe retyrall," also "a _sentrie_, or little lodge for a sentinell, built on high." It is to this latter sense that we owe Eng. _garret_. In medieval French _guerite_ means refuge, sanctuary-- "Ceste roche est Ihesucrist meismes qui est li refuges et la _garite_ aus humbles."[80] If French had not borrowed _sentinelle_ from Italian, _guerite_ would probably now mean "sentry"; _cf._ the history of _vigie_ (p. 103), or of _vedette_, a cavalry sentry, but originally "a prying or peeping hole" (Florio), from Ital. _vedere_, to see. FOOTNOTES: [63] Parchment (see p. 49) was invented as a substitute when the supply of papyrus failed. [64] The "stick" meaning survives in the _yards_ of a ship. _Yard_ was once the general word for rod, wand. Thus the "cheating _yardwand_" of Tennyson's "smooth-faced snubnosed rogue" (_Maud_, I. i. 16) is a pleonasm of the same type as _greyhound_ (p. 135). _Yard_, an enclosure, is a separate word, related to _garden_. The doublet _garth_, used in the Eastern counties, is of Scandinavian origin-- "I climb'd to the top of the _garth_, and stood by the road at the gate." (TENNYSON, _The Grandmother_, l. 38.) [65] As Old Fr. _uissier_ has given _usher_, I would suggest that the family names _Lush_ and _Lusher_, which Bardsley (_Dict. of English Surnames_) gives up, are for Old Fr. _l'uis_ (cf. _Laporte_) and _l'uissier_. In modern French _Lhuissier_ is not an uncommon name. [66] The _onion_, Fr. _oignon_, Lat. _unio_, _union-_, is so named because successive skins form an harmonious one-ness. It is a doublet of _union_. [67] Perhaps a diminutive of Cymric _bele_, marten, but felt as from Fr. _belle_. [68] Dozens of similar names for the weasel could be collected from the European languages and dialects. It is probable that these complimentary names were propitiatory, the weasel being an animal regarded with superstitious dread. [69] Cf. _Prester_ John, the fabulous priest monarch of Ethiopia. [70] Cf. _lordly_, _princely_, etc., and Ger. _herrisch_, imperious, from _Herr_, sir. [71] Modern Fr. _ecrou_ is used only in the sense of prison register. [72] The vowel is not so great a difficulty as it might appear, and we actually have the same change in _comrade_ itself, formerly pronounced _cumrade_. In the London pronunciation the _u_ of such words as _but_, _cup_, _hurry_, etc., represents roughly a continental short _a_. This fact, familiar to phoneticians but disbelieved by others, is one of the first peculiarities noted by foreigners beginning to learn English. It is quite possible that _chum_ is an accidental spelling for _*cham_, just as we write _bungalow_ for _bangla_ (Bengal), _pundit_ for _pandit_, and _Punjaub_ for _Panjab_, five rivers, whence also probably the liquid called _punch_, from its five ingredients. _Cf._ also American to _slug_, _i.e._ to _slog_, which appears to represent Du. _slag_, blow--"That was for _slugging_ the guard" (Kipling, _An Error in the Fourth Dimension_)--and the adjective _bluff_, from obsolete Du. _blaf_, broad-faced. [73] _Array_, Old Fr. _arreer_, is related. [74] This is a characteristic of the old dictionary makers. The gem of my collection is Ludwig's gloss for _Luemmel_, "a long lubber, a lazy lubber, a slouch, a lordant, a lordane, a looby, a booby, a tony, a fop, a dunce, a simpleton, a wise-acre, a sot, a logger-head, a block-head, a nickampoop, a lingerer, a drowsy or dreaming lusk, a pill-garlick, a slowback, a lathback, a pitiful sneaking fellow, a lungis, a tall slim fellow, a slim longback, a great he-fellow, a lubberly fellow, a lozel, an awkward fellow." [75] _Poke_, sack, is still common in dialect, _e.g._ in the Kentish hop-gardens. It is a doublet of _pouch_, and its diminutive is _pocket_. [76] The meaning of _worm_ has degenerated since the days of the _Lindwurm_, the dragon slain by Siegfried. The Norse form survives in _Great Orme's Head_, the dragon's head. [77] Some derive it from Ger. _gleich_, like, used of a "flush." [78] This is why so many French military terms are feminine, e.g., _recrue_, _sentinelle_, _vedette_, etc. [79] Skinner's _Etymologicon_ (1671) has the two entries, _centry_ pro _sanctuary_ and _centry_ v. _sentinel_. The spellings _centry_ and _centinel_, which were common when the words still had a collective sense, are perhaps due to some fancied connection with _century_, a hundred soldiers. [80] "This rock is Jesus Christ himself, who is the refuge and sanctuary of the humble." CHAPTER VIII METAPHOR Every expression that we employ, apart from those that are connected with the most rudimentary objects and actions, is a metaphor, though the original meaning is dulled by constant use. Thus, in the above sentence, _expression_ means what is "squeezed out," to _employ_ is to "twine in" like a basket maker, to _connect_ is to "weave together," _rudimentary_ means "in the rough state," and an _object_ is something "thrown in our way." A classification of the metaphors in use in the European languages would show that a large number of the most _obvious_ kind, _i.e._ of those which "come to meet" one, are common property, while others would reflect the most striking habits and pursuits of the various races. It would probably be found that in the common stock of simple metaphor the most important contribution would come from agriculture, while in English the nautical element would occur to an extent quite unparalleled in other European languages.[81] A curious agricultural metaphor which, though of Old French origin, now appears to be peculiar to English, is to _rehearse_, lit. to harrow over again (see _hearse_, p. 75). Some metaphors are easy to track. It does not require much philological knowledge to see that _astonish_, _astound_, and _stun_ all contain the idea of "thunder-striking," Vulgar Lat. _*ex-tonare_. To _embarrass_ is obviously connected with _bar_, and to _interfere_ is to "strike between," Old Fr. _entreferir_. This word was especially used in the 16th century of a horse knocking its legs together in trotting, "to _interfeere_, as a horse" (Cotgrave). When we speak of a _prentice-hand_, sound _journeyman_ work, and a _masterpiece_, we revive the medieval classification of artisans into learners, qualified workmen, and those who, by the presentation to their guild of a finished piece of work, were recognised as past (passed) masters. But many of our metaphors are drawn from pursuits with which we are no longer familiar, or from arts and sciences no longer practised. _Disaster_, _ill-starred_, and such adjectives as _jovial_, _mercurial_, are reminiscent of astrology. To bring a thing to the _test_ is to put it in the alchemist's or metallurgist's _test_ or trying-pot (cf. _test_-tube), Old Fr. _test_ (_tet_). This is related to Old Fr. _teste_ (_tete_) head, from Lat. _testa_, tile, pot, etc., used in Roman slang for _caput_. Shakespeare has the complete metaphor-- "Let there be some more _test_ made of my metal,[82] Before so noble and so great a figure Be stamp'd upon it." (_Measure for Measure_, i. 1.) [Page Heading: SHAMBLES--SPICK AND SPAN] The old butchers' shops which adjoin Nottingham Market Place are still called the _Shambles_. The word is similarly used at Carlisle, and probably elsewhere; but to most people it is familiar only in the metaphorical sense of place of slaughter, generally regarded as a singular. Thus Denys of Burgundy says-- "The beasts are in the _shambles_." (_Cloister and Hearth_, Ch. 33.) etymologically misusing the word, which does not mean slaughter-house, but the bench on which meat is exposed for sale. It is a very early loan from Lat. _scamnum_, a bench or form, also explained by Cooper as "a step or grice (see p. 118) to get up to bedde." The same diminutive form occurs in Fr. _escabeau_, an office stool, and Ger. _Schemel_, a stool. _Fusty_, earlier _foisty_, is no longer used in its proper sense. It comes from Old Fr. _fuste_, "_fusty_; tasting of the caske, smelling of the vessell wherein it hath been kept" (Cotgrave), a derivative of Old Fr. _fust_ (_fut_) a cask.[83] The smith's art has given us _brand-new_, often corrupted into _bran-new_. Shakespeare uses _fire-new_-- "You should then have accosted her; and with some excellent jests, _fire-new_ from the mint, you should have banged the youth into dumbness." (_Twelfth Night_, iii. 2.) Modern German has _funkelnagelneu_, spark nail new; but in older German we find also _spanneu_, _splinterneu_, chip new, splinter new; which shows the origin of our _spick and span_ (new), _i.e._, spike and chip new. French has _tout battant neuf_, beating new, _i.e._, fresh from the anvil. Many old hunting terms survive as metaphors. To be _at bay_, Fr. _aux abois_, is to be facing the baying hounds. The fundamental meaning of Old Fr. _abaier_ (_aboyer_), of obscure origin, is perhaps to gape at.[84] Thus a right or estate which is in _abeyance_ is one regarded with open-mouthed expectancy. The _toils_ are Fr. _toiles_, lit. cloths, Lat. _tela_, the nets put round a thicket to prevent the game from escaping. To "beat about the bush" seems to be a mixture of two metaphors which are quite unlike in meaning. To "beat the bush" was the office of the beaters, who started the game for others, hence an old proverb, "I will not beat the bush that another may have the birds." To "go about the bush" would seem to have been used originally of a hesitating hound. The two expressions have coalesced to express the idea for which French says "y aller par quatre chemins." _Crestfallen_ and _white feather_ belong to the old sport of cock-fighting. _Jeopardy_ is Old Fr. _jeu parti_, a divided game, hence an equal encounter. To run full _tilt_ is a jousting phrase. To _pounce_ upon is to seize in the _pounces_, the old word for a hawk's claws. The ultimate source is Lat. _pungere_, to prick, pierce. A goldsmith's _punch_ was also called a _pounce_, hence the verb to _pounce_, to make patterns on metal. The northern past participle _pouncet_[85] occurs in _pouncet-box_, a metal perforated globe for scents-- "And 'twixt his finger and his thumb he held A _pouncet-box_, which ever and anon He gave his nose, and took't away again." (1 _Henry IV._, i. 3.) To the language of hawking belongs also _haggard_. Cotgrave defines _faulcon (faucon) hagard_, as "a faulcon that preyed for her selfe long before she was taken." Hence the sense of wild, untameable. The original meaning is hedge-hawk, the first syllable representing Old High Ger. _hag_, hedge. _Hag_, a witch, is of cognate origin. [Page Heading: SPORTING METAPHORS] The antiquity of dicing appears in the history of Ger. _gefallen_, to please, originally used of the "fall" of the dice. In Mid. High German it is always used with _wohl_, well, or _uebel_, ill; e.g., _es gefaellt mir wohl_, it "falls out" well for me. There can be no reasonable doubt that the _deuce!_ is a dicer's exclamation at making the lowest throw, two, Fr. _deux_. We still use _deuce_ for the two in cards, and German has _Daus_ in both senses. Tennis has given us _bandy_, Fr. _bander_, "to _bandie_, at tennis" (Cotgrave). We now only bandy words or reproaches, but Juliet understood the word in its literal sense-- "Had she affections and warm youthful blood, She'd be as swift in motion as a ball; My words would _bandy_ her to my sweet love, And his to me." (_Romeo and Juliet_, ii. 5.) Fowling has given us _cajole_, _decoy_, and _trepan_. Fr. _cajoler_, which formerly meant to chatter like a jay in a cage, has in modern French assumed the meaning of _enjoler_, earlier _engeoler_, "to incage, or ingaole" (Cotgrave), hence to entice. Fr. _geole_, gaol, represents Vulgar Lat. _*caveola_. _Decoy_, earlier also _coy_, is Du. _kooi_, cage. The later form is perhaps due to _duck-coy_. Du. _kooi_ is also of Latin origin. It comes, like Fr. _cage_, from Vulgar Lat. _*cavea_, and has a doublet _kevie_, whence Scot. _cavie_, a hen-coop. _Trepan_ was formerly _trapan_, and belongs to _trap_-- "Some by the nose with fumes _trapan_ 'em, As Dunstan did the devil's grannam." (_Hudibras_, ii. 3.) It is now equivalent to _kidnap_, _i.e._ to _nab kids_ (children), once a lucrative pursuit. The surgical _trepan_ is a different word altogether, and belongs to Greco-Lat. _trypanon_, an auger, piercer. To _allure_ is to bring to the _lure_, or bait. To the same group of metaphors belongs _inveigle_, which corresponds, with altered prefix, to Fr. _aveugler_, to blind, Vulgar Lat. _*ab-oculare_.[86] A distant relative of this word is _ogle_, which is of Low German origin; _cf._ Ger. _liebaeugeln_ "to _ogle_, to smicker, to look amorously, to cast sheeps-eyes, to cast amorous looks" (Ludwig). The archaic verb to _cozen_ is a metaphor of quite another kind. Every young noble who did the grand tour in the 16th and 17th centuries spent some time at Naples, "where he may improve his knowledge in horsemanship" (Howell, _Instructions for Forreine Travell_, 1642). Now the Italian horse-dealers were so notorious that Dekker, writing about 1600, describes a swindling "horse-courser" as a "meere jadish Non-politane," a play on Neapolitan. The Italian name is _cozzone_, "a horse-courser, a horse-breaker, a craftie knave" (Florio), whence the verb _cozzonare_, "to have perfect skill in all _cosenages_" (Torriano). The essential idea of to _cozen_ in the Elizabethans is that of selling faulty goods in a bad light, a device said to be practised by some horse-dealers. At any rate the words for horse-dealer in all languages, from the Lat. _mango_ to the Amer. _horse-swapper_, mean swindler and worse things. _Cozen_ is a favourite word with the Elizabethan dramatists, because it enables them to bring off one of those stock puns that make one feel "The less Shakespeare he"-- "_Cousins_, indeed; and by their uncle _cozen'd_ Of comfort, kingdom, kindred, freedom, life." (_Richard III._, iv. 4.) In the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (iv. 5) there is a lot of word-play on "cousins-german" and "German cozeners." An exact parallel to the history of _cozen_ is furnished by the verb to _jockey_, from _jockey_, in its older sense of horse-dealer. [Page Heading: HORTICULTURE] _Scion_ is a metaphor from the garden. It is Fr. _scion_, "a scion; a young and tender plant; a shoot, sprig, or twig" (Cotgrave). Ger. _Sproessling_, sproutling, is also used of an "offshoot" from a "stock." We have a similar metaphor in the word _imp_. We now _graft_ trees, a misspelling of older _graffe_, Fr. _greffe_, Greco-Lat. _graphium_, a pencil, from the shape of the slip. But the older word was _imp_, which we find also used of inserting a new feather into the wing or tail of a hawk, or fitting a small bell-rope to a larger one. The art of grafting was learnt from the Romans, who had a post-classical verb _imputare_,[87] to graft, which has given Eng. _imp_, Ger. _impfen_, Fr. _enter_, and is represented in most other European languages. _Imp_ was used like _scion_, but degenerated in meaning. In Shakespeare it has already the somewhat contemptuous shade of meaning which we find in Ger. _Sproessling_, and is only used by comic characters. Thus Pistol addresses Prince Hal-- "The heavens thee guard and keep, most royal _imp_ of fame." (2 _Henry IV._, v. 5.) But Thomas Cromwell, in his last letter to Henry VIII., speaks of-- "That most noble _imp_, the prince's grace, your most dear son." The special sense of "young devil" appears to be due to the frequent occurrence of such phrases as "_imps_ (children) of Satan," "the devil and his _imps_," etc. Ger. _impfen_ also means to vaccinate. Our earlier term _inoculate_[88] originally meant to graft, and, in fact, _engraft_ was also used in this sense. _Zest_ is quite obsolete in its original meaning of a piece of orange peel used to give piquancy to wine. It is a French word of unknown origin, properly applied to the inner skin of fruit and nuts. Cotgrave explains it as "the thick skinne, or filme whereby the kernell of a wallnut is divided." FOOTNOTES: [81] It would be interesting to trace the rise and spread of nautical metaphor in English. We have a good example of the transition from the bucolic to the nautical in the expression "To lose the _ship_ for a ha'porth of tar." Few people who use this metaphor know that _ship_ is here the dialect pronunciation of _sheep_; cf. _Ship Street_, at Oxford (and elsewhere), for _Sheep Street_. Tar was, and is, used as a medicine for sheep, but in this particular case the allusion seems to be rather to the marking of sheep with tar; _cf._ "tarred with the same brush," _i.e._, members of the same flock. [82] See _mettle_, p. 144. [83] Lat. _fustis_, a staff, cudgel, gave also Old Fr. _fust_, a kind of boat, whence obsolete Eng. _foist_ in the same sense. Both meanings seem to go back to a time when casks and boats were "dug out" instead of being built up. [84] Related are _bouche beante_, or _bee_, mouth agape; _bailler_, to yawn; and _badaud_, "a gaping hoydon" (Cotgrave, _badault_). [85] _Cf._ the _Stickit_ Minister. [86] Or perhaps _*alboculare_, as _albus oculus_, lit. white eye, is used of blindness in an early Vulgar Latin glossary. [87] Of uncertain origin. Lat. _putare_, to cut (cf. _amputate_), or Gk. {emphytos}, implanted? [88] From _oculus_, eye, in the sense of bud. CHAPTER IX FOLK-ETYMOLOGY The sound, spelling, and even the meaning of a word are often perverted by influences to which the collective name of folk-etymology has been given. I here use the term to include all phenomena which are due to any kind of misunderstanding of a word. A word beginning with _n_ sometimes loses this sound through its being confused with the _n_ of the indefinite article _an_. Thus _an adder_ and _an auger_ are for _a nadder_ (_cf._ Ger. _Natter_) and _a nauger_, Mid. Eng. _navegor_, properly an instrument for piercing the _nave_ of a wheel. _Apron_ was in Mid. English _naprun_, from Old Fr. _naperon_, a derivative of _nappe_, cloth. The _aitch-bone_ was formerly the _nache-bone_, from Old Fr. _nache_, buttock, Vulgar Lat. _*natica_ for _nates_. _Nache_ is still used by French butchers. _Humble-pie_ is a popular perversion of _umble-pie_, _i.e._, a pie made from the _umbles_, or inferior parts of the stag. But _umble_ is for earlier _numble_, Old Fr. _nomble_, formed, with dissimilation, from Lat. _lumbulus_, diminutive of _lumbus_, loin; cf. _niveau_ (p. 58). Thus _humble-pie_ has etymologically no connection with humility. _Umpire_ represents Old Fr. _non per_ (_pair_), not equal, the _umpire_ being a third person called in when arbitrators could not agree. This appears clearly in the following extract from a medieval letter-- "And if so be that the said arbitrators may not accord before the said feast of Allhalowes, then the said parties be the advise abovesaid are agreed to abide the award and ordinance of an _noumper_ to be chosen be the said arbitrators." (_Plumpton Correspondence_, 1431.) For the sense we may compare Span. _tercero_, "the third, a broaker, a mediator" (Percyvall). _An eyas_ falcon is for _a neyas_ falcon, Fr. _niais_, foolish, lit. nestling, related to _nid_, nest. Rosenkrantz uses it in the literal sense-- "But there is, sir, an aiery of children, little _eyases_, that cry out on the top of question, and are most tyranically clapped for't." (_Hamlet_, ii. 2.) Somewhat similar is the loss in French of initial _a_ in _la boutique_ for _l'aboutique_, Greco-Lat. _apotheca_, and _la Pouille_ for _l'Apouille_, Apulia, or of the initial _l_ in _ounce_, a kind of tiger-cat, from Fr. _once_, earlier _lonce_, "the _ounce_, a ravenous beast" (Cotgrave), taken as _l'once_. It is almost a doublet of _lynx_. The opposite has happened in the case of _a newt_ for _an ewt_ and _a nick-name_ for _an eke-name_. _Eke_, also, occurs in the first stanza of John Gilpin. It is cognate with Ger. _auch_, also, and Lat. _augere_, to increase. _Nuncle_, the customary address of a court fool to his superiors-- "How now, _nuncle_! Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters." (_Lear_, i. 4.) is for _mine uncle_. We also find _naunt_. _Nonce_ occurs properly only in the phrase _for the nonce_, which is for earlier _for then ones_, where _then_ is the dative of the definite article. Family names like _Nash_, _Nokes_ are aphetic for _atten ash_, at the ash, _atten oakes_, at the oaks. The creation of such forms was perhaps helped by our tendency to use initial _n_ in Christian names, e.g., _Ned_ for _Edward_, _Noll_ for _Oliver_, _Nell_ for _Ellen_. [Page Heading: AGGLUTINATION OF THE ARTICLE] Agglutination of the definite article is common in French, e.g., _lingot_, ingot, _lierre_, ivy, for _l'ierre_, Lat. _hedera_, and the dialect _levier_, sink, for _evier_, Lat. _aquarium_, whence Eng. _ewer_. The derivation of Fr. _landier_, andiron, is unknown, but the _iron_ of the English word is due to folk-etymology. Such agglutination occurs often in family names such as _Langlois_, lit. the Englishman, _Lhuissier_, the usher (see p. 90), and some of these have passed into English, e.g., _Levick_ for _l'eveque_, the bishop. The two words _alarm_ and _alert_ include the Italian definite article. The first is Ital. _all'arme_, to arms, for _a le arme_, and the second is _all'erta_ for _alla (a la) erta_, the last word representing Lat. _erecta_. With rolled _r_, _alarm_ becomes _alarum_, whence the aphetic _larum_-- "Then we shall hear their _larum_, and they ours." (_Coriolanus_, i. 4.) Ger. _Laerm_, noise, is the same word. In Luther's time we also find _Allerm_. We have the Arabic definite article in a great many words borrowed from Spanish. _Alcalde_, or _alcade_, and _alguazil_, common in Elizabethan literature, are two old friends from the _Arabian Nights_, the _cadi_ and the _wazir_, or _vizier_. The Arabic article also occurs in _acton_, Old Fr. _auqueton_, now _hoqueton_, for _al qutn_ (cotton), because originally used of a wadded coat-- "But Cranstoun's lance, of more avail, Pierced through, like silk, the Borderer's mail; Through shield, and jack, and _acton_ past, Deep in his bosom broke at last." (SCOTT, _Lay_, iii. 6.) In _alligator_, Span. _el lagarto_, the lizard, from Lat. _lacertus_, we have the Spanish definite article. See also _lariat_, p. 24. A foreign word ending in a sibilant is sometimes mistaken for a plural. Thus Old Fr. _assets_ (_assez_), enough, Lat. _ad satis_, has given Eng. _assets_, plural, with a barbarous, but useful, singular _asset_. _Cherry_ is for _cheris_, from a dialect form of Fr. _cerise_, and _sherry_ for _sherris_, from _Xeres_ in Spain (see p. 51). Falstaff opines that-- "A good _sherris_-sack[89] hath a twofold operation in it." (2 _Henry IV._, iv. 3.) _Pea_ is a false singular from older _pease_, Lat. _pisum_. Perhaps the frequent occurrence of _pease-soup_, not to be distinguished from _pea-soup_, is partly responsible for this mistake. _Marquee_, a large tent, is from Fr. _marquise_. With this we may class the heathen _Chinee_ and the _Portugee_. Milton wrote correctly of-- "The barren plains Of Sericana, where _Chineses_ drive With sails and wind their cany waggons light." (_Paradise Lost_, iii. 438.) It has been ingeniously suggested that _Yankee_ has been derived in the same way from Du. _Jan Kees_, John Cornelius, supposed to have been a nickname for early Dutch colonists. It is more probably the Dutch dim. _Janke_, i.e. Johnny. The vulgarism _shay_ for _chaise_[90] is of similar formation. _Corp_, for _corpse_, is also used provincially. _Kickshaws_ is really a singular from Fr. _quelque chose_-- "Art thou good at these _kickshawses_, knight?" (_Twelfth Night_, i. 3.) Cotgrave spells it _quelkchoses_ (s.v. _fricandeau_). [Page Heading: FALSE SINGULARS AND DOUBLE PLURALS] _Skate_ has a curious history. It is a false singular from Du. _schaats_. This is from _escache_, an Old French dialect form of _echasse_, stilt, which was used in the Middle Ages for a wooden leg. It is of German origin, and is related to _shank_. _Cf._, for the sense development, Eng. _patten_, from Fr. _patin_, a derivative of _patte_, foot, cognate with _paw_. _Skates_ are still called _pattens_ by the fenmen of Cambridgeshire. We also had formerly a doublet from Old Fr. _escache_ directly, but in the older sense, for Cotgrave has _eschasses_ (_echasses_), "stilts, or _scatches_ to go on." _Row_, a disturbance, belongs to _rouse_, a jollification-- "The king doth wake to-night and takes his _rouse_." (_Hamlet_, i. 4.) of uncertain origin, but probably aphetic for _carouse_, _drink carouse_ being wrongly separated as _drink a rouse_. The bird called a _wheatear_ was formerly called _wheatears_, a corruption of a name best explained by its French equivalent _cul blanc_, "the bird called a whittaile" (Cotgrave). We may compare the bird-name _redstart_, where _start_ means rump. Conversely a word used in the plural is sometimes regarded as a singular, the result being a double plural. Many Latin neuter plurals were adopted into French as feminine singulars, e.g., _cornua_, _corne_, horn; _labra_, _levre_, lip; _vela_, _voile_, sail. It is obvious that this is most likely to occur in the case of plurals which are used for a pair, or set, of things, and thus have a kind of collective sense. _Breeches_ or _breeks_ is a double plural, Anglo-Sax. _br[=e]c_ being already the plural of _br[=o]c_. In Mid. English we still find _breche_ or _breke_ used of this garment. _Trousers_ was earlier _trouses_, plural of _trouse_, now _trews_, and was used especially of Irish native costume. The latest researches throw doubt on the identity of these words with Fr. _trousse_, a page's short breeches. The etymology which now finds most favour is Irish and Gaelic _triubhas_, from Late Lat. _tubracci_ or _tribracci_, which is supposed to be a corrupted compound from _tibia_, leg, shank, and _braccae_, breeches. _Bodice_ is for _bodies_, as _pence_ is for _pennies_. Cotgrave explains _corset_ by "a paire of _bodies_ for a woman," and the plural sense occurs as late as Harrison Ainsworth-- "A _pair of bodice_ of the cumbrous form in vogue at the beginning of the last century." (_Jack Sheppard_, Ch. 1.) _Trace_, of a horse, is the Old Fr. plural _trais_[91] (_traits_) of _trait_, "a teame-trace" (Cotgrave). _Apprentice_ is the plural