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The Influence of Low Dutch on the English Vocabulary (1936)

The Influence of Low Dutch on the English Vocabulary

(1936)–E.C. Llewellyn–rechtenstatus Auteursrecht onbekend

Vorige Volgende

Chapter III
Intercourse through Trade between Britain and the Low Dutch Countries

3. 1.3. 1.

From very early times there has been trade between England and the Low Dutch lands directly opposite the greatest ports on the east coast. The Low Dutch merchants, who were trading to England in the 11th and 12th centuries, came only from Liége, Westphalia, and the districts of the Lower Rhine. Liége assembled goods from the centre of Germany and brought them to England. The emporia of Utrecht and Keulen assembled goods from the Lower Rhine and the hinterland of Westphalia.

Owing to the rivalry of the merchant gilds the position of foreigners trading here was much restricted; yet one of these restrictions at least brought them into closer relationship with the natives. It was true that they could only stay in the country for thirty days, but they must stay with burghers. A statute of Edward I imposed that none but citizens were to have hostelries for the reception of foreigners, and this condition was strictly enforced for London, while we hear of hostelers and hostmen at Yarmouth and Newcastle. Again in 1439 it was decreed that all merchants should be under the surveillance of hosts assigned to them by mayors of the towns they visited, and these hosts were to be Englishmen born. This ensured that until the formation of the foreign trading Hanses every foreign merchant was brought into close contact with Englishmen. By the Carta Mercatoria (1303) foreigners gained the right to stay anywhere and for an unspecified time, on condition that they paid the extraordinary tolls; they were now admitted into the retail trade in spices and mercery. There were bad times for them under Edward II, when for eleven years the Carta was not in operation, and also during the weak minority of Edward III; but when Edward's rule became stronger, they regained and kept these extensive privileges.

3. 2.3. 2.

In the 13th century England still had no mercantile class. English traders lacked capital and organization to compete with Flemish, Brabanter, French, and Italian traders. In the course of the 14th century a class of English traders did develop, despite constant interference from their rulers, who

tried to turn exports into specified paths, under considerations of politics and revenue.

Already under Henry III there was a staple for wool in the Netherlands, but compulsion to use it failed. Edward I compelled export from certain ports only, and out of these the organization of the staple grew; there is some probability that he recognized certain ports in Flanders, Holland, and Zeeland as ‘foreign staples’, but again there is no satisfactory evidence of their compulsory use. There was indeed a company of merchants under a mayor at Antwerp, but the name staple does not occur so early. The enforced staple was introduced by Edward II in 1313; English and foreign merchants must now ship staple goods to trade places abroad recognized by the organization of the staple merchants controlled by its mayor. This arrangement did not prove satisfactory, for it was too easily evaded. In the last years of Edward II the staple was brought home, and a number of places in England, Wales, and Ireland became staple ports for wool. Before 1340 the staple was again in the Netherlands, but in 1353 it returned to England. There grew up now an organization of non-staple merchants in the Netherlands, holding privileges from the Flemish Count, and also governed by a self-chosen mayor, beside the organization of the staple merchants in England.

Special privileges for purchasing wool were accorded to the Flemish towns by Edward III; the staple was held at Bruges, to the advantage of that town, but to the inconvenience of the country purchasers and of Italian merchants, and therefore to the loss of the English grower. This was not a lasting evil. The organization of the staple at Calais and the development of the English cloth manufacture changed the conditions of trade, and the special privileges of the Flemings were discontinued. In 1363 Calais was the only staple, but only temporarily, for the staple was taken outside English territory to Middelburg. In 1388 it was removed back to Calais, and but for a short interruption in 1390, this town remained the recognized staple for English export.

The staple never remained long in Dordrecht or Middelburg. Though Holland did use some of the wool, yet by far the greater users were Flanders and Brabant, and so the staple was more naturally placed at Bruges or Antwerp. In 1348 and 1349, when the English merchants were in trouble in Flanders,

probably owing to the exclusion of Flemish merchants from the trade, the staple was shifted to Middelburg, but this again was only a temporary arrangement through force of circumstances. In 1350 it was again in Bruges. There were further attempts in the last quarter of the 14th century to bring the staple to Zeeland, and with some success, for in 1383 Duke Albrecht granted a charter and great privileges of trade and protection to English merchants. The cause was the risings of the Flemings against their Count, and with the cessation of the troubles the staple was removed in 1388 from Middelburg to Calais.

The privileges which English merchants sought and obtained in Zeeland in 1389 and 1392 seem to be staple privileges, but refer probably to cloth and not to wool. The banding of this body of merchants is the first sign of the split which separated the Merchant Adventurers, dealing in other commodities, from the Merchants of the Staple, dealing in wool. In 1407 this new body obtained the right to organize themselves, and in 1408 and 1413 more privileges from Willem VI. It is known that the foundations of the trade of the Merchant Adventurers was cloth, so they were not welcome in Flanders, itself a cloth-exporting country. These merchants in Zeeland were Londoners, and we know that the Merchant Adventurers had their origin in London.

3. 3.3. 3.

A large share of English trade was in the hands of Flemish merchants. The trade of the Flemish cities was more closely connected with the English wool production than was that of any other country. Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Courtrai, Arras, and a number of other cities in Flanders and the adjacent provinces of the Netherlands and France had become populous and rich, principally from their weaving industry. For the manufacture of fine fabrics they needed the English wool, and in turn their fine woven goods were in constant demand for the use of the wealthier classes in England. The fine cloths, linens, cambrics, cloth of gold and silver, tapestries, and hangings were the product of the looms of the Flemish cities. Other fine manufactured goods, such as armour and weapons, glass and furniture, and articles which had been brought in the way of trade to the Netherlands were all exported thence and sold in England.

The Flemish merchants who habitually engaged in the English trade were organized amongst themselves in a company

known as the ‘Flemish Hanse of London’. A considerable number of towns held such membership in the organization that the citizens could take part in the trade and share the benefits and privileges of the society, and no citizen of these towns could trade in England without paying the dues and submitting himself to the rules of the Hanse.

Henry III and Edward I had given special protection to Flemings who visited England to buy wool. Flemish merchants seem to have visited Scotland for the same purpose, for we find Edward II attempting to stop the traffic. In 1347 a staple was established at Middelburg, of which Scotsmen appointed the mayor, and after this date the trade was probably chiefly in the hands of Scotsmen, and Scottish wool passed either to Middelburg or to the neighbouring port of Vere. Edward III, in his anxiety to conciliate his Flemish allies, gave them special permission in 1337 to visit England and purchase the wool which was necessary for the manufactures in each town and district. When the staple for wool was held in England, the actual export trade would be generally in the hands of alien merchants.

3. 4.3. 4.

The great trade in wool with Flanders was carefully organized and its importance is obvious; the trade with Holland and Zeeland, not so great and hardly organized at all, tends to have its importance ignored. The intercourse must have been considerable. Ruinen has compiled statistics for part of the 14th century and shows that about 1319 no less than 162 ships from Holland and Zeeland came to Yarmouth, Lynn, Boston, and other ports in Norfolk and Suffolk. Between 1310 and 1370 he has details of the visit of another 144 ships, all except four to east coast ports. There is much less evidence for the presence of English traders in Holland and Zeeland during the same period.

The actual trade with the two Dutch counties was small. The great English export commodity was wool and very little of this was taken by Holland and Zeeland for their own use, even though they had a very flourishing weaving industry. In the 14th century the export of cloth begins to assume important proportions; in some years England had a surplus of wheat for export, and other articles mentioned are ale, beans, mustard, woad, tin, and lead. There is a certain amount of re-export

trade, especially in wine from the south of France and Spain and in honey. Holland and Zeeland had few goods to send to England. In some years there was butter and cheese, in others a little oats; but the main trade was in herrings, red herrings, eels, salt fish, and salt. There was a transit trade in Rhenish wine from Dordrecht, but the German Hanse was an early competitor in this.

All the evidence points to the greater importance of Holland and Zeeland in freighting than in actual trade. As early as the 13th century the Zeelanders were freighting wool between England and Flanders, and in the next century much of the carrying trade of the northern seas is in their hands. They carry wool and corn from England to Flanders, wool to St. Omer, grain and malt to Calais for the English king and wool for merchants, wool to Brabant, fish from Schonen and Copenhagen to England, various wares from Prussia. There are examples of chartering from Aquitaine to Hull and from Boulogne to Sluis for English merchants. One constant proof for freighting is that when a ship from Holland or Zeeland is arrested, the cargo goes free as the property of another man.

