Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 2.djvu/294

 286

NOTES AND QUERIES.

[9 th S. II. OCT. 8,

every year from Windsor Forest to keep the bridge in repair. The new name would denote the wharf where these tree -trunks were landed. From quite another source is the name of Minehead, in Somerset, which is probably Celtic. The Domesday form points to the Welsh Maenhafod, the summer resi- dence (hafod) on the rock (maen). We now come to a larger class, which may have originated in the practice of erecting on a post the head of some animal as a boundary mark or a tribal emblem. The curious name Thickhead (A.-S. Tykenheved) means the kid's head (A.-S. ticcen, a kid). In the 'Boldon Book ' Consett, a place in Durham, is called Conekesheved, which would mean the coney's or rabbit's head. The ' Boldon Book ' also tells us that Gateshead was called Gatesheved, under which name Bishop Hugo erected it into a burg. It is also mentioned by Bede, who says the name meant the goats head. This is probably right, if not strictly in accordance with West Saxon grammar, though supported by such names as Gaddes- den (A.-S. Gatesden) in Herts, and Gates- garth in Cumberland. There is a Swineshead in Worcestershire, and one in Lincolnshire called Swineshedfod in a charter, and there is a Swineshead Hundred in Gloucestershire (H.R. Swinesheved). Hartshead in York- shire is Hertheved in the 'Nomina Villarum,' and there is a Hartshead in Lancashire and a Sheepshead in Leicestershire. Neatis- head and Osnead in Norfolk are from the same animal as Farcet in Hants, which appears in a charter as Fearresheafod, the bull's head. In modern English the word is used differently, and we get such terms as Railhead, Gillhead, and Downhead.

ISAAC TAYLOR.

WE must request correspondents desiring infor- mation on family matters of only private interest to affix their names and addresses to their queries, in order that the answers may be addressed to them direct.

"To EAT HUMBLE PIE." Is anything known of this phrase (in the sense of "be submis- sive") before its appearance in 1830 as an East Anglian dialect saying in Forby (Ap- pendix, 432) "? Forby (or his editor) appears to be the originator of a well-known guess as to the origin of the phrase, which he (or his editor), indeed, as became a scholar, offered cautiously and modestly enough :

"It may possibly be derived from the umbles of the deer, which were the perquisite of the hunts- man ; if so, it should be written umble'pie."

But this mere tentative suggestion has been retailed by later writers as a piece of histo- rical fact, apparently without any further examination of the matter. To me, after some investigation of the evidence, the guess seems rather unlikely. There is no reason to conclude that umble pie was in any way a dish of humble or mean character, but very much to the contrary. References to umble pie and recipes for making it are numerous in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in no instance that I have seen is it men- tioned with any disparagement ; in several the reverse is the case. Thus in 'N. & Q.,' 1 st S. i. 54, there is a copious extract from ' The Accomplisht Lady's Delight 'of 1683, giving "A Bill of fare for a Gentleman's House about Candlemas," " A Banquet for the same Season," and " A Bill of Fare upon an Extra- ordinary Occasion," of which the "Second Course " consists of :

" 1. Jellies of all sort ; 2. A dish of Pheasants ;

9. A lumber pye; 14. A dish of cram'd

chickens ; 15. A dish of stewed oysters ; 16. A Marchpane ; 17. A dish of Fruits ; 18. An umble

pye."

Here the "umble pie" certainly stands in the best of company, as it does also in 1669 in Digby's 'Closet Opened' (1677), p. 203: "To season Humble - Pyes and to roast Wild Duck." Nor is it less honoured in 1750 in E. Smith's 'Compleat Housewife,' p. 34, where elaborate directions are given to teach how " an umble pye is made." My conclusion from this and much other evidence is that the notion that submissive humility was called " eating humble pie " because umble pie was a mean dish, fit only for a humble board, is unfounded in fact ; and that either there is (pace Forby and his guess) no connexion at all between umble pie and the eating of humble pie, or that, if there is .one, it is merely jocular and punning, as jn numberless slang phrases, e. g., "to go to Bedford" or "to the land of Nod," in the sense of " to become sleepy," or "to the United States" in the sense of " to be married," where nobody seeks to " explain the joke " by solemnly proving that either of the former localities is or was of a somnolent character, or that the United States were once a kind of Gretna Green. The joke is all in the sound. It is not impos- sible that the first person who spoke of "eating humble pie" knew that there was such a dish as " umble pie," and was making a witticism upon its name ; but there is no evidence, and no need to assume that he was. We do not seek for an ulterior explana- tion when we hear of the proverbial " peck of dirt " which it is said every one must eat