CHAPTER XIII 



TUSSY-MUSSIES 



" There be some flowers make a delicious Tussie-Mussie or 

 Nosegay both for Sight and Smell." 



JOHN PARKINSON, A Garden of all Sorts of Pleasant Flowers, 1629. 



|O following can be more pro- 

 ductive of a study and love of 

 word derivations and allied word 

 meanings than gardening. An 

 interest in flowers and in our 

 English tongue go hand in hand. 

 The old mediaeval word at the 

 head of this chapter has a full 

 explanation by Nares as "A nosegay, a tuzzie-muz- 

 zie, a sweet posie." The old English form, tussy- 

 mose was allied with tosty, a bouquet, fuss and tusk^ a 

 wisp, as of hay, tussock^ and tutty, a nosegay. 

 Thomas Campion wrote : 



"Joan can call by name her cows, 

 And deck her windows with green boughs ; 

 She can wreathes and tuttyes make, 

 And trim with plums a bridal cake." 



Tussy-mussy was not a colloquial word ; it was 

 found in serious, even in religious, text. A tussy- 

 mussy was the most beloved of nosegays, and was 

 often made of flowers mingled with sweet-scented 

 leaves. 



296 



