Feb. 17. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



123 



it by Dr. Skinner, amply suffice to excite curiosity 

 to see the whole of a work which would probably 

 afford much assistance in the investigation of 

 obsolete and provincial expressions. 



The only precise indication given by Dr. Skin- 

 ner, in regard to this dictionary, occurs in the 

 first part of his Etymologicon, under the word 

 Bartek, of which he offers the following deriva- 

 tion : "Author Dictionarii Anglici, anno 1658 

 editi, nescio quam bene, a Lat. Vertere deflectit." 

 I have found no other passage where the date of 

 publication is mentioned. 



I may observe that, having submitted the diffi- 

 culty of tracing this book to Sir Frederic Madden, 

 of whose friendly aid in all such inquiries I cannot 

 speak without grateful esteem, he informed me 

 that he had long sought in vain for this dictionary 

 so copiously used by Skinner. The late Mr. 

 Eodd, whose information in regard to the rarities 

 of early lexicography and works on language was 

 rarely at fault, was likewise unable to afford any 

 clue. Sir Frederic informed me that he supposed 

 it might have been a dictionary published with 

 the initials only of the author, about the middle 

 of the seventeenth century. I thought at one 

 time that it might have been an enlarged edition 

 of The English Dictionarie, by H. C, Gent., 

 namely, Henry Cockeram ; as may be gathered 

 from the signature to his Dedication to Lord 

 Boyle. Lowndes mentions the editions of 1632, 

 16.53, and 1659 ; and I possess those of 1631 (the 

 third, revised and enlarged) and 1655 (the tenth). 

 The comparison of the words cited by Skinner 

 fails, however, to identify his Dictionarium with 

 the curious little production of Cockeram. The 

 only work in which I have been able to trace 

 some of the curious archaisms cited by Skinner, 

 is the English Dictionary by Elisha Coles, school- 

 master, published about 1700. As, however, that 

 author makes boast of his knowledge of English 

 lexicography — and that he knew "the whole 

 succession from Dr. Bulloker to Dr. Skinner, from 

 the smallest Volume to the largest Folio" — It Is 

 very possible that he may have transcribed the 

 archaisms in question from the pages of Skinner,* 

 without even having seen the Dictionarium of 

 which I am in quest. 



Books of this class are often of rare occurrence ; 

 scarce a copy In some cases seems to have escaped 

 the heedless destructiveness of schoolboys. In 

 the hope, however, that this curious production 

 may exist in the collections of some reader of 

 " N. & Q.,"^ I ^ would Invite attention to the 

 numerous citations which occur in Skinner's 

 Etymologicon, from which I append the following 

 examples. _ They will at least enable the possessor 

 of any dictionary of the period to test Its Identity 

 with the Dictionarium Anglicum of 1658. 



In the first division of Dr. Skinner's work, com- 

 prising the more common English words traced to 



their derivation, he made comparatively little use 

 of the_ work to which my Inquiry relates. The 

 following word is found, however, which deserves 

 notice : 



" GowTS, vox quaj mihi in solo Diet. Angl. occurrit. 

 Author dicit esse Somersetensi agro usitatissimum, iisque 

 Canales Cloacas seu sentinas subterraneas designare," &c. 



A clue seems possibly here afforded to the 

 county of which the author of the Dictionarium 

 wasa native, or with which at least he was most 

 familiar. I may refer also to the following words 

 given in this first part of Skinner's work, as de- 

 rived from the same authority : Criplings, Gusset, 

 Hames, Haphertlet, Heck, Mammet, Mond, Pai- 

 sage, Portpain, Posade, Spraints, Tanacles, &c. 



In the more archaic, the fourth division of the 

 Etymologicon, comprising — 



"•Originationes omnium vocum antiquarum Anglicarum, 

 qus3 usque a Wilhelmo Victore invaluerunt, et jam ante 

 parentum setatem in usu esse desierunt," — 



the citations are more frequent. The following 

 may serve as examples : 



" Abarstick, vox quaj mihi in solo Diet. Angl. occurrit, 

 inter veteres Anglicas voces recensita, alioqui nunquam 

 vel lecta vel audita ; exponitur autem insatiabilis," &c. 



" BuTTEN, vox Venatica qua3 mihi in solo Diet. Angl. 

 occurrit, exp. lingua quam ego vix interpretari possum 

 (the first part in putting out a stag's head) forte prima 

 pars cornu cervi tenelli," &e. 



" Cebratane, Authori Diet. Angl. apud quem solum 

 occurrit (exp. a trunk to shoot out on),«Fistula pilarum 

 Explosoria, corrupt, a Fr. G. Sarbataine," &c. 



" Cosh, Authori Diet. Angl. apud quem solum vox 

 occurrit, dicit esse idem cum Cotterell, et utrumque Casam 

 exponit, ridicule ut solet omnia; Cotterell enim Casam 

 sed Villicum notat." 



" MusTKiCHE, Authori Diet. Angl. apud quem solum 

 occurrit, exp. a shoemaker's last, a voce Lat. quam Festus 

 ex Afranio eitat, Mustricula," &c. 



" RuTTiER, vox quaj mihi in solo Diet. Angl. occurrit 

 exp. ab Authore, a direction for the finding out of courses 

 by land or sea, also an old beaten souldier," &c. 



" Wreedt, vox qua} mihi in solo Diet. Angl. occurrit, 

 Author dicit vocem esse Belgicam quod facile credo, 

 nullus tamen credo esse Anglicam licet centies juraret, 

 vox oritur a Belg. Wreed, ssevus," &c. 



These may suffice as examples. I might farther 

 refer to the following : Afgodness (impiety), 

 Alifed (allowed), Anweald, Bagatell, Berry (ex- 

 plained as "villa virl nobilis"), Borith (a plant 

 used by fullers), Fisgig, Griffe graffe, or by 

 " hook or crook," Hord (vacca pregnans), 

 Himple (claudicare), Johling, Nacre, Pimpompet, 

 Tampoon, Vaudevil, and a multitude of other 

 uncommon or obsolete words, many of wliich are 

 not elsewhere found. Skinner, it should be ob- 

 served, gives his etymological observations in 

 Latin ; but It is probable that the Dictionarium 

 Anglicum was composed in English. 



I have found no other author of the seventeenth 

 century who appears to have availed himself of 



