10 On Words. 



plumber is a ploinbier, because lie works in lead. Many other 

 foreign words are among us in Great Britain in a corrupted state. 

 The old Scotch sword called an Andrew Ferrara was made by 

 Andrea, of Ferrara, in Italy. A shoemaker sometimes calls him- 

 self a cordwainer. The Moors of Cordova, like their brethren in 

 Morocco, were famous for leather, which was called cordovan — 

 hence cordovanner. Some words lose their meaning. A villain 

 is not a bad character, but simply a man of low rank. A knave 

 in old English is merely a fellow ; in fact, it is the German 

 knabe, a boy. A ruffian probably dates from the days wiien 

 Moorish pirates were a terror to mariners. The pirates of the 

 Riff coast of Barbary are still called Eiffians. A beefeater is 

 simply a buffetier, or one who attends the buffet or sideboard. 

 Punch and Judy is a corruption of Pontius Pilate, Governor of 

 Judea, the play being a very old one. A footman was really a 

 footman, when he ran with a pole in his hand before the old 

 lumbering coach to be ready to assist when it upset in the almost 

 impassable roads. One might go on for ever on such a subject. 

 We are daily speaking Greek and Latin and know it not. These 

 have long been the languages of learning and science, and now 

 are applied to every new invention from a telegraph to a bicycle 

 or a motor car. Our very ailvertisements are of excelsior soaps 

 and eureka boots. A few centuries can make a language almost 

 unintelligible, as anyone will find who reads Barbour's " Bruce " 

 or Chaucer's " Canterbury Pilgrims." But every new invader 

 leaves his mai'k, and it is interesting to know who has been 

 there, Briton, Roman, Saxon, or Norseman, not to speak of the 

 Gaelic-speaking wild Scots of Galloway whose place names sound 

 familiar to any Highlander at the present day. Galloway, too, 

 abounds in Macs, many of them added on to the names of 

 English who had settled among them, such as M'George, 

 M'William, &c., which contrast curiously with the native 

 M'Lellans, M'Cullochs, M'Cubbins, M'Guffogs, M'Turks, and 

 M'Gowans. The Norseman is much less in evidence than in 

 Dumfriesshire, thougli a good many hills are called fells, and 

 along the coast we have a good many unmistakable Norse names, 

 as might be expected, when they held the whole west coast, 

 including the coasts of Ireland and the Isle of Man. Mr 

 Worsaae tinds the Mac added on to Norse names, giving as 

 instances M'Kittrick, the son of Hittrick, and M'Manus, the son 

 of Mat^nus. If there is anything tliat strikes a stranger in the 



