_Derivation of "Mammet."_--The Rev. B. Chenevix Trench, in his book on the
_Study of Words_, 4th edition, p. 79., gives the derivation of the old
English word _mammet_ from "Mammetry or Mahometry," and cites, in proof of
this, Capulet calling his daughter "a whining _mammet_." Now Johnson, {516}
in his _Dictionary_, the folio edition, derives _mammet_ from the word
_maman_, and also from the word _man_; and mentions Shakspeare's
"This is no world to play with _mammets_, or to tilt with
lips."--_Henry IV._ (First Part), Act II. Sc. 3.
As both Dr. Johnson, the Rev. Ch. Trench, and many others, agree that
_mammet_ means "puppet," why not derive this word from the French _marmot_,
which means a puppet.--Can any of the readers of the "N. & Q." give me a
few examples to strengthen my supposition?