Page:The Sources of Standard English.djvu/181

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152
The Sources of Standard English.


We see the sense of shunt given for the first time to scunian. Expulsi sunt (Vol. I. page 291) is translated ere out-schouned.

There are many Scandinavian words now found for the first time; as,

Dreg, from the Icelandic dregg (sediment).
Gnaist (gnash), from the Norse gnista.
Hauk, from the Icelandic haukr.[1]
Lurk, from the Norse lurke.
Molbery, from the Swedish mulbaer.
Slaghter, from the Norse slâtr.
Scalp, from the Norse skal (a shell).
Snub, from the Norse snubba (cut short).

Besides these, we find for the first time our cloud (nubes); in Vol. I. 43, we read in þe kloudes of þe skewe; ‘in nubibus aeris.’ Sky has therefore at last got its modern meaning. We see snere, akin to the Dutch snarren, to grumble; stuble (stipula) related to the Dutch stoppel. In Vol. II. page 53, conquassare is translated in three different manuscripts by squat, squacche, swacche (our squash), all akin to the Dutch quassen.

A few French words appear, such as fruitefull, oile, richesses; the last being the usual translation of divitiœ, and thus the Plural form of our word is accounted for. The older pais is sometimes turned into peas (pax). The word ire is used to translate the Latin ira; our kindred word yrre cannot have died out at this time: the Poet would think the Latin form more dignified than

  1. Our word for accipiter clearly comes from the Norse, and not from the Old English heafoc. So we have preferred the Norse form slâtr to the Old English slœge. A glance at Stratmann's Dictionary will show, that the South held to the Old English forms long after the Norse forms, now used by us, had appeared in the North.