WANDERINGS OF WORDS
In assigning to a word a foreign origin, it is necessary to show how
contact between the two languages has taken place, or the particular
reasons which have brought about the borrowing. A Chinese word cannot
suddenly make its appearance in Anglo-Saxon, though it may quite well do
so in modern English. No nautical terms have reached us from the coast
of Bohemia (_Winter's Tale_, iii. 3), nor is the vocabulary of the wine
trade enriched by Icelandic words. Although we have words from all the
languages of Europe, our direct borrowings from some of them have been
small. The majority of High German words in English have passed through
Old French, and we have taken little from modern German. On the other
hand, commerce has introduced a great many words from the old Low German
dialects of the North Sea and the Baltic.
The Dutch[16] element in English supplies a useful object lesson on the
way in which the borrowing of words naturally takes place. As a great
naval power, the Dutch have contributed to our nautical vocabulary a
number of words, many of which are easily recognised as near relations;
such are _boom_ (beam), _skipper_ (shipper), _orlop_ (over leap), the
name given to a deck which "over-runs" the ship's hold. _Yacht_,
properly a "hunting" ship, is cognate with Ger. _Jagd_, hunting, but has
no English kin. Hexham has _jaght_, "zee-roovers schip, pinace, or
pirats ship." The modern Dutch spelling is _jacht_. We should expect to
find art terms from the country of Hobbema, Rubens, Vandyke, etc. See
_easel_ (p. 39), _etch_ (p. 133), _lay-figure_ (p. 166), _sketch_ (p.
22). _Landscape_, earlier _landskip_, has the suffix which in English
would be _-ship_. In the 16th century Camden speaks of "a _landskip_, as
they call it." The Low Countries were for two centuries the cock-pit of
Europe, and many military terms were brought back to England by Dugald
Dalgetty and the armies which "swore terribly in Flanders." Such are
_cashier_ (p. 157), _forlorn hope_ (p. 129), _tattoo_ (p. 162). Other
interesting military words are _leaguer_ (lair), recently re-introduced
from South Africa as _laager_, and _furlough_. The latter word, formerly
pronounced to rime with _cough_, is from Du. _verlof_ (for leave); _cf._
archaic Ger. _Verlaub_, now replaced by _Urlaub_. _Knapsack_,[17] a food
sack, comes from colloquial Du. _knap_, food, or what the Notts colliers
call _snap_. We also find it called a _snapsack_. Both _knap_ and _snap_
contain the idea of "crunching"--
"I would she (Report) were as lying a gossip in that as ever
_knapped_ ginger."
(_Merchant of Venice_, iii. 1.)
_Roster_ (roaster) is the Dutch for gridiron, the allusion being to the
parallel lines of the list or plan; for a somewhat similar metaphor cf.
_cancel_ (p. 88). The pleasant fiction that--
"The children of Holland take pleasure in making
What the children of England take pleasure in breaking,"
confirms the derivation of _toy_ from Du. _tuig_, implement, thing,
stuff, etc., a word, like its German cognate _Zeug_, with an infinity of
meanings. We now limit _toy_ to the special sense represented by Du.
_speel-tuig_, play-thing.
[Page Heading: DISAPPEARANCE OF CELTIC]
Our vocabulary dealing with war and fortification is chiefly French, but
most of the French terms come from Italian. Addison wrote an article in
No. 165 of the _Spectator_ ridiculing the Frenchified character of the
military language of his time, and, in the 16th century, Henri Estienne,
patriot, printer, and philologist, lamented that future historians would
believe, from the vocabulary employed, that France had learnt the art of
war from Italy. As a matter of fact she did. The earliest writers on the
new tactics necessitated by villainous saltpetre were Italians trained
in condottiere warfare. They were followed by the great French theorists
and engineers of the 16th and 17th centuries, who naturally adopted a
large number of Italian terms which thus passed later into English.
A considerable number of Spanish and Portuguese words have reached us in
a very roundabout way (see pp. 23-7). This is not surprising when we
consider how in the 15th and 16th centuries the world was dotted with
settlements due to the Portuguese and Spanish adventurers who had a
hundred years' start of our own.
