Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 3.djvu/105

 ii s. in. FEB. 4, 1911.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

Beginning with T, we find some odd phrases in which it figures, as the " T bean ' ' of the seventeenth century, grown or cut in the form of that letter ; the " T cart," an open phaeton ; and various

examples of the phenomenon which has given us " Tandry " and the more familiar " tawdry." That simple things are not always easy to define is shown by " tab," which is "A short broad strap, flat loop, or the like, attached by one end to an object, or forming a short projecting part by which a thing can be taken hold of, hung up, fastened, or pulled." The word is, we learn, not in John- son, and still largely dialectic. The third sense of " tabard," the official dress of heralds, was fre- quently in the papers during the announcement of King George's accession to the throne ; but the ' Dictionary ' does not pretend to include the most modern references, and we might have done without the example from journalism (1903) of " tabard-fashion." The list of newspapers that really show some censorship over the wild and inaccurate English of their contributors is so small that we should pause before admitting several usages here recorded, and in other cases prefer, as we have said more than once, easily accessible quotations from books, which at least have a chance of being decently " read " before being submitted to the public. "Tabby" and " tabby-cat " are curious in their origin. The sense of striped silk is named from a quarter of Bagdad, but that of " old maid " is earlier than the sense of " cat," and may be derived from Tabitha. " Taberdar " for a senior scholar of Queen's College, Oxford, is first noted in 1566. Among the many senses of " tabernacle " is an " alleged term for a company of bakers," as to which Mr. John Hodgkin has noted in his learned and amusing book on ' Proper Terms ' (p. 162) that the " tabernacula " in question may be " little shops made of boords."

" Table " is a long article, admirably arranged The commonest use of the word lacks verse quotations. The last one in prose (1853) suggests to us a line from Browning's ' Mr. Sludge, " the Medium," '

' May I sit, sir ? This dear old table, now ! or another,

You jogged the table, your foot caused the squeak. There is a long list of special combinations of the word, from " table-allowance " to " table-work." There is no notice from a nineteenth-century book of "Table d'h6te." Oddly enough, we ^are able to supply one from verse. In Clough's ' Mari Magno ' ' The Clergyman's Tale ' has (11.63-4), f 'Twas easier now to face the crowded shore, , And table d'hdte less tedious than before. Under " tablet " the desire of ' Wee Macgregor ' (1900) for toffee has found a place. The last

r)tation for a memorial tablet is of 1870. We uld have been glad for the sake of history to see the zeal of the L.C.C. commemorated in a quotation. There is curious information of a commercial and legal character concerning the use of " tabloid." " Taboo " now increasingly spelt, we notice, by anthropologists " tabu," is an important article. " Tabula rasa " has secured admission, and may, we hope, catch the eye of the sub-editor who passed some few years ago in the daily press the phrase " Solvuntur tabula rasa " ! The various words under " tache are confusing, but none of them is to-day much

used by the ordinary man. " Tack " is partly mixed up with " Tache," and the many usages it covers are noteworthy. The 'definition of " Tackle " (vi.) in Rugby football, " To seize and" stop an opponent when in possession of the ball,' r will hardly do. Full backs would be only too happy if every time they tackled, they were able to stop. " To seize or try to stop " -would be an improvement in the wording. " Taffy "for Welsh- man appears to begin in 1700. " Tagraggery " is noted as " chiefly Carlylese." " Tail " is a long and excellent article, but it is surpassed in length by " take," one of the most difficult words to analyze and arrange which Sir James can have- encountered. We should have been inclined to associate 7, the transitive use " of an injurious or destructive agency, natural or supernatural,, magical, etc.," with 10, " to captivate, delight, charm " ; and pure pleasure would have impelled us to quote under the latter heading the

daffodils,

That come before the swallow dares, and take

The winds of March with beauty. We are glad to see Tennyson's " So took echo with) delight " included, and altogether the article is a wonderful piece of work.

" Talbot " (hound) is " understood to be derived, from the ancient English family name Talbot. ... but evidence is wanting."

For " tale," a mere story, a fiction, The London Herald (1867) is the only quotation of the last century. Admirers of Sir W. S. Gilbert will recall the lines

Tell a tale of cock and bull, Of convincing details full.

' Mr. Sludge ' could supply a verse quotation for " talent," special aptitude :

when you buy The actor's talent, do you dare propose

For his soul beside ?

" Tamal," " tamasha," and " tambouki " are- among foreign words which would puzzle most people. " Tampion," also " tompion," has, we note, nothing to do with the " Tompion clock " in ' Pickwick ' at the Bath Pump-room, sometimes spelt without the capital letter. This clock, was given by " the father of English watch- making " to the city of Bath in 1709.

" Tandem " is, as a quotation from our owir columns in 1850 explains, " a practical pun now naturalized in our language." Words of such origin must be very rare ; we recall only " dicky," which is possibly TO/^, and certainly slang. We have always been a little doubtful about the meaning of the " tang " in Kate's tongue which made her unpopular (' Tempest,' II. ii. 52), and Sir James justifies our doubts. The " Tantalus " which holds spirits has not been traced back further than 1898. " Tariff Reform " begins in ' The Century Dictionary ' (1891) as " in general a movement away from Protection." The introduction of Daudet's ' Tartarin ' into English is duly noted; while Moliere's "Tartufe" has made English nouns and adjectives. " Task," "taste," and " tax" are other articles of great interest ; and " tea," with its derivatives, occupies a good deal of space, being prefaced by an in- teresting note as to pronunciation.

Sir James Murray and his staff have of late lost some devoted helpers. It is all the more- credit to them that they are able to make such regular advance in their arduous work.