E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Pedlar
is not a tramp who goes on his feet, as if from the Latin pedes (feet), but a man who carries a ped or hamper without a lid, in which are stored fish or other articles to hawk about the streets. In Norwich there is a place called the Ped-market, where women expose eggs, butter, cheese, etc., in open hampers.
