284 XVII. NOTES ON ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY. By the Rev. Prof. SKEAT. [Head at a Meeting of the Philological Society, June 7, 1889. J Chess. The etymology is known to be from A.F. eschecs, the really pi. of esc/iec, check. But it is interesting to know whether the c in the ending cs was lost in E. or in A.F. The answer is, the latter. For the A.F. form esches, see William of Wadington, Manuel des Peches, 1. 4106; Romance of Horn, 2551 (in both MSS.). In fact, the pi. esches is quite regular. Similarly, blans was the pi. of blanc in Norman. See Gaston Paris, Extraits de la Chanson de Roland, p. 43. Cieling. I have shewn that a possible origin of this word is from O.F. del, heaven. Perhaps this is illustrated by a ' passage in the A.F. Romance of Horn, 1. 2709 : Cielee iert la art dentailleor umbrelenc bien fait chambre par De un ; bon fu linginneor.' I find that Godefroy quotes this from Michel's edition is from that Brede and ; my quotation by Stengel. See also cele in Godefroy. I do not, however, fully understand the passage. Clever. The E.Friesic word is Idufer (Koolman), explained ' by gewandt, geschickt, aufgeweckt, anstellig, lebhaft, munter, behende/ Coble, a kind of boat. This word is given and denned by Halliwell. He refers us to Morte Arthure, 1. 742; but in ' that passage coblez seems to mean cables/ Matzner and Stratrnann give no example. But in the Lindisfarne MS., ' Matt. viii. 23, the Lat. in nauicula is glossed by in lytlum scipe uel in ciiople.' Johnson's Diet., s.v. cobble, quotes ' 'cobles, or little fishing-boats from Pennant (no reference). See Jamieson and Brockett. Cosset, a pet-lamb, a pet. Used by Spencer and Ben Jonson; see Nares. In Webster's Dictionary, a derivation is suggested from the word cot. This does not seem very NOTES ON ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY. PROF. SKEAT. 285 likely at first sight, but there is some evidence for it. ' Soraner gives an A.S. cof-s&ta, a cot-sitter/ or dweller in a cot, with no reference. But here we get help from Schmid's glossary to the Anglo-Saxon Laws and from Ducange. The Latinised plural cotseti, synonymous with riJhnii, occurs in the of 29 ed. i. 532 and Laws Henry I., cap. ; Thorpe, ; in the 81 ed. i. 589. again, spelt cot/iseti, same, cap. ; Thorpe, Schmid remarks that the same plural occurs repeatedly in Domesday Book, spelt coscez, cozets, and cozez, where z originally stood for the sound of ts. See also coscez in Ducange, where we even find a form cossafus, with a sug- gested derivation from cot and sit. The A.S. cote, a cote, as cot- in see the Diet. appears composition ; A.S. Perhaps ' cosset at first ' a dweller in a cot as to meant ; and, applied a lamb, a pet-lamb kept in the house. So the Gf. Hauslamm means both a house-lamb and a pet. Hence the verb cosset, to pet. See Cot-lamb. For the pronunciation, cf. best for betst, and boatswain ; bless for bletsian, etc. But difficulties remain. Costrel, a bottle. Used by Chaucer, L. G. Worn. 2666. Also spelt costret ; see Matzner. It is from the O.F. costerel, allied to costeret, costelet, all given by Godefroy, and sig- nifying a pannier, basket, jar, esp. a jar or measure of oil ' or wine, as in the phrase un costelet de vin et de olie/ a measure of wine or oil. All are diminutives of O.F. coste, a measure of capacity, used for fruits taken to market, a pannier or basket of a certain size. 22 costes went to the ui-uid so it was not (Lat. modius) ; very large. Ducange ' gives costa, cista, calathus, F. panier.' It seems natural to connect it with Lat. costa, rib, side, but I cannot say that the connection is clearly made out. Lewis and Short quote costa corbiiun from Pliny, 16. 18. 30, 75. Littre, s.v. cote, notes that this term is used in basket-making to denote the projections (nervures) formed by the flexure of small osiers the ones round larger ; which perhaps explains the word. Cot, Cot- lamb, a pet lamb. In Grose's Prov. Diet. (1790), find ' lambs cades.' we cottv, brought up by hand ; In Wright's Yocab. ed. Wiilker, col. 749, 1. 