468. _Gat-tothed_ = _gat-toothed_, meaning gap-toothed, having teeth wide
apart or separated from one another. A _gat_ is an opening, and is allied
to E. _gate_. The Friesic _gat_, Dan., Du., and Icel. _gat_, and Norweg.
_gat_, all mean a hole, or a gap. Very similar is the use of the Shropshire
_glat_, a gap in a hedge, also a gap in the mouth caused by loss of teeth.
Example: 'Dick, yo' bin a flirt; I thought yo' wun (_were_) gwein to marry
the cook at the paas'n's. Aye, but 'er'd gotten too many _glats_ i' the
mouth for me'; Miss Jackson's Shropshire Wordbook. 'Famine--the
_gap-toothed_ elf'; Golding's Ovid, b. 8; leaf 105. It occurs again, D.
603. [_Gat-toothed_ has also been explained as _goat-toothed_, lascivious,
but the word _goat_ appears as _goot_ in Chaucer.] Perhaps the following
piece of 'folk-lore' will help us out. 'A young lady the other day, in
reply to an observation of mine--"What a lucky girl you are!"--replied; "So
they used to say I should be when at school." "Why?" "Because my teeth were
set _so far apart; it was a sure sign I should be lucky and
travel_."'--Notes & Queries 1 Ser. [45] vi. 601; cf. the same, 7 Ser. vii.
306. The last quotation shews that the stop after _weye_ at the end of l.
467 should be a mere semicolon; since ll. 467 and 468 are closely
connected.