A great increase in this freighting trade was brought about when Edward III converted the English merchant fleet to purposes of war and thus destroyed its effectiveness in commerce. Recourse had then to be had to foreign ships, and the effect on the English cargo fleet was so serious that in the reign of Richard II a law similar to the later Navigation Act was passed in the interests of English shipping. It is important to note that export licences were sometimes granted to Englishmen and Zeelanders in partnership. There is evidence that Hollanders and Zeelanders were taking part in the export coal trade as early as 1352.

3. 5.3. 5.

The 13th century witnesses the growing importance of the Low German traders in Flanders, England, and Norway. In the North Sea trade their ships compete ever more successfully with the English, Flemings, Danes, and Norwegians, and towards the middle of the century we get the first foundation of the later Hansa trading system.

The settlement of the German traders in London was very old and very important. The corporation of the Merchants of

the Steelyard dates from the reign of Henry III. In 1194 Richard I had granted a charter to the men of Cologne; Hamburg, Bremen, and Brunswick long struggled for equal recognition, but it came first to Lübeck, which had declared for Richard. Little by little the merchants had purchased property surrounding the original grants until they had a great body of buildings all enclosed by a wall and fences. The settlement was immediately on the Thames above London Bridge, so that the Hansa vessels unloaded at their own wharf. This London ‘kontor’ maintained its independence longer than any other Hansa settlement abroad, and only applied for the assistance of the League when it found itself helpless before the great movement of the English commons against foreign interference in trade, which came at the end of the reign of Edward III. The privileges of the Gildhall in participation in the retail trade in certain wares, in the right of forming a union for mutual support, in advantages of residence and the possession of property, were all most valuable for a factory in a foreign land. It is probable that there were Hansas of Germans in other towns, such as Boston and Lynn, for we know that Germans in those towns had some sort of an organization as early as 1271.

At first the German merchants in England were from Saxony, Westphalia, the Lower Rhine and Friesland, and the Waalsch-Lotharingsch district; these probably formed in the 12th century a close ring of Germans in England, out of which the last group soon separated. Then in the beginning of the 13th century new groups of Germans appeared in England, and the incorporation of these into the old group seems to have been attended with some difficulty. Merchants who were not received in the Baltic as German merchants were not accepted into the ring. In the later years of the 13th century merchants from the Prussian and Livonian towns were accepted as Germans; so also were men from the Netherland Hanse towns; but Hollanders and Zeelanders never qualified as merchants from Germany.

The Hansa brought to England the products of the Baltic lands, timber, tar, salt, iron, silver, salted and smoked fish, furs, amber, and potash; and manufactured goods obtained by the Hansa through their more distant trade connexions, such as fine woven goods, armour and other metal goods, even spices and other Eastern products which came by way of the great Russian

fairs. They took in return mainly fine wool, lead and tin, cattle, jet, and in some years corn.

The highest point in the fortunes of the Hansa in England comes in the reign of Edward IV. They had helped him to his throne because they were afraid that French trading interests might become dominant in England with the success of Margaret and Warwick, and in return they obtained very favourable terms for themselves, absolute possession of their factories at London, Boston, and Lynn, £10,000 for injuries done to them, this sum not to be paid down, but to be deducted from the customs as they accrued, and the right of selling Rhenish wines by retail. Nevertheless, though apparently more prosperous than ever, their monopoly of the Baltic trade was already broken, and their decline and fall was rapid.

The Merchant Adventurers urged the Privy Council in 1551 that the Hansards had abused their privileges and that they ought to forfeit them; their special privileges were resumed and they were put on the same footing as other alien merchants. Though they never regained their old position, their trade with England did not succumb to the blow; through the first half of Elizabeth's reign they continued to carry on a good trade in English cloth, and the extra channel of exportation provided by them was of the utmost value in the stoppages of trade with the Netherlands. Moreover, the Germans, in spite of the strenuous efforts of the Adventurers to dislodge them, continued to retain their right to buy cloth direct from the country clothier in Blackwell Hall, the London cloth hall. This privilege also they lost in 1576, and all their remaining privileges were resumed in 1580. In the year of the Armada English privateers were preying on Hanseatic commerce on the pretext that the League was aiding Spain. In pursuance of the English policy of cutting off the sources of the Spanish food supply, the Hanseatic corn fleet of many ships destined for Spain was captured by English cruisers. This was a blow from which the Hansa never recovered, as the merchants were unable to replace the vessels which they had lost.

3. 6.3. 6.

Part of the Netherlands was a Hansa district. Towns in Gelderland, Overijssel, and Friesland belonged to the League, but none from Limburg, Brabant, Holland, or Zeeland. Merchants from this district appeared in England at a very early

date. Tiel was driving a flourishing trade with England in the 11th century, and when the town began to decline at the end of the 12th century, its place was taken by Utrecht. Utrecht in its turn lost its trade, and at the end of the 13th century gave place to Deventer, Zutfen, Harderwijk, and Kampen. The principal Frisian ports trading to England were Stavoren and Groningen. England treated these towns exactly as she treated the other members of the League; there was no separate policy towards them.

The exports of this district were river and sea fish, some cattle, and a little oats; the imports for its own consumption were iron, lead, copper, coal, and cloth. The principal trade, however, was a transit trade; the Waal towns were the intermediaries for the trade with middle Germany, the Friesland and Groningen towns for the Baltic and Northern trade, particularly from Bergen to the north country ports of England. The rise of Lübeck destroyed their Baltic trade. In this transit trade they took from England grain, malt, salt, and cloth, and brought in exchange wine from the Rhineland, herrings from Schonen, pitch, tar, and ship-timber from Prussia, and probably the industrial products of the Rhineland and Westphalia.

3. 7.3. 7.

The English merchants trading to the Netherlands in articles other than those controlled by the Staplers received privileges from the Duke of Brabant as early as the 13th century, and the right of settling their disputes before their own ‘consul’ in the 14th century. The earlier charters, whether of English or foreign princes, down to the middle of the 15th century, were not granted to a company as such, but to the merchants of England trading beyond the seas in general, and the privileges thus gained were shared by the merchants of other ports as well as of London. It is probable, however, that the body which took the initiative in procuring the charters was a body of London merchants trading at Bruges and Antwerp, and who were bound together in a fraternity dedicated to St. Thomas à Becket. In early days they admitted other English merchants to the fraternity, or at any rate to the exercise of trade under the charter, on fairly easy terms, but as the expenses of the establishment grew and the trade became more important, they raised their fees. This gild of Londoners managed to acquire such control of the Netherlands trade that no Englishman, though

according to law and the treaties perfectly free to buy and sell in the Netherlands, could share in it until he had paid the entrance fee imposed on him. This was eventually made so high that the merchants from the provincial ports were shut out from direct trade with the Netherlands and were obliged to deal through the agency of members of the gild, with the result that the market for English cloth was restricted. In 1497, however, the gild was forced to admit these provincial merchants to a recognized position in its organization, and separate Courts of the Company were set up at Hull and York, while Lynn, Norwich, Ipswich, Exeter, and Southampton are also specified in 1603 as ports from which the Merchant Adventurers traded. The governing body was the Court at Antwerp, a town which had come to be the centre of the commercial world and with which Henry VII had established close commercial relationships in 1496.

In 1494 the Merchant Adventurers had moved their factory from Bruges, whose trade had decayed, to Antwerp, and the trade which they attracted to the port contributed not a little to its rapid rise. They carried there very large quantities of cloth and much of this was undyed and undressed, so that a considerable industrial population was employed in finishing the goods. The Englishmen were also large purchasers of hardware manufactured in Germany and passed down the Rhine to Antwerp. The Adventurers appear to have been affected to some extent by the habits of such a cosmopolitan city as Antwerp, and it seems to have been felt advisable to take special precautions against the marriage of English merchants into Flemish families. Political changes soon led to the entire detachment of the English colony and eventually to its removal elsewhere.

In 1564 the Company obtained their Charter, which for the first time gave a legal basis to their monopoly of the Netherlands trade. Numerous interlopers denied the right of the Company and opened out new markets in defiance of them. The Newcastle Adventurers claimed that they were an older and independent body, and though they had decisions in their favour in 1630 and 1637, they were hard hit by the prohibition of the export of wool to the Low Countries in 1618, and some years later, when they had built up an export trade in coarse cloth to Holland, the passing of the Navigation Act of 1651 ruined it.

