Part 13 (1/2)

FOOTNOTES:

[52] Archaic Eng. _bannal_ already existed in the technical sense.

[53] This is the usual explanation. But Fr. _herse_ also acquired the meaning ”portcullis,” the pointed bars of which were naturally likened to the blades of a harrow; and it seems possible that it is to this later sense that we owe the older English meaning of _hea.r.s.e_ (see p.

154).

[54] ”Numquid _resina_ non est in Galaad?” (_Vulgate._)

[55] A Spanish word, Lat. _stipator_, ”one that stoppeth c.h.i.n.kes”

(Cooper). It came to England in connection with the wool trade.

[56] In ”livery and bait” there is pleonasm. _Bait_, connected with _bite_, is the same word as in bear-_baiting_ and fishermen's _bait_. We have it also, _via_ Old French, in _abet_, whence the aphetic _bet_, originally to egg on.

[57] Hence the use of _stout_ for a ”strong” beer. _Porter_ was once the favourite tap of _porters_, and a mixture of stout and ale, now known as _cooper_, was especially relished by the brewery _cooper_.

[58] Folk-etymology for _frontispice_, Lat. _frontispicium_, front view.

[59] Related to, but not identical with, _queen_.

[60] The older meaning of _boor_ survives in the compound _neighbour_, i.e., _nigh boor_, the farmer near at hand. Du. _boer_ is of course the same word.

[61] English regularly inserts _n_ in words thus formed; cf.

_harbinger_, _messenger_, _pa.s.senger_, _pottinger_, _etc._

[62] Other forms of the same name are _Bowser_ and _Bewsher_. The form _Belcher_ is Picard--

”On a.s.somma la pauvre bete.

Un manant lui coupa le pied droit et la tete.

Le seigneur du village a sa porte les mit; Et ce dicton picard a l'entour fut ecrit: '_Biaux chires_ leups, n'ecoutez mie Mere tenchent (grondant) chen fieux (son fils) qui crie.'”

(LA FONTAINE, _Fables_, iv. 16.)

CHAPTER VII

SEMANTICS

The convenient name semantics has been applied of late to the science of meanings, as distinguished from phonetics, the science of sound. The comparative study of languages enables us to observe and codify the general laws which govern sense development, and to understand why meanings become extended or restricted. One phenomenon which seems to occur normally in language results from what we may call the simplicity of the olden times. Thus the whole vocabulary which is etymologically related to _writing_ and _books_ has developed from an old Germanic verb that means to _scratch_ and the Germanic name for the _beech_. Our earliest books were wooden tablets on which inscriptions were scratched.

The word _book_ itself comes from Anglo-Sax. _boc_, beech; _cf._ Ger.

_Buchstabe_, letter, lit. beech-stave. Lat. _liber_, book, whence a large family of words in the Romance languages, means the inner bark of a tree, and _bible_ is ultimately from Greek ????, the inner rind of the _papyrus_, the Egyptian rush from which _paper_ was made.[63]

The earliest measurements were calculated from the human body. All European languages use the _foot_, and we still measure horses by _hands_, while _span_ survives in table-books. _Cubit_ is Latin for _elbow_, the first part of which is the same as _ell_, cognate with Lat.

_ulna_, also used in both senses. Fr. _bra.s.se_, fathom, is Lat.

_brachia_, the two arms, and _pouce_, thumb, means inch. A further set of measures are represented by simple devices: a _yard_[64] is a small ”stick,” and the _rod_, _pole_, or _perch_ (cf. _perch_ for birds, Fr.

_perche_, pole) which gives charm to our arithmetic is a larger one. A _furlong_ is a _furrow-long_. For weights common objects were used, _e.g._, a _grain_, or a _scruple_, Lat. _scrupulus_, ”a little sharpe stone falling sometime into a man's shooe” (Cooper), for very small things, a _stone_ for heavier goods. Gk. d?a??, whence our _dram_, means a handful. Our decimal system is due to our possession of ten _digits_, or fingers, and _calculation_ comes from Lat. _calculus_, a pebble.

[Page Heading: FINANCIAL TERMS]

A modern Chancellor of the Exchequer, considering his budget, is not so near the reality of things as his medieval predecessor, who literally sat in his counting-house, counting up his money. For the _exchequer_, named from the Old Fr. _eschequier_ (_echiquier_), chess-board, was once the board marked out in squares on which the treasurer reckoned up with counters the king's taxes. This Old Fr. _eschequier_, which has also given _chequer_, is a derivative of Old Fr. _eschec_ (_echec_), check.

Thus ”_check_ trousers” and a ”_chequered_ career” are both directly related to an eastern potentate (see _chess_, p. 120.). The _chancellor_ himself was originally a kind of door-keeper in charge of a _chancel_, a latticed barrier which we now know in church architecture only. _Chancel_ is derived, through Fr. _chancel_ or _cancel_, from Lat.