314 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2«* s. vi. us., ocr. i6. '68. 



asked me -whether the priest understood the an- 

 cient Greek, and on my telling him he did so 

 perfectly, his lordship commenced asking him 

 several questions in good Oxonian phrase. Of 

 course the priest could not understand a word 

 thus pronounced ; neither could his lordship under- 

 stand the Hellenic pronunciation ; and at the time 

 expressed his opinion that it would be well if we 

 altered our system, and learned not only a lan- 

 guage but its proper pronunciation. A. A. 



ROAMEE, SAUNTEKER. 



(2°'» S. V. p. 268.) 



I am afraid my good friend the editor of the 

 Builder, in his etymology of these words, has rather 

 drawn upon his imagination than upon historical 

 facts. In reference to the words Roam, Roamer, 

 I fear your own reference to the Spanish and 

 Portuguese will not help us much to a solution of 

 the question, for the following reasons : — 



1. All the quotations prove that the words 

 " Romero, Romeria " never signified anything 

 else than a pilgrimage, whatever wise saws may 

 have passed current as to the rambling habits of 

 pilgrims. 



2. In the English and cognate languages the 

 word Roam and its derivatives cannot be shown 

 to have ever been used in this sense. 



3. The connexion between the Spanish romero 

 and the English roam is purely conjectural. Not 

 a tittle of evidence can be brought forward to 

 show the time or mode of the transference. No 

 corresponding word exists in the French or Italian 

 languages as applied to Roman pilgrimages. The 

 word roumieux, if once so applied, must have had 

 a very limited range and short existence. I have 

 not met with it in that wonderful repertory of 

 French mediaeval customs, Monteil's Histoire des 

 Franqais des divers Elats. Pelerin and Pelerimige 

 are the words uniformly employed. The nearest 

 approach in French is the verb roder, which it 

 would require a very bold speculator to connect 

 with Rome. 



In Italian '^ pelegrino" is the ordinary word 

 for " pilgrim," and " vagare," " scorrere," for 

 "roam." It would require very strong evidence 

 to prove that a word of such ordinary use could 

 be imported direct from Spain without calling by 

 France on the way. 



But, after all, is there any real difficulty in the 

 case ? The word roam carries the mark of its 

 parentage on its very countenance. English 

 words, especially monosyllables, containing the 

 diphthong oa, will be found, I think, pretty uni- 

 formly to be of Teutonic origin ; for instance, 

 loam, foam, toad, load, &c. In the present instance 

 the primitive word and its expansion of meaning 

 can be traced without any very great amount of 

 research. 



From the root raum, Ger., riim, Aug.- Sax., 

 are derived, Ger. rdumen, Ang.-Sax. rjjman, 

 Dutch ruymen, all of which have the same ori- 

 ginal meaning, to make room, to extend, to clear 

 the way. In this sense the word is used by 

 Robert of Gloucester (before 1272), the earliest 

 authority according to Richardson : — 



" Hii aligte with clrawe swerd, with matis mani on, 

 And with mani an hard strok rumede hor weie anon." 



From describing the act of moving about, to 

 extend and amplify, the word by a very easy 

 transition was applied to moving about for any 

 purpose. 



In the following quotation from Robert le 

 Brunne, the word partakes of both these senses : — 



" Sithen in Angleseie did set his pouilloun (pavilion), 

 Romand in his weie, cried pes in ilka toun." 



Piers Ploughman, early in the fourteenth cen- 

 tury, spells the word as at present : — 



" And now is Religion a rider, a roamer by the street." 



By the time of Chaucer (latter part of the four- 

 teenth century), the word had settled down to its 

 present application : — 



", This sorweful prisoner, this Palamon, 

 Goth in his chambre, roming to and fro." 



Saunter. — This word presents more difficulty 

 than the former, but there can certainly be no 

 occasion for resorting to the Spanish for its origin. 

 That the word is derived from the French seems 

 probable, from the free use of the preposition 

 sans in combination, as " sans-cceur," " sans-cu- 

 lottes," &c. in the French, and the equally free 

 use of it in England at the time of Shakspeare : — 



" Sans eyes, sans nose, sans taste, sans everj' thing." 



If it originated in France, whether from " sans- 

 terre " or " sainte-terre," it seems singular that 

 every trace of it should have disappeared from 

 the language, the expressive word " Jlaner" sup- 

 plying its place. The English authorities for 

 the word are comparatively modern, not ex- 

 tending beyond the Restoration, though it is pos- 

 sible diligent research might ascend a little higher. 

 A word of French derivation restricted to Eng- 

 land would point to the period of the Norman 

 dominion for its origin. Now we know that King 

 John, after his defeat and humiliation, acquired 

 the sobriquet oi " Sans-teri-e" or "Lackland." 

 We know also that his memory to the present 

 time has been detestable in the eyes of the Eng- 

 lish people. That the contemptible nickname 

 first applied to the meanest of our monarchs 

 should have become a term of reproach to a man 

 without a home, and from that should be applied 

 to idle rambling in general, seems neither un- 

 natural nor forced. In the absence of any single 

 example of the connexion of saunter with saintn 

 terre, either in English, French, or Italian, it must 

 be acknowledged to be a pis aller to have re- 



