DOUBLETS
The largest class of doublets is formed by those words of Latin origin
which have been introduced into the language in two forms, the popular
form through Anglo-Saxon or Old French, and the learned through modern
French or directly from Latin. Obvious examples are _caitiff_,
_captive_; _chieftain_, _captain_; _frail_, _fragile_. Lat. _discus_, a
plate, quoit, gave Anglo-Sax. _disc_, whence Eng. _dish_. In Old French
it became _deis_ (_dais_), Eng. _dais_, and in Ital. _desco_, "a deske,
a table, a boord, a counting boord" (Florio), whence our _desk_. We have
also the learned _disc_ or _disk_, so that the one Latin word has
supplied us with four vocables, differentiated in meaning, but each
having the fundamental sense of a flat surface.
_Dainty_, from Old Fr. _deintié_, is a doublet of _dignity_. _Ague_ is
properly an adjective equivalent to _acute_, as in Fr. _fièvre aigue_.
The _paladins_ were the twelve peers of Charlemagne's _palace_, and a
Count _Palatine_ is a later name for something of the same kind. One of
the most famous bearers of the title, Prince Rupert, is usually called
in contemporary records the _Palsgrave_, from Ger. _Pfalzgraf_, lit.
palace count, Ger. _Pfalz_ being a very early loan from Lat. _palatium_.
_Trivet_, Lat. _tripes_, _triped-_, dates back to Anglo-Saxon, its
"rightness" being due to the fact that a three-legged stool stands firm
on any surface. In the learned doublets _tripod_ and _tripos_ we have
the Greek form. _Spice_, Old Fr. _espice_ (_épice_), is a doublet of
_species_. The medieval merchants recognised four "kinds" of spice,
viz., saffron, cloves, cinnamon, nutmegs.
_Coffin_ is the learned doublet of _coffer_, Fr. _coffre_, from Lat.
_cophinus_. It was originally used of a basket or case of any kind, and
even of a pie-crust--
"Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap;
A custard-_coffin_, a bauble, a silken pie."
(_Taming of the Shrew_, iv. 3.)
Its present meaning is an attempt at avoiding the mention of the
inevitable, a natural human weakness which has popularised in America
the horrible word _casket_ in this sense. The Greeks, fearing death less
than do the moderns, called a coffin plainly {sarkophagos}, flesh-eater,
whence indirectly Fr. _cercueil_ and Ger. _Sarg_.
The homely _mangle_, which comes to us from Dutch, is a doublet of the
warlike engine called a _mangonel_--
"You may win the wall in spite both of bow and _mangonel_."
(_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 27.)
which is Old French. The source is Greco-Lat. _manganum_, apparatus,
whence Ital. _mangano_, with both meanings. The verb _mangle_, to
mutilate, is unrelated.
[Page Heading: SULLEN--MONEY]
_Sullen_, earlier _soleyn_, is a popular doublet of _solemn_, in its
secondary meaning of glum or morose. In the early Latin-English
dictionaries _solemn_, _soleyn_, and _sullen_ are used indifferently to
explain such words as _acerbus_, _agelastus_, _vultuosus_. Shakespeare
speaks of "customary suits of _solemn_ black" (_Hamlet_, i. 2), but
makes Bolingbroke say--
"Come, mourn with me for that I do lament,
And put on _sullen_ black incontinent."
(_Richard II._, v. 6.)
while the "_solemn_ curfew" (_Tempest_, v. 1) is described by Milton as
"swinging slow with _sullen_ roar" (_Penseroso_, l. 76). The meaning of
_antic_, a doublet of _antique_, has changed considerably, but the
process is easy to follow. From meaning simply ancient it acquired the
sense of quaint or odd, and was applied to grotesque[102] work in art or
to a fantastic disguise. Then it came to mean buffoon, in which sense
Shakespeare applies it to grim death--
"For within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king,
Keeps death his court; and there the _antic_ sits,
Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp."
(_Richard II._, iii. 2.)
and lastly the meaning was transferred to the capers of the buffoon.
From Old High Ger. _faltan_ (_falten_), to fold, and _stuol_ (_Stuhl_),
chair, we get Fr. _fauteuil_. Medieval Latin constructed the compound
_faldestolium_, whence our ecclesiastical _faldstool_, a litany desk.
