[_Goblin_ is derived from the low Latin _Gobelinus_; see Ducange,
who defines it, "Dæmon, qui vulgo _Faunus_, Gallis, _Gobelin
Folastre_, German, _Kobold_," and quotes as his authority
Ordericus Vitalis.
_Gorgeous_, according to Skinner, is from the French _Gorgias_,
probably from _Gorge_, and transferred from the palate to the eye.
No such word as _Gorgias_ is, however, to be found in Roquefort's
_Glossaire_.
_Gossip_ is from the Anglo-Saxon _God-sibbe_, "cognatus in Deo."
Nares in his _Glossary_ furnishes the following apt illustration
of it: "Our Christian ancestors, understanding a spiritual
affinity to grow between the parents and such as undertooke for
the child at baptism, called each other by the name of _God-sib_,
that is, of kin together through God; and the child, in like
manner, called such his godfathers and godmothers."--_Verstegan_,
p. 223.]
_Maheremium, Arc de Arbouin._--In a survey of the castle of Launceston
made in the 11 Edw. III., occurs the following passage: "Una [p=]va
capella quar pietes sunt de maheremio et plaustro et maheremi[=u] inde
fere disjungit."
Will any of your readers kindly inform an unskilled person the meaning
of this description?
The same record contains some notable instances of jocular tenures, such
as "ccc volucr's quæ voc'r _poffouns_," from the holder of the Scilly
islands; and "un arc' de arbouin," presumed to be a bow of laburnum
wood, from the town of Truro.