Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/198

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The Old and Middle English.
169


To prick is used in the sense that Macaulay loved, and that Croker blamed:

‘An erl, þat he saw priken þore,
Ful noblelike upon a stede.’ — Line 2639.

As might be expected, there are many Norse words in the Havelok. I give those which England has kept, together with one or two to be found in Lowland Scotch.

Beyte (bait), from the Icelandic beita (incitare).
Big, from the Icelandic bolga (tumere).
Bleak, from the Icelandic bleikr (pallidus).
Blink, from the Danish blinke.
Boulder (a rock), from the Icelandic ballaðr.
Coupe, as in horse-couper, from the Icelandic kaupa (emere).
Crus (Scotch crouse), from the Swedish krus (excitable).
Ding, from the Icelandic dengia, to hammer.
Dirt, from the Icelandic drit (excrementa).
Goul (to yowl, ululare), from the Icelandic gaula.
Grime, from the Norse grima (a spot).
Hemp, from the Icelandic hampr, not from the Old English hanep.
Put[1] (to throw), from the Icelandic potta.
Sprawl, from the Danish sprœlle.
Stack, from the Danish stak.
Teyte (tight, active), from the Norse teitr (lively).

Besides these Scandinavian words, we find in the Have­lok other words now for the first time employed. Such are lad (puer), from the Welsh llawd;[2] stroute, our strut (contendere), a High German word; boy (puer), akin to the Suabian buah; to butt, akin to the Dutch botten; but

  1. Hence comes the phrase, putting the stone, first found in this poem.
  2. Lodes, the Welsh female of this word, has become our lass.