Persistent English privateering and the Navigation Act of

1563 caused a stoppage of trade in the next year, and the breach was never really healed. The Adventurers were driven from Antwerp, but were invited to settle in Hamburg and Emden. They chose Emden, but found a very inadequate sale for their cloth; so they changed their quarters, first to Cologne and then to Frankfort, where they came into touch with the merchants whom they used to meet in Antwerp. A second stoppage followed in 1568, and the goods of the Adventurers and Staplers in the Low Countries were arrested. This trade was never recovered in Elizabeth's reign, and Antwerp was finally closed to the Adventurers in 1575; but by that time many English merchants as well as the Adventurers had made their way to south Germany. The opening of new markets to free enterprise was the last thing the Company wanted. They tried to control the German trade from their station at Hamburg and, when the breach with the Hanseatic League drove them from that town, from Stade on the other side of the Elbe. The main stream of trade never afterwards reverted to the old Netherlands channel, and when the Hansa had withdrawn from active trade with England, the whole of the intercourse between England and the valleys of the Rhine and Elbe came under the control of the Adventurers. The Company remained prominent and active until the 18th century.

3. 8.3. 8.

English merchants in Prussia and the Hansa towns found themselves exposed to loss and at a disadvantage because there was no proper authority to regulate their affairs and to settle disputes among them. They elected a governor whose authority was confirmed by Richard II in 1391; later Henry IV empowered the merchants trading in those parts to meet together and elect governors who should not only have authority in quarrels but should have power to arrange disputes between English and foreign merchants, and to secure redress for any injury that might be done them in foreign parts. This was in 1404, and similar privileges were afterwards granted to the English merchants of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

In the north Englishmen were now pushing their trade to such an extent that they were brought into difficulties with more than one power. At the beginning of the 15th century, the Hansards found their monopoly of the Baltic trade threatened

by the dominance of the Danes in the Scandinavian peninsula. On the whole, the English gained in this struggle between the Danes and the Hansards, for they were enabled to open up communications with Prussia. Even amid the concessions to the Hansa granted by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1474, the right of the English to trade in the Baltic was not given up; indeed, the position of the Eastland merchants who traded to Prussia was on paper made more secure, though it does not appear that they gained much in practice.

In the 16th century a movement was set on foot by the London merchants to establish the Baltic trade after the manner of organization of the Merchant Adventurers. This trade had been open to all Englishmen and had been as great a resource to the free traders of the east coast as the Spanish trade had been to those of the west and south. It was henceforth to be restricted to the members of a new corporation, the Eastland Company, and the justification of this arbitrary restriction was sought in the prevalence of privateering. The provincial ports on the east coast were to participate in this new company, but those merchants alone were to be admitted who had traded to the Baltic ten years before the foundation of the Company, that is before 1568.

The Eastland Company competed in one of the two great branches of Hansa trade, that with Scandinavia, Poland, and the German ports on the Baltic. The Company exported English cloth, but their voyages were important to the country not so much because they kept open a market for our commodities as because they secured a supply of tar, hemp, cordage, and other naval stores, and what is of even more importance, in view of the increasing impoverishment of the English forests, a supply of masts, spars, and shipbuilding timber. The Company seems to have carried on a vigorous trade in the early part of the 17th century and was resuscitated at the Restoration, but there is some difficulty in tracing its later history. Eventually England looked to her plantations in North America for timber, and a decrease in the demand for English cloth contributed to the decline of the Baltic trade. England failed, owing to her lack of proper shipping, to secure the lion's share of the commerce formerly carried on by the Hanseatic League. The great Baltic corn trade to Spain and the Mediterranean fell into the hands of the Dutch and was the mainspring and foundation of their maritime power.

The rise of the United Provinces and the success of the Dutch against Spain compelled the notice of Englishmen. The Dutch were ever present in the minds of English statesmen of the 17th century as an example of economic development. That the Dutch had developed a great trading and maritime power marked them out for the imitation of men who were striving to excel on those very lines.

The trade between England and the Netherlands was largely in the hands of the Dutch, while much of England's trade with other countries was carried on in Dutch vessels. The rivalry became keen, and one of the measures taken against Dutch trade was the celebrated Navigation Act of 1651, which was aimed directly at the maritime power of Holland. This Act can scarcely have affected Dutch commerce severely so long as the Dutch kept their hold on New Amsterdam and used it as a depot for clandestine trade with the English colonies in North America. In one branch of trade the measure even recoiled upon England. The English had not sufficient ships of such burden as could be employed in the Scandinavian and Baltic trade, and the restrictions imposed on them compelled English merchants to abandon this line of trade altogether; the Dutch obtained a more complete monopoly of the Baltic trade which was the very foundation of their maritime power, and so could afford to relinquish the plantation trade, which was at that time a somewhat small affair. The hostile measures taken against the Dutch proved detrimental to the Scots, who had little shipping but a considerable market in the American colonies for their cloth, which was transported in Dutch ships. On the whole it seems that the Dutch did not suffer perceptibly in the 17th century. The zenith of her commercial greatness was attained in the early years of the 18th century, and at that time she was still far ahead of England in her maritime and shipping resources. Although England had not overtaken her rival, yet she was gaining in the race, for her shipping had developed enormously during the later part of the 17th century.

3. 9.

The following words were probably introduced directly through the Flanders wool trade. Pack (a. 1225), a bundle of things enclosed in a wrapping; the 13th-century forms are packe and pakke, apparently from e.M.Flem. pac (12th century), (M.Du. and MLG. pak); the earliest instance of the word yet recorded is at Ghent (1199), and it occurs at Utrecht in 1244;

the Flem. vb. pakken, however, appears at an earlier date in connexion with the wool trade. The vb. Pack (1280) is later in English, and is either from the sb. or directly from M.Du., MLG. pakken. Three derivatives of pack are to be noticed: Pack-needle (1327) is from pack and needle, but perhaps after a Low Dutch form (Kilian has packnaelde); Packer (1353), an officer charged with the packing or supervision of the packing of exported goods liable to custom; from, pack and -er, but perhaps after the Low Dutch (Kilian has packer); Packcloth (14 .., 1565-73), a stout, coarse kind of cloth used in packing; from pack and cloth, but perhaps after Low Dutch forms (Kilian has pack-kleed).

Another term used in the packing of goods is Bale (c. 1325), a large bundle or package of merchandise, originally of a more or less rounded shape; from OF. bale, balle, which possibly came directly into ME., but Flem. also borrowed the word from OF. as bale, and the ME. is perhaps from this.

Staple (1423), the town or place appointed by royal authority, in which was a body of merchants having the exclusive right of purchase of certain classes of goods destined for export; the English word has not been found earlier than 1423, but the AF. estaple and the AL. stapula occur in official documents from the reign of Edward II onwards; ad. OF. estaple, emporium, mart, ad. MLG. stapol, stapel, pillar, platform, stocks for shipbuilding, &c. (whence also med.L. stapula and staplus); the MLG. and M.Du. stapel have the sense emporium, mart, in addition to the above senses, but it is uncertain whether this sense was developed in MLG. or whether it originated in OF. and was thence adopted into MLG.; at any rate it is possible that the AF. and AL. forms were reinforced by the Low Dutch forms, though themselves from OF. ad. MLG.

Tod (1425), a weight used in the wool trade, usually 28 pounds, but varying locally; of Low Dutch origin, but no M.Du. or MLG. form can be postulated; apparently the same word as E.Fris. todde, bundle, pack, small load; tod, load, is also found in the modern dialects of Groningen, Guelderland, and Overijssel.

3. 10.

The words borrowed from the MLG. of the Hansa traders of north Germany fall into four sections: (1) terms of general trade; (2) terms of the fur trade; (3) specific terms of the trade in Baltic products; (4) terms of the timber trade.

The following are the terms of general trade. Trade (c. 1375, Sc. Leg. Saints), ad. MLG. trade (trâ), LG. trade, a track; was perhaps introduced originally in nautical language for the course or track of a ship, and was afterwards extended to the other senses of ME. trede, as course, way, path, track of beast or man. Westvale (1385), a variety of cloth of Westphalian origin, one of the articles brought in by the Hansa from Westphalia; ad. MLG. Westvale, Westval, Westphalian.

A term for a measure used in the Hansa trade is Shock (1391 in the non-Eng. context of E. Derby's Exped.; 1583 in an Eng. context), a lot of 60 pieces, used in relation to certain articles of merchandise originally imported from abroad; ad. MLG. schock (Du. schok).

