Pea is a false singular from older pease, Lat. pisum. Perhaps the frequent occurrence of pease-soup, not to be distinguished from pea-soup, is partly responsible for this mistake. Marquee, a large tent, is from Fr. marquise. With this we may class the heathen Chinee and the Portugee. Milton wrote correctly of—
"The barren plains
Of Sericana, where Chineses drive
With sails and wind their cany waggons light."
(Paradise Lost, iii. 438.)
It has been ingeniously suggested that Yankee has been derived in the same way from Du. Jan Kees, John Cornelius, supposed to have been a nickname for early Dutch colonists. It is more probably the Dutch dim. Janke, i.e. Johnny. The vulgarism shay for chaise[90] is of similar formation. Corp, for corpse, is also used provincially. Kickshaws is really a singular from Fr. quelque chose—
"Art thou good at these kickshawses, knight?"
(Twelfth Night, i. 3.)
Cotgrave spells it quelkchoses (s.v. fricandeau).
FALSE SINGULARS AND DOUBLE PLURALS
Skate has a curious history. It is a false singular from Du. schaats. This is from escache, an Old French dialect form of échasse, stilt, which was used in the Middle Ages for a wooden leg. It is of German origin, and is related to shank. Cf., for the sense development, Eng. patten, from Fr. patin, a derivative of patte, foot, cognate with paw. Skates are still called pattens by the fenmen of Cambridgeshire. We also had formerly a doublet from Old Fr. escache directly, but in the older sense, for Cotgrave has eschasses (échasses), "stilts, or scatches to go on." Row, a disturbance, belongs to rouse, a jollification—
"The king doth wake to-night and takes his rouse."