ii s. VIL JAN. i], 1913] XOTKS AND QUERIES.
TO BE "OUT" FOB A THING: " UP TO
ONE TO DO A THING (US. vi. 409, 494). I foelieve the latter expression to be purely anodern American. I heard it for the first time in California about five years ago ; it 'was continually cropping up in conversation so often, indeed, that, correctly or other- wise, I regarded it as quite the latest argot.
But here is another expression, for some time current in the Navy and Army, and now becoming general i.e., to " carry on," meaning to continue. Thus a squad of men, being stopped in their work to hear some explanation or instruction, are ordered to " carry on " i.e., to proceed with what they w^re doing. Or an officer will say to a brother-officer, " If I 'm not there, carry on without me." D. O.
"DOPE," "TO DOPE," " DOPEB " (11 S. ~vi. 508). This term seems to signify the unfair administration of a stimulating drug before or during a race, but it is not confined to horses, as I remember to have seen it frequently used at the time when Dorando ran at the Stadium. I do not know the origin of it, but it has always been connected in my mind with the South African word
- ' dop," the meaning of which is apparent
enough to those who have read ' The Dop Doctor.' W. F. PRIDE AUX.
The word " dope " is American. " Doping " is the stupefying men with tobacco prepared in a peculiar \vay, as the gipsies of old were wont to use Datura stramonium. I fancy it is only another form of " dupe." Latterly it has been applied in connexion with stimu- lant for racehorses, administered internally or by hypodermic syringes. The Jockey Club passed a rule in 1903 to put a stop to the practice as far as possible. If MB. PIEBPOINT is interested in the ingredients utilized for doping, he will find a lengthy article on the subject in The Daily Telegraph
Of 2 Oct., 1903. WlLLOUGHBY MAYCOCK.
THE ETYMOLOGY OF ESHEB (US. vi. 487). The identification of " Esher " with the Aissele of Domesday Book depends upon the recognition of Aisse- as having a long diphthong with thickening of s, and upon proof of a Xorman tendency to confuse the reverted rs and Z's of the Kentish dialect with each other.*
MR. MAYHEW wishes to derive Aissele of Domesday Book from O.E. cesc + heale.
" A reverted sound [is] formed by the under surface of the tip of the tongue being turned to UK- hard palate." Wright, 'O.E. Grammar,' 55 7, p. 11
But ai is long and ce is short. Moreover,
the length of ai is reflected in "Esher,"
which has e in its prototheme. This proto-
theme is a personal one, and it occurs also
in " Eashing," the name of another Surrey
village.
Esh- and Eash- postulate a Kentish *esc. Kentish e mostly equates West Saxon Ce : cf. Kentish did, ned, slepon (our "deed," " need," and "to sleep"), with West Saxon deed, need, slcepan.* Consequently, if the hypothetical Kentish Esc is real, we ought to get a West-Saxon ^Esc. That, of course, is the well-known name given in the Saxon Chronicles to the eponymous ancestor of the Kings of Kent. This prince's name occurs in " Eashing " and in " Esher." For the former see King Alfred's will (c. 885), wherein we get " aet ^Escengum" (Birch, No. 553). The latter appears in Kemble, Ncx DCLVL* (dated 987), as " ^scere."
JEsc was a very famous name ; but it is very rare, and I know of two persons only who bore uncompounded forms of it. The legends about ^Esc, King of Kent (|492 or 514), must at one time have been numerous, and they were very widely spread. He is mentioned, wittingly or unwittingly, in ' Merlin,' and by Malory, Geoffrey, Gaimar, the Saxon Chronicles, Bede, and Ravennas ; and they severally call him Escam, Duke Eustace "of Cambernet, Aschillius, Aschis, jsc, Oisc, and Auschis (vide ' N. & Q.,' US. ii. 473-4). ALFRED ANSCOMBE.
GRAY AND THE ANTROBUS FAMILY (US. vi. 461). May I add one or two notes on Mrs. William Antrobus ? This lady, the widow of the Rev. W. Antrobus, was the daughter of Alderman Nutting, a merchant of Cambridge, on whom Cole has some curious remarks. She survived her nephew, the poet Thos. Gray, dying in 1773. There were two other daughters of Alderman Nutting : a Mrs. Scarfe, who kept the well- known " Three Tuns," and who was after- wards married again to a surgeon in Alder- manbury, London ; and a Mrs. Hide, whose husband was book-keeper to her father, and whose son was a b ewer and merchant in the University town.
Mrs. Wm. Antrobus " had the Post Office reserved to her on her father's death." She had (besides other children) two daugh- ters, Mary and Dorothy, the latter of whom
- Kentish v represents W.S. ce ; W.S. r-a after
palatal c, g, sc ; W.S. le and y, the t-umlauts of (~a [Germanic au) and ii, respectively. In late Kentish manuscripts e= W.S. ce, i-umlaut of a, also ; vide Wright, u.s., 188, 190, 1 '.].-