Tear, adj. and sb. (c. 1400), is a traders' term descriptive of their wares, fine, delicate, of the best quality, especially used in connexion with hemp or flour; apparently from Low Dutch, which has the following forms, M.Du., M.Flem., MLG., and LG. teer, têr, contracted from teeder, têder, fine, thin, delicate, tender.

Terms of the northern fur trade are: Timber (in L. context as early as a. 1150 in Scotland and 1290 in England, and in Eng. context first in 1473-4), a definite quantity of furs, a package containing 40 skins of ermine, sable, marten, and the like; found in MLG. as timber (13th century), timmer, and occurring earlier in med.L. as timbrum, timbria (1207, Du Cange, at Rouen); it is supposed to be ultimately a special use of timber, wood, perhaps because the furs were packed with a stiffening of thin boards, and to have originated in LG. as a term of the fur trade, whence it spread into other languages; O.E.D. says that the immediate source of ME. timbre appears to have been F. (OF. timbre, 1350 in Godefroy). Wildware (1393), fur of wild animals; ad. MLG. wildware, from wild, wild, and ware, ware, goods.

Some words for fur-bearing beasts are of Low Dutch origin and come into English either directly or through French. Fitchew (1394), the fur of the polecat, the animal itself; ad. OF. fissel, later fissau, a diminutive formation of the word which appears in Du. of the 16th and 17th centuries as fisse, visse, vitsche (Kilian and Hexham). Marten (14 .., 1422), in ME. martren; the skins and fur of the animal now called marten; ad. OF. martrine, marten fur, ad. Du. and M.Du. martren. Fitch (1550),

the fitchew; (1502), the fur of the polecat; ad. M.Du. visse, fisse, but perhaps through an unrecorded French form.

There are three terms of specific Baltic products in which the Hansa dealt. Osmund (1280), a superior quality of iron imported from the Baltic in very small bars and rods for the manufacture of arrow-heads, fish-hooks, &c.; the earliest form in ME., osemund, has the MLG. ose- form, MLG. osemunt, Westph. dialect ôsemund, and was probably borrowed from Hansa traders; osmund, the form from c. 1400, appears to be from Sw., O.Sw. osmunder, in compounds osmunds-iaern, Sw. osmund; it is noteworthy that iron and copper were brought to England by Gotlanders before 1300. Tallow (a. 1300), in ME. talillustratie, talgh; the word corresponds to MLG. talg, talch; the words occur in Du. and G. and the Scand. languages in forms which indicate a common origin, but nowhere yet has the word been found before the 13th century; in the Scand. languages a great diversity of gender suggests that the word is borrowed from MLG.; the ME. word may have had a similar origin, as the commodity was one much dealt in by the Baltic traders; there is, of course, the possibility of an unrecorded OE. *tealh, *taelh. Train (1497 in a non-Eng. context, 1515 in an Eng. context), the earlier name for what is now called train oil; in the 15th and 16th centuries the form was trane, ad. MLG. and LG. trân, M.Du. traen, Du. traan, oil extracted; the word passed from LG. into Da. and Sw.

A number of words were brought in by the Baltic timber trade. Spar (13 .., Cursor M.), one of the common rafters of a roof; (1388, in Nicholas, Hist. Roy. Navy), a pole or piece of timber, esp. an undressed stem under 6 inches in diameter; (1640), a general term for all masts, yards, booms, &c.; probably of Low Dutch origin, compare M.Du. sparre, spar, spare, also M.Du. and Flem. sperre, spar; but ON. had sperri and sperra, and the quotation of 13 .. may be of ON. origin.

Shotboard (1310), of uncertain meaning, but probably a board of wainscot; shot may be from M.Du. schot, a partition, with substitution of sh- for sk- on the analogy of the numerous English words with initial sh-, or it may represent a similar alteration of the second element in wainscot. Wainscot (1352-3, Ely Sacr. Rolls), a superior quality of foreign oak imported from Russia, Germany, and Holland, chiefly used for fine panel work; ad. MLG. wagenschot (1389), apparently from wagen, carriage, and

schot (of doubtful meaning, cf. MLG. bokenschot, LG. bökenschot, beechwood of superior quality); 16th-century Flem. has a form waeghescot, waeghenschot (Kilian); the synonymous Du. or Flem. wandschot (Kilian) may be the source of the Eng. forms as wandschoth (14th century), and is either an etymologizing perversion of wagenschot or an independent formation on wand, wall of a room; the English examples of the word are earlier than those given in the MLG. and M.Du. dictionaries, and the first element appears already in the earliest instances assimilated to the English Wain.

Rigald (1338 in Nicholas, Hist. Roy. Navy), timber for light spars; the ME. forms are righolt (1399), richolt (15th century), and these appear to represent MLG. regel-, rigelholt (M.Du. righelhout), from regel, rail, spar, and holt, wood. Spire (1392), a spar or pole of timber; chiefly of Northern or Sc. location; perhaps from ON. spíra, but a Low Dutch origin is more likely (M.Du. spier, LG. spiere, spier, N.Fris. spir, W.Fris. spier).

Deal (1402, in C. Frost, Early Hist. Hull), a slice sawn from a log of timber, a plank of pine or firwood; ad. MLG. dele, plank, floor. Knag (c. 1440), a short spur or stiff projection from the trunk or branch of a tree; ME. knag or knagge are probably from MLG. knagge, a knot; Da. knag, Sw. knagge were probably borrowed from LG.; Knag, vb. and Knagged are regarded as derivatives, but are evidenced before it. Raff (c. 1440, Pr. Parv. as raafman, 1459, Relig. Ord. Norwich as rafman), foreign timber usually in the form of deals; perhaps ad. G. raf, raff(e), obs. or dial., from rafe, rafter, beam. Rafter is of course from OE. raefter, but the Sc. forms with -ch- (rach-, rauch-, rawch-, raychter) are probably from the MLG. rachter (also rafter); it is probable that even in English this form of the word was reinforced from LG., as e.g. rauchter, 1592, in Lyly's Galathea.

Clapboard (c. 1520, Mem. Ripon), originally a small size of split oak imported from north Germany, and used by coopers for making barrel-staves, &c.; a partially Englished form of MLG. klapholt, with board for holt. Clapholt (1477) is earlier, and may be ad. MLG. klapholt or M.Du. clapholt, -hout. Scabbard (1635), a thin board used in making splints, the scabbards of swords, veneer, &c., and by printers in making register; apparently ad. MLG. schalbort, thin board sawn off a length of timber in squaring it, from schale, shell, rind, and bort, board.

3. 11.

Very many names were borrowed from Low Dutch for

the various commodities which were handled in the course of trade. The most numerous are names for kinds of cloth.

In Middle English the following appear. Lewyn (1360), a kind of linen cloth which takes its name from its place of origin, Louvain, in Flem. Leuven. Lampas (1390), a kind of glossy crape; it occurs in Hall's Chron. Hen. VIII (a. 1548), in the compound lampas douck (Du. doek, cloth), and this suggests that the word may have been adopted from M.Du.; the recorded form in M.Du. and e.mod.Du. is lampers, and compare with this 16th-century English lampors. Lyre (1390-1 in the non-Eng. context of E. Derby's Exped., 1421 in an Eng. context), the name, med.L. Lyra, of a town in Brabant, now Lire or Liere, occurring in the designation of certain kinds of cloth, as black of Lyre, green of Lyre, &c. Puke (1466), a superior kind of woollen cloth of which gowns were made; (1530), a colour, formerly used for woollen goods, bluish-black or inky; l. ME. pewke, puke, ad. M.Du. puuc, puyck, the name of the best sort of woollen cloth; its use to designate a colour is only found in English. Brunswick (1480), the LG. name of the town; it was formerly used as the name of a textile fabric, and is still used attributively in Brunswick black, green. Mechlin (1483), in Mechlin black, a black cloth made at Mechlin in Brabant; (1699), Mechlin lace; Mechlin is the Flem. name for Malines. Russel (1488), a kind of woollen fabric formerly used for articles of attire, especially in the 16th century; possibly for Rijssel, the Flem. name for Lille; the early forms and the fact that black and other colours occur more frequently than red are against connexion with OF. russel, reddish. Dornick (1489), a silk, worsted woollen or partly woollen fabric used for hangings; also a kind of linen cloth used in Scotland for the table; the name of a Flemish town (in French, Tournai), applied to certain fabrics originally manufactured there.

In the modern period there is a large group of words which are the names of cloths made abroad and imported into England under their foreign names. As in Middle English many of them are named after their place of manufacture.

