FOOTNOTES:

"Thriftless, shiftless,feckless."(MrLloyd George, 1st Nov. 1911.)

"Thriftless, shiftless,feckless."

(MrLloyd George, 1st Nov. 1911.)

There is a certain appropriateness in the fact that almost the first writer to use it was James I. It is foreffectless. I never heard of aweek-endtill I paid a visit to Lancashire in 1883. It has long since invaded the whole island. An oldgeezerhas a modern sound, butit is the medievalguiser,guisard, mummer, which has persisted in dialect and re-entered the language.

WORDS DUE TO ACCIDENT

The fortunes of a word are sometimes determined by accident.Glamour(see p.145) was popularised by Scott, who found it in old ballad literature.Grail, the holy dish at the Last Supper, would be much less familiar but for Tennyson.Mascot, from a ProvenÃ§al word meaning sorcerer, dates from Audran's operettaLa Mascotte(1880).Jingofirst appears in conjurors' jargon of the 17th century. It has been conjectured to represent Basquejinko, God, picked up by sailors. If this is the case, it is probably the only pure Basque word in English. The Ingoldsby derivation from St Gengulphusâ€”

"Sometimes styled 'The LivingJingo,' from the great tenaciousness of vitality exhibited by his severed members,"

is of course a joke. In 1878, when war with Russia seemed imminent, a music-hall singer, the Great Macdermott, delighted large audiences withâ€”

"We don't want to fight, but, byJingo, if we do,We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too."

Hence the namejingoapplied to that ultra-patriotic section of the population which, in war-time, attends to the shouting.[12]Fr.chauvin, a jingo, is the name of a real Napoleonic veteran introduced into Scribe's playLe Soldat Laboureur.Barrackingis known to us only through the visits of English cricket teams to Australia. It is said to come from a native Australian word meaning derision. The Americancaucuswas first applied (1878) by Lord Beaconsfield to the Birmingham Six Hundred. In 18th-century American it meansmeeting or discussion. It is probably connected with a North American Indian (Algonkin) word meaning counsellor, an etymology supported by that ofpow-wow, a palaver or confab, which is the Algonkin for a medicine-man. With these words may be mentionedTammany, now used of a famous political body, but, in the 18th century, of a society named after the "tutelar saint" of Pennsylvania. The original Tammany was an Indian chief with whom William Penn negotiated for grants of land about the end of the 17th century.Littoralfirst became familiar in connection with Italy's ill-starred Abyssinian adventure, andhinterlandmarked the appearance of Germany as a colonial powerâ€”

"'Let us glance a moment,' said Mr Queed, 'at Man, as we see him first emerging from the darkhinterlandsof history.'"(H. S. Harrison,Queed, Ch. 17.)

"'Let us glance a moment,' said Mr Queed, 'at Man, as we see him first emerging from the darkhinterlandsof history.'"

(H. S. Harrison,Queed, Ch. 17.)

BLUNDERS

Sometimes the blunder of a great writer has enriched the language. Scott'sbartisanâ€”

"Its varying circle did combineBulwark, andbartisan, and lineAnd bastion, tower ..."(Marmion, vi. 2.)

"Its varying circle did combineBulwark, andbartisan, and lineAnd bastion, tower ..."

(Marmion, vi. 2.)

is a mistake forbratticing, timber-work, a word of obscure origin of which several corruptions are found in early Scottish. It is rather a favourite with writers of "sword and feather" novels. Other sham antiques areslug-horn, Chatterton's absurd perversion of the Gaelicslogan, war-cry, copied by Browningâ€”

"Dauntless theslug-hornto my lips I set,And blew 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.'"

and Scott's extraordinary misuse ofwarison, security, a doublet ofgarrison, as though it meant "war sound"â€”

"Or straight they sound theirwarison,And storm and spoil thy garrison."(Lay, iv. 21.)

"Or straight they sound theirwarison,And storm and spoil thy garrison."

(Lay, iv. 21.)

Scott also gave currency toniddering, a cowardâ€”

"Faithless, mansworn,[13]andniddering."(Ivanhoe, Ch. 42.)

"Faithless, mansworn,[13]andniddering."

(Ivanhoe, Ch. 42.)

which has been copied by Lytton and Kingsley, and elaborated intonidderlingby Mr Crockett. It is a misprint in an early edition of William of Malmesbury fornidingornithing, cognate with Ger.Neid, envy. This word, says Camden, is mightier thanAbracadabra,[14]sinceâ€”

"It hath levied armies and subdued rebellious enemies. For when there was a dangerous rebellion against King William Rufus, and Rochester Castle, then the most important and strongest fort of this realm, was stoutly kept against him, after that he had but proclaimed that his subjects should repair thither to his camp, upon no other penalty, but that whosoever should refuse to come should be reputed aniding, they swarmed to him immediately from all sides in such numbers that he had in a few days an infinite army, and the rebels therewith were so terrified that they forthwith yielded."(Remains concerning Britain.)

