Part 3 / Act 5 — EXPLANATORY INDEX (continued 2)

Shep. Cal. iv. 135.

Tawny. This is simply tanned, i.e. of a brown colour like that of tanned leather. Hence in 1 H. VI., the Bishop's men are in "tawny coats," i.e. coats of some variety of brown colour.

Tear a cat (M. N. D. i. 2), an expression of ranting violence of which the origin is merely conjectural.

Tennis. The figurative expressions in these plays derived from this game are:—Bandy (R. and J. ii. 5, Lear, i. 4 et alibi), to strike and drive the ball with the racket. Hazard (H. V. i. 2) is, says Steevens, "a place in the tennis-court into which the ball was sometimes struck." Chace (ib.) is, says Douce, "that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike the ball to gain a point or chace. At long tennis it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling." Steevens quotes from Sidney's Arcadia, book iii. "Then Fortune—as if she had made chaces enow on the one side of that bloody tennis-court—went on to the other side of the line." Surely, according to this, with which Shakespeare agrees, a chace was not a spot. The line, it may be observed, ran along the court at right angles to the wall against which they played.

Tercel (Tr. and Cr. iii. 2), and tassel-gentle (R. and J. ii. 2), the male of the goss-hawk, tiercelet, Fr., so called, it is said, from being a third less than the female, or, some say, as being one of three in a falcon's nest, the other two being always females. The epithet gentle denoted its docility.

Termagant (Ham. iii. 2), an imaginary being, in the old mysteries and moralities, usually associated with Mahound, i.e. Mahomet, and of a furious violent character. The word still remains, but in a somewhat different sense. It comes, it is said, from Trivagante, It., used in the same manner. May not the remote origin be Ter-(i.e. Tris-) megistos?

Thewes (2 H. IV. iii. 4, Ham. i. 3, J. C. i. 3). In these places Shakespeare uses this term in a corporeal sense of the sinews and muscles, and he may have been the first who did so. It properly denotes the qualities of the mind, from theaw, A.S., and is akin to Tugend Germ.

Thread and thrum (M. N. D. v. i). The thread is the warp in a web; the thrum, the tufts formed by the ends of the thread beyond the web. The two taken together therefore form the whole.

Three-farthings (K. John, i. 1), pieces of silver coin of that value; of course extremely thin and liable to crack.

Three-man song (W. T. iv. 3), a song for three voices. By way of a joke derived from this we have "three-man beetle" (1 H. IV. i. 2).

Three-pile (M. for M. IV. 3, W. T. iv. 2, L. L. L. v. 2), the finest kind of velvet. The name alludes to something in its construction. From pilum? Terciopelo is the Spanish for velvet.

Tick-tack (M. for M. i. 3), same as tric-trac, a game similar to draughts. "This is the plain game of tick-tack, which is so called from touch and take; for if you touch a man you must play him, though to your loss" (Comp. Gamester, p. 113).

Tide. "A parted just at turning of the tide" (H. V. ii. 3). Here the critics tell us of a superstition connecting death with the tide of the sea. But as it is added "between twelve and one," I think we may take tide in its original sense of, time.

Tire, in falconry (from tirer, Fr.). The hawk or any other bird of prey, was said to tire on its food when it dragged or tore it to pieces. Shakespeare uses the word metaphorically (Tim. iii. 6, Cymb. iii. 4).

To. Like zu, G., te, D., this particle occurs continually in Shakespeare in the sense of at. "To Milan let me hear from you by letters" (Two Gent. i. 1) is an instance generally not understood by the editors. See above, p. 343. It is also used with an ellipsis of compared in Two Gent. ii. 4, Ham. iii. 1, and elsewhere.

Toad (As Y. L. ii. 1). It was a notion in those times that the poor innocent toad had in the interior of his head a stone endued with great virtues, named borax or stelon. See Fenton, Secret Wonders of Nature, 1569, and other authors. Perhaps the notion originated in the great brilliancy of the toad's eye, which may have been termed 'a jewel.'

Lingua, v. 6.

Tokens (L. L. L. v. 2, Ant. and Cl. iii. 8), the spots on the body denoting the plague. The house in which there was one or more persons who had them was shut up, and Lord have mercy upon us! put over the door.

