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TWO
ANCIENT SCOTTISH POEMS-.
THE
GABERLUNZIE-MAN,
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
WITH NO^ES AND OBSERVATIONS.
S X
JOHN CALLANDER, ESQ^OF CRAIGFORTH.
By ftrange chanellis, frontcris, and forelandis,
Uncouth coiftis, and mony vilfum ftrandis,
JJow goith our barge - G. Douglas,
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY J. ROBERTSON.
SOLD BY J- BALFOUR, W. CREECH, AND C. ELLIOT,
EDINBURGH ; DUNLOP AND WILSON, GLAS-
GOW; ANGUS AND SON, ABERDEEN;
W. ANDERSON, STIRLING; AND
A. DONALDSON, LONDON.
KjDCCjLXXXII.
50288
162
PR
Q il
TO THE HONOURABLE
Sir DAVID DALRYMPLE, Bart.
LORD HAILES,
ONE OF THE SENATORS OF THE COLLEGE
OF JUSTICE.
MY LORD,
TN addrefles of this fort, it is almoft equally
-*- difficult to avoid the fervile tone of flattery,
as to fnpprefs the honeft feelings of the heart,
while we fpeak to thofe we love and efteem.
Happily for me, the public and private cha-
racter of Lord Hailes will ever fccure the au-
thor of the following obfervations from an
imputation he difdains, while he gladly em-
braces the opportunity of prefcnting this little
tract to the perfon who can bell judge, whe-
ther an attempt to replace the Etymology of
A our
I a 3
our ancient language on a rational and ftablc
bafis, deferves any attention from the public.
Your Lordflup has permitted me to look
to you, as the patron and guide of my re-
fearches ; and it is a poor return to this con-
defcenfion I now make, in fubfcribing myfelf,
MY LORD,
Your Lordfliip's much obliged,
And moft faithful humble fervant,
JO. CALLANDER.
Craig-Forth, April t.
1781.
y
INTRODUCTION.
W
E have publifhed thefe little poems,
which tradition afcribes to James the' ,s
Tifth. of Scotland, with a few notes, as a fpe-
cimen of the advantages which Etymology may
derive from comparing thofe called original,
and fijler languages, and their various dialects.
The fcience of Etymology has, of late years,
\s fallen into difrepute, rather, I believe, from
the ignorance or negligence of fome of its pro-
feffed admirers, than becaufe it is of little utility
or importance to the Republic of Letters. But
many attempts, and fometimes with fuccefs,
have been made in this kind of investigation.
The Dutch has been illuflrated by the Frijian
and Teutonic ; the Englijh by the Anglo-Saxon ;
and the German has been explained, with much
labour and care, by Wachter, and others, from
the ancient monuments of the Francs, Goths,
and Alamanni. The learned Ihre, Profefior at
A 2 Upfal,
4 INTRODUCTION.
Upfal, has illuftrated the ancient language and
laws of Sweden, in his Lexicon Swio-Gothicum,
a work that will ever be regarded as a noble
treafury of Scandinavian antiquities. Men of
learning need not be told how much Britain
owes to the labours of Hidkes, Junius, Spelman,
and Lye. Thefe writers have followed, with
indefatigable pains, the faint and almoft vanifh-
ing traces of our ancient language ; and have
fucceeded, as far as it was poflible for men to mc-
ceed, without the knowledge of thofe principles
which alone form the bafis of true Etymology,
Not attending to this great truth, which we
have recorded in the fcriptures, that the whole
race of mankind formed at Babel one large fa-
mily, which fpoke one tongue, they have con-
iidered the different languages now in ufe all
over our globe, as mere arbitrary founds,
names impofed at random by the feveral tribes
of mankind, as chance dictated, and bearing no
other than a relation of convention to the ob-
ject meant to be exprefTed by a particular found.
They were ignorant that the primaeval language
fpoken by Noah and his family, now fubfifts
no where, and yet every where ; that is to fay,
that at the difperfion of the builders of Babel,
each hord, or tribe, carried the radical words
of the original language into the feveral difiricls
to
INTRODUCTION. 5
to which the providence of God conducted
them j that thefe radical words are yet, in a
great meafure, to be traced in all the different
dialects now fpoken by men ; and that thefe
terms of primary formation are not mere arbi-
trary founds, but fixed and immutable, bearing
the ftricleft analogy to the things they defcribe,
and ufed, with very little material variation, by
every nation whofe tongue we are acquainted
with. The proofs of this great etymological
truth rife to view, in proportion to the number
of languages the refearches of the learned, and
the diaries of the traveller, bring to our know-
ledge ; and we hope, by the fmall collection we
have been able to form, and which, at fome fu-
ture period, we propofe to lay before the pu-
blic, to fet the truth of our affertion beyond the
reach of cavil. But this is not the place to enter
further into the arguments by v/hich we propofe
to elucidate our hypothefis, and therefore we
Ihall prefent to the reader a word or two, fe-
lecled from a vaft number of others which
might be produced, as a fpecimen how far our
principles are juft, and confonant to analogy.
Moon. Goth. mane. Ulph. mana, A. S. mona,
Ifl. mana. The primitive is the Oriental mtm,
enlighten, advertife. Hence Lat. monere, Engl.
moni/h, admonifh. Perf. mah, the moon. The
Turks
6 INTRODUCTION.
Turks write it ma. Gael. mana. Gr. ju>ii/, and
iEol. juva. Dan. maane. Alam. mano. In the
ancient Arabic manat. Hebr. meni, in Ifa. 66. ii.
and the Americans of Virginia fay manith, and
in the Malabar dialed: mena, a month. From
man the Greeks formed pxna., madnefs, fup-
pofed to be occafioned by the influence of
^ the moon. Hence our maniac, a mad-
man ; Menuet, minuet, facred dance, and of
very high antiquity, reprefenting the move-
ments of the fun and moon. The primitive
mun, pronounced man, fignifies the hand and a
fign. Hence nion, men, man, are applied to fun
and moon, alfo to denote every thing relative
to Jigns. Hence Lat. manus, and our month,
&c.
Inflead of carrying on our refearches into the
many other collateral meanings of this word,
we fhall amufe our readers with another, fhew-
ing that the fame principle of univerfality in
language prevails in all.
Malady. Hebr. malul, evil, chagrin, grief;
moid, patience. Perf. mall, evil. Hebr. mulidan,
to fuller. Arab, mel, patience. Celt, mal, bad,
corrupt. Hence Lat. malum ; Fr. mal; malade ;
maladerie, an hofpital ; the malandcrs, a difeafe
to which horfbs are fubjec"t.; malice, malignity,
Lat.
INTRODUCTION. 7
Lat. B. male-ajirofus, ill-Jiarred, as Shakefpeare
has it, Othello, Acl: V.
Had the laborious Johnfon been better ac-
quainted with the Oriental tongues, or had he
even underftood the firft rudiments of the
Northern languages from which the Englifh
and Scots derive their origin, his bulky volumes
had not prefented to us the melancholy truth,
That unwearied induftry, devoid of fettled
principles, avails only to add one error to ano-
ther.
Junius, Skinner, and Lye, though far fu-
perior to Mr Johnfon in their knowledge of the
origin of our language, yet, in tracing its foun-
dation, feldom go farther back than the Celtic,
and Ulphila's Gothic verfion of part of the New
Teftament. Nay, the elegant and learned Hire
tells us plainly, that it is unjuft to demand any-
thing further. But ftill the queftion recurs to
an inquifitive reader, Whence were thefe Celtic
and Gothic terms formed ? Every fmatterer
in Etymology knows that the Greek and Latin
are modern tongues, when compared to the
Oriental and Celtic dialects ; and the blunder-
ing attempts of Euftathius, the author of the
Etymologicon Magnum, Varro, and Feitus,
prove, beyond a doubt, that thefe writers were
equally ignorant of the true meaning of their
mother
8 INTRODUCTION.
mother tongues, and of the originals from
whence they were derived. Milled by thofe
blind guides, we find Voflius and Skinner very
gravely aflerting, that Venus is formed a veni-
endo, quia omnibus venit ; vulgus, a volvendo ;
malus, from the Greek jouAa? , black, and juaAaxo? ;
manus from munus ; and mons, a mountain, a
movendo, quia minime movetur ; mare, quod
amarum fit ; mufcle of the body, from mus j and
mufquet, from the Greek (j-oa-^oq, a calf.
It were eafy to fwell this catalogue, which
any of our readers may augment at their plea-
fure from every page of every Lexicographer*
ancient and modern.
Of all the Nothern dialects none has been
more neglected than the Scotch, though it
tranfmits to us many works of genius both in
poetry and profe ; and alfo fome gloffaries,
which are not unufeful in pointing out the
affinity of the ancient Scotch with its kindred
dialects. Of thefe, the largeft is that annexed
to Bifliop Douglas's verfion of the iEneid.
But it wants many words which actually ex-
ift in that tranflation, and a great many more
are fo diftorted by falfe derivations, that they
only ferve to multiply our doubts.
Our language, as it is at prefent fpoken by
the common people in the Lowlands, and as it
appears
INTRODUCTION. 9
appears in the writings prior to the feventeenth
century, furnifties a great many obfervations,
highly deferving the attention of thofe who wiih
to be acquainted with the Scandinavian dialects
in general, or the terms ufed by our anceftors
in their jurifprudence and poetry, in particular.
Many of thofe ferve materially to illuftrate the
genius, the manners, and cuftoms of our
forefathers. In Scotland, the Old Saxon dialect,
which came over with Oda and Nebriffa, the
founders of the Northumbrian kingdom, has
maintained its ground much longer than in
England, and in much greater purity. This
muft be owing to the later cultivation of this
part of the ifland, and its lefs frequent commu-
nication with ftrangers. In South Britain, the
numerous fwarms of Normans and French, who
followed William, and the Plantagenets, foon
made their language that of the bar, and of the
court. At the fame time, the long wars with
France, and the extenfive poffeffions of the Englim
on that part of the continent, entirely changed
not only the orthography, but alfo the pronun-
ciation of the original Saxon ; nor do we helitate
to fay, what we mall foon endeavour to prove,
that we, in Scotland, have preferved the origi-
nal tongue, while it has been mangled, and al-
moft defaced, by our fouthern neighbours.
B It
io INTRODUCTION*
It is an undoubted fact, that the original lan-
guage of this whole Ifland was the Celtic, now
fplit into the feveral dialects of the Gaelic, Welch,
and Armoric. In the prefent Scotch, we fee in-
deed a few traces of this ancient torgue, which
the inhabitants left behind them, when they
fled for refuge to the mountains of Scotland
and Wales j but thefe are very cafily diftin-
guifhed from the now prevailing language of
the country. In like manner we difcover to
this day, in the German, many marks of tho
fame original, which were infufed into it by the
neighbouring Belgae and Gauls, the pofterity of
the ancient Celts, by whom this Ifland was ori-
ginally peopled. Suf milch has proved this from
the likenefs of many German and Armoric
words. Many more examples might be addu-
ced from the Gaelic, in which the radical word
is often preferved, though loft in all the dialects
of the German language. Of this number is
the word fchleufe, the root of which is only to
be found in the Welch Llaw, the arm, or the
hand. From this word was formed Llazues,
which has been adopted into all the German
dialects, in the fame manner as maritca from
manus, or the Irifli word braccaile, a bracelet,
from brae, the arm, and caile, an ornament or
covering. The word treten, has alfo greatly
puzzled
INTRODUCTION. u
puzzled the German etymologifts, though it
feems naturally derived from the Irifh troed, the
foot, whence alfo comes our word tread.
The intimate connection of the Scots with
the Teutonic, German, Iflandic, and other
northern dialects, appears, firft, from the iimi-
larity of t found, and enunciation. < This is
principally to be remarked in the found of the
vowels, which retain the fame uniform tones
in the broad Scotch, that they do in the lan-
guages above mentioned ; whereas the lingular
caprice of the Englifh pronunciation has varied
and confounded them beyond the comprehen-
sion of rule. The German guttural pronunci-
ation of ch, g, gh, is quite natural to a Scotch-
man, who forms the words eight, light, fight,
bought, &c. exactly as his northern neighbours,
and as the Germans do. How much the Eng-
lifli have deviated from this, we may fee from
the few following examples.
German. Scots. Englijh.
Beide,
* Baith,
Both.
Eide,
Aith,
Oath.
Kifte,
Kift,
Cheft.
Meifte,
Maift,
Moft.
Brcnnen,
Bren,
Burn.
Gehe,
Gae,
Go, &c.
B 2 We
12
INTRODUCTION.
We have to obferve, in the fecond place, that
our language contains many words which were
never admitted into the Englifh dialect. Thefe,
a few excepted, which are derived from the
Gaelic, are either pure German, or Scandinavi-
an. We have annexed a few examples from
our Scoto-Gothic gloffary as a fpecimen.
Scots.
German, Sec.
Blate,
Bel.
Blode.
Dech,
Deeg.
Barm, yeft,
B.
Barm.
Kail,
G.
Kohl.
Coft,
Koeft.
Bikker,
G.
Becher.
Sicker,
Sicher.
Kemp,
Kampfen.
Haus,
G.
Hals.
Mutch,
G.
Mutz.
Skaith,
G.
Schade.
Slough, fkin,
B.
Slu.
Spill,
B.
Spillen.
Red, advife,
G.
Rathen.
Lift, fky,
G.
Luft.
Tig, touch gently,
B.
Ticken.
ForlofTen,
G.
Weglaufen.
Bruick,
G.
Brauchan.
Reek,
N.
Rauch.
Bouk,
G.
Baugh, the belly.
Fie, cattle,
G.
Vieh.
Kummer,
G.
Kummer, forrow,
Krummy, crooked,
G.
Krumm.
Fremd,
INTRODUCTION. i
Serfs. Germany &c.
Fremd,
G.
Fremd, ftrange.
Low, flame,
G.
Lohe, flame.
Leglen,
G.
Leghel, a milking-pail.
Win,
G.
Wohnen, to dwell.
Yammer,
G.
Jammern, to complain.
Keek,
B.
Kieken.
Girn,
Ifl.
Girnd, defire, anger.
Mail,
Ifl.
Molld, pulvis.
Egg,
Ifl.
Egg, acies.
Awn,
Goth.
Aigan, to pofTefs. ^////, my own.
Elden,
Ifl.
Eldur, fire.
Etter and ettercap,
Ifl.
Eitur, poifon, venom.
Dill,
Ifl.
Dil, to conceal.
Ern,
Ifl.
Ernur, large hawk.
Thefe may fuffice, though it were eafy to add
more examples.
The life of investigating our Scottish dialect,
will alfo appear from its retaining many radical
words, which are either totally loft in its fifter
languages, or which are no longer enounced in
the primitive founds. In this number is gear,
or gier, which Signifies drefs, furniture, wealth.
This word, like the Greek ayK, denoting ori-
ginally a goat-Jkin, afterwards ajhield, and laftly
the f acred Jhield of Minerva, has greatly enlarged
its primitive Signification. From the original
meaning of the Iflandic gera, a Sheep-Skin, this
word came to Signify covering, drefs, ornament,
goods,
14 INTRODUCTION.
goods, riches ; cattle being all thefe to the
moft ancient nations. Now this word is ufed
by our writers, in all thefe acceptations ; and,
though no longer found in the German, yet it
is the fruitful mother of many ancient and
modern words in that language. From it are
evidently derived haufegeraeth, the Saxon gerada,
and the Swedifh gerad and gerd, tribute paid
both in goods and money ; the etymon of
which neither Spegel nor Ihre underftood:
(Vide Ihre, Lex. in gerd, utgerd). The word
graith, in our language iignifying utenfils ancl
furniture of all kinds, is from the fame origin ;
as alfo the German gier, 2. mifer 5 gieren, to de-
fire anxioufly ; gcirig, covetous ; gem, willing-
ly ; whence our yearn, with many others of
the fame family, the fignification being changed
from the objeel itfelf to the defire of pofTefling it,
and afterwards enlarged to exprefs any defire in
general, in the fame manner as in Englifh the
word liquorijlo, from liquor, in its primary fenfe
firli denoted the defire of drinking, and after-
wards any lujiful defire. Our word gar, make,
prepare, is another word not found at prefent
in the German language, in its original meaning.
But from it come the words gar, ready ; garven,
to prepare and curry leather ; with a great many
more in the old and pure German dialect ; and
in
INTRODUCTION. 15
in the Alammanic garuuin, garuuen, whence
garue, ready, prepared ; the Iflandic gsonuerf
ready made ; and in the ancient Runic Infcrip-
tions, gjarva, kiarva, whence our carve, to cut
up, /'. e. prepare meat for eating. The Welfh
fay kervio, and the Gaels corrbham. Cafau,bon
and Stephanus were certainly driven to the laft
extremity, while they bring in this word from
the Greek iyxxgx, or aaga, a picture. But with
thefe writers, the moft extravagant conjectures
often fupply the want of folid principles.
To mention only one inflance more ; our
word grean, the muzzle or upper-lip of cattle,
is the only root from whence the German
grynen, to laugh, can be derived, the etymology
Of which has given rife to a variety of conjec-
tures. Out girn, and the Englifh grin, are from
the fame root.
Thefe few remarks may fiifUce to mew the
great ufefulnefs and importance of investigating
the terms and phrafes of our ancient language,
fince thefe not only tend to elucidate the ancient
manners and cuftoms of our remote anceftors,
but alfo throw much light on its fifter-dialects
of the North ; by which we mean all thofe
fpoken from the heads of the Rhine, and of
the Danube, to the fartlieft extremities of Scan-
dinavia and Iceland.
It
16 INTRODUCTION.
It is high time that fomething of this kind
were attempted to be done, before the prefent
Englifh, which has now for many years been
the written language of this country, fhall ba-
nifli our Scottifh tongue entirely out of the
world.
We cannot conclude thefe curfory remarks
without congratulating our readers on the
eftablifhment of a Society, which promifes to
revive a tafte for the ftudy of national antiqui-
ty. The worthy nobleman to whofe truly
patriotic fpirit it owes its inftitution, and the
gentlemen affociated for fo laudable a purpofe,
it is hoped, will look with indulgence on this
poor attempt to fecond their endeavours, in re-
ftoring and explaining the ancient language of
Scotland.
THE
THE
GABERLUNZ IE-MAN.
T
HE pauky auld Carle came o'er the lee,
Wi* mony gude eens and days to mee,
Saying,
Gaberlunzie~\ This word Is compounded of Gaber, Gab-
ler, a Wallet or Bag, and Lunzie, loin, /. e. the man who
carries the wallet on his back, an itinerant mechanic, or
tinker, who carries in his bag the implements of his trade,
and ftrolls about the country mending pots and kettles. In
fuch difguifes as this James V. (as is faid) ufed to go about
the country, and to mingle, unknown, with the meaneft of
his fubjecls. Thefe frolickfome excurfions often gave birth
to little amorous adventures, which our witty Monarch made
the fubje&s of his fong, as he was fecond to none of his age
in the fciences of poetry and mufic.
The root of the -word, gab is the Celt, cab, fignifying to con-
tain. Hence Scot, gab, the mouth, which contains our food;
Eng'lifh gobbet, a morfel ; the French gober, to fwallow, and
gofier, the throat. The large barks on Loch- Lomond for
C carrying
18 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
carrying wood, are called gaherts. From gab, and gab, come
Englifli gabble ; and gabbing is ufed by Douglas for idle
talking, Prologue to I. JEn. p. 6. v. 43. Rud. Edit. and
laft line of leaf 3. Lond. Edit. 4-to, 1553.
*' Quhilk is nae gabbing fouthly, nor no lye."
In the fame fenfe, Id. gabb ; Ludibrium, gabba, to deride ;
A. Sax. gabban, and many more words of the fame import,
gaggle, gaffer, and Old Fr. gaber, gabbaffer, to mock ; gaba-
tine, mockery ; Iflandic gamman, drollery ; Gal. geuhbeth,
falfehood ; and gams, eaiv, gab, cheating ; Old Fr. ganelon,
a traitor. We have collected thefe words from various lan-
guages, as they not only explain the primitive idea of the word
gaber, which none of our Etymologifts have done, but prove
what we fhall every moment have occafion to fhew, that the
radical term once afcertained, throws light on all its de-
rivatives, which are eafily reducible to it, though fcattered far
diftant from each other, among the various dialects ufed by
different nations. To this family belongs Lat. capio, whence
our capacity, capture ; the Scots cap, a drinking vefTel ;
cab, a meafure, mentioned in the Verfion of the Old
Teflament ; and many more, all including the idea of capacity,
or content; as cabin, Belg. kaban; Welfh, cab, caban, all fignify-
ing the fame thing ; Gr. hattcm) ; Lat. cabana, cabbage, from
the form of its top, refembling a bafon or large cup, which has
much puzzled Junius ; Lat. cuvuj, our cave, and the Fr.
and Engl, cabinet.
Lunzii] We have elfewhere obferved, with Mr Ruddi-
man, that the Z, by the old Scots writers, is always ufed in
the beginning of the fyllable for the Englifh Y. The reafon
is, that the figure Z much rcfembles the Saxon G, which the
Englifli often change into Y, as yard from geard; yea from gea;
year
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 19
ytar from gear, &c. Thus Tetland is by us written Zetland,
and ye, year, young ; ze, zere, zytig ; ranzies, fenzies, for
reins, feigns, and the like. This we remark once for all.
In other filler dialects Z has the force of S. Thus Bel.
zour, four ; zuid, fouth ; zon, fun ; Slav, zakar, fugar ; Ital.
zanni, Gr. <;a r -\'oi, and in the Bar. Gr. ^atvoi, buffoons,
whence our zany.
Lunzie~\ Lung, loin, lunzie ; bene, the thigh bone. In
Sv/ed. lend, land, the loin. In the Laws of Gothland, cap.
23. 4. Synes lend oc lyndtr ; fi appareant lumbi et pudenda.
They alfo write it Ljumske; Ihre, in voce. 111. lend, boh, ledivi.
Ger. lenden and lanken, and hence our flank. Welfh, Llnvyn;
and in Finland, landet, rhe loin. Ital. long/a; Yx.longe;
Scot. Jend. Vide Not. S. Kirk. St. From the ancient
Goth. Ljumske ; the Lat. lumbus ; Dan. ljujke ; whence our
lisk. The primitive is Lat, Let, broad, extended ; whence the
Gr. -tXo.tv(, and the Latin latus.
Thus the Gaberlunzie-man literally fignifies the man who
bears a bag, or wallet, on his back or loins ; a pedlar ;
Scot, a pack-man.
STANZA I.
Ver. 1. Pauky~\ Sly, cunning, Bel. Paiken, to coax or
wheedle. Douglas, p. 238, v. 37.
Prattis are repute policie, and perrellus paukis.
Auld] Old Ger. alt, as eald. III. aldradur. Dan. Eeld.
Scot. eild. Cafaubon brings this from ca\o<, vetus, and Lye
from stxJV-a, augeo ; as if our anceftors had no word to ex-
prefs old age, till they got it from the Greeks. But this is
indeed an old wife's tale. The primitive E denotes exiftence ;
every thing that lives. Hence Eve is called emphatically, the
mother of all living. Lat. ejl. Fr. etre, being, ejfen ':'a, whence
our ejfence, what conftitutes the being of that tiling. Hence
C 2 Hebrew
to THE GABEKLUNZIE-MAN.
Hebrew hei, life, and God emphatically ; i. e. He who lives,
heie, to live, life itfelf. Arab, hei hi, to live, to be glad.
In Zend, gueis, foul, life. This word furniflies a remarkable
example of the truth of our general principle, explained in the
preface, and therefore we hope the reader will allow us to
trace it a little further. The afpirate H, in the northern dia-
lects, is changed into W, and Qu, and hence Swed. weet,
wight, living animal ; Engl, and Scot, wight ; Goth, q<wick y
lively ; ewicka, quicken, quick-filver, from its lively motion.
In Sued. qwick-Jilfwer. The Latins ufed the V, and fo
formed vita, vivere, vivax, viclus, viclo, vis, vigor, vigeo, and a
thoufand more ; as alfo the derivatives we have adopted from
that language, vivacity, violent, vivid, &c. Volfius, able to
get no further than the Greek, deduces vita from C/>rn : but
Cio$, life ; Cia, violence, Gta.K07ra.i, Ciqg, all come from
one primitive, as alfo Gr. /<, the vis of the Latins, tfxy<>
iCyjja, t(%vpoff only by fuppreffing the afpirate. In the
more ancient diale&s of Scandinavia, we find the fame word
denoting the fame objects ; Teuton, vttith. Ifl. vatir. a Sax.
vugkt, vight, all fign. animals, living creatures ; and the
Alam. quick, quickr. Old German queck. Dan. queg, living,
animal, every thing alive. Suab. vich, viech, animal. From
the fame fource we formed wife. Bel. nvjf, Swed. wif.
Suab. wib, all fignifying woman, mother of a family.
Thus we have followed this word from the remoteft Eair,
to the fartheft extremities of the Weft and North. Such coin-
cidences of found and meaning, demonftrate that language is
no arbitrary thing, nor etymology that fallacious fcience it
has been called, by thofe who find it more eafy to decide in
hafte, than to examine at leifure.
Carle'] The true fpelling is karl in all the Scythian dia-
lects, in which it denotes a man, or warrior. The primitive
is ear kar, flron*- This root we have preferved in the Ar-
menian,
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 21
menian, in \ybich car, poffe, valere, et carol, potens. Not
attending to the univerfality of language, the learned Ihre
did not fee the juftnefs of this Etymology. From kair, kar,
the Mefogothic, vair, a man ; whence the Lat. vir, vira, a
woman, as from the Gothic kas, they formed vas, which
Voffius could make nothing of, though he has flung together
every paffage almoft, where this word occurs. From karl are
formed the Alamm. karl; Ger. kerl; A. S. ceorl; Ifl. karl; L. E.
Carolus, karlus. Vid. Cange Glofs. in V. From kerl, Sued.
karlklader, men's clothes ; karlfmather, and karlpwag, the high-
way ; and in the old Gothic laws karljbo, man's habitation. The
word karl is oppofed to gaffe, a youth ; the former denoting a
man of ripe age. We find that of old, in the Gothic, as now
with us, karl, and carl, were ufed to fignify people of a low
rank, fuch as farmers, mechanics, &c. In the old laws, (ap.
Ihre glofs. Vol. I. P. 1033,) karl oc konung, plebs et prin-
ceps ; and in Gothr. Saga, cap. 86, cpter that I karls huji er
tj er in congs ranni, oft do we meet in a cottage, what we
feek in vain in the palaces of kings. In general, karl is ufed
to fignify a husband ; and in Sweden the country-women call
their hufbands ntin~karl. In the Swedifh tongue the gander
13 called gas-karl. So in Engl, a carle-cat, is the male of
that fpecies. The Anglo-Saxons fay ceorl, for a hufband,
and ceorlian, to marry.
As this word was commonly ufed to fignify rujlics, the En-
lifh from it formed churl, churlifo. In the A. S. ceorlborin
is a man meanly born ; cecrl'ife, a ruftic ; ceorlife hlaf, loaf
made of the fecond flour. In Dutch, kaerle a ruftic ; whence
the Italian phrafc, a la carlona, like a ruftic, ill-bred. The
Welch carl has the fame meaning. As karl, all over the
north, denotes an elderly man, from it we have formed carling,
an old woman of the loweft caft, a word which occurs in all
cur poets.
The
22 THE GABERLUNZ IE-MAN.
Saying, Gudewife, for zour courtefie,
Will zee ludge a filly poor man.
The
The Bar. Lat. Carolus, and our Charles, come from the
fame origin, a name of high antiquity among the Germans,
from whom we borrowed the name of the conftellation
Charles's ivain, in Gothic Karlnuagn, and in Sax. Car leas
luagn ; Dan. Karfoogn. This proves the ignorance of thofe
who will have this name given to thefe liars in honour of
Charles the Great, which was in general ufe many ages before
Charlemain was born. The Welch alfo call this conftellation
Cart IVyn.
Ver. i. Lee, or lea~] An unplowed field, or a field for-
merly under corn, and afterwards laid down in grafs. Primi-
tive la, and le, fignify broad, extended. A. S. lea, lecg,
leak. Old Ger. la, lo, lohe. Goth, lee, which Ihre explains,
locus tevipejlatibus fubduclus ; whence our loivn, calm. In
the northern parts of Germany, we have it in many names of
places, as Oldejloh, Kartla, Lohagen, &c. vide Grupen An-
tiq. Van Den Bonnen. P. 556. Id. logn, and Goth. lugn f
fign. calm. The Hebr. lech, denotes a meadow, green, ver-
dure ; and the Polifh leka is the fame, for all thefe are deri-
ved from the fame root, la. The Celtic and Gallic las, fign.
grafs. Welch Llys ', has, Brett, luzavan. Hence Lucent,
a fpecies of grafs growing abundantly in Switzerland. The
Canton of Lucem has its name from this plant, not the
plant from it, as the high antiquity of the word proves.
Ver. 3. Gudewife'] Properly the mother of a family ;
Goth, nvrf, a woman, a married woman. A. S. id. Ger.
nvci/l This by fome has been derived from nv/jhva, to
weave ; by others from ivif, or hw/f, a woman's head-drcfs,
in
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 23
in the fame way as the Swedes fay gyrdel and linda, the belt,
and girdle for the man and the <wo?nan. They alfo ufe halt
and hoetta, the hat and cap, in the fame fenfe. But the true
primitive of this word is E, life, exiftence ; whence Eve, the
general mother of mankind ; Arab, heih, the female fex,
alfo modefty. This word heih, pronounced hai, gave birth
to the ancient formulary of marriage among the Romans, Ubi
tu eras Caius (fays the woman) ego erv Caia. None of their
writers tell us any thing of the origin of thefe verba concepta.
Caia was in reality a title of honour given to the Roman
matrons, anfwering to that of Thane, ufed by the Etrufcans ;
whence, it would feem, the Italian Donna came. So Pliny,
1. 8. cap. 48. tells us that Caia Kaikilia, wife to the elder
Tarquin, was called in the Hetrufcan, Tbana Quilis. He
and kei, the primitive, with the change of the H into G, the
eafieit of all tranfpofitions, formed in Greek ya.a>, whence
ytyaco, to generate, y~visa, yzvos, race, family; yoPvj{>
parent ; yvv, , a wife ; Lat. genus, gigno, gens ; Chin, gin ;
Celt, gen, a man; Greenl. kora ; 111. Teut. Dan. kona; Cuen.
quin, woman ; and our quean and queen ; Gaelic, quenaj}, to
marry ; Slav, fyena, a woman ; and Fr. guenon, the female
monkey.
From the fame root the Earth, the nourifoer of men and
animals, is, in every language, called by the fame appellation.
Ch'mefe chi ; Gael, give ; Zend gnveth, enanm; Pehlvi^af,
ha, the world ; Gael, gnuaed, riches, goods produced by the
Earth ; Celtic, gueth, a poor man, one deftitute of thefe
goods, cornpofed of gue, the Earth, and the negative termina-
tion th ; Ancient Gr. \ta, yaw., yi<t, and yn, the Earth.
Hence we can eafily trace the origin of the Latin eveo and
egenus, which literally fignifies to be without ground, to be
deititute of the fruits of the Earth. Inops, from the negative
* 4 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
in and ops, the ancient appellative of our common mother, as
in that verfe of the old poet Accius, Ap. Prifc. Lib. 7.
** Quorum genitor fertur effb ops gentibus."
Tlautus Ciftellar :
" Itaque me ops opulenta illius avia, imo mater quidem."
How little Voflius and Ifidorus knew the real origin of the
Latin words, may be feen, apud VofT. Etym. in Egens.
Nor has Feftus fucceeded a whit better, when he fays, Egens,
vJlut exgens, cui ne gens quidem fit reliqua ; and yet thefe
writers are called Etymologijls. We leave them amidft thefe
futile derivations, and proceed to obferve, that from this primi-
tive he, life, nourifhmenr, are derived a number of Celtic
words, all of the fame import ; as bet, our hay, food of ani-
mals produced by the Earth ; heize, barley ; hat, trees, a
fbreft ; hei, nvei, pafturage, hunting ; he and kai, habitation,
literally the place ivhere nve live. And as thofe who abound
in goods are, or fhould be cheerful, hence Gr. yaa, rejoice ;
Chinefe, gao, to laugh or be glad ; Celt, gae, id. Latin,
gavifus, gaudere ; the French and our gay, and Scot.
pauf.
We have extended our remarks on this word, as it ftrongly
confirms our hypothec's relating to the univerfality of the pri-
mitive language, and the exigence of its elementary parts, in
every dialect fpoken by men, even at this day, from the re-
moteft parts of the Eait, to the farthefl: limits of the North
and Weft. In all thefe languages, we have feen that this
root, exceedingly fimple in itfelf, has proved the fruitful
mother of many families in every quarter of the globe. Thefe
may ihew, that the primsval language was not eradicated at
Babel, but only fplit into a great variety of dialects, as the
facred Hiflorian informs us; and that the feveral languages
now in ufe, are fo far from being formed by the tribes who
fpeak
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 25
The night was cauld, the carle was wat,
And down azont the ingle he fat ;
My
fpeak them, that they are only branches of that primaeval tree,
which flourifhed long before the deluge.
We might eafily accumulate more proofs of the truth of our
leading principle, were we to add the Hebr. eia, being ; Indian
he; Perf. aiji ; Gr. tr; Lat. ejl ; Bafq. ifan ; Celt, es ;
Teuton, ifh, ys ; Ital. e ; and Englifh is : But thefe we fhall
referve for our GlofTary, in compiling of which we have al-
ready made fome progrefs.
Ver. 4. Silly. Simple, without guile. In old Englifh y^,
felie. So Chaucer, Miller's Tale, and Reve's Tale, v. 992.
The Sely Carpenter., and elfewhere felie-man. This is quite
different from Sely, fign. holy, from Goth, falig, A. S.fa/.
Ver. 5. Cauld. In this word we have an inflance of
our following the original orthography. Ulphila writes calds ;
A. S. ceald ; Ifl. caldur and kulde ; Alam. kalt ; Dan. kuld ;
all fignifying cold.
Wat. Engl, nvet ; Prim, u, au, water ; Ulph. miato ;
Goth, ivatn; Pol. ivat, humid; A. S. ivater; Alam. nvua/zar;
Ger. iuajfer ; Pol. ivxda ; Gr. C Sic*?, which Plato (in
Cratylo) allows to be a barbarous word ; and he is in
the right, for the Gfeeeks had it from the Celtic. Ifland.
ndr is 'water. Hence Goth. 'wattu-Jiktig, the dropfy,
literally the luater-Jicknefs. From the Ifl. <wat/ka, the Eng-
lifh nvajh. From the fame origin comes the Swedifh 0, an
Ifland, becaufe furrounded with water ; Aland, JEland, an
Ifland in the Baltic ; Ho-lland, literally a land of 'waters.
There is a diftridt in Normandy called Augc, for the fame
reafon. Eau has the fame origin.
D We
2 6 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
We fiaall add fome other coincidences of language here, in
fupport of our general principle, that the radical words of the
firft tongue are to be found in dialects fpoken by nations, who
never had any connection with each other fince the difperfion
at Babel. Thefe are fo numerous, and deviate fo little both
from the original found and fenfe, that it can never be fuppofed,
without the grofTeft abfurdity, to be the effect of chance. Thus
the Chinefe ho bu, fignifies water in general, a lake, and hai,
the fea. The Tartar Icho, a river in Siberia; and in the fame
language, 0-mo, a lake, literally a great water, for mo is
great. Greek oV, water; whence , to rain, uJV'f, vS'pod
vfpff. ; yet Stephanus-and Scapula tell us, that utPaj and \>u
are radical words, not knowing that no radical word ever con-
fided of two fyllables. Indeed, we may venture to affert, that
no example can be produced of a true radical word having more
than one. The public has lately been told, in very pompous
terms, that the Greek language is the work of philofophcrs,
complete and perfect; in itfclf. We can moft eafily fhew, that
this wild affertion is fo far from being true, that no perfon, but
one utterly devoid of all {kill in Etymology and the analogy of
language, could have hazarded an hypothecs fo replete with
abfurdity. So far -is the Greek tongue from being the work
of philosophers, that one of their belt philofophers, in one of
his (belt) dialogues, ingenuoufly confeffes, that he is quite ig-
norant of the origin of many of the moft common words in
the language. Such is the word Jj\yp mentioned above, and
avail number of others, which he, with a true Attic fupercili-
ous air, allows to have been borrowed from the Barbarians.
True it is, thefe terms do derive their origin from the Scy-
thians, Thracians, Phrygian:, and Celts, whofc language ex-
iffed many awes before Athens was even a poor village. The
very mcancft of thefe people, whom he ftigmatifes with the
nunc of Barbarians, could have informed him of the origin of
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 27
tfeTwe, as well as of many others of which he owns himfelf
equally ignorant. After Plato, it is almoft needlefs to obferve,
that thofe who were far inferior to this Athenian in the know-
ledge of language, were (till more unfortunate in their explica-
tions. Let every page of Hefychius, Euftathius, Suidas, the
Etymologicon Magnum^ Tzetzes, Harpocation, and the whole
herd of their commentators and lexicographers, bear witnefs
to their ignorance, and account for the diigrace into which the
ufeful ftudy of Etymology has, by their means, fallen among
thofe who have ralhly concluded, that becaufe nothing good
was done by thefe Scioli in the profeffion, therefore nothing
better could be done. Let us leave this language of yefterday,
faid to be formed by philofophers, to the admiration of thofe
profound philofophers, who have told us, that, in certain
Iflands in the Eaftern Ocean, the human race have tails, and
whofe credulity can digeft the account the natives of Attica
gave of themfelves, pretending that they fprung, like mufli-
rooms, from the very foil on which they dwelt. All thefe
pretenders to the higheft antiquity, were outdone in Grecian
rhodomontade by the Arcadians, who afferted, that they inha-
bited their mountainous diflricTt long before the moon appear-
ed in the heavens.
We haften to return from a digreffion, which, we are
afraid, many of our learned readers will deem unnecefiary ;
though perhaps others may think, that the hints here thrown
out, concerning the Greek tongue, may help to loofen the
college-fetters of thofe, who, from their early youth, have been
accuftomed to look upon nothing as genuine and valuable, un-
lefs found in fome of the writers of claflic authority ; nor any
thing expreffed with elegance and propriety, unlefs written
in Greek. The chronological blunders of thofe, who are per-
petually deriving Scythian, Tartar, and Celtic words, from
D 2 z
28 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
a language which did not receive its prefent form, till many
centuries after the others were fpoken and cultivated, deferre
nothing but contempt.
We have faid that v<Pap comes from the primitive Celtic
A U, water, liquid. From the fame origin the Latins form-
ed udus, bumidus, bumeo, humor ; by ems, literally the feafon of
rains, concerning which, fee the nothings of Voffius, in
Humor and Hyerns. From the fame caufe the 'T<*<f*>
Hyades, derived their name. The primitive au was fome-
times pronounced oua ; whence Fr. eau, the Lat. aqua, and,
with the termination tcr, oudter, water.
Ver. 6. Azont. Beyond. A. S. begeond, begeondan.
The primitive is ga ge, to go, and on,- forward, or beyond the
place one flood in. Ulphila, ganga, to go or walk ; whence
our gang, gae, and gete, way, as in S. G. it is written ga. From
ga, written ha, the Greeks formed Ceteo, Canvcc, and all
their derivatives. The Englifh gad-about is from the fame
origin ; and Ihre explains the S. G. gadda, capita conferre,
ut folent novas res molientes. The fame idea is found in the
A.S.gaderian,gadran ; Bel. gaderin ; whence Engl. gather;
the Ger. gatten and ehegatten, married pair. Ulphila, Mark
3. V. jfafahgaiddjajitt mangeei, the people were gathered
together. Wherever in the Maefo Gothic we find the prefix
ga, it always denotes a gathering, or going together. So
gaftnthja, comitatur ; garanznans, vicini, from razn, a houfe *
gadailans, partaker, from dait, a part ; galhaiba, contubernales,
from illaibs, bread ; Alamm. caleibo, literally Eaters of the
fame bread, whence Ihre deduces Fr. eomfiagnon, companion.
