Oct. 22. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



^91 



Miss Cuzzona. They are however in fact selected 

 from two poems addressed to daughters of Lord 

 Carteret, and are put together arbitrarily, out of 

 the order in which they stand in the original 

 poems. There is a short poem by Philips in the 

 same metre, addressed to Signora Cuzzoni, and 

 dated May 25, 1724, beginning, " Little syren of 

 the stage;" but none of the verses quoted in the 

 Treatise on the Bathos are extracted from it. 



Namby-pamby belongs to a tolerably numerous 

 class of words in our language, all formed on the 

 same rhyming principle. They are all familiar, 

 and some of them childish; which last circum- 

 stance probably suggested to Pope the invention 

 of the word Tiamby-pamby, in order to designate 

 the infantine style which Ambrose Philips had in- 

 troduced. Many of them, however, are used by 

 old and approved writers ; and the principle upon 

 which they are formed must be of great antiquity 

 in our language. The following is a collection of 

 words which are all formed in this manner : : 



Bow-wow. — A word formed in imitation of a | 

 dog's bark. Compare the French aboyer. j 



Chit-chat. — Formed by reduplication from cAa^. 

 A word (says Johnson) used in ludicrous conver- j 

 sation. It occurs in the Spectator and Tatler. I 



Fiddle-faddle. — Formed in a similar manner ' 

 from to fiddle., in its sense of to trifle. It occurs 

 in the Spectator. \ 



Flim-flam. — An old word, of which examples 

 are cited from Beaumont and Fletcher, and Swift. 

 It is formed ivova flam, which Johnson calls "a 

 cant word of no certain etymology." Flam, for a 

 lie, a cheat, is however used by South, Barrow, : 

 and Warburton, and therefore at one time ob- 

 tained an admission into dignified style. See , 

 Nares' Glossai-y in v. _ j 



Hob or nab. — That is, according to Nares, | 

 have or have not; subsequently abridged into j 

 hob, nab. Hob or nob is explained by him to mean , 

 " Will you have a glass of wine or not ? " Hob, ' 

 nob is applied by Shakspeare to another alterna- ; 

 tive, viz. give or take {Twelfth Night, Act III. j 

 Sc. 4.). See Nares in v. Habbe or Nabbe. j 



Handy-dandy. — "A play in which children | 

 change hands and places " (Johnson). Formed 

 from hand. The word is used by Shakspeare. \ 

 ' Harum-scarum. — " A low but frequent expres- ! 

 sion applied to flighty persons ; persons always in | 

 a hurry" (Todd). Various conjectures are offered 

 respecting its origin : the most probable seems to 

 be, that it is derived from scare. The Anglo- ! 

 Saxon word hearmsceare means punishment (see 

 Grimm, Deutsche Rechtsalterthibner, p. 681.) ; but 

 although the similarity of sound is remarkable, it 

 is difficult to understand how harum-scarum can 

 be connected with it. 



Heltei'-shelter. — Used by Shakspeare. Several 

 derivations for this word are suggested, but none 

 probable. 



Higgledy-piggledy. — "A cant word, corrupted 

 from higgle, which denotes any confused mass, as 

 higglers carry a huddle of provisions together" 

 (Johnson). It seems more probable that the word 

 is formed from pig; and that it alludes to the 

 confused and indiscriminate manner in which pigs 

 lie together. In other instances (as chit-chat, 

 flim-flam, pit-a-pat, shilly-shally, slip-slop, and 

 perhaps harum-scarum), the word which forms the 

 basis of the rhyming reduplication stands second, 

 and not first. 



Hocus-pocus. — The words ocus bochus appear, 

 from a passage cited in Todd, to have been used 

 anciently by Italian conjurers. The fanciful idea 

 of Tillotson, that hocus-pocus is a corruption of 

 the words hoc est corpus, is well known. Compare 

 Richardson in v. 



Hoddy-doddy. — This ancient word has varioiZB 

 meanings (see Richardson in ».). As used by 

 Ben Jonson and Swift, it is expressive of con- 

 tempt. In Holland's translation of Pliny it sig- 

 nifies a snail. There is likewise a nursery rhyme 

 or riddle : 



« Hoddy-doddy, 

 All legs and no body." 



Hodge-podge appears to be a corruption of 

 hotch-pot. It occurs in old writers. (See Richard- 

 son in Hotch-pot.) 



Hoity-toity. — Thoughtless, giddy. Formed from 

 the old word to hoit, to dance or leap, to indulge 

 in riotous mirth. See Nares in Hoit and Hoyt, 



Hubble-bubble. — A familiar word, formed from 

 bubble. Not in the dictionaries. 



Hubbub. — Used by Spenser, and other good 

 writers. Richardson derives it from hoop or 

 whoop, a shout or yell. It seems rather a word 

 formed in imitation of the confused inarticulate 

 noise produced by the mixture of numerous voices, 

 like mur-mur in Latin. 



Hugger-mugger. — Used by Spenser, Shak- 

 speare, and other old writers. The etymology is 

 uncertain. Compare Jamieson in Hudge-mudge. 

 The latter part of the word seems to be allied 

 with smuggle, and the former part to be the re- 

 duplication. The original and proper sense of 

 hugger-mugger is secretly. See Nares in v., who 

 derives it from to hugger, to lurk about ; but query 

 whether such a word can be shown to have existed ? 



Humpty-dumpty. — Formed from hump. This 

 word occurs in the nursery rhyme : 



" Humpty-dumpty sat on a wall, 

 Humpty-dumpty h&il a great fall," &c. 



Hurdy-gurdy. — The origin of this word, which 

 is quoted from no writer earlier than Foote, has 

 not been explained. See Todd in v. 



Hurly-burly. — This old word occurs in the well- 

 known verses in the opening scene oi Macbeth — 



'' When the hurly burly's done, 

 When the battle's lost and won"— 