of Fr. _apprenti_, formerly _apprentif_, a derivative of _apprendre_, to learn, hence a disciple. _Invoice_ is the plural of the obsolete _invoy_, from Fr. _envoi_, sending. In the _Grecian steps_, at Lincoln, we have a popular corruption of the common Mid. Eng. and Tudor _grece_, _grese_, plural of Old Fr. _gre_, step, from Lat. _gradus_. Shakespeare spells it _grize_-- "Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence, Which, as a _grize_, or step, may help these lovers Into your favour." (_Othello_, i. 3.) [Page Heading: SINGULARS FROM PLURALS] Scot. _brose_, or _brewis_, was in Mid. Eng. _browes_, from Old Fr. _brouez_, plural of _brouet_, a word cognate with our _broth_. From this association comes perhaps the use of _broth_ as a plural in some of our dialects. _Porridge_, not originally limited to oatmeal, seems to be combined from _pottage_ and Mid. Eng. _porrets_, plural of _porret_, leek, a diminutive from Lat. _porrum_. _Porridge_ is sometimes used as a plural in Scottish-- "They're fine, halesome food, they're grand food, _parritch_." (_Kidnapped_, Ch. 3.) and in the northern counties of England people speak of taking "a few" porridge, or broth. _Baize_, now generally green, is for earlier _bayes_, the plural of the adjective _bay_, now used only of horses; _cf._ Du. _baai_, baize. The origin of the adjective _bay_, Fr. _bai_, forms of which occur in all the Romance languages, is Lat. _badius_, "of bay colour, bayarde" (Cooper). Hence the name _Bayard_, applied to FitzJames' horse in _The Lady of the Lake_ (v. 18), and earlier to the steed that carried the four sons of Aymon. _Quince_ is the plural of _quin_, from the Norman form of Old Fr. _coin_ (_coing_), which is derived from Gk. {kydonion}. _Truce_ is the plural of Mid. Eng. _trewe_ (lit. truth, faith) with the same meaning. Already in Anglo-Saxon it is found in the plural, probably as rendering Lat. _induciae_. _Lettuce_, Mid. Eng. _letows_, seems also to be a plural, from Fr. _laitue_, Lat. _lactuca_. _Earnest_ in the sense of pledge-- "And, for an _earnest_ of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor." (_Macbeth_, i. 3.) has nothing to do with the adjective _earnest_. It is the Mid. Eng. _ernes_, earlier _erles_, which survives as _arles_ in some of our dialects. The verb to _earl_ is still used in Cumberland of "enlisting" a servant with a shilling in the open market. The Old French word was _arres_ or _erres_, now written learnedly _arrhes_, a plural from Lat. _arrha_, "an _earnest_ penny, _earnest_ money" (Cooper). The existence of Mid. Eng. _erles_ shows that there must have been also an Old French diminutive form. For the apparently arbitrary change of _l_ to _n_ we may compare _banister_ for _baluster_ (see p. 60). The _jesses_ of a hawk-- "If I do prove her haggard,[92] Though that her _jesses_ were my dear heart-strings, I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind, To prey at fortune." (_Othello_, iii. 3.) were the thongs by which it was held or "thrown" into the air. _Jess_ is the Old Fr. _jes_, the plural of _jet_, from _jeter_, to throw. In Colman's _Elder Brother_ we read of a gentleman who lounged and chatted, "not minding time a _souse_," where _souse_ is the plural of Fr. _sou_, halfpenny. From Fr. _muer_, to moult, Lat. _mutare_, we get Fr. _mue_, moulting, later applied to the coop or pen in which moulting falcons were confined, whence the phrase "to _mew_ (up)"-- "More pity, that the eagles should be _mew'd_, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty." (_Richard III._, i. 1.) When, in 1534, the royal _mews_, or hawk-houses, near Charing Cross were rebuilt as stables, the word acquired its present meaning. _Chess_, Old Fr. _esches_ (_echecs_), is the plural of _check_, Fr. _echec_, from Persian _sh[=a]h_, king. By analogy with the "game of kings," the name _jeu des dames_ was given in French to draughts, still called _dams_ in Scotland. _Draught_, from _draw_, meant in Mid. English a "move" at chess. The etymology of _tweezers_ can best be made clear by starting from French _etui_, a case, of doubtful origin. This became in English _etwee_, or _twee_, _e.g._, Cotgrave explains _estui_ (_etui_) as "a sheath, case, or box to put things in; and (more particularly) a case of little instruments, as sizzars, bodkin, penknife, etc., now commonly termed an _ettwee_." Such a case generally opens book-fashion, each half being fitted with instruments. Accordingly we find it called a surgeon's "pair of _twees_," or simply _tweese_, and later a "pair of _tweeses_." The implement was named from the case (_cf._ Fr. _boussole_, p. 127), and became _tweezers_ by association with _pincers_ (Fr. _pinces_), _scissors_, etc. [Page Heading: ANALOGY] The form of a word is often affected by association with some other word with which it is instinctively coupled. Thus _larboard_, for Mid. Eng. _ladeboard_, _i.e._ loading side, is due to _starboard_, steering side. _Bridal_, for _bride-ale_, from the liquid consumed at marriage festivities, is due to analogy with _betrothal_, _espousal_, etc. A 16th-century Puritan records with satisfaction the disappearance of-- "Church-ales, helpe-ales, and soule-ales, called also dirge-ales, and heathenish rioting at _bride-ales_." (HARRISON, _Description of England_, 1577.) _Rampart_ is from Old Fr. _rempar_, a verbal noun from _remparer_, to repair; _cf._ Ital. _riparo_, "a _rampire_, a fort, a banke" (Florio). By analogy with Old Fr. _boulevart_ (_boulevard_), of German origin and identical with our _bulwark_,[93] _rempar_ became _rempart_. The older English form occurs in the obsolete _rampier_ or _rampire_, which survive in the dialect _ramper_, embankment, causeway. For the spelling _rampire_ we may compare _umpire_ (p. 113). The apple called a _jenneting_, sometimes "explained" as for _June-eating_, was once spelt _geniton_, no doubt for Fr. _jeanneton_, a diminutive of _Jean_. It is called in French _pomme de Saint-Jean_, and in German _Johannisapfel_, because ripe about St John's Day (June 24). The modern form is due to such apple names as _golding_, _sweeting_, _codlin_, _pippin_. In the records of medieval London we frequently come across the distinction made between people who lived "in the city," Anglo-Fr. _deinz (dans) la cite_, and "outside the city," Anglo-Fr. _fors (hors) la cite_. The former were called _deinzein_, whence our _denizen_, and the latter _forein_.[94] The Anglo-French form of modern Fr. _citoyen_ was _citein_, which became _citizen_ by analogy with _denizen_. The following passage from a medieval London by-law shows how rigid was the division between "denizen" and "foreign" traders-- "Item, qe nulle pulletere _deinzeyn_ n'estoise a Carfeux del Ledenhalle deins mesoun ne dehors, ove conilles, volatilie, n'autre pulletrie pur vendre ... issint qe les _forreins_ pulleters, ove lour pulletrie, estoisent par eux mesmes, et vendent lour pulletrie sur le cornere de Ledenhalle, sanz ceo qe ascuns pulletere _deinzein_ viegne ou medle en vent ou en achate ove eux, ne entre eux."[95] (_Liber Albus._) Even words which have opposite meanings may affect each other by association. Thus Lat. _reddere_, to give back, became Vulgar Lat. _*rendere_ by analogy with _prendere_ (_prehendere_), to take away; hence Fr. _rendre_. Our word _grief_, from Fr. _grief_, is derived from a Vulgar Lat. _*gr[)e]vis_, heavy (for _gr[)a]vis_), which is due to _l[)e]vis_, light. [Page Heading: TITMOUSE--PURLIEU] The plural of _titmouse_ is now usually _titmice_, by analogy with _mouse_, _mice_, with which it has no connection. The second part of the word is Anglo-Sax. _m[=a]se_, used of several small birds. It is cognate with Ger. _Meise_, titmouse, and Fr. _mesange_, "a titmouse, or tittling" (Cotgrave). _Tit_, of Norse origin, is applied to various small animals, and occurs also as a prefix in _titbit_ or _tidbit_. Cf. _tomtit_ (p. 37). The Spanish word _salva_, "a taste, a salutation" (Percyvall), was used of the pregustation of a great man's food or drink. We have given the name to the tray or dish from which the "assay" was made, but, by analogy with _platter_, _trencher_, we spell it _salver_. In another sense, that of a "salutation" in the form of a volley of shot, we have corrupted it into _salvo_. With the use of Span. _salva_ we may compare that of Ital. _credenza_, lit. faith, "the taste or assaie of a princes meate and drinke" (Florio), whence Fr. _credence_, side-board, used in English only in the ecclesiastical compound _credence table_, and Ger. _credenzen_, to pour out. In spoken English the ending _-ew_, _-ue_, of French origin, has been often changed to _-ee_, _-ey_. Thus _pedigree_ was formerly _pedigrew_ (see p. 77). The fencing term _veney_-- "I bruised my shin the other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence--three _veneys_ for a dish of stewed prunes." (_Merry Wives_, i. 1.) also spelt _venew_, is from Fr. _venue_, "a _venny_ in fencing" (Cotgrave). _Carew_ has become _Carey_, and _Beaulieu_, in Hampshire, is called _Bewley_. Under the influence of these double forms we sometimes get the opposite change, e.g., _purlieu_, now generally used of the outskirts of a town, is for _purley_, a strip of disforested woodland. This is a contraction of Anglo-Fr. _pour-allee_, used to translate the legal Lat. _perambulatio_, a going through. A change of _venue_[96] is sometimes made when it seems likely that an accused person, or a football team, will not get justice from a local jury. This _venue_ is in law Latin _vicinetum_, neighbourhood, which gave Anglo-Fr. _visne_, and this, perhaps by confusion with the _venire facias_, or jury summons, became _venew_, _venue_. In the preceding examples the form has been chiefly affected. In the word _luncheon_ both form and meaning have been influenced by the obsolete _nuncheon_, a meal at noon, Mid. Eng. _none-chenche_, for _*none-schenche_, noon draught, from Anglo-Sax. _scencan_,[97] to pour. Drinking seems to have been regarded as more important than eating, for in some counties we find this _nuncheon_ replaced by _bever_, the Anglo-French infinitive from Lat. _bibere_, to drink. _Lunch_, a piece or hunk, especially of bread, also used in the sense of a "snack" (_cf._ Scot. "piece"), was extended to _luncheon_ by analogy with _nuncheon_, which it has now replaced-- "So munch on, crunch on, take your _nuncheon_, Breakfast, supper, dinner, _luncheon_." (BROWNING, _Pied Piper of Hamelin_.) [Page Heading: WRONG ASSOCIATION] The term folk-etymology is often applied in a narrower sense to the corruption of words through a mistaken idea of their etymology or origin. The tendency of the uneducated is to distort an unfamiliar or unintelligible word into some form which suggests a meaning. Some cases may have originated in a kind of heavy jocularity, as in _sparrow-grass_ for _asparagus_ or _sparagus_ (see p. 66), or Rogue Riderhood's _Alfred David_ for _affidavit_-- "'Is that your name?' asked Lightwood. 'My name?' returned the man. 'No; I want to take a _Alfred David_.'" (_Our Mutual Friend_, Ch. 12.) In others there has been a wrong association of ideas, _e.g._, the _primrose_, _rosemary_, and _tuberose_ have none of them originally any connection with the _rose_. _Primrose_ was earlier _primerole_, an Old French derivative of Latin _primula_; _rosemary_, French _romarin_, is from Lat. _ros marinus_, sea-dew; _tuberose_ is the Latin adjective _tuberosus_, bulbous, tuberous. Or attempts are made at translation, such as Sam Weller's _Have his carcase_ for _Habeas Corpus_, or the curious names which country folk give to such complaints as _bronchitis_, _erysipelas_, etc. To this class belongs Private Mulvaney's perversion of _locomotor ataxy_-- "'They call ut _Locomotus attacks us_,' he sez, 'bekaze,' sez he, 'it attacks us like a locomotive.'" (_Love o' Women._) Our language is, owing to our borrowing habits, particularly rich in these gems. Examples familiar to everybody are _crayfish_ from Fr. _ecrevisse_, _gilly-flower_ from Fr. _giroflee_, _shame-faced_ for _shamefast_. Other words in which the second element has been altered are _causeway_, earlier _causey_, from the Picard form of Fr. _chaussee_, Lat. (_via_) _calciata_, _i.e._, made with lime, _calx_; _penthouse_, for _pentice_, Fr. _appentis_, "the _penthouse_ of a house" (Cotgrave), a derivative of Old Fr. _appendre_, to hang to. Fr. _hangar_, a shed, now introduced into English by aviators as unnecessarily as _garage_ by motorists, may also contain the same idea of "hanging." In _hiccough_, for earlier _hickup_, an onomatop[oe]ic word, the spelling, suggested by _cough_, has not affected the pronunciation. _Surcease_ is Fr. _sursis_, past participle of _surseoir_, "to _surcease_, pawse, intermit, leave off, give over, delay or stay for a time" (Cotgrave), Lat. _supersedere_. _Taffrail_ has been confused with _rail_, its older form being _tafferel_, from Du. _tafereel_, diminutive of _tafel_, picture, from Lat. _tabula_. It meant originally the flat part of the stern of a ship ornamented with carvings or pictures. This is called _tableau_ in nautical French. Fr. _coutelas_, an augmentative of Old Fr. _coutel_ (_couteau_), knife, gave Eng. _cutlass_, which has no more etymological connection with "cutting" than a _cutler_, Fr. _coutelier_, or a _cutlet_, Fr. _cotelette_, little rib, Lat. _costa_. _Cutlas_ was popularly corrupted into _curtal-axe_, the form used by Rosalind-- "A gallant _curtal-axe_ upon my thigh, A boar-spear in my hand." (_As You Like It_, i. 3.) We have a similar corruption in _pick-axe_, Mid. Eng. _pikeys_, Old Fr. _piquois_, _picquois_, "a pickax" (Cotgrave), from the verb _piquer_. The word _posthumous_ has changed its meaning through folk-etymology. It represents the Latin superlative _postumus_, latest born. By association with _humus_, ground, earth, it came to be used of a child born, or a work published, after its author's death, a meaning which the derivatives of _postumus_ have in all the Romance languages. The first part of the word has been distorted in _pursy_, short-winded-- "And _pursy_ insolence shall break his wind With fear and horrid flight." (_Timon of Athens_, v. 5.) Fr. _poussif_, from Lat. _pulsus_, throbbing. It was formerly used also in connection with horses-- "You must warrant this horse clear of the glanders, and _pursyness_." (_The Gentleman's Dictionary_, 1705.) [Page Heading: ARQUEBUS--JAUNTY] _Arquebus_, Fr. _arquebuse_, is a doublet of _hackbut_, Old Fr. _haquebute_, "an _haquebut_, or _arquebuse_; a caliver" (Cotgrave). The corruption is due to _arcus_, bow. Both _arquebus_ and _hackbut_ are common in Scott-- "His arms were halbert, axe, or spear, A cross-bow there, a _hackbut_ here, A dagger-knife, and brand." (_Marmion_, v. 3.) The origin is Du. _haakbus_, hook-gun, the second element of which appears in _blunderbuss_. The first part of this word has undergone so many popular transformations that it is difficult to say which was the original form. Ludwig has _Donner-buechs, Blunder-buechs, oder Muszketon_, "a thunder-box; a _blunder-buss_; a musketoon; a wide-mouthed brass-gun, carrying about twenty pistol bullets at once." It was also called in German _Plantier-buechs_, from _plantieren_, to plant, set up, because fired from a rest. Du. _bus_, like Ger. _Buechse_, means both "box" and "gun." In the _bushes_, or axle-boxes, of a cart-wheel, we have the same word. The ultimate origin is Greek {pyxos}, the box-tree, whence also the learned word _pyx_. Fr. _boite_, box, is cognate, and Fr. _boussole_, mariners' compass, is from the Italian diminutive _bossola_, "a boxe that mariners keepe their compasse in. Also taken for the compasse" (Florio). _Scissors_ were formerly _cizars_ (_cf._ Fr. _ciseaux_), connected with Lat. _caedere_, to cut. The modern spelling is due to association with Lat. _scissor_, a cutter, tailor, from _scindere_, to cut. _Runagate_ is well known to be a corrupt doublet of _renegade_, one who has "denied" his faith. _Recreant_, the present participle of Old Fr. _recreire_, Vulgar Lat. _*recredere_, to change one's faith, contains very much the same idea; cf. _miscreant_, lit. unbeliever. _Jaunty_, spelt _janty_ by Wycherley and _genty_ by Burns, is Fr. _gentil_, wrongly brought into connection with _jaunt_. In some cases of folk-etymology it is difficult to see to what idea the corruption is due.[98] The mollusc called a _periwinkle_ was in Anglo-Saxon _pinewincla_, which still survives in dialect as _pennywinkle_. It appears to have been influenced by the plant-name _periwinkle_, which is itself a corruption of Mid. Eng. _pervenke_, from Lat. _pervinca_; _cf._ Fr. _pervenche_. The material called _lutestring_ was formerly _lustring_, Fr. _lustrine_, from its glossiness. A _wiseacre_ is "one that knows or tells truth; we commonly use it _in malam partem_ for a fool" (Blount, _Glossographia_, 1674). This comes, through Dutch, from Ger. _Weissager_, commonly understood as _wise-sayer_, but really unconnected with _sagen_, to say. The Old High Ger. _w[=i]zago_, prophet, is cognate with Eng. _witty_. The military and naval word _ensign_ is in Shakespeare corrupted, in both its meanings, into _ancient_. Thus Falstaff describes his tatterdemalion recruits as-- "Ten times more dishonourable ragged than an old-faced _ancient_." (1 _Henry IV._, iv. 2.) while _Ancient_ Pistol is familiar to every reader. A _cordwainer_, from Old Fr. _cordouanier_, "a shoomaker, a _cordwainer_" (Cotgrave), worked with _cordouan_, "Cordovan leather; which is properly a goat's skin tanned." The modern French form _cordonnier_ is due to association with _cordon_, a thong, bootlace, etc. _Witch-elm_ has nothing to do with witches. It is for older _weech-elm_, _wiche-elm_, and belongs to Anglo-Sax. _w[=i]can_, to bend. _Service-tree_ is a meaningless corruption of Mid. Eng. _serves_, an early loan word from Lat. _sorbus_. In the case of a double-barrelled word, folk-etymology usually affects one half only, e.g., _verdigris_ is for Fr. _vert-de-gris_, for Old Fr. _vert de Grece_, Greek green. The reason for the name is unknown. Cotgrave calls it "Spanish green." Mid. English had the more correct _vertegresse_ and _verte Grece_ (_Promptorium Parvulorum_, 1440). The cavalry trumpet-call _boot and saddle_ is for Fr. _boute-selle_, lit. "put saddle." _Court card_ is for _coat card_, a name given to these cards from the dresses depicted on them. Florio has _carta di figura_, "a _cote_ carde." The card game called _Pope Joan_ would appear to be in some way corrupted from _nain jaune_, lit. "yellow dwarf," its French name. [Page Heading: "PREPOSTEROUS" PERVERSIONS] But occasionally the results of folk-etymology are literally _preposterous_.[99] The Fr. _choucroute_ is from _s[=u]rkr[=u]t_, a dialect pronunciation of Ger. _Sauer-kraut_, sour cabbage, so that the first syllable, meaning "sour," has actually been corrupted so as to mean "cabbage." Another example, which I have never seen quoted, is the name of a beech-wood near the little town of Remilly in Lorraine. The trees of this wood are very old and curiously twisted, and they are called in French _les jolis fous_, where _fou_ (Lat. _fagus_) is the Old French for "beech" (_fouet_, whip, is its diminutive). This is rendered in German as _tolle Buchen_, mad beeches, the _fou_ having been misunderstood as referring to the fantastic appearance of the trees. _Forlorn hope_ is sometimes used metaphorically as though the _hope_ were of the kind that springs eternal in the human breast. In military language it now means the leaders of a storming party-- "The _forlorn hope_ of each attack consisted of a sergeant and twelve Europeans." (_Wellington's Despatches_, 1799.) but was earlier used of soldiers in any way exposed to special danger. Cotgrave has _enfans perdus_, "perdus; or the _forlorne hope_ of a campe (are commonly gentlemen of companies)." It is from obsolete Du. _verloren hoop_, where _hoop_, cognate with Eng. _heap_, is used for a band or company. In 16th-century German we find _ein verlorener Haufe_. Both the Dutch and German expressions are obsolete in this sense. The military phrase _to run the gauntlet_ has no connection with _gauntlet_, glove. The older form _gantlope_-- "Some said he ought to be tied neck and heels; others that he deserved to _run the gantlope_." (_Tom Jones_, vii. 1.) It is a punishment of Swedish origin from the period of the Thirty Years' War. The Swedish form is _gatlopp_, in which _gat_ is cognate with Eng. _gate_, in its northern sense of "street," and _lopp_ with Eng. _leap_ and Ger. _laufen_, to run. The _press-gang_ had originally nothing to do with "pressing." When soldiers or seamen were engaged, they received earnest money called _prest_-money, _i.e._, an advance on "loan," Old Fr. _prest_ (_pret_), and the engagement was called _presting_ or _impresting_. Florio explains _soldato_ (see p. 154), lit. "paid," by "_prest_ with paie as soldiers are." The popular corruption to _press_ took place naturally as the method of enlistment became more "pressing." The _black art_ is a translation of Old Fr. _nigromance_, "nigromancie, conjuring, the _black art_" (Cotgrave); but this is folk-etymology for _necromantie_, Greco-Lat. _necromantia_, divination by means of the dead. The popular form _negromancie_ still survives in French. To _curry favour_ is a corruption of Mid. Eng. "to curry _favel_." The expression is translated from French. Palsgrave has _curryfavell_, a flatterer, "estrille faveau," _estriller_ (_etriller_) meaning "to curry (a horse)." _Faveau_, earlier _fauvel_, is the name of a horse in the famous _Roman de Fauvel_, a satirical Old French poem of the early 14th century. He symbolises worldly vanity carefully tended by all classes of society. The name is a diminutive of Fr. _fauve_, tawny, cognate with Eng. _fallow_ (deer). (See also p. 192, _n._) A very curious case of folk-etymology is seen in the old superstition of the _hand of glory_. This is understood to be a skeleton hand from the gallows which will point out hidden treasure-- "Now mount who list, And close by the wrist Sever me quickly the Dead Man's fist." (INGOLDSBY, _The Hand of Glory_.) It is simply a translation of Fr. _main de gloire_. But the French expression is a popular corruption of _mandragore_, from Lat. _mandragora_, the mandragore, or mandrake, to the forked roots of which a similar virtue was attributed, especially if the plant were obtained from the foot of the gallows. [Page Heading: CONTAMINATION] Akin to folk-etymology is contamination, _i.e._, the welding of two words into one. This can often be noticed in children, whose linguistic instincts are those of primitive races. I have heard a child, on her first visit to the Zoo, express great eagerness to see the _canimals_ (_camels_ x _animals_), which, by the way, turned out to be the giraffes. A small boy who learnt English and German simultaneously evolved, at the age of two, the word _spam_ (_sponge_ x Ger. _Schwamm_). In a college in the English midlands, a student named _Constantine_, who sat next to a student named _Turpin_, once heard himself startlingly addressed by a lecturer as _Turpentine_. People who inhabit the frontier of two languages, and in fact all who are in any degree bilingual, must inevitably form such composites occasionally. The _h_ aspirate of Fr. _haut_, Lat. _altus_, high, can only be explained by the influence of Old High Ger. _h[=o]h_ (_hoch_). The poetic word _glaive_ cannot be derived from Lat. _gladius_, sword, which has given Fr. _glai_, an archaic name for the gladiolus. We must invoke the help of a Gaulish word _cladebo_, sword, which is related to Gaelic _clay-more_, big sword. It has been said that in this word the swords of Caesar and Vercingetorix still cross each other. In Old French we find _oreste_, a storm, combined from _orage_ and _tempeste_ (_tempete_). Fr. _orteil_, toe, represents the mixture of Lat. _articulus_, a little joint, with Gaulish _ordag_. A _battledore_ was in Mid. English a washing beetle, which is in Provencal _batedor_, lit. beater. Hence it seems that this is one of the very few Provencal words which passed directly into English during the period of our occupation of Guienne. It has been contaminated by the cognate _beetle_. _Cannibal_ is from Span. _canibal_, earlier _caribal_, i.e. _Carib_, the _n_ being perhaps due to contamination with Span. _canino_, canine, voracious. It can hardly be doubted that this word suggested Shakespeare's _Caliban_. _Seraglio_ is due to confusion between the Turkish word _serai_, a palace, and Ital. _serraglio_, "an inclosure, a close, a padocke, a parke, a cloister or secluse" (Florio), which belongs to Lat. _sera_, a bolt or bar. _Anecdotage_ is a deliberate coinage ascribed to John Wilkes-- "When a man fell into his _anecdotage_, it was a sign for him to retire from the world." (DISRAELI, _Lothair_, Ch. 28.) [Page Heading: ARBOUR--FRET] In some cases it is impossible to estimate the different elements in a word. _Arbour_ certainly owes its modern spelling to Lat. _arbor_, a tree, but it represents also Mid. Eng. _herbere_, _erbere_, which comes, through French, from Lat. _*herbarium_. But this can only mean herb-garden, so that the sense development of the word must have been affected by _harbour_, properly "army-shelter," ultimately identical with Fr. _auberge_ (p. 164). When Dryden wrote-- "Tardy of aid, _unseal_ thy heavy eyes, Awake, and with the dawning day arise." (_The Cock and the Fox_, 247.) he was expressing a composite idea made up from the verb _seal_, Old Fr. _seeler_ (_sceller_), Lat. _sigillare_, and _seel_, Old Fr. _ciller_, Vulgar Lat. _*ciliare_, from _cilium_, eye-brow. The latter verb, meaning to sew together the eyelids of a young falcon, was once a common word-- "Come, _seeling_ night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day." (_Macbeth_, iii. 2.) The verb _fret_ is Anglo-Sax. _fretan_, to eat away (_cf._ Ger. _fressen_). _Fret_ is also used of interlaced bars in heraldry, in which sense it corresponds to Fr. _frette_ with the same meaning; for this word, which also means ferrule, a Vulgar Lat. _*ferritta_ (_ferrum_, iron) has been suggested. When Hamlet speaks of-- "This