I saw the rose when I was nigh, In the original Moult m'ebahis de la merveille. Yield you madame on hicht can schir last say, A word scho could not speak she was so abayd R. R. 3645. K. Hart in Jamieson. Custom, which has rendered obsolete betrash and obeish, has exercised her authority in like manner over abay or abaw, burny, astony. The origin of esbahir itself is to be found in the old French “baer,” “béer," to open the mouth, an onomatopoeia, from the noise most naturally made by the lips in that action. Hence "baer" or "béer," in a secondary application, is used to signify the doing of anything the natural tendency of which is to manifest itself by an involuntary opening of the mouth; to be struck with wonder; to be intent upon anything; and esbahir in the active form, is to strike with feelings of such a nature, to confound, to set agape : In himself was all his state More solemn than the tedious pomp which waits Of horses led, and grooms besmear'd with gold, Dazzles the crowd and sets them all agape.-Milton, P. L. ACCOUTRE.--To equip with the habiliments of some particular office or occupation, an act, of which, in catholic countries, the frequent change of vestments at appointed periods of the church service would afford a striking and familiar example. Now the person who had charge of the vestments in a catholic church was the sacristan, in Latin custos sacrarii or ecclesiæ (barbarously feminized into custrix when the office was filled by a woman), in old French, "cousteur" or "coustre," "coutre." German "küster," the sacristan or vestry-keeper.--Ludwig. Ad custodem sacrarii pertinet cura vel custodia templi-vela vestesque sacræ ac vasa sacrorum, &c.-St. Isidore in Ducange. We see accordingly in the year 1473 an inventory of the jewels, ornaments, hangings, vestments (paremens), books and other goods belonging to the church of Notre Dame at Bayeux, taken in the presence of the servants and procurators of the grand cousteur de la dite Eglise." 66 The primitive idea in accoustrer would thus be to perform the office of sacristan to any one, to invest him with habiliments analogous to those employed by the priest in performing public service. AFFORD, AFFERE.-We find the word "forum" in Ducange in the sense not only of market, but also of market-price, in old French feur or fuer. Hence afforer or affeurer, to tax or appraise a thing. Afforer or affeurer le vin, was to set a price at which, after payment of the droit d'afforage to the feudal lord, the wine might lawfully be sold by retail. From affeurer we have " to affere," in the same sense. Our afferors were persons whose duty it was to tax or assess the fines imposed by the courts upon individuals according to their means :— Et quod amerciamenta prædictorum tenentium afferentur et taxentur per sacramentum parium suorum.—Charter of 1316 in Ducange. From "afforer," the more original mode of spelling the word, comes our 'afford." Merchandise would be affored upon which a certain price was set and "to affor'd it" would be to allow it to go at the price affored. In support of this view of the origin of the final d, we may cite the two following examples, quoted by Richardson in his Dictionary :— [There is] no such offering of Christ in the Scripture where you will find it once afford for all.-Sheldon in Richardson. Parolles. I would the cutting of my garments wold serve the turne, or the breaking of my Spanish sword. 1st Lord. We cannot affoor'd you so.-All's well that ends well, Act. iv. In the first of these examples, "afford" is obviously used as a past participle, implying that the offering was valued as an offering for all, thought worthy of that price. In the other example, though used as a verb, "affoor'd" is written as a participle with an apostrophe before the d. ATTERCOP, COBWEB.-Attercop is still in use in the North of England for a spider. A. S. ator-coppa, from ator, venom; Isl. eitr. Eitr-orm, a poisonous snake, an adder. The remaining element cop or cob, which survives in our cobweb, and in the Dutch "spinne-kop," has not been satisfactorily explained. It is interpreted cup by Jamieson, head by Boucher, but neither poison-cup nor poison-head would be a very appropriate designation of a spider, and still less spin-cup or spin-head, to which we should be led by the Dutch expression. 66 We find however in Frisian, kop," a bubble, blister, "bleb," pock, of which latter indeed it seems to be a mere inversion, just as our pot is the German "topf." "T"waer kopet," the water boils; "börne koppar," Isl. the small-pox. Atter-cop would thus be equivalent to poison-pock, venom-bag. In the old Swedish, according to Ihre, kopp was used to designate a bee; the word being probably in the first instance honey-kopp, from whence the honey was dropped in the course of time, in the same way that the initial "atter" has disappeared in Flanders, leaving kopp, koppe, as the designation of a spider. The contrast between the bee and the spider as collectors, the one of sweets and the other of poison, is of very old standing. 