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start of addendum - Provincial Words |
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3rd edn addenda, page 300:-
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slay
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Any thing that moves on a pivot (as the part of the loom
that is pulled by the hand among the threads) is called a
slay. Hence a hammer fastened upon a shaft to move in this
manner is called a sledge from slay and edge. It is not so
clear that sedge is from sea-edge, but the verb to slay,
comes plainly from a like idea of swinging the arm.
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dee
due
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Do, in these parts is dee or due. Hence Devil is formed of
dee-evil. In like manner, the true original meaning of
snivel and drivel (from whence we have the opprobrious term
of sniveler and driveler) may be easily gained.
When cabbins served for houses, what they put over the
entrance to keep out the weather, was called due o'er, that
is, the thing to do-over. Hence the origin of the word door,
both as an opening and as an instrument.
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heck
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Heck, is a little gate made of rails (generally pointed and
upright) for several domestic purposes. Whence we have the
term hack for an implement used in digging. The long pointed
feathers on a cock's neck are also on this account called
hackles. Hence the name hackle for the well-known instrument
for dressing flax, and hence also the etymology of the word
icicle, which is evidently ice-hackle, or a long pointed
piece of ice, and which conveys a very characteristic idea.
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arr
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Arr (whence scarr) signifies a mark, made by the action of
something upon another. Hence the common term arr-edge,
means the edge of any thing that is liable to hurt or arr.
But as a final syllable the term is of the most striking use
in explaining words.- Wizard hence evidently means one
marked with wisdom; Godard, with goodness; haggard with the
shrivelled, &c. look of a hag; drunkard, with drink;
sluggard with sloth; mustard, with must; dotard, with
dotage; Richard, with riches; coward, perhaps with the
proverbial timidity of a cow, and query if aukward, be not
from oak-ard i.e. one marked with the stiff, rusty, look of
an oak?
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