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NOTES AND QUERIES. [HS.VI.AUO. 17,1912.
THE WORD " BROKER." The primary
and essential meaning of the word " broker "
is "a person who acts as a middleman in
transactions between two parties, and
receives something as commission for his
pains." " Broker " means essentially a
" commission agent." The word has been
in vise in England in this sense since the
middle of the thirteenth century. It occurs
in the Anglo-French form abrocour in the
Statutes of the Realm,' A.D. 1285, p. 103.
The French word abrocour is the equivalent
of Lat. abrocatorem, ace. case of abrocator,
which word Ducange glosses " Proxeneta,
pararius, gall. Courtier." Ducange gives a
quotation for the word abrocator in the
sense of " broker," " commission agent," from
a document dated A.D. 1245 in the archives
of the Archbishop of Rouen. He cites also
an Anglo-Latin brocarius as an equivalent
of English " broker." Related to the word
" broker " is the Middle-English brocage
{brokage), in general use for the premium
or commission 'of a middleman or agent ;
for quotations see 'N.E.D.' (s.v. brokage).
What is the origin of broc in the words " brokage " and "broker" ? I think the answer is that it is of Semitic origin that it is from a Hebrew source, the Hebrew word having been introduced into Western Europe through the commercial activity of the Moors of Spain. In the Spanish language there is a word alboroque, of which Capt. John Stevens in his ' Spanish Dictionary ' (1706) gives the following account :
" Albor6que, a Gratuity given, to one that makes up a Bargain between two, in the nature of Brokeridge ; or to a workman above his Hire. Albordque signifies, much good it may do you, wish'd by the third Person that drove the Bar- gain from Barach to bless. It is usual in the Country to drink the Alboroque when a piece of Land is sold."
A good account of the history of the Spanish word alboroque is given by Dozy in his
- Glossary.' Dozy defines the word as
"" ce que 1'on paie au courtier par 1'inter- mediaire duquel une chose a ete vendue, courtage." He goes on to say :
"_Le mot alboroque ou alboroc, qui est tres- ancien en espagnol, puisqu'il se trouve deja dans les actes latins du concile de Leon de 1'annee 1020 sous la forme alvaroch, variantes alvoroch et alvoroc, dans 1'ancienne traduction espagnole alvaroc, signifie en general, pot-de-vin, epingles, ce qui se donne par maniere de present au deld du prix convenu."
Dozy agrees with Cobarruvias in connect- ing the word (through a Moorish word baruk) with the Hebrew verb berek (to bless) and the substantive berdkdh, which signifies
not only a " blessing," but also a " gift,"
" present." In Arabic, under Jewish influ-
ence, substantives derived from the cognate
root baraka (to bless) have also received the
sense of " cadeau." Dozy gives a quotation
from Daumas, ' La grande Kabylie,' p. 388 :
" Le chef de la Zaou'ia leur fait tenir a certaine* poques des presents connus sous le nom de baraket-el-cheikh, la benediction du cheikh."
The word boroc travelled to us in England by Provence ; compare the Provencal derivatives abrocador (courtier) and abrocalge (courtage) in Levy's ' Dictionary.' Prov. abrocatge is identical with our word " brok- age," cognate with " broker."
A., L. MAYHEW.
Oxford.
"TO DIGGTHEDVST ENCLOASED HEARE."-
As everybody knows, Shakespeare's rimed epitaph " Good friend," &c., has nothing exceptional or individual about it except the wonder of its being where it is. Doggerel cautions of the kind were not uncommon, though they were a recent and a soon passing fashion. It is interesting to come across the same thing under a more dignified wording, with all unmannerly objurgations omitted.
One instance newly fallen under my notice is that of a lady buried in the village church of Stonegrave, by Caulklass Bank, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The date, in the reign of Charles II., lends it possible value as a late example of the felt necessity of verbally safeguarding (so far as in the survivor lay) the sacredness of the closed grave. The inscription is on a tablet over the chancel piscina :
" Maria [Burton] uxor Jacobi mater Thomae Comber llectoris hujus ecclesiae . . . . ad patriam revocata. . . . A.D. MDCLXXII . . . ." Then, in large capitals throughout :
" Hoc ultimum Lector a te ppstulans ut sepulchre quiescat inviolate nee aperiatur monu- mentum hoc nisi voce Christi. ..."
I have not seen this epitaph noted in any history or guide-book.
L. I. GUINEY.
THE BARONY OF LATIMER. A recent decision of the House of Lords has declared that Mr. Francis Burdett Money Coutts has established his claim to be a coheir of the Barony of Latimer. Some of the newspapers have wrongly thought that this decision entitles Mr. Coutts at once to assume the title of Lord Latimer, and take his place on the peerage roll accordingly. As a matter of fact, there are a good number of coheirs
