The Romance of Words Part 18

In the _Grecian steps_, at Lincoln, we have a popular corruption of the common Mid. Eng. and Tudor _grece_, _grese_, plural of Old Fr. _gre_, step, from Lat. _gradus_. Shakespeare spells it _grize_--

"Let me speak like yourself; and lay a sentence, Which, as a _grize_, or step, may help these lovers Into your favour."

(_Oth.e.l.lo_, i. 3.)

[Page Heading: SINGULARS FROM PLURALS]

Scot. _brose_, or _brewis_, was in Mid. Eng. _browes_, from Old Fr.

_brouez_, plural of _brouet_, a word cognate with our _broth_. From this a.s.sociation comes perhaps the use of _broth_ as a plural in some of our dialects. _Porridge_, not originally limited to oatmeal, seems to be combined from _pottage_ and Mid. Eng. _porrets_, plural of _porret_, leek, a diminutive from Lat. _porrum_. _Porridge_ is sometimes used as a plural in Scottish--

"They're fine, halesome food, they're grand food, _parritch_."

(_Kidnapped_, Ch. 3.)

and in the northern counties of England people speak of taking "a few"

porridge, or broth. _Baize_, now generally green, is for earlier _bayes_, the plural of the adjective _bay_, now used only of horses; _cf._ Du. _baai_, baize. The origin of the adjective _bay_, Fr. _bai_, forms of which occur in all the Romance languages, is Lat. _badius_, "of bay colour, bayarde" (Cooper). Hence the name _Bayard_, applied to FitzJames' horse in _The Lady of the Lake_ (v. 18), and earlier to the steed that carried the four sons of Aymon. _Quince_ is the plural of _quin_, from the Norman form of Old Fr. _coin_ (_coing_), which is derived from Gk. ??d?????. _Truce_ is the plural of Mid. Eng. _trewe_ (lit. truth, faith) with the same meaning. Already in Anglo-Saxon it is found in the plural, probably as rendering Lat. _induciae_. _Lettuce_, Mid. Eng. _letows_, seems also to be a plural, from Fr. _laitue_, Lat.

_lactuca_.

_Earnest_ in the sense of pledge--

"And, for an _earnest_ of a greater honour, He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor."

(_Macbeth_, i. 3.)

has nothing to do with the adjective _earnest_. It is the Mid. Eng.

_ernes_, earlier _erles_, which survives as _arles_ in some of our dialects. The verb to _earl_ is still used in c.u.mberland of "enlisting"

a servant with a shilling in the open market. The Old French word was _arres_ or _erres_, now written learnedly _arrhes_, a plural from Lat.

_arrha_, "an _earnest_ penny, _earnest_ money" (Cooper). The existence of Mid. Eng. _erles_ shows that there must have been also an Old French diminutive form. For the apparently arbitrary change of _l_ to _n_ we may compare _banister_ for _bal.u.s.ter_ (see p. 60).

The _jesses_ of a hawk--

"If I do prove her haggard,[92]

Though that her _jesses_ were my dear heart-strings, I'd whistle her off, and let her down the wind, To prey at fortune."

(_Oth.e.l.lo_, iii. 3.)

were the thongs by which it was held or "thrown" into the air. _Jess_ is the Old Fr. _jes_, the plural of _jet_, from _jeter_, to throw. In Colman's _Elder Brother_ we read of a gentleman who lounged and chatted, "not minding time a _souse_," where _souse_ is the plural of Fr. _sou_, halfpenny. From Fr. _muer_, to moult, Lat. _mutare_, we get Fr. _mue_, moulting, later applied to the coop or pen in which moulting falcons were confined, whence the phrase "to _mew_ (up)"--

"More pity, that the eagles should be _mew'd_, While kites and buzzards prey at liberty."

(_Richard III._, i. 1.)

When, in 1534, the royal _mews_, or hawk-houses, near Charing Cross were rebuilt as stables, the word acquired its present meaning.

_Chess_, Old Fr. _esches_ (_echecs_), is the plural of _check_, Fr.

