1 I THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE A STUDENT'S PASTIME Bonbon HENRY F R O W I) E OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAKKIIOUSK AMEN CORNER, K.C. Qtew $orft MACMll.LAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUK A STUDENT'S PASTIME A SELECT SERIES OF ARTICLES REPRINTED FROM 'Qtofee anfc Queries' . JWALTER W. SKEAT, LiTT.D. D.C.L., LL.D., PH.D. Elrington and Bosivorth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge ' The greatest corasive that you can give unto the ignoraunte, is to prosper in knowledge ; the greatest commoditie that you can yeelde unto your countrey, is with wisedome to bestowe that talent, that by grace was given you.' T,YLY, Euphues and his Eph&bus. AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1896 \All rights reserved} PCr Ojeforfc PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY CONTENTS INTRODUCTION vii BIBLIOGRAPHY . . Ixxix SELECT EXTRACTS FROM ' NOTES AND QUERIES ' : The Third Series (1866-1867) I The Fourth Series (1868-1873) . . . . 31 The Fifth Series (1874-1879) 81 The Sixth Series (1880-1885) 129 The Seventh Series (1886-1891) .... 212 The Eighth Series (1892-1896) . . . .316 INDEX 43 INTRODUCTION Now that my attention has been definitely given to the study of English for more than thirty years (to say the least), it is high time for me to consider the question of venturing to reprint some of my scattered utterances on the subject. A good friend of mine once asked me ' How came you to think of studying English?' The fact that such a question was possible suggests that to do so is an uncommon course ; and this is certainly the case, extra- ordinary as the assertion may seem to the foreigner. Under the circumstances, perhaps a few personal details are allowable. The book entitled Men of the Time correctly gives the day of my birth as November 21, 1835; five years before that of the Princess Royal, as she was once called, on the same day. The place of it was Mount Street, Park Lane ; but, from the age of two to somewhere about fourteen, we lived at Perry Hill, Sydenham, at that time quite in the country ; and certainly a boy brought up (in holiday-time) in the country has much to be thankful for. It was then that I acquired, by help of various opportunities, some acquaintance with the dialects of West Kent, London, and Essex. But the speech which became most familiar to me viu INTRODUCTION. was that of South Shropshire, where I had many relatives, and which I often visited in company with my parents. My mother once knew the dialect well, and occasionally exemplified it. This explains why Miss Jackson's Shropshire Word-book, of which I read all the proof-sheets, was dedicated to myself ; and why the lamented authoress, but lately dead, made me a present of the copyright of the work. The result is that the English Dialect Dictionary will be able to make very free use of it ; and this is a point of some moment, as the work in question is one of the best of its kind. It will be understood that I shall only mention such details as bear more or less directly upon my friend's question. It is of small interest to give the names of the five schools with which I was connected, but I will mention two of them. During part of the time when I was at King's College School, in the fetrand, it was my singular fate to have for my class-master the Rev. Oswald Cockayne, well known to students as a careful and excellent Anglo-Saxon scholar, perhaps one of the best of those of his own date. He was an excellent and painstaking teacher, and it was, I believe, from him that I imbibed the notion of what is known as scholarship. In after life, it was my good fortune to know him personally, and I always experienced from him the greatest kindness and readiness to help. After his death, I acquired some of his books, including his well- known and useful work entitled Anglo-Saxon Lecchdoms, and some of his carefully executed transcripts. His transcript of yElfric's Lives of the Saints, in particular, has often proved useful. One of his chief objects was the preparation of a new Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, a work which he undertook because he was dissatisfied with the first edition of Bosworth, which is, in fact, little more than a translation of Lye and Manning. At the time of his death, he had HIGHGATE SCHOOL. ix actually completed, on clearly written slips, the letters A to E ; and these came into my hands with the other papers. By that time, the new edition of Bosworth had already advanced to F, so that they were not available for collation. Nevertheless, I sent them to Professor Toller, in the hope that they may afford some materials for a Supplement ; and I may add that I have since bought a copy of Somner's Dictionary containing a considerable number of MS. references. These are added in a most delicate handwriting resembling print, a handwriting ob- viously adopted on account of the difficulty of writing upon the old paper, which is by no means well sized. Notwith- standing this change in the style of the handwriting, I cannot doubt that these references are Cockayne's own, and should some day deserve attention. The last school that received me was that of Sir Roger Cholmeley at Highgate, founded in the reign of Elizabeth, in 1565. The three years which I spent there was a time of much profit and pleasure ; the head-master being then the Rev. John Bradley Dyne. It was in the year of the Great Exhibition of 1851 that I obtained as a prize a copy of Steevens and Malone's Shakespeare ; and this edition was, at any rate, good enough for purposes of common use. The glossary, of course, has no references, but it was an amusement to supply them for myself. It was at this school that I gained some notion of the excellence of English literature. For it was customary to give us occasional scraps of it, on which to exercise our skill by translating them into Greek and Latin verse. Probably it is by the same curious and circuitous course that boys still have English authors brought under their notice. However this may be, it is certain that no portion of our literature was ever explained to me at any of my five schools. It was then considered as a thing altogether apart from our ordinary curriculum, and only to be seriously x INTRODUCTION. regarded when in the privacy of our own homes during holidays. And what an astounding fact this now seems to me to be ! If we really possess, as many think, one of the finest literatures in the world, why are not boys informed of its value, and why are they not shown how to approach it with profit to themselves? There is only one thing yet more extraordinary, viz. the total disregard of the history of the English language. All we knew of its etymology was that many English words are derived from Latin and Greek ; but I doubt if even our masters could have told us the history of such common words as home or ransom. But there were some gleams of light accorded us, which were by no means devoid of benefit. There was a school library, and one of its possessions was a glorious copy of Spenser. He must have felt rather solitary, from the dearth of brother-poets around him ; but doubtless, his isolation has long ago been remedied. Our head-master had one somewhat uncommon idea, which savoured, as it has always seemed to me, of great wisdom. Instead of invariably requiring us to turn English poetry into Latin verse, he sometimes gave us pieces of Latin poetry to turn into English verse ; a change which was delightful and refreshing. The English verse was usually poor enough, but the attempt to produce it was stimulating and valuable. And he did more than this; for our usual holiday-task, in the longest holidays, was to produce an English poem of 200 lines on a given theme. I can conscientiously say that such tasks did me a great deal of good, and the advantages of it are obvious, namely these. In the first place, a boy who has done English verses at school soon gets to understand what genius he has in that direction. If he finds it to be very small, he has learnt a most valuable lesson, viz. to refrain, when he comes of age, from publishing a volume of ' poems.' This alone is a gain both to himself and to the public. PHILIP S. IVORSLEY. xi Again, the frequent habit of writing 'verses' is a most valuable introduction to the art of writing prose. The verse-writer soon forms a habit of considering what words will best suit the idea which he wishes to express ; so that when he has, for example, a letter to write, he does not feel quite all abroad. This is a benefit to his correspondent as well as to himself. Moreover, the experiment produced one result which was probably unexpected. One of my schoolfellows actually exhibited the true poetic faculty, and his short life was full of promise of much excellence. This was Philip Stanhope Worsley, scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford ; whose splendid translation of Homer's Odyssey into Spenserian stanzas has met with a fair meed of admira- tion. He afterwards attempted a translation of the Iliad, which he did not live to complete ; it was completed, as is well known, by Professor Conington. One of my treasures is his small volume of Poems and Translations, published in 1863. It is probably little known, but it contains some beautiful lines. 'Who once hath chosen the ranks of right, With clenched resolve by his choice to stand, Saves a people oft in their own despite, And loveth wisely his native land.' I am thankful to say that, in my time, there were few (if any) ' open ' scholarships. Instead of being ' crammed ' at school for the special purpose of being examined, we honestly earned our scholarships by hard work at college during our ' first year ' ; the year which some freshmen now think they can easily afford to despise. For myself, I had the special advantage of residing in Cambridge before entering college at all ; my private tutor, in mathematics, being the Rev. Harvey Goodwin, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle. It is not many years since I again met the bishop xil INTRODUCTION. at Ely, on which occasion I reminded his lordship of his former helpfulness, when he replied with that geniality which made him so attractive ' Well, do you know I had quite forgotten it ! ' immediately adding, to my intense surprise 'I wish you'd teach me something!' And it turned out that he, at any rate, knew my books. He also spoke feelingly of the great interest which his deceased brother used to take in Anglo-Saxon ; this brother being Charles Wycliffe Goodwin, formerly fellow of Catharine Hall, and editor of The Life of St. Guthlac. This year of preparation for college was not wholly given to mathematics. English literature was, at all times, a delightful change and recreation ; and I gained at least one special advantage at this time, fiom a careful and systematic study of the glorious Faerie Queen. I was never, to use Macaulay's phrase, 'in at the death of the Blatant Beast,' for the simple reason that he never was slain, but is still alive ; as the curious reader may discover for himself, unless he is aware of the fact already. Moreover, the Blatant Beast appears in the Sixth Book, not at the end of the extant portion of the poem ; for we must not ignore the two splendid cantos on Mutability. I early formed the habit of endeavouring to study poets by the perusal of the texts themselves, rather than by judging of their merits from accidental scraps as presented in books of extracts. I do not mean to say that in the case of Byron, for example, one is bound to read Marino Faliero and Sardanapalus along with the rest at the first time of reading ; but it is surely best to examine a considerable portion of his works at the same time, and there is no reason for neglecting Lara after perusing The Giaour. Some poets, like Keats and Campbell and Milton and Longfellow, wrote nothing that one would like to miss ; and it is no bad plan to extend one's domain of English poetry so as to include such works as Gary's Dante and Fairfax's MRS. MARKHAM'S 'HISTORY.' xiii translation of Tasso. It does not take much longer to read the Paradise Regained than a second-rate three-volume novel ; and, for my part, I prefer the poem. I am aware that others are of a different opinion. It will thus be seen that, in my case, a love of our splendid literature was early formed, and at no time required any external stimulus. But this does not explain how I came to take a special delight in the linguistic and philological side of it, whilst revelling in its appeals to the imagination. Some are tempted to suppose that a critical examination of language is likely to interfere with the romantic element. I have never found it so in any appreciable degree ; and I sometimes suspect that those who decry philology want to make us believe, with the fox. that the grapes are sour. Why are we to be debarred from examining a poet's language because his words are sweet and his descriptions entrancing? That is only one more reason for weighing every word that he uses. As to the charge sometimes made against philologists, that they have no real love for literature and are incapable of tracing the indebtedness of one writer to another, it is all pure assumption, cunningly put forward for the purpose of decrying philology. The philologist, on the contrary, has the larger view, and can see the value both of the language and of the ideas ; but there are some critics who care nothing for the language, and prefer to regard our great masters with but one eye. It so happens that I can even now remember how my attention was drawn to our earlier writers. As in the case of many others in my time, one of my lesson-books was Mrs. Markham's History of England; and I was of course attracted, as many others have been, by the 'Conversations' which she appended to her historical chapters. The Con- versation on the reign of Richard II is one of special interest, containing as it does, a mention of ' Chaucer, the father of English poetry,' and a quotation comprising a xiv INTRODUCTION. pretty description of a morning, which you will find intelligible. ' The busy lark, the messenger of day, Saluteth with her song the morning gray ; And fiery Phebus riseth up so bright That all the orient laugheth at the sight, And with his beames drieth in the greves The silver droppes hanging on the leves.' And when her son Richard wants to know what greves means, Mrs. M. informs him that it is the same as groves. Next, this good lady tells us something about Langland, ' who wrote a very severe satire against persons of all pro- fessions, called the Vision of Piers Plowman, which, for the insight it gives into the manners of the times, is a very valuable relic.' Asked, if it is as difficult to understand as Chaucer's poetry, she replies : ' You will find it more so.' She then gives some idea of what is meant by ' alliterative ' poetry, and selects for our instruction the following extract ' : ' I found there A hall for a high king, a household to holden, With broad boards abouten, y-benched well clean ; With windows of glass wrought as a church, And chambers with chimneys, and chapels gay.' Young as I then was, these quotations haunted me ; and I well remember making an internal resolution that, if ever I lived to grow up, I would desire better acquaintance with the originals, little dreaming that it would be my good fortune to edit both of the works which the extracts represent, as well as the Vision of Piers Plowman, which, as we are here told, is certainly 'a very valuable relic.' Nor was this all. The words ' holden ' and ' abouten ' and ' y-benched ' seemed so quaint, that their forms irre- sistibly invited further consideration. Why and when did 1 It is not from Piers Plowman, but from Pierce Plowman's Crede, by a different author. CHRIST'S COLLEGE. XV people say 'abouten,' and what did they mean by the prefix y- in ' y-benched ' ? These were problems to be seriously considered ; they could not be beyond human discovery, and discovered they must some day be ! Hence it was that, throughout my college life, classics, mathematics, and theology were my more serious studies, whilst Chaucer, and Spenser, and Shakespeare were an unfailing resource in many an hour of leisure. My future was, as I then supposed, to be spent in the obscurity of a country curacy, and our great writers could be safely depended on for affording excellent companionship on a rainy day. I had come to Cambridge because I was supposed to have ' a turn ' for mathematics ; and the next question was the choice of a college. Taking counsel with a very old friend and schoolfellow, at that time an undergraduate of Peterhouse, and being desirous of entering a college which should be large enough for forming acquaintances, and not so large as to overwhelm me with competition, he suggested that Christ's College would probably suit me ; and the advice was gratefully received. No loyal student, whose affection for his own college is sincere and ineradicable, will blame me for entertaining the pious belief that it is a college of the highest merit. Milton and Darwin are great names ; and even in my own time good men were not altogether lacking. It was a treat to hear Charles Stuart Calverley, more familiarly known by his own chosen title of ' C. S. C.,' accompany himself on the pianoforte whilst singing his ' Italian ' songs. If perchance a line of La donna e mobile slipped his memory, its place was readily supplied by any other words that would suit the scansion, such as ' mezzo soprano,' or ' la piano forte,' or the English phrase ' mili potaato ' ; and even such a word as c celery ' sounded like Italian when the c before the e was duly pronounced like the ch in chin. With John Robert xvi INTRODUCTION. Seeley, historian and true patriot, I was well acquainted ; not only during his latter years at college, but to the end of his useful life ; and none could wish for a more amiable or gentle companion. I remember the time when he began to study German seriously ; we even read Faust together. Other friends were Sir Walter Joseph Sendall, now Governor of Cyprus ; Sir Walter Besant, a familiar name throughout England's wide dominions ; Dr. John Peile, our much-revered Master of the college ; and John Wesley Hales, Professor of English Literature in King's College, London. But this is not the place for dwelling on such recollections. I was elected to a Fellowship at Christ's College, on the same day with Hales, in July, 1870 ; shortly after which my college career came to an end. The time came for my ordination, and in December of the same year I became curate of East Dereham, in the centre of Norfolk, where the first two years of my married life were happily spent. In the north aisle of the parish church is the tomb of the poet Cowper, and in the hall of one of the principal houses in the market-place I was shown the veritable sofa which gave occasion to his Task. It was easy to acquire a good deal of the Norfolk dialect ; indeed, it surprised me to find how very well known some of the dialect words were to most of the townspeople. Nearly every one seemed to know what was meant by ' haining' a hedge, and could distinguish between a ' dor ' and a * hodmandod.' On February 27, 1861, I ventured to give a popular lecture at East Dereham, 'On the Origin and Progress of the English Language.' It was received with some favour, and, with a few alterations, appeared in all the glory of print. This little pamphlet of forty pages, now (happily) no longer procurable, was the beginning of a long series of works on the same subject, some of which, for the present at least, are useful to students. I find, on reference, MY LECTURE AT DEREHAM. xvii that it opens with words which, in 1861, were almost prophetic : ' Any one who is a little acquainted with the history of philology in England must, I think, be aware that the state of that science at the present time is very different from what it was only a few years ago. We live in an age, not of progress merely, but of rapid progress.' I make no apology for transcribing a few more sentences from this extinct ' work ' : ' It is to be hoped that the foolish custom of making out forced and far-fetched derivations has gone by ; nothing is learnt by it, because the meaning is not thereby simplified.' ' It is clear that English grammar depends upon that of Anglo-Saxon almost wholly.' (This, by the way, was clean contrary to the prevalent idea in schools.) ' Our grammar has become simplified in some points, and rendered puzzling in others. We never know, for instance, whether we ought to say he sang or he sung 1 ; but, according to Saxon usage, we ought to conjugate the tense thus : I sang, thou sungest, he sang ; we, ye, or I hey sung. Whence we see that the two forms are not to be used indifferently, but vary according to the pronoun that precedes them.' ' Most of our older grammars ignore Saxon so completely that they are of little use except for the mere beginner.' ' It was owing to a want of knowledge of Anglo-Saxon that Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, committed some of those astounding blunders which were so ably and unmer- cifully exposed by Home Tooke in that brilliant, curious, but by no means reliable book 2 which he capriciously named The Diversions of Purley. He points out, for 1 This very problem was again brought under m}- notice last year (1895)- 2 The book is, practically, obsolete ; but it did good service in its time. Many of its principles are right ; but the examples are faulty and cannot be trusted. Nevertheless, I revere the author's memory. b xviii INTRODUCTION. instance, a statement of Dr. Johnson's, according to which one meaning of the word down is " a valley " ; the truth being that it always means precisely the opposite, viz. "a hill," or perhaps, more strictly, an exalted table-land ; and for a very sufficient reason that it is merely the modern form of the Anglo-Saxon word dun, which means a rolling hill, down, or dune.'' 'There is, however, a better way of studying English than by having recourse to dictionaries and grammars ; and this is, to read some good standard author of the Eliza- bethan period, such as Shakespeare or Spenser or Bacon, and to observe in them all the phrases which strike a modern reader as peculiar. Such peculiar phrases should be carefully noticed, and, if possible, remembered ; after a while, the .reader will find himself gradually enabled to account for and explain some of them ; and then he will have made a considerable advance ; ... so may he come at last to be able to read and understand Chaucer, of whom Spenser says, that he is " a well of English undefiled." ' The knowledge of older English that may thus be readily acquired will be of far greater service in explaining modern English than any laborious search in dictionaries. Besides, one thus kills two birds with one stone ; whilst acquiring some knowledge of old English, one is reading books that are worthy of being read for their own sake ; and it is by far the more interesting method. ' But what is of still more importance than an acquaint- ance with languages, is a habit of careful observation. The chief aim should be to try and understand every word that occurs in common passages of standard authors. Few but those who have looked into the matter with a little care, can have any idea of the utter misconception that often prevails * 1 Remember, this applies to 1861 ; since which a great deal has happened. MY LECTURE AT DEREHAM. xix as to the meaning of some common passages even in Shake- speare.' [I here quoted the famous passage from the Tempest, Act iv, ending 'leave not a wreck behind,' as it was then usually cited.] . . . ' Only imagine the absurdity of talking about "a baseless fabric of a vision," or "an unsubstantial pageant faded," leaving behind them a wreck! . . . Such blunders often arise thus : Shakespeare uses some word which, though common in his day, is now nearly obsolete, or quite so. Thereupon comes some editor who, not under- standing such a word, makes what he calls a conjectural emendation. . . . Shakespeare wrote '' racke," or, as we should now spell it, " rack " ; upon which Home Tooke remarks : " Rack is a common word, and ought not to be displaced because the commentators know not its meaning " ; and he adds, with brilliant but bitter sarcasm " If such a rule for banishing words were adopted, the commentators themselves would, most of them, become speechless ! " . . . What makes the wrong reading the more remarkable is that rack occurs elsewhere in Shakespeare, always in the sense of " drifting vapour " ; see Hamlet, ii. 2. 506 ; Antony, iv. 14. 10 ; Sonn. 33. 6 [passages which were quoted at length]. But the most lamentable effect of this false reading remains to be told. The passage is inscribed upon Shakespeare's tomb in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, and, as may be verified by inspection, this mistaken reading is there adopted ! The monument was erected in A. D. 1 740 ; and it is exactly the kind of blunder we should expect to be made by the critics of the reign of George the Second. Considering how Englishmen venerate Shakespeare, it is not a pleasant fact to meditate upon, that on his public monument his words have been quoted incorrectly.' After two years had been spent at East Dereham, we left that place, with much regret, to be nearer to relatives in London. My next curacy was, consequently, at Godalming, in the midst of much charming and picturesque scenery. b 2 XX INTRODUCTION. The church has lately undergone a much-needed transfor- mation, and is no longer remarkable for an almost incredible ugliness. The lower part of the central tower has been much lightened in appearance ; it was formerly an almost solid mass, with a low tunnel cut through the centre, whereby to reach the chancel from the aisle. On the north side of the chancel is the memorial tablet of Owen Manning, S.T.P., editor of Lye's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary in 1772. He is described on the title-page of that work as ' Canon. Lincoln. Vicarius de Godelming, et Rector de Peperharow in Agro Surreiensi.' The neighbourhood was beautiful, but the climate proved unsuitable ; and at last an alarming attack, of a diphtheritic character, totally unfitted me for clerical work and rendered a long rest absolutely necessary ; and I thus found myself, in the end of 1863, at the age of twenty-eight, in the desolate con- dition of finding my chosen career brought to a sudden end, without any idea as to my future course, and even without much prospect of ever again rendering any help to my fellow-creatures, which (I can truly say) has always been my object as regards this present world. Man proposes, but God disposes. I have never doubted that the work of a country clergyman is work of the noblest kind, with abundant opportunities for unobtrusive helpful- ness, especially if he is not wholly dependent on having to eke out his subsistence by some form of additional labour. With such honest Christian work I could have been well content, and I had no ambition beyond it. But I can now believe that I was meant to labour in a different field. Each man has his appointed task ; and I have long since loyally accepted the educational duty of endeavouring to instil into the minds of Englishmen the respect in which they ought to hold their noble literature and their noble language, and the desirability of fighting against all the forms of error that beset the study of these RETURN TO CAMBRIDGE. xxi invaluable treasures. Every true scholar is in some degree a missionary ; he must hold fast to that which is good without wavering, and spare no pains to allure men to the reception of the truth. A period of enforced idleness soon gave rise to a wish for some form of employment ; and I could think of nothing better than to return to Cambridge. In October, 1864, I was appointed a mathematical lecturer at my own college, and I occasionally took a few pupils ; but this left me a good deal of leisure time. After some inquiry, I could not find that any one in Cambridge had any very accurate or extensive knowledge of Anglo-Saxon ; and the idea occurred to me that, as it was obviously a useful study and in a fair way of becoming one of considerable importance, it would be a good plan to take up the subject seriously. It is fair to say that I formed this resolve with the sincere intention of assisting in the pro- motion of English scholarship, without any idea that it would afterwards fit me for doing work as a professor ; for no one could then foresee that Dr. Bosworth would, in 1867, provide means for founding a Professorship of Anglo-Saxon \ It is now time to consider the history of the Philological Society's Dictionary, with which I have, indirectly, been much concerned. At a meeting of the Philological Society of London, held on January 7, 1858, it was resolved 'that, instead of the Supplement to the standard English Dictionaries, then in the course of preparation by the Society's Unregistered Words Committee, a New Dictionary of the English Language should be prepared under the authority of the Philological Society.' The work was placed in the hands of two Committees, the one, Literary and Historical, consisting of the Very 1 The money was left to accumulate for over ten years ; so that the actual establishment of the Professorship was put off till 1878. am INTRODUCTION. Rev. the Dean of Westminster (Dean R. C. F. T- Fumivall, Esq., and H. Coleridge. Scad die other, Etymological, consisting of H. Wedgwood, : and Professor Malde: - _::er. Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Fumivall vac appointed editors of the Diftionary. The practical results of die work of these Committees were remarkable. They soon discunacd that, in both -..7- i7r^r:r.-.7-:>. :>..--. ~:.^ - :. :": r i _--r:.: i = ^". :: - Iwe Let us first consider die historical evidence. None could doubt that oar linguistic lieasmes were abundant, hot a great number of them ^gjml only in manuscript, or had never been printed in any accessible form. The _!'.". "!_"_- r 1 .- 1 . -~ '. . T t r. 7 .'-.". ' " JLT. ~ '..".'_ 7v "._"_"" ^.J~~ were beyond the means of students ; and it has lately been >:^r:i--i :'-i: -::rr -f :ht r-i:::r>~e:e r.:: rer/.^rk- :".r for any ciose acquaintance with their subiects. Tbe publication, in 1859, of Herbert Coleridge's Glos- smriml Imiex to the printed English Literatnre of die Thirteenth Century was timely and useful; bat die practical - _ : ::" : :- : :.- i-~ :: :.r_rer :::.-. f. .: T.;: :he : r.\- niiraimt of die pnblcatinn of fatDictigmmrj at too early a date mild be drasUmK, and voold only demonstrate how htde was known, from a philological point of view, ~: : ~~ :: :"_* ~-: : There was only one coarse to be taken. The r- . 7 .1- " t .7 "' ~~~^~.~.~. 2-~. I. '. _T~7r~"^ " r."". VJ."~. r~. had to be punted at a reasonable price, and such of them as had only been edited in an expensive form, had to be pi Met! over again. With this end in view, and at the argent request of Dr. \ioms. Mr. Puuuvau stalled rt*** Early English Text Society in 1864, widi a goodly fist of subscribers at a gninea apiece ; and he had to look about for patriotic fdrtof \ who were wflbng to do the tf the Society woold pay for the printing. EARLY ENGLISH TEXT SOCIETY. xxiii The Society was extremely fortunate in its first editor. This was Dr. Richard Morris, who had already edited, for the Philological Society, a small book entitled Liber Cure Cocorum, as well as a more important one, viz. Hampole's Pricke of Conscience. Morris was gifted with a remarkable activity of mind and swiftness of comprehension, an excellent memory, and an unusual capacity for mastering minute grammatical details. In his preface to the Pricke of Conscience, he described, with great precision 1 , the peculiarities of the Northumbrian or Northern English Dialect ; and thus laid the foundation of a more accurate study of Middle English. In his preface to Early English Alliterative Poems (the Text Society's first volume), he brought out the peculiarities of the dialect and grammar of the West Midland district; and in 1867, viz. in the first edition of his Specimens of Early English, he clearly made out the chief characteristics of the three main dialects, Northern, Midland, and Southern. The results of his work are now common property, and almost every beginner of the study of Middle English is perfectly familiar with facts which, in 1866, were quite unknown. Every such student ought to know, further, what a debt of gratitude he owes, for this and many other lessons, to Richard Morris. At any rate, let me acknowledge, with all thankfulness, how much I learnt from him. His Specimens of Early English was, in my eyes, of such great value, that I could not rest till I had provided it with a new Glossarial Index and furnished the author with such notes and small emen- dations as it was in my power to offer. With these he 1 Morris's work was founded on a minute investigation of Middle- English poems. An earlier worker in the field was the Rev. Richard Garnett, who contributed an article on the ' Local Dialects of England* to the Quarterly Review, in Feb. 1836, and several papers to the Philological Society's Transactions in 1844-5. These were afterwards reprinted in Garnett's Philological Essays, edited by his son in 1859. XXIV INTRODUCTION. was so well satisfied that he practically put the book into my hands, and allowed my name to be added to the title-page. I also prepared an additional volume, containing extracts from our literature from 1394 to 1579; and, at a subsequent period, Morris produced a third volume, ranking as the first of the three in chronological order, as it contains 'Specimens' from 1150 to 1300. And even this was not all ; for the idea afterwards occurred to me that the very numerous references given in these three books of ' Specimens ' ought certainly to be registered under one alphabet ; an idea which was taken up by my friend Mr. A. L. Mayhew, of Oxford, and made the foun- dation of the still more comprehensive volume entitled A Concise Middle- English Dictionary, edited by Mr. Mayhew and myself. But Morris's work for the English Text Society extended far beyond his first very useful volume. It is to him that we are also indebted for an accessible reprint ' of Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight (1864), a poem of great merit, written by the same unknown hand that wrote those edited in his first volume ; a Metrical Paraphrase of the Books of Genesis and Exodus (1865), a poem written about 1250; the very valuable prose work by Dan Michel of Northgate, known as The Ayenbite of Inwit, or Remorse of Conscience*, dated 1340, and the chief source of our knowledge of the dialect of Kent ; two series of Early English Homilies of the thirteenth century (1867-8, and" 1873); Legends of the Holy Rood (1871); An Old English Miscellany (1872); the long religious poem known as the 1 It had previously been edited by Sir Frederic Madden, one of the few of the earlier editors whose work was remarkable for true scholarship and accuracy. His edition of Layamon's Brut is also excellent; and he was joint-editor of the splendid Oxford edition of Wycliffe's Bible. * Previously edited by the Rev. J. Stevenson. HENRY BRAD SHAW. XX v Cursor Mundi (begun in 1874); The Blickling Homilies, from a MS. dated 971 (1874-1880); and a new edition of Chaucer's Boethius, from the two best MSS. (1868). No student can afford to neglect these justly esteemed editions by Dr. Morris, if he wishes to have a correct notion of the state of the English language in the thirteenth century. The Early English Text Society being thus well started on its long and useful career, Dr. Furnivall, who has throughout been the chief source of the energy expended upon it and has himself edited considerably more than a dozen of its publications, began to cast about for more editors. My name was mentioned to him as that of one who was fond of Early English and had some leisure ; and the result was that I was entrusted with the duty of re-editing a poem of no great value, entitled Lancelot of the Laik, formerly edited by the Rev. Joseph Stevenson for the Maitland Club in 1839. My objection, that I was unable to read a MS., was over-ruled on the grounds, first, that the sole MS. was always at hand in the Canv bridge University Library ; and secondly, that I could learn. My first inspection of the MS. was not reassuring ; in fact, any one who can thoroughly master a Scottish MS. of the end of the fifteenth century is in a fair position to be not easily daunted by MSS. of an earlier date. But there was a teacher at hand such as few men ever had. To this day I can remember the smile cf amused satisfaction with which the MS. was brought to me by our justly celebrated librarian, Henry Bradshaw by name, of King's College. I much suspect that he thought he had extin- guished me ; indeed, after puzzling over the first page for a couple of hours, I was not conscious of having advanced beyond some twenty lines ; and so retreated for that time. But as I gradually gained the courage to maintain that, if the MS. was right, the printed copy was xxvi IXTRODUCTION. sometimes wrong, Bradshaw became interested, authori- tatively confirmed all my emendations, and never failed to give me his most valuable aid, in every case of doubt and difficulty, from that day forward till that which brought me the unexpected and startling news that my kind teacher and most sincere friend had died of a disease of the heart. The announcement, in my preface to Lancelot, published in 1865, that the Maitland Club edition contained some strange errors it must have been printed from a faulty transcript without any subsequent collation created, at the time, quite a nine-days' wonder. It showed, at any rate, that the editors for the Early English Text Society really aimed at a reasonable accuracy ; and it was urged that it was incumbent upon me to take up some more important work. In particular, a new edition of Piers PIou>man was suggested, for which purpose it was necessary to examine all the available MSS. The generous help afforded me on this occasion is a thing to be remembered. A particular passage of the poem was selected by Dr. Fur- nivall, and transcripts of this passage came to hand from many helpers; from Dr. Furnivall himself, from the Rev. H. O. Coxe, Bodley's Librarian, and from Mr. W. Aldis Wright ; whilst other aid was forthcoming from many quarters. Mr. (now Dr.) E. A. Bond gave his opinion as to the age of some of the MSS.; and, at a later date, MSS. were either lent or shown to me by the Earl of Ilchester, the Duke of Westminster, Mr. Henry Yates Thompson, and Lord Ashburnham. Not the least pleasant of my experiences were some valuable hints sent me by Mr. Thomas Wright, who had made a very useful edition of this great poem on his own account. And so it came to pass that I began editing this poem in 1866, and only finished the last page of the General Introduction in 1885. A complete edition of the three principal texts, together with a sufficient reproduction of ALLITERATIVE POEMS. xxvii the Notes and Glossary, was reprinted by the Clarendon Press in 1886. My work upon this edition of Piers Plowman suggested to me the idea of endeavouring to print or reprint, in due course, all the Early English poems that have come down to us in the form of alliterative verse without rime. This intention was never wholly fulfilled, but I nevertheless made considerable progress in this direction. The poems of this character edited by me were Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, the fragmentary Romance of Joseph of Arimathea (from the Vernon MS.), Richard the Redeless (by the author of The Vision of Piers Plowman] ; the short piece which I have called The Crowned King: ]]'illiam of Palerne ; The Romance of Alexander and Dindimus; and the Wars of Alexander. Nearly all these poems are of considerable service to the lexicographer owing to the abundance in them of unusual, dialectal, and obsolescent words. By the difficulties which they thus frequently present I was especially attracted. Most of these poems belong to the fourteenth century, and I was thus led to a special study of the language of this period, so that it has long been as familiar to me (as far as such a result is possible) as the language of the present day. I shall always be glad of having had a main hand in the editing and interpretation of three great authors of this period, viz. John Barbour, William Langland, and Geoffrey Chaucer. Future editors may do better ; but my work will never (I hope) become quite superfluous. It will now readily be understood that the foundation of the Early English Text Society was the first outcome of the desire of the Philological Society to provide for the publication of the New English Dictionary. But there were other results, of much importance for the study, which should be briefly mentioned. The next result was this. We had (nearly?) all been xxvin INTRODUCTION. taught at school to pronounce Latin like modern Victorian English, a statement which ought to seem ludicrous, but is rather to be accounted as a lamentable disgrace. Con- sequently, it came natural to us to pronounce Early English after the same extraordinary and chaotic fashion. Neither did the evil stop there ; for when I began the study of Anglo-Saxon, I knew no better than to pronounce the I in the A. S. ridan like the i in the modern English ride ; whereas, like the I in Latin, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, and Russian, it was pronounced like the / in machine. It was obvious that this would never do. It was useless to produce texts unless we could correctly pronounce the words which they gave us ; and it was fortunate that the highly complex problem of the study of our old pronun- ciation was undertaken by the two men who were most competent to deal with it, as being intimately acquainted with the actual pronunciation of many languages. In England, men often ' spring up wherever they are wanted, capable of ruling, of conquering, of mastering difficulties 1 ' ; and the two men who mastered this particular difficulty were Alexander John Ellis and Henry Sweet. The great work by the former on Early English Pronunciation, and the History of English Sounds by the latter, have made it abundantly clear that our pronunciation has suffered many and startling alterations from time to time, and most of these changes can now be approximately dated. Anglo- Saxon was written with letters which were Celtic adaptations from the Latin alphabet, and the pronunciation of Anglo- Saxon did not greatly differ from that of Latin. Early English was respelt by Anglo-French scribes, but their pronunciation was much the same, so that it made no great difference. The vowel-sounds used by Chaucer were much 1 J. R. Seeley; in Literary Remains of C. S. Calvcrley, p. 113 STUDY OF PHONETICS. xxix the same as those used by his great Italian cotemporaries, Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. It was not till after 1400 that most of the new vowel-sounds began to arise which have been developed, in course of time, into those which we now use. The difference, in some cases, is very great ; so that it is indeed difficult for any one who is inexperienced in our older literature to realize that our a in dame was once the French a in the French dame ; that our e in deity was once the French / in de'ite; that our diphthongal / in silence was once the French i in silence and that our diphthongal ou in doubt was once the French ou in doute. Yet such statements as these ought to be self-evident ; we cannot even conceive that a Norman noble could have pronounced dame, deity, doubt, and silence with the modern English vowels. The conclusions obtained by the labours of Ellis and Sweet have had far-reaching consequences. Englishmen are awaking to the value of phonetics generally. It is hardly too much to say that the study of etymology, in England, has been quite revolutionized by the use of newer and surer methods, based upon the careful observations of sounds and of the method of representing them by symbols. The student who understands the history of English sounds can no longer put up with the old and slovenly neglect of the history of the sounds in Latin and Greek ; he awakes to the facts that language is a living thing, and that the spoken tongue is full of information as regards the written repre- sentation of it ; he learns to listen to what he hears around him, and to make mental notes of the many varieties of pronunciation which are, literally, always in the air. In this way the subject of his study is quickened into full and active life ; forms that are written down in old manuscripts by hands that are now mere dust may be, and continually are, illustrated, as by a revealing flash, by the chance word of an unknown stranger ; and if the problems presented by xxx INTRODUCTION. the subtle changes in sounds are almost endless, we have at the same time a never-failing supply of undoubted facts ever filling the air around us, asking only for recognition, for memory, and for record. The position of learners is one of highest hope. There was a time when Greek accents were mere unmeaning marks, to be set over certain syllables because it was unreasonably esteemed a sign of scholar- ship (!) to do so ; but to-day they are being severely scrutinized, for they tell us which syllable received the pitch, and afford much valuable information as to the way in which each word was sounded. We now come to another matter altogether, though it has a close relationship to English philology, viz. the utility of a knowledge of our modern English dialects. In compiling the vocabulary of words admitted into the New English Dictionary, it was often extremely difficult to know where to draw the line. It has sometimes happened that a word which in olden times may fairly be said to have been in general use, or at any rate, in use over a large area, is now only heard in some provincial dialect, being unknown to nearly all the inhabitants of the rest of England ; and, on the other hand, a word which was once used, as it would seem from the evidence, in one dialect only, has now become familiar to everybody. It follows from this that the collection of provincial words is absolutely necessary for completing the material with which the lexicographer has to deal ; and hence Mr. Ellis and others suggested the establishment of an English Dialect Society. A letter written by Mr. Aldis Wright to Notes and Queries in March, 1870, was particularly explicit as to this necessity, and contained the ominous warning that ' in a few years it will be too late.' Being deeply impressed with the incontrovertible truth of this statement, and finding that still the work could not be done till some one would definitely undertake the trouble ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY. xxxi of performing all the duties of an honorary secretary, I at last resolved to follow Dr. Furnivall's example, and to write the necessary prospectus for the formation of such a society. This was the beginning of the English Dialect Society, established in 1873, and commencing with a Bibliographical List of works written in English dialects, or directly concerned with the same. The Society is now (in 1896) still in existence, and in the course of its career has issued no less than seventy-six parts or numbers, including some highly valuable special glossaries, such as those of Mr. Elworthy (West Somerset), Mr. F. K. Robinson (Whitby), Messrs. Nodal and Milner (Lancashire), Mr. C. Clough Robinson (Mid Yorkshire), Mr. E. Peacock (Lincolnshire), and many more, for which I must refer the reader to the Society's list. Indeed, the work already accomplished is so considerable that we have arrived, as it were, in sight of land, and can contemplate the probable extinction of the Society in a not very distant future without any great anxiety. We are already beginning to gather together all the material ; and, under the able editorship of Professor Wright, a general English Dialect Dictionary is already in the press. We may fairly hope for the completion of this truly national work in the course of another eight years. As the publications of the Early English Text Society were specially designed, from the outset, for the use of future lexicographers, most of them were accompanied with glossaries, more or less complete, giving very copious and exact references to the passages which contain the harder words. But it was soon felt that something like a general Dictionary of Middle English was much needed, in order to exhibit results collected from many various sources. The two chief Dictionaries of this character were both under- taken, in the first instance, by Germans ; we are much indebted, in this respect, to Dr. Francis Henry Stratmann, of Krefeld, and to Dr. Eduard Matzner, of Berlin. xxxn INTRODUCTION. The first edition of Dr. Stratmann's Dictionary of Middle English was not wholly satisfactory. It was open to three objections, from a practical point of view. In the first place, the meanings assigned were too briefly given, and frequently rendered unintelligible by the use of provincial English words which represented the old word as to form, but not always as to sense. Secondly, many words were given under twelfth-century forms, without any recognition, in the alphabet, of forms with more usual spellings. And thirdly, which was worst of all, the author at first devoted himself solely to the explanation of words of Germanic origin, thus leaving the highly important Anglo-French element almost unrepresented. The third and latest edition, in a much improved form, was published in 1878, and an extensive supplement was issued in 1881 ; but in 1884 the author died. At the suggestion of Dr. Furnivall, the copyright of the work was purchased by the Clarendon Press, and all the materials, including the author's collections for a new edition, were placed in the hands of Mr. Henry Bradley. With almost incredible industry and perseverance, Mr. Bradley recon- structed the whole work, removing the above-mentioned obvious defects and largely increasing the vocabulary. The new edition (technically, the fourth) appeared in 1891, and is a book which every serious student of historical English keeps within easy reach, as a matter of course. A mere glance at this volume affords almost instantaneous proof that the Early English Text Society was not established in vain, and was founded none too soon. The second Middle English Dictionary, by E. Matzner, was originally planned as an accompanying glossarial volume to the Altcnglische Sprachproben, or Specimens of Early English, issued by Matzner and Goldbeck in 1867-9. But the work grew under the author's hands, till at length he formed the ambitious design of including in it references to all the chief works existing in our Middle English Literature. NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY. xxxiii It was, from the first, a better planned book than that of Stratmann. The explanations are fuller, the quotations more extended, and the vocabulary more complete ; at the same time, the forms chosen as normal ones are such as very frequently occur. It had but one drawback, but that proved to be a very great one. The scale on which it was planned was such that the author could not complete it, though he lived till over eighty years of age, and was at work upon it almost to the last. The eleventh and last part appeared in 1891 ; and the last word discussed in it is the verb makien, to make. Whether it is in contemplation to continue this great work any further, I am unable to say. It thus appears that, in the quarter of a century which elapsed between 1857 and 1882, an enormous advance had been made towards providing the New English Dictionary with better materials. It must further be borne in mind that, during all this period, hundreds of readers had been employed in making suitable extracts from thousands of books ; and the precaution had been taken of requesting all the readers to write out their extracts on one side only of a half-sheet of ordinary note-paper, so that they might be duly sorted out in alphabetical order and tied up in bundles for ready reference. In this way several tons in weight of most valuable materials have been accumulated by the united efforts of a small army of workers ; and though it frequently happens that, owing to imperfections in the work or a want of legibility, a given extract has to be re-compared with the source whence it was originally taken (causing much delay and trouble in the case of works that are difficult of access), yet the references alone are of infinite service, as without them the work would have remained impossible of execution in any satisfactory manner. And when all things are taken into account, viz. the establish- ment during this period of the Early English Text Society and of the Chaucer Society by Dr. Furnivall, and of the xxxiv INTRODUCTION. English Dialect Society the numerous editions of previously unprinted MSS. which have appeared not in England only, hut also in Germany and America the numerous re- editions of pieces that had previously been edited in an unsatisfactory or insufficient manner the splendid success of Dr. Ellis and Dr. Sweet in recovering the almost lost history of our pronunciation and the hearty co-operation of so many readers in preparing useful extracts it may be doubted whether any similar enterprise was ever carried out with such sustained vigour and so much practical success. It is also of great importance to observe that, during the same period, very great advances have been made, especially in Germany, in the study of comparative grammar. So far, I have spoken mainly of the historical side of the development of our venerable and venerated language. It remains to add a brief account of what has been done from a purely etymological point of view. I have no space here to explore a subject which would, I think, prove to be of great interest, viz. the history of the progress of English etymology, beginning (let us say) with Minsheu and Blount and Skinner, and so onwards to Bailey and Johnson, with an occasional excursus on the wonderful vagaries of Richard Verstegan and the Rev. G. W. Lemon, and others like unto them. Let us begin at once with much more recent times. It must be remembered that English, considered as to its vocabulary, is as a great river derived from many rills. Setting aside such words as have been adopted from sources of less importance, we may confine our attention, at the outset, to three streams which supplied us more copiously than others, viz. the Old English (including Scandinavian), the Anglo-French or Anglo-Norman, and the 'classical,' which includes Latin and Greek. Ever since the period of the Renaissance, to the end of the last century, and even later, abundant attention has been bestowed upon the third SOMNER AND TOOKE. xxxv of these, almost as if it were all-sufficient and all-important, whilst the other two have been treated with an indifference that has often savoured of contempt. No man is a 'scholar ' unless he can account for the spelling and etymology of system ; but he is not expected to know anything of the history of such words as home or ransom, which are at once of earlier introduction and in much more extended use. It is difficult to conceive of anything more perverse. The publication, in 1659, of Somner's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary was (or rather might have been) a great step in advance; but Skinner, in 1691, failed, for the most part, to make any satisfactory use of it, owing to his want of knowledge of the grammar and phonetic laws of the oldest stage of English. Dr. Johnson trusted much to the guidance of Skinner, so that but little progress was possible. Just at the beginning of the present century appeared the remarkable work by Home Tooke entitled The Diversions of Purley. In this the author assailed the etymologies in Johnson with much smartness and pitiless logic ; showing, with great force, the value of Anglo-Saxon and Mceso- Gothic in questions relating to words of native origin, and opening the way to a better appreciation of our old expressions. Unfortunately, however, he was led to the construction of two most grotesque and crazy theories ; the one, that conjunctions are derived from verbs in the imperative mood ; and the other, that substantives ending in -th are formed from the third person singular of indica- tives ! And so it has come to pass that his book is obsolete, though it may still be read with pleasure by a student who is curious as to the history of the study of our language. It was necessary to mention this work of Home Tooke, in order to explain the singular phenomena presented by Richardson's Dictionary, of which a new edition appeared, in two fine quarto volumes, as late as 1863. This great c 2 xxxvi INTRODUCTION. work has two chief features, viz. its etymologies and its quotations. As regards the latter, its excellence and copiousness are surpassed by the great New English Dic- tionary only ; indeed, we owe to Richardson the valuable habit of making a free use of our older authors. But when we come to investigate his etymologies, we find that he has not only adopted Tooke's theories, but carried them out with a boldness of invention that almost surpasses belief. Thus he expressly selects, for our approval and admiration, his account of the verbs //'// and tell ( which happen to be unrelated), by repeating it complacently in his Preface : ' Again, to tell and to //'// are the same word, and mean to lift, to raise. To till with the plough is to raise (sc. the ground) with it. To tell with the tongue is to raise (sc. the voice) with it.' And all this, because Tooke had a fancy of deriving these words from the Latin tollere ; which, by Grimm's Law, is impossible. It soon became clear that this kind of roundabout reason- ing, if reasoning it can be called, enabled anybody to derive any one word from any other, if only a case could somehow be made out ; and the method had the inherent weakness of satisfying no one but the particular inventor of the guess. There was no stability or finality about such a process, and another one had to be resorted to. It has already been remarked that Mr. Wedgwood was one of the committee appointed by the Philological Society to look after etymologies. To this circumstance we owe the highly ingenious and suggestive Dictionary of English Etymology written by my fellow-collegian Hensleigh Wedgwood, late Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge ; which was undertaken at the urgent solicita- tion of Dr. Furnivall, the Society's honorary secretary. The second edition, revised and enlarged, appeared in 1872, and the third edition in 1878. The Introduction, con- taining an essay on the Origin of Language, is of great HEN SLEIGH WEDGWOOD. xxxvii interest, as the author maintains, with much skill and abundant illustrations, the theory that language took its rise from the imitation of natural sounds and cries and from expressive interjections, in opposition to the theory of Max Miiller that linguistic roots are 'phonetic types pro- duced by a power inherent in human nature,' whatever that may mean. The theory here advocated by Wedgwood is (as I believe) right in the main, and I may refer the reader to the treat- ment of it by Whitney and Sweet. Unluckily, it influenced the author far too much in his account of various words ; for in many cases the forms in use are too modern or too much altered from their primitive shape for us to be still able to trace how they first arose. In the case of the verb to plunge, for example, Wedgwood's statement that its origin, ' like that of plump, is a representation of the noise made by the fall,' is purely fanciful ; for it is merely borrowed from the F. plonger, answering to the Low Latin type *plumbicare, a derivative of plumbum, lead ; see the account of the F. word in Littre and Uiez. It will be found, in fact, that several of Wedgwood's articles refer us to imitative types, where it is very doubtful if any such imitation was really intended. There is much in the book that is very useful, but the treatment of words of native origin leaves much to be desired. It is surprising that the word home should be referred to ham-let, and treated as if the a in the A. S. ham (printed hani] was a short vowel. So under horn, we are referred to the ' Goth, haurn, Lat. cornu, Bret, corn, Gr. Kepus, Heb. keren ' ; without any mention of the A. S. horn as being the actual source. Very little regard is paid to the length of vowels, and the historical method is hardly pursued at all. There is no scientific treatment of the consonants, nor any recognition of the phenomena which are formulated and sum- marized in the convenient canon known as ' Grimm's Law.' xxxviii INTRODUCTION. Briefly, Wedgwood's Etymological Dictionary, though it represents an enormous advance beyond the methods employed by Skinner and Richardson, is sadly deficient in scientific method, and could not be regarded as approaching finality. The first English etymological dictionary in which the scientific treatment of language is sufficiently recognized was written, as might have been expected, in Germany; and remains to this day, owing to the excellence of its method, a reasonably good authority. This is the Etymologisches Worterbuch der englischen Sprache by E. Miiller, of which the first edition was published at Cothen in 1865, and the second and much improved edition at the same place in 1878. This is a thoroughly good and sound work; and the author took the precaution of consulting the best authorities then available. The chief English works to which he refers are the dictionaries by Johnson, Richardson, Webster (with the etymologies revised by Dr. Mahn), Worcester, and Wedg- wood ; but he also availed himself of the excellent works by German authorities, such as Grimm, Koch, Fiedler, Matzner, and Stratmann. The results are presented in a brief but usually accurate form, so that most of the articles require little or no correction. But it does not seem to be much known or much used in England, owing, I suppose, to the fact that the text is written in German. The mention of the second edition of E. Miiller's Dictionary has already brought us on to the year 1878. Meanwhile, the preparations for the New English Dictionary had been much advanced, and there seemed good hope that in a few years more, the time would have arrived for commencing to print and publish it. At this stage, the idea occurred to me that, as Wedgwood's work had been printed in advance as a contribution to the labour of furnishing the etymologies, and at the same time did not present the results in a well-assorted form, it would be MY ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. xxxix helpful for some one to attempt to revise the whole of it, in a form more available for immediate use. I had the temerity to undertake this important task myself, having then hardly arrived at the age when one ceases to be infallible ; and I began to bethink me of the improvements that could be made ; and I took particular note of what seemed to be the more obvious defects in the existing dictionaries. As I cannot explain the state of the case more clearly than I have already done in the Preface to the first edition (in 1882) of my Etymological Dictionary, I make no apology for citing a considerable portion of it here. Few people read a preface to a dictionary printed in a quarto form ; so that it will probably be new to most of my readers : ' The present work was undertaken with the intention of furnishing students with materials for a more scientific study of English etymology than is commonly to be found in previous works upon the subject. It is not intended to be always authoritative, nor are the conclusions arrived at to be accepted as final. It is rather intended as a guide to future writers, showing them in some cases what ought certainly to be accepted, and in other cases, it may be, what to avoid. The idea of it arose out of my own wants. I could find no single book containing the facts about a given word which it most concerns a student to know, whilst, at the same time, there exist numerous books containing information too important to be omitted. Thus Richardson's Dictionary is an admirable store-house of quotations illustrating such words as are of no great antiquity in the language, and his selected examples are the more valuable from the fact that he in general adds the exact reference. Todd's Johnson likewise contains numerous well-chosen quotations, but perhaps no greater mistake was ever made than that of citing from authors like Dryden or Addison at large, without the slightest hint as to the xl INTRODUCTION. whereabouts of the context. But in both of these works the etymology is, commonly, of the poorest description ; and it would probably be difficult to find a worse philologist than Richardson, who adopted many suggestions from Home Tooke without enquiry, and was capable of saying that hod is " perhaps hoved, hov'd, hod, past part, of heafan, to heave." It is easily ascertained that the A. S. for heave is hebban, and that, being a strong verb, its past participle did not originally end in -ed. ' It would be tedious to mention the numerous other books which help to throw such light on the history of words as is necessary for the right investigation of their etymology. The great defect of most of them is that they do not carry back that history far enough, and are very weak in the highly important Middle English period. But the publications of the Camden Society, of the Early English Text Society, and of many other printing clubs, have lately materially advanced our knowledge, and have rendered possible such excellent books of reference as are exemplified in Stratmann's Old English Dictionary and in the still more admirable but (as yet) incomplete Worterbuch by Eduard Matzner. In particular, the study of phonetics, as applied to Early English pronunciation by Mr. Ellis and Mr. Sweet, and carefully carried out by nearly all students of Early English in Germany, has almost revolutionized the study of etymology as hitherto pursued in England. We can no longer consent to disregard vowel-sounds as if they formed no essential part of the word, which seems to have been the old doctrine; indeed, the idea is by no means yet discarded even by those who ought to know better. ' On the other hand, we have, in Eduard Muller's Etymologisches Worterbuch der englischen Sprache, an ex- cellent collection of etymologies and cognate words, but without any illustrations of the use or history of words, or any indication of the period when they first came into MY ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. xli use. We have also Webster's Dictionary, with the etymologies as revised by Dr. Mahn, a very useful and comprehensive volume ; but the plan of the work does not allow of much explanation of a purely philological character. ' It is many years since a new and comprehensive dictionary was first planned by the Philological Society, and we have now good hope that, under the able editorship of Dr. Murray, some portion of this great work may ere long see the light. For the illustration of the history of words, this will be all-important, and the etymologies will, I believe, be briefly but sufficiently indicated. It was chiefly with the hope of assisting in this national work, that, many years ago, I began collecting materials and making notes upon points relating to etymology. The result of such work, in a modified form, and with very large additions, is here offered to the reader. My object has been to clear the way for the improvement of the etymologies by a previous dis- cussion of all the more important words, executed on a plan so far differing from that which will be adopted by Dr. Murray as not to interfere with his labours, but rather, as far as possible, to assist them. It will, accordingly, be found that I have studied brevity by refraining from any detailed account of the changes of meaning of words, except where absolutely necessary for purely etymological purposes. The numerous very curious and highly interesting examples of words which, especially in later times, took up new meanings will not, in general, be found here ; and the definitions of words are only given in a very brief and bald manner, only the more usual senses being indicated. On the other hand, I have sometimes permitted myself to indulge in comments, discussions, and even suggestions and speculations, which would be out of place in a dictionary of the usual character. Some of these, where the results are right, will, I hope, save much future discussion and investigation ; whilst others, where the results prove to be xlii INTRODUCTION. wrong, can be avoided and rejected. In one respect I have attempted considerably more than is usually done by the writers of works upon English etymology. I have en- deavoured, where possible, to trace back words to their Aryan roots, by availing myself of the latest works upon comparative philology. In doing this, I have especially endeavoured to link one word with another, and the reader will find a perfect network of cross-references enabling him to collect all the forms of any given word of which various forms exist ; so that many of the principal words in the Aryan languages can be thus traced. Instead of considering English as an isolated language, as is sometimes actually- done, I endeavour, in every case, to exhibit its relation to cognate tongues ; and as, by this process, considerable light is thrown upon English by Latin and Greek, so also, at the same time, considerable light