(Remains concerning Britain.)

Derring-dois used several times by Spenser, who explains it as "manhood and chevalrie." It is due to his misunderstanding of a passage in Lidgate, in which it is an imitation of Chaucer, complicated by a misprint. Scott took it from Spenserâ€”

"'Singular,' he again muttered to himself, 'if there be two who can do a deed of suchderring-do.'"(Ivanhoe, Ch. 29.)

"'Singular,' he again muttered to himself, 'if there be two who can do a deed of suchderring-do.'"

(Ivanhoe, Ch. 29.)

and from him it passed to Bulwer Lytton and later writers.

Such words as these, the illegitimate offspring of genius, are to be distinguished from the "ghost-words" which dimly haunt the dictionaries without ever having lived (see p.201). Speaking generally, we may say that no word is ever createdde novo. The names invented for commercial purposes are not exceptions to this law.Bovrilis compounded of Lat.bos, ox, andvril,[15]the mysterious power which plays so important a part in Lytton'sComing Race, whileTono-Bungaysuggeststonic. The only exception to this isgas, the arbitrary coinage of the Belgian chemist Van Helmont in the 17th century. But even this is hardly a new creation, because we have Van Helmont's own statement that the wordchaoswas vaguely present to his mind.Chortlehas, however, secured a limited currency, and is admitted by theNew English Dictionaryâ€”

"O frabjous day! Callooh! callay!Hechortledin his joy."(Through the Looking-Glass.)

"O frabjous day! Callooh! callay!Hechortledin his joy."

(Through the Looking-Glass.)

and, though an accurate account of theboojumis lacking, most people know it to be a dangerous variety ofsnark.

FOOTNOTES:[6]Abominableis regularly speltabhominablein late Old French and Mid. English, as though meaning "inhuman," Lat.homo,homin-, a man.[7]This etymology is doubted by some authorities.[8]But the word comes to us from French. In the 16th century such puzzles were calledrÃ©bus de Picardie, because of their popularity in that province.[9]For simplicity the term Old French is used here to include all words not in modern use. Where a modern form exists it is given in parentheses.[10]The name was thus applied to a sail before it was given to a mast. Although the Italian word means "middle," it is perhaps, in this particular sense, a popular corruption of an Arabic word of quite different meaning. The discussion of so difficult a problem is rather out of place in a book intended for the general reader, but I cannot refrain from giving a most interesting note which I owe to Mr W. B. Whall, Master Mariner, the author ofShakespeare's Sea Terms Explainedâ€”"The sail was (until c. 1780) lateen,i.e., triangular, like the sail of a galley. The Saracens, or Moors, were the great galley sailors of the Mediterranean, andmizencomes from Arab.,miezÃªn, balance. Themizenis, even now, a sail that 'balances,' and the reef in a mizen is still called the 'balance' reef."[11]"I haveendeavouredto moderate his tyrannical choler" (Urquhart's Translation, 1653).[12]The credit of first using the word in the political sense is claimed both for George Jacob Holyoake and Professor Minto.[13]From Anglo-Sax.mÄn, deceit, cognate with the first syllable of Ger.Meineid, perjury.[14]This word, which looks like an unsuccessful palindrome, belongs to the language of medieval magic. It seems to be artificially elaborated fromá¼€Î²ÏÎ±Î¾Î¬Ï‚, a word of Persian origin used by a sect of Greek gnostics. Its letters make up the magic number 365, supposed to represent the number of spirits subject to the supreme being.[15]In coiningvrilLytton probably had in mind Lat.vis,vires, power, or the adjectivevirilis.

[6]Abominableis regularly speltabhominablein late Old French and Mid. English, as though meaning "inhuman," Lat.homo,homin-, a man.

[7]This etymology is doubted by some authorities.

[8]But the word comes to us from French. In the 16th century such puzzles were calledrÃ©bus de Picardie, because of their popularity in that province.

[9]For simplicity the term Old French is used here to include all words not in modern use. Where a modern form exists it is given in parentheses.

