Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/235

Rh More reputable illustrations, socially, are seen in mise, to spare, as in "Ons hé altije iets ver een arm mens to mise"—We have always something to spare for a poor man. A parallel is found in the Cumberland syper, as "The Hivverby lads at fair drinkin are Sypers." In mise, to spare, we are reminded of the Scots thrifty savings bank on the mantelpiece, the misert-pig, noted in Grigor's "Glossary." The reader of such a fine illustrator of old manners as Allan Ramsay meets with many interesting points in Cape Dutch. His Luckenbooths, from the Dutch luiken, to close, means the shops that were not mere temporary stalls. The lokman was the jailer, and the closed daisy was said to be locken. The vernacular lock for a quantity is no corruption of lot, but merely a synonym for a nievefu' or fist-full. In the expression, again, for "he is dressed," the Cape Dutch "hij trek aan" reminds us of Roger in the "Gentle Shepherd,"—

or the swains in "Hallowe'en,"—

The series "“zout, peper, mosterd, azjin (vinegar), zoet olie," is of much interest. The obscure azjin reminds us of Hamlet's "Woo't drink up Eysell?" where we see the same stem, essen to eat, with a different termination. The form olie for oil is exactly what was so familiar to Allan Ramsay and Fergusson in the vernacular of last century. It is the Dutch form of the Latin oleum. In old speech it was always a dissyllable, hence the Olie or Oylé wall of St. Katharine's, near Edinburgh.

But the Taal reminds us of many such points of social and trading contact between old Holland and Scotland. This is still more evident when we turn to farming terms. The Boer applied his rustic terms to the novel conditions of the mining industry. Thus he spoke of myn-pachts or mining leases, and here we recognise the pact and paction or bargain of our own country. But more strangely still, along the Forth or Dutch