_Revel_ is from Old Fr. _reveler_, Lat. _rebellare_, so that it is a
doublet of _rebel_. Holyoak's _Latin Dictionary_ (1612) has _revells or
routs_, "concursus populi illegitimus." Its sense development, from a
riotous concourse to a festive gathering, has perhaps been affected by
Fr. _réveiller_, to wake, whence _réveillon_, a Christmas Eve supper, or
"wake." Cf. Ital. _vegghia_, "a watch, a wake, a _revelling a nights_"
(Florio).
The very important word _money_ has acquired its meaning by one of those
accidents which are so common in word-history. The Roman _mint_ was
attached to the temple of Juno _Moneta_, _i.e._, the admonisher, from
_mon[=e]re_, and this name was transferred to the building. The Romans
introduced _moneta_, in the course of their conquests, into French
(_monnaie_), German (_Münze_), and English (_mint_). The French and
German words still have three meanings, viz., mint, coin, change. We
have borrowed the French word and given it the general sense represented
in French by _argent_, lit. silver. The Ger. _Geld_, money, has no
connection with _gold_, but is cognate with Eng. _yield_, as in "the
_yield_ of an investment," of which we preserve the old form in
_wergild_, payment for having killed a man (Anglo-Sax. _wer_). To return
to _moneta_, we have a third form of the word in _moidore_--
"And fair rose-nobles and broad _moidores_
The waiter pulls out of their pockets by scores."
(INGOLDSBY, _The Hand of Glory_.)
from Port. _moeda de ouro_, money of gold.
Sometimes the same word reaches us through different languages. Thus
_charge_ is French and _cargo_ is Spanish, both belonging to a Vulgar
Lat. _*carricare_ from _carrus_, vehicle. In old commercial records we
often find the Anglo-Norman form _cark_, a load, burden, which survives
now only in a metaphorical sense, e.g. _carking_, _i.e._ burdensome,
care. Lat. _domina_ has given us through French both _dame_ and
_dam_,[103] and through Spanish _duenna_; while Ital. _donna_ occurs in
the compound _madonna_ and the _donah_ of the East End costermonger.
Lat. _datum_, given, becomes Fr. _dé_ and Eng. _die_ (plural _dice_).
Its Italian doublet is _dado_, originally cubical pedestal, hence part
of wall representing continuous pedestal. _Scrimmage_ and _skirmish_ are
variant spellings of Fr. _escarmouche_, from Ital. _scaramuccia_, of
German origin (see p. 64, _n._). But we have also, more immediately from
Italian, the form _scaramouch_. Blount's _Glossographia_ (1674)
mentions _Scaramoche_, "a famous Italian Zani (see p. 45), or mimick,
who acted here in England, 1673." _Scaramouch_ was one of the stock
characters of the old Italian comedy, which still exists as the
harlequinade of the Christmas pantomime, and of which some traces
survive in the Punch and Judy show. He was represented as a cowardly
braggart dressed in black. The golfer's _stance_ is a doublet of the
poet's _stanza_, both of them belonging to Lat. _stare_, to stand.
_Stance_ is Old French and _stanza_ is Italian, "a _stance_ or staffe of
verses or songs" (Florio). A _stanza_ is then properly a pause or
resting place, just as a _verse_, Lat. _versus_, is a "turning" to the
beginning of the next line.
[Page Heading: FROM FRENCH DIALECTS]
Different French dialects have supplied us with many doublets. Old Fr.
_chacier_ (_chasser_), Vulgar Lat. _*captiare_, for _captare_, a
frequentative of _capere_, to take, was in Picard _cachier_. This has
given Eng. _catch_, which is thus a doublet of _chase_. In _cater_ (see
p. 63) we have the Picard form of Fr. _acheter_, but the true French
form survives in the family name _Chater_.[104] In late Latin the neuter
adjective _capitale_, capital, was used of property. This has given,
through Old Fr. _chatel_, our _chattel_, while the doublet _catel_ has
given _cattle_, now limited to what was once the most important form of
property. Fr. _cheptel_ is still used of cattle farmed out on a kind of
profit-sharing system. This restriction of the meaning of _cattle_ is
paralleled by Scot. _avers_, farm beasts, from Old Fr. _aver_[105]
(_avoir_), property, goods. The history of the word _fee_, Anglo-Sax.
