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Title: The Romance of Words (4th ed.)
Author: Weekley, Ernest, 1865-1954
Language: English
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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.
Greek text appears as originally printed except for two corrections,
noted, with other significant amendments, at the end of the text.
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. £2. 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."
(MOLIÈRE, _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. _armée_,
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 _libræ_, _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_ æternam 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 _quære_, 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 _Quæ 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. _præmissas_, 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.
ναυσία, 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. _cólŭber_, a snake. Every Romance
philologist knows that it must represent Vulgar Lat. _*colóbra_; 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. _pièce_. It comes from the
Old French dialect form _peche_, as _match_ comes from _mèche_, and
_cratch_, a manger, from _crèche_, 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 Dôme_, 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.
_remanēre_. _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) _râpé_, 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. _mât 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" (Miège,
_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 _réveillez_, 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-gît_, 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., _dueté_, 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 Provençal 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 _rébus 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., _miezên_,
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. _mān_, 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 ἀβραξάς, 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. _præcoquum_, for _præcox_, 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. κεράτιον, 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. _ghirbāl_, 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.
τελεῖν, to initiate into mysteries, lit. to accomplish, and _effendi_, a
Turkish corruption of Gk. αὐθέντης, 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. κουρσάριος, 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 æstheticism."
(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. _feitiço_, 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_ (_étang_) 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. _sæta_,
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), _Löwenmaul_
(lion's mouth). I have purposely chosen instances in which the
correspondence is not absolute, because examples like _Löwenzahn_
(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-épic_,
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 _lavandière_, 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. _scrēawa_. 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 Dauphiné, 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 _bête à bon Dieu_ and in German _Marienkäfer_, 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-pêcheur_, formerly also _martinet
pêcheur_ 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 _émouchet_, 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 Médicis 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
Æsop'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 _Jütte_, 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_ (_écouvillon_), "a wispe, or dish-clowt; a _maukin_, or
drag, to cleanse, or sweepe an oven." _Écouvillon_ 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_
(_écuelle_), 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_),
_Nicodème_ 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 _benêt_ (_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.
_crétin_, idiot, an Alpine patois form of _chrétien_, 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
_Châlons_-sur-Marne; _lawn_ from _Laon_; _jean_, formerly _jane_, from
_Genoa_ (French _Gênes_[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. _échalote_, 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 £400 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. _pêche_, 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_
(_épagneul_), 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. _Cæsaris_ (urbs); cf. _Saragossa_, from _Cæsarea Augusta_.
But it is possible to be mistaken in connecting countries with products.
_Brazil_ wood is not named from the country, but _vice-versâ_. 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 archæological 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. _dérive_, 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_
(_école_), _spongia_ > _esponge_ (_éponge_), _stabulum_ > _estable_
(_étable_). 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-versâ_, a vexed question with philologists. Fr.
_vélin_, 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. _pèlerin_, 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_
(_fléau_), whence Eng. _flail_. A Vulgar Lat. _*mora_, mulberry, from
Lat. _morus_, mulberry tree, has given Fr. _mûre_. 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 _aulæolum_, a small chapel
or shrine, which was dissimilated into _auræolum_.
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. _Flügelmann_, 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. _étincelle_, 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 _alêne_, 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. _dé_, 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. _trové_ (_trouvé_), 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_ (_êcuyer_), _skew_ from Old Fr. _eschuer_, to
dodge, "eschew," ultimately cognate with Eng. _shy_, _spice_ from
_espice_ (_épice_), _sprite_ from _esprit_, _stage_ from _estage_
(_étage_), 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. _accroître_, to
accrue. In _recruit_, we have a later instance of the same idea. Fr.
_recrue_, recruit, from _recroître_, to grow again, is still feminine,
like many other military terms which were originally abstract or
collective. Cotgrave has _recreuë_, "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 _à 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. _genièvre_, 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 vitæ_ 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 pommelé_, 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_ (_asphodèle_), "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 très méchant;
Quand on l'attaque, il se défend."
[49] "Now the time has come when the English will wish to ride."
[50] _Cf._ also Dan. _Kjöbenhavn_ (Copenhagen), the merchants' haven,
the numerous Swedish place-names ending in _-köping_, e.g. _Jönköping_,
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. _arrière-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 à 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.
πῦρ, 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_ (_prière_), 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 (θήρ, 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. _ménétrier_ 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.