1, we have the form 286 NOTES ON ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY. PROF. SKEAT. kodlomb in a Vocabulary of the 15th century. If these can can be connected, then kodlomb would stand for cot- lamb, i.e. a lamb brought up in a cot. See Cosset. Crack, a mischievous boy. Shakespeare has the word twice. I believe it is short for crack-rope, a contemptuous term for a rascal, occurring in Dodsley 0. Plays, ed. Hazlitt, iv. 63. In the same way, wag is short for wag-halter, and is an equiva- ' lent term. Thus Cotgrave has : Babouin, a craftie knave, a crack-rope, a wag-halter? Todd's Johnson has crack-rope, ' without a reference, defined as a fellow that deserves ' hanging/ It means rather a fellow that has escaped the gallows, because the rope broke.' It seems to have been usual not to hang a man a second time in such a case. Craier, Grayer, Crare, Cray, a kind of small ship. Shak. * ' has crare iv. 2. 205 edd. ; see sluggish ; Cymb. (old care) in also craier in Halliwell ; cray Todd's Johnson and Nares. M.E. crayer, krayer ; Morte Arthure, 738, 3666. From O.F. craier, creer, a vessel of war; spelt craier in 1339, and creer in 1334, according to Godefroy, and apparently a Norman word. Low Lat. craiera, in a charter of Edw. III. A.D. 1360 ; also creyera (Ducange). Widegren gives the Swed. krejare, a small vessel mast but this is a late with one ; evidently form, and does not help us. Beyond this I cannot go. The suggestion, in Webster, that it is derived from the G. krieg, or Du. krijg, war, is in no way borne out. It does not account for the spelling, and we should rather expect the word to be of English origin. I would propose to derive it from the A.S. crecca, M.E. creke, crike, a creek. This word was Latin- ised as creca, and meant both a creek and a port or harbour. A Low Lat. *crecarius would give the O.F. forms exactly, and ' might mean a ship frequenting the harbours/ Cross. The great difficulty of accounting for the form cross is well known. Mr. Mayhew points out to me that cross is also the O.Irish form, found in the 'Leabhar Breac,' ed. Atkinson see the course this Celtic cros is ; Glossary. Of from the Latin crux. In O'Reilly's Irish Dictionary, we find a a I cros, cross, hindrance ; crosaim, cross, stop, hinder, debar a small ; crosanach, cross, perverse ; crosog, cross, per- NOTES ON ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY. PROF. SKEAT. 287 ' ' cros in verseness, etc. I find A.S. cros, as in Normannes ; Birch, Cart. Sax. in. 367 (A.D. 963-984). Cudgel. I have suggested that this word is of Celtic origin, but it is probably Teutonic. I have given no example earlier than Shakespeare. It occurs, however, once in Middle English, and, in fact, as early as in the Ancren Riwle, p. 292, 1. 1, where it is spelt kuggel. Further, the A.S. form is properly cycgel, of which the dat. pi. is spelt kycglum in the Hatton MS. of Gregory's Pastoral Care, ed. Sweet, p. 297, 1. 1. The ace. pi. kigclas occurs in Cockayne's Shrine, p. 163. The remarkable spelling quodgell is quoted ' ' from a piece called Pasquin in a Traunce in the volume on ' Dialect ' in the Gentleman's re- Magazine Library ; printed from the Gent. Mag. for 1820, pt. 1, pp. 115, 116. The A.S. form is not given in any Dictionary. Cullis, a very fine and strong broth, strained and made clear for patients in a state of great weakness (Nares). This is a in old Nares several common word dramas ; gives examples, which could easily be multiplied. The M.E. form is coli* also This (see Matzner) ; spelt koJys, colice, colysshe. is from an O.F. colis, couleis (see couleis in Godefroy), later ' coulis. Cotgrave gives Coulis, masc. a cullis, or broth of boiled meat strained;' and the adj. coulis, gliding, whence potage coulis, lit. gliding pottage, i.e. gliding through a strainer, used in the same sense as coulis alone. It was therefore originally the masculine form of an adjective, answering to Low Lat. *colaticius, from colare, to flow, to ' strain through a sieve. Similarly port-cullis means gliding ' and the difference and the gate ; only between cullis, broth, ri'J/ifi in is is port-cullis that the former masculine (colaticius) , latter see coulisse in and the feminine (colatida) ; coulis, Cot- grave. And see Wedgwood. Dogger, a kind of fishing- vessel. It occurs in Hexham as ' ' : cen a Fishers also a Du. word ; he has Dogger, Boat ; ' a or a Satchell.' also : Sling casting-net ; also, He gives 1 Mastif een a Dogge, an English ; Dogge-boot, great Barke.' ' Also : Dogger-zandt, a Shelve of white sand, or a Quick- ' sand in the Sea.' He also notes the verb : Doggcn, or 288 NOTES ON ENGLISH ETYMOLOGY. PROF. SKEAT. doggeren, to Dogg one, or, to follow one secretly.' But the word is said not to be old in Dutch. Again, the Icel.