"Ox-deer, or 'heaviers,' as the foresters call them (most
likely a corruption from the French 'hiver'), are wilder than
either hart or hind. They often take post upon a height, that
gives a look-out all round, which makes them very difficult
to stalk. Although not so good when December is past, still
they are in season all the winter; hence their French
designation."--_Colquhoun's Rocks and Rivers_, p. 137.
(London, 8vo. 1849.)
C.I.R.
_Havior_.--Without offering an opinion as to the relative probability
of the etymology of this word, offered by your various correspondents
(No. 17. p. 269.), I think it right that the use of the word in
Scotland should not be overlooked.
In Jamieson's admirable _Dictionary_, the following varieties of
spelling and meaning (all evidently of the same word) occur:--
"_Aver_ or _Aiver_, a horse used for labour; commonly an old
horse; as in Burns--
"'Yet aft a ragged cowte's been kenn'd To mak a noble
_aiver_.'
"'This man wyl not obey.... Nochtheles I sall gar hym draw lik
an _avir_ in ane cart'--_Bellend. Chron._
"'_Aiver_, a he-goat after he has been gelded: till then he is
denominated a _buck_.
"_Haiver_, _haivrel_, _haverel_, a gelded goat (East Lothian,
Lanarkshire, Sotherland).
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