is thrown upon Latin and Greek by Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic. Thus, whilst under the word bite will be found a mention of the cognate Latin findere, conversely, under the word fissure, is given a cross-reference to bite. In both cases, reference is also made to the root BHID ; and, by referring to this root (No. 240, on p. 738); some further account of it will be found, with further examples of allied words. It is only by thus comparing all the Aryan languages together, and by considering them as one harmonious whole, that we can get a clear conception of the original forms ; a conception which must precede all theory as to how those forms came to be invented. Another great advantage of the comparative method is that, though the present work is nominally one on English etymology, it is equally explicit, as far as it has occasion to deal with them, with regard to the related words in other languages ; and may be taken as a guide to the etymology of many of the leading words in Latin and Greek, and to all the more important words in the various Scandinavian and Teutonic tongues. MY ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. xliii ' I have chiefly been guided throughout by the results of my own experience. Much use of many dictionaries has shown me the exact points where an enquirer is often baffled, and I have especially addressed myself to the task of solving difficulties and passing beyond obstacles. Not inconsiderable has been the trouble of verifying references. A few examples will put this in a clear light. ' Richardson has numerous references (to take a single case) to the Romaunt of the Rose. He probably used some edition in which the lines are not numbered ; at any rate, he never gives an exact reference to it. The few references to it in Tyrwhitt's Glossary and in Stratmann do not help us very greatly. To find a particular word in this poem of 7700 lines is often troublesome; but, in every case where I wanted the quotation, I have found and noted it. I can recall several half-hours spent in this particular work. ' Another not very hopeful book in which to find one's place, is the Faerie Queene. References to this are usually given to the book and canto, and of these one or other is (in Richardson) occasionally incorrect ; in every case, I have added the number of the stanza. ' One very remarkable fact about Richardson's Dictionary is that, in many cases, references are given only to obscure and late authors, when all the while the word occurs in Shakespeare. By keeping Dr. Schmidt's comprehensive Shakespeare Lexicon always open before me, this fault has been easily remedied. ' To pass on to matters more purely etymological. I have constantly been troubled with the vagueness and inaccuracy of words quoted, in various books, as specimens of Old English or foreign languages. The spelling of " Anglo- Saxon " in some books is often simply outrageous. Accents are put in or left out at pleasure ; impossible combinations of letters are given ; the number of syllables is disregarded ; and grammatical terminations have to take their chance. xliv INTRODUCTION. Words taken from Ettmiiller are spelt with a and ce ; words taken from Bosworth are spelt with ce and & 1 , without any hint that the a and ce of the former answer to ce and CB in the latter. I do not wish to give examples of these things ; they are so abundant that they may easily be found by the curious. In many cases, writers of " etymological " dic- tionaries do not trouble to learn even the alphabets of the languages cited from, or the most elementary grammatical facts. I have met with supposed Welsh words spelt with a v, with Swedish words spelt with a, with Danish infinitives ending in -a*, with Icelandic infinitives in -an, and so on ; the only languages correctly spelt being Latin and Greek, and commonly French and German. It is clearly assumed, and probably with safety, that most readers will not detect mis-spellings beyond this limited range. ' But this was not a matter which troubled me long. At a very early stage of my studies, I perceived clearly enough, that the spelling given by some authorities is not necessarily to be taken as the true one ; and it was then easy to make allowances for possible errors, and to refer to some book with reasonable sj ellings, such as E. Miiller, or Mann's Webster, or Wedgwood. A little research revealed far more curious pieces of information than the citing of words in impossible or mistaken spellings. Statements abound which it is difficult to account for except on the supposition that it must once have been usual to manufacture words for the express purpose of deriving others from them. To take an example, I open Todd's Johnson at random, and find that under bolster is cited " Gothic bolster, a heap of hay." Now the fragments of Gothic that have reached us are very 1 Usually also printed ce, without the accent. I suspect that a is seldom provided for. 2 Todd's Johnson, s.v. Boll, has ' Su. Goth, bulna, Dan. bttlner.' Here bulna is the Swedish infinitive, whilst bulner is the first person of the Danish present tense. Similar jumbles abound. MY ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. xlv precious but very insufficient, and they certainly contain no such word as bolster. Neither is bolster a Gothic spelling. Holster is represented in Gothic by hulistr, so that bolster might, possibly, be bulistr. In any case, as the word certainly does not occur, it can only be a pure invention, due to some blunder; the explanation "a heap of hay" is a happy and graphic touch, regarded in the light of a fiction, but is out of place in a work of reference. ' A mistake of this nature would not greatly matter if such instances were rare ; but the extraordinary part of the matter is that they are extremely common, owing probably to the trust reposed by former writers in such etymologists as Skinner and Junius, men who did good work in their day, but whose statements require careful verification in this nineteenth century. What Skinner was capable of, I have shown in my introduction to the reprint of Ray's Glossary published for the English Dialect Society. It is sufficient to say that the net result is this ; that words cited in etymological dictionaries (with very few exceptions) cannot be accepted without verification. Not only do we find puzzling mis-spellings, but we find actual fictions ; words are said to be "Anglo-Saxon" that are not to be found in the existing texts ; " Gothic " words are con- structed for the mere purpose of " etymology " ; Icelandic words have meanings assigned to them which are incredible or misleading : and so on of the rest. ' Another source of trouble is that, when real words are cited, they are wrongly explained. Thus, in T odd's Johnson, we find a derivation of bond from A. S. " bond, bound." Now bond is not strictly Anglo-Saxon, but an Early English form, signifying "a band," and is not a past participle at all ; the A. S. for " bound " being gebunden. The error is easily traced ; Dr. Bosworth cites " bond, bound, ligatus " from Somner's Dictionary, whence it was also copied into Lye's Dictionary in the form : " bond, ligatus, obligatus, xlvi INTRODUCTION. bound" Where Somner found it, is a mystery indeed, as it is absurd on the face of it. We should take a man to be a very poor German scholar who imagined that band, in German, is a past participle ; but when the same mistake is made by Somner, we find that it is copied by Lye, copied by Bosworth (who, however, marks it as Somner's), copied into Todd's Johnson, amplified by Richardson into the misleading statement that " bond is the past tense J and past participle of the verb to bind" and has doubtless been copied by numerous other writers who have wished to come at their etymologies with the least trouble to themselves. It is precisely this continual reproduction of errors which so disgraces many English works, and renders investigation so difficult. ' But when I had grasped the facts that spellings are often false, that words can be invented, and that explanations are often wrong, I found that worse remained behind. The science of philology is comparatively modern, so that our earlier writers had no means of ascertaining principles that are now well established, and, instead of proceeding by rule, had to go blindly by guesswork, thus sowing crops of errors which have sprung up and multiplied till it requires very careful investigation to enable a modern writer to avoid all the pitfalls prepared for him by the false suggestions which he meets with at every turn. Many derivations that have been long current and are even generally accepted will not be found in this volume, for the plain reason that I have found them to be false ; I think I may at any rate believe myself to be profoundly versed in most of the old fables of this character, and I shall only say, briefly, that the reader need not assume me to be ignorant of them because I do not mention them. The most extraordinary fact about 1 Bond is a form of the past tense in Middle English, and indeed the sb. bond is itself derived from the grade of bindan found in the A. S. pt. t. band; but bond is certainly not ' the past participle.' MY ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY. xlvi comparative philology is that, whilst its principles are well understood by numerous students in Germany and America, they are far from being well known in England, so that it is easy to meet even with classical scholars who have no notion what " Grimm's Law " really means, and who are entirely at a loss to understand why the English care has no connexion with the Latin cura, nor the English whole with the Greek oXor, nor the French charite with the Greek x^P LS - Yet for the understanding of these things nothing more is needed than a knowledge of the relative values of the letters of the English, Latin, and Greek alphabets. A knowledge of these alphabets is strangely neglected at our public schools ; whereas a few hours carefully devoted to each would save scholars from innumerable blunders, and a boy of sixteen who understood them would be far more than a match, in matters of etymology, for a man of fifty who did. not. In particular, some knowledge of the vowel- sounds is essential. Modern philology will, in future, turn more and more upon phonetics ; and the truth now confined to a very few will at last become general, that the vowel is commonly the very life, the most essential part of the word, and that, just as pre-scientific etymologists frequently went wrong because they considered the consonants as being of small consequence and the vowels of none at all, the scientific student of the present day may hope to go right, if he considers the consonants as being of great consequence and the vowels as all-important. 'The foregoing remarks are, I think, sufficient to show my reasons for undertaking the work, and the nature of some of the difficulties which I have endeavoured to encounter or remove.' However far my performance has fallen short of my intentions, it was encouraging to find that my Etymological Dictionary supplied to some extent a real want, and was very well received. Indeed, I have more than once been xlviii INTRODUCTION. informed that some of the articles are quite readable, owing, no doubt, to the historical information which they contain, or to the curious changes of form which they record. As regards method, at any rate two great improvements were made ; the former of these has relation to chronology, the latter to the exact source of a word's origin. The value of chronology is insisted upon throughout. We cannot rest satisfied with any account of a word that does not give at least some approximate notion of the date when it first came into use. This is the first step towards tracing its source ; and the truth of this is so obvious that no more need be said. The New English Dictionary assumes the necessity of this principle in every case. The other improvement was in the attempt to discriminate the exact source of a word's origin. I am not aware that this had ever been attempted before, though the utility of doing so was explicitly asserted by Trench in his First Lecture upon ' English Past and Present,' in his account of ' The English Vocabulary.' We want to know, in every case, whether the word is native or foreign. If it be adapted from French, we again want to know the source whence the word found its way into that unoriginal language ; and the like, in other cases. By taking notes of this kind in every case, it became possible to compile, for the first time, long lists showing the comparative influence upon English of various foreign languages. Another great practical advantage is that these lists can be studied and corrected by specialists, or by books which treat of special languages. The list of Malay words, for example, can be revised by help of a Malay dictionary, or by help of some one who can speak the language, without the trouble of going through the whole Dictionary in order to pick them out. The preparation for press of this rather ambitious work occupied four years ; and it would have occupied a much longer time if I had not made some previous preparation ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES. xlix for work of this character, and if, on the other hand, I had exercised fuller research in some cases of unusual difficulty. I am ready to confess, with all candour, that it seemed to me more necessary that the work should be completed within a somewhat short time than that it should be delayed too long. The publication, soon afterwards, of a second edition enabled me to correct some of the more obvious errors ; and several more corrections and additions have been made, from time to time, in the successive editions of the epitome called A Concise Etymological Dictionary. With all its errors, the work has been of much use. The references are numerous and not often incorrect ; and, though many were taken from Richardson and Stratmann and Morris, a considerable number of them were due to my own reading. Many of the etymologies are more correct than in most of the preceding works of a similar character, and point out the immediate sources of words with a greater degree of exactness. One test of comparative success is imitation ; and of this form of compliment the work has had its fair share. Most of the Dictionaries which have appeared since 1882 have borrowed from it more or less. The increased interest now shown in etymological study of a stricter and more scientific kind is best shown by the books that have appeared of late years in foreign languages. Foremost among these is the excellent Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache by Friedrich Kluge, Professor in the University of Jena. In Dutch, we have not only the Etymologisch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal by Dr. Johannes Franck, of Bonn, but also the Beknopt Etymologisch Woordenboek, by J. Vercoullie, of Ghent. Others are the Dansk Etymologisk Ordbog, by E. Jessen, printed at Copenhagen, in 1893 ; the Vocabolario Etymologico Italiano, by F. Zambaldi ; and the Greek and Persian Etymological Dictionaries, by Dr. Prellwitz and d 1 INTRODUCTION. Paul Horn respectively. These and other recent works on the subject, several of which are of much value, have greatly contributed to help the more advanced student. The highest place is taken by the valuable and erudite Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der Indogermanischen Sprachen, by Karl Brugmann, completed in 1893. I now return to the history of the New English Dictionary, for which so much preparation had thus been made, both directly and indirectly. The net result was that a work which, in 1858, could not have been safely commenced, was, in 1878, being seriously considered. Twenty years of faithful work of various kinds had made a great difference. A fairly complete history of the whole movement is given in the Transactions of the Philological Society, the most interesting portion of it being from the year 1879 onwards. In that year, Dr. Murray had been elected President of the Society, in recognition of the fact that he had definitely undertaken the editorship of the Dictionary; and on May 16, he delivered the Presidential Address, which dealt with the subject at length. On the preceding March i, the contracts between the Society, the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, and the Editor were signed. ' A fortnight before that day,' says Dr. Murray, ' I had commenced the erection of an iron building, detached from my dwelling-house, to serve as a Scriptorium, and to accommodate safely and con- veniently the materials. This has been fitted up with blocks of pigeon-holes, 1,029 in number, for the reception of the alphabetically arranged slips, and other conveniences for the extensive apparatus required. On Lady Day, when I was joined by my assistant, Mr. S. J. Herrtage, I received from Mr. Furnivall some ton and three-quarters of materials which had accumulated under his roof as sub-editor after sub-editor fell off in his labours. . . . One or two of the letters are in excellent order and really sub-edited, in a true sense of the word. This refers to F, K, parts of C NEW ENGLISH DICTIONARY. li and R l in a less degree to A, E, N, parts of O and U ; of others of the letters it may be said that the slips have received some amount of alphabetic arrangement ; of one or two unhappily I have to report that they are in primitive chaos.' In 1880 Dr. Murray reported that 'during the year our readers have risen to the number of 754. ... Altogether 1,568 books have been undertaken, of which 924 have been finished.' A most interesting feature of this report is the notice of the great help received from America. Among American readers he names ' three to whom we are pre- eminently obliged ' the Rev. J. Pierson, of Ionia, Michigan, ' our first helper in the States/ who has also sent in 7,650 quotations from important sixteenth and seventeenth century works ; Prof. G. M. Philips, of the University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and Dr. Henry Phillipps, of Philadelphia. The same report gives many interesting details as to particular words beginning with A. In 1881, the editor again reported excellent progress. The number of readers had then risen to upwards of 800, and the total number of authors represented in the Reference Index was 2,700. 'In the alphabetical arrangement of the old slips, we are in sight of the end, only W remaining to be put in order.' Much careful sub-editing of various letters had been accomplished. By way of example, it may be noted that the division of the meanings of the verb Set, and the attempt to put them in satisfactory order, had occupied a sub-editor for over forty hours. In 1882, the editor was able to report that ' the Dictionary 1 The material for this letter was, at one time, entrusted to myself, and I found it in tolerably good order. Mr. Cornelius Payne had prepared a portion, as if for press, down to the word Ravel, or there- abouts. I finished Ra, and began Re, but the pressure of editorial work made it impossible for me to proceed ; and I soon relinquished the responsibility. d 2 lii INTRODUCTION. is at last really launched, and some forty pages are in type.' From that time the work proceeded without further inter- ruption ; and the first part, from the beginning of A down to Ant, appeared in 1884. In 1888, Mr. Henry Bradley, whose excellent edition of Stratmann's Middle-English Dictionary has been already mentioned, was appointed joint-editor. He has finished E and a large portion of F, whilst Dr. Murray, having completed A-C, is engaged upon the latter part of D. So that now, in 1896, it is a great satisfaction to think that more than a quarter of this monumental work has already appeared, and to remember the old days when it was brought home to its well-wishers that a great number of MSS. had still to be edited, or else edited anew, before it could reasonably be commenced. Now that I have traced the outlines of the history of the great Dictionary, and shown how the endeavour to provide for it worthy -materials led to the formation of the English Text Society and the printing of many previously inedited MSS. ; and how the impulse thus given to the historical study of our own language originated many other collateral movements, such as the foundation of the English Dialect Society, and the Chaucer and Shakespeare Societies, the phonetic researches of Dr. Ellis and Dr. Sweet, the compilation of the Middle-English Dictionaries by Stratmann and Matzner, and a greatly increased and more rational interest in the study of English etymology ; it may, perhaps, be allowed me to return to matters more personal. The training which I gained by the editing of Middle- English texts proved particularly beneficial ; chiefly because I thus came to learn the spelling of the fourteenth century from MSS. written during that period. Knowledge of old texts, as derived at second-hand from printed texts, is a very poor thing in comparison with that obtained from the MSS. themselves. From the MSS. themselves it is GHOST-WORDS. liii possible to learn, precisely and accurately, the character and origin of such mistakes as the scribes sometimes perpetrate, as well as the sources of such peculiar fancies as some editors, either consciously or unconsciously, adopt. It is often easy, for one who is thus familiar with all (or most) of the causes of error, to see through and correct the blunders of the editor who is new to his trade, viz. by help of the ability to recognize forms, which the editor, even with the MS. before him, could not decipher. Of this many instances could be given, from the marginal notes in some of my books, or they may be found in my paper on Ghost- Words. By way of specimen of editorial ingenuity of this character, I may cite one from my Notes to Piers the Plowman, C. ix. 2. In that passage we find the expres- sion half acre, meaning a small plot of ground, about half an acre in size. The same expression occurs in Gammer Gurtoris Needle, Act i. sc. 2, where ' Tom Tankard's cow ' is described as ' flinging [i. e. capering] about his halfe aker, fisking [flourishing] with her tail.' But unluckily, when Mr. Hazlitt reprinted this play in Dodsley's collection, the expression appeared as halse aker, by the usual confusion between / and the long s (f) ; and he was consequently much exercised to find an explanation. At last he was driven to suggest that it must be an error for halse anker, because ' a halse or halser was a particular kind of cable ' ; to which a tail might, conceivably, be likened. The point is, of course, that even this gratuitous alteration gives little more sense than before. Moreover, ' his ' refers to ' Tom ' ! I have frequently been asked how I managed to turn out so much work, and to edit so many texts. The answer is, simply, that it was done by devoting to them nearly all my spare time, and that of spare time I had abundance, having not much else to do. It is astonishing how much can be done by steady work at the same subject for many hours every day, and by continuing the same during most liv INTRODUCTION. months in the year. It is also necessary to be an enthu- siast, working with an ever-present hope of doing something to increase our knowledge in every available direction. Then the merest drudgery becomes a sincere pleasure ; and, if any one would learn what drudgery means, let him make glossaries, and verify the references. Of making many glossaries I have had much experience ; on which account I here presume to explain how it may best be done J . The best way is to make a note of every word that requires explanation on a separate slip of paper, with a reference to the place where it occurs. I keep the slips in the order in which the words occur in the book, and afterwards go over each one again separately, adding the part of speech and the sense (unless this has already been done), at the same time verifying the references and making sure that the sense is correct. Then, and not till then, the slips are all sorted into alphabetical order : after which, I go over them once more, collecting the references from several slips on to one, where necessary, putting all the information together, and sometimes adding etymologies where required. The rejected slips can be thrown away ; the rest go to press without rewriting. This is the best plan, but very few will believe it ; most people try to put down the words, in approximately alphabetical order, in a note-book kept wholly for the purpose. But the attempt will assuredly break down or lead to trouble, if the text is of any great length. It is, of course, absolutely necessary that the slips should all be exactly of the same shape and size. My favourite size is that of a slip five inches and three-quarters long, and two inches and a quarter wide. The number of them is of no consequence. For example, the original number 1 This method is copied from a note at p. Ixvi of my General Preface to Piers the Plowman. BOS WORTH PROFESSORSHIP. Iv of slips for the Glossarial Index in the sixth volume of Chaucer's Works considerably exceeded 30,000 ; and even when a large number had been weeded out and thrown aside, there were so many left that, when piled one upon the other, the whole depth of them was quite two inches over nine feet. And the result is decidedly useful. My work of editing and explaining texts began, as has been said, in 1864, and had been continued (of course without payment) for fourteen years when, in 1878, I had the honour to be unanimously elected the first Professor of Anglo-Saxon in Cambridge on the foundation of Dr. Bos- worth 1 ; a most gratifying result, as it was precisely the post which I most coveted, so that I thus attained the very summit of my ambition. The kindness of the friends who furnished me with testimonials on that occasion is a thing not to be forgotten ; and one of my chief treasures is a small volume in which all the original letters then sent me are bound together. Opening it, I find the autograph signatures of some who, alas ! are no longer with us such as Professor J. S. Brewer (of King's College, London), the Rev. H. O. Coxe (Bodley's well-known and much-regretted Librarian), Dr. Ellis, Professor Freeman, Professor Morley, Dr. Morris, Dr. Swainson (Norrisian Professor of Divinity), Dr. Small of Edinburgh, the Arch- bishop of Dublin (better known by the name of Richard 1 I am careful to say ' the first ... on the foundation of Dr. Bos- worth.' For it is a matter of history, that a Professorship of Anglo- Saxon was established in Cambridge by Sir Henry Spelman more than two centuries ago. The first Professor on his foundation was Abraham Whelock, who had previously been elected the first Pro- fessor of Arabic in 1632, on the foundation of Sir Thomas Adams. Whelock published his edition of the Anglo-Saxon version of Beda's History in 1644 ; and was succeeded in the chair by William Somner, whose Dictionary and text of jElfrics Grammar were published at Oxford in 1659. But the professorship came to an end during the civil wars, when the Spelman family were no longer in a position to continue this useful benefaction. Ivi INTRODUCTION. Chenevix Trench), Professor Stephens of Copenhagen, Professor Ten Brink of Strassburg, Dr. Stratmann of Krefeld, and Professor Zupitza of Berlin. Of the many others who are still living I will say no more than that it is delightful to experience from nearly all of them, even up to the present time, most ready sympathy and kindly help whenever difficulties arise. The chief result of my promotion has been that the work which was before a pleasure only has now become, at the same time, a duty. And perhaps no man is more fortunate than one whose self-chosen occupation has become his allotted task. Another piece of exceptional good fortune was my election to a Professorial Fellowship at my own college, in 1883; for it was the fortune of some professors to be elected to fellowships at colleges with which they had no previous connexion ; a fate which I did not much desire. My dear friend, Sir John Seeley, Regius Professor of History, had obviously a prior claim ; but he had been promptly secured by Gonville and Caius College, for which wise choice I have always been grateful. Considering that Anglo-Saxon is not a subject in very great request, it might very easily have happened, especially at the beginning of my professional work, that I might some day be prepared to lecture, and might find no one to listen. Curiously enough, this has never actually happened ; in every year there have been some two or three at least who, for some reason or other, have wanted instruction. And in 1886, a new Tripos for Medieval and Modern Languages was established, in which candidates have the opportunity of choosing English as one of their subjects, if they are so minded ; and for those who choose it a fair knowledge of Anglo-Saxon is, of course, essential. Hence the work in this department has become regular and constant, and is likely, we may hope, to remain so. SKEAT ENGLISH PRIZE. Ivii The known gentleness of the courteous reader will excuse a few more notes ; they are not intended to claim merit, but to inform and encourage others. As far back as 1865, I gave 100 to found a small prize, at Christ's College, for the encouragement of English literature. The candidates are usually examined in a selected piece of Middle-English, a couple of Shakespeare's plays, and some third subject, such as Sidney's Apology for Poetry. Small as the prize is, it has been a considerable success, inasmuch as it has been gained, in some years, by men of some mark. I may instance, for example, Dr. J. S. Reid, well known as a classical scholar, Professor Gardner of Oxford, Sir J. W. Bonser, Chief Justice of Ceylon, and Mr. I. Gollancz, Editor of the Temple Shake- speare. Shortly after the death of Charles Darwin, a memorial fund was raised among the members of Christ's College, of which I had the honour to be treasurer. After paying for an excellent portrait, by Ouless, which now adorns the college-hall, a small sum was left which, it was thought, might be gradually expended in giving occasional prizes for natural science. As it seemed to me a pity that this design should, in the course of a few years, come to a sudden end, I again gave 100, in 1888, to make the prize permanent. My chief anxiety, in connexion with the University of Cambridge, has been, for some years past, the establish- ment of a University Lectureship in English. For more than ten years, we have had University Lecturers in French and German, each of whom are in the receipt of 200 a year; but when the endeavour was made, in 1889, to secure a Lecturer in English at half that stipend, no funds were any longer available for the purpose, owing to the impossibility of meeting ever-increasing needs upon an ever-diminishing income. In this dilemma, I could think Iviii INTRODUCTION. of nothing better than to appeal to the generosity of the public in general, and wrote a letter to The Times to that effect. To this appeal I received precisely one answer, but it made a good beginning. The late Mr. S. Sandars, a well-known benefactor to Cambridge on many occasions, at once offered the sum of 50; and adding this to a promise of 100 from Mr. Mocatta, I was encouraged to proceed. A splendid gift of 200 guineas came from the Company of Merchant Taylors, fifty guineas from the Company of Mercers, 100 from the Master of Trinity Hall, and another 200 guineas from an 'anonymous donor.' The result has been the appointment, in March, 1896, of Mr. Gollancz as the Lecturer, at the modest stipend of 50 per annum ; and it is at least somewhat of a triumph to find that the importance of the subject has at last found some sort of public recognition. One of my most delightful experiences has been my connexion with the University of Oxford, as it has led to my finding there many sincere friends. When I first had to visit the Bodleian Library for the purpose of con- sulting MSS., I found (notwithstanding many kindnesses) that my evenings were often spent alone ; and I found it depressing to be, practically, a stranger. Some years ago, it was possible for a Cambridge M.A. to take an ad eundem degree at Oxford without joining any college ; but there was not much to be gained by this, in the case of one not usually resident there. Under the new statutes, it is necessary for one who seeks this degree to join a college, which is a much better arrangement. The college of my choice was Exeter, which proved a very happy one ; and I went through what I believe to be a wholly unique experience ; at least, I have never heard of a similar case. The Oxford University statutes require a term's residence in the case of one who, besides seeking the M.A. degree, also desires to become a full member of Convocation ; INCORPORATION AT OXFORD. lix and though I had no object in desiring this privilege in itself, I was glad of an opportunity of seeing something of the Oxford life. One of the fellows of Exeter who happened to be for a while abroad kindly lent me his rooms, and I duly completed my term's residence in college with much satisfaction. The kindness which I there experienced, and the opportunities thus given me of making friends, proved a very great advantage ; and now it is a most pleasant change to visit Oxford rather frequently, and to find myself among many friends in that famous University ; in fact, I am quite at home there, finding all the attractions of a student's life, without any responsibility in the way of lecturing or otherwise. It is a good thing for a student of one university to know something of the ways of the other, without actual migration ; and I rather wonder that the idea is not more frequently entertained. The chief reason against it is to be found in the detestable arrangement whereby the London and North-Western Railway compels every traveller to spend three hours over a journey that might be completed in little more than two. An enforced wait of three-quarters of an hour or so at the cheerless Bletchley station is decidedly unaccommodating and ruthless ; and there can be little doubt that this is the chief cause that keeps the two Universities apart. The reader who has, by this time, had enough of my own doings may perhaps be interested in a few remarks about other people. The revival of the study of Anglo-Saxon in the present century was largely due to Benjamin Thorpe and John Mitchell Kemble. Thorpe's editions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and of the Ancient Laws and Institutes of England are well-known and useful books ; he also gave us an edition of Ccedmon in 1832, of the Codex Exoniensis in 1842, of the Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church in 1844-46, and of Beoivulf'vn. 1855 ; besides issuing a translation of Rask's Ix INTRODUCTION. Anglo-Saxon Grammar and a good selection of short pieces entitled Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. The student who desires a complete account of Anglo-Saxon studies will find it all in Dr. Wiilker's Grundriss zur Geschichte der angelsachsischen Litteratur, published at Leipzig in 1885. To Kemble we owe an edition of Beowulf \^ 1833, which reached a second edition in 1835, and was followed by a translation, with notes and a glossary, in 1837: a collec- tion of Anglo-Saxon charters, in six volumes, known as the Codex Diplomaticus ^Evi Saxonict; the poetry of the Codex Vercellensis, 1843-56; and the Dialogue of Salomon and Saturn, 1848. He also wrote the esteemed historical work known as The Saxons in England, published in two volumes in 1849. The latest work which he undertook, on behalf of the University of Cambridge, was an edition of all the known MSS. of the Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Mercian versions of the four Gospels ; but at the time of his death, in the spring of 1857, the portion actually completed did not reach much beyond the beginning of the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew. The small portion of this Gospel thus left unfinished was completed by Charles Hard wick in 1858 ; and there the matter rested for more than ten years. After this lapse of time, the Syndics of the Pitt Press, being unwilling that the work should be abandoned, entrusted me with the task of continuing the work ; and I was able gradually to complete it, issuing the Gospel of St. Mark in 1871, that of St. Luke in 1874, and that of St. John in 1878. After this, I was permitted to bring out a second and revised edition of St. Matthew's Gospel in 1887 ; and all four Gospels can now be obtained in a single quarto volume, which is a convenient form for use. I was never so fortunate as to meet with Thorpe or Kemble, but I heard something about the latter from Mr. Thomas Wright, whom I met frequently. Kemble KEMBLE AND WRIGHT. Ixi had taken his B.A. degree in 1830, at Trinity College, Cambridge, a year later than Archbishop Trench. In 1834 Kemble, being then well versed in Anglo-Saxon, was anxious to impart some of his knowledge to his fellow-collegians, and designed an ambitious course of twenty lectures, of which he issued a printed prospectus, twenty pages long, interleaved with blank paper for the convenience of such as were disposed to take notes '. When the day appointed for the first lecture came, he duly donned his cap and gown, and appeared in the lecture-room which the college had assigned for the purpose. But where was the audience ? There was precisely one person present, Thomas Wright by name, at that time (I believe) an undergraduate of the same college. As this one hearer evidently meant business, the lecture was duly delivered. But when, on the second occasion, the same thing happened again, notwithstanding that the main subject of the lecture was the poem of Beowulf, and that one of the things noted in the Syllabus was the 'arrogance and ignorance of Mr. Ritson,' which ought in itself to have drawn a crowd of hearers. Kemble could stand it no longer, but invited his young friend to come to his own rooms, and discuss the subject freely over a tankard of beer. And certainly that undergraduate had a pleasant experience, and considered himself more than usually fortunate. Wright's extraordinary industry is shown most clearly by the fact that the mere enumeration of his books fills a whole column of small print in the English Encyclopaedia; a large number of them .being especially concerned with Anglo-Saxon and Middle-English. I re- member him as a quiet but cheery old gentleman, who more than once stayed with me when he came to Cambridge 1 I possess a copy of this syllabus. It bears, on the title-page, the following: History of the English Language. First, or Anglo- Saxon Period. By J. M. Kemble, Esq., A.M., Trinity College, Cambridge: printed for J. and J. J. Deighton, Trinity Street, 1834. Ixii INTRODUCTION. to consult MSS. He had sharp quick eye-sight, and wrote a very legible hand at a quite unusual pace ; he used to say of himself that he was ' pretty quick,' and perhaps he trusted to his quickness a little too much in later years, as some of his errors of reading are somewhat surprising. His ency- clopaedic literary knowledge of many various subjects, especially antiquarian, was very remarkable. We were excellent friends, with a common interest in Middle-English and in things relating to Shropshire \ I possess a copy of a small work entitled Bibliotheque Anglo- Saxonne, par F. Michel (Paris, 1837). This is a catalogue of the chief works printed before that date that relate to Anglo-Saxon studies. But it is especially remark- able for the Letter by Kemble to M. Francisque Michel, which occupies the first forty-three pages. This is an excellent outline of the general history of the study, containing several remarks of interest. Thus, in a note at p. 24, he pursues his quarrel with Ritson's work with much energy. He declares that Ritson's print of The Frere and the Boy contains sixty-four mistakes, and that in his print of The King and the Barker, there are 140 errors in the course of 128 lines. 'Yet this man dared to run down and persecute Warton ! It is now beginning to be felt, that it was not Warton's inaccuracy which moved Ritson's bile : oh, no ! it was the unhappy fact that Warton was a fellow of a college, a scholar, a gentleman, and a Christian, to no one of which titles Ritson had the slightest claim.' Of Home Tooke, Kemble asserts that ' he was barbarously ignorant 1 He had a favourite dialect story, which I fear has often done duty under various forms. Seeing a peasant at work in a field abounding with mole-hills, he pointed to them, saying ' My good man, what be those ? ' The reply was, of course, ' they bin 6&nty-tumps ! ' ' But, pray, what do you mean by 66nty-tumps? ' ' Why, 66nty-tumps bin the tumps as the 66nts maken.' ' But what do you mean by 66nts?' ' I think yo' mun be a fool ; the 66nts bin the things as maken the tumps ! ' JOHN MITCHELL KEMBLE. Ixiii of all the Teutonic tongues ; and owes what reputation he has enjoyed solely to a happy knack of outbullying his opponents upon subjects with which he and they were alike conversant.' ' Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, 1801,' is 'a learned and laborious work; yet in all that relates to the language and the poetry of our forefathers, often deficient, often mistaken.' ' Sir F. Palgrave's Anglo- Saxon Commonwealth, 1832, . . . cannot be too highly valued, as a clear and learned exposition of the Saxon polity. Nevertheless one must, as a philologist, quarrel with Sir Francis for false etymology. As long as he is at work with his Latin or Saxon charters, he reads them well and no man can more safely be followed ; but set him once upon a bit of etymology, up go the heels of his hobby, and down comes Sir Francis into the mire, no better informed, as it appears, than most of his English predecessors have been, respecting the true form and power of many words 1 .' But the most valuable contribution made by Kemble to the study of Anglo-Saxon was that he was the first to call attention to the value of scientific philology, as illustrated by the great German scholar, Wilhelm Grimm. 'The system of this scholar,' he says, ' which can henceforth alone form the basis of any philosophical study of the Teutonic tongues, rests upon two propositions : (i) that the roots of these languages, their methods of declension, conjugation, and derivation, are common to them all ; and (2) that each language, according to fixed laws of its own, differences 2 the common element.' He gives two excellent examples of Grimm's methods. He first quotes ' msegca 1 It is but too true. Sir Francis was one of those who thought that any sound-changes could take place in any direction and to any extent Thus in the preface to his History of the Anglo-Saxons, p. xiii, he argues that bet is merely another form of ivager\ Bet, he tells us, is derived from bad; and it appears that, by bad, he mean* A. S. bad, a pledge, with long a \ 3 We should now say ' differentiates.' Ixiv INTRODUCTION. hose ' from Bernini!/, \. 924, an expression of which the meaning was quite unknown till Grimm pointed it out. The word hose occurs nowhere else in A.S. ; yet, by the method of comparison, the solution is easy. For, just as the A.S. gas, 'a goose,' answers to the G. Cans, it is clear that the A. S. hos answers to the M. H. G. hans (mod. G. Jlanse) and the Goth, hansa, ' a company.' Accordingly, ' maegcfa hose' simply means 'with a company of maidens.' Next, he illustrates Grimm's law (which requires that a Latin / should be represented in English by/) by pointing out that the A. S. word corresponding to the Lat. palma is precisely the A. S. fern. sb. folm, meaning the palm of the hand, or the hand itself. We have indeed adopted the wordfla/m in English, but it is merely the Latin form, not the native one. Speaking of his edition of Beowulf, in 1833, Kemble claims that, in that book, he was the first who ever attempted, in England, 'to separate the long from the short sounds, upon a philosophical principle of analogy and the authority of MSS. '; and felt himself justified accordingly in ' claiming favour for errors.' Finally, he concludes this interesting ' Letter' with words of hope : ' From the activity which all at once appears to prevail among the Saxonists of England, there is hope that we may make some important advances, and escape the reproach, at present too well deserved, of suffering foreigners to outstrip us in acquaintance with our native tongue. Surely, while we have all the MSS., it cannot be right that they should have all the knowledge? These are words of encouragement that may well be laid to heart. Dr. Sweet's useful Anglo-Saxon Reader, and, still better, his accurate edition of The Oldest English Texts-, well exemplify how much can be done by a scholar who knows what he is about. Perhaps the most unexpected result of modern times is the extension of Anglo-Saxon studies to the continent of America. But whatever progress OSWALD COCKAYNE. Ixv may be made in the future, we must not forget that the Englishman who first vindicated the importance of the application of philological principles to the study of English was certainly JOHN MITCHELL KEMBLE. I have good reason to remember very well the Rev. Oswald Cockayne, because, as I have already said (at p. viii), he was my class-master at King's College School. It will readily be understood that he did not teach me Anglo- Saxon, but Latin and Greek. He was an excellent teacher, and I profited by his instruction sufficiently to obtain the first prize in the Lower Third form. It must have been some twenty years before we again met, and discussed the subject in which we had a common interest. I was even able to afford him, occasionally, some humble assistance by consulting for him some of the precious MSS. in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His knowledge was very extensive and extremely accurate ; and it was fortunate that the peculiarly difficult task of editing the Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England fell into such able hands. His own copy of this work is now in my possession, and I observe in vol. i. just a few minute corrections, of no real consequence ; such as, for example, that at p. 156, in the fourth line from the bottom, the word 'waestme' is written, in the MS., with the usual short s, and not, as printed, with a long one. His love of exactness led him to the use of the ' Anglo-Saxon ' type, which is rightly now discarded as being needless and clumsy. Another objection is that some letters are liable to be confused ; for I observe in the same volume, at p. 74, 1. 1 2, the curious word ' f>yrte,' translated by ' wort,' where it is obvious that the first letter was intended for a w. A mis- print of this kind is of course extremely rare in any of his books, as he was obliged to watch such letters very closely. A very characteristic book of his is that entitled, The Q Ixvi INTRODUCTION. Shrine : A Collection of Occasional Papers on Dry Subjects. My copy of it, presented by the author, ends abruptly at p. 208 ; but I am not aware that it ever went any further. The corrections for Bosworth's Dictionary, at pp. i-n and 23-28, have proved of service. One very curious criticism is that wherein Mr. Cockayne accuses Dr. Bosworth of making the sb. dust, ' dust,' masculine. It is undoubtedly marked with ' m.' in the smaller Dictionary of 1848; but this may well be due to a misprint, seeing that it is marked ' n.' in the first edition of the larger work, printed ten years earlier. It was once my fortune to hear Mr. Cockayne preach a sermon without notes, and I was much struck with his eloquence of expression. His language had the classic elegance of the well-read scholar, and approached more nearly to the style of Johnson than I should have expected. He told me that he preferred to preach extempore, as he disliked the labour of writing down the discourse ; and there was certainly no need for him to do so. I can well recall the tall and upright figure of Dr. Bosworth, founder of the Professorship which I now hold, and author of two Anglo-Saxon Dictionaries. He was born in Derby- shire, more than a century ago, in 1789, and educated at Repton, Aberdeen, and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1817 he became vicar of Little Horwood, in Buckingham- shire, and in 1823 he published the work entitled The Elements of Anglo-Saxon Grammar. In 1829 he was appointed British Chaplain in Holland, where he acquired a knowledge of Dutch, in which he was able to converse fluently. In 1840 he became vicar of Waith in Lincoln- shire; and in 1857 rector of Water Stratford, Bucks., where he remained but a short time, being appointed Rawlinsonian Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford in 1858. His larger Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, published in 1838, when he was DR. JOSEPH BOSWORTH. Ixvii chaplain at Rotterdam, was, at that date, a very useful book. It was largely a translation of the Dictionary by Lye and Manning, with some additions and alterations, and is a much more convenient book to handle than the two folio volumes that preceded it. Still more useful, for many students, was the cheaper Compendious Anglo-Saxon Dictionary published in 1848. But the dictionaries published in Germany by Ettmiiller in 1851, and by Leo in 1872-7, as well as the extremely exhaustive Glossary of the poetical A. S. literature by Grein in 1861-4 rendered it necessary for him to prepare a new edition, on a fuller plan. ^Vhen my edition of St. Mark's Gospel in the Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian versions was published by the Pitt Press in 1871, the Syndics of the Press sent a copy of it to Dr. Bosworth, who, in his reply (dated Dec. 15, 1871) acknowledging the present of the book, made an interesting allusion to the work upon which he was then engaged. He was glad to find that the readings of all the MSS. were presented to the reader at once, and observed that ' instead of having the trouble of referring to the MSS. or the various books in which some of them are printed, I find, at once, all I want to quote in my large Anglo-Saxon Dictionary preparing for the Clarendon Press, on which I and my amanuenses are employed at least seven hours a day.' He was working at the Dictionary up to the very last ; and at his death, which took place on May 27, 1876, had finally revised the first 288 pages of the work, down to the word firgen-stream. It was some time before it was possible to make preparations for the continuation of the work ; but it was at last under- taken by Professor Toller, of Manchester, who completed Part II (down to hzvistlian} in 1882, Part III (to sar) in 1887, and Part IV, section i (to swithriati) in 1892 ; so that we may reasonably hope for the completion of this important work at no very distant date. Dr. Bosworth once told me how he made a considerable e 2 Ixviii INTRODUCTION. sum of money in a very simple way. There was formerly a stupid fashion in vogue of writing Greek Grammars in Latin. I have now before me the one which I used at school Graecae Grammaticae Rudimenta in usum scholarum printed at Oxford in 1849. As this, naturally enough, appeared to him a useless piece of tyranny on the part of pedagogues, he brought out a Greek Grammar containing very similar information, the text of which was entirely written in perfectly plain English, such as every schoolboy could understand ; and he had his reward in an enormous sale. Dr. Bosworth will always be remembered by a grateful University for his liberal gift, in 1867, of the sum of p^io,ooo, which, after accumulating till it produced ^500 per annum, provided the stipend of the Elrington and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon. The reason for the founder's adoption of this title is easily discovered. The doctor was thrice married, and the name of his second wife, who had herself been previously married, was Mrs. Elrington. She took much interest in the study of Anglo-Saxon, and we find, from a remark in Dr. Bosworth's edition of Orosius (p. Ixii), that she assisted him in collating the manuscript readings of that work. If I rightly interpret the following extracts from the Gentleman's Magazine, her maiden name was Anne Margaret Elliot. ' Married, Dec. 13, 1828. At St. Margaret's, Westminster, Lieut. - Col. Elrington, of the 3rd Guards, to Anne Margaret, second daughter of John Elliot, Esq., of Pimlico Lodge.' ' Died, July 6, 1842. Sarah, wife of Dr. Bosworth, at Quorn, Derbyshire.' ' Died, Nov. 26, 1842. At Berkley Square, John Hamilton Elrington, late Lieut. -Col. Scots Fusilier Guards.' ' Married, Dec. 8, 1853. At Leckhampton, Cheltenham, the Rev. J. Bosworth, D.D., F.R.S., to Anne Margaret, widow of Col. Hamilton Elrington ' (Gent. Mag., March, 1854). Another good friend of mine was Miss Georgina Jackson, MISS JACKSON. Ixix authoress of the Shropshire Glossary, one of the very best of its kind. After many years employed in collecting dialect words, some of which were acquired when travelling in a third-class railway-carriage on a market-day, she con- sulted me then a total stranger to her as to the best method of preparing her work for press. I recommended the use of slips each slip to be of the size of a half-sheet of note-paper a suggestion which she adopted. I also took occasion to recommend the use of 'glossic,' or, at any rate, of some fixed mode of representing sounds by symbols. At this she at first rebelled, on the grounds that it was quite unintelligible to her, and that she could never acquire it. I could only reply that it was worth while to acquire either that system or something like it ; at the same time alluding to the difficulty of discussing sounds through the medium of writing. At once, with characteristic decision, she started from Chester for Cambridge, to discuss the matter personally ; whereupon ensued a long and amusing argu- ment, conducted on both sides with due spirit and vigour. Being very anxious to render her work as useful as possible, she soon found that ' glossic ' was not so very difficult, and that it could be adapted to the Shropshire pronunciation with sufficient accuracy for practical purposes. She then had an interview with Dr. Ellis, with the most satisfactory results; and the end of it was that he described her investigation of the dialect-sounds as ' perhaps the most searching that has been made.' It was quite a treat to hear her give the sounds which I had so often myself heard in the neighbourhood of Corve-dale. Her favourite story was that of Betty Andrews, of Church Pulverbatch. Betty was going in a market-train from Hanwood to Shrewsbury, and while talking with her usual rapidity, was thus addressed by a man who was her fellow-traveller : ' Wy, Missis, I should think as yo' mun a 'ad yore tongue lied [oiled] this mornin' afore yo' started.' ' No, indeed. Sir,' said Betty, ' I hanna ; Ixx INTRODUCTION. fur if it 'ad a bin lied it ood never a stopped. No danger ] ! ' Miss Jackson became a sad invalid in her later years, being confined to one room and often to bed for long periods, and suffering much pain ; but she bore her trials with much courage and even cheerfulness, and at all times took much interest in English dialects and etymology. It has always been a great pleasure to me to welcome English scholars to Cambridge ; and to find that they are not unfrequently attracted here. The manuscript treasures of the University library and of Corpus Christi College are an inducement to them to visit us ; and it is a great privilege for us to meet them. It is thus that I became personally acquainted with many scholars from Germany ; such as Professors Ten Brink, Zupitza, Kolbing, Schroer, Koch, and Brandl ; and with Professors Child, Bright, Cook, and several others, from America. Zupitza was one of the most kindly and delightful of companions, a great enthusiast in his subject, and an excellent teacher. As a critic, he possessed a faculty of too great rarity, in that he could detect an error and set one right without causing even the slightest annoyance. We all know how prone are critics, in general, and especially, perhaps, the German critics, to give the impression that they like seeing the victim wince while they forcibly stick in the pin. To Professor Child belongs, as I believe, the honour of being one of the first to show that England could learn from America in matters relating to the philology of our common language. His wonderful essays on the Language of Chaucer and on the 1 In glossic ' Wi Mis'is, ei shud thing'k uz yoa mun a ad' yoa'r' tung'g ei'ld dhis maur'-nin ufoa'r' yoa staa'r'tid.' ' Noa indee'd Sur, ei arru fur' if it ad- u bin ei'ld it 66d nevur' u stop't. Noa' dernjuV ! ' The use of yoa for you, of mun a for must have, of an'tt for have not, and the total loss of initial h, are very characteristic of Shropshire. And as for 'no danger,' i.e. not at all likely, it is quite the usual way of concluding a reply. PROFESSOR CHILD. Ixxi language of Gower laid the foundation of nearly all that we have learnt as to the grammar and metre of these poets : and any one who examines his splendid collection of English Ballads will marvel at the erudition he displays with regard to all the numerous ballads that are found among Teutonic peoples. Perhaps the most remarkable sign of the times is the recognition of English philological studies at the universities by the conferring of honorary degrees. I can recall three examples at Cambridge within recent years. I have seen Stephens, of Copenhagen, Zupitza, of Berlin, and Alexander John Ellis, all presented, in different years, for the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in the Senate House. The last of these cases is the most striking, as the degree was conferred upon one who was himself a Cambridge man. Dr. Ellis, of Trinity College, took his B.A. degree as sixth wrangler, as far back as 1837, and was at the head of the second class in the classical tripos in the same year ; but, owing to certain theological restrictions then in vogue he was never elected a fellow of any college, nor even took the M.A. degree. Fifty-three years later, in 1890, he was made a Litt. D. ; an honour which he did not long survive. ACCOUNT OF THE EXTRACTS IN THE PRESENT VOLUME. The present volume is entirely occupied with selected extracts from the articles contributed by me at various times to the well-known weekly periodical entitled Notes and Queries. As these amount to several hundred, and many of them relate to questions which were chiefly of interest at the moment, or give results which have since found their way into books, it became necessary to make a selection. The Ixxii INTRODUCTION. number of articles which are omitted because the suggestions which they expressed have been disproved, is very small. On the other hand, a considerable number of etymologies have been here reprinted, notwithstanding their appearance in later works, because I had much to do with their enuncia- tion or explanation, and their appearance in N. and Q. has become a matter of history. I may note, for example, that the etymology of Carfax was suggested to me by the perusal of the French MS. of Melusine, and has since been adopted in all the newer dictionaries. The etymology of puzzle was put together from certain examples of the word in Lydgate and Skelton. The etymology of spawn came out of Walter of Biblesworth. The right explanation of talon and pounce is in the Book of Hawking. The full explanation of the prefixes to- and ail-to- was due to collation of the usages of many English writers. Lammas was explained by King Alfred ; and the provincial word ollands by Ray. The first clear light as to the origin of nuncheon came from Mr. Riley ; following in whose trace the true explanation was given by Mr. Walford, and at a later time, but independently, by myself. Our use of atone is due to imitation of a French idiom. Sparable is a modern spelling of sparrmv-bill ; and wag is short for wag-halter. Hogs-head was formerly ox-head, whatever may have been the reason for so naming it. I found the etymology of the provincial words aund, reckan, and wicks (of the mouth) in the Icelandic Dictionary. Before we can explain hugger-mugger, we must know that the older spelling is hoder-moder. All these things, and many more like them, prove that there is no royal road to etymology ; it is simply a matter of pure research, conducted in accordance with very careful study of the phonetic changes that have taken place in our language from time to time. Besides preserving here many illustrations of difficult words, such as caddy, cap-a-pie, beef-eater, bernar, blake-beryed, ETYMOLOGIES. Ixxiii bydand, carminative, gist, and many others of a like kind, I have brought together, from almost countless sources, illustrations of phrases of interest, such as key-cold, as dead as a doornail, a year and a day, by hook or by crook, a baker's dozen, exceptio probat regulam, and others like them ; all gathered by the simple process of diving into all kinds of books of all periods. In fact, one never knows whence help may come; Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-French, Middle- English, and Elizabethan texts all abound with possibilities for the discovery of ' origins,' for those who have the courage to attack them. I found, for example, the true etymology of dismal^ in the catalogue of the MSS. in the Glasgow Library ; and I am not aware that it has, till lately, been given any- where else; though it was duly pointed out by M. Paul Meyer, who made the catalogue. In reading such old texts, there is no reason for confining one's attention to the language only ; nor have I ever omitted to learn from them whatever else I could there find. Hence the reader may find here discussions on several literary points of some interest, such as the Middle- English accounts of the Seven Ages of man, of the creation of roses, of Cain's jaw-bone, and of the story of 'the pound of flesh.' The Jackdaw of Rheims is illustrated by the Knight de la Tour, and the Lay of Havelok by the poems of Robert of Brunne. There are some remarkable parallelisms of expression between Chaucer's Troilus and his Knightes Tale ; and the passage in Piers the Plowman about Lucifer's seat in the north can be illustrated from the Vulgate version of the Bible and from Milton's Paradise Lost. There is no end to the interest to be derived from the study of our splendid literature ; and it is just as easy, for a mind not already debilitated by the perusal of magazines, 1 From A. F. dis tnal, evil days ; whence the common old phrase ' dismal days.' See my note to Chaucer's Works, vol. i. poem iii. 1. 1206. Ixxiv INTRODUCTION. to cultivate a taste for the Elizabethan drama as for Tit-bits and the Yellow Book. All that is needed is to read the former first. The works of our best authors form a true 4 Pastime of Pleasure,' and are a source of rational recreation ; magazines are chiefly good for killing time in hours of intentional idleness. One of the queerest crazes in English etymology is the love of paradox, which is often carried to such an extent that it is considered mean, if not despicable, to accept an etymology that is obvious. It is of no use to prove, to some people, by the clearest evidence, that beef-eater is derived from beef and eater ; or fox-glove from fox andg/0ve ; or offal from off "and fall '; or garret from the French garite ; or the A. S. hlafmczsse (Lammas) from hldf, a loaf; or marigold from Mary and gold; or Whitsunday from white and Sunday : all this is to them but food for babes, and they crave for strong meat, such as only themselves can digest. Most of these questions are here touched upon ; but I only attempt to convince such as are more humble- minded. Against this desire of seeing ' corruption ' in almost every word, I have always waged war ; and that is why many of the articles in this volume have a controversial tone. Moreover, it has always seemed to me legitimate to show up the absurdity and crudity of many of these notable ideas ; but I have always attacked the ideas, not the persons who utter them. The trouble is, of course, that the originators of the ideas do not like it, and are far too apt to hide the weakness of their case by assuming that they are personally affronted. Surely this is hardly in accordance with common sense. If a man has a good case, he can base it upon facts and quotations ; and it is no answer to tell me, when I ask for proof, that it is ungentlemanly to dare to contradict. Moreover, it is very strange, as I have often argued, that it is only in the case of etymology that such tactics are FIRST PRINCIPLES. Ixxv resorted to If the question were one of chemistry, botany, or any form of science, the appeal would lie to the facts ; and we should be amazed if any one who asserted that the chief constituents of water are oxygen and nitrogen were to take offence at contradiction. The whole matter lies in a nutshell ; if etymology is to be scientific, the appeal lies to the facts ; and the facts, in this case, are accurate quota- tions, with exact references, from all available authors. To attempt to etymologize without the help of quotations, is like learning geology without inspecting specimens ; and we may well ask, what good can come of it ? Yet this very absurdity happens. A man sees a piece of quartz for the first time, and writes 'a note' that he has discovered a piece of malachite. This is no unfair descrip- tion of some of the wonderful crazes which I have often taken upon myself to ' contradict.' Take, for example, my article on ampersand at p. 67. It was written to put an end to the extraordinary notion that it is a ' corruption ' (oh ! this beloved word!) of and-pussy-and, 'because' (another very precious word) the symbol (&) suggests a cat sitting well up, and holding up one fore paw. The lowest curl, I believe, was thought to be due to the end of the tail. One wonders where was the inventor's sense of humour. Here are a few more specimens of pure invention, viz. that swine is the plural of smv; that glove is of Celtic origin ; that the Whitby word gaut, a narrow lane, is of Hindustani origin ; that the phrase ' he dare not ' is modern, an assertion which was shifted to another one equally baseless, that it does not occur in Elizabethan literature; that sweetheart is a ' corruption ' of a form sweetard, which never existed ; that the Latin word laburnum is derived from French (!); that, in the phrase 'to set the Thames on fire,' the word temse means ' a sieve ' ; that offal is derived from or-val, refuse, which is not, in any case, a correct form ; that balloon is derived from the name of M. Ballon^ Ixxvi INTRODUCTION. who was a dancing-master (this precious specimen actually appeared in the Times newspaper) ; that ing is Swedish (!) for a meadow ; and a great many more things of the same kind. For the forgers of these curiosities are not in the least bound by the authority of dictionaries and grammars, but coin words for the nonce with the same freedom as is indulged in by the providers of canards for our daily papers. Even good writers make curious mistakes, as the reader will discover. Spenser thought that yede was an infinitive mood, with a past tense yode. Keats seems to have been under the impression that darkling is a present participle ; but let us charitably hope that he knew it to be an adverb. Blackmore imagined that the old word watchet, signifying ' blue,' is derived from Watchet in Somersetshire. Browning thought that slughorn (variant of slogan) was a kind of horn that could be blown. Nearly all the world has gone wrong over the interpretation of ' one touch of nature,' owing to a contemptuous disregard of the context. And then there are the critics ! One of them opines that the O. French word serfs cannot mean ' stags,' because his limited experience only recognises the spelling cerfs. Richardson, in his Dictionary, misunderstands Chaucer's fape're (meaning 'to appear'), and enters it to illustrate taper. Another critic wants to rewrite a line of Dryden's, because he did not know that instinct was, in those days, accented on the second syllable ; with many more vagaries of a like kind. And then there are the editors ! Caxton turned the old word estres into eftures, which has no meaning at all. An editor of Hudibras turns tricker into trigger^ because he is unaware that tricker is merely a Dutch word anglicized. An editor of Cowper's John Gilpin turns lumbering into rumbling. Crabbe's own son altered rimpling to rippling. And so the game goes on. My position has always been, that things of this kind are INGLORIOUS GUESSES. Ixxvii not glorious, but sad ; not laudable, but discreditable, if not dishonest. And few things have surprised me more, in the course of my experience, than the eager recklessness with which such puerilities are vented, the extraordinary readiness with which they are accepted and applauded, and the tenacity with which they are defended against the clearest exhibition of evidence Paradox and grotesqueness are powerful in their favour, whilst the simple truth is but plain and prosaic. Are we therefore to give way, to let fancy have its free fling, and allow ignorance to revel in its recklessness ? I have always maintained that, if truth be simple, it is also instructive, and that only docility promotes progress. Of course I have found mistakes in ideas of my own, but have always thought it wisest to drop such notions like a red-hot coal ; which is the teaching of common sense. Indeed, the very point for which I here contend was well stated by a writer with the signature ' H. de B. H. ' in N. and Q. 7 S. ix. 442 ; and I appended some remarks of my own which I here beg leave to quote 1 : ' I am extremely thankful to the author of this article for saying that " people who touch on specialist points should have special knowledge." This is what I have been saying for years with respect to the English language, concerning which floods of untruths are continually being poured out by persons absolutely ignorant of the fact that its study does require special knowledge, and is full of "specialist points" a phrase, by the way, that is a little awkward. Because I have said this I have been told that I am rude, and it has been plainly hinted that I can be no gentleman. Nevertheless, I shall maintain my position, and I can at once illustrate it by a very clear example from the same number of A", and Q. (7 S. ix. 453). We are there told, 1 From N. and Q. 7 S. ix. 495 (1890% in an article headed 'Critical Carelessness.' Ixxviii INTRODUCTION. under the heading " Heriots," that Coke derives it [heriot] from here, " lord," and geat, " beste." We thus learn that even so great an authority as Coke was entirely ignorant of the subject concerning which he professed to give informa- tion. It so happens that here does not mean " lord," neither does geat mean " beste." And it is clear, too, that he made yet a third blunder in writing geat, when the word to which he meant to refer is geatu. Geat means a gate ! ' It is a pleasure to observe that, in spite of recurring out- breaks, guess-work is no longer adored with that blind admiration which it once evoked. Its ancient glory is waning, and its acceptance is transitory and hesitating ; towards which hopeful change in public opinion I claim to have contributed somewhat, by means of the very articles which are here collected and reprinted. I have only to add that I have contributed a large number of articles, on linguistic and literary subjects, to many other publications besides Notes and Queries. If the reception of the present book is sufficiently encouraging, it will be easy to produce another volume, or even two more, of a like kind. BIBLIOGRAPHY. (From A 7 , and Q. 8 S. ii. 241 (1892); with subsequent additions). I HOPE there is no harm in my attempting to give some account of my books. I suppose it must be done some day, and I am more likely than another to be able to do it correctly. I begin with books and editions, excluding letters and pamphlets. As many of the editions mentioned below came out in parts, at different dates, it is clearest to adopt a perfectly chronological order, mentioning each part separately, and denoting it by the letters a, b, c; different editions I denote by the letters A, B, C : i. The Songs and Ballads of Uhland : translated from the German. London, Williams and Norgate, 1864. Post 8vo, pp. xxviii, 455- 2 (A). Lancelot of the Laik : a Scottish Metrical Romance. Re-edited with an Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. (Early English Text Society, No. 6.) London, Trflbner and Co., 1865. Demy 8vo, pp. Ivi, 132. B) Revised ed., 1870. Pp. Ivii, 132. 