Dublin.
_Old Fogie_ (Vol. vii., p. 354.).--MR. KEIGHTLEY supposes the term of _old
fogie_, as applied to "mature old warriors," to be "of pure Irish origin,"
or "rather of Dublin birth." In this he is certainly mistaken, for the word
_fogie_, as applied to old soldiers, is as well known, and was once as
familiarly used in Scotland, as it ever was or could have been in Ireland.
The race was extinct before my day, but I understand that formerly the
permanent garrisons of Edinburgh, and I believe also of Stirling, Castles,
consisted of veteran companies; and I remember, when I first came to
Edinburgh, of people who had seen them, still talking of "the Castle
fogies."
Dr. Jamieson, in his _Scottish Dictionary_, defines the word "foggie or
fogie," to be first, "an invalid, or garrison soldier," secondly, "a person
advanced in life" and derives it from "Su. G. _fogde_, formerly one who had
the charge of a garrison."
This seems to me a more satisfactory derivation than MR. KEIGHTLEY'S, who
considers it a corruption or diminutive of _old folks_.