The Ifl. kuon gaudur, married, is from the fame origin, as
Wachter rightly obferves, though Ihre does not approve of
this derivation.
Ver. 6. Ingle. This word is commonly derived from
ignis. In our language it denotes a fire on the hearth, or in
kilns
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. '29
My dochter's fhouthers he 'gan to clap,
And cadgily ranted and fang.
O
kilns and ovens, and is ufed by Douglas in many places. It
is likewife preferred in Cumberland, as Ray informs us.
Ver. 7. Clap. From the 111. and Goth, klappa, to clap
the hands. Dan. klappe. Belg. Happen, cloppen. This word
is plainly an onomatapaa, formed from the found made by clap-
ping the hands. Hence too was formed the Greek koaattco,
tuhdere. Whence Junius idly derives our word clip. The
fpeaking by the fingers was an art well known to the ancient
Iflanders, who called it clapruner, or letters formed by the
motion of the hands, vide Worm. Litt. Run. p. 41. The
watchmen in Holland carry a wooden iniTrument with two
leaves, which, by clapping together, produce a great noife ;
whence thefe night-guardians are called klappermen. In the
ancient Alammanick, the tongue of a bell is called clepel ;
whence our Scots word to clsp, or talk idly, repeating the
fame thing over and over. The Dutch ufe the verb Happen,
in the fame fenfe. Goth, klxk, infamy, difhonour ; klxknamn,
klxkord, opprobrious language, nicknames. The ingenious
and learned profeflbr Ihre takes klapa, with great probability,
from the primitive laf, the hand ; Suiogoth. lofa, lo/hva ;
Welch llaiu ; whence Scot. lufe, the palm of the hand ; and
the Latin vola ; Welch llcffi, dyloffi, to ftroke with the hand.
Hefych.
To llricke, from the fame origin, as alfo colaphus, and
alapa, Bar. Lat. eclaffa. In a charter of the year 1285,
" Si mulier det ei unum eclaffa> non debet bannum." Ca?ige
in voce.
Ver. 8. Cadgily. After the manner of the cadgers, or
thofe who carry about goods for fide in cages, by us called
creels,
3 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAR
II.
O Wow ! quo' he, war I as free,
As firft whan I faw this country,
How blythe and mirry wad I be !
And I wad never think lang.
He
creels, on horfes backs, who ufe to fing, in order to beguile
the tedioufnefs of the way. Prim, ca, cad, cap, any thing
made for containing, as we have already obferved. Some
think it comes from the Gael, cadhla I.
Ver. 8. Ranted. Made a noife. Prim. Hebr. ran, to
cry. Hence the Latin rana, a frog, and French grenouille,
its diminutive. From hence Gr. yepxvoc, which Stephanui
in Bifvvia explains t/xpo? Ca.Tfa,Xi 5 a ^ written yvpjvo;,
yzpivo;, as Euftathius obferves.
STANZA II.
Ver. i. Wonv Interjection, from Ger. iveb, alas; Ifl.
war la, with difficulty ; Snorro, Tom. 2. P. 102. Siva war la
feck. Bratit ut aegre dirui poffit ; written alfo valla, verkunna,
to have pity; and S. G. ivar&unna, id. Douglas p. J58.
27.
" Ut on the wandrand fpreits iveiv thou cryis."
Ver. 3. Blytb.Ghd. A. S. blythe; Belg. bly, id. Ul-
phila bleiths, pitiful. Lucke 6. 36. 'Jab Atta ifivara bleiths
ifl, as your father is merciful. In the A. S. it denotes ?neek,
placid, fimple ; Ifl. bluther, blttdur, bland, affable. Hence
the A. S. blitbfan, bletfian, rejoice ; whence our blefs. In
Douglas it is written blyith.
Ver. 5.
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 31
He grew canty, and fcho grew fain ;
But little did her auld minny ken
What
Ver. 5. Canty. Cheerful Belg. hantig, merry. Esn
cantiger karl, a gamefome fellow ; and, as cheerfulnefs attends
good health, the Chefhire-man fays, very cant, God yield you,
i. e. very ftrong and lufty. To cant too, is ufed for recover-
ing or growing better ; Yorkfliire, A health to the goodwife
canting, recovery after child-bearing. Douglas, cant, merry,
cheerful ; cant, the language of gypfies, vid. Spelm. in Egyp-
tiani. Gaelic, caint, difcourfe ; canteach, full of talk. From
this Celtic origin comes Lat. cano, to ling ; Fr. ckanfon,
chanter, Sec. Lat. occento, de qua voce vide Fed. It would
have fared Voffius much labour, had he known the true
Etymon.
Ver. 5. Fain. Full of wiflies. Douglas writes h fane,
glad ; Ulphila faginon, id. Ifl. fiigin ; A. S. ivxgn, fagn.
Ulphila thus tranflates the Angel's falutation of Mary, Luke
1. xxviii. Fagino anjiaiaud ahafta, "Rejoice, thou full of
f grace ;" correfponding exactly to the Gr. v/fg / 10.. Jog-
nudur, joy.
Ver. 6. Minny mother. This word belongs to the In-
fantine Lexicon, being ufed by very young children to their
mothers. The prim, is min, little, beautiful, pleafant. Hence
Goth, ininna, to love ; Alamm. minnon ; Fr. miguan, and
viignard. From hence mama ; Sect, mamy ; Fr. maman ;
Goth, mamma ; *' vox" (fays Ihre) " qua blandientcs in~
f* /antes matre.ni compel/ant." Welch mam ; Armor, mam-
tvaeth, a nurfe. Gr. Woijua- Avia. Helladius (apud Phot,
in Eibl.) informs us, that in ancient Greece the mothers
were called irtLirirai. Confer Cange in Glofi. Graec. who
alfo obferves that, in the middle Latinity, the pap was callecj.
mamma ; and hence comes Fr. mammelle. Pelletier, in Lexi-
co
3 z THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
What thir flee twa togidder war fayen,
Whan wooing they war fae thrang,
III.
And O ! quo' he, ann zee war as black,
As evir the crown o 5 your daddy's hat,
'Tis
co Brit. p. 570, juftly obferves, ** Ce mot eft peutetre un des
" plus anciens du monde, car c'eft apres les cris, la premiere
?* ouverture de la bouche du petit enfant, a qui la nature dicle,
" qu'il a befoin de nourriture, qu'il ne peut recevoir que de
1* la mammelle, de celle qui lui a donne la vie." The Hebr.
em fignifies mother. From the Prim, min, little, is formed
the Lat. minor, (the or being the mark of comparifon), and
minimus. When we come to the Eighth Stanza of this Ballad,
we (hall explain the connection betwixt this and luinfome.
Ver. 2. Wooing. A. S. ivsgere, lover, whence our woo-
er. It has been thought, and with probability, that this word
was formed from the cooing of the dove, as Douglas fays, p.
404. 27.
I mene our awin native bird, gentil Dow,
Singand on hir kynde, J come bidder to tvoc,
So prikking her grene curage for to crowde
In amorus voce, and ivoivar foundis lowde.
This is, at leaft, a better conjecture than that of Junius,
who deduces it from *woe. The A. S. ivogan, fign. to
marry.
STANZA III.
Ver. 2. Daddy. Engl, dad, father. The prim, is da,
di, every thing elevated in dignity and power, and being
denote
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 33
formed by a ftrong preffure of the tongue againft the teeth, it
comes to be a part of the child's firfl language, addrefling him
whom he is taught to look up to with reverence. Hence this
radical word has given rife, in every language, to thofe which
denote elevation. Such is the Celtic Di, God, the Supreme:
Being ; dun, a hill ; dome, dum, din, a judge. Hence too
the Gr. JWetoif, J\vi>.ut<, power ; and the Lat. dominus,
dominatio ; the Greek d.u&w, to tame, /'. e. bring into fub-
jection ; our dame, miftrefs.
In many dialects the d is changed into /, and mod often,
in thofe fpoken in the North, though we alfo find it in the
Weft, as in the Lat. totus, (totality ; Fr. tajfer, entajfer, to
heap up. Ta, tata, father. From the idea of fatherly protec-
tion, were formed di, ti, prince or prote&or ; and the Lat.
tego, tettum, whence the Engl, protecl, pro-tec-tion ; and
many more.
We mail here collect a few more infantine words, plainly de-
rived from the ftructure of the vocal organs, and the mod eafy
movements of their feveral parts. Such are,pappa, mamma, dad,
atta ; Fr. ban ; bobo, bibbi, puppet ; Fr. poupee ; bufs. Thus
Cato, de Lib. Educand. talking of this part of language, " cum
" cibum et potum, buas et papas, vocent ; matremq ; maman,
" patrem, papam." We may add to thefe, pap, baba, and even
the ancient (lory of the word bek, pronounced by two chil-
dren educated by Pfammytichus king of Egypt, remote from
all commerce with mankind, as Herodotus informs us. Con-
fer. Prefident de Broffe's Mechanifm du Language, torn. 1 . p.
231. feqq. To evince the univerfality of this truth, we
might cite the Hebr. phe, and Chald. phum, mouth. Whence
the fari of the Latins; the Hebr. phar, ox par, ornament.
Whence Latin paro, and Fr. parer, parure ; Hebr. pitiful,
herbage. Whence the Lat. puis ; the Gr. Coc:, and 6Wxs ,
to feed; dfet, meat; Lat. voro, devoro, and our devour',
E Cct:o(,
34 THE GABERLUNZ IE-MAN.
'Tis I wad lay thee be me bak,
And awa \vi* thee I'd gang.
And
Caux, little; and the Ital. bambino; the Hebr. bag, nourifh-
fnent, from the Prim* bek ; from which is derived the Teuton,
and Ger. bccken, a baker ; Babble, Ger. babbelen.
But how happen all thefe coincidencies ? To this vain que-
ftion we will only anfvver, in the words of the learned Prefi-
dent lalt quoted, " L' hcmme parle, parceque Dieu Pa
" cree etre far/ant." The vocal organs are conftructed a-
like in every tribe of mankind, and all children pronounce
thofe founds raft, which are mod eafily formed by the mo-
tions of thefe wonderful inftruments. The founds they vary,
and multiply, in proportion as practice makes them better ac-
quainted with the organic powers, and more ready in the ap-
plication of them. For the fame reafon, too, we find all the
radical words in every tongue we are acquainted with, to be
vionofyllabks, thefe being the firfl effays of man in ufing the
vocal organs.
To the lift of languages, in which dad, tat, fignifiesy^-
ther, let us add the Gael, daid ; "Welch dad; Cornifli tad;
and Armorick tat.
Verfe 4. u4tua~\ Engl, anvay ; A. S. an ixaege, from
nuag, away. Douglafs, p. 124. 1. 4.
" And the felf hour mycht haif tane us <7w<?."
Gang~\ From gae, to go. This is an in fiance where
our fouthern neighbours have vitiated the true old pronounci-
ation. The primitive letter G, being a guttural, is therefore
painted in all the ancient alphabets like the neck of a camel, or
with a remarkable bending in its figure, as in the Gr. r ; the
Hcbr.
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 35
Hebr. JJ. Hence it neceiTarily denotes every thing in the form
of canal or throat, and every thing that runs or pafies fwiftly.
We hope to produce many examples of this in our Scoto-
Gothic Glofiary. Mean while, we only obferve the likenefs
in the following inftances. Ulphila fays gaggan, to go ; and
gagg, a ftreet or road. Though this word occurs very often hi
the Codex Argenteus ; yet Junius has omitted it in his learn-
ed gloffary on Ulphila's verfion of the Gofpels. Ger. gechen ;
Belg. gaen ; Dan. gaa. From hence comes the Lat. eo,
without the G ; and the Gr. x-//c Plato (in Cratylo, P.
281, Fie.) owns that k-i&v is a barbaric term. The other
correfponding word iu, is undoubtedly Celtic ; and here Vof-
fius (in eo) (tops, being quite ignorant of the primitive word,
and that no true radical term has ever more than one fyllable.
Ihre's deep refearches into ancient languages enabled him to
difcover this truth ; " Lingua" (fays he, Glofs. Vol. I. Col.
646.) " quo antiquior, ea monofyllabicarum vocum ditior
" eft." Pity this very ingenious Etymologift had not carried
this obfervation more into practice. The Armor, for ga, fay
kea, ker. The Goths call rogation days, gandagar ; literally,
walking days, from the proceffions that then were ufually made
round the corn-fields, during the darknefs of popery. Ihre
juftly terms thefe ambarvalia chrijliana. Rolf, the firl't who
led the Scandinavians into Normandy, being a man of great
ilature, could find no horfe ftrong enough to carry him. Be-
ing therefore always obliged to march on foot, from that cir-
cumstance he was furnamed Ganga Hrolf, by the Iflandic hi-
ftorians. Ganoare, in the old Gothic laws, is " equus tolu-
" tarius qui tolutim incedit." In one of the refcripts of King
Magnus, anno. 1345, the bridegroom fends to his future
fpoufe, en gangare fadul, betzil, armakapo, och kaia, a horfe,
faddle, bridle, cloak, and head-drefs. Money of allowed
currency is called gangfe i and gang jam, hinges ; and hence
E 3 the
36 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
And O ! quo' fho, ann I war as whyte
As er the fnaw lay on the dyke,
I'd
the Fr. gond. Perhaps our old word ganze, in Douglafs, a
dart, or arrow, comes from the Prim, g a, p. 461. 48.
" So thyk the ganzies and the flanys flew."
And p. 343. 46.
" Als fwift as ganze or fedderit arrow fleis."
Ver. 6. Snami] Snow ; another inftance of the Englim
perverfion of our ancient language. Ulph. fnaiivs ; A. S.
fnaiv ; Allam. fne ; Ifl. fnior ; Swed. fnio ; Prim, aiu ;
water, ever foft and flowing gently. Hence Gr. vetuetv ;
Hefich. va.v&, 'fie, CfuetH, fluit, manat ; A. S. fninuan, to
fnow. How ridiculous are Junius, and the other lexico-
graphers, who deduce our word from the Greek ? Surely our
anceflors had feen fnow long before they faw Greece. The
ancient Goths were fond of prefixing f to many of their
words ; and hence the Prim, anv, water, became with them
fnaiu ; Sclavon. fneg ; Pol. fnieg. When the f is taken
away,, it became niv with the Latins, and neve with the
Italians; fo the Gr. v/p*<, denotes a thick falling fnow.
Dyke"] This has been prepofteroufly derived from
Tt/vo<, a wall. The true primitive is the Celtic digb,
folid, ftrong, powerful ; applied particularly to every rampart,
whether to keep off enemies, beads, or inundations. Hence
the myji of the Greeks ; Ger. teich ; Belg. dyke ; French
digue ; the Ger. dick, folid ; whence our word thick. The
other German word dight, fign. folid, connected; A. S. die,
rampart ; dician, gedician, to build a rampart. Hence our
ditch %
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 37
I'd cleid me braw and lady like,
And awa wi* thee lid gang.
IV.
ditch ; A. S. diker, a ditcher ; the Gr. iki\> t, a fpade ;
cT/^sAA/Tf, a digger, one who ufes the fpade.
Ver. 7. Cleid] Engl, clothe. Our claith is the true
pronunciation, not the Englifh cloath, our word being im-
mediately formed from the Goth, klaede, clothing, and klaeda,
to clothe. Prim, kla kle, covering ; A. S. clath. Obferve,
that the ancient Scandinavians faid, Eff par kinder, a pair of
garments, for a complete fuit of clothes ; the one formed the
breeches, and the troja, or vert, the other. The old Teutonic
Verfion of the Gofpels (app. Ihre, vol. 1. col. 1076.) Luke
xv. ver. 22. " Hemtin mile fram thet bafta par klccder jak
" hafwer ;" Bring forth a pair of the belt garments I have.
Chron. Ryth. p. 121. " Eff hpfweligt ors, ok kinder ett
" par;" An excellent horfe, and a pair of garments.
The Iflanders pronounce it klxde ; the Germans kleide y
arm ; arm klade, a fcarf worn on the arm ; Jaga klader t a
monk's gown.
Braiu~\ Handfomely, elegantly. Prim. Celt. bra t
flrength, might, elegance ; every thing having thefe
qualities. Goth. braf y honeft ; Scot, bravery, fumptuous
apparel. In the Bas Bret, braiv, arm, id. Hence the
Fr. and our brave ; Ital. bravo. Hence too the Goth, brace.
a hero, and Brage, the name of one of the companions of
Odid, of whom Edda, Agietus ad Spatki, &c. He was very
elegant, and wife, and a great poet ; fo that from him all per-
fons, both men and women, who excelled in thefe arts, were
called Bragmadur. From the fame fource the bragebxkare,
or large cup, drunk off by the new King, juft before he a-
fcended
k n o v o
%J \J V ! ) O
3 8 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
IV.
Between the twa was made a plot,
They raife a wee befor the cock,
And
fcended the throne, while he folemnly vowed to atchieve fome
great deed in arras, of which many inflances occur in Snorro,
and the other hiflorians of the North. This ceremony gave
rife to the ufage, according to which the knights, in ancient
times, made vows of the fame kind at their folemn banquets.
The learned and accurate Annalift, to whom Scotland owes
the elucidation of many historical difficulties, obferves (ad an.
1306) that Edward made a vow after this form, by which
he bound himfelf to punilh Robert Bruce. See alfo St Palaye
Mem. De l'ancienne cheval. torn. 1. p. 184, and 244.
STANZA IV.
Ver. i. T<wa~] Ger. twee ; A. S. twa ; Welch dau,
dwy ; Armor, du ; Cimber. tu ; Sued, twa ; Celt. id.
Whence Gr. e/W, and Lat. duo. Hence our twin; Dan.
twilninger ; A lam. zuinlinge ; A. S. getwinn. Douglas
calls ftieep of two years old twinleris, p. 130, v. 34.
" Fyfe twinleris Britnyt he, as was the gyis."
Confer page 202, ver. 1 6. as being two winters, i. e. two years
old ; Ulphila twai, two. Hence to twinne, ufed both in
Scotland
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 39
And wylily they fliot the lock,
And fall to the bent ar they gane.
Up-
Scotland and England to fignify, to feparate, divide into two
parts. Chaucer, 1. 518.
c The life out of her body for to twyne."
Pard. Prol. 167:
" He muft ytwin
" Out of that place."
Ver. 2. Wee] Little. This is an infantine word, de-
noting every thing little. Ger. nvenig. Hence our nvean,
i. e. nvee-ane, a little child. Of the fame family, as I con-
jecture, is the word <weaena, which the learned Lord Hailes
fhewed me in an Englifh book, where it denoted a Jimpleton,
or unlearned man ; little of underftanding, as the Dutch (till
fay, Klein van verflanda.
Ver. 3. Wylily] Cunningly. A. S. wile, whence our
guile, the W being often changed for G. Belg. gylen, and in
the Lower Germany they fay begigeln, to beguile. Dan. ad-
nvilla, to deceive. Ifl. viel, deception ; hence Wil!urunnur t
Runas deceptrices. Sax. Chron. ad an. 1128, Tburh his
micele ivilet, " Through his many wiles, or tricks." In a
church-yard in Scotland are the following lines on the tomb-
ftone of a Magiftrate :
" He was baith wyss and nvyly,
" For which the town made him a bailey."
Under-
4o THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
Upon the morn the auld wyf raife,
And at her leifure pat on her claife,
Syne to the fervants bed fcho gaes,
To fpeir for the filly poor man.
V.
Under- waiftcoat is by Douglas called the ivylie-coat, p. 201
v. 40.
" In doubill garment cled, and ivy/e-cot."
As this inner-veft (fays Ruddiman) cunningly, or hiddenly,
keeps us warm.
Ver. 4. Bent] Properly a marfhy place, producing the
coarfe grafs called bent, from its fmall limber italic eafily bent,
fays Minihew ; but may it not be rather derived from ben, a
hill, as this coarfe grafs is common on the fides of hills, and
on the rifing ground on the fea-fhore, or fandy hillocks, in
Scotland ? In Gaelic ban fignifies wild or wafte ground, on
which this fpecies of grafs is generally found.
Ver. 6. Claife] Vide Note to Stanza III. Ver. 7.
Ver. 7. Syne~\ Afterwards, then. Douglas writes fen,
p. 1 00, v. 1.
" Sen the deceis of my forry hufband."
Senfyne, fince that time, id. p. 44, v. 26.
" Se?ifyne has ever mair
Backwart of grekis the hope went."
Teuton. G.fyn zn&Jtndes, whence our Ji/ice. Alam. ejnzen;
and Otfrid, Lib. 3. cap. 26. findes.
Joh tharbetin xh.zsjindes,
Their heiminges.
And
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 41
" And were deprived of their country from that time." Ul-
phila, Luke 17. v. 4. Sintham. Ubi confer Jun. Suio-Goth.
naganfinn, and more fhortly nanfin ; nanfiin, fometimes ;
hmatfin, how often ; finnam ohftnnom, by degrees, gradual-
ly. Whence the Lat. fenfim, underftood by none of their
Lexicographers.
As particles in general form a difficult part of language, a
philofophical enquiry into the origin of thefe might highly
deferve the attention of the critic. It is thought that many
of them, being monofllables, will be found to be radical
'words. Such are, Engl, if; Scot, giff ; A. S. gif, gyf; Gr.
2/, enlarged by compafition to g/xt5, and g/xtj; and many
others might be named. To derive if from gif, as fome have
done, is ridiculous, and fhews that fome writers will rather
adopt the mod futile conjectures, than ingenioufly confefs their
ignorance. The limits we have prefcrib'd ourfelves in thefe
notes, do not permit us to enlarge on this at prefent.
Ver. 8. Speir~\ Prim, is pa ft, the mouth. Hence
fpeech ; Gtrm. fpuren, to enquire. The learned and ingenious
Mr Gebelin, to whom we confefs ourfelves indebted for the
only rational principles of Etymology we have feen, in hi*
Monde Primitive, torn. 5. p. 790, has fhewn, that the P.,
in all the ancient alphabets, figures the mouth opened, viewed
in profile ; and, by necefTary confequence, all the actions of
that organ, as fpeaking, eating, drinking, Etc. And this pofi
tion he has evinced to demonstration, by innumerable ex-
amples. We confine ourfelves here to what regards the word
fpeir. We have already obferved, that the general meaning
relates to fpeech ; LtHt.fari ; Fr. pa-rlsr, fa-ribole, vain and
idle talking. Afterwards it was ufed in the North for nvif-
dom, prudence. Hence Ifl. fpakr, a wife man ; in Goth.
fpak, the fame ; fpakum honda, a prudent man ; Ifl. fpakmxle,
the fayings of the wife ; Alam. fpaker, and fpeke, wifdom.
F Tatian,
42 THE GAB ERLUNZ IE-MAN.
V.
She gaed to the bed whar the beggar lay,
The ftrae was cauld, he was away ;
She
Tatian, cap. 12. Fol fpahidih full of wifdom. Id. fpeja, to
fpeculate, or confider. In reftxicTing the general meaning, it
came to fignify only, to divine, prophecy. 111. fpa, to pro-
phecy ; whence our fpae, to foretell future events. From
this the Latins have formed fpecio, aufpex, arufpsx, and the
like. Douglas, p. 101. 50 :
" O welaway, otfpaimen and divines
" The blind myndis."
And p. 80. 26 :
" The harpie Celena
" Spais unto us an fereful takin of wo."
The Volujpa, containing the theology of the Scandinavians,
has its name from thence, and literally Ggnifies a poem art-
fully contrived, or nvith much tvifdom, compounded of ivola,
'wool, art, and fpa, poem or fpeech. Hence Ifl. nvolundr,
artificer ; and wolundarhus, a labyrinth.
STANZA V.
Ver. 2. Strae~\ ILngLjlraw ; A. S.J]reo-iv, jlreiv ; AI.
kijlreienjo, to ftraw ; Masfo-Goth. Jiraiuan ; A. S. flreaiuian.
The chamber fum'Jhed in Mark xivr 15. is called in Gr.
H7f6>y.tvoi, aKd by Ulphila gaftraix.-ith. The ancients not
only
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 43
Scho clapt her hands, cry'd, dulefu-day i
For fome o* our gier will be gane.
Sume
only filled their beds with flraw, but on folemn days the
floors were covered with it ; and we remember to have read,
that Queen Elizabeth's ftate-rooms were ftrawed with green
grafs or hay. It was alfo a part of the holding of feveral
manors, both in England and Scotland, to furnifh flraw for
the Royal apartments, when the King made a progrefs. In
the Scandinavian writings, the flraw ufed at the feftival of
Tule, was called Ialhahn, vide Ihre in V. So in Olaf 's
Trygt-xas. Saga, p. 1. p. 204. it is faid of Thorleif, See/} ban
iiither utarliga utarjiga i halmin, He fat down on the
furthefl part of the flraw. Snorro tells us, torn. I. p. 403.
that when Olaf, fon of Harald, came to fee - his mother,
'Tnveir karlar, baro halmin i golfid, Two fervants brought flraw
into the apartments ; and, in the Hiftory of Alf, p. 41. one of
the Princes in the Court of King Hior, Their voru i balmi-
num nldur a golfinu, They fat on the. ground on the flraw.
It would appear, that this was commonly done in winter ;
for the fame reafon we ufe carpets to keep the feet warm :
for, it is remarked of Olaf Kyrra, that he had his apartments
covered with flraw, winter and fummer ; ban let giorajlragoljf
urn vetur, fern umfumur. The fame mode was obferved in
France. In a charter of the year 1 271 (ap. Cange in jfonchare)
'* Item debet et tenetur di&us Raulinus pro pradiclis, Jon-
" chare domum D. Epifcopi quando necefTe eft." Vide id. in
Junkus. Confer Spelm. in Strajlura.
Ver. 4. Gier, or gear~\ Clothes, furniture, riches. To
what has been faid in the preface of this word, and in the
rotes to Stan. 4. ver. 5. we have little to add. The prim, is
F 2 Cxi;
44 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
Sume ran to coffers, and fume to kills,
But nought was flown that cou'd be mift ;
She
Ge ; Gr. yu, the earth ; fource of all our riches. Hence
ufed by the Scots indifcriminately, to fignify every thing we
value, goods, tools, apparel, armour. So Douglafs fays,
graithed in his gear, armed at all points. Gear, in fome of
our old poets, is ufed for the membra viri genitalia. A. S.
gyrian, to clothe. Caedmon, 23.7. gyred ivtxdum, put on
his weeds or garments.
Ver. 5. Kijls~\ Engl, chefts. The primitive of this is
found in the form of the letter c, (for which the northern
diale&s generally ufe the A) fignifying every hollow, like the
hollow of the hand ; as cavus, cavea ; Gr. ko/A'? ; cavity,
cave, &c. This obtains in every language, as we mail prove
at fome length in our Scoto-Gothic GlofTary. With refpect
to this word, we formed it from Goth, kifta, a chefl: ; whence
kijlafte, precious goods which are kept in kifts ; 111. kiftu ;
Welch cift, cyjl ; Ger. kajlen ; Fr. caijje ; Gr. x/<tm ; Lat.
cifta, the origin of which fimple word is not to be found in
the many Greek and Latin Dictionaries we have. Hence
too cijlerna, ouf ciflern. The etymon of this word by Feftus
is too curious to be omitted ; cijlerna difta eft, quod cis inejl
infra terram. Such are the reveries produced by ignorance
of firfl: principles. We add further, that the Perfians call a
chefl, or kijl, cajlr. In the north it fignifies a prifon where
thieves are confined ; teif kifta. The Latins ufed a fimilar
phrafe, In arcam conjici, vid. Cic. pro Milone, cap. 22. The
Iflanders call a coffin leikijlu, as we alfo do, and the Anglo-
Saxons. Luke 7. 14. lha cyjle cethran, He touched the
coffin.
Ver
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 4$
She dancid her lane, cry'd, Praife be bleft !
I have ludg'd a leil poor man.
VI.
Ver. 6. Stonuri} Engl- fiolen ; Prim. Jiill, tacitly, hid-
denly ; Goth. Jlilan ; A. S.felan ; Swed. ftiala, to (teal ;
Tueton. fille, quiet, fecret. Hence our Scots foivth, deal-
ing, which we find applied to amorous pleasures, as being fe-
cret, by Douglafs, p. 4.02. 52.
" Hys mery foivth, and paftyme kit ziflrene.' r
So the Latins, Veneris farta. Stiala is ufed by the North-
erns in the fame fenfe as we fay, to Jieal away ; iojiiala fig
hort ; and komma fialandes uppa en, to come privately upon
one. They alfo ufe it to denote hiding, concealing, the mean-
ing of the primitive. Hift. Alex. M. Apud Ihre, v. 2. 267.
Jordan kan eij gullit fiua Jliala.
The earth cannot fo hide the gold.
Ulphila's hliftus fignifies a thief, from hliftan, to hide.
Hence our Scots to lift, to Ileal. From the primitive
fill is the Gr. ritKct{Sat> to hide ; and the Lat. cslo,
the f being often added in the Scythian words ; as
frafwa, for rofwa, fpoliare ; fracha, for racka, tendsre,
sV. The Iflandic fiarlare is a thief, afealer; and hence
the Latin jlellio, ftellionatus, flellatura, occult fraud, as the
ingenious Ihre has juftly obferved, and thereby unfolded the
true etymon, about which all the Latin Lexicographers were
puzzled.
Ver. 7. Praife he hleff\ God be praifed. This is a
common form ftill in Scotland with fuch as, from reverence,
decline to ufe the facred name.
Ver,
46 THE GABERLUNZ IE-MAN.
VI.
Since nathing's awa, as we can learn,
The kirn's to kirn, and milk to earn,
Gae
Ver. 8. Leif} Loyal, honeft, truly. Dougl. p. 86. 46.
" The ceremonies lcil y i. e. holy ceremonies."
And p. 43. 20.
" -by the faith unfylit, and the hie lawte."
STANZA VI.
Ver. 1. Aiva~\ Engl. away. Angl. Sax. an tvsge,
from ixjitg, a way. Dougl. p. 124. 4.
" And the felf hour mycht haif tane us a<wa."
Ver. 2. Kirn\ Churn. This is the fame with the
Ger. and Scot. quern, a hand-mill for grinding corn, butter
being produced by the continued action of turning round. In
the A. S. quearn, or cwyrn ; Dan. kandquern, hand-mill. The
prim, is gur, kyr, anything circular ; Arab, kur, a round tow-
er ; ma-kur, a turban ; Hebr. gur, to afiemblc ; and ha-gur,
a belt ; Ifland. gyrta ; whence our girth, and the verb to
gird. Hence too Gr. yvo-of ; Lat. gyrus, and girare. The
Fr. ceinture, and our girdle are from the fame root, and the
Gaelic cor, whence cord ; Ger. gurt, a belt ; and gur ten, to
gird about ; Welch gnvyr, bent ; Bas. Bret, gotirifa, to be-
gird ; Bafq. gur, around ; girata, to roll about ; gurcilla,
chariot wheel ; guiroa, the feafons, /'. e. the revolutions of the
heavens. The Gr. Kv\f]c<, vaulted, and y.ifx.o?, round, have
the fame origin ; alfo 'iyo&, a place of public afTembly where
the
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 47
Gae butt the houfe, lafs, and waken my bairn 3
And bid her come quickly ben.
The
the people flood round the orators. In Varro we find the an -
cient Latin guro, to make round ; and the common words,
circus, circulus, circum, circuitus, and many more, all dedu-
ced from the fame root. The gier-falcon has its name from
the circular flight he makes ; and the Ger. kurbis, a gourd ;
and the Lat. cu-cur-bita, cucumber ; Gr. fopvyoe, a quiver.
It were eafy to add ten times this number of words, all taking
their origin from gyr ; but we only further mention gir,
the Scots name for the hoop the boys drive before them with
a rod along the ftreets.
Our pronoun ciation of this word kirn, is more correct than
that of the Englifh ; for the Gothic verb is kernais x to churn ;
Fenn. kirnun ; and the churn itfelf is called in Eflhonia kir-
nu, and in Iceland kemuafk. The round Tower of Stock-
holm is called Keerna by the ancient writers, as the~ learned
Ihre informs us (GlofT. vol. 2. p. 1057.) to which we only
add, that the Gr. Ktfi'tta mifceo, has the fame origin, though
it has not been obferved by Junius, or any other.
Ver. 2. Eam~\ To thicken or curdle milk. Ger. gerin-
nan, to coagulate. The root is only found in the Armorick,
in which language go fign. fermentation ; goi, to ferment.
Hence the Goth, gora, effervefcere ; drinkat gorej, the ale
ferments, or works ; Ger. gcerung, effervefcence ; and the
Swed. gorning, whence our earning, rennet.
Ver. 3. Butt~\ From Belg. buyten, without; oppofed to
linnen, within. Thus Douglas ufes it, p. J23. 40.
*' In furious flambe kendlit, and birnand fchire,
{* Spredant fra thak to thak, baith butt and ben."
The
48 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
The primitive is found in the Goth .bur-bo, habitation ; An-
cient Goth, bua-bu, to inhabit ; whence bur, and Ifl. byr and
hycht, habitation. A. S. bur, a chamber ; and Ray fays,
that in the North of England it is frill pronounced boor, and
bor. Swed. burtont, floor of the houfe ; iungfrubur, apart-
ment where the daughters of the family fleep ; fivfior, o/x//,
habitation. From the Goth, byr, we form byre, a cow-houfe.
This primitive is alfo found in the Hebr. beth, and Perf. /
hat, a houfe ; Teuton, bod, whence the Engl, abode ; Gael.
b<wth, bottega, a fhop ; Fr. boutigue. That part of Edin-
burgh where the merchants have their (hops, is called Lucken-
hooths, rather Lockenbotks, from the booths, or fhops, being
locked up at night.
Ver. 3. Waken] To a- wake. Prim, ivak, watch. Hence
Ulph. vakan, to awaken ; vaknandans, vigilantes. All
the Nothern dialects ufe this word. Goth, and Ifl. ivaka ;
Ger. watckten ; Alam. uuachan. The Goths fay alfo nvak-
na, to watch ; Ifl. wekia, watch, and Goth. wabt, id. Ul-
phila fays, wahtus ; Alam. uuaht ; B. Eat. wacla, cap. 3.
an. 8T3. c. 34. " Si quis wa&am aut wardam demiferit."
Vide Cange in Watt*. Hence in our old Scots Laws, to
watch and ward, duty of citizens to defend their town, and
for which they often obtained lingular privileges from the
Crown. Waflar, a watchman : It fignifics alfo to beware ;
Wacla Jig for en, to be upon one's guard. From this, too,
come the Lat. vigilo, vlgilium ; the Fr. guetter, and garder,
our guard. The waiting a dead body before interment, is called
in Sued, wahjluga. Hence our phrafe to wake a corffe, and
Itikwake, compounded of the two words Goth, leik, a dead
body, and wakna, to watch.
Bairn'] Child. Prim. Gael, bar; A. S. beam; Alam.
barn. Hence comes Gaelic beirn, and Goth, baera, both
fignifying to bear. We find our primitive in the Hebr. Bar,
Creator,
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 49
The fervant gaed quhar the dochter lay,
The fheits war cauld, fcho was away,
And
Creator, and Bara, creare. In the fragment of Sanchonia-
thon, Beruth, or Berut, is called the fpoufe of El-ion, or the
Moft High, becaufe God alone creates ; and hence allegori-
cally Creation is called the Jpouf of God. In the Syriac, bar
fignifies a fon. We fay bairn-team, brood of children, from
the Saxon team, progeny ; hence a teeming- woman. In our
old poets, bairn is often ufed to fignify a full-grown man.
So Douglas, p. 244. 33.
" Cum furth quhat e'er thou be, berne bald."
And elfewhere :
" And that awfull berne,
'* Berying fchaftis fedderit with plumes of the erne."
The fame author ufes barnage for an army, or troop of war-
riors ; but Mr Ruddiman was far miftaken in deriving it from
the Lat. baro. We find the ancient Engliih poets ufed child
in the fame fenfe. See the ballad of the Child of Elle, in
Percy's Colleftion, vol. 1. page 107.
" And yonder lives the childe of Elle,
" A young and comely knight."
Vide ibid. p. 44. where two knights are called children.
Ver. 4. Ben] The oppofite of butt, in the former verfe,
fignifying the inner-part of the houfe. From the Dutch
binnen, within, oppofed to buyten, without ; A. S. buta and
binnen, butt and ben.
Ver. j. Gaed] Vide Note to Stanza I. Ver. 6.
G Dochter]
5 o THE G.ABERLUNZIE-MAN,
And faft to her gudewife 'gan fay,
Scho's aff wit the Gaberlunzie-man.
VII.
G fy gar ride, and fy gar rin,
And hafle ye find thefe traiters agen :
For
Docbter] Engl, daughter; Ulph. dauhtar. We here
obfcrve how clofely our fpelling agrees with the Anglo-
Saxon, in which it is wrote dohter, dobtor, and dsbtur ;
Alam. dohtor, dohter, and thohter ; Belg. dochter. The Gr.
Qvyo.-ruf has a manifeft affinity to all thefe.
Ver. 6. Cauld~\ Another inftance of our. care in follow-
ing the original orthography. Ulphiia writes, calds ; AS.
teald ; 111. kaldur and kulde ; Alam. kalt ; Dan. kuld ; all
fignifying cold.
Ver. 7. Fajf\ Quick or fwift. Prim. Welch f.cji, agile,
hafly. This is a quite different word from the Englifh _/??/?,
fixed or liable, which comes from the Masfo-Gothic fajian,
to keep or hold faft.
'Gan~\ For gan, began ; and thus Douglas elfcwhere ufes
it, as well as our more ancient poets.
Ver. 8. 4ff~\ Off; but all the other Northern dialers
write this word with an a. Ulph. af; Dan. aff; Belg. af.
The Lat. ab, and the Gr. *t< , are quite fimilar, efpecially
when we obfcrve that the Greek word, before another begin-
ning with an afpirate, is written e.
STANZA VII.
Ver. 1. Fy~\ Fy upon. Prim. Welch fy, and hei*
whence hiadd, abominable; Ift.fue, rotttnnefs ; Belg. foey ;
hence
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 51
hence the Lat. vah, Ital. vah, Yr.fi. The Gr. <s iV is by the
Grammarians called i>wt) j^tf/war/xtf* Vox ejus qui fe in-
digna pati conqueritur. In old Englilh this particle always
denotes aver/ion. Chaucer, La. Prol. v. 80.
" Of fuch curfed (lories I fayjfc."
And N. P. T. v. 73.
" Fie {linking fwine! fie foul mote the befall. "
From hence the Scots formed Fyle, to foul ; and the Engl.
Defile. We alfo fay Fych, on feeling a bad fmell, or feeing
any dirty object, from the Celt, each, kakoa, and caffo,
(linking. Hence our kakie, ventrem exonerare. From
this origin, too, comes the old French appellation cagots>
cacous, cak-etj, given to lepers, who being confidered as -a-
bominable, were (hut out from all fociety in the middle ages.
Thefe miferable wretches were found in great numbers about
the 1 2th and 14th centuries, fpread over Gafcony, Beam,
and the two Navarres, on both (ides the Pyrenean mountains.
