593 ) AGATE (for achate) stands for old Eng. achates, which was no doubt mistaken for a plural, but is really borrowed from Lat. and Greek achates, a stone named from the river Achates in Sicily near which it was discovered. Onyx and achatis both more & lesse. Play of the Sacrament, Philog. Soc. His stone and herbe as saith the scole Gower, Conf. Amantis, iii. 130. Achate, the precious stone Achates.-Cotgrave. ALMS, now always regarded as a plural because it ends in -s, so that it would be "bad grammar" to say "alms was given to the poor." It is really a singular, being the mod. form of old Eng. almes, or almesse, A. Sax. almesse, or almasse, which is merely a corrupted form of L. Lat. eleëmosyna, from Greek ělěēmosúně, pity (compare our "charity"). Eleemosynary aid' is merely alms "writ large." Compare AELMESSE, p. 4. The A. V. is inconsistent in its usage : 66 [He] asked an alms. —Acts iii. 3. Thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.-Id. x. 4. Alms is a good gift unto all that give it.— Tobit iv. 11. The alms of a man is as a signet with him. -Ecclus. xvii. 22. Fruits, as it were, fastened on externally, alms given that they may be gloried in, prayers made that they may be seen.-Abp. Trench, Miracles, p. 336 (9th ed.). Wycliffe's pun on almes and all-amiss shows how the word was pronounced in his time : be endowynge of pe clergy wip worldly lordeschipe ow3t not to be callid almes, but rather alle a mysse or wastynge of goddis goodes.-Unprinted Eng. Works of Wyclif, p. 388 (E. E. T. S.). But now torou þis perpetual alamysse þat þe clerkis and religious folke callen almes, cristes ordenaunce is vndo.-Id. p. 389. ANCHOVY is a corruption of an anchovies, or anchoves, Dut. "ansjovis, anchoves."--Sewel, 1708. See above, p. 8. BALANCE forthcoming," is only an Anglicized form of Fr. assez, sufficient (i. e. to discharge a testator's debts and legacies), old Eng. assetz (P. Plowman), from Lat. ad satis. The word, therefore, is not, as generally understood, plural, but singular. The value of the tenant's right is an available asset against his debt to the landlord.The Standard, July 22, 1882. Old Eng. forms are aseth, asseth, aseeth (satisfaction), which appear to be fictitious singulars. þerfor make to god a-seep for synne... Many men maken aseep bi sorrow of herte. -Wyclif's Unprinted Eng. Works, p. 340 (E. È. Î. S.). AUROCH. Dr. Latham mentions that he has met some instances of "an auroch" being used, as if the singular of aurochs (Dict. s.v. Bonasus)-a mistake pretty much the same as if we spoke of an oc instead of an ox, ochs being the German for ox. It is strange to find an eminent philologer like Mr. T. L. K. Oliphant speaking of our fathers "hunting the auroch" (Old and Middle Eng. p. 13). AXEY (Prov. Eng.), the ague, is a feigned singular of access, mistaken for a plural, as if axeys. See AXEY, p. 15, and NABSY, p. 581. The tercyan ye quartane or ye brynnyng ars. Play of the Sacrament, 1. 611 (Philolog. Soc. Trans. 1860-1). B. BAIZE, a woollen stuff, now used as a singular, was originally a plural, viz. bayes (Cotgrave), plu. of bay, Fr. baye (Dan. bai, Dut. baai), originally, perhaps, cloth of a bay colour (Fr. bai). -Skeat, Wedgwood. Compare Fr. bureau (O. Fr. burel, O. Eng. borel), orig. coarse cloth of a russet colour, from Lat. burrus, reddish. Baye... the cloth called bayes.-Cotgrave. BALANCE (Fr. balance, Lat. bi-lancem, "two-platter "), from its sounding like a plural and signifying two scales, is used by old writers as a plural. "A peyre of Ballaunce."-Drant (Morris, Accidence, p. 98). Q Q Reprooue our ballance when they are faultie.-Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 54. Are these ballance here, to weigh the flesh. BARBERRY is a corruption of Fr. berberis, Low Lat. berberis, Arab. barbáris (Skeat), perhaps understood as barberries, a plural. Compare heresy, O. Fr. heresie, from Lat. hæresis, Greek hairěsis, the taking up (of a wrong opinion), which is much the same as if analysy had been formed out of analysis, Greek análusis. Shenstone somewhat similarly uses crise (Fr. crise) for crisis. See Dose below. Behold him, at some crise, prescribe And raise with drugs the sick'ning tribe. Progress of Taste, pt. iv. 1. 