MR. T. SOUTHWELL ON EARLY DUTCn AND ENGLISH DECOYS. 609 
Brereton died on tlie 7th April, 16 31, shortly after the 
Restoration, and was buried at Croydon. The Baronetcy became 
extinct in the year 1673. It is stated that the intention was 
subsequently to remove his body to Handford, but that in 
crossing a river the coffin was swept away by the flood and 
apparently not recovered.* 
It seems uncertain when the English word “ Decoy ” was 
substituted for the Dutch “ lvooi ” or Coy, always used by 
Brereton in writing of these duck-catching devices, and its 
derivation in that sense has given rise to much discussion. 
By some the word decoy has been thought to be a compound 
derivative of the article “ de ” (the) and the Englished form of 
the Dutch Kooi (Latin, Cavea=a hollow enclosure, or cage) 
forming de-coy, i.e., the Coy. Others favour the employment 
of the latter portion of the Dutch rewle in rende-Kooi (duck- 
coy) as a prefix (the first syllable being dropped), but either 
derivation seems fanciful and unsupported by evidence. The 
word decoy was certainly in use in the English language 
both as a substantive and as a verb, indicating a swindler, 
or sharper, and the practices of such a person, long before 
the Dutch word was imported (a game with cards was so 
named in 1550) and as suggested by the Editor of the “New 
English Dictionary ” it is possible and indeed probable “ that 
the Coy was made into Decoy under the influence of that 
earlier word.” The word “ Coy ” seems to have little to recom- 
mend it to English ears, save its brevity, and it would doubtless 
soon be replaced by a more familiar native word already existing, 
which not only embodied the Dutch noun, but so accurately 
conveyed the insiduous and highly deceptive character both of 
the device employed and of the allurements by which its dupes 
were inveigled to their destruction. 
The word “ Decoy ” seems to have been generally used by 
the early writers on the subject (Brereton. Evelyn and others, 
supposing their MSS. to have been correctly rendered, except 
* The sources from which I have gleaned the above information are as 
follows : — Volume i. of the Chetham Society papers as already specified ; 
Ormond’s History of Cheshire, edit. 2 (1882), vol. iii. pp. (542, 3; and an 
Article on the History of “ Old Cheshire Families ” by Sir F. Dwarris, 
published in the thirty-third volume of ‘•Archselogia ’ (1849) pp. 55-83. 
