FOLK-ETYMOLOGY
The sound, spelling, and even the meaning of a word are often perverted
by influences to which the collective name of folk-etymology has been
given. I here use the term to include all phenomena 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 adder_ and _an auger_ are for _a
nadder_ (_cf._ Ger. _Natter_) and _a nauger_, Mid. Eng. _navegor_,
properly an instrument for piercing the _nave_ of a wheel. _Apron_ was
in Mid. English _naprun_, from Old Fr. _naperon_, a derivative of
_nappe_, cloth. The _aitch-bone_ was formerly the _nache-bone_, from Old
Fr. _nache_, buttock, Vulgar Lat. _*natica_ for _nates_. _Nache_ is
still used by French butchers. _Humble-pie_ is a popular perversion of
_umble-pie_, _i.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 etymologically no connection
with humility. _Umpire_ represents Old Fr. _non per_ (_pair_), not
equal, the _umpire_ being a third person called in when arbitrators
could not agree. This appears clearly in the following extract from a
medieval letter--
"And if so be that the said arbitrators may not accord before the
said feast of Allhalowes, then the said parties be the advise
abovesaid are agreed to abide the award and ordinance of an
_noumper_ to be chosen be the said arbitrators."
(_Plumpton Correspondence_, 1431.)
For the sense we may compare Span. _tercero_, "the third, a broaker, a
mediator" (Percyvall). _An eyas_ falcon is for _a neyas_ falcon, Fr.
_niais_, foolish, lit. nestling, related to _nid_, nest. Rosenkrantz
uses it in the literal sense--
"But there is, sir, an aiery of children, little _eyases_, that cry
out on the top of question, and are most tyranically clapped for't."
(_Hamlet_, ii. 2.)
Somewhat similar is the loss in French of initial _a_ in _la boutique_
for _l'aboutique_, Greco-Lat. _apotheca_, and _la Pouille_ for
_l'Apouille_, Apulia, or of the initial _l_ in _ounce_, a kind of
tiger-cat, from Fr. _once_, earlier _lonce_, "the _ounce_, a ravenous
beast" (Cotgrave), taken as _l'once_. It is almost a doublet of _lynx_.
The opposite has happened in the case of _a newt_ for _an ewt_ and _a
nick-name_ for _an eke-name_. _Eke_, also, occurs in the first stanza of
John Gilpin. It is cognate with Ger. _auch_, also, and Lat. _augere_, to
increase. _Nuncle_, the customary address of a court fool to his
superiors--
"How now, _nuncle_! Would I had two coxcombs and two daughters."
(_Lear_, i. 4.)
is for _mine uncle_. We also find _naunt_. _Nonce_ occurs properly only
in the phrase _for the nonce_, which is for earlier _for then ones_,
where _then_ is 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 creation of such forms was perhaps helped by our
tendency to use initial _n_ in Christian names, e.g., _Ned_ for
_Edward_, _Noll_ for _Oliver_, _Nell_ for _Ellen_.
[Page Heading: AGGLUTINATION OF THE ARTICLE]
Agglutination of the definite article is common in French, e.g.,
_lingot_, ingot, _lierre_, ivy, for _l'ierre_, Lat. _hedera_, and the
dialect _lévier_, sink, for _évier_, Lat. _aquarium_, 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 family names such as _Langlois_, lit. the Englishman,
_Lhuissier_, the usher (see p. 90), and some of these have passed into
English, e.g., _Levick_ for _l'évêque_, the bishop.
The two words _alarm_ and _alert_ include the Italian definite article.
The first is Ital. _all'arme_, to arms, for _a le arme_, and the second
is _all'erta_ for _alla (a la) erta_, the last word representing Lat.
_erecta_. With rolled _r_, _alarm_ becomes _alarum_, whence the aphetic
_larum_--
"Then we shall hear their _larum_, and they ours."
(_Coriolanus_, i. 4.)
Ger. _Lärm_, noise, is the same word. In Luther's time we also find
_Allerm_.
We have the Arabic definite article in a great many words borrowed from
Spanish. _Alcalde_, or _alcade_, and _alguazil_, common in Elizabethan
literature, are two old friends from the _Arabian Nights_, the _cadi_
and the _wazir_, or _vizier_. The Arabic article also occurs in _acton_,
Old Fr. _auqueton_, now _hoqueton_, for _al qutn_ (cotton), because
originally used of a wadded coat--
"But Cranstoun's lance, of more avail,
Pierced through, like silk, the Borderer's mail;
Through shield, and jack, and _acton_ past,
Deep in his bosom broke at last."
(SCOTT, _Lay_, iii. 6.)
In _alligator_, Span. _el lagarto_, the lizard, from Lat. _lacertus_, we
have the Spanish definite article. See also _lariat_, p. 24.
A foreign word ending in a sibilant is sometimes mistaken for a plural.
Thus Old Fr. _assets_ (_assez_), enough, Lat. _ad satis_, has given Eng.
_assets_, plural, with a barbarous, but useful, singular _asset_.
_Cherry_ is for _cheris_, from a dialect form of Fr. _cerise_, and
_sherry_ for _sherris_, from _Xeres_ in Spain (see p. 51). Falstaff
opines that--
"A good _sherris_-sack[89] hath a twofold operation in it."
