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120 Proverbial Phrases.
A good sword and a trusty hand,
A merry heart and true;
King James's men shall understand
What Cornish men can do.
And have they fix'd the where and when?
And shall TRELAWNY die?
Then twenty thousand Cornish men
Will know the reason why!
Out spake the Captain brave and bold,
A merry wight was he,
Though London Tower were Michael's* hold,
We'd set TRELAWNY free!
We'll cross the Tamar, land to land,
The Severn is no stay;
And side to side, and hand in hand,
And who shall bid us nay?
And when we come to London Wall,
A pleasant sight to view,
Come forth! come forth! ye cowards all;
Here are better men than you.
TRELAWNY he's in keep and hold;
TRELAWNY he may die!
But twenty thousand Cornish bold
Will know “The Reason Why."
U. P. K. spells Goslings.
[1791, Part L, p. 327.]
“U. P. K. spells May goslings," is an expression used by boys at play,
as an insult to the losing party. U. P. K. is up-pick, that is, up with your
pin or peg, the mark of the goal. An additional punishment was thus: the
winner made a hole in the ground with his heel, into which a peg about three
inches long was driven, its top being below the surface; the loser, with his
hands tied behind him, was to pull it up with his teeth, the boys buffeting
with their hats, and calling out, “Up pick, you May Gosling;" or “U. P.
K. Gosling in May." A May Gosling, on the first of May, is made with as
much eagerness in the North of England, as an April noddy (noodle) or fool,
on the first of April.
In 1688, when James II. left the kingdom, a rising of the Roman Catholicks
was expected in the South of Lancashire, when an order was issued, as said,
by the Earl of Derby, for the men of the Northern
* St. Michael's Mount.
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Wake. 121
parts, from sixteen to sixty years of age, to meet at Kirkby Lonsdale, a town
on the borders of Lancashire and Westmorland, with a fortnight's provision,
and with such armour as could be procured, on pain of being hanged up at
their own doors: numbers came, but no enemy appearing, after staying their
time, they departed. The following verse is yet remembered, and made on that
occasion:
In eighty-eight was Kirkby feight (fight),
When ne'er a man was slain; They eat their meat, and drank their drink,
And so went yham (home) again.
Why diamonds are called picks seems to be from the sharp points, picked or
pointed, a pick being a tool, used in digging in stony ground, with two sharp
points: hence hearts, clubs, spades, and picks.
W. Wake.
[1771, / 351-1
As the expression lately used in the papers in an article from Ireland
concerning a girl who was killed by lightning, viz., "that she could not
be waked within doors “(after she was dead) seems unintelligible to most
readers, it may be proper to mention, that it alludes to a custom among the
Irish of dressing their dead in their best cloaths to receive as many
visitors as please to see them; and this is called keeping their wake. The
corpse of this girl, it seems, was so offensive that this ceremony could not
be performed. [NOTE. There are two pages numbered 351 in this volume.]
W. G.
Wine of One Ear.
[1812, Part I., p. 38.]
In "Rabelais' Works," by Ozell, 1750, vol. i., p. 154, occurs this
note:
“Wine of one ear. A proverbial expression for excellent good wine. In some
parts of Leicestershire and elsewhere, speaking of good ale, ale of one ear;
bad ale, ale of two ears. Because when it is good, we give a nod with one
ear; if bad, we shake our head, that is, give a sign with both ears that we
don't like it."
Not having met with this proverbial expression in any other writer, I should
be glad to know to what county it is properly to be appropriated.
H. [1832, Part I., p. 239.]
Your Correspondent H. cites a proverbial expression from Rabelais' works by
Ozell, “Wine of one ear," and solicits an explanation of it. I apprehend
that he mistakes in supposing this to be an
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122 Proverbial Phrases.
English proverbial expression, and that it is derived from the French, though
erroneously translated, who have this proverb, which they apply to anything
that is crude, immature, "Vin d'une Anne." From which it appears
that it should be "wine of one year," and not of "one ear/'
wine of only one year old, or new wine, not being in estimation. [See note 32.]
Yours, etc., R. E. R.
As the Devil loves Apple-Dumplings.
[1858, Part //.,/. 401.]
This is a not uncommon saying, but to all appearance a very silly one. About
a century and a quarter ago it was the custom to give the students of certain
colleges at Oxford Hart Hall, for example; Oxford men will forgive the
apparent misnomer nothing but appledumplings for their dinner on fast-days;
every Friday, for example. The flesh rebelling against such unsubstantial
diet, a proverbial saying may have thence arose to the effect that the devil
was no lover of apple-dumplings. That the students complained bitterly of Dr.
Newton's apple-dumplings, there is no doubt, printed authority being still in
existence to that effect
[1772, / 529-]
[The following is quoted at the above reference from a review of a play, The
Irish Widow, then just published, and performed at Drury Lane.]
Wife a mouse, Quiet house; Wife a cat, Dreadful that.
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Special Words.
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SPECIAL WORDS.
Apple of the Eye.
[1833, Parti., pp. 30, 31.]
VARIOUS unsatisfactory attempts have been made, in Boucher's “Glossary of
Archaisms," to give a rational derivation of the Biblical expression,
the “apple of the eye." The fact is, that apple, a corruption of the
Teutonic ap-fel, i.e., ^fall-from, where the German ap is the same as the
Latin ab, and Greek aero (apo\ never had nor could have anything to do with
the eye; and therefore the origin of the word must be sought for elsewhere.
Now it does so happen that in the Coptic language bal means the ball of the
eye. Hence apple would only be a corruption of al-bal where al, the definite
article, has been united to the noun, as in Alchemist, Al-coran, Al-magist,
and Al-manach, with all of which we are accustomed to repeat the article,
when speaking of the Alchemist, the Alcoran, the Almagist, and the Almanach;
and thus the apple would be only another example of the repetition of the
definite article the al-bal, of which the Latin orb-is is a still greater
corruption. Of the Coptic Bal, the radical consonants are BL, which, by the
insertion of the five vowels a, e, i, o, u, have given rise to an infinity of
words in various languages, all referable to some property of the eye.
Aroint.
[1832, Part IL,pp. 594, S9S-]
Your learned Correspondent, in p. 228, has attempted to elucidate and explain
the word aroint, in Shakespeare. Although he refers to Boucher's “Glossary of
Archaic and Provincial Words," to Wilbraham's “Cheshire Glossary,"
and to Collier's “Lancashire Dialect," he appears still dissatisfied
with the etymology of the word. He thinks it probable that ronyan may be French
or Italian; but that it is by no means evident that the word aroint has the
same derivation.
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126 Special Words.
I refer your correspondent to the Rev.
Wra. Carr's second edition of the “Craven Glossary," from which it
appears that in that district of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the mountain
ash, the sorbus aneuparia of Linnaeus, was called royan tree, and was
supposed by the inhabitants to have wonderful efficacy in depriving witches
of their infernal power. The learned editor of Boucher's “Glossary “calls
aroint an interjection; but in the “Craven Glossary," the royntree (of
which aroint may be supposed a corruption) conveys the sense of a triumphant
exclamation. As your correspondent may not have seen the second edition of
the “Craven Glossary," I will extract for his information the whole of
the reverend author's remarks on the word royntree, which, in my judgment,
forcibly elucidate the meaning of the word aroint:
Royntree, Roantree, Rowantree^ Rantree, Wicken, Wigan, Wibele Hazel: Mountain
Ash, sorbus aneuparia , Linn. Dan. Roune.
Thompson, in his Etymons, says that the word aroynt signifies reprobation,
from Gothic raun; a tree of wonderful efficacy in depriving witches of their
infernal power; and she was accounted a very thoughtless house-wife who had
not the precaution to provide a churnstaff made of this precious wood. When
thus guarded, no witch, however presumptuous, had the audacity to enter.
Sometimes a small piece of it was suspended from the button-hole, which had
no less efficacy in defending the traveller. May not the sailor's wife, in
Macbeth, have confided in the divine aid of this tree when she triumphantly
exclaimed, “aroynt thee!" alias, “a royntree! With the supernatural aid
of this," pointing, it may be supposed at the royntree in her hand, “I
defy thy infernal power." The event evidently proved her security; for
the witch, having no power over her, so completely protected, indignantly and
spitefully resolves to persecute her inoffensive, though unguarded husband on
his voyage to Aleppo. Mr. Wilbraham, in his “Cheshire Glossary," says,
“Possibly aroynt owes its origin to the old adverb arowme, found in
Promptorium Parvulorum Clericorum [see note 33]; and there explained by
remote seorsum, or from ryman, or reunean, A.-S., to get out of the way
"Rym thysummen sell, give this man place." "Saxon
Gospels," Luke xiv. 9.
It was said two hogsheads full of money were concealed in a subterraneous
vault at Penyard Castle, in Herefordshire. A farmer took twenty steers to
draw down the iron doors of the vault. When the door was opened, a crow or a
jackdaw was seen perched on one of the casks; as the door was opening, the
farmer exclaimed, “I believe I shall have it." Whereupon the door
immediately closed, and a voice without exclaimed
“If it had not been for your quicken-tree goad and your yew-tree pin, You and
your cattle had all been drawn in."
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Aroint. 127
This story has some resemblance to the curious nonsense concerning a cave and
a cock, related in Dugdale's "Warwickshire," p. 619, ed. i, because
the prophylactic properties of the quicken- tree (mountain ash) shew an
incorporation with Druidical superstition; for we believe these ancient
personages were accustomed to delude the people with wonders. In the song of
the Laidley Worm, in "Northumberland Garland," p. 63, we read
“The spells were vain, the Hag returns To the Queen in sorrowful mood, Crying
that witches have no power Where there is rown-tree wood!"
Brand's "Pop. Ant." vol. ii., p. 370.
“I go to Mother Nicneran's," answered the maid; “and she is witch enough
to rein the horned devil, with a red silk for a bridle, and a rowan-tree
switch for a whip." Abbot.
“In my plume is seen the holly green, With the leaves of the rown-tree."
“Minst. of S. B.," vol. iii., p. 290.
Not long ago, as a sagacious farmer in my neighbourhood was driving his
plough, the horses instantaneously became restive. The whip was most
rigorously applied without any effect whatever upon the horses, which still
continued motionless. The farmer very fortunately cast his eyes on a
wicken-tree, which was growing in the adjoining hedge; he speedily cut from
it a twig, when lo! the most gentle application of this divine plant broke
the witches' infernal spell, and caused the horses to proceed quietly with
their accustomed toils! Credat Judeas!
“Wi rown-tree weel fenced about,
We're seafe frae every evil; For weel I ken that wood has power To scar away
the deevil."
Stag's “Poems." [See note 34.]
"And money a panting heart was there
That bode full bitter picks, For tho' wi witch-wood weard yet weel, They kend
auld Hornie's tricks."
“The Panic," Idem.
This species of superstition which, in England and Scotland, attaches to the
rown-tree, Bishop Heber, in his Journal, informs us, is paid by the Indians
to a species of mimosa, the leaves of which so much resemble the mountain
ash. “Though it did not bear fruit the natives observed it was a noble tree,
being called the ' Imperial tree,' for its excellent properties: that it
slept all night, and wakened and was alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if
anyone attempted to touch
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128 Special Words.
them; a sprig, worn in the turban, or
suspended over the bed, was a perfect security against all spells, an evil
eye, etc. From what common centre are all these notions derived?" Bishop
Heber's "Journal," vol. ii., p. 252.
Yours, etc., OXONIENSIS.
[1788, Part I I., p. 392.]
Allow me to venture a conjecture on a passage in Shakespeare. In Mr. Ray's
“Collection of English Words," Rynt ye is thus explained: “By your leave,
stand handsomely. As Rynt you Witch, quoth Besse Locket to her mother proverb
Cheshire." Compare with this the following passage in Macbeth, and
Johnson's note on it, p. 378: “ist Witch. A sailor's wife had chesnuts in her
lap, and mouncht, and mouncht. Give me, quoth I. Aroint thee, witch! the
rump-fed runyon cries." When the witch roughly cries, "Give
me," it is natural that the sailor's wife should use a common proverb to
reprove her for her ill manners. [See note 35.]
Assassin.
[i 768, //. 326, 327-]
The word assassin, whence comes to assassinate, assassination, etc., is both
French and English; and it is supposed we borrowed it from the French. But
that might not be the case, since both nations might have it from a common
original, as nobody pretends to assert it is a pure French, or even a Gaulish
word. Thus Mons. Menage acknowledges, that it came to the French from the
East, “ce mot nous est venu du Levant avec la chose." This author says,
Le Vieil de la Montagne, the Old Man of the Mountain, Prince of the
Arsacides, or Assassins and Bedins, fortifying himself in a castle of
difficult access, in the time of our expeditions to the Holy Land, collected
together a number of people, who engaged to kill whomsoever he pleased.
Hence, he adds, both the Italians and the French called those people
assassins that committed murders in cold blood. It seems, they were also
called Arsacides. Menage cites his authorities, but passing them by, I shall
content myself with giving you the words of one or two of our English
authors. Dr. Fuller says (" Hist, of the Holy War," p. 38), “These
assassins were a precise sect of Mahometans, and had in them the very spirit
of that poisonous superstition. They had some six cities, and were about
40,000 in number, living
near Antaradus in Syria. Over these was a chief master whom
they called the Old Man of the Mountains. At his command they would refuse no
pain or peril, but stab any prince, whom he appointed out to death - }
scorning not to find hands for his tongue, to perform
what he enjoined. At this day there are none of them extant,
being all, as it seemeth, slain by the Tartarians, anno 1237," etc.
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Assassin. 129
Mr. Sale, in his preliminary discourse to the Koran, p. 246, gives the
following authentic account of them: “To the Karmatians, the Ismaelians of
Asia were very near of kin, if they were not a branch of them. For these, who
were also called al molahedah, or the impious, and, by the writers of the
history of the Holy Wars, assassins, agreed with the former in many respects;
such as their inveterate malice against those of other religions, and
especially the Mohammedan, their unlimited obedience to their prince, at
whose command they were ready for assassinations, or any other bloody or
dangerous enterprises; their pretended attachment to a certain Imam of the
house of Ali, etc. These Ismaelians, in the year 483, possessed themselves of
Jebal, in the Persian Irak, under the conduct of Hasan Sabah; and that prince
and his descendants enjoyed the same for 171 years, till the whole race of
them was destroyed by Holagu the Tartar." Whence it appears, that the
assassins were not Mohammedans, as Dr. Fuller suggests, but rather of a
religion set up in opposition to Islam, or that introduced by Mohammed. Both
authors, however, agree in their characters as to their being professed
bravo's, or murderers; and it appears from Matthew Paris in several places,
that the Oriental name of this people, as a nation or community, was that of
assassins. From the East it was brought to us, who were entirely unacquainted
with it, till after the era of the Crusades; and it has been now, for an age
or more, applied to persons of the like murderous disposition.
I am, yours, etc., T. Row.
[i 768, /. 464-]
To what Mr. Row has collected about the Assassins in your Magazine for last
July, you may, if you think fit, add what follows:
“The Batineans were profest Assassins, and are called in history Ishmaelians,
Hassassins, Assassinians, whence we have borrowed the word. Some say they
were originally Karmathians, whose conduct they closely followed. They formed
a kind of dynasty which lasted about 170 years. Their first prince was Hassan
Sabah, who established himself in Persian Irak, A. Heg. 483. Their chief
place of shelter was the castle of Almut. Historians have called their leader
the old man of the mountain, translating thus Sheik al Gebal, q. d. Lord of
Persian Irak, because Sheik signifies an.0A/ man, and Gebal, a mountain, and
Irak is very mountainous. Marigny's Hist, of the Arabians, iv. 128, note.
[See note 36.] H. D.
Beauty.
[1771, /. 166.]
Charles VII., King of France, having given his mistress, Agnes de Sorel, the
Castle of Beaute, she was thence called the Demoiselle de Beaute. This
introduced the term in France, and afterwards ia England. [See note 37.]
9
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130 Special Words.
Bast
[1784, Part I., p. 253.]
Your correspondent W. in your Magazine for December last, p. 1028, seems
desirous of knowing the meaning of the word BAST, in an Act of Parliament
made for punishing of wood-stealers, 15 Charles II. chap. 2, and supposes it
means the fruit of the tree, and to be derived from the word MAST; and your
other correspondents R. B. and A. in your Magazine for February, p. 106, both
imagine it may be derived from the word BASS, whereof mats used by gardeners
are made. Now I take the liberty to differ from both these opinions; and
having looked into Jacob's Law Dictionary, which I think the best expositor
of the words of an Act of Parliament, I find the word BASTON, and that it
signifies a staff or club; and as sticks to walk with are generally made of
young shoots, or scyons, the extracting whereof from plantations or coppices
of wood is very prejudicial, and great damage to the proprietor of such wood,
I therefore presume this statute might probably be made for the better
preventing such pilfering; and the constable is ordered to apprehend all
persons carrying away burthens or bundles of wood, underwood, poles, or young
trees, bark, or bast of any trees, etc.; and also to search the houses of
suspicious persons for such kind of things; and any persons buying such are
punishable.
Now it is natural enough to suppose that the word BAST, in this Act, is a
contraction of the word BASTON; for it is very common in the English language
for words of more than one syllable to be so contracted; and I am the more
inclined to think that is the case here; for that the taking of the fruit of
forest trees, or the mast of beech, is not an injury of such consequence as
to be the subject of an Act of Parliament.
The beech tree grows only in some particular parts of this kingdom, in woods,
and is there seldom mixed with other sorts: and I believe the lime tree is not
originally of this country, nor grows spontaneously in any part of it, that I
know of.
I am told that the bass-mats, used for packing goods, or for gardens, come
chiefly (if not wholly) from Russia, and perhaps may be made of the bark of
the lime, or some other tree growing in that country, but could by no means
be intended by this Act.
[See note 38.] Yours, etc., R. S.
Bum-fiddle.
[1775. P- 368.]
I have read with pleasure Mr. T. Row's ingenious explanations of many terms
whose derivation length of time has rendered obscure; but I was rather
disappointed in not finding among them the etymology of Bum-fiddle, a word
that is far from being obsolete, however
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Bum-fiddle. 131
arduous may be the task of investigating the origin of it. The learned author
of the “Commentary on the Laws of England" has clearly shown (b. i. c.
9, 8vo. edit., p. 346) that another word, to which the same monosyllable is
now usually prefixed, has suffered an alteration by the common people; for
that “bound-bailiff" was the original term: and possibly this may have
been the case in the word before mentioned, though I am not deeply enough
versed in antiquarian lore to discover the source of the corruption. Mr. Paul
Gemsege formerly transmitted to the public, through the channel of your
magazine, a curious disquisition on the favourite word and thing
"bumper," as also a second upon the terms "crowder" and
"crowdero;" and, as the instrument which is the subject of this
letter is undoubtedly a species of the crowdero, I am solicitous to know his
sentiments upon it. [See Gent. Mag. Library, “Manners and Customs," p.
157.] ANTIQUE.
Coccayne and the Cockneys.
[1838, Part //., pp. 596-602.]
We have fallen on a very dainty subject. We want to prove that the glorious
and song-renowned “land of Coccayne" is neither more nor less than the
land of Cookery, and that the Cockneys or Coccaneys derive their name from
thence, as the proper and legitimate natives of the said kingdom of Coccayne.
We think we shall be able to establish this connection between the land of
Coccayne and the Cockneys by many good and sufficient authorities, and, by so
doing, show the point and propriety of the appellation that has so long
fastened itself on our metropolitans, and refute those vulgar and erroneous
notions that are still afloat on the stream of Cockney chit-chat.
The etymology of the Latin word Coquo, to cook, from which, we verily believe,
the words Coccayne, Cockney, etc., are derived, is thus stated by Guichard in
his “Harmonie Etymologique des Langues," Paris, 1506: “Le verbe
Hebrai'que Goug signifie premierement coquere panes subter prunas." From
this root he supposes that the Greeks derived their ximw, misceo> to mix;
and the Latins their cogue, to cook. “Apres de COQUO, koken fut forme en
Flamen; kocken en Allemand; cucinareen. Italien; cozinare, cozer, en
Espagnol; cuire en Francais: cook en Anglais." So much for etymologies:
we shall see, anon, how critically they bear upon our friends the Cockneys.
The subject of cooker y, in all its branches, is one that we approach with
infinite respect and reverence. It hides its head among the clouds, while it
walks up and down on the earth. If we may believe so shrewd a mythologist as
Homer, the gods themselves, in the gorgeous palaces of Olympus, cultivated
this science of sciences before
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132 Special Words.
men were either born or thought of. The magnificent banquet at which Jove
himself presided, when the limping Vulcan acted the part of cup-bearer so
awkwardly as to fill the immortals with unextinguishable merriment, has
always been a favourite topic among epicures. Plato himself appears to have
entertained very savoury conceptions respecting the nectar and ambrosia once
served by Hebe and Ganymede; and indeed the very mention of such things is
enough, in Cockney dialect, “to make one's mouth water."
Among the Jews, and most of the ancient nations, so great was the respect
entertained for cookery, that official epulones, superintendents and
inspectors of their fasti, epulae, and dapes were appointed. In Rome they had
seven dignitaries of this kind, whose duty was to furnish banquets for
Jupiter and the other gods of his retinue. The sacrifice being over, the gods
were served as if they were able to eat, and, on their declining the offer,
the epulones very obligingly performed that function for them.
We know not how it is, but Epicures and Apicians have in all ages possessed
an extraordinary faculty of magnifying their office; Ude or Kitchiner, we
forget which, got into so lofty a rhapsody concerning the art and mystery of
cookery, as to call it the very mother of all moral, intellectual, social,
and political improvement. Their argument was, that men never reasoned
clearly and correctly on these abstract and metaphysical matters unless their
stomachs were in a prosperous condition, and well lined with culinary
blessings. As they had probably indulged in an extravagantly good dinner
before allowing their imagination so outrageous a swing, we shall make every
excuse for them which the case admits.
But seriously, and without a joke, the progress of cookery is one of the best
tests we have of the progress of civilization. What Dr. Johnson said of law
may with great propriety be applied to this subject. “Do you, Sir, presume to
deride that science which is the last effort of human genius working on human
experience?" Here, and here alone, reason and taste have gone hand in
hand, and the sublimest abstractions of Epicurus have been tested by no less
infallible a criterion than “Do you like it?"
Sir Humphry Davy appears to have caught a glimpse of this sublime theory in
one of his philosophic visions. When his emancipated spirit arrives at the
planet Saturn, which he imagines to be a much more respectable world than our
own, touching its ecclesiastical and civil polity, what does he discover?
why, Sir, he discovered that the whole surface of Saturn is strewed with
enormous culinary machines worked by steam and oxygen gas. Viands the most
exquisite that ever enchanted the olfactories of the ex-president, diffused
their delicious effluvia through the whole atmosphere of the planet. They
were cooked by a chemistry, or rather an alchemy, which defied the most
critical analysis of the Royal Institution, and altogether made
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Coccayne and the Cockneys. 133
Sir Humphry feel, if he never felt so before, like a thorough-bred glutton
Epicuri de grege porcus.
The inhabitants of Saturn, who were shaped more like elephants than anything
else, were disporting themselves on the wing between the mainland and the
ring. This exercise they invariably took in order to give themselves a
constitutional appetiser or whet for the keener relish of their dinner; and,
according to the said president, our best authority on the subject, these
Saturnites, if they spent not their time like ingenious Athenians in seeing
or hearing some new thing, contrived to pass it in the more agreeable or at
least substantial employment of tasting and devouring new dishes. So much for
the cookery of the stars.
Of the cookery of the Oriental world we have some very transcendental and
magnificent speculations, derived from the authority of the Koran, the
Arabian Nights, and the very piquant stories of travellers, which we always
swallow aim grano salt's, with a little salt, which we find assists their
digestion, and saves us from that highly fashionable complaint dyspepsia.
But attend to Mahomet a moment: for his description of cookery in Paradise
is, as Sir John Falstatf says, “worth the listening to." In the
entertainment of the blessed on their admission to Paradise, thus speaks the
Prophet: The whole earth will then be as one loaf of bread, and for meat they
shall have the ox Balam and the fish Nun, the lobes of whose livers will
suffice seventy thousand men. From this feast every one will be dismissed to
the mansion assigned him, where he will have such a share of felicity as is
proportionate to his merit, but vastly exceeding comprehension or
computation, since the very meanest in Paradise will have 80,000 servants, 72
wives of the girls of Paradise, beside the wives he had in this world, and a
tent erected for him of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds of a very large
extent. There he will he waited on by 300 attendants while he eats, and shall
be served in dishes of gold, whereof 300 shall be set before him at once,
containing each a different kind of food, the last morsel of which will be as
grateful as the first, and will also be supplied with as many sorts of
liquors in vessels of the same metal; and, to complete the entertainment,
there will be no want of wine, which, though forbidden in this life, will yet
be freely allowed in the next without danger, since the wine of Paradise will
never inebriate though you drink it for ever.
But all these glories, as Sale observes, will be eclipsed by the ravishing
girls of Paradise, called Houris, from their large black eyes, Hur al oyun,
the enjoyment of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful.
These are not created of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk, and
their bodies are odoriferous as frankincense; being free from all defects and
inconveniences incident to the sex, of the strictest modesty, and secluded
from public view in
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134 Special Words.
pavilions of hollow pearls, so large that
one of them will measure sixty miles long and as many broad.
Thus the bold and dazzling imagination of the East has ever delighted to draw
analogies and correspondences between the spiritual and physical economies of
nature, which Milton seems to have dreamed of in his description of Paradise,
where he says,
“For earth hath this variety from heaven Of pleasure situate in hill and
dale."
Perhaps, however, there is more analogy than we suppose, as the soundest and
gravest commentators on Scripture, like Grotius, have adopted this idea,
which has been carried to so great a length by the Swedenborgians.
Grotius, whom of all men we love best to imitate, regarding him as the
greatest light that ever yet scattered the clouds of ignorance and discord
that still hover around us, makes the tree of knowledge in the earthly
Paradise no less dainty and delectable than the immortal palms of Mahomet's
elysium. In fact, he supposes the fruit was excessively nice, and that Eve,
with due reverence be it spoken, was a little epicure, or at least a little
of an epicure. For thus she speaks in the Adamus Exul, which is the parent of
Paradise Lost:
“O sweet, sweet apple! how thy glittering store Dazzles try eyes; its
dream-like, exquisite scent Fills all my sense; would I could lay aside All
fear, that trembling folly, and enjoy The elysium of the fruit, and learn at
once Its mystery of bliss."
It is necessary to observe that in the East, cookery very early divided
itself into two branches, the science and the art; one was the learned,
occult, esoteric, initiated cookery of the physicians and philosophers, now
called dietetics; the other was that vulgar, but exceedingly edifying, art,
which, though comparatively undiscriminating, is far more satisfactorv, and
has consequently almost superseded the other in popular esteem.
An old writer of the sth century, no less a man than St. Ambrose, was highly
indignant with these medical dietetics, which he evidently considers the
worst dep tment of cookery. "The precepts of physic," says he,
"are contrary to divine living, for they call men from fasting, suffer
them not to watch, seduce them from opportunities of meditation. They who
give themselves up to physicians deny themselves to themselves." And St.
Bernard on the Canticles thus asserts -. “Hippocrates and Socrates teach how
to save souls in health in this world; Christ and his disciples how to save
them for the next; which of the two will you have to be your masters? He
makes himself noted who, in his disputations, teaches how such a thing hurts
the eyes, this the head, that the stomach; pulse are
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Coccayne and the Cockneys. 135
windy, cheese offends the stomach, milk hurts the head, water the lungs;
whence it happens that in all the rivers, fields, gardens, and markets, there
is scarce to be any thing fitting for a man to eat."
From these passages it is evident that the dietic and therapeutic system of
physic by no means pleased the Fathers or the monks; and, indeed, it must
have been discordant to the rules and regulations of good Catholics in
general.
Cornelius Agrippa, whom we take to have been nearly the greatest man of his
age, confirms the same censure on the dietetic doctors, and his remarks apply
patly enough to Dr. Abernethy and his school, in the nineteenth century.
"These doctors," says Agrippa, "command, forbid, curse, and
discommend the meats and drinks that God has. created; framing rules of diet
difficult to be observed, and those morsels which they forbid others to taste
of they themselves (as hogs eat acorns) greedily devour. And those laws of
living which they prescribe to others, they themselves altogether neglect or
contemn. For, should they live according to their own rules, they would run
no small hazard of their health; and, should they permit their patients to
live after their own examples, they would altogether lose their
profits."
“But grant," continues Agrippa (who never lost an opportunity of giving
the monks a dry rap over the knuckles, for taking which liberty he was often
within an ace of being roasted for a necromancer), “that these rules of the
doctors apply to the monks, for whom, perhaps, it is not needful to take so
much care of their healths as of their professions, yet the variety of dishes
and feasts may not be unlawful for civil men to use, with consideration of
their health. The first the art of dieting performs, the second the art of
cookery, being the dressing and ordering of victuals. For which reason Plato
calls it the ' flatteress of physic,' and many account it a part of dietary
physic, though Pliny and Seneca, and the whole throng of other physicians,
confess that manifold diseases proceed from the variety of costly food."
Now Asia, and the land of the East, is the first land of Coccayne, or country
of good feeding, that we read of. The Asiatics were so intemperate and
luxurious in their feeding, that they were known by the surname of Asotse, or
Gluttons, or, more properly translated, Cockneys. If we were to make
inquiries of the board of East India Directors, ex-nabobs, etc., they would
very probably inform us that the Asiatics have not yet forfeited their claim
to this honourable epithet; or, if their tongues preserved silence, their
livers would answer for them. For these livers of ours are very
discriminating logicians, and easily detect the sophistry contained in that
noted verse,
“He that lives a good life is sure to live well."
It was from the East, the earliest land of Coccayne, that Greece learnt the
great lesson of Cockneyship, and became the rival of her
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(delwedd D4464) (tudalen 136)
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136 Special Words.
instructress. If the soldiers of Greece
conquered Persia, the cooks of Persia conquered Greece, and exchange is no
robbery. We shall not expatiate on Grecian cookery, lest we should so debauch
our souls with its manifold luxuries as to become incapable of travelling
into the next great kingdom of Coccayne, “the revel of the earth, the mask of
Italy."
Asia and Greece both revenged themselves on their Roman conquerors, by making
them the victims of triumphant luxury. Then Italy, in her turn, became the
veritable land of Coccayne; and of her feast monarchs partook and deemed
their dignity increased; and the stern Romans at length became the most
unparalleled Cockneys under the sun.
Thus we read in Livy'(as an old writer well observes), after the conquest of
Asia and Greece, foreign luxury first entered Rome, and then the Roman people
began to make sumptuous banquets. Then was a cook the most useful slave that
could be, and began to be much esteemed and valued, and, all bedabbled with
broth, and bedaubed with soot, was welcomed out of the kitchen into the
schools; and that which was before accounted as a vile slavery, was honoured
as an art whose chiefest care is only to search out everywhere the
provocatives of appetite, and study in all places for dainties to satisfy a
most profound gluttony; abundance of which Gellius cites out of Varro, as the
peacock from Samos, the Phrygian turkey, cranes from Melos, Ambracian kids,
the Tartesian mullet, trouts from PesseMuntium, Tarentine oysters, crabs from
Chios, Tatian nuts, Egyptian dates, and Iberian chesnuts. All which enormous
bills of fare were found out for the wicked wantonness of luxury and
gluttony.
But the glory and fame of this art, Apicius, above all others, claimed to
himself: from him, as Septimus Florus witnesses, there arose a certain sect
of cooks that were called Apicians, propagated, as it were, in imitation of
the philosophers, of whom thus Seneca has written: “Apicius (says he) lived
in our age; who in that city out of which philosophers were banished as
corrupters of youth, professing the art of cookery, hath infected the whole
rising generation with the most astounding luxuriousness."
Pliny calls this Apicius the gulf and barathrum of all youth. At length so
many subjects of taste, so many provocatives of luxury, so many varieties of
dainties were invented by these Apicians, that it was thought requisite to
restrain the luxury of the kitchen. Hence all those ancient sumptuary laws.
Lucius Flaccus, and his colleague censors, put Duronius out of the Senate,
for that, as a tribune of the people, he went about to abrogate a law made
against the excessive prodigality of feasts. In defence whereof, how
impudently Duronius ascended the pulpit of orations: “There are bridles (said
he) put into your mouths, most noble senators, in no wise to be endured. Ye
are bound and fettered with the bitter chains of servitude. Here
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(delwedd D4465) (tudalen 137)
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Coccayne and the Cockneys. 137
is an old antiquated sumptuary law which commands us to be frugal: let us
abrogate such a demand, deformed with the rust of ghastly antiquity; for to
what purpose have we liberty, if it be not lawful for them that will to kill
themselves with luxury?"