3 (A). Parallel Extracts from MSS. of Piers the Plowman. (E.E.T.S., No. 17.) Trubner, 1866. Pp.24. (B) Second edition, with alterations and additions, 1885. Pp. 34. 4. The Komance of Partenay, or the Tale of Melusire. (E.E.T.S. No. 22.) Trubner, 1866. Pp. xix, 299. 5. A Tale of Ludlow Castle. A Poem. Bell and Daldy, 1866. Fcap. 8vo, pp. x, 101. 1 x x x BIBLIOGRA PH Y. 6 'a}. The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. By Wm. Langland. Part I, or the A-Text. (E.E.T.S., No. 28.) Triibner, 1867. Pp. xliii, 158. 7 (A). Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, with God Spede the Plough. v E.E.T.S.,No.3o.) Trubner, 1867. Pp. xx, 75. (B) Revised ed., 1895. 8. The Bomance of William of Palerne, or William and the Werwolf ; with a fragment of an Alliterative Romance of Alisaunder. (E.E.T.S., Extra Series, No. i.) Trubner, 1867. Pp. xliv, 328. 9 (A). The Lay of Havelok the Dane. (E.E.T.S., Extra Series, No. 4.) Trubner, 1868. Pp. Iv, 159. (B) Re-issued, with Corrections and Additions, 1889. Pp. Ixii, 159. 10. A Mceso-G-othic Glossary. (Philological Society.) London, Asher and Co., 1868. Small 410, pp. xxiv, 341. 1 1 (A). The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. B-Text ; Prologue and Passus i-vii. Oxford, 1869. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xlii, 195. (Bl Second edition, revised, 1874. (C) Third edition, revised, 1879. Pp. xlviii, 216. (D) Fourth edition, revised, 1886. (E) Fifth edition, revised, 1889. (F) Sixth edition, revised, 1891. 6 (6). The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman. Part II, or the B-Text. (E.E.T.S., No. 38.) Trubner, 1869. Pp. Ivi, 427. N.B. Appended to this part is a Supplement to Part I, pp. numbered I37*-I44*. 12 (a). The Bruce. By John Barbour. Parti. (E.E.T.S., Extra Series, No. n.) Trubner, 1870. Pp. 1-256. 13. Joseph of Arimathie ; or the Holy Grail ; with the Life of Joseph of Arimathea. (E.E.T.S., No. 44.) Trubner, 1871. Pp. xlvii, 100. 14 (A\ The Poems of Thomas Chatterton ; with an Essay on the Rowley Poems and a Memoir by E. Bell. Bell and Daldy, 1871. 2 vols. fcap. 8vo. Vol. I, pp. cvii, 379 ; vol. II, pp. xlvi, 346. (B) Re-issued, 1890. 15 (A). Specimens of English, from A.D. 1394 to 1597. Oxford, 1871. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xxxii, 536. (B) Second edition, revised, 1879. (C) Third edition, revised, 1880. (D) Fourth edition, revised, 1887, pp. xxxi, 550. (El Fifth edition, 1890. 16 (a). The Gospel according to St. Mark; in the Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions. Cambridge, 1871. Demy 410, pp. xxxii, 144. 17 (A\ Specimens of Early English, from A.D. 1298 to 1393. By Dr. Morris, and the Rev. W. W. Skeat. Oxford, 1872. Extra fcap. 8vo. (B) Second edition, 1873. Pp. xl, 490. (C) Third edition, 1894. 18. Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe. (E.E.T.S., Extra BIBLIOGRAPHY. l xxx { Series, No. 16, and Chaucer Soc.) Trubner, 18712. Pp. Ixix, ng (with seven plates). 6 (c). The Vision of William, &c. Part III. ; or the C-Text. Together with Richard the Redeles, and the Crowned King. (E.E.T.S., No. 54.) Trubner, 1873. Pp. cxxviii, 534 ^\vith a facsimile' 1 . 19 (A). Questions for Examination in English Literature, with an introduction on the Study of English. Bell and Daldy, 1873. Pp. xxvii, 100. (B) Second and revised edition, 1887. Pp. xxx, no. 20. Seven Reprinted Glossaries. (English Dialect Society. No. O Trubner, 1873. Demy 8vo, pp. vi, 112. 16 (6X The Gospel according to St. Luke, &c. Cambridge. 1874. Pp. xii, 252. 21 (A). Chaucer : The Prioresses Tale, Sir Thopas, The Monkes Tale, The Clerkes Tale, The Squieres Tale, &c. Oxford, 1874. Extra fcap. 8vo. (B) Second edition, revised, 1877. Pp. Ixxx, 312. (C) Third edition, revised, 1880. Pp. xcv, 316. D) Fourth edition, revised, 1888. (E) Fifth edition, revised, 1891. 22. Seven Reprinted Glossaries. (E.D.S., No. 5.) Trubner. 1874. Pp. viii, 92. 12 (b). The Bruce. Part II. (E.E.T.S.. Extra Series, No. 21). Pp. 257-336. 23. Ray's Collection of English Words not generally used. Reprinted, with rearrangement and additions, from the edition of 1691. (E.D.S., No. 6.) Trubner, 1874. Pp. xxix, 122. 24. The Two Noble Kinsmen. By Shakespeare and Fletcher. Cambridge, 1875. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xxiv, 159. 25. Shakespeare's Plutarch. London, Macmillan, 1875. Crown 8vo, pp. xxii, 352. 26. Five Original Provincial Glossaries. (E.D.S., No. xa.) Trubner, 1876. Pp. xiv, 149. 27. A List of English Words, the Etymology of which is illus- trated by comparison with Icelandic. (Supplement to Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary.} Oxford, 1876. 410, pp. iv, 20. 28 ^A\ Chaucer: The Tale of the Man of Lawe, The Pardoneres Tale, The Second Nonnes Tale, The Chanouns Yemannes Tale. Oxford, 1877. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xlviii, 275. (B) Second edition, revised, 1879. Pp. xlviii, 282. (C) New edition, revised, 1889. (D) New edition, revised, 1889. 29. A Bibliographical List of the Works illustrative of the various Dialects of English. By the Rev. W. W. Skeat and J. H. Nodal. (E.D.S.) Part I, 1873, pp. 1-48, and Part II, 1875, pp. 49-131, by W. W. S. ; Part III, 1877, pp. i-viii, by W. W S., PP- 133-201, by J. H. N., inclusive of an Index by W. E. A. Axon. f Ixxxii BIBLIOGRAPHY. 6 (d}. Notes on Piers the Plowman. Part IV, sect. i. (E.E.T.S.. No. 67.) Triibner, 1877. Pp. 1-512. 12 (c). The Bruce. Part III. (E.E.T.S., Extra Series, No. 29.) Trubner, 1877. Pp. 337-785. 16 (c). The Gospel according to St. John, &c. Cambridge. 1878. Pp. xx, 197. 30. Alexander and Dindimus. i^E.E.T.S., Extra Series, No. 31.) Trubner, 1878. Pp. xxxvi, 93. 31. Wycliffe's New Testament, ed. Forshall and Madden. Re- printed, with Introduction and Glossary. Oxford, 1879. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xxiii, 541. 32. Five Reprinted Glossaries. (E.D.S., No. 23.) Trubner. 1879. Demy 8vo, pp. viii, 191. 33. Specimens of English Dialects : including a Bran New Wark. V E.D.S., No. 25.) Trubner, 1879. Demy 8vo, pp. viii, 222. 34. Wycliffe's Translation of Job, Psalms, &c. Ed. Forshall and Madden. Reprinted, with Introduction and Glossary ; Oxford, 1 88 1. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xi, 300. 35 (). ^Ifric's Lives of Saints. Part I. E.E.T.S., No. 76.) Trubner, 1881. Pp. vii and 1-256. 36. The Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic. Oxford, 1882. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. Ixxv, 103. [36*. I was entrusted with the reissue of the following work, to which I supplied many references and an index. The History of English Bhythms, by Edwin Guest, LL.D. Ed. by W. W. S London, G. Bell and Sons, 1882. Demy 8vo, pp. xviii, 730.] 37. Fitzherbert's Book of Husbandry. 1534. (E.D.S., No. 37." Trubner, 1882. Demy 8vo, pp. xxx, 167. 38 V A). An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. (Part I, A-Dor, 1879. Part HI Dor-Lit, 1880. Part III, Lit- Red, 1881. Part IV, Red-Z, &c., 1882.) Oxford, 1882, 4 to, pp. xxviii, 799. (B) Supplement to the first edition ; pp. 775-846. Oxford, 1884, 410. (C) Second edition, including the Supplement. Oxford, 1884. 4to, pp. xxxii, 844. 39 (A\ A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Oxford, 1882. Crown 8vo, pp xii, 616. (B) Second edition, revised, 1885. Pp. xii. 625. (C) Third edition, 1887. Pp. xii, 633. (D) Fourth edition, 1890. Pp. xii, 633. 40. The Tale of Gamelyn, with Notes and a Glossary. Oxford, 1884. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xxxix, 64. 6 (e). Notes on Piers the Plowman. Part IV, section ii. (E.E.T.S., No 81.) Trubner, 1884. Pp. Ixxvii, and 513-910. 41. The Kingis Quair. By King James I of Scotland. ^Scottish Text Society, No. i.) Edinburgh, 1884. Demy 8vo, pp. Iv, 113. BIBLIOGRAPHY. l xxx jjj 35 (6\ ^Elfric's Lives of Saints. Part II. E.E.T.S.. No. 8*. Trubner, 1886. Pp. 257-554. 42. The "Wars of Alexander ; an Alliterative Romance. ^E.E.T.S., Extra Series, No. 47.^ Trubner. 1886. Pp. xxiv, 478. 43 Piers the Plowman. By W. Langland. In three parallel Texts; with Introduction, Notes, and Glossary. Oxford, 1886. In two vols. demy 8vo ; vol. I, pp. viii, 628 : vol. II, pp. xciii, 484. 16 (d). The Gospel according to St. Matthew, &c. Cambridge. 1887. Pp. xi, 258. The complete work, in one volume, is entitled, ' The Holy Gospels in Anglo-Saxon, Northumbrian, and Old Mercian Versions, synoptically arranged,' &c. Cambridge, 18711887. Demy 8vo. Paged as before. 44 (A). Principles of English Etymology. First Series. The Native Element. Oxford, 1887. Crown 8vo, pp. xxxiv, 541. (B) Second and revised edition. 1892. Pp. xxxix, 547. 45. A Concise Dictionary of Middle English. By A. L. Mayhew and W. W. S. Oxford, 1888. Crown 8vo. pp. xv, 272. 46. Chaucer: the Minor Poems. Oxford, 1888, Crown 8vo, pp. Ixxxvi, 462. 12 (d). The Bruce. Part IV. E.E.T.S., Extra Series. No. 55.' Trubner. 1889. Pp. i-cv. 47. Chaucer : the Legend of Good Women. Oxford, 1889. Crown 8vo, pp. liv, 229. 35 (c). ^Ifric's Lives of Saints. Part III. (E.E.T.S., No. 94.) Trubner, 1890. Vol. II, pp. 1-224. 48. Principles of English Etymology. Second Series. The Foreign Element. Oxford, 1891. Crown 8vo, pp. xxix, 505. 49. (A) Chaucer ; the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Oxford. 1891. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. xvi, 83. B) Second and revised edition. 50 (A). A Primer of English Etymology. Oxford, 1892. Extra fcap. 8vo, pp. viii, 112. (B Second and revised edition, 1895. 51. Twelve Facsimiles of Old English MSS. Oxford, 1892. Demy 410, pp. 1-36 ; with twelve plates. 52. Chaucer's House of Fame. Oxford, 1893. Crown 8vo, pp. 136. 53 (a). The Bruce. By John Barbour. Part I. ^Scottish Text Society.) Edinburgh, 1893-4. Demy 8vo, pp. 1-351. (6) The same; Part II, 1893-4. Pp. i-viii, 1-431. (c) The same ; Part III. 1894-5. Pp- i-xci. N.B. (c) and (a) make up vol. I ; (6 N constitutes vol. II. 54. The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Oxford, 1894. Six vols. demy 8vo. Vol. I. The Romaunt of the Rose, and Minor Poems; pp. Ixiv, 568. Vol. II. Boethius ; Troilus ; pp. Ixxx, 506. Ixxxiv BIBLIOGRAPHY. Vol. III. House of Fame ; Legend of Good Women ; Astrolabe ; Sources of the Tales ; pp. Ixxx, 504. Vol. IV. Canterbury Tales ; Tale of Gamelyn ; pp. xxxii, 667. Vol. V. Notes to the Canterbury Tales ; pp. xxviii, 515. Vol. VI. Introduction ; Glossary ; Indexes ; pp. ciii, 445. 55. The Student's Chaucer. Oxford, 1895. Crown 8vo, pp. xxiv, 732 ; with Glossarial Index, pp. 149. 56. Nine Specimens of English Dialects. (E.D.S., No. 76.) Oxford, 1895. Demy 8vo, pp. xxiv, 193. 57. Two Collections of Derbicisms ; by S. Pegge, A.M. Edited by W. W.S. and Thomas Hallam. (E.D.S., No. 78.) Oxford, 1896. Demy 8vo, pp. c, 138. 58. A Student's Pastime ; being a select series of articles re- printed from Notes and Queries. Oxford, 1896.. Cr. 8vo, pp. Ixxxiv, 410. 59. The Complete "Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Vol. VII i supplementary). Works printed in old editions. Oxford. Demy 8vo. (In the press.) 35 (d). -ffilfric's Lives of Saints. Part IV. E.E.T.S.) Vol. II ; concluding part. (/ the press.) ERRATA. P. 46, 1. ii. For Libra read Liber. P. 108, 1. 3. For 187 read 1877. P. 129, 1. 10. For parables read parable. P. 137, 1. 12. for ofel read ofer. A STUDENT'S PASTIME FROM 'NOTES AND QUERIES: ONE of my earliest contributions to Notes and Queries appeared in the Third Series, vii. 407 ; May 20, 1865. Later contributions can be found in the Indexes to the various years, under my name. I here give a selection from the numerous articles contributed by me to that periodical from the year 1866 onwards. In a few cases, I have slightly altered the wording, but as a rule it is unaltered. In other cases, I give only a portion of the article, when the rest of it is of no general interest. The articles are, for the most part, arranged in chronological order. The Index at the end of the volume is a sufficient guide to the subjects under discussion. The reference to ' 3 S. ix. 379 ' means Third Series, vol. ix. p. 379 ; and so in other cases. 1. Conrad: derivation of (3 S. ix. 379; 1866). Of Teutonic origin. From Old High Germ. Kuon-rdt, i.e. keen (in) counsel. [See kuoni, keen, rdf, counsel, and Kuonrdt (s.v. Chuonzo), in Schade's O. Ger. Diet.] The Ital. Currado, in Dante, Farad, xv. 139, is borrowed from the German. The Dutch words koen, keen or bold, and raad, counsel, still strikingly resemble the old Kuon-rdt. B 4 ANOINTED. intrusion of h into the word was doubtless due to confusion with the Greek pu#//.os ; but it should be noted that English is the only language which has admitted this pedantic innovation l . Compare A. S. rim, Icelandic rima, Dutch rijm, German Reim, Danish Him, Swedish rim, French rime, Ital. rima, Span, and Port, rima, Prov. rim. [Even Polish has rym.~\ 4. Anointed; in a depraved sense (3 S. ix. 422 ; i866\ [Murray's New English Dictionary has : ' Anoint : ironically, to beat soundly, to baste. In the North they say humorously " to anoint with the sap of a hazel rod." ' He then quotes the very passage to which I called attention in 1866.] I have just met with so singular a use of this word, that I make a note of it at once. In the French MS. Romance of Melusine is an account of a man who had received a thorough and severe beating, which is thus referred to : ' Qui auoit este si bien oingt? The English version, which I am now editing for the E. E. T. Society, says : 'Which so well was Anoynted indede V It is clear that to anoint a man, was to give him a sound drubbing, and that the word was so used in the fifteenth century. This, I think, explains all. ' An anointed rogue ' means either one who has been well thrashed, or who deserves to be. In the latter case, it expresses the opinion and the wish of the speaker. 5. Carfax. I (3 S. x. 184; 1866). Having duly read all I can find in N. and Q. about Carfax, well known as the name of a place in Oxford, I feel bound to say that none of the derivations proposed for it 1 The insertion of the ft into the word is not much earlier than 1550. 2 See the Romance of Partenay, ed. Skeat, 1866, 1. 5653 ; and the note. CARFAX. 5 seem to me to be properly proved, and I therefore ven- ture to propose another which is something more than a guess, as a good deal can be shown in its favour, it being capable of being traced through all its changes. The best of those proposed are quatre-faces and quatre-voies, the latter being the favourite, and adopted in the Oxford guide-books. But I submit that it remains to be shown that the phrase quatre-voies was ever commonly used ; quadrivium was used in Latin, but was quartre-voies used in French? The answer is, no ; the word commonly used in Old French was carrefourg, and the word still commonly used in French is its modern form, carrefour. Now the history of this word is very much to the purpose. First, let us see what Burguy says of it : he says, ' quarefor, quarefort, carrefour ; compose de quadrifurcum, propr. quadruple fourche.' This is quite sound ; there is"no doubt that the Latin root-words are quatuor and furca. Next, hear Cotgrave ; he says, ' Quarrefour : the place in, or part of, a towne whereat four streets meet at a head. Par tous les quarrefours de : Throughout all the four quarters, corners, or streets of; and this is a good sound explanation. I must now remark that, according to N. and Q., an old spelling for Carfax is ' Carfox,' and I can then trace the word from beginning to end as follows. In MS. Camb. LI. 2. 5, fol. 41, are the lines ' A lentree de luxenbourg, Lieu ny auoit ne carrcfourg Dont len neust veu venir les gens,' &c. In MS. Trin. R. 3. 1 7, which is a translation of the above Romance of Melusine, we find on fol. 39 the corresponding lines No place ther had, neither carfoukes non, But peple shold se ther come many one *.' 1 Printed in the Romance of Partenay. ed. Skeat (E. E. T. S.\ 1866 ; lines 1819-20. 6 CARFAX. \Vhence it is easy to see that Carfox is a contraction of Carfoukes, and from Carfox comes, as has been admitted, the modern form Carfax. I propose, therefore, to give up the derivations quatuor fades and quatuor vias, and to adopt quatuor furcas ; to suppose, in fact, that the -fax or -fox answers to the English forks. Those who think votes the true original have to show how the ^-sound got in to the word ; I make the simpler supposition that an r has dropped out. By way of corollary, it may be noted that the French have retained the r, but have dropped the k or^: thus they no longer write carrefourg, but carrefour. A correspondent has made the curious objection that, at Horsham, Carfax means a place where three ways meet, and he actually thinks this fatal to the etymology ! Of couse, the idea vifour was easily lost, but the idea of crossivays, or roads meeting, retained. How would such a person understand Peter's ' passing through all quarters ' (Acts ix. 32) ? Or, we might thus .argue that journal has no connexion with the Latin diurnus, because the London Journal is published once a week. Or again (and this is yet more to the purpose), it may be shown that even carrefour may denote, not four crossways, but one street only. For Froissart uses le souverain carrefour to denote the principal street; Froissart, vol. iv. c. 28. [PS. The above etymology is adopted in the New Eng. Diet. ; and the above passage is there cited. It had previously appeared in my own Etym. Dictionary, in 1882.] 6. Carfax. II (4 S. Hi. 273 ; 1869). The word carfukes occurs in the Memorials of London, ed. Riley, p. 300. I am sorry Mr. Riley reproduces in his note the erroneous notion of a derivation from quatre faces, four faces. It is, on the contrary, one more instance which illustrates the true derivation from the Latin quadrifurcum (or quatuor furcas), as I have explained in N. and Q. in 'AS NICE AS A NUN'S HEN.' 7 the passage to which I here refer; (see p. 4 above). Mr. Wedgwood has adopted my suggestion in the Appendix to his Etymological Dictionary, and gives further informa- tion concerning the etymology. 7. 'As nice as a Nun's Hen' (3 S. x. 215 ; 1866). The word fastidious very nearly expresses the sense of nice here. The priest alluded to was fastidious and mincing in his talk ; and, by a sort of pun, was said to be as fastidious and particular as a nun's hen ; according to a proverb in the north, which makes a nun's hen to be something peculiarly delicate and pure. The following quotation well exemplifies this : ' Women, women, loue of women Make bare purs with some men. Some be nyse as a nonne hene, Yet al thei be nat soo ; Some be lewde, some all be schreude, Go schrewes wher thei goo.' From a poem on 'Women,' appended to the Wright's Chaste Wife, ed. F. J. Furnivall (Early English Text Society). 8. Rhyme nor Reason (3 S. x. 236 ; 1866). Two or three correspondents have already explained that the phrase probably has reference to some poetical attempt which was recommended neither by metre nor meaning. I merely write to ' make a note ' that the phrase seems to be of considerable antiquity, and is probably of French origin. In a MS. written before 1500 (Camb. Univ. LI. 2. 5, fol. 9 b .) is the line ' En toy na Ryme tie Raison,' i. e. there is neither rime nor reason in thee. [PS. This MS. is the French original of the Romance of 8 RESPLEND. Partenay. The translation does not reproduce the line here quoted. See note to 1. 279 of the Romance of Partenay, ed. Skeat, E. E.T. S.,i866 ; p. 235.] 9. Resplend (3 S. x. 258 ; 1866). Resplend occurs in the following passage : ' He sees Berinthia's modesty resplend and shine in her affection.' (Reynolds's God 's Revenge against Murder (1622), booke ii. hy. vii. p. 57.) I take it to be closely related to the verb resplendish, which is not uncommon in early English, as in the following: 'The fame of Ffabius resplendysshed and floured after his deth more thanne at that tyme when he lyved.' (Caxton's Boke of Tulle, Of Old Age (1481)). Resplendence and resplendent are common enough, probably owing to their having been used by Milton, as, e. g. in Paradise Lost, v. 720, ' in full resplendence,' and ix. 568, ' resplendent Eve.' 10. Curious Tradition : Roses (3 S. x. 276; 1866). May I suggest that there were no roses in Paradise ? They are, comparatively, quite a recent creation ! At any rate, Sir John Maundeville gives the full and true account of their first appearance on earth, and says expressly they were the first ' that euer ony man saughe.' See Southey's fine poem called ' The Rose/ at the head of which the quotation from Maundeville is fully given. But Southey is not true to his original ; for, instead of saying that the rose was then seen for the first time, he says ' First seen on earth since Paradise was lost? Whence it appears that he had also read Milton (see P. L. iv. 256), and had combined his information. The 'rose of Sharon ' was only a narcissus. See Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, s. v. ' Rose.' CADDY 9 11. Caddy (38. x. 323; 1866). The following curious passage in a lately-published work is worth notice, and may perhaps at the same time suggest to W. S. J. 1 an etymology for the word caddy : The standard currency of Borneo is brass guns. This is not a figure of speech, nor do I mean small pistols or blunderbusses ; but real cannon, five to ten feet long, and heavy in proportion. The metal is estimated at so much a picul, and articles are bought and sold, and change given, by means of this awkward coinage. The picul contains 100 catties, each of which weighs about ij English pounds. There is one advantage about this currency, it is not easily stolen.' F. Boyle, Advent KITS among tlic Dyaks, p. 100. To the word catties the author subjoins a footnote as follows : ' Tea purchased in small quantities is frequently enclosed in boxes containing one catty. I offer a diffident suggestion that this may possibly be the derivation of our familiar tea-caddy.' I may add that the use of this weight is not confined to Borneo; it is used also in China, and is (as I am informed) the only weight in use in Japan. [PS. A note by R. W. W., also printed in N. and Q., con- tained the information that ' an original package of tea, less than a half-chest, is called in the trade a box, caddy, or catty. This latter is a Malay word kati, a catty or weight, equivalent to iglb. avoirdupois.' This etymology was repeated in my Etym. Diet., 1882, and is adopted in the New Eng. Dictionary.} 12. Expulse (3 S. x. 437; 1866). Expulse is simply the French and old English form of the word expel, and is now used but rarely ; so that it may be more justly deemed a term of the past than of the future. I find ' Expulser, to expulse, expell,' in Cotgrave's French Dictionary, editon of 1660; and ''Expulser, to expulse,' in 1 My dear brother-in-law, since dead. 10 FRENCH PROVERB : 'GRATE.' Nugent's French Dictionary, dated 1844. It occurs in Shakespeare (i Hen. VI. iii. 3. 25) as equivalent to extirp : Charles. 'Nor should that nation boast it so with us, But be extifped from our provinces. Alen. For ever should they be expulsed from France ; And not have title of an earldom here.' Nares, in his Glossary, also quotes the following : 'He was expulsed the senate.' North's Plutarch, p. 499. And 4 If he, expiilsing King Richard, as a man not meet for the office he bare, would take upon him the scepter.' Holinshed, vol. ii. vv. 8. But why the writer in The Guardian could not use the simpler term expel, seems odd ; perhaps he may have thought expulse more expressive and forcible, from the con- sideration that, in Latin, expulsare is the frequentative form of expellere ; or, more probably, he was thinking of the French form expulser, which is in common use. I may add, that expulse is a favourite word with dictionary-makers. I find it in Meadows' Spanish and Italian dictionaries, in Vieyra's Portuguese dictionary, and in the Tauchnitz Dutch and Swedish dictionaries. Both forms, expeler and expulsar, occur in Spanish, and expellir and expulsar in Portuguese ; but the Italian has expellere only, which is counterbalanced by the sole French form, expulser. 13. French Proverb : ' Grate' (3 S. x. 523 ; 1866). MR. B. says that he wants an explanation of grate in the phrase ' Tant grate chievre que mal gist,' and suggests that it will be found in Cotgrave. There it is, sure enough ; for Cotgrave gives, ' Grater, to scratch, to scrape, to scrub, claw, rub. Tant grate la chevre que mal gist (a proverb applicable to such as cannot be quiet when they are well).' [PS. The mod. F. form is gratterJ] ENGLISH WITHOUT ARTICLES. II 14. English without Articles (3 S. xi. 52 ; 1867). It is, worth noting that Sir William Davenant contrived to write a poem, ' The London Vacation,' almost without the use of articles. In the course of 162 lines, the only occurs about four times, and a about thrice. The effect is rather odd, as may be seen from this specimen : ' Now wight that acts on stage of Bull In scullers' bark does lie at Hull, Which he for pennies two does rig, All day on Thames to bob for grig. Whilst fencer pocr does by him stand In old dung-lighter, hook in hand ; Between knees rod, with canvas crib To girdle tied, close under rib ; Where worms are put, which must small fish Betray at night to earthen dish.' It may be noted, too, that grig here occurs in the sense of a little eel. (See 3 S. x. 413.) 15. Keycold (3 S. xi. 171 1867). Shakespeare speaks of 'key-cold Lucrece ' ; and again, we find the line ' Poor key-cold figure of a holy king ! ' Richard HI, Act I. Sc. 2. It may be noted that a similar idea is found in Gower. Compare 'And so it coldeth at min herte That wonder is, how I asterte (escape), In such a point that I ne deie. For certes, there was never keie Ne frosen is (ice) upon the walle More inly cold, than I am alle.' Gower, Confessio Amantis, ed. Pauli, iii. 9. 16. 'As Dead as a Door-Nail' (3 S. xi. 173 ; 1867). That this proverb is old enough, is easily shown. It occurs in the following passages : 12 BERN A R. ' For but ich haue bote of mi bale bi a schort time, I am ded as dore-nail ; now do all thi wille ! ' William and the IVenvolf, p. 23, 1. 628. ' Thurth the bold bodi he bar him to the erthe As ded as dornayl, to deme the sothe.' Id. p. 122, 1. 3396. ' Feith withouten the feet is right nothyng worthi, And as deed as a door-tree, but if the dedes folwe.' Piers Ploughman, ed. Wright, p. 26. For which another MS. (Trin. Coll. R. 3. 14) reads ' Feith withoute fait is feblere than nought, And as ded as a dorenail, but ghif the dede folewe ' ; both of which latter are free translations of St. James's saying, that ' faith without works is dead.' Sir F. Madden, in his glossary to William and the Wer- wolf, calls it ' a proverb which has become indigenous, but the sense of which it is difficult to analyze ' ; and I am very much of the same opinion. ' As dead as a door-tree] i. e. as a door-post, is somewhat more intelligible, for the wood of which the post is formed was part of a live tree once. There is then a possibility that such was the original expres- sion, and that the proverb was transferred from the door- post itself to the nails that studded the door, without any very great care as to maintaining the sense of the expression. There are other sayings in the same plight. [PS. See my note to P. Plowman, B. i. 185 (C. ii. 184), where I also quote from Shak. 2 Hen. IV. v. 3. 125-6.] 17. Bernar (3 S. xi. 191; 1867). In Jesse's Researches into the History of the British Dog, I find the following passages : ' We send you also William Fitz-R : chard, Guy the huntsman, and Robert de Stanton, commanding you to provide necessaries for the same greyhounds and " veltrars/' and our dogs ''de motis," and brachets, with their bernars,' &c. Vol. ii. p. 27. ' And than shuld ye beerners on foot, and ye gromes lede home ye houndes,' &c. Vol. ii. p. 123. BERNAR. 13 'And whan ye 3 T emen, beerners, and gromes ban ladde home ye houndes, and sette hem wel up, and ordeynne water and strawe after yat hem nedeth,' &c. Ibid. Observing that the learned author is for once somewhat at fault about the meaning and origin of the term, I send you the following note : Mr. Jesse says : ' Bernars, qy., bowmen, or huntsmen, from bersare, to hunt or shoot. Coivel. Or from bernage, equipage, train, &c. Cotgrave? But the true meaning is better given in Roquefort. We there find ' Berniers, vassaux qui payoient le droit de brenage! And again : ' Brcnage, redevance en son, que des vassaux payoient d'abord a certains seigneurs pour la nourriture de ieurs chiens ; en bas-Lat. breiiagiinii.' And again : ' Bren, bran, brem'e, ordure, et du son, ou ce qui reste dans le sas de la farine sassee ; en bas-Bret. brcn, son.' It hence appears that a bernar might, in modern English, be well named a branner ; i. e. a man who provides bran for dogs, where by bran may be denoted refuse of various kinds, and not only that obtained from husks of corn. Wedgwood, s. v. Bran, explains that it means refuse, draff, leavings, ordure ; and instances the Breton brenn hesken as meaning refuse of the saw, sawdust. The duty of the berner was, no doubt, to feed the dogs ; for Mr. Jesse says again : ' Besides the foregoing, and not included, was the wages of a certain valet (' berner ') for the keep of fifteen running-dogs during forty days in Lent.' Vol. ii. p. 132. Yet again we read : ' Mention is made likewise of " the Pantryes, Chippinges, and broken breade," a kind of food which is frequently spoken of about this period.' Vol. ii. p. 125. This may be the signification of bran in its wider sense. 14 PUTTING A MAN UNDER A POT. One more quotation (referring to the 49th year of Henry III) is too important to be omitted : ' In acquittance of the expenses of Richard de Candevere and William de Candevere going for bran,'' &c. Vol. ii. p. 36. It might easily happen that a person who engaged to pro- vide food for hounds was a man of wealth : for numerous examples of such ' dog tenures,' see the same volume, pp. 41, 42, 43. This perhaps may account for the name being applied to persons of higher station, and I suppose such to have been the origin of the name Berners, of which Juliana Berners and Lord Berners are such bright orna- ments. [PS. This etymology appears in the New Eng. Diet., s. v. 18. Putting a Man under a Pot (3 S. xi. 277 ; 1867). I have seldom met with a more amazing statement than there is in Piers Ploughman 's Crede, and I should greatly like to know of something that would corroborate it. The author distinctly asserts that there was a regular system of making away with friars who were not sufficiently active in begging for the good of their house. He says : ' But 1 [except] he may beggen his bred, His bed is y-greithed (prepared for him) ; Under a pot he shall be put In a pryvye chambre, That he shall lyuen ne laste But lytel whyle after.' Ed. Wright, 1. 1247. This clearly means that a useless friar is//// under a pot, and that he soon dies in consequence. The only passage I know of that throws any light on this is also in the Crede : ' For thei ben nere dede ; And put al in pur clath With pottes on her hedes.' Id. 1. 1222. 1 The Trinity MS. has ' But.' The printed texts have ' That.' LIVING. 15 Now why, I ask, should a pot be put on a man's head when he lies on his death-bed ? [This question remains unanswered.] 19. Living (3 S. xi. 286 ; 1877). Wright's Provincial Dictionary gives ' Living, a farm : Leicestershire. ' In Norfolk it is a very common word. A London man might call a person's house and grounds a nice place, but a Norfolk man would use the word living. In this sense, too, it occurs in Ben Jonson : ' I have a pretty living o' mine own too, beside, hard by here : ' Every Man in his Humour, Act I. Sc. i (or 2). [Nares misses the word. There is no note on it in Wheatley's edition of Every Man, Act I. Sc. 2, 1. 8. I fre- quently heard it when residing in Norfolk. I was once told that I seemed to have a nice living (i. e. a pleasantly situated house). It seemed to me a queer thing to say to a curate.] 20. Two-faced Pictures (3 S. xi. 346 1867). Few things are easier to make. Get two pictures of the same size ; cut them vertically into strips half an inch broad; paste the corresponding strips back to back (you will see which these are by trial), and then set them up on their edges in a row from left to right at equal distances of about three-quarters of an inch or an inch apart. Then, if you stand to the left, you see the whole of one picture ; if to the right, the whole of the other. If, instead of setting them up above plain paper, you set them up above a third uncut picture, you will see this one only by standing directly in front; and the double picture thus becomes a treble picture without any increase of difficulty in the construction. [PS. Now (in 1895) use d to advertise 'Sunlight Soap.'] 16 CHRIST-CROSS. 21. Christ-cross (3 S. xi. 352 ; 1867). In Piers Ploughman's Crede, 1. i, we find ' Cros and curteis Christ this begynnyng spede,' where there seems to be an allusion to the prefixing of a cross to the beginning of a piece of writing, especially of an alphabet in a primer ; see Nares's Glossary, s. v. Cross-row and Christ-cross-row. Also in a poem, by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, called 'A Christ- cross Rhyme,' we find at the very beginning ' Christ his cross shall be my speed, Teach me, father John, to read.' Now it is to be observed, that in Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe occurs the following : ' This border is devided also with xxiii letters, and a small crosse aboue the south line that sheweth the xxiiij houres equales of the clocke ' ; and in the diagrams accompanying this in the MSS. we accordingly see a cross at the south or starting-point, followed by the twenty-three letters of the alphabet, _/, v, and iv being omitted. The fact is, that the true use of a cross, in drawing, is to define or mark a point, especially a point to start or measure from (there being no more convenient way of defining a point than by thus considering it as the spot where two short lines intersect} ; and I believe this to be its simple sole and original use when prefixed to the alphabet in an astrolabe, except that it was also found convenient to increase the number of symbols from the awkward number of twenty-tfiree to the very convenient one of twenty-four. But it was impossible that it could be used long without reference being supposed to be made to the cross of Christ, and it must soon have been regarded as invoking Christ's blessing upon the commence- ment of any writing. Hence the term Christ-cross-row, or shortly, cross-row. Archdeacon Nares has another sug- gestion, that the cross-row was probably named from a superstitious custom of writing the alphabet in the form of a cross, by way of charm ; but I prefer the former AS RIGHT AS A TRIVET. 17 explanation. He also says, 'the mark of noon on a dial is in the following passage jocularly called the Christ-cross of the dial, being the figure of a cross placed instead of xii : " Fall to your business roundly ; the fescue [Lat.festnca] of the dial is upon the Christ-cross of noon." ' Puritan iv. 2, Suppl. to Sli. ii. 607. But there is no need to insert the \\mdijocularly* it was natural enough that it should come to be so called. [See Christ-cross and Cross-row in the New Eng. Dictionary^ 22. As right as a trivet : As clean as a whistle (38. xi. 361; 1867). These are excellent examples of the way in which proverbs rapidly become obscure when based on something that is a sort of pun upon words. Thus, we use such a word as deep in two senses, and we might facetiously call a very astute man ' as deep as the Bay of Biscay,' which would be readily intelligible at first, but might easily, by a slight alteration, become almost meaningless. I suppose the same sort of process to have been at work in the case of the two above proverbs. ' The ' rectitude of a trivet ' con- sists in its rectangularity ] . If that sort of trivet which is placed upon the upper bar of a grate is not accurately made, the kettle that stands upon it will not stand even, but will inconveniently slouch forward or backward. The trivet, to be a good one, must be right-angled, or made ' right and true.' In the next proverb a further stage of corruption of the sense has been reached, the word clean being put for clear. No sound is more clear than that of a whistle ; hence ' as clear as a whistle ' is good sense. 1 [Or, if we take trivet in the sense of ' a three-legged support,' the sense is quite clear, in that case also. You cannot make a three- legged stool stand unsteadily.] C 1 8 MILTON'S USE OF ' CHARM.' But if a man speaks of cutting anything off with perfect smoothness and evenness, he would say he has cut it off dear or sheer, or dean, with equal readiness ; and he would probably add the words ' as a whistle ' to one phrase quite as soon as to the other, without any great amount of reflection as to the congruity of his speech. Just in the same way, a church is a safe place of sanctuary, or may be regarded as safely built, secure and fast ; whence arises such a question and answer as the following, which is not uncommon : ' Is he fast asleep ? ' ' Aye, as safe as a church.' A play upon words necessarily leads to a play upon phrases. See note on ' as dead as a door-nail,' ^V. and Q., 3 S. xi. 173. 23. Milton's use of the word ' charm.' I (3 S. xi. 382 ; 1867). The word charm is well explained by Wedgwood. The root of it is preserved in the A. S. cyrtn, loud noise. Another quotation for it is : 'Vor thi ich am loth smale foghle Hit me bichermit and bigredeth.' Owl and Nightingale, 280. It also occurs in one of our Early English Text Society's Books : ' Tentes, pauilons freshly wrought and good, Doucet songes hurde of briddes enuiron, Whych meryly chirmed in the grene wood.' Romance ofPartenay (ed. Skeat, 1866), p. 37, 1. 876; which is thus explained in the Glossarial Index : ' Chirmed, made a loud noise, chirped loudly, 878. Cf. " synniga cyrm, the uproar of sinners" ; Caedmon, ed. Thorpe, 145, 17. "With charm of earliest birds"; Milton, P. L., iv. 642. See Forby.' By ' Forby ' I mean ' Forby's East- Anglian Glossary? [See Charm (2) and Chirm in the New Eng. Dictionary^ MILTON'S USE OF 'CHARM.' 19 24. ' Charm.' II (5 S. vii. 278 ; 1877). This word has been often discussed ; see, e. g., N. and Q., 3 S. xi. 221, 382, 510. It is a perfectly common English word, used, to my own knowledge, in Shropshire, and is not a Celtic, but an English word, being the A. S. cirm (cyrm\ the hard c turning into ch as usual. Jamieson has it in his Dictionary, with the spelling chirm ; and though he fails to give the A. S. form, he gives the correct equivalent Dutch verb, viz. kermen, to lament. The A. S. substantive is better spelt cirm; and Grein, in his A.S. Dictionary, s. v. cirm, gives fifteen examples of its use as a substantive, and six examples of the verb cirman, which he rightly compares with O. H. G. karmian, to make a noise. The word is per- fectly well known, and the supposed ' Gaelic ' equivalent is all moonshine; so, too, is a supposed connexion with the Latin carmen. 25. Luther's Distich (3 S. xi. 449 ; 1867). This distich is attributed to Luther by the poet Uhland, who was no bad judge in such matters. See ' Gedichte ' von L. Uhland Die Geisterkelter. The passage runs thus in my translation : ' At Weinsberg, town well known to fame, That doth from wine derive its name, Where songs are heard of joy and youth, Where stands the fort, hight ''Woman's Truth" Where Luther e'en, 'mid women, song, And wine, would find the time not long, And might, perchance, find room to spare For Satan and an inkhorn there (For there a host of spirits dwell) ; Hear what at Weinsberg once befel ! ' Songs and Ballads of Uhland, translated by Skeat, p. 318. There is a note on the passage by Mr. Platt, at p. 497 of his translation of Uhland's poems. He says : ' The great Martin Luther was no ascetic. In one of his merry moments he is reported to have written the following couplet, which C 2 20 ' HONI,' ITS MEANING AND ETYMOLOGY. frequently adorns the margin of the wine-bills, drinking-cups, &c., in houses of glad resort in Germany : "Who loves not woman, wine, and song, Remains a fool his whole life long." The story of Luther's conflict with the devil, when he put the fiend to flight by throwing his inkstand at him, is well known.' This, by the way, is precisely how Mr. Pickwick vented his rage upon A. Jingle, Esq., of No-hall, Nowhere. 26. 'Honi/ its meaning and etymology in the phrase 'Honi soit qui mal y pense ' (3 S. xi. 481 ,-1867). This is a common enough word in Old French. Thus we find in Roquefort ' HONIR (honier, honnir, hontager, hontir, hounir, hounnir) ; mepriser, biamer, deshonorer, maltraiter, diffamer.' And in Cotgrave ' HONNIR. To reproach, disgrace, dishonour, defame, shame, revile, curse, or outrage, in words ; also, to spot, blemish, pollute, foule, file, defile.' When we consider how many Teutonic words there are in French, and more especially in Old French, the deriva- tion becomes not far to seek. I take it to be simply allied to the Moeso-Gothic hauns (low), which was used as a contrasted word to hauhs (high). In Ulfilas's translation of St. Paul's Epistles, we have this well brought out in the following : ' Ni waiht bi haifstai aiththau lausai haukeinai ak in allai hauneinai gahugdais,' &c. i. e. ' No whit by strife or empty haughtiness, but in all loivliness of mind,' Phil. ii. 3 ; and again, only five verses farther on, we read that Christ * gahaunida sik silban,' i. e. humbled himself, where the Greek is fTHircivaxrei; and the Latin kumiliauit. Hence haunjan (Greek raneti/oCi/, Lat. humiliart), means ' to make low,' ' to humiliate ' : whence the meanings given by Cotgrave, ' to reproach, disgrace, dishonour,' &c., follow easily enough. Compare also the German hohn, an affront. I do not see why we should quarrel with the com- DRYDEN QUERIES: 'NEYES.' 21 monly-received translation. Literacy, the phrase means, ' Disgraced be he who thinks evil thereat ' ; of which ' Evil be to him who evil thinks ' is no bad version. Its chief defect is, that it ignores the word y. [Strictly, the O.F. honir is from the O. H. G. honjan (see Schade\ which is cognate with the Goth, haunjan. See Diez, s. v. onire ; cf. F. honfeJ] 27. Dryden Queries: 'Neyes' 13 S. xii. 56 ; 1867). I have not Dryden's plays to refer to, but probably neves means eyes. There is an undoubted instance of this in a quotation given in Jesse's History of the British Dog, vol. ii., where, at a bear-baiting, the bear is described ' with his two pink neves.' Is not this, by the way, the etymology of the name Pinckeney ? It is an instance of the ' epenthetic ,' so common in old English. In my new edition of Piers Plowman, the first volume of which is just ready, the various readings furnish several instances. Thus, in the pro- logue, 1. 42, instead of 'at the ale,' some MSS. have 'at the nale] or 'at nale' 1 ; and again, in Passus v. 1. 115, instead of ' at the oke (oak) ' most MSS. have ' at the noke ' or ' atte noke? Hence the explanation of the phrase ' for the nonce,' which simply means ' for the once ' (A. S. for than anes), but which so puzzled Tyrwhitt, one of our greatest scholars, that he was driven to conjecture a deriva- tion from the Latin pro mine. The history of this n seems to be simply this, that the dative of the article takes the form than or then in the masculine and neuter in early English. . . But when the noun following began with a vowel, this n was transferred to the beginning of such words ; and this transfer took place, not only in the dative case, but often in all cases for the mere sake of euphony, so that we not only find ' the neyes ' in the dative case, but even in the nominative. Nor did this addition of n stop here ; we may go a step further, and dismiss the article altogether, 22 LUCIFER. and speak of ' two pinke neyes.' To add to the confusion thus introduced, we have numerous instances of the reverse process, the taking away of an n, so that instead of a nadder, we now absurdly write an adder. See Ulphilas's translation of Luke iii. 7 ' kuni nadre,' i. e. O kin c&nadders, O genera- tion of vipers. Other instances are, an anger, an umpire, miswritten for a nauger (A. S. nafegdr], and a numpire (O. F. noumpere}. [See further in the Remarks on the letter N in my Etym. Diet., at the beginning of N; and my Principles of Eng. Etymology, First Series, 346, 347.] 28. Lucifer (3 S. xii. no; 1867). I think it should be noted that Lucifer was applied to Satan, in English literature, at least four hundred years before Milton's time, and probably long before that 1 . In some Early English Homilies, which Mr. Morris is editing for the Early English Text Society, and the date of which is about 1220-30 A. D., it is stated most explicitly. The book is not yet published, but I quote from a proof-sheet, p. 219 : ' Tha wes thes tyendes hades alder swithe feir isceapan, swa that heo was gehoten leoht-berinde ' ; i. e. ' Then was this tenth order's elder very fair shapen, so that he was called light-bearing.' The context explains that there were originally ten orders of angels; nine of which are angels still, but the tenth order fell from heaven through pride, and their chiefs name was Light-bearing, or Lucifer. So again, in A. D. 1362, Langland wrote : ' Lucifer with legiouns lerede hit in heuene ; He was louelokest of siht after vr lord. Til he brak boxsumnes thorw bost of himseluen.' Langland, Piers Plowman, pass. i. 1. 109. That is : ' Lucifer with his legions learnt it (viz. obedience) in heaven. He 1 It has been so applied ' from St. Jerome downwards.' Smith's Dictionary of the Bible. LUCIFER. 23 was loveliest to look upon, next to our Lord, until he brake obedi- ence, through boast of himself.' Still more curious is the English form of the name, Ligber (A. S. llg-bcer, flame-bearing), as in the following : 1 Ligber he sridde a dere srud. And he wurthe in himseluen prud,' &c. i. e. ' Ligber, he shrouded him in a noble shroud, and he became in himself proud.' This I quote from Mr. Morris's Genesis and Exodus, 1. 271 : the date is about 1250 A. D. No doubt this is all derived from a misapplication of Isaiah xiv. 12. But I think it is worth while to add, in confirmation of this, and by way of further illustration, that we hardly ever find an allusion to Lucifer in early English, without finding, at the same time, a mention of his trying to seat himself in the north- -a curious perversion of the verse following, viz. Isaiah xiv. 1 3, which is, in the Vulgate : ' Qui dicebas in corde tuo : in caelum conscendam, super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum, sedebo in monte testamenti, in lateribus aquilonis.' Compare the Septuagint version eVt ra Sprj TO. \^Xa irpbs ftoppav and the English, ' in the sides of the north' Thus, even as early as Csedmon, who speaks of Satan as 'like to the light stars,' we find, 'that he west and north would prepare structures ' ; as Thorpe translates it in his edition, at p. 18. So, too, in the English Homilies, three lines below the quotation already given ; ' and sitte on north[d]ele hefene riches,' i. e. and sit on the north-part of the kingdom of heaven. So again in Genesis and Exodus, I. 277 : ' Min flight he seide Ic wile uptaken, Min sete twii/i on heuene maken.' So again in some (not in au") of the MSS. of Piers Plowman, as, e. g. : 24 NOTES ON FLY-LEAVES. ' Lorde, why wolde he tho, thulke wrechede Lucifer, Lepen on a-lofte in the northe syde ? ' Langland, Piers Plowman, C. ii. 112, ed. Whitaker, p. 18. In fact, Satan's name of Lucifer, and his sitting in the north, are generally found in company. Even Milton has : 'At length into the limits of the north They came : and Satan to his royal seat The palace of great Lucifer,' &c. Paradise Lost, v. 755-760. 29. Notes on Fly-leaves (3 S. xii. 126 ; 1867). At the end of the MS. No. xlv., in University College, Oxford which contains a copy of Piers Plowman in its earliest form is the following note : Euery man whoes wife wereth a great horse must keep a frenche hood, quod Josua SI in the parlement house. ' Euery man whoes wife wereth a frenche hode must kepe a great horse ; all one to hym. ' the kynge was borne thre year after I cam to y e court. ' I cam to y 6 court iij yeer after the king was borne. Drinke er you goe horse-mylle. goe er you drinke \ mylle-horse. If Hunue had nat sued the premimire, he shuld nat haue ben accused of heresie. If Hunne had nat ben accused of heresie, he shuld nat have sued the premuiiire. 'The cat kylled the mouse. Mus necabatur a cato. The mouse kylled the cat. Catus necuit murem. catus muri mortem egit. mus interemit catum.' All this obviously refers to some member of Parliament who was unfortunate enough to put the cart before the horse, evidently to the great amusement of some hearer who ' made a note ' of it. 30. Cap-a-pie (3 S. xii. 135; 1867). I think your correspondent D. P. S. does very wisely in thus asking for examples of the occurrence of this phrase before proceeding to give his theory of the etymology ; for CAP-A-PIE. 25 it is not uncommon for etymologists to construct a theory first, and look about for facts afterwards, and it is this practice which has often brought etymology into contempt. In the present instance, I think the received explanation may stand. First, by way of examples. The phrase occurs, accord- ing to the dictionaries, both in Prescott and Swift. In A. D. 1755 we meet with : ' Armed cap-a-pee, forth marched the fairy king.' Cooper, Tomb of Shakspear. Tracing back, we come to : Armed cap-a-pie, with reverence low they bent.' Dryden, Palamon and Arcite, \. 1765. There is also another curious instance. In a poem called Psyche, or Love's Mystery, by Joseph Beaumont, published in 1651, we have: ' For knowing well what strength they have within. By stiff tenacious faith they hold it fast ; How can these champions ever fail to win, Amidst whose armour heaven itself is plac'd.' Pysche, canto xii. st. 136. At that time Joseph Beaumont was an ejected Fellow of St. Peter's College, but he lived to be master of the college nevertheless, and half-a-century later this poem attained to a second edition, viz. in 1702. In its second form, the poem was much expanded, so that the above stanza, 136, became stanza 154, and at the same time a variation was made, so that it ran thus : ' How can those champions ever fail to win, Who, cap-a-pc, for arms, with heaven are drest.' I have little doubt that many more examples might be found ; and now for the etymology. The received one is, that cap-a-pied means from head to foot, and surely it is simply equivalent to the usual French phrase, ' arme de pied en cap,' for which Raynouard gives the quotation : 26 THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN. 1 De pied en cap s'armera tout en fer.' Laboderie, Hymn EccL, p. 282. The only objection to this seems to be that there is a reversal of the order of the words. But if, leaving the Langue d'O'ii, we consult the Langue d'Oc, we shall then find the words in the right order, and at the same time establish, as I think, the right explanation beyond a doubt, besides showing that the phrase existed in the twelfth century. In his Provengal Lexicon, Raynouard gives 'CAP, KAP, .*. m, Lat. caput, tete, chef ; and he goes on to explain the phrases de cap en cap (from one end to the other) ; del cap tro als pes (from the head to the foot) ; del premier cap tro en la fi (from the first beginning even to the end). The second of these is clearly the one we want, and he gives the following example : ' Que dol si del cap tro als pes.'' Guillaume Adhemar (died A. D. 1190). This he translates by ' Qu'il se plaint de la tete jusqu'aux pieds.' When your correspondent says he doubts this explanation, I suspect he is being misled by a French proverb given by Cotgrave, viz. ' n'avoir que la cape et repeej which means, ' to have nothing left but your mantle and your sword, to be brought to dependence on your own exertions.' The resemblance between the two phrases cap-a-pie (head to foot), and cape et I'epee (mantle and sword), is certainly striking, but they seem to be quite distinct nevertheless, and I do not think they can be proved to be otherwise. [See Cap-a-pie in the New Eng. Dictionary^ 31. The Seven Ages of Man. I (3 S. xii. 145 ; 1867). In a poem entitled This World is but a Vanyte, from the Lambert MS. 853, about 1430 A.D., printed in Hymns to the Virgin and Christ (edited by F, J. Furnivall for the THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN. 27 Early English Text Society), at p. 83 we have a very curious comparison of the life of man to the seven times of the day. The number seven is here determined apparently by the hours of the Romish Church. Thus, correspond- ing to matins, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline, which were called in Old English uhtsang, primesang, undernsatig, middaysang, nonsang, evensong, nightsang, we have the following periods of the day and of man's life : 1. Morning. The infant is like the morning, at first born spotless and innocent. 2. Midmorrow. This is the period of childhood. 3. Undern (9 A. M. }. The boy is put to school. 4. Midday. He is knighted, and fights battles. 5. High Noon (i.e. nones or gth hour, 3 P.M.). He is crowned a king, and fulfils all his pleasure. 6. Mid-overnoon (i. e. the middle of the period between high noon and evensong). The man begins to droop, and cares little for the pleasures of youth. 7. Evensong. The man walks with a staff, and death seeks him. After this follows the last stanza : 'Thus is the day come to nyght. That me lothith of my tyuynge. And doolful deeth to me is dight. And in coold clay now schal y clinge." Thus an oold man y herde mornynge Biside an nolle vndir a tree. God graunte us his blis euerlastinge ! This world is but a vanite ! ' The resemblance of this to Shakespeare's ' Seven Ages ' is curious and interesting. 32. The Seven Ages of Man. II (4 S. iv. 303 ; 1869). I have already pointed out a description of the seven ages of man in the old poem entitled This World is but a Vanyte. I have just come across a paragraph in Arnold's Chronicle 28 NOTES ON FLY-LEAVES. (ed. 1811, p. 157) which seems worth noting. Arnold is supposed to have died about A. D. 1521 : ' The vij Ages of Man lining in the World. The first age is infancie and lastith from y e byrth vnto vij. yere of age The ij. childhod and endurith vnto xv. yere age. The iij. age is adholecencye and endurith vnto xxv. yere age. The iiij. age is youthe and endurith vnto xxxv. yere age. The v. age is manhood and endurith vnto 1. yere age. The vi. age is [elde] * and lasteth vnto Ixx. 3 - ere age. The vij. age of man is crepill and endurith vnto dethe.' 33. Notes on Fly-leaves (3 S. xii. 412 ; 1867). On the fly-leaf of a Collection of Musical Tunes, by John Dowlande, M.B., in MS. Camb. Univ. Dd. ii. n, is the following specimen of alliteration : ' Musica mentis medicina moestae.' There are also the lines : ' Qu an di tris dul pa os guis rus ti cedine vit,' H san mi Chris mul la which have been already discussed in N. and Q., 3 S. x. 414, 503 2 ; and also the following, in the same style, which I had not before seen, but which I dare say may be common enough : pit rem nam pit rem ' Qui ca uxo poe ca atque dolo ret re na ret re.' In one respect these latter verses are the more curious of the two, as they are Leonine verses, wherein uxorem and uxore rime to dolorem and dolore. [Read the lines by taking the first and second lines together Quos anguis dirus, &c.; and the third and second lines together Hos sanguis mirus, &c.] 1 A blank space here. Probably it should be elde, i. e. old age. '-' This version is the one which I said would be found to be the correct one of these lines. THE WORD 'ALL-TO.' 29 34. The word 'Ail-to.' I (3 S. xii. 464 ; 1867). On the subject of ' A Tobroken Word,' I beg to refer Mr. H. to my letter in The Athenaeum of October 5. The fact is that, wherever alto (in Mid. English) is apparently a separate word, it is so by a blunder of an editor. It is common enough in MSS. to separate a prefix from its verb. Any one who has ever seen an Anglo-Saxon MS. knows that the prefix ge- is far more often written separately from the word it belongs to, than it is joined to it ; and an editor ought to represent this by a hyphen, unless, professing to give a facsimile of the MS., he discards hyphens altogether, as in Sir F. Madden's excellent edition of William and the Werwolf. Hence, the mere fact of to or alto being written apart from the word it belongs to, is not at all surprising : it is only what we expect. I think it is not quite safe, for the purpose of argument, to assert that ' there is no instance, I believe, of the use of the word to-troublid? I found two, in less than two minutes, in the very first book I laid my hands on. I quote from the Wicliffite Glossary, where I find 'to-truble, to greatly trouble, Ecclus. xxxv. 22, 23 ; v. 'al-to-trublist.' This second reference gives : ' al-to-trublist, extremely afflictest, Ps. Ixxiii. 13 ; //. al-to-trubleden, Dan. v. 6 ; v. to-truble.' I have only to repeat that 'Ail-to, as equivalent to all to pieces, and as separable from the verb, is comparatively modern. As the force of to as an intensive prefix was less understood, and as verbs beginning with it became rarer, it was regarded as leaning upon and eking out the meaning of all, whereas in older times it was all that added force to the meaning of to! Halliwell, I now find (for I had not noticed it before^ says much the same thing : ' In earlier writers, the to would of course be a prefix to the verb, but the phrase ail-to, in Elizabethan writers, can scarcely be al\va3 - s so explained.' 30 THE WORD ' ALL-TO.' It is not the only blunder perpetrated by these later writers. Some one of them took to spelling rime with an /i, and produced the word rhyme thus giving a Greek commencement to a Saxon word ; and this was thought so happy and classical an emendation, that nearly every one has followed suit ever since. A somewhat wider search through English literature would disclose the not recondite fact, that all is used before other prefixes besides to. Thus (i) it is used before a (I write as it stands in the MS., omitting hyphens) in the line ' here of was sche al a wondred and a waked sone.' William and the Werwolf, 1. 2912. (2) It is used with the prefix for ' as weigh al for waked for wo vpon nightes,' Id. i. 790. which should be compared with 1. 785 just above, viz. ' Febul wax he and feynt for waked a nightes.' (3) It is used before the prefix bi; as in ' al bi weped for wo wisly him thought.' Id. \. 661. Perhaps when alto has been proved, in early English, to be a complete word in itself, distinct from the past participle which, oddly enough, is always found not far off it we may hope to have an explanation of the words alfor, ala, and albi \ But surely, the simpler explanation is that, when the later writers looked on the to- as separable, they did so because they knew no better. [Admirably explained on similar lines, in the New Eng. Diet. s. v. All, C. 14, 15; p. 227, col. 2.] 35. The word 'Ail-to.' II (3 S. xii. 535; 1867). May I add two quotations of great importance? The first is ' Al to-tare his a-tir that he to-lere might.' William and the Werwolf, 1. 3884. WOLWARDE. 31 That is, ' he completely tare-in-pieces his attire, whatever of it he could tear-in-pieces.' And, if this be not thought decisive enough as to the separation of the al from the to, here is another more decisive still ' For hapnyt ony to slyd and fall, He suld sone be to-fruschyt all.' Bat-hour's Bms, ed. Jamieson, p. 207. That is, ' For, if any one had happened to slide and fall, he would soon have been broken-in-pieces utterly.' 36. Wolwarde. I (4 S. i. 65 ; 1868). I quite agree with Mr. Addis in thinking Mr. Morris is here, for once, wrong in his explanation of the word, because I do not see how to join -ward on to wol, so as to make sense. But the explanation wolwarde, ' with wool next the body,' satisfies all three quotations, viz. in the Pricke of Conscience, in Piers Ploivman, and in the Crede. It is always connected with the idea of penance or of poor clothing. The quotation from the Pricke of Conscience is very much to the point : ' And fast and ga wolwarde, and wake.' Accordingly, when Mr. Addis receives my edition of the Crede from the E. E. T. S., he will find in the glossary : ' " Wolwarde, without any lynnen next one's body, sans chemyse." Palsgrave. To go woolward was a common way of doing penance, viz. with the wool towards * one's skin.' 37. Wolwarde. II (4 S. i. 254 ; 1868). I fail to understand the point of the note by A. H. What is the ' simpler meaning ' he suggests ? Merely, I suppose, that he thinks woohvard, in that it means with the ivool towards one, does not necessarily imply penance, and might 1 [Unless it meant ' with the skin towards the wool.'] 32 WOLWARDE. be found very comfortable. No doubt of it. But the idea of penance, or poor clothing, was connected with it in early English, though the quotation from Shakespeare shows that it was ceasing to be a penance in his time, and it seems that the common people of Russia at the present day like it. A. H. ought, in all fairness, to read over the passages referred to, together with the context. The references are : Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, ed. Morris, 1. 3514; Lang- land's Vision of Piers Ploughman, ed. Wright, p. 369 (see p. 497 of the same volume) ; and Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, ed. Skeat, 1. 788. Besides these, Halliwell gives one more example, and Nares five, with an excellent note, that will convince A. H. more than I seem to have done. The example of it in Shakespeare occurs in Love's Labour 's Lost, Act V. Sc. 2, 1. 717. 38. Wolwarde. Ill (4 S. i. 425 ; 1868). If A. H. will only take time enough he will find my explanations quite right ; and if so, he will not need to be at the trouble of proving them wrong. Meanwhile, I must comment upon his two new state- ments. His first is, that there is no allusion \.o penance in the quotation from the Crede. Of course this is quite right, for it is' in the quotation from Hampole that penance is implied. Secondly, he thinks that to go zvolwarde means to go woohvards. Certainly not. In the first expression, u'olwarde is an adjective and he has not distinguished between the endings ivard and wards, which were seldom confounded till recently in English writings. To go wool- ivard means to go about ' with the woolly side in ' ; and the verb to go is here used, as elsewhere in old English, for to go about, much as in the Bible (see Gen. iii. 14). To go woohvards, if it ever were to be used (for it never has been), could only mean that which we more commonly express by the phrase ' to go a wool-gathering.' ' RABBIT. ' 33 39. 'Rabbit' (4 S. i. 279 ; 1868). No doubt F. C. H. is right. Compare the account of the word in Hartshorne's Salopia Antigua, which contains a list of Salopian expressions : ; RABBIT IT, pin: The evidently profane phrase " Od rabbit it " is not local. The Od in this case is but a corruption of God, and the other part of the oath has become changed to its present form from the Old English rabatc, rebate, which in its turn is altered from the French rebatre ; Teut. rabatten, de summa detrahere.' Rebate, in Old English, means to drive back, repulse : ' This is the city of great Bab\ T lon, Where proud Darius was rebated from.' R. Greene, ' Orlando Furioso,' Works, vol. i. p. 34 (ed. 1831". 40. Hogshead (4 S. i. 613 ; 1868). The great point in etymology but the lesson will never be learnt is, that we should be guided by facts, and not by guess. The guess hogs-hide is very ingenious, but against it we must set these facts. The first is, that, in Dutch, the word for a hogshead is okshoofd ; the second is, that the Swedish is oxhitfvud ; and thirdly, the Danish is oxehofved. Hence hogshead is a corruption, not of hog's-hide, but of ox-head. The suggestion hog's-hide does not explain things at all ; because it leaves the Dutch, Danish, and Swedish words quite untouched ; and indeed, if we are to guess at all, ox-hide would be, undoubtedly, half right. Permit me, then, to put the query in a form more likely to produce a true answer. How comes it that the Swedish w r ord oxhufvud means both an ox's head and the measure called a hogshead! It is clear that an ox, not a hog, is the animal meant. 41. Lister (4 S. i. 547 ; 1868). A Lister is a dyer. Jamieson gives Lit, to dye ; Isl. lita, to dye ; Suio-Goth. lit, colour. Also Lidstar, a dyer. In the Promptorium Parvulorum, we have Lytyn, littyn, or lytyn, 34 THE 'JACKDAW OF RHEIMS.' to dye ; and again, Lytynge or littinge of cloth, i. e. dyeing. Mr. Way, the editor of this book, gives other instances. Lit also means dye-stuffs ; and to /// is sometimes used in Lowland Scotch for to blush deeply, to be suffused with blushes. Dyer is used as a surname as well as Lister. 42. The ' Jackdaw of Rheims ' (4 S. i. 577 ; 1868). Many readers must remember the story about the scalded magpie, which the author of the Ingoldsby Legends says was told him by Cannon. Hence he adopted the notion about the ' Jackdaw of Rheims,' which he expressed in the line : ' His head was as bald as the palm of your hand.' It is amusing to compare this with a similar one in The Knight of La Tour-Landry (E.E.T.S.), p. 22. This relates how a magpie told a man that his wife had eaten an eel which he was fattening in a pond in his garden for himself and friends. The wife tried to excuse herself by saying the husband had eaten it ; but the husband told her he knew better, as he had heard about it from the magpie. In revenge, the lady and her maid plucked the bird's feathers off, saying : ' Thou hast discovered us of the eel.' And ever after, the magpie repeated this to any one whom he saw with a bald head. Surely this is curiously like the con- clusion of Cannon's story, as told in the Memoir of the Rev. F. H. Barham. [It is, practically, the same story as that in Chaucer's Manciples Tale ; respecting the oriental origin of which see my ed. of Chaucer, iii. 501. Chaucer took it from Ovid.] 43. Walter pronounced as ' Water' (4 S. i. 595 ; 1868). A very early instance is the following : ' Byhold opon Wat Brut whou \}iow\ bisiliche thei pursueden.' Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, 1. 657. Here Wat is the reading of the Trinity MS., but the British Museum MS. and the early printed edition of 1553 GIST. 35 both have Water, which represents Walter at full length. The short form Wat is spelt without an /. Similarly the common Old English word tor fault is /ante, and for assault is assaut. [This illustrates Shak., 2 Hen. VI. iv. i. 31-35. My own name as a boy, in Shropshire, was ' our Wat.'] 44. Gist (4 S. ii. 42 ; 1868 ; curtailed). The derivation of gist is very obvious, being the French word gite, formerly spelt giste, a derivative of gesir ; Lat. iacere, to lie. The gist of a thing is the point in law whereon the action rests. According to analogy, the pronunciation ought to be with the soft g [i. e. as j\ ; and as there is hardly an instance where a soft g is hardened, but many of the contrary, there is no sort of excuse for pronouncing it hard [i. e. as g in go\. 