204
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th 8. XI. MARCH U, 1903
Majesty, for many parts in her most noble
and virtuous nature to be found, resembled
to the spire " ; and in the figure itself he uses
the words top and spire. Cominius, referring
to the doings of Coriolanus, says, in effect, it
would be modest to vouch them to the top
and spire of praises, and this figure of Putten-
hara's, "the Spire," certainly praises Queen
Elizabeth. The word spire is only used once
by Shakespeare. W. L. RUSHTON.
(To be continued.)
"OSS": ITS ETYMOLOGY.
THIS word is doubtless familiar to many of the readers of 'N. & Q.' In the year 1885 the English Dialect Society printed a paper by Thomas Hallam on ' Four Dialect Words ' the words being clem, lake, nesh, and oss. From this paper we may see that the word "oss" was in common use over a large portion of England, and was known in the border counties of Wales. 'E.D.D.' tells us that the area of the word is very extensive from Cumberland to Oxfordshire, is well known in the West Midlands, and has crossed the border into Radnorshire and Montgomery- shire. The word has not been made the sub- ject of persistent inquiry in ' N. & Q.' I can only find the word " oss " mentioned in the Index to the Fourth Series. In 4 th S. x. 16 a correspondent speaks of it as a Lincolnshire word. But I think there must have been some mistake here, as neither in Mr. Hallam's exhaustive account, nor in 'E.D.D.,' with its numerous keen - scented correspondents, do we find any trace of the word so far to the east.
From the examples of usage in 'E.D.D.' we may infer that the various meanings of the word were derived from one common ground- meaning, namely, to prognosticate, to foretell by means of present signs. In dia- lect usage the word "oss " generally means to show promise, intention. Here are some instances taken from 'E.D.D.' : (1) In Here- fordshire a new servant is said to "oss" well ; (2) in Cheshire people say, " It * osses ' to rain"; (3) in Worcestershire, "'E ' ossed ' to jump the bruck, but 'e couldna do't" ; '"E stood up and 'ossed ' to fight me"; (4) (scene in a Sunday-school in Cheshire) "Why did Noah go into the ark?" "Please, teacher, because God was 'ossin' for t' drown the world."
In Nares's ' Glossary ' (s.v. osse), ed 1876, three instances of our word are given in the sense of an augury, from Holland's 'Ammia- nus Marcellinus,' published in 1609. In the West-Midland text of the ' Wars of Alexander '
written about the middle of the fifteenth
century (E.E.T.S. Extra Series, xlvii.), the
verb occurs in the sense of to prophesy, being
used of an oracle which ' ' ' osses ' on this
wyse " (see index).
From what has been said it is perfectly clear that the original meaning of the word "oss " was to augur, to foretell, to prognosti- cate. What is its etymology 1 ? In Mr. Hal- lam's paper it may be seen that twenty years ago the derivation most in favour was from Fr. oser, to dare, to venture. But no one would attempt to defend such an etymology nowadays. Fr. oser could not have given oss in English ; it could only have given ose, riming with pose and rose. Before we ven- ture on suggesting an etymology for "oss," let us examine the principal dialect forms of the word as given in ' E.D.D.' The forms are oss, hoss, ause, hawse, and with added t, ost, oast, host, aust. I think we cannot be wrong in assuming that of these forms the form hawse is nearest to the original source. Is it possible that this dialect word hawse is iden- tical with O.E. hdlsian, to augur, foretell, divine (cf. hdlsere, a soothsayer ; hdlsung, divination)? There is a West-Country word in 'E.D.D.' which appears to give support to the identification of hawse (oss} with O.E. hdlsian. The word is halsen (O.E. *hdlsnian), which is common in various forms from Hampshire to Cornwall in the sense of to predict, divine, conjecture. The variants are hawsen, and, with the usual Western verbal suffix ?/, halseny, ausney, osney forms exactly parallel to the "oss" forms cited above. Therefore I think it may be agreed that "oss" corresponds to O.E. hdlsian both in form and meaning. But it may be asked, How can the fifteenth-century form be ex- plained? How could an O.E. hdlsian have become osse in fifteenth - century English ? I think we must assume that the "osse" in the * Wars of Alexander ' is due immediately to an unrecorded Anglo-French osser imported into French from O.E. hdlsian. That an O.E. hdlsian could become O.F. osser is proved from the fact that O.H.G. halsberg ( = O.E. healsbeorg) is represented by O.F. osberc, " a hauberk," in the ' Chanson de Roland.' Com- pare It. osbergo in Dante's 'Inferno,' and Prov. ausberc. So in O.F. we find ossi for alsi, " aussi " (see Godefroy).
Lastly, it may be mentioned that the Welsh osio, " to offer to do," is a borrowing from the English "oss." Prof. Rhys told us long ago that osio cannot be explained as a genuine Celtic word. See the etymological note in the paper mentioned above.
COMESTOE OXONIENSIS.
