ANGOUSTE, an old French word for a locust or grass-hopper (Cotgrave), is properly langouste. Compare AGOSTA. Locust, Langouste, haneton, angouste.Sherwood, Eng.-French Dict. 1660. ANTILLE, a Wallon word for a freckle or red spot, is from Fr. lentille (Lat. lenticula), evidently mistaken as l'entille. ANVEYERG, the name of a parish in Monaghan, is Ir. An-bheith-dhearg, i.e. "The-red-birch" (Joyce, i. 23). APRICOT, Fr. abricot, Portg.albricoque, contain the Arab. article al, being from Arab. al-barqûq, i.e. al, the, + Lat. præcoqua, early ripe (fruit). APRON is a corrupt form, originating in a napron being mistaken for an apron, exactly as if we used an apkin for a napkin. Napron or naprun is the form found in prov. and old English, from old Fr. naperon (or napperon), a large cloth, derived from old Fr. nape, a cloth (Mod. Fr. nappe), which word is a corruption of Lat. mappa. Barmclothe or naprun, Limas.-Prompt. Parv. [He] put before his lap a napron white. Spenser, F. Queene, V. v. 20. Nappern, an apron.-Lancashire Glossary, E. D. S. p. 196. Billmen in almaine rivets, and apernes of mail in great numbers.-Stow, Survay, 1603, p. 39 (ed. Thoms). For a similar mistake compare :— Charevastre, An Ash Cloth, Nash-cloth, or Buckcloth.-Cotgrave. ARGOT, the French word for slang, cant, was probably at first un nargot, denoting (1) a thief or robber, (2) thieves' language. Compare narquois, apparently for narguois [connected with narguer, to mock or sneer, nargues, a term of contempt, "Tush! pish!" (Cotgrave), from Lat. naricare, to turn up the nose (nares) at, to sneer], defined by Cotgrave as "An impostor, Counterfeit Rogue, also the gibbridge or barbarous language used among them." ... AUGER ARIGOT, which Cotgrave gives as an old Fr. word for the musical instrument called a recorder, is evidently the same word as larigau (for laringau, from larynx, the throat), "The head of the windpipe or throat, . . . the instrument of receiving and letting out breath; also a Flute or Pipe is called so by the clowns in some parts of France" (Id.). ATOMY, used in old and prov. English for a skeleton, stands for anatomy, which was formerly used in that sense (Greek anatomé, a cutting up" or dissection), mistaken as an atomy. Compare the following: 66 2 Hen. IV. v. 4, 33 (Globe ed.). [The 1st folio, 1623, has anatomy, Booth's reprint.] Our Jwhonny's just turn'd till a parfet atomy. Anderson, Cumb. Ballads, p. 98 [Wright]. I hear she's grown a mere otomy.-Swift, Polite Conversation, i. [Davies]. Compare Oxfordshire natomy, a very thin person, "'Er little un's nuth'n but a natomy."-E. D. Soc. Orig. Glossaries, C. p. 91. Also notomy, or nottamy, a skeleton (in the Cleveland dialect a notomize), from anatomy, understood as a natomy. As thin as a notomize.-Whitby Glossary. Notomia, i.e. Anatomia.-Steevens, Span. Dict. 1706. 'Nottamy, a very thin person. — Williams and Jones, Somerset Glossary. Costard (Love's Labour's Lost, iii. 1) appears to have, in a similar way, understood enigma as an egma. ATRIL (Sp.), a reading-desk or lectern, apparently el atril, being a mistake for el latril or el letril, "the lectern," old Fr. letrin (Diez). AUBOURS, the French name for the laburnum tree or Cytisus, l'aubours having apparently originated in Lat. laburnum, just as It. abrostino in Lat. labruscum. AUGER, a boring tool, stands for a nauger, mistaken for an auger, old Eng. nauger and navegor, A. Sax. nafegár, i.e."nave-gorer," that which pierces the nave of a wheel, O. H. Ger. napagér. Compare Dut. avegaar for navegaar (Skeat, Wedgwood). The Lancashire word is noágur (E. D. Soc. Glossary). They bore the trunk with a nauger.Howell, Fam. Letters, ii. 54. From this word in O. H. German comes Fr. navrer, Norm. Fr. naverer, nafra, to wound or pierce, It. naverare. AUGHT, old Eng. awiht, A. Sax. áwiht, is an agglutination of the article a (A. Sax. á, án) and wiht (A. Sax. wiht, a creature or thing), and so 66 a whit." AVEL (old Fr.), anything precious, stands for lavel, mistaken for l'avel, which is identical with It. lapillo, a gem or precious stone, Lat. lapillus. Similarly, It. avello, a stone coffin, Modenese lavello, Milanese navell, are from Low Lat. lavellum, Lat. labellum, a vessel (Diez). AZURE. In all the European forms of this word (Fr. azur, Sp. azul, It. azurro) an initial l, which we still preserve in (lapis) lazuli, has been lost through having been mistaken for the article, as if the word were l'azur, instead of, as properly, lazur. Compare Low Lat. lazulum, lazur, Low Greek lazoúrion (Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 215), from Arab. lazwerd or lajward, Pers. lajûwerd (Devic, Skeat), so called because found in the mines of Lajwurd (Yule, Ser Marco Polo, i. 153). Asure, Asura.