majestical roof _fretted_ with golden fire," (_Hamlet_, ii. 3.) is he thinking of _frets_ in heraldry, or of _fretwork_, or are these two of one origin? Why should _fret_, in this sense, not come from _fret_, to eat away, since _fretwork_ may be described as the "eating away" of part of the material? Cf. _etch_, which comes, through Dutch, from Ger. _aetzen_, the factitive of _essen_, to eat. But the German for _fretwork_ is _durchbrochene Arbeit_, "broken-through" work, and Old Fr. _fret_ or _frait_, Lat. _fractus_, means "broken." Who shall decide how much our _fretwork_ owes to each of these possible etymons? That form of taxation called excise, which dates from the time of Charles I., has always been unpopular. Andrew Marvell says that _Excise_-- "With hundred rows of teeth the shark exceeds, And on all trades like cassowar she feeds." Dr Johnson defines it as "a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid," an outburst which Lord Mansfield considered "actionable." The name, like the tax, came from the Netherlands, where it was called _accijs_-- "'Twere cheap living here, were it not for the monstrous _excises_ which are impos'd upon all sorts of commodities, both for belly and back." (HOWELL, _Letter from Amsterdam_, 1619.) In modern Dutch it has become _accijns_, through confusion with _cijns_, tax (Lat. _census_; _cf._ Ger. _Zins_, interest). But the Dutch word is from Fr. _accise_, which appears in medieval Latin as _accisia_, as though connected with "cutting" (cf. _tallage_, from Fr. _tailler_, to cut), or with the "incidence" of the tax. It is perhaps a perversion of Ital. _assisa_, "an imposition, or taxe, or assesment" (Torriano); but there is also an Old Fr. _aceis_ which must be related to Latin _census_. When folk-etymology and contamination work together, the result is sometimes bewildering. Thus _equerry_ represents an older _querry_ or _quirry_, still usual in the 18th century. Among my books is-- "The Compleat Horseman, or Perfect Farrier, written in French by the Sieur de Solleysell, _Querry_ to the Present King of France" (1702). The modern spelling is due to popular association with Lat. _equus_. But this _querry_ is identical with French _ecurie_, stable, just as in Scottish the _post_ often means the _postman_. And _ecurie_, older _escurie_, is from Old High Ger. _scura_[100] (_Scheuer_, barn). The word used in modern French in the sense of our _equerry_ is _ecuyer_, older _escuier_, Lat. _scutarius_, shield-bearer, whence our word _esquire_. This _ecuyer_ is in French naturally confused with _ecurie_, so that Cotgrave defines _escuyrie_ as "the stable of a prince, or nobleman; also, a _querry_-ship; or the duties, or offices belonging thereto; also (in old authors) a _squire's_ place; or, the dignity, title, estate of an esquire." [Page Heading: PLEONASM] Ignorance of the true meaning of a word often leads to pleonasm. Thus _greyhound_ means _hound-hound_, the first syllable representing Icel. _grey_, a dog. _Peajacket_ is explanatory of Du. _pij_, earlier _pye_, "py-gown, or rough gown, as souldiers and seamen wear" (Hexham). _On Greenhow Hill_ means "on green hill hill," and _Buckhurst Holt Wood_ means "beech wood wood wood," an explanatory word being added as its predecessor became obsolete. The second part of _salt-cellar_ is not the same word as in _wine-cellar_. It comes from Fr. _saliere_, "a salt-_seller_" (Cotgrave), so that the _salt_ is unnecessary. We speak pleonastically of "_dishevelled_ hair," while Old Fr. _deschevele_, lit. dis-haired, now replaced by _echevele_, can only be applied to a person, e.g., _une femme toute deschevelee_, "discheveled, with all her haire disorderly falling about her eares" (Cotgrave). The word _cheer_ meant in Mid. English "face." Its French original _chere_ scarcely survives except in the phrase _faire bonne chere_, lit. "make a good face," a meaning preserved in "to be of good _cheer_." In both languages the meaning has been transferred to the more substantial blessings which the pleasant countenance seems to promise, and also to the felicity resulting from good treatment. The true meaning of the word is so lost that we can speak of a "_cheerful_ face," _i.e._, a face full of face. [Page Heading: UNEXPLAINED DISTORTIONS] But there are many words whose changes of form cannot be altogether explained by any of the influences that have been discussed in this and the preceding chapters. Why should _cervelas_, "a large kind of sausage, well season'd, and eaten cold in slices" (Kersey's _Eng. Dict._, 1720), now be _saveloy_? We might invoke the initial letters of _sausage_ to account for part of the change, but the _oy_ remains a mystery. _Cervelas_, earlier _cervelat_, comes through French from Ital. _cervellato_, "a kinde of dry sausage" (Florio), said to have been originally made from pig's brains. For _hatchment_ we find in the 16th century _achement_, and even _achievement_. It is archaic Fr. _hachement_, the ornamental crest of a helmet, etc., probably derived from Old Fr. _achemer_, variant of _acesmer_, to adorn. Hence both the French and English forms have an unexplained _h-_, the earlier _achement_ being nearer the original. French _omelette_ has a bewildering history, but we can trace it almost to its present form. To begin with, an _omelet_, in spite of proverbs, is not necessarily associated with eggs. The origin is to be found in Lat. _lamella_, a thin plate,[101] which gave Old Fr. _lamelle_. Then _la lamelle_ was taken as _l'alamelle_, and the new _alamelle_ or _alemelle_ became, with change of suffix, _alemette_. By metathesis (see p. 59) this gave _amelette_, still in dialect use, for which modern French has substituted _omelette_. The _o_ then remains unexplained, unless we admit the influence of the old form _[oe]uf-mollet_, a product of folk-etymology. _Counterpane_ represents Old Fr. _coute-pointe_, now corruptly _courte-pointe_, from Lat. _culcita puncta_, lit. "stitched quilt"; _cf._ Ger. _Steppdecke_, counterpane, from _steppen_, to stitch. In Old French we also find the corrupt form _contrepointe_ which gave Eng. _counterpoint_-- "In ivory coffers I have stuff'd my crowns; In cypress chests my arras, _counterpoints_, Costly apparel, tents and canopies." (_Taming of the Shrew_, ii. 1.) in modern English replaced by _counterpane_. Mid. English has also the more correct form _quilt-point_, from the Old Norman _cuilte (pur)pointe_, which occurs in a 12th-century poem on St Thomas of Canterbury. The hooped petticoat called a _farthingale_ was spelt by Shakespeare _fardingale_ and by Cotgrave _vardingall_. This is Old Fr. _verdugalle_, of Spanish origin and derived from Span. _verdugo_, a (green) wand, because the circumference was stiffened with flexible switches before the application of whalebone or steel to this purpose. The _crinoline_, as its name implies, was originally strengthened with horse-hair, Lat. _crinis_, hair. To return to the _farthingale_, the insertion of an _n_ before _g_ is common in English (see p. 84, _n._ 2), but the change of the initial consonant is baffling. The modern Fr. _vertugadin_ is also a corrupt form. _Isinglass_ seems to be an arbitrary perversion of obsolete Du. _huyzenblas_ (_huisblad_), sturgeon bladder; _cf._ the cognate Ger. _Hausenblase_. Few words have suffered so many distortions as _liquorice_. The original is Greco-Lat. _glycyrrhiza_, lit. "sweet root," corrupted into late Lat. _liquiritia_, whence Fr. _reglisse_, Ital. _legorizia_, _regolizia_, and Ger. _Lakritze_. The Mid. English form _licoris_ would appear to have been influenced by _orris_, a plant which also has a sweet root, while the modern spelling is perhaps due to _liquor_. FOOTNOTES: [89] _Sack_, earlier also _seck_, is Fr. _sec_, dry, which, with spurious _t_, has also given Ger. _Sekt_, now used for champagne. [90] Fr. _chaise_, chair, for older _chaire_, now used only of a pulpit or professorial chair, Lat. _cathedra_, is due to an affected pronunciation that prevailed in Paris in the 16th century. [91] The fact that in Old French the final consonant of the singular disappeared in the plural form helped to bring about such misunderstandings. [92] For _haggard_ see p. 108. [93] In Old French confusion sometimes arose with regard to final consonants, because of their disappearance in the plural (see p. 118, _n._). In _gerfaut_, gerfalcon, for Old Fr. _gerfauc_, the less familiar final _-c_ was, as in _boulevart_, replaced by the more usual _-t_. [94] An unoriginal _g_ occurs in many English words derived from French, e.g., _foreign_, _sovereign_, older _sovran_, _sprightly_ for _spritely_, i.e., _sprite-like_, _delight_, from Old Fr. _delit_, which belongs to Lat. _delectare_. [95] "Also, that no 'denizen' poulterer shall stand at the 'Carfax' of Leadenhall in a house or without, with rabbits, fowls, or other poultry to sell ... and that the 'foreign' poulterers, with their poultry, shall stand by themselves, and sell their poultry at the corner of Leadenhall, without any 'denizen' poulterer coming or meddling in sale or purchase with them, or among them." The word _carfax_, once the usual name for a "cross-way," survives at Oxford and Exeter. It is a plural, from Fr. _carrefour_, Vulgar Lat. _*quadrifurcum_ (for _furca_), four-fork. [96] This word is getting overworked, _e.g._, "The Derbyshire Golf Club links were yesterday the _venue_ of a 72-hole match" (_Nottingham Guardian_, 21st Nov. 1911). [97] _Cf._ Ger. _schenken_, to pour, and the Tudor word _skinker_, a drawer, waiter (1 _Henry IV._, ii. 4). [98] Perhaps it is the mere instinct to make an unfamiliar word "look like something." Thus Fr. _beaupre_, from Eng. _bowsprit_, cannot conceivably have been associated with a fair meadow; and _accomplice_, for _complice_, Lat. _complex_, _complic-_, can hardly have been confused with _accomplish_. [99] Lat. _praeposterus_, from _prae_, before, and _posterus_, behind. [100] This etymology is, however, now regarded as doubtful, and it seems likely that Old Fr. _escurie_ is really derived from _escuyer_. If so, there is no question of contamination. [101] We have a parallel in Fr. _flan_, Eng. _flawn_, Ger. _Fladen_, etc., a kind of omelet, ultimately related to Eng. _flat_-- "The feast was over, the board was clear'd, The _flawns_ and the custards had all disappear'd." (INGOLDSBY, _Jackdaw of Rheims_.) Cotgrave has _flans_, "flawnes, custards, eggepies; also, round planchets, or plates of metall." CHAPTER X DOUBLETS The largest class of doublets is formed by those words of Latin origin which have been introduced into the language in two forms, the popular form through Anglo-Saxon or Old French, and the learned through modern French or directly from Latin. Obvious examples are _caitiff_, _captive_; _chieftain_, _captain_; _frail_, _fragile_. Lat. _discus_, a plate, quoit, gave Anglo-Sax. _disc_, whence Eng. _dish_. In Old French it became _deis_ (_dais_), Eng. _dais_, and in Ital. _desco_, "a deske, a table, a boord, a counting boord" (Florio), whence our _desk_. We have also the learned _disc_ or _disk_, so that the one Latin word has supplied us with four vocables, differentiated in meaning, but each having the fundamental sense of a flat surface. _Dainty_, from Old Fr. _deintie_, is a doublet of _dignity_. _Ague_ is properly an adjective equivalent to _acute_, as in Fr. _fievre aigue_. The _paladins_ were the twelve peers of Charlemagne's _palace_, and a Count _Palatine_ is a later name for something of the same kind. One of the most famous bearers of the title, Prince Rupert, is usually called in contemporary records the _Palsgrave_, from Ger. _Pfalzgraf_, lit. palace count, Ger. _Pfalz_ being a very early loan from Lat. _palatium_. _Trivet_, Lat. _tripes_, _triped-_, dates back to Anglo-Saxon, its "rightness" being due to the fact that a three-legged stool stands firm on any surface. In the learned doublets _tripod_ and _tripos_ we have the Greek form. _Spice_, Old Fr. _espice_ (_epice_), is a doublet of _species_. The medieval merchants recognised four "kinds" of spice, viz., saffron, cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs. _Coffin_ is the learned doublet of _coffer_, Fr. _coffre_, from Lat. _cophinus_. It was originally used of a basket or case of any kind, and even of a pie-crust-- "Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap; A custard-_coffin_, a bauble, a silken pie." (_Taming of the Shrew_, iv. 3.) Its present meaning is an attempt at avoiding the mention of the inevitable, a natural human weakness which has popularised in America the horrible word _casket_ in this sense. The Greeks, fearing death less than do the moderns, called a coffin plainly {sarkophagos}, flesh-eater, whence indirectly Fr. _cercueil_ and Ger. _Sarg_. The homely _mangle_, which comes to us from Dutch, is a doublet of the warlike engine called a _mangonel_-- "You may win the wall in spite both of bow and _mangonel_." (_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 27.) which is Old French. The source is Greco-Lat. _manganum_, apparatus, whence Ital. _mangano_, with both meanings. The verb _mangle_, to mutilate, is unrelated. [Page Heading: SULLEN--MONEY] _Sullen_, earlier _soleyn_, is a popular doublet of _solemn_, in its secondary meaning of glum or morose. In the early Latin-English dictionaries _solemn_, _soleyn_, and _sullen_ are used indifferently to explain such words as _acerbus_, _agelastus_, _vultuosus_. Shakespeare speaks of "customary suits of _solemn_ black" (_Hamlet_, i. 2), but makes Bolingbroke say-- "Come, mourn with me for that I do lament, And put on _sullen_ black incontinent." (_Richard II._, v. 6.) while the "_solemn_ curfew" (_Tempest_, v. 1) is described by Milton as "swinging slow with _sullen_ roar" (_Penseroso_, l. 76). The meaning of _antic_, a doublet of _antique_, has changed considerably, but the process is easy to follow. From meaning simply ancient it acquired the sense of quaint or odd, and was applied to grotesque[102] work in art or to a fantastic disguise. Then it came to mean buffoon, in which sense Shakespeare applies it to grim death-- "For within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king, Keeps death his court; and there the _antic_ sits, Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp." (_Richard II._, iii. 2.) and lastly the meaning was transferred to the capers of the buffoon. From Old High Ger. _faltan_ (_falten_), to fold, and _stuol_ (_Stuhl_), chair, we get Fr. _fauteuil_. Medieval Latin constructed the compound _faldestolium_, whence our ecclesiastical _faldstool_, a litany desk. _Revel_ is from Old Fr. _reveler_, Lat. _rebellare_, so that it is a doublet of _rebel_. Holyoak's _Latin Dictionary_ (1612) has _revells or routs_, "concursus populi illegitimus." Its sense development, from a riotous concourse to a festive gathering, has perhaps been affected by Fr. _reveiller_, to wake, whence _reveillon_, a Christmas Eve supper, or "wake." Cf. Ital. _vegghia_, "a watch, a wake, a _revelling a nights_" (Florio). The very important word _money_ has acquired its meaning by one of those accidents which are so common in word-history. The Roman _mint_ was attached to the temple of Juno _Moneta_, _i.e._, the admonisher, from _mon[=e]re_, and this name was transferred to the building. The Romans introduced _moneta_, in the course of their conquests, into French (_monnaie_), German (_Muenze_), and English (_mint_). The French and German words still have three meanings, viz., mint, coin, change. We have borrowed the French word and given it the general sense represented in French by _argent_, lit. silver. The Ger. _Geld_, money, has no connection with _gold_, but is cognate with Eng. _yield_, as in "the _yield_ of an investment," of which we preserve the old form in _wergild_, payment for having killed a man (Anglo-Sax. _wer_). To return to _moneta_, we have a third form of the word in _moidore_-- "And fair rose-nobles and broad _moidores_ The waiter pulls out of their pockets by scores." (INGOLDSBY, _The Hand of Glory_.) from Port. _moeda de ouro_, money of gold. Sometimes the same word reaches us through different languages. Thus _charge_ is French and _cargo_ is Spanish, both belonging to a Vulgar Lat. _*carricare_ from _carrus_, vehicle. In old commercial records we often find the Anglo-Norman form _cark_, a load, burden, which survives now only in a metaphorical sense, e.g. _carking_, _i.e._ burdensome, care. Lat. _domina_ has given us through French both _dame_ and _dam_,[103] and through Spanish _duenna_; while Ital. _donna_ occurs in the compound _madonna_ and the _donah_ of the East End costermonger. Lat. _datum_, given, becomes Fr. _de_ and Eng. _die_ (plural _dice_). Its Italian doublet is _dado_, originally cubical pedestal, hence part of wall representing continuous pedestal. _Scrimmage_ and _skirmish_ are variant spellings of Fr. _escarmouche_, from Ital. _scaramuccia_, of German origin (see p. 64, _n._). But we have also, more immediately from Italian, the form _scaramouch_. Blount's _Glossographia_ (1674) mentions _Scaramoche_, "a famous Italian Zani (see p. 45), or mimick, who acted here in England, 1673." _Scaramouch_ was one of the stock characters of the old Italian comedy, which still exists as the harlequinade of the Christmas pantomime, and of which some traces survive in the Punch and Judy show. He was represented as a cowardly braggart dressed in black. The golfer's _stance_ is a doublet of the poet's _stanza_, both of them belonging to Lat. _stare_, to stand. _Stance_ is Old French and _stanza_ is Italian, "a _stance_ or staffe of verses or songs" (Florio). A _stanza_ is then properly a pause or resting place, just as a _verse_, Lat. _versus_, is a "turning" to the beginning of the next line. [Page Heading: FROM FRENCH DIALECTS] Different French dialects have supplied us with many doublets. Old Fr. _chacier_ (_chasser_), Vulgar Lat. _*captiare_, for _captare_, a frequentative of _capere_, to take, was in Picard _cachier_. This has given Eng. _catch_, which is thus a doublet of _chase_. In _cater_ (see p. 63) we have the Picard form of Fr. _acheter_, but the true French form survives in the family name _Chater_.[104] In late Latin the neuter adjective _capitale_, capital, was used of property. This has given, through Old Fr. _chatel_, our _chattel_, while the doublet _catel_ has given _cattle_, now limited to what was once the most important form of property. Fr. _cheptel_ is still used of cattle farmed out on a kind of profit-sharing system. This restriction of the meaning of _cattle_ is paralleled by Scot. _avers_, farm beasts, from Old Fr. _aver_[105] (_avoir_), property, goods. The history of the word _fee_, Anglo-Sax. _feoh_, cattle, cognate with Lat. _pecus_, whence _pecunia_, money, also takes us back to the times when a man's wealth was estimated by his flocks and herds; but, in this case, the sense development is exactly reversed. Fr. _jumeau_, twin, was earlier _gemeau_, still used by Corneille, and earlier still _gemel_, Lat. _gemellus_, diminutive of _geminus_, twin. From one form we have the _gimbals_, or twin pivots, which keep the compass horizontal. Shakespeare uses it of clockwork-- "I think, by some odd _gimmals_, or device, Their arms are set like clocks, still to strike on." (1 _Henry VI._, i. 2.) and also speaks of a _gimmal_ bit (_Henry V._, iv. 2). In the 17th century we find numerous allusions to _gimmal_ rings (variously spelt). The toothsome _jumble_, known to the Midlands as "brandy-snap," is the same word, this delicacy having apparently at one time been made in links. We may compare the obsolete Ital. _stortelli_, lit. "little twists," explained by Torriano as "winding simnels, wreathed _jumbals_." An accident of spelling may disguise the origin and meaning of a word. _Tret_ is Fr. _trait_, in Old French also _tret_, Lat. _tractus_, pull (of the scale). It was usually an allowance of four pounds in a hundred and four, which was supposed to be equal to the sum of the "turns of the scale" which would be in the purchaser's favour if the goods were weighed in small quantities. _Trait_ is still so used in modern French. [Page Heading: METTLE--GLAMOUR] A difference in spelling, originally accidental, but perpetuated by an apparent difference of meaning, is seen in _flour_, _flower_; _metal_, _mettle_. _Flour_ is the _flower_, _i.e._ the finest part, of meal, Fr. _fleur de farine_, "_flower_, or the finest meale" (Cotgrave). In the _Nottingham Guardian_ (29th Aug. 1911) I read that-- "Mrs Kernahan is among the increasing number of persons who do not discriminate between _metal_ and _mettle_, and writes 'Margaret was on her _metal_.'" It might be added that this author is in the excellent company of Shakespeare-- "See whe'r their basest _metal_ be not mov'd." (_Julius Caesar_, i. 1.) There is no more etymological difference between _metal_ and _mettle_ than between the "temper" of a cook and that of a sword-blade. _Parson_ is a doublet of _person_, the priest perhaps being taken as "representing" the Church, for Lat. _persona_, an actor's mask, from _per_, through, and _sonare_, to sound,[106] was also used of a costumed character or _dramatis persona_. _Mask_, which ultimately belongs to an Arabic word meaning buffoon, has had a sense development exactly opposite to that of _person_, its modern meaning corresponding to the Lat. _persona_ from which the latter started. _Parson_ shows the popular pronunciation of _er_, now modified by the influence of traditional spelling. We still have it in _Berkeley_, _clerk_, _Derby_, _sergeant_, as we formerly did in _merchant_. Proper names, in which the orthography depends on the "taste and fancy of the speller," or the phonetic theories of the old parish clerk, are often more in accordance with the pronunciation, _e.g._, _Barclay_, _Clark_, _Darby_, _Sargent_, _Marchant_. _Posy_, in both its senses, is a contraction of _poesy_, the flowers of a nosegay expressing by their arrangement a sentiment like that engraved on a ring. The latter use is perhaps obsolete-- "A hoop of gold, a paltry ring That she did give me; whose _posy_ was For all the world like cutler's _poetry_ Upon a knife: 'Love me and leave me not.'" (_Merchant of Venice_, v. 1.) The poetic word _glamour_ is the same as _grammar_, which had in the Middle Ages the sense of mysterious learning. From the same source we have the French corruption _grimoire_, "a booke of conjuring" (Cotgrave). _Glamour_ and _gramarye_ were both revived by Scott-- "A moment then the volume spread, And one short spell therein he read; It had much of _glamour_ might." (_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, iii. 9.) "And how he sought her castle high, That morn, by help of _gramarye_." (_Ibid._, v. 27.) For the change of _r_ to _l_ we have the parallel of _flounce_ for older _frounce_ (p. 60). _Quire_ is the same word as _quair_, in the "King's _Quair_" _i.e._ book. Its Mid. English form is _quayer_, Old Fr. _quaer_, _caer_ (_cahier_), Vulgar Lat. _*quaternum_, for _quaternio_, "a _quier_ with foure sheetes" (Cooper). [Page Heading: EASTERN DOUBLETS] Oriental words have sometimes come into the language by very diverse routes. _Sirup_, or _syrup_, _sherbet_, and (_rum_)-_shrub_ are of identical origin, ultimately Arabic. _Sirup_, which comes through Spanish and French, was once used, like _treacle_ (p. 75), of medicinal compounds-- "Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy _syrups_ of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst yesterday." (_Othello_, iii. 3.) _Sherbet_ and _shrub_ are directly borrowed through the medium of travellers-- "'I smoke on _srub_ and water, myself,' said Mr Omer." (_David Copperfield_, Ch. 30.) _Sepoy_, used of Indian soldiers in the English service, is the same as _spahi_, the French name for the Algerian cavalry. Both come ultimately from a Persian adjective meaning "military," and the French form was at one time used also in English in speaking of Oriental soldiery-- "The Janizaries and _Spahies_ came in a tumultuary manner to the Seraglio." (HOWELL, _Familiar Letters_, 1623.) _Tulip_ is from Fr. _tulipe_, formerly _tulipan_, "the delicate flower called a _tulipa_, _tulipie_, or Dalmatian cap" (Cotgrave). It is a doublet of _turban_. The German _Tulpe_ was also earlier _Tulipan_. The humblest of medieval coins was the _maravedi_, which came from Spain at an early date, though not early enough for Robin Hood to have said to Isaac of York-- "I will strip thee of every _maravedi_ thou hast in the world." (_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 33.) The name is due to the Moorish dynasty of the _Almaravides_ or _Marabouts_. This Arabic name, which means hermit, was given also to a kind of stork, the _marabout_, on account of the solitary and sober habits which have earned in India for a somewhat similar bird the name _adjutant_ (p. 34). _Cipher_ and _zero_ do not look like doublets, but both of them come from the same Arabic word. The medieval Lat. _zephyrum_ connects the two forms. _Crimson_ and _carmine_, both of them ultimately from Old Spanish, are not quite doublets, but both belong to _kermes_, the cochineal insect, of Arabic origin. The relationship between _cipher_ and _zero_ is perhaps better disguised than that between _furnish_ and _veneer_, though this is by no means obvious. _Veneer_, spelt _fineer_ by Smollett, is Ger. _fournieren_, borrowed from Fr. _fournir_[107] and specialised in meaning. Ebers' _German Dict._ (1796) has _furnieren_, "to inlay with several sorts of wood, to _veneer_." The doublets selected for discussion among the hundreds which exist in the language reveal many etymological relationships which would hardly be suspected at first sight. Many other words might be quoted which are almost doublets. Thus _sergeant_, Fr. _sergent_, Lat. _serviens_, _servient-_, is almost a doublet of _servant_, the present participle of Fr. _servir_. The fabric called _drill_ or _drilling_ is from Ger. _Drillich_, "tick, linnen-cloth woven of _three_ threads" (Ludwig). This is an adaptation of Lat. _trilix_, _trilic-_, which, through Fr. _treillis_, has given Eng. _trellis_. We may compare the older _twill_, of Anglo-Saxon origin, cognate with Ger. _Zwilch_ or _Zwillich_, "linnen woven with a _double_ thread" (Ludwig). _Robe_, from French, is cognate with _rob_, and with Ger. _Raub_, booty, the conqueror decking himself in the spoils of the conquered. _Musk_ is a doublet of _meg_ in _nutmeg_, Fr. _noix muscade_. In Mid. English we find _note-mugge_, and Cotgrave has the diminutive _muguette_, "a nutmeg"; _cf._ modern Fr. _muguet_, the lily of the valley. Fr. _diner_ and _dejeuner_ both represent Vulgar Lat. _*dis-junare_, to break fast, from _jejunus_, fasting. The difference of form is due to the shifting of the accent in the Latin conjugation, e.g., _dis-junare_ gives Old Fr. _disner_ (_diner_), while _dis-junat_ gives Old Fr. _desjune_ (_dejeune_). [Page Heading: BANJO--SAMITE] _Admiral_, earlier _amiral_, comes through French from the Arab. _amir_, an emir. Its Old French forms are numerous, and the one which has survived in English may be taken as an abbreviation of Arab. _amir al bahr_ emir on the sea. Greco-Lat. _pandura_, a stringed instrument, has produced an extraordinary number of corruptions, among which some philologists rank _mandoline_. Eng. _bandore_, now obsolete, was once a fairly common word, and from it, or from some cognate Romance form, comes the negro corruption _banjo_-- "'What is this, mamma? it is not a guitar, is it?' 