At length the character of Italy, as the land of Coccayne and the empire of
good living, got sadly impaired by the ravages of Huns, Goths, Visigoths,
Saracens, and rascally barbarians of all kinds, that came down like a
darksome cloud of locusts, and demolished her loaves and fishes before she
could say Jack Robinson. In fact, Virgil's vision of the banquet and the
harpies was most painfully realized in his dear Italia, which still
reverences him as a wizard and arch magician, on account of such prophetical
allusions sprinkled through his works. As we do not, however, give much
credit to the Sortes Virgilianae, we shall say no more about it.
Thus the ever memorable land of Coccayne was for some time overwhelmed by the
invasion of barbarism, not to say cannibalism, which is the very basest kind
of cookery we are aware of. Dear land of Coccayne, for centuries thy very
existence was a problem: the disciples of Epicurus, with a portentous
elongation of physiognomy, went seeking thee as carefully as Ceres sought
Proserpine, and, alas! found only that you were not to be found.
Sometimes they seemed to recover a glimpse of thy august vision in the states
of Italy, but they only aggravated the disappointment of the surviving
Cockneys, who then wandered, like the Jews or the Gypsies, up and down the
earth, yet could find no country like their own. Then was the land of
Coccayne likened unto the land of Utopia, “that place called No Place,"
or the island of Atalantes, or the land of Limbo.
At length, however, the great vision of Coccayne once more gladdened the
hearts of disconsolate Cockneys. Her first appearance was at Florence, then
at Venice, then at Palma. All these became celebrated in turn as the
veritable Coccayne; resuscitated, as it were, from the grave for the benefit
of all good fellows. As the empire of Coccayne advanced, savagery and
barbarism retired, and civilization and good-humour resumed their legitimate
ascendancy.
The empire of Coccayne then travelled west, and was long preeminent in
France. France and Paris are lauded as the land of Coccayne in numberless old
songs, and the French were entitled Coccainees par excellence.
But the empire of Coccaygne did not confine itself to France; it travelled
over to Great Britain, and took up its residence in London, which has long
appropriated the title to herself, with a most commendable enthusiasm. The
epithet Cockney has for ages so fastened itself on the inhabitants of oar
English Babylon, that not all the steam-engines in the country could now
explode it. In fact, it sits so
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(delwedd D4466) (tudalen 138)
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138 Special Words.
happily on the natives of “the great
metropolis," that nothing would console us for the loss of it.
Now let us confirm our statements by a few authorities; for we entirely agree
with our legal brethren, that assertions are not worth a crack without
confirmation and proof to back them withall.
In Toone's “Etymological Dictionary “(a very useful little book), we find the
following: “In a mock heroic poem in the Sicilian dialect, published at
Palermo, 1674, a description is given of Palma, as the Citta di Cuccagna; and
Boileau calls Paris unpais decoccaigne, representing it as a country of
dainties; which seems to have been the meaning of the word as understood by
the French." In England, no precise time can be ascertained as to its
first introduction. The earliest poem in which it is mentioned is a very
ancient one in the Normanno-Saxon dialect:
“Far in sea by West Spayne Is a lond yhote Cocayng."
In a very curious poem called the “Tournement of Tottenham," said to be
written in the reign of Edward III., the word Cokeney is used, but whether as
applied to a cook or a dish is a matter of conjecture:
“At that feast they were served in rich aray, Every five and five had a
cokenay."
Which reminds us of the Welshman's boast:
“Nine cooks at least in Wales one wedding sees."
In Nares's “Glossary “are the following remarks: “What this word Cockney
means, is well known how it is derived, there is much dispute. The etymology
seems most probable which derives it from cookery. Le pais de cocagne, in
French, means a country of good cheer; in old French, coquaine. Cocagna, in
Italian, has the same mending. Both might be derived from coquina. This
famous country, if it could be found, is described as a region 'where the
hills were made of sugar-candy,' and the loaves ran down the hills crying, '
Come, eat me!' “
It is spoken of by Balthazar Bonifacius, who says, “Regio qucedam est, quam
Cucaniam vocant ex abundantia panis qui atca Illyrice dicitur." “There
is a certain region called Cocagne, from the abundance of bread, which the
Illyrians denominate cuca, or cake." In this place, he says, “rorabit bucceis,
pluet pultibus, ninget laganis, et grandinabit placentis:" which we thus
translate “it rains puddings, drizzles sausages, snows pancakes, and hails
apple-dumplings."
The Cockney spoken of by Shakespeare seems to have been a cook, as she was
making a pie. “Cry to it, nuncle, as the Cockney did to the eels when she put
them i' the paste alive." Yet it appears to denote mere simplicity;
since the fool adds, "'Twas her brother that in pure kindness to his
horse buttered his hay,' [King
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Coccayne and the Cockneys. 139
Lear, Act ii., sc. iv.] Some lines in Camden's “Remains “seem to make Cockney
a name for London as well as for its citizens. [See note 39.]
In the “Cyclopedia Metropolitana," we find the following under the word:
“Dr. Thomas Henshaw, sagaciously, as he is wont (Skinner observes), derives
Cockney from the French accoquina, to wax lazy, become idle, and grow
slothful as a beggar."
The passages brought in illustration are these:
“And when this jape is told another day, I shall be holden a daff cockanay; I
will arise and auntre it, by my fay; Unhardy is unsdy, as men say."
Chaucer.
“I speak not in dispraise of the falcons, but of them that keep them like
Cokeneys." Sir Thos. Elliot. [See note 40.]
“Phillip he smiled in his sleeve, And hopeth more to smile, Willing this
Cockney to intrap
With this same merry wyle." Drant's Horace. 44 And with a valiant hand
from off
His neck his gorget tear, Of that same Cocknie Phrygian knight, And drench in
dust his hair." Phaer.
14 1 meet with a double sense of this word
Cockney, some taking it for
“ist. One coaked or cockered, made a wanton or nestle-cock of, delicately
bred and brought up, so that when grown men or women, they can endure no
hardship nor comport with painstaking.
"andly. One utterly ignorant of husbandry and housewifery, such as is
practised in the country, so that they may be persuaded anything about rural
commodities, and the original thereof; and the tale of the citizen's son, who
knew not the language of a cock, but called it neighing, is commonly
known," Fuller's “Worthies."
"Some again are on the other extreme, and draw this mischief on their
heads by too ceremonious and strict diet, being over precise, Cockney like,
and curious in their observation of meals." Burton's “Anat. of
Melancholy."
"In these days," says old Minshew, in his admirable dictionary,
"we may change the term cocknays into Apricocks, in Latin pracocia, for
the suddenness of their wits , whereof cometh our English word pnncockes, for
a ripe-headed young boy."
To conclude, the empire of Coccayne has been extended even to Scotland , for
the land of Coccayne, and the land of Cakes, are essentially and
etymologically the same. For cake is derived from the Latin coquere, and the
Teutonic kuchen or kochen, to cook- How well Scotland is entitled to this
honourable name, will be acknowledged by those who have tasted her
hospitalities. So that they who are called Sawnies, because of their frequent
delivery of wise saws, are no less entitled to the luxurious appellation of
Cockneys. The Scotchman, therefore, resembles A nacreon's grasshopper:
“Voluptuous, but wise withall, Epicurean animal." Cowley's Trans.
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(delwedd D4468) (tudalen 140)
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140 Special Words.
Cock-loft.
[1858, Part II., p. 322.]
Antony Wood, in using this word, writes cockle-loft; which would seem to
point to the origin of the name from cockle, or darnel; the cock-loft of a
barn being the place where the inferior products of the field were kept.
Country Dance.
[1758. pp> i73> 174.]
Truth is a thing so sacred with me, and a right conception of things so
valuable in my eye, that I always think it worth while to correct a popular
mistake, tho' it be of the most trivial kind Now, sir, we have a species of
dancing amongst us which is commonly called country dancing, and so it is
written; by which we are led to imagine that it is a rustic way of dancing
borrowed from the country people or peasants; and this, I suppose, is
generally taken to be the meaning of it. But this, sir, is not the case, for
as our dances in general come from France, so does the country dance, which
is a manifest corruption of the French contredansef where a number of
persons, placing themselves opposite one to another, begin a figure. This now
explains an expression we meet with in our old country dance books, “long ways
as many as will;" as our present English country dances are all in that
manner, this direction seems to be very absurd, and superfluous; but if you
have recourse to the original of these dances, and will but remember that the
performers stood up opposite one to another in various figures, as the dance
might require, you will instantly be sensible, that that expression has a
sensible meaning in it, and is very proper and significant, as it directs a
method or form different from others that might be in a square or any other
figure.
Yours, etc., PAUL GEMSAGE.
Curries.
[1791, Part I., p. 126.]
In your vol. lx., p. 538, in the review of Mr. Pennant's "London,"
some doubt seems to have been entertained by the writer of that article both
as to the orthography and the meaning of the term curries. In the county of
Norfolk, however, or at least in the neighbourhood of Great Yarmouth, it is
constantly made use of to signify a smaller kind of two-wheeled cart, drawn
usually by one horse, and is derived undoubtedly, witli the word curricle (in
fashionable use for a more elegant kind of carriage), from the Latin verb
curro, in allusion to their velocity and lightness.
* Marshall Bassompierre, speaking of his dancing country dances here in
England in the time of K. Chas. 1., writes it expressly contredaiises.
t>ee his Memoiis, torn, iii., p. 307.
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(delwedd D4469) (tudalen 141)
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14*
There is another term also in use, and I believe peculiarly so, in that
county, namely, sluss or shish, to express the mire of the highway in its
most liquid state; which word also, arbitrary and provincial as it may
appear, is surely a derivative; not indeed from the Latin, like the other,
but (as it struck me on a perusal of Mr. Malone's “Historical Account of the
English Stage," prefixed to his edition of Shakspeare, lately published),
from the language of our forefathers of this island, and that not in vulgar
usage only, but poetic. In a quotation of Mr. Malone's from the “Mystery of
the Deluge," exhibited ,by the Dyers' Company, at Chester, above 450
years ago, in the opening speech, in which, besides other matter, the
Almighty instructs Noah how to frame and finish the Ark, are the following
lines:
“Litill chambers therein thou make,
And binding slytche also thou take,
Within and without ney thou slake
To anoynte yt “
Where by slytche is evidently intended slime, or mire, or slush, to be
applied to the fabrick of the Ark, for the purpose of closing the joints or
filling up all cracks and crevices to the exclusion of wind and water. G.
Dandy and Dandyprat.
[1819, Part II., pp. 7, 8.]
The word Dandipart, or Dandiprat, has, we believe, not been well denned by
any author, otherwise than by way of contempt and ridicule; and the term
Dandy, on the same principle, at the present day, is applied to a certain set
of men not unlike those formerly denominated Fribbles, who, instead of
supporting the dignity and manliness of their own sex, incline to the
delicacy and manners of a female. But from what source the word Dandy is
derived seems hitherto uncertain.
That Dandy and Dandyprat meant a term of reproach and ridicule, as abovesaid,
we have sufficient authority for. In Cotgrave's Dictionary (1650), it is
defined by Manche d'Estille handle of a currycomb, slender little fellow, or
dwarf.
Torriano, in his Italian Dictionary, construes Dandipart by Nani, or
Homiccnalo, a dwarf, pretty little man, or mannikin. Johnson merely says that
Dandipart means a little fellow, urchin; a word sometimes used in fondness,
sometimes contempt; and derives it from Dandin, a noddy, or ninny.
That the word means something diminutive is clear, from a child's book of
nonsensical verses, out of date many years since; one of which begins,
“Little Jack Dandiprat was my first suitor," etc. And again,
"Spicky spandy, Jacky Dandy," etc. [See note 41.] But, independent
of size, the word appears to define something very slender; for, in Bulwer's
"Artificial Changeling" 1653 [see note 42],
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(delwedd D4470) (tudalen 142)
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142 Special Words.
in one of the complimentary sets of verses to the author, after noticing
various distortions of the human figure, he mentions one having
“Eares of so huge a compasse, and broad eyes, As men were swine, and tura'd
to owlebies."
And, in contrast:
“Sometimes with lacings and with swaiths so strait, For want of space we have
a Dandiprat."
And again:
“Sir Jeffries Babil, dilling petite A peccadillo of Barnabie's night, Things
so pucil and small, the statute wise Exempt from coupling, being under
size."
And further, we find the word used for something of little or no value, in a
dialogue between Comen Secretary and Jelowsy (see Beloe's Anecdotes, vol. i.,
p. 890), where Secretary says:
“Yes, but take heede by the pryce ye have no losse. A mode merchaunt, that
wyll gyve v marke for a goose. Beware a rolling ey, which waverynge thought
make that, And for such stuffe passe not a Dandy Pratt."
But to the purport of this letter, which is principally to inquire whence the
word Dandiprat or Dandipart has origin. We are told, in Camden's
“Remains," concerning Great Britain (1636), p. 188, that “King Henry the
Seventh stamped a small coin called 'Dandiprat,' and first I read coined
Shillings."
Leake, also, in his “Historical Account of English Monies" (1748), p.
182, mentions the same; and the definition of the word in Bailey's Dictionary
is, “a small coin made by Henry the Seventh;" but in the reign of that
Monarch we do not find mention of any such thing, unless it be possible that
the farthing of this reign, in Snelling's "Silver Coins," Plate
II., fig. 43, being very minute, might be so nicknamed.
I have therefore, Mr. Urban, troubled you with the above, in hopes that some
of your correspondents may have it in their power to inform us from what
source the words Dandy and Dandiprat may have originated, and if from a coin,
as above hinted, what it was, and whether it had rise in the reign of King
Henry the Seventh, or in that of any other of the Kings of England. [See note
43.]
Yours, etc., J. L.
Drunkenness.
[1770, //. 559, 56o.]
Perhaps nothing is a stronger proof of the general infelicity of life, than
the propensity of mankind in all countries and situations to drunkenness.
Drunkenness does nothing more than suspend the
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(delwedd D4471) (tudalen 143)
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Drunkenness. 143
sense of our real condition for a short
interval; yet this delusion is so sweet, that it is indulged at the risk of
fortune, health, life, and reputation. To drink the waters of oblivion, can
never be the wish of the happy; yet even the savages of America and Africa
will sell their wives and children to purchase the pernicious Lethe of art,
which therefore they appear to desire with no less ardour than the
inhabitants of London, where the acquisition of happiness may reasonably be
supposed to be more difficult, as it depends upon the gratification of wants
infinitely multiplied, and the possession of things for which all are
competitors, and which few can obtain. If in the general estimation the
substitution of frenzy for reason is desirable, it follows, that in the
general estimation it is advantageous to exchange what is, for what is not.
This, however, like most other gratifications, has been stigmatized as
immoral, and indeed with much better reason than many, for upon the whole it
certainly lessens the good of life, however small, and increases the evil,
however great. We have therefore contrived a great variety of names and
phrases, most of them whimsical and ludicrous, to veil the turpitude of what
is pleasing in itself, and generally connected with reciprocations, if not of
friendship, yet of the lesser duties and endearments of society.
I believe few people are aware how far this has been carried, or have any
notion that the simple idea of having drunk too much liquor, is expressed in
near FOURSCORE different ways. I send you a list of them for the amusement of
your readers in your Christmas Magazine.
I am, Sir, your humble Servant,
T. NORWORTH.
To express the condition of an Honest Fellow, and no Flincher, under the
Effects of good Fellowship, it is said that he is
1 Drunk,
2 Intoxicated,
3 Fuddled,
4 Flustered,
5 Rocky,
6 Tipsey,
7 Merry,
8 Half seas over,
9 As great as a Lord,
10 In for it,
11 Happy,
1 2 Bouzey,
1 3 Top-heavy,
14 Chuck full,
15 Hocky,
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(delwedd D4472) (tudalen 144)
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144 Special Words.
1 6 Hiccius, probably from hiccuping,
1 7 Crop-stick,
18 Cup-stricken,
19 Cup-sprung. This is said to be the favourite state, and expression of a
great Genius, who is at present Porter to U v s ty C 11 ge, O d.
20 Hot-headed,
21 Fou,
22 Pot-valiant,
23 Maudlin; from Magdalen the Penitent, who is always represented weeping, in
which she is resembled by those “who drink till the liquor flows out of their
eyes."
24 A little how came ye so?
25 Groggy. This is a West-Indian phrase; Rum and Water without sugar, being
called grogg.
26 In Drink,
27 In his cups,
28 In his beer,
29 Crank. This is a sea-phrase: a ship is said to be crank, when by excess of
lading, or some other cause, she is liable to be overstt.
30 Cut,
31 Cheary,
32 Cherry-merry,
33 Overtaken,
34 Elevated,
35 Forward,
36 Crooked,
37 Castaway. A sea-phrase for being dead drunk.
38 Concerned,
39 Bosky,
40 In his altitudes,
41 Tipperary; probably from being likely to tip> or fall down.
42 Topsy frizy,
43 Exhilarated,
44 On a merry pin,
45 Half cocked,
46 A little in the suds,
47 As wise as Solomon.
It is also said that he has
48 Business on both sides of the way,
49 Got his little Hat on,
50 Bung'd his Eye,
5 1 Got a drop in his Eye,
52 Been in the Sun,
53 Soaked his face,
54 Come home by the Villages. This is provincial; when a man
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(delwedd D4473) (tudalen 145)
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Drunkenness. 145
comes home by the fields, he meets nobody,
consequently is sober; when he comes home by the Villages he calls first at
one house, then at another, and drinks at all.
55 Got a spur in his head. This is said by brother-jockies of each other.
56 Got a crumb in his beard,
57 Had a little,
58 Had enough,
59 Got more than he can carry,
60 Got his beer on board,
6 1 Got glass eyes,
62 Been among the Philistines. A pun upon the word _///.
63 Lost his leggs,
64 Been in a storm. This is a sea-phrase for] being less than dead drunk.
65 Been in the Crown Office. A pun upon the word crown used for the head.
66 Got his Night Cap on,
67 Got his Skin full,
68 Got his Dose,
69 Had a Cup too much.
Besides these modes of expressing drunkenness by what a man is, what he has,
and what he has had, the following express it, by what he does
70 Clips the King's English, i.e., Does not speak plain.
71 Sees double,
72 Reels,
73 Heels and sets. A sea-phrase used of a boat in a rough sea.
74 Heels a little,
75 Shews his Hob-nails. This is a provincial phrase for being so drunk as not
to be able to stand, so that the nails at the bottom of the shoe are seen.
76 Looks as if he could not help it,
77 Crooks his Elbow,
78 Goes over the Tops of Trees. This is provincial, and alludes to the
unequal pace of a drunken man, like that of stepping from a high tree to a
low one, and from a low one to a high one.
To these must be added one phrase that expresses drunkenness by what a man
cannot do; it is said by the sons of science at Oxford, of a man in ebrious
circumstances,
79 That he cannot sport a right line.
I shall not mention the additions that have been made by way of illustration
to several of the terms in this list, although, taken together, they may be
considered as separate phrases; among these are
VOL. II. 1
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(delwedd D4474) (tudalen 146)
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146 Special Words.
I
2
3
4
As As As As
drunk drunk drunk drunk
as as as as
a Devil, a Piper, an Owl, David's Sow,
5 6
7 8
As As As As
drunk as a fuddled as merry as a happy as a
Lord, an Ape, Grigg, King.
Earing.
[I75S. PP. 212, 213.]
“And yet there are five years, in the which there shall be neither earing nor
harvest." GEN. xlvi. 6.
This word earing occurs in other places of Scripture, but I have pitched upon
this, because this chapter, being twice read as a Sunday lesson in the
publick service of the Church, this passage 'tis presumed may be the best
known. The word is grown obsolete, and partly through disuse, but chiefly
from its being so like in sound, and its present orthography, to the ear or
spica of the corn, I have observed the sense of it to be sometimes mistaken
by writers, from whence I conclude that others who are unacquainted with the
learned languages must consequently be liable to the same error. Thus the
Earl of Monmouth, in his translation of “Boccalini," p. IT, says, “The
plowers of poetry have seen their fields make a beautiful show in the spring
of their age, and had good reason to expect a rich harvest, but when, in the
beginning of July, the season of earing began, they saw their sweat and
labours dissolve all into leaves and flowers;" where he evidently means
by the season of earing, the time when the corn runs into the ear, in
opposition to the time of ploughing. Another mistake concerning the sense of
this word, incurred by Mr. Theobald, will be mentioned below.
But to ear signifies to plough, and is always used in that sense by our old
writers, so Isaiah xxx. 24, “The oxen likewise, and the young asses that ear
the ground, shall eat clean provender," etc. So Speed, p. 416, says the
Danes "grieved the poore English, whose service they employed to eare
and till the ground, whilst they themselves sat idle, and eate the fruit of
their paines." Dr. Wicliffe, in his New Testament (Luke xvii. 7), writes,
“But who of you hath a servaunt cringe," where the vulgate version, from
whence the Dr. made his translation, has arantem. The sense is clear, and the
word is evidently the Anglo-Saxon epian, which signifies to plough, and is
plainly derived from the Latin aro, and what we now call arable land,
Greenway, in his translation of Tacitus's account of Germany, calls earable
land, from the Latin arabalis. In this text, therefore, earing and harvest
are opposed to one another, as two different extremes, just as seed-time and
harvest are (Genesis viii. 22), to the former of which it manifestly answers,
and the sense consequently is, "in the which there shall neither be
ploughing nor harvest."
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(delwedd D4475) (tudalen 147)
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Earing. 147
[1770, pp. 161, 162.]
As your magazine is calculated to convey useful knowledge as well as
entertainment (prodesse et delectare), be so good as to insert the following
lines in your next vehicle of intelligence.
A learned Doctor of divinity being asked a few days ago, “What is the meaning
of that expression in Exodus xxxiv. 21, in earing-time, and harvest thou
shalt rest?" replied “That he supposed by earing-time, is meant the time
when the corn begins to appear in the ear." Now lest any of the readers
of their Bible be mislead by a wrong interpretation, please to inform them
that the original word, bHH charish, is in other passages of Scripture
rendered to plow; Psalm cxxix. 3, “The plowers plowed upon my back."
This will help us to understand that text in i Samuel viii. 12, “He will set
them to ear his ground^ and to reap his harvest; and this will help us also
to rectify a mistake in the eighth addition of Bailey's “Dictionary," in
which earing time is explained to be harvest; notwithstanding he says just
before, very rightly, that to Ear, or Are, or Arare, signifies to till, or
plow the ground." {See post, p. 185.]
R. W.
Firm.
[1784, Part I., p. 164.]
Please to inform your Nottinghamshire Correspondent, who desires to know the
etymology of the vjfx&jfirm, that it is originally Spanish and perhaps is
no where else used in the sense ascribed to it but by, them and the English.
It is obvious that language, in its progress, admits of some variation in its
meaning, and is either enlarged or contracted by accident. The word, in the
original, signifies nothing more than subscription, or signing. So
Nebrissensis explains the word: Firma de escritura, subscript, signatio.
Firma escritura, subscribo, signo. In this sense it is constantly used by
Cervantes, and the several places are pointed out in the first indice of the
edition of 1781, and is explained in the “Anotaciones." Antwerp having
been for a long time under the dominion of the Spaniards, and a great staple
of commerce, it is natural to suppose that we may have adopted it from
thence. As it may be proper for a trading company to have one signature, it
may have been confined to such. The Portuguese affix the same meaning to the
word with their neighbours. But it occurs not in the Italian or French.
Franciosini, in his “Dictionary," renders Firma, la Sottoscrizione di
propria mano: Sobrino, Firma, signature; Firmar, signer, souscrire.
Yours, etc., A. B.
10 2
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(delwedd D4476) (tudalen 148)
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148 Special Words.
Foy.
[1832, Part II., /. 194.]
M H. observes, “Both at Margate and at Ramsgate, there are public-houses
known by the sign of the Foy Boat, the meaning of which I was unable to
obtain from any person I there conversed with. No such word occurs in
Johnson, Ash, or Todd. In Ash's “Dictionary “there is the word fey, which he
explains as being derived from the Dutch veghen, to cleanse a ditch of mud.
The house appears to be the rendezvous of pilots; does it therefore mean
Feeboat, that is, the sum paid to pilots for their assistance to vessels in
distress?"
[1832, Part II., p. 290.]
I am induced to trouble you with the present communication, in consequence of
the observations of M. H. in your last Magazine, p. 194. The word foy is in
common use in the Northern counties of England, and also in Scotland. It
denotes an entertainment given to a friend or acquaintance about to leave his
home, or any particular place of residence. Those who are attached to him
assemble to set his foy; that is, to drink his health, or to partake of a
supper or other treat. Kilian, in his “Etymologicum Teutonics Linguse,"
very correctly defines the term. He interprets voye, "foye," as
signifying “Vinum profectitium symposium vise causa;" and derives the
word from the French voye, or way. It is not unusual for the owners of a
fishing-vessel to give a supper, called a foy, to the crew of the season.
Hence the sign of the Foy Boat, inquired after by your correspondent.
JOHN TROTTER BROCKETT.
Cornubiensis says that “the Foy Boat means nothing more than the passage-boat
to Fowey in Cornwall “(pronounced Foy}; but as our correspondent has given us
no proof that passage-boats between Fowey and Margate ever existed, we are
afraid he has been misled by enthusiasm for the quondam greatness of his
native county. In Dyche's Dictionary," the word foy is explained, as “a
treat given by a person to his friends or acquaintance, upon his change of,
or bettering his station in life, removing to a new habitation, going or
setting out upon a journey, putting on new clothes," etc. A
correspondent, therefore, suggests that “a Foy Boat may have been one given
originally to a pilot for uncommon or skilful exertions in some dreadful
storm now forgotten." According to Forby's "Vocabulary of East
Anglia,"yfry is the term applied to the “supper given by the owners of a
fishing-vessel, at Yarmouth, to the crew in the beginning of the season."
The word is probably derived from the French word foyer, the hearth or
hospitable fireside.
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(delwedd D4477) (tudalen 149)
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Foy. 149
[1833, Part L, p. 386.]
J. G. N. remarks, "Your correspondents in Oct. Mag., p. 290, appear to
have correctly explained the word foy; but not precisely the compound Foy
Boat. In a Petition of the Mariners of Newcastle upon Tyne, recently
presented to the House of Commons, occurs this passage: ' That some hundreds
of your petitioners and their forefathers used formerly to earn a comfortable
pittance, when out of ships, in foy or assistant boats, transporting vessels,
which we are informed pay not a proportional tax on the labour they perform,
to our loss.' It appears from this that the occupation of the Foy Boats has
now failed, from vessels assisting themselves, or, in fact, performing their
own labour without assistance. As this service of assistance seems to have
been independent of the voy or farewell feast, and not always necessarily
accompanied therewith, we must allow the word to be here used in somewhat a
different sense. The Foy Boat was simply a way boat, or bateau de voye,
accompanying, piloting, and assisting vessels on the way or voyage" [See
note 44.]
Gallop.
[1791, Part II., p. 928.]
This word to gallop runs through all the provincial languages, French,
Italian, Spanish, as also German; and they have taken it, probably, one from
another: we may be thought to have had it from the French. As to the origin,
Mons. Menage brings it from calupare* citing Salmasius for this word, who esteems
it to be of Greek extraction;f but this is going very deep, and therefore I
should rather think it of Northern original, and in fact to be a compound
word, quasi ga loop, for which see Sewel's “Dutch Dictionary." A lope
way in Kent is now a short or quick way, or bridle-way. [The Anglo-Saxon is
Gehleapan, to leap.] L. E.
Gore.
[1792, Parti., p. gig.}
The word gore is now in common use amongst the farmers of arable land in
various distant parts of England, and signifies a ridge of a triangular or
wedge shape. Ridges are understood to be nearly parallelograms; and as most
fields are wider at one end than at the other, the excess in width is
ploughed into Gore; i.e., ridges that do not extend the length of the field,
but are determined at every distance short of the whole length in points or
very acute angles as at a in the Goie b:
Menage, “Orig. Franc." in v. t See
also “Junii Etymologicon" in v.
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(delwedd D4478) (tudalen 150)
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150 Special Words.
If Nugaculus (or \V. W.) had consulted his
wife or his sempstress, instead of Bailey's Dictionary, she would have told
him that the chemise of every female has a gore on one side of it, to render
it wider at the bottom than at the top.
M .
Hitch.
[1799, Parti,, p. 29.]
Dr. Johnson, in explaining the word hitch, says, “to hitch, v.n., to catch,
to move by jerks." I know not where it is used but in the following
passage; nor here know well what it means:
"Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides in a verse, or hitches
into rhyme."
Pope, “Im. of Hor.," b. ii., sat. I.
Mr. Wakefield, in a critique on this, says that “the word in question is used
in the Northern counties for getting into a place sideways, with difficulty
and contrivance. The proper term, I apprehend, is edge; so that the distich
would be correctly written:
“Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and edges into
rhyme."
With great deference to two such respectable authorities, I differ from them
both. Without being able to refer to a printed authority, I can speak of the
usage of the word as being quite familiar to me in the sense of a hindrance,
an interruption; the business hitches it does not go on smoothly; there is
some hitch in the way. This seems to me to give the meaning of Pope; that one
who has offended him is sure to be brought into a verse, though the doing so
should be difficult, and make a hitch in the rhyme.
I wish some one of your Northern friends would let you know whether the word
used by them in the sense given by Mr. Wakefield is hitch or edge. The latter
certainly means getting into a. place by your own effort, but with difficulty
and contrivance; the former implies a difficulty put in the way by another person.
S. H.
[!799> Part I.) pp. 122-124.]
In my observation on the word hitch, p. 29, I said that I did not recollect
any printed book which I could quote to justify the sense I gave it. I have
since found one. In Mr. I. Middleton's "View of the Agriculture of
Middlesex" [1798] (a book full of information), he says, p. 93, “The
harrows so often hitch one on to the other, that the man is obliged to stop a
fourth part of his time to set them to rights."
S. H.
For the information of S. H., p. 29, I beg leave to acquaint you the word
hitch, in the Northern counties, has both an active and a neuter
signification. I remember, when a boy, to have often shared in an amusement
which may illustrate the meaning in its active sense.
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(delwedd D4479) (tudalen 151)
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Hitch. 151
We described a sort of bed upon the ground with chalk, divided into several compartments.
We then placed a piece of a tile in the first, and with one leg moved or
jerked it from one compartment to the other, still continuing on one leg till
we had gone through the whole. This motion we called hitching. In the neuter
sense it means simply to hop upon one leg; as, instead of /top, skip, and
jump, we used the word hitch, skip, and jump. I apprehend Pope used the word
in this figurative sense in the passage S. H. speaks of, as it forms a direct
contrast with the word slide. Mr. Wakefield's explanation of the word I
conceive to be erroneous. The words hitch and edge convey two distinct
meanings. Dr. Johnson's definition approaches nearer the truth. I hope this
explanation will satisfy the enquiry of your correspondent.
A NORTHERN FRIEND.
S. H. requests an explanation of "hitches in a rhyme;" for so my
copy reads it. In the North of England, where I resided, the word hitch was
commonly used as a verb active in two senses. “I have hitch'd it in at
last." This meaning seems to derive the word from Jncjan, conari, etc.
But in that sense it will not explain Pope. In the other it is, I dare say,
perfectly clear to most Northern ears what is meant by “hitches in a
rhyme." To hitch, to stick fast. “Hitch up your hat;" “the bird I shot
is hitch'd in that tree." Mr. Pope would smile, were he alive, to see
the Yorkshire dialect stepping forward as a scholiast upon his verses. But,
with all due reverence to his manes, this last usage of the verb may explain
his meaning; it certainly accords with what follows: Read thus:
“Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and sticks fast, or
hangs ^^p t in a rhyme, Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, And the sad
burden of some merry song."
I do not pretend, Mr. Urban, to any skill in criticism; but, if what I have
hitched in will give any satisfaction to S. H., your insertion of this will
oblige a Northern friend,
AN HONEST YORKSHIREMAN.
The word hitch is a good deal used in the county of Durham, and is, I
believe, of Saxon derivation. It simply means “hopping on one leg," and
occurs in two sorts of play, or childish feats, the one called "hitch,
stride, and lowp" (leap), the other, "hitch-beds."
I remember noticing Mr. Wakefield's critique on the passage in question some
time since, and then thought, as I do now, his emendation far from an happy
one; as, whoever makes the necessary and obvious distinction between verse
and rhyme can be at little loss for the literal and ludicrous meaning of the
word hitches as it stands in
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(delwedd D4480) (tudalen 152)
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152 Special Words.
the couplet. If, however, a provincial
word, which Mr. Wakefield supposed hitch to be, may with propriety be denied
a place in elegant versification, would not
“Slides into verse, and hobbles in a rhyme,"
come much nearer the sense of the poet than edges into? You may laugh, Mr.