45. 'Lene' and 'leue' (4 S. ii. 126; 1868). I wish to draw attention to the two words lene and leue as occurring in Chaucer, Piers Plowman, and other poems, which have, as I think, been utterly confused by most editors ; probably, because they can hardly be distinguished in the MSS. In Halliwell's Dictionary I find ' LENE, to give. Hence our word lend. The editor of Havelok absurdly prints leue! In Morris's Specimens of Early English, ed. 1867, at p. 395, we read ' Lene, grant. Many editors of Old English works print leue (leve, give leave to), for lene, as if from A.S. lefan, to permit ; lene is from Icenan, to give, lend.' Here, I submit, there is the most dire confusion. The editor of Havelok did not act absurdly in printing leue, because he had to deal with another word, quite different from lene ; and secondly, Mr. Morris, after making the right distinction between the words, proceeds to confound them. But it is proper to add that he now writes to tell D 2 36 ' LENE ' AND ' LEUE. ' me that he has discovered the mistake, and holds the view which I proceed to state. This is, that Sir F. Madden and Dr. Stratmann, who do put a difference between the words, are right; and what I wish to do now, is to show the exact difference between them, and to offer some arguments in place of assertions. In the first place, all scholars agree in accepting that the old spelling of lend is lene or ten, just as the old spelling of sound is soun. This shows, too, why the past tense and past participle are alike ; for lent (as the past tense) is con- tracted from the old past tense knde, and lent (as the past participle) from the old past participle lened; both of which are formed from len or lene. Now the old meaning of lene is to give, deliver, hand over, impart, and it answers to the German leihen. None would deny that the following are correct examples of it : ' To yeue and lene him of his owne good.' Chaucer, Prol. 611. ' That hote cultre in the chymney heere As lene it me, I have therwith to doone.' Chaucer, Millers Talc, 589. ' Lene me a mark,' quod he, ' but dayes thre.' Chaucer, Chan. Yetn. Tale, 15. ' I shal lene the a bowr.' Havelok, 2072. But what Mr. Halliwell appears to deny is, the existence of the verb leue ; and this is the point to come to. Dr. Stratmann's account of it is, that leue or leve is the A.S. lefan, German erlauben, to give leave to, permit, allow. Now this word in various forms, Ivfan, lefan, atyfan, gelj'fati, is common enough in Anglo-Saxon, and as / between two vowels had the sound of v, it would' necessarily produce leve in Old English. There are three undoubted examples of its occurrence. Thus, in the Ormulum, we have (vol. i. p. 308) the line : ' Godd allmahhtigg lefe uss swa To forthenn Cristess wille,' 'LENE' AND ' LEUE.' 37 i. e. ' God Almighty grant (or permit] us so to further Christ's will.' Here the spelling with / makes the word certain ; and to make doubly sure, we have a similar ex- pression in the same volume, at p. 357. But there is a third instance. In Douglas's Virgil is the phrase ' Gif us war lewitj which is equivalent to leuit, as explained by Jamieson. Here again, the use of the w makes the word altogether certain ; for w has the force of v very commonly in Lowland Scotch. The signification of the phrase is ' if it were, permitted to us.' That the two words have been so hopelessly jumbled together is no doubt owing to the fact that each can be represented by the verb to grant; but it really makes all the difference whether we are speaking of to grant a thing to a person, or to grant that a thing may happen. ' God lene thee grace ' means, ' God grant thee grace,' where to grant is to impart ; but ' God hue we may do right ' means, ' God grant we may do right,' where to grant is to permit. The difference between the two is distinct enough, and the instances of hfe in the Ormulum render the blunder here protested against quite unjustifiable. Briefly, lene requires an accusative case after it, hue is followed by a dependent clause. And now for the results. The following are true examples of hue : ' God . . . save and gyde us alle and some, And lene this sompnour good man to become.' Chaucer, Freres Tale, 346. Printed lene by Tyrwhitt, and hene by Morris. ' Then he is now, God lene us for to meete.' Prioresses Tale, 231. Printed lene by Tyrwhitt and Morris. ' Depardieux ' quod she 'God lene all be wele.' Trail, and Creseide, ii. 1212. 38 PORCELAIN. ' God leue hym werken as he can dev r yse.' Trail, and Creseide, ii. 7. ' God leue us for to take it for the best.' Ibid. v. 1749. Morris prints lenc. Moxon prints /eve, but Tyrwhitt has lene in his Glossary (s. v. ' Leveth '), in all three instances. The three instances in Havelok occur in similar ex- clamations, in the forms ' God leue,' or ' Crist leue,' and Halliwell need not have called such a spelling absurd. The quotations from the Ormulum entirely establish the phrase. Lastly, by way of a crucial test, take Pierce the Plough- man's Crede. I regret that I have, in all four places, printed lene in the text. Yet, strictly speaking, there are two instances of lene, in lines 445, 741 ; and two of leue, in lines 366, 573, where the phrase is 'God leue,' etc. And now observe a circumstance that clinches the whole result. In lines 445 and 741 all three copies of the Crede have lene; but in lines 366 and 573 the best MS. can be read either way ; the British Museum MS. has /eve, and the old printed edition has leue, as shown by my footnotes. Surely future editors of Chaucer ought to note these corrections. Of course I have not taken into consideration here the other senses of the word leue, viz. (i) to believe, (2) to leave, and (3) dear. Curiously enough, all these three occur in one line : ' What ! leuestow, leue lemman, that i the leue wold ? ' William of Palerne, 2358. 46. Porcelain (4 S. ii. 155 ; 1868). Mr. Wedgwood derives this from ' Ptg. porcellana, china ware, said to be so called from the surface being like that of the porcellana, a large univalve, commonly known as the tiger-shell, or Venus' shell.' But this does not tell us why the sfallitsetf wa& so named. AGE OF THE WORLD. 39 In the Catalogue of the Chinese Co/lection exhibited some years ago near Hyde Park Corner, at p. 63, I met with the following remark, which seems worth preserving : ' Marsden, as quoted by Davis, shows that it [porcelain] was applied by the Europeans to the ware of China, from the resemblance of its finely polished surface to that of the univalve shell so named [in Portuguese] ; while the shell itself derived its appellation from the curved shape of its upper surface, which was thought to resemble the raised back of a porcella, or little hog.' Thus the word porcelain is finally traced back to the Latin porcus ; just as porpoise is the pork-fish, and porcupine means spiny pig. [See further in Littre, s. v. porcelaine and in the larger edition of my Etym. Diet.] 47. Age of the World. I (4 S. ii. 156 : i! In two MSS. only of Piers Plowman, viz. that belonging to Oriel College, Oxford, and one in the Cambridge Uni- versity Library, marked LI. 4. 14, are the two following lines, which have reference to the plenitudo temporis, the ' fulness of time ' of Christ's birth : ' Annis quingentis decies, rursumque ducentis Unus defuerat, cum Deus ortus erat.' My query is, whence did the monks in the fourteenth century derive the idea that Christ was to be born exactly 5199 years after the Creation ? [Answered by myself, in a later number ; see below.] 48. Age of the World. II (4 S. iii. 203 ; 1869). I can now answer my own question, as to why Christ's birth is made to have taken place 5199 years after the Creation. The reckoning is British, and is very curious. In A Chronicle of London, p. 183, there is a copy of the great tablet which was once hung up in Old St. Paul's, and which contained the curious chronological facts which I here tabulate. (Cf. MS. Harl. 565.) 40 'YEDE,' MISUSED BY SPENSER, Destruction of Troy, Anno Mundi 4030. Building of New Troy, called London, A. M. 4094. Building of Rome, A. M. 4484. Christ born, in the igth year of Cymbeline, A. M. 5199. Add to these, that Brutus landed at Totness, in Cornwall (it was in Cornwall then), A. M. 4063, where he destroyed, amongst other giants, three who were named respectively Geomagog, Hastripoldius, and Rascalbundy, as we learn from a MS. in the Heralds' College ; the one, namely, which contains the original French version of Havelok. 49. ' Yede,' misused by Spenser (4 S. ii. 199 ; 1868). It is strange that no one seems to have remarked the curious blunder made by Spenser respecting the verb yede. In yielding to his propensity for archaic diction, he has, in this instance at least, not perfectly learnt his lesson, and fallen into a remarkable grammatical error. Yede and yode are both, as every student of Early English should know, various forms of the A.S. code, a past tense without any corresponding present tense, employed with the sense of ' went.' But Spenser, observing the differing forms of the word, came to the extraordinary, yet somewhat logical, conclusion that yede must be the infinitive mood, and yode the past tense of the same. This did not mislead him as regards yode, so that he wrote correctly enough ' Before them yode a lustie tabrere.' Shepheard's Calendar, May, 22. But, with respect to yede, he has erred in at least three places : ' Then badd the knight his lady yede aloof.' Faerie Queene, I. xi. 5. ' The whiles on foot was forced for to yeed? Ibid. II. iv. 2. ' But if they with thy gotes should yede' Shepheard's Calendar, July, 109. Nares gives no instance from any other author beyond A YEAR AND A DAY. 41 quoting yede as a preterite ; and it would be curious to know if the mistake really occurs in any other author's works. Spenser certainly did not find it so used by his master Chaucer, nor by any other writer of the fourteenth century. 50. A Year and a Day (4 S. iii. 222 ; 1868). Perhaps several of your readers, like myself, have felt inclined to smile at the expression, 'a year and a day,' occurring so frequently in old ballads. The words ' and a day ' seem so unnecessary. But I now feel inclined to smile at my own want of perception ; there is very good reason for the phrase. If, in a passage of a melody, we wish to rise from one C to the C above, we ascend by the seven notes of the scale, C to B, and by one more, i. e. we arrive at the octave. In the same way, Low Sunday is not said to be seven days after Easter, but is called the octave. The phrase ' in a week's time ' is felt to be vague ; and therefore people say ' this day week.' But this is sometimes expressed in old books by ' in eight days,' and a fortnight is sometimes denoted by ' in fifteen days ' ; cf. Fr. quinzaine. Now the period of the octave might also be fairly called ' a week and a day,' as well as a period of eight days ; and in the same way, a year and a day must mean on the 366th day from the present, i. e. on the same day of the month as the present, in next year. The intention of it is to show that not only has a year elapsed, but that the day now spoken of is the same day of the month as the day before mentioned. Cf. Exod. xii. 41. Again, the present 251)1 of August being a Tuesday, the 25th next year will be Wednesday; and by that time we shall have advanced not only by a year (reckoned by years), but by a day (reckoned by days of the week). Here is another reason for choosing the phrase. 42 CHRONOLOGY OF THE ' KNIGHTES TALE.' [Cf. Chaucer, ' Knightes Tale,' Group A, 1. 1850; and my note on the passage.] 51. Chronology of Chaucer's ' Knightes Tale ' (4 S. ii. 243 ; 1868). After some little trouble, I have arrived at the conclusion that Chaucer has given us sufficient data for ascertaining both the days of the month and of the week of many of the principal events of the ' Knightes Tale.' The following scheme will explain many things hitherto unnoticed. I refer to the lines of the Aldine edition, ed. Morris, 1866. On Friday, May 4, before i A. M. Palamon breaks out of prison. For (1. 605) it was during the ' third night of May, but (1. 609) a little after midnight.' That it was Friday is evident also, from, observing that Palamon hides himself at day's approach, whilst Arcite rises ' for to doon his observ- ance to May, remembryng of the poynt of his desire.' To do this best, he would go into the fields at sunrise (1. 633), during the hour dedicated to Venus, i. e. during the hour after sunrise on a Friday. If however this seem for a moment doubtful, all doubt is removed by the following lines : ' Right as the Friday, sothly for to telle, Now it schyneth, now it reyneth faste, Right so gan gery Venus overcaste The hertes of hire folke, right as hir day Is gerful, right so chaungeth hire aray. Selde is the Fryday al the wyke alike.' All this is very little to the point unless we suppose Friday to be the day. Or, if the reader have still any doubt about this, let him observe the curious accumulation of evidence which is to follow. Palamon and Arcite meet, and a duel is arranged for an early hour on the day following. That is, they meet on Saturday, May 5. But, as Saturday is presided over by the inauspicious planet Saturn, it is no wonder that they arc CHRONOLOGY OF THE ' KNIGHTES TALE.' 43 both unfortunate enough to have their duel interrupted by Theseus, and to find themselves threatened with death. Still, at the intercession of the queen and Emily, a day of assembly for a tournament is fixed for 'this day fyfty wekes' (1.992). Now we must understand 'fyfty wekes ' to be a poetical expression for a year. This is not mere supposi- tion, however, but a certainty ; because the appointed day was in the month of May, whereas fifty weeks and no more would land us in April 1 . Then 'this day fyfty wekes' means 'this day year,' viz. on May 5. Now, in the year following (supposed not a leap-year), the 5th of May would be Sunday. But this we are expressly told in 1. 1330. It must be noted, however, that this is not the day of the tournament, but of the muster for it, as may be gleaned from 11. 992-995 and 1238. The tenth hour 'inequal' of Sunday night, or the second hour before sunrise of Monday, is dedicated to Venus, as explained by Tyrwhitt (1. 1359) : and therefore Palamon then goes to the temple of Venus. The third hour after this, the first after sunrise on Monday, is dedicated to Luna or Diana, and during this Emily goes to Diana's temple. The third hour after this again, the fourth after sunrise, is dedicated to Mars, and therefore Arcite then goes to the temple of Mars. But the rest of the day is spent merely in jousting and preparations ' Al the Monday jousten they and daunce ' (1628). The tournament therefore takes place on Tuesday, May 7, on the day of the week presided over by Mars, as was very fitting ; and this perhaps helps to explain Saturn's exclama- tion in 1. 1811, < Mars hath his wille ; Thus far all the principal days, with their events, are exactly accounted for. In what follows I merely throw out a suggestion for what it is worth. It is clear that Chaucer 1 It turns out that Boccaccio, whom Chaucer here follows, actually uses the expression ' un anno intero,' a complete year. 44 A BAKER'S DOZEN. would have been assisted in arranging all these matters thus exactly, if he had chosen to calculate them according to the year then current. Now the years (not bissextile) in which May 5 is on a Sunday, during the last half of the fourteenth century, are these : 1359,1370,1381,1387,1398. Of these five, it is at least curious that the date 1387 exactly coincides with this sentence in Sir H. Nicolas's Life of Chaucer: ' From internal evidence it appears that the " Canterbury Pilgrimage" was written after the year 1386.' 52. A Baker's Dozen (4. S. ii. 464 ; 1868). I do not know if the following passage in the Liber Albus has been noticed- It occurs at p. 232 of the translation by Mr. Riley : ' And that no baker of the town shall give unto the regratresses the six pence on Monday morning by way of hansel-money, or the three pence on Friday for curtesy-money ; but, after tlie ancient manner, let him give thirteen articles of bread for twelve.' That is, the retailers of bread from house to house were allowed a thirteenth loaf by the baker, as a payment for their trouble. 53. Pied Friars (4 S. ii. 496 ; 1868). A further investigation, has convinced me that my note upon ' Pied Friars,' instead of being wrong, as is now sug- gested, is perfectly correct 1 . They are not, or at any rate were not originally, the same as the Carmelites. The latter were (not the Pied, but) the White Friars. The truth is, that we know very little about these Pied Friars. They only had one house in all England, viz. at Norwich, and this only for a time; so that any allusion to them, or account of ' My note to 1. 65 of Pierce the Ploughman's Crede, which mentions thefreres of the Pye, is : i They would appear to be not very different from the Carmelites ; they were called Pied Friars from their dress being a mixture of black and white, like a magpie.' PIED FRIARS. 45 them, is very difficult to obtain. In Thomas Walsingham's history [ed. H. T. Riley, i. 102], there is an allusion which seems to imply, and probably does imply, that they once had a burial-ground in London; but that, in A. D. 1326, their name, as that of a separate fraternity, was no longer used. In describing the murder by the Londoners of Walter de Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, he says that the dead body was cast in an old cemetery which had once belonged to the Friars, whom our ancestors used to call ' Pied Friars' : ' quod fuerat quondam Fratrum, quosJ*reres Pyes veteres appellabant.' All that is said about them, in the course of the eight large volumes of Dugdale's Monas- ticon, is contained in one short paragraph ; and even this is copied from Blomefield's Norfolk. It is in the latter work that we at last find some account of them. After describing the church of St. Peter per Mountergate, in Norwich, he says that there was a college at the north-east corner of the churchyard, which was 'first given to the Pied Friars, so named from their habit ; and after they quitted it, which was when they were obliged to join one of the four principal orders, it came to the Hospital of Bek, in Billingford, in Norfolk.' Blomefield's Norfolk, ii. 537; cf. Dugdale's Monasticon, viii. 1 6 1 1 . The only other reference to them that I can discover, is the one already cited in my notes, viz. Political Poems, i. 262 ; where some change is evidently expressed by the words fuerunt and mutati sunt, though I forget the context at this moment \ It will be observed that Blomefield himself is quite at a loss as to which of the four orders they joined, but the passage in the Crede furnishes evidence that they joined the Carmelites. I may then repeat my original note ; 1 [The lines are : ' With an O and an I, fuerunt pyed freres Quomodo mutati sunt, rogo dicat Per[e]s.' But they throw no special light upon the matter.] 46 GENTEEL DOGS. ' that they were not very different from the Carmelites.' They were different once, but not at a later period. Their Latin name was ' Fratres de Pica.' 54. Genteel Dogs (4 S. ii. 507 ; 1868). ' Also, to avoid the noise, damage, and strife that used to arise therefrom, it is forbidden that any person shall keep a dog accus- tomed to go at large out of his own enclosure without guard thereof, by day or night, within the franchise of the City, genteel dogs excepted ; under pain of paying forty pence, to the use of the Chamber.' Mr. Riley's note to this passage (Libra Albus, p. 389) is that the word gentilx may mean ' gentle ' or pet dogs of the then known description. But ' gentyll houndes ' are such as were kept for hawking and hunting, as ' grayhoundes, braches, spanyellis, or suche other.' See Laurens Andrewe on the Dog, quoted in Mr. FurnivalPs Babees Book, p. 225. 55. 'Ye' for 'The' (4 S. ii. 545 ; 1868). The reason why ' y e ' is sometimes used for ' the ' in old books wherein ' the ' is the more usual form, is simply that printers in former times had difficulties about ' spacing out.' When pressed for room, they put 'y e '; when they had plenty of room, they put ' the.' This distinction is made over and over again in Crowley's edition of Piers Plowman, printed in 1550. Many people use 'y e ' still, but few of those who use it know what it means, as is shown by their pronouncing itye. But the proper pronunciation is the, for the y is only a corruption of the old thorn-letter, or symbol for th. In the MS. of Barbour's Brus, for instance, ye, yai, yair, yaim, yat, &c., occur frequently, and are to be pro- nounced the, thai, thair, thaim (them), that. The methods of printing the e above the line, and of putting ' y* ' for that, are borrowed from the abbreviations ' J? e ' and ']?* ' in MSS. Another common abbreviation is ' j? u ' for thou, which would be printed ' y 11 .' CO A T, IS IT PROPER ? 47 56. Coat, a name for the dress of women : is it proper? (4 S. ii. 586 ; 1868). There is here no difficulty. Whatever be the ultimate etymology of the word, which is the French cotte, Italian cotta, German kutte, it implies a covering. There is no reason for restricting it to male dress, except that it is now customary to do so. We still apply it widely when we speak of a coat of plaster, or of a pony having a rough coat. In early English it is much more frequently applied to male than to female attire ; but the following are a few examples of the latter use : This was her cote, and her mantel.' Chaucer, Rom. of the Rose, 459. ; And she hadde on a cote of grene.' Ibid. 573. How Hej^ne hath a new cote, and his wif another' Piers Plowman, A. v. 91. I have put off my coat ; how shall I put it on ? ' The Bible (Authorised Version), Sol. Song. v. 3. The cotc-hardic was also worn by the ladies in this reign [Edw. III].' British Costume, p. 133. The first, second, and fourth examples are given in that excellent book entitled The Bible Word-Book. The word gown is, on the other hand, very frequently used of male attire, as in Chaucer. So also in Piers Plcnvman, ed. Wright, p. 259. And Stow says, anno 1507 : ' The Duke of Buckingham wore a gowne wrought of needle- work, and set upon cloth of tissue, furred with sables, the which goune was valued at 15007.' We still have gownsmen in plenty. [See Coat in the New Eng. Dictionary.] 57. Soc-lamb (4 S. ii. 592 ; 1868). According to Halliwell, this term is also used in Sussex. The A.S. soc means the act of suction, and the existence of the Germ. Saugelamtn, Dutch zuig-lam, both meaning a sucking-lamb, leaves us in no doubt as to the true 48 THE TRISECTION OF AN ANGLE. etymology. Compare sokerel, an unwearied child ; souking- fere, a foster-brother ; sokeling, a suckling plant or a young animal. Jamieson also tells us that one of the designations among the vulgar for a simpleton is a sookirf turkey. 58. The problem of ' the trisection of an angle ' (4 S. iii. 94 ; 1869). The locus of the points of trisection of any arc which has a given chord is an hyperbola, of which the eccentricity is 2, the foci are the ends of the chord, and the directrix is the sagitta of the arc. Hence it follows that the problem cannot be solved by the ordinary methods of geometry, i.e. by the rule and compasses only. But it is easily solved by constructing the hyperbola, which can be done by tolerably simple means viz. merely with the aid of a piece of string, a ruler revolving round a fixed end, and a tracing-pencil. 59. Monkey (4 S. iii. 183; 1869). I see no reason for doubting the etymology commonly accepted (as e. g. in Ogilvie and Wedgwood), that monkey, though formed with an English suffix, is equivalent to the Italian monicchio. It is clearly a diminutive, and the fact that we have the older word ape shows that monkey is an imported word. The original word is Italian mona, an ape ; Spanish mono (masculine), and mona (feminine). We find also Spanish monillo, a small monkey ; Italian monna, monnino, monnone. The Italian monna meant originally mistress, and seems to be a mere abbreviation of madonna, my lady ; hence it came to mean dame, old woman, &c. The degradation of the term is certainly very great ; but there is an exactly parallel instance in the case of the word dam, which has been degraded from the Latin domina, in French ' notre dame,' till it now means only the mother of a racehorse, or of a less important animal. [Cf. Monkey in my larger Etym. Dictionary.] IV A TERSHED. 49 60. Watershed (4 S. iii. 215 ; 1869). Some time ago there was a discussion about this word in The Athenaeum, some of the correspondents of that paper not understanding its derivation. Others, better informed, pointed out that it is simply equivalent to the German Wasserscheide, and that to shed is still used, locally, in the sense of parting the hair. I have little doubt that many quotations might be adduced assigning to shed (German scheiden) the sense of to part or divide. Still, as the word is not very common, it may be as well to note the following, where it is used as a neuter verb, meaning to separate : 'The River Don or Dun (says Dodsworth in his Yorkshire collec- tions riseth in the upper part of Pennystone parish near Lady's Cross which may be called our Apennines, because the rain-water that falleth sheddeth from sea to sea.' Southey's The Doctor, and edition, vol. ii. p. 4. The exact meaning of watershed, I may add, is the ridge or elevation which causes the streams of water on either side of it to flow in opposite directions, and so parts them asunder. 61. Final -e in Early English (4 S. iii. 215 ; 1869^. There is a curious instance of careful spelling in MS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Dd. i. 17, which shows that the scribes did pay some regard to the final e even in alliterative poems, where a syllable more or less in the line is not of much consequence. It is in the passage of Piers Plow- man (B. xi. 166) which is thus given in that MS. : ' Or any science vndir sonne, the seuene artz and alle, But thay be lerned for oure lordes loue, lost is al the tyme. Cf. Wright's ed., p. 212. Here all occurs twice : once in the pi. alle, and once in the sing. al. In the second place, the scribe had at first written alle as before ; but on second thoughts, he became aware of his mistake, and destroyed the le by placing E 50 ROODEE. a point beneath each letter in the usual manner. It evidently made a difference to him. 62. Rood.ee (4 S. iii. 228; 1869). The origin of this word [the name of a piece of ground at Chester] has not yet, I believe, been shown, although the Editor pointed out that the old form of the word was Rood Eye. The answer is to be found, however, in Mr. Wright's note to his edition of Piers Ploughman. (See vol. ii. p. 521.) There was a famous Rood or cross at Chester, mentioned by Langland, which stood on an eye, or piece of ground surrounded by water. Hence this plot of ground was named Rood Eye or cross-island, as explained by Pennant in his Tour in Wales, edit. 1778, p. 191. Nowadays this level space is used as a race-course ; the cross has probably disappeared (though its base was to be seen in 1789), and the name made into Roodee ; and this, owing to the proximity of the river Dee, is again most absurdly corrupted into Roo-Dee. In the English Cyclopaedia it is thus spelt. No wonder that Roo cannot be explained ! 63. Poetic diction of the Anglo-Saxons (4 S. iii. 268 ; 1869). The difference between Anglo-Saxon prose and Anglo- Saxon poetry is best understood by reading a little of both. In poetry, the requirements of alliterative verse tend to render the sentences involved and disjointed. The principal characteristics of our old poetry are, among others, these following. 1. Inversion of the order of words. Example : (I only give the translation, not the original) ' For us it is very right that we the Guardian of the skies, the Glory-king of hosts, with our words praise, in our minds love.' Caedmon ; the opening lines. 2. Insertion of numerous epithets and equivalent ex- POETIC DICTION OF THE AXGLO-SAXONS. 51 pressions. Thus, in the above, the Lord is called in one line 'the Guardian of the skies,' and in the next 'the Glory- king of hosts.' In one line we have 'with our words praise,' in the next ' in our minds love,' which are paral- lelisms. 3. An abundance of names for the same object. Thus, even in the later English, a man is called a man, a freke, a renk, a segge, a bnrne, or a gome, merely to satisfy the requirements of alliteration. These names are picked out just as required : that is, if the alliteration requires /, it is freke ; if s, it is segge, and so on. So also in Anglo- Saxon, very numerous are the expressions for a sword, or a ship, &c. 4. A curious chopping up of sentences into pieces of the same metrical length. Every line being divided into hemistichs by a metrical pause, it will be found that, in many cases, there is a pause in the sense as well as in the sound. This is seen in the specimen given above. ' For us it is very right- that we the Guardian of the skies the Glory-king of hosts with our words praise with our minds love.' We thus get each sentence piecemeal as it were, and it is often necessary to get to the end of each sentence before the drift of it can be even guessed at. These are a few of the points which must strike every reader who peruses but one page of Anglo-Saxon poetry. To appreciate the matter fully, your correspondent should consult Conybeare's Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, or (which would be far better) steadily make his way through a good long portion of Caedmon or Beowulf. This may be done in part, without a knowledge of Anglo-Saxon, by help of Mr. Thorpe's translations. On Early English Alliterative Poetry of a somewhat later date, see my Essay 1 in vol. iii. of the Percy Folio MS., by Hales and Furnivall. 1 [It is rather obsolete now. and not very correct ; but contains some useful information.] E 2 52 DID ADAM A.\D EVE FALL INTO THE SEA ? 64. Did Adam and Eve fall into the Sea ? (4 S. iii. 275; 1869). Certainly they did so. How they did it, is sufficiently explained by the context of the passage cited. Philip de Thuan carefully explains that the sea means this world, and the miseries of it. They were driven out of Paradise, and into the world of sorrows. This is all that is meant by their falling into the sea. The same idea is found in Langland's Piers Plowman, ed. Wright, p. 153; ed. Skeat, B. viii. 40. 65. ' Havelok' and Robert of Brunne (4 S. iii. 357 ; 1869). Robert Mannyng of Brunne, himself a Lincolnshire man, was probably alive and of sufficient age to compose poetry when the English version of Havelok was written in the Lincolnshire dialect. In a passage to which Sir F. Madden has drawn attention, he uses expressions which show clearly (i) that he was well acquainted with Havelok, and (2) that it was no work of his own, as might perhaps for a moment be imagined. But that he knew it tolerably well can be verified by internal evidence, which also shows that Robert of Brunne's Handlyng Synne was written offer Havelok; which is precisely in accordance with other evidence. I think the following is a clear example of plagiarism : 'Al J>at he )>er-fore tok With-held he nouth a ferpinges nok.' Havelok, 1. 819. ' Plenerly, alle )>at he toke Wy])helde he nat a ferjjynge noke.' Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 5811, in Morris' Specimens. This case is so clear that other instances are hardly needed, though I think it very likely that a fair number of such imitations could be found : and it is very interesting to know where to look for the original of some of Robert's B YD AND. 53 expressions. The word to swill, to wash dishes, is very rare, both in Anglo-Saxon and Early English. Here is one example of it : ' Ful wel kan ich dishes sivilen.' Have/ok, 919- And here is another : ' Pottes and dyss/ifs for to swele.'' Handlyng Synne, 5828 i'Morris\ One of the most curious stories about Havelok is, that a flame was often seen to proceed out of his mouth as he slept. Compare ' Out of hys moufi me Jjoghte brak A flamme of fyre bryght and clere.' Handlyng Synne, 5922 (Morris). Now that I have pointed this out, I dare say some of your readers can multiply instances of similar plagiarism. Observe, too, that the metre of the Handlyng Synne is precisely the same as that of Havelok, although on other occasions Robert wrote in long lines, averaging fourteen syllables. 66. Bydand (4 S. iii. 494 ; 1869). There is no difficulty in this word : why Halliwell did not explain it, I cannot guess. It simply means abiding, \. e. never budging an inch. When Fitz-James said to Roderick Dhu ' Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I,' he approved himself to be bydand. Cf. Halliwell's quota- tion ' And ye, Ser Gye, a thousande, Bolde men and wele bydande,' where ' wele bydande ' means well abiding, unflinching. There is a passage in Langland's Piers the Plowman which is very much to the point. Avarice is described as righting on the side of Antichrist, and is represented as fighting 54 AN ERROR IN FABYAN'S CHRONICLES. without flinching as long as his bag of money holds out. It runs thus : '"Alias!" quod Conscience, and cryde tho, "wolde Crist of his grace, That Coveitise were Cristene ! that is so kene a fightere. And boold and bidynge, while his bagge lasteth."' Langland's Piers the Plowman, (B. xx. 139 , ed. Wright, p. 433. Some MSS. read abydynge in this passage. Our word staunch expresses the sense of it tolerably well. The ending -and is northern. [Cf. Biding in the New. Eng. DlcfJ] 67. An error in Fabyan's Chronicles (4 S. iv. 152 ; 1869). There is a singular error in the dates of the reign of Edward III in Fabyarfs Chronicles, which seems to have escaped the notice of the editor, Sir H. Ellis, and is of some importance. The year of our Lord is given wrongly during nearly the whole of this reign, and this may easily mislead a reader who trusts to this author. I am referring to the edition of 1811, wherein the reader, by turning to p. 441, will find the entry, 'Anno Domini. MCCCXXX-I ; Anno v/ meaning that the fifth year of Edward's reign began in the last-mentioned date, viz. 1331 (Jan. 25). But on the next page we have the following entry : ' Anno Domini M.CCCXXXI Anno Domini M.CCCXXXII ; Anno vii,' which is as much as to say that the next year to the fifth year was the seventh. The sixth year, in fact, is simply lost sight of, and the error is continued down to the very end of the reign. One consequence is that the years are wrongly calculated down to the end of the reign ; another is, that Edward's reign is made a year longer than it was. He died in the fifty-first year of his reign, having reigned fifty years and about five months ; but at p. 487 of Fabyan we have the entry, ' Anno Hi.' The regnal years and mayors' years are difficult to arrange, because the)- AN ERROR IN FAB VAN'S CHRONICLES. 55 began at different times. Fabyan begins the reign by- passing over the mayoralty of Chickvvell, and calls Betayne the first mayor ; whereas he was not elected till October, 1327, when Edward had reigned about nine months. This explains the expression on p. 439 ' In the ende of y e firste yere of this kynge Edwarde, & begynnynge of this mayres yere'; where 'this mayre' is Fabyan's first, the above-named Betayne. But, if he begins to reckon thus, he should have continued it. By the same reckoning the fourth mayor would be elected in the end of the fourtli year of the king; yet on p. 441 we read 'In this .iiii. mayres yere, & ende of y e thyrde yere of thys kynge.' where for thyrde we must certainly read fourth. In the same way, the battle of Cressy is said to have taken place in the twenty -first year of Edward's reign, but it was fought during the twentieth (1346). And so on throughout. By way of further example, let me explain the entry on p. 480. We there find 'Anno Domini. M.CCCLXVIII. John Chychester Anno Domini. M.CCCLXIX. Anno XLIIII.' This refers, not to the 44th, but to the 43rd year, from Jan. 1369 to Jan. 1370, towards the close of which viz. in October 1369 Chichester was elected as mayor. Hence the entry, under this year, of the death of Queen Philippa (Aug. 15, 1369). It follows that Chichester was still mayor in April 1370, as is proved also by a notice of him as mayor in that very month and year in Riley's Memorials of London, p. 344. Hence follows the complete solution of the date of Piers the Plowman. When Lang- land mentions 1370 as Chichester's year, he is right enough. I have said, at p. xxxii of the preface to text A of the poem, that ' our author seems to be a year wrong.' But I am glad to find that the error lies, not with Langland, but with Fabyan ; and the date of the second version of the poem is irrefragably proved to be later than 1370. Other indications point to the year 1377 as the date thereof. 56 ENNUI. 68. Ennui (4 S. iv. 223; 1869). I cannot allow that English is unequal to translate this word. Our language, which possesses the fulness of several languages rolled into one, is equal to every emergency ; and the more so, if we are allowed to fall back upon words that are obsolescent or provincial. It is from the dulness of translators that the frequent miserable wailing over the inadequacy of English arises. Ennui is not so expressive as dumps. It means, I suppose, to quote Roget's Thesaurus, ' melancholiness, the dismals, mumps, dumps, blue devils, vapours, megrims, spleen ' ; also weariness, tedium, lassitude, and in fact, boredom. Mr. Besant, in his pleasant and scholarly book on Early French Poetry, in speaking of the English poems of Charles of Orleans, says: 'What is newous thought ? The French explains it : it is pensee ennuyeuse. I believe this is the only attempt to adopt this word in English, though we want it badly.' I am certainly a little surprised at this remark, for we actually possess the word annoyance from the same root ; and so far from newous or noyous being an uncommon word, and only used by Charles, it is a word that is suffi- ciently familiar to readers of our older literature. Chaucer has anoyful, disagreeable ; anoyous, with the same meaning ; anoyaunce, grievance ; noyous, troublesome ; whilst Lang- land not only uses the verb noyen, to plague, but actually has the very word anoy or noy, used as a substantive, which is exactly equivalent to ennui in form, and very nearly so in meaning. Even Spenser has the word, and uses it so as to bring out with much clearness the meaning which we now attach to it (F. Q. i. 6. 17): ' For griefe whereof the lad n'ould after joy, But pynd away in anguish and selfewild annoy.'' What better epithet for it than selfwilled'* CHAUCER PARALLELS. 57 And again, Spenser say (F. Q. ii. 9. 35) : But other some could not abide to toy, All plesaunce was to them griefe and annoy.' This is just what happens to those who suffer from ennui \ they cannot 'abide to toy.' If, then, neither mumps, nor dumps, nor boredom be considered sufficiently near to ennui to represent the true force of it, there can be no objection to reviving the English form of the word, viz. annoy. As for the amazing number of English words which can be used to translate a single French one, is there not Cotgrave's Dictionary! 69. Chaucer Parallels : ' The Knightes Tale ' and Troilus and Cressida ' (4 S. iv. 292 ; 1869). Since, in both these works, Chaucer was to some measure indebted to the same poet, Boccaccio, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they were composed ' nearly at the same time. The following parallels seem to point to the same result. I believe their number might be increased. The references are to the Aldine edition [and to my own] : 1. ' And forth he iyt : ther [n]is no more to telle.' K. T. 116 (A. 974). ' And forth she rit, ful scrwfullv, a pas.' Tr. v. 60. 2. ' Thurgh girt ivith many a grevous blody zvoutide.' K. T. 152 (A. 1010;. ' Thoru'gh gyrt uith many wyde and blody ivonnde.' Tr. iv. 599 (627). 3. ' That never, for to dryen in the payncS K. T. 275 ,A. 1133). ' That certein. for to deyen in the peyne.' Tr. i. 674. 4. ' And lou.-dc he song aycns the sonne scheene.' K. T. 651 (A. i 5 o 9 V 'Ful loivdc song a win the moone s/icne.' 1 Tr. ii. 920. 1 [This refers, of course, to the first draught of the Knightes Tale, called Palamon and Arcite.] 58 SERFS. 5. ' He may go fypen in an ivy lerf.'K. T. 980 'A. 1838 . Pipe in a* ivy leefc V that the leste/ TV. v. 1433. 6. 'As soth K W. edde hath grtt arvanu. Af MTT /** edde ml nmm, but JM* mt-ntk." K. T. 1589 (A. 24- 4 Your sine is wis. and sevdt ts oat of drede, Mem imrr the wise ai-mtttt. and nought ai-rtdt? Tr. iv. 1427 1456 . To MMJIT* nerte of nfcessite,' A". 7". 2184 A. 3:.. 'Thus ntakcth vert* of nfcessite.' Tr. iv. 1558 (1586 . And in Sq. To. iL 247 F. 593 . 7O. Serfs (4 S. iv. 302 ; 1869). There is DO reason why serfs may not mean stags without any alteration to cerfs. I suppose it to be a parallel case to a passage in the French prose romance of Alexander N - tu pas ven par plusieurs fois que ung [lyon] meit a la fbite ^rant quantite de serfs ? ' To this passage the French editor appends a note On reconnait la. les idees provenant de la sup>eriorite si marquee de la cbeTaknie. an moyen age, sor les serfs et sur les vilaius.* This is a delicious blunder, when it is remembered that the parallel passage in the Latin version is 'an nescis quod unus leo multos cervos in fugam vertit?' and the Greek version has eAcu^ovs. See the passages quoted at length in my edition of William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), p. 240. 7L ' Bue with a difference ' in * Hamlet ' (48. iv. 559; 1869). In explaining Shakespeare's phrases, I think that many commentators refine too much. If he indeed ' had in his mind " all the intricate allusions he is said to have had, his mind must have been even greater than most of us grant it to have been. In Ophelia's speech ' there 's rue for you ; and here ? s some for me : we may call it herb-grace on .Sundays ; O, you must wear your rue with a difference '- ' JERESG1VE ' A MISTAKE FOR ' YERESGIUE.' 59 there is no difficulty if we do not force the words 'with a difference ' into some ' heraldic ' phrase. It merely means this : ' I offer you rue, which has two meanings ; it is some- times called herb of grace, and in that sense I take some for myself; but, with a difference of meaning, it means ri/t/i. and in that respect will do for you.' This explanation is not mine; it is Shakespeare's own. ' Here did she fall a tear ; here, in this place, I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace \ Rue, even for rttf/i, here shortly shall be seen. In the iniifnihraticr of a n'ff/>iiiif t/inrn.' Richard 77, Act iii. Sc. 4. [The fact is, there is a play upon words. There are two distinct words, both spelt rue. Rue, the herb, is from O.F. rue, which Cotgrave explains by ' rue, herb grace ' ; and this is from Lat. ruta. But rue, the verb, is English ; A. S. Some wrongly explain the word crants by garlands, whereas it is a garland, in the singular number. Long notes have been written about it, but no one seems to have noticed that Shakespeare not only understood the word, but knew it to be singular. Otherwise he would hardly have used the name of Rosenkrantz as that of one of his characters. What need of search for explaining a word which is under one's nose all the while ? Surely Rosenkrant: is a rose-garland. 72. ' Jeresgive,' a mistake for ' Yeresgiuo ' (48. v. 74; 1870). I am much obliged to MR. T. for his quotation ; the explanation is not difficult. It is the old English yresyue, which may be represented by yeresyiue or yeresgiue, but not byjeresgiue, as the letter 3 may be denoted byj or g, but not by j (except in German). It is a yeaSs-gift, i. e. an annual donation, or new-year's gift ; or, in common parlance, 60 THE SUN : ITS GENDER. a Christmas-box. The first part of the word is the genitive case of year ; the latter partis the A.S. gifn, G. gabe, a gift. It occurs in Piers the Plowman, iii. 99 (ed. Skeat, Clarendon Press Series, p. 27) : ' Ignis devorabit tabernacula eorum qui libenter accipiunt mu- nera, &c. ' Amonge this lettered ledes this latyn is to mene, That fyre shal falle, and brenne al to bio askes The houses and the homes of hem that desireth Yiftes or yeresyyues bi cause of here offices.' That is to say, Langland explains the text (Job xv. 34) by the phrase : ' Among these learned people this Latin signifies, that fire shall fall, and burn all to blue ashes the houses and homes of them that desire gifts or ycresyiues by reason of their offices.' The word is duly explained in my Glossary. 73. The Sun : its Gender (4 S. v. 75 ; 1870). The statement of E. H. A. that he has never seen the sun used of the feminine gender, except in the works of Mede, is exceedingly amusing. The difficulty would rather be to find any instance of its being masculine in any English writer from the time of the author of Beowulf to nearly the end of the fourteenth century. I at once give a couple of examples, viz. : ' the sonne gaf hire litht ' (the sun gave her light), Layamon's Brut, ed. Madden, 1. 7239; and 'the sonne gan louke her lighte in her-self (the sun locked up her light within herself, or was eclipsed), Piers the Plow- man, ed. Skeat, B. xviii. 243. My ' B-text ' of Langland's Piers the Plowman, containing the latter quotation, is now being published. In our early writers the sun is feminine, and the moon masculine. The question is rather, what are the earliest instances of the contrary ? According to Dr. Bosworth's edition, we find the moon masculine in the Old English THE SANGREAL, OR HOLY GRAIL. 6 1 version of St. Matt. xxiv. 29, which he dates at about A. n. 995, but feminine in Wycliffe's version, A. D. 1389. 74. The Sangreal, or Holy Grail (4 S. v. 251 ; i8yo\ That Sangreal should be a corruption of sang real is such a very obvious derivation, that it will possibly always find acceptance ; although it is always safe to regard popular etymologies with suspicion, and the more so if they were constructed in medieval times. As in all other cases, we must have some regard to chronology ; and I believe it will be found that the word graal existed long before the idea of prefixing the epithet san was at all common, and conse- quently long before the corrupt etymology sang real was thought of. The history of the word is given at pp. 102, 378 of torn. i er of Les Romans de la table ronde, by M. Paulin Paris (see also the word gradale in Ducange). The many difficulties about the word are there carefully discussed. See also the edition of The History of the Holy Graal, edited by Mr. Furnivall for the Roxburghe Club, at the end of the first volume of which the original early French version of the romance was reprinted. At 1. 2653 of this romance the question is asked by some sinful men, 'and what is the name of the vessel ? ' The answer being ' Qui a droit le vourra nummer, Par droit Graal 1'apelera ' ; where the prefex san or saint is not used. The most ancient notice of the word is certainly to be found in Helinandus, who was a Cistercian monk in the abbey of Froidmond, in the diocese of Beauvais, and died either in 1219 or 1223. His works are printed in vol. ccxii. of Migne's Cursus Patrologice. The passage is a curious one, and worthy of a corner in N. and Q. 'Anno 717. Hoc tempore, cuidam eremitae monstrata est mirabilis quaedam visio per angelum, de Sancto Josepho, decurione nobili, qui corpus Domini deposuit de cruce ; et de catino illo vel 62 'CRY BO TO A GOOSE.' paropside in quo Dominus ccenavit cum discipulis suis ; de qua ab eodem eremita descripta est historia quae dicit[ur] Gradal. Gmdalis autem vel gradale dicitur gallice scutella lata et aliquantulum pro- tunda in qua preciosse dapes cum suo jure \_gravy~\ divitibus solent apponi, et dicitur nomine graal,' &c. The word Gradale sometimes means a service-book con- taining the responses, &c., sung before the steps (gradus] of the altar ; but in the sense of an open platter, it is said to be allied to cratella, the diminutive of crater, and four whole pages are devoted to a consideration of it in Roquefort's Glossaire de la Langue romane. I have no space to plunge into a long explanation of the shape of the vessel, or to decide whether it ought to be called a cup or a dish it is safest to call it a vessel. Spenser calls it holy grayle (F. Q., b. ii. c. x. st. liii). As for the combination sang real, it is used in Old English as well as in French, but much more commonly in the sense of royal than of true blood. I give two examples : ' Alle with taghte men and towne in togers sulle [? fulle] ryche, Of saunke realle in suyte, sexty at ones.' Morte Arthure (ed. Perry), 1. 178. ' He came of the sank royall, That was cast out of a bochers stall.' Skelton, Why Come ye not to Court, 1. 490. Considerations as to space render this a very imperfect notice of the word. 75. ' Cry Bo to a Goose ' (4 S. vi. 221 ; 1870). I doubt the coincidence of this phrase with that of saying ' Bee to a battledore.' This latter expression means rather to be possessed of elementary knowledge, to have learnt the rudiments. A hornbook, which was originally a flat board with a handle, with a piece of horn in front, was shaped something like a battledore, and was at times so named. (See the cut of one in Chambers's Book of Days, i. 47.) To be able to say B when B was pointed to in the hornbook, was called 'to say B to a battledore,' or sometimes 'to THE SIEGE OF METZ. 63 know B from a battledore,' the words to and from in these phrases being nearly equal to at the sight of, or as exhibited upon. The phrase means, proverbially, to be possessed of a knowledge of the alphabet, &c., as already said. 76. The Siege of Metz (4 S. vi. 296 ; 1870). It is perhaps not generally known that Metz was once besieged by King Arthur. It was defended by the Duke of Lorraine ; some of whose men complained that he had defrauded them of their pay, and urged him to treat for peace. The Duke refused, and charged Arthur's knights upon a dromedary. Arthur's knights assaulted the city, throwing down stone steeples and most of the inns. At last the city surrendered, and Arthur (to quote Mr. Perry's words) ' provides for the government of Lorraine, which he had conquered.' See the long account in Morte Arthure (ed. Perry, 1865, for the Early English Text Society), pp. 71-91. The whole passage is very curious. 77. Peas or Pease ? (4 S. vi. 139 ; 1870). The explanation of this word ought to be well known. It is not a plural at all, but a singular noun, the plural of which ought to be peasen, sometimes misspelt peason, as in Nares. It is the A.S. pisa, Lat. pisum; cf. Ital. pisello. In Mid. English it isflesein the singular, pesen in the plural, as a few extracts will show. ' Pese , frute of corne. Pisa. 1 Prompt. Parvulorum, ed. Way. P- 395- ' The vaunting poets found nought worth a pease.' Spenser, Shep. Cat., Oct. 69. ' He poureth pesen upon the hacches slidre.' Chaucer, Leg. G. IV., Cleop. 69. See also the numerous examples in Nares, s. v. Peason. In Langland's Vision of Piers the Plowman, edited by me, in the Clarendon Press Series, the word is fully 64 CHATTERTON'S KNOWLEDGE OF ANGLO-SAXON. explained in the Glossary. Langland's scribe uses pees in the singular, and both pesen and peses in the plural. The French pois and Welsh pys also show clearly that the final s is not inflexional. In composition we find the words peascod, pease-porridge, where peas or pease is still the singular noun ; cf. the Mid. Eng. pese-codde used by Langland. Thus the e \npease is merely a relic of the old spelling pese ; but when, in process of time, this final e was dropped, the word peas came to be regarded as a plural, and the singular word pea was invented by some one ' with a turn for grammar ' ' ; just as the words alms and riches, once singular nouns, are beginning to be used as plurals, and only await the touch of genius to develop the singulars aim and rich. 78. Chatterton's knowledge of Anglo-Saxon (4 S. vii. 278 ; 1871). In the paper written by Rowley on the ' Rise of Paint- ing in England in 1469,' and communicated by Chatterton to Walpole, are several Anglo-Saxon words. Most of these are used wrongly ; but if we rightly explain them, and tabulate them in alphabetical order, they are as follows : Aad, a heap. Adronct, drowned. Adrifene (fatu "', embossed (vessels\ ^Ecccd-fcet, an acid-vat, vessel for vinegar. AZsc, a ship ; lit. an ash. jESellice, nobly. Afcegrod, coloured, adorned. Afgod, an idol. Agrafen, engraven. Ahrered, reared up. It thus appears that Rowley was possessed of an Anglo-Saxon dictionary (the earliest was printed in 1659", an d he only 1 Beau Brummel said that he 'once ate a pea,' a saying which has often been quoted for its imagined brilliancy. 'BY HOOK OR BY CROOK.' 65 succeeded in acquiring some knowledge of the language as far as AH. Chatterton's letter on ' Saxon Achievements,' printed in Southey's edition, vol. iii. p. 89, exhibits precisely the same singular result. He there explains the words Aadod, Afgod, Afgodod, Afraten, Amezz, with the addition of Thunder-flcegod. The last of these he explains by ' thun- der-blasted,' but he has mistaken /for s. The word which suggested this notion to him is Thunder-sltzge, a clap of thunder. The exception in Rowley's letter is Heofnas, which he uses for the colour azure. This is how he came by it; he looked into Bailey, and found ' Azure, blue (in heraldry),' &c., and again 'Azure, the sky or firmament.' This suggested the idea of Jieaven. He then found that Bailey gives heafian as the derivation of the word. This led him to look into an Anglo-Saxon dictionary, and he accordingly found heofon, pi. heofenas, and he adopted the plural as quainter-looking. Afraten is either miscopied from i Afsetan, to appoint, design, 'or simply made up from the heraldic word fret. Amezz is miscopied from ' Amett, decked, adorned.' It thus appears that Chatterton knew no more Anglo-Saxon than he might have picked up in an hour from a glossary, and was unable to distinguish between s and f, and probably misread other letters also. [PS. Chatterton is known to have used Benson's Anglo- Saxon Vocabulary, printed in 1701. It is a miserable com- pilation, made from Somner's Dictionary.] 79. 'By Hook or by Crook ' (4 S. viii. 133 ; 1871). This proverb is at least a century older than Skelton's time. It occurs in the works of Wyclif. See Mr. Arnold's new edition of Wyclifs English Works, iii. 331. On the very next page is the proverb about ' turning the cat in the pan,' which Bacon has also in his Essays : see Essay xxii, ' On Cunning.' F 66 CHAUCER'S 'MAN OF LA WES TALE.' 80. Chaucer's * Man of Lawes Tale ' (4 S. viii. 201 ; 1871). It may be interesting to note that the events narrated in the Man of Lames Tale, and in Gower's Confessio Amantis, lib. ii. (where the same story occurs), may be connected more or less with the date A. D. 580 or thereabouts. Gower gives the name of the Emperor of Rome as Tiberius Con- stantinus. A Latin note in the MSS. of Gower refers to Pelagius as pope. The son of Constance is Maurice, after- wards emperor. Constance marries ^Klla, king of Northum- bria. The name of the constable's wife, Hermegyld, may have been suggested by the so-called martyrdom of the Visi-Gothic prince St. Hermenegild *. The following are the dates : Tiberius II, emperor (not of Rome, but of the East), A. D. 578. Succeeded by Maurice of Cappadocia, A. D. 582. Pelagius II, pope, A. D. 578-590. ^Ella of Northumbria, A. D. 560-588. Martyrdom of St. Hermenegild, A.D. 584, or 586. Thus the story has a certain consistency, but is open to the objection that Tiberius, reigning only four years, could hardly have been succeeded in 582 by his own grandson, born (according to Chaucer) later than 578. 81. English Prepositions (4 S. viii. 241 ; 1871). I observe that in some remarks upon the word partake (the accuracy of which, by the way, I do not admit) your correspondent C. A. W. says : ' I wish there was a good treatise upon English prepositions, their individual significance, their significance in composition, and their power of modifying meaning when used in connection with verbs.' Permit me to refer him to Matzner's Englische Grammatik, 1 [So spelt in Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, under April 13. Better Hermengild.~\ PORTRESS. 67 wherein, to take but one example, the word of is discussed at the length of forty pages of close type, with quotations (to the number of several hundreds) from English writers of every date, from Layamon to Dickens. (See part ii. p. 222.) English prepositions are also treated of in Koch's Gramm. der engl. Sprache, in Diefenbach's Gothic Glossary, in March's Anglo-Saxon Grammar, &c. ; but the grammars by Matzner and Koch give the most copious examples from English authors. There is plenty of infor- mation to be obtained by those who will seek for it, and who will remember that philology has made some advances since the days of Dr. Johnson. 82. Portress (4 S. viii. 271 ; 1871). I do not think this is a very rare word. A much earlier example than the one in Milton is the following: ' And fayre Observaunce, the goodly /w/nv>, Did us receyve with solempne gladnes.' Stephen Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure, cap. xxxiii. st. 26. 83. Amperzand (4 S. viii. 468; 1871). [In reply to the guess that it was originally and-pussy-and, and that its shape (&) suggests a cat sitting up, and raising one fore-paw !] This word has been explained long ago. It is merely a corruption of And-per-se-and, which means that the character <\r, standing by itself (Lat. per se], spells 'and.' The old lady who pronounced it ' and-pussy-and ' came much nearer to the old pronunciation than the modern spelling does. It does not follow that it is therefore derived from a pussy-cat. As for the shape of it, I have nowhere seen an explanation. Yet it is not far to seek ; it is merely a rough and ready way of writing the Latin word et. How this is so I cannot here show without a diagram ; but any one may see it repeatedly occurring in the Rush- F 2 68 ' BLAKEBERYED ' IN CHAUCER. worth MS. at Oxford, or in any tolerably Old Latin MS. The shape of the character has, in fact, no more to do with a cat than the etymology has. Why should the English language be selected as the ' corpus vile ' on which to make such unmeaning experiments ? Any one who should derive the Latin vicus, a street, from via, a way, and causa, a cause, whence a cause-way, a street, would not get a hearing. But in English etymology (so low is the general level of English scholarship), grotesqueness seems to be especially aimed at. The phrase per se is not confined to this character only. The letter A was often called the A-per-se because it can constitute a whole word when standing alone. From its position at the head of the alphabet, the A-per-se became a proverbial symbol of excellence. It was said of Melu- gifjp ' She was a woman A-per-sc, alone.' Romans of Partenay, ed. Skeat, 1. 1148. In Old English MSS., any letter which constituted a word in itself, as A, I, O, and even E (Old English for eye), was frequently written with a point before and after it ; to isolate it, as it were. Examples may be seen in the Vernon MS. at Oxford. As another example of guessing etymology I may refer to prise, a word which also received attention in the last number of N. and Q., and was said to be short for upraise (!). It is merely the French prise y which denoted an advantageous way of seizing a thing, as explained by Cotgrave two centuries and a half ago ; from which we have developed a word prise, to seize with advantage, to force by leverage. The root is the Latin prehendere. 84. ' Blakeberyed ' in Chaucer (4 S. x. 222 ; 1872). This word presents a difficulty, as is well known ; and occurs once only, viz., in the lines where the Pardoner says, in his prologue or preamble : ' BLAKEBER YED ' IN CHAUCER. 69 ' I rekke neuere, whan that they been beryed, Though that hir soules goon a blakeberyed.' Six- Text Edition, ed. Furnivall, C. 405, p. 316. The obvious meaning is ' I care not a whit, after people are buried, what becomes of their souls.' The only question is, as to the literal meaning. We know, first of all, that when Chaucer uses identical sounds in place of a rime, he invariably takes care that the words denoted by those sounds shall differ in meaning. Thus seke (to seek), in the seventeenth line of his Prologue, rimes with seke (sick) in the line following, because the word seke is used with different meanings. Hence we know, at the outset, that the word blakeberyed has nothing to do with burying; and the suggested explanation ' buried in black ' (which gives no good sense after all) falls through. When we consider further that blakebery means simply a blackberry, we are driven to suppose that goo?i a blakeberyed means ' go a black-berrying,' which is simply a phrase for 'go where they list'; just like to 'go a wool-gathering,' or to 'go pipen in an ivy leef ' (Knightes Tale, 1. 980). The only difficulty is in the construction; we have to find instances in which 'go' is used with words ending in -ed ; and it is because I have met with this construction that I write the present note. For, if no examples could be furnished, the explanation would remain a mere guess, and valueless, as such guesses generally are ; but now that other examples have been found, the guess becomes, I venture to think, a certainty. The instances are these : i. ' Hye treuthe wolde That no faiterye were founde : in folk that gon abegged.' Piers the Plowman (C-text, pass. ix. 136) ; see Whitaker's edition, p. 135. Here three MSS. read a-begged or abegged ; one has a-begg}'d, another abeggeth, and a sixth and beggen. No one can doubt that gon abegged has here the meaning of 70 DR. JOHNSON'S DEFINITION OF 'OATS.' 2. 'In somere for his slewthe : he shal haue defaute, Arid gon abrybeth and beggen : and no man bete his hunger. Piers the Plowman (C-text, pass. ix. 244) ; see Whitaker's edition, p. 141. Here two MSS. have gon abrybeth, .but two others have gon abribed or abribid ; one has gon abribeth and abeggeth, whilst another has gon abribid and a-begged. So that we have here not only fresh evidence of gon abegged for to go a-begging, but are introduced to the phrase gon abribed for to go a-bribing i. e. to go a-robbing, since bribe in Mid. English means to rob. No doubt fresh instances of this peculiar construction will be found. I think, too, it can be explained; but the explanation is long, and of less conse- quence than the /act of its occurrence. [The suffix -ed, -eth, represents A. S. -ad, -off, in hunt-ad.\ 85. Dr. Johnson's Definition of ' Oats ' (4 S. x. 309 ; 1872). Dr. Johnson's definition of Oats, as ' a grain which in England is given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people,' is well known. It is also reported that he declared Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy to have been the only book which ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise. Putting these two things together, it is interesting to observe that something very like the famous definition of ' oats ' occurs in Burton. Here is the passage : 'John Mayor, in the first book of his History of Scotland, contends much for the wholesomeness of oaten bread. It was objected to him, then living at Paris, in France, that his countrymen fed on oats and base grain, as a disgrace. . . . And yet Wecker ^out of Galen) calls it horsenteat, and fitter for juvnents [beasts of burden] than men to feed on.' 1 Anatomy of Melancholy, Part I., sec. 2, mem. 2, sub-sec. I. 86. ' -mas ' (4 S. x. 397 ; 1872). The ending -mas in Christmas, Lammas, Michaelmas. Martinmas, &c., is the A. S. vicssse, Ger. and Dan. messe, MAS : LAMMAS. 71 Swed. and Icel. messa and the most probable account of it is, that it is from Lat. missa. Grein explains A. S. masse as the mass, or the festival on which high mass is said. We find also A. S. m&sse-dag, a festival ; masse-afen, a vigil before a festival ; nmsse-boc, a mass-book, &c. In the rubrics to my A. S. edition of St. Mark's Gospel, we find that the passage beginning at Mark vi. 17 is to be read on ' sancte iohannes maessan,' i.e. on the festival of St. John the Baptist; and the passage beginning at Mark viii. 27 is to be read on ' sancte petres maesse-daege/' on the festival of St. Peter. The occurrence of the single s in -mas is really due to the loss of the final e in Old English. Thus richesse has been cut down to riches, not richess, probably on account of the accent being thrown back. Lammas is certainly the A.S. hlaf-mcesse or loaf-mass, a festival of first- fruits on the ist of August. 87. -mas: Lammas (4 S. x. 521 ; 1872). After working for many years at English etymology, I am well aware of the doubtfulness of many derivations that have been proposed. But of the derivation of Lammas no one who cares to look at the authorities can have the slightest doubt ; it is merely the modernized spelling of the A. S. klaf-masse, and its sense is Loaf-mass. The difficulty of supposing that first-fruits should have been offered on the ist of August vanishes on examination. A couple of loaves made of new corn could as easily be made before the general harvest as after it ; it would not be necessary that they should be eatable loaves, and they may have been made of any small quantity of new corn that could be obtained, whether properly ripened or not. But, however this may have been, the testimony of our old authors is most express. Not only was the ist of August called hlaf-massan dag, but the 7th was actually named ' Harvest,' irrespective of the fact that the real harvest must frequently have been 72 -MAS : LAMMAS. much later 1 . This we know on the best possible authority, viz. the so-called Menologium, or Metrical Calendar of the Months, wherein we read that 'bringeth Agustus yrmen- theodum hlaf-maessan dseg ; Swa thaes haerfest cymth ymb other swylc, butan anre wanan, wlitig waestmum hladen ; wela byth geyped faegere on foldan,' i.e. 'August brings to all men the loaf-mass day ; so afterwards, harvest comes about another such space (of seven days) later, wanting one day ; fair (harvest), laden with fruits ; abundance is fairly manifested upon the earth.' In the next sentence, by way of making sure that Lammas-day is thefirsf, and ' Harvest' the seventh of the month, we are told that three days later is Lawrence's day ; and this we know to be the tenth. See Grein, Bibliothek der Angelsdchsischen Poesie, vol. ii. p. 4. The word also occurs in Alfred's translation of Orosius, where we are told that Octavianus defeated Antonius and Cleopatra ' on thsere tide [Calendas] Agustus, and on tham daege the we hatath hlafmassan* \ i.e. on the Calends of August, on the day which we call loaf-mass ; where Calendas is a reading taken from the older, or Lauderdale MS. This battle, by the way, is not the sea-fight of Actium ; for that is mentioned in the next sentence, and we know that it occurred on the 2nd of September, B.C. 31. See Dr. Bos- worth's edition of Orosius, p. 113. But in the A. S. Chronicle, under the date A.D. 1009, we get various spellings of the word in the MSS. Where two of them have after laf-nuzssan, a third has cefter h/ammcessan, which enables us to state confidently that the internal change from fm to mm must have been made before the 1 [The precession of the equinoxes makes some difference. The sun entered Aries on March 12 in Chaucer's time, but the vernal equinox is now some eight days later. Four centuries earlier than Chaucer, it was some six days earlier ; giving a difference of nearly a fortnight between 993 and 1893. Harvest in the tenth century may have been (nominally) two weeks earlier than now.] TYING A KNOT IN A HANDKERCHIEF. 73 time of Stephen, as this MS. ends with the year 1154, and the events of Stephen's reign seem to have been written down at the time. In later authors the word occurs more than once ; see the quotations given for lammasse from Robert of Gloucester and Robert of Brunne in Richardson's Dictionary. The word occurs also in many later authors. To show that harvest was expected to take place by lemmas-time, I need but quote a well-known passage in Piers the Plowman, B-text, vi. 291 : ' And bi this lyflode we mot lyue til latnnias$e fvinr. And. bi that, I hope to haue licntcst in my croft.' It is thus clearly traced from early times through the successive spellings hlafmtzsse, (h}lafni(Esse, hlammasse, /ammasse, down to lammas. It were to be wished that all our English words could be traced as easily. See the article on Lammas in Chambers's Book of Days. The suggestion that lammas is from Vinculamass is obviously a guess, and nothing more. I have never seen the latter expression in any Old English MS., and should be much surprised to meet with it. I may add, that harvest was not generally used in so restricted a sense as it is in the Menologium. 88. Tying a knot in a handkerchief (4 S. xi. 53 ; 1873). There is an early allusion to a similar practice in the Ancren Riwle (ed. Morton, p. 396), written about A.D. 1230 : ' Mon knut his kurtel uorte habben J-ouht of one )?inge ; auh ure louerd, uor he nolde neuer uorgiten us, he dude merke of ]-urlunge ine bo two his honden ' : a man ties a knot in his girdle, to remember a thing ; but our Lord, in order never to forget us, made a mark of piercing in both His hands. Kurtel is more correctly written gurdel in the Cotton MS. 74 SUPPRESSION OF S IN THE GENITIVE. 