"If they hurt but one hair of Cleveland's head, there will be the devil to pay, and no pitch hot."
(Pirate, Ch. 36.)
he is using a nautical term which has no connection with Fr. payer. To pay, i.e. to pitch (a ship), is from Old Fr. peier or poier, Lat. picare, from pix, pitch. Fr. limon, a lime, has given Eng. lemon,[116] but "lemon sole" is from Fr. limande, a flat-fish, dab. A quarry from which stone is obtained was formerly quarrer, Old Fr. quarrière (carrière), a derivative of Lat. quadrus; cf. quadratarius, "a squarer of marble" (Cooper). The quarry of the hunter has changed its form and meaning. In Mid. English we find quarré and quirré, from Old Fr. cuirée, now curée, "a (dog's) reward; the hounds' fees of, or part in, the game they have killed" (Cotgrave). The Old French form means "skinful" (cf. poignée, fistful), the hounds' reward being spread on the skin of the slain animal. It is thus related to cuirass, originally used of leathern armour. In Shakespeare quarry usually means a heap of dead game—
"Would the nobility lay aside their ruth,
And let me use my sword, I'd make a quarry
With thousands of these quarter'd slaves, as high
As I could pick my lance."
(Coriolanus, i. 1.)
In modern English it is applied rather to the animal pursued. Related to the first quarry is quarrel, the square-headed bolt shot from a crossbow—
"It is reported by William Brito that the arcubalista or arbalist was first shewed to the French by our king Richard the First, who was shortly after slain by a quarrel thereof."
(Camden, Remains concerning Britain.[117])
It comes from Old Fr. carrel, of which the modern form, carreau, is used of many four-sided objects, e.g., a square tile, the diamond at cards, a pane of glass. In the last sense both quarrel and quarry are still used by glaziers.
In a "school of porpoises" we have a Dutch word for crowd. The older spelling is scull—