[G.M.B. has also kindly forwarded to us some of "_Mrs. Partington's
Queries_ from a recent number of the _Boston Post_, from which we
select a couple of specimens, viz.,--
"Whether the Emperor of China is a _porcelain_ statue or a mere
fiction?"
"Is the _Great Seal_ alive, or only stuffed?"]
_The East Anglian Word "Mauther"_ (Vol. ii., pp. 217. 365.).--Skinner's
note on this word is
"Mawther, vox Norfolciensi agro peculiaris: _Spelman_ ipse eodem agro
ortus a Dan. _Moer_, Virgo, Puella, deflectit. Possit tamen et
declinari a Belg. _Maegd_, Teut. _Magd_, idem signante, addita term.
_er_ vel _der_, ut in proximo agro Lincolniensi in vocibus _Heeder_ et
_Sheeder_ quæ Marem et Feminam notant. Author Dict. Angl. scribit
_Modder_, et cum Kiliano deducit a Belg. _Modde_, _Moddeken_, Pupa,
Puella, Virgincula."--_Etymol._ sub voce.
Webster merely gives (with strange neglect, having Skinner before him):
{412}
"Mauther, a foolish young girl(not used)."--_Ben Jonson._
Skinner is, I believe, wrong in assigning the _r_ termination to the Danish
word. Such a termination of the word _maid_ is not to be found in any of
the Teutonic dialects. The diphthong sound and the _th_ appear frequently;
as,
1. Moeso-Gothic: _Magath_ or _Magaths_; _Mawi_,
dim. _Mawilo_.
2. Anglo-Saxon: _Maeth_, _Maegth_, dim. _Meowla_.
3. Old-German: _Maget_.
4. Swedish: _Moe_.
5. Norse: _Moei_.
I therefore suppose the _r_ termination in _mauther_ to be a mere
corruption, like that pointed out by Skinner in the Lincoln Folk-speech: or
is it possible that it may have arisen from a contusion of the words _maid_
and _mother_ in Roman Catholic times? In Holland the Virgin Mary was called
_Moeder Maagd_,--a phrase which may possibly have crossed over to the East
Anglian coast, and occasioned the subsequent confusion.