_echec_, from Persian _shah_, king. By a.n.a.logy with the "game of kings,"

the name _jeu des dames_ was given in French to draughts, still called _dams_ in Scotland. _Draught_, from _draw_, meant in Mid. English a "move" at chess. The etymology of _tweezers_ can best be made clear by starting from French _etui_, a case, of doubtful origin. This became in English _etwee_, or _twee_, _e.g._, Cotgrave explains _estui_ (_etui_) as "a sheath, case, or box to put things in; and (more particularly) a case of little instruments, as sizzars, bodkin, penknife, etc., now commonly termed an _ettwee_." Such a case generally opens book-fashion, each half being fitted with instruments. Accordingly we find it called a surgeon's "pair of _twees_," or simply _tweese_, and later a "pair of _tweeses_." The implement was named from the case (_cf._ Fr. _boussole_, p. 127), and became _tweezers_ by a.s.sociation with _pincers_ (Fr.

_pinces_), _scissors_, etc.

[Page Heading: a.n.a.lOGY]

The form of a word is often affected by a.s.sociation with some other word with which it is instinctively coupled. Thus _larboard_, for Mid. Eng.

_ladeboard_, _i.e._ loading side, is due to _starboard_, steering side.

_Bridal_, for _bride-ale_, from the liquid consumed at marriage festivities, is due to a.n.a.logy with _betrothal_, _espousal_, etc. A 16th-century Puritan records with satisfaction the disappearance of--

"Church-ales, helpe-ales, and soule-ales, called also dirge-ales, and heathenish rioting at _bride-ales_."

(HARRISON, _Description of England_, 1577.)

_Rampart_ is from Old Fr. _rempar_, a verbal noun from _remparer_, to repair; _cf._ Ital. _riparo_, "a _rampire_, a fort, a banke" (Florio).

By a.n.a.logy with Old Fr. _boulevart_ (_boulevard_), of German origin and identical with our _bulwark_,[93] _rempar_ became _rempart_. The older English form occurs in the obsolete _rampier_ or _rampire_, which survive in the dialect _ramper_, embankment, causeway. For the spelling _rampire_ we may compare _umpire_ (p. 113). The apple called a _jenneting_, sometimes "explained" as for _June-eating_, was once spelt _geniton_, no doubt for Fr. _jeanneton_, a diminutive of _Jean_. It is called in French _pomme de Saint-Jean_, and in German _Johannisapfel_, because ripe about St John's Day (June 24). The modern form is due to such apple names as _golding_, _sweeting_, _codlin_, _pippin_.

In the records of medieval London we frequently come across the distinction made between people who lived "in the city," Anglo-Fr.

_deinz (dans) la cite_, and "outside the city," Anglo-Fr. _fors (hors) la cite_. The former were called _deinzein_, whence our _denizen_, and the latter _forein_.[94] The Anglo-French form of modern Fr. _citoyen_ was _citein_, which became _citizen_ by a.n.a.logy with _denizen_. The following pa.s.sage from a medieval London by-law shows how rigid was the division between "denizen" and "foreign" traders--

"Item, qe nulle pulletere _deinzeyn_ n'estoise a Carfeux del Ledenhalle deins mesoun ne dehors, ove conilles, volatilie, n'autre pulletrie pur vendre ... issint qe les _forreins_ pulleters, ove lour pulletrie, estoisent par eux mesmes, et vendent lour pulletrie sur le cornere de Ledenhalle, sanz ceo qe ascuns pulletere _deinzein_ viegne ou medle en vent ou en achate ove eux, ne entre eux."[95]

(_Liber Albus._)

Even words which have opposite meanings may affect each other by a.s.sociation. Thus Lat. _reddere_, to give back, became Vulgar Lat.

_*rendere_ by a.n.a.logy with _prendere_ (_prehendere_), to take away; hence Fr. _rendre_. Our word _grief_, from Fr. _grief_, is derived from a Vulgar Lat. _*grevis_, heavy (for _gravis_), which is due to _levis_, light.

[Page Heading: t.i.tMOUSE--PURLIEU]

The plural of _t.i.tmouse_ is now usually _t.i.tmice_, by a.n.a.logy with _mouse_, _mice_, with which it has no connection. The second part of the word is Anglo-Sax. _mase_, used of several small birds. It is cognate with Ger. _Meise_, t.i.tmouse, and Fr. _mesange_, "a t.i.tmouse, or t.i.ttling" (Cotgrave). _t.i.t_, of Norse origin, is applied to various small animals, and occurs also as a prefix in _t.i.tbit_ or _tidbit_. Cf.