Urban, and lam happy to make you merry; but, in these days of liberty and
equality, if the text of Alexander the Little is to be disputed, I insist
upon it, Sir, I have as great a right to offer my conjectures as any other
person.
With regard to Dr, Johnson's explanation of the word hitch, my opinion is
that both he and your correspondent S. H. are right in their respective
definitions. In the first place, that to hitch is “to move by jerks,"
any person, holding up one leg and hopping or jumping with the other, may
ascertain; and, in the second, that hitching is somewhat difficult, or, as
your correspondent S. H. expresses himself, “does not go on smoothly." I
have, in the way of "setting CRACKS" (another North-country play),
hitched too often from my father's house to an old woman's school in the
neighbourhood, where learning and mustard, manners and spice (gingerbread),
were ever on sale, not to know it is done at the cost of an aching leg and
loss of breath.
Therefore, demanding your felicitations for this very learned and liberal
disquisition, I am, Mr. Urban, yours,
FAR-ENOUGH-NORTH-IN-ALL-CONSCIENCE-THIS-COLDWEATHER.
I apprehend the word edge is used, in the North of England, in the sense
mentioned by Mr. Wakefield; yet, if I might be allowed to edge in a word
without danger of being sent hitching away in a lame cause, I would ask if it
is not possible that these two words, edge and hitch, may be derived from
very different sources; for, surely, the latter has a signification nearly,
if not precisely, what your correspondent S. H. diffidently supposes. It
seems to me that Dr. Johnson's explanation of hitch is perfectly agreeable to
the sense in which, I apprehend Mr. Pope to have used it in the couplet
quoted in p. 29; to hitch being sometimes applied, if I mistake not, in the
North of England, to any person that walks lamely, who, of course, is obliged
"to catch or move by jerks;" therefore, may not the words slides
and hitches stand designedly opposed in the same line, each thus explaining
the other?
“Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, or* hitches in a
rhyme."
In Dodsley's I2mo edition, 1739, it is
printed "and hitches.'
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(delwedd D4481) (tudalen 153)
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Hitch. 153
Slides, i.e., glides smoothly along, or hitches, i.e., limps away; meaning,
that the offender is sure to be dragged into some sort of rhyme, whether his
(like "Amelia's) liquid name" assists the verse to run smoothly on
its feet, or the rugged harshness of its syllables obliges it to halt. Yours,
etc.
In consequence of a request in p. 29 I send you the following remarks.
The word hitch is very generally used, in the county of Gloucester, in the
sense of to stick fast, or to fasten, commonly in a neuter, but sometimes in
an active sense. For instance, if you ask the unfortunate horseman in that
county how it happened that he was dragged by his horse, he immediately
replies, “because my foot hitched in the stirrup." If you enquire of the
shepherd where he found his lost sheep, he answers, “hitched in the
briers." The ploughman, when the horses are brought out of the stable
harnessed, orders the driver to hitch them together. Again, as soon as they
are carried in the field, to hitch them to the plough; and, in the evening,
bids him to hitch off. When sheep have a fresh allotment of turnips given to
them, it is invaribly called a fresh-hitch, not only in this, but in some
parts of the adjoining counties. When a swing-gate is thrown to, in order to
fasten it, the latch of it slides up the inclined plane of the catch, and
when arrived at a certain point, drops into the groove made to receive it,
and then the gate is said to hitch. I confess that I have always this last
sense of the word upon my mind when I read the lines of Pope which are here
alluded to. The meaning, therefore, of the passage with me is this:
“Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time
Slides into verse, and drops into, and sticks fast in a rhyme,"
there remaining insignis, or exposed to ridicule his whole life long.
Pope, it is well known, resided much and wrote much (probably this imitation
of Horace) in Gloucestershire, at the seat of Lord Bathurst at Cirencester,
where, if he conversed at all, he must have heard the word hitch used in the
above senses.
Any alteration of the verse in question would, I think, be for the worse; but
Mr. Wakefield's amendment appears to me peculiarly inadmissible.
Yours, etc., W. L.
Hunting Words.
[1789, Part 11., pp. 784, 785.]
Reading the other day an old French treatise upon Hunting, the title whereof
is La Venerie de Jacques du Fouilloux, a Paris, 1573, I was much entertained
with the singularity of his notions, and the great eulogiums he had penned in
honour of the chace. In hopes it
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(delwedd D4482) (tudalen 154)
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154 Special Words.
may likewise amuse some of your readers,
the following notes are extracted from that book; which, to the best of my
knowledge, has never been translated, and is probably very scarce. [See note 45.]
In his address to the French gentry of that time, he styles the diversion “a
most dilectable labeur, a polite exercise," and affirms that “Hunters
are a set of men the least to be accused of indolence." By Hunting, he
means the grand parade of forcing the Stag, or running the wild Boar. The Fox
and the Hare occupy a much inferior station, which he considers only as a
menu divertissement, notwithstanding he allows Hare-hunting to be a pleasant
amusement, and free from danger: but he seems totally unacquainted with the
ardour of our modern Foxchase; and his Reynard figures in the same rank with
Wolves, Badgers, Otters, etc. There is much humour in his remarks on the
character and convivial disposition of a true sportsman, whose noble
occupation, he says, exhilarates the mind, gives agility to the body, and
strength to the appetite; maintaining (how true I cannot say) that it lessens
our natural propensity to evil, increasing courage and resolution for
dangerous exploits. He reckons Xenophon and Appian as writers upon this
subject; among the Latins, the Poet Grotius, Pope Adrian VI. with many others
of more modern date; and concludes by observing that the lovers of Diana
frequently become the most intrepid sons of Mars.
It has likewise thrown some light, in my opinion, upon our Hunting
exclamations, such as tallio^ or tally-ho, hoix, hark forward: these are
borrowed from French words which appear in this book under musical notes. The
first is tya-hillaut, or thia-hillaud; the second is derived from haut icy,
or haut iccy; thirdly, forheur, or fort-huer, is the Huntsman's cry, thus, a
qui forheur. These words are mere sounds, with little or no meaning, yet
their etymology has often embarrassed me; but, allowing for our frequent
corruption of French terms, I think their derivation is here plainly made
out. Halloo! for the same reason originates from hah le loup, or au loup, or
a!ou loup, wolves being formerly common in England as well as on the
Continent, and this word served as a shout to set the dogs on a pursuit;
which expression continues in use to this day, though no wolves be found
either in Great Britain or Ireland since the time that a premium was ordered
by law for their destruction.
OBSERVATOR.
Lady.
[i 772, /. 256.]
As I have studied more what appertains to the ladies than to the gentlemen, I
will satisfy you how it came to pass that women of fortune were called
ladies, even before their husbands had any title to convey that mark of
distinction to them. You must know, then, that heretofore it was the fashion
for those families whom God had blessed
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(delwedd D4483) (tudalen 155)
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L^lrdanes Moise. 155
with affluence to live constantly at their mansion houses in the country, and
that once a week, or oftener, the lady of the manor distributed to her poor
neighbours, with her own hand, a certain quantity of bread, and she was
called by them the "Leff day," i.e., in Saxon, the breadgiver.
These two words were in time corrupted, and the meaning is now as little
known as the practice which gave rise to it; yet it is from that hospitable
custom that to this day the ladies, in this kingdom alone, serve the meat at
their own table. [See note 45*.]
I am, sir, etc., etc.
Liirdanes.
[1789, Part I., pp. 98, 99.]
In vol. liii., p. 123, S. W. desired an explanation of these words in
Chatterton's “Battle of Hastings":
“Your loving wife, who erst did rid the londe Of Lurdanes"
T. H. W., p. 231, says: when they [the Danes] were expelled this island,
Lurdane became a word of reproach and contempt, and signified “a lazy, idle
fellow."
Ignoramus, vol. Ivi., p. 651, suspects that it signifies false, cunning^
deceitful. He quotes Lord Lindsay's speech in confirmation of his
opinion, in which he says: “Ye are all Lurdanes, false traytors “
That Chatterton meant it to apply to the Danes seems very clear, though he
might not perfectly understand the word. But your correspondent T. H. W. is
right in supposing that it was a word of reproach and contempt, and means
lazy, idle; this is proved by the quotation from Boorde in your last vol., p.
1047, where the lurdenfever is plainly idleness. [See note 46.]
That it was a name of contempt is shewn by Mr. Grose's quotation from Patin,
in his “Military History," vol. ii., p. 345, where he says, “The armour
of the Scots at the battle of Musselborough was so little differing, and
their apparail so base and beggarly, wherein the lurdein was in a manner all
one with the lorde all clad alyke." [See note 47.] S. H.
Moise. [1791, Part II., p. 1022.]
It is a common saying amongst the common people in this place [Norwich], when
a person does not seem to recruit after a fit of illness, or when he does not
thrive in the world, that such an one does not moise. Now, Sir, I have
ransacked several of our English Dictionaries, both ancient and modern, but
can find no such word, nor indeed any word that this is likely to be a
corruption of; and, as I never heard
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156 Special Words.
it used any where else but here, and can
find no one acquainted with its etymology, I thought, perhaps, some of your
ingenious correspondents might be able to trace its original: or, if not,
that it might possibly be an addition to the long catalogue of nondescripts
with which Mr. Croft's Dictionary is to abound.
Yours, etc., M.
[1791, Part II., p. 1119.]
M., in p. 1022, wishes to know the meaning of “he does not moise" a
Norfolk phrase when a person does not seem to recruit after a fit of illness,
or does not thrive in the world. It appears to be the verb belonging to
moison; which, with some of its family, is still found in French. Moison has
been in our language. Chaucer uses it; and Tyrwhitt's “Glossary “explains it,
“harvest, growth “ Urry's, from Skinner, "ripeness." Moise moison
had the same relation, perhaps, as grow growth, succeed success, etc.
The Dictionary of the gentleman whom M. mentions is likely to moise, I hope;
and will, perhaps, go to press this winter with more than twenty thousand
words, which are not in Johnson, supported by authorities. M. will oblige Mr.
C. very much by communicating to your Magazine or your Printer any other
provincial phrases; all of which will turn out, perhaps, not to be
corruptions (as M. supposes moise}, but the language of our ancestors, and
the seeds of our own language. [See note 48.]
H. C.
Nunchion,
[1830, Part II., pp. 591, 592.]
Perhaps many of your readers have been, like myself, thought not a little
quaint and pedantic, in using the word Nunchion, on the authority of Dr.
Johnson, in the stead of Luncheon, which (though properly meaning only a
handful of food) is commonly heard in the sense of a short meal between
breakfast and dinner: such may find equal satisfaction with myself, in being
able to prove that the former is correct, as not only being the learned, but
as having been also the vulgar word. From the antient accounts of certain
repairs made in London, in the years 1422 apd 1423, it appears that all the
workmen were allowed NOONCHYNS, over and above their proper wages; and the
following entries, selected from a considerable variety, will establish the
certainty of the antient usage, both of the word and of that practice. The
allowance was a halfpenny each day.
It'm to on Rob't Dawber' for his dawbyng be vij dayes, y e day w l his
noounchyns \\\}d. ob. 2S. i\d.
Item to Joh'n Smyth' laborer' for ix dayes & di' day \\\}d. w l
noounchyns & rewarde goven to serue y e same dawber 3$. 3^.
Nunchion.
It'm to Rob't Rowe dawber* for x dayes
& di' y e day \]d. yn dawbyng
of dyu'se walles $s. $d.
It'm for hijs noounchyns to y e same dawber' ^\d. It'm paid to Raff Worsted'
hewer' of Freston for vij dayes, y e day
viijV. 4-y. Rd.
It'm for his noounchyns yn y e forseide dayes w* reward zd. It'm to ij
Masons, y e s'uauntes of Henr' Botston' Mason' be ij wekes
to eche Mason', be y e weke 4^. 3^. w l her' noounchyns, yn y e
makyng of y e walles of y e p'vie [privy] and a wall' ycleped rese
dose yn y e kechon', w l pavyng of y e same kechon' i"js. It'm to ij.
Carpent's be j. day to ech' of hem, w l her' Nonsenches %\d.
for to make y e forseid' goter' 17^. It'm for iij. carpenters be ij. daies
ech' of hem takyng y e day &d. to
make the same werke 4-r.
It'm for her' noonchyns eu'y day to ech' of hem ob' $d. It'm yn a reward
goven for noonchyns to y e same Tiler' and his man,
be all' the tyme [29 days] $d* It'm to j. tiler be j. day & di' yn tilynge
of y e forseide houses, takynge
y e day w l hijs noonchyns 8^d. 13^. It'm for his s'uaunt be j. day & di'
takynge y e day w l his noonchyns
6d. gd. It'm to an laborer' for y e seide ij. dayes at $^d. w' his noonshyns
nd.
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Thus it appears that this word was
antiently written Noonchyn^ Noounchyn, Noonshyn, and Nonsenche; and there
cannot be any doubt that it was derived from Noon, the time of the meal;
which word, though for several ages appropriated to midday,-^ was antiently
the hora nona, on the ninth hour, between two and three o'clock, the hottest
part of the day. Hence it was probably at first in the form of a French verbal
noun, nounacion or nouncion, as if in Latin nonatio, a NOONING:| and though I
have not found any proof of this hypothesis, I still hope to do so: that you,
Mr. Urban, and all who love propriety of speech, may henceforth eat their
NOONTION in peace: which is the earnest desire of
MELAS.
* Perhaps a mistake for three shillings. The sums are here put in the common
figures for convenience.
f In the proceedings of the Court Military, Le Scrope v. Grosvenour, temp.
Ric. II., “eodem die circa horam terciam post horam nonam dicti diei,"
is rendered in French, “a trois de la Clok apres noune."
J This word, in the sense of a repose at noon, is found in the dictionaries;
but it is used in some parts of Kent for a repast at that time.
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158 Special Words.
Prick or Pryk. [1788, Part I!., pp. 491,
492.]
A prick, or pryk, as anciently written, means sometimes, no doubt, a spur;
the spur formerly consisting of one point instead of five or more. Blount,
"Tenures," p. 125; Grose on Spurs, in Archceologia Soc. Antiq., vol
viii., p. 112, seq. Hence, to prick, means to ride, quasi, to prick the
horse, or put him on:
"A gentle knight was pricking on the plain."
Spenser's "Fairy Queen."
So Fairfax; Tasso, iii. 21, vii. 27, ix. 22; “Flodden Field," stanza 89;
Percy's “Songs," i., pp. 25, 42; and metaphorically, pricked on {Hamlet
i. i ), is urged on.
I suspect, however, that both Mr. Blount* and Mr. Grosef are mistaken in
interpreting the word of a spur or goad, in the terms of the “Tenure," i
R. II.: “per servitium inveniendi unum equum, unum saccum, et unum pryk in
guerra Wallise, quandcunque contigerit regem ibi guerrare;" since, in my
opinion, this passage, wherein pryk is joined with saccus, is to be explained
by that in p. 26, where the party is to find “unum equum, unum saccum, et
unum brochiam, in servitio Domini Regis in Wallia ad custum Domini
Regis." Pryk is again joined with saccus, pp. 41 and 50, and therefore
must surely mean, in these cases, a skewer, to pin up or fasten the mouth of
the sack. This explanation seems to be confirmed by that passage, p. 62,
where we have, “cum uno equo precii vs. et cum uno sacco precii \\d., et cum
brochia ad eundem saccum." Brochia here is evidently the same as pryk,
from Fr. broche, or spit, and, appertaining to the sack, can never be
understood of a spur or a goad. See also p. 65. But the matter is still more
clear, p. 96, where the person that demands the bacon at Whichenour, in
Staffordshire, is required to bring “a horse and a saddle, a sakke and a
pryke, for to convey and carry the said bacon," etc., and it is
observable for a conclusion, that, in Ray's “North-Country Words," pp.
8, 49, a prick signifies a skewer.
What is here said may serve to explain that passage, p. 32, to which Mr.
Blount puts a qucere: "per servitium inveniendi unum stimulum ferreum
pro uno warroke% super quoddam clothsack" from 22 R. II.; for stimulus
here is not a. spur, but, as connected with clothsack, must mean a skewer;
and it appears from hence, that the skewers in question were supposed to be
made of iron; and it is
* Blount's "Tenures," pp. 17, 125.
f Grose, 1. c.
A war-horse, Blount's "Tenure," p. 107, edit. 1784, quasi war-ag,
which indeed is ingenious; but there lie two objections against it. First, it
makes it an hybridous word, part French, part British; secondly, a war-horse,
mounted by a warrior, can have nothing to do with a clothsack; possibly it
may be misread for tarrock, a cart-horse, from carreclarius.
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Prick or Pryk. 159
termed stimulus, only because this is Latin for a prick^ just as a schoolboy
would render it.
We have shown above, that pryk and brochia are equivalent words: and
therefore, when Mr. Blount expounds brochettus (p. 71) in this passage, “unum
equum . . . et unum saccum . . . cum uno brochetto," by a little bottle
or jug, he errs most egregiously. He was led, however, into the mistake by
Sir Henry Spelman, Gloss, v. brochia, who interprets these words of Bracton,
“inveniendi . . . unum hominem et unum equum, et sacchum cum brochia pro
aliqua necessitata, vel utilitate exercitum suum contingente," on this
manner, “dictum opinor a Gall, broc, quod lagenam majorem, aut cantharum,
significat, plus minus 6 sextarios continentem: ut sit saccus ad
deportationem aridorum brochia vero liquidorum /" than which nothing can
be more foreign from the truth Great men, you see, Mr. Urban, will sometimes
err; Bernardus non -videt omnia. [See Hazlitt's “Blount," in Glossary.]
L. E.
Words used for Punishment.
[1825, Part l. t pp. 395-397-1
It seems to me that the practice of abolishing from polished society the use
of many good old English terms, as being vulgar, has been carried too far,
and that the evil has gone to that extent that much of the copiousness and
perspicuity for which our language has been celebrated, is lost among the
higher and middle classes of life by over-refinement; for instance, in
describing the infliction of corporal punishment by beating, we are only
authorized in polished life to say, “he was beat, or flogged, or
whipped;" whereas, our language is rich in words, amply descriptive of
the degree, place, instrument, mode, nature, etc., of such beating, which it
would be deemed vulgar to use, and the meaning of which must therefore, in
polished society, be expressed, if at all, by a periphrasis; consequently, the
exclusion of such words, without the substitution in our polished vocabulary
of equivalent ones, is in a degree detrimental to the perspicuity, and
destructive to the copiousness, of our language.
I was led into the consideration of this subject, by overhearing a boy in the
streets of this town [Hull] say to his companion, “When you get home, Jack,
you'll get a hiding for not going to school;" the word hiding struck me
as being expressive, and though not in general use I easily guessed its
meaning; it is evidently derived from the substantive “hide," a skin,
and meant that the boy would receive such a degree of flogging as would fetch
the skin off. Thus I am reduced to express the meaning by a periphrasis; for
the verb “to skin," which comes nearest to the word “to hide," does
not necessarily imply beating. Why not then restore so useful a word to
civilized society?
This led me to the consideration of other old English terms in.
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160 Special Words.
general use amongst the Yorkshire
peasantry, implying punishment by beating, and expressive of the various
ways, degrees, instruments, parts, effects, intents, etc., of its infliction,
which, although abolished amongst the upper classes, I should think ought to
be restored to legitimate use, unless equivalents be found; for, although
corporal punishment is rather out of fashion in the present age, I am
convinced the time will never arrive when it can be totally dispensed with in
education, however philosophers may flatter themselves that the period is
close at hand.
It were impossible, were I to attempt it, to enumerate all the terms in use
amongst our peasantry expressive of the various modes, etc., of administering
correction by beating; to do so, would be to write a treatise on flogging in
all its branches. However, I will, give a few instances:
“I gave him a hazing" This word is undoubtedly derived from the name of
the instrument originally used in the beating, that is, a twig of the hazel
nut-tree; but in common parlance the term is used for a beating with any
stick.
"I whalloped him." This word is expressive of the effects produced
by the beating, and implies that each blow raised a wheal upon the place
where it fell, which, being pronounced here "whale," is the root
whence the verb “to whallop “is derived.
I confess myself quite at a loss for the derivation of the word “to skelp,"
but it is expressive of that primitive mode of correction used in the nursery
by a smart application of the palm of the hand to the
bare (I am at a loss for a polished word to express the exact
part) of the sufferer. You must perceive, Mr. Urban, the absolute necessity
for retaining this word in use, as you see I cannot, even by a periphrasis,
express myself without an indelicacy, whilst the original word is harmless in
itself.
The “slap “and the “smack “are applied with the palm of the hand; but, unlike
the skelp, it is a matter of indifference what part of the body suffers the
infliction.
“He basted me." This word seems to be of Norman origin, and derived from
bastonner, to bastinade. In its English application it means "he beat me
without my having the power of defending myself."
“I licked him." The process of beating and that of licking with the
tongue being so dissimilar in themselves, I was for some time puzzled how any
analogy had been found between them; but by considering the usual application
of the term “I licked him," I think I have found the connecting link. A
licking, then, is a punishment by blows, given for improper conduct or
behaviour; now, we term an unmannerly churl “an unlicked cub," in
allusion to the awkwardness of a bear's cub, before the mother, by licking it
with her tongue, has made it more decent in appearance and conduct. The
improvement produced on the cub by the tongue, is effected on an unmannerly
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Punishment. 1 6 1
lout of the human species by blows, and
the act of bestowing such wholesome discipline is consequently termed
licking, in allusion to the effect produced.
“I started him." To start is to apply a smart word to an idle or
forgetful person, which seldom fails to rouse his faculties.
“I knauped him," signifies I struck him on the head; the word being of
Saxon origin, and springing from the same root whence we have knob) the round
end of a stick, etc.
“I bunched him," signifies I struck him with my foot; but I am not
prepared with the derivation of this useful word.
I am equally at a loss for the derivation of the word “to pummel? which
signifies to strike with the fists on the body.
“To clout" means to knock well about, and I should think is derived from
the clouted or congealed blood, which usually results from a clouting.
“To leather" “to strap" “to rope's-end" etc., speak for themselves.
I could instance many more, but space will not allow.
[See note 49.] T. T.
Puss and Grimalkin.
[1799, Part If., A 1024.]
It is the pride of the Gentleman's Magazine, that it embraces and adapts
itself to all topics, be they ever so great, or ever so minute. Your
correspondent feels no scruple in asking you, how it comes to pass, that Puss
or Pussy, is the general appellation of all CATS, from their cradle to their
grave?
Whence is the word derived? What is its etymology? And by what magic is it,
that every beast of that description in the kingdom, wherever and however
educated, in solitude or in society, and by whatever specific title
distinguished, answers so readily to the generic name?
The variorum editors of Shakspeare, Mr. Urban, have not disdained to bestow
many learned paragraghs on some other titles of this domestic animal. (Henry
IV., part i.) Ex fumo lucem.
The Hon. Philip Bouverie, uncle to the present Earl of Radnor, and
brother-in-law to the Earl of Harborough, on the death of his friend and
relation, Mrs. Pusey, of Pusey, inherited her fortune, and assumed her name
and arms. I have been informed that he is now the representative of one of
the most ancient families in Great Britain. His crest is a kitten seiant, in
evident allusion to a cat's nick-name, of which this anecdote seems to carry
the origin into very remote antiquity.
Yours, etc., A FAUNIST.
Allow me, by way of Postscript, to ask the derivation of another well known
title of this domestic tiger, viz. Grimalkin, Gallice, Grippeminaud?
ii
162 Special Words.
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[1799, Part II. , p. 1129.]
I hope I shall not materially fail in my endeavour to gratify the wish of “A
Faunist," in assigning, on the authority of Dr. Kenrick, the etymology
of puss, or pussy, to the Latin word pusio, a dwarf; and, as cats are
confessedly neither more nor less than domestic tigers, may it not be thence
inferred, that the word tiger is in this instance understood in the
appellation? and being in universal use in this country, “from their cradle
to their grave," will easily account for its becoming habitual to the
animal's ear.
In France, minon is equally prevalent as puss with us; and, by a parity of
reasoning, produces similar consequences.
Grimalkin is evidently derived from gn's, Fr. grey, and malkin, Eng. an old
ragged hag; and, when applied to the feline race, implies an old cat, which
in that state becomes very grey, dirty, and bare of coat
The French term grippe-minaud (the former word signifying to catch with the
paw, the latter, any thing playful} may be aptly applied to every cat; but I
cannot consider it as the French for the particular word Grimalkin, for
reasons already given.
Yours, etc., J. H.
Spurring.
[1833, Parti., p. 290.]
The Rev. Geo. Oliver says: “In my parish of Clee (Lincolnshire), the
publication of banns of marriage is denominated a spurring. Query, the origin
of the term?"
[1833, Part I., p. 424.]
This term, in the same sense it may be observed, is in common use not in
Lincolnshire alone, but also in Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire, and in many other
of the adjoining counties. Its currency is not, however, found to extend to
Scotland, or the more northern parts of this kingdom.
Banns, in the expression "banns of marriage," has generally been
considered as derived from the Teutonic word ban, to give public notice. May
it not rather, Mr. Urban, originate from the German verb binden, which in the
imperfect makes band, to bind together, to join; hence ban or banns, as a
ban-dog, a bound dog, a dog tied with a chain, or fetters. Also bas banb ber
ehi, the tie of matrimony.
We find in German, also, the verb spuren, to follow, to pursue by the scent,
probably from the Saxon word rpypian, to sparre, or spurre, to search out by
the track, to ask, to enquire, to cry at the market cross; from which also is
derived the common Scottish word spere, to ask. Examples of the use of this
last word are so common amongst the Scottish writers, that it seems quite
unnecessary to specify any par
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Spurring. 163
ticular instance. It is also used by Chaucer, and others his contemporaries.
May not, then, the provincial term spurring* very naturally and probably have
been originally deduced from the abovementioned Saxon or German roots, and
more recently from their Scotch derivative sperings, spurring*, askings? The
publication of banns of marriage is yet, in the northern countries,
denominated asking to Church.
Yours, etc., OMICRON.
Similar explanations of spurring have been offered by our correspondents W.
H. Lloyd and F. B. Cler. Cant.; the latter of whom says, “being asked in
church is, I believe, a common phrase all over the nation."
Stump Pie.
[1827, Part /., /. 320.]
Your correspondent N. (p. 194), desires an explanation of what a Stump Pie
consists. Probably he has a longing for a taste of what formed a prominent
dish at a certain period, at the feasts of the Knights of the Garter, I have
therefore sent him a recipe to compose one secundum artem, and have only to
observe that, if he had consulted books on the culinary art, of somewhat
later date than those he refers to, he would not have been disappointed in
the search.
Yours, S. C. P.
STUMP PYE TO SEASON.
Take veal or mutton, mince it raw, put half an ounce of pepper, half an ounce
of nutmegs, and half an ounce of cloves and mace; marjorara, thyme, and
savoury, cut small; add a pound of currants; mix them well together, and put
to them two pounds of the meat; work them up into balls as big as walnuts,
with six eggs, and at the closing up put a pound of butter, dispersed among
them in little balls as big as marbles. Then make a sauce with a quarter of a
pint of white wine, half a quartern of verjuice, the yolks of three eggs, and
a little whole mace; putting in a quarter of a pound of butter. When they are
well beaten up and thickened over a gentle fire, put it into the pye, and so
closing the lid, bake it in an indifferently well heated oven.
Tarring and Feathering.
[1775. A S6S-]
As tarring and feathering has been of late much used by way of punishment
amongst the inhabitants of North America, it may not, perhaps, be
unacceptable to some of your readers to inform them
II 2
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164 Special Words.
what gave rise to that custom; as I
believe a great many are ignorant of its original, and think it a new mode of
chastisement.
King Richard the First, called from his great courage Coeur de Lion, or
Lion's Heart, not only kept strict discipline amongst his troops, but in his
navy also; and, having made a vow to fight against the Saracens for the
recovery of the Holy Land, in the year 1190, sailed over with his army into
France, and had an interview with Philip, King of France, and entered into an
alliance with him for that purpose; and the two armies of France and England
joined at Vezelai, according to agreement King Richard, during his stay in
France, at Chinon, a small town in the government of Orleanois, and province
of Tourain, standing on the river Vienne, made the following very remarkable
orders for preserving peace in the navy, during this expedition to the Holy
Land, viz.:
First, if any one killed a man in a ship, he was to be bound to the dead man,
and flung into the sea.
Second, If any one was convicted to have drawn his dagger, or knife, to hurt
another, or fetch blood, he was to lose his hand.
Third, If any one struck another with his open hand, without effusion of
blood, he was to be ducked thrice over head and ears in the sea.
Fourth, If any one gave his companion opprobrious language, so often as he
did it, he was to give him so many ounces of silver.
Fifth, If any man stole anything, his head was to be shaved, and boiling
pitch poured upon it, and feathers stuck therein, that so he might be known;
and the first land the ship touched at, he was to be set on shore.
This I take to be the original from whence tarring and feathering arose, the
former being substituted instead of pitch; the custom being disused for so
many centuries, is now again revived amongst the Americans.
Chinon, the place where these orders were first made, is also remarkable for
being the place where Joan of Arc, the famous Maid of Orleans, who so often
defeated the English, and was at last taken and burnt for a witch, first
offered her service to Charles the Seventh of France, in the year 1429.
JOHN WILSON,
Corrupted Words.
[1777, PP- 320-322.]
Corruptions, by means of the figure we call a Crasis, have had a great
effect, I believe, in all languages; it is when the prefix adheres to the
following word, which it often very easily and naturally does, in
pronunciation, and afterwards is written or printed in that form. Thus the
modern names of the city of Athens are Satinas and
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Corrupted Words. 165
Satines, from es 7s "Adjvaj; and that
of Constantinople, Stamboul from h 1w xoXiv. Hence adepol, mehercule, etc.,
of the Romans; and, perhaps, our word endeavour, and rendevous, from the
French endevoir, and rendez vous. Some attention, however, is necessary in
the case, and some distinction should be made, for the Crasis is not
concerned in all words that coalesce together, as otherwise, always, etc.,
which ought rather to be called compounds; for I esteem it no Crasis unless
there be such a mixture or coalition of letters in the word as to make the
word to seem different from itself, and to be obscured or deformed by it.
Thus, Birlady, a form of swearing by the blessed Virgin, much used formerly,
and sometimes now, is a manifest jumble and corruption of By our Lady.
It appears, from this short account of things, that vulgar, hasty, and
inaccurate pronunciation has been the principal cause of this figure; which
has been more applied in our language than, I presume, is commonly thought;
and therefore I am in hopes that a regard had unto it cannot fail of giving
light unto the sense and etymology of very many of our English words. The
figure has also operated very remarkably in some of our English sirnames, as
has been noted by our learned Camden, “Remains," p. 122; we shall therefore
insert those instances amongst the rest. I observe, lastly, before I proceed
on my alphabet, that it is surprising how prone the country-people of the
North and midland parts of England are to the use of this grammatical figure,
especially in respect of the article The, which in the shape of T or Th they
will join to words which begin with a consonant, or with more than one;
causing thereby much roughness and harshness, and even difficulty of
pronunciation; o'er tK bridge, or o'er tK brig, as they speak it, for over
the bridge.
Now, the prefixes, or other particles, which usually coalesce with the words
they belong to, so as to alter or disguise them, are these: A\ An, At, Ap,
By, Di, De, Do, I, In, It, Mine, Ne, O, Saint, The, Two, Three, and To. And
these I propose to go through in their order.
A. An Accomplice. The monkish historians perpetually use the word Complices
in Latin; and Complice itself, as an English word, occurs in Weever,
"Fun. Monuments," p. 266, and see Johnson. So that I suspect a
Crasis here, and that it was first a Complice, corrupted afterwards to
Accomplice, which in that case would require the article an to be prefixed.
The word accomplish might facilitate the corruption with unthinking people.
AN. A Nayii'ord. This is a common expression for a by-word or proverb, and is
probably a Crasis of an Ay e- Word; that is, a word, or saying, always and
perpetually used, agreeable to the ancient use of Aye. If this be not the
meaning and original of it, it will be difficult to account for it
A Narrow, id est, an Arrow. (See Mr. Hearne ad “GuL Neubrig,''
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(delwedd D4494) (tudalen 166)
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i66 Special Words.
pp. Ixxxv., Ixxxvl) The prefix has here
evidently grown and fastened itself to the noun.
Jacke Napes, which Skelton gives us p. 160, seems to be Jack-anApes, as
Littleton writes it; but I am doubtful about this, as Nape or Knape is the
same as knave or servant. (See Gloss, to Douglas's "Virgil.")
A Nogler. This is the name formerly given to those people who travelled the
country with Sheffield wares; a practice now generally left off there,
insomuch that the name itself is falling into oblivion, as the original of
the word has long since done. I take the etymon to be this: what we call an
Higler was once written an Hagler, and so you will find it in Dr. Fuller's
"Worthies," p. 278. Now, an Hagler is very easily turned into a
Nagler, and with a open a Nogler. Dr. Johnson omits the Higler, and describes
the Hagler as one that is tardy in bargaining, from to haggle. But it seems
the Higler and the Hagler is the same person, and so this sense of the latter
word omitted by him.