_livrée_, 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. _féerie_, 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. _fée_, 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, _cœur_, heart, _pique_, pike,
spear-head, _trèfle_, 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. _rétif_, 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. _puîné_,
from _puis né_, 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 ἀρχι, from ἀρχή, 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_ (_échoir_), to fall due, Vulgar Lat. _ex
*cadēre_ for _cadĕre_. 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 bête.
Un manant lui coupa le pied droit et la tête.
Le seigneur du village à sa porte les mit;
Et ce dicton picard à l'entour fut écrit:
'_Biaux chires_ leups, n'écoutez mie
Mère 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. _bōc_, 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 βύβλος, 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. δραχμά, 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_ (_échiquier_), 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_ (_échec_), 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
_contrôle_ 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_
(_connétable_), 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_ (_héberger_), 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 _Gewürznelke_,
is called in South Germany _Nägele_, 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. _commère_, Scot. _cummer_, p. 94), in
Bavarian _Schöntierlein_, beautiful little animal, in Danish _kjönne_,
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] (_prêtre_), from Gk. πρεσβύτερος, comparative of
πρέσβυς, 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. _señor_, 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 chambrée_. 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. _compère_ and _commère_, godfather and godmother, is similar.
Cotgrave explains _commérage_ 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 _commère_ 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. _corréer_[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 soupé." 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. λαβεῖν τὸν πυραμοῦντα,
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 personæ_ 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 "_échouer_ (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 éternels des sots de tous les temps;
Ces fades lieux-communs de nos méchants plaisants;
Ces sources d'un amas d'équivoques infâmes,
Dont on vient faire insulte à la pudeur des femmes."
(MOLIÈRE, _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 Comédie Française. 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_
(_crécerelle_), "a kastrell" (Cotgrave). _Crécerelle_ is a diminutive of
_crécelle_, 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.
_crécerelle_, 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_ (_étaler_), 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. _Glück_, luck.[77] The Old French form _ghelicque_
would correspond to Mid. High Ger. _gelücke_. 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_ (_échauguette_) 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, _Æneid_, 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. _guérite_, a sentry box, can be traced back in the same way to Old
Fr. _garir_ (_guérir_), 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 _guérite_ 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, _guérite_ 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. _écrou_ 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. _arréer_, is related.
[74] This is a characteristic of the old dictionary makers. The gem of
my collection is Ludwig's gloss for _Lümmel_, "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_ (_têt_). This is related to Old Fr. _teste_
(_tête_) 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. _fusté_, "_fusty_; tasting of the caske, smelling of
the vessell wherein it hath been kept" (Cotgrave), a derivative of Old
Fr. _fust_ (_fût_) 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 _übel_, ill; e.g., _es gefällt
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 _enjôler_, earlier _engeoler_, "to incage,
or ingaole" (Cotgrave), hence to entice. Fr. _geôle_, 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. _liebäugeln_ "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.
_Sprössling_, 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.
_Sprössling_, 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 béante_, or _bée_, mouth agape; _bâiller_, 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.
ἔμφυτος, 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 _lévier_, sink, for _évier_, 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'évêque_, 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. _Lärm_, 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
_échasse_, 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_
(_échasses_), "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_, _lèvre_, 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. _brēc_ being
already the plural of _brōc_. 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 _braccæ_, 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. _gré_,
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. κυδώνιον. _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. _induciæ_. _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_ (_échecs_), is the plural of _check_, Fr.
_échec_, from Persian _shāh_, 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 _étui_, a case, of doubtful origin. This became in
English _etwee_, or _twee_, _e.g._, Cotgrave explains _estui_ (_étui_)
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 cité_, and "outside the city," Anglo-Fr. _fors (hors)
la cité_. 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. _*grĕvis_, heavy (for _grăvis_), which is due to _lĕvis_,
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. _māse_, used of several small birds. It is cognate
with Ger. _Meise_, titmouse, and Fr. _mésange_, "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. _crédence_, 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-allée_, 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. _visné_,
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.
_écrevisse_, _gilly-flower_ from Fr. _giroflée_, _shame-faced_ for
_shamefast_. Other words in which the second element has been altered
are _causeway_, earlier _causey_, from the Picard form of Fr.