(2 _Henry IV._, iv. 3.)
_Pea_ is a false singular from older _pease_, Lat. _pisum_. Perhaps the
frequent occurrence of _pease-soup_, not to be distinguished from
_pea-soup_, is partly responsible for this mistake. _Marquee_, a large
tent, is from Fr. _marquise_. With this we may class the heathen
_Chinee_ and the _Portugee_. Milton wrote correctly of--
"The barren plains
Of Sericana, where _Chineses_ drive
With sails and wind their cany waggons light."
(_Paradise Lost_, iii. 438.)
It has been ingeniously suggested that _Yankee_ has been derived in the
same way from Du. _Jan Kees_, John Cornelius, supposed to have been a
nickname for early Dutch colonists. It is more probably the Dutch dim.
_Janke_, i.e. Johnny. The vulgarism _shay_ for _chaise_[90] is of
similar formation. _Corp_, for _corpse_, is also used provincially.
_Kickshaws_ is really a singular from Fr. _quelque chose_--
"Art thou good at these _kickshawses_, knight?"
(_Twelfth Night_, i. 3.)
Cotgrave spells it _quelkchoses_ (s.v. _fricandeau_).
[Page Heading: FALSE SINGULARS AND DOUBLE PLURALS]
_Skate_ has a curious history. It is a false singular from Du.
_schaats_. This is from _escache_, an Old French dialect form of
_échasse_, stilt, which was used in the Middle Ages for a wooden leg. It
is of German origin, 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 also had formerly a doublet from Old Fr.
_escache_ directly, but in the older sense, for Cotgrave has _eschasses_
(_échasses_), "stilts, or _scatches_ to go on." _Row_, a disturbance,
belongs to _rouse_, a jollification--
"The king doth wake to-night and takes his _rouse_."
(_Hamlet_, i. 4.)
of uncertain origin, but probably aphetic for _carouse_, _drink carouse_
being wrongly separated as _drink a rouse_. The bird called a _wheatear_
was formerly called _wheatears_, a corruption of a name best explained
by its French equivalent _cul blanc_, "the bird called a whittaile"
(Cotgrave). We may compare the bird-name _redstart_, where _start_ means
rump.
Conversely a word used in the plural is sometimes regarded as a
singular, the result being a double plural. Many Latin neuter plurals
were adopted into French as feminine singulars, e.g., _cornua_, _corne_,
horn; _labra_, _lèvre_, lip; _vela_, _voile_, sail. It is obvious that
this is most likely to occur in the case of plurals which are used for a
pair, or set, of things, and thus have a kind of collective sense.
_Breeches_ or _breeks_ is a double plural, Anglo-Sax. _br[=e]c_ being
already the plural of _br[=o]c_. 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 short breeches. The etymology which
now finds most favour is Irish and Gaelic _triubhas_, from Late Lat.
_tubracci_ or _tribracci_, which is supposed to be a corrupted compound
from _tibia_, leg, shank, and _braccæ_, breeches. _Bodice_ is for
_bodies_, as _pence_ is for _pennies_. Cotgrave explains _corset_ by "a
paire of _bodies_ for a woman," and the plural sense occurs as late as
Harrison Ainsworth--
"A _pair of bodice_ of the cumbrous form in vogue at the beginning
of the last century."
(_Jack Sheppard_, Ch. 1.)
_Trace_, of a horse, is the Old Fr. plural _trais_[91] (_traits_) of
_trait_, "a teame-trace" (Cotgrave). _Apprentice_ is the plural of Fr.
_apprenti_, formerly _apprentif_, a derivative of _apprendre_, to learn,
hence a disciple. _Invoice_ is the plural of the obsolete _invoy_, from
Fr. _envoi_, sending.
In the _Grecian steps_, at Lincoln, we have a popular corruption of the
common Mid. Eng. and Tudor _grece_, _grese_, plural of Old Fr. _gré_,
step, from Lat. _gradus_. Shakespeare spells it _grize_--
"Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence,
Which, as a _grize_, or step, may help these lovers
Into your favour."
(_Othello_, i. 3.)
[Page Heading: SINGULARS FROM PLURALS]
Scot. _brose_, or _brewis_, was in Mid. Eng. _browes_, from Old Fr.
_brouez_, plural of _brouet_, a word cognate with our _broth_. From this
association comes perhaps the use of _broth_ as a plural in some of our
dialects. _Porridge_, not originally limited to oatmeal, seems to be
combined from _pottage_ and Mid. Eng. _porrets_, plural of _porret_,
leek, a diminutive from Lat. _porrum_. _Porridge_ is sometimes used as
a plural in Scottish--
"They're fine, halesome food, they're grand food, _parritch_."
