Part 22 (1/2)
(Cotgrave). _Glamour_ and _gramarye_ were both revived by Scott--
”A moment then the volume spread, And one short spell therein he read; It had much of _glamour_ might.”
(_Lay of the Last Minstrel_, iii. 9.)
”And how he sought her castle high, That morn, by help of _gramarye_.”
(_Ibid._, v. 27.)
For the change of _r_ to _l_ we have the parallel of _flounce_ for older _frounce_ (p. 60). _Quire_ is the same word as _quair_, in the ”King's _Quair_” _i.e._ book. Its Mid. English form is _quayer_, Old Fr.
_quaer_, _caer_ (_cahier_), Vulgar Lat. _*quaternum_, for _quaternio_, ”a _quier_ with foure sheetes” (Cooper).
[Page Heading: EASTERN DOUBLETS]
Oriental words have sometimes come into the language by very diverse routes. _Sirup_, or _syrup_, _sherbet_, and (_rum_)-_shrub_ are of identical origin, ultimately Arabic. _Sirup_, which comes through Spanish and French, was once used, like _treacle_ (p. 75), of medicinal compounds--
”Not poppy, nor mandragora, Nor all the drowsy _syrups_ of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst yesterday.”
(_Oth.e.l.lo_, iii. 3.)
_Sherbet_ and _shrub_ are directly borrowed through the medium of travellers--
”'I smoke on _srub_ and water, myself,' said Mr Omer.”
(_David Copperfield_, Ch. 30.)
_Sepoy_, used of Indian soldiers in the English service, is the same as _spahi_, the French name for the Algerian cavalry. Both come ultimately from a Persian adjective meaning ”military,” and the French form was at one time used also in English in speaking of Oriental soldiery--
”The Janizaries and _Spahies_ came in a tumultuary manner to the Seraglio.”
(HOWELL, _Familiar Letters_, 1623.)
_Tulip_ is from Fr. _tulipe_, formerly _tulipan_, ”the delicate flower called a _tulipa_, _tulipie_, or Dalmatian cap” (Cotgrave). It is a doublet of _turban_. The German _Tulpe_ was also earlier _Tulipan_.
The humblest of medieval coins was the _maravedi_, which came from Spain at an early date, though not early enough for Robin Hood to have said to Isaac of York--
”I will strip thee of every _maravedi_ thou hast in the world.”
(_Ivanhoe_, Ch. 33.)
The name is due to the Moorish dynasty of the _Almaravides_ or _Marabouts_. This Arabic name, which means hermit, was given also to a kind of stork, the _marabout_, on account of the solitary and sober habits which have earned in India for a somewhat similar bird the name _adjutant_ (p. 34).
_Cipher_ and _zero_ do not look like doublets, but both of them come from the same Arabic word. The medieval Lat. _zephyrum_ connects the two forms. _Crimson_ and _carmine_, both of them ultimately from Old Spanish, are not quite doublets, but both belong to _kermes_, the cochineal insect, of Arabic origin.
The relations.h.i.+p between _cipher_ and _zero_ is perhaps better disguised than that between _furnish_ and _veneer_, though this is by no means obvious. _Veneer_, spelt _fineer_ by Smollett, is Ger. _fournieren_, borrowed from Fr. _fournir_[107] and specialised in meaning. Ebers'
_German Dict._ (1796) has _furnieren_, ”to inlay with several sorts of wood, to _veneer_.”
The doublets selected for discussion among the hundreds which exist in the language reveal many etymological relations.h.i.+ps which would hardly be suspected at first sight. Many other words might be quoted which are almost doublets. Thus _sergeant_, Fr. _sergent_, Lat. _serviens_, _servient-_, is almost a doublet of _servant_, the present participle of Fr. _servir_. The fabric called _drill_ or _drilling_ is from Ger.
_Drillich_, ”tick, linnen-cloth woven of _three_ threads” (Ludwig). This is an adaptation of Lat. _trilix_, _trilic-_, which, through Fr.
_treillis_, has given Eng. _trellis_. We may compare the older _twill_, of Anglo-Saxon origin, cognate with Ger. _Zwilch_ or _Zwillich_, ”linnen woven with a _double_ thread” (Ludwig). _Robe_, from French, is cognate with _rob_, and with Ger. _Raub_, booty, the conqueror decking himself in the spoils of the conquered. _Musk_ is a doublet of _meg_ in _nutmeg_, Fr. _noix muscade_. In Mid. English we find _note-mugge_, and Cotgrave has the diminutive _muguette_, ”a nutmeg”; _cf._ modern Fr.
_muguet_, the lily of the valley. Fr. _diner_ and _dejeuner_ both represent Vulgar Lat. _*dis-junare_, to break fast, from _jejunus_, fasting. The difference of form is due to the s.h.i.+fting of the accent in the Latin conjugation, e.g., _dis-junare_ gives Old Fr. _disner_ (_diner_), while _dis-junat_ gives Old Fr. _desjune_ (_dejeune_).
[Page Heading: BANJO--SAMITE]
_Admiral_, earlier _amiral_, comes through French from the Arab. _amir_, an emir. Its Old French forms are numerous, and the one which has survived in English may be taken as an abbreviation of Arab. _amir al bahr_ emir on the sea. Greco-Lat. _pandura_, a stringed instrument, has produced an extraordinary number of corruptions, among which some philologists rank _mandoline_. Eng. _bandore_, now obsolete, was once a fairly common word, and from it, or from some cognate Romance form, comes the negro corruption _banjo_--
”'What is this, mamma? it is not a guitar, is it?' 'No, my dear, it is called a _banjore_; it is an African instrument, of which the negroes are particularly fond.'”