_chaussée_, 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 onomatopœic 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. _côtelette_, 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-büchs, Blunder-büchs, 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-büchs_, from _plantieren_, to plant, set up, because
fired from a rest. Du. _bus_, like Ger. _Büchse_, 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 πύξος, the box-tree, whence also the
learned word _pyx_. Fr. _boîte_, 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. _cædere_, 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. _wīzago_, 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. _wīcan_, 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 _sūrkrūt_, 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_ (_prêt_),
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
_nécromantie_, Greco-Lat. _necromantia_, divination by means of the
dead. The popular form _négromancie_ 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_ (_étriller_) 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_ × _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_ × 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. _hōh_ (_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 Cæsar and Vercingetorix still cross
each other. In Old French we find _oreste_, a storm, combined from
_orage_ and _tempeste_ (_tempête_). 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 Provençal
_batedor_, lit. beater. Hence it seems that this is one of the very few
Provençal 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. _ätzen_, 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 _écurie_, stable, just as in
Scottish the _post_ often means the _postman_. And _écurie_, older
_escurie_, is from Old High Ger. _scura_[100] (_Scheuer_, barn). The
word used in modern French in the sense of our _equerry_ is _écuyer_,
older _escuier_, Lat. _scutarius_, shield-bearer, whence our word
_esquire_. This _écuyer_ is in French naturally confused with _écurie_,
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. _salière_, "a
salt-_seller_" (Cotgrave), so that the _salt_ is unnecessary. We speak
pleonastically of "_dishevelled_ hair," while Old Fr. _deschevelé_, lit.
dis-haired, now replaced by _échevelé_, can only be applied to a person,
e.g., _une femme toute deschevelée_, "discheveled, with all her haire
disorderly falling about her eares" (Cotgrave). The word _cheer_ meant
in Mid. English "face." Its French original _chère_ scarcely survives
except in the phrase _faire bonne chère_, 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 _œuf-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. _réglisse_, 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. _beaupré_, 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. _præposterus_, from _præ_, 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. _deintié_, is a doublet of _dignity_. _Ague_ is
properly an adjective equivalent to _acute_, as in Fr. _fièvre 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_ (_épice_), 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 σαρκοφάγος, 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. _réveiller_, to wake, whence _réveillon_, 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
_monēre_, and this name was transferred to the building. The Romans
introduced _moneta_, in the course of their conquests, into French
(_monnaie_), German (_Münze_), 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. _dé_ 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 Cæsar_, 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. _dîner_ and _déjeuner_ 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-junáre_ gives Old Fr. _disner_
(_dîner_), while _dis-júnat_ gives Old Fr. _desjune_ (_déjeune_).
[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. μίτος, 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. ἑξάμιτον,
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_ (οἶκος, 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 _ménage_, Vulgar
Lat. _*mansionaticum_. A derivative of this word is _ménagerie_, 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 _Volcæ_. 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 Provençal, 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. _dité_, 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 _Söldner_, 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. _læce_, 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. _bavière_,
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.
_enchâsser_, "to _enchace_, or set, in gold, etc." (Cotgrave), from
_châsse_, 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_ (_hôte_), Lat. _hospes_, _hospit-_, guest. These two _hosts_
are, however, ultimately related. It is curious that, while modern Fr.
_hôte_ (_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: MANŒUVRE--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
_manœuvre_, late Lat. _manu-opera_, handiwork, and is thus related to
its homonym _manner_, Fr. _manière_, from _manier_, to handle. Another
doublet of _manœuvre_ 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. _enœuvrer_, 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 _métier_, earlier _mestier_, "a trade,
occupation, _misterie_, handicraft" (Cotgrave), from Old Fr. _maistier_,
Lat. _magisterium_. In its other senses Fr. _métier_ 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. _quarrière_ (_carrière_), 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
_quarré_ and _quirré_, from Old Fr. _cuirée_, now _curée_, "a (dog's)
reward; the hounds' fees of, or part in, the game they have killed"
(Cotgrave). The Old French form means "skinful" (cf. _poignée_,
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 müssen, 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 à 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_
(_hôtelier_), 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. _scār_, 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
_à la journée_, by the day. _Cf._ Fr. _journalier_, "a _journey man_;
one that workes by the day" (Cotgrave), and Ger. _Tagelöhner_, 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. _bruyère_, 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, _Lachrymæ 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_ (_empêtrer_), "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. _wīc_, encampment.
FOOTNOTES:
[112] Kluge, _Etymologisches Wörterbuch_.
[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
_cédrat_.
[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. _Glück_.
