222 LANGUAGES AND WORDS 



Anglo-Saxon names of birds. I remember that I pointed 

 out to him the list entitled " Nomina Avium " in ^Elfric's 

 Vocabulary, as printed at col. 131 of Wulcker's reprint 

 of T. Wright's " Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabu- 

 laries," London, 1884. This he at once copied out on 

 slips of paper and arranged in alphabetical order for ready 

 reference. 



By his assistance I was able to give a fuller account 

 of the phrase cocksJiut time than even that in the New 

 English Dictionary. This article is printed at p. 166 of 

 the Transactions of the (London) Philological Society for 

 1903-6. I mention his name twice on p. 167. 



The only letter I can find from him is the one which 

 I enclose, which gives useful information as to the word 

 Avocet. You will see that he asks me to tell him when I 

 publish my views on the subject. But I have not yet 

 done so, as I cannot find the ultimate origin of the word. 

 The only suggestion I know is that it is a derivative of 

 Lat. avis, a bird ; and this is by no means satisfactory. 

 All I know about it is that it occurs in Florio's Italian- 

 English Dictionary (1598), who gives : " Avosetta, a 

 fowle like a storke," and that he also spells it Avoserta. 



I also enclose the note which accompanied a present 

 of Part II of his " Dicty. of Birds " (1893). 



I am extremely sorry that I can help you no further. 



Yours, 



W. W. SKEAT. 



The letter concerning the Avoeet, to which reference 

 is made, reads : 



10.1.1906. 



MY DEAR SKEAT, 



Thanks once more. I find it was Gesner who 

 first described the Avocet and published its name over- 

 leaf I have transcribed the passage. Aldrovandi, whose 

 3rd volume of " Ornithologia " was not published till 

 1603, though an Italian, added nothing to the point. I 

 don't know, but I should infer that Gesner, who was a 

 modest man and did not vaunt his own experience, 



