Item 16 - Letter from W. W. Skeat to W. Aldis Wright

Identity area

Reference code

Add. MS b/74/14/16

Title

Letter from W. W. Skeat to W. Aldis Wright

Date(s)

  • 9 Mar. (late 19th or early 20th c.) (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

2 single sheets

Context area

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

(Place of writing not indicated.)—Discusses the word ‘hoist’ (cf. The Tempest, I. ii. 148).

—————

Transcript

Mar. 9.

Dear Sir—

I see hoist occurs in Tempest. I. 2. It is clearly there a past tense = hois’d.

In your Bible Word-book you derive it from Fr. hausser. To that I object; & think Mr. Wedgwood quite right in distinguishing between Hoise & Hawse in English. It is hawse that is from Fr. *hausser.

But Mr. Wedgwood, deriving hoise from Fr. hisser, has not really hit it, nor explained the oi sound. Hisser in French is late, not in Cotgrave. The word is really Teutonic. Of course we took it, like most other naval terms, from Dutch: & the Dutch long i (ij) explains our oi.

Dutch.
hijschen
, to raise hijsch-blok, a pulley. hijschtouw, a tackle-rope.
———
German
hisser
, to raise hisse, a pully†.
———
French hisser merely borrowed from G. hissen.
———

At least, that’s my view till better turns up.

Yours sincerely
W. W. Skeat.

—————

† Sic.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Finding aids

      Allied materials area

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

      Related units of description

      Related descriptions

      Notes area

      Alternative identifier(s)

      Access points

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Genre access points

      Description identifier

      Institution identifier

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Status

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation revision deletion

      This description was created by A. C. Green in 2022.

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Accession area