89. Suppression of s in the Genitive (4 S. xi. 79 ; 1873). The tolerably common usage here referred to is explained and exemplified in Morris's Historical Accidence, p. 102, sect. 100 ; and in Abbott's Shakespearian Grammar, 3rd ed. p. 356, sect. 471. A very common example of the suppres- sion of s to avoid too much sibilation occurs in the phrase ' for conscience sake,' sometimes written with an apostrophe at the end of conscience, though the apostrophe is hardly needed. We find ' for al Conscience caste,' i. e. ' for all Conscience's contrivance,' in Piers the Plowman, B-text, pass. iii. 1. 19. Observe also ' for goodness sake,' Psalm xxv. 7; and 'righteousness sake,' Isaiah xlii. 21. 90. Galoches : a Term for Unattached Students (48. xi. 112; 1873). It would appear from Cotgrave's French Dictionary that the idea of admitting unattached students to the universities is not a new one. In former times they were termed ' galoches ' or 'galloches' (the word being spelt with one or two I's indifferently). The following are the quotations explaining the words : ' Galoche, f. : A woodden Shoe, or Patten, made all of a piece, without any latchet, or tie of leather, and worne by the poor Clowne in winter.' ' Galloches, m. : Schollers in Universities, admitted of no Colledge. but lying in the Towne, and being at liberty to resort unto what (publike) readers or lectures they please : tearmed thus, because, in passing in the streets, they commonly weare galloches.' 91. ' To hell a building' (4 S. xi. 392 ; 1873). The verb hell is more often spelt hele in Old English, being the A. S. helan, to cover, hide, cognate with the Latin celare, and therefore related to the latter syllable in conceal. It was once so common that we may expect to find it in many parts of England still. Thus, Halliwell gives hele as a Devonshire word, with the sense of to roof EXGLISH DIALECTS. 75 or slate, to earth up potatoes, cover anything up ; hellier, a thatcher or tiler, he marks as West of England ; hiling. a covering, occurs in the Chester Plays. He also cites hull, a covering, shell, and huttings, husks, but without assigning their locality. The verb hyllen, to cover, is in the Promp- torium Paruulorum, which is Norfolk. With the spelling /ie/e, it is used by John of Trevisa, a Cornishman. Hull, a shell, is in Atkinson's Cleveland Glossary, which is York- shire. The verb was used also by Barbour and Gawain Douglas. It must have been once in common use in almost every district from Cornwall to Scotland, and probably survives locally in many counties. This can only be ascertained by consulting all the various extant county glossaries. 92. English Dialects ( S. xi. 385 ; 1873). It certainly would be a good plan to make a new list of books in the English dialects, as supplementary to that published some years ago by Mr. Smith. Instead, however, of sending occasional notes to N. and Q. about such works, how much better it would be if some one would undertake to receive all such notes, with a view to their publication in N, and Q., when a considerable number of them, enough to fill a page at least, has been accumulated ! If the editor approves, this may easily be done J ; and failing any one else, I am ready to undertake the work of receiving and arranging the titles of the works in question. What is wanted is that we should have the correct titles, the authors' names (when known), the date and place of publication, &c. A very brief description of the drift of each book would be useful, but all wandering talk and irrelevant remarks 1 We highly approve of our valued correspondent's suggestion, and gladly accept his kind offer. All communications, therefore, on this subject should be addressed to the Rev. W. W. Skeat, Cintra Terrace, Cambridge. Ed. A T . and Q. 76 ENGLISH DIALECTS. would, of course, be rigidly suppressed. The best way of collecting titles is to adhere strictly to the indispensable rule, that everything must be written lengthways on one side only of half-a-shcet of note-paper of the ordinary size. I subjoin a title as a specimen : ' Laycock, Samuel. Lancashire Songs. London : Simpkin and Marshall, 1866; pp. i-vi, 1-77. Contains 20 Songs, in various metres, in a Lancashire dialect.' If we can also, in the same way, accumulate a list of all works in MS. upon this subject, it will be a great gain : as also a list of workers who really understand the subject. All this must be done before a complete provincial glossary can be made. Some years ago, when this subject was discussed, Mr. Ellis very properly insisted that some uniform spelling, such as Glossic or Palaeotype, should be employed ; but the result was, that the whole scheme fell through. Palaeotype is not likely to be understood by those who have made no special and careful study of it ; and, if employed incorrectly, is worse than useless. The only practical plan seems to be for each word-collector to use his own method of recording sounds (for which he should certainly employ Glossic, if he can, or most of the Glossic symbols, or at least give an account of his own system of spelling according to the pronunciation given by Walker or Webster), and then the Glossic or Palaeotype spelling can be inserted afterwards, between brackets, by some one who understands it. The following rules ought also to be strictly observed by word-collectors : 1. Avoid etymology ; leave it to those who have made it a special study. Strive rather to record the words themselves, with their meanings ; add also scraps of real (not invented) talk, to illustrate the occasional uses of the words. 2. Put down everything that is not in standard English. To miss a word current in Shropshire, because it is also used in Herefordshire, is an utter mistake ; indeed, many good TENNYSON: 'ALL THE SIVINE WERE SOWS.' 77 lists have been ruined this way. Words can always be struck out, but they are hard to put in. Accordingly, the locality of every word should be noted, without stopping to ascertain if it is peculiar to that locality. Other rules can be supplied to those who apply for them. [A second letter on the same subject appeared in JV. and Q. 4 S. xi. 406, on May 17 of the same year. These letters led to considerable results, tending to establish the English Dialect Society, which was started in 1873, ar >d (in 1895) is still vigorous. The first publication of the Society was ' A Bibliographical List of the Works that have been published, or are known to exist in MS., illustrative of the various dialects of Eng- lish ; compiled by members of the E. D. S., and edited by the Rev. W. W. Skeat and J. H. Nodal. London: Triibner, 1873-7.'] 93. Tennyson : ' All the swine were sows ' (The Princess] (4 S. xi. 346 ; 1873). It seems hard that Tennyson should be accused of an error on the ground that ' swine is the plural of sow'' \ an assertion of which no proof is offered. In English it is certainly not the case ; the A.S. sunn was a collective neuter noun, commonly used as a plural ; but it could also be used as a singular. See the example in Bosworth's Dictionary, in which sw'mes is used as the genitive singular, meaning of a pig ; the gen. pi. was swlna, as in swlna heard, a herd of swine. Another example of the singular is in Sivlnes-hafed, now Swineshead, in Huntingdonshire ; whilst the adjective sunnen, like the modern swinish, is derived from swine as distinct from sow. In German, the sing, is Schwein, and the pi. Schiveine ; cf. also the Dutch zzvijn, Icel. svin, &c. But sow is the A. S. sugu, which is not even of the same gender with swine, being a. feminine noun, like the G. Sau, and Icel. sjr. The plural of sugu would be sitga ; in German the 78 ' MUCH ' IN THE SENSE OF ' GREA T. ' plural has two forms, Siiue and Sauen. I may here also correct the singular error in a new grammar edited by Dr. Smith, viz. that kine is contracted from coiven, for which eccentric form no authority is cited. The A. S. 7, a cow, made its plural in the form fj/, by vowel-change ; the Mid. Eng. kin was formed from cy by adding the plural ending -en, whence ky-en or km ; the final -e is a modern addition. 94. ' Much' in the sense of 'Great' (4 S. xi. 220 ; 1873). Instances of much used in the sense of great are probably common. Thus, every Shropshire man must know oiMuch Wenlock, as distinguished from Little Wenlock. Three examples of this use of the word in English poetry at once occur to me : (i). 'A muche mon, me thouhte, lyk to myselue.' Piers the Plowman, A. ix. 61. From which interesting allusion we gather that the author of the poem was a big man, as regarded his stature. (2). ; The uutckle devil blaw ye south.' Burns Author's Earnest Cry. (3). ' Rise, lass, and mak a clean fireside, Put on the muckle pot.' Mickle There's Nae Luck about the House. Besides which, the common surname, Mitchell, simply stands for mickle, i. e. a tall or big man ; cf. Lat. magnus, &c. Observe that one quotation is from Mickle ! 95. 'Exceptio probat regulam' (4 S. xi. 197 ; 1873). I wish to point out that the phrase 'Exceptio probat regulam ' involves no mistake, and is a maxim of perfectly sound sense. It means, 'The exception tests the rule,' a maxim of the highest value in all scientific investigations. The older English equivalent, ' The exception proves the rule,' had once the same signification, the use of prove for test being familiar to all readers of the Bible ; as, e. g., in the wise advice of St. Paul that we should 'prove (i.e test) all ' EXCEPTIO PROBAT REGULAM.' 79 things,' so that we may know how 'to hold fast that which is good.' Unhappily, the expression, ' The exception proves the rule.' has become meaningless to all who forget that it is an old, not a modern expression ; and perhaps no really wise saying has ever been so frequently taken to mean utter nonsense. Every one who reflects for an instant must see that an exception does not prove, but rather tends to invali- date, a rule. It tests it, and we hence obtain one of three results : either (i) the exception can be perfectly explained, in which case it ceases to be an exception, and the rule becomes, in relation to it, absolute; or (2) the exception resists all explanation, because the rule itself is wrong ; or (3) the exception resists explanation, not because the rule itself is wrong, but because the power to explain the excep- tion fails, from a lack of sufficient knowledge. In like manner, the proverb, ' The more haste, the worse speed,' is now often taken to mean, ' The more haste, the worse haste,' which is but harsh, and tends to nonsense. But, when we remember that speed really meant success in Old English, the sense becomes ' The more haste, the worse success,' which is a perfectly wise and sensible saying. So also ' God speed the plough ' does not mean ' God hasten the plough,' but ' God prosper the plough.' In the proverb 'God sends the shrewd cow short horns.' shrewd means mischievous or ill-tempered, not clever or intelligent. In the proverb ' Handsome is as handsome does,' hand- some means neat, with reference to skilfulness of execution, not beautiful in the usual modern sense. In ' Good wine needs no bush,' the bush is well known to be that which was tied to the end of an ale-stake. In ' To buy a pig in a poke,' we have the old spelling of pouch, with the sense of bag. And of course there are numerous other examples of the perfectly general rule, that all our proverbs have come down 80 BRIG A. to us from olden times, and must be interpreted according to the sense of words in old, not in modern English. 98. Briga (4 S. xii. 457 ; 1873). [N.B. This article is a skit upon the usual methods employed by guessing etymologists. Many readers, I believe, took it quite seriously !] At the last reference W. B. traces a large number of English words from briga, which he says is from the root earth. Has he really secured the right root"? Surely all the words which he mentions, and many more, are rather to be referred to the Latin terra. Thus plough and breeches, which he instances, are obviously not from earth, but from terra, as a little reflection will show. From terra would come terrare, to tear the earth (our English tear\ and by the well-known interchange of/ with / (cf. Gk. tessares with ^Eol pisures] we get a dialectal form^errare, also to till the earth, whence perratum (xpratum, a meadow, Eng. prairie. By the usual shifting of r (as in bird, from Old Eng. brid} we get preare ; and, by the common change of r into /, pleare, a word adopted by the Anglo-Saxons as pleogan, to till ; and hence our plough. From the same root, pleogan, come play and ply, and the adjective pliant. So, too, with breeks (braccce]. The compound word terri-braccce, breeches to protect from the earth or soil, is the obvious origin of our supposed nautical word tarry-breeks , or, by loss of the first part of the word, breeks. The liability of these to tear (the connexion of which word with terra has been already shown) gives the verb to break, as also the substantive brick, literally broken pieces of earth. Just as we find bacca written for vacca, in Old Latin, we may suppose breeks to become vreeks, whence the Southern-English vrock, our standard English frock. By loss ofyj comes the German Rock, also meaning coat, the garment which covers the ridge or back, since in Old English rugge often occurs with the sense of back. WHY ADAM MEANS NORTH, SOUTH, ETC. 8 1 Rock is clearly the same as rug or rag, also used for covering the body. All these, it will be observed, are obviously from the Latin terra. Then, again, the earth was regarded as an object of mystery or wonder, whence our terror; as, also, terrier, lit. the scarer, the dog who terrifies or scares the sheep. The English drag is known to be cognate with Lat. trahere ; but this is a shortened form of ter-rahere, lit. to drag or draw along the ground ; so that from the same root, terra, come also such words as drag or draw, trail, and, by loss of /, rail (rails still are laid along the eartK) ; and by loss of r, ail or ale (made from the produce of the earth ) ; by loss of a, ill (from the effects produced by ale), and so on. It is especially curious to see how W. B., not remembering the Latin terra, has failed to solve the word Albion. Granting that Albion is, as he says, from arb, heights, he must allow that arb or arp is merely a metathesis of the/r in pratum, the connexion of which with terra has been shown above. This is verified by observing the Latin arbor, lit. the fruit of the earth, just as our tree (Old Eng. tre) is short for terre, the old spelling of terrae, the genitive case of terra. I have thus shown that tree, Albion, ill, ale, drag, &c., are all from the Latin terra, and I am prepared to derive from this pro- lific root, not merely all the words w r hich W. B. mentions, but every word in our language ; so that, instead of referring all our words to a few roots, I would refer them all to one root, and that root is the Latin terra, and not the Armenian ard. If W. B. is serious, I am sure that my derivations are quite as convincing. But, alas, that English etymology should ever, in these days, be trailed through the dirt after such a fashion. 97. Why Adam means North, South. East, and West (5 S. i. 305; 1874). In the Dialogue of Solomon and Saturn, ed. Kemble, p. 178, is the following singular passage : ' Tell me, whence G 82 SHAKESPEARE'S NAME. was the name of Adam formed ? Answer. I tell thee, of four stars. Tell me, how are they called ? Answer. I tell thee, Arthox, Dux, Arotholem, Minsymbrie ' (I give here Kemble's translation, instead of the Anglo-Saxon original, because it answers my purpose quite as well). These names have never been explained, to my knowledge, and I confess that I never expected to know what they mean. There are no stars with such names. But in the Cursor Mundi, ed. Morris, p. 42, is a passage, equally hopeless as it stands, to this effect : ' Hear now the reason of his name, why he was called Adam. In this name are laid four letters, that are derived from the four ways ; so that Adam is as much as to say, as East, West, North, and South.' It is obvious that the initials of these words do not make up Adam in English. The two passages, both unintelligible in themselves, com- pletely explain each other ; for, though these words do not spell Adam in English, they do so in Greek. Here, then, is the answer to the riddle ; the ' four stars ' is a mistake for the four ' quarters,' and the words, apparently so mysterious, are merely Arctos, Dusis, Anatole, Mesembria ; apKros, 8wo-is, draroA.?/, pconf/u^pfa. Moral : never guess, but wait for fresh information to turn up. 98. Shakespeare's Name (5 S. ii. 444 ; 1874^. What is meant by saying that ' Fewtarspeare is, doubtless, a local surname,' I cannot understand. Just as Shakespeare means a man who shakes a spear, just as Breakspear means one who breaks a spear, so Fewtarspeare means one who fewtars or feutres a spear, i. e. who lays it in rest. ' His speare he feutred, and at him it bore.' F. Q. iv. 5, 45. I do not see why English etymology should be considered a fit subject for such unintelligent guess-work. ' O THER WHILES. ' 83 [With Shake-spear and Fewtar-speare, cf. Wag-staff. I once saw the name Shake-shaft over a shop door at Lichfield.] 99. ' Other-whiles' (5 S. ii. 435 ; 1874). Certainly this word is nothing new. See Dr. Stratmann's Old English Dictionary (which correspondents should con- sult for themselves), where these references are given. Otherwhile, Layamon, 1. 7062 ; Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. no; Robert of Gloucester, p. 100; other hwute, Ancren Riwle, p. 82 ; other huelniaes ivitegan bee isaiam,' as it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah. But when it is intended to express the idea of prophetess instead of prophet, the feminine termination is duly added, as in St. Luke ii. 36, ' And Anna waes witegystre, fanueles dohtor,' and Anna was a pro- phetess, the daughter of Phanuel. 103. The suffix -ster in English. II (5 S.iii. 449; 1875). It is quite true, at the same time, though it has long been notorious, that the termination -ster in a great many in- stances lost its feminine force, and, in some instances, never had that force at all. This was simply due to course of time, and probably in some measure to confusion with the Old French ending -s/re, as seen in Chaucer's idolastre or ydolastre, in the sense of idolater. But we have had something like this before ; see N. and Q. i S. vi. 409, 86 A FEAT IN SWIMMING. 568 ; 3 S. iv. 350 ; especially the article at the first of these references. Each word has its separate history, and should be kept apart from the rest ; the chronology is, in each case, of the highest importance. There are some words, such as bakester, which appear in Anglo-Saxon, cf. A. S. bczcestre ; there are others, such as punster, which are of modern formation ; and there are others again, such as lobster, holster, which are not properly personal substantives at all. To show how necessary it is to take words separately, I will instance lobster. It is clear that A. S. loppe, a flea, North- Eng. lop, meant a leaper ; and it is probable that the A. S. loppestre was made to match it, with the same signification of leaper, but with no very definite idea of gender, merely by way of giving the word a sort of sense. The alternative spelling lopust (for loppestre] makes it highly probable that the word was merely a vulgar adaptation of the Lat. locusta or locusta marina, as suggested in Mahn's Webster, in Wedgwood, and in E. Miiller. Cf. crayfish, from ecrevisse. 104. A Feat in Swimming (5 S. iv. 186 ; 1875). In connexion with Captain Webb's achievement, recent as it is, it is well worthy of notice that the notion of swim- ming for a very protracted time is to be found, with full particulars, in the very oldest piece of writing which exists in the English language ; proving, as I think, that our English race has always been familiar with the exercise. In the poem of Beowulf is a long and full account of the swimming match between Beowulf and Breca. I fear the description is exaggerated, as it tells us that these two athletes swam side by side for five days, whilst ' the ocean boiled with waves, with winter's fury ' ; or whilst, in the words of the original, ' geofon ythum weol, wintres wylme.' At the end of the five days, says Beowulf, ' unc flod todraf,' the flood drave us two asunder ; after which he met with COMETS. 87 some thrilling adventures, attacking and killing several sea-monsters with his sword, and (amongst the rest) slaying ' niceras nigene,' i. e. nine nickers, or water-demons ; and finally he landed on the .shores of Finland. The whole account in Thorpe's edition of Betrtntlf, pp. 35-40, is worth referring to. And I think we may congratulate our gallant countryman that, though he was unfortunately stung by a jelly-fish, he was not under the necessity of slaying nine nickers, nor of remaining, as Beowulf is said to have done, for more than seven days in the water. 105. Comets (5 S. iv. 146 ; 1875). Milton has . , ' Like a comet burn a That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge In the Arctic sky, and from his horrid hair Shakes pestilence and war.' P. L. ii. 708. In Batman uppon Bartholome, lib. viii. c. 32, we read that ' Comeia is a starre beclipped with burning gleames, as Beda doth say, and is sodeinly bred, and betokeneth changing of kings, and is a token of pestilence, or of war, or of winds, or of great heate . . . and they spread their beanies toward the North, and ne\-er towards the West.' With the phrase, ' changing of kings,' cf. Paradise Lost, i. jy/t jy < And with fear of change Perplexes monarchs. 1 106. 'Tetter' (5 S. iv. 126 ; 1875). The word is in Hamlet, i. 5. The German form Zitter- mal shows that tetter is a Low German (English or Dutch) form of the same word. Cf. A. S. teter. ' Impetigo. Zerua and Zarua, called of the Greekes Lichen, of some Lichena. There are two kinds, the viscous scab and watrie is called a Ringworme. the other is a drye Tettar: this is infectious, and is soone taken by lyeing in an vncleane bedde. The drye scabbe 88 'SPIT WHITE.' commeth of melancholy, the wet commeth of putrified fleame and corrupt bloud.' Batman uppon Bartholome, Addition to lib. vii. c. 49. 107. 'Spit white' (5 S. iv. 106; 1875.) Falstaff says, ' If it be a hot day, and I brandish anything but a bottle, I would I might never spit white again.' This means, of course, ' be in perfect health again.' See the Addition to lib. vii. c. 29 of Batman uppon Bartholome (ed. 1582, fol. 97), where all kinds of spittle are described with reference to health : ' If the spettle be white viscus, the sickenesse commeth of fleame ; if black ... of melan- choly . . . The whitte [sic] spettle not knottie, signifieth health: [Dr. Schmidt, in his admirable Shakespeare Lexicon, observes ' Nares adduces some passages from contem- porary writers to prove that to spit white was thought to be the consequence of intemperance in drinking ; but he has forgotten to ascertain the colour of other people's spittle.' The remark is just ; but our ancestors did not go by facts, but by opinions ; and the above extract shows that there was a notion that people could spit ' black.' I leave my note as I wrote it, though it excited some derision ; I know not why.] 1O8. Cicero speaking Greek (5 S. iv. 266 ; 1875). ' Cassius. Did Cicero say anything ? Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek.' _. i /- 11 Julius Caesar, i. 2. 281. Compare the following : ' Wherefore when he [Cicero] came to Rome, at the first he pro- ceeded very warily and discreetly, and did vnwillingly seeke for any Office, and when he did, he was not greatly esteemed : for they commonly called him the Grecian and scholer, which are two words which the Artificers (and such base Mechanicall people at Rome) have euer readie at their tongues' end.' North's Plutarch, ' Life of Cicero,' ed. 1612, p. 861 ; see the whole passage. [This note afterwards appeared in Mr. W. Aldis Wright's TREEXWARE. 89 edition of Julius Caesar, published in 1878. But of course Mr. Wright observed the coincidence for himself.] 109. Treenware (5 S. iv. 331 ; 1875). Without doubt the explanation of treenware by ' earthen vessels ' is, at least etymologically, incorrect. Of course, it ought to mean ' wooden vessels.' But the explanation occurs in both the early editions of Ray's Collection, and it hardly seemed to me to be worth a note. It is possible, after all, that Ray noted correctly the use of the word as current in his own day, for nothing is more common than a change of meaning in English words in course of time. Names are often retained long after the things which they denote have suffered alteration. Thus, a tureen (formerly terrene) means a vessel made of earth ; but for all that, people do not hesitate to talk of a ' silver soup-tureen,' for the simple reason that the vessels which were once made of earth are now often made of silver. Similarly, the name of treenware may very well have been continued in use long after the vessels themselves had ceased to be invariably of wood. I add a good example of tre in the old sense of wood. In Trevisa's Description of Britain (Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat, p. 239) we have a description of a petrifying well that turned wooden things into stone : ' Thar ys also a pond that turneth tre into yre \iron\ and [if] hyt be ther-ynne al a yer [year] ; and so tren [pieces of u>ood\ buth yschape [are made] into whestones ' \whet- stones\. 110. Nuncheon.' I (5 S. iv. 366 ; 1875). The etymology of this word is a puzzle of long standing \ The guess-work writers have long ago made the desperate 1 It had been solved, previously and independently, by Mr. Walford ; see the next article. 90 ' NUNCHEON.' attempt to connect it with noon-shun, because (note the 'because,' that marks the work of your guesser) labourers shun the heat of noon when they eat their nuncheon. But of course it is obvious that the labourer does not shun the noon itself, but only the heat of it. When the etymology of a word is unknown, there is but one thing to do, viz. to wait in patience till the light comes. In this case the first ray of light came when Mr. Riley printed his valuable and well-edited Memorials of London. We there find, at P- 265 : 'These donations for drink to workmen are called in Letter-Book G, fol. iv. (27 Edw. III\ nonechenche, probably " noon's quench." whence the later nuncheon or luncheon? This half solves the difficulty, as it gives the old form of the word ; but the suggestion of quench is rather too much of a wrench. The reader of Middle English may here recognize the word schenche, meaning a drink ; and the verb schenchen (A. S. scencan\ to pour out drink. Cf. G. schenk, a cup-bearer, in English a skinker ; and schenken, to skink, or pour out liquor. Thus nonechenche simply means the noon-drink, with the implied sense of its being poured out and carried round in fixed quantities, in accordance with the skinker's known duties. Thus nuncheon is merely noon-skink, with the usual palatalisation of the k to ch which so abounds in English. When nuncheon lost all meaning, popular etymology, always at work to corrupt, desperately confused it with the lump of bread instead of the cup of drink, thus producing the absurd luncheon, which has so baffled all inquirers. [Similarly, the A. S. non-mete, M. E. nonmete, nonmet, i. e. noon-meat, is now the Southern prov. E. nammet, nummet, a luncheon. See mtncheon and luncheon in my Etym. Diet., larger edition.] ' NUNCHEOX.- 91 111. 'Nuncheon.' II (5 S. iv. 398 ; 1875). It is evident, from Mr. Skeat's note, that he was not aware that the same etymology of the word nuncheon had been given by me, about twenty-five years ago, in the Proceedings of the Bury and Suffolk Archaeological Institute. I have not the volume by me, but I believe it was in vol. i. p. 1 80. It will there be seen to be probable that the word noonscench came to mean something to eat, as well as some- thing to drink, between meals. W. S. WALFORD, F.S.A. 112. ' Nuncheon.' Ill (5 S. iv. 434 ; 1875). I am glad to know that Mr. Walford had already solved this word, and cheerfully accord to him whatever merit attaches to the first enunciation of the truth concerning it. I had noted it some years ago, independently, but omitted to publish the result. Mr. K. has made a curious mistake ; for his parallel does not hold. He thinks that chenche is put for quench, because we find church put for kirk. With a slight amendment I accept his reasoning, and admit that I do not see how chenche can come out of qiiench, because I am quite sure that church is not a corruption of quirk. Chenche is an instance of that common substitution of ch for s/i or sc/i with which all readers of Early English manuscripts must be familiar. There was not only the term nonechenche for noon-drink. but none-mete for noon-meat, or noon-eating. See Halliwell's Dictionary. The Spanish words cited by Mr. Peacock are hardly to the point. Mere resemblances prove little, and it is far more likely that luncheon was an extension of the provincial-English lunch, meaning a lump, than that our labourers took to talking Spanish. The Spanish word loncha, meaning a slice of meat, not 92 ' AWN'D,' < AUND.' a lump of it, was suggested by Minshew, and rejected by Richardson ; and rightly, in my opinion. 113. 'Awn'd,' 'Aund' (5 S. iv. 384; 1875). In Halliwell's excellent Dictionary is the following entry : ' Awn'd, ordained; Yorksh. Kennett (MS. Lansd. 1033) gives the example I am awn'd to ill luck, i. e. it is my peculiar destiny or fortune.' In Ray's Glossary of North Country Words is the entry : 'Aund, ordained; forsan per contractionem. I am aund to this luck ; i. e. ordained.' In reprinting Ray's collection for the English Dialect Society I added the note, by way of protest against such a guess, that ' aund being short for ordained is out of the question.' I now ' make a note ' that the true etymology has appeared. Mr. Atkinson, in his Cleveland Glossary, has the right idea. He connects the word with the ' O. N. audid] meaning thereby the Icelandic audit. But if any one who consults Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary will (after finding audit on p. 31) just turn over the leaf and examine the word audna to be ordained by fate he will find there all that he wants. He will also find that the verb audna is a derivative of the substantive aufir, fate, of which the Old Swedish form was ode. This is the very result which Mr. Atkinson suspected. I have merely supplied the missing link in the chain of his evidence. [This provincial word is not in the New Eng. Dict?\ 114. ikes of the mouth, the corners of the mouth, N. C. ' ; where ' N. C.' means ' North Country.' Brockett, in the first edition of his North Country Words, FEN: FEND. 107 in 1825, has ' Wiks, wicks, corners; as, the wiks of the mouth. Su.-Goth. wik, angulus.' I find it also in Grose's Glossary, ed. 1790 ; in the Teesdule Glossary, 1849; in Mr. Atkinson's Cleveland Glossary; in the Whitby Glossary, where it is also spelt weaks ; and I suppose it may be found in half a dozen other books, as it is not likely that a glossary of Northern English would omit it. The word is Scandinavian, viz. Icel. vik; Old Swedish wik, a corner ; Dan. mund-vig, the corner of the mouth. It is closely related to a verb which is represented by the Icel. vikja, to turn, to recede ; cf. G. weichen, Gk. e"/ceiv. 126. Fen: Fend (5 S. vi. 412 ; 1876). The exclamation ' fen placings ' is short for ' I fend placings,' i.e. I forbid them. Fend is used for defend in Middle English (see Halliwell) ; and defend in olden times often meant to forbid. In place of fen, some boys say 'fain;' hence the unmeaning expression, 'fain I,' used to signify ' I decline that.' It really stands for ' I forbid you to choose me.' 127. The phrase ' He dare not.' I (5 S. vii. 173 ; 1877). I wish that correspondents who are zealous for the purity of English would learn a little about the matter before proceeding to lay down the law. The phrase ' He dare not ' (though, perhaps, going out of fashion) is of course quite right. Dare is one of the verbs which use an old past tense for a present, and 'he dares' is, grammatically, as bad as ' he mays,' or ' he cans,' or ' he shalls? This fact is perfectly familiar to any one who has ever seen an old English MS. of any value or age. The appearance of ' he dares ' in a thirteenth-century or even in a fourteenth-century MS. would brand it as a forgery, just as poor Chatterton thought that its was good fifteenth-century English. The phrase ' He dear ' occurs in Beowulf, \. 684, which I do not think 108 THE USE OF 'DARE.' could have been written by ' one of the Kingsleys ' [who was credited with inventing he dare\. 128. The use of Dare.' II (5 S. vii. 371 ; 187). I think our good friend C. S. need not have repeated his protest, because all readers of English can judge for themselves, and I hope the time is coming when students really will do so, and then questions like the present will cease to be a matter of opinion at all. He now appeals to the facts, as is quite right ; only, unluckily for him, the facts are the other way. It is needless to prove this, for it has been already admitted. His first protest against the use of dare was due to the fact that he supposed it to be modern. He now objects to it because it has been shown to be old. The admitted fact is that it is both. The statement that ' dares, dared, and durst have been used, and used exclusively, by good English writers for the last two or three centuries ' is a mere mistake. Dare has also been used, as we all know (for we have all read the Bible, Job xli. 10, and Shakespeare), as well as the other forms, but not quite so freely, because authors have probably been a little afraid of it 1 . Before making any wild statements, C. S. should have looked at his Shakespearian grammar, and he would have found ' But this thing dare not,' quoted from The Tempest, iii. 2. 63. with the remark that dare is ' stronger than dares.' Dr. Abbott quotes an excellent example of the indiscri- minate use of dare and dares from Beaumont and Fletcher, Faithful Shepherd, iii. i : ' Here boldly spread thy hands ; no venomed weed Dares blister them, no slimy snail dare creep.' 1 I find it in the first book I open : 'And scarce an arm dare rise to guard its head.' Byron, Corsair, c. ii. 'And who dare question aught that he decides.' Id., c. i. st. 8. THE USE OF 'DARE.' 109 As to the present use of the word, we might learn some- thing from the dialect of our peasantry. Surely no country- man uses 'he dares '; at least, I have never heard it. But I can certify that I have heard, ' He dar'n't do it,' and, ' He dus'n't do it ' (which, like ' I dus'n't do it,' is for ' durst not,' i. e. would not dare, the past tense subjunctive), at least a score of times; and I suppose the experience of others is much the same. If the appeal is to the facts, let us abide by the facts. Now the facts are that the modern usage admits of ' he dare not/ and ' he dares not,' both in the present tense ; and of ' he durst not ' and ' he dared not,' both in the past tense. Only, as is often the case when there are double forms, these are being gradually differentiated, and will some day be used differently. Already ' he dared not ' is beginning to be used more with reference to direct assertions, and ' he durst not ' with respect to hypotheses. See Matzner, Eng. Grammatik, vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 4. If your correspondent really means, as I suspect he does, that dare is going out of fashion, and will, if no longer wanted in indirect clauses, probable become obsolete, then I quite agree with him. But it is a very different way of putting the matter ; and it is well to remember that all ' protests ' are perfectly useless, and are so much effort thrown away. The language will go its own way, and the effect of critical dicta upon it has at all times been ridiculously small, except, perhaps, in a few cases ; of which I can, however, recall none. I hope it will be every day better understood that our plain duty is, before we criticize, to study the phenomena and to investigate the history. The notion that the study of Old English has nothing to do with Modern English is becoming obsolescent, and it will be a good thing when it is obsolete. But let me not be misunderstood to mean that the study of Old English is all-sufficient. I mean nothing less. We must study Old English, Middle English, Modern 110 CHAUCER'S PROLOGUE, L. 152; TRETYS. English, and Dialectal English, all with equal care, and range over the whole literature of every date, if we would wish our remarks to be worth reading. I am very sorry if, by the expressions used by C. S., he thinks I have answered him unfairly ; for the study of English can make its own way, and needs not to be supported by any rudeness. I think, if my remarks be read again, it will be seen that the plainness of speech was no more than was fairly suited to the occasion. I do not see on what principle assertions are to be respected, when they are made in direct violation of historical facts. And for myself, I can promise that, when shown to have made an error, I will own it quite as frankly as I point out errors elsewhere. 129. Chaucer's Prologue. 1. 152; Tretys (5 S. vii. 291 ; 1877). The commentators on Chaucer have certainly taken small pains about explaining the reading tretys, which is perfectly right, streyt being but a gloss on it. Surely it is rather rash to pronounce a word in Chaucer to be wrong, without even so much as glancing at Tynvhitt's ' Glossary ' to see whether it occurs elsewhere ! I do not say that the particular trans- lation of the Romaunt of the Rose which we possess is Chaucer's version *, but I do say that the word tretys occurs twice in it 11. 1016, 1216 ; and that Tyrwhitt gives the references. Here are the passages : 'As whyt as lily or rose on rys, Her face gentil and tretys.' ' Her nose was wrought at point devys, For it was gentil and tretys.' Here we have tretys applied to a nose. We see that it is accented on the second syllable ; also, it rimes with rys 1 [I now say that Fragment A of the Romaunt (11. 1-1705) really is Chaucer's own ; and both the quotations for tretys here cited occur within it.] SWEET-HEART. Ill (Mid. Eng. for bough, and pronounced as Mod. Eng. rees) ; and again with devys. We also see that nose, properly a dissyllable, was pronounced (occasionally, at least) almost as a monosyllable, the final e being very light; see 1. 123 of the Prologue. The word tretys is really common enough in Old French, which students of Middle English might study to some advantage. Roquefort gives seven spellings of it, and a quotation from the Roman de Gerard de Nevers. And Bartsch, in his Chrestomathie Franfaise, has, ' Traitis. doux, joli, bien fait, suss, niedlich, hiibsch,' giving explana- tions both in French and German, to show that he at least knows the word well. Instances in Bartsch are given at pp. 122, 178, 1 90 : ' Plaint et sospir, qui d'amor vienent, Sont molt traitis, pres del coer tienent.' Roman means tree. Anglo-Saxon botanical names were conferred in the wildest and most confused way. and frequently transferred from one plant to another not particularly resembling it. In the first instance ivindel- straw meant ' straw for plaiting,' and windel-tree meant ' tree for basket-work.' I look upon MR. H.'s candid confession of his notion of the word as a valuable aid to the under- standing of etymology. He tells us that he had interpreted the word, from his own consciousness, as meaning 'the wind-strewn leaves of the forest,' and afterwards found, to his 'intense disgust,' that it meant nothing of the kind. This is precisely what has been going on in the minds of thousands for many centuries, though we can seldom so clearly trace it. Ever}' educated man when he hears a new word is tempted to guess at its etymology, and thence 1 [Easily found, in 1895, by help of Wulker's Indices. The reference is to ' Cara]mum, windel-streow' in the Glossaries. 273. 23, and 369. 4. Calntum is the accusative of Lat. calamus, Eng. haulm.] L 2 148 HEARNE'S ' CHRONICLES.' deduce its sense. After guessing wrongly, and thus forcing the word into a wrong sense, he probably misuses it accord- ingly, and a second person uses the word as newly modified, and hence the endless corruptions in language. The true rule is never to guess at an etymology, but this requires a strength of mind beyond that of most of us. 170. Hearne's 'Chronicles' (6 S. iii. 425 ; 1881). It deserves to be mentioned, as one of the curiosities of literature, that the following notice is almost invariably repeated whenever a copy of Hearne's editions of Robert of Gloucester and of Robert Manning's translation of Langtoft is offered for sale in a second-hand bookseller's catalogue : ' Contains the best Anglo-Saxon Glossaries that have ever been published.' Of course some one was once weak enough to say this, and it has been repeated ever since. But it is most amusingly unveracious. In the first place, the glossaries are not 'Anglo-Saxon' at all, but register the language of the thirteenth century ; and next, the glossaries are almost valueless, even as regards Middle English. Hearne gives no references, and his explanations are not always correct. We may safely conclude that the difference between English of the tenth and thirteenth centuries is still unappreciated by the many, and that Stratmann's and Matzner's glossaries of Middle English (the latter, alas ! still incomplete) are unknown, even by name, to a large portion of the book- buying public. Halliwell's Dictionary is also far more useful than Hearne's glossaries, though the references in it are but few. Even the glossary to the Specimens of English edited by Dr. Morris and myself is more worthy of mention, since it, at any rate, gives references to many thousand passages. [And now, in 1893, even Mayhew and Skeat's Concise Middle-English Dictionary is better than Hearne.] 'WALKING WIDTH AND STRIDING SIDTH.' 149 171. ' Walking width and striding sidth ' (6 S. iv. 95 : 1881). Whether this phrase is still in common use I cannot say, but it is clearly an amplification of the phrase 'wide and side,' i. e. ' wide and long,' which is so common in Anglo- Saxon poetry. See examples, s. v. ' Sid,' in Grein's Glossary, ii. 442. Width refers to the breadth of the garment from side to side ; sidth, to the length of it. A side garment in Middle English commonly meant one that trailed on the ground because over-long. 172. The name ' Howard' (6 S. iv. 277 ; 1881). Yerstegan's book (On the Restitution of Decayed In- telligence] is almost worthless ; he invents his facts, and had no notion of Anglo-Saxon, which he grossly misre- presents. Surely Howard is the same as haw-ward, also spelt haii'ard. Hayward, another common name, is the M. E. heiward. Haw, from A. S. haga, and hay or hei, from A. S. hege, both mean ' hedge.' The hayward was well known in former times, and is constantly alluded to ; see Prompt. Parv., p. 234, and my notes on Piers Plowman. Sherwood gives both spellings in his index to Cotgrave. ' A hau'ard or hayward, qui garde, en commun, tout le bestail d'un bourg.' As to holdward, I do not believe any such word ever existed till Verstegan coined it. What we want for the etymology of any word is a good collection of illustrative quotations. Any one can theorize more easily -without the facts ; but only the facts can guide us to the truth. 173. Bad copy and good printers (6 S. v. 72 ; 1882). I have often heard this story (viz. that it is advisable to write badly, in order that a good compositor may be set on to the 'copy'); but never so circumstantially. I think it has probably been repeated rather too often, as it is 150 CLdTURE. a standing excuse for bad writers. The morality of it is more than questionable ; and it ought surely to be under- stood, amongst gentlemen, that a writer who purposely writes illegibly commits a most cowardly and unjustifiable crime against the unfortunate compositors. [PS. in 1895. I have always found that the compositors set up my ' copy ' admirably ; precisely because they appre- ciate its legibility. The Controller of the Clarendon Press is my witness to this.] 174. C16ture (6 S. v. 126 ; 1882). The etymology of this word is easy enough, viz. from the O. F. closture, Low Lat. claustura, the original sense being merely ' an enclosure.' 1 write this to note a passage in which the word occurs. ' II deyt enclore la place ; et si nuly bestes y entrent par defaute de closture,'' &c. ' He ought to enclose the place ; and if any beasts come in for want of fencing,' &c. Year-Books of Edward /, ed. Hor- wood, vol. iii. p. 65. 175. Turken. I (6 S. v. 165 ; 1882). This curious word is noticed in Davies's Supplementary Glossary, where the meaning of furbish is assigned to it, copied from the Index to the Parker Society's Publications. But I have found other instances of it, and have no hesita- tion in saying that this assigned sense of it is the wrong one. The right sense is ' to turn and twist about,' and it is merely a frequentative form of the O. F. torquer, to twist (Cotgrave), which is obviously the Latin torquere. Roquefort gives O. F. torcenouse, violent ; torcenus, a tormenting tyrant ; torconnere, extortionate ; torquelon, a torch ; all from the same source. I first quote the instance cited by Davies, and then two more which I have found in Gascoigne : ' His majesty calleth for subscription unto articles of religion ; but they are not either articles of his own lately devised, or the old SUPPOSED CHANGE OF LATIN L INTO U. 151 newly turkened' ; i.e. twisted about (Rogers, On the Thirty-nine Articles, p. 24). ' And for the rest, you shall find it [a certain story] now in this second imprinting so turquened and turned'; i.e. so twisted about and altered (Gascoigne 1 s Works, ed. Hazlitt, i. 5, last line). ' This poeticall license is a shrewde fellow, and couereth many faults in a verse . . . and, to conclude, it turkeneth [alters] all things at pleasure' ^Gascoigne, Extracts from, ed. Arber, p. 37). Mr. Hazlitt calmly alters turkeneth to turneth ( Works, i. 505) without a word of comment. Mr. Davies notes that turkis also occurs. And it occurs precisely in the same sense. It is formed from the stem of an O. F. pres. part, torquiss-ant, from the verb torquir, by-form of torquer. Such changes of conjugation are common in French. ' Yet he taketh the same sentence out of Esay, somewhat turkised,' i. e. altered or turned about (Bancroft, Survey of Pretended Holy Discipline, 1593, p. 6). 176. Turken. II (6 S. xii. 33 ; 1885). I have explained that turken, a very rare word, means to turn, twist, alter, and that it should rather be torken, being ultimately from the Latin torquere. And I now find this proved by the occurrence of the word in the fourteenth century. In the Wars of Alexander, 1. 2967, he torkans with means ' he turns [himself] towards.' [Quoted in Stratmann, ed. Bradley, s. v. turken, from my edition of the romance. Godefroy has the sb. torquen, in the sense of ' necklace.'] 177. On the supposed Change of a Latin L into U in French (6 S. v. 311 ; 1882). I am quite willing to accept DR. CHANCE'S explanation, and I think we ought to be much obliged to him for the care he has taken in this investigation. But I hope I may be allowed to plead that there is still a sense in which the / 152 LINCOLNSHIRE PROVINCIALISMS: RAUKY. can be said to pass into u, viz. that, whereas there was once an / between a and i in regalimen, there is now a u between the a and m in royaume, the z* having dropped. This is what I call the practical result, the ' rule of thumb,' and this was all that I meant. DR. CHANCE explains quite clearly that this resultant spelling, as it appears to the eye, does not explain the real nature of the phonetic change, and that consequently to talk of a change of / to u is philologi- cally misleading. What really happens is, that al becomes aul, and then / drops, giving us au, with the result that, to the eye, / seems to become u. The real secret is that this peculiarity is due to the action of / on the vowel ; compare the pronunciation of father with that of fall. For similar loss of /compare would, should, calm, psalm, calf, &c. . . . Note that falcon is an artificial spelling, the M. E. form being faucoun. 178. Lincolnshire Provincialisms : Rauky (6S. v. 353; 1882). Rauky cannot be derived from raw, because this does not account for the k ; and it cannot be derived from the Latin raucus, because provincial English words are not Latin, save under exceptional circumstances. It is too bad in these days to go on guessing as if the iniquity of guessing had never been pointed out. Rauky is the Norfolk roky and the common English reeky. The form reeky, from A. S. rec, smoke, is English ; the forms raitky and roky are Norse '. German substitutes ch for k ; hence German Rauch, smoke. English often has the sound of long e where German has au, as in beam, belief (Baum, Glaube], &c. With E. reek, as cognate with G. Rauch, compare E. leek, as cognate with Lauch. 1 [Perhaps. Cf. Svved. dial, rank, smoke (Rietz, p. 546 ; Nonveg. rck (Aasen). The Icel. form is reykr .from a base TALOX. 153 179. Talon. I (6 S. v. 394 ; 1882). I think I have solved this problem in my Etymological Dictionary. There is evidence that talon meant ' bird's claw ' in English at least as early as the fourteenth century. The English version of Mandeville's Travels tells us that a griffin ' hath his talouns so longe and so large and grete upon his feet, as though thei weren homes of grete oxen ' ; and again, in the alliterative Romance of Alexander, ed. Stevenson, 1. 5454, some griffins are described as taking knights up ' in thaire talons! Palsgrave has, 1 Talant of a byrde, the hynder claw, [in French] talon.' There cannot be a moment's doubt as to the etymology ; it meant originally the hinder claw of a bird's foot, from Low Lat. ace. talonem, a derivative of talus. I suspect that the peculiar sense is English or Norman only, and due to the old terms of hawking. It was quite the etiquette of hawking to have a peculiar name for every conceivable part of a hawk's body. 180. Talon. II (6 S. vi. 417 ; 1882). I am now in a position to explain this word fully. DR. CHANCE has told us that it must have meant, not the hinder claw of a bird merely, but the hinder claw together with the toe, taking ' claw ' in the fuller sense. No doubt this is what the word ought to have meant ; but, as a matter of fact, it is not what it did mean. The misuse of the word, that is, its employment in the restricted sense of a mere claw, was due to the absurd affectation of the terms used by hawkers. It is an old story that a hawk had no feathers, only plumes, and so forth, though the word feathers was frequently used by hawkers when they were off their guard, or when explaining things to the uninitiated. The authoritative passage on the subject is the following : ' Talons. Fyrst, the grete Clees [claws] behynde, that strenj-th 154 'MANACUS.' the bake of the hande, ye shall call horn [thent~\ Talons. Pawnees. The Clees, within the fote, ye shall call of right her Pownces ' (Book of St. Allans, fol. a 8). Thus we find that it pleased the inventors of the terms of hawking to confine the sense of talon to the claw, at the back of the foot, whilst the claws of the toes in front were called pounces a use which occurs again in Spenser, F. Q.,i. n. 19, as I have already elsewhere noted. From the latter substantive the verb Bounce is derived, though the substantive itself is obsolete ; and the modern talon includes the Bounce. 181. 'Manacus' (6 S. v. 464 ; 1882). I have been referred to the curious word manacus, given both by Scheller and Forcellini, as being just possibly allied to almanac. On investigation there turns out to be no such word in the Latin language ; it is a pure fiction, due to a misreading. The only reference is to Vitruvius, 1. 9, c. 3 (for which read c. 8). The best edition of Vitruvius, by Rose and Miiller-Strubing, Leipzig, 1867, gives menaeus, with the variants maneus, manaeus. Menaeus is merely the Greek /^raios in a Latin dress, and is used substantively to signify the ecliptic. This is one more instance of the soundness of the advice to ' verify quotations.' [I hunted up this reference (with the help of my late dear friend, Mr. Boase, of Exeter College) for Dr. Murray. He gives it in ' Note 3,' at the end of AlmanqcJ] 182. The Etymology of Spawn ' (6 S. v. 465 ; 1882). The etymology suggested by Mr. Wedgwood, and adopted by me as being most likely right (viz. from O. F. espandre), admits of exact proof, as I have just discovered. The O. F. espaundre, a variant of espandre, occurs in Thomas Wright's Vocabularies, i. 164, and is glossed by scheden him frame, as Wright prints it. But Mr. Aldis Wright tells me that the MS. has been misread, and the 'WELTED.' 155 right reading is ' scheden his rounej i. e. shed his roe. With this correction we now read : ' Soffret le peysoun en ewe espaundre/ with the gloss 'scheden his roune.' Thus espaundre is precisely spawn, from Latin expandere. 183. ' Welted' (6 S. vi. 113 ; 1882). This word is duly entered in the E. D. S. List of Surrey Provincialisms, and is a mere variant of welked, used by Sackville in his Induction, st. 12, and by Spenser in his Shep. Kal., November, 1. 13. The latter uses it as a transi- tive verb ; Chaucer also has it, Pard. Tale, 1. 738, and it occurs much earlier. See Stratmann's Old English Dic- tionary. It is found, in fact, in Old English, in Old and Modern Dutch, and in Old and Modern High-German. It is discussed by Fick, iii. 298, who connects it with A. S. wlac, O. H. G. welc, welh, soft, moist, flabby ; Russian vlaga, moisture ; Lithuanian wilgyti, to soften, moisten. It properly means ' rendered flabby by moisture,' hence ' spoilt ' ; but is also used, by an easy tradition, to signify ' dried up by heat.' 184. ' Wimbledon ' (6 S. vi. 94 ; 1882). The quotation from the A. S. Chronicle (containing the words on Wibbandune) serves to explain the name at once, if it be rightly interpreted. The supposition that the last syllable ' is the A. S. dune ' is incorrect. There is no such word in A. S. in the nominative case, which takes the form dun ; but in the dative it becomes dun-e, with final -e, being governed by the preposition on. The other supposition, that if the former part of the word were a proper name ' it would have the letter s,' is also incorrect. A large number of proper names, including all masculines in -a, make the genitive in -an. The true interpretation is as follows : Wibbandune is the dative of Wibbandun, meaning ' Wibba's down.' Next, dun is not a true A. S. word, but borrowed 156 LYT7ON. from Celtic, as explained in my Dictionary the equivalent English word being tun, mod. E. town. 185. Lytton (6 S. vi. 273 ; 1882). Lytton for ' churchyard ' is the same as litten, given by Halliwell with the same sense. The etymological spelling should rather be litton ; and, of course, this word explains Lytton, when occurring as a proper name. It is formed, by assimilation of tt from ct, from A. S. He-tun, lit. ' a corpse- town,' compounded of lie, body, and tun, town. Compare lichgate. The word is not very common, but is used in the Old English translation of Beda, lib. iii. c. 1 7, where it occurs in the dative case : ' And thser on thdera brothra llctune bebyriged,' i.e. and there buried in the, cemetery of the brethren. 186. The Names of Chanticleer's Wives (6 S. vi. 304 ; 1882). In Gawain Douglas's Prologue to the twelfth book of Virgil, 1. 159, we have an allusion to Chanticleer's wives. In my Specimens of English Literature, p. 132, I printed their names as ' Coppa and Partelot,' because I found them so written in the MS. In Mr. Small's edition the former name appears as Toppa, and he obviously follows the edition printed at Edinburgh in 1839. My belief has always been that this old edition misled him, and that he would not otherwise have imagined the Trinity MS. to have the letter T. I have also always thought his note upon the line to be mistaken. It runs thus : 'The Rev. Mr. Skeat thinks that this word should be Coppa, although written Toppa in all the MSS. ... It does not seem difficult to recognize in Toppa the old Scottish description of a hen with a good head or tuft "a weel-tappit hen" being an expression still in use.' To this my reply would be that the Trinity MS. contains, in my opinion, the reading Coppa, and that I cannot under- BEEF-EATER. 157 stand how it can be read otherwise ; also, that I do not see how 'a weel-tappit hen ' opposes my solution. However, as I always avoid discussion till I think I see sufficient evidence in my favour, I have never till now protested against the above criticism. But there is a most conclusive piece of evidence which, to my mind, settles the matter. We have both of us missed the point which we ought not to have missed. The name Coppa was not invented by Douglas, but is simply copied from the old Flemish story known as Reynard the fox. In Mr. Arber's reprint of Caxton's translation of this wonderful epic, the name of Chaunticleer's daughter appears as Coppe and Coppen (see pp. 9 and n). Similarly the name of Pertelot was borrowed from Chaucer's Nun's Priesfs Tale. My present contention is that this fact ought to settle the question. Moreover, the name is Dutch. In Hexham's Dutch Dictionary I find : ' een kop, koppe, kobbe, ofte hinne, a hen, or a pullet ' ; also, ' kop, a head, pate, or noddle.' This precisely agrees with the explanation which I gave in 1871. 187. Beef-eater (6 S. vi. 432 1882). I think DR. C. strains the supposed points in favour of the ' opinion now so commonly entertained,' rather beyond the fair interpretation of the known facts. At the outset he suggests that Steevens ' lived before the time of Johnson,' whereas they were, in fact, contemporaries, Steevens being the younger man of the two, as may be seen by a glance at Hole's Brief Biographical Dictionary. It is clear that Steevens was trying to gain a reputation, and that his hint to Johnson was one of his attempts in this direction. The facts are these : (i) No English book knows of any spelling but beef -eater. In my additional note, at p. 780 of my Dictionary, I gave an example from the play of Histrwmastrix, which cannot, I suppose, be later than A. D. 1610. 158 BEEF-EA TER. (2) I know of no proof that beef-eater ever meant ' a waiter at a sideboard.' It is a pure assertion, made in the interests of forcing upon us the supposed French origin. It merely means servant or yeoman. (3) I have shown that a servant was familiarly called 'an eater.' (4) I have also shown (p. 780) that a servant was called ' a loaf-eater ' long before the Norman Conquest. Surely this is to the point, and proves that at any rate the English were capable of making such a compound without any borrowing from French. If we had eater, loaf-eater, wine-bibber, and the like, why not beef-eater ? Where is the difficulty ? (5) There is absolutely no link fairly joining beef-eater with buffetier. As to form, the junction breaks down, the English spelling having always been what it is now. As to sense, it equally breaks down, (i) because it cannot be proved that the English beef-eater ever meant specifically a waiter at a sideboard ; and (2) because it is admitted that, if the French buffetier ever meant a waiter at a sideboard (and even this is only a guess made in the interests of this precious etymology), at any rate it was not the usual sense of the word. If we had borrowed the word, it would have been more sensible to have given it the sense of ' wine- taster.' On the whole, I see no good reason for going out of our way to make a supposition involving all sorts of diffi- culties, when we have a homely derivation at hand from a pure English source. The word stands on quite a different footing from those of known corruptions. The latter can be accounted for ; but the alleged ' corruption ' in beef-eater rests upon mere paradoxes. [My explanation of this word is adopted in the New Eng. Dictionary and in the Century Dictionary. The former cites A. S. hldf-ceta, a loaf-eater. The latter quotes the passage from Ben Jonson, which I give in my (larger) Etym. Dictionary^ WRINKLE = NEW IDEA. 159 188. Wrinkle = New Idea (6 S. vi. 456 ; 1882). MR. TERRY'S quotations are very acceptable. I have already pointed out that A. S. wrenc had a meaning not very dissimilar. Perhaps a quotation from King ^Elfred may help to show how old the word really is : ' Tha for Theodosius thyderweard, and wiste thaet hine man wolde mid tham ilcan wrence bethridian,' i. e. Then went Theo- dosius thither, and knew that they wanted to surround him by (using) the same wrinkle (or stratagem). See Alfred's translation of Oroshts, bk. vi. chap, xxxvi. 2. 189. Ollands, a Norfolk Word (6 S. vi. 475 ; 1882). It is the old story. Men cannot be content with telling us about a word of this sort without insinuating an etymology, while, of course, they never dream of investi- gating before guessing. The suggested etymology of olland from out-land is really too much. In 1691, Ray spelt it old land, in two words (E. D. S., B. 16, p. 88); and it is always a comfort to crush a bad guess easily. 190. Tennis (6 S. vi. 543 ; 1882). I am quite ready to bow to MR. J. MARSHALL'S decision as to the original form of the game itself. What I say is that, if we really wish to discover the etymology, it would be better to consider the old forms tenise, teneys, and the Latin names tenista, teniludus, instead of persistently ignoring these forms. We should also remember that e frequently means a in Latin MSS. of this period, the cz being seldom written. The word is almost certainly French, as no other language could have given the suffix -eys or -ise. It does not in the least follow that we got the game from France ; for Anglo-French (less correctly called Norman-French) was practically a distinct language from the French of France, with its own peculiar laws, and with a power of throwing out l6o THE DUX.MOir FLITCH, new forms. The collection of Anglo-French words lately made by me for the Philological Society suggests how very little has hitherto been done for the study of forms which, for explaining English, are of the highest value. [Gower has an older form tenetz. The etymology is un- known. Is it from A. F. tenez, meaning ' play ' ?j 191. The Dunmow Flitch (6 S. vii. 135 ; 1883). The earliest allusion to this is in Piers the Plowmati, A-text, pass. x. 188. It is also mentioned in Chaucer, M \f of Bathes Ta/e, and in a poem in MS. Laud 416 (about 1460). There is a note, a page and a half long, on the subject in a book which abounds with illustrations of old words and manners, but seems to be only known to few ; viz. my Notes to Piers the Plmvman, published by the Early English Text Society in 1877. See- p. 227 of that work. 192. Devonshire Dialect (6 S. vii. 272 ; 1883). The explanation of stain is as follows. The A. S. for stone is stdn ; whence, by the usual vowel-change, was formed the adj. stienen, pronounced nearly as stain-en (but with a more ' open ' vowel), and meaning, literally, ' made of stone.' But the sense seems to have been extended to mean ' made of earthenware,' because of the stone-like hardness of such pans, &c. In St. John, ii. 6, we are told that there were set six stUnene waler-fatu, i. e. six ' stain-en ' water-vats; and in Exodus, vii. 19, there is mention, in the A. S. version, of vats or vessels of tree (i.e. wood) and ' stain-en ' vats. In these passages the use of ' stain-en ' is, of course, due to the occurrence of the words lapidea and saxeis in the Vulgate version, from which the A. S. transla- tion was made ; but, independently of this, there is reason to believe that vessels for kitchen use were commonly divided by our ancestors into vessels of metal, tree, and Ill EL. 1 6 1 stone. Thus, Lye cites from a glossary the A. S. stcena, sb., Lat. gillo, i. e. a stone vessel holding a gill. . . . Pegge, in his Kenticisms (E. I). S., C. 3, p. 49), tells us that in Derbyshire a stean pot means a stone pot, whilst in Kent to stean a wall is to build up the sides with stones. This Kentish verb is precisely the A. S. staman, to stone, also formed from stan. I think it is quite clear that the Devon- shire stain represents, not the A. S. stdn, stone, but the modified form sta>n- as occurring in the adjective stcen-en and the verb stan-an. It is highly important in scientific etymology to pay great heed to the vowel-sounds. [Mr. Elworthy, in his Dialect of West Somerset, gives glossic 'stoo'an' for stone, and ' wai't ' for A. S. hurcete, wheat. Cf. stcinen in Toller's A. S. Dictionary.] 193. Thel (6 S. vii. 293 ; 1883). MR. NORTH has found a good example of a rare and valuable word, illustrating a rather dark place in English etymology. I regret that in [the first edition of] my Dic- tionary the account of deal, in the sense of ' deal board,' is utterly wrong ; it has no connexion with Du. deel, a deal or part (which is neuter, and answers to A. S. dcel], but is borrowed from Du. deel, a deal board, plank, which is feminine. Now thel is the true English word corresponding to deal board, and has the same sense of ' board ' or ' plank '; if there was any difference, it is probable that a thel was thinner or smaller than a plank. The A. S. thel, a plank, occurs in several compounds, all given in Grein's Dic- tionary ; and the closely allied word thill, the shaft of a cart, is still in use, and is fully treated of in my Dictionary. Corresponding to the theoretical Teutonic form *theliz, we have A. S. thel, Icel. thili, a wainscot, plank, O. H. G. dil, dilo, a plank ; and corresponding to the theoretical Teutonic form *thiljon, a substantive of the weak declen- sion, we have A. S. thille, E. thill, Icel. thilja, planking, M 1 62 ANGLO-SAXON NUMERALS. a bench for rowers, a deck ; Du. [or Low G.] deel, a plank, deal board ; G. diele, a deal, plank. The interesting point is this, and should be noted, that at least three Dutch [or Low German] words have been taken into English in which d corresponds to an original th, and we have sometimes retained, nevertheless, the allied E. words. Examples are seen in drill (Dutch), the native E. word being thrill; deal board (Dutch), the native E. word being thel, allied to thill; and lastly deck (Dutch), the native E. word being thatch. One result is that drill, deal, deck cannot be found at an early date. For the first, I know of no examples earlier than Cotgrave and Ben Jonson ; for the last, none earlier than Lord Surrey ; whilst for deal I can find nothing earlier than the mention of ' a thousand deal boards ' in Clarendon's Civil War, ii. 675, cited by Richardson. Any earlier quotations for any of these words would be a gain. [A correspondent in N. and Q., 6 S. viii. 389, cited ' xvj Je/es' as being mentioned in 1600; but Dr. Murray finds that deles occurs as early as in 1402, in the records of Hull. And see the article on Deal (3) in the Errata and Addenda to my Etym. Diet., p. 799.] 194. Anglo-Saxon Numerals (6 S. vii. 365 ; 1883). Many persons who have some acquaintance with Anglo- Saxon must have felt puzzled at the curious use of the prefix hund- before certain numerals. If we write out the numbers 10, 20, 30, &c., up to 120 in Anglo-Saxon, the series is tyn. hventig, thrittig, feowertig, &c. ; or, expressing the same as nearly as possible in modern English spelling, we get the series ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, hund-seventy, hund-eighty, hund-ninety, hund (also hundred], hund-eleventy, and finally hund-twelvety (also called hund-hventy]. As to the meaning of hund there is no dispute ; it means decade (p. 1 1 8), and is merely short for Goth, taihund, just as Latin centum is short for decentum. But the point is, why should the EVER-. 163 addition of the prefix hund- begin with the numeral seventy rather than at any other point ? The answer is, simply, that this reckoning refers to a time when what is still called ' the great hundred,' meaning thereby 120, was in common use. The half of 120 is 60 ; and up to 60 all is straightforward. But after passing 60 we come to a reckoning of the latter half of the 120, involving higher numbers, and perhaps regarded as requiring greater effort to secure accuracy. These higher numbers were, of course, in less frequent use than the lower ones, and the prefix served to mark the notion that 60, the half of 120, had been reached, and that the reckoning of the second half had begun. Hence the prefix was continued throughout, with the necessary introduction of the curious words eleventy and twelvety, which are perfectly legitimate formations, and were once in actual use. The most curious use of the 'great hundred' which I remember to have met with is in Fitzherbert's Husbandry (E. D. S., p. 41), where the symbol 'C' is actually used to denote, not 100, but 120. This consideration of reckoning by the ' great hundred ' is the obvious explanation of the French numerals also. The reckoning is regular up to soixante, i. e. 60 ; after that the reckoning proceeds by scores, the next resting-place (so to speak) being quatre-vingt, or four score, whilst 70 is merely called soixante-dix, 60 and 10. So also 90 is 80 and 10, or quatre-vingt-dix, and the next score is reached at 100. The last score of the 'great hundred' is reached at 120, formerly called six vingts, or six score, as noted by Littre", s. v. ' Vingt.' 195. Ever- (6 S. vii. 456 ; 1883). I would remark that it is perfectly well known that the prefix Ever- [in some place-names] is derived neither from the Latin aper nor from the German Eber; for neither of these forms could give us ever-. The modern ever- is merely M 2 164 DARBIES; OR 'DARBY'S BONDS.' the modern way of representing the A. S. eofor, a boar, which is cognate with the Latin and German forms, and not derived from either of them ; the same is true of the Russian word vepre. It would conduce much to clearness of thought if the difference between cognation and derivation were more clearly apprehended. 