A Newt. An Eft, or small lizard, of which Newt is the common name in
Derbyshire and Staffordshire. (Plott. “Hist. Staff., p. 244, 251; and it is
used by Shakesp., "Macbeth," A. iv. sc. i.) "Newt" says
Dr. Johnson, “is supposed by Skinner to be contracted from an Evet" and
it certainly is so. The Saxon word is ejrete; so that the gradation is an
Efete, an Evet, a Nevet, a Newt, v consonant being turned into u, just as v
in Devil is changed into u by those who pronounce it, as the vulgar often do,
Deul.
A Needle, anciently written a Neld, which perhaps may by Crasis be an Eld,
the same as an Elfe, used by shoemakers.
Nawl, i.e. an Awl, implement of the cobler, used by Beaum. and Fletcher,
viii. p. 55.
A Noddy; quasi, by a Crasis, an Oddy; a singular or whimsical person.
A Nailbourn. This word is both so written and pronounced in Kent, and,
answering to the Vipseys or Gypseys in Yorkshire (Camd. “Col." 901, or
Ray “On the Deluge," p. 95), means a torrent which flows only now and
then, or once in a few years. Now, when these torrents broke out, they were
supposed to betoken famines, sicknesses, and deaths, chiefly I presume
sicknesses; whence I conjecture there is a Crasis in the case, a Nailbourn
being in fact an Ailbourn, as the forerunner of Ails or diseases. It is
written, however, Eylebourn by Dr. Harris, p. 240, 23, 411, and so Philipot
gives it, p. 42, which perhaps may be a corruption of Ailbourn; but as these
desultory torrents often abound with small eels, it is possible they might
take their names from thence, quasi Eelbournes. But there will still be a
Crasis in Nailbourn.
AT. This particle coheres chiefly in such names of persons as are taken from
situation; as,
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(delwedd D4495) (tudalen 167)
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Corrupted Words. 167
Task, which Mr. Camden thinks is
contracted from At Ash. ("Remains," p. 123.)
Twells. As we have the name of Atwells, or Atwett, one has certainly reason
to think that Twells is a Crasis for At Wells.
AB or AP. We have certain names now in England, brought originally, I
suppose, from Wales, in which the Ab or Ap is become a part of the name that
followed it. At first they were patronymics, though they are not so now. Thus
Pugh is ap Hugh; Price or Brice, ap Rice; Pr it chard, ap Richard; Prideaux,
ap Rideaux; Sevan, ap Evan: Bowen, ap Owen; Powel, ap Hoel.
BY. Bilive, i.e. by-le-Eve; sometimes written blive and blyve. (Gloss, to
Chaucer, v. Blive.) \$ze post, p. 182.]
Di. Didapper, the bird, quasi Dive-Dapper; which is confirmed by its being
called Dab-Chick in Kent.
Do. Don and doff, i.e. to do on, and do of. (See Johnson in Vocibiis.}
DE. In names of persons drawn from the places of their abode, or extraction,
the French particle De will often coalesce with the name of the place, if it
begin with a vowel. Danvers, de or ff Aimers; Daeth, de or d'Aeth, a town in
Hainault; Dashwood may be supposed to be de or d'Ashwood; Davill, d'Eivill
(Camden, "Remains," p. 122); Doily, de Oily (Ibid. p. in); Dauney
(Ibid. p. 122). Aunay is a plot of ground where alders grow: and, to name no
more, Devereux is undoubtedly d'Evereux.
ECHE or EACH. Hence every chone (Skelton, p. 192); i.e., every eche one;
which we have now contracted to every one.
I. This pronoun easily coalesces, as I'm, I'll, rid, i.e. I would (Percy's
"Songs," p. 81); Ychulle (Percy, iii., p. xvii.), i.e. J shall, ye
shall.
IN. Ith for in the; hence yth, Percy, L, p. 6.
IT. Hence 'tis.
MINE. My Neam, my Nont; Nunde, Nont. These words are used familiarly in the
North by young people to the elder sort, though there be no alliance or
relation between them. ame is the Saxon for uncle, and the possessive pronoun
mine has grown to it. The second is from mine Aunt in like manner, as
likewise Nuncle (see Shakesp. “Lear," L sc. iv.) f and Nont.
[i777 PP- 372-374-1
NE. This old negative very readily coincided with words beginning with a
vowel or a w.
Nis and Nys, i.e. ne is, or is not (Skelton, p. 62). Nill, for newill; nilt,
ne wilt (Fairfax, Chaucer). Hence will or nill (" Invective against
Wolsey "). So nil'd for ne would (" Mirrour of Magistrates,"
P- 487)
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(delwedd D4496) (tudalen 168)
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1 68 Special Words.
JV0f, and nolt, for ne wot, or know not,
written in “Machabree," folio 220, note. Nolt occurs in Fairfax, xviiL
50.
None is either ne one or no one.
Nere, i.e. ne were (Fairfax, xii. 81).
Nould, ne would (Fairfax, v. 47; x. 61; alibi}.
Nought, ne ought; written also formerly nog/it.
Nam, neam; nart, neart; nad, ne had; nist, ne wist: all in Chaucer.
O. Ho! I take to mean O ye!
OF. Cf th\ i.e. of the. Hence ath the (Percy, i., p. 6), where the abounds by
the mistake of copyist; for, p. 9, you have athe; for of the, twice.
SAINT. This word, prefixed to the names of certain holy men, or reputed to be
so, either adhered, by means of its last letter T, to the name of such saint,
or the whole of it was joined to it; especially in certain of our sirnames
borrowed from the names of saints. I shall specify, first, some cases where
the last letter only adheres, which mostly happens where the name begins with
a vowel. Thus the French 6". Agnan or Aignan was pronounced by some in
France S. Tignan (H. Steph., “Apolog. pour Herodote," iii., p. 242.
Edit.
1735)A Tantony pig; so written in Drakes “Eborac., p. 315, meaning
a pig of St. Anthony.
Tawdry, i.e. St. Aw drey; "a term borrowed from those times when they
tricked and bedecked the shrines and altars of the saints, as being at vye
with each other on that occasion. The votaries of St. Audrey (an Isle of Ely
^aint) exceeding all the rest in the dress and equipage of her altar, it grew
into a byword upon any thing that was very gaudy, that it was all taudry, as
much as to say, all St. Audrey" (" Canting Diet," v. Taudry}.
Talkmund. St. Alkmond's church at Derby is commonly called Talkmund.
San Telmo. The meteor called St. Elmo, in “Ulloa," ii., p. 350, is
written San Telmo.
S. Tathan, St. Athan or AWian ("Memorial of Brit. Piety," Append.,
p. 40).
S. Twinnel, i.e. St. Winnoc (Ibid., p. 48).
Tooley Street, Tooley Bridge, Tooley Corner, all in Southwark, from St.
Olave, pronounced Olye, as Camden gives it, "Remains," p. 123.
St. Tooses. St. Osithe's, written St. Tooses in Bailey's "Life of Bp.
Fisher," p. 88. Mr. Camden observes, that St. Osyth is turned into Saint
Tows (" Remains," ibid.}.
St. Tabbe. St. Ebba was the famous prioress of Coldingham, who chose to
deform herself, with her nuns, rather than be abused by the insolent Danes.
See Camden's “Remains," Lc.; also Fuller's “Worthies."
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(delwedd D4497) (tudalen 169)
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Corrupted Words. 169
St. Thetha or St. Teath. St. Etha was a
Cornish saint.
St. Tomer. This name we have in Camden's "Remains," p. 151, for St.
Omer or de Sto. Awdomaro.
St. Tole. St. Aldatfs church, or St. Old's, at Oxford, is vulgarly called St.
Tale's (Poynter, “Oxon. Acad.," p. 109).
Town. This sirname, I imagine, may be corrupted of St. Owen, who occurs in
Camden, p. 151.
I come now to those instances where the whole substance, as it were, of the
word Saint is incorporated with the name, as is evident from many of our
sirnames being taken from the names of saints. The French San, as in Sampol,
Sammarthanus, etc., coheres thus in their language.
Samond, i.e. St. Amand, or de Sto. Amando.
Simberd. St. Barbe, de Sta. Barbara (Camd., p. 150).
Sinclair. De Sta. Clara, or de Sto. Claro, as Newcourt, in “Repert," i.,
p. 224. But q. if this be not an error.
Sanliz, Senliz, Singlis. These are St. Lis, or de Sto. Lisio^ or
Sylvanectensis, for which see Camd., p. 150.
Sentlo. St. Lo, or de Sto. Laudo (Camd., p. 151).
Sentlow. This is different from the former, being interpreted de Sancto Lupo
(Camd., ibid.). Lupus is the name of a saint.
Sellinger. So they commonly pronounce this name; whereas the orthography is
St. Leger, i.e. de Sto. Leodegario (Camd., p. 150).
Semarton, St, Martin, or de Sto. Martino (Camd., p. 151).
Semarc. St. Medard (Camd., p. 150). But one would rather think St. Marc.
Seimple, Sampol. The first is the Scotch name, the second the French; both
are St. Paul.
Seimpere, Sampler, or Sempere. St. Peter, or de Sto. Petro.
Semour. De Sto. Mauro.
THE. Bydene, i.e. by the even, or by night ("Romance of Amys and Amylion
").
To thende. To the ende (Caxton, “Myrrour," cap. 5).
Taylot. Glocestershire word, meaning an hay-loft. At first, no doubt, they
said in taylot, for in the hay-loft; and then converted the whole into a
substantive, calling a hay-loft by that name.
Tuffold, or Tovel. This means an hovel in Derbyshire, where they first said
in tovel, i.e. in the hovel; and then, by mistake, took tovel to be the
substantive, for hovel.
Ton and Tother: as, do yort take ton, and Til take father; meaning the one
and the other. The ton (Percy, i., p. 7), where either the or / abounds; and
yet this is very commonly used, as is the tother, for which see Percy, p. 58.
Tierne cross (in Somner's "Antiq. of Canterb.," pp. n, 169), is
tJie iron cross.
Nathless. Not the less. See Dr. Johnson.
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(delwedd D4498) (tudalen 170)
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170 Special Words.
To. By cutting off the o, this sign glues
itself to many verbs in Caxton and other authors; as tabound, taccomplish,
tarette it, i.e. to impute it; toffer; talledge hungre and thurste (Caxton,
in “Myrrour," cap. 5), is to allay them.
Two. This numeral will sometimes cohere with a noun, as twinter, a calf two
winters or two years old. (Derbyshire.)
Tovet. This, in Kent, means two pecks, and consequently is a coalition of two
fat or vat.
A Twibill. This is an implement that cuts both ways; and as two is pronounced
often twa, hence you have twa-bill, or twi-bill.
THREE. A Trivet is an household implement of iron with three feet to stand
before the fire, for the purpose of setting anything upon to dry or warm, and
takes its name from the said three feet. See Tanner, “Biblioth.," in Nic
Trivet.
TOOT. This word means to peep, or peep out. When pease in Derbyshire first
appear, they are said to toot, i.e. to out; and hence they have the
participle tooting. Thus, I conceive that tooting at Tunbridge-wells means to
out, in the way of inviting and bringing guests to their master's house.
[See/w/, page 192.]
TRIMON. In the anonymous metrical history of the battle of Flodden-Field,
lately published, it is observed, p. 32, that St. Paul, St Peter, and St.
Andrew, never taught the Scottish prelates to go to war, but rather some
later Popish saints, Trimon of Quhytehorn, or Doffin of Ross; where, as St.
Ninian was the great saint at Candida Casa, or Whitehern, the Editor says, we
should read Ninian of Quhytehorn. An emendation is undoubtedly necessary;
this, however, is not a happy one. The Scots, it seems, call Ninian, Ringen
(see "Memorials of Brit. Piety," p. 131), whence I conjecture there
is a Crasis here, and that the true correction is Tringen. If this be the
truth, as I presume it is, it affords a pregnant instance of the usefulness
of attending to the effects of the Crasis: but, indeed, of this, in point of
etymology, we have seen many examples above.
SMERWICK. There is something particular in this, as the first letter, instead
of the last, in Saint, coalesces; for it means St. Marywick, in the county of
Kerry, in Ireland (Campbell, “Lives of Adm.," ii, p. 49).
[See note 50.]
Of Names retained when their Origin is Disused.
[1774, pp- 252, 253.]
We have a species of words in our language, that is, certain names of things,
which, being originally derived and borrowed from customs and practices now
disused, carry with them an air of impropriety, and, for the same reason,
their etymology is, in many cases, very greatly obscured. To explain my
meaning by an example the word
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(delwedd D4499) (tudalen 171)
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Names Retained when their Origin is
Disused. 171
minster, in Saxon mmrtpe, from the Latin monasterium, we apply very generally
to our cathedrals or collegiate churches, as when we say York-minster, or
Southwell-minster; and yet these churches are at present very far from having
any thing of the nature of monasteries in them. But the words of Mr.
Thoresby, the famous Leeds Antiquary, are so pertinent to the subject, that I
shall here transcribe them, as sufficient for the purpose of making a proper
preamble to the following list, or catalogue.
“Reason tells us," says this gentleman, “that, before the use of metals
was found out, the Aborigines in each country would make use of stones,
flints, shells, bones, etc., formed, in the best manner they could, to the
various uses they designed them; and it is usual for such instruments or
utensils gratefully to retain, even in different languages, the memory of the
matter they were first made of, as cochleare, a spoon (tho' of metal),
because cockle-shells were first used to that purpose. So candlestick or
staff (for it is canbel-rtaek in the Saxon monuments); so likewise hooks
(Amos iv. 2), in the original, is thorns, with which they used to pierce
fish, before they had the skill of applying iron to that use. And, to give
but one instance more, the sharp knives (Josh. v. 2) used in circumcision
are, by our Saxon ancestors (who received their very names from the weapon
called sex, or seax, cultur, gladius) stiled rtenene rex (Mr. Thwaites's
'Sax. Kept.') which in the original is knives of flint, which is more
agreeable both to those parts of the world, where there was but little iron,
and to that operation, wherein the Jewish Doctors say that sharp flints or stones
were used."*
All I shall add to these learned and judicious observations is, that the horn
was anciently used for a drinking vessel, as indeed it still is in many
country places, and retained the name of a horn, though made of richer
materials; whence Athenseus, from Pindar, says, '-% asyvpiuv xtparwv
iriwfltc,, drinking out of silver horns;f and that, to the list which is
intended to follow, many names of places in England might be annexed, which
are formed from the religious houses that once there subsisted, but are now
no more; as Monks-Horton, MonksRisborough, etc.; Warminster, Westminster,
etc.; Abbots-Langley, Abbots-Bromley, etc Many towns are also denominated
from saints, with whom we have at this day no concern, as St. Alban's, St.
Edmundsbury, St. Neofs, St. lvJs, etc., and again, that some saints, in great
esteem anciently, no doubt, are, at this time, so rarely heard of, and so
little known, that it is very difficult sometimes to investigate them. 1 now
go on to the list.
* Mr. Thoresby, in Leland's “Itinerary," vol. iv., p. 7. See also his
“Museum." p. 566, where the same is repeated, f Athenseus, Lib. ii.
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(delwedd D4500) (tudalen 172)
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i/2 Special Words.
THE BARK.
By this word, in the north of England, is meant the candle-box, which hangs
in the common room, for the purpose of receiving the ends, or pieces, of
candles. The reason of the name is that, at first, it was only a piece of
bark nailed up against the wall, as sometimes one sees it now at this day;
but, in other houses, it still retains the name, though it be made of better
materials, of brass or tin.
BORSHOLDER.
In the ancient police of this kingdom, established, as supposed, by K.
Alfred, the counties were divided into hundreds and tithings, so that every
man lived in some tithing. And "that," says Mr. Lambarde, the
famous Kentish antiquary, “which, in the west country, was at that time, and
yet is, called a tithing, is, in Kent, termed a borow, of the Saxon word
borh, which signifieth a pledge, or a suretye; and the chief of these
pledges, which the western men [and we may add the northern men] call a
tithingman, they of Kent name a barsholder^ of the Saxon words bopher ealbop,
that is to say, the most ancient, or elder, of the pledges."* The
borsholder answers in some respects to the petty constable, and the name is
still continued in Kent, though King ^Elfred's establishment is now grown
obsolete. [See note 51.]
A BROOM.
This was formerly made of the shrub of that name, but is now applied to
implements of the same use, though made of birchen twigs, or hog's bristles.
[1774, //. 314-316.]
NAPIER'S or NEPER'S BONES.
These are an instrument, invented by J. Neper, Baron of Merchiston, in
Scotland, for the purpose of expediting the multiplication and division of
large numbers; and they keep the name of bones, though they are usually made
of box: the first set, no doubt, as made by his Lordship, were of bone.
BAKESTONE.
The bakestone used in the north for baking of oat-cakes was at first of
stone, and thence took its name. It is now sometimes made of metal, but
nevertheless is still called a bakestone; though it must be acknowledged that
stones are now more commonly used for the purpose.
BONFIRE.
This is so called, according to Mr. Bagford in his letter to T. Hearne
(Leland's “Collection," i., p. Ixxvi.), because it was originally
* Lambarde's “Perambulation of Kent," p. 27.
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(delwedd D4501) (tudalen 173)
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Names Retained when their Origin is
Disused. 173
made of bones. (See also Bourne, “Antiq. Vulg.," p. 215, and T. Hearne's
"Prsef. ad Gul. Neubrig. Hist," p. Ixxii.) However, there appears
to me to be some doubt about the occasion of this name, since Stowe says
("Survey of London," p. 307, edit. 1754) speaking of bonfires in
the streets, and the tables there set out with sweet bread and good drink:
“These were called bonfires, as well of good amity amongst neighbours, that,
being before at controversy, were there by the labour of others reconciled,
and made of bitter enemies loving friends; as also for the virtue that a
great fire hath, to purge the infection of the air." He intimates, in
the same page, that these fires were usually made of wood. Let the reader
judge; but I must observe that if bones were formerly used as the fuel, they
are now universally left off, tho' the name remains. [See note 52.]
CANDLESTICK.
This was once also called candlestaff; and it is certain that, before metals
and better materials were used, nothing but a stick was employed. I have seen
a stick slit at one end for the purpose of holding the candle, as also three
nails stuck into a stick for the same use; and we still call this utensil a
candlestick, though it may be made of silver, brass, glass, etc.
CHRIST-CROSS-ROW.
The alphabet is commonly so called, though now it is often printed without a
cross being prefixed as formerly.
CARD, or SEAMAN'S CARD.
This means the mariner's compass, the points being delineated on a card
anciently, whatever they are now, and so it is called a card still
HORN, and FRENCH HORN.
>
At first, horns were used both for blowing and drinking, and the name
continued, tho' both the drinking-horn and the blowing-horn were made of
better substances: ivory, silver, brass, etc.
An IRON, or SMOOTHING-IRON.
These were made at first of hammered iron, but now are generally made of sow
metal, but are still called irons.
KERCHIEF, and HANDKERCHIEF.
The kerchief, as the French word couvrechef imports, was originally worn on
the head, but now, though it keeps the name, it is commonly worn about the
neck or in the pocket, and so there is an impropriety in terming it an
handkerchief*
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174 Special Words.
LEAF.
This answers to the Latin folium, which was applied to books, because the
ancients wrote on the leaves of trees or plants. The Latin liber in like
manner took its name from the bark on which they wrote. We, tho' we write on
paper, still keep calling the constituent parts of books, leaves.
POT.
A pot is properly, and in strictness of speech, a vessel made of earth; hence
a potter and a pottery; but it is now applied to utensils for boiling, tho'
they are composed of very different materials, as brass or iron; as also to
vessels for drinking, though they consist of silver (as the coffee-pot), or
pewter. By a pot of beer we also mean a quart
POLE, or PERCH.
This is now a certain measure of 16 one-half feet, forty poles making a
quarter of an acre; the reason of this name is that, though land may be now
measured by a chain, the custom formerly was to do it by a pole of this
length. The case is the same with a rod of work, which no doubt was measured
at first by a rod or pole; as likewise with the yard, the length of three
feet, which was adjusted by zyerde, or virga, of that leng'h. Yerde and rod
seem to me to be the same word, by a metathesis of letters, as common in our
language. Hither also may be referred the cord, meaning a certain and
determinate quantity of wood, when stacked, namely, as much as was usually
measured at once by a cord or string.
PASTEBOARD.
The covers of books were anciently made of boards; many are now remaining in
their original binding made of that material. Folds of paper were afterwards
pasted together for covers; and this substance, though so different from the
former, preserved the name of board, being called pasteboard.
POKING-STICK, or SETTING-STICK.
This is now commonly made of bone or steel, but formerly was really a stick.
(V. Stowe, “Chronicle," p. 1038).
STIRROP.
It is evident from various monuments of antiquity that at first people rode
without either saddles or stirrops; and when the latter began to be used here
in this island, especially by our Saxon ancestors, a rope was applied for the
purpose of mounting, and was termed a stigh-rope, from jnjan, ascendere. That
this is the true etymology of the word is evident from the Saxon name of the
thing, rcijepafa,
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Names Retained when their Origin is
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stapia. There is no rope, however, used at this day about the modern
stirrops. Of this, and sallet-oil, I may say more to you perhaps hereafter;
at present I go on.
SCABBARD.
The sheath used for a sword, of which Junius gives this etymon: "Videtur
esse a Teut Schap, promptuarium, theca. V. quae infra annotamus in Seep,
cumera. Gawino Episc. Dunkel. in Scot, translatione Virgiliana, circa initium
xi. ^Eneid, evore scalbert dicitur eburnea vagina." I think it very
plain from this passage of Gawin Douglas, that the true orthography is
scalbord, corrupted since to scabbard. Now scalbord implies a board, or
rather two pieces of board, hollowed for the reception of the blade of the
sword, and then fastened together with glue. The two pieces would be called
scales, just as the two lamina in the handle of a knife are termed by the
cutlers scales. In short, the sheath of the sword was formerly, as I
apprehend, made of wood, though it is now composed of leather. Mr. Ed. Lhuyd,
in “Archaeol. Erit.," p. 15, writes it Sgabard.
A STONE.
A weight of i4lb.; in some places only of 81b. The reason of the name is,
that weights at first were generally made of stone (Deut. xxv. 13), and we
see some few of the sort now; but most commonly they are made, the larger
ones especially, of lead, but still go by the old name.
STONE Bow.
This is the cross-bow (" Wisdom of Sol.," v. 22, and Littleton's
“Diet," in vote). The French call it pierrier. The reason of the term in
both languages is, that formerly the bullet, discharged by the cross-bow, was
commonly made of stone.
STEAN-POT.
This should, by the etymon, be made of stone, but is usually earthenware.
TOUCH-HOLE.
Our fire-arms were at first discharged by applying a lighted match to the
touch-hole, and consequently by touching the hole, as is now done in firing
great guns. And though that method is now left off, by means of the later
improvement of the lock, the hole still keeps its old name.
TREACLE.
QTIPIUXVI, Theriaca, corrupted afterwards to theriacal, was originally a
medicine, or compound, good against the bite of a serpent. From this
theriacal comes the modern word treacle; and though the treacle of the
apothecary, and the grocer's treacle which is the melasses, are
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176 Special Words.
not now used with any such intention, they
still keep a name borrowed from the first intention of the medicine or
antidote.
THIRDBOROW.
This is a corruption of headborow, the same in the north as tithingman, or
bars/wider in the south. [See note 53.]
UPSHOT.
Though archery is now so much disused amongst us, the term upshot (for which
see Stowe's “Survey of London," L, p. 302), in the sense of the end or
conclusion of any business, is still retained.
WINDOW.
The windows of houses and churches were either entirely open, or filled with
lattice- work, formerly. Hence Judges v. 28, we read: “The mother of Sisera
looked out at a window, and cried through the lattess." These apertures
were commonly the places where the wind entered the buildings, and so took
the name of window, though now, being closed with glass, nothing of that
nature attends them; on the contrary, they are now so contrived as to exclude
the wind.
WARD.
A term relative to a forest, and still used in places to which forests
extended, though such forests are now no more. The same may be said of
forests themselves, which are still so called, though they are not now
properly forests.
These, Mr. Urban, are all the instances I can recollect at present; many
more, no doubt, will occur to others, who perhaps may not be displeased to be
put into a way of thinking on a subject that is sure to afford them some
amusement
Yours, etc, T. Row.
[i774>//. 406, 407-]
I here beg leave to add, as a supplement to what I advanced in your late
Magazine on the word stirrop, that (in Matth. Paris, p. 565), the word strepa
apparently signifies a stirrop. See also Dr. Watts's “Glossary “there in
voce. St. Jerome, again, has strapia, for the same thing: and there is
likewise such a word in Latin as struppus y for a string or thong; whence
some, perhaps, may incline to fancy (the lovers, I mean, of etymology), that
the word stirrop may have come to us from some one of those barbarous Latin
words;* that the strap and stirrop had the same original, and that they meant
one and
* Slippa is used in Blount's “Tenures," p. 31, for a stirrop; but I
suspect it to be an error for slippa, which occurs in Camden, Col. 1023.
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Names Retained when their Origin is
Disused. 177
the same thing. Dr. Watts, I think, was of that opinion; and it is certain,
that strepe (in Blount's “Tenures," p. 33) signifies a stirrop; and that
Dr. Littelton, on the word struppus, says, “Hinc, Angl. a strap, a
stirrup." But now, as I esteem the orthography of the word to be stirrop
(so Skelton writes it, p. 188), and not stirrup, as Dr. Littelton gives it,*
it is more natural to think it took its name from a rope, formerly used
instead of a leathern strap now in vogue: sti-rope meaning the rope by which
they used to ascend or mount their horses. Thus sty signiBes to ascend in the
“Mirrour of Magistrates," p. 402, where Sir Anthony Woodvile, Lord
Rivers, says:
“Then grew the King and realm to quiet rest, Our stock and friends still
stying higher and higher."
And stee-hopping is playing the hobby-horse, that is, hopping high, in
Somersetshire. t Hence also the word stile, scalarium, scala, from the A.
Sax. rtigle, which word stile is pronounced, in Derbyshire, stee the very
name they give to a ladder in Yorkshire, the degrees of which are in many
places called steles. Hence, again, the word stair comes from the Saxon
rtejhep, gradus, which is derived from rcijan, ascendere, as sty, stee,
stile, or rtijle, or^/^r, above-mentioned, all are. This etymology of the
word stirrop is certainly much corroborated by the Saxon name of it, which I
mentioned in my last paper, viz., rcijepapa, plainly shewing that it is an
easy derivation from stigh-rope and manifestly ought to have the preference
before any of those barbarous words specified above. [See note 54.]
I shall now take the liberty, Mr Urban, to add a word on sallet-oil; a
subject intimately connected with my late paper, but for which I had then no
room. People are very apt to imagine, that this sort of oil is named from its
being used in mixing sallads for eating, as if the true way of writing it was
sallad oil: but, sir, the oil used in cookery was always of a better and
sweeter sort than that rank stuff called sallet-oil. The truth is, the sallet
was the head-piece in the times that defensive armour was so much in use, and
sallet-oil was that sort of oil which was used for the cleaning and
brightening it and the rest of the armour. Thus you have “a .$#//<?/ and
ij sculles," in the inventory of Mr. Lawrence, Rector of Stavely, co.
Derby. The word occurs again in the inventory of Pet. Tretchvile, Esq., anno
1581; and also in the description of the sarcastical coat of arms of Cardinal
Wolsey,
“Arise up, Jacke, and put on thy salatt."
In an indictment for an assault of the citizens of Canterbury, anno 1501,
upon the people of Christ-Church there, it runs, "Brigenderis, jackys,
salettis, scullis, & gauntelettis," etc., where the assault,
mentioned likewise in English, stands thus, “Brygandyrons, jakks, salets,
* Dr. Plott also so writes it, “Hist. Staff.," p. 377, and more
corruptly, viz., sturrup, p. 376.
f Gent. Mag,, vol. xvi., p. 407. [See ante, p. 63.]
12
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178 Special Words.
sculles, and other armor." See also Dr.
Cowel in voce, and “Fabian," p. 404, whose words are, “and dyd on him
hys bryganders set with gylt nayle, and his salet and gylte sporres." In
sum, it is the French word salade, for which see the dictionaries, and Mons.
Menage's “Origin de la Lang. Franc.," in voce. On the whole, you see,
sir, what is most to the point, that though the sallet is now entirely out of
date, yet the oil retains the name, which is the very thing I proposed, in
these short sketches, to illustrate.
I am, etc., T. Row.
Certain Words. [1784, Arf //.,/. 485-]
I send the following information for your querist, in p. 349.
The Duddery, tho' I know not the square in question, is a place where rags
were sold or hung out (vide “Gal. Diet.").
Articles dud. Duds, an old English word, and still used in Scotland,
signifies rags, tatters. From the Celtic.
Tolbooth is directly Galic, and signifies a shop of cells or holes, i.e. a
prison.
Tolsey\ or thohel, is a Celtic or Galic word, compounded of /<?//, a hole,
sealbh, or seate, to possess, hold, keep, confine. In Ireland they call it
tohel, but spell it tholsel. In proof of this etymology, see Shaw's
"Galic Dictionary," Articles &//and sealbhingham, to possess,
keep, etc.
Though I know not the street at Oxford called the Turl, I conceive that it
may be of Celtic or Saxon origin; if Celtic, it signifies a descent; and if
^/-/-street be on a hill or declivity, it will be a proof of this
circumstance; or it may be situated in the purlieus of Oxford, and denote the
place where the country people used to alight at a ford or entrance to the
town; and in either case become a denominative name, and all Celtic proper
names are generally such.
Midi in the Galic, or Earse, or Irish language, signifies a cape, headland,
promontory; the Mull of Kintyre, of Galloway, etc., signify the headland or
cape of Galloway, Kintyre, etc. See Shaw's “Gal. Diet.," Article maol.
Surloin is, I conceive, if not knighted by King James, as is reported,
compounded of the French sur, upon, and the English /<?///, lor the sake
of euphony; our particles not easily submitting to composition. In proof of
this, the piece of beef so called grows upon the loin, and behind the small
ribs of the animal
[See note 55.]
Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
[1820, Part I., pp. 20, 21.]
Having been for some years greatly addicted to the perusal of our antient
English Authors (as well those who disperse their thoughts in lofty rhyme as
in humble prose), I have acquired a partiality for
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
179
antiquated words and phrases; and perhaps (as a direct consequence), some
degree of astonishment that other readers either do not understand, or do not
relish the use of them as I do and I was particularly struck on finding, by a
late perusal of the Utopia (edited by the learned and agreeable bibliomaniac,
Dibdin),that even this deep-read Antiquary has been sometimes thrown out in
his conjectures; and that in places where I thought there was little
difficulty, either in the passages themselves, or
insupportingandillustratingthem by examples of frequent use amongst
contemporary authors; not that I have in every case of doubt been able to
find a corresponding or even synonymous word, or have at all times discovered
the precise meaning of the word or phrase made use of. But I have been
surprised, as well with respect to some of the words observed upon by Mr.
Dibdin, as by others, that the frequent usage of the same word has not
familiarized it to them.
To begin with the second volume of Mr. Dibdin, p. 5. In his note upon the
word jeopardous, used by Sir Thpmas More as an adjective, he says that such
use of it is of rare occurrence among our old Authors. Now, I not only find
the same adjective admitted into Bayley's and Ash's “Dictionaries," and
used in other places by Sir Thomas More (vide his “General Works," p.
1403), but I find the same adjective jeopardous, as likewise the adjective
jeopardless and the verb jeopard in the following places (and in many others
infinitely too numerous to be set down), vide “Erasmus's Paraphrase on the
Testament," i Corinthians, 18, 21, 22 (reverse of each page). The
“Bishops' “and “Cranmer's Bibles “are quite full of those words; but see only
Judges v. 18, Daniel iii. 28, John xiii. 37, 38, Acts xv. 26, and Acts xxvii.
9.
The "Ship of Fools “(by Cawood), pp. 15, 16, has “within his mouth is
venim jeopardous and vile," and in the same translation the \erbjeoparde
frequently occurs. “For her hejeoperdetk his life," is in Munday's
“Banquet of Dainty Conceites “(9 “Harl. Miscellany," 244.) “The waye of
Honestie is uneasie, painfull jeoperdouse" etc., is in Taverner's
"Adagies of Erasmus" (1569). “Jeoparte his person for to slee the
Kynge" is in Lydgate's "Bochas"(i 5 58),p. 43
Page 6. Here I agree that the word translating is now rarely used in the
sense of removing or taking away (the translating of a Bishop from one See to
another excepted), but I must refer your readers to Bailey and Ash; and to
the following passages, “The portion of my people is tra?islated /' vide
“Bishops' Bible," Micheas ii. 4. “Because of unryghteous dealing a
realme shall be translated^ etc., Ditto, Son of Sirach x. 8. “The bones of
our father shoulde be translated out of their places," Ditto, Baruch ii.
