Florin, a two-shilling piece; from Florence. Professor Skeat says: "Florins were coined by Edward III. in 1337, and named after the coins of Florence.” Gasconading, boasting; from Gascony, a southern province of France, the inhabitants of which were much given to boasting. One Gascon, on being shown the Tuileries-the palace of the Kings of France—remarked that it reminded him to some extent of his father's stables, which, however, were somewhat larger.

Gipsy, a corrupt form of the word Egyptian. The Gipsies were supposed to come from Egypt. (The French call them Bohemians.) Guinea, a coin value 21s. now quite out of use, except as a name-made of gold brought from the Guinea Coast, in the west of Africa. Hock, the generic term for all kinds of Rhine-wine, but properly only the name of that which comes from Hochheim, a celebrated vineyard. Indigo, a blue dye, obtained from the leaves of certain plants; from the Latin adjective Indicus=belonging to India. Laconic, short, pithy, and full of sense; from Laconia, a country in the south of Greece, the capital of which was Sparta or Lacedæmon. The Laconians, and especially the Spartans, were little given to talking, unlike their lively rivals, the Athenians.

Lilliputian, very small; from Lilliput, the name of the imaginary country

of extremely small men and women, visited by Captain Lemuel Gulliver, the hero of Swift's tale called 'Gulliver's Travels.'

Lumber, useless things; from Lombard, the Lombards being famous for money-lending. The earliest kind of banking was pawnbroking; and pawnbrokers placed their pledges in the "Lombard-room," which, as it gradually came to contain all kinds of rubbish, came also to mean and to be called "lumber-room." In America, timber is called lumber. Meander (to), to "wind about and in and out;" from the Mæander, a very winding river in the plain of Troy, in Phrygia, in the north-west of Asia Minor.

Magnesia and Magnet, from Magnesia, a town in Thessaly, in the north of Greece.

Milliner, originally a dealer in wares from Milan, a large city in the north of Italy, in the plain of the Po.

Muslin, from Mosul, a town in Asiatic Turkey, on the Tigris. Palace, from the Latin palatium, a building on Mons Palatinus, one of the seven hills of Rome. This building became the residence of Augustus and other Roman emperors; and hence palace came to be the generic term for the house of a king or ruling prince. Palatinus, itself comes from Pales, a Roman goddess of flocks, and is connected with the Lat. pater, a father or feeder.

Peach, from Lat. Persicum (malum), the Persian apple, from Persia. The has been gradually absorbed.

Pheasant, from the Phasis, a river of Colchis in Asia Minor, at the eastern end of the Black Sea, from which these birds were first brought.

Port, a wine from Oporto, in Portugal. (Compare Sherry from Xeres, in the south of Spain.)

Rhubarb, from Rha barbarum, the wild Rha plant.

Rha is an old name

for the Volga, from the banks of which this plant was imported. Solecism, a blunder in the use of words; from Soli, a town in Cilicia, in Asia Minor, the inhabitants of which used a mixed dialect.

Spaniel, a sporting-dog remarkable for its sense; from Spain. The best kinds are said to come from Hispaniola, an island in the West Indies, now called Hayti.

Stoic, from Stoa Poikilé, the Painted Porch, a porch in Athens, where Zeno, the founder of the Stoic School, taught his disciples.

Utopian, impossible to realise; from Utopia (= Nowhere), the title of a story written by Sir Thomas More, in which he described, under the guise of an imaginary island, the probable state of England, if her laws and customs were reformed.

145

WORDS DISGUISED IN FORM.

WHEN a word is imported from a foreign language into our own, there is a natural tendency among the people who use the word to give it a native and homely dress, and so to make it look like English. This is especially the case with proper names. Thus the walk through St James's Park from Buckingham Palace to the House of Commons was called Bocage Walk (that is, shrubbery walk); but, as Bocage was a strange word to the Londoner, it became quickly corrupted into Birdcage Walk, though there is not, and never was, any sign of birdcages in the neighbourhood. Birdcage is a known word, Bocage is notthat is the whole matter. In the same way, our English sailors, when they captured the French ship Bellerophon, spoke of it as the Billy Ruffian; and our English soldiers in India mentioned Surajah Dowlah, the prince who put the English prisoners into the Black Hole, as Sir Roger Dowler. The same phenomenon is observed also in common names—and not infrequently. The following are some of the most remarkable examples :

Alligator, from Spanish el lagarto, the lizard. The article el (from Latin ille) has clung to the word. Lat. lacerta, a lizard. (The Arabic article al has clung to the noun in alchemy, algebra, almanac, etc.) Artichoke (no connection with choke), from Ital. articiocco; from Arabic al harshaff, an artichoke.

Atonement, a hybrid-atone being English, and ment a Latin ending. Atone to bring or come into one. Shakespeare has "Earthly things, made even, atone together."