[10]The name was thus applied to a sail before it was given to a mast. Although the Italian word means "middle," it is perhaps, in this particular sense, a popular corruption of an Arabic word of quite different meaning. The discussion of so difficult a problem is rather out of place in a book intended for the general reader, but I cannot refrain from giving a most interesting note which I owe to Mr W. B. Whall, Master Mariner, the author ofShakespeare's Sea Terms Explainedâ€”"The sail was (until c. 1780) lateen,i.e., triangular, like the sail of a galley. The Saracens, or Moors, were the great galley sailors of the Mediterranean, andmizencomes from Arab.,miezÃªn, balance. Themizenis, even now, a sail that 'balances,' and the reef in a mizen is still called the 'balance' reef."

[11]"I haveendeavouredto moderate his tyrannical choler" (Urquhart's Translation, 1653).

[12]The credit of first using the word in the political sense is claimed both for George Jacob Holyoake and Professor Minto.

[13]From Anglo-Sax.mÄn, deceit, cognate with the first syllable of Ger.Meineid, perjury.

[14]This word, which looks like an unsuccessful palindrome, belongs to the language of medieval magic. It seems to be artificially elaborated fromá¼€Î²ÏÎ±Î¾Î¬Ï‚, a word of Persian origin used by a sect of Greek gnostics. Its letters make up the magic number 365, supposed to represent the number of spirits subject to the supreme being.

[15]In coiningvrilLytton probably had in mind Lat.vis,vires, power, or the adjectivevirilis.

Inassigning to a word a foreign origin, it is necessary to show how contact between the two languages has taken place, or the particular reasons which have brought about the borrowing. A Chinese word cannot suddenly make its appearance in Anglo-Saxon, though it may quite well do so in modern English. No nautical terms have reached us from the coast of Bohemia (Winter's Tale, iii. 3), nor is the vocabulary of the wine trade enriched by Icelandic words. Although we have words from all the languages of Europe, our direct borrowings from some of them have been small. The majority of High German words in English have passed through Old French, and we have taken little from modern German. On the other hand, commerce has introduced a great many words from the old Low German dialects of the North Sea and the Baltic.

The Dutch[16]element in English supplies a useful object lesson on the way in which the borrowing of words naturally takes place. As a great naval power, the Dutch have contributed to our nautical vocabulary a number of words, many of which are easily recognised as near relations; such areboom(beam),skipper(shipper),orlop(over leap), the name given to a deck which "over-runs" the ship's hold.Yacht, properly a "hunting" ship, is cognate with Ger.Jagd, hunting, but has no English kin. Hexham hasjaght, "zee-roovers schip, pinace, or pirats ship." The modern Dutch spelling isjacht. We should expect to find art terms from the country of Hobbema, Rubens, Vandyke, etc. Seeeasel(p.39),etch(p.133),lay-figure(p.166),sketch(p.22).Landscape, earlierlandskip, has the suffix which in English would be-ship. In the 16th century Camden speaks of "alandskip, as they call it." The Low Countries were for two centuries the cock-pit of Europe, and many military terms were brought back to England by Dugald Dalgetty and the armies which "swore terribly in Flanders." Such arecashier(p.157),forlorn hope(p.129),tattoo(p.162). Other interesting military words areleaguer(lair), recently re-introduced from South Africa aslaager, andfurlough. The latter word, formerly pronounced to rime withcough, is from Du.verlof(for leave);cf.archaic Ger.Verlaub, now replaced byUrlaub.Knapsack,[17]a food sack, comes from colloquial Du.knap, food, or what the Notts colliers callsnap. We also find it called asnapsack. Bothknapandsnapcontain the idea of "crunching"â€”

"I would she (Report) were as lying a gossip in that as everknappedginger."(Merchant of Venice, iii. 1.)

"I would she (Report) were as lying a gossip in that as everknappedginger."

(Merchant of Venice, iii. 1.)

Roster(roaster) is the Dutch for gridiron, the allusion being to the parallel lines of the list or plan; for a somewhat similar metaphor cf.cancel(p.88). The pleasant fiction thatâ€”

"The children of Holland take pleasure in makingWhat the children of England take pleasure in breaking,"

confirms the derivation oftoyfrom Du.tuig, implement,thing, stuff, etc., a word, like its German cognateZeug, with an infinity of meanings. We now limittoyto the special sense represented by Du.speel-tuig, play-thing.

DISAPPEARANCE OF CELTIC

Our vocabulary dealing with war and fortification is chiefly French, but most of the French terms come from Italian. Addison wrote an article in No. 165 of theSpectatorridiculing the Frenchified character of the military language of his time, and, in the 16th century, Henri Estienne, patriot, printer, and philologist, lamented that future historians would believe, from the vocabulary employed, that France had learnt the art of war from Italy. As a matter of fact she did. The earliest writers on the new tactics necessitated by villainous saltpetre were Italians trained in condottiere warfare. They were followed by the great French theorists and engineers of the 16th and 17th centuries, who naturally adopted a large number of Italian terms which thus passed later into English.

