Part 25 (1/2)
The verb _tattoo_, to adorn the skin with patterns, is Polynesian. The military _tattoo_ is Dutch. It was earlier _tap-to_, and was the signal for closing the ”taps,” or taverns. The first recorded occurrence of the word is in Colonel Hutchinson's orders to the garrison of Nottingham, the original of which hangs in the Nottingham City Library--
”If any-one shall bee found tiplinge or drinkinge in any taverne, inne, or alehouse after the houre of nyne of the clock at night, when the _tap-too_ beates, he shall pay 2s. 6d.” (1644.)
_Cf._ Ger. _Zapfenstreich_, lit. tap-stroke, the name of a play which was produced some years ago in London under the t.i.tle ”Lights Out.”
Ludwig explains _Zapfenschlag_ or _Zapfenstreich_ as ”die Zeit da die Soldaten aus den Schencken heimgehen mussen, the _taptow_.”
_Ta.s.sel_, in ”_ta.s.sel_ gentle”--
”O, for a falconer's voice, To lure this _ta.s.sel_-gentle back again.”
(_Romeo and Juliet_, ii. 2.)
is for _tercel_ or _tiercel_, the male hawk, ”so tearmed, because he is, commonly, a third part less than the female” (Cotgrave, s.v.
_tiercelet_). The true reason for the name is doubtful. The pendent ornament called a _ta.s.sel_ is a diminutive of Mid. Eng. _ta.s.se_, a heap, bunch, Fr. _tas_. _Tent_ wine is Span. _vino tinto_, _i.e._, coloured--
”Of this last there's little comes over right, therefore the vintners make _Tent_ (which is a name for all wines in Spain, except white) to supply the place of it.”
(Howell, _Familiar Letters_, 1634.)
The other _tent_ is from the Old French past participle of _tendre_, to stretch.
The Shakesperian _utterance_--
”Rather than so, come, fate, into the list, And champion me to the _utterance_.”
(_Macbeth_, iii. 1.)
is the Fr. _outrance_, in _combat a outrance_, _i.e._, to the extreme, which belongs to Lat. _ultra_. It is quite unconnected with the verb to _utter_, from _out_.
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We have seen how, in the case of some h.o.m.onyms, confusion arises, and a popular connection is established, between words which are quite unrelated. The same sort of a.s.sociation often springs up between words which, without being h.o.m.onyms, have some accidental resemblance in form or meaning, or in both. Such a.s.sociation may bring about curious changes in sound and sense. _Touchy_, which now conveys the idea of sensitiveness to _touch_, is corrupted from _tetchy_--
”_Tetchy_ and wayward was thy infancy.”
(_Richard III._, iv. 4.)
The original meaning was something like ”infected, tainted,” from Old Fr. _teche_ (_tache_), a spot. The word _surround_ has completely changed its meaning through a.s.sociation with _round_. It comes from Old Fr. _suronder_, to overflow, Lat. _super-undare_, and its meaning and origin were quite clear to the 16th-century lexicographers. Thus Cooper has _inundo_, ”to overflowe, to _surround_.” A French bishop carries a _crosse_, and an archbishop a _croix_. These words are of separate origin. From _crosse_, which does not mean ”cross,” comes our derivative _crosier_, carried by both bishops and archbishops. It is etymologically identical, as its shape suggests, with the shepherd's _crook_, and the bat used in playing _lacrosse_.
The prophecy of the pessimistic _ostler_ that, owing to motor-cars--
”_'Osses_ soon will all be in the circusses, And if you want an _ostler_, try the work'uses.”
(E. V. LUCAS.)
shows by what a.s.sociation the meaning of _ostler_, Old Fr. _hostelier_ (_hotelier_), has changed. A _belfry_ has nothing to do with _bells_.
Old Fr. _berfroi_ (_beffroi_) was a tower used in warfare. It comes from two German words represented by modern _bergen_, to hide, guard, and _Friede_, peace, so that it means ”guard-peace.” The triumph of the form _belfry_ is due to a.s.sociation with _bell_, but the _l_ is originally due to dissimilation, since we find _belfroi_ also in Old French. The same dissimilation is seen in Fr. _auberge_, inn, Prov. _alberga_, which comes from Old High Ger. _hari_, an army, and _bergen_; _cf._ our _harbour_ (p. 2) and _harbinger_ (p. 90). _Scabbard_ is from Old Fr.
_escauberc_, earlier _escalberc_, by dissimilation for _escarberc_, from Old High Ger. _scar_, a blade (_cf._ plough_share_), and _bergen_. Cf.
_hauberk_, guard-neck, from Ger. _Hals_,[118] neck.
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The _b.u.t.tery_ is not so named from _b.u.t.ter_, but from _bottles_. It is for _butlery_, as _chancery_ (see p. 88) is for _chancelry_. It is not, of course, now limited to bottles, any more than the _pantry_ to bread or the _larder_ to bacon, Fr. _lard_, Lat. _laridum_. The _spence_, aphetic for _dispense_, is now known only in dialect--
”I am gaun to eat my dinner quietly in the _spence_.”