Bruges (1517), the French name for the Flemish city of Brugge, used attributively in Bruges satin, the name of a kind of satin manufactured at this town. Cambric (1530), a kind of fine, white linen made originally at Cambrai; in the 16th century the forms were camerick(e) or camerick, from Kameryk or

Kamerijk, the Flemish name of Cambrai. Stammet (1531), a woollen fabric; ad. OF. estamet, from estame and -et, diminutive suffix, but Du. has stamet, woollen yarn, and this may be the immediate source of the English word. Calamanco (1592), a woollen stuff of Flanders, glossy on the surface and woven with a satin twill and chequered in the warp so that the checks are seen on one side only, much used in the 18th century; the origin of the name is unknown, but Du. has kalamink, kalmink, and the Eng. word is probably from this with the -co ending possibly by analogy with Calico (recorded first in 1540). Salempore (1598, W. Phillips, trans. Linschoten), a blue cotton cloth formerly made at Nellore in India, and largely exported to the West Indies, where it was the usual slave cloth; the Du. name for it was salamporij (17th century), and the first English occurrence is in the translation of a Dutch book; Mr. C.L. Wrenn's suggestion that the origin of the word is Salem, the name of a south Indian town, and pore, city, town, is probably correct.

Slyre (1621, from Sc.), a fine kind of linen or lawn; ad. LG. sleier, slijer, fine linen, veil. Duck (1640), a strong, untwilled, linen fabric, lighter and finer than canvas; apparently ad. 17th-century Du. doeck, linen or linen cloth (Hexham, 1678). Barras (1640), the name of a coarse linen fabric imported from Holland; Dutch barras is mentioned in a charter of 1640 granted by Charles II to the City of London, and Bense supposes it to be a Dutch borrowing, though there seems to be no word corresponding in either form or meaning in Du., Flem., or LG. Gimp, Gymp (1664), silk, worsted, or cotton twist with a cord of wire running through it; Du. gimp in the same sense appears in Jacob Cats (died 1660) earlier than the first example of the English word, and so it may have been borrowed from Du. Duffel, Duffle (1677), a coarse woollen cloth having a thick nap or frieze; it is named after the place of manufacture, Duffel, a town of Brabant, between Antwerp and Mechlin. Burlap (1695), originally perhaps a sort of holland, now a coarse canvas made of jute or hemp and used for bagging; Bense suggests that it is from an unrecorded Du. *boerenlap, in which boeren is meant to express the same notion that it has in boerenkost, ‘coarse fare’; boeren in this sense is often used in Holland to express coarseness in appearance, manners, language, &c.; lap, a piece of cloth, clout, so *boerenlap, a coarse piece of cloth, hence coarse cloth, and this would suit the form as well as the

sense. Gulix (1696), a kind of fine linen; from Du. Gulik, the town of Juliers. Ticklenburgs (1696), a kind of coarse linen cloth; from Tecklenburg, a town and district in Westphalia, noted for its manufacture of linen.

Ghenting (a. 1700), a kind of linen; from Ghent, where it was originally made. Sail-duck (1795), see Duck (p. 49); from Du. zeildoek. Flushing (1883), a kind of rough, thick woollen cloth; from Flushing, the English name for the Zeeland town of Vlissingen, where it was first manufactured. Brussels (1845), used attributively for Brussels carpet and Brussels lace; from the place of manufacture.

The following are the names of commodities other than cloth imported from the Low Countries. In Middle English appear: Walshnut (1368-9), walnut; the word was probably adopted from M.Du. or MLG., though documentary evidence of its existence in those languages is wanting (Kilian has walsche not, cf. also MHG. wälhischnuz, ‘Welsh’, i.e. Italian or Gaulish nut). Lukes (1472, as Lukys iron), made at Liége, said especially of velvet and hardware; ad. Du. Luiksch, from Luik, a town and province of Belgium. Skaillie (1496, from Sc.), blue roofing slate; ad. M.Du. schaelie or ad. OF. escaille.

Words of this kind are more numerous in the modern period. Two are the names of dye-stuffs: Safflower (1583), the dried petals of the Carthumus tinctorius, also the red dye which they produce; ad. Du. saffloer(s); the form has been influenced by association with saffron, although safflower is a wholly different flower. Mull (1640), the lowest of the four qualities of Dutch madder; also as a compound, Mull-madder; ad. Du. mul, mull.

The trade in Baltic honey is responsible for Werke (1598), honeycomb; ad. MLG. werk (LG. wark); the quotation, from Hakluyt's Voyages, refers to Hanseatic traders of 1395-8.

Snute (1649, Rec. Mcht. Advs. Newcastle), a commodity made out of flax, the combings of the tow; ad. Du. snuit, or Flem. snuite, snute.

The habit of taking snuff brought in the word Snuff (1683), a preparation of powdered tobacco; probably ad. Du. and Flem. snuf, or snuif, an abbreviation of snuif-tabac; the practice of taking snuff appears to have become fashionable in England about 1680, but prevailed earlier in Ireland and Scotland. The vb. Snuff (1527, Andrew Brunswyke's Distilled Waters) is over a century and a half earlier, and appears first in a medical

treatise; it has the sense to draw up or through the nostrils by the action of inhalation; probably ad. M.Du. snoffen, snuffen.

The large trade in Dutch earthenware gives the name for the commonest ware, Delf, Delft (1714), a kind of glazed earthenware originally called Delf ware; from Delf, now Delft, a town in Holland; when the paragogic -t was added to the Dutch Delf, it was also extended to the English word.

A Rhineland commodity was Rhinehurst (1724), Burgundy pitch; ad. Du. rhynseharst, ad. G. rheinharz, from Rhein, Rhine, and harz, resin. A term of the Rhenish wine trade was Muzzle (1853), Moselle wine; ad. Du. Moezel or G. Mosel.

One word came in from the important Dutch monopoly trade in East Indian spices. Rump (1602), refuse of nutmegs; ad. Du. romp, pieces of cloves and nutmegs (in Kilian rompe, MLG. rompe).

The Dutch were pioneers in the manufacture and trade in artificial butter or margarine, and the name of one variety has been borrowed; Bosch, Bosh (1879), short for Bosch butter, the artificial butter manufactured at 's Hertogenbosch or den Bosch in Holland (Bense).

A number of words have come in through the trade in spirits; they are mainly the names of Dutch gin products. Brandy (a. 1622), in the 17th century also brandwine, brandewine, brandywine, the abbreviation of which, brandy, was in familiar use as early as 1657; this is the Du. brandewijn (brandende wijn, ‘aqua ardens, vinum ardens’, Kilian). Geneva (1706), a spirit distilled from grain and flavoured with the juice of juniper berries; it is made in Holland and is hence called also Hollands; ad. Du. genever, jenever (the ending being assimilated to that of Geneva, the town), ad. F. genevra, juniper. The shortened form of this word is Gin (1714), which has now practically superseded the full form geneva. Hollands (1714, in Hollands gin, 1788), another name for geneva because manufactured in Holland; ad. Du. hollandsch (pronounced hollands), Hollandish, Dutch, in hollandsche genever, Hollands gin. Schiedam (1821), a variety of gin, so called from the town in Holland where it was manufactured. A name for a measure of spirits which probably came in through this trade is Sopie (1696), a drink of spirits, a dram; ad. Du. zoopje, dram, sip, diminutive of zope, sup; this word was borrowed independently in S. Africa.

One term of the English export trade in hides is probably of Dutch origin. Kip (c. 1525), a set or bundle of small hides containing a definite number; this corresponds to and is probably from M.Du. kip, kijp, a pack or bundle, especially of hides; the difficulty of the word is that it also has the sense (1530) the hide of a young or small beast, and there is no evidence that this sense was developed out of that of pack or bundle of hides.

3. 12.

An important group of words is that dealing with the method and conduct of trade. The following three words, which were introduced into Middle English, may have been borrowed by English merchants in their trading journeys and residence in the Low Countries. Two of them refer to the manner of transport of goods. Trail, vb. (1302, Robert of Brunne), the senses in ME. are to draw behind one, to drag along the ground, to hang down so as to drag along the ground; the word agrees in form with OE. traegelian (only in Prudentius Glosses, glossing L. carpere, to pluck, snatch, tear off), but not in sense; it is apparently the same word as ONF. trailler (14th century in Godefroy), M.Flem. treylen, treilen, treelen, MLG. treilen, tröilen, all meaning to haul or tow a boat; it is possible that though the form existed in OE., this is a fresh borrowing in ME. from Low Dutch. Sled (1388), a drag used for the transport of heavy goods; (1586), a sledge or sleigh used as a vehicle in travelling; ad. M.Flem. or MLG. sledde, related to slede, slead. Mart (1437), a periodical gathering of people for the purpose of buying and selling, in early use chiefly with reference to the Low Countries; later used with special reference to the German booksellers' fair held at Easter, originally at Frankfurt and afterwards at Leipzig; ad. Du. markt, M.Du. marct (formerly also written mart, and still commonly so pronounced). The vb. Mart (1553) is much later; to do business at a fair; from the sb., though Du. has the vb. markten.

