_Meaning of "Harrisers"_ (Vol. ii., p. 376.).--I am told that the practice
which CLERICUS RUSTICUS {252} speaks of, holds in Yorkshire, but not the
name.
In Devon a corn-field, which has been cut and cleared, is called an
"arrish." A vacant stubblefield is so called during the whole of the autumn
months.
Your correspondent suggests "arista;" can he support this historically? If
not, it is surely far-fetched. Let me draw attention to a word in our
English Bible, which has been misunderstood before now by readers who were
quite at home in the original languages: "_earing nor harvest_" (Genesis).
Without some acquaintance with the earlier forms of our mother tongue, one
is liable to take _earing_ to mean the same as "harvest," from the
association of _ears_ of corn. But it is the substantive from the
Anglo-Saxon verb _erian_, to plough, to till: so that "earing nor harvest"
= "sowing nor reaping." From _erian_ we may pass on to _arare_, and from
that to _arista_: in the long pedigree of language they are scarcely
unconnected: but the Anglo-Saxon is not _derived_ from the Latin; they are,
each in its own language, genuine and independent forms. But it is curious
to see what an attraction these distant cousins have for one another, let
them only come within each other's sphere of gravitation.
In, Yorkshire the verb _to earland_ is still a _living_ expression; and a
Yorkshireman, who has more Saxon than Latin in him, will not write "arable
land," but "_ear_able land." A Yorkshire clergyman tells me that this
orthography has been perpetuated in a local act of parliament of no very
ancient date.
Putting all these facts together, I am inclined to think that "arrish" must
first mean "land for tillage;" and that the connexion of the word with
"gleaning" or "gleaners" is the effect of association, and therefore of
later date.
But it must be observed, there is a difference between "arrish" and
"harrisers." Can it be shown that Dorset-men are given to aspirating their
words? Besides this, there is a great difference between "arri_ss_ers" and
"arri_sh_ers" for counties so near as Dorset and Devon. And again, while I
am quite familiar with the word "arrish," I never heard "arrishers," and I
believe it is unknown in Devonshire.