Thefe were not allowed to trafRck with their fellow citizens ;
had a feparate dcjr to enter into the churches, and a holy
water-font, which they only ufed ; were forbid the ufe of
arms ; nay, fuch was the univerfal horror of mankind again'l
them, that the States of Berne, anno 1460, applied for an
order to prohibit their walking the ftreets bare-footed, led'
others might catch the infection, and to oblige them to
wear on their garments the figure of a goofe's foot,
which, it would appear, they had neglected to do for
many years pad. In the ancient For. de Navarre, compiled
about the year 1074, we ^ ee them called Gaffes and
Cakets at Bourdeaux. We find, among the Laws of the
Dukes of Brittany, anno 1474 and 1475, orders given, that
G 2 none
52 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
none of the Cacoji-caquets, or Cacos, mould appear without
a bit of red cloth fewed on the outer-garment. They were
forbid even to cultivate any land but their gardens, and were
confined to the fingle trade of carpenters. Bullet {Diftion.
Celt.) gives the following account of the rife of the public
hatred againft thefe poor people : " Cacous (fays he)
Noni que les Bas Brettons donnent par injure aux Cordiers et
aux Tonneliers, contre lefquelles le menu peuple eft fi prevenu,
qu'ils om befoign de 1'autorite du Parlement de Bretagne
pour avoir le fepulture, et la liberte de faire les fon&ions du
Chriftianifme avec les autres, parce qu'ils font crus fans
raifon, defcendre des Juifs difperfes apres la ruine de Jerufa-
lem, et qu'ilr paflent pour lepreux de race. Les Cacous font
nommes cacqueux dans un arret du Parlement du Bretagne."
Here we have a people, living in the moft deplorable ftate of
ilavery, from age to age, like the Gibeonites fubjecled to the
Jews, and treated in the fame manner as the Gauls were, after
being conquered by the ancient Franks of Germany ; the
very name they went by, implying the moft rooted averfion,
though nobody ever gave any account of the reafon of this
appellation ; for the frivolous differtations of Marca and
Venuti leave us quite in the dark as to this, as well as to
the caufes of this extraordinary hatred againft a devoted race
from age to age. We therefore adopt the account of it given
by the learned and moft ingenious Gebelin, (Monde Primitif,
torn. C. p. 247) that they were the fcattered remains of the
original inhabitants of Gafcony and Lower Brittany, who, be-
inw conquered by thofe now called Bretons, and the Cantabri,
who invaded Brittany and Berne, were reduced to this mifer-
able ftate by their Lords, in order to leave them no means of
revolt, and to render them ufeful as flaves. Du Cange in-
forms us, that the celebrated Hevin firft obtained, from the
Parliament of Rennes, a repeal of thofe cruel and ridiculous
conftitution
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. $$
conftitutions againft the Cacous. But the word Cagot ftill re-
mains a term of reproach, and now fignifies a hypocrite. Had
we leifure, it would be amufing to compare the miferable ftate
of the poor Cagots, with that infamy which is entaikd } 10
Hindoftan, on the caft or tribe of the Sooders. But we have
already made this note too long ; and all the apology we can
offer is, that we flatter ourfelves the reader will be glaa to find
here an account of a fet of men, whofe very name is little, if
at all, known in this Ifland, and againft whom far more in-
tolerable feverities were exercifed, than by our anceftors againft
the lepers, who abounded both in England and Scotland
during the middle ages.
Gar~\ Force one to a<Et, to conftrain. Prim. Celtic gor,
gar, force, ftrength, elevation, abundance ; vide Did. Celt,
de Bullet in Gorchaled, and Gor. Hence Breton, gor, tu-
mour, elevation ; Gaelic gorm, nobleman, grandee. In the
language of Stiria and Carniola, mountain ; gora, in Sclavon.
id. Polon. gora-begy, a cape or promontory ; Lapland, and
Finland, kor-kin, high ; Hebr. gor, to heap up ; Arab.
ghurur, pride, ambition ; whence Gr. y&vpof, proud, elated ;
Old French gaur, id. Celt, gorain, to cry out with vehemence,
which greatly illuftrates the primitive fignification of our gar ;
Welfh, gorchfygiad, to force or conftrain; Suio-Goth. gora,
antiq. gara, facere ; vide Ihre in gora , where this elegant e-
tymologift has obferved the agreement betwixt this word and
our gar. Adde Lye addit. Etymol. Junii ; but none of thefe
writers have gone back to the Primitive Celtic ; Aremor.
gra, facere. From this root, too, comes the Latin gero, ap-
plied fometimes to war, gerere helium ; vide Livy, 1. 39. c.
54. Ifl. glora, to a<t ; Alam. garen, garuuen. The reader
may turn to our Introduction, where he will find fome other
obfervations on this word, to which we only add, that carve
comes from this root.
Ver.
54 THE GABERLUNZtE-MAN.
For fcho's be burnt, and hee's be flean,
The weirifou' Gaberlunzie-man.
Some rade upo' horfe, fome ran a-fit,
The wife was wude, and out o* her wit ;
Scho
Ver. 3. Scho's Hee's] She (hall He mall ; a contrac-
tion frequently in the mouths of our country people.
Ver. 4. Weirifou] Fou for full, it being cuftomary in
Scots to change the / into iv, as roll, row ; fcroll, fcrcw ;
tolbootb, toubooth ; pol, poiv, &c. Ruddiman. Yromfou, we
ioxmfouth, plenty, abundance. So Douglafs, p. 4. v. 6.
" That of thy copious fouth or plentitude."
Thus from deep, depth ; renv, reuth, &c. This is alfo re-
marked by Mr Ruddiman, Gloff.
Ver. 6. Wude~] Mad. Ger. ivutb, rage ; A. S. ivod,
mad ; Teut. uueuten, to be mad ; A. S. ivedan, id. Whence
perhaps the Scandinavians called their Mars Woden. Doug.
p. 16. 29.
" The florm up bullerit fand, as it war wod"
And p. 423, 16.
" Wod wroith he worthis for difdene."
Dutch ivoed, fury; Ulphila, Mark v. 18. nvods, pofTefTed
with a Devil ; A. S. ivod, mad ; Ifl. ade, furor ; Alam.
unatage, furious. From this root the Gr. ovra.y f vulnerare,
pugnare ; and sifettviti't to fwell with anger.
Ver.
THE GABERLUNZIE.MAN. 55
Scho cou'd na gang, nor yet cou'd fcho fit,
But ay fcho curs't and fcho bann'd.
VIII.
Mein tym far hind out o'wr the lee,
Fu' fnug in a glen whar nane cou'd fee,
Thir
Ver. 7. Gang] Msefo Goth, gagga, pronounced ganga ;
as in the Greek when two gamma t follow each other. Vide
ad Stan. I. v. 6.
Ver. 8. Ban~\ To curfe. Goth, banna, fign. fimply to
forbid \forbanna, Divis devovere. The primitive Celt, ban,
a tie ; whence our bond and band. Hence marriage bantu.
The Id.forbanna, fign. to excommunicate or put out of fo-
ciety. Hence our ban-if?, and the Ital. bandito, our ban-
ditti ; a-ban-don, to give up our claim to any thing, to
loofen our tie to it. The bond by which the king's vafials
are obliged to rollow their fovereign to the field, is, in France,
called a the ban, and arriere ban. Thus to bann one, literally
fign. to put him under the bond of a curfe. Hence Gael. ba~
na, tied j Fr. bande, bander, our band or company, perfons
linked together by one common tie, or bond ; bandage, to
bend ; Fr. ruban, whence ribbon, literally, a fillet of a red co-
lour. Hence, too, in the French, the barbarous droit d'aubaine^
by which the lord of the foil inherited all that a (hanger died
pofleffed of in his territory. We find, in the Bar. Lat. alba-
ni, and aubani, a ftranger ; concerning which word many
idle conjectures have been publifhed, as derived from advena,
and Albanus, a Scotfman. But it is compofed of al, another,
and ban, jurifdi&ion, literally a perfon living under other
laws.
56 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
laws. The Ifl. bann, to curfe, is ftill ufed in the north of
England.
STANZA VIII.
Ver i. Hind'] This is the primitive of behind, hindermofl'j
Scot, hindmofl ; and is found in all the ancient dialecls of the
north ; Ulphila, hindar, hindann, back, after ; hindumijls,
hir.dermoft ; A. S. hindan, behind. Hence comes the verb to
hinder, to impede ; Dan. hindre,forhindra ; Belg. hinderen,
verhir.deren. From this root comes the A. S. hinderling,
properly one who comes far behind his anceftors, familia fuai
opprobrium. In LI. Edw. ConiefT. c. 35. Occidentales Saxo-
xiici habent in proverbio fummi defpeclus, hinderling ; i. e.
omni honeflate dejecta et recedens imago ; the fcandal of his
family.
Ver. 2. Snug] The primitive of feveral northern words,
all fignifying hiding, concealment ; Dan. fniger, fubterfugio ;
fnican, to crawl about hiddenly ; whence Engl, fneak, a
fneaking fellow. Lye was miftaken in deriving it from Ifl.
fnoggur, celer. The Gael, fnaighim, is the fame with the
Saxon fnican ', Dan. fnige Jig aff ' veyen, to fneak away. The
Scots food, neat, trim, may come alfo from this fburce, as it
is evidently the fame with the Gothic, fnug, fhort and neat ;
en fnug piga, a neat girl; Ifl. fnylld, elegance. Ray fays,
that in the north of England, they pronounce it fnog ; fnogly
geard, handfomely drefled.
Glen] Old Englifh glin, or glyn ; Gael, gleann. It
denotes a large, level tract of ground, bounded on each
fide by ridges of floping mountains. Hence we have in Scot-
land Strathmore, Strathfpey, Strathern. There is this dif-
ference between the Saxon Dale, and the Gaelic Strath. The
former denotes a narrow valley, bounded on each fide by a
ridge
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. ft
Thir twa, wi' kindly fport and glee,
Cut frae a new cheefe a whang.
The
ridge of fteep mountains, commonly with a river running
through the middle ; the latter anfwers the above defcription,
which needs not to be repeated. *
Ver. 3. Tiva~\ Ulphila tiuai ; A. S tiva ; Welfh date,
dnvy ; Gael, do ; Swed. t<wa ; Ifl. taeir. Hence the Gr. i'vu y
and twain ; our Scot, twin* literally fign. to fplit into two
parts, to feparate. It is alfo ufed by Chaucer in this fenfe, R.
R. 5077.
" Trowe nat that I woll hem twinne."
And Troil, 4. 1197.
' There fliall no deth me fro' my ladie twinne."
From this root, too, is formed tivine, thread, i. e. to double
it ; A. S. tnuinen ; vide Exod. c. 39. 29. Sued, ttvynna ;
Dan. tuinder, to fpin ; tuinde trade, twined thread ; Belg.
tnueyn draed. In Teutonifta, fwern yarn, duinum tuinum ;
A. S. tixjinne y to twine.
Glee"] Mirth, gladnefs ; Ifl. gled y gladde, I have made
glad; mlg gladur, it is a pleafure to me j Sax. glad,
and our glad. With Chaucer glee denotes a concert of vocal
and inftrumental mufic. Sir Top. R. v. 126.
'* His merie men commanded he
" To maken him both game and glee."
Fa. Lib. 3. 161.
There faw I fitt in other fees,
" Playing on other fundnc glees."
H The
58 THE GABERLUNZJE-MAN;
The A. S. Verfion of Paftor. 26. 2. David defeng hit
kearkan, and gejlilde his luodthraga mid tham gligge. David
took his harp, and (tilled his madnefs with mufic. Gligman,
mimus, fcurra ; Gligmon, id. Junius rightly conjectures, that
glig was firft ufed to denote inftruments inflated by the breath,
though afterwards indifcrimimitely applied to every mufical
found. This is confirmed by the Iflandic gliggur, flatus,
breath. A certain fpecies of catch is (till called a. glee. A. S.
gle, joy, and without the g the Goth, lek, to laugh ; we fay
gaaff, to laugh loudly, and with the open mouth. From the
idea of joy, gle and gla came to fignify every thing bright,
fplendid. Hence a multitude of words, Ifl. glaumur, joy ;
whence our old Scots glamur, often employed to fignify in-
cantations, becaufe, by fuch arts, the mind was thought to
be greatly moved, and to look on things indifferent as of great
confequence. Goth, glans, and Alam. klanz, fplendour";
whence our glance, from gla, light ; gloa, to mine. From
this laft the Eng. glow, glonv-nvorm ; A. S. glonvan, to glow ;
Swed.glod; Gael, glo; A. S.gled; Ger. glut; all fignify -
ing a live coal. Ifl. glia j Frifl. glian, to fhine j Sax. gleij,
fplendidus ; and hence the Gr. aiyXfl, fplendour; which none
of our Lexicographers have been able to explain. Hence,
too, Engl, glitter, by Ulphila written glitmuvjan ; Ifl. glitta ;
Ger. gleijfen ; Swed. gliflra, gnijla ; Sax. glinflem, and the
Gr. a.yKa.i{ ) ira.i ; Ifl. glift, and glaji, nitidus. So Snorro,
v. i. Glajl me d galli, och Jilfrj, Ihining with gold and filver.
Gr. yzhiiv, fplendere ; and Hefychius explains yz\a.(,
avynv t)Ki<s, a fun-beam; etyhcLic, fplendidus; y\zv;sv,
fplendeo ; yhd.vx.os, yhavpot, fplendidus; Goth. glajfa, and
our glaze ; Ifl. glas, our glafs. We call the flipperymucus,
growing on (tones in the river, glitt ; and glatt in Gothic is
nitidus, laevis. Hence Engl, glojf; Goth, gles, Succinmr.
Vide Tacit. Mor. Ger. cap. 45. Plin. H. N. lib. 26. c. 3.
Front
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 59
From the lame root are derived Goth, glimra, glindra, to
mine, whence our glimmer and glitnpfe ; Engl. gleam, a ray
of light ; ld.glimbr, fplendour. Taking away the^, we havethe
Gr. hcL'TTTUy to ihine ; 111. Home, light ; Ulphila, lauhmon, light-
ning. And with the g, Swed. glo, to fee ; Gr. y\a.vaa ;
Sax. gloren, fplendere ; hence Scot. glo<wr, to look intently at
any object. So in the old Ballad :
" I canna get leave
" To luke to my luve,
" My minny's aye glonpring owr me."
111. gloggr, and Goth glau, Iharp-fighted ; Gr. y\wv, pupil
of the eye; Fr. glair e, the clear or white of the egg; 111. gfa,
the mining of the ocean in a calm. Hence Gr. y&Knvr, fere-
nitas; ya.\nvo&; fereno ; y\>;v<a, res nitidje, prastiofe ;
yhwo< , a ftar ; Swed. gran, mining ; whence the Apollo
Gryneujy literally the Splendid Sun. We are much deceived
if the many coincidences we have here thrown together, (and
to which more might eafdy be added) do not prove very
ftrongly, a primitive and univerfal language. We have not
room to alledge the many examples the Eaftern dialects fur-
mfh to us ; thefe we referve for a larger work. Mean
while, the reader may look at Ihre, Lex. voce Gloa and
Glo.
Ver. 4. Frae~\ Engl. from. But we have kept the
true orthography. Swed. /ram, prorfum, adverbium motus
de loco pofteriori in anteriorem. The pro of the Latins is
from this root, and has the fame meaning in prorfum, proce-
dere, prodire, profferre ; and the Swedes fay ga fram, gif-
nva fram ; Ulphila, iddja fram, proceffit ; Luke xix. 28.
framis leitl, a little further. So, too, in the compounds,
fram-nvigis, femper ; and Luke i. iS.fram-aldrozi, ftricken
in years; hhxa. frampringan, producere. Tatian, cap. 73.
H 2 v. 1.
60 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
t. I. franor, further. We find in Wilking. Saga, p. 3.
Hugprydiac fpaki, oc framnvi/i, a genius wife and prudent ;
from fram and iv/s, wifdom ; and hence framvis, a diviner,
conjurer ; Ifl. framygdur, a wife man ; Goth, framfus, a
petulant fellow, ever putting himfelf forward ; whence Engl.
frimipifli. To return to the Scots word frae, as correfponding
to the Goth. fram, from. Chron. Ryth. p. 444.
" Hnar monde fram androm fly."
Qui ab altero feceffit, aufugit.
Framgangu, going from, departure ; Swed. fran. From
fram the ingenious and learned Ihre derives framea, a dart
ufed by the ancient Germans, mentioned by Tacitus, M. G.
cap. 6. Haftas, vel ipforum vocabulo, frameas gerunt ; from
fram and f rumen, mittere, jaculari. Hence, in Ulphila, we
find, Joh. x. 5. Framtkjana n't lajsjand, a ftranger will they
not follow. Alam. f >amider ; Gex.fnmd, a ftranger ; and
Scot, fremdman, one come from far.
Douglas writes this word fometimes fra and fray.
Whang~\ Prim, tan, a binding or cord. Hence every
thing of a long narrow fhape. Whang, a flice of cheefe, cut
in a long narrow form. Ulphila, tivang ; Ifl. tange, vin-
culum; Swed. tang, a ftrap hanging at the handle of a knife.
They alfo call an ifthmus tang, and we fay a tongue ef land.
111. thuing, a band; A. S. twang, whence our whang.
The primitive tan is found in all the Scythian dialects, and
thofc derived from them. Swed. tan, nerve. Leg, Goth. cap.
22. Thau enfundr er than hels edanacca ; Si abfeiflus fuerit
nervus colli. Welch tant, chorda ; Gcr. id. Alam. than, a
leather ftrap ; A. S. tan, vimen, virgultum ; and hence tan-
blyta, fortilegus. Swed. tanor, filaments in flefli. The Gr.
7i'fc>, is formed from tan, flgn. a nerve. OdyfT. 3.
** TiKiMl
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 61
The prieving was good, it pleas'd them baith,
To lo'e her for ay, he gae her his aith,
Quo"
" TlMKVS ^tiKO^i TiV0y]<t(t
Securis abfcidit nervos ceryicis. The Wanders call the
nets for catching birds thaner ; and hence Latin tenus, teno-
ns, in Nonius ; and Plaut, Bacchid. v. v. 6.
" Pendebit hodie pulcre ; ita intendi terms.**
It is needlefs to obferve that our tendon is derived from
tfie fame fource. The Gntli3 call the fwaddling bands of chil-
dren tano?n; Chron. Rythm. p. 561. Barn then font an i ta-
nom lag, Children that lay yet in their fwaddling bands. The
Greeks called them itvict, nviS'ia. Vide Jun. Glofs. Ulph.
P- 33-
Ver. 5. Prieving"] The proof, the firft tafte of any thing.
Primitive is por, pro ; Celt, por, what is be/ore ; as por fig-
aifies Aio face. Hence porro, probo, probation ; r. preuve,
eprouver, the prow of a ftrip ; Gr. ypa/e* > Eat. primus,
trior, princeps, and a vaft number of other words. At pre-
sent we confine ourfelves to the northern dialects, where we
find, in the Celtic, prid ; whence our price, or value of any
thing ; Ger. preis ; Lat. pretium ; Italian apprezzare ; Goth.
pris, id. and metaphorically, glory, honour, high efteem ;
whence Engl, praife. The truly learned and elegant Ihre ob-
ferves, that, in the old Swio-Gothic, they ufed prifoet in the
lame fenfe. In Chron. Ryth. p. 442.
" Och innan Jlrid Jlor prifliet was.'*
In war be was greatly prized.
With
6* THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
Quo' fhe, to leave thee I will be laith,
My winfom Gaberlunzie-man.
IX.
IVith them prifa, fign. to prize, apprize ; and thefe words
clearly indicate their northern origin. Hence, too, Fr. prifer,
meprifer ; nuinna prifet, to win the prize. In our dialect
prif, prieve, is proof, or trial, as here ; and in Douglafs, p.
309. 49.
" Thus rude examplis may we gif,
" Thocht God be his awin Creauture to prieve."
"We alfo ufe the verb, to prie, to tafle.
Ver. 5. Baith~\ Engl, both, by a faulty pronunciation j
for the primitive is found in Ulphila's, ba, bai, i. e. baith,
not both. So Luke 5. v. 7. Ba tbo skipa gafullidedun, they
filled both the fhips ; and Luke 6. v. 39. Bai in dalga dri-
nfand, both will fall into the ditch. A. S. ba, butu ; Alam.
bedu, beidu ; Ifl. bathur. It is diverting to fee Junius gravely
fuppofing that our word comes from Gr. tt^tu, as if our an-
ceftors could not reckon two, till the Greeks taught them.
The favages of Kamfchatka do more than this ; for they fol-
Jow the number of their fingers and toes up to twenty, and
having got thus far, they flop, and cry, Where (hall I find
more ? See the account of this country, published at Peterf-
burg, and tranflated by Grieve, p. 178. We jufl add, that
the fame obfervation may be applied to the words, aith, oath,
laith, loth, which occur in the verfcs immediately following,
and which have been equally vitiated by our fouthern neighr
bours, as this word baitk.
Ver. 7. Laitk~\ Loth. But ours is the true pronouncia-
tion, as derived from Al. kid, had ; Alam. lath ; Belg.
THE GABERLUNZ IE-MAN; 63
leyd, odious, ugly, troubltfome ; Old Danifh, tha the Icenvas
and Udedon inch, who hate and perfccute you. The primitive
of all thefe is fourrd in rhe Celt, lad, loc, to cut, pain, ot
wound ; Bafg. laceria, misfortune. We cannot deny our-
felves the pleafure of following this original through fome of
its many defcendants ; hence come Gr. KnPav ', Fr. lacerer\
Lat. lacerare, our lacerate ; Fr. loquete, cut out in flices ;
whence our lock of hair, or wool ; Celt, laza, to kill ; and
hence lay, a poem on any tragical fubjecl: ; fo Dougl. 321.
T. 5.
" The dowy tones, and layes lamentabil."
Ital. lai, and our lament, the true Scots appellation of E-
legiac fongs ; A. S. ley, id. which neither Menage, nor even
Skinner underftood ; Ger. lied, a fong, but properly a me-
lancholy ditty ; as the B. L. leudus alfo fignifies ; Fortunat.
Epift. ad Gregor. Turon. ad Lib. 1. Poemat. Sola fcepe bora-
bicans barbaros kudos harpa relidcbat. Id. Lib. 7. Poem 8.
" Nos tibi verficulos, dent barbara carmina leudor."
Hence, too, Lat. hjfus, and the Baf. Bret, lais, a melan-
choly found or cry ; e-legia, e-ltgy, lefion ; and the Fr. lezs
viajejlee, high treafon. We could eafily bring many more
proofs of the truth of our account of the term elegy, as that
paflage of Proclus, in Chreft. ap. Phot. Bibl. T3 yapd-pmo;,
ihiyiav ihtynv ot Ta.\&toh veteres luclum vocarunt -/eyov.
Ovid gives us the fame idea, Ped. de Lib. 3. Eleg. 1.
" Flebilis indignos elegia folve capillos,
" Heu nimis ex vero nunc tibi nomen ineft."
Vofiius (in Elegia) has quoted thefe paffages, but gives no
Etymology, as indeed the root is loft both in the Greek and
Roman languages. But we muft flop, after obferving that the
Fr.
64 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN;
IX.
O kend my minny I war wi* you,
Ill-fardly wad fhe crook her mou%
Sic
Fr. words Uid, (which of old fignified, ofFencc, injury, and
now uglinefs,) Lai Jew; laidron, and the Gr. Kot^ofna, to de-
fame, are all of this family.
Ver. 8. Winfom~\ We have have already (hewn the mean-
ing and origin of this word, in the note on Stanza II. ver. o.
In the old ballads we find it often ufed ; fo in the old fong of
Gilderoy, (Percy, vol. I. p. 324, 325.) My ivinfom Gilderoy j
Ger. minnefam, from minne, love, which we have already ex-
plained ; Alam. nvino, a friend ; A. S. vine, beloved.
STANZA IX.
Ver. 1. KenJ~\ The primitive kan-enen, fignifies art,
knowledge, dexterity. Hebr. gmoanen, an inchanter, and the
verb g<wene n, to divine; Gr. xwaiv ; Gaelic kann, I know ;
kunna, kenning, knowledge ; kennimen, knowing, learned
men, priefts; Ulphila, kunnan, Mark 4. v. it. Jfwis attiban
ifl, kiinnan runa thiud angarJjos Goths, To you it is given
to know the myftery of the Kingdom of God. Ifl. kunna ;
Alam. kennen, chennen ; from kunna, the Englifh cunning ;
in fea-phrafe, to cunn a Jlrip, is to direct her courfe ; in Fr.
viaitre gonin, a (harper. See the poor efforts of Menage to
explain this word. Hefych. x.oi>vetv, tvvttvcti, fjrirtt&tLi, to
underftand. We fay here kenfpeckled, eafy to be known by
particular marks. The Goths ufe a fimilar phrafe, Kenefpak,
qui alios facile agnofcit ; Ihre in kenn.
Ver. 2. Ill-farJlf\ UUfavouredly, in an ugly manner;
In Engl, well-favoured, handfome, well-looking; and thus
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 6j
pur translators of the Bible ufe it, Geo. xli. v. 3. 4. Primi-
tive hfa, to eat, to feed on good things, as defcended from
the family of fa, denoting every action belonging to the mouth,
as eating, {peaking, & c \ So the Latin fari, whence Fr.
faribole, idle tale, and the like. From fa comes Latin favus,
honey-comb ; favere alicui, to favour one ; our favourite,
favour ; Fr. favor ifer, faitteur, and the Latin fautor. The
common word infant, Latin infans, comes not from in and
fari, one who cannot fpeak, as our herd of Lexicographers
fay, but fromy2?, to nourifh, to feed, whence fari itfelf is de-
rived, which being a difTyllable, can never be a primitive,
thole (as we have elfe where obferved) being all monofyllables>
in every language. From this root, too, we have fawn, a
young deer. N. B. The animals do not fpeak, therefore it is
impoffible that fanvn can come from Latin firi : but we muft
Hop here, left we offend thofe who hold, that the Ourang-
cutans, a fpecies of the monkey, belong to the human race;
and that, though they have pafTed above fix thoufand years
without framing a language, it is ftill very rationally expected,
that they will yet form one, (vide Origin and Prog, of Lang,
vol. I. p. 189. 272). Whenever we are happy enough
to poffefs a Dictionary, collected by fome learned Ouran-
outang, and a Grammar of this new fpeech, \ve nothing doubt,
but we (hall difcover many primitives of language yet unknown.
But this by the bye.
We find favour, in the Welch, fleafor, flanvr, and in the
Greek, $aw, $H(j.i ; and in what Feftus writes, faventia,
bonam ominationem fignificat; favere, enim, eft bona fari.
Hence the folemn form, Favete Unguis. Voflius has faid
much, to no purpofe, about this, in Favere ; but he had no
principles. We fee new proofs of the truth of our Etymology
in the hinnuleuj of the Latins, and the Gr. ,vj/o<-, fig. qr^/o.-, a
boy or your.g one. Vide Salm;if. Plin. Exercit. p. ic6. and
I Spchi!;.n,
66 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
Spelman, in Fenatio and Foinejium. Lye mentions fauntekin
as an old Englifh word, fignifying an infant or little boy, which
he rightly derives from the Iflandic /ante, a young man ;
"whence the Italian /ante, a page or fervant, and the French
fantajfin, a foldier who ferves on foot, and of thofe whom we
call In-fantry.
Ver. 2. Crook"] Prim. Celt. Crok, fignifies every thing that
takes hold ; and as nothing can take hold but what deviates
from the ftreight line, this word has formed a very numerous
family : Goth, krok ; the Gael, k rocky kruick, an earthen
pot or vafe ; Goth, kruka, id. We in Scotland call the iron
on which the kettle hangs a crook. Shepherd's crook, from
its bent form ; and, for the fame reafon, crotchet in mufic fig-
nifies a note, with a tail turned up. Hence, too, come the
French crotcheteur efcroi, a thief who feizes every thing he
can lay hands on ; crojfe, the fheep-hook, with which bifhops
are inverted; acrocher, to feize or lay hold of. Gebelin ob-
ferves, with his ufual acutenefs, that the French peafants
who revolted in 1598, were called Les Croquans, becaufethey
plundered and carried off every thing wherever they came.
Mou'] Mouth. Prim, muth, mun ; whence Ulphila
has munths, the mouth ; Celt. mu, id. alfo the lips.
Hence Fr. mot, what is fpoken with the lips ; motet, Bafq.
viotafa, found of the voice; Gr. ui<P,i, and mythology;
murmur, i. e. mu-mu, {mall found made by the mouth.
Our old word mump comes from the fame origin ; alfo mant,
to Hammer. From the ancient Celtic and Welch mant, fig-
nifying the jaw-bone, comes the Latin mandibula, and the
ancient munio, ??iunito, to eat ; Feft. munitio, mortificatio y
ciborum ; alfo mando, tnanduco ; the Fr. manger ; Ital. man-
giere ; Gr. '/..J\-. , loqui. Ihre informs us, that the
mouths of rivers are called Mynne-a-mynnc, and Ifl. murine,
from mun, the mouth. They fay alfo, the mouth and lips of
a
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 67
Sic a pure man flie'd nevir trow,
After the Gaberlunzie-man.
My
a wound, as we do: LI. Scania, p. 22. Far man far gonum
far, allar lag, allar arm, Jhva at that havir tnva munna, If
any man's thigh, leg, or arm, be fo wounded as that the fore
mall have two mouths. In the fame fenfe the French ufe
lalafre, a great wound, which Dutchat rightly derives from
the old French balevre, bilabrum : Ce qu'on appelle balafre,
eft proprement uue grande playe, qui fait une efpece de
louche, et par confequent deux levret. The Gothic munkafleis,
a fet form of words, and ufed in their ancient Juriiprudence.
Vide Ihre, Lex. in voce, vol. II. p. 207.
We have in this word a clear example of the method the
firfr. men took to exprefs oppofite ideas, without multiplying
the primitive words. Muth firft denoted the mouth and
fpeech. They formed the negative by ufing the fame word
in the oppofite fignification, and thus muth came to fignify a
dumb perfon ; Gr. /m.v<To; ; Lat. mutus, whence our mute ;
The Hebrew muth, a dead man, one who fpeaks not. In
another work we have collected many examples of this kind,
which we have no room for here. ' Such is the word alt,
high ; whence the Lat. alius, fignifying high, and alfo deep.
Ver. 3. Troiv'} The verb, to believe ; Belg. truen, id-
Douglas ufes trueles, for faichlefs. Prim. Goth, troji, truft,
fidelity. Hence, metaphorically, a bold man, on whom we
may well rely. So Chron. Ryth. p. 311.
" The t var en godn trojl man.'*
He was a good and trufty man.
Xfl. traujlor, Alam. gidrojl, Engl, trujly. Otfrid, L 5.
cap. 23.
1 2 *Zi
68 THE GABERLUNZ IE-MAN.
My dear, quod he, zere zet o'wr zoung,
An* hae na learn'd the beggar's tongue,
To
" Zi themo thronofte,
" Sie fitit al gidrojle."
In their fervice all were faithful. Germ, triejl, and Swed.
drijiig ; vide Ihre in Drijiig, From this root, too, the
Greeks formed $ct?<;os and ^-^pps/r, to dare, or more pro-
perly, to be confident, by a literary metathefis of the fame
kind as that ufed by the Goths, while they fay toras, to dare ;
jaton, I dare, and then trojl, our truji. So the ancient Greeks
faid indifferently, -3-a^o?, -d-pxfv's, -aapjuciu, and dpctiVJCf,
audacem reddo. Ulph. ihrafjlian, to confide or truft, and
dauran, dare ; Mark xii. 34. gaivdarjia, audebat, which
the Allemans pronounced gidorjia. In one of the Church
Hymns, n. 127, The lofwade Gud med gladje och troji,
They praifed God with gladnefs and confidence. We ob-
ferve, by the way, that our Scots phrafe of loving God, ufed
for praifing him, frequent in Robert Bruce's Life, and other
ancient poems, is formed from the Goth, lojhvare, to praife.
In the Barb. Latin Laws, we find often the phrafes, TrufAj
regius, EJJe in trufte regia, Trujlinus ; and the like ; all de-
noting loyalty. Vid. Cange in Trujlij. Marculf. For. 1. 1. 18.
Thefe men were alfo called Antrujliones. Vid. Leg. Sal. Tit.
32. cap. 20. edit. Heroldi. Marculf. Lib. 1. Form. 47. ibi
Lindenbrog. Glofi*. The Antrujliones were of high dignity in
the King's Court, as we gather from the article of the Gaelic
Law laft cited. We have the verb traijl, to truft, frequent in
Douglas. So p. 52. v. 25.
" And there traift coiftis nyce."
And p. 213. 37.
" His traifty faith." \
VlR.
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 6g
To fallow me frae toun to toun,
And carry the Gaberlunzie on.
X.
Wi' kauk and keel I'll win zour bread,
And fpinnels and quhorles for them wha need,
Whilk
Ver. 7. Frae toun to toun\ By toun here is not folely
meant city, in which ftnfe we now ufe it; but the Scots ap-
ply this word to every little village, and even to a farm-houfe,
where there is an inclofed yard, after the manner of their
anceftors, from the prim, dun, A. S. tun, Alam. zun, all
fignifying an inclofure. Hence the Belgic tuyn, a garden,
literally an inclofure ; Gael, dun-dunam, to inclofe ; A. S.
tynan, hetynan, id. The firft cities of our Celtic and Saxon
anceltors were only farm-houfes, or a few ftraggling hutt?,
inclofed with rails. Tacitus de M. G. cap. 16. Nullis
Germanorum populis urbes habitari notumeft, nee pati quidem
inter fe junctas fedes, (forte ssdes) vicos locant, nonin noftrurrt
morem connexis et coherentibus asdificiis. Thefe vici were
feparate houfes, like our farmers Jlsddings, which we Hill
call to<wm. In fome diftricls they are called mains, from
vianjio, and the B. Latin manfus, a manfe, now reftricled to
cur parfons houfes.
STANZA X.
Ver. 1. Kauk~\ From the primitive cal, eel, everything
hard and proper to inclofe with. Hence Latin ce!are>
cellar iu?n t
70 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
eellarium, our cellar; French celer, our cori-ceal ; the Celtic
cal, a hut or ftable. Hence kal came to denote the materials
for inclofing, viz. ftones, and efpecially that foft kind of ftone,
eafily divided into fmall pieces, which the Englifh call chalk, and
we, more properly, pronounce kauk. Ifl. kalk; Gael, calch ;
Alam. calc; A. S. ceale, ceale, Jlan. From this root, too,
comes the Greek X* K '%> explained by Suidas, fxtxpov
A/.3-/JW, a little ftone, and more clearly by Hefych. -^vMKif,
o ett Trt? o:x.o<P'--{/.tt{ fjLiitfoi a?- ; of the fame kind
was the y <**/?, mentioned by Thucidides, in his Ac-
count of the Walls of the Pyieus, built by the Athenians, in
lib. I. We are indebted to the induftry of Junius for this
remark ; yet he does not even attempt an etymology of the
word yjtKtPf which has baffled all the lexicographers.
Keel~] A red calcarious ftone, ufed by carpenters for
marking their lines on wood. The promife here made by the
feigned Gaberlunzie-man, to get a livelihood for his fweet-heart
by kauk and keel, alludes to the practice of fortune-tellers in
Scotland, who ufually pretend to be dumb, to gain credit
with the vulgar, and therefore have recourfe to figns made with
kauk and keel, to explain their meaning. The primitive is
plainly the fame with that of kauk ; col, eel, a fmall ftone, (of
a red colour). .
Win\ In the more modern acceptation, Amply fignrTies to
gain. So the Goths ufe vinna of one who nuint at play, or
in making bargains, or by gaining his caufe in a court of ju-
ftice; nvinnaet kxromal, in caufa fuperiorem effe. Vide Ihre,
vol. II. col. 2020. But of old it fignifiedto^-tf//? our bread by hard
labour, and induftry. This is ftill its common meaning in the
Iflandic. So Exod, 15. Winn a alhdina ivinna, Thou fhalt
work all thy work. Hence ivinnuhiu, a labouring man. Num-
bers, cap. 30. A. S. vinnan. So the Dutch fay land nvinnen,
to plough the ground. Winnende leeden, membra genitalia ;
Ifl.
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. jt
Ifl. vinna, labour ; in the A. S. vinfull, induflrious ; tt'/'-
lagga, fign. to give one's felf a great deal of trouble. Hence
it is ufed to denote fuflfering. So Ulphila, Mark viii. 31.
Skal funus mans filu. vinnatn, The fon of man muft fuffer
many things: And Luke ii. 48. Sa atta theins, ja ik vin-
nandona fokidedum thuk, Thy father and I have fought thee
forrowing. Hence it is transferred to child-bearing : Swed.
Hon bar ivunnet en fon, She has born a fon ; and Belg.
Kinderin genuinnen, to bring forth children.
As the ancients knew of no other honourable gains, be-
sides the fpoils acquired in war, hence <winna came to denote
conqueft, victory in war ; and hence our phrafe to nvin the
battle, to win the field. In Matth. xxiv. 7. Verf. Ulph. Theod
vinth ongean theode, Nation (hall fight againft nation. Gevinn,
war ; gevinne, battle. Tatian, cap. 195.4. Mine ambathti
lunnnin, My fervants would fight. In an old Runic infcription,
quoted by Ihre (in Winna), Vant Selalant a/a, He con-
quered all Seland. The raoft modern fignification is that in
which it is applied to gain in general. From winna, applied to
war, comes the Latin vincere. Strange ! that Voflius did not
fee the true etymon, though he has mentioned the Goth.
ivinnen, in Vinco. But he feldom or never looks further than
the Greek or Latin. Still more abfurd is Varro's etymon,
lib. 4. de L. L. Viftoria, ab eo quod fuperati vincuntur. Yet
this Varro pretended to give us the origin of language ; and
he is generally called Romanorum Doftijjimus \ and fo, per-
haps, he was.
Ver. 2. Spinneh~\ Goth, fpindel, Machina tornatorum,
in gyrum verfatilis, fays the learned Profeffor of Upfal.
Slenda, fufus, fpincok, fufus, colus ; and hence our rok, a
diftafF. A. S.fpine/; and from fpindle the Greek <;ircvv?.Qi t
as the fpindle is of a long flender form ; the Goth, fpinkog,
i\g. /lender ; and, by a fimilar figure, we fay fpindle-Jhanks,
of
7 a THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN.
of a man underlimbed. The prim, is /pan, to extend, or draw
out to length, as the thread is extended from the mafs on the
diftaff. Hence our /pan, of the hand extended. Vid. Bullet,
Dicl. Gelt, in Span. We have much to fay concerning this primi-
tive, which we referve for our Scoto- Gothic GlofTary. Suffice it
to obferve here, that the v/ordjpan, to extend, and hence to
meafure, is found in all the dialects of the North. A. S.Jpan,
fpon,fponne ; Alam. fpana ; Id- /pan, fpon ; Ital. fpanna; Fr.
efpan, empan. Vide Hicks, Gram. Franc, p. 98. The
Swed. verb fpanna, to meafure. Hence they call grain in
general fpannemal, as being fold by meafure. Of a young
flender girl they fay, Hon ar fa final, att man kan fpanna om
benne, She is fo fmall, that with two fpans you may encircle
her ; fpanna konut, mulieres contre&are. We are not fure
whether we are to connect with this the Goth, fpann, a
bracelet ; Ger.fpange, B. Lat. fpanga, de qua Cange. From
this word comes Swed. fpanna, to bind. Feftus has Jpinler,
armillae ^enus. Spannabalt was the ancient defperate
mode of duelling, when the combatants, bound within the
narrow circle of one belt, which furrounded both, attacked
each other with fhort daggers. From f pin, f pan, a number of
words have their origin, all denoting what is long, flender,
and fharp. Such are Goth, fpik, whence our fpike and hand-
fpike, the wooden leavers by which feamen heave at the cap-
flan. The Lat. fpica, fpiculum', Gael, fpeice',, [poke of a
wheel ; Ital. fpighe, della rota; Ger. fpeickc. In the Ar-
mor, fpec and anfpec, fign. a fmall leaver. The Gothic fpik y
a fpear ; whence the fpiculum of -the Latins. Confer Cange,*
in Spscilhm, a probe.