Three other Middle English words must be classed as general trade terms. Weigh-scale (13.., c. 1440), the pan of a balance, in the plur. a pair of scales; this word was originally borrowed in northern English; ad. Du. waagschaal, or MLG. wagescale. Cope (c. 1430, Lydgate), to buy, barter, exchange; of Low Dutch origin, originally used by Lydgate as Flemish; ad. M.Du. côpen (LG. kôpen), to buy, traffic. Scavage (1474, Caxton), a toll levied by the Corporation of London and other towns on

merchant strangers, on goods offered for sale within the precincts; this word is from Low Dutch through AF.; ad. AF. scawage, schawage, north-eastern OF. escauwage, from escauwer, to inspect, ad. Flem. scauwen, to inspect, look at. Derivatives of scavage are Scavage, vb. (1851), Scavager (1307), Scavenge, vb. (a. 1644), and Scavenger (1530).

There is an interesting group of words all borrowed in Scotland; they show how frequent was the presence of the Low Dutch merchant and pedlar in the Scottish towns and countryside. Coff (1425), to buy, purchase; M.Du. copen had past pple. and past tense cofte, gecoft; when the word was borrowed only these past tense and past pple. forms seem to have been used, and a new present coff was formed on the analogy of the past tenses. Related to coff is Cofe (1471), a bargain; (1555), a hawker or pedlar; the mode of formation is uncertain and the two meanings may be distinct derivations from coff; M.Du. has coop, trade, and perhaps confusion of coff and coop became cofe with the vowel from coop and the -f from coff.

Wrack (1472-5), that which is of an inferior, poor, or worthless quality, waste material, rubbish; ad. (M)LG. or Du. wrak (whence also Da. vrag, Sw. vrak, refuse). Wrak, vb. (1609), wrake; ad. MLG. wracken, to reject, refuse, a variant of wraken, wrake. Wracker (1584), from wrack and -er, or ad. MLG. wraker (whence Da. vrager, sorter). Wrake (a. 1350), refuse, rubbish, something worthless, is a variant of wrack, sb. Wrake, vb. (1584), to examine goods with a view to rejecting or destroying the unsound, faulty, or damaged; ad. (M)LG. wrâken (whence Sw. vraka, Da. vrage), older Du. wraaken, Du. wraken, older Flem. wraecken (Kalian), to reject. Wraker (1584), one who inspects goods and rejects and destroys the faulty; from wrake, vb. and -er, or ad. (M)LG. wraker.

Crame (1477), a booth or stall where goods are sold in market or fair; (1560), a pack or bundle of goods carried about for sale, a pedlar's stock of wares; ad. M.Du., M.Flem., or MLG. krâme, kraeme, krâm, tent, booth, stall, stock of wares; German traders and pedlars introduced this word into the Scand. languages also (Icel., Da., Sw., Norw. kram), and into Slavonic and Lithuanian. Cramer (1491), one who sells goods at a stall or booth, also hawker, pedlar; ad. MLG. krêmer, kraemer, krâmer, or M.Du. and M.Flem. kramer, kraemer, petty trader, hawker, properly the keeper of a ‘crame’; this word was also introduced

into Icel., Da., and Polish by Low German traders. Cramery (15.., Aberd. Reg.), merchandise, such goods as are usually sold by a pedlar; ad. MLG. krêmerie, crâmerie, M.Du. cremerie, cramerie (Kalian has kraemerije), the trade or merchandise of a cramer.

Weighgilt (1497), a payment for weighing; formed after Du. waaggeld (M.Du. waechgelt).

In the modern period we get two terms for commercial buildings. Pawn (1575, Sir T. Gresham), a gallery or colonnade, a covered walk or passage, especially one in a bazaar, exchange, or arcade, alongside of which wares are exposed for sale; perhaps from e.mod.Du. pand (Plantijn), pandt (Kilian, 1599, Hexham, 1678), a gallery where things are sold; pand is a Du. development of F. pan. Packhouse (1601), a building in which packs of goods are stored; from pack and house (see Pack), but perhaps after Du. packhuis (Kalian has packhuys).

There are three terms for selling by auction. Outroop (1598), an auction; ad. Du. uitroep (in Kilian wtroep), an auction sale, from uit, out, and roepen, to call. Outrooper, -roper (1612), an auctioneer, at one time the specific title of the Common Crier of the City of London; from outroop, but compare Du. uitroeper. Lyth-coop (1681), an auction of household goods; perhaps adopted with change of sense from Du. lijfkoop, in M.Du. also litcoop, liefcoop, a luckpenny on the conclusion of a bargain; the Dutch forms were probably affected by popular etymology.

English traders in the Low Countries became familiar with transport of goods by canal and river barge, and the following terms of such transport were borrowed. Track-boat (1632), a boat which is trailed or towed, a tow-boat; originally a Sc. borrowing; this is a rendering of Du. trek-schuit. Schuit (1660), a Dutch flat-bottomed river boat; ad. Du. schuit, earlier schuyt (M.Du. schûte) (see Scout and Shout, p. 69). Trekschuit, Treckschuit (1696, as draggescutte, 1696), a canal or river boat drawn by horses, carrying passengers and goods, as in common use in Holland, a tow-boat; ad. Du. trekschuit, formerly -schuyt, from trek, sb. or trek-, vb. stem of trekken, to draw, pull.

A term of the itinerant trade is Hawker (1510), a man who goes from place to place selling his goods or who cries them in the street; apparently ad. MLG. hoker, LG. höker (Du. heuker), higgler, hawker, huckster.

Galyor (c. 1515) occurs once in Cock Lorell's Book; possibly

this is Du. gleyer, a dealer in earthenware brought in galleys, a galleyman.

Very general terms of trade are: Cope (1562), a bargain, in the phrase good cope; also in the phrase God's cope (1520), a very large sum; from cope, vb. (see Cope, vb., p. 52). Copeman (1566), originally copesman; a chapman, merchant, dealer; the later copeman may have been influenced by Du. koopman. Fardel (1523), profit; ad. Du. voordeel, advantage.

3. 13.

There is an interesting group of words borrowed from Low Dutch for the names of measures and weights used in trade; by far the larger number of these in Middle English are for liquid measures, and this may be due in part to the right which the Hansa acquired to participate in the retail trade in Rhenish wines.

Kilderkin (1391, in the non-Eng. context of E. Derby's Exped., 1410, in Eng. context), a cask for liquids, fish, &c., of a definite capacity, a cask of this size filled with some commodity; the original form was kin-, as ME. kynerkin, kynderkin, ad. M.Du. kinderkin, more commonly kindeken, kinneken, also kyntken, kijn-, kimmekijn (see Kempkin, Kinkin, p. 56), the fourth part of a tun; the change of kin- to kil- is apparently peculiar to English, and is found already in 1392.

Cruse (c. 1440, Pallad. on Husb., c. 1440, Pr. Parv.), a small earthen vessel for liquids, a pot; ME. has cruse, crowse, crewse, probably ad. MLG. krûs, krôs, M.Du. cruyse; in modern Eng. we have beside ME. -u- modern Eng. -u-, where we should expect -ou-, and beside that a variant spelling in -ui-, -uy-, from the 16th century; this makes it very probable that the word was reborrowed from Du. in the modern period. The diminutive of cruse, Cruskyn, Cruisken (1378, Inventory in Pr. Parv.), is recorded nearly half a century earlier; a small vessel for holding liquids, hence a liquid measure; ad. M.Flem. kruyseken, kroesken, diminutive of kruyse, kroes, cruse; the word was also borrowed into OF. as creusequin, crousequin.

Similar Dutch diminutives for small measures are Firkin (1423), a small cask for liquids, fish, or butter, originally containing a quarter of a ‘barrel’ or half a kilderkin, and used later as a measure of capacity; the 15th-century form was ferdekyn, ad. M.Du. *vierdekijn, the diminutive of vierde, fourth, fourth part. Mutchkin (1425), a measure of capacity used in Scotland, the fourth part of an old Scotch pint; ad. e.mod.Du. mudseken

(now mutsje), apparently an irregular diminutive of mud(de). Dutch mudde or mud was itself borrowed as Mud (1477, Extracts Aberd. Reg.), the name for a Dutch measure of capacity.

