1760.—"Mr. Handle, applying to the Board to have his allowance of Scavenger increased, and representing to us the great fatigue he undergoes, and loss of time, which the Board being very sensible of. Agreed we allow him Rs. 20 per month more than before on account of his diligence and assiduity in that post."—Ft. William Consn., in Long, 245. It does not appear from this what the duties of the scavenger in Mr. Handle's case were.
1829.—"The oversight of customable goods. This office, termed in Latin supervisus, is translated in another charter by the words search and surveying, and in the 2nd Charter of Charles I. it is termed the scavage, which appears to have been its most ancient and common name, and that which is retained to the present day.... The real nature of this duty is not a toll for showing, but a toll paid for the oversight of showing; and under that name (supervisus apertionis) it was claimed in an action of debt in the reign of Charles II.... The duty performed was seeing and knowing the merchandize on which the King's import customs were paid, in order that no concealment, or fraudulent practices ... should deprive the King of his just dues ... (The duty) was well known under the name of scavage, in the time of Henry III., and it seems at that time to have been a franchise of the commonalty."—G. Norton, Commentaries on the Hist., &c., of the City of London, 3rd ed. (1869), pp. 380-381.
Besides the books quoted, see H. Wedgewood's Etym. Dict. and Skeat's do., which have furnished useful light, and some references.
SCRIVAN, s. An old word for a clerk or writer, from Port. escrivão.
[1616.—"He desired that some English might early on the Morow come to his howse, wher should meete a Scriuano and finish that busines."—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. i. 173. On the same page "The Scriuane of Zulpheckcarcon.">[
1673.—"In some Places they write on Cocoe-Leafes dried, and then use an Iron Style, or else on Paper, when they use a Pen made with a Reed, for which they have a Brass Case, which holds them and the Ink too, always stuck at the Girdles of their Scrivans."—Fryer, 191.
1683.—"Mr. Watson in the Taffaty warehouse without any provocation called me Pittyful Prodigall Scrivan, and told me my Hatt stood too high upon my head...."—Letter of S. Langley, in Hedges' Diary, Sept. 5; [Hak. Soc. i. 108].
SCYMITAR, s. This is an English word for an Asiatic sabre. The common Indian word is talwār (see [TULWAUR]). We get it through the French cimiterre, Ital. scimeterra, and according to Marcel Devic originally from Pers. shamshīr (chimchīr as he writes it). This would be still very obscure unless we consider the constant clerical confusion in the Middle Ages between c and t, which has led to several metamorphoses of words; of which a notable example is Fr. carquois from Pers. tīrkash. Scimecirra representing shimshīr might easily thus become scimetirra. But we cannot prove this to have been the real origin. This word (shamshīr) was known to Greek writers. Thus:
A.D. 93.—"... Καὶ καθίστησι τὸν πρεσβύτατον παῖδα Μορόβαζον βασιλέα περιθεῖσα τὸ διάδημα καὶ δοῦσα τὸν σημαντῆρα τοὺ πατρὸς δακτύλιον, τήντε σαμψηρὰν ὀνομαζομένην παρ' αὐτοῖς."—Joseph. Antiqq. xx. ii. 3.
c. A.D. 114.—"Δῶρα φέρει Τραιανῷ ὑφάσματα σηρικὰ καὶ σαμψήρας αἱ δέ εἰσι σπάθαι βαρβαρικαί."—Quoted in Suidas Lexicon, s.v.