France, was as well known in England as in Germany.[1] Our per aventure, having been built into the English Bible centuries later, is likely to last. Old Teutonic words made way for the outlandish terms glory, renown, army, host, champion. England was becoming, under her great Edward, the most united of all Christian kingdoms; the yeomen who tamed Wales and strove hard to conquer Scotland looked with respect upon the high-born circle standing next to the King. What was more, the respect was returned by the nobles: we have seen the tale of the Norfolk farmer at page 200; and this, I suspect, could hardly have happened out of England. France has always been the country that has given us our words for soldiering — from the word castel, brought over in 1048, to the word mitrailleuse, brought over in 1870. Englishmen of old could do little in war but sway the weighty axe or form the shield-wall under the eye of such Kings as Ironside or Godwine's son; it was France that taught us how to ply the mangonel and trebuchet.[2] Many hunting terms, borrowed from the same land, may
- ↑ Our word adventurer seems to be sinking in the mire. A lady told me the other day that she thought it unkind in Sir Walter Scott to call Prince Charles Edward ‘the young Adventurer.’ Thus, what but sixty years ago described a daring knight, now conveys to some minds the idea of a scheming knave. It is a bad sign for a nation, when words that were once noble are saddled with a base meaning. Further on, I shall call attention to the Italian pœnitentia and virtus.
- ↑ The Editor of Sir John Burgoyne's Life, in 1873, complains of the poverty of the English military vocabulary, when he talks of a coup de main and an attaque brusquée, Vol. II. 346. Even so late as 1642, we were forced to call in French and German engineers, at the outbreak of the Civil Wars.
