Part 18 (1/2)

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 s.h.i.+lling 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-fas.h.i.+on, 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--