Edinburgh.
Salisbury Craigs.—Craiglockhart Hill and Craigmillar Castle, both in the neighbourhood of the Craigs, are all so called from the Henry de Craigmillar, who built the castle (now in ruins) in the twelfth century. There is a charter in the reign of Alexander II., in 1212, by William, son of Henry de Craigmillar, to the monastery of Dunfermline, which is the earliest record of the castle.
Blowen.
Meaning of "Harrisers" (Vol. ii., p. 376.).—I am told that the practice which Clericus Rusticus
speaks of, holds in Yorkshire, but not the name.
In Devon a corn-field, which has been cut and cleared, is called an "arrish." A vacant stubblefield is so called during the whole of the autumn months.
Your correspondent suggests "arista;" can he support this historically? If not, it is surely far-fetched. Let me draw attention to a word in our English Bible, which has been misunderstood before now by readers who were quite at home in the original languages: "earing nor harvest" (Genesis). Without some acquaintance with the earlier forms of our mother tongue, one is liable to take earing to mean the same as "harvest," from the association of ears of corn. But it is the substantive from the Anglo-Saxon verb erian, to plough, to till: so that "earing nor harvest" = "sowing nor reaping." From erian we may pass on to arare, and from that to arista: in the long pedigree of language they are scarcely unconnected: but the Anglo-Saxon is not derived from the Latin; they are, each in its own language, genuine and independent forms. But it is curious to see what an attraction these distant cousins have for one another, let them only come within each other's sphere of gravitation.
In, Yorkshire the verb to earland is still a living expression; and a Yorkshireman, who has more Saxon than Latin in him, will not write "arable land," but "earable land." A Yorkshire clergyman tells me that this orthography has been perpetuated in a local act of parliament of no very ancient date.
Putting all these facts together, I am inclined to think that "arrish" must first mean "land for tillage;" and that the connexion of the word with "gleaning" or "gleaners" is the effect of association, and therefore of later date.
But it must be observed, there is a difference between "arrish" and "harrisers." Can it be shown that Dorset-men are given to aspirating their words? Besides this, there is a great difference between "arrissers" and "arrishers" for counties so near as Dorset and Devon. And again, while I am quite familiar with the word "arrish," I never heard "arrishers," and I believe it is unknown in Devonshire.