'No, my dear, it is called a _banjore_; it is an African instrument, of which the negroes are particularly fond.'" (MISS EDGEWORTH, _Belinda_, Ch. 18.) Florio has _pandora_, _pandura_, "a musical instrument with three strings, a kit, a croude,[108] a rebecke." _Kit_, used by Dickens-- "He had a little fiddle, which at school we used to call a _kit_, under his left arm." (_Bleak House_, Ch. 14.) seems to be a clipped form from Old French dialect _quiterne_, for _guiterne_, Greco-Lat. _cithara_. Cotgrave explains _mandore_ as a "_kitt_, small gitterne." The doublet _guitar_ is from Spanish. The two pretty words _dimity_ and _samite_-- "An arm Rose up from out the bosom of the lake, Clothed in white _samite_, mystic, wonderful, Holding the sword." (TENNYSON, _Morte d'Arthur_, l. 29.) are both connected with Gk. {mitos}, thread. _Dimity_ is the plural, _dimiti_, of Ital. _dimito_, "a kind of course cotton or flanell" (Florio), from Greco-Lat. _dimitus_, double thread (cf. _twill_, p. 148). _Samite_, Old Fr. _samit_, whence Ger. _Samt_, velvet, is in medieval Latin _hexamitus_, six-thread; this is Byzantine Gk. {hexamiton}, whence also Old Slavonic _aksamitu_. The Italian form is _sciamito_, "a kind of sleave, feret, or filosello silke" (Florio). The word _feret_ used here by Florio is from Ital. _fioretto_, little flower. It was also called _floret_ silk. Florio explains the plural _fioretti_ as "a kind of course silke called _f[l]oret_ or _ferret_ silke," and Cotgrave has _fleuret_, "course silke, _floret_ silke." This doublet of _floweret_ is not obsolete in the sense of tape-- "'Twas so fram'd and express'd no tribunal could shake it, And firm as red wax and black _ferret_ could make it." (INGOLDSBY, _The Housewarming_.) _Parish_ and _diocese_ are closely related, _parish_, Fr. _paroisse_, representing Greco-Lat. _par-oikia_ ({oikos}, a house), and _diocese_ coming through Old French from Greco-Lat. _di-oikesis_. _Skirt_ is the Scandinavian doublet of _shirt_ from Vulgar Lat. _ex-curtus_, which has also given us _short_. The form without the prefix appears in Fr. _court_, Ger. _kurz_, and the English diminutive _kirtle_-- "What stuff wilt have a _kirtle_ of?" (2 _Henry IV._, ii. 4.) These are all very early loan words. [Page Heading: BROKER--WALNUT] A new drawing-room game for amateur philologists would be to trace relationships between words which have no apparent connection. In discussing, a few years ago, a lurid book on the "Mysteries of Modern London," _Punch_ remarked that the existence of a _villa_ seemed to be proof presumptive of that of a _villain_. This is etymologically true. An Old French _vilain_, "a villaine, slave, bondman, servile tenant" (Cotgrave), was a peasant attached to his lord's _ville_ or domain, Lat. _villa_. For the degeneration in meaning we may compare Eng. _boor_ and _churl_ (p. 84), and Fr. _manant_, a clodhopper, lit. a dweller (see _manor_, p. 9). A _butcher_, Fr. _boucher_, must originally have dealt in goat's flesh, Fr. _bouc_, goat; _cf._ Ital. _beccaio_, butcher, and _becco_, goat. Hence _butcher_ and _buck_ are related. The extension of meaning of _broker_, an Anglo-Norman form of _brocheur_, shows the importance of the wine trade in the Middle Ages. A _broker_ was at first[109] one who "broached" casks with a _broche_, which means in modern French both brooch and spit. The essential part of a _brooch_ is the pin or spike. When Kent says that Cornwall and Regan-- "Summon'd up their _meiny_, straight took horse." (_Lear_, ii. 4.) he is using a common Mid. English and Tudor word which comes, through Old Fr. _maisniee_, from Vulgar Lat. _*mansionata_, a houseful. A _menial_ is a member of such a body. An Italian cognate is _masnadiere_, "a ruffler, a swashbuckler, a swaggerer, a high way theefe, a hackster" (Florio). Those inclined to moralise may see in these words a proof that the arrogance of the great man's flunkey was curbed in England earlier than in Italy. Old Fr. _maisniee_ is now replaced by _menage_, Vulgar Lat. _*mansionaticum_. A derivative of this word is _menagerie_, first applied to the collection of household animals, but now to a "wild beast show." A _bonfire_ was formerly a _bone-fire_. We find _bane-fire_, "ignis ossium," in a Latin dictionary of 1483, and Cooper explains _pyra_ by "_bone-fire_, wherein men's bodyes were burned." Apparently the word is due to the practice of burning the dead after a victory. Hexham has _bone-fire_, "een _been-vier_, dat is, als men victorie brandt." _Walnut_ is related to _Wal_es, Corn_wall_, the _Wall_oons, _Wall_achia and Sir William _Wall_ace. It means "foreign" nut. This very wide spread _wal_ is supposed to represent the Celtic tribal name _Volcae_. It was applied by the English to the Celts, and by the Germans to the French and Italians, especially the latter, whence the earlier Ger. _welsche Nuss_, for _Walnuss_. The German Swiss use it of the French Swiss, hence the canton _Wallis_ or _Valais_. The Old French name for the _walnut_ is _noix gauge_, Lat. _Gallica_. The relation of _umbrella_ to _umber_ is pretty obvious. The former is Italian-- "A little shadow, a little round thing that women bare in their hands to shadow them. Also a broad brimd hat to keepe off heate and rayne. Also a kinde of round thing like a round skreene that gentlemen use in Italie in time of sommer or when it is very hote, to keepe the sunne from them when they are riding by the way." (Florio.) _Umber_ is Fr. _terre d'ombre_, shadow earth-- "I'll put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of _umber_ smirch my face." (_As You Like It_, i. 3.) _Ballad_, originally a dancing song, Prov. _ballada_, is a doublet of _ballet_, and thus related to _ball_. We find a late Lat. _ballare_, to dance, in Saint Augustine, but the history of this group of words is obscure. The sense development of _carol_ is very like that of ballad. It is from Old Fr. _carolle_, "a kinde of dance wherein many may dance together; also, a _carroll_, or Christmas song" (Cotgrave). The form _corolla_ is found in Provencal, and _carolle_ in Old French is commonly used, like Ger. _Kranz_, garland, and Lat. _corona_, of a social or festive ring of people. Hence it seems a reasonable conjecture that the origin of the word is Lat. _corolla_, a little garland. [Page Heading: TOCSIN--MERINO] Many "chapel" people would be shocked to know that _chapel_ means properly the sanctuary in which a saint's relics are deposited. The name was first applied to the chapel in which was preserved the _cape_ or cloak of St Martin of Tours. The doublet _capel_ survives in _Capel Court_, near the Exchange. Ger. _Kapelle_ also means orchestra or military band. _Tocsin_ is literally "touch sign." Fr. _toquer_, to tap, beat, cognate with _touch_, survives in "_tuck_ of drum" and _tucket_-- "Then let the trumpets sound The _tucket_ sonance and the note to mount." (_Henry V._, iv. 2.) while _sinet_, the diminutive of Old Fr. _sin_, sign, has given _sennet_, common in the stage directions of Elizabethan plays in a sense very similar to that of _tucket_. _Junket_ is from Old Fr. _joncade_, "a certaine spoone-meat, made of creame, rose-water, and sugar" (Cotgrave), Ital. _giuncata_, "a kinde of fresh cheese and creame, so called bicause it is brought to market upon rushes; also a _junket_" (Florio). It is thus related to _jonquil_, which comes, through French, from Span. _junquillo_, a diminutive from Lat. _juncus_, rush. The plant is named from its rush-like leaves. _Ditto_, Italian, lit. "said," and _ditty_, Old Fr. _dite_, are both past participles,[110] from the Latin verbs _dico_ and _dicto_ respectively. The _nave_ of a church is from Fr. _nef_, still occasionally used in poetry in its original sense of ship, Lat. _navis_. It is thus related to _navy_, Old Fr. _navie_, a derivative of _navis_. Similarly Ger. _Schiff_ is used in the sense of nave, though the metaphor is variously explained. The old word _cole_, cabbage, its north country and Scottish equivalent _kail_, Fr. _chou_ (Old Fr. _chol_), and Ger. _Kohl_, are all from Lat. _caulis_, cabbage; cf. _cauli_flower. We have the Dutch form in _colza_, which comes, through French, from Du. _kool-zaad_, cabbage seed. _Cabbage_ itself is Fr. _caboche_, a Picard derivative of Lat. _caput_, head. In modern French _caboche_ corresponds to our vulgar "chump." A _goshawk_ is a _goose hawk_, so called from its preying on poultry. _Merino_ is related to _mayor_, which comes, through French, from Lat. _maior_, greater. Span. _merino_, Vulgar Lat. _*majorinus_, means both a magistrate and a superintendent of sheep-walks. From the latter meaning comes that of "sheepe driven from the winter pastures to the sommer pastures, or the wooll of those sheepe" (Percyvall). _Portcullis_ is from Old Fr. _porte coulisse_, sliding door. Fr. _coulisse_ is still used of many sliding contrivances, especially in connection with stage scenery, but in the portcullis sense it is replaced by _herse_ (see p. 75), except in the language of heraldry. The masculine form _coulis_ means a clear broth, or _cullis_, as it was called in English up to the 18th century. This suggests _colander_, which, like _portcullis_, belongs to Lat. _colare_, "to streine" (Cooper), whence Fr. _couler_, to flow. _Solder_, formerly spelt _sowder_ or _sodder_, and still so pronounced by the plumber, represents Fr. _soudure_, from the verb _souder_; cf. _batter_ from Old Fr. _batture_, _fritter_ from Fr. _friture_, and _tenter_ (hooks)[111] from Fr. _tenture_. Fr. _souder_ is from Lat. _solidare_, to consolidate. Fr. _sou_, formerly _sol_, a halfpenny, comes, like Ital. _soldo_, from Lat. _solidus_, the meaning of which appears also in the Italian participle _soldato_, a soldier, lit. a paid man. This Italian word has passed into French and German, displacing the older cognates _soudard_ and _Soeldner_, which now have a depreciatory sense. Eng. _soldier_ is of Old French origin. It is represented in medieval Latin by _sol[i]darius_, glossed _sowdeor_ in a vocabulary of the 15th century. As in _solder_, the _l_ has been re-introduced by learned influence, but the vulgar _sodger_ is nearer the original pronunciation. FOOTNOTES: [102] _I.e._, grotto painting, Ital. _grottesca_, "a kinde of rugged unpolished painters worke, anticke worke" (Florio). [103] See p. 120. The aristocracy of the horse is still testified to by the use of _sire_ and _dam_ for his parents. [104] Sometimes this name is for _cheater_, _escheatour_ (p. 84). [105] Cf. _avoirdupois_, earlier _avers de pois_ (_poids_), goods sold by weight. [106] It is possible that this is a case of early folk-etymology and that _persona_ is an Etruscan word. [107] This is the accepted etymology; but it is more probable that _furnieren_ comes from Fr. _vernir_, to varnish. [108] See _Crowther_, p. 176. [109] But the early use of the word in the sense of middle-man points to contamination with some other word of different meaning. [110] But the usual Italian past participle of _dire_ is _detto_. [111] Hooks used for stretching cloth. CHAPTER XI HOMONYMS Modern English contains some six or seven hundred pairs or sets of homonyms, _i.e._, of words identical in sound and spelling but differing in meaning and origin. The _New English Dictionary_ recognises provisionally nine separate nouns _rack_. The subject is a difficult one to deal with, because one word sometimes develops such apparently different meanings that the original identity becomes obscured, and even, as we have seen in the case of _flour_ and _mettle_ (p. 144), a difference of spelling may result. When Denys of Burgundy said to the physician-- "Go to! He was no fool who first called you _leeches_." (_Cloister and Hearth_, Ch. 26.) he was unaware that both _leeches_ represent Anglo-Sax. _laece_, healer. On the other hand, a resemblance of form may bring about a contamination of meaning. The verb to _gloss_, or _gloze_, means simply to explain or translate, from Greco-Lat. _glossa_, tongue; but, under the influence of the unrelated _gloss_, superficial lustre, it has acquired the sense of specious interpretation. That part of a helmet called the _beaver_-- "I saw young Harry, with his _beaver_ on, His cuisses on his thigh, gallantly arm'd, Rise from the ground like feather'd Mercury." (1 _Henry IV._, iv. 1.) has, of course, no connection with the animal whose fur has been used for some centuries for expensive hats. It comes from Old Fr. _baviere_, a child's bib, now replaced by _bavette_, from _baver_, to slobber. It may be noted _en passant_ that many of the revived medieval words which sound so picturesque in Scott are of very prosaic origin. Thus the _basnet_-- "My _basnet_ to a prentice cap, Lord Surrey's o'er the Till." (_Marmion_, vi. 21.) or close-fitting steel cap worn under the ornamental helmet, is Fr. _bassinet_, a little basin. It was also called a _kettle hat_, or _pot_. Another obsolete name given to a steel cap was a privy _pallet_, from Fr. _palette_, a barber's bowl, a "helmet of Mambrino." To a brilliant living monarch we owe the phrase "mailed fist," a translation of Ger. _gepanzerte Faust_. _Panzer_, a cuirass, is etymologically a _pauncher_, or defence for the paunch. We may compare an article of female apparel, which took its name from a more polite name for this part of the anatomy, and which Shakespeare uses even in the sense of _Panzer_. Imogen, taking the papers from her bosom, says-- "What is here? The scriptures of the loyal Leonatus, All turn'd to heresy? Away, away, Corrupters of my faith! You shall no more Be _stomachers_ to my heart." (_Cymbeline_, iii. 4.) [Page Heading: COMPOUND--CHASE] Sometimes homonyms seem to be due to the lowest type of folk-etymology, the instinct for making an unfamiliar word "look like something" (see p. 128, _n._). To this instinct we owe the nautical _companion_ (p. 165). _Trepan_, for _trapan_, to entrap, cannot have been confused with the surgical _trepan_ (p. 109), although it has been assimilated to it. The _compound_ in which the victims of "Chinese slavery" languished is the Malay _kampong_, an enclosure. The scent called _bergamot_ takes its name from _Bergamo_, in Italy, whence also Shakespeare's _bergomask_ dance-- "Will it please you to see the epilogue, or hear a _Bergomask_ dance between two of our company?" (_Midsummer Night's Dream_, v. 1.) but the _bergamot_ pear is derived from Turkish _beg armudi_, prince's pear. With _beg_, prince, cf. _bey_ and _begum_. The _burden_ of a song is from Fr. _bourdon_, "a drone, or dorre-bee; also, the humming, or buzzing, of bees; also, the drone of a bag-pipe" (Cotgrave). It is of doubtful origin, but is not related to _burden_, a load, which is connected with the verb to _bear_. To _cashier_, _i.e._, break, a soldier, is from Du. _casseeren_, which is borrowed from Fr. _casser_, to break, Lat. _quassare_, frequentative of _quatere_, to shatter. In the 16th and 17th centuries we also find _cass_ and _cash_, which come immediately from French, and are thus doublets of _quash_. Cotgrave has _casser_, "to _casse_, _cassere_, discharge." The past participle of the obsolete verb to _cass_ is still in military use-- "But the colonel said he must go, and he (the drum horse) was _cast_ in due form and replaced by a washy, bay beast, as ugly as a mule." (KIPLING, _The Rout of the White Hussars_.) The other _cashier_ is of Italian origin. He takes charge of the _cash_, which formerly meant "counting-house," and earlier still "safe," from Ital. _cassa_, "a merchant's _cashe_, or counter" (Florio). This comes from Lat. _capsa_, a coffer, so that _cash_ is a doublet of _case_, Fr. _caisse_. The goldsmith's term _chase_ is for _enchase_, Fr. _enchasser_, "to _enchace_, or set, in gold, etc." (Cotgrave), from _chasse_, coffer, shrine, also from Lat. _capsa_. From the same word comes (window) _sash_. _Gammon_, from Mid. Eng. _gamen_, now reduced to _game_, survives as a slang word and also in the compound _backgammon_. In a _gammon_ of bacon we have the Picard form of Fr. _jambon_, a ham, an augmentative of _jambe_, leg. Cotgrave has _jambon_, "a _gammon_." _Gambit_ is related, from Ital. _gambetto_, "a tripping up of one's heels" (Torriano). A _game_ leg is in dialect a _gammy_ leg. This is Old Fr. _gambi_, "bent, crooked, bowed" (Cotgrave), which is still used in some French dialects in the sense of lame. It comes from the same Celtic root as _jambe_. _Host_, an army, now used only poetically or metaphorically, is from Old Fr. _ost_, army, Lat. _hostis_, enemy. The _host_ who receives us is Old Fr. _oste_ (_hote_), Lat. _hospes_, _hospit-_, guest. These two _hosts_ are, however, ultimately related. It is curious that, while modern Fr. _hote_ (_hospes_) means both "host" and "guest," the other _host_ (_hostis_) is, very far back, a doublet of _guest_, the ground meaning of both being "stranger." "It is remarkable in what opposite directions the Germans and Romans have developed the meaning of the old hereditary name for 'stranger.' To the Roman the stranger becomes an enemy; among the Germans he enjoys the greatest privileges, a striking confirmation of what Tacitus tells us in his _Germania_."[112] In a dog _kennel_ we have the Norman form of Fr. _chenil_, related to _chien_; but _kennel_, a gutter-- "Go, hop me over every _kennel_ home." (_Taming of the Shrew_, iv. 3.) is a doublet of _channel_ and _canal_. [Page Heading: MAN[OE]UVRE--MYSTERY] "Oh villain! thou stolest a cup of sack eighteen years ago, and wert taken with the _manner_." (1 _Henry IV._, ii. 4.) says Prince Hal to Bardolph. In the old editions this is spelt _manour_ or _mainour_ and means "in the act." It is an Anglo-French doublet of _man[oe]uvre_, late Lat. _manu-opera_, handiwork, and is thus related to its homonym _manner_, Fr. _maniere_, from _manier_, to handle. Another doublet of _man[oe]uvre_ is _manure_, now a euphemism for dung, but formerly used of the act of tillage-- "The _manuring_ hand of the tiller shall root up all that burdens the soil." (MILTON, _Reason of Church Government_.) _Inure_ is similarly formed from Old Fr. _en[oe]uvrer_, literally "to work in," hence to accustom to toil. John Gilpin's "good friend the _calender_," _i.e._ the cloth-presser, has nothing to do with the _calendar_ which indicates the _calends_ of the month, nor with the _calender_, or Persian monk, of the _Arabian Nights_, whom Mr Pecksniff described as a "one-eyed _almanack_"-- "'A one-eyed _calender_, I think, sir,' faltered Tom. "'They are pretty nearly the same thing, I believe,' said Mr Pecksniff, smiling compassionately; 'or they used to be in my time.'" (_Martin Chuzzlewit_, Ch. 6.) The verb to _calender_, to press and gloss cloth, etc., is from Old Fr. _calendrer_ (_calandrer_), "to sleeke, smooth, plane, or polish, linnen cloth, etc." (Cotgrave). This word is generally considered to be related to _cylinder_, a conjecture which is supported by obsolete Fr. _calende_, used of the "rollers" by means of which heavy stones are moved. A craft, or association of _masters_, was once called a _mistery_ (for _mastery_ or _maistrie_), usually misspelt _mystery_ by association with a word of quite different origin and meaning. This accidental resemblance is often played on-- "Painting, sir, I have heard say, is a _mystery_; but what _mystery_ there should be in hanging, if I should be hanged, I cannot imagine." (_Measure for Measure_, iv. 2.) For the pronunciation, cf. _mister_, for _master_, and _mistress_.[113] The French for "mistery" is _metier_, earlier _mestier_, "a trade, occupation, _misterie_, handicraft" (Cotgrave), from Old Fr. _maistier_, Lat. _magisterium_. In its other senses Fr. _metier_ represents Lat. _ministerium_, service. _Pawn_, a pledge, is from Old Fr. _pan_, with the same meaning. The origin of this word, cognates of which occur in the Germanic languages, is unknown. The _pawn_ at chess is Fr. _pion_, a pawn, formerly also a foot-soldier, used contemptuously in modern French for a junior assistant master. This represents a Vulgar Lat. _*pedo_, _pedon-_, from _pes_, foot; _cf._ Span. _peon_, "a footeman, a _pawne_ at chesse, a pioner, or laborer" (Percyvall). In German the _pawn_ is called _Bauer_, peasant, a name also given to the knave in the game of euchre, whence American _bower_[114]-- "At last he put down a _right bower_[115] Which the same Nye had dealt unto me." (BRET HARTE, _The Heathen Chinee_.) [Page Heading: QUARRY--QUARREL] When Jack Bunce says-- "If they hurt but one hair of Cleveland's head, there will be the devil to _pay_, and no pitch hot." (_Pirate_, Ch. 36.) he is using a nautical term which has no connection with Fr. _payer_. To _pay_, _i.e._ to pitch (a ship), is from Old Fr. _peier_ or _poier_, Lat. _picare_, from _pix_, pitch. Fr. _limon_, a lime, has given Eng. _lemon_,[116] but "_lemon_ sole" is from Fr. _limande_, a flat-fish, dab. A _quarry_ from which stone is obtained was formerly _quarrer_, Old Fr. _quarriere_ (_carriere_), a derivative of Lat. _quadrus_; cf. _quadratarius_, "a squarer of marble" (Cooper). The _quarry_ of the hunter has changed its form and meaning. In Mid. English we find _quarre_ and _quirre_, from Old Fr. _cuiree_, now _curee_, "a (dog's) reward; the hounds' fees of, or part in, the game they have killed" (Cotgrave). The Old French form means "skinful" (cf. _poignee_, fistful), the hounds' reward being spread on the skin of the slain animal. It is thus related to _cuirass_, originally used of leathern armour. In Shakespeare _quarry_ usually means a heap of dead game-- "Would the nobility lay aside their ruth, And let me use my sword, I'd make a _quarry_ With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high As I could pick my lance." (_Coriolanus_, i. 1.) In modern English it is applied rather to the animal pursued. Related to the first _quarry_ is _quarrel_, the square-headed bolt shot from a crossbow-- "It is reported by William Brito that the arcubalista or arbalist was first shewed to the French by our king Richard the First, who was shortly after slain by a _quarrel_ thereof." (CAMDEN, _Remains concerning Britain_.