_feoh_, cattle, cognate with Lat. _pecus_, whence _pecunia_, money, also
takes us back to the times when a man's wealth was estimated by his
flocks and herds; but, in this case, the sense development is exactly
reversed.
Fr. _jumeau_, twin, was earlier _gemeau_, still used by Corneille, and
earlier still _gemel_, Lat. _gemellus_, diminutive of _geminus_, twin.
From one form we have the _gimbals_, or twin pivots, which keep the
compass horizontal. Shakespeare uses it of clockwork--
"I think, by some odd _gimmals_, or device,
Their arms are set like clocks, still to strike on."
(1 _Henry VI._, i. 2.)
and also speaks of a _gimmal_ bit (_Henry V._, iv. 2). In the 17th
century we find numerous allusions to _gimmal_ rings (variously spelt).
The toothsome _jumble_, known to the Midlands as "brandy-snap," is the
same word, this delicacy having apparently at one time been made in
links. We may compare the obsolete Ital. _stortelli_, lit. "little
twists," explained by Torriano as "winding simnels, wreathed _jumbals_."
An accident of spelling may disguise the origin and meaning of a word.
_Tret_ is Fr. _trait_, in Old French also _tret_, Lat. _tractus_, pull
(of the scale). It was usually an allowance of four pounds in a hundred
and four, which was supposed to be equal to the sum of the "turns of the
scale" which would be in the purchaser's favour if the goods were
weighed in small quantities. _Trait_ is still so used in modern French.
[Page Heading: METTLE--GLAMOUR]
A difference in spelling, originally accidental, but perpetuated by an
apparent difference of meaning, is seen in _flour_, _flower_; _metal_,
_mettle_. _Flour_ is the _flower_, _i.e._ the finest part, of meal, Fr.
_fleur de farine_, "_flower_, or the finest meale" (Cotgrave). In the
_Nottingham Guardian_ (29th Aug. 1911) I read that--
"Mrs Kernahan is among the increasing number of persons who do not
discriminate between _metal_ and _mettle_, and writes 'Margaret was
on her _metal_.'"
It might be added that this author is in the excellent company of
Shakespeare--
"See whe'r their basest _metal_ be not mov'd."
(_Julius Cæsar_, i. 1.)
There is no more etymological difference between _metal_ and _mettle_
than between the "temper" of a cook and that of a sword-blade.
_Parson_ is a doublet of _person_, the priest perhaps being taken as
"representing" the Church, for Lat. _persona_, an actor's mask, from
_per_, through, and _sonare_, to sound,[106] was also used of a costumed
character or _dramatis persona_. _Mask_, which ultimately belongs to an
Arabic word meaning buffoon, has had a sense development exactly
opposite to that of _person_, its modern meaning corresponding to the
Lat. _persona_ from which the latter started. _Parson_ shows the popular
pronunciation of _er_, now modified by the influence of traditional
spelling. We still have it in _Berkeley_, _clerk_, _Derby_, _sergeant_,
as we formerly did in _merchant_. Proper names, in which the orthography
depends on the "taste and fancy of the speller," or the phonetic
theories of the old parish clerk, are often more in accordance with the
pronunciation, _e.g._, _Barclay_, _Clark_, _Darby_, _Sargent_,
_Marchant_. _Posy_, in both its senses, is a contraction of _poesy_, the
flowers of a nosegay expressing by their arrangement a sentiment like
that engraved on a ring. The latter use is perhaps obsolete--
"A hoop of gold, a paltry ring
That she did give me; whose _posy_ was
For all the world like cutler's _poetry_
Upon a knife: 'Love me and leave me not.'"
(_Merchant of Venice_, v. 1.)
The poetic word _glamour_ is the same as _grammar_, which had in the
Middle Ages the sense of mysterious learning. From the same source we
have the French corruption _grimoire_, "a booke of conjuring"
(Cotgrave). _Glamour_ and _gramarye_ were both revived by Scott--
"A moment then the volume spread,
And one short spell therein he read;
It had much of _glamour_ might."
(_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, iii. 9.)
"And how he sought her castle high,
That morn, by help of _gramarye_."
(_Ibid._, v. 27.)
For the change of _r_ to _l_ we have the parallel of _flounce_ for older
_frounce_ (p. 60). _Quire_ is the same word as _quair_, in the "King's
_Quair_" _i.e._ book. Its Mid. English form is _quayer_, Old Fr.
