_Aver_ (Vol. iii., p. 42.).--Your correspondents G. M. and D. 2. are at
cross purposes. The latter is unquestionably right in his opinion about
_haver cake_, _haver_ in that instance being the German _Hafer_, Sw.
_Havre_, &c., as held by Brockett (_North Country Words_) and Carr (_Craven
Glossary_). But _aver_, _averium_, on which G. M. descants, is altogether a
different word. As D. 2. requires the authority of a dictionary, allow me
to refer him to Lacombe, _Dictionnaire du vieux Langage François_, where he
will find:
"AVOIRS, animaux domestiques de la basse cour."
"AVERLANDS, marchand de chevaux."
And in the second, or supplementary volume of the same work:
"'AVERS,' bestiaux qui nantissent une ferme à la campagne."
See also Jamieson (_Scottish Dictionary_):
"AVER, a cart-horse."
A suggestion may also be gathered from Webster under AVERAGE.