ETYMOLOGICAL TRACES OF THE SOCIAL POSITION OF OUR ANCESTORS.
(Vol. vii., p. 13.)
I was preparing to answer your correspondent E. S. Taylor by a reference to the conversation between Gurth and Wamba, Ivanhoe, chap. i., when a friend promised to supply me with some additional and fuller information. I copy from a MS. note that he has placed in my hands:
"Nec quidem temerè contigisse puto quod animalia viva nominibus Germanicæ originis vocemus, quorum tamen carnem in cibum paratam originis Gallicæ nominibus appellamus; puta,—bovem, vaccam, vitulum, ovem, porcum, aprum, feram, etc. (an ox, a cow, a calf, a sheep, a hog, a boar, a deer, &c.); sed carnem bubulam, vitulinam, ovinam, porcinam, aprugnam, ferinam, etc. (beef, veal, mutton, pork, brawn, venison, &c.) Sed hinc id ortum putaverim, quod Normanni milites pascuis, caulis, haris, locisque quibus vivorum animalium cura agebatur, parcius se immiscuerint (quæ itaque antiqua nomina retinuerunt) quam macellis, culinis, mensis, epulis, ubi vel parabantur vel habebantur cibi, qui itaque nova nomina ab illis sunt adepti."—Preface to Dr. Wallis's Grammatica Linguæ Anglicanæ, 1653, quoted by Winning, Comparative Philology, p. 270.
C. Forbes.
Temple.
If your correspondent E. S. Taylor will refer to the romance of Ivanhoe, he will find in the first chapter a dialogue between Wamba the son of Witless, and Gurth the son of Beowulph, wherein the subject is fully discussed as to the change of names consequent on the transmutation of live stock, under the charge of Saxon herdsmen, into materials for satisfying the heroic appetites of their Norman rulers. It would be interesting to know the source from whence Sir Walter Scott derived his ideas on this subject: whether from some previous writer, or "some odd corner of the brain."
A. R. X.
Paisley.
See Trench On Study of Words (3rd edit.), p. 65.