Too. This word occurs in the sense of trop, Fr., i.e. excessively, in Com. of Err. i. 2, L. L. L. ii. 1, Temp. ii. 2, and other places. For the difference of trop and too, assez and enough, see what I have written in Notes and Queries, 3 Ser. x. 430.

Tray-trip (Tw. N. ii. 5), the name of some game, probably played with dice; but of which we have no description.

Tribulacion. "The Tribulacion of Tower-hill or the Limbs of Limehouse" (H. VIII. v. 3) are supposed to have been the names of two Puritan congregations.

Triple (All's Well, ii. 1, Ant. and Cl. i. 1), third, one of three, a sense only to be found in Shakespeare.

Troll-my-Dames (W. T. iv. 2), a corruption of the French Trou-madame, a game also called Pigeon-holes, our present bagatelle.

Trossers (H. V. iii. 7), the tight, close-fitting pantaloons worn by the native Irish. Hence trowsers.

Truckle-bed (M. W. iv. 5, R. and J. ii. 1), a bed on castors (trochlea) for the use of the servant, who lay in the same room with the master or mistress. During the day it was run under the state-bed, and at night was drawn out at the foot. It was also called trundle-bed.

Truepenny (Ham. i. 5). Mr. Collier says he was informed that in the mining-districts of the Midland counties this term signifies a particular indication on the soil of the direction in which ore is to be found.

Try with main-course (Temp. i. 1). "To hale the tack aboord, the sheat close aft, the boling set up, and the helm tied close aboord" (Smith, Sea Grammar, 1627).

Tub (M. for M. iii. 2, H. V. ii. 1, Tim. iv. 3). It was one of the modes of curing the venereal disease to put the patient in a heated tub, where he was sweated, being at the same time fed on mutton roasted dry, etc.

Tucket (H. V. iv. 2), the Italian toccata, a blast of the trumpet for a charge or advance.

Turk Gregory (1 H. IV. v. 3). In this are united two objects of the utmost horror and fear, the Grand Turk and the famous Pope Gregory VII., as depicted by Foxe in his Book of Martyrs.

Turnbull-street (2 H. IV. iii. 2), a street in Clerkenwell, now restored to its original name of Turnmill-street. It was the resort of bullies, whores, et id genus omne.

Two and thirty a pip out (T. of Sh. i. 2), i. e. thirty-one; the allusion being, it is said, to a game of cards called Bone-ace or Thirty-one. A pip is one of the spots on the cards.

Utis (2 H. IV. ii. 4), or Utas, the eighth day after a festival, or Saint's-day: from huit, Fr. As it was a holiday, it came to signify sport, festivity, amusement in general.

Veal. "Veal, quoth the Dutchman" (L. L. L. v. 2). In Dutch Veel is much, many, often. Here it seems to answer to Much!

Veney, venew (M. W. i. 1, L. L. L. v. 1), an assault in fencing—from venue, Fr., a coming-on. It was the Italian stoccata.

Vice (Tw. N. iv. 2), same as Iniquity, which see.

Vie (T. Sh. ii. 1, Ant. and Cl. v. 2), to bet, lay. The noun is the French envi, the Spanish envite.

Virginal (W. T. i. 2). The virginal was the first form of the pianoforte. It was rectangular, differing in this from the spinnet, the harpsichord, and grand piano. Nares, who had seen the instrument, describes it exactly. It was sometimes called a pair of virginals, as an organ was a pair of organs, in allusion probably to the set (pair) of keys.

Wanton (from wendan, A.S., turn, change?) seems to have originally signified yielding, changeable. We have "the wanton green" (M. N. D. ii. 2), "the wanton rushes" (1 H. IV. iii. 1).

Water-work (2 H. IV. ii. 1) seems to mean work done on cloth in water-colours, or distemper.

Weaver (Tw. N. ii. 3, 1 H. IV. ii. 4). Weavers, from the sedentary nature of their work, seem to have been much addicted to singing, especially psalms. By the three souls in the first of these passages is meant the vegetative, sensitive, and reasonable souls, which were held to compose the soul.

Weyard. This is the way in which Shakespeare spells in Macbeth the word which in G. Douglas and Holinshed is spelt weird.