[117]) It comes from Old Fr. _carrel_, of which the modern form, _carreau_, is used of many four-sided objects, _e.g._, a square tile, the diamond at cards, a pane of glass. In the last sense both _quarrel_ and _quarry_ are still used by glaziers. In a "_school_ of porpoises" we have a Dutch word for crowd. The older spelling is _scull_-- "And there they fly, or die, like scaled _sculls_, Before the belching whale." (_Troilus and Cressida_, v. 5.) A _sorrel_ horse and the plant called _sorrel_ are both French words of German origin. The adjective, used in venery of a buck of the third year, is a diminutive of Old Fr. _sor_, which survives in _hareng saur_, red herring, and is perhaps cognate with Eng. _sear_-- "The _sere_, the yellow leaf." (_Macbeth_, v. 3.) The plant name is related to _sour_. Its modern French form _surelle_ occurs now only in dialect, having been superseded by _oseille_, which appears to be due to the mixture of two words meaning sour, sharp, viz., Vulgar Lat. _*acetula_ and Greco-Lat. _oxalis_. The verb _tattoo_, to adorn the skin with patterns, is Polynesian. The military _tattoo_ is Dutch. It was earlier _tap-to_, and was the signal for closing the "taps," or taverns. The first recorded occurrence of the word is in Colonel Hutchinson's orders to the garrison of Nottingham, the original of which hangs in the Nottingham City Library-- "If any-one shall bee found tiplinge or drinkinge in any taverne, inne, or alehouse after the houre of nyne of the clock at night, when the _tap-too_ beates, he shall pay 2s. 6d." (1644.) _Cf._ Ger. _Zapfenstreich_, lit. tap-stroke, the name of a play which was produced some years ago in London under the title "Lights Out." Ludwig explains _Zapfenschlag_ or _Zapfenstreich_ as "die Zeit da die Soldaten aus den Schencken heimgehen muessen, the _taptow_." _Tassel_, in "_tassel_ gentle"-- "O, for a falconer's voice, To lure this _tassel_-gentle back again." (_Romeo and Juliet_, ii. 2.) is for _tercel_ or _tiercel_, the male hawk, "so tearmed, because he is, commonly, a third part less than the female" (Cotgrave, s.v. _tiercelet_). The true reason for the name is doubtful. The pendent ornament called a _tassel_ is a diminutive of Mid. Eng. _tasse_, a heap, bunch, Fr. _tas_. _Tent_ wine is Span. _vino tinto_, _i.e._, coloured-- "Of this last there's little comes over right, therefore the vintners make _Tent_ (which is a name for all wines in Spain, except white) to supply the place of it." (Howell, _Familiar Letters_, 1634.) The other _tent_ is from the Old French past participle of _tendre_, to stretch. The Shakesperian _utterance_-- "Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, And champion me to the _utterance_." (_Macbeth_, iii. 1.) is the Fr. _outrance_, in _combat a outrance_, _i.e._, to the extreme, which belongs to Lat. _ultra_. It is quite unconnected with the verb to _utter_, from _out_. [Page Heading: WRONG ASSOCIATION] We have seen how, in the case of some homonyms, confusion arises, and a popular connection is established, between words which are quite unrelated. The same sort of association often springs up between words which, without being homonyms, have some accidental resemblance in form or meaning, or in both. Such association may bring about curious changes in sound and sense. _Touchy_, which now conveys the idea of sensitiveness to _touch_, is corrupted from _tetchy_-- "_Tetchy_ and wayward was thy infancy." (_Richard III._, iv. 4.) The original meaning was something like "infected, tainted," from Old Fr. _teche_ (_tache_), a spot. The word _surround_ has completely changed its meaning through association with _round_. It comes from Old Fr. _suronder_, to overflow, Lat. _super-undare_, and its meaning and origin were quite clear to the 16th-century lexicographers. Thus Cooper has _inundo_, "to overflowe, to _surround_." A French bishop carries a _crosse_, and an archbishop a _croix_. These words are of separate origin. From _crosse_, which does not mean "cross," comes our derivative _crosier_, carried by both bishops and archbishops. It is etymologically identical, as its shape suggests, with the shepherd's _crook_, and the bat used in playing _lacrosse_. The prophecy of the pessimistic _ostler_ that, owing to motor-cars-- "_'Osses_ soon will all be in the circusses, And if you want an _ostler_, try the work'uses." (E. V. LUCAS.) shows by what association the meaning of _ostler_, Old Fr. _hostelier_ (_hotelier_), has changed. A _belfry_ has nothing to do with _bells_. Old Fr. _berfroi_ (_beffroi_) was a tower used in warfare. It comes from two German words represented by modern _bergen_, to hide, guard, and _Friede_, peace, so that it means "guard-peace." The triumph of the form _belfry_ is due to association with _bell_, but the _l_ is originally due to dissimilation, since we find _belfroi_ also in Old French. The same dissimilation is seen in Fr. _auberge_, inn, Prov. _alberga_, which comes from Old High Ger. _hari_, an army, and _bergen_; _cf._ our _harbour_ (p. 2) and _harbinger_ (p. 90). _Scabbard_ is from Old Fr. _escauberc_, earlier _escalberc_, by dissimilation for _escarberc_, from Old High Ger. _sc[=a]r_, a blade (_cf._ plough_share_), and _bergen_. Cf. _hauberk_, guard-neck, from Ger. _Hals_,[118] neck. [Page Heading: WRONG ASSOCIATION] The _buttery_ is not so named from _butter_, but from _bottles_. It is for _butlery_, as _chancery_ (see p. 88) is for _chancelry_. It is not, of course, now limited to bottles, any more than the _pantry_ to bread or the _larder_ to bacon, Fr. _lard_, Lat. _laridum_. The _spence_, aphetic for _dispense_, is now known only in dialect-- "I am gaun to eat my dinner quietly in the _spence_." (_Old Mortality_, Ch. 3.) but has given us the name _Spencer_. The _still-room_ maid is not extinct, but I doubt whether the _distilling_ of strong waters is now carried on in the region over which she presides. A _journeyman_ has nothing to do with _journeys_ in the modern sense of the word, but works _a la journee_, by the day. _Cf._ Fr. _journalier_, "a _journey man_; one that workes by the day" (Cotgrave), and Ger. _Tageloehner_, literally "day-wager." On the other hand, a _day-woman_ (_Love's Labour's Lost_, i. 2) is an explanatory pleonasm (cf. _greyhound_, p. 135) for the old word _day_, servant, milkmaid, etc., whence the common surname _Day_ and the derivative _dairy_. A _briar_ pipe is made, not from _briar_, but from the root of heather, Fr. _bruyere_, of Celtic origin. A _catchpole_ did not catch _polls_, _i.e._ heads, nor did he catch people with a _pole_, although a very ingenious implement, exhibited in the Tower of London Armoury, is catalogued as a _catchpole_. The word corresponds to a French compound _chasse-poule_, catch-hen, in Picard _cache-pole_, the official's chief duty being to collect dues, or, in default, poultry. For _pole_, from Fr. _poule_, cf. _polecat_, also an enemy of fowls. The _companion_-ladder on ship-board is a product of folk-etymology. It leads to the _kampanje_, the Dutch for _cabin_. This may belong, like _cabin_, to a late Lat. _capanna_, hut, which has a very numerous progeny. _Kajuit_, another Dutch word for cabin, earlier _kajute_, has given us _cuddy_. A _carousal_ is now regarded as a _carouse_, but the two are quite separate, or, rather, there are two distinct words _carousal_. One of them is from Fr. _carrousel_, a word of Italian origin, meaning a pageant or carnival with chariot races and tilting. This word, obsolete in this sense, is sometimes spelt _el_ and accented on the last syllable-- "Before the crystal palace, where he dwells, The armed angels hold their _carousels_." (ANDREW MARVELL, _Lachrymae Musarum_.) Ger. _Karussell_ means a roundabout at a fair. Our _carousal_, if it is the same word, has been affected in sound and meaning by _carouse_. This comes, probably through French, from Ger. _garaus_, quite out, in the phrase _garaus trinken_, _i.e._, to drink bumpers-- "The queen _carouses_ to thy fortune, Hamlet." (_Hamlet_, v. 2.) Rabelais says that he is not one of those-- "Qui, par force, par oultraige et violence, contraignent les compaignons trinquer voyre _carous_ et _alluz_[119] qui pis est." (_Pantagruel_, iii., Prologue.) The spelling _garous_, and even _garaus_, is found in 17th-century English. [Page Heading: FOOTPAD--PESTER] It is perhaps unnecessary to say that a _maul-stick_, Dutch _maal-stok_, paint-stick, has nothing to do with the verb to _maul_, formerly to _mall_,[120] _i.e._, to hammer. Nor is the painter's _lay-figure_ connected with our verb to _lay_. It is also, like so many art terms, of Dutch origin, the _lay_ representing Du. _lid_, limb, cognate with Ger. _Glied_.[121] The German for lay-figure is _Gliederpuppe_, joint-doll. Sewel's _Dutch Dict._ (1766) has _leeman_, or _ledeman_, "a statue, with pliant limbs for the use of a painter." A _footpad_ is not a rubber-soled highwayman, but a _pad_, or robber, who does his work on foot. He was also called a _padder_-- "'Ye crack-rope _padder_, born beggar, and bred thief!' replied the hag." (_Heart of Midlothian_, Ch. 29.) _i.e._, one who takes to the "road," from Du. _pad_, path. _Pad_, an ambling nag, a "roadster," is the same word. _Pen_ comes, through Old French, from Lat. _penna_, "a penne, quil, or fether" (Cooper), while _pencil_ is from Old Fr. _pincel_ (_pinceau_), a painter's brush, from Lat. _penicillus_, a little tail. The modern meaning of _pencil_, which still meant painter's brush in the 18th century, is due to association with _pen_. The older sense survives in optics and in the expression "pencilled eyebrows." The _ferrule_ of a walking-stick is a distinct word from _ferule_, an aid to education. The latter is Lat. _ferula_, "an herbe like big fenell, and maye be called fenell giant. Also a rodde, sticke, or paulmer, wherewith children are striken and corrected in schooles; a cane, a reede, a walking staffe" (Cooper). _Ferrule_ is a perversion of earlier _virrel_, _virrol_, Fr. _virole_, "an iron ring put about the end of a staffe, etc., to strengthen it, and keep it from riving" (Cotgrave). The modern meaning of _pester_ is due to a wrong association with _pest_. Its earlier meaning is to hamper or entangle-- "Confined and _pestered_ in this pinfold here." (_Comus_, l. 7.) It was formerly _impester_, from Old Fr. _empestrer_ (_empetrer_), "to _pester_, intricate, intangle, trouble, incumber" (Cotgrave), originally to "hobble" a grazing horse with _pasterns_, or shackles (see _pastern_, p. 76). _Mosaic_ work is not connected with _Moses_, but with the _muses_ and _museum_. It comes, through French, from Ital. _mosaico_, "a kinde of curious stone worke, of divers colours, checkie worke" (Florio), which is Vulgar Lat. _musaicum opus_. _Sorrow_ and _sorry_ are quite unrelated. _Sorrow_ is from Anglo-Sax. _sorg_, _sorh_, cognate with Ger. _Sorge_, anxiety. _Sorry_, Mid. Eng. _sori_, is a derivative of _sore_, cognate with Ger. _sehr_, very, lit. "painfully"; _cf._ English "_sore_ afraid," or the modern "_awfully_ nice," which is in South Germany _arg nett_, "_vexatiously_ nice." It is probable that _vagabond_, Lat. _vagabundus_, has no etymological connection with _vagrant_, which appears to come from Old Fr. _waucrant_, present participle of _waucrer_, a common verb in the Picard dialect, perhaps related to Eng. _walk_. Cotgrave spells it _vaucrer_, "to range, roame, vagary, wander, idly (idle) it up and down." Cotgrave also attributes to it the special meaning of a ship sailing "whither wind and tide will carry it," the precise sense in which it is used in the 13th-century romance of _Aucassin et Nicolette_. Other examples of mistaken association are _scullion_ and _scullery_ (p. 43), and _sentry_ and _sentinel_ (p. 102). Many years ago _Punch_ had a picture by Du Maurier called the "_Vikings_ of Whitby," followed by a companion picture, the "_Viqueens_." The word is not _vi-king_ but _vik-ing_, the first syllable probably representing an Old Norse form of Anglo-Sax. _w[=i]c_, encampment. FOOTNOTES: [112] Kluge, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch_. [113] Now abbreviated to _miss_ in a special sense. [114] The _Bowery_ of New York was formerly a homestead. [115] Knave of trumps. [116] In modern French the lemon is called _citron_ and the citron _cedrat_. [117] In the chapter on "_Artillery_." So also, in the _Authorised Version_--"Jonathan gave his _artillery_ (his bow and arrows) unto his lad, and said unto him, 'Go, carry them into the city.'" (1 Samuel, xx. 40.) It is curious that the words _artillery_ and _gun_ both belong to the pre-gunpowder period. [118] Hence, or rather from Du. _hals_, the _hawse_-holes, the "throat" through which the cable runs. [119] Ger. _all aus_, all out. [120] Hence the _Mall_ and _Pall-Mall_, where games like croquet were played. [121] The _g-_ represents the Old High German prefix _gi-_, _ge-_. _Cf._ Eng. _luck_ and Ger. _Glueck_. CHAPTER XII FAMILY NAMES In the study of family names we come across very much the same phenomena as in dealing with other words. They are subject to the same phonetic accidents and to the distortions of folk-etymology, being "altered strangely to significative words by the common sort, who desire to make all to be significative" (Camden, _Remains concerning Britain_). Doublets and homonyms are of frequent occurrence, and the origin of some names is obscured by the well-meaning efforts of early philologists. It might be expected that a family name would by its very nature tend to preserve its original form. This is, however, not the case. In old parish registers one often finds on one page two or three different spellings for the same name, and there are said to be a hundred and thirty variants of _Mainwaring_.[122] The telescoped pronunciation of long names such as Cholmondeley, Daventry, Marjoribanks, Strachan, is a familiar phenomenon, and very often the shorter form persists separately, _e.g._, _Posnett_ and _Poslett_ occur often in Westmoreland for _Postlethwaite_; _Beecham_ exists by the side of _Beauchamp_; _Saint Clair_ and _Saint Maur_ are usually reduced to _Sinclair_ and _Seymour_; _Boon_[123] and _Moon_ disguise the aristocratic _Bohun_ and _Mohun_. In a story by Mr Wells, _Miss Winchelsea's Heart_, the name _Snooks_ is gradually improved to _Sevenoaks_, from which in all probability it originally came, via _Senoaks_; cf. _sennight_ for _seven-night_, and such names as _Fiveash_, _Twelvetrees_, etc. Folk-etymology converts _Arblaster_, the cross-bowman, into _Alabaster_, _Thurgod_ into _Thoroughgood_, and the Cornish _Hannibal_ into _Honeyball_. _Beaufoy_ is a grammatical monstrosity. Its older form is _Beaufou_, fine beech (see p. 129), with an ambiguous second syllable. _Malthus_ looks like Latin, but is identical with _Malthouse_, just as _Bellows_ is for _Bellhouse_, _Loftus_ for _Lofthouse_, and _Bacchus_, fined for intoxication, Jan. 5, 1911, for _Bakehouse_. But many odd names which are often explained as corruptions may also have their face-value. The first _Gotobed_ was a sluggard, _Godbehere_ was fond of this pious form of greeting, and _Goodbeer_ purveyed sound liquor. With _Toogood_, perhaps ironical, we may compare Fr. _Troplong_, and with _Goodenough_ a lady named _Belle-assez_, often mentioned in the Pipe Rolls. _Physick_ occurs as a medieval nickname. Family names fall into four great classes, which are, in descending order of size, local, baptismal, functional, and nicknames. But we have a great many homonyms, names capable of two or more explanations. Thus _Bell_ may be for Fr. _le bel_ or from a shop-sign, _Collet_ a diminutive of _Nicholas_ or an aphetic form of _acolyte_. _Dennis_ is usually for _Dionysius_, but sometimes for _le Danois_, the Dane; _Gillott_, and all family names beginning with _Gill-_, may be from _Gillian_ (see p. 46), or from Fr. _Guillaume_. A famous member of the latter family was _Guillotin_, the humanitarian doctor who urged the abolition of clumsy methods of decapitation. His name is a double diminutive, like Fr. _diablotin_, goblin. _Leggatt_ is a variant of _Lidgate_, swing gate, and of _Legate_. _Lovell_ is an affectionate diminutive or is for Old Fr. _louvel_, little wolf. It was also in Mid. English a dog's name, hence the force of the rime-- "The Rat (Ratcliffe), the Cat (Catesby), and _Lovell_, our dog, Rule all England under the Hog." (1484.) It has a doublet _Lowell_. The name _Turney_, well known in Nottingham, is from the town of _Tournay_, or is aphetic for _attorney_. In the following paragraphs I generally give only one source for each name, but it should be understood that in many cases two or more are possible. The forms also vary. [Page Heading: BAPTISMAL NAMES] Baptismal names often give surnames without any suffix. Sometimes these are slightly disguised, e.g., _Cobbett_ (Cuthbert), _Garrett_ (Gerard), _Hammond_, Fr. _Hamon_ (Hamo), _Hibbert_ (Hubert), _Jessop_ (Joseph), _Neil_ (Nigel), _Custance_ (Constance); or they preserve a name no longer given baptismally, e.g., _Aldridge_ (Alderic), _Bardell_ (Bardolph), _Goodeve_ (Godiva), _Goodlake_ (Guthlac), _Goodrich_ (Goderic), _Harvey_[124] (Hervey, Fr. _Herve_), _Mayhew_ (Old Fr. _Mahieu_, Matthew). With the help of diminutive suffixes we get _Atkin_ (Adam), _Bodkin_ (Baldwin), _Larkin_ (Lawrence), _Perkin_, _Parkin_ (Peter), _Hackett_ (Haco), _Huggin_, _Hutchin_, _Hewett_, _Hewlett_, _Howitt_ (Hugh), _Philpot_ (Philip), _Tibbet_ (Theobald or Isabella), _Tillet_ (Matilda), _Wilmot_ (William), _Wyatt_ (Guy), _Gilbey_, _Gibbon_ (Gilbert), etc., with numerous variants and further derivatives. The changes that can be rung on one favourite name are bewildering, _e.g._, from _Robert_ we have _Rob_, _Dob_, _Hob_, and _Bob_; the first three with a numerous progeny, while _Bob_, now the favourite abbreviation, came into use too late to found a large dynasty. From _Richard_ we have _Richards_ and _Richardson_, and from its three abbreviations _Rick_, _Dick_, _Hick_, with their variants _Rich_, _Digg_, _Hig_, _Hitch_, one of the largest families of surnames in the language.[125] As the preceding examples show, family names are frequently derived from the mother. Other examples, which are not quite obvious, are _Betts_ (Beatrice), _Sisson_ (Cecilia), _Moxon_ and _Padgett_ (Margaret, Moggy, Madge, Padge), _Parnell_ (Petronilla), _Ibbotson_ (Ib, Isabella), _Tillotson_ (Matilda). One group of surnames is derived from baptismal names given according to the season of the Church. Such are _Pentecost_, _Pascal_, whence Cornish _Pascoe_, _Nowell_, and _Middlemas_, a corruption of _Michaelmas_.[126] With these may be grouped _Loveday_, a day appointed for reconciliations. [Page Heading: LOCAL NAMES] Surnames derived from place of residence often contain a preposition, e.g., _Atwood_, _Underhill_, and sometimes the article as well, e.g., _Atterbury_, _Bythesea_. In _Surtees_, on the Tees, we have a French preposition and an English river name. Sometimes they preserve a word otherwise obsolete. _Barton_, a farmyard, originally a barley-field, has given its name to about thirty places in England, and thus, directly or indirectly, to many families. _Bristow_ preserves what was once the regular pronunciation of _Bristol_. The famous north country name _Peel_ means castle, as still in the Isle of Man. It is Old Fr. _pel_ (_pal_), stake, and the name was originally given to a wooden hill-fort or stockade. Many places which have given family names have themselves disappeared from the map, while others, now of great importance, are of too recent growth to have been used in this way. Many of our family names are taken from those of continental towns, especially French and Flemish. Camden says, "Neither is there any village in Normandy that gave not denomination to some family in England." Such are _Bullen_ or _Boleyn_ (Boulogne), _Cullen_ (Cologne), _Challis_ (Calais), _Challen_ (Chalon), _Chaworth_ (Cahors), _Bridges_[127] (Bruges), _Druce_ (Dreux), _Gaunt_ (_Gand_, Ghent), _Lubbock_ (Luebeck), _Luck_ (_Luick_, Liege), _Mann_ (le Mans), _Malins_ (_Malines_, Mechlin), _Nugent_ (Nogent), _Hawtrey_ (Hauterive), and _Dampier_ (Dampierre). To decide which is the particular _Hauterive_ or _Dampierre_ in question is the work of the genealogist. _Dampierre_ (_Dominus Petrus_) means _Saint Peter_. In some cases these names have been simplified, _e.g._, Camden notes that _Conyers_, from _Coigniers_, lit. quince-trees, becomes _Quince_. French provinces have given us _Burgoyne_, _Champain_. _Gascoyne_ or _Gaskin_, and _Mayne_, and adjectives formed from names of countries, provinces and towns survive in _Allman_ (_Allemand_), _Brabazon_ (_le Brabancon_, the Brabanter), _Brett_ (_le Bret_ or _le Breton_[128]), _Pickard_ (_le Picard_), _Poidevin_[129] (_le Poitevin_), _Mansell_, Old Fr. _Mancel_ (_le Manceau_, inhabitant of Maine or le Mans), _Hanway_ and _Hannay_ (_le Hannuyer_, the Hainaulter), _Loring_ (_le Lorrain_), assimilated to _Fleming_, _Champneys_ (_le Champenois_), with which we may compare _Cornwallis_, from the Old French adjective _cornwaleis_, man of Cornwall. To these may be added _Pollock_, which occasionally means the Pole, or _Polack_-- "Why then the _Polack_ never will defend it." (_Hamlet_, iv. 4.) _Janaway_, the Genoese, and _Haunce_, from the famous _Hanse_ confederation. _Morris_ means sometimes _Moorish_ (see p. 49), and _Norris_, besides having the meaning seen in its contracted form _nurse_, Fr. _nourrice_, may stand for _le Noreis_, the Northerner. We still have a _Norroy_ king-at-arms, lit. north king, who holds office north of the Trent. In some cases the territorial _de_ remains, e.g., _Dolman_ is sometimes the same as _Dalmain_, _d'Allemagne_, _Daubeney_ is _d'Aubigne_, _Danvers_ is _d'Anvers_ (Antwerp), _Devereux_ is _d'Evreux_, a town which takes its name from the _Eburovices_, and _Disney_ is _d'Isigny_. With these may be mentioned _Dubberley_, Fr. _du Boulay_, of the birch wood, and _Dawnay_, from Old Fr. _aunai_,[130] a grove of alders. The last governor of the Bastille was the Marquis de _Launay_ (_l'aunai_). There is a large group of such words in French, coming from Latin collectives in _-etum_; _d'Aubray_ is from Lat. _arboretum_, and has given also the dissimilated form _Darblay_, famous in English literature. Other examples are _Chesney_, _Chaney_, etc., the oak-grove,[131] _Pomeroy_, the apple-garden. Names of French origin are particularly subject to corruption and folk-etymology. We have the classic example of Tess _Durbeyfield_.[132] Camden, in his _Remains concerning Britain_, gives, among other curious instances, _Troublefield_ for _Turberville_. _Greenfield_ is usually literal (cf. _Whitfield_, _Whittaker_, _Greenacre_, etc.), but occasionally for _Grenville_. _Summerfield_ is for _Somerville_. The notorious _Dangerfield_ was of Norman ancestry, from _Angerville_. _Mullins_ looks a very English name, but it is from Fr. _moulin_, mill, as _Musters_ is from Old Fr. _moustier_, monastery. _Phillimore_ is a corruption of _Finnemore_, Fr. _fin amour_. [Page Heading: OCCUPATIVE NAMES] When we come to names which indicate office or trade, we have to distinguish between those that are practically nicknames, such as _King_, _Duke_, _Bishop_, _Caesar_[133] (Julius Caesar was a famous cricketer of the old school), and those that are to be taken literally. Many callings now obsolete have left traces in our surnames. The very common name _Chapman_ reminds us that this was once the general term for a dealer (see p. 67), one who spends his time in _chaffering_ or "_chopping_ and changing." The _grocer_, or _engrosser_, _i.e._, the man who bought wholesale, Fr. _en gros_,[134] came too late to supplant the family name _Spicer_. _Bailey_, Old Fr. _bailif_ (_bailli_), represents all sorts of officials from a Scotch magistrate to a man in possession. _Bayliss_ seems to be formed from it like Williams from William. _Chaucer_, Old Fr. _chaucier_, now replaced by _chaussetier_, "a hosier, or hose-maker" (Cotgrave), is probably obsolete as an English surname. Mr _Homer's_ ancestors made helmets, Fr. _heaume_. _Jenner_ is for _engenour_, engineer (see _gin_, p. 65). In _Ferrier_ traditional spelling seems to have triumphed over popular pronunciation (_farrier_), but the latter appears in _Farrar_. Chaucer's _somonour_ survives as _Sumner_. _Ark_ was once a general name for a bin, hence the name _Arkwright_. Nottingham still has a Fletcher Gate, Lister Gate, and Pilcher Gate. It is not surprising that the trade of _fletcher_, Old Fr. _fleschier_ (_Flechier_), arrow-maker, should be obsolete. The _Fletchers_ have absorbed also the _fleshers_, _i.e._ butchers, which explains why they so greatly outnumber the _Bowyers_ (see p. 178), _Boyers_, etc. _Lister_, earlier _littester_, gave way to _dighester_, whence the name _Dexter_, well known in Nottingham, and this is now replaced by _dyer_. A _Pilcher_ made _pilches_, or mantles; _cf._ the cognate Fr. name _Pelissier_, a maker of _pelisses_.[135] _Kiddier_ was once equivalent to pedlar, from _kid_, a basket. Sailors still speak of the bread-_kid_. For the name _Wait_, see p. 76. The ancestor of the _Poyser_ family made scales (_poises_), or was in charge of a public balance. _Faulkner_, falconer, _Foster_, _Forster_, forester, and _Warner_, warrener, go together. With the contraction of _Warner_ we may compare _Marner_, mariner. _Crowther_ means fiddler. The obsolete _crowd_, a fiddle, is of Celtic origin. It gave Old Fr. _rote_, the name of the instrument played by the medieval minstrels-- "Saxon minstrels and Welsh bards were extracting mistuned dirges from their harps, _crowds_, and _rotes_." (_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 41.) _Kemp_ is an old English word for warrior, champion. It represents, like Ger. _kaempfen_, to fight, a very early loan from Lat. _campus_, in the sense of battle-field. [Page Heading: OBSOLETE CALLINGS] _Pinder_, the man in charge of the pound or pinfold, was the name of a famous wicket-keeper of the last century. The still more famous cricketing name of _Trumper_ means one who blows the trump. Cf. _Horner_ and _Corner_, which have, however, alternative origins, a maker of horn cups and a _coroner_[136] respectively. A dealer in _shalloon_ (see p. 47) was a _Chaloner_ or _Chawner_. _Parminter_, a tailor, is as obsolete as its Old French original _parmentier_, a maker of _parements_, deckings, from _parer_, Lat. _parare_, to prepare. A member of the _Parmentier_ family popularised the cultivation of the potato in France just before the Revolution, hence _potage Parmentier_, potato soup. The _white tawer_ still plies his trade, but is hardly recognisable in _Whittier_. _Massinger_ is a corruption of _messenger_. The _Todhunter_, or fox-hunter, used to get twelve pence per fox-head from the parish warden. _Coltman_ is simple, but _Runciman_, the man in charge of the _runcies_ or _rouncies_, is less obvious. _Rouncy_, a nag, is a common word in Mid. English. It comes from Old Fr. _roncin_ (_roussin_), and is probably a derivative of Ger. _Ross_, horse. The Spanish form is _rocin_, "a horse or jade" (Minsheu, 1623), whence Don Quixote's charger _Rocin-ante_, "a jade formerly." A park keeper is no longer called a _Parker_, nor a maker of palings and palisades a _Palliser_. An English sea-king has immortalised the trade of the _Frobisher_, or furbisher, and a famous bishop bore the appropriate name of _Latimer_, for _Latiner_. With this we may compare _Lorimer_, for _loriner_, harness-maker, a derivative, through Old French, of Lat. _lorum_, "a thong of leather; a coller or other thing, wherewith beastes are bounden or tyed; the reyne of a brydle" (Cooper). The _Loriners_ still figure among the London City Livery Companies, as do also the _Bowyers_, _Broderers_, _Fletchers_ (see p. 176), _Horners_ (see p. 177), _Pattenmakers_, _Poulters_ and _Upholders_ (see p. 63). _Scriven_, Old Fr. _escrivain_ (_ecrivain_), is now usually extended to _Scrivener_. For _Cator_ see p. 63. In some of the above cases the name may have descended from a female, as we have not usually a separate word for women carrying on trades generally practised by men. In French there is a feminine form for nearly every occupation, hence such names as _Labouchere_, the lady butcher, or the butcher's wife. The meaning of occupative names is not always on the surface. It would, for instance, be rash to form hasty conclusions as to the pursuits of Richard _Kisser_, whose name occurs in medieval London records. He probably made _cuisses_,[137] thigh armour, Fr. _cuisse_, thigh, Lat. _coxa_. A _Barker_ employed bark for tanning purposes. _Booker_ is a doublet of _Butcher_. A _Cleaver_ was, in most cases, a mace-bearer, Old Fr. _clavier_ (_Clavier_ is a common family name in France) from Lat. _clava_, a club. He may, however, have sometimes been a porter, as Old Fr. _clavier_ also means key-bearer, Lat. _clavis_, a key. A _Croker_, or _Crocker_, sold _crocks_, _i.e._, pottery. A _Lander_, or _Launder_, was a