56. BELLOWS, now used as a singular, was originally the plural of old Eng. belowe (Prompt. Parv.), a bag, another form of the old Eng. beli, bali, A. Sax. bolig, a bag (Skeat). A bellows is properly a pair of leathern blow-bags joined together (Ger. blase-balg = Lat. folles). be deouel... muchele his beli bles.Ancren Riwle, p. 296. [The devil increaseth with his bellow(s) the blast.] BIBLE, Fr. bible, Lat. biblia, is the Greek Biblia, books, the sacred writings, plural of BiẞXxíov, a book. The Latin word was sometimes taken as a fem. sing. substantive. See Westcott, The Bible in the Church, p. 5; Smith, Bible Dict. i. 209. BIGA, and quadriga, used by later Latin writers for a chariot, are in earlier writers properly plurals, bigo, quadrigo, standing for bijugo, quadrijugo (sc. eque), a double yoke, or quadruple yoke, of mares drawing a chariot. For these and other plural forms in Latin, see Philog. Soc. Trans. 1867, p. 105. BLOUSE, a smock-frock, Fr. blouse, is from old Fr. bliaus, which is the plural of bliaut, a rich over-garment (see Skeat, Etym. Dict. s.v.). BREECHES BRACE, a pair, is the old Fr. brace, "the two arms," from Lat. brachin, the arms, plu. of brachium, an arm (Skeat). BRACKEN, coarse fern, is properly the old plural in -en (Mid. Eng. braken, A. Sax. braccan) of brake (1, a fern, filiz.Prompt. Parv. ; 2, a thicket), A. Sax. bracce, a fern. Thus bracken brakes (see Skeat, s.v., and Prior). BREE, a name for the gadfly in the Cleveland dialect and in N. English, from breese, A. Sax. briosa, brimsa, Swed. and Dan. brems (Ger. bremse), the original word evidently having been mistaken for a plural. Similar corruptions are the following, given in Wright, Prov. and Obsolete Dictionary: Essex blay, a blaze (as if blays); chimy, a shift, from chemise (as if chimies); furny, a furnace (as if furnies); Somerset may, a maze (as if mays); pray, a press or crowd, formerly spelt prease (as if prays). The learned write an insect breeze Butler, Hudibras, Pt. III. ii. l. 4. BREECHES is a double plural (as incorrect as geeses would be); breech, O. Eng. breche, breke, A. Sax. brec, being already the plural of bróc, just as O. Eng. teth (teeth) is of tóth, fet (feet) of fôt, &c. So Icel. brækr is the plural of brók. See BREECHES, p. 38. Breche or breke, Braccæ.-Prompt. Parv. He dide next his whyte lere Of cloth of lake fyn and clere A breech and eek a sherte. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 2049. The plural hors-es is a refinement on the old Eng. and A. Saxon, which has hors for both plural and singular, pretty much as if we were to speak of sheeps and deers. We still say a battery, &c., of so many horse. So scholde hors be drawe yn be same wyse. Trevisa, Morris and Skeat Specimens, ii. 239, l. 108. BROCCOLI is properly the plural of It. broccolo, a small sprout (Prior), a dimin. of brocco, a shoot (Skeat). Compare CELERY. The elder Disraeli has "a banditti," properly plu. of It. bandito, an outlaw (Calamities of Authors, p. 130). 66 BROTH, in the provincial dialects, is frequently treated as a plural, e.g. a few broth," "Theeas broth is varry good."-Holderness dialect (E. Yorkshire)," They are too hot "(Cambridgeshire). This is perhaps due to a confusion with the synonymous words brewis, brose, old Eng. browes, browesse, O. Fr. broues, which were used as plurals (Skeat). However, brose seems to be itself a singular, from Gael, brothas. Compare PORRIDGE below. BURIAL, formerly beriel, is a fictitious singular of old Eng. burials, beryels, byrgels, which, though it looks like a plural, is itself a singular, A. Sax. birgels, a tomb. Compare old Eng. rekels, incense, and RIDDLE and SHUTTLE below. And was his holie lichame leid in burieles in be holie sepulcre, þat men sechen giet in ierusalem.-Old Eng. Homilies, 2nd Ser. p. 21 (E. E. T. S.). Prof. Skeat quotes "Beryels, sepulchrum."-Wright, Vocabularies, i. 178; and "An buryels."-Robt. of Glouc. p. 204. Wycliffe is credited with having invented the quasi-singular form biriel (Matt. xxvii. 