The Romance of Words (4th ed.)

mena which are due to any kind of misunderstanding of a word. A word beginning with n sometimes loses this sound through its being confused with the n of the indefinite article an. Thus an

e., a pie made from the umbles, or inferior parts of the stag. But umble is for earlier numble, Old Fr. nomble, formed, with dissimilation, from Lat. lumbulus, diminutive of lumbus, loin; cf. niveau (p. 58). Thus humble-pie has etymol

f Allhalowes, then the said parties be the advise abovesaid are agreed to abid

Correspond

r" (Percyvall). An eyas falcon is for a neyas falcon, Fr. niais, foolish, li

ttle eyases, that cry out on the top of ques

et, i

and la Pouille for l'Apouille, Apulia, or of the initial l in ounce, a kind of tiger-cat, from Fr. once,

Eke, also, occurs in the first stanza of John Gilpin. It is cognate with Ger. auch, also,

uld I had two coxcom

r, i

s the dative of the definite article. Family names like Nash, Nokes are aphetic for atten ash, at the ash, atten oakes, at the oaks. The creati

TION OF T

rium, whence Eng. ewer. The derivation of Fr. landier, andiron, is unknown, but the iron of the English word is due to folk-etymology. Such agglutination occurs often in

'arme, to arms, for a le arme, and the second is all'erta for alla (a la) erta, the last w

ear their larum,

lanus,

same word. In Luther's

in Elizabethan literature, are two old friends from the Arabian Nights, the cadi and the wazir, or vizier. The Arabic ar

un's lance,

like silk, the

d, and jack,

bosom brok

Lay, i

d, from Lat. lacertus, we have the Spanis

. ad satis, has given Eng. assets, plural, with a barbarous, but useful, singular asset. Cherry is for cheris, f

k[89] hath a twofol

y IV.,

t to be distinguished from pea-soup, is partly responsible for this mistake. Marquee, a large tent, is

arren

, where Chi

wind their cany

e Lost,

e been a nickname for early Dutch colonists. It is more probably the Dutch dim. Janke, i.e. Johnny. The vulgarism shay for chaise

at these kicksh

h Night

it quelkchoses (

LARS AND DO

rigin, and is related to shank. Cf., for the sense development, Eng. patten, from Fr. patin, a derivative of patte, foot, cognate with paw. Skates are still called pattens by the fenmen of Cambridgeshire. We

ake to-night and

et, i

bird called a wheatear was formerly called wheatears, a corruption of a name best explained by its French equivalen

nd of collective sense. Breeches or breeks is a double plural, Anglo-Sax. brēc being already the plural of brōc. In Mid. English we still find breche or breke used of this garment. Trousers was earlier trouses, plural of trouse, now trews, and was used especially of Irish native costume. The latest researches throw doubt on the identity of these words with Fr. trousse, a page's s

brous form in vogue at the b

heppard

e). Apprentice is the plural of Fr. apprenti, formerly apprentif, a derivative of apprendre, t

of the common Mid. Eng. and Tudor grece, grese, plural of Old

ke yourself; and

e, or step, may

our fa

llo,

RS FROM

n comes perhaps the use of broth as a plural in some of our dialects. Porridge, not originally limited to oatmeal, seems to be combined fro

ome food, they're gr

pped,

he Romance languages, is Lat. badius, "of bay colour, bayarde" (Cooper). Hence the name Bayard, applied to FitzJames' horse in The Lady of the Lake (v. 18), and earlier to the steed that carried the four sons of Aymon. Quince is the plural of quin, from the Norman form of Old Fr. coin (coin

the sense

earnest of a

him, call thee

eth,

ng" a servant with a shilling in the open market. The Old French word was arres or erres, now written learnedly arrhes, a plural from Lat. arrha, "an earnest penny, earnest money" (Cooper). The

ses of

rove her h

jesses were my d

off, and let h

y at f

lo, ii

ther we read of a gentleman who lounged and chatted, "not minding time a souse," where souse is the plural of Fr. sou, halfpenny. From Fr. muer, to mo

at the eagles

d buzzards pre

d III.,

es, near Charing Cross were rebuilt as stab

clear by starting from French étui, a case, of doubtful origin. This became in English etwee, or twee, e.g., Cotgrave explains estui (étui) as "a sheath, case, or box to put things in; and (more particularly) a case of little instruments, as sizzars, bodkin, penknife, etc., now commonly termed an ettwee." Such a case g

