CH. I TANTIVY 1 5 



No word resembling tantivy, either in sound or in 

 spelling, occurs in the nine hundred pages of the 

 great work on Hunting by the Comte de Bey, writ- 

 ten in 1635.* 



There are two possible derivations of this word ; 

 it is not in the French dictionaries except in that 

 of Chambaud, 1805, and seems to be of English ori- 

 gin ; its usual meaning is ' at full speed.' Chambaud 

 gives it as, 'Tantivy, au grand galop.' 



The following quotations give both derivations : 



Hunter's Encyclopedic Dictionary gives ' Tantivy 

 ' [from the note of a hunting horn], swiftly, a rapid, 

 ' violent gallop. As a verb, to hurry off.' 



Todd's Johnson's Dictionary gives ' Tantivy, from 

 ' the note of a hunting horn, so expressed in articu- 

 Tate sounds. From tanta vi, says Skinner, Dr. 

 'Johnson. The old French language has tentiveux 

 'to denote an eager person "homme qui est tente 

 'par tout ce qu'il voit : avide etc." To ride tantivy 

 ' is to ride at great speed.' 



Godefroy, Dictionnaire de V ancienne langue fran- 

 caise, gives ' Tentir : faire entendre un son " Les 

 ' cors as bouces commencent a tentir." Retentir 

 is from tentir, and this again from the Latin, tinnire, 

 to sound. 



* Les Meuttes et Veneries de Jean de Ligniville, Chevalier, 

 Comte de Bey. Introduction et notes par Ernest Jullien et 

 Henri Gallice. Paris, 1892. 2 vols, quarto. 



