Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 9.djvu/111

 ii s. ix. FEB. 7, 1914.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

105

ii. 382 ("there is no course so bad. . . .that is not better then change and alteration," book ii. chap, xvii., about a quarter from the end) ; iii. 197 (folly to wish to change the constitution, book iii. chap, ix., about a fifth from the beginning) 226 (would like to be in a country where rank was not so much regarded, book iii. chap, ix., about two- fifths from the end) ; 297 (Plato would have an honest man leave well alone, book iii. chap, xii., about a quarter from the begin- ning). L. R. M. STRACHAN. Heidelberg.

In this work of Prof. Skeat's, edited by me, and which has just been published by the Clarendon Press, there are two rather serious mistakes which I would like to correct and make known by the help of ' N. & Q.' They occur under the words " estridge " and " upsey."
 * THE TUDOR AND STUART GLOSSARY.'

It has been pointed out to me by Sir Sidney Lee and Mr. Percy Simpson that there can be no doubt that in the two passages in Shake- speare where " estridge " occurs, the word is a falconer's term for a goshawk, and is not used in its ordinary sense of ostrich. In ' 1 Henry IV.,' IV. i. 98, Richard Vernon, describing the o -mrades of the madcap Prince of Wales, says that tiiey were All furnish'd, all in arms,

All plum'd like estridges, that with the wind

Bated like eagles having lately bath'd. " To bate " was a technical term in falconry, meaning to beat the wings impatiently and flutter away from the fist or perch. Some examples of this use are found in ' N.E.D.' (s.v. ' Bate,' vb. 1 ).

In ' Antony and Cleopatra,' III. xi. 197, Enobarbus says that when frighted

The dove will peck the estridge. The dove might well be " frighted " by a hawk, but would have no reason to fear an ostrich.

The etymological connexion of this rare word for a hawk may be clearly seen by referring to the ' N.E.D.' (s.v. ' Ostreger '). We there learn that ostreger (also in form ostridger) was a technical term in falconry for a keeper of goshawks, a word of French origin; compare Old French ostruchier, austruchier, a derivative of mediaeval Lat. astruca, fern, of astrucus (more commonly astur cus), one of the many forms of astur, a large kind of hawk, see Ducange (s.v.). Lat. astur appears in Old French in the form ostour, and in modern French a gos- hawk is called autour. The bird is supposed

to have derived its name from the Asturias r a province of Spain.

Under * Upsey ' I have made a bad mistake in my explanation of the Dutch word zyn in the phrase op zyn Engelsch, " after the English fashion" (Sewel, s.v. 'Op'). Zyn is not the equivalent of zin, sense, meaning (comp. Germ. Sinn), but the possessive pro- noun, now generally spelt zijn (his), Germ. sein, so that the phrase literally means " after his English (fashion)." For this correction. I am indebted to my friend Dr. Henry Bradley. A. L. MAYHEW.

Oxford.

NOTES ON WORDS FOR THE ' N.E.D.'

Baaran, a tree of some kind. 1601. "This loue- is like the Baaran Leafe which scene pleaseth, but touched pierce th the skitme." Robert Greene, 'Penelopes Web,' B 3.

Basilez. 1606. "He began first to run ouer his- Alphabet of Congees, and then with a French Basilez, sliptout of their company." Thos. Dekker, ' Newes from Hell, 'D 2. ~

By-o, By-o-baby.\5Q. "In stead of singing and dandling by-os, they will rock them cleane ouer and) ouer." Thos. Nashe, ' Christs Teares,' p. 19 verso.

Ceraunon, a thunderbolt or aerolite. 1593. " Like to the stone Ceraunon, which whe it burneth most feruently, being broken distilleth most cold liquor." Robert Greene, * Mamillia,' L 4.

Checkthong. "I would the worst were curbd with a Checkthong as bigge as a towpenny halter." 'Plaine Percevall the Peace-Maker,' p. 7, B.Mus. 96 b. 17 (3).

Death as a verb. 1660. " Deaths up his sight with Nights black Signet seald." Ogilby's 'Homer's- Iliads,' book vi., p. 142, 1.4.

English, the Queen's. 1592. " Stjllhe must be

abusing the Queenes English without pittie." Thos. Nashe, * Strange Newes,' sig. B.

Fuss as verb. Apparently to mix or shuffle. 1755. [Young girls] " can scarce tell what is meant by lurching, revoking, fussing the cards, or the most common terms, now in use at all routs and assemblies." The Connoisseur, No. 60.

Gnyziard. 1606. "Factious Gnyziards, that lay traines of seditio to blow vp the como-wealth." Thos. Dekker, ' Newes from Hell,' F4.

Orooper. [The 'N.E.D.' has a citation, 1697.] 1671. "Groopers too. none of the meanest size." John Hardie, ' Last Voyage to Bermudas,' p. 14.

Gym. A hinge (?). 1594. " The dry rusty creek- ing of [the East-gates] hookes and gymmes." Thos.. Nashe, ' Christs Teares,' p. 27 verso.

In/it. An allowance corresponding to an outfit. 1841. "[Foreign] ministers received an out-fit before they left home, and an in-fit to return upon- A quarter's salary was the in-fit ; the out-fit wa& a year's salary, because it included the expense of setting up a house after the minister arrived at his post." Thomas H. Ben ton in the U.S. Senate t Benton's ' Thirty Years' View,' ii. 262/1 (1856).

Ravensfoot Tobacco, "call'd so from its blackness- and brightness." 1671. Note (t) to John Bardie's ' Last Voyage to Bermudas,' p. 18.

RICHARD H. THORNTON. 36, Upper Bedford Place, W.C.