There are very few Celtic words either in English or French. In each
country the result of conquest was, from the point of view of language,
complete. A few words from the Celtic languages have percolated into
English in comparatively recent times, but many terms which we associate
with the picturesque Highlanders are not Gaelic at all.[18] _Tartan_
comes through French from the _Tartars_ (see p. 47); _kilt_ is a
Scandinavian verb, "to tuck up," and _dirk_,[19] of unknown origin,
first appears about 1600. For _trews_ see p. 117.
A very interesting part of our vocabulary, the _canting_, or rogues',
language, dates mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, and includes
contributions from most of the European languages, together with a large
Romany element. The early dictionary makers paid great attention to this
aspect of the language. Elisha Coles, who published a fairly complete
English dictionary in 1676, says in his preface, "'Tis no disparagement
to understand the canting terms: it may chance to save your throat from
being cut, or (at least), your pocket from being pick'd."
Words often go long journeys. _Boss_ is in English a comparatively
modern Americanism. But, like many American words, it belongs to the
language of the Dutch settlers who founded New Amsterdam (New York). It
is Du. _baas_, master, which has thus crossed the Atlantic twice on its
way from Holland to England. A number of Dutch words became familiar to
us about the year 1900 in consequence of the South African war. One of
them, _slim_, 'cute, seems to have been definitely adopted. It is
cognate with Ger. _schlimm_, bad, and Eng. _slim_, slender, and the
latter word has for centuries been used in the Eastern counties in the
very sense in which it has now been re-introduced.
_Apricot_ is a much travelled word. It comes to us from Fr. _abricot_,
while the Shakespearean _apricock_--
"Feed him with _apricocks_ and dewberries."
(_Midsummer Night's Dream_, iii. 1.)
represents the Spanish or Portuguese form. Ger. _Aprikose_ comes, _via_
Dutch, from the French plural. The word was adopted into the Romance
languages from Arab. _al-barquq_, where _al_ is the definite article
(_cf._ examples on p. 115), while _barquq_ comes, through medieval
Greek, from Vulgar Lat. _præcoquum_, for _præcox_, early-ripe. Thus the
word first crossed the Adriatic, passed on to Asia Minor or the North
coast of Africa, and then travelling along the Mediterranean re-entered
Southern Europe.
[Page Heading: ARABIC TRADE WORDS]
Many other Arabic trade words have a similar history. _Carat_ comes to
us, through French, from Italian _carato_, "a waight or degree called a
_caract_" (Florio). The Italian word is from Arabic, but the Arabic form
is a corruption of Gk. {keration}, fruit of the locust tree, lit. little
horn, also used of a small weight. The verb to _garble_, now used only
of confusing or falsifying,[20] meant originally to sort or sift,
especially spices--
"_Garbler_ of spices is an officer of great antiquity in the city of
London, who may enter into any shop, warehouse, etc., to view and
search drugs, spices, etc., and to _garble_ the same and make them
clean."
(Cowel's _Interpreter_.)
It represents Span. _garbellar_, from _garbello_, a sieve. This comes
from Arab. _ghirb[=a]l_, a sieve, borrowed from Lat. _cribellum_,
diminutive of _cribrum_. _Quintal_, an old word for hundred-weight,
looks as if it had something to do with five. Fr. and Span. _quintal_
are from Arab. _qintar_, hundred-weight, which is Lat. _centenarium_
(whence directly Ger. _Zentner_, hundred-weight). The French word passed
into Dutch, and gave, with a diminutive ending, _kindekijn_, now
replaced by _kinnetje_, a firkin.[21] We have adopted it as _kilderkin_,
but have doubled its capacity. With these examples of words that have
passed through Arabic may be mentioned _talisman_, not a very old word
in Europe, from Arab. _tilsam_, magic picture, ultimately from Gk.
{telein}, to initiate into mysteries, lit. to accomplish, and _effendi_,
a Turkish corruption of Gk. {authentês}, a master, whence Lat.