Babble, from ba and the frequentative le; it means "to keep on saying " ba. Bank, a form of the word bench, a money-table.

Belfry (nothing to do with bell), from M. E. berfray; O. Fr. berfroit, a watch-tower.

K

Brimstone, from burn. The r is an easily moved letter—as in three, third ; turn, trundle, etc.

Bugle, properly a wild ox. Bugle, in the sense of a musical instrument, is really short for bugle-horn. Lat. buculus, a bullock, a diminutive of bos.

Bustard, from O. Fr. oustarde, from Lat. avis tarda, the tardy or slow bird.

Butcher, from O. Fr. bocher, a man who slaughters he-goats; from boc, the French form of buck.

Butler, the servant in charge of the butts or casks of wine. (The whole collection of butts was called the buttery; a little butt is a bottle.) Buxom, stout, healthy; but in O. E. obedient. "Children, be buxom to your parents." Connected with bow and bough. From A. S. bugan, to bend; which gives also bow, bight, boat, etc.

Carfax, a place where four roads meet. O. Fr. carrefourgs; Latin quatuor furcas, four forks.

Carouse, from German gar aus, quite out. Spoken of emptying a goblet. Caterpillar = hairy-cat, from O. Fr. chate, a she-cat, and O. Fr. pelouse,

hairy, Lat. pilosus. Compare woolly-bear.

Causeway (no connection with way), from Fr. chausée; Lat. calceata via, a way strewed with limestone; from Lat. calx, lime.

Clove, through Fr. clou, from Lat. clavus, a nail, from its resemblance to a small nail.

Constable, from Lat. comes stabuli, count of the stable; hence Master of the Horse; and, in the 13th century, commander of the king's army. Coop, a cognate of cup; from Lat. cupa, a tub.

Cope, a later spelling of cape. Cap, cape, and cope are forms of the same word.

Costermonger, properly costard-monger; from costard, a large apple. Counterpane (not at all connected with counter or with pane, but with

quilt and point), a coverlet for a bed. The proper form is contrepointe, from Low Lat. culcita puncta, a punctured quilt.

Country-dance, (not connected with country), a corruption of the French contre-danse; a dance in which each dancer stands contre or contra or opposite his partner.

Coward, an animal that drops his tail. O. Fr. col and ard; from Lat. cauda, a tail.

Crayfish, (nothing to do with fish), from O. Fr. escrevisse. This is really a Frenchified form of the German word Krebs, which is the German form of our English word crab. The true division of the word into syllables is crayf-ish; and thus the seeming connection with fish disappears.

Custard, a misspelling of the M. E. word crustade, a general name for pies made with crust.

Chaucer says: "The dayes eye or else the eye of

Dandelion = leaves.

dent de lion, the lion's tooth; so named from its jagged

Dirge, a funeral song of sorrow. In the Latin service for the dead, one part began with the words (Ps. v. 8) dirige, Dominus meus, in conspectu tuo vitam meam, "Direct my life, O Lord, in thy sight;" and dirige was contracted into dirge.

Drawing-room dinner.

=

withdrawing-room, a room to which guests retire after

Dropsy (no connection with drop), from O. Fr. hydropisce, from Gr. hudōr, water. (Compare chirurgeon, which has been shortened into surgeon; example, into sample; estate, into state.)

Easel, a diminutive of the word ass, through the Dutch ezel; like the Latin asellus.

Farthing=fourthing. (Four appears as fir in firkin; and as for in forty.) Frontispiece (not connected with piece), that which is seen or placed in front. Lat. specio, I see.

Hamper, old form, hanaper; from Low Latin hanaperium, a large basket for keeping drinking-cups (hanapi) in.

Handsel, money given into the hand; from A. S. sellan, to give. Hanker, to keep the mind hanging on a thing. Er is a frequentative suffix, as in batter, linger, etc.

Harbinger, a man who goes before to provide a harbour or lodging-place for an army. The n is intrusive, as in porringer, passenger, and messenger. (The ruins of old Roman villas were often used by English travellers as inns. Such places were called "Cold Harbours." There are fourteen places of this name in England—all on the great Roman roads.) Hatchment, the escutcheon, shield, or coat-of-arms of a deceased person, displayed in front of his house. A corruption (by the intrusion of h) of atch'ment, the short form of atchievement, the old spelling of achievement, which is still the heraldic word for hatchment.

Hawthorn =

hedge-thorn. Haw was in O. E. haga; and the hard g became a w; and also became softened, under French influence, into dg.Haha, older form Hawhaw, is a sunk fence.

Heaven, that which is heaved up; heavy, that which requires much heaving.

Horehound (not connected with hound), a plant with stems covered with white woolly down. The M. E. form is hoar-hune; and the second syllable means scented. The syllable hoar means white, as in hoarfrost. The final d is excrescent or inorganic-like the d in sound, bound (= ready to go), etc.