_tomt.i.t_ (p. 37).

The Spanish word _salva_, "a taste, a salutation" (Percyvall), was used of the pregustation of a great man's food or drink. We have given the name to the tray or dish from which the "a.s.say" was made, but, by a.n.a.logy with _platter_, _trencher_, we spell it _salver_. In another sense, that of a "salutation" in the form of a volley of shot, we have corrupted it into _salvo_. With the use of Span. _salva_ we may compare that of Ital. _credenza_, lit. faith, "the taste or a.s.saie of a princes meate and drinke" (Florio), whence Fr. _credence_, side-board, used in English only in the ecclesiastical compound _credence table_, and Ger.

_credenzen_, to pour out.

In spoken English the ending _-ew_, _-ue_, of French origin, has been often changed to _-ee_, _-ey_. Thus _pedigree_ was formerly _pedigrew_ (see p. 77). The fencing term _veney_--

"I bruised my shin the other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence--three _veneys_ for a dish of stewed prunes."

(_Merry Wives_, i. 1.)

also spelt _venew_, is from Fr. _venue_, "a _venny_ in fencing"

(Cotgrave). _Carew_ has become _Carey_, and _Beaulieu_, in Hampshire, is called _Bewley_. Under the influence of these double forms we sometimes get the opposite change, e.g., _purlieu_, now generally used of the outskirts of a town, is for _purley_, a strip of disforested woodland.

This is a contraction of Anglo-Fr. _pour-allee_, used to translate the legal Lat. _perambulatio_, a going through. A change of _venue_[96] is sometimes made when it seems likely that an accused person, or a football team, will not get justice from a local jury. This _venue_ is in law Latin _vicinetum_, neighbourhood, which gave Anglo-Fr. _visne_, and this, perhaps by confusion with the _venire facias_, or jury summons, became _venew_, _venue_.

In the preceding examples the form has been chiefly affected. In the word _luncheon_ both form and meaning have been influenced by the obsolete _nuncheon_, a meal at noon, Mid. Eng. _none-chenche_, for _*none-schenche_, noon draught, from Anglo-Sax. _scencan_,[97] to pour.

Drinking seems to have been regarded as more important than eating, for in some counties we find this _nuncheon_ replaced by _bever_, the Anglo-French infinitive from Lat. _bibere_, to drink. _Lunch_, a piece or hunk, especially of bread, also used in the sense of a "snack" (_cf._ Scot. "piece"), was extended to _luncheon_ by a.n.a.logy with _nuncheon_, which it has now replaced--

"So munch on, crunch on, take your _nuncheon_, Breakfast, supper, dinner, _luncheon_."

(BROWNING, _Pied Piper of Hamelin_.)

[Page Heading: WRONG a.s.sOCIATION]

The term folk-etymology is often applied in a narrower sense to the corruption of words through a mistaken idea of their etymology or origin. The tendency of the uneducated is to distort an unfamiliar or unintelligible word into some form which suggests a meaning. Some cases may have originated in a kind of heavy jocularity, as in _sparrow-gra.s.s_ for _asparagus_ or _sparagus_ (see p. 66), or Rogue Riderhood's _Alfred David_ for _affidavit_--

"'Is that your name?' asked Lightwood. 'My name?' returned the man.

'No; I want to take a _Alfred David_.'"

(_Our Mutual Friend_, Ch. 12.)

In others there has been a wrong a.s.sociation of ideas, _e.g._, the _primrose_, _rosemary_, and _tuberose_ have none of them originally any connection with the _rose_. _Primrose_ was earlier _primerole_, an Old French derivative of Latin _primula_; _rosemary_, French _romarin_, is from Lat. _ros marinus_, sea-dew; _tuberose_ is the Latin adjective _tuberosus_, bulbous, tuberous. Or attempts are made at translation, such as Sam Weller's _Have his carcase_ for _Habeas Corpus_, or the curious names which country folk give to such complaints as _bronchitis_, _erysipelas_, etc. To this cla.s.s belongs Private Mulvaney's perversion of _locomotor ataxy_--

"'They call ut _Locomotus attacks us_,' he sez, 'bekaze,' sez he, 'it attacks us like a locomotive.'"