(_Kidnapped_, Ch. 3.)
and in the northern counties of England people speak of taking "a few"
porridge, or broth. _Baize_, now generally green, is for earlier
_bayes_, the plural of the adjective _bay_, now used only of horses;
_cf._ Du. _baai_, baize. The origin of the adjective _bay_, Fr. _bai_,
forms of which occur in all the 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_ (_coing_), which is
derived from Gk. {kydônion}. _Truce_ is the plural of Mid. Eng. _trewe_
(lit. truth, faith) with the same meaning. Already in Anglo-Saxon it is
found in the plural, probably as rendering Lat. _induciæ_. _Lettuce_,
Mid. Eng. _letows_, seems also to be a plural, from Fr. _laitue_, Lat.
_lactuca_.
_Earnest_ in the sense of pledge--
"And, for an _earnest_ of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor."
(_Macbeth_, i. 3.)
has nothing to do with the adjective _earnest_. It is the Mid. Eng.
_ernes_, earlier _erles_, which survives as _arles_ in some of our
dialects. The verb to _earl_ is still used in Cumberland of "enlisting"
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 existence
of Mid. Eng. _erles_ shows that there must have been also an Old French
diminutive form. For the apparently arbitrary change of _l_ to _n_ we
may compare _banister_ for _baluster_ (see p. 60).
The _jesses_ of a hawk--
"If I do prove her haggard,[92]
Though that her _jesses_ were my dear heart-strings,
I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune."
(_Othello_, iii. 3.)
were the thongs by which it was held or "thrown" into the air. _Jess_ is
the Old Fr. _jes_, the plural of _jet_, from _jeter_, to throw. In
Colman's _Elder Brother_ 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 moult, Lat. _mutare_, we get Fr. _mue_,
moulting, later applied to the coop or pen in which moulting falcons
were confined, whence the phrase "to _mew_ (up)"--
"More pity, that the eagles should be _mew'd_,
While kites and buzzards prey at liberty."
(_Richard III._, i. 1.)
When, in 1534, the royal _mews_, or hawk-houses, near Charing Cross were
rebuilt as stables, the word acquired its present meaning.
_Chess_, Old Fr. _esches_ (_échecs_), is the plural of _check_, Fr.
_échec_, from Persian _sh[=a]h_, king. By analogy with the "game of
kings," the name _jeu des dames_ was given in French to draughts, still
called _dams_ in Scotland. _Draught_, from _draw_, meant in Mid. English
a "move" at chess. The etymology of _tweezers_ can best be made 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 generally opens book-fashion,
each half being fitted with instruments. Accordingly we find it called a
surgeon's "pair of _twees_," or simply _tweese_, and later a "pair of
_tweeses_." The implement was named from the case (_cf._ Fr. _boussole_,
p. 127), and became _tweezers_ by association with _pincers_ (Fr.
_pinces_), _scissors_, etc.
[Page Heading: ANALOGY]
The form of a word is often affected by association with some other word
with which it is instinctively coupled. Thus _larboard_, for Mid. Eng.
_ladeboard_, _i.e._ loading side, is due to _starboard_, steering side.
_Bridal_, for _bride-ale_, from the liquid consumed at marriage
festivities, is due to analogy with _betrothal_, _espousal_, etc. A
16th-century Puritan records with satisfaction the disappearance of--
"Church-ales, helpe-ales, and soule-ales, called also dirge-ales,
and heathenish rioting at _bride-ales_."
(HARRISON, _Description of England_, 1577.)
_Rampart_ is from Old Fr. _rempar_, a verbal noun from _remparer_, to
repair; _cf._ Ital. _riparo_, "a _rampire_, a fort, a banke" (Florio).
By analogy with Old Fr. _boulevart_ (_boulevard_), of German origin and
identical with our _bulwark_,[93] _rempar_ became _rempart_. The older
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 spelt
_geniton_, no doubt for Fr. _jeanneton_, a diminutive of _Jean_. It is
called in French _pomme de Saint-Jean_, and in German _Johannisapfel_,
because ripe about St John's Day (June 24). The modern form is due to
such apple names as _golding_, _sweeting_, _codlin_, _pippin_.
In the records of medieval London we frequently come across the
distinction made between people who lived "in the city," Anglo-Fr.
_deinz (dans) la cité_, and "outside the city," 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_, which became _citizen_ by analogy with _denizen_. The
following passage from a medieval London by-law shows how rigid was the
division between "denizen" and "foreign" traders--
"Item, qe nulle pulletere _deinzeyn_ n'estoise a Carfeux del
Ledenhalle deins mesoun ne dehors, ove conilles, volatilie, n'autre
pulletrie pur vendre ... issint qe les _forreins_ pulleters, ove
lour pulletrie, estoisent par eux mesmes, et vendent lour pulletrie
sur le cornere de Ledenhalle, sanz ceo qe ascuns pulletere
_deinzein_ viegne ou medle en vent ou en achate ove eux, ne entre
eux."[95]
(_Liber Albus._)
Even words which have opposite meanings may affect each other by
association. Thus Lat. _reddere_, to give back, became Vulgar Lat.
_*rendere_ by analogy with _prendere_ (_prehendere_), to take away;
hence Fr. _rendre_. Our word _grief_, from Fr. _grief_, is derived from
a Vulgar Lat. _*gr[)e]vis_, heavy (for _gr[)a]vis_), which is due to
_l[)e]vis_, light.