_authentic_.
_Hussar_ seems to be a late Latin word which passed into Greece and then
entered Central Europe _via_ the Balkans. It comes into 16th-century
German from Hungar. _huszar_, freebooter. This is from a Serbian word
which means also pirate. It represents medieval Gk. {koursarios}, a
transliteration of Vulgar Lat. _cursarius_, from _currere_, to run,
which occurs also with the sense of pirate in medieval Latin. _Hussar_
is thus a doublet of _corsair_. The immediate source of _sketch_ is Du.
_schets_, "draught of any picture" (Hexham), from Ital. _schizzo_, "an
ingrosement or first rough draught of anything" (Florio), whence also
Fr. _esquisse_ and Ger. _Skizze_. The Italian word represents Greco-Lat.
_schedium_, an extempore effort.
_Assassin_ and _slave_ are of historic interest. _Assassin_, though not
very old in English, dates from the Crusades. Its oldest European form
is Ital. _assassino_, and it was adopted into French in the 16th
century. Henri Estienne, whose fiery patriotism entered even into
philological questions, reproaches his countrymen for using foreign
terms. They should only adopt, he says, Italian words which express
Italian qualities hitherto unknown to the French, such as _assassin_,
_charlatan_, _poltron_! _Assassin_ is really a plural, from the
_hachaschin_, eaters of the drug _haschish_, who executed the decrees of
the Old Man of the Mountains. It was one of these who stabbed Edward
Longshanks at Acre. The first _slaves_ were captive _Slavonians_. We
find the word in most of the European languages. The fact that none of
the Western tribes of the race called themselves _Slavs_ or _Slavonians_
shows that the word could not have entered Europe _via_ Germany, where
the Slavs were called Wends. It must have come from the Byzantine empire
_via_ Italy.
Some Spanish words have also come to us by the indirect route. The
_cocoa_ which is grateful and comforting was formerly spelt _cacao_, as
in French and German. It is a Mexican word. The _cocoa_ of _cocoa-nut_
is for _coco_, a Spanish baby-word for an ugly face or bogie-man. The
black marks at one end of the nut give it, especially before the removal
of the fibrous husk, some resemblance to a ferocious face. Stevens
(1706) explains _coco_ as "the word us'd to fright children; as we say
the Bulbeggar."
[Page Heading: COW-BOY WORDS]
_Mustang_ seems to represent two words, _mestengo y mostrenco_, "a
straier" (Percyvall). The first appears to be connected with _mesta_, "a
monthly fair among herdsmen; also, the laws to be observed by all that
keep or deal in cattle" (Stevens), and the second with _mostrar_, to
show, the finder being expected to advertise a stray. The original
_mustangs_ were of course descended from the strayed horses of the
Spanish _conquistadors_. _Ranch_, Span. _rancho_, a row (of huts), is a
doublet of _rank_, from Fr. _rang_, Old Fr. _reng_, Old High Ger.
_hring_, a ring. Thus what is now usually straight was once circular,
the ground idea of ar_range_ment surviving. Another doublet is Fr.
_harangue_, due to the French inability to pronounce _hr-_ (see p. 55),
a speech delivered in the ring. _Cf._ also Ital. _aringo_, "a riding or
carreering place, a liste for horses, or feates of armes: a declamation,
an oration, a noise, a common loud speech" (Florio), in which the "ring"
idea is also prominent.
Other "cow-boy" words of Spanish origin are the less familiar _cinch_,
girth of a horse, Span. _cincha_, from Lat. _cingula_, also used
metaphorically--
"The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature 'to get a _cinch_'
on an honourable æstheticism."
(Snaith, _Mrs Fitz_, Ch. 1.)
and the formidable riding-whip called a _quirt_, Span. _cuerda_, cord--
"Whooping and swearing as they plied the _quirt_."
(Masefield, _Rosas_.)
Stories of Californian life often mention Span. _reata_, a tethering
rope, from the verb _reatar_, to bind together, Lat. _re-aptare_.