A considerable number of Spanish and Portuguese words have reached us in a very roundabout way (see pp.23-7). This is not surprising when we consider how in the 15th and 16th centuries the world was dotted with settlements due to the Portuguese and Spanish adventurers who had a hundred years' start of our own.

There are very few Celtic words either in English or French. In each country the result of conquest was, from the point of view of language, complete. A few words from the Celtic languages have percolated into English in comparatively recent times, but many terms which we associate with the picturesque Highlanders are not Gaelic at all.[18]Tartancomes through French from theTartars(see p.47);kiltis a Scandinavianverb, "to tuck up," anddirk,[19]of unknown origin, first appears about 1600. Fortrewssee p.117.

A very interesting part of our vocabulary, thecanting, or rogues', language, dates mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, and includes contributions from most of the European languages, together with a large Romany element. The early dictionary makers paid great attention to this aspect of the language. Elisha Coles, who published a fairly complete English dictionary in 1676, says in his preface, "'Tis no disparagement to understand the canting terms: it may chance to save your throat from being cut, or (at least), your pocket from being pick'd."

Words often go long journeys.Bossis in English a comparatively modern Americanism. But, like many American words, it belongs to the language of the Dutch settlers who founded New Amsterdam (New York). It is Du.baas, master, which has thus crossed the Atlantic twice on its way from Holland to England. A number of Dutch words became familiar to us about the year 1900 in consequence of the South African war. One of them,slim, 'cute, seems to have been definitely adopted. It is cognate with Ger.schlimm, bad, and Eng.slim, slender, and the latter word has for centuries been used in the Eastern counties in the very sense in which it has now been re-introduced.

Apricotis a much travelled word. It comes to us from Fr.abricot, while the Shakespeareanapricockâ€”

"Feed him withapricocksand dewberries."(Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 1.)

"Feed him withapricocksand dewberries."

(Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 1.)

represents the Spanish or Portuguese form. Ger.Aprikosecomes,viaDutch, from the French plural.The word was adopted into the Romance languages from Arab.al-barquq, wherealis the definite article (cf.examples on p.115), whilebarquqcomes, through medieval Greek, from Vulgar Lat.prÃ¦coquum, forprÃ¦cox, early-ripe. Thus the word first crossed the Adriatic, passed on to Asia Minor or the North coast of Africa, and then travelling along the Mediterranean re-entered Southern Europe.

ARABIC TRADE WORDS

Many other Arabic trade words have a similar history.Caratcomes to us, through French, from Italiancarato, "a waight or degree called acaract" (Florio). The Italian word is from Arabic, but the Arabic form is a corruption of Gk.ÎºÎµÏÎ¬Ï„Î¹Î¿Î½, fruit of the locust tree, lit. little horn, also used of a small weight. The verb togarble, now used only of confusing or falsifying,[20]meant originally to sort or sift, especially spicesâ€”

"Garblerof spices is an officer of great antiquity in the city of London, who may enter into any shop, warehouse, etc., to view and search drugs, spices, etc., and togarblethe same and make them clean."(Cowel'sInterpreter.)

(Cowel'sInterpreter.)

It represents Span.garbellar, fromgarbello, a sieve. This comes from Arab.ghirbÄl, a sieve, borrowed from Lat.cribellum, diminutive ofcribrum.Quintal, an old word for hundred-weight, looks as if it had something to do with five. Fr. and Span.quintalare from Arab.qintar, hundred-weight, which is Lat.centenarium(whence directly Ger.Zentner, hundred-weight). The French word passed into Dutch, and gave, with a diminutive ending,kindekijn, now replaced bykinnetje, a firkin.[21]We have adopted it askilderkin, but havedoubled its capacity. With these examples of words that have passed through Arabic may be mentionedtalisman, not a very old word in Europe, from Arab.tilsam, magic picture, ultimately from Gk.Ï„ÎµÎ»Îµá¿–Î½, to initiate into mysteries, lit. to accomplish, andeffendi, a Turkish corruption of Gk.Î±á½Î¸ÎÎ½Ï„Î·Ï‚, a master, whence Lat.authentic.