[Page Heading: TITMOUSE--PURLIEU]
The plural of _titmouse_ is now usually _titmice_, by analogy with
_mouse_, _mice_, with which it has no connection. The second part of the
word is Anglo-Sax. _m[=a]se_, used of several small birds. It is cognate
with Ger. _Meise_, titmouse, and Fr. _mésange_, "a titmouse, or
tittling" (Cotgrave). _Tit_, of Norse origin, is applied to various
small animals, and occurs also as a prefix in _titbit_ or _tidbit_. Cf.
_tomtit_ (p. 37).
The Spanish word _salva_, "a taste, a salutation" (Percyvall), was used
of the pregustation of a great man's food or drink. We have given the
name to the tray or dish from which the "assay" was made, but, by
analogy 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. _credenza_, lit. faith, "the taste or assaie of a princes
meate and drinke" (Florio), whence Fr. _crédence_, side-board, used in
English only in the ecclesiastical compound _credence table_, and Ger.
_credenzen_, to pour out.
In spoken English the ending _-ew_, _-ue_, of French origin, has been
often changed to _-ee_, _-ey_. Thus _pedigree_ was formerly _pedigrew_
(see p. 77). The fencing term _veney_--
"I bruised my shin the other day with playing at sword and dagger
with a master of fence--three _veneys_ for a dish of stewed prunes."
(_Merry Wives_, i. 1.)
also spelt _venew_, is from Fr. _venue_, "a _venny_ in fencing"
(Cotgrave). _Carew_ has become _Carey_, and _Beaulieu_, in Hampshire, is
called _Bewley_. Under the influence of these double forms we sometimes
get the opposite change, e.g., _purlieu_, now generally used 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 an accused person, or a
football team, will not get justice from a local jury. This _venue_ is
in law Latin _vicinetum_, neighbourhood, which gave Anglo-Fr. _visné_,
and this, perhaps by confusion with the _venire facias_, or jury
summons, became _venew_, _venue_.
In the preceding examples the form has been chiefly affected. In the
word _luncheon_ both form and meaning have been influenced by the
obsolete _nuncheon_, a meal at noon, Mid. Eng. _none-chenche_, for
_*none-schenche_, 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 infinitive from Lat. _bibere_, to drink. _Lunch_, a piece
or hunk, especially of bread, also used in the sense of a "snack" (_cf._
Scot. "piece"), was extended to _luncheon_ by analogy with _nuncheon_,
which it has now replaced--
"So munch on, crunch on, take your _nuncheon_,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, _luncheon_."
(BROWNING, _Pied Piper of Hamelin_.)
[Page Heading: WRONG ASSOCIATION]
The term folk-etymology is often applied in a narrower sense to the
corruption of words through a mistaken idea of their etymology or
origin. The tendency of the uneducated is to distort an unfamiliar or
unintelligible word into some form which suggests a meaning. Some cases
may have originated in a kind of heavy jocularity, as in
_sparrow-grass_ for _asparagus_ or _sparagus_ (see p. 66), or Rogue
Riderhood's _Alfred David_ for _affidavit_--
"'Is that your name?' asked Lightwood. 'My name?' returned the man.
'No; I want to take a _Alfred David_.'"
(_Our Mutual Friend_, Ch. 12.)
In others there has been a wrong association of ideas, _e.g._, the
_primrose_, _rosemary_, and _tuberose_ have none of them originally any
connection with the _rose_. _Primrose_ was earlier _primerole_, an Old
French derivative 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's _Have his carcase_ for _Habeas Corpus_, or the
curious names which country folk give to such complaints as
_bronchitis_, _erysipelas_, etc. To this class belongs Private
Mulvaney's perversion of _locomotor ataxy_--
"'They call ut _Locomotus attacks us_,' he sez, 'bekaze,' sez he,
'it attacks us like a locomotive.'"
(_Love o' Women._)
Our language is, owing to our borrowing habits, particularly rich in
these gems. Examples familiar to everybody are _crayfish_ from Fr.
_écrevisse_, _gilly-flower_ from Fr. _giroflée_, _shame-faced_ for
_shamefast_. Other words 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_ of a house"
(Cotgrave), a derivative of Old Fr. _appendre_, to hang to. Fr.
_hangar_, a shed, now introduced into English by aviators as
unnecessarily as _garage_ by motorists, may also contain the same idea
of "hanging."
In _hiccough_, for earlier _hickup_, an onomatop[oe]ic word, the
spelling, suggested by _cough_, has not affected the pronunciation.
_Surcease_ is Fr. _sursis_, past participle of _surseoir_, "to
_surcease_, pawse, intermit, leave off, give over, delay or stay for a
time" (Cotgrave), Lat. _supersedere_. _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_, an augmentative
of Old Fr. _coutel_ (_couteau_), knife, gave Eng. _cutlass_, which has
no more etymological connection with "cutting" than a _cutler_, Fr.
_coutelier_, or a _cutlet_, Fr. _côtelette_, little rib, Lat. _costa_.
_Cutlas_ was popularly corrupted into _curtal-axe_, the form used by
Rosalind--
"A gallant _curtal-axe_ upon my thigh,
A boar-spear in my hand."
(_As You Like It_, i. 3.)