-Prompt. Parvulorum. Lazur, the Lazall, or Azure stone.-Cotgrave. B. BACIO (It.), a site exposed to the North (a bacio, northward), stands for obacio for opacio, a shady spot (Lat. opacus), whence also Dauphinese lubac for l'ubac (Diez). BADIA, an Italian word for an abbey, as in the proverb, "Casa mia, casa mia, per piccina che tu sia, tu mi sembri una badia" ("My home, my home, humble though thou be, to me thou seemest an abbey "), i.e. una badia for un' abbadia. CATE BARS, the French name of the fish which we call in English basse, Ger. bars, barsche, is apparently formed from the Greek name labrax, i.e. the “rapacious (cf. its names lupus, Fr. loup), which was supposed to be la braz. BILLAMENT, for habillement, understood as a billement. But then shee put of her head geere ffine; Percy Folio MS. vol. ii. p. 330, L. 65. Dorlot, a jewell . . . aglet, button, billement, &c., wherewith a woman sets out her apparell.-Cotgrave. BITTACLE, a sea-term for a "Frame of Timber in the Steerage of a Ship, where the Compass stands" (Bailey), whence by corruption binnacle, stands for habitacle ('abitacle, a bitacle), a little lodge or habitation for the steersman, Fr. habitacle. Compare BILLAMENT. In the toure I went, into the habytacle Of dame Musyke, where she was syngynge The ballades swete in her fayre tabernacle. S. Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure, cap. xx. p. 97 (Percy Soc.). Similarly, Lawaine, a Scottish word for the eve of All-Hallows in The Lady of the Lake, is merely a corruption of Halloween ('alloween), probably understood as a loween. BLÉ (Fr.), wheat, old Fr. bled, Prov. blat, has lost an initial a, seemingly from the Low Lat. ablata, with the article l'ablata, being mistaken for la blata (It. biada, old Fr. blée). Scheler, s.v. Low Lat. ablata, ablatum, properly means that "carried away" from the field, produce. See BOUTIQUE (Fr.), as well as It. bottega, Sp. botica, has lost an initial a (for aboutique, Lat. apotheca) from its probably having been merged in the article. Compare Eng. potecary for apothecary. vision, originally achate, something bought, a marketing, a purchase (Chaucer, Prologue Cant. Tales, 1. 571), old Fr. acat, achat, purchase, from Low Lat. accaptare (to take to one's self), purchase. Hence Mod. Fr. acheter. Bread, wine, acates, fowl, feather, fish or fin. Ben Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2. CESS, a rate or tax, so spelt, perhaps, under the influence of Lat. census, Fr. cencer, to tax, is for sess, a shortened form of assess (as if a sess), which appears to have originated in Ireland. Compare SESSMENT below. Eudox. But what is that which ye call Cesse? It is a woorde sure not used amongest us heere, therefore (I pray you) expounde the same. Iren. Cesse is none other but that which your selfe called imposition.-Spenser, View of State of Ireland, p. 643 (Globe ed.). CAYSHUN, a Word used in Holderness, E. Yorkshire, for need, necessity, a mutilated form of occasion, probably mistaken for a casion. He's neeah cayshun to waak. Old Eng. chesun, or cawse, Causa (Prompt. Parv.), for achesun, old Fr. acheison, Low Lat. acheso, a corrupt form of occasio, occasion. Compare It. cagione for occagione, Lat. occasionem, un occagione being mistaken for uno 'cagione; It. limosina for elimosina, Lat. eleëmosuna (old Fr. almosne, "alms'); tena for alena Fr. haleine (from Lat. anhelare); labarda for alabarda Fr. hallebarde; ruca (whence rucchetta, our "rocket") = Lat. eruca. CLYPSE, a frequent form in old authors of eclipse, apparently misunderstood as a clipse. There fell a great rayne and a clups.