60), buriel (Mark vi. 29). See Skeat, Notes to P. Plowman, p. 430. CHILDREN Greek kúpparis, a caper-plant. The French have also made the word a singular, câpre, O. Fr. cappre. A locust schal be maad fat, and capparis schal be distried.-Wycliffe, Eccles. xii. 5. Gerarde, while noting "it is generally called Cappers, in most languages; in English Cappers, Caper, and Capers (Herbal, p. 749), himself uses the form caper. CELERY, Fr. céleri, from prov. It. seleri (Skeat), or sellari, which appears to be the plural of sellaro, selero, a corruption of Lat. selinum, Greek sélinon, a kind of parsley (Prior, Pop. Names of Brit. Plants). So Fr. salmis seems to be a double plural formed by adding s to salmi, from It. salami, salted meats, plu. of salame (Skeat). CHERRY is a corrupt singular of cheris, mistaken for a plural, but really an Anglicized form of Fr. cerise, from Lat. cerasus, a cherry-tree. Compare merry (the fruit) from merise, sherry from sherris, &c. CHERUBIN, or cherubim, the Hebrew plu. of cherub, is often incorrectly used in old writers as a sing. making its plural cherubins or cherubims. Patience, thou young and rose-lipp'd cherubin. Othello, iv. 2, 1. 63. Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins. Merchant of Venice, v. i. l. 62. Thou shalt make two cherubims of gold.— A. V. Exodus xxv. 18. A fire-red cherubinnes face.-Cant. Tales, 626. CHILDREN is a double plural, formed by adding the old plural formative -en (as in ox-en, prov. Eng. housen, houses) to childre or childer, which in old Eng., as still in prov. Eng. (e.g. in Lancashire and Ireland), is the plural of child (Carleton, Traits of Irish Peasantry, p. 219; Philolog. Soc. Proc. i. 115); A. Sax. cíldru, infants. Childermass was the old name of Innocents' Day. He sal say tan, "Commes now til me, Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1. 6148. Myry tottyr, chylderys game. Oscillum.Prompt. Parv. CHINEE He was near eighty, ( 596 ) and had had a matter o' twenty childer.-Mrs. Gaskell, Life of C. Brontë, ch. ii. p. 13. In soru sal þu þi childer bere. Cursor Mundi, 1. 904 (Göttingen MS.). Compare brethren, i.e. brether (= brothers, Percy Fol. MS.) + en; old Eng. sisteren, lambren, lambs, calveren, calves. Kyng Roboas let make 2 calveren of gold.— Maundevile, Voiage and Travaile, p. 105 (ed. Halliwell). Feede thou my lambren.—Wycliffe, S. John xxi. 15. CHINEE, a popular name for a Chinaman in some parts of America, as in Bret Harte's "heathen Chinee," is an assumed singular of the plural sounding word Chinese. On the other hand, Chinamen are called Chineses by Sam. Butler and Milton (Par. Lost, iii. 438). By a similar blunder sailors speak of a Portuguee for a Portuguese, and a Maltee for a Maltese (see Philolog. Soc. Trans. 1873-4, p. 253), It has even been supposed that Yankee stands for Yankees, a North American Indians' attempt to pronounce English, Anglais, Ingles. The vulgar adjective from Malta, used by sailors and others in this island, is Maltee. I suppose they argued that as the singular of bees is bee, so the singular of Maltese is Maltee. Carrying their principle one step further, it seems to me that cheese ought to be plural and chee singular.-Sir G. C. Lewis, Letter to Sir E. Head, 1837. COPIE, used by Tusser (1580) as a quasi-singular (prov. Eng. coppy) of coppice (old Fr. copeiz, cut-wood, brushwood, from coper, to cut, Mod. Fr. couper), misunderstood as coppies. Fence copie in er heawers begin. Five Hundred Pointes (E. D. Soc.), CORPSE, formerly spelt corps, is frequently in old writers used as a plural, like remains (Lat. reliquiæ), as if there were a sing. form corp, which, indeed, there is in Scottish. The final -s is a part of the word, old Fr. corps, Lat. corpus, a body. DOSE His soule thereby was nothing bettered Because his corps were bravely buried. Fuller, Davids Heavie Punishment, Some men corps st. 38. have in their breathless suffered a kind of surviving shame.-Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, Art. iv. His corps were very honourably attended. -Letter, 1672, in Athene Oxonienses, i. 81 (ed. Bliss). The hall is heaped with corps. Dryden, Cymon and Iphigenia, 607. [He was] brought hame a corp.— Noctes Ambrosiana, i. 179. A corp set up on end by some cantrip.-Id. 161. CUTS, in the phrase "to draw cuts," i.e. to draw lots, especially with cut strips of paper, seems to be properly a sing., being identical with Welsh curters, a lot, cwtysyn, a lot, a ticket. So the plural should be cutses, and cut is an imaginary sing. Now draweth cutte, for that is min accord. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 1. 827. So eclipse from eclipsis (Gk. ekleipsis); effigie (effigy), originally an effigies (Lat. effigies); ecstasy, at first spelt ecstasis. E. EAVE, Sometimes incorrectly used as if the singular of eaves, which is old Eng. euese, A. Sax. efese, Icel. ups, an overing" or projection. The plural is eaveses. Compare prov. Eng. easing for eavesing. Avant-toict, An house-eave, easing.-Cot grave. Scollops are osier twigs. . . inserted in the thatch to bind it at the ere and rigging. -W. Carleton, Traits and Stories of Irish Peasantry, vol. i. p. 87 (1843). Metal eave gutters at 2d. per foot.-Irish Times, Dec. 12, 1868. Mousche, . a spie, Eave-dropper, informer.-Cotgrave. EFFIGY, a modern formation from effigies (Lat. effigies), popularly mistaken as a plural, just as if sery were manufactured out of series, or congery from congeries. So does his effigies exceed the rest in liveliness, proportion, and magnificence.- Ward, London Spy, p. 170. As mine eye doth his effigies witness Similarly specie, or specy, is sometimes popularly used instead of species, "This dog is a different specie from the French breed." Loud thunder dumb, and every speece of storm, Laid in the lap of listening nature, bush'd. B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, iii. 1. GENTRY flush, a flow, and Lanc. floos, a sluice, and prov. Eng. fluke, waste cotton. Flue, a chimney passage, is a corruption of flute. Compare FLUKE. FLUKE, or flook, a Scottish word for diarrhoea, is evidently an imaginary singular of flux (e.g. A. V. Acts xxviii. 8), understood as fluk-s, Fr. flux, Lat. fluxus, a flowing. Similarly prov. Eng. flick or fleck, the down of animals, has been formed from flix, the fur of a hare (Kent), akin to old Eng. flex, flax (Chaucer), A. Sax. fleax. His warm breath blows her flix up as she lies. Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, 132. FROG ought, perhaps, etymologically, to be a frogs or froks, as we see by comparing its old Eng. form frosk, A. Sax. frox, frose, with Icel. froskr, O. H. Ger. frosc, Dut. vorsch, Ger. frosch, prov. Eng. frosh. It would be an analogous case if we had made a tug out of A. Sax. tux, tusc, a tusk or tush, or an og or och out of ox (Ger. ochs). The plural of A. Sax. frox is froxas. However, I find Prof. Skeat quotes an A. Sax. froga. Can this be a secondary form evolved from froe after having been resolved into frocs or frogs? Frosg, or frosk, a frog.- Peacock, Lonsdale Glossary. FURZE, though now always used as a singular, e.g. "The furze is in bloom," seems to have been originally a plural, being spelt furres and furrys, and Turner in 1538 says, "Alii a furre nominant." Prof. Skeat, however, gives A. Sax. fyrs. Gerarde has furzes (Herbal, 1138). F. FLEW, or flue, down, feathery dust, seems to be an imaginary sing. of prov. Eng. flooze (or fleeze), Frisian fluus, Dut. vlies, pluis (Philolog. Soc. Trans. 1856, p. 202). Compare Lancashire floose or floss, loose threads or fibres (E. D. Soc. Glossary), “a floose o hay' (Tim Bobbin). These words are probably identical with It. floscia, sleave silk, Venet. flosso, from Lat. fluxus, flowing, loose; whence also G. GALLOWS, now used always as a singular, a gibbet, is strictly speaking a plural, old Eng. galwes, plu. of galwe, A. Sax. galga, a cross (Skeat), and perhaps denoting two crosses or crosspieces put together to form a gibbet. Compare STOCKS below. GENTRY, old Eng. gentrie, is a quasisingular formed from old Eng. gentrise, old Fr. genterise, another form of gentillece, gentleness. See GENTRY, p. 140. |