24. “He translateth the mountains or ever they be ware," Ditto, Job ix.
5. And “Covetousness will translate the hearts of men to infidelitie,"
is in Fenton's “Christian Policy," 1574.
12 2
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180 Special Words.
Page ii. The word pullein or pullen will
be found in the “Life of Esope," B.L. “He brought capons and many other
pullen" vide also Bailey and Ash.
Page 1 6. The word skills was in more common use than Mr. Dibdm supposes.
“Jesus did make plain the things which he spoken for two skills" etc.,
vide Erasmus's "Paraphrase," John x. 71, 72. “It is little force to
thee it skills thee nothing," vide Fisher on the seven penitential
Psalmes (1555), sheet No. 4. “It skills not whether you din'd or not,"
Gull's “Hornbook," by Decker. “It skills not if the four knaves lie on
their backs," Gull's "Hornbook." “It skills not greatly who
impugns our doom," Shakespeare's Henry VI., Part II.
The word knowledge is used as a verb-active in the same sense as ^knowledge
in many of the early translations of the Bible, viz., Coverdale's, Cranmer's,
the Bishops', Taverner's, and Matthew's, and even by Wicliff in. his
Testament (1380). It was in such common use in early days that the accession
of the syllable ac seems almost unnecessary. It is in Coverdale's
"Translation of Erasmus," in Musculus's “Common Places," in
Bishop Fisher's “Sermons," in Becon's "Sermons," in Marbeck's
"Notes," and in the “Golden Legend."
Page 39. I think that both Johnson and Bailey give us the illustration of the
word swing as here used “The power of money is no other than the unrestrained
tendency of it," etc., vide Johnson's fifth illustration.
Page 46. I do not think the mode of expression he dotes for age very
uncommon. The word for, in the sense of because, is explained by Mr. Dibdin
himself in the preceding page; and Addison is quoted both by Johnson and
Bailey in the first example, “An old woman begins to dote," etc.
Page 66. Johnson is certainly mistaken when he asserts that wain is a
contraction of waggon. Both the words are genuine Saxon, and I should contend
that wain is the older, and is still a prevailing provincial word. What is
more antient in English astronomy than Charles's wain? “He maketh the waynes
of Heaven," Job ix. 9. Bishops' Bible. See also “Magna Charta," i
Hen. III., Article 15, Blackstone's edition, “Villanus eodem, modo amercietur
salvo waynnogio suo si incident in misericordiam nostram;" thus
translated by Rastell, etc., “any other villain than ours, shall be likewise
amerced, saving his wainage, if he fall into our mercy."
Page 141. Recklessness is Saxon for carelessness, and not for rashness. Vide
the Articles of the Church. See also Ash and Bailey, and an hundred Divines.
Page 167. Wiped, in the sense here put, is not an expression peculiar to
master Raphe Robinson. You will find it both in Ash and Johnson, rendered to
cheat, to defraud, and it is so used in the second volume of Erasmus's
“Paraphrase," St. James, fol. 26. “If
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
181
Fortune blow backwarde, he shall ether bee uyped besydes all his goods, and
be banished to goe on begging," etc. Bailey quotes it in the same sense
from Spenser.
Page 169. The usage of the verb to crack (to boast or vapour) is by no means
peculiar to Robinson. Every Divine, from Latimer and Hooper to Beveridge and
Tillotson, uses it in the same sense. In the controversy between Bishop
Jewell and Harding, it is many times repeated. Sir Thomas More uses it in
other parts of his works; and Shakespeare more than once or twice, "What
cracker \s this same, that deafs our ears?" (King John, Act ii., Sc. i).
See also the Bishops' Bible, Jeremiah li. 55, "and made great crakes
with your words." [See note 56.]
[1820, Part L,pp. 115, 116.]
Having gone through what I had to remark arising from the perusal of the
Utopia, I proceed to the chief purport of my address to you at this time;
which is, to express my concern at that change of words in our language which
every successive year introduces, modifies, and ripens into practice. Johnson
advised that "we make some struggle for our language;" and remarks
that the great pest of speech is the frequency of translation; and that no
book was ever turned from one language to another without imparting some of
its native idiom. It is true that he says afterwards, “Single words may enter
by thousands, and the fabric of the tongue continue the same." But I
must confess that I have much dread of single words entering by thousands, or
even by hundreds; and cannot help conjecturing that, if Dr. Johnson himself
was now alive, and a witness to the innovations making in the English
language, by the introduction of French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian
words, he would have rejected the innovation with all the powers of his great
mind. One mode of defence that occurs to me at this time would be for some
energetic and daring scholar to compile and publish a new Dictionary of the
English Language, not, as in some modern instances, by affecting and boasting
to introduce thousands of words omitted by the great Lexicographer (Johnson),
who, as he plainly told us, purposely rejected many words, and seldom
introduced compounded or double ones; but, by throwing aside all words of
novel and foreign origin, and introducing in their places words (whether now
obsolete or not) which are to be found in the popular English writings of our
ancestors, whether derived from British, Roman, Danish, Saxon, Norman, or
even Dutch or German originals, the two latter (as Johnson expresses it),
though not the parents, being sisters of the English.
During a recent course of miscellaneous reading, I took care to note several
obsolete words, from which I have extracted the fifty following, in order to
shew the great strength of some of them, and that from among them several
ought to be restored to their former
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1 82 Special Words.
stations in the English tongue; for as
Dryden justly remarks: “Obsolete words may be laudably revived, when they are
more sounding or significant than those in practice."
AULMERY. AUMENER. "Blessed shall thine aulmerye be." Matthew's
Bible, Deut. xxviii.
There seems no good reason for rejecting the word aulmerye. It has the same
signification as auntener, used by Chaucer for a cupboard, or storehouse,
which is, I think, more to the purpose than the figurative word basket, now
used in its place. It is evidently derived from the Latin armarium. ( Vide
Skinner in loco.}
AYEL.
"Came by report unto the audience of his aye!, the great Istiages."
Lydgate's “Bochas," 55.
“I am thine ayel, redy at thy will, Wepe no more, I woll thy lust
fulfill."
“Knight's Tale," Chaucer.
I do not contend for the restoration of the word ayel, because the words
grandsire and grandfather very well supply its place; but it being evidently
derived from the Saxon aya (ever), I should not absolutely condemn the
continuance of it. Ash appears to consider it only as used by Chaucer instead
of the adverb always, forgetting that Saturn calls himself in the passage
last above quoted the ayel or grandsire of Venus. (Ay I, semper, Skinner.)
BYSSE.
“There was a certain ryche man which was clothed in purple and fine
bysse" etc. Matthew's Bible, Luke xvi.
This word having been adopted from both the Hebrew and the Greek by the
earliest Latin and English translators of the Bible, I see no good reason for
its having been wholly laid aside. The Bishops' Bible has the words fine
white instead; and the word, linen now used, may be proper enough; but
probably the word bysse, as part of the rich man's every-day dress, meant
something more rare and gorgeous than linen. The Latin word byssus means fine
flax; but byssinus is lawn or cambrick, the usual garb of the rich men of the
East.
BLYVE.
"But her pomp was overturned blyve" Lydgate's "Bochas,"
30.
The word means quickly or suddenly; and is also used by Chaucer in the “Wife
of Bath's Prologue," 34, b., and in the “Friar's Tale," 39, b.; and
although Ash calls it obsolete, and Johnson says belive is out of use, yet,
as the latter derives it from the Saxon, and quotes its use by Spenser, and
Skinner says it is either Belgick or Teutonick, I would retain it as a very
significant word. [See ante, p. 167.]
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
183
CADUKE.
"But follow the caduke pleasures of this world." Bishop Fisher.
"Everything in this world is caduke, transitory and momentary."
Ibid. "While he here liveth in this life caduke and mortal."
Cawood's "Ship of Fools."
Although this word appears to be closely derived from the Latin word caducus^
frail, etc., yet I am not much disposed to contend for its continuance, it
being rather pedantical than elegant.
CHAULE BONE. CHAWS.
“Of an asse he caught the chaule bone." "Bochas," 33.
"Bought also and redeemed out of the wolve's chaws" Preface to
Bullinger's “Sermons," p. 2.
"My tong shall speak out of my chaws." Taverner's and Tindal's
Bibles, Job xxxiii.
"When the voice of the mylner (marginal note, the chaws) shall be laid
down." Bishops' Bible, Eccles. xii. 5.
I merely introduce these words to notice the change of them to jaw and jaws.
Query, the necessity of omitting the former? Farmers to this day talk of a
choule-\)a.n&, meaning that part of a horse's bridle which goes
underneath the jaw.*
CLOUTED.
“I wasted them and so clouted them, that they could not arise." Tindal's
and Taverner's Bibles, 2 Sam. xxii.
I am not desirous of restoring this word in this sense, though it is still an
expression with the vulgar, “I clouted (or beat) him much."
CREVISSE.
In an old black-letter edition of the “Fables of Avian," I find one “of
the two crevisses? or crabs. (See Fable 3.) Query, how is the word creuisse
derived, if not from crevish, crayfish? ( Vide Skinner.)
I am equally at a loss for an explanation of the words “cloth of
Raynes," and “curtesy of honey," in the Bishops' Bible, Genesis, etc.
DARE and DARING.
“With what darkness the eyes of Master More be dared" Foxe's
"Martyrs," 743, a. 62.
"And dare us with his cap like larks." Shakespeare, Hen. VIII. “She
like a serpent daring under flours." "Bochas," 33.
"Tho" underneath the double serpent dare" Ibid. 34. “So my
rudenesse under skyes dunne Dareth full lowe, and hath lost his sight."
Ibid. 43, b.
The word dare, in the sense of blinding, concealing, lurking, and shunning
observation, is so directly opposite to its present use (" to
challenge," “to provoke," “to defy," etc.) that I am lost in
conjec
* Pigs' chauls are to be had at every pork -shop.
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184 Special Words.
ture as to its etymology. Johnson derives
it both from the Saxon and the Dutch. The same use of the word occurs in
other places. “A daring glass “(a device for catching larks) is mentioned by
Johnson, Bailey, and Ash; and the two former quote the following line from
Dryden:
“As larks lie dar'd to shun the hobby's flight."
How is all this reconcileable with the general explanation, “courageously to
dare" etc.? and with the etymology of Skinner, Audere, q.s. “Hominum
audaciores contentis oculis alios aspiciunt "?
DAYSMAN.
“If one man sinne against another, daisemen may make his peace, but if a man
sinne against the Lord, who can be his dayesman?" Tindal's Bible, I Sam.
ii.
“For he I must give answer unto, and with whom I go to lawe, is not a man as
I am; neither is there any dayesman to reprove the parties, or to lay his
hand betwixt us." Ibid. Job ix.
In our present translation of the book of Job the word daysman is retained.
In the book of Samuel it is changed, and advocate or umpire is substituted.
Johnson says it is an old word for umpire, referring to Ainsworth (arbiter,
etc.) and quoting Spenser,
“For what art thou
That mak'st thyself his Daysman, to prolong The vengeance prest “
As it is actually now retained in the Bible, and in the sense of mediator or
intercessor, I do not see why the word daysman (being a genuine English word)
may not be still used.
[1820, Part I., pp. 202-204.]
DlSEASEST,
for troublest, disturbest, etc., is of frequent occurrence in the Bishops'
Bible:
“Why diseasest thou the Master." Mark v. 35.
“Thy daughter is dead, disease not the Master." Luke viii. 49;
and I can find no reason why it may not be retained. Johnson gives it as a
verb active, and quotes Shakespeare,
“Let her alone, Lady! as she is now, she will but disease our better
mirth."
I think it very expressive, and full as good a compound as any of the other
diss's now in use.
DISPERPLED.
“They leave Iraiterously the flocke to the woulfe, to be disperpled abrode
and torne in pieces." Erasmus, John x., p. 76, b.
DlSPARCLED. "Then all his (Darius') men for feare discarded."
Erende's "Quintus Curtius."
Both these words are now well supplied by the word dispersed (derived from
the Latin).
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
185 EAR. EARING. EARED.
“And will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest." I Sam.
viii. 12.
“The oxen likewise, and the young asses that ear the ground, shall eat clean
provender." Isa. xxx. 24.
“And yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor
harvest." Gen. xlv. 6.
“In earing time and in harvest thou shall rest." Exod. xxxiv. 21.
“Unto a rough valley which is neither eared nor sown." Deut. xxi. 4.
“Then answered the labourer, I go to eare my land." Esop's
“Fables," b. 1. 101.
“Shewed him the labourer, as he eared the earth." Ibid. 120.
“When the labourers that cultured and eared the earth." Ibid. 128.
The words ear, earing, and eared are in such common use in the Scriptures,
and in divers authors, for “to plough," “ploughing," and
“plowed," that I am quite astonished at Dr. Johnson's entire omission of
them, especially as Bailey (as well as Skinner) has the Saxon verb active,
"to ear" (derived from the Latin aro) "to till," "to
plough," etc., and gives us one of the quotations above (Gen. xlv.), and
also the word earable, from whence our present word arable. They ought each
of them to have a place in the new Dictionary. [See -ante, p. 146.]
EVEN.
“The more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown
or hang themselves more than their even Christian." Hamlet [Act v., Sc.
i],
“Despitous is he that hath disdain of his neighbour, that is to say, of his
even Cristen." Chaucer, "The Persone's Tale," De Superbia.
“Yf thy brother or even Chrysten offende the correcte him." Bishop
Fisher on the Seven Penetencyall Psalmes.
I need not multiply the instances in which the word even was formerly used in
the sense of equal or fellow Christian. Latimer has it frequently in that
sense, and so have Gower and other antient authors. Ash (from Carew) admits
it, but says it has grown obsolete. ( Vide also Skinner.) I must own I could
wish to retain it in this sense, for surely it is very expressive, and had
doubtless an allusion to the path of life all humble-minded Christians were
travelling together, pari passu.
FORCE. FORCING.
“It is lytel force to the, it skilles the nothing, whether we be saved or
damned." “It forceth not for our purpose, tho' Jonas in holy Scripture
signify Christ." Bishop Fisher on the Psalmes.
“A miserable Foole evermore shall he be
Which his children's faultes forcef/i not to see." “Ship of Fools,"
12. “Few are that force now a days to see
Their children taught," etc. Ibid. 13 b. “That heavenly joy none/orcet/i
to purchase." Ibid. 19 b. “Save deepest to drinke, such force not of
their soules." Ibid. 32 b. “They force not for the multitude of the
people in the city." Bishops' Bible, Job xxxix. 7
"Be it true or false, \\. forceth not greatly." Hanmer's
“Eusebius."
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(delwedd D4514) (tudalen 186)
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1 86 Special Words.
"The Bishop of Rome _/&?//* no
more of Christ's Church than the hireling." Taverner's “Proverbs."
“Such as force not whether they are seen or not, draw down the cowl."
Becon's “Reliques of Rome."
“It is not sufficient to have attained the name, etc., of a shepherd, not
forcing howe." Erasmus.
The instances in which the words _/0/r<? and forcing are used in the
senses above quoted are too numerous for further quotation. Examples from
Chaucer alone might be produced without number; and from him Skinner gives
the word as obsolete; but it has been in such general use that I should wish
it to be retained and used.
GEASTES.
“Ye the geastes and dorechekes moved at their cryinge." Tindall's Bible
and Cranmer's Bible, Isa. vi.
The word here rendered geastes is now changed to lentils. Query, whence is
geast derived?
GEER, or GEAR.
"Tho" it were no better than ' Amadis de Gaule,' 'The Four Sonnes
of Amon,' 'The Tales of Robin Hoode,' and such other like Fables, yet were
they thought very trimme and gay geare to occupy the people's ears
withall." Preface to Gaulthere's “Homilies."
“So that we now run hither and thither to find out mediators; and therefore
for the cutting off of all this geare, it is said that God holpe
himself," etc. Calvin.
"Let us paciently abide all this geare “(i.e., jests, scoffs, derision,
etc.). Ibid.
"And yet overcame all this geare, and bare it paciently." Ibid.
"And therefore when we see all this geare" (i.e., worldly cares,
frauds, etc.). Ibid.
"This geare is in those places to be seen “(i.e., Popish canons, masse,
etc.). Ibid.
"Seeking of prebends, etc., is symonie; for you shall hardly find one or
two among a thousand that come by these geare -lawfully," etc. Musculus.
“Were not all these geare newe, when they were first instituted?" (viz.,
Popish doctrines and ceremonies). Ibid.
"To say the truth, the welthiness of the rich men, which consisteth in
gold, silver, and other like gay geare." Ibid.
“Hear not him, it is hard geare that he teacheth; hear the world!"
Erasmus.
"This is the most heavy fruit of that pleasure that is delectable,
promising sweet geare." Ibid.
"This geare must be look'd to." Dekker's “Gull's Hornbook."
“Come, I long to be about this geare." Green's “Tu Quoque."
“To study out the hid mysteries of the law: but let that geare be left to
your judges," etc. “Fortescue on the Laws of England," 24.
“O thou daughter of Egypt! make ready thy gear to flit." Bishops' Bible,
Jerem. xlvi. 19.
The too general sense in which the word geare was used by the above, and many
other old authors, renders the retaining of it useless. The Saxon word, from
which it is derived, meant furniture, ornament, dress, etc., but all the
authors above quoted have used it
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(delwedd D4515) (tudalen 187)
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
187
in the place of the words matters, things, stuffs, doctrines, ceremonies,
etc., etc., and generally in a degrading sense.
GOBBETS.
I know not why this word (derived from the French) should, by Johnson and
others, be called a low word; they, at the same time, quoting the use of it
by Sir Roger L'Estrange, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Addison. With giving you a
passage from Tindal's Bible, as under, and referring you to Skinner, I can
only express my opinion that it ought to be more generally used; for a better
single word has not been substituted.
“And they took up twelve basketsful of the gobets and of the fishes."
Mark vi.
GYE, or GIE.
“O Lord, my soule and eke my body gie." Chaucer's “Second Nonne's
Tale." "And if that ye in clene love me gie." Ibid.
"Noble Princes, your reason do applye So prudently to govern them
and^." Lydgate's "Bochas."
Skinner calls it vox nautica, and I am told a certain rope is so termed by
mariners. Ash says this word is obsolete; and so it is guide being now used
instead, but whether with any advantage is questionable. Both are from the
French.
GLADE.
Most of the instances given by Johnson of the usage of this word are in
direct opposition to the derivation (instertitium sylvaticuni), and I beg
leave, amongst other reasons for its being always understood to mean (when
used) a gloomy glade, a glade obscure, to adduce the following quotation from
Erasmus on St. Matthew: "Though nyghte were at hande, for now the sun
was gone to glade."
JUMENT.
[1820, Part L, pp. 311-313-]
This word, homjumentum, is in danger of being wholly lost. It means a beast
of burden, or a beast employed in husbandry, says Ash (quoting Brown). You
will find it in the “Life of St. James the Apostle" in the "Golden
Legend," 1527.
“His hoste took fro him al his money and his jument, upon which his chyldren
were borne."
LEVER.
Johnson and Bailey wholly omit the word. Skinner derives it from the
Teutonick. Ash gives it as used by Spenser, but says it is obsolete. Now as
Spenser uses it quite through his works in preference to the word rather, and
both words are Saxon or Teutonick, I should
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(delwedd D4516) (tudalen 188)
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1 88 Special Words.
contend for its continuance and more
general use supported as it is by the following quotations:
"Thou shalt make no semblant whether thee were lever peace or
warre." Chaucer's “Melibeus," 73.
“And had lever to be absent from the body, and to be present with God."
Cranmer's and Taverner's Bibles, 2 Cor.
"He that bindeth himself to the Pope and had lever have his life and
soul ruled by the Pope's will," etc. Tindal's Works, 174.
“He had leaver have us example of sobreness, meekeness," etc. Erasmus on
St. John 14, 716.
"And disdained that there should be so many which had leaver cleave unto
Jesus." Erasmus on St. John, 716.
“Sith lever I have with some edge tole,
To slee myself, than lyve in slander and dole." "Bochas," 44,
b. "Lever I have my life now to lose Rather than soyle my wydow's
chastitie." Ibid. 49, b.
LYTHER.
It is very singular that Ash alone gives this word (but obsolete) from Cole,
in the sense of lazy and sluggish. I have frequently met with it in that
sense, but can now only call to mind the following quotations from Romans
xii. 1 1 (Bishops' Bible).
“Not lyther in busynesse, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."
MALLED.
As Ash does not support the use of the verb transitive, mall, by any
quotation, I will just mention one which will be found in Tindal's Bible
Judges v.:
"Then they mailed the horse's legges, then their mighty coursers left
prauncing."
I see no reason why it should be disused as thus spelled. The substantive
mall (from malleus, a hammer) is of frequent occurrence, and an instrument
well known. But why the spelling of it maul and the derivative verb mauled,
is preferred, I know not.
MAUND.
This word, being derived from the Saxon, deserves to be in more frequent and
general use. It has evidently been lately confined to mean an alms-basket
only; notwithstanding all the lexicographers explain it as meaning a
hand-basket of any kind.
“Put it in a maunde, and go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall
chuse."
"And the priest shall take the maunde out of thine hand." Cranmer's
and Taverner's Bibles, Deut. xxvi.
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(delwedd D4517) (tudalen 189)
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
189
MINGLE-MANGLE.
Ash very properly calls this a kind of cant word. Skinner says it is from the
Belgic or Teutonick; and though the expression is now totally disused, it was
once fashionable, as may be found by the following quotations; and also in
Latimer's third sermon preached before Edward VI., where it frequently
occurs.
' ' The doctrine of the philosophers of this world is overmuch tempered with
mingle-mangle" etc. Erasmus on St. James i.
“Here is a medicine more potent and more precious than was ever that
vringlemangle of drugs which Mithridates boiled together." Decker's
“Gull's Hornbook."
"The main army consisting (like Dunkirk) of a mingle-mangle"
Decker's “Wonderful Year."
MUMPSIMUS.
This cant word I have only found in the preface to Gaulthere's
“Homilies," where, speaking of the Romish divines forbidding the
Scriptures to be read, he- says:
“If they urge such weak instances, etc., for their new nmmpsimus, rather than
they will yield to this old sumpsimus, then let us answer them with the words
of St. Jerom," etc.
The word (in any sense) is not worth retaining.
NATTES.
I have met with this word only in Lydgate's “Bochas," 65 b, and do not
understand the meaning. (Query. Is it a misprint for matts?)
"Having nothing to wrap in thy head Save a broad hatte rente out of
nattes old."
NEMPNE. NEMPT.
“The Paynems than bett hym with staves, and forbad hym that he shoulde not
nempne the name of Jhesu Cryst." “Golden Legend," 181.
“But whan you list to riden any where Ye moten trill a pin slant in his ere
Which I shall tellen you betwixt us two Ye moten nempne him to what place
also Or to what contree that you list to ride."
Chaucer, "The Squiere's Tale."
"And with such vigour and strength that it ne might not be
nempned." Chaucer, “1st Book of Boecius."
Spenser (as well as Chaucer) uses the word nempt frequently. The word nempne
being derived from the Saxon, should, I think, be retained and used; it would
surely be as well to say, “nempne the name of Christ," as “name the
name" etc.
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(delwedd D4518) (tudalen 190)
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190 Special Words.
OBSHUE.
"The opinion of them in olde time was, that amongst all other things,
men ought to obshue" etc. Taverner's “Proverbs," 52.
I think obshue, from the Saxon, quite as proper as eschew^ from the French.
PIGHT.
“Hepight him on the pomel of his bed." Chaucer's “Knight's Tale."
"And by my wretched lover's side me fight." Spenser. “Thus proudly
pight upon our Phrygian plains." Shakespeare. “A minister of holy
things, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pight, and not man."
Bishops' Bible, Heb. viii. 2.
This old preterite of the Saxon word pitch should not be laid aside. It is
very expressive and significant. In some counties a man's home buildings,
domicil, or homestead, is still called pightle.
QUEELETH. “But the Lord yueeleth it (the wild bine) agayne." Bishop
Hooper on Jonas.
QUODGELL.
"Worthy of half a dozen good stripes with a quodgell." “Pasquin in
a Traunce."
I take the above modes of spelling to be derived from the Northern part of
our Island; the first may be merely the antient manner of spelling the word
qudleth; but from the
QUONTIENT.
Word quodgell (cudgell) above, and the word quontient (for contained) in a
Royal Grant to Edinburgh (1487), mentioned in Aust's “Guide “and other
Scottish books; I do verily believe it was only the Northern habit of
spelling words commencing with c or k.
REAP.
“Tarry patiently till God come which is ever ready to reap tyraunts from the
face of the earth." Tyndal's Preface to Genesis.
The words reap and rip are both Saxon. But Tyndal's word is more proper than
rip, because the similitude of reaping corn (that is, cutting and taking it
away) is the figure intended, and not merely cutting (that is, wounding).
Skinner, ab. Anglo Saxon. Falx. Messor.
REPRYSED.
For “began again." I have only found it once in that sense, and it is
therefore of no use.
“And then he reprysed again his journey." “Golden Legend."
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(delwedd D4519) (tudalen 191)
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
191
SLENTES.
“This pisto was very grave in weighty affairs, very pleasant in slentes and
jests." North's “Dial of Princes," 102.
I am sorry that I cannot find this word in any of our dictionaries, for it
sounds well, and is better than gifos, derived from the French.
SCANT.
Although Johnson tells us this adverb is obsolete, I am for retaining it He
has given four specimens of its use, which are very significant, and I will
add fourteen out of a great many more which I have met with.
' The soules there may scante have remembrance."
' But scante one among a thousand can be found."
'From which they may scantly and with great difficulty arise."
' He speaketh not of them that be friends, indeed such be very scante"
' Sleaall that came of him and not leve scant a dogge."
' Shall scant kepe himself from weeping."
1 So that scant the syxth part of that we had, is left us."
All from Bishop Fisher.
' That scant can awake for any calling or noise." ' He that is nought
yonge proceeding so in age Shall scant ever his viciousness asswage."
“So youth brought up in lewdness and in sinne Shall scant it scrape so cleane
out of his mind." “For the moste parte doth them both two forego
And yf he one hath, hard it is and scant." “He that still borrowes shall
scant him quite or redd." “Their wit scant worth a grote."
“Ship of Fools." "Butter should scant melt in their mouthes."
Latimer's “Sermons," 157.
[1820, Part I., pp. 411, 412.]
SPRINGALDES.
As much as to say, “a young springing shoot of a plant," says Bayley a
young man, a stripling. Adolescens, says Skinner, a verb, to spring,
germinate, etc. It was of frequent occurrence in old authors Ash mentions
only Spenser. Take the following from the Bishops' Bible:
“Spri ngaldes without any blemish, but well-favoured." Dan. i. 4.
“Wherefore should he see your faces worse lyking than the springaldes of your
age." Dan. i. 10.
"But in the hour of his death he called unto him his son Tobias, and
seven young springaldes, his sonne's children." Tobit v. 14.
SCRALL.
I have not found this word used for a collected number, or swarm, anywhere
but in Cranmer's, the Bishops', Tyndall's, and Taverner's Bibles.
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(delwedd D4520) (tudalen 192)
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192 Special Words.
"And the river shall scral with
frogs." Exod. viii.
“The river scrauled 'with the multitude of frogs, instead of fishes."
Wisdom xix.
SURQUEDRY.
Skinner, Johnson, and Bailey, all say that this word is derived from two
words of old French. I do not like it the better for that; but as Johnson
quotes Spenser and Donne, and I find it in Chaucer and in “Bochas “(as
below), it may as well keep its place.
“Here speketh Bochas againste the surquedous pride of them that trust in
rychesse." Head of chap. xvii.
"Lo, here the end of surquedy and pride." “Example of Saul."
"With Persians proud and surquedous." Book ii. cap. 2. "Or of
surquedy the porayle to do wrong." 45, b.
TARRAGE.
"Frute and apples take their tarrage.
"Where they first grew of the same tre." Lydgate's
"Bochas."
I am not aware of the derivation of this word. The words taste and flavour
are well substituted.
TOOT. [See ante, p. 170.]
Skinner doubts whether from the Latin tutus, intuitus, obtuitus; but Johnson
conjectures that toot is of Saxon origin, and quotes Spenser for the use of it
in the sense of to pry, to peep, to search narrowly, etc. I beg leave to add
the quotations following as an additional reason for retaining it if Saxon:
“Good man! him list not spend his idle meales In quinsing plovers, or in
wining quailes, Nor toot in Cheapside baskets earne and late To set the first
tooth in some novell cate."
Bishop Hall's "Virgi Demiarum," B. iv., s. 2. “Whow myght thou in
thy brother's eighe a bare mote loken, And in thyne owen eighe nought a beme
Men."
Pierce Plowman's “Crede."
“Then turned I agen whan I hadde al y toted" Ibid. “Hippocrates himself
stand tooting on his urinal." Decker. “Peeping, tooting,* and gasying at
that thynge which the Priest held up in his hands." Cranmer.
TREWANDISE.
“Such trewandise deserves great correction." "They were such
tre^uands and so busy-minded," etc. Calvin. "Truly poverte for all
thy truandise." "Bochas," 65, b. "Which han assailed him
to shende And with ther trowndise to blend." Chaucer.
f The tradesmen who watch the arrival of visitors at Worthing, to solicit
custom, are called footers; and their importunity tooting.
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(delwedd D4521) (tudalen 193)
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Explanation of Certain Antiquated Words.
193
The meaning of this word in the two first quotations is evidently weakness,
cowardice, etc. Ash gives truantdise as the act of playing truant. Johnson
says the verb to truant is from the French word truander, to beg about a
country, which is supported by the two latter quotations. It need not now be
used in either sense.
TROUNCED.
Skinner, Johnson, Bailey, and Ash make trouncing a derivative from the French
word tronson, a club, yet give the sense as punishing by some law process. I
am willing to believe that the common provincial phrase of “I'll trounce
you," meaning to beat or bruise with a stick or fists, is right, and
that the word should be used thus in common with the former sense, supported
as it is by its frequent occurrence, and the following passage from Tyndale's
and other Bibles (Judges iv.):
“But the Lorde trounsed Sisera and all hys charettes and all hys hoste with
the edge of the swerde."
UNHYLLc
"No man shall take his father's wife, nor unhyll hys father's
coveringe." Tyndall's and Matthew's Bible, Deut. xxii.
This word is full as proper as the thousand words compounded with un given by
the different lexicographers. Ash (from Cole) gives the word hill, to cover,
ergo, etc.
VOLUPERS.
"Thy chekes are lyke a pece of a pomgranate within thy volupers"
"Ballettes of Solomon," chap. vi. in Cranmer's Bible.
Query. Does this mean a covering for the head, or the hair, or tresses of the
head? Skinner and Ash say voluper means a kerchief (q. d. involucrum) Chaucer
makes it a cap in describing the young wife in the “Miller's Tale ":
“The tapes of hire white volupere Were of the same suit of hire colere."
And a night-cap in the “Reve's Tale ":
“And when she saw a white thing in hire eye She wend the clerk had wered a
-volupere."
[See note 57.] Yours, etc., OBSERVATOR.
Ancient Words used by Sternhold and Hopkins. [1825, Part I., p. 515.]
It is no more than justice to the memory of those worthy Tenderers of “the
whole Book of Psalms," Sternhold and Hopkins, to introduce into your
columns a glossary of some obsolete words used by them;
13
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(delwedd D4522) (tudalen 194)
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194 Special Words.
especially as they are accused of having
coined them to suit their own purposes, when "hampered for a
rhyme."
Apply, for ply:
"My God with plaints I did apply." Ps. xxx. Carefull (care-full),
full of care, oppressed with care:
“O Lord, on whom I do depend, Behold my carefull heart." “Humble
Suit," etc.
Dasht, confounded (used by Milton):
"Whoso they be that Him behold, Shall see his light most clear, Their
countenance shall not be dasht." Ps. xxxiv.
Dever (devoir, Fr.), synonymous with endeavour, which Johnson derives from
the same word:
“And those that do their dever To know the Lord." Ps. xxii.
Fact, for deed used in the same sense by Dryden:
“And purifie yet once again, My hainous crime and bloudy/act." Ps. li.
fain, for feign or fawn; to desire fondly (Spenser):
“Their tongues do glose and fain." Ps. v. Lin, to cease, to give over
(Spenser):
"To cry they do not lin" "Song of St. Ambrose." Prest
(pret, Fr.), ready at hand:
“But onely thou whose aid I crave, Whose mercy still is prest." “Humble
Suit," etc.