>uhorles~\ A perforated piece of circular (lone, fixed on the
fpindie to give it weight in turning round ; literally, ivhirlers,
to encrcafe the motion in whirling round. Scyth. ivhirra,
horra, "jjherta, tuibare, tumultuari, furfum et deorfum ferri.
Goth.
THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 73
Whilk is a gentle trade indeed,
To carry the Gaberlunzie on.
I'll bow my leg and crook my knee,
An' draw a black clout owr my eye,
A
Goth. huirfvael, our *whirl~d)':>:d, from tswerfiua, Ifl. kuerfa,
in gyrum agere. From the Goth, horra, the Engliih hurry.
Prim, girnxibir, circle. A. S. ymbbtertan, to be turned round.
Belg. ivernven, nvieren. Hence the fea-phrafe, to wear floip,
to bring her round. Fr. virer and verve, by which they
denote the furor poeticus, which ftrongly agitates the mind ;
and this affection the Iflanders, among whom of old it was*
very ftrong and frequent, call fcaldivingl. From this primi-
tive the Greek yvpav, and the Latin gyrare. It is remark-
able that the old Latins faid vervare, for circumagere ; and
urvare, to draw the circular line with the plough, to mark
the boundaries of the future city. The word is pure Gothic ;
but neither Feftus, nor any of his commentators, undentood
it. Confer Ada Sueciae Litterar. vol. IV. p. 386. Junius
has given us no etymon of ivhirl. Vid. in voce.
Ver. 6. Clout~\ Goth, klut, panni fruftum, a rag. The
prim, is clo-clu, covered, {hut up. Hence Lat. claudo, elude,
in-cludc, and our clofe, inclofe, difclofi. Douglas ufed cloys
for cloijler, place where monks and nuns are (hut up. In
the Gael, duff, in A. S. cleof, fignify joining of a rent.
A. S. geclutad hraegl, a clouted garment. " Ex his cca-
jicere licet (fays Ihre) klut, prima et antiquiffima fignifica-
tione denotafle panni frufta ad farciendas veftes immiffa." In
Engliih, a clouterly fellow, a mean man, a fellow in rags.
33elg. klcete, a fool ; Swed. klutare, a botcher of old clothes.
K Ver.
74 THE GABERLUNZIE-MAN,
A cripple or blind they will ca* me,
While we will be merry and fing.
Ver. 7. Cripple] Lame man. A word found in all the
Celtic dialefts. Welih crupl ; A. S. crypl ; Belg. irepel,
kreupel; Swed. krympling, paralytic, membris captus ; whence
our cramp, binding of the finews. The primitive is crafi
crify cram, to bind. Hence Gaelic crampa, French
crampon, cramponer. The fhell-fifh crab, from its claws,
and the French crapaud, are of the fame origin. Hence,
too, Greek ypvr&tY&i', in-curvari, y$via.\tov t a man bent
down or crippled with age. doff. Philoxeni Kp2.tirA\ovTtf,
vacillantes. Junius odly. deduces cripple, a Kpanra>w, cra-
pula : But we are weary of his blunders ; and fo, perhaps,
is the reader of ours.
Jam fat is eft r Planum de tabula*
ADDENDA,
ADDENDA.
FOR the following elucidations of the general principles
laid down in the Preface, and exemplified in the
Notes on the foregoing Ballad, the Public and I are indebted
to a learned and worthy friend of the Author*, whofe exten-
sive erudition is only equalled by the modefty and candour
confpicuous. in his whole deportment. 1 am fure our learned
readers will regret with me, that he has not pufhed his re-
fearches further than he has done. But, from the little he has
here given us, the general principle of Etymology I have en-
deavoured to eftablifh will derive new force, and our readers
Sew entertainment.
TO THE READER.
IN the following ftri&ures, I have, in a manner, confined
myfelf to the Oriental languages. My knowledge of the
Northern tongues is too much bounded to qualify me for pur-
fuing the coincidences of words through their various dia-
lects. I fhall, perhaps, be blamed for terminating the origin
of too great a number of words in the Hebrew. This, how-
ever, I did, from a conviction that their radical fyllables and
fignifications appeared moft obvious in that language. In a
few inftances I have taken the liberty to differ from tha
K 2 learned-
* Mr David Dj>ig, Re&or of the Academy in Stirling.
76 ADDENDA.
learned and laborious Author of the Notes. I have not;
however, the remotefl intention to detract from his well-known
abilities and merit. I imagined it might neither be difplea-
fing to himfelf, nor his readers, to fee, upon fome occafions,
the fame individual term placed in Various points' of light.
If the unlearned philologer (hall acquire one new idea by the
perufal of them, I ihall think myfelf abundantly rewarded for
the pains I have taken in throwing them together.
Before I proceed to the additional notes, I fhall take the
liberty to prefent to the reader one fingle word, which, in my
opinion, furnifhes a very ftriking evidence of the truth of the
Author's leading principle, with relation to the exiftence of
an original univerfal language.
Ur, aur, our'} Thefe words fignify fire, light, heat, and.
feveral other things nearly connected with thefe ideas. They
occur frequently in the Hebrew, and its fiftei -dialects. In
the Chald. we have Ur, the name of a city, where, it is
thought, the Sun was worfhipped by a perpetual fire. Alfo
Or-choe, the feat of the Chaldean aftxonomers called Or-
cheni, Strabo, 1. 16. p. 739. We find oreitx, ox or it a, in
different parts of the Eaft, the Chald. Atun B-ura, the fur-
nace of fire, occurs, Dan. chap. 3. ver. 6. &c. In the
Gentoo language ivar, which is only a fmall variation, im-
ports day, light, fee Halhed's Pref. to his Tranflation of
the Gentoo Laws. In the fame tongue, the moit ancient
Dynafty of the Gentoo Princes were called Surage, from Sur,
a name or epithet of the Sun See Halhed's Pref. and Col.
Dow's Introd. to the Hiit. of Hindoftan.
In the old Perfian, or Pehlvi, the word hyr fignifies fire t
the fame with ur, only with the afpirate prefixed.
Hyr-bad, a fire, temple ; Az-ur, Mars, i. e. the fiery
planet, compounded of Az, or AJ}, fire, and Ur, heiJt or
light. Hur, or Chur, is a common name of the Sun in that
language.
ADDENDA* 77
language. Kur, Rafcb, HoreJI?, Kv?o;, Gr. which lair$
Plut. Vit. Artax. fignifies the Sun. From the fame word we
have the firfr. fy liable of Or-mazd, the God of Light, the
chief Divinity of the Perfians. Here, too, we find Purimi
fignifying lots, denominated from the ceremonies of fire em-
ployed upon thefe occafions : Efth. chap. iii. ver. 7. &c.
The Arabian Uro-talt, Herod. 1. 3. cap. 8. is compound-
ed of ur, light, and jalath, high. In Egypt we find Orusi
or Horus, Apollo, the Sun, Herod, 1. 2. Diod. Sic. 1. 1.
Plut. Ifis and Ofiris, Horapollo, PalT. In the fame language
we have Athur, the name of a month, partly anfwering to
our October, on the 17th day of which Ofiris was put into
the coffin, a word compounded of ait, or at, or ath, heat,
and ur, or or See Plut. ubi fupra. The particle pi was
common in the Egyptian tongue, fee Kirch. Prolegom. Copt,
page 180, 297. Jamefon's Spicileg. cap. 9. parag. 4. Hence
pur, fire, and fometimes the 'Sun. Of this word, and the
Hebrew cbamud, or omud, columna, is compounded the
term x^pei//,',', pyramid, edifices, erected in honour of the
Sun.
The Tip of the Greeks^ according to Plato (Gratyl. .p.
410. Serr.) was borrowed from the Phrygians. Thefe laft
had received it from the Perfians by the Armenians, who
fpoke nearly the fame language. The word -rup produced a
numerous family, all defcendants of the oriental term Ur.
Or~\ Another modification of the fame word, produced
fcprt, tempeftas, a feafon, with a numerous train of connections.
Alfo t'p-', beauty ; a.oc, a fword, from its glittering, by
the fame analogy that the Scandinavians call it brandt : Alfo
opd.cc, video, and many others.
From aur we have the Eolic ctvpst, avfor, afterwards adopt-
ed by the Latins. From our we have ovp<, vcntus fecundus,
with all its compounds and derivatives ; alfo Kuvcixfa, the
North Pole-Star, which the Greeks have corrupted in a
* fhameful
$8 ADDENDA.
fhameful manner. It is really compofed of the Hebrew or
Phoenician kanes, congregavit, and ur, light, i. e. an Ajfem-
blage of Light. From the fame root we have ovpxvof, ccelum.
The laft part is probably the Oriental en, fignifying an eye, a
fountain, the Sun being the eye of Heaven, or fountain of
light.
In the Latin tongue we have a numerous tribe of words
defcended from ur, or, aur ; fuch are uro, buro, lurrum,
ap. Feftum pro rufu?n, purus, purgo. From the fame root
we hivzfuro, to rage like lire ; furia, a fury. Perhaps this
laft word may be a native of Egypt, from whence the Greeks
derived their ideas of the infernal regions. See Diod. Sic.
1. i. juxta finem. The Latian Jupiter was called Jupiter
Puer. I fufpecl this epithet is diflorted from pi-ur. In an-
cient times, it is probable, this Deity was no other than the
Sun. See Macrob. Saturn, cap. 17. His Minifters were
called Pueri ; and becaufe they were generally handfome
young men, feledted for that office, in procefs of time, I
fancy, the word puer came to fignify a young man in general;
At Prenefte, "Jupiter Puer was in high veneration ; he pre-
fided over the celebrated Sortes Preneftini, defcribed by
Cicero, de Divinat. 1. 2. From or we have orior, ordior,
and perhaps oro ; from aur we have aura, Aurora, aurum,
&c.
The words fire, air, &c. plainly defcended of die fame
ftock, under various forms, and with new modifications, per-
vade all the German and Scandinavian dialects ; an a/Tertion
which the Author of the Notes would certainly have demon-
ftrated, had that term occurred in the text of the Ballad.
In the French we have jour, with all its compounds, from
the very fame root. In the Celtic, ore, or aur, fignifies gold,
concerning which, Vofiius (Etym. V. Aurum) has told
heap of abfurdites. The name ore is given it in allufion
to its mining quality, a word which we have adopted,
and
ADDENDA. 79
and applied to fignify any raetal before it is purified
and refined. Aur alfo in Celtic fignifies yellow. Vid.
Bullet in Aur. Thofe who are well acquainted with
the remains of the ancient Celtic, can, no doubt, produce
many other cognates of the fame original term. If the above
detail mould be thought tedious, the beft apology I can make
is, that I am confident I have, for the fake of brevity, omit-
ted at leaft one third of what I could eafily have produced ;
At the fame time, all thefe analogies might have been con-
firmed and elucidated by a variety of quotations from ancieat
and modern authors, had the bounds I have prefcribed to my-
felf admitted fuch enlargements.
\
TITLE.
Gaber"] In fome places of Scotland, this word, among the
vulgar, denotes an idea very different from that affigned by
the Author of the Notes. When a thing is darned to pieces,
they fay it is driven to gaberts, or gabers. According to
this acceptation, the Gaberlunzie-man will imply a fellow
whofe clothes about his loins are all rags and tatters, all
worn out, ffc
The character exhibited throughout the Ballad, feems
rather to be that of a common beggar than of a tinker, though
indeed both profefiions were often united in the fame perfon.
Gab fcems originally to denote the roof of the mouth or
palate. In fome of the Eaftern languages it fignifies an emi-
nence, a protuberance, gibbous, &c. Hence Arab, gebal, a
hill; alfo the Lat. gibbus, hump- backed. According to this
idea, it was appropriated to fignify the roof of the Mouth,
which, indeed, rifes in a gibbous form or arch over the tongue
and lower part of the mouth. From the notion of a rifing
protuberance, it was probably transferred to fignify cabbage,
and whatever elfe imports eviinence, elevation, or gibbojity.
Hence
&o ADDENDA.
Hence gabah, fcyphus, a kind of cup, fo called from its
gibbouf protuberant belly, perhaps the origin of the Scotch
word cap, and of all its German and Scandinavian cog-
nates.
Caph, Hebr. the hollow of the hand, or any other cavity
fitted for containing. By changing the ph but a very little,
we have cav, gau, cony, and gonv, fyllables which occur in a
number of compounds, both in the Eaft and Weft. Plut. in
Alex, tells us that gau-gamela fignifies the houfeof the camel.
It were eafy to trace this word through many different lan-
guages. It is the origin of the Englifh word cave, Scotch
cove, and Welch conue ; Lat. cavus, a-um, hollow. Here,
I believe, we may difcover a compofition of the word ccelum
very different from that ufually afligned. Co is a houfe, and
El, or II, a Phnceician name of the Deity. Hence we have
Ennius's Allifonans Coil, Annal. L. i. and alfo the follow-
ing verfes :
" Coiluvi profpexit flellis fulgentibus aptum.
" Olim de Coilo laivum dedit inclytus fignum,
*' Saturnus quern Coilus genuvit.
" Unus erat quem tu tollas in coirila Coili
" Templa,"
Hence it is probable that Co-il originally fignified the Houfe
of //, or El, which is perfeelly conformable to the notion of
Heaven commonly exhibited in Scripture. The idea annexed
to this word carries us back to a very uncultivated ftate of
Societv. The fame 1 word being applied both to fignify a cave
and a houfe, intimates that the original men often dwelt in
cave:. Vid. the Poems of Offian, pamm.
" Domus antra fuerunt,
" Et denfi frutices, vinetas cortice virgrc."
Ovid. Metant.
As
ADDENDA. Si
As gome, gaw, caw, cow, originally fignified a houfe, in
proceis of time it came to import a collection of houfes, a
village, a city. This was the cafe both in the German and
Celtic tongues. Thus we have Cra-conv, Tor-gamy, Wonnes-
gaiv, Ncrd-gaw, Rkin-gaw : See CJuv. Germ. Antiq. 1. i.
cap. 13. p. 91. Confer Bullet in Gouri, and Gowrin.
In Scotland we have Glaf-cow, or Glaf-gow, Linlith-
gow, &c. In the old Britifh dialect, gowe, or rather
oowe, fignified likewife low, hollow ; Scotch howe. From
gow, or cow, and ri, a river, -we have Gowrie, a low fer-
tile tracl of ground, lying on the north bank of the river
Tay. In ancient times, this diflrift lay between the rivers
Tay and Erne.
Lunzie~] We call a bulky parcel, which one carries on his
haunch, under his coat, a lunchick ; perhaps the fame with the
Englifh luncheon, both derived from thje word lunzie,
STANZA I.
Ver. 1. Tke~\ This particle has a moft extenfive range
both in the Eaftern and Weftern parts of the Globe. Hebr.
zah, or zahah ; Chald. da, di, dik, din. Arab. Syr. much
the fame. Perf. di. From the- Chald. da, the Greeks
formed their r , the article of the neuter gender. It is the
fame with the Latin de, though of a different fignification.
The fame article runs through all the Gothic dialedts, with
very little variation.
Over'] This prepofition, however meanly it figures in our
dialeds, is, notwithstanding, one of the terms which made a
part of the original language of mankind. In Hebrew we
have ckabar, or, as fome pronounce it, obar, tranfivit,
tranfgreffus eft ; heber, tranfitus ; Chald. cheber, chiber, from
which word, fome think the pofterity of Abraham were called
L Hebrews*
8* ADDENDA,
Hebrews, transfiuviani, men from beyond the river. Syrian
chabara, or abara, whence Beth-abara, the houfe ofthepajf*
age, the ferry-houfe, John, chap. i. 25. Hence alfo chebar,
in Ezek. From Chabar, trans, over, were denominated the
Chabareni, a people beyond the mountains of Armenia,
Steph. Byzan. in Voc.
From the Chald. Chiber, we have all the fieri in the Eaft.
In Spain we have Celt-iberi, i. e. the Celtse beyond the
mountains ; the river fber, now Ebro, denominated,
I fuppofe, by the Gauls who. fettled in that country.
The word aber, fignifying the mouth of a river, pervades
all the Celtic dialects, and differs almofr. nothing from the
Chabar of the Eaft.
From the fame word we have the Greek vt,v, and ysvvpet,
a bridge. Alfo the Lat. fuper, fupra, with all their connec-
tions. Upon the whole, hardly any particle has pervaded a
greater number of dialects, both in Europe and Afia.
Lef\ Over all the North of Scotland they pronounce this
word ley, which comes very near the Greek hztos, hwtuv,
Mle, &C.
Ver. 3. Gude-wife~] Good, Scots gude, runs through all
the Northern dialects. Its primitive is found in the old Per-
fian language, where it is gatk, good. It is the root of the
Greek a.") *$><> good.
Wife~\ Of all the etymologies of this word, none feem to
me more plaufible than that which refers it to the very word
chevah. It is only changing the letter heth into iv, and
throwing away the he at the end ; but the profound etymolo-
gies will reject this derivation, were it for no other reafon
but becaufe it is obvious.
Kaiu, Kaio~\ Thefe words are originally Perfian. Kai,
or Hci, was a title given to a dynafty of their Kings.. Hence
the
ADDENDA. 3
the Princes of that family were called Kaianidcs, which fig-
nifies \h.<zff>lendid, or illuflrious. The word hai, hei, fignifies
fulgur, a flam of lightning. Hebr. kai, or kei, uftio,
aduftio ; Gr. Kctiw, uro. From the fame root the Latin
prsenomen Cains, borrowed, I fuppofe, from the Etrufcans,
a colony of Lydians, which lair, had it from their neighbours
the Medes.
yzvct(o'\ From ya&, gigno, which laft from yict, Terra,
it being the opinion of the ancient uncivilized Greeks, that
the original men fprung from the earth, according to the
doctrine ef Mofchus, Democritus, and Epicurus, which was
introduced afterwards, and formed upon the fame opinion.
The radical term is the Hebr. gia, vallis.
Gaudeo is, I believe, deduced from the Hebrew gaah,
fuperbire; whence gavah, exultatio, which produces the Gr.
ya.u and the Lat. gaudeo, originally gaveo. The Scots
word, gaff, to laugh immoderately, belongs to the fame fami-
ly. They feem to be originally onomatopaas, formed in al-
lufion to the found of the human voice in an extafy of joy.
Ver. 4. Ludge\ Celt. Lug, Log, a place ; whence Lat.
Locm, and the Scot. Logie, the name of feveral villages.
Hence alfb Ki I- logie.
Ver. 5. Nigkt~\ This word, in various forms, pervades
all the Northern diale&s. With a fmall variation, we have
Lat. nox, mtt ; Gr. n, ; Hebr. Chad. Syr. nuch, quievit,
requievit.
Wat~\ Perf. ab, av, aiv, a river ; the very fame with
the Celtic word av, fignifying the fame thing. Of au and
pbrat, the Greeks made F.t/ppaTH?, Euphrates.
Ver. 6. Ingle~\ The origin of this word is very obfcure.
In many places of Scotland they have no other fuel but peats,
furze, broom, heath, and brufliwood. Fires confiding of
fch materials mud be fed by continual fupplies, which they
L 2 call
8+ ADDENDA,
call beeting. The Welch vocable inghilf fignlfies feeding }
this I take to be the origin of the word ingle, alluding to the
content feeding of the fire. In like manner, Ifl. elldur is
fire ; elide, to boil with fire ; both from el, ool, ela, to feed.
Ver. 7. Dochter'j] This word is purely Perfian, as is
generally known.
Ver. 8. Cadgily~\ The word cadge is probably derived
from the Sclavonian chodge, to trudge on foot ; whence, too,
our fcodgy, a little wench, who does the dirty work in a far-
mer's kitchen. The word cadgy, in the prefent cafe, fhould,
I think, be written cagy, or cagie, which would agree better
with the pronounciation. It imports merry, chearful, jovial,
and is, I believe, an abbreviation of the old French word
cagedJer, the fame with cajoler, to cajole, flatter, cox.
STANZA II.
Ver. 5. Canty"] From Lat. canto, cano. Hebr. kanah y
canna, calamus, arundo, plainly alludes to playing on inftru-
ments made of reeds, the reed being the firfr. fubftance ufed
for wind mufic. The Hebrew chanah, among other nu-
llifications, denotes to ftng, to fay, to fpeak to, to tejlify, t
attejl. The Greek 2/JV, in ancient times, implied both to
Jing and to fpeak. By comparing thefe two ideas, it appears
that the ancients uttered their words with a canting tone of
voice, or in the recitative ftile. From this circumftance the
orations of the Greeks and Romans may poflibly have derived
fome part of that influence, which we (till admire, but have
never feen.
Ver. 6. Ken] This is another word of Perfian extraction.
In thai language it denotes a learned intelligent man, efpecially
in the Laws of Zerdufht. Hence all the defcendants of that
word in Greek, Latin, Gothic, &c
STANZA
ADDENDA. 85
STANZA III.
Ver. 2. Daddy} This word occurs, with little variation,
in many different languages ; ab, ap, av-us, at, atta, tat>
dad, &c. and are all mere onomatopaeas, fabricated from the
early prattle of infants. The found is formed by an applica-
tion of the point of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, one
of the mod natural efforts of the organs of fpeech. It was
probably caught by mothers and nurfes, and by them applied
to intimate the idea of father. This procefs was natural.
The firft articulate found enounced by the child was appropri-
ated to the idea of father, he being deemed fuperior in dig-
nity to the other parent.
DQ Mentioned in the notes on the preceding word, figni-
fies bright, luminous, fplendid, glorious. It occurs in many
of the Eaftern dialefts, and from thence probably found its
way into the Wed. Perfian div, a genius, whence Eol. A/o<,
Lat. divus, Hebr. zui, fplendor ; Lat. diu t in the day-
time ; Gr. Ait, Jupiter, originally the Sun j Atsft divinus,
and fo forth.
This word makes the firfr. part of Atowcoe, the Greek
name of Bacchus, a word which has been ftrangely garbled
by etymologifts. In reality, dio fignifies bright, and nafta,
princeps. The Eolians changed a into v. Hence Dionyfius
will fignify the bright Prince, or the Prince of Light, i. e.
the Sun, who was indeed the original Bacchus of the Greeks,
and Ofiris of the Egyptians.
Ver. 6. Dyke'} Heb. deik, munitio, propugnaculum ; Gr.
rnyoi. Hence all the progeny of that word throughout the
Greek and Gothic dialefts. Hence, too, the Gr. <?hkw>
Jukvoui, ofendo, to point out, as from the top of a bulwark,
fort, or tower. This word may be compared with the Lat.
fpecula, fpeculory to view fro a watch-tower. In ancient
times
86 ADDENDA.
times it was the practice to erect watch-towers, or eminences*
round the frontiers of a country, and in thefe to place a man,
whofe bufinefs it was to look out, and, upon the approach of
an enemy, to alarm the country by lighting up fires. Hence
the cburim, vigiles, Hebr. Chald. alluding to the kindling
up fires ; the Gr. vpupo/, from the fame idea ; the Lat.
[peculator a , and the Scandinavian gokefmen.
Ver. 7. Clead~\ To this family belong the Gr. KhaQa, neo>
and Ka9c, the eldeft of the Dejl'mles.
Bra<w~\ From brage, mentioned in the Note on this
word, we have the Engl, brag, braggadocio, importing ori-
ginally loud-talking. The Perfian word brag fignifies Jhining,
fparkling, and might be metaphorically applied to denote a
perfon of ' Jloining talents, which exactly fuits the Scandinavian
Irage.
Ladylike"] Lady, compounded of Goth, lhaif, bread, and
dien, to ferve, becaufe the miftrefs of the family ufed to distri-
bute the bread to the guefts and domeflics.
STANZA IV.
Ver. 1. T<wa~] Scots tiva, Engl, two, Belg. twee,
Swed. tiva, Dan. toe, Sax. tiva, tivy, Pal. diva, Ruf. tiva,
Lat. duo, Gr. <Pvv, Welch day, Ger. zivan, Perf. do,
Beng. dio, Malay duo.
Ver. 2 Wee~\ Little. This word bids fair for being the
root of the Greek vio(, a fon. Hence, too, we have the
Spanifh hijo, Signifying the fame thing. This is one of the
many Gothic terms ftill fubfilting in the Spanifh tongue.
Their etymologies tell us, that the word hidolgo, which, in
their language, fignifies a gentleman, is compounded of hijo
and
ADDENDA, 87
and a/go, i. e. the fin of fimething. I believe they are mi*
{taken. The word is made up of the two Gothic terms hijo
and idelg, or idolg, which laft, in that language, fignifies a
gentleman. A. S. adel athaling, nobly born.
Cod'} The Celtic word kok fignifies red ; whence Greek
xoK)to<, and Latin coccus, purple. . Perhaps this bird was fo
denominated from the red colour of his cref, or comb. Be
that as it may, the creature is a native of Media, and there-
fore cannot endure the cold of thefe northern regions, without
iufFering very feverely.
Ver. 3. Shot} The root is the Scythian Jket, an arrow.
Perhaps it may not be amifs to enquire fomewhat minutely in-
to the origin and connections of this word, for reafons which
will appear by and by. I (hall not pretend to trace it through
the Gothic dialeds, all which it pervades, with little alteration
of found or fignification. From the numerous cognates of
this term, I fhall fingle out the word fkeit, or fkout, which is
nothing elfe but a modification of the original vocable. The
prefent meaning of this word is univerfally known ; but, I be-
lieve, few are acquainted with its original and primary accep-'
ration.
The Celtic or Gaelic word fiuta denotes a vagabond, a
rejllefs ivanderer, one perpetually roving about, without fet-
tling in any particular place, or fixed habitation. From this
definition it plainly appears that it is of the fame family with
the word fiout, mentioned above. This radical term, with
the definition annexed, I owe to the tranflator of Oilian's
Poems ; and it enables me to afcertain the original import of
two names, which have greatly embarraffed a multitude of
critics, of different ages and countries. This word fcuta is,
beyond all doubt, the original of the Greek :xu5tf, Scytha,
a Scythian. The found and fignification of the Celtic and
Greek
88 A D fc> E N D A.
Greek word fix the analogy to a demonftration. It was,
no doubt, applied to the Scythians, with a particular view to
exhibit the roving, reftlels difpofition of thofe people, who in-
habited all the Northern regions of Afia and Europe. Ana-
Jagous to this idea, the Perfians called the fame people Hhko./,
Sacse. Herod. 1. 7. cap. 64. - 1-^ Hitr-i 7r&vT*i T . 'ZviQcts
xa.Ki-.<i 2c xz ; " Now the Perfians call all the Scythians,
" Sacx." The Perfian word fack is plainly a cognate of the
Hebrew fliakak, difcurrere, difcurfiute, &c. The mono-
fyllable root of the word \%fhak, or fheik, and alludes to the
very fame reftlels, wandering diipofition, that the word fcuta
does in the Celtic. Both the _x bat of the Greeks, and the
Sacx of the Perfians, were terras of reproach, impofed by
hoftile neighbours ; and, of courfe, were never adopted by the
Scythians themfelves, who always alTumed a more honourable
denomination.
From the fame word fcuta, and for the fame reafon, was
derived the opprobrious name Scot ; a name detefted by the
Aborigines of the country, who always call themfelves by the
Gentile appellation, Albanich. During the lower ages of the
Roman Empire, the Aboriginous Britons, whom the Romans,
upon their firft invafion, had forced to take fhelter among the
faftneffes of the mountains, gradually recovered their courage,
and, {allying from their llrong holds, harrafTed the Romans,
and Provincial Britons, without diftinclion. As thefe people
were perpetually roving about, and diitrtiling the Province by
dcfultory wars, the Provincial Britons, out of fpite, branded
them with the infamous epithet of fcuta, in allufion to their
wandering migratory courfe of life. The Romans foon caught
the term from the Britons, and turned the word into Scotti,
or Scoti.
In confirmation of this etymon, it may be obferved, that,
not many years ago, the Scots borderers ufed to call them-
felves
Addenda. 8 9
fclves fcuytesy and Jkytes, as we learn from Cambden. In-
deed, lefs than a century ago, the term was current in the
North of Scotland. The Saxon-Scots readily adopted this
name, being ignorant of the original import of it ; but the
Scoto-Brigantes, or Highlanders, have always deemed it a
term of reproach, and, confequently, ftill retain their original
denomination, Albafticb.
From the fame word Saca, or Sak, explained above,
the Saxons who fettled in the North of Germany feem to
have derived their name. They were probably a colony of
Scythian emigrants, who fettled in that country, and brought
with them the Gentile name Sak, which had become the
general denomination of thefe tribes of Scythians who lived
nearefr. the frontiers of Media, and the other Provinces of
the Perfian Empire. Certainly the etymon affigned by Verfte-
gan, Sir William Temple, and others, who tell us, that it
is derived from feaxen, or feaxes, is highly improbable.
Thefe feaxen, or feaxes, were weapons much ufed by the
Saxons. They were crooked after the famion of a fcythe,
with the edge on the contrary or outward fide. The plural,
formed by , inftead of/, made Seaxon, which (fays Verfte-
gan, p. 21.) the Latins turned into Saxons.
Ver. 4. Be?it~\ This fpecies of grafs is feldom produced in
marfhy grounds. It appears in greatefl: plenty on any fandy
hillocks, efpecially on fandy grounds lying on the fea-fhore,
which we call links. In Erfe it is called ifnach, which figni-
fies JJiort, i//-groivn ; Scot, fitten. Our anceflors ufed to
twift ropes of it, for feveral purpofes ; hence, perhaps, it
might be called bent, from Iflandic band, Saxon bandan,
vinculum.
M STANZA
9
ADDENDA.
STANZA V.
Ver. I. Beggar"] To beg, to aflc alms ; from the Goth.
bidgan, Ifl. bid, Sax. biddan, to pray ; whence to bid beads.
Perhaps it may have originated from the practice of beggars,
who ufe to pray for alms. The Hebr. bag fignifies meat, and
is, perhaps, a cognate of this term.
Ver. 2. Strae] There is an obvious analogy between this
word and the Gr. rp--, cfowuut ; Lat. Jlrao, Jlerno, to
ftraw, to fpread, to level. In this lafl: fenfe, they feem to
coincide with the word Jlrath, (a level country, lying between
two ridges of mountains) fo common in all the Celtic dialects.
Strath and Jlraith are true Celtic words, a valley lying along
a river. Vide Bullet, Diet. Celt, in Strat and Strah*
To the fame tribe belong Gr. g-pa.ics, spam, n etroTft/V,
&c. Thefe words were appropriated by the Greeks to figni-
fy a camp, an army, an encampment, isV. becaufe the ori-
ginal mode was to chufe large level plains for encampments.
For the fame reafon, the word camp, from the Lat. campus,
a plain, is ufed by the French, Spaniards, Italians, and Eng-
lifh, to denote the fame idea.
The Latin word Jlcrno fignifies to make a bed, which was
done by making, arranging, and levelling thejlraiv ; whence
appears the relation of the ideas. Both Greeks and Latins
call a bed-Head torus, becaufe it was formed of thongs of a
lull's hide, employed in the fame manner as we now do cords.
Thus Oflian often mentions the binding of prifoners with
thongs. We learn, too, that in that Poet's time, thongs of
leather were ufed aboard of ihips for ropes. The Chald. thor
is a bull\ whence the Tcf.vpic of the Greeks, and the tanrus
of the Latins. From thefe two ideas of Jlraw, and thongs of
undrejfed leather, we may infer, thin the ancients of every rank
flept not more foftly than our peafants do at prefent.
Ver.
ADDENDA. 9,1
Ver. 5. Koffers~\ Ifl. kofe, domuncula ; kofa, cavea, con-
clave. Here again we may recur to the Hebrew kapb y
cavum, vola, manus, Sec. Hence, too, we have the vulgar
term coft, inftead of bought, i. e. coffed, put into my coffer.
Kijls~\ The root of this word is the Hebrew kis, loculus,
marfupium, crumena.
STANZA VI.
Ver. 2. Kirn"] To the Author's numerous collections on
the etymology of this word, we may add, that, agreeably to his
idea, the Hebr.^er fignifies coire, convenire, in the fame fenfe
that the Latins fay, in circulum venire. I cannot difmifs this
word without venturing a few ftrictures on the very different
ideas affixed to it.
Gur, a verb, fignifies, among other things, to fear, to be
afraid, to dread. Gur, a fubftantive-noun, imports zjlran-
get; an incomer, afojourner. From the connection of thefe
two ideas, we are led to infer the inhofpitable character of the
ancients towards people of a foreign tribe, or clan, who re-
fided among them. Their hofpitality to travellers, or pafTen-
gers, was indeed almoft unbounded ; but with refpect to
foreigners who fettled in their country, the cafe feems to have
teen \videly different, as it (till is in many places of die
ciftant Highlands : Hence, I fuppofe, the many injunc-
tions we meet with in fcripture, inculcating beneficence and
tendernefs towards ftrangers.
From magor, or megor, a compound of this word, we
have Magara, the name of one of the furies of hell, import-
ing terror, difmay, &c.
From another compound of the word magur, habitation
commoratio, we have the Greek ^yafov, domus,
dcmicilium, any large repofitory, or magazine ; a word very
M 2 common
9 2
ADDENDA.
common in Homer. From Megurah we have Megara, a
city of Greece, mid- way between Athens and Corinth. Garuth,
hofpitium, is the very fame with the Celtic ghivarth, a fort or
caftle. The fame word produced the PerGan gheit, guerd,
a city, from which we have a numerous family of defcendants
in all the Gothic dialefts. This word is likewife the parent of
the Lat. migro, to remove ; or, as we fay in Scotland, to flit.
In the notes upon this word, which indeed mew a vaft ex-
tent of etymological learning, the Author deduces the Greek
ctyopa, from the the primitive gur ': To me it feeim rather to
be formed from the prefect, med. of the verb ayetpa, congre-
go, which is derived from the Hebrew ager, collegit,
congeffit.
Ver. 2. Butt"] This word, with all its numerous progeny,
was imported from Perfia, where it appears nearly in the fame
form, bad, bod, bud, Ggnifying, in that language, a houfe, a
dwelling, an abode, the very fame with the German and Scan-
dinavian word in queftion. It is indeed the Hebr. beth, beith ;
Chald. bitb ; Arab, bait ; Egypt, but. In Egypt, die place
into which the initiated were put was called by this name.
See Hefych. in voce. Alfo, finis, iluxn, and, without
the Greek termination but, bot, was a kind of fhip, refembling
a floating-houfe or booth. From the fame word we have the
Greek xi^cojis, a wooden ark. Comp. of the Hebrew geb,
gibbus, and bot. This word might be traced through a mul-
titude of languages, and was, no doubt, a primaeval term.
Ver. 4. Ben] To the numerous etymologies of this word
traced by the Author, I (hail prefume to add one more,
which will lead us back to the fame original with but, of
which it is the oppofite. In the Chald. we find the word benin %
benina, Ezr. v. 4. figniiies aedificium, a houfe, a dwelling,
from the Hebr. bana, xdificavit. From benin we may, with-.
out
ADDENDA.
93
out any violence, deduce the word ben, in the fame manner
we do butt from beth.
STANZA VII.
Ver. 8. Bann'd'] This is another word of Perfian extrac-
tion. In that language the word bend fignifies a chain, and
metaphorically an objiacle, a barrier, a wall.
STANZA VIII.
Ver. 4. Frae~\ The fame nearly with the Gr. Tapa. The
radix is theHebr. pharad, or phrad, feparavit, fejunxit. The
root is phar, phara ; or, without the point, phra. It is cer-
tainly connected with our words fa r,frae. Of this word phar,
and Chald. bara, is formed the Greek B=xp3*po<> a Barbarian.
In the oriental dialects it fignified agrejlis, rujlicus, a pea-
fant ; what idea the Greeks annexed to its derivative, is too
well known to need to be mentioned.
The Author has fomevvhere obferved, that there is certain-*
ly a very ftrict connection among the particles of almoft all
languages. This obfervation is founded on fact ; and I may
add, that the not understanding the nature, relations, fignifi-
cation, and original import of thefe feemingly unimportant
terms, has occafioned not only great uncertainty, but nura-
berlefs blunders, in translating the ancient languages into
modern tongues. The Greek language, in particular, lofes
a confiderable part of its beauty, elegance, variety,
and energy, when the adverbial particles, with which
it is replete, are not thoroughly comprehended. An
exact: tranflation of thefe fmall words, in appearance in-
fignificant, would throw new light not only on Homer and
Hefiod,
94
ADDENDA.
Hefiod, but even on poets of a much pofterior date. Par-
ticles, which are generally treated as mere expletives, would
ofcen be found, energetically Significant. It is, however, al-
together impoflible to Succeed in this attempt, without a com-
petent (kill in the Hebrew, Chaldean, Syrian, Arabic, Per-
sian, Phoenician, Gothic, and Celtic languages. Such an
extenfive acquaintance with languages is, it is true, feldom
to be found in one and the fame perfon. I fnall here take the
liberty to mention a few of the moft familiar of thefe particles,
one or other of which occurs in almoSt every line of Homer,
and which, I am perfuaded, are generally mifunderftood.
Such are JV,=Ptf, /usi, nv, UetVy fxet, 7ot,y } 0, ynv, <zpa,pcc.
All thefe particles are truly fignificant, and, if properly ex-
plained, would add considerable energy to the claufes in which
they Stand ; but this difquifition mull be left to the learned
Philologcrs of the Univerfities.
Ver. 7. Laitb~\ The Author adduces very plauSible ar-
guments to provt, that the Greek word ihxyci is derived
from lalth. I (ball, however, adduce another etymology, and
leave the choice to the judgment of the reader. In the Hebr.
and Chald. we have the word ckeleg, plur. ckelegim ; or, as
fome pronounce them, cleg., plur. olegim, lifpivg^Jiammering.
In ancient times, *Kiyo<; Signified the fame with 0pny C ',
lamentation. Thofc who lament ufe a whining tone of voice j
which circumitance, perhaps, gave birth to the word.
STANZA IX.
Ver. 7. Town] To the Author's quotation from Tacitus,
may be added another from Csefar de Bel. Gal. 1. 5. cap. 21.
STANZA
ADDENDA. 95
STANZA X.
Ver. 7. V] Few words pafs through more languages,
and with lefs variation than this. Its root is the Hebrew ijl t
vox. Its cognates and derivatives fpread themfelves through
the Arabic, Syrian, Chaldean, Perflan, Greekj Latin, and
Gothic, and are a ftriking infrance of the univerfality of the
primaeval language.
It has been obferved, in the courfe of thefe Notes, that the
German and Scandinavian tongues abound with vocables of
the fame found and fignification. There are only two ways
of accounting for this appearance : Firft, by fuppoGng that
thefe coincident terms were parts of the univerfal original
language fpoken by Noah and his family on the plains of
Shinar, and preferred after the confufion of tongues at Babel:
Or, fecondJy, by granting, that Colonies emigrated from the
neighbourhood of Media and Periia, and at laft fettled in Ger-
many and Scandinavia. Perhaps it might be owing to both
caufes. Without entering into a minute difcuflion of this
point, which the bounds I have prefcribed myfelf will not
permit, I fhall only obferve, that the Median and Armenian
tongues were different dialects of the fame language. The
Armenians, Syrians, Chaldeans, refembled one another in
features, language, and manners. Again, the Phrygian and
Armenian tongues bore fo near a refemblance, that many have
thought the former were defcended from the latter. The
Thracians and Phrygians are faid to have been the fame peo-
ple, and therefore fpake the fame language. The Thracians
and Getee likewife fpoke only different dialects of the fame
tongue. The latter fpread themfelves far and wide towards
the Weft and North ; probably they over-ran a considerable
part
96 ADDENDA.
part of Germany, and forced their way into Scandinavia*
Some have thought that the Goths and Getae were the fame
people. This, however, is a vulgar miflake, arifing from the ig-
norance of the hiftorians of the lower ages of the Roman Em-
pire. If the links of this chain fhall happen to be firmly con-
nected, we need not be furprifed at finding a great number of
words pervade all the dialects fpoken by thefe different and
very diftant nations.