196. Darbies; or Darby's Bonds' (6 S. vii. 498; 1883). The phrase ' Darby's bonds ' occurs in Gascoigne's Steel Glass, 1. 787, which runs thus : ' To binde such babes in father Derbies bands.' The passage is given in Skeat's Specimens of English Literature, p. 316. My note on it is as follows : ' Father Derbies bands, handcuffs. Why so called, I know not, but darbies is still a slang term for the same.' We shall not obtain any further light upon the term until we can discover who was ' father Derby.' All we know of him at present is that his name was already proverbial in 1576. 197. Basque = Gascon =Euskarian (6 S. vii. 516 ; 1883). I am not aware whether any reader knows what this article means, but it is perhaps as well to point out that the writer expects us to accept, as ' familiar examples ' of letter-change, that wood is the same word as F. bois, that good and better are from the same root, that boor and vir are likewise one word, that wet is the German nass, that nigh is merely vtcinus, and so forth. I am quite sure that such statements would not be tolerated in discussing geology and botany ; but in matters of ' philology ' such crudities are thought worthy of being written [and printed]. 198. The Story of ' The pound of flesh ' (6 S. viii. 105 ; 1883). I do not know whether it has been pointed out that the story of 'the pound of flesh,' in the Merchant of Venice, CHAUCER :' CANTERBURY TALES.' 165 occurs in the Cursor Mundi, 11. 21413-21496. I suspect this to be the earliest version of the tale in the English language. 199. Chaucer: 'Canterbury Tales' (6 S. viii. 125 ; 1883). In the Parson's Prologue, \. 43, we have the well-known lines : ' I can nat geste, rom, mm, ruf, by lettre. Ne, god wot, rym holde I but litel bettre.' Compare the curious use of rim ram in the Walloon dialect. Sigart gives two examples : ' Ca n'a ni rim ni ram, it has neither rime nor reason ; c'est toudi I'meme rim ram, it 's always the same song.' 200. Three-way Leet (6 S. viii. 217 ; 1883). MR. TERRY does not give all the latest information. I have since shown, in the Academy, that the Essex three releet [a place where three ways meet] is not particularly corrupt, but is merely misdivided. It should be threere leet, A. S. threora Icetu, meetings of three ways. The suffix -re, A. S. -ra, is the mark of the genitive plural. So also twegra wega gelietu, meetings of two ways, in a gloss quoted in Bosworth's Dictionary. 201. Skellum (6 S. viii. 375 ; 1883). In reply to MR. J., I have to say that sk does not always point to a Scandinavian origin for a word. It may point to a Dutch origin, as in landscape, the Dutch sch being difficult to an Englishman, who likens it to sk*. Skellum, as in Nares, was borrowed immediately, in the Tudor period, from Du. schelm, explained by Hexham as 'a rogue, a villaine, or a wicked person.' The etymology is given by Weigand. The m is a noun suffix, and the root-verb is the same as that which gives the E. skill. The original 1 So also in skipper, from Du. schlpper. 1 66 . MODERN LETTER-WRITING. sense was a thing separated or cast away ; hence M. H. G. schelme, carrion, offal, whence finally it came to mean a worthless fellow. See Weigand, Etym. G. Did., and the remarks on Dutch words in the preface (p. xiv.) to my Etymological Dictionary. [Most words beginning with sk are of Scandinavian origin. The A. S. sc became sh. Many words beginning with sc are French ; as scald, verb, scandal, scarce.~\ 202. Modern Letter-writing (6 S. viii. 376 ; 1883). I beg leave to endorse the statements made at the above reference. I frequently receive letters which are perfectly legible throughout, except that neither the name nor the address can be deciphered. How to reply to them is a most harrowing question. I also observe a growing tendency, chiefly in correspondents of whom one knows nothing, to exact immediate answers, regardless of the trouble they may cause. In particular, I would allude to the subject of place-names. I am often expected to solve the sense of a place-name, though it might cost a week's labour to collect the old spellings and all the available facts. I find the answering of letters of this class is harder task-work than any book-writing. A little mercy would be much appreciated. [As to place-names, I now always expect my correspondent to tell me the earliest known spelling, in old charters.] 203. Foxglove (6 S. viii. 392 ; 1883). I beg leave to protest against the etymology (!) from folk's glove. I do so on principle ; it seems to me most mischievous to suggest how a name might have arisen, when all the while the facts are on record. As to the suggestion itself, I have heard it only too often, and it is given in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Any attempt at ascertaining the facts would have disposed of the theory at once ; for it is perfectly well known that the A. S. V1LD. 167 name was foxes glofa, meaning fox's glove, which occurs in vol. iii. p. 327 of Cockayne's Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms. It is obviously impossible that the A. S. foxes can be a corruption of a form folk's, which is of later date. The Norwegian name revhandskje, foxglove, is derived from rev, a fox, and handskje, a glove ; and how are we to explain this aw r ay ? The fact is that Englishmen are always making 'suggestions' of this character, being apparently of opinion that unaided guess-work is the only method of value ; yet we do not thus attempt to explain the ordinary facts of botany and chemistry. Dr. Brewer explains foxes glofa by ' red or fox- coloured glove.' It means nothing of the kind ; it means just simply 'glove of the fox.' It is only another example of ' suggestion ' ; it is far better to take the fact as it stands. A study of such a book as Earle's Plant-Names will show- that our ancestors delighted in names formed from the names of animals ; and this fact cannot be upset by merely modern notions as to their inappropriateness. If we exercise our imagination by making bad guesses, we should not blame our ancestors, who exercised theirs quite harmlessly. [It is now considered 'scientific' to turn the old name hare-bell into ' hair-bell,' as being descriptive of its slender stalk ! That is not the question. The question is, not what ought it to be called, but what was it called, as a matter of fact.] 204. Vild (6 S. viii. 476 ; 1883). Vild is merely vile with an excrescent d, due to stress, like the d in sound, from F. son. It is very common, and occurs in Shakespeare and Spenser. Excrescent d after / does not seem to have received much attention ; yet the old spelling of hold of a ship was hole ; iron-mould is for iron-mole, i. e. iron-spot; and I believe the old word cole-prophet (false prophet) appears as cold prophet. [Such is the case ; see Cole-prophet in the New E. Dictionary?^ 1 68 SETTING THE THAMES ON FIRE. 205. Setting the Thames on Fire. I (6 S. viii. 476 ; 1883). I have a profound disbelief in this alleged origin of the saying, which is an old popular etymology, given in Dr. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. I should like to ask whether a South Lancashire labourer would understand the phrase who uses it of him ; and, in particular, whether it is possible to set a sieve \temse\ on fire by friction? These assertions are easily made, but they commonly turn out upon inquiry to be no better than mares' nests. Where can we find ' Set the temse on fire ' in an old book ? Of course the word temse itself is common enough, and occurs in the Promptorium Parvulorum. [And how do such gentlemen explain to set the Seine on fire ? Probably they think that a seine is a fishing-net (and so it is), and that the fishermen pull it on board with such heart) diligence that it is easily set on fire by the friction against the boat's side. See further below.] 206. Setting the Thames on Fire. II (6 S. ix. 14 ; 1884). We have now got a little further in this question. It appears that this fable (as I suspect it will turn out to be) can be traced as far back as March 25, 1865, when it was first started by a correspondent signing himself P. in N. and Q. 3 S. viii. 239. Observe that P. puts forward his solution quite as a mere guess, saying that ' the long misuse of the word temse . . . may possibly have tended to the sub- stitution of sound for sense.' Mr. Hazlitt merely copies what is there said. The statement made is that ' an active fellow, who worked hard, not unfrequently [the italics are mine] set the rim of the temse on fire by force of friction against the rim of the flour-barrel.' Mr. Hazlitt improves this into the 'iron rim of the temse,' it being, of course, quite easy to set iron ' on fire.' Now I think we have THE ll'ORD ' GA.' 169 a right to expect some sort of proof of the statement. If ' an active fellow ' could do this once, he can do it now \ Well, I should like to see him do it. Who can quote the phrase from a book older than 1865? See P. Plowman, C. 7- 335- 207. The Word Ga' (6 S. ix. 14 ; 1884). MR. TAYLOR'S statement that the suffix -gay is the same as the German gait, and his identification of gau with Kemble's explanation of gd, cannot be admitted without proof. They are against all phonetic laws. The E. day is A. S. dag, so that -gay would be -gaum = A.S. beam. Anything can be said if phonetic laws are not to count. [In Kemble's Saxons in England there is a good deal about the gd or stir. I once asked Mr. Freeman his authority for this gd ; and he referred me to Spelman. It turns out that Spelman evolved the word out of two names, viz. Ohtgaga and Noxgaga, the authorities for these names being themselves by no means clear. We have no right to conclude from them that ga was an independent word, with long d. If it were, it would be go in mod. E., and gehe (probably) in German. It could not possibly be the G. GauJ] 208. By-and-by (6 S. ix. 34; 1884). The statement that by was repeated in order to signify ' as near as possible ' has no true foundation. Examples show that it means rather ' in due order.' Such phrases are best understood by consulting the right books, viz. Matzner's and Stratmann's Old English dictionaries. Matzner is quite clear about it. He says that bi and bi 1 This is the old suggestion made in the fable, to the man who had taken an extraordinary leap ' at Ephesus.' 170 THETHORNE. sometimes indicates 'in order, with reference to space.' He cites, ' Two yonge knightes, liggyng by and by,' i. e. side by side (Chaucer, C. T., 1013); 'He slouh twenti, Ther hedes quyte and clene he laid tham bi and bi' (Rob. of Brunne, tr. of Langtoft, ed. Hearne, p. 267) ; ' His doughter had a bed al by hir-selve, Right in the same chambre by and by' (Chaucer, C. T., 4140). Here it means in a parallel direction ; not as near as possible. Further, says Matzner, it is used with reference to the succession of separate circumstances ; hence, in due order, successively, gradually, separately, singly. ' These were his wordes by and by' (Rom. of the Rose, 4581) ; ' Whan William ... had taken homage of barons bi and bi' (Rob. of Brunne, as above, p. 73) ; ' This is the genelogie ... Of kynges bi and bi' (id. p. 1 1 1) ; ' By and by, si[n]gillatim ' (Prompt. Parv.\ To these examples may be added those already cited. In later times the phrase came to mean ' in course of time,' and hence either (i) immediately, as in the A. V. of the Bible, or (2) after a while, as usual at present. On this later use see Wright's Bible Word-book, new edition. We thus see that the earliest authority for the phrase is Robert of Brunne, who is one of the most important authors in the whole of English literature, seeing that Mr. Oliphant has shown that it is his form of English rather than Chaucer's which is actually the literary language. It seems a pity, under the circumstances, that he should be ' a source unknown ' to any one ; but Hearne's edition is out of print and scarce, and we still wait for a new one in an easily accessible form. [Dr. Furnivall's edition has since appeared, in the Record Series. See By in the New E. Dictionary^ 209. Thethorne (6 S. ix. 245 ; 1884). In Halliwell's Dictionary we find that the thethorne-tre is explained in the Promptorium by ramnus. To this EFTURES. 171 Halliwell appends the note, l ramnus is the medlar-tree.' Certainly not ; ramnus, or rather rhamnus, is the buck- thorn. \Thethorn is short for thef thorn or thevethorn; the latter occurs in Wyclif ; see Stratmann. The A. S. forms are : })eofef>orn, a gloss to ramnus in the Corpus Glossary' (eighth century), and jyfefiorn in ^Elfric's Glossary (tenth century). Hence, probably, the prov. E. forms thebes, theses, thapes, febes,feabes,fepes,feapes y usually applied to the fruit of the gooseberry-tree.] 210. Eftures (6 S. ix. 245 ; 1884). This word is entered in Halliwell, but it has no true existence. There is no such word in English or French, but it has arisen from one of those blunders which dic- tionaries often perpetrate. The entry stands thus : ' Eftures, passages; Malory, ii. 376.' It is due to the following sentence in Caxton's edition of Malory's Morte Arthure, bk. xix. ch. vii : 'And sir Meligraunce said to sir Launcelot, " Pleaseth it you to see the eftures of this castle ? " ' I quote from Sir E. Strachey's reprint. But eftures is an obvious error for estures, or rather estres, by that confusion between f and long .$ which is so common. The word estres occurs in a well-known passage in Chaucer's Knighfs Tale. Cotgrave has : ' Les estres d'une maison, the inward conveyances, private windings and turnings within, entries into, issues out of, a house.' This fully explains the above passage. I believe the combination ft is almost unknown to Latin and French, so that such a form as eftures is hardly possible. In fact, the curious use of// in Icelandic to represent the sound of ft is due to following a Latin model; for Latin has// only, and knows nothing of//. It follows that Halli well's Dictionary, like every other dic- tionary with which I am acquainted, cannot be always implicitly relied upon. Such an error as the above should 172 ETYMOLOGY OF SULPHUR. have been corrected, especially as estres is duly given and rightly explained. [A note of this mistake duly appears in the New English Dictionary, s. v. 211. Etymology of Sulphur (6 S. ix. 471 ; 1884). The etymology of the Sanskrit culvari from fulva, copper, is by no means certain, and is more likely to be a popular etymology, of no value. The suffix -dri can hardly stand for vairin (rather than vairi\ hostile. It is more likely that culvari is a word foreign to Sanskrit, having no con- nexion with fu/va, copper, beyond an accidental partial resemblance. Benfey gives both words, without any hint of a connexion between them. I do not see the use of giving mere guess-work. 212. A few words on * Anglo-Saxon.' I (6 S. ix. 302 ; 1884). With regard to the language commonly called Anglo- Saxon, I have already pointed out in my Dictionary that it means one of the three main dialects of the oldest English, viz. the Southern, or Wessex, dialect. The other two are the Old Northumbrian and the Old Midland. I now wish to draw particular attention to the fact that there are also two distinct kinds of Anglo-Saxon. The former is the real language, as exhibited in extant manu- scripts, in trustworthy editions that are not manipulated, and in the best dictionaries only. The other Anglo-Saxon is a pure fiction, a conglomeration of misleading rubbish, but is to be found only too plentifully. It is cited ad nauseam by Bailey, Skinner, Johnson, and the rest, and is extremely familiar to those who learn Anglo-Saxon only from books. It is highly prized by some etymologists, because it provides them with etymologies ready made; and no wonder, seeing that it was expressly invented for the purpose ! A FEW WORDS ON 'ANGLO-SAXON.' 173 I give three specimens of this wonderful language, and perhaps may some day give more ; they are plentiful enough. ' Adastrigan, to discourage; hence dastard, a coward' (Somner . Clearly invented to account for dastard. Bosworth records it in his old edition ; from the new one it has, happily, disappeared l . 1 Piga, a little maid ' (Somner). The mistake is surprising. In the first place, it should have had a long z ; secondly, it should have ended in S. - . 109 ; 1884). I quite agree with W. M. C. that the collection of place- names will be of great value. We shall never know any- thing certain about the etymology till we condescend to do the drudgery of collection first. All turns upon this ; and Englishmen may as well learn the fact by heart at once. I have by me the second edition of Mr. R. C. Hope's Dialectal Place-Nomenclature, which is an attempt in this direction. In his preface he rightly says, at p. xi, that I recommended him to use ' some exact mode of represent- ing pronunciations, such as glossic.' But he did not take my advice, because his work would then have been a sealed book to all who do not understand glossic. I have to reply that I do not care what system is adopted of representing sounds, so long as the system is somewhere explained. He carefully refrains from any explanation of his symbols, so that his work remains a sealed book to all scientific workers. The same will happen in future in the case of all similar collections. They will all alike be useless for scientific purposes, unless some standard system of pronunciation be employed. Glossic, or palseotype, or Mr. Sweet's romic, or the system employed in Mr. Sweet's History of English Sounds will do, or anything else that is definite. But to take the common Protean spelling as a guide will not do ; there is no laying hold of what is meant by it. Thus Mr. Hope tells us that Eye, in Suffolk, is pronounced Aye. Does it, then, rhyme with my or with may 1 We are not ' spinxes,' as Mr. Yellowplush says, to guess such conundrums. One thing that has to be done is to have a new name- index to all the Anglo-Saxon charters. Mr. Birch is now l88 TOTEMISM ; OR, ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES. reprinting these, and promises complete indexes. I hope we may get them [!]. Another thing that has to be done is to collect and tabulate every name in Domesday Book, adding the modern name where it is certainly known. Guesses are much worse than useless, for they mislead, hinder, discourage, embarrass and perplex. It is desirable that any one who works at this should learn something about Old French and Anglo- Saxon pronunciation, or he will draw such a remarkable conclusion as one that has been already drawn : that Brighthelmston cannot mean ' the town of Brighthelm ' because of the Domesday spelling \ 223. Totemism ; or, English Place-names (6 S. x. no; 1884). Certainly it is well known (or rather, well ascertained) that the syllable -ing has many meanings. I have heard people deride Kemble's statements about the tribal -ing who were in utter ignorance of what he really says. It may as well be said once more that he actually gives a list of the names in -ing to which his tribal explanation applies. Neither Tyningham nor Coldingham is alluded to in that list. Perhaps it may interest some to see the original passage in sElfric the Grammarian, written in the eleventh century, about patronymics. It occurs in Zupitza's edition, p. 14: ' Sume syndon patronytnica, thaet synd faederlice naman, aefter Greciscum theawe. ac s6o ledensprsec naefth tha naman. Hi synd swa theah on Engliscre sprsece : Penda, and of tham Pending and Pendingas ; Cwicheltn, and of tham Cwichelmingas, and fela Othre.' Here he expressly tells us that Pending means the son of Penda, and Cwichelmingas and Pendingas are, respectively, 1 [This begins with Brist-. How else could a French scribe repre- sent the sound of the A. S. Brihtl. His s is an obvious attempt to express all that he could make out of this (to him) detestable foreign guttural.] TOTEMISM ; OR, ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES. 189 the Cwichelmings and Pendings, i. e. men of the tribe of Cwichelm and Penda ; and he observes that there are many others. Certainly there are hundreds. It is not a sure guide to such names that the name should end in -ton or -ham. A simple exception is Newington, formerly Newenton, from the A. S. cet tham riiwan tune, i. e. at the new town. The -ing is here a corruption of the Middle English -en, put for A. S. -an, the inflexion of the definite adjective in the dative case. In the name Newnham we have precisely the same A. S. dative, but differently treated. Whoever said that eng is Swedish for ' a meadow ' must have had a very moderate acquaintance with the Swedish alphabet. Eng is the Danish spelling of the word; in Swedish it is written dng. The Icelandic is eng, and it seems probable that the original sense was a ' narrow space,' a ' corner ' or ' bit ' of land, from the Icel. engr, narrow, cognate with A. S. enge, narrow, and the Lat. angusta the Welsh form is ing, but need not be specially invoked. I should guess that ing, in the sense of ' meadow,' is Scandinavian, and I find mention of the Ings, or meadow- land, near Wakefield. We are constantly told that ing, a meadow, is ' Anglo-Saxon.' This statement rests on Lye's Dictionary he calmly assumes it, more suo, to explain the Northern English, i. e. the Scandinavian use ; and adds that it occurs in Basing, Kettering, Reading, Godelming (i.e. Godhelming, now Godalming), Yelling, Exning and Steyning. But all of these, for anything that we know to the contrary, may be of patronymic origin. The question is, simply, is there a single passage in any A. S. writing where ing, a meadow, occurs ? I think not. I have only to add that the etymology of place-names is most slippery and difficult, and I have no faith in three- quarters of the explanations which are so lavishly offered. We want something thorough and systematic to guide us, for which we look at present in vain. 190 THE NAMES OF THE SEASONS. 224. The Names of the Seasons. I (6 S. x. 215 ; 1884). [In reply to an argument that, in Old England, there were but tivo seasons ; viz. summer and winter.] The whole of this article I take to be fundamentally wrong, and due to a total ignorance of the facts. The common Teutonic word for autumn is harvest, originally 'ingathering,' allied to Lat. carpere. On hcerfeste is the translation of in autumno in yfilfric's Colloquy. In the A. S. metrical version of Boethius (xiv. i) haerfest means 'autumn.' The spelling of autumn in Chaucer is not autumpe (!) but autumpne ; I give the quotation and the right reference. The Complaint of the Black Knight was not written by Chaucer, but by Lydgate ; the word autumne occurs in Stanza ix ; the remark that ' harvest is found before autumne' in it I cannot understand, not observing harvest at all. The word spring is purely English, and derived from A. S. springan, to spring up ; the Flemish form does not much matter, and in fact has a different vowel. The reason why spring was not early used in English was simply that the old word was lent, A. S. lencten ; but when Lent was appropriated to ecclesiastical purposes, spring came into use. In a supplement to /Elfric's Vocabulary, ed. Wiilcker, col. 1 76, we already find : ' Uer, lencten (on which see Wright's note); ^Estas, sumor; Autumnus, hcerfest; Hyems, winter; Uernalis dies, lengtenlic dceg; Uer nouum, foreweard lencten, vel middewcerd lencten ; Uer adultum, cffterwcerd lencten ; Eodem modo et aestas et autumnus uocantur, on tha ylcan tutsan sumor and haerfest bioth gecigede ; ^Estiuus dies, sumorlic dceg; Autumnalis dies, hcerfestlic dceg; Hiemalis dies, winterlic dag.' I It is difficult to see how the old glossarist could have been more explicit ; he even recognizes three English divisions of each season, each obviously consisting of a month. THE NAMES OF THE SEASONS. 191 The Flemish word lente is a mere contraction, the A. S. being the fuller form. The Flemish lente has no connexion whatever with '///,' which is only a misspelling of lind, and cognate with English lithe. The Middle-English actually had yet another term for spring, viz. ver, used by Barbour, with the spelling were, in The Bruce, v. i. This may have been borrowed from Latin, but there are also cognate (not borrowed) forms in Scandinavian, viz. Icel. vdr, Swed. v&r. I have no time to write more ; I have given summer and winter in my Dictionary. I may just add, however, that the notion of connecting hiems with imber would astonish Vanigek. 225. The Names of the Seasons. II (6 S. x. 338 ; 1884). As MR. M. is the more confirmed in his view that there were only two seasons known to our Teutonic ancestors in proportion to the amount of evidence which is produced to the contrary, I notice a few more points. In Schade's excellent Old (Higti) German Dictionary I find the following : ' Herbist, herpist, M. H. G. herbest, Mod. G. Herbst, auctumnus : der erst herbst, September ; der ander herbst, October ; der drit herbst, November.' This shows that the autumn season was divided into three parts in Germany as well as in England. Another curious thing is that yearly accounts were made up from Michaelmas to Michaelmas in the fourteenth century, at any rate ; and it would be interesting to know at how early a date this custom arose. I suspect it was due to the time of harvest. The Icelandic haust simply means autumn ; see the numerous derived words in Cleasby and Vigfusson. The following passage in ^Elfric's Colloquy, in the article about the fowler, is of some interest. In Latin it runs thus : ' Ipsi [i. e. the hawks] pascunt se et me in hieme, et in uere dimitto eos avolare ad siluam. et capio mihi pullos in autumno, et domito eos.' 192 CATERWAUL. The English is : ' Hlg fedath hlg sylfe and me on wintra, and on lencgten ic lte hlg aetwindan to wuda, and genyme me briddas on haerfeste and temige hig,' i.e. they feed themselves and me in the winter, and in spring I let them go away to the wood, and catch for myself young birds in autumn, and tame them.' In Kluge's Etymological German Dictionary, s. v. Herbst, it is shown that Tacitus was wrong in imagining that the Germans had no name for autumn. 226. Caterwaul. I (6 S. x. 237 ; 1884). I merely give the old etymology found in Bailey and Todd's Johnson. The statement that it is unconnected with cat is pure assumption, and I do not see how it can be maintained in the face of the extract from Chaucer, which is so carefully ignored, though Pope rightly under- stood it. Phillips, in 1706, explains catterwaul of cats ; Sewel, in 1754, translates it by an equivalent Dutch word kattengelol. In any case, I shall not admit that wail and waul are the same word ; ai and au are different sounds. Wail is formed, by vowel-change, from the Scandinavian for ' woe ' ; but waul from the M. E. wawen, to cry waw. The / is frequentative ; cf. F. miauler, ' to mewl or mew like a cat ' (Cotgrave) ; Ital. miagolare (Florio). As for (the alleged) catter, to chatter, I do not know where to find it in Middle English. 227. Caterwaul. II (6 S. x. 356 ; 1884). The suggestion made in N. and Q. 6 S. x. 3 1 7, that the syllable waul has something to do with A. S. wealh, foreign, is certainly wrong, and could not have been made by any one who had read the article in my dictionary with reasonable care. I have shown that the M. E. verb was not waul, but wawen, which certainly meant 'to make CATERWAUL. 193 a disagreeable noise.' Of this verb waul is the frequenta- tive form ; the -/ is the same as in wai-l, mew-l, squea-l, and we have very many instances of final -le with the same fre- quentative meaning. Moreover, the most elementary know- ledge of English phonetics will show that an does not answer to A. S. [short] ea ; as a fact, the A. S. wealh became wale, and is still preserved in Wales, i. e. the foreigners, now misused as the name of a country instead of the name of a people. The adjective is Welsh, i. e. Wale-ish, with the usual umlaut, and this is still further from the sound of English au. The real difficulty is in the syllable -er, which I regret that I have not hitherto explained. It is, however, an old Scandinavian genitive suffix, not uncommon in Middle English. Readers who know no more of Chaucer than the first hundred lines must have seen the word night-er-tale, which is precisely the Icelandic ndttar-tal, a number or succession of nights ; so that nightertale really means 'for a succession of nights,' but is vaguely used by Chaucer with the general idea of 'night season.' So in the present case, the M. E. cater is the Icel. kattar, of a cat, gen. case of kottr, a cat, and is the form used in composi- tion ; hence kattar-auga, cat's eye (a plant) ; kattar-rbfa, cat's tail; kattar-skinn, cat's skin; kattar-tunga, cat's tongue. Hence cater-waw, sb., would mean 'cat's cry'; and cater-wawen, vb., 'to utter a cat's cry'; whence cater- waul, sb., ' a continuous cat's cry,' and the verb eater-waul, ' to go on uttering a cat's cry.' Cf. W. cathderig, caterwaul- ing, from cath, a cat, and terig, rutting. I hope I have now made this sufficiently plain, and that we may be spared any further discussion of the matter. The suggestion that cater is equivalent to the G. Kater is, of course, out of the question. It actually requires the supposition that the final -er is [here] a High German suffix, which is wholly out of place in a Middle English word. o 194 SCOTTISH PROVERB IN 'DON JUAN.' [The New E. Diet mentions Icel. kattar- as a possible source of cater-, without adopting it. But the analogy of night-er-tale, here very important, has been missed. On the other hand, the r in byrlaw is unhesitatingly explained from by-jar, gen. case otby-r; which is strictly analogous.] 228. Caterwaul. Ill (6 S. xii. 232 ; 1885). I think I am entitled to say a last word about caterwaul, because the whole of the difficulty arose out of a remark by C.M.I., that his intimate acquaintance with the literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries enabled him to assert that caterwaul was originally used of apes and monkeys, not of cats. Now in the Retrospective JZevtew for May, 1854, p. 265, the reviewer cites the expression 'heare a dogge howle or a cat wau/e,' from Melton's Astrologaster, printed in 1620. This is in addition to the instance given in 6th S. x. 521. 229. Scottish Proverb in ' Don Juan ' (6 S. x. 315 ; 1884). The old form of the proverb was certainly ' Ka mee, ka thee ' (see Hazlitt's Collection of Proverbs ; Heywood's Proverbs ; Skelton, ed. Dyce, vol. i. p. Ixv, 1. 7). It is explained to mean, ' Swear for me, and I'll do as much for you,' i. e. ' Call me as a witness, and I'll call you.' Thus ca would appear to be, as usual, the Scottish form of call. I have little doubt that there was a parallel form, 'Claw me, claw thee,' but I suspect it to be a later substitution. I have also somewhere met with it in the plain English form, 'You scratch my back, and I'll scratch your back.' See the illustrations in Hazlitt, which I omit to save space. \_Clawe (scratch) me, clawe thee, is used by Tyndale, and subsequently by others ; see Claw, verb, 5 b., in the New E. Dictionary. I fail to find ka me, ka thee, s. v. call^\ PHAETON, 195 230. Phaeton (6 S. x. 476 ; 1884). I am obliged to MR. TERRY for pointing out an unlucky misprint in my reference for this word ; a misprint which really had its origin in my attempt to give fuller information. I ascertained from Todd's Johnson that the word phaeton occurs in ' Night 5 ' of Young's Night Thoughts, and at once endeavoured to verify the reference. I found that in my own copy of the work the lines were not numbered, and that 'Night 5 ' was a canto of considerable length. I thought it would save my readers trouble to count from the end of that canto instead of from the beginning, and accordingly made a note that the required line is 'line 245 from end.' But alas ! after ascertaining this, the words ' Night 5 ' slipped out of the reference, and left it incomplete after all. I now think it probable that (as the new quotations seem to show) we took the word from Latin, but should be very glad of further information as to the date and manner of the introduction of phaetons. I may add that I remember such a carriage nearly forty years ago, which was always called a faytun, or in glossic spelling fai'tn (romic fei'tn). This was in the neighbourhood of London. [At Perry Hill, Sydenham ; the phaeton was my father's.] 231. Colour in Surnames (6 S. x. 520; 1884). At the last reference J. H. Brady is quoted as asserting, ' A Mr. Red we have never yet met with ' ; and the writer adds, 'and most people will agree with him.' I am not among the number of 'most people' in this instance. When we notice that Camden refers to the Latin Rufus and the O. F. Rous we might expect the corresponding English Red to be a very common name. And so it is Only we have to remember that the spelling red is modern, like the pronunciation. The e was originally long, and in Chaucer MSS. the form is usually reed. In later English it was reede, read, reade ; in Scottish, reid. In my experience, o 2 196 RECK AN. the surnames Reed, Read, Reade, Reid, are all extremely common ; and I think most people must have heard of Charles Reade. I may add that I have already shown, in my Dictionary, that the A. S. form was read, answering to a Gothic raud-s. Cf. Lat. ruf-us, rub-er, Gk. 1-pvO-pos. [Mr. Rouse has helped to translate Brugmann.] 232. Eeckan (6 S. xi. 65 ; 1885). This Northern word is duly explained in Atkinson's Cleveland Glossary as ' an iron crane, on which are suspended the pot-hooks, and which, being hinged at one end to the masonry of the chimney, will move in any direction over the fire.' Mr. Atkinson gives it under the form reek-airn, but observes that it is pronounced reckon or reckan. His reason for spelling it reek-airn is that he supposes this to be the etymological spelling, and that the sense is reek-iron, i. e., ' iron in the smoke.' It is rather hard that words should be quoted under an assumed etymological spelling ; but it is the old, old way, and the source of endless trouble. I think it is quite certain that the above etymology is wrong ; for I find in a will, 1454, the following entries : 'j. craticula ferrea, j. par tanges de ferro, ij crassetes et j. rekand de ferro/ c., in a list of cooking utensils Testa- menta Eboracensia, ii. 194. Obviously the modern reckan is the old Yorkshire rekand, which cannot stand for reek- iron, and has to be described as being 'de ferro,' because the word rekand in itself does not already contain the idea of ' iron.' The etymology is easy and obvious, viz., from the Icel. rekendr, a chain, a derivative of the verb reka. The A. S. word is racenta, a chain, which is sufficiently common ; from the same root as rack and reach. This explains the modern pronunciation, which happens to be quite correct. This is one more example of the danger of guessing BEWRA Y. 197 without sufficient evidence. We learn also that the true sense of reckan was ' chain ' ; it was doubtless at first applied to a simple plan of suspending pot-hooks from the links of a chain, so as to regulate the height ; and the name was retained when the apparatus became more complex. This is much more satisfactory than the popular etymology from reek. 233. Bewray (6 S. xi. 66 ; 1885). An earlier example of this word than any given by Matzner or myself is in Robert of Brunne's Handlyng Synne, 3621 : ' That y ne wylle telle ne bewrey] \. e. disclose. Matzner well compares it with the O. Friesic biwrogja, which, indeed, 1 have already cited. This O. Friesic verb preserves the original o (long), which passed into e (long) in A. S., by the usual vowel-change. [An earlier example, in this sense, than any that are given in the New E. Dictionary^ 234. Awork (6 S. xi. 66 ; 1885). I have derived this from on work, though I have hitherto failed to find such an expression. It occurs, however, in the following : ' As for the wagges that set us on work ' ; Lyly, Mother Bombie, V. iii. [Cf. Awork in the New E. Dictionary^ 235. Oil on Troubled Waters (6 S. xi. 72 ; 1885). To the references already given add Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. ii. c. 103. Holland's translation has, 'All seas are made calme and still with oile.' I gave this quotation some two years ago to a friend, and I believe it found its way into print. [For some occult reason, the origin of ' pouring oil on troubled waters ' is perpetually being inquired after. It is simply a well-known fact, that it is no bad thing to do. Pliny 198 JANISSARY. makes this very remark : ' Now, that all Springs are colder l in Summer than Winter, who knoiveth not? . . . And, that all seas are made calme and still with oile.' Why we need worry over it I do not know.] 236. Janissary. I (6 S. xi. 138 1885). I am surprised to find that I am quoted as giving in my Dictionary the derivation from yeni chert, new soldiery. I cannot find it there, though I heartily wish I could, as it is certainly right. I most unfortunately quoted the wrong Turkish form for ' soldier,' and it was just because I did so that the subject has been discussed 2 . As I have already been corrected several times, and I accept the correction, I think the subject may be allowed to drop. At the last reference, however, the old 'popular etymology' from Persian jdn m'sdri, one who throws away his life in battle, is trotted out once more. There is not a tittle of evidence for it ; but we are, forsooth, to accept it because it is ' obvious ' to a layman who is no philologist. We are not even offered any proof that the compound jdn-nisdri was ever used in Turkish to express a 'janissary,' nor any proof that it was ever used at all. The Turkish word is not jdn-nisdri, nor anything like it ; it is yefiicheri, with the specific meaning of 'janissary,' as may be seen in Zenker's Turkish Lexicon. No one says that the English form janissary is derived from yeni and cheri; but every one says that the Turkish word for janissary is so derived. The English word is merely an English spelling of the Italian ianizzeri (Torriano), and the identity of the Italian with the Turkish word is very much closer. The English form is 1 I suppose he means relatively colder, in comparison with other things near them. Otherwise, it can hardly be true. 2 [My larger Etym. Diet, cites the Turk, yefii, new, and 'askari, a soldier. But the right words are yefii, new, and cheri, soldiery. My concise Etym. Diet, gives the right forms.] JANISSARY. 199 a mere travesty of the original, after passing through Italian and French. The Italian preserves the true Turkish y at the beginning and the e sound in the penultimate. But the English initial letter badly expresses this Italian sound by j, thus producing an accidental coincidence with the Persian/, which is quite misleading. I am quite contented with the explanations of such scholars as Devic and Zenker, and I should think others are the same. Meanwhile we have one more example of the uselessness of an ' obvious ' etymology to anybody but the inventor of it. 237. Janissary. II (6 S. xi. 270 ; 1885). As I am asked to explain this word again, I do so, but must decline further discussion. The mistake lies in calling janissary a ' Turkish ' word ; it is not so, but only a word of Turkish origin, which is quite a different matter. It is an English word ; and, as far as we are concerned, we merely borrowed it from the French janissaire, the plural of which is spelt jannissaires in Cotgrave's Dictionary (1660), where it is explained as 'Janizaries.' The French word, in its turn, was a French misspelling of the Italian plural janizzeri, spelt ianizzeri in Florio's Italian Dictionary (1598), and explained as ' The Turkes gard, Janizers.' So that, in fact, even in English, the earlier form VMS Janizers. The peculiar sounds of the Ital. * (as y) and of the Ital. zz (as ts) at once show that the Ital. word, in its turn, was borrowed from the Turk, yeni-cheri ; and there the matter ends. The Turk, yeni is a genuine Turkish word, having the peculiar n which is unknown to the Persian alphabet ; but cheri is merely borrowed from the Pers. charik, auxiliary forces. It is interesting to notice that the Turkish ' noun of multitude ' was ingeniously rendered by an Italian plural, owing to the peculiar luck that / is an Ital. plural suffix ; and being thus established as a plural, it became janissaires in French, and janizers (later form janizaries] in English. 200 JANISSARY. Out of this false plural janizaries the singular ionn janizary (later janissary} was at last evolved ; and I believe it will be extremely difficult to find any early instances of the ' singular ' spelling. In old books the English word is common enough, but only (I think) in the plural. The same remark applies to the French and Italian forms. The fact is, accordingly, that there is no evidence whatever for the existence, at any date whatever, of the compound word jdn-nisdri, a thrower away of life, either in Persian or in Turkish, or indeed, anywhere at all, except by imaginary connexion with an English word which sounds somewhat like it, but was really evolved out of a false plural. There is no difficulty about a Turkish word being of Persian origin, as the very word cheri shows ; but this proves nothing as to the necessity of a Persian origin for every word in Turkish. We have borrowed thousands of words from French ; it does not follow that house is a French word. The existence of the word /cm-Ms 1 , which I take to be purely modern, has nothing to do with the question, as can easily be perceived. But it may nevertheless be true that jan-baz was at first suggested by previous acquaintance with the English (not the Persian) word janizary^ which was entirely misunder- stood and misderived ; and if so, nothing is more natural than that the supposed connexion of the words should be repeatedly pointed out. There is great confusion constantly at work in every language, owing to the very potent and subtle influence of popular etymology. It is so extremely easy to see resemblances, and so extremely arduous a task for a man to render himself sufficiently acquainted with the secret structure of languages to see that such resemblances are merely superficial. If philological truth (like other forms of truth) is ultimately to prevail, it is quite certain that she will have a very hard time of it beforehand, particularly in 1 I. e. Pers. jan-baz, playing with life, venturesome ; hence, a rope- dancer, tumbler. BURNING OF BAIT : BAIT OF HEMP. 2OI this country, where the enthusiasm for easy solutions is carried to such a pitch, and where so little pains are taken to learn the rudiments of phonetics. 238. Burning of Bait : Bait of Hemp (6 S. xi. 178 ; 1885). Perhaps bait is connected with Icel. beit, pasturage. Cf. Icel. beiti, (i) pasturage, (2) heather, ling. [But it is shown, in the New E. Did., s. v. Beat, sb. (3), that a better spelling seems to be beat. If so, the etymology remains unknown.] 239. Definition of Genius (6 S. xi. 190; 1885). I wish to draw attention to the fact that the definition of genius as ' the capacity for taking infinite pains,' or, ' an infinite capacity for taking pains,' is not a true one. At best it merely expresses a portion, and that the least important portion, of the truth. To complete the defini- tion we require the addition of the following words, viz. ' combined with the faculty of discerning whether the object is worth the trouble, and in which direction success is the most probable.' These conditions are absolutely necessary. The true genius is he who sees his way, and who, seeing it, pursues it with the utmost care, neglecting no circumstance as being too trivial, and concentrating his strength upon the most hopeful point of advance. The mere taking of infinite pains, without any guiding power to render such pains successful, is nothing but dunderheaded stupidity. Whilst the dull plodder wastes his energy upon work that leads to nothing further, the genius concentrates it upon work which to every one else around him may seem trivial enough ; but he sees further than others, and knows that a splendid ultimate success is probable. Surely the faculty to know what work is worth *doing is immeasurably greater than the mere dogged resolution which goes round in a hopeless circle. 202 GREEN BAIZE ROAD. 240. Green Baize Road (6 S. xi. 198 ; 1885). There is really no such phrase. Dickens puts together two expressions. One is ' gentlemen of the road,' i. e. high- waymen, robbers. The other is ' green baize,' i. e. whist- table, card-table. Hence 'gentlemen of the green baize road ' means ' plunderers at the card-table/ i. e. card- sharpers. I do not see the use of reference to pages. The right reference is to ''Bleak House, ch. xxvi. par. i.' In prose books readers might count the paragraphs. N.B. ' Green cloth ' means billiards ; but ' green baize ' is a whist-table. [The passage from Dickens is quoted in the New E. Diet., s. v. Baize, sb., 3.] 241. Fratry (6 S. xi. 205 ; 1885). I find that Mr. Palmer explains this word quite correctly in his Folk-Etymology, and duly cites from my Notes to Piers Ploiuman, p. 97. Fratry is from frater-y, misspelling (with added -y) of M. E. freitour, short for O. F. refreitour, from Lat. refectorium. Littre, s.v. ^ RefectcireJ gives the O. F. forms refreitoir, refretor, refrictur ; ProvenQal refeitor (without the intrusive r). The puzzle in this word is really the intrusive r ; but there are other instances. I have given several examples of intrusive r and intrusive / in a paper read before the Philological Society, and now in the press. Note, e. g., Y.fronde, a sling, from \jsA..funda ; E. treasure, F. tresor, Ital. tesoro, from Lat. thesaurus. The latter is a most striking example. The E. fringe is somewhat similar, but here the r was suggested by that in the second syllable of Lat. fimbria. The Wallachian for fringe is frimbie. For other examples see cartridge, partridge, jasper, roistering. [Cf. also F. chanvre, encreJ] 242. Bishopric of Sodor and Man (6 S. xi. 216 ; 1885). I hope I may be allowed to make a slight addition to the reply by CANON VENABLES at the last reference. The word ' WOLF, ' IN MUSIC. 203 sudreyjar is now written with a stroke through the d. It is from Icel. sudr, south, and eyjar, plural of ev, an island, cognate with A. S. ^(preserved in M. E. i-land, now mis- spelt island) ; so that Sodor= ' southern islands.' My index to Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary duly contains the entry, ' Sodor (name), Sudreyjar.' Sodorensis is a mere Latin derivative. 243. < Wolf,' in Music (6 S. xi. 264 ; 1885). This name is applied to a false or harsh fifth. See Webster's Dictionary, &c. The following is the story about it as given in Feme's Blazon of Gentrie (1586), as cited in the Retrospective Revieiv, February, 1853, p. 129 :~- ' Nature hath implanted so inveterate a hatred atweene the wolfe and the sheepe, that, being dead, yet, in the secret operation of Nature, appeareth there a sufficient trial of their discording natures, so that the enmity betweene them seemeth not to dye with their bodies : for if there be put upon a harpe, or any such like instrument, strings made of the intralles of a sheep, and amongst them but only one made of the intralles of a wolfe, be the musitian never so cunning in his skil, yet can he not reconcile them to an unity and concord of sounds ; so discording alwayes is that string of the wolfe.' The writer who quotes this adds a curious story of a Hindoo who stole a wolfs skin in order to convert it into the head of a tom-tom. His idea was that the sound of his drum would burst the drums of all his neighbours, since theirs were made of sheefi-sk.in. 244. ' Cut away' (6 S. xi. 264 ; 1885). In Holland's translation si Pliny, bk. viii. c. 22, we read as follows : 4 In the case of presages . . . this is obserued : That if men see a wolfe abroad cut his way and turne to the right hand, it is good.' This leads me to suggest that the original sense of to ' cut a way ' was to cut or force one's way through a wood ; for it is clear from the above example that way was once 204 ' ONE TOUCH OF NATURE.' a substantive. The change from ' cut a way ' to ' cut away ' was easy, but rendered the phrase unintelligible, so that it degenerated into mere slang, upon which numerous changes were rung. This I suspect to have been the origin of ' Cut away ' ; and perhaps even of ' Cut a stick,' and ' Cut one's sticks.' [The laconic ' Cut ' seems to be short for ' cut and run,' 1. e. cut one's cable and run away ; see the New English Dictionary^ 245. One Touch of Nature ' (6 S. xi. 396 ; 1885). I am afraid it is perfectly useless to hope that this quota- ti6n will ever be rightly used, for the simple reason that those who quote it are those who do not read Shakespeare for themselves ; and the number of those who really read him is, I fear, not very great after all. But I should like to say that I have already explained this error in print twice ; once at p. xvi. of my Questions for Examination in English Literature, published in 1873, and once in a letter to the Academy, which I cannot now find. I have also pointed out that the phrase ' natural touch,' quite in the modern sense, occurs in Shakespeare after all, viz. in Macbeth, iv. 2. 9. And I have explained that touch in this famous quotation means ' defect ' or ' bad trait,' from confusion with the once common word tache, sometimes misspelt touch *. 1 [All the trouble arises from taking the line away from its context. Of the hundreds who misunderstand it, probably not one knows what the context is. So I here quote the whole passage : ' One [emphatic] touch [defect] of nature makes the whole world kin, That all, with one consent, praise new-born gawds, Though they are made and moulded of things past, And give to dust that is a little gilt More laud than gilt o'erdusted.' Trail . iii. 3. 174. Observe how the author reprobates this evil tendency in human nature.] 'MAGDALENE' AS THE NAME OF A BOAT. 205 Another point to be noticed is that Messrs. Clark and Wright had no sooner finished their very valuable edition of Shakespeare in a portable form, than the publisher of the volume at once stamped this line (in itself meaningless) on both sides of the cover, in order that ' the whole world ' might call the book the ' Globe ' edition. It is obvious that the author did not know how he ought to have understood his own words either in this, or (according to some commen- tators) in any other passage. [I have seen it gravely argued that misconceptions of this character become sacred when once popularized, and ought on no account to be exposed, still less discarded.] 246. ' Magdalene ' as the Name of a Boat (6 S. xii. 47 ; 1885). Chaucer's Shipman had a barge named ' The Maude- layne.' There was a ship of that name in 1390, belonging to Robert Titlok de Hornesbek, who left to his brother William ' unam naviculam vocatam Mawdeleyn? The same man had a ship called 'Farcost,' and a third called 'Garland.' See Testamenta Eboracensia, i. 139. Robert Ryllyngton of Scarborough had two ships called ' Saintmarybote ' and ' Le Katerine ' (id. i. 157). [See further in my Notes to Chaucer Works, vol. v.] 247. Early Notices of Zebra : Kangaroo (6 S. xii. 48; 1885). In Dampier's Voyages, 1699, i. 533, we read as follows : ' There is a very beautiful sort of wild Ass in this Country [Cape of Good Hope], whose body is curiously striped with equal Lists of white and black,' &c. This is a very early description of the zebra. The name of the animal is not given. In vol. iii. p. 123, there is a description of the kangaroo, which also is unnamed. 206 KOBINSON CRUSOE ANTICIPATED. 248. Robinson Crusoe anticipated (6 S. xii. 48; 1885). We are all familiar with the story of Alexander Selkirk, who was rescued from the island of Juan Fernandez in 1709. But W. Dampier, in his Voyages, ed. 1699, vol. i. p. 84, already tells us the story of an Indian whom he had left behind at John Fernando's Isle in 1681, when chased by some Spanish ships. This Indian lived on the island for three years. He had his gun, a knife, a small horn of powder, and some shot. When the powder failed, he made his gun-barrel into harpoons, lance-heads, hooks, and a long knife. See the story. 249. The Lord's Prayer in Verse. I (6 S. xii. 169 ; 1885). The notion of attributing to Nicholas Breakspeare the version of the Lord's Prayer printed in 6 S. xii. 112, is a mournful example of the ignorance prevalent as to the history of the English language. He died in A. D. 1159, quite half a century before the earliest known instance of the metre in which this version is written 1 . Camden's spelling of the old English is abominably bad, and abounds in grammatical errors. Of course fonding or fanding does not mean 'confound- ing' (!\ but 'temptation.' The originals may, all three of them, have been written in the time of Henry II, but the existing copies exhibit a mixture of Plantagenet-English and Tudor-English spelling. The language of the time of Henry II was far more antiquated than the oldest form of these versions could ever have been ; and plainly Pope Adrian IV could not have written in a form of language which was at that time known to no one. 1 The earliest known example of rimed metre with four accents is in Sours Ward, which Dr. Morris dates about A.D. 1210. I should put the prose text rather later; and probably the verses are later still. THE LORD'S PRAYER IN fERSE. 207 However, this version is interesting ; and I will venture to restore it to something more like its original spelling and grammar. It is obvious that the fourth line has been lost, and must be supplied. Probably it contained the once common expletive phrase mid iwisse, i. e. ' certainly.' Heuen-riche is all one word, and means the kingdom of heaven. Eche other mon means ' each (of us) another man.' Ponding is temptation, A. . fandung. The final e is a separate syllable. Euer yliche means ' ever alike,' or 'continually': ' Fader vre, in heuen-riche, Thy name l be haliyed euer yliche. Thou bring vs [to] Thy michel blisse. [Thy wille, Louerd 2 , mid iwissfi,] Als hit is in heuen y-do, Euer in erthe * be hit also. That holi breed that lasteth ay, Thou send hit vs this ilkg day. Forgif vs al that we han don, As we forgiue eche other mon. Ne let vs falle in no fonding, Ac shelde vs fro the foule thing.' Even this remains unsatisfactory. The rhyming of don (with long o) with mon (with short o) is against the rule, and is quite unexampled. 250. The Lord's Prayer in Verse. II (6 S. xii. 258 ; 1885). I have just come across a most remarkable confirmation of all that I have said about the version which Camden gave, and which I attempted to restore. I said it was of the thirteenth century ; that the fourth line was lost, and should be restored as ' Thy wille, Louerd, mid iwisse,' or something of that kind ; and that Camden's version was 1 Something wrong ; the final e is suppressed, which it should not be. Read hit be in line 6, and the line will then scan. 2 Louerd, Lord, was then dissyllabic. 208 ENGLISH COMPARED WITH GERMAN. corrupt. I now find that there is still extant a copy in a hand of the thirteenth century ; that the fourth line is there given as ' Thi wille to wirche thu us wisse 1 ' ; and that my restoration of the spelling brings it very close to the spelling of the manuscript, and would have agreed with it even more closely if the old scribe had been a little more careful. This MS. copy is extant, is the Harleian MS. 3724, leaf 44, and has been printed in Reliquice Antiques, vol. i. p. 57. This leaves no more to be said as to this version. 251. English compared with German (6 S. xii. 183 ; 1885). Much experience of the difficulties encountered by the students of English etymologies has led me to see that, in many cases, a knowledge of German, generally advan- tageous, is turned into quite a curse by the failure of the student to understand the essential difference between English and German as to their treatment of consonants and vowels. The current, but most ignorant and pernicious doctrine is, that English is derived from modern German, the latter being looked upon as the standard and correct Teutonic or Germanic form ! The right doctrine is that, of all modern Teutonic languages, the German is, for all practical purposes, the most corrupt and the furthest removed from the original Germanic form ; and the corollary is, that it would be far better to take English as near to the standard form, and to deduce modern German from it. This is a point to which I have drawn attention over and over again ; but it has to be constantly repeated, owing to the extraordinary persistence of the old erroneous notions on the subject. The idea of dispraising themselves seems to be inherent in some Englishmen ; they are never tired of comparing 1 I. e., ' Do thou instruct us how to work thy will.' IVissen is to cause to wit, to instruct, teach. ENGLISH COMPARED WITH GERMAN. 209 themselves with other nations, to their own disadvantage. This class of men has seized upon the notion that all English is derived from German, and they will hear of nothing else. It is nothing to them that even the Germans take Gothic as the standard spelling for etymological purposes, and next to that regard the Old English and Icelandic forms. It is nothing to them that many of our Anglo-Saxon MSS. were written down before any but the very scantiest scraps of Old High German. It is nothing to them that one system of spelling, at any rate as regards the consonants, is common (with trivial exceptions) to English, Friesic, Gothic, Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, and the Low German specially so called ; whereas the German is in a minority of one, and differs remarkably from all the rest. They happen to have a fair knowledge of German, and therefore idolize it ; and they know nothing of Old English, Friesic, Gothic, Dutch, Icelandic, Swedish, or Danish, and do not care to know anything. It is to their interest to disregard all these ; for why should not their German suffice ? So it would, if they would but study it historically, and condescend to learn the Old High German original forms. But they will not do that either. Hence comes that painful, that disgraceful blundering over many perfectly simple etymologies which renders us the laughing- stock of Germany and America. Surely this is a painful subject ! Unfortunately it is made all the worse by the singular fact that false doctrine as regards all that is Teutonic is taught most often by men who are thorough and brilliant Greek and Latin scholars in all respects except as regards phonetics and the physio- logical principles of philology. Yet these are men whom we naturally respect ; these are the men who often know German (except from a philological point of view) well. Their influence is great ; and they know no better than to exercise it even where they are wrong. p 210 CAUCUS. Such an extraordinary perversion as the German zahn, as compared with the Gothic tunthus, and modern English tooth (for *tonth] ought to make any sensible person think. How can we possibly derive the English am from German bin, or the English are from the German sind ? It is true that are and sind are mere variants, but the English are actually preserves the a (for e) due to the original root, which in German is lost; but am and bin are not even from the same root ! If these few lines of remonstrance will only lead some of our great scholars to reconsider one of their favourite doctrines, a great deal of good will result. Nothing keeps us back so much as persistence in old exploded fancies. 252. Caucus (6 S. xii. 194; i885\ I suspect that MR. TRUMBULL is quite right. I can point out the source of his information, viz. Captain John Smith's Works. At p. 347 of Arber's edition we find a notice of ' their Elders called Cawcawwassougkes,' where he is speaking of the Indians of Virginia. At p. 377 he says that caucorouse (not cockarouse) means ' captain.' The date is 1607-9. [Given in the New E. Did. as a possible explanation of this difficult word.] 253. Knout (6 S. xii. 226 ; 1885). I have not (in my Etymological Dictionary} given any early example of the use of this word. It occurs so early as 1716, in a book on the State of Russia, by Capt. J. Perry, quoted in the Retrospective Review for February, 1824, P- J 59- 254. Lammas Monday (6 S. xii. 275 ; 1885). Lammas is explained in both the larger and smaller editions of my Dictionary. It merely means loaf-mass, or day of first-fruits (see Chambers 's Book of Days, p. 154). The PUNT. 21 1 equivalence of lammas to loaf-mass is an historical fact, easily ascertainable by every one who will look up the references. But in the last century, when guess-work was idolized, a common derivation was lamb-mass, the form lamb-mass being forged for the purpose of deceiving the unwary. This was outdone by Vallancey, who says it is la-ith-mas, where ith is Irish for ' grain,' and mas for 'acorns' or 'mast.' What la is he does not say ; perhaps he meant it to be the French definite article. See Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. i. As to the time when the word first appeared in our calendar, all that is known is that it was before King Alfred's time, for in his translation of Orosius, bk. v. c. 13, he says : ' Thaet was on thaire tide calendas Agustus and on thsem dasge the we hatath hlaf- massse,' i. e. ' It was at the time of the calends of August, and on the day that we call Loaf-mass.' Surely this is sufficient for us to know with certainty. Our good king's writings deserve to be better known. [I know of a clergy- man who, with King Alfred's words before him, persists in saying that the derivation of Lammas from lamb-mass is the only one possible. Such is English reasoning, though it is sane on other points. See above, p. 71.] 255. Punt (6 S. xii. 306 ; 1885^. I have never seen a quotation showing the use of this word in Tudor-English. Here is one : ' As for Pamp/ti/us, ... of his making is the picture of Vlysses in a punt or small bottom ' (Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xxxv. c. x ; ii. 537 : A small ' bottom ' is a small boat. [So used by Canning.] 256. En pronounced as In (6 S. xii. 463 ; 1885). I do not remember to have seen it noticed that the M. E. en has frequently become in in modern English, though I dare say this note will soon elicit contradiction. p 2 212 CARMINA TIVE. It is sufficient for me if I contribute something towards the recovery of a note by a former discoverer. In the words England. English, we have a clear example of the tendency to pronounce en as in. In many instances an actual change of spelling has taken place. Thus our verb to singe was in M. E. sengen ; similarly we find M. E. henge, a hinge ; M. E. hengil, Mod. Prov. E. hingle, a small hinge ; M. E.frenge, Mod. E. fringe ; M. E. swengen, to swinge ; M. E. twengen, to twinge ; M. E. grennen, to grin ; M. E. wenge, a wing ; M. E. preinte, prente, Mod. E. a print ; M. E. splent, now often called splint ; M. E. pennen, to pen up, is spelt pinnen in P. Plowman ; M. E. lenge, a ling. Here are already twelve examples. We may notice also the Irish rint, sinse, for rent, sense ; Prov. E. rench, to rinse ; agin for ' agen,' i. e. again ; bin for ' ben,' i.e. been ; ingine for engine ; unmmin for ' wimmen,' i.e. women ; sevin (not uncommon) for seven, &c. Dent is also spelt dint. The use of the above note consists in its application to other cases. For example, it shows that our link, a chain, is a regular formation from the stem of the A. S. hlence; and ink, from M. E. enke, may be compared with F. encre. It also follows that a like change from em to im is to be expected. Accordingly, we find that alembic became limbeck ; and our limp is certainly connected with the A. S. lemp-halt, as seen in the following glosses : ' Lurdus, lemp-halt] Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, 31, 6. 'Lurdus, lemp-healtj ib., 433, 17; 476, 24. ' Lympe hault, boiteitx] Palsgrave. 257. Carminative (7 S. i. 276 ; 1886). MR. TERRY points out that this word occurs in Swift, 'Strephon and Chloe,' 1731, 1. 133, as well as in Arbuthnot. He quotes the etymologies given in Johnson, Ogilvie, and Littre. I find that the word is already in Coles's Dictionary, CA RMINA TIVE. 213 1684. It is obviously borrowed from the F. carminatif, explained by Cotgrave as ' wind-voiding . . . also flesh- taming, lust-abating.' Ogilvie derives it from Low Lat. carminare, 'to use incantations, to charm . . . because it acts suddenly, as a charm is supposed to do! This seems to be an invention ; and indeed we may always suspect invention when the fatal word ' because ' is introduced. The Low Lat, carminare means properly ' to make verses ' (see Lewis and Short) ; and though it also means to charm, and even to cure wounds by charms (Ducange, s. v. ' Carmen '), this proves nothing as to carminative. Littre is clearly right in deducing it from the other Lat. carminare, to card wool or flax, from carmen, a card for wool, from carere, to card. [See Carminate in the New E. Dictionary^ The idea is extended from the carding of wool to the taming of the flesh (as Cotgrave puts it), or to the expelling of wind. Indeed, we actually find in Blount's Glossographia, 1 68 1, the verb car initiate, 'to card wool, to hatchel flax, to sever the good from the bad.' Coles (1684^ gives ' Carminate, to card wool,' and ' Carminative medicines, breaking wind.' In Ducange, we have the following : Carminativum, dis- sipativum, discussivum, in Amalthea, Medicina Salern, p. 59, edit. 1622; 'Innoxia sunt (pyra) si una cum Carminativis vulgo dictis, hoc est, calefacientibus tenuantibus et flatum expellentibus comediantur, vel super his vinum vetus et odoratum bibatur.' I suppose the word is not found at all before the seventeenth century. Let me strongly recommend the new and concise Dic- tionnaire Synoptique d' Etymologic Fran$aise, by H. Stappers, published at Brussels last year. Stappers gives the etymology from ' carminare, carder, et par extension, dissiper.' Those who are curious to know how extremely bad a modern book upon etymology can be, may consult the Glossaire Etymo- logique Anglo-Normand, by E. le Hericher, Avranches, 1884. 214 DRYDEN'S USE OF INSTINCT. 258. Dryden's use of Instinct (7 S. i. 306 ; 1886). In Absalom and Achitophel, pt. i, we find the line : ' By natural instinct they change their lord.' A note in Bell's edition says : ' A slight alteration would redeem the metre : " How they, by natural instinct, change their lord." . . . This is the only line in which the melody is flattened into prose.' The silliness of this note is only equalled by its impertinence. Of course the line is quite right as it stands. The word natural has its three full syllables, and the word instinct is accented on the second syllable, which the annotator never thought of! Yet he might have found it in Shakespeare, if he ever read that author; see Cor. v. 3. 35; Cymb. iv. 2. 177; v. 5. 381; Rich. III., ii. 3. 42, &c. It is rather hard that ignorance should be made the ground for condemning a good writer. 259. Meresmen (7 S. i. 312; 1886). It simply (I had almost said merely) means ' boundary- men.' Meer-stone, i.e. boundary stone, occurs in Bacon's Essays. From A. S. gemare, a boundary. 260. Yorkshire Words : Lathe, a barn (7 S. i. 355 ; 1886). It does not seem to be known that the derivations of a large number of provincial English words are given in my Appendix to Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic Dictionary, published at Oxford in 1876. By merely referring to it, I find at once the following entries : ' Ket (carrion], Icel. kjot? 'Lathe (barn), Icel. hlad, hlada, and hlafii? ' Lea (scythe), Icel. le, Ijdr? The Icel. words are further explained in the Dictionary itself. Surely the true Northern name for barn is lathe, a word actually used by Chaucer when imitating the Northern dialect ; Cant. Tales, 4086 (A. 4088). KNAVE OF CLUBS = PAM. 215 261. Knave of Clubs = Pam (7 S. i. 358 ; 1886). It is surprising that Johnson's Dictionary should still be seriously consulted for etymologies. His derivation of Pam from palm, because Pam triumphs over other cards, is extremely comic. Of course, Pam is short for Pamphile, the French name for the knave of clubs; for which see Littre's French Dictionary. Cf. p. 135. 