Hussarseems to be a late Latin word which passed into Greece and then entered Central Europeviathe Balkans. It comes into 16th-century German from Hungar.huszar, freebooter. This is from a Serbian word which means also pirate. It represents medieval Gk.ÎºÎ¿Ï…ÏÏƒÎ¬ÏÎ¹Î¿Ï‚, a transliteration of Vulgar Lat.cursarius, fromcurrere, to run, which occurs also with the sense of pirate in medieval Latin.Hussaris thus a doublet ofcorsair. The immediate source ofsketchis Du.schets, "draught of any picture" (Hexham), from Ital.schizzo, "an ingrosement or first rough draught of anything" (Florio), whence also Fr.esquisseand Ger.Skizze. The Italian word represents Greco-Lat.schedium, an extempore effort.

Assassinandslaveare of historic interest.Assassin, though not very old in English, dates from the Crusades. Its oldest European form is Ital.assassino, and it was adopted into French in the 16th century. Henri Estienne, whose fiery patriotism entered even into philological questions, reproaches his countrymen for using foreign terms. They should only adopt, he says, Italian words which express Italian qualities hitherto unknown to the French, such asassassin,charlatan,poltron!Assassinis really a plural, from thehachaschin, eaters of the drughaschish, who executed the decrees of the Old Man of the Mountains. It was one of these who stabbed Edward Longshanks at Acre. The firstslaveswere captiveSlavonians. Wefind the word in most of the European languages. The fact that none of the Western tribes of the race called themselvesSlavsorSlavoniansshows that the word could not have entered EuropeviaGermany, where the Slavs were called Wends. It must have come from the Byzantine empireviaItaly.

Some Spanish words have also come to us by the indirect route. Thecocoawhich is grateful and comforting was formerly speltcacao, as in French and German. It is a Mexican word. Thecocoaofcocoa-nutis forcoco, a Spanish baby-word for an ugly face or bogie-man. The black marks at one end of the nut give it, especially before the removal of the fibrous husk, some resemblance to a ferocious face. Stevens (1706) explainscocoas "the word us'd to fright children; as we say the Bulbeggar."

COW-BOY WORDS

Mustangseems to represent two words,mestengo y mostrenco, "a straier" (Percyvall). The first appears to be connected withmesta, "a monthly fair among herdsmen; also, the laws to be observed by all that keep or deal in cattle" (Stevens), and the second withmostrar, to show, the finder being expected to advertise a stray. The originalmustangswere of course descended from the strayed horses of the Spanishconquistadors.Ranch, Span.rancho, a row (of huts), is a doublet ofrank, from Fr.rang, Old Fr.reng, Old High Ger.hring, a ring. Thus what is now usually straight was once circular, the ground idea of arrangement surviving. Another doublet is Fr.harangue, due to the French inability to pronouncehr-(see p.55), a speech delivered in the ring.Cf.also Ital.aringo, "a riding or carreering place, a liste for horses, or feates of armes: a declamation, an oration, a noise, a common loud speech" (Florio), in which the "ring" idea is also prominent.

Other "cow-boy" words of Spanish origin are the less familiarcinch, girth of a horse, Span.cincha, from Lat.cingula, also used metaphoricallyâ€”

"The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature 'to get acinch' on an honourable Ã¦stheticism."(Snaith,Mrs Fitz, Ch. 1.)

"The state of the elements enabled Mother Nature 'to get acinch' on an honourable Ã¦stheticism."

(Snaith,Mrs Fitz, Ch. 1.)

and the formidable riding-whip called aquirt, Span.cuerda, cordâ€”

"Whooping and swearing as they plied thequirt."(Masefield,Rosas.)

"Whooping and swearing as they plied thequirt."

(Masefield,Rosas.)

Stories of Californian life often mention Span.reata, a tethering rope, from the verbreatar, to bind together, Lat.re-aptare. Combined with the definite article (la reata) it has givenlariat, a familiar word in literature of the Buffalo Bill character.Lasso, Span.lazo, Lat.laqueus, snare, is a doublet of Eng.lace.

When, in theSong of Hiawathaâ€”

"Gitche Manito, the mighty,Smoked thecalumet, the Peace-pipe,As a signal to the nations,"

he was using an implement with a French name.Calumetis an Old Norman word forchalumeau, reed, pipe, a diminutive from Lat.calamus. It was naturally applied by early French voyagers to the "long reed for a pipe-stem." Eng.shawmis the same word without the diminutive ending. Another Old French word, once common in English, but now found only in dialect, isfelon, a whitlow. It is used more than once by Mr Hardyâ€”

"I've been visiting to Bath because I had afelonon my thumb."(Far from the Madding Crowd, Ch. 33.)

"I've been visiting to Bath because I had afelonon my thumb."

(Far from the Madding Crowd, Ch. 33.)