AL

id. Eng. ladeboard, i.e. loading side, is due to starboard, steering side. Bridal, for bride-ale, from the liquid consumed at marriag

e-ales, called also dirge-ales, an

scription of

er English form occurs in the obsolete rampier or rampire, which survive in the dialect ramper, embankment, causeway. For the spelling rampire we may compare umpire (p. 113). The apple called a jenneting, sometimes "explained" as for June-eating, was once spe

ity," Anglo-Fr. fors (hors) la cité. The former were called deinzein, whence our denizen, and the latter forein.[94] The Anglo-French form of modern Fr. citoyen was citein

letrie pur vendre ... issint qe les forreins pulleters, ove lour pulletrie, estoisent par eux mesmes, et vendent lour pulletrie su

er A

became Vulgar Lat. *rendere by analogy with prendere (prehendere), to take away; hence Fr. rendre. Our word g

USE-P

is Anglo-Sax. māse, used of several small birds. It is cognate with Ger. Meise, titmouse, and Fr. mésange, "a titmouse, or tittling" (C

with platter, trencher, we spell it salver. In another sense, that of a "salutation" in the form of a volley of shot, we have corrupted it into salvo. With the use of Span. salva we may compare that of Ital. cred

, has been often changed to -ee, -ey. Thus pedigree was

ng at sword and dagger with a master of fen

Wives

of the outskirts of a town, is for purley, a strip of disforested woodland. This is a contraction of Anglo-Fr. pour-allée, used to translate the legal Lat. perambulatio, a going through. A change of venue[96] is sometimes made when it seems likely that

e, noon draught, from Anglo-Sax. scencan,[97] to pour. Drinking seems to have been regarded as more important than eating, for in some counties we find this nuncheon replaced by bever, the Anglo-French infinit

crunch on, tak

upper, dinne

Pied Piper

ASSO

e tendency of the uneducated is to distort an unfamiliar or unintelligible word into some form which suggests a meaning. Some cases may have ori

od. 'My name?' returned the man. 'N

al Friend

rivative of Latin primula; rosemary, French romarin, is from Lat. ros marinus, sea-dew; tuberose is the Latin adjective tuberosus, bulbous, tuberous. Or attempts are made at translation, such as Sam Weller

us,' he sez, 'bekaze,' sez he, 'i

o' W

in which the second element has been altered are causeway, earlier causey, from the Picard form of Fr. chaussée, Lat. (via) calciata, i.e., made with lime, calx; penthouse, for pentice, Fr. appentis, "the penthouse

Taffrail has been confused with rail, its older form being tafferel, from Du. tafereel, diminutive of tafel, picture, from Lat. tabula. It meant originally the flat part of the stern of a ship ornamented with carvings or pictures. This is called tableau in nautical French. Fr. coutelas

urtal-axe up

pear in

Like I

s changed its meaning through folk-etymology. It represents the Latin superlative postumus, latest born. By association with humus, ground, earth, it came

ord has been distorted

solence shall

and horr

f Athens

throbbing. It was formerly used

horse clear of the gl

man's Dicti

BUS-J

, "an haquebut, or arquebuse; a caliver" (Cotgrave). The corruption

re halbert,

there, a h

knife, an

ion,

r-buss; a musketoon; a wide-mouthed brass-gun, carrying about twenty pistol bullets at once." It was also called in German Plantier-büchs, from plantieren, to plant, set up, because fired from a rest. Du. bus, like Ger. Büchse, means both "box" and "gun." In the bushes, or axle-boxes, of a cart-whee

. Runagate is well known to be a corrupt doublet of renegade, one who has "denied" his faith. Recreant, the present participle of Old Fr. recreire, Vulgar Lat. *recredere, to change one

. Eng. pervenke, from Lat. pervinca; cf. Fr. pervenche. The material called lutestring was formerly lustring, Fr. lustrine, from its glossiness. A wiseacre is "one that knows or tells truth; we commonly use it in malam partem for a fool" (Blount, Glossographia, 1674). This comes, through Dutch, from Ger.

nourable ragged than

y IV.,

h is properly a goat's skin tanned." The modern French form cordonnier is due to association with cordon, a thong, bootlace, etc. Witch-elm has nothing to do with witches. It

ish green." Mid. English had the more correct vertegresse and verte Grece (Promptorium Parvulorum, 1440). The cavalry trumpet-call boot and saddle is for Fr. boute-selle, lit. "put saddle." Court card is for coat card, a name

EROUS" P

ed so as to mean "cabbage." Another example, which I have never seen quoted, is the name of a beech-wood near the little town of Remilly in Lorraine. The trees of this wood are very old and curiously twisted, and they are called in French les

e were of the kind that springs eternal in the human breast. In

attack consisted of a serg

n's Despat

campe (are commonly gentlemen of companies)." It is from obsolete Du. verloren hoop, where hoop, cognate with Eng. heap, is used for a

ntlet has no connection with gaunt

neck and heels; others that h

ones,

. The Swedish form is gatlopp, in which gat is cognate with Eng. gate, in its

.e., an advance on "loan," Old Fr. prest (prêt), and the engagement was called presting or impresting. Florio explains soldato (see p. 154), lit. "p