Combined with the definite article (_la reata_) it has given _lariat_, a
familiar word in literature of the Buffalo Bill character. _Lasso_,
Span. _lazo_, Lat. _laqueus_, snare, is a doublet of Eng. _lace_.
When, in the _Song of Hiawatha_--
"Gitche Manito, the mighty,
Smoked the _calumet_, the Peace-pipe,
As a signal to the nations,"
he was using an implement with a French name. _Calumet_ is an Old Norman
word for _chalumeau_, reed, pipe, a diminutive from Lat. _calamus_. It
was naturally applied by early French voyagers to the "long reed for a
pipe-stem." Eng. _shawm_ is the same word without the diminutive ending.
Another Old French word, once common in English, but now found only in
dialect, is _felon_, a whitlow. It is used more than once by Mr Hardy--
"I've been visiting to Bath because I had a _felon_ on my thumb."
(_Far from the Madding Crowd_, Ch. 33.)
This is still an every-day word in Canada and the United States. It is a
metaphorical use of _felon_, a fell villain. A whitlow was called in
Latin _furunculus_, "a little theefe; a sore in the bodie called a
_fellon_" (Cooper), whence Fr. _furoncle_, or _froncle_, "the hot and
hard bumpe, or swelling, tearmed, a _fellon_" (Cotgrave). Another Latin
name for it was _tagax_, "a _felon_ on a man's finger" (Cooper), lit.
thievish. One of its Spanish names is _padrastro_, lit. step-father. I
am told that an "agnail" was formerly called a "step-mother" in
Yorkshire. This is a good example of the semantic method in etymology
(see pp. 99-104).
[Page Heading: PORTUGUESE WORDS]
Some of the above instances show how near to home we can often track a
word which at first sight appears to belong to another continent. This
is still more strikingly exemplified in the case of Portuguese words,
which have an almost uncanny way of pretending to be African or Indian.
Some readers will, I think, be surprised to hear that _assegai_ occurs
in Chaucer, though in a form not easily recognisable. It is a Berber
word which passed through Spanish and Portuguese into French and
English. We find Fr. _archegaie_ in the 14th century, _azagaie_ in
Rabelais, and the modern form _zagaie_ in Cotgrave, who describes it as
"a fashion of slender, long, and long-headed pike, used by the Moorish
horsemen." In Mid. English _l'archegaie_ was corrupted by folk-etymology
(see p. 115) into _lancegay_, _launcegay_, the form used by Chaucer--
"He worth upon his stede gray,
And in his hond a _launcegay_,
A long swerd by his syde."
(_Sir Thopas_, l. 40.)
The use of this weapon was prohibited by statute in 1406, hence the
early disappearance of the word.
Another "Zulu" word which has travelled a long way is _kraal_. This is a
contracted Dutch form from Port. _curral_, a sheepfold (_cf._ Span.
_corral_, a pen, enclosure). Both _assegai_ and _kraal_ were taken to
South East Africa by the Portuguese and then adopted by the Boers and
Kafirs.[22] _Sjambok_ occurs in 17th-century accounts of India in the
form _chawbuck_. It is a Persian word, spelt _chabouk_ by Moore, in
_Lalla Rookh_. It was adopted by the Portuguese as _chabuco_, "in the
Portuguese India, a whip or scourge"[23] (Vieyra, _Port. Dict._, 1794).
_Fetish_, an African idol, first occurs in the records of the early
navigators, collected and published by Hakluyt and Purchas. It is the
Port. _feitiço_, Lat. _factitius_, artificial, applied by the Portuguese
explorers to the graven images of the heathen. The corresponding Old Fr.
_faitis_ is rather a complimentary adjective, and everyone remembers the
lady in Chaucer who spoke French fairly and _fetousli_. _Palaver_, also
a travellers' word from the African coast, is Port. _palavra_, word,
speech, Greco-Lat. _parabola_. It is thus a doublet of _parole_ and
_parable_, and is related to _parley_. _Ayah_, an Indian nurse, is Port.