This is still an every-day word in Canada and the United States. It is a metaphorical use offelon, a fellvillain. A whitlow was called in Latinfurunculus, "a little theefe; a sore in the bodie called afellon" (Cooper), whence Fr.furoncle, orfroncle, "the hot and hard bumpe, or swelling, tearmed, afellon" (Cotgrave). Another Latin name for it wastagax, "afelonon a man's finger" (Cooper), lit. thievish. One of its Spanish names ispadrastro, lit. step-father. I am told that an "agnail" was formerly called a "step-mother" in Yorkshire. This is a good example of the semantic method in etymology (see pp.99-104).

PORTUGUESE WORDS

Some of the above instances show how near to home we can often track a word which at first sight appears to belong to another continent. This is still more strikingly exemplified in the case of Portuguese words, which have an almost uncanny way of pretending to be African or Indian. Some readers will, I think, be surprised to hear thatassegaioccurs in Chaucer, though in a form not easily recognisable. It is a Berber word which passed through Spanish and Portuguese into French and English. We find Fr.archegaiein the 14th century,azagaiein Rabelais, and the modern formzagaiein Cotgrave, who describes it as "a fashion of slender, long, and long-headed pike, used by the Moorish horsemen." In Mid. Englishl'archegaiewas corrupted by folk-etymology (see p.115) intolancegay,launcegay, the form used by Chaucerâ€”

"He worth upon his stede gray,And in his hond alauncegay,A long swerd by his syde."(Sir Thopas, l. 40.)

"He worth upon his stede gray,And in his hond alauncegay,A long swerd by his syde."

(Sir Thopas, l. 40.)

The use of this weapon was prohibited by statute in 1406, hence the early disappearance of the word.

Another "Zulu" word which has travelled a long way iskraal. This is a contracted Dutch form fromPort.curral, a sheepfold (cf.Span.corral, a pen, enclosure). Bothassegaiandkraalwere taken to South East Africa by the Portuguese and then adopted by the Boers and Kafirs.[22]Sjambokoccurs in 17th-century accounts of India in the formchawbuck. It is a Persian word, speltchaboukby Moore, inLalla Rookh. It was adopted by the Portuguese aschabuco, "in the Portuguese India, a whip or scourge"[23](Vieyra,Port. Dict., 1794).Fetish, an African idol, first occurs in the records of the early navigators, collected and published by Hakluyt and Purchas. It is the Port.feitiÃ§o, Lat.factitius, artificial, applied by the Portuguese explorers to the graven images of the heathen. The corresponding Old Fr.faitisis rather a complimentary adjective, and everyone remembers the lady in Chaucer who spoke French fairly andfetousli.Palaver, also a travellers' word from the African coast, is Port.palavra, word, speech, Greco-Lat.parabola. It is thus a doublet ofparoleandparable, and is related toparley.Ayah, an Indian nurse, is Port.aia, nurse, of unknown origin.Casteis Port.casta, pure, and a doublet ofchaste.Tank, an Anglo-Indian word of which the meaning has narrowed in this country, is Port.tanque, a pool or cistern, Lat.stagnum, whence Old Fr.estang(Ã©tang) and provincial Eng.stank, a dam, or a pond banked round.Cobrais the Portuguese for snake, cognate with Fr.couleuvre, Lat.coluber(see p.7). We use it as an abbreviation forcobra de capello, hooded snake, the second part of which is identical with Fr.chapeauand cognate withcape,chapel(p.152),chaplet, a garland,andchaperon, a "protecting" hood. From still further afield than India comesjoss, a Chinese god, a corruption of Port.deos, Lat.deus. Evenmandarincomes from Portuguese, and not Chinese, but it is an Eastern word, ultimately of Sanskrit origin.

GORILLAâ€”SILK

The wordgorillais perhaps African, but more than two thousand years separate its first appearance from its present use. In the 5th or 6th century,B.C., a Carthaginian navigator named Hanno sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules along the west coast of Africa. He probably followed very much the same route as Sir Richard Dalyngridge and Saxon Hugh when they voyaged with Witta the Viking. He wrote in Punic a record of his adventures, which was received with the incredulity usually accorded to travellers' tales. Among the wonders he encountered were some hairy savages calledgorillas. His work was translated into Greek and later on into several European languages, so that the word became familiar to naturalists. In 1847 it was applied to the giant ape, which had recently been described by explorers.