262. Pronunciation in the Time of Chaucer (78.1.497; 1886). Questions concerning the pronunciation of Middle English are often asked, but it is quite impossible to deal with them within a reasonable space. It is difficult even to give so much as a notion of the vast and extraordinary changes through which English pronunciation has passed. The mere statement that the Anglo-Saxon long I was pro- nounced as modern English ee in beet, and so continued down to at least A. D. 1400, and probably later, when it gradually gave place to the sound of ei in rein, and after that again to the modern / in pride, is quite sufficient to arouse the disbelief, perhaps the derision, of those who have never even attempted to look at the evidence, and would rather disbelieve than do so. Those who know less of the subject than Mr. Ellis does will do wisely to believe what he says. It strikes me that one easy example, familiar to many, may perhaps arouse the attention of the in- credulous. I take the case of the common name Price, which undoubtedy now rhymes to rice. The etymology is well known to be from the Welsh ap Rhys, pronounced ap Reece. The Welsh name is represented in modern English by two forms, viz., Reece or Rees, preserving the old pronunciation, and Rice, in which the pronunciation has changed according to the regular English laws. Similarly, the derivative ap Rhys is likewise represented both by Preece and Price. Here we have an example of the 2l6 SLA RE. change from long ee to long 7, which can readily be seen to be real. The intermediate change is best seen in German. The Old High German win, pronounced as E. ween, gave way to the Middle High German wein, rhyming with the English rein. This spelling is still retained in the modern form of the language to such an extent that the spelling ei (really due to the sound in the French reine, E. reign or rein) is used almost universally to denote the sound of the modern English long / in mine. The modern German word ought, from a phonetic point of view, to be spelt vain, but we all know that it is not. 263. Slare (7 S. ii. 12 ; 1886). The statement that this word cannot be found in a dictionary is a little odd. A good deal depends on knowing where to look, and what to look for. I found it in the first book I opened, and found some light upon it in each of the next six books which I consulted. Pea- cock's Dictionary of Manley Words /E. D. S.) gives : ' Slare, to make a noise by rubbing the boot-soles on an uncarpeted floor. Crockery-ware, when washed in dirty water, or dried badly so as to leave marks thereupon, is said to be slared.' It is even in HalliwelFs Dictionary, the best-known and most accessible of all dialect dictionaries. My larger Ety- mological Dictionary gives such an account of slur as to throw much light on the word. (In the smaller one, I find, to my surprise, slur has been omitted, purely by accident.) The Icelandic Dictionary gives slora, to trail, contraction of slofira, from sldeg. Diet, gives sloe, to sully ; sloe, short for slode, to trail, and so on. Still closer in form is the Icel. slcedur, a gown that trails on the ground, which would give slceur by the loss of (crossed) d. I have already said that 'the key to slur is that a th or d has HENCHMAN. 217 been dropped ; it stands for slather or sloder ; cf. prov. E. slither, to slide ; slodder, slush.' Similarly stare is for sladder or slather. Halliwell gives ' Slather, to slip or slide (Cheshire) ; sladdery, wet and dirty.' Also l Slair, to walk slovenly; slairg, mud ; slare, to smear ; slary, bedaubed.' Also ' Slidder, to slide,' with its contracted form ' Slir, to slide.' [I am not quite happy as to all these points.] 264. Henchman I. (7 S. ii. 246 ; 1886). I find that in Annandale's Dictionary the old bad guess, that this means haunch-man, one who stands at one's haunch, is once more offered. How often must I protest against this utter neglect of vowels ? How can aun pass into en"? The converse is possible, since en may become an, and an may become aun (see below). My own guess, that it stands for hengst-man, i. e. horse-boy, is surely far better. I now write to say that I look upon my guess as being fairly proved. For, firstly, the A. S. hengest was cut down to hengst; see Wright's Vocab., ed. Wiilcker, 119, 37. Secondly, we find Hinxman as a proper name in the Clergy List, where Hinx- is certainly for Hengst. So much we know from the Index to Kemble's Charters, which gives Hengestes- broc, Hinxbrook; Hengestes-geat, Hinxgate; Hengestes-heafod, Hinxhead; Hengestes-lge, Hinxey. Cf. also Dan. and O. Friesic hingst, by-form of hengst. Thirdly, hengst-man is the exact equivalent of the Icelandic hesta-madr, a horse-boy, groom ; cf. O. Swed. h(esta-sueetdh. In the Middle Ages it was pronounced, both in English and in German, like the ei in E. vein ; at which time the G. spelling was altered to ei, but the English was let alone. Since then, both languages have further developed the sound to the diphthongal ai, as it is written in romic. The English and German spellings remain as in medieval times. Hence the English represents its diphthong by means of the A. S. i, which was once pronounced as ee ; whilst the German represents it by the medieval ei, once pronounced as in French. Both are misleading; but the English is the worse. Dutch follows the English system, but represents the old long /' (ee) by the symbol ij, now pronounced as E. /'in bite. Teutonic long o. This was of two sorts, viz. from pre- Teutonic long a (cf. Lat. mater, frdter), and (rarely) from pre- Teutonic long o (cf. Doric Greek TTOK). The usual Mod. E. symbol is double o or oo, but the sound is that of Ital. u, as in E. cool, from A. S. col. The German developed this //-sound at a very early period ; hence G. Mutter, Bruder, Fuss; also the O. H. G. kuole, adv., coolly, though the G. adj. has the mutated form kuhl. In the last word the u is written as uh, to make sure of the length ; so also A. S.for, he went, is G.fuhr. English has shortened the sounds of moother, broother, foot (oncq ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. 267 rhyming with boot\ in ways with which we are all familiar. Cf. A. S. blod, E. blood, G. Blut. The mutated form of this vowel gave us the A. S. e, as \nfet, feet. The vowel is also mutated in German, as in Fiisse, feet. Hence E. feel, {\.fiihlen, is derived from a stem^/; see Kluge. Teutonic long //. This has developed just like long /. Just as long / became ai (romic\ so long u has become au. In English this is written ou, but German correctly writes au. Thus A. S. hils, E. house, G. Hans. The English spelling ou is of French origin ; the French scribes naturally represented A. S. u by the F. ou in soup. Soup retains the French sound only because it was borrowed in modern times. For another G. au, see under au below. Teutonic long a. This most commonly becomes Mod. E. ee ; but the G. has long a. Ex. : A. S. slccpan, E. sleep, G. Schlafen. Another A. S. long a, which is much com- moner, is the mutated form of A. S. a ; for this see below, under ai. Teutonic ai. This is commonly A. S. a, E. long o, G. ei. Ex. : Goth, haims, A. S. ham, E. home, G. Heim. Thus it will be seen that German has two distinct e?s ; the other is given under long /. The mutated form of A. S. a is long (E ; this commonly gives E. ea. Hence from A. S. hal, E. whole, comes A. S. fae/an, E. heal. Here the German has no mutation, but derives heilen from heil at once. Teutonic au. This is commonly A . S. ea, E. ea (ee, e), G. au or long o. Exx. : A. S. heafod, E. head (M. E. heed), Goth. haubith, G. Haupt; A. S. stream, E. stream, O. H. G. straum, G. Strom. This diphthong can suffer mutation, giving A. S. long ie (orj), G. o. Ex. : Goth, hausjan, A. S. hieran, E. hear, G. hb'ren. Teutonic eu. This is Gothic iu, A. S. eo, E. ee, G. ie. Ex. : Goth, diups, A. S. deop, E. deep, G. tief. Examples of its mutation are rare in English, and the G. ie is not mutated. 268 ENGLISH LONG VOWELS. Teut. long e. I now give additional examples. Besides E. here, G. hier, we find A. S. cen, a torch, G. Kienfackel, a pine-torch, Kien, resinous wood. Teut. long i. E. dike, G. Teich ; so also drive, treiben ; idle, eitel ' ; ride, reiten tide, Z?zV ; bite, beissen; smite, schmeissen ; white, weiss write, reissen ; thy, dein ; shive, Scheibe ; pipe, Pfeifen ; gripe, greifen ; ripe, reif; glide, gleiten while, weil. These are all taken in order from Appendix A to my English Etymology, where the corre- spondence of the consonants is explained. Teut. long o. E. blood, G. Blut ; so also brood, Brut ; good, gut ; hood, Hut ; mood, Muth ; rood , Ruthe ; to, zu ; brother (A. S. brothor), Bruder fother (A.S.fothur), Fuder; mother (A. S. modor\ Mutter ; flood, Fluth ; foot, Fuss. All from the same original o (Indo-Germanic a or rak, as explained by Kool- man ; and compare Swedish vrak, refuse. It is closely 278 GRIFT. allied to wreck and wretch. Wreckling simply means a wretched or poor creature ; cf. Prov. Eng. wrctfhock, the smallest of a brood of domestic fowls (Halliwell). As for the suffix, compare weakling. It would be easy to write a long article on this word, with crowds of examples. 325. Grift, a slate-pencil (7 S. ix. 67 ; 1890). I have frequently had occasion to notice that many of our provincial words (contrary to the received opinion) are of French origin. Grift is formed by adding / to O. F. grefe, a style to write with, which is a variant of O. F. grafe, whence E. graft, also formed with added /. Hence were borrowed also Du., Dan., Swed., G. Griffel, and all are from Low Lat. graphium, from Gk. graphein, to write. Thus a grift means a pencil, and was originally independent of slate. See Franck, Etym. Du. Diet., s. v. ' Griffel.' It is curious to see that Kluge, who inclines to Teutonism overmuch, can see no origin for Griffel but the G. greifen. 326. The Superlative suffix -erst (7 S. ix. 146 : 1890). I make a note that the form -erst is sometimes found as a superlative suffix. It is formed by adding -st (for -est) to the comparative suffix -er. Thus deep would have deep-er for its comparative, whence the superlative deep-er-st might be formed. Examples occur in Wyclif s Works, ed. Arnold, vol. iii. I note hei-er-ste, highest, p. 363 ; lewid-er-st, most ignorant (lit. lewdest), p. 355 ; blessid-er-ste, most blessed, p. 344 ; and on the same page, both depp-er-ste, adj. and depp-er-st, adv. Perhaps some one can give us a few more examples. (POSTSCRIPT; 7 S. ix. 237; 1890.) I can now add that the superlative suffix -er-st probably arose with such words as hind-er-est, which occurs in HEDGES. 279 Chaucer's Prologue, \. 622. The Modern E. nearest also turns out, on analysis, to contain both a comparative and a superlative suffix. [It is equivalent to nigh-er-estJ\ 327. Hedges (7 S. ix. 272 ; 1890). It is difficult to see why the etymology of this name is asked for, unless the question is meant as a trap. It is obvious to a plain man that hedges is the plural of a well- known English word which must be familiar to all in the form hedge. We have a collection of farm-buildings near Cambridge at a place called the King's Hedges; on which I may remark that King is a very common surname in these parts. At the same time, it is worth noting that the A. S. dic- tionaries do not give us the origin of hedge ; they only give haga, the origin of the haw- in hawthorn, and heg, the origin of the hey- in heybote and of the hay- in hayward. But there is yet a third form, viz. A. S. hecg, a feminine sb. representing a Teutonic form hag-ja, with the genitive and dative hecge ; and the Modern English hedge is derived, as hundreds of English words are, from the dative case rather than from the nominative. Examples of hecg are very rare, but the genitive occurs, with the late spelling hegge, in a late copy of a charter of King Offa, originally made in 785. See Cartularium Saxonicum, ed. Birch, i. 339. [And the dative occurs, spelt hegge, in the A. S. Chronicle, an. 547 (Laud MS.). There is even a dative hecgan in an early genuine charter of ^Ethelstan, A. D. 931 ; see Earle's Land Charters, p. 167, 1. i.] 328. Ted, Ned (7 S. ix. 305 ; 1890). I have often wondered whence came the initial T in Ted; but I think it is clearly due to the final letter in Saint. Similarly we have Tooley from St. Olave ; tawdry 280 TOUTER. from St. Audrey ; Tantony from St. Anthony (see Tantony- pig in Halliwell). St. Edward is Edward the Confessor. I am reminded of this by finding 'Sen Tan Welle' in the Records of the Borough of Nottingham, iv. 91. It simply means ' Saint Ann's Well.' [And I have met with ' St. Testing' for 'Saint Austin.'] The N in Ned, Noll, &c., is the final n of mine ; cf. the phrases ' my nuncle,' ' my naunt,' and the like. 329. Touter (7 S. ix. 315 ; 1890). It is odd that simple common sense, used in all other transactions, cannot be applied to etymology. The deriva- tion of touter from Tooting (\) is obviously impossible, because such a man would then have been called a Tootinger; just as an inhabitant of London is not called a Londer, but a Londoner. The origin of touter, formerly tooter (as the quotation given correctly says), is from A. S. totian, to peep or spy about. It was correctly given by Wedgwood years ago; and why it is pretended that there is any difficulty about it, I do not know. 33O. To send to Jericho (7 S. ix. 343 ; 1890). I have never seen a really satisfactory explanation of this phrase, though Nares seems to have understood it rightly, judging from his Glossary, s. v. 'Jericho.' The allusion is, as might be expected, scriptural. The particular story intended will be found twice over, viz. in 2 Sam. x. 5 and i Chron. x. 5. When David's servants had half their beards cut off, and were not presentable at court, the king advised them to ' tarry at Jericho till their beards were grown/ Hence it will be seen that to ' tarry at Jericho ' meant, jocularly, to live in retirement, as being not presentable. The phrase could be used, with particular sarcasm, with reference to such young men as had not yet been endowed naturally with THE SEA'SE OF 'CHAIR' IN ' COR1OLANUS.' 281 such ornaments ; and, in their case, they would have to wait some time before their beards could suggest their wisdom. That this joke was really current is clear from the example which Nares cites from Hey wood's Hierarchic, bk. iv. p. 208 : ' Who would to curbe such insolence, I know, Bid such young boys to stay in Jericho Until their beards were growne, their wits more staid." But it is remarkable that Nares does not seem to have noticed the above text as being the obvious source of the phrase. We have thus clear evidence that the original phrase was used of bidding young men to ' tarry in Jericho ' or to ' stay in Jericho.' The transition from this to ' sending to Jericho ' was easy enough. We also see that the original phrase really meant, ' Wait till your beard is grown,' i. e. 'Wait till your wits are more staid or stronger': and this was satirically equivalent to saying that the party addressed was too young or too inexperienced to give advice. Thus the original saying insinuated a charge of inexperience ; and a sending to Jericho was equivalent to making such a charge. The person sent was deemed not good enough for the rest of the company. And this explains the whole matter. There are other current suggestions, but none of them rests on any evidence. I hope that, now r that I have pointed out the allusion quite clearly, we need not be further troubled with their ingenuity. I quite endorse the observation in Nares, that his quotation 'explains the common phrase of wishing a person at Jericho.' All that I have added is a note of the source of that quotation. 331. The Sense of ' Chair ' in ' Coriolanus ' (7 S. ix. 345; 1890). In the well-known passage in Coriolanus, iv. 7. 52, over which many have stumbled, the whole sense comes 282 THE OCCURRENCE OF ' TH ' IN A. F. AND A. S. out at once by simply calling to mind that chair ^ in Tudor English, was sometimes used in the sense of ' pulpit.' Milton has it so ; see ' Chair ' in the New English Dic- tionary, sect. 5. Cotgrave has, ' Chaire, f. a chair ; also a pulpit for a Preacher.' And in Modern French it still has this sense, as distinct from its doublet chaise. And this is the solution of the whole matter. The idea might have been picked up in any church, for, indeed, the pulpit is commonly more ' evident,' i. e. con- spicuous, than any of the fine tombs in the choir. The general sense is just this : ' Power, however commendable it may seem to itself, can find no tomb so conspicuous, no tomb so obvious, as when it chooses for itself a pulpit whence to declaim its own praises.' This agrees very nearly with the explanation in the note to the Clarendon Press edition; but it seems to me to be more emphatic and picturesque to explain the word as ' pulpit ' than merely as 'orator's chair.' 332. The Occurrence of ' th ' in Anglo-French and Anglo-Saxon (7 S. ix. 445 ; 1890). There is an interesting note on the occurrence of /// ( = Lat. d, /) in Anglo-French and Anglo-Saxon in Grober, Grundriss der Romanischen Philologie, i. 397. The sole English word in which the A. F. th is still preserved is the English faith, M. E. feith, from the A. F. feith (feid), which again is from the Latin accusative fidem. The same change from the Lat. d (or /) to E. th is found in A. S. and in Early English of the twelfth century ; in a few cases the words survived till about the fourteenth century, but are all now obsolete, or have lost the th. Examples in A. S. are : A. S. fithele (fiddle), from Low Lat. fidula, vidula A. S. sinoth, also synoth, seonod, a synod, from Lat. ace. synodum ; A. S. Cathum, from Lat. Cadomum, Caen, in the A. S. Chron., under the date 1105; A. S. A. S. TRANSLATIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 283 Rothem, from Lat. Rotomagum, Rouen, in the same, under the date 1124. So also the place now called Gerberoi or Gerbroi, near Beauvais, appears in the A. S. Chronicle as Gerborneth, A. D. 1079; and Conde appears as A. S. Cundoth, A. D. 883. So also A. S. nativiteth, Lat. ace. natiuitatem ; A. S. Chron. 1 1 06. M. tL.pknteth (= A. .ptenteth\ Lat. ace. plenitatem ; Genesis and Exodus, 3709. M. E. daynteth (= A. F. deinteth\ I^t. ace. dignitatem ; ' Anturs of Arthur,' st. xiv., Towneley Myst., p. 245. M.E. kariteth, from Lat. ace. can fa fern ; Ormulum, 1. 2998. And the Lowland Scotch poortith must be of F. origin ; from paupertatem. The change from / to th took place in Gaulish Latin and very early French, when the t was final. Final d was probably sounded as the voiced th first of all, and then unvoiced, in accordance with the known habit of French, which delights in voiceless letters at the end of a word. 333. Anglo-Saxon Translations of the New Testament (7 S. ix. 475 ; 1890). Of course Dr. Scrivener's reference to Anglo-Saxon versions of the New Testament is due to some mistake. Except the four Gospels, there is no trace of a translation into Anglo-Saxon of any part of the New Testament. The passage must have been written from imagination. The only thing of the kind is a translation of the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. This was printed by Thwaites in 1698, at the end of his Heptateitchus. Many years ago, I pointed out the existence of a lacuna in the Cambridge MS. whence his text is taken. In the first volume of Grein's Bibliothek der angelsachsischen Prosa we find the A. S. version of the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Job. There are many A. S. MSS. of the Psalms, and there is an edition by Spelman. I suppose that the only unprinted Biblical specimen is /Elfric's translation of the Book of Esther. 284 PERUSE. For further information, see Wiilker's Grundriss zitr Geschichte der.angelsdchsischen Litteratur. 334. Peruse (7 S. ix. 506; 1890). The great difficulty of this word is well known. There are good illustrations of it in Croft's edition of Elyot's Governour ; and he concludes that it cannot be derived from per and use. I have shown, in my Dictionary, the great probability that it really was from that source ; and in the Addenda to the second edition I show that it was really once used in the sense of ' using up.' I now find from Godefroy's O. French Dictionary, that there really was an O. F. verb peruser, in the very same sense. He explains it by ( user entierement, achever, consommer.' This goes far to settle the question. 335. Prepense (7 S. x. 6 ; 1890). In the phrase ' malice prepense? the etymology of prepense is not very easy. I give it from Lat. prae, beforehand, and the French penser. Godefroy's O. F. Dictionary gives an example (s. v. 'Porpenser') of the phrase 'de malice pourpensee'. This may seem decisive, but it is not so. Scheler (s. v. ' Pour ') points out the extraordinary confusion, in French, between pour, O. F. par (properly Lat. pro), and par (Lat. per); and he might have included French pre- as well. The confusion seems to be one of long standing, for in the second section of the Laws of William the Conqueror, Thorpe's edition speaks of ' agweit purpense] i. e. premedi- tated lying in wait. But another reading is prepensed (see Littre, s. v. ' Pourpenser,' and Schmid's Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, p. 322). This makes it tolerably clear that the above-mentioned confusion existed. At the same time it is certain that the usual Anglo-French verb {Q\ premeditate was purpenser. Cf. the phrase ' felonie purpense ' in Britton, vol. i. p. 15, and the long note in Elyot's Governour, ed. Croft, vol. ii. p. 375. HONE : HOE. 285 336. Hone : Hoe (7 S. x. 35 ; 1890). It is certainly clear that hone in Tusser {Husbandry, 46, st. 9) is a misprint for hone, i. e. hoe. ' How or Hoe ' is the spelling in Phillips, ed. 1706. It is spelt hough by Ellis (1750), and how by Worlidge (1681) ; see Old Country ll'ords, ed. J. Britten (E. D. S.). The spelling houe is the correct French spelling ; even Cotgrave, s. v. Houe, has, ' opened at the root as a tree with a Houe.' No doubt the spelling houe will turn up elsewhere, to countenance Tusser's spelling. Ray has how (1691). 337. ' Ictibus Agrestis ' (7 S. x. 48 ; 1890). How can I trace this quotation, which I find referred to by Chaucer? In the Miller's Tale (Group A. 1. 338 1\ the Ellesmere MS. has ' For som folk wol ben wonnen for richesse, And somme for strokes, and some for gentilesse ' ; and the side-note is, ' Unde Ovidius : Ictibus Agrestis.' I fear Chaucer's memory was at fault, as I cannot find it in Ovid. I have also tried Virgil, Statius, and Claudian without success. [The problem remains unsolved.] 368. The Etymology of Anlas ' (7 S. x. 65 ; 1890). The interesting word an/as, a kind of dagger or knife, occurring in Chaucer's Prologue, is fully explained by Dr. Murray in the New English Dictionary. All that is known about the etymology is that it first occurs in the thirteenth century, and is said by Matthew Paris to be a native English word. It is, therefore, compounded of two Middle English words ; and these I take to be simply an and facts, i.e. ' on ' and ' lace ' ; and that the knife was so called because hung on a lace, and thus suspended from the neck. 286 MUS TREDEV1LLIA RS. There is a precedent for this in the A. S. name for a kind of pouch. It was called a bl-gyrdel, i.e. a 'by-girdle,' because hung at the girdle. Note that in this word the accent was on the prefix. This is clear from the alliterated line in Piers the Plowman, A. ix. 79 ; and Dr. Murray clearly explains that such was the fact. With on we have on-set, bn-slaught, with the accent on the prefix. The spelling an for on occurs in M. E. an-lich, alike, and in several compounds noted by Stratmann, s. v. 'an.' That laas or las, a lace, was the precise word to use, we know from Chaucer, Pro!. 392 : ' A dagger hanging on a laas hadde he.' Perhaps we may yet find the variant onlas. 339. Mustredevilliars (7 S. x. 84; 1890). This is given by Halliwell as the name of a kind of mixed grey woollen cloth, which continued in use up to Elizabeth's reign ; also spelt mustard-ivittars. In the Records of Nottingham, iii. 296, is mention of 'ij. yardes and halfe a quarter master devy Her s^ under the date May 17, 1496. At p. 495 of the same, the editor explains that it was made at the town of Montivilliers (Mouster Villers in Froissart, ix. 164) on the Lezarde (Seine Inferieure). See Kervyn de Lettenhove's edition of Froissart, vol. xxv., 'Table Analytique des Noms Ge'ographiques.' It seems that, by a silly popular etymology and by the shameless guesswork for which English editors are so remarkable, it has been often said that the cloth was of a mustard colour ! But it was grey. Moster, mouster, mustre, &c., are the Old French spellings of Lat. monasterium ; see ' moustier ' in Godefroy. Hence the etymology is from master de Villars, ' monastery of Villiers, or Villars.' ARCHEOLOGY OR ARCHAIOLOGY. 287 340. Archaeology or Archaiology (7 S. x. 170; 1890). I observe that Canon Taylor, on the assumption that we use the Latin, not the Greek, alphabet, has no difficulty in showing that we should write archizology rather than archaiology ; and certainly it is far better. But the assumption is not wholly correct. As a fact we do not use the Latin alphabet precisely, but the Anglo- French modification of it ; and if we were only to use our common sense we should adhere to this throughout, instead of occasionally recurring to the Latin type. Unfortunately, at the time of the Renaissance the pedants tried to introduce pure Latin spellings, and even wrote (edify for edify; but in a large number of instances the Anglo-French habit has held its own. Still the pedants have succeeded in introducing confusion and doubt, under the impression that they were ' classical.' The whole matter is explained in my Principles of Etymology'. It were much to be wished that ' scholarship ' could be taken for granted, instead of being constantly exhibited in Latin and Greek spellings. We do not accuse a man of ignorance of Latin because he writes edify ; and for the same reason it would be well if we could be content with primeval, medieval, pedagogue, orthopedic, and archeology, all with the French e, and not with the Latin tz at all. I have been for many years trying to explain to scholars at Cambridge that medieval is a better (i. e. a more practical) spelling than medi&oal. But no one seems to grasp the argument. They will admit primeval, because it is in dictionaries ; but they will have none of medieval, because it looks ' unclassical.' This is a complete answer to the eminently foolish suggestion, frequently made, that we ought to have an ' academy ' for settling questions such as these. They will never be settled on any principle except popular caprice. In spelling English words it has long ago 288 GIRL PRONOUNCED CURL. been agreed, that no rule or habit shall be carried out consistently. There is, in English, nothing ' correct ' unless it be confused, inconsistent, and capricious. 341. Girl pronounced Gurl. I (7 S. x. 176 ; 1890). I beg leave to suggest that spellings convey no true notion of sound to any one, unless they are given according to some phonetic system. I have been wondering, for example, what in the world the above title means. In Southern English we pronounce China, America, &c., in such a way that the final sound is 'the obscure vowel,' represented, in romic notation, by a turned e or (a). The same sound, prolonged and accented, is heard in a large number of words in the neighbourhood of London, in the mouths of people who do not trill the r. I was born in London, and have lived in it, and also at Sydenham, Highgate, Woolwich, &c. ; and I have always heard and used this sound in girl (gssl), burn (baan), churl (ch99l) j heard (hsad), bird (b39d\ &c. Mr. Sweet's experience is the same. I should be glad to learn how, and where, any difference is made, even by those who trill the r, between the vowels in girl, and churl, and pearl. But the information will be useless unless conveyed in some phonetic spelling, such as romic, or palaeotype, or the system in the New English Dictionary. 342. Girl pronounced Gurl. II (7 S. x. 515 ; 1890). I recognize the pronunciation to which Dr. C. alludes, now that it is properly explained. Pronunciations can be explained by the ordinary English notation well enough, when test- ivords are added for the purpose. The reason why the ordinary notation is usually a very bad one is, that writers often give a spelling of their own without any hint as to what they mean by it. I should spell the sound of gairl, with at as in air, as (gaeal). And now comes in the JAMES: JACOB. 289 trouble. It so happens that whilst Dr. C. was taught to look upon gurl (gasl) as vulgar, wherefore he never uses it, I was taught the exact contrary, so that I never use gairl (gtU9i). This is what all disputes about pronunciation of English words generally come to. Each man thinks that what he was taught is right ; and there is no real authority. We have to get along the best we can, and if we can pronounce words as they seem to us to be usually pronounced in London, Oxford, and Cambridge, we shall be understood. But we shall not always satisfy all hearers. 343. James : Jacob (7 S. x. 212 ; 1890). Dr. C.'s remarks at the last reference are very helpful. I think we may safely say that the s in James is the Anglo-F. and F. nom. suffix, added to the form fame by analogy with Charles, Jacques, &c. Also, that Jame was certainly derived from Lat. ace. Jacobum. The only difficulty is to ascertain the precise historical order of the facts. Surely the Mid. Eng. Jame (also James} must be closely connected with the Span. Jaime, in which the initial J (though at present sounded like the G. cK] was originally sounded like the Mod. and Mid. E.J in James. I do not remember any early reference to James in Mid. Eng. in which the reference is to any other than the St. James whose shrine was at Compostella. English people (including the Wife of Bath) became familiar with the name by actually resorting to that place. This historical fact seems to me to be of great importance. I have given several references in my notes to P. Plow- man, B. prol. 47. 344. Wayzgoose (7 S. x. 233 ; 1890). Nothing can be sillier than the derivation of this word from German. Surely goose is not a German, but an u 290 GRANGE. English word, as a moment's reflexion will show. The guess is plainly due to the notion, which I have so often denounced, viz., that all native English words are falsely imagined to be of 'German' origin. I would rather suppose that ways is a phonetic spelling of wase, in the sense of 'stubble'; so that wayzgoose is simply 'stubble- goose.' This is the explanation which I have repeatedly offered to correspondents ; and oh ! the number of times I have been asked ! Wase is used provincially to mean a ( straw-pad ' ; see Halliwell. Cf. Icel. vast Swed. vase, a sheaf; Mid. Du. wase, a torch (i. e. twist of straw), as in the M. E. Tale of Beryn, 2351. 345. Grange (7 S. x. 253 ; 1890). It is clear, I think, that the assertion that granges neces- sarily belonged to religious houses must have been derived from two passages in Chaucer (ed. Tyrwhitt, 11. 3668, 12996), i.e. Cant. Tales, A. 3668, B. 1256, which seem to favour that supposition. But, of course, as the word simply meant ( a place for grain,' or ' barn,' there was no reason for its use in a restricted sense, and it is constantly used in the general one. It occurs again in P. Plowman, C. xx. 71, where I explain it duly in the note. Dr. N. did not find it in the Promptorium because he did not look for it under the usual M. E. spellings, viz. graunge, or grawnge, or grange. Oddly enough it occurs twice there, viz., under ' Grawnge,' and under ' Gronge ' ; and Mr. Way gives a note on it, which has been quoted. It also occurs, under ' Grawnge,' in the Catholicon Anglicum, and here again the editor has a note on it. He quotes the note on the passage in the ' Miller's Tale ' in Bell's Chaucer ; and this is where we come to the information about grange being 'applied to outlying farms belonging to the abbeys.' No doubt it was, but not exclusively, nor does Mr. Jephson say so. The earliest quotation I have yet found for it is in ' WRITE YOU.' 291 the romance of Have/ok, 1. 764, about A. D. 1290. The original Latin form is granea. The forms grangia, &c. are mere Latin travesties of the French form. Why the whole of the discussion might not have been saved by simply looking out the word in my Dictionary, where I give the etymology, the sense, and two early references, I am at a loss to understand. But the dic- tionary-maker must expect, on the one hand, to be snubbed when he makes a mistake, and, on the other, to be neglected when he is right. 346. 'Write you* (7 S. x. 273; 1890). Of course ' I will write you ' is an old formula. Even now we should hesitate to insert to in such a phrase as ' I gave to you the book ' ; the you alone is sufficient. You is dative as well as accusative. The use of to before you to indicate the former was once needless. It is amazing that such elementary facts remain unknown. No one would like to confess ignorance of the forms of Latin pro- nouns ; but when the language to be learnt is merely English, ignorance at once becomes pardonable. But why? 347. German and English Head-letters (i. e. the use of Capitals in English and German (7 S. x. 311 ; 1890). This is an extremely difficult and complex problem. I think it clear that there is no proved connexion between English and German habits in this matter ; or, at any rate, they should be considered independently. As to the use of capitals in English, I do not see that the date 1680 has anything to do with it. Any one who wants to see a good deal of testimony in a small space may turn to my ' uncooked ' editions of printed passages, as given in my Specimens of English Literature, part III ; u 2 OUBIT. from 1394 to 1579. Already, in 1552, John Skott's print of Sir David Lyndesay's Monarch} abounds with capitals, especially for substantives ; and there are several in Ascham's Scholemaster, ed. 1570. I suppose the practice arose in the case of certain letters. Many MSS. use capitals for initial a, c, and r, for no apparent reason. Thus the Tale of Melusine, or Romance of Partenay, edited by me in 1866, abounds with A for a (in such a word as And), C for c, and other curiosities. Chaucer MSS. abound with examples of capitals for such words as I-wis and lay (a jay). I open the Tale of Gamelyn at a hazard, and find in line 283 in MS. Harl. 7334 the line ' Thus wan Gamelyn the Ram and the Ryng.' The whole subject is far more complex, and runs back to a much remoter antiquity, than your correspondents seem to suppose. 348. Oubit (7 S. x. 324; 1890). Most people are familiar with this word in connexion with Kingsley's poem ; but the etymology has never been given. Other spellings (see Jamieson) are vowbet (for woubef), woubit, wobat, and it is generally explained as 'a hairy caterpillar.' Very likely the M. E. warbot (Prompt. JParv.) and the prov. E. warble, are mere variants. Jamieson feebly suggests A. S. wibba, a worm, as the origin, which will not satisfy any student of phonetics. The real origin is suggested by the older spelling welbode, which occurs in two glosses, ' hie multipes, a welbodej and ' hec concipita, idem est' (Wright-Wiilker, Vocab., 706, 15). Compare ' hie multipes, a tuenti-fot wurme' (id., 766, 28). It is easy to see that here, as in a thousand other cases, e is mis- written for e-sivete, or walow- swete] i. e. so sweet as to make one bilious. It is allied to the Eng. walk and ivallou*, and to Lat. uoluere, all with the notion of rolling about. WHITS UN DAY. 309 Still more closely allied are the Low German walgig and walghaftig, adjectives signifying 'productive of nausea'; and the Low German walgen, to feel nausea. The root- verb occurs in the Mid. High German welgen, to roll about, pt. t. walg; see Schade. Schade gives a large number of related words, such as walg, rounded ; walgern, to roll ; walagon, to roll oneself about, also to walk ; wul- gerung, nausea, &c. It is, therefore, quite free from all connexion with Wales. 378. Whitsun Day. I (7 S. xii. 277 ; 1891). At the last reference (7 S. xii. 233) Mr. W. says that 'we have the word whitsul? Where, pray, does it occur? Let us have the reference for it. And, after that, let us have the reference for Whitsulday. I believe both forms to be wholly unauthorized ; and I do not see how the process of inventing forms can be justified. [It turned out that the word intended was certainly whitsul in form, but the sense of it was so entirely remote from any connexion with Whitsunday, that it is hardly wonderful that I did not, at the moment, recognize it. The argument was this : ' Whitsul is given as a provincial word in Todd's Johnson, with a passage from Carew ex- plaining it. Sool is anything eaten with bread to flavour it, as butter, cheese, milk. With milk it would be whitsul. The white meat given to the poor at Whitsuntide brings the whole into connexion ' (!) The last sentence is delicious. See further in my reply below.] 379. Whitsun Day. II (7 S. xii. 449; 1891). The etymology of whitsul at the last reference is quite correct, viz., from white and sool. Sool is explained in my notes to Piers Plowman, and again in my glossary to Havelok. It not only occurs at line 767 of that poem, but again at 11. 1143, 2905. 310 WHITSUN DAY. Further information about it is given in Herrtage's notes to the Catholicon Anglicum, p. 349, and the etymology is from the A. S. sufol, which occurs in my edition of the A.S. Gospels (John xxi. 5), to translate the Latin pulmen- tarium. But all this has nothing whatever to do with Whitsunday, which certainly never was called Whitsulday ; neither is there the slightest evidence that such a compound as Whit- sulday was ever dreamt of. On the other hand, not only is ' Whitsun-week ' a legitimate expression, but I have already given a reference for it in a dictionary which seems to have been neglected. It occurs in Wycliffe's Works, ed. Arnold, ii. 161. It is a mere contraction for Whit- sunday week, which is called hvitasunnudagsvika in Icelandic. In the Ancient Laws of Nonvay, previous to A. D. 1263, as published by Munch and Keyser, Christiania, 1846-47, we already find the expression ' Paskaviku, ok Hvitasunnu- dagsviku] vol. i. p. 150. Curiously enough, it was some- times the syllable sun that was dropped, and then we find mention of ffvitadagavika, lit. ' Whiteday-week,' or ' Whitday-week.' There is nothing remarkable about such dropping of a syllable ; every one says fdc'sle for fore- castle. It would be comic enough if we were to pretend on that account that frfc'sle is 'derived' from fox-hole ; although phonetic laws would certainly admit of such a derivation. I showed once, in the Academy, that Palm Sunday is abbreviated to Palmsun, and that even such a phrase as Palmsun Tuesday has been in use. The note at the end of my Supplement to the second edition of my Dictionary seems as applicable now as ever. ' The Welsh name Sulgwyn, Whitsuntide, is literally u'hite sun, from sul, sun, and gwyn, white. This name is old, and is a mere transla- tion from the English name at a time when it was rightly understood. But experience shows that no arguments COMMENCE TO. 311 will convince those who prefer guesswork to evidence. The wrong ideas about this word are still persistently cherished.' For those who wish to come at the truth I have one more word, which will, I believe, interest them. In West- wood's beautiful book called Palceographia Sacra Pictoria, the last facsimile but one gives a specimen from MS. Addit. 503 in the British Museum, an Icelandic MS. which he attributes to the twelfth century. This quotation, acci- dentally chosen, actually refers to the services for Whit- sunday, and the editor has failed to read it correctly. His version is: 'A Himta Sunnu Dag skal fyrst syngia Veni, Creator Spiritus.' There is no such word as ' Himta,' and when we turn to the facsimile, we see that the real word is ' Huyta,' where , as usual, is used for v before a following vowel, and y is miswritten for /", as is so common, not only in Icelandic, but in Anglo-Saxon MSS., owing to the confusion between the sounds which they denoted, viz., the sound of the G. // in tibel, and the sound of the E. ee in deep. The real reading of this beautifully written and early MS. is as follows : ' A Huyta Sunnu Dag skal fyrst syngia Veni, Creator Spiritus : Kom thu gode heilage ande,' &c. That is, ' On White Sunday shall (one) first sing Veni, Creator Spiritus : come, thou good holy Spirit,' &c. What can be more satisfactory to those who care for evidence ? 380. Commence to (said to be not an English Idiom) (7 S. xii. 294; 1891). Surely this was an English idiom from the outset ! Thus in P. Plowman, C. xv. 203, we are told that Imaginative ' comsed to loure,' i. e. commenced to frown. Many more examples might be given. 312 THE TREATMENT OF TRIPLE CONSONANTS. 381. The Treatment of Triple Consonants (7 S. xii. 322; 1891). The occurrence of three consonants together in the middle of a word necessarily gives rise, in many instances, to a difficulty of pronunciation. The simplest way of getting over this is to drop one of them, and the one usually dropped is the middle one. If the middle one be s, it remains ; as in bust for burst, gorse for A. S. gorst. We have several examples in English in which, though all three consonants are retained in spelling, the middle one is either not pronounced at all or else is very lightly touched. Examples are : castle, nestle, wrestle, thistle, whistle, epistle, bristle, gristle, apostle, jostle, bustle, rustle, and, generally, words ending in -stle. Even for ghastly speakers of dialect are apt to say gashly ; see Tregellas on the Cornish dialect. Again, it is quite common to hear people (even those who protest that they certainly do not) drop the / in redemption, exemption, assumption, consumption, presumption, so also in Campbell, Hampden, Hampton. Most people confuse handsome and Hansom, and it is probable that, etymologically, the words are identical. The t is dropped in waistcoat. In place-names the same principle is still more strongly at work. Hence the common pronunciation of Windsor, Guildford, Hertford, Lindsey, Landguard, and many others. The cases most interesting to the etymologist are those in which the middle consonant has actually disappeared from the spelling. I have noted the following : garment for garn(e]ment, allied to garn-ish ; worship for ivorth- ship ; worsted for Worthstead ; wilderness for wild-deer-ness ; blossom from A. S. blostma, with loss of /; Norman for Northman. LEIGHTON. 313 In place-names this result is common; as in Norfolk for Northfolk, Norton for Northton, Weston for West-ton, Easton for East-ton, Kirby for Kirkby; Kirton for Kirk- ton, Sanford for Sandford, Burford for Burghford; Burley for Burghley ; Burstead for Burghstead, Burton for Burghton. In some cases especial care must be taken in order to prevent mistakes. Still, when we find that Preston is short for Prest-ton (Priest-town), we shall hardly be wrong in assuming that Prescott is for Prest-cott (Priest-cot). But, in order to be sure, we must always rely, as has been usual, upon the older spellings found in the charters. 382. Leighton (7 S. xii. 345 ; 1891). The explanation of this name is an interesting example of the operation of phonetic laws. The A. S. leac-tun, lit. 'leek-town,' i.e. vegetable enclosure, garden, became leactun, with shortening of u. But the combination ct becomes ht in Anglo-Saxon (see Mayhew, O. E. Phonology, p. 140). Hence we also find the forms leahtun, lehtun. The Latin hortus is glossed by lehtun in the Lindisfarne MS., John xviii. i. The A. S. ht became M. E. ght, and so we should get a Mod. E. Leghton or Leighton (with ei as in vein) quite regularly. I believe the derivation of M. E. leih-tun, a garden, from A. S. leak, fallow land, given in Stratmann, to be a pure oversight. It is needless, and gives no sense. A garden and fallow-land are very different things. Of course, some of the place-names of this form may be due to a combina- tion of leak, lea, and tun, town ; but the derivation from A. S. lehtun, a garden, a compound already existing in A. S., really seems more probable. The change from the k in leek to the guttural h (gh) presents, in this case, no difficulty at all, being quite regular. 314 STALLED : STALLED OX. It is possible that the spelling Leyton is from a different source, viz. leak ; but I think that our rather numerous Leightons are due to the fact that gardens were not un- common ; and I think they should be dissociated from the form Leigh, a lea. 383. Stalled (i. e. sated, tired) of walking : Stalled Ox (7 S. xii. 357; 1891). These phrases are connected. The word is practically explained in my Dictionary, though I do not give all the senses. The first occurrence of stall in English is in the Corpus Glossary of the eighth century, written in the true Mercian dialect. We there find 'Stabulum, staT ; see Hessels's ed., under 'S. 512.' Thus the earliest recorded sense is ' stable ' or ' stall for cattle,' still in common use. The corresponding Icelandic sb. is stallr, stall, a crib for cattle, whence was made the verb stalla, to put in a stall. The Swedish use is particularly clear ; Widegren's Diction- ary gives : ' Stall, a stable for horses ; stalla, to stall-feed, to stall ; stallad boskap, stall-fed cattle ; stalla oxer, to stall-feed bullocks.' In Prov. xv. 17,! have already said that stalled means ' stall-fed.' In fact the Vulgate has saginatum, and Wyclif has 'maad fat.' Thus stalled meant stall-fed (for which I refer to Chapman's Homer, Od., xv. 161) i.e. fatted, as in 'fatted calf.' Hence the notion of full-fed, satiated, sated ; and to be stalled of walking is to be sated with walking, hence tired, &c. See Peacock's Manley and Corringham Words (E. D.S.); other publications of the E. D. S. ; Kluge's Germ. Diet.; Skinner's Diet. 1671; Richardson's Dictionary; Johnson's Dictionary; Webster's Dictionary ; the Century Dictionary, &c. GODIVA. 315 384. Godiva (7 S. xii. 404; 1891). Tennyson has the line : ' Godiva, wife to that grim earl, who ruled,' &c. We are all agreed to accent Godiva on the *", and to call it a long vowel (strictly a diphthong*. Still, as a matter of curiosity, there is no harm in knowing that the accent was on the o, and that the / was short, i. e. it was 'Godiva.' For it is a Latinized spelling of A. S. God-gifu, lit. ' God- gift ' ; see Freeman's Old Eng. History. And we do not pronounce give so as to rhyme with strive. 385. Paragon (7 S. xii. 412 ; 1891). Two correspondents kindly suggest a reference to my Dictionary, where I give the etymology from the Span, prepositions para con (for Lat. pro, ad, and cum}. This is the etymology given by Diez, and long accepted without dispute. But an article which has appeared in the Zeit- schrift fur Roman. Philol., iv. 374, makes out a better case for a derivation from the Greek, viz. from Greek TrapaKov?], a touch-storie. Despite the great authority of Diez, the derivation from three prepositions presents much difficulty. 336. ' Bravo ' : sometimes (wrongly) applied to a woman (7 S. xii. 432 ; 1891). Alas ! is the glory of Charles James Yellowplush indeed departed? Does no one recall his weighty words? I, for one, do not forget what he once wrote in his Diary : ' Been to the Hopra. Music tol lol. That Lablash is a wopper at singing. I coodn make out why some people called out Bravo, some J3ravar, and some Bravee. ' Bravee, Lablash," says I, at which hevery body laft.' I withhold the reference. Let your readers discover how great a master they have neglected. 316 WOODCUT; WITH THE LEGEND -STRIKE HERE.' 387. A Woodcut ; with the legend * Strike here ' (7 S. xii. 478 ; 1891). The words 'Strike here' translate Percute hie, a saying on which turns the story of Gerbertus, in the Gesta Romano- rum; Tale 107, in Swan's translation. The story is re- told in my poem entitled The Dyer's Tale, written in imitation of Chaucer, and printed in the Universal Review for December 16, 1889. I have since observed that it is also given in William Morris's Earthly Paradise. 388. Wicket (7 S. xii. 506 ; 1891). In my Dictionary, I derive this form from an assumed Anglo-French form wiket, which, as I have shown, must have been the right form, though no quotation occurs for it. And now I have found it ! ' Li fol entre enz par le wiket ' ; i. e. the fool enters in by the wicket. It occurs in Le Roman de Tristan, ed. Michel, vol. ii. p. 101, 1. 245. It is always a comfort to find a predicted form. 389. St. Parnell (8 S. i. 10; 1892). I thought every one knew that Pernel was a medieval saint. My note to Piers Plowman, C. v. in (B. iv. 116) is clear enough : 1 Purnele, or Peronelle, from Petronilla, was a proverbial name for a gaily-dressed, bold-faced woman. . . . May 31 was dedicated to St. Petronilla the virgin. She was supposed to be able to cure the quartan ague ; Chambers, Book of Days, ii. 389. The name, once common, now scarcely survives except as a surname, in .the form Parnell; see Bardsley's Eng. Surnames, p. 56.' Any book of saints' lives will explain the matter, under the date May 31. That the same person is called Petronilla in Latin, and Peronelle, Pernell, or Purnel in English, is THE GENDERS OF ENGLISH SUBSTANTIVES. 317 obvious from a comparison of the various accounts. Cf. Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Ellis, pp. 359, 363. The inquiry ' by what stages Petronilla became Parnell,'' is one that fills me with delight. For if once scientific explanation comes to be demanded, the day of the etymo- logical guess-mongers will be gone for ever. The answer is : by regular and recognized phonetic changes, which have all been duly tabulated by scientific workers. Petronilla became Parnell for the simple reason that it could not, under the circumstances, become anything else. Cf. F. pcre from patrem, F. errer from Lat. iterare, folk-Latin eterare or etrare. Also F. fermer from Lat. firmare, illustrating the change from i to e. The Anglo- French was properly Pernel, which is the usual form in Middle-English ; and this became Parnell, just as person became parson, viz. by the usual change of the M.E. er to the modern English ar. 39O. The Genders of English Substantives (8S.i. 43; l8 92)- Modern English gender is mainly logical, depending upon the thing signified. But Old English gender was purely grammatical, depending, in a great measure, upon the form of the word. One of the greatest gains of modern English is the abandonment of grammatical gender, so that we no longer have to burden our memories with the differences of usage due to this source. Grammatical gender has thus become a mere matter of history, and is now only a curiosity. I think many of your readers may be pleased to learn from how much they have thus been delivered. To this end, I here give a brief list, by way of specimen, of a few of our principal substantives, with their original genders. I purposely avoid the mention of things having life. With respect to these, it may suffice to notice that a bear, a fish, 318 THE GENDERS OF ENGLISH SUBSTANTIVES. a ghost, a hound, and a wolf, were all masculine ; a crow and a fly were feminine ; and a child, a maiden and w# (being things, apparently, of small significance) were all neuter. The following nouns in Anglo-Saxon were all masculine: Ache, acre, apple, arm, ash (tree) ; beam, broom ; cove (i. e. creek) ; day, deal, death, dew, dint, doom, dough, drop. Ebb (of the tide), end ; field, finger, flight, flood, foot, furze ; gall, gleam, gloom ; hate, helm (i. e. helmet), hip, holm, horn, hunger ; loaf. Meat, moon, mouth ; neck ; oath ; path ; rain, ridge, ring. Shank, shield, shoe, sleep, smoke, snow, spark, staff, stake, stone, storm, stream, summer ; tear (from the eye), thirst, thorn, thunder, tooth ; way, wedge, well, will. The following nouns were all feminine : Ashes (of wood), ax ; bench, bliss, book, borough, bridge ; cap, care, chin, chine (i. e. fissure, ravine\ claw, crib (for cattle) ; deed. Earth, edge ; feather, furrow ; glove ; half, hall, hand, heart, heat, hell, hide, hose ; liver, lore. Mead or meadow, might ; need, needle, night ; oak ; rung (of a ladder). Sheath, sedge, shell, sill (of a door), sin, sinew, spade, speed, sun; thought, throat, tongue, toe, turf; week, weird (fate), womb, wort. The following nouns were all neuter : Bale (evil), bath, bed, blood, bone, brim ; cliff, coal, cud ; dole, deer. Ear, errand, eye ; fire, flesh, foam ; glee, gold, grass ; head, hilt, holt ; iron ; kin ; lair, land, leather, lid, light. Main (i. e. force), meal (of corn), mood ; net ; seed, ship, shroud, sore; thigh, token, tree; water, web, wed (pledge), wonder, work ; year, yoke. Almost the only discoverable principle is that substan- SAXON: DERIVED FROM ' SIKE.' 319 lives denoting abstract qualities have a tendency to be feminine. Examples are : bliss, care, heat, might, speed, thought, in the above list. Deed and lore are the same, as denoting doing and teaching. And we may add to this list an enormous number of substantives now ending in -ing and -ness. It is very striking to observe with what impartiality the parts of the body are distributed. Thus arm, finger, foot, gall, hip, mouth, neck, shank, tooth, are masculine ; chin, claw, hand, heart, hide, liver, sinew, throat, tongue, womb (belly), are feminine ; whilst blood, bone, ear, eye, flesh, head, lid, thigh, are neuter. 391. Saxon : derived from ' Sike,' a water-course (8S. i. 51; 1892). Whatever be the etymology of this word, it cannot be derived from sike \ There is nothing in common but the letter s, so that Saxon is quite as nearly allied to sag, or sack, or sick, or sock, or suck, or half a score words more. Neither is sike an ' overlooked word ' ; it is familiar in the North. Any Northerner will tell you that it is far removed from the sense of ' marsh ' ; it means a ' channel ' or ' water- course,' being the Icel. sik, a ditch. There is a fine specimen between Caldron Snout and High Cup Nick. It is certainly the origin of the name Sykes ; but Sykes is not remarkably like Saxon. The usual old guess that connects Saxon with seax, a knife, short sword, is far more plausible, for it is possible ; see Sahso in Schade. It is more sensible to wear a short sword than to squat in a water-course. 392. Coelum : Coelestis (8 S. i. 74 ; 1892). The correct spellings are ctzlum, ccelestis (with ce) ; or caelum, caelestis (with ae). See Lewis and Short's Latin 320 BAYONET. Dictionary. No authority now admits the derivation of these words from Greek. See Vanicek's Griechish-Latein- isches Elymologisches Worterbuch, and B real's Dictionnaire Etymologique Latin. Ccelum (with ce] is a mere dream of meddling editors : all MSS. spell it either caelum or celum. The word is, of course, very common even in English MSS. ; it occurs in the Lindisfarne MS. as caelum, Matt. v. 18; and as celts (abl. pi.) in Piers Plowman, B. vii. 175. 393. Bayonet (8 S. i. 95 ; 1892). Why not look up bayonet in the Oxford Dictionary! The word is there ; and it is rather hard to ignore a book which, with all its faults, is by far the best dictionary we possess. I do not agree with the attacks that are made upon it. The word meant 'a dagger' long before it meant a bayonet. Even the Supplement 'to my own Etymological Dictionary gives the usual quotation from Cotgrave (1611) and refers us to a publication named N. 6 Q. (3 S. xii. 287). The O. F. ba'ion is said by Roquefort to have meant an arrow or bolt of a crossbow. The earliest trace of this that I can find is in Godefroy, who says, ' Les arquebusiers sont appele"s bayonniers dans la vielle Chronique de France, ch. xiv. cite"e par Dedauriere.' We are in great want, not of talk, but of early quotations. 394. Velvet (8 S. i. 177; 1892). The list, with references, given at the last reference (8 S. i. 128) is most valuable 1 . We should be glad of 1 The list contains early references for many fabrics. For velvet we have these : 'Velvet, 1319 (Wardr. Acct., 13 Edw. II, 22/14) ; velvet on satin, 1497 (Ib. 8-9 Hen. IV, 46/14, Q. R.) ; velvet on velvet, 1444 (Ib. 22-3 Hen. VI, 48/18, Q. R.) ; velvet plunket, 1337 (Ib. 10-12 Edw. Ill, 94/1, Q. R.) ; velvet bastard, 1420 (Ib. 8-9 Hen. V, 46/14, Q. R.) ; velvet figure, 1465 (Close Roll, 5 Edw. IV). SUENT : SUANT; A DEVONSHIRE WORD. 321 more contributions of this kind. I wish there were a law that we must all give our references. I should be glad to know how velvet is spelt in the documents referred to, i. e. if the MS. spellings are accessible. There is a special reason in this case, for it is tolerably certain that the form velvet is really due to a mistake. The second v was once the vowel u, not the consonantal v (written as u) ; see my Principles of English Etymology, Second Series, p. 296, note. The old form velu-et (=velou- et) was a trisyllable, in my belief. Mr. Planche's earliest reference for the word is 1403, but we are now told that it occurs in 1319 (Wardr. Acct, 13 Edw. II, 22/14). 1 m y h' st of English Words in Anglo-French, Second Series, I show that it occurs in 1361, in 1376, and* in 1392 (see Royal Wills, ed. J. Nichols, 1780, pp. 48, 69, 130). In 1392 it is spelt vehvet, as in the Promptorium Parvulorum, and this is practically a more original spelling than that with two v's. The M.E. u is of so doubtful a value that it is difficult to tell whether it is a vowel or a consonant. The trisyllabic form occurs in 1. 1420 of the Romaunt of the Rose, where we have : ' As softe as any velu-et' And in Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, 1. 80 'And softe as velu-et the yong-e' gras.' 395. Suent : Suant ; a Devonshire word (8 S. i. 212 ; 1892). The etymological spelling is suant, the pres. part, of sue, to follow, as trenchant is of the vb. to trench. So also pur-suant, from the verb to pursue. Suant means following, hence keeping on, continuous, regular, even, unremitting, and the like. I have explained it twice before. See my Notes to P. Plowman, p. 375 ; and Elworthy's Glossary of W. Somersetshire Words, s. v. ' Suant.' Y 322 LEARY, 'KNOWING.' 396. Leary, 'knowing' (8 S. i. 244; 1892). I believe this slang word, often used in the sense of 'knowing,' to be a word of quite respectable origin. It has been derived from M. E. leren, to teach ; but that is not the way to form an adjective, and the substantival form is lore. I have no doubt that, like several other slang terms, it is of Dutch origin. If we start, not from the E. sb. lore, but from the cognate Du. sb. leer, all comes right. Kilian gives ' Leerigh, docilis ' ; so that the original sense was ' apt to learn.' I think it very likely that we borrowed the substantive at the same time, as I find it in the last line but one of ' The Wife Lapped in Morrelles Skin,' printed in Hazlitt's Early Popular Poetry, iv. 226 : ' Because she was of a shrewde leere, Thus was she served in this manner[e].' The date of this piece is a little before 1575. Words came in from the Dutch in the reign of Elizabeth. 397. On the Loss of v in English (8 S. i. 245 ; 1892). There is still a good deal to be done in the way of tabulating phonetic changes in English, and I hope that the faithful drudges who attempt to register examples con- tribute somewhat to the clearer understanding of the subject. It occurs to me that the loss of v in English words seems to take place most commonly before r, n, and /. Before r. We are accustomed, in poetry, to e'er for ever, ne'er for never, o'er for over. A similar effect is observable in Middle-English, where we find discure used for discover, and recure for recover; whilst the simple word cover some- times became cure, as is attested at the present day by the word curfew. Two striking instances occur in poor, for the Middle-English and Anglo-French povre ; and in lark, CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. 323 short for M. E. laverk, from A. S. lawerce, later Idferce (= Idverke], In this connexion, we may compare the E. surplus with the Ital. sovrappiii. I explain the Scotch orra, 'superfluous,' as standing for ovra, as if it meant (so to speak) over-y ; cf. G. iibrig. Before n. In poetry we often use e'en for even, cf. also Hallouie'en. Prov. E. has gin for given, and aboon for aboven. M. E. has the infin. han for haven. The most remarkable example is that of laundress for lavandress, from F. laver, to wash. Before /. We often see de'il for devil, and the word shovel becomes shool or sh(nvl in Prov. E. 'I, said the Owl, With my spade and showl, I'll bury Cock Robin.' There is a slight tendency to drop final ve, as in gi' for give. In M. E. the word corsive, sb., meaning something corrosive, also occurs as corsy ; and the O. F. pourcif, short- winded, is now pursy. The commonest example is jolly, which even in Chaucer was spelt iolif. The final /in these words was voiced to v, owing to lack of stress, and then dropped. Cf. also braw for brave, and doo for dove also fi-purt-note, and hvel'-pun'-ten. I have noted (Eng. Etym. I. 374) the loss of A. S. f in head, lord, lady, women, leman, Lammas, and stem (of a tree) ; in all these cases the f was voiced to v before disappearance. 398. Curiosities of Interpretation. 1(88.1.309; 1892). Perhaps nothing strikes the student of English literature more than the curious helplessness of our editors, especially in former years, whenever they had to deal with somewhat difficult words. No doubt their books of reference were far inferior to what we have now ; but in some cases they Y 2 324 CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. really do not seem to have used their common sense. The opinion was no doubt current, and still obtains in some quarters, that there is no such thing as skill or scholar- ship in relation to the English language; for these should be wholly reserved for the 'classical' languages, wherein 'accurate' knowledge is of course indispensable; although curiously enough, it does not usually extend to any care about correct pronunciation. Almost any book of some slight antiquity yields some amusing specimens. I happen to take up Early Ballads, edited by Robert Bell. It is not worse than other books ; indeed, it is better than many. But it will serve. Page 30 : ' Now lith and listen, gentlemen.' The note is, ' Lith or lithe, to tell or narrate.' This is all pure invention. If we apply it, we obtain as the sense, 'Now narrate and listen/ i. e. the auditors are requested to tell the story themselves. Of course, lithe means 'hearken,' and is synonymous with ' listen.' p. 44. ' Each of them slew a hart of greece.' The note is, 'Also spelt grize, greese, &c. Literally a step or degree.' It therefore means 'a hart of steps.' But surely a hart is not usually so made as to resemble a staircase ! The greece here meant is grease, in the sense of fatness, not the greece or grees which is the plural of gree, a step. p. 58. ' Forth they went, these yeomen two, Little John and Moche infere, And looked on moch emys house ; The highway lay full near.' The note says that emys means * enemies? What moch means we are not informed. But moch should be Moch, with a capital, and ' Moch emys house ' means ' the house of the uncle of Moch.' If they had resorted for repose to a house of their enemies, they must have been very stupid fellows. CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. 325 p. 61. 'They slew our men upon our walls, And sawtene us every day.' The note says, 'Sawtene, assaulted.' But it means 'assault'; the form for 'assaulted' would be sawteden. However, to have set this right would have required an elementary knowledge of English grammar. p. 64. ' I gave him grithe, said our king.' The note is ' Grithe, grace.' But it means ' protection.' p. 97. ' The Earl of Huntley, cawte and keen.' The note is ' Cawte, cautious.' This is obviously a guess, and of course no authority is either given or supposed to be necessary. The right solution is that cawte is written for caute, and cante is an error for ' cante,' i. e. ' brisk,' by the usual confusion of u with n. As for ' cant and keen,' it is the old, old phrase ; as noted by Halliwell. 399. Curiosities of Interpretation. II (8 S. i. 349 ; 1892). A famous book is Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. I happen to possess a popular edition, edited by R. A. Will- mott, a favourite book of mine, and convenient enough. Whether the interpretations of the hard words are Willmott's or Percy's, I do not stop to inquire. On the whole they are fairly correct, but the curious critic will find some strange examples in it. One striking feature is the minute care with which, in some passages, words are explained which could hardly puzzle a small child, whilst in other cases words of some difficulty are carefully let alone, lest the editor should commit himself. At p. 76, for example, is this terribly tough line : ' When we se tyme and nede.' A note informs us that 'se tyme and nede' means 'see 326 CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. time and need.' And now at last we make it out; but what a headache it must have cost the editor ! At p. 92, we are informed that pyrats means 'pirates,' and, again, that thow means ' thou.' It is clear that the editor found some difficulty here, and we can but wonder at his want of familiarity with old spelling. In the poem of Adam Bell, on the. other hand, at p. 87, we have the lines : 4 Over Gods forbode, sayde the kinge, That thou shold shote at me ! ' The phrase 'Over Gods forbode' is left unexplained, probably because it is really difficult. It is, in fact, a false expression, due to a confusion of ideas. The literal sense is ' (may it be) against God's pro- hibition,' involving the confusion of two distinct phrases, such as ' God be against it,' and ' may God's prohibition prevent it ' ; in other words, ' God's forbode (be) over (it) ' is turned precisely upside down, as if it were all one with ' (be it) over God's forbode.' See ofer in Bosworth's A. S. Dictionary, and forbod in Matzner. As this would have required rather a long note, and involves some investigation, the obvious plan was to say nothing. In Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne (p. 45), we have : ' A sword and a dagger he wore by his side, Of manye a man the bane.' And bane rhymes with mayne. The note tells us that bane means 'the curse'; that is to say, the words ban, a curse, and bane, the death, or the slayer, are actually confused together. In Henry, Fourth Erie of Northumberland (p. 54) we have the lines : ' Moste noble erle ! O fowle mysuryd grounde Whereon he gat his fynal dedely wounde.' The only interpretation of mysuryd here given is quoted CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. 327 as Percy's own; and here it is: 'Misused, applied to a bad purpose.' And perhaps we may allow that a man puts a place to a very bad purpose if he. employs it for the sake of getting a final wound on it. But the ure here meant has no connexion with use ; it is merely the O. F. eur (F. heur in bon-heur, mal-heur) which popular etymology usually 'derives' from the Latin hora, though it really represents augurium. When we know this, it is easy to see that mysuryd means 'of ill augury,' i.e. fatal, unfor- tunate, unlucky, which is much more to the ' purpose.' In the Tournament of Tottenham, st. xii, one of the combatants thus describes his crest : ' I here a reddyl and a rake, Poudred wyth a brenand drake.' Reddyl is not explained ; it means ' a riddle,' i. e. a sieve. Poudred is not explained, nor is it easy. It is equivalent, in heraldry, to semee, i. e. strewn over, and is here incor- rectly used, probably of set purpose. Strictly, it is only used of small objects, such as roses or fleur-de-lis, strewn over the field of the shield ; but the poem is a burlesque, and the expression is put in the mouth of an ignorant clown. But when we come to 'a brenand drake' the explanation is given pat : ' Perhaps a firework so called, but here it seems to signify burning embers, or firebrands.' However, a drake is neither a firework, nor embers, nor firebrands, but simply a dragon, and 'a brenand drake' is our old friend ' a fiery dragon.' The joke of ' strewing the shield with a fiery dragon ' has, I fear, been entirely lost upon the editors, and perhaps upon the readers, of Percy's Reliques. 400. Curiosities of Interpretation. Ill (8 S. i. 410 ; 1892). I happen to take up a nice copy of the Poetical Works of Surrey and others, edited by Robert Bell. When it 328 CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. appeared I do not know, for it is undated. I find that the explanations of words in it are just of the usual sort ; and that, whilst it is doubtless as good as other books of its kind, some of the statements display precisely such reckless- ness as we should expect to find. It is clear that it never used to be considered the duty of an editor to have any special knowledge of the older forms of English. But it should be known that it will not do to trust, in such a case, to the 'light of nature.' I begin with the poems of Surrey. He says that, on reviewing his course : ' I looked back to mete the place From whence my weary course begun.' p. 41. As mete here means ' measure,' it would hardly seem to need a note ; but we find this : ' To dream ; from tneteles, dreams, Anglo-Saxon ; also to measure. Drayton has meterer, a poet, which may be taken in either sense, a dreamer, or measurer of lines.' Here are four mistakes at once. For (i) mete does not here mean to dream ; (2) it is not derived from metetes, the derivation being the other way; (3) meteles is not the correct form at any date, neither is it a plural, the word meant being the M. E. metels, a dream" ; and (4) meterer means one who makes metres, and has nothing to do with it. Here is a fine bundle of blunders. P. 85 : Reaveth means ' bereaves ' ; but the note says : ' To reave, literally meant to unroof a house.' This is delicious. There was, indeed, a very rare word with this sense ; but it is from another root. P. 91, note i : ' Wend is the past participle of the verb wene, or ween, to suppose.' The context proves that it is the past tense. P. 177, note 3: Surrey translates Virgil's manes sepultos (Aen. iv. 34) by ' graved ghosts.' The note says that graved CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. 