CHRIST'S
C H R I S Ts K I R K
O N T H E
G R. E E N.
N
C ? 8 J
TO THE READER.
N the Preface and Notes to the Gaberlunzie-vtan, I hare
**" endeavoured to make my Readers acquainted with the
true fyftem of rational Etymology, which confifts in deriving
the words of every language from the radical founds of the
firit, or original tongue, as it was fpoken by Noah and the
builders of BabeT. Many of theie are preferred in the feveral
dialects now in uie over this globe, and every day brings
more of thofe roots to our knowledge, as we grow better ac-
quainted with the languages fpoken by the feveral tribes of
mankind. But the large collection of thefe radical terms will,
one day, be laid before the Public, under the title of a Scotp-
Gothic Glojfary, if Heaven fhall beftow health and leifure to
complete the work.
Mean while, the Reader will be able to form fome idea of
my plan from the Notes on the preceding Poem ; and, in the
following obfervations, I fhall confine myfelf to a more narrow
circle of invefligation, elucidating our ancient language from
the later dialedts o{ the primxval one, the Gothic, I/Iandic,
Teutonic, and Anglo-Saxon,
To relieve the Reader from the tedious uniformity of
etymological difquifnion, I have interfperfed fome obfervations
on the manners and cuftoms of our anceitors, during the
middle ages, which, I hope, will prove not unacceptable to
the curious antiquarian.
Mr Ramfay has certainly departed very often from the
orthography of Bannantyne's M. S. As I have no oppor-
tunity to confult that book, I have given fuch readings as ap-
pear to me mod confonant to the phrafeology of the fixteenth
century.
The learned Bifhop Gibfon feems to have forgot that he
was publifhing a Scottifh Poem his orthography and idioms
are quite Englifh.
CHRIST'S
99 3
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN*.
WA S ne'er in Scotland heard or feen
Sik dancing nor deray,
Nowther at Falkland on the green,
Or Peebles at the pley,
As
Chri/Fs Kirk on the Green"] It is not eafy to affign the
real name of the Author of this truly comic performance-
Tradition gives it to one of the James's, Kings of Scotland;
and we find two of them named, James the Firft, and James
the Fifth. In the Evergreen, it has the following note at
the end, Finis, quod K. James I. Drummond's Hiftory of
the James's, p. J 6. fays, "This Prince was well {killed in Latin
** and Englifh poetry, as many of his verfes yet extant do tef-
** tify." f While this hiftorian does not tell us what^poetical
N 2 performances
* Kirk-town of Leflie, near Falkland in Fife.
f Vide Joan. Majoris Hift. Britan. in vita Jacob, who mentions the
firft two or three words of fome of thefc Poems abruptly, but fur-
nilhes his Readers with no more ; fo it would appear thefe are all now
loft. But Major is a trivial writer, devoid of ail taftc
ioo CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
performances the King left, we cannot, with certainty, afcribe
this little poem to him ; efpecially as the language appears
rather more modern than the year 1430. James I. was
murdered Anno 1436. Maitland * talks as if many of James's
writings were yet extant ; but, in his ufual way, he only
copies Drummond. Vide bottom of the preceding page.
Many different writers have faid that this Ballad was com-
pofed by James V. and many arguments are advanced for this
opinion ; fuch as, the exact defcription of the manners and
character of our Scottifh peafants, with which James V. was
intimately acquainted, as he delighted in {trolling about in
difguife, among the lower people and farmers ; in which ex-
cursions he fometimes met with odd adventures, one of
which he is faid to have made the fubject of his Gaberlunzic*
man, which we have, therefore, prefixed to Chrijl's Kirk
on the Green ; and, indeed, the ftyle and ftrain of humour in
both are perfectly fimilar.
The poetical talents of James V. made him known abroad j
and it is to him the following verfes of Ariof, do refer f :
" Zerbino di bellezza, edi valore,
M Sopratutti Signori era eminenti," sV.
And, in the following Stanza, we find what country Zerbino
belonged to :
" Pero, che data fine a la gran fefta,
*' U mio Zerbino in Scotia fe ritorno."
Ronfard, who accompanied James's Queen from France, and
was his domeftic fervant, defcribes him thus :
" Cc
* Hirtory of Scotland, p. 613.
f Orlando Fur. Cant. 13. Stan. 8. 9;
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 101
*< Ce Roy d'Efcoffe etoit en la Hear de fes ans,
" Ses cheveux non tondus, comme fin of luifans,
" Cordonnez et crefpez flottans delTus fa face,
" Et fur fon cou de lait luy donnoit bon grace.
" Son port etoit royal, fon regard vigoureux ;
H De vertus, et d'honneur, et de guerre amoureux ;
" La douceur et la force illuftroit fon vifage,
** Si que Venus et Mars en avoient fait partage."
Maitland's Suffrage, concerning the tafte of James V. for
poetry, were it of any avail, might be added j but he oniy
copies fervilely from others.
There have been a good many different editions of this little
Ballad, and the oldeft I have met with is one printed at Oxford
in quarto *, and illuftrated with Notes by the learned Bifhop
Gibfon, in which he has fhewn much knowledge of the an-
cient Northern languages. As the fpelling, however, of his
edition is widely different from that ufed by the belt of the co-
temporary authors, I have followed, in tins one, the ortho-
graphy of the collection called The Evergreen, but much cor-
rected, as more truly correfponding to the Scottifh idiom and
pronunciation. The Notes of the learned Bifhop are diflin-
guifhed from thole of the Editor by the letter G.
In the edition by Bifhop Gibfon we find two entire franzas
more than in that of Allan Ramfay, which, he fays, were
copied from Bannantyne's M. S. Collection of Scottifh Poems,
in Lord Hyndford's library, now in the Advocates library, to
whom his Lordfhip prefented it, written in the year 1568.
Thefe we have retained, as they are evidently in the lame
ftyle and manner as the others, and even appear neceffary for
connecting the ftory. They are alfo warranted by Gibfon's
edition, being printed thirty-three years earlier than that of
Ramfay.
There
* Anno 169I
102 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
There are feveral variations in the reading of thefe two edi-
tions, which we have marked in the Notes ; but we have prin-
cipally followed the spelling of Ramfay's edition corrected, the
Bifhop having often adopted not only the Englifh orthography,
but even the phrafes of that language.
We have only to add, that if the little fpeciraen now given
of our ancient poetry fhall prove acceptable to the real judges
of good letters, and the public in general, it is defigned to
print a full collection of all the Scottifh Poems which appeared
before the feventeenth century, illuftrated with Notes, in the
manner of thofe that follow ; in which undertaking we look for
the kind afliftance of all who love the language and antiquities
of our country, and who wifh to preferve the poems of our
anceftors from oblivion.
' Nobis pulchrum Imprimis videtur, non paii occidere
" quibus aternitas debeatur" as Pliny the younger fays,
L. 5. Ep. 8,
STANZA I.
Ver. 2. Deray'] Jollity and merriment; feajling and
frolicking, which are generally accompanied with riot and
diforder. In this fenfe G. Douglas ufes it * ;
" Of the banket, and of the grete deray,
" And how Cupid inflames the lady gay."
And, fpeaking of the diforder in the enemy's camp, made by
Nifus and Eurialusf :
" Behaldand al there fterage and deray. 1 *
Ruddiman
Virgil, p. 35. 1. j%. I Ibid, p. 388. 1. 1 6.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 103
Ruddiman derives the word from the French defroyer, which
Pafquier explains, tirer bors de voye, ou de roye. Hence
array , and our word array ; and di/arroy, difarray. From
defroyer this critic alfo deduces the Scots word royd, or royet,
romping, frolickfome ; taking away the firft fyllable, as mjkir-
mijh, from efcarmouche ; {ample, for example ; uncle, from
avunculus ; fpittal, for hofpital.
Thus far Mr Ruddiman, who, had he been better acquaint-
ed with the Northern languages, would have known that the
origin of this word is of much higher antiquity than the old
French he quotes. Rud, in the Gothic, fignifies line,
or order. Thus, in one of their old books *, Then kunungr
the hawar kuninglikt ivald met arfde rad, That King who
fucceeds according to the line of fucceffion. Iflandic raud
and rada, to put in order ; Saxon, na der radt, according to
order. In the Scythian dialefts we find this ancient word
varied by many different terminations. Alam. ruava; Angl.
reiv ; and the Scots, who, we (hall often find, retain the an-
cient Gothic pronounciation, fay, raiv ; Wellh rigwun ;
Fenn. riivi ; Ital. riga. Hence the French raye, and, by
inferting an n, rang, whence we form rank ; Belg. rege,
rijge, whence the Scottilh rig, a ridge of corn, from its
ftreightnefs and regularity. In Ulphila we find, Rathjan f.
garathanu Jind alia izwara tagla baubidis, Numbered are all
the hairs of your heads \. In Swed. rakna, to reckon or num-
ber ; Lat. ratio.
As the ancients generally ufed counters in fumming up their
accompts, difpofed in rows, rad is the common phrafe on fuch
occafions in the dialects of the North. Hence Atiradur is he
who
* Kon. Styr. p. 44. apud Ihre, Lex. in Rud.
f Joh. vi. 10. \ Matth. x. 30.
io 4 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
who hath attained to the eight fine, t. e. fourfcore years ;
Niradur, a man ninety years old ; Tha var Haraldur Konung
aatradur at aldoiy King Harald was then eighty years old *.
And in the ftlandic bible f, Abram hafdi fex um attrat,
Abram was eighty-fix yean old.
Ver. 4. Peebles at the pley"} In the old writers we find
this word ufed in feveral fenfes. To pley is to plead, carry on
a law fuit ; Belg. pley ten. In Welfh we find the word pleidio,
to a& as advocate for any. Vide Jun. in Plead. Douglas,
Virg. p. 73.
. - Follow our chance bot pleys."
i. e. Without deputing.
And p. 445.
" The auld debate of pley, or controverfy."
P. 3. 34. But pleid, Without controverfy. Now, as our an-
ceftors always reforted to the courts of law, armed and at-
tended by their vaflals and dependents, it often happened that
their differences were decided by fharper weapons than law-
yers tongues. Hence the A. S. plegan, to ftrike, to wound
in war ; plega-gares, the play of fpears. Caedmon, 45. 11.
Heard hand-plega, The hard play of hands. Vide Lye, Lex.
Sax. in Plega. Hence Spelman in Archeol. derives plea from
pleah, damnum, periculum. Play, or pley, was hence ufed
to denote tilts and tournaments, as at thefe meetings it was
very frequent with the knights to give proof of their addrefs
nd valour in mock engagements, which, however, often
terminated in blood. The ladies always were prefent at fuch
meetings, and gave the prizes.
" of
Olaf Trygs. Saga. Part. I. p. II. t Gen - * vni *
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 105
As was of wooers as I ween
At Chryft's Kirk on a day ;
There came owr Kittys wafhen clean,
In new kyrtills of gray,
Fow gay that day.
II.
r " of wit and arms, while both contend
** To win her grace, whom all commend. " Milton.
The town of Peebles was, in ancient times, a place of fome
note. Here was a confiderable Priory ; and, being the largefl:
town in that diftricT: of Scotland, it is likely that frequent and
numerous meetings were held here. The open plains, too,
round this city, made it a very proper place for tournaments,
and other warlike exercifes. Pley, the cuftomary meeting.
111. plaga, Goth, plaga, folere, alfo exercere. It is probable
one of thefe exercifes gave rife to a Scottifh Poem fimilar to
this, entitled Peebles on the Play., faid to be preferved by the
Reverend Dr Percy of Carlifle.
Ver. 5. Ween~\ Suppofe ; think. Sax. nvenan, opinari ;
Goth, ivenian, Gibfon. In the Alemanic it is wanen. The
root is in the Gothic nvenian. Thus Ulphila, Luke iii. 15.
At nveniandein than allai managein, All the people thinking.
Confer Jun. Lex. Ulphil. We?ide, in Chaucer, to think or
confider. Tr, lib. 3. 1547.
" And in his thought gan up and down to wende."
Ver. 7. Kittys] Either from Kate, Katie, the common
diminutive of Catherine ; or from their playfulnefs as kittens,
or Scot, kitlings, young cats.
Ver. 8. Kirtle] Mantle. 111. kiortell. Of old we
find the fame term applied to the gowns worn by the men.
O Thus
io6 CHRIST'S KIRK ON tHE GREEN,
II.
To danfs thir damyfells them dight,
TJiir laffes light of laits;
Thir gluvis war of the rafFal right,
Thir Ihoon war o' the ftraits.
Thir
Thus Franco-Goth. Ung aultre hi vejiira un kyrtel du rougf
tar tar in* Vide Cange, GlofT. Lat. vol. 4. p. 737,
STANZA II.
Ver. i. Dight\ Prepared, or made them ready. Sax.
Dightan, parare, inflruere ; vox Chaueero ufitatiffima. Thus,
dighteth his dinner, To bed thou wold be dight. His in-
ftruments wold be dight. Gibfon.
May it not rather be derived from deccan ? Sax. Metaphor.
Excolere, ornare. A lam. Thee an. Perhaps, too, we are
hence to derive the word deck of a fhip. Mr Ruddiman
(GlofT. to Bifhop Douglas) obferves, that in Chefhire the
word dight is ufed in the oppofite fenfe to foul or dirty ; but
this is only provincial, like many other corruptions.
Ver. 2. Laits~\ If this word is rightly copied from the
M. S. it may fignify nimble, or light-footed. Goth. /ai/Ijan,
fe<]ui. Vide Jun. GlofT. Ulph. in voce. Thus Luke ix. v. 59.
LaiJIe' mik, Follow me. Theotis. GlofT. Kalepodia. leijL
Dan. left ; Angl. laji, on which the fhoe is formed. Hence
$*&. fotlajl > veftigium, footdep. Vide Pf. Ixxxvi. v. 19.
Ver.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 107
Thir kirtles were of Lincome light,
Weel preft wi* mony plaits ;
They were fae fkych, whan men them nicht,
They fqueil'd like ony gaits,
Fu' loud that day.
IIL
Ver. 3. Gluvis'} So our anceftors fpelled ghves. Sax.
glofa. Jun. in Etymol. obferves, that in Danjfti they arc
called haand-kloffuer, from baand and kloffue, to fplit or di-
vide, which gives the true idea of the word glove. Hence
glofar, gloar, glofe, glove.
Raffal~] I don't well underftand the meaning of this word ;
but, from analogy, it muft fignify gloves of rough leather. Celt.
craf, nails of the fingers a file every thing that fcratches.
Hence Ikins drefled in a rough manner, with coarfe inftru-
ments, and not hnoothed. Confer Bullet in V. Craf.
Ver. 4. Straits] Quaere, Is this what we now call Mo-
rocco leather, from the Straits of Gibraltar ?
Ver. 5. Lincome] Is this rightly copied from the M. S. ?
Ver. 6. P /aits'] Folds. Douglas, p. 298. v. 4.
* And he his hand plait on the wound in hye."
Plait, nectere, contexere J Gr. rrhzrMv ; A. S. plett, pletta,
a Iheep-fold, they being of old made of wicker work. The
Scots called them faulds, for the fame reafon, and the
Englifb folds.
Ver. 7. Skygb] Shy. Skygg bajla, a fliy horfe Jun.
Ver. 8. Squeil'd] Shrieked. Sueo-Goth. fq>wallra %
blaterare ; fqwa-la, incondite vociferare j Asig\. fqueak, fqueal.
X)ouglas, cf cattle, p. 254. 40.
O 2 Bayth
io8 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEtf.
" Bayth fqucil and low."
And p. 248. 36.
" With loud voce /que /and.' "
It is ufed metaphorically to accufe ; Sqivallra uppa etif
aliquem accufare ; Vide Ihre Lex. Sueo-Goth. in Sqivallra.
Sqivalimgar, crying children, fqualing brats. Suio-Goth.
/kail, found; Alam. /call; Germ, fi halt. " Ufurpa-
" tur a nobis," fays the learned lhre, " vel pro fonitu for-
*' tiori in genere, vel etiam in fpecie, quum mukitudo, edito
" clamore, feras in cafles piopeliit." Hence Jkallalxghe, fociety
of hunters ; Jkalra t to cry out ; Jhalla, to bark or howl as a
dog. Hence fkalla, a fmall bell, which was hung to the robes
of men in power, that the paffengers might make way for
them. Chron. Ryth. Min. in Prasfat.
" Kunde han danza, fpringa ok hoppa,
" Han fkulle jw hafwa fkallo, och forgylta klocka."
" If he only could dance and hop gracefully, he had immediate-
" ly gilded bells given him." Confer Ihre in Skalla. The old
French Romance De la Viollette, ap. Cange in Mantum,
defcribing a rich robe :
" Et ot a chafcune flourette,
" Attachie une campanette.
" Dedans fi que rien n'en paroit,
" Et fi tres doulcement fonnoit,
" Quant an mantel frapoit le vent."
The antiquity of this ornament appears from the facerdotai
robes of the Jewifli priefts, and thofe ufed by other nations.
Apul. Met. Lib. 10. Et piftilibus balthasis, et tintinnabulis
perargutis exornatum. Adde Eccard. ad LL. Salic, p. 151.
where he obferves, that the ltd. fquilla is of the Gothic fami-
ly. In the Latin of the middle ages we have fchilla*
cfquill^f
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN, 109
III.
Of a' thir maidens, myld as meld,
Was lane fae jimp as Gillie 5
As ony rofe her rude was red,
Her lyre was lyke the lillie :
But
efquilla, and fquillare^ for fonare. It was alfo the cuftom to
hang bells to the necks of cattle, that they might be more
eafily found in the woods : And hence the penalty in the
Salic Law, cap. 29. againft him, Qui fkellam de caballis
furaverit. Confer Cange in Tintinnabulum.
Ver. 8. Gaits~\ Goats. Sax. geit, gat ; IfL geit t capra i
Goth, gatcins, hsedus. Gib.
This is one of the many examples where the Scots hare re-
tained the orthography and pronunciation of the mother lan-
guage, more exactly than the Englifh.
STANZA III.
Ver. I. Meid] Mead, hydromel, a favourite drink of our-
anceftors, and alfo of the Scandinavians, as we learn from
Snorro, and all the Northern hiftorians. Mead and ale, called
by them <?/, were the conftant beverages ufed in their feafts ;
Gujus frequentijji?fius it/us eft in frigidis terris, fays Olaus
Magnus, lib. 13. cap. 21. where he has given us an account
or the different methods they ufed in preparing that liquor,
which may be of ufe to our modern brewers. Vide
cap. 22. 23. 24. It is, called by the Icelanders mi*d\
A lam*
no CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Fow zellow, zellow, was her heid,
And fcho of luve fae filly,
Thocht a* hir kin had fworn hir deid,
Scho wald hae nane but Willie,
Alane that day*
IV.
Alam. mede ; A. S. medu, meodu ; Wel(h, meddeglyn,
hydromeli ; Gr. yt.t$y, vinum.
Ver. 2- Ji m P~\ Slender, handfome, G. Gim, gimp,
complus, bellus, concinnus ; Welfh, gwymp ; Armor, count,
pulcher.
Ver. 3. Rude"] Blum. Sax. rudu ; Cimb. rode, rubor.
Properly completion, the verecundus color of Horace, Epod.
17. Chaucer, Sir Topas, v. 13.
" His rudde is like fcarlet in graine."
Douglas, Virg.
" So that the rude did in her vifTage glow.'*
Jun. Etymol. quotes from Jofephus, the 'poJavov tu iuetro(,
the rofeate colour of the fkin, which perfectly expreffes the
rude of our Poet.
Ver. 4. Lyre"] Bilhop Gibfon derives this from the Cimb.
hlyre, or the Sax. hleare, gena, maxilla, mentum, facies,
vultus, quoting that of Chancer :
" Saturn his lore was like the lede."
But the learned annotator is certainly miftaken ; for it comes
from A. S. lire, which iigniiies (fays Lye) Pulpan, quicquid
carnofum eft, et neryofum. in homine, ut earjlyre nates,
fcanclira,
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN, in
fcanclira, fura. Thus it means in general flefb, as in Wal-
lace's Hiftory, b. 7. c. 1.
. Burnt up bone and lyre."
And elfewhere :
" Through bone and lyre."
Douglas, Virg. p. 19. 35.
" Syne brocht flikerand fum gobbetis of lyre.**
And p. 456. 1.
" Wyth platis full the altaris by and by,
" And gan do charge, and wourfchip with fat lyre."
Ver. 5. Zellcmf\ Thus our anceftors ufed the z, though
they always pronounced the words fo fpelled as if they had
been written with the letter y. The reafon feems to have
been, that the^, to which y hasfucceeded in later times, had
been taken by ignorant tranfcribers for an z, as it bore fome
refemblance to it in the Saxon writing. This feems the more
probable, as we find the Anglo-Saxon character {till in ufe
after the conqueft ; and, even under Edward the Third, the
Monks blended Saxon letters with the Roman. See Mande-
ville's Travels, printed at London 1725, and Robert of
Glocefter's Chronicle in 1724, exactly after the original
MSS. Hence, too, we muft account for the changes we
find in the names of many places. Thus, Tetland was the
original name of the ifland which, from the above-mentioned
miftake, came afterwards to be written Zetland., and which is
now corrupted, by vulgar ufe, into its prefent form Shetland.
Though the z be ufed in the Gothic tongue, (Vide Ul-
phila's Gofpels paflim) yet it is not found in the Iflandic
alphabet, nor is it much ufed in the Sueo-Gothic ; fo that the
learned Ihre calls it Liter am Suecis peregrinanu The figure
M3 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN,
Scho fkornit Jock and fkrapit at him.
And murgeon'd him wi* mokks j
He wald hae luvit, fcho wald nQt lat him,
For a' his zellow lokks j
He
z much refembles the Saxon g, which the later Englifh have
changed in mod words into y ; as geard, yeard ; gea, yea ;
gear> year ; geong, young ; and the Scots (till more frequent-.
ly, (as Ruddiman obferves) even where the Englifh retain
g; as yate, for gate; foryet, for forget, life. Junius has
ranged all the words in Douglas's Virgil, which begin with z,
under g. Vide his GIofT.
STANZA IV,
Ver. i. Skrapit'] So Ramfay's edition. Bifhop Gibfon
reads Jkripped, which he explains, " Made a courtfie to him
" in a mocking manner." *' Vox deducenda videtur (adds
he) per metathefin et fyncopen a Cimbv.Jkapraunade, opprobrio
vexabat. Bibl. Ifland. i Sam. i. 6.
Perhaps this word may be, with more facility, derived
from Sueo-Goth.yftrtf/a ; A. S.fcreope, aicraper; fcreopan^
radaere, fcalpere. Hence the faying, Fa en fcrapa, to be
blamed or mocked. Perhaps our phrafe, To fall into a f crape %
may have originated from this. Shall we look here, too, for
the root of the Latin crepo, increpo, with the s prefixed, as
the Goths ufually do ? Similar metaphor in the French, Etril-
hr de paroles.
We.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 113
We have further to obferve, that the Goth. Jkrap properly
ligniiies ufelefs fragments of any thing, which we call fcraps.
Hence metaphorically a lazy ufelefs fellow. Anfg. Saga cap.
Ihre Lex. in Skrap, Thu efl mefta be wis Jkripe, Tu omnium
bipedum ignaviffimus es. As fuch people are often vain-
glorious, we have the verb Jkrappa. Jaclare fe, gloriari,
Jkrappa vet fkryta. Hence Lat. crepare, in the fame fenfe.
Skrap, jafratio, oftentatio.
Ver. 2. Murgeou'd~] Made mouths at him, G. The
A. S. murcnung, murmuratio, querela, querimonia j Goth,
and Ifl. mogla, murmurare.
Ver. 3. Luvid~\ This may be underftood in the common
acceptation of loving. But our anceftors ufed it for praifing.
Thus Douglas, Virg. p. 455.
" How Eneas, glaid of his victory,
" Lovil the goddis, and can them facrify.'
Bruce's Life, p. 248.
** They loved God, and were full fain,
" And blyth that they efcaped fo."
Perhaps from the French louer, fays Ruddiman ; but this word
is formed from Goth, lof praife. The words, in that language,
loft, lift, lyfta, all denote fomething high and lofty. Lofwa,
laudare ; Ifland. leiva. In the Havamal, Jltqueld fkal dag,
leiva konu tha kender, make er reindur, is tha yfer tint
killvier, i. e. Praife the day when evening is come, a wife
when you know her, a fword when you have tried it, and ice
when you have paffed it. Lofiig, laudable ; loford, com-
mendation.
P Vfp.,
1X4 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
He cherifh'd her, fcho bid gae chat him,
Scho compt him not twa clokkis,
Sae fchamefully his fchort goun fet him,
His legs war lyke twa rokkis,
On rungs that day.
V.
Ver. 5. Chat him~\ To go about his bufinefs, G. Pro-
perly to take care of himfelf, and not attend to her, from the
Gothic fkota, curare. Chron. Rython. apud Ihre, Lex.
p. 6ie>
" Han wille thet intet fkota,
" Parum id penfi habebat."
Ifl. Jkeita. Job 1 8. 1 'hes fern ecke fkeita urn gud, qui deum
non curant. The fame learned and mod ingenious etymolo-
gift obferves the correfpondence of the Fr. 77 ne me chaui, I
care not ; from the old chaloir. He adds, Credo noflrum a
fkotjinus fa&um, ut z.Jinus fit infinuare, adeoq; proprie ufur-
patum fuifTe de infantibus qui in finu portabantur, unde
hodieq; Jkoti no dicitur tenellus, quern nondum de finu de-
ponere licet. Hence applied to other things, Skotafit ambek,
to look after his charge. Adde Douglas, p. 239. v. 30.
Ver. 6. Clckkis~\ Beetles, fcarabasi, G. True, the beetle
in the Scot, is clok ; but perhaps it means here, fhe valued
him no more than the cluk of a hen, which our anceftors pro-
nounced clok, from the found the hen makes.
Ver. 7. Schort Goun'] Till the French taught us to wear
our clothes fhort in the prefeot fafhion, the gown, covering
the knees, was univerfally worn both in England and Scot-
land. Hence Jun. derives it from ytva. pro yvictTu, genua.
But
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 1/5
But the etymon is from the Welfh giun, a gown or cloak,
from gunio, fuere. In the True Protraiture of Geoffrey
Chaucer., the famous Englijk poet, as it is defcryved by Tho-
mas Ocleve, who ivas his fcholar, and is generally put before
the title-page in the old editions of Chaucer, we find him
cloathed in the true Englifh gown, clofe gathered at the col-
lar and wrifts, and flowing loofely down from the fhoulders
to the knees. The form of this garment we had from Ger-
many ; and it feems to have been imported by the Saxons, as
h was worn all over Germany. Vide Spelman in Guna.
The opulent had their gowns lined with ermine, and odier
rich furs ; the poorer people with hare and fheep {kins. Boni-
face, Archbifhop of Mentz, epift. 89. Gunnam de pellibus
lutrarum factum fraternitati vaeftrie mill. Vinea Benedict,
cap. 5. Senibus noftris gunnas pelliceas tribuimus. Some-
times wrote gonna. Thus Gul. Major, apud Cange, in Gonna ;
Canonici ejufdem ecclefias in gonnis fuis. In old French
Gonne. In the Romance of Guillaume del. Nez :
" Or feraigre, fil me tollent ma gonne."
And ibid, apud Cange ubi fup :
" Laifla le fiecle, pour devenir prodhom, (
*' Et prift la gonne, et le noir chaperon."
As guna, or gown, denoted the men's garment, the women's
was called, in the barbarous Latin of the middle ages, gunella,
becaufe made pretty near in the falhion of the men's robe.
Ital. gonella ; Fr. gotillon, cotillon. Cluverius Germ. Ant.
]. 1. c. 15. derives gunam a gonaco, quod Varro majus fagum
interpretatur, vocem Grascam efTe ait. Hyfech. Ketwuxett
rpauara, nrtfahattt ..-<?auaA>rt, ftragula, altera parte
villofa. We fhall, in another work, prove evidently, that
numbers of the Greek words are formed from the Gothic, of
P 2 which
n6 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
which this is one, the robe itfelf being of Gothic, and nos
Greek invention. We tind a Count of Angers firnamed
Grife-gonclle, from his wearing a gown furred with that
colour. Vide Cange Gloff. in Grifeus color. And we find
an Epiftle of Pope John, folemnly addreffed to him,
Goffrido Grifia-gonellas cognominato, nobilliffimo Ande-
gavorum comiti. The men's gown is fometimes called cappa.
Baldricus in Geft. Alberonis, ap. Cange, ubi fup. Clericali fe
togo induit et cappa de panno grifco fe fuper induit. Hence
the faying of Henry IV. of France : " Je ne fuis q'un pauvre
" here. Je n'ai que la cappe et l'efpee."
Ver. 8. Reikis'] Rock, in Gothic and Iflandic, properly
denotes a heap of any loofe things flung together. Thus rock
hoys, a heap or rick of hay ; and thus it is (till ufed in Belg.
Hence transferred to a heap of lint or wool put upon the
flick for fpinning. The tranfition was eafily made, when
rock was ufed to denote the piece of wood to which the lint
or wool was fixed. Thus the Chum. Ryth. apud Ihre Lex.
in Roak, p. 496.
" Quuinor tager theras harfl ock harnijflc ifra,
" Ok monde them med rockhi fla."
" Women took the horfes and breajl plates from the men,
" And beat them nuith their rocks."
Id. rock, and apud Kilian. Lex. Tuet. rocken, penfum colo
aptare. See the learned Ihre, Lex. Sueo-Goth. in voce.
Marefchall Obf. ad Verf. Angl. Sax. 4. Evangel, informs us,
that in the times of Paganifm, the belt of Orion was, by the
Scandinavians, called Frygr rock, colum deae Fryggae. Thus
the girl here compares Jock's gown to an ill fhaped heap of
lint on the rock. Might not his ill-fhaped legs, if flender,
&c be compared to the rock or diflaff? Anodier Scot-
tifh
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. n?
tifh Poem defcribes the legs like harrow-trams. Per-
haps, too, rock may here be meant of the gown he
wore, which looked a3 if it had been hung on a pole;
for rock Goth, and A. S. rocc, fign. toga, veftis ex-
terior ; AI. rokk. In the barbarous Latin, roccus, rocius.
Vide Cange GloflT. in voce. Gall, rochet. Whence we call
the outer-garment of a fucking-child a rochet., or rackety and
the Englifli, putting /"before, have formed their word frock ;
Gall. free. Stadenius derives rock from rauh, rough, hairy.
Ulphil. r'thy as our ancefbrs firff. were clothed in fkins, and
after wool came to be ufed, they continued to line their gowns
with furs of different kinds. The Finlanders ftill call a fur-
red gown roucka, and the bed-coverings they ufe, made of
flieep-fkins, are named roucat ; whence our rug.
From this origin comes rock/in, the linen vellment worn by
the priefls ; the bifhops rocket. Thus Hiftor. Sigifmund. ap.
Ihre Lex. vol. 2. p. 450. Aflagges prajiens Anvita rock/in,
abrogatur facerdotis linea toga. This word was ufed in the
fame fenfe by the ancient Latins, as we fee from Feftus ;
Rica, veitimentum quadratum, fimbriatum, purpureum, quo
Flaminse pro palliolo utebantur Titinius, Rica et lana fucidei,
alba veftitus. Our readers will find many learned and critical
miftakes in the notes on this paflage, which is quite plain to
thofe who know that it is a Gothic or Scythian term, as many
more of the ancient Latin words are. Confer Jun. Etym. in.
Roketts ; Spelm. in Rocketum.
Ver. 9. Rungs'] Round and long pieces of wood. Vox
in ufu apud Anglos boreales, G.
Properly poles, or long ftaves like hunting poles, frequent
in Douglas, and our old writers. Skinner fays the carpenters
call thofe timbers in a fhip, which conftitute her floor, and are
bolted to the keel, rungs.
STANZA
r*S CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
V.
Tarn Lutar was thair minflrel meet ;
Gude Lord ! how he cou'd lans !
He playt fae fchill, and fang fae fweet,
Quhyle Towfie took a tranfs,
Auld
STANZA V.
Ver. i. Minjlrel~\ This term was indifcriminately applied
to the harper, the fiddler, or the player on the bagpipe. Fr,
menejlrier. It appears to be derived from A. S. minfler ; and
thofe called minjlrells were employed in the public worfliip of
the cathedrals as fingers, (vide Jun. in voce) in the fame way
the Welfh called muficians cler t as employed in the fame
way. Thofe minftrels, during the middle ages, united the
arts of poetry, inftrumental and vocal malic, their fongs be-
ing always accompanied with the harp. Thus, too, our
Poet repreients his minftrel, in ver. 3. below, as playing and
finging. They feem to have been the genuine fucceflbrs of
the ancient bards, who, under different names, were admired
and honoured from the earliefr ages among the Gauls, Britifh,
Irifh, and Scandinavians ; and, indeed, by all the firft in-
habitants of Europe, whether of Celtic or Gothic origin. It
were eafy to add many curious particulars concerning this once
famed race of mufieians and poets ; but we refer our Reader
to the elegant dhTertation on the ancient Englifh minftrels,
prefixed to the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, where we find it
obferved, that the light of the fong (to ufe OfTian's expreflion)
never arofe without the harp. Douglas, Virg. 250. 1 8.
Syne
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. ii 9
" Syne the menftrallis, fingaris, and danfaris,
" About the kyndlit altaris."
Du Cange has colle&ed a number of curious anecdotes con-
cerning thefe minftrells, voce Miniftelli. The ufual theme of
their fongs we may learn from an old French romance, quoted
by this lexicographer :
" Quiveut avoir des bons et des vaillans,
* I! doit aler fouvent a la pluie et au champs,
" Et eftre en la battaille, ainfi que fut Rolans,
*' Les quatre fils Haimon, et Charlons li plus grans,
" Li dus Lions de Bourges, et Guion de Connans,
" Percival li Galoi3, Lancelot et Triftans,
' Alixandres, Artus, Godefroy li Sachans,
" Dequoy cil menetriers font les nobles Romans."
Ver. 2. Lans~\ To run or fkip ; metaphorically to dance.
Arm. Lanca, jaculari, Ianceam vibrare. The minfixels, in
general, could acquit themfelves as dancers, as well as fingers
and poets. Douglas, Virg. p. 297. 16.
" Turnus lanfand lightlie Over the landis,
" With fpear in hand purfewis."
Some think the phrafe to launch a flrip, comes from this word.
Vide EfTay prefixed to Reliques of Ancient Poetry, p. 41.
This ancient Celtic word has pervaded many dialeds. Bafq.
lancza ; Gael, langa ; Corn. lancets ; Alain, lamze ; Gr.
Koyyui Hung, lantfas, a fpearman. Hence Lat lancears t
lancinare. Confer VofT. Etym. Lat. in Lancea.
Ver. 4. Tranfs~\ The name of fome foreign dance, per-
haps then firfl ufed in Scotland, and oppofed to Lightfute, ..a
fpecies of the ' hayes, or, as the Scots call it, reel, a train.
Be!g. ircin, ingens efie clarum numerus (fays Jun.) qui
du&orem
!2o CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Auld Light-fute thair he cou'd fore-lcet.
And counterfittct Franfs ;
He held him as a man difcriet*
And up the Moreis-danfs
He tuke that day.
VL
duclorem fuum comitatur; une queue trainante, une traine de
gens ; of which train Towfie was the leader, or choragus, as
in this manner the Morefco dances are ftiil performed, which
are mentioned below.
Ver. 5. Fore-kef^ To outdo, G. This is an error ; foi-
forlatcij Goth, fignifies to leave off, to defert. Job 4. 3. Ht
kan forlatat ? Quis illud derelinquere poterit ? Ulphil. tra-
letan. So Mark viii. 3. Jabai fralcta ins laufqui thrans } If
I fend them away empty. The Iflanders write \tfrilata, and
fyrirlita. Vide Snorro, vol. 1. p. 103. The prepofition
for> generally indicates a bad acceptation. Thus forhxda y
to contemn ; and, where God is fpoken of, to blafpheme.
Forhala, to delay ; forhecgda, to deftroy; forhalla, unjuflly
to detain what is due to another. An hundred more examples
might be given : Thus Towfie here fore-kets, leaves off and
defpiles the dances of his own country, and betakes him to the
French and Morefco tunes.
Ver. 7. Up-tuh~\ He took up; he began. Phrafis efl:
Cimbrica. Etenim tafia, tafia till, et tafia upp, ap. Ifiandos
fignificant incipere, ut, ogg drottins andetof ad vera med ho-
rum, caepitq; fpiritus domini effe cum eo. Gib.
Goth, taga, in general, to take. Taga til lanj, to take
on credit ; taga arf, to take or fucceed to an inheritance ; Ifl.
taka. The great antiquity of this word may be fcen in the
Latin
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. lii
Latin tagere, and tagax, ap. Ciceron. Qui Iubenter capit,
rapax. Plaut. Milite :
" Tetigit calicem clanculum."
That is, dole or took it. Hence integer, from whom nothing
is taken. Taga alfo fignifies proficere. Han tager fik
ivackert. Pulchre proficit. He takes to it. Meric. Caufau-
bon.de Ling. Angl. Sax. p. 366. Taojvel tclku, Tila.ua.. Aor.
2. Partic. TtJcLyav. Exponunt quidam rzivcLi, alii rtva,^,
alii deniq; Aet^uy, accipiens, prehendens, quos Steph. fequitur
Certe. Tw imper. ex ia.u omnes exponunt ka'M . Cape.
Angl. take. It fignifies alfo to choofi. Taka konung, regem
eligere. Snorro, vol. 1. p. 65. Taga lag, legem accipere.
Ver. 8. Morris Dance~\ Afric or Moorifh dance. A la
Mtrefca, It. Fr. Morefque : Hence corruptly Morris dance.
This kind was much ufed by our anceflors, and is included ia
the catalogue given by G. Douglas, Virg. 476. 1.
" Gan do double frangillis and gambettis,
" Danfis and roundis trafing mony gatis,
*' Athir throw uthir reland on their gyfe,
" Thay futtit it fo, that lang war to devife
" Thare haifty fare, thare revelling and deray,
" Thare Morifis."
Junius explains it Chironomica faltatio faciem plerumq; in-
ficiunt fuligine, et peregrinum veftium cultum afTumunt qui
ludicris talibus indulgent, ut Mecuri effe videantur ; becaufc
this fpecies of dance was firft brought into Spain by the Moors,
and from the Spaniards it was communicated to other Euro-
pean nations, together with the rebeck, or violin, which is a
Moorifh inftrument.
Q^ STANZA
122 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN,
VI.
Then Steen cam ftappin m wi* ftends,
Nae rynk might him arreft,
Splae-fut he bobbit up wi* bends,
For Maufe he maid requeift ;
STANZA VI.
Ver. i. Stends"} Long paces, or great fteps. G.
In old Scots, to ftent, to extend ; a Lat. tendcre. I>0U"
glas, p. 39. 34.
" Cruell Achil hextftentit his palzoun."
Ital. Jiendere. Hence Jiend. Douglas, defcribing horfes
running off with the car, p. 338. 31.