The origin of the wordsilkis a curious problem. It is usually explained as from Greco-Lat.sericum, a name derived from an Eastern people called theSeres, presumably the Chinese. It appears in Anglo-Saxon asseolc. Now, at that early period, words of Latin origin came to us by the overland route and left traces of their passage. But all the Romance languages use for silk a name derived from Lat.sÃ¦ta, bristle, and this name has penetrated even into German (Seide) and Dutch (zijde). The derivatives ofsericumstand for another material,serge. Nor can it be assumed that therof the Latin word would have become in English alwaysland neverr. There are races which cannot sound the letterr, but we are not one of them. As thewordsilkis found also in Old Norse, Swedish, Danish, and Old Slavonian, the natural inference is that it must have reached us along the north of Europe, and, if derived fromsericum, it must, in the course of its travels, have passed through a dialect which had nor.

FOOTNOTES:[16]This includes Flemish, spoken in a large part of Belgium and in the North East of France.[17]Haversack, oat-sack, comes through French from German.[18]This applies also to some of the clan names, e.g.,Macpherson, son of the parson,Macnab, son of the abbot.[19]My own conviction is that it is identical with Dan.dirik,dirk, a pick-lock. SeeDietrich(p.42). An implement used for opening an enemy may well have been named in this way.Cf.Du.opsteeker(up sticker), "a pick-lock, a great knife, or a dagger" (Sewel, 1727).[20]"It was a whollygarbledversion of what never took place" (Mr Birrell, in the House, 26th Oct. 1911). The bull appears to be a laudable concession to Irish national feeling.[21]Formerlyferdekin, a derivative of Du.vierde, fourth; cf.farthing, a little fourth.[22]Kafir(Arab.) means infidel.[23]Eng.chawbuckis used in connection with the punishment we call thebastinado. This is a corruption of Span.bastonada, "a stroke with a club or staff" (Stevens, 1706). On the other hand, we extend the meaning ofdrub, the Arabic word forbastinado, to a beating of any kind.

[16]This includes Flemish, spoken in a large part of Belgium and in the North East of France.

[17]Haversack, oat-sack, comes through French from German.

[18]This applies also to some of the clan names, e.g.,Macpherson, son of the parson,Macnab, son of the abbot.

[19]My own conviction is that it is identical with Dan.dirik,dirk, a pick-lock. SeeDietrich(p.42). An implement used for opening an enemy may well have been named in this way.Cf.Du.opsteeker(up sticker), "a pick-lock, a great knife, or a dagger" (Sewel, 1727).

[20]"It was a whollygarbledversion of what never took place" (Mr Birrell, in the House, 26th Oct. 1911). The bull appears to be a laudable concession to Irish national feeling.

[21]Formerlyferdekin, a derivative of Du.vierde, fourth; cf.farthing, a little fourth.

[22]Kafir(Arab.) means infidel.

[23]Eng.chawbuckis used in connection with the punishment we call thebastinado. This is a corruption of Span.bastonada, "a stroke with a club or staff" (Stevens, 1706). On the other hand, we extend the meaning ofdrub, the Arabic word forbastinado, to a beating of any kind.

Ina sense, all nomenclature, apart from purely scientific language, is popular. But real meanings are often so rapidly obscured that words become mere labels, and cease to call up the image or the poetic idea with which they were first associated. To take a simple instance, how many people realise that thedaisyis the "day's eye"?â€”

"Wele by reson men it calle mayThedayeseyeor ellis the 'eye of day.'"(Chaucer,Legend of Good Women, Prol., l. 184.)

"Wele by reson men it calle mayThedayeseyeor ellis the 'eye of day.'"

(Chaucer,Legend of Good Women, Prol., l. 184.)

In studying that part of our vocabulary which especially illustrates the tendencies shown in popular name-giving, one is struck by the keen observation and imaginative power shown by our far-off ancestors, and the lack of these qualities in later ages.

Perhaps in no part of the language does this appear so clearly as in the names of plants and flowers. The most primitive way of naming a flower is from some observed resemblance, and it is curious to notice the parallelism of this process in various languages. Thus ourcrowfoot,crane's bill,larkspur,monkshood,snapdragon, are in GermanHahnenfuss(cock's foot),Storchschnabel(stork's bill),Rittersporn(knight's spur),Eisenhut(iron hat),LÃ¶wenmaul(lion's mouth). I have purposely chosen instances in which the correspondence is not absolute, because examples likeLÃ¶wenzahn(lion's tooth),dandelion(Fr.dent de lion) may be suspected of being mere translations. I give the names in most general use, but the provincial variants are numerous, though usually of the same type. The French names of the flowers mentioned are still more like the English. The more learned words which sometimes replace the above are, though now felt as mere symbols, of similar origin, e.g.,geraniumandpelargonium, used for the cultivatedcrane's bill, are derived from the Greek for crane and stork respectively. So also inchelidonium, whence ourcelandineorswallow-wort, we have the Greek for swallow.