We have a similar corruption in _pick-axe_, Mid. Eng. _pikeys_, Old Fr.
_piquois_, _picquois_, "a pickax" (Cotgrave), from the verb _piquer_.
The word _posthumous_ has changed its meaning through folk-etymology. It
represents the Latin superlative _postumus_, latest born. By association
with _humus_, ground, earth, it came to be used of a child born, or a
work published, after its author's death, a meaning which the
derivatives of _postumus_ have in all the Romance languages.
The first part of the word has been distorted in _pursy_, short-winded--
"And _pursy_ insolence shall break his wind
With fear and horrid flight."
(_Timon of Athens_, v. 5.)
Fr. _poussif_, from Lat. _pulsus_, throbbing. It was formerly used also
in connection with horses--
"You must warrant this horse clear of the glanders, and
_pursyness_."
(_The Gentleman's Dictionary_, 1705.)
[Page Heading: ARQUEBUS--JAUNTY]
_Arquebus_, Fr. _arquebuse_, is a doublet of _hackbut_, Old Fr.
_haquebute_, "an _haquebut_, or _arquebuse_; a caliver" (Cotgrave). The
corruption is due to _arcus_, bow. Both _arquebus_ and _hackbut_ are
common in Scott--
"His arms were halbert, axe, or spear,
A cross-bow there, a _hackbut_ here,
A dagger-knife, and brand."
(_Marmion_, v. 3.)
The origin is Du. _haakbus_, hook-gun, the second element of which
appears in _blunderbuss_. The first part of this word has undergone so
many popular transformations that it is difficult to say which was the
original form. Ludwig has _Donner-büchs, Blunder-büchs, oder Muszketon_,
"a thunder-box; a _blunder-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-wheel, we have the same
word. The ultimate origin is Greek {pyxos}, the box-tree, whence also
the learned word _pyx_. Fr. _boîte_, box, is cognate, and Fr.
_boussole_, mariners' compass, is from the Italian diminutive _bossola_,
"a boxe that mariners keepe their compasse in. Also taken for the
compasse" (Florio).
_Scissors_ were formerly _cizars_ (_cf._ Fr. _ciseaux_), connected with
Lat. _cædere_, to cut. The modern spelling is due to association with
Lat. _scissor_, a cutter, tailor, from _scindere_, to cut. _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's faith, contains very much the
same idea; cf. _miscreant_, lit. unbeliever. _Jaunty_, spelt _janty_ by
Wycherley and _genty_ by Burns, is Fr. _gentil_, wrongly brought into
connection with _jaunt_.
In some cases of folk-etymology it is difficult to see to what idea the
corruption is due.[98] The mollusc called a _periwinkle_ was in
Anglo-Saxon _pinewincla_, which still survives in dialect as
_pennywinkle_. It appears to have been influenced by the plant-name
_periwinkle_, which is itself a corruption of Mid. 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. _Weissager_, commonly understood as
_wise-sayer_, but really unconnected with _sagen_, to say. The Old High
Ger. _w[=i]zago_, prophet, is cognate with Eng. _witty_. The military
and naval word _ensign_ is in Shakespeare corrupted, in both its
meanings, into _ancient_. Thus Falstaff describes his tatterdemalion
recruits as--
"Ten times more dishonourable ragged than an old-faced _ancient_."
(1 _Henry IV._, iv. 2.)
while _Ancient_ Pistol is familiar to every reader. A _cordwainer_, from
Old Fr. _cordouanier_, "a shoomaker, a _cordwainer_" (Cotgrave), worked
with _cordouan_, "Cordovan leather; which 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 is for older _weech-elm_, _wiche-elm_, and belongs to
Anglo-Sax. _w[=i]can_, to bend. _Service-tree_ is a meaningless
corruption of Mid. Eng. _serves_, an early loan word from Lat. _sorbus_.
In the case of a double-barrelled word, folk-etymology usually affects
one half only, e.g., _verdigris_ is for Fr. _vert-de-gris_, for Old Fr.
_vert de Grece_, Greek green. The reason for the name is unknown.
Cotgrave calls it "Spanish 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 given to these
cards from the dresses depicted on them. Florio has _carta di figura_,
"a _cote_ carde." The card game called _Pope Joan_ would appear to be in
some way corrupted from _nain jaune_, lit. "yellow dwarf," its French
name.
[Page Heading: "PREPOSTEROUS" PERVERSIONS]
But occasionally the results of folk-etymology are literally
_preposterous_.[99] The Fr. _choucroute_ is from _s[=u]rkr[=u]t_, a
dialect pronunciation of Ger. _Sauer-kraut_, sour cabbage, so that the
first syllable, meaning "sour," has actually been corrupted 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 jolis fous_, where _fou_ (Lat. _fagus_) is the Old
French for "beech" (_fouet_, whip, is its diminutive). This is rendered
in German as _tolle Buchen_, mad beeches, the _fou_ having been
misunderstood as referring to the fantastic appearance of the trees.
_Forlorn hope_ is sometimes used metaphorically as though the _hope_
were of the kind that springs eternal in the human breast. In military
language it now means the leaders of a storming party--
"The _forlorn hope_ of each attack consisted of a sergeant and
twelve Europeans."
