CHAPTEE II. 



ORTHOGRAPHY. 



WE now come to consider the Orthography of the presently 

 accepted word Capercaillie, Capercailzie, or Capercally 

 with all the minor variations in the spelling of the terminal 

 half caillie. We may accept it as coming from the Gaelic 

 coille. 1 



1 Some of these variations are (a) Capercailye ; first used by Bellenden in 

 his translation of Hector Boetius in 1553. Bellenden has always been looked 

 upon as one of the best if not the very best authorities on the subject of 

 good old Scotch. He is followed, as late as 1808, by Dr. Jamieson in his 

 Scottish Dictionary, and also in the Supplement in 1825, with Capercalye and 

 Capercalyeane. (b) Capercailles. This is used by John Graham Dalyell in 

 his edition (1813) of ' The Chronicles of Scotland,' compiled from the original 

 manuscripts, going back as far as 1436 from which date the chroniclers 

 continued the accounts of the Latin author Hector Boece and his subsequent 

 translator ; and Mr. Dalyell is careful to "preserve the old spellings" used 

 in these manuscripts, which cannot be said to have been the case in preceding 

 editions. In the second edition, however (1749), we find the spelling Caper- 

 caillie. This last is also used by King James VI. in 1617 (see ' Old Stat. Acct. 

 of Scotland,' xx. 473), and has been adopted by later writers, as Hewitson 

 'Eggs of British Birds' 1 (1856), p. 277. (c) Capercaile (v. Foster, ' Synoptical 

 Cat. of Brit. Birds' (1817), p. 19. (d) Capercaly Elaine, ' Encyc. Rural 

 Sports,' p. 82 ; and Capercallie. (e) Capercali Lloyd's ' Game Birds of 

 Sweden.' (/) Capercally and CaperJcally Newton, l Encyc. Brit.,' ninth 

 edition, quoting Pennant ; and A. G. More, ' Ibis ' (1865). I cannot find 

 Pennant's authority in the old law books for the use of this spelling, but old 

 scribes sometimes spell a proper name two or three different ways in the same 

 page, (g) Capercalze is first used by Bishop Leslie (Ed. of 1675, and also in 

 the earlier edition of 1578), and was again used in Scots Acts, James VI., 

 1621, xxx., with the variation, Caperkailzeis ; and this is followed by other 



