158 BROOMALL : 



quarters. This reminds us of Latin sestertius for semistertius , 

 or German Imlb vier. Another old form is well preserved in 

 the naming of those intermediate points of the compass 

 called the "by" points. North by east, for example, is the 

 first point east of north. This is simply the modern version 

 of Anglo-Saxon be-eastan, to or on the east of, her-be-eastan, 

 east of here. Were the idea only modern, the phrase would 

 be east of 7iorth. The student of Early English will recognize 

 in these speciiuens the ring of the old tongue. 



Aft and abaft are now used only by the sailor. To the 

 landsman aft, abaft and after have no particularly distinctive 

 and relative value. On shipboard, however, these words are 

 neatly distinguished in grammatical use, aft as adverb, abaft 

 as preposition, and after as adjective. Thus the sailor would 

 say, " He walked aft : he stood abaft the wheel : he watched 

 the after-sails." 



While the sailor's language, almost as a dialect, thus pre- 

 serves old forms, yet its progressiveness from generation to 

 generation gives free play to the operation of phonetic 

 changes. The old variants strop for strap and strake for 

 streak, used by sailors, as well as bilo;e for huls;c and taut for 

 tight, show both the relation and the distinction between the 

 technical language and the standard language. The free 

 •play of phonetic change is illustrated in channels for chain- 

 zvales, gunnel \ox gunwale, ricllock iox rowlock, and tnanicl for 

 tree-7iail. The same thing appears in the pronunciation of 

 studding-sail as stuns' I, forecastle -a.?, foe' s' I , boivline asbo-li?/, 

 leezvard as looWd, forward as for-d, topsail as tau-s'l and boat- 

 swain as bo-s'n. But we can hardly expect that the diction- 

 ary will soon acknowledge y7?^Vvv for flukes, davies for davits, 

 bully-beef for bouilli-beef or dilly-wreck for derelict. Yet pro- 

 nunciations such as these are facts in nautical parlance. 

 Whose authority is higher than the sailor to whom these 

 words belong ? 



The English sailor has adopted many words from foreign 

 tongues with which his voyages have brought him in contact. 



