AELFRIC'S COLLOQUY, AND THE A.-S. WORD ÆGYPE IN THE A.-S. PSALTER.

In reference to MR. THORPE'S note (No. 15. p. 232.), I beg leave, with
all possible respect and deference, to suggest that his joke is not
quite _ad rem_.--What would do for a _beefsteak_ does not help his
_mistake_; for it is quite evident that _sprote_ applies to
fish-_swimming_ and not to fish-_catching_; and I presume that "useful
and sagacious" auxiliary, Dr. Kitchener himself, would hardly have
ventured to deny that _fish_ may _swim quickly_?

Now let us try how MR. THORPE'S proposed _salice=wicker_, or _sallow_,
with or without the _basket_, will suit the context. The fisherman is
asked, "Quales pisces capias? = What fish do you take?" The answer is
Anguillos &c. &c. et qualescunque in amne natant salu = Eels &c. &c.,
and every sort whatever that in water swimmeth [wicker/sallow] basket!
Let it be remembered that the question here is not, "_How_ dost thou
take fish?" which had been put and _answered before_, but "_What_ fish
dost thou take?" and then let common sense decide; for the fisherman
having already mentioned that he cast _nets_ and _hooks_, and
[_spyrian_/spartas], i.e. _baskets_, now only replies as to the _fish_
he takes.

MR. THORPE calls the A.-S. dialogue a _Gloss_; is it not rather an
_interlineary version_? like those in use, in later times, of Corderius,
and used for the same purpose.

I have no doubt that upon more mature consideration MR. THORPE will see
that it could not be a substantive that was intended; and, as he admits
my conjecture to be _specious_, that he will, in the course of his very
useful labours, ultimately find it not only specious but correct.