2. "On the Ellipsis of the Verb in English Syntax." By Edwin Guest, Esq. The word ellipsis will be used on the present occasion with the same latitude of meaning as in a former paper. Cases of real ellipsis are comparatively rare, and it often requires a very minute acquaintance with the history of grammar, to determine whether a sentence apparently defective has or has not originated in one more perfect. If we confine our attention to what has been termed logical ellipsis, we soon find ourselves entangled in all the refinements of metaphysical distinction; and metaphysics, though they have often afforded a very convenient shelter to the philologist, have hitherto, it is apprehended, done little to advance the science of philology. The first object of this, as of every other science, is arrangement; and if we cannot attain to a natural arrangement-if our knowledge will not enable us to draw the line which separates the real from the merely apparent ellipsis-we may show our wisdom by following the example of other grammarians, and not clogging ourselves with conditions which nobody has yet succeeded in carrying out consistently. An ellipsis, therefore, as the term is here used, will include the real or historical ellipsis, the logical ellipsis, and also any construction which, according to the present usage of our language, may be considered as defective.. In present usage, our language rarely admits an ellipsis of the copula, unless where the predicate is transposed so as to come before the subject, and the latter is preceded by the definite article or possessive pronoun. In such cases of transposition the ellipsis is too common to need examples, but there is a peculiarity in Milton's use of the idiom which may perhaps deserve notice. After this ellipsis, he very generally in the next clause of the sentence omits the personal pronoun :- 1. Dagon his name: sea-monster, upward man - cruel his eye, but (it) cast P. L. 1. 462. 2. When the words follow in their natural sequence, the omission of the copula is much less frequent, though instances of it are occasionally to be met with : 4. Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them.-1 Cor. vi. 13. 7. what noise there? ho No noise, my lord, but needful conference. In the earlier periods of our language, this ellipsis was common in such clauses as began with the conjunction copulative; and after W. T. 2. 3. the conjunctions "continuative" yet and though, it kept its ground in our literature till comparatively recent times : 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. po his strong men was slawe, þat so strong was in fy3t Ys men bi gonne to fle, and fayn pat heo myzt. Rob. Glou. 121. By nom hym ys housewyf and heeld hire hym self Vis. de Dowel, pass. 4. p. 215. Whit. ed. semivivus he semede, And naked as a neelde, and non help aboute hym. Vis. de Dobet, pass. 3. p. 324. Whit. ed. My son shalle in a madyn light Agens the feynd of helle to fight, And she madyn, as she was. Townl. Myst. 73. drevin to the seis, quhare ane part of thaime eschapit be fischear batis, and the residew vincust and slane.-Bell. Chron. 2. 19. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. So may he ever do! and ever flourish When I shall dwell with worms, and my poor name Worst in this royal presence may I speak, Hen. VIII. 4. 2. Rich. II. 4. 1. Youth to itself rebels, though none else near.—Hamlet, 1. 3. you, whom I could pity thus forlorn, Though I unpitied. the mind and spirit remains Invincible, and vigour soon returns, Though all our glory extinct and happy state P. L. 1. 374. P. L. 1. 139. When a sentence, or clause of a sentence contains some general assertion, it frequently opens with one of the pronouns indeterminate in construction with the verb substantive,—it is, there are, &c. Our older writers, in such cases, sometimes omitted both verb and pronoun: 18. 19. 20. Lewede men cunne French non Among an hondryd unnethis on, Fele of hem that wolde here Noble justis. R. Cœur de Lion, 26. I see toppys of hyllis he, many at a sight Nothing to let me, the wedyr is so bright.-Townl. Myst. 32. there was a noise That's verity; best stand upon our guard. Temp. 2. 1. When the infinitive of the verb substantive, in construction with an accusative, follows certain verbs, we may at our option insert or omit it; thus we may say, you thought him honest, it made me unwell, &c., or you thought him to be honest, &c. In the earlier stages of our language the infinitive was omitted after many verbs which no longer allow of its ellipsis; for instance, after the verbs to do, to know, to show, to hear, &c. : quit his fortunes here (Which you knew greal), and to the certain hazard W. T. 3. 2. 23. Let Fergus goist knaw us good men, luffaris of vertew, and not unmindful of gud dedes.-Bell, Chron. 2. 1. 24. desiring to have support aganis the auld inhabitantis of Ireland, and shawand thame, ane wild pepill, impacient, &c.—Bell, Chron. 1. 3. 25. The residew of the Britonis-herand thair king slane, and thair army discomfist send an herald, &c.-Bell, Chron. 1. 10. 26. sought in vain, And nowhere finding, rather fear'd her slain.—Dryden. Hath done wrought in ex. 21. is equivalent to hath caused to be wrought. Some of the most curious instances of ellipsis are found in cases where the auxiliaries enter into combination with the verb. The verb is generally the subject of the ellipsis, but the auxiliary have was omitted both in the past tense infinitive and also after the auxiliaries may, can, will, shall, &c. 27. 28. 29. If I had had the giftes of grace, I never would have sought, By any meanes such worldly trashe With brother's bloud to bought. Higgins, M. for M. King Ferrex, 1st edit. - I hed like to been drownt.-Wheeler's Westm. Dial. teak freet an ran oway, brak oa'th gear, fearfully leaamd his showder an like to kilt me.-Wheeler's Westm. Dial. 30. She'd a good mind to went.—Bachelor's Bedfordsh. Dial. p. 132. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. I wald sum clerk of conyng wald declerde, Merser, Ballade against the Times. Your lege ye layd and your aly, Your franticke fable not worth a fly, Frenche king, or one or other Regarded ye should your lord, your brother. Skelton, Against the Scottes. I am that Malin, one of Madan's sons, Which thought to raigne and rule this noble isle, And would so done, but &c.-Higgins, M. for M. King Malin, 5. If he had bene a God (as sots him nam'd), Higgins, M. for M. Lord Nennius, 31. Higgins, M. for M. King Nennius, 27. *Niccols's edition reads "I had," and the edition of 1575 "have tried." It is thus our editors pare down our vernacular idiom. Even Milton's English has been "corrected"! |