Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/186

108  tchave—"gipsy lads." But a piece of etymology of which I am really proud is that of the word frimousse, "face," "countenance,"—a word which every schoolboy uses, or did use, in my time. Note, in the first place, that Oudin, in his curious dictionary, published in 1640, wrote the word firlimouse. Now in Romany, firla, or fila, stands for "face," and has the same meaning—it is exactly the os of the Latins. The combination of firlamui was instantly understood by a genuine gipsy, and I believe it to be true to the spirit of the gipsy language.

I have surely said enough to give the readers of Carmen a favourable idea of my Romany studies. I will conclude with the following proverb, which comes in very appropriately: En retudi panda nasti abela macha. "Between closed lips no fly can pass."