*' And brake away with the carte to the fchore,
" Wvhjicndis fell."
And p. 42. 53.
" Quhilkfleis forth fie wyth mony ane ftend. yy
Ver. 2. Rynk~\ Sax. rinc. Homo, robuftus, fortis, pra-
ftans, G. And hence it came to fignify, a man in general ;
as ivterccfft tire, fidus homo, Rinc, alfo ufed for hu(band.
Vide Casdmon. 4. 22. Lye, Sax. Lex. in Rinc. Here it
means a Itrong man, or foldier, as it is alfo explained by Lye,
Gloff. Sax. in Voce.
Ver. 3. Bobit up~\ Jumped, or danced, with many bend-
ings of the body. We find a fet of men, in the middle ages,
who
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN, lij
He lap quhyle he lay on his lends,
But ryfand was fae preifl,
Quhyle he did hoaft at baith the ends,
For honour o' the Feift,
And dauns'd that day.
vn.
who, from the imperfeft accounts given of them, appear to
have been a kind of itinerant dancers, and, like their other
wandering brethren, of no very good chara&er. Urftis. ap k
Spelman. in bobmes, bubones, lixs, calones Aliqando ne-
bulones et Furciferi. Ger. buhen. Chron. Colmar. ap. Cang.
in Bubli. Servorum autem pauperum (in exercitu) qui di-
cuntur bubii, tanta fuit multitudo de bobinare. Conviciare,
clamare, ap. Felt, ubi vide Scaliger.
Bab, bow often, or (ink low, apud Anglos occidentales, to
lob, or bob down. Gib.
Ve r. 5. Lap] Supped ; lapt. A Cimbr. lepia. in Imperf t
lapte, linqua vel lambendo bibere. G.
Surely our learned prelate has not attended to the obviou3
fe n fe of the pafTage : Our Poet defcribes a clown dancing and
leaping with fuch violence as to fall. To loup is to leap ; he
lap, he leaped. Thus the Bifliop of Dunkeld, p. 418. 47.
" Some in haift, with an loupe or ane fwak ?
" Thamfelf upcaftis on the horfis bak."
I Hand, ad kleypa, to run ; Sax. hleapere, faltator. Confer
Jun. GlofT. in Leap.
Lends] Loins. Sax. lencknu, lendena, lendene ; Ifl.
lendes, Gib. From Ifl. le'tngc, to extend, this being the
length of the trunk of the body. '
Q_2 VR,
I2 4 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
VII.
Then Robene Roy begouth to revell,
And Towfie to im drugged.
Let be, quo' Jock, and caw'd him Jevel,
And be the tail him tuggit :
Then
Ver. 7. Ho/lit"] Anglis Sept. to hoft, eft tuflire. Sax.
frivofta, eft tuffis ; Ifl. booji ; Angl. Occident, to huft, /'. e. to
cough violently. Gib.
Hcajl, hoft, cough; A. S. hivojta, from the Ifl. hoojle,
turns ; Angl. Bor. haujle, id. a dry cough, as Ray explains it.
Belg. hoaji n to cough.
STANZA VII.
Ver. 1. Revel/2 To grow noify or troublefome. Belg.
ravelen, raveelen, scftuare, circumcurfare. Skinner's etymolo-
gy from Fr. reveiller, is ridiculous. We may here obferve,
that of old the word revel did not fignify, as now, riot and
diforder, but decent mirth and cheerfulnefs. So G. Douglas,
p. 146. 48.
" With revele, blythnefs, and ane manere fere,
" Troyanis refavis thaim."
Chaucer alfo ufes it in the fame good fenfe ; as alfo riot, in
which he is followed too by the Bimop, p. 37.
" The gild and riot Tyrrianis doublit for joy\"
And p. 269. 46.
" The blisfull feift they making man and boy,
" So that thre hundredth rial temples ring,
" Of riot, rippet, and of revelling*
So
CHRIST'S KIRK. ON THE GREEN. 125
So the old French rioter, to feaft and be innocently merry.
In this, however, they have departed from the original
meaning of the Goth, reta ; Iiland. reita, ad iram concitare.
Rede, raide, anger. Inde Scot, rede ; Angl. rate, et prae-
pofito, wrath ; Alam. ratan, irritare. It is more than pro-
bable that the ancient Latins ufed ritare in the fame fenfe ;
and hence the etymon of irritare and proritare, which the
modern etymologifts can make nothing of. From riot, the
Barb. Lat. has formed riota, ufed in its original or bad fig-
nification. So Statuta Colleg. Corifop. apud Cange, in Riot-
ta : Ab omnibus contentionibus, rixis, jurgiis, convitiis,
riotis. And ibid. Ad invicem tunc inceperunt magnam
riottam, et fugerunt hinc inde. Ital. riotta. Villani Hift.
1. 9.. cap. 304. Venendo tra loro, a riotta. Fr. riote. So
Hift. de la Guerre Sacr. ap. Cange. Par cette mariage fut
faite Concorde du Roi de France, et de celui de Caftele, de
riote que eftoit entre eux. And the Poet, (ibid.)
" A tant commencent environ,
' A rihotter tout li Baron.".
We have in Ring Rob. Brece's Life, To riot all the land,
i. e. To plunder it.
Ver. 2. Drugged"] Came to him. Eft phrafls Cimbrica.
At draga till, eft venire ad, vel in. Deut. 1. v. 2. Draga.
yfer, tranfire. V. 24. Draga ut, egredi. Deut. 3. 1. Draga
fram, prsecedere. V. 18. Gib.
We have little to add to the learned Bifhop's obfervation,
but to remark the analogy of the languages derived from the
Gothic. Thus A. G. dragan; Angl. draw. In the ancient
laws of Wefter Gothland, ap. Ihre, Lex. in Draga, it is
written Draha, Ar eig or hufum drahit, fi ex a:dibus porta-
tum non fuit, in the fame fenfe as the Latin traho, Fr.
trainer. Draga ivagnen, to draw a waggon. Afthmatic
people are faid draga andan, in the fame fenfe almofl as the
Latins,
ffl CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Latins, fplritum trahcrc. Vide Liv. 1. 4. cap. 21. Draga not t
to draw a net. Whence our fraall net, thrown with the hand,
is called a drag-net. We may a!fo hence derive the name oFthat
fpecies of net, called by the Latins tragula, a trakendo, fays
Turneb. Adverf. I. 26. c. 14. Vide Plin. 1. 16. c. 8. Ifi-
dorus calls it tragum. Metaphorically Dragaftn nvxg, to go
away. Lat. viam ducere ; Belg. trecken. Adde Cange in
Traho, where he notes the origin of the French tirer vers un
lieu. It is ufed alfo to fignify doubting^ the mind being
drawn hither and thither. Han nager vidjig, deliberat de
hac re We find quite a fimilar phrafe, Salluft. Bell. Jugurth.
cap. 93. Marius multis diebus et laboribus confumptis, anxi-
us trahere cum animo fuo, omitteret ne inceptura, an fortu-
nam opireretur. Tc deceive. Laur. Petri de muTa, ap. Ihre,
ubi fup. Chrijien almoga bafiv.vr lat it talje och dragka Jig.
Populus Chriftianus fe decipi paflus eft. Franc, trahir, to
deceive or betray.
Ver. 3. Jevel~\ Vox blandientis, forfan idem quod
jewel. Gib.
We cannot agree with the Bifhop in this interpretation.
Thefe people are about to quarrel, and therefore jevel muft
here be a term of reproach ; perhaps an evil-fpirit or daemon.
Goth, jette, giant; Ifland. gotun. The Saxons call a giant
Eton ; and hence, perhaps, the Scots Redeten, the name of a
Giant or Dasmon ufed by nurfes to frighten their children.
jfcttegrytor, ollae gigantum, round holes in the rocks, in
which (fay the vulgar) the Giants or Daemons cooked their
victuals. Uncertain as we are of the true reading of the MS.
we only hazard this as mere conjecture.
Ver. 4. Tuggif\ Drew. Scots tugge, to draw, from the
Goth, tab/an, lacerare, difcerpere. 'Ulph. Mark ix. z6. Filu
tthjands iua, Greatly fearing him. Adde Luke ix. 42.
Hence, as the learned Ihre obferves, (in voce) tugga, to
eat,
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. iz 7
The Kenzie clieked to a kevel,
God wots if thir twa luggit ;
They parted manly wi' a nevel,
Men fay that hair was ruggit
Jktwixt them twa.
VIII,
eat, to tear v/\th the teeth, as in chewing. Ifl. toga; A. S.
teogan, trahere. Confer Ihre, Lex. 2. p. 973.
Ver. 5. Kehzif\ The angry man. A. S. Kene, ken <wer f
Vir acer, iracundus.
Clieked'} Catched -up, or matched. Gib.
Click, in old Englifli, apprehendere, rapere. Ifland. kla,
frico. Ad klaa, fricare. Hence claw, and to claw. Sax.
clawan, fcabere. Perhaps klick is only a contraction of the
Saxon gelaccan, apprehendere.
Keycl, or GeveQ So it mould be wrote, and not errone
oufly, as in Ramfay's edition, cavell. It is properly a long
pole, ftaff, or fpear. Goth, gafflack, jaculi genus, apud Vet.
Suio-Gothos, fays the ingenious Ihre, in voce. Snorro, torn.
' I. p. 367. Olafr K. fcaut Jlundum bogafcoti, enn Jlundumga,
flocum, King O.laf fometimes fought with the bow, and fome-
times ufed the dart. A. S. gafelucas. Matthew Paris, ad
an. 1256. p. 793. Frifones ipfum Williefmum cum jaculis,
qua? vulgariter gaveloces appellant e veftigio hoftiliter infe-
quebantur. Hence the French javelle, javelot, and out ja-
velin. Gaffel, Ihre explains, Quicquid bifurcuvi eft, as a
hay-fork. Hence Scot, gave/ok, an iron crow, or lever, as
it is generally divided into two toes at the lower end. Pel-
letter, Di&. Celt, derives it from two' Celtic words, galfi,
biliduSj
$*8 CHRIST'* KIRK ON THE GREEN.
VIII.
Ane bent a bow, fie fturt could fteir him,
Grit Ikayth wead to haif Ikard him :
He cheift a flane as did effeir him ;
The toder faid, Dirdum, Dardum.
Through
fcidus, and flach, fcipio, tit adeo denotet baculum bifurcum.
Welfh gefa t il, forceps.
Ver. 6. Luggit~] Pulled each other about. Goth. lugga %
crines vellere ; A. S. gefuggian, vellere ; Ifl. lagd, villum,
notat ; luggt villus, fign. any cloth or other thing which hag
been made rough by carding. Hence, perhaps, the Greek
*.etyo<> hirfutus ; and the name of the hare in that language,
hayoTot, alias <Pa.fUTx{.
It is not eafy to give a reafon for Bifhop Gibfon deriving
this Scots word from Cimbr. liuga, fingere ; Sax. leggan ;
Goth, linga, mendacium. Nothing can be more foreign to
the obvious meaning of the paffage. In old Englifh, lug fig-
nifies to draw or pull.
Ver. 7. Nevel~\ Alapa, (fays Gibfon, Not. in Polem. Mid-
din.) a blow or box on the ear, qua quis profterni poteft. Verb
nevel, to box. Cimbr. hneffe, pugnus. Scotis neaf, (rectius
nief or nieve) et fella, proflernere. Angl. to fell. Dougl,
Virg. 123. 45.
" And fmytand with nieffis her brieft."
Bruce'sLife, p. 451.
" And als their nives aft famen drive."
STANZA
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 129
STANZA VIII.
Ver. 1. Sturt"] Wrath, anger, defpite. Sturt is ufed
actively by Chaucer, to ftrive or contend. A. S. Alem.
Cimbr. jlrld, and Jirit. GlofT. apud Jun. in Strife, alterca-
tio. Strit, feditio. Helm Jlrit, dimicant, pugnant, (trident.
Ifland.T?'^; Germ. Jlreiten, to fight ; Ifl. jlir, bellum.
In Suio-Goth. Storto, praecipitem agere, deturbare. Siorta
en i olycka ; aliquem - in infortunium prascipitem dare.
Germ. Jlurtzen, genflortig, contumax ; pajiorta, irruere. Ifl.
,/?)T, conflidtus. Hence the old French ejiour, and our
Jiout, heat of battle, often ufed by the old poets : Douglas,
387- 4-
" Thzfloure encreflis, furius and wod."
Life of Bruce, p. 293, '
" The Jloure begouth."
He alfo ufes the word Jiurt to fignify vexation, 41. 36,
" Dolorus my lyfe I led in Jiurt and pane.'*
And p. 238. 2i.
** Sturt iu (tudy has the flere."
Confer Rudd. GI01T. ibid, in Sturt.
Ver. 2. Skaith~] Damage, hurt, lofs. In our old laws,
fiaithlefs to keep, to preferve from harm. Douglas, 72. 23,
" How grete harme and fkaith, for evermair,
That child has caught."
And. p. 41. y. 43.
" To me this was firfl: appearance of fkaithe."
A. S. fkeathian, fcaethan ; Teuton, fchaden, to hurt. Vide
Lye, Sax. Difl. Theot. Skadon, damnum, noxa; et Goth.
Skatkjan, nocere. A. S.fceafke; Teuton. fcAade.
Skar'd'j To have affrighted or hindered him, Douglas,
314.52.
R Ufed
i 3 o CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Through baith the chieks he thoch to chier hirrlj
Or through the erfs haif chard him ;
Be ane akerbraid it came na* heir him,
I canna* tell quhat mard him,
Sae wide that day. *
IX.
" Nejkdr not at his freyndis face, as ane gaiih"
Ufed alfo actively, to/care, to terrify ; fcare-croiv, a figure
ufed to fright away birds. Hefych. interprets (xsLpi^-la./,
i&fa.T}i\a.i> turbatur; and Euftath. (Kaft^v, paipitare.
Ver. 3. CheifF] Or chefid, i. e. choofed. Tlius Douglas
too ufes it. Alam. kiefen y eligere, from the Ifland. kiooja,
eligere.
Flane~\ Arrow, alfo written flame. Angl. S. flan, flxn.
Perhaps (fays Lye) from fleogan or fleon, vol?re. Ifland.
flein, an arrow. Douglas, 387.
" Fleand with her bow fchute mony ane flane;'*
Effeir"] For this is the true reading ; not as in Ramfar,
affeir. He chofe out fuch an arrow as fuited his hand. This
is an ordinary term in old our laws : 4s effeir s, as belongs to,
as is proper and expedient. Efferand, or effering, conform to,
proper to. Vide Ruddim. GlofT. ad G. Douglas.
Ejferis alfo fignifies bufinefs. Douglas, p. 359. 48.
'* The greateft part of our werkis and ejferis
lt Ben endit how."
Unlcfs this be only another mode of fpelling affairs.
Ve-r. 4. Dirdum dardum~] Term of derifion ; a great
ado about nothing. Seems to be formed from the Ifland dyr,
pretiofus ; or rather from dyrd, gloria, dyrka, glorifito. The
other
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN 131
IX.
Wi ? that a frien o' his cried, Fy !
And up an arrow drew j
He forgit it fae forcefully,
The bow in flinders flew.
Sic
other word feems to be added only, euphonice gratia, unlefs
it be alfo from the Ifland. daare, rafli j whence our verb, to
dare.
Ver. 6. Ckard~\ This is another part of the verb cheir, in
the verfe before. Perhaps it may come from Goth. karfiva,
minutim csedere. Sax. ceorfan, beceorfan y amputare ; ceorf-xx*
fecuris. Hence char fignifies to wound, or cut ; and our
carve, to divide or cut meat into fmail pieces.
Ver. 8. Mard~\ Spoilt his mooting ; made him err fo
wide. Sax. amyrran, diflrahere, confumere ; Aleman.
merren, to hinder ; 111. meru, minutim, diffipare ; tnarde,
diflipavi,
STANZA IX.
Ver. 3. Forgit~\ Prefled. IR.fergia. In Prater. Fergde,
premere, compingere. G.
Farg, Preffura, apud Ve*elium. Hence, perhaps, our
word fardel, burden. " Ferg" (fays Ihre) " vocantur conti,
<* qui ad continendum corticem, quo domus ruricolarum te-
a guntur, faftigio utrinq; dimittuntur." From this idea of
R 2 prefiing,
i 3 2 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Sik was the will of God, trow I ;
For, had the tree been trew,
Men faid, that ken'd his archery,
He wajd haif flain enow,
BelyVe that day.
X.
prefiing, perhaps the name of a fmith's forge is derived ; at
lcaft, this etymology may be as jull as thofe mentioned by
Menage and Junius, in Forge. Bifhop Douglas calls a fmith
forgeare, and a forge for gin.
Ver. 4. Flinders^ Splinters. Bifhop Douglas writes it
flendris, and Mr Ruddiman (in Glolf. ad Virg.) deduces it
from Lat. finderc, Fr. fendre. But the true origin is the
Gothic fiinga ; fruflum, utpote quod percutiendo rumpitur,
fays the learned Ihre. Isflinger, pieces of broken ice. And
thefe from flenga, tundere, percutere ; Gr. $hau, ferio.
Hence, too, Germ, flegel, our fa//, and the Fr. fieau. From
this idea, the Icelanders call a wedge fieigr, and the Suio*
Goths plugg, in the fame fenfe as we ufe it, viz. a piece or
wood driven into a hole. Vide Ihre, Lex. in Phtgg. This
moft accurate etymologift thinks that the ancient Iflanders pro-
nounced fldcc, fcgmcntum, fruflum, partem de toto demptam.
If this origin be juft, we have here the real meaning of the
A. S. flicce, and our fitch, as exprefiing a part of the carcafe
f the fow. Ifland. ftycke. In Trygwaf Saga, p. ii. p. 23.
Flcickis fr.eid, fruflum lardi. Confer Ihre, Lex. in v.
Fliicd, findere, partiri. Jun. in Flitch.
Ver. 7. That kend~\ Scribe quia kend.
Kend
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 133
Kendy From kunna, Goth. fare. Ulphila, kunnan, to
krioiv. Joh. vii. 27. Kunnum. Adde John xiv. ver. 4.
Hefychlus has mwuv, fcire'; kunntfi, fcientia, now pro-
nounced konji ; kunnogciy notum facere ; kunnog, fciens,
peritus. Knytl. Saga, p. 4. " Harald K. baud cunnugum
" mannum ;" " King Harald confulted the Diviners ;" or,
as we fay, the cunning men. Hence, he who attends to the
courfe of the fhip is faid to cunn the fhip. Transferred alia
to denote bodily ftrength, if this be not its primary fignifi-
cation. AI. cbunnan, poffe, valere, Germ, chonnen,
Anglice can.
Ver. 8. Enonx>~\ Enough, many. Sax. genog, genoh,
fatis ; Goth, ganohs, multus ; Ifl. gnoghty nogt, abundance ;
gnogr vel nogr y abundantia. G.
In Ulphila, Joh. xiv. 8. Gana unjis> fufKcit nobis. Alam.
genuoh, any, enough.
Ver. 9. Belyve] Senfus hujus vocis conflat ex Verfione
G. Douglas, ubi fie redditur hoc carmen.
" Extemplo Mnex fohuntur frigore meriibra."
" Belive ./Eneas' members fchuke for cauld ;" Et iftud,
" Ut primum lux alma data eft."
" Belive as that the halefum day wox licht."
Qui bus adde :
" How iEneas in Afric did arrive,
" And that with fchcte flew feaven hartis belive.''* G.
Mr Ruddiman would derive this word from Teuton, blick,
nidus oculi. We in Scotland fay, A thing was" done in a
blink, fuddenly ; from Ifl. blinka nidtare ; ogonblick, nidus
oculi. In the ancient Ballad of William ofCloudeJlie, (Rel.
cf Anc. Poetry, vol. 1. p. 164.)
" The
i 34 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
An hafty henfure, callit Hary,
Quha was an archer heynd,
Tytt up a taikel withoutten tary,
That torment fae him teynd,
i
" The fyrft boone that I wold afke,
** Ye wold graunt it me belyfe"
Ibid. p. 91.
" He thoght to loofe him bclive."
STANZA X.
Bimop Gibfon places here the Stanza beginning,
" A zape young man that flood him neift," <bc.
v?hich is the XII. in Ramfay's edition.
Ver. i. Henfure] So Ramfay. Gibfon has here kinfman;
we know not on what authority. Hein, heini, Celt, ftrong
young man. V. Bullet in Heini. It would feem that the
copy followed by the Bifhop was very faulty ; or perhaps he
left out this word, becaufe he did not underfland it.
Ver. 2. Heynd] Lord H. in his GlofT. to the Ancient
Scots Poems, explains it ha?idy, expert- Douglas, p 363. 53.
" Eneas heynd, curtas, and gude."
And p. 306. v. 3.
-" Clitius the heynd.'*
Skinner writes hende, which he explains, feat, fine, gentle.
Ver.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN, ttf
I wat na' quhidder his hand cou'd vary,
Or the man was his frien' ;
For he efcapit, throw the michts of Mary,
As man that nae ill meind,
But gude that day.
XL
Ver. 3. Tytt up a taikle~\ Made ready an arrow. Chau-
cer :
" Well could he drefs his takcle yomenly;"
And:
'*' The tackle fmote, and depe it went." G.
Douglas ufes the fame often : Thus, p. 300. v. 1.
" His bow with hors fenonnis bendit has he,
" Tharin ane tackill fet of fouir tree."
And below, (ibid.)
" Quhirrand frnertly furth flaw the takyll tyte."
Tadkle, Goth. fig. ornamenta navis, rudentes. Ihre, in Lex.
Tackle ; and hence we fay the tackles, the ropes of a Jhip.
Ver. 4. That torment fae him tsynd~\ So Ramfay. The
Bifhop reads :
" I trow the man was tien."
Not having the MSS. we cannot judge which is the true
reading. Torment is ufed by our old writers to fignify nvrath,
anger, indignation.
Ver. 4. Teynct~\ Tien, incenfed ; Sax. teoria, irrita-
tio. G.
Teen,
i 3 6 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Teen, and, as Chaucer writes it tene, injury, vexation.
Sax. teonan, injurix, calumniae ; Belg. tenenn, tanen, irritare.
TiivzSra.1) vexare. Vide Junius, in Teen.
Ver. 5. 1 nvat na'^ I know not. Goth, ivetan, fcire.
Ulph. vitan , Ifland. vita ; Germ, wiffen. The Latin, with
the digamma, hence forms video. The A. S. for vitan, put
often ivifian. Hence our nvi/i ; I Wijl not. Non mul-
tum abludit g/cTw, /cT, quae de acie tammentis quam
culorum ufurpantur ; as the moil ingenious critic Ihre ob-
ferves, in Weta. The Goths diftinguifh betwixt boknuett,
artium fcientia, and maniveett, humanitas ; and indeed they
are often found feparate.
Ver. 6. Or the man <was his frierf~\ Biftiop Gibfon reads
thus :
" Or "his foe was his friend."
Which is fcarcely to be underflood.
Ver. 7. Michts of Mary] Through the protection of the
Virgin. Every body knows, that the blind votaries of
Popery more frequently addrefs themfelves in prayer to the
Virgin Mary, than either to God or our BlefTed Saviour.
The Scots fay mights, power, from Ulphil. mahts, magan,
poffe. Mark xiv. v. 20. Ni mag qiuiman. Non poflum
venire. Ifl. At meiga.
Ver. 8. As man, Sec] Bifhop Gibfon has it :
" As one that nothing meant."
But I know not on what authority. He has either ufed un-
warrantable liberties with the text, or has been mifled by fome
erroneous copy.
STANZA
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 137
XL
Then Lowry lyke a lyon lap,
An' fone a flane can fedder;
He hecht to perfe him at the pap,
Theron to wad a wedder.
He
STANZA XI.
Ver. i. Lap~\ Run, a Cimbr. Hlaupa, in Imp. hliop cur-
tere. Vel leapt, a Sax. leapan, fakare, currere. Iraperf.
Laup. G.
The laft etymology is the true one ; frOm laup we fay,
to loup, to jump. Thus Douglas, Virg. p. 418.
* Sume in haift, with ane loupe and ane fwak,
" Thamefelf upcaftis on the horfis bale."
Goth, lopa, currere. Hence loppa, a flea. Ulphila writes
hlaupan, faltare. Mark, chap. x. ver. 5. UJhlaupands, exilians.
Jun. in Gloff. Ulphil. thinks this has fome connexion with
&eu>!t$ct?&, which Hefychius explains iTnvS'e., haftens,
Ver. 2. Flane] Vide Note to Stanza VIII.
Ver-. 3. Hecht] Hoped. A. Sax. hiht, fpes. G.
Hecht 7 he promifed to himfelf, or vowed. So LL. Goth,
cap. 4. I. (ap. Ihre in Heta) Engin ma haita a huathki a
hult epa hauga. Nemo vota nuncupabit, nee luco nee tumulo.
Ulphila gahaitan. Vide Mark xiv. 1 1 . Al. heizan. Gloff.
Lipfii, Giheitan. Ifland. heita, unde heit votum. Streinga
belt, voto fe obligare.
S Ver.
i 3 $ CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
He hit him on the wame a wap,
It buft like ony bledder;
Bat fwa his fortune was and hap,
His doublet made o* lether
Saift him that day*
XIL
Ver. 4.. Wad~] Pawn. Goth. nvad, pignus ; A. S. nvedi
ivedde fyllan, pignus dare. Fenn. nveden. We muft obferve
here, for the illufixation of this phrafe, that nvad properly fig-
nifies cloth ; becaufe, in the fcarcity of cafh of old, cloth was
given as ready money, and received as fuch for other goods.
Hence, when any pledge was given, it was generally clothe
wad ; and from the frequency of this cuflom, ivad came to
fignify a pledge. We (till fay, the wadding of a gun.
!By the common change of f and ac, the Iflanders
pronounce fat, and fit. Alam. pfand '; Goth, pant,
pans ; Lat. pignus. Hence the Goth, verb nvadfctta, oppig-
norare, and the Scots law-term tvadfett, and to <wadfet, to
lay in pawn. In the middle Latin we find vadium, guadiam,
&c. Etrard in Gracifmo, ap. Cange in Vadium.
" Vado viam, vado quadrupedem, vadio, vadium do,
' Pro conforte vador; fonat hoc quod fum fidejuflbr."
Hence vad'nnoniare. Vide plura ap. Cange in Vadium, et
in Plegius. Alfo called gagium, unde Fr. gage\ and from
hence the gage, offered by the challenger, and taken up by
the perfoD challenged, in furety that he was to fight the other.
Ver. 5. FVapJi A blunt or edgelefs ftroke, in oppofition to
one that pierces the fkin. The elegant Editor of the Scots
Poems, printed Edinburgh, 1770, explains ivapped, fudden-
ly ftruck down, that is, by a blunt firoke, as of a cudgel.
Ver.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 159
Vrr. 6. Buft~\ Sounded ; a dull found, fuch as a bladder
filled with wind makes, when ftruck. Puff of wind ; flatus
venti. Fr. bouffee de vent ; Belg. boffen, to puff up the
cheeks with wind. Hence buffet, a blow on the cheek. Dan.
puff, plaga^ iclus. Puffe, percutere malas inflatas. Hence,
too, vain-glorious boafters are called by the Dutch poffen and
poechan. Gr. TloipvsfUi, vehementius fpirare. Fr. piaffe,
pomp, vaio glory.
Ver. 8. Doublet oflether~\ Our anceftors wore very com-
monly clothes made of leather ; and anciently the inhabitants
of this ifland ufed no other garments. But even long after
the ufe of woollens, thofe who lived much in the woods, and
the yeomanry, were often clad in fkins. Thus Guy of Gif-
orn is drefled, Rel, of Anc. Poet. vol. 1. p. 83.
" And he was clad in his caput hyde,
*' Top, and tayle, and mayne."
We in this ifland had this cuftom from our German, and they
from their Scythian anceftors, of whom Juftin, 1. 2. c. 2.
" Lanas iis ufus, ac veflium ignotus, quanquam continuis fri-
" goribus urantur, pellibus tamen ferinis, aut murinis, utun-
" tur." Adde Ifidor. lib. 19. cap. 23. and Casfar of the
Suevi, lib. 4. cap, 1, Cluver. Geogr. 1. 1. c. 16. We find
the Emperor Charlemagn clothed with a fkin above his inner
garments. Eginhart, Tit. Car. cap. 23. defcribing his drefs,
** Veftitu patrio, hoc eft Francico utebatur, crura et pedes
t( calceamentis conftringebat, et ex pellibus Lutrinis, thorace
" confecla, humeros ac pectus hieme mnniebat." This gar-
ment was by the ancient Iflanders called fctidr, being made of
fheep-fkin with the wool on, and ferved them as a cover for
their beds at night, as well as a cloke, or robe, through the day.
Thus Ara Frode, Libell. de Ifland. cap 7. defcribing Thor-
geir going to bed, " Oc brseiddi felld fin a fie, et explicabat
S 2 flragulum
l 4 o CHRIST'S KUK ON THE GREEN.
XII.
The buff fae boift'roufl y abaift him,
That he to th* erd dufht down ;
The ither man for deid there left him,
An' fled out o' the town.
The
*' ftragulum fuum fuper fe." It is ftill cuftomary in Green-
land, Iceland, Finland, and Lapland, to fleep on (kins, and
alfb in Norway. Vid. BufT. Lex. ad ara Frode in Felldr.
Even the women of distinction wore their fdd in the day
time. So the Norwegian poet of Gudruna :
" Som det nu lakked till quelden
** Indkom Fru Guru med felden."
" In the evening came in the Lady Gudruna clothed in her
"feld."
STANZA XII.
We give this Stanza from Gibfon's edition. It is not in
Ramfay's, though by the ftile it appears to be genuine.
Ver. i. Buff~\ Vide Supra, Stanza 11. Buff, fays Gib-
fon, a blow or ftroke.
AbaiJT\ Abafed, aftonifhed, fays Gibfon.
Perhaps it (hould be aba/lied ; confternatus, fhipefadtus.
Suid. A$u%o;, iijuxf> wy*v t?pYit*ao{ tk (Za&v, o sr/
tey&v ; filens, cui ereptus eft ufus loquendi. Chaucer
has abaived for abaihed. I was abaived for merveild.
Jun.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. i 4 r
The wives came forth, an' up thay reft him,
A' fand lyfe in the lown ;
Then wi' three routs on's erfe they reir'd him,
An* cur'd him out o' foone,
Frae hand that day.
XIII.
jfun. derives it from Sax. heap ; de quo vide X.ye, Sax.
Diet. Confer Jun. in Bafe.
Ver. 2. BuJJjQ Fell down fuddenly. Dufcb, contendere,
allidere. Douglas, p. 225, 1.
" The fharp hedit fchaft dufchit with the dint."
And p. 296. 34.
' The birnand towris down rollis with ane ruche,
" Quhil all the hevynnefs dynlit with the dufche."
Ver. 5. Wives'] Women. Wif t ap. Sax. et tixiif, ap.
Cimbr. fseminam, vel mulierem fignificat. Gib.
Thus, Gen. iii. 2. xx. 5. This ivy/', This woman. Adde
Caedmon, 58. 9. Matth. ix. 20. An nvyf, quacdam mulier.
Jo. iv- 9. Sainaritanifce ivyf, A Samaritan woman. Gen.
y. 2. Were and nvif, Man and woman, male and female.
Vide plura ap. Lye, in Wif. Hence iviman, <wi?nman> i. c.
nvifman, Mulier, f<emina. Alam. Uuih, l7u/'/> ; Germ.
<weif. The learned Ihre mentions two derivations ; firfr, a
ivefwa, to weave ; or elfe from wif, or hivif, calantica, a
woman's head-drefs, metaphorically, as the northern writers
fay, Gyrdle oc linda, Girdel and belt, for man and woman ;
and alfo hatt oc hatta, pileus et vitta, in the fame fenfe.
Ver. 5. Reft him~\ Snatched, Sax. reajian t rapere. G.
Henc
i 4 2 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Hence Douglas ufes it for robbed, pulled, or forced away,
74. 12.
" The rayne and roik reft from us ficht of hevin."
Teut. rauben, fpoliare ; raffen, corripere. Hence bereave* be'
reft ; and the Scots, to reave ; and reaver ; a robber, often,
pfed for a pirate. Hi ft. of Wallace, p. 342.
" Upon the fea yon reaver long has been.'*
And p. 343.
" At ilka ihot he gart zjeaver die."
Reif, rapine, robbery. G. Douglas, p. 354. 30.
" For na conqueft, reif, ftayt, nor penfioun."
" Ver. 6. Loun] Rogue, rafcal. Alludit. Eng. cUivti t
Douglas, p. 239.
" Quod I, Loun, thou leis."
The old ballad of Gilderoy, Reliq. Anc. Poet. p. 324.
" And bauldly bare away the gear
* Of many a lawland loun.'*
Lye Addit. to Junius deduces it from Cimbr. luin ; ig-
navus, piger, iners.
Ver. 7. Routs'] Roarings, bellowings. Cimb. at ryta,
vel rauta ; frendere, vel rugire belluarum more, dngli Bor.
dicunt, The ox roivts ; et hinc ap. Scotos route, eft idem as
to make a great noife. Ut habet Douglas :
" The firmament gan rummil, rare, and rout."
Hinc, oborto tumult u dicimus, What a rout is here ? Item
crto jlrepitu, What a rout you make ? G. Dougl.
" The are begouth to rumbill and rout"
Sax. hrutan, to fnort, to fnore in fleeping. This is Mr Rud-
diman's etymon ; but we imagine it comes more immediately
from
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 143
XIIL
A zape zung man that ftude him neift,
Lous'd afF a fchot wi* yre ;
He ettlit the bern in at the brieft,
The bolt flew owre the byre
Ane
from the Goth, kropian, clamare. Ulphila, Matth. xxvii. 46.
XJfropida Jiibnai mikilai, clamavit voce magna. Luke xix.40.
Hropjand, clamabunt. Ifland. hroop, clamor; Alam. ruafan,
clamare, vociferare. Is roopy, hoarfe, derived from this ?
Ver. 8. Frae hand] Quickly, in a little time* Ang. oat
of hand. G.
STANZA XIIL
This is the 12th in Ramfay's edition, owing to the omiffion
of the foregoing, which we give from the Bifhop's edition ;
but this 13th Stanza is omitted by Gibfon.
Ver. i. Zaip, or Zaps'} Ready, alert. We have already
faid why our old writers always ufe the z for the y Englifh,
whfen it begins the word, as zeir, yeir zour, your, 8cc*
Douglas, p, 409. v. 19.
** The bifly knapis and verlotis of his flabil,
" About thyme ftude, full zape and ferviabil."
It may alfo mean vaunting, infulting. Chaucer thus ufes if.
R. R. 1927.
*i And
i 4 4 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN,
" And fayd to me in great jape,
" Yeld the, for thou may not cfcape."
Ifland. geip, boafting. Chaucer, Lucre, v. i8*
j ^tt Tarqinitts the yonge
** Gan far to jape, for he was light of tonge."
Hence it came to fignify jetting, light talking. Id* Fr. lib*
2. 1 167.
** He gan his beft japes forth to cafr,
** And made her fo to laugh."
Neift~\ Next. In Decalog. Angl. Sax. Ne wilna thu, thU
lies nehftan yrfes med unriht ; Ne concupifcas bona proximi
tui injufte* Neb, nigh ; nehjl, neareft. Hence neb-bur,
neighbour, from Ulphila's neguba, nigh. Mark ii. 4. Neguba
giuiman, To come near. Alem. nab; Bel. nae, naer*
Whence our Scots naar, near*
Ver. 3. Ettlit] Defigned, aimed, intended. Cimbf.
Atxtla, defignare, deftinare.
" The goddes ettilit, if werdes were not contrare." G.
JEtla (fays the learned Ihre) indicat varios mentis humanse
rtotus, ut dtfm defHnatae fibi proponit, judicat, fperat, &c.
Ifland. id. Thorften Wik, S. p 10. Dat <ztla eg. Id Spero,
vel animo concipio. Lex. Scanica, p. 1 6- fedt- z 1 JEtla 'wider
jrcendafin ; Confultare cum cognatis, vel amicis fuis- Con-
fonat Gr. i$t\u, nee fenfu longius diftat, quum utrumq;
defiderium voluntatis ad quidpiam tendens denotat-
Bam~\ The A. Sax. beam ; Ifl. barn ; a bctiran, beran,
parere- Gib.
It is is originally derived from the Goth, barns- Vide UI-
phila, Luke i. 41. and ii. 12- We find it even ufed to fignify
a girl, Mark v- 39, 40. Hence barnilo, a little boy, an in-
fant- Luke i. 46- Jah tbu barnilo, And thou child- Alam.
barn,
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN Hs
barn, hern. Let us obferve, by the way, that our old
authors often ufe bairn, to denote young men, full-grown
perfons, as the Englifh do child. So Pallas, addreffing iEneas,
ap. Douglas, p. 244. 33.
** Come furth, quhatever thou be, heme bald.*'
And p. 439. 22.
" And that awfull heme,
u Beryng fchaftis fedderit."
Bern time, the whole number of a woman*s children. Id.
P- 443-
** Bare at ane birth
The nicht thare moder, that barne time miferabill.'*
The ancient Englifh writers apply child to knights. Thus
the Child of Elle, Reliq. of Anc. Poetry, p. 107.
' And yonder lives the Child of Elle,
" A young and comely knight."
Warburton, Not. on Shakefpeare, obferves, that in the times
of chivalry, the noble youth, who were candidates for knight-
hood, during the time of their probation, were called Infant,
Varlets, Damoyfels, Bacheliers. From this comes the Scots
word chiel, which is applied to a young man, full-grown.
Ver. 4. B$lt~] Arrow. Sagitta capitata, fays Junius.
Cymbr. Bollt. Belg. bolt, bout. Non abludit fickt<, jaculum j
p3A/T?> miffilia j a $akxco, jacio.
Byre'] Cowhoufe. Theotif. Buer eft cafa, tugurium.
Item, byre eft villa, fiquidem bar eft pagus, villa praedium.
Gib.
In the old Gothic byr, pagus; a bo, habitare. Alfb by t
pagus. Hefych. fZvpic, hix.tiy.ct, habitatio. Etym. Mag.
ivfivpiov pro ivoixov, and (ZvfioSiy, Hefych. pro oiKod-ty.
u Qumque alias olira urbes non fierint, quarn grandi-
T " ores
x 4 6 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN,
Ane cryd, Fy ! he had flain a prieft,
A myle bezond a myre ;
Then bow and bag frae him he keift,
And fled as ferfs as fire
Frae flint that day,
XIV,
ores villae, hinc etlam urbes quantumvi3 ampliores, idem,
" nominis habuere, et etiamnum inter Danos habent,"
fays the learned Ihre. Hence By fogde r Prsefeftus civitatis.
By lag> Jus civitatis, who fornandes de reb. Get. tranflates
bellago, byfiven, city-officer, or conftable. Byr, an inhabitant ;
A. S. bare ; Germ, bauer.
Ver. 5. Slain a prieft"] This was, in thofe days of igno-
rance, deemed the raoft horrid murder that could be com-
mitted, and in a manner irremiflible, the perfon of a prieft be-
ing held much more facred than that of any layman. Hence,
in the laws of the middle ages, we find the fine, or compenfa-
tion for the murder of a prieft, much higher than that of a
layman, of whatever high rank he might be. They were efti-
mated according to their feveral degrees ; and hence, in the
laws of Kanute* P- 15 1. we find Tryhyndmon, Syxhyndmon,
/. e. Homo ducentorum, trecentorum, fexcentorum folidorum ;
every man's life, from the king to that of the cottager, having
a fixed price fet upon it. This was generally called wiregild,
wergild, and mantvyrd, the price of a man. By the laws of
King Athelftan, the King's life is valued at 30,000 thrymfas;
an Archbifhop's at one half of this fum. A common man's
life is bought for 267 thrymfas ; but a bifhop's at 8000; and
one in fimple prieft's orders at 2000. In the additions to the
Salic law, made by the Emperor Louis, anno 81 9, we find)
the
tHRtSt's KIRK ON THE GREEN. 147
XIV,
Wi* forks and flails they lent grit flaps,
And flang togidder like fryggs ->
Wi' bougars of barns thay befit blew kapps,
Quhyle thay of berns maid briggs.