(_Wellington's Despatches_, 1799.)
but was earlier used of soldiers in any way exposed to special danger.
Cotgrave has _enfans perdus_, "perdus; or the _forlorne hope_ of a campe
(are commonly gentlemen of companies)." It is from obsolete Du.
_verloren hoop_, where _hoop_, cognate with Eng. _heap_, is used for a
band or company. In 16th-century German we find _ein verlorener Haufe_.
Both the Dutch and German expressions are obsolete in this sense.
The military phrase _to run the gauntlet_ has no connection with
_gauntlet_, glove. The older form _gantlope_--
"Some said he ought to be tied neck and heels; others that he
deserved to _run the gantlope_."
(_Tom Jones_, vii. 1.)
It is a punishment of Swedish origin from the period of the Thirty
Years' War. The Swedish form is _gatlopp_, in which _gat_ is cognate
with Eng. _gate_, in its northern sense of "street," and _lopp_ with
Eng. _leap_ and Ger. _laufen_, to run.
The _press-gang_ had originally nothing to do with "pressing." When
soldiers or seamen were engaged, they received earnest money called
_prest_-money, _i.e._, an advance on "loan," Old Fr. _prest_ (_prêt_),
and the engagement was called _presting_ or _impresting_. Florio
explains _soldato_ (see p. 154), lit. "paid," by "_prest_ with paie as
soldiers are." The popular corruption to _press_ took place naturally as
the method of enlistment became more "pressing."
The _black art_ is a translation of Old Fr. _nigromance_, "nigromancie,
conjuring, the _black art_" (Cotgrave); but this is folk-etymology for
_nécromantie_, Greco-Lat. _necromantia_, divination by means of the
dead. The popular form _négromancie_ still survives in French. 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 horse in the
famous _Roman de Fauvel_, a satirical Old French poem of the early 14th
century. He symbolises worldly vanity carefully tended by all classes of
society. The name is a diminutive of Fr. _fauve_, tawny, cognate with
Eng. _fallow_ (deer). (See also p. 192, _n._)
A very curious case of folk-etymology is seen in the old superstition of
the _hand of glory_. This is understood to be a skeleton hand from the
gallows which will point out hidden treasure--
"Now mount who list,
And close by the wrist
Sever me quickly the Dead Man's fist."
(INGOLDSBY, _The Hand of Glory_.)
It is simply a translation of Fr. _main de gloire_. But the French
expression is a popular corruption of _mandragore_, from Lat.
_mandragora_, the mandragore, or mandrake, to the forked roots of which
a similar virtue was attributed, especially if the plant were obtained
from the foot of the gallows.
[Page Heading: CONTAMINATION]
Akin to folk-etymology is contamination, _i.e._, the welding of two
words into one. This can often be noticed in children, whose linguistic
instincts are those of primitive races. I have heard a child, on her
first visit to the Zoo, express great eagerness to see the _canimals_
(_camels_ × _animals_), which, by the way, turned out to be the
giraffes. A small boy who learnt English and German simultaneously
evolved, at the age of two, the word _spam_ (_sponge_ × Ger. _Schwamm_).
In a college in the English midlands, a student named _Constantine_, who
sat next to a student named _Turpin_, 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. _h[=o]h_ (_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
sword. It has been said that in this word the swords of Cæsar and
Vercingetorix still cross each other. In Old French we find _oreste_, a
storm, combined from _orage_ and _tempeste_ (_tempête_). Fr. _orteil_,
toe, represents the mixture of Lat. _articulus_, a little joint, with
Gaulish _ordag_. A _battledore_ was in Mid. English a washing beetle,
which is in Provençal _batedor_, lit. beater. Hence it seems that this
is one of the very few Provençal words which passed directly into
English during the period of our occupation of Guienne. It has been
contaminated by the cognate _beetle_.
_Cannibal_ is from Span. _canibal_, earlier _caribal_, i.e. _Carib_, the
_n_ being perhaps due to contamination with Span. _canino_, canine,
voracious. It can hardly be doubted that this word suggested
Shakespeare's _Caliban_. _Seraglio_ is due to confusion between the
Turkish word _serai_, a palace, and Ital. _serraglio_, "an inclosure, a
close, a padocke, a parke, a cloister or secluse" (Florio), which
belongs to Lat. _sera_, a bolt or bar.
_Anecdotage_ is a deliberate coinage ascribed to John Wilkes--
"When a man fell into his _anecdotage_, it was a sign for him to
retire from the world."
(DISRAELI, _Lothair_, Ch. 28.)
[Page Heading: ARBOUR--FRET]
In some cases it is impossible to estimate the different elements in a
word. _Arbour_ certainly owes its modern spelling to Lat. _arbor_, a
tree, but it represents also Mid. Eng. _herbere_, _erbere_, which comes,
through French, from Lat. _*herbarium_. But this can only mean
herb-garden, so that the sense development of the word must have been
affected by _harbour_, properly "army-shelter," ultimately identical
with Fr. _auberge_ (p. 164). When Dryden wrote--
"Tardy of aid, _unseal_ thy heavy eyes,
Awake, and with the dawning day arise."