The only measure of weight borrowed in Middle English is Waw (1316, Durh. Acc. Rolls), a measure equal to 12 stone; ad. MLG. and M.Du. wage, weight.

Two words came in as measures of the fruit trade. Top (1440-1), a basket as a measure of grapes or figs; ad. MLG. and M.Flem. toppe, top, basket (as a measure of raisins, figs, &c.) (Kilian has top van vijghen, basket of figs). There was a diminutive of this, Toppet (1481-90), with the same sense, a basket of fruit; it is analogous to the M.Flem. diminutive topkin, M.Du. topkine. Tapnet, Topnet (1524), is apparently altered from toppet.

Most of the names of measures borrowed in the modern period are again liquid measures for wines and spirits, from cask measures down to small glass measures. Perhaps some of this great variety was due to the smuggling trade in Hollands spirits. Kinkin (c. 1500, from Sc.), a small barrel or keg, kilderkin; ad. M.Du. kintken, kinneken, variant of kindeken. Aam (1526), a Dutch or German liquid measure, formerly used in England for Rhenish wines, a cask; it varied from 37 to 41 gallons in various continental cities; ad. Du. aam; aam is the modern Du. spelling, the Eng. forms alm(e), awme, aume, ame being only historical. An English variant form of aam is Aum (1502).

Rood (1502), a measure of wine; ad. M.Du. roede. Tonekin (1546), a rare word of doubtful meaning, perhaps a small cask or barrel; if so, then perhaps ad. Flem. tonneken. Kempkin (1580, once, from Sc.), a small barrel or keg; ad. M.Du. kimmekijn, a variant of kindekijn, kilderkin. Anker (1597), first found in the sense of a dry measure of capacity; the more common sense of a measure of wine or spirits used in Holland, north Germany, and the Baltic occurs first in the Pennsyl. Arch. (1673), and not till c. 1750 in England; the measure varied in different countries, that of Rotterdam, formerly also used in England, contained 10 old wine gallons or 8 and a third imperial gallons; ad. Du. anker.

Two names of drinking-vessels are perhaps best included here, as most drinking-vessels serve also as measures. Rumkin (1636), apparently of LG. origin, and Rummer (1654), a large kind of drinking-glass; of Low Dutch origin, compare W.Flem. rummer, rommer, Du. romer, roemer, Fris, romer, LG. römer.

Leaguer (1683), a certain measure of arrack, a cask of wine or oil, and with the specifically nautical sense of the largest water casks; perhaps ad. Du. ligger, a tun, from liggen, to lie. Nipperkin (1671), a measure or vessel of small capacity used for liquors, about half a pint; the form points to a Low Dutch origin, but the source is not known; M.Du. has nypelkin, the name of some game.

Measures of weight are Lispound (1545), a unit of weight used in the Baltic trade, varying at different times and in different localities from 12 to 30 pounds; ad. LG. and Du. lispund, contracted from livsch pund, Livonian pound; it is also found in the Shetlands and Orkneys (1693). Shippound (1545), a unit of weight in the Baltic trade varying from 300 to 400 pounds, that is 20 lispounds; ad. MLG. schippunt or M.Du. schippond (whence ON. skippund). Skippound (1622), another form of shippound, at Antwerp 300 pounds; ad. Du. schippond or LG. schippund.

Quantity measures are Terling (a. 1502, Arnolde's Chron.), the name of a pack (apparently of cloth), of a definite size or quantity; ad. MLG. terlink, diminutive of tere, the name of a pack or bale twice the size; it is not clear whether the Du. teerling, cube, die, is connected; the quotation in Arnolde refers to rates at Amsterdam. Skoke (1545), a certain quantity; ad. M.Du. or MLG. schok. Scote (1633-4), a measure; perhaps ad. M.Du. schote, a definite quantity of small articles.

In a general sense is Slump (1718, from Sc.), a large quantity or number; chiefly in the phrases, by or in the slump, as a whole, collectively, in the lump; ad. LG. slump, heap, mass, quantity (im slump köpen, to buy in the lump) ( Du. slomp, Fris. slompe); the LG. word is also the source of Da., Sw., and Norw. slump.

3. 14.3. 14.

As might be expected many names of foreign coins were taken into English in the Middle English period. The constant measures taken by the Government against the circulation of foreign coins, often of very inferior quality and weight, prove that their circulation in England was very great. In 1299 Edward I attempted to rectify the debasement of the currency of the realm; the Mint was reorganized and coinage of an excellent standard was issued. He also endeavoured to prevent the mischief from recurring; it had been due chiefly to the introduction of money from abroad in payment for English wool.

The extensive trade in England by Flemish and other alien merchants in the 14th century seems to have led to the export of the better coins of England, and the import of light and debased coins, among them those known by the names of Brabant and Lushburg. These coins appear to have been made of a white metal which resembled silver. A pound weight of Lushburgs was worth only eight shillings. In 1343 a gold coin for currency in England as well as Flanders was struck in conjunction with the people of Flanders, but bad foreign money continued to find its way into England. Edward III and his queen kept their court at Louvain in the winter of 1338 and caused a large quantity of gold and silver coin to be struck at Antwerp.

The minting of money was one of the royal prerogatives, and the officers of the Exchange were empowered to see that no foreign coinage got into circulation in this country, but that it was sent to the Mint for recoinage; their efforts, however, must have been easily circumvented. For the variety of coins circulating at Calais in the 15th century see Malden, Cely Papers, xlix.

Lushburg (1346), a base coin made in imitation of the silver or sterling penny and imported from Luxemburg in the reign of Edward III; it is the anglicized form of Luxemburg. Brabant (c. 1350), a base coin of Flemish manufacture circulated in England in the 13th century; from the name of the Duchy of Brabant.

Mite (c. 1350), originally a Flemish coin of very small value, a third of a penny; its first occurrence in English is in a proverbial expression ‘not worth a mite’, so it must have been known a long time previously before it would pass into the proverbial language; ad. M.Du. mîte (MLG. mîte, meite, meute), something very small. Groat (1351), though the first mention refers to the English groat coined in 1351-2 and worth fourpence, and the word is used for the Flemish groat first in 1387, the adoption of the Dutch or Flemish form of the word shows that the groat of the Low Countries had circulated here before a coin of that denomination was issued by the English sovereigns; ad. M.Du. groot, properly an elliptical use of the adjective ‘great’ in the sense ‘thick’.

Seskyn (1413), a Dutch coin of the value of six mites; ad. M.Du. seskijn, from ses, six, and kijn, the diminutive suffix. Dodkin (1415), an early name for the doit, a small Dutch coin; in the 15th century doydekyn, doykin, ad. M.Du. duytken, diminu-

tive of duyt, doyt. Plack (1473), a coin of the Netherlands of the 15th century; ad. M.Du. placke, plecke, a small coin of Brabant and Flanders, of varying value. Guilder (c. 1481), originally applied to a gold coin current in the Netherlands and parts of Germany, and later to a Dutch silver coin worth 1s. 8d.; an English corrupted pronunciation of Du. gulden (see Gulden, below). Rider (1479, Cely Papers), a gold coin having the figure of a horseman on its obverse, formerly current in Flanders and Holland; also a gold coin struck by James V of Scotland, and current also in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries; ad. Du. and Flem. rijder, horseman.

In the modern period the following names of Low Country coins appear. Gulden (15.., Aberd. Reg., 1528), a gold coin, one of the various obsolete gold coins of Germany and the Netherlands; also a silver coin of Holland, the guilder; ad. Du. and LG. gulden, strictly an adjective, of gold, golden. Lubish (15.., Aberd. Reg., 1563), in the phrases mark Lubish, schilling Lubish, a denomination belonging to a money of account formerly in extensive commercial use in north Germany; ad. LG. lübsch, Du. lubeksch, from Lübeck, of or belonging to Lübeck, one of the most famous of the Hansa towns of Germany.

Stiver (1502), a small coin, originally silver, of the Low Countries; ad. Du. stuiver, (M)LG. stüver, (whence Da. styver, Sw. styfver). Silverling (1526), a shekel; ad. G. silberling or Du. zilverling; this is probably a literary borrowing as it is found first in Tindale. Schelling (1535), a silver coin, formerly current in the Low Countries, of the value of six stivers; ad. Du. schelling. This word appears also as Skilling (1700, S.L. trans. Fryke's Voy. E. Indies), ad. Du. schelling.