“Behold the wicked bend their bows, And make their arrows prest." Ps.
xi.
Shend, a word used by Spenser; but never in the sense which is intended to be
attached to it in this instance. It seems to be a corruption from shield and
defend:
"Me from mine enemies shend." Ps. xxv.
.[See note 58.] D. A. BRITON.
Yorkshire Words derived from [similar to] the German.
[1832, Part 11., pp. 413, 414-]
On looking over a paper in one of the early volumes of the
“Archseologia,"* which gives a list of words in the Yorkshire dialect, I
was struck by the great resemblance which maay of them bear to the German,
from whence I have no doubt they are derived. I here
[* See vol. xvii. pp. 138-167. "A List of ancient words at present used
in the mountainous districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire," by Robert
Willan.]
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(delwedd D4523) (tudalen 195)
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Yorkshire Words Similar to the German.
195
insert some, which may perhaps prove interesting to such of your readers as are
acquainted with the Teutonic tongue:
Bain (adj.), near, easy, obvious. The bainest gate signifies the shortest
way. From the German bahntw, to make accessible.
Seal, a hot, inflamed tumour; from G. beule, a swelling; modern English, a
boil.
Blate (adj.), bashful, from G. blade, same signification.
Cop, the head, from G. koph, same signification.
Growsome, ugly, frightful, from G. grausam, same signification.
Lief, willingly; liefer, more willing, from G. lieber.
Mun or Mund, the mouth, from G. mund, same signification.
Shock, twelve sheaves of corn, from G. schock, a heap of corn.
Stark, stiff, from G. starch, same signification.
Stoche, a stab with a weapon, from G. stochen, to thrust or poke. In
manufactories the person who attends to the fires is denominated a stoker.
Waite and Wake, to watch by a corpse, from G. wachen, to watch. Hence the
Irish wake, and the military bivouack.
Holts, hills covered with wood, from G. holz, a wood.
farand, a preparation for a journey, from G. fahren, to go.
From this word is derived the fare of our hackney coachmen, and the
expression, a sea or way faring man.
Walle, to boil, from G. wallen, same signification.
The possessors of the elective franchise at Taunton, Somerset, are
denominated Pot- Wallopers, or Boilers.
Whilk, which, from G. welcher, same signification.
Wighty, strong, active, from G. wichtig, weighty, powerful.
Geek, to toss the head, from G. geken, to be petulant, or to jeer anyone.
Beck, a mountain stream, from G. back, a brook.
Our Transatlantic brethren, who, as is well known, are of very mixed origin,
have incorporated a considerable number of Germanisms into their language.
Thus they denominate their morning libation, a gum tickler. This is not very
intelligible, until we discover that the German word gaum signifies the
palate. Again, to say of anyone that “he is the slimmest gentleman in all
Boston," would be considered as a term of reproach in America, though
certainly not here. The mystery, however, is solved, when we find that
schlimm, in the German, signifies mean or paltry. Rejecting, however, the
common dialect of the United States, I believe that a considerable proportion
of Teutonic will be found not only in our own, but even in the Southern
languages of Europe.
Yours, etc., H. PHILIPPS.
132
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196 Special Words.
"Words and Phrases of the Eighteenth
Century. [1867, Part II., pp. 357, 358.]
While reading the Tatler (1709, 1710), I met with certain curious and now
almost obsolete words and phrases, of which I send you a list, in order that
you may enshrine them together in one of your pages for the use of
philologists. Perhaps some of your readers can elucidate and explain this
verbal coinage of the time of Isaac Bickerstaff, who retired from the
censorship of Great Britain before you, Mr. Urban, took the editorial chair
at St. John's Gate.
Running stationers. "Upon the humble petition of running stationers,
etc., this paper may be had of them for the future at the price of one penny
“(No. 4). These were, I presume, itinerant newsvendors.
Forehead cloth. "Time will make wrinkles in spite of the lead forehead
cloth" (No. 16). This was evidently an article of the toilette. When was
it first used?
Toast. See No. 24 for a story of the time of Charles II., as to the origin of
the term. No. 31 says that it “was a new name found out by the wits, to make
a lady have the same effect as burridge in the glass when a man is
drinking."
Musty. “I ought to be informed whether he takes Spanish or musty" (No.
27). Musty was the name of a fashionable snuff. Chalmers, in his notes on the
Tatler, says, “A great quantity of musty snuff was captured in the Spanish
fleet which was taken or burnt at Vigo, in 1703. It soon became fashionable
to use no snuff but what had this musty flavour."
Groaning board. “I that have heard the groaning board “ (No. 44). This has
reference to an exhibition, in 1673, f an emi board, which, being touched
with a hot iron, emitted groaning sounds. Is this the origin of the phrase
referring to a table groaning under the weight of a feast? See Notes and
Queries, ist Ser., viii. 309, 397.
Owlers. "We understand by some owlers, old people die in France"
(No. 56). An cw/erwas a clandestine conveyer of contraband goods. See
Johnson's “Dictionary “and Wharton's “Law Lexicon." Blackstone says,
that owling was the offence of transporting wool or sheep out of the kingdom,
which was repealed by 5 Geo. IV. c. 47.
Plum. “At this day worth half a. plum “(No. 57). “Several who were phtms, or
very near it, became men of moderate fortunes “ (No. 100). A plum was a city
term for ^"100,000. See Notes and Queries, 2nd Ser., iv. 13, 99. and
Johnson's "Dictionary."
Slicer, Bosh, Bhie, Tow-row, Joab, Shat. “When a witling stands at a
coffee-house door, and sneers at those who pass by ... he is no longer
surnamed a slicer, but a man of fire is the word. . . . When to the plain
garb of gown and band a spark adds an incon
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(delwedd D4525) (tudalen 197)
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Words and Phrases of the Eighteenth
Century. 197
sistent long wig, we don't say now, { he boshes,' but ' there goes a smart
fellow.' If a virgin blushes, we no longer cry, ' She blues' He that drinks
until he stares is no more tow-row, but honest. What bright man says, ' I was
joabed by the Dean '?"... A shat is a tatler (No. 71).
Halfpence-throwing. In No. 77 is a reference to the then new fashion among
the Bucks of breaking windows with halfpence. The sportive gentlemen were
called nickers. Gay, in his “Trivia," says,
"His scatter'd pence the flying Nicker flings, And with the copper
shower the casement rings."
Dapper. The name of a fop distinguishable from an ordinary beau. A minute
description of one is given in Nos. 86 and 96.
Smart, Mettled fellow, Pretty fellow. Distinct species of the genus coxcomb
(Nos. 96 and 162).
Jingling chariot. A new and fashionable vehicle (Nos. 98 and 106). In No. 113
is a petition from "William Jingle, coach-maker and chair-maker of the
liberty of Westminster." Perhaps the jingling chariots were named after
him.
Wash-ball. A toilette perfumery (No. 101). Johnson says it is a ball of soap.
Wine brewer. A chemical operator who manufactured wines (No 131).
Wine painter. The like (No. 138).
Cat-stick. In No. 134 is a petition from a cock who objects to Shrove
Tuesday's sport of cock-throwing, “the batteries of cat-sticks, and a painful
lingering death."
Whetter. “Whetters, who drink themselves into an intermediate state of being
neither drunk nor sober" (No. 138). "The whetter is obliged to
refresh himself every moment with a liquor “(No. 141).
Goldsmith's notes. “His pocket-books are very neat and well-contrived, not
for keeping bank-bills or goldsmith's notes, I confess; but," etc. (No.
147). Bankers and scriveners were formerly called goldsmiths.
Punch nag. A well-set, stout horse. “And will you suffer care and inquietude
to have it said, as you pass by, ' Those are very pretty punch nags? “(No.
143.)
Oglers. “Gentlemen who look with deep attention on one object at the
play-houses, and are ever staring all round them in churches “ (No. 145).
Sheep-biter, Beef-eater. "Even to this day we use the word sheepbiter as
a term of reproach, as we do beef-eater in a respectful and honourable sense
“(No. 148).
Toss of a wig. The tie (No. 151).
Long campaign wig. A wig between two and three feet long (No. 155).
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(delwedd D4526) (tudalen 198)
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198 Special Words.
Sash window. Introduced as a novelty in
London (No. 162). See Notes and Queries, 2nd Sen, v. 147, 175.
Keeps a day. “A well-bred man would as soon call upon a lady who keeps a day,
at night, as on any day but that which she professes being at home" (No.
166).
Screens. "All false buyers at auctions, being only employed to hide
others “(No. 171).
Crack. “I saw my friend the upholsterer, whose crack towards politics I have
heretofore mentioned." This is further on elucidated by the phrase, “a
touch in the brain “(No. 178).
Noddle. The head (No. 178).
Bull-beggar. “A harmless bull-beggar, who delights to fright innocent
people" (No. 212). See Johnson's "Dictionary."
I am, etc., EDWARD J. WOOD.
Compounds in the English Language.
[1832, Part II., pp. 590-593-]
I wish Dr. Bosworth every success with his Anglo-Saxon Grammar. A more common
cultivation of the Gothic tongues would tend, I think, to check the growing
corruption of our own; by showing how it may be enriched from itself, and
therefore how little need we have of borrowing from Greek and Latin. Upon
this subject I have offered you a few thoughts before, but I would still, by
your kind permission, follow it a little further. [See note 59.]
The arguments in favour of the corruptions must, I think, be one or some of
the following:
i st. That we have not English equals to the words borrowed: or,
and. That the borrowed words are more meaning or more elegant than the
English equals; or,
3rd. That the use of Latin or Greek English distinguishes the learned from
the ignorant. Each of which arguments I will examine singly.
Now the first is not founded on strict truth, since we have English words
equal to some we have borrowed, such as yearly, annual; underground,
subterranean; bodily, corporal; heavenly, celestial; behead, to decapitate;
follow, to pursue; foretell, to predict; brotherhood, fraternity; Almighty,
Omnipotent; overhang, impend; and others.
But that the argument may stand good, it must be shown not only that we have
no English equals to the words borrowed, but that such could not be made; and
this has never been done. The truth is, that, till lately, the learned
commonly studied few other languages, but the Latin and Greek; and thus,
knowing little of the Gothic languages, and therefore not understanding the
nature and powers of the Saxon part of the English, they neglected it as a
useless relic of a
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(delwedd D4527) (tudalen 199)
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Compounds in the English Language. 199
rude tongue, of which nothing could be made and, as extending science brought
in a need of new words, they took them from those two great tongues of
antiquity, when they might have made them from simples of their own. We know
that the Latin and Greek have a fine aptness for forming compounds, a quality
that is not wanting in the English language or in any other; as may be shown
by hundreds of examples in any self-inriched tongue, Gothic, Sclavonic, or
otherwise.
Little objection can be made to such words as ironmonger , haymaker,
afterthought, overflow, undermine, selflove, penknife, eyelid; and even if it
were shown that the English simples would not blend well, the great
superiority of the Latin and Greek would not be wholly set up; for neither
did the simples of those languages blend well in their proper shapes, and to
make well sounding compounds, they were softened down by having their latter
letters altered or taken away, and with a trimming of this kind, the simples
of any other languages would make good compounds too. Instances of what I
mean are found in occurro for obcurro; impossibilis for inpossibilis; aufero,
abfero; ascendo, adscando; simplexiiom. sine plica; Ei^vctofoisu for
Eicwriviroi'su; MTjrgdcroX/s for Mjjr^g'jroX/j ', fft/oY^ar/wrjjg for
fftii'O'rgar/wrTj? and Others.
In my former papers I have shown that English compounds might be made from patterns
already in being; and I would here offer a few more.
Lorn, as we have it in lovelorn, is a participle of the old Saxon verb, to
lose; as verlohren is in German. Hence we may have,
Waylorn, having lost one's way. Glorylorn, having lost one's glory.
Reasonlorn, having lost one's reason. Childlorn, having lost a child
Mastlorn, having lost a mast. Hopelorn, having lost hope, etc.
Fare, is from the old verb to go (in German fahren), and means, a going, or
going; as fare, a going; thoroughfare, Agoing through: so that landfaring,
going by land; airfaring, going in a balloon; are quite as good English as
seafaring or wayfaring. Dom in kingdom, and doom, are from an old verb,
meaning to judge or rule; still found in Danish, as dommer “med hvad dom / db'mme"
etc., "with what judgment ye judge," etc.; so that the jurisdiction
of a chief, mayor, commissioner, or master, is as fitly a chiefdom, mayordom,
commissionerdom, or masterdom; as that of a king is a kingdom.
We may make many meaning and useful adjectives by the help of the word rich,
as the Germans do; as,
Shiprich, having much shipping.
Landrich, having much territory.
Minerich, having many mines.
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(delwedd D4528) (tudalen 200)
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2OO Special Words.
Fruitrich, producing much fruit.
Spicerich, producing many spices. Wordrich, copious in words, etc.
But it is useless to multiply examples. It may be said with safety that good English
compounds might be made for every case in which they might be needed.
We now come to the second argument, that the borrowed words are more meaning
or more elegant than the English equals; the first part of which may be soon
answered. To think that words of another tongue should be more nieaning to an
Englishman than those of his own is absurd; compounds made from simples which
he does know, must surely be more meaning than thoie made from such as he
does not know. Even to the learned such words as the following can only be
equally meaning with the English ones put against them, since they are
compounded of the very same simples: anthropophagi, maneaters; precursor,
forerunner; malevolence, illwill , mediterranean, midland.
The question of elegance is rather more weighty; but it must be allowed that
loftiness and elegance do not consist so much in words as in thoughts. A
common set of confused ideas, uttered in fine words, will no more make a
noble speech or writing, than a boy's scrawl, filled up with bright colours,
will make a fine picture. The fittest words one can use to utter a series of
thoughts, are those that will give those thoughts, and nothing more. The
elegance of an expression is in its shape, rather than in its sound; and it
is therefore the Italians say that to speak good Italian there should be una
Lingua Toscana in bocca Romana, because the Tuscan syntax is more elegant
than the Roman, though the accent is much less so. Such an expression as “to
see with half an eye," would be low in any language; because it would be
impossible to see at all with half an eye, and because the image it offers
the mind, that of a man looking at something with only half an eye in his
head, is ridiculous.
In comparing a few expressions, in which Latin verbs are used, with the like
expressions as they are shaped by the common people, we shall see that if the
Latin verbs make the former the more elegant, it is only in sound, since they
are compounded of the very same simples that are found in the latter.
Vulgar. I am not to be put upon.
Elegant. I am not to be imposed (im-pono) upon.
Here, since im means upon, and pono, to put; imposed means put upon. So that
the more elegant expression is, in truth, “I am not to on upon."
I looked out for you.
I expected (looked out, ex speeto} you.
I saw the upshut.
I saw the conclusion (shutting together, con-daudd).
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(delwedd D4529) (tudalen 201)
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Compounds in the English Language. 201
He was cast down.
He was dejected (cast down, dejactd).
He ran into debt.
He incurred (ran into, in currd) debts.
I set myself against it.
I opposed (set against, ob pond) it.
It was ptit out for sale.
It was exposed (put out, ex pono) for sale.
He stood to it that, etc.
He insisted on it that, etc. (insisted on, stood on on).
Now I do not bring forward these words to show they are useless, nor do I
want to see them put out of the language; I only wish to show that borrowed
compounds are often not so much more elegant than the English equals, as many
bare English scholars may think.
The style of Addison in the Spectator is much less latinized than that of
writers of our own time, and yet the great latinizer of the English language,
Dr. Johnson, records his sense of its elegance by observing that “whoever
will attain an English style, elegant but not ostentatious, must give his
days and nights to the volumes of Addison."
Few men will say that Byron has spoilt his poems by using many old English
words which others would have rejected; nor is it, I think, the opinion of
the learned that our version of the Bible would be bettered by being
latinized into the language of modern writers; and if it would not, I infer
that pure English is as fit for lofty subjects as the latinized.
But allowing even that every borrowed word, Latin, Greek, or French, adds to
the elegance of English; yet, what we gain in elegance we lose in purity and
regularity; and those things are of value, as well as the former; for, if
they are not, then Caesar's Commentaries would be as fine a composition
turned into law Latin, (in which we find shopa for a shop; laga, for law;
messuagium, house, etc.), as they are written by the General himself; and
Virgil would lose nothing of his loftiness by being turned into Macaronic
verse. Whereas we know that Macaronic Latin affects us in no other way but in
that of making us laugh; and as English words latinized make Macaronic Latin,
so Latin ones anglicised are Macaronic English.
But the learned, in their earnestness to inrich our language, have brought in
words for which we have scarcely any use which are scarcely ever wanted. How
often do we use such zsponderal, sciolous, anthropophy, pregustation,
preoccupate, prescind, transfretation? Are poets killed so often that we want
the word -vaticide 1 Or is venetate often used for the verb to poison? or
what great difference is there between a spherule and a globule?
The third argument (for I have heard it used) deserves but little notice.
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(delwedd D4530) (tudalen 202)
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2O2 Special Words.
In the first place it savours of vanity,
and in the next it is weak. If it be allowed, then our eastern scholars may
enrich our tongue by words from the Chinese, Turkish or Hindoostanee, to
place it still higher above common understanding. But the ignorant will
always distinguish themselves by their ignorance; for, though German is a
self-derived language, the common people do not speak it correctly, any more
than those of England do English.
Some object that the English has too many monosyllables to be fit for a grave
or lofty style; but the roots of all languages are chiefly monosyllables.
English compounds would not be monosyllables.
Having examined the arguments as I intended, I would now add a few thoughts
that have occurred to me while writing. The first is, that many words
borrowed from the Latin and Greek are badly chosen or compounded, since they
do not mean exactly what they should
Perambulator, for instance, is the name of an instrument that moves on a
wheel; though I do not think a Roman would have used the verb ambulo for such
a motion as that: ambulo, to walk, seems to have ambo in it, alluding to the
two legs.
Arithmeticians again talk of reduction ascending; though we know re means
backward or downward; so that a reduction ascending is really a bringing
dowmvards upwards. This is like the conjunction disjunctive of Grammarians,
an absurdity for a disjoining cannot be a joining together. It might be more
fitly called an oppositional conjunction.
Dis is often used for de, as in disfranchise, for defranchise; disjoin for
dejoin; disrobe for derobe; disembogue; and others: on which see a note in
Cassan's "Lives of the Bishops of Bath and Wells," p. 161. The
French, it is true, use the s in these cases, but they also use the e, so
that their des is still the Latin de, with an s for sound-sake. In
disembogue, bogue is from the Italian bocca, mouth; embogue (imboccare) is to
put into one's mouth; de embogue is the opposite, to put out of one's mouth.
Dis means about in different directions.
Subscription is often unfitly used for contribution; when an object is
written on paper, and people write their names underneath, with the sum they
mean to give towards it, they subscribe; but giving money without
underwriting one's name, is not a subscription.
Proscription is used for an outlawry, or a doom to death, whereas it rightly
means only an offering money in newspapers or handbills for the taking
offenders. When such persons among the Romans had withdrawn themselves, and
could not be found, their names, with the sums offered for their
apprehension, were written in the Capitol; and they were then very fitly said
to be proscripti (pro, for, scribo, to write), written for.
The adjective ending en, equal to the Latin, eus, as golden, aureus: wooden,
ligneus; woollen, made of wool; linen, made of lin (flax); is quite neglected
by the iv.a-r.ed, though the common people still use it
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(delwedd D4531) (tudalen 203)
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Compounds in the English Language. 203
regularly. Nor do I know why it should be less elegant to say a silken apron,
than a woollen cloth, or to talk of a floweren wreath, a strawen bonnet, or a
metallen spring, than of the golden age. The ending cannot be wholly useless,
since it makes the adjective different from the noun. A ivoodhouse is rightly
a house for wood, and a woodenhouse one made of wood; a. paper bag, a bag for
papers, andapaflern bag, one made of paper; an iron tool, one for working in
iron, and an ironen tool, one of iron, and so on.
There is a class of English nouns made from verbs by changing the hard sound
of k in the latter, into the soft one of ch; as,
from bake, comes batch; wake, watch;
break, breach;
speak, speech;
stick, stitch;
strike, streech (as in selling by streech measure).
According to this analogy, as much lime as is slaked at once would be a
slatch, and as much of anything as is taken at once would be a tatch.
After reading all these observations, Mr. Urban, some of your readers may be
ready to ask whether I would alter the English tongue so much as to put out
every Greek, Latin and French word, and take a Saxon one in its stead. Surely
not. It is neither possible, nor to be wished. I mean to show that it might
be much purer, and yet not less elegant than it is now, and that there is no
need of corrupting it further. I could wish the learned to study the nature
and power, and learn the value of the Saxon ground-work of our tongue, which
we know was so little understood a century or two since, that writers of that
time, thinking the s of the possessive case a corruption of his, and wishing
to be quite correct, wrote John his book, and Peter his horse, an error
which, if they had known anything of the Teutonic tongues, and had allowed
them to have a genitive case as well as the Latin, they might not have made.
The English are a great nation; and, as an Englishman, I am sorry that we
have not a language of our own; but that whenever we happen to conceive a
thought above that of a plough-boy, or produce anything beyond a pitch-fork,
we are obliged to borrow a word from others before we can utter it, or give
it a name; and, to conclude, as the English language is most rich in
literature of every kind, our writers should aim to purify and fix it, for,
if they go on corrupting it, their own writings, after some time, will not be
read without a glossary, perhaps not at alL
Yours, etc., W. BARNES.
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(delwedd D4532) (tudalen 204)
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2O4 Special Words.
Terms used at Cards.
[1791, Part I., p. 16.]
I remember to have read, some time since, in your Magazine, a very
satisfactory explanation of the several terms applied to cards. [See ante p.
no.] There are, however, some other particulars relating to them, which I
have not yet seen accounted for; and which, however trifling they may be
thought, I shall mention here, in hopes of seeing them commented upon by some
of your correspondents.
At the game of whist, when one of the parties reckons six, for instance, or
any other number, and the other none, why is it usual to say six love; and at
the conclusion of the game, U. P. or U. P. K. spells goslings? [See ante, p.
120.]
Suppose one of the players leads a card, with an intention for his partner to
trump it, and the next player unexpectedly puts on a trump, which the other
cannot beat, he is then said to p-ss in his boots. The tenth card is often
called the Welsh honour, and why?
The common people, in a great part of Yorkshire, invariably call diamonds,
picks. This I take to be from the French word piques, spades; but cannot
account for its being corruptly applied by them to the other suit.
Particular Adjectives, used only with Single Substantives.
[1793, Part I., p. 126.]
There are certain adjectives in our language, which are seldom or never
applied, unless perhaps metaphorically, to more than one particular
substantive; and I here propose to send you a list of them:
A chopping boy. A wall-eyed horse.
A boisterous wind. A skittish horse.
Hazy weather. Bandy-legged. A hare-brained, or crack-brained, Pur-blind.
or shake-brained fellow. A sheepish fellow.
A sallow complexion. Rabbit-mouthed.
Menial servants. Hare-lipped.
A heinous sin or crime. A wild-goose chace.
A seared conscience. A termagant woman.
Piping hot. Cotton-jawed.
A lumping penny-worth. Cater-cousins.
May wine. A hen-pecked fellow.
Brackish water. A salty bitch.
Troublous times. A pestilent fellow.
Foundrous roads. A hum-drum fellow.
A categorical answer. Aubourn hair. Leckerd blood
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(delwedd D4533) (tudalen 205)
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Uncommon Words Described. 205
These are what I at present recollect, but such as are attentive in reading
or conversation, will probably meet with many other expressions of the kind.
L. E. Uncommon Words Described.
[1786, Part II., p. 1019.]
I send you some extracts from the MSS. of my learned friend, and am,
Yours, etc., M. GREEN.
Bonfire not a fire made of bones, as your very respectable correspondent, the
Rector of Whittington, will have it, but a boonfire, a fire made of materials
obtained by begging. Boon, bone, bene, vet Angl. Petitio, preces. Lye, apud
Junii Etymologic. It is, I believe, customary in every part of this kingdom
for children to go about, begging materials for a bonfire, on the 5th of
November, and at other times. [See ante, p. 173.]
Son of a gun. I remember to have heard this phrase frequently when a child,
but as an expression rather of good-humour than reproach. It must, however,
have been originally of a very different kind, if I am right in supposing
that gun is a corruption of gong, a word used in Chaucer for the Temple of
Cloacina.
Imp, a word used in a good sense, as appears from Bale; "a membre
of his churche, an impe of his kingdome, a citizen of Heaven."
"Image of both Churches," signat. F., 8 b.
Cuckold. The woman who is false to her husband is said to plant horns
on his head. I know not how far back the idea of giving his head this
ornament may be traced, but it may be met with in “Artemidorus," lib.
ii., and I believe we must have recourse to a Greek epigram for an
illustration:
Offig sffw Tusoog xa7aXa,,ai/s; ov/t afooa^cav, Ksivov Afj.aXduas % ywr\ ifft
xiea$.
Antholog., Lib. ii.
Shakespeare and Ben Jonson seem both to have considered the horns in this
light. “Well, he may sleep in security, for he hath the horn of abundance,
and the lightness of his wife shines through it; and yet he cannot see,
though he has his own lanthorn to light him “(Second Part of Henry IV., Act
I., Scene 4).
“What! never sigh,
Be of good cheer, man; for thou art a cuckold. Tis done, 'tis done! nay, when
such flowing store, Plenty itself, falls in my wife's lap, The cornu-copa
will be mine, I know."
“Every Man in his Humour," Act iii. sc. 6.
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(delwedd D4534) (tudalen 206)
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2o6 Special Words.
[1787, Part I., p. 39.]
In regard to the etymologies, p. 1019 above in this month, I have the
following observations, which are at your service.
Son of a gun means neither more nor less than a soldier's brat, and is,
doubtless, as Mr. Green's learned friend suggests, often used jocularly.
Imp is used in a good sense in Speed's “Hist," p. 266; Stowe, p. 250;
Spenser, iii. 5, 53; and see Baxter ad Hor., xv. 7, 2. So when we say, an imp
of the devil, it is the adjunct that makes it a term of reproach.
T. Row.
Betar.*
[1835, Parti., p. 392.]
Your correspondent, J. I., p. 42, in your Number for January, mentions an
item contained in the accounts of St. Giles' parish, in Oxford, entitled,
betars, or betters. This item, he remarks, always occurs in connexion with
wax, or grease, for a “Judas light." This he conceives to have been an
image of the traitor, burnt for the amusement of the populace, in the same
way that the ancient mysteries were exhibited. He states that this word had
perplexed the antiquaries, and that even Anthony a-Wood had given it up; as,
says he, “Skinner's Dictionary hath not the word." Your correspondent
conjectures therefore that these betars, or betters, were bitter herbs
mingled with the grease, whose “ill-stench “arose with the burning of the
figure. Now the smell of many bitter herbs is fragrant and not offensive, as
that of rosemary and lavender; so that, if used on such occasions, they must
have rather been for a perfume than a stench. I apprehend, however, that the
meaning of the term may be ascertained without a reasonable doubt remaining.
In the district about Oldham, in Lancashire, the phrase among the common
people for supplying the fire with fuel, is to “beet the fire;" and had
your correspondent happened to refer to Lye, he would have seen the word
becan explained in this sense. He has “Betan jryp, struere focum, focum jam
deficientem refovere, ac denuo excitare." In the Leges Inae, that
entitled, “Dom be hacen irene, and paeter," or the ordeal, contains this
passage: “Et spargat Presbyter aquam sanctam super illos omnes, ac quilibet
eorum gustet aquam sanctam, et det illis omnibus librum osculandum, et signet
eos cruce Christi, nee emendetur ignis amplius, quum salutatio incipit"
3 na bete nan man J5 pyp na laenje fonne man |>a hal^unje onjmne." I
conceive, there fore, that, by a very usual mode, betar is derived from
becan; and
[* This and the following words should have appeared in their alphabetical
order in the 6rst part of this section, but they were accidentally omitted.]
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(delwedd D4535) (tudalen 207)
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Jews -harp Oreste. 207
that betars, or beters, are pieces of wood or coal for making the fire; very
useful matters in preparing the exhibition of burning in effigy the traitor
Judas. Yours, etc,
NOVITIUS. Jew's-harp.
[1786, Part IL,p. 665.]
The Jew-trump, m Jew's-harp, as it is often called (and indeed it has more of
the tone of a wire-strung harp than of a trumpet) is now a boy's instrument,
bought at fairs; it however was, it seems, an ancient instrument, for Mr.
Pennant informs us (" Tour to Scotland," p. 195) that one made of
gilt brass was found in Norway, deposited in an urn. The Scotch also have it
as well as we. There is an evident allusion in the name to the inhabitants of
Judaea; and I observe, that in Dodsley's “Old Plays," vol iv., p. 171,
Quick calls the Usurer, on account of his Jewish avarice, “a notable Jew's
trump." In the plate, however, of Jewish musical instruments, presented
to us by Calmet, in his Dictionary, nothing of this kind occurs; so that I
much suspect that there is corruption here of Jeu-trompc, a plaything, or
Play-tromp y as it is now only used by boys for that purpose.
Yours, etc., T. Row.
Oreste.
[1833, Part II., p. 200.]
W., of Oxford, says, "Among the privileges granted to the Abbey of
Waltham, temp. Ric. I., and also among those granted to the Priory of Pulton,
temp. Edward III., I find the right of oreste mentioned. I shall feel obliged
to any one of your philological and antiquarian readers, if he will favour me
with the meaning of the term."
[1835, Part L, p. 226.]
In the Gentleman's Magazine for September, 1833, is inserted a note from
"W., of Oxford," stating that among the privileges granted to the
Abbey of Waltham, temp. Ric. I., and also among those granted to the Priory
of Pulton, temp. Edw. III., he finds the right of oreste mentioned, and
requests an explanation of the meaning of the term. Other instances have
occurred, which, in the absence of this word from the existing Glossaries, it
may not be unimportant to insert. Amongst the Cart. Antiq. in the Tower, fol.
23, is a charter granted by Henry the Second to the Austin Canons of
Chichester,* in which he confirms to them the privileges of ordel and oreste.
F. 24 is a confirmation by Richard the First, in which the same terms are
employed. Edward the First confirms to the Church of St. Peter's, York,
amongst other privileges, those of ordel and orest, by a charter
* Dugdale, in the Monast. Anglic, torn. I, p. 183 (first edition), prints the
greater portion of this Charter from an inspeximus in Rot. Cart., 2 Edw. II.
n. 31, omitting the clause in which these terms are inserted.
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(delwedd D4536) (tudalen 208)
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208 Special Words.
in the 336 year of his reign, which may be
seen in Prynne's Records, vol. iii., p. 1104. In the Placita de quo Warranto,
pp. 18 and 19, it appears that Henry the Third granted to the Knights of St.
John of Jerusalem the privileges of ordel and oreste. So much for the
instances; the meaning and etymology now demand notice. Orest is synonymous
with battle, a privilege which was frequently granted to ecclesiastical
establishments. Excepting in charters, the only instance in which this term
has been found is in the "Saxon Chronicle" under the year 1096,
where it is said that Goffrei Bainard accused William of Ore, “and him hit on
gefeaht, and hine on orreste ofercorn." As no examples of its use are
known in pure Saxon, and as we know that it is common in the Scandinavian
tongues (Ihre, vol. ii., p. 295), it is probable that the Northmen carried
the name and custom with them from Denmark into Normandy, and thence into our
own island.
Tontine.
[1791, Art /.,/. 27.]
Your correspondent Scrutator having requested an explanation of the word
tontine, I'll thank you to insert the following in your next Magazine, if you
think it worth noticing.
PAUL GEMSEGE, jun.
The word tontine is only a cant word, derived from the name of an Italian
projector. This was one Laurence Tonti, a creature of Cardinal Mazarine; who,
finding the people extremely out of humour with his eminency's administration,
imagined he could reconcile them by a proposal of making people rich in an
instant, without trouble or pains. His scheme was a lottery of annuities,
with survivorship, which he proposed in 1653, with the consent of the court,
but the parliament would not register the edict. Three years after he tried
his project again for building a stone bridge over the Seine, when it had
both the favour of the court and the sanction of parliament, under the title
of Banque Royale, but it failed again; for somebody having given it the
unlucky name of Tontine, nobody in Paris would trust his money in a lottery
that had an Italian title. The last attempt poor Tonti made was to get his
plan adopted by the clergy for the payment of their debts; but though they
acknowledged the ingenuity of it, they rejected it as unfit for their
purpose.
Such was the invention of the Tontine. If it is not trespassing too much upon
you, I will now shew when it first came into use. When Lewis XIV. was
distressed by the league of Augsburg, and granted money beyond what the
revenues of the kingdom would furnish, for supplying his enormous expences,
he had recourse to the plans of Tonti, which, though long laid aside, were
not forgotten; and by an edict in 1689 created a Tontine Royale of 1,400,000
T'ontine.
