SIXTEENTH CENTURY 95 
as well as in “* The New English Dictionary ” (1912). Professor 
Skeat could not accept the plausible explanation propounded 
in Martin’s ** Voyage to St. Kilda,”’* which was that the name 
Solan was derivable from the Irish, 7.e., Gaelic, word Sow’l-er 
—pronounced Shularef—in allusion to the bird’s sharp sight. 
Some of the appellations employed for the Solan Goose 
are rather curious, and the spelling varies considerably. 
British authors alone afford us no less than seventeen 
different spellings of Solan, but in the seventeenth century 
every one was free to follow his fancy. The Swedish names 
for the Solan Goose are Sillebasse and Bergshammar, see 
Nilsson’s “‘ Skandinavisk Fauna.” { Dr. Herluf Winge has 
been good enough to inform me that the equivalent in 
Danish of Sillebas would be Sildebas (or Stldebasse), and of 
Bergshammar, Bjerghammer: Sill or Sild is a herring, and 
Sild roget a red herring. 
“ Bas or Basse,’ continues Dr. Winge, “means a big 
person, especially used for big children. Sildebus would 
thus mean the big herring-bird, but possibly the bas in 
Sillebas may be the same as the ‘bas’ in Bassgas, which is 
another Swedish name for the Gannet, implying the goose 
from Bassrock.” I am indebted to Professor Jagerskidld for 
further assistance in verifying these Swedish names. 
Skinnernis (Icelandic) and Skindernis (Danish form), on 
the authority of Dr. Winge, are very apposite appellations. 
He observes that their equivalent in English would be skin- 
sleeve, evidently from the loose manner in which the skin 
adheres to the body in the Solan Goose. 
Origin of the name Gannet.—The ancient appellation of 
Gannet is still in favour on English coasts, as well as in Wales 
and Ireland, but in Scotland it gives place to the more northern 
name of Solan. As to the origin of Gannet, Dr. John Jamieson, 
in his ‘‘ Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language ” 
(1808), has “To Gant, Gaunt, v.n., To yawn, by opening 
the mouth.” Whether applied to the Goose or the Gannet 
it may be taken as meaning the opening of the mouth for 
feeding, biting, crying out or gaping. 
* « St. Kilda,” p. 49. 
+ See “Irish Naturalist,” 1015, p. 115. 
¢ 3rd edn., 1858. “Foglarna,” II., p. 510. 