The
the compenfation for a prieft always triple to tiiat of a layman ;
and if the offender had not wherewith to pay, he was ibid for
a (lave.
Ver. 7. Bag"] The quiver of arrows, which was often
made of the fkin of a bealh
KiiJT\ Cart.
STANZA XIV.
Ver. i. Flaps'} Douglas writes it ftappis, ftfokes given
with a blunt weapon, fuch as a flail. Hence Belg. flabby
colaphus, a fono, fays Ruddiman. Flap, fays Jun. extremi-
tas cujufq; rei mollis ac pendula, qua*q; ad levem motum fta-
tim concutitur. Ita throat-fiapy Anglis eft epiglottis. Flye-
fiap % raufcarium. Teuton, ftabbe, libens, praefixo D. Hence,
too, Suio-Goth. _/?#, os, labium, de quo vid. Ihr<r, Lex. in
Flabb, who, with his ttfual accuracy, obferves the connection
betwixt the Greek and Scythian languages ; rifum nempe, qui
patulo ore, et diductis labiis fit, perinde in ilia (Lingua
Greeca) meOw ytKvj& dici, ae a nobis fiatt bje. We
T * fay
?48 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
fay alfo, a broad laugh, a broad flare. Perhaps flatter may
lie alfo derived fro flat, de quo vide Jun. in Flatter.
Ver. 2. Fryggs"] Perhaps this is the fame as freik, ap.
^Douglas, a foolifh impertinent fellow. Teuton, frech, pro-
tervus, procax. Petulans, fays Mr Ruddiman ; unde Angl.
freik, whim or caprice. In the Jus Aulicum of King Mag-
nus, anno 13 19. feci. 9. we find fome public game or meeting*
called frimark, prohibited on account of the mifchiefs and
wrongs they did to each on thefe occafions. Framledis
fbrbjudher minne herre nokor frimark, &c. ulterius pro-
hibita tffe vult dominus meus omnia ludicra, frimarkjii&d.,
five equo peragantur, five alias. Confer Ihre in Frimark.
Thefe fpofts were alfo called feylemarked, de quo id. ibid.
Vide Jus Aulicum, Dan. anno 1590. feci. 25.
Friggs"} Forfan eagerly, libenter, a Cimb. frigd, libido.
Gibf. vide infra, Stanza 21. v. 4. Note.
Ver. 3. Bougars~\ Rafters ; probably from A. S. bugan
fieftere y unde boh, boga, a bough or branch.
Ver. 4; JBefty Beat. Thus the word is ufed by G. Dou-
glas.
Blew kxpps~\ Alluding to the blue caps or bonnets our
commonalty ufually wear on their heads.
Vrr. 4. Briggs"] Bridges. The elegant etymologift Ihre
obferves, that the original word is Bra, fignifying Jlratum ali-
guod Nunc obfervare Jubet (adds he) feptentrionem noftrum
folum efTe, qui hoc primitivum retinuerit, dum caeteri diale&i
omnes diminutivum ejus adoptarunt. Such is brigga, from
bro ; bygga, from bo; fugga, fromjb, &c. Hence, too, the
Suio-Goth. brojjol, tabulatum pontis ; brokijla, fulcimentum
pontis ; bookar, idem ; brygga, a bridge j A. S. brigg, brycge ; .
Germ, brucke. Obferve here, that* as in many other words,
the Scots have kept more clofely to the orthography and pro-
nunciation
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 149
The reird raife rudely with the rapps,
CHihen rungs war laid on riggs ;
The wyfis came fortli wi' crys and clapps ;
Lo ! quhair my lyking liggs !
Quoth thay, that day.
XV.
liunciation of the mother language, than moll: of the other
northern dialects.
Ver. 5. Reird~\ Or Rerde, for thus it fhould be wrote ;
not as in Gibfon's edition reir. Reirde is properly clamour,
noife, and fhouting. Douglas, p, 300. 30.
" Bot the Trojanis rafit ane fkry in the are,
** With rerde and clamour."
And p. 37. 12.
** Syne the reird followed of the zounkeris of Troy."
Ruddiman derives it from Sax. reod, lingua, fermo, as the
primary idea feems to have been that of Jfjouting. Hence,
too, rede, council, advice. Teut. raad> concilium ; raa<?n
fuadere ; Angl- aread, to pronounce.
Rapps~\ Stroak ; alfo the found made by a flroak. Dougl-
3Cf. $o.
" On bois helmes and fcheildis the werely fchot,
" Maid rap for rap."
And 143. 12.
w AIs fall as rane fchoure rappis on the thak."
Alludit 'paTTtfoj percutio, fays Rudd. who derives this from
hreppan,
tja CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
hreppan, tangere. But the truer etymon feems to be from
Goth, bropjan clamare, from the found made by the ftroke.
In Suio- Goth, rapp, i&us ; giftva en ett rapp, to give one a
blow ; rappa, the verb, to draw or pull violenty. Ulphilaj
Mark ii. 23. Raupjan ah/a, fpicas Vellere.
Ver. 6. Rung~\ A rough pole j Ifland. runne, faltus
lylvae.
' Rtggl And riggin, the back bone. Goth, rygg ; Ant.
rigg, dorfura ; Ifland. kriggur ; Goth, rigben, fpina dorfu
Notat etiam dorjum vel jugum montis ; Gr. \ctyji vpeiot, the
ridge of a hill. In Scot, the riggin of a houfe ; Goth; rygg-
knota, fpondilus, vertebra; literally the knots of the back bone.
Vide Ihre, Lex. in rygg.
Ver. 8. Likyng] My beloved. Theotif. likon, placere j
Sax. Mean, licigian, geleean, from Theor. guodlichan t lik,
properly corpus animatum. Ulphikj Mark x. ver. 8. Tka-
nafeiths ni vind tua, ak leik ain, They are no longer two,
but one flefh, or one body*. Hence metaphf for a lovely girl.
Hawamaal Stroph. 844
*' Annad thotte mier ecke vserna
" Enn vid thad lik liffa."
" Nil ego pulchrius cogitare potui,
* Quam illo corpore (puella) potiri.**
Hence Douglas ufes likandlie, for pleafantly, contentedly,
p. 253. 14.
' Sae likandlie in peace and libertie,
*' At eis his commoun pepil governit he."
Liggis~\ Lies on the ground. Ulphila ligan, to lie. Luke
ii. 1 6. Bigetan thata lam ligando in uzetin y They found the
babe lying in a manger. Ifl. liggla ; Al. ligen ; Bel. liggen ;
8ui-
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. i 5 j
XV,
Thay girnit and lute gird wi* granes,
Ilk goffip oder grieved,
Sum ftrak wi* flings, fum gaddert ftains,
Sum fled and ill mifchevet.
The
Suio-Goth. calls immoveable goods, as lands, houfes, CfJV. tig-
fa ; and moveable, gangande fa. In Scot, the immoveable
wood of a mill is called the lying graith, in Oppofition to tha
moving part, which we call ganging graiih. Douglas, p>
462. 16.
(t They laid this Pallas zing
** lagging thereon."
STANZA XV.
Ver. 1 . Girned] Dentibus frendebant ut folent homines
dolore iraque pcrciti. A. S. gnirne, indignatio, moeflitia.
Cxdmon 52. 19. Mid gnirne, cum quserimonia, indignatur.
It is written alfo gnome, mceftus, dejeftus, quserulus. Con-
fer Lye, Glofl*. Sax. in voce. The Saxon plainly flows from
Goth, knorra, murmurare ; Sax. gnarren, quod proprie (fays
the elegant Ihre in Lex.) de canibus hirrientibus ufurpatur
Ifl. knurr a, to murmur. Olafs Sag. cap 96. Buender knu-
rudu ilia ; ruflici murmurabant vehementer. Knurla and
kulta denotes the murmur of the turtle dove. Vide Efdr.
i 5 ? CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
38. 14. Secundum hoc (fays Ihre) knorra proprie erit,
malis fuis ingemifcere.
Gibfon for girned reads gloivred, which he rightly obferves
comes from Cimbr. Ati glora, lippe profpetfare ; but we know
not his authority here for this alteration. Adde Lye, in
Girnati.
Lute gird] Gave hard ftrokes. Douglas ufes gird, the
verb, to fignify Jlrike through. Throw gird, did thrufl
through. Sax., gird, virga. Vid. Exod. iv. ver. 2. Matth.
x. ver 10. Leg. Inae. 67. Virgata terrae, hoops being made
of rolls, before they were formed of iron. Hence Scots
gird, fig. a hoop ; and from it comes girdle. Gird to de-
ceive or beguile, to go about one, to take them in. In this
fenie, Douglas, p. 219, 22.
** Was it not evin by ane fenzet gird ;'*
*. e. falfe (lory, or trick. Alludit gyrus, gyrare, yvpos yvficc,
fiys Ruddimaru
Graves'] Groans. Douglas, granyt, groaned. The reader
will obferve in this verfe the propenfity of our old Scots poeta
to alliteration, a fort of ornament they feem fond of adopting as
often as poffible, and which was much in requeft with oar
Scandinavian anceflors, as we learn from Wormius de Lit-
terat. Runica, and the poems of the ancient Skalds ftill re-
maining.
Ver. 2. GoJJip] Properly godfather, pater luftricus ; Sax.
godftbbe y cognatus ex parte dei. Vide Jun. in Gofip. " And
" the child was called Godbeam," Godfon. Chaucer, p.
209. 6. ** And certcs parentele is in two manners, either
* ghoftlie or fiefhlie ; ghoftly, as for to dele with his gedfib."
From the drinking on thofe occaGons, the matres luftricae, or
godmothers, were called, in no very good acceptation,
Goftps i
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 1.53
Gofips ; and to go a gojppingy denoted a drinking match.
And in this fenfe our poet here ufes it of thofe drunken
clowns.
Ver. 3. Stings'} Poles, ftaves. Cimbr. Jlaung ; PJur.
fteingur, hafta, contus, baculus. Angl. Bor. Stangs. Gib.
Hence nidjlang> the fpear or pole of infamy, ere&ed againlt
thofe who were called nidingr, infamous. In what this in-
famy confided, {nid, fignifying infamy or reproach) fee in
Ihre, Lex. voce Nidin%% and Jus Sueon. Vetuft. p. 346.
which paffage Dr Robertfon has tranflated, Hiftory of
Charles V. vol. I. chap. 5. p. 291. of the various ceremonies
tifed in fetting up the fpear ox Jiang of infamy. Vide Barto-
Kn. Ant. Dan. p. 97. feqq. Steph. in Sax. p. 116. Egill
Skallagrim, the famous bard, deeming himfelf highly injured
by King Eric Bloddox of Norway, who had profcribed
him, refolved, before he left his dominions, to fet up the
nidjlangy or fpear of infamy, againft him. Having furpri fed
one of his villas by night, and killed one of Eric's fons, and
feveral of his friends, with his own hand, juft before he fet
fail for Iceland, " Confcenfa rupe quae continentem fpe&abar,
" gerens haftile corylinum," (fays Torfaeus, Hiftor. Nor.
vol. II. p. 177.) " caput ei equinum affixit, formulam hu-
" jufmodi praefalus ; Hie ego haftam infamise (nidfang) ad-
" verfus regem Eiricum et reginam Gunhildam ftatuo. Tunc
<* capite equino in continentem converfo, Converto, inquit,
* has diras, in Genios qui hanc terram incolunt, ita ut omnes
' incertis fedibus vagentur, nee quifquam eorum receptaculi
** compos fiat, donee regem Eiricum et Gunhildam tota hac
" terra ejecerint, et imprefTa fiffurae rupis hafta, litteris R.uni-
cis hanc formulam incidit." The learned reader will at
once fee the analogy of this ancient Scandinavian curfe, and
that of the Romans, devoting others to the infernal gods.
U Wc
t 5 4 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
We have tranfcribed this curious pafTage for two reafons,
Firjl, It ferves to explain a term in one of our Englim hillori-
ans, which our critics can make nothing of, though quite
intelligible to thofe who know the meaning of the word
nidingr. Matthew Paris, in his Hiftory of William Rufus,
p. 12. 34. " Rex ira inflammatus, ftipendiarios milites fuos
" Anglos congregat, et abfq; mora, ut ad obfidionem veniant,
" jubet; riifi velint fub nithing nomine, quod latine, nequavt
" fonat, recenferi. Angli, qui nihil contumeliefius et vilius
" seftimant, quam hujufmodi ignominiofo vocabulo notari,"
SsV. It is entertaining enough to fee Watts, the learned
editor of this Monkifh Hiftory, gravely deducing this word
from nidtb, night. Nor has Spelman fucceeded better (Gloff.
in Niderling) deriving it from nid, anefl, and ling, a chicken.
'* Ac fi ignavi ifti homines (fays' he) qui in exercitum pro-
" ficifci nolunt, pullorum inftar efTent, qui de nido non aude-
** ant prodire." Would it not have been better for the learn-
ed Knight to own, that he did not underftand the phrafe ?
We hence, too, explain the phrafe unnithing, in the Annals
of Waverly, anno 1088. " Rex Will. Junior miiit per to-
" tarn Angliam, et mandavit ut qui cunqj foret unnithing
" veniret ad eum.*' Un, privative, and nidiag, infamous ;
2. e . whoever was brave, and willing to fight.
The fecond motive for quoting particularly the paffage of
Torfaeus above, was to explain a cuffom {till prevalent among
the country people of Scotland, who oblige any man, who is
fo unmanly as to beat his wife, to ride aflride on a long
pole, borne by two men, through the village, as a mark of the
higheft infamy. This they call riding the Jiang ; and the
perfon who has been thus treated feldom recovers his honour
in the opinion of his neighbours. When they cannot lay hold
of the culprit himfelf, they put fome young fellow on the
fang*
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 155
Jiangs or pole, who proclaims that it is not on his own ao
count that he is thus treated, but on that of another perfon,
whom he names.
We may obferve here bow common and familiar the Gothic
was to the Englifli, even in the eleventh century. Eric Blod-
dox being driven out of Norway, came with his Queen and
Court to feek for protection from Athelftan, who gave him
Northumberland, anno 935. He lived much at York ; and
he and his people converfed familiarly with the Englifli of
that age, without needing an interpreter, as did his cotempo-
rary Eigil Skallagrim, the bard, when in the fervice of King
Athelftan. A century and an half before this period, we
find the great Alfred entering familiarly into the Danifh camp,
and diverting them in the feigned chara&er of a bard, without
their fufpedting him to be a foreigner, which could aot have
happened, had his language differed from their own.
Ver. 3. Stanes~\ Stones. Goth. Jiains ; Sax. Jtan, lapis;
Angl. Bor. J?ean, G.
The Iflandic Spelling is Jlain. Thus, in all the Runic
jnferiptions, N. rijlajlain, N. erected this flone, viz. to the
memory of fome deceafed perfon. Sometimes they write it
Jiein. Worm. Monum. p. 245. Safi fati Runir Stein. Safi
Runicum lapidem pofuit.
Ver. 4. Mifchevet\ The verb from mifchief. The Gothic
particle mifj, always implies defect, error, or fbmething bad ;
as miftruft, miflead, mifcall, mifapply, &c. So the French
mefiant, mecontent, mecompter, and the like. The Latins
ufed malexn the fame manner ; malefidus, m^/eva/idus, effemi-
natus. The Barb. Lat. Misfacere, male agere, peccare.
Confer Jun. in Glo Ulphil. p. 256. Ifl. mijater, people
who differ, among whom concord is wanting. Misfodfel,
U 2 an
V
156 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
The menftral wan within twa wains,
That day fu' weil he prievit ;
For he came hame wi* unbirs'd bains,
Quhair fechtars war mifchieved,
For evir that day.
XVI.
an abortion. Vide Ihre, Lex. in Mifs. Mijftyrma, male
et ignominiofe tra&are. Bibl- Ifl. Judg. xix. ver. 26. Og
peir kiendu bennar, og mijiyrmau henne alia pa nott> They
knew her, and abufed her all the night.
Ver. 5. Wan~\ Got within, or betwixt two waggons. So
Douglas ufes the phrafe, Wan bejore, He got before. Sax.
nvendan, to go ; nuendan hidar ac tbider y to wander hither
and thither. Vide Lye, in Wendon.
Wains'] Contracted from waggon, as from the Sax- ivagen
is formed nuxn and iveign. Alam. nvagan ; Ifland. vagn ;
alludit oyjivy ly^Ha, vehiculum.
Ver. 6. PrieviQ Proved, found. Ifland. pro/a, to exa-
mine or try. Hence Sax. profian ; id. prof, an experi-
ment. Hence Germ, prufen ; Ff. preuve, eprouver ;
Ang. proof. Kon. Styr. p. 14. Pronva med fullom Jk<elom,
Prove by evident reafons. Profshen, a touchftone.
The pronunciation here belongs to the Scots ; nor is it in
ufe in any of the filter dialeds. Thus Douglas, Prol- to
Book 10. p. 309.
" Thocht God be his awin creature to prieve"
To pr'tevs fuch a difli, i. e. to tafle it.
Ver.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 157
XVI.
Heich Hutcheon wi* a hiffil ryfs,
To redd can throw them rummil ;
He muddilt them down lyk ony myce,
He was nae baity bummyl.
Thocht
Ver. 7. Uulirs > d~\ Unbruifed bones. Birr y force, vio-
lence ; alfo the noife an arrow makes in its flight. Douglas
ufes thus the word birrand. Ifland. bir t ventus fecundus ;
mier biri(tr t oportet me. Hence Sax. me by r tad, vel geby-
riad', all which include the idea of force and ftrengthi
And this is furely a more natural etymology than that from
vir t or vires t which the reader will find in Ruddiman's
GlofTary. Confer Voff. Etymol. in Brifa- Cimbr. brijtm t
abruife- Hefych. flfifat Kiitpy ftringendo premit.
Ver. 8. Fechtars~\ Here is another inftance of the old
pronunciation retained by the Scots. Alam. fehtan, vehtan,
to fight j and the Sax. fiobtan*
STANZA XVI.
Ver. i- Ryfs~\ Bough, twig, or ftake. A. Cimbr. ffriis,
quod virgam ramum, vel virgultum, fonat. Vil eg tyfta hann
med mavnanna hraife ; Caftigabo eum cum virga virorum.
Bibl. Id. 2 Sam. vii. 14- Hinc breifar apud Ifland. loco vir-
gultis obfita j et breys, virgultis conlita domus, cafula. Danis
quoa.;
i 5 3 CHRIST'S KIRxl ON THE GREEN.
quoq; Hriis fojlr, eft ftrues e ramis arborum congefta, ct a
rice dyke. Apud Anglos Sept. eft fepes ex csefis ramis et
virgis texta. Gib.
A. S, hris, vimen, frondes ; Al. ris ; Genu, rets;
Hib. ras; Fen. rifu. Alludit 'p/4 vimen, fays the learned
Ihre, in Ris. Ulphila ufes rata, to fignify a reed, which he
and Wachter derive from rifa, furgere, in the fame manner
as the Latin fur cuius. Suio-Goth. rifa, virgis caedere ; rif-
lad, verbera.
Ver. 2. Redd"} We cannot gqefs the Bifhop's meaning in
his note on this word red; Sax. to rati, confeftim, prefently.
To red, in Scots, fig. to loofe, to unravel, or unfold. So
Douglas, 127. 43.
* This being faid, commandis he every fere,
* Do red thair takillis, and ftand hard by there gare."
Confer p. 339. 44. where rede fig. to make way. So we
fay, To red the ivay ; to clear the way. To rede marches,
fettle boundaries betwixt contending parties ; figuratively (as
Rudd. obferves) to make peace. To redd a fray; to inter-
pofe betwixt two combatants ; and often thofe who do get
the redding Jiraik, get a blow from one or other. Sax.
hreddan, liberare ; hriddan, repellere. Hence Engl. To rid
one's hand of a thing. Riddance, raed, expeditus ; reyden t
parare. Hence E. ready. Suio-Goth. reda, numerare, fyno-
nimous with rakna: Whence reckon, reckoning. Hence
our ready money ; and the Goth, reda penningar, id. But
the Scots redd, as here ufed, comes immediately from reda,
explicare, expedire, ordinare. Reda ut Jit heir, to comb
cut, or, as we fay, to redd out the hair. Ifl.greida. Snor-
ro, vol. I. p. 99. Tha let Haraldur greida har fit ; Turn
Haraldus comam fuam explicandum curavit ; which, io
confequence of a vow, he had worn uncombed, till he fhould
become mafter of all Norway ; Snorro, ubi fup. Vide omnina
Ihre
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 159
Ihre, in Reda. We fay alfo, to rid one out of the world, /. hi
to kill him. So Knytling. Saga, p. 212; Han red fwarba
Plog, He killed Plog the black. Snorro, voll. II. p. 245.
Ratha af lij, to red one out of life. And henc* rad,
daughter.
Ver. 2. Rummy F] Gibfon explains it of thundering ;
but this is a milrake, though he quotes that of Virgil, Jx-
ionuere poli, tranflated by Douglas :
" The firmament gan fummyl."
Properly it fig. to rumble, grumble, roar, or bellow. Dou-
glas, p. 151. v. 7.
< Hillis and valis trimblit of thundir rummyl."
p. 200. v. 26.
" And landbirft rumbland rudely with fie bere,
* Sae loud nevir rummyft wyld lioun nor bere."
Suio-Goth. ramla, from the Ifland. rymber, murmur. Ryw.,
verb, raucam voce edo.
Ver. 3. Muddilt] Or muddeled, i. e. threw them down*
fays Gibfon. Ifland. mill, in minutas particulas divido.
Praterit. tnulde, unde a mill, and to mull. Vide Hickes.
Diftionar. Ifland. in Mill.
Ver. 4. Baity bummiV\ Effeminate fellow. Gib.
It mould be wrote Batie, that being a name our country
people, in fome parts of Scotland, give to their dogs. The
word bummil we remember not to have met with in any old
writer. Bulgia, Goth. fig. intumefcere ; bula, tumor; bul-
r.a, intumefcere. If thefe have any affinity with this word,
the meaning may be, that he was no vain boafter that he
was not a baty, or dog, that would fiuir!, but durfl not bite.
Ver.
160 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Thocht he was wight, he was na* wyfs,
With fie jangleurs to jummil j
For frae his thoume they dang a iklyfs,
Quhyle he cried, Barlafummil !
I'm flain this day*
XVIL
Ver. 5. Wight"] We imagine the learned Bifhop has mif-
taken the fenfe of this word, explaining weighty, ftrong,
ponderous, from Ifl. nvi/t, libra, pondus, We rather deduce
'wight from Goth, ivig, pugna, certamen. Unde Sax. vig y
vige : hinc vigian, pugnare j vigend, bellator ; Al. ivigand,
id. We find vigan, pugnare, employed by Ulphila, Luke iv.
31. Ifland. wig, pugna ; Celt, givych, vir ftrenuus, bellator.
The elegant and accurate etymologist Ihre, juflly thinks he
has here found the root of the old Latin vicis, as ufed for
pugna ; and that it was ufed in this fenfe, we have the telH-
mony of Servius, in his Notes to thefe words of Virgil,
jEneid, 2. 433. Nee ullas vitaviffe vices Danaum. Hence,
too, pervicax, quod contentiofum proprie notat. Ifidorus tells
us, that the old Latins faid vicam, for vicloriam. The God-
defs of Victory was called Vica Pota. Suio-Goth. ivega,
certare, caedere ; enivig, certamen fingulare.
Ver. 6. Jangleurs] Gibfon reads j titers, (we know not
on what authority) which he explains from Cimbr. Jodur,
Titan, gigas, Cyclops. To jangle, is to quarrel, gannire, blate-
rare, altercari, a Teut. jancken.
Jummil] Juftle. G.
Jummil] Collidere, infundere, in fe mutuo irruere ; forte
a. jump, infilire, fays Skinner. Chaucer writes jombre ; Germ.
jumpe?ff
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. iG
jumpen, micare, exilire. Slcambris, gumpig, lafcivus, fport-
ful or playful.
Sklycc~] Oftimes written Jlyce y from Ifland. flita, dif-
rumpere, lacerare. Hence Sax. JIttan, and Alaman. flizzen ;
idem. Otfrid, lib. 4. cap. 19. 29. of Caiaphas, Slcizer fin gm-
nali, He rent his clothes. Tatian, cap. 56. 7. gifliz, rup-
tura. Sax. fiyten under, to flit and flice. Ulphila ufes
ga/leithjan, pecdexe, Mark viii. 36. Gafleitheith_/%y;W^
feJnai, perdit animam fuam. Plura vide ap. illuftrifH Ihre in
Slita. Ifland. Jlyfs, damnum, infortunium.
Ver. 8. BarlafummiQ Vox concertantium, nam in fingu-
lari certamine apud Scotos, agonifta, ictu gravi la?fus, porti-
nus exclamat, barlafummeL Vox videtur deduci ex bardlet,
ictus, verber, et fitnbul, grande, vehemens quid. G.
The original fignification of this word is to be found in the
Suio-Goth.y2r?/rf, which the learned Ihre interprets, Manibus
ultro, citroq; pertentare, ut folent qui in tenebris obambulanf.
The Iflanders fay fa/ma, which is certainly the original word,
as Alaman. felmo, fig. the palm of the hand ; and thus, ia
the paflage of Efaias (quoted by Ihre in Famla) timer, nvak
b'wiila finero folmo, Qms ponderavit coelos palmo fuo. Hence,
too, the Lat. palmus ; Ang. palm of the hand. Go\h.fum-
la, manibus contreclare, attre&are ; Fr. patiner, im-
probe contrectare ; Belg. fommekn. To fumble (fays
Jun. in GlofT. Angl.) proprie dicitur de iis, qui rem aliquant
infeite, infabre traclant, quod Suecis eft famla. Douglas
feems to ukfumbler to fignify a parafite, p. 482. 34.
" I am na caik fumler, full weil ye knaw."
Ruddiman here ingenioufly imagines caik fumler means a
cake-turner, a fellow that will do any mean thing to get a
bellyful ; or an avaricious perfon, who luhumbles, i. e. turns
and hides his- cake, left others fhould fhare with him. But
X the
i6z CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
XVII.
Quhen tliat he faw his blude fae reid,
To fle micht nae man let him ;
He weind it had been for auld feid,
He thocht ane cry'd, Haif at him.
He
the firft is certainly the beft interpretation. The other word
barla is plainly derived from parley, a (top or ceflation in
order to fpeak. It was held ungenerous to refufe this of old,
when demanded by one combatant of another. Hence we
ufe the -word parky, and to beat a parley, i. e. to make,a. (hort
truce, in order to propofe terms of accommodation ; and this
phrafe is often ufed even by boys in their games, Or may
we not fuppofe barla to be derived from, and a corruption of
Suio-Goth. barma, mifereri I Chron. Ryth. p. 165.
" Gud barme then omilde hempd
" Deus mifereatur immitis vindiclae."
Ulphila has arman. Mark x. 48. Armai mil, Miferere met.
And this from barm, finus, ibid. Luke xvi. 22. quod quae
nobis indeliciis funt, in finu fsepe foveantur, fays the elegant
Ihre (in 'Barm.) Hence Lat. infimiars, and our inftnuate.
Hence we may explain that unintelligible pafTage in AugufHn,
Epift. 178. Si licet, dicere non folum Barbaris lingua fua, fed
etiam Romanis, fi bora ar?7ien, quod interpretatur, Domine
miferere, iffc. Lege, Si Frauja (or Froja) armai, Domine
miferere ; Frauja (ignifying Lord in the Gothic. Vide Ulphila,
Matth. xxvii. 63.
STANZA
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 16*
STANZA XVII.
Ver. 2. Let him~\ Hinder or prevent. Sax. iettan, ge
lettan ; orig. from Goth, latjan, tardare, morari. Hinc
Ifland. latur; Al. laz j Dan. lat ; and Angl. late. Alludit
(fays Jun.) hn*%fia./ t Dor. Aa^o//*/, oblitus fum. This
proves Jfinius's fondnefs for Greek derivations, where the
originals are to be fought and found at home.
Ver. 3. JVeind~] Thought or imagined. Gibfon here
reads trciv'd, which he rightly derives from the Sax. trwwian,
credere. Ween comes alfo from the fame fountain ; nvenan,
exillimare ; Al. wanen. The root of all thefe is found in
Ulphila's iversnyan, or ivenjan, or gaivenjan, putare. Luke
iii. 15. Atnuenj andein than alai vianagein, exiftimante omni
populo. Adde Luke vii. 43. Confer. Jun. in Glofl*. Ulphif.
ivenjan. It is alio ufed for expeclation, becaufe this depends
on opinion ; Tbu is fa quimanda, thau antharanu nvenjaima ?
Art thou he that mould come, or look we for another? Luke
ii. 19. Douglas, 222. 19.
* It ftands not fo as thou ivenysJ*
i. e. thinkeft. He ufes ivenys ellewhere for tokens and
Jigns, as marks to point out the way, and determine our courfe.
P. 100. 6.
" I knaw and felis- the nuenys and the way."
Ver. 3. Feid] Enmity. Cimbr. fa tde ; Sax.fahth; Lat.
*Barb.faida,feida, inimicitise ; Anghfenvd. G.
Fee, Sax. inimicus; Ifland. faad. Hence foe, and feud,
enmity. Leg. Athelftan, 20. Sij he fa nvid done Cyvg, Sit
inimicus regis. In the Saxon laws, fab properly Cgnifies
that capital enmity that fubfifted on account of murder com-
X 2 mitted
164 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEK,
He gart his feit defend his heid,
The far fairer it fet him ;
Quhyle he was paft out of all pleidj
They fonld bene fwift that gat him,
Throw fpeid that day.
XVIII.
mitted. Vide Jun. in GlofT, et Leg. Ecclef. Canuti, 5.
Spelman obferves the fame in voce Faida. This favage cu-
ilom of obliging the male relation to revenge the Slaughter of
his friend, is as ancient as any thing we know of the ufages
of our Germanic anceftors. " Sufcipere tam inimicitias (fays
" Tacit.'de Mon Germ.) feu patris, feu propinqui, quam ami-
*' citias, neceffe eft." Obferve, it was not left to their choice,
but under the moft fevere penalties they were obliged^ to pro-
fecute this vengeance, by every mean in their power. The
excefs of this barbarity at laft brought on a cure, though the
lapfe of many ages was necefTary to foften the fierce manners of
our anceftors. We find many laws among the Salic, Langobard,
and Francic ftatutes, calculated to check this cuftom ; and
King Edmund in England, about an. 944, complaining in one of
his laws much of this evil, and fuggefting feveral remedies for
it, and ordering compenfations to be made by the aggrefTor.
However, we find it ftill prevailing even in the Norman times ;
but how thismhumanity gradually loft ground, and by degrees
was annihilated, would lead us into a hiftorical deduction, too
extenfive for thefe notes, but we may perhaps give it in ano-
ther work. Confer. Cange in Faida*
Out
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEtf. t6$
XVIIL
The town foutar in grief was bdwdin *
His wyfe hang at his waift ;
tlis body was in blude a* browdin*
He grain'd lyk ony ghaift*
Hir
Our poet here mentions auldfied; for thofe feuds of old
ftanding, being fharpened by their progref3 from generation to
generation, were, of all others, the mod deadly.
Ver. 7. P/eW] Gibfon has totally miftaken the meaning
of this word, explaining it by reach ; getting beyond their
reach. Pleid fignifies here the quarrel, broil, or contention*
Thus Douglas, p. in. y. 34.
" Bot gif the fatis but pleid,
" At my pleafure fuffered me life to leid;"
Adde p. 454. 42. where it fignifies oppofition, controverfy.
In Suio-Goth. pleet, iclus hevis ; Sax. plat, handplatas %
i&us in vola. Platan, ferire, unde Fr. playe ; and the Bre-
men pliete, vulnus. Ifland. plaaga, cruciatus. Alludrt
STANZA XVIII.
Ver. i. Soutar"] Shoemaker. G.
The wox A JJjee, now in ufe, is foftened from the ancient
Gothic /b, which is properly tegmcn, (fays the learned Ihre)
id
t66 CHRIST'S KIRK ONTHE GREEN.
id quod rem quamlibet tuetur fpeciatim ufurpatur pro eo
quod extremitates munit, et fpecialiflime de indumento pedum.
Leg. Dal. p. 15. Skttrper Jko a foti, fi calceus pedem urit,
i. e. If the neceiHty be very preffing. Ulphil. Jkote, fhoes ;
Mark i. 7. Sax. fco, fchoh; Ifland. jko; Aleman. feu.
May it not come come fromjkja, tegere? undejkj.
" quod tcgit omnia, caelum."
As the Latin nubej, a nubendo y i. e. tegendo. Itt.jkyfa, to
cover \fkyfwe, tegmen. Whence the Scots fcoug, a fhade or
cover ; under the /cough of a tree. Be this as it may, we
find the Gothic fkaud, a fhoe, and Jkauda raip, {hoes ropes ;
or, as we better pronounce, rai/>s, i. e. fhoe latchet. Skohs
is jkaudaraip and b/'ndan, calceamentorum ejus corrigia fol-
vere, Mark i. ver. 7. Alludit '{tLvjof, corium, fays Junius ;
ae if our Scythian anceflors had no name for a thong of lea-
ther, till they got it from Greece. If there is really any con-
nection, the latter certainly comes from the former. Skot-
iuange y the thongs or whangs of the fhoes. Gloves are called in
German handfehuk ; and, in fome parts of Denmark, boots are
called knuejko. Ihre obferves, that Harpocration has the word
iKvS-mof, which he explains nos \t W;/^a,7cK> genus cal-
ceamenti.
We find here the origin of the title, Skofhven, an officer
in the courts of the ancient Scandinavian monarchs. He
was a kind of Lord or Gentleman of the Bedchamber, whofe
duty it was to give the King his fhoes ; but being always
near his perfon, he was generally a rich and powerful courtier.
Thus, in Trygw. Saga, p. 2. p. 316. the rich Kali is called
Skofvein Elnars^ though he was a man of great power, and a
near relation of Einars,
Bo<wdin\ So we think it fhould be read, and not as Gib-
fon has it, bower?, which he explains as if it had been boun y
or
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN, 167
or bonvn, prepared to go, from the Iflandic b<wen, contr. bun,
paratus.
Boivdin fignifies filled, /welled, from Goth, lulgia, intume-
fcere. Kon. Styr. p. 2/2. Ta ivardir ban giarnt trutin och
bulgin, Turn fere inilatur et intumefcit. Bulgot, flaccidum.
AHudit Gr. BoKot , which the Gloflbgraphers explain by
<pvy.ct}d, tumores. Bulna, intumefcere ; bula, a tumor or
fwelling raifed by a ftroke. A number of words are hence
derived, which include the idea of /welling ; as bolde, ulcus,
our word boljler; bolja, a wave. Bulla, a fort of round bread
ufed in Sweden ; whence the French boulanger, and our bowl,
bullet. The Latin bulla, hung about children's necks, is alio
from it. Vide Juvenal Sat. 5. 164. Goth bulle, poculum.
Hiflor. Alex. M. ap. LitterathT. Ihre in Bulle.
" Nappa och fwa alia bulla.''*
Cyathos et omnia pocula.
Bullra, tumultuarr, flrepitum edere. Hence, too, bolt, a
nail or pin, with a large round head. Ihre informs us, that
the large wooden or iron cylinder, or roller, ufed for breaking
the clods, is, in many places of Sweden, called bult.
Ver. 3. Bronudin} Browden, fwelled, or embroidered.
Gib.
We find brcwdin in Douglas, which Rudd. explains for"
ivard, bent ; and alfo brudy, abounding with ; from brood,
broody. Perhaps it may come from the Scots bruche, figni-
fying a gold chain, or bracelet, as if his body, ftreaked with
his own blood, had appeared as if adorned with gold chains.
Douglas, 146. 2.
" The bruche of gold or chcne loupit in ringis,
" About thare hals doun to the breift hingis."
Vide ibid. 215. 25. Chaucer writes it broche or brooch ; or
perhaps
i6S CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN,
Hir glitterand hair, that*was fae gowden,
Sae hard in lufe him laift,
That for her fake he was nae zowden,
Seven myle that he was chaift,
And mair that day.
XIX.
perhaps from Sax. bradan, a/Tare, De quo Lye, in Lex.
Saxon.
Ver. 4. Gra'n'd'] Groaned. D r oug1as writes it granyt \
Sax. granan ; Cimbr. grivn, gemitus columbarum ; Hibern.
gearan, gemitus, querela. Alludit (fays Jun.) yfuvvs)
explained by Hefych. Tat awo/jctS) k&i tvs (/. At\Kc7*?
audientes, fed non loquentes.
Ghaift] Sprite. Sax. gaft, fpirit. G.
Douglas writes it gaift, gaifts, which is nearer the Saxon
orthography. Alam. geift. Hence Engl, gaftly, etyet^o?,
eifot etyarov, ap. Homer, which Euftathius explains t>c-
tmkIuov fpecies terribilis. Hence probably Scots goufty,
ufed by Douglas, wafte, defolate, and lonely places, becaufij
ghofis were thought to haunt fuch. Armor, goafta, vaftare,
to wafte. I find in Lye gaftoins, ager iqcultqs. Lat. Barb.
gaftina, de qua vid. Cange, GlofT,
Ver. 5. Goiuden] Liquefcente. / in iu, ex golden. Hinc
j-w/a/Scoti vocant gonvdy locks, fcil. pro more gentium feptent.
apud quas rutili et flavi capilli in maximo pretio habebantur.
Hinc Casdmon vocat Saram, Bryd blonden feax, ponfam
flavi comam. Lothum etiam appellat, Blonden feax ; et in
Edda Snorronis Iegimus Saturnum in taurum rutilum fe con?
vertifTe^
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. i6y
vertuTe, cujus pilus quilibet aureo nitebat colore, Var fagur
gnh litur a huortu bar. Memnon etiam omnes anteilTe pul-
chritudine dicitur, utpote cujus caefaries fifpra aurum nitebat,
Har hant var fegra en gull. Et uxor ejus fatidica, omnium
formofiffima, dicitur habuiffe capillos auro fimiles, Hun var
aljlra Kuenna fogurjl har hennar var fern gull. Cap. 3. Prae-
fat. Eddse. Neq; mirandum quod feptentr. fcriptores rutilum
caefariem tot elogiis celebrant, cum raultiplicem Gothorum
nationem, Vandalos, Wifigothos, Gepidas, ipfofq; Gothos
proprie fie dittos comas rutilos efle fcribit Procop. Hift. Van-
dal, lib. 1. Gib.
All the northern nations were remarkable for blue eyes,
and yellow or fair hair. Of the Germans, "Tacit. Mor. c. 4.
" Truces et cseruli oculei, rutilas comae." Juven. Sat. 13.
" Caerulea quis flupuit Germani lumina ? flavam .
" Caefariem."
Confer Cluver. Ger. Ant. p. 118. Ariftot. Problem,
feci. 14. 8. Conringius de Hab. Corp. Germ. p. II. 12.