_quaer_, _caer_ (_cahier_), Vulgar Lat. _*quaternum_, for _quaternio_,
"a _quier_ with foure sheetes" (Cooper).
[Page Heading: EASTERN DOUBLETS]
Oriental words have sometimes come into the language by very diverse
routes. _Sirup_, or _syrup_, _sherbet_, and (_rum_)-_shrub_ are of
identical origin, ultimately Arabic. _Sirup_, which comes through
Spanish and French, was once used, like _treacle_ (p. 75), of medicinal
compounds--
"Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy _syrups_ of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ow'dst yesterday."
(_Othello_, iii. 3.)
_Sherbet_ and _shrub_ are directly borrowed through the medium of
travellers--
"'I smoke on _srub_ and water, myself,' said Mr Omer."
(_David Copperfield_, Ch. 30.)
_Sepoy_, used of Indian soldiers in the English service, is the same as
_spahi_, the French name for the Algerian cavalry. Both come ultimately
from a Persian adjective meaning "military," and the French form was at
one time used also in English in speaking of Oriental soldiery--
"The Janizaries and _Spahies_ came in a tumultuary manner to the
Seraglio."
(HOWELL, _Familiar Letters_, 1623.)
_Tulip_ is from Fr. _tulipe_, formerly _tulipan_, "the delicate flower
called a _tulipa_, _tulipie_, or Dalmatian cap" (Cotgrave). It is a
doublet of _turban_. The German _Tulpe_ was also earlier _Tulipan_.
The humblest of medieval coins was the _maravedi_, which came from Spain
at an early date, though not early enough for Robin Hood to have said to
Isaac of York--
"I will strip thee of every _maravedi_ thou hast in the world."
(_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 33.)
The name is due to the Moorish dynasty of the _Almaravides_ or
_Marabouts_. This Arabic name, which means hermit, was given also to a
kind of stork, the _marabout_, on account of the solitary and sober
habits which have earned in India for a somewhat similar bird the name
_adjutant_ (p. 34).
_Cipher_ and _zero_ do not look like doublets, but both of them come
from the same Arabic word. The medieval Lat. _zephyrum_ connects the two
forms. _Crimson_ and _carmine_, both of them ultimately from Old
Spanish, are not quite doublets, but both belong to _kermes_, the
cochineal insect, of Arabic origin.
The relationship between _cipher_ and _zero_ is perhaps better disguised
than that between _furnish_ and _veneer_, though this is by no means
obvious. _Veneer_, spelt _fineer_ by Smollett, is Ger. _fournieren_,
borrowed from Fr. _fournir_[107] and specialised in meaning. Ebers'
_German Dict._ (1796) has _furnieren_, "to inlay with several sorts of
wood, to _veneer_."
The doublets selected for discussion among the hundreds which exist in
the language reveal many etymological relationships which would hardly
be suspected at first sight. Many other words might be quoted which are
almost doublets. Thus _sergeant_, Fr. _sergent_, Lat. _serviens_,
_servient-_, is almost a doublet of _servant_, the present participle of
Fr. _servir_. The fabric called _drill_ or _drilling_ is from Ger.
_Drillich_, "tick, linnen-cloth woven of _three_ threads" (Ludwig). This
is an adaptation of Lat. _trilix_, _trilic-_, which, through Fr.
_treillis_, has given Eng. _trellis_. We may compare the older _twill_,
of Anglo-Saxon origin, cognate with Ger. _Zwilch_ or _Zwillich_, "linnen
woven with a _double_ thread" (Ludwig). _Robe_, from French, is cognate
with _rob_, and with Ger. _Raub_, booty, the conqueror decking himself
in the spoils of the conquered. _Musk_ is a doublet of _meg_ in
_nutmeg_, Fr. _noix muscade_. In Mid. English we find _note-mugge_, and
Cotgrave has the diminutive _muguette_, "a nutmeg"; _cf._ modern Fr.
_muguet_, the lily of the valley. Fr. _dîner_ and _déjeuner_ both
represent Vulgar Lat. _*dis-junare_, to break fast, from _jejunus_,
fasting. The difference of form is due to the shifting of the accent in
the Latin conjugation, e.g., _dis-junáre_ gives Old Fr. _disner_
(_dîner_), while _dis-júnat_ gives Old Fr. _desjune_ (_déjeune_).