(_The Cock and the Fox_, 247.)
he was expressing a composite idea made up from the verb _seal_, Old Fr.
_seeler_ (_sceller_), Lat. _sigillare_, and _seel_, Old Fr. _ciller_,
Vulgar Lat. _*ciliare_, from _cilium_, eye-brow. The latter verb,
meaning to sew together the eyelids of a young falcon, was once a common
word--
"Come, _seeling_ night,
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day."
(_Macbeth_, iii. 2.)
The verb _fret_ is Anglo-Sax. _fretan_, to eat away (_cf._ Ger.
_fressen_). _Fret_ is also used of interlaced bars in heraldry, in which
sense it corresponds to Fr. _frette_ with the same meaning; for this
word, which also means ferrule, a Vulgar Lat. _*ferritta_ (_ferrum_,
iron) has been suggested. When Hamlet speaks of--
"This majestical roof _fretted_ with golden fire,"
(_Hamlet_, ii. 3.)
is he thinking of _frets_ in heraldry, or of _fretwork_, or are these
two of one origin? Why should _fret_, in this sense, not come from
_fret_, to eat away, since _fretwork_ may be described as the "eating
away" of part of the material? Cf. _etch_, which comes, through Dutch,
from Ger. _ätzen_, the factitive of _essen_, to eat. But the German for
_fretwork_ is _durchbrochene Arbeit_, "broken-through" work, and Old
Fr. _fret_ or _frait_, Lat. _fractus_, means "broken." Who shall decide
how much our _fretwork_ owes to each of these possible etymons?
That form of taxation called excise, which dates from the time of
Charles I., has always been unpopular. Andrew Marvell says that
_Excise_--
"With hundred rows of teeth the shark exceeds,
And on all trades like cassowar she feeds."
Dr Johnson defines it as "a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and
adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by
those to whom excise is paid," an outburst which Lord Mansfield
considered "actionable." The name, like the tax, came from the
Netherlands, where it was called _accijs_--
"'Twere cheap living here, were it not for the monstrous _excises_
which are impos'd upon all sorts of commodities, both for belly and
back."
(HOWELL, _Letter from Amsterdam_, 1619.)
In modern Dutch it has become _accijns_, through confusion with _cijns_,
tax (Lat. _census_; _cf._ Ger. _Zins_, interest). But the Dutch word is
from Fr. _accise_, which 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 perhaps a perversion of
Ital. _assisa_, "an imposition, or taxe, or assesment" (Torriano); but
there is also an Old Fr. _aceis_ which must be related to Latin
_census_.
When folk-etymology and contamination work together, the result is
sometimes bewildering. Thus _equerry_ represents an older _querry_ or
_quirry_, still usual in the 18th century. Among my books is--
"The Compleat Horseman, or Perfect Farrier, written in French by the
Sieur de Solleysell, _Querry_ to the Present King of France" (1702).
The modern spelling is due to popular association with Lat. _equus_.
But this _querry_ is identical with French _écurie_, stable, just as in
Scottish the _post_ often means the _postman_. And _écurie_, older
_escurie_, is from Old High Ger. _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_,
so that Cotgrave defines _escuyrie_ as "the stable of a prince, or
nobleman; also, a _querry_-ship; or the duties, or offices belonging
thereto; also (in old authors) a _squire's_ place; or, the dignity,
title, estate of an esquire."
[Page Heading: PLEONASM]
Ignorance of the true meaning of a word often leads to pleonasm. Thus
_greyhound_ means _hound-hound_, the first syllable representing Icel.
_grey_, a dog. _Peajacket_ is explanatory of Du. _pij_, earlier _pye_,
"py-gown, or rough gown, as souldiers and seamen wear" (Hexham). _On
Greenhow Hill_ means "on green hill hill," and _Buckhurst Holt Wood_
means "beech wood wood wood," an explanatory word being added as its
predecessor became obsolete. The second part of _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." Its French original _chère_ scarcely survives
except in the phrase _faire bonne chère_, lit. "make a good face," a
meaning preserved in "to be of good _cheer_." In both languages the
meaning has been transferred to the more substantial blessings which
the pleasant countenance seems to promise, and also to the felicity
resulting from good treatment. The true meaning of the word is so lost
that we can speak of a "_cheerful_ face," _i.e._, a face full of face.
[Page Heading: UNEXPLAINED DISTORTIONS]
But there are many words whose changes of form cannot be altogether
explained by any of the influences that have been discussed in this and
the preceding chapters. Why should _cervelas_, "a large kind of sausage,
well season'd, and eaten cold in slices" (Kersey's _Eng. Dict._, 1720),
now be _saveloy_? We might invoke the initial letters of _sausage_ to
account for part of the change, but the _oy_ remains a mystery.
_Cervelas_, earlier _cervelat_, comes through French from Ital.
_cervellato_, "a kinde of dry sausage" (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_, in spite of proverbs, is not necessarily
associated with eggs. The origin is to be found in Lat. _lamella_, a
thin plate,[101] which gave Old Fr. _lamelle_. Then _la lamelle_ was
taken as _l'alamelle_, and the new _alamelle_ or _alemelle_ became, with
change of suffix, _alemette_. By metathesis (see p. 59) this gave
_amelette_, still in dialect use, for which modern French has
substituted _omelette_. The _o_ then remains unexplained, unless we
admit the influence of the old form _[oe]uf-mollet_, a product of
folk-etymology.