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. _Hervé_), _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_ (Châlon),
_Chaworth_ (Cahors), _Bridges_[127] (Bruges), _Druce_ (Dreux), _Gaunt_
(_Gand_, Ghent), _Lubbock_ (Lübeck), _Luck_ (_Luick_, Liège), _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
Brabançon_, 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'Aubigné_,
_Danvers_ is _d'Anvers_ (Antwerp), _Devereux_ is _d'Évreux_, 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_, _Cæsar_[133] (Julius Cæsar 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_ (_Fléchier_), 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. _kämpfen_, 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_ (_écrivain_), 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
_Labouchère_, 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_ (_débonnaire_),
_Grant_ (_grand_), _Curtis_ (_courtois_), _Power_ (_pauvre_), etc.
_Payn_ is the French adjective _païen_, 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_ (_Pâque_). 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 Capellæ_, 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 Bruhière and Brugière, is not
derived from the Saxon _briwan_ (to brew), but the French _bruyère_
(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_, _Lévêque_; Ger. _König_, _Herzog_, _Bischof_.
_Lévêque_ 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 _Wörterbuch der romanischen
Sprachen_ in 1853, and Jakob Grimm, whose _Deutsches Wörterbuch_ 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 Thaün, 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 (_lumière_), _mardi_, day of
toil or martyrdom (_martyre_), _mercredi_, day of market (_marché_),
_jeudi_, day of joy (_joie_), _vendredi_, day of truth (_vérité_),
_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 Périon even derived _maison_
from the Gk. οἶκον (οἶκος, 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]
Molière often makes fun of the etymologists of his time and has rather
unfairly caricatured, as Vadius in _Les Femmes savantes_, the great
scholar Gilles Ménage, whose _Dictionnaire étymologique_, published in
1650, was long a standard work. Molière's mockery and the fantastic
nature of some of Ménage'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 Ménage 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 là jusqu'ici
Il a bien changé sur la route."
These examples show that respect for Ménage 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. κύκλος,[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 θεός, God, but Ζεύς,
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 _après 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 Littré 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." Littré
naturally wants to know what chronicle. In Scheler's _Dictionnaire
étymologique_ (Brussels, 1888), it is "proved," by means of the same
story elaborated, "que c'est là la véritable 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 _Bègue_, 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 _beghinæ_. The Old Fr. _begard_ passed
into Anglo-French with the meaning of mendicant and gave our _beggar_.
From _béguine_ 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 Wörtern 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 Paré, who
speaks of the "mousquets _poitrinals_, que l'on ne couche en joue, à
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
_Antiquités françoises 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 _pétrinal_, 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. _pedreñal_, "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 à
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. _cælare_, 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. _cœur méchant_, wicked heart. Accordingly we find in his dictionary,
"It is a vitious manner of pronouncing _cœur méchant_, Fr. an unknown
correspondent." John Ash, LL.D., who published a very complete
dictionary in 1775, gives the derivation "from the French _cœur_,
unknown, and _méchant_, 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 Miège (_French Dict._
1688) misunderstanding Cotgrave. There is a Fr. _camaïeu_, a derivative
of _cameo_, which has two meanings, viz., a cameo _brooch_, and a
monochrome painting with a cameo effect. Miège 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 _ſteingall_ by the
common mistake of _fl_ for _ſt_, 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
intronisé: quelque chose qu'ayent escrit quelques-uns, que ce mot
vient _Gnosticis hæreticis qui luminibus extinctis sacra faciebant_,
selon Crinit: ou bien du Roy Hugues Capet, ou de la porte de Hugon à
Tours par laquelle ils sortoient pour aller à 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 pressé 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 pretenduë reformee, _Hucnos_: en
apres changeant _C_ en _G_, _Hugnots_, et avec le temps on a allongé
ce mot, et dit _Huguenots_. Et voylà 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 Genève_.
[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 Fées_ (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 espousées.
_Orgueil_, quasi, _orde gueule_.
_Noise_, vient de _nois_ (_noix_), qui font _noise_ et bruit portées
ensemble.
_Parlement_, pource qu'on y _parle et ment_!
[143] Old Fr. _pourloignier_, to remove; cf. _éloigner_.
