476
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. i. JUNE n,
abroad. The German Deutsch is a contraction
from the O.H.G. diut-isk. So also French for
Prankish, Welsh for Wale-ish ; cf . Dansk for
Danish in the ' H. E. D.'
The Northumbrian dialect sometimes sub- stituted final s for sh ; hence Barbour has Scottis, adj., for Scottish, Inglis for -English, and Walis for Welsh. The form Scottis has been shortened to Scots, which has the mis- fortune of being ambiguous, since it coincides as to form with the plural of Scot.
No doubt it is a point of honour with natives of Scotland to adhere to the Northern form, though I do not find that they are so consistent as to call Southerners Inglis, though they use it as a proper name, as also they do Wallis for Wale-ish (foreign).* But in the South, where only the form Scottish has been customary, the contraction to Scotch is, as I have already said, natural and easy. It goes with French, Welsh, and Dutch, in all of which * has been dropped.
Hence it will not be surprising if the form Scotch should turn up at a tolerably early date. At present my oldest example is from the First Folio of Shakespeare (1623), in which all three forms occur. In ' 1 Hen. IV.,' I. iii. 259, I find "your Scottish prisoners." In
- Much Ado,' II. i. 77, 1 find " a Scotch ijgge "
(misprint for jigge). In ' Hen. V.,' III. ii. 79, I find " the Scots Captaine."
WALTER W. SKEAT.
See * N. & Q.,' 3 rd S. iv. 454, 523 ; v. 21 ; 6 th S. i. 118, 154, 364 ; ii. 14 ; x. 308, 353, 526 ; xi. 90, 194 -, 7 th S. viii. 87, 171, where this once vexed question is completely thrashed out. DR. J. A. H. MURRAY'S communication at 6 th S. xi. 90, 1 think, settles the whole matter satisfactorily. It is almost worth reprinting, for the question is constantly cropping up, and " Non cuivis contingit adire Corinthum," which may be freely translated " Not every one happens to have a complete set of ' N. & Q.' " J. B. FLEMING.
Kelvinside, Glasgow.
[Many contributions taking the same view as PROF. SKEAT are acknowledged. ]
ALDRIDGE, co. STAFFORD (9 th S. i. 427). There is a copy of Prebendary Finch Smith's 'Notes and Collections,' 1884-89, two parts, in the Reference Library, Manchester.
E.A.
- Besides Wallis, which is a Northumbrian form,
we find the Anglo-French form Waleis, or familiarly Wallace,. It is not irrelevant to remark that the verb to punch is merely a popular and regular con- traction of punish, i.e., in such a phrase as "to punch his head." To punch a hole is a different word.
GREAT EVENTS FROM LITTLE CAUSES (9 th
S. i. 209, 355). Readers of 'N. & Q.' who are
attracted by pictures of war are no doubt
acquainted with one which represents a
charge of the French cavalry at Waterloo.
They have ridden evidently up a slope, and
have come quite unexpectedly to a hollow
road the road to Ohain it is into which
the foremost fall head first, and others come
tumbling on them till the whole hollow is
choked with prostrate men and horses, whom
the rest of the cavalry ride over without
interruption. Victor Hugo narrates the
reason of this awful massacre in ' Les Mise-
rables.' Napoleon was meditating a charge
which was to annihilate the allied armies.
Rising in his stirrups, he attentively examined
a part of the field which mounted gradually
until it reached the sky-line. One spot par-
ticularly he noted with especial care, turning
his glasses on it several times, and then, stoop-
ing down, addressed a question to his guide
a reluctant native, I believe, who was stand-
ing by. The guide shook his head, probably
with intent to mislead. The order for the
charge was given, and Napoleon unwittingly
sent hundreds of men to die in this unexpected
fashion before ever they reached the enemy.
T. P. ARMSTRONG.
[Victor Hugo's account is untrustworthy. See 'N. &Q.,'8 th S. v. 14.]
I was told long, long ago that the war between Great Britain and America in 1812 was caused by a pig. A member of Congress from Rhode Island, who was an opponent of the then existing administration, owned a pig which was guilty of trespassing repeatedly upon the garden of his neighbour, who was a supporter of President Madison. Out of this grew such animosity between the two neighbours that the Madison man sought and secured a nomination and election to the other's seat in Congress, where his single vote decided for the war. I have not examined any records or authorities upon the subject for fear that they might spoil a good story.
F. J. P.
The final of MR. C. E. CLARK'S instances of notable events from minor causes recalls to mind an excellent bon-mot made recently by Mr. Gerald Loder, M.P., to the effect that by this time Spain is sorry she ever discovered America. Some great events, it will be seen, lead to others equally noteworthy.
C. P. HALE.
See an article on this subject in ' Gleanings for the Curious from the Harvest Fields of Literature,' by C. C. Bombaugh (London, Sampson Low & Co., 1875), pp. 800-4. See
