Note 48 — Chapter V

Our ancestors appear to have been essentially pacific. With fence, for defence, we may compare Ger. schirmen, to fence, from Schirm, screen (cf. Regenschirm, umbrella), which, passing through Italian and French, has given us skirmish, scrimmage, scaramouch (see p. 142), and Shakespearean scrimer, fencer (Hamlet, iv. 7). So also Ger. Gewehr, weapon, is cognate with Eng. weir, and means defence—