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(delwedd D4537) (tudalen 209)
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209
livres annual rent, divided into fourteen
classes. The actions were 300 livres apiece, and the proprietors were to receive
^10 per cent, with benefit of survivorship in every class. This scheme was
executed but very imperfectly; for none of the classes rose to above 25,000
livres, instead of 100,000, according to the original institution; though the
annuities were very regularly paid. A few years after, the people seeming in
better humour for projects of this kind, another Tontine was erected upon
nearly the same terms, but this was never above half full. They both
subsisted in the year 1726, when the French King united the i3th class of the
first Tontine with the i4th of the second; all the actions of which were
possessed by Charlotte Bonnemay, widow of Lewis Barbier, a surgeon of Paris,
who died at the age of 96.
This gentlewoman had ventured 300 livres in each Tontine; and in the last
year of her life she had for her annuity 73,500 livres, or about ^3,600 a
year, for about ^30.
P. G.
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Names of Persons and Places.
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(delwedd D4539) (tudalen 213)
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NAMES OF PERSONS AND PLACES. Observations
on Surnames. . 119.]
MR. CAMDEN will inform you, in his "Remains concerning Britain,"
that a large part of our Sirnames are borrowed from names of places. At first
they were written, Robert de Marisco, Anthony aWood or at Wood (whence our
names of Wood and Atwood), Richard de Gravesend, etc. In process of time, the
preposition, or connecting particle, was dropt, for the sake of currency and
expedition, both in speaking and writing; and hence there has arisen a degree
of obscurity in respect of this species of Sirnames; for, as these additional
distinctions were sometimes taken from obscure villages (obscure at least
now), and known but to few, the original of the names of many persons is
grown to be very intricate, and, indeed, entirely unknown to those who are
not attentive to this mode of derivation. The following short list of
Sirnames deduced from names of places (short, indeed, being only intended as
a specimen, and containing only a few in each letter of the Alphabet), will
be abundantly sufficient, both to explain my meaning, and to shew, that
certain of our Sirnames, in appearance very singular, and even uncouth, have,
nevertheless, a most natural and easy original, and also obvious to those who
happen to live near, or to be acquainted with the names of, the respective
places.
'Tis possible, indeed, that, in here and there an instance, the village may
take its name from the proprietor, quite contrary to the position laid down
above; but this, I apprehend, happens very rarely, the names of the owners
being usually conjoined with that of the village, being sometimes prefixed,
and sometimes postponed, as Monks Risborough, Newport Pagnel, etc.
I observe, again, that some of our Sirnames or Surnames (for the word is
written both ways) are taken from places abroad, Percy, Danvers, Dawes, etc.,
others (though not many) from villages in
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(delwedd D4540) (tudalen 214)
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214
Names of Persons and Places.
Scotland or Ireland, which, nevertheless,
are now become right and legitimate English Sirnames; but these I do not concern
myself with at present, intending the list shall extend only to English towns
and villages.
It may be observed, lastly, that, in all probability, the stocks of such
families as are denominated from places, were all once formerly growing at
the respective places whose names they bear; and, consequently, that such
families sprung originally from thence.
Here follows our short list:
Annesley, Nott. Ayskew, Yorksh. Aldrich,
Staff. Arthington, York. Aislabie, York. Aglionby, Cumb. Barrowby, Leic. Biddulph,
Staff. Beresford, Staff. Blackburn, Lane. Bowes, York. Bernardiston, Suff.
Charlton, passim* Cave, Leic. Crowle, York. Cudworth, Surry. Cholmondley,
Chesh. Crewe, Chesh. Daintry, Northamp. Dalton, passim. Dacre, Cumb. Dale,
passim. Danby, York. Dart, Dev. Ellerby, York. Emerton, Bucks. Eden, passim.
Enderby, Leic. Egerton, Kent Elton, passim. Fazakerley, Lane. Farewell,
Staff. Fetherstonhaugh, North. Feckenham, Wore.
Frampton, Dorset. Fulham, Middlesex.
Gisborne, Lane. Gray, Essex. Goring, Sussex. Green, passim. Grafton, passim.
Gresham, Norf. Hastings, Suff. Holland, Lincoln. Heath, York. Horsemonden,
Kent. Hawkesworth, Nott. Hooker, Lane. Ince, Chesh. Islip, Oxen. Ingleby,
Line. Irby, Line. Inglefield, Berks. Ireton, Derbysh. Kirby, passim. Kettlewell,
York. Kenton, Middlesex. Kennet, Wilts. Ketleby, Line. Kimber, Bucks. Leake,
Nott Layland, Lane. Lydgate, Suff. Lumley, Durham. Ladbrooke, Wanv. Lee,
passim. Milton, passim. Middleton, passim.
* Passim is here used generally, to
signify that the name is common to all counties.
Observations on Surnames.
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(delwedd D4541) (tudalen 215)
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215
Mnrkham, Nott. Musgrave, Westm. Manby, Line.
Marsh, passim. Norton, passim, Newton, passim. Newbold, passim. Newdigate,
Surry. Newnham, Gloc. Narborough, Norf. Otley, York. Oldham, Lane.
Osbaldiston, Lane. Oglethorpe, York. Ofley, Staff. Okeley, passim. Pinchbeck,
Line. Packington, Leic. Pickering, York. Paulet, Som. Poynton, Chesh. Pelham,
Hertf. Russel, Wore. Raleigh, Essex. Ratcliffe, Lane. Radford, Warw.
Radley, Berks. Ramsey, Essex. Stanhope,
Durh. Skelton, passim. Stillingfleet, York. Stukely, Hunt. Shenstone, Staff.
Sutton, passim. Thornhill, York. Thornton, York. Thoresby, York. Trevor,
Wales. Tatton, Chesh. Tylney, Nott. Vernon, Chesh. Upton, passim. Urswick,
Lane, Whitgift, York. Walpole, Norf. Wintringham, Line. Wentworth, York.
Willoughby, Line. Windham, Norf. Yalden, Kent. Yardley, Hertf. Yarborough,
Lincoln.
I am, Sir, your humble Servant, T. Row.
[1772, /. 178.]
I send you the following instance, by way of addition to the observations of
Mr. Row, in your last; which may serve to shew that other families may,
probably, take their names from places, though no such places are now to be
found, having changed their ancient names. Redbridge, in Hampshire, Camden
tells us, before the bridge was erected, was called Redeford, Arundinis
Vadum, from the reeds growing at the ford, or shallow passage of the river.
This place gave name to a family of note. Sir Henry de Redeford was Speaker
of the House of Commons, in the Parliament held at Coventry the 6th of Henry
IV. He attended the House when they presented their address for seizing the revenues
of the clergy.
[i772,A>. 253, 254.]
I am now going to point out to you another fruitful source of our present
English Sirnames, viz., of Christian names converted, by the omission of
JFilius, the Latin, and fits, the French, into common
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(delwedd D4542) (tudalen 216)
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2 1 6 Names of Persons and Places.
Sirnames. These are, properly, what the Greeks and Romans called patronymics;
at least, they possess much of the nature of them: and there are some of them
very singular and uncouth to us at this day, insomuch that many are really at
a loss for the original and the ety mology of such grotesque appellations as
Godscalch, Bagot, Thurstan, etc. The Saxons, our ancestors, made little use
of Scripture names, John, Thomas, etc., so that their Christian names are
extremely numerous, much more so than ours; and they seldom called a son by
the name of his father, which was a right measure, as it prevented confusion
of persons in many cases. Godwin, Earl of Kent, had six, or, according to
some authors, seven sons, and yet not one of them bore his name. This
circumstance, again, occasioned a further variety of names amongst them. The
next observation is that, in regard to the difference of orthography, some
persons writing Surname, and others Sirname, they are both right, though not
in the same respect I shall explain this in few words: those who write the
term Surname alledge, and they have reason, that this form, from the French Surname,
must be the true orthography; because this distinguishing name, which became
perfectly necessary after the use of Scripture Christian names was
introduced, and there were many Johns and Thomas's in the same place, was
originally written over the Christian name, or added to it; either of which
well justifies the sense of the prefix, Sur; and for this custom they vouch
many instances from old rolls and records. Others, however, are equally right
in giving it Sirname, or Sirename; because this so well expresses the nature
of the thing, wherever the appellation comes from the name of the Sire, or
ancestor, with Htz or Son understood. Both, therefore, are proper, but upon
different considerations. But you will say, Are we, in writing correctly, to
be always at the trouble of recollecting the original, and the nature of the
name, when we are to express this addition, and to be perpetually considering
whether we ought to write Sirname or Surname? I answer, There will be no
occasion for this, gentlemen being at liberty to use which they please, since
it will be always understood what it is they mean. Besides that figure, which
we call Catachresis, or an abuse of words, is readily admitted in all
languages, and, in this case, is not only pardonable, but even reasonable. I
shall add, thirdly, that many of the Sirnames, which I shall produce,
appearing very odd and singular, those gentlemen that bear them, and have not
thought upon the subject, will not be displeased, I flatter myself, to see
these appendages, so intimately united to themselves and their own persons,
clearly decyphered, and, as it is hoped, in such manner as may both gratify
their cuiiosity and procure their amusement. And whoever, fourthly, will
please to recollect what pains have been taken by Sigonius, Salmasius,
Rosinus, and others, in regard to the Roman names, will incline to think that
no apology need be made for our producing the assemblage com
Observations on Surnames.
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(delwedd D4543) (tudalen 217)
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217
prized in the following alphabet to the
public; especially when it is remembered that many Roman Sirnames, as we may
stile them, were formed, as the antiquaries tell us, from their pranomina, as
is exactly the case here: and that Mr. Camden, in his "Remains,"
has actually omitted this large tribe of our English Sirnames. I add, lastly,
in regard to our list, which I intend shall follow in the next number of your
Magazine, that, in names that are not very obvious (I speak of Christian
names), I shall produce examples, leaving the more common ones to approve
themselves; and, as to the Sirnames, gentlemen will easily recollect families
amongst their acquaintance of such names: and, I make no question, that there
are many more cases of the kind than I shall mention, it being not in the
least pretended, that the catalogue I propose to give, though tolerably
large, is by any means complete.
T. Row.
[1772, pp. 318-320.]
The Alphabet I promised in your last number, and there referred to, goes as
follows:
Amsel: Anselm, abp. of Canterb.
Austin: Augustinus.
Allen: Alein, Chron. Sax. Alanus,
Earl of Bretagne. Awbrey: Alberic, fam. of Vere,
Earl of Oxford. Avery: the same. Amory, or Emery: Hamalri,
Chron. Sax. Almericus, or Al
maricus, or Emericus. Arnold: common. Avis and Avice: Avisia, Hawisa,
and Hawisia, names of women. Anstis: Anastasius, Anastatia,
Anstase.
Ayscough, or Askew: Asculphus. Alphey: Alphege, abp. of Canterb. Alpheg,
Domesday. Aldelur: Domesday-book. Ancher: Ealchere, Chron. Sax.
and Domesday. Anger: Ansger, Domesday. Bright: Briht, Chron. Sax. Brand:
Chron. Sax. Baynard: Chron. Sax.
Bernard and Barnard: St. Bernard.
Bely: British.
Bennet: i.e., Benedict
Brandon: Brendanus.
Baldwin: abp. of Cant.
Bartram: Bertran, or Bertrand.
Brian: Chron. Sax.
Bardolph: A. Wood, Hist., p. 88, Domesday.
Bevis: Bogo in Latin; Bevis of Southampton.
Blanch, or Blanc: common name.
Blase: Bp. Blase.
Bagot: Domesday-book.
Baldric: Baldericus, Domesday.
Belcher, Beecher: Belchard, Domesd.
Berenger: Berengarius, a writer of the nth century.
Berner: Bernerius, Domesday.
Bise: Biso, Domesday.
Blethin: British.
Chown: Chun, British.
Cuthbert: Saint at Durham.
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(delwedd D4544) (tudalen 218)
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218
Names of Persons and Places.
Clements: Common. Coleman: Bede, and
Chron. Sax. Cradock: Caradoc, British. Cadman: Casdmon, Sax., or Ca
tamannus, British. Christian: common woman's
name.
Clare: St. Clara. Caesar. Cnute, or Knowd: Canutus or
Cnutus.
Carbonell, Domesday. Chetell, Kettell: Ketellus, Domesday.
Coif: Colfius, Domesday. Corbet: Domesday. Corven, or Corwen: Domesday.
Crouch: Croce, Domesday. Calf: Domesday. Collins: son of Colin. Dudley,
common. Dunstan: a Saint, abp. of Canterbury. Dennis: Dionysius, French
Saint,
St. Dennis. Durand, or Durant: Durandus
and Durantus. Drew: Dru, Domesday; Drugo,
or Drogo, Latin. Degory, common. Duncan, common in Scotland. Dun: Chron. Sax.
if not from the
complexion.
Ellis: corruption of Elias. Elmer: ./Elmer, Chron. Sax. and
Domesday. Everet: Everard, bp. of Norwich,
and fam. of Digby. Edolph: Eadulph, Chron. Sax.
and Domesday. Emery, v. Amory. Edwin: common Saxon name. Evans: Brit, for
John. Eachard: Wood, Hist., p. 58,
Achard, Domesday. Eddy, Domesday.
Egenulph, Domesday; Eugen
ulfus, fam. of Ferrers. Ede: Eudo, Domesday. Edern, Brit Etty, v. Eddy. Fulk:
Fulco and Falcasius, Earl
of Anjou.
Farant: Ital. and Fr. for Ferdinand.
Frederick and Ferry, common. Fabian: a Pope and in Domesday. Fulcher: Dugd.
Warw., p. 475,
and Monast., ii., p. 231, 628. Frewen: Freawine, Chron. Sax. Giffard: Chron.
Sax. Gertrude, common; a Saint. Gethin: Brit. Gittin. Godard, common.
Goodman: Godman, Ingulph,
p. 52. Gerard, Gerald, and Garret:
Girard, Chron. Sax. Gesil, or Sitsil, Brit. Gerald, v. Gerard. Garret, v.
Gerard. Gowen, Brit. v. Walwyn. Godwyn: Earl, temp. Edw. Conf. Guy: Guido, or
Wido, Chron.
Sax.
German: a famous Saint. Gladwin: Saxon. Gunter: Ingulph, p. 101; A.
Wood, Hist, p. 84. Goody: Godiva, or Goditha,
woman's name. Godeschal: Godescallus, P. Blc
sensis, p. 120; Camden, Col.
cclix.
Godrick: Domesday. Griffith and Griffin: Brit. Gamlin: Domesday and Chaucer.
Gamble: Gamel, Sax. Girth: a brother of Harold's. Gosling, or Gowline, or
Joscelin,
Gotcelinus.
Observations on Surnames.
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(delwedd D4545) (tudalen 219)
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219
Goodluck: Godlucus, Doomsday.
Grimes, Domesday; hence Grimsby, com. Line.
Grimbald: a Saint; Grimbaldus, Domesday.
Guncelin: Domesday.
Guthlake: St. Guthlac, Domesday.
Heward: Domesday.
Hesketh: Askaeth, and Hascuith, Domesday; so Hascoit and Hasculph, in fam. of
Musard.
Herbert: Chron. Sax.
Harvey and Hervey: Bishop of Ely, Skelton, and fam. of Bagot.
Hibbert and Hubbard: Hubert.
Hubald, Domesday.
Hamond: Hamo, common.
Harman and Herman, Chron. Sax.
Huldrick, Domesday.
Harold: Kings of England.
Hoel and Howel, Brit.
Hanselin: Anselin, Domesday.
[i 772, pp. 367,368.]
Kennet, Keneth, Scottish kings.
Knowd, v. Cnute.
Ketell, v. Chetell.
Liming, Domesday.
Lambert, and Lambarde, abp. of
Cant. Lucy: Lucius, or Lucia. M.
Paris, p. 576. Leverick, and Laverack: Leofric,
and Levericus. Annal. Burton,
p. 247.
St. Leger; De Santo Leodegario. Lefwin: Leofwin, common Sax.
name; written also Lewen, as
in Domesday and P. Bles. p.
116. Lewen, v. Lefwia
Hode and Hood: Odo or Oddo, abp. of Cant,
and bp. of Baieux, v. Otes, below, and Ottey.
Hake: Haco and Hacun, Chron. Sax.
Hamelin: Domesd. and Dugd. Bar. i. p. 75.
Harding: Domesd. and Ingulph,
P- 87
Hasting, Domesday. Herebrand, Domesday. Herward, Chron. Sax. Howard,
Domesday. Jennet: woman's name, common
in France.
Jeffrey: Galfridus, common. Jordan: Dr. Thornton, p. 439. Josceline, v.
Gosling. Joyce: Jodoca or Jocosa, woman's
name. Ingram: Ingelramus or Engel
ramus, common. Jernegan, Domesday. Jolland: Jollan, Domesday. Ivo, or Ive,
Domesday. Ithell, Brit.
Levin, and Levinz, Domesday. Livin,
Camden; Lifing, Chron. Sax.
Maurice, and Morris: Mauritius, the Saint.
Merfin: Merefinus, Mervin, Brit.
Meredith, Brit.
Merrick: Meric, Brit
Milicent, woman's name.
Muriel, woman's name.
Miles: Milo, common.
Maud, and Mawd: Matilda, woman's name.
Mallet, Chron. Sax.
Mabel, Mabilia, Mabella, or Amabilia.
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22O
Names of Persons and Places.
Mauger: Malgerius, Rapin i., p.
165. Madocks, or Madox: Madoc,
Brit.
Morgan, Brit
Macy, or Massey, Domesday. Maino, Domesday. Maynard, Domesday, Camden,
P-73
Murdac, Domesday. Murfin, v. Merfin. Neale, Nigellus, bp. of Ely; Niel,
Chron. Sax. Noel: Natalis. Camden, p. 128,
thinks it may be from the time
when born. Norman, Chron. Sax. Ingulph.
p. 10; Dugd. Bar. i., p. 8. Otwell: Ottuel, Chron. Sax. Omer: Eomer, Chron.
Sax. Au
domarus, a Saint. Orson: Urso, Domesday; Dugd.
Mon. iii. p. 261. Urse, whence
Fitz-Urse.
Otes: Otho, or Odo, v. Hode. Ottey: a nick-name from Odo, or
Eudo, v. Hode. Oswald: a Saint. Owen, Brit Audoenus, or Euge
nius. Osborne: Rapin i., p. 168. Os
bern, Chron. Sax. Oger, Domesday. Olave, the Saint, and in Domesday.
Orme, Domesday. Other: Ohter, Chron. Sax. Ougthred, v. Uctred. Parnel:
Woman's name, Petro
nilla. Pigot. Ingulph. p. 87. It may
be a surname, meaning speckled,
Camden, p. 129. Paine, or Payne: Paganus,
Domesday; Spelm. Gloss., p.
443
Paganel,or Painel: Spelm. Gloss.,
P- 443
Percival, common.
Pascal, several Popes. Camden, p. 128, thinks it may be, in some cases, from
the time when born.
Paulin: Paulinus, abp. of York.
Picotte, Domesday.
Pipard, Domesday.
Pontz, or Poyntz, Domesday.
Puntz, v. Pontz.
Pritchard: Brit, ap Richard.
Price: Brit ap Rice.
Pugh: Brit, ap Hugh.
Powel: Brit, ap Hoel, or Howel.
St. Quintin: Quintinus, the Saint.
Rothery: Rodericus.
Rudd: Rhudd, Brit.
Rolie: Raoul, the French of Radulph, Ralph, Raulf, and Ralf.
Ralph, v. Rolie.
Reynard and Rainer, Domesday; Reynardus, Camden, p. 73.
Reynold: Sax. Regnold and Regenold, etc.
Rose, woman's name.
Randal and Randolph, common Christian name.
Raymond, Earls of Provence.
Remy: Remige, Remy, from Remigius, a Saint.
Rolf, Domesday.
Rotrock, Domesday.
Sitsil, v. Gesil.
Seymour: St. Maur, Semarus, Domesday.
Star and Stor, Domesday.
Sewal and Sewald, Siwald, Domesday.
Seward: Siward, Sax. Earl.
Siwald, v. Sewal.
Silvester, several Popes.
Sanders and Saunders, nursename from Alexander.
Sebright: Saebyrht, Chron. Sax.;
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Observations on Surnames.
corrupted of Sigebert, Camden,
p. 87.
Sampson, common. Sehvyn, Saxon. Sidney, common. Savery: Savaricus. Searle:
Serlo, very common formerly. Sayer: Saerus, M. Westmin., p.
280; Domesday. Sankey: Sancho, Span. Staverd, Domesday. Swain: the king.
Sentlo: de Sancto Lupo, or de
Sancto Laudo. Semarton: St. Martin. Seimple, or Sampol, i.e., St. Paul.
Sampiere, or St. Piere: St. Peter. Samond, or Samon: de Sane.
Amando. Simberd, or St. Barbe: de Sancta
Barbara.
Sinclair: de Sancta Clara. Sinliz, Singlis, or Sanliz: De
Sancto Lizio. Toly: a crasis for St. Olye, i.e.,
St. Olave.
St. Tabbe, i.e., St. Ebbe: Cam
den, p. 123. St. Tows, i.e., St. Osythe: Cam
den, ibidem. Tristram, common. Thurstan, abp. of York. Tancred, common.
Theobold, abp. of Canterbury. Terrick and Terry: Theoderick. Tudor: Brit.
Theodore. Talbot, Domesday. Tovy, Domesday. Turgod, or Thoroughgood: Tur
gotus, Ingulphus. Thorold: Dugd. Baron, and In
gulph.
Vincent, many writers. Vivian: Wood, Hist, ii., p. 390. Uctred, or Oughtred:
Chron .
Sax. and Domesday. Ulmer, Domesday. Walter, common. Wulstan and Wolston, a
Saint. Walwyn, or Gawen: Brit. Warin: Guarinus. Wishart: VViscard, or Guiscard.
Wade, Domesday. Walerand: Walaram, Chron. Sax.
Here ends my imperfect list; and I shall
only observe upon it: ist, That the families bearing names of this kind are
generally old, our earliest distinctions being by the Fiiz, afterwards
dropped or omitted. 2ndly, The British or Welch, as likewise the Scots, had
their ap and ab, wtf^and mac, in the same manner as we had our Fitz, but in
many cases have left them off. 3rdly, I think it very remarkable, that, in
Dr. Fidde's “Life of Cardinal Wolsey," Edmund Bonner, bishop of London,
is called Dr. Edmunds, and Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, Dr.
Stephens. These prelates, indeed, had no children; but these instances may
serve to show, nevertheless, with what facility Christian names would pass
into surnames, in cases where there were children. I am, Sir, etc.
T. Row.
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(delwedd D4548) (tudalen 222)
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222 Names of Persons and Places.
[1772, //. 468-470.]
Names are a part of language, and have always been considered as such: but
this is subject to flux and reflux:
"Multa renascentur quoe jam cecklere, cadentque Qua; mine sunt in honore
vocabula."
Hor. [De Arte Poetica, 70.]
And not only that, but when new arts, trades, customs, or professions, are
introduced into a country, they naturally prove a mint of new words and new
names; and trades, occupations, conditions, and stations of life, are known
to be no inconsiderable source of our English Sirnames.* Thus, in time of
war, there is always a coining, or adoption at least, of new words and terms
of art, a naturalization of some foreign modes of expression, and the like:
hence platoon, canton, battalion, manoeuvre, and a thousand more. And it can
hardly be imagined, what a large influx we have had into our mixed language,
of words and terms unknown to our ancestors, since the Restoration, or even
since the Revolution; banking, stock-jobbing, taxes, excise, together with
long and frequent wars, and the cultivation of arts and sciences, having
produced, in the short space of one century, a most immense crop of mere
modern diction.
Now, it must be supposed, to return to names, that, since they depend, in
this manner, upon the fashions and customs of times, whenever any old
practices are laid aside, or grow into disuse, such names will, in process of
time, be attended with some degree of obscurity, especially to the
inadvertent and inconsiderate. This is particularly noted by Mr. Camden.t And
'tis certain, that, at this day, we have many names amongst us, which, being
taken from customs and practices now obsolete, from archery or hawking, for
example, are very unintelligible to many. I think the case was no other
amongst the Romans; Virgil deduces the name of the Julian family from Juhis,
the Sergian from Strgestus, and the Cluentian from Cloanthus; but this is all
adulation, poetical licence, and invention, and to me plainly shows, that the
meaning of those names was, in the Augustan age, entirely lost and unknown;
nay, it appears from ALL Spartianus, that, in his time, they knew not well
what to make of the agnomen Ccesar.
It has happened again, sometimes, that the arts or customs have continued in
being, and yet the professors and users of them have, through the common and
daily alteration of language, acquired new appellations; thus he, whom
Chaucer and Shakespeare call a shipman, is now a mariner; a parker is now
termed a keeper, that is, a park-keeper; and so on. And this mutation, or
modern change of names, will necessarily prove the parent of some obscurity
in respect of the older designations, seme of which, by this means, may
become
* See Camden's Remains. f Ibid.
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(delwedd D4549) (tudalen 223)
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Observations on Surnames. 221
\j
difficult to enucleate. This observation, Mr. Urban, will cause me to divide
this memoir into two branches, one to include such sirnames as are borrowed
from trades, occupations, professions, and conditions of life, as here and in
this country are now gone into desuetude; and the latter to contain those,
which, though the trades, etc., do continue with us to this day, yet the
occupiers of them are now differently styled. I am in hopes that both
branches, as they import matters of some curiosity, may contribute to amuse
and entertain some of your readers at least.
Sirnames derived from Trades, Occupations, Professions, and Conditions of
Life, now obsolete.
Archer: there is a noble family of this name.
Arrowsmith: so named from the old trade of making the heads of arrows.
Armitage: corrupted from Hermitage.
Abbot.
Arblaster: Balistarh:s in Latin.
Billman: the bill was an instrument much used in war, and by watchmen.
Bowes: De arcubus, Campbell's "Lives of the Admirals," iv., p. 267.
Bowman: Ibidem,
Butts: the place of exercising with the bow and arrow.
Boulter: from bolting or sifting flour; or, perhaps, a maker of arrowheads,
v. Shotbolt.
Bowyer: he that made or sold bows.
Broadspear: the spear is now little used.
Breakspeare, v. Broadspear.
Benbow, quasi Bend-bow. Campbell, iv., p. 267.
Cardinal.
Crosier: the ancient pastoral staff of our prelates.
Forester, and by contraction Forster; an officer of account whilst the Forest
laws were in force.
Foster: from fostering or nursing; the first of which is now little used.
Fortescu, quasi Strong shield. The shield is now out of use.
Friar.
Fletcher: he whose business it was to finish, or put the feathers to the
arrows, from the English word \.Q fledge; or, perhaps, a maker of arrows,
from the French flcche.
Forbisher: in Latin Forbator, v. Spelman's Gloss, in voce; called from
furbishing, i.e. cleansing and brightening of armour. It is not the Saxon
ppmunge, as Spelman derives it; but is the French fourbir, whence they have
the term Fourbisseur, in the same sense.
Falkncr: a falconer.
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(delwedd D4550) (tudalen 224)
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224 Names of Persons and Places.
Hawker: one that sports with hawks; and not from hawking or
pedling, though, in some cases, perhaps, from this last. Hookeman: the hook
was anciently a warlike instrument. Minors: this, I suppose, may be taken
from the friars minors, or
grey friars, but quere; for see Camden, p. 150. Moigne, or Monke: the French
is La Moine, as appears from the
genealogy of Gen. Monke. Massinger: denominated, I suppose, from the mass. We
have a
good comic poet of this name. Masters: De monasteriis. Camden, p. 150. Nun.
Prevost: Lat. prcepositus, but immediately taken from the French. Pike: an
instrument of war now disused; but q. pike, the fish, as
Camden, p. 130.
Prior: this has relation to that monastic officer. Pope: he has nothing to do
here now. Pyle: so called from the head or pile of the arrow. Pilgrim.
Palmer: a pilgrim returning from Jerusalem, and ' carrying a palmbranch.
Parmenter: Pergamendarius, a maker of parchment. A. Wood, “Hist.
et Antiq.," p. 90. Pointer: a maker of points, formerly much worn; or,
perhaps, one
that pointed arrows. Strongbow. Campbell, iv., p. 267. Stringer: he had his
employment in the trade of bow-making; or,
perhaps, in making the strings only.
Stringfellow: same as the former. A name common in the north. Spearman, v.
Broadspear. Shakespeare, v. Broadspear.
Shotbolt: the bolt was the head of an arrow, but a square one. Talsas, or
Talsace: the name of a shield; but this, I think, died
with the person. See Camden, "Remains," p. 129, Dudg.
"Baronage," i., p. 31. Valvasor, or Vavasor: the name of a certain
rank or order. See
Spelm. Gloss, v. Valvasores. Ward: a common name; but the thing has been
much, though not
intirely, disused, since the abolition of the court of wards and
liveries. Wards there are yet of the court of chancery.
I am, etc., T. Row.
[1772, //. So, S"-]
My second series was to consist of such sirnames as were borrowed from
trades, occupations, and callings, as formerly bore different names from what
they now do, and consequently are involved thereby in some obscurity, and
difficult sometimes to be interpreted
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(delwedd D4551) (tudalen 225)
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Observations on Surnames.
22
A Series of Sirnames, taken from Trades,
etc., which Trades, etc., or the Occupiers of them, have now changed their
Names.
Banister: balneator, from French
baina, a bath, a keeper of a
bagnio. Boulenger, Baxter: now called a
baker. Barker: a dealer in bark, or a
filler of bark, as this kind of
labourer is now called. Bond: pater -familias, whence
comes husbond or husband. Chaucer: now a hosier, from
French chausser. Clothman: a draper now. Castellan: warden or governor of
a castle, from Lat. castellanus. Cartwright, v. Wright Despencer, v. Spencer.
Doorward: now a porter. Franklin: now a gentleman. Foster: a nurse. See in
the
other series.
Fowler: now a bird-catcher. Greaves, v. Reve. Goff: British, a smith. Gough,
v. Goff. Howard: a high or great warden.
Camden, p. 138. Heyward: now a hedger, from
Fr. hate, in Lat. haia. Hereward: now a general. Knowler: common in Kent, and
meaning a toller of a bell Kempe: now a soldier. Latimer: an interpreter.
Leach: a physician. Cow-leach,
a cow -doctor. Horse- leach,
Hirudo. Monger: a chapman. Used in
composition, wood - monger,
pupil-monger, etc. Milward: a miller. Milner: ditto.
Parker: a keeper, i.e. park-keeper.
Paramour: a lover, or a beloved.
Palfriman: a groom.
Reeve: a steward or bailiff. Greaves, the same, jepep.
Revel: a play, interlude, or masquerade.
Spigurnel: a sealer of writs. Thornten's Antiq. of Nottinghamshire, p. 267.
Salter: a seller of salt, with other matters of the kind.
Spicer: a dealer in spices, now a grocer.
Scrivener: a writer, now almost obsolete.
Spelman: now a scholar, or learned man.
Spenser and Despenser: a steward.
Spurrier: the trade is now involved in that of the sadler.
Sowter: now a sow-gelder.
Staller: constable, or standardbearer.
Shipman: a mariner.
Sherman, or Sharman: a cropper of cloth.
Somner, /. e. Summoner. See Bishop Kennel's Life of Mr. Somner. Now an
apparitor.
Storer: now a warehouse-keeper,
Taverner: now a vintner.
Tubman: a cooper.
Venner: a hunter. Fr. veneur.
Wright: Faber Lignarius. We use it not now but in composition, as,
ship-wright, cart-wright ', (now termed a wheeler), wainwright, etc.
Woodruff, i.e. Wood- reeve, a woodsteward.
Woody er: one that deals in
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(delwedd D4552) (tudalen 226)
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226 Names of Persons and Places.
wood, a wood-buyer, or wood- Webster: a weaver.
monger. Ward: one that keeps guard at
Woodward: a wood - reeve, v. any place. See also in the
Woodruff. other series.
Walker: a fuller, or dresser of Wainwright. See Wright above.
cloth.
I am, etc., T. Row.
[1786, Part II., p. 1016.]
Many surnames have been local, or deduced from different places, as the following
from towns in France: Courtney, Corby, Bollein, St. Quintin, Gorges, Paris,
Rheims, Cressy, Lyons, Chaloner, etc. From the Netherlands came the names
Gaunt, Bruges, Tournay, Rosbert, Grandison, etc., etc. From places in England
and Scotland there are many; scarce a town or village but have afforded names
to families, as Derbyshire, Lancaster, Essex, Murray, Clifford. Gordon,
Dacre, Whitney, Ratcliffe, Cotton, Crew, Winnington, Seaton, Hamilton,
Cleydon, Leigh, Lumley, Douglas, Markham, Carie, Carminow, Killegrew,
Willoughby, Wentworth, Tremaine, Roscarrec \ and most Cornish families, of
whom there is this very old Rhyme:
“By Tre, Ros, Pol, Lan, Cner, and Pen, You ir.ay know the most Cornish
men."