[Page Heading: BANJO--SAMITE]
_Admiral_, earlier _amiral_, comes through French from the Arab. _amir_,
an emir. Its Old French forms are numerous, and the one which has
survived in English may be taken as an abbreviation of Arab. _amir al
bahr_ emir on the sea. Greco-Lat. _pandura_, a stringed instrument, has
produced an extraordinary number of corruptions, among which some
philologists rank _mandoline_. Eng. _bandore_, now obsolete, was once a
fairly common word, and from it, or from some cognate Romance form,
comes the negro corruption _banjo_--
"'What is this, mamma? it is not a guitar, is it?' 'No, my dear, it
is called a _banjore_; it is an African instrument, of which the
negroes are particularly fond.'"
(MISS EDGEWORTH, _Belinda_, Ch. 18.)
Florio has _pandora_, _pandura_, "a musical instrument with three
strings, a kit, a croude,[108] a rebecke." _Kit_, used by Dickens--
"He had a little fiddle, which at school we used to call a _kit_,
under his left arm."
(_Bleak House_, Ch. 14.)
seems to be a clipped form from Old French dialect _quiterne_, for
_guiterne_, Greco-Lat. _cithara_. Cotgrave explains _mandore_ as a
"_kitt_, small gitterne." The doublet _guitar_ is from Spanish.
The two pretty words _dimity_ and _samite_--
"An arm
Rose up from out the bosom of the lake,
Clothed in white _samite_, mystic, wonderful,
Holding the sword."
(TENNYSON, _Morte d'Arthur_, l. 29.)
are both connected with Gk. {mitos}, thread. _Dimity_ is the plural,
_dimiti_, of Ital. _dimito_, "a kind of course cotton or flanell"
(Florio), from Greco-Lat. _dimitus_, double thread (cf. _twill_, p.
148). _Samite_, Old Fr. _samit_, whence Ger. _Samt_, velvet, is in
medieval Latin _hexamitus_, six-thread; this is Byzantine Gk.
{hexamiton}, whence also Old Slavonic _aksamitu_. The Italian form is
_sciamito_, "a kind of sleave, feret, or filosello silke" (Florio). The
word _feret_ used here by Florio is from Ital. _fioretto_, little
flower. It was also called _floret_ silk. Florio explains the plural
_fioretti_ as "a kind of course silke called _f[l]oret_ or _ferret_
silke," and Cotgrave has _fleuret_, "course silke, _floret_ silke." This
doublet of _floweret_ is not obsolete in the sense of tape--
"'Twas so fram'd and express'd no tribunal could shake it,
And firm as red wax and black _ferret_ could make it."
(INGOLDSBY, _The Housewarming_.)
_Parish_ and _diocese_ are closely related, _parish_, Fr. _paroisse_,
representing Greco-Lat. _par-oikia_ ({oikos}, a house), and _diocese_
coming through Old French from Greco-Lat. _di-oikesis_. _Skirt_ is the
Scandinavian doublet of _shirt_ from Vulgar Lat. _ex-curtus_, which has
also given us _short_. The form without the prefix appears in Fr.
_court_, Ger. _kurz_, and the English diminutive _kirtle_--
"What stuff wilt have a _kirtle_ of?"
(2 _Henry IV._, ii. 4.)
These are all very early loan words.
[Page Heading: BROKER--WALNUT]
A new drawing-room game for amateur philologists would be to trace
relationships between words which have no apparent connection. In
discussing, a few years ago, a lurid book on the "Mysteries of Modern
London," _Punch_ remarked that the existence of a _villa_ seemed to be
proof presumptive of that of a _villain_. This is etymologically true.
An Old French _vilain_, "a villaine, slave, bondman, servile tenant"
(Cotgrave), was a peasant attached to his lord's _ville_ or domain, Lat.
_villa_. For the degeneration in meaning we may compare Eng. _boor_ and
_churl_ (p. 84), and Fr. _manant_, a clodhopper, lit. a dweller (see
_manor_, p. 9). A _butcher_, Fr. _boucher_, must originally have dealt
in goat's flesh, Fr. _bouc_, goat; _cf._ Ital. _beccaio_, butcher, and
_becco_, goat. Hence _butcher_ and _buck_ are related. The extension of
meaning of _broker_, an Anglo-Norman form of _brocheur_, shows the
importance of the wine trade in the Middle Ages. A _broker_ was at
first[109] one who "broached" casks with a _broche_, which means in
modern French both brooch and spit. The essential part of a _brooch_ is
the pin or spike.
