(Vol. viii., pp. 468. 515.)
That the word _mawmet_ is a derivation from the name of Mahomet, is
rendered exceedingly probable by two circumstances taken in connexion: its
having been in common use to signify an idol, in the age immediately
following that of the Crusades; and the fact, that in the public opinion
and phraseology of that time, a Saracen and an idolater were synonymous. In
the metrical romances of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
Mahometanism is described as "hethenesse," and Saracens as "paynims,"
"heathens," and "folks of the heathen law." The objects of their faith and
worship were supposed to be Mahomet, Jupiter, Apollo, Pluto, and
Termagaunt. Thus, in the romance of _Richard Coeur de Lion_:
"They slowe euery Sarezyn,
And toke the temple of Apolyn."--L. 4031-2.
"That we our God Mahoun forsake."--L. 4395.
"And made ther her (their) sacryfyse,
To Mahoun, and to Jupiter."--L. 4423.
"But to Termagaunt and Mahoun,
They cryede fast, and to Plotoun."--L. 6421-2.
Weber's _Metrical Romances_, vol. ii.
The editor says:
"There is no doubt that our romance existed before the year 1300, as it
is referred to in the _Chronicles of Robert de Gloucester and Robert de
Brunne_."--Vol. i. Introd., p. xlvi.
In the same poem, the word _mawmettes_ is used to signify idols:
"Sarazynes before hym _came_,
And asked off hym Crystendame.
Ther wer crystend, as I find,
More than fourty thousynd.
Kyrkes they made off Crystene lawe,
And her (their) _Mawmettes_ lete down drawe."
L. 5829-44.
In Wiclif's translation of the New Testament also, the word occurs in the
same sense: _mawmetis_, _idolis_, and _false goddis_ being used
indifferently where _idola_ or _simulacra_ are employed in the Latin
Vulgate: thus--
"Fle ghe fro worschipyng of _mawmetis_."
1 Cor. x. 14.
"My litel sones kepe ye you fro _mawmetis_."
1 John v. 21.
And in Acts vii. 41., the golden calf is designated by the same word, in
the singular number:
"And thei maden a calf in the daies, and offriden a sacrifice to the
_mawmet_."
In the first line of the quotation last given from _Richard Coeur de Lion_,
your correspondent H. T. G. will find an early instance of the word _came_;
whether _early enough_, I cannot say. In Wiclif's version, _cam_, _came_,
and _camen_ are the usual expressions answering to "came" in our
translation. If above five hundred and fifty years' possession does not
give a word a good title to its place in our language, without a conformity
to Anglo-Saxon usage, the number of words that must fall under the same
imputation of novelty and "violent infringement" is very great indeed.