474
NOTES AND QUERIES, [9* s. vni. DBO. 7, iwi.
NOTES ON BOOKS, &c.
A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles.
Edited by J. A. H. Murray, M. A., LL.D. Vol. V.
H to K. (Oxford, Clarendon Press.) THE progress made in the great Dictionary is duly noted in our columns upon the appearance of the quarterly sections. The rate at which this is main- tained becomes increasingly apparent with the advent of successive volumes. Five completed volumes are in the hands of the public, and with the arrival of the sixth half the alphabet will be generally accessible. Encouraging as is such a statement, it conveys but a faint idea of what has been done, material's for two or three volumes being in course of arrangement, and the entire work being so forward that an interruption or suspension of the rate of progress is hardly to be feared. In the 3,820 columns of the fifth volume we have a total of 23,554 words, of which, roughly speaking, three- fourths are in current use. This represents for the first eleven letters of the alphabet a grand total of 167,234 words.
Many curious and interesting facts are given in the preface. We are told that whereas in the Bpsworth-Toller ' Anglo-Saxon Dictionary ' H occupies five times as many pages as /, in the modern Dictionary / requires rather more pages than H. This is, of course, due to the number of words beginning with the Latin prefixes in in (il, im, ir), inter, intra, intro. Few of these words are old enough to have sustained any phonetic or even orthographic change, and few of them readily form compounds. Hence, while the main words in / amount to 11, 350, against 8,900 in H, subordinate words and combinations, special or obvious, change the balance and assign H a total of 16,013 words, against 14,447, which are all that can be claimed by /. / and K have respectively but 1,727 and 1,577 words. H contains, it is said, no Latin prefix, but has, on the other hand, many learned words from the Greek. Of the exotic words with the non-English initial combinations ka-, kh-, kl-, ko-, kr-, kit-, ky-, it is said that, numerous as these appear, it would have been easy -to double their number if every such word occurring in English books, or current in the English of colonies and dependencies, had been admitted. Dr. Murray's constant effort has been to keep down rather than to exaggerate "this part of 'the white man's burden.' " In the long list of services recognized names constantly appearing in 'N. & Q.' find naturally a prominent place. A further tribute, of unequalled warmth, is paid the late Dr. Fitzedward Hall, the F. H. of our columns, whose death is an incalculable loss to the Dictionary and would have been irreparable, but that the whole of his MS. collections have been handed over to the editor, and that free access to his important library is permitoed. As a pure labour of love Dr. Fitz- edward Hall devoted for many years several hours in the day to the examination of proofs and to enriching them from his enormous collections of notes. To the recognition awarded to Mr. James Platt, Jun., for information concerning words in remote languages we have already referred. While dealing with the foreign words in K it may be said that the ill-omened word kopje, so frequent in use of late, is first encountered in 1881 in the Contem- porary Review, and that its one combination kopje-
strewn is from the Daily Telegraph in 1900. Under
the form koo-too, kotow is met with so early as 1804.
Karoo or karroo=a, barren tract in South Africa, of
Hottentot origin, but of uncertain etymology, dates
back to the eighteenth century, being used by
Paterson so early as 1789. One is surprised to find
the word Islam used in Purchas so early as 1614 for
" catholike or right-beleeving Musulmans." We
have to wait a couple of centuries before encounter-
ing another instance of use. Jobation a, rebuke or
reproof, which we had regarded as a piece of modern
slang, we find with some surprise in use so early as
1687. Jaw==to speak, and as a substantive=vulgar
loquacity, is in both senses traced to Smollett, 1748.
The word in anatomy is said to be of difficult
etymology, the evidence known to us affording
conflicting indications. With jaw in the sense
of loquacity Smollett associates the phrase " lace
your jacket." Under jacket we find to line one's
jacket, dust, swinge, thrash, turn, &c. If we
were to seek a word that would best illustrate
the utility of the Dictionary and the stores of
erudition in it, we need not travel beyond Jack in
all its various significations, from Jack, a common
fellow, the associate of Jyll or Jill, to Jack-a-
Lantern. We should expect to find every man Jack
in common use at an early time, but fail to do so,
the earliest authority advanced being Dickens.
Jack knave at cards, is found in 1674 ; jack which
strikes the bell of a clock belongs to 1498 ; the jack
which turns the spit to 1587; boot-jack to 1679;
jack=pike to 1587. No special information as to
Jack Robinson, " before one can say Jack Robinson, ; '
is supplied, though Jack Adams in the seventeenth
century = a fool. Far too numerous for mention are
the combinations of this word. The reader is
counselled to study jackanapes, and, indeed, all
that is found under the word. Almost the only
combination of Jack which is not clear is jack-knife,
which is said to reach us apparently from the
United States. The few words with which we deal
are taken haphazard from the later portion of the
volume, and are in no sense representative. Another
set would have answered in every way as well.
As we have previously said, the only change we
could ask is an absolute impossibility, and is
accordingly futile, viz., that the conditions of
study required less imperatively a high desk and
a bright light ; and younger eyes may find no similar
requirement. As to the amount of support now
accorded this truly national venture we have no
new information. That no country possesses a
work so thoroughly up to date is conceded. The
highest scholarship of various countries has been
brought to bear upon the work from the outset.
As supplements will from time to time, and accord-
ing to requirements, be issued, the Dictionary will be
kept up to date, and the consideration most dis-
tressing to students of limited means in the case of
important works of reference, that by the time one
edition is completed another is demanded, will not
apply. A suggestion previously made in these
columns, that there should be places in every dis-
trict in which the work should be accessible to
scholars, bore some fruit, and one spirited con-
tributor to 'N. & Q.' declared that his own copy
should be at the disposal of those dwelling in his
neighbourhood. This is well so far as it goes. What
we craved, and still crave, is a society that would
appoint centres at which it could always be gra-
tuitously consulted. That difficulties attend such
proceedings is apparent. Municipal libraries, how-
