_Lærig_.--Without contraverting Mr. Singer's learned and interesting
paper on this word (No. 19. p. 292.), I hope I shall not be thought
presumptuous in remarking that there must have been some other root
in the Teutonic language for the two following nouns, leer (Dutch) and
lear (Flemish), which both signify leather (lorum, Lat.), and their
diminutives or derivatives leer-ig and lear-ig, both used in the sense
of _tough_.
Supposing the Ang.-Sax. "lærig" to be derived from the same root,
it would denote in "ofer linde lærig," the leather covering of the
shields, or their capability to resist a blow.
I will thank you to correct two misprints in my last communication, p.
299.; pisan for pison, and [Greek: 'Ioannaes [o=omicron]] for [Greek:
'Ioannaes [o=omega]].
By the by, the word "pison" is oddly suggestive of a covering for the
breast (_pys_, Nor. Fr.). See _Foulques Fitzwarin_, &c.