Part 19 (1/2)

(_Love o' Women._)

Our language is, owing to our borrowing habits, particularly rich in these gems. Examples familiar to everybody are _crayfish_ from Fr.

_ecrevisse_, _gilly-flower_ from Fr. _giroflee_, _shame-faced_ for _shamefast_. Other words in which the second element has been altered are _causeway_, earlier _causey_, from the Picard form of Fr.

_chaussee_, Lat. (_via_) _calciata_, _i.e._, made with lime, _calx_; _penthouse_, for _pentice_, Fr. _appentis_, ”the _penthouse_ of a house”

(Cotgrave), a derivative of Old Fr. _appendre_, to hang to. Fr.

_hangar_, a shed, now introduced into English by aviators as unnecessarily as _garage_ by motorists, may also contain the same idea of ”hanging.”

In _hiccough_, for earlier _hickup_, an onomatopic word, the spelling, suggested by _cough_, has not affected the p.r.o.nunciation. _Surcease_ is Fr. _sursis_, past participle of _surseoir_, ”to _surcease_, pawse, intermit, leave off, give over, delay or stay for a time” (Cotgrave), Lat. _supersedere_. _Taffrail_ has been confused with _rail_, its older form being _tafferel_, from Du. _tafereel_, diminutive of _tafel_, picture, from Lat. _tabula_. It meant originally the flat part of the stern of a s.h.i.+p ornamented with carvings or pictures. This is called _tableau_ in nautical French. Fr. _coutelas_, an augmentative of Old Fr.

_coutel_ (_couteau_), knife, gave Eng. _cutla.s.s_, which has no more etymological connection with ”cutting” than a _cutler_, Fr. _coutelier_, or a _cutlet_, Fr. _cotelette_, little rib, Lat. _costa_. _Cutlas_ was popularly corrupted into _curtal-axe_, the form used by Rosalind--

”A gallant _curtal-axe_ upon my thigh, A boar-spear in my hand.”

(_As You Like It_, i. 3.)

We have a similar corruption in _pick-axe_, Mid. Eng. _pikeys_, Old Fr.

_piquois_, _picquois_, ”a pickax” (Cotgrave), from the verb _piquer_.

The word _posthumous_ has changed its meaning through folk-etymology. It represents the Latin superlative _postumus_, latest born. By a.s.sociation with _humus_, ground, earth, it came to be used of a child born, or a work published, after its author's death, a meaning which the derivatives of _postumus_ have in all the Romance languages.

The first part of the word has been distorted in _pursy_, short-winded--

”And _pursy_ insolence shall break his wind With fear and horrid flight.”

(_Timon of Athens_, v. 5.)

Fr. _poussif_, from Lat. _pulsus_, throbbing. It was formerly used also in connection with horses--

”You must warrant this horse clear of the glanders, and _pursyness_.”

(_The Gentleman's Dictionary_, 1705.)

[Page Heading: ARQUEBUS--JAUNTY]

_Arquebus_, Fr. _arquebuse_, is a doublet of _hackbut_, Old Fr.

_haquebute_, ”an _haquebut_, or _arquebuse_; a caliver” (Cotgrave). The corruption is due to _arcus_, bow. Both _arquebus_ and _hackbut_ are common in Scott--

”His arms were halbert, axe, or spear, A cross-bow there, a _hackbut_ here, A dagger-knife, and brand.”

(_Marmion_, v. 3.)

The origin is Du. _haakbus_, hook-gun, the second element of which appears in _blunderbuss_. The first part of this word has undergone so many popular transformations that it is difficult to say which was the original form. Ludwig has _Donner-buchs, Blunder-buchs, oder Muszketon_, ”a thunder-box; a _blunder-buss_; a musketoon; a wide-mouthed bra.s.s-gun, carrying about twenty pistol bullets at once.” It was also called in German _Plantier-buchs_, from _plantieren_, to plant, set up, because fired from a rest. Du. _bus_, like Ger. _Buchse_, means both ”box” and ”gun.” In the _bushes_, or axle-boxes, of a cart-wheel, we have the same word. The ultimate origin is Greek p????, the box-tree, whence also the learned word _pyx_. Fr. _boite_, box, is cognate, and Fr. _boussole_, mariners' compa.s.s, is from the Italian diminutive _bossola_, ”a boxe that mariners keepe their compa.s.se in. Also taken for the compa.s.se”

(Florio).

_Scissors_ were formerly _cizars_ (_cf._ Fr. _ciseaux_), connected with Lat. _caedere_, to cut. The modern spelling is due to a.s.sociation with Lat. _scissor_, a cutter, tailor, from _scindere_, to cut. _Runagate_ is well known to be a corrupt doublet of _renegade_, one who has ”denied”

his faith. _Recreant_, the present participle of Old Fr. _recreire_, Vulgar Lat. _*recredere_, to change one's faith, contains very much the same idea; cf. _miscreant_, lit. unbeliever. _Jaunty_, spelt _janty_ by Wycherley and _genty_ by Burns, is Fr. _gentil_, wrongly brought into connection with _jaunt_.

In some cases of folk-etymology it is difficult to see to what idea the corruption is due.[98] The mollusc called a _periwinkle_ was in Anglo-Saxon _pinewincla_, which still survives in dialect as _pennywinkle_. It appears to have been influenced by the plant-name _periwinkle_, which is itself a corruption of Mid. Eng. _pervenke_, from Lat. _pervinca_; _cf._ Fr. _pervenche_. The material called _lutestring_ was formerly _l.u.s.tring_, Fr. _l.u.s.trine_, from its glossiness. A _wiseacre_ is ”one that knows or tells truth; we commonly use it _in malam partem_ for a fool” (Blount, _Glossographia_, 1674). This comes, through Dutch, from Ger. _Weissager_, commonly understood as _wise-sayer_, but really unconnected with _sagen_, to say. The Old High Ger. _wizago_, prophet, is cognate with Eng. _witty_. The military and naval word _ensign_ is in Shakespeare corrupted, in both its meanings, into _ancient_. Thus Falstaff describes his tatterdemalion recruits as--

”Ten times more dishonourable ragged than an old-faced _ancient_.”

(1 _Henry IV._, iv. 2.)

while _Ancient_ Pistol is familiar to every reader. A _cordwainer_, from Old Fr. _cordouanier_, ”a shoomaker, a _cordwainer_” (Cotgrave), worked with _cordouan_, ”Cordovan leather; which is properly a goat's skin tanned.” The modern French form _cordonnier_ is due to a.s.sociation with _cordon_, a thong, bootlace, etc. _Witch-elm_ has nothing to do with witches. It is for older _weech-elm_, _wiche-elm_, and belongs to Anglo-Sax. _wican_, to bend. _Service-tree_ is a meaningless corruption of Mid. Eng. _serves_, an early loan word from Lat. _sorbus_.

In the case of a double-barrelled word, folk-etymology usually affects one half only, e.g., _verdigris_ is for Fr. _vert-de-gris_, for Old Fr.