78
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. vn. JAN. 26, 1901.
FOX-NAMES (9 th S. vi. 446). I used to^know
an old earth-stopper in the Quorn country
who never referred to a fox except as sly
Reynolds." This name is indeed common
among rustics who (as I used to do) follow
the fox afoot. The origin of the name is
obvious enough. 0. C. B.
LAYMEN READING THE LESSONS IN CATHE- DRALS (9 th S. v. 376, 466) In the Anglican Cathedral at Adelaide the lessons on Sunday mornings are read regularly by a layman. In St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, the lessons are occasionally read by laymen.
ALEX. LEEPER.
Trinity College, University of Melbourne.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &e.
The Oxford English Dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray. Vol. IV. Green Gyzzern. By Henry Bradley, Hon. M.A.Oxon. Vol. V. In- validJew. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) THE new year brings with it, according to promise, two double parts of the great English dictionary, the advance in which is of the most encouraging nature. Under the care of Mr. Bradley, the first portion, extending over 135 pages, or 405 columns, concludes the fourth volume, covering the letters F and G. The part now first issued comprises 4.238 words and 16,204 quotations, as against 1,715 words and 1,610 quotations in the ' Century Dic- tionary,' the most advanced and important of com- petitors. As regards etymology, the instalment lias about the same number of words of Teutonic and Romance origin, together with some words chiefly in gymn, gyn, and gyr, of Greek derivation and others, in gua, guaca, guaiac, guano, &c. redolent of Spanish and Portuguese exploration of America. Green, the first word in the part, is used in many senses, by Shakespeare especially, as connected with wan or pale, in which sense we an bidden cf. the Greek x^wpoc and "in the green sickness." See also "in the green tree" and t< " keep the memory green." Of the " board of green cloth " a full history is given. The first use quotec 1 of this as equivalent to a billiard-table reaches u from Cambridge. For " green-eyed monster " ther is no citation earlier than Shakespeare. Milton has " green-eyed Neptune." The grey in greyhounr has no connexion with the adjectival or substantiva use of grey, and its source is unknown. Curiou information is supplied under gridiron. Grief ha a notable and an interesting history and develop ment : the earliest use quoted of "come to grief is from Thackeray's ' Newcomes.' Griffin, in th Anglo-Indian sense of a ne~wcomer, is of uncertai origin. Its use in a kindred sense goes back to th close of the eighteenth century. There seems n hint of its being derived from the name of som individual. Another word of unknown origin </ri/xe, a young salmon. Grimall-in ^a.^ is co jecturally derived from grey, adj., and malJcin Shakespeare has Grey-Malkin as the name of a fien or witch. Grist has an interesting history, now fo the first time fully discussed, as is the case als
rifrh the verb closely connected with it, grtnd.
Jrit, in the use "the true grit," seems to reach us
rom America. Grizzle=to fret is older in dialectal
se than any instance advanced. The derivation
f grog from Admiral Vernon's grogram cloak,
dvanced by Grose, is favourably regarded. On
he origin of groin, part of the human body, Prof,
keat has an interesting note. (?roow?=man child
r man is said to be of difficult etymology, there
eing no trace of the word in any Teutonic lan-
uage. The present sense, a man who attends to
Corses, was only contextual until the seventeenth
entury. The development of grovel, grovelling,
eems to involve some difficulty. Other words in
his part that repay close attention are grouse, grub,
rudge, guest, guild, and gush. Gun offers special
ittractions. In addition to the prefatory matter
ndispensable to the volume, Mr. Bradley gives a
aluable introduction to the letter G.
In the part under the direct charge of Dr.
Murray the letter I is finished and J is carried
lalf way. The innumerable words in in are dis-
)osed of, the letter ending with the word izzard,
i,n old name for z. Among the Latin words in ir
ntrudes what is called " the great word " iron,
pecial attention being directed to the combinations
ronclad and Ironsides. The history of iron itself
s difficult, and its origin is anything rather than
ilear, some of the early forms appearing very
emote from that now prevalent. It is very
itriking to find the phrase "the iron entered
.nto his soul" due to a mistranslation of the
Hebrew into the Latin of the Vulgate, the
iteral meaning of the Hebrew being that his
person entered into iron that is, chains.
Ironclad was first officially used in England in
1866. Ironside dates back to Edmund II., but, as
applied to Cromwellian troopers, was a nickname
of Royalist origin. Among words the origin of
which is confessedly difficult are Irish and irk=to
affect with weariness, &c. It is declared to be the
most troublesome of pronouns, and its, originally
written it's, has an edifying history of its own,
dating from the end of the sixteenth century.
Its was not admitted in the Bible of 1611,
nor does it appear in any work of Shakespeare
published in his lifetime. Few parts of the
' Dictionary ' are more interesting than that deal-
ing with the letter J, the growth of which is
exceedingly curious. Jack in its various senses
occupies many deeply interesting pages. We have
failed to note the word Jack-we for a strapping
woman of no virtue, which is, or was, in dialectal
use in the North, and is curious, as applying a
masculine word to a feminine object. The d in
jaundice, the origin of which is jaune, yellow, is a
phonetic accretion, as in astound, sound, thunder,
&c. Jaw is another word the origin of which is
difficult to trace, as is that of jeer. No satisfactory
origin for jerry-built, jerry -builder, &c., has been
found, one put forward in the press deriving it
from a Liverpool firm of builders not standing
investigation. In picking out a few plums from a
work which abounds in such we cannot but impress
upon our readers the importance of securing oppor-
tunities of universal access to a work the import-
ance and utility of which cannot be over-estimated.
Every literary institution should be compelled to
subscribe. We should be glad to participate in a
scheme for providing copies for such village insti-
tutions as cannot possibly afford the expense,
with the proviso that reasonable guarantees shall
