ch the notes are also indicated. They are
supposed to be taken from a Latin hymn to St John--

_Ut_ queant laxis _re_sonare fibris
_Mi_ra gestorum _fa_muli tuorum
_Sol_ve polluti _la_bii reatum
_S_ancte _I_ohannes.

_Do_ is sometimes substituted for _ut_ in French, and always in modern
English.

[Page Heading: FRENCH DIALECTS]

In considering the Old French element in English, one has to bear in
mind a few elementary philological facts. Nearly all French nouns and
adjectives are derived from the accusative. I give, for simplicity, the
nominative, adding the stem in the case of imparisyllabic words. The
foundation of French is Vulgar Latin, which differs considerably from
that we study at school. I only give Vulgar Latin forms where it cannot
be avoided. For instance, in dealing with _culverin_ (p. 38), I connect
Fr. _couleuvre_, adder, with Lat. _col[)u]ber_, a snake. Every Romance
philologist knows that it must represent Vulgar Lat. _*colobra_; but
this form, which, being conjectural, is marked with an asterisk, had
better be forgotten by the general reader.

Our modern English words often preserve a French form which no longer
exists, or they are taken from dialects, especially those of Normandy
and Picardy, which differ greatly from that of Paris. The word _caudle_
illustrates both these points. It is the same word as modern Fr.
_chaudeau_, "a _caudle_; or, warme broth" (Cotgrave), but it preserves
the Old French[9] _-el_ for _-eau_, and the Picard _c-_ for _ch-_. An
uncomfortable bridle which used to be employed to silence scolds was
called the _branks_. It is a Scottish word, originally applied to a
bridle improvised from a halter with a wooden "cheek" each side to
prevent it from slipping--

"And then its shanks,
They were as thin, as sharp and sma'
As cheeks o' _branks_."
(BURNS, _Death and Doctor Hornbook_, vii. 4.)

These cheeks correspond to the two parallel levers called the "branches"
of a bridle, and _brank_ is the Norman _branque_, branch. All the
meanings of _patch_ answer to those of Fr. _piece_. It comes from the
Old French dialect form _peche_, as _match_ comes from _meche_, and
_cratch_, a manger, from _creche_, of German origin, and ultimately the
same word as _crib_. _Cratch_ is now replaced, except in dialect, by
_manger_, Fr. _mangeoire_, from _manger_, to eat, but it was the regular
word in Mid. English--