To curry favour is a corruption of Mid. Eng. "to curry favel." The expression is translated from French. Palsgrave has curryfavell, a flatterer, "estrille faveau," estriller (étriller) meaning "to curry (a horse)." Faveau, earlier fauvel, is the name of a hors

stition of the hand of glory. This is understood to be a skele

ount w

se by t

ckly the Dea

, The Hand

n of mandragore, from Lat. mandragora, the mandragore, or mandrake, to the forked roots of which a

AMIN

urpin, once heard himself startlingly addressed by a lecturer as Turpentine. People who inhabit the frontier of two languages, and in fact all who are in any degree bilingual, must inevitably form such composites occasionally. The h aspirate of Fr. haut, Lat. altus, high, can only be explained by the influence of Old High Ger. hōh (hoch). The poetic word glaive cannot be derived from Lat. gladius, sword, which has given Fr. glai, an archaic name for the gladiolus. We must invoke the help of a Gaulish word cladebo, sword, which is related to Gaelic clay-more, big

t can hardly be doubted that this word suggested Shakespeare's Caliban. Seraglio is due to confusion between the Turkish word serai, a palace

iberate coinage asc

ecdotage, it was a sign for

, Lothair

OUR

represents also Mid. Eng. herbere, erbere, which comes, through French, from Lat. *herbarium. But this can only mean herb-garden, so that the sense d

d, unseal th

th the dawnin

and the

at. sigillare, and seel, Old Fr. ciller, Vulgar Lat. *ciliare, from cilium, eye-brow. The

seeling

tender eye of

th, ii

rs in heraldry, in which sense it corresponds to Fr. frette with the same meaning; for this word, whic

roof fretted wi

et, i

cribed as the "eating away" of part of the material? Cf. etch, which comes, through Dutch, from Ger. ?tzen, the factitive of essen, to eat. But the German for fretwork is durc

tes from the time of Charles I., has always b

ows of teeth th

des like casso

s of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid," an outburst which Lord Mansfield

monstrous excises which are impos'd upon all

ter from Ams

appears in medieval Latin as accisia, as though connected with "cutting" (cf. tallage, from Fr. tailler, to cut), or with the "incidence" of the tax. It is pe

is sometimes bewildering. Thus equerry represents an older querr

ritten in French by the Sieur de Solleysell,

scura[100] (Scheuer, barn). The word used in modern French in the sense of our equerry is écuyer, older escuier, Lat. scutarius, shield-bearer, whence our word esquire. This écuyer is in French naturally confused with écurie,

EO

salt-cellar is not the same word as in wine-cellar. It comes from Fr. salière, "a salt-seller" (Cotgrave), so that the salt is unnecessary. We speak pleonastically of "dishevelled hair," while Old Fr. deschevelé, lit. dis-haired, now replaced by échevelé, can only be applied to a person, e.g., une femme toute deschevelée, "discheveled, with all her haire disorderly falling about her eares" (Cotgrave). The word cheer meant in Mid. English "face."

INED DI

" (Florio), said to have been originally made from pig's brains. For hatchment we find in the 16th century achement, and even achievement. It is archaic Fr. hachement, the ornamental crest of a helmet, etc., probably derived from Old Fr. achemer, variant of acesmer, to adorn. Hence both the French and English forms have an unexplained h-, the earlier achement being nearer the original. French omelette has a bewildering history, but we can trace it almost to its present form. To begin with, an omelet

ta puncta, lit. "stitched quilt"; cf. Ger. Steppdecke, counterpane, from steppen, to stit

ers I have stu

sts my arras,

el, tents an

f the Shr

r. verdugalle, of Spanish origin and derived from Span. verdugo, a (green) wand, because the circumference was stiffened with flexible switches before the application of whalebone or steel to this purpose. The crinoline, as its name implies, was originally strengthened with horse-hair, Lat. crinis, hair. To return to the

to late Lat. liquiritia, whence Fr. réglisse, Ital. legorizia, regolizia, and Ger. Lakritze. The Mid. English form licoris would

TNO

, dry, which, with spurious t, has also

ulpit or professorial chair, Lat. cathedra, is due to an affec

nant of the singular disappeared in the plural f

haggard s

their disappearance in the plural (see p. 118, n.). In gerfaut, gerfalcon, for Old Fr.

e.g., foreign, sovereign, older sovran, sprightly for spritely, i.e., s

other poultry to sell ... and that the 'foreign' poulterers, with their poultry, shall stand by themselves, and sell their poul

urvives at Oxford and Exeter. It is a plural, from Fr. ca

yshire Golf Club links were yesterday the venue of a

and the Tudor word skinker, a dra

beaupré, from Eng. bowsprit, cannot conceivably have been associated with a fair meadow; and a

s, from pr?, before,

and it seems likely that Old Fr. escurie is really derived

ng. flawn, Ger. Fladen, etc., a kind of

over, the boa

he custards had

, Jackdaw

ustards, eggepies; also, round