When Kent says that Cornwall and Regan--
"Summon'd up their _meiny_, straight took horse."
(_Lear_, ii. 4.)
he is using a common Mid. English and Tudor word which comes, through
Old Fr. _maisniee_, from Vulgar Lat. _*mansionata_, a houseful. A
_menial_ is a member of such a body. An Italian cognate is _masnadiere_,
"a ruffler, a swashbuckler, a swaggerer, a high way theefe, a hackster"
(Florio). Those inclined to moralise may see in these words a proof that
the arrogance of the great man's flunkey was curbed in England earlier
than in Italy. Old Fr. _maisniee_ is now replaced by _ménage_, Vulgar
Lat. _*mansionaticum_. A derivative of this word is _ménagerie_, first
applied to the collection of household animals, but now to a "wild beast
show."
A _bonfire_ was formerly a _bone-fire_. We find _bane-fire_, "ignis
ossium," in a Latin dictionary of 1483, and Cooper explains _pyra_ by
"_bone-fire_, wherein men's bodyes were burned." Apparently the word is
due to the practice of burning the dead after a victory. Hexham has
_bone-fire_, "een _been-vier_, dat is, als men victorie brandt."
_Walnut_ is related to _Wal_es, Corn_wall_, the _Wall_oons, _Wall_achia
and Sir William _Wall_ace. It means "foreign" nut. This very wide spread
_wal_ is supposed to represent the Celtic tribal name _Volcæ_. It was
applied by the English to the Celts, and by the Germans to the French
and Italians, especially the latter, whence the earlier Ger. _welsche
Nuss_, for _Walnuss_. The German Swiss use it of the French Swiss, hence
the canton _Wallis_ or _Valais_. The Old French name for the _walnut_ is
_noix gauge_, Lat. _Gallica_. The relation of _umbrella_ to _umber_ is
pretty obvious. The former is Italian--
"A little shadow, a little round thing that women bare in their
hands to shadow them. Also a broad brimd hat to keepe off heate and
rayne. Also a kinde of round thing like a round skreene that
gentlemen use in Italie in time of sommer or when it is very hote,
to keepe the sunne from them when they are riding by the way."
(Florio.)
_Umber_ is Fr. _terre d'ombre_, shadow earth--
"I'll put myself in poor and mean attire,
And with a kind of _umber_ smirch my face."
(_As You Like It_, i. 3.)
_Ballad_, originally a dancing song, Prov. _ballada_, is a doublet of
_ballet_, and thus related to _ball_. We find a late Lat. _ballare_, to
dance, in Saint Augustine, but the history of this group of words is
obscure. The sense development of _carol_ is very like that of ballad.
It is from Old Fr. _carolle_, "a kinde of dance wherein many may dance
together; also, a _carroll_, or Christmas song" (Cotgrave). The form
_corolla_ is found in Provençal, and _carolle_ in Old French is commonly
used, like Ger. _Kranz_, garland, and Lat. _corona_, of a social or
festive ring of people. Hence it seems a reasonable conjecture that the
origin of the word is Lat. _corolla_, a little garland.
[Page Heading: TOCSIN--MERINO]
Many "chapel" people would be shocked to know that _chapel_ means
properly the sanctuary in which a saint's relics are deposited. The name
was first applied to the chapel in which was preserved the _cape_ or
cloak of St Martin of Tours. The doublet _capel_ survives in _Capel
Court_, near the Exchange. Ger. _Kapelle_ also means orchestra or
military band. _Tocsin_ is literally "touch sign." Fr. _toquer_, to
tap, beat, cognate with _touch_, survives in "_tuck_ of drum" and
_tucket_--
"Then let the trumpets sound
The _tucket_ sonance and the note to mount."
(_Henry V._, iv. 2.)
while _sinet_, the diminutive of Old Fr. _sin_, sign, has given
_sennet_, common in the stage directions of Elizabethan plays in a sense
very similar to that of _tucket_.
