CHAPTER VII
FOREIGN LOAN-WORDS

We have often been told, or we have read in newspaper reviews and suchlike works, that the rustic vernacular is indigenous to the soil, mostly raw material in the rough, but entirely a native product. Of course this is in the main true, the real backbone of the dialects is genuine English, but when we examine the whole vocabulary in detail, we find it contains a very considerable admixture of foreign elements. French, Scandinavian, Celtic, and even Latin words permeate the dialects throughout the country, in varying proportions according to the geographical area. To take first a sample of the French loan-words: agist (Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Der. Not. Lin. Rut. Lei. Nhp. w.Cy.), to receive cattle to graze for a fixed sum, to put out cattle to pasture, O.Fr. agister, to lodge, to make to lie; aigle (midl. counties), an icicle, Fr. aiguille, a needle; avoirdupois (Wor. Hrf. Suf.), to consider, to weigh mentally, adv. undecided, in doubt, e.g. I be quite haverdepaise about sending Jane to service; arain (Dur. Yks. Lan. Der.), a spider, O.Fr. araigne, iraigne, cp. ‘Oure ȝeris schulen bithenke as an yreyn,’ Wyclif, Ps. lxxxix. 10; asprous (Lei. War.), of the weather: raw, inclement, Fr. aspre, sharp, harsh, rough, + the termination -ous; bastile (Nhb. Cum. Yks. Lan. Chs. Stf. Der. Rut. War. Wor.), a popular name for the workhouse, an application of Fr. Bastille, the prison-fortress built in Paris in the fourteenth century, and destroyed in 1789; bowet (Sc. Nhb.), a hand lantern, Fr. dial. bouete, an equivalent of Fr. boite; benè(s (n.Cy. Yks. Lan.), in the phrase to clap benè(s, to clap the hands as an expression of thanks or of pleasure, used in children’s language. Children are taught to clap benè before partaking of food, and nurses say: Clap benès for daddy to cum, An’ bring lile babby a ceàk an’ a bun. The word benès is a shortened form of benison, a blessing, benediction, used in M.E. in the sense of grace before meat, cp. ‘bord leyd, And the beneysun was seyd,’ Hav. l. 1723, O.Fr. beneison. Boco (Sus.), a large quantity, used principally of fish, Fr. beaucoup, a great deal, much; bran (Lin. Oxf. Nrf. Suf.), freckles, Fr. ‘bran de Judas, freckles in the face,’ Cotgrave. Littré says: ‘Bran de Judas, tache de rousseur au visage. Locution vieillie, et qui vient sans doute de ce qu’on se représenta Judas roux.’ Chibbole (War. Wor. Glo. Oxf. I.W. Wil. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor.), a young onion with the green stalk attached, a scallion, O.Fr. (Picard) chibole, Mod.Fr. ciboule, cp. ‘Chibolles and cheruelles and ripe chiries manye,’ Piers Plow. B, VI, l. 296; courant (Sc. Wm. Yks. Chs. Shr. I.W. Dev. Cor.), a running and violent dance, a revel, a romp, &c., Fr. ‘courante, sorte de danse,’ Littré; dishabille (n. and midl. dials. also s.), disorder, a state of confusion, working-dress, Fr. en déshabillé, ‘en vêtement aisé que l’on porte d’ordinaire chez soi,’ Hatzfeld; dole (Sc. Nhb. Cum. Wm. Yks. Stf. Der. Dor. Cor.), sorrow, grief, misfortune, O.Fr. dol, dul, deul, Mod.Fr. deuil, sorrow; fammel (War. Wor. Glo. Oxf.), to starve, famish, e.g. I’m half fammel’d, Norm. dial. fameiller, ‘être affamé,’ Moisy, O.Fr. fameiller, avoir faim; fay (Sc. Yks. Som. Dev. Cor.), faith, used as an interjection, and in assertions and quasi-oaths, cp.:

Whether seistow this in ernest or in pley?

Nay, quod Arcite, in ernest by my fey.

Knightes Tale, ll. 267, 268.

French Loan-words

O.Fr. fei, faith; flasket (Yks. Lan. Chs. Lei. Nhp. Hnt. Ken. Sus. Som.), a kind of basket, a shallow, oval washing-tub, Fr. (Béarnais) flasquet, ‘flasque’; flue (Hrf. Brks. Ken. Sur. Sus. Hmp. Wil.), delicate, sickly, thin, in poor condition, O.Fr. ‘flou, délicat, en parlant des choses; doux, en parlant des personnes,’ La Curne; frap (Nhb. Yks. Lan. Suf. Sus.), to strike, rap, Fr. frapper, to strike; gigot (Sc. n.Cy. Nhb. Der. Lei.), a leg of mutton, Fr. ‘gigot (de mouton), a leg (of mutton),’ Cotgrave; goo (Sc. Nhb.), taste, relish, Fr. goût, ‘sensation agréable que produisent certaines saveurs,’ Hatzfeld; hogo (Irel. Nhb. Yks. Nhp. Hrt. e.An. Ken. Hmp. I.W. Wil. Som.), used of tainted meat and strong cheese: a strong disagreeable smell or odour, Fr. haut goût, high flavour; hone (Sc. n.Cy. Lin. Stf. War. Wor. Shr. Dev.), to whine, complain, with after or for: to repine for want of, to long or pine for, Fr. (Norman dial.) hoigner, ‘hogner, geindre, pleurnicher, se lamenter,’ Moisy. Dr. Johnson has: ‘to Hone.... To pine; to long for any thing,’ but without any quotations. Hanch (n. counties), to bite, snap at with the teeth as a dog does, e.g. That dog o’ yours hanched at ma when ah tried ti clap [pat] him, Fr. hancher, to snatch at with the teeth; hespel, huspel (Wor. Shr. Hrf.), to worry, harass, to hurry, drive away, Fr. houspiller, ‘maltraiter (qqn.) en le secouant,’ Hatzfeld; jet (Sc. Lakel. Yks. Not. Lin. War. e.An. s. and sw. counties), to throw, Fr. ‘jetter, to throw,’ Cotgr.; jigget (Sc. Irel. Lan. War. Oxf. Brks. Wil. Som. Dev. Cor.), to ride or walk at a jog-trot, to shake, to dance up and down, Fr. gigotter, ‘remuer vivement les jambes,’ Littré; jouke (Yks. Der.), to sleep or roost as partridges, O.Fr. (Picard) jouquer, ‘percher, jucher,’ joquer, ‘être en repos, percher,’ La Curne, M.E. jouken, cp.:

Now rys, my dere brother Troilus;