_aia_, nurse, of unknown origin. _Caste_ is Port. _casta_, pure, and a
doublet of _chaste_. _Tank_, an Anglo-Indian word of which the meaning
has narrowed in this country, is Port. _tanque_, a pool or cistern, Lat.
_stagnum_, whence Old Fr. _estang_ (_étang_) and provincial Eng.
_stank_, a dam, or a pond banked round. _Cobra_ is the Portuguese for
snake, cognate with Fr. _couleuvre_, Lat. _coluber_ (see p. 7). We use
it as an abbreviation for _cobra de capello_, hooded snake, the second
part of which is identical with Fr. _chapeau_ and cognate with _cape_,
_chapel_ (p. 152), _chaplet_, a garland, and _chaperon_, a "protecting"
hood. From still further afield than India comes _joss_, a Chinese god,
a corruption of Port. _deos_, Lat. _deus_. Even _mandarin_ comes from
Portuguese, and not Chinese, but it is an Eastern word, ultimately of
Sanskrit origin.
[Page Heading: GORILLA--SILK]
The word _gorilla_ is perhaps African, but more than two thousand years
separate its first appearance from its present use. In the 5th or 6th
century, B.C., a Carthaginian navigator named Hanno sailed beyond the
Pillars of Hercules along the west coast of Africa. He probably followed
very much the same route as Sir Richard Dalyngridge and Saxon Hugh when
they voyaged with Witta the Viking. He wrote in Punic a record of his
adventures, which was received with the incredulity usually accorded to
travellers' tales. Among the wonders he encountered were some hairy
savages called _gorillas_. His work was translated into Greek and later
on into several European languages, so that the word became familiar to
naturalists. In 1847 it was applied to the giant ape, which had recently
been described by explorers.
The origin of the word _silk_ is a curious problem. It is usually
explained as from Greco-Lat. _sericum_, a name derived from an Eastern
people called the _Seres_, presumably the Chinese. It appears in
Anglo-Saxon as _seolc_. Now, at that early period, words of Latin origin
came to us by the overland route and left traces of their passage. But
all the Romance languages use for silk a name derived from Lat. _sæta_,
bristle, and this name has penetrated even into German (_Seide_) and
Dutch (_zijde_). The derivatives of _sericum_ stand for another
material, _serge_. Nor can it be assumed that the _r_ of the Latin word
would have become in English always _l_ and never _r_. There are races
which cannot sound the letter _r_, but we are not one of them. As the
word _silk_ is found also in Old Norse, Swedish, Danish, and Old
Slavonian, the natural inference is that it must have reached us along
the north of Europe, and, if derived from _sericum_, it must, in the
course of its travels, have passed through a dialect which had no _r_.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] This includes Flemish, spoken in a large part of Belgium and in the
North East of France.
[17] _Haversack_, oat-sack, comes through French from German.
[18] This applies also to some of the clan names, e.g., _Macpherson_,
son of the parson, _Macnab_, son of the abbot.
[19] My own conviction is that it is identical with Dan. _dirik_,
_dirk_, a pick-lock. See _Dietrich_ (p. 42). An implement used for
opening an enemy may well have been named in this way. _Cf._ Du.
_opsteeker_ (up sticker), "a pick-lock, a great knife, or a dagger"
(Sewel, 1727).
[20] "It was a wholly _garbled_ version of what never took place" (Mr
Birrell, in the House, 26th Oct. 1911). The bull appears to be a
laudable concession to Irish national feeling.
[21] Formerly _ferdekin_, a derivative of Du. _vierde_, fourth; cf.
_farthing_, a little fourth.
[22] _Kafir_ (Arab.) means infidel.
[23] Eng. _chawbuck_ is used in connection with the punishment we call
the _bastinado_. This is a corruption of Span. _bastonada_, "a stroke
with a club or staff" (Stevens, 1706). On the other hand, we extend the
meaning of _drub_, the Arabic word for _bastinado_, to a beating of any
kind.