angel was originally a messenger; that a
martyr is a witness; an apostle, one sent;
and an advocate, one who speaks to or for: that
a pagan was one who dwelt in towns; and a
heathen, according to some, a dweller in the
country or on heaths, according to others, and
more probably, one of the idolatrous Danes from
Hoedreland. A divine was of the school and manner
of learning of Dems Scotus, the great hair splitter
of his time. Mammetry and mammet, old words
for idol worship, and dolls, toys, or idols, were
only corruptions of Mahomet, and Mahometry.
The leopard was the lion-pard, and the camel-
leopard the camel-lion-pard. Cambric took its
name from Cambray, where that special fabric
was originally manufactured; crape from Cyprus;
diaper from Ypres; damask from Damascus, as also
damson, or Damascene plum; dimity from Damietta;
cordwain, or cordovan, from Cordova, where
the best leather was made, whence cordwainer
or cordonnier, shoemaker; the biggen, a certain
kind of cap, was taken from the Béguines, who
first wore it; the cravat from the Croats, or
Crabats, as they were called; muslin came from
Moussul; calico from Calicut; padusoy was
Padua soy, or silk; a mantua-maker, the maker
of a certain court gown called a mantua, and
fashionable at the city of that name, hence
mantles; a milliner was a Milaner, or Milanese
worker, famous for their taste and skill in
making ladies' head-dresses. Hurricane is the
Anglicised version of ouragan, storm; the curfew
was couvre-feu, put out the lights; and
thrall and thraldom come from the custom of
thrilling or drilling the ears of slaves in token
of their servitude. But this is questionable.
Those last examples bring us to the time of the
Normans and Saxons, and here we find, perhaps,
the most interesting studies of all to us as
Englishmen. To trace back our Latin derivatives
to their original or ethical meanings is
pleasant enough, but to map out the exact line
of the Conquest, and trace back by words the
precise kind and amount of influence exercised
by the invaders, helps us on in our history as
well as in our knowledge of language, and clears
up the question of races as well as of roots. It
is a help to us to know that the two most
important and virile parts of speech, the noun and
adverb, are for the most part Saxon; the adjective
and adverb for the most part Norman, or French-
Latin, save in the simpler and more expressive
examples. Also, that "almost all words relating
to agriculture and to handicraft trades, as well
as the names of cattle in the field, and the
implements of husbandry, are Saxon; while words
relating to skilled warfare, as well as the names
of animals when cooked and served at table, are
of Norman-French origin. The word 'agriculture'
indeed is of Latin derivation, but we have
the Saxon word 'husbandry' signifying the same
thing; while tillage, ploughing, sowing, reaping,
thrashing, winnowing, mowing, and harvesting, are
all Saxon words, as are also the plough, the
spade, the rake, the scythe, the reaping-hook;
with grass, hay, straw, meadow, field, barn, corn,
wheat, oats, barley, and many others."

The cattle in the field were Saxon: turned into food
and prepared for table they were Norman. So
long as they were objects of care and servile
tending they belonged to the conquered, when
they were matters of refinement and enjoyment
they came to the conquerors. Cow became
beef, sheep mutton, a calf was veal, and deer
venison, swine was euphuised into pork, and
the generic name of poultry massed all the ruder
terms of cock and hen, and duck and chicken, and
the like, into a polite whole. Fowl, volaille,
also comes from the same source, say some;
others, that it is from the Saxon fugel, or Danish
fuyl. Bacon is good Saxon: from buken, the
beech-tree; Saxon pigs being chiefly fed on beech
mast, as are their German relations to this day.
All the days of the week are Saxon; all the
months are Latin; three of the seasons—
spring, summer, winter—are Saxon, but autumn,
which ought to be harvest-time, is French; the
peasantry, however, for the most part, vindicate
our native tongue and speak of the season as
harvest-time only; while the Americans, borrowing
their image from their forests, not their
lands, call it by the singularly beautiful name of
Fall. Fall for the forest, harvest for the field;
how much more significant and expressive than
the mere arbitrary sign of Autumn! It is always
said that almanack is from an Arabic word,
signifying calendar or day tables, but Dean Hoare
gives us what seems a much better and more
likely derivation. "The ancient Saxons," he
says, "kept a note of the course of the year on
square sticks, on which they carved the course of
the moons of the whole year, by which they
knew when the new moons, full moons, and
changes would occur, as also their festival days;
and such a carved stick they called almonaght,
that is, all-moon-heed, by which they took heed
or regard of all the moons in the year." They
counted time by nights, and ages by seasons;
as se'nnight, seven nights; fortnight, or, as
anciently, fortènyght, fourteen nights; and that
they were so many winters old. The names of
most handicraft trades are Saxon, as smith, one
who smiteth—given to all trades where the
hammer was used; bricklayer, stone-cutter,
waller, cartwright, and shipwright, shoemaker,
and others; carpenter, French, was originally
wood-smith, and tailor, also French, was
originally synder, meaning a cutter. The present
German is schneider, which is not so far out;
and to sunder comes from the same root. The
native rough-hewn material for handicraft trades
was also Saxon; as leather, wood, brick, stone,
slate, gold, silver, lead, glass, cloth, &c., but
war and warlike nomenclature went to the
Norman, save the weapons in use before the
conquest—sword, shield, spear, bow, bolt, or
arrow, and axe. But while general and
lieutenant, captain, soldier—the paid man—infantry
and cavalry came from the French, the sturdy
yeomen, or yewmen, retained their Saxon name
and office; as did the seafaring man, the fleet,
and the skippers. Indeed, most of the naval
terms are Saxon, in curious contradistinction to
the military. There has always been a marked