Page:Studies in Lowland Scots - Colville - 1909.djvu/265

Rh explained as from haver, to talk foolishly, itself of unknown origin.

Jigot, Fr. gigot, leg of mutton.

Jambs, sides of a fire-place; Fr. jambe, a leg.

Pace, paiss, peise=weights of a clock; Fr. peser, to weigh—regularly used in the seventeenth century, long obsolete.

Parish, Fr. paroisse. Mediæval English as well as Scotch.

Pend, and paund; Fr. pendre, to hang; an archway, a hanging round a bed, a valance.

Petticoat-tails, species of shortbread; as if from petits-gatelles (Fr. gâteau, a cake). See Meg Dods's "cookery" in "St. Ronan's Well."

Popinjay, Fr. papegai, the parrot. See "Old Mortality."

Puppie—"A preen to see the puppie-show," children's play; a puppet show; Fr. poupée, a doll.

Sklate, slate; Fr. éclater, to fly into fragments.

Spaul, the shoulder; Fr. épaule; Lat. spatula.

Sybows, a species of onion, young onions; Fr. ciboule; Lat. cepula, cepa, an onion.

Joist, a beam. "When the building is first joist heigh" ("Glas. Records," 1696); M.Eng. gyste, jist; O.Fr. gîste, place to lie on (Cotgrave); M.Fr. gîte, lodging, etymologically a support for the floor. Scots distinguishes joist (jaste), just (jüste), juice (jice).

Toolye, tuilzie, a broil, quarrel; Fr. touiller, to mix confusedly.

Turner, a coin once very common in Scotland=2d. Sc.=a bodle; Fr. tournois, because coined at Tours.

Tureen, a soup basin; Fr. terrine, an earthen pan; Lat. terra, earth.

Treviss (common in Scots and in Chaucer), division between stalls in a stable; O.Fr. tref; Lat. trabs, a beam.

Tweel—"Row weel the bonnie tweel, row weel the plaidie;" Fr. toile, cloth.

Burns was proud enough of his French to air it in his correspondence, but the words he blends with his native vernacular must represent the popular absorption of centuries.