329 is 'the preterite of the verb grave, to bury.' I put this note next the former to show that it is no part of an editor's duty to know a past tense from a past participle in English. But he ought to have known better as regards sepultos ; for Latin grammar is taught in our schools. P. 115 : Surrey uses vade for 'to fade,' which is common enough. The note says it is 'from vado? The spelling with /should have warned the editor against so bad a shot. P. 1 66, note 3 : Surrey has the form lopen, with the sense ' leapt.' The note says : ' Leapt ; from the verb lope, to leap.' Where the editor found the form lope in MS., he does not tell us. Loopen is mere Dutch ; the M. E. verb is lepen. The Mod. E. leap would make the pp. /open still, if it had not been changed from a strong verb to a weak one. I am not surprised that our editors do not know English grammar; but I am surprised at their supposing that ever)' one is bound to swallow any conjectures about it that it amuses them to make. P. 173: Surrey has 'I wot not how.' The note says: ' Knew, from the Saxon verb wote, to know.' Here again the grammar is nowhere. I wot means I know, and the Saxon verb, in the infinitive mood, is witan, pres. t. wdt, pt. t. wiste. No one should edit an old English author till he knows the difference between wit, wot, wist, wissen, and y-wis. This is a fair test, and does not require too much. I-wis (the same as y-wis) is accordingly misinterpreted at p. 1 06. In the very next note the editor complains that Dr. Nott was 'misled by the orthography of betook' (which is perfectly correct). He explains that it is 'the Saxon betokej which is curious, as the word is of Norse origin. He clearly considers that you can manufacture ' Anglo-Saxon ' forms by spelling words badly. And, in this particular, there are many who are of the same mind. P. 179 : Surrey translates Aen. iv. 92, thus : ' Saturne's daughter thus burdes Venus then.' 33 CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. The note is : ' Beards. The word is frequently used by the Elizabethan drama- tists, signifying to oppose face to face, to threaten to the beard, and hence to imply an open menace.' Unfortunately this only explains beards, with which burdes has nothing whatever to do. For it is another form of hordes or boards. See the New Eng. Diet. s. v. ' Board,' verb, sense 4, where another quotation, from the same poem by Surrey, shows that burdes means ' accosts.' In the same volume are some poems by Grimoald. At p. 212 Grimoald uses the common phrase ' and pincheth all to nye,' i. e. too nigh. But, oh ! the note ! It says, ' Nye, annoyance, trouble.' I admit the annoyance to the reader. At p. 215, in the fine poem of The Death of Zoroas, Grimoald says : 'Whether our tunes heav'n's harmony can yield; Of four begyns, among themselves how great Proportion is.' As the whole context is about the learning of Zoroas in astronomy and philosophy, we might fairly guess begyn to be a somewhat licentious form for beginning; and we might fairly suppose that this is the very passage which induced Spenser to use the same form in his Faery Queen, iii. 3. 21. Moreover, the 'four beginnings' may fairly be considered to mean the four elements ; but the note knows better. It simply and oracularly says that the sense is ' biggins.' It must therefore mean four child's caps, or four night-caps, or four coifs, or four coffee-pots. To such a choice are we thus reduced. And why, in that case, does Grimoald seem to accent the latter syllable ? 401. Curiosities of Interpretation. IV (8 S. ii. 3 ; 1892). A famous antiquary and editor was Joseph Ritson. We all remember the acrimony with which he attacked Warton. CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. 331 Frequently, but not always, he had good reasons to show for his strictures. If, however, we were to draw the con- clusion that he was himself accurate, we should be very much mistaken. His throwing of stones was doubtless intended to let us know that he did not himself live in a glass house. Nevertheless that house had an over large proportion of windows in it, as may easily be seen. Ritson's Metrical Romancees (to adopt his own peculiar spelling) is a valuable book in its way, but we must not trust it too much. I give a few samples of some of its peculiarities, for which purpose it is simplest to examine the glossary. In King Horn, 1120, we read how Horn craved some drink, because he and his companions ' bueth afurste,' i. e. are athirst. The glossary says that afurste here means ' at first,' which makes nonsense of the whole passage. In the King of Tars, 605, it is said of a man that he is ' in his herte sore attrayed,' i. e. sorely vexed at heart. See Atray in the N. E. D. The glossary has ' Attrayed, poison'd.' This is a very bad shot, for the A. S. dttor, poison, could not possibly produce such a verb as attrayen. Blyve, we are told, sometimes means blithe, and is cor- rupted from it. It never has that sense, and the assumed 'corruption,' like most others, is unwarranted. [It is for In live, with life ; hence, quickly.] ' Borken, barking,' is entered without a reference. It occurs in the King of Tars, p. 400, and is the past tense plural, meaning 'barked.' Mr. Ritson should have known that -en is not the suffix of a present participle. If the hapless Warton had been caught in such an error, Ritson would have called the statement ' a lye.' The glossary gives us cronde, unexplained. This is an error for croude, as shown by Price. Dang, we are told, is the 'plural' of Ding; but it is charitable to suppose that 'plural ' is a misprint for 'preterite. 332 CURIOSITIES OF INTERPRETATION. ' Denketh roun, thinks to run,' is surely comic. The text has roune, i. e. to whisper. Druye is unexplained, yet it is merely our ' dry.' ' Ernde, yearn, desired.' But it means 'he ran,' as the context requires. See rennen in Stratmann. ' Glyste up,' not explained. The .$ is printed as a 'long s'; in fact, it is an error for glyfte up. To gliff is to glance quickly, to look, gaze. It is duly explained in Stratmann. Hone is explained by 'shame; Fr. honte? But ' with- outen hone ' means ' without delay,' and is a fairly common phrase. ' Pende, hond,' must be a misprint of hond for pond. Pende is explained by Stratmann as a pound, or (perhaps) a pond. ' Ryne, rine [sic], the white covering of a nocturnal frost.' This is a complex error, and refers to King Horn, p. T i : ' For reyn ne myhte by ryne.' The answer is simple ; read by-ryne, i. e. be-rain, rain upon. In the Erie of Tolous, p. 337, we have, 'He behelde ynly hur face,' where ynly (for in-ly) means inwardly, hence, intently. But Ritson was entirely puzzled by it, and mis- prints it yuly. Hence the curious entry in the glossary, ' Yuly, handsome, beautiful 1 .' This he supports by a quotation about 'a captain's wife most yeivly] adding, ' though it must be confess'd that the original has not yewly, but vewlie, unless the tail of the y have been broken off at the press ' ; that is, his imaginary word is to be ex- plained by manipulating another passage to suit it. In Ywaine and Gawaine, p. 677, is a curious passage about Sir Ywaine riding under a portcullis. ' Under that than was a swyke.' The knight's horse's foot touched the swyke, i. e. the trap or contrivance for letting the portcullis go, and down it came. But Ritson coolly identifies swyke with syke, and explains it by ' sike, hole, or ditch.' 1 Carefully preserved in Halliwell's Dictionary. GRUESOME. 333 Under the word thoghte, however, he succeeds in gib- beting a mistake of ' mister Ellises ' very neatly, as follows : ' In mister Ellises edition, the text has hym poghte ; the comment [is], "In paste, Fr. in power " ; than which nothing can be more ridiculous.' 402. Gruesome (8 S. i. 420; 1892). A reference to my Dictionary will show that Burns speaks of death as 'a grusome carl,' and that ' grousome, horrid,' occurs in Levins, J\Ianip. Vocabulorum, printed in 1570 ; so it is nothing new. Not only have we the G. grau- sam and the Du. gruwzaam, but the Middle-Danish grusom, which is probably the real source of our English word. According to Kalkar, the derivative adj. grusommelig occurs in Danish in 1580. The A. S. gryre, horror, is from the same root. See Grduel in Kluge. The E. Friesic form is grausam, so the word must have been rather widely known. 403. Groundsel (8 S. i. 441 ; 1892). I shall be much obliged if I may be allowed to explain the history of this word fully. We must never try to twist etymologies to suit ideas of our own, but must go strictly by evidence. We must be careful as to plant-names, which are peculiarly liable to be recast by popular etymo- logists. There is no doubt at all as to the fact that in the tenth century the plant was named grunde-swelge, with variations in the latter half of the word. The variations are swelige, swilige, swylige, swulie, all given, with refer- ences, in Bosworth's Dictionary. Any one who understands A. S. phonetics will easily see that all these variants have the same sense; and that sense is 'swallower.' Hence, in the tenth century, the popular etymology of the word was that it meant ' ground-swallower ' ; and the only way we can make sense of is by giving it the sense of 334 VERSES BY THE POPE. 'abundant occupier of the ground.' This is the only result possible as to the meaning of the word at that date. With this we should have to remain content but for new evidence, which has not long been known, and has not been explained till recently. To the best of my belief it was explained by me in a review of Mr. Sweet's edition of the Epinal Glossary, which appeared in 1883. My explanation at once became common property, and is reproduced both in the Century Dictionary, and in the new edition of Webster. The fault is not in the latter half of the word, but in the former. The A. S. scholar at once observes that grunde is a false form ; the A. S. for ' ground ' is not grund-e, in two syllables, but grund, in one. Hence grunde is probably a substitution for something else. That* ' something else ' first sprang to light on the publication of the Epinal Glossary, and the other early glossaries known as the Erfurt and Corpus Glossaries. These take us back to the eighth century, when the form in use was gunde- swilge or gunde-swelge. This alters the sense altogether, and shows that the original name was ' matter-swallower,' or remedy against a certain disease called the gund, M. E. gound. This was a disease of the eyes, in which matter exudes consequent on inflammation or ailment. It is fully explained in my note to Piers Plowman on the word rade gounde. The disease is still called red-gum, a corruption of red-gund. The intense belief of our ancestors in the virtues of plants is well known ; see all about the virtues of groundsel in Cockayne's Leechdoms. In East Anglia we call it simpson. This is from O. F. senefon, Lat. ace. senecionem. 404. Verses by the Pope (8 S. i. 452 ; 1892). The following paragraph appeared in the Standard, May 3, 1892: ' Princess Isabella of Bavaria, having had the idea of preparing for FIRST EDITIONS. 335 a sale for charitable purposes an album of royal photographs and autographs, begged of Pope Leo XIII the favour of being allowed to inscribe his name among the patrons of the work. His Highness replied by sending the following verses, celebrating the art of photo- graphy : Ars Photographica. Expressa solis spiculo, Nitens imago, quam bene Frontis decus, vim luminum, Refers, et oris gratiam. O mira virtus ingeni Novumque monstrum ! imaginem Naturae Apelles aemulus Non pulchriorem pingeret. Leo P.P. XIII.' A friend, who sent me this information, asked me for a translation; and I ventured to return him the fol- lowing : ' Bright picture, drawn by Phoebus' beam, How faithfully dost thou retrace The forehead's breadth, the eye's bright gleam, The smiling lip's enchanting grace ! ' O wondrous art, invention new ! Earth's latest marvel ! Surely ne'er Apelles, Nature's rival, drew A portrait with minuter care !' 405. First Editions (8 S. i. 480 ; 1892). I think that in considering the comparative value of various editions, we must draw a sharp line between real second editions and mere reprints. In the sixteenth century, the first edition of a book is, as a rule, much the best. Later editions are mere reprints, each less correct than its predecessor. Take the case of Piers the Plowman, printed thrice in one year by Crowley, and afterwards reprinted by Rogers. Crowley's first edition, dated (by a misprint) 1505 instead of 1550, is worth having. 33 6 FIRST EDITIONS. But the later ones grow steadily worse ; and Rogers's edition is highly incorrect. Yet I have seen the worthless fourth edition highly priced, on the speculation that the purchaser would give about thrice its real value. In the present century all depends on the amount of revision. The general rule is that the first edition is by far the worst, especially in cases where much revision is possible. But to take the case of Piers Plowman once more. Mr. Thos. Wright issued a capital edition in 1842; but his second edition, in 1856, though it seems to have been revised, contains eighteen errors in the text, from which the first edition is free. I have myself issued various editions of a portion of the text, with notes. As a rule, each of these is better than its predecessor, yet only the other day I discovered a misprint in the text in the later editions which does not appear in the earlier ones. This is one of the dangers of re- printing ; a letter is dropped, and its loss is not perceived in the revision unless the false form happens to catch the eye. I conclude that the general rule is this to seek after the first editions of early books, and the last editions of modern ones. But there will always remain special cases to which this rule does not apply. In particular, unrevised reprints are not likely to improve; they will rather be found to deteriorate. There seems to be, moreover, a considerable difference between one text and another. In the case of a novel I should prefer an early copy, but in the case of a scientific treatise a late one. Yet the reprinting of novels is, as a rule, so easy that even the latest copies may be quite correct, or at least free from material errors. This is where the question of sentiment arises ; the relative value of the various editions must be left to the fancy of the purchasers, and the seller must select his purchaser as well as he can. SWEDISH AND ENGLISH. 337 406. Swedish and English (8 S. i. 488 ; 1892). Every now and then a deliciously innocent article on language escapes editorial supervision, and finds its way into print. An amusing instance may be found in the June number of the Journal of Education (1892^, entitled ' Gleanings amongst Swedes.' The author was led to his knowledge of Swedish, he tells us, by observing the word Tandsticker on a box of matches. This, he kindly informs us, is derived from tand, a tooth, and sticker, a splinter. Here there are only four errors. The word is Tandstickor, with a and o (not a and e\ Tdnd has nothing to do with tooth, but is from tanda, to kindle, akin to tinder. And lastly, stickor is not singular, but plural. After this somewhat inaccurate introduction to the language, many curious discoveries followed. The fol- lowing are specimens. Gammer (which really means grandmother, as gaffer does grandfather) is from Swed. gammel, old. (The right spelling is gammal, but we must not be particular.) The Swed. basun, must be a relative of bassoon. Un- luckily, there is no kinship at all ; see Posaune in Kluge. Basun is merely a borrowed word in Swedish, having no original value in that language; and it means a trumpet. The Swedish for bassoon is Bassong. Lin (we are told) means flax, as linum does in Latin. Considering that lin is nothing but the Lat. linum done into Swedish, the coincidence, after all, is hardly to be considered as wonderful. Next comes a new notion of borrowing native English words from Swedish. Thus, we are told that our acre is either borrowed from the Lat. ager or from Swed. aker. Well, it so happens that our acre is the A. S. cecer, not borrowed from either one or the other, but cognate with both. 338 JULIUS CAESAR, IV. 3. 2l8. At any rate, we are told, if we do not admit that acre is borrowed from Swed. dker, we must at least admit that ochre is derived therefrom. This is curious, for ochre is Greek ! Funniest of all is the notion of deriving an English word from a combination of Swedish words. Thus, our hide is not derived merely from Swed. hud, a hide, but at the same time from hy, skin. The forms hud and hy, neatly fused together, give hide. This is our old friend the 'portmanteau' word, familiar to Alice in Wonderland. But the truth is that hy does not primarily mean 'skin,' but 'colour.' It is cognate with A. S. hiw, our hue, and has nothing whatever to do with hide. As to hud, it is merely a cognate form. Like Oliver Twist, we can but ' ask for more.' 407. Julius Caesar, iv. 3. 218 (8 S. ii. 63 ; 1892). The famous passage, 'There is a tide in the affairs of men,' &c., may be compared with the following stanza in Chaucer's Troilus, ii. 281 : ' For to every wight som goodly aventure Som tyme is shape, if he can it receyven ; And if that he wol take of it no cure, Whan that it comth, but wilfully it weyven, Lo ! neither cas nor fortune him deceyven, But right his verray slouthe and wrecchednesse ; And swich a wight is for to blame, I gesse.' Chaucer's stanza is to some extent borrowed from Boc- caccio's Filostrato, book ii. Mr. Rossetti thus translates the Italian passage : ' Every one has a chance in life, but not a second chance.' 408. Racoon (8 S. ii. in ; 1892). I regret that I gave the wrong account of this word in the first edition of my Dictionary. But I corrected it in the second. It is clearly a corruption of the Indian name. The earliest quotation I have found is the following, WINDMILLS. 339 dated 1607-9 : ' There is a beast they call Aroitghcon, much like a badger, but vseth to Hue on trees as Squirrels doe.' Capt. John Smith, Works, ed. Arber, p. 59. [At p. 355 of the same, it is spelt aroughcun ; and in a glossary of Indian words subjoined to A Historic of Travaile into Virginia, by W. Strachey (published by the Hackluyt Society in 1 849) we find ' Arathkone, a beast like a fox.'] 409. Windmills (8 S. ii. 138 ; 1892). An early instance of an English windmill is that in which Richard, earl of Cornwall and 'King of Almaigne,' took refuge after the battle of Lewes in 1264. In the famous song against the King of Almaigne, the 'sayles' of the 'mulne' are mentioned, showing that it really was a wind- mill. So also Rob. of Gloucester, 1. 547, has : ' The king of Alemaine was in a windmulle nome.' 410. 'Buffetier' as an English word (8 S. ii. 194; 1892). The reasoning in the last article seems to me quite beside the mark 1 . Before the word buffeteer (which has not been shown to exist) could have been coined in England, we must have had buffet to coin it out of. Now the earliest known quotation for buffet in English is dated 1718. These are precisely the wild suggestions that ' re- quire to be narrowly watched.' 411. Edwards's ' Words, Facts, and Phrases ' (8 S. ii. 246; 1892). I am of opinion that this book ought not to be seriously quoted by any scholar. It is a mere compilation, and 1 Argued ' that buffeteer (sic) is not to be found in the English sense in any French author proves nothing.' And, ' that historical etymology is valuable, but requires to be narrowly watched." [It never occurred to the writer that buffeteer has no more existence in English than buffetier has in French.] Z 2 340 LUCE; A QUADRUPED. abounds with errors. Yet it is quoted twice in N. and Q., ante, pp. 211, 214. In both instances it contains a blunder. At p. 211 we are told that ' a small figure of the devil stands on the top of Lincoln College ' ; whereas a few lines below we read that it was taken down in 1731. At p. 214 the origin of the well-known word maundy is said to be from manducate \ I advise correspondents not to put any trust in this very poor book. 412. Luce; a quadruped. I (8 S. ii. 353 ; 1892). Luce, as a fish, is a pike. But luce, as a quadruped, is a lynx. Cf. A. S. lox, Du. los, O. H. G. luhs, G. Lucks, a lynx. Flower de luce is simply a comic blunder of some one who wished to show off, and was made by prefixing floiuer-de- to luce in the sense of lynx 1 . See ' Lucern, a lynx,' in Halliwell. In a pageant by Dekker, called Britanni(f s Honour (1628), the supporters of the Skinners' arms are said to be ' two luzernes' 413. Luce ; a quadruped. II (8 S. ii. 435 ; 1892). Surely your correspondent at the last reference (ii. 391) cannot have read the articles to which he refers with due care. In N. and Q. 8 S. ii. 328, the statement really made is this: 'In Harl. MS. 2125 is recorded the cost of making anew the four beasts called the unicorne, the antelop, the flower-de-luce, and the camell.' My statement was that ' the flou>er-de-luce is a comic blunder.' However, your cor- respondent is entitled to the opinion that it is correct ! My suggestion, of course, was that the flower-de-luce was a blunder for luce, and that the luce, which is also a beast, was probably a lynx. No one need adopt this suggestion if he can find a better one. But he must find us a quad- ruped of some sort. 1 for flower-de-luce, see the next article. ' STRACHY.' 341 Again, in the catalogue, 'one unicorn, one dromedary, one luce, one camel,' it is also probable that the luce here meant is a quadruped, and not a pike. I cannot produce further authority for luce in the sense of ' lynx,' because it is extremely difficult to find, but I believe it can be found, and that I have met with other instances. And, surely, \iluce ever did mean a quadruped, etymology tells us that it is the lynx, and nothing else. I do not for a moment believe that the existing heraldic authorities are exhaustive, or that the compilers of them necessarily under- stood every old English term they ever met with. There is a large number of words in Randell Holme of which modern heralds have probably never heard. Very likely he explains luce, but I have not the book at hand. Few glossaries of heraldry are more complete than Elvin's, but he does not give luzern at all. I do not understand what is meant by saying, ' Part of the charges on the arms of the Skinners' Company, London, is fleurs-de-lys or.' For it so happens that a large, well- painted copy of these arms was kindly given me but a short time ago by the Master of the Company, and I believe it accordingly to be authentic. These arms contain three coronets proper on a chief gules, and the rest of the field is ermine. I cannot find a single ' fleur-de-lys ' anywhere, and the ermine is not ' or,' but ' sable on argent,' as usual. As to lucern, see seven quotations in Nares's Glossary ; he does not explain it properly, as he failed to see that it meant a lynx. 414. * Strachy' in Twelfth-Night, ii. 5. 45 (8S. iii. 14; 1893). I should think that too much has already been said about the hopeless crux of Strachy in Twelfth- Night, ii. 5. 45 ; and I suppose that all that has been said is worthless. 342 HENCHMAN. Yet I beg leave to offer one more guess, probably also worthless. The O. F. estrache (see Godefroy) occurs as a variation of estrace (meaning extraction, race, rank, family), from Lat. extrahere. So perhaps ' the lady of the strachey ' (small s) was ' a lady of rank or good extraction.' 415. Henchman. I (8 S. iii. 194; 1893). This word has been several times discussed. I write further about it solely because I have found more evidence. In A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of the Royal Household, London, 1790, I find several facts. The oldest spelling [there] is henxmen. In the thirty-third year of Henry VI we find ' Henxmen 3.' This means that their number was then limited to three ; see p. 17* of the above-named work. In the time of Edward IV, their number was really five (p. 99), though the Ordinances say that their number was to be ' six or more ' (p. 44) *. But it is more important to observe that they were not mere servants, as is usually believed, but something very different. It is clear that their office was purely honorary, for nowhere are any wages assigned them. Doubtless they were a kind of pages, all quite young men or growing boys, who had a paid master assigned to teach them, and who had, moreover, servants of their own. Their place was one of some honour, and they served the king himself, and him only. They were specially assigned ' to the riding household ' on p. 99 ; and everything points to the fact that they were far removed from being mere servants. I find the latest mention of them in the time of Henry VIII (p. 198). I think all this affects the etymology, and renders all connexion with the word Hans (Jack) unlikely ; [but see later articles by DR. CHANCE.] 1 Note in 1895. Six; because the Master of the Horse counted along with them. See p. 345 below. HENCHMAN. 343 The passages are too long for quotation, I only give a few extracts : ' Maistyr of Cramer ... [is to teach] the kings Henxmen, the children of chapell . . . the clerkes of the awmery, and other men and children of courte ; . . . which mayster . . . if he be a preeste,' &c. (p. 51). ' Henxmen, vj enfauntes, or more, as it shall please the kinge ; all these etyng in the halle, and sitting at bourde togyder . . . and if these gentlemen, or any of them, be wardes, then after theyre byrthes and degrees . . . and everyche of theym an honest servaunt to kepe theyre chambre and hartleys [i. e. armour], and to array him in this courte ' (p. 44). 'Maistyr of Henxmen, to shew the schooles of urbanitie and norture of England, to lerne them to ryde clenely and surelye ; to draw hem also tojustes; to lerne them were theyre harneys; to have all curtesy> in wordes, dedes, and degrees, diligently to kepe them in rules of goynges and sittings [i. e. in rules of precedence] after they be of honour [i. e. according to their rank]. Moreover, to teche them sondry languages, and other lernynges vertuous, to harping, to pype, sing, daunce . . . and to kepe . . . with these children dew covenitz [sicl, with corrections in theyr chambres, according to such gentlemen. This maistyr sitteth in the halle, next unto these Henxmen, at the same borde, to have his respect unto theyre demeanynges . . . and for the fees that he claymyth amonges the Henxmen of all theyre apparayle, the chamberlayn is juge ' (p. 45\ This shows that they were not menials at all, but young men of high rank, who rode in tournaments. 'The officers of the rtdinge houshold . . . Item, five Henxmen, and one of the said xij squiers to be maister of them . . . Item, a hackney for the henxmen's man ' (p. 99). 'Item, the king [Henry VII, A. D. 1494] would . . . suffer noe lord's servaunt to awaite there, but only the henchmen ' (p. 109). ' Master of the Henxmen, stabling for six horses ' (p. 198). 416. Henchman. II (8 S. iv. 16 ; 1893). The quotation of the spelling Henxtmen in the earliest known use of the word, viz. in I400 1 , surely settles, at 1 'The word is older than 1415. It occurs in 1400 "Henxtmen Dominae " (Wardrobe Account, 2 Hen. IV, 95/30, Q. R.') N. and Q. S. iii. 478. 344 HENCHMAN. last, the etymology of the word. I have always contended that it represents the Dutch hengst compounded with man the compounds hengst-loon and hengst-geld are given in Kilian, ed. 1777. The difficulty, for me, was to find the f, as the more usual spelling is henxman. But here is the / in the oldest form ; and my present contention is, that my opponents will now have to explain away this t instead of asking me to produce it ; and till this is done I do not see what more can be said. The easiest course, for those who can bring themselves to do it, will be to admit that appearances are now very much in my favour. 417. Henchman. Ill (8 S. vi. 245 ; 1894). This word has been often discussed in N. and Q. I have to note a very early use of it. The Treasurer's Accounts for the Earl of Derby's Ex- peditions in 1390-3, have just been edited by Miss L. Toulmin Smith for the Camden Society. The index gives several references for henksman ; so spelt. The Earl of Derby had two henksmen, and they certainly rode on horseback at times. The first entry is : ' Diversis hominibus pro tribus equis ab ipsis conductis pro equita- cione domini et ij henksmen apud Dansk decimo die mensis Augusti, xv. s. pr.' The date is August 20, 1392. The henksmen were named Bernard and Henry Tylman. On another occasion a horse was hired for one of them to take a journey, and an ass for his return, whilst travelling in Judea. 418. Henchman. IV (8 S. viii. 335 ; 1895). This word has been so frequently discussed that I should not have written again about it, were it not that I have obtained quite a flood of new light upon it. I have always contended that henchmen were horsemen, FOD. 345 few in number, personally attendant on the king, and some- times men of rank. All this is entirely verified by the account given in the Antiquarian Repository, ii. 241-277, of the coronation of Richard III, in 1483. The word is there spelt 'henxemen.' The king's henchmen were the Master of the Horse (who counted as one) and seven others, one of them being Lord Morley. Moreover, the queen had her henchmen, viz. five ladies, riding upon ' women's saddles.' In the account of the expenses we first have mention of the king, and then of his henchmen ; next of the queen, and then of her lady-henchmen (to coin a queer word). Next to them in importance comes 'the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is, therefore, quite idle to pretend that a henchman was a mere page of inferior rank. Unless it be remembered that the Master of the Horse was one of them, it will not be understood how it was that the seven henchmen required eight doublets, eight black bonnets, and so on (pp. 255, 256). Note, for instance, p. 248: 'And to the Maister and to each of the same henxemen a paire of blac spurres, and for ledyng-rayns xxij yerds of broode riban silk.' 419. Fod (8 S. iii. 266 ; 1893). I have no doubt that this is a ' ghost-word.' Halliwell's edition of Nares gives it, on the strength of a quotation from the Parody se of Dayntie Devices \ 1576: 'As we for Saunders death have cause \\\ fods of teares to saile.' It is the old story ; a letter has ' dropped out.' Read flods, i. e. floods. 420. Julius Caesar, iii. 1. 58-7O (8 S. iii. 284; 1893). Compare the following lines from the second chapter of the Parabolae of Alanus de Insulis : 346 CHA UCER 'S ' S TILBON. ' 'Aethereus motus mouet omnia sidera praeter Unum, sed semper permanet illud idem ; Sic constans et fidus homo sine fine tenebit Hunc in more modum, quern tenet ipse polus. 421. Chaucer's 'Stilbon' (8 S. iii. 293 ; 1893). ... As to Stilbo \Pard. Tale, C. 603], I am behind the age. Dr. Koppel showed, in Anglia, xiii. 183 (1890), that he was Stilpo, of Megara, mentioned by Seneca ; also, that Chaucer got the name from Walter Map's Valerius, cap. 27. Stilbon, for Mercury, occurs in Alanus, Anti- daudian, iv. 6. 422. Chaucer's Legend of Good Women, line 16 (8 S. iii. 293 ; 1893 ; same article as above). It is of no consequence what new opinion may be offered as to the person meant by 'Bernard the Monk.' He is certainly Bernard of Clairvaux, as was expressly explained, more than 200 years ago, in J. J. Hofmann's Lexicon Universale (Basileae, 1677), s. v. BERNARDUS. The passage concludes with the words : ' Nullos habuit praeceptores praeter quercus et fagos. Hinc proverb. Neque enim Bernardus vidit omnia.' I admit that I failed to give this reference in 1889; but that, to a student who is always learning, is a long while ago. 423. Merestones (8 S. iii. 329; 1893). Mere is a pure English word, independent of the Gk. fj.fipofj.aL, ' I receive as a portion.' Merestone is not ' a mis- print for milestone,' but is quite right. The 'old verb to mere] spelt mear by Spenser \Ruines of Rome, st. 22], is not an old verb, but a ' mere ' invention of Spenser him- self, coined out of the substantive ; and the substantive is also used by Spenser, in a quotation duly given in John- son's Dictionary. THE METRE OF 'IN MEMORIAM.' 347 Mere-stone is not given in my Etymological Dictionary ; nevertheless, it occurs in a dictionary in which I had a hand ; and I here quote the article. ' MERE, sb. limit, boundary, S 2 ; nteer, Prompt. Comb. : tnere-stane, boundary stone, Cath. A. S. (ge)mSre.' Mayhew and Skeat, Concise M. E. Dictionary, Oxford, 1888, p. 146. Here 'S. 2'= Specimens of English, ed. Morris and Skeat ; ' Prompt.' = Promptorium Parvulorum (Camden Society). 'Cath.' means that mere-stane is a compound given in the Catholicon Anglicum. A reference to Strat- mann's Mid. Eng. Diet, will furnish quotations from Layamon, the Coventry Plays, the Alliterative Poems, Trevisa, &c. And see the A. S. Dictionary. The best example is in St. Mark, v. 17. Here the Vul- gate has : ' A finibus eorum.' The Old Northumbrian version has : ' from gemaerum hiora.' The older A. S. version has : ' Of hyra gemaerum ' ; and the later one : ' of hire maeren.' The is a word of French origin, and meant 'a kind of gown' (Halliwell). Hence slubber-de-gullion, one who slubbers or slobbers his gown or robe a dirty fellow, a paltry fellow. I do not quite understand the de. Perhaps (it is a guess) it should be slubber 'd-y gullion, \. e. the pp. in -ed, with the adjectival suffix -y. Strangullion is a totally different word, and the resem- blance is accidental, the suffix being -ullion, whilst strang- le the base. The following extract from Cotgrave sufficiently explains it: ' Estranguillons, m., the strangles, a disease (in horses, &c.).' It is allied apparently to strangle, O. F. estrangler. Cf. ' Poir [sic] $ estranguillon, a choake-peare ' (Cotgrave). 1 [The MS. has connyng, with two 's, in the senses of ' skill' and ' skilful ' ; and conyng, with one n, in the sense of 'coney' or ' rabbit.' C C 2 388 'RUNNING THE GANTLOPE.' 478. 'Running the Gantlope' (8 S. viii. 392 ; 1895). The amazing and amusing quotation which derives the word gantlope from ' a well-known town in Flanders ' is useful to me ; and I am very thankful to have the quotation. If ever I write that book upon 'popular etymologies,' it will serve, though it is not quite new. One always knows the ways of the popular etymologist ; he never gives his dates. So in the present case. If the word had been invented at Ghent, he could have ascertained, approximately, the date of such invention. However, Skinner, in 1671, gave it as a guess. He says ' Gantlope, supplicium mili- tare. Author Diet. Angl. putat a Gandavo, urbe inclyta Flandriae,' &c. 479. Welsh Place-names (8 S. viii. 396; 1895). It is not long since I took a railway-ticket for Llanfair- pwllgwyngyll, the name of which has been humorously extended to astonish the Saxon J . There is no trouble about it; you simply ask for a ticket for Llanfair, which you pronounce, roughly speaking, as ' Hlanver,' with the Anglo-Saxon hi, and you get it at once ; and you find simply ' Llanfair ' on the ticket. The ' pwllgwyngyll ' is superfluous in the neighbourhood, but is useful in directing letters ; and then you merely put ' Llanfair P. G.,' as in Baddeley's excellent guide-book. I wish I could impress upon my countrymen the desira- bility of condescending to learn the Welsh alphabet, which is extremely easy and almost perfectly phonetic (if it were not for that stupid double-sounding y). It would be an insult to a Frenchman to ask for a ticket for Lyons, and to pronounce it as the English lions. It is equally an insult 1 It means ' Saint-Mary's by the white-hazel pool/ to which is added, ' very near the raging whirlpool of Llandisilio and the red rocky islet of Gogo,' all of which is, of course, superfluous. PATRIOT. 389 to a Welshman to ignore the native pronunciation ; and I do not see why any gentleman should stoop to such effrontery. As things are, men stay for weeks in Wales, and yet decline to pronounce the Welsh f as a v. 480. Patriot (8 S. viii. 517 ; 1895). I have shown in my Dictionary that the word ' patriot ' occurs in Minsheu's Dictionary, ed. 1627 ; and I quote from Cotgrave's French Dictionary (which first appeared in 1611) the following: ' Patriote, m. a patriot, ones coun- treyman.' Cotgrave also has: ' Patriot, m. A father, or protector of the Countrey, or Commonwealth ; also, as Patriote' Littre shows in his Dictionary, that Voltaire [who ascribes the first use of the F. patriote to Saint-Simon, who died in 1755] made a mistake; for the F. patriote was used, in its modern sense, as early as the sixteenth century. 481. Led will (8 S. ix. 69 ; 1896). Whatever ' led will ' may mean now, it doubtless once meant the same as 'will led,' a phrase which occurs in a specimen of the Norfolk dialect which I have now in the press '. ' Will led ' is said to mean ' demented,' but the original sense was ' bewildered.' The solution is this : Will, in this phrase, has no im- mediate connexion with will in the sense of ' inclination,' but represents the Scandinavian form of the English wild, which often had the sense of ' astray, bewildered, all abroad, at a loss,' and the like. See the Icel. villr in Vigfusson, wild in my Dictionary, and will in my glossary to Barbour's Bruce. Ultimately will and wild are from the same root ; but that is a further question. 1 ' I think she is will-led? explained by ' I think she is out of her mind ' ; Nine Specimens of Eng. Dialects, p. 119. 39 'CHARIVARI.' 482. 'Charivari' (8 S. ix. 117; 1896). In the new French Etymological Dictionary by Hatzfeld it is shown that charivari is composed of chart and vari. Chart is obscure, but seems to have been an interjectional cry, for which no particular etymology is either forth- coming or necessary. As to vari, it occurs in other words, as hour-vari, boule-vari, zanzi-vari, where vari certainly means ' noise, tumult,' and is from the O. H. G. werren (G. wirren\ to confuse. The original sense of charivari was ' confused hubbub.' See further in the New English Dictionary. It has no connexion with chery-feire, which means ' a fair for selling cherries,' and is well explained by Halliwell. It is to be regretted that Prof. Morley, one of our best writers on English literature, never kept pace with the progress of modern philology, but was ready to accept any accidental resemblance as worthy of mention. Some of his statements of this character are little short of amazing. I can produce fourteen such from his Shorter English Poems, a book which I value highly, and (on other grounds) can strongly recommend. Thus, at p. 35, note 3, he says that fare means ' solemn preparation,' whereas it simply means ' goings-on,' from A. S. faran, to go ; and adds, that it is allied to the G. Feier, solemnity, which is a mere loan-word from Lat. feria, whence the fair in cherry-fair is actually derived. Fare, in fact, is English, and fair (O. F. feyre, G. Feier) is Latin ; and the words are utterly un- connected. Grimm's law shows that they have not even the initial /in common. 483. Anglo-Saxon Plant-names (8 S. ix. 163; 1896). Our ancestors had a curious habit of connecting the names of plants with those of various well-known animals. Our present habits are so different that many moderns ANGLO-SAXON PLANT-NAMES. 391 are wholly unable to understand this. To them such names as fox-glove and hare-bell^ seem entirely senseless, and many efforts, more ingenious than well directed, have been made to evade the evidence. Yet it is easily understood. The names are simply childish, and such as children would be pleased with. A child only wants a pretty name, and is glad to connect a plant with a more or less familiar animal. This explains the whole matter, and it is the reverse of scientific to deny a fact merely because we dislike or contemn it. It will be understood that I can produce my evidence ; but it is tedious from its quantity. I therefore refer readers to the glossary in the third volume of Cockayne's Anglo- Saxon Leechdoms, where the plant-names and references are given in full. Cockayne includes some names, such as crane's-bill, which are not found in Anglo-Saxon or Middle English, but appear in early-printed herbals. These I pass over, and mention only such as are actually found in Anglo- Saxon or Early English. The following are examples. Briddes nest, bird's nest, wild carrot; briddes tunge, Stellaria holostea ; kattes minte, cat-mint ; ricena mete, chicken-meat, chickweed; cockes fot, cock's foot, columbine; cocks hedys, cock's heads, melilot ; colts foot, colt's foot ; cow-rattle ; cu-slyppe, cu-sloppe, cowslip ; cronesanke, crane's shank (Polygonum persicaria); crowe-pil, crow-bill (Erodium moschatum) ; crowsope, crow-soap, latherwort; dog-fennel; efor-fearn, ever-fern (ever = boar), polypody; eofor-throtu, ever-throat. boar-throat, carline thistle; foxes elate, fox's clote, bur-dock ; foxes fot, fox's foot (Sparganium simplex) ; foxes glofa, fox's glove ; fugeles leac, fowl's leek ; fugeles bean, fowl's bean, vetch ; fugeles wise, larkspur ; gauk-pintel, cuckoo-pintle (Arum maculatum) ; geaces sure, cuckoo- sorrel ; gate treow, goat-tree, cornel ; haran hyge, hare's 1 Not found in A. S., but spelt harebelle in the fifteenth century. 392 ANGLO-SAXON PLANT-NAMES. foot trefoil ' ; haran wyrt, hare's wort ; haran sprecel, (now) viper's bugloss ; heorot-berge , hart-berries; buckthorn-berries; heorot-bremble, hart-bramble, buckthorn ; heort-dafre, hart- clover, medic ; hind-berien, hind-berries, raspberries ; hind- brer, hind-briar, raspberry plant ; hind-hczlethe, water agri- mony (named from the hind); hors-elene, horse-elecampane; hors-thistel, horse-thistle, chicory ; hound-berry ; hundes cwelcan, berries of the wayfaring tree ; hundes heafod, hound's head, snap-dragon ; hundes tunge, hound's tongue ; larkes fote, lark's foot, larkspur ; tus-sed, louse-seed, trans- lating Gk. if/v\\Lov ; mus-eare, mouse-ear ; nxderwyrt, nadder-wort, adder-wort ; oxes eye, ox-eye ; oxan slyppe, oxlip ; oxna lib, ox-heal, hellebore ; hrcefnes fdt, raven's foot ; hrcefnes leac, raven's leek, orchis ; wulfes camb, wolf's comb ; wulfes fist, lycoperdon : wvlfe$-ttsl t wolf's teasle. Even this list is incomplete. I observe the omission of the following words, all of which are in the index to Wiilker's Glossaries: lambes-cerse, lamb's cress; hors-minte, horse-mint ; hundes rose, hound's rose, dog-rose ; hundes fynkelle, hound's fennel ; and there are probably more of them. Observe, further, that the above list contains only such names as had the luck to be recorded. The real number must have been much greater. Thus, in connexion with the fox, we find, in Britten and Holland's excellent work on plant-names, that the Anglo-Saxon foxes date, foxes fdt, and foxes glofa are to be supplemented by such names as the following : fox-docken, fox-fingers (Digitalis purpurea), fox-geranium, fox-grass, fox-rose, fox's brush, fox's claws, foxtail, foxtailed asparagus, foxtail grass. 1 Cockayne omits harebelle, hare-bell, which occurs in Wiilker's Glossaries, col. 715, 1. 7. APPENDIX 413 (postscript). Zend ' raozha,' a lynx. [The following ' postscript ' was appended to article no. 413, on p. 341 above, but was accidentally omitted in its proper place.] I now find that I have, unwittingly, solved a doubtful word in Zend ! so I am told by my friend, Professor Cowell. The Zend raozha, Pers. rus, hitherto explained (by guess) as 'wolf and 'fox,' is clearly the Russ. ruise, Polish rys, a lynx; and, by change of r to /, is G. Luchs, Du. los, E. luce, the same. 475 (postscript). Cambridge and the Cam. [The article no. 475, printed above (pp. 384-5), was shortly afterwards much expanded, and printed (with the title ' Cambridge and the Cam ') in the Cambridge Review, Jan. 30, 1896. For the further information of the reader, I here append a reprint of the fuller article.] Before tracing the history of the name Cambridge, it is necessary to say a few words about Camboritum. There is absolutely no proof as to the identity of Cambo- ritum with Cambridge. The idea was due to Camden, who gave it as a pure guess, from the similarity of the names. All that I have to say here is, that the supposed similarity of the names is a mere illusion. It is altogether misleading to compare the form Camboritum, which occurs in an 394 CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. Itinerary of Antonine, hardly later than the fourth century, with the form Cambridge, which is no older than the four- teenth at earliest. It is impossible to rely upon a chance resemblance of forms which are separated by an interval of a thousand years, and belong, in part, to different languages. I do not say that it may not be possible to place Cambori- tum at or near Cambridge on other grounds ; but I decidedly affirm that it must be done for some other reason than the fact of their apparent resemblance. Note, too, that even this prima facie likeness only extends to the third letter. The b in Cambo-ritum can have no connexion with the b in Cam-bridge. It is an obvious fact that the b, r and / in the former, are different from the b, r and / in the latter ; and it is an ascertained fact (as will be shown) that the Cam in the former is different from the Cam in the latter. Whence it follows that the C, a, m, b, r, and / in the two words are wholly unconnected ; and the external similarity is a mere coincidence, having no linguistic significance. The history of the name of our town is quite clear. All turns upon the fact that the river-name Cam is modern, being wholly unknown before the sixteenth century, and being itself evolved out of the name of the town, instead of conversely. Moreover, it was a learned name, evolved out of the written word, in order to furnish a plausible etymology. Had it been evolved by the people from the spoken sound, the name must inevitably have been Came. Next, if the old name of the river had really been Cam, the town would have been called Cambridge. It is very common for vowels to be shortened, as in the case of gos- ling, the diminutive of goose ; but I know of no instance in which the reverse process of lengthening has taken place before a combination of three consonants, for the plain reason that it is unnatural, giving unnecessary trouble. Every student of phonetics will see at once that, whatever was the origin of Cambridge, it was certainly not Cam. CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. 395 We can thus account for Cam easily enough, as being evolved from the written name of the town by a popular etymology ; the next business is to account for the long a (as in came] in the name as it is spoken. This is really a mere matter of history, and only to be arrived at by the historical method. We now come to the leading fact, viz. that the true name of the river was Granta, or Grant, a name which still exists, and can be traced back through all the centuries to British times. The first mention of it is in Nennius, in the sixth or seventh century. In Gale's edition, p. 115, we are informed that the name of a certain British town was Caer-graunth. The curious spelling, with aun for an, and final th for t, is Anglo-French, the existing MS. being of rather late date ; the right spelling would be Caer-grant. We can only identify this place by remembering that the same word, turned into Anglo-Saxon, will come out as Granta-ceaster, which in modern English would become Grant-chester. The archaic form Granta-caestir occurs in the eighth century, in Beda's History, bk. iv. c. 19. We can hence trace the river-name downwards, through many centuries, to the present day ; but I prefer to do this in connexion with the suffix -bridge rather than in connexion with the suffix -Chester. The name of our town emerges into history in the ninth century. It is spelt Grantan-brycge (dative) in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle, under the date 875 ; and, under the date 1010, is the first mention of the county, viz. Grantabrycg- scir, i. e. Grantbridge-shire. Domesday-book makes mention of the town as ' Burgum de Grentebrige,' the county being Grentebrige-shire. In Henry of Huntingdon, where an earlier MS. has Grantebrigesyre, a later one has Kantebrigesire ; see p. 9 of Arnold's edition. 396 CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. Simeon of Durham (pp. 82, in, Record Series) has Grantabric and Granthebrige ; the MS. is of the twelfth century. He also has the phrase ' super Grentam fluvium.' In the Southern English Legendary (E. E. T. S.), p. 347, 1. 66, we find Grauntebruggeschire. This is about 1290. In Robert of Gloucester, 1. 132, the earlier MS. (ab. 1330) has Grauntebrugge-ssire where the later (ab. 1400) has Cambrugge-schire ; in the same line. See Mr. Aldis Wright's index for numerous examples. loiter than 1330, I only find the form Grauntbrigge in a proper name. It came to a sudden end about 1400 ; for in the second year of King Henry IV, we find a reference in the Patent Rolls, p. 242, to a certain ' Johannes de Grauntbrigge qui obiit sine haerede.' He was a man of some mark, and his name appears frequently in various documents. See in particular the index to the Close Rolls. An earlier ' Johannes de Grauntbrigge ' is mentioned A.D. 1283; Abbreviatio Placitorum, p. 275'. There was much trouble with the name in the twelfth century, when the Anglo-French scribes, who were often (I suppose) Londoners, took upon themselves to turn the form Grant into Cant, and Graunt into Count. We still find Grantedrigge in the time of William II ; in 1099, the coins which this king struck at Cambridge were marked with the abbreviation Grant (Ruding, Annals of the Coinage, i. 309 ; iii. 6). This takes us down to the year noo. Canon Taylor says (N. and Q. 8 S. viii. 314) that the earliest occurrence of the form Cantebruggescir is in a docu- ment dated 1 142. After that date it is common. Examples are : ' Histon in Cantebrugescir,' Rotuli Chartarum in Turri Londinensi, vol. i. pars, i, 80; A.D. 1200. 'Cantebrug,' Close Rolls, i. 381 ; A.D. 1218. ' Absolon de Cantebrug,' 1 The title 'earl of Cambridge' occurs in 1415; the bearer of it (executed in that year) was created earl by Henry V, who began to reign in 1413. CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. 397 id. i. 82 ; A. D. 1207. ' Vic(ecomiti) de Cantebrug,' id. i. 38 ; A. D. 1204; &c. It is important to observe that the name 'Johannes de Grauntbrigge ' is also written 'Johannes de Cauntebrigge ' in 1331 ; see Spelman's Glossarium, p. 544. Before proceeding with the history, I must explain the variations of spelling. First, the A. S. y appears as * in the Midland dialect, and as u in MSS. written in the South ; hence the variation between brigge and brugge. We also find bregge ; which is Kentish. Secondly, we must consider the Norman pronunciation of an. The sound of a was nasal, whilst the n was fully sounded ; many scribes used aun to represent this. Hence the forms Graunt and Count are Anglo-French varieties of Grant and Cant. Unless we understand this fact, we cannot account for the long a in Cambridge ; as will presently appear. As far as we have gone, the chronology is as follows : The forms Granta-brycg, Grentebruge, Grauntebrugge, and the like, extend from the ninth century down to 1400 ; the spelling with au being Norman. The forms Cantebrigge, Cauntebrugge, and the like, extended from about 1146 to the fifteenth century. Cantebrigge was Latinized as Canta- brigia, which is frequently found in MSS. of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and at all subsequent dates down to the present day. The form Cantabrigia is useful ; for it plainly arose at a time when the e in Cant-e-brigge still formed a syllable. There is an excellent example of this form in Chaucer ; for it is well known that his Reves Tale begins with the line 'At Trumpington, not fer fro Cant-e-brigge.' But, in the fourteenth century, this middle e was often dropped ; so that Chaucer's form was somewhat archaic. The dropping of this e led to a new developement. The a was clogged by the occurrence after it of no less than four 398 CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. consonants, viz. n t b r. In nearly all such cases, the middle consonant drops out ; and in this case, the middle consonant is practically /, as the br belongs to the next syllable. But this gave the dissonant form Canbrigge or Caunbrigge, which must very soon have been shifted to Cdm- brigge or Caumbrigge. At any rate, Canbrigge is seldom found '. We thus see that the ;;/ in Cambridge merely resulted, by the ordinary operation of phonetic laws, from the n in Granta ; so that Granta- or Grannie- first became Cante- or Caunte-, and next Cant- or Caunt- the next step being to Can- or Caun-, and soon after, to Cam- or Caum-, because a b followed. And until this had happened, the coining of the river-name with a final m was simply im- possible. This is quite clear when we can once grasp it. I note here that the form with Cam actually occurs in the later MSS. of Chaucer in the line already quoted. The Lansdowne MS. (after 1400) has the hideous line 'At Trumpington, not fer fro Cambrugge.' We now require to know the all-important fact, that, according to the phonetic laws of Anglo-French, the com- binations am or an, having a nasalized vowel, resulted in sounds with long a (really the aa in baa) ; but the a was not written double, the length being understood. Yet, though we hardly ever find the spellings aam, aan, the slightly varying spellings aum, aun, are common. In modern English, the a is sounded like the ei in vein. Examples with an occur in the modern Eng. angel, danger, range, change, mange, &c., all of Anglo-French origin ; whilst an excellent example with the spelling dm occurs in the word chamber, in which the amb is exactly like the amb in Cam- bridge. It follows from this, that we must expect sometimes to find the former syllable appearing as Caum in the fifteenth century. At this stage of the investigation I began to cast 1 Canbrigge occurs in A. D. 1436 ; Early Eng. IVills, p. 105. CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. 399 about for examples of Caum in the fifteenth century, and I soon bethought me of the Paston Letters. These examples are very striking. In the Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner, i. 82, the famous Margaret Paston herself used the form Kawmbrege in a letter dated 1449. In the same, i. 422, Agnes Paston wrote Caumbrege in 1458; whilst, in the year 1461 (ii. 79), we find the most interesting form Caumbrygg, being the latest form with n which we are likely to find. It will now be understood that, when the form appeared as Cam in the fifteenth century the sound intended was Kaam, riming to balm : and this is why we now pronounce it as came or Keim, riming to fame. Most of the long a's in Anglo-French have suffered the same fate, but are pre- served in modern French, which has daam for our dame, and blaam-e for our verb to blame. The old an (aan) is, however, still preserved before the sounds of s and / : as in dance, lance, chance, chant, grant, &c. All that remains is to trace the rise of the Cam. It is a most significant fact that, when the name of the town was Cantebrigge, the river made an abortive attempt to gain the name of the Cant ! This appears from Willis and Clark's History of Cambridge (i. 211), where we find an allusion to ' the common bank called Cante ' ; in the year 1372. We even find, from the same work (i. viii.), that, as late as in 1573, Dr. Caius alludes to ' the Canta, now called the Rhee.' But I suspect that he evolved this supposed archaic form out of the Latin Canta-brigia. The evolution of the form Cam for the river seems to have been due to the revival of learning in the sixteenth century, appearing first in the Latinized form Camus or Chamus. The Cambridge Review for Nov. 14, 1895, quoted at p. 74 some verses by Giles Fletcher, prefixed to an edition of Demosthenes published in 1571, containing the line ' Accipe quae nuper Chami flauentis ad undam.' 400 CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. And again, from Andrew Melvill's Antitamicamicategoria, dated 1620, the line ' Ergo vos Cami proceres Tamique.' In both these examples the a in Camus is long. Hence we have Camus in the well-known line in Milton's Lycidas. It is needless to give further details. I add a few notes, in chronological order, to show that the river-name Grant was never lost ; whilst the Cam seems to have had much ado to get itself recognized. A third name was the Rhee or Ree, which I suspect merely meant ' stream,' as we find two rivers in Shropshire, both called the Rea Brook, a Ray River in Oxfordshire, and a Rae Burn in Dumfriesshire. Indeed, Willis and Clark give an example of ' le Ee ' in 1447 ; but this merely means ' the river,' from the A. S. ea, a stream. 1455. 'Le Ree'; Willis and Clark, i. 212. X 573- ' The Canta, now called the Rhee ' ; see above. 1576. Saxton's map of Cambridgeshire; the western branch of the river is called the Grante. Willis and Clark. 1586. Camden says the name is doubtful ; ' alii Grantam, Camum alii nuncupant.' 1590. Spenser's faerie Queene, bk. iv. c. n. st. 34, has ' the Guant,' with u for r, by a misprint. Some editions have 'Grant' correctly. 1 6 10. Speed's map of Cambridge shows the ' Cam.' 1613. Drayton, Polyolbion, xxi. 51, 75, speaks of the ' Grant ' ; and in 1. 107, mentions ' Cam, her daintiest flood, long since intituled Grant.' 1634. A map of this date in Fuller's History of Cambridge (1655) shows 'Granta, sive Cham fluvius.' His- text only mentions ' the river Grant/' 1688. Loggan's map 'the Cam.' 1702. 'The river Cham, alias Grant' ; Willis and Clark. 1831. Pigot's County Atlas : 'the Granta or Cam.' CAMBRIDGE AND THE CAM. 401 The simple conclusion of the whole matter is just this : that the A. S. name Grantabrycgew>v\& certainly have become Grantabridge, or Grantbridge, or possibly, even Grambridge, if it had been developed regularly, without external influence. The changes to Cantabridge, Cauntbrige, Caunbridge, Caum- bridge, and the modern Cambridge are due to French influ- ence and to the Norman conquest ; and it has been well suggested that the change from Gr to C may have arisen from a desire to avoid the repetition of r. And this is how the Granta was ultimately turned into the Cam ; a name which, even now, has not quite displaced its original. Dd INDEX IN this index, subjects and proper names begin with a capital letter. Words of which the uses or etymologies are discussed begin with a small letter. M. E. (Middle-English), A. S. (Anglo-Saxon), and foreign words are printed in italics. In every case, the reference is not to the page but to the number of the article. For example, 'charm' is discussed in articles 23 and 24 (at pp. 18, 19). a Kempis, 318. Accent thrown back, 2. Adam, meaning of, 97. Adam and Eve in the sea, 64. adder, 27. t or e (in archceology), 340. , 422. Man of Law's Tale, 80. Manciple's Tale, 42. Parl. of Foules (1. 363), 371. Parson's prol. (1. 43), 199. Prologue (1. 410), 246. blakcberyed, 84. edition by Moxon, 317. Stilbon, 421. Chaucer's pronunciation, 262. cherry- fair, 482. Christ-cross, 21. chum, 463, 464. Cicero speaking Greek, 108. claw me, claw thee, 229. clean as a whistle, 22. cloture CF.), 174. clubstart (prov. E.), 427. coat, 56. calum, calutn, 392. cole-prophet (M. E.), 204. Colours as surnames, 231 Comets, 105. Commence to, 380. Conrad, i. Coppa, a hen, 186. Copy for printers, 173. corsy, corsive, 397. cowslip, 483. ' crow with voice of care,' 371. Crusoe, Robinson, 248. Curiosities of Interpretation, 398, 399, 400-1. cut away, 244. darbies, 196. dare, dares, 127, 128. darkling, 270. Davenant's English, 14. -de (ft. t. suffix}, 214, 215, 216. 'Dead as a door-nail,' 16. deal board, 193. Devonshire dialect, 192. Dialects, English, 92. discure (M.E.), 397. Distich by Luther, 25. Domesday Book, 425. drake (M. E.), 399. INDEX. 405 Drawing, hanging, and quartering, 369- drunk as mice, 121. Dryden's use of instinct, 258. use of neyes, 27. dulcarnon (Chaucer), 147, 279. Dumnow flitch, 191. -e, final, 61. East Sheen, 312. Edinburghean grammar, 447. Editions, First, 405. Edwards' ' Words, Facts,' &c., 411. edyllys be (M. E.), 124. effrontery, 469. eftures (M. E.), 210. Egerton, 361. egle (icicle\ 273. eightetene (M. E.), 136. embezzle, 133. Emendations, culpable, 165. emys (M.E.), 398. en pronounced as in, 256. English, chronology of, 120. Dialects, 92. etymology, 101, Grammars, 298. , railway, 157. , sham specimens of, 295. without articles, 14. English and Angle, 307. English and German, 251, 313. ennui, 68. -er pronounced as -ar, 166, 167. ernde (M. E.), 401. -er-st (suffix), 326. ether (prov. E.}, 432. Etymologies, ridiculous, 96, 197, 266, 302, 352, 455. specimens of; aroint thee, 455 ; beadle, 435 ; Charing Cross, 455 ; Gauch (G.), 455 ; gallows, 302 ; gnoffe.^2 goblin,^ Inkpen, 352 ; Lammas, 455 ; Pales, 455 ; Perseus, 455 ; riding, 455 ; toot-hill, 455. Etymology, English, 101. Ever-, 195. ' Exc eptio probat regulam? 95. expulse, 12. Fabyan's Chronicles, error in, 67. faith, 332. Familiarity breeds contempt, 289. father, 432. fathom, 432. feabes (prov. E.\ 209. fen, fend, 126. Fewtarspeare, 98. faskisable (M.E.), 372. flotsam, 445. Fly-leaves, Notes on, 29, 33. fod, 419. for to, 354. forbode, 399. forslinger (M. E.\ 135. fox-glove, 203, 474, 483. f ratty (M.E.), 241. French u for /, 177. fylfot, 362. ga (A. S.), 207. galetas ,F.), 141. galoches (F.\ 90. gantlope, running the, 478. garret, 141. gather, 432. gauts (prov. E.\ 116, 117. gaytreberies (M. E.), 301. geason,geson (M.E.), 456. Genders in English, 390. genitive, form of, 89. Genius defined, 239. genteel dogs, 54. Gerbertus, story of, 387. ghauts (prov. E.), 116, 117. ghost-word, 291. eftures, 210. giU, I5 2 - gingham, 440. girl, how pronounced, 341, 342. gist, 44. Gladstone, Mr., 300. Glossaries, 170. glove, 115. gnoffe (M. E.), 452. Godiva, 384. go!f> 454- ' good wine,' &c., 95. gorilla, 134.^ gradalc (Latin), 74- 406 INDEX. grail, holy, 74. grange, 345. greece (M. E.), 398. green-baize road, 240. grift (prov. E.), 325- grithe (M. E.), 398. groundsel, 403. gruesome, 402. gut, 117. H, the letter, 297. hag, 220. ha-ha, 470. halfen-dale (M. E.), 146. Halliwell's Dictionary, additions to, 284, 285, 286. Hampole's psalter, 303. handsome, 95. hang out, 444. harebell, 483 (footnote on p. 392". hauns (Gothic), 26. Havelok and Robert of Brunne, 65. haw, hawthorn, 327. Hawking, 179, 180. hayward, 327. Hearne's Chronicles, 170. hedges, hedge, 327. hell, v. (prov. E.), 91. henchman, 264, 272,415, 416, 417, 418. Hereward, 296. hibiscus, 349. hidels (M. E.), 124. Hilda, 468. hind-berries, 483. hither, 432. hoder-tiioder (M. E.), 221. hoe, 336. hogshead, 40. hold (of a ship), 204. hold up oil, 153. holt, 441. hone (houe), hoe, 336. hone (M. E.), 401. honi (French), 26. horkey (prov. E.), 460. Howard, 172, 2y6. huckshins (prov. E.), 459. hugger-mugger, 221. hull, 91. hundred, 137. icicle, 273. 'fctibtts agrestis,' 337. -?( A. S.), 223. Inkpen, 352. instinct (in Dryden), 258. iron, pronunciation of, 451. iron-mould, 204. Jackdaw of Rheims, 42. James, 343. Jamieson's Dictionary, 148. janissary, 236, 237. jeresgive (yeresghte), 72. Jericho, to send to, 330. jetsam, 445. Jingo, 453- Johnson's definition of oats, 85. jolly, 397. ka me, ka thee, 229. Kangaroo, 247. kct (prov. E.), 260. ketchup, 293. key-cold, 15. kilt, 373- kilter, kelter (prov. E.), 358. King's Quair, 476. tittering- (prov. E.), 305. Knot in a handkerchief, 88. knout, 253. Knowledge for the people, 295. / and u in French, 177. laburnum, 142. lagan, 458. Lammas, 86, 87, 254, 455. lathe (prov. E.), 260. latten, 308. launder, v., 434. laundress, 397. lea (scythe), 260. leary, 396. led will, 481. leer (hungry), 143. leet, three-way (prov. E.), 200. leezing, leasing (M. E.), 359. legerdemain, 288. Leighton, 382. lene, hue (M. E.), 45. Leofwine, 296. INDEX. 407 Letter- writing, 202. leue, lene iM. E.), 45. Liber Vitae, 363. Limehouse, 265. Lines, deficient, 465. lister (prov. E.), 41. lithe, v. (M. E.), 398. litton (prov. E.), 185. living, 19. lobster, 103. lopen (M. E.), 400. Lord's prayer in English, 295. in English verse, 249, 250. luce (lynx), 412, 413; and see p. 393- Lucifer, 28. lumbering, 165. luncheon, 112. Luther's distich, 25. luzern, luccrn, 412, 413. lytton (M. E.), 185. Magdalene (a boat\ 246. Man with a muck-rake, 299. manacus ^Lat.), 181. Mango-trick, 450. marigold, 436. -mas, 86, 87. mattins, matins, 360. medieval, 340. meresmen, 259. merestones, 423. mete, metels (M.E.), 400. Metz, siege of, 76. w/^ r (prov. E.), 122. mill (contest), 123. Milton (on comets), 105. missa (Lat.), 86. mistletoe, 320. monkey, 59. Months in A. S., 310. Morian's land, 304. mother, 432. much (i. e. great), 94. mustredevilliars, 339. mute, 368. mysuryd (M. E. N , 399. dropped, 27 ; prefixed, 27. Ned, Ted, 328. neyes (eyes), 27. 'Nice as a nun's hen,' 7- 'nineted, Anointed (prov. E.), 356. nonce, for the, 27. North, the abode of Lucifer, 28. Numerals in A.S., 194. mimmet (prov. E.), no. nuncheon, no, in, 112. nye (M. E.), 400. oander, oandurth (prov. E.), 322. oats, defined by Dr. Johnson. 85. Ockford, 425. offal, 217, 218. Ohthere's Voyage, 294. Oil on troubled waters, 235. oil, to hold up, 153. old, 375. ollands (prov. E.), 189. ' one touch of nature," 245. opposal, 150. orders, to make, 292. orra (Scotch), 397. otherwhiles (M. E.), 99. oubit (Scotch), 348. out and out, 364. oxhead, 40. pair of, 151. pam, 154, 261. Pamphila, 154. pamphlet, 154. paragon, 385. Parnell, St., 389, 457. parson, 466. Past tense of weak verbs, 214, 215, 216. patriot, 480. peas, pease, 77. peruse, 334. phaeton, 230. phenomenon, 274, 275. Pictures, two-faced, 20. Pied friars, 53. pig, piggin (prov. E.), 323. pimple, 155. pinchbeck, 308. Pinkeney, 27. Place-names, 222, 223; vowels in, 3H- Plant-names, 483. 4 o8 INDEX. poke, pig in a, 95. poortith (Scotch), 332. Pope, verse by the, 404. porcelain, 46. portress, 82. poudred (M. E.), 399. pounce, 180. ' Pound of flesh, the,' 198. prepense, 335. Prepositions, English, Si. prise, 83. Pronouns, use of, 447. Pronunciation, 256, 262, 341, 342. Proverb, French (tant grate la chevre), 13. Proverbs : as clean as a whistle, 22 ; as dead as a door-nail, 16 ; as drunk as mice, 121 ; as nice as a nun's hen, 7 ; as right as a trivet, 22 ; buy a pig in a poke, 95 ; by hook or by crook, 79 ; cry bo to a goose, 75 ; exceptio probat regulam, 95 ; familiarity breeds contempt, 289 ; God sends the shrewd cow short homs, 95 ; good wine needs no bush, 95 ; handsome is as hand- some does, 95 ; ka me, ka thee, 229; more haste, worse speed, 95 ; setting the Thames on tire, 205, 206. Pseudo-Saxon, 212, 213. punt, 255. pursy, 397. Putting a man under a pot, 18. puzzle, 150. Quasimodo, 426. ' Qui capit uxoremj 33. ' Quos angtiis? &c., 33. rabbit it, 39. racoon, 408. Railway English, 157. rake (track), 370. raozha (Zend), p. 393. rauky (prov. E.), 178. Reade, Reid, 231. reave, 400. reckon (prov. E.), 232. reckling (prov. E.), 324. recure (M. E.), 397. releet (prov. E.), 200. resplend, 9. rhyme, 3. rhyme nor reason, 8. ' right as a trivet,' 22. rim, ram, ruf (Chaucer), 199. rime v. rhyme, 3. rimer, 355. rimpling, 165. Road knight, 473. Robert of Brunne, 65. robin, 290. Robinson Crusoe, 248. Roodee, 62. Roses, creation of, 10. roun (M. E.), 401. Rouse, 231. ' rue with a difference,' 71. runawaye's eyes, 431. runnel, 316. -s dropped in the genitive, 89. sangreal, 74 ; sang real, 74. sawten (M. E.), 398. Saxon, etymology of, 391. Seasons, four, 224, 225; names of, 224, 225. Second sight, 437. sele (prov. E.), 268. serfs (French), 70. seriously (M. E.), 374. Shakeshaft, 98, 321. Shakespeare: Coriol. (iv. 7. 52), 331 ; Hamlet (v. I. 85), 158 ; Jul. Caesar (iii. i. 58), 420 ; (iv. 3. 218), 407; Merchant of Venice, 198 ; Troilus (iii. 3. 174), 245 ; Tw. Nt. (ii. 4. 45), 414; ' runawayes,' 431. Shakespeare, Concordance to, 430. Shakespeare's name, 98, 321. sheen and shine, 312. shingle, 444. showl (prov. E.), 397. shrewd cow, 95. sidemen, 138. sidth V M. E.), 171. sike (prov. E.\ 391. Sincl bad's Voyages, 365. sith (since), 439. skellum, 201. INDEX. 409 s/are (prov. E.), 263. sloycl, 306. slubber-de-gullion, 477- slughorn, 280. soc-lamb, 57. Sodor and Man, 242. so-ho, 461. sool (M. E.), 378, 379- sooth saw, 443. sparable, 282. sparling ( M . E.) , 132. spawn, 182. Spenser, error in, 49 ; his tree-list, 433- Sperling (M. E.), 132. spit white, 107. stain, steen (stone), 192. stalled (sated), 383; stalled ox, 383- steen (stone), 192. -ster, siiffix, 102, 103. stick of eels, 100. stoat, 427. stretchy (Shakespeare), 414. strangullion (M. E.), 477. stricken in years, 376. ' Strike here,' 387. striken (M. E.), 376. styed (advanced !), 376. suant, suent (prov. E.), 395. sulphur, 211. sumpter, 161. sun i, gender of), 73. sunset, 442. Surnames, 231. swastika (Skt.), 362. Swedish and English, 406. sweet-heart, 130. ' sweetness and light,' 309. Swimming feat, 104, swine, 93. Swithin, St., 446. s-wyke (M. E.), 401. Syllabification, 139. talon, 179, 1 80. Tantony, 328. tapere (M. E.), 162. tarring-iron. 438. tawdry, 328. Ted, Ned, 328. tennis, 190. Tennyson : Locksley Hall, 145 ; metre of In Memoriam, 424 ; his use of swine, 93. ' Terra,' a root-word, 96. tether, 432. tetter, 106. th in A. F. and A. S., 333. Thackeryana, 449. Thames on fire, 205, 206. thel (&.. S.}, 193. theodolite, 471. Theory and Practice, 314. -ther (suffix^, 432. thethorne (M. E.), 209. thither, 432. Thomas a Kempis, 318. three-way leet (prov. E.), 200. thwitel ^M. E.), 159. tine, 320. to (with */.), 353, 354. together, 432. Tooley, 328. tooth-saw, 443. touch (tache), 245. touter, 329. town, 320. treenware (prov. E.), 109. tretys (M. E.), 129. tricker, 165. Triple consonants, 381. Trisection of an angle, 58. trivet, 22. trouts, 428. trow (trough), 366, 367. tureen, 109. turken (M.E.), 175, 176. turkis (M. E.), 175. umpire, 27. undern (M. E.), 322. linked (prov. E.), 168. utas (M. E.), 351. v lost in English, 397. vade (M. E.), 400. vant (font", 114. velvet, 394. Verse, deficient lines in English, 465- mid (M. E.), 204. Vowel-shortening, 311. INDEX. Vowels in English and German, 313. wag, 281. wage, wages, 163. walking width, 171. wallowish (prov. E.), 377- Walter, Water, 43. wappered (Shakespeare), 135. warish (M. E.), 140. watchet (prov. E.), 277. Water = Walter, 43. watershed, 60. wayzgoose (prov. E.), 344. Weak verbs, 214, 215, 216. weather, 432. wederoue (M. E.), 467. welsh (prov. E.), 377. Welsh place-names, 479. welted (prov. E.), 183. went ( = he goes), 216. whipultre (M. E.), 301. whither, 432. ivhitsul (M. E.), 378, 379. Whitsun Day, 378, 379. whittle, 159. wicket, 388. wicks (of the mouth), 125. will-led, 481. Wimbledon, 184. windlestrae (prov. E.), 169. Windmills, 409. wipple-tree (M. E.), 301. wither, 432. wolf (in music), 243. wolwarde (prov. E.), 36, 37, 38. woodruff, 467. World's age, 47, 48. wreck ling, 324. wrinkle (idea 1 ), 188. write you, 346. Writer's errors, 118. 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