_Junket_ is from Old Fr. _joncade_, "a certaine spoone-meat, made of
creame, rose-water, and sugar" (Cotgrave), Ital. _giuncata_, "a kinde of
fresh cheese and creame, so called bicause it is brought to market upon
rushes; also a _junket_" (Florio). It is thus related to _jonquil_,
which comes, through French, from Span. _junquillo_, a diminutive from
Lat. _juncus_, rush. The plant is named from its rush-like leaves.
_Ditto_, Italian, lit. "said," and _ditty_, Old Fr. _dité_, are both
past participles,[110] from the Latin verbs _dico_ and _dicto_
respectively. The _nave_ of a church is from Fr. _nef_, still
occasionally used in poetry in its original sense of ship, Lat. _navis_.
It is thus related to _navy_, Old Fr. _navie_, a derivative of _navis_.
Similarly Ger. _Schiff_ is used in the sense of nave, though the
metaphor is variously explained.
The old word _cole_, cabbage, its north country and Scottish equivalent
_kail_, Fr. _chou_ (Old Fr. _chol_), and Ger. _Kohl_, are all from Lat.
_caulis_, cabbage; cf. _cauli_flower. We have the Dutch form in _colza_,
which comes, through French, from Du. _kool-zaad_, cabbage seed.
_Cabbage_ itself is Fr. _caboche_, a Picard derivative of Lat. _caput_,
head. In modern French _caboche_ corresponds to our vulgar "chump." A
_goshawk_ is a _goose hawk_, so called from its preying on poultry.
_Merino_ is related to _mayor_, which comes, through French, from Lat.
_maior_, greater. Span. _merino_, Vulgar Lat. _*majorinus_, means both
a magistrate and a superintendent of sheep-walks. From the latter
meaning comes that of "sheepe driven from the winter pastures to the
sommer pastures, or the wooll of those sheepe" (Percyvall). _Portcullis_
is from Old Fr. _porte coulisse_, sliding door. Fr. _coulisse_ is still
used of many sliding contrivances, especially in connection with stage
scenery, but in the portcullis sense it is replaced by _herse_ (see p.
75), except in the language of heraldry. The masculine form _coulis_
means a clear broth, or _cullis_, as it was called in English up to the
18th century. This suggests _colander_, which, like _portcullis_,
belongs to Lat. _colare_, "to streine" (Cooper), whence Fr. _couler_, to
flow.
_Solder_, formerly spelt _sowder_ or _sodder_, and still so pronounced
by the plumber, represents Fr. _soudure_, from the verb _souder_; cf.
_batter_ from Old Fr. _batture_, _fritter_ from Fr. _friture_, and
_tenter_ (hooks)[111] from Fr. _tenture_. Fr. _souder_ is from Lat.
_solidare_, to consolidate. Fr. _sou_, formerly _sol_, a halfpenny,
comes, like Ital. _soldo_, from Lat. _solidus_, the meaning of which
appears also in the Italian participle _soldato_, a soldier, lit. a paid
man. This Italian word has passed into French and German, displacing the
older cognates _soudard_ and _Söldner_, which now have a depreciatory
sense. Eng. _soldier_ is of Old French origin. It is represented in
medieval Latin by _sol[i]darius_, glossed _sowdeor_ in a vocabulary of
the 15th century. As in _solder_, the _l_ has been re-introduced by
learned influence, but the vulgar _sodger_ is nearer the original
pronunciation.
FOOTNOTES:
[102] _I.e._, grotto painting, Ital. _grottesca_, "a kinde of rugged
unpolished painters worke, anticke worke" (Florio).
[103] See p. 120. The aristocracy of the horse is still testified to by
the use of _sire_ and _dam_ for his parents.
[104] Sometimes this name is for _cheater_, _escheatour_ (p. 84).
[105] Cf. _avoirdupois_, earlier _avers de pois_ (_poids_), goods sold
by weight.
[106] It is possible that this is a case of early folk-etymology and
that _persona_ is an Etruscan word.
[107] This is the accepted etymology; but it is more probable that
_furnieren_ comes from Fr. _vernir_, to varnish.
[108] See _Crowther_, p. 176.
[109] But the early use of the word in the sense of middle-man points to
contamination with some other word of different meaning.
[110] But the usual Italian past participle of _dire_ is _detto_.
[111] Hooks used for stretching cloth.