washer-man, Fr. _lavandier_. A _Sloper_ made "slops," _i.e._, loose upper garments, overalls. A _Reeder_ or _Reader_ thatched with reeds. A _Walker_ walked, but within a circumscribed space. He was also called a _Fuller_, Fr. _fouler_, to trample, or a _Tucker_, from a verb which perhaps meant once to "tug" or "twitch." In the following passage some manuscripts have _toukere_ for _walkere_-- "And his clothis ben maad schyninge and white ful moche as snow, and which maner clothis a _fullere_, or _walkere_ of cloth, may not make white on erthe." (WYCLIF, _Mark_, ix. 2.) The fuller is still called _Walker_ in Germany. _Banister_ is a corruption of _balestier_, a cross-bow man; cf. _banister_ for _baluster_ (p. 60). Some of the occupative names in _-ward_ and _-herd_ are rather deceptive. _Hayward_ means hedge[138] guard. _Howard_ is phonetically the Old French name Huard, but also often represents Hayward, Hereward, and the local Haworth, Howarth. For the social elevation of the _sty-ward_, see p. 90. _Durward_ is door-ward. The simple _Ward_, replaced in its general sense by _warden_, _warder_, etc., is one of our commonest surnames. Similarly _Herd_, replaced by _herdsman_, is borne as a surname by one who, if he attains not to the first three, is usually held more honourable than the thirty. The hog-herd survives as _Hoggart_; _Seward_ is sometimes for sow-herd; _Calvert_ represents calf-herd, and _Stoddart_ stot-herd, _i.e._, bullock-herd:-- "'Shentlemans!' cried Andie, 'Shentlemans, ye hielant _stot_! If God would give ye the grace to see yersel' the way that ithers see ye, ye would throw your denner up.'" (_Catriona_, Ch. 15.) _Lambert_ is in some cases lamb-herd, and _Nutter_ is in all probability a perversion of neat-herd, through the North Country and Scot. _nowt-herd_. It is a common surname in Lancashire, and Alice Nutter was one of the Lancashire Witches. [Page Heading: NICKNAMES] In a sense all personal names are nicknames (see p. 114), since they all give that additional information which enables us to distinguish one person from another. The practice of giving nicknames suggested by appearance, physique, or habits is common to the European languages; but, on the whole, our nicknames compare very unfavourably with those of savage nations. We cannot imagine an English swain calling his lady-love "Laughing Water." From Roman times onward, European nicknames are in their general character obvious and prosaic, and very many of them are the reverse of complimentary. The most objectionable have either disappeared,[139] or the original meaning has become so obscured as to cease to give offence to the possessor. When a man had any choice in the matter, he naturally preferred not to perpetuate a grotesque name conferred on some ancestor. Medieval names were conferred on the individual, and did not become definitely hereditary till the Reformation. In later times names could only be changed by form of law. It is thus that _Bugg_ became _Norfolk Howard_, a considerable transformation inspired by a natural instinct to "avoid the opinion of baseness," as Camden puts it. We no longer connect _Gosse_ with _goose_, nor _Pennefather_ with a miser. Cotgrave has _pinse-maille_ (_pince-maille_), "a pinch peny, scrape-good, nigard, miser, _penie-father_." In _Purcell_ we lose Old Fr. _pourcel_ (_pourceau_), little pig, _Fitch_ no longer means a pole-cat, nor _Brock_ a badger. On the other hand, we generally regard _Gosling_ as a nickname, while it is more often a variant of _Jocelyn_. Names descriptive of appearance or habits often correspond pretty closely with those that are found in French. In some cases they are probably mere translations. Examples are: _Merryweather_ (_Bontemps_), _Drinkwater_ (_Boileau_[140]), _Armstrong_ (_Fortinbras_), _Lilywhite_ (_Blanchefleur_). Among colour names we have _Black_, _Brown_, _White_, and _Grey_, but seem to miss _red_. The explanation is that for this colour we have adopted the Northern form _Reid_ (_Read_, _Reed_), or such French names as _Rudge_ (_rouge_), _Rouse_ (_roux_), _Russell_ (_Rousseau_). With the last of these, Old Fr. _roussel_, cf. _Brunel_ and _Morel_. Fr. _blond_ has given _Blount_, _Blunt_, and the diminutive _Blundell_, which exist by the side of the fine old English name _Fairfax_, from Mid. Eng. _fax_, hair. Several other French adjectives has given us surnames, e.g., _Boon_ (_bon_), _Bonner_ (_debonnaire_), _Grant_ (_grand_), _Curtis_ (_courtois_), _Power_ (_pauvre_), etc. _Payn_ is the French adjective _paien_, pagan, Lat. _paganus_, in early use as a personal name. [Page Heading: FOLK-ETYMOLOGY] But many apparent nicknames are products of folk-etymology. _Coward_ is for _cowherd_, _Salmon_ for _Salomon_, _Bone_ for _Boon_ (v.s.), _Dedman_ is a corruption of _Debenham_. _Playfair_ means play-fellow, from an old word connected with the verb to _fare_, to journey. _Patch_ may sometimes have meant a jester, from his parti-coloured garments, but is more often a variant of _Pash_, _Pask_, a baptismal name given to children christened at Easter, Old Fr. _Pasque_ (_Paque_). Easter eggs are still called _pash_, _pace_, or _paste_ eggs in the north of England. _Blood_ is a Welsh name, son of _Lud_; cf. _Bevan_, _Bowen_, etc. _Coffin_ is Fr. _Chauvin_, a derivative of Lat. _calvus_, bald. It has a variant _Caffyn_, the name of a famous cricketer. _Dance_, for Dans, is related to Daniel as Wills is to William. In the same way _Pearce_ comes from Peter or Pierre. The older form of the name _Pearce_ was borne by the most famous of ploughmen, as it still is by the most famous of soapmakers. Names such as _Bull_, _Peacock_, _Greenman_, are sometimes from shop or tavern signs. It is noteworthy that, as a surname, we often find the old form _Pocock_. The _Green Man_, still a common tavern sign, represented a kind of "wild man of the woods"; _cf._ the Ger. sign _Zum wilden Mann_. In these remarks on surnames I have only tried to show in general terms how they come into existence, "hoping to incur no offence herein with any person, when I protest in all sincerity, that I purpose nothing less than to wrong any whosoever" (Camden). Many names are susceptible of alternative explanations, and it requires a genealogist, and generally some imagination, to decide to which particular source a given family can be traced. The two arguments sometimes drawn from armorial bearings and medieval Latin forms are worthless. Names existed before escutcheons and devices, and these are often mere puns, _e.g._, the _Onslow_ family, of local origin, from Onslow in Shropshire, has adopted the excellent motto _festina lente_, "on slow." The famous name _Sacheverell_ is latinised as _De Saltu Capellae_, of the kid's leap. This agrees with the oldest form _Sau-cheverell_, which is probably from a French place called Sault-Chevreuil du Tronchet (Manche). The fact that _Napier_ of Merchiston had for his device _n'a pier_, no equal, does not make it any the less true that his ancestors were, like Perkin Warbeck's parents, "really, respectable people" (see p. 57). Dr Brewer, in his _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, says of his own name-- "This name, which exists in France as Bruhiere and Brugiere, is not derived from the Saxon _briwan_ (to brew), but the French _bruyere_ (heath), and is about tantamount to the German _Plantagenet_ (broom plant)." A "German" Plantagenet should overawe even a Norfolk Howard. A more interesting identification, and a true one, is that of the name of the great engineer _Telford_, a corruption of _Telfer_, with _Taillefer_, the "iron cleaver." [Page Heading: DAFT] A curious feature in nomenclature is the local character of some nicknames. We have an instance of this in the Notts name _Daft_[141]-- "A _Daft_ might have played in the Notts County Eleven in 1273 as well as in 1886." (BARDSLEY.) The only occurrence of the name in the Hundred Rolls for the year 1273 is in the county of Notts. FOOTNOTES: [122] This is probably the record for a proper name, but does not by any means equal that of the word _cushion_, of the plural of which about four hundred variants are found in old wills and inventories. [123] Another origin of this name is Fr. _le bon_. [124] "The last two centuries have seen the practice made popular of using surnames for baptismal names. Thus the late Bishop of Carlisle was Harvey Goodwin, although for several centuries Harvey has been obsolete as a personal name" (Bardsley). Camden already complains that "surnames of honourable and worshipful families are given now to mean men's children for christian names." Forty years ago there was hardly a more popular name than _Percy_, while at the present day the admonition, "Be'ave yerself, _'Oward_," is familiar to the attentive ear. [125] It is even possible that _Hood_, _Hudson_, sometimes belong here, as _Hud_ appears to have been used as a North Country alternative for Richard, though it is hard to see why. For proofs see BARDSLEY, _Dict. of English Surnames_, s.v. _Hudd_. [126] Such a corruption, though difficult to explain phonetically, is not without example in uneducated or childish speech. Cf. _tiddlebat_ or _tittlebat_, for _stickleback_. In _stickler_ (p. 76) we have the opposite change. [127] Of course also of English origin. [128] Hence also the name _Britton_. [129] Whence the perversion _Portwine_, examples of which occur in the _London Directory_. [130] Old Fr. _vernai_, whence our _Verney_, _Varney_, has the same meaning; cf. _Duverney_, the name of a famous dancer. Old Fr. _verne_, alder, is of Celtic origin. [131] Cf. _Chenevix_, old oak, a name introduced by the Huguenots. [132] Other examples quoted by Mr Hardy are _Priddle_, from _Paridelle_, and _Debbyhouse_--"The _Debbyhouses_ who now be carters were once the _de Bayeux_ family" (_Tess of the d'Urbervilles_, v. 35). [133] These names are supposed to have been generally conferred in consequence of characters represented in public performances and processions. In some cases they imply that the bearer was in the employment of the dignitary. We find them in other languages, _e.g._, Fr. _Leroy_, _Leduc_, _Leveque_; Ger. _Koenig_, _Herzog_, _Bischof_. _Leveque_ has given Eng. _Levick_, _Vick_, and (Trotty) _Veck_. [134] _Gross_, twelve dozen, seems to be of Germanic origin, the duodecimal hundred, Ger. _Grosshundert_, being Norse or Gothic. But Ger. _Grosshundert_ means 120 only. [135] _Surplice_, Old Fr. _surpelis_, is a compound of the same word. It was worn "over fur" in unheated medieval churches. [136] Another, and commoner, source of the name is from residence at a "corner." [137] See quotation from _Henry IV._ (p. 155). [138] The obsolete _hay_, hedge, is also a common surname, _Hay_, _Haig_, _Haigh_, etc. [139] The following occur in the index to Bardsley's _English Surnames_:--Blackinthemouth, Blubber, Calvesmawe, Cleanhog, Crookbone, Damned-Barebones, Drunkard, Felon, Greenhorn, Halfpenny, Hatechrist, Hogsflesh, Killhog, Leper, Mad, Measle, Milksop, Outlaw, Peckcheese, Peppercorn, Poorfish, Pudding, Ragman, Scorchbeef, Sourale, Sparewater, Sweatinbed, Twopenny, Widehose. Some of these are still found. [140] Cf. also Ital. _Bevilacqua_. [141] This word has degenerated. It is a doublet of _deft_. CHAPTER XIII ETYMOLOGICAL FACT AND FICTION Romance and Germanic etymology dates from the middle of the 19th century, and is associated especially with the names of two great Germans, Friedrich Diez, who published his _Woerterbuch der romanischen Sprachen_ in 1853, and Jakob Grimm, whose _Deutsches Woerterbuch_ dates from 1852. These two men applied in their respective fields of investigation the principles of comparative philology, and reduced to a science what had previously been an amusement for the learned or the ignorant. [Page Heading: EARLY ETYMOLOGISTS] Men have always been fascinated by word-lore. The Greeks and Romans played with etymology in a somewhat metaphysical fashion, a famous example of which is the derivation of _lucus a non lucendo_. Medieval writers delight in giving amazing information as to the origin of the words they use. Their method, which may be called learned folk-etymology, consists in attempting to resolve an unfamiliar word into elements which give a possible interpretation of its meaning. Thus Philippe de Thauen, who wrote a kind of verse encyclopedia at the beginning of the 12th century, derives the French names of the days of the week as follows: _lundi_, day of light (_lumiere_), _mardi_, day of toil or martyrdom (_martyre_), _mercredi_, day of market (_marche_), _jeudi_, day of joy (_joie_), _vendredi_, day of truth (_verite_), _samedi_, day of sowing (_semence_). Here we perhaps have, not so much complete ignorance, as the desire to be edifying, which is characteristic of the medieval etymologists. Playful or punning etymology also appears very early. Wace, whose _Roman de Rou_ dates from about the middle of the 12th century, gives the correct origin of the word _Norman_-- "Justez (_put_) ensemble _north_ et _man_ Et ensemble dites _northman_." But he also records the libellous theory that _Normendie_ comes from _north mendie_ (begs). We cannot always say whether an early etymology is serious or not, but many theories which were undoubtedly meant for jokes have been quite innocently accepted by comparatively modern writers.[142] The philologists of the Renaissance period were often very learned men, but they had no knowledge of the phonetic laws by which sound change is governed. Nor were they aware of the existence of Vulgar Latin, which is, to a much greater extent than classical Latin, the parent of the Romance languages. Sometimes a philologist had a pet theory which the facts were made to fit. Hellenists like Henri Estienne believed in the Greek origin of the French language, and Perion even derived _maison_ from the Gk. {oikon} ({oikos}, a house) by the simple method of prefixing an _m_. At other periods there have been Celtomaniacs, _i.e._, scholars who insisted on the Celtic origin of French. The first English etymological dictionary which aims at something like completeness is the _Guide into the Tongues_ of John Minsheu, published in 1617. This attempts to deal not only with English, but with ten other languages. It contains a great deal of learning, much valuable information for the student of Tudor literature, and some amazing etymologies. "To _purloine_,[143] or get privily away," is, says Minsheu, "a metaphor from those that picke the fat of the _loines_." _Parmaceti_, a corruption of _spermaceti_-- "And telling me, the sovereign'st thing on earth Was _parmaceti_ for an inward bruise." (1 _Henry IV._, i. 3.) he derives from Parma, which has given its name to _parmesan_ cheese. On the word _cockney_[144] he waxes anecdotic, always a fatal thing in an etymologist-- "_Cockney_, or _cockny_, applied only to one borne within the sound of Bow-bell, that is, within the City of London, which tearme came first out of this tale: That a cittizens sonne riding with his father out of London into the country, and being a novice and meerely ignorant how corne or cattell increased, asked, when he heard a horse _neigh_, what the horse did; his father answered, the horse doth _neigh_; riding farther he heard a _cocke_ crow, and said, doth the _cocke neigh_ too?" [Page Heading: EARLY ETYMOLOGISTS] Moliere often makes fun of the etymologists of his time and has rather unfairly caricatured, as Vadius in _Les Femmes savantes_, the great scholar Gilles Menage, whose _Dictionnaire etymologique_, published in 1650, was long a standard work. Moliere's mockery and the fantastic nature of some of Menage's etymologies have combined to make him a butt for the ignorant, but it may be doubted whether any modern scholar, using the same implements, could have done better work. For Menage the one source of the Romance languages was classical Latin, and every word had to be traced to a Latin word of suitable form or sense. Thus Fr. _haricot_[145] is connected by him with Lat. _faba_, a bean, _via_ the conjectural "forms" _*fabarius_, _*fabaricus_, _*fabaricotus_, _*faricotus_, _*haricotus_, a method to which no problem is insoluble.[146] He suggests that Fr. _geindre_, or _gindre_,[147] baker's man, comes from Lat. _gener_, son-in-law, because the baker's man always marries the baker's daughter; but this practice, common though it may be, is not of sufficiently unfailing regularity to constitute a philological law. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the derivation of Span. _alfana_,[148] a mare, from Lat. _equus_, a horse, which inspired a well-known epigram-- "_Alfana_ vient d'_equus_, sans doute, Mais il faut avouer aussi Qu'en venant de la jusqu'ici Il a bien change sur la route." These examples show that respect for Menage need not prevent his work from being a source of innocent merriment. But the above epigram loses some of its point for modern philologists, to whom equations that look equally fantastic, _e.g._ Eng. _wheel_ and Gk. {kyklos},[149] are matters of elementary knowledge. On the other hand, a close resemblance between words of languages that are not nearly related is proof presumptive, and almost positive, that the words are quite unconnected. The resemblance between Eng. _nut_ and Ger. _Nuss_ is the resemblance of first cousins, but the resemblance of both to Lat. _nux_ is accidental. Even in the case of languages that are near akin, it is not safe to jump to conclusions. The Greek cousin of Lat. _deus_ is not {theos}, God, but {Zeus}, Jupiter. [Page Heading: ANECDOTIC ETYMOLOGY] An etymology that has anything to do with a person or an anecdote is to be regarded with suspicion. For both we want contemporary evidence, and, in the case of an anecdote, we never, to the best of my knowledge, get it. In Chapter III. are a number of instances of words formed according to authentic evidence from names of persons. But the old-fashioned etymologist will not be denied his little story. Thus, in explanation of _spencer_ (p. 40), I find in a manual of popular information of the last century,[150] that-- "His Lordship, when Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, being out a-hunting, had, in the act of leaping a fence, the misfortune to have one of the skirts of his coat torn off; upon which his lordship tore off the other, observing, that to have but one left was like a pig with one ear! Some inventive genius took the hint, and having made some of these half-coats, out of compliment to his lordship, gave them the significant cognomen of _Spencer_!" This is what Pooh-Bah calls "corroborative detail intended to give artistic verisimilitude to a bald and unconvincing narrative." From the same authority we learn that-- "_Hurly-burly_[151] is said to owe its origin to Hurleigh and Burleigh, two neighbouring families, that filled the country around them with contest and violence." and that-- "The word _boh!_ used to frighten children, was the name of Boh, a great general, the son of Odin, whose very appellation struck immediate panic in his enemies."[152] The history of _chouse_ exemplifies the same tendency. There is no doubt that it comes from a Turkish word meaning interpreter, spelt _chaus_ in Hakluyt and _chiaus_ by Ben Jonson. The borrowing is parallel to that of _cozen_ (p. 110), interpreters having a reputation little superior to that of horse-dealers. But a century and a half after the introduction of the word we come across a circumstantial story of a Turkish _chiaus_ who swindled some London merchants of a large sum in 1609, the year before Jonson used the word in the _Alchemist_. "Corroborative detail" again. The story may be true, but there is not an atom of evidence for it, and Skinner, who suggests the correct derivation in his _Etymologicon_ (1671), does not mention it. Until contemporary evidence is adduced, the story must be regarded as one of those fables which have been invented in dozens by early etymologists, and which are perpetuated in popular works of reference. It is an article of faith in Yorkshire that the coarse material called _mungo_ owes its name to the inventor of the machine used in its fabrication, who, when it stuck at a first trial, exclaimed with resolution, "It _mun go_." Many stories have been composed _apres coup_ to explain the American _hoodlum_ and the Australian _larrikin_, which are both older than our _hooligan_ (see p. 12). The origin of _hoodlum_ is quite obscure. The story believed in Australia with regard to _larrikin_ is that an Irish policeman, giving evidence of the arrest of a rough, explained that the accused was _a-larrikin'_ (larking) in the street, and this was misunderstood by a reporter. But there appears to be not the slightest foundation for this story. The word is perhaps a diminutive of the common Irish name _Larry_, also immortalised in the stirring ballad-- "The night before _Larry_ was stretched." As I write, there is a correspondence going on in the Nottingham papers as to the origin of the nickname _Bendigo_, borne by a local bruiser and evangelist. According to one account, he was one of triplets, whom a jocular friend of the family nicknamed Shadrach, Meschach, and _Abed-Nego_, the last of which was the future celebrity. It is at any rate certain that his first challenge (_Bell's Life_, 1835) was signed "Abed-Nego of Nottingham." The rival theory is that, when he was playing in the streets and his father appeared in the offing, his companions used to warn him by crying "_Bendy go!_" This theory disregards the assertion of the "oldest inhabitant" that the great man was never called _Bendy_, and the fact, familiar to any observer of the local dialect, that, even if he had been so called, the form of warning would have been, "Look aht, Bendy, yer daddy's a-coomen." In the Supplement to Littre there is an article on _domino_, in which he points out that investigation must start from the phrase _faire domino_ (see p. 102). He also quotes an absurd anecdote from a local magazine, which professes to come from a "vieille chronique." Littre naturally wants to know what chronicle. In Scheler's _Dictionnaire etymologique_ (Brussels, 1888), it is "proved," by means of the same story elaborated, "que c'est la la veritable origine du mot dont nous parlons." [Page Heading: ANECDOTIC ETYMOLOGY] In Brewer's _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, s.v. _sirloin_, we read that "it is generally said that James I. or Charles II. knighted the loin of beef, but Henry VIII. had done so already." This sounds like a determination to get at the root of things, but does not go far enough. The word is found in the 15th century, and Fr. _surlonge_, from which it comes, in the 14th. It is compounded of _sur_, over, and _longe_, a derivative of Lat. _lumbus_, loin. The belief in the knightly origin of the _sirloin_ was so strong that we find it playfully called the _baronet_ (_Tom Jones_, iv. 10). Hence, no doubt, the name _baron_ of beef for the double sirloin. _Tram_ is persistently connected with a Mr _Outram_, who flourished about 1800. This is another case of intelligent anticipation, for the word is found in 1555. It means log or beam, and was probably first applied to a log-road laid across bad ground, what is called in America a "corduroy" road. On the other hand, the obvious and simple derivation of _beef-eater_, _i.e._ a man who is in the enviable position of being sure of his daily allowance,[153] has been obscured by the invention of an imaginary Fr. _*beaufetier_, waiter at the side-board. Professor Skeat attributes the success of this myth to its inclusion in Mrs Markham's _History of England_. But the most indestructible of all these superstitions is connected with the word _cabal_. It comes from a Hebrew word meaning hidden mystery, and is found in the chief Romance languages. The word is of frequent occurrence in English long before the date of Charles II.'s acrostic ministry,[154] though its modern meaning has naturally been affected by this historic connection. Even anecdotic etymologies accepted by the most cautious modern authorities do not always inspire complete confidence. _Martinet_ is supposed to come from the name of a well-known French officer who re-organised the French infantry about 1670. But we find it used by Wycherley in 1676, about forty years before Martinet's death. Moreover this application of the name is unknown in French, which has, however, a word _martinet_ meaning a kind of cat-o'-nine-tails. In English _martinet_ means the leech-line of a sail, hence, possibly, rope's end, and Wycherley applies the term to a brutal sea-captain. The most renowned of carriers is probably Hobson, of Cambridge. He was sung by Milton, and bequeathed to the town Hobson's conduit which cleanses the Cambridge gutters. To him is also ascribed the phrase _Hobson's choice_, from his custom of refusing to let out his horses except in strict rotation. But we find a merchant venturer, living in Japan, using "_Hodgson's_ choice" fourteen years before the carrier left this world and became a legendary figure-- "We are put to _Hodgson's choise_ to take such previlegese as they will geve us, or else goe without." (_Correspondence of Richard Cocks_, Oct. 1617.) [Page Heading: BACK-FORMATIONS] The most obvious etymology needs to be proved up to the hilt, and the process is rich in surprises. _Cambridge_ appears to be the _bridge_ over the _Cam_. But the river's older name, which it preserves above the town, is the _Granta_, and Bede calls the town itself _Grantacester_. Camden, in his _Britannia_ (trad. Holland, 1637), notes that the county was called "in the English Saxon" _Grentbrigseyre_, and comments on the double name of the river. Nor can he "easily beleeve that _Grant_ was turned into _Cam_; for this might seeme a deflexion some what too hardly streined, wherein all the letters but one are quite swallowed up." _Grantabrigge_ became, by dissimilation (see p. 57), _Gantabrigge_, _Cantabrigge_ (cf. _Cantab_), _Cantbrigge_, and, by assimilation (see p. 56), _Cambridge_, the river being rechristened from the name of the town. A _beggar_ is not etymologically one who _begs_, or a _cadger_ one who _cadges_. In each case the verb is evolved from the noun. About the year 1200 Lambert le _Begue_, the Stammerer, is said to have founded a religious order in Belgium. The monks were called after him in medieval Latin _beghardi_ and the nuns _beghinae_. The Old Fr. _begard_ passed into Anglo-French with the meaning of mendicant and gave our _beggar_. From _beguine_ we get _biggin_, a sort of cap-- "Sleep with it (the crown) now! Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet, As he, whose brow with homely _biggin_ bound, Snores out the watch of night." (2 _Henry IV._, iv. 4.) _Cadger_, or rather its Scottish form _cadgear_, a pedlar, occurs about one hundred and fifty years earlier than the verb to _cadge_. We find, noted as foreign words, in 16th-century Dutch, the words _cagie_, a basket carried on the back, and _cagiaerd_, one who carries such a basket. These must be of French origin, and come, like the obsolete Eng. _cadge_,[155] a panier, from _cage_, for the history of which see p. 109. _Cadger_ is used in Scottish of an itinerant fish merchant with his goods carried in paniers by a pony-- "Or die a _cadger_ pownie's death, At some dyke-back." (BURNS, _Epistle to J. Lapraik_.) _Tobacco_ does not take its name from the island of Tobago, but from the native name of the tube through which the Caribs smoked it. The traditional derivation of _vaunt_ is from Fr. _vanter_, and this from a late Lat. _vanitare_, to talk emptily, used by St Augustine. This looks very simple, but the real history of these words is most complicated. In Mid. English we regularly find _avaunt_, which comes from Old Fr. _avanter_, to put forward, from _avant_, before. This gets mixed up during the Tudor period with another _vaunt_ from Fr. _vanter_, to extol, the derivation of which can only be settled when its earliest form is ascertained. At present we find _venter_ as early as _vanter_, and this would represent Lat. _venditare_ (frequentative of _vendere_, to sell), to push one's goods, "to do anything before men to set forth himselfe and have a prayse; to _vaunt_; to crake; to brag" (Cooper). [Page Heading: ETYMOLOGICAL TESTS] A sound etymology must fulfil three conditions. It must not violate the recognised laws of sound change. The development of meaning must be clearly traced. This must start from the earliest or fundamental sense of the word. It goes without saying that in modern corruptions we are sometimes faced by cases which it would be difficult to explain phonetically (see p. 136). There are, in fact, besides the general phonetic and semantic laws, a number of obscure and accidental influences at work which are not yet codified. As we have seen (p. 188), complete apparent dissimilarity of sound and sense need not prevent two words from being originally one[156]; but we have to trace them both back until dissimilarity becomes first similarity and then identity. The word _peruse_ meant originally to wear out, Old Fr. _par-user_. In the 16th century it means to sort or sift, especially herbs, and hence to scrutinise a document, etc. But between the earliest meaning and that of sifting there is a gap which no ingenuity can bridge, and, until this is done, we are not justified in regarding the modern _peruse_ as identical with the earlier.[157] The maxim of Jakob Grimm, "von den Woertern zu den Sachen," is too often neglected. In dealing with the etymology of a word which is the name of an object or of an action, we must first find out exactly what the original object looked like or how the original action was performed. The etymologist must either be an antiquary or must know where to go for sound antiquarian information. I will illustrate this by three words denoting objects used by medieval or Elizabethan fighting men. A fencing _foil_ is sometimes vaguely referred to the verb _foil_, to baffle, with which it has no connection. The Fr. _feuille_, leaf, is also invoked, and compared with Fr. _fleuret_, a foil, the idea being that the name was given to the "button" at the point. Now the earliest _foils_ and _fleurets_ were not buttoned; first, because they were pointless, and secondly, because the point was not used in early fencing. It was not until gunpowder began to bring about the disuse of heavy armour that anybody ever dreamt of thrusting. The earliest fencing was hacking with sword and buckler, and the early _foil_ was a rough sword-blade quite unlike the implement we now use. _Fleuret_ meant in Old French a sword-blade not yet polished and hilted, and we find it used, as we do Eng. _foil_, of an apology for a sword carried by a gallant very much down at heel. As late as Cotgrave we find _floret_, "a foile; a sword with the _edge_ rebated." Therefore _foil_ is the same as Fr. _feuille_,[158] which in Old French meant sword-blade, and is still used for the blade of a saw; but the name has nothing to do with what did not adorn the tip. It is natural that Fr. _feuille_ should be applied, like Eng. _leaf_, _blade_, to anything flat (_cf._ Ger. _Blatt_, leaf), and we find in 16th-century Dutch the borrowed word _folie_, used in the three senses of leaf, metal plate, broadsword, which is conclusive. [Page Heading: PETRONEL] We find frequent allusions in the 16th and 17th centuries to a weapon called a _petronel_, a flint-lock fire-arm intermediate in size between an arquebus and a pistol. It occurs several times in Scott-- "'Twas then I fired my _petronel_, And Mortham, steed and rider, fell." (_Rokeby_, i. 19.) On the strength of a French form, _poitrinal_, it has been connected with Fr. _poitrine_, chest, and various explanations are given. The earliest is that of the famous Huguenot surgeon Ambroise Pare, who speaks of the "mousquets _poitrinals_, que l'on ne couche en joue, a cause de leur calibre gros et court, mais qui se tirent _de la poitrine_." I cannot help thinking that, if the learned author had attempted this method of discharging an early fire-arm, his anatomical experience, wide as it was, would have been considerably enlarged. Minsheu (1617) describes a _petronell_ as "a horseman's peece first used in the Pyrenean mountaines, which hanged them alwayes _at their breast_, readie to shoote, as they doe now at the horse's breast." This information is derived from Claude Fauchet, whose interesting _Antiquites francoises et gauloises_ was published in 1579. Phillips, in his _New World of Words_ (1678) tells us that this "kind of harquebuse, or horseman's piece, is so called, because it is to aim _at a horse's brest_, as it were _poictronel_." When we turn from fiction to fact, we find that the oldest French name was _petrinal_, explained by Cotgrave as "a _petronell_, or horse-man's peece." It was occasionally corrupted, perhaps owing to the way in which the weapon was slung, into _poitrinal_. This corruption would be facilitated by the 16th-century pronunciation of _oi_ (p_ei_trine). The French word is borrowed either from Ital. _petronello_, _pietronello_, "a petronell" (Florio), or from Span. _pedrenal_, "a _petronall_, a horse-man's peece, ita dict. quod _silice petra_ incenditur" (Minsheu, _Spanish Dictionary_, 1623). Thus Minsheu knew the origin of the word, though he had put the fiction in his earlier work. We find other forms in Italian and Spanish, but they all go back to Ital. _pietra_, _petra_, or Span. _piedra_, _pedra_, stone, flint. The usual Spanish word for flint is _pedernal_. Our word, as its form shows, came direct from Italian.[159] The new weapon was named from its chief feature; _cf._ Ger. _Flinte_, "a light gun, a hand-gun, pop-gun, arquebuss, fire-arm, fusil or fusee"[160] (Ludwig). The substitution of the flint-lock for the old match-lock brought about a re-naming of European fire-arms, and, as this substitution was first effected in the cavalry, _petronel_ acquired the special meaning of horse-pistol. It is curious that, while we find practically all the French and Italian fire-arm names in 17th-century German, a natural result of the Thirty Years' War, _petronel_ does not appear to be recorded. The reason is probably that the Germans had their own name, viz., _Schnapphahn_, snap-cock, the English form of which, _snaphaunce_, seems also to have prevailed over _petronel_. Cotgrave has _arquebuse a fusil_, "a _snaphaunce_," and explains _fusil_ as "a fire-steele for a tinder-box." This is medieval Lat. _focile_, from _focus_, fire, etc. [Page Heading: HELMETS] The most general name for a helmet up to about 1450 was _basnet_, or _bacinet_. This, as its name implies (see p. 156), was a basin-shaped steel cap worn by fighting men of all ranks. The knights and nobles wore it _under_ their great ornamental helms.[161] The _basnet_ itself was perfectly plain. About the end of the 16th century the usual English helmets were the _burgonet_ and _morion_.[162] These were often very decorative, as may be seen by a visit to any collection of old armour. Spenser speaks of a "guilt engraven _morion_" (_Faerie Queene_, vii. 7). Between the basnet and these reigned the _salet_ or _salade_, on which Jack Cade puns execrably-- "Wherefore, on a brick wall have I climbed into this garden, to see if I can eat grass, or pick a _sallet_ another while, which is not amiss to cool a man's stomach this hot weather. And I think this word _sallet_ was born to do me good, for many a time, but for a _sallet_, my brain-pan had been cleft with a brown-bill." (2 _Henry VI._, iv. 10.) It comes, through Fr. _salade_, from Ital. _celata_, "a scull, a helmet, a morion, a _sallat_, a headpiece" (Florio). The etymologists of the 17th century, familiar with the appearance of "guilt engraven morions," connected it with Lat. _caelare_, to engrave, and this derivation has been repeated ever since without examination. Now in the Tower of London Armoury is a large collection of _salets_, and these, with the exception of one or two late German specimens from the ornate period, are plain steel caps of the simplest form and design. The _salet_ was, in fact, the _basnet_ slightly modified, worn by the rank and file of 15th-century armies, and probably, like the _basnet_, worn under the knight's tilting helm. There is no Italian verb _celare_, to engrave, but there is a very common verb _celare_, to conceal. A steel cap was also called in Italian _secreta_, "a thinne steele cap, or close skull, worne under a hat" (Florio), and in Old French _segrette_, "an yron skull, or cap of fence" (Cotgrave). Both words are confirmed by Duez, who, in his _Italian-French Dictionary_ (1660), has _secreta_, "une secrette, ou segrette, un morion, une bourguignotte, armure de teste pour les picquiers." Ergo, the _salet_ belongs to Lat. _celare_, to hide, secrete. We now _caulk_ a ship by forcing oakum into the seams. Hence the verb to _caulk_ is explained as coming from Mid. Eng. _cauken_, to tread, Old Fr. _cauquer_, _caucher_, Lat. _calcare_, from _calx_, heel. This makes the process somewhat acrobatic, although this is not, philologically, a very serious objection. But we _caulk_ the ship or the seams, not the oakum. Primitive _caulking_ consisted in plastering a wicker coracle with clay. The earliest _caulker_ on record is Noah, who pitched[163] his ark within and without with pitch. In the Vulgate (_Genesis_, vi. 14), the _pitch_ is called _bitumen_ and the verb is _linere_, "to daub, besmear, etc." Next in chronological order comes the mother of Moses, who "took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch" (_Exodus_, ii. 3), _bitumine ac pice_ in the Vulgate. Bitumen, or mineral pitch, was regularly applied to this purpose, even by Elizabethan seamen. Failing this, anything sticky and unctuous was used, _e.g._, clay or lime. _Lime_ now means usually calcium oxide, but its original sense is anything viscous; _cf._ Ger. _Leim_, glue, and our bird-_lime_. The oldest example of the verb to _caulk_ is about 1500. In Mid. English we find to _lime_ used instead, _e.g._, in reference to the ark-- "Set and _limed_ agen the flood" (c. 1250), and-- "_Lyme_ it with cleye and pitche within and without." (Caxton, 1483.) Our _caulk_ is in medieval Latin _calcare_, and this represents a rare Latin verb _calicare_, to plaster with lime, from _calx_, lime. Almost every language which has a nautical vocabulary uses for our _caulk_ a verb related to Fr. _calfater_. This is of Spanish or Portuguese origin. The Portuguese word is _calafetar_, from _cal_, lime, and _afeitar_, to put in order, trim, etc. [Page Heading: GHOST-WORDS] The readiness of lexicographers to copy from each other sometimes leads to ludicrous results. The origin of the word _curmudgeon_ is quite unknown; but, when Dr Johnson was at work on his dictionary, he received from an unknown correspondent the suggestion that it was a corruption of Fr. _c[oe]ur mechant_, wicked heart. Accordingly we find in his dictionary, "It is a vitious manner of pronouncing _c[oe]ur mechant_, Fr. an unknown correspondent." John Ash, LL.D., who published a very complete dictionary in 1775, gives the derivation "from the French _c[oe]ur_, unknown, and _mechant_, a correspondent," an achievement which, says Todd, "will always excite both in foreigners and natives a harmless smile!" It is thus that "ghost-words" come into existence. Every considerable English dictionary, from Spelman's _Glossarium_ (1664) onward, has the entry _abacot_, "a cap of state, wrought up into the shape of two crowns, worn formerly by English kings." This "word" will no longer appear in dictionaries, the editor of the _New English Dictionary_ having laid this particular ghost.[164] _Abacot_ seems to be a misprint or misunderstanding for a _bicocket_, a kind of horned head-dress. It corresponds to an Old Fr. _bicoquet_ and Span. _bicoquete_, cap, the derivation of which is uncertain. Of somewhat later date is _brooch_, "a painting all in one colour," which likewise occurs in all dictionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries. This is due to Miege (_French Dict._ 1688) misunderstanding Cotgrave. There is a Fr. _camaieu_, a derivative of _cameo_, which has two meanings, viz., a cameo _brooch_, and a monochrome painting with a cameo effect. Miege appears to have taken the second meaning to be explanatory of the first, hence his entry--_brooch_, "camayeu, ouvrage de peinture qui n'est que d'une couleur." In Manwayring's _Seaman's Dictionary_ (1644), the old word _carvel_, applied to a special build of ship, is misprinted _carnell_, and this we find persisting, not only in the compilations of such writers as Bailey, Ash, etc., but even in technical dictionaries of the 18th century "by officers who serv'd several years at sea and land." The Anglo-Saxon name for the kestrel (see p. 100) was _stangella_, stone-yeller (_cf._ nightin_gale_), which appears later as _stonegall_ and _staniel_. In the 16th century we find the curious spelling _steingall_, _e.g._, Cooper explains _tinnunculus_ as "a kistrel, or a kastrell; a _steyngall_." In Cotgrave we find it printed _fleingall_, a form which recurs in several later dictionaries of the 17th century. Hence, somewhere between Cooper and Cotgrave, an ornithologist or lexicographer must have misprinted _fleingall_ for _[/s]teingall_ by the common mistake of _fl_ for _[/s]t_, and the ghost-word persists into the 18th century. The difficulty of the etymologist's task is exemplified by the complete mystery which often enshrouds a word of comparatively recent appearance. A well-known example is the word _Huguenot_, for which fifteen different etymologies have been proposed. We first find it used in 1550, and by 1572 the French word-hunter Tabourot, generally known as des Accords, has quite a number of theories on the subject. He is worth quoting in full-- "De nostre temps ce mot de _Huguenots_, ou _Hucnots_ s'est ainsi intronise: quelque chose qu'ayent escrit quelques-uns, que ce mot vient _Gnosticis haereticis qui luminibus extinctis sacra faciebant_, selon Crinit: ou bien du Roy Hugues Capet, ou de la porte de Hugon a Tours par laquelle ils sortoient pour aller a leur presche. Lors que les pretendus Reformez implorerent l'ayde des voix des Allemans, aussi bien que de leurs armees: les Protestans estans venus parler en leur faveur, devant Monsieur le Chancelier, en grande assemblee, le premier mot que profera celuy qui portoit le propos, fut, _Huc nos venimus_: Et apres estant presse d'un reuthme (_rhume_, cold) il ne peut passer outre; tellement que le second dit le mesme, _Huc nos venimus_. Et les courtisans presents qui n'entendoient pas telle prolation; car selon la nostre ils prononcent _Houc nos venimous_, estimerent que ce fussent quelques gens ainsi nommez: et depuis surnommerent ceux de la Religion pretendue reformee, _Hucnos_: en apres changeant _C_ en _G_, _Hugnots_, et avec le temps on a allonge ce mot, et dit _Huguenots_. Et voyla la vraye source du mot, s'il n'y en a autre meilleure."[165] The only serious etymology is Ger. _Eidgenoss_, oath companion, which agrees pretty well with the earliest recorded Swiss-French form, _eiguenot_, in Bonivard's _Chronique de Geneve_. [Page Heading: UNSOLVED PROBLEMS] The engineering term _culvert_ first appears about 1800, and there is not the slightest clue to its origin. The victorious march of the ugly word _swank_ has been one of the linguistic phenomena of recent years. There is a dialect word _swank_, to strut, which may be related to the common Scottish word _swankie_, a strapping youth-- "I am told, young _swankie_, that you are roaming the world to seek your fortune." (_Monastery_, Ch. 24.) But, in spite of the many conjectures, plausible or otherwise, which have been made, neither the etymology of _swank_ nor its sudden inroad into the modern language are at present explained. The word _ogre_, first used by Perrault in his _Contes de Fees_ (1697), has occasioned much grave and learned speculation. Perhaps the philologists of the future may theorise as sapiently as to the origin of _jabberwock_ and _bandersnatch_. FOOTNOTES: [142] The following "etymologies" occur, in the same list with a number which are quite correct, in a 16th-century French author, Tabourot des Accords:-- _Bonnet_, de _bon_ et _net_, pource que l'ornement de la teste doit estre tel. _Chapeau_, quasi, _eschappe eau_; aussi anciennement ne le souloit on porter que par les champs en temps de pluye. _Chemise_, quasi, sur _chair mise_. _Velours_, quasi, _velu ours_. _Galant_, quasi, _gay allant_. _Menestrier_, quasi, _meine estrier_ des espousees. _Orgueil_, quasi, _orde gueule_. _Noise_, vient de _nois_ (_noix_), qui font _noise_ et bruit portees ensemble. _Parlement_, pource qu'on y _parle et ment_! [143] Old Fr. _pourloignier_, to remove; cf. _eloigner_. [144] A very difficult word. Before it was applied to a Londoner it meant a milksop. It is thus used by Chaucer. Cooper renders _delicias facere_, "to play the wanton, to dally, to play the _cockney_." In this sense it corresponds to Fr. _acoquine_, made into a _coquin_, "made tame, inward, familiar; also, growne as lazy, sloathful, idle, as a beggar" (Cotgrave). [145] Thought to be a Mexican word. [146] "Sache que le mot _galant homme_ vient d'_elegant_; prenant le _g_ et l'_a_ de la derniere syllabe, cela fait _ga_, et puis prenant _l_, ajoutant un _a_ et les deux dernieres lettres, cela fait _galant_, et puis ajoutant _homme_, cela fait _galant homme_." (Moliere, _Jalousie du Barbouille_, scene 2.) [147] Old Fr. _joindre_, Lat. _junior_. [148] Of Arabic origin. [149] That is, they are both descended from the same Indo-Germanic original. Voltaire was thus, superficially, right when he described etymology as a science in which the vowels do not count at all and the consonants very little. [150] _Pulleyn's Etymological Compendium_, 3rd ed., revised and improved by M. A. Thoms (Tegg & Co., 1853). [151] _Cf._ Fr. _hurluberlu_, which occurs in Rabelais, and in Rostand's _Cyrano de Bergerac_. [152] _Tit-Bits_, which honoured the _Romance of Words_ with a notice (8th June 1912), approvingly quoted these three "etymologies" as being seriously propounded by the author. This is dramatic justice. [153] The following explanation, given in Miege's _French Dictionary_ (1688), is perhaps not far wrong: "C'est ainsi qu'on appelle par derision les _Yeomen of the Guard_ dans la cour d'Angleterre, qui sont des gardes a peu pres comme les cent Suisses en France. Et on leur donne ce nom-la, parce qu' a la cour ils ne vivent que de b[oe]uf: par opposition a ces colleges d'Angleterre, ou les ecoliers ne mangent que du mouton." [154] An acrostic of this kind would have no point if it resulted in a meaningless word. In the same way the Old Fr. _Fauvel_, whence our _curry favour_ (see p. 131), has a medieval explanation of the acrostic kind. It is supposed to be formed from the initial letters of the vices _Flatterie_, _Avarice_, _Vilenie_, _Variete_, _Envie_, _Lachete_. [155] There is also a word _cadge_, explained in the glossary to a book on falconry (1615) as a kind of frame on which an itinerant vendor of hawks carried his birds. But it is unrecorded in literature and labours under the suspicion of being a ghost-word. Its first occurrence, outside the dictionaries, is, I believe, in Mr Maurice Hewlett's _Song of Renny_--"the nominal service of a pair of gerfalcons yearly, in golden hoods, upon a golden _cadge_" (Ch. 1). [156] This seems to have been realised by the author of the _Etymological Compendium_ (see p. 188, _n._ 2), who tells us that the "term _swallow_ is derived from the French _hirondelle_, signifying indiscriminately voracious, literally a marshy place, that absorbs or _swallows_ what comes within its vortex." [157] It is much more likely that it originated as a misunderstanding of _pervise_, to survey, look through, earlier printed _peruise_. We have a similar misunderstanding in the name _Alured_, for _Alvred_, i.e. _Alfred_. The influence of spelling upon sound is, especially in the case of words which are more often read than heard, greater than is generally realized. Most English people pronounce a _z_ in names like _Dalziel_, _Mackenzie_, _Menzies_, etc., whereas this _z_ is really a modern printer's substitution for an old symbol which had nearly the sound _y_ (_Dalyell_, etc.). [158] And therefore identical with the _foil_ of _tinfoil_, _counterfoil_, etc. [159] It is a diminutive of some word which appears to be unrecorded (_cf._ Fr. _pistolet_ for the obsolete _pistole_). Charles Reade, whose archaeology is very sound, makes Denys of Burgundy say, "_Petrone_ nor harquebuss shall ever put down Sir Arbalest" (_Cloister and Hearth_, Ch. 24); but I can find no other authority for the word. [160] _Fusee_, in this sense, occurs in _Robinson Crusoe_. [161] Over the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral hangs his cumbrous tilting helmet. But the magnificent recumbent bronze effigy below represents him in his fighting kit, basnet on head. [162] _Burgonet_, Fr. _bourguignotte_, is supposed to mean _Burgundian_ helmet. The origin of _morion_ is unknown, but its use by Scott in _Ivanhoe_--"I have twice or thrice noticed the glance of a _morrion_ from amongst the green leaves." (Ch. 40)--is an anachronism by four centuries. Both words are used vaguely as general names for helmet. [163] See _pay_ (p. 160). It will be found that all verbs of this nature are formed from the name of the substance applied. [164] See letter by Dr Murray, afterwards Sir James Murray, in the _Athenaeum_, Feb. 4, 1884. [165] The _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ does not imitate the wise reticence of Tabourot's saving clause, but pronounces authoritatively for the _porte de Hugon_ fable. INDEX abacot, 201 abet, 77, _n._ abeyance, 108 abominable, 3, _n._ abominate, 3 abracadabra, 15, _n._ 2 accomplice, 128, _n._ acquaint, 78 acton, 115 adder, 113 adjutant, 34, 147 admiral, 148 affidavit, 4 ague, 139 aitch-bone, 113 akimbo, 100 Alabaster, 170 alarm, 115 alarum, 115 albert chain, 39 alcade, 115 alderman, 92 Aldridge, 171 Alec, 70 alert, 115 _alfana_, 187 Alfred David, 125 alguazil, 115 alibi, 4 alley, 69 alligator, 115 Allman, 173 allure, 110 alone, 62 Alured, 195, _n._ 2 A.M., 4 ampersand, 57 analysis, 6 _ananas_, 32, _n._ 1 ancient, 128 andiron, 115 Andrea Ferrara, 50 anecdotage, 132 animal, 4 anlace, 59 Annabel, 58 _ansatus_, 100 antic, 141 antlers, 99 ant-lion, 32 _apache_, 12 _Apfelsine_, 31 appeach, 62 appendicitis, 11 apprentice, 118 apricot, 20 apron, 57, 113 Arabella, 58 arbour, 133 arch, 83 argosy, 50 _aringo_, 21 Arkwright, 176 arles, 119 armada, 2 _armee_, 2 Armitage, 5 Armstrong, 180 aroma, 6 arquebus, 127 arrant, 83 arras, 47 array, 95, _n._ _arriere-ban_, 72 artillery, 161, _n._ assassin, 22 assegai, 25 asset, 116 assize, 62 assoil, 10 astonish, 106 astound, 106 Atkin, 171 atlas, 6 atomy, 62 _atout_, 9 Atterbury, 172 Atwood, 172 _auberge_, 133, 164 Aubray, 174 _Augensprosse_, 99 auger, 113 avers, 143 avoirdupois, 143, _n._ 2 ayah, 26 Bacchus, 170 'baccy, 66 bacinet, 198 bachelor's buttons, 30 backgammon, 158 _badaud_, 108, _n._ 1 Bailey, 175 _bailler_, 108, _n._ 1 bait, 77, _n._ baize, 119 Bakerloo, 66 bald, 38 bald-faced stag, 38 ballad, 152 ballet, 152 baluster, 60 ban, 72 banal, 73 bandore, 149 bandy, 109 banish, 72 Banister, 179 banister, 60 _banlieue_, 73 banjo, 149 bannal, 73, _n._ banns, 72 Barclay, 145 Bardell, 171 Barker, 178 baron, 191 barracking, 13 bartisan, 14 Barton, 172 Bart's, 66 basilisk, 38 basnet, 156, 198 bastinado, 26, _n._ 2 _battant neuf_, 107 batter, 154 battledore, 132 _Bauer_, 160 bay, 108, 119 Bayard, 119 Bayliss, 175 bead, 74 beadroll, 74 beadsman, 74 _beante_, 108, _n._ 1 beat the bush, 108 Beaufoy, 170 Beaulieu, 123 _beaupre_, 128, _n._ beaver, 155 _bec-jaune_, 96 bedlam, 61 Beecham, 169 beef-eater, 191 beejam, 96 beg, 193 begum, 157 belcher, 85 beldam, 85 _belette_, 91 belfry, 164 Bell, 170 Bella, 70 belladonna, 85 Bellows, 170 Bendigo, 190 _benet_, 45 bergamot, 157 _bergeronnette_, 34 bergomask, 157 Bert, 70 bess, 42 bet, 77, _n._ _bete a bon Dieu_, 35 Betts, 172 betty, 42 bever, 124 beverage, 60 Bewsher, 85, _n._ bey, 157 bezant, 49 bible, 86 biggin, 193 bike, 66 bilbo, 50 billiments, 66 Billingsgate, 48 billy-cock, 40 binnacle, 63 bird-lime, 200 Bishop, 175 biz, 67 black art, 130 blackguard, 84 Blood, 181 Blount, 181 bluff, 94, _n._ Blundell, 181 blunderbuss, 127 Blunt, 181 Bob, 172 bobby, 45 bodice, 118 Bodkin, 171 boer, 84, _n._ 1 _boite_, 127 Boleyn, 173 bombasine, 96 bombast, 96 _bona-fide_, 4 Bone, 181 bonfire, 151 _bonhomme_, 80 _bonne femme_, 80 Bonner, 181 bonus, 4 boojum, 16 book, 86 Booker, 178 boom, 17 Boon, 170, 181 boor, 84 boot and saddle, 129 _bordereau_, 93 borel, 73 boss, 20 _boudoir_, 75 _boulevard_, 121 _boussole_, 127 _boutique_, 114 _bouvreuil_, 33 Bovril, 16 bowdlerise, 41 bower, 160 Bowery, 160, _n._ 2 bowie, 39 Bowser, 85, _n._ Bowyer, 176 boycott, 41 Boyer, 176 Brabazon, 173 brand new, 107 brandy, 68 branks, 8 _brasse_, 87 Brazil, 51 breeches, 117 breeks, 117 Brett, 173 Brewer, 182 briar, 165 bridal, 121 Bridges, 173 brig, 67 brigantine, 67 brisk, 63, _n._ 2 Bristow, 173 Britton, 173, _n._ 2 Brock, 180 Broderer, 178 broker, 150 bronze, 48 brooch, 151, 202 brose, 118 brougham, 39 Bruin, 36 Brunel, 181 buccaneer, 61, _n._ _Buechse_, 127 _Buchstabe_, 86 buck, 150 Buckhurst Holt, 135 budget, 88 bugle, 69 Bull, 181 Bullen, 173 bulwark, 121 buncombe, 48 bungalow, 94, _n._ bunkum, 48 burden, 157 bureau, 73 burgonet, 199 Burgoyne, 173 Burke, 41 _Bursche_, 94 bus, 69 bushes, 127 butcher, 150 buttery, 165 buxom, 82 Bythesea, 172 cab, 66 cabal, 192 cabbage, 153 _caboche_, 153 cad, 66 caddie, 66 cadge, 193 Caesar, 175 Caffyn, 181 cage, 109 _cahier_, 146 caitiff, 139 cajole, 109 calculation, 87 calendar, 159 calender, 159 _calfater_, 201 Caliban, 132 callant, 68 calumet, 24 Calvert, 179 cambric, 47 Cambridge, 193 camomile, 32 canary, 51 cancel, 88 cancer, 35 _canif_, 55 canker, 35 cannibal, 132 canter, 68 canvass, 72 cape, 26 Capel Court, 152 _capestro_, 67 _capot_, 102 captain, 139 captive, 139 carat, 21 Carew, 123 Carfax, 122, _n._ 2 cargo, 142 cark, 142 carmine, 147 carnell, 202 carol, 152 carousal, 166 carouse, 166 cartridge, 61 case, 157 cash, 157 cashier, 18, 157 cashmere, 47 casket, 140 cass, 157 cast, 157 caste, 26 catch, 143 catchpole, 165 cate, 62 cater, 63 caterpillar, 33 catkin, 33 Catonet, 41 Cator, 62 cattle, 143 caucus, 13 caudle, 7 cauliflower, 153 caulk, 200 causeway, 125 caveat, 4 _cavestrolo_, 67 cavie, 109 celandine, 30 _cercueil_, 140 _cerf-volant_, 38 cervelas, 136 chabouk, 26 _chaise_, 116, _n._ 2 Challen, 173 Challis, 173 Chaloner, 177 chamberlain, 90 _chambree_, 94 chameleon, 32 Champain, 173 Champneys, 174 chancel, 88 chancellor, 88 chancery, 165 Chaney, 174 _Chantecler_, 36 chap, 67 _chapeau_, 26 chapel, 26, 152 chaperon, 27 chaplet, 26 Chapman, 175 chapman, 67 chare, 2 charge, 142 charwoman, 2 chase, 143, 157 Chater, 143 _chaton_, 33 chattel, 143 Chaucer, 175 _chauvin_, 13 chawbuck, 26 Chawner, 177 Chaworth, 173 cheat, 84 check, 87, 120 cheer, 135 chelidonium, 30 _chenapan_, 55 Chenevix, 174, _n._ 2 _chenille_, 33 _cheptel_, 143 cheque, 89 chequer, 87 _chercher_, 57 cherry, 116 Chesney, 174 chess, 120 Chesterfield, 40 cheval-de-frise, 47, _n._ 1 _chevalet_, 39 _chevaucher_, 66 chewet, 37 chieftain, 139 chime, 8 Chinee, 116 Chippendale, 40 Chipping, 67, _n._ chit, 96 chore, 2 chortle, 16 _chou_, 153 _choucroute_, 129 chouse, 189 chuet, 37 chum, 94 churl, 84 cinch, 24 cinematograph, 11 cipher, 147 cit, 66 citizen, 122 Clark, 145 _Claude_, 45 claymore, 132 Cleaver, 178 clerk, 145 clothes-horse, 39 clove, 91 club, 78 cobalt, 44 Cobbett, 171 cobra, 26 cockney, 186 cocoa, 23 cocoa-nut, 23 coffer, 140 Coffin, 181 coffin, 140 cognovit, 4 colander, 154 _Colas_, 45 cole, 153 Collet, 170 colon, 6 colonel, 58 Coltman, 177 colza, 153 _comadreja_, 92 comma, 6 _commere_, 94 companion, 93, 165 compassion, 2 _compere_, 94 complex, 4 compound, 157 comptroller, 88 comrade, 94 connect, 105 constable, 89 _controle_, 88 controller, 88 Conyers, 173 coon, 64 cooper, 81, _n._ coopering, 67 _cordonnier_, 128 cordwainer, 128 _corne_, 117 Corner, 177 Cornwall, 151 Cornwallis, 174 corp, 116 corsair, 22 costermonger, 63, _n._ 1 _couleuvre_, 7 counterpane, 137 counterpoint, 137 court-card, 129 Coward, 181 coward, 36 cowslip, 30 cozen, 110 crack, 67 _cracovienne_, 50 crane, 38 crane's bill, 29 cratch, 8 cravat, 48 crayfish, 125 credence table, 123 crestfallen, 108 _cretin_, 45 crew, 64 Cri, 66 crimson, 147 crinoline, 137 Crocker, 178 Croker, 178 crowd, 176 crowfoot, 29 Crowther, 176 crosier, 164 cubit, 87 Cuddy, 36 cuddy, 165 cuirass, 161 Cullen, 173 cullis, 154 culverin, 7, 38 culvert, 203 cummer, 92, 95 _curee_, 161 curmudgeon, 201 currant, 49 curry, 95 curry favour, 131 curtal axe, 126 Curtis, 181 cushion, 169, _n._ cuss, 68 Custance, 171 _custodia_, 103 cutlass, 60, 126 cutler, 126 cutlet, 126 _dada_, 91 dado, 142 daffadowndilly, 71 daffodil, 71 Daft, 183 Dago, 45 dahlia, 31 dainty, 139 dairy, 165 dais, 139 daisy, 29 Dalmain, 174 Dalziel, 195 dam, 120, 142 damask, 47 dame, 142 _dame-jeanne_, 44 Dampier, 173 damson, 49 Dance, 181 dandelion, 30 dandy, 45 Dangerfield, 175 Danvers, 174 dapper, 80 dapple-gray, 71 darbies, 40 Darblay, 174 Darby, 145 Daubeney, 174 dauphin, 34 _Daus_, 109 _davier_, 42 davit, 42 Dawnay, 174 Day, 165 day-woman, 165 _de_, 61, 131 dead men's fingers, 30 Debbyhouse, 175, _n._ 1 debenture, 5 decoy, 109 Dedman, 181 _dejeuner_, 148 delf, 48 deliberate, 1 delight, 122, _n._ 1 demijohn, 44 demure, 101 denizen, 122 Dennis, 170 Denry, 70 Depew, 8 _derive_, 55 derrick, 40 derring-do, 15 derringer, 39 desk, 139 deuce, 109 _Deus_, 188 Devereux, 174 Dexter, 176 dexterity, 3 _di_, 8 _diablotin_, 171 _diane_, 10 diaper, 52 dice, 142 Dick, 172 dickens, 44 dicky bird, 37 die, 142 _Dietrich_, 42 Digg, 172 digit, 87 dimity, 149 _dinde_, 52 _dindon_, 52 _diner_, 148 diocese, 150 dirge, 5 dirk, 20 _dirk_, 42 _Dirne_, 82 disaster, 106 disc, 139 dish, 139 dishevelled, 135 disk, 139 dismal, 8 Disney, 174 ditto, 153 ditty, 153 Dob, 172 Dobbin, 91 docket, 93 dodo, 33 dogma, 6 doily, 40 Dolman, 174 doll, 43 dollar, 49 dominie, 5 domino, 102, 191 _Dompfaffe_, 34 donah, 142 _doninha_, 92 donkey engine, 38 _donna_, 142 _donnola_, 92 do re me fa sol la si, 7 dornick, 47 dote, 80 dotterel, 33 dowlas, 48 _Drachen_, 38 dragon, 38 dragoon, 38 Drakensberg, 31 dram, 87 drat, 65 draught, 120 drawing-room, 65 drill, 148 drilling, 148 Drinkwater, 180 dropsy, 61 drub, 26, _n._ 2 Druce, 173 drugget, 52 Dubberley, 174 ducat, 49 duenna, 142 duffel, 48 Duke, 175 _dummer Peter, Michel_, 45 dunce, 45 Dupuy, 8 Durbeyfield, 175 Durward, 179 duty, 11 Duverney, 174, _n._. 1 D.V., 4 _dyrk_, 42 eager, 80 earnest, 119 easel, 18, 39 _echouer_, 97 _ecouvillon_, 43 _ecrou_, 93, _n._ _ecurie_, 135 _ecuyer_, 135 _effendi_, 22 _Eisenhut_, 29 eke, 114 elbow, 87 ell, 87 _Eltern_, 92 embarrass, 106 emir, 148 Emmot, 36 employ, 105 endeavour, 11 ensign, 128 epitome, 6 equerry, 134 'Erb, 70 ermine, 48 errant, 83 _Erz-_, 83 _escabeau_, 107 escheat, 84 eschew, 64 esquire, 64, 135 etch, 18, 133 _etincelle_, 59 ewer, 115 example, 64 exchequer, 87 excise, 134 exeat, 4 exit, 4 expression, 105 eyas, 114 eyre, 83 _faire la noce_, 95 Fairfax, 181 fairy, 77, 92 falconet, 38 faldstool, 141 fane, 58 farce, 93 Farrar, 176 farrier, 176 farthingale, 137 _Fata Morgana_, 77 Faulkner, 176 _fauteuil_, 141 _Fauvel_, 131, 192, _n._ fay, 77 feckless, 12 fed up, 96 fee, 143 feeble, 58 fellow-feeling, 2 felon, 24 fence, 64 fender, 64 ferret, 33, 149 Ferrier, 176 ferrule, 167 ferule, 167 fetish, 26 feverfew, 30 fiat, 4 filbert, 35 filibuster, 61 _fille_, 82 fire-new, 107 firkin, 21, _n._ 2 Fitch, 180 fives, 10 flail, 58 flawn, 136, _n._ fleingall, 202 Fletcher, 176 floret, 150 florin, 49 flounce, 60 flour, 144 flower, 144 foil, 196 foist, 107, _n._ folio, 6 fond, 80 foot, 86 footpad, 167 force-meat, 93 foreign, 122 forget-me-not, 30 forlorn hope, 18, 129 Forster, 176 Foster, 176 _fou_, 80 _fouet_, 129 _Frauenzimmer_, 94 fragile, 139 frail, 58, 139 freebooter, 61 fret, 133 fretwork, 133 frieze, 47 fritter, 154 Frobisher, 177 _froncle_, 25 frontispiece, 82, _n._ 1 frounce, 60 fruiterer, 63 fuchsia, 31 fugleman, 59 Fuller, 178 _funkelnagelneu_, 107 furlong, 87 furlough, 18 _furoncle_, 25 fusee, 198 _fusil_, 198 fustian, 47, 96 fustian-anapes, 46 fusty, 107 Galvanism, 40 gambit, 158 gamboge, 51 game, 158 gammon, 158 gammy, 158 gamut, 6 gantlope, 130 gaol, 109 garage, 125 garble, 21, 72 _garce_, 82 garibaldi, 39 garret, 104 Garrett, 171 gas, 16 Gascoyne, 173 Gaskin, 173 _gaufre_, 78 Gaunt, 173 gauntlet, 130 geezer, 12 _gefallen_, 109 _geindre_, 187 _Gelbschnabel_, 96 _Geld_, 142 generous, 3 geneva, 68 genius, 4 gent, 66 geranium, 30 _gerben_, 95 _gerfaut_, 121, _n._ _Geschenk_, 91 _Geselle_, 94 _Gevatter_, 95 _Gewehr_, 64, _n._ Gibbon, 172 _Gift_, 91 gift horse, 97 Gilbey, 171 Gillott, 170 gilly-flower, 125 gimbals, 144 gimmal, 144 gin, 65, 68 _gindre_, 187 gingham, 52 gist, 10 _glai_, 132 glaive, 132 glamour, 13, 60, 145 gleek, 102 gloss, 155 gloze, 155 Godbehere, 170 goffer, 78 Gogs, 65 gonfalon, 57 Goodbeer, 170 Goodenough, 170 Goodeve, 171 Goodlake, 171 Goodrich, 171 gorilla, 27 goshawk, 153 Gosling, 180 Gosse, 180 gossip, 94 Gotobed, 170 _goupil_, 35 graft, 111 grail, 13 grain, 87 gramarye, 146 grampus, 33 Grant, 181 Great Orme, 99, _n._ Grecian steps, 118 Greenfield, 175 greengage, 32 greenhorn, 95 Greenhow, 135 Greenman, 181 greyhound, 135 grief, 122 _grimaldello_, 42 grimalkin, 43 _grimoire_, 146 grize, 118 grocer, 175 grog, 68 grogram, 56, _n._, 68 gross, 175, _n._ 3 grotesque, 141, _n._ _guerite_, 103 guillotine, 170 guinea, 51 guinea-fowl, 51 guinea-pig, 32, 51 guitar, 149 guts, 84 guy, 45 Habeas Corpus, 125 hack, 66 hackbut, 127 Hackett, 171 hag, 109 haggard, 108 haggis, 37, _n._ _Hahnenfuss_, 29 Haig, 179, _n._ half a mo', 66 halibut, 35 Hammond, 171 hand, 87 hand of glory, 131 _hangar_, 125 Hannay, 174 Hannibal, 170 Hansom, 56, _n._ hansom, 53, _n._ Hanway, 173 harangue, 23, 55 harbinger, 2, 90, 164 harbour, 2, 133, 164 harry, 2 Harvey, 171 hatchell, 12 hatchment, 136 hauberk, 164 Haunce, 174 _haut_, 132 haversack, 18, _n._ 'haviour, 66 hawse, 164, _n._ Hawtrey, 173 Hay, 179, _n._ Hayward, 179 hearse, 75 heart's ease, 30 heckle, 12 hempie, 67 Herd, 179 Hereford, 2 _herrisch_, 92, _n._ 2 Hewett, 171 Hewlett, 171 Hibbert, 171 hiccough, 125 Hick, 172 Hig, 172 hinterland, 14 hippopotamus, 32 Hitch, 172 Hob, 172 hobby, 91 hobgoblin, 37 Hobson's choice, 192 _Hochzeit_, 95 hock, 68 Hoggart, 179 holland, 47 hollyhock, 35 homely, 81 Homer, 176 homespun, 73 _homme_, 55 Honeyball, 170 honeysuckle, 99 _honte_, 55 Hood, 172 hooligan, 12 Horner, 177 horse-coper, 67 host, 2, 158 Howard, 179 Howitt, 171 Hudson, 172 Huggin, 171 Huguenot, 203 humble pie, 113 hunks, 82 hurly-burly, 70, 189 hussar, 22 hussy, 82 Hutchin, 171 Ib, 70 Ibbotson, 172 ill-starred, 106 imp, 111 indenture, 89 index, 4 Indian corn, 52 Indian ink, 52 indigo, 51 infantry, 76 innuendo, 3 inoculate, 112 insult, 3 interfere, 106 inure, 159 inveigle, 110 invoice, 118 _Irrgarten_, 63 isinglass, 137 item, 4 jack, 42, 44 jackanapes, 45 jackass, 37 jackdaw, 37 jacket, 44 Janaway, 174 _jaquette_, 37 Jarvey, 41 jaunty, 127 jean, 47 jemmy, 42 Jenner, 176 jenneting, 121 Jenny wren, 37 jeopardy, 108 jesses, 120 Jessop, 171 jest, 74 jilt, 46 jingo, 13 jockey, 45, 111 _Johannisapfel_, 121 _jolis fous_, 129 _Joenkoeping_, 67, _n._ jonquil, 153 joss, 27 journeyman, 106, 165 jovial, 106 jug, 43 Juggins, 43, _n._ jumble, 144 junket, 153 _Juette_, 42 Kafir, 26, _n._ 1 kail, 153 _Kanzel_, 88 _Kapelle_, 152 Kemp, 176 kennel, 158 kerseymere, 47 kestrel, 100 kickshaws, 116 Kiddier, 176 kidnap, 110 kilderkin, 21 kilt, 19 kimmer, 95 King, 175 kirtle, 150 Kisser, 178 kit, 149 kitcat, 42 kite, 38 kittle, 59 _Kjoebenhavn_, 67, _n._ _kjoenne_, 92 _Klaus_, 42 kloof, 91 knapsack, 18 knave, 55 _Knecht_, 84 knickerbockers, 44 knight, 84 _Knoblauch_, 91 _Kohl_, 153 _kooi_, 109 kraal, 25 laager, 18 label, 93 Labouchere, 178 lace, 24 lacrosse, 164 lady-bird, 35 lady's bedstraw, 35 lady's garter, 35 lady's slipper, 35 Lambert, 179 _Lambertsnuss_, 35 lampoon, 9 lancegay, 25 Lander, 178 _landier_, 115 landscape, 18 _Langlois_, 115 lanterloo, 69 larboard, 121 larder, 165 lariat, 24, 115 Larkin, 171 larkspur, 29 _Laerm_, 115 larrikin, 12, 190 larum, 115 lasso, 24 lateen, 51 Latimer, 177 _Launay_, 174 Launder, 178 _lavandiere_, 34 lawn, 47 lay-figure, 18, 166 leaguer, 18 leech, 155 legend, 3 Leggatt, 171 lemon, 160 lemon sole, 160 lettuce, 119 level, 58 _levier_, 115 Levick, 115, 175, _n._ 2 _levre_, 117 _Lhuissier_, 90, _n._, 115 libel, 42 _liber_, 86 _liebaeugeln_, 110 _lierre_, 115 Lilywhite, 180 limb, 98 limbeck, 63 limbo, 5 lime, 56 Limehouse, 48 limner, 63 linden, 56 _Lindwurm_, 99, _n._ _lingot_, 115 liquorice, 137 list, 93 Lister, 176 little Mary, 43 littoral, 14 Liverpool, 56 livery, 77 lobelia, 31 locomotor ataxy, 125 lockram, 48 Loftus, 170 Lombard, 56 lone, 62 'longing, 66 loo, 69 lords and ladies, 30 Lorimer, 177 Loring, 174 Loveday, 172 love in a mist, 30 Lovell, 171 Lowell, 171 _Loewenmaul_, 30 _Loewenzahn_, 30 L. s. d., 4 Lubbock, 173 lucifer, 4 Luck, 173 _lucus_, 184 lugger, 101 lugsail, 101 lumber-room, 76 _Luemmel_, 96, _n._ luncheon, 124 lupus, 35 Lush, 90, _n._ Lusher, 90, _n._ lutestring, 128 Lyndhurst, 56 Mabel, 58 macadamise, 41 Mackenzie, 195 mackintosh, 39 Macnab, 19, _n._ Macpherson, 19, _n._ Madeira, 51 madge owl, 37 madonna, 142 magazine, 93 magenta, 39, _n._ maggot, 59 magnet, 48 magnolia, 31 magpie, 37 mailed fist, 156 _main de gloire_, 131 Mainwaring, 169 majolica, 48 Malins, 173 malkin, 42 Mall, 166, _n._ 2 malmsey, 51 Malthus, 170 malvoisie, 51 mammet, 43 _manant_, 150 mandarin, 27 mandoline, 149 manger, 8 mangle, 140 mangonel, 140 Mann, 173 manner, 158 man[oe]uvre, 159 manor, 9 Mansell, 173 mansworn, 15, _n._ 1 manual, 3 manure, 159 marabout, 147 maravedi, 147 marble, 69 _marchand des quatre saisons_, 63, _n._ Marchant, 145 _Marienkaefer_, 35 _marionnette_, 43 marmalade, 31 Marner, 176 marquee, 116 Marriot, 36 marshal, 89 Marshalsea, 90 _marsouin_, 32 Martello tower, 60 martin, 37 martinet, 192 _martin-pecheur_, 37 mascot, 13 mask, 145 _masnadiere_, 151 Massinger, 177 masterpiece, 106 match, 8 mate, 93 _matelot_, 93 Maud, 70 maudlin, 61 maul, 166 _Maulbeere_, 58 maul-stick, 166 maxim, 39 maximum, 4 Mayhew, 171 Mayne, 173 mayor, 153 maze, 63 mazurka, 49 _mediastinus_, 92 _Meerschwein_, 32 _Meerschweinchen_, 51 megrims, 35 meiny, 151 melon, 31 _menage_, 151 menagerie, 151 mend, 62 menetrier, 76 menial, 151 Menzies, 195 merchant, 67 mercurial, 106 merino, 153 Merryweather, 180 mesmerism, 40 mess, 93 _messer_, 92 messmate, 93 metal, 144 _metier_, 160 mettle, 144 mews, 120 miasma, 6 Middlemas, 172 milliner, 48 miniature, 81 minstrel, 76 mint, 142 minx, 82 miscreant, 127 miser, 4 misnomer, 9 miss, 160, _n._ 1 mister, 160 mistery, 159 mizen, 9 mob, 66 Mohock, 12 moidore, 142 _moineau_, 34 money, 141 monkey, 36 monkey-wrench, 38 monkshood, 29 _monnaie_, 142 _monsieur_, 92 Moon, 170 Morel, 181 morion, 199 Morris, 174 morris dance, 49 morris pike, 49 mosaic, 168 mosquito, 39, 59 Mother Carey's chicken, 36 _mouchoir_, 99 _moustique_, 59 Moxon, 172 muckinder, 99 _muguet_, 148 mulberry, 58 mulligrubs, 35 Mullins, 175 mungo, 190 _Muenze_, 142 _mure_, 58 mushroom, 56 musk, 148 musket, 38 muslin, 47 mustang, 23 Musters, 175 _mutande_, 99 mystery, 159 _Naegele_, 91 namby-pamby, 70 Napier, 57, 182 napkin, 57 _nappe_, 57 Nash, 114 naunt, 114 nausea, 6 nave, 153 navvy, 68 navy, 153 nectar, 6 nectarine, 6 Ned, 114 Neddy, 36 _negromancie_, 131 negus, 40 neighbour, 84, _n._ 1 Neil, 171 _Nelke_, 91 Nell, 114 newt, 114 nice, 80 nickel, 44 nickname, 114 nickum, 45 nickumpoop, 45 _Nicodeme_, 45 nicotine, 40 niddering, 15 nincompoop, 45 ninny, 45 ninnyhammer, 45 _niveau_, 58 noddy, 45 noddypeak, 45 _noix gauge_, 152 Nokes, 114 Noll, 114 nonce, 114 Norfolk Howard, 180 Norman, 185 Norris, 174 Norroy, 174 nostrum, 4 Nowell, 172 Nugent, 173 nuncheon, 124 nuncle, 114 nurse, 174 nut, 188 nutmeg, 148 Nutter, 179 _nux_, 188 object, 105 obligation, 3 obvious, 105 odium, 4 odsbodikins, 65 ogle, 110 ogre, 204 _oignon_, 95 _oiseau de Saint Martin_, 37 Old Nick, 44 omelet, 136 omen, 4 omnibus, 5 onion, 91, _n._ 1 Onslow, 182 orange, 31 _oreste_, 132 oriel, 58 orlop, 18 orrery, 40 _orteil_, 132 ortolan, 33 _oseille_, 162 ostler, 55, 164 ounce, 114 pad, 167 padder, 167 padding, 96 Padgett, 172 _padrastro_, 25 paj, 66 paladin, 139 Palatine, 139 palaver, 26 pallet, 156 Palliser, 177 Pall Mall, 166, _n._ 2 palmer, 33 Palsgrave, 139 palsy, 61 Pam, 69 pamphlet, 41 pandy, 5 pantaloons, 44 pantry, 165 _Panzer_, 156 paper, 86 parable, 26 _parbleu_, 65 parchment, 49 parish, 61, 150 Parker, 177 Parkin, 171 parley, 26 parmaceti, 186 parmesan, 186 Parminter, 177 Parnell, 172 parole, 26 parrot, 36 parse, 5 parson, 145 Partlet, 36 partridge, 61 Pascal, 172 Pascoe, 172 pasquinade, 41 pastern, 76 past master, 106 Patch, 181 patch, 8 pathos, 6 patten, 117 patter, 69 _paume_, 10 pauper, 4 Pav, 66 pawn, 160 pay, 160 Payn, 181 paynim, 77 pea, 116 peach, 49, 62 peajacket, 135 peal, 62 Pearce, 181 _pecunia_, 143 pedigree, 77, 123 Peel, 173 pelargonium, 30 _pelerin_, 58 _Pelissier_, 176 pen, 167 pencil, 167 Pennefather, 180 Pentecost, 172 penthouse, 125 peon, 160 perch, 87 periwig, 63, _n._ 2 periwinkle, 128 Perkin, 171 Perrot, 36 person, 145 pert, 80 peruse, 195 pester, 76, 167 _Peterchen_, 42 petrel, 36 petronel, 197 Pettifer, 77 Pettigrew, 77 petty, 80 pew, 8 _Pfalz_, 139 Phillimore, 175 Philpot, 171 Physick, 170 pickaback, 71 pick-axe, 126 Pickard, 173 pie, 37 piebald, 38 _pierrot_, 36 pig-iron, 38 Pilcher, 176 pilgrim, 58 pinchbeck, 40 Pinder, 177 pine-apple, 32 _pion_, 160 pips, 102 plain, 81 plaudit, 5 Playfair, 181 plover, 99 pluck, 83 pocket, 97, _n._ pocket-handkerchief, 98 Pocock, 181 Poidevin, 173 _pointe_, 66 poison, 91 poke, 97 polecat, 165 polka, 49 Pollock, 174 Poll parrot, 36 _polonaise_, 50 polony, 49 pomander, 57 pomcitron, 32 pomegranate, 32 _Pomeranze_, 31 Pomeroy, 174 _pomme de pin_, 32 ponder, 1 Pope Joan, 129 porcelain, 39 porcupine, 32 porpoise, 32 porridge, 118 port, 51 portcullis, 154 porter, 81, _n._ Portugee, 116 Portwine, 173, _n._ 3 Poslett, 169 Posnett, 169 possum, 64 posthumous, 126 _post-mortem_, 4 posy, 145 _potence_, 40 _Potz_, 65 _pouce_, 87 _Pouille_, 114 poulterer, 63 pounce, 108 pouncet-box, 108 _pourboire_, 91 Power, 181 power, 9 pow-wow, 14 Poyser, 176 prayer, 74 premises, 6 premisses, 6 premium, 4 prentice, 63, 106 prepense, 1 preposterous, 129, _n._ press-gang, 130 Prester John, 92, _n._ 2 Priddle, 175, _n._ 1 priest, 92 primrose, 125 proctor, 61 pub, 66 pudding, 74 puisne, 80 pun, 66 punch, 94, _n._ pundigrion, 66 _pundit_, 94, _n._ Punjaub, 94, _n._ puny, 80 Purcell, 180 purley, 124 purlieu, 123 purloin, 186 pursy, 126 purview, 4 _Puy de Dome_, 8 puzzle, 64 python, 6 pyx, 6, 127 quaint, 78 quair, 146 quarrel, 161 quarry, 160 quarto, 6 quean, 82 querry, 134 query, 5 quilt, 137 quince, 119 quintal, 21 quire, 146 quirry, 134 quirt, 24 quorum, 6 rack, 155 radius, 4 raiment, 61 rampart, 121 ramper, 121 ranch, 23 rank, 23 rappee, 9 Read, 181 Reader, 178 reasty, 79 _reata_, 24 rebus, 5 recreant, 127 recruit, 64 redstart, 117 Reed, 181 Reeder, 178 _Regenpfeifer_, 99 _Regenschirm_, 64, _n._ Reginald, 36 rehearse, 106 Reid, 181 _reine Claude_, 32 reist, 79 relent, 3 remainder, 9 remnant, 9 Renard, 35 _rendre_, 122 renegade, 127 requiem, 5 restive, 79 revel, 141 revelly, 10 Reynold, 36 Rich, 172 Rick, 172 _Rittersporn_, 29 rival, 3 Rob, 172 rob, 148 robe, 148 Robin, 91 robin, 37 Rocinante, 177 romance, 74 Ronald, 36 rosemary, 125 _rossignol_, 42 roster, 18 _rote_, 176 rouncy, 177 Rouse, 181 rouse, 117 row, 117 Rudge, 181 rudimentary, 105 rum, 68 rummage, 76 runagate, 127 Runciman, 177 Russell, 181 rusty, 79 sabotage, 11 Sacheverell, 182 sack, 116, _n._ 1 sake, 2 saker, 38 salade, 199 salary, 3 salet, 199 Salmon, 181 salt-cellar, 135 salver, 123 salvo, 123 samite, 149 samphire, 35 sample, 64 _Samt_, 149 sandwich, 39 Sandy, 70 _Sankt Peters Vogel_, 36 Saragossa, 51 sarcenet, 47 sardine, 48 _Sarg_, 140 Sargent, 145 sash, 158 sassafras, 30 satire, 93 saveloy, 136 saxifrage, 30 scabbard, 164 scallion, 48 scaramouch, 64, _n._, 142 scavenger, 84 schedule, 93 _scheitern_, 97 _Schemel_, 107 _schirmen_, 64, _n._ _Schoentierlein_, 92 school, 56, 162 scintilla, 4 scion, 111 scissors, 127 score, 89 scrimer, 64, _n._ scrimmage, 64, _n._, 142 Scriven, 178 scroll, 93 scruple, 87 scull, 162 scullery, 43 scullion, 43 'sdeath, 65 seal, 133 sea-lion, 32 sear, 162 search, 57 secretary, 34 sedan, 52 seel, 133 seesaw, 70 _sehr_, 168 _Seide_, 27 _seigneur_, 92 _Sekt_, 116, _n._ 1 _selig_, 45 sendal, 47 seneschal, 92 senior, 4 sennet, 153 _senor_, 92 sentinel, 102 sentry, 102 sepoy, 146 seraglio, 132 serge, 27 sergeant, 148 serpent, 38 servant, 148 service-tree, 129 Seward, 179 sexton, 61 Seymour, 169 shalloon, 47 shallop, 55 shallot, 48 shambles, 106 shame-faced, 125 shark, 33 shawm, 24 shay, 116 Sheepshanks, 77 sherbet, 146 sherry, 51, 116 shift, 99 shilly-shally, 70 ship, 105 shirk, 33 shirt, 150 short, 150 shrapnel, 39 shrew, 34 shrewd, 34 shrive, 74 shrub, 146 _sieur_, 92 _signor_, 92 silhouette, 40 silk, 27 silly, 45 silly Johnny, 45 Sinclair, 169 sinister, 3 sir, 92 sire, 92, 142, _n._ sirloin, 191 sirup, 146 Sisson, 172 sizar, 62 size, 62 sjambok, 26 skate, 117 skeeter, 65 sketch, 18, 22 skew, 64 skinker, 124, _n._ 2 skipper, 17 skirmish, 61, 64, _n._, 142 skirt, 150 slave, 22 slim, 20 Sloper, 178 slow-worm, 99 slug, 94, _n._ slug-horn, 14 smock, 99 smug, 81 snap, 18 snapdragon, 29 snaphaunce, 198 snapsack, 18 snark, 16 snickersnee, 70 Snooks, 170 soccer, 66 solder, 154 soldier, 154 _Soeldner_, 154 solemn, 140 sorrel, 162 sorrow, 168 sorry, 168 _soudard_, 154 _souillon_, 43 souse, 120 sovereign, 122, _n._ 1 spade, 78 _spahi_, 146 span, 87 spaniel, 49 sparagus, 66 sparrow-grass, 125 spatula, 78 spec', 67 species, 140 spence, 165 Spencer, 65, 165 spencer, 39, 188 spice, 64, 140 Spicer, 175 spick and span, 107 spinning-jenny, 42 Spitalfields, 64 spite, 65 Spittlegate, 64 splay, 65 sponge, 56 Spoonerism, 60 sport, 65 sprightly, 122, _n._ 1 sprite, 64 _Sproessling_, 111 spruce, 48 squarson, 66 squire, 64 stable, 56 stage, 64 staid, 101 stain, 65 stale, 101 stance, 143 staniel, 202 stank, 26 stanza, 143 starboard, 121 stationer, 63, _n._ 1 _Steckenpferd_, 91 _Steinbrech_, 30 steingall, 202 _Steppdecke_, 137 sterling, 79 stevedore, 76, _n._ steward, 90 Stewart, 90 stickler, 75, 172, _n._ 2 still-room, 165 stimulus, 4 Stoddart, 179 stomacher, 156 stone, 87 stonegall, 202 _Storchschnabel_, 29 _stortelli_, 144 stout, 81 stranded, 97 stun, 106 sullen, 140 Summerfield, 175 Sumner, 176 supercilious, 3 surcease, 126 surly, 92 surplice, 176, _n._ surround, 164 Surtees, 172 swank, 203 sward, 84 sweet William, 30 sympathy, 2 synopsis, 6 syrup, 146 tabby, 47 taffrail, 126 taint, 64 talisman, 22 tallage, 134 tally, 88 talon, 9 Tammany, 14 tandem, 4 tank, 26 tankard, 59 tansy, 30 tantalise, 41 _tante_, 70 tarantella, 50 tarantula, 50 tartan, 19, 47 tassel, 163 'tater, 66 tattoo, 18, 162 tawdry, 65 tease, 12 teasel, 12 'tec, 65 teetotaller, 6 teetotum, 6 Telford, 182 'tench, 65 tender, 64 tenet, 4 tennis, 10 tent, 163 tenter-hooks, 154 termagant, 46 test, 106 testy, 79 tetchy, 163 _tete_, 106 thimble, 61 Thoroughgood, 170 Tibbet, 171 Tibert, 36 tick, 67 tidbit, 123 tiddlebat, 172, _n._ 2 'Tilda, 70 Tillet, 171 Tillotson, 172 tilt, 108 _tinnunculus_, 100 tinsel, 59 tire, 63 tit, 123 titbit, 123 titmouse, 123 tittlebat, 172, _n._ 2 tittle-tattle, 70 'Tizer, 69 tobacco, 194 toby jug, 44 tocsin, 152 Todhunter, 177 toils, 108 _tolle Buchen_, 129 tomtit, 37 Tono-Bungay, 16 Toogood, 170 Tooley St., 65 touchy, 163 tousle, 12 Towser, 12 toy, 18 Tozer, 12 trace, 118 tram, 191 traveller's joy, 30 treacle, 75 trellis, 148 trepan, 109 tret, 144 trews, 117 tribunal, 4 _Trinkgeld_, 91 tripod, 140 tripos, 140 trivet, 139 trivial, 3 trouble, 59 Troublefield, 175 trousers, 117 trove, 61, 101 troy, 50 truce, 119 trump, 9 Trumper, 177 tuberose, 125 Tucker, 178 tucket, 153 tuck of drum, 153 tulip, 147 turban, 147 turkey, 52 Turney, 171 turnip, 95 tweeny, 92 tweezers, 120 twill, 148 Tybalt, 36 umber, 152 umbrella, 152 umpire, 113 uncouth, 2 Underhill, 172 undertaker, 63, _n._ 1 unkempt, 2 unseal, 133 upholder, 178 upholsterer, 63 usher, 90 usquebaugh, 68 utterance, 163 vagabond, 168 vagrant, 168 Valais, 152 vambrace, 62 vamose, 10 vamp, 61 van, 62, 69 vane, 58 vanguard, 62 _varech_, 55 Varney, 174, _n._ 1 'varsity, 69 _varsovienne_, 50 vaunt, 194 vauntcourier, 62 Veck, 175, _n._ 2 _vedette_, 104 vellum, 56 veneer, 147 venew, 123 veney, 123 venom, 56 venue, 124 verdigris, 129 _verheeren_, 2 Verney, 174, _n._ 1 verse, 143 _vertugadin_, 137 vet, 66 veto, 4 Vick, 175, _n._ 2 victoria, 39 videlicet, 4 vie, 65 _vigie_, 103 vignette, 81 viking, 168 villa, 150 villain, 150 vinegar, 80 _viva-voce_, 4 viz., 4 _voile_, 117 voltaism, 40 vril, 16, _n._ wafer, 78 wag, 67 Wait, 176 waits, 76 Wales, 151 Walker, 178 Wallachia, 151 wallet, 59 _Wallis_, 152 Walloon, 151 walnut, 151 Ward, 179 warison, 14 Warner, 176 Wat, 36 wattle, 59 weed, 2 week-end, 12 Weenen, 31 weir, 64, _n._ wellington, 39 wench, 82 wergild, 142 wheatear, 117 wheel, 189 whisky, 63, _n._ 2, 68 white feather, 108 Whittaker, 175 Whittier, 177 wig, 69 Wilmot, 171 wipe, 66 wire, 66 wiseacre, 128 wistaria, 31 witch-elm, 128 worsted, 48 write, 74 Wyatt, 171 Xeres, 51 yacht, 18 Yankee, 116 yard, 87 yare, 95 _Ysopet_, 41 zany, 45 _Zentner_, 21 zero, 147 zest, 112 _Zettel_, 93 zigzag, 70 _zijde_, 27 _Zins_, 134 Zoo, 66 zounds, 65 _Zwiebel_, 95 _Zwilch_, 148 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY OLIVER AND BOYD, EDINBURGH Transcriber's Endnotes: The text remains as printed, with the following exceptions: Page 60. Chapter V. "colonets" amended to _colonnettes_. "... but to the bulging colonnettes on which it rests." Page 174. Chapter XII. "Northener" amended to _Northerner_. "... may stand for _le Noreis_, the Northerner." Page 177. Chapter XII. "palissades" amended to _palisades_. "... maker of palings and palisades ..." Page 222. Index. "sire, 92, 131, n." amended to _sire, 92, 142, n_. End of Project Gutenberg's The Romance of Words (4th ed.), by Ernest Weekley *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ROMANCE OF WORDS (4TH ED.) *** ***** This file should be named 23958.txt or 23958.zip ***** This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/9/5/23958/ Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be renamed. 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