-Lord Berners, Froissart, cap. cxxx. Hic clipsis, the clyppes of the sunne.Wright's Vocabularies, p. 272. And þat is cause of pis clips pat closeth now be sonne. Vision of P. Plowman, B. xviii. 135. Cluppyce of pe sonne or money (al. clypse), Eclipsis.-Prompt. Parv. Hyt is but the cluppus of the sune, I herd a clerk say. Anturs of Arthur, st. viii. 1. 3. The N. W. Lincolnshire folk still speak of a clips of the sun (Peacock). DAFFODIL, the narcissus, perhaps owes the excrescent d to the article and stands for th'affodil, north Eng. t'affodil, Kent de affodil (or d'affodil ?), from old Fr. asphodile, "th' affodill" (Cotgrave); Lat. asphodelus. Daffadilly (Spenser) is an assimilation to lily; Daffadowndilly, when applied to the shrub Daphne Mezereon, is due to a supposed connexion of the word with the nymph Daphne, just as Fr. afrodille, Low Lat. aphrodillus, was confused with Aphrodite. (See Skeat, Etym. Dict. p. 787.) DRAKE stands for old Eng. endrake (compare Icel. andriki, Swed.anddrake, Dan. andrik), of which the first syllable has been lost, perhaps from its being mistaken for the article, as if an drake. The n of an was retained in the oldest English before a noun beginning with a consonant, e.g. an preost" (Layamon). End-rake or ened-rake denotes etymologically the "duck (ened) king," Lat. anat(um)-rex. 66 Somewhat similarly vie, a wager or challenge in gambling, old Eng. a-vie, is for Fr. envi It. invito, an inviting (Lat. invitare), equivalent to 'vite for an invite. E. EAR, a provincial word for the kidney (Suffolk, Northumberland, Scotland), from neer (Craven), O. Eng. neare, Ger. nieren, Dan. nyre, O. Norse nyra, Swed. njure. EL-ISKENDEREEYEH (576) Neare of a beest, roignon.-Palsgrave, 1530. The near-end of a loin of veal, in Lincolnshire, is the part next the nears or kidneys (Peacock). EL-ISKENDEREEYEH, the modern name of Alexandria, Greek 'Aλežávôpeia, the initial syllable being mistaken for the article, as if al Escandria. Similarly el Azariyeh, the modern name of Bethany, stands for Lazariyeh, “Lazarus' village;" and Hadjar Lasbah (near the Dead Sea) for el Asbah. Compare LUXOR. ELIXIR contains an implicit article, being Arab. el iksir, “the philosopher's stone" (Skeat). EMBER-DAYS, perhaps for Tember-days (temper-days), mistaken for Th'emberdays. See p. 109. In a similar way theorbo, the name of an old musical instrument, has been mistaken for the orboe, and appears so in an advertisement, 1720, quoted in Southey's Common-Place Book, ii. 333. EMONY and enemy are popular corruptions of the flower-name anemone, the first syllable evidently being mistaken for the article an. "Our gardeners call them Emonies."-R. Turner, Bot. 18. See ENEMY, p. 111. Compare АтомY above. A nasturtium is sometimes converted by the ignorant into an asturtion (Leary, Every Day Errors, p. 44), and even a stortioner. p. Sperage, sparage (Cotgrave), sparagus (Evelyn), have by a similar mistake lost an initial a, being popular forms of asparagus. EST, a Scottish form of nest, evidently a nest, mistaken for an est (Jamieson), "a bird-est" (Hogg), like West Country ettle for a nettle (Wright). See EYAS below, and compare Manx edd, a nest, yn edd, the nest, beside Ir. nead, Corn. neid, Welsh nyth. On the other hand, Scot. nesscock, a boil, seems to be for an esscock or erscock (Jamieson). ETTLE, & West Country word for a nettle (Wright), also used in Northamptonshire (Sternberg). Similarly an ear, an East Country word for a kidney (Wright), stands for a near, old Eng. nere, or neere, a kidney (Icel. nýra), whence kydneer, kidnere, now GOBILLE spelt kidney. The Cumberland folk have ear, kidney, and an est for a nest (Ferguson). A Wiltshire charm against the sting of a nettle is "Out 'ettle, in dock; Dock zhall ha' a new smock; 'Ettle zhan't ha'narrun."-Britton, Beauties of Wiltshire, 1825. EYAS, a young hawk (Shakespeare, Spenser), is a mistake for a nyas or nias, that is, a "nestling" (Nares, Halliwell), from Fr. niais, a neastling (Cotgrave), and that from Lat. nidus, a nest, through a form nidaceus, nidaz (cf. It. nidiace). Compare EYE, a brood (of pheasants), probably from Fr. sid, a nest, p. 114 above. Indeed nye is given as an Essex word for a pheasant's nest (Jephson, Archæolog. Soc. Trans. 