Rivers have likewise given names to many , as Trent, Tamar, Tine,
Derwent-water, Teys, Calder, etc. Many from trees; as Alder, Oak, Aspe, Box,
Beach, Coigners (that is Quince), Pine, Hawthorn, Haslewood, Thorne, Broom,
AVillows, which, in former times, had AT prefixed to them, as At Ashe, At
Elme, etc.
In respect of situation to other places rise these usual names: North, South,
East, West; and likewise Northcote, Southcote, Eastcote, and Westcote. Hill,
Wood, Field, Ford, Ditch, Poole, Pond, Town, or Ton, likewise give names to
many families. Many derive their names from their different occupations or
professions; as Taylor, Potter, Weaver, Baker, Smith, Sadler, Carpenter,
Salter, Grocer, Spicer, Wheeler, Wright, Cartwright, Shipwright, Brazier,
etc. Many, likewise from offices which they assumed: as Cook, Steward,
Marshal, Porter, Butler, Clarke, Proctor, Parker, Page, Fowler, Falconer,
etc. Many names have been taken from the qualities of the mind: as Good,
Thorough -good, Goodman, Goodchild, Bold, Hardy, Proud, Meek, Sad, etc. Some
from the habitudes of the body: as Strong, Armstrong, Low, Short, Broad, Big,
etc. Flowers and fruits have given names to many: as Rose, Nut, Pear, Peach,
Lily. Others from beasts: as Lion, Hog, Roe, Bear, Buck, Badger, Lamb, Fox.
Some from fishes: as Herring, Trout, Burt, Whiting, Bream, Crab, Pike. Others
from birds: as Lark, Crow, Swan, Sparrow, Wren, Parrot.
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(delwedd D4553) (tudalen 227)
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Observations on Surnames. 227
Many by the addition of SON: as Williamson, the son of William; Harrison, the
son of Harris; with many more of the same kind.
These few observations <erve to show from whence the generality of
families take their surnames; which, perhaps, may afford amusement to some of
your readers.
S.
[1820, Part 11., pp. 295, 296.]
The origin of names seems to have been hitherto rather superficially treated;
and there is not wanting reason to believe that from the surname may be drawn
very probable conclusions respecting not only the trade or profession of the
family's founders, but also their bodily peculiarities, qualities,
accomplishments, or defects, and the degree of respectability in which they
were held; remarkable accidents which have happened to particular persons are
also frequently recorded in their surnames. Those resulting from personal
description, are probably much older than those from trades or professions,
these not having been regularly exercised by particular persons until nations
were considerably advanced in civilization; for, before that period, every
man was his own smith, carpenter, mason, etc., and every man made his own
clothes and shoes. But from the earliest times, it was necessary to
distinguish one man from another, which could only be done by pointing out
personal qualities, or places of residence. For John, the son of John, or
William, would suit more than one; but John Crooks/tanks, the son of John,
could only suit a bandy-legged man; and thus Mr. Lightfoot, Mr. Golightly,
Mr. Swift, Mr. Hopper, Mr. Ambler, and Mr. Jumper drew their names from the
bodily agility of the'first bearers; and Mr. Heavysides, Messrs. Saunter,
Onslow, and Waddle from the contrary quality. The Pains, Akinheads,
Akinsides, Anguishes, Headacres owed their appellations to the dolorous
sensations of their ancestors; while the Wilds, the Sangwines. the Joys, the
Merrys, and the Bucks announce the descent from a set of happy, thoughtless
sinners of the earliest ages.
Several respectable families seem to have originated with foundlings, and
their names may possibly point out the places where they were exposed. Among
these are Townsend, Lane, Street, Churchyard, Court, Stair, Barn, Stables,
Grange, Orchard, etc.
Bastards have not only their birth indicated by the surnames, but also the
degree, rank, or station of their parents, thus, Misson, Goodyson, Mollyson,
Anson, Jennison, Bettison, and Nelson were called after their mother's name,
those of their father being unknown. But Misson and Goodison were visibly the
produce of faitx-pas of Miss, and of Goody; whereas Jenni-son, Nel-son,
Bet-son, etc., were the slips of dairy and milkmaids, or other girls in low
stations. The like distinction may be traced in illegitimates whose fathers
were unknown. Mastersoa and Stewardson show the children of the Master
152
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(delwedd D4554) (tudalen 228)
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228 Names of Persons and Places.
and Steward; while Jackson, Thompson, and Wilson were the misbegotten
offspring of hinds, servants, and labourers. Surnames sometimes help us to
guess at the place where the heads of particular families were born; probably
the name of Perry was given to some pleasant, brisk Worcestershire lad, and
that of Perkin to one of a like description, born in one of the cyder
counties, of a weaker frame of body.
It seems difficult to account for some extraordinary names; many of them are
probably compiled from foreign ones: such as Bomgarson, Higgenbottom, and
divers others. The first is the German name for a tree-garden, that is, an
orchard, and the latter signifying in the same tongue (Icken-baum) an oak
tree.
In process of time, when men began to attach themselves to particular
callings, professions, and trades, they likewise began from them to apply
surnames of Smith, Butcher, Baker, etc., etc., in the manner still practised
in large public-houses, where we may daily hear persons called by the
addition of their offices, as John Ostler, Betty Chambermaid, Jenny Cook,
Will Drawer, and Sam Boots.
[1820, Part //.,/. 422.]
The origin of surnames to different families, noticed in p. 296, has
frequently occurred to me as very strange, from the variety and singularity
of most of them. We find few (if any persons) who can trace how their
families originally became possessed of their name. Many names are derived no
doubt from places and towns. I have drawn out a classification of a few
surnames of families as derived from various animals, birds, fishes, trades,
and other descriptive titles.
T. A.
Animals: Lion, Lamb, Wolfe, Panther, Bull, Bullock, Hog, Pig, Buck, Hind,
Hart, Deer, Stag, Fox, Talbot, Pointer, Squirrel, Badger.
Birds: Blackbird, Swallow, Sparrow, Raven, Crow, Pigeon, Martin, Nightingale,
Peacock, Partridge, Woodcock, Duck, Drake, Goose, Gosling, Parrot, Jay, Rook,
Hawk, Kite, Heron, Crane, Dove, Wren, Swan, Batt, Gull.
Fishes: Whale, Salmon, Trout, Mackrill, Roach, Dace, Perch, Pike, Gudgeon,
Sprat, Smelt, Herring, Hake, Sturgeon, Whiting, Tench, Ling, Codling, Cockle,
Crabb.
Trades: Carpenter, Joiner, Weever, Draper, Vintner, Painter, Thatcher,
Carver, Glover, Farmer, Turner, Sawyer, Wheeler, Brewer, Baker, Butcher,
Taylor, Barber, Miller, Gardener, Glasier, Sadler, Girdler, Fisher, Fowler,
Hawker, Fuller, Tanner, Potter, Tyler, Skinner, Cooper, Collyer, Fletcher,
Chandler.
Trees: Birch, Ash, Rose, Pine, Beach, Cherry, Sweetapple, Peach, Lemon,
Hawthorne, Holyoake, Myrtle, Greentree.
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(delwedd D4555) (tudalen 229)
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Observations on Surnames. 229
Offices and Dignities: King, Lord, Duke, Prince, Earl, Baron, Knight, Noble,
Marshall, Chamberlain, Page, Butler.
Names Ecclesiastical: Church, Churchyard, Christian, Pope, Abbot, Monk,
Friar, Bishop, Dean, Priest, Deacon, Parson, Clark, Sexton.
Kingdoms: England, Ireland, Holland, France, French, Frank, Welch, Scot,
Norman.
Colours: Black, White, Green, Pink, Reid, Orange, Grey, Brown, Scarlet, Dunn.
Insects: Bee, Wasp, Natt, Bugg, Fly, Cricket.
Ores: Gold, Silver, Brass, Stone, Steel, Glass, Flint.
Points of the Globe: East, West, North, South.
Names significant to Men: Longman, Smalman, Trueman, Merryman, Prettyman,
Wildman, Horsman, Spearman, Bowman, Huntsman, Freeman, Honeyman, Goodman,
Richman, Plowman, Chapman, Gladman, Deadman.
Measure and Quantity: Long, Short, Mutch, Little, Small, More.
[1823, Part I., pp. 33, 34.]
I feel much astonished when I look around me, and consider the very different
and curious names of individuals.
The mixture of Saxons, Danes, Gauls, Normans, Jews, and other foreigners with
us, at various periods of our history, has caused the difference; but the
good and bad qualities of persons, or their peculiarities, have caused the
singularity of them; and many, either by ignorance, caprice, affectation, or
some other means, have been corrupted, and often thereby their original
signification has been hidden and concealed.
My present object is, as far as lies in my humble power, to show some
examples of this: for instance, few are, I am persuaded, acquainted how the
name of the Northumberland family has been corrupted; for it was first
Pierceye, then Piercey, and now Percy; and by this alteration its original
meaning is hidden from many. So the name Alwine, which is as much as to say
beloved by all, has been changed into Allen , Bearnhart into Barnard,
Everhart into Everard, Garhart into Garard, Broadbrook into Braybrook, de
Newton into Newton, Hartman into Harman, Herebert into Herbert, Heughe into
Hugh, which signifies joy in the Saxon tongue; Humfrid into Humfrey, Lambhart
into Lambert and Lambard, Leofhold into Leopold, Leon hart into Leonard and
Lenard, Manhart into Manard and Mainard, Osmund, signifying in the Teutonick
language the mouth of the house, into Osmond, Radulphe into Raphe or Ralph,
Reinmund, which, being interpreted, is pure mouth, into Raymond and Reymund,
Reynhart (denoting a pure and clean heart) into Reynard, thereby implying
quite a different sense from its original. So Rugard or Rougar is now written
Roger, and meaneth keeper of quietness, and
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(delwedd D4556) (tudalen 230)
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230 Names of Persons and Places.
may be well the name of a watchman. Many others might be adduced to show the
change that the revolution of ages has caused in the names of persons; but it
is deemed these are sufficient; and certainly it reflects honour on any
family, whether in a high or low station of life, if it can trace its name,
through its various corruptions, so as to prove that it was originally given
for some deed of valour, probity, or magnanimity. Therefore no person can
couple the names of Longshanks, Hogsflesh, Smallbones, and such like, with
such names as Alwine, Leonhart, and Reinmund, or their corruptions, without
first considering the superior originality of those families whose names are
such as the latter, over those whose names are such as the former.
Yours, etc., BETH.
Christian Names.
[1823, Part L, pp. 32,33.]
On reading a note in your number for December, a thought occurred that few
people are acquainted with the meaning of what are called their Christian
names.
We learn in Chambers's “Encyclopedia “(and the information is copied in that
of Dr. Rees), that
“Camden takes it for granted that names in all nations and languages are
significative, and not simple sounds for mere distinction. This is the case
not only among the Jews, Greeks, Latins, etc., but even the Turks, among whom
Abdalla signifies God's servant; Soliman, peaceable; Mahomet, glorified, etc.
And the savages of Hispaniola and throughout America, who in their languages
name their children Glistening Light, Sun Bright, Fine Gold, etc.; and they
of Congo by the names of precious stones, flowers, etc.
"To suppose names given without any meaning, however, by the alteration
of languages, their signification may be lost, Camden thinks, is to reproach
our ancestors, and that contrary to the sense of all ancient writers."
Since the chief of our Christian names are derived from languages not
understood by the generality of people, it shall be my endeavour to present
to those who have before overlooked this important knowledge, the meanings of
some of the most common of their appellations. Mr. Urban will perhaps excuse
the intrusion, and allow me to present his readers with the following, thus
alphabetically arranged. I begin with the ladies, not only out of due politesse,
but because they may be supposed to be the least informed on the subject.
Agnes, derived from the Greek, means chaste.
Anne and Hannah, Hebrew, favoured (with any excellence or mercy).
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Christian Names. 231
Barbara must be an exception to the rule that names have arisen from the good
wishes of parents; if derived from the Latin, it is a name not very much to
be coveted. In the dictionary we find its meaning, unpolished, foolish,
cruel, savage; it may, however, as Peregrine, have been given to a stranger.
Blanch, French, fair.
Catherine, Greek, purified, pure.
Caroline and Charlotte appear to be the feminine of Charles.
Clara, Latin, almost explains itself in its English sense; it may be
understood as signifying fair, noble, illustrious.
Dorothy, Greek, the Gift of God.
Elizabeth, Hebrew, God hath sworn.
Esther is a Persian name. Esther, the Jewish captive, whose history is related
in the Holy Scriptures, was named in her own country Hadassah (Esther ii. 8),
but, as was customary, lost her name with her liberty. Ster, says Scaliger,
is Persian for a star, as atrqy is in Greek.
Helen has been derived from the Greek word?>.&>, to draw, because
the beauty of the famous Helen attracted so many admirers; and from Hellas,
the ancient name of Greece.
Jane: Janus is by Macrobius used as a name of the sun; thus Jane or Jana may,
as Phoebe, mean the moon. The different derivations of Janus are too
uncertain and numerous to particularize.
Isabella is Spanish for a bright bay colour.
Laura, perhaps from the Latin for laurel.
Lucy, from the Latin prsenomen Lucea, from Luceo, to shine, synonymus with
Clara, or from the child being born prima luce, early in the morning. Luce is
also an old name for a pike or jack, from the Latin Lucius, or French lus; I
mean not to say the Christian name has any connection with this, but the
family bearing that sirname, of Charlecot, co. Warwick, certainly bore for
arms three luces hauriant argent, on a field sprinkled with crosslets, as may
be seen in Dugdale's “Warwickshire," of which family was Sir Thomas,
supposed to be personified in Shakespeare's "Justice Shallow,"
since the immortal bard has introduced much punning about luces.
Louisa is most probably the feminine of Louis or Lewis.
Lydia is a country of Asia Minor, said to be so called from Lud, the son of
Shem; its inhabitants were very effeminate, and it might be therefore
considered an appropriate name for a female, or very probably the women of
Lydia were remarkably beautiful. The name occurs in Horace.
Margaret, Greek, a pearl. We find in Mr. Archdeacon Nares's “Glossary “that
Margarite or Margaret was formerly used to signify a pearl in the English
language (as in Latin and French); and in Drummond's "Poems," 1656,
p. 186, is the following epitaph on one named Margaret:
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(delwedd D4558) (tudalen 232)
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232 Names of Persons and Places.
"In shells and gold pearles are not kept 1 alone, A Margaret here lies
beneath a stone, A Margaret that did excell in worth All those rich gems the
Indies both send forth."
Martha, Syriac; the mistress of a family; such was the character of Martha,
the sister of Lazarus.
Mary is derived from the Hebrew, but it is of doubtful signification; it may
mean either the bitterness of them, as Mary, the sister of Moses, was so
named during the bitter Egyptian captivity, or a drop of the sea, or even be
synonymus with Martha.
Phabe was the Greek name for the moon, the sister of Phoebus, the sun,
supposed to mean the light of life.
Let no parents name their daughter Priscilla, if it be derived from the
Latin, unless they mean to call her a little old woman.
Rebecca, Hebrew, fat. Belzoni relates in his “Travels “how great a beauty
plumpness is considered in the East
Rose, the flower of Sharon.
Sarah, Hebrew, a princess. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, was called Sarai, till
her name was changed by the express command of the Almighty; “And God said
unto Abraham, as for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but
Sarah shall her name be." Gen. xvii. 15. Sarai means my princess; Sarah,
the princess not of one family, but of many nations, as we read in the next
verse: “She shall be the mother of nations."
Sophia, Greek, wisdom.
Susan, Hebrew, a lily. Susiana, an antient province of Persia, is by some
supposed to have been so called from its being a country abounding in lilies;
the Persian name of that flower assimilates to the Hebrew.
The ladies having extended so far, the gentlemen must be deferred till my
next
NEPOS.
[1823, Part /., //. 199, 200.]
My present communication shall begin with some common female names omitted in
my last:
Alice, from the German Adeliz, signifies noble.
Amelia, I conceive to be from the French Amie, and Latin Amata, beloved.
Bertha, Saxon, bright, noble.
Bridget, the same, apparently Irish.
Emma is probably the same as Amie.
Emily, either the same as Amelia, or from the Roman /Emilia, meaning in
Greek, affable, pleasant.
Frances, German, free. It is convenient that Frances be so spelt,
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Christian Names.
to distinguish it from the male Francis;
but there is no other reason for it.
I find from more than one authority, with respect to Isabella, that Isa is a
corruption of Eliza, and thus Isabella (an Italian, French and Spanish name)
signifies the beautiful Eliza.
Matilda, Saxon, a noble lady. Rachel, Hebrew, a sheep or lamb.
I now proceed with my list of male Christian names:
Abraham, Hebrew. However little difference there may appear between Abram and
Abraham, we find in the i yth Chapter of Genesis, the Almighty talking with
Abraham, and saying, “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but
thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made
thee." Abram means a high father, Abraham the father of a great
multitude, in short, a Patriarch.
Adolphus, Latinised from the Saxon Eadulph, happy help.
Alexander, Greek, the defence of man.
Alfred, Saxon, all peace; the Hebrew Solomon, the Greek Irenseus, meant
peaceable.
Alphonso, from Gothic Helfuns, our help.
Andrew, Greek, manly.
Anthony, 'AvSuv, signifies flourishing, thus this name maybe synonymous with
Thales and Euthalius of the Greeks, Florentius of the Romans: the Roman
family might have come from Antium, a town of Italy, said to be so named from
a son of Hercules.
Archibald, German, a bold observer. The name is very common in Scotland; from
Archee Armstrong, the fool of James the First, some have supposed the
adjective arch, meaning waggish, witty, to have originated; Mr. Archdeacon
Nares, however, believes it to be of an earlier age.
Arthur, British, mighty; or perhaps the name originated from the child being
born under Arcturus (a star in the Great Bear).
Augustus, Latin, increasing (in wealth and honour); unless it come from the
Greek, and mean splendid, illustrious. It was first given to Octavius Caesar,
and has ever since been common in princes' families; hence it almost becomes
synonymous with the Greek Basil, royal, which was formerly used.
Bartholomew, Hebrew, the son of the raiser of the waters, that is, perhaps of
God, in allusion to the passage of the Red Sea.
Benjamin, Hebrew, the son of the right hand, see Gen. xxxv. 18.
Charles. Carl or Kerl is an ancient word, by which strong and brave men are
called; it may thus answer to the Roman Valens, (meaning prevailing, valiant)
whence Valentine; the Saxon ceorl meant a rustic, whence our churl; carle,
derived from the same source,
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234 Names of Persons and Places.
is used by Spenser in nearly the same sense, but with the Scotch it means an
old man.
Christopher, Greek, bearing Christ. St. Christopher is said to have carried
our Saviour on his back through the sea; he is supposed to be a fictitious
character an allegorical representation of a true Christian. Paintings of St.
Christopher, on a large size, were frequent ornaments in our early churches.
[See The Antiquary, vol. viii. (1883), pp. 193-200.]
Daniel, Hebrew, God's judge, God hath judged, see Gen. xxx. 6.
David, Hebrew, beloved, a friend.
Edgar, Saxon, happy honour.
Edmund, Saxon, happy peace.
Edward, Saxon, happy guardian.
Edwin, Saxon, happy winner or conqueror.
Eugene, Greek, well or nobly born.
Ferdinand, is of disputed origin. Camden, in his "Remaines," thinks
it may come from the German words fred and rand, pure peace.
Francis, German, free.
Frederick, Saxon, rich peace.
George, Greek, a tiller of the earth \ Agricola was a Roman, Urian a Danish
name of the same meaning. Georgia may have been so called from its being a
country of husbandmen, as it is very fertile. The national Saint probably
brought George into repute in England; and the name of Majesty must have made
it more common during the last century.
Giles, “miserably disjointed," says Camden, by the French from the Latin
^Egidius, Greek d/y/5/ov, a kid; this appears an unlikely name, but he
mentions a man whose name was Capella, meaning the same in Latin; it most
probably, if from ^Egidius, means bearing an aegis, or breast-plate,
anciently made of goat's skin. Camden thinks, however, it may be derived from
Julius, as Gillian from Juliana, which appears more likely from Jules being
used for Julius in French.
Gregory, Greek, watchful, vigilant.
Henry, if from the German Herric, rich lord, synonimous with the Greek
Plutarch.
Horatio, Horace, is a Roman name, perhaps from the Greek o^aro;, worth
looking at, sightly.
Hugh, Dutch, high; or Saxon, joy, comfort.
Humfrey, Saxon, peace at home; “a lovely and happy name," says Camden,
“if it could turne home-warres between man and wife into peace."
Jacob, Hebrew, whence also our James, a supplanter. Stackhouse, in his
History of the Bible, explains Jacob as one that taketh hold of, and trippeth
up another's heels; see its origin, Gen. xxv. 26; and in Gen. xxvii. 36, Esau
says, "is he not rightly named Jacob, for he hath supplanted me these
two times," etc.
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Christian Names. 235
Jeffrey, Geoffry, Saxon, either joyful peace, or, if from Godfrey, good
peace, or the peace of God. Jeremiah^ Hebrew, high of, or exalting the Lord.
Yours, etc., NEPOS.
[1823, Part I., p. 227.]
I was much pleased with the derivations of Christian names given by Nepos in
your Magazine for January, p. 32, and only regret the shortness of his
catalogue. In vain has many a fair damsel cast her eye down the page with
anxious expectation, in hopes of discovering the meaning of the word which
was probably the first with which she became acquainted. You have too much
gallantry, Mr. Urban, to reject any thing that may satisfy the curiosity, and
perhaps add to the happiness of the fair; I shall therefore attempt to fill
up some of the deficiencies of your other Correspondent.*
Agatha, from ayaGy, means good.
Amy, from Amie, French; a fair friend.
Beatrice, from the Latin or Italian, a bestower of blessings.
Euphemia, from the Greek, fair of speech; and Frances, free. So far we have
gone on well, the names are of auspicious omen, and happy they to whom they
apply. Must I proceed further? Amelia is a sweet name, a pretty name. Yes, and
moreover, it admirably befits the sex to which it belongs, dt^sXs/a,
thoughtlessness. What must we say of Ursula? Vixens and termagants have long
been out of fashion; then, Ursula, I am afraid we cannot patronize thee, for
if we believe what the vile Latin tells us, Ursula is a she-bear. And it
grieves me to say that the soft, the innocent-sounding Cicely is derived from
ccecus, blind, or ccecilia, a blind-worm.
But let us turn our thoughts away from these heathen etymologies, and
consider what good and proper Christian names our forefathers have culled for
us in the ample field of our own language Charity, Constance, Faith, Grace,
Patience, Prudence, Silence, Temperance. Who does not regret that these have
given way to the fantastic names of the heroines of novels and romances? Some
of them indeed are not entirely discarded, but so mutilated and dislocated as
not to be recognised without difficulty; Grace is drawled out into Gratiana,
and Rose fritted away into Rosabella. And the worst of it is, the affectation
of these sesquipedalia verba is not confined to the circles of the rich and
the fashionable. The fireside of the farmer echoes
* I am sorry to dispute the authority of Nepos, but I believe in the
derivation of Isabella he is not historically correct. It is not the colour
which gives name to the lady, but the lady to the colour. Queen Isabella made
a vow (but on what occasion I do not remember) to wear her flannel petticoat
night and day for a twelvemonth: and when she discarded this votive relick,
it was of the bright bay here mentioned by Nepos, which soon came into
fashion under the name of Isabella-colour. Quaere; May not Lucy be derived
from Xcwc/}, white, and mean the same as Blanch?
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236 Names of Persons and Places.
to the sound of Mary-Hariot and Louisa. Our workhouses and manufactories are
filled with Selinas, Adelaides, and Virginias. If you go into the country you
hear the greasy scullion cry to the parish 'prentice, “Honoria, feed the
pigs." If you walk through the town you hear a filthy hag exclaiming to
her child, "Evelina, come out of the gutter."
P. C.
[1823, Part I.,pp. 394-396.]
John, signifying in Hebrew the grace or mercy of God, is apparently from the
same root as Anne, and is used to express joy and rejoicing: we have a
manifest reference to the peculiar import of this name in Luke i. 14, in
regard to John the Baptist, "And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and
many shall rejoice at his birth." Camden says, “John was thought so
unfortunate in Kings, for that John King of England well neere lost his
kingdome, and John King of France was long captive in England, and John
Balioll was lifted out of his kingdome of Scotland, that John Steward, when
the kingdom of Scotland came unto him, renouncing that name, would be
proclaimed King Robert"
Jonathan, Hebrew, the gift of the Lord.
Joseph, Hebrew, addition, see its origin, Genesis xxx. 24.
Joshua, Hebrew, the same as Jesus, a saviour.
Isaac, Hebrew, laughing. The name originated with the son of Abraham, so
called from the joy of his parents at his birth. Gelasius was a Greek name of
the same meaning.
Lancelot, Spanish, a little lance; it is supposed to have been invented for
the famous hero of romance, Lancelot of the Lake, whence it became a common
name.
Laurence, Latin, flourishing like the bay, the Daphnis of the Greeks; or
crowned with laurel.
Luke, if Hebrew, lifting up; if Latin, splendid, or, in that case, why should
it not share the glory of Incus in being a non lucendo, and tell us the child
was found in a wood!
Mark, if Hebrew, high. Marcus was a Roman name, of which Dr. Littleton gives
many derivations, the most probable are, either from being born in March, or
from an old word meaning male.
Marmaduke, Saxon, more mighty.
Matthew, Hebrew, a gift or reward.
Michael, Hebrew, who is like God? Bp. Horsley considers it evident from the
description of the archangel Michael in the tenth chapter of Daniel, that it
is a name for our Lord Himself.
Nathaniel, Hebrew, the gift of God.
Nicolas, Greek, the conqueror of the people. Nicodemus, Demonicus, and
Laodamas, were all Greek names of the same meaning.
Oliver, Latin, from the olive-tree, an emblem of peace.
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Christian Names. 237
Patrick, Latin, patrician, noble.
Paul, Greek, or Latin, small. The Apostle was of low stature, but the
similarity of sound between this and his Hebrew name Saul] might also
contribute to his being so called (as Silas was changed to Silvanus, both
having become Roman citizens); Paul being a common Roman name.
Peter, Greek, a stone, or rock. The name originated with our Saviour, when He
said to His Apostle Simon: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build
My Church “(Matt. xv. 18).
Philip, Greek, a lover of horses, is a good name for a jockey; but when first
used by the ancient Greeks was undoubtedly intended, as perhaps the greater
part of the names of that heroic age, to convey the idea of the owner being a
valiant warrior.
Ralph, from the Saxon Radulphe, help-counsel.
Richard, Saxon, rich heart.
Robert, Saxon, bright counsel.
Roger, German, guardian of rest.
Samuel, Hebrew, hearing, or heard by God.
Simon, Hebrew, listening, obedient.
Stephen, Greek, crowned.
Theodore, Greek, the gift of God.
Theophilus, Greek, a lover of God, or beloved by Him. Amadeus, and Amadis,
Latin, have the same meaning.
Thomas, Hebrew, a twin, or double, as the Apostle's Greek name, Didymus, who
might be so called also from his doubting our Lord's resurrection.
Timothy, Greek, one that honours God.
Walter, Saxon, a master of the woods, a forester, nearly answering to the
Latin Silvanus. From the same source come the Weald of Kent, and Waltham in
Essex (the town by the wood). Walter may also signify, however, the ruler of
an army.
William, German, the defender of many. Verstegan in his “Decayed
Intelligence," 1673, tells a long story concerning this name, saying
that it was not anciently given to children, but to men for their merit; for,
during the wars between the ancient Germans with the Romans, the latter
wearing gilt, the former unornamented helmets, when a valiant German slew one
of their invaders, assuming his guild helm, he was afterwards named from it;
the French made it Guillaume, we William.
Those I have now endeavoured to explain are names really of frequent
occurrence, and my lists might have been greatly enlarged by inserting those
less commonly used, the signification of which are equally interesting. I
have naturally noticed those most familiar to my own ear, but, at the same
time, it is to be observed, that many Christian, as well as Surnames, are, it
may almost be said, peculiar to a particular part of the country; for
example, in the North of Eng
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238 Names of Persons and Places.
land there are Cuthberts and Osmunds (the names of their saints) without end,
Cuthbert, Saxon, means bright knowledge, Osmund, Saxon, peace of the house,
thus being similar to Humfrey.
The first principle on which Christian names are given is from some family
relation; this is not a bad reason; the next is according to some fancied
beauty of the sound; but they who would give a name to their children in a
right spirit, should consult, more than is the custom, the signification,
which surely is a better standard on which to form a preference.
Yours, etc., NEPOS.
Ancient Surnames.
[1834, Part /., /. 171.]
So much has already been written upon the origin and import of Surnames, that
it may seem unnecessary to revert to the subject. It has, however, occurred
to me that little has been done to illustrate the descent of these
appellations; or to show how many of our present disguised surnames are the
representatives of those which in their more ancient form were possessed of
meaning. A classification of those objects from which proper names are
derived, and of the manner in which they were bestowed, may not seem devoid
of interest, and upon these subjects I add a few observations. I would
remark, that the sources from which I have deduced my notices are principally
manuscripts of considerable antiquity, or such publications as present
correct examples of surnames at an early date.
The first list to which I would direct your notice consists of those surnames
which have been bestowed from certain personal qualifications:
Ralph leGras, or the fat: MS. Addit. 7965, fol. 69 b: in the index to the
Rot. Scotioe it is, Gros. Nicholas Malemeyns; id fol. 129 b.
Alan Brodheud, or broadhead: MS. Addit. 7966, fol. 55.
Editha la Lovelich, or lovely: MS. Harl. 1708, fol. 217.
Armestrang, arm strong: index to Rot. Scotise.
Blaunkfrount, white face: id.
Fairhair, id. Yalowhaire, id. Le Long, id.
Thomas Sturdy: MS. Cott. Claud B. iii., fol. 170 b.
Galfridus Wychals, or bad neck: from the Saxon, id. i68b; this name is,
probably, the same as Wyggel, fol. 170.
Mental qualifications or attributes may next be illustrated:
John Jolif of Sandwich: MS. Addit. 7965, fol. 91; now Jolly.
Grim: Raine's North Durham, 125.
Richard Godhusband: MS. Cott, Claud, B. iii., fol. 169 b.
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Ancient Surnames. 239
Cecilia Gauk: (1345) Chart. Harl. 112 G. 45, and Matildi Goki, MS. Cott.
Claud. A. vi., fol. 3, are both to be traced to the French gauchee, crooked.
Nicholas Ramage: MS. Addit. 7965, fol. 107; from the French ramage, explained
by Cotgrave "ramage, hagard, wild, homely,
j jj J '
rude."
Roger le Proud: MS. Addit. 7966, fol. 96 b. Prudhome, Rot. Scotiae.
Lelhome: Chart. Harl. 53 A. 5, true, or loyal man.
Names of animals seem also to have furnished instances; for example:
Le Veel: MS. Addit. 7965, fol. 69.
Bullock: Rot. Scotiae, Claud. B. iii., fol. 169 b.
Kelyng, which signifies a codling: id.
Laverock, a lark: id.
Wlf, the Scandinavian name i<yt aivolf; id., MS. Cott. Claud. A. iv., fol.
7, I.
Brunnolf, brown wolf: Raine's North Durham, 743.
Sperhafocus, a sparrow-hawk: MS. Cott. Claud. B. vi., fol. ii4b. (1050).
William le Hund: MS. Cott. Claud. A. vi., fol. 3.
Colours, as might be expected, supply specimens:
William Brun: MS. Addit. 7965, fol. 89.
yElfwig se red, the red: Appendix to Lye's Saxon Diet.
Elias le Brun: MS. Addit. 7965, fol. 107 b.
Fag, Sax.^^, discolour: MS. Cott. Vesp. B.xxiv., fol. 40 b.
Arms, such as Longespee and Simon Hauberk (i Edw. III., MS. Cott. Claud. A.
xiii., fol. 108); and Dress, as Henry Brodbelte (MS. Cott. Claud. B. iii.),
may serve as examples.
But by far the most copious lists are to be traced to certain peculiarities
of local situation or employment; to these, at a future period, it is my
intention to invite your notice.
J. S.
Surnames terminating in -cock.
[1838, Part I., p. 500.]
You recently gave admission to the communications of two correspondents,*
discussing the etymology of surnames terminating in -cock; and their remarks
were neither unamusing nor unprofitable. I am somewhat surprised, however,
that one origin and meaning of
* See May, 1837, p. 478; September, p. 246; November, p. 442. [See note 60.]
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