Prom this mark, Tacitus (Vita Agricolas, cap. 2.) infers the
German origin of the Caledonians ; " Rutilas Caledoniam
" habitantium comas, et magnus anus Germanicam originem
adlervafie." Lucan, Pharfkl. L. 10. fpeaking of Cleopatra's
flaves :
" Pars tam flavas gerit altera crines,
" Ut nullus Caefar Rheni fe dicat in arvis
" Tarn rutilas vidiffe comas."
So fond were the Germans of this colour of hair, that they
ufed different ointments, both to . give and to preferve this
ornament; as Piin. informs us, lib. 28. cap. 12.
Ver. 7. Zonuden\ So it fiands in Ramfay's edition, but
whether according to the M.S. we cannot fay ; nor is the
meaning of this word very eafy to difcover. In the Gloflary
Y to
170 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
XIX.
The miliar was of manly mak,
To meit him was nae mows ;
There durft not ten cum him to tak,
Sae noytit he thair pows.
The
to Ramfay's edition, we find zolden, explained holden. In Dou-
glas we have zo/dirt, which feems to come neareft the fenfe
here, fignifying j/eilding, or yeilded. But we think it better
to own our ignorance, than to fill the page with idle con*
jedlures.
STANZA XIX.
Ver. 2. To meit him, &c] Gibfon reads this verfe,
" With him it was nae mows."
Mows'} Mockery, or jeft. Thus Lindfay of Pitfcottie,
of Sinclair, when the Lords feized him, " Is it moivs, or ear*
neft, my Lords ?" Battle of Har law, flan. 19.
" Their was nae moivis there them amang,
' Naithing was hard bot heavy knocks."
The French fay, Faire la moue, to laugh at one ; and hence
Chaucer, Tr. lib. 4. 1. of Lady Fortune ;
" And whan a wight is from her whele ithrow,
" Than laugheth fhe, and maketh him the moive."
Hib. magam illudere, defiderej magadh irrifio, derifus.
Moiv
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 17!
Mow alfo Cgnifics properly the mouih. Gothmund. Thus
/aire la monve, is to diftort the mouth, as is done in looking
contemptuously at any perfon. In Sui-Goth. mopa, illu-
dere, vexare, Chron. Rythm. (apud Ihre in Mopa.)
" Jak feer Erik will ofs mopa.
" Video Ericum nobis illudere relle."
Our elegant etymologift remarks die affinity betwixt this
and the Englifh mope.
Among the ^Etolians, mov a fignified cantilena, a fong ;
and in Celtic, moues denotes the fame thing. Hence Mofai,
the Mufes, who made and fung verfes. Vide Pexron, An-
tiq; p. ad voc. lAtieti. lAuwy a derider, comes from the
Celtic moch, a fow, from the action of that animal in turning
his fnout up into the air, and men doing fo, as a gefture of
contempt; [j.aKta, fannia, derifio; and the Celts fay, moccio,
for deriding. Hence the French moquer, and our mock.
Again, the ancient Gauls iaid gore, for a fonu. Hence
yoflcLa, irrideo, fubfanno; and from the fame origin, Xo/pc-?,
fus. The ancient Scholiafts truly remark, that this word
was feminine, among the ancient Greeks ; but they did not
know the reafon, which is, that gore in the Celtic properly
denotes fuj fxmina, 2.fow.
Ver. 3. There durjl not ten\ Gibfon reads the verfe
thus :
" There durfr. nae tenfome thair him tak."
Ver. 4. Noytit~] Gibfon reads cowed. Goth. nod. necef-
fitas. Inde fioda, cogere; nodde, coegit. Vide Gen. 33. v. 1 1.
Ulphila, Nautkjan, uibi vid. Jun. Douglas ufes noy for
hurt, annoy, and noyjum, hurtful, noxious. Thus pag. 191,
11.
" Sa fer as that thir noyfum bodyis cauld."
Y 2 Ray
i 7 2 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
The bufchment hale about him brak,
And bikkert him wi' bows,
Syne traytorly behint his back
They hew'd him on the hows
Behind, that day.
i XX.
Ray (Collet, of words) obferves, that in Lancafhire they
fay note, to pufh, frrike, or gore with the horn, as a bull or
ram. This he derives from the Sax. Hnitan, to pufh or
gore, Exod. xxi. 28. Gif oxa hnite. And this from the
Ifland. Hniota ferire, which is the true origin of our noyt%
Vide Hick. Didion. Ifland. in Hnyt.
Ponvs.~\ So the Scots pronounce Pol/, cacumen, vertex
capitis. Hence to poll at elettion, to have each head reckon-
ed ; poll-money, capitation tax; a pole of ling, caput afelli
pifcis faliti. Skin. ^
Ver. 5. Bufchmenf\ Comrade from Fr. embufchement,
ambufcade. We find bufchement ufed by Douglas. Am-
buflj may perhaps be derived from bujb ; and in woody places
ambuflies were generally placed. And this, too, is the opi-
nion of Jun. Gloff. in Ambujhes. Hence the Italian imbof-
cate, and the Lat. term fubfeffores, vid. Serv. ad iEneid v.
ver. 498.
Ver. 6. Bikkert~] Laid a load of rattling blows on him.
It would feem, that in this fenfe the word is ufed in the old
poem of Chevy Chace. Reliq. of Ancient Poet. vol. . p. 5.
" Bomen bickart uppone the bent
" With ther brow'd arras cleare."
i. e. their
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN, m
xx.
Twa that war herdmen of the herd,
On udder ran lyk rams,
Then followit feymen, richt unafieird
Bet on with barrow trams ;
But
/ e. their arrows rattled in the quiver as they moved. In an
old tranflation of Ovid, quoted in the Gloflary on this poem,
we find thefe verfes :
" And on that flee Ulyfles head
" Sad curfes down does bicker."
Hence it came to fignify fighting or Jkirmiflring; and here,
fay our boys to each other, Let us bicker, i. e. Jkirjni/b.
Ver. 8. Hows~\ The hams. How, from Angl. Sax. hog
and boh. ; and from this laft the Scots fay ftill hoch, as in
Douglafs. Belg. Haejfen, verb to hoch, to cut the back finews
of the leg, fuffragines fuccidere. Hence Jun. derives the
phrafe, hoxing of dogs, genu fcijfio canum. Adde Spelm. in
expeditare canem. Ifland. huka ; incurvare fe modo cacantis.
Perhaps, too, the huckle-bone had its name from hence. Belg.
hucken, defidere, in terram fe fubmittere. Vide, Lye Addit.
to Jun. GlofT.
STANZA XX.
Ver. i. Herdmen} Headfinen, G.
Ver. 3. Feymen] Lege faemen, i. e. enemies. Douglas
fometimes writes it fa, which is nearer to the Saxon fah,
inimicus ;
i 7 4 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
inimicus ; as from feond, fiend. Leg. Athelflani R. 20.
*' Sy he fa with done lyng ; Sit inimicus regis.'* Vide LL.
Edmundi R. 1. et Jun. Gloff. in Foe. From fab comes
feehldy feud betwixt two families on account of the flaughter
ofakinfman; Angl. feud; Ifand. feadj Dan.Jeyd. The La-
tins of the middle ages formed hence their faida> de qua
Spelman in Archaeol. B. Rhenanus Rev. Germ. 1. 2. p. 95.
** Faidam vocabant Franci fimultatem apertam, qua unus ali-
' quis uni vel pluribus bellum denuntiat. Ab hac Gallicani
fcribae faidofum appellat, qui faidam exercet. Germanis
** notum nimis vocabulum eft." Every difference, however,
was not called faida, but only that capital hatred which could
hot be appealed, but by the blood of the malefactor. Hence
GlofT. faida> vindi&a mortis. Faidam portare alicui, to de-
clare private war againft any perfon. The dreadful confe-
quences of this right of private war, and the numerous fta-
tutes againft it, are to be found in all the writers of the mid-
dle ages. See many curious particulars concerning it, ap.
du Cange in Faida. Hence the poor Albigenfes, while
cruelly perfecuted and murdered by the Papifts, were called
Faididi, quod profugi et exulantes erant.
Unaffeired~] Unaffrighted, without fear, or as we fpell it,
feir.
Ver. 4. Barronv'] From Sax. bfrenue, which comes from
Goth, bairan ; Sax. baran, beoran. Hence bier-, on which
the dead are carried ; and thofe who carry them are called
bearers, and the fpokes on which the coffin reds, bear-tiees.
Trams'] Tram, ortrum, is Gothic, and thus explained by
the elegant and learned Ihre : " Pars arboris longioris in
< plures partes diffe&ae, ut commodius plauftro injici queat."
Germ, trumm, fragorem ; Ifland, trumba. With the Ger-
man lawyers, tramrecbt, or traumrecht, denotes that right
v hich
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 175
which one neighbour has of letting the beams -or joifts of his
houfe into the neareft wall. Bohem, tram, trabs. Stadenius
(Explicat. Vocum Bibl. p. 663.) obferves, that the Germ.
thramen iignifies beams, and the crofs joifts on which wooden
flairs are fupported, which leads us to the thramjleins of UI-
phila, Mark i. v. 6. by which he translates the rtxp/JV? of
the Greek, which our verfion renders locujls, the food of John
Baptift in the defert. Many of the ancients, as well as the
Gothic Bifhop, underftand this paflage of the facred writer,
not of locufts, but the tender tops of forae fhrub, or fpccies of
plant, unknown to us ; as Bengelius obferves in his note on
this verfe; and therefore he deduces the laft part of the word
from telns, virga, ramus tenerior. Adde Wachter in Tram.
May we not attempt, from what is faid of this word tram,
to explain the word Jlr aha, ufed by Jornandes, when de-
ferring the funeral of Attila Getica, cap. 39. " Poftquam
" talibus lamentis eft defletus, ftrabam fuper tumulum ejus,
" ingenti commefTatione celebrant." Wormius (Mon. Dsn. p.
36.) quotes a paflage from Plac. Lactam, ad Stat. Theb. lib.
12. in the following words : " Exuviis hoftium extruebatur
regibus mortuis pyra, quem ritum fepulturse hodie quoque
" Barbari fervare dicuntur, quem Jirabas dicunt lingua fua."
Now we know that nothing is more common among all the
people of Gothic origin, than to putyT before their words.
The word trafnue, the learned Ihre fays, " ufurpatur de
" rebus quibufvis exaggeratis, ived t r afhue, eft ftrues ligno-
" rum," a heap, fuch as the funeral pile. Trafiwe alfo de-
notes a heap of corn cut down ; and hence our thrave, con-
fifting of twenty-four (heaves, as we fliall more fully explain
in our Gloffary of the ancient Scottifh Dialect ; vide Ray's
Collect, of Words, p. 75. Of this the barbarous Latin has made
trava, trava bladi, de quo Cange. The cuftom of the Goths
drinking
i;6 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
But quhair thair gobs thay were ungeir'd,
They gat upon the gams ;
CJuhyl bludy barkit was thair bairds,
As they had worriet lamms
Maift-lyk that day.
* XXI.
drinking largely at the funeral of their chiefs, is too well
known to need enlarging on in this place.
Ver. 5. Gobs'] Roftrum, beak, ufed of birds of prey.
Celtic, gob* roflrum. Hence our gab, ufed to fig. the mouth ;
and gobble, to devour greedily. Fr. gober. Junius obferves,
that the Gr. Ktfj3\se< has fome affinity to our words ;
and is explained by Hefychius, Ka}snriv&, devorat, ob-
forbet.
Ungeird] Unprepared. Sax. gearwian, praeparare ; and
this comes from the Iflandic giora, parare, facere. E%
(kal giora, or eg mun giora ; faciam, vel fa&urus fum.
Hickes (in Did. Id.) thinks, that hence is derived the Scots
to gar, to oblige, or force one to do a thing. Gear, Scot.
furniture, apparatus. Ifland. gearo, gearnue, paratus.
Ver. 6. Gams'] The gumtns ; Tent, gaum, gum, pala-
tum ; A. S. goma, gingiva. Douglas 345. 31.
" His gredy gammes bedyis with the rede blude!"
Ifland. gomur, palatum. Thefe ftrokes they got on the mouth
explains what the poet adds, that their beards were all be-
fmeared with blood.
Ver. 7. Bludy barkit] Gibfon, on what authority we
know
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 177
XXL
The wyves keift up a hideous zell,
Quhan all thir zounkers zokkit 5
Als ferfs as ony fire-fiauchts fell,
Freiks to the fields they flokkit.
Thd
know not, reads bludy-burn} the meaning of which we are
ignorant of.
Barkned] Covered with congealed blood, as hard, and in
the fame manner, as the bark covers the tree. Skinner de-
rives bark from Teuton. bergs n, tegere.
Ver. 8. Worried] Worry, vexare, dilacerare, vide Lye,
GlofT. Sax. in Worian. We find the original meaning of this
word in the following pafiage of Alfred's Verfion of Bede's
Hift. Ecclef. 1. 4. c. b. " Seo hreownes thass oft ewedenan
" woles feor & wide eal wees <werigende & fornimende ; Sxpe
* { tempefias dil<z cladis late cunita depopulabatur" Such
was the general fignification in the mother tongue ; but in
Scotch it is always reftricled to tearing with the teeth, as a
dog does. Ray informs us, it is ufed in the fame fenfe in
the north of England.
STANZA *XI.
Ver. 1. Keift~\ Caft. Gibfon reads gave.
Zell~\ A doleful cry, indicating deep diftrefs. Sax. gcaU
pan ; jactare, gloriari, exclamare. The root is the Ifland.
giell, vociferor } gall, voeiforatus fum. We find in the
Z fame
178 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
fame language yle, ejulo ; ylde, ejulavi. From gielle the Danes
fay, at gielle, refonare. Junius, in his idle fondnefs for
Greek derivations, would bring it from ttKi{jLo<, or /a\s//o,-,
cantio funebris. In the old Englifli we alfo find yawl, lugu-
briter vociferari ; Ifland. Gala, vociferari ; Armor, jala, la-
mentari. If we muft have a Greek derivation, may we not
fuppofe it to come from c^a^et Dut * is needlefs to go
from home on this occafion.
Ver. 2. Zounkers'] Young men, a Cimbr. junkiare (fays
Gibfon) vel jonkiere, generofus vir juvenis. Goth, jugga ;
and Ifland. ung. Hence Sax. giung, jung ; Welfh, jevange,
or jefange ; Angl.young, inde younker.
Zokkit~\ Joined together in combat, as when oxen are join-
ed together by the yoke. Toke, from Sax. geoc. joe. ; and
this from Goth, gajuk, Alam. joch. We cannot guefs what
the learned Gibfon was thinking of, while he explains yokkit,
ready to vomit. Toake, in the north of England, fig. U vomit ;
the yoakes, the hiccup. But fure this cannot be understood
in this paflage, as the true meaning. Tex, Angl. fig. fin-
gultire ; yexing, convulfio ventriculi j Belg. huckup j Suio-
Goth. hicka. Confer. Jun. GloflT. Hick.
Ver. 3- Fire-fiauchts - } Fire flying. Angl. Bor. fulgura
firc-ftaughts, vocant, G. And fo do the Scots. The origin
is from the Goth, fieckra and fieckta, motitare, from the
quick and verfatile motion of the lightning. Tobit. cap. u.
ver. 9. Ta lopp hundsn framfor at, och fleckrade tried Jin
rumpo ; Then the dog, went before them, wagging his tail,
Ezekiel xi. 22. a flecktade cherubim med fimm wingom ;
Turn cherubim alas fuas motitabant. Hence the Englifli
flicker, flickering, de quo vid. Jun. etymol. From this action
of a dog fawDing on his matter, we find fieckra, adulari. Kon.
Styr. p. 57. Hanfum ar faljkr okfiikrar j Qui fub dolus eft,
ei
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 179
et adulatur. Flikcrt adulatio, ibid. p. 53. Ahvnzn.Jkche?:,
adulari j fiechara, adulatores. Hence Scot, fieech, to flatter.
Douglas has feicband, flattering, which Ruddiman, for want
of a better etymon, derives from Lat. fieftere.
Ver. 4. Freiks"] Bold, petulent fellows, who love to quar-
rel ; alfo foolijh and impertinent. Thus Douglas, Prol. to
JEneid 8. p. 239.
* { Ha, wald thou fecht quod the freik"
Teuton, frech, protervus, infolens, procax. Hence our freaky
fraki/b, capricious. Suio-Goth. frak, tumidus, infolens. En
freek uppjyn, Vultus infolentiam prse fe ferens. Ifland. fra>ckr>
infolence. Hence in Scots Jraflious, troublefome, quarrelfome.
Gud. Andrcae Lex, Ifland. They fay alfb, fnekur t fevus.
Herraud's Saga, cap. 1. Frakur i bcimtam, fsevus in exaclioni-
bus. Knitlyng. 5. p. 8. Oc var that ed fraknafta, Erant hi
milites fortiflimi. The learned and ingenious Ihre derives
the Latin Jerox, from the Goth, frueks or Jracks, with great
probability, in Lex. torn. 1. p. 585. This elegant writer alfo
aflerts (in voce Frankrike) that the Franks were called in the
ancient language Frakr, from their ferocity. All the Ger-
man writers agree in this. Gothofred. Viterb. Chron. part
1 7. in Proem, talking of the origin of the empire of the Franks,
' Germani adverfus Alanos movent exercitum, eos vincunt, et
" omnio extinguunt et propter eandem vi&oriam a Valenti-
niano Imp. Franci, id zOifercces funt perpetuo appellati."
Id. Catalog. Reg. Franc. " Poll modum ab Imperatore Va-
' lentiniano vocati funt Franci, /'. e. Feroces." And Ricardus
Epifcop. tit. de Leone 3tio Imp. " Sed quia tempore Valen-
" tiniani Imp. ejus mandato vicerunt Alanos, vocavit eos Fran-
" cos, id eft Feroces." Rigordus in geftis Philippi Augufti,
p. 74. " Ouos cum multis poftmodum idem Valentinianus
"^prseliisattentaflet, nee vincere potuiflet, proprio eos nomine
Z 2 < ; Francos t
i8o CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
The carlis with clubs did uder quell,
CJuhyl blude at breifts out bokkit ;
Sae rudely rang the common bell,
That a' the fteipill rokkit
For reid that day.
xxn.
" Francos, quafi Ferancos, i. e. Feroces appellavit." The rea-
der will find more to the fame purpofe in Cange, voce Fran-*
cus. Frekner, Ifland. fignifies alacer, ftrenuous. Olafr.
Tryg. S. p. 2. pag. 298. Tho at badi vueri Jlerker oc frek-
ner, Quamvis robufti fimul et ftrenui eflent. Freki, ferocia.
Confer Ihre Lex. vol. 1. p. 586.
Ver. 5. Carlh~] Clowns j Sax. Eorl and Georl, Gib. The
true origin is found in the Iflandic, not in the Saxon ; for
eorl properly denotes a nobleman, whence Earl ; but in the
mother dialect, the Iflan. Karl, fig. a ruftic, or man of mean
condition, as here. So too Alaman. karl. Voflius in Ety-
mol. voce Androfaces, brings another etymology, but not a
probable one. The Germans fay, Ein hapfer karl, a ftrong
man. Hence too our churle, de qua vid. Jun. in voce, who
obferves, that in the Sax.eeorelboren and tkegealorr. are oppofed
to each other ; the firft fignifying a plebeian, the fecond a gen-
tleman. It is from this idea of ftrength that the Englifh fay a
karlecat, carlehemp, &c. Carlijb is clownifh, ruftic. Thus
in the ancient ballad, the Childe of Elle, Reliq. of Anc. Poet;,
p. 112. vol. 1.
" And foremofi: came the carlifo knight,
f< Sir John of the north countraye."
$ueli
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. iSz
Quell"] Alam. quellen, Belg. quellen, domare, fubigere.
Sax. civellan. It is ufed alfo to fignify killing. Thus Dou-
glas, 153. 50.
M Thre vilis tho', as was the auld manere
" In wourfchip of Erix he bad doun quel."
and p. 263. 1.
" with this farayn rycht hand quellit and flane."
Hence kiveller, carnifex.
Ver. 6. Bokkit~] Burfl: forth. Bock properly to vomits and
fo ufed by Douglas. " VoXagro Lincolnienfi familiaris" (fays
Skinner) " alludit Hifpan. bofar, vomere ;" melius a Belg.
booker:, boken, pulfare.
Ver. 8. Rokkit~\ Shaked. Rock a c radle ; agitare, moti-
tare cunas. Douglas 157. 30.
" How that the fchyp did rok and tailzeve."
He elfewhere ufes rokkand fur rolling or toiling. Junius
brings it from the Tuton. rucken, trahere, loco movere. But
the true origin is from the Iflandic krocka, (as alfo Ruddi-
man has obferved in doff, to Douglas) cum impetu quodam
moved. It is ridiculous enough to find Mer. Caufaubon go-
ing to the Greek opyct&ty etvofyct^if, where there is not
the fmaUeft affinity of found. Vide Hick. Dick. Ifland. in
HroL
Ver. 9. Reid~\ I fufpecl it fhould be reird or rerde, noife
or clamour. Douglas, p. 300, v. 30.
With rerde and clamour of blythnefs."
and p. 37. 12.
" Syne the reird followit of the zounkeris of Troy."
Confer ibid. 324. 25. Ruddiman brings it, with probability
enough,
j8* CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
XXIL
Be this Tarn Tailor was in's gear,
When he heard the common bell ;
Said, he wald mak them all a* fteir,
When he cam there himfell :
He
enough, from Sax. reord, lingua, fermo, as originally it de-
noted the clameur of tongues*
STANZA XXII.
Ver. I. Gear"] Bifliop Gibfon obferves, that g for, in the
Iflandic, fignifies to prepare. True ; but that has nothing
to do with the word here ufed. Gear, in our ancient lan-
guage, denotes all kind of goods and pofleflions, among which
arms were reckoned by our warlike anceftors the raoft valu-
able. Primarily it denoted a fheep {kin in the Iflandic; and
as that was the ufual garment ufed by onr forefathers, it was
afterwards ufed to fignify cloathing in general; and hence ar-
mour, as we (till fay a coat of armour. Vide our remarks on
this word, Preface, p. 13.
Ver. 3. Steir~\ The Engliihj&'r, from the A. S. fiyran,
movere. It is ufed here for violent commotioD, as by Dou-
glas, p. 34- ver. 53.
" But ardentlie behaldis all onJlcre?\
Junius
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. tSf
He went to fecht with fik a fear,
While to the erd he fell ;
A wife that hit him to the grund
Wi* a grit knocking-mell
Feld him that day.
XXIIL
Junius has obferved the affinity betwixt this and the f}vpd.*f-
%Uy 9 of Hefychius, to ftimulate or prick forward. Ulphila
has a fimilar verb, (only compounded) Mark xiv. ver. 5.
Andftauridedun tho, they murmured againft her j where
fee the Gloflary of Juuiusi
Ver. 8. Knocking-mell] Mel/, from the primitive mal, de-
noting force, power; and hence metaphorically what occafions
/offering, or evil. This is the meaning it carries in the oriental
dialefts. Thus the Perfian mall, denotes anxiety, fuffering-;
moul, patience ; malul, difquiet ; Arab, mell, patience ; Celtic
mall, bad, corrupted. But this is not the place for thefe in-
vestigations, which we referve for our Scoto-Gothic Gloffary.
Of the fame family with our mell, is the Fr. mail, viaillet ;
whence the Englifh mallet. The Latin malleus comes from
the fame origin.
Our poet here alludes to the large wooden beetle, made
ufe of by our anctftors, to bruife and take the outer huflc from
the barley, to fit it for the pot, before barley mills were in-
vented. This cuftom of beeteling the barley, has not ceafed
yet in fome places of the Highlands ; and many of the hollow
(tones, ufed as the mortar, are ftill to be feen about our farm-
ers yards, though they are no longer applied by them to the
forrner purpofc.
Mellie
r84 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
XXIII.
When they had beirt like baited bullsj
And branewod brynt in bales,
They war as meik as ony mulis
That mangit ar wi' mails,
For
Mellie is, by our poets, ufed for combat, fighting. Life of
Robert Bruce, p. 12 1.
" That men may by this mellie fee."
Douglas has it frequently. Yx. melee; whence the L. B.
vielleia, and tnelletum ; and, from the Fr. Chaude, viellee, the
barbarous writers of the middle ages formed their monftrous
calida melleia, as Ruddiman has obferved. Vide Cange in
Melleia. We have, too, in our old law books, chaadmella.
Skene de Verb. Sig. though he knew nothing of the origin of
the word, has rightly explained melletum, by flrife, debate ;
as we fay that ane has melled or tulziedmth ane uther.
Mcll is ftill ufed in the north for a mallet or beetle, as Ray
informs us.
Ver. 9. Felld"] From the Ifl. fella, to beat down. So
the Englifh now apply it to trees, to fell timber. Alam. Fellen
lefillan. Junius's derivation of this word from velt, a field,
is almoft as ridiculous as that of Cafaubon, who brings it from
$i$hfxivx ', and yet thefe men were etymologies.
STANZA XXIII.
Ver. 1. Beirt~] Roared and fought with noife, like toth.it
of bulls when baited with dogs. Doughs ufes the word bere'
for
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 185
for crying or roaring. Bere and birr, according to Ray, fig.
force or might ; and in Chefhire they fay, with anu my beer,
with all my force. In Scotland too we ufe this word birr,
for might or ftrength. Hib. Baireadh, quod efFertur baireah,
denotat fremitum, et bairim, fremere.
In the old Englifh we find beray, berayed with blood or
dirt, befouled. Teuton, bem, merda. vid. Jun.
Baited] This word is ftill in ufe, though its origin is not
{b generally known. With Chaucer baye is the ftake to which
the bear or bull is tied, in order to be baited. Plowm. T.
ver. 87.
'* As boiftous as is bere at baye."
They then pronounced baigbt, which is now corrupted into
lait. Chaucer, ibid, v- 588.
** He fhall be baighted as a bere."
The root is the Iflandic beita, agitare, incitare. Suio-Goth.
he.keya, irretire, impedire. " Proprie dicitur" (fays Ihre) "de
' illis, quae cancellis aut caveis inclufa funt."
Ver. 2. Branenuod~\ Roaring like madmen. Braie, fre-
mere, vociferari, barrire, rudere. Hence Fr. braire. (lpxvco<a,
Hefych. exponit x.zx.pctyvia, vociferans. Lye deduces it from
Cambr. brevy, to cry out. Douglas ufed braithlie for noify,
founding.
Perhaps it mould be wrote braynenvode, and then it will
fignify mad. Douglas ufes brayne by itfelf in this fenfe, p.
438. ult.
** Quharfore this Turnus half, myndlefs and brayne,
** Socht divers wentis to flie out throw the plane."
Brynf\ From bran, ardere ; Goth, brinnan ; Ifl. ad bren-
na ; Aleman. brennan; Sax. by man. Hence amber is by
the Dutch called bsrnfteen, Douglas ufes brent for burned.
A * Bales'}
i86 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
Bales'] Bale, forrow. Ifl. bal, bcl, malum ; bclua, maledi-
cere ; boluan, maledictions. Douglas, 408. 2.
" Have reuthe and pitie of my vyofull bale."
Chaucer, P. T. v. 68.
" Thou (halt be brent in baleful fire."
Gothic baldwyan torquere, Mark v. 7. Ni baliveys mis. Do>
not torment us. Matth. viii. 29. Qubampt hek faur mel
balwyan unfis ? Art thou come to torment us before the
time? Now Junius (ad voc.) properly obferves, that the tor-
ment fpoken of in the New Teftament is always reprefented
as by fire ; hence the origin of the Af. beel, rogus j Ifland.
laaly incendium. Had we room here, we could prove hence
the origin of Beltyne, the folemn fire kindled by our anceftors
in May, at which time the Celts began their year. Vide
Macpherfon, Ant. p. 164. Smith Gaelic Ant. p. 31. Pen-
nant's Tour, p. 94. From tine comes tinder, fomes ; Ak-
man. zundere, item tundre.
Ver. 4. Mangit~\ Ramfay interprets it maimed with carry-
ing ; Gibfon reads ivearied for majigit ; Douglas fometimes
writes it menzeit, confounded, marred, maimed. Thus of
Andromache fainting, p. 78. 15.
" to the ground all mangit fell echo doun."
and 440. 27.
" Bot then Turnus half mangit in affray."
Ruddiman brings it from S. mangzie, or manzie; Fr. #-
haign. Hence, too, our maim, per contract. In our old law-
books it is written mainzie. Reg. Majeft. 1. 4. c. 3. " He
" quha is accufit in fie pleyes, may declyne battle, be reafon of
" an manzie, or of his age." From mainzie, the writers of
the middle ages formed the barbarous Latin term mahainium;
though
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 187
For faintnefs thae forfochtin fulis
Fell down lyk flauchtir fails ;
Frefb men cam in and hail'd the duliSj
And dang them down in dails
Bedeen that day.
XXIV.
though Riiddiman erroneoufly derives our word from it. Char-
ta Henrici 2do. " Haec omnia concefli cum murdro, et morte
" hominis, et plaga, etmahaim, et fanguine." Charta Philip 3.
.Req. Fr. ann. 1273. ** Quod percuflus membrum amitteret
" feu vitam, vel etiam mahainium incurreret." Plura vide ap.
Cange, in Mahamiuvu
Mails'] Burdens.
Ver. 5. Forfochtin\ Wearied with fighting. G. We
bbferve here, that in the Gothic dialedls, and all its daugh-
ters, the particle fore, or for, increafes the fignification. Thus
hindre,forhindra, impedire ; minJka,forminJka, minuere ; and
oTten imports a worfe meaning than the original word. Thus
rahia numerare; forakna, fig. to err in the fum. Gora, facere j
for gora perimere. Arleta, laborare ; for arbeta fig. to over-
labour one's felf. Hence too Engl, done, foredone ; fworn,
forfworn, In the Latin, per and fir x have a fimilar meaning.
So oro, per or o; facio, perficio ; polens,rxpotehs, &c.
Ver. 6. Flaught'ir fails] Thefe are the thin fod pared off
the green furface of a' field, with the inftrument now called a
breafi plough, but anciently a flaughter fpade, which, as it
were, flays the foil ; from the Ifland. adfiaa, excoriare, cutem
detrahere : Dan;/*?;. A. S. lefix, excoriatus. Hence too
A a % &h;
-188 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEtf.
flakes offnoiu, from their broad thin (hape. Sax. flacea, floe-
cinivis. Alludit, Gr. jfrtflti cortex, and 9Ko,'q&-, corticem
aut pellem detraho ; Sax.flean, to flea. Confer. Jun. Etymol.
in fell. Ray fays, that the furface of the earth, which they
pare off to burn in Norfolk, is caxkd flags. This fort of firing
is (till common in all the moorifh countries of Scotland. The
word fale or pal, turf, cefpes, is found in Douglas's Virgil ;
and Ruddiman thinks thax/ealis only a eontradion of Jewel,
as being a common kind of firing in Scotland.
Ver. 7. Hail'd~\ To bail, Scot, is a phrafe ufed at foot-
ball, when the victors are faid to bail the ball, i. e. to drive
it beyond, or to the goal ; and as they may thus be faid to
cover tac goal, it may, perhaps, come from the Ifl. bill, tego;
hulde, texi ; as this from the Gothic buljan, tegere, operiri.
Matth.viii. 24. Gahulitb luairthanfr am ivegim, Covered with
the waves. Hence hell is called by Ulphila halje ; as theol,
hell, from belen, tegere, occultare. Thus heal in old Englifh
fignifies to conceal, from Sax. belan celare. We call the
hulks of corn the hull, from the fame origin. In Northum-
berland zflwine hull, a fow houfe, or fwine flye.
Dunes'] The goal or boundary of the courfe. We ima-
gine it comes from the Ifland. duel, moror, 'the ftopping-place
to which the ball was to be driven by the victorious party.
Dualde, moratus fum ; duel, mora. Hence to dwell, or make
abode.
Ver. 8. Dang"] * Perf. from ding, eedere, detrudere, to
beat down, " Haud dubie," fays Lye, ab Hibern. dingitn,
*t peHere, urgere." Douglas 229. 52.
" and with hir awin handis
" Dang up the zettis "
Teuton, dringen, from ding, dint, a flroak or blow ; Sax.
dynt, icl:us. Infra St. fe<j.
" For
CHRIST'S KIRS ON THE GREEN. i 9
XXIV.
The bridegrom brought a pint of aile*
And bade the pyper drink it.
Drink it (quoth he), and it fo ftaile ;
A drew me, if I think it.
The
" For he durft ding nan iddir."
Dails"] In parties, eight or nine together ; from Sax. dal f
a part or portion. Gib.
Vide Luke xv. 12. Be dale y ex parte. Greg. Dialog, ex
Verf. R. Alfredi, 2. 23. Same dxl. partim. Thus too Chau-
cer ufes it, Prol. to W. of B. Tale :
*' But ftie was fame dele deaf, and that was fkaith."
Hence dalan, dividere, Luke xxii. 17* to give alms j daledt
divifus.
Ver. 9. Bedeen] or ledene ; for thus it is wrote by Douglas,
Werpe all thir bodyis in the deep ledene." And
*' How iEneas with the rout ledene."
This word is common alfo to the old Englifti writers ; Rud !
diman brings it from Germ, bedienen, praeftare officium, q. d,
afibon as dehred.
STANZA XXIV.
Ver. 4. AJIyreiv i7ie~\ So it ftands in Gibfon's edition. It
Ihould undoubtedly be read before^ we, a very common
phrafe
J$o CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN.
The bride her maidens flood near by,
And faid it was ha blinked 5
And Bartagafie, the bride fae gay*
Upon him fail fhe. winked,
Full foon that day;
XXV.
When a was dune, Dik with an aix
Came furth to fell a fudder.
Quod he, quhair ar yon hangit fmaiks,
Richt now wald flam my brudder ?
Hrs
phrafe all over South anil North Britain in the fixteenth cen-
tury.
Though I have not Lord Hyndford's M. S. at hand, yit
I do take this whole flanza to be an interpolation It is not
found in Ramfay's edition ; and the language has fomething
more modern in it than the reft of the poem. Bartagafie, a
name (as far as I can learn) unknown in Scotland, ftrength-
ens the conjecture I have formed, that it is fpurious. Whence
the Bifhop got it, I cannot fay ; but the whole of his ortho-
graphy is fo faulty and modern, that it appears' he was bat
moderately acquainted with our ScottKh idiom ; and this hrts
probably led him to think this ftanza genuine, and to commit
many errors in his notes on the poem itfelf.
STANZA XXV.
Ver. 2. Furtb~\ Gibfon reads out; but we judge this the
true reading, as it adds another letter to the alliteration of the
verfe :
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. i 9 i
verfe ; an ornament, or, rather jingle, our old poets were very
fond of.
Fudder] A load, a great heap. Gibfon writes it /other*
Ray fays it is commonly ufed fpeaking of lead, and expreflesi
8 pigs or 1600 weight. But fudder certainly means a cart
load. Germ, fuder, et hoc forte (fays Skinner) a Teuton.
fuehren, vehere, ducere'. And this feeing the true meaning of
{he word in this paifage, though Ruddiman will have us to.
feek it in Hib. fuidhre, a fervant or vaiet. We find futhir
ufed by Douglas to fignify a trifle, or thing of no value, p,
311. 29.
" I compt not of thir pagan goddis ant futhir"
But this has no connection with the other, nor are we to
confound with it fader, fignifying beads meat, from foda nu-
trire; nor the GotbicyWr, fignifying the fheath of a fword, u-
fed by Ulphila, John xviii. ver. 11. Hence A. S. fodder,
loge foddr, a quiver, perhaps, becaufe the firft quivers and
{heaths for fwords were made ofikins, as foder fig. vellus,
pellis ; Fr. feutr e ; Lat. bzvb.fodrum, de quo vid. Cange;
Germ, father ; Angl./wr; confer, doclift. Ihre Lex. vol. 1.
p. 511,512
Ver. 3. Smaih] Sviaik, filly, pitiful fellow. Douglas,
2 39- 3 8 -
" Quod I, Smaik, lat me flepe ."
From Teuton, fchmach, contumelia. ~>e\g. fmade. id Teut.
khmachlich, contumeliofus. The root is the IR.fmaa, to
contemn ; Eg fmaae, I defpife ; fmaa, fnaar, little, finally
better pronounced, and nearer to the original, by the Scots
fma ; Goth, final., gracilis, tenuis; fmabia, gracilefcere.
Hence fmale denotes the fmaller cattle, as fheep and goats.
Alam. call msz$,fmallfecho. The ingenious etymologili Ihre
thinks
192 CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN,
His wyfe bad him gae hame, Gib Glaiks,
And fae did Meg his mudder ;
He turn'd and gaif them baith their paiks,
For he durft ding nane udder,
For feir that day.
thinks the Greek //ha*, faep, is nothing but the Gothic tern*
wanting the s. Smada, contumelia afficere ; fmadeordy con-
vicia ; Belg. fmaeden, fmadden> deturpare. And hence the
words fnmtfcii fmeta, fmitta ; unde Angl. fmitch, and our
fmity to infect or defile. In the parent dialed we find fma-
rede, reculae, minoris momenti res j fmaher, vile, abjefr.
Alfred, lib. I. cap. 25. 10. Smaher fcale tbin t Vilis fervus
tuus. Ifl. fina hinder, res viles ; fntcecka, minuere. Findur
Norr. ap. Ihre^in voce. Taku/nva riki ad fmackaji, Incipie^
bant regna turn minui. Hence the true idea of the name gi-
ven to Magnus, fon of Eric king of Sweden, called in deri-
lion Smaki not (as it is generally rendered) blanditiis delini-
tus, flattered ; but denoting a weak, contemptible fellow, who
allowed the whole province of Scania to be taken from him
by the Danes, and thereby fmeckad, diminished his heredita-
ry kingdom, contrary to the oath taken by the kings of Swe-
den when crowned. Vide Locceni, Hift. Suet. p. 1 06.
From this word, ftnacka, the barbarous Latin writers form-
ed fma ccare, to mutilate or maim, de qua vide Cange GlofT.
Ver. 4. Waldjlain} For would have flain. Gibfon reads,
that hurt my brother.
Ver. 5. Ghicks~\ An idle fauntering prattler. Glaffe, or
glave, is fmooth, according to Ray. Hence glavering is ufed
for flattering. In the Chefhire dialect glaver y to flatter; A. S.
g/iiver, fcurra, parafnus ; a gliwan, fcuiram agere, fmooth.
Ifland.
CHRIST'S KIRK ON THE GREEN. 179
Ifland. gUr mare, from its clearnefs ; zndgfer, vitrum Hence
Fr. glaire a* un ceufi white of an egg ; and Angl. gtare. Con-,
fer Jun. Etymol. in glayre.
Ver. 7. Paths'] Blows, repeated flrokes. Angl. paice,
Verbarare. I (hall well pate him, I'll beat him. This is not
to be confounded with pay, folvere debitum. Jun. derives
pate from Greek rratzivt verberare ; but the true etymon, is
from Cambr. pivyo, ferire, pulfare, percutere. In looking
into the learned Ihre's Lex. we find pak, fuftis ; and hence
perhaps we have paik, to beat with a cudgel. Pezron Celt.
Ant. takes notice of bach in the Celtic, fig. fujlis. The
Ang. Saxons, changing c into /, fay bat. Fr. baton. Our
mod ingenious etymologifr. obferves, that it is more than pro-
bable that the ancient Latins ufed bacus for a Jlick or po/e,
from the diminative bacu/us, (till in common ufe.
We have thrown thefe notes haftily together, they being
only meant, (as well as thofe on the Gaberlunzie-Man) as
a kind of fpecimen to a Gloffary of the ancient Scotifh language
we intend, at fome future period, to publifh, provided thofe
who are the proper judges of fuch an undertaking, fhall deem
fuch a work ufeful for promoting the knowledge of the anti-
ticjuities and language of our country.
FINIS.
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