1863, vol. ii.). Cf. prov. Eng. naye, an egg, for old Eng. an ey. Couata, a couie .. a nest-full, a lairie, an eyase.-Florio. Nidiace falcone, a Hawke taken yoong out of his nest, a Eyase-faulcon.-Id. Niaso, an Eyase-hawk.-Id. F. FRAY, a conflict, stands for old Eng. affray (from old Fr. esfrei, tumult, effraier, to make afraid, Low Lat. exfridare, to put out (ex) of peace (friðu), disquiet, make a disturbance (Skeat, Etym. Dict. 776), mistaken for a fray. Sendes aftyre phylosophers, and his affrage telles. Morte Arthure, 1. 3226. G. GELL (g hard), a Scotch word for a leech, Welsh gel, seems to be akin to Swed. igel, a leech; cf. A. Sax. igil, the pricking hedgehog, egl, that which pricks or pierces, a thistle, &c. GHERKIN stands for an older form agherkin, from Dut. agurkje, agurkken, and that from Arab. al + Pers. khiyar (cucumber) + ken (dimin. suffix).Skeat. GOBILLE, in modern French la gobille, is from the old Fr. la agobille, a form which is still preserved in the Wallon agobille, agobye. GRIOTTE (Fr.), a sour or tart cherry, has lost an initial a, the older form l'agriotte (Cotgrave) being mistaken as la griotte. Agriotte or agriote (Eng. egriot) is said to come from Greek ayoios, wild (Littré, Scheler), but perhaps the original form was aigriote, from aigre, sour; O. de Serres (in Littré) has "les agriotes ou cerizes aigres." GUGLIA, the Italian word for a needle, is formed from aguglia, the initial vowel having been merged and lost in the article, Lat. aculeus. E.g. Villani, in his Istoria, lib. ix. speaks of Sir John Hawkwood, the great general of the 14th century, who had been originally a tailor, as "John della guglie" (i.e. John of the needle), properly "John dell' aguglie"; for whom see Acutus, p. 515. GYPSY, for gypsian or gyptian, from Egyptian, probably understood as a gyptian. (Sp.) Gitano, a counterfeit rogue called a gypson or Egyptian.—Minsheu. Like a Gipsen or a Juggeler. Cursor Mundi (Göttingen MS.), 1. 5656. H. HEAPS, a Cumberland word for turnips (E. D. Soc. Orig. Glossaries, C. p. 109), probably originated in prov. Eng.a neap, a turnip (Lat. napus), being misunderstood as an 'eap or an heap. Hence also turnip (for ternepe, Lat. terra napus), which is not of great antiquity in English, as Turner, writing in 1548, says of the napus, “I haue hearde sume cal it in Englishe a turnepe."Names of Herbes, p. 55 (E. D. S. ed.). Compare NEAVING, below. I. IARD (or yar), a Wallon word for a farthing or money, is from Fr. liard, understood as l'iard. Similarly, ieve (or yaife), a hare, from Fr. lièvre, understood as l'ievre (Sigart). LAMMER INGREMANCE, an old Fr. word for the black art or necromancy, is from the old Fr. nigremance (Gk. nekromanteia), then initial having perhaps been attributed to the article un. INKLE, a kind of tape or shoemaker's thread, stands for lingle or lingel, the initial being lost through being mistaken for the French article, as if l'ingle. Compare lyngell (Palsgrave), old Fr. ligneul, lignel, a dimin. of ligne, a thread or line, Lat. linea (Wedgwood, Skeat). Dryden has incle (Plays, vol. iv, p. 314). As thick as inkleweavers is an old proverbial expression. Lingel in the first of the following passages Nares notes is yugal in the early editions, which he says is nonsense. It is evidently a misprint for yngal. 66 Every man shall have a special care of his own soal, And in his pocket carry his two confessors, His lingel, and his nawl. Beaumont and Fletcher, Women Pleased, iv. 1 (ed. Darley). The Cobler of Canterburie, armed with his Aull, his Lingell, and his Last.-Cobler of Canterburie, 1608 (Tarlton's Jests, p. 107). Inkles, caddisses, cambrics, lawns.-Shakespeare, Winter's Tale, iv. 4, 208. We're as thick as a pair o' owd reawsty inkle-weyvers.-Lancashire Glossary, E. D. S. p. 166. K. KETON, a word meaning a soldier's cassock, quoted by Jamieson (Scotch Dict. s.v.) from Cox's Ireland, is evidently the same word as aketon, understood as a keton; haketon (Chaucer), hacqueton (Spenser), Fr. hoqueton, a wadded coat worn under armour. L. LAMMER, a Scottish word for amber, is merely Fr. l'ambre. Black luggie, lammer bead, Itm x bedes of lambrer.-Inventory, 1440 (Peacock, Church Furniture, p. 195). PP |