Bach, river, torrent. Waeren, to make worth of, to make account of. Wee, woe, grief. Wee, sounds way. Beroem, the imperative of beroemen, to glorify, to make renowned; and sounds broom. Sticken, to stifle, to suffocate and so to drown.

TO RUN THE GAUNTLET.

In the sense of, to undergo the punishment known by that name; the mode of inflicting which, is known to every school-boy. Te ruwen (rouwen) de quant te laet; q. e. to repent the rogue too late, to repent of playing the part of a rogue too late as it is, after the punishment has been suffered. But another form of the term for this punishment was gantelope or gantlop, which I take to be, as kwant [quant] loop, and thus literally "the rogue's run," or as we now say "the rogue's march;" and then " run the gantelop" would be "to repent of having subjected one's self to that punishment." Rouwen, ruwen, to rue, to repent of, to regret. Kwant, quant, rogue, knave. Loop, course, settled or fixed term of going on; a heat as it were.

CAT-O-NINE-TAILS.

to

As the well known instrument for penal torture. Guit-hoonende t'heel's ; q. e. completely marking disgrace on a rogue; the completion of the villain's shame; the infamy of him who deserves the infliction. Always however implying the sufferer to be a proper object for punishment. Guite (guit), rogue, and answers to the French fripon, as kwant does to drole. Hoonen, to stain, to dishonour, to disgrace, to mark with ignominy. The sense of the number of nine, as that of the thongs, has probably its rise in the analogy of the sound of that word with a portion of the phrase which I believe to be the origin of the term. The stick now used for the handle of the species of whip which now represents the phrase

VOL. I.

C

is the substitute of the original unravelled portion of the rope's end, still used in the navy.

HALF-SEAS-OVER.

In the sense of very drunk, staggering drunk. Half sie's over; q. e. See! half is quite out of question; look! any one may tell he is more than half drunk; see him there! and say he is only half drunk, if you can. The apostrophe is evidently from a beholder of the drunken person to bystanders.

HE IS DRIVEN FROM POST TO PILLAR.

In the sense of, to be in a state of restless agitation, of disquietude betraying itself by outward signs. Hij is daer even ver-on-poosd (ongepoosd) te feller; q. e. he is made by this in a state of even greater fury [violence] than before; it has caused him to be even more disturbed than he was before the event in question took place. Poosen, to be in a state of quiet, to repose, to be still; on is as the negative prefix; ver as the enforcing prefix, as in the verbs ver-on-ge-lucken, to perish, to come to an unlucky end; ver-on-gelijcken, to do an injury to, &c. From poosen we have our to pose in the sense of to bring to a stop by argument, to a stand by what we say. The root-word of poosen is poos, whence the Latin pausa and our pause. Fel, violent, savage, and feller its comparative. That the consonants ƒ and p represent naturally connected (and even interchanging) sounds, is seen in the instance of our pipe and fife, in Dutch pijp, in German pfeyff, in Italian pifara, all which are the same word differently lettered. Our fell in the same sense, as well as the Latin feles or felis, the French felon, the Italian fello and fellone, evidently belong to this family of words. Ver-on, sounds from; poosd, post.

TO RAISE THE WIND.

In the sense of, to procure money or means of satisfying a debt, a wish, a want. T'u ree's die wie innt; q. e. he who finds [the means, money], and makes his living by so doing is ready for you; he that lends at a profit has got what you want ready for you. T'u, for you. Reé, reede, ready, at hand, prepared. Reé s [is ready] sounds raise. Die wie, he who. Innt collects for profit, puts together income. It is as the steward's annunciation to his employer when he applies for money to his

wants.

HE IS THE FLOWER OF THE FLOCK.