[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. _acoquiné_, 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'_élégant_; prenant le _g_
et l'_a_ de la dernière syllabe, cela fait _ga_, et puis prenant _l_,
ajoutant un _a_ et les deux dernières lettres, cela fait _galant_, et
puis ajoutant _homme_, cela fait _galant homme_." (Molière, _Jalousie du
Barbouillé_, scène 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 Miège's _French Dictionary_
(1688), is perhaps not far wrong: "C'est ainsi qu'on appelle par
dérision les _Yeomen of the Guard_ dans la cour d'Angleterre, qui sont
des gardes à peu près comme les cent Suisses en France. Et on leur donne
ce nom-là, parce qu' à la cour ils ne vivent que de bœuf: par opposition
à ces collèges d'Angleterre, où les écoliers 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_, _Variété_, _Envie_, _Lâcheté_.
[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
archæology 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
_Athenæum_, Feb. 4, 1884.
[165] The _Encyclopædia 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
_armée_, 2
Armitage, 5
Armstrong, 180
aroma, 6
arquebus, 127
arrant, 83
arras, 47
array, 95, _n._
_arrière-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
_bâiller_, 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
_béante_, 108, _n._ 1
beat the bush, 108
Beaufoy, 170
Beaulieu, 123
_beaupré_, 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
_benêt_, 45
bergamot, 157
_bergeronnette_, 34
bergomask, 157
Bert, 70
bess, 42
bet, 77, _n._
_bête à 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
_boîte_, 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._
_Büchse_, 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
Cæsar, 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
_chambrée_, 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
_commère_, 94
companion, 93, 165
compassion, 2
_compère_, 94
complex, 4
compound, 157
comptroller, 88
comrade, 94
connect, 105
constable, 89
_contrôle_, 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
_crétin_, 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
_curée_, 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
_dé_, 61, 131
dead men's fingers, 30
Debbyhouse, 175, _n._ 1
debenture, 5
decoy, 109
Dedman, 181
_déjeuner_, 148
delf, 48
deliberate, 1
delight, 122, _n._ 1
demijohn, 44
demure, 101
denizen, 122
Dennis, 170
Denry, 70
Depew, 8
_dérive_, 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
_dîner_, 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
_échouer_, 97
_écouvillon_, 43
_écrou_, 93, _n._
_écurie_, 135
_écuyer_, 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
_étincelle_, 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._
_guérite_, 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
_Jönköping_, 67, _n._
jonquil, 153
joss, 27
journeyman, 106, 165
jovial, 106
jug, 43
Juggins, 43, _n._
jumble, 144
junket, 153
_Jütte_, 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
_Kjöbenhavn_, 67, _n._
_kjönne_, 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
Labouchère, 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
_Lärm_, 115
larrikin, 12, 190
larum, 115
lasso, 24
lateen, 51
Latimer, 177
_Launay_, 174
Launder, 178
_lavandière_, 34
lawn, 47
lay-figure, 18, 166
leaguer, 18
leech, 155
legend, 3
Leggatt, 171
lemon, 160
lemon sole, 160
lettuce, 119
level, 58
_lévier_, 115
Levick, 115, 175, _n._ 2
_lèvre_, 117
_Lhuissier_, 90, _n._, 115
libel, 42
_liber_, 86
_liebäugeln_, 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
_Löwenmaul_, 30
_Löwenzahn_, 30
L. s. d., 4
Lubbock, 173
lucifer, 4
Luck, 173
_lucus_, 184
lugger, 101
lugsail, 101
lumber-room, 76
_Lümmel_, 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
manœuvre, 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
_Marienkäfer_, 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-pêcheur_, 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
_ménage_, 151
ménagerie, 151
mend, 62
ménétrier, 76
menial, 151
Menzies, 195
merchant, 67
mercurial, 106
merino, 153
Merryweather, 180
mesmerism, 40
mess, 93
_messer_, 92
messmate, 93
metal, 144
_métier_, 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
_Münze_, 142
_mûre_, 58
mushroom, 56
musk, 148
musket, 38
muslin, 47
mustang, 23
Musters, 175
_mutande_, 99
mystery, 159
_Nägele_, 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
_négromancie_, 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
_Nicodème_, 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
_pèlerin_, 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 Dôme_, 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._
_Schöntierlein_, 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
_señor_, 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
_Söldner_, 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
_Sprössling_, 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
_tête_, 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
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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 186. Chapter XIII. Diacriticals amended on Greek text.
"... from the Gk. οἶκον (οἶκος, a house) ..."
Page 222. Index. "sire, 92, 131, n." amended to _sire, 92, 142, n_.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Romance of Words (4th ed.)" ***
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