ON ERRATA RECEPTA. 319 



spread napkin ; hence the term mappa mundi was applied to it, 

 and hence has come the term applied by us to that and all lesser 

 geographical delineations. — Mappe, by a not uncommon change of 

 m into n, has become in later French nappe, whence again has not 

 only sprung our diminutive napkin, but, — by a singular aphseresis, 

 arising from the influence of our indefinite article " an " before a 

 vowel — the English word apron also, which is, in strict propriety, a 

 napperon — that is, a small napkin doing pinafore duty.* Apropos 

 also of vestments and their material, we may here notice surplice. 

 This is sur-pelisse, something thrown over the vestis pellicea, the fur- 

 lined and more closely-fitting undergarment. With -plice for pelisse 

 we may compare plush for peluche — a derivative not of pellis, but of 

 pilus — whence also an English word pile in the sense of nap, &c. 



The uncouth Americanism " Fillibuster " may have occasioned us 

 some perplexity. It has arisen from the equally uncouth French 

 Jlibustier ; and this is said to have sprung from fiihot, the French 

 rendering of the Low Dutch vlieboot, which in plain English is Jly- 

 hoat — a small vessel built for speed. 



In writing down, as we do, a certain vessel of war, a " frigate," 

 employing in the first syllable an i, we have perhaps unconsciously 

 recovered the stem-vowel of the original word, this being fabricata, 

 a structure — a bdtiment, as the French still call a large ship ; but in 

 so doing we depart from the orthography of the nations from whom 

 we borrowed the term. The Italians and Spaniards ^Slj fregata, the 

 French yre^a/e. 



Our canoe is the French canot, and is imagined, I believe, by some 

 to be an Indian word for boat. (This in Ojibway at least is tchiman.) 

 Its source is, however, European. Canna for boat is a very ancient 

 term. Juvenal speaks of the African canna as having a peculiarly 

 sharp prow. He is referring to a certain Numidian oil used in the 

 Baths, " quod," he says — 



" Canna Micipsarum prora subvexit acuta." 



An old French word for boat is cane, whence canard. The root is 



* Mistakes in regard to articles have occasioned many changes in words. From lynx carae 

 the Italian lonza. The initial I soundma; like the elided article, it dropped off tiom the 

 French once, whence we get our ounce, as the name of an an'mal. By a like process azure 

 has arisen out of the Persian lazurd. In lapis lazuli the I has survived. Out of lingiit, a 

 derivative of lingua, we have made ingot. On the other hand, the bird which we coi lectly 

 call the oriole (aureolus) the French by some caprice call le lorioe.—Lierre is I'hierre {heUera, 

 iyy.) 