Yokindale (1536), a silver coin of the 16th century varying in value from 15 to 20 shillings Scots; ad. e.LG. jochimdailer, variant joachimsdaler (G. Joachimstaler), ‘the coin of Joachimstal’ in Bohemia, the original name of the thaler; they were coined there in 1519 from a silver mine opened in 1516. The modification of this, Dollar (1553), appears in English in the 16th century in the forms daler, daller; ad. LG. and e.mod.Du. daler (Du. daalder), alongside the full term. A particular kind of dollar is the Rix-dollar (1598), a silver coin current from the later part of the 16th century to the middle of the 19th century in Holland, Germany, Sweden, and Austria, in their commerce with the East; ad. older Du. rijcksdaler (Kilian), Du. rijksdaalder.

Orkyn (1542, once) and Orkey (1660, Hexham), the fourth part of a stiver; a corruption of Du. oortken, diminutive of oort, a small coin. Morkin (1547), a German coin of small value; ad. M.Du. moorkijn, diminutive of moor. Doit (1594), a small Dutch coin formerly in use, one-eighth of a stiver; ad. e.mod.Du. duit (in M.Du. also duyt, deuyt, doyt, deyt).

3. 15.3. 15.

Finance and money-lending are closely connected with the general practice of trade, and Low Dutch merchants and traders in England seem to have engaged largely in this profitable sideline. Edward III had large dealings with Netherland money-lenders, especially those of Louvain, in order to raise the enormous sums needed for the payment of subsidies to his Low Country allies. After the failure of the great Italian bankers much of their business fell into the hands of the Hansa merchants, who made considerable loans to the English Government, either directly or as agents for their fellow-countrymen in Germany. In 1343, when the King had been granted a tax of 40 shillings a sack on all wool exported, he immediately borrowed the value of it from Tiedemann van Limburg and Johann van Walde, Easterlings. Similarly in 1346 the Hansa merchants lent the King money for three years, holding as security his second crown; they also took the Cornish tin mines at farm. Several Flemings also came to London after the Italian collapse and established themselves as bankers. They were prepared to make a loan to the Government on the security of the taxes, which were about to be levied at an unusual rate; they were not able to prosecute their business for long, as they fell victims to the popular hatred of foreigners which culminated in the reign of Richard II in savage riots against the Flemings in London.

When Elizabeth borrowed to avoid summoning Parliament, she borrowed not only from native merchants, but from the numerous and wealthy Dutch merchants living in London, whose enjoyment both of the ‘Intercourse’, or favourable conditions of trade established by an old treaty with the Netherlands, and of freedom of conscience, seemed to give the Queen a right to demand loans of substantial amount and without interest. This she declared to be the more justifiable, since the produce of these loans would go in good part to the expenses of

her troops in the Netherlands. In 1600 a list of 114 Dutch merchants was drawn up from whom the loan of sums from £2,000 downward could be expected. The Goldsmiths also lent her money. Some of them were English, while others were resident aliens who were getting ever more and more control of this business. In 1622 the Goldsmiths' Company complained that there were no fewer than 184 aliens engaged in their business of banking. One of these merchant strangers, Gerard Malynes, who wrote many pamphlets on financial subjects, has given us a full description of the methods of continental bankers before 1600, and even if the system was not so fully developed in London at the time, there is reason to believe that it did not lag far behind. After the failure of Alva's administration Antwerp declined rapidly and London came to be more and more an important monetary and trading centre. At this time Erasmus Vanderpere brought out a proposal for the establishment of a bank of money in London.

During the early years of Elizabeth's reign there was a great recoinage of the debased silver, and the chief refiner employed was Daniel Wolstat of Antwerp, who was engaged by Sir Thomas Gresham on the understanding that he would receive five per cent. of the value of the reissued coinage.

Under the Stuarts London was a growing commercial centre which was becoming once more a resort for merchants from continental towns. There were considerable opportunities for the remunerative employment of capital, and large sums belonging to moneyed men in Amsterdam and other Netherland towns were transmitted to England for investment. It was stated before the Commission on Trade in 1669 that a great part of the money employed in rebuilding London after the Great Fire was Dutch. A large part of the capital of the Bank of England came from the same source. These wealthy Netherlanders not only sent their money, but frequently came to settle themselves and, judging by the number of applications for naturalization, continued to flourish in the reigns of James I and Charles I.

The traditional system of taxation had proved inadequate under Charles I, and so the Parliamentary army and the government of the Commonwealth were financed on new principles and on methods borrowed from the practice of the Dutch. It was in national finance that the policy of imitating the

Dutch was most observable, and it is at least tempting to connect this important fact with the existence of a class of wealthy men of alien extraction who were in close business relations with persons in authority.

Pawn (for the Sc. form pand, first recorded in a non-Eng. context in a Charter of David I, c. 1145), a pledge, surety; pawn is ad. OF. pan, rarely pand, pant, pledge, security, apparently the same word as M.Du. pant, pand (Du. pand); O.E.D. says that the Sc. form pand came in probably from Du., LG., or Flem.

Makrelty (1495), brokerage; a metathetic alteration of M.Du. makelardie, from makelare, broker. Mackelar (1682, once), a broker; a later and independent borrowing, ad. Du. makelaar, from mackelen, to negotiate. Mackeleredge (1682, once), brokerage; ad. Du. makelarij, from makelaar. Mackle (1724, Bailey), ad. Du. makelen, to offer for sale; it is doubtful whether this word had currency, as there is no quotation except in Bailey, where it is glossed, ‘to sell weavers' goods to shopkeepers’. Bailey has also Mackler, a seller of such goods; from the preceding.

Ledger (1481), a book that lies permanently in some place; the sense represents Du. ligger and legger, from leggen, to lie; the Eng. forms ledger, lidger cannot be direct adoptions of the Du. word, but may be formations on Eng. liggen, leggen, dialect forms of the verbs, lie and lay, and -er in imitation of these; the word was restricted later to commercial books.

Wissel (1482, Cely Papers), exchange; (1721), change for an amount of money; esp. in the phrase, ‘to get the wissel of one's groat’, fig. to be paid out; ad. MLG. wissele, wessele, (M.)Du. wissel. The vb. is earlier, Wissel (1375, Barbour), to exchange for something else; (1483), to change money; ad. MLG. (M.Du.) wisselen, wesselen, weslen, to change. Wisseler (1481, Cely Papers), a money-changer, also a retailer; from the vb. wissel and -er, ad. or after MLG., M.Du. wisselere, wesselere, weslere. Wisseling vbl. sb. (c. 1375, from Sc.), exchange; is from the vb., but compare M.Du. wisselinghe.

Lombard (1609), in the sense, shop, or place of business of a ‘Lombard’ or banker, a bank, money-lender's or money-changer's office, a pawnshop; OF. lombard, in the sense banker, money-lender, passed into Low Dutch as MLG. lombard, M.Du. lombaert, and the sense bank, pawnbroker's shop was probably

developed in Low Dutch, and seems to have been adopted thence into English.

Bottomry (sb. 1622, vb. 1755), to pledge a ship as security for money lent; in the 17th century bottomarie, bodomery after Du. bodemerij, in the same sense. Derivatives are Bottomage (1678) and Bottomrer (1682). A variant is Bummery (1663), ad. Du. bommerije (Hexham), bodmerij; bommerije is given by Plantijn in the sense ‘finance’.

Cantore (1673), office, banking-house; ad. Du. kantoor, ad. F. comptoir. Burse (1553), name for an ‘Exchange’; it arose in Bruges, and in the 16th century was used in London for what is now called the ‘Royal Exchange’ (built in 1566), and in Britain's Burse for the New Exchange in the Strand (built in 1609); one of the variants of M.Du. borse was burse (Bense).

A few terms of commercial dishonesty and swindling were borrowed in the 18th century, and they are perhaps best included among the terms of finance. Fineer (1758-65, once), a method of running into debt by getting goods made up so that they will be of no use to other customers, and then threatening to leave them on the seller's hands, when made up; apparently ad. Du. finieren, fijneren, to collect money or riches, ad. OF. finer. Swindler (1775), originally a cant word said to have been introduced into London by German Jews about 1762, and to have been used in literature first by Lord Mansfield; ad. G. schwindler or Du. zwendelaar, an extravagant projector, esp. in money matters, a cheat, from schwindeln, to be giddy, swindle. The vb. is later, Swindle (1797), and is from the sb. swindler.


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