In the sense of, it is he who consoles for [makes up for] the rest; he is the one whose superiority makes up, in some degree, for the inferiority of the others in question. Hij is die flaanwe'r af de vloeck; q. e. he is that which lightens [diminishes] the curse of the rest; it is he who makes the plague from the others (in question) more tolerable. Implying if it were not for this one the others are such fools they would drive me mad, make their education an intolerable [comfortless] job. Evidently from the mouth of some one with a large majority of fools for his children, or for some public instructor whose school is replenished with a considerable majority of blockheads. Flaauwe, the subjunctive mood of flaauwen, flauwen, to break the effect of, to weaken. Vloeck, malediction, the reverse of a blessing. The amount is, if it was not for this one the rest would drive me mad; 'r er there.

IT IS ALL MY ARSE IN A BAND BOX.

In the sense of, it is all very fine what you say, but there is nothing in it; your words [promises] are all very fine and fair, but as I know there is nothing meant by them, I wish to have no more of them. 'Et is al meé aes in er band by oock's ; q. e.

it is all carrion [worthless stuff] with all that held it together into the bargain; it is all rubbish as well as its former frame. Implying not only that it is rubbish itself, but that which held it and combined it is rubbish into the bargain; meaning he that said it, the speaker of it, the combiner of it. And is as a rough answer from one who has a contemptible opinion of the speech or its speaker. Al meé, mede, altogether, one and all. Aes, rotten stuff. Band, ligament. By oock's, along with it, besides, with the ligament into the bargain, and sounds box. 'S, is, is. By the falling in of the word arse into the travesty the phrase becomes coarse. In the original

it was merely peevish and ill bred.

THE BLUE DEVILS.

In the sense of seeing every thing in a disordered [low spirited] view from a deranged state of the system; a state which presents all objects and circumstances to you in a sickly (dispiriting) point of view. De bloed-evel's; q. e. the blood is in a bad state. The phrase imports a state consequent to an undue state of blood, or derangement in the source of it. When we say, there was much bad blood between them, or it occasioned bad blood among them; blood is then as bloot, evident, manifest, to be seen. The French have the phrase " se faire du mauvais sang" in the sense of, to bring on a bad state of blood by brooding over imaginary evils.

"Soo veel schepsels, soo veel monden

Zijn 'er die Godts lof verkonden

AÏ de wereldt door en door."-SLUITER.

q. e. so many creatures, so many mouths are there to proclaim the glory of the Creator throughout his creation. Schepsels [creatures] monden [mouths] are instances of the two forms of plural above mentioned.

HE IS AS POOR AS A CHURCH MOUSE.

Said of one who is reduced to great poverty; of one who has little or nothing left, in a reduced state

of circumstances. Hij is als buer als er ghierse moes; q. e. he stands then in the relation of a neighbour who asks you for provision [eatables]; implying, the true poor are to be considered as much objects of relief as your neighbour and equal would be if reduced to want. And is here spoken as from man to man in regard to some one who asks alms; a beggar. Buer, buur, neighbour. Ghiersen, to ask in a deploring tone of voice, to beg. Moes, victuals. Hence almoes, alms; which then consisted, in great part, of the slices of rye-bread, that served as plates, in the same way those of wheat now do to the labourer's meal; and, I suspect, the custom of laying bread beside our plates at the meals of the present day has its rise in the above usage of former times. Chaucer, spells the word alms, almous, almose, almesse, almesse's in different parts of his works.

BY HOOK OR CROOK.

As in the phrase "to get by hook or crook;" in the sense of, to get by any expedient, to stick at nothing to obtain the end; not to be over nice in obtaining your ends. By hucke o'er krooke; q. e. by bending the knees, and by bowing low, or as we now say, by bowing and scraping, by crouching and cringing. Hucken is to bend, to sink down by one knee, while the other heel is scraped out backwards; in fact the way used by clowns and clodhoppers fifty years ago, when they entered the room of the man of power; and, in reality, the type of the performance of the courtier when he kisses the hand of his master in expectation, or in acknowledgement, of favour. Kroocken is to bow low, to crook the body forwards, in sign of prostration [external homage]. Both words are as the old form of contraction usual for the participle present in ing of which e is the known abbreviation. The ing is obsolete in the Dutch, and ende has taken its place