Wheel (Ham. iv. 5), the burthen in a ballad, a translation of rota, probably on account of its coming round and round.

Whiffler (H. V. v. Chor.), a fifer, who went first in a procession. It then came to be used of any one who went before to clear the way.

While, whiles, whilst. The first of these words is a noun, signifying time; the second is the adverbial genitive of it, and the third this last with a paragogic t. While is used adverbially, like whiles, with an ellipsis of in the. It also occurs, as in the following passages, with an ellipsis of to the, till the. "The Romans had a law that every man should use shooting in peace-time, while he was forty year old" (Ascham, Toxoph. p. 16). "When the conjured spirit appears, which will not be while after many circumstances," etc. (K. James, Demonol.).

B. and F. Wit at sev. Weap. ii. 2.

Mass. Old. Law, i. 1.

Waller, Ans. to Suckling.

In Lincolnshire while is used at the present day for until. This is evidently the sense in which whiles is used in Twelfth Night, iv. 3; for Macb. iii. 1 see the note.

Whistling. In falconry the whistle was, for the bird, the sign of starting and of returning. The term of the former was whistle off (Oth. iii. 3) against the wind after game, down the wind if cast off as worthless and untameable. "I have been worth the whistle" (Lear, iv. 2) seems to refer to the whistle of recall. "As a long-winged hawk, when he is first whistled off the fist, mounts aloft, and for his pleasure fetcheth many a circuit in the air, still soaring higher and higher, till he come to his full pitch; and in the end, when the game is sprung, comes down amain, and stoops upon the sudden" (Burt. Anat. of Mel. ii. 1-3).

Who (M. of Ven. ii. 7, et alibi). This pronoun was often used, as here, of things. Hence we still use the gen. whose.

Wild-goose chase (R. and J. ii, 4) was something like our steeple-chase. There were only two riders; and when one got the lead, the other was obliged to follow wheresoever he went.

Winchester goose (1 H. VI. i. 3, Tr. and Cr. v. 11). This is said to be a swelling caused by a disease got in the stews. The latter passage, however, might intimate that it was a denizen of them. The origin of the phrase is supposed to be the circumstance of the stews being chiefly on the Bankside, which was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester; the proximity of the river may have caused the use of the term goose.

Wish (M. Ado, iii. 1, M. for M. iv. 3, Ant. and Cl. i. 3), advise, recommend; (T. of Sh. i. 1) to introduce.

Wit. This word was the same as esprit, Fr., and meant mental power, talent. Thus we have wit and humour still in use, but with changed signification; for it meant talent and character (individuality), as we have "wit and judgment" (Oth. iv. 2); or perhaps there may be an ellipsis of good with humour. The "five wits" (Tw. N. iv. 2) are said to be the five mental powers, "common wit [sense], imagination, fantasy, estimation [judgment], and memory" (Hawes, Bell. Pucel. ch. xxiv. ap. Malone). They were probably originally the five senses; but Shakespeare (Son. cxli.) clearly distinguishes them.

With (T. Sh. iv. 2, Ant. and Cl. v. 2, et alibi), by, a sense it still bears, but not as in these places.

World. "Go to the world" (All's Well, i. 3), "be a woman of the world" (As Y. L. v. 3), be married, have, as it were, a place in the world.

Worm (Ant. and Cl. v. 2, et alibi), snake, serpent, wyrm, A.S. Among Shakespeare's other errors in natural history seems to be that of his supposing (M. N. D. iii. 2, R. II. iii. 2) the adder to sting with its tongue. See, however, Ham. iii. 4, 3 H. VI. i. 4. Webster actually says,

Vitt. Coromb. ii.

J. Bunyan says of himself that having seized an adder, and "stunned her with a stick, he forced open her mouth, and plucked out her sting with his fingers," meaning probably her fangs.

Yaughan (Ham. v. 1). This might be taken for a corruption of Vaughan; but it is the Danish and German Johan (Y for J), John. Jonson has (Ev. Man out, etc. v. 4) "a few, one Yohan." Shakespeare got Johan along with the other Danish names—Guildenstern, Rosencrantz, Osric.

THE END.

Printed by Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.