_Counterpane_ represents Old Fr. _coute-pointe_, now corruptly
_courte-pointe_, from Lat. _culcita puncta_, lit. "stitched quilt";
_cf._ Ger. _Steppdecke_, counterpane, from _steppen_, to stitch. In Old
French we also find the corrupt form _contrepointe_ which gave Eng.
_counterpoint_--
"In ivory coffers I have stuff'd my crowns;
In cypress chests my arras, _counterpoints_,
Costly apparel, tents and canopies."
(_Taming of the Shrew_, ii. 1.)
in modern English replaced by _counterpane_. Mid. English has also the
more correct form _quilt-point_, from the Old Norman _cuilte
(pur)pointe_, which occurs in a 12th-century poem on St Thomas of
Canterbury. The hooped petticoat called a _farthingale_ was spelt by
Shakespeare _fardingale_ and by Cotgrave _vardingall_. This is Old Fr.
_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 _farthingale_, the
insertion of an _n_ before _g_ is common in English (see p. 84, _n._ 2),
but the change of the initial consonant is baffling. The modern Fr.
_vertugadin_ is also a corrupt form. _Isinglass_ seems to be an
arbitrary perversion of obsolete Du. _huyzenblas_ (_huisblad_), sturgeon
bladder; _cf._ the cognate Ger. _Hausenblase_.
Few words have suffered so many distortions as _liquorice_. The original
is Greco-Lat. _glycyrrhiza_, lit. "sweet root," corrupted into late
Lat. _liquiritia_, whence Fr. _réglisse_, Ital. _legorizia_,
_regolizia_, and Ger. _Lakritze_. The Mid. English form _licoris_ would
appear to have been influenced by _orris_, a plant which also has a
sweet root, while the modern spelling is perhaps due to _liquor_.
FOOTNOTES:
[89] _Sack_, earlier also _seck_, is Fr. _sec_, dry, which, with
spurious _t_, has also given Ger. _Sekt_, now used for champagne.
[90] Fr. _chaise_, chair, for older _chaire_, now used only of a pulpit
or professorial chair, Lat. _cathedra_, is due to an affected
pronunciation that prevailed in Paris in the 16th century.
[91] The fact that in Old French the final consonant of the singular
disappeared in the plural form helped to bring about such
misunderstandings.
[92] For _haggard_ see p. 108.
[93] In Old French confusion sometimes arose with regard to final
consonants, because of their disappearance in the plural (see p. 118,
_n._). In _gerfaut_, gerfalcon, for Old Fr. _gerfauc_, the less familiar
final _-c_ was, as in _boulevart_, replaced by the more usual _-t_.
[94] An unoriginal _g_ occurs in many English words derived from French,
e.g., _foreign_, _sovereign_, older _sovran_, _sprightly_ for
_spritely_, i.e., _sprite-like_, _delight_, from Old Fr. _delit_, which
belongs to Lat. _delectare_.
[95] "Also, that no 'denizen' poulterer shall stand at the 'Carfax' of
Leadenhall in a house or without, with rabbits, fowls, or other poultry
to sell ... and that the 'foreign' poulterers, with their poultry, shall
stand by themselves, and sell their poultry at the corner of Leadenhall,
without any 'denizen' poulterer coming or meddling in sale or purchase
with them, or among them."
The word _carfax_, once the usual name for a "cross-way," survives at
Oxford and Exeter. It is a plural, from Fr. _carrefour_, Vulgar Lat.
_*quadrifurcum_ (for _furca_), four-fork.
[96] This word is getting overworked, _e.g._, "The Derbyshire Golf Club
links were yesterday the _venue_ of a 72-hole match" (_Nottingham
Guardian_, 21st Nov. 1911).
[97] _Cf._ Ger. _schenken_, to pour, and the Tudor word _skinker_, a
drawer, waiter (1 _Henry IV._, ii. 4).
[98] Perhaps it is the mere instinct to make an unfamiliar word "look
like something." Thus Fr. _beaupré_, from Eng. _bowsprit_, cannot
conceivably have been associated with a fair meadow; and _accomplice_,
for _complice_, Lat. _complex_, _complic-_, can hardly have been
confused with _accomplish_.
[99] Lat. _præposterus_, from _præ_, before, and _posterus_, behind.
[100] This etymology is, however, now regarded as doubtful, and it seems
likely that Old Fr. _escurie_ is really derived from _escuyer_. If so,
there is no question of contamination.
[101] We have a parallel in Fr. _flan_, Eng. _flawn_, Ger. _Fladen_,
etc., a kind of omelet, ultimately related to Eng. _flat_--
"The feast was over, the board was clear'd,
The _flawns_ and the custards had all disappear'd."
(INGOLDSBY, _Jackdaw of Rheims_.)
Cotgrave has _flans_, "flawnes, custards, eggepies; also, round
planchets, or plates of metall."