Part 23 (1/2)

(Florio.)

_Umber_ is Fr. _terre d'ombre_, shadow earth--

”I'll put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of _umber_ smirch my face.”

(_As You Like It_, i. 3.)

_Ballad_, originally a dancing song, Prov. _ballada_, is a doublet of _ballet_, and thus related to _ball_. We find a late Lat. _ballare_, to dance, in Saint Augustine, but the history of this group of words is obscure. The sense development of _carol_ is very like that of ballad.

It is from Old Fr. _carolle_, ”a kinde of dance wherein many may dance together; also, a _carroll_, or Christmas song” (Cotgrave). The form _corolla_ is found in Provencal, and _carolle_ in Old French is commonly used, like Ger. _Kranz_, garland, and Lat. _corona_, of a social or festive ring of people. Hence it seems a reasonable conjecture that the origin of the word is Lat. _corolla_, a little garland.

[Page Heading: TOCSIN--MERINO]

Many ”chapel” people would be shocked to know that _chapel_ means properly the sanctuary in which a saint's relics are deposited. The name was first applied to the chapel in which was preserved the _cape_ or cloak of St Martin of Tours. The doublet _capel_ survives in _Capel Court_, near the Exchange. Ger. _Kapelle_ also means orchestra or military band. _Tocsin_ is literally ”touch sign.” Fr. _toquer_, to tap, beat, cognate with _touch_, survives in ”_tuck_ of drum” and _tucket_--

”Then let the trumpets sound The _tucket_ sonance and the note to mount.”

(_Henry V._, iv. 2.)

while _sinet_, the diminutive of Old Fr. _sin_, sign, has given _sennet_, common in the stage directions of Elizabethan plays in a sense very similar to that of _tucket_.

_Junket_ is from Old Fr. _joncade_, ”a certaine spoone-meat, made of creame, rose-water, and sugar” (Cotgrave), Ital. _giuncata_, ”a kinde of fresh cheese and creame, so called bicause it is brought to market upon rushes; also a _junket_” (Florio). It is thus related to _jonquil_, which comes, through French, from Span. _junquillo_, a diminutive from Lat. _juncus_, rush. The plant is named from its rush-like leaves.

_Ditto_, Italian, lit. ”said,” and _ditty_, Old Fr. _dite_, are both past participles,[110] from the Latin verbs _dico_ and _dicto_ respectively. The _nave_ of a church is from Fr. _nef_, still occasionally used in poetry in its original sense of s.h.i.+p, Lat. _navis_.

It is thus related to _navy_, Old Fr. _navie_, a derivative of _navis_.

Similarly Ger. _Schiff_ is used in the sense of nave, though the metaphor is variously explained.

The old word _cole_, cabbage, its north country and Scottish equivalent _kail_, Fr. _chou_ (Old Fr. _chol_), and Ger. _Kohl_, are all from Lat.

_caulis_, cabbage; cf. _cauli_flower. We have the Dutch form in _colza_, which comes, through French, from Du. _kool-zaad_, cabbage seed.

_Cabbage_ itself is Fr. _caboche_, a Picard derivative of Lat. _caput_, head. In modern French _caboche_ corresponds to our vulgar ”chump.” A _goshawk_ is a _goose hawk_, so called from its preying on poultry.

_Merino_ is related to _mayor_, which comes, through French, from Lat.

_maior_, greater. Span. _merino_, Vulgar Lat. _*majorinus_, means both a magistrate and a superintendent of sheep-walks. From the latter meaning comes that of ”sheepe driven from the winter pastures to the sommer pastures, or the wooll of those sheepe” (Percyvall). _Portcullis_ is from Old Fr. _porte coulisse_, sliding door. Fr. _coulisse_ is still used of many sliding contrivances, especially in connection with stage scenery, but in the portcullis sense it is replaced by _herse_ (see p.

75), except in the language of heraldry. The masculine form _coulis_ means a clear broth, or _cullis_, as it was called in English up to the 18th century. This suggests _colander_, which, like _portcullis_, belongs to Lat. _colare_, ”to streine” (Cooper), whence Fr. _couler_, to flow.

_Solder_, formerly spelt _sowder_ or _sodder_, and still so p.r.o.nounced by the plumber, represents Fr. _soudure_, from the verb _souder_; cf.

_batter_ from Old Fr. _batture_, _fritter_ from Fr. _friture_, and _tenter_ (hooks)[111] from Fr. _tenture_. Fr. _souder_ is from Lat.

_solidare_, to consolidate. Fr. _sou_, formerly _sol_, a halfpenny, comes, like Ital. _soldo_, from Lat. _solidus_, the meaning of which appears also in the Italian participle _soldato_, a soldier, lit. a paid man. This Italian word has pa.s.sed into French and German, displacing the older cognates _soudard_ and _Soldner_, which now have a depreciatory sense. Eng. _soldier_ is of Old French origin. It is represented in medieval Latin by _sol[i]darius_, glossed _sowdeor_ in a vocabulary of the 15th century. As in _solder_, the _l_ has been re-introduced by learned influence, but the vulgar _sodger_ is nearer the original p.r.o.nunciation.

FOOTNOTES:

[102] _I.e._, grotto painting, Ital. _grottesca_, ”a kinde of rugged unpolished painters worke, anticke worke” (Florio).

[103] See p. 120. The aristocracy of the horse is still testified to by the use of _sire_ and _dam_ for his parents.

[104] Sometimes this name is for _cheater_, _escheatour_ (p. 84).

[105] Cf. _avoirdupois_, earlier _avers de pois_ (_poids_), goods sold by weight.

[106] It is possible that this is a case of early folk-etymology and that _persona_ is an Etruscan word.

[107] This is the accepted etymology; but it is more probable that _furnieren_ comes from Fr. _vernir_, to varnish.