In the English names of plants we observe various tendencies of the popular imagination. We have the crudeness ofcowslipfor earliercowslop, cow-dung, and many old names of unquotable coarseness, the quaintness ofSweet William,lords and ladies,bachelors' buttons,dead men's fingers, and the exquisite poetry offorget-me-not,heart's ease,love in a mist,traveller's joy. There is also a special group named from medicinal properties, such asfeverfew, a doublet offebrifuge, andtansy, Fr.tanaisie, from Greco-Lat.athanasia, immortality. We may compare the learnedsaxifrage, stone-breaker, of which the Spanish doublet issassafras. The German name isSteinbrech.

There must have been a time when a simple instinct for poetry was possessed by all nations, as it still is by uncivilised races and children. Among European nations this instinct appears to be dead for ever. We can name neither a mountain nor a flower. Our Mount Costigan, Mount Perry, Mount William cut a sorry figure beside the peaks of the Bernese Oberland,the Monk, the Maiden, the Storm Pike, the Dark Eagle Pike.[24]Occasionally a race which is accidentally brought into closer contact with nature may have a happy inspiration, such as theDrakensberg(dragon's mountain) orWeenen[25](weeping) of the oldvoortrekkers. But the Cliff of the Falling Flowers, the name of a precipice over which the Korean queens cast themselves to escape dishonour, represents an imaginative realm which is closed to us.[26]The botanist who describes a new flower hastens to join the company of MessrsDahl,Fuchs,Lobel,MagnolandWistar, while fresh varieties are used to immortalise a florist and his family.

NAMES OF FRUITS

The names of fruits, perhaps because they lend themselves less easily to imaginative treatment, are even duller than modern names of flowers. The only English names are theappleand theberry. New fruits either retained their foreign names (cherry,peach,pear,quince) or were violently converted intoapplesorberries, usually the former. This practice is common to the European languages, theapplebeing regarded as the typical fruit. Thus the orange is usually called in North GermanyApfelsine, apple of China, with which we may compare our "China orange." In South Germany it was calledPomeranze(now used especially of the Seville orange), from Ital.pomo, apple,arancia, orange. Fr.orangeis folk-etymology (or, gold) for*arange, from Arab.narandj, whence Span.naranja.Melonis simply the Greek for "apple," and has also given usmarmalade, which comes, through French, from Port.marmelada, quince jam, a derivative of Greco-Lat.melimelum, quince, lit. honey-apple.Pine-applemeant "fir-cone" as late as the 17th century, as Fr.pomme de pinstill does.[27]The fruit was named from its shape, which closely resembles that of a fir-cone.Pomegranatemeans "apple with seeds." We also find the apricot, lemon (pomcitron), peach, and quince all described as apples.

At least one fruit, thegreengage, is named from a person, Sir William Gage, a gentleman of Suffolk, who popularised its cultivation early in the 18th century. It happens that the French name of the fruit,reine-claude(pronouncedglaude), is also personal, from the wife of Francis I.

Animal nomenclature shows some strange vagaries. The resemblance of thehippopotamus, lit. river-horse, to the horse, hardly extends beyond their common possession of four legs.[28]The lion would hardly recognise himself in theant-lionor thesea-lion, still less in thechameleon, lit. earth-lion, the first element of which occurs also incamomile, earth-apple. Theguinea-pigis not a pig, nor does it come from Guinea (see p.51).Porcupinemeans "spiny pig." It has an extraordinary number of early variants, and Shakespeare wrote itporpentine. One Mid. English form wasporkpoint. The French name has hesitated betweenspineandspike. The modern form isporc-Ã©pic, but Palsgrave has "porkepyna beest,porc espin."Porpoiseis from Old Fr.porpeis, forporc peis(Lat.porcus piscis), pig-fish. The modern French name ismarsouin, from Ger.Meerschwein, sea-pig;cf.the namesea-hog, formerly used in English. Old Fr.peissurvives also ingrampus, Anglo-Fr.grampaisforgrand peis, big fish, but the usual Old French word iscraspeisorgraspeis, fat fish.

Thecaterpillarseems to have suggested in turn a cat and a dog. Our word is corrupted by folk-etymology from Old Fr.chatepeleuse, "a corne-devouring mite, or weevell" (Cotgrave). This probably means "woolly cat," just as a common species is popularly calledwoolly bear, but it was understood as being connected with the French verbpeler, "topill, pare, barke, unrinde, unskin" (Cotgrave). The modern French name for the caterpillar ischenille, a derivative ofchien, dog. It has also been applied to a fabric of a